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Aces go to 2-0 without Hammon, beat Sparks 94-85 as Young has 30

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jackie Young scored 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting and defending WNBA champion Las Vegas took control in the third quarter en route to a 94-85 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday night.Aja Wilson finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds for Las Vegas (2-0). Chelsea Gray added 16 points and eight assists and Candance Parker 10 against the team she spent her first 13 season with.Chiney Ogwumike led the Sparks (1-1) with 19 points, Lexie Brown had 15 and three players scored 11.The Sparks were without leader Nneka Ogwumike because of a non-COVID illness and Dearica Hamby, two months after giving birth, started in her place. Hamby, who scored 11 points, joined L.A. in an offseason trade with Las Vegas and then she said she had been bullied and manipulated for being pregnant. That led to a WNBA investigation and a two-game suspension for Aces coach Becky Hammon, who denied the accusations.Hammon will return to the bench when the teams have a rematch on Saturday ...

Irán tiene una ruta directa para enviar armas a Rusia, y las potencias occidentales pueden hacer poco para detener los envíos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

(CNN) — Las aguas del mar Caspio se ven engañosamente tranquilas. Pero esta ruta marítima —que proporciona una vía directa entre Irán y Rusia— está cada vez más transitada por el tráfico de mercancías, incluidas las presuntas transferencias de armas hechas por Teherán a Moscú.Según expertos, a medida que se intensifica la cooperación entre ambos países, la ruta del mar Caspio se está utilizando para trasladar drones, balas y granadas de mortero que el gobierno ruso ha comprado al régimen iraní para reforzar su esfuerzo bélico en Ucrania. Los datos de rastreo muestran que los buques de la región se vuelven cada vez más “oscuros”, lo que sugiere una creciente intención de ocultar el movimiento de mercancías.El año pasado, los datos de Lloyd’s List Intelligence revelaron un aumento en septiembre del número de lagunas en la información de seguimiento de buques en el Caspio. Eso ocurrió poco después de que los gobiernos de Estados Unidos y Ucrania afirmaran que Mo...

Taurasi has 23 points, Mercury hit 13 3s to beat Lynx 90-81

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Diana Taurasi had 23 points and 10 assists and the Phoenix Mercury hit 11 3-pointers in the first half on the way to a 90-81 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday night.Phoenix went 5 of 6 from 3-point range — with triples from five different players — to open a 27-18 lead after one quarter. The Mercury made 11 of 17 3s in the first half, taking a 57-40 lead. Taurasi had three triples and 15 points.Taurasi finished 4 of 9 from 3-point range, giving her 1,300 3s and extending her WNBA record. Sue Bird is second with 1,001. The Mercury made 13 of 28 behind the arc and the Lynx were 3 of 18.Brittney Griner added 19 points for Phoenix (1-2), Sug Sutton had 14 off the bench and Moriah Jefferson and Sophie Cunningham both had three 3-pointers and 13 points.Aerial Powers paced the Lynx (0-3) with 20 points off the bench. Jessica Shepherd and Diamond Miller both had 13 points and Tiffany Mitchell added 12.Minnesota got within seven twice late in the third quarter but got no...

Lorusso’s walk-off home run lifts Maryland over Nebraska in Big Ten

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Nick Lorusso’s walk-off home run in the 10th inning gave Maryland a rain-delayed 2-1 victory over Nebraska on Thursday night in the Big Ten Tournament.The game was tied at 1 in the seventh inning before a 1 1/2-hour weather delay due to lightning in the area. Neither team threatened to score after the delay, but Maryland only needed one swing from Lorusso, who homered to left-center on a 2-2 pitch with two out in the 10th.It was Lorusso’s 24th home run and 100th RBI of the season.Top-seeded Maryland (39-19) advances to a semifinal on Saturday, facing the winner of the Nebraska-Michigan State loser-out game, which is Friday.Neither of Nebraska’s two hits through the first six innings prior to the weather delay figured in their second-inning run. Leading off, Josh Caron was hit by a pitch, took second on a walk and advanced to third on a groundout. He scored on Cole Evans’ grounder to second base.Maryland’s other run came in the fifth. ...

Wynne, Kilfoyl lead Oklahoma State over Oregon in Super Regional

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Morgyn Wynne hit a three-run home run, Lexi Kilfoyl retired the last 20 batters she faced, and sixth-seeded Oklahoma State rolled to an 8-1 win over Oregon in the first game of the Stillwater Super Regional on Thursday night.After the Ducks (38-16) took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a single by Alyssa Daniell, Kilfoyl took command and finished with a three-hitter with 13 outs being groundouts. Her offense broke loose with three runs in the fourth inning and four in the fifth.Game 2 in the best-of-3 series is Friday.Limited to a single by Oregon starter Morgan Scott through three innings, the Cowgirls (45-14) got a one-out homer from Kiley Naomi, her 12th, in the fourth and added runs on an error by Scott and a single by Tallen Edwards.Wynne capped the four-run fifth with her 10th home run and Chyenne Factor singled in a run in the sixth.Kilfoyl improved to 15-5 while Morgan fell to 13-7.OSU beat Oregon 3-0 in its season opener in Mexico on Feb. 10.___AP...

