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France to host Germany in a friendly game next March ahead of European Championship

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

PARIS (AP) — World Cup runner-up France will face Germany in a friendly next March as part of its European Championship preparations.Coach Didier Deschamps’ side take on Julian Nagelsmann’s struggling Germany team on March 23 at Lyon’s Groupama Stadium in its first friendly match leading up to Euro 2024, which will be hosted by Germany from June 14-July 14.Germany’s 2-0 loss to Austria last month capped a year of bad results, with Germany having lost six of the 11 games it played and winning just three. One of those, however, was a 2-1 friendly win over France in Dortmund in September under caretaker coach Rudi Völler. Of the teams who beat Germany — Belgium, Poland, Colombia, Japan, Turkey and Austria — only Belgium is ranked in the top 10 in the world.By contrast, free-scoring France coasted into Euro 2024 on the back of seven wins and a draw in qualifying, scoring 29 goals and conceding only three. France routed Gibraltar 14-0 along the way for a for recor...

Bayern Munich brings anger and unbeaten record to Man United in the Champions League after 5-1 loss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — Six years and 39 games. That’s how long it’s been since Bayern Munich lost a Champions League group stage game.That makes Tuesday’s game against Bayern an especially daunting task for Manchester United. After its own loss to Bournemouth, United needs to beat Bayern to have any chance of avoiding an embarrassingly early exit from the Champions League.Bayern — which is already qualified for the knockout stages — won’t just be playing to add a 40th game to that unbeaten record. After a shock 5-1 loss to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, forward Thomas Müller called on his teammates to show their emotion at Old Trafford.“There has to be a reaction following this. We need to tap into our anger, but we can’t lose our heads,” he said.The Frankfurt game was much closer than the score suggests — Bayern actually had four more shots than its opponent — but Bayern is keen to bounce back.Midfielder Leon Goretzka suggested Bayern hadn’t bee...

If college athletes can earn NIL money from the schools, what becomes of donor-backed collectives?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

Donor-fueled collectives that raise money and funnel it to college athletes through name, image and likeness opportunities they facilitate probably won’t go away entirely if NCAA President Charlie Baker’s proposals for paying athletes become reality. But changes will be inevitable.Baker has recommended that Division I schools be allowed to enter into licensing deals directly with their athletes, essentially paying them to be school ambassadors. He suggested that the wealthiest schools be required to pay half of their athletes at least $30,000 per year. For a school like Texas, with some 700 athletes, that would be a sum of some $10 million. Collectives, technically operating independently from the schools they serve, have sprung up across the country since the NCAA began allowing athletes to make money off their celebrity two years ago. The collectives — some 200 of them — seek donations from boosters, alumni and fans and then arrange opportunities for athletes to be pai...

Israel battles militants in Gaza’s main cities, with civilians still trapped in the crossfire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces battled Palestinian militants in Gaza’s two largest cities on Monday, with civilians still trapped in the fighting even after hundreds of thousands have fled to other parts of the besieged territory.Israel has pledged to keep fighting until it removes Hamas from power, dismantles its military capabilities and returns all of the hostages taken by militants during Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attack into Israel that ignited the war.The U.S. has provided unwavering diplomatic and military support for the campaign, even as it has urged Israel to minimize civilian casualties and further mass displacement. The war has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians and driven nearly 85% of the territory’s 2.3 million people from their homes.Residents said there was heavy fighting in and around the southern city of Khan Younis, where Israeli ground forces opened a new line of attack last week, and battles were still underway in parts of Gaza Ci...

Spanish league leader Girona trying to lower owns expectations after impressive start to the season

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Girona was trying to lower expectations after proving itself a genuine contender for the Spanish league title with its biggest win yet in a historic start to the season.A 4-2 statement win at defending champion Barcelona on Sunday put the Catalan club in sole possession of first place nearing the halfway point, and showed that it might have what it takes to keep up with the usual powerhouses in Spanish soccer.But coach Míchel Sánchez was quick to point out that winning the league still isn’t the team’s main goal. He acknowledged that Girona can aspire for more than just avoiding relegation, which was the main objective at the start of the season, but it is too early to think about the possibility of lifting a trophy.“I think mathematically we have escaped demotion, which was the goal,” Míchel said. “I don’t think we can keep up with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid and win the league. It’s not our objective. But we are very pleased. Today soccer fans are a bi...

