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Greek oil tanker damaged in suspected Black Sea drone attack as wars disrupt global shipping

By
The Associated Press
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ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A Greek-flagged oil tanker was damaged in a suspected drone attack in the Black Sea while approaching the Russian port of Novorossiysk, authorities said.

Greece’s shipping ministry said the attack occurred early Saturday, causing material damage, but the 24 crew members were unharmed and the vessel’s seaworthiness was not under threat.

The Maran Homer, chartered by U.S. oil giant Chevron, was traveling from Thessaloniki in northern Greece to the Black Sea port and was due to sail on to Istanbul. It was struck by a missile or drone before picking up Kazakh oil, according to Greek government officials and the vessel’s Greek operating company.

Greek Maritime Affairs Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Athens would lodge a “strong complaint” with the country deemed responsible, without giving further details. He later identified Ukraine as carrying out frequent attacks in the Black Sea.

“I consider the targeting of vessels flying the Greek flag — as well as those with Greek sailors and Greek shipping interests — to be unacceptable and extremely dangerous,” Kikilias told state-run ERT television.

He said he believed the attack could be related to a U.S. decision to temporarily ease some sanctions on Russian oil shipments because of volatility caused by the Iran war.

The war has also affected Greece’s massive shipping industry, with dozens of Greek-flagged or Greek-owned vessels currently stranded in the Persian Gulf.

Burt Jones was the inevitable Republican nominee for Georgia governor. Then Rick Jackson showed up

By
The Associated Press
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ATLANTA (AP) — Burt Jones seemed like the inevitable Republican nominee for governor in Georgia.

He is the current lieutenant governor, he has lots of family money and perhaps most important, he has President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

But that certainty crumbled after health care tycoon Rick Jackson unexpectedly cannonballed into the race in February, dumping more than $30 million of his money into television ads. That already is more than any candidate has ever spent in a primary race for Georgia governor, with more than two months before the May 19 election.

The blitz has left Jones clinging to Trump’s endorsement like a life preserver while Jackson consciously evokes Trump. Jackson even descended in a glass elevator at his office building to announce his candidacy, echoing Trump’s 2016 campaign start when he rode down a golden escalator in his eponymous New York skyscraper.

Jay Morgan, a former executive director of the state Republican Party, said “there’s no template” for what Jackson is doing in Georgia.

“We’re on a different playing field,” he said. “It’s like going from Little League to major leagues.”

Jackson’s emergence is yet another challenge to Trump’s influence in a critical battleground state. The president’s kingmaker record in Georgia is shaky, failing to dislodge Gov. Brian Kemp and others in 2022 and backing Herschel Walker in a Senate loss that year.

More recently, Trump nudged Clay Fuller to the front of a crowded Republican field in the special congressional election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene. Fuller advanced to a runoff against a Democratic opponent.

Jones could be the Georgia politician most closely tied to Trump in this year’s campaigns, and a loss would again show the limits to the president’s sway over the party.

“The Trump endorsement is still valuable to get but can’t it be the be-all and end-all,” said University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock. “I guess $50 million or whatever Rick Jackson is spending will be a real test of that.”

Trump sticks with Jones

In all, it is a picture of an election turned upside down. The two other top Republican candidates — Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr — have largely stayed out of the crossfire, but are struggling for attention.

Democrats want to break a Republican winning streak that dates to 2002. Among the candidates are former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Geoff Duncan, a onetime Republican lieutenant governor.

Trump has stood by Jones, who risked facing criminal charges when he tried to help Trump overturn his election loss in 2020.

“Burt Jones has been here and been with you and been with me right from the beginning,” Trump said Feb. 19 at an event in Rome, Georgia.

Jones is trying to counter Jackson by questioning his “Make America Great Again” bona fides, noting his history of giving to Republicans other than Trump and saying his health care staffing company assisted Planned Parenthood and gender-affirming care.

Jackson swatted back on Monday, filing a lawsuit claiming Jones was defaming him. Jones responded with a negative ad barrage the next day.

Jackson’s entry into the race was preceded by a $19 million bombardment from a mystery dark money group accusing Jones of using his office to enrich himself. There is little evidence to support the most serious claims — that Jones used his position as lieutenant governor to promote a giant data center development his family partly owns.

