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Jacob Holt scores 23 to help Sacramento State beat Stanislaus State 98-47TORONTO — Hannah Miller scored a power-play goal with 1:38 remaining in the game, lifting the Toronto Sceptres to a 3-1 victory over the Boston Fleet in the Professional Women's Hockey League season opener on Saturday. With Boston standout Hilary Knight in the penalty box for a vicious boarding penalty on Sceptres defender Renata Fast, Miller made good on her rebound attempt on a Daryl Watts shot with a half-open net. Fast recovered for an assist on the winner before 8,089 fans at Coca-Cola Coliseum. The Fleet (0-1-0) challenged the goal, but video review deemed Miller's shot was good. Sarah Nurse got Toronto (1-0-0) on the board with a short-handed tally 11:50 into the first period and Emma Maltais added an empty-net strike to seal the score at 3-1 with 12 seconds left on the game clock. Boston's Hilary Knight opened the scoring at the 3:00 mark of the opening frame, sending a slap shot past Toronto goalie Kristin Campbell, who registered 18 stops on the night. Toronto outshot Boston 41-19. Boston goalie Aerin Frankel, a big reason why her team advanced to the Walter Cup final last spring, was outstanding with 38 saves. Frankel made a significant glove-hand stop on Toronto defender Jocelyne Larocque with 6:36 remaining in the third period. Larocque was alone when a rebound caromed to her in front. But the puck was rolling, and she could only lift her shot straight into Frankel's glove. Nurse's goal tested the league's new jailbreak rule that sees a minor penalty — in this case, Izzy Daniel's tripping infraction — wiped out when a team scores a short-handed goal. . Takeaways Sceptres: Billie Jean King MVP Natalie Spooner missed the season opener. The PWHL scoring champion underwent left knee surgery last June after getting injured in Game 3 of Toronto's first-round series against Minnesota. Fleet: Defender Emma Greco of Burlington, Ont., played her first game for Boston. She was part of the Walter Cup-winning Minnesota team that defeated Boston in a three-game series last spring. Greco is one of five Ontario-born players on the Fleet roster. Key moment With the game tied 1-1, the Sceptres failed to score during a 59-second 5-on-3 advantage midway through the second period. Boston blocked five shots during the span. Key stat Last year, Toronto enjoyed an 11-game win streak en route to its regular-season championship, including three wins against Boston. Up next Toronto visits Ottawa on Tuesday. Boston will play its home opener on Wednesday, a rematch with the Walter Cup-champion Minnesota. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 30, 2024. Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press

The decision by Tesco, Musgrave and the BWG Group came after a woman who said Mr McGregor raped her won a civil claim for damages against him. Nikita Hand, who accused the sportsman of raping her in a Dublin hotel in December 2018, won her claim against him for damages in a case at the High Court in the Irish capital. In a statement, a spokesman for Musgrave said: “Musgrave can confirm these products are no longer available to our store network.” The network includes SuperValu, Centra, Daybreak and Mace. A Tesco spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we are removing Proper No Twelve Whiskey from sale in Tesco stores and online.” A spokesperson for BWG Group said: “The products are no longer listed for distribution across our network of Spar, Eurospar, Mace, Londis and XL stores, including Appleby Westward which operates over 300 Spar stores in the south west of England.” It is understood that other retail outlets including Costcutter and Carry Out will also stop stocking products linked to Mr McGregor. He and some of his business partners sold their majority stake in the Proper Number Twelve Irish whiskey brand. He was reported to have been paid more than £103 million from the sale to Proximo Spirits in 2021. On Monday, a popular video game developer decided to pull content featuring the MMA fighter. The Irish athlete has featured in multiple video games, including voice-acting a character bearing his likeness in additional downloadable content in the Hitman series. Mr McGregor’s character featured as a target for the player-controlled assassin in the game. IO Interactive, the Danish developer and publisher of Hitman, said in a statement: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately. “We take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications. “Consequently, we will begin removing all content featuring Mr McGregor from our storefronts starting today.” Last Friday, the High Court jury awarded damages amounting to 248,603.60 euros (around £206,000) to Ms Hand. Mr McGregor made no comment as he left court but later posted on social media that he intended to appeal against the decision.NoneI styled shimmering gold jumpsuit with glam fur coat from Dunnes Stores for New Year’s Eve – here’s how it looks on

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Bypassing scrutiny or getting things done? The secret change to government spending decisionsReports: Delaware State hires DeSean Jackson as head coach

