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Coach of Sharks’ AHL team said player who claimed he felt pressured to fight never raised the issue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

SAN JOSE – The head coach of the San Jose Sharks’ AHL affiliate said an exit meeting with forward Martin Kaut, who said he felt pressured to fight by one of the minor league teams’ coaches, actually ended on a positive note with no indication that the 2018 first-round draft pick was unhappy.John McCarthy, a former Sharks forward who is entering his second season as the San Jose Barracuda’s coach, said Kaut didn’t raise any issues with him during his brief time with the team or after the season ended in April.“That’s the strange part is the end of the year meeting was very positive,” McCarthy said Wednesday, “and there was zero contention or complaints on anything along those lines. So, it’s unfortunate.”Kaut, 23, told the Czech website iDNES.cz in a story published in July that an unnamed Barracuda coach would choose an opponent, usually a fellow Czech-born player, before each game for him to fight. When Kaut refused, he said the coach responded by saying tha...

Padres’ Snell overpowers Dodgers in 6-1 victory for Friars’ first series win against LA since 2021

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The San Diego Padres’ postseason hopes faded long ago. Blake Snell’s bid to become the seventh player to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues is alive and well.Snell scattered one hit over six scoreless innings, Juan Soto and Luis Campusano homered and San Diego beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 on Wednesday night to win a series against their NL West rivals for the first time in two years.Snell (14-9), who won the AL Cy Young with Tampa Bay in 2018, allowed just a single to Mookie Betts leading off the game and struck out eight. He’s tied for second in strikeouts with Toronto’s Kevin Gausman with 217. Snell, who leads the majors with 93 walks, issued only one.“It’s something that you want to attack and try to get. It’s the whole goal, that and World Series. Two things you want,” Snell said about being honored as his league’s top pitcher.The Dodgers’ Chris Taylor said, “He’s definitely deserving. Tonight was the best he’s...

La eliminatoria sudamericana y las claves de su doble fecha inicial: Argentina y Brasil ratificaron su poderío futbolístico

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

(CNN Español) — La primera doble fecha de la eliminatoria Sudamericana dejó en claro que Argentina y Brasil siguen siendo los seleccionados más poderosos.Este es un vistazo del desempeño de las diez selecciones en el comienzo de una competencia con destino al Mundial que organizarán México, Estados Unidos y Canadá en el 2026.Argentina y su fútbol de excepciónEl delantero argentino Lionel Messi celebra tras marcar un gol durante el partido de fútbol de las Eliminatorias Sudamericanas para la Copa Mundial de la FIFA 2026 entre Argentina y Ecuador, el 7 de septiembre de 2023. (Foto de Luis Robayo/AFP)El campeón del mundo mostró sus credenciales de excepcional equipo al ganar los dos primeros partidos, que pedían distintas maneras de abordarlos.Los de Lionel Scaloni exhibieron en el juego asociado, en la tenencia del balón, en la agresividad en campo rival el tatuaje futbolístico que les dio la corona en Qatar. Tanto ante Ecuador, en condición de local, como ante Bolivia, de visit...

China slams EU over electric vehicle subsidy probe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

China accused the European Union of “naked protectionist behaviour” on Thursday after Commission President Ursula von der Leyen launched an investigation into state subsidies for Chinese electric vehicles.“China expresses its high concern and strong dissatisfaction” over the probe which “will have a negative impact on China-EU economic and trade relations,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.“China will pay close attention to the protectionist tendency and follow-up actions of the European side, and firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises,” the statement said.China’s reaction comes a day after von der Leyen announced in her annual State of the Union address that she would open an investigation into Chinese e-carmakers, accusing Beijing of “distorting” the European market.The probe, which stems from months of pressure from France to clamp down on insurgent Chinese car manufac...

Cambodia’s new Prime Minister Hun Manet visiting close ally China on his first official trip abroad

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet arrived in Beijing on Thursday on his first official trip abroad since taking office last month. The visit is a demonstration of his country’s warm relations with China, its closest political and economic ally.He is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other officials during a three-day state visit and then attend a trade and investment expo in southern China, according to Cambodia’s Foreign Ministry. A statement said the two countries’ leaders will discuss tightening relations for a shared future with the building of a “Cambodia-China Community,” strategic directions for their bilateral relations and regional and international matters.Photos posted on Chinese social media by state broadcaster CGTN showed Manet and his wife Pich Chanmony walking down the stairs from the plane to a red carpet on the tarmac, where they were greeted by two children, a Chinese official and others. Cambodia is a key Chinese diplomatic part...

