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Spain nervous ahead of Women’s World Cup semifinal, a match against tournament stalwart Sweden

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — Spain failed to qualify for the first six editions of the Women’s World Cup, but once La Roja made the tournament in 2015 they’ve made a steady climb toward joining the global elite. Spain scored its first point with a draw in its World Cup debut. Four years later, Spain advanced to the knockout round before it was eliminated by the U.S. team that went on to clinch a second consecutive championship. Now in their third World Cup, the Spaniards have reached a new level and face Sweden in the first World Cup semifinal on Tuesday at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand. It is Spain’s first semifinal match in a major tournament since the 1997 European Championships, and the reward for making it this far? A match against the second-ranked team in the world that has already eliminated the U.S. and Japan in this tournament. The Swedes are playing in a fifth World Cup semifinal: they were runners-up in 2003, finished third three times, and, just to note how cons...

New York plays Las Vegas, aims for 25th victory of season

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

New York Liberty (24-6, 13-3 Eastern Conference) at Las Vegas Aces (26-3, 15-1 Western Conference)Las Vegas; Tuesday, 9 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: New York will look for its 25th win of the season when the Liberty face the Las Vegas Aces.The Aces have gone 15-0 at home. Las Vegas leads the Western Conference at limiting opponent scoring, allowing 80.1 points while holding opponents to 42.6% shooting.The Liberty have gone 12-2 away from home. New York scores 88.5 points while outscoring opponents by 7.8 points per game.The two teams match up for the third time this season. The Liberty defeated the Aces 99-61 in their last matchup on Aug. 6. Sabrina Ionescu led the Liberty with 31 points, and Jackie Young led the Aces with 16 points.TOP PERFORMERS: Chelsea Gray is averaging 15.1 points and 6.9 assists for the Aces. A’ja Wilson is averaging 21.3 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.2 blocks over the last 10 games for Las Vegas.Ionescu is averaging 16.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists for th...

“Ese pedazo de madera nos salvó la vida”: sobreviviente del incendio de Lahaina relata su escape al océano

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

Cuando las llamas avivadas por fuertes vientos arrasaron la histórica ciudad de Lahaina, Jubee Bedoya buscó refugio en el único lugar que no parecía abrumado por el fuego.Un residente de toda la vida de Lahaina cuenta cómo corrió hacia el océano.“Estábamos atrapados”, dijo Bedoya. “No había nada que pudiéramos hacer. Que el fuego y el viento llegaron tan rápido. No había nada que nadie pudiera hacer”. Casi un centenar de muertos dejan los incendios en Hawaii En su camino hacia el agua, Bedoya se encontró con una familia de cinco personas de California en Front Street, donde el tráfico se había paralizado mientras la gente intentaba escapar del fuego. Los conductores en filas de tres autos intentaban escapar en la carretera de dos carriles.El padre le entregó a Bedoya a su hijo de 2 años y se metieron en el agua.“Cuando estás en esa situación de vida o muerte, no te importa quién está alrededor”, dijo Bedoya. “Solo quieres tratar de ayudar a alguien”.E...

Poland arrests 2 Russians after Wagner recruitment posters appear in Kraków

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

Polish authorities have arrested two Russians who distributed propaganda material about the Wagner mercenary group in Warsaw and Kraków, Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński said Monday.Poland’s Internal Security Agency, working with the police, identified the two Russians and both are now in custody facing espionage and other charges, Kamiński said in a social media post.The arrests came after posters featuring Wagner’s skull logo reportedly appeared on the streets of Kraków, with a QR code which led to a recruitment page for the Kremlin-funded paramilitary group.“We are here,” the Wagner poster pronounced, adding: “Join us.”Kraków local councillor Łukasz Wantuch published a photo of one of the posters on Facebook, calling it a “provocation” and adding that it was happening “not only in Kraków.”Earlier this month, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had warned that Wagner might carry out “sabotage actions” in his countr...

Zuckerberg calls off Musk cage fight: ‘Elon isn’t serious’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg has called off his cage fight with fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk, accusing the Tesla CEO of wasting his time. “I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on,” Zuckerberg said in a post on Threads Sunday night. “Elon won’t confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead.”But Zuckerberg left the door open to a fight in the future, continuing: “If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official event, he knows how to reach me.”It comes after Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a “cage match” in June, with the two tech billionaires then seemingly making plans to make it happen, reportedly working with Dana White, president of Mixed Martial Arts organization UFC, to set up a charity bout.But after weeks of trading barbs on their competing social networks — Musk’s X (formerly known as Twitter) and Zuckerberg’s Th...

