A sign marks the entrance to a series of hardened tents at the Camp East Montana immigrant detention center in the desert at a U.S. Army base on the outskirts of El Paso, Texas, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)2026-06-09T19:39:52Z WASHINGTON (AP) — Mismanagement at a massive Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Texas created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering even as millions of wasted tax dollars enriched contractors, according to a federal report released Tuesday.The Government Accountability Office report documents serious problems at Camp East Montana, a sprawling tent facility at Fort Bliss in El Paso where three detainees have died in little more than six months. Evidence in one of those deaths, of a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who died in January after being held down by guards, was “missing or destroyed,” the report found.ICE rushed to open the camp in August before construction was complete and failed to conduct required oversight to ensure detainees were held in sanitary conditions and receiving adequate medical care, according to the report. The Department of Homeland Security noted that ICE has replaced the contractor running the facility. “This new contractor will allow Camp East Montana to continue abiding by the highest detention standards with the ability to provide more medical care on-site,” said DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis. The GAO’s findings echo past reporting by The Associated Press and other news outlets about dangerous conditions at Camp East Montana, which quickly became the nation’s largest immigration detention facility. Read More But the government report also details previously undisclosed incidents, including that a detainee escaped in October due to what ICE called the contractor’s oversight failure. In January, a security guard lost a loaded firearm inside the facility that was never recovered.The contractor failed to administer skin tests to screen detainees for tuberculosis, relying on a questionnaire instead, the report said. The inadequate screening allowed a detainee with tuberculosis to be housed with the general population, which later suffered an outbreak. GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency in Congress that investigates how federal funds are spent and evaluates whether programs and policies are operating effectively. The office opened its review into Camp East Montana at the request of Democrats in the House and Senate. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois called the report’s findings “damning.”“We now know even more details of how dangerous and irresponsible the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign truly is,” said Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, adding that “those detained are experiencing conditions that shock the conscience.” A rush to build led to an inexperienced contractorFacing pressure to increase its detention capacity, the Trump administration routed the contract to build Camp East Montana through the Army to speed construction after ICE twice failed to successfully award one. That resulted in selecting a small, little-known contractor, Acquisition Logistics, for the $1.3 billion deal despite it having no prior experience operating detention facilities and facing what ICE called a “significant learning curve.”The Army — and later ICE after the camp was transferred to the agency — wasted millions of dollars paying for services it did not need because the contract did not account for fluctuations in the detainee population, the report said.The Army blew up to $11.5 million paying for guards, medical services, transportation and meals in the weeks before the camp held detainees. The agencies wasted millions more because it was contracted to pay the cost of meals for the camp’s maximum population of 5,000, even when the number of detainees there dropped to around 1,600, the report said. Facility didn’t initially meet detention standardsThe facility did not meet ICE detention standards or the contract’s requirements in several ways when it opened, in part because it had not been inspected as required by ICE policy, the report said. The camp lacked security cameras on the perimeter and had other surveillance blind spots that raised the risk of sexual assaults or escapes.The camp could not accommodate detainees using wheelchairs and had no showers compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, resulting in the disabled being held in medical care rooms.The recreation area wasn’t available for several days, and after one yard was opened, it wasn’t enough space to provide required time for detainees. The law library, space to meet with attorneys and a visitation area did not open for weeks, resulting in detainees being deprived of legal resources and contact with family and friends, the report found.The problems persisted as ICE began transporting more detainees there from across the country, the GAO found. While built to house up to 5,000 immigrants for short-term stays, its population has averaged about half of that from October until April, according to ICE’s most recent data. Missing evidence and other problemsDetainees held at the facility didn’t receive comprehensive health assessments, which meant that those with chronic conditions received substandard care, the report said.The contractor cleaned the dormitories weekly rather than daily as required, resulting in unsanitary conditions. Some guards offered detainees cookies if they would clean their own rooms. Acquisition Logistics didn’t reply to messages seeking comment.The GAO report says investigations into the January death of Geraldo Lunas Campos were undermined after “evidence associated with the incident was missing or destroyed.” It did not elaborate. Campos died after he was restrained by guards and an outside autopsy report ruled the death a homicide due to asphyxia. The contractor at the facility did not provide use-of-force and death reports to ICE as required, according to the new report.An investigation by ICE’s Office of Professional Responsibility into the death is on hold pending a criminal investigation by the FBI.On Jan. 14, Nicaraguan detainee Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, died of suicide after staff put him in a medical holding room instead of suicide-resistant cell and left him unattended for intervals longer than 15 minutes, the report said. Staff could not see into the room because the contractor had failed to install vision panels that had been requested months earlier, it found.“These are huge discrepancies in their failure to prevent suicides,” said Diaz family attorney Randall Kallinen, noting that the report strengthens a potential wrongful death claim he’s considering. “They are part of an entire laundry list of problems at Camp East Montana.”___Foley reported from Iowa City, Iowa. MICHAEL BIESECKER Biesecker is a global investigative reporter for The Associated Press, based in Washington. He reports on a wide range of topics, including human conflict, climate change and political corruption. twitter instagram mailto RYAN J. FOLEY Foley covers national news for The Associated Press and is based in Iowa City, Iowa. A 21-year AP veteran, he was part of the AP team honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting for the 2024 series, “Lethal Restraint.” twitter mailto 获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site

Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Cuba Lianys Torres Rivera, speaks with The Associated Press at the mission in Washington, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)2026-06-09T20:04:49Z WASHINGTON (AP) — Recent U.S. sanctions targeting Cuba’s leadership and the indictment of former President Raúl Castro are a “pretext” for the Trump administration to persuade the American people to support a military intervention, Cuba’s top diplomat to the United States told The Associated Press.In an interview on Tuesday, Ambassador Lianys Torres Rivera repeated accusations against the Trump administration made by other Cuban officials, including the foreign minister and the president, and complained bitterly that the U.S. is targeting Cuban civilians with its decades-old embargo and new blockade of energy shipments to the island.“The sanctions against our leaders, we see as a pretext to make the American people think we are a threat,” she said at Cuba’s embassy in Washington. “We are not a threat to the U.S., and we don’t want confrontation.” Torres Rivera, who holds the formal title of chargé d’affaires, described the situation as “a war without bombs.” She said efforts to change Cuba’s government by coercion or force would be met by fierce resistance.“Raúl is sacred,” she said of the indictment by a federal grand jury last month of Castro. The 95-year-old former president faces conspiracy and murder charges related to the 1996 shootdown of two unarmed civilian planes operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue while he was serving as Cuba’s defense minister. “Raúl is a sacred symbol of the revolution, and we will defend Raúl — as we will the country — until the end,” Torres Rivera said. “If we are attacked, we are going to respond, and we are prepared for that. But we don’t want it.” Read More Her comments reflect a belief among many Cubans and Cuba analysts that the charges against Castro and the sanctions imposed on others in the socialist government’s leadership are similar to those the Trump administration touted as a reason for the military intervention in Venezuela in January that deposed then-President Nicolás Maduro. On Thursday, the same day the U.S. Treasury Department leveled sanctions on Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Castro’s son and grandson, along with others, U.S. President Donald Trump said of Cuba: “We’re going to handle that as soon as we’ve finished” military operations in Iran. Trump has been threatening military action in Cuba ever since ousting Maduro and then ordering an energy blockade that choked off fuel shipments to Cuba. That has led to severe blackouts, food shortages and an economic collapse across the island.Torres Rivera said the moves by the Trump administration to tighten the screws on Cuba’s already faltering economy have resulted in untold misery for ordinary Cubans who are struggling to survive with power cuts of up to 20 hours a day and exorbitant costs for gasoline, kerosene and everyday goods, including food and medicine.“What is happening now is tough,” she said. “It is heartbreaking.”Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other administration officials have repeatedly denied that Cuba’s economic strife is America’s fault and repeatedly cast the blame on the Cuban government’s socialist policies. They have not ruled out military action against the island but have said they are willing to give Cuban authorities time to make reforms. Torres Rivera said that recent discussions between senior U.S. and Cuban officials in Havana and elsewhere have been “professional and respectful.” But she said that Cuba is not willing to change unless reforms are made from within and not under duress.A former Cuban ambassador to Vietnam, another socialist country with which Cuba has long-standing ties, she noted that Washington and Hanoi have forged a positive relationship over the past four decades, but only because the Vietnamese enacted reforms at their own pace. The same should be permitted for Cuba, she said.“We want to make sure that the only changes to the system are done by us,” she said.Rubio, however, has said Cuba poses a serious national security threat to America because of its security and intelligence ties with China and Russia and friendly relations with U.S. foes in Latin America.“I really don’t believe this system is capable of reform unless new people take over or a new mindset takes hold,” he told lawmakers at a congressional hearing last week.The State Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the Cuban ambassador’s comments.

A person walks around announcing the guilty verdict in the Karmelo Anthony trial in front of the Collin County courthouse, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)2026-06-09T04:03:23Z MCKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A Texas teenager who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old track athlete from a rival team during a high school meet was convicted of murder Tuesday and sentenced to 35 years in prison in a trial that drew attention far beyond the booming Dallas suburb where they were students. A jury rejected Karmelo Anthony’s claims of self-defense during a confrontation with Austin Metcalf in stadium bleachers last year. Most people who testified were students who described a heated exchange over Anthony’s refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf’s team.Anthony, now 19, did not testify at trial and only his mother took the stand during the sentencing phase, telling jurors her son was sorry and asking for their mercy. Notoriety about the case spread, in part, because of a flood of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors that the tragedy had nothing to do with race. Jurors, who deliberated for less than three hours, had the option of a lesser charge, manslaughter, but didn’t choose it. Prosecutor Bill Wirskye had asked for a lengthy prison term.“Mercy to the guilty,” he said, “is cruelty to the innocent.”Earlier Tuesday, during the trial’s closing arguments, the jury heard dueling narratives from Wirskye and defense attorney Mike Howard about what happened in April 2025. Read More Several schools were competing when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.Howard told jurors that Metcalf had “no legal right to put his hands on Karmelo.”“Texas law does not require that you wait until you get hit,” Howard said. “In that split second of chaos, you must put yourself in his shoes.” During the nearly weeklong trial, prosecutors said that Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses have testified that Anthony was the aggressor. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. “This is not self-defense, folks. It’s murder plain and simple,” Wirskye said.Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest. The teens, both from Frisco, didn’t know each other.“You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove,” Wirskye said.The prosecutor also made a broader pitch to the jury: “Ultimately, this case is about accountability. What kind of community do you want to live in.”The trial drew lines of spectators hoping to find seats in the gallery and unfolded amid heavy security at the Collin County courthouse. As police officers watched Tuesday, dozens of people stood outside the courthouse in 90 degree Fahrenheit heat (32 degrees Celsius) to await the verdict. There were wails of grief from one woman — “This isn’t real!” — when the result became known. Frisco is one of Texas’ fastest-growing cities and is dotted with dozens of modern school campuses and gleaming athletic facilities. The parents of Anthony and Metcalf have said they were good students who planned to go to college. Several students testified that Metcalf, after ordering Anthony to leave his team’s tent, scoffed before Anthony reached into a bag and pulled out a knife. One teen recalled Metcalf telling Anthony, “You don’t have anything in that backpack. It’s Frisco.” ____Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.

Protesters gather outside the Capitol in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, June 8, 2026, to oppose an upcoming execution in Alabama. (AP Photo/Kim Chandler)2026-06-09T22:17:58Z MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday permanently blocked Alabama from executing an inmate with nitrogen gas after declaring it violates the ban on cruel and unusual punishment.U.S. District Judge Emily Marks issued the ruling hours after an appeals court reversed her initial finding that the method was constitutional. Marks permanently enjoined the state from executing Jeffrey Lee, 49, by nitrogen gas. He was scheduled to be executed Thursday. The decision, for now, blocks the use of the controversial new execution method that the state has championed since 2024, but the issue will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. A spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said the state is reviewing the decision and considering next steps, including an appeal. A spokeswoman for Lee’s legal team said they did not have an immediate comment. Death penalty opponents and critics of the nitrogen method welcomed the decision. “The truth is finally free. Two federal courts have now called nitrogen executions what they are...completely unnecessary,” the Rev. Jeff Hood said.Hood was a spiritual advisor at two nitrogen executions. “Indeed, I pray that we are witnessing the collapse of this horrific method nationwide,” Hood added.In her 26-page ruling, Marks said litigation is a constant in death penalty cases.“Were Alabama to adopt firing squad as a method of execution, that method would likely be challenged as well. Indeed, there is likely no method — no matter how humane — that would be immune to constitutional challenge. But the Constitution does not guarantee a painless death, and human life cannot be purposefully extinguished without some risk of pain. The Court, the condemned, and the State must all confront that sobering reality,” Marks wrote. Read More Marks noted that the state has two other authorized execution methods, lethal injection and the electric chair. She said Lee is “not entitled to an injunction barring the State from executing him using one of those methods.” Marks also ruled that the state could switch to Lee’s preferred method, a firing squad. Inmates challenging execution methods are required to suggest an alternative method. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. “The State can readily obtain rifles, ammunition, and other materials necessary to carry out a firing squad execution. Additionally, the State would be able to modify space at Holman to carry out executions by firing squad. The State is also able to source and train volunteers willing to carry out such an execution,” Marks wrote.Lee is currently housed at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. He was convicted of two counts of capital murder for killing Jimmy Ellis and Elaine Thompson while robbing a pawnshop on Dec. 12, 1998. Prosecutors said Lee entered Jimmy’s Pawnshop with a sawed-off shotgun and shot Ellis, the owner of the store, and Thompson, a store employee.A jury voted 7-5 that Lee should receive a sentence of life imprisonment. However, a judge overrode that recommendation and sentenced Lee to death. Alabama in 2017 ended the practice of judicial override and no longer allows a judge to disregard a jury’s sentencing decision in death penalty cases.

Mr. Graham, a four-term incumbent senator, is the favorite to win the general election in a solidly Republican state.

CHICAGO (AP) — Angel Reese had 17 points and 17 rebounds in the first regular-season matchup against her former team, Rhyne Howard also scored 17 points, and the Atlanta Dream beat the Chicago Sky 82-75 on Tuesday night.Reese, who returned to Chicago where she was drafted No. 7 overall in 2024, secured her eighth double-double of the season with six minutes left in the third quarter. Her 57 career double-doubles are the most through 75 games in WNBA history. Howard eclipsed 2,500 career points and became the youngest player in WNBA history to record 2,500 points, 500 rebounds, 500 assists, 200 steals and 100 blocks.Naz Hillmon finished with 16 points and Allisha Gray, who was held to two points in the first half, added 14 for Atlanta (8-3). Jordin Canada also scored 14 points. Natasha Cloud scored 18 points off the bench for Chicago (4-8). Skylar Diggins added 17 points and Kamilla Cardoso had 13. Cloud sank a long jumper with 3.5 seconds left in the third to give Chicago a 58-57 lead. She also began the fourth quarter scoring with a 3-pointer for a four-point lead.Hillmon made a layup, off a nice pass from Reese, to give Atlanta a 73-70 lead and she added a 3-pointer on the next possession for a six-point advantage. Reese made it 80-70 with 56.1 left following a 9-0 run. Up nextAtlanta returns home to play New York on Thursday. Chicago plays at Indiana on Thursday. ___AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Dana White is committed to following through with Sunday’s historic UFC Freedom 250 card at the U.S. White House, come hell or high water. Literally.For the UFC CEO, the culmination of more than a year of planning and preparation is set to come to fruition this weekend when the UFC stages a polarizing seven-fight card on the South Lawn of the White House grounds in Washington, D.C. In the lead-up to the event, White has faced a myriad of potential hurdles, from everything to the construction of the makeshift structure itself — dubbed the UFC’s “Claw” — to the inherent challenges that arise from running an outdoor event.In regards to the latter topic, two specific points of contention have been at the top of White’s mind: The potential for either bugs or bad weather to spoil the festivities.While the weather reports for the U.S. capital are currently predicting favorable conditions Sunday night around the event’s 8 p.m. ET start time, there remains an outside chance of rain — anywhere from 8% to 25% currently, depending on your forecast of choice. White, however, is determined to press on even in the worst conditions.Speaking to reporters Tuesday, the UFC boss was asked whether he’s been religiously checking the weather reports for Sunday:“Not at all. [Craig] Borsari’s all over that — Borsari, my head of production, is like the most OCD guy on the planet and we’re getting [news], we’re going to good on Sunday.“I mean, if you read the internet the f***ing whole show is getting shut down on Sunday. But I don’t care if it snows, rains, whatever, we’re going — and even lightning. You guys all played sports when you were growing up — whenever there was lightning, you’d sit the lightning out, and then when it was over, you played. That’s what we’ll do. And if there would be lightning, we’d know it days before, and then we would work around it.”White isn’t the person involved in the event to have the weather on his mind this week.Multiple fighters on the card have speculated about the outdoors conditions in the lead-up to the event. Included among them is featherweight contender Steve Garcia, who opens Sunday’s seven-fight lineup with his showdown against Diego Lopes.Garcia spoke about his past experiences fighting outdoors on “The Ariel Helwani Show”."I've fought outdoors twice,” Garcia told Uncrowned on Monday’s show. "The first one was at night, so I dealt with the bugs and all that. All the lights in the back had to get shifted forward to the [cage], and we had no light in the back to warm up. So we were blind. Everybody was with their phones, wrapping their hands and hitting pads with the lights from our phones, then we walked to the cage. People didn't think about that. That was one instance. There are bugs and stuff, and it was at night, so it wasn't terrible — maybe 75 degrees."The second time was definitely hotter, maybe 85 degrees. ... They had to continue to throw ice on the canvas. That's probably the only thing I was nervous about [for Sunday's event] — how well the Octagon is covered — because it got so hot that everybody was burning their feet on the canvas. They would just continue to throw tubs and tubs of ice all over the canvas, and have to sweep it up so nobody would slip and fall. It was a little bit of a craziness, if you will. Obviously, being in guard or on your back, you're burning your back. Definitely not a fun way to fight."Considering White’s latest promise, Garcia and Sunday’s other competitors may be well-served keep a close eye on local meteorological reports for this most unique of UFC fight weeks.

