German rescuers launch new bid to free stranded whale

The top-seeded Detroit Pistons recovered from the brink of elimination with an astounding comeback against Orlando as the Los Angeles Lakers finally saw off Houston at the third time of asking in the NBA playoffs Friday.

The Pistons' come-from-behind win took their series with the Magic to a decisive game seven, while the Toronto Raptors also set up a decider against Cleveland thanks to an overtime thriller triumph.

Up 3-2 in the series against Detroit and seeking a close-out victory, the Magic had led by as many as 24 points before their shooting suddenly collapsed and the Pistons took full advantage.

A shell-shocked Orlando missed 23 consecutive field goals -- the longest streak in playoff history -- and scored just one point in over 10 minutes of basketball, as the Pistons sealed a 93-79 win.

"Never say die, simple as that. I mean, Detroit grit, it's what we've been talking about all year," said Detroit's Cade Cunningham, who led the scoring with 32 points and 10 rebounds.

Having been down 3-1 in the series, the Pistons had looked set to become just the seventh top seed in NBA history to lose in the first round to their conference's bottom seed.

But they now have a chance to win the series back in Detroit on Sunday.

After an even first quarter, Orlando went on a hot streak, before the pressure of closing out their first playoff series win since 2010 seemed to kick in.

Boos rained down on the court as a 71-54 Magic advantage was transformed into an 80-72 Detroit lead.

The Pistons, having dominated the regular season, will now be favorites to claim their own first playoff series win since 2008.

"Thank God we get to take this back to the crib. It's gonna be loud in Detroit, and we got to finish our business," said Cunningham, who scored 19 in the fourth quarter.

- 'Glory' -

If Detroit reach the Eastern semi-final they will play either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Raptors, whose series also stands 3-3 after an overtime Toronto win.

Playing at home, the Raptors led most of the night, before the Cavaliers powered back in the fourth quarter to set up an intense finish.

Leading by two points with less than a minute remaining, Toronto handed Cleveland a lifeline with a shot-clock violation. 

Evan Mobley forced his way through the Raptors' defense to tie up the game 104-104, and Toronto's Jamal Shead just missed a return shot at the end of regulation.

In overtime, Cleveland nudged in front, and led by one point until the final few seconds.

But RJ Barrett's three-pointer jump shot bounced off the heel of the rim, looped up in the air and dropped through the net to seal the Toronto win.

"Glory be to God, man. I didn't make anything in the fourth quarter, overtime, I was playing bad... thank God I was able to make that shot," said Barrett.

Game seven will be played in Cleveland Sunday.

- 'Close-out' -

The Lakers, having led their series against Houston 3-0, had twice wobbled to allow the Rockets to get back to 3-2.

But LeBron James' men killed off the series with a comfortable 98-78 win to set up a Western semi-final against Oklahoma City Thunder, the reigning NBA champions.

Superstar James top-scored with 28 points, plus eight assists and seven rebounds, continuing his fine post-season form at the age of 41.

The win spared the Lakers' blushes. A loss would have left them one defeat away from being the first team in NBA history to squander a 3-0 playoff lead.

"A lot of our guys, quite frankly, have not been in this position, have not been in a close-out situation, especially on the road, so it was important for me to go out and set the tone," said James.

amz/hol

Missouri’s NCAA Tournament hopes took a hit Friday, falling to No. 8/9 Tennessee 4-2 at Mizzou Softball Stadium and dropping below the .500 threshold required for at-large eligibility.

The Tigers led early but couldn’t hold on. A Stefania Abruscato single in the first drove in Addy Waits, who led off the inning with a walk. Abby Hay and Sidney Forrester added two more singles to load the bases, but Tennessee pitcher Sage Mardjetko struck out back-to-back batters to limit any further damage.

“We had some opportunities,” head coach Larissa Anderson said. “Especially with the bases loaded in the first inning. We couldn’t capitalize on that, you don’t get many chances with runners in scoring position against a team like Tennessee and we let that slip away from us.”

Mardjetko settled in for the rest of the game, striking out seven batters while holding Missouri to a pair of earned runs and five hits in five innings pitched. In relief, Karlyn Pickens struck out four while holding Missouri to zero hits in two innings.