Death toll rises to 96 in Maui with estimated loss of $5.6 billion. Follow live updates

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

Follow live updates about wildfires that have devastated parts of Maui in Hawaii this week, destroying a historic town and forcing evacuations. The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the island chain, was partly to blame for strong winds that initially drove the flames, knocking out power and grounding firefighting helicopters.AUTHORITIES INCREASE DEATHS TOTAL, GOVERNOR SAYS ‘FULL FORCE’ OF GOVERNMENT AT WORKThe Maui Police Department updated the number of confirmed deaths to 96 around 9 p.m. Sunday, Maui County said in a statement.In a video update released earlier on Sunday, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green said more than 2,700 structures were destroyed in Lahaina and “an estimated value of $5.6 billion has gone away.” Green said the response has been “comprehensive” in the past several days: “We are bringing the full force of government to try to do all we can to alleviate suffering.”FEMA is overseeing the federal response in Hawaii with 416 personnel inclu...

Crews search for possible missing after a mudslide in the Italian Alps coats city streets in muck

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

ROME (AP) — Rescue crews in an Italian Alpine city were searching Monday for any possible missing people and clearing mud-caked roads after a mountain mudslide sent water and debris pouring into town, bursting riverbanks. Authorities said all residents were accounted for.The streets of Bardonecchia, a city near Turin in the Val di Susa mountain valley, were coated in thick gray mud following the violent mudslides late Sunday. Witness video showed a huge wave of dirt and debris toppling a gate and residents running away as the muck rushed down a city street; other videos showed thick mud coursing through the river banks that pass through town.Piedmont regional governor Alberto Cirio said there were no victims and that five people initially believed to be missing had been accounted for. In a Facebook post, Cirio said damage was significant and that he had already reached out to the national government for help. Civil protection crews were en route to remove the debris from roads and t...

Lawyers and witnesses say Ethiopian police have arrested hundreds during state of emergency

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Authorities in Ethiopia are carrying out mass arrests of hundreds, even thousands, of people in the capital after deadly unrest in the country’s Amhara region, lawyers and witnesses said.Ethiopia’s Cabinet declared a state of emergency earlier this month in Amhara after local militia fighters known as Fano seized control of several major towns, which the military has since retaken by force. The Fano, who fought alongside Ethiopian military forces in a two-year conflict in the neighboring Tigray region, have resisted being disbanded after a peace deal last November.Ethiopia’s parliament is to vote Monday on giving formal approval to extraordinary measures which allow authorities to arrest suspects without a warrant, conduct searches and impose curfews. Under the previous state of emergency imposed during the Tigray conflict, tens of thousands of ethnic Tigrayans were rounded up across the country.This time, “there has been widespread arrest of civilians who are ...

Thousands of pieces of unexploded ordnance found buried in ground at Cambodian school

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian authorities have temporarily closed a high school where thousands of pieces of unexploded ordnance from the country’s nearly three decades of civil war have been unearthed. The ordnance was found at the school in the northeastern province of Kratie after deminers were invited to search for buried landmines on the campus before a new building was constructed, Chheang Heng, the provincial deputy chief for education. More than 1,000 students study at Queen Kossamak high school.The site was an ammunition warehouse during the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s before being turned into a school and all of the ordnance was thought to have been removed, Chheang Heng said.From Friday through Sunday, 2,116 pieces of ordnance were collected by deminers from the Cambodian Mine Action Center, the government agency’s director general, Heng Ratana, posted on FacebookThey included M79 grenades, FuzeM48 shells and ordnance for the B40 rocket launcher. Photos ...

Police report ’emergency incident’ after airliner returns to Sydney Airport

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 05:56:05 GMT

SYDNEY (AP) — A commercial airline flight from Australia to Malaysia returned to Sydney on Monday after an emergency incident, officials and media reported.Malaysia Airlines flight MH122 left Sydney Airport at 1:40 p.m. for an eight-hour flight to Kuala Lumpur and landed back on the runway at 3:47 p.m., Nine News reported.Someone purporting to be on board tweeted that a person was “threatening staff and passengers,” Nine reported.It said a passenger holding a backpack had threatened to “blow the plane up.” Crew had checked the backpack and found no explosives, it added.Australian Federal Police said in a statement they were responding to an “emergency incident” at the airport, but provided no other details.The plane was parked on the end of a runway hours later with emergency vehicles nearby, Nine reported.Sydney Airport said it was supporting “emergency agencies in the management of an incident.”“The airport is operational with flights arriving and departing,” an airport statement ...