San Francisco 49ers alleged wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is mad online. Again. After a weekend full of Instagram shenanigans, Aiyuk was back Tuesday with a new video bemoaning the 49ers' decision not to release him and instead keep him on their roster on the reserve/left squad list. San Francisco is awaiting a trade that may never materialize, and in the meantime moving forward with their preparations for the 2026 season while Aiyuk posts videos on the internet. "And another thing," Aiyuk's video begins. "You wanna know why they're really mad though? They're mad cause they're stupid. They're dumb. They're made that they paid me 50 million (dollars) in eight months. And then voided my guarantees for 2027. And I'm about to be on a new team in 2027. They're mad at themselves for real. They're acting like they're mad at me, but they stupid-(expletive) mad at themselves." View this post on Instagram

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been rolling lately and took their momentum into Pittsburgh to test themselves against the Pirates and starting pitcher Paul Skenes. Skenes has been one of the best pitchers in baseball so far this season, tied for fifth with 89 strikeouts. Teams hardly score when's on the mound, his WHIP at 0.91, third best in MLB.The 24-year-old, Southern California native grew up in Orange County as a Los Angeles Angels fan. Historically, whenever Skenes goes against the "Boys in Blue," he's dominated. Skenes entered Tuesday with a 3-1 career record in four appearances against the Dodgers with an ERA of 2.70 and 33 strikeouts.During their June 9 meeting, Skenes delivered seven strikeouts, including one against Shohei Ohtani. In six innings, he allowed six hits and two runs in 103 pitches.The Pirates took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on back-to-back solo home runs from Bryan Reynolds and Ryan O'Hearn. Reynolds went yard, sending it 422 feet out of the park, while O'Hearn blasted his 355 feet.The Dodgers' first score of the game came in the second inning. The sequence began with Mookie Betts, who hit a double to center field. Max Muncy followed with a single to right field as Betts advanced to third. LA scored a run thanks to a sacrifice fly that Kyle Tucker hit to center field.The Dodgers later tied the game after a Muncy single found a gap and bounced right past Pirates' second baseman Brandon Lowe straight into right field. Muncy was awarded an RBI as Freddie Freeman scored in the sixth inning.That inning marked the end of Skenes' night. He was relieved for Wilber Dotel. The score was tied 2-2 as Skenes left the game. MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers news, schedule, stats and rosterDodgers light up Pirates bullpen in closing inningsThe Dodgers were relatively quiet throughout the game with Skenes on the mound. But LA began to find motion at the plate once Skenes was relieved. It was open season and Dotel was the victim.The Dodgers exploited the Pittsburgh bullpen with 10 runs in the seventh inning. Among the highlights of the inning: Freddie Freeman hit a milestone, cracking his 2,500th hit.Dodgers missing starting catcherThe Dodgers were without starting All-Star catcher Will Smith against Pittsburgh.Smith remained out of the Dodgers' lineup during Tuesday's matchup with the Pirates. He has been out since Saturday's game against the Angels with a stiff neck, according to Sports Illustrated's Noah Camras.Dave Roberts said he was expected back on Sunday but Smith didn't play. The Dodgers had a day off Monday. Paul Skenes stats vs. Los Angeles DodgersHere is the final look at Paul Skenes' pitching performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers:Innings pitched: 6Hits allowed: 6Runs allowed: 2Earned Runs allowed: 2Walks: 2Strikeouts: 7Pitch Count: 103Strikes Thrown: 62This article originally appeared on USA TODAY Sports: Paul Skenes vs. Dodgers: Stats for Pirates ace

Cristiano Ronaldo was lured by the riches of the Saudi Pro League (-)A lavish spending spree brought star players and attention to Saudi Arabia, but it has not reaped rewards for the national team who arrive at the World Cup desperate to reverse a run of poor results.The oil-rich kingdom pumped around $2 billion in three years into football, signing Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Karim Benzema on huge fees as it sought to turn the Saudi Pro League into one of the world's best. Saudi Arabia also won hosting rights for the 2034 World Cup, a major boost for its plan to diversify its economy by attracting tourists and business. But the Saudi national team have endured a bumpy ride since they stunned eventual winners Argentina in the group stages at the last World Cup in 2022. The Saudis scraped into the 48-team event -- the biggest World Cup in history -- via the play-offs, winning a three-team group involving Indonesia and Iraq on goals scored. A 4-0 thrashing by Egypt and defeat to Serbia in March spelled doom for French coach Herve Renard, ending his second spell after replacing ex-Italy boss Roberto Mancini. Greece's Georgios Donis, brought in just two months before the World Cup, said the influx of star names from Europe had limited the playing time of local players."The Saudi players are learning a lot from very good, experienced players, especially from Europe, that is very positive," he told AFP at last month's Asian Cup draw."On the other hand, Saudi players don't have the same chance (to play) like before." "We need the players to play, we need the players to have better rhythm and tempo, it's very important in football," Donis said. - 'Not easy' -Although the "Green Falcons" have landed in a tough Group H with Spain, Uruguay and Cape Verde, Donis is not throwing in the towel just yet.The expanded format means eight third-placed sides from the 12 groups will reach the knockouts. "The Saudi players have big talent. They have to continue to work, not to give up, and to show to their coach, 'I'm here and I deserve a chance'," he added. "It's not easy, but we can make the best." Saudi Arabia is traditionally one of the continent's strongest sides, winning three Asian Cups and now entering a seventh World Cup. According to France-based Middle East sports analyst Amro Elserty, their success was built on players hardened in the Saudi league, one of the most competitive in Asia. "Then the league changed completely. Saudi clubs began replacing local players with foreign signings across multiple positions," Elserty said. "Not just world-class stars, but also older players and imported professionals occupying roles that Saudi players previously developed in. "The result was predictable and Saudi internationals stopped playing regularly." The problem is compounded by the fact that only one member of the squad, Lens full-back Saud Abdulhamid, plays abroad. According to Simon Chadwick, professor of Eurasian sport at Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, "the pressure is on" to improve on Qatar 2022 when the Saudis were eliminated at the group stage, despite their heroics against Argentina, after defeats to Poland and Mexico."This year's tournament is nevertheless a checkpoint on the journey to 2034," he said."The question is, have targets been set and how will progress towards them be assessed?" ht/th/kca

Community members hold candles as they gather for a vigil honoring the life of Iryna Zarutska, who was fatally stabbed on a commuter train, Sept. 22, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)2026-06-09T18:43:10Z CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man charged in the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train cannot currently stand trial because of his mental illness and will undergo medical treatment to try to restore his competency, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.Decarlos Brown Jr., 35, faces a federal charge of causing death on a mass transportation system in the killing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte, a charge that is punishable by death. A separate state case against Brown in which he is charged with first-degree murder is on pause pending the outcome of the federal case. At the request of Brown’s attorneys, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell found that their client is not currently competent to stand trial and ordered him to spend up to four months in a prison medical facility to try to restore his competency. Defense attorneys said in a court filing Tuesday that Brown insisted that they provide the judge with the following information: “I would like to tell the court I have a body emergency. Someone has full access to my body and they are controlling me wrongfully. And law enforcement refuses to investigate it. And it requires for an investigation. When describing the technology someone was using I was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.” Brown told his lawyers he wants a court order directing law enforcement to investigate his body emergency, they wrote. Read More A forensic evaluation by federal mental health examiners was filed under seal in the federal case in April. It found that Brown “is presently not competent to stand trial, but that his prognosis for restoration to competency is favorable with appropriate medication therapy,” the judge wrote in his order.Brown “is suffering from a mental disease or defect that renders him unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings or to assist properly in his defense,” Bell wrote. The judge ordered Brown committed to the custody of the attorney general for hospitalization and treatment “to determine whether there is a substantial probability” that Brown will be able to proceed “in the foreseeable future.”Once that period is over, the judge will determine whether Brown’s competency has been restored and whether the case can move forward, whether continued treatment is needed or whether Brown cannot be made competent, the judge wrote. 获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site

This undated photo provided by NASA Tuesday, June 9, 2026, shows the Artemis III crew including, from left, Andre Douglas, Luca Parmitano, Randy Bresnik and Frank Rubio, posing for an official portrait. (Bill Stafford/NASA via AP)2026-06-09T16:45:45Z NEW YORK (AP) — NASA on Tuesday revealed the crew for its Artemis III mission, the next step in the space agency’s plan to eventually land astronauts on the moon. The announcement came two months after Artemis II’s record-breaking trip around the moon that surpassed the distance record of Apollo 13. NASA’s Randy Bresnik, Frank Rubio, Andre Douglas and the European Space Agency’s Luca Parmitano won’t fly to the moon or land on the surface. Instead, they’ll orbit Earth while practicing docking their Orion capsule with two lunar landers.“To the Artemis III crew, we wish you Godspeed on the journey ahead,” said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman. AP AUDIO: NASA unveils Artemis III astronauts to test technology for a future moon landing NASA picks a new crew to practice docking runs ahead of the planned moon landing mission. The AP’s Jennifer King reports. Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are racing to deliver the lunar landers. The two-week demo is targeted for 2027. Blue Origin suffered a recent setback when its massive rocket exploded during an engine-firing test on the launch pad in Florida, shaking nearby homes and illuminating the sky with an orange fireball. NASA’s Jeremy Parsons said the setback is a learning opportunity and that the space agency is confident Blue Origin’s rocket will be ready in time. NASA’s Artemis program aims to return astronauts to the moon’s surface for the first time since the 1970s. A recent revamp of the program announced by Isaacman aims to fast-track it similarly to the Apollo era, adding the upcoming spaceflight around Earth before eyeing a lunar landing in 2028. Read More “We are certainly humbled as a crew to be able to be your crew that executes this Artemis III mission in space,” said Bresnik, Artemis III commander.Added Douglas, mission specialist: “My brain — it is going a mile a minute right now. But my heart, it is so warm. It is so full.”In May, NASA awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to four companies, including Blue Origin, to build landers, rovers and drones for a future moon base. Isaacman said the goal of the moon base is to lay the foundation for a Mars expedition. —-The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ADITHI RAMAKRISHNAN Ramakrishnan is a science reporter for The Associated Press, based in New York. She covers research and new developments related to space, early human history and more. twitter mailto

Estonia's Prime Minister Kristen Michal, right, and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a Nordic and Baltic countries meeting in Tallinn, Estonia, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)2026-06-09T09:26:09Z TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Nordic and Baltic leaders who were in Estonia for a regional summit Tuesday, a visit that comes amid friction over Ukrainian drones straying into the region in recent months.The drones have crashed into the chimney of a power plant in Estonia, hit empty fuel tanks in Latvia and been shot down by Romanian fighter jets stationed in Lithuania. Ukrainian officials apologized, saying the drones had been aimed at military targets in Russia but were sent off course by Russian electronic interference.Estonia hosted the summit in its capital of Tallinn amid Russia’s 4-year-old, full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Estonia holds the rotating presidency of the NB8, a regional grouping of the five Nordic and three Baltic countries, and brought together the bloc’s prime ministers, along with Zelenskyy. Sharing Ukraine’s drone expertiseZelenskyy and Estonian President Alar Karis agreed to work on cheaper ways to shoot down drones that have flown over Estonia, including one that a NATO fighter jet shot down over the south of the country in May. AP AUDIO: Ukraine is ready to share drone technology with Nordic and Baltic countries, Zelenskyy says AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls for greater pressure on Russia, and stronger Europe and U.S. roles in peace talks. “We have shown that we can shoot the drones down with the planes,” Karis said at a news conference. Using fighter jets to shoot down the drones is expensive, he added, so he hopes to partner with Ukraine for its technology and expertise to do it more cheaply. Zelenskyy said Ukraine was ready to do so, drawing on its experience with helping countries in the Middle East shoot down drones, where it had sent experts to train local forces. “We did this in the Middle East, and it worked,” he said. Read More He said Ukraine could offer the low-cost interceptor drones it has deployed at home to build an inexpensive shield against Russian drone attacks, and that Kyiv could send experts to its European partners “at any moment.”Karis said he expects drones to cross into Baltic airspace as the war continues and urged the public to remain calm. Estonia and the other Baltic nations are among Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in its war against Russia. Ukraine’s bid for EU membershipZelenskyy said his talks with the leaders had focused on advancing diplomacy, strengthening air defenses and Ukraine’s path to European Union membership. He said Kyiv had met the conditions to open its accession negotiations and urged the bloc to approve them this summer.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Brussels that Ukraine is “making extraordinary progress” on reforms to allow it to join the EU and that “it’s high time for us also now to deliver.”Prospective members must complete negotiations in 35 policy areas, or chapters, ranging from agriculture to trade in a process that can take years.Zelenskyy also said Ukraine and Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs signed a drone deal to deepen joint defense and co-production. Sign up for Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the biggest headlines of the day. Email address Sign up By checking this box, you agree to AP's Terms of Use and acknowledge that AP may collect and use your data pursuant to our Privacy Policy. Russia’s deadly strikes on UkraineRussia, meanwhile, kept up its strikes across Ukraine. In the northeastern Kharkiv region, three people were killed and 25 others, including three children, were wounded in attacks in the past 24 hours, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the regional administration.In the Dnipropetrovsk region, three people were wounded when several districts came under attack overnight, said regional administration head Oleksandr Hanzha.Russia launched 166 long-range strike drones and two guided missiles at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said, with air defenses shooting down 146 of the drones. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its defenses downed 140 drones overnight. A woman was killed when a Ukrainian drone hit an apartment building in the Belgorod region neighboring Ukraine, regional emergency officials said.In Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Ukraine is “making extraordinary progress” on reforms to allow it to join the EU and that “it’s high time for us also now to deliver.” Seeking more sanctions on RussiaZelenskyy said he had pressed for tougher sanctions on Russia, including its shadow fleet. He also held talks with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on bolstering Ukraine’s air defenses.“All of our partners now note that Ukraine’s positions on the front are significantly stronger, and so our diplomacy, which we are working to step up, must proceed from that,” Zelenskyy said. “Unfortunately, Russia is trying to make up for its enormous battlefield losses with strikes on our cities and communities, and on civilian infrastructure.”In Brussels, Von der Leyen announced proposals for new sanctions against Russia targeting its energy, financial and trade sectors, including fisheries for the first time with a ban on cod, among other measures.She also proposed banning EU entry for “anyone who has served in the Russian armed forces since the beginning of the war” to ensure that Europe stays off-limits “for anyone who has participated in the invasion of Ukraine.”The sanctions must be endorsed by the 27 EU member countries before they can come into force. On Monday, Zelenskyy said he had held positive talks with U.S. representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner during a stopover at an airport in Moldova’s capital, describing them as focused on ending the war. In a social media post, he said the two sides discussed diplomatic prospects ahead of this month’s Group of Seven summit, and that he had briefed the U.S. side on Ukraine’s assessment of Russia’s intentions.

