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Phoenix plays Atlanta, looks to stop road skid

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

Phoenix Mercury (6-16, 2-11 Western Conference) at Atlanta Dream (12-10, 7-7 Eastern Conference)College Park, Georgia; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Phoenix will look to stop its seven-game road losing streak when the Mercury play Atlanta.The Dream have gone 5-6 at home. Atlanta leads the Eastern Conference in rebounding, averaging 37.3 boards. Cheyenne Parker leads the Dream with 7.4 rebounds.The Mercury are 1-10 on the road. Phoenix has a 1-10 record against teams over .500.The matchup Tuesday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.TOP PERFORMERS: Rhyne Howard is scoring 19.0 points per game with 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists for the Dream. Allisha Gray is averaging 17.9 points and 4.1 assists over the past 10 games for Atlanta.Brittney Griner is averaging 18.3 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.7 blocks for the Mercury. Michaela Onyenwere is averaging 10.5 points and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 43.5% over the last 10 games for Phoenix.LAST 10 GAMES: Dream: 7-3, averagi...

Bonner leads Connecticut against Dallas after 20-point performance

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

Connecticut Sun (17-6, 10-3 Eastern Conference) at Dallas Wings (13-9, 8-5 Western Conference)Arlington, Texas; Tuesday, 8 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Connecticut takes on the Dallas Wings after DeWanna Bonner scored 20 points in the Sun’s 86-78 win over the Atlanta Dream.The Wings have gone 8-2 at home. Dallas ranks ninth in the league averaging 6.6 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 29.4% from deep. Arike Ogunbowale leads the team averaging 2.7 makes while shooting 31.4% from 3-point range.The Sun are 9-3 on the road. Connecticut is fifth in the WNBA scoring 83.9 points per game while shooting 44.6%.The teams meet for the second time this season. The Sun won 80-74 in the last matchup on June 4.TOP PERFORMERS: Satou Sabally is averaging 17.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals for the Wings. Ogunbowale is averaging 20.3 points over the last 10 games for Dallas.Alyssa Thomas is averaging 14.8 points, 9.6 rebounds, eight assists and 1.9 steals for the Sun. Bonner is ...

Wilson leads Las Vegas against Chicago after 35-point showing

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

Las Vegas Aces (21-2, 13-1 Western Conference) at Chicago Sky (9-13, 3-10 Eastern Conference)Chicago; Tuesday, 7 p.m. EDTBOTTOM LINE: Las Vegas visits the Chicago Sky after A’ja Wilson scored 35 points in the Aces’ 98-81 victory against the Minnesota Lynx.The Sky are 4-7 on their home court. Chicago is 1-3 in games decided by 3 points or fewer.The Aces have gone 10-2 away from home. Las Vegas is 15- when it wins the turnover battle and averages 11.7 turnovers per game.The teams meet for the second time this season. The Aces won 93-80 in the last meeting on June 11. Wilson led the Aces with 21 points, and Marina Mabrey led the Sky with 20 points.TOP PERFORMERS: Courtney Williams is scoring 9.0 points per game with 6.3 rebounds and 5.9 assists for the Sky. Kahleah Copper is averaging 19.4 points over the past 10 games for Chicago.Chelsea Gray is averaging 14.3 points, 6.8 assists and 1.5 steals for the Aces. Wilson is averaging 22.4 points over the last 10 games for Las Ve...

Fourth time a charm for Jaclyn Dehney

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

This summer, Jaclyn Dehney made her fourth trip to the USA Wrestling US Marine Corps Junior and 16U National Championships.After she finished the eighth grade, she placed fifth in the 16U Division. Two years ago, she placed second in the Junior Division. Last year, she finished sixth, also in the Junior Division.On Sunday, July 16, she was standing on the top spot on the podium, holding a giant plaque.“It’s a big plaque that looks like a stop sign,” she said. “It’s really cool and pretty heavy. Four of the smaller plaques can fit on it.”The recent Central Catholic High School graduate won the Junior Women’s Freestyle championship at 127 pounds at the FargoDome in Fargo, North Dakota.“It’s just a really good feeling,” Dehney said. “My mindset was just really good and I was ready to go.”The top-seeded Dehney won seven bouts in the tournament, defeating New York’s Emily Sindoni in the finals, 9-4. While Dehney is no stranger to wrestling at the national level, she ran into a different ...

