Author: Daily Sabah With Reuters

Puerto Rico was hit with a massive power outage on Wednesday after energy plants across the island unexpectedly shut down, power generator Genera said. Puerto Rico has long dealt with chronic power outages, including a blackout on New Year’s Eve, as its infrastructure crumbles. Genera added in a post on X it was working to bring backup units online and investigate the cause of the incident. Energy distribution company LUMA Energy said the outage began around 12:40 p.m. local time. As of 2 p.m., all plants on the U.S. territory were still offline, real-time data from Genera’s website showed. “We…

Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen said on Wednesday authorities in El Salvador had denied him access to Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man mistakenly deported and being held in a notorious prison in the country. Van Hollen arrived in the Central American nation on Wednesday morning saying he would seek to meet with senior Salvadoran officials to secure Abrego Garcia’s release. But Van Hollen told reporters El Salvador’s Vice President Felix Ulloa had told the senator he could not authorize a visit or a call with Abrego Garcia. Van Hollen, who is a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign…

A 64-team World Cup in 2030 is a nonstarter, according to CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani, who has joined other confederations in rejecting a bold expansion plan floated by CONMEBOL. The proposal, officially tabled last week by CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez, called for increasing the tournament from 48 to 64 teams – just a year before the expanded format debuts in 2026. The 2030 edition is set to be hosted primarily by Spain, Portugal and Morocco. The opening matches will take place in Uruguay – where the first World Cup was hosted in 1930 – along with Argentina and Paraguay. “I…

Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham may bask in the Hollywood spotlight, but Welsh rivals Swansea City are grabbing some star power of their own – Real Madrid legend Luka Modric is set to make his first move into club ownership with a minority stake. The 39-year-old Croatian midfielder, under contract with the Spanish giants until mid-2025, will reportedly join American investors Andy Coleman, Brett Cravatt, Nigel Morris and Jason Cohen in Swansea’s ownership group, according to Welsh media. “This is an exciting opportunity. Swansea has a strong identity, an incredible fan base and the ambition to compete at the highest level,” Modric…

Luka Doncic’s blockbuster move from the Mavericks to the Lakers sent shockwaves through the basketball world – and fired up the fan base, too. The Slovenian star’s No. 77 Lakers jersey topped all sales for the 2024-25 regular season, according to NBAStore.com, the league announced Monday. Doncic also made history, becoming the first international player to claim the NBA’s most popular jersey. He is also the first person other than Stephen Curry or LeBron James to top the list in more than a decade. The last time Curry or James didn’t have the best-selling jersey was when Carmelo Anthony’s No.…

China has ordered its airlines not to take any further deliveries of Boeing jets in response to the U.S. decision to impose 145% tariffs on Chinese goods, Bloomberg News said on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Beijing has also asked that Chinese carriers halt any purchases of aircraft-related equipment and parts from U.S. companies, the Bloomberg report said. The Chinese government is also considering ways to provide assistance to airlines that lease Boeing jets and are facing higher costs, the people told Bloomberg News.

Ukrainian, British, French and Turkish representatives will hold a meeting on Black Sea security in Türkiye on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement. Zelensky: Talks with US on minerals deal were positive Zelensky said that talks with the U.S. regarding a minerals deal were “positive”, and that more meetings were expected. Zelensky added meetings regarding the agreement would continue at a technical level throughout the week.

Four Russian journalists were sentenced by a Moscow court to 5-1/2 years each in prison on Tuesday after being found guilty of working for the banned organisation of the late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Russian news outlets said. Antonina Favorskaya, Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov and Artem Kriger have been on trial behind closed doors since October on charges, which they deny, of belonging to an extremist group.

A decade of heartbreak ended in a single stroke. Rory McIlroy captured the elusive Masters title – and the career Grand Slam – by birdieing the first hole of a sudden-death playoff against Justin Rose on Sunday, punctuating a dramatic final round at Augusta National with a fist-pumping, tearful exhale of long-buried frustration. Moments earlier, it looked like deja vu. McIlroy missed a five-foot par putt on the 18th in regulation, surrendering his lead and letting Rose back into the mix. But the Northern Irishman reset, returned to the 18th, and delivered a dagger – sticking his approach to within…

A decade of heartbreak ended in a single stroke. Rory McIlroy captured the elusive Masters title – and the career Grand Slam – by birdieing the first hole of a sudden-death playoff against Justin Rose on Sunday, punctuating a dramatic final round at Augusta National with a fist-pumping, tearful exhale of long-buried frustration. Moments earlier, it looked like deja vu. McIlroy missed a five-foot par putt on the 18th in regulation, surrendering his lead and letting Rose back into the mix. But the Northern Irishman reset, returned to the 18th, and delivered a dagger – sticking his approach to within…