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Champions League group stage resumes this week with much at stake for all teams

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — The Champions League group stage moves into the final two rounds of matches on Tuesday with the results also affecting entries to other international competitions this season and next.The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Next season’s Champions League. This season’s Europa League knockout rounds. They’re are effectively in play right now. That gives extra incentive even to those teams which have already advanced to the Champions League round of 16 in February — Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Real Sociedad, Leipzig — to keep pushing for the best possible results. Likewise for the six teams already out of contention: Benfica, Red Star Belgrade, Antwerp, Salzburg, Union Berlin, Young Boys.FIRST THINGS FIRSTThe first priority is trying to earn one of the 10 remaining places in the Champions League round-of-16 draw on Dec. 18.Napoli would advance with a win Wednesday at Madrid, the already qualified Group C leader, though likely must wait for a fin...

Mikael Granlund breaks tie early in 3rd period, Sharks beat Canucks 4-3

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Mikael Granlund broke a tie 22 seconds into the third period, Ty Emberson scored his first career NHL goal and the San Jose Sharks beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Saturday night for their fourth victory in the first 21 games.Granlund scored for the first time since joining the Sharks in the Erik Karlsson trade this offseason. The veteran forward sped from his own end, deked Filip Hronek with an inside-out move and beat goalie Casey DeSmith. Mike Hoffman scored on a 4-on-3 power play minutes later, his sixth goal in six games. Fabian Zetterlund rounded out the scoring and Kaapo Kahkonen made 32 saves. San Jose has earned points in consecutive games for the second time this season.The Sharks ended an 11-game losing streak against the Canucks, which had been the third longest active streak in the NHL.Brock Boeser had two goals for the Canucks, the second cutting the lead in half with 3:13 left. He had a power play goal in the second.Canucks star defenseman Qui...

Marty Krofft, co-creator of hit kids’ TV shows, dies of kidney failure at 86

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

This photo provided by Sid & Marty Krofft Productions and Nickelodeon shows a scene with Cling and Clang driving the Rescue Racer with H.R. Pufnstuf riding in the back from the television series, "H.R. Pufnstuf." The title character of the 1969-71 children’s series will appear on an episode of Nickelodeon’s new preschool series “Mutt & Stuff,” the cable channel said Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015.(Robert Voets/Nickelodeon via AP) This photo provided by Sid & Marty Krofft Productions and Nickelodeon shows a scene with Cling and Clang driving the Rescue Racer with H.R. Pufnstuf riding in the back from the television series, "H.R. Pufnstuf." The title character of the 1969-71 children’s series will appear on an episode of Nickelodeon’s new preschool series “Mutt ...

MacKinnon, Prosvetov key Avalanche’s 3-1 win over Flames

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist and Ivan Prosvetov stopped 30 shots as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 Saturday night for their sixth win in seven games.Ryan Johansen added a goal and Jonathan Drouin had a first-period power-play score for Colorado, the seventh straight game in which the Avalanche scored on the power play.Mikael Backlund scored for Calgary, which wrapped up a four-game road trip at 2-2. The Flames outshot the Avalanche 16-6 in the third period but Prosvetov turned away one scoring chance after another to help preserve the win.Colorado extended its lead to 2-0 when Johansen chased down a loose puck deep in Calgary’s zone, carrying it with speed behind the net ahead of Flames defenders and knocking in a wraparound shot at 10:10 of the second.The Flames broke through for a goal on Backlund’s wrist shot from up close off a feed from Jonathan Huberdeau at 12:03 of the second.Colorado answered with its third goal of the night jus...

Paul George scores 25 while his fellow LA stars are quiet in the Clippers’ 107-88 win over Dallas

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Paul George had 25 points and nine rebounds, Terance Mann added 17 points and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Dallas Mavericks 107-88 on Saturday night for their fourth victory in five games.James Harden had just eight points and seven assists, while Kawhi Leonard missed his first nine shots before finishing with eight points for the Clippers, who didn’t need all four of their stars to shine. Russell Westbrook had 14 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but the Clippers largely dominated with only George scoring consistently in a comfortable victory over the normally high-scoring Mavericks.Luka Doncic scored 30 points and Kyrie Irving had 26 for the Mavs, who had the past two days off in Los Angeles after beating the Lakers on Wednesday. Dallas had its lowest-scoring performance of the season for its second straight game, failing to crack 100 points for the first time.Norman Powell scored 15 points with three 3-pointers as the Clippers rebounded from a home...