In Katie Taylor's mind, her boxing career nearly ended after she defeated Amanda Serrano for a third time last July.The decorated Irishwoman was ready to call time on a decade-long professional journey that saw her become a two-time undisputed champion — unless her dream swan song at Croke Park could somehow be delivered."I spoke to [my team] after the last Serrano fight, and I said, 'Guys, that's me done if Croke Park doesn't happen,'" Taylor admitted Tuesday on Uncrowned's "The Ariel Helwani Show.""So I basically retired after the last fight. We had a conversation after the fight in my hotel room with the team, and I said, 'This has been an amazing journey. Thank you so much, but I think I'm going to hang the gloves up. That's me done unless Croke Park happens.' "The reason I didn't announce my retirement is because I was clinging on to a bit of hope that Croke Park was actually going to happen, and here we are."Taylor (25-1, 6 KOs), the first-ever Olympic women’s lightweight champion and one of the greatest women’s boxers in history, told Uncrowned that she believed there was nothing else left to achieve in the sport, except for fighting at her dream venue of Croke Park.The Irish national stadium, in some ways, after all, is bigger than the sport itself. It has been Taylor's — and every Irish fighter’s — lifelong dream to compete at the historic venue. If anything could bring her back, it was Croke Park."I was done [after the third Serrano fight]," Taylor acknowledged. "I didn't think there was much else to chase after, to be quite honest. A few days after that conversation [of telling my team I was going to retire], Brian [Peters, my manager] rang me up and said, 'I'm going to give Croke Park one last shot. I'm going to try and get this over the line for you.' Because he knew that this was the dream I had for a few years now.”Throughout her professional career, though, the dream always seemed to be out of reach."I think they first brought up Croke Park maybe four years ago after the first [Amanda] Serrano fight [in 2022]," Taylor said."This is crazy [that it's happening now]. [Croke Park] was an impossibility back then. To actually get this over the line now is surreal."After Taylor defeated Serrano in what was by far the biggest fight in women's boxing history in April 2022, momentum began building toward an Irish homecoming.Yet despite Taylor’s growing profile, a fight at Croke Park wasn't to be. The venue was explored for her Irish debut, but the costs associated with hosting a boxing show at the stadium — primarily security costs — were deemed too high. Thus, Taylor was denied the opportunity to fight at her dream location.Prior to her success, Ireland's boxing scene had begun to stagnate in the 2010s. There were no major boxing events in Dublin from 2016 until Taylor brought the sport back to the masses in 2023. That was largely because of the fatal shooting during a boxing weigh-in at the Regency Hotel with notorious crime boss Daniel Kinahan, the target.In 2023, though, boxing returned to Dublin with Taylor's bout against Chantelle Cameron at The 3Arena. After every Taylor fight since, the idea of Croke Park had been touted. It had become a bit of a broken record, particularly since there was never a serious possibility of it materializing. In early 2026, though, the mood changed. Her promoter, Eddie Hearn, bullishly claimed that he would do everything in his power to give Taylor the perfect sendoff. And after months of anticipation, it was finally announced this past Friday.Ireland's Croke Park has long been a goal for Katie Taylor and Eddie Hearn.Piaras Ó Mídheach via Getty Images"I think it was a few weeks back that Brian had said to me he's very, very close to making this deal done," Taylor said. "Just a few days ago, Brian actually called me and said all the contracts are signed, it's a done deal. I was over the moon. I just couldn't believe — even a few months back, I didn't think this was going to happen."It is fitting that Taylor will be the first headliner at the iconic 80,000-seat Croke Park on Sept. 5, since another legend, Muhammad Ali, fought at the famed venue in 1972.Taylor confirmed that when she steps through the ropes against Flora Pili, it will be her final appearance in a boxing ring. If successful, she will bow out of the sport as a three-time undisputed champion on a night she has dreamed about for many years."To end my career [at Croke Park], this could be the pinnacle. I think this could possibly be the most iconic moment of my whole career,” she said. “I have the chance of becoming a three-time undisputed champion in this fight, as well. I'm living beyond my dreams at this stage.”"I'm just over the moon,” she added. “The excitement and the celebration around the place have been amazing, but I obviously have a fight to win. I have a fight to prepare for.”

In case you have not yet heard, Dylan Larkin has reportedly requested to be traded from the Detroit Red Wings. That’s right, folks, the captain of the Red Wings has made the decision that he would rather be traded than continue to play for the team he rooted for growing up.Ever since that news broke, there has been plenty of debate about whether this fiasco is more about Larkin not stepping up as a captain should, or Steve Yzerman sucking at his job and not building a competitive roster despite having way more than enough time to do so.Now, Darren McCarty has weighed in on the situation, and Larkin won’t like what the former Red Wings forward has to say.“What do I always say? ‘You are either IN, or you are IN THE WAY, so you’re definitely in the way,” McCarty said. “And then we can put blame on this or that, or whatever, but I don’t want a guy, no matter if you’re the top guy, or the bottom guy. If you don’t want to be here, then I don’t want you here. This, I believe, will be one of the best things to happen to the Red Wings organization.”It’s safe to say that McCarty is taking Yzerman’s side on this one!

WEST CHESTER — A year after losing to the same team in the same spot, La Salle's lacrosse team made sure history didn't repeat itself.And the Explorers made sure in a hurry.A flurry of early goals, and then a bunch more the rest of the way, gave La Salle a 12-4 win over defending PIAA Class 3A champion Springfield-Delco on Tuesday night at West Chester East. The win moved the Explorers into Saturday's PIAA title game at Penn State (5:30 p.m.) against District One runner-up Radnor, a 16-3 victor over Manheim Township from District Three. Radnor defeated La Salle in the 2024 state final 9-6."They beat us last year and we remembered and that gave us more motivation," La Salle senior Cooper Heilig said."We were ready to go and we started fast and everyone just played really well."La Salle, the District 12 champion, had a 4-0 lead before the game was eight minutes old and was never threatened over the four quarters."Our guys came out fast and got the offense going and kept at it," La Salle second-year head coach Jack Forster said."They were motivated by what happened last year and our team leaders did a great job of keeping everyone focused."2025 boys' lacrosse all-star team: Who made the Bucks County all-area high school boys' lacrosse team for 2025? Take a lookThe Explorers' first seven goals came from seven different players before sophomore Mason Smith netted his second goal of the game to make it 8-2 at halftime."We were pretty confident coming into the game and we stuck to our gameplan," La Salle senior Dylan Malone said."And a bunch of guys scored goals and it shows that our offense is pretty well-rounded. Everybody just played great for us."Drew Markol covers local sports for PhillyBurbs.com. Support our journalism with a subscription.This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: La Salle Lacrosse PIAA 3A State Semifinal Springfield-Delco

Dallas Goedert had a chance to consider life outside Philadelphia, but the veteran tight end never found a better situation than the one he already had with the Eagles.Goedert said he was able to test free agency "a little bit" during the offseason and had opportunities to go elsewhere, but ultimately decided that returning to Philadelphia was the best move for his career. The decision keeps one of Jalen Hurts' most trusted targets in place as the Eagles reshape their offense after A.J. Brown's departure and transition into Sean Mannion's system.“I was able to test free agency a little bit,” Goedert said. “Had opportunities to go elsewhere. Nothing was a better opportunity than I thought I could have here. Being able to play in the same place for nine years is special. It would have had to be something really drastic to have me try to sign somewhere else.”Goedert's comments reflect both loyalty and practicality. He has spent his entire career in Philadelphia, developing from a second-round pick into one of the NFL's more complete tight ends. Remaining with the Eagles gives him continuity with Hurts, a familiar locker room, and a chance to play a major role in an offense that could lean more heavily on tight ends.Dallas Goedert: "I was able to test for agency a little bit. Had opportunities to go elsewhere. Nothing was a better opportunity than I thought I could have here. Being able to play in the same place for nine years is special. It would have had to be something really drastic to… pic.twitter.com/3Un8tKapRe— Zach Berman (@ZBerm) June 9, 2026That role may become even more important in 2026. Brown is no longer on the roster, making DeVonta Smith the clear No. 1 wide receiver and creating more opportunity for Goedert, Makai Lemon, Hollywood Brown, Dontayvion Wicks, Elijah Moore, and others. Goedert has already praised Mannion's system for creating "easy touches" for tight ends and scheming ways to get players open in space, while also emphasizing that tight ends must be able to block in the new offense.For Philadelphia, retaining Goedert was about more than keeping a productive pass catcher. He remains a physical blocker, a reliable middle-of-the-field option, and one of the longest-tenured players on the roster. His presence gives the Eagles stability during an offseason defined by change.Goedert acknowledged that leaving would have required something significant, and that says plenty about how he views Philadelphia. After eight seasons with the organization, the chance to enter Year 9 with the same franchise still carried value.This article originally appeared on Eagles Wire: Dallas Goedert opened door to free agency before Eagles return

DENVER (AP) — Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog was presented with not one, but two awards on Tuesday, earning the Mark Messier Leadership honor and the Masterton Memorial Trophy. The 33-year-old forward from Sweden becomes the first player to win both in the same season. It's been a long road back to the rink for Landeskog in his return from a serious knee injury. The Masterton Trophy is awarded to the player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”The Messier Award goes to the player who demonstrates “great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey."Landeskog celebrated the awards with his wife and young kids. His wife helped keep him winning the Masterton under wraps until the trophy was brought out in a video posted by the NHL.Landeskog’s knee issues began after a skate blade cut his right knee during the 2020 playoffs in the Edmonton bubble. He worked his way through it and helped the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup title in 2022.The Cup clincher, though, was his last game for quite a stretch. After missing a full season, Landeskog underwent cartilage replacement surgery on May 10, 2023.He made it back last season for Game 3 of the playoffs against Dallas, which was his first NHL contest in 1,032 days. This season, he had 14 goals and 21 assists over 60 regular-season games. Colorado went 45-7-8 with him in the lineup and 10-9-3 when he was out. He added six goals and five assists in the playoffs before the Avalanche were swept in the Western Conference Final by Vegas. Landeskog remains active in the community, too, taking part in Kroenke Sports and Entertainment’s (KSE) Charity Brunch and leading the team’s annual hospital visit. He also hosts several local foundations through the team's “Community Ticket Pride” program. His recovery from his knee injury was covered in a six-part documentary series titled “A Clean Sheet.”The Masterton Trophy, which is presented by the NHL Writers’ Association, was first awarded in 1967-68. The Mark Messier Leadership Award made its debut in 2006-07. ___AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Pope Leo XIV makes a six-seven hand gestures as he arrives to attend a prayer vigil at Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)2026-06-09T19:45:13Z BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Pope Leo XIV on Tuesday sought to encourage Spain’s young people to persevere in their faith, as he presided over an evening rally that was notable for its frank discussion of depression, domestic violence and “toxic” family relationships.The U.S.-born pope received a raucous welcome at the Olympic stadium in Barcelona, the second stop of his weeklong visit to Spain that has drawn huge crowds despite the country’s strong secular bent.The crowd, estimated at 40,000, erupted in cheers when Leo emerged from the stands in his popemobile and looped around the grounds. He thrilled sections of the crowd each time he stopped to bless babies or to do the “6-7” hand gesture that has now become a signature.The event featured several nods to Catalan culture, including a demonstration of the region’s famed human tower acrobats, known as castellers. The eight-level tower drew an appreciative applause from the pope after the smallest child reached the top, waved, and then quickly shimmied down. Leo also spoke in Catalan, more than initially foreseen, during the prayer vigil that featured a question-and-answer session with young adults. Such exchanges are scripted in advance and are typical features of papal trips. But Tuesday’s edition was particularly raw given the subject matter Leo covered. One young woman told Leo of a suicide attempt and the “darkness” she had experienced with bouts of depression. Another spoke about her father’s attempt to kill her mother and a childhood spent in juvenile detention. She asked how she could ever forgive her father. Read More Leo thanked the youths for their honesty and willingness to share their stories publicly. He blamed the malaise on what he said was a society that demands perfection of its youth and silences “moments of darkness and suffering.” He compared the “silent illness” of depression among young people to the suffering of Christ on the cross. “In those dark hours, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus shared our pain and revealed to us the face of a compassionate God, who bears our sorrows, who suffers with us, weeps our tears and remains at our side with his presence full of love and mercy,” Leo said.But he also identified abusive families where domestic violence is normalized as being behind many problems facing today’s young people. “So many crime reports, even today, reflect a toxic climate in family relationships marked by abuse and oppression and, in particular, by violence against women, which unfortunately often leads to femicide,” Leo said.Leo urged young people to find solace in their faith. And he drew applause when he demanded better health services and care for mental health problems and domestic violence.“We are all called to address this dramatic reality, both personally and as a society, because we are responsible for confronting it in all its dimensions,” he said.Leo has been emphasizing a message of hope for youths in Spain, a once overwhelmingly Catholic country that experienced a religious crisis after its 20th century dictatorship ended and democracy took root. Recently, church officials and sociologists alike have pointed to indications that young Spaniards are showing an increasing interest in their spiritual lives, with anecdotal reports of rises in conversions among young adults.Patricia Garzón, a 25-year-old who attended the prayer vigil with her friend, said her faith helps her every day.“I believe that it is more difficult (for young people) today because before social media didn’t exist, and today we are constantly comparing ourselves with one another (online),” she said. “And we need someone from above to help us, to help us see that he loves us for who we are, not how others want us to see ourselves.”The highlight of Leo’s visit to Spain comes Wednesday when he inaugurates the soaring central Tower of Jesus Christ on Barcelona’s famed Sagrada Familia basilica.___Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. NICOLE WINFIELD Winfield has been on the Vatican beat since 2001, covering the papacies of St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI and the Francis pontificate and traveling the world with them. JOSEPH WILSON Wilson covers Spanish news and sports for The Associated Press. He is based in Barcelona. twitter mailto

CHICAGO (AP) — Atlanta star right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. has left Tuesday night's game at the Chicago White Sox with tightness in his left hamstring.Acuña pulled up and was limping after trying to beat out a grounder to Chicago third baseman Miguel Vargas in the fourth inning. Eli White replaced Acuña. The Braves announced the initial diagnosis of tightness in the hamstring.It is Acuña's second left hamstring injury of the season. He was on the 10-day injured list from May 3-18 with a strained left hamstring also suffered when attempting to run out a grounder.Acuña, the 2023 NL MVP and a five-time All-Star, also has suffered two serious knee injuries in his career. He suffered a season-ending torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in May 2024. Acuña tore his right ACL midway through the 2021 season.The 28-year-old Acuña is hitting .251 with seven homers and 22 RBIs. ___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

BALTIMORE (AP) — Randy Arozarena hit a two-run homer to lead off the 10th inning and the Seattle Mariners beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5 on Tuesday night.Mitch Garver also homered for the AL West-leading Mariners, who have won 11 of their last 14 games and at 36-32 are tied for a season-high four games over .500.Coby Mayo homered during a two-run ninth-inning as Baltimore rallied to tie the game at 4-4. The Orioles have lost four in a row for the first time since a five-game skid from April 30 to May 4.Arozarena hit Rico Garcia’s 0-1 slider over the wall in right for his seventh home run of the season to bring around automatic runner Julio Rodríguez. Garcia (3-1) had allowed only three runs in 27 innings this season.Seattle’s Nick Davila, called up from Triple-A Tacoma, hit Blaze Alexander and yielded Leody Taveras’ RBI single to open the 10th. Mayo popped out, and third baseman Patrick Wisdom threw out Alexander at home. Davila then struck out O’Neill for his first career save.The Orioles scored two in the ninth against José A. Ferrer (1-1). After Mayo’s one-out shot made it 4-3, Jeremiah Jackson singled, moved to third on Tyler O’Neill’s ground-rule double and scored when he beat Ferrer’s off-balance throw off Samuel Basallo’s dribbler down the first-base line.Seattle starter Logan Gilbert allowed Taveras’ bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the first and needed 58 pitches to get through two innings. But the right-hander retired the last 14 batters he faced and struck out five over six innings.Garver ripped Trevor Rogers’ fastball to deep left for his third home run in the fourth inning to make it 3-1.Rogers allowed three runs and struck out three in 5 2/3 innings.Up nextSeattle RHP George Kirby (5-5, 4.04 ERA) faces Baltimore RHP Brandon Young (4-1, 3.47) as the four-game series continues Wednesday.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Jun. 9—Gonzaga will travel to SEC country for a high-level tune-up game before taking on one of the country's most demanding nonconference schedules.The Zags will travel to Arkansas in October for a preseason exhibition, Razorbacks coach John Calipari told Pig Trail Nation in an interview on Tuesday.There isn't a date set for the game at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Arkansas, but it's likely to take place at some point in mid- to late October given Gonzaga is set to open the season on Nov. 2 against Purdue in Las Vegas.Gonzaga doesn't have any other known games on its exhibition schedule at this point."We're bringing Gonzaga in as an exhibition," Calipari said. "I'm trying to remember who the other exhibition is, I can't even remember."The third-year Arkansas coach and Gonzaga's Mark Few have a relationship that stems back decades to Calipari's tenure at the University of Memphis in the early 2000s.Few and the Zags played Calipari's teams at Memphis four times from 2006-09 and twice during the coach's tenure at Kentucky. The coaches scheduled a six-year nonconference series prior to the 2022-23 season, but Calipari was involved in only two of those games, leaving Kentucky for Arkansas in 2024.Gonzaga and Kentucky played twice more in the two seasons that followed, but Few and third-year Wildcats coach Mark Pope mutually agreed to discontinue the series last month.The Zags have lined up multiple exhibition games against power conference games in recent years, traveling to Frisco, Texas, for a preseason tune-up against Tennessee in 2022 and playing USC in Palm Desert, California, prior to the 2024-25 season.Gonzaga hasn't played Arkansas during the Calipari era but matched up with the Razorbacks twice previously, winning 91-81 at the 2014 Maui Invitational. The second meeting came in the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, where a No. 1-seeded Gonzaga team featuring Chet Holmgren, Drew Timme and Andrew Nembhard lost 74-68 to Arkansas at the Chase Center in San Francisco.This October, the Zags will face an Arkansas team coming off a Sweet 16 run of its own. Featuring projected NBA lottery pick guard Darius Acuff Jr., Calipari's team won NCAA Tournament games against Hawaii and High Point at Portland's Moda Center — the same venue where GU played NCAA games against Kennesaw State and Texas — before bowing out with a 109-88 blowout loss to former Zag assistant Tommy Lloyd and top-seeded Arizona at the SAP Center in San Jose, California.Arkansas is losing four of its five starters from last year's squad, but brings back guard Billy Richmond (11.2 points, 4.3 rebounds) and added five-star high school shooting guard Jordan Smith, who was widely considered the No. 2 overall prospect in the country. The Razorbacks also bring in Finnish prospect Miikka Muurinen, a 6-foot-10 forward and former teammate of Gonzaga's Davis Fogle at Arizona's Compass Prep.Few's program will travel to Arkansas three years after former Gonzaga guard Khalif Battle wore a Razorbacks uniform, suiting up for the SEC program during Eric Musselman's final season in Fayetteville. Battle averaged 14.8 ppg during his lone season in the season before relocating to Spokane as a sixth-year senior, averaging 13.6 ppg and leading the Zags to a WCC Tournament championship.

