Status Updated..........

Sunday, 31 March 2024

US star Danielle Collins takes shock Miami Open win in emotional farewell season

Danielle Collins enjoyed a fairytale Miami Open this week, winning one of the biggest titles of her career and accomplishing one of her major goals before she retires at the end of the season. The 30-year-old American, who reached the 2022 Australian Open final, stunned No. 4 seed Elena Rybakina in Saturday’s final to win her first ever WTA 1000 event, and her first title at any level since 2021. Collins has endured much adversity over the years, battling a number of health issues including rheumatoid arthritis and endometriosis, and announced in January that this would be her farewell season. Despite this, she has achieved much in her career, including becoming the world No. 7 and highest ranked American female player at one point. “I have always wanted to win every tournament that I have signed up for, but I do think that because it is my last year, I’m like, I really want to try to win a [WTA] 1000 this year,” Collins said afterwards, per the WTA. “That’s really important to me. That’s something that I talked a lot about with everybody close to me.” Collins, currently the world No. 53, produced an

imperious display filled with powerful hitting to become the lowest ranked woman to ever win the Miami Open. Collins defeated the 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the Miami Open final. Collins defeated the 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the Miami Open final. Frey/TPN/Getty Images During an evenly-poised set, she saved four break points to hold serve at 4-3, before saving another at 5-5 to keep the pressure on Rybakina. And when the Kazakh faltered and conceded three set points at 6-5, Collins pounced to take the first set. TOPSHOT - USA's Danielle Collins reacts while facing France's Alize Cornet during their 2022 US Open Tennis tournament women's singles third round match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, on September 3, 2022. (Photo by COREY SIPKIN / AFP) (Photo by COREY SIPKIN/AFP via Getty Images) RELATED ARTICLE US tennis star Danielle Collins is retiring this year. She has faced more adversity than most Similarly, the second set remained closely fought as the pair exchanged breaks of

serve, before Rybakina squandered two break points and Collins converted hers to take a 5-3 lead. She sealed the win shortly afterwards on her fourth match point. Competing on home soil, the Floridian was roared on by a crowd so enthusiastic she felt like she was “playing in front of thousands of my best friends.” “That was just surreal,” she said, according to the WTA. “I will never forget this day because of that.” She became the sixth American woman to win the Miami Open, following in the footsteps of Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens. Despite her success in Miami, Collins said she will not reconsider her decision to retire. “I feel like all of these questions are coming from such a good place, because I feel like a lot of people would like to continue seeing me play well,” she told Sky Sports. “But like I said, I have some health challenges, and with those health challenges, it makes things for me away from the court a little more difficult. I hope everyone can respect that. It’s a very emotional and personal thing.”

Tuesday, 5 September 2023

‘Shazam!’ Fury of the Gods’ can’t catch lightning in a bottle twice

“Shazam! Fury of the Gods” provides a lightning-bolt-shaped exclamation point on the realization this comedic superhero franchise was, in fact, a one-trick pony – fine for a playful origin story, without enough voltage for an encore. Everything that worked in the original works less well in this so-so sequel, blunting even the star power emitted by its high-profile villains. None of this should really come as a shock, since the main allure of the 2019 introduction to the character involved watching teenage Billy Batson (Asher Angel) transform into a muscular superhero (Zachary Levi) and experience “Big”-like exultation in discovering and exploring his powers, helped by the first-in-line-at-Comic-Con

knowledge of his foster brother Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer). Of course, by the end of that movie all the foster kids had attained similar abilities, which is where “Fury of the Gods” begins, with Billy wracked by fear of abandonment about turning 18 and being forced to venture out on his own. Such earthbound concerns, however, almost immediately give way to a more existential threat, as the daughters of Atlas invade the Earth, armed with a magical staff and determined to reclaim their lost realm no matter how many background actors have to run fleeing for their lives in order to accomplish that objective. The daughters include Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, who bring seriousness and gravitas to their interactions]]\

