Harlee Thomas sat on a bench at Marina Superior on Thursday morning.
Thomas cheered for her Edison Substantial teammates at the Huntington Seaside Union High University District’s Unified Sports activities track meet. Some were being particular instruction and some were typical instruction, but that did not seem to subject.
Thomas turned, asking Edison exclusive education and learning scholar Nalani Yang if she was possessing exciting.
“Yes,” Yang responded warmly. “You’re my ideal friend.”
Thomas smiled back.
“You’re my greatest close friend, too,” she responded.
Marina Higher School’s Logan Sutterfield celebrates just after operating in a warmth of the 400 meters for the duration of the Huntington Seashore Union Higher College District Unified Athletics track meet up with on Thursday at Marina.
(Scott Smeltzer / Staff members Photographer)
Unity was the name of the activity at the observe fulfill, sponsored by Exclusive Olympics Orange County. It featured sprints and races up to 400 meters, additionally relay races, a extensive leap and softball toss. Pupils from host Marina, Ocean Look at, Edison, Fountain Valley and Westminster large educational institutions all participated.
Jen Letterman, one particular of two Unified Sports activities liaisons for Marina together with Butch Fredlow, reported there were being about 250 Unified Athletics athletes and their standard training “partners” collaborating, as nicely as associates from the Unified Cheer and Unified Band programs.
While there are several rivalries in between schools in the district, that was not the scenario on Thursday. Marina observe coach Carlos Castellanos said he had some of his team customers there volunteering to guide with events and timing races.
“I feel this is why coaches get into sports activities, to assist get a whole district, get a full system jointly, get a whole local community with each other to assistance other students,” Castellanos mentioned. “Inclusion is one thing that’s getting put ahead, and keep track of and industry, I come to feel like this is a activity exactly where we can travel that. So, this is an interesting function for us currently.”
Edison’s Michelle Tlapa-Morales throws a softball for the duration of the Huntington Seashore Union High University District Unified Sporting activities keep track of meet on Thursday.
(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)
Jade Bumanglag, a Marina senior who is president of the school’s Unified Sporting activities application, reported she appreciated looking at every person integrated and the pure smiles of members and directors alike.
“We wanted to make it tremendous-entertaining,” Bumanglag reported. “We set encouraging posters up for each and every school, balloons, we have online games for all of the athletes and their companions to occur enjoy in the center also. And we adore the assistance from our college. We have Colour Guard below, band, cheer, dance, sporting activities med learners.”
Each individual district college hosts a Unified Sports activities occasion throughout the college 12 months. The ultimate just one will be when Westminster hosts a football working day on May possibly 25.
Isis Salazar claimed it was her very first time collaborating in a Unified Sports event, but she’s glad she did. She was quick in the 100 meters, not a surprise to those people who have viewed her dominate in girls’ soccer at Ocean Perspective.
Fountain Valley Significant School’s delegation stands for the Nationwide Anthem in the course of Thursday’s track satisfy.
(Scott Smeltzer / Personnel Photographer)
“I was talking to my partner [Craig Earnest] and he mentioned that it was so interesting that they get to experience involved,” Salazar stated. “I was like, it surely is … For these that don’t come to feel like they are excellent sufficient, they’re able to compete. I feel which is so good, so they can demonstrate that, you know, they’re even now here.”
Fountain Valley observe senior Jack Todd stated he liked racing the 400, which is his main occasion. He ran it Wednesday in a dual fulfill in opposition to Newport Harbor, and he’ll also be running the 400 in the Length Medley Relay on Saturday as Marina participates in the prestigious Arcadia Invitational meet.
Thursday’s satisfy may well have been decidedly lower stakes, but no a lot less fun.
“There was a great deal of hype in this article,” Todd stated. “Everyone was cheering each and every other on, no make a difference if you are unique ed or not. It felt like a really massive neighborhood here. That’s what monitor is, but it was actually powerful nowadays, which was pretty cool.”