The Tennessean's Middle Tennessee High School Sports Awards, Presented by Ponce Law, wrapped up on June 9 at Music City Center in Nashville, highlighting the best athletes in the area.Athletes from the Nashville area were honored with player of the year awards. The awards show also handed out premier awards for girls and boys athlete of the year, coaches of the year and teams of the year, including a Scholar Athlete Award, the Fred Russell Lifetime Achievement Award and the Kaia Jergenson Courage Award.Here are the list of winners from the awards show.Boys Athlete of the Year, Presented by Ponce LawCam Blivens, Lipscomb AcademyThe Clemson football signee has been named Middle Tennessee Sports Awards Male Athlete of the Year for the second straight year. Blivens was a star football, basketball and track athlete for the Mustangs during the 2025-26 season. He had 63 receptions for 1,086 yards and nine touchdowns and made three interceptions. As a basketball standout, he averaged 23.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, three assists and 2.4 steals.On the track, he finished fifth in the high jump and sixth in the long jump.Girls Athlete of the Year, Presented by Ponce LawKaylor West, Liberty CreekThe Western Kentucky softball signee has already established herself as one of the top players in the state in that sport. But she also developed into a standout basketball player at Liberty Creek West and led it to the Class 3A state tournament. She had 20 points and eight rebounds in the state quarterfinal. This season in the pitcher's circle for softball, she threw 100 innings, striking out 156 batters with a 1.25 ERA.Boys Coach of the YearJeremy Cooke, Station CampCooke didn't just guide his team to a second straight Class AA boys soccer state crown, he did so less than a full month after donating a kidney to friend, MBA assistant basketball coach and former Vanderbilt star Ronnie McMahan. Cooke directed Station Camp to a 3-0 record in the state tournament.Girls Coach of the YearWarne Riker, SummitRiker helped engineer Summit’s first state tournament run to perfection, with the Spartans capturing the Class AAA championship for the program’s first title and finishing the 2025 season with a 30-8 record. Summit avenged a regional tournament loss to Brentwood in the state final, winning a five-set classic.Boys Team of the Year Oakland footballOakland won the team's second straight Class 6A football championship and fifth in the past six years as the Patriots dominated Ravenwood, 62-21. It capped a perfect 15-0 record.Girls Team of the YearStewarts Creek softballStewarts Creek won its first TSSAA softball state championship two years after being Class 4A state runner-up. The school hammered Maryville, 10-0, in a run-rule win.Baseball Player of the YearJack Dugan, Lipscomb AcademyDugan, a Tennessee signee, batted .538 with a .601 on-base percentage. He totaled 70 hits, 11 home runs, 39 RBIs, 56 runs and 27 stolen bases.Boys Basketball Player of the Year, Presented by Upshot NashvilleTy Cobb, UppermanCobb is a two-time Mr. Basketball winner in Class 3A. He was named the Gatorade Tennessee Boys Basketball Player of the Year after guiding Upperman to the 3A state semifinals. He averaged 29 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists. Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Presented by Upshot NashvilleCecilie Brandimore, FranklinBrandimore, a Missouri signee and Class 4A Miss Basketball finalist, averaged 23 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.4 blocks. Her most impressive game came against Oakland when she set a school single-game record with 57 points. Boys Bowler of the YearWestyn Griffin, SiegelGriffin led Siegel to its first team championship. In the individual tournament, he had a six-game average of 234, earning the No. 1 seed in the stepladder finals then bowled a 175 to bring home the Division I crown.Girls Bowler of the YearJessica McClintock, Lipscomb AcademyMcClintock had a stellar sophomore season, capturing the Division II state championship, bowling a 176 in the championship match. She also helped Lipscomb Academy capture the Division II team state title.Boys Cross-Country Runner of the YearAsher Oates, IndependenceFor the second straight year, Asher has been named our All-Midstate boys cross-country runner of the year. Oates finished as Class AAA state runner-up in a time of 15 minutes and 14.31 seconds this year.Girls Cross-Country Runner of the YearLauren Banovac, BrentwoodIn her fourth, and final, TSSAA Class AAA state meet, Banovac captured the state championship, running in a time of 17 minutes, 17.15 seconds. She was nearly 10 seconds faster than the state runner-up.Offensive Football Player of the YearJared Curtis, Nashville ChristianThe Vanderbilt signee threw for 2,073 yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 66 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 614 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was named both Division II-A Mr. Football and Gatorade Tennessee Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.Defensive Football Player of the YearZach Groves, East RobertsonGroves, a four-star Tennessee signee and the Class 2A Mr. Football recipient, recorded 77 tackles, 14 for a loss, 4.5 sacks, 20 quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one interception.Boys Golfer of the YearWalker Webb, FRAWebb won the Division II-A golf individual title with a 10-under 134, the lowest score of any division at the championship. The Iowa State commitment's final-round 65 tied a school record and ranked as the fourth-lowest round in TSSAA state tournament history. Girls Golfer of the YearPoppy Pewitt, Dickson CountyPewitt won the Class AA state tournament, finishing even-par 140. She also captured district and region tournament championships, while averaging 73.4 per 18 holes for the season. Hockey Player of the Year, Presented by the Nashville PredatorsBingston Soundara, NolensvilleSoundara repeated as our hockey player of the year award. Soundara was a rock in net, being named an All-Star starter after allowing 34 goals on 467 shots with one shutout this season.Boys Lacrosse Player of the YearCooper Rice, EnsworthRice was an elite offensive player during Ensworth’s run to the Division II-A state championship. The Mercer commitment and All-State selection scored 64 goals and added 24 assists for a total of 88 points.Girls Lacrosse Player of the YearAbigail Ellis, Father RyanThe Ohio State signee finished the season with 47 goals, 32 assists, an impressive 138 draw controls, 47 ground balls and caused 41 turnovers.Boys Soccer Player of the YearRyan Hendon, Station CampHendon guided the Bison to a second straight TSSAA state championship as Station Camp knocked off South-Doyle for the title. Hendon finished the season with 49 goals and seven assists.Girls Soccer Player of the YearSummer Riley, SummitRiley, a Florida commitment and District 10-AAA Player of the Year, scored 43 goals and recorded nine assists.Softball Player of the YearAvary Stockwell, Green HilThe Tennessee signee wins her second straight softball player of the year award. She batted .548 with 10 doubles, 3 triples, 20 home runs and 78 RBIs.Boys Swimming and Diving Athlete of the YearHutch Paxton, MBAPaxton placed second in the 100 butterfly at the TISCA state championships with a time of 47.21 seconds and won the state title in the 100 free with a time of 44.34. Girls Swimming and Diving Athlete of the YearBryce Winzenread, HomeschoolWinzenread will compete at the college level in the Big 10 conference at Indiana University. She placed second in the 200 individual medley at the state championships with a time of 2:01.94. She followed that with a state title in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:00.63.Boys Tennis Player of the YearElliott Parker, Hume-FoggParker rolled to a straight-sets victory in the Class A boys singles state championship, beating Lakeland Prep's Bram Maslowski, 6-0, 6-0.Girls Tennis Player of the YearBrooke Franklin, FRAThe sophomore has a career 50-0 record combined. She cruised to the Division II-A state title, beating two-time defending state champ Ivana Petkova of Lausanne with a 6-2, 6-1 score. Boys Track and Field Athlete of the YearMac McFarland, CPAMcFarland captured the DII-AA boys decathlon with 7,151 points, 248 points better than the state runner-up. He placed first in the pole vault and discus, finished second in the 100, 110 hurdles and high jump and took third in the 400 and long jump in the decathlon events.Girls Track and Field Athlete of the YearChyna Harris-Rucker, Pearl-CohnHarris-Rucker took home three individual state championships for the Firebirds and helped her team claim the Class A team title with 88 points. She claimed first in the 100-meter dash, the 200 and 400.Volleyball Player of the YearMaggie Kalisz, SummitKalisz, a Tulane signee, finished with 388 kills, 47 blocks and 58 aces while helping Summit capture the program's first Class AAA state title. Boys Wrestler of the Year, Presented by the United States Marine CorpsZach Little, SummitLittle was named The Daily Herald's 2025-26 Boys Wrestler of the Year in Columbia after claiming the Class AA 157-pound state championship, his second consecutive state title. The Appalachian State signee went 49-5.Girls Wrestler of the Year, Presented by the United States Marine CorpsMariana Bowen, West CreekBowen won her fourth TSSAA girls state championship, this time in the 138-pound weight class. She is only the sixth female in state history to win four. She went 27-0 as a senior and didn't lose a match as a junior or senior.Kaia Jergenson Courage Award, Presented by Southeast Financial Credit UnionJayden Bailey, LebanonJayden Bailey, a 17-year-old student-athlete at Lebanon High School, was a hero to many. And not just because he played varsity basketball with one arm while battling cancer. But also because of the kind of person he was. Bailey was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in June 2022. Three years later his left arm was amputated. He died Feb. 19, 2026. Through it all, Bailey tried his best to reassure those around him he was going to be OK. Fred Russell Lifetime Achievement AwardRick InsellRick Insell began his high school coaching career at Shelbyville Central in 1978, guiding the program to 10 state championships, 15 state championship game appearances and USA TODAY national titles in 1989 and 1991. He won 774 games in his 28 years at Shelbyville, including a national-record 110 in a rowScholar Athlete AwardSofia Kime, Central MagnetKime graduated with a 4.0 GPA and had a 34 on her ACTs, two points shy of a perfect score. As a senior she took 10 advanced courses and is a member of the National Honor Society and the Student Council. She’s a member of Central Magnet varsity soccer team and served as the team captain, playing defender, for the past two years where she was named All District and All State.This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville area high school sports players of year for 2025-26 school year

The Tennessean's Middle Tennessee High School Sports Awards, Presented by Ponce Law, wrapped up on June 9 at Music City Center in Nashville, highlighting the best athletes in the area.Athletes from the Nashville area were honored with player of the year awards. The awards show also handed out premier awards for girls and boys athlete of the year, coaches of the year and teams of the year, including a Scholar Athlete Award, the Fred Russell Lifetime Achievement Award and the Kaia Jergenson Courage Award.Here are the list of winners from the awards show.Boys Athlete of the Year, Presented by Ponce LawCam Blivens, Lipscomb AcademyThe Clemson football signee has been named Middle Tennessee Sports Awards Male Athlete of the Year for the second straight year. Blivens was a star football, basketball and track athlete for the Mustangs during the 2025-26 season. He had 63 receptions for 1,086 yards and nine touchdowns and made three interceptions. As a basketball standout, he averaged 23.1 points, 5.1 rebounds, three assists and 2.4 steals.On the track, he finished fifth in the high jump and sixth in the long jump.Girls Athlete of the Year, Presented by Ponce LawKaylor West, Liberty CreekThe Western Kentucky softball signee has already established herself as one of the top players in the state in that sport. But she also developed into a standout basketball player at Liberty Creek West and led it to the Class 3A state tournament. She had 20 points and eight rebounds in the state quarterfinal. This season in the pitcher's circle for softball, she threw 100 innings, striking out 156 batters with a 1.25 ERA.Boys Coach of the YearJeremy Cooke, Station CampCooke didn't just guide his team to a second straight Class AA boys soccer state crown, he did so less than a full month after donating a kidney to friend, MBA assistant basketball coach and former Vanderbilt star Ronnie McMahan. Cooke directed Station Camp to a 3-0 record in the state tournament.Girls Coach of the YearWarne Riker, SummitRiker helped engineer Summit’s first state tournament run to perfection, with the Spartans capturing the Class AAA championship for the program’s first title and finishing the 2025 season with a 30-8 record. Summit avenged a regional tournament loss to Brentwood in the state final, winning a five-set classic.Boys Team of the Year Oakland footballOakland won the team's second straight Class 6A football championship and fifth in the past six years as the Patriots dominated Ravenwood, 62-21. It capped a perfect 15-0 record.Girls Team of the YearStewarts Creek softballStewarts Creek won its first TSSAA softball state championship two years after being Class 4A state runner-up. The school hammered Maryville, 10-0, in a run-rule win.Baseball Player of the YearJack Dugan, Lipscomb AcademyDugan, a Tennessee signee, batted .538 with a .601 on-base percentage. He totaled 70 hits, 11 home runs, 39 RBIs, 56 runs and 27 stolen bases.Boys Basketball Player of the Year, Presented by Upshot NashvilleTy Cobb, UppermanCobb is a two-time Mr. Basketball winner in Class 3A. He was named the Gatorade Tennessee Boys Basketball Player of the Year after guiding Upperman to the 3A state semifinals. He averaged 29 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.8 assists. Girls Basketball Player of the Year, Presented by Upshot NashvilleCecilie Brandimore, FranklinBrandimore, a Missouri signee and Class 4A Miss Basketball finalist, averaged 23 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.4 blocks. Her most impressive game came against Oakland when she set a school single-game record with 57 points. Boys Bowler of the YearWestyn Griffin, SiegelGriffin led Siegel to its first team championship. In the individual tournament, he had a six-game average of 234, earning the No. 1 seed in the stepladder finals then bowled a 175 to bring home the Division I crown.Girls Bowler of the YearJessica McClintock, Lipscomb AcademyMcClintock had a stellar sophomore season, capturing the Division II state championship, bowling a 176 in the championship match. She also helped Lipscomb Academy capture the Division II team state title.Boys Cross-Country Runner of the YearAsher Oates, IndependenceFor the second straight year, Asher has been named our All-Midstate boys cross-country runner of the year. Oates finished as Class AAA state runner-up in a time of 15 minutes and 14.31 seconds this year.Girls Cross-Country Runner of the YearLauren Banovac, BrentwoodIn her fourth, and final, TSSAA Class AAA state meet, Banovac captured the state championship, running in a time of 17 minutes, 17.15 seconds. She was nearly 10 seconds faster than the state runner-up.Offensive Football Player of the YearJared Curtis, Nashville ChristianThe Vanderbilt signee threw for 2,073 yards, 36 touchdowns and six interceptions while completing 66 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 614 yards and 11 touchdowns. He was named both Division II-A Mr. Football and Gatorade Tennessee Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.Defensive Football Player of the YearZach Groves, East RobertsonGroves, a four-star Tennessee signee and the Class 2A Mr. Football recipient, recorded 77 tackles, 14 for a loss, 4.5 sacks, 20 quarterback hurries, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one interception.Boys Golfer of the YearWalker Webb, FRAWebb won the Division II-A golf individual title with a 10-under 134, the lowest score of any division at the championship. The Iowa State commitment's final-round 65 tied a school record and ranked as the fourth-lowest round in TSSAA state tournament history. Girls Golfer of the YearPoppy Pewitt, Dickson CountyPewitt won the Class AA state tournament, finishing even-par 140. She also captured district and region tournament championships, while averaging 73.4 per 18 holes for the season. Hockey Player of the Year, Presented by the Nashville PredatorsBingston Soundara, NolensvilleSoundara repeated as our hockey player of the year award. Soundara was a rock in net, being named an All-Star starter after allowing 34 goals on 467 shots with one shutout this season.Boys Lacrosse Player of the YearCooper Rice, EnsworthRice was an elite offensive player during Ensworth’s run to the Division II-A state championship. The Mercer commitment and All-State selection scored 64 goals and added 24 assists for a total of 88 points.Girls Lacrosse Player of the YearAbigail Ellis, Father RyanThe Ohio State signee finished the season with 47 goals, 32 assists, an impressive 138 draw controls, 47 ground balls and caused 41 turnovers.Boys Soccer Player of the YearRyan Hendon, Station CampHendon guided the Bison to a second straight TSSAA state championship as Station Camp knocked off South-Doyle for the title. Hendon finished the season with 49 goals and seven assists.Girls Soccer Player of the YearSummer Riley, SummitRiley, a Florida commitment and District 10-AAA Player of the Year, scored 43 goals and recorded nine assists.Softball Player of the YearAvary Stockwell, Green HilThe Tennessee signee wins her second straight softball player of the year award. She batted .548 with 10 doubles, 3 triples, 20 home runs and 78 RBIs.Boys Swimming and Diving Athlete of the YearHutch Paxton, MBAPaxton placed second in the 100 butterfly at the TISCA state championships with a time of 47.21 seconds and won the state title in the 100 free with a time of 44.34. Girls Swimming and Diving Athlete of the YearBryce Winzenread, HomeschoolWinzenread will compete at the college level in the Big 10 conference at Indiana University. She placed second in the 200 individual medley at the state championships with a time of 2:01.94. She followed that with a state title in the 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:00.63.Boys Tennis Player of the YearElliott Parker, Hume-FoggParker rolled to a straight-sets victory in the Class A boys singles state championship, beating Lakeland Prep's Bram Maslowski, 6-0, 6-0.Girls Tennis Player of the YearBrooke Franklin, FRAThe sophomore has a career 50-0 record combined. She cruised to the Division II-A state title, beating two-time defending state champ Ivana Petkova of Lausanne with a 6-2, 6-1 score. Boys Track and Field Athlete of the YearMac McFarland, CPAMcFarland captured the DII-AA boys decathlon with 7,151 points, 248 points better than the state runner-up. He placed first in the pole vault and discus, finished second in the 100, 110 hurdles and high jump and took third in the 400 and long jump in the decathlon events.Girls Track and Field Athlete of the YearChyna Harris-Rucker, Pearl-CohnHarris-Rucker took home three individual state championships for the Firebirds and helped her team claim the Class A team title with 88 points. She claimed first in the 100-meter dash, the 200 and 400.Volleyball Player of the YearMaggie Kalisz, SummitKalisz, a Tulane signee, finished with 388 kills, 47 blocks and 58 aces while helping Summit capture the program's first Class AAA state title. Boys Wrestler of the Year, Presented by the United States Marine CorpsZach Little, SummitLittle was named The Daily Herald's 2025-26 Boys Wrestler of the Year in Columbia after claiming the Class AA 157-pound state championship, his second consecutive state title. The Appalachian State signee went 49-5.Girls Wrestler of the Year, Presented by the United States Marine CorpsMariana Bowen, West CreekBowen won her fourth TSSAA girls state championship, this time in the 138-pound weight class. She is only the sixth female in state history to win four. She went 27-0 as a senior and didn't lose a match as a junior or senior.Kaia Jergenson Courage Award, Presented by Southeast Financial Credit UnionJayden Bailey, LebanonJayden Bailey, a 17-year-old student-athlete at Lebanon High School, was a hero to many. And not just because he played varsity basketball with one arm while battling cancer. But also because of the kind of person he was. Bailey was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in June 2022. Three years later his left arm was amputated. He died Feb. 19, 2026. Through it all, Bailey tried his best to reassure those around him he was going to be OK. Fred Russell Lifetime Achievement AwardRick InsellRick Insell began his high school coaching career at Shelbyville Central in 1978, guiding the program to 10 state championships, 15 state championship game appearances and USA TODAY national titles in 1989 and 1991. He won 774 games in his 28 years at Shelbyville, including a national-record 110 in a rowScholar Athlete AwardSofia Kime, Central MagnetKime graduated with a 4.0 GPA and had a 34 on her ACTs, two points shy of a perfect score. As a senior she took 10 advanced courses and is a member of the National Honor Society and the Student Council. She’s a member of Central Magnet varsity soccer team and served as the team captain, playing defender, for the past two years where she was named All District and All State.This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville area high school sports players of year for 2025-26 school year

