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Goals off free kicks, strong goalkeeping carry Westport into Div. 5 title game

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

SCITUATE – In a rematch of last year’s second-round contest, Westport once again came up on top over Boston International.All it took was a pair of tallies off free kicks and great play in net from junior Noah Amaral as the No. 8 Wildcats edged the fourth-seeded Lions, 2-0, at Scituate High on Tuesday night in the Div. 5 state boys soccer semifinals.“I’ve had a good run these last three years, but this team has that X-factor,” said Westport coach Chris Parker about his team’s ability to get far into the state tournament. “Right from the get-go, I’ve been blessed to have the gritty teams, but this group has had that something extra.”It will be the first state title appearance for the Wildcats as they will face the winner of Wednesday’s Douglas/Bromfield matchup.“It’s an amazing feeling,” said senior captain Ben Novo about advancing to the state title. “We’ve been working so hard for this.”Boston International (19-3) may have had the shot advantage in the first half, but Westport (21-...

Driver, passenger killed in I-5 rollover crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- A driver and passenger were killed in a rollover crash last weekend on Interstate 5, authorities said.The collision occurred around 3:02 a.m. on Interstate 5 near E Street in the Chula Vista area, Salvador Castro with the California Highway Patrol said in a news release Tuesday.A 27-year-old woman driving a black BMW X5 was traveling with a 22-year-old male passenger on I-5 northbound when the BMW veered off the roadway and overturned, according to CHP. The crash caused the roof of the BMW to come off, ejecting both the driver and passenger from the vehicle. 87-year-old linked to Miguel’s Cocina E. coli outbreak dies Moments later, a 28-year-old man driving a white Ford Mustang hit the back of the overturned BMW that was blocking the roadway, authorities said.When officers arrived on scene, the occupants of the BMW were pronounced dead, Castro confirmed. The Ford driver, who was determined to not be under the influence, remained at the crash site and coopera...

Salman Rushdie receives first-ever Lifetime Disturbing the Peace Award

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The latest honor for Salman Rushdie was a prize kept secret until minutes before he rose from his seat to accept it. On Tuesday night, the author received the first-ever Lifetime Disturbing the Peace Award, presented by the Vaclav Havel Center on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Only a handful of the more than 100 attendees had advance notice about Rushdie, whose whereabouts have largely been withheld from the general public since he was stabbed repeatedly in August of 2022 during a literary festival in Western New York. “I apologize for being a mystery guest,” Rushdie said Tuesday night after being introduced by “Reading Lolita in Tehran” author Azar Nafisi. “I don’t feel at all mysterious. But it made life a little simpler.” The Havel center, founded in 2012 as the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation, is named for the Czech playwright and dissident who became the last president of Czechoslovakia after the fall of the Communist regime in the late 1980s. The center has...

Japan’s economy sinks into contraction as spending, investment decline

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s economy slipped into a contraction in the third quarter, decreasing at an annual pace of 2.1% as consumption and investments shrank, the government reported Wednesday. Real gross domestic product, which measures the total value of a nation’s products and services, fell 0.5% in the July-September period for the world’s third largest economy, the Cabinet Office said. That would produce a 2.1% drop if the quarter’s performance continued for a full 12 months.The downturn came after the economy grew a revised 3.7% in the first quarter and a revised 4.5% in the second quarter on an annualized basis, according to the government figures.The third quarter’s performance was far worse than what had been expected, according to the financial services company ING, which had forecast an annual contraction of 0.5%.“Most of the miss in the consensus forecast came from weaker-than-expected domestic demand items, such as consumer spending, business investment and inven...

Mexican magnate’s firm says it’s too poor to pay US bondholders the tens of millions owed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

MEXICO (AP) — The company run by Mexican TV, retail and banking magnate Ricardo Salinas Pliego said Tuesday it had failed to reach agreement with bondholders in the United States who are owed tens of millions of dollars in past-due payments. Salinas Pliego’s TV Azteca company issued a statement Tuesday saying it needed a restructuring of bonds that come due in 2024 because business was so bad.TV Azteca said it had been in a U.S. court-ordered mediation with bondholders since September, but that process concluded when “the parties were unable to reach a consensual resolution.”According to the statement, the dispute involves about $400 million in bonds, with about $105 million in past-due payments.It is an usual situation for Salinas Pliego, who frequently takes to his social media accounts to hand out money or merchandise, and posts photos showing his lavish lifestyle, with yachts and expensive vehicles. He also often posts strings of stinging insults targeting political figure...