El zapato que resiste: la suela roja de Louboutin cumple 30 años

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

(CNN) — Cuando se trata de calzado, hay pocos elementos más icónicos o más aspiracionales que la suela roja de Christian Louboutin.En los 30 años transcurridos desde su creación, la marca quizás haya hecho más que cualquier otra para transformar una pieza de calzado en un objeto de arte: el diseño de sus tacones destinado a acentuar la curvatura del pie, el parpadeo de la suela roja casi un guiño travieso cuando el usuario se aleja.Lucido por las coristas del cabaret Crazy Horse de París y en las pasarelas de las casas de moda de alta gama, Pamela Anderson, Lady Gaga y Blake Lively se encuentran entre las muchas celebridades fans de Louboutin.La modelo Kate Moss, vista aquí en 2011, tiene un estilo de zapatos Louboutin que lleva su nombre, el “So Kate”, que presenta una punta más afilada y un tacón “delgado”.“Mi guardarropa está repleto de Louboutins; el clásico tacón de aguja Pigalle negro en charol o cuero negro mate es mi zapato preferido”...

How can Chicago Bears and QB Justin Fields handle the Minnesota Vikings pressure better in Monday’s rematch?

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

The play happened 5 1/2 weeks ago, but Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields still can recite the details and his thought process all the way up through D.J. Wonnum crunching him to the Soldier Field grass.It was, after all, just two starts ago for Fields.With a free rusher, Wonnum, to his left on the first play of the Bears-Minnesota Vikings game on Oct. 15, Fields needed to drift to his right and get the ball out quickly to fullback Khari Blasingame. But in the second before Wonnum got to him, Fields worried that a Vikings cornerback was sitting on the route — not expecting Blasingame to go deep — and he didn’t want to throw an interception on the first play of the game.“Learning from that, I’ve just got to sail it over his head and move onto second and 10,” Fields said Wednesday at Halas Hall.Instead, Fields’ day started with that sack and ended in the third quarter with another sack — and Fields dislocating his right thumb. The B...

Israeli forces kill at least 8 Palestinians in surging West Bank violence, health officials say

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli forces operating in the occupied West Bank killed at least eight Palestinians in a 24-hour period, Palestinian health officials said Sunday, as a fragile pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip entered its third day.Violence in the West Bank has surged in the weeks since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, setting off a devastating war in the Gaza Strip. Israeli forces have killed dozens of Palestinians and arrested hundreds in the West Bank. Jewish West Bank settlers have also stepped up attacks. The Palestinian Health Ministry said that five Palestinians were killed in the militant stronghold Jenin, while three others were killed in separate areas of the West Bank since Saturday morning. One of those killed, in al-Bireh in the central West Bank, was a teenager, the ministry said.The Israeli military said forces entered the Jenin refugee camp to arrest a Palestinian suspected of killing an Israeli father and son at a West Bank car w...

Fragile cease-fire in Gaza is back on track after hourslong delay in 2nd hostage-for-prisoner swap

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — The tense cease-fire between Israel and Hamas appeared to be back on track early Sunday after the release of a second group of militant-held hostages and Palestinians from Israeli prisons, but the swap followed an hourslong delay that underscored the truce’s fragility.The exchange was delayed Saturday evening after Hamas accused Israel of violating the agreement, which has brought the first significant pause in seven weeks of war marked by the deadliest Israeli-Palestinian violence in decades, vast destruction and displacement across the Gaza Strip, and a hostage crisis that has shaken Israel. The deal seemed at risk of unraveling until Qatar and Egypt, which mediate with Hamas, announced late Saturday that the obstacles to the exchange had been overcome. The militants released 17 hostages, including 13 Israelis, while Israel freed 39 Palestinian prisoners.Thousands of people gathered in central Tel Aviv late Saturday to call for the release of...

Top diplomats of South Korea, Japan and China meet to restart trilateral summit, revive cooperation

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 20:42:30 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The top diplomats from South Korea, Japan and China met Sunday to discuss when to resume their leaders’ trilateral summit after a four-year hiatus and how to strengthen cooperation among the three Northeast Asian neighbors.Closely linked economically and culturally with one another, the three countries together account for about 25% of the global gross domestic product. But efforts to boost trilateral cooperation have often hit a snag because of a mix of issues including historical disputes stemming from Japan’s wartime aggression and the strategic competition between China and the United States.Meeting in the southeastern South Korean city of Busan, the foreign ministers of the three countries were to exchange opinions on preparations to restart the trilateral summit, ways to improve three-way cooperation and other regional and international issues, according to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry.In September, senior officials of the three nations agreed to restart ...