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Becher sparks Vancouver to 5-0 victory over Montreal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Simon Becher scored two goals and added an assist to power the Vancouver Whitecaps to a 5-0 victory over CF Montreal on Saturday night.Becher got the start against Montreal after becoming the first Whitecap to sub in and score in his first two appearances in the previous two matches.Brian White opened the scoring with a goal in the 38th minute on assists from Becher and Javain Brown.Becher used passes from Ali Ahmed and Luis Martins to score in the 43rd minute and Julian Gressel found the net unassisted two minutes later to give the Whitecaps (1-2-3) a 3-0 lead at halftime.Vancouver took a four-goal lead just three minutes into the second half on an unassisted score by Ahmed. Becher found the net for a second time — in the 59th minute — with assists from Brown and Pedro Vite to cap the scoring.The Whitecaps outshot Montreal 29-3 and had a 9-0 advantage in shots on goal.Yohei Takaoka did not have to make a save in earning the clean sheet for Vancouv...

UConn’s Hawkins bounces back from illness in Final Four win

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Jordan Hawkins spent most of Friday in bed except when he went to the bathroom to throw up. He barely slept. Yet there was no way he wasn’t going to be ready for Connecticut’s game against Miami in the Final Four.“I absolutely knew I was going to play,” Hawkins said after the Huskies’ 72-59 win over Miami in Saturday night’s national semifinals. “I didn’t care how I was feeling. Put me on a stretcher, it didn’t matter.”It wasn’t quite that dramatic, fortunately. But the 6-foot-5 sophomore bounced back from missing Friday’s practice, first by hitting a 3-pointer on the game’s opening possession and then by scoring 10 of his 13 points after halftime as the Huskies rolled into Monday night’s title game.“Final Four gameday, I wasn’t feeling the best,” he said in the locker room. “But you just have that mentality that you’ve got to go out and win a game for a national championship.”Hawkins, the team’s No. 2 ...

Griner concerned for American journalist held in Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — American basketball star Brittney Griner and her wife are concerned about the detainment in Russia of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and said “we must do everything in our power to bring him and all Americans home.”“Every American who is taken is ours to fight for and every American returned is a win for us all,” Griner, who was held in Russia for most of last year, said in a statement with Cherelle Griner posted Saturday night on Instagram.Russian security officials took Gershkovich, 31, into custody on Thursday and accused him of spying. The newspaper denied the charge and demanded his release.President Joe Biden on Friday urged Russia to release Gershkovich, the first American correspondent to be detained on spying accusations since the Cold War.Brittney Griner was detained in Russia for 10 months after being arrested at an airport near Moscow on drug possession charges. She returned to the U.S. in a prisoner exchange in December involving Russian...

March Madness: San Diego State to meet UConn in title game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Lamont Butler hit the biggest shot in San Diego State history, putting the Aztecs in the national championship game for the first time.The next step, in Monday’s title game, will be a difficult one.UConn has been the dominant team all through the bracket, delivering one beatdown after another while showing no weaknesses — even on a short turnaround.The Huskies snatched the euphoria right out of Gonzaga last week in the Elite Eight, ruining the Zags’ vibes after their last-second win over UCLA two days earlier. Baylor did the same thing to Gonzaga in the 2021 national title game, bullying the Zags two days after Jalen Suggs’ miracle shot. “We don’t stop,” UConn guard Jordan Hawkins said after scoring 13 points against Miami on Saturday night. “We keep putting our foot on their neck. We have a really tough team.”The Huskies got to the title game by breaking their opponents’ will.UConn won its first four NCAA Tournament games by at least 15 ...

Draisaitl scores 3, Oilers beat Ducks 6-0, get playoff berth

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Leon Draisaitl scored three goals, Connor McDavid had a goal and an assist and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-0 on Saturday night to clinch their fourth straight playoff berth.Zach Hyman also had a goal and an assist, and Darnell Nurse also scored, and Mattias Ekholm had two assists to help Edmonton win its fourth straight and earn at least a point for the 10th straight game (9-0-1). Jack Campbell stopped 36 shots for his 10th career shutout —first since last April 26 against Detroit.John Gibson was pulled in the third period after giving up five goals on 36 shots for Anaheim, which has lost eight straight and 10 of 11 (1-9-1). Lukas Dostal came on and finished with eight saves.Hyman deflected Mattias Ekholm’s long shot off Gibson and in with 2:04 left in the first to get the Oilers on the scoreboard. It was his 34th of the season.Draisaitl got a pass from Evander Kane, skated in and lifted a backhander into the top right corner to double...