Jackson has repeatedly denied that he is bankrolling the ads that began in November.

On Feb. 4, Jackson launched his candidacy at the faux Italian office park he custom-built for Jackson Healthcare in suburban Alpharetta. Jackson likened himself to Trump as a businessman inspired to enter politics and said he would be “Trump’s favorite governor.”

“I saw a so-called front-runner who was as weak as can be and as lazy as the day is long,” Jackson said of Jones. “Really, he wants the title of governor, but not the job.”

A Jackson lawsuit has at least temporarily cut off a key source Jones’ money — his leadership committee. That unusual Georgia fundraising vehicle lets Jones and a few other entities raise unlimited contributions. A federal judge ruled the structure illegal because Jackson’s contributions from others remain subject to Georgia’s $8,400 limit. Jones was ordered not to spend from the committee during the primary.

The court case could help Jackson maintain a financial advantage over Jones. Although Jones has ramped up his spending, political consultants said Jackson has purchased so many television spots already that he may crowd out his competitors.

From foster child to riches

Jackson is a former foster child who now calls himself a billionaire. His fortune stems from Jackson Healthcare, which recruits medical workers and leases them as well-credentialed temp workers. Among his biggest clients has been the state of Georgia. His companies have collected nearly $1 billion from state government in recent years, including providing medical workers during the pandemic.

He’s been a force in Georgia politics for more than a decade as a Republican megadonor and policy advocate. In the early 2010s, he bankrolled an unsuccessful effort in Georgia and Florida to overhaul medical malpractice claims. He unsuccessfully pushed to privatize Georgia’s foster care system. Later, he successfully backed efforts to increase support for foster children.

While Jackson has aired hard-edged ads pledging to cut taxes, deport immigrants and block gender-affirming care to minors, some said he is driven by Christian faith and concern for others.

“He’s a rock-solid conservative and just a terrific guy,” said Eric Tanenblatt, a Republican operative who has worked for Jackson. “He’s obviously a successful business person, but also someone with just a genuinely kind heart.”

Jackson made powerful Republican friends over the years.

He put former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on his company’s advisory board, and Jackson and his company gave more than $1 million to a political action committee backing Bush’s failed 2016 presidential bid. That’s now part of Jones’ attack that Jackson is a “never Trumper.” Jones also slams donations to Nikki Haley, who unsuccessfully opposed Trump in 2024, and to former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney’s PAC.

Jackson has tried to offset that history, writing a $1 million check to Trump’s MAGA Inc. PAC on Dec. 10. Jones supporters aren’t buying it.

“My Chihuahua Izzy is closer to being MAGA than Rick Jackson is,” said pro-Jones Republican activist Debbie Dooley.

Even if people question Jackson’s pro-Trump credentials, his entry seems to have stifled a push by Republican officials to crown Jones. Before Jackson entered the race, Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon, and the state’s two Republican National Committee members sought to waive a party rule against taking sides in primaries so the party could back Jones. But with local party groups condemning the move, the national party now says it won’t wade in.

“We’re not spending any money in that race,” the RNC chairman, Joe Gruters, told WSB-AM on Feb. 19.

Being a huge self-funder doesn’t guarantee election success. Republican Kelly Loeffler and her husband pumped more than $34 million into her unsuccessful Georgia Senate campaign in 2020. Of 65 candidates who spent more than $1 million of their own seeking federal office in 2024, only 10 won, according to Open Secrets, a group that tracks spending.

But for now, Jackson’s money makes his message feel inescapable.

“The landscape that we were looking at 30 days ago looks radically different today,” Morgan said.

Pakistan’s president says Afghan Taliban forces crossed a ‘red line’ with drone attacks on civilians

By
The Associated Press
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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s president on Saturday warned neighboring Afghanistan’s Taliban government that it had “ crossed a red line ” by launching drone attacks on civilian areas in Pakistan and said the administration in Kabul has brought “grave consequences upon itself.”

The statement by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was the latest in what has become the deadliest fighting yet between the two neighbors. The cross-border clashes, which erupted late last month, have shown no signs of abating despite efforts by China and Turkey to broker a ceasefire.

