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Las Vegas takes on Phoenix following Plum’s 40-point showing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

Phoenix Mercury (4-14, 2-10 Western Conference) at Las Vegas Aces (17-2, 9-1 Western Conference)Las Vegas; Tuesday, 10 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Las Vegas faces the Phoenix Mercury after Kelsey Plum scored 40 points in the Las Vegas Aces’ 113-89 win against the Minnesota Lynx.The Aces have gone 9-1 against Western Conference teams. Las Vegas is 0-1 in one-possession games.The Mercury are 2-10 in Western Conference play. Phoenix is sixth in the Western Conference scoring 77.0 points per game and is shooting 45.1%.The teams square off for the second time this season. In the last matchup on June 21 the Aces won 99-79 led by 23 points from Jackie Young, while Sug Sutton scored 21 points for the Mercury.TOP PERFORMERS: Young is averaging 19 points and 3.7 assists for the Aces. A’ja Wilson is averaging 19.6 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks over the past 10 games for Las Vegas.Michaela Onyenwere is averaging 10.2 points for the Mercury. Brittney Griner is averaging 13.8 points ov...

Seattle faces Washington on 3-game road skid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

Seattle Storm (4-14, 4-6 Western Conference) at Washington Mystics (10-8, 6-6 Eastern Conference)Washington; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Seattle will aim to break its three-game road slide when the Storm take on Washington.The Mystics are 6-2 in home games. Washington is seventh in the WNBA with 80.7 points and is shooting 42.5% from the field.The Storm are 2-5 on the road. Seattle is fourth in the Western Conference with 34.4 rebounds per game led by Ezi Magbegor averaging 8.4.The teams play for the third time this season. The Mystics won the last matchup 71-65 on June 11. Natasha Cloud scored 19 points to help lead the Mystics to the victory.TOP PERFORMERS: Elena Delle Donne is averaging 18.2 points and six rebounds for the Mystics. Ariel Atkins is averaging 14.8 points over the last 10 games for Washington.Jewell Loyd is averaging 24.9 points and 3.2 assists for the Storm. Magbegor is averaging 15.0 points over the last 10 games for Seattle.LAST 10 GAMES: Mystics: 5-5, averag...

El Salvador President Nayib Bukele nominated for reelection despite constitutional questions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — President Nayib Bukele was officially nominated by his New Ideas party Sunday to run for reelection next year, brushing aside objections from legal experts and opposition figures who say El Salvador’s constitution prohibits his candidacy. New Ideas also announced that current Vice President Felix Ulloa would run for reelection in the ballot scheduled for Feb. 4, 2024. Bukele is highly popular among Salvadorans because of his harsh crackdown on street gangs, but he is considered controversial internationally. He announced in September that he planned to seek a second five-year term. That came after the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, handpicked by his supporters in Congress, ruled in 2021 that his candidacy for reelection was permitted and ordered the electoral court to allow it.Constitutional lawyers maintain that Bukele’s candidacy would violate at least four articles of the constitution, including Article 154, which states: “The presid...

Dutch PM Mark Rutte announces he’s quitting politics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Monday he would leave politics after the next election, following his government’s collapse last Friday.“On Sunday I decided that I will not be available as a leader for the VVD in the upcoming elections,” Rutte told the Dutch parliament Monday. After the Cabinet collapse late last week, Rutte said he still had the “energy and ideas” to continue, but this weekend he decided to put an end to his 17 years as leader of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). “I do this with mixed feelings, with emotions. I love the team dearly. But it feels right.” As one of Europe’s veteran leaders, Rutte has been linked with a number of top jobs outside the Netherlands, including at NATO and the EU. But Rutte said Monday that he’s not interested in an international top job.The outgoing prime minister is currently teaching social studies once a week at a local school in The Hague. “Maybe I will do that for a few days,” Rutt...

Poland captures Russian spy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

Poland’s intelligence services have detained a man accused of spying for Russia, Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński said Monday.“The suspect conducted surveillance of military facilities and seaports,” Kamiński said. “He was systematically paid by the Russians.”European intelligence services have cracked down on Russian interference since the start of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and hundreds of suspected Russian spies have been expelled from the Continent.In March, Poland said it had broken up a Russian espionage network, arresting six suspected spies.The Polish interior minister said the man detained Monday was the 15th individual held in connection with that same investigation.

