PARIS (AP) — When Snoop Dogg agreed to turn out to be an Olympic torch bearer, the hip-hop star recalled an emotional, iconic second watching Muhammad Ali mild the cauldron on the 1996 Atlanta Video games.

Now, Snoop Dogg hopes to recreate a few of that magic for a worldwide viewers watching the Paris Olympics. He’ll be one of many last torch bearers of the Olympic flame forward of the Video games’ opening ceremony on Friday.

It’s a chance he by no means imagined.

“It was emotional for all of us to see the champ holding that torch and strolling up there,” Snoop Dogg mentioned Wednesday of the late Ali, who shocked the group when he lit the cauldron as a result of he had Parkinson’s illness.

Snoop Dogg will carry the torch within the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, in accordance with the city’s mayor, Mathieu Hanotin.

“That is my very own model of it,” Snoop Dogg mentioned. “I don’t need to get too emotional, however I do know that that is particular.”

Snoop Dogg mentioned he’s grateful for being a consultant from the U.S. and France’s help in him collaborating. He spoke throughout a name with sportscaster Mike Tirico and Molly Solomon, government producer and president of NBC Olympics Manufacturing.

“This says lots about America so far as the place we’re at on this world,” he mentioned. “On the identical time, it says lots about France so far as connecting the dots and permitting me to do that. I take a look at this as a prestigious honor and one thing I actually respect. I might have by no means dreamed of nothing like this. I’m going to be on my finest habits. I’m going to be on my finest athleticism. I’ll have the ability to breathe sluggish to stroll quick and maintain the torch with a smile on my face, as a result of I notice how prestigious this occasion is.”

Alongside together with his torch-bearing duties, Snoop Dogg will function a prime-time NBC correspondent in the course of the Video games. He’ll be on the bottom exploring town’s landmarks and attending competitions and occasions.

The ultra-smooth entertainer already has had informal on-video interviews with a number of Olympians about their sports activities, together with ladies’s basketball participant A’ja Wilson, gymnast Sunisa Lee, skateboarder Jagger Eaton and seashore volleyball gamers Sara Hughes and Kelly Cheng. Final month, he met with monitor star Noah Lyles and participated in a 200-meter race — clocking in at 34.44 seconds — with NBC analyst Ato Boldon and former nationwide champion Wallace Spearmon.

Snoop Dogg arrived in Paris about 10 days earlier than the opening ceremony, assembly with athletes and their relations together with studying their again tales. He has gone to the observe amenities to go to varied groups akin to judo, weightlifting, 3×3 basketball and fencing.

“I’m going to point out you why they made me the person to do it,” he mentioned. “I’m going to place all of my assets and vitality round it with peace, love and concord. That’s what the Olympics is all about. I really feel like that’s why they selected me. That’s what I signify.”

___

AP Summer time Olympics:

Mario Barge will be a part of West Virginia College in August as affiliate vp of Expertise and Tradition.

Barge is an skilled human assets government with 24 years within the insurance coverage, well being care and consulting industries. With expertise throughout many facets of the human assets business, he has created and overseen nationwide, enterprise-wide packages and led groups of various sizes for a number of Fortune 100 corporations through the years.

Most just lately, Barge served as principal of Geneva Govt Companions, an human assets consulting agency that he co-founded. In that capability, he offered consulting, improvement and training companies for purchasers throughout a mess of industries. Barge additionally beforehand served because the vp of human assets for Unified Ladies’s Healthcare for which he oversaw the human assets wants of 13,000 staff and associates spanning over 20 states and a pair of,600 suppliers.

Different notable chapters in Barge’s skilled profession embody his function as a regional human assets government for the Centene Company the place he oversaw a workforce that supported over 3,500 staff and varied positions with Nationwide the place he created quite a lot of human resources-related packages, together with ones targeted on human assets compliance governance, ADA/FMLA go away administration, knowledge and analytics expertise swaps, human assets auditing and sexual harassment coaching.