South Korean passenger plane flies with open door, lands safely

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A passenger opened a door on an Asiana Airlines flight that later landing safely at a South Korean airport Friday, airline and government officials said.Some people on board tried to stop the person from opening the door but it was eventually opened partially, the Transport Ministry said.The plane with 194 people was heading to the southeastern city of Daegu from the southern island of Jeju. The flight is normally about an hour, and how long the door was open wasn’t immediately disclosed.Police detained the unidentified person who opened the door, the airline said. Their motive wasn’t immediately known.The passengers included teenage athletes who plan to attend track and field competitions in Ulsan, another southeastern city.The incident terrified some passengers but no one was injured, though some passengers were assessed at a hospital, Asiana and Transport Ministry officials said.The Associated Press

Three cheetah cubs die in India amid sweltering heat wave

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Three cheetah cubs born to a big cat that was brought to India from Africa last year died in central India’s Kuno National Park in the past week, forest officials said, as a heat wave in the region sent temperatures soaring.The cubs were the first to be born in India in more than seven decades. Once widespread in India, cheetahs became extinct in 1952 from hunting and habitat loss. Their mother was among the 20 cheetahs that India flew in from Namibia and South Africa as part of an ambitious and hotly contested plan to reintroduce the world’s fastest land animal to the South Asian country.The first cub died on Tuesday, prompting veterinarians in the national park in Madhya Pradesh state to closely monitor the mother and her three remaining cubs. The cubs appeared weak on Thursday afternoon — a day when temperatures spiked to 47 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) — and authorities intervened to help the cats.They were “weak, underweight and highly dehydrated” a...

As electric cars boom, locals fear Chinese battery plant will harm land in drought-stricken Hungary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

DEBRECEN, Hungary (AP) — Just beyond the pastoral gardens and traditional homes of an eastern Hungarian village, a gigaproject of Chinese industry is taking shape.Bulldozers and excavators are already preparing the land for construction of a nearly 550-acre electric vehicle (EV) battery plant. The 7.3 billion euro ($7.9 billion) factory will be one of Hungary’s largest-ever foreign investments, and the government hopes it will make the Central European country a global hub of lithium-ion battery manufacturing in an era where governments are increasingly seeking to limit greenhouse gas emissions by switching to electric cars. But residents, environmentalists and opposition politicians worry that the sprawling factory — built by China-based Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) — will exacerbate existing environmental problems, hit the country’s precious water supplies and further undermine its economy to China.“You have this viscerally bad feeling when you wa...

Ukraine joining NATO in midst of war 'not on agenda' - Stoltenberg

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

Ukraine won't be able join NATO so long as the conflict with Russia continues, said the chief of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg (pictured), on Wednesday (24 May).He said that joining a war was not an option. The issue is "what happens after the war ends".In September, Volodymyr Zelenskiy made a request for accelerated NATO membership after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared four regions of Ukraine that were partially occupied as Russian territory.NATO allies did not comply with Zelenskiy’s request. Western governments are wary of any move that could bring NATO closer to an active conflict with Russia.At the Vilnius summit, in July, Kyiv along with some of its closest eastern European allies has urged NATO to take at least concrete steps towards bringing Ukraine closer to joining.In an April op-ed, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kulleba said: "It's time for the Alliance to stop making excuses. It's time to start the process leading to Ukraine’s eventual accession. What we n...

Regional leaders commit in Cardiff to more and better co-operation between EU and non-EU Atlantic regions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:25:54 GMT

Many challenges are facing the Atlantic Area – including Brexit, COVID and war in Ukraine, but also long-standing ones such as the climate emergency and the green and digital transitions. Reunited in Cardiff (Wales) for the 2023 General Assembly of the CPMR Atlantic Arc Commission, Regional leaders from across the Atlantic reaffirm the need for further cooperation frameworks, including with Atlantic non-EU regions, and call for the swift adoption of an Atlantic Macro-Regional strategy.First Minister of Wales Mark Drakeford welcomed delegates to Cardiff: “Wales is an outward-looking, globally-responsible nation. Wales is a nation that stands for solidarity and cooperation, working together with our European and non-European partners to address immediate and serious challenges to climate, nature and democracy – both here and around the world. Your presence here today reinforces that”.CPMR President and Regional Minister of Noord-Holland Cees Loggen addressed the members of the Atlanti...