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Bridge: Oct. 29, 2023

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

Many players use the “Law of Total Tricks” to make competitive decisions. The Law states that the total number of trumps each side has in its best trump suit equals the total number of tricks available. Today’s North-South have nine spades, East-West have 10 diamonds. So, 19 tricks should be won at spade and diamond contracts.In a team match, both East-West pairs saved at five diamonds over North-South’s four spades. At one table, South assessed the total number of trumps accurately: He doubled five diamonds, reasoning that if he could win 11 tricks at spades, he would be plus 500 on defense, a decent result. Nor was he sure of making five spades. As it happened, North-South were only plus 100.At the other table, South doubted that he would get rich against five diamonds doubled; he tried for plus 650 at five spades.West led a diamond, and East won and returned a diamond. South ruffed in dummy and took the A-K of trumps. When West discarded, South drew the mi...

Ask Amy: My wife’s family is horrible to me, and she pretends it’s not happening

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

Dear Amy: I can’t stand my wife’s family. Things were great in the early years but became progressively worse over time.Related ArticlesAdvice | Ask Amy: My husband has very definite views about our child’s schooling. Is he correct? Advice | Ask Amy: Should I just let the new boyfriend be a surprise at our holiday dinner? Advice | Ask Amy: I want the money my husband lent our friend. How do I get it? Advice | Ask Amy: I’m insulted that he ‘fixed’ my photo with Photoshop Advice | Ask Amy: She wants to be the cool grandma, and I’m not OK with her plan Out of the blue my father-in-law insisted on being called “Sir” – after a decade of me calling him by his first name.He worked hard and came from nothing but acts like no one else but him can have a successful life or career. He is always passive-aggressive toward me.My sister-in-law intentionally invaded my personal ...

Thousands break into UN aid warehouses in Gaza in a sign of growing desperation as war escalates

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Thousands of people broke into aid warehouses in Gaza to take food and “basic survival items,” a U.N. agency said Sunday, in a mark of growing desperation and the breakdown of public order three weeks into the war between Israel and Gaza’s militant Hamas rulers.Tanks and infantry pushed into Gaza over the weekend as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a “second stage” in the war, three weeks after Hamas launched a brutal incursion into Israel. The widening ground offensive came as Israel pounded the territory from air, land and sea.The bombardment — described by Gaza residents as the most intense of the war — knocked out most communications in the territory late Friday, largely cutting off the besieged enclave’s 2.3 million people from the world. Communications were restored to many people in Gaza early Sunday, according to local telecoms companies, Internet-access advocacy group NetBlocks.org and confirmation on the ground.The ...

Jasper Stubbs wins Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in a playoff

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian Jasper Stubbs won at the second playoff hole to claim the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship on Sunday and an invitation to the 2024 Masters and a spot in next year’s British Open at Royal Troon.Stubbs came from six shots back to finished tied with Chinese pair Sampson Zheng and Ding Wenyi at 1-over 285 at Royal Melbourne and force a playoff. The 22-year-old Stubbs and Ding both made birdie at the tricky par-4 18th, but Zheng could only make par and was eliminated.Stubbs and 18-year-old Ding headed back to play the 18th again and while the Australian found the back of the green, Ding hit his approach into a greenside bunker.Stubbs then put his 13-metre birdie putt to within a whisker of the hole, and when Ding’s par putt lipped out, the Australian tapped in for the win and entry to the 2024 Masters and British Open.“The Masters is something every kid’s ever dreamed of,” Stubbs said. “It’s the one tournament that every golfer wants to play in the...

