80 years have passed since Soviet victory in Stalingrad
Putin draws parallels with Russia’s campaign in Ukraine
This content was produced in Russia, where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine.
VOLGOGRAD, Russia, Feb 2 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin evoked the spirit of the Soviet army that defeated Nazi German forces at Stalingrad 80 years ago to declare on Thursday that Russia would defeat a Ukraine supposedly in the grip of a new incarnation of Nazism.
In a fiery speech in Volgograd, known as Stalingrad until 1961, Putin lambasted Germany for helping to arm Ukraine and said, not for the first time, that he was ready to draw on Russia’s entire arsenal, which includes nuclear weapons.
“Unfortunately we see that the ideology of Nazism in its modern form and manifestation again directly threatens the security of our country,” Putin told an audience of army officers and members of local patriotic and youth groups.
“Again and again we have to repel the aggression of the collective West. It’s incredible but it’s a fact: we are again being threatened with German Leopard tanks with crosses on them.”
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Russian officials have been drawing parallels with the struggle against the Nazis ever since Russian forces entered Ukraine almost a year ago.
Ukraine – which was part of the Soviet Union and itself suffered devastation at the hands of Hitler’s forces – rejects those parallels as spurious pretexts for a war of imperial conquest.
Stalingrad was the bloodiest battle of World War Two, when the Soviet Red Army, at a cost of over 1 million casualties, broke the back of German invasion forces in 1942-3.
Putin evoked what he said was the spirit of the defenders of Stalingrad to explain why he thought Russia would prevail in Ukraine, saying the World War Two battle had become a symbol of “the indestructible nature of our people”.
“Those who draw European countries, including Germany, into a new war with Russia, and … expect to win a victory over Russia on the battlefield, apparently don’t understand that a modern war with Russia will be quite different for them,” he added.
“We don’t send our tanks to their borders but we have the means to respond, and it won’t end with the use of armoured vehicles, everyone must understand that.”
[1/6] Russian service members drive a tank during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the victory of Red Army over Nazi Germany’s troops in the Battle of Stalingrad during World War Two, in Volgograd, Russia February 2, 2023. REUTERS/Kirill Braga
VICTORY PARADE
As Putin finished speaking, the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Putin had earlier laid flowers at the grave of the Soviet marshal who oversaw the defence of Stalingrad and visited the city’s main memorial complex, where he held a minute’s silence in honour of those who died during the battle.
Thousands of people lined Volgograd’s streets to watch a victory parade as planes flew overhead and modern and World War Two-era tanks and armoured vehicles rolled past.
Some of the modern vehicles had the letter ‘V’ painted on them, a symbol used by Russia’s forces in Ukraine.
Irina Zolotoreva, a 61-year-old who said her relatives had fought at Stalingrad, saw a parallel with Ukraine.
“Our country is fighting for justice, for freedom. We got victory in 1942 and that’s an example for today’s generation. I think we’ll win again now whatever happens.”
The focal point for the commemorations was the Mamayev Kurgan memorial complex, on a hill overlooking the River Volga dominated by a hulking statue called The Motherland Calls – of a woman brandishing a giant sword.
The five-month-long battle reduced the city that bore Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s name to rubble, while claiming an estimated 2 million dead and wounded on both sides.
Despite Stalin’s record of presiding over a famine that killed millions and political repression that killed hundreds of thousands, Russian politicians and school textbooks have in recent years stressed his role as a successful wartime leader who turned the Soviet Union into a superpower.
Reporting by Tatiana Gomozova
Writing by Andrew Osborn
Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Kevin Liffey
ANKARA, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Turkey summoned ambassadors of nine Western countries including the United States and Sweden on Thursday to criticise their decisions to temporarily shut diplomatic missions and issue security alerts following Koran-burning incidents in Europe.
The envoys of Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Britain were also summoned, according to foreign ministry sources in Ankara.
Over the last two weeks, far-right activists burned copies of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, acts that prompted Turkey to halt negotiations meant to lift its objections to Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
The European countries have denounced the incidents but some say they cannot prevent them because of free speech rules.
Over the last week, France, Germany, Italy and the United States were among those issuing warnings to their citizens of an increased risk of attacks in Turkey, particularly against diplomatic missions and non-Muslim places of worship.
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Germany, France and the Netherlands were among countries that temporarily closed diplomatic missions in Turkey for security reasons this week. Some cited central Istanbul areas of high concern but did not provide the source of the information.
“Such simultaneous activities do not constitute a proportional and commonsense approach and…only serve the covert agenda of terrorist organizations,” said a foreign ministry source who asked not to be further identified.
The source added that the security of all diplomatic missions is ensured in accordance with international conventions and “allies should cooperate with” Turkish authorities.
The interior minister, Suleyman Soylu, said on Twitter the embassies were waging “a new psychological war” against Turkey.
All 30 NATO members must approve newcomers. Sweden and Finland applied for membership last year in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but ran into surprise resistance from Turkey.
Since then they have sought to win its backing including agreeing to take a harder line domestically against those Turkey says are members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, designated a terrorist group by Ankara and the European Union.
On Thursday, police in NATO member Norway banned a planned anti-Islam protest including the burning of the Koran for security reasons, hours after the Turkish foreign ministry summoned Oslo’s ambassador to complain.
Diplomatic tensions rose last weekend when Turkey responded to the initial U.S. security alert by warning its citizens against “possible Islamophobic, xenophobic and racist attacks” in the United States and Europe.
The U.S. embassy confirmed its Ambassador Jeffry Flake attended a meeting at Turkey’s foreign ministry on Thursday. Two European diplomatic sources said envoys from Germany, France and the Netherlands were also summoned.
Writing by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Alison Williams, Peter Graff and Mark Heinrich
U.S. providing Abrams tanks, Germany to send Leopard tanks
Biden: Tanks pose ‘no offensive threat’ to Russia
Russian-backed leader: Wagner force advancing on Bakhmut
WASHINGTON/BERLIN/KYIV, Jan 26 (Reuters) – The United States and Germany have announced plans to arm Ukraine with dozens of battle tanks in its fight against Russia, which denounced the decisions as an “extremely dangerous” step.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the commitments and urged allies to provide large quantities of tanks quickly.
“The key now is speed and volumes. Speed in training our forces, speed in supplying tanks to Ukraine. The numbers in tank support,” he said in a nightly video address on Wednesday. “We have to form such a ‘tank fist’, such a ‘fist of freedom’.”
Ukraine has been seeking hundreds of modern tanks to give its troops the firepower to break Russian defensive lines and reclaim occupied territory in the south and east. Ukraine and Russia have been relying primarily on Soviet-era T-72 tanks.
The promise of tanks comes as both Ukraine and Russia are expected to launch new offensives in the war and as fighting has intensified in Bakhmut in Ukraine’s east.
Ukrainian forces destroyed 24 drones, including 15 over Kyiv, that Russia launched in overnight attacks, the military said on Thursday, adding there was major danger of more Russian air raids. An alert had been declared over most of the country.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced his decision to supply 31 M1 Abrams tanks hours after Berlin said it would provide Leopard 2 tanks – the workhorse of NATO armies across Europe.