President Trump’s warming with Xi Jinping of China, a leader he admires, has ignited anxieties in Washington and across Asia.

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - JUNE 09: Evan Carter #32 of the Texas Rangers can't catch a ball hit by Maikel Garcia of the Kansas City Royals in the sixth inning at Kauffman Stadium on June 09, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Texas Rangers scored three runs but the Kansas City Royals scored five runs.At one point, as we were entering the bottom of the fifth inning of this game, the Rangers had collected eight hits and the Royals had collected zero. Man, the Rangers must have been destroying the AL’s worst team right? Well, no. Because of a bad batch of sequencing, and a dearth of extra base hits, the Rangers led only 2-0 at that point.Aside from a two-bagger from Ezequiel Duran in the top of the second, the other seven of Texas’ initial eight hits were singles and worse, a great majority of those came with two outs. That required the Rangers to sustain long rallies with little wiggle room, which simply didn’t manifest for the most part. The Rangers scored their first run on their best rally of the night, but one that was ultimately wasted if the goal was to bust the game open and take a big lead. After Wyatt Langford walked to lead off the second, Duran hit his double, and then Jake Burger singled Langford home. But with two on and still no one out, the Rangers hit two ground balls in a row with the second one a double play that allowed tonight’s KC starter Stephen Kolek and the Royals to escape the inning with Texas up just 1-0.The Rangers didn’t even need a run-scoring hit to plate their second run thanks to Evan Carter using his legs to menace Kansas City into a couple of throwing errors. After Carter singled with two outs in the top of the third, he reached second on an errant pickoff throw and then scored when KC catcher Carter Jensen threw the ball away attempting to throw Carter out on a steal attempt at third base.However, with eight hits, the Rangers wasted plenty of chances for that elusive bases-clearing extra base hit that could have broken open the game. Turns out, they were saving them all up for the Royals. How kind. By the end of the sixth inning it was 5-2 Royals as Kansas City collected the next six hits of the game. All of them went for extra bases. All but two of those came off tonight’s starter Nathan Eovaldi who was a tad wild early with three walks but mostly cruising along.Ironically, Texas’ next and only other hit of the night was a triple by Joc Pederson and the Royals’ only two hits the rest of the way were a couple of singles that did no damage.Overall, that was a pretty annoying experience and just the latest of several chances for Texas to move back to .500 that went to waste.Player of the Game: Josh Jung and Brandon Nimmo led the way with a couple of hits apiece. All four of those hits were singles, however.Up Next: The Rangers will resume the climb back to .500 with LHP MacKenzie Gore set to make the start for Texas opposite RHP Seth Lugo for Kansas City.The Wednesday evening first pitch from Kauffman Stadium is again scheduled for 6:40 pm CDT and you can catch it on the Rangers Sports Network.

By Mike Scarcella WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration asked a judge on Tuesday to reject an effort to halt an Ultimate ‌Fighting Championship event on the White House lawn this weekend, arguing that ‌the event was lawful and the challengers had waited too long to sue. Two Washington-area residents have asked ​U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta for a temporary restraining order to stop the June 14 UFC match. They contend that sporting events are barred on the White House's South Lawn and the large metal arena being constructed for the fight lacks required ‌approval from Congress. The Trump administration ⁠also said in a court filing that the plaintiffs had not shown they are likely to succeed in their claims as ⁠they had not shown how they would be harmed. "It would be easy enough to simply avert their gazes for the weekend," the filing said. "Instead, they seek to enlist ​the power ​of a federal court to impose their ​idiosyncratic preferences on the rest of ‌the country and ruin an event designed to celebrate the United States of America." Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The White House event, dubbed “UFC Freedom 250” and coinciding with Trump’s 80th birthday, plans to hold bouts inside a 92-foot-tall (28-meter-tall) octagon-shaped structure with weigh-ins at the Lincoln Memorial. The lawsuit ‌alleges the National Park Service and Interior Department ​unlawfully approved the event and seeks to set ​that authorization aside. "This nation's public ​monuments should not be loaned out for private exploitation," it said. The ‌administration countered that the regulations do ​not bar events and ​that the White House South Lawn has a history of hosting public events. Trump's ties with UFC date back to the early 2000s, when he agreed ​to host events at ‌his since-bankrupt Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. UFC Chief ​Executive Dana White is a close Trump ally. (Reporting by Mike Scarcella; ​Editing by David Bario and Edwina Gibbs)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rookie Olivia Miles had 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists, Kayla McBride added 22 points, and the Minnesota Lynx used a big first half to cruise past the Dallas Wings 100-76 on Tuesday night for their eighth straight victory.Natasha Howard scored 21 points and Courtney Williams added 16 for Minnesota (10-2), which became the first WNBA team to reach 10 wins this season. McBride made four of Minnesota's seven 3-pointers.Paige Bueckers led Dallas (7-4) with 23 points. Arike Ogunbowale added 16 points, and Jessica Shepard had 12 points and nine rebounds. Azzi Fudd, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft, finished with six points on 2-of-12 shooting.Four of Minnesota’s starters reached double-figure scoring by halftime. Howard and Miles each had 14 points, and McBride and Williams each added 12 to help the Lynx lead 58-38.Minnesota made 23 of 32 (72%) field goals in the first half, including 6 of 8 3-pointers.The Lynx led 75-60 entering the fourth, with 71 points coming from their starters. Williams made a basket with 30.7 seconds left to put Minnesota at the 100-point mark for the third time this season. The teams combined to make 26 straight free throws before a miss with 56.8 seconds left in the fourth.Up nextDallas hosts Phoenix on Thursday. Minnesota plays at Las Vegas on Saturday. ___AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

TUCSON, ARIZONA - MARCH 02: The Pac-12 logo is seen after the Arizona Wildcats defeated the Oregon Ducks 103-83 at McKale Center on March 02, 2024 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images) | Getty Images Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NCAA. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Mid-Major fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys.Conference realignment is striking again.No, this isn’t an article about another change coming. Even though I’m sure there will be one soon. Because why should things stay the way they are.This is to start feeling fans out about what they think of the upcoming Pac-12. The conference affectionately known as the “Conference of Champions” was whittled down to two football teams and no basketball teams the last couple of years but will have new life this upcoming season.Washington State and Oregon State have played in the WCC the last two seasons but are back in the Pac-12 and have some company. Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State are joining from the Mountain West. Texas State is making its way from the Sun Belt, and Gonzaga is hopping over from the WCC.Looking at that lineup, the question is the following: When the mid-majors infiltrate the Pac-12, starting this summer, will the new conference be a mid-major?Please take our surveyLet’s get one elephant out of the way right away… Gonzaga still won’t be a mid-major.With that being said, let’s talk about the rest.The Mountain West has been one of the best and most prominent mid-major conferences the last few years, and now several of those top teams are in this new conference. Does the success of San Diego State going to the 2023 Final Four and Utah State winning the last few regular-season championships make this move seem like they are “graduating” to a power conference?Kind of.But remember, they are not going to the ACC, SEC, Big 12 or Big 10.The two teams they are aligning with who have been in a power conference before are WSU and OSU. The Cougar men went a combined 15-21 in the WCC and the women 20-18. The Beaver men finished 19-17, while the women had the best of any of these marks at 25-13.Those records are by no means dominant the way one might think power-conference teams might do in a mid-major conference.Then, there’s Texas State.The Bobcat men and women have each reached the NCAA Tournament just twice in their history and have never won a game. Hard to call them a power-conference team, even with this move.Anyways, time will tell. And it’s time for you to let us know what you think.

Women's national team match draws over 50,000 fans in FortalezaThe Brazilian Women’s National Team match against the United States on Tuesday (9) drew 50,402 fans to Arena Castelão in Fortaleza.The match surpassed Brazil’s friendly against Jamaica at Arena Pernambuco in June 2024, which drew 33,272 people. It also became one of the largest crowds for women’s soccer in Brazil over the last 20 years.Among clubs, the record belongs to the 2024 Brasileirão final between Corinthians and São Paulo, with 44,529 spectators. In international competitions held in the country, the Olympics remain the clear leader.The Olympic semifinal between Brazil and Sweden at the Maracanã in August 2016 had 70,454 spectators. Before that, the record was the women’s soccer final at the 2007 Pan American Games, between Brazil and the U.S., at the Maracanã in July 2007, with 67,788 people.Playing at Castelão for the first time, the Brazilian National Team was welcomed with a huge celebration. While 500 people per minute were entering the stadium, fans already inside watched a quadrilha performance and a show by singer Solange.Fans created a mosaic for Brazil’s debut at Castelão, in FortalezaCredits: Lívia Villas Boas/Staff Images/CBFIn addition to a banner with the names of all the players, stretched between the upper and lower sections, there was also a “We will play together” mosaic during the national anthem.The match comes after an important result for Brazil in the first friendly against the U.S. in São Paulo on Saturday (6), in which Brazil came from behind to win 2–1. The victory, the second straight under coach Arthur Elias, was the sixth in the history of matches against the Americans, who are ranked second in the FIFA rankings.Before kickoff, CBF president Samir Xaud reaffirmed the importance of the event one year before the World Cup. “We are very happy with the presence and support of the fans. This is a pre-World Cup, these are friendlies that will prepare us for the first title,” he said. Until the tournament, coach Arthur Elias and the team will have four more FIFA international windows.This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, heads to the chamber before votes on the immigration enforcement funding package, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, June 4, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)2026-06-09T04:02:24Z PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Graham Platner won the Maine Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, setting up a high-stakes race against Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Platner, an oyster farmer and combat veteran, has little political experience but has drawn hundreds of people to rallies around the state. He also has faced a string of controversies that have been the focus of attacks from his rivals. Since entering the race, Platner has stressed the importance of believing in redemption for those like him who have made mistakes but are now working to be better people.“If you believe, as I do, that we can change our politics and change our country, then you must also believe that people can change,” Platner said during his acceptance speech in Blue Hill, a rural town where he was born. “And the reason I believe that is because I have lived it.” Democrats see Maine as a top opportunity to flip a GOP-held seat. It is the only state with a competitive Senate race where voters supported Democrat Kamala Harris over Donald Trump in 2024. Collins is the only Republican senator from New England. Platner, a progressive who had early support from Sen. Bernie Sanders, has said he plans to focus on economic issues such as housing and healthcare.“Any of those who feel let down, or disappointed, or disillusioned, it is my job to earn your trust, faith and support, and I will spend every day of this campaign, and if I have the privilege, every day in the United States Senate doing exactly that,” Platner said.Maine voters also were choosing nominees for governor U.S. House. The Democratic primaries for governor and the 2nd Congressional District will be decided by ranked choice voting, a process that may take more than a week, after no candidate won a majority Tuesday. Read More Platner blasts Collins as ‘spineless’ After thanking his supporters for helping him secure the Democratic nomination, Platner quickly pivoted to attacking Collins, attracting boos and jeers from the Blue Hill crowd. Collins was unopposed in the GOP Maine primary on Tuesday. This means the matchup between Platner and Collins will pit a progressive with no experience in high office against one of the most powerful legislators in the Senate, and one of its few remaining moderate Republicans.“Susan Collins has never met a war she didn’t like, she’s been supporting endless wars since I was a teenager, and I know, I had to fight in two of them,” Platner, a Marine and U.S. Army veteran, said. “You and your friends profited, and my friends died.” He also criticized Collins for voting alongside Trump, particularly pointing out that she was a key vote in voting in favor of putting conservative judges on the U.S. Supreme Court. “She has become just as spineless and corrupt as the establishment she now serves,” Platner said, pointing out that Collins once promised to only serve two terms but has been in the position for decades.First elected in 1996, Collins has said her experience and key position as chair of the powerful appropriations committee are two reasons to send her back to the Senate. Platner energized Democratic voters Platner, 41, has focused his campaign on fighting the high costs he says hold down the middle class and said he got in the race to focus on income inequality. His background has repeatedly generated criticism from both the right and the left. Old online comments made by Platner in which he appeared to endorse political violence, dismiss rape in the military and criticize police officers and rural America surfaced last year. Platner apologized for the comments and said he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression when he wrote them. He’s also faced questions about a skull-and-crossbones tattoo recognized as a Nazi symbol. Platner said he got the tattoo on his chest during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia. He has maintained that he was unaware until recently that the image had been associated with Nazis, and he has since covered the tattoo with a different design. A former girlfriend told New York Times has since said that he did. More recently, he went on the defensive amid reports that he previously exchanged sexually explicit text messages with several women while married. Platner hasn’t directly denied the existence of the texts but instead criticized the aide who talked to news outlets and accused the media of running gossip.The New York Times last week reported about his relationships with previous girlfriends, some of whom viewed him positively and others who described him as volatile and insulting. One woman said Platner twisted her arm during an argument and locked her in a room. Platner’s campaign disputed the allegation.Annette Babcock, who is from Platner’s hometown of Sullivan, said she’s met him a few times and likes that he’s not an established politician. His recent controversies didn’t dissuade her from supporting him Tuesday. “The Republicans don’t have much moral high ground to stand on when they’re criticizing him for what he’s done when (President Donald) Trump is a convicted felon,” she said. Democratic governor and 2nd House District races to be decided by rank choiceIn the governor’s race and 2nd Congressional District, no Democratic candidate won the majority of votes Tuesday, so the race will go to a ranked runoff.Democrats are choosing gubernatorial candidates between Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows; former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson; former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives Hannah Pingree; energy executive Angus King III; and former director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention Nirav Shah.In the 2nd Congressional District, former Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap, state Sen. Joe Baldacci, former U.S. Senate candidate Jordan Wood and social worker Paige Loud are on the ballot for the Democrats. The winner will face former Gov. Paul LePage, a Trump ally. The Republican ballot for governor is even more crowded. Republicans will choose between former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Bobby Charles; healthcare executive Jonathan Bush; former Maine Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason; University of Maine System trustee Owen McCarthy; former Paris, Maine, selectman Robert Wessels; and business owners David Jones and Ben Midgley.___Associated Press journalist Rodrique Ngowi contributed from Sullivan, Maine. PATRICK WHITTLE Whittle is an Associated Press reporter based in Portland, Maine. He focuses on the environment and oceans. twitter mailto

