Ingested Articles

Ryan Blaney became the sixth driver to win in six races to start NASCAR’s Cup season, surging to the front with nine laps to go after Kyle Larson’s dominant performance at Atlanta Motor Speedway fell apart on a fading set of tires Sunday. Larson easily won the first two stages and led 269 of 325 laps on the 1.54-mile trioval. But Larson’s tires didn’t stand up to the punishing track after making his final pit stop with 56 laps to go. Blaney pulled away to win by 2.083 seconds in his No. 12 Team Penske Ford.

Max Scherzer will have the ball in his hands when he begins the final season of his seven-year, $210 million contract with the Washington Nationals. Scherzer will make his Nationals-record sixth opening day start April 1, facing the New York Mets in Washington. It’ll be a rematch of an exhibition mound matchup Sunday, when Scherzer allowed two homers and threw 90 pitches in five innings of a 6-2 loss to the Mets and starter Jacob deGrom in West Palm Beach, Florida. It’ll be quite a way to get things going for Major League Baseball as three-time Cy Young Award winner Scherzer faces two-time honoree deGrom.  

Manchester United now has only one route to ending a four-year trophy drought after losing 3-1 at Leicester in the FA Cup quarterfinals. That realistically leaves Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with only the Europa League to produce his first trophy as United manager. Leicester has the easier route to the FA Cup final after being drawn to play Southampton. The other semifinal will pit Manchester City against Chelsea which beat Sheffield United 2-0 on Sunday. In the Premier League West Ham threw away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 with Arsenal and Tottenham beat Aston Villa 2-0.

Matt Jones won the Honda Classic and is headed back to the Masters. Jones got his second career PGA Tour win Sunday, seven years after his first at the Houston Open. He finished the week at 12-under 268 and the five-shot margin over runner-up Brandon Hagy matched the Honda record. Jones started the week with a 9-under 61 that tied the course record at PGA National. He reclaimed the lead in the third round and kept it the whole way Sunday to finish off the win and secure his second Masters invitation.

The Mexican banks of the Suchiate river dawned with a heavy presence of immigration agents in place to enforce Mexico’s new limits on all but essential travel at its shared border with Guatemala. Dozens of immigration agents lined the riverside Sunday asking those who landed on the giant innertube rafts that carry most of the cross-border traffic for documentation and turning many back. But those turned away weren’t migrants, they were the small-time Guatemalan merchants and residents from Tecun Uman, across the river, who buy in bulk in Mexico to re-sell in Guatemala or purchase household items when the exchange rate favors it.

Miami Beach officials are extending an emergency 8 p.m. curfew for at least another week. Sunday's decision by city commissioners comes after days of intense partying, where unruly crowds gathered by the thousands on South Beach, fighting in the streets, destroying property and ignoring masks and other COVID-19 orders. Tourists are being encouraged to stay inside their hotels and pedestrians or vehicles are not allowed to enter the restricted area after 8 p.m. SWAT officers in bulletproof vests dispersed pepper spray balls to break up defiant crowds. Miami Beach Police say more than 1,000 people have been arrested this month.

Authorities are still investigating claims made by a man charged in a New Jersey slaying who has said he killed a total of 16 people in multiple states. A law enforcement official confirmed Sunday that Sean Lannon is the primary suspect in the killing of his ex-wife and three others found in a car in New Mexico. The official, who had direct knowledge of the probe, could not discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The official says investigators are searching missing persons records and other police reports to try to identify any potential victims. 

The Houston Rockets lost their team-record 20th straight game, falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder 114-112 when John Wall missed two shots in the final 10 seconds. Houston's skid is tied for the ninth-worst in NBA history and the longest since Philadelphia’s record-setting 28-game losing streak across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. The Thunder led 113-112 when Lu Dort blocked Wall’s layup from behind in the closing seconds. Wall then missed a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer. Dort scored 23 points. Christian Wood had 27 points for Houston, Wall added 24 and Victor Oladipo had 23.

ROME (AP) — A former top government aide in Malta who was investigated by a journalist later killed by a car bomb has been arraigned in a Maltese court on charges of money-laundering, fraud and corruption. Keith Schembri, who was…

PARIS (AP) — Residents of Paris and several other regions of France spent their first weekend under a limited monthlong lockdown. While the French government insisted the rules would be less strict than in the past, the measures have been…

LONDON (AP) — Sikh leader Balwinder Singh Basra rolled up his sleeve to get a COVID-19 vaccine Sunday at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Luton, north of London. And he wanted everyone to know about it. Unlike most of the…

Republic of Congo is pressing ahead with an election that is expected to extend President Denis Sassou N’Guesso's 36 years in power. Observers said polls opened as scheduled Sunday morning, although a watchdog group reported that an internet blackout began at around midnight on election day. Meanwhile, the leading opposition candidate was flown to France for medical treatment after suffering COVID-19 complications. Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas finished second to Sassou N’Guesso in the Central African country's 2016 presidential election. Kolelas had been particularly critical of the incumbent leader in recent days, declaring that Republic of Congo had become “a police state.” His campaign confirmed Saturday that he was very ill with COVID-19. 

ISTANBUL (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden has called Turkey’s abandonment of an international agreement aimed at preventing violence against women “deeply disappointing.” In a White House statement posted Sunday, Biden said Turkey’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention was “sudden…

Sister Jean Delores Schmidt gave an inspirational pregame prayer to her Loyola Chicago team before the eighth-seeded Ramblers met top-seeded Illinois in the second round. The 101-year-old chaplain to the team said, “As we play the Fighting Illini, we ask for special help to overcome this team and get a great win. We hope to score early and make our opponents nervous. We have a great opportunity to convert rebounds as this team makes about 50% of layups and 30% of its 3 points. Our defense can take care of that.” Just past the midway point of the first half, that prayer was being answered. Loyola was up 33-24 at halftime of the Midwest Region game.

CAIRO (AP) — Nawal Saadawi, a renowned Egyptian feminist, psychiatrist and novelist, whose writings have stirred controversy for decades in an overwhelming conservative society, died of age-related health problems in Cairo on Sunday, officials said. She was 89. Egypt’s Culture…

The games during the first week of the NCAA Tournament have still brought madness. But it’s a much quieter version. Restrictions due to the pandemic have limited crowds. Despite the restrictions, despite the lack of fans, the quiet atmospheres and being separate from friends and family, the joy is still there. Georgia Tech students roared inside Hinkle Fieldhouse until getting silenced by Loyola Chicago. Same with the hundreds of Grand Canyon students who were on hand for the first round matchup against Iowa. Coaches and players say it's different, but they are happy to be playing.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s weekly regional COVID-19 figures keep increasing and deaths rising as the country maintains more relaxed restrictions for now. The country's official death toll in the pandemic climbed to 30,061 Sunday, when the government reported 102 new…