JERUSALEM — Hamas militants fired a large barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday, including one that set off air raid sirens as far away as Jerusalem, after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a flashpoint religious site in the contested holy city.

The early evening attack drastically escalated what already are heightened tensions throughout the region following weeks of confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem that have threatened to become a wider conflict.

Shortly after the sirens sounded, explosions could be heard in Jerusalem. One rocket fell on the western outskirts of Jerusalem, lightly damaging a home and causing a brushfire. The Israeli army said there was an initial burst of seven rockets, one was intercepted, and rocket fire was continuing in southern Israel.

Gaza health officials said nine people, including three children, were killed in an explosion in the northern Gaza Strip. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.

Elsewhere in Gaza, an Israeli drone strike killed a Palestinian in the northern Gaza Strip, Hamas media reported. The Israeli army said an Israeli civilian in the country’s south suffered mild injuries when a vehicle was struck by an anti-tank missile fired from Gaza.

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, said the attack was a response to what he called Israeli “crimes and aggression” in Jerusalem. “This is a message the enemy has to understand well,” he said.

He threatened more attacks if Israel again invades the sacred Al-Aqsa Mosque compound or carries out evictions of Palestinian families in a neighborhood of east Jerusalem.

Earlier, Israeli police firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians at the iconic compound, which is Islam’s third-holiest site and considered Judaism’s holiest. Tensions at the site have been the trigger for prolonged bouts of violence in the past, including the last Palestinian intifada, or uprising. It was not clear if the current unrest would escalate or dissipate in the coming days.

More than a dozen tear gas canisters and stun grenades landed in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, as police and protesters faced off inside the walled compound that surrounds it, said an Associated Press photographer at the scene. Smoke rose in front of the mosque and the iconic golden-domed shrine on the site, and rocks littered the nearby plaza. Inside one area of the compound, shoes and debris lay scattered over ornate carpets.

In an apparent attempt to avoid further confrontation, Israeli authorities changed the planned route of a march by ultranationalist Jews through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City to mark Jerusalem Day, which celebrates Israel’s capture of east Jerusalem.

But tensions remained high.

More than 305 Palestinians were hurt, including 228 who went to hospitals and clinics for treatment, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Seven of the injured were in serious condition. Police said 21 officers were hurt, including three who were hospitalized. Israeli paramedics said seven Israeli civilians were also hurt.

The confrontation was the latest after weeks of almost nightly clashes between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the Old City of Jerusalem, the emotional center of their conflict, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The month tends to be a time of heightened religious sensitivities.

Most recently, the tensions have been fueled by the planned eviction of dozens of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem where Israeli settlers have waged a lengthy legal battle to take over properties.

Israel’s Supreme Court postponed a key ruling Monday in the case, citing the “circumstances.”

Over the past few days, hundreds of Palestinians and several dozen police officers have been hurt in clashes in and around the Old City, including the sacred compound, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.

An AP photographer at the scene said that early Monday morning, protesters had barricaded gates to the walled compound with wooden boards and scrap metal. Sometime after 7. a.m., clashes erupted, with those inside throwing stones at police deployed outside.

Police entered the compound, firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and stun grenades, some of which enterd the mosque.

Police said protesters hurled stones at officers and onto an adjoining roadway near the Western Wall, where thousands of Israeli Jews had gathered to pray.

The tensions in Jerusalem have threatened to reverberate throughout the region and come at a crucial point in Israel’s political crisis after longtime leader Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a governing coalition last week. His opponents are now working to build an alternate government.

Before Monday’s rocket attack on Jerusalem, some 60 miles north of Gaza, Palestinian militants had fired several barrages of rockets into southern Israel. Protesters allied with the ruling Hamas militant group have launched dozens of incendiary balloons into Israel, setting off fires across the southern part of the country.

The rare strike on Jerusalem came moments after Hamas had set a deadline for Israel to remove its forces from the mosque compound and Sheikh Jarrah and release Palestinians detained in the latest clashes.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, has fought three wars with Israel since it seized power in Gaza in 2007. The group possesses a vast arsenal of missiles and rockets capable of striking virtually anywhere in Israel.

