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Cavendish crashes out of Tour de France in last attempt to take outright record for most stage wins

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

LIMOGES, France (AP) — Mark Cavendish will have to share the Tour de France record for most career stage wins at cycling’s biggest race. Competing in his final season, the ace sprinter from the Isle of Man who is known as “The Manx Missile,” crashed out of the race during the eighth stage on Saturday.Cavendish equaled Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 Tour stage wins during the 2021 edition, 13 years after his first success, but was not selected last year. This edition was his last chance to become the outright record-holder after he announced in May during the Giro d’Italia race that he will retire from cycling at the end of this season. The British rider had finished second in Friday’s stage when Jasper Philipsen denied the rider a 35th stage win.The 38-year-old former world champion hit the ground Saturday with 64 kilometers (40 miles) left while riding at the back of the peloton at about 45 kph (28 mph). TV images showed the veteran rider lying on the ground and then holding his ...

Nets rookie Noah Clowney shoots 1-of-9 in NBA Summer League debut

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

Victor Wembanyama found other ways to impact a game. Noah Clowney could not.It was the difference between picks No. 1 and 21 in their NBA Summer League debuts on Friday night. Both the Spurs’ Wembanyama and Brooklyn’s Clowney struggled to find the bottom of the net in their opening NBA games in Las Vegas.Wembanyama, the generational talent from France and heir apparent to Tim Duncan’s Spurs throne, shot 2-of-13 from the field and one-of-six from downtown for nine points, while Clowney, the streak-shooting stretch-four out of Alabama, shot just one-of-seven from deep and one-of-nine from the field overall for four points for the Nets in their 101-97 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday.Wembanyama, however, was a dominant defensive presence for San Antonio and anchored the defense with five ferocious blocks against No. 2 overall pick Brandon Miller and the Charlotte Hornets. He also showed his abilities as a capable ball handler and facilitator, finding one of h...

Six people are dead after a plane crashes and catches fire in Southern California, officials say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

MURRIETA, Calif. (AP) — Six people died after a plane crashed over a Southern California field on Saturday morning before bursting into flames.The plane was engulfed in fire along with about one acre of vegetation when deputies arrived. The plane crashed near an airport in the city of Murrieta, California, in southwest Riverside County, located between Los Angeles and San Diego.The flight had originally departed from the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas before crashing into the field, KTLA reported. The plane was a a Cessna C550 business jet, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.The six plane occupants were pronounced dead at the scene shortly after authorities found the burning plane after 4:15 a.m., according to the Riverside County Fire Department. The identities of those killed in the crash have not been released.The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are both investigating the crash.The Saturday morning crash marked the second fatal crash ...

Switzerland to become a net importer of cheese this year for the first time

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Switzerland will import more cheese than it exports this year for the first time, according to the head of the country’s dairy association.The opening up of the Swiss milk market has put a squeeze on domestic producers in recent years, prompting some to give up, Boris Beuret told Geneva-based newspaper Le Temps in an interview published Saturday.Beuret said measures need to be taken to ensure Switzerland — famous worldwide for high-quality cheese varieties such as Gruyère and Emmentaler — can continue to produce for its own population.“If not, then we will end up importing (cheese), which would be absurd economically, socially and ecologically,” he was quoted as saying.The Associated Press

Minnesota officials say error in tax cut bill could cost taxpayers $352 million, but promised a fix

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota officials discovered an error in a $3 billion tax cut bill lawmakers passed this spring that could cost taxpayers $352 million over the next two years, but state leaders promised to fix it before it would take effect.The head of the Minnesota Revenue Department Paul Marquart told the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Friday that his staff caught the error when they were reviewing the nearly 400-page bill.By mistake, lawmakers used the 2019 standard deduction for the 2024 tax year without including four years of adjustments for inflation. That means most taxpayers’ standard deduction would be $1,600 smaller.Marquart said the error would cost single filers $110 and married couples $210 on their 2024 taxes. About 2.3 million returns would be affected if the law isn’t changed.Republican State Rep. Greg Davids said mistakes sometimes happen when staffers are working overtime at the end of a session to finish everything. Sometimes, lawmakers can resolve ...

