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Bridge: March 11, 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

“Simple Saturday” columns focus on basic technique and logical thinking.Defenders usually play “second hand low.” They may compel declarer, who is third to play, to guess what to do or to spend a high card to prevent the other defender from winning cheaply. But declarer can take advantage of that tendency.At today’s 3NT, South wins the first spade with the ace and counts six top tricks: two spades and four diamonds. Meanwhile, East has entries and threatens to establish and cash three spades.EIGHT TRICKSIf South leads a club next or a heart to dummy’s king, East will win and set up the spades, and South will have at most eight tricks. To succeed, South leads a diamond to dummy and returns a low heart through East, who has the ace for his opening bid.East must play second hand low: If he takes the ace, South wins three heart tricks and nine in all. If East plays low, South wins and forces out the ace of clubs, winning two clubs, four diamonds, two ...

Trump’s Last Defense Secretary Has Regrets — But Not About Jan. 6

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

When bureaucrats get big promotions, they tend to receive congratulations from their friends, but after Christopher Miller landed the biggest job of his life, his wife and some of his colleagues were horrified.It was November 9, 2020, the day President Donald Trump fired his secretary of defense, Mark Esper. It was widely assumed that Trump would install an acolyte who would do whatever was needed to help the defeated president stay in power. Esper, just days before, had confided to a journalist, “Who’s going to come in behind me? It’s going to be a real yes man. And then God help us.”Trump appointed Miller, an unknown whose rise was so far-fetched that the secretary of the Army, Ryan McCarthy, had to Google his new boss to figure out who he was. Wikipedia was useless because at the time, Miller didn’t merit an entry.After retiring from the Army as a Special Forces colonel in 2014, Miller moved from one mid-level job to another in Washington, D.C., a nobody in a city of somebodies. ...

¿Qué ha sido de Will Smith un año después de golpear en los Oscar a Chris Rock?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

(CNN Español) — Will Smith tiene prohibido asistir este año (y los próximos nueve) a los Premios Oscar, pero seguramente sea el primer nombre en el que piense el público durante la ceremonia de este domingo en Hollywood.Luego de la bofetada que le propinó a Chris Rock en la edición 2022 de los premios, el príncipe del rap de Bel-Air se enfrentó al ostracismo: renunció a la Academia y, pocos días después, la organización anunció que tenía prohibido asistir a cualquiera de sus eventos, incluidos los Oscar, durante 10 años.Casi 12 meses después, el tema sigue en boga. El fin de semana previo a la entrega de los Oscar 2023, justamente, Chris Rock hizo un especial de Netflix en el que abordó el asunto.Pero no es lo único por lo que se habla de él: al menos dos proyectos cinematográficos, la premiada “Emancipation” y la secuela de “I Am Legend” en proceso, han vuelto a poner a Smith en el centro de conversaciones vinculadas a sus actuaciones.‘Emancipati...

Among Orioles’ spring stars, Heston Kjerstad grateful to have focus on baseball: ‘That’s all I want to do’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Heston Kjerstad’s offseason was shorter than a typical player’s. He still felt it lasted too long.“I was getting pretty bored,” Kjerstad said, “itching to get back out here to play again.”Much of Kjerstad’s time in the Orioles’ farm system has been spent with that itch. Drafted second overall in 2020, the outfielder went two years before taking an at-bat for a Baltimore affiliate, developing the heart condition myocarditis shortly after the draft and suffering a severe left hamstring strain last spring.He’s spent this one showing “what kind of hitter he can be,” manager Brandon Hyde said. Kjerstad has eight hits in his 17 spring at-bats, homering the other way in the first two and lacing a 107.2 mph triple Thursday in Clearwater. Entering Friday’s exhibition — in which he went 0-for-2 but hit the ball hard twice — only four players throughout the league had as many plate appearances as Kjerstad with ...

Woman dead, man in custody after Scarborough incident

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

The homicide unit has been called in after the body of a woman was discovered in a Scarborough apartment. Police say they were called to an apartment in the area of Sheppard Avenue East and Kingston Road just after 1 p.m. Friday. When they arrived they found a woman suffering from life-threatening injuries who was later pronounced dead at the scene. Police say a man has been taken into custody but provided no further details. It’s unknown at this time what the relationship is, if any, between the man and the woman.

