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Openda scores quickfire hat trick as Lens routs Clermont 4-0

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

CLERMONT, France (AP) — Lois Openda scored a hat trick in a four-minute span to help Lens move into third place in the French league with a 4-0 win over mid-table Clermont on Sunday. Lens trails second-place Marseille by a point and is 3 points clear of Monaco.Openda had not scored in his 11 previous games in all competitions, but he rediscovered his touch by slipping the ball through the legs of goalkeeper Mory Diaw in the 31st minute from a tight angle. Hungry for more, Openda closed down Clermont midfielder Maxime Gonalons, who lost possession to Adrien Thomasson in the 34th. A selfless Thomasson set up Openda, who doubled the lead with a low strike. The Belgian striker smelled blood again in the 35th, intercepting a poor back pass from Mateusz Wieteska to round Diaw and slot into an empty net for his 12th league goal this season. Lens substitute Alexis Claude-Maurice sealed the win in the 76th with a goal set up by Openda. It could have been a different story if Lens centerback ...

Energy fills UFC Apex in Vegas for Dana White’s Power Slap 1

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Two-time World Series champion Shane Victorino has been intrigued by the sport of slap fighting since becoming enamored with one of the sport’s best strikers, Koa Viernes, known to his fans as “Da Crazy Hawaiian.”That was long before his good friend and UFC president Dana White created the Power Slap League. Both Victorino and Viernes were among an energetic crowd at the UFC Apex on Saturday night to watch Power Slap 1, where four first champions were crowned.“I think this is amazing,” Victorino said of competitors standing rigidly upright with their hands behind their backs, waiting to absorb a brutal slap to the face.When the open-handed blow is delivered, some fighters barely move, while others stumble backward or fall to the floor. Some are knocked out.Also in the audience were injured Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Logan Thompson and Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby. They were joined by NFL free agents and “Bussin With the Boys” podcast hosts ...

Real Madrid to take action against Barcelona over payments

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Real Madrid will side against Barcelona in the legal proceedings that the rival is facing over its payments of millions of euros over several years to a company that belonged to the vice president of Spain’s soccer refereeing committee, Madrid said Sunday after an urgent board meeting.The decision came two days after prosecutors formally accused Barcelona of alleged corruption in sports, fraudulent management and falsification of mercantile documentation. An investigating judge will decide whether the accusations should lead to charges.“Real Madrid wishes to express its utmost concern regarding the gravity of the facts and reiterates its confidence in the legal system,” Madrid said in a statement after the board meeting. “The club has agreed that, in defense of its legitimate rights, it will appear at the trial when the judge opens it up to the affected parties.”It was the first time Madrid officially weighed in on the matter. Other clubs had already expressed their co...

Iran’s top diplomat claims prisoner swap near with US

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s top diplomat claimed Sunday that a prisoner swap was near with the U.S., though he offered no evidence to support his assertion. American officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment about his remarks.Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has made similar comments in the past about possible deals with the U.S. on frozen assets abroad and other issues that never came to fruition. Some of those remarks have appeared aimed at shoring up domestic support amid the mass protests challenging Iran’s theocracy and supporting the country’s troubled rial currency.However, in an interview Sunday with Iranian state television, Amirabdollahian claimed that Iran had “reached an agreement in recent days regarding the exchange of prisoners between Iran and the United States.”“If everything goes well on the American’s side, I think we will see the exchange of prisoners in the short term,” he added. He alleged a do...

Woman shot after road rage incident with stolen vehicle, Aurora PD says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) -- A woman was shot and seriously injured Sunday morning in what the Aurora Police Department believed was a road rage incident involving a stolen vehicle.APD said the woman was shot near Smoky Hill Road and Chambers Road just before 6 a.m. and taken to the hospital.The suspect vehicle, a red Kia SUV, was stolen.According to police, the stolen SUV was involved in a crash with the woman just before the shooting. When the suspect tried to leave, the woman chased them. Why isn’t Colorado on permanent daylight saving time? She told police that four men got out of the vehicle and ran away. When she started running after them, one of them turned and shot her.Police told FOX31 that woman is expected to survive. No suspects have been identified, APD said. FOX31 will provide updates as they become available.