The rocket strike on Jerusalem was a significant escalation and raised the likelihood of a tough Israeli response. Israel’s response thus far has come under growing international criticism.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations on the situation Monday.

Late Sunday, the U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat. A White House statement said that Sullivan called on Israel to “pursue appropriate measures to ensure calm” and expressed the U.S.’s “serious concerns” about the ongoing violence and planned evictions.

Prime Minister Netanyahu pushed back against the criticism Monday, saying Israel is determined to ensure the rights of worship for all and that this “requires from time to time stand up and stand strong as Israeli police and our security forces are doing now.”

The day began with police announcing that Jews would be barred from visiting the holy site on Jerusalem Day, which is marked with a flag-waving parade through the Old City that is widely perceived by Palestinians as a provocative display in the contested city.

Just as the parade was about to begin, police said they were altering the route at the instruction of political leaders. Several thousand people, many of them from Jewish settlements in the West Bank, were participating.

In the 1967 Mideast war in which Israel captured east Jerusalem, it also took the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It later annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its capital. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state, with east Jerusalem as their capital.

Read More

Labeling it a “Big Three” is a bit much.

Actually it’s way too much.

Even Zach LaVine wasn’t going to call what he, Nikola Vucevic and Coby White have done the last three games as the product of a “Big Three.”

The Bulls guard is more into calling it “a pick your poison.”

Whatever the label, it’s what the Bulls will have to lean on the final four games, as they try and pull off a late-season miracle and overtake Indiana or Washington for a final play-in spot in the Eastern Conference.

“They’re just going to have to pick their poison,” LaVine said, pointing out the latest example of how the trio went to work in the one-sided win in Detroit on Sunday night. “I got it going early, then they started doubling. My next instinct is to use me as a decoy – let them double me, hit ‘Vuch’ in the pocket, let him go to work. And eventually they start spraying out the threes for Coby. We’re scoring at all three levels, and once we got that going, it’s pretty much pick your poison.”

Is it LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh from the “Heatles” days? Not even in the same league. Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden? Please.

What can’t be denied, however, is the numbers throughout the three-game winning streak. The trio has combined for 209 total points, led by Vucevic’s 25.3 per game. LaVine has put up 24.3 points, while White was 20 points per.

More importantly, two of the three showings came against playoff-bound teams like Charlotte and Boston.

But a “Big Three?” Not even coach Billy Donovan was going to feed that beast.

“I don’t look at it that way,” Donovan said. “I get it. I’ve always believed that the more guys that are – you think about, there’s 100 possessions on the offensive end of the floor – but there’s a lot of shots that go up, and I think you’ve gotta be balanced because you never know what’s gonna happen. And if they’re gonna double-team ‘Vuch’ in the low post he’s been unselfish enough to move the ball. Same thing with Zach.”

What also helps is that while LaVine is capable of get his own shot, seemingly whenever or from wherever he wants, White and Vucevic finally understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and how to best play off of each other.

Donovan and his staff have focused on making sure that when the ball goes into the post and Vucevic’s hands, White is set at the top of the key or ball side, leaving his defender the choice of having to leave White and help on the double-team of Vucevic, or leave the post defender on Vucevic Island by himself.

Fortunately for White, he’s been on a catch-and-shoot tear from the outside, so doubling down on the big man hasn’t been benefitting the opposing defense.

The Bulls will need that to continue if they want to get past the likes of two games against the Nets and another with Milwaukee.

Veteran forward Thad Young, however, has a different approach to the success of his “Big Three” teammates. The way Young sees it, yeah, the offense has been great from LaVine, Vucevic and White, but it’s been their defense that has, and will need, to carry the day if they want to play extra basketball this season.

That’s what Young is buying into.

“Defensively, they’re all getting better throughout the course of the season and they’re all continuing to compete,” Young said. “That’s what we need. When everybody sees our ‘Big Three’ competing, then it just brings everybody else along, and our defense is what it needs to be in order to win games.”