The Tartan Army is in Boston and making their presence known.But some Scottish fans are having a harder time than others getting to Boston for the beginning of the World Cup. Bagpipes and cheers could be heard from the Dubliner in downtown Boston Tuesday afternoon as dozens of Scotland fans were calling the Irish pub their home. “I think I’ve been in this pub for at least 78 hours since we got here,” said fan Ben Bunney. Another added, “It’s absolutely mental.”The group is now waiting for their 28-year World Cup drought to come to a close this weekend.In the meantime, they’re enjoying what the city has to offer.A fan Tuesday explained, “You’ll be embraced. If you embrace Boston, they’ll embrace you.”But, as the Tartan Army celebrates before the matches even begin, some Scotland fans tell Boston 25 they’re stuck at home.Kenny Smith, a diehard fan from Scotland, said his temporary travel waiver valid through 2027 was inexplicably declined this week before flying to the US.“I got basically shown the red card in football terms,” he said over Zoom Tuesday.Smith told Boston 25 that he recently received a notification that his waiver to travel had been denied. He said this has happened without explanation to several hundred of his countrymen as well.This week, he’s been frantically working to secure a visa to travel to the US, but said it’s been difficult trying to work with the US embassy to get any answers.He will likely now miss the first game despite his continued efforts.“Here I am all booked up and I can’t go,” he said. “[Scots] don’t cause trouble. We’re probably the only nation you see never causing trouble at these events.”Scotland fans in Boston were aware of these unexplained issues.Johnny Duffey added, “A lot of them have said there have been technical issues and whatnot.”Bunney continued, “It’s annoying, but it’s going to happen.”Celebrating into Tuesday night, Duffey finished, “We’re here for the party man. We ‘dinna care about how we do in the competition. We’re here to have a good time and put our stamp on the place.”Scotland will face off with Haiti on Saturday at Boston Stadium for their first World Cup Match since 1998.This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - JUNE 09: Randy Arozarena #56 of the Seattle Mariners celebrates with Julio Rodríguez #44 after hitting a two-run home run in the tenth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on June 09, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images Over a two-week stretch from May 22 to June 5, the Orioles won ten of fourteen games, and looked to be edging their way back into a playoff position. Well, just a few days later, those good vibes seem pretty distant. It’s not that, numerically, the Orioles have dug themselves into an impossible hole, but that the on-field play looks so uneven that even if they did play themselves into a Wild Card, you doubt they’d do much with it.Tonight’s 6-5, ten-inning loss was ridiculous in a couple of ways. Start with the offense making Seattle’s Logan Gilbert look like a sitting duck in the first inning (he had to throw 31 pitches and gave up a run to break his 17.2-inning scoreless streak), then disappearing for six innings, during which Gilbert retired fourteen in a row. Equally ridiculous: the Birds mounted a two-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth (against a lefty!), but they had to do it after Leody Taveras struck out by automatic violation after losing track of the count. Likewise ridiculous: after tying it, 4-4, to go to extras, the game-winning home run was a two-run bomb hit off Rico Garcia by Randy Arozarena on a slider that was half a foot off the plate. Finally, really ridiculous: the Birds were rung up at the plate three times tonight. Tyler O’Neill accounted for two of them, including in the bottom of the ninth, with the game tied, 4-4. Blaze Alexander was the other one, in the bottom of the tenth, with his team down, 6-5, a run that would have staved off a loss.I’m still processing through my feelings on this one. It felt, first and foremost, like offensive opportunities were wasted, both at the plate and on the basepaths. As I said, if you watched just the first inning, you’d have thought the O’s were on their way to an easy win. Five of the first nine O’s hitters reached off Gilbert, who, true to his scouting report, looked like his fastballs are a weakness.That run, which feels like it was ages ago, came on two singles by Taylor Ward (solid as DH tonight) and Pete Alonso, who lost his bat in the stands before hitting a single the other way, a great walk by Colton Cowser, and a sac fly by Leody Taveras that would have been a hit but for M’s centerfielder Julio Rodríguez running to gobble it up.At that point, I would have been stunned to hear that the O’s would rack up one hit and no more runs against Seattle’s starter, or that the latter would go six. But that’s exactly what we got. Stupid baserunning “helped,” as it has with the Orioles of late, when O’Neill, standing at third with two on and one out in the second, tried to score on a grounder. He failed, and the Orioles’ best chance for the first six innings evaporated.After that: bupkis. After third-string catcher Sam Huff hit a one-out double in the second, Gilbert kept the O’s hitless between the second and seventh innings.As for Trevor Rogers, he feels like an afterthought today. This start was [shrug]. His line—three runs in 5 2/3 innings—isn’t terrible, and he had just one bad inning, the fourth, when he gave up an Earl Weaver Special to Mitch Garver.But more concerningly, this makes his third straight start in a row with obvious stamina problems. And he had just three strikeouts, none before the fourth inning. This might be the most concerning thing about Rogers this season (although I’d be open to other suggestions): his strikeout rate, which was a ludicrous 12.54 per game in a brief rookie debut in 2020 and an admirable 10.62 in his All-Star 2021, is down to 6.60 this year.Back to the blow-by-blow. Andrew Kittredge was summoned to help Rogers close out the sixth inning, which he did nicely, but then he allowed a fourth run in the seventh, all on two outs, when with one on, Julio Rodríguez murdered a Kittredge sinker—I mean it, that thing left his bat at 115 mph—and Arozarena dumped a run-scoring single into left, making it 4-1. This felt insurmountable, and ultimately, it was, but not in the way you expected.The Orioles got the run back in the bottom of the seventh, though I can’t say they made impressive contact doing it. Coby Mayo reached on an error and Jackson Holliday just legged out a bunt (it was fun to see him flaunt the speed). But then, whomp whomp, Tyler O’Neill hit into a double play. A buzzkill, but not a total rally-killer. Mariners reliever Alex Hoppe uncorked a dreadful curveball, and Mayo trotted home.Keegan Akin and Tyler Wells pitched competent innings each of them, Wells, especially, with a pickoff of Victor Robles at first. Nice to see for the big guy.Then came the fireworks. The Orioles had one more chance at a comeback in the ninth, although the odds felt long against a lefty in José Ferrer. Longer, even, when Leody Taveras led off the ninth by striking out in the stupidest way imaginable, losing track of the count with two strikes, and stepping outside of the box so long he got rung up for an automatic third strike.The Birds weren’t deterred, though, and Coby Mayo, next man up, worked a great at-bat, fouling off a bunch of outside fastballs until he got a meatball down the middle. It was a beaut, the O’s’ biggest big blast of the game, and here is a link to balance out the bad with some good:View LinkNow 4-3, the M’s probably still weren’t breaking a sweat, but maybe they started to when Jeremiah Jackson legged out a swinging bunt. Nothing seemed likely to happen with Tyler O’Neill up next, but O’Neill got a fastball from a lefty and did what we hoped he’d do all year: smack it. The ball went for a ground-rule double, but Jackson scored when pinch-hitter Samuel Basallo bounced a grounder to the right side of the infield. The game was tied, 4-4. There was a chance for more, as Taylor Ward walked (of course) to load the bases, but unfortunately, Gunnar (bad game for him today), hit a quick grounder, and lead runner O’Neill was rung up at the plate for the second time tonight. We went to extras.With a man on and reliable Rico Garcia on the mound, Randy Arozarena got this pitch and still managed to send it, oppo-style, to the flag court. Garcia looked amazed. So, if you’d seen me on my couch, did I.Could the O’s counter?? Almost, is the answer. More shenanigans sunk them. Their ghost runner was Pete Alonso, exactly the last person you’d want. But he was actually fine. Blaze Alexander, who’s already done everything humanly possible for this team, took an HBP and then, with two on, no out, Leody Taveras made up for his boneheaded strikeout in the ninth, serving a single to right to score the Polar Bear. The lead was down to one. But Mayo hit a weird pop-out that Seattle second baseman Ryan Bliss fully laid out for. A stupid first out. More stupidity next: Jeremiah Jackson hit a grounder, and the speedy Blaze took off from third. Blaze wasn’t fast enough, and became the third Oriole to get rung up at home plate tonight. The comeback stalled, and the score stayed right there, 6-5 Seattle.What a weird game. Give the Birds credit for rallying, down two in the ninth, against a lefty. So there’s some gumption here. But my sense, with three runs left at home plate, is that their baserunning game stinks. Just a thought. They’ll try to salvage what they can of this series with Brandon Young facing George Kirby at 6:35 Eastern. Sheesh.

Matt Olson emerging as a leading National League MVP candidate originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.Atlanta Braves first baseman Matt Olson is making a compelling case to be named the National League Most Valuable Player in 2026. While several stars across the league are putting together impressive campaigns, Olson’s combination of power, consistency, durability, and clutch production has placed him firmly in the MVP conversation.Olson is batting .272 with 19 home runs, 49 RBIs, 69 runs scored, and a .877OPS through the first two months of the season. His RBI total ranks among the best in the National League, while his OPS places him among baseball’s elite hitters. Olson has once again become the centerpiece of Atlanta’s lineup, producing at an MVP-caliber level despite injuries impacting other key players throughout the roster.The Braves slugger has consistently delivered in big moments. Olson recently hit a go-ahead home run against the Toronto Blue Jays and has collected multiple game-winning hits throughout the season. He ranks among the league leaders in total bases, extra-base hits, slugging percentage, and offensive WAR, highlighting his overall value beyond traditional statistics.Braves slugger making his caseWhat separates Olson from many other MVP candidates is his reliability. Since joining Atlanta in 2022, he has rarely missed a game and continues to be one of baseball’s most durable stars. His ability to play every day while maintaining elite production has been invaluable for a Braves team battling through injuries and inconsistency.Advanced metrics further support Olson’s candidacy. He is also rank among the league leaders in hard-hit percentage, barrel rate, expected slugging percentage, and weighted on-base average (wOBA). Those numbers indicate that his success is not a fluke but the result of consistently making elite contact.Olson is also building on an outstanding 2025 season in which he hit 29 home runs, drove in 95 runs, and won a Gold Glove Award. Rather than taking a step back, he has elevated his game to another level in 2026.If Olson continues producing at his current pace and helps lead Atlanta back to the postseason, the Braves star could find himself holding the first National League MVP trophy of his career when the season concludes.More MLB news:Blue Jays all-in trade prediction sends top-100 prospects for $32M 2-time Cy Young winnerMets predicted to part ways with $15M 2-time All-Star, 74 strikeout arm at trade deadlinePhillies' $22M emergency closer gives brutally honest response to Rob Thomson's firingBraves predicted to part ways with underperforming $20M Gold Glove winner at the trade deadline

Lionel Messi is feeling his way back to fitness for the World Cup after suffering a hamstring injury (JUAN MABROMATA)Lionel Messi was set to feature Tuesday as reigning champions Argentina played their final warm-up game for a World Cup overshadowed by off-field distractions, as the Somali referee refused entry to the United States said his dream was over.Messi, edging closer to fitness with the tournament starting Thursday and Argentina's first match looming on June 16, began on the substitutes' bench against Iceland in Alabama.The legendary attacker, now 38, drove Argentina to their third World Cup crown in Qatar four years ago and is feeling his way back after injuring a hamstring playing for Inter Miami in late May.Messi has not featured so far in his country's build-up games but could make an appearance in the Iceland friendly.- Dream ripped away -The biggest-ever World Cup, taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico, has been dogged in the lead-up by numerous controversies.Somali referee Omar Artan said the "biggest dream of my life" had been ripped away after he was turned back at the US border and then dropped from FIFA's list of referees for the competition."I am very, very disappointed," Artan told The New York Times from Istanbul, where he returned after being refused entry in Miami."I'm just simply a referee who's trying to live his dream, the biggest dream of my life, to come to the World Cup."Artan said he was subjected to an 11-hour interview with border officials at Miami International Airport and then taken to a holding cell where he was detained for several further hours before being put on a flight back to Turkey."I had the right papers and everything. I had the right visa," he added -- an assertion confirmed to AFP by a Somali government advisor.- Mexico City protests -Concerns were rising that the opening match of the World Cup in Mexico City on Thursday could be disrupted by social unrest.A protest blocked an avenue leading to the Estadio Azteca, where Mexico will face South Africa in the curtainraiser, for hours Tuesday.As international fans flooded into the three tournament co-host countries, Mexico is grappling with chaotic teacher protests in its capital.Thousands took part in Tuesday's demonstration following a week of action that President Claudia Sheinbaum has called a "provocation.""As if to say, 'Look at how bad the situation is in Mexico,'" she told a press conference.A police blockade prevented the demonstrators from reaching the stadium.Sheinbaum has said that the opening match was "guaranteed," though the left-leaning leader again ruled out using police to repress the demonstrations.- 'Don't be too honest' -With co-hosts the United States preparing for their opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles on Friday, one of their own players warned that they need to improve at football's dark arts.Following Saturday's defeat in a friendly to Germany, coach Mauricio Pochettino urged his men to "learn to play right on the edge of the rules," and midfielder Cristian Roldan echoed those words at the team's training camp on Tuesday."I think that's one thing that we can get better at, for sure," he told AFP."I think being a little bit more savvy, understanding that being too honest at times is probably too much of a fault for us."When the US beat Paraguay 2-1 in a friendly in November the match ended in a stoppage time brawl.bur/gj/pst

Dylan Harper's sister drops unique motivation to help the Spurs win the NBA Finals originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.At 20, Dylan Harper has become one of the most important players in the 2026 NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs' bench has not been at its best, but Harper does stand out among the backups.He has been playing beyond his age because he is hitting crucial shots and playing elite defense against New York Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson. Harper is quite a competitor, but it seems there is a unique motivation hanging over his head.Dylan Harper's unique motivation because of his sisterWhenever the Spurs play a crucial game, Harper tends to turn to his family for motivation. Dylan's sister, Mia, has become one of the most important motivators in his young career, which is paying off.Mia has been calling on Dylan to perform well to help the Spurs. If the Spurs do not win, Mia would take Dylan's dog away from him. That is such a unique motivation, but it seems to be working.MORE: Stephon Castle and the Spurs are still confident in winning the NBA FinalsAs an NBA player, having someone or something to come back home to is always a big deal. For Dylan, that is his dogs, so playfully threatening to take them away from him has motivated him to perform. That is why he has been phenomenal for the Spurs in the NBA Finals."If you lose this game, I'm gonna go to San Antonio and take your dogs. She loves dogs. I love my dogs. I'm playing as hard as I can," Harper detailed about his conversation with his sister.Moving forward, Dylan will keep playing at his peak level. He wants to keep pushing himself to be better, and he wants to keep his dogs around him.More NBA news:Karl-Anthony Towns admits that officiating is not a problem for him and his teammatesMike Brown is unhappy with the officiating in the NBA FinalsVictor Wembanyama becomes the latest New York City villain after shoving Jalen BrunsonHow this Jalen Brunson statistic has raised major questions about his star status in the FinalsStephen A. Smith blames Jalen Brunson for the Game 3 loss in the NBA Finals