with Billy/Captain Whoever (the lack of a formal superhero name remains a running gag), who Levi delights in investing with a sheer goofiness that – like everything else here – simply yields diminishing returns. Rachel Zegler (“West Side Story”) is the other key addition, as a new student who catches the shy and awkward Freddy’s admiring eye. March movie preview 01:14 - Source: CNN Plenty of pyrotechnics ensue, including an assortment of fantastic creatures and a not-bad-looking dragon that sets up an appropriate “Game of Thrones” joke. Yet without giving anything away, the two closing-

credit sequences almost perfectly sum up how the movie falls flat, with each feeling too cute for its own good in slightly different ways. Again directed by David F. Sandberg, from a script by Henry Gayden and Chris Morgan, the film exhibits the same affection for the comics and all things pertaining to the DC universe as its predecessor. The inside material includes a lightning-quick cameo by Michael Gray, who played Billy in the 1970s Saturday-morning TV show. That said, it feels like DC has milked this particular franchise (which the company licensed from Fawcett Publications in the 1970s, after years of litigation between them) for more than it’s worth, including the decision to give the antihero Black

Adam his own stand-alone movie. Mirren obviously isn’t a snob about choosing roles these days, mixing in pop-culture staples like the “Fast & Furious” series in addition to her more Dame-like endeavors. Even so, it’s easy to infer a second meaning when her character shoots the smart-alecky hero a steely look and sneers, “You’re wasting my time.” While that’s a harsh appraisal, once you get past the smoke and lightning it’s not an unfair one for a movie that moves fast but isn’t particularly “Fury”-ous. “Shazam! Fury of the Gods” premieres March 17 in US theaters. It’s rated PG-13 and is being released by Warner Bros., like CNN, a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Jimmy Buffett’s sister reveals she was diagnosed with cancer ‘about the same time’ as him

When the late singer Jimmy Buffett was diagnosed with a rare skin cancer about four years ago, his younger sister Laurie Buffett McGuane was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer not long after.

McGuane, who is now cancer-free, told People the siblings supported each other through their individual treatments.

“Jimmy and I became closer because of our cancers. We talked before and after our scans,” she said. “We shared a club that nobody wants to join. I am thunderstruck that Jimmy didn’t make it.”

She remembered her brother, whom she affectionately called Bubba, for inspiring her to stay strong.

“I rode my horse during my treatments and tried to continue with my life the same way Jimmy has done,” McGuane said. “He brought joy to so many. I am very emotional now. When Jimmy was in the world, I felt safe.”

McGuane said she was among the family members by Buffett’s side when he died. She shared a photo of them as children in a tribute on Instagram.

Friday, 29 August 2014

UN says Syria refugees top 3 million mark

This undated image posted Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2014 by the Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group, a Syrian opposition group, which has been verified and is consistent with other AP reporting, shows fighters from the Islamic State group that captured the Tabqa air base from the Syrian government on Sunday, praying inside the air base, in Raqqa, Syria. A U.N. commission on Wednesday accused the extremist Islamic State organization of committing crimes against humanity with attacks on civilians, as pictures emerged of the extremists' bloody takeover of a Syrian military air base that added to the international organization’s claims. (AP Photo/ Raqqa Media Center of the Islamic State group)

GENEVA (AP) — The civil war in Syria has forced a record 3 million people out of the country as more than a million people fled in the past year, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday.

"The Syria crisis has become the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era, yet the world is failing to meet the needs of refugees and the countries hosting them," said U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres.The tragic milestone means that about one of every eight Syrians has fled across the border, and 6.5 million others have been displaced within Syria since the conflict began in March 2011, the Geneva-based agency said. More than half of all those uprooted are children, it said.

Syria had a prewar population of 23 million.

The recent surge in fighting appears to be worsening the already desperate situation for Syrian refugees, the agency said, as the extremist Islamic State group expands its control of broad areas straddling the Syria-Iraq border and terrorizes rivals and civilians in both countries.

