INS MAG

MILAN (AP) — Thelong waitfor the best hockey players in the world taking the ice in an international tournament lived up to the hype.

APTOPIX Milan Cortina Olympics Ice Hockey

Four of the seven games in the knockout round atthe Milan Cortina Olympicswent to overtime, including theU.S beating Canadain a fast-paced, back-and-forth final for the gold medal. The sport earned the spotlight it got in the NHL's return to the Games following a dozen-year drought.

"This is as good as it gets," U.S. forward Vincent Trocheck said. "They've got to keep doing it."

That's the plan.

The league, union and International Ice Hockey Federation havean agreement to participate in 2030in the French Alps, pending finalizing a deal with the International Olympic Committee. But the next chance for best-on-best country versus country competition is not that far away:The World Cup of Hockeyis set for February 2028.

The NHL and NHLPA are in lock step on a lot of issues, including the aim of establishing an international calendar with this kind of tournament every other year. The IIHF is on board, too.

"The hockey world from NHL/NHLPA standpoint is in a better place when The Players' Association and the league are cooperating and, internationally, when these three organizations are collaborating the hockey world is in a better place,"NHL Commissioner Gary Bettmansaid. "And it gives us an opportunity to grow the game in places where we're not as strong as, say, we are in North America and we look forward to continuing to collaborate with (IIHF president Luc Tardif) in furtherance of growing the game. That's the goal, and the more things that we can figure out to do together, the better it will be for everybody."

This was the sixth Olympics with NHL players since the precedent started in 1998 in Nagano. Skipping in 2018 and having 2022 get derailed by the pandemic had a lot of people in Milan lamenting the situation — but, in a way, the absence made the experience fonder.

"It's been so long since the last one," Canada defenseman Drew Doughty said. "Wish it had never happened this way, but here it is."

Advertisement

The U.S. won gold in men's hockey at an NHL Olympics for the first time, ending Canada's run of two in a row and three of the past four. It was the country's first since the1980 "Miracle on Ice,"though the only miraculous part of this championship was how it took American Connor Hellebuyck turning inone of the best hockey goaltending performancesin international hockey history.

"He was our best player by a mile," Jack Hughes said after scoring the golden goal in overtime,missing a tooth or twofrom a stick to the face earlier in the game.

Hughes' goal came less than two minutes into3-on-3 OT, which may be the biggest thing from Milan that drew criticism and should change moving forward — at least in the gold-medal game and probably at the NHL and NHLPA-run World Cup.

Canada coach Jon Cooper said playing 3 on 3 instead of 5 on 5, which is used to settle NHL playoff games, is "not hockey anymore."

"There's a reason overtime and shootouts are in play: It's all TV-driven to end games, so it's not a long time," Cooper said, referring to how games are settled in the league during the regular season. "There's a reason why (3 on 3) is not in the Stanley Cup Final or playoffs."

Following the U.S. victory and before the champagne and beer started flowing, players on the winning side had no complaints.

"Right now, I think it's great," Brock Nelson said.

AP Winter Olympics:https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

MESA, Ariz. (AP) — Aside from towering over most of hisAthleticsteammates at 6-foot-5, Nick Kurtz blends in at his locker in the middle of the clubhouse — and that's just the way he prefers it.

Athletics Spring Baseball

Even now with the extra fanfare and attention on him this spring asreigning AL Rookie of the Yearat just 22. Kurtz stuck with his usual offseason routine of returning home to North Carolina, where he likes to "chill," play video games and watch movies when he's not busy training.

"First of all, I'm excited for Year 2. I kind of know what to expect and what it's like to play inthe big leagues," Kurtz said Sunday before his first Cactus League game, against Cleveland. "Am I embracing the spotlight? Not so much. I'm a guy who likes to be out there, but obviously there's a lot more eyes, a lot more expectations, which I'm all about. I use that as our team, we have higher expectations of ourselves and what we think that we can do, so it's a good thing."

A'smanager Mark Kotsaywill consider Kurtz for the leadoff spot — where he was hitting Sunday and went 0 for 3 with a strikeout in his team's 6-0 loss to the Guardians — to maximize the slugger's at-bats.

After such a special 2025, Kurtz continues to come to work and praise all of his teammates who helped him achieve the spectacular year he had, Kotsay said.