Report: 3 killed, 3 injured in shooting at Oklahoma City bar

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — At least three people were killed and another three were injured during a shooting inside an Oklahoma City bar Saturday night, according to a report.Police said one person was in critical condition and two others suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the shooting around 9 p.m. at Whiskey Barrel Saloon near Newcastle Road and South Roff Avenue in southwest Oklahoma City, KOCO-TV reported.The Oklahoma City Police Department tweeted that investigators were at the scene of a “significant incident” in the 4100 block of Newcastle Road.Police did not have a suspect in custody Saturday, KOCO reported.The Associated Press

War-crimes warrant for Putin could complicate Ukraine peace

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — An international arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin raises the prospect of the man whose country invaded Ukraine facing justice, but it complicates efforts to end that war in peace talks. Both justice and peace appear to be only remote possibilities today, and the conflicting relationship between the two is a quandary at the heart of a March 17 decision by the International Criminal Court to seek the Russian leader’s arrest.Judges in The Hague found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights were responsible for war crimes, specifically the unlawful deportation and unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.As unlikely as Putin sitting in a Hague courtroom seems now, other leaders have faced justice in international courts.Former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic, a driving force behind the Balkan wars of the 1990s, went on trial for war crimes, including genocide, ...

The US leads the world in weather catastrophes. Here’s why

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

The United States is Earth’s punching bag for nasty weather.Blame geography for the U.S. getting hit by stronger, costlier, more varied and frequent extreme weather than anywhere on the planet, several experts said. Two oceans, the Gulf of Mexico, the Rocky Mountains, jutting peninsulas like Florida, clashing storm fronts and the jet stream combine to naturally brew the nastiest of weather.That’s only part of it. Nature dealt the United States a bad hand, but people have made it much worse by what, where and how we build, several experts told The Associated Press. Then add climate change, and “buckle up. More extreme events are expected,” said Rick Spinrad, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Tornadoes. Hurricanes. Flash floods. Droughts. Wildfires. Blizzards. Ice storms. Nor’easters. Lake-effect snow. Heat waves. Severe thunderstorms. Hail. Lightning. Atmospheric rivers. Derechos. Dust storms. Monsoons. Bomb cyclones. And the dreaded polar vortex. It s...

Israeli strikes in Syria’s Homs province wound 5 soldiers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in Syria’s Homs province early Sunday, wounding five soldiers, Syrian state media reported.It marked the ninth time Israel has struck targets in Syria since the beginning of the year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor.State news agency SANA, citing military sources, said the strikes had targeted sites in the city of Homs and surrounding countryside. Syrian air defenses intercepted the missiles and shot down some of them, it said.The observatory reported that the missiles targeted Syrian military sites and those of Iran-linked militias, including a research center.There was no immediate statement from Israel on the strikes.Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years, including attacks on the Damascus and Aleppo airports, but it rarely acknowledges specific operations.Israel says it targets bases of Iran-all...

Colorado on track to make abortion and gender-affirming protections law as lawmakers pass package of three bills

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:32 GMT

After more than 29 hours of often tense and emotional debate over three days, Colorado lawmakers passed Democrats’ three priority abortion and gender-affirming-care bills Saturday night.The bills passed in the Colorado House place tighter regulations upon the advertising and unproven scientific claims of crisis-pregnancy centers, codify protections for providers of abortion- and gender-affirming care, and extend insurance coverage to abortion and other reproductive health-related treatment. They represent the latest steps in Democrats’ ongoing efforts to enshrine and expand abortion access in state law amid the national fallout from the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in June, a push that began last year and is set to continue with ballot measures in November 2024.“I’m so glad we were able to deliver on the promise of (the Reproductive Health Equity Act),” said Democratic Rep. Meg Froelich of the bills’ passage. “The new patchwork ...