Denver weather: Mild Monday with a mix of sun and clouds

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) - Denver begins the workweek along the Front Range with above-average highs and a mix of sun and clouds.Weather today: Hitting 50 with extra cloudsDenver weather will see a mix of sun and clouds this afternoon with lighter winds. High temperatures will be above average, reaching the 50-degree mark. Where and when Colorado roads will be most congested this holiday season Weather tonight: Partly cloudyThe extra clouds stick around Monday night as temperatures dip into the middle 20s. Winds will be light out of the northeast.Looking ahead: Wednesday snow chances, then warmingTuesday brings in more clouds, giving us overcast skies and cooler highs in the low 40s. Early Wednesday morning, Denver could see a quick dose of snow, but accumulations will be under an inch. Highs stay in the low 40s Wednesday with some afternoon and evening snow chances in the southern eastern plains. The plains could end up with 1-3 inches by late Wednesday night.Thursday brings more sunshine t...

Krispy Kreme arrives in France. Parisians can’t get enough

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

London/Paris (CNN) — In a city brimming with bakeries and artisan pastry shops, a red, white and green alien has landed. It goes by the name of Krispy Kreme.Even before the American donut chain opened the doors of its first store in France, in central Paris, at 8 a.m. Wednesday, about 400 customers had lined up on the sidewalk outside, Alexandre Maizoué, the director-general of Krispy Kreme (DNUT) France, told CNN.A handful of patrons, eager to get their hands on the iconic boxes of glazed, fried dough that have appeared in scores of American movies and television series, started lining up at 10 p.m. on Tuesday evening, Maizoué said. The first 10 in line won a year’s supply of free donuts.“The opening was just crazy,” Maizoué said. By closing time that evening, “people were banging on the windows, begging us to open the door.”“We experienced something quite extraordinary in the truest sense of the word.”Krispy Kreme plans to open 500 “points of access” across France over the n...

4 EU countries urge leaders’ summit to demand Gaza cease-fire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

The prime ministers of Spain, Belgium, Ireland and Malta have called on European Council President Charles Michel to have a “serious debate” this week about the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, according to a letter seen by POLITICO. “We must call urgently for all the parties to declare a lasting humanitarian cease-fire that can lead to an end of hostilities,” the four leaders wrote. “It is time for the European Union to act. Our credibility is at stake.”This week’s European Council summit is set to focus more on Ukraine, as the EU hopes to make a historic decision on starting talks to bring Kyiv into the 27-nation club and seal a key budget deal that would throw a €50 billion lifeline to the country’s flailing war economy.But given the scale of the devastation in the Middle East, the four leaders called it “imperative for us to hold a serious debate on the war” at the summit. “We call on your leadership to steer such a...

Trump’s scrapped testimony and busy week of campaigning preview balancing act he faces in 2024

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

(CNN) — A last-minute announcement scrapping plans to testify at his New York civil fraud trial. A “Commit to Caucus” event in Iowa on Wednesday. A rally in New Hampshire next weekend.Donald Trump’s schedule just weeks before the Iowa caucuses offers a preview of the balancing act the former president and his team will face over the next several months, when a series of other trials centered on Trump are slated to begin during the height of the primary election season.On the eve of his expected testimony, the former president said Sunday that he is no longer planning to take the stand in the case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is suing him for $250 million and seeking to bar him from doing business in the state. He’d sat in on the trial last week.Trump’s decision to back out of his planned testimony presents fresh questions over how the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination will hand...

Cowboys demolish rivals Eagles and a dramatic OT walk-off punt return: Everything to know about Week 14’s Sunday NFL games

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:21:28 GMT

(CNN) — As the temperature drops and the daylight begins to fade, it means NFL games begin to matter just that little bit more.And that was on display during Sunday’s slate of games, with dramatic finishes, emphatic scorelines and important results marking the occasion.Here’s everything you need to know from Sunday’s games in Week 14.Cowboys show Super Bowl credentialsThe Dallas Cowboys have risen to be the cream of the crop as the season has progressed.While the defense has been on point all year, the offense – spearheaded by quarterback Dak Prescott – is firing on all cylinders now.The latest example of their Super Bowl credentials came on Sunday when ‘America’s Team’ completely demolished its NFC East rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, 33-13, avenging its Week 9 loss to Philly.It’s quite the dramatic turnaround for Dallas, which endured a worrying stretch of the season where it looked like its title aspirations might be falling away.But the Cowboys’ ship has bee...