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Bill Belichick, who led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles as a head coach, will take the helm of the North Carolina (UNC) Tar Heels, the university said on Wednesday. Belichick, 72, agreed to a five-year deal pending approval by UNC’s board of trustees and board of governors, the university said in a release. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Athletic reported that the contract could be worth up to $30 million. “This is an exciting day for Carolina football and our University,” North Carolina chancellor Lee H. Roberts said. “Carolina is committed to excellence and to creating an opportunity to succeed in everything we do, from the classroom to the field of competition. “I know after speaking with Coach Belichick that he shares that commitment. His legacy speaks for itself, and we look forward to working together on the next chapter of Carolina football.” Belichick spent 24 seasons as the Patriots’ head coach and during that time New England won 17 AFC East titles, made 13 AFC Championship appearances, and reached nine Super Bowls. Belichick’s 333 wins as a head coach in the NFL is second only to Don Shula’s 347. He replaces Mack Brown, who UNC fired at the end of the regular season. The Tar Heels have not won a conference title since 1980. “I am excited for the opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill,” said Belichick, who has never coached at the collegiate level before. “I grew up around college football with my dad and treasured those times. I have always wanted to coach in college and now I look forward to building the football program in Chapel Hill.” Source link

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – Much has been written in recent decades about the growing influence of money on politics and elections in the United States, including titles such as “The Best Congress Money Can Buy” and “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.” But has Donald Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, whose campaign had a huge funding advantage, undermined that narrative? In 1835, Alexis de Tocqueville warned of the threat that big money poses to the U.S. system of governance in his book Democracy in America. Wary of the influence of oligarchs and plutocrats, Tocqueville wrote: “The surface of American society is (…) covered with a layer of democracy, from beneath which the old aristocratic colors sometimes peep.” Today, it is the billionaire class leveraging its financial resources to influence elections and policymaking, consolidating more power at the expense of the vast majority of ordinary citizens, further widening America’s wealth inequality and weakening Americans’ trust in national institutions. The floodgates were opened by Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), in which the Supreme Court reversed campaign-finance restrictions, enabling corporations and other outside groups to “spend unlimited amounts” on elections. The money being channeled into campaigns has since soared, with super PACs (political action committees) raising nearly $4.3 billion this year, up from $89 million in 2010. Source link

Japan’s auto industry is undergoing profound structural changes. As the industry pivots toward electrification to meet emissions regulations and as autonomous driving and driver assistance systems advance, cars have been redefined as machines powered by batteries and motors and governed by software. Like all players in this global industry, Japanese firms have been impacted by changes in environmental policies, software and semiconductor supply chains, as well as tariffs. Source link

Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are ready to up the stakes of the “The Showdown,” an exhibition being staged Tuesday in Las Vegas between the LIV Golf pairing and PGA Tour powers Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. “All of us can align and bring something bigger and better so we can have a couple more times where they can — or just at least one more time — where we can see most of the best players from both sides competing, more against each other,” said Koepka, who bolted the PGA Tour for LIV’s inaugural season in 2022 for a contract worth more than $100 million through 2025. Koepka said a competitive match next week “could transcend golf,” pointing to percolating discussions of progress in months-long merger talks between the PGA and LIV Golf. Source link

Osaka – It’s been 10 years since the Donkey Kong video game series had a mainline release, but the opening of the Donkey Kong Country area at Universal Studios Japan (USJ) in Osaka is proof that Nintendo’s big ape can still draw a crowd. A few dozen lucky fans braved single-digit temperatures the morning of Dec. 11 to take in the area’s opening ceremony — featuring the eponymous character and the man who brought him to life, Nintendo executive Shigeru Miyamoto — and be the first to ride the theme park’s newest attraction: Mine Cart Madness. “There are many elements throughout the land where you can find gameplay and design from the world of Donkey Kong,” Miyamoto, who was also involved in the design of the Nintendo-themed world at Universal Studios, said during the opening ceremony. “I believe it is a land that can be enjoyed by the whole family.” Source link

The Kanji of the Year was announced Thursday, and for 2024 the Japanese Kanji Proficiency Society selected 金, which can be read “きん” and “かね,” and means “gold/money.” Every December, we look back on the language that permeated our societal discourse for the year to get a sense of what we all went through over the past 12 months. English words chosen to represent 2024 include “demure,” “brain rot” and “brat,” whose Japanese equivalents would be (loosely): 控えめ (hikaeme), スマホ脳 (sumaho nō, smartphone brain) and ブラット (buratto), which suggests someone being a 悪ガキ (warugaki, literal “brat”) while expressing ありのままの自分 (ari no mama no jibun, one’s true self) in a playfully defiant way. Earlier this month, Japan’s 流行語大賞 (ryūkōgo taishō, buzzword of the year) was selected from a pool of 20 buzzwords, and “ふてほど” (futehodo) — an abbreviation for a TBS drama series titled, “不適切にもほどがある！” (Futekisetsu nimo Hodo ga Aru!, Extremely Inappropriate!) about a time-traveling おじさん (ojisan, old man) — won top honors. Source link

SEOUL – From plastic surgery clinics to tour firms and hotel chains, South Korea’s hospitality sector is wary of the potential impact of a protracted political crisis, as some overseas travelers cancel trips following last week’s brief bout of martial law. South Korea’s travel and tourism industry, which generated 84.7 trillion won ($59.1 billion) in 2023, around 3.8% of the country’s gross domestic product, has held up through previous bumps in the road, including a 2016 presidential impeachment and periodic tensions with North Korea. But more than a dozen hospitality and administrative sources said the army’s involvement in the latest political crisis was a serious development that could deter leisure and business travel, when the sector is approaching a full recovery in visitor numbers, which stood at 97% of pre-COVID levels as of October. Source link

Frankfurt, Germany – A growing tide of government-friendly and politically influenced fact-checking projects in Europe is making it harder for citizens to tell truth from propaganda, disinformation experts warn, with a new Russian initiative the latest to raise eyebrows. Independent fact-checking, which uses digital investigation techniques and journalism skills to debunk false claims, is considered a key tool in combating misinformation and is used by major platforms such as TikTok and Meta-owned Facebook. But as the manipulation of information grows ever more sophisticated, concerns are mounting about fresh initiatives that present themselves as genuine fact-checking outfits while pushing their own agenda. Source link

Washington – U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend his inauguration next month, CBS News reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources. The invitation to the Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington occurred in early November, shortly after the Nov. 5 presidential election, and it was not clear if it had been accepted, CBS reported. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Source link

SEOUL – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol lashed out at his political opponents as “anti-state forces,” said North Korea may have hacked the country’s elections, and defended last week’s short-lived martial law order as a legal move to protect democracy. His comments on Thursday came as the leader of Yoon’s own party said the president had shown no signs of resigning and must be impeached. Source link