Read More

■Adam Toledo’s death had a profound impact on me. I was running around in the Capitol when I got the video texted to me by my staff. It was noisy and pretty hectic, so I went in a corner of the Speaker’s Lobby and watched it a couple of times. It was devastating to watch it knowing that a child was about to be killed and then seeing it play out. My palms got sweaty and it was hard to contain my emotions. Two of my grandchildren live in Little Village, just a few blocks from me, so it’s personal. It brought back so many memories of young people who have died there. I’d grown numb to these deaths — it’s a survivalist role you take on. But the power of that video will be lasting.

■ I’m certainly not the best Catholic, but I’ve always felt that modesty is a virtue. And I think the values of humility and generosity have helped me stay on the right course through all the travails of Chicago and Illinois politics. When I lost my Illinois Senate seat, a bunch of people tried to lure me to become a lobbyist: “You can make three, four, five times more.” But that just wasn’t my calling. So I started a nonprofit and took a pay cut. In almost every job but Congress I’ve taken a pay cut. But my promotions — from the City Council to the state Senate to the Cook County Board — have allowed me to represent larger numbers of people. That’s been my reward.

■  I was raised in a little village in Mexico. We didn’t have electricity, we didn’t have running water. We had a river nearby, and a walk there for water was maybe three Chicago blocks. When I read García Márquez, it reminds me of my childhood. Everybody knows each other, it’s picturesque. I cherish having grown up in a village like that.

■ During Harold Washington’s first year as congressman, we recognized his commitment to the immigrant community with a plaque. At the dinner, my wife and I went around checking on everybody. We got to his table and noticed he was coughing and having a hard time breathing, so we gave him some water. But he was still struggling, so we took him to the back, and I grabbed him real hard and squeezed — a Mexican-style Heimlich maneuver — and got it unstuck. He went, “Oh, man! What did you say your name was?” I told him, “Jesús.” He said, “How do you spell that?” “J-E-S-U-S.” He looked at me, grabbed me by the shoulder, and went, “Jesus, you saved my life!” When Harold died, his family asked me to give a eulogy. 

■ People thought I was crazy running for mayor. I was polling at like 8 percent. But I foresaw the weakening of the machine, the potential for a new coalition, and the reviving of some of the elements that elected Harold Washington. The 1 percenters were reigning, and we wanted to open things up and democratize the city. If Rahm hadn’t withheld the Laquan McDonald tape, I would have won that race. I have no doubt about it. 

■ When I got to Washington, I was not a big fan of Nancy Pelosi, but I’ve come to appreciate her talent and her ability and, by God, her work ethic. We were on a flight back from Central America and someone asked her, “How do you unwind?” She said, “Rest is rust.” I think that’s her mantra.

■ No shavers, no electric trimmers, no machinery on my mustache. Every lock is cut individually with small scissors.

■ Little Village remains our community of choice. We have relatives here, we have neighbors and friends — people who really let you appreciate the essence of the working class. If I’m out cutting the grass or trying to plant some flowers, people will pull up with music blasting in their car. “Tengo una pregunta” — “I have a question.” And most of the time that leads to quite a few questions. But I like it. I help them get their papers. I help them become citizens. I help them buy their first house. It makes a big difference in their lives.

Read More

Chicago Bears: 3 players who could compete in 100 Meter Dash by Ryan Heckman

Kevin Lankinen made the final start of his 2020-21 season last night against the Dallas Stars. He saw his Chicago Blackhawks team score four in front of him which always helps but he needed to play well for his own personal well-being. He made 37 saves on 39 shots to earn his 17th victory of the season. His record will end at 17-14-5 which is really nice for a rookie goaltender. He sort of struggled in the middle part of the season so it was very important for him to go into the offseason feeling good.

Kevin Lankinen was good for the Chicago Blackhawks in his final game of 2020-21.

Saying he struggled to end the season is an understatement. He was actually one of the worst goalies in the National Hockey League for a stretch there. That came after the early part of the season where he was in the early Vezina Trophy conversations. Water levels out eventually so it is hard to predict his future as an NHL starting goalie.