Maintaining Kyiv’s drumbeat of requests for more aid, Zelenskiy said he spoke to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and called for long-range missiles and aircraft.
Ukraine’s allies have already provided billions in military support including sophisticated U.S. missile systems.
The United States has been wary of deploying the difficult-to-maintain Abrams but had to change tack to persuade Germany to send to Ukraine its more easily operated Leopards.
Biden said the tanks pose “no offensive threat” to Russia and that they were needed to help the Ukrainians “improve their ability to manoeuvre in open terrain”.
Germany will send an initial company of 14 tanks from its stocks and approve shipments by allied European states.
The Abrams can be tricky, but the Leopard was designed as a system that any NATO member could service and crews and repair specialists could be trained together on a single model, Ukrainian military expert Viktor Kevlyuk told Espreso TV.
“If we have been brought into this club by providing us with these vehicles, I would say our prospects look good.”
‘DANGEROUS DECISION’
[1/17] Spanish army tank Leopard 2 of NATO enhanced Forward Presence battle group fires during the final phase of the Silver Arrow 2022 military drill on Adazi military training grounds, Latvia September 29, 2022. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins
Russia reacted with fury to Germany’s decision to approve the delivery of the Leopards.
“This extremely dangerous decision takes the conflict to a new level of confrontation,” said Sergei Nechayev, Russia’s ambassador to Germany.
Since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24 last year, Russia has shifted its rhetoric on the war from an operation to “denazify” and “demilitarise” its neighbour to casting it as a face-off between it and the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
Senior U.S. officials said it would take months for the Abrams to be delivered and described the decision to supply them as providing for Ukraine’s long-term defence.
Germany’s tanks would probably be ready in three or four months, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said.
Pledges to Ukraine from other countries that field Leopards have multiplied with announcements from Poland, Finland and Norway. Spain and the Netherlands said they were considering it.
Britain has offered 14 of its comparable Challenger tanks and France is considering sending its Leclercs.
BAKHMUT FIGHTING
The Kyiv government acknowledged on Wednesday its forces had withdrawn from Soledar, a small salt-mining town close to Bakhmut in the east, that Russia said it captured more than a week ago, its biggest gain for more than six months.
The area around Bakhmut, with a pre-war population of 70,000, has seen some of the most brutal fighting of the war.
Ukraine’s military said that Russian forces were attacking in the direction of Bakhmut “with the aim of capturing the entire Donetsk region and regardless of its own casualties”.
The Russian-installed governor of Donetsk said earlier that units of Russia’s Wagner contract militia were moving forward inside Bakhmut, with fighting on the outskirts and in neighbourhoods recently held by Ukraine.
Analyst Kevlyuk said losing Bakhmut would not change much in terms of the tactical scheme of things but that he was more concerned by Russian efforts to regroup and concentrate resources in the Luhansk region.
Donetsk and Luhansk make up the Donbas region. Russian forces control nearly all of Luhansk, while Russians and their proxies say they control about half of Donetsk.
Reuters could not verify battlefield reports.
The 11-month war has killed thousands of people, driven millions from their homes and reduced cities to rubble.
Reporting by Reuters bureaus; writing by Cynthia Osterman and Himani Sarkar; editing by Grant McCool, Robert Birsel
GNOIEN, Germany Jan 23 (Reuters) – Germany on Monday dispatched the first two out of three Patriot air defence units that will be sent to the Polish town of Zamosc close to the Ukrainian border where they will be deployed to prevent stray missile strikes.
Two men were killed by a stray Ukrainian missile that struck the Polish village of Przewodow in the region last November, in an incident that raised fears of the war in Ukraine spilling over the border.
As a result, Berlin offered to deploy three of its Patriot units to Poland to help secure its air space.
Ground-based air defence systems such as Raytheon’s (RTX.N) Patriot are built to intercept incoming missiles.
“One of the reasons why Germany will now support NATO’s eastern flank in Poland with Patriots is certainly because we saw how quickly the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could spill over to NATO member countries,” Colonel Joerg Sievers told reporters in the eastern German town of Gnoien before the Patriots’ departure.
Sievers, who will command the German unit in Poland, underlined the defensive nature of the Patriot system.
“We are not the only defence forces on the ground, the British and Americans are also on the ground,” he said.
“Patriot is a strictly defensive system, and we hope that we will be able to provide sufficient protection there to prevent attacks or accidents like the one in November in the future,” he added.
.
Reporting by Oliver Ellrodt and Stefan Remter, writing by Sabine Siebold
WARSAW, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Germany has rebuffed the latest push by Poland’s nationalist government for vast reparations over World War Two, saying in response to a diplomatic note that the issue was closed, the foreign ministry in Warsaw said on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said it had responded to a letter sent by Poland on the subject in October and did not comment on the contents of diplomatic correspondence.
Poland estimates its World War Two losses caused by Germany at 6.2 trillion zlotys ($1.4 trillion) and has demanded reparations, but Berlin has repeatedly said all financial claims related to the war have been settled.
“This answer, to sum it up, shows an absolutely disrespectful attitude towards Poland and Poles,” Arkadiusz Mularczyk, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, said in an interview with the Polish Press Agency.
“Germany does not pursue a friendly policy towards Poland, they want to build their sphere of influence here and treat Poland as a vassal state.”
When asked about further dialogue with Germany regarding compensation, Mularczyk said it would continue “through international organisations”.
Some six million Poles, including three million Polish Jews, were killed during the war and Warsaw was razed to the ground following a 1944 uprising in which about 200,000 civilians died.
In 1953, Poland’s then-communist rulers relinquished all claims to war reparations under pressure from the Soviet Union, which wanted to free East Germany, also a Soviet satellite, from any liabilities.
Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party says that agreement is invalid because Poland was unable to negotiate fair compensation. It has revived calls for compensation since it took power in 2015 and has made the promotion of Poland’s wartime victimhood a central plank of its appeal to nationalism.
The combative stance towards Germany, often used by PiS to mobilise its constituency, has strained relations with Berlin.
In a joint press conference with Polish foreign minister Zbigniew Rau last October, German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said the pain caused by Germany during World War Two was “passed on through generations” in Poland but that the issue of reparations was closed.
($1 = 4.4324 zlotys)
Reporting by Alan Charlish; Additional reporting by Victoria Waldersee;
Editing by Paul Simao and Mark Potter
VATICAN CITY, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Six months ago Pope Francis brushed off speculation he was about to resign due to health problems, but even if he had toyed with the idea, he faced one major obstacle: there was already another ex-pope in retirement.
The death on Saturday of Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to step down instead of reigning for life, should make any decision to step down easier on Francis and the Church, which has struggled enough with having “two popes”, let alone three – two retired and one reigning.
It could also prompt the current pontiff to review what happens to future popes who decide to shuffle away from office because of old age rather than holding on until they die.
Francis is now 86, one year older than Benedict was when he retired. Despite needing a cane and a wheelchair, he shows no sign of slowing down. Trips are planned for Africa this month and Portugal in August.
