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Bridge: March 23, 2023

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

There is no expert consensus on whether to open 1NT with, or despite, a five-card major. Experts decide case-by-case and may consider factors such as suit quality and ease of rebidding.One deal proves nothing, but in today’s deal from a team match, one South opened 1NT and played there. West led a diamond, and the defense took five diamonds. South claimed the rest, plus 120.In the replay, South opened one heart, North raised and South had a shot at game. West led a diamond again. East took the ace and returned the ten, winning. When he led a third diamond, South ruffed in dummy and drew trumps, but eventually he lost two spades to go down.GOOD CLUBSAt Trick Three, South must pitch a spade from dummy. If West shifts to a spade, South takes the ace, cashes the A-K of clubs and ruffs a club. When the suit luckily breaks 3-3, he can draw trumps ending in dummy and discard two spades on the good clubs.Do you think this deal makes a case for opening one heart as South?DAILY QUESTION...

Ask Amy: My husband says he won’t change for my feminist mom

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

Dear Amy: I was raised by a single mother. She’s an educated, liberal feminist who brought me up to be a strong and self-sufficient woman.She is loving, open-minded and non-confrontational. We are very close, even though she lives in another state.Every year she comes to stay at my house for a week or two, and the two of us travel to visit other relatives. I always thoroughly enjoy our time together.My husband was raised in a very patriarchal house by blue-collar workers who never denied him anything. He’s brilliant and extremely successful, even though he never finished college, but he is insecure about how smart he is.He’s a man’s man, physically strong, can fix anything, build anything, do anything he sets his mind to, takes excellent care of our grown children, and adores me.My problem is that my husband and mother don’t like each other. They don’t argue, but they definitely struggle to be in the same room.Once my husband and I were debating about s...

Harriette Cole: My husband’s clothes show too much skin

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

DEAR HARRIETTE: My husband’s belly has gotten huge over the past few years, but he either doesn’t realize it or doesn’t care.He still wears sweaters that fit him 20 years ago, and they pull up over the belly so his skin is exposed. It’s not a pretty sight.When I suggest that he wear one of the sweaters I recently purchased him that is the right size, he balks and says he’s wearing what he wants to wear. I suppose at home that’s OK, but he even wears these too-small clothes out in public. It is not good.How can I get him to pay closer attention to his grooming?Many people gain weight over time. I’m not chastising him about that. It would be nice, of course, if he looked after his health. But right now I just want him to cover his belly!Cover Your BellyRelated ArticlesAdvice | Harriette Cole: My anti-college husband flipped out about son’s travel costs Advice | Harriette Cole: Is this a bad way to deal with a c...

Credit Suisse deal halted crisis, Swiss central bank says

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — The Swiss central bank hiked its key interest rate Thursday and insisted that a government-orchestrated takeover of troubled Credit Suisse by rival bank UBS ended the financial turmoil.In a statement, the Swiss National Bank said it is providing large amounts of support for the deal to merge Switzerland’s biggest banks and that the late Sunday announcement by the federal government, financial regulators and the central bank “put a halt to the crisis.”“An insolvency of Credit Suisse would have had severe consequences for national and international financial stability and for the Swiss economy,” said Thomas Jordan, chairman of the Swiss central bank’s governing board.The hastily arranged, $3.25 billion deal aimed to stem the upheaval in the global financial system after the collapse of two U.S. banks and jitters about long-running troubles at Credit Suisse led shares of Switzerland’s second-largest bank to tank and customers to pull out their money.Swiss auth...

5 players out as viral infection hits Netherlands squad

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

ZEIST, Netherlands (AP) — Five players in the Netherlands squad to face World Cup finalist France in their opening European Championship qualifier have been sent home after contracting a viral infection.Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo, Bayern Munich defender Matthijs de Ligt along with Sven Botman, Joey Veerman and Bart Verbruggen all left the training camp, the Dutch federation said on Thursday. It did not elaborate on the virus.The departures were another blow to coach Ronald Koeman ahead of the first match of his second stint in charge of the national team. Already this week, Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong and Ajax winger Steven Bergwijn dropped out due to injuries. Koeman called up Bayern Munich midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, Vitesse Arnhem’s Kjell Scherpen and Inter Milan defender Stefan de Vrij as replacements for the five ill players.The Netherlands plays France at the Stade de France on Friday in a Group B qualifier before returning home to take on Gibraltar on Monday...