GREENVILLE — Riverheads' goal of another state baseball championship for the program is still alive and well after the state quarterfinals June 9.Riverheads beat Lancaster 2-0 to advance to the Virginia High School League Class 1 state semifinals. Riverheads will play Patrick Henry (Glade Spring) at 11:30 a.m. at Kiwanis Field in Salem June 12. Patrick Henry knocked off defending state champion Auburn 6-5 in extra innings.It was the last home game for four Riverheads seniors. One of those seniors, Brody Phillips, said winning that last game at home meant the team still has a chance to achieve their goal."It meant that we have two more games after this to win," said Phillips, who was 1-for-3 with a run scored in the win. We've just got to keep playing hard. Even though it was the last time here we've still got two more chances to do something special."Riverheads last won a state championship in 2018, the second in program history. They'd like to add a third title on June 13.Phillips scored the game's first run in the bottom of the third. He had a one-out single then scored on Ethan Mulcahy's double. Chase Donathan followed with a single to right, scoring Mulcahy. That was all the offense Riverheads would need behind the pitching of freshman Jackson Berkstresser, who went the distance, giving up just four hits and no runs in seven innings. He struck out eight Lancaster batters and didn't walk a single player.Riverheads coach Rodney Painter said Berkstresser has been strong all season, but has battled some injuries the past few weeks. "He finally got healthy and he was ready to go today," Painter said. "He pitched a gem."Mulcahy had the only multi-hit game for Riverheads, finishing the afternoon 2-for-3. "The team played great today," said Painter. "Our pitching and defense has been strong all year and they showed up again today."(Randall K. Wolf contributed to this story)More: Vote for your favorite spot to watch the World Cup near StauntonMore: Augusta supervisors to take up veterans resolution again: THE AGENDAPatrick Hite is a reporter at The News Leader. Story ideas and tips are always welcome. Connect with Patrick (he/him/his) at phite@newsleader.com and on Instagram @hitepatrick. Subscribe to us at newsleader.com.This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Riverheads baseball beats Lancaster to earn spot in state semifinals

Many Los Angeles Lakers fans who want LeBron James to remain with the team next season are most likely hoping he takes some sort of pay cut in order to help the franchise retain its other free agents and also upgrade its roster. He made $52.6 million this season, and taking a max or near-max salary for next season would seriously handicap Los Angeles in its efforts to build a truly championship-caliber roster around Luka Doncic.Retirement still remains an option for James this offseason, although most expect him to play at least one more campaign. In an exclusive interview with Time magazine, James explained what will dictate how much longer he stays in the NBA.“It’s up to the mind,” says James, 41. “Where the mind goes, the body will lay. When I’m not in love with getting to the arenas on game days five hours before to start my preparation, if I’m out of love with getting to practice 2½ hours beforehand, then I know I’ll be done. Because then I'm going to start cheating the game.”That echoed what James said right after the Lakers were swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in this year's Western Conference semifinals. That evening, he said that if he could commit to showing up early and giving it everything he has, he could continue to play basketball.But in his interview with Time, he gave no indication of whether he would possibly take a little less money on his next contract to help the Lakers in their quest for their 18th championship."James appears in no rush to decide on next season," wrote Sean Gregory. "While Bronny [James] remains under contract with the Lakers for at least one more year, his dad is entering free agency. But when asked if he’d take a discount to come back to L.A. and give the team more financial flexibility, James declined to comment."At least one report has indicated that the future Hall of Famer will not take the mid-level exception to join another team, which, in all likelihood, is all the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors, the two other teams considered to be in the running for his services, can offer him.The Lakers are projected to have roughly $50 million in salary cap space this summer, but making sure the math will math as far as upgrading a roster that brought them a 53-29 record this season won't be easy.This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: LeBron James won't say whether he will take a pay cut with the Lakers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Jac Caglianone went 3 for 3 with two home runs and three RBIs as the Kansas City Royals erased an early deficit to defeat the Texas Rangers 5-3 on Tuesday night.Caglianone, who missed Kansas City's previous game with right shoulder soreness, ended Nathan Eovaldi’s no-hit bid with a leadoff homer in the fifth inning that sailed into the right-field bullpen.In the sixth, Caglianone drove reliever Jalen Beeks' first-pitch changeup 431 feet to right-center for a two-run shot that gave the Royals a 5-2 lead.It was Caglianone’s second multihomer game in the majors; he also hit a pair against the Rangers on June 19, 2025, the first two home runs of his career.The Royals got five extra-base hits in a four-run sixth.Carter Jensen opened the inning with a double off the right-field fence and scored on Maikel Garcia’s one-out triple, tying the score at 2.Garcia scored on Vinnie Pasquantino’s ground-rule double to center for a 3-2 lead.Caglianone also singled and stole a base in the eighth.Eovaldi (5-7) walked a batter in each of his first three innings, but held Kansas City hitless through four. He threw 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on four hits — all for extra bases — with three walks and three strikeouts.Stephen Kolek labored through the first three innings for Kansas City, delivering 55 pitches and allowing six baserunners, but stranded four. Jake Burger’s second-inning RBI single for the Rangers provided the game’s first run. A pair of throwing errors allowed Evan Carter to circle the bases in the fourth, expanding Texas’ lead to 2-0.Kolek exited after five innings. He allowed two runs — one earned — and eight hits.Joc Pederson tripled and scored on Corey Seager's groundout in the seventh, capping the scoring.Josh Jung and Brandon Nimmo each had two of Texas' nine hits.Steven Cruz (1-2) retired all four batters he faced, striking out two to earn the win. Alex Lange fanned two in in a hitless ninth for his fourth save this season, all in the last six Royals games.Kansas City has won five of six.Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel exited in the seventh with a left foot plantar fascia injury.Up nextRangers LHP MacKenzie Gore (4-5, 4.23 ERA) faces Royals RHP Seth Lugo (2-4, 3.91) on Wednesday night.___AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Jun 9, 2026; St. Petersburg, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Rays relief pitcher Bryan Baker (47) reacts after the final out against the Boston Red Sox at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images | Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images The Rays were the kings of the two-out rally on Tuesday night in a 4-3 win over the Red Sox.Tampa Bay put Payton Tolle to the test early when Yandy Díaz lined a single to right, Junior Caminero followed by smoking a ball to the wall in center, and suddenly Tampa Bay had runners on second and third with nobody out to get the game started.Well, sort of suddenly.Caminero got to second, but not before giving us one of the less graceful slides you will see from a professional athlete. It was part stumble, part survival tactic, part “please just let the bag still be there when I arrive.” He made it, and the Rays were in business.Your browser does not support the video tag. Download the video.Then Caleb Durbin ruined the fun.Chandler Simpson hit a hard liner to third, and Durbin made a terrific reaction play, snagging it and doubling Yandy off third before the Rays could cash in on the scoring position. It was the kind of play that flips an inning in one blink. Tampa Bay had Tolle wobbling, had a chance to grab an early lead, and came away with nothing.Durbin at the hot corner! pic.twitter.com/NsJkJwW27Q— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 9, 2026The baseball gods did briefly offer them a second chance when a popup in foul territory near the mound turned into a three-person Red Sox game of “not it” for the baseball. Tolle dropped it while multiple Boston defenders stood around as if catching the ball were not the object of the game. Sometimes big leaguers look like little leaguers. The Rays still could not take advantage, even after Ryan Vilade singled and a passed ball moved him into scoring position. Austin Slater grounded out, and the first inning became a collection of missed chances.View LinkThankfully for the Rays, Nick Martinez was doing his part to keep the game settled.Martinez worked a clean first, then started the second by striking out Willson Contreras swinging. He kept Red Sox hitters uncomfortable and did not let Boston stack together the kind of loud inning that can make a game feel uphill early. Masataka Yoshida grounded out, Mickey Gasper popped out, and Martinez had the Rays right where they needed to be.Boston broke through in the third when Isiah Kiner-Falefa doubled to left, Marcelo Mayer moved him to third with a groundout, and Jarren Duran lined a single to center to make it 1-0 Red Sox. Annoying, but effective baseball from the Red Sox is doing the boring things that matter.Jarren has reached base safely in 19 of his last 22 games with this RBI! pic.twitter.com/gMrWR84vMf— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 9, 2026The Rays, meanwhile, had to get to Tolle before the game got away from them. After going quietly in the third, they finally cracked him in the fourth, with quite the two-out rally.Vilade started it with a double to left with one out. Slater popped out, and it looked like another inning where another runner might be stranded. Then Cedric Mullins put a hard grounder through the infield and into right. Vilade rounded third, Wilyer Abreu came up throwing, and Vilade beat the play at the plate to tie the game. It was a welcome pressure release valve after the Rays had let Tolle off the hook earlier.Then Ben Williamson followed with a shot to the wall in left center for a stand-up double, scoring Mullins and giving the Rays the lead. Nick Fortes kept things moving with another double, bringing Williamson home for a 3-1 lead.Williamson adds on! 2-1 Rays! #RaysUpVia: @RaysBaseballpic.twitter.com/T0Bid8Mvyt— 95.7 WDAE & AM620 (@957WDAE) June 9, 2026Three doubles in the inning. Three runs. All scored with two outs.Tolle had spent the first few innings bending but not breaking. In the fourth, the Rays finally found the weak spot and pushed through it.Martinez took that lead and protected it. In the fifth, Austin Slater helped him out with a leaping catch in right field, robbing what could have been an extra bae hit off the bat of Mickey Gasper. Instead of a leadoff problem, Martinez had an out. He followed with two more lineouts to Chandler Simpson, and the Red Sox were back in the dugout.Clean Slate pic.twitter.com/X3MyUb2HHM— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 9, 2026The sixth was more of the same. Martinez got Mayer on a flyout, struck out Duran, and then retired Rafaela.Tampa Bay added what felt like an important insurance run in the bottom of the sixth. Ben Williamson singled with two outs, Fortes was hit by a pitch, and Richie Palacios lined a single to center to score Williamson and make it 4-1. Again, it came with two outs. Again, it showed the kind of inning extension that has not always been easy for this lineup. A three-run lead with Martinez dealing felt comfortable.Baseball enjoys mocking comfort.The Rays had a chance to push for more in the seventh after Vilade singled and Slater reached on a soft grounder to third. For a moment, it looked like another two-out rally was forming. Instead, Vilade got caught in a rundown between second and third, and the inning ended. The Rays still led by three, but leaving extra runs out there always has a way of becoming relevant later.Sure enough, the eighth inning arrived with trouble attached.Durbin singled. Kiner-Falefa singled. Then Mayer pulled a ground ball down the right field line that stayed just fair, scoring both runners and cutting the Rays’ lead to 4-3. The barely fair ball left the Rays barely leading. Martinez’s night ended there, and despite the late damage, it was still a strong outing.View LinkKevin Kelly entered with the tying run at second and nobody out, which is a lovely little stress test for a reliever. He got Duran to ground out, moving Mayer to third, then retired Rafaela and Abreu to escape with the lead intact, which was huge in this game.The bottom of the eighth offered one more weird twist. Mullins reached on a strikeout and passed ball, giving Tampa Bay a needed baserunner. Williamson then lined a ball to center, but Rafaela made a great play and an even better throw to double Mullins off first. It was impressive for the Red Sox and inconvenient for the Rays.Your browser does not support the video tag. Download the video.So the Rays carried a one-run lead to the ninth, because of course they did. Thankfully, the Red Sox had no plans of ending their winless streak when trailing after eight innings this season.Bryan Baker handled it with no drama, which felt like a generous gift at that point. Contreras popped out, Yoshida grounded out, and Gasper grounded out to finish a 4-3 Rays win.The Rays look for the sweep on Wednesday with Drew Rasmussen slated to take the mound. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 pm EDT.

CHICAGO — Because this was not Angel Reese’s actual first return to her first professional basketball home, the welcome back Tuesday was a little muted.Just one fan hustled to floor level to hold up a sign a few feet from Reese when the Atlanta Dream emerged for stretching. Only one more displayed a sign behind the visitors’ bench. Hoots and whistles followed her official introduction — “At center, Angel Reese” — just before the 6 p.m. CT tipoff, but dissipated quickly. There was no in-game tribute video like the one that ran inside Wintrust Arena when Reese and her club swung through for a preseason game in late April.Yes, Chance the Rapper was on hand to emphatically check the box for celebrity audience members. But four minutes before the Chicago Sky’s initial meeting with the two-time All-Star they traded in the offseason — in a game that counted, anyway — anyone else could get in the building for less than $20.Now that people had been here and done this twice, maybe it was only right that the basketball was more compelling than the back story. A fourth-quarter surge led the Dream to an 82-75 win over the scuffling but persistent Sky, with Reese showing up in town and generally doing what she’s been doing: Occupying space in the middle of everything.The third-year center finished with 17 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, two steals, six turnovers and a team-high plus-18 rating when she was on the floor. The night also featured just her second made 3-pointer of the year, an emphatic demand for a review to overturn an illegal screen call in the third quarter — turned out Reese was right — and a huge offensive board with 90 seconds left that led to Allisha Gray’s bucket and an 8-point lead. Reese’s layup with 56.1 seconds left to bump the advantage to 10 was the icing.According to Reese, multiple Dream teammates requested a heavy dose of her energy and competitiveness on this trip to her former stomping grounds. Asked and received, all on the heels of an 18-point, 17-board night one game earlier against the Washington Mystics.“Just finding my flow, finding where I fit in,” Reese said. “The team makes it easy for me because there’s so much talent around me, you just can’t sit on me the whole time, when everybody else is so great.”Most critically, the win preserved the Dream’s hopes of advancing out of the Eastern Conference and into the Commissioner’s Cup final with $500,000 of prize money on the line. Atlanta’s home game against the first-place New York Liberty, who are unbeaten in Cup play, looms on Thursday.And there would continue to be no buyer’s remorse on the ride back from Chicago.To review the particulars: The Sky drafted Reese out of LSU with the seventh overall pick of the 2024 WNBA Draft, one of their two first-rounders that year. (Kamilla Cardoso, still with the club at starting center, was the other selection at No. 3.) She made two All-Star appearances in two seasons in Chicago before some turbulence at the end. Reese was critical of teammates and asked to be coached harder in a story published by the Chicago Tribune in September 2025, which earned her a half-game suspension by the team. She didn’t play another game for the Sky.On April 6 came the blockbuster announcement: Atlanta picked up Reese in exchange for first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, plus a second-round pick swap in 2028.Since then, both sides have taken pains to paint it as the best move for both parties. When the teams met for the preseason game in Chicago in late April, the Sky rolled a tribute video for Reese during the first timeout, which was followed by a standing ovation.Since then, fates have diverged. Starkly. The Dream entered Tuesday tied with the Dallas Wings for the league’s third-best record, with Reese averaging 13.3 points and a WNBA-best 11.7 rebounds per game. The Sky, meanwhile, stumbled in three games under .500, thanks primarily to an offense with the league’s second-worst effective field goal percentage (45.4). (Which prompted offseason pickup Skylar Diggins to call out the team for a “loser mentality” after a blowout road loss to the Toronto Tempo.)The Sky offense flipped for a half on Tuesday but didn’t sustain the rate of production after the break. Which ultimately led to “sell the team” chants from the home crowd and a victory lap for Reese once the buzzer sounded, a one-woman parade of autographed hats and delirium-inducing selfies.“She had a remarkable game,” Dream coach Karl Smesko said of Reese. “I think she’s got back-to-back 17 rebound (games) and that hasn’t been done by a Dream player ever. I really thought down the stretch, she made really big plays. We were looking for her to screen and get behind people and she did it. Just a great effort by her. It seems like down the stretch, she has a tendency to step up and do what needs to be done.”“WE MISS THE MEBOUNDS,” read that sign held aloft by the young girl in a Dream jersey behind the bench.Unfortunately for her and anyone else sharing the sentiment, it’s abundantly clear there’s no going back now.“It just felt like another game,” Reese said. “Just doing my job.”This article originally appeared in The Athletic.Atlanta Dream, Chicago Sky, WNBA2026 The Athletic Media Company

