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Kevin Quiambao–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net Both University of the Philippines (UP) and La Salle talked down Game 1 of their UAAP Season 87 men’s basketball tournament title duel like the result mattered less than what it did on paper. “Game 1 doesn’t win a championship,” UP coach Goldwin Monteverde said after the Maroons’ 73-65 victory in Sunday’s series opener. “[Part of] the process [toward getting a championship] is to get the Game 1. And [we’ve done that] so we’ll just have to focus on what we need to improve in terms of [our] lapses [during] the game.” “The only thing that I told the team [was] there’s a reason why this is a series: you don’t win a championship by winning one game, you need two games,” La Salle coach Topex Robinson said after the Archers lost to the Maroons for the first time since, coincidentally, Game 1 of their title bout last season. It could be that the lessons from that championship duel last season watered down the effect of this finale’s opener. After the Maroons won Game 1 of that series—by 30 points, in fact, the Archers stormed back to take the next two games and run away with the crown. But as if reading from the same script, both coaches dismissed that slice of UAAP history, too. “We don’t look back at the past, that’s done and over with,” Robinson said. “We [know] UP has thought of that as well, that they lost [the series last year after winning] Game 1. We just need to let things go and focus on what we have.” “We never dwelled in the past,” Monteverde said. “So right now, as I said, part of the process of winning a championship is winning Game 1. So we got it right now so we’re gonna prepare for Game 2. So we’re gonna do our best, [do] everything that we can to [win] it, and when that game day comes, whatever comes our way, we’re gonna face the challenge there.” There’s a reason why La Salle isn’t putting too much stock on its comeback last season. A lot of the key cogs of that champion team have already left, putting the Archers in a slight disadvantage when it comes to experience in this kind of pressure test. “The players are different now; we have a younger team,” Robinson said. “The team that played last season is gone and [the players] have moved forward, so we just have to slug it out. We just have to make sure we will give ourselves a chance to win ... they did a good job defensively and credit goes to them they really came in prepared.” Robinson said. Monteverde, on the other hand, still has players that have been with him in all four Finals appearances of the Maroons. UP ended a 36-year title drought in Season 84 but lost Season 85 to the Ateneo Blue Eagles before crashing against La Salle in Season 86. In both Finals losses, UP took Game 1. So maybe there’s a little of those memories that keep the Maroons guarded. “The series doesn’t end in Game 1,” JD Cagulangan, whose dramatic three-pointer down the wire sealed UP’s Season 84 triumph, said. “We’ll just go back to practice and [expect] that [La Salle] will adjust [to] what we are doing.” And maybe that comeback last season means something for La Salle after all. Subscribe to our daily newsletter By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy . “We still have a chance. We’ve been in this situation before, we just have to keep on being positive and try to learn from this experience. Again thats a tough team we played, we just have to slug it out in the end,” Robinson said. INQ
CHICAGO (AP) — As Donald Trump’s Cabinet begins to take shape, those on both sides of the abortion debate are watching closely for clues about how his picks might affect reproductive rights policy in the president-elect’s second term . Trump’s cabinet picks offer a preview of how his administration could handle abortion after he repeatedly flip-flopped on the issue on the campaign trail. He attempted to distance himself from anti-abortion allies by deferring to states on abortion policy, even while boasting about nominating three Supreme Court justices who helped strike down the constitutional protections for abortion that had stood for half a century. In an NBC News interview that aired Sunday, Trump said he doesn't plan to restrict medication abortion but also seemed to leave the door open, saying “things change.” “Things do change, but I don't think it's going to change at all,” he said. The early lineup of his new administration , including nominations to lead health agencies, the Justice Department and event the Department of Veterans Affairs, has garnered mixed — but generally positive — reactions from anti-abortion groups. Abortion law experts said Trump's decision to include fewer candidates with deep ties to the anti-abortion movement could indicate that abortion will not be a priority for Trump's administration. “It almost seems to suggest that President Trump might be focusing his administration in other directions," said Greer Donley, an associate law professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Karen Stone, vice president of public policy at Planned Parenthood Action Fund , said while many of the nominees have “extensive records against reproductive health care,” some do not. She cautioned against making assumptions based on Trump's initial cabinet selections. Still, many abortion rights groups are wary, in part because many of the nominees hold strong anti-abortion views even if they do not have direct ties to anti-abortion activists. They're concerned that an administration filled with top-level officials who are personally opposed to abortion could take steps to restrict access to the procedure and funding. After Trump’s ambiguity about abortion during his campaign, "there’s still a lot we don’t know about what policy is going to look like," said Mary Ruth Ziegler, a law professor at the University of California, Davis School of Law. That approach may be revealed as the staffs within key departments are announced. Trump announced he would nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department, which anti-abortion forces have long targeted as central to curtailing abortion rights nationwide. Yet Kennedy shifted on the issue during his own presidential campaign. In campaign videos, Kennedy said he supports abortion access until viability , which doctors say is sometime after 21 weeks, although there is no defined timeframe. But he also said “every abortion is a tragedy” and argued for a national ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy, a stance he quickly walked back. The head of Health and Human Services oversees Title X funding for a host of family planning services and has sweeping authority over agencies that directly affect abortion access, including the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The role is especially vital amid legal battles over a federal law known as EMTALA, which President Joe Biden’s administration has argued requires emergency abortion access nationwide, and FDA approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. Mini Timmaraju, president of the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All, called Kennedy an “unfit, unqualified extremist who cannot be trusted to protect the health, safety and reproductive freedom of American families.” His potential nomination also has caused waves in the anti-abortion movement. Former Vice President Mike Pence , a staunch abortion opponent, urged the Senate to reject Kennedy’s nomination. