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Saudi Arabia’s lavish recruitment drive rolls on despite Messi miss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Missing out on Lionel Messi hasn’t slowed Saudi Arabia’s ambitious recruitment drive as the oil-rich kingdom tries to establish itself as a viable destination for the world’s top players.Having already lured two of the sport’s biggest stars in Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, the Saudis amid allegations of sportswashing are targeting a host of other high-profile players from Europe’s best leagues.World Cup and Champions League winner N’Golo Kante became the latest stellar player to head to the lucrative Pro League, signing a three-year contract Wednesday to team up with Benzema at Al-Ittihad.“It is part of the club’s efforts to establish itself as a top choice for world-class players in the Saudi Professional League,” Al-Ittihad said in a statement.Messi opted for Inter Miami, rather than the Middle East, but the Saudis are pressing on. Premier League stars like Hakim Ziyech, Kalidou Koulibaly and Ruben Neves are expected to fol...

2022 finalist Zhang Shuai out in 1st round at Birmingham Classic as seeds tumble

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — A finalist at the Birmingham Classic last year, Zhang Shuai of China was eliminated in the first round of the grass-court tournament on Wednesday as one of four seeded players to go out.The seventh-seeded Zhang was beaten 6-4, 6-3 by 150th-ranked Emina Bektas of the United States in a little more than an hour in a big surprise at the WTA event.Zhang reached the 2022 final, only to retire because of injury in the first set to hand Beatriz Haddad Maia the title.In second-round play, third-seeded Magda Linette of Poland was beaten 6-3, 6-0 by Zhu Lin of China, fifth-seeded Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to Britain’s Harriet Dart, and sixth-seeded Bernarda Pera of the United States was ousted by Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 7-6 (3).Playing a delayed first-round match, top-seeded Barbora Krejcikova beat Cristina Bucsa 6-3, 6-3.___More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_SportsSource

Movie review: Jennifer Lawrence in the raunchy teen comedy ‘No Hard Feelings’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

In a saner world, we would have already had a dozen Jennifer Lawrence comedies.When aliens arrive they will surely go directly to IMDB to survey her filmography and wonder why one of Hollywood’s funniest and most naturally charismatic stars spent the first decade of her career in dystopias, action movies and whatever it is you call “Mother!”As if to make up for lost time, Lawrence has in “No Hard Feelings” made the kind of R-rated teen comedy that has usually launched young actors. She plays a 32-year-old Montauk Uber driver who, desperate for money after her car is towed, is hired by the wealthy parents (Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti) of a timid and sheltered 19-year-old (newcomer Andrew Barth Feldman) to take his virginity before he heads off to Princeton.We’ve, of course, had plenty of movies about teenagers trying to get laid for the first time. But “No Hard Feelings,” directed and co-written by Gene Stupnitsky, may be the first in which the teen in question...

IOC warns Afghanistan about Paris Olympics status over denying sports to women and girls

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — The Afghanistan team’s status for the 2024 Paris Olympics was put in question Wednesday by the IOC over growing frustration with the Taliban blocking access to sport for women and girls.The International Olympic Committee said it “continues to be extremely concerned” about the sports situation in Afghanistan despite its repeated calls for action.Noting its “right to take any further measures,” the IOC cautioned that “specific details for the participation of the Afghan (national Olympic committee) delegation and team” for the Paris Games have not yet been decided.The IOC could suspend Afghanistan’s Olympic body for government interference in the independent management of sport, while supporting the country’s athletes to compete in Paris as an independent team under the Olympic flag and anthem. That was how Kuwaitis competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.The issue was discussed Wednesday at an IOC executive board meeting which also took updates on problems with...

Casa Bonita opening: Next phase starts Friday

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- The next phase of Casa Bonita's long-awaited reopening is finally here, and it starts Friday. However, most people will still have to wait a bit longer to finally get inside.FOX31 confirmed that the restaurant will be open for limited groups of people with tickets on Friday and Saturday, as well as from Thursday, June 29, through Saturday, July 1.These dates could change, however. Casa Bonita cost upwards of $40 million to renovate, NYT reports The tickets are only sent to people who sign up for Casa Bonita's email updates on its website.These tickets, according to an email, will be $49.99 for adults and $24.99 for children. Those who are invited can invite a maximum of eight people to come.Casa Bonita opening: Latest updatesCasa Bonita opening: Next phase starts FridayCasa Bonita cost upwards of $40 million to renovate, NYT reportsHow will Casa Bonita tackle its small parking lot?When will Casa Bonita be open to the public?If the restaurant follows the same plan...