Barge has a ardour for creating, constructing and supporting numerous workplaces and cultures. He has a juris doctorate from Lewis and Clark Legislation College and a bachelor’s diploma from Dartmouth School.

In August 2023, the College introduced reorganization efforts for the Expertise and Tradition unit to higher serve our College. Expertise and Tradition groups started reporting to Stephanie Taylor in November 2023 amid a reorganization of the previous Strategic Initiatives unit, which was dissolved when the previous vp of the unit left the College.

This spring, as a part of efforts to create larger efficiencies inside Expertise and Tradition with a stronger customer support mindset, the Human Assets Companion, Expertise Technique, Management and Organizational Growth, Medical Administration and Tasks and Operations groups in addition to three Shared Companies groups have been restructured. These efforts resulted in a financial savings of roughly $500,000.

As well as, efficient instantly, Sarah Seime will transition from her function as director of Worker Relations to government director of Worker Engagement and Options. On this function, Sarah will proceed her administrative oversight of Worker Relations, Investigations, Medical Administration and Management and Organizational Growth and can direct key strategic tasks for the development of WVU staff and Expertise and Tradition.

RaeLynn Regula will now function director of Worker Relations and Investigations.

Barge will report back to Taylor when he begins his function on Aug. 6.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — A choose says controversial social media persona Andrew Tate ‘s defamation lawsuit in opposition to a Florida girl who accused him of imprisoning her in Romania can go to trial, however he threw out Tate’s allegations in opposition to her mother and father and a few allegations in opposition to the girl.

Palm Seashore County Circuit Choose Joseph Curley dominated that the extensively adopted former skilled kickboxer, 37, and his brother, Tristan, 36, can current their allegations to a jury that the girl in 2022 enlisted one other girl in a plot to extort cash from them.

The British-American brothers say the girl falsely accused them of human trafficking and rape, costing them their freedom and tens of millions of {dollars} in revenue from their profitable social media, podcasting and enterprise ventures. Romanian officers indicted the Tates final yr, saying the brothers compelled seven victims into pornography and subjected them to bodily violence.

Her attorneys say the lawsuit is in retribution for her reporting him to authorities. The Related Press usually doesn’t title individuals who say they’ve been sexually assaulted.

Curley mentioned in final week’s ruling, posted to on-line court docket data Tuesday, that the Tates’ attorneys have proven sufficient doable proof that the girl defamed their shoppers and was making an attempt to defraud and extort them to warrant a trial. He pointed to April 2022 textual content messages the girl and her pal exchanged the place they are saying they are going to ask the Tates for $200,000 and “act like we nonetheless love them and stuff.”

Curley additionally pointed to different textual content messages that might point out the girl knew she falsely accused the Tates of intercourse trafficking and false imprisonment. No trial date has been set and due to discovery and authorized challenges it may very well be years earlier than one happens.

Curley did throw out elements of the lawsuit accusing the girl of false imprisonment for the Tates being arrested, intentional infliction of emotional misery and interfering with their enterprise relationships. He left the door open to their attorneys amending and refiling these accusations.

Curley dismissed the Tates’ accusations that the girl’s mother and father defamed them once they advised American diplomatic officers about their daughter’s allegations. He mentioned they’d no cause to imagine their daughter’s accusations have been false and had a proper to report them.

Attorneys for the Tates and the girl every mentioned Curley’s choice was a win for his or her facet.

Tate lawyer Joseph McBride mentioned they’re “most happy with Choose Curley’s ruling” because the defamation accusation immediately addresses the “plot to destroy Andrew and Tristan Tate’s lives.” He mentioned no choice has been made on whether or not to amend and refile the dismissed accusations.

The Nationwide Heart on Sexual Exploitation Regulation, which represents the girl and her mother and father, referred to as Curley’s ruling a “big victory.”

