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Phoenix takes on Minnesota, seeks to stop 7-game slide

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

Phoenix Mercury (9-27, 2-15 Western Conference) at Minnesota Lynx (17-19, 11-8 Western Conference)Minneapolis; Sunday, 7 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Phoenix looks to end its seven-game skid with a win over Minnesota.The Lynx are 11-8 in conference play. Minnesota ranks fourth in the Western Conference with 26.1 defensive rebounds per game led by Napheesa Collier averaging 6.3.The Mercury are 2-15 in Western Conference play. Phoenix ranks third in the Western Conference with 19.3 assists per game led by Sug Sutton averaging 4.5.The teams meet for the fourth time this season. In the last meeting on July 8 the Lynx won 75-64 led by 12 points from Collier, while Michaela Onyenwere scored 24 points for the Mercury.TOP PERFORMERS: Collier is averaging 21.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.6 steals for the Lynx. Kayla McBride is averaging 15.0 points over the last 10 games for Minnesota.Brittney Griner is scoring 17.8 points per game and averaging 6.6 rebounds for the Mercury. Sophie Cunningham is aver...

Dallas faces Indiana following Sabally’s 40-point game

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

Indiana Fever (11-25, 5-13 Eastern Conference) at Dallas Wings (20-16, 10-9 Western Conference)Arlington, Texas; Sunday, 4 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Dallas hosts the Indiana Fever after Satou Sabally scored 40 points in the Dallas Wings’ 110-100 victory over the Indiana Fever.The Wings are 10-7 on their home court. Dallas is third in the Western Conference with 26.6 defensive rebounds per game led by Sabally averaging 5.9.The Fever have gone 6-12 away from home. Indiana is sixth in the WNBA scoring 81.3 points per game while shooting 44.4%.The teams square off for the third time this season. The Wings won the last matchup 110-100 on Sept. 1. Sabally scored 40 points to help lead the Wings to the victory.TOP PERFORMERS: Sabally is scoring 18.5 points per game and averaging 8.3 rebounds for the Wings. Arike Ogunbowale is averaging 19.1 points and 3.5 rebounds over the last 10 games for Dallas.Aliyah Boston is averaging 14.8 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Fever. Kelsey Mitchell is av...

Hecho en Ucrania: la floreciente industria armamentística de Kyiv le permite proyectar su poder más allá del frente de batalla

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

(CNN) — En la madrugada del 29 de agosto, enjambres de drones ucranianos sobrevolaron siete regiones rusas. Muchos fueron interceptados, otros no.Varios alcanzaron una base aérea rusa en Pskov, a unos 600 kilómetros de la frontera ucraniana, destruyendo dos aviones de transporte militar rusos y dañando otros dos.Fue la prueba más drástica hasta ahora de una nueva dimensión del conflicto de 18 meses: el creciente apetito de Ucrania por llevar la guerra a territorio ruso.Los drones aéreos y marinos, los nuevos y misteriosos misiles y los grupos de sabotaje forman parte de las herramientas; los aeródromos, las defensas aéreas y el transporte marítimo rusos se encuentran entre los objetivos.Ucrania tiene muchas razones para ampliar el conflicto.Una victoria es una victoria dondequiera y cuandoquiera que se produzca, ya sea dañando aviones en una base aérea rusa distante, perturbando la aviación comercial y el transporte marítimo, poniendo en vilo a los residentes de las regiones f...

US green-lights depleted uranium munitions for Ukraine: Report

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

Ukraine could soon receive armor-piercing ammunition from the U.S. capable of destroying heavy Russian tanks under the terms of a new multimillion-dollar aid package expected to be unveiled by Washington in the coming days.Depleted uranium munitions could be included in the next tranche of military assistance, according to a Reuters reports citing a draft document and two American officials. The ammunition rounds, which use the highly dense metal to help penetrate thick armor-plating, are designed to be fired from the U.S. Abrams tanks that Ukraine is expected to receive in the same package.While depleted uranium is a byproduct from the production of fuel used in atomic power stations, its radiation levels are significantly reduced and it is employed for its physical, rather than nuclear, properties. Ukraine in March received depleted uranium munitions from the U.K. to use in its British-made Challenger 2 tanks.However, the U.K. decision sparked a row after Russia — which without fo...

