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Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys reach fourth round as Americans continue to shine at US Open

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

(CNN) — Jessica Pegula advanced to the fourth round of the US Open with a hard fought 6-4 4-6 6-2 victory over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, continuing the impressive performances of American players at their home tournament.The No. 3 seed will now face her compatriot Madison Keys for a place in the quarterfinals after Keys completed a 5-7 6-2 6-2 victory over Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova in her own third-round match.Since Svitolina has returned to tennis after having a baby last year, she has achieved a string of impressive results, reaching the quarterfinals at the French Open and the semifinals at Wimbledon, and she provided a difficult test for Pegula on Saturday.Pegula didn’t concede a break point in the first set, but Svitolina converted her first – and only – opportunity to break the American in the second set and level the match.Pegula’s serve remained virtually impregnable during the third set, she served nine aces throughout the match and conceded just one break point, an...

Canada beats Spain at FIBA Basketball World Cup, clinches Olympic berth

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

Canada has beaten Spain 88-85 to advance to the quarter-finals of the FIBA men’s Basketball World Cup.The win guarantees Canada a berth at the 2024 Paris Olympics.More coming.

India’s moon rover completes its walk. Scientists analyzing data looking for signs of frozen water

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India’s moon rover has completed its walk on the lunar surface and been put into sleep mode less than two weeks after its historic landing near the lunar south pole, India’s space mission said.“The rover completes its assignments. It is now safely parked and set into sleep mode,” with daylight on that part of the moon coming to an end, the Indian Space Research Organization said in a statement late Saturday.The rover’s payloads are turned off and the data it collected has been transmitted to the Earth via the lander, the statement said.The Chandrayaan-3 lander and rover were expected to operate only for one lunar day, which is equal to 14 days on Earth.“Currently, the battery is fully charged. The solar panel is oriented to receive the light at the next sunrise expected on September 22, 2023. The receiver is kept on. Hoping for a successful awakening for another set of assignments!” the statement said.There was no word on the outcome of the rover s...

‘Equalizer 3’ cleans up, while ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ score new records

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

The third installment in the Denzel Washington-led “Equalizer” franchise topped the domestic box office this weekend with $34.5 million according to studio estimates Sunday. By the end of the Monday holiday, Sony expects that total will rise to $42 million.Labor Day signals the end of Hollywood’s summer movie season, which will likely surpass $4 billion in ticket sales for the first time since the pandemic thanks in no small part to “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” which are still netting records even after seven weeks in theaters. This weekend, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” officially became the biggest movie of 2023 with over $1.36 billion globally, surpassing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” while Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” sailed past $850 million globally to become the No. 3 movie of the year and Nolan’s third highest grossing.“The Equalizer 3” arrived at a fraught time for Hollywood, with actors seven weeks into a strike for fair contracts with major entertainment companies and movi...

Guatemala’s electoral authority blocks the suspension of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s party

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s top electoral authority said Sunday it blocked the suspension of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo’s Seed Movement, at least temporarily giving the party back its legal status and cutting off an attempt by opposing political forces to weaken Arévalo.The decision by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal came days after the electoral registry suspended the party on a judge’s order. The Attorney General’s office is investigating whether there was wrongdoing in the gathering of required signatures for the party’s formation years earlier.The tribunal said the suspension could not stand because it did not come from an electoral body. Its decision holds until the official end of the electoral period Oct. 31, because Guatemala’s electoral law does not allow the suspension of a party during the electoral period.The Seed Movement had also appealed the suspension through the normal court system, but so far without result. It is expected that come Nov. 1, the party cou...

Madrid prepares for heavy rain, cancels trains and soccer game

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Forecasts of heavy rain in central Spain on Sunday led authorities to shut down train lines, cancel a Spanish league soccer game and order citizens to stay indoors.Spain’s weather service issued warnings for intense rainstorms in Madrid and surrounding areas.Spain’s state rail authority said that train service between Madrid and the eastern coastal area of Valencia and other lines had been suspended.Pedro Ruiz of Madrid’s emergency services said the city activated protocols to prepare for flooding. The agency said it sent text messages to Madrid residents with instructions to stay at home and to avoid using cars.Madrid Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida called for people to remain off the streets to help emergency crews move with greater speed during what he said was expected to be “an exceptional and truly rare situation in terms of precipitation.”Almeida said the record for rainfall in Madrid from 1972 of 87 liters per square meter would most likely be broken with a fo...