Pakistan said its forces intercepted the drones launched on Friday but that falling debris injured two children in the city of Quetta and two people elsewhere in the country.

On Friday, the Afghan Taliban government accused Pakistan of conducting airstrikes in Kabul, the country’s capital, and other areas in eastern Afghanistan, saying at least six civilians were killed and 15 other were injured.

Hours later, Kabul claimed its air force responded by targeting military installations near Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, and in northwestern Pakistan.

Pakistan denied targeting civilians, saying its operations are focused on Pakistani Taliban militants and their support networks. Islamabad has referred the conflict as an “open war” — adding to concerns among the international community about the regional stability as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has engulfed the Middle East and beyond.

The Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Pakistani aircraft also struck fuel depots belonging to the private airline Kam Air near the airport in the southern city of Kandahar, which he said supplies civilian and U.N. flights.

Pakistan accuses the Afghan Taliban government of harboring Pakistani militant groups — mainly the Pakistani Taliban — that cross the porous volatile border between the two countries to stage attacks against Pakistani forces and also of allying with its archrival, India. kabul denies harboring militant groups.

On Friday, a roadside bomb targeting Pakistani police killed seven officers in the northwestern district of Lakki Mawat.

Zardari slammed the government in Kabul.

“While the Afghan terrorist regime seeks negotiations with our friendly countries, it crossed a red line by attempting to target our civilians,” he said.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday urged for a peaceful resolution of the Afghanistan-Pakistan dispute, warning the use of force worsens tensions and threatens regional stability. His remarks were reported Saturday by China’s official Xinhua News Agency, which said Wang had spoken with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

Wang said China’s special envoy is shuttling between the two countries in an effort to promote restraint and encourage a ceasefire. Muttaqi said Afghanistan seeks regional peace and does not want a military conflict, adding that dialogue remains the only solution and urging China to play a greater role.

A Qatari-mediated ceasefire in October briefly reduced tensions, but subsequent talks in Turkey failed to produce a lasting agreement.

___

Qahar reported from Kabul, Afghanistan. Associated Press writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

Russian strike on the Kyiv region kills 4 and wounds at least 15, with peace talks stalled

By
The Associated Press
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A combined missile and drone attack on the Kyiv region killed at least four people and wounded at least 15 overnight into Saturday, according to the head of the regional administration for the Ukrainian capital.

Three of the wounded were in critical condition, of whom two were undergoing surgery, Mykola Kalashnyk reported on Saturday. The attack hit four districts, damaging residential buildings, educational institutions, enterprises and critical infrastructure, Kalashnyk added in a social media post.

The strikes came days after the U.S. postponed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine scheduled for this week, citing the war in the Middle East.

As U.S. and Israeli missiles and bombs rain on Iran, Russia has responded with words of indignation but no action to support its ally. Moscow’s failure to help another ally, after the 2024 ouster of former Syrian ruler Bashar Assad and January’s U.S. arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, highlighted the limits of its influence — but the Kremlin expects to reap benefits from the Iran war.

Russia is already profiting from a surge in global energy prices, and could hope that the Mideast war will detract attention from Ukraine and deplete Western arsenals.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that the 30-day U.S. waiver on Russian oil sanctions amid the Iran war is “not the right decision” and won’t help bring a stop to Russia’s more than 4-year-old invasion of Ukraine.

“This easing alone by the United States could provide Russia with about $10 billion for the war,” Zelenskyy said. “This certainly does not help peace.”

Earlier this week, Russian and Ukrainian officials both claimed front-line progress, with Ukraine saying it pushed Moscow’s forces back across places on the front line and the Kremlin insisting Russia’s invasion of its neighbor is making progress.

Meanwhile, Russia’s almost daily attacks on Ukrainian civilian areas have continued.

Could the Chicago Bears leave Illinois? Indiana makes a play for the historic franchise

By
The Associated Press
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A turf war over a football team is developing between two Midwestern states with a sometimes-discordant history.

