Author: IQ TIMES MEDIA

‘Understated’ is the word to describe the man who has led Sunderland back to the Premier League.’Limited fanfare’ the perfect way to have described the announcement of Regis Le Bris as the new head coach at the Stadium of Light last summer. But to say he hit the ground running and quickly became a hero at the Stadium of Light would be an understatement.Le Bris took a club that meandered through last season and gave them direction, discipline and tactical nous, and resolve. It is a young side, but they did not play like a young side as they worked…

Lewis Hamilton will start the Monaco Grand Prix from seventh after receiving a three-place grid penalty for impeding Max Verstappen during qualifying.Hamilton was adjudged to have impeded Verstappen in Q1 at Massenet after being provided with incorrect information by his Ferrari race engineer. The seven-time world champion was told that Verstappen, behind him on the track in the first sector, was on a slow lap and therefore began to accelerate back towards the racing line as the Red Bull approached.The decision promotes Verstappen to fourth, while Isack Hadjar and Fernando Alonso are the other drivers to gain a position.The stewards…

BAGHDAD (AP) — The American University of Baghdad celebrated the graduation of its first cohort of students Saturday at a campus that was once a palace built by Saddam Hussein.Officials said they hope the graduation will mark the beginning of a new era in higher education in Iraq rooted in modernity, openness and international academic standards.The university was inaugurated in 2021 on the site of the al-Faw Palace, built on an island in the middle of an artificial lake by Saddam in the 1990s to mark the retaking of the peninsula of the same name during the war. After the…

Stina Blackstenius’ second-half strike stunned Barcelona as Arsenal beat them 1-0 to win the Women’s Champions League final in Lisbon.Pere Romeu’s side were heavy favourites heading into the game, having won three of the last four European titles. But Arsenal have been the comeback queens in this season’s competition, already knocking out record title-winners Lyon in the semi-finals. Since then though, the Gunners had shipped 13 goals in their last three WSL games of the season, but they kept a clean sheet when it mattered with Daphne van Domselaar back in goal to lift the trophy. They remain the only…

Sunderland stunned Sheffield United with a dramatic 95th-minute winner to seal a comeback 2-1 win and their return to the Premier League after eight years away.Tyrese Campbell had given the Blades the lead in the Championship play-off final at Wembley in the first half, but Sunderland struck back in the second with goals from Eliezer Mayenda and substitute Tommy Watson – the latter coming in the fifth minute of added time – to seal an astonishing win. The significance of the achievement was highlighted by the fact it was the first time in 15 years a team had come from…

Teens should consider learning AI tools now or risk falling behind, Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis says.Just as millennials had the internet and personal computers and Gen Z had smartphones and tablets, generative AI is the transformative technology of Gen Alpha’s time — and they should embrace it, the AI leader said on a recent episode of “Hard Fork,” a podcast about the future of technology.”Over the next 5 to 10 years, I think we’re going to find what normally happens with big new technology shifts, which is that some jobs get disrupted,” he told co-hosts Kevin Roose and Casey…

More than five years after the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in the United States, hundreds of people are still dying every week.Last month, an average of about 350 people died each week from COVID, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).While high, the number of deaths is decreasing and is lower than the peak of 25,974 deaths recorded the week ending Jan. 9, 2021, as well as weekly deaths seen in previous spring months, CDC data shows.MORE: What we know about the safety, efficacy of mRNA vaccines amid recent scrutinyPublic health experts told…

As of 2019, about 4.9 million people globally were living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis. There is currently no cure for ulcerative colitis — the condition is currently treated via medications, surgery, and dietary changes. Previous research shows that consuming certain nutrients may help alleviate some of the disease’s symptoms. A new study says the extract from a Mediterranean plant called the strawberry tree may help prevent and treat ulcerative colitis, via a mouse model.IBD is an umbrella term that mainly refers to two conditions, ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, both of which are chronic inflammatory diseases…

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — In many African cultures, a big belly has long been seen as a sign of wealth. But this perception is proving deadly as deaths due to obesity -related illnesses rise.In Kenya, overweight politicians are often called Boss or Mkubwa — Swahili for “big man” — by constituents, with their girth symbolizing prosperity.Younger politicians, including the governors of Nairobi and Mombasa, have begun speaking publicly about weight loss. Obesity contributes to non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, which have become Kenya’s leading cause of death. The health ministry says they are responsible for 39% of fatalities annually.In a…

KORMAKITIS, Cyprus (AP) — Ash dangled precariously from Iosif Skordis’ cigarette as he reminisced with fellow villagers in a language on the edge of extinction, one that partly traces its roots to the language Jesus Christ once spoke. AP AUDIO: Vanishing Language – Thank You Listen to the pronunciation of the phrase “Thank You.” The 97-year-old Skordis is one of only 900 people in the world who speak Cypriot Maronite Arabic, or Sanna. Today, his village of Kormakitis is the last bastion of a language once spoken by tens of thousands of people across dozens of villages. Maronite Catholic faithful…