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Students, parents and teachers in Germany have been caught in the middle as authorities in the country take different and sometimes contradictory approaches to opening or closing schools in the pandemic. States such as Berlin have bought air filters, but not enough for all classes. Testing kits are available, but there is no strategy for using them or a requirement to do so. Figures published by Germany’s disease control agency show the number of weekly confirmed cases among children under age 15 more than doubled over the past month as more students returned to schools and kindergartens. 

Chris Paul became the sixth player in NBA history to pass 10,000 career assists on Sunday night. The 35-year-old matched a feat that's only been done by John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Steve Nash, Mark Jackson and Magic Johnson. Paul earned his 10,000th assist when he threw a perfect alley-oop pass to Deandre Ayton for a dunk. Paul is still playing at a high level in his 16th season and made his 11th All-Star team earlier this year. He's averaging about 16 points and nine assists per game.

Several freshmen showed no jitters on the opening day of the women’s NCAA Tournament. In fact, they embraced the bright lights of the Big Dance. It came as no surprise that Iowa’s Caitlin Clark began a run of impressive performances in the first game of the tournament. She was the nation's leading scorer during the regular season. There were others. Anaya Boyd averaged only eight minutes a game for Georgia Tech. She made major contributions down the stretch to help the Yellow Jackets avoid being upset in the first round.

For the third time since 2016, Syracuse is headed to the Sweet 16 as a double-digit seed. In all, nine double-digit seeds have reached the regional semifinals in that time span — so the Orange have accounted for one third of them. Later on Sunday, 15th-seeded Oral Roberts and 12th-seeded Oregon State joined that list as well. Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim once again made it past the first weekend after barely qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. The Orange edged third-seeded West Virginia after knocking off San Diego State in the first round.

It’s not like anyone’s going to the office anyway. The change in the March Madness schedule brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic will give basketball fans a first-of-its-kind experience -- eight games on a Monday. The second-round matchups will be played in Indianapolis, starting with a lunchtime (or coffee break) affair between Oregon and Iowa and concluding with a game between USC and Kansas that should wrap up after midnight in the east. The NCAA condensed the tournament schedule ever so slightly this year, packing 67 games into 19 days instead of the usual 21, as it brought all 68 teams to Indiana in an attempt to create a safe environment in which to play all the games.  

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Health care workers received the first shots in Taiwan's COVID-19 vaccination drive Monday, beginning a campaign that won't use supplies from China amid uneven distribution of the vaccines globally. Taiwan has on hand 117,000 doses of…

Ethan Thompson scored 26 points and No. 12 seed Oregon State neutralized Oklahoma State and star freshman Cade Cunningham, rolling to an 80-70 upset in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Maurice Calloo, who transferred from Oklahoma State, scored 15 points and Jarod Lucas also had 15 for the Beavers, who advanced to play eighth-seeded Loyola Chicago in a Midwest Region Sweet 16 matchup that few could have predicted. Cunningham, a first-team All-American and possible top NBA draft pick, scored 24 points for Oklahoma State. But the fourth-seeded Cowboys wasted possessions down the stretch by failing to get him the ball.

Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton both had 26 points, Chris Paul had a triple-double with 11 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds and the Phoenix Suns beat the LeBron-less Los Angeles Lakers 111-94. The Lakers were playing without 17-time All-Star LeBron James for just the second time this season. They fell to 0-2 in his absence. James suffered a high ankle sprain in a 99-94 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday and is expected to miss significant time. Montrezl Harrell led the Lakers with 23 points. Phoenix has won 17 of its last 21 games.

Regulators amid much fanfare last year approved two cannabis lounges in Alaska. The move made the state one of the few where customers would be allowed to use marijuana at retail pot shops. Then the pandemic hit. An owner of one of the shops hopes to open later this year. An owner of the other says his site opened briefly last fall before having to hit pause amid a surge in Alaska COVID-19 cases. Records show a small number of other shop owners have filed paperwork signaling plans to seek approval for consumption hangouts. But the pandemic has caused some of them to delay their efforts too.

Many people are contributing to GoFundMe pages for victims of the deadly Atlanta-area shootings. Randy Park launched a page asking for $20,000 to help pay funeral expenses for his mother, who was killed in the attacks. By Sunday, the donations were approaching $3 million. To date, no central fund has been created to aid families of the victims — a contrast with some other mass shootings where groups have been set up to collect and distribute money to those directly affected. For now, potential donors to the most recent attack must scour individual GoFundMe accounts.

