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Harper 0 for 4 in return, Urías helps Dodgers top Phils 13-1

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bryce Harper went 0 for 4 with three strikeouts in his return to the Phillies just 160 days after Tommy John surgery, and Philadelphia lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 13-1 on Tuesday night as Julio Urías allowed one hit and struck out 10 in seven innings.Harper, a two-time NL MVP, was activated from the injured list and was the designated hitter.When Harper had surgery on Nov. 23, the Phillies said he was expected to return around the All-Star break in mid-July. He was cleared to play after an appointment with Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday morning.Miguel Vargas had four hits as the Dodgers scored 13 runs for the second straight night and set a season high with 17 hits.Urías had sixth double-digit strikeout game of his big league career as he mostly silenced a Phillies’ offense that entered third in the majors with a .271 batting average. The only hit the left-hander allowed was a home run to Trea Turner to lead off the fourth inning. Turner was with the Dodg...

East County residents continue to question Loveland Reservoir closure

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

ALPINE, Calif. -- East County residents are still searching for answers after the Loveland Reservoir was drained and then closed to public access. They haven’t been told when or if they’ll be able to use the area for recreation again.“Their contract was to provide public access again. It’s right in their mission statement, public participation, and they are not adhering to their part of the bargain,” Elisa Peskin said.People living in the Alpine area continue to be concerned about the ongoing closure of the reservoir.“This is the only opportunity to do hiking. I know that we can’t fish because the fish all died when the lake was drained, but at least we could take advantage of the other opportunities here,” said Karen Wood, who also pointed out it’s the only parking lot available along Japatul Road.While recreation cut off since early this year, the dismay for residents really hit in November 2022 when the reservoir was drained to dead pool level, killing off the fish.The Sweetwater...

Showtime! UK readies pomp for King Charles III’s coronation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The crown has been resized. The troops are prepared for the biggest military procession in 70 years. The Gold State Coach is ready to roll.Now it’s time for the show.King Charles III will be crowned Saturday at Westminster Abbey in an event full of all the pageantry Britain can muster.Enrobed clergymen will hand over the medieval symbols of power — the rod, the scepter and the orb. Brass bands and soldiers in bearskin hats will troop through the streets. And the new king and queen will presumably end the day on the balcony of Buckingham Palace to wave to the cheering crowds.But don’t be too dazzled. There’s purpose behind the pomp: to buttress the crown’s foundations and show that the people of the United Kingdom still support their monarch.Royal historian Robert Lacey compares the event to a U.S. presidential election and an inauguration rolled into one — a celebration as well as a test of how the public sees the new sovereign.“The king obviously is not subject to the...

Syrian refugees fearful as Lebanon steps up deportations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

QAB ELIAS, Lebanon (AP) — Lebanese officials are cracking down on Syrian refugees against the backdrop of a worsening economic crisis and political stalemate, an escalation that has caused a panic among Syrians in the country.In recent weeks, the army has raided refugee camps and set up checkpoints to review the documentation of non-Lebanese citizens, arresting and in many cases deporting Syrians found not to have legal residency, according to refugees and humanitarian organizations.“People aren’t sleeping in their houses … and are afraid even to go to work,” said a woman originally from the Syrian province of Idlib who is living in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley. Her husband was deported on April 10, along with 28 other men, after a raid on an apartment building in the Beirut suburb of Jounieh, she said, and she hasn’t heard from him since.Like other Syrians interviewed for this story, the woman spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals.Her 4-year-old son asks where ...