Individuals from various higher schools participate in the 50 meter sprint all through the Huntington Beach Union Higher Faculty District Unified Sporting activities track satisfy on Thursday.
(Scott Smeltzer / Team Photographer)
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The Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelenskiy, will be the opening speaker on Friday at the three-day Munich security conference as the west faces urgent calls to speed up ammunition production and supplies to Kyiv in the face of mounting fears that Russia is planning a new offensive. The conference is expected to be attended by more than 100 world leaders, and diplomats, including the US vice-president Kamala Harris, and the event will be seen as a key test of the west’s resolve to fight out a grinding, prolonged, expensive war.
Negotiations will start in a week on extending a UN-backed initiative that has enabled Ukraine to export grain from ports blockaded by Russia after its invasion, a senior Ukrainian official said on Friday. Yuriy Vaskov said “I think common sense will prevail and the corridor will be extended.”
Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne reports that the energy grid is working without consumption restrictions today across all of Ukraine, with the exception of Odesa, where “due to damaged infrastructure there are still restrictions” and “power outage schedules are applied.”
Finland’s parliament will vote on 28 February to approve the necessary legislation that will allow the country to eventually become a member of Nato, Reuters reports the Finnish parliament’s head of foreign affairs committee said on Friday.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said that the US is inciting Ukraine to strike directly at Russian territory, after comments by US under secretary of state Victoria Nuland about Crimea. Zakharova said “[The US] supply weapons in huge quantities, provide intelligence, simply participate directly in the planning of military operations, train Ukrainian armed formations. Now the American warmongers have gone even further: they are inciting the Kyiv regime to further escalate, simply to transfer the war to the territory of our country.”
Nuland had told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington the US considers that Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, should be demilitarised at a minimum and Washington supports Ukrainian attacks on military targets on the peninsula.
Facebook allowed exiled Moldovan oligarch Ilan Shor with ties to the Kremlin to run ads calling for protests and uprisings against the pro-western government, even though he and his political party were on US sanctions lists.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Léonie Chao-Fong will be with you shortly.
Ahead of the Munich security conference, Mykhailo Podolyak, a political adviser to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has reiterated Kyiv’s position that Russia must withdraw from Ukraine as a pre-condition for peace talks.
Reuters reports Podolyak tweeted “For decriminalization of global politics and real global security, the war must end with Ukraine’s victory. Negotiations can begin when Russia withdraws its troops from the territory of Ukraine. Other options only give Russia time to regroup forces and resume hostilities at any moment.”
Finland’s parliament will vote on 28 February to approve the necessary legislation that will allow the country to eventually become a member of Nato, Reuters reports the Finnish parliament’s head of foreign affairs committee said on Friday.
Turkey and Hungary are yet to approve the bids by Sweden and Finland to join the alliance.
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said that the US is inciting Ukraine to strike directly at Russian territory, after comments by US under secretary of state Victoria Nuland about Crimea. [See 8.43 GMT]
Tass reports that in her weekly press briefing, Zakharova said:
Once again, we have to state the involvement of the US in the conflict in Ukraine. They supply weapons in huge quantities, provide intelligence, simply participate directly in the planning of military operations, train Ukrainian armed formations.
Now the American warmongers have gone even further: they are inciting the Kyiv regime to further escalate, simply to transfer the war to the territory of our country. Like this, direct strikes. This is what we warned about before, and what we were because of forced to launch a special military operation. Now they, US officials, are talking about it openly.
Nuland had said that the US supported Ukraine striking at targets in Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 in a move which is not widely recognised by the international community.
Zakharova said “Crimea is reliably protected”, according to the Tass report.
Ukrainian official: Negotiations to extend Black Sea grain export deal will begin next week
Negotiations will start in a week on extending a UN-backed initiative that has enabled Ukraine to export grain from ports blockaded by Russia after its invasion, a senior Ukrainian official said on Friday.