The storied Chicago Bears want to leave historic Soldier Field, where they’ve played for half a century. Indiana lawmakers are attempting to lure them from the Windy City with a plan to finance and build a domed stadium in Hammond, Indiana, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from their current home on Lake Michigan’s shore.

The Illinois General Assembly has responded with legislation that would give tax breaks to so-called megaprojects of at least $100 million, a plan that would encompass the Bears’ proposal to build a complex in the northwest Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, about the same distance from Soldier Field as Hammond.

Critics complain it’s a bad deal for Illinois, where property taxes are already among the highest in the nation — especially when taxpayers still owe hundreds of millions of dollars on a Soldier Field renovation from two decades ago.

Here’s a look at what’s shaping up to be a showdown.

Why the big deal?

The Bears, one of only two remaining NFL founding members, are legend. Their nine championships, including a Super Bowl win, are second only to the rival Green Bay Packers — though recent decades have brought mostly heartbreak. The franchise carries an $8.9 billion price tag, among the most valuable of the NFL’s 32 teams, according to Forbes.

Born in the central Illinois city of Decatur in 1920, the Bears have called Chicago home for 105 years. Losing them to the Hoosier State would be a major thumb in the eye.

What’s wrong with Soldier Field?

With 61,500 seats, it’s the NFL’s smallest. The Bears have always rented their facilities — the Cubs’ Wrigley Field from 1921 to 1970, and Soldier Field, maintained by the Chicago Park District, since. Like most teams, they want to own a stadium, giving them control over operations, scheduling and revenue streams from ticket sales, concessions, parking, naming rights and more.

And Soldier Field is open air. An enclosed facility would allow for other marquee sporting events: Super Bowls, NCAA Final Fours or WrestleMania, for instance.

Why the imbroglio between the states?

Along with the states’ established cultural and economic differences and an intense college basketball rivalry, the political fissure between Democrat-dominated Chicago and conservative Indiana has widened. It amped up last year when Indiana adopted a commission to study changing the state’s boundaries to include some central Illinois counties whose voters have approved ballot measures calling for secession from Chicagoland.

Arlington Heights, back to Chicago, to Hammond

The Bears have threatened to leave Chicago previously. When they broached moving in 1975, then-Mayor Richard J. Daley replied, “Like hell they will.”

But the City of Big Shoulders heaved an anxious sigh in 2023 when the Bears paid about $200 million for a 326-acre (132-hectare) former horse-racing track in Arlington Heights. They have envisioned a $5 billion, taxpayer-assisted development for a domed stadium and campus of housing, hotels, entertainment and retail space.

In 2024, the Bears offered a $5 billion plan, partially taxpayer-funded, for an enclosed stadium next to Soldier Field, which garnered little interest in the capital of Springfield. Late last fall, the team turned to Indiana.

Where the proposals stand

Indiana’s lure creates the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to finance, construct and lease a domed stadium near Wolf Lake in Hammond. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun signed it into law on Feb. 26. The Bears would agree to a 35-year lease. Borrowed state money would cover the as-yet-unknown cost of construction, repaid by increased local hospitality taxes.

In Illinois, majority Democrats have advanced legislation in the House that would provide incentives for any so-called megaproject of at least $500 million — or less, down to $100 million, depending on the number of jobs created. Developers would pay property taxes frozen at the parcel’s pre-construction value for as long as 45 years. During that time, they would make annual payments in lieu of taxes negotiated with local governments. There would also be a sales tax exemption on building materials for up to 15 years.

Critics claim weakness in Illinois plan

Opponents say the Illinois legislation, with its decades-long property tax freeze, would simply mean increased taxes for homeowners and other businesses — the payment in lieu of taxes would be a bonus.

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who supports the plan, last week countered that the proposal would encourage development on land that isn’t producing property taxes while ensuring increased revenue for local governments.

Meanwhile, a substantial debt remains on the last accommodation. Taxpayers in 2001 put up $399 million to finance a $587 million renovation of Soldier Field. With interest, the remaining tab is $467 million, according to the state’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

The Bears’ $7 million annual lease runs through 2033. Breaking it would cost the Bears a $10.5 million penalty for each year left on the agreement.