SAN DIEGO (AP) — With his stellar America’s Cup career behind him, Jimmy Spithill introduced his new Red Bull Italy SailGP Team on Thursday in Dubai just ahead of the opening regatta of the global league’s fifth season. Spithill, the team’s CEO and founder, pulled a major coup by hiring his old America’s Cup crewmate and fellow Australian, wing trimmer Kyle Langford, from the Australian team that dominated SailGP for the first three seasons. Italy, SailGP's 12th team, sailed its foiling 50-foot catamaran for the first time Thursday. After practice racing on Friday, the opening regatta will be Saturday and Sunday. “It’s been definitely a big push,” Spithill said in a video interview with The Associated Press. “It’s all come up really quick. We’re almost there.” Spithill left the U.S. SailGP team in November after 2 1⁄2 seasons to focus on starting the Italian team and on sailing in this year’s America’s Cup. He was co-helmsman of Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Team, which was eliminated by INEOS Britannia in the challenger finals. Double Olympic gold medalist Ruggero Tita will helm the Italian team, while two-time bronze medalist and recent Women’s America’s Cup winner Giulia Fava will be the strategist and Italian national champion Andrea Tesei will be the flight controller. Alex Sinclair also followed Spithill, joining grinders Matteo Celon and Enrico Voltolini, who have extensive high-performance and America’s Cup experience. Spithill said his crew has “some absolute next-generation stars, from different backgrounds, Olympics, America’s Cup, and it’s just awesome having Kyle come in.” Spithill, 45, said he’ll be on the boat only if someone gets hurt or sick. “These young guys are too good at it,” he said. “The talent that’s coming through in Italy, I mean, the results do the talking.” More stars having been switching teams in SailGP, which was co-founded by tech billionaire Larry Ellison. Signing Langford is a big deal for the new team. Shortly before the 2013 America’s Cup on San Francisco Bay, Langford was promoted to Oracle’s race crew after wing trimmer Dirk de Ridder was suspended by an international jury. With Emirates Team New Zealand at match point at 8-1, Spithill skippered Oracle to eight straight wins in one of the greatest comebacks in sports to retain the Cup. “One thing that really attracted him was a chance to start out and really play a major role with the new team and especially the emerging talent,” Spithill said. “It would have been really easy for him to say, ‘You know what? I’m comfortable with the Aussies.’ But the fact that he’s stepped out of his comfort zone and he’s challenging himself as an athlete in this stage of his career is just massive.” While talented, the Italian crew will have the least experience together in the high-performance F50 catamaran. Spithill said Langford “is going to play a huge role in getting this team up to speed. I mean, the F50 is, without a doubt, probably the hardest boat to sail out there.” After sailing for Luna Rossa in three of his eight America’s Cup campaigns, Spithill has seen how passionate Italian fans are. “When you talk about an exciting market for the sport, I mean, it doesn’t get any better than Italy,” he said. “It has a huge following in Italy and they’ve got a real cultural attachment to the ocean and the sport itself.” Spithill said immediately after Luna Rossa’s loss in early October that it was time to step away from the America’s Cup. “The point is, we didn’t get the job done so I hold myself accountable for that. And I also am seeing firsthand that this next generation of talent coming through and I believe they deserve a shot, you know?” “I really think SailGP is the future of the sport. The whole regular season, the concept makes a lot of sense,” he said. Dubai is the first of 14 regattas. At season’s end, the top three crews will race in the $2 million, winner-take-all Grand Final. Also Thursday, Rolex was announced as SailGP's first title sponsor as part of a 10-year deal. Bernie Wilson has covered sailing for The Associated Press since 1991.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jalen Hurts may sit out a potential NFC East clincher against Dallas because of the lingering effects of a concussion . The Eagles could also just rest Hurts to play it safe -- even if he’s medically cleared ahead of Sunday’s game -- and protect their franchise QB from additional injury over the final two games. Eagles coach Nick Sirianni kept quiet this week on which QB will start Sunday, in large part, of course, because of the head injury suffered by Hurts in last week’s loss to Washington that forced him into the concussion protocol . The issue was complicated by backup Kenny Pickett’s rib injury suffered in relief of Hurts in his first real game competition in nearly a year. Tanner McKee, the third-string QB, could move into a backup role — or maybe even get the start against the Cowboys. Philadelphia's starting quarterback situation has surged past Saquon Barkley's chase at Eric Dickerson's season rushing record as the most intriguing talking point in the final two games. The Eagles (12-3) appear certain to win the division title — they're two games ahead of Washington (10-5) — and a No. 2 seed in the conference no matter the quarterback headed into the playoffs. Even with an unsettled QB spot, the Eagles are are still 71⁄2-point home