Will he end the curse? Messi steps up, scores and 🇦🇷 stay No 1The current world champion will have the mission of defending its 2022 title starting on the 16th, when it faces Algeria in Kansas City. But to succeed at this year’s FIFA World Cup, Argentina will need to defy the FIFA Ranking “curse.”This Tuesday’s (9th) 3-0 win over Iceland confirmed that the Albiceleste will begin the World Cup at the top of that ranking. Which is not a good omen.NEVER has the team that started the World Cup as No. 1 in the organization’s ranking — which has existed since 1994 — gone on to lift football’s most famous trophy.Special mention goes to Brazil’s four “attempts.” Check out the history below:1994 - 🇩🇪 Germany top - 🇧🇷 Brazil champion1998 - 🇧🇷 Brazil top - 🇫🇷 France champion2002 - 🇫🇷 France top - 🇧🇷 Brazil champion2006 - 🇧🇷 Brazil top - 🇮🇹 Italy champion2010 - 🇧🇷 Brazil top - 🇪🇸 Spain champion2014 - 🇪🇸 Spain top - 🇩🇪 Germany champion2018 - 🇩🇪 Germany top - 🇫🇷 France champion2022 - 🇧🇷 Brazil top - 🇦🇷 Argentina champion France (2002), Spain (2014) and Germany (2018) were the biggest disappointments, as they were eliminated in the group stage.Absent from the 1990 and 1994 editions and knocked out without a win at Euro ’92, France was only 18th in the rankings when it won its first World Cup. Italy, meanwhile, was in 13th place when it surprised everyone in 2006.📊 How important is the Ranking?The top two teams in each of the 12 groups will advance to the pre-round of 16 along with the eight best third-placed teams.And FIFA Ranking position is among the tiebreak criteria used to define those eight teams.The order announced by FIFA is: 1) head-to-head; 2) better goal difference, 3) more goals scored; 4) fewer red and yellow cards; 5) better FIFA ranking position.Scaloni rested players and ran testsUnable to count on Dibu Martínez — recovering from a fracture in his hand — and with the specialist full-backs far from ideal form, Scaloni went with Giay at RB and Medina at LB.The Palmeiras full-back is on the 55-man list and had already faced Honduras. He is hoping to take the spot of the already cut Balerdi or even one of the full-backs.Several starters were rested. That guaranteed, for example, Flaco López a place in the starting 11.Argentina started with: Rulli; Giay, Otamendi, Lisandro Martínez and Medina; Exequiel Palacios and Barco; Nico Paz, Lo Celso, Giovanni Simeone and Flaco.And it went into halftime ahead thanks to Barcos, who pounced on a loose ball and beat Olafsson (8').Romero, Lautaro Martínez, De Paul, Mac Allister and Enzo Fernández were the first called upon at the start of the second half. Argentina almost extended the lead after a passing move that ended with Lautaro hitting the post.He came off the bench to DECIDE 🔥Then came Messi, brought on in the 70th minute. Right after his first touch, he set Lautaro up perfectly, but the Inter Milan striker wasted the chance before winning a penalty.Messi then made it his 117th goal in 199 matches for Argentina in the 72nd minute.The No. 10 delivered again in the 87th minute in a move that ended with Almada scoring. In just over 20 minutes, he showed that he has recovered well from the muscle fatigue. Argentina will make its debut next Tuesday (16th), when it faces Algeria. Austria and Jordan complete Group J.This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.

Jordan Staal scored his second goal of the game while stretched out on his stomach at 6:32 of the third period to put the Carolina Hurricanes ahead for good in their 5-3 victory on Tuesday night over the Vegas Golden Knights and even the Stanley Cup Final after four games.Game 5 is Thursday night at Carolina, which will potentially have two games on home ice to win its first Cup in two decades. The Golden Knights are searching for their second in four years.This was the first game not decided by one goal.A two-goal lead has disappeared in all four games this series. Each team has led by at least that many twice.The Golden Knights, who lead the series 2-1, have outscored Carolina 9-1 in the second period in the final.Mike Bossy in 1982 with the New York Islanders against the Vancouver Canucks was the last player score in the first four games of a final. Staal is the ninth to do it.Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake also scored for the Hurricanes. The goal from Blake came just after the power play expired, but Staal’s occurred with a man advantage. Blake also has an assist.Brandon Bussi started in place of Frederik Andersen in goal and has made nine saves. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour told ABC that Andersen, who did not dress, needed the rest. Pyotr Kochetkov is the backup goalie with Andersen serving as the emergency goaltender.“Let (Andersen) rest,” Brind’Amour said. “Give him as many days here as we can.”Mark Stone, William Karlsson and Brett Howden scored goals for the Golden Knights, and Carter Hart has made 20 saves. Karlsson also has an assist.The Hurricanes outplayed the Golden Knights in the period, outshooting Vegas 14-6. But the Golden Knights, according to Natural Stat Trick, had four high-danger chances to three for Carolina.The difference was the Hurricanes took advantage of their chances.Brind’Amour replaced Andersen with Bussi trailing 4-0 after two periods in Game 2 on Saturday, and he saved the first 18 shots he faced as the Hurricanes mounted a furious rally. Bussi failed to save the 19th shot when Theodore knocked the puck off the boards and it bounced off Bussi’s skate for a Golden Knights victory.Should the Golden Knights win and take a 3-1 series lead, they will be in an almost unbeatable position. Teams with such an advantage in the final are 38-1, the one defeat occurring 84 years ago when Detroit lost a 3-0 lead and fell to Toronto.A Hurricanes victory would not only even the best-of-seven series, but regain home-ice advantage with potentially two of the three remaining games in Carolina.

Tremont will play at the Class 1A IHSA baseball state finals.The Turks rolled to a 9-1 win over Armstrong at the Bloomington Supersectional on Tuesday, June 9. Tremont (37-2) heads to Illinois Field in Champaign, facing Jacksonville Routt (24-12) at 10 a.m. Friday, June 12 in first state semifinal.Tremont's lone state finals appearance resulted in a 2011 Class 1A state fourth-place finish.Three-run innings were the Turks' specialty at Horenberger Field on the Illinois Wesleyan campus. In the bottom of the third, Josh Papenhuse's two-run, infield single plated two of the three runs for the Turks, who are riding a 23-game win streak.In the next inning, Valparaiso signee Andrew Dawson made it 6-0 when he ripped a two-RBI triple to centerfield. He had two of Tremont's five hits.Dawson then scored in the sixth when Chase Rhodes reached on an infield error. A Griffin Meeker triple to center scored Eli Bohm. Hunter Smith picked up with win, striking out 12, walking none and giving up two hits in 6.0 innings.IHSA baseball: 2026 Illinois state finals scheduleClass 1A: Putnam County 7, Galena 4The Panthers broke open the game with a four-run fifth inning to punch their ticket to the state finals for the first since a 2013 state runner-up finish. Putnam County (25-11) now heads to Illinois Field in Champaign, facing North Clay (35-4) at 1 p.m. Friday, June 12 in the state semifinals.In the bottom of the fifth, PC sent seven players to the plate, getting four hits, including Maddox Poole's go-ahead RBI single to left. He came around to score on a wild pitch for a 6-3 lead after a base hit from Carter Hochstatter scored Kade Zimmerlein (2-for-4). Hochstatter (2-for-3) scored before Galena turned an inning-ending double play to set the final score.Galena (23-8) took a 3-2 lead in the top of the fourth with run-scoring hits from Jacob Loso (RBI-single) and Mason Smith (two-RBI double).Poole picked up the win in three innings of relief work. He struck out one, walked none and gave up a hit, plus went 2-for-4 along with Johnathon Stunkel, who also had two of Putnam County's 10 hits.Class 2A: Ottawa Marquette 9, Brimfield/Elmwood 6Brimfield/Elmwood couldn't recover from allowing a three-run fifth inning, preventing the Indians from advancing to the state finals for the first time in program history.Trailing 4-1 entering the bottom of the fourth, Dane Fagerburg and Layne Johnson came up with clutch, run-scoring hits for the Indians. Fagerburg's double to center scored Griffin and Sean Crowe.Johnson then drove Fagerburg home with his single to left, making it a 4-4 game.In the next half inning, Marquette (37-3), which faces St. Joseph-Ogden (38-2) at 7 p.m. Friday, June 12 in the state semifinals, plated three runs off a Caden Durdan double, a single by Alec Novotney and a bases-loaded walk.B/E, however, wasn't done, pulling the Indians within 7-6 in the sixth. Brody Kenney singled home Tommy Burkitt and Griffin Hougham. Marquette then added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh before the Indians left a pair of runners stranded in the bottom half of the frame.The Indians boasted five hits, including one from Illinois State signee Kaden Schatsiek, who was also intentionally walked twice. Novotney was 4-for-5 with three RBIs for the Crusaders, who are the two-time reigning Class 1A state champions before getting bumped up a class for the 2026 season.This article originally appeared on Journal Star: IHSA baseball: Tremont wins Class 1A super, advances to state finals

Uruguay's defender #06 Patricio Pacifico celebrates scoring his team's second goal during the 2025 South American U-20 football championship match between Uruguay and Peru at the Metropolitano de Lara stadium in Cabudare, Lara state, Venezuela on January 29, 2025. (Photo by EDILZON GAMEZ / AFP) (Photo by EDILZON GAMEZ/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images Barcelona have made a decision on young defender Patricio Pacifico’s future in the wake of his devastating knee injury that is expected to keep him out of the game for a year.Pacifico arrived on loan in winter but suffered a torn ACL towards the end of the season that required surgery and means he faces a long spell on the sidelines.According to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona still want to keep Pacifico and are now talking to his parent club Defensor about next steps.Pacifico’s initial loan included a clause that would have made his transfer permanent if he’d made 10 appearances for Barca. He only managed seven before getting injured but Barca still want him to continue at the club.The report states that Barca want another loan and will include a new clause that makes the transfer permanent if he makes three more outings for the club.Barcelona will still have to wait a long time to see Pacifico back in action. He’s not scheduled to return until the end of next season and has a long road back to full fitness ahead of him

We’re back with a new Breaking T shirt, featuring Milwaukee’s star backstop.In Monday night’s wild 15-14 victory, William “Wild Bill” Contreras hit what at the time looked like a put-away three-run homer in the 10th inning, giving the Crew a 14-10 lead (though it would ultimately take them 12 innings to score the deciding 15th run).WILLIAM CONTRERASHalfway back to Milwaukee! pic.twitter.com/fOLAnXOkf3— Dominic Cotroneo (@Dom_Cotroneo) June 9, 2026Even so, Contreras’ homer left us with another memorable moment for the Brewer catcher, which you can now get on a shirt from our friends at Breaking T.Milwaukee’s William Contreras knows that sometimes, you have to get low to get a good view of the long ball. Officially licensed by MLB Players, Inc.Super-soft, durable t-shirts and hoodiesDesigned and printed in the USAFree returns and exchangesAnd while you’re at it, don’t forget about Contreras’ other very memorable home run from the 2025 NLDS, when he told Craig Counsell and the Cubs to “Call the Bullpen.” You can grab a shirt of that here.Did William Contreras recreate Craig Counsell calling the bullpen with this pimp job? pic.twitter.com/oJNno2prdj— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) October 7, 2025Click here to get a “Watch It Go Wild Bill” shirt and click here to get a Call the Pen shirt from Breaking T. And be sure to check out their full line of Brewers’ merchandise here.

AUBURN — The 88,034 people that filled the stands of Jordan-Hare Stadium had been calling for Argentina's Lionel Messi on multiple occasions after it was announced that he wasn't in the starting lineup in the World Cup friendly against Iceland.The chantings prevailed after Messi entered the match at the 70th minute on Tuesday, June 9, after a cooling break to an eruption of cheers that shook the air across campus.Two minutes into Messi's playing time on the pitch of Pat Dye Field, he delivered a well-timed looping pass that drew a foul inside of the goalie's box, forcing a penalty kick.None other than Messi lined up for the penalty kick for Argentina. He took two steps with his left foot before a brief hesitation, then booted the ball to the upper right corner of the goal. After spending 70 minutes on the bench for Argentina, Messi only needed two minutes to increase the lead over Iceland.🚨🇦🇷 Lionel MessiArgentina 2-0 Iceland. Make sure you’re following @WorldCup26HQ for everything related to the World Cup.pic.twitter.com/6s5CUNp4U7— World Cup HQ (@WorldCup26HQ) June 10, 2026HOW MUCH IS AUBURN MAKING FOR FRIENDLY: What will Auburn athletics earn from World Cup friendly at Jordan-Hare Stadium?HOW AUBURN PREPPED FOR FRIENDLY: How Auburn athletics prepped for World Cup friendly at Jordan-Hare StadiumArgentina won 3-0.Jaeden Day covers high school sports, Alabama State football and Auburn recruiting for the Montgomery Advertiser/USA Today. You can find him on X at dayjaeden12, or reach him at JDay@montgome.gannett.com.This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Watch Lionel Messi net goal for Argentina vs Iceland in World Cup friendly

Los Angeles Angels star Mike TroutThe Philadelphia Phillies could use a boost in the outfield and the Los Angeles Angels are a team that is having a bad season and has an outfielder worth looking into. Angels superstar Mike Trout would be the perfect target for the Phillies. It doesn't hurt that he's from around the area as well. Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller pitched a mock trade that both sides should be all over. "The Trade: Los Angeles Angels send CF Mike Trout to Philadelphia Phillies for RHP Gage Wood and CF Justin Crawford," Miller wrote. How Realistic Are We Talking? Now roughly two-thirds of the way through his 12-year, $426.5M contract, what we've consistently heard about Mike Trout is that he's perfectly happy in Anaheim and would be unlikely to waive his no-trade clause if the Angels ever came to him with a proposal.Do you have a take to get off your chest? Do you want to engage in a growing Phillies community? Comment on our content alongside staff and fans alike!"However, what we also know about Trout is that he's a Jersey kid who grew up as a huge Phillies fan. If he's going to go anywhere in pursuit of a ring, Philadelphia seems the likeliest destination, by far. And the Phillies could certainly use some outfield help."Now, it would be pretty surprising to see Trout on the move. But if any team would make sense for him, it would be the Phillies.More MLB: Dodgers-Twins Trade Pitch Brings Joe Ryan To Los Angeles

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Hurricanes captain Jordan Staal chose the simple approach to Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final with Carolina trailing in the best-of-seven series.But, the 20-year veteran’s game-winning goal Tuesday night was anything but simple. Then again, considering how he has played against the Vegas Golden Knights in this series, perhaps it was.With the game tied at 3 in the third period, Staal’s sprawling backhand shot while in mid-air with 13:29 left beat Vegas' Carter Hart and found the back of the net for his second score of the game, and it held up as the winner in the 5-3 victory.The series is tied at 2 and returns to Carolina for Game 5 on Thursday.Staal, who has five goals in the series, became the first player since Mike Bossy of the New York Islanders in 1982 to score a goal in each of the first four games of the final.Staal also tied the second-longest playoff goal streak in franchise history, behind teammate Logan Stankoven, who set the record at five earlier this postseason.Staal has 11 points in these playoffs, including seven goals.___AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

May 24, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog (92) warms up before a game against the Vegas Golden Knights in game three of the Western Conference Final of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn ImagesStephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn ImagesDENVER (AP) — Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog was presented with not one, but two awards on Tuesday, earning the Mark Messier Leadership honor and the Masterton Memorial Trophy.The 33-year-old forward from Sweden becomes the first player to win both in the same season. It’s been a long road back to the rink for Landeskog in his return from a serious knee injury.The Masterton Trophy is awarded to the player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.”The Messier Award goes to the player who demonstrates “great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice, during the regular season and who plays a leading role in his community growing the game of hockey.”Landeskog celebrated the awards with his wife and young kids. His wife helped keep him winning the Masterton under wraps until the trophy was brought out in a video posted by the NHL.Landeskog’s knee issues began after a skate blade cut his right knee during the 2020 playoffs in the Edmonton bubble. He worked his way through it and helped the Avalanche to a Stanley Cup title in 2022.The Cup clincher, though, was his last game for quite a stretch. After missing a full season, Landeskog underwent cartilage replacement surgery on May 10, 2023.He made it back last season for Game 3 of the playoffs against Dallas, which was his first NHL contest in 1,032 days.This season, he had 14 goals and 21 assists over 60 regular-season games. Colorado went 45-7-8 with him in the lineup and 10-9-3 when he was out.He added six goals and five assists in the playoffs before the Avalanche were swept in the Western Conference Final by Vegas.Landeskog remains active in the community, too, taking part in Kroenke Sports and Entertainment’s (KSE) Charity Brunch and leading the team’s annual hospital visit. He also hosts several local foundations through the team’s “Community Ticket Pride” program.His recovery from his knee injury was covered in a six-part documentary series titled “A Clean Sheet.”The Masterton Trophy, which is presented by the NHL Writers’ Association, was first awarded in 1967-68. The Mark Messier Leadership Award made its debut in 2006-07.