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Mikko Rantanen has a 4-point night to lead Avalanche to a 5-2 victory over Kings in opener

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mikko Rantanen had two goals and a pair of assists, Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists and the Colorado Avalanche opened their season with a 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night. It is the second straight year Rantanen has recorded at least three points in season openers, joining Joe Sakic and Peter Stastny as the only players in Avalanche/Nordiques history to accomplish that feat.Cale Makar and Miles Wood also scored for the Avalanche, who have won 12 straight regular-season road games dating to last season. Alexandar Georgiev stopped 35 shots.Los Angeles’ Carl Grundstrom and Quinton Byfield had second-period goals. Cam Talbot made 31 saves in his Kings debut.Rantanen gave Colorado a 3-0 lead and completed a run of two goals in 53 seconds at 3:47 of the second period when he beat Talbot top shelf on a wrist shot from a tight angle inside the left faceoff circle that went in near the far post.After the Kings got within a goal, R...

Brock Boeser scores 4 goals, Canucks rout Oilers 8-1 to start a home-and-home opening set

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Brock Boeser scored four goals and the Vancouver Canucks routed the Edmonton Oilers 8-1 on Wednesday night to start a home-and-home opening set.The teams will meet again Saturday night in Edmonton.Conor Garland, Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Dakota Joshua also scored for the Canucks, with Miller adding four assists and Pettersson three. Quinn Hughes also had three assists.Thatcher Demko started in goal for Vancouver and stopped 21 of 22 shots in 48 minutes. Casey DeSmith made five saves the rest of the way.Leon Draisaitl scored for Edmonton, with Connor McDavid assisting. Oilers starter Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner each allowed four goals.After Garland opened the scoring, Boeser scored three straight goals for a natural hat trick and 4-0 lead. He made it 6-1 early in the third period. The Minnesotan had 18 goals in 74 games last season.UP NEXTOilers: Host Vancouver on Saturday night.Canucks: At Edmonton on Saturday night.___AP NHL: https://...

Israel’s defense minister dials into NATO ministerial

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

Presented by ASD By JOSHUA POSANER with LAURA KAYALI, CALEB LARSON, PAUL MCLEARY and STUART LAU PRESENTED BY View in your browser or listen to audioSNEAK PEEK— Today is Israel’s big day at the NATO summit, but on Wednesday Ukraine got to press its case for more aid.— NATO ministers will discuss what happened to a Finnish-Estonian gas pipeline, with suspicions that Moscow may be involved.— The French and Armenian defense ministers will talk, as Paris sticks with plans to send military aid.Good morning and welcome to Morning Defense. Tips to [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected] or follow us at @joshposaner, @LauKaya and @calebmlarson.DRIVING THE DAYJUGGLING TWO WARS: This NATO ministerial has been about two crises from the beginning, and now it’s time for Israel to take center stage. Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will remotely join in the morning m...

Tee Thursday: Utah’s Black Desert impresses

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

Golf course enthusiasts: Pull out that bucket list and hit edit because there’s a new course that will soon rise up your list like a bullet.Black Desert Resort (https://www.blackdesertresort.com/) rolled out the carts, enthusiastic crew and 18 holes of OMG this past May in a soft way; there’s no real clubhouse yet (a taco truck does the job for now), just a small, temporary pro shop and around you – everywhere it seems – is construction on what will be one of Utah – and the nation’s – largest, most diversified (16 restaurants, lodging choices for every kind of stay and more) luxury golf resorts.While the resort’s to-do list is long, the course is ready, and already winning rave reviews. “One of the top three I’ve ever played,” one of my golf pals I played there with who’s visited more than a thousand courses world-wide told me.The PGA gave Black Desert a massive stamp of approval: The new PGA Black Desert Championship will be added to the tour’s FedEx Cup in the Fall of 2024. That w...

UN envoy: Colombian president’s commitments to rural reforms and peace efforts highlight first year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s commitment to transform long-marginalized rural and conflict areas and new peace efforts were the highlights of his first year in office, the U.N. special envoy for the South American country said.But Carlos Ruiz Massieu condemned the killing of nearly 400 former combatants who signed a 2016 peace agreement and called for “urgent and concrete measures from the authorities for their protection, as well as that of social leaders and human rights defenders.”He told the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday that lagging progress in implementing rural reforms has limited the transformation in rural and conflict areas that the 2016 peace accord between the government and Colombia’s then-largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was expected to bring.“While a great distance still remains to attain the ambitious goals of the agreement in this respect,” he acknowledged “the increasing government efforts un...

