Bears fire third-year head coach per multiple reports
Chicago suffered sixth straight defeat on Thursday
OC Thomas Brown will serve as interim head coach
The Chicago Bears fired third-year head coach Matt Eberflus on Friday, multiple media outlets reported.
The reports came less than 24 hours after Eberflus experienced a sixth straight defeat and third consecutive loss decided on the final play. The Bears fell to 4-8 on the season.
Litigants say AI company used their articles to train its popular ChatGPT software without authorization
Canada’s major news organizations have sued tech firm OpenAI for potentially billions of dollars, alleging the company “unjustly enriched” itself by using news articles to train its popular ChatGPT software.
The suit, filed on Friday in Ontario’s superior court of justice, calls for punitive damages, a share of profits made by OpenAI from using the news organizations’ articles, and an injunction barring the San Francisco-based company from using any of the news articles in the future.
Marvel has decided to take Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson right back to the superhero stone age with its latest iteration, in which he will basically have no power at all
There’s a weird thing about superheroes. They tend to be a little bit more intriguing when they actually have superpowers. Yes, there is the odd exception: Batman has managed to navigate a Gotham City filled with supervillains who vacillate between the distinctly non-magical (Penguin, Carmine Falcone) and the utterly bonkers (Poison Ivy, Clayface), without having any powers of his own – unless you count his uncanny ability to weaponise extreme wealth and a voice like he has been gargling gravel. Iron Man may not be filled with radioactive spider venom or gamma rays, but he does develop technology that would make Elon Musk sweat as if he’s just realised his latest rocket is running on Windows Vista.
Then there’s just about everyone else in the Marvel universe – and they all seem to have some kind of deal going on, whether it be Doctor Strange’s mystical, extra-dimensional shenanigans or Captain Marvel’s cosmic power-ups. Which is why it’s downright weird that the studio has decided to take the new Captain America, Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson, right back to the superhero stone age with its latest iteration.
The forthcoming Captain America: Brave New World will see Wilson attempting to discover the truth behind an international conspiracy after Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross is elected as US president. It’s a return to the espionage-themed era of earlier Captain America films such as 2014’s The Winter Soldier, and to a lesser extent, 2016’s Civil War. Asked to explain how he is going to manage fighting the good fight without access to the super serum that Wilson decided not to take during the events of Disney+ spin-off The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Mackie suggested he would use his intellect to make up for any shortfall in firepower.
Emma Hayes is keen for her Olympic champions to keep progressing in Saturday’s friendly meeting with England
Lindsey Horan’s nails are painted gold and she gives an embarrassed laugh when asked whether they are a celebration of the US team’s Olympic gold in Paris, a statement to Saturday’s opposition of their status. “No, it was supposed to be brown chrome,” she says, going a little red. “It was a translation problem.”
Her manager, Emma Hayes, sitting beside her at Tottenham’s training ground before the game against England at Wembley, chips in: “She has got the most incredible necklace, though.” The five Olympic rings hang round Horan’s neck in gold and the captain promises she will get Hayes one.
World champion says he will maintain ruthless style
‘The problem in F1 is that 80-85% of media is British’
Max Verstappen has defiantly dismissed criticism of his driving in the aftermath of winning his fourth Formula One world title in Las Vegas last weekend.
Speaking before this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate round, the Red Bull driver bullishly insisted he would not change his ruthless style, which has been both penalised and criticised.
The song cycle’s exploration of madness, death, sex and trauma redefined music – and singing. But how do you hiss, whisper and sing at the same time?
Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire broke the mould of what both chamber music and singing could be. Scored for five musicians playing eight instruments between them and a singer instructed not to sing, it was the perfect musical manifestation of expressionism, the cultural movement of the early 1900’s where creatives across the disciplines sought to capture the essence of emotions rather than physical realities.