“We’re very happy the Courtroom has tossed out the vast majority of this frivolous lawsuit and properly narrowed the problems and claims,” lawyer Dani Pinter mentioned in an announcement. “If the case proceeds, we stay up for the chance to show the reality of what occurred in Romania, and we’re assured that finally we are going to succeed and this harassing lawsuit will fail.”

Romanian investigators mentioned of their indictment that the Tates and two Romanian girls shaped a legal group in 2021 “to be able to commit the crime of human trafficking” in that nation, the USA and Britain. Prosecutors additionally confiscated the Tates’ belongings, together with 15 luxurious automobiles, luxurious watches and about $3 million in cryptocurrency.

Investigators say the seven accusers have been recruited with false declarations of affection, however then compelled to participate in pornography. The girls have been managed by “intimidation, fixed surveillance” and claims they have been in debt, officers mentioned.

However the Tates, of their lawsuit, paint a unique image. They are saying the Florida girl and all girls who lived at their property have been free to return and go as they happy, and closed-circuit safety video can show it.

Earlier this month, a Romanian choose lifted a year-long bar on the Tates leaving that nation, however mentioned they have to keep inside the European Union whereas they await trial.

“THE SHAM CASE IS FALLING APART,” Andrew Tate wrote on the social media platform X.

Andrew Tate has been banned from TikTok, YouTube and Fb after the platforms accused him of posting hate speech and misogynistic feedback, together with that girls ought to bear accountability for being sexually assaulted. However he stays fashionable on X, with virtually 10 million followers, lots of them younger males and schoolchildren. He runs a web based academy the place he says he teaches younger males the way to get wealthy and entice girls.

A number of girls in Britain are also pursuing civil claims in opposition to Andrew Tate, alleging they have been victims of sexual violence. British authorities have charged the Tates criminally with sexual aggression. Particulars haven’t been disclosed.

In a 2023 interview with the BBC, Andrew Tate denied spreading a tradition of misogyny and accusations that he manipulated girls for monetary acquire.

RYE, N.H. (AP) — Two fishermen are protected after a whale crashed onto their boat, capsizing it off the New Hampshire shore, based on the U.S. Coast Guard.

The incident occurred Tuesday close to Odiorne Level State Park in Rye. The 2 males, who have been thrown overboard, stated that they had seen the whale earlier and have been making an attempt to maintain their distance.

“He went below, he disappeared for a couple of minutes, after which the following factor we all know, he simply popped proper up on our transom,” fisherman Ryland Kenney advised WMUR-TV.

The Coast Guard posted to X that that they had acquired a mayday name stating {that a} 23-foot (7-meter) heart console boat had turned over due to a whale breach.

“The occupants have been ejected from the vessel because the boat capsized,” the Coast Guard posted, including that an pressing marine info broadcast was issued and the Coast Guard Station Portsmouth Harbor was alerted.

“An excellent Samaritan recovered each people from the water. No accidents have been reported,” the Coast Guard posted.

The rescuers turned out to be two younger brothers.

“I noticed it come up, and I used to be similar to, ‘Oh, it’s going to hit the boat,’” Wyatt Yager advised the station. “It began to flip.” His brother, Colin Yager, caught what occurred on his telephone.

The boat crew from Station Portsmouth reported that the whale appeared to not be injured. The incident was reported to the Heart of Coastal Research Marine Animal Hotline and the Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The vessel has additionally been salvaged.

The whale in all probability didn’t know the boat was there, stated Sara Morris of the College of New Hampshire Shoals Marine Laboratory.

“In case you take a look at the video actually fastidiously, you possibly can see that the whale has its mouth open,” she advised the station. “It seems to be prefer it’s lunge feeding and truly making an attempt to catch fish.”

Two folks have been thrown overboard by a whale whereas boating off the coast of New Hampshire on Tuesday, the Coast Guard stated.

Video of the incident exhibits the whale breaching, or capturing out of the water, and touchdown on the boat, capsizing it.

A mayday name was issued, and others have been in a position to rescue the boaters, the Coast Guard stated.

