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Live updates | Gaza death toll tops 17,700 and Yemen rebels threaten ship traffic to Israel

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 17,700, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-controlled territory. Israel’s ground offensive in southern Gaza Strip intensified on Saturday with further airstrikes and artillery fire, a day after the United States blocked a U.N. resolution calling for a cease-fire. Israel says 97 of its soldiers have died in the ground offensive after Hamas raided southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking about 240 hostages.Amid concerns about a wider conflict, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen threatened to prevent any ship heading to Israeli ports from passing through the Red Sea and Arabian Sea until food and medicine can enter Gaza freely. With only a trickle of humanitarian aid reaching a small portion of Gaza, residents have reported severe food shortages. Despite growing international pressure, President Joe Biden’s admini...

While Palestinians suffer, Hamas reaps the benefits

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

ISTANBUL — Much of the Gaza Strip lies in ruins, with its people pushed from their homes by Israeli bombardment and the death toll climbing ever higher.But Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years, is still reaping benefits from its surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7. It is regarded as the only Palestinian faction to squeeze concessions from Israel in many years. It has thrown a bloody wrench into Israel’s plans to improve relations with its Arab neighbors and forced the Palestinian issue back onto the agendas of world leaders.Two months into the war, despite vows by Israeli officials to destroy Hamas, Israel has yet to kill its top leaders, free the remaining 137 hostages Hamas holds or provide convincing evidence that it can achieve its goal of eliminating Hamas without an astronomical human cost.In Hamas’ cynical calculation, the loftiness of Israel’s aims is a plus. While sticking to its long-term goal of destroying the Jewish state, Hamas can declare victory merely by survivin...

‘One of our great residents’: San Jose community leader Frank Fiscalini dies at 101

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

Frank Fiscalini, a longtime San Jose school superintendent and civic leader whose political influence brought him to within 2,000 votes of the city mayor’s office in 1990, died Friday at 101. He passed away peacefully of natural causes, his family said.In more than a half-century of work in and service to San Jose, Fiscalini developed the clout of a master politician. By the end of his career in local government, including two terms as city councilman during the 1990s, the city’s movers and shakers rated him among San Jose’s 40 most powerful people.He was also widely liked and admired.“It’s hard to think of anybody who made it through the wind tunnel of politics and made it out with such honesty and integrity,” said State Sen. Dave Cortese, a former vice mayor of San Jose, who counted Fiscalini as a mentor and friend.In this 1996 photo, Frank Fiscalini responds to a question at a San Jose candidate forum in Willow Glen. (Patrick Tehan/Bay Area New...

49ers’ Dre Greenlaw fined; return specialist Ray-Ray McCloud on shelf; Seahawks add quarterback

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

SANTA CLARA — The 49ers will be without return specialist Ray-Ray McCloud for at least the rest of this month.McCloud went on the Injured Reserve list Saturday and must miss a minimum of four games, which could prove consequential if the 49ers don’t find a sure-handed replacement in their playoff push.Rookie Ronnie Bell filled in last game for McCloud and botched a punt return with the ball harmlessly bouncing out of bounds in last Sunday’s 42-19 win at Philadelphia.Veteran wide receiver Chris Conley was promoted from the practice squad to fill McCloud’s roster spot.McCloud was ruled out Friday, along with defensive tackle Arik Armstead and tight end Ross Dwelley, for this Sunday’s game between the 49ers (9-3) and the Seattle Seahawks (6-6) at Levi’s Stadium.“He was limited on Wednesday, but didn’t feel great, so we’ve got to be safe with him,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Friday of McCloud.McCloud injured his ribs in last month’s wi...

Aaron Bradshaw has double-double, helps No. 16 Kentucky hold off Penn 81-66

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Aaron Bradshaw heard the cheers on each rebound, each big basket — yes, even on a 3-pointer — from nearly four dozen friends and family members in the crowd, who made the Kentucky star feel like he was home again playing for Camden High School.Bradshaw and the Wildcats took over Philly, from four area players in the roster, to the bulk of the 9,000-plus fans in attendance, to even scoreboard advertising for Lexington-area business that turned the home of the 76ers into a little slice of Rupp Arena.Bradshaw celebrated his homecoming with 17 points and 11 rebounds and Rob Dillingham also scored 17 points to lead No. 16 Kentucky past Penn 81-66 on Saturday at the Wells Fargo Center.Bradshaw added three blocked shots and a steal in 29 minutes in just his second game of the season after he missed seven games with a foot injury.“Somebody told me to sub him,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “I’m like, are you out of your mind? Are you watching this?”The Wildcat...