The work’s 21 poems explore themes of madness, death, sex, dreams, trauma and nostalgia through the character of Pierrot and his partners in crime, Harlequin and Columbine. The music – one of Schoenberg’s earliest moves towards atonality (the absence of a key, as we’d understand it) – can feel unsettling and haunting, yet has moments of breathtaking beauty, calm and a heady dose of romanticism to boot. However, it is the singer’s employment of sprechgesang – literally speak-sing – that even 100 years later, can still sound completely out of this world.
Serb wanted someone who had played at the very top
Djokovic confident he is still fit enough to win more slams
Novak Djokovic has revealed Andy Murray was caught off guard when asked to be his new coach, but feels the link-up can only be good for tennis.
Murray retired after this summer’s Olympics at the age of 37 after finally admitting defeat in his battle against injury. It had been suggested Murray would one day return to tennis and become a coach, due to his love of the sport, hard work and tactical acumen.
MPs have taken a historic step toward legalising assisted dying in England and Wales by backing a bill that would give some terminally ill people the right to end their own lives.
Manchester City manager ‘asked for that challenge’
Guardiola would walk away only if he felt of no benefit
Pep Guardiola believes he has avoided the sack at Manchester City after five consecutive losses and a draw because eight years of success there have given him a “margin”.
City threw away a three-goal lead in Tuesday’s 3-3 draw with Feyenoord when ending their run of defeats and travel to Liverpool on Sunday knowing they will trail Arne Slot’s leaders by 11 points if they lose.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen used to coach Jakob and his brothers
He ‘punched and kicked’ Jakob since he was a schoolboy
Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s father will stand trial next year on charges that include abusing the double Olympic champion and threatening to “beat him to death”.
From defence to trade, the incoming US president is upending the old order – and standing apart from our neighbours leaves us dangerously exposed
It’s one damned thing after another. As Keir Starmer is discovering, government, like life, can feel like a fusillade of events, each coming faster than the one before. If it’s not a cabinet minister resigning over a past fraud conviction, it’s MPs voting for assisted dying – and that’s just in one day. Through that blizzard of news, it can be hard to make out the lasting changes in the landscape – even those that have profound implications for our place in the world.
The November 2024 event that will have the most enduring global impact is the election of Donald Trump. There are some in the higher reaches of the UK government who are surprisingly relaxed about that fact, reassuring themselves that, in effect, we got through it once, we’ll get through it again. Yes, they admit, Trump has nominated some crazy people to lead in areas crucial to the UK-US relationship, such as defence and intelligence, but don’t worry, officials in London will do what they did last time: work with like-minded counterparts in the Washington bureaucracy to bypass the Trump loyalists at the top.
Friday’s vote by British MPs in favour of legalising assisted dying is the first step towards landmark legislation that would mean terminally ill adults wishing to end their lives can legally be helped to do so in England and Wales for the first time.
The vote passed by 330 votes to 275, a clear but not overwhelming margin, reflecting the often passionately held positions on each side of the debate.
Designers must commit to ditching skins of animals such as crocodiles and snakes from 2025
London fashion week has become the first of the four main fashion weeks to ban exotic animal skins from shows from 2025 – the biggest industry event to do so.
All designers staging fashion shows at the event will have to commit to ditching skins of animals such as crocodiles, alligators and snakes from their collections.
The LGBTQ+ community has been here before – and learned that real change happens when activists are front and center
The ascendency of Donald Trump to his second presidency is fraught with anxiety and fear for many Americans, particularly gay Americans. Books with queer themes are already being removed from school and public libraries. Trans people are being denied the right to use bathrooms or be on sports teams that align with their gender. Trans medical care is under attack in many states. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs that may help LGBTQ+ people as well as others are being eliminated. Justice Clarence Thomas has broached “revisiting” the supreme court decisions that legalized same-sex marriage.