"The same way like he's 13 years old, he's never going to change," Kotsay said at Hohokam Stadium. "It's awesome to watch him in the clubhouse, on the back field, he comes in the same way, the same guy, just feels blessed to be here, and I don't think that's ever going to change for him."

Kurtz batted .290 with 36 home runs, 86 RBIs and a 1.002 OPS in 117 games and became the eighth rookie since 1901 to finish with an OPS over 1.000 while making at least 400 plate appearances. In July, he became the first major league rookieto hit four homersin a game, leading the A's to a 15-3 victory over the Houston Astros.

So, what's it like watching him day to day?

"It's extremely annoying, not fun, because I know whatever I do I can never hit it opposite field that far, so I would say annoying," joked locker mate Zack Gelof, a second baseman rehabbing from surgery last September on his left shoulder. "Not as fun."

The 22-year-old Kurtz is counting on the A's carrying their momentum from late last year in a 76-86 finish and having a faster start this season to become a contender again in the AL West. He loves the young core of this group — many of whom have been locked up on long-term contracts — and hopes to be part of turning the club into a winner ahead of its scheduled move to Las Vegas for the start of the 2028 campaign.

Advertisement

"My plan is to be here for as long as I can," Kurtz said. "I'll be here for the next six years, minimum, so it's really exciting to know that when we go to Vegas we have guys that we'll be super familiar with and some of my best friends I've made for life, so it's really fun."

Many of those very faces were all together on the island of Maui in Hawaii for left fielder Tyler Soderstrom's wedding in November when the AL Rookie of the Year award was announced, so they celebrated Kurtz's first shining moment of what is expected to just be the start of great things to come in his career.

Still, it wasn't anything outrageous by any means. That wouldn't be Kurtz's way.

"Not a whole lot, maybe a couple beers, just hanging out," he said.

The left-handed hitter then spent the winter focused on making sure he did everything necessary to keep his body strong and healthy for another full year in the major leagues — one he hopes ends with a playoff berth this time. He started swinging a little later, in December, and increased his workload in the weight room, but noted, "I'm not a big changing guy. If it worked last year let's do it again this year."

Center fielder Denzel Clarke appreciates how the understated Kurtz handles his business. The first baseman offered a quick greeting to Guardians catcher David Fry when he stepped into the batter's box in the first inning and grounded out to third on four pitches.

"I don't know how under the radar you can be at 6-5, but he's just a very calm, very chill guy who's going to go about his day-to-day life," Clarke said. "Nothing too crazy, nothing too flashy, he's just going to be him."

Selected No. 4 in the first round of the 2024 amateur draft out of Wake Forest, Kurtz impressed the A's with his maturity from the moment he arrived and made his debut last April. He will turn 23 on March 12.

"I think he learned it really quickly when he got to us, and he mentioned that," Kotsay said. "He did go through a little bit of failure but he found his routines and his processes pretty quickly and recognized you can't get caught in the results, you just get caught in your process, and I think for a young player to realize that as quickly as he did, it showed in the success that he had."

AP MLB:https://apnews.com/mlb

MILAN (AP) — AC Milan lost more ground to city rival Inter Milan after a 1-0 loss to Parma at home on Sunday in a match which saw Milan midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek hospitalized after a collision with the Parma goalkeeper.

Italy Serie A Soccer

Loftus-Cheek was struck on the head after colliding with Edoardo Corvi after a cross into the area about 10 minutes into the match at San Siro.

The 30-year-old Loftus-Cheek had a bloodied face while being treated on the field. He was stretchered off with a neck and head brace, and later taken to hospital.

Italian media reports said the England international and former Chelsea player sustained broken teeth and was being examined for head trauma.

Advertisement

"Our thoughts are with him," Parma coach Carlos Cuesta said.

Mariano Troilo scored with a header off a corner in the 80th minute to give Parma the win. The goal was initially disallowed for a foul but the call was reversed after video review.

Milan had entered the match looking to cut its gap to Inter to seven points. Inter moved 10 points clear with a2-0 victory at Leccefor its seventh straight league win on Saturday.

Milan had already lost points at home in a 1-1 draw against Como on Wednesday.

It was the third win in a row for Parma, which is in 12th place.