Why Wisconsin Republicans are talking about impeaching a new state Supreme Court justice

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature is talking about impeaching a newly elected liberal state Supreme Court justice even before she has heard a case.The unprecedented attempt to impeach and remove Justice Janet Protasiewicz from office comes as the court is being asked to throw out legislative electoral maps drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011 that cemented the party’s majorities, which now stand at 65-34 in the Assembly and a 22-11 supermajority in the Senate.Here is a closer look at where things stand:HOW DID THE STATE GET HERE?Protasiewicz won election in April to a 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court beginning Aug. 1. Her 11-point victory gave liberals a 4-3 majority, ending a 15-year run with conservatives in control.During her first week in office, two lawsuits were filed by Democratic-friendly groups and law firms seeking to overturn Republican-drawn legislative maps. WHY IS THERE TALK OF IMPEACHMENT?Republ...

A building marked by fire and death shows the decay of South Africa’s ‘city of gold’

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — One of the few things that survived the fire and smoke that caused at least 76 horrific deaths in a rundown apartment block in Johannesburg is a circular plaque hanging on the brown brick exterior. It has a five-sentence inscription outlining the building’s history.No. 80 Albert Street – the scene of one of South Africa’s worst inner-city tragedies – was a central pass office during the apartheid era of racial segregation, a checkpoint for enforcing a despised law that controlled the movement of Black people nearly everywhere in the country.Without a pass from the apartheid government to work there, people were “denied a place” in Johannesburg, the inscription reads.What it doesn’t say is that the building still saw people excluded up until last Thursday, nearly 30 years after apartheid ended, when a fire swept through it and killed dozens of South Africans and poor foreign migrants clinging on at the fringes of society i...

Corgis parade outside Buckingham Palace to remember Queen Elizabeth II a year since her death

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Royal fans and their pet corgis gathered outside Buckingham Palace on Sunday to remember Queen Elizabeth II, a year since her death. Around 20 corgi enthusiasts dressed up their pets in crowns, tiaras and royal outfits and paraded them outside the palace in central London to pay tribute to Elizabeth, a well-known lover of the dog breed. Corgis were the late queen’s constant companions since she was a child, and Elizabeth owned around 30 throughout her life. Generations of the dogs descended from Susan, a corgi that was given to the queen on her 18th birthday.Agatha Crerer-Gilbert, who organized Sunday’s event, said she would like the corgi march to take place every year in Elizabeth’s memory.“I can’t see a better way to remember her than through her corgis, through the breed that she loved and cherished through her life,” she said. “You know, I can’t still get used to the fact that she’s not physically around us, but she’s looking at us. Look, the sun...

3 dead after head-on motorcycle crash in Big Rock: Police

Published Tue, 24 Dec 2024 17:49:43 GMT

BIG ROCK TOWNSHIP, Ill. -- Three people are dead after a car crash in Big Rock Saturday night.According to police, a Honda Civic was travelling westbound on route 30 from Davis Road when it passed a vehicle in front of him in the eastbound lane in a no passing zone and struck a motorcycle head on. The Kane County Sheriff's Office identified the driver of the Honda as 55-year-old Jaime Bibiano. The motorcyclist was identified as 56-year-old Scott Luczynski and a passenger on the motorcycle, 58-year-old Kathleen Luczynski. 3 men shot, 1 critical in South Austin Bibiano was pronounced dead on the scene. The passenger of the motorcycle was pronounced dead on the scene and a few minutes later, the motorcyclist was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital in Aurora. Sheriffs are unaware if drugs or alcohol were involved, and no roadways are closed as a result of the crash.