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Washington visits Phoenix after Jefferson’s 32-point game

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

Washington Mystics (17-19, 8-10 Eastern Conference) at Phoenix Mercury (9-28, 2-16 Western Conference)Phoenix; Tuesday, 10 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Phoenix plays the Washington Mystics after Moriah Jefferson scored 32 points in the Phoenix Mercury’s 86-73 loss to the Minnesota Lynx.The Mercury are 8-10 in home games. Phoenix averages 15.0 turnovers per game and is 3- when it wins the turnover battle.The Mystics are 5-13 on the road. Washington ranks ninth in the WNBA with 6.8 offensive rebounds per game led by Tianna Hawkins averaging 1.5.The teams square off for the fourth time this season. In the last meeting on Aug. 9 the Mercury won 91-72 led by 15 points from Diana Taurasi, while Brittney Sykes scored 24 points for the Mystics.TOP PERFORMERS: Brittney Griner is shooting 56.3% and averaging 17.8 points for the Mercury. Jefferson is averaging 14.5 points over the last 10 games for Phoenix.Natasha Cloud is averaging 12.7 points and 5.9 assists for the Mystics. Sykes is averaging...

Dallas hosts New York after Stewart’s 26-point outing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

New York Liberty (30-7, 16-3 Eastern Conference) at Dallas Wings (20-17, 10-9 Western Conference)Arlington, Texas; Tuesday, 8 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: New York plays the Dallas Wings after Breanna Stewart scored 26 points in the Liberty’s 86-69 win against the Chicago Sky.The Wings are 10-8 on their home court. Dallas scores 87.1 points while outscoring opponents by 2.4 points per game.The Liberty are 16-3 on the road. New York leads the WNBA with 24.0 assists per game led by Courtney Vandersloot averaging 8.1.The two teams square off for the third time this season. The Wings defeated the Liberty 98-88 in their last meeting on July 19. Arike Ogunbowale led the Wings with 25 points, and Stewart led the Liberty with 25 points.TOP PERFORMERS: Ogunbowale is averaging 21.1 points, 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals for the Wings. Satou Sabally is averaging 18.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.8 steals over the past 10 games for Dallas.Stewart is scoring 22.8 points per game and averagi...

Thomas and the Sun take on Ogwumike and the Sparks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

Los Angeles Sparks (15-21, 8-11 Western Conference) at Connecticut Sun (25-12, 13-5 Eastern Conference)Uncasville, Connecticut; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Nneka Ogwumike and the Los Angeles Sparks visit Alyssa Thomas and the Connecticut Sun in non-conference action.The Sun have gone 11-6 at home. Connecticut is the leader in the Eastern Conference at limiting opponent scoring, giving up 79.0 points while holding opponents to 43.4% shooting.The Sparks are 6-11 on the road. Los Angeles has a 7-8 record in games decided by 10 points or more.The teams square off for the third time this season. The Sun won 83-68 in the last matchup on Aug. 27. Thomas led the Sun with 17 points, and Azura Stevens led the Sparks with 17 points.TOP PERFORMERS: DeWanna Bonner is averaging 17.7 points and 5.6 rebounds for the Sun. Thomas is averaging 18.0 points over the last 10 games for Connecticut.Ogwumike is scoring 19.1 points per game and averaging 8.9 rebounds for the Sparks. Karlie Samuelson is a...

Div. 1-2 players to watch, alignments

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL ALIGNMENTEMASS DIV. 1Acton-BoxboroAndoverAttleboroBC HighBraintreeBrocktonBrooklineCentral CatholicDurfeeEverettFraminghamFranklinHaverhillLawrenceLexingtonLincoln-SudburyLowellMethuenNatickNeedhamNew BedfordNewton NorthNewton SouthSt. John’s PrepSt. John’s (Shrewsbury)TauntonWestford AcademyWeymouthXaverian EMASS DIV. 2ArlingtonBarnstableBelmontBeverlyBishop FeehanBridgewater-RaynhamCambridgeCatholic MemorialChelmsfordConcord-CarlisleDimanKing PhilipMarshfieldNorth AndoverNorth QuincyPeabodyPlymouth NorthQuincyWalthamWellesleyWinchester DIV. 1-2 DANDY DOZENThomas Brown, Jr., OL, 6-4, 270, Chelmsford: One of the premier junior linemen in the state, Brown has been outstanding on the football field and the wrestling mat.Kieran Corr, Sr. PK, 6-3, 175, Winchester: The Harvard-bound Corr recently won a national kicking contest and has made field goals beyond 60 yards.Andrew Dufault, Sr. OL/LS, 6-2, 250, Xaverian: The Penn State-bound Dufault is ...