“[Pickens] got great movement,” Anderson said. “I felt like they were swinging at good pitches. They were getting beat on some movement, but I just wanted them to control what they could control.”

Ella Dodge tied the game in the third with a leadoff home run before Missouri’s defense unraveled in the fourth. With two outs, Bella Faw reached on a throwing error from Madison Uptegrove. Maddi Rutan then singled to left field, where another throwing error from Saniya Hill moved Faw to third. Dodge then drove both runners home with a two-run single to give Tennessee a 3-1 lead.

It was the second straight game Missouri’s defense hurt the Tigers, as two errors in Game 1 of the series similarly cost Missouri two runs. The mistakes are uncharacteristic for a team that led the nation in fielding percentage heading into the weekend.

“We beat ourselves because of defense,” Anderson said. “We could’ve easily been out of that inning. Errors are gonna happen, mistakes are gonna happen, balls hit hard. It's how we respond after it. That’s where we got to be stronger.”

Tennessee extended its lead in the fifth, as Makenzie Butt hit an RBI single to give Tennessee a 4-1 lead. Missouri responded in the bottom, as a Forrester groundout scored Abruscato who doubled earlier.

In the circle for Missouri, Marissa McCann struggled early, receiving the loss on six hits, one walk and one earned run through 3⅔ innings. Courtney Donahue followed in relief, giving up one earned run and two hits before Abby Carr closed the game. Carr finished with two strikeouts and just three hits in 2⅓ innings.

Now at 27-28, Missouri needs to find wins in order to get back above the .500 threshold required to make the NCAA Tournament. If they win Saturday, Missouri would be back at .500, but would need to win again in the SEC Tournament to remain eligible. If they lose Saturday, the Tigers will need three wins in the SEC Tournament in order to get back to .500.

“We’ve made some deep runs, we’ve played through this conference, we know how tough it’s gonna be,” Anderson said. “We’re playing really, really hard right now, but we have to play better on all three sides of the game.”

Even if Missouri does finish at .500, it will not guarantee a bid. The Division I Softball Championship Subcommittee selects 33 at-large teams, weighing RPI, strength of schedule and results against ranked opponents before making its selections. Missouri currently ranks 41st in RPI with a top-20 strength of schedule.

“We’ve been in this situation since March,” Anderson said. “We know we have to win every single game that we possibly can and we just have to continue that mentality and fight until the game is over.”

First pitch of the series finale is noon Saturday, and will be streamed to SEC Network.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will meet top Vietnamese leaders in Hanoi on Saturday, with Japanese media saying she will make a speech touting a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region. 

The trip is Takaichi's first to Vietnam since becoming prime minister in October and she aims to deepen bilateral cooperation on energy security, supply chain resilience and technological innovation, according to Vietnamese state media reports. 

She will meet Saturday with Prime Minister Le Minh Hung as well as top leader To Lam, the Communist Party boss who last month also became president.

Japan is Vietnam's largest provider of official development assistance and a key investor and trading partner, with two-way trade surpassing $50 billion for the first time last year.

Both countries share concerns about China's territorial claims in the East and South China Seas, and both have sought to hedge against US-driven trade disruptions by broadening economic and security ties.

But Hanoi aims to stay on good terms with all global powers through its traditional "bamboo diplomacy" approach, while Tokyo has seen its already frosty relations with Beijing deteriorate markedly in recent months. 

Takaichi drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing in November when she suggested that close US ally Japan might intervene militarily to thwart any Chinese attempt to take Taiwan.

China, which regards democratic Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to annex it, summoned Japan's ambassador, warned Chinese citizens against visiting Japan and imposed trade restrictions.

Beijing has also slammed Takaichi's calls for a "free and open Indo-Pacific", saying they are a veiled attempt to promote bloc confrontation.

Takaichi will return to the theme in her foreign policy speech on Saturday, according to Japanese media reports, calling for cooperation to ensure security, free trade and stable supply chains including for energy and critical minerals.

She will speak at a university in Hanoi, an event to which foreign media have been denied access.

bur-tym/sco/tc

The top-seeded Detroit Pistons recovered from the brink of NBA playoff elimination with an astounding comeback against the Orlando Magic on Friday, taking their series to a decisive game seven.

