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Drivers agree that Palou’s 74-point IndyCar lead isn’t insurmountable

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (AP) — Alex Palou isn’t taking anything for granted and his competitors aren’t conceding a thing.But someone’s going to have to make a heck of a charge in the second half of the season to prevent Palou from winning his second IndyCar Series championship in three years.Palou has won three of the last four IndyCar events and owns a 74-point lead over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson as the season approaches its midway point. That’s the biggest advantage anyone’s had eight races into the season since 2020, when Scott Dixon led the rest of the field by 117 points at this stage.“Yeah, I’m glad that we have those points in our camp and we don’t have to catch other people, but I’m not relaxed by the points gap at all because it’s IndyCar,” Palou said after winning Sunday at Road America. “If it was another series, yeah, maybe I would be a bit more relaxed. In IndyCar, you can’t.”The 2020 season provides evidence of that.Dixon seemed ready to breeze to the cha...

Reds’ streak leaves them on doorstep of first place in NL Central

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

Elly De La Cruz’s arrival gave fans in Cincinnati a reason to be hopeful about the future.Then the Reds started looking like they might be contenders — right now.It helps that they play in the NL Central, where everyone is one great week away from challenging for the division lead. And after eight straight victories, the Reds are only a half-game behind first-place Milwaukee. Cincinnati finished the week by sweeping a three-game series on the road against defending champion Houston. The Reds haven’t had a winning streak this long since 2012.Cincinnati is 10-2 since De La Cruz’s big league debut June 6. The 21-year-old shortstop already has six stolen bases to go with his .273 average. Jonathan India, the National League Rookie of the Year in 2021, has reached double figures in both homers and steals, giving the Reds an exciting young infield tandem.Although the mediocrity in the NL Central — where the top four teams are separated by only four games — is one reason ...

Stock market today: World follows Wall St lower as Chinese leader meets top US diplomat

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Global stock markets followed Wall Street lower Monday after the top U.S. diplomat met China’s leader but the two sides gave no sign of progress on an array of conflicts.London and Paris opened lower. Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong retreated. U.S. markets are closed Monday for a holiday. Oil prices fell.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.4% on Friday after the Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate steady but warned it might be raised later if needed to cool inflation.Xi Jinping met Secretary of State Antony Blinken after what the Chinese government said were “candid and in-depth” talks with foreign affairs officials at a time when relations are at their lowest point in decades. They indicated willingness to cooperate on major issues.“Whether that will lead to any actual positive outcomes still awaits to be seen,” said Yeap Jun Rong of IG in a report. “Any inaction on that front could still see any optimism fizzle out eventually.”In early t...

Dutch soccer player Quincy Promes convicted of stabbing nephew, sentenced to 18 months

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Netherlands forward Quincy Promes was found guilty Monday of stabbing his nephew in the leg and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.The Amsterdam District Court judges said the sentence for the offense would usually be a year but they gave Promes a longer sentence because “the suspect is a professional soccer player and Dutch celebrity, and therefore sets an example to others.”Promes was not in court for the verdict. He plays for Spartak Moscow in Russia.In a written summary of the verdict, the court did not identify the 31-year-old Promes by name, in line with Dutch privacy rules. But the case has been widely reported in Dutch media.Promes has scored seven goals in 50 international appearances for the Netherlands.He was convicted of stabbing his nephew in the knee at a family party in a town near Amsterdam in July 2020. Police learned of the incident because they were tapping Promes’ phone as part of an investigation into drug smuggling.At the time of ...

Denver weather: Monday could hit 90 degrees for first time this year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — With plenty of sunshine in the forecast for the Front Range on Monday, highs will climb into the upper 80s and possibly hit 90 degrees for the first time this year in the Denver weather forecast.Weather today: Heat returns Denver will enjoy mostly sunny skies to kick off the workweek. Winds could pick up a little in the afternoon as highs may reach 90 degrees for the first time this year. Hot weather expected to increase creek danger Pinpoint Weather: Daily forecast on June 19. An air quality alert is also in effect today until 4 p.m. with high ground ozone levels.Pinpoint Weather: Advisories on June 19. Weather tonight: Mainly clearSkies stay mostly clear overnight Monday with a few clouds passing through. Lows tonight will dip into the upper 50s with lighter winds.Pinpoint Weather: Overnight forecast on June 19. Looking ahead: Storm chances and mild conditionsTuesday is still going to be above average with temperatures in the middle 80s with partly to mostly sunn...