8 high school students in Las Vegas arrested on murder charges in fatal beating of classmate

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Eight high school students in Las Vegas between the ages of 13 and 17 have been arrested on suspicion of murder in the fatal beating of a classmate, authorities announced Tuesday at a news conference.Las Vegas police homicide Lt. Jason Johansson said investigators were still working to identify two more students believed to have participated in the Nov. 1 fight that he said was over a pair of wireless headphones and a vape pen.Johansson said the local FBI office assisted with the arrests Tuesday morning of the eight students. The two outstanding students will also face murder charges, he said.Authorities did not identify the students because they are juveniles. Johansson said he and his team are working with the local district attorney’s office to determine if they will be charged with murder as adults.Johansson said the 17-year-old victim, Jonathan Lewis Jr., remained hospitalized with severe “head trauma” and other injuries until his death about a week after the f...

Texas wants the power to arrest and order migrants to leave the US. Can it do that?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — For two years, Texas has pushed boundaries on the U.S.-Mexico border: Busing migrants across America, jailing thousands for trespass and stringing razor wire along the Rio Grande.In a new challenge to the federal government’s authority over immigration, Texas lawmakers on Tuesday night gave final approval to a bill that would allow police to arrest migrants who enter the country illegally and let local judges order them to leave the country. The bill, which Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to sign, would become one of the nation’s strictest immigration laws if allowed to take effect.In a rare moment of GOP dissension, one powerful Republican state senator opposed the bill, saying it goes too far. Emotions also ran high in the Texas House, where Democrats spent hours condemning the measure but failed to weaken it before it passed along party lines 83-61. It cleared the Texas Senate last week.Here’s a look at the proposal: WHAT WOULD THE N...

Fatalities from Maui wildfire reach 100 after death of woman, 78, injured in the disaster

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — The death toll from the wildfire that devastated the historic Maui town of Lahaina last summer has risen to 100 after a 78-year-old woman injured in the disaster died last month, officials said Tuesday.The victim was among those who had been flown to Oahu after the Aug. 8 wildfire, the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century, Maui police spokesperson Alana Pico said in an email. The woman died Oct. 16, according to the Honolulu medical examiner’s office.Authorities have identified 99 victims in a process that has proved long and complicated. Forensic experts and cadaver dogs sifted through ash searching for bodies that were possibly cremated, and authorities collected DNA samples from victims’ family members.The youngest victim was 7 and the oldest was 97. Several were residents of a low-income senior apartment complex. Of the victims, 44 were 70 or older. Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, The Associated Press

Firefighters extinguish small Maui wildfire that broke out during wind warning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Firefighters fully contained and extinguished a small wildfire on Maui that broke out Tuesday during a warning that gusty winds and low humidity posed a risk that fires could spread rapidly in the western parts of each Hawaiian island. Firefighters were able to quickly contain the fire in the south Maui community of Kihei, said Darryl Oliveira, interim administrator of the Maui Emergency Management Agency. It took less than an hour to extinguish the fire, which burned about an acre (less than half a hectare) of brush, the Maui Fire Department said. The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning for leeward sides of the islands — the sides normally sheltered from wind — through Tuesday evening, warning of winds of 20-30 mph (32-48 kph) and winds with gusts up to 50 mph (80 kph).“We’re going to act aggressively with any fire during a Red Flag Warning,” Oliveira said. A deadly blaze tore through the coastal Maui town of Lahaina during a similar warning in...

White Sox select contracts of 2 minor league pitchers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 12:04:59 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox have selected the contracts of two minor league pitchers to add toward the 40-man roster Tuesday.The contract selection of left-hander Jake Eder from the Class AA Birminham Barons, and right-hander Cristian Mena from the Class AAA Charlotte Knights, brought the White Sox 40-man roster to 37 in total.Aside from preparing to chase after big name free agents, the reason why Major League Baseball teams are also adding minor leaguers to their 40-man roster at this time of year is to protect their most coveted prospects from the Rule 5 Draft that happens next month. Chicago White Sox’s Luis Robert Jr. wins Silver Slugger Award Eder, 24, combined to go 2-6 with a 6.35 ERA and 70 strikeouts over 14 starts, good for 11.1 K's per nine innings pitched, between Class A Jupiter and Class AA Pensacola in the Miami Marlins organization, and with Birmingham in Chicago's minor league system last season. He was acquired by Chicago from Miami in exchange for third bas...