Aston Villa equalizes late to draw at Brentford in EPL

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

Aston Villa equalizes late to draw at Brentford in EPL LONDON (AP) — Douglas Luiz grabbed a late equalizer as Aston Villa snatched a 1-1 draw at Brentford in the English Premier League to keep its aim of European qualification on track on Saturday.Ivan Toney looked to have secured a 100th win for Thomas Frank as Brentford manager with his 20th goal of the season in the 65th minute.But Villa has yet to not score in a match since Unai Emery was appointed manager last October, and Luiz kept up that record with a close-range finish in the 87th.Villa stayed in sixth place, and was two points behind Tottenham in fifth.Villa was unchanged from its 3-0 win over Newcastle last weekend, but was unable to match that dazzling display against a physical Bees side. All it had to show for an anemic first-half performance was Emi Buendia’s toe-poke, which forced an early save from David Raya, and a narrowly wide curler from John McGinn.At the other end, Bryan Mbeumo was giving Alex Moreno the runaround, flicking Toney’s pass over the full back’s head b...

Barcelona beats Chelsea 1-0 in Women’s CL semis 1st leg

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

Barcelona beats Chelsea 1-0 in Women’s CL semis 1st leg LONDON (AP) — An early goal by Caroline Graham Hansen set up Barcelona’s 1-0 win at Chelsea in the first leg of their Women’s Champions League semifinal on Saturday.Graham Hansen put Barcelona ahead just four minutes into the match at Stamford Bridge when the Norway forward cut in from the right and drilled a long-range shot into the top corner.Substitute Marta Torrejón almost grabbed a second goal for the visitors when she headed off the post in the 82nd.The other semifinal on Sunday has Arsenal at Wolfsburg.The game was a rematch of the 2021 European final, when Barcelona routed Chelsea 4-0 to win its first continental title. Graham Hansen scored the fourth and final goal for Barcelona.Her latest goal gave Barcelona 36 in this competition, more than the other semifinalists. It was Graham Hansen’s first goal in this competition after missing most of the season with a thigh injury.“It was just one of these moments you get the ball, everything fits when you go for it and ...

Flambéed pizza thought to have sparked deadly Madrid restaurant fire

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

Flambéed pizza thought to have sparked deadly Madrid restaurant fire (CNN) — A fire believed to have been started by a flambéed pizza has killed two people and injured 12 others at a restaurant in the Spanish capital Madrid, city officials said Saturday.“It appears the fire started when a flambéed pizza was being served, which set fire to the decorations in the restaurant,” Madrid Mayor Jose Luis Martinez Almeida told Spain’s state television TVE at the scene on Saturday, hours after the late Friday night blaze.Spanish media reported that a specialty of the restaurant was a pizza in the flambé style – a cooking procedure where spirits are poured on the food and briefly set alight.“Firefighters told me it was a ferocious fire in the way it started and the smoke it generated, and if the fire station wasn’t just 100 meters (around 330 feet) away, the number of fatalities could have been higher,” said Almeida, speaking to TVE.Carlos Marin, a Madrid fire department night supervisor, said the restaurant ̶...

Looking Glass: What on earth could they be talking about?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

Looking Glass: What on earth could they be talking about? Two 20-year-old men returned their rental car to an agency in Izumo, Japan, but inadvertently left lots of drugs in the vehicle. They soon called in with an urgent message they had “forgotten something” and were coming back “to pick it up, so don’t you dare look at what’s inside.” Employees called the cops.YOU’LL NEVER GET ME, COPPER! … CRASH!: Detectives seeking to arrest a man on two felony warrants, who was hiding in the attic of his home in Cape Coral, Fla., spoke to him through an open hatch, and asked him to surrender. He refused, but soon crashed through the ceiling onto the floor below.DRAT! FOILED BY TECHNOLOGY!: An employee of a restaurant and sports bar in New Rochelle, N.Y., did not wish to go to work, so she sent Google Voice text messages threatening to “shoot up” the place and stating that there would be a “massacre.” The cops traced the phone number back to her apartment in the Bronx.YOU GOTTA’ LOVE TEXAS: Four armed men wearing masks stormed into a gas station conve...