Up 3-2 and seeking a close-out win, the Magic had led by as many as 24 in the second half, before their shooting suddenly collapsed and Detroit took full advantage.

A shell-shocked Orlando missed 23 consecutive field goals -- the longest streak in playoff history -- scoring just one point in over 10 minutes of basketball.

Boos rained down on the court as a 71-54 Magic advantage was transformed into an 80-72 Detroit lead, with a stunning 26-1 run.

The Pistons sealed a 93-79 victory.

"Never say die, simple as that. I mean, Detroit grit, it's what we've been talking about all year," said Cade Cunningham, who led the way with 32 points and 10 rebounds.

Having been down 3-1 in the series, the Pistons had looked set to become just the seventh top seed in NBA history to lose in the first round to their conference's bottom seed.

But they now have a chance to win the series back in Detroit on Sunday, and progress to an Eastern semi-final against either the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Toronto Raptors.

After an even first quarter, Orlando went on a hot streak for a sudden 17-point lead. Jalen Suggs, Desmond Bane and Wendell Carter Jr. all sank three-pointers in less than a minute. 

Paolo Banchero stirred to life too, with Orlando shooting 62 percent in the second quarter as their defense restricted Detroit to 12 points.

Orlando's lead stretched to 24 soon after the break, before an epic Pistons fightback began.

Detroit were suddenly winning every turnover, while the Magic's shooting collapsed under the pressure of trying to close out their first playoff series win since 2010.

The Pistons, having dominated the regular season with a 60-22 record, will now be favorites to win their own first playoff series since 2008.

"Thank God we get to take this back to the crib. It's gonna be loud in Detroit, and we got to finish our business," said Cunningham, who scored 19 in the fourth quarter.

amz/md

Separatists in Alberta are preparing to submit a petition on Monday that they say has enough signatures to force a referendum on independence for the oil-rich Canadian province.

Polls indicate the pro-independence camp remains a minority among Alberta's five million people, but has hit a historic high of roughly 30 percent.

Alberta separatists are also closer than ever to forcing a referendum, riding momentum fuelled by intensifying grievances over Ottawa's control of the provincial oil industry. 

They have also undeniably gotten a boost from the return to power of US President Donald Trump.

After launching a petition in January, Stay Free Alberta, the group coordinating the independence push, had until the beginning of May to collect 178,000 signatures to force a referendum.

The group's leader, Mitch Sylvestre, expressed confidence the group will succeed.

"We will have the required signatures to trigger the referendum with a comfortable buffer," Sylvestre told AFP Thursday.

The separatists plan to present their list to provincial officials in the capital Edmonton on Monday.

- 'Permanent change' -

Alberta's First Nations have filed a court challenge, arguing independence would violate their treaty rights, a case that could render a referendum illegal.

But even if the vote never happens, or the separatists ultimately lose, many believe the process has left Canada permanently changed.

Michael Wagner is an independent historian and long-standing supporter of Albertan independence.

"Even if we lose the referendum, (this) is not going to just disappear," he told AFP. "I think this is going to be a permanent change in our political culture."

Jason Kenney, a conservative federalist former Alberta premier, agreed.

If the independence camp gets 20–35 percent support in a referendum, "it will turn the separatist movement from a marginal fringe into a real factor in our politics that will be disruptive for a long time to come," he told an event last month.

- 'Tipping point' -

Alberta joined the Canadian confederation in 1905 and resentments towards eastern political leaders in Ontario and Quebec fuelled marginal separatist movements at various points over the last century.

But Wagner said separatism gathered real pace in protest against former prime minister Pierre Trudeau's 1980 National Energy Program, which broadened Ottawa's control over the oil industry.

The program included price controls for domestic oil sales and new taxes giving Ottawa more revenue from Alberta's oil.

Trudeau's government argued the measures protected Canadians following the global oil price shocks of the 1970s.

Wagner said the program was considered an attack in Alberta and called it a "game-changer" which entrenched the idea of independence.

Fast-forward 35 years, Trudeau's son Justin is elected prime minister with a climate-conscious agenda reviled by many in Alberta.

