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Xabi Alonso says he’s staying at Bayer Leverkusen, dismisses speculation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

LEVERKUSEN, Germany (AP) — Coach Xabi Alonso is concentrating on Bayer Leverkusen and has dismissed speculation linking him with some of Europe’s biggest clubs.The 41-year-old Alonso has enjoyed a successful start to his first senior coaching job after turning Leverkusen’s fortunes around and he said Wednesday he’s not finished yet.“I’m very happy with the team and the club. I’m not thinking at all about my future,” Alonso said before Thursday’s Europa League semifinal match against Roma. “I’m fully focused on what I want, and I’ve spoken with everyone who needs to know.”Asked if that meant he will be coaching Leverkusen next season, Alonso replied, “yes, that’s correct.”Alonso, whose contract with Leverkusen runs to 2024, had been linked with taking over from Carlo Ancelotti at his former club Real Madrid or at Premier League club Tottenham.Leverkusen was second from last in the Bundesliga when Alonso took over from the fired Gerardo Seoane last October. He has since led the team t...

Authorities capture second inmate who escaped from Philadelphia prison

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The second of two inmates who escaped from a Philadelphia prison earlier this month was captured Wednesday morning, authorities said.City police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said Ameen Hurst, 18, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in the city’s West Philadelphia section, but further details on the capture were not immediately disclosed.Hurst and Nasir Grant, 24, escaped from the Philadelphia Industrial Correction Center on May 7 by cutting a hole in a fence surrounding a recreation yard, the Philadelphia Department of Prisons has said. The two men were gone for nearly 19 hours before officials knew they were missing.Hurst had been charged with four counts of murder, while Grant was being held on conspiracy drug charges and conspiracy weapons charges. Officials have said the inmates were housed in the same unit, but different cells.Grant was arrested Thursday night after members of a fugitive task force who were conducting surveillance in an area of North Philade...

‘The Office’ star Rainn Wilson crisscrosses the globe in search of inner bliss for TV series

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Rainn Wilson wanted to find inner happiness. So he got on a plane. Many planes.The actor, who memorably played scheming, egotistical Dwight Schrute on “The Office” has crisscrossed the world to explore how people in different countries find their glee.The result is “Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss,” a new Peacock series that follows Wilson looking for some deep answers as he takes in a drag show in Thailand to getting in a boxing ring in Ghana. The show premieres Thursday, in time for Mental Health Awareness Month.“I wanted it to be a personal voyage of like, ‘Hey, can this make me happier? Can I share my journey? Can I share my story?’ But, at the same time, I wanted it to be something for everyone — you could feel like you’re going on that trip, too.”Armed with global data on happiness, Rainn visits countries both high and low in happiness, digging into philosophy and history and his own story. He quotes philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and scrubs elephants....

Sports on TV for Thursday, May 18

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

(All times Eastern)Schedule subject to change and/or blackoutsThursday, May 18AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL5:30 a.m. (Friday)FS2 — AFL: Melbourne at Port AdelaideCOLLEGE BASEBALL5 p.m.BTN — Maryland at Penn St.7 p.m.ACCN — Florida St. at LouisvilleFS1 — UConn at CreightonSECN — Arkansas at Vanderbilt8 p.m.BTN — Indiana at Michigan St.COLLEGE LACROSSE (WOMEN’S)12 p.m.ESPNU — NCAA Tournament: James Madison at Syracuse, Quarterfinal2:30 p.m.ESPNU — NCAA Tournament: Notre Dame at Boston College, Quarterfinal5 p.m.ESPNU — NCAA Tournament: Denver at North Carolina, Quarterfinal7:30 p.m.ESPNU — NCAA Tournament: Loyola (Md.) at Northwestern, QuarterfinalGOLF11 a.m.ESPN — PGA Tour: The PGA Championship, First Round, Oak Hill CC, Rochester, N.Y. (with Matty and the Caddie)1 p.m.ESPN — PGA Tour: The PGA Championship, First Round, Oak Hill CC, Rochester, N.Y.ESPN2 — PGA Tour: The PGA Championship, First Round, Oak Hill CC, Rochester, N.Y. (with Matty and the Caddie)HORSE RACING3 p.m.FS2 — NYRA: Ame...