As uncertainty looms in Halifax, Nova Scotia town to host first-ever Pride parade

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

HALIFAX — With uncertainty looming over Halifax’s Pride parade this year, smaller communities in Nova Scotia are stepping up and opening their doors during what some say is a pivotal time for LGBTQ rights.Lunenburg County Pride is hosting the first-ever Pride parade in Bridgewater on the province’s South Shore on Sunday.The parade will be followed by two after parties and a week of events for all ages, including a senior social, flag raising, drag queen story time, comedy night, movie night, dog show and drag show and dance. Lunenburg County Pride chair Steve Ellis says the parade has about 40 entries and will likely last about an hour.He says with the Halifax Pride parade up in the air, organizers of the Bridgewater parade are encouraging people to make the roughly one-hour trek from the city to the South Shore event. The Halifax Pride parade is slated to take place on July 23, yet a lack of communication from parade organizers and the abrupt cancellation of a community...

4 die in upstate NY house fire as crews respond to woman’s desperate call

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

NEW SCOTLAND, N.Y. (AP) — Four people died, including a 5-year-old girl, when a fire swept through a house west of Albany, New York, just before sunrise Saturday.Fire crews rushed to the home after a desperate call from a woman, who told a 911 dispatcher that she was trapped in a room with a child and unable to escape through a window because of an air-conditioning unit.“It’s a horrible scene,” Albany County Sheriff Craig D. Apple Sr. told reporters. “I feel horribly for the family, the neighbors.”The Albany Times-Union reports that a 14-year-old boy survived the flames by jumping out of second-story window as fire crews arrived. He was being treated for scrapes and bruises.A dispatcher tried to help direct the woman and child out of the burning house but was unsuccessful. By the time fire crews arrived, the blaze had engulfed the house on Normanskill Road in the town of New Scotland, about 8 miles (13 kilometers) west of New York’s Capitol.The Times-Union says the addre...

Zelenskyy hails Ukraine’s soldiers from a symbolic Black Sea island to mark 500 days of war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy marked the 500th day of the war Saturday by hailing the country’s soldiers in a video from a Black Sea island that became the symbol of Ukraine’s resilience in the face of the Russian invasion.Speaking from Snake Island, Zelenskyy honored the Ukrainian soldiers who fought for the island and all other defenders of the country, saying that reclaiming control of the island “is a great proof that Ukraine will regain every bit of its territory.”“I want to thank — from here, from this place of victory — each of our soldiers for these 500 days,” Zelenskyy said. “Thank you to everyone who fights for Ukraine!”It was unclear when the video was filmed. Zelenskyy was returning from Turkey on Saturday.He announced that five commanders of the defense of the Azovstal steel plant, a grueling months-long siege early in the war, were returning on the plane with him.The sprawling steelworks was the last bastion of resistance as Russian...

Two people charged after man attacked with hammer near Donlands station

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

Two people have been charged after a man was reportedly beaten with a hammer near Donlands subway station in Toronto’s east end.Irfan Askani, 32, of Toronto, was charged with attempted murder and two counts of failure to comply with probation.Zaid Malek, 31, of Toronto, was charged with attempted murder.Emergency crews were called to the area just before 11 p.m. on Thursday after a man was found in medical distress by TTC special constables.Both paramedics and police told CityNews there were reports the victim was attacked with a hammer.He was taken to a trauma centre with serious but non-life threatening injuries. The victim is believed to be a man in his 30s.Officials say the incident did not happen on TTC property but the victim went into the station after the assault.With files from Michael Ranger.

Airstrike in Sudanese city kills at least 22, officials say, amid fighting between rival generals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:20:00 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — An airstrike in a Sudanese city on Saturday killed at least 22 people, health authorities said, one of the deadliest in the weekslong fighting between Sudan’s rival generals. The attack took place in a residential area in Omdurman, the neighboring city of the capital, Khartoum, according to a brief statement by the health ministry. The attack wounded an unspecified number of people, it said.aSamy Magdy, The Associated Press