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Read more: Sharapova handed two-year tennis ban Following an appeal, the Russian ace has seen the International Tennis Federation (ITF) reduce her ban to 15 months after investigation by an independent tribunal appointed to the case. Although the earlier ruling – that her Australian Open results and earnings from 2016 both stand cancelled – remains, Sharapova now sees her date of return to tennis moved forward from 26th January 2018 to 25th April 2017....

Sharapova retired last week aged 32, revealing her body had become a “distraction” after being troubled by injury problems for much of her career. The former world number one was out for nine months following a first operation in 2008 and coach Joyce had to work on remodelling the Russian’s powerful serve in order to prolong her career. Sharapova won the French Open twice following her return to take her major haul to five and complete a career Grand Slam, but could not add to that tally after a 2014 triumph at Roland Garros....

Safarova brought Sharapova’s title defense to an abrupt end with some stunning forehand shots and resilient service games at Roland Garros. MORE: Tsonga upsets No. 4 Berdych | Nadal advances | American French Open winners A third break of the Sharapova serve in the match sealed the victory, Safarova having created her second match point with a cross-court forehand that the second seed could not get near. Safarova had a solid start to the match with an early break in the third game, yet that seemed to spark Sharapova as the Russian raised her game as she fired some powerful groundstrokes from the baseline....

Yet this is a very different kind of war. What some generations had to deal with externally, we now have to deal with internally as well. It is aspects of our character as well as aspects of our politics that will be required to achieve victory. A stroke of a presidential signature and a constitutional amendment could abolish slavery but could not eradicate racism, just as passing the 19th Amendment could give women the right to vote but could not eradicate misogyny....

Earlier she had been pictured on social media at a courthouse in Moscow after her whereabouts were unknown for several hours. A clip went viral of Ovsyannikova, a staff member at Channel One, who appeared during a broadcast on Monday with an anti-war sign that said “here they lie to you” in a striking display of opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian lawyers had told the BBC that she had not been contactable amid concerns that she could face serious charges....

With their 7-6 victory in 10 innings over the Royals on Thursday, Seattle is 13-2 through 15 games, which is one of the hottest starts in MLB history. The Brewers of 1987 and the Braves of 1982 are two of the only teams ever with better starts historically, both going 13-0 to begin their respective years. MORE: Watch ‘ChangeUp,’ a new MLB live whiparound show on DAZN On Thursday, the Mariners continued the formula that has served them so well all season....

The remake of Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga was apparently being shown at a convention this week, and one attendee shared some hands-on impressions online. The game is mostly as players might remember, but a few tweaks have been made that make things slightly easier. For instance, in the original game, Mario and Luigi would eventually buckle when players defended with the hammer for too long during combat. This doesn’t happen in the remake, making it easier to avoid taking damage from enemies because timing doesn’t really come into play....

Vertonghen was sent off with his second yellow card of the game after he caught Gotze in the face with his forearm during Spurs’ 3-1 win over Dortmund in the Champions League. Gotze, who came on as a substitute in the second half, was pictured bleeding from his mouth as he received treatment on the side of the field, and Bosz confirmed the 25-year-old was still in pain after the game...

Nintendo is taking the massive success of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and breathing new life into it with the Booster Course Pass for the Mario racer. The paid DLC will bring 48 remastered courses from the Mario Kart series to the Switch game over the next year and a half. The courses will not simply be graphical upgrades brought to new players, however, as the producer of the series recently chimed in on the philosophical approach to these remastered tracks....

[HTML1] For a company that is often seen as out of touch when it comes to the modern conventions of online gaming, Nintendo sure seems to be nailing one of its first real efforts at DLC. Today, the Big N revealed that one of the karts available in the upcoming November DLC bundle for Mario Kart 8 is the popular “B Dasher” from Mario Kart DS. Watching one of our favorite karts make the leap from Nintendo’s handhelds into glorious HD is a sight to behold....

