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Raptors win sixth straight at home, beat Thunder 128-111

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

TORONTO (AP) — Pascal Siakam had 25 points and 14 rebounds to help the Toronto Raptors beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 128-111 on Thursday night, extending their season-high home winning streak to six.Jakob Poeltl had his third straight double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Raptors. Gary Trent Jr. added 23 points and Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes each had 19.O.G. Anunoby scored 17 points for Toronto as all five Raptors starters reached double figures, and a season-high six scored 15 or more.“There was a lot of good, good stuff there,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said of his team’s balanced attack. “I really liked our transition offence tonight.”The Raptors outscored Oklahoma City 23-6 on fast-break points.“Toronto was on brand tonight,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought they were the aggressor. A lot of the fast breaks in the first half were off of our turnovers, which we know they’re obviously really capable of.”Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points an...

Pakistan court rejects ex-PM Khan’s plea to suspend warrant

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court on Thursday rejected a petition from former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s lawyers to suspend a warrant for him to appear in court in a graft case linked to his term in office — a development that increases the likelihood of another police attempt to arrest the ousted premier.Khan has been holed up in his home in the eastern city of Lahore, where clashes erupted earlier this week when police tried to detain him after he failed to show up at an earlier cour hearing in the case. Khan, who was ousted from office last April, is facing charges in several legal cases, including the graft case, and also terrorism, over verbally threatening a female judge last year. He is now due to appear in court in the capital, Islamabad, on Saturday to answer the indictment that he had illegally sold state gifts as prime minister and concealed assets. Judge Zafar Iqbal ruled against suspending the warrant after hearing arguments from Khan’s lawyer Khawaja Haris and...

Hong Kong’s Mirror launches English song, revives Cantopop

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s most popular boy band Mirror, a major driving force behind the revival of the local pop music scene, launched its first English song on Friday, hoping to bring the city’s tunes to music lovers globally.The 12-member group is part of a new wave of local singers being embraced by Hong Kongers at a time when the city has been beset by the COVID-19 pandemic and political challenges over the past three years. Their music has birthed a new generation of fans who have found hope and comfort in the songs at an uncertain time. Its new single “Rumours” is somewhat “sexy” and “sensual” and accompanied by wavy dance moves, a stark contrast to the group’s previous powerful dance songs and funky music, its members said in an interview with The Associated Press on Sunday. Unlike their earlier Cantonese hits that conveyed an image of “a bunch of kids” and their energetic side, the new track shows they have become men, member Ian Chan said. “We are not ...

Pacers rally late, beat Eastern Conference-leading Bucks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points and Aaron Nesmith hit six 3-pointers and finished with 22 points as the Indiana Pacers rallied late and beat the Central Division- and Eastern Conference-leading Milwaukee Bucks 139-123 Thursday night.With Nesmith leading the way, Indiana (32-38) shot 20 for 41 from 3-point distance, including 11 of 14 in the second half, and shot 56.5% overall. Meanwhile, Milwaukee (50-20) shot 52.8%, went 11 for 32 from beyond the arc and gave up 13 points off 12 turnovers.Giannis Antetokounmpo led the Bucks with 25 points. Jrue Holiday added 19 and Khris Middleton finished with 16 for Milwaukee.Indiana, which was playing without injured leading scorer and All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton (ankle), had seven players score in double-figures. Buddy Hield scored and T.J. McConnell 19.The Bucks hit 18 of their first 29 shots, including 4 of 9 from 3-point distance to take a 40-30 lead after one period. The Bucks missed five of their first six shot...

Panthers have 7-goal 1st period in 9-5 win over Canadiens

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe scored twice in Florida’s franchise-record, seven-goal first period and the Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens 9-5 on Thursday night.Florida scored six goals in the second period against Boston on April 5, 2000. Against Montreal, the Panthers came just shy of tying the franchise record for goals in a game set in 1997, going scoreless in the third period.The teams combined for 10 first-period goals to tie the NHL record for goals in a first period. It also was the fastest first 10 goals in an NHL game, with Florida getting the 10th goal at 13:18.Aaron Ekblad also scored twice for Florida, helping the Panthers pull within three points of the final wild-card spot. They are 4-0-1 in their last five.Ekblad, Colin White, Gustav Forsling, Ryan Lomberg and Sam Reinhart also scored for Florida as the Panthers led 7-3 after one. Florida padded its lead with goals from Ekblad and Matthew Tkachuk in the second period.Sergei Bobrovsky made 24 saves for Flo...

