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Blaney wins Martinsville and will race for 1st Cup title in NASCAR’s championship

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

(AP) — Ryan Blaney will race for his first Cup championship after qualifying for NASCAR’s title-deciding finale with a Sunday win at Martinsville Speedway.William Byron, who led the Cup Series with six wins this season, earned the fourth and final slot in the championship by limping to a 13th-place finish. Byron had padded his position with bonus points earned all season and edged Denny Hamlin, who finished third at Martinsville on Sunday, by eight points to qualify for NASCAR’s championship.Blaney and Byron will race Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson next Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, where the Cup championship will go to the highest-finishing driver.“I felt like we put together a really strong playoffs, especially the Round of eight,” said Blaney, who didn’t finish lower than sixth in the three-race round. “Can’t wait to get to Phoenix next week.”Larson and Byron gave Hendrick Motorsports a pair of Chevrolets in the final four, Bell is in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs...

Hundreds storm airport in Russia in antisemitic riot over arrival of plane from Israel

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Hundreds of people stormed into the main airport in Russia’s Dagestan region and onto the landing field Sunday, chanting antisemitic slogans and seeking passengers arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, Russian news agencies and social media reported.Russian news reports said the crowd surrounded the airliner, which belonged to Russian carrier Red Wings.Authorities closed the airport in Makhachkala, the capital of the predominantly Muslim region, and police converged on the facility. Dagestan’s Ministry of Health said more than 20 people were injured, with two in critical condition. It said the injured included police officers and civilians.Video on social media showed some in the crowd waving Palestinian flags and others trying to overturn a police car. Antisemitic slogans can be heard being shouted and some in the crowd examined the passports of arriving passengers, apparently in an attempt to identify those who were Israeli.In a statement Sunday night, Is...

Medical examiner indicates additional investigation required in death of actor Matthew Perry

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

(CNN) — The cause of actor Matthew Perry’s death at his residence Saturday will require additional investigative steps by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office before reaching a conclusion, according to records from the agency.The medical examiner updated its online record for Perry on Sunday afternoon, listing his cause of death as “deferred.”“In cases where the cause of death cannot be determined at the time of autopsy, a deferred certificate will be issued until additional studies have been completed,” according to the LA coroner’s guidelines.The Los Angeles Police Department Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating Perry’s death, but a law enforcement source told CNN that no foul play is suspected. On Sunday, the medical examiner’s records indicated the actor’s remains were ready to be released to his next of kin.Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey told CNN a 911 call came in Saturday at 4:07 p.m. for a water rescue emergency. LAPD respond...

More than 1,000 pay tribute to Maine’s mass shooting victims on day of prayer, reflection on tragedy

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — More than 1,000 people gathered Sunday evening for a vigil to remember those killed and injured in Maine’s worst mass shooting, some putting their heads in their hands as the 18 names of those who died were read. Others quietly wept.The vigil at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston came two days after the body of suspected gunman Robert Card was found. The 40-year-old’s body was discovered in a trailer at a recycling center in Lisbon Falls. Card died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound though it was unclear when, authorities said. Card was also suspected of injuring 13 people in the shooting rampage Wednesday night in Lewiston.Christian leaders along with a rabbi and an imam spoke of the pain from the shooting but also the healing process and the resilience of the community of 40,000. There was also a speaker from Lewiston’s deaf and hard of hearing community who spoke, since four of its...

Wellesley Starbucks boarded up after driver slammed into storefront

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

A Wellesley Starbucks location was boarded up and closed Sunday after a car smashed into the front of the coffee shop Saturday afternoon. The crash on Linden Street happened around 5:30 p.m., according to the Wellesley Police Department. A day later, employees who work in the area described the moment of impact in conversations with 7NEWS. “I heard a loud crash,” said one person. “It sounded as though a dumpster was being emptied.” Employees in the area said they ran out to see what happened. Police said two people inside the vehicle were ultimately taken to a hospital as a precaution. No Starbucks patrons or employees were hit. “Thank God no one was hurt and thank God that my kids and myself weren’t in the building when that happened,” said Haady Taslim, who shops in the plaza where this crash happened. Witnesses said there was a couple inside the car that drove into the shop.After this incident, people in the area said the situation serves as a remind...

Aid arrives at Gaza, Israel widens military offensive

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Nearly three dozen trucks entered Gaza on Sunday in the largest aid convoy since the war between Israel and Hamas began, but humanitarian workers said the assistance still fell desperately short of needs after thousands of people broke into warehouses to take flour and basic hygiene products.The Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, said the death toll among Palestinians passed 8,000, mostly women and minors, as Israeli tanks and infantry pursued what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “second stage” in the war ignited by Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 incursion.The toll is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during the initial attack, also an unprecedented figure.Communications were restored to most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people Sunday after an Israeli bombardment described by residents as the most intense of the war knocke...

Multi-acre brush fire breaks out near Lower Otay Lake

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Cal Fire crews are battling a multi-acre brush fire that broke out near the Lower Otay Lake Sunday afternoon.As of 4 p.m., the fire was estimated to have burned about 15 acres. It is moving at a moderate rate of spread with the potential to reach 75 acres, the department said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.Cal Fire Cpt. Brent Pascua says that hand crews will likely be used to cut out the blaze, as well as an aircraft dropping on the fire from overhead.No structures or homes are threatened at this time, officials say.This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Three wounded in shooting at a mall in Chula Vista

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Three people were wounded Saturday night in a shooting at a Chula Vista shopping mall, police said.According to the Chula Vista Police Department, several calls came in around 7:15 p.m. reporting of shots fired at Novo Brazil, located in the Otay Ranch Town Center. Several Chula Vista police officers responded to the scene along with officers from the San Diego and National City Police Departments. The mall was immediately locked down while officers secured the scene and searched for victims. ‘Friends’ star Matthew Perry dead at 54: reports Three gunshot victims were located, and all were transported to hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, police said. The lockdown was lifted after officers determined there was not an active shooter."Initial indications are that the shooting was not an active shooter and was not random," CVPD said, adding that there was reportedly a dispute between two groups.There is believed to be one shooting suspect who fled with a small ...

Robert Brustein, theater critic and pioneer who founded stage programs for Yale and Harvard, dies

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Robert Brustein, a giant in the theatrical world as critic, playwright, crusader for artistic integrity and founder of two of the leading regional theaters in the country, has died. He was 96.Brustein died on Sunday at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to an emailed statement from Gideon Lester, the artistic director and chief executive of the Fisher Center at Bard University and a decades’ long family friend. Lester said he heard the news from Brustein’s his wife, Doreen Beinart.Known as a passionate and provocative theater advocate who pushed for boundary-breaking works and for classics to be adventurously modernized, Brustein founded both the Yale Repertory Theatre and the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard.Some of the works he championed upset critics and playgoers unused to nontraditional productions, but he was unapologetic. “I know I’m out of step,” he told The New York Times in 2001. “I’m so out of step I’m almost in s...

Unifor says tentative deal reached with St. Lawrence Seaway authority

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 14:57:35 GMT

Unifor says it has reached a tentative agreement with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp. during negotiations to end a strike that began Oct. 22.More to come