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Iowa State’s DeAndre Kane was named a third-team Sporting News All-American . Teammate Melvin Ejim was named the Big 12’s player of the year. But is there a more indispensable player for the Cyclones than sophomore forward Georges Niang? Consider the entirety of what Niang does for ISU. He’s the only Big 12 forward ranked in the top 10 in assists, and he’s a very capable ballhandler. At 6-7, 240 pounds, he can score inside and from long range (he’s tied for second on the team in 3-point field goals), and he’s often at his best in the clutch....

For months, U.S. officials have said that Iranian government elements—particularly a Revolutionary Guard unit known as Department 9000—have been supplying Shia, and perhaps even Sunni, insurgents in Iraq with ordnance to kill U.S. troops. However, three officials familiar with current intelligence reporting on Iran (who asked for anonymity due to the sensitive subject matter) said that some key details were sketchy at best. “There are a couple of locations in Iran that we think [lethal Iranian-made roadside bombs] are coming from … but this remains unconfirmed at this point,” said one of the officials....

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarid and Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad spoke by phone, according to the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency. Iran’s state-run IRNA said the two ministers discussed “ways to foil plots hatched by certain Western states in the way of restoring security and stability in Syria,” as well as the need for Western powers to respect “sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Arab country.” The call came as the Biden administration launched airstrikes against Iranian-linked militia groups in Syria; retaliation for a deadly rocket attack by an Iranian-backed group in Iraq earlier this month....

Defense Minister Amir Hatami said Tuesday that the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research—widely known by its Farsi acronym, SPND—will have its annual budget more than trebled, according to the state-run Fars News Agency. The announcement marks another escalation in the international community’s nuclear standoff with Iran, and comes despite pressure on Iran to scale back its nuclear activities, and threats from President Donald Trump’s outgoing administration that it will not accept a nuclear Iran....

Seyed Abbas Mousavi said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s administration was in no position to criticize Iran’s handling of the crisis, given its failure to contain the pandemic, according to the state-backed Fars News Agency. Mousavi accused the Trump administration of “putting Iranians’ health at risk through economic and medical terrorism” and “committing crimes against humanity.” The White House has maintained its “maximum pressure” sanctions strategy on Tehran, despite the regime there claiming that the restrictions are damaging its ability to combat COVID-19....

The anti-American appeal was sent by Khamenei’s Russian-language Twitter account on Sunday. The ayatollah has multiple Twitter accounts in several languages, including English, Arabic, French, and Spanish. The Russian account was opened in January 2020 and has more than 7,000 followers. Its reach is far smaller than the English-language account, which has more than 809,000 followers. “Nat’l production is key to employment, welfare, reducing inflation& increasing nat’l currency’s power,” Khamenei tweeted....

Rouhani said Thursday while inaugurating transportation and urban development projects that Iran would seek to nullify American sanctions on Tehran—as ordered by Ayatollah Ali Khamanei on Wednesday—which have intensified since President Donald Trump lost November’s election. Iranian leaders have met the sanctions—plus the assassination of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November—with aggressive rhetoric and expanded nuclear activities. Though Tehran is grappling with an economic crisis, the coronavirus pandemic and social unrest, regime leaders are maneuvering for leverage with the incoming Biden team....

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Abbas Mousavi said Tuesday that an international oil tanker experienced “technical defects” in the Persian Gulf and that “Iranian forces approached it after receiving a request for assistance and used a tugboat to pull it towards Iranian waters to carry out the necessary repairs,” according to the semi-official Iranian Students’ News Agency. He said more information would be released shortly. Mousavi did not specify the name of the vessel, but the report appeared to be a reference to the U....

The album includes songs by female singers and features dancing by a fellow Iranian female performer. Female vocals are banned in Iranian music and women are not allowed to dance. But Rajabian told Newsweek he included women regardless. “History requires us to produce important works of art, censorship weakens my art,” he said. “I do not censor myself.” Handcuffed and brought in front of a judge in the city of Sari, north of Tehran, Rajabian was freed only because his family was able to post bail....