“Negotiations on extending the grain corridor will begin in a week and then we will understand the positions of all parties,” Ukrainian deputy infrastructure minister Yuriy Vaskov said during a grain conference in Kyiv organised by the ProAgro agriculture consultancy.
“I think common sense will prevail and the corridor will be extended,” he said.
Reuters reports he said that pressure was being exerted on Russia not only to extend the corridor but also to improve the way it works. “We see that the enemy is starting to put forward new conditions. We understand that it will be difficult – as it was in November,” Vaskov said.
A grain terminal at the seaport in Odesa. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters
The Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July allowed grain to be exported from three Ukrainian ports.
The agreement was extended by a further 120 days in November and is up for renewal again in March, but Russia has signalled that it is unhappy with some aspects of the deal and has asked for sanctions affecting its agricultural exports to be lifted.
Patrick Wintour
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reports from Munich:
The Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelenskiy, will be the opening speaker on Friday at the three-day Munich security conference as the west faces urgent calls to speed up ammunition production and supplies to Kyiv in the face of mounting fears that Russia is planning a new offensive.
The conference is expected to be attended by more than 100 world leaders, and diplomats, including the US vice-president Kamala Harris, and the event will be seen as a key test of the west’s resolve to fight out a grinding, prolonged, expensive war. Few are expected to hold out hope of early peace negotiations.
The MSC has had a tradition going back decades of inviting senior leaders from states hostile, or ambivalent, towards the west, but this year has taken the unusual decision to exclude any representatives from Iran or Russia. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, has responded to his exclusion by setting a Moscow foreign policy goal of ending the diplomatic monopoly of the west.
The Chinese foreign minister, Wang Yi, however, will be speaking at the conference and his speech will be watched closely to see how far he is willing to go both in distancing himself from Russia’s invasion and in seeking out a post-Covid new trading relationship with the west. He is expected to meet the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who is likely to urge him to do more to criticise the invasion of Ukrainian sovereign territory. A planned trip by Blinken to Beijing was cancelled over the Chinese spy balloon controversy.
Read more here: Zelenskiy to open Munich summit amid fears of new Russian offensive
In Russia, Tass is reporting some reaction to those comments by US under secretary of state Victoria Nuland about Crimea. She said the US supported Ukrainian strikes on Crimea as legitimate military targets, and that Crimea should be demilitarised at least as part of any solution to the war. [See 8.43 GMT]
Tass quotes Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on international affairs saying:
Each such statement serves as a pretext for escalation not only in Ukraine, but also around it. An increasing number of states are forced to determine their position in relation to what is actually happening in the centre of Europe. Nevertheless, the more provocative statements are heard, and Nuland’s statement is pure provocation, the further we are from resolving the conflict.
Ukraine’s state broadcaster Suspilne reports that the energy grid is working without consumption restrictions today across all of Ukraine, with the exception of Odesa, where “due to damaged infrastructure there are still restrictions” and “power outage schedules are applied.”
The United States considers that Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, should be demilitarised at a minimum and Washington supports Ukrainian attacks on military targets on the peninsula, under secretary of state Victoria Nuland has said.
“No matter what the Ukrainians decide about Crimea in terms of where they choose to fight etcetera, Ukraine is not going to be safe unless Crimea is at a minimum, at a minimum, demilitarised,” Nuland told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
Asked about the dangers of escalation in the Ukraine war, Reuters reports Nuland said Russia had a host of military installations crucial for the conflict. “Those are legitimate targets, Ukraine is hitting them and we are supporting that,” Nuland said.
Reuters has a quick snap that a Ukrainian official has said negotiations on extending the Black Sea corridor grain export deal will begin next week.
More details soon …
Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, reports on Telegram that two people were killed in the Beryslav district of Kherson in the last 24 hours. Citing Volodymyr Litvinov, head of the Beryslav district administration, it reported:
During the day, the Russian army shelled four communities of the Beryslav district. Residents’ residential buildings and outbuildings were damaged. Two people were killed in the village of Zmiivka, and one was injured in Tyahynka.