He has made it clear that he would not hesitate to step down someday if his mental or physical health impeded him from leading the 1.3 billion-member Church.
In an interview with Reuters on July 2, he dismissed rumours of imminent resignation. “It never entered my mind,” he said, also denying rumours among diplomats that he had cancer.
The previous month, the Catholic media world and some secular outlets were caught up in a frenzy of unsubstantiated reports and frivolous tweets speculating he would be out within a few months.
But as he now approaches the 10th anniversary of his election in March, and in four years his life’s ninth decade, the chances of resignation will increase.
Church law says a pope can resign but the decision must be without outside pressure, a precaution that harkens back to the centuries when European potentates influenced the papacy.
NO LONGER UNTHINKABLE
[1/2] Pope Francis leads the Mass to mark the World Day of Peace in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, January 1, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS
Now that longer life spans have made papal resignations no longer unthinkable, there have been repeated calls from Church leaders to regulate the role of former pontiffs, in part because of the confusion stemming wrought by two men wearing white living in the Vatican.
Francis told a Spanish newspaper last month that he did not intend to define the juridical status of popes emeritus, although he had previously indicated privately that a Vatican department could script such rules.
Australian Cardinal George Pell, a conservative who was close to Benedict, has written that while a retired pontiff could retain the title of “pope emeritus”, he should return to being a cardinal, and be known as “Cardinal (surname), Pope Emeritus”.
Pell also said a former pontiff should not wear white, as Benedict did, telling Reuters in a 2020 interview that it was important for Catholics to be clear that “there is only one pope”.
Academics and canon lawyers at Italy’s Bologna University who have studied the issue say the Church cannot risk even the appearance of having “two heads or two kings” and have proposed a set of rules.
They say a former pope should not return to being a cardinal, as Pell proposes, but be called “Bishop Emeritus of Rome”.
Francis told Reuters in July that is precisely what he would want to be called.
In that case there might not be any need for new legislation he would then be subject to existing rules covering retired bishops.
Existing rules say bishops emeritus should “avoid every attitude and relationship that could even hint at some kind of parallel authority to that of the diocesan bishop, with damaging consequences for the pastoral life and unity of the diocesan community”.
Although he had retired, Benedict wrote, gave interviews and, unwittingly or not, became a lightning rod for opponents of Pope Francis, either for doctrinal reasons or because they were loath to relinquish the clerical privileges the new pope wanted to dismantle.
Francis told Reuters that he would not stay in the Vatican or return to his native Argentina but live modestly in a home for retired priests in the Italian capital “because it’s my diocese”. He said he would want it to be near a large church so he could spend his final days hearing confessions.
Reporting by Philip Pullella
Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky
Germany, U.S. agree to send combat vehicles to Ukraine
KYIV/BAKHMUT, Ukraine, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Thursday for a 36-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Orthodox Christmas, a move rejected by Kyiv which said there could be no truce until Russia withdraws its troops from occupied land.
The United States and Germany made a joint announcement to supply Ukraine with armoured combat vehicles, a boost for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy who has urged Western allies to provide his forces with armour and heavy weapons for months.
Fifty Bradley Fighting Vehicles would be included in a $2.8 billion U.S. package. Germany said it was sending Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles, following an announcement by France on Wednesday it was sending AMX-10 RC armoured combat vehicles.
The Kremlin said Putin had ordered Russian troops to cease firing from midday on Friday along the entire front, in response to a call for a Christmas truce from Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a close Putin ally.
“Proceeding from the fact that a large number of citizens professing Orthodoxy live in the areas of hostilities, we call on the Ukrainian side to declare a ceasefire and allow them to attend services on Christmas Eve, as well as on Christmas Day,” Putin said in his order.
Russia’s Orthodox Church observes Christmas on Jan. 7. Ukraine’s main Orthodox Church has rejected the authority of the Moscow patriarch, and many Ukrainian believers have shifted their calendar to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 as in the West.
A genuine truce in Ukraine would be the first since May, when the sides halted intense fighting in the devastated port of Mariupol to allow Ukrainian forces to surrender there.
On Thursday night, Zelenskiy accused Russia of wanting to use a truce as cover to stop Ukrainian advances in the strategic industrial area and eastern frontline known as the Donbas.
“They now want to use Christmas as a cover, albeit briefly, to stop the advances of our boys in Donbas and bring equipment, ammunitions and mobilised troops closer to our positions,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address, speaking pointedly in Russian rather than Ukrainian.
‘CYNICAL’ SAYS U.S.
In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden, the State Department and the Pentagon greeted Putin’s order with scepticism. Biden said he thought Putin was “trying to find some oxygen”.
Ukraine has scored some battlefield successes in the past few months although Russia has kept up a barrage of missile and drone strikes on Ukraine’s energy plants, knocking out power to millions of people at times in the middle of winter. Russia has denied targeting civilians since its invasion began Feb. 24 but the strikes included Christmas Day and New Year’s attacks on civilian infrastructure, according to Kyiv.
“There’s one word that best described that and it’s ‘cynical’,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a press briefing of Putin’s ceasefire order.
“Our concern … is that the Russians would seek to use any temporary pause in fighting to rest, to refit, to regroup, and ultimately to re-attack,” Price said.
Putin’s ceasefire also appeared to face challenges from Russia’s own side. Denis Pushilin, Russian-installed leader in Ukraine’s Donetsk province, scene of the heaviest fighting, wrote on Telegram: “There can be no talk of any truce!”
He said Putin’s order involved only halting offensive operations.
Earlier on Thursday, the Kremlin said Putin had told Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan that Moscow was ready for peace talks – but only under the condition that Ukraine “take into account the new territorial realities”, a reference to Kyiv acknowledging Moscow’s annexation of Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak called that demand “fully unacceptable”.
MEAT GRINDER
Ten months after Putin ordered what he calls a “special military operation” to protect Russian security, Moscow and Kyiv have entered the new year with hardened diplomatic positions.
Putin has shown no willingness to discuss relinquishing his territorial conquests, despite mounting losses among his troops.
While some of the heaviest fighting of the war continues, the front line has been static since the last big Russian retreat in mid-November. The worst battles have taken place near the eastern city of Bakhmut, which both sides have compared to a meat grinder.
Ukraine says Russia has lost thousands of troops despite seizing scant ground in months of futile waves of assaults on Bakhmut. Russia says the city is key to its aim to capture the rest of Donetsk province, one of four partially occupied regions it claims to have annexed.
Near the front, Reuters saw explosions from outgoing artillery and smoke filling the sky.
“We are holding up. The guys are trying to hold up the defence,” said Viktor, a 39-year-old Ukrainian soldier driving an armoured vehicle out of Soledar, a salt-mining town on Bakhmut’s northeastern outskirts.
Most civilians have been evacuated from Bakhmut. Those who have stayed survive under near constant bombardment, with no heat or electricity. Parts of the city are a wasteland, with sections of residential apartment blocks flattened into concrete piles.
Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Peter Graff and Grant McCool; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Cynthia Osterman
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Los Angeles Chargers coach Brandon Staley knew he was going for the winning 2-point conversion a few minutes before it actually happened, so when the moment arrived, there was no hesitation and no looking at his playbook.