Other results

Fourth-place Roma opened a four-point gap to fifth-place Juventus. Roma scored three second-half goals in a 3-0 home win against 16th-place Cremonese, which has lost 12 consecutive matches.Roma is tied on points with third-place Napoli.Seventh-place Atalanta scored two second-half goals to rally to a 2-1 win over third-place Napoli at home. It was Atalanta's third straight league win. Napoli hasn't won in three consecutive matches in all competitions.Genoa beat Torino 3-0 at home to end a three-game winless streak. Torino, which played the entire second half with 10 men, hasn't won in four straight matches in all tournaments.___AP soccer:https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Fourth-place Roma opened a four-point gap to fifth-place Juventus. Roma scored three second-half goals in a 3-0 home win against 16th-place Cremonese, which has lost 12 consecutive matches.

Roma is tied on points with third-place Napoli.

Seventh-place Atalanta scored two second-half goals to rally to a 2-1 win over third-place Napoli at home. It was Atalanta's third straight league win. Napoli hasn't won in three consecutive matches in all competitions.

Genoa beat Torino 3-0 at home to end a three-game winless streak. Torino, which played the entire second half with 10 men, hasn't won in four straight matches in all tournaments.

AP soccer:https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Drugmaker Merck is ‌separating its ‌human-health business into two ​divisions to offset pressures related to the patent ‌loss ⁠of its top-selling drug Keytruda, ⁠the Wall Street Journal ​reported ​on ​Monday.

One division ‌will house its cancer drugs, including Keytruda, while the other will ‌sell its ​non-cancer ​products.

Advertisement

Merck ​did not ‌respond to a ​Reuters ​request for comment immediately.

(Reporting by ​Padmanabhan ‌Ananthan in Bengaluru; ​Editing by ​Shilpi Majumdar)

By Philip Blenkinsop

(Reuters) - The European Commission demanded on Sunday that the United States stick to the terms of an EU-U.S. trade deal reached last year, after ‌the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump's global tariffs and he responded with new levies ‌across the board.

The Commission, which negotiates trade policy on behalf of the 27 EU member states, said Washington must provide "full clarity" ​on the steps it intends to take following the court ruling.

After the court struck down Trump's global tariffs on Friday, the U.S. president announced temporary, across-the-board tariffs of 10%, which he then hiked to 15% a day later.

"The current situation is not conducive to delivering 'fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial' transatlantic trade and investment, as agreed ‌to by both sides" in the joint ⁠statement setting out the terms of last year's trade agreement, the Commission said. "A deal is a deal."

The comments were far more strongly worded than the Commission's initial ⁠response on Friday, which had said only that it was studying the outcome of the Supreme Court decision and keeping in contact with the U.S. administration.

Advertisement

Last year's trade deal set a 15% U.S. tariff rate for most ​EU goods, ​apart from those covered by other sectoral tariffs such ​as on steel. It also allowed zero ‌tariffs on some products such as aircraft and spare parts. The EU agreed to remove import duties on many U.S. goods and withdrew a threat to retaliate with higher levies.

It is not clear whether Trump's new 15% tariffs supersede the EU-U.S. deal. If they do, the EU's zero tariff exemptions could disappear. The new tariffs could also be placed on top of pre-existing 'most-favoured-nation' U.S. duties, which is not the case ‌under the EU-U.S. deal.

Furthermore, the comparative advantage the EU had ​with a 15% tariff would appear to have disappeared as ​even countries without a deal face that ​rate.

Trade policy monitor Global Trade Alert estimates that the EU as a whole will ‌be 0.8 percentage points worse off, with Italy ​facing an extra 1.7 ​percentage points of U.S. tariffs.

"In particular, EU products must continue to benefit from the most competitive treatment, with no increases in tariffs beyond the clear and all-inclusive ceiling previously agreed," the EU ​executive said, adding that unpredictable tariffs ‌were disruptive and undermined confidence across global markets.

It said that EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic ​had discussed the issue with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard ​Lutnick on Saturday.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop;Editing by Peter Graff)

By Jack Kim and Kyu-seok Shim

North Korea ruling Workers' Party re-elects Kim Jong Un as general secretary, KCNA says

SEOUL, Feb 23 (Reuters) - North Korea's ruling Workers' Party re-elected Kim Jong Un as general secretary at a party congress ‌meeting on Sunday, state media said, a move seen as underlining his ‌absolute grip on power and greater confidence over domestic stability.

In a report published on Monday, KCNA state news ​agency credited Kim with raising the prestige of the country, placing it globally on a solid footing to pursue its revolutionary crusade and hardening the military "into an elite and powerful army."