Whereas The Top 100 was primarily a minigame collection without the chaotic board game connective tissue fans know and love, Mario Party Superstars looks to be a traditional Mario Party throwback in the modern era. It has five boards from the Nintendo 64 trilogy recreated in high-definition, as well as 100 minigames pulled from across the series’ storied history. Plus, unlike the last Switch venture Super Mario Party, it is launching with extensive online features....

The online gameplay, it appears, will be centered around Strikers Club mode, which allows up to 20 players to form together and attempt to climb the ranking ladder. Though there are a handful of new mechanics in Mario Strikers: Battle League, the decision to bake in a competitive angle to the online mode, sticks out as the most important. Though its predecessors failed to keep players engaged long-term, the online aspect of Mario Strikers: Battle League could be a complete game-changer in that regard....

Unless something unexpected happens, America will soon have its first “Afrocentric” big-city mayor – and perhaps its most remarkable political survivalist. In race-obsessed Washington, Barry shrewdly tailored the theme of political victimhood to the black community’s pride and belief in redemption. He put his sins on his resume – evidence that he alone could save the city’s “last, least and lost.” His salvation – and the city’s – would become one with his victory....

Under sunny conditions, a leading group of Kenyans and Ethiopians distanced themselves from the rest and in the final kilometres Kipserem and Ethiopian Solomon Deksisa were the only ones battling for the victory, reports Xinhua. Kipserem placed his final push after 41 kilometres and finished alone on the Coolsingel street. With his time of 2:06:11 hours, he was 11 seconds faster than Deksisa, but not close to the track record, set by both Kenyans Duncan Kibet and James Kwambai in 2009 (2:04:27)....

On Saturday, Greene appeared at a dinner organized by the New York Young Republican Club and said during her speech that if she had organized the attack on the Capitol, “we would have won.” “Not to mention, we would’ve been armed,” she added. In response, the White House condemned Greene for boasting “that she would have succeeded in an armed insurrection against the United States government.” Political commentators also called for her arrest, citing sedition, which is formally charged as “seditious conspiracy” under the U....

Greene quickly became one of the most divisive figures in Congress after taking being sworn in on January 3. She was easily elected with nearly 75 percent of the vote in a deeply conservative Georgia congressional district in November. However, an average of polls shared by polling analysis site FiveThirtyEight on Friday suggests that Greene is significantly less popular nationally, even among Republicans. Polls released this week found that 20 percent of Republicans disapprove of Greene while 24 percent approve of her, with the remainder either being unaware or undecided....

During a show on Wednesday, January 4, after McCarthy had lost seven consecutive votes, Infowars host Owen Shroyer took a call from a viewer who had a message for Greene, as per a tweet shared by PatriotTakes—a Twitter account that aims to monitor right-wing extremism online—on Sunday. The video had more than 40,000 views. “She has a great voting record. But guess what, it doesn’t matter when she knows that the policies aren’t gonna get through,” the man said....

The outage lasted from Thursday morning, leaving many of Facebook’s 2.7 billion without access for around six hours. Instagram and WhatsApp, which are owned by Facebook, were also down during that time. Facebook apologised and chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer blamed “networking issues” for the outage. The issue saw a huge sell-off of Facebook shares, seeing the company’s stock fall by five percent, adding to a drop of about 15 percent since mid-September....

The decision comes after the team postponed their flight home from Philadelphia on Sunday amid fears of a growing COVID-19 outbreak inside the organization, according to The Associated Press. The number of Miami players and coaches who have tested positive for the virus is now at 11, Passan reports. MORE: Explaining the virtual MLB fans in the stands during games on Fox this season From the AP: Four Marlins players tested positive for COVID-19 while in Philadelphia, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman....

In the Marlins’ latest attempt to keep sole possession of first place as the laughingstock of MLB, the team is trying to avoid going to court in Miami by claiming that it is actually a corporate citizen of the British Virgin Islands — where a minority shareholder of the Derek Jeter-formed ownership group Marlins Teamco resides, according to the Miami Herald. The move is in response to a lawsuit from Miami-Dade County filed against Jeffrey Loria and current Marlins owners over an ongoing profit-sharing dispute....