The result was even better than he imagined.
“Smooth like chocolate milk,” Staley said with a grin.
Justin Herbert threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Austin Ekeler with 15 seconds left, then hit Gerald Everett for the decisive conversion to give the Los Angeles Chargers a 25-24 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
Ekeler barely got into the end zone for the TD that moved the Chargers within one, capping a seven-play, 38-yard drive that lasted 1:33. The ball hit the pylon as he dived toward the corner.
That set up Staley’s bold if predetermined call. Herbert hit Everett for a clean catch despite plenty of traffic near the goal line.
“We just believed in each other,” Herbert said. “That’s one of those plays that we’ve repped a ton over the last couple of years. We feel comfortable with the guys out there. Gerald ran a great route, made a great catch.”
Herbert completed 35 of 47 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns for the Chargers (6-5), who snapped a two-game skid while staying in the thick of the AFC playoff race. Arizona (4-8) has lost four of five, leaving it with almost no shot at making the NFC playoff field.
Herbert now has led 10 fourth-quarter comebacks in his three seasons. But with opportunities to win the past two weeks in similar situations, the Chargers fell short.
“That’s what it’s like when you’re a quarterback in the NFL,” Staley said. “You’re not going to make every 2-minute drive, but the thing he has going for him is that our entire organization believes he’s going to make it. He brought us back, game ball for him.
“Big-time performance. We couldn’t have won without him.”
The Chargers have trailed by 10 or more points at some point in the first half in each of their last four victories. They were down 14-0 against Cleveland and 10-0 against Denver, Atlanta and Arizona.
The Cardinals took a 24-17 lead early in the fourth quarter when Kyler Murray threw a short pass to James Conner for a 6-yard touchdown. The veteran running back had 25 carries for 120 yards, his first 100-yard rushing game in two seasons with the Cardinals.
Murray threw for 191 yards, two touchdowns and an interception and ran for a score after missing the previous two games with a hamstring injury.
Arizona got some big defensive stops in the fourth quarter but the offense couldn’t run out the clock. The Cardinals got the ball back with 2:19 left, but went three-and-out in just 31 seconds.
DeAndre Carter had a 20-yard punt return, and a 5-yard penalty set up the Chargers deep in Cardinals territory for the winning drive.
“We had our chances,” Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “I think both teams played well enough to win. They made the plays at the end, unfortunately we didn’t. Our offense got it back twice — went three-and-out — can’t do that against a good team.”
Arizona took a 17-14 lead into halftime when Murray ran for a 5-yard touchdown just before the break, capping a 14-play, 75-yard drive.
The Cardinals had their top two receivers, DeAndre Hopkins and Marquise Brown, on the field for the first time this season. Arizona jumped to a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter when Murray threw a pass over the middle to Hopkins, who spun out of a tackle and sprinted to the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown.
Matt Prater’s 43-yard field goal on the Cardinals’ next drive made it 10-0.
The Chargers quickly cut that margin midway through the second quarter when Herbert threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Keenan Allen.
After Murray was intercepted, Herbert found Carter for a 33-yard touchdown and a 14-10 lead. Carter finished with seven catches for 73 yards along with the key punt return.
INJURIES
Chargers: WR Mike Williams (ankle) was inactive. … RT Trey Pipkins III (knee) and C Corey Linsley (concussion) left the game in the second quarter.
Cardinals: WR Greg Dortch (thumb), WR Rondale Moore (groin) and CB Byron Murphy Jr. (back) were inactive. … Arizona was missing four out its five starting offensive linemen. Left tackle D.J. Humphries (back) was put on injured reserve earlier this week.
UP NEXT
Chargers: At Las Vegas next Sunday.
Cardinals: After a bye, host New England on Monday, Dec. 12.
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DETROIT — Prosecutors said they’ll seek a life sentence with no chance for parole for a 16-year-old boy who killed four fellow students at a Michigan school and pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism.
They disclosed their plans in a court filing Monday, three weeks after Ethan Crumbley, 16, withdrew a possible insanity defense and acknowledged the shooting at Oxford High School in November 2021.
A first-degree murder conviction typically brings an automatic life prison sentence in Michigan. But teenagers are entitled to a hearing where their lawyer can raise mental health and other issues and argue for a shorter term.
Crumbley pleaded guilty to all 24 charges. The sentencing process is scheduled to start in February.
“A sentence of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole is appropriate in this case,” Oakland County assistant prosecutor Marc Keast said.
Crumbley was 15 at the time of the shootings at Oxford High, roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Detroit. Four students were killed, and six more students and a teacher were injured.
His parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are jailed on charges of involuntary manslaughter. They’re accused of making the gun accessible to their son and ignoring his need for mental health treatment.
Both leaders stress need to get ties back on track
Indonesia seeks partnerships on global economy at G20
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy to address G20 on Tuesday
NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Nov 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping engaged in blunt talks over Taiwan and North Korea on Monday in a three-hour meeting aimed at preventing strained U.S.-China ties from spilling into a new Cold War.
Amid simmering differences on human rights, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and support of domestic industry, the two leaders pledged more frequent communications. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to Beijing for follow-up talks.
“We’re going to compete vigorously. But I’m not looking for conflict, I’m looking to manage this competition responsibly,” Biden said after his talks with Xi on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia.
Beijing has long said it would bring the self-governed island of Taiwan, which it views as an inalienable part of China, under its control and has not ruled out the use of force to do so. It has frequently accused the United States in recent years of encouraging Taiwan independence.
In a statement after their meeting, Xi called Taiwan the “first red line” that must not be crossed in U.S.-China relations, Chinese state media said.
Biden said he sought to assure Xi that U.S. policy on Taiwan, which has for decades been to support both Beijing’s ‘One China’ stance and Taiwan’s military, had not changed.
He said there was no need for a new Cold War, and that he did not think China was planning a hot one.
“I do not think there’s any imminent attempt on the part of China to invade Taiwan,” he told reporters.
On North Korea, Biden said it was hard to know whether Beijing had any influence over Pyongyang weapons testing. “Well, first of all, it’s difficult to say that I am certain that China can control North Korea,” he said.
Biden said he told Xi the United States would do what it needs to do to defend itself and allies South Korea and Japan, which could be “maybe more up in the face of China” though not directed against it.
“We would have to take certain actions that would be more defensive on our behalf… to send a clear message to North Korea. We are going to defend our allies, as well as American soil and American capacity,” he said.
Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan said before the meeting that Biden would warn Xi about the possibility of enhanced U.S. military presence in the region, something Beijing is not keen to see.
Beijing had halted a series of formal dialogue channels with Washington, including on climate change and military-to-military talks, after U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi upset China by visiting Taiwan in August.
Biden and Xi agreed to allow senior officials to renew communication on climate, debt relief and other issues, the White House said after they spoke.
Xi’s statement after the talks included pointed warnings on Taiwan.