Out of the frying pan? Noma’s Rene Redzepi resigns, and fine dining confronts ‘brigade’ culture

By
The Associated Press
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LONDON (AP) — Chef Gordon Ramsay yells at people. His mentor was known for throwing pans and plates. That chef, London’s Marco Pierre White, titled his own memoir “The Devil in the Kitchen” — in part for the punishments he meted out to his chefs.

“If you don’t fear the boss, you’ll take shortcuts, you’ll turn up late,” White wrote, saying his kitchen staff at Harveys accepted that. “They were all pain junkies, they had to be. They couldn’t get enough of the bollockings.”

No more.

The public downfall this week of Denmark’s Rene Redzepi, arguably the world’s top chef, has forced a reckoning in real time over when “brigade de cuisine” becomes abuse and what should happen to perpetrators who direct the creation of edible art.

At issue is whether time is up on the storied bullying and intimidation of fine dining kitchen culture, brought to the masses through pop culture by celebrity chef reality shows and high-end TV like “The Bear.” Lofty, pricey matters like leadership style and legal liability are suddenly at the center of a relatively small industry known for narrow profit margins, not HR departments or training.

“The resources aren’t there for self-policing,” said Robin Burrow, associate professor of organization studies at the University of York. “The general feeling, though, is that things are so tough even for very good chefs that this kind of culture ends up being inevitable.”

Kitchen magician, toxic chef

Redzepi, a Danish knight and the founder of Noma and innovative “New Nordic” cuisine, stepped down Thursday after The New York Times reported that dozens of former employees had shared their accounts of abuse and assault between 2009 and 2017 at the Copenhagen landmark. Redzepi had been dogged for years by reports of mistreating his staff and employing unpaid interns at Noma, which received three Michelin stars and was ranked first on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List five times.

The allegations overshadowed Noma’s $1,500-a-head pop-up restaurant in Los Angeles. Sponsors pulled their funding for the residency, which opened on Wednesday to a small gathering of protesters. Redzepi announced his resignation on Instagram with a tearful video soon after. “An apology is not enough,” he said. “I take responsibility for my own actions.”

Former employees said Redzepi has never been held accountable for his conduct, which included punching members of the staff, jabbing them with kitchen tools and threatening to get them blacklisted from restaurants or have their families deported.

Jason Ignacio White, a former head of Noma’s fermentation lab, collected anonymous testimonies of alleged abuse at the restaurant and posted them to his Instagram page. The accounts have been viewed millions of times.

“Noma destroyed my passion for the industry,” one post said. “I struggled with intense anxiety, bad enough to give me panic attacks in the middle of the night. The trauma, abuse and idea that nothing would ever change all led me to walk away from the career.”

The kitchen brigade system is entrenched

The process at the heart of restaurants worldwide is the “brigade de cuisine,” a strict organization of the kitchen developed around the turn of the 20th century by French chef Georges Auguste Escoffier, who based it on his own military experience.

Under its hierarchy, every member of the staff has a specialty — from the “chief” to the sauce-maker, the roast cook, the grill cook and the fish cook. Their choreography and their communications — “Hand!” and “Yes, chef!” — are designed for speed, consistency and cleanliness.

Even so, kitchen atmospheres have long been filled with chaos and intensity. Escoffier himself wrote that his first chef believed it was impossible to govern a kitchen “without a shower of slaps.”

George Orwell, the essayist and author of the dystopian classic “1984,” once described the restaurant kitchen of his time as a place where one person in the hierarchy yelled at his subordinate, who yelled at someone below him and so on. Weeping was not unusual. As a plongeur (dishwasher), Orwell ranked at the bottom.

“A plongeur is one of the slaves of the modem world,” he wrote in “Down and Out in Paris and London,” published in 1933. “He is no freer than if he were bought and sold.”

It’s a place ‘where the rules don’t apply’

In the modern era, professional kitchens are thought to be some of the toughest places to work thanks to a recipe of long hours, close quarters, strict hierarchies, grueling physical conditions and relentless pressure.

The rise of the chef as an auteur during the 1970s with an obsession with Michelin-star-level excellence only accelerated the poor behavior as prices and egos rose.

