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Suns, without Durant, rout Trail Blazers 109-88 for 4th straight win

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Bradley Beal scored 21 points and the Phoenix Suns beat the Portland Trail Blazers 109-88 on Monday night for their fourth consecutive victory.With Kevin Durant sidelined by right hamstring tightness, the Suns had seven players score in double figures. Jusuf Nurkic, playing against his former team, had 18 points. Chimezie Metu, starting for Durant, scored 14, and Grayson Allen and reserve Eric Gordon each had 12.“He changes everything,” Nurkic said of Beal, who returned Friday from an ankle injury. “It’s simple. We depend on him. When he’s out there, it doesn’t matter what he does, just being out there makes a big difference for our team.” Phoenix star Devin Booker was held to 10 points on 4-of-16 shooting, but he contributed eight rebounds and six assists. Bol Bol helped make up for Durant’s absence with 11 points and nine rebounds.Durant scored 31 points in Sunday’s victory over Orlando, but coach Frank Vogel said he tweaked the hamstring lat...

Murray scores 25 points, Porter adds 22 as Nuggets beat Hornets 111-93

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Jamal Murray scored 25 points and Michael Porter Jr. added 22 as the Denver Nuggets beat short-handed Charlotte 111-93 on Monday night, sending the Hornets to their 11th straight loss.Nikola Jokic had 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists for the Nuggets. Two of Charlotte’s losses during its streak have come against the Nuggets in the last 1 1/2 weeks.“Guys were locked in and defense was leading to offense,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said. “We took care of it in the second half, and that’s Denver Nuggets basketball.”Miles Bridges led Charlotte with 26 points, and Nick Richards and Brandon Miller each scored 15 for the Hornets, who also lost their eighth straight on the road.Aaron Gordon, who suffered cuts to his hand and face when he was bitten by a dog on Christmas Day, had 10 points in his return for Denver. He rejoined the team in time for practice on Sunday after missing two games. He played with a small protective bandage on his right hand and his facial...

Powerful earthquakes leave at least 30 dead, destroy buildings along Japan’s western coast

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

A building falls on the ground following an earthquake in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. A series of major earthquakes started a fire and collapsed buildings on the west coast of Japan’s main island, Honshu. (Kyodo News via AP) A building falls on the ground following an earthquake in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. A series of major earthquakes started a fire and collapsed buildings on the west coast of Japan’s main island, Honshu. (Kyodo News via AP) WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — A series of powerful earthquakes hit western Japan, leaving at least 30 people dead and damaging buildings, vehicles and boats, with officials warning people in some areas on Tuesday to stay a...

The death toll in a series of powerful earthquakes in Japan has risen to 30, local officials say

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — The death toll in a series of powerful earthquakes in Japan has risen to 30, local officials say.Source

Europe’s Silicon Valley? Cambridge says no thanks

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

CAMBRIDGE, England — This city wears many crowns: the fastest growing in Britain, the world’s most intensive research cluster and the university with the highest number of tech founders.It also has Britain’s second highest level of inequality and one of the lowest amounts of rainfall of any U.K. city.The tension between those titles has come to a head in the government’s bid to turn Cambridge into “Europe’s Silicon Valley.” Housing Secretary Michael Gove wants to build more than 150,000 new homes there by 2040, more than doubling the city’s size and triple the number local planners had earmarked for the area.“Nowhere is the future being shaped more decisively than in Cambridge,” Gove said in a speech in December. “Its global leadership in life sciences and tech is a huge national asset. But until now… its growth has been constrained.”He envisaged a new quarter with “beautiful Neo-classical buildings, rich parkland, concert halls and museums.” A new development corporation would be e...

Heavy Russian missile attacks hit Ukraine’s 2 largest cities

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s two largest cities came under heavy Russian missile attacks on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring dozens. Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said one person died and 41 were injured in Russian missile strikes that hit the center of Kharkiv city and other areas. In Kyiv, the capital, five areas of the city were hit in the strikes and at least 12 people injured, according to mayor Vitali Klitschko. The barrage of the cities continued Russia’s escalated attacks on Ukraine in recent days that began on Friday with its largest single attack on Ukraine since the war started, in which at least 41 civilians were killed. The following day, shelling of the Russian border city of Belgorod that Russian officials blamed on Ukraine killed more than two dozen people. Russia has struck back repeatedly since.The attack on Belgorod was one of the deadliest to take place on Russian soil since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine star...

Gunmen kill 6 barbers in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban near the Afghan border

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Unidentified gunmen shot and killed six barbers before dawn on Tuesday in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in the country’s northwest near the Afghanistan border, police said.No one immediately claimed responsibility for the killings in Mir Ali, a town in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Jamal Khan, a local police chief.The incident shocked residents, who said the slain men all worked at various barbershops. Javed Ali, a local resident, said he met one of the slain men last month when he went to a barbershop for a haircut.Mir Ali served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban — who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP — for years until the military cleared the area of insurgents. TTP is a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war.Pakistani milita...

Instant Analysis: A tough end to a remarkable season for the Texas Longhorns

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A late rally came up short for Texas in a 37-31 loss to Washington in the Sugar Bowl on Monday, sending the Huskies to the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Jan. 8 in Houston.The Longhorns couldn't contain Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who showed everybody why he's the nation's best passer. He threw for 430 yards and made big play after big play to keep the Huskies going offensively and the Texas offense on the sideline.Texas ran the ball with efficiency, averaging 6.4 yards per carry, but had to put the ball in the air to keep up with Penix and the Huskies. Noah Gross and Billy Gates discussed the game early Sunday morning in the video above.

Djokovic and his sore right wrist advance Serbia to the United Cup quarterfinals in Perth

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic overcame a right wrist issue to defeat the Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-1 and send Serbia through to the United Cup mixed team quarterfinals.The No. 1-ranked Djokovic and defending Australian Open champion was troubled by his wrist during practice on Tuesday morning, with the injury requiring intense treatment from his physio.Djokovic was cleared to play his singles match and it was just as well after Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova defeated Olga Danilovic 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 to give the Czechs a 1-0 lead.The 24-time Grand Slam winner was on track for an easy victory against Lehecka after winning the first set and leading 3-1 in the second. But with his wrist troubles growing as the match wore on, Djokovic started making a series of uncharacteristic unforced errors.Djokovic took a medical timeout after losing the second-set tiebreak, but he came out strongly with a double break in the third set to seal victory.“I managed...

‘Very scary. Windows shook.’ — DC, Maryland residents experience reported earthquake

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:29:18 GMT

Hundreds in and around the D.C. Metro area have reported feeling the effects of a small earthquake between Gaithersburg and Rockville, Maryland, according to data from the U.S. Geological Survey. Here’s what you need to know.WTOP listeners throughout the region, including those living in Northwest D.C. and Montgomery, Prince George’s and Howard County, Maryland, reported shaking just before 1 a.m.“I’m in Kensington, Maryland, and felt/heard what seemed like an earthquake,” one listener writes to WTOP. “Rumbling and a big boom lasting about maybe 10 seconds about 20 minutes.”Another listener said they felt shaking in Darnestown.“The whole house shook. My wife and I jumped out of bed all confused and scared not knowing what is going on,” they said. “Very scary. Windows shook.”Preliminary information reviewed by the agency puts the earthquake at a magnitude of 2.3. with more than 200 individuals reporting feeling a rumbling or...