Facebook allowed an exiled Moldovan oligarch with ties to the Kremlin to run ads calling for protests and uprisings against the pro-western government, even though he and his political party were on US sanctions lists, Associated Press reports.
The ads featuring exiled opposition politician Ilan Shor were ultimately removed by Facebook but not before they were seen millions of times in Moldova.
Seeking to exploit anger over inflation and rising fuel prices, the paid posts from Shor’s political party targeted the government of pro-western president, Maia Sandu, who earlier this week detailed what she said was a Russian plot to topple her government using external saboteurs.
“Destabilisation attempts are a reality and for our institutions, they represent a real challenge,” Sandu said Thursday as she swore in a new government led by pro-western prime minister, Dorin Recean, her former defence and security adviser.
The ads reveal how Russia and its allies have exploited lapses by social media platforms – like Facebook, many of them operated by US companies – to spread propaganda and disinformation that weaponises economic and social insecurity in an attempt to undermine governments in eastern Europe.
Moldova borders Ukraine, and the pro-Russian separatist region of Transnistria is sandwiched between the two.
China’s President Xi Jinping will deliver a peace speech on the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Italy’s foreign minister said on Friday, citing top diplomat Wang Yi.
Wang Yi “told me that Xi will make a peace speech on the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine” on 24 February, Reuters reports minister Antonio Tajani told Italian radio RAI, the day after he met the top Chinese diplomat in Rome.
The UK Ministry of Defence says that as many as 60,000 Russian forces may have been killed just under a year of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and that the casualty rate “has significantly increased since September 2022 when ‘partial mobilisation’ was imposed”.
Convict recruits used by Wagner may have has a casualty rate of one in every two men.
Wagner chief blames ‘bureaucracy’ for slowing military gains
The head of Russia’s mercenary outfit Wagner said on Thursday it could take months to capture the embattled Ukraine city of Bakhmut and slammed Moscow’s “monstrous bureaucracy” for slowing military gains.
Russia has been trying to encircle and capture the battered industrial city ahead of 24 February, the first anniversary of what it terms its “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“I think it’s [going to be in] March or in April,” Wagner head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in one of several messages posted online.
“To take Bakhmut you have to cut all supply routes. It’s a significant task,” he said, adding: “Progress is not going as fast as we would like.
“Bakhmut would have been taken before the New Year, if not for our monstrous military bureaucracy.”
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in his nightly video address on Thursday that his priority at the moment is to hold off Russian attacks and get ready for an eventual Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“Holding the situation at the front and preparing for any enemy steps of escalation – that is the priority for the near future,” he said.
Nato alliance officials this week discussed the need for more military hardware for Kyiv, and Britain and Poland agreed after their leaders met on Thursday that support should be stepped up.
US officials have advised Ukraine to hold off with any counter-offensive until the latest supply of US weaponry is in place and training has been provided.
Last year’s gathering took place days before the war began. As Russian troops massed on Ukraine’s borders, western leaders in Munich urged President Vladimir Putin not to invade and warned of dire consequences if he did.
This year, leaders will grapple with the consequences of Putin’s decision to ignore their pleas and unleash the most devastating war in Europe since the second world war that has killed countless thousands and forced millions to flee.
Russian leaders will be notable by their absence at the conference, which runs until Sunday, but senior Ukrainian officials are expected to address it.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address his priority was to hold off Russian attacks and get ready for an eventual Ukrainian counter-offensive.
“Holding the situation at the front and preparing for any enemy steps of escalation – that is the priority for the near future,” he said.
Nato alliance officials this week discussed the need for more military hardware for Kyiv, and Britain and Poland agreed after their leaders met on Thursday that support should be stepped up.
US officials have advised Ukraine to hold off with any counter-offensive until the latest supply of US weaponry is in place and training has been provided.