Gun bill debate: What parties say about 3 proposals in legislation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- "Colorado Point of View" host Matt Mauro discusses gun control bills and other political topics with Sen. Bob Gardner, Sen. Steve Fenberg and the show's analysts.Three bills addressing gun control advanced at the state Capitol during a round of Senate committee hearings on Wednesday. The minimum age to purchase any gun in Colorado could be raised to 21 years old after initial Senate approval this week. Gun bills debated in Senate, 2 advance A fourth bill, which would create a three-day waiting period to get a gun, passed on Monday. Arguably the most controversial bill, a proposed assault weapons ban, has not been brought to a committee.“We really looked at it, before we introduced these bills, from a very specific lens: What policies can we introduce and pass right now that can are going to save the most lives? Not on what’s the most popular or what’s going to get passed the easiest,” Fenberg said.Gardner said lawmakers should focus on preventing all types of vio...

Federal bailout for Silicon Valley Bank off the table, US’s Yellen says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank “is clearly a concern,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday, but a federal bailout is not on the table.“During the financial crisis, there were investors and owners of systemic large banks that were bailed out, and we’re certainly not looking [at that]. And the reforms that have been put in place means that we’re not going to do that again,” Yellen told host Margaret Brennan during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”SVB’s collapse Friday, the biggest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis, sent shockwaves through markets across the world. The bank had $209 billion in assets, and many of its depositors were Silicon Valley-backed startups and health-care businesses, some of whom have payrolls to meet this week.But although the collapse is concerning, Yellen emphasized that the American banking system is “safe and well-capitalized” and “resilient.”Americans “can have confidence in the safety and soundness of our banking system,...

No ease in Kyle Lowry’s return as Heat’s pain continues to linger

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

Erik Spoelstra and Kyle Lowry had a plan, one weeks in the making, regarding how the Miami Heat coach would ease his 36-year-old point guard back into the mix after a month away due to knee pain.“We’ve had great talks,” Lowry said. ”He wants to make sure I’m healthy, not to have a setback and have to change the lineup again and change the rotation again.“It’s the great communicator that he is, great coach he is. He said, ‘I want you to make sure you’re healthy and be successful and be smart about it.’ "Then came Saturday night’s game in Orlando, when the rotation again was thrown out of whack, with Tyler Herro being limited by food poisoning.And so the best laid plans turned into . . . Lowry playing 36:09 in the 126-114 overtime loss at Amway Center.“That definitely wasn’t the plan,” Spoelstra said, with the Heat turning their attention to Monday night’s visit to Miami-Dade Arena by the Ut...

Iran says deal with Saudi Arabia will help end Yemen’s war

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Iran’s mission to the United Nations says a breakthrough agreement with Saudi Arabia restoring bilateral relations will help bring a political settlement to Yemen’s yearslong war, Iranian state media reported on Sunday.Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed Friday to reestablish diplomatic relations and reopen their embassies after seven years of tensions that brought the two regional powerhouses to the brink of conflict and fueled tensions across the region.Soon after exploding in 2014, Yemen’s conflict turned into a proxy war between Saudi Arabia, which led a military coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government, and Iran, which has aided the country’s Houthi rebels.Iran has long been accused by western governments and U.N. experts of providing weapons to the Houthis. Western militaries have repeatedly intercepted Yemen-bound ships carrying Iranian weapons in the Red Sea. Tehran has denied the accusations of arming the Houthis.China mediated...

How BBC host’s tweet, suspension upended UK’s sports weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:07:46 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The BBC’s sports coverage was hit with a second day of severe disruptions Sunday as dozens of staff refused to work in solidarity with top soccer host Gary Lineker, who was suspended by the broadcaster after he tweeted criticism of the British government’s asylum policy.The news corporation is reeling from huge fallout and questions over its impartiality after it suspended Lineker, one of English soccer’s most lauded players and the corporation’s highest-paid presenter, on Friday after he compared the Conservative government’s language about migrants to that used in Nazi Germany.He was referring to the government’s plans to stop migrants from arriving in small boats on U.K. shores by introducing tough new laws that would detain asylum seekers, deport them and ban them from ever re-entering the U.K.Immigration and “taking back control” of Britain’s borders has been a hot-button issue in the U.K. since the 2016 Brexit referendum, and Prime Minister Rish...