In the jungles of southeast Myanmar, the army was shooting and otherwise oppressing civilians long before last month’s military coup. This largely unseen repression continues even now. An army offensive has driven as many as 8,000 ethnic Karen people to flee their homes in what aid groups say is the worst upheaval there for nearly 10 years. They’re now living in the jungle, with fears growing for their health and security, and no prospect of an early return. The crisis in the borderlands is a reminder of the brutal force Myanmar's military has long used against civilians, and in particular the country's ethnic minorities.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Hundreds of people have been rescued from floodwaters that have isolated dozens of towns in Australia’s most populous state New South Wales and forced thousands to evacuate their homes as record rain continues to inundate the…

NEW YORK (AP) — Sacha Baron Cohen's “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” was partly improvised and scripted by nine writers, but it still walked away Sunday night with one of the Writers Guild Awards' top honors, best adapted screenplay. At the guild's…

Charlotte Hornets rookie LaMelo Ball is expected to miss the rest of the season due to a broken right wrist, according to a person familiar with the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on Sunday on condition of anonymity because the team has not made the status of his injury public. He appeared to be hurt after a fall in the Hornets’ 125-98 loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles on Saturday. 

MANDALAY, Myanmar (AP) — Health care workers marched through Myanmar's second-biggest city Sunday as part of a broad civil disobedience movement against last month's coup. While their protest was left alone, security forces used violence elsewhere and shot dead at…

Davion Mitchell scored 16 points and spearheaded a dominant defensive first half, helping top-seeded Baylor to a 76-63 win over Wisconsin in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The 2021 bracket has been filled with surprises, the latest by lovable Loyola Chicago over Illinois. Not long after the Illini became the first No. 1 seed to bow out, the Bears looked every bit a Final Four favorite in the first half, smothering Wisconsin with the type of defensive pressure they played before a late-season COVID-19 pause.

Top-ranked UConn did just fine without coach Geno Auriemma as Paige Bueckers scored 24 points in a 102-59 win over women’s NCAA Tournament newcomer High Point in the first round. Auriemma is recovering from the coronavirus and missed the opener. Associated head coach Chris Dailey filled in for the Hall of Famer, who is also going to miss the second round game against Syracuse on Tuesday. Dailey has gone 11-0 filling in for Auriemma over their time together at UConn. The Huskies also were missing assistant coach Shea Ralph, who left San Antonio after one of her relatives contracted COVID-19.

Justin Smith had 20 points and played a key role in a final-play defensive stop, helping Arkansas beat Texas Tech 68-66 in the NCAA Tournament. That secured the program’s first trip to the Sweet 16 in a quarter-century. In the final seconds of a tense finish, Smith found himself defending Kyler Edwards beyond the 3-point arc. Edwards drove into the paint with Smith on his hip and missed a layup, with Arkansas grabbing the rebound and running out the clock. Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 20 points for the sixth-seeded Red Raiders.

Quentin Grimes scored 22 points to lead Houston on a frantic second-half comeback in a 63-60 win over Rutgers. Tramon Mark finished it off with soaring go-ahead tip-in that led to a three-point play with 24 seconds to go, leading the second-seeded seed Cougars on Sunday night into the Sweet 16. The game ended when Ron Harper Jr. missed a potential tying 3-pointer for the Scarlet Knights. Houston will play No. 11 seed Syracuse for a spot in the Midwest Region finals.

The Kansas City Royals have given six-time All-Star catcher Salvador Pérez the richest contract in club history, an $82 million, four-year deal that begins in 2022. The contract includes a club option worth an additional $13.5 million and has a $2 million buyout for 2026. The deal surpasses the four-year, $72 million contract the Royals gave to outfielder Alex Gordon in 2016. That deal wound up being a disappointment and Gordon retired after last season. Pérez is coming off a season in which he won his third Silver Slugger. He is also a five-time Gold Glove winner.

Oral Roberts became just the second No. 15 seed to advance to the round of 16 by stunning No. 7 seed Florida 81-78. Kevin Obanor and Max Abams carried the Golden Eagles to their second straight upset of the NCAA Tournament. Oral Roberts beat No. 2 seed Ohio State in the first round. Obanor scored 28 points and Abmas finished with 26 as the Golden Eagles overcame an 11-point deficit. Oral Roberts joins Florida Gulf Coast as the only No. 15 seeds to reach the round of 16. The Golden Eagles play No. 3 seed Arkansas next. 

Buddy Boeheim carried his father, Jim, to the Hall of Fame coach’s 20th Sweet 16 appearance, scoring 22 of his 25 points after halftime to lead 11th-seeded Syracuse past third-seeded West Virginia 75-72 in the NCAA Tournament. Jim Boeheim’s Orange got the better of another legend, Bob Huggins, in the second March Madness meeting between coaches with at least 900 Division I victories. Huggins won No. 900 when West Virginia beat Morehead State in the first round on Friday. Boeheim got his 982nd at Huggins’ expense. Syracuse advanced to face second-seeded Houston or 10th-seeded Rutgers in a Midwest Regional semifinal. Sean McNeil scored 23 points to lead the Mountaineers.