Many queer activists – panicked, tenacious, resolute – are asking what we can do in the face of these attacks that seek to dismantle basic rights and access that were presumed permanent. The enormity and consequentiality of this battle feels like being swept heedlessly into uncharted waters. We are rummaging through US history to find precedents for why Trump won and how to confront the damage he may cause.
Working behind the scenes is necessary, but real change happens when activists are front and center
Michael Bronski is an American academic and writer, best known for his 2011 book A Queer History of the United States. He has been involved with LGBT politics since 1969 as an activist and organizer
The leader of Ireland’s Social Democrats party has announced the birth of a baby daughter on the day of the country’s general election.
Holly Cairns, who is standing for re-election in the Cork South-West constituency, posted on Instagram: “She’s here. We are completely in love with her.”
The ties have it: bows are in decline, replaced by an accessory once the preserve of power-dressers that’s being updated by a more fluid generation
Generational divides have been spelt out in everything from hair partings to jeans and socks in recent years. A side parting or a pair of no-show trainer socks can brand you a millennial or gen X. And now the latest item to instantly highlight the generational divide is an accessory. If bows are a favourite of thirtysomethings, those in their 20s have discovered the neck tie.
On the catwalk, at Saint Laurent, there were baggy, boxy trouser suits worn with ties. Celebrities are also wearing the look. Kelly Rowland wore a suit and tie to endorse Kamala Harris in October, Boygenius all wore ties at the Grammys in February and gen Z style whisperer Hailey Bieber wore a suit and tie to dinner last month.
The actor who plays Elphaba in the big screen adaptation of the musical joined the debate declaring ‘we spent this long singing it ourselves – it’s time for everyone else to join in’
Wicked star Cynthia Erivo has joined the debate over whether it’s acceptable to sing along to the blockbusting musical in cinemas – and she’s fine with it.
In an interview with NBC during the traditional Thanksgiving Day parade in New York on Thursday, Erivo was asked about the issue, which appears to have split cinemagoers down the middle and came out as very much in the pro camp, saying: “I’m OK with it. We spent this long singing it ourselves – it’s time for everyone else to join in. It’s wonderful.”
‘Important shift’ made in global attempts to address plastic pollution though final treaty text yet to be agreed
Pressure from an increasingly large bloc of countries has offered hope that a breakthrough at critical international plastic treaty talks could be in sight at last, after two years of deadlock. But some warned that fragile progress could disappear again in the last stages of negotiations over the weekend.
For some time, the talks have been split over demands for the treaty to include plans to reduce the amount of plastic that is being produced – a production cap. A draft text for a final deal published on Friday included language for a global target to reduce the amount of plastic made. But it also included another option for no text – meaning no action would be taken to reduce plastic production worldwide. The final text, which may use either of those options, will hopefully be decided this weekend.
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder affects about 2.6 million people in the UK, yet misinformation about the condition is rife. Here we separate scientific fact from TikTok-fuelled fiction
‘I can’t believe he’s late again,” my friend said, texting to complain about a colleague. “You’ve got ADHD, too, and you seem fine!” I thought smugly: “Ah yes,” as I prepared to pull another all-nighter to hit a deadline, “that could never be me.”
I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at 14, which, at its worst, feels like having a million YouTube tabs simultaneously playing in my brain. Extreme procrastination and restlessness are some of my most noticeable traits. If you meet me, I’m most probably discreetly tapping my big toe to expel the nervous energy that rips through me on a daily basis. And while I’m hardly ever late these days, that’s only because I’ve jerry-rigged an elaborate system of calendar alarms to alert me to any upcoming event.
A ‘covalent organic framework’ can be used to capture carbon to store it or convert it for industrial use
An innocuous yellow powder, created in a lab, could be a new way to combat the climate crisis by absorbing carbon from the air.
Just half a pound of the stuff may remove as much carbon dioxide as a tree can, according to early tests. Once the carbon is absorbed by the powder, it can be released into safe storage or be used in industrial processes, like carbonizing drinks.
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