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Aces, Liberty, Sun and Wings set for WNBA semifinal playoff clashes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces cruised through the opening round of the playoffs and now stand six wins away from becoming the WNBA’s first repeat champion in over two decades.Next up for the defending champions are the Dallas Wings — a team that handed the Aces one of their few losses during the regular season. New York faces Connecticut in the other semifinal matchup. Both best-of-five series begin Sunday.Las Vegas, which is looking to be the first team to repeat as champs since Los Angeles in 2001-02, had no trouble sweeping Chicago. The Aces didn’t trail in winning both games. Now Wilson and her teammates will have to deal with the formidable front line of the Wings, which features 6-foot-7 Teaira McCowan, 6-4 Satou Sabally and 6-2 Natasha Howard.“They are going to clog the paint up. That’s their bread and butter. It’s rare you see all five crash (for rebounds),” Wilson said. “When it comes to Dallas, they are all cra...

A 9/11 defendant is ruled unfit for trial after a medical panel finds torture left him psychotic

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A military judge at Guantanamo Bay has ruled one of the 9/11 defendants too mentally ill to stand trial, after a military medical panel found that the man’s abuse in CIA custody years earlier has rendered him psychotic.Guantanamo military commission spokesman Ronald Flesvig confirmed the ruling by Judge Col. Matthew McCall. The ruling means Ramzi bin al-Shibh will not be tried together with his four 9/11 co-defendants, whose case will now proceed without him.McCall made the ruling Thursday night. A notice on the military commission’s website Friday said his written decision was under security review and unavailable.A Yemeni, al-Shibh is accused of organizing one cell of the 19 hijackers who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. A military medical panel last month diagnosed him as having post-traumatic stress disorder with secondary psychosis, and linked it to his torture and solitary confinement during four years in ...

Rays calling up 20-year old infield prospect Junior Caminero

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

ST. PETERSBURG. Fla. (AP) — The playoff-bound Tampa Bay Rays are calling up 20-year-old minor league prospect Junior Caminero from Double-A Montgomery.The minor league club announced the news on social media, saying: “Congratulations to Junior Caminero for being called up to THE SHOW!”Caminero spent time with both Montgomery and Class-A Bowling Green this season, mostly playing third base while combining to hit .324 with 31 homers and 94 RBIs in 117 games. He’s expected to join the Rays for a weekend series that begins Friday night against the Toronto Blue Jays.The Rays have been without Wander Franco, who was placed on administrative leave indefinitely by Major League Baseball last month while authorities in the Dominican Republic investigate the All-Star shortstop for an alleged relationship with a minor.The 22-year-old Franco was placed on the restricted list for a week on Aug. 14 while MLB launched an investigation following social media posts suggesting he was in a relati...

Pope blasts ‘fanaticism of indifference’ that world shows migrants, as he prays for dead in French port of Marseille

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Pope blasts ‘fanaticism of indifference’ that world shows migrants, as he prays for dead in French port of Marseille.Source

White House preparing for government shutdown as House Republicans lack a viable endgame for funding

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

WASHINGT)N (AP) — The White House is preparing Friday to direct federal agencies to get ready for a shutdown after House Republicans left town for the weekend with no viable plan to keep the government funded and avert politically and economically costly disruption of federal services.A federal shutdown after Sept. 30 seems all but certain unless Speaker Kevin McCarthy can convince his rebellious hard-right flank of Republicans to allow Congress to approve a temporary funding measure to prevent closures while they work on the annual federal spending plan. But the House is not expected back until Tuesday, leaving just five days to resolve his standoff.“We got members working, and hopefully we’ll be able to move forward on Tuesday to pass these bills,” McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at the Capitol.McCarthy signaled his preference for avoiding a closure, but a hard-right flank of his House majority has effectively seized control. “I still believe if you shut down you’re in a weaker...

