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No. 2 UConn beats No. 10 Marquette 73-57 to win 1st Big East Tournament title since 2011

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No. 2 UConn beats No. 10 Marquette 73-57 to win 1st Big East Tournament title since 2011

NEW YORK (AP) — Donovan Clingan had 22 points and a career-best 16 rebounds, Jaylin Stewart gave No. 2 UConn an unexpected boost with three second-half 3-pointers during a decisive surge and the Huskies beat No. 10 Marquette 73-57 on Saturday night to win the Big East Tournament for the first time since rejoining the league four years ago.

Tournament MVP Tristen Newton added 13 points and 10 assists as the top-seeded Huskies won their eighth title, matching Georgetown for the most in conference history. It was their first since 2011, when Kemba Walker led UConn to five wins in five days at Madison Square Garden — and then a national title.

Stewart, a freshman who was averaging 2.4 points off the bench, scored nine in about four minutes as UConn (31-3) pulled away from a gritty Marquette team playing without injured star Tyler Kolek (oblique) for a sixth straight game.

Kam Jones led the third-seeded Golden Eagles (25-9), the defending tournament champions, with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

On a night when the Huskies struggled from the perimeter, they relied on the 7-foot-2 Clingan inside. He was 7 for 12 from the field and, as the final seconds ticked off the clock, the sophomore big man waved on hyped-up Huskies fans who packed the Midtown Manhattan arena they like to call “Storrs South.”

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Two years after UConn’s last Big East Tournament title the conference broke up and the Huskies went with the football schools to form the American Athletic Conference, where they won another national championship in 2014 — and then fell off.

UConn returned to the Big East in 2020-21 and to national prominence. The Huskies won their fifth NCAA title last year, but the conference tournament championship had eluded coach Dan Hurley’s team. UConn hadn’t even reached the Saturday night final in its first three seasons back in the Big East.

For the New Jersey native and former Seton Hall guard Hurley, bringing that prize back to UConn was a big deal.

Hurley rattled off all his team has accomplished in the last year as he accepted the trophy Saturday night and told the crowd: “But we ain’t done yet.”

UConn improved to 8-3 in Big East finals, and 7-0 at MSG this season.

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As usual, UConn fans packed The Garden and for the second straight night Marquette faced a road-game environment. The Golden Eagles overcame a raucous Providence crowd in a rugged semifinal Friday night.

They couldn’t do it again against the mighty Huskies.

“Today was rough for sure, but we have a great team, a great seed and that’s all you need is a chance in the tournament,” said David Joplin, who had 12 points and six rebounds in the Golden Eagles’ lowest-scoring game of the season by 12 points.

Two of the country’s best teams played one of the ugliest nine minutes of basketball imaginable to start the game.

At the second media timeout, the score was tied at 4 and the Golden Eagles and Huskies were a combined 3 for 22 from the floor. The defense was aggressive and physical, but it was also hard to keep track of just how many point-blank shots rolled off the rim.

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Things picked up from there, and Newton swished a 3-pointer with three seconds left in the first half to give UConn a 26-24 lead at the break.

The shots started falling in the second half for both teams and UConn began asserting itself with about 10 minutes left, led by Stewart.

The Huskies went on a 19-5 run and led 60-44 with 5:52 remaining when Hassan Diarra made a corner 3 with 5:54 left in regulation. Stewart keyed the surge with his long-range shooting. He came into the game just 6 for 30 from 3-point range on the season.

MISSING

Kolek, last season’s Big East player of the year and tournament MVP, was relegated to the end of the bench, wearing a gray T-shirt and black joggers and coaching up his teammates during timeouts.

Marquette coach Shaka Smart has said all week the goal was to have Kolek ready to go for the NCAA Tournament.

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The Huskies, who won the NCAA Tournament as a No. 4 seed last year, could be the No. 1 overall seed this year after both Houston and Purdue lost in their conference tournaments Saturday. The Huskies’ road to the Final Four is all but certain to start back in New York City at Barclays Center in Brooklyn next weekend.

“No one’s had a better season than we have,” Hurley said.

The Golden Eagles will land in the tournament likely as a No. 2 or No. 3 seed.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

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Video: Humpback Whale Stranded Off German Coast Is Freed by Rescuers

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Video: Humpback Whale Stranded Off German Coast Is Freed by Rescuers

new video loaded: Humpback Whale Stranded Off German Coast Is Freed by Rescuers

In a last-ditch effort, rescuers were at last able to free a 40-foot humpback whale that had been stuck in shallow waters near the coast of Germany for four days.