Third attempt fails to free luxury cruise ship MV Ocean Explorer that ran aground in Greenland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Another attempt to pull free a Bahamas-flagged luxury cruise ship carrying 206 people that ran aground in the world’s northernmost national park in Greenland has failed after trying to use the high tide, authorities said.It was the third attempt to free the MV Ocean Explorer. Earlier this week, the cruise ship made two failed attempts to float free on its own during high tide. The cruise ship ran aground above the Arctic Circle on Monday in Alpefjord, which is in the Northeast Greenland National Park. The park is almost as much land as France and Spain combined, and approximately 80% is permanently covered by an ice sheet. Alpefjord sits about 240 kilometers (149 miles) away from the closest settlement, Ittoqqortoormiit, which itself is nearly 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) from the country’s capital, Nuuk. The Greenland Nature Institute’s fisheries research vessel Tarajoq attempted to pull the Ocean Explorer free at high tide on Wednesday morning.“Unfortuna...

Whole families drowned in a Libyan city’s flood. The only warning was the sound of the dams bursting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

DERNA, Libya (AP) — The wall of water several stories high smashed into apartment buildings, drowning entire families in minutes. One man, Fadellalah, believes 13 members of his extended family died. He’s yet to hear about the fate of another 20, several days after two dams burst above the Libyan coastal city of Derna, unleashing epic floods that wiped out neighborhoods and sent some of the dead into sea.Thousands of others like him are frantically trying to find out who survived the rain-swollen rampage.As a powerful storm bore down on his hometown, Fadellalah, an information technology worker in Libya’s capital of Tripoli, called his family Sunday to urge them to move to higher ground. “No one expected this,” said Fadelallah, who asked that his surname not be used because he fears reprisal from government officials and armed groups who could view his story as criticism of their efforts.“Some of them didn’t have cars. They didn’t have a way to get out,” he said Wednesday of his fam...

South Korea expresses ‘concern and regret’ over military cooperation talks between Kim and Putin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea on Thursday expressed “deep concern and regret” over a meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin that was apparently focused on expanding military cooperation as the two isolated, nuclear-armed leaders align over their escalating confrontations with the United States.Washington has warned that the summit on Wednesday between Kim and Putin could lead to a deal to supply ammunition for Moscow’s war in Ukraine. There’s widespread concern in Seoul that the North in return would receive advanced weapons technologies from Russia, including those related to military spy satellites, which would increase the threat posed by Kim’s military nuclear program.“We express our deep concern and regret that despite repeated warnings from the international community, North Korea and Russia discussed military cooperation issues, including satellite development, during their summit,” said Lim Soo-suk, South Korea’s Foreign ...

Niger’s junta released a French official held for 5 days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A French official detained in Niger last week has been released, the French government said Thursday. The arrest heightened tensions between France and Niger, where military officers deposed an elected president last month and ordered French officials to leave.France’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Stephane Jullien, counselor for French citizens abroad, was released Wednesday, five days after he was arrested. It didn’t provide details about the release, or about the reason for his arrest. The French government had urged his liberation.Military officers in Niger overthrew and detained elected President Mohamed Bazoum in July and last month ordered the French ambassador to leave the country. France, Niger’s former colonial ruler, has refused to heed the order, saying that the junta isn’t the country’s legitimate authority.French Ambassador Sylvain Itte was asked to leave Niger in a letter from the Nigerien Foreign Ministry that accused him of...

Taxation: New proposals to simplify tax rules and reduce compliance costs for cross-border businesses

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:15:30 GMT

The European Commission has adopted a key package of initiatives to reduce tax compliance costs for large, cross-border businesses in the European Union.The proposal, called “Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation” (BEFIT), will make life easier for both businesses and tax authorities by introducing a new, single set of rules to determine the tax base of groups of companies. This will reduce compliance costs for large businesses who operate in more than one member state and make it easier for national tax authorities to determine which taxes are rightly due. The new, simpler rules could reduce tax compliance costs for businesses operating in the EU by up to 65%.BEFIT will mean that:Companies that are members of the same group will calculate their tax base in accordance with a common set of rules.The tax bases of all members of the group will be aggregated into one single tax base.Each member of the BEFIT group will have a percentage of the aggregated tax base calculated o...