MARTA VIEIRA DA SILVA

Brazil striker Marta could start the Women’s World Cup on the bench while she continues to recover from a left knee injury.

Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first male player to score at five World Cups with a goal for Portugal against Ghana.

Italy’s former premier Silvio Berlusconi is making his return to Italy’s parliament nearly a decade after being banned from holding public office over a tax fraud conviction.

Lesia Tsurenko is a professional tennis player from Ukraine who is trying to carry on with her career while her country is being invaded by Russia.

Paraguay’s prosecutor of organized crime and drug trafficking cases has been slain by gunmen on a Colombian beach as he honeymooned with his new wife, who says the attackers came on a jet ski or small boat.

John Isner believes in his chances against Rafael Nadal in the second round of the Italian Open.

Mikaela Shiffrin dominated the first of two midweek women’s World Cup giant slaloms.

A gathering of leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean here this weekend is the latest sign of Mexico flexing its diplomatic muscle as it looks to assert itself as the new mediator between the region and the United States.

Novak Djokovic has started his bid to make history at the U.S. Open with a four-set victory over Danish teenager Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune.

The U.S. has won its third consecutive gold medal in women’s water polo, beating Spain 14-5 in the final at the Tokyo Olympics.

In a way, the massive upheaval that has upended the U.S. Olympic world over the past five years reached its crescendo in the moment Simone Biles shockingly called it a night during the gymnastics team finals.

American 17-year-old Coco Gauff completely overwhelmed Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-1 at the French Open to become the youngest woman to reach the quarterfinals at any Grand Slam tournament in 15 years.

Switzerland's Corinne Suter holds the gold medal on the podium after the women's downhill, at the alpine ski World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Saturday, Feb. 13, 2021. Goggia had won the last four downhills on the World Cup circuit, after Suter had triumphed in the first race of the downhill season in France in December. Suter believed her second place in the worlds opener helped her believe she could win gold in downhill two days later. She also won gold in both speed events at the junior worlds seven years ago. Gut-Behrami seemed on course for her second gold medal in two days when she led Suter by more than three-tenths for most of her run.

The 2016 overall World Cup champion beat Swiss teammate Corinne Suter by 0.34 seconds, living up to her billing as the main favorite after winning the last four super-Gs on the World Cup circuit. Ad“It’s a disappointment not to win gold. Even when I made a mistake, I still felt good about my skiing,” Shiffrin said. Petra Vlhova, the overall World Cup leader from Slovakia, finished ninth, nearly two weeks after gaining her first career super-G podium. “The worst thing today was the silence,” said Brignone, who is the defending overall World Cup champion.

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin inspects the course prior to the women's super-G, at the alpine ski World Championships in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021. With all events on the opening three days of the skiing world championships postponed, athletes have had their patience — not their racing skills — put to the test. Four gold medals should have been handed out by Wednesday, but so far there have been no races. Ad“Everybody: It’s always nice weather in Cortina, of course the schedule will play out without any issues! “You wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and wait, and then you race,” Shiffrin said.

(AP Photo/Giovanni Auletta, File)Watching racers whizz through the Tofana schuss at top speed could be the signature image of the skiing world championships. The schuss is also a big part of an endless array of spectacular scenery in Cortina d'Ampezzo, the resort known as the “Queen” of the Italian Dolomites. AdAfter last year’s World Cup finals in Cortina were wiped out because of the spread of COVID-19, organizers asked the International Ski Federation to postpone the worlds to 2022. Former overall World Cup champion Lara Gut-Behrami has won four straight World Cup super-G races and will be an overwhelming favorite for that race on Day 2. AdAlso last month, defending overall World Cup champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde tore ligaments in his right knee in a crash.

“Damn!’’ Comotti exclaimed when nursing home staff confirmed that her well-wishers - 9-year-old Simon, his sister Marta and mother Alessia - were people she had never met before. The “Santa’s grandchildren” program is in its third year. Last year, it matched 2,550 “grandchildren” with residents of 91 nursing homes. This year, 5,800 gifts were dispatched to 228 nursing homes around the country -- an outpouring that is, in part, a reaction to the devastating toll that the coronavirus has had on the elderly, comprising the majority of Italy’s confirmed 70,000 COVID-19 dead. This was the Zanchi nursing home's first year participating in the “Santa’s grandchildren” program.

Czech Republic's Ester Ledecka speeds down the course during an alpine ski women's World Cup Super G in Val d'Isere, France, Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020. (AP Photo/Gabriele Facciotti)VAL D'ISERE – VAL D'Ester Ledecka edged Corinne Suter for her first win in a women’s World Cup super-G on Sunday, nearly three years after winning Olympic gold in the discipline. The Czech skier finished three hundredths ahead of Suter, the World Cup super-G champion from Switzerland who won a downhill on the same slope Friday. Brignone’s Italian teammate, Marta Bassino, was fourth, and overall World Cup leader Petra Vlhova finished sixth. The three-time overall champion was expected back in action at technical races in Semmering, Austria on Dec. 28-29.

(AP Photo/Andre Penner)RIO DE JANEIRO – A Black man died after being beaten by supermarket security guards in the Brazilian city of Porto Alegre on the eve of Friday's Black Consciousness Day observations, sparking outrage after videos of the incident circulated on social media. A short clip showed one guard restraining João Alberto Silveira Freitas just outside the doors of a Carrefour supermarket while the other pummeled him with repeated blows to the face. Dozens of protesters entered a Carrefour in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, on Friday morning, chanting “Black lives matter!” One held a sign reading: “Don't shop at Carrefour. You could die.” Inside another Carrefour in Rio de Janeiro, protesters shouted "Carrefour Killer!” as a black man lay still atop the conveyor belt of a checkout. In 2018, a security guard at a Carrefour in Sao Paulo state beat a stray dog to death with a metal bar.