“We’re grateful to the nice Samaritans for taking such fast motion to rescue these two people. Bravo Zulu!” the Coast Guard wrote on social media platform X.

The Coast Guard stated the 2 boaters have been unhurt and their boat salvaged. They stated the whale seemed to be unhurt.

Greg Paquette was one of many males thrown off the boat.

“All of that is taking place, from the whale hitting the boat, to us being within the water, is 4 seconds. But when appeared prefer it was so much longer,” he informed Good Morning America Wednesday.

Teenage brothers, Wyatt and Colin Yager, have been in a close-by boat. They captured the breaching whale on video and helped rescue Paquette and Ryland Kenney, the opposite man thrown overboard.

“It was a second of, ‘Oh man, what simply occurred?’ It was a whole shock,” Wyatt Yager stated on Good Morning America. “After which, instantly, simply drop every thing and go get these guys out of the water.”

SAINT-ETIENNE, France (AP) — The Olympic males’s soccer event obtained off to a violent and chaotic begin Wednesday with Morocco’s surprising 2-1 win towards two-time gold medalist Argentina.

The outcome solely tells a part of the story after a dramatic finish to the match at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne, which needed to be suspended for practically two hours when livid Morocco followers crashed the pitch and threw bottles from the stands to protest a late a objective by Argentina within the sixteenth minute of added time.

The offended and weird scene sparked confusion over whether or not the sport had been concluded or paused. The group was informed to go away the stadium, however gamers remained on the venue and returned to the pitch for a remaining three minutes of added time in an empty stadium.

Moments earlier than play resumed, Cristian Medina’s disputed objective was disallowed by VAR for offside, and Morocco held on for the victory.

However not earlier than a livid response from its followers who thought they’d been denied a vital win towards considered one of worldwide soccer’s powerhouses.

Objects had been thrown and invading Morocco followers had been tackled by safety on the sector at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard in Saint-Etienne after Medina appeared to tie the sport 2-2.

There have been photos of some Argentina gamers flinching when what seemed to be a flare was thrown onto the sector. Bottles and cups had been strewn over the pitch by the point the sport was paused.

It was initially thought that the full-time whistle had been blown. Even FIFA’s web site declared the sport over.

About an hour after the incident, organizers on the venue confirmed the match was not formally over and VAR would evaluation whether or not the objective would stand.

Gamers ultimately re-entered the sector after an extended delay and started to heat up earlier than the sport could possibly be concluded. After warmups, gamers from each groups stood on the sector within the in any other case empty stadium whereas an official reviewed the video. He provided a short rationalization to Argentina whereas gamers on Morocco’s bench celebrated.

Play went on for about three minutes after the resumption earlier than the ultimate whistle was blown.

Morocco had led the sport 2-0 earlier than Argentina’s struggle again. Giuliano Simeone scored within the 68th minute earlier than Medina’s effort sparked chaotic scenes.

The sport was broadcast in cafes all through Morocco, the place nationwide satisfaction has swelled because the nation superior to the semifinal within the 2022 World Cup. Throughout a record-breaking heatwave, tea-drinking males screamed at televisions and watched in shock as followers stormed the sector.

Zak Eddakir, a 28 year-old from Rabat, mentioned the followers’ response needed to do with soccer’s significance in Morocco and a pure disappointment at a draw and the concept a referee’s name might finish a sport.

“In soccer, it’s regular,” he mentioned. “Whenever you see one thing like that, it’s actually arduous for supporters. Right here, soccer is life. Even the King helps it.”

Hairdresser Khadija Seffany streamed into the road to embrace her buddies and neighbors after Morocco emerged victorious. She initially thought the delay in calling the objective offside prompt the referees needed Argentina to win as a result of Morocco is an Arab nation. Each match all through the Olympics will likely be vital, she mentioned.

“Right here, we’re top-of-the-line on the planet. We drink soccer. We eat soccer,” Seffany mentioned.

___

AP author Sam Metz contributed to this story.

___

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

The pandemonium is already underway in Paris.