The Ukraine military’s general staff, in a Thursday evening report, said Russia had also shelled more than two dozen eastern and southern settlements.
There was no word from Russia on the missile strikes or shelling, and Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield reports.
World leaders meet in Munich for security conference
Senior politicians and military leaders from around the world are meeting today in Germany, with Ukrainian officials expected to address the security conference.
Bolstered by tens of thousands of reservists, Russia has intensified ground attacks across southern and eastern Ukraine, and, as the first anniversary of its 24 February invasion nears, a major new Russian offensive appears to be taking shape.
US vice-president Kamala Harris arrives at Munich Airport on 16 February 2023 in Freising, Germany. Photograph: Hannes Magerstaedt/Getty Images
Russia rained missiles across Ukraine on Thursday and struck its largest oil refinery. Of at least 36 missiles that Russia fired about 16 were shot down, the air force said, a lower rate than normal.
Ukraine said the barrage included missiles that its air defences cannot shoot down, which will only add urgency to its appeals for more western military support.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and US vice-president Kamala Harris are among many top officials attending the Munich Security Conference.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest for the next while.
Senior politicians and military leaders from around the world will meet today in Germany for the Munich Security Conference, with Ukrainian officials expected to address gathering.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and US vice-president Kamala Harris are among many top officials attending the meeting.
In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments:
Russia fired Grad rockets and barrel artillery at a residential district in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut on Thursday, killing three men and two women and wounding nine more, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said. Blurred images of the victims were shared on Telegram by the office of the prosecutor, who said the attack was being investigated as a war crime. “Criminal proceedings have been initiated.”
Russia launched a total of 36 air- and sea-based cruise missiles, guided air-to-surface missiles and anti-ship missiles at Ukraine overnight into Thursday, according to Ukrainian officials. At least 16 missiles were shot down by Ukrainian forces, the air force said. Among them, air defences in the south downed eight Kalibr missiles fired from a ship in the Black Sea, the officials said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has ruled out giving up any Ukrainian territory in a potential peace deal with Russia. In an interview with the BBC, Ukraine’s leader said conceding land would mean Russia could “keep coming back”. Zelenskiy said a predicted spring offensive had already begun but he believed his country’s forces could keep resisting Russia’s advance until they were able to launch a counter-offensive.
Bakhmut will fall within a couple of months, the head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group has predicted. In an interview with a pro-war military blogger, Yevgeny Prigozhin forecast Bakhmut would be seized in March or April, depending on how many soldiers Ukraine commits to its defence and how well his own troops are supplied.
Russia’s overnight bombardment did not have a major impact on power, Ukraine’s energy minister said. German Galushchenko said Ukraine was meeting consumer demand for the fifth successive day. The national power grid operator, Ukrenergo, said it saw no need to introduce emergency power outages to conserve supplies.
Critical infrastructure was damaged in Russian strikes on the Lviv region in Ukraine’s west, the regional state administration’s head, Maksym Kozytskyi, reported on Telegram, adding there were no casualties.
Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine had returned 101 prisoners of war to Russia following talks, state-run media reported. Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said 100 troops and one civilian had been returned to Ukraine. Nearly all had been defending the southern city of Mariupol before it fell to Russian forces, he said.
Russia has “definitely changed tactics” by using decoy missiles without explosive warheads and deploying balloons to fool Ukraine’s air defences, according to a senior Ukrainian official. The goal of the decoy missiles was to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defence systems by offering too many targets, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, told Associated Press.
Russian sortie rates have increased over the past week following several weeks of quieter activity, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has reported. Air activity is “now roughly in line with the average daily rate seen since summer 2022”, its latest intelligence update reads.