He finishes the year with a 3.01 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage. Those are pretty good numbers for a rookie that plays on a team as badly defensively as the Hawks. Again, saying they’re bad defensively is an understatement. There is a case to be made that they are the worst defensive team in the NHL. When you combine that with Lankinen’s struggles, it makes perfect sense why they fell out of the playoff race.

They gave Collin Delia and Malcolm Subban some starts down the stretch while Lankinen struggled. That was good for him because it isn’t easy to play in those situations, especially when the team in front of you gives no help whatsoever. Going into 2021-22, Lankinen is sure to work hard on his craft and be ready for next year.

There is a good chance that the position of goalie is emphasized by the organization during the offseason. Is Lankinen the guy going forward? Is he a really nice backup? Those questions should be answered by the time we reach the end of next season. You would think that the Hawks give Lankinen a good look in 2021-22.

Hot: Kirby Dach and Alex DeBrincat are not Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane

Finishing strong is important for a lot of Blackhawks players but it is always extra important for the goalies. Lankinen is done as Delia will get the last start tonight against the Dallas Stars in the season finale. It has certainly been an interesting year for Lankinen but he has to be happy with it overall. It would be nice to see him get some top-10 votes for the Calder Trophy as the League’s top goalie.

Read More

Cubs’ right-hander Alzolay didn’t always know what to eat, but with a little help from his wife, Diana Inzunza, he figured out that nutrition could push him to new heights.

Every couple has something that brings them closer together. For some, it’s a hobby, a TV show or even music. But for Adbert Alzolay and his wife, Diana Inzunza, food has been something that’s made them closer.

It’s also helped Alzolay get himself into the best shape of his career in the process.

“She taught me how to eat,” Alzolay told the Sun-Times. “That’s a game-changer right there. She knows what she’s doing and she’s been on me.”

Alzolay is finally getting his chance to show what he can do in the big leagues after years of flashing potential. This season, he’s beginning to show why he may be the answer to many questions about the Cubs’ homegrown pitching.

The journey for Alzolay’s success in the big leagues has never been about talent, but health. Throughout his rise through the minor leagues, Alzolay battled injuries and his durability was always a question. Over the last few years, the organization has worked with him to get his body stronger to help keep it from breaking down.

Alzolay had to do some of that work away from the park, and he would soon find out that what he put in his body was just as important as the hours he put in in the weight room. Fortunately for him, he had a little help.

“I had worked with athletes before, so that wasn’t new,” Inzunza said. “A lot of athletes have this mindset of, ‘I’m going to eat whatever I want,’ right? That’s just how they think, and so it wasn’t like a sit down conversation. But I controlled the kitchen. So he had to eat what I was making and I went about it indirectly. After he got hurt, he was focusing on recovery and focusing on everything he had to do to kind of rebuild his body.”

His wife, a certified nutritionist, was his biggest guide, and after suffering a lat strain in 2018, she had to find a way to get Alzolay to start learning new habits.

“I put my body on a nutritional program with Diana,” he said. “She was my girlfriend at that time, and we did it during the offseason. After I got hurt in ‘18 was when I dove more into nutrition and changed everything.”

“I think that’s when he realized that what you put in your body can really help with your recovery,” she said.

The world of nutrition was new to Alzolay, who’s focus for most of his life had been about being the best baseball player he could be. But he soon realized that also meant knowing what was going into his body too. Once he started to understand, the light went off. The 26-year-old right-hander started making changes, even going vegetarian for six months to reset his body.

“I didn’t have a diet. I’d eat whatever each day or whatever we had at the field and then after the game, I used to eat a lot of McDonald’s,” Alzolay said as a big grin came over his face. “Growing up back home in Venezuela, we used to eat a lot of red meat. I was eating red meat at least five times a week. So when I decided to go back to eating meat, we started eating white meat like fish or chicken.”

“That was bonding for us, because we were both suffering,” she said with a laugh. “We both did it together, because I had gone vegetarian the year before and it’s really hard when you do it by yourself. Because then I had to cook two meals, so I stopped. The following year, when he saw “The Game Changers” documentary, he wanted to try it out.