Assaulted Polish MP urges government to break ‘spiral of hate’ after attack

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

Leading Polish opposition lawmaker Borys Budka urged his country’s government to break the “spiral of hate” ahead of next month’s national elections after he was physically assaulted on Friday.Budka, a senior member of Poland’s largest opposition group, Civic Platform, was attacked by an unidentified man at midday while shopping in Katowice, according to media reports.Budka told reporters that the man verbally abused him before pushing him and breaking the phone he was using to record the encounter. The man was detained by police.“I was called names like German, Tusk’s pig, Nazi,” Budka said, referring to Civic Platform leader Donald Tusk, who has been the subject of barrages of abuse from the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party and pro-government media.Budka blamed PiS leader and Poland’s de facto ruler Jaroslaw Kaczyński for creating a polarized climate that inspired the attack. He said Kaczyński bears “political res...

‘Nobody is helping us’: Inside the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

KORNIDZOR, Armenia — Many of the men waiting at the Armenian border have been there for days. When news broke on Tuesday that Azerbaijan had launched a major attack into the ethnic-Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, dozens of them pulled on warm jackets and wooly hats and drove towards the checkpoint. Now they can only watch the road, once the sole highway cutting through the mountains to the breakaway region where their families live, hoping their relatives are able to get out.Sleeping in their cars, peering through binoculars, or standing around smoking in small circles on the dusty asphalt, the group of about 40 Karabakh Armenians is only growing, with a sense of angry desperation permeating the air.“Nobody is helping us. Not Armenia, not Russia, not the world,” said one man, spitting out his words with fury.  “Look at my hands” — he held out a palm blackened with dirt — “I’m an honest guy, I’ve worked with these my whole life. Now they’re all I have to protect my family....

iPhone 15 hits shelves around the world. Here’s what you need to know

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

(CNN) — Apple’s iPhone 15 lineup hit stores Friday as people waited in long lines across China, Europe and the US to be among the first to get their hands on one of the company’s next-generation smartphones.Leading up to launch day, analysts at firms such as Wedbush Securities have reported iPhone 15 pre-orders tracking much stronger than originally expected, with a heavy demand on its premium iPhone 15 Pro offerings, especially the Pro Max. Delivery and shipment times have moved to late October through mid-November for various Pro models.The new iPhones come as Apple’s sales fell for the third consecutive quarter last month. iPhone revenue came in at $39.7 billion for the quarter, marking an approximately 2% year-over-year decline, as people update their devices less often.According to Wedbush estimates, about 250 million iPhones have not been upgraded in more than four years. Advancements made to the processor and camera system, along with discounts from mobile carriers, coul...

Orioles recall Tyler Wells, their top first-half starter, to boost beleaguered bullpen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

Before playing a game for the 15th straight day, the Orioles supplied a fresh arm to their bullpen — a pitcher who was their best starter in the first half.Ahead of Friday’s game with the Cleveland Guardians, Baltimore recalled right-hander Tyler Wells and optioned right-hander Mike Baumann. Through the All-Star break, Wells allowed the fewest base runners per inning of any American League starter, but signs of fatigue showed in three second-half starts, prompting the Orioles to option Wells to the minors. The team soon decided to convert him to a short-relief role for the rest of the season, a position in which he thrived as a rookie in 2021 before becoming a starter the next year.The Orioles hope Wells has moved past his fatigue and can boost a bullpen now experiencing it. Baltimore hasn’t had a day off since Sept. 7 and has three games left before its next break. In the past four games, Orioles relievers have allowed 12 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings, including t...

Save billions or stick with Humira? Drug brokers steer Americans to the costly choice

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:37:21 GMT

Arthur Allen | (TNS) KFF Health NewsTennessee last year spent $48 million on a single drug, Humira — about $62,000 for each of the 775 patients who were covered by its employee health insurance program and receiving the treatment. So when nine Humira knockoffs, known as biosimilars, hit the market for as little as $995 a month, the opportunity for savings appeared ample and immediate.But it isn’t here yet. Makers of biosimilars must still work within a health care system in which basic economics rarely seems to hold sway.For real competition to take hold, the big pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, the companies that negotiate prices and set the prescription drug menu for 80% of insured patients in the United States, would have to position the new drugs favorably in health plans.They haven’t, though the logic for doing so seems plain.Humira has enjoyed high-priced U.S. exclusivity for 20 years. Its challengers could save the health care system $9 billion and herald savings from the ...