Russia “continues to introduce large numbers of troops” on to the battlefield in Ukraine, the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said. Those troops were “ill-equipped and ill-trained” and, as a result, Russian forces were “incurring a lot of casualties and we expect that that will continue”, he told reporters in Estonia.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine is likely to achieve their military aims, according to Gen Mark Milley, chair of the US joint chiefs of staff. In an interview with the Financial Times, Milley said he believed the war would end at the negotiating table. The Pentagon was re-examining its weapons stockpiles and may need to boost military spending after seeing how quickly ammunition has been used during the war in Ukraine, he added.
Belarus will fight alongside ally Russia if another country launches an attack against it, President Alexander Lukashenko has said, adding that he planned to meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Friday.
When Big 12 presidents and athletic directors begin meeting Thursday at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport Grand Hyatt, might as well bring your popcorn.
On the agenda is Gonzaga’s potential membership in basketball. That alone has realignment implications beyond the Big 12. There will also be some discussion about the possible early exit of Texas and Oklahoma for the SEC.
Going into its first season with new members BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF, the Big 12 will discuss perhaps its only athletic year with 14 teams. That’s a Texas-Oklahoma issue, too.
Expansion is still in play, especially as long as the Pac-12 doesn’t sign a new media rights deal.
Gonzaga’s candidacy
Basketball typically brings about 20{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of the value of any media rights deal. That’s why football is so much more important. It’s also why no Power Five conference has a basketball-only member.
But this is Gonzaga, a national power, and this is commissioner Brett Yormark, who is looking to make a mark in his new role and has been pursuing the school as a basketball-only addition. (The Bulldogs do not play football.)
After spending 43 years in the mid-major West Coast Conference, there are indications Gonzaga wants to play up a level of competition — and get paid for it. Numerous reports have the West Coast power at least considering its options with the Big 12, Pac-12 and Big East all potential landing spots.
“I would assume if [the Big 12] wanted Gonzaga, they’d have Gonzaga,” a person familiar with media rights deals told CBS Sports.
Maybe. On the school’s end, the decision is said to be largely up to coach Mark Few, who has guided the Zags since 1999. The program is currently in the middle of rights deal with ESPN and CBS that expires in 2026-27.
On the Big 12 end, Yormark has tried to sell his ADs on the concept of a basketball-only member. They have previously seen a presentation regarding Gonzaga’s membership, but it didn’t include any financial details. Don’t be surprised if the ADs have sought to price Gonzaga’s inclusion with league media consultant Endeavor.
“I think that’s probably the lesson that I get taught over and over is, we underappreciate the power of our brand nationally,” Gonzaga AD Chris Standiford told the AP in December.
Gonzaga has negotiated getting a weighted share of NCAA Tournament revenue from the WCC since it is far and away the league’s most consistent postseason performer. From 1999 to 2019, Gonzaga produced more than 70{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of the WCC’s 75 “units” — revenue that comes from the NCAA for each tournament victory.
In the Power Five, most (if not all) tournament revenue is distributed evenly among schools by conferences.
The attraction between the two parties is obvious. The Big 12 already is the best basketball league. With Gonzaga, it would get even stronger. Membership would insulate the Zags in case the tournament field grows and the likes of the WCC lose automatic qualifier status. That was speculated when the NCAA Transformation Committee released its recommendations last month.
In return for bringing its brand, Gonzaga would get security and access to NCAA Tournament revenue that surpassed $32 million in 2020. The WCC and Gonzaga have remained tight-lipped about what the league and program are currently making in media rights revenue.
“Any money they get [from the Big 12] has to be more than they’re making,” one industry insider said.
As for the financial impact, Gonzaga wouldn’t get anywhere near a full share of Big 12 revenue that now averages $31.66 million annually. Some see college basketball increasing in value down the road because of streaming. More interest from streaming means more money.
The current dilution comes from an oversaturation. With 363 Division I teams, there are too many televised games that don’t mean anything.
The biggest hang-up may be what to do with Gonzaga’s minor sports. It’s unlikely the WCC would allow them to remain in the conference with basketball not included. Joining the Big 12, if even a possibility, would create significant travel expenses with teams stationed everywhere from Florida to West Virginia to the West Texas.