“It was fun for me because it challenged me to create new recipes. And like every single day, I just couldn’t wait for him to get home so I could show him like what I had made so that he didn’t think that being vegetarian was just eating salads.”

The lesson Alzolay had to learn was one that many young players have had to figure out while in the minor leagues. While some have the benefit of larger signing bonuses to afford better food, most have to eat what they can afford, which in many cases becomes fast food.

The journey with food has been an enjoyable one for the Alzolays, who got married last year. While they’re in lockstep on their nutrition, both admit they still enjoy those cheat meals every once in a while, including a stop at McDonald’s.

But the last three years have been a learning experience for the Cubs’ right-hander as he figured out how to keep himself properly fueled to be more durable. He feels that if he stays consistent off the field not only in the weight room, but in the kitchen, the results will take care of itself on the field.

“I feel so good,” Alzolay said. “My body has been feeling really good, and I think the way that you eat, you will see it here on the field too. We play 162 games for six months. If you don’t take care of your body, you won’t be able to be here for that long.”

Read More

“I would call [Rodgers] in, we’d sit down and not leave until we kind of had an understanding one way or the other,” Holmgren said.

Former Green Bay Packers coach Mike Holmgren said his old team is to blame when it comes to the splintered relationship with franchise quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

“They didn’t handle it very well, I don’t think,” Holmgren said Friday during a radio appearance on the ”Carmen & Jurko” show for ESPN Chicago.

“It’s not good, that’s for sure,” Holmgren said of the current relationship between Rodgers and the Packers. “I can’t imagine a relationship between the coach or management or whoever is making the decisions and the starting quarterback like that getting to this point. I just can’t imagine it. I wouldn’t allow it. It wouldn’t happen. But now, it has happened.”

Rodgers, the reigning NFL MVP, is unhappy and wants to leave the Packers, according to multiple reports, with one report saying he will not return if general manager Brian Gutekunst remains in charge. The relationship fractured when the Packers selected quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 draft — shortly before Rodgers’ eventual MVP campaign.

Holmgren said the Packers should have discussed drafting Love with Rodgers beforehand. Now, Holmgren said it’s gotten too far out of hand.

“I would call [Rodgers] in, we’d sit down and not leave until we kind of had an understanding one way or the other,” he said. “I would call him in [and say], ‘This is how it’s gonna affect you. We’ve got to get ready for when you retire. We’ve got to take care of the franchise, but nothing’s going to happen now. You’re the man, you’re the guy.’ Then, if he didn’t like that, now all of a sudden you’re in the current situation that you’re having.”

Holmgren related the Rodgers-Packers saga to the QB controversy he was part of as the San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Veteran Joe Montana was the starter and up-and-comer Steve Young was challenging in 1988 before Montana won his third and fourth Super Bowl rings in 1988 and 1989.

Holmgren acknowledged that times have changed, but it was an example of riding out a Hall of Famer’s career while paving way for the future. Young helped the 49ers win it all in 1994 after Montana departed.

“[Former 49ers head coach] Bill Walsh didn’t tell Joe [Montana] they were bringing Steve Young in,” Holmgren said. “He just did it.”

Read more at usatoday.com

Read More

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, said the rocket attack was a response to what he called Israeli “crimes and aggression” in Jerusalem. “This is a message the enemy has to understand well,” he said.

JERUSALEM — Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip fired rockets toward Jerusalem on Monday, setting off air raid sirens throughout the city, after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a flashpoint religious site in the contested holy city.

The early-evening attack drastically escalated what already are heightened tensions throughout the region following weeks of clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem.

Shortly after the sirens sounded, explosions could be heard in Jerusalem. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The Israeli Army said there was an initial burst of seven rockets, one was intercepted, and rocket fire was continuing.

Abu Obeida, spokesman for Hamas’ military wing, said the rocket attack was a response to what he called Israeli “crimes and aggression” in Jerusalem. “This is a message the enemy has to understand well,” he said.

He threatened more attacks if Israel again invades the sacred Al-Aqsa compound or carries out evictions of Palestinian families in a neighborhood of east Jerusalem.

Earlier, Israeli police firing tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians at the iconic compound.