Avalanche hold off Senators 5-4 for 4th straight victory

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, Lars Eller scored a strange deciding goal and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 on Thursday night for their fourth straight victory.Colorado defenseman Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, and Lars Eller, Valeri Nichushkin and Evan Rodrigues also scored. Nathan MacKinnon had three assists, and Jonas Johansson stopped 31 shots.Nathan MacKinnonDrake Batherson, Shane Pinto, Travis Hamonic and Brady Tkachuk scored for Ottawa, Tim Stutzle had three assists and Mads Sogaard made 25 saves. The Senators have lost four in a row.The Avalanche scored three times in the second period, including Eller’s odd goal, to take a 5-2 lead.After Rantanen gave the Avalanche a 3-1 lead at 4:23, Pinto drew the Senators back within a goal eight minutes into the period. Rodrigues gave the Avalanche a 4-2 lead with 4:43 to go, and then the weirdness happened.On what the Senators appeared to think was icing against the Av...

Northwestern beats Boise State 75-67 in March Madness

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Boo Buie scored 22 points to lead Northwestern to a win in the school’s second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament, 75-67 over Boise State on Thursday.The seventh-seeded Wildcats (22-11) previously made it to the Big Dance in 2017, and just like that time, they made sure they wouldn’t be one-and-done.“All joy. No relief. It’s really hard to get here, especially when you play in the Big Ten,” coach Chris Collins said. “When you get to this point now, it’s so rewarding and so joyful as a coach to see these guys celebrating and to be on the big stage like that playing well, finding a way to win and advance in the NCAA Tournament.”Northwestern never trailed in a game that was close most of the way and advanced to play either UCLA or UNC Asheville in the second round of the West Region.The 10th-seeded Broncos (24-10) are still searching for their first tournament win, losing their opener for the ninth time in as many tries. Max Rice scored 17 poin...

Advertising sales staff eliminated at Kingston Whig-Standard

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

Advertising sales departments at the Kingston Whig-Standard and several Northern Ontario newspapers have been eliminated, according to new reports. The latest round of cuts at Postmedia “eliminates sales staff entirely at the Kingston Whig-Standard, North Bay Nugget, the Star in Sault Ste Marie and the Sudbury Star,” the Canadian website of the Communications Workers of America (CWA Canada) said last week.The staffing cuts come a few weeks after Postmedia announced that it would lay off 11% of its editorial staff on January 24th. Less than a week after that announcement, Postmedia announced that it would sell off the Windsor Star office and printing plant. Going forward, postmedia says it will be focusing on three “key growth areas” including digital advertising, digital subscriptions and parcel services.“Transformation initiatives for the year ahead include a combination of streamlining resources, product mix rationalization, outsourcing where possible a...

Xylazine, the 'zombie drug,' infiltrating street supply

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Experts say a pharmaceutical drug infiltrating the street supply could prompt a public health crisis, as it can lead to deadly results like fentanyl.It’s called xylazine. Known by its street name, "tranq," the so-called "zombie drug" is hitting other parts of the country hard in overdose deaths. Scientists create mice with cells from 2 males for 1st time It's a veterinary tranquilizer with the same sedative effects as opioids. It’s cheap like fentanyl, so it’s being used to cut a lot of other drugs, most of the time without the consumer knowing at all.'Tranq' has negative effects on humansSam Bourdon is the Harm Reduction Grant Fund manager for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and explained why it's known as the "zombie drug.""It causes sleepiness, relaxation, pain relief. However, there are some really negative effects in human consumption. That big one that you may have heard about being the skin ulcers, lesions, wounds that really come to...

6-year-old Ukrainian girl recovering after missile strike moves into South Florida home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:48:25 GMT

A 6-year-old girl on the road to recovery after she survived a missile strike in Ukraine has taken another major step forward in her journey: she and her family have moved to their new home in South Florida.7News cameras on Friday captured Alisa Kulvhynska and her parents as they addressed reporters.“Thank you,” she said.It has been months since the young survivor lost her home in Ukraine.“This family has been going through such a tragic situation,” said Soraya Rivera-Moya with the Ronald McDonald HouseAlisa and her family were brought to South Florida after a missile destroyed their home in Kherson, Ukraine, on Dec. 23.The strike left Alisa with life-threatening injuries.“Too hard for me, because my daughter was wounded in this war,” said her father,.“This is what a war crime looks like. There have been 70,000 war crimes reported to date,” said Andrew Duncan with the Romulus T. Weatherman Foundation.Alisa and her family were brought to the U.S. by the Romulus T. W...