China’s Xi will skip G20 summit in India during a period of soured bilateral relations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping is apparently skipping this week’s Group of 20 summit in India as bilateral relations remain icy. Instead, Premier Li Qiang will represent China at the Sept. 9-10 gathering, the Foreign Ministry said Monday in a one sentence notice on its website. Relations between China and India have grown frosty over their disputed border, and three years ago the tensions resulted in a clash in the Ladakh region that killed 20 Indian and four soldiers. It turned into a long-running standoff in the rugged mountainous area, where each side has stationed tens of thousands of military personnel backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets.Frictions have also risen over trade and India’s growing strategic ties with China’s main rival the United States. Both India and China have expelled the other’s journalists. India recently overtook China as the world’s most populous nation and the two are rivals in technology, space exploration and ...

Sudan’s top general arrives in South Sudan for talks with its president on the war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Sudan’s top military general has arrived in South Sudan on Monday for talks with its president on his second trip abroad since the war in his country started earlier this year.Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, chairman of the ruling Sovereign Council, landed at the airport in South Sudan’s capital and was received by South Sudanese President Salva Kiir. Both leaders inspected an honor guard then headed for talks that would focus on the conflict in Sudan, according to the council.In April, simmering tensions between the military, led by Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in the capital and elsewhere.The fighting has reduced Khartoum to an urban battlefield, with neither side managing to gain control of the city. The military command, where Burhan has purportedly been stationed since April, has been one of the epicenters of the conflict.In the western Darfur region — the scene of a gen...

Clashes erupt in Sweden’s third largest city after another Quran burning and at least 3 are detained

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Clashes erupted in an immigrant neighborhood in Sweden’s third largest city after an anti-Muslim protester set fire to the Quran, police said Monday. Police in Malmo said they were pelted with rocks and dozens of cars were set on fire, including in an underground garage, describing the events that started Sunday and lasted overnight as “a violent riot.”The clashes started after an anti-Islam activist Salwan Momika on Sunday burned a copy of the Quran and an angry mob tried to stop him while police, some of them helmeted, detained several people. At least three people have been detained, police said.Early Monday, an angry crowd of mainly young people also set fire to tires and debris and some were seen throwing electric scooters, bicycles and barriers in Malmo’s Rosengard neighborhood, which has seen similar clashes in the past. There were several banners relating to the Quran burning. “I understand that a public gathering like this arouses strong emotions, but...

The Turkish president is to meet Putin with the aim of reviving the Ukraine grain export deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

The presidents of Russia and Turkey meet on Monday, with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeking to persuade Russia to revive an agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain and other commodities from three Black Sea ports despite the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin in July refused to extend the agreement, which was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations a year earlier. Russia complained that a parallel deal promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer hadn’t been honored. It said restrictions on shipping and insurance hampered its agricultural trade, even though it has shipped record amounts of wheat since last year.The leaders are to meet in the Black Sea city of Sochi, where the Russian president has a residence, and a lot is riding on the talks for the world food supply. The meeting takes place against a backdrop of more than 18 months of war and Ukraine’s recent counteroffensive.In the latest development, Ukrainian President Volod...

Stock market today: World shares surge after Wall St gains on signs the US jobs market is cooling

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

Stocks were higher in Europe and Asia on Monday following a report that signaled the US jobs market, while still healthy, shows some signs of cooling, raising hopes for an easing of interest rate hikes. Germany’s DAX advanced 0.7% to 15,949.69 and the CAC 40 in Paris picked up 0.8% to 7,354.96. In London, the FTSE 100 was up 0.8% at 7,522.38.The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.2%. U.S. markets will be closed for the Labor Day holiday. “It appears that global markets are primed to be smitten with the idea of a ‘Nirvana’ Fed tightening outcome, entailing the ‘immaculate dis-inflation’ that does not cause employment pain,” Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank said in a commentary. Apart from the favorable jobs data, fresh stimulus from China’s financial regulators for the beleaguered property sector also supported buying. They have cut down-payment requirements for first and second-time home buyers and lowered rates on existing mortgages, noted ...

Mob attacks on Christian churches and homes in Pakistan set off by false implication, police say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:43:57 GMT

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Last month’s mob attacks on churches and homes of Christians in eastern Pakistan erupted after three Christians threw the pages of Islam’s holy book outside the house of two others to falsely implicate them in a blasphemy case due to a personal dispute, police said Monday.The three detained suspects confessed to conspiring and throwing Quran pages outside Raja Amir’s house, three police officials said. Amir and his brother had been arrested after they were accused by Muslims of desecrating the Quran.The suspected mastermind was Pervez Kodu, who thought Amir had an affair with his wife and knew Muslims would target Amir if Kodu had thrown the pages outside his house to give the impression Amir had desecrated the holy book, three police officials said.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media on the record. They said the three men now face charges of causing violence and falsely implicating Amir...