WEATHER ALERT
He's back: Italy's Berlusconi wins Senate seat after tax ban
Read full article: He's back: Italy's Berlusconi wins Senate seat after tax banItalyās former premier Silvio Berlusconi is making his return to Italyās parliament nearly a decade after being banned from holding public office over a tax fraud conviction.
Paraguay organized crime prosecutor slain on Colombian beach
Read full article: Paraguay organized crime prosecutor slain on Colombian beachParaguayās prosecutor of organized crime and drug trafficking cases has been slain by gunmen on a Colombian beach as he honeymooned with his new wife, who says the attackers came on a jet ski or small boat.
Assertive Mexico seeks leadership role in Latin America
Read full article: Assertive Mexico seeks leadership role in Latin AmericaA gathering of leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean this weekend is the latest sign of Mexico flexing its diplomatic muscle as it looks to assert itself as the new mediator between the region and the United States.
USOPC leader: 'Thrilled' Biles felt safe to make decision
Read full article: USOPC leader: 'Thrilled' Biles felt safe to make decisionIn a way, the massive upheaval that has upended the U.S. Olympic world over the past five years reached its crescendo in the moment Simone Biles shockingly called it a night during the gymnastics team finals.
Prodigy no longer? Gauff makes breakthrough in Paris at 17
Read full article: Prodigy no longer? Gauff makes breakthrough in Paris at 17American 17-year-old Coco Gauff completely overwhelmed Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-1 at the French Open to become the youngest woman to reach the quarterfinals at any Grand Slam tournament in 15 years.
Riding high: Suter wins downhill for her 1st gold at worlds
Read full article: Riding high: Suter wins downhill for her 1st gold at worldsSwitzerland's Corinne Suter holds the gold medal on the podium after the women's downhill, at the alpine ski World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. Goggia had won the last four downhills on the World Cup circuit, after Suter had triumphed in the first race of the downhill season in France in December. Suter believed her second place in the worlds opener helped her believe she could win gold in downhill two days later. She also won gold in both speed events at the junior worlds seven years ago. Gut-Behrami seemed on course for her second gold medal in two days when she led Suter by more than three-tenths for most of her run.
Gut-Behrami wins elusive gold in worlds opener, Shiffrin 3rd
Read full article: Gut-Behrami wins elusive gold in worlds opener, Shiffrin 3rdThe 2016 overall World Cup champion beat Swiss teammate Corinne Suter by 0.34 seconds, living up to her billing as the main favorite after winning the last four super-Gs on the World Cup circuit. AdāItās a disappointment not to win gold. Even when I made a mistake, I still felt good about my skiing,ā Shiffrin said. Petra Vlhova, the overall World Cup leader from Slovakia, finished ninth, nearly two weeks after gaining her first career super-G podium. āThe worst thing today was the silence,ā said Brignone, who is the defending overall World Cup champion.
Wait a minute: Postponements test skiers' patience at worlds
Read full article: Wait a minute: Postponements test skiers' patience at worldsUnited States' Mikaela Shiffrin inspects the course prior to the women's super-G, at the alpine ski World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. With all events on the opening three days of the skiing world championships postponed, athletes have had their patience ā not their racing skills ā put to the test. Four gold medals should have been handed out by Wednesday, but so far there have been no races. AdāEverybody: Itās always nice weather in Cortina, of course the schedule will play out without any issues! āYou wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and then you race,ā Shiffrin said.
Skiing worlds in Cortina will lack fans but not scenery
Read full article: Skiing worlds in Cortina will lack fans but not scenery(AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta, File)Watching racers whizz through the Tofana schuss at top speed could be the signature image of the skiing world championships. The schuss is also a big part of an endless array of spectacular scenery in Cortina d'Ampezzo, the resort known as the āQueenā of the Italian Dolomites. AdAfter last yearās World Cup finals in Cortina were wiped out because of the spread of COVID-19, organizers asked the International Ski Federation to postpone the worlds to 2022. Former overall World Cup champion Lara Gut-Behrami has won four straight World Cup super-G races and will be an overwhelming favorite for that race on Day 2. AdAlso last month, defending overall World Cup champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde tore ligaments in his right knee in a crash.
Santa's 'grandchildren' spread joy in Italian nursing homes
Read full article: Santa's 'grandchildren' spread joy in Italian nursing homesāDamn!āā Comotti exclaimed when nursing home staff confirmed that her well-wishers - 9-year-old Simon, his sister Marta and mother Alessia - were people she had never met before. The āSantaās grandchildrenā program is in its third year. Last year, it matched 2,550 āgrandchildrenā with residents of 91 nursing homes. This year, 5,800 gifts were dispatched to 228 nursing homes around the country -- an outpouring that is, in part, a reaction to the devastating toll that the coronavirus has had on the elderly, comprising the majority of Italyās confirmed 70,000 COVID-19 dead. This was the Zanchi nursing home's first year participating in the āSantaās grandchildrenā program.
Ledecka edges Suter to add World Cup win to Olympic title
Read full article: Ledecka edges Suter to add World Cup win to Olympic titleCzech Republic's Ester Ledecka speeds down the course during an alpine ski women's World Cup Super G in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)VAL D'ISERE ā VAL D'Ester Ledecka edged Corinne Suter for her first win in a womenās World Cup super-G on Sunday, nearly three years after winning Olympic gold in the discipline. The Czech skier finished three hundredths ahead of Suter, the World Cup super-G champion from Switzerland who won a downhill on the same slope Friday. Brignoneās Italian teammate, Marta Bassino, was fourth, and overall World Cup leader Petra Vlhova finished sixth. The three-time overall champion was expected back in action at technical races in Semmering, Austria on Dec. 28-29.
Death on eve of Brazil's Black Consciousness Day sparks fury
Read full article: Death on eve of Brazil's Black Consciousness Day sparks fury(AP Photo/Andre Penner)RIO DE JANEIRO ā A Black man died after being beaten by supermarket security guards in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre on the eve of Friday's Black Consciousness Day observations, sparking outrage after videos of the incident circulated on social media. A short clip showed one guard restraining JoĆ£o Alberto Silveira Freitas just outside the doors of a Carrefour supermarket while the other pummeled him with repeated blows to the face. Dozens of protesters entered a Carrefour in Brazilās capital, Brasilia, on Friday morning, chanting āBlack lives matter!ā One held a sign reading: āDon't shop at Carrefour. You could die.ā Inside another Carrefour in Rio de Janeiro, protesters shouted "Carrefour Killer!ā as a black man lay still atop the conveyor belt of a checkout. In 2018, a security guard at a Carrefour in Sao Paulo state beat a stray dog to death with a metal bar.