Largest Baseball Contract Packages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Baseball contracts worth $300 million or more. Figures were obtained by The Associated Press from player and management sources and include all guaranteed income but not income from potential incentive bonuses. There is no distinction for deferred money (x-pending club announcement of final agreement):Player, ClubYearsTotalx-Shohei Ohtani, LAD2024-33$700millionMike Trout, LAA2019-30$426.5millionMookie Betts, LAD2021-32$365millionAaron Judge, NYY2023-31$360millionManny Machado, SD2023-32$350millionFrancisco Lindor, NYM2022-31$341millionFernando Tatis Jr., SD2021-34$340millionBryce Harper, Phi2019-31$330millionGiancarlo Stanton, Mia-NYY2015-27$325millionCorey Seager, Tex2022-31$325millionGerrit Cole, NYY2020-28$324millionRafael Devers, Bos2024-33$313.5millionManny Machado, SD2019-28$300millionTrea Turner, Phi2023-33$300millionSource

Ukraine says any Russian presidential voting in its occupied regions would be ‘null and void’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine on Saturday condemned Russia’s intention to organize presidential election voting in occupied Ukrainian territory next year. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said any such balloting held in the occupied regions in the country would be “null and void” and pledged that any international observers sent to monitor the Russian election would “face criminal responsibility.”“We call on the international community to resolutely condemn Russia’s intention to hold presidential elections in the occupied Ukrainian territories, and to impose sanctions on those involved in their organization and conduct,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said.Lawmakers in Russia on Thursday set the country’s 2024 presidential election for March 17. On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced his candidacy for reelection. He is all but certain to win another six-year term. Russian authorities are still pondering whether to arrange the voting in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zapor...

GOP presidential candidates share stories of family and faith. Offstage, their sharp edges reemerged

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) — A trio of Republican presidential candidates shared stories of family and faith before hundreds of voters in northwest Iowa on Saturday, in congenial individual conversations with their hosts not long after the campaign’s latest fractious debate. But off the stage at a small Christian college in Sioux Center, the rivals’ sharp edges reemerged.Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy leaned on their families to drive home their origin stories, without other candidates interrupting, at the event held in a rural, conservative corner of a state that holds the leadoff contest on the election calendar in about a month.Later, DeSantis and Ramaswamy both went after Haley, a further sign that her opponents see her as a growing threat in the 2024 race where former President Donald Trump, who skipped the event, is the front-runner in polls of Republicans nationwide and Iowa, where the caucuses are set fo...

Gobierno de Venezuela informa de propuesta de una reunión directa con Guyana tras conversaciones de Maduro con líderes de Brasil, CELAC y ONU

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

(CNN Español) — El gobierno de Nicolás Maduro informó a través de un comunicado que el mandatario conversó telefónicamente este sábado con el presidente de Brasil, Luiz Inácio da Silva, el primer ministro de San Vicente y las Granadinas y presidente Pro Tempore de la  Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (CELAC), Ralph Gonsalves; y con el secretario general de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas, António Guterres.Explica que en las conversaciones se recibió la propuesta de realizar una reunión de alto nivel con la República Cooperativa de Guyana, que será anunciada en los próximos días, con motivo de una propuesta de diálogo con Guyana.“En ambas llamadas se ratificó la posición histórica sobre los incuestionables derechos soberanos de Venezuela sobre la Guayana Esequiba, al igual que del carácter legítimo y pacífico de nuestra reclamación, que se ha mantenido estrictamente apegada a las disposiciones del Acuerdo de Ginebra de 1966, y los principios y valo...

Davis’ 66-yard TD helps No. 1 South Dakota State beat the win, Villanova 23-12 in FCS quarterfinals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:50:00 GMT

BROOKINGS, S.D. (AP) — Isaiah Davis ran for 192 yards, including a 66-yard touchdown run, and top-seeded South Dakota State, the defending national champions, defeated eighth-seeded Villanova 23-12 on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the FCS playoffs.That touchdown early in the fourth quarter was the only offensive score by either team going into the wind, which gusted up to 45 miles an hour.The Jackrabbits (13-0), who won their 27th-straight game, are home against the winner of No. 4 Idaho and No. 5 Albany in the semifinals next weekend.The only other touchdown going into the wind was Matthew Durrance’s punt block, scoop and score covering 45 yards in the second quarter that gave South Dakota State a 10-6 lead. The Wildcats (10-3) had taken the lead on a 25-yard run by Jalen Jackson, but missed the extra point. Matthew Mercurio kicked a field goal late in the second quarter to pull them within 10-9.South Dakota State got a key touchdown midway through the third quarter on a M...