According to the agency, many of the new arrivals in Jordan come from the northern province of Aleppo and the northeastern region of Raqqa, a stronghold of the group. An independent U.N. commission says the group is systematically carrying out widespread bombings, beheadings and mass killings that amount to crimes against humanity in both areas.

The commission investigating potential war crimes in Syria said on Wednesday that the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad likely used chlorine gas to attack civilians, who are bearing the brunt of a civil war that has killed more than 190,000 people and destabilized the region.

The massive numbers of Syrians fleeing the civil war has stretched the resources of neighboring countries and raised fears of violence spreading in the region.

The U.N. estimates there are nearly 35,000 people awaiting registration as refugees, and hundreds of thousands who are not registered.

International Rescue Committee President David Miliband said the Syrian refugee crisis represents "3 million indictments of government brutality, opposition violence and international failure."

"This appalling milestone needs to generate action as well as anger," he said, calling for more aid to Syria's overburdened neighbors and for civilians still in the country.

The refugee agency and other aid groups say an increasing number of families are arriving in other countries in shockingly poor condition, exhausted and scared and with almost no financial savings left after having been on the run for a year or more. In eastern Jordan, for example, the agency says refugees crossing the desert are forced to pay smugglers $100 per person or more to be taken to safety.

Lebanon hosts 1.14 million Syrian refugees, the single highest concentration. Turkey has 815,000 and Jordan has 608,000.

Jolie, Pitt wed privately at chateau in France

Follow Yahoo News

ABC News Videos

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Get Married in France





ABC News Videos

NEW YORK (AP) — The wait is finally over: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Hollywood's reigning royal couple, have tied the knot.

Despite two years of feverish scrutiny, the pair managed to keep one of the world's most anticipated weddings shrouded from the media's glare.

When? Where? Why haven't they yet? Did they already? The celebrity press and "Brangelina" fans alike had been consumed with the matrimonial mystery.

On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the couple confirmed to The Associated Press that they wed Saturday in a private ceremony in Southern France. The representative, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to be quoted by name, said Jolie and Pitt exchanged vows in a small chapel at the Chateau Miraval in the Provence hamlet of Correns.

Since 2008, Miraval has been the couple's Southern France home, a sprawling estate they bought three years ago.

The union was less a vow of commitment than the official affirmation of one made long ago. Pitt and Jolie have been together nearly a decade and have six children, all of whom participated in the wedding.

The wedding may have been cloaked in secrecy, but Pitt and Jolie are preparing to be a big presence at the movies this fall. Pitt stars in the upcoming World War II drama "Fury," due out Oct. 17. Jolie's second directorial effort, the World War II odyssey "Unbroken," will be released in December.

On Thursday, Pitt was far from any honeymoon hideaway. Instead, he was at the Bovington Tank Museum in Dorset, U.K., promoting "Fury," a brutal tale about a tank of American soldiers rolling through Europe in the final days of World War II.

Both movies could be major players in Hollywood's award season, which last year was dominated by a film produced by Pitt, the best picture-winning historical drama "12 Years a Slave."

At Saturday's ceremony, Jolie walked the aisle with her eldest sons, 13-year-old Maddox and 10-year-old Pax. Daughters Zahara, 9, and Vivienne, 6, threw flower petals. Eight-year-old Shiloh and Knox, 6, served as ring bearers, the couple's spokesman said.

In advance of the nondenominational civil ceremony, Pitt and Jolie obtained a marriage license from a local California judge. The judge also conducted the ceremony in France.

Pitt once said that he didn't want to marry until gay marriage was legal everywhere, but in recent years, the couple had said publicly they intended to. They were engaged in early 2012 after some seven years together.

"It's an exciting prospect, even though for us, we've gone further than that," Pitt told The AP in an interview in November 2012. "But to concretize it in that way, it actually means more to me than I thought it would. It means a lot to our kids."

This is the second marriage for Pitt, who wed Jennifer Aniston in 2000. They divorced in 2005.

