Atlanta United is selling Brazilian winger Luiz Araújo to Flamengo for a reported $10m transfer fee. Despite scoring a goal in the latest match against Colorado, Araújo never fulfilled expectations since arriving as a designated player from French champions Lille during the 2021 season. Atlanta Technical Director Carlos Bocanegra said the club would "actively seek reinforcements" during the summer transfer window to occupy a fourth-place position in the MLS Eastern Conference with 21 points (6-4-3).
The Colorado Rapids will host Real Salt Lake in a Western Conference match-up on Saturday. The Rapids have recorded 10 draws in their last 10 league games, while Real Salt Lake sit at the bottom of the Western Conference. This will be the first meeting between the two teams this season. Michael Barrios and Kevin Cabral are top performers for the Rapids, while Jefferson Savarino and Andres Gomez lead for RSL. Both teams have a number of players who are injured and not expected to play.
Spotify, the leading audio streaming service, reported that revenue in Q2 increased 23% YoY to €2.3bn ($2.67bn), better than the €2.18bn estimated by analysts. Subscriber growth also beat expectations, with a net addition of 7 million premium subscribers, bringing the total user figure to 232 million, an increase of 30% YoY. However, the company's net loss increased from €394m a year ago to €418m. Spotify also announced its acquisition of SoundBetter, a platform which connects music creators and producers with professionals for hire.
Thousands of US women are to stage a sit-in outside the Capitol building in Colorado, demanding stronger gun control laws, specifically a ban on assault weapons in addition to a gun buy-back scheme. Gun-related deaths, and potential threats posed by guns, form a pervasive trauma for many children, with 4 million American children having endured at least one lockdown in the 2017-2018 school year. While the sit-in could last for days, campaigners for Here 4 the Kids insist that the major point is to question the “sanity” of a culture which seeks to live with mass murder instead of trying to introduce effective gun controls.
Kyle Dubas out as Maple Leafs GM following early playoff exit
CBC
23-05-19 16:17
Kyle Dubas has been fired from his role as general manager of NHL team the Toronto Maple Leafs. The club said it was ending its nine-season relationship with the 37-year-old executive whose contract was due to expire at the end of June. Dubas was an assistant manager at the Maple Leafs beginning in 2014 at the age of 28. He moved to the top job in 2018 and helped the team make the play-offs four times during his tenure, but never got to a final. Fans, players and fellow executives talked of his passion and his strong support for the club's quartet of attacking talent.
Mike Bohn has resigned from his position as athletic director for the University of Southern California (USC) after 3.5 years in the role. USC's football team enjoyed a return to national contention last year, following the hiring of coach Lincoln Riley, and the men's basketball team has made three straight NCAA Tournament appearances under Andy Enfield. In a statement, Bohn cited "ongoing health challenges" as the reason for his surprising move. USC President Carol Folt paid tribute to Bohn in her letter to the school and alumni, noting his part in transforming the university's athletics from a department troubled by scandal and NCAA sanctions to a "national powerhouse." Folt aims to ensure that USC continues its ascent under new leadership as it prepares to move to the Big Ten. Bohn is a former athletic director at Idaho, San Diego State, Colorado, and Cincinnati.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that four people have died and a further 14 have lost their vision due to contaminated eye drops in the US. The illness, which has affected 81 people so far, has been linked to the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is impervious to standard antibiotics. Of the patients, the majority had used certain specific brands of the drugs, many of which were subsequently recalled. Following the recall, the US Food and Drug Administration visited the Indian plant at which the drugs were manufactured and discovered issues with production and testing measures.
The trend for converting historical or unusual buildings into hotels, which have saved many architecturally important structures from demolition, is highlighted by a piece carried by the Sydney Morning Herald. Among the 10 properties featured are the Crawford Hotel, Denver, originally the Denver Union train station, which features 600 pieces of art, many with a travel theme, curated by local art group NINE dot ARTS; the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Istanbul, Turkey, the city’s last Ottoman palace which was seriously damaged by fire in 1910 and which took six years to restore; and Mamula Island Hotel, Montenegro, the site of a former Austro-Hungarian fortress used as a concentration camp and prison under fire by both sides during WW2, and which is a new 32-room hotel backed by firm Orascom Development.
Kyle Dubas has stepped down from his role as the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Dubas signed 204 players, made 44 draft picks and 71 trades, with the Leafs averaging 106 points per season throughout his tenure. His most notable moments included the recent trade deadline where he acquired six players who he thought would help the Maple Leafs progress further in the playoffs. Dubas made some high profile signings in his time as general manager, including John Tavares and Mitch Marner, both of which have not lived up to their hefty price tags in the post-season.
United States returns ‘Earth Monster’ Olmec sculpture to Mexico
The Toronto Star
23-05-19 22:44
Mexico has announced the return of a 2,500-year-old Olmec stone sculpture from the United States. The sculpture, known as the “Monster of the Earth,” is thought to represent an entrance to the underworld and provides insights into the Olmec's cosmological vision. The sculpture was likely taken in the 1960s from Chalcatzingo, a ruin site south of Mexico City, and returned to Mexico at the country's consulate in Denver, Colorado.
