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Italy makes Basketball World Cup quarterfinals for 1st time in 25 years

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

For the first time in 25 years, Italy is going to the quarterfinals of the Basketball World Cup.Stefano Tonut and Giampaolo Ricci each scored 15 points and Italy reached the World Cup quarterfinals with a 73-57 win over Puerto Rico on Sunday in Manila, the final day of second-round play at FIBA’s biggest tournament.Italy (4-1) will play either the U.S. or Lithuania in Tuesday’s quarterfinals in Manila. The Italians are assured of their best World Cup finish since placing sixth in 1998. They were ninth in 2006, 10th in 2019 and didn’t qualify in 2002, 2010 and 2014.Simone Fontecchio added 12 points and 12 rebounds for Italy, and Luigi Datome scored 11. Italy used a 15-0 run in the first quarter to take some control, wound up losing that lead in the third quarter, rallied to take a slight edge into the final period and pulled away from there.Tremont Waters scored 13 points and had nine assists for Puerto Rico (3-2), and Jordan Howard scored 11. Puerto Rico was bidding for its fi...

Death under investigation at Burning Man as flooding strands thousands at Nevada festival site

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Authorities in Nevada were investigating a death at the site of the Burning Man festival where thousands of attendees remained stranded Saturday night as flooding from storms swept through the Nevada desert.Organizers closed vehicular access to the counterculture festival and attendees trudged through mud, many barefoot or wearing plastic bags on their feet. The revelers were urged to shelter in place and conserve food, water and other supplies.The Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said the death happened during the event but offered few details as the investigation continued, including the identity of the deceased person or the suspected cause of death, KNSD-TV reported.Vehicle gates will not open for the remainder of the event, which began on Aug. 27 and was scheduled to end Monday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Black Rock Desert where the festival is being held.More than one-half inch of rain is believed to have fallen on Fri...

DC-based nonprofit raises awareness of meat packing injuries ahead of Labor Day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

About 26,600 nonfatal injuries in the meat and poultry industry alone were reported in 2021, according to a D.C.-based nonprofit.Sustainable Earth Eating is spreading awareness of these injuries as Americans buy food produced by agricultural workers to celebrate Labor Day.“Your dinner might be costing someone an arm and a leg,” the nonprofit said in a news release.The nonprofit listed a number of reasons for this high injury rate in a news release, including how meat factories work 24/7 shifts.Undocumented workers who work in the industry may avoid reporting hazardous conditions over fears they could lose their jobs or be deported, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute that uses data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.The meat and poultry industry is one of the most dangerous industries, according to the nonprofit, but the agricultural sector is incredibly dangerous overall.From 2015 to 2020, there were 573 fatalities in the sector an...

En Japón, a los jóvenes les cuesta tanto tener citas que sus padres lo hacen por ellos

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

(CNN) — Es una calurosa tarde de verano en la ciudad japonesa de Osaka, donde un grupo de alrededor de 60 hombres y mujeres se han reunido para una sesión de “omiai”, o emparejamiento, para encontrar el amor verdadero.Se mezclan, saltando de un extremo a otro de la sala de conferencias del edificio de la Cámara de Comercio de Sakai mientras evalúan posibles coincidencias y la competencia.Pero este no es un evento cualquiera de citas rápidas.Pocos de los participantes hablan de sus aficiones, películas o restaurantes favoritos, o incluso de ellos mismos. Están hablando de sus hijos adultos, todavía solteros, a quienes esperan emparejar y casar.Una mujer, de unos 60 años, habla con orgullo de su hijo de 34 años, maestro de escuela primaria pública. Un hombre de unos 80 años habla afectuosamente de su hijo de 49 años, con vocación profesional, que trabaja como controlador en una empresa eléctrica.Cada uno de los padres ha desembolsado 14.000 yenes (US$ 96) para asistir a este eve...

Bavaria premier keeps deputy Aiwanger in office despite Nazi scandal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

BERLIN — Bavaria’s Premier Markus Söder will not dismiss his deputy Hubert Aiwanger despite numerous accusations surrounding an antisemitic leaflet from his school days. Since there was no proof that Aiwanger had written the antisemitic pamphlet himself and the incident occurred 35 years ago, a dismissal “would not be proportionate,” the Söder told reporters on Sunday in Munich.Leading members of the federal government had called for consequences after it became known that Aiwanger, the federal chairman of the right-wing Free Voters party, had been involved in distributing an anti-Semitic flyer during his school days and that fellow students had accused him of making the Hitler salute and antisemitic jokes at the time. The Bavarian Minister of Economics was criticized above all for downplaying of the accusations. Several times Aiwanger spoke of a “dirt campaign” against him. Söder, with the center-right CSU party, criticized Aiwanger’s crisis mana...

