Afghanistan wins toss and opts to field against New Zealand in Cricket World Cup

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

Afghanistan wins toss and opts to field against New Zealand in Cricket World Cup CHENNAI, India (AP) — Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won his second toss in four games and opted to bowl first against New Zealand at the Cricket World Cup on Wednesday.New Zealand, the runner-up in 2019, and India are the only unbeaten sides in the tournament.The Black Caps are second behind India in the standings. Both teams have six points from three games, with India leading on net run-rate. New Zealand has beaten England, Netherlands and Bangladesh.Skipper Kane Williamson is again unavailable, this time owing to a thumb injury sustained during the match with Bangladesh, and is replaced by Will Young. Leg-spinner Ish Sodhi misses out for a fourth successive game.Afghanistan is coming off a stunning 69-run win over England in one of the biggest shocks in the tournament’s history. The victory lifted the team to sixth in the standings with two points from three games. Afghanistan is unchanged and again the focus will be on its trio of spinners – Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rah...

Indonesia’s ruling party picks top security minister to run for VP in next year’s election

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

Indonesia’s ruling party picks top security minister to run for VP in next year’s election JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s ruling party on Wednesday named the nation’s top security minister as the running mate to the party’s presidential candidate in next year’s election in Southeast Asia’s largest democracy.Muhammad Mahfud will be seeking the vice presidency alongside the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle presidential hopeful Ganjar Pranowo, former Central Java governor.The announcement by PDIP chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri was attended by three leaders of PDIP’s partner parties for the February election and sets up a potential three-way race, with Pranowo expected to face former Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan and Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto.Baswedan choose his running mate as Muhaimin Iskandar, the chairman of National Awakening Party, which has strong ties to the country’s largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, which boasts over 45 million members.PDIP’s pick is considered by many as a move aimed at boosting Pranowo’s popularity in the w...

Biden arrives in Israel on mission to contain Israeli-Hamas war and encourage delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

Biden arrives in Israel on mission to contain Israeli-Hamas war and encourage delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Biden arrives in Israel on mission to contain Israeli-Hamas war and encourage delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.Source

Biden on Gaza hospital strike: Looks like the ‘other team’ did it

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

Biden on Gaza hospital strike: Looks like the ‘other team’ did it U.S. President Joe Biden landed Wednesday in Israel and told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the attack on the al-Ahli hospital in Gaza which killed hundreds on Tuesday night appears to have been committed by the “other team, not you.”“Based on what I have seen, it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden said. “But there’s a lot of people out there who are not sure. So we’ve got to overcome a lot of things.”Biden said that “he’s deeply saddened and outraged by the incident,” adding “the U.S. will continue to support Israel.” He did not provide evidence for his remark that the deadly explosion might have been caused by Palestinian militants. “I’m looking forward to having a discussion about what happens from here,” Biden told Netanyahu, as Israel continues its war on Palestinian militant group Hamas. This story is being updated.

Biden says hospital blast in Gaza ‘appears as though it was done by the other team’ and not Israel

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

Biden says hospital blast in Gaza ‘appears as though it was done by the other team’ and not Israel TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — President Joe Biden opened his visit to Israel on Wednesday vowing to show the world that the U.S. stands in solidarity with the Jewish people and offering an assessment that the deadly explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital appeared to have been carried out “by the other team” and not the Israeli military.“Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you,” Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting, referring to Hamas militants. But Biden said there were “a lot of people out there” who weren’t sure what caused the blast.The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike caused the destruction and hundreds of deaths. The Israeli military denied involvement and blamed a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group. However, that organization also rejected responsibility.Biden had been scheduled to visit Jordan after the stop in Israel, but meetings the...

OBF: Apathy – and empty seats – await these struggling Patriots

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

OBF: Apathy – and empty seats – await these struggling Patriots Robert Kraft opened Gillette Stadium in 2002.His Patriots have never played a home game at The Razor with fans in attendance after the team has been eliminated from the playoffs.Never.That run ends this season.Of all the negative superlatives achieved by the current version of Belichick & Sons, this one is perhaps the most sobering.It demonstrates the success this team (not to mention Tom Brady, whose streak continued in Tampa Bay) enjoyed in the 21st century. And it offers a blinding 500-megawatt beacon of reality about the current squad emanating from the new lighthouse.It took the Kraft Family nearly 30 years of team ownership, but their Patriots have finally turned the Red Sox triple play:Unwatchable.(They are the only team in the NFL yet to score more than 20 points in a game.)Unlikable.(See DeVante “Fingertips” Parker and Mac “Nut Tap” Jones.)Unable to win.(The Patriots went 39 drives without a touchdown before Sunday, a run that consumed 197:42 of game time.)Their goodwil...