Former Worcester Academy star Matthew Shaw selected by Cubs in the first round

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

Matthew Shaw’s professional baseball dreams are now a reality.On Sunday night, Shaw was selected No. 13 overall by the Chicago Cubs in the first round of the 2023 Major League Baseball amateur draft. A Springfield native, Shaw played his high school baseball for Worcester Academy before most recently starring at the University of Maryland.The slot for Shaw’s selection is valued at $4.85 million. Shaw impressed evaluators throughout the year as he showcased power to all fields coupled with a high walk rate and low strikeout percentage. He is the highest Terrapin ever taken in the draft.“He is relentless in terms of his work ethic. He lives baseball,” director of Nokona Baseball Dan Sullivan said. “Everything he does is geared towards getting better. That is what has elevated him above kids of equal talent putting in whatever it takes to make himself better.”Shaw played for Nokona for nine seasons on the club circuit before heading to Maryland.Thoma...

Incumbent Uzbek president wins new term in snap election with token opposition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Uzbekistan’s incumbent president, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, has overwhelmingly won a new seven-year term in a snap election in which he faced three weak opponents, preliminary results showed Monday.Mirziyoyev received more than 87% of the vote and each of the challengers about 4%, the country’s national elections commission said.Sunday’s vote followed a constitutional referendum that extended presidential terms from five to seven years.In 2021, Mirziyoyev was elected to his second five-year term, the limit allowed by the constitution at the time. A set of constitutional amendments approved in April’s plebiscite allowed him to begin the count of terms anew and run for two more, raising the possibility that he could stay in office until 2037.Since coming to power in 2016 after the death of longtime dictator Islam Karimov, Mirziyoyev has introduced a slew of political and economic reforms that eased some of the draconian policies of his predece...

Dutch prime minister says he will leave politics after next election

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, the Netherlands’ longest serving premier, said Monday he will leave politics after a general election sparked by his government’s resignation.Rutte, the leader of the conservative People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, or VVD, announced his decision at a hastily arranged parliamentary debate.“Yesterday morning I made a decision that I will not be available again as a leader of the VVD. When a new Cabinet takes office after the elections, I will leave politics,” he said.Rutte’s four-party ruling coalition resigned Friday after failing to agree on a package of measures to rein in migration.No date has yet been set for the election.The Associated Press

The Russian military chief who was targeted in a June rebellion has surfaced in a video

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

Russia’s Defense Ministry released a video Monday of the country’s military chief, the first time Gen. Valery Gerasimov has been shown since the leader of a mercenary army sought his dismissal during a brief rebellion.In the video, Gerasimov is shown hearing a report from the chief of staff of Russia’s aerospace forces and calling for improvement in identifying the location of Ukrainian missiles. During last month’s short-lived revolt, the head of private defense company Wagner repeatedly denounced Gerasimov, who serves as chief of the general staff of the Russian armed forces, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for denying supplies to his fighters in Ukraine.Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his mercenaries forces entered the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on June 23 and took control of the headquarters of Russia’s southern military command. Wagner forces also moved toward Moscow, encountering little resistance. Prigozhin claimed that the uprising was...

Japan defends neutrality of IAEA report on Fukushima water release plan as minister visits plant

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:25:57 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s industry minister visited the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Monday to see equipment that would be used in the planned release into the sea of treated radioactive water to ensure the safety of the controversial plan, while demonstrators, including many from South Korea, rallied against it.The Japanese government defended the neutrality of the United Nations nuclear agency’s final report that concluded Japan’s water release plan met international safety standards, denying allegations that Japan pressured the International Atomic Energy Agency into publishing only favorable results.Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura visited the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant Monday morning to see key equipment, including an emergency shutdown system, days after the Japanese regulatory authority granted a permit for the operator and the IAEA said the environmental impact from the water release would be negligible.The government and the ...