In 2019, when Gonzaga renegotiated its deal, it used suitor Mountain West as leverage. Now the interested parties are bigger, better and richer.
What about the Pac-12?
Geographically, the Pac-12 makes the most sense for Gonzaga. But the league remaining unsettled in several key areas may drive Gonzaga, and some of the Pac-12’s own schools, to the Big 12.
Pac-12 presidents and ADs concluded a regularly scheduled Monday meeting with no resolution in its ongoing media rights negotiations. The Pac-12 needs that to be settled before proceeding with anything else.
The current media deal with Fox and ESPN expires July 1, 2024. It is extremely late in the negotiating process (17 months out) to still be this far away from an agreement given there is an expiring deal.
“I wouldn’t say [it’s] a concern,” said a Pac-12 AD. “We’re in a process. … Panic or impatience isn’t going to make a difference.”
Meanwhile, the Big 12 — Yormark, specifically — remains interested in those Four Corners schools: Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. While Pac-12 programs have declared various levels of loyalty during this uncertain period, the longer these negotiations last, the more questions will enter the minds of members. Several times, Yormark has said publicly he wants a West Coast presence to spread his conference across all four time zones.
Beyond Gonzaga and those Pac-12 schools, San Diego State remains a Pacific option for the Big 12. A new Pac-12 deal could come in the first quarter of 2023 involving ESPN and Amazon.
The Texas, Oklahoma situation
Texas and Oklahoma recently made an offer to the Big 12 and Fox to leave the league one year early for the SEC, sources told CBS Sports this week. It was rejected. The nature of the offer was not clear.
CBS Sports previously reported the Big 12 rightsholder would have to be made whole for losing the Longhorns and Sooners early from its programming lineup. That could involve a series of nonconference games involving both schools being played in Big 12 stadiums once Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC.
Fox and ESPN hold the linear broadcast rights to the Big 12 through 2024-25. ESPN owns 63{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of the value from the new $2.3 billion deal that begins in 2025. As such, it gets top picks with the four best football games each season, six of the top eight, eight of the top 12 and 12 of the top 20, according to SportsBusiness Journal. Fox, which owns the remaining 37{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of the deal, receives 26 games per season. It is not clear whether Fox would get access to some of those ESPN picks if a deal was struck.
There was speculation that Tuesday’s release of the 2023 Big 12 schedule was connected to the Texas-Oklahoma issue. In other words, nothing could happen until it was known when the programs would leave the league.
Not true. The league faced a deadline of early February from their rightsholders to get the schedule done. Fox and ESPN needed to start scheduling games themselves.
Meanwhile, time is running out for a potential early exit. As CBS Sports reported, Texas and Oklahoma want to leave early, but the complications are numerous.
The pair first made it known in August 2022 they wish to leave the Big 12 for the SEC at the conclusion of the 2023 season. For now, they are compelled by the current media rights deal to stay through the 2024 campaign before moving on.
Mazars has identified alone in the headlines all over again this year immediately after confirming it is pausing do the job for crypto customers, together with Crypto.com, KuCoin, and Binance, the world’s greatest crypto exchange.
The news rocking the cryptocurrency planet arrives after the accounting agency in February backed absent from yet another significant-profile client — previous President Donald Trump.
On Friday, Mazars informed Yahoo Finance that it “paused its action relating to the provision of Evidence of Reserves Stories for entities in the cryptocurrency sector thanks to worries concerning the way these reviews are understood by the community.”
Here’s what else to know about the accounting firm.
Exterior see of the tower housing the headquarters of Mazars, an audit and consulting business located in the Paris-La Défense company district
What is Mazars?
Mazars is an worldwide specialist support company that gives a variety of fiscal products and services, like audit (49{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502}), tax (16{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502}), and outsourcing (16{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502}), according to the firm’s 2020/2021 transparency report.