In his 2006 memoir, White described his kitchen at Harveys in London as “my theatre of cruelty” and boasted of giving his chefs “a 10-second throttle.” Anthony Bourdain’s memoir “Kitchen Confidential” helped romanticize that testosterone-fueled vision, describing kitchens filled with “heated argument, hypermacho posturing and drunken ranting.”

Personal accounts and research suggest there’s painful truth behind the romanticized branding. Cardiff University conducted interviews with 47 elite chefs for a 2021 study and found that the isolation of commercial kitchens can produce a sort of “geography of deviance” that create “feelings of invisibility, alienation and detachment” in lower-ranking employees. It also found that chef conduct can make a kitchen “an instrument of social withdrawal and a symbol of deviance around which the community pivots.”

Open kitchens in part were designed to merge the two spaces, kitchens and dining rooms. Several employees told The Times that when Redzepi wanted to discipline them in the open kitchen but there were customers in the dining room, he would crouch under the counters and jab them in the legs with his fingers or a nearby utensil.

Many chefs’ proteges stay silent because they don’t want to risk the opportunity to learn from the best — or the potential to launch high-flying culinary careers of their own. That was the case in the fictional, wildly popular show “The Bear,” in which the main character, Carmy Berzatto, endured open and flagrant abuse so that he can study under one of the world’s greatest chefs.

The downfall of a ‘visionary’

Noma — a contraction of the Danish words for Nordisk and Mad, meaning Nordic and food — opened in 2003 dedicated to “a simple desire to rediscover wild local ingredients by foraging and to follow the seasons.” By the time Redzepi stepped down, he had become so prominent in the culinary world that Noma played a role in “The Bear” as the training ground for two main characters. Redzepi himself appeared on the series in a cameo.

It wasn’t his first time on camera. He’d also been seen yelling at cooks in the 2008 documentary “Noma at Boiling Point,” and has made several public apologies. He acknowledged in a 2015 essay, being “a bully for a large part of my career.” He said he’s “yelled and pushed people. I’ve been a terrible boss at times.”

And — today’s mass-culture excitement around intense kitchen behavior notwithstanding — he seemed to recognize even then that the old way alienated young, talented workers and jeopardized the future of cuisine.

“The only way we will be able to reap the promise of the present is by confronting the unpleasant legacies of our past,” Redzepi said, “and collectively forging a new path forward.”

___

Associated Press Writer Mark Kennedy contributed from New York.

Refocused US rebounds from Italy shocker, beats Canada to reach WBC semifinals

By
The Associated Press
-

HOUSTON (AP) — The United States is heading to the semifinals of the World Baseball Classic after a “different level of focus” helped this All-Star-studded team rebound from a shocking loss.

The U.S. beat Canada 5-3 on Friday night for a spot in the semifinals Sunday against the Dominican Republic. The big win came after an 8-6 loss to Italy in pool play left them needing help to advance to Friday’s game.

“Guys really locked in,” Yankees star Aaron Judge said. “We saw a different level of focus at our workout the other day and then even pregame today. It felt like the boys were locked and ready to go.”

The loss to Italy elicited criticism of the team and particularly manager Mark DeRosa after he prematurely said on a television interview the morning of the loss to Italy that: “Our ticket’s punched to the quarterfinals.”

Judge said he knows a lot of people had negative things to say about them after the Italy game, but they didn’t pay it any mind.

“There’s a lot of noise that’s been going on with that,” he said. “And I think it just speaks volumes to the players in this room, the manager we’ve got, everybody, that no matter what’s being said about us, what’s going on, we still got a job to do on the field.”

First baseman Bryce Harper echoed Judge’s sentiments that they didn’t worry about what outsiders were saying about the team.

“People are going to have their opinion about us,” he said. “I don’t think any of them are going to be sitting at our dinner table or our Thanksgiving dinner, so it doesn’t really matter what anybody says, that’s always been my call on that kind of stuff.”

The Americans did eventually punch their ticket to the quarterfinals when Italy beat Mexico to win Pool B and give the U.S. second place.

Starter Logan Webb, who threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings Friday night, said the team’s path to the semifinals was not ideal but he was proud that the guys got the job done.

“It kind of feels like a second chance and… I felt like it was a newfound energy today,” he said.