The Texas Rangers beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Friday night, with Adolis Garcia homering for the fifth consecutive game and Martin Perez pitching a season-high seven innings to secure the win for the home side. Corey Seager and Josh Jung also hit two-run doubles in the fifth, helping the Rangers win nine of their last 13 games. Rockies' pitcher Karl Kauffmann allowed five runs, including four earned, in 4 1/3 innings in his major league debut.
Ukrainian-Americans could have an outsized impact on the 2024 US election due to the dense distribution of their votes in a string of highly competitive areas, according to advocacy groups, strategists and a Reuters analysis of census data. Although there are only roughly one million Americans of Ukrainian heritage, in Pennsylvania and Michigan the Ukrainian-American community outstrips Trump's margin of victory in 2016. Furthermore, in at least 13 congressional districts across the US, it exceeds or roughly matches the margin of victory achieved by either party in the 2022 midterms. Republican Ukrainian-Americans are protesting at the lack of interest by top Republican lawmakers and some potential 2024 White House candidates in Ukraine's conflict with Russia. This is set in "sharp relief" to President Joe Biden's support of Ukraine and its leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy. A Ukraine Crisis Response Committee of Michigan is putting together a guide to recommend voting based on candidates' views on Ukraine.
The Florida Panthers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven series in the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs. In NBA action, the Denver Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Clippers to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven series. In Major League Baseball, the Baltimore Orioles defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in extra innings, while the Miami Marlins defeated the San Francisco Giants 1-0. In MLS action, Vancouver beat Seattle 2-0, while the New York Red Bulls defeated Montreal 2-1. The Colorado Mammoth won their Conference Finals series against the Calgary Roughnecks in the NLL Playoffs.
Authorities battling wildfires in Canada's oil-rich Alberta province have said they hope cooler temperatures and rain expected over the coming week will help their efforts. Storms could complicate firefighters' efforts to combat the blazes. Alberta has seen energy production cuts, home evacuations and poor air quality due to the intense start to the wildfire season. This year has seen 496 wildfires burning more than 842,000 hectares compared to just 459 hectares in 2020. Over the past couple of weeks, gas flowing from Canada to the US has averaged just 7.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), well below the 8.4-bcfd average exported since the start of 2023 and 9.0-bcfd in 2022, according to Refinitiv. Canada's wildfires have sent smoke to US states including Minnesota, Nebraska, Illinois, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Utah, Washington and Colorado, triggering air quality alerts in some places.
The wildfires in Alberta, Canada have resulted in energy production cuts, home evacuations and poor air quality. This year, Alberta Wildfire has responded to 496 wildfires burning more than 842,000 hectares, compared with just 459 hectares in 2022. Cooler temperatures and showers forecast for the coming week may help firefighters battle the blazes in the oil-rich Canadian province; however, storms could complicate efforts. While smoke from Canada's wildfires has sent smoke to several US states, several oil and gas companies have had to sporadically stop or restart production in Alberta due to fluctuating fire-related risks.
The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 10-5 following a dominant performance from Oscar Mercado, who hit five runs and got three out of four at-bats, tying his career-high in RBIs, and Paul DeJong. Mercado's two-run single in the fifth expanded the Cardinals' lead before DeJong hit three-run homer in the seventh, putting the scoreline at 10-3. St. Louis have won 11 out of 14 after their poor start at 10-24 and have maintained a strong record since, while the Dodgers dropped from three losses in the series, recording their first set since April 24-26.
The New York Yankees secured a 3-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday, thanks in large part to Harrison Bader and Gleyber Torres, who both homered in the match. More significantly, however, the win marked the first time that the Yankees have enjoyed a four-game winning streak this season, particularly surprising given that the team were without the usually key player Aaron Judge. Despite the defeat, Cincinnati remains bottom of the NL Central.
Various sporting events on Sunday saw the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 in overtime in the NHL Western Conference Final, putting the Knights 2-0 up in the series. The Miami Heat also extended their lead against the Boston Celtics, going 3-0 up in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals with 128 points to Boston's 102. Meanwhile, in Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-1, and the San Diego Padres beat the Boston Red Sox 7-0.
Pharma Healthcare, an Indian company that sold eye drops that were contaminated with a drug-resistant bacteria, has caused four deaths, 14 instances of blindness, and four instances in which people required eye removal surgery, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. The contaminated eye drops were shipped to 18 US states before the products were recalled in February. More than 80 individuals have developed symptoms so far.
Jurickson Profar extended his on-base streak to 30 games and added two RBIs to lead his Colorado Rockies to a 5-3 victory over the Miami Marlins on Monday night. Elias Diaz homered and doubled to drive in two runs, while Kris Bryant Da doubled alongside Profar. Bryan De La Cruz scored twice for the Marlins with a four-hit performance, and Jacob Stallings contributed two RBIs. Miami equalised in the second before Diaz hit the pivotal blast, his fourth of the season, to give Colorado the lead once more. Pierce Johnson secured a ninth save for the Rockies.