More than a dozen tear gas canisters and stun grenades landed in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of Islam’s holiest sites, as police and protesters faced off inside the walled compound that surrounds it, said an Associated Press photographer at the scene. Smoke rose in front of the mosque and the iconic golden-domed shrine on the site, and rocks littered the nearby plaza. Inside one area of the compound, shoes and debris lay scattered over ornate carpets.

In an apparent attempt to avoid further confrontation, Israeli authorities changed the planned route of a march by ultranationalist Jews through the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. The marchers were ordered to avoid the area and sent on a different route circumventing the Muslim Quarter on their way to the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray.

But tensions remained high.

More than 305 Palestinians were hurt, including 228 who went to hospitals and clinics for treatment, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent. Seven of the injured were in serious condition. Police said 21 officers were hurt, including three who were hospitalized. Israeli paramedics said seven Israeli civilians were also hurt.

The confrontation was the latest after weeks of mounting tensions between Palestinians and Israeli troops in the Old City of Jerusalem, the emotional center of their conflict. There have been almost nightly clashes during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, already a time of heightened religious sensitivities.

Most recently, the tensions have been fueled by the planned eviction of dozens of Palestinians from the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of east Jerusalem where Israeli settlers have waged a lengthy legal battle to take over properties. Monday was expected to be particularly tense since Israelis mark it as Jerusalem Day to celebrate their capture of east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war.

On Monday, two anti-Arab members of Israel’s parliament, surrounded by an entourage and police, pushed through a line of protesters in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Several Arab members of parliament were among those trying to stop Betzalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, amid shouting and jostling. Smotrich and Ben Gvir eventually got to the other side of a police barricade and entered a house already inhabited by settlers.

Over the past few days, hundreds of Palestinians and several dozen police officers have been hurt in clashes in and around the Old City, including the sacred compound, which is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The compound which has been the trigger for rounds of Israel-Palestinian violence in the past, is Islam’s third-holiest site and considered Judaism’s holiest.

An AP photographer at the scene said that early Monday morning, protesters had barricaded gates to the walled compound with wooden boards and scrap metal. Sometime after 7. a.m., clashes erupted, with those inside throwing stones at police deployed outside. Police entered the compound, firing tear gas, rubber-coated steel pellets and stun grenades.

At some point during the morning about 400 people, both young protesters and older worshippers, were inside the carpeted Al-Aqsa Mosque. Police fired tear gas and stun grenades into the mosque.

Police said protesters hurled stones at officers and onto an adjoining roadway near the Western Wall, where thousands of Israeli Jews had gathered to pray.

The tensions in Jerusalem have threatened to reverberate throughout the region.

Before Monday’s rocket attack on Jerusalem, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Gaza, Palestinian militants had fired several barrages of rockets into southern Israel. Protesters allied with the ruling Hamas militant group have launched dozens of incendiary balloons into Israel, setting off fires across the southern part of the country.

The rare strike on Jerusalem came moments after Hamas had set a deadline for Israel to remove its forces from the mosque compound and Sheikh Jarrah and release Palestinians detained in the latest clashes.

Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel’s destruction, has fought three wars with Israel since it seized power in Gaza in 2007. The group possesses a vast arsenal of missiles and rockets capable of striking virtually anywhere in Israel.

The rocket strike on Jerusalem was a significant escalation and raised the likelihood of a tough Israeli response.

After several days of Jerusalem confrontations, Israel has come under growing international criticism for its heavy-handed actions at the site, particularly during Ramadan.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled closed consultations on the situation Monday.

Late Sunday, the U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke to his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben-Shabbat. A White House statement said that Sullivan called on Israel to “pursue appropriate measures to ensure calm” and expressed the U.S.’s “serious concerns” about the ongoing violence and planned evictions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back against the criticism Monday, saying Israel is determined to ensure the rights of worship for all and that this “requires from time to time stand up and stand strong as Israeli police and our security forces are doing now.”

In other violence, Palestinian protesters hurled rocks at an Israeli vehicle driving just outside the Old City walls. CCTV footage released by the police showed a crowd surrounding the car and pelting it with rocks when it swerved off the road and into a stone barrier and a bystander.