Jolie was previously married to British actor Jonny Lee Miller for three years in the late 1990s and to Billy Bob Thornton for three years before divorcing in 2003. Jolie has said she and Pitt fell in love while making the 2005 film "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

Jolie won the supporting actress Oscar for "Girl, Interrupted" in 1999 and was nominated for the best-actress Oscar for 2008's "Changeling." Pitt shared the Academy Award for best picture for "12 Years a Slave."

___

Blue Ivy joke

FILE - In this Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014 file photo, Beyonce on stage hugs Jay Z and their daughter Blue Ivy as she accepts the Video Vanguard Award at the MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum, in Inglewood, Calif. BET has suspended a producer after a joke about Blue Ivy’s hair aired Monday, Aug. 25, 2014, on the network’s music video countdown show, “106 & Park.” A source at the network, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to discuss the matter publicly, said the producer was suspended after the ill-fitting joke about Beyonce and Jay Z’s two-year-old daughter aired. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, file)

NEW YORK (AP) — BET has suspended a producer after a joke about Beyonce and Jay Z's daughter that aired Monday on the network's music video countdown show, "106 & Park."

On Monday's show during a segment about Blue Ivy's hypothetical thoughts during Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards, guest host Karrueche Tran said: "I really did wake up like this, because my parents never comb my hair." Blue Ivy joined her mother onstage at the VMAs.A source at BET, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not allowed to discuss the matter publicly, said the producer was suspended after a remark about 2-year-old Blue Ivy's hair.

Stephen Hill, BET's president of music programming and specials, publicly apologized on Twitter.

"Last night on 106 & Park there was a stupid, unthoughtful joke made about a young child," Hill tweeted.

Hill also said the network privately apologized to Beyonce and Jay Z.

BET didn't return an email seeking comment Wednesday.

Tran, who has dated singer Chris Brown, tweeted Tuesday that she did not write the joke. She wrote: "Now y'all know I LOVE me some Beyonce and Blue Ivy!"

Hill also tweeted that it was not Tran's fault.

"We also apologize to her for putting her in that position," he wrote.

___

Follow Mesfin Fekadu at twitter.com/MusicMesfin

MusicMesfin

Mystery of Death Valley's moving rocks solved

DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — For years scientists have theorized about how large rocks — some weighing hundreds of pounds — zigzag across Racetrack Playa in Death Valley National Park, leaving long trails etched in the earth.

Cousins Richard Norris and James Norris said the movement is made possible when ice sheets that form after rare overnight rains melt in the rising sun, making the hard ground muddy and slick.Now two researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, have photographed these "sailing rocks" being blown by light winds across the former lake bed.

On Dec. 20, 2013, the cousins catalogued 60 rocks moving across the playa's pancake-flat surface.

"Observed rock movement occurred on sunny, clear days, following nights of sub-freezing temperatures," they wrote in a report published Wednesday in the online scientific journal PLOS ONE.

The conclusion proves theories that have been floated since geologists began studying the moving rocks in the 1940s.

The phenomenon doesn't happen often because it rarely rains in the notoriously hot and dry desert valley.

The rocks move about 15 feet per minute, according to the report.

Richard Norris, 55, a paleobiologist at Scripps, and James, 59, a research engineer, launched their "Slithering Stones Research Initiative" in 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported (http://lat.ms/VNVWou).

After getting permits from the National Park Service, they installed a weather station in the area and placed 15 stones equipped with global positioning devices on the playa.

The "GPS stones," which were engineered to record movement and velocity, were stationed at the southern end of the playa where rocks begin their strange journeys after tumbling down a cliff.

At the end of last year, Richard and James Norris returned to inspect the instruments.

"We found the playa covered with ice," Richard told the Times. "We also noticed fresh rock trails near shards of thin ice stacked up along the shoreline."

The following afternoon, "we were sitting on a mountainside and admiring the view when a light wind kicked up and the ice started cracking," he said. "Suddenly, the whole process unfolded before our eyes."

Sunday, 31 March 2024

Tuesday, 5 September 2023

Friday, 29 August 2014

Follow Yahoo News

ABC News Videos

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Get Married in France

Related Stories