Archaeologists find a 3,000-year-old sword so well preserved it’s still gleaming

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

(CNN) — Archaeologists have found an octagonal sword dating from more than 3,000 years ago at a burial site in the state of Bavaria, southern Germany.The sword is so well preserved that it still gleams, according to a statement from the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.It was discovered last week at a site in Donau-Ries, and researchers believe it was left in the grave as a burial gift.The sword is thought to date to the end of the 14th century BCE, the Middle Bronze Age. A sword like this, with an octagonal handle made entirely from bronze, is a rare find, according to the statement.“The sword and the burial still have to be examined so that our archaeologists can classify this excavation more precisely,” said Professor Mathias Pfeil, Head of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.“The state of preservation is exceptional! A find like this is very rare,” he added.Researchers believe the sword was a real weapon. “The center of gravity in t...

Uruguay won’t melt huge bronze Nazi eagle into a dove, president says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

Uruguayan authorities walked back a plan to turn a 350-kilogram eagle statue found on a sunken Nazi warship into a dove to symbolize peace, Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou said Sunday after the idea was met with criticism within his own party.“There is an overwhelming majority that does not share this decision” to recast the statue, Lacalle Pou said at a press conference, according to local media.“If one wants to generate peace, the first thing one has to do is to generate unity, and clearly this has not been done,” the president added.The Uruguayan presidency initially announced on Friday that the bronze statue would be melted and recast into a dove by an Uruguayan artist — but critics within the president’s own party argue that destroying a historically significant piece is wrong, despite the Nazi links.“I do not understand the artist who accepts to destroy a piece like this to make something else,” said Aldo Lamorte, a member o...

Chicago baseball report: Starting pitching is giving White Sox and Cubs a glimmer of hope in substandard divisions

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

As difficult as this season has been for the Chicago White Sox and Cubs, a glimmer of hope exists as we near the midway point.Sox starters had compiled a major-league-best 2.59 ERA in June entering Sunday, while Cubs starters had the second-best National League ERA at 3.92.And because both teams play in substandard divisions, the teams with the best starting pitching figure to have a leg up on their divisional foes.Can they keep it up?That’s the question that will be answered in the coming weeks before the Aug. 1 trade deadline, when Sox general manager Rick Hahn and Cubs President Jed Hoyer will have big decisions to make on their teams’ futures.Every Monday throughout the season, Tribune baseball writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Cubs and Sox.Christopher Morel finding ‘his stride’This month marks the 25th anniversary of one of the most spectacular hitting displays in major-league history, when Cub...

Which player grabbed attention in OTAs? What does Justin Fields need to show in training camp? 4 key topics as the Chicago Bears head into their summer break.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus sent his team into its summer break with the message that players need to stick to their individual strength, conditioning and nutrition plans so their bodies are ready for training camp.After nine organized team activity practices, a team bonding event at the United Center and a three-day mandatory minicamp, the Bears have five weeks to regroup before preparation for the 2023 season kicks into high gear.As the Bears reset, the Tribune’s team of writers addressed four key topics surrounding the team.1. The player I noticed the most during OTAs and minicamp was _________.Brad Biggs: DJ Moore.It was impossible to miss the new wide receiver, and with him wearing jersey No. 2, the Bears are banking on a slew of big plays from 1 (Justin Fields) to 2. At times passing elements at practice had a purpose, and it was easy to tell the coaching staff was trying to facilitate the relationship on the field. Moore isn’t very tall — he’s li...

‘It was hell’: Hostage freed after years in Africa recounts ordeal and frustrations with US response

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:31:05 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Islamic extremists drove up to the American missionary’s home in Niger under the cover of evening, gunning down two guards who stood watch. Jeff Woodke recalls seeing the muzzle blasts and hearing the screams before being thrown into a pickup truck that then sped away.So began more than six years of captivity, a period in which he says he was beaten, locked in chains for hours a day and pressured repeatedly to convert to Islam and endured self-imposed hunger strikes. “It was hell,” said Woodke, 62, who was released in March. “I think the hardest part was knowing that my family, if they were alive, they were suffering too.” As time progressed, he said, he began to feel that “it’s better for me to be dead than continue putting them through suffering. And that feeling grew and grew and grew. The last year I was there, I was asking them to kill me.”But the ordeal, he and his wife say, was compounded by years of frustrating interactions with the U.S. gov...