Under his leadership, "the war deterrence of the country with the nuclear forces as its ‌pivot has been radically improved," ⁠KCNA said in the laudatory report of the fourth day of the congress' proceedings.

The reaffirmation of his authority "amounts to a declaration that Kim ⁠Jong Un has ended the regime's 'crisis‑management mode' and entered a phase of confident, stable long‑term rule," Lim Eul-chul, an expert on North Korea at Kyungnam University, said.

Advertisement

The delegates also elected ​members of ​the party Central Committee and adopted revisions to ​the party rules, KCNA said. It ‌did not provide details of the changes to the party charter, but some senior officials appeared to be dropped from the committee.

Former Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong, Supreme People's Assembly Standing Committee Chairman Choe Ryong Hae, and a top party military official, Ri Pyong Chol, were among those who were sidelined in a likely change of the ‌old guard, analysts said.

There has been no sign ​of Kim's teenage daughter, known as Ju Ae, attending ​the conference so far, amid speculation ​she is being groomed to succeed her father as leader. The ‌ninth iteration of the party congress, normally ​held every five ​years for several days, opened on Thursday with 5,000 delegates and is being watched by South Korea for any revelation of new domestic and external policy directions.

There ​have been no signs ‌of significant policy initiatives so far, the sessions focusing on having overcome an ​economic crisis and progress made under the Party's leadership.

(Reporting by Jack Kim; ​editing by Diane Craft and Stephen Coates)

MILAN — TheseWinter Olympicswere the most spread-out in history, with four venues hosting speedskating, hockey and figure skating in the city's outskirts while the rest of the Games' 12 sports were scattered across difficult-to-reach mountain towns hours away.

But those who made the effort to get to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics witnessed a Games remembered for a "King," crashes, cheating scandals, drones, historic medal hauls and triumphs by the host nation.

U.S. earns record 12 gold medals

Those dozen golds marked the most ever won by the U.S. at a single Winter Olympics. First-time gold medalists included bobsledderElana Meyers Taylor,the 41-year-old who won the monobob by four-hundredths of a second;Jordan Stolz,who won gold medals in long-track speedskating's 500 and 1000 meters, and Alex Ferreira, the 31-year-old winner of freeski halfpipe.

U.S. hockey sweeps gold

With a sweep of the hockey gold medals, theU.S. men won an Olympic tournament for the first time since 1980, and the women for the first time since 2018.

Trailing archrival Canada, 1-0, with two minutes left in regulation, captain Hilary Knight, playing her fifth and final Olympics, sent the gold-medal game to overtime. Veteran Megan Keller then scored the golden goal in a stirring comeback to earn the U.S.women their third-ever Olympic gold and first since 2018. The win capped a roller-coaster two days for Knight, who had proposed to speedskater Brittany Bowe one day earlier.

The men's tournament, the first to feature NHL players since 2014, also came down to a Canada-U.S. final that ended with Jack Hughes' golden goal in overtime.

Stunning results for U.S. figure skating

After the U.S. won the team event — made up of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating and ice dance — it appeared the country was on the verge of a potential sweep in the individual performances. It didn't exactly end that way.

Ilia Malinin, the big gold-medal favorite in men's singles, entered the final with a lead but had multiple falls anddropped all the way to eighthfor arguably the biggest upset of the Games. He said thepressure got the best of him.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates, the favorite in pairs, had stellar performancesbut took silverafter Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron of France(somewhat controversially) outscored them.

The highlight of the Olympics, however, may have been Alysa Liu. The 20-year-old, who retired from figure skating four years ago,put on a performance for the agesin the women's singles final and claimed gold while winning on her terms.

"That's what I'm f-----g talking about," Liu said as she skated off the ice following her gold-clinching performance.

Norway dominates the medal count

Despite having a population of just 5.6 million, the Nordic nation has long been a power in the Winter Olympics' endurance sports like cross-country skiing and biathlon.

But Norway's dominance grew to historic levels in Italy, where it led the medal count with 41, making it the first country to earn more than 40 medals at a single Winter Olympics. Six of itsgold medals were earned by cross-country skier Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, known as "King Klæbo," who became the first person ever to win that many at a Winter Games and only the fifth athlete to win six-plus golds at any Olympics, joining swimmers Mark Spitz (seven in 1972), Kristin Otto (six in 1988) and Michael Phelps (six each in 2004 and 2008) and gymnast Vitaly Scherbo (six in 1992).