[1/7] U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference following his meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, ahead of the G20 leaders’ summit, in Bali, Indonesia, November 14, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
“The Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s core interests, the bedrock of the political foundation of China-U.S. relations, and the first red line that must not be crossed in China-U.S. relations,” Xi was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
“Resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese and China’s internal affair,” Xi said, according to state media.
Taiwan’s democratically elected government rejects Beijing’s claims of sovereignty over it.
Taiwan’s presidential office said it welcomed Biden’s reaffirmation of U.S. policy. “This also once again fully demonstrates that the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait is the common expectation of the international community,” it said.
SMILES AND HANDSHAKES
Before their talks, the two leaders smiled and shook hands warmly in front of their national flags at a hotel on Indonesia’s Bali island, a day before a Group of 20 (G20) summit set to be fraught with tension over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“It’s just great to see you,” Biden told Xi, as he put an arm around him before their meeting.
Biden brought up a number of difficult topics with Xi, according to the White House, including raising U.S. objections to China’s “coercive and increasingly aggressive actions toward Taiwan,” Beijing’s “non-market economic practices,” and practices in “Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong, and human rights more broadly.”
Neither leader wore a mask to ward off COVID-19, although members of their delegations did.
U.S.-China relations have been roiled in recent years by growing tensions over issues ranging from Hong Kong and Taiwan to the South China Sea, trade practices, and U.S. restrictions on Chinese technology.
But U.S. officials said there have been quiet efforts by both Beijing and Washington over the past two months to repair relations.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters in Bali earlier that the meeting aimed to stabilise the relationship and to create a “more certain atmosphere” for U.S. businesses.
She said Biden had been clear with China about national security concerns regarding restrictions on sensitive U.S. technologies and had raised concern about the reliability of Chinese supply chains for commodities.
G20 summit host President Joko Widodo of Indonesia said he hoped the gathering on Tuesday could “deliver concrete partnerships that can help the world in its economic recovery”.
However, one of the main topics at the G20 will be Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Xi and Putin have grown close in recent years, bound by their shared distrust of the West, and reaffirmed their partnership just days before Russia invaded Ukraine. But China has been careful not to provide any direct material support that could trigger Western sanctions against it.
Reporting by Nandita Bose, Stanley Widianto, Fransiska Nangoy, Leika Kihara, David Lawder and Simon Lewis in Nusa Dua, and Yew Lun Tian and Ryan Woo in Beijing; additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by Kay Johnson and Raju Gopalakrishnan; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Grant McCool, Heather Timmons and Rosalba O’Brien
ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 19: John Collins #20 of the Atlanta Hawks drives to the basket against Jabari … [+] Smith Jr. #1 of the Houston Rockets during the second half at State Farm Arena on October 19, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Todd Kirkland/Getty Images)
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When the Atlanta Hawks re-signed John Collins to a five-year contract worth $125 million, they must have had a plan in regards to his future development.
At least, that seemed like the consensus at the time, given that no team in their right mind would spend that much money, only to leave one of the most dynamic offensive forwards in the NBA as a background prop.
As the calendar pages have turned, however, the Hawks proved that they indeed did not have a plan with Collins. Or, if nothing else, their plans changed.
Collins, despite averaging over 21 points and 10 rebounds per game in the 2019-2020 season, has been reduced to that of a bit player, scoring only 12.4 points per game, and sporting a career-low shot attempt rate on a per-minute scale.
Needless to say, the offseason acquisition of Dejounte Murray plays a part, as the Hawks backcourt of him and Trae Young are taking over 42 shots per game, and dominating the basketball. You’d think having two elite playmakers would unlock Collins to the point where he could showcase his offensive skills, but that has not happened.
Instead, the Hawks have pivoted towards De’Andre Hunter as their third option. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, as Hunter is a fine player who offers more on-ball versatility than Collins, and frankly fits the mold of a new-age power forward more.
Yet, the evolution of Hunter, and the usage held by Young and Murray, has left Collins out in the cold long enough. Since the aforementioned 2019-2020 season, Collins has seen his own involvement lessen every single season.
So, who could use a forward, who not only displays outstanding offensive efficiency (Career TS of 63.1%), but also a reliable three-point shot, and quality rebounding?
Enter the Golden State Warriors.
Right now, the defending champions look overwhelmed. They lost key bench players, such as Otto Porter Jr and Gary Payton II, from last season and hoped to even the scales with internal development from James Wiseman, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody.
That has not happened yet, and it may not happen this year. While all of them could still turn into reliable, and even important NBA players, they’re all seemingly a few years away, which isn’t doing the Warriors any favors.
After all, Stephen Curry will turn 35 in March. Draymond Green and Klay Thompson will both turn 33, leaving Andrew Wiggins (27) and Jordan Poole (23) as the only high-impact players on the roster under the age of 30.
In short, they need a talent injection. And soon.
Collins, who’s earning $23.5 million this season, is more financially viable as a solution than for example former Warrior Kevin Durant and his $44.1 million, who has also been rumored as a trade candidate since asking out of Brooklyn over the summer.
Matching salary would be fairly straightforward, as Wiseman, Kuminga, and Kevon Looney amounts to $22.3 million. While this adds to Golden State’s luxury tax bill, a Collins acquisition would dramatically improve their chances of repeating as champions this season.
The challenge for the Hawks is whether or not they would even be interested in adding several long-term projects to their roster, when they just acquired Murray over the summer.
Of course, a third team could be added to the trade as to re-route Wiseman and Kuminga to a team more inclined to focus on the long-term.
Here, a team like the Sacramento Kings might make sense, especially if they ultimately accept that they don’t stand a strong chance of getting into the playoffs this season.
Moving off of Harrison Barnes, who is on an expiring contract, wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, if they lean into a youth movement. Barnes would make a strong theoretical fit with Hunter in Atlanta, as the duo would be entirely interchangeable at the forward slots.
Naturally, getting three teams to agree to the parameters of a large trade is always tricky. But this would solve many of each franchise’s concerns.
Most importantly, Collins stands a chance at realizing his vast potential.
Nov 4 (Reuters) – Twitter Inc laid off half its workforce on Friday but said cuts were smaller in the team responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation, as advertisers pulled spending amid concerns about content moderation.
Tweets by staff of the social media company said teams responsible for communications, content curation, human rights and machine learning ethics were among those gutted, as were some product and engineering teams.
The move caps a week of chaos and uncertainty about the company’s future under new owner Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, who tweeted on Friday that the service was experiencing a “massive drop in revenue” from the advertiser retreat.
Musk blamed the losses on a coalition of civil rights groups that has been pressing Twitter’s top advertisers to take action if he did not protect content moderation – concerns heightened ahead of potential pivotal congressional elections on Tuesday.
After the layoffs, the groups said they were escalating their pressure and demanding brands pull their Twitter ads globally.
“Unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over $4M/day,” Musk tweeted of the layoffs, adding that everyone affected was offered three months of severance pay.
The company was silent about the depth of the cuts until late in the day, when head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth tweeted confirmation of internal plans, seen by Reuters earlier in the week, projecting the layoffs would affect about 3,700 people, or 50% of the staff.