Howie Carr: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s cautionary tale

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

Howie Carr: Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s cautionary tale Now the Democrats want to import hundreds of thousands of radical pro-terrorist, American-hating Nazi Muslims from the Mideast and let them flop here on welfare here forever?What could possibly go wrong?Dzhokhar Tsarnaev could not be reached for comment.Why should the United States absorb still more of these people? Even if they aren’t planning to fly commercial airliners into our skyscrapers and murder thousands of us as they did on 9/11, they are still extremely unlikely to ever be successfully assimilated into any civilized society?If these particular Arabs are so wonderful, why is their Nazi-run regime in Gaza such a basket case? Hamas has ruled the bleephole since 2005 and yet they still totally rely on Israel for water, food, power, medicine – everything, in other words.These Arabs are living on international charity, and yet they still rape and murder the very people they leech off.Why is that Egypt and Jordan, the two countries that know their fellow Muslim Arabs better than...

The German chancellor condemns a firebomb attack on a Berlin synagogue and vows protection for Jews

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

The German chancellor condemns a firebomb attack on a Berlin synagogue and vows protection for Jews BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz strongly condemned a firebomb assault on a synagogue in Berlin on Wednesday, saying “we will never accept when attacks are carried out against Jewish institutions.”Assailants threw two Molotov cocktails early Wednesday at the synagogue in the center of the German capital, police said, as antisemitic incidents in the country have been rising following the violent escalation in the Middle East.“Unknown persons threw two Molotov cocktails from the street,” the Kahal Adass Jisroel community wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Dozens of police officers were investigating in front of the synagogue in the city’s Mitte neighborhood, and the entire street next to the building was cordoned off and blocked for traffic.Police said they were investigating “an attempted serious arson” in which two people approached the synagogue by foot at 3:45 a.m. and threw two Molotov cocktails, which burst on the sidewalk next to the building. The two people, their faces ...

Biden meets with Israeli leaders as tensions grow after hospital blast in Gaza

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

Biden meets with Israeli leaders as tensions grow after hospital blast in Gaza President Joe Biden is in Israel on an urgent mission to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spiraling into a broader regional conflict and to encourage the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.The president’s visit on Wednesday comes after hundreds of people were reported killed in an explosion at a Gaza Strip hospital a day earlier. The Hamas militant group blamed the blast on an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military blamed a rocket misfired by other Palestinian militants. Biden told Israeli leaders: “Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you.”The war that began Oct. 7 has become the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides. The Gaza Health Ministry said 2,778 Palestinians have been killed and 9,700 wounded. That was before the blast at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital hospital on Tuesday night.Another 1,200 people across Gaza are believed to be buried under the rubble, alive or dead. More than 1,400 people in Israel...

Cohoes boys soccer scores twice in final three minutes, stunning La Salle to advance in sectionals

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:34:45 GMT

Cohoes boys soccer scores twice in final three minutes, stunning La Salle to advance in sectionals TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- With less than three minutes remaining in its' first-round sectional matchup with Cohoes Tuesday night, La Salle maintained a one-goal lead, and appeared on pace to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Class A boys soccer playoffs. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! But with its' season hanging in the balance, Cohoes snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, scoring two goals in a two-minute span to shock the Cadets with a 3-2 win, securing a date with top-seeded Ichabod Crane Monday night."We just don't quit; we train this way," said Cohoes head coach Nick Izzo. "We work hard all the time in practice, and you could just tell how resilient (the guys) are. The hard work throughout the year...you could tell in that last 10 minutes we had a lot of gas left in the tank. It worked; it got us the "W." Survive and advance this time of year."Eighth-seeded La Salle, a semi-finalist in last year's Class A tournam...