Breaking News

Uncategorized

Antony Blinken meets with China’s President Xi

BEIJING—U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Friday with Chinese President Xi Jinping and senior Chinese officials, stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the United States and China as the two sides butted heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues. Talks between the two sides have increased in recent months, even as differences have grown. Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues including Taiwan and the South China Sea, ...

Williams, Daniels, Maye, Nix selected in top 12 of NFL draft

AP Pro Football Writer DETROIT (AP) — Caleb Williams swiftly walked on stage, looked out and screamed “Woooo! Yeah!” Long-suffering Bears fans felt his joy. Williams is heading to the Windy City, aiming to become the franchise quarterback Chicago has sought for decades. “My goal is to get into as far as February as I can,” Williams said, referring to playing in a Super Bowl for a team that hasn’t hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in nearly 40 years. The 2022 Heisman Trophy winner kicked off an historic NFL draft Thursday night that had five other teams selecting ...

Round 1 a QB bonanza

AP Pro Football Writer Quarterbacks went off the draft board at a record-setting pace. Thursday night was the fourth time in the common draft era starting in 1967 that QBs went with the top three picks, with three more going in the top 12. It was the fewest number of picks for six QBs to be drafted. This marked the first time five quarterbacks were drafted in the top 10 and matched the famed 1983 class with six first-rounders in all as teams throughout the league went in search of a big-time passer who can turn the fortunes of a franchise. “I wasn’t shocked,” said Bo Nix, ...

NBA Roundup: Gordon leads the Nuggets to the brink of sweep

LOS ANGELES (AP) — With one championship ring and a tenacious veteran core, the Denver Nuggets are a daunting matchup for any opponent in the NBA. They’re clearly a particular nightmare for LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers, who are one game away from an early summer after Denver stretched its winning streak in this lopsided rivalry to a whopping 11 games. Aaron Gordon had a playoff career-high 29 points and 15 rebounds, Nikola Jokic added 24 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists, and the Nuggets moved to the brink of the second round with a 112-105 victory over the Lakers in ...

First-round picks could be on trading block on Day 1 of draft

AP Pro Football Writer The No. 1 pick in the NFL draft already has traded hands, with Carolina sending it more than a year ago to Chicago in a trade to move up to take Bryce Young first overall in 2023. Based on recent history, plenty more first-round picks should change hands on Thursday night with teams either looking to move up a spot or two for a specific player or to make a bigger investment with future picks to trade up for a franchise quarterback. Over the past five drafts, there have been 28 trades during the first day of the draft that included first-round picks, with five ...

Thunder downs Pelicans

AP Sports Writer OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Just a few days ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder looked like a young team struggling through their first playoff game together. On Wednesday night, they looked like grizzled playoff veterans. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and the top-seeded Thunder beat the New Orleans Pelicans 124-92 to take a 2-0 lead in their first-round Western Conference playoff series. Gilgeous-Alexander said the Thunder remained focused instead of worrying about outside issues such as other highly seeded teams struggling at home. “I think it just goes ...