Third baseman Alex Bregman appreciated the professionalism in the clubhouse as the team dealt with the adversity from the loss to Italy.

“One of the biggest things that you see around all these great players is everyone’s present and they’re not worried about the future or the past,” he said. “They’re worried about that game, that moment, that pitch, the next pitch. And it was just a good, good response today.”

Now the challenge gets even bigger as the U.S. faces a Dominican t eam that beat South Korea 10-0 Friday in seven innings to advance to the semifinals.

The Americans will send reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes to the mound Sunday to contend with a roster that is also chock full of All-Stars.

“I expect it to be like one of the best games of all time,” DeRosa said.

Judge is thrilled that the team is heading to Miami and can’t wait for what’s waiting for the U.S. there.

“The boys are excited, that’s for sure,” he said. “Definitely getting a taste for playoff atmosphere in March, definitely gets the juices flowing a little bit.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

North Korea fires about 10 missiles toward sea in show of force, Seoul says

By
The Associated Press
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Saturday fired about 10 ballistic missiles toward the eastern sea, South Korea’s military said, staging its own show of force as the rival South conducts a joint military exercise with the United States.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired from an area in Sunan, the site of Pyongyang’s international airport, and flew about 350 kilometers (220 miles).

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the weapons landed outside the country’s exclusive economic zone and that there were no reports of damage to planes or ships.

The South’s Joint Chiefs said the military has stepped up surveillance and is maintaining readiness against possible additional launches while closely sharing information with the U.S. and Japan.

The launches came as the U.S. and South Korean militaries conduct their annual springtime exercises involving thousands of troops while the Trump administration also wages an escalating war in the Middle East.

The war has raised concerns about potential security lapses in South Korea, as local media — citing security camera footage and other images — have speculated that the U.S. is relocating some missile defense assets stationed in the country to support operations against Iran.

When asked by The Associated Press this week whether U.S. Forces Korea was moving interceptor missiles from its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, system in Seongju to the Middle East, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s office said it could not confirm details about U.S. military operations.

The office said the potential relocation of U.S. military assets would not affect the allies’ defense posture against nuclear-armed North Korea, while also citing South Korea’s conventional military strength. It earlier gave a similar response to reports about the possible relocation of Patriot missile defense systems from South Korea.

The launches came hours after South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok, Seoul’s No. 2 official after Lee, met U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington and expressed hope for renewed diplomacy between Washington and Pyongyang. Lee seeks improved inter-Korean relations, and some of his top officials have said Trump’s expected visit to China, starting March 31, may create an opening with Pyongyang.

But Saturday’s launches appeared to dim such hopes, signaling defiance by Pyongyang, which in recent months has hardened its stance toward Seoul and urged Washington to drop denuclearization demands as a precondition for talks.

North Korea has long described the allies’ drills as invasion rehearsals and often uses them as a pretext to dial up its own military demonstrations or weapons testing.

The North in previous years has conducted numerous salvo launches of missiles or artillery while describing them as simulations of nuclear attacks against targets in South Korea.

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday criticized Washington and Seoul for proceeding with their drills at a perilous moment for global security, and warned that any challenge to the North’s safety would bring “terrible consequences.”

Without directly referring to the Iran war, Kim Yo Jong said the U.S.-South Korea drills undermine regional stability at a time when the global security structure is “collapsing rapidly and wars break out in different parts of the world due to the reckless acts of outrageous international rogues.”

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry has released separate statements denouncing the joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and expressing support for Tehran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei.

The 11-day Freedom Shield exercise, which runs through March 19, is one of two annual command post exercises conducted by the militaries of the United States and South Korea. The largely computer-simulated drills are designed to test the allies’ joint operational capabilities, while incorporating evolving war scenarios and security challenges. Freedom Shield will be accompanied by a field training program called Warrior Shield.

North Korea has repeatedly rejected Washington and Seoul’s calls to resume diplomacy aimed at winding down its nuclear program. Talks derailed in 2019 following the collapse of Kim Jong Un’s second summit with Trump during his first term.

Kim has made Russia the priority of his foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to support Moscow’s war in Ukraine, possibly in exchange for aid and military technology.