MLB notes: The Red Sox need starting pitching, and there will be plenty available this offseason

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

When all is said and done, the reason the Red Sox likely won’t make the playoffs is because they don’t have enough starting pitching.Brayan Bello has been terrific and James Paxton successfully put his injury woes behind him, but the rest of the rotation has failed to meet expectations.Chris Sale got hurt again. Corey Kluber was a complete bust. Garrett Whitlock keeps breaking down and failed to take the next step as a starter. Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford haven’t shown they can reliably pitch deeper than five innings. Nick Pivetta and Chris Murphy are better suited to pitch in relief.The rotation’s collective struggles put a heavy strain on the bullpen, and over the past two weeks the staff finally collapsed  as the workload proved too great. Now the Red Sox are facing a second straight September of meaningless baseball, and if the club hopes to turn things around in 2024, it’s obvious what they’ll have to do.Luckily, if there were ever an of...

K.C. Hwang, AP’s bureau chief in Seoul for 30 years, dies at age 99

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — K.C. Hwang, whose six-decade-long journalism career included 30 years chronicling South Korea’s tumultuous modern history as Seoul bureau chief for The Associated Press, has died at age 99.Hwang died Thursday of chronic ailments after undergoing kidney dialysis for two years, his son, Yoon Chul Hwang, said.From joining the AP in 1957, Hwang witnessed and reported on some of South Korea’s most dramatic and turbulent moments in its postwar history, from a public uprising that toppled the country’s first president, military coups and a presidential assassination to pro-democracy movements.“It was rare luck for a journalist to cover all these historical events in a single country,” Hwang wrote in a 2006 book titled “Korea Witness,” a collection of essays and articles by Korea correspondents.Hwang chose the 1960 uprising — where massive student protests over the government’s election fraud and corruption allegations triggered bloody police crackdowns befor...

More cargo ships from Ukraine use a civilian corridor despite Russian threats

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A third cargo vessel to depart Ukraine despite Russian threats has been located at a short distance away from Bulgarian territorial waters, maritime officials said Saturday.The Anna-Theresa, a Liberian-flagged bulk carrier carrying 56,000 tons of pig iron, left the Ukrainian port of Yuzhny on Friday, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said. He added that a second vessel – the Ocean Courtesy, traveling under a Marshall Islands flag — left the same port on Friday with 172,000 tons of iron ore concentrate. It was expected to reach Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta Saturday afternoon, according to the global ship tracking website MarineTraffic.The two vessels sailed through a temporary corridor for civilian ships from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to the Bosporus, Kubrakov said on the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. The corridor goes along the western shores of the Black Sea avoiding international waters and using instead those co...

‘Margaritaville’ singer Jimmy Buffett, who turned beach-bum life into an empire, dies at 76

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett, who popularized beach bum soft rock with the escapist Caribbean-flavored song “Margaritaville” and turned that celebration of loafing into an empire of restaurants, resorts and frozen concoctions, has died. He was 76. “Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” a statement posted to Buffett’s official website and social media pages said late Friday. “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.” The statement did not say where Buffett died or give a cause of death. Illness had forced him to reschedule concerts in May and Buffett acknowledged in social media posts that he had been hospitalized, but provided no specifics.“Margaritaville,” released on Feb. 14, 1977, quickly took on a life of its own, becoming a state of mind for those ”wastin’ away,” an excuse for a life of low-key fun and escapism for those ...

Scholz dismisses talk of keeping nuclear energy option open in Germany

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed a suggestion by a junior coalition partner that the country should keep open the option of using its closed nuclear power plants, declaring that atomic energy is a “dead horse” in Germany.Germany switched off its last three nuclear reactors in April, completing a process that received wide political support after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor disaster in 2011. But some argued for a rethink after energy prices spiked because of the war in Ukraine.Among those who advocated a reprieve were members of the Free Democrats, a pro-business party that is part of Scholz’s governing coalition.This week, the Free Democrats’ parliamentary group approved a policy statement saying that it wants “to stop the dismantling of the nuclear power plants that are still fit to use” as part of efforts to be prepared for worst-case scenarios. “That is the only way we will remain capable of acting in every situation,” it said.Scholz b...

Russia says it thwarted attacks on Crimea bridge, which was briefly closed for a third time

Published Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:02:03 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia’s Defense Ministry said early Saturday that its forces destroyed three Ukrainian naval drones being used in an attempt to attack a key bridge linking Russia to Moscow-annexed Crimea, forcing its temporary closure for a third time in less than a year.One naval drone was destroyed late Friday and two others early Saturday morning, according to Russia’s Defense Ministry. There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian officials. A key supply route for Kremlin forces in the war with Ukraine, the Kerch bridge has come under repeated attack since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. An explosion in October, which Russian authorities said was caused by a truck bomb, left three people dead. A further attack on the bridge in July, killing a couple and seriously wounding their daughter, left a span of the roadway hanging perilously. The bridge connecting Crimea and Russia carries heavy significance for Moscow, both logistically and psychologically, as a key arter...