Homicide detective weeps in trial of deputy who failed to confront Parkland high school shooter

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The veteran Florida detective who led the investigation into the 2018 Parkland high school massacre wept on the witness stand Wednesday, saying the school’s assigned deputy could have prevented the deaths of some of the 17 people murdered if he had charged into a building instead of taking cover.Broward County Detective John Curcio, a homicide detective for 25 years and the prosecution’s final witness, had been on the stand for two hours when a prosecutor asked him what Deputy Scot Peterson’s objective should have been during Nikolas Cruz’s six-minute attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, 2018, that left 14 students and three staff members dead.“The goal is to stop him (Cruz) from killing people. That doesn’t mean killing him, it means slowing him down. It means distracting him. It means doing anything so that kids can find safety,” Curcio said, his voice breaking.Peterson, the school’s assigned deputy, ...

Build ‘constructive’ relationship with China, Tokyo’s chief diplomat urges UK

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

LONDON — Japan and the U.K. must work together to build a “constructive and stable relationship with China,” Tokyo’s foreign minister said Wednesday.Doing so “will be critical” not only to charting the future of the South Pacific, but to countering Russian aggression in Ukraine, Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s foreign minister, said in a speech at the Chatham House think tank in London.It is “necessary to cooperate with China, given its role in the international community and the size of its economy,” Hayashi added, including on global challenges like climate change.The world is facing “a historical turning point,” Tokyo’s top diplomat said, noting the “security and prosperity of Europe and the Indo-Pacific is inseparable.” He earlier held one-on-one talks with U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, addressed the Ukraine Recovery Conference and met with G7 foreign ministers. “A decisive factor in shaping the new era is how we respond to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” Hayashi said....

Fire erupts in central Paris after gas explosion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

Paris (CNN) — A fiery gas explosion in central Paris resulted in injuries to at least 29 people and drew hundreds of firefighters to the scene on Wednesday afternoon.Some 270 firefighters were deployed to the scene near Rue Saint Jacques in the city’s fifth arrondissement, and have contained the fire, Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told reporters.Four people were “critically injured” in the incident, police told CNN.Video from the scene showed that part of a building that caught fire has collapsed.Locals were also stopped from returning to their homes in surrounding streets by authorities.One woman, Anne, told a CNN producer at the scene that she was inside her flat, around 500m from the site, when the explosion happened.“It felt like an earthquake, the windows banged against each other,” she said.Another woman who didn’t want to give her name and lives in a neighboring avenue told CNN that her doors slammed shut from the explosion.The local deputy mayor Édouard Civ...

Thanks to Netflix, this tiny Swiss town has more visitors than locals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

Seoeun Kim | (TNS) Bloomberg NewsThe small fishing village of Iseltwald, Switzerland, is home to just about 400 people. Located on the southern shore of Lake Brienz, it’s long been quiet and uneventful, rarely visited by outsiders — until a popular South Korean TV show put it on the map for global travelers, practically overnight.Since September 2022, Iseltwald has been hosting massive numbers of Asian tourists, mostly from South Korea and Southeast Asia. The volume of day-trippers has become so intense — sometimes outnumbering locals — that the village launched a double-decker bus service this month to ferry them to the scenic spots they come to see.That’s thanks to the popular K-drama “Crash Landing on You,” which Nielsen Korea ranks as South Korea’s fourth-most-viewed TV show in history. After it debuted in 2019, a steady international rollout on Netflix Inc. snowballed the show’s audience. The show’s narrative is set in North Korea, where production was not possible;...

Mets Notebook: Buck Showalter navigating through his shorthanded bullpen during Drew Smith ban

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:39:35 GMT

HOUSTON — Drew Smith is now more than halfway through his 10-game sticky substance suspension and the Mets have been able to get through it with relative success. It hasn’t been easy playing with one fewer bullpen arm, but some of the starting pitchers are finally starting to go deep into games on a somewhat consistent basis.Carlos Carrasco blew up Sunday and lasted only three innings, but the Mets still didn’t have to empty their bullpen. Right-hander John Curtiss ate nearly three innings and the Mets sent him to Triple-A the next day and brought up Grant Hartwig to have a fresh arm. An eight-inning start by Max Scherzer and a seven-inning start by Justin Verlander in the first two games of the Houston series helped as well.With the Mets off Thursday in between two road series against the Astros and Philadelphia Phillies, they may be able to avoid making another roster move. But right now the club is anticipating making one more.“If we can get to Sunday with...