Among those let go were 784 employees from the company’s San Francisco headquarters and 199 in San Jose and Los Angeles, according to filings to California’s employment authority.
Roth said the reductions hit about 15% of his team, which is responsible for preventing the spread of misinformation and other harmful content, and that the company’s “core moderation capabilities” remained in place.
Musk endorsed the safety executive last week, citing his “high integrity” after Roth was called out over tweets critical of former President Donald Trump years earlier.
Musk has promised to restore free speech while preventing Twitter from descending into a “hellscape.”
President Joe Biden said on Friday that Musk had purchased a social media platform in Twitter that spews lies across the world.
“And now what are we all worried about: Elon Musk goes out and buys an outfit that sends – that spews lies all across the world… There’s no editors anymore in America. There’s no editors. How do we expect kids to be able to understand what is at stake?”
Major advertisers have expressed apprehension about Musk’s takeover for months.
Brands including General Motors Co (GM.N) and General Mills Inc (GIS.N) have said they stopped advertising on Twitter while awaiting information about the new direction of the platform.
Musk tweeted that his team had made no changes to content moderation and done “everything we could” to appease the groups. Speaking at an investors conference in New York on Friday, Musk called the activist pressure “an attack on the First Amendment.”
[1/9] Owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc. Elon Musk arrives at the 29th Annual Baron Investment Conference in Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S., November 4, 2022. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.
ACCESS TO SYSTEMS CUT
The email notifying staff about layoffs was the first communication Twitter workers received from the company’s leadership after Musk took over last week. It was signed only by “Twitter,” without naming Musk or any other executives.
Dozens of staffers tweeted they had lost access to work email and Slack channels overnight before receiving an official layoff notice on Friday morning, prompting an outpouring of laments by current and former employees on the platform they had built.
They shared blue hearts and salute emojis expressing support for one another, using the hashtags #OneTeam and #LoveWhereYouWorked, a past-tense version of a slogan employees had used for years to celebrate the company’s work culture.
Twitter’s curation team, which was responsible for “highlighting and contextualizing the best events and stories that unfold on Twitter,” had been axed, employees wrote.
Shannon Raj Singh, an attorney who was Twitter’s acting head of human rights, tweeted that the entire human rights team at the company had been sacked.
Another team that focused on research into how Twitter employed machine learning and algorithms, an issue that was a priority for Musk, was also eliminated, according to a tweet from a former senior manager at Twitter.
Senior executives including vice president of engineering Arnaud Weber said their goodbyes on Twitter on Friday: “Twitter still has a lot of unlocked potential but I’m proud of what we accomplished.”
Employees of Twitter Blue, the premium subscription service that Musk is bolstering, were also let go. An employee with the handle “SillyRobin” who had indicated they were laid off, quote-tweeted a previous Musk tweet saying Twitter Blue would include “paywall bypass” for certain publishers.
“Just to be clear, he fired the team working on this,” the employee said.
DOORS LOCKED
Twitter said in its email to staffers that offices would be temporarily closed and badge access suspended “to help ensure the safety of each employee as well as Twitter systems and customer data.”
Offices in London and Dublin appeared deserted on Friday, with no employees in sight. At the London office, any evidence Twitter had once occupied the building was erased.
A receptionist at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters said a few people had trickled in and were working in the floors above despite the notice to stay away.
A class action was filed on Thursday against Twitter by several employees, who argued the company was conducting mass layoffs without providing the required 60-day advance notice, in violation of federal and California law.
The lawsuit asked the San Francisco federal court to issue an order to restrict Twitter from soliciting employees being laid off to sign documents without informing them of the pendency of the case.
Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas, Katie Paul in Palo Alto, California, and Paresh Dave in Oakland, California; Additional reporting by Fanny Potkin, Rusharti Mukherjee, Aditya Kalra, Martin Coulter, Hyunjoo Jin, Supantha Mukherjee and Arriana McLymore; Writing by Matt Scuffham and Katie Paul; Editing by Kenneth Li, Jason Neely, Matthew Lewis and William Mallard
San Francisco Bay Area-based tech reporter covering Google and the rest of Alphabet Inc. Joined Reuters in 2017 after four years at the Los Angeles Times focused on the local tech industry.
Oct 25 (Reuters) – Adidas AG (ADSGn.DE) terminated its partnership with rapper and fashion designer Ye on Tuesday after he made a series of antisemitic remarks, a move that knocked the musician off the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires.
Adidas put the tie-up, which has produced several hot-selling Yeezy branded sneakers, under review this month.
“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech,” the German company said on Tuesday.
“Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness,” it said.
Forbes magazine said the end of the deal meant Ye’s net worth shrank to $400 million. The magazine had valued his share of the Adidas partnership at $1.5 billion.
The remainder of Ye’s wealth comes from real estate, cash, his music catalogue and a 5% stake in ex-wife Kim Kardashian’s shapewear firm, Skims, Forbes said.
Representatives for Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
For Adidas, ending the partnership and the production of Yeezy branded products, as well as stopping all payments to Ye and his companies, will have a “short-term negative impact” of up to 250 million euros ($248.90 million) on net income this year, the company said.
Ye has courted controversy in recent months by publicly ending major corporate tie-ups and making outbursts on social media against other celebrities. His Twitter and Instagram accounts were restricted, with the social media platforms removing some of his online posts that users condemned as antisemitic.
In now-deleted Instagram posts earlier this year, the multiple Grammy award-winning artist accused Adidas and U.S. apparel retailer Gap Inc (GPS.N) of failing to build contractually promised permanent stores for products from his Yeezy fashion line.
[1/3] Singer Kanye West walks past models after presenting his Fall/Winter 2015 partnership line with Adidas at New York Fashion Week February 12, 2015. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
He also accused Adidas of stealing his designs for its own products.
On Tuesday, Gap, which had ended its partnership with Ye in September, said it was taking immediate steps to remove Yeezy Gap products from its stores and that it had shut down YeezyGap.com.
“Antisemitism, racism and hate in any form are inexcusable and not tolerated in accordance with our values,” Gap said in a statement.
European fashion house Balenciaga has also cut ties with Ye, according to media reports.
“The saga of Ye … underlines the importance of vetting celebrities thoroughly and avoiding those who are overly controversial or unstable,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData.
Adidas poached Ye from rival Nike Inc (NKE.N) in 2013 and agreed to a new long-term partnership in 2016 in what the company then called “the most significant partnership created between a non-athlete and a sports brand.”
The tie-up helped the German brand close the gap with Nike in the U.S. market.
Yeezy sneakers, which cost between $200 and $700, generate about 1.5 billion euros ($1.47 billion) in annual sales for Adidas, making up a little over 7% of its total revenue, according to estimates from Telsey Advisory Group.
Shares in Adidas, which cut its full-year forecast last week, closed down 3.2%. The group said it would provide more information as part of its upcoming Q3 earnings announcement on Nov. 9.