In Steve McQueen’s 4-hour Cannes entry ‘Occupied City,’ Holocaust past meets Amsterdam present

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

CANNES, France (AP) — In Steve McQueen’s “Occupied City,” a young woman with an even voice narrates, with rigorous specificity, Nazi encounters and crimes throughout Amsterdam during World War II. The accounts go address by address, and so does McQueen’s camera.Yet the images that play throughout “Occupied City” are of modern day Amsterdam. In the roving, 4 hour-plus documentary made by McQueen, the “12 Years a Slave” director, with his partner, the Dutch documentarian and author Bianca Stigter, past and present are fused — or at least provocatively juxtaposed.The effect can be startling, stirring and confounding. An elderly woman shifts to country music in an apartment complex where, we’re told, a family was once arrested and sent to a concentration camp. A radio throbs with Bob Marley in a park where German officer once resided in the surrounding townhouses. A boy plays a virtual reality videogame where an execution took place.“It’s almost like once u...

Authorities capture second inmate who escaped from Philadelphia prison, had been held on charges of killing 4 people

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Authorities capture second inmate who escaped from Philadelphia prison, had been held on charges of killing 4 people.Source

British financier ordered by UAE high court to repay $1.7 billion bilked in tax fraud

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates’ highest court Tuesday ordered a British hedge fund trader convicted of orchestrating a $1.7 billion tax fraud to pay that amount to Denmark’s tax authority. Financier Sanjay Shah was convicted in a lower court of masterminding a scheme that ran from 2012 to 2015. Under it, foreign businesses pretended to own shares in Danish companies and claimed tax refunds for which they were not eligible. He was arrested in Dubai last year. Shah and his lawyers declined to comment on Tuesday’s ruling.The Court of Cassation also ordered Shah and several foreign businesses implicated in the scheme to pay 5% interest on the $1.7 billion accrued from when the case was first filed in August 2018.“This conclusive ruling after a nearly five-year pursuit of justice underscores the serious and uncompromising stance of the UAE authorities against financial misconduct,” said OGH Legal in Dubai, a law firm acting on behalf of Dani...

Erdogan says Russia agrees to extend deal that allows Ukraine to ship grain through Black Sea in win for food security

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Erdogan says Russia agrees to extend deal that allows Ukraine to ship grain through Black Sea in win for food security.Source

Stock market today: Wall Street ticks higher with hopes US may avoid default

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is drifting higher Wednesday, though it remains stuck in the tight range where it’s been for a month and a half.The S&P 500 was 0.4% higher in early trading, on pace for a seventh straight week where it moves by less than 1%. That would be its longest such streak since 2018. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 133 points, or 0.4%, at 33,145, as of 9:45 a.m. Eastern time, while the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.Markets got some lift from hopes that the U.S. government may avoid a first-ever default on its debt. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said late Tuesday that Democrats and Republicans could reach a deal by the end of the week, though the two sides remain far apart.They’re staring down a June 1 deadline, which is when the U.S. government could default on its debt unless Congress allows it to borrow more. A default could rock the financial system because Treasurys are assumed to be the safest possible investment on Earth, and economists say it ...

Is it illegal to pick columbines in Colorado?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 22:00:50 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — While heading out on a spring hike, you might come across the beautiful white and lavender flower that has been designated as Colorado's state flower. But be warned, columbines are only meant to be admired because it is illegal to pick them.The Aquilegia caerulea, more commonly known as the Colorado blue columbine or the Rocky Mountain columbine, was adopted as the state flower on April 14, 1899.According to the Colorado General Assembly, a statewide contest asked schoolchildren across Colorado to pick the state flower, and the columbine won with more than 14,000 votes.Typically, columbines bloom from May to July and can be spotted all over the state. But did you know it is actually unlawful to pick a columbine? New to Colorado? 20 facts you should know According to the Colorado General Assembly, it is the duty of Colorado citizens to protect the state flower from needless destruction or waste. In 1925, a state law was created to prohibit the uprooting of the flowe...