It operates in 90 nations around the world but the majority of its offices and experts are positioned in the European region. Mazars has 12 offices in the U.S., which include in California, New York, Texas, and Florida.
In 2021, Mazars documented a price profits of $2.22 billion ( €2.1 billion).
What products and services did Mazars provide to crypto firms?
Mazars issued proof-of-reserve reviews (PoR) for cryptocurrency trade consumers. The purpose of PoR stories is to verify that there are sufficient assets held by exchanges to back again purchaser balances.
“It’s one thing that has been outlined extra and more since the FTX collapse,” reported Romain Dillet, senior writer at TechCrunch. “Basically it is like saying, ‘here’s what I have in my wallet and here’s what my clients hold on my exchange.’”
Eventually, the exchanges wished to present customers with assurance.
“If every person attempts to withdraw every little thing at the exact time, exchanges with reserves that are bigger than buyer deposits will be capable to method all withdrawal requests,” Dillet explained.
For instance, Binance spelled out its PoR program right after the FTX fallout on its site and showed a 101{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} Bitcoin reserve ratio. Crypto.com also posted its Mazars PoR report on its site with an option to validate buyer resources.
On the other hand, the Mazars PoR report precisely pointed out that these are not economic audit engagements and the organization does not categorical an impression or assurance summary.
The Mazars report on Binance’s BTC reserve is no extended available on the firm’s site. Mazars removed all evidence-of-reserve experiences for cryptocurrency exchanges, according to TechCrunch, and Mazars at the moment does not listing “cryptocurrency” or “blockchain technology” as industries it serves on its web-site.
Why did Mazars pull back?
Immediately after issuing PoR stories for Cyrpto.com and KuCoin earlier this thirty day period, Mazars stated it is suspending these experiences over fears on how the experiences are interpreted by the general public., in accordance to a statement it presented to Yahoo Finance.
“Proof of Reserves Reviews are performed in accordance with Reporting Requirements relevant to an Agreed On Treatments report,” according to the statement. “They do not represent possibly an assurance or an audit viewpoint on subject matter make a difference. Instead, they report restricted conclusions primarily based on the agreed treatments performed on the subject matter at a historical issue in time.
Trump employed Mazars as his longtime accounting firm, its services involved issuing statements of money affliction for the former president. These statements included the valuations of Mr. Trump’s assets, which includes actual estate properties. Even so, in a letter to the Trump Firm in February, William Kelley, Mazars U.S. typical counsel, reported Trump’s monetary statements from June 30, 2011, to June 30, 2020, “should no extended be relied upon.”
The accounting agency also claimed they will no extended provide any companies to Trump and his corporations.
What lawful liability do accounting corporations have?
Mazars, like each other accounting business and its CPAs, is obligated to uphold criteria this sort of as good religion, because of professional care, and general public interest.
Corporations have the legal duty to ensure financials are properly mentioned. If not, consumers, investors, or 3rd parties who depend on their get the job done can sue for negligence or fraud.
Accounting businesses in the earlier experienced collapsed owing to lousy audits. Arthur Andersen, as soon as a “Big 5”’ accounting company alongside with PwC, KPMG, EY, and Deloitte, collapsed in 2002 owing to its involvement in the Enron scandal.
Workers remove accounting agency Arthur Andersen’s indicator from their central organization district workplaces in Sydney May perhaps 21, 2002.
Andersen turned a blind eye when Enron Corp. misreported financials to mislead investors. The foremost audit associate failed to report challenges to the corporation Board and tried using to include up the fraud amid an investigation by the Securities and Trade Commission.
Mazars reminded the Trump Business that “Mazars done its function in accordance with qualified standards” in its break up letter in February. Mazars yet again reminded the public of its adherence to reporting requirements as it suspends cryptocurrency-similar function.
Mazars has not provided even more details on its suspension conclusion to Yahoo Finance.
Rebecca is a reporter for Yahoo Finance.
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