By Axel Boada

March 27, 2026

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Russian man who assaulted woman during Barron Trump FaceTime call sentenced to 4 years

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Russian man who assaulted woman during Barron Trump FaceTime call sentenced to 4 years

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A Russian man convicted of assaulting a woman in London in an attack witnessed by Barron Trump, President Donald Trump’s youngest son, on a video call was sentenced to four years in prison by a London court on Friday. 

Matvei Rumiantsev, 23, an MMA fighter, was convicted by a jury on Jan. 28 of assault with bodily harm but was acquitted of rape and choking charges. He was also convicted of perverting the course of justice stemming from a letter he sent the woman from jail asking her to retract her allegations.

After the assault, Rumiantsev admitted he was jealous of his girlfriend’s friendship with the 19-year-old son of President Donald Trump.

BARRON TRUMP REPORTEDLY SAVED WOMAN’S LIFE AFTER WITNESSING VIOLENT ASSAULT ON FACETIME CALL

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Barron Trump attends inauguration ceremonies in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool/Getty Images)

“Your lack of insight and empathy was apparent at trial,” Justice Joel Bennathan said. “You continue to try to blame the complainant for everything that has happened.”

Trump told investigators he had placed a late-night FaceTime call to the woman, whom he had met on social media, and had been startled when the call had been briefly answered by a shirtless man on Jan. 18, 2025.

“That view lasted maybe one second and I was racing with adrenaline,” Barron Trump said. “The camera was then flipped to the victim getting hit while crying, stating something in Russian.”

BARRON TRUMP SPOTTED ON NYU CAMPUS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE INAUGURATION

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Barron Trump looks on ahead of the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump at the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20, 2025. (KEVIN LAMARQUE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Barron Trump called the police in London.

“It’s really an emergency … I’m calling from the U.S., uh, I just got a call from a girl, you know, she’s getting beat up,” he told an operator. 

Police responded to the address and arrested Rumiantsev, a London-based receptionist.

At his trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Rumiantsev was acquitted of rape and choking related to the attack, as well as a separate rape and assault allegation from November 2024.

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His attorney, Sasha Wass, said that Trump wasn’t aware the woman had a boyfriend and questioned how much he could have seen in just a few seconds of video. 

Barron Trump watches as his father, President Donald Trump attends an indoor Presidential Inauguration parade event at Capital One Arena, in Washington, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

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Trump never testified in the case. However, the judge praised him for his quick-thinking actions. 

“Mr, Trump properly and responsibly, despite being in the United States, made sure the emergency services here were called, and he told them what he had seen,” he said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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EU Parliament unblocks key political hurdle in digital euro talks

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EU Parliament unblocks key political hurdle in digital euro talks

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EU lawmakers have overcome a key political hurdle in the negotiations of digital euro, making the project closer to approval, according to a draft text seen by Euronews.

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The Parliamentary rapporteurs involved in the legislation have found an agreement on the design of the digital euro, which will be able to function both online and offline.

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The digital euro would be an electronic form of cash issued by the European Central Bank, designed to sit alongside banknotes and the payments services offered by commercial banks.

It has taken on new political weight as economic tensions between the EU and the US sharpen the debate over Europe’s reliance on American payment giants, such as Visa and Mastercard.

Under the European Commission’s proposal, digital euro users would have a wallet for both online and offline payments, with transactions designed so they are not trackable.

The situation in Parliament changed on Wednesday evening, when the centre-right politician Fernando Navarrete, who is the leading rapporteur on the file, announced the withdrawal of his position to reduce the scope of the digital euro to offline use only.

His position blocked the advancement of negotiations for months, jeopardising the whole legislative process, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations.

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The political deadlock has pushed EU leaders to accelerate progress on the digital euro. At the European Council meeting on 19 March, they set a goal to have the digital euro legislation approved by the end of 2026.

With the Council, representing EU countries, having already adopted its position, the European Parliament is now the only institution left to advance the law.

“Thanks to our amendments and firm stance, we have finally broken the political deadlock on the digital euro. The distinction between online and offline has been removed, and it is now established as a single payment system,” Pasquale Tridico, the rapporteur for The Left, told Euronews.

However, lawmakers still need to agree on two key aspects: the “hold limits” and the “compensation.”

The hold limits determine the maximum amount a user can store in a digital euro wallet, while compensation sets out a model for reimbursing commercial banks that provide digital euro services.

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Although negotiations are not yet complete, the text is expected to be voted on in the Parliament’s economy committee before the summer, according to a source familiar with the matter.

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