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The Biden administration officially asked the court this week to block the Texas legislation, which effectively bans abortions after six weeks or when a fetal heartbeat can be detected. The law took effect in September despite public outcry and protests, becoming the strictest limit on the procedure in the country, the AP reported. Texas responded to the Biden administration’s action Thursday and encouraged the court to leave the law in place....

Here’s a look at some of the in-car radio chatter and postrace Twitter conversation Sunday from the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Scanner chatter Dale Earnhardt Jr. to his team prior to the race: “We had a little bit of struggle yesterday, but we’re going to work hard all day. … We’ll just work hard, have fun. We only have a few left. Get everything you can because you’ll be missing this (expletive) before you know it....

For the Longhorns? Those three players produced one NCAA appearance combined and zero tournament wins. With top-10 prospect Greg Brown III committing Friday to stay home and join the Longhorns for the 2020-21 season, the plan obviously is to accomplish more during his one (expected) season in Austin. To that end, Smart says, it’s important to simplify the demands and expectations for such a player in order to maximize his and the team’s success....

During Gamescom Opening Night Live, Telltale Games showed off its first look at gameplay in The Expanse: A TellTale Series. The atmosphere and tension in the dialogue that The Expanse books and TV series were known for already pours through in the short, pre-alpha gameplay footage that was shown. Along with the gameplay was dialogue from Zak Garriss, Vice President of Story Development at Telltale Games, and The Expanse: A Telltale Series Game Director Stephan Frost on what kind of story they intend to tell in this game....

MORE: Rick Pitino defends Jim Boeheim | Rick Barnes on hot seat at Texas? Tennessee’s statement reads as follows: “The University of Tennessee announced today that it has terminated its employment agreement with head men’s basketball coach Donnie Tyndall for cause. The decision was made based on information the university received during the NCAA’s investigation of another institution. “The university concluded that Tyndall is highly likely to be found responsible for serious (e....

Raonic won 4-6 7-5 6-3 at Indian Wells, Calif. MORE: Djokovic bombs first set, recovers to avoid upset The tournament was Murray's fifth since returning from back surgery, and came after a strong performance at the Mexican Open in Acapulco, where he lost in the semifinals to Grigor Dimitrov. After his bemusing display against Raonic, Murray admitted he has plenty to consider as he heads to the Miami Masters to defend his title....

For long-suffering French tennis fans, the agonising wait for a male champion at the French Open goes on, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga the latest to succumb to the Roland Garros jinx. The 28-year old from the car-race town of Le Mans had motored smoothly into the last four without dropping a set and hopes were sent sky-high that at last Yannick Noah’s iconic win in Paris 30 years ago would be matched....

Having served out for a 1-0 lead in sets, the second set was a mirror image, the Argentinian breaking to move into a 4-2 lead and soon levelling the match. Remarkably, the third set continued the pattern, Djokovic winning on Del Potro's serve in the sixth game and tying up the decider 6-3 to progress to the semifinals. Roger Federer earned his first win at this year's event on by beating Richard Gasquet in straight sets and will now face a shootout with Del Potro....

LILLE, France (Reuters) - France won their 10th Davis Cup title when Lucas Pouille crushed Steve Darcis 6-3 6-1 6-0 to give the hosts a 3-2 victory in the final against neighbours Belgium on Sunday. Pouille was never threatened in the decisive rubber after David Goffin had given Belgium both their points with impressive displays in the singles. Les Bleus, however, had more strength in depth, winning a singles match through Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday and Saturday’s doubles with Richard Gasquet and Pierre-Hugues Herbert....

Serena Williams won her second French Open title on Saturday, 11 years after her first triumph, defeating title-holder Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4 in a brief, but high-quality final. It was the 31-year-old American’s 16th Grand Slam title win, taking her to within two of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova who are tied for fourth on the all-time list. And it underscored her near total domination of the women’s game, having won three of the last four Grand Slam titles — at Wimbledon, the US and French Opens — and reaching the quarter-finals at the Australian Open....