Woman sexually assaulted in Scarborough neighbourhood

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

Police are searching for a suspect wanted in connection with a sexual assault in a Scarborough neighbourhood.Investigators say a woman was walking in the area of Danforth and Robinson avenues around 4 a.m. Friday when she encountered a man who she did not know. The woman claims she was sexually assaulted by the man, who was believed to be armed with a gun. The suspect is described as being five-feet-11 to six-feet tall with a slim build and a black beard. He was last seen wearing a black “Moose Knuckle” jacket with fur on the hood, a black medical mask, grey jogging pants and white running shoes. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.

Farmers, environmental activists hold demos in The Hague

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Thousands of farmers and other anti-establishment demonstrators protested Saturday in a park in The Hague against Dutch government plans to reduce nitrate emissions, while elsewhere in the city climate activists angry at what they call state support for the fossil fuel industry broke through police lines to block a major road.The simultaneous demonstrations — a few kilometers (miles) from one another — come days before Dutch voters go to the polls in provincial elections Wednesday that indirectly also elect the national parliament’s upper house and could have an effect on proposals for reducing nitrate pollution.Police said they stopped an unknown number of tractors that were headed for the farmers’ demonstration. The municipality banned all but two “symbolic” tractors from participating, citing safety concerns.As thousands of people, many carrying the upside-down Dutch flags that have become synonymous with farmers’ protests and balloons em...

Haunted by post-election riot, Brazil’s Lula reins in army

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

SAO PAULO (AP) — When rioters stormed Brazil’s top government buildings in January to dispute the outcome of the presidential election, many soldiers stood by as far-right protesters broke windows, defecated in offices and destroyed valuable art.The images from Brasilia that day still haunt the left-leaning government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He has strived ever since to ensure that military leaders defend South America’s largest democracy and stay out of politics.The threat isn’t just hypothetical. Brazil has lived through four military coups – the most recent one in 1964, followed by two decades of brutal dictatorship.Lula’s task is fraught. The military is filled with supporters of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, and its role in the new government is being diminished by the day.Lula has already tapped more than 100 civilians to replace military officers Bolsonaro appointed to key positions, and he has moved oversight of the country’s intelligence agency to...

China denies hidden motives after hosting Iran-Saudi talks

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — After hosting talks at which Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to reestablish diplomatic relations, China said Saturday it has no hidden motives and isn’t trying to fill any “vacuum” in the Middle East. The agreement announced Friday to reestablish Iran-Saudi ties and reopen embassies after seven years was seen as a major diplomatic victory for China, as Gulf Arab states perceive the United States as reducing its presence in the Middle East.The Foreign Ministry quoted an unidentified spokesperson as saying China “pursues no selfish interest whatsoever” and opposes geopolitical competition in the region. China will continue to support Mideast countries in “resolving differences through dialogue and consultation to jointly promote lasting peace and stability,” the spokesperson said. “We respect the stature of Middle East countries as the masters of this region and oppose geopolitical competition in the Middle East,” said the statement posted on the Foreign Ministry’s w...

UK: Russian advance in Bakhmut could come with heavy losses

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:57 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian forces have made progress in the front-line hotspot of Bakhmut, a key target of Moscow’s monthslong campaign in eastern Ukraine that has resulted in staggering casualties, but their assault will be difficult to sustain without further harsh losses, U.K. military officials said in an assessment Saturday.The U.K. defense ministry said in the latest of its regular Twitter updates that units from the Kremlin-controlled paramilitary Wagner Group have captured most of eastern Bakhmut, with a river flowing through the city center now marking the front line. However, the update added, it will be “highly challenging” for Wagner forces to push ahead, as Ukraine has destroyed key bridges over the river, while Ukrainian sniper fire from fortified buildings further west has made the thin strip of open ground in the center “a killing zone.” At the same time, Ukrainian troops and supply lines in the mining city remain vulnerable to “continued Russian attempts to outfla...