Advertisement

Lindsey Vonn's comeback ends in a crash

Forced into retirement by injuries in 2019 before mounting a comeback in 2024, the American superstar skier, 41, entered the Olympics enjoying the healthiest season she could remember.

That changed less than a week before the women's downhill began, when she tore a knee ligament in a crash. Determined to compete in a brace despite the injury, Vonn qualified for the downhill final with one of the fastest times in the entire field. But only 13 seconds into her run, she hooked a gate with her right arm andwas sent spiraling, head-over-skis, into a crashthat left a Cortina d'Ampezzo crowd full of her friends and family silent. She has undergone five surgeries, andher father has saidhe does not want her to race again.

Johnson and Shiffrin win skiing gold

In the same downhill race where Vonn crashed, U.S. teammateBreezy Johnsonsliced down the treacherous Tofane course to join Vonn as the only other woman in U.S. history to win Olympic gold in the downhill. In Alpine skiing's team combined event, Johnson and teammate Mikaela Shiffrin finished fourth, while Americans Paula Moltzan and Jackie Wiles — less than a year removed from surviving a plane crash — earned bronze.

Johnson would end the Games on a happy note after herboyfriend proposedat the base of the giant slalom competition. Shiffrin, who hadn't earned an Olympic medal since 2018,had a cathartic end to the Games by dominating slalom for gold.

Ukrainian athlete barred from racing

Vladyslav Heraskevych planned to compete in skeleton while wearing a helmet featuring images of Ukrainian athletes who had been killed since Russia's invasion of the country in 2022. But the helmet did not comply with the International Olympic Committee's "athlete expression guidelines," the IOC said, and a jury of the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation disqualified Heraskevych from competing. His refusal to wear another helmet stemmed from his belief that there are things"more important than medals," he said.

Trump calls U.S. athlete a 'loser'

Asked how he felt about representing the U.S., freeski athlete Hunter Hess responded that "just because I'm wearing the flag, doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S." That quickly caught the attention of President Donald Trump, who took to social media to call Hess a "loser." The attention sparked by the comment was "challenging" to deal with, Hess later said, but he stood by his comment andeven flashed an "L" sign after finishing a run,a self-aware nod to Trump's comment.

"I love the United States of America," Hess said. "I cannot say that enough. My original statement, I felt like I said that, but apparently people didn't take it that way."

Italy enjoys its best ever Winter Olympics

Before these Games, the high-water mark for Italian success at a Winter Olympics came in 1994, when the Azzurri won 20 total medals, including seven golds.

On its home turf this month, the host nation smashed those marks, winning 30 medals, the third most of any country, and 10 golds. Speedskater Francesca Lollobrigida won the 3,000 meters in an Olympic record on her 35th birthday, then celebrated with her 2-year-old son. She added another gold later in the Games. A year after suffering a devastating leg injury, Federica Brignone won gold in giant slalom. And speedskater Arianna Fontana won her 14th career Olympic medal.

Cheating admissions and allegations

Norwegian cross-country skier Sturla Holm Lægreid's emotional admission in a postrace interview that he had cheated on his girlfriend and hoped to win her back quickly made him one of the most talked-about athletes at the Olympics. "I hope that committing social suicide [like this] might show her how much I love her,"he said.By the end of the Games he'd won five medals, but not his ex.

Lægreid wasn't the only athlete caught up in a cheating scandal, however. On the ice, Canada and Sweden got into a heated shouting match after the Swedes accused Canada's Marc Kennedy of an illegal double touch during a curling match.

Kennedy could be heard hurling swears at the Swedish team. When asked why he got so upset, Kennedy said: "He's still accusing us of cheating, and I didn't like it. So I told him where to stick it, because we're the wrong team to do that to."

You'd never seen an Olympics like these

For the first time, an athlete representing South America won a Winter Olympics medal. That was thanks toLucas Pinheiro Braathen, the Oslo-borngiant slalom racer who previously represented Norway, retired from the sport, then returned under the flag of Brazil, where his mother was raised.

Skiers like Pinheiro Braathen were captured throughout the Olympics fromnever-before-seen camera angles by small, agile dronesthat trailed athletes at speeds of up to 75 mph. The immersive views of athletes racing down slopes, sliding courses and speedskating tracks were a hit with viewers.