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek finally got a chance to spend some time with Serena Williams, and later paid tribute to her on social media. Jack Draper’s breakthrough season continues as the Brit rises to a new career-high ranking this week. While on the women’s side, it’s Chinese teenager Qinwen Zheng who’s making her top-40 debut this week. Here’s a round-up of the day’s headlines: The Williams sisters handed a tricky US Open doubles draw Venus and Serena Williams have teamed up to compete in doubles at the US Open, their first time doing so at a Major since the 2018 French Open....

“Wishing you all the best for your future endeavours, Ankita! Hope you continue making the nation proud. Many congratulations @ankita_champ ! #TOPSAthlete #SAI,” the Sports Authority of India wrote on its Twitter handle. Ankita recently broke into the top-200, reaching a career-best 197 in the WTA rankings released earlier this month. She also became only the third Indian to breach the top-200 mark in women’s singles, jumping 15 places to reach 197....

Terence Crawford and Amir Khan will make what’s being dubbed a “long-awaited announcement,” according to a press release, on Tuesday, Jan. 15, at the Landmark London Hotel. Whether their imminent fight takes place in London remains to be seen, but the mere location of their press conference would lead many to believe that could very well be the case. MORE: Join DAZN and watch more than 100 fight nights a year...

While at Baylor’s pro day in Waco, where Williams was a star for the Bears with Griffin throwing him the ball, Williams sent out three messages with a heavy Griffin flavor. MORE: Free agency report since 2011 | STEELE: RGIII more pawn than prospect Williams didn’t come straight out and ask for the Cowboys to target the free agent quarterback, but it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out who Williams wants behind Tony Romo (or maybe in front) on the Dallas depth chart....

ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported earlier Saturday that Pryor was in critical condition after being stabbed at his home in the Heinz Lofts apartment complex in Pittsburgh. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Pryor has since been upgraded to stable condition. MORE: Terrelle Pryor in stable condition after stabbing The initial report by Pittsburgh’s WTAE-TV said that a woman was in police custody after the incident and had also sustained injuries....

But the ease with which the pilot, Frank Eugene Corder, had penetrated the no-fly zone that theoretically blankets downtown Washington was highly embarrassing to the Secret Service and unnerving to everyone else. Despondent, unemployed and apparently under the influence of alcohol and crack cocaine, Corder took the plane from a small airport near Churchville, Md., about half an hour’s flying time from Washington. He then flew undetected over the city to the Washington Monument, made an aerial U-turn and aimed the Cessna at the White House....

News that the CIA would cooperate with the congressional inquiry came one day after House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes and ranking member Rep. Pete Hoekstra sent CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden a letter saying their panel would proceed with its probe–despite a joint request last week from the agency’s Inspector General and the Justice Department urging the committee to back off. The agency’s apparent change of heart came in the wake of a New York Times report alleging that top White House lawyers were consulted and discussed the fate of the tapes, a development that raises the political stakes in the congressional probe....

Then–and now–there was a rash of fresh intelligence indicating that Al Qaeda was planning a new series of attacks. Most of the information pointed to targets overseas. But there were also elusive but tantalizing hints–including some plucked from Al Qaeda-linked Internet Web sites–suggesting that those attacks might actually be diversions for an even more deadlier operation into the United States. “This looked eerily similar to right before September 11,” says one top U....

The comments, most notably by CIA Director Michael Hayden in Senate testimony Tuesday, were far from a complete accounting of the government’s use of waterboarding, a practice that most international lawyers and even some administration officials now concede is tantamount to torture. But Hayden’s public confirmation that the agency had in fact used waterboarding against three Al Qaeda leaders in 2002 and 2003—and then stopped—was a rare symbolic victory for officials inside the administration who have argued that the international furor over its use was badly hurting the United States’ image around the world....

The 300-page draft report by the Senate Intelligence Committee also seeks to directly refute allegations that the White House pressured CIA analysts to alter their assessments about Iraqi WMD, the sources said. In interviews with Senate investigators, intelligence-community officials and analysts once viewed as potential whistleblowers denied being pressured and, in some cases, defended their analysis–even though their judgments about Iraqi weapons programs now appear to have been flatly wrong, sources said....