Motorcyclist killed in Anne Arundel Co. crash

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

Annapolis, Maryland, police have identified the motorcyclist killed in a crash Saturday afternoon.David Alan Nutter, 22, of Severna Park, was driving a motorcycle along West Street just before 1:40 p.m. when his vehicle collided with BMW sedan, police said in a news release.“The impact caused Mr. Nutter to be ejected from his motorcycle,” the department said. He was pronounced dead minutes after officers responded to the scene.No information was provided about the driver and any possible passengers inside the BMW.Police said West Street, as well as Poplar, North Homeland and South Homeland Avenues, were blocked Saturday afternoon while crash investigators were on the scene. These roads have since reopened.A map of the area where the deadly collision happened is below. Source

England wins toss and will field in Cricket World Cup match against India

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — England captain Jos Buttler won the toss and chose to field first in its Cricket World Cup match on Sunday against India.India is flying high – the only unbeaten team in the competition thus far. The hosts sit second on the points’ table with 10 points from five games. It trails South Africa – equal on points after six games – on net run-rate.England, meanwhile, is 10th on the table. The 2019 champions sunk to last spot again on Saturday evening as the Netherlands beat Bangladesh.It has a mere two points from only one win in five games – the worst run for a defending champion since 1999. Australia in 1992 is the only other defending champion to lose four (or more) matches in a World Cup.England has only beaten Bangladesh and still trails them on run-rate. It has lost to New Zealand, Afghanistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka.Star all-rounder Hardik Pandya is still unavailable for India and is nursing a left ankle injury. In his absence, the hosts have gone with a ...

UN says thousands of people broke into Gaza aid warehouses to take food and other ‘basic survival items’

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — UN says thousands of people broke into Gaza aid warehouses to take food and other ‘basic survival items’.Source

Famosos reaccionan a la muerte del actor Matthew Perry

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

(CNN Español) — La muerte del actor Matthew Perry, quien había alcanzado la fama y un lugar en el panteón de la cultura pop por interpretar al personaje de Chandler Bing en la serie “Friends” (1994-2004), generó reacciones de pesar entre muchas personalidades del mundo del espectáculo.Perry falleció este sábado 28 de octubre a los 54 años, confirmó CNN a través de Warner Bros. Television Group.“Estamos devastados por el fallecimiento de nuestro querido amigo Matthew Perry. Matthew era un actor increíblemente talentoso y una parte indeleble de la familia de Warner Bros. Television Group. El impacto de su genio cómico se sintió en todo el mundo y su legado vivirá en los corazones de muchas personas. Este es un día desgarrador y enviamos nuestro amor a su familia, a sus seres queridos y a todos sus devotos fans”, dijo Warner Bros. Television en un comunicado.“Friends” fue una producción de Warner Bros. Television, propiedad de la empresa matriz de CNN, War...

Russia says it shot down 36 Ukrainian drones as fighting grinds on in Ukraine’s east

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian air defense shot down over 30 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula overnight Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday.“The air defense systems in place destroyed 36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of the Crimean peninsula,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.Local authorities in the southern Krasnodar region bordering the Black Sea said that a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday, but did not specify the cause. “The reasons for the incident are being established,” a statement from local authorities said, amid claims in local media outlets that the fire had been caused by a drone strike or debris from a downed drone.Drone strikes and shelling on the Russian border regions and Moscow-annexed Crimea are a regular occurrence. Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the Crimean peninsula.In Ukraine, the country...

Erwin Chemerinsky: How new House Speaker Mike Johnson tried again and again to overturn Biden’s election

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:11:08 GMT

In less than 15 months, Congress will count and certify the votes from the electoral college. It is truly frightening that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., from the far right of the Republican Party, might have a prominent role in the process.If Republicans keep control of the House in the November 2024 elections, it seems likely they will keep Johnson as speaker given their bitter divisions and difficulty in selecting someone for the position after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster. Johnson was the primary proponent in the House of a way to overturn the 2020 election and keep Donald Trump in the presidency. He can be expected to do the same in 2024 if Trump is the Republican nominee and loses to President Joe Biden.Johnson, a lawyer, led the House Republicans in promoting a baseless legal theory that state legislatures have sole power to select and appoint electors. This so-called “independent state legislature” theory maintains that a state legislature can allocate its e...