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the national anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said the group had its own concerns about Kennedy. “There’s no question that we need a pro-life HHS secretary," she said. Fox News correspondent Marty Makary is Trump’s pick to lead the FDA, which plays a critical role in access to medication abortion and contraception. Abortion rights groups have accused him of sharing misinformation about abortion on air. Russell Vought , a staunch anti-abortion conservative, has been nominated for director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought was a key architect of Project 2025 , a right-wing blueprint for running the federal government. Among other actions to limit reproductive rights, it calls for eliminating access to medication abortion nationwide, cutting Medicaid funding for abortion and restricting access to contraceptive care, especially long-acting reversible contraceptives such as IUD’s. Despite distancing himself from the conservative manifesto on the campaign trail, Trump is stocking his administration with people who played central roles in developing Project 2025. Trump acknowledged that drafters of the report would be part of his incoming administration during the Sunday interview with NBC News, saying “Many of those things I happen to agree with.” “These cabinet appointments all confirm that Project 2025 was in fact the blueprint all along, and the alarm we saw about it was warranted,” said Amy Williams Navarro, director of government relations for Reproductive Freedom for All. Dr. Mehmet Oz , Trump’s choice to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, is a former television talk show host who has been accused of hawking dubious medical treatments and products. He voiced contradictory abortion views during his failed Senate run in 2022. Oz has described himself as “strongly pro-life, praised the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade , claimed “life starts at conception” and referred to abortion as “murder.” But he also has echoed Trump’s states-rights approach, arguing the federal government should not be involved in abortion decisions. “I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves,” he said during a Senate debate two years ago. An array of reproductive rights groups opposed his Senate run. As CMS administrator, Oz would be in a key position to determine Medicaid coverage for family planning services and investigate potential EMTALA violations. As Florida’s attorney general, Pam Bondi defended abortion restrictions, including a 24-hour waiting period. Now she’s Trump’s choice for attorney general . Her nomination is being celebrated by abortion opponents but denounced by abortion rights groups concerned she may revive the Comstock Act , an anti-vice law passed by Congress in 1873 that, among other things, bans mailing of medication or instruments used in abortion. An anti-abortion and anti-vaccine former Florida congressman, David Weldon, has been chosen to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which collects and monitors abortion data across the country. Former Republican congressman Doug Collins is Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs amid a political battle over abortion access and funding for troops and veterans. Collins voted consistently to restrict funding and access to abortion and celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade. “This is a team that the pro-life movement can work with," said Kristin Hawkins, president of the national anti-abortion organization Students for Life. The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here . The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Work and pensions minister Sir Stephen Timms said the move aims to drive “real improvements” for disabled people, whom the ministers will be encouraged to engage with on a regular basis. He told the Commons: “I am very pleased to be able to announce today the appointment of new lead ministers for disability in each Government department, they will represent the interests of disabled people, champion disability inclusion and accessibility within their departments. “I’m going to chair regular meetings with them and will encourage them to engage directly with disabled people and their representative organisations, as they take forward their departmental priorities. “And I look forward to this new group of lead ministers for disability together driving real improvements across Government for disabled people.” This came during an adjournment debate on International Day of Persons with Disabilities, where Liberal Democrat MP Steve Darling raised concerns about “floating bus stops”, which have a cycle lane between the stop and the pavement. Intervening, the MP for Torbay, who is registered blind, said: “The Government needs to ban floating bus stops.” Sir Stephen said: “I do think this issue about floating bus stops is an important issue which we need to work across Government to reflect on.” Labour MP Debbie Abrahams, who led the debate, had earlier criticised the lack of accessibility for disabled people on trains. The Oldham East and Saddleworth MP said: “Our train network does not have level access, and we heard Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson from the other place make this plea back in the summer, absolutely outrageous what she was put through. “But I was absolutely shocked to find, when I had a presentation of the TransPennine route upgrade, that the rolling stock yet to be commissioned is not going to provide that level access. “It’s absolute nonsense, it’s not even in the design of that procurement, so we must do better than this.”Teyana Taylor’s Most Iconic Beauty Moments
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