Two males’s soccer matches formally kicked off the 2024 Olympics on Wednesday, and one created prompt chaos.

After trailing 2-0 earlier within the match, Argentina seemingly earned a draw towards Morocco by scoring an equalizer within the sixteenth minute of second-half stoppage time.

Argentina hit the crossbar twice within the sequence, first off a unbelievable deflection from Moroccan goalkeeper Munir El Kajoui after which off an Argentina header. Cristian Medina lastly obtained the ball into the again of the online with a header, knotting the sport at 2-2 simply earlier than the ultimate whistle.

Following Medina’s objective, some Moroccan followers invaded the pitch as flares had been seemingly thrown at Argentinian gamers. Stade Geoffroy-Guichard was then cleared with a message on video boards contained in the stadium studying “Your session has been suspended. Please make your option to the closest exit.”

Greater than an hour later, Argentina’s objective was overturned and dominated offside. The sport then resumed for a couple of minutes of play with no followers within the stands and Morocco held on for a 2-1 win.

Argentina gained back-to-back Olympic gold medals in 2004 and 2008 however has not exceeded a Tenth-place end on the Video games since. The staff will return to the pitch on Saturday, July 27, towards Iraq.

LONDON (AP) — Taylor Swift followers who missed her world tour or those that can’t get sufficient of her can catch her on the museum this summer time.

As a celebration of her double run of sold-out reveals in London on her Eras Tour, actual objects from Swift’s totally different musical eras have been built-in into galleries on the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Costumes, guitars and different memorabilia from the pop star’s archive have been curated right into a “Songbook Path” that opens Saturday and runs by Sept. 8.

“There’s so many truly iconic objects and appears worn by Taylor throughout her profession from her breakout second in nation,” mentioned Kate Bailey, senior curator of theater and efficiency on the V&A. “It’s great to have the ability to share her musicality and her microphone. So, many, many issues.”

The exhibit is just not the primary museum therapy of Swift. Final summer time, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York Metropolis offered “Taylor Swift: Storyteller,” that includes a distinct array of costumes and objects spanning her profession.

Die-hard Swifties could acknowledge objects in a show case relationship again to an early tour in 2007 when she was a supporting act: pale blue heart-adorned cowboy boots, turquoise costume and a Taylor acoustic guitar fabricated from koa wooden.

The reveals are set amongst priceless works in a museum that homes collections of artwork, style, pictures, furnishings, efficiency, structure, and ceramics.

A purple skirt and pink and inexperienced sequined jacket from the 2015 tour of her Grammy-winning 1989 album are in a case subsequent to a portray by the Excessive Renaissance artist Raphael. A sweater from the “Cardigan” video from her “folklore” album sits in entrance of a piano in a gallery of panorama work.

The Cinderella-like yellow robe from the “Bejewelled” music video from the “Midnights” album is displayed within the Prince Consort Gallery. A stage costume from her Popularity Tour, full with snake microphone, is within the British Gallery.

“The V&A seems like the proper stage for a Taylor Swift path,” Bailey mentioned. “I feel there’s so many touchpoints inside Taylor’s work that reply to artwork, literature, historical past. … There’s so many ways in which we are able to sort of interpret and layer and current Taylor’s work right here.”

Shares of Tesla fell 12% in early buying and selling on Wednesday after an earnings launch confirmed slumping income within the face of strengthened competitors and sluggish gross sales.

The earnings report fell wanting Wall Avenue expectations for revenue.

“There have been fairly a number of competing electrical automobiles which have entered the market and principally, they haven’t performed properly, however they’ve discounted their EVs fairly considerably, which has made it extra a bit troublesome for Tesla,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk advised analysts on Wednesday.

Tesla shares plummeted greater than 25% on the outset of 2024 however the firm had recovered all of these losses this month after it launched a better-than-expected report on automobile deliveries. The inventory value decline on Wednesday places shares at their lowest stage in additional than three weeks.