favorites to beat division rival Dallas, per BetMGM Sportsbook. Sirianni appreciated that quarterback depth has been a strength for the Eagles. “We feel good about that room,” he said. So why risk Hurts against the Cowboys? There's little reason to make Hurts play only a week after absorbing a pair of blows to the head and the extra week off — maybe two if the finale against the Giants is truly meaningless — could add to his recovery time ahead of a home playoff game. The Eagles were burned in a similar situation last season when Hurts and star wide receiver A.J. Brown were both injured in the final game against the Giants with little at stake. With both players hampered by unnecessary injuries, the Eagles were dumped the next week by Tampa Bay in the NFC wild-card playoff game. The Eagles have options if Hurts is inactive. Pickett was 14 of 24 for 143 yards in relief, throwing a touchdown pass to Brown and an interception. Pickett, a first-round pick out of Pitt in 2022, went 14-10 as a starter for the Steelers before he was traded to the Eagles in the offseason. McKee was the Eagles’ 2023 sixth-round pick out of Stanford. The 6-foot-6, 231-pound quarterback has yet to take a snap in a regular-season game. He's mostly used in practice on the scout team or in developmental periods — at best, he'll stay late after practice to get some reps in with the top receivers. “Every week, every opportunity, it's knowing it could be my shot, my chance,” McKee said. He could finally get that shot against Dallas. With the Cowboys out of playoff contention, the questions persist for coach Mike McCarthy about bypassing Cooper Rush for a look at Trey Lance before both QBs hit free agency. McCarthy’s answer hasn’t wavered: Rush gives Dallas the best chance to win. Rush is 4-3 since Dak Prescott’s season-ending hamstring tear after going 5-1 over two previous stints as an injury replacement. That’s 9-4 total. Half the losses came in both of Rush’s starts against Eagles – the last of five games filling in during the 2022 season and the first game this season. “The mindset is to win,” McCarthy said. “We’re going to Philadelphia to win the game.” Barkley leads the NFL with 1,838 yards rushing for the season through 15 games. He still needs two big outings in the final games of the season against Dallas and the New York Giants to top Dickerson and his 2,105 yards for the Los Angeles Rams in 1984. Barkley is 268 yards away from passing Dickerson for the season mark and 162 shy from becoming the ninth player in NFL history with 2,000 yards rushing in a season. He ran for only 66 yards in the first game this season against Dallas. Dallas ranks 28th in the NFL in rushing defense, surrendering 135.9 yards per contest. Philadelphia, behind Barkley’s stellar play, tops the league at 187.9 yards per game on the ground. The Eagles have already have set a team record for yards rushing in a season with 2,818, and they are within four rushing touchdowns of tying the club’s single-season mark of 32, set in 2022. Barkley needs four more rushing touchdowns to tie LeSean McCoy’s Eagles record, set in 2011 and just 33 yards from scrimmage to break McCoy’s mark of 2,146 set in 2013. Star Dallas edge rusher Micah Parsons needs half a sack to reach double digits in each of his first four seasons despite missing four games with a high ankle sprain, the first injury absence of his career. The 2021 AP Defensive Rookie of the Year would be the fifth player to reach 10 sacks in each of his first four seasons. The other four — Claude Humphrey, Reggie White, Derrick Thomas and Dwight Freeney - are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. AP Pro Football Writer Schuyler Dixon contributed from Arlington, Texas. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflMost world countries remain Russia’s military allies and partners, Russian President Vladimir Putin said addressing the defense ministry board meeting in Moscow on December 16. "[W]e need to continue to further expand military and military-technical cooperation with allies and partners who are ready and willing to work with us, which includes most countries around the world." That is false. Moscow’s formal alliances are limited to five ex-USSR states-members of Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization, or CSTO, that include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. Beyond CSTO, Moscow is engaged in transactional military partnerships with China, Iran, India, and North Korea. By comparison, NATO has 32 members. Additionally, Russia is dealing with a broad spectrum of international sanctions intended to weaken its military industrial capabilities and aimed at forcing the Kremlin to halt the war in Ukraine. Declining arms exports, international isolation, and the constraints of ongoing wars in Ukraine and Syria further undermine Putin’s claims of extensive global influence. Instead of representing a majority, Russia’s military relationships reflect a concentrated and declining sphere of influence, shaped by pragmatic and often transactional ties. Russia's strategic partnerships are important in their own right, but they represent only a small portion of the global community. They include China, India, Iran, North Korea, and Syria [until the December 8 overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s