2 teens on motorbike shot in Southeast DC, 1 killed

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

A teenage boy is dead, while another teen was taken to a hospital after a double shooting in Southeast D.C. Tuesday evening.The shooting happened around the area of 22nd Street and Alabama Avenue after 9 p.m., police said.More DC NewsMore Crime NewsD.C. Police Chief Robert Contee said on Wednesday the two teens were on a motorbike before the shooting happened. Several unidentified people inside a vehicle saw the teens and stopped, stepping out onto the street and firing at the two teens.Contee said the teens did not return gunfire. The shooting suspects reentered their vehicle and drove away.On the day of the shooting, 7th District Commander LaShay Makal said officers responding to the shooting heard gunshots near Alabama Avenue.They arrived and found 16-year-old Traev’on Green of Southeast D.C. unconscious and not breathing. Despite receiving treatment from DC Fire and EMS, Green died at the scene.Officers found the second teenager, 15, also suffering from gunshot wounds. Makal sai...

Japan’s Miura and Kihara win pairs at figure skate worlds

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

SAITAMA, Japan (AP) — Riku Miura and Ryuichi Kihara became the first skaters from Japan to win the pairs at the world figure skating championships on Thursday.Miura and Kihara were first after the short program on Wednesday and finished second in the free skate with 141.44 points, behind reigning world champions Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier of the United States.But their two-day total of 222.19 points was good enough for a 4.68 lead over Knierim and Frazier, who scored 142.84 in the free for a 217.48 total.Frazier fell in the short program on the triple toe which proved to be costly for the Americans.European champions Sara Conti and Niccolo Macii of Italy were third with 208.08.Miura and Kihara won the silver medal at the last worlds. Their personal best of 80.72 in the short program gave them a 6.08-point lead over the Americans and a shot at history heading into the free program at Saitama Super Arena.Other Japanese winners of world championships are Yuzuru Hanyu in the men’...

Van Leeuwen ice cream shop opens Thursday in Union Market with $1 scoops

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

(new Image()).src = "https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=9be9c680-c459-4acb-af21-654a2ccca384&cid=c2ffed0c-3624-46c0-b10f-97c976d290a3";cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "9be9c680-c459-4acb-af21-654a2ccca384",mediaId: "d3fb44ac-b643-4b00-ba86-2ff6ba5cfa3a"}).render("26dd674aaa6e46fca646f558f7a116d7"); });It is officially spring, and as temperatures start to warm this week, an ice cream chain with national acclaim is opening the doors to one of its three planned scoop shops in the D.C. area.New York-based Van Leeuwen will celebrate the opening of its Union Market neighborhood location Thursday with $1 scoops between noon and 4 p.m.More DC NewsMore Local NewsThe company is collaborating with local chef Johnny Spero to revive his beloved “Birch” ice cream flavor that originated at his award-winning restaurant, Reverie. The special collaboration flavor — Birch Bark with Raspberry Jam — will also debut on Thursday.The scoop shop is located on 418 Morse Street in Northe...

Faith, family carry Miami’s Meier deep into March Madness

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Katie Meier’s practices at Miami always end the same way. Every player and coach gathers around the midcourt circle, clasps the hand of the person next to them and someone then quietly offers a few words from the heart.It’s about faith.This season, Meier’s faith was tested. And rewarded.For the first time in more than 30 years of college basketball — counting her time as a Duke player, then an assistant coach at UNC Asheville and Tulane, then eventually head coach at Charlotte and Miami — Meier is in the Sweet 16. Miami (21-12), the No. 9 seed in the Greenville 2 Region, takes on No. 4 Villanova (30-6) on Friday.“We talk about faith a lot,” Meier — Katie to most, Kate to friends and family — said after her Hurricanes kept their season alive by upsetting top-seeded Indiana in the second round. “Not religiously. I’m talking about faith, which is just confidence with a lot of patience, and we needed it. Your confidence can kind of come and go, but faith ...

Princeton Tigers add to their March Madness lore

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:21:42 GMT

PRINCETON, N.J. (AP) — Two years ago, Mitch Henderson was coaching a Princeton team that was basically on sabbatical. The Ivy League had called off sports again amid the pandemic as other leagues and the NCAA pushed ahead so the Tigers blended in with other hoops junkies and watched March Madness like fans. Henderson ordered pizzas and smoothies, gathered the Tigers at their on-campus gym, and they watched tournament games on the big screen.“That was fun and we got to do something,” Henderson said. “It really brought us closer.” Princeton’s bonding period over a season of Zooms and tournament watch parties fueled the Tigers’ growth into this season’s brainy basketball bullies of March. See ya, Arizona. Maybe next year, Missouri. Oh, and that’s not the delivery driver this week dropping pizzas off at Jadwin Gym. That was Phil Murphy, the governor of New Jersey, who made a cameo appearance at a practice before the Tigers left for their first Sweet 16 since 1967. Murphy raised hi...