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Sky face the Mystics on 4-game losing streak

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

Washington Mystics (7-4, 3-3 Eastern Conference) at Chicago Sky (5-7, 2-5 Eastern Conference)Chicago; Thursday, 8 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Chicago heads into the matchup with Washington as losers of four in a row.The Sky are 2-5 in conference games. Chicago ranks fifth in the Eastern Conference in rebounding with 35.0 rebounds. Alanna Smith leads the Sky with 6.8 boards.The Mystics are 3-3 against Eastern Conference teams. Washington is sixth in the Eastern Conference scoring 27.5 points per game in the paint led by Shakira Austin averaging 9.3.The teams play for the third time this season. In the last meeting on June 18 the Mystics won 77-69 led by 20 points from Elena Delle Donne, while Morgan Bertsch scored 16 points for the Sky.TOP PERFORMERS: Smith is shooting 53.4% and averaging 10.3 points for the Sky.Delle Donne is averaging 18.4 points and 6.2 rebounds for the Mystics.LAST 10 GAMES: Sky: 3-7, averaging 79.9 points, 34.6 rebounds, 20.0 assists, 5.1 steals and 5.1 blocks per game...

Minnesota and Connecticut square off in non-conference matchup

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

Connecticut Sun (9-3, 5-2 Eastern Conference) at Minnesota Lynx (3-8, 3-4 Western Conference)Minneapolis; Thursday, 8 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Minnesota and Connecticut square off in non-conference action.The Lynx are 1-4 in home games. Minnesota is 1-1 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.The Sun have gone 6-1 away from home. Connecticut has a 1-0 record in games decided by less than 4 points.The teams square off for the second time this season. The Sun won the last meeting 89-84 on June 2. Natisha Hiedeman scored 19 points to help lead the Sun to the victory.TOP PERFORMERS: Napheesa Collier is shooting 47.5% and averaging 20.5 points for the Lynx.DeWanna Bonner is averaging 17.8 points for the Sun.LAST 10 GAMES: Lynx: 3-7, averaging 78.3 points, 35.0 rebounds, 17.9 assists, 5.4 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 42.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 85.0 points per game.Sun: 7-3, averaging 84.1 points, 33.2 rebounds, 22.1 assists, 8.4 steals and 3.0 blocks pe...

Bochy `dumbfounded’ by `embarrassing’ call that gives the White Sox a comeback win over the Rangers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — Zach Remillard singled in Elvis Andrus with the go-ahead run on a play that was overturned by video review, and the Chicago White Sox rallied with three runs in the eighth inning to beat the Texas Rangers 7-6 on Tuesday night.Remillard has had a busy first week in the majors. In his debut Saturday at Seattle, the 29-year-old infielder knocked in the tying run in the ninth and the winner in the 11th.This time, the finish was more controversial.Andrus tied it with a single off Grant Anderson (1-1) that plated two runs with two outs. Remillard followed with a line drive to left field, and Andrus was initially called out at the plate by umpire D.J. Reyburn on Travis Jankowski’s throw.Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was ejected after the call was overturned, because catcher Jonah Heim was ruled to have blocked the plate illegally. Bochy was booted for the 80th time in his career.“For that call to be made, I’m dumbfounded,” Bochy said. “It’s absolutely one of the worst calls I’...

Ex-Aussie PM admits he hid submarine plot from Macron

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

Australia’s former Prime Minister Scott Morrison acknowledged he did not tell French President Emmanuel Macron he was planning to renege on a €56 billion submarine contract and buy U.S.-made subs instead.“Our strategy was that if we are going to do this, we can’t let it lead to the French knowing — in case that damages the French deal,” Morrison said in an upcoming book seen by newswire Agence France-Presse.“So, we had to build Chinese walls — pardon the pun — around our discussions,” said Morrison, in an interview with Australian journalist Richard Kerbaj for a new chapter of the book “The Secret History of The Five Eyes,” about the intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S. An updated version of the book will be published in July.Morrison explained he secretly worked with the U.S. and the U.K. for two years to form an alternative alliance — labeled AUKUS — in which the three countries would share...

Germany appoints senior lawmaker with governing party as ambassador to Russia

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has appointed a senior lawmaker with one of the country’s governing parties as its new ambassador to Russia, handing him the delicate diplomatic post as tensions spiral over Moscow’s war in Ukraine.The Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that Russia has given its formal approval for Alexander Lambsdorff to become ambassador, a necessary step before he can take the post. It said that he is expected to start work this summer.Lambsdorff, 56, has experience in Germany’s diplomatic service, which he joined in 1995. He worked in the Foreign Ministry’s Russia department in 2003 and 2004. In recent years, he has been better known as a prominent politician. He was a member of the European Parliament from 2004 to 2017 before joining the German parliament. He is currently a deputy leader of the parliamentary group of the Free Democrats, the smallest of three parties in Germany’s governing coalition.Germany’s relations with Moscow have becom...