regime]. Russia and China have fostered a close strategic relationship, particularly in defense and technology. However, this partnership does not constitute a formal military alliance. Both nations have cooperated on military exercises and arms deals but maintain independent geopolitical goals. Historically a significant buyer of Russian arms, India’s reliance on Russia has decreased in recent years as it diversifies its defense procurement to include the United States, France, and Israel. While India remains a key partner, its broader geopolitical stance remains non-aligned. Under Putin, Russia has strengthened military ties with Iran, particularly in regard to drones and missile systems. This relationship has grown amid shared opposition to Western policies but lacks the scope of a formalized alliance. Since September 2023, North Korea has supplied Russia with up to 5 million artillery shells, exceeding Russia’s annual production. Russia also has deployed North Korean KN-23/24 missiles, though with high failure rates. In June, they signed a strategic partnership, and in October, 10,000 North Korean troops were sent to Russia to train and fight against Ukraine. Russia supported Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria since 2011, providing political backing and military aid. From September 2015 to December 2024, Russia’s direct military involvement bolstered Assad’s position. Following Assad’s overthrow in December, however, this alliance dissolved. Estimates of Russia's financial support for the Assad regime vary from more than $20 billion to $27.5 billion over nine years. On the South American and African continents, Russia’s partnerships are limited to a few nations, such as Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua. These relationships are exceptions rather than the norm in the regions largely influenced by Western powers. Russia has leveraged arms sales and private military contractors such as the Wagner Group to maintain influence in parts of Africa. These engagements are primarily transactional, though, and they lack the depth of formal alliances. In the Asia-Pacific region, apart from India and China, Russia’s military partnerships are minimal. Countries like Japan, South Korea, and Australia remain aligned with the United States and its allies. Russia’s arms exports dropped by 53% between 2014–18 and 2019–23, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). In 2019, Russia exported arms to 31 countries, but by 2023, this number dwindled to just 12. In 2019–23, 68% of the total Russian arms exports went to Asia and Oceania. India and China dominated as recipients, accounting for 34% and 21%, respectively. This trend demonstrates that Russia’s influence is concentrated in a few key markets and highlights its reduced global reach in defense trade. Furthermore, competition from other major arms exporters, such as the United States and France, combined with the impact of sanctions and logistical challenges, has significantly curtailed Russia’s ability to expand its arms trade. The current geopolitical landscape further disproves Putin’s claim. The United Nations comprises 193 member states. Most of these nations are not aligned with Russia militarily or engaged in terms of military-technical cooperation. In contrast, many are either neutral or part of Western alliances, such as NATO and the European Union, which directly oppose Russian policies.Last-minute shoppers flock to stores for final giftsWASHINGTON — A former FBI informant whose false claims about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden were at " the heart " of the Republican impeachment inquiry against the president has now been indicted on tax charges. Alexander Smirnov, the former FBI informant charged with lying to the FBI about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, has now been indicted on 10 separate tax-related charges. The new indictment states that Smirnov “received more than two million dollars in income from multiple sources in 2020, 2021, and 2022” and bought “a $1.4 million Las Vegas condominium, a Bentley, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of clothes, jewelry and accessories for himself and Domestic Partner purchased at high-end retailers in Los Angeles and Las Vegas." The charges against Smirnov, who had been a confidential human source for the FBI since 2010, were brought by David Weiss, the special counsel on the Hunter Biden case, which resulted in convictions on gun charges in June and tax charges in September . Before Smirnov was indicted, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said his claims were " the heart " of Republicans' impeachment inquiry against the president . Biden has denied any wrongdoing. In February, federal prosecutors said that Smirnov claimed some of his information came from "officials associated with Russian intelligence." Prosecutors said Smirnov was "actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials" in Nov. 2023. Russia had sought to aid Trump's campaign, and even paid right-wing influencers , according to a separate indictment returned in September. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright also issued an order in Smirnov’s false statements case today, ahead of a trial that is now set to get underway on Jan. 8, 2025.