Strike talks break off between Hollywood actors and studios

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Talks have broken off between Hollywood actors and studios, killing any hopes that the strike by performers was coming to an end after nearly three months, as the writers strike recently did. The studios announced that they had suspended contract negotiations late Wednesday night, saying the gap between the two sides was too great to make continuing worth it. On Oct. 2, for the first time since the strike began July 14, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists had resumed negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, streaming services and production companies in strike talks. When negotiations resumed with writers last month, their strike ended five days later, but similar progress was not made with the actors union. The studios walked away from talks after seeing the actors’ most recent proposal on Wednesday. “It is clear that the gap between the AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA i...

SDGs & me: Towards sustainable cities and communities

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 11) ‘Sustainable cities and communities’ promotes the renewal and planning of cities and other human settlements while offering opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and green public spaces, while improving resource use and reducing environmental impacts.Monitoring SDG 11 progress in the EU focuses on progress made in enriching the quality of life in cities and communities, fostering sustainable mobility and improving environmental impacts.Source datasets: sdg_11_52, sdg_11_40, sdg_11_11, sdg_11_60 SDG 11 is monitored with a range of indicators. One of them is premature deaths due to exposure to fine particulate matter. In 2020, there were 237 810 premature deaths in the EU due to air pollution through fine particulate matter, or 25.9% less than in  2015 (321 112 deaths). Another indicator is road traffic deaths. In 2021, 19 917 people died in road traffic in the EU, a decrease of 16.3% from 2016 (...

Romania, Greece and Bulgaria want to build a highway and rail transport corridor connecting the three countries

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

The prime ministers of Romania, Greece and Bulgaria signed a joint statement in Varna on Monday (9 October) showing that they want to link the three countries through highways and railways, to increase transport connectivity. They also talked about new bridges over the Danube connecting Romania to Bulgaria, writes Cristian Gherasim.The main transport-related information from the joint statement signed by Prime Ministers Marcel Ciolacu, Nikolai Denkov and Kyriakos Mitsotakis reads: We are committed to building intermodal cross-border infrastructure across the Danube River, including new bridges at Giurgiu-Ruse and other locations, also in line with existing European standards for military mobility. The increasing importance of multidimensional connectivity between our three countries, EU interregional connectivity as well as connectivity in the wider neighborhood requires the further advancement of projects of common interest to radically improve cross-border infrastructure. In addit...

Thousands attend pro-Israel demonstration in Encino

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

Thousands of Israel supporters gathered in Encino Wednesday to show their solidarity amid Israel’s bloody war with Hamas. It is the latest in a series of events organized in Southern California to show support for Israel after the surprise terrorist attack over the weekend.  One of the demonstrators at the rally, Joseph Samana, said supporters can’t not come out and show their support for the state of Israel.  “You have to show your support,” he told KTLA’s Rick Chambers. “It’s a must not an option.”  The more than 2,000 strong crowd shut down a stretch of Ventura Boulevard so their voices could be heard after the attack by Hamas. Crowds flocked to Encino on Oct. 11, 2023, to show support for Israel after Hamas' surprise terrorist attack over the weekend. (KTLA)“What we see, it’s evil and if we do not protest against it, it won’t be just in Israel,” another rallygoer, Iris Nofar said. “It will be against all the world.”  The rally was likely the largest in Los An...

Tensions high across SoCal college campuses amid Israel-Hamas war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 11:00:02 GMT

Tensions are rising on college campuses in California and across the country as students react to Israel’s war with Hamas. The deadly violence has led some college leaders to warn against discrimination or harassment against any member of the Jewish or Palestinian communities. Hundreds of University of California, Los Angeles students gathered at Bruin Plaza Wednesday night for a solemn vigil for Israel. “I’m really just praying for all of the innocent people caught in the sides of it,” said UCLA student, Cienna Janes. There was a heavy security presence at the event as the longstanding Israeli Palestinian conflict enters a new phase following the deadly terrorist attack in the Jewish state carried out by Hamas, a Palestinian militant group in Gaza.Amid rising tensions, some student groups say they have received threats over their beliefs and academic discourse. Organized by UCLA Students for Justice in Palestine, a lecture called “Emergency Teach-in on the Crisis" wa...