Apollo Phantom electric scooters recalled due to injury risk from loosened bolt

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

(CNN) — An electric scooter manufacturer is recalling some of its products due to the risk of a loosening bolt that could cause injuries.Delaware-based Apollo Imports issued a voluntary recall of its Phantom Electric Scooters made in China, according to a news release from the Consumer Product Safety Commission.The issue affects Phantom V1, V2 and 60V electric scooter models sold between June 2021 and May 2023, according to Apollo.“The stem bolt used to secure the front wheel and suspension assembly to the stem of the scooter can become loose over time and break,” according to the electric scooter company’s recall announcement.The Consumer Product Safety Commission received at least seven reports of the bolt breaking, causing the stem to detach or loosen. Three people were injured with cuts, abrasions and bruises, according to the release.The manufacturer and commission advised people to stop using the recalled users immediately.Meanwhile, Apollo is offering cust...

Column: Firings. A shooting in the stands. And a Chicago White Sox GM search that wasn’t a search. 10 days that shook the South Side.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

From the moment Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf fired longtime executives Ken Williams and Rick Hahn to fans unfurling a “Jerry Reinsdorf must go” banner in the ninth inning of Friday’s loss to the Detroit Tigers at Guaranteed Rate Field, a season already off the rails veered off a cliff.The Sox already were in the midst of a stunning free-fall from a postseason team in 2021 to the fourth-worst record in baseball on Aug. 22. Traded reliever Keynan Middleton became an unlikely whistleblower, exposing a “no rules,” lackadaisical clubhouse culture exemplified by the pitcher’s allegation a Sox teammate slept in the bullpen during games without repercussions.The fate of Hahn, the general manager in his 11th year, was a daily topic of conversation, fueled by Hahn’s admission he might not be back to try to fix the mess in 2024. Former Sox player and manager Ozzie Guillen harped almost nightly on the NBC Sports Chicago postgame show about...

Tim Scott is the top Black Republican in the GOP presidential primary. Here’s how he discusses race

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) — Tim Scott seldom specifically brings up race in Iowa. Nor does the Republican presidential candidate have to.He is often the only Black person at his campaign events in the state. The South Carolina senator introduces himself as the product of early-life mentors who taught him not to be bitter.When race comes up, he often says the United States is not fundamentally racist. “We don’t have Black poverty or white poverty. We have poverty,” he told an all-white audience Thursday in Oskaloosa after being asked about race. He earlier had spoken about his poor Southern upbringing and his late grandfather, born into Jim Crow-era South Carolina.“The brilliance of this nation is that we keep moving forward, even though there are lots of forces who want us to think the problem is that someone doesn’t look like you,” Scott said.Scott, the only Black GOP presidential candidate campaigning aggressively in the early-voting state, is betting that his upbeat messag...

Pope gives ‘noble’ Chinese people a shout-out at Mass in Mongolia in bid to warm ties

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia (AP) — Pope Francis sent a special greeting to China’s “noble” people on Sunday, giving them a special shout-out at the end of a Mass celebrated in neighboring Mongolia during the first-ever papal visit that was largely overshadowed by Beijing and its crackdown on religious minorities.Francis brought up to the altar the retired and current bishops of Hong Kong, Cardinal John Hon Tong and Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow, clasped their hands and told the crowd that included many mainland Chinese pilgrims that he wished them all well.“I want to take advantage of their presence to send a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people,” Francis said. “To all the (Chinese) people I wish the best and to always go forward, always progress.”“I ask Chinese Catholics to be good Christians and good citizens,” he added, to cheers from the crowd in the Steppe Arena, in the capital, Ulaanbaatar.It was the first and only time that Francis has publicly mentioned China during his four-da...

Taiwan suspends work, transport and classes as Typhoon Haikui slams into the island

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:11:30 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Taiwan suspended flights, rail transport and ferry services along with classes and outdoor events and urged workers to stay home on Sunday as Typhoon Haikui churned across the southern part of the island.The typhoon made landfall in Taitung county on the Pacific-facing east coast around 3 p.m. (0700 GMT) Sunday, bringing sustained winds of 155 kph (96 mph) and gusts of 190 kph (120 mph). The winds and driving rains forced in unsecured doors, uprooted trees — at least one of which crushed a parked minivan — and caused flooding in some low-lying areas. There had been no mass evacuations, although dozens sheltered in school gymnasiums and public meeting halls.There appeared to be little serious damage, and some shops remained open, partly to dispose of locally grown fruits and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste. Haikui’s arrival came as Typhoon Saola continued to weaken while swirling along the Chinese coast, where 900,000 people and 80,000 fishing vessels...