($1 = 1.0044 euros)
Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Uday Sampath and Aishwarya Venugopal in Bengaluru and Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Editing by Tomasz Janowski, Sriraj Kalluvila, Bernadette Baum, Anil D’Silva and Cynthia Osterman
DUBAI, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Iran will not remain indifferent if it is proven that its drones are being used by Russia in the Ukraine war, the Iranian foreign minister said on Monday, amid allegations the Islamic Republic has supplied drones to Moscow to attack Ukraine.
“If it is proven to us that Iranian drones are being used in the Ukraine war against people, we should not remain indifferent,” state media cited Hossein Amirabdollahian as saying.
However, Amirabdollahian said defence cooperation between Tehran and Moscow will continue.
Britain, France and Germany on Friday called for a United Nations probe of accusations Russia has used Iranian-origin drones to attack Ukraine, allegedly violating a U.N. Security Council resolution.
Citing diplomats and officials, Reuters reported last week that in addition to more drones, Iran had promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles.
Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Alex Richardson and Jonathan Oatis
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur didn’t like most of what he saw Sunday.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
One week ago, after the Green Bay Packers suffered a humbling home loss the New York Jets, quarterback Aaron Rodgers tried calming folks down.
“The biggest thing is to guard against the freak out, to guard against the feeding into the wobbliness and to let that creep into your mind,” Rodgers said.
Well, let the freak out begin.
For the first time in the Matt LaFleur-era — and the first time since 2019 — the Packers have lost three games in a row.
Host Washington scored 20 consecutive points, held off a late Green Bay rally and toppled the Packers, 23-21. Green Bay is under .500 after seven games for the first time since Mike McCarthy’s rookie season in 2006.
“Our guys are extremely disappointed,” LaFleur said afterwards. “I don’t think anybody thought we’d be in this spot that we’re in right now. We’re going to find out what we’re made of.”
Green Bay tight end Marcedes Lewis agreed.
“Whether it’s expectations or just standards, our standard is much better than what we’ve put out there thus far,” Lewis said. “Only way we’re going to be able to get out of it is to work. It’s no secret.”
Things only get tougher for the Packers, too, as they head to Buffalo (5-1) next week.
“I’m not worried about this squad,” Rodgers said afterwards. “In fact, this might be the best thing for us. This week, nobody’s going to give us a chance, going to Buffalo on ‘Sunday Night Football,’ with a chance to get exposed … Shoot, this might be the best thing for us.”
We shall see.
Here’s the good, bad and ugly from the Commanders’ win over the Packers.
THE GOOD
AARON JONES: When the Packers lean on their most dynamic offensive player, good things happen.
On Sunday, Jones only had eight carries. But he was featured in the pass game and shined.
Jones had a team-high nine receptions and a pair of touchdown catches. Jones had a 4-yard TD catch midway through the first quarter to give Green Bay a 7-0 lead. Then he caught a 21-yard touchdown with 3:26 left that pulled the Packers within 23-21.
Jones, who is now tied for the team lead with 26 catches, remains optimistic.
“Just gotta get consistent execution,” he said. “We show it here. We show it there. We just don’t put it all together. It may be one mental error on a play and then the next play another person has another error. All 11 have to be locked in together. We continue to work and we’ll get it done.”
DE’VONDRE CAMPBELL: Green Bay’s inside linebacker, who was arguably the Packers’ best defensive player in 2021, had been relatively quiet the first six weeks.
But Campbell was remarkably loud early in the second quarter when he intercepted Washington’s Taylor Heinicke and returned the pick 63 yards for a touchdown. It was just the second interception of the year for Green Bay.
Campbell did a terrific job outmuscling running back J.D. McKissic for a ball in the right flat. Campbell then had nothing but green grass in front of him, and beat all of the Commanders to the pylon to give Green Bay a 14-3 lead.
ALLEN LAZARD: The Packers did very little well in the passing game. But Lazard did what he could to give Green Bay a lift.
Lazard caught six passes for 55 yards. And for 3 ½ quarters Lazard was the only Green Bay receiver with a catch.
The fact the Packers had little to nothing in the passing game besides Lazard re-emphasized how badly Green Bay needs to add a wide receiver before the trade deadline on Nov. 1.
THIS AND THAT: Rookie outside linebacker Kingsley Enagbare had a sack for the second consecutive week. Enagbare also had three tackles and two quarterback hits. … Rookie inside linebacker Quay Walker had his most impactful game of the season with 13 tackles and two quarterback hits
THE BAD
DAVID BAKHTIARI: The mystery of Bakhtiari’s surgically repaired left knee continues.
And Sunday marked the 20th time the Packers were without their former Pro Bowl left tackle since the start of the 2021 season.
Bakhtiari, who’s had three knee surgeries since tearing his ACL on Dec. 30, 2020, was inactive against the Commanders with a knee injury.
Bakhtiari played just 27 snaps in 2021, with those coming in the regular season finale against Detroit. When the Packers faced San Francisco in the NFC divisional playoffs two weeks later, Bakhtiari still wasn’t ready to go.
Bakhtiari was inactive the first two games of this season, then split time at left tackle with Yosh Nijman in Week 3. That day, Bakhtiari played 56% of Green Bay’s offensive snaps.
Bakhtiari’s snap count rose to 96% in a Week 4 win over New England, dipped to 40% in Week 5 when the Packers traveled to London, and jumped back to 95% in a Week 6 loss to the New York Jets.
“Dave’s done a great job,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said Friday. “Certainly, you could feel his presence out there in terms of not only the play — I think his play has gotten better and better each and every week, as well.
“But it’s nice, it’s comforting, I think, for Aaron (Rodgers), for the rest of the guys in the huddle. Dave’s played a lot of ball. Hopefully, we can keep building him up and building him up, where you don’t worry about it.”
Bakhtiari was limited in practice all week. Then on Saturday, his status on the injury report was changed to questionable with his knee injury.
Green Bay allowed four sacks and nine quarterback hits in a loss to the New York Jets last week. The Packers were planning for an offensive line makeover this week, and even without Bakhtiari they stuck with that plan.
Rookie fourth round draft pick Zach Tom replaced Bakhtiari at left tackle. Nijman moved to right tackle, Elgton Jenkins sild inside to left guard and Jon Runyan moved from left guard to right guard.
That meant center Josh Myers was the only offensive lineman starting at the same spot he did last week.
Green Bay’s revamped line played relatively well and Rodgers wasn’t sacked. But losing Bakhtiari — again — was a blow.
“Yeah, it’s disappointing,” Rodgers said of Bakhtiari not playing. “When Dave couldn’t go, we adjusted to it and kind of changed a lot of things around to try to give Zach some help. But we’re a better football team when 69’s out there.
RUN DEFENSE: The Packers entered the game ranked 27th in rushing defense, allowing 135.2 yards per game. Green Bay also ranked 25th in yards allowed per carry (4.9).
Things only got worse Sunday.
Washington ran for 167 yards on 38 carries, an average of 4.4 yards per attempt.
FOUR-MINUTE DEFENSE: The Packers closed within 23-21 with 3:26 left and implored its defense to make a stop. Instead, they wilted.
Washington picked up a pair of first downs, and when the Packers got the ball back, they had just 23 seconds to work with.