—

AP journalists Yuri Kageyama and Mayuko Ono contributed from Tokyo.

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Staff Reports
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Legal Advertisement NOTICE TO BIDDERS City of Columbus, Indiana #CRC-26-01 Riverfront Tree Mitigation Notice is hereby given that bids for the above mentioned project will be publicly unsealed and read aloud, on March 24, 2026, at the meeting of the Board of Public Works and Safety in the Council Chambers of Columbus City Hall. Bids will be accepted only through the electronic bidding system, Ion Wave Technologies. All responses are due prior to the published closing date and time. No mailed, emailed, faxed, hand delivered or late responses will be accepted. To register with Ion Wave, view current City of Columbus bid events, submit a bid, view bid tabulations or view plan holders, please visit https://columbusin.ionwave.net/ All Bid Responses shail be properly and completely executed on the forms provided by the City in the Bid Event. As required by Indiana State Board of Accounts, the Contractor’s Bid For Public Work – Form 96, including Contractor’s Non-Collusion Affidavit is available at www.in.gov, and by entering “Form 96” in the search engine. All contractors, subcontractors, and bidders for contracts with the City of Columbus shall be required to complete and submit a notarized Comprehensive Compliance Form (CCF) regarding requirements as to Affirmative Action, Disqualification of Contracts Dealing with the Government of Iran, a Drug Free Workplace, OSHA and IOSHA Regulations, and Employment Eligibility Verification. The Comprehensive Compliance Form encompassing all of the provisions stated above will be available in the Bid Event and be required with each Bid Response. If awarded the contract, said provisions in the CCF will be incorporated into the final contract. Failure to submit the CCF will constitute a material defect in the bid. In addition, a breach of a covenant in the CCF may be considered a material breach of any final contract. A bid bond or certified check in the amount of ten percent (10%) of the bid amount, and made payable to the City of Columbus, Indiana, is required with each Bid Response as guaranty that the terms of the bid will be carried out. Bid Security should be submitted by uploading a clean digital copy to the Bid Response. The apparent low bidder will be required to furnish the original bid bond to the Finance Department in City Hall, within 72 hours of bid opening. All bonds must be secured from a bonding company as listed in the current edition of the U.S. Treasury Department, Circular N570, and authorized to transact business in the State of Indiana. The bid bond must include a power of attorney for the agent signing the bid bond. The Board of Public Works and Safety reserves the right to reject any and all bids. No bidder may withdraw any bid or proposal within a period of thirty (30) days following the date set for receiving bids or proposals. The Board of Public Works and Safety reserves the right to waive informalities and reserves the right to reject and/or cancel any and all bids, solicitations and/or offers in whole or in part as specified in the solicitations when it is not in the best interests of the governmental body as determined by the purchasing agency in accordance with i.e. 5-22-18-2 A one hundred percent (100%) performance and payment bond will be required of the successful bidder. It is intended that actual construction of all work divisions shall be started as soon as practicable, and each bidder shall be prepared to enter promptly into a construction contract, furnish a performance bond, furnish a certificate of insurance, and begin work without delay. Contract documents for this project, prepared and certified by the City Engineer or a designated Consultant, setting forth in detail the drawings, plans and specifications for said division work are available online. Questions must be submitted electronically through Ion Wave so that all project bidders have access to the questions and answers. For this reason, no questions will be answered by email, phone or in person. The City of Columbus exclusively uses Ion Wave for the notification and dissemination of all solicitations. The receipt of solicitations through any other means may result in the receipt of incomplete specifications and/or addendums, which could ultimately render the bid/proposal non-compliant. The City of Columbus accepts no responsibility for the receipt and/or notification of solicitations through any other means. For special accommodations needed by physically challenged individuals planning to attend the bid opening please call 812-376-2570 or TDD 812-375-2720 at least forty-eight (48) hours prior to the meeting. Date: March 5, 2026 Mary K. Ferdon, Mayor Erick A. Frey, II, Member John C. Pickett, Member Melanie V. Hdnderson, Member Attest: Luann Welmer, Clerk 60158156 R 03-07-14-2026

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