Through Trudeau's decade in power, Albertans accused his Liberal government of demonizing oil production and stifling investments in the sector, especially for pipeline capacity.

Mark Carney's 2025 election was "a tipping point", Wagner said.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre had a huge polling lead in early 2025.

"It was fully expected he would be our hero. He would rescue us from the Liberal government. When the polls started turning for Carney, and then Carney actually won, the disappointment here was so dramatic," Wagner said.

- 51st state? -

Trump has discussed annexing Canada and weakening it economically, but the US role in Alberta's current separatist effort is disputed.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent drew attention in January when he said the US and Alberta were "natural partners."

Some secessionists insist Alberta's future lies in union with Washington.

But Sylvestre's legal advisor Jeffrey Rath, who says he has met several times with top State Department officials on future Alberta-US ties, rejects statehood.

"The people in our movement are not interested in freeing themselves from the clutches of the federal government... just to put ourselves under yet another government 3,500 miles away," he told the right-wing True North media outlet.

But, he argued, Trump's support will be crucial to stabilizing Alberta as it breaks away from Canada.

For Wagner, "51st state people have always been a very small minority."

"Most Alberta independence supporters are actually patriotic Canadians who have just been frustrated."

bs/md

Three Iranian men pressed rehydrated raisins at an artisan distillery just outside New York, thousands of miles from their war-struck homeland. 

They were carefully producing aragh sagi, a traditional spirit banned by the clerical authorities along with all alcohol following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Despite its outlaw moonshine status, the drink is still made clandestinely and consumed inside Iran. 

"Everybody's drinking, but we just don't want to get caught," said Siavash Karampour, formerly a fixture on Tehran's rock music scene and now the co-manager of a bar in Brooklyn. 

Together with three childhood friends who, like him, came to New York to rebuild their lives, they decided to brew the Iranian firewater in the United States. 

They say they wanted to offer others like them a taste of home as well as "something that has been behind the curtain." 

Branded as "SAG," their aragh sagi -- like a stronger Italian grappa -- is made in the still of David Nahmias, a distiller born into a Moroccan Jewish family who makes mahia, a traditional dried fig-based spirit from his homeland. 

"They came to me through word of mouth. Their alcohol uses the same process as arak, which you find in Syria or Lebanon -- but without the anise. It wasn't complicated for me... And I liked them!" Nahmias said. 

The creators of SAG, aged between 35 and 41, settled in New York several years ago and remain active in the local Iranian diaspora and all have day jobs.

They were the first to bring aragh sagi to the US market, although a handful of brands exist in Europe. 

-' I feel privileged' -

The company's output of 7,000 bottles a year -- sold for $50 a pop in around 30 liquor stores and available in as many bars -- remains modest.

But bars have latched on to their creation as a way to promote new cocktails.

"We just started this back in the day, as a hobby... we kind of want to grow organically," said brew group member Sasan Oskouei, a visual artist. 

The entrepreneurs see their venture as a project that goes beyond a simple spirit, representing an emotional and cultural gesture. 

"So many Iranian artists and filmmakers have highlighted some parts of Iran that haven't been seen before, and in making this, we are kind of doing the same thing," said Karampour. 

Since they launched SAG two years ago, many artistic projects have emerged to complement the brand, with parties in New York and DJ sets performed by Iranian musicians. 

Their connection to Iran through friends and family is constant, making the ongoing conflict between Tehran and their host nation all the more painful. 

"It's really tough to be seeing all these images, and then you still have to go to work and live your daily life... You technically live in two countries," said Karampour. 

With the help of large handheld food mixers, they carefully grind the mixture of dried Californian grapes and water, which they then ferment before distilling it in a large still imported from Germany. 

Amir Imani, a computer engineer, says New York was the ideal place to establish their brand, a city that is both very diverse and tolerant, and where their business is not written off as "exotic." 

"Being in New York helps, because I can see people are not supportive of what is happening in this administration -- either the war or like Immigration and Customs Enforcement and all of that," Imani said. 