9 people killed in a plane crash in eastern Sudan as the war reaches the 100-day mark

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — A civilian plane crashed after taking off from an airport in eastern Sudan, killing nine people, including four military personnel who were aboard the aircraft, the military said, as the conflict in the northeastern African country reached the 100-day mark on Monday with no sign of abating.The military said in a statement that a child survived late Sunday’s crash in Port Sudan, a city on the Red Sea that so far has been spared from the devastating war between the military and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.The Antonov plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, the military said. It blamed a technical failure for the crash. The statement provided no further details.Sudan has plunged into chaos since mid-April when monthslong tensions between the military and the RSF exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere across the country.“It’s been 100 days of war in Sudan, with a devastating toll on lives and infr...

8 police officers assigned to protect South Africa’s deputy president arrested over highway attack

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Eight police officers assigned to a security team protecting South Africa’s deputy president have been arrested and are expected to appear in a courtroom on Monday after they were caught on video kicking and stomping on two off-duty trainee soldiers having pulled their car over on a highway in Johannesburg.Some of the plainclothes VIP protection officers were carrying assault rifles when they dragged the men out of their car and attacked them earlier this month. One of the men was kicked unconcious in the attack, which was caught on video by another motorist and shared widely on social media.It’s unclear why the officers pulled the car over as the video only starts as they are dragging one of the men across the road.But the officers are part of a VIP protection unit known in South Africa as the “blue light brigade” and which has a reputation for driving dangerously fast and reacting with unneccesary force if cars don’t immediately get out of their way. The unit n...

New evacuations ordered in Greece as high winds and heat fuel wildfires

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

RHODES, Greece (AP) — A weeklong wildfire on the Greek island of Rhodes tore past defenses Monday, forcing more evacuations, as three major fires raged elsewhere in the country fueled by strong winds and successive heat waves. The latest evacuations were ordered in south Rhodes after 19,000 people, mostly tourists, were moved in buses and boats over the weekend out of the path of the fire that reached several coastal areas from nearby mountains. Help continued to arrive from the European Union and elsewhere, with Turkish firefighting planes joining the effort in Rhodes, where eight water-dropping planes and 10 helicopters buzzed over flames up to five meters (16 feet) tall despite low visibility. “The risk of fire will be extreme in several areas of Greece today,” Fire Service spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said a day after temperatures on the southern Greek mainland soared as high as 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Overnight, evacuations were also ordered on the...

Jesuits confirm expulsion of a priest artist and lament that Vatican norms block harsher sanctions

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

ROME (AP) — The Jesuits said Monday that a famous artist priest is definitively expelled from the religious order for sexually, spiritually and psychologically abusing women, and lamented they couldn’t prosecute him more vigorously under the Vatican’s internal procedures.The Rev. Marko Ivan Rupnik remains a Catholic priest but is no longer a Jesuit priest, after he didn’t appeal his June expulsion decree, said Rupnik’s former superior, the Rev. Johan Verschueren.Rupnik, a Slovenian priest, is one of the most celebrated religious artists in the Catholic Church. His mosaics decorate churches and basilicas around the world, including at the Vatican.Late last year, the Jesuits acknowledged Rupnik had been accused by several women of sexual, spiritual and psychological abuse over 30 years. He had largely escaped punishment until then, apparently in part because of his exalted status in the church and at the Vatican, where even Pope Francis’ role in the case came into question...

Russia says Moscow and Crimea hit by Ukrainian drones while Russian forces bombard Ukraine’s south

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian authorities accused Ukraine of launching a drone attack on Moscow early Monday that saw one of the aircraft fall near the Defense Ministry’s main headquarters, while the Russian military launched new strikes on port infrastructure in southern Ukraine.Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no casualties when the drones struck two nonresidential buildings. The Defense Ministry claimed that the military jammed both attacking drones, forcing them to crash. Russian media reported that one of the drones fell on the Komsomolsky highway near Moscow’s center, close to the main Defense Ministry building. Another drone hit an office building in southern Moscow, gutting its upper floors.Emergency workers were inspecting the damage and traffic was halted on sections of highways where the drones fell.Ukrainian authorities didn’t immediately claim responsibility for the strike, which was the second drone attack on the Russian capital this month....

German opposition leader faces unease over comments on cooperation with far right

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 09:13:02 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s opposition leader insisted on Monday that there will be no “cooperation” at the local level between his party and the far-right Alternative for Germany after his suggestion that they might somehow work together drew unease within his own conservative bloc.Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democratic Union has long said it won’t work with Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which has drifted steadily further right. Merz reiterated in a ZDF television interview Sunday that there would be no cooperation in the national, state or European parliaments with AfD, which recently has surged in polls. But he was more equivocal about the situation at town and county level, after the first AfD candidates recently won elections in eastern Germany to lead a county administration and become the full-time mayor of a municipality. Those were democratic elections that “we have to accept,” Merz said. “And then of course ways have to be sought in local parla...