The earnings outcomes launched on Tuesday mark two consecutive quarters of declining income. Income from authorities credit elevated to $890 million in the newest quarter, accounting for greater than half of the corporate’s income.

Gordon Johnson, CEO and founding father of knowledge agency GLJ Analysis, who’s bearish on Tesla, mentioned the enhance in income from authorities credit afforded the corporate a monetary lifeline even because it struggled in its major line of enterprise: promoting automobiles.

“What’s the core enterprise doing?” Johnson advised ABC Information, suggesting the decline in efficiency was even worse than the earnings point out.

Critics say demand for the corporate’s automobiles has slowed on account of its failure to launch a brand new, inexpensive mannequin, in addition to a softening within the general EV market. As rivals roll out alternate options, Tesla faces a troublesome path to regain its earlier breakneck development, analysts beforehand advised ABC Information.

Proponents, nevertheless, level to the corporate’s report of industry-leading innovation, suggesting the breakthroughs that fueled its dash forward of the competitors might reemerge because it readies for brand spanking new EV fashions and perfects its autonomous driving software program.

Dan Ives, a managing director of fairness analysis on the funding agency Wedbush, who’s bullish on Tesla, downplayed the weaker-than-expected earnings report and highlighted potential features from the corporate’s improvement of autonomous automobiles.

“We weren’t on the lookout for main fireworks this quarter from Tesla,” Ives mentioned on Wednesday in a word to buyers. “The following part of the Tesla development story is round autonomous, Robotaxis, and AI taking part in out for Musk & Co. in our view and that imaginative and prescient is on the doorstep.”

Chatting with analysts on Tuesday, Musk mentioned the corporate had made “quite a lot of progress” on its full self-driving software program over the newest quarter.

“We expect clients will expertise a step-change enchancment in how properly supervised full self-driving works,” Musk added.

That product has confronted challenges, nevertheless. In December, Tesla recalled about 2 million automobiles over a security subject tied to its autopilot system. Two months later, the corporate recalled about 360,000 extra automobiles over crash dangers tied to its self-driving system. Musk mentioned on Tuesday that the corporate is delaying the launch of its Robotaxi service till October.

Johnson, of GLJ Analysis, voiced skepticism in regards to the Robotaxi initiative.

“Tesla doesn’t have one Robotaxi on the street,” Johnson mentioned.

DETROIT (AP) — A person who served almost 40 years in jail for a Detroit-area homicide gained’t face one other trial after a choose threw out his conviction primarily based on new proof.

The choice by prosecutors means Paul Clark, who has been out on bond since Could, is free — for good.

“I simply can’t consider it. I’ve waited for this present day my total life,” stated Clark’s daughter, DeAngelic Clark, 36, who was born shortly after he was despatched to jail in 1987.

Clark was convicted of first-degree homicide and sentenced to life in jail for the deadly taking pictures of Trifu Vasilije throughout an tried theft in Highland Park. Clark has repeatedly expressed his innocence however appeals failed for years.

The trouble took a serious flip in 2020, with help from the Innocence Clinic on the College of Michigan Legislation Faculty. The Wayne County prosecutor’s workplace uncovered a police mugshot of a person who had been arrested in 1987 for the same murder in Highland Park.

The picture confirmed a big, recent scar on the person’s face. That wound was important: Vasilije was discovered with a knife in his hand when he was killed.

Clark’s lawyer wasn’t provided that mugshot earlier than the 1987 trial. It may have raised doubt concerning the prosecutors’ case, Decide Mark Slavens stated in April.

“There’s a important chance the defendant may very well be harmless,” Slavens stated of Clark.

In courtroom Tuesday, prosecutors stated they might not take Clark to trial once more. There was no instant remark Wednesday from spokeswoman Maria Miller.

Lawyer Shereef Akeel, who’s engaged on a doable lawsuit on Clark’s behalf, instructed the Detroit Free Press that “we witnessed justice.”

“Sadly, there are numerous different harmless women and men preventing to show their innocence,” Akeel stated.