Overnight car crash on Route 24 in Avon kills one, injures another

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

Overnight car crash on Route 24 in Avon kills one, injures another A 30-year-old Randolph man died early Saturday morning after the Toyota Camry he had been driving on Route 24 in Avon rear-ended a tractor-trailer, according to Massachusetts State Police.Richard Maurice, who had been driving the Camry, was traveling in the middle lane on Route 24 southbound when the vehicle collided into the back of a 2018 Freightliner, results from the preliminary investigation indicate.The rear-ending led Maurice to veer off the road into a median, causing the Camry to catch on fire. The tractor-trailer also went off the road, striking a guardrail.State troopers, Avon firefighters and paramedics attempted “life-saving measures” on Maurice at the scene after he was extricated from the car, before it became engulfed in flames, according to authorities.Maurice later died from injuries at Good Samaritan Medical Center. The driver of the tractor-trailer, identified as a 44-year-old man from New Bedford, is receiving treatment for what authorities describe as minor inj...

Israelis protest legal changes before nation’s 75th birthday

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

Israelis protest legal changes before nation’s 75th birthday TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Tens of thousands of protesters flocked to Tel Aviv and cities across Israel on Saturday to vent their opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government and its divisive plan to overhaul the country’s judicial system. The mass protest — which has raged weekly since the start of the year — comes just ahead of Israel’s landmark 75th anniversary celebration. The holiday honoring Israel’s founding in 1948, typically meant to be a display of national unity, has been marred by one of Israel’s gravest crises in its history. Plans by Netanyahu’s government to weaken the Supreme Court have outraged Israelis who see it as an assault on their country’s system of checks and balances and a threat to its very democracy.“This is not about so-called judicial reform, it’s about democracy,” said Sheila Katz, head of the National Council of Jewish Women, from the rally in central Tel Aviv — a sea of blue-and-white n...

DeSantis seeks federal aid for Fort Lauderdale flood victims

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

DeSantis seeks federal aid for Fort Lauderdale flood victims FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the Biden administration on Saturday to declare Broward County a disaster area due to flooding earlier this month after record rainfall.If granted, the declaration would make Broward residents who incurred damage to their homes and other property eligible for a wide range of loans and other assistance. Local governments would also be eligible. More than 2 feet (0.6 meters) of rain fell in some parts of the county April 12. The 1-in-a-1,000-year deluge left some parts of the county with up to 3 feet (0.9 meters) of water. About 1,000 homes were severely damaged, according to the state. The flooding also closed the airport for almost two days. Gas deliveries to the port were also slowed, causing long lines at the pump.The Republican governor is expected to soon announce that he will seek his party’s nomination to challenge President Joe Biden in next year’s election. While frequently sniping at each other, the De...

‘Totally unacceptable’: PSAC ‘fed up’ with pace of talks, asks Trudeau for help

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

‘Totally unacceptable’: PSAC ‘fed up’ with pace of talks, asks Trudeau for help The head of the union representing thousands of striking public-service workers says he is fed up with the pace of bargaining and is calling on the Prime Minister to get involved in the ongoing talks.Chris Aylward, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, says the union presented a package of proposals to the federal negotiators on Thursday, but the union had yet to receive a response by Saturday afternoon. “We have not heard back yet from Treasury Board on a package that we gave them Thursday night and this is Saturday afternoon,” said Aylward. “This screams of the incompetence of Mona Fortier, president of Treasury Board and her team.”More than 100,000 union members walked off the job Wednesday as contract talks broke down.The union says almost a third of all federal public servants are involved in the job action. “Our members are fed up. Our bargaining teams are fed up while waiting for the employer for days.”The workers are...

1-year-old dead after being found unconscious on West Side

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

1-year-old dead after being found unconscious on West Side CHICAGO — A one-year-old boy who died after being found unconscious in a residence in North Lawndale has been identified. The medical examiner's office identified the boy as Zaiden Collins of Chicago. Police said that Collins was found Thursday afternoon in a residence at the 1300 block of South Kedzie Street unconscious. He was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital with trauma to the body and was pronounced dead. Teen, 17, shot in moving vehicle on South Side overnight There is currently no one in custody and police are investigating the incident.

Will the cost of a vacation ever go down?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:56:42 GMT

Will the cost of a vacation ever go down? (NEXSTAR) – Along with eggs and breakfast cereal, the cost of a vacation has skyrocketed in recent years – but will it ever go back to pre-pandemic prices?Experts say don't bet on it."Some categories might see price decreases, but we should also be focusing on whether prices will continue to rise in the future," John Horn, professor of practice in economics at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, told Nexstar. "The price level may not fall, but if it stops rising further, then over time we'd want to see if wage growth caught up so that the buying power when traveling returns to prior levels."According to the U.S. Travel Association, the Travel Price Index for March was 21.5% higher than it was for the same month in 2019. The index tracks the cost of airline fares, motor fuel, transportation within and between cities, recreation, lodging and restaurant costs.In the past year, the greatest single increases were for plane tickets (17.7%), food away from home (8.8...