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A former top Pentagon official said Saturday that she’s concerned Russia is detaining American basketball star Brittney Griner as “leverage over the United States.” Evelyn Farkas told Yahoo Sports that Russia may want Griner as a “high-profile hostage” who could serve as a valuable bargaining chip. “If we want her out of jail, Russia is going to have some terms,” said Farkas, who served as the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine from 2012-15. “It… Source link

Guillermo Rigondeaux was discharged from the hospital on Friday. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) The career of a former champion and amateur boxing legend is in limbo after a horrific cooking accident, according to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger. Guillermo Rigondeaux reportedly lost approximately 80 percent of his vision when his pressure cooker exploded while he was cooking Cuban black beans at his home in Miami on Thursday. Rigondeaux’s manager, Alex Boronte, told ESPN that boiling water… Source link

Mike Krzyzewski got a hero’s sendoff at his final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, as you might expect from the winningest coach in college basketball history, but he did not get a happy ending. Krzyzewski’s Cameron career came to an end on Saturday against, who else, North Carolina. Among the people who were there to send him off, per Duke, were NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Jerry Seinfeld, Dirk Nowitzki, Kyler Murray, Ken Jeong, Nick Nurse, Terrell Owens and the usual… Source link

Five months ago, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer was given the unenviable task of explaining why the Georgia defense had just steamrolled the Gamecocks’ offense. He gave a number of reasons, but singled out only one player, “a defensive lineman that weighs 340 pounds and runs better than everybody on this call.” The player was Jordan Davis, and as it turns out, Beamer may have been underselling the mammoth nose tackle’s speed. On Saturday, Davis threw down one of the wildest… Source link

Russian oligarchs, who are collectively estimated to control as much as one third of Russia’s wealth, most of which is held outside of Russia in various ways such as shadowy bank accounts and real estate, are feeling the wrath of sanctions by the European Union (EU) and the U.S. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February, the West swiftly moved to punish the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin by freezing Russian assets, cutting off some of the country’s banks from… Source link

We’re one step closer to seeing Zion Williamson back on a basketball court again. According to Shams Charania and Will Guillory of The Athletic, Williamson has been cleared to start basketball activities and will be returning to the New Orleans Pelicans. This is great news for Williamson, the Pelicans, and fans. Just a few weeks ago, it was reported that Zion might need a second surgery. Now, just like that, he’s back on track to possibly appear in a game before the end of the season. And with… Source link

(Bloomberg) — For years, the U.S. warned Germany of building up a dangerous energy dependence on Russia, the source of more than half of its fossil fuel imports. Now that the war in Ukraine has shocked Berlin into the same conclusion, the government is finding that changing course might be too late. Most Read from Bloomberg Europe’s largest economy is facing up to the prospect that the bulk of its natural gas and coal supplies could get choked off, ripping through its industrial base and… Source link

A self-described “doctor” has a lesson she’d like to teach investors about decentralized finance (DeFi), an increasingly popular lending sector that’s become a battleground against cryptocurrency-related fraud. Even the most experienced DeFi players can find themselves wrong-footed by hacks and fraud. Yet retail investors in the sector are hungry for basic fraud protection, giving rise to a new breed of “vigilantes” and startup businesses to address the demand. Over a year ago, one Silicon… Source link

Phoenix Mercury All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner has reportedly been detained in Russia on drug charges. The New York Times reported that the Russian Federal Customs Service detained an American basketball player at Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow after finding hashish oil vape cartridges in her luggage. The Customs Service didn’t identify who was arrested, saying only that she’d won two Olympic gold medals. A Russian news service identified the player as the… Source link

(Bloomberg) — Italy’s Finance Police detained superyachts of sanctioned Russian billionaires, as authorities around the world ratchet up the pressure on the country’s elite following the invasion of Ukraine. Most Read from Bloomberg Gennady Timchenko’s Lena was seized in the coastal city of Sanremo in compliance with European Union sanctions, according to a statement from Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s office on Saturday. A media adviser to Draghi said on Twitter on Friday that police… Source link