Police said two passengers were injured.

The day began with police announcing that Jews would be barred from visiting the holy site on Jerusalem Day, which is marked with a flag-waving parade through the Old City that is widely perceived by Palestinians as a provocative display in the contested city.

But just as the parade was about to begin, police said they were altering the route at the instruction of political leaders. Several thousand people, many of them from Jewish settlements in the West Bank, were participating.

In the 1967 war in which Israel captured east Jerusalem, it also took the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It later annexed east Jerusalem and considers the entire city its capital. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state, with east Jerusalem as their capital.

The recent round of violence began when Israel blocked off a popular spot where Muslims traditionally gather each night during Ramadan at the end of their daylong fast. Israel later removed the restrictions, but clashes quickly resumed amid tensions over the planned eviction of Palestinians from Sheikh Jarrah.

Israel’s Supreme Court postponed a key ruling Monday that could have forced dozens of Palestinians from their homes, citing the “circumstances.”

Read More

Read More

DeVitto, who plays emergency pediatrics specialist Dr. Natalie Manning on the Chicago-based NBC drama, confirmed the news on Instagram Sunday, posting a Ross-taken smooch selfie, kissing his cheek in the black-and-white photo.

“Chicago Med” star Torrey DeVitto is keeping it hometown, making her relationship with Chicago Cubs manager David Ross Instagram official on Sunday.

DeVitto, who plays emergency pediatrics specialist Dr. Natalie Manning on the Chicago-based NBC drama, confirmed the news on Instagram Sunday, posting a Ross-taken smooch selfie, kissing his cheek in the black-and-white photo.

“Love him madly,” she wrote with a red heart emoji. Ross, 44, liked the photo via his Instagram account.

The actress, 36, had previously teased the news of the relationship last week after attending a Cubs game in Cincinnati against the Reds. In a photo of Cincinnati sights, DeVitto included a final photo of Ross from behind the dugout, drawing a squiggly red heart around his head. She included the hashtag #SaveTheBestForLast.

The former catcher and World Series hero Ross, 44, ensured he will never have to pay for a drink again in Chicago after hitting a Game 7 World Series home run against the Cleveland Indians, making him the oldest player to do so in World Series history. The Cubs went on to win the game 8-7 in 10 innings.

Ross appeared on “Dancing With the Stars” in 2017, and his 23-year-old partner, Lindsay Arnold, improbably finished runner-up in the entire competition. He is divorced from his high school sweetheart, Hyla Ross, with whom he has three children.

Born and raised in Huntington, N.Y., DeVitto is best known for her recurring roles, including Melissa Hastings in “Pretty Little Liars” (2010-17), Dr. Meredith Fell in the CW drama “The Vampire Diaries” and as Carrie in the CW drama “One Tree Hill.” In 2013, she was seen as Maggie Hall in the final season of Lifetime’s “Army Wives.”

On “Chicago Med,” Dr. Natalie Manning is single after moving on from her complicated relationship with Dr. Will Halstead (Nick Gehlfuss).

DeVitto’s representatives have not commented further on the posting.

Read more at usatoday.com

Read More

Muti is plunging back into concert life. He is conducting his much-curtailed 50th anniversary tour with the Vienna Philharmonic in Florence, Italy, on Monday and at Milan’s La Scala on Tuesday. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra returns in May to launch the return of in-person concerts at Chicago’s Orchestra Hall.

RAVENNA, Italy — Maestro Riccardo Muti has once again reopened the Italian musical season in his adopted hometown of Ravenna after another — and if all goes well perhaps final — round of pandemic closures.

With a purposeful nod and flick of his baton, the 79-year-old conductor on Sunday ended what has been an unexpectedly long silence in Italian theaters, enrapturing a socially distanced and masked audience with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s first live performances since the fall — two evening concerts of Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms.

The concerts launched a three-stop Italian tour by the Vienna Philharmonic to celebrate 50 years of ties with the conductor and served as a precursor to the summertime Ravenna Festival, this year celebrating the 700th anniversary of Dante’s death.