Green Bay’s much ballyhooed defense hasn’t lived up to the hype, and allowed 364 total yards Sunday against a pedestrian Washington offense. And when the Packers’ defense needed to make a stand, they couldn’t.
THIS AND THAT: Green Bay had a season-low 38 rushing yards. … Packers right tackle Yosh Nijman had two holding penalties. … Green Bay cornerback Jaire Alexander was beat by Washington’s Terry McLaurin for a 37-yard touchdown in the third quarter. “Heinicke made a really good throw and he made a really good catch, so ain’t much I can do about that,” Alexander said. … Green Bay ranked eighth in the league through Week 6 with just 31 penalties. But the Packers had nine penalties for 69 yards against Washington. … Wideout Romeo Doubs was targeted four times, but didn’t have a catch.
THE UGLY
PASSING OFFENSE: Green Bay’s passing offense has been remarkably mediocre through six games, ranking 16th in the league with 225.8 passing yards per game.
On Sunday, the passing offense was downright dreadful.
Rodgers had just 46 passing yards in the first half and averaged only 3.3 yards per attempt. Rodgers had just 82 passing yards through three quarters before beefing up his numbers late and finishing with 194 passing yards.
LaFleur was asked what he can do to get Rodgers playing at the level he did in 2020 and 2021 when he won league MVP honors.
“I think it takes everybody,” LaFleur said. “It takes everybody around him. You’ve got to have the protection in front of you to be able to hold up. You’ve got to have the guys making plays too. I feel like we had a ton of drops. We had a lot of penalties that put us back behind the sticks. Those are tough situations to climb out of.”
Green Bay has no vertical threat right now. Teams are sitting on the short and underneath routes. And Washington didn’t feel the need to blitz, instead choosing to rush with four and let the Packers “dink and dunk down the field” as LaFleur put it.
Rodgers was asked how he interpreted the fact the Commanders didn’t blitz.
“I think you know what it tells you. They didn’t need to,” Rodgers said. “That’s what they thought. They thought their rush could get home and they could cover it up on the back end.”
And for the most part, that’s exactly what they did.
Unless the Packers get healthy or make a move before the trade deadline, things may not change for Rodgers and his band of subpar pass catchers.
AMARI RODGERS: The Packers’ 2021 third round draft pick fumbled a punt for the second time in three weeks and continues to be a liability.
Rodgers, who lost his job as Green Bay’s kick returner in Week 5, fumbled a punt late in the first quarter and the Commanders recovered at the Packers’ 17. That set up a short Washington field goal that took away Green Bay’s early momentum.
Rodgers is buried on the wide receiver depth chart and has killed the Packers as a returner. If Rodgers wasn’t a third round draft pick, he’d probably already have been released.
ATLANTA — Dejounte Murray and Trae Young hardly looked like they were playing their first game together.
Murray had 20 points, 11 assists and five steals in his Atlanta debut Wednesday night, teaming with Young for a tantalizing glimpse of what the Hawks can expect from their new backcourt tandem.
“My goal is for me and Trae to make this team better,” Murray said after a 117-107 victory over the pesky Houston Rockets.
On the opening night of the season in Atlanta, there were no complaints from the sellout crowd.
Murray, an All-Star acquired from San Antonio in the Hawks’ biggest move of the offseason, was a bit more critical of the team’s performance.
Even with four of Atlanta’s starters scoring at least 20 points, the Hawks struggled to put away a team that had the NBA’s worst record the last two years.
“I feel like the game was too close,” said Murray, who rated his performance “6 out of 10.”
Young had 23 points and 13 assists. For one night, at least, a pair of star point guards showed they can co-exist — and get their teammates involved, for good measure.
“The Atlanta Hawks are not me and Trae, but we set the tone,” Murray said. “We’re gonna get better.”
Murray became the first player since Spud Webb in 1985 to have a double-double in his Atlanta debut. But his biggest impact may have been at the defensive end, where he’s charged with helping the Hawks improve on one of their biggest problems a season ago.
The last of his steals came after he knocked down a three-pointer.
Murray swiped the ball from Jalen Green and dished off to Onyeka Okongwu for a lay-in that pushed the lead to 102-92 with less than 5 1/2 minutes to go.
“We’ve challenged Trae and all the guys to get better defensively,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “That’s the key to the season.”
The Rockets were led by Kevin Porter Jr, with 21 points, two days after he signed an $82.5 million, four-year contract extension to help lead Houston’s major rebuilding project.
John Collins, who was the subject of incessant trade speculation during the offseason, led the Hawks with 24 points. De’Andre Hunter, his future in Atlanta solidified by a $95 million, four-year extension, chipped in with 22 points.
The Hawks are hoping to recapture the form that carried them to the Eastern Conference final in 2021.
Atlanta slipped to ninth in the East a season ago and needed to win two play-in games just to qualify for the postseason. The Hawks didn’t last long in the playoffs, going down in five games to top seed Miami.
The Rockets, who had the NBA’s worst record the last two seasons, sent out a youthful lineup that included No. 3 overall pick Jabari Smith Jr.
The former Auburn star had 17 points and seven rebounds in a promising NBA debut.
“We were disjointed a little bit,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. ”But I loved our fight, I loved our competitiveness.”
YOUTHFUL ROCKETS
Of the 13 players who dressed for Houston, only two had more than three seasons of NBA experience.
It showed.
“There were multiple times where I sat down and told our assistants, ’Man we’re just so young,’” Silas said, managing a smile.
Most notably, the Rockets had 16 turnovers, which the Hawks turned into 28 points. Houston scored just 13 points off turnovers.
“It was the transition points that really hurt us the most,” Silas said. “I’m encouraged, even though we lost.”
TIP-INS
Rockets: Another first-round pick, Tari Eason, had eight points and seven assists in 15 minutes off the bench. … Houston outrebounded the Hawks 54-38. … Daishen Nix (sore back), Jae-Sean Tate (left ankle soreness) and rookie TyTy Washington (left knee sprain) were not available for the start of the regular season.
Hawks: The team’s two rookies — first-rounder AJ Griffin and second-rounder Tyrese Martin — did not play. … Atlanta had 30 assists and just nine turnovers. … G Bogdan Bogdanovic was the only Atlanta player who didn’t dress for the opener. He continues to recover from right knee surgery in June.
UP NEXT
Rockets: Return to Houston for their home opener Friday night against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Hawks: Host the Orlando Magic on Friday night in the second of three straight home games to begin the season.
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BERLIN, Oct 15 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday called for an expanded European Union, telling a gathering of European social democrats that it would then be able to better pull its weight in global affairs.
Since assuming office, Scholz has made European Union expansion to include the Balkans and others nations a major plank of his foreign policy. It has taken on more urgency since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which became a candidate for EU membership early this summer.
“An EU with 27, 30, 36 states, with then more than 500 million free and equal citizens, can bring its weight to bear even more strongly in the world,” Scholz said at the congress.
The EU currently has 27 members.
“I am committed to the enlargement of the EU. That the EU continues to grow eastward is a win-win for all of us,” he said.
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Reporting by Andreas Rinke; writing by Tom Sims, editing by William Maclean
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