"So I feel privileged that I'm here surrounded by people who think the same."

rh-gw/sst

At a gas station in Los Angeles, Ryder Thomas wore a grimace of barely suppressed anger as he filled his pickup truck, watching the cost tick up to $130 for a full tank -- $30 more than he was paying before the US and Israel attacked Iran.

"I'm mad about the price, but I'm even madder about why it's so high," the 28-year-old told AFP. 

This week, pump prices in the United States climbed to their highest level since early 2022, when Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine triggered a global surge in the cost of oil.

Hostilities in the Middle East, which began when Israel and the United States started bombing Iran on February 28, have crimped supply, sending the price of crude surging.

The war launched by President Donald Trump is unpopular all over the United States, with polls showing a clear majority disapprove of a conflict whose aims they think are unclear.

"There was absolutely no need for this war. It's just like when we invaded Iraq, there were no weapons of mass destruction," Thomas said.

"Trump is an idiot, that's all it is."

For weeks, the Republican billionaire has insisted that attacking Iran was necessary to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons, and has repeatedly promised a short conflict. 

But despite the overwhelming might of the US military, the Islamic republic has blocked the Strait of Hormuz -- a global trade artery used to transport a fifth of the world's oil and gas.

— Domino effect —

The result of this squeeze on supply is rising prices, sending gas in already-expensive California above $6 a gallon ($1.59 per liter), compared with around $4.50 a gallon before the war.

Thomas worries about the domino effect this oil crunch will have on everything else he buys, as the rising cost of transport pushes up the prices of everyday goods like food and clothing.

"I hope the middle-of-the-road voters who got Trump elected start thinking about it and realize what he's done to them," he said of a president who campaigned on reducing costs for everyday Americans.

Trump voter David Chavez, who was waiting among dozens of cars lining up to refuel at Costco -- a wholesale retailer whose prices are often a little lower than average -- said it was not that simple.

"It is not nice; we don't want to pay more for gas," acknowledged the cameraman as he got his credit card ready to fill up his minivan.

However, "we don't know everything that happens behind closed doors. It's too easy to blame one person for all the problems."

— Food bank —

Chavez said he voted for Democrats in the past, but switched to Trump because of former president Joe Biden's "poor handling of immigration and poor handling of the economy."

He accused oil giants of taking advantage of the current climate to artificially inflate prices, and pointed out that stricter environmental rules in California amp up the cost to motorists in the massive state.

Nonetheless, he admitted to being disappointed in Trump, but said no one is perfect.

"Trump still handles things a little bit better," he said.

In the same gas line, 73-year-old Flo, who did not want to give her full name, said she no longer knew what or who to believe on the reasons for rising gas prices.

What she knew for certain was that increased fuel costs were making her life much harder.

"With gas this high, I go to the food bank now, more so than ever," the retiree told AFP.

"I've had to cut back on driving too."

Between her pension and a part-time job she takes home around $3,000 a month -- almost half of which is swallowed by rent.

"Life was already hard," she sighed. "But now it's just harder."

rfo/hg/acb

(The Center Square) — On the heels of President Donald Trump threatening to reduce troops in Europe, the Department of War announced Friday the reduction of 5,000 troops from Germany within the next year.

The announcement comes two days after the president posted on social media that the United States was considering reducing troops in Germany.

On Thursday, The Center Square asked the president if he also was considering pulling troops out of Italy and Spain following the countries’ decisions not to provide any support in the strikes on Iran.

Trump indicated that he would consider doing the same with Italy and Spain.

“Yeah, probably will. Why shouldn’t I? Italy has not been of any help. Spain has been horrible. Absolutely,” the president told The Center Square.

Germany is currently home to more than 36,000 American troops, the largest population in Europe. In comparison, Italy is home to nearly 13,000 troops and Spain has nearly 4,000, according to USA Facts.

The president has been at odds with many European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, over the war in Iran. Since the strikes began Feb. 28, Trump has expressed deep frustration with NATO countries over their lack of support for the U.S. strikes on Iran, despite the U.S.' support for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

In addition to threatening to reduce or remove American troops from some European countries, the president has discussed a desire to pull out of NATO altogether.

It is unclear if Amy troops removed from Germany or other European nations will be shifted to other European bases or elsewhere in the world. Poland has been seen as a possible location for a build-up of American troops as it is geographically closer to Russia.