German police clamp down on Italian mob with raids, arrests

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Police arrested suspects and raided homes early Wednesday across Germany in a massive effort to clamp down on member of the Italian ’ndrangheta organized crime syndicate.More than 1,000 officers searched dozens of homes, offices, stores in the states of Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate, prosecutors said in a joint statement.Over 30 suspects who had outstanding warrants were arrested.“Among other things, the accused are accused of money laundering, gang tax evasion, commercial gang fraud, and narcotics smuggling,” said a statement from the state office of criminal investigation in North Rhine-Westphalia. The raids are part of a wider joint investigation involving Europol and also included simultaneous measures against the group in Belgium, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, the statement said.The Associated Press

IMF says inflation to slow growth across Mideast this year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Economies across the Middle East and Central Asia will likely slow this year as persistently high inflation and rising interest rates bite into their post-pandemic gains, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday. The IMF’s Regional Economic Outlook blamed in part rising energy costs, as well as elevated food prices, for the estimated slower growth. The report said that while oil-dependent economies of the Gulf Arab states and others in the region have reaped the benefits of elevated crude prices, other countries — such as Pakistan — have seen growth collapse after an unprecedented flooding last summer or as economic woes worsened.The regional slowdown also comes as an explosion of fighting in Sudan between two top rival generals — who only a year ago as allies orchestrated a military coup that upended the African country’s transition to democracy — threatens a nation where IMF and World Bank debt relief remains on hold. Rising int...

No winning ticket sold for Tuesday’s $18 million Lotto Max jackpot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

There was no winning ticket sold in Tuesday’s Lotto Max $18 million draw.The jackpot for the next draw on May 5 will be an estimated $23 million.The Canadian Press

Warmer Days Ahead: Temps in the 60s Wednesday, and 70s by the Week's end—flirting to 80° by Tuesday next week

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

Warmer days ahead for Chicago—we'll break into the 60s away from Lake Michigan Wednesday afternoon and make it to the 70s by week's end—though lake breezes will be cooling the shoreline—the weekend is to see organized east winds which will cool shoreline locations even as inland areas warm—but it appears we'll be flirting to 80 by TUES/WED next week!MAMMOTH SPRING STORM Below normal temps moved into an 11th consecutive day Tuesday—featuring a sub-normal high of 54° and 31 mph wind gusts at O'Hare (Midway made it to 55° Monday). It marked the 5th day in which Chicago's weather was controlled by the mammoth spring storm which has wreaked havoc over a wide swath of the Midwest and East coast—producing up to 29" of snow the past two days followed by 1 to 3.70" rainfalls in parts and 50+ mph wind gusts across a swath of Michigan's Upper Peninsula; generating Monday's deadly downstate I-55 downstate dust storm and forcing Chicagoans to keep a close watch on the sky for what little sun we'...

US believes Russians in Ukraine have suffered 100,000 casualties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

The White House on Monday (1 May) estimated that Russia's military has suffered 100,000 casualties in the last five months in fighting in the Bakhmut region and other areas of Ukraine.White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters the figure, based on US intelligence estimates, included more than 20,000 dead, half of them from the Wagner mercenary group, which includes convicts released from prison to join the fighting."Russia's attempt at a winter offensive in the Donbas largely through Bakhmut has failed," Kirby said."Last December, Russia initiated a broad offensive across multiple lines of advance, including toward Vuhledar, Avdiivka, Bakhmut, and Kreminna. Most of these efforts stalled and failed. Russia has been unable to seize any strategically significant territory."He said the Russians have made some incremental gains in Bakhmut but that this has come at a "terrible, terrible cost" and that Ukraine's defenses in the region remain strong."Russia has exh...

Explosion derails freight train in Russian border region

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:24:25 GMT

An explosion in a Russian bordering Ukraine region on Monday (1 May) derailed a freight train, according to a post made by the local governor. The governor added that there were no injuries.Social media pictures showed several tank wagons lying on their sides and dark gray smoke billowing in the air near the derailment site in the Bryansk area.Russian Railways, Russia's railway operator, confirmed that the incident took place at 10:17 Moscow Time (0717 GMT). The report said that the locomotive and seven wagons derailed, and the locomotive caught on fire.In a Telegram post, Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz stated that "an unidentified explosive went off at 136 kilometres on the Bryansk - Unecha railway line derailing a freight train."Russian authorities claim that the region, which borders Ukraine and Belarus, has been the scene of multiple pro-Ukrainian attacks in the 14-month period since Russia invaded. The governor reported that four civilians were killed after Kyiv shelled an ...