“The emotion is above all one of rebirth, which is a positive word, but it means that something died before. So, within the positivity, there is the regret over something lost. And we, for a year, lost the possibility of life, in the complete sense of the word,” Muti told The Associated Press before the concert.

“This fact, that in nearly the whole world, theaters have remained empty, orchestras were reduced to silence, is something that has never been seen before.”

During this year, Muti has been unable to return to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, where he has been musical director for a decade. His last European performance, the traditional Vienna New Year’s Day concert, was a triumph but was performed to an empty concert hall. In his closing remarks, he urged governments to fund culture, as a salve to mental health that suffered during the pandemic closures. “Music helps,” he said.

Just a little over a year ago, Muti reopened the European musical season after Italy’s draconian spring 2020 lockdown with an outdoor concert of the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra he founded. Then, the hope was that the summer music festivals would flow smoothly into the fall concert calendar, and cultural life would resume. The fall virus spike and variants doomed that trajectory. Musicians around the world have been deprived of playing for an audience, not to mention income, and audiences the comfort of a live performance.

Muti called the experience of the past year “an unnatural global experiment” that had “stunned” the world.

“If we truly took into account how we are living, we would all go crazy. We try to maintain the illusion that we are living a normal life. It is the only way to reach the end of this absurd path,’’ he said.

Muti is plunging back into concert life. He is conducting his much-curtailed 50th anniversary tour with the Vienna Philharmonic in Florence on Monday and at Milan’s La Scala on Tuesday, before returning to Ravenna to prepare for festival appearances of his Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra and for the debut of a piece of music written for the Dante anniversary based on the Divine Comedy’s Purgatory canticle. It is one of three, along with Inferno and Paradise, commissioned for this year’s festival.

The world premiere of the piece by Armenian composer Tigran Mansurian will be in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on July 4, part of Muti’s series of Paths of Friendship concerts in their 25th year in cities recovering from war, hatred and conflicts. It will be repeated in Ravenna for the 700th anniversary celebrations of Dante’s death in September.

Muti plans to be back in Chicago by the fall.

The Ravenna Festival, founded 30 years ago by Muti’s wife, Cristina Mazzavillani Muti, reopens June 2 with an ambitious program of 120 musical, dance and theatrical performances and runs through July 31, despite uncertainty in the pace of reopening and the return of tourism. Optimistically, the program calls for 9:30 p.m. show times, even though a 10 p.m. curfew remains in place nationwide.

“It is a return of hope,” said general manager Antonio De Rosa. “We want to restore dignity to audiences with the possibility of listening live.”

With a regime of daily virus testing, the Vienna Philharmonic played without masks, spaced at least a meter a part. The audience was spread out across the four tiers of balconies, and every other row was removed from the floor seats, with government rules limiting seating in the 800-seat theater to 250 people.

In between the shows, orchestra members in their gray pinstriped stage garb wandered over to see Dante’s tomb across the street, or to sit at an outdoor café next to the Alighieri Theater, named for the famed poet who died in Ravenna on Sept. 13, 1321.

“Starting again to make music means starting to live again. Starting to live again means starting to be together again,’’ Muti said. “What has not been able to happen for a year, has been a real tragedy.”

Muti has appealed to Italy’s culture minister to fund more orchestras, encouraged by the commitment he saw working in cities like Turin and Palermo this pandemic year bound largely to Italy, after decades spent mostly conducting abroad if not with his youth orchestra. “Their response was excellent, and this gives me hope,” he said.

The city of Tokyo, where Muti just spent a few weeks with his Italian opera academy, has 17 orchestras, he noted. Italy, the birthplace of lyric opera, has fewer than 30.

A cultural life, he said, is essential for healing from the pandemic year, especially for young people whose social contacts have been dramatically limited at a critical age.

“What future will they have? Will they overcome this trauma? They can overcome this shock only with trust in life, which comes through socializing, living together and sharing above all culture,” Muti said. “I have said it before, and I will say it again. It still seems that culture is not at the top of the priority list, but at nearly the bottom.”

Read More