Lebanon's health ministry said 13 people were killed on Friday in Israeli strikes in the south, including in a town where Israel's army had issued an evacuation order despite a ceasefire.

The strikes in Habboush killed eight people, including a child and two women, and wounded 21 others, the ministry said, raising an earlier toll.

Other strikes in Zrariyeh killed four people, two of them women, and wounded four more, it said.

The ministry also reported a strike in Ain Baal near the coastal city of Tyre killed one person and wounded seven others.

In Habboush, where the Israeli evacuation warning was issued, an AFP photographer saw clouds of smoke rising after the raids.

The state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported that Israeli warplanes "launched a series of heavy strikes... less than an hour after" the warning.

Israel's military had said it would act "forcefully" against Hezbollah after the Iran-backed group's "violations of the ceasefire agreement", and told residents to flee to open areas at least one kilometre (0.6 miles) from the town.

The NNA also reported Israeli strikes and artillery fire on other south Lebanon locations, including Tyre.

Israel has kept up deadly strikes on Lebanon despite the April 17 ceasefire that sought to halt more than six weeks of war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The ceasefire text grants Israel the right to act against "planned, imminent or ongoing attacks". 

Israeli soldiers are operating inside a "Yellow Line" running some 10 kilometres deep inside Lebanon's border, where they are carrying out wide-scale detonations and demolitions of buildings.

The NNA said Israeli troops carried out detonations in the southern town of Shamaa, and "demolished a monastery and a school" run by a religious order in the town of Yaroun after other detonations of "homes, shops and roads" there.

- 'Fear for their lives' -

Hezbollah claimed a series of attacks on Israeli troops and sites in southern Lebanon on Friday, saying they were in response to Israeli ceasefire violations.

The group drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel to avenge the US-Israeli killing of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Lebanon's health ministry on Friday raised the toll from Israeli strikes since March 2 to more than 2,600 dead, including 103 emergency workers and paramedics.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' under-secretary general for national society development and coordination, Xavier Castellanos, said that when Lebanese Red Cross volunteers go on a mission, "they fear for their lives".

Two Lebanese Red Cross paramedics are among those killed in Israeli strikes.

"That a person that is trying to save lives, is trying to alleviate human suffering, might be targeted, might be killed... this is something that I found absolutely unacceptable," Castellanos told reporters near Beirut.

lk-lg/smw/phz/lga/tc

Facing one of the top offenses in the country on the road proved not to be a problem for Mizzou baseball's Josh McDevitt.

The Tigers' offense, however, was not ready as the team fell 4-0 to No. 5 Georgia in the series opener Friday. With the loss, the Tigers dropped to 4-18 in the Southeastern Conference.

The Bulldogs' offense is at the top of the country in many offensive categories, but it was nearly completely muted by McDevitt. He put Georgia down in order in the first, second and fourth innings, allowing just four hits and striking out six.

"He comes out and does his job, and we aren't able to scratch any runs across," Missouri coach Kerrick Jackson said postgame to Tiger Radio. "That's just not acceptable."

For the third time this season, McDevitt recorded a quality start. This time, he tossed 6⅓ innings and allowed just one run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. 

Coming into the series, 24 home runs was the difference between No. 1 (Georgia) in the NCAA home runs category and No. 2 (Oklahoma State). Mizzou's pitching limited the long ball until late in the game.

Georgia finally pushed its lead with a solo home run off of reliever Juan Villarreal in the seventh inning. It came off the bat of Michael O'Shaughnessy, his 15th of the year. 

The Bulldogs officially broke the door down in the bottom of the eighth, tagging on two more runs with a bases-loaded single from Georgia's Ryan Black.

Down four runs heading into the ninth, the deficit was too large for the Tigers. 

"We were awful offensively," Jackson said. "All the way around." 

From the plate, the Tigers outhit the Bulldogs for most of the game, but they were unable to plate a run. Missouri put a runner on in six of the innings via its six hits and two walks but stranded them all. 

The Tigers and Bulldogs will face off again at 1 p.m. Saturday in Athens, Georgia. Lefty Brady Kehlenbrink will have the ball to start for Mizzou.