CENTCOM said that the expeditionary sea base platform ship USS Lewis B. Puller (ESB 3) and guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG 68) were in international waters on Monday when an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy patrol boat approached. The Iranian vessel “attempted to blind the bridge by shining a spotlight,” and got within 150 yards of the American ships, which was “dangerously close, particularly at night.” To de-escalate the situation, the U....

IDEAS IRAQ AND THE LESSONS OF HISTORY FOR ALL SIDES, THE OTHER BATTLE IS OVER WHICH HISTORICAL ANALOGIES APPLY BY ANDREW NAGORSKI “Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.” Judging by the rhetorical battle over the putative lessons of history during the run-up to the war in Iraq, George Orwell’s famous dictum resonates today more than ever. If President Bush manages to convince the world that the war was necessary to avoid even worse consequences, a repeat of the disastrous appeasement polices of the 1930s that only encouraged Hitler, then he can emerge morally vindicated....

Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and an ex-Marine, told The Dean Obeidallah Show that he didn’t think the president “realised the impact of what he was doing” when he chose to take U.S. forces out of the region. The White House revealed it would be withdrawing troops from areas controlled by U.S.-allied Kurdish militias on Sunday after a phone call between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan....

But history must wait. Iraqgate has now become an extremely complicated-and almost hopelessly screwed up-criminal case with very large political overtones. It is, at bottom, a fraud investigation that involves the Atlanta branch office of a big Italian bank, the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, or BNL. In recent weeks, the BNL scandal has led to more or less open warfare between the U.S. Department of Justice and the CIA, and it has touched off internecine combat within the CIA itself....

A segment from the episode was posted to Twitter by @marina0swald who noted that it features “an unidentified military jet” firing missiles at the twin towers while the main villain “flies an invisible plane into the Pentagon.” In the clip, an air traffic controller can be seen warning that an “unidentified war plane is heading for New York City” before his superior picks up a red phone and shouts into it “Mayday!...

As a CW show, Gossip Girl is owned by WarnerMedia, who have their own streaming service in the form of HBO Max, which launched at the end of May 2020. According to a Warner press release, though the show is not currently on the streaming service, it will soon leave Netflix and come to HBO Max. The statement reads in part: “Soon, the platform offering will continue to grow adding the libraries of Gossip Girl, The West Wing, and more within the first year of launch....

Watt’s appearance marks the three-time defensive player of the year’s first time on the sketch comedy series, and from the looks of the latest promo video, he’s up for the challenge. The question, however, is if longtime cast member Aidy Bryant ready to roll with the big boys. In the clip, Bryant announces that it’s officially Big Boy Week at Rockefeller Center’s Studio 8H, where SNL is broadcast. Watt responds by asking Bryant if she was scared, to which she nervously replies, “No, no!...

“I have been told he is a much better player,” Alain Vigneault said of the Rangers' 23-year-old defenseman. “I have not seen that on a consistent enough basis. We’ll see how he responds.” Rough translation: They told me he was good, and he's not. What Del Zotto (one points, three assists) is responding to is a three-game stint in the press box. He's likely to return on Thursday night against the Dallas Stars....

Star winger Brad Marchand has not played yet this year as he continues to recover from offseason hip surgery, but the pesky forward is in line to make his season debut Thursday night against the Red Wings, according to Bruins coach Jim Montgomery. This comes just one day after Montgomery said that while Marchand is “ahead of schedule”, he was not expecting him to play this week, but at some point before Thanksgiving....

The Merriam-Webster definition offers a little bit of wiggle room by defining soup as “a liquid food especially with a meat, fish, or vegetable stock as a base and often containing pieces of solid food. ”[3] X Research source Cereal, in many respects, qualifies as “a liquid food” that “often contains pieces of solid food”—and the use of “especially” leads some to speculate that savory stock isn’t the ultimate qualifier of a dish’s overall soupiness....

The Clippers however, still have not ruled Leonard out officially for the 2022 NBA playoffs and in a promising sign, the 30-year-old forward was seen working out at the team’s recent practice on Tuesday. NBA LEAGUE PASS: Sign up to unlock live out-of-market games (7-day free trial) But does that mean Leonard’s return is just around the corner? Could the two-time Finals MVP play against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday?...