China calls Biden comments calling leader Xi a dictator ‘extremely absurd and irresponsible’

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China has called comments by President Joe Biden describing Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a dictator “extremely absurd and irresponsible.” The new clash of words comes just over a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded a visit to Beijing that sought to break the ice in a relationship that has hit a historical low. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Wednesday said Biden’s comments at a fundraiser in California “go totally against facts and seriously violate diplomatic protocol, and severely infringe on China’s political dignity.” “It is a blatant political provocation. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition,” Mao said at a daily briefing. “The U.S. remarks are extremely absurd and irresponsible,” Mao said. Blinken’s visit, during which he met with Xi, was aimed at easing tensions between the two superpowers but appeared not to have achieved any solid results. Biden, at the fundraiser on Tuesday night local time, said that Xi wa...

Russia says it downed 3 drones outside Moscow, suspects it was attack by Ukraine

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

Two drones were brought down outside Moscow as they approached the warehouses of a local military unit, Moscow region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said Wednesday, in what could be the latest attempt by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia during the early stages of Kyiv’s most recent counteroffensive.The wreckage of a third drone was found about 20 kilometers (12 miles) away from the site of the crash, Russian media reported. No damage or casualties were reported.Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed it was “an unsuccessful attempt at a terrorist attack” by “the Kyiv regime” on its facilities in the Moscow region, adding in a statement that all three drones were brought down by radio-electronic means.Ukraine, which usually doesn’t confirm attacks on Russian soil, made no immediate comment about the downed drones. Previously, Ukrainian officials have emphasized the country’s right to strike any target in response to Russia’s invasion and war that started in February 2022.In ...

Pride and pain for Biden as his son Hunter reaches a plea deal after 5 years of investigation

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden had just six words to offer after his 53-year-old son Hunter pleaded guilty to federal tax offenses in a deal that is also likely to spare him time behind bars on a weapons charge.“I’m very proud of my son,” he said.That pride has been accompanied by pain, and for the president’s family, both have been on public display. Republicans have worked to use Hunter Biden’s actions — and his acknowledged struggle with addiction — as an anchor to try to drag down his father.As a parent, Joe Biden has tried to keep his son close; they speak almost every day. Hunter was at his father’s side on a recent trip to Ireland, on the lawn of the White House with other family members for the Easter egg roll and in the bleachers with his mom and dad as his daughter graduated from college last month. But out of public view, a five-year criminal investigation was coming to a conclusion, with a plea deal announced Tuesday that resolves the probe into the taxes and fore...

Cooperation or competition? China’s security industry sees the US, not AI, as the bigger threat

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — After years of breakneck growth, China’s security and surveillance industry is now focused on shoring up its vulnerabilities to the United States and other outside actors, worried about risks posed by hackers, advances in artificial intelligence and pressure from rival governments.The renewed emphasis on self-reliance, combating fraud and hardening systems against hacking was on display at the recent Security China exhibition in Beijing, illustrating just how difficult it will be to get Beijing and Washington to cooperate even as researchers warn that humankind faces common risks from AI. The show took place just days after China’s ruling Communist Party warned officials of the risks posed by artificial intelligence.Looming over the four-day meet: China’s biggest geopolitical rival, the United States. American-developed AI chatbot ChatGPT was a frequent topic of conversation, as were U.S. efforts to choke off China’s access to cutting-edge technology.“This new technol...

In The News for Wednesday, June 21, 2023: What do Canadians think about wildfires?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:24:04 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of Wednesday, June 21, 2023 …What we are watching in Canada …More than one in four Canadians told a polling firm this week that they have been affected by the record-setting wildfires that have rocked much of Canada over the spring, and more than three in four say they think there are more fires now than in the past.But, 23 per cent of Americans said they have been directly or indirectly affected by fires this year.In Alberta, where the fires have been particularly troublesome for two months, almost 40 per cent of respondents said they had been affected by the fires.The Leger poll surveyed 1,500 Canadians and 1,000 Americans online between June 16 and 19.It comes just after Environment and Climate Change Canada issued an updated summer forecast that predicts the conditions that led to the spring wildfire catastrophe ...