NBA: Jazz hold off Suns in Western Conference battle

Donovan Mitchell scored 26 points to lead the Utah Jazz to a 118-114 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday in Phoenix.

Rudy Gobert tallied 16 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks for the Jazz. Jordan Clarkson chipped in 22 points off the bench.

Utah made 17 3-pointers. Mitchell led the way, making 6 of 11 from the perimeter. The Jazz also outscored the Suns 43-11 in bench points.

Devin Booker tallied 30 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to lead Phoenix. Cameron Johnson added 23 points and five assists for the Suns. DeAndre Ayton chipped in 23 points and seven rebounds.

All five Phoenix starters scored in double figures. It wasn't enough to keep the Suns from suffering back-to-back losses for the first time since late December.

The Jazz led the entire fourth quarter. Mitchell banked in a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock with 1:51 remaining. That established a 116-106 lead for the Jazz, who then had to hold off a late rally.

Jae Crowder hit a 3-pointer that cut Utah's lead to three with 30.7 seconds left, but Crowder threw a pass out-of-bounds with 2.1 seconds remaining.

The Suns scorched Utah's defense early and surged out to a 24-10 lead midway through the first quarter. Phoenix made its first 10 shots and scored baskets on 10 of its first 12 possessions overall. 

Johnson and Ayton combined for five baskets over the first five minutes to provide extra offensive heat for the Suns.

Utah erased the deficit before the end of the first quarter. The Jazz took their first lead of the game when Conley buried a stepback 3-pointer to open the second quarter. Utah eventually built up a 50-43 lead when Bojan Bogdanovic capped off a 7-0 spurt with a pair of baskets.

Phoenix got off to another strong start in the third quarter and built an 86-78 lead on back-to-back baskets from Holiday and Bridges. The Jazz clamped down defensively, allowing one basket over the final three minutes of the quarter. It opened the door for Utah to reclaim the lead.

Mitchell and Clarkson combined to hit 3-pointers on four straight possessions to fuel a 16-3 run that gave the Jazz a 94-89 lead entering the fourth quarter.

-reuters

Kim Kardashian urges quick divorce from Kanye

LOS ANGELES - Reality TV star Kim Kardashian has urged a US court to expedite her divorce, saying it would help husband Ye to accept the relationship is over.

Kardashian filed for divorce last year after months of press reports about marital strife and as the rapper formerly known as Kanye West battled with mental health issues.

Ye has very publicly fought the separation, including with social media posts imploring Kardashian to reconcile.

"I very much desire to be divorced," Kardashian wrote in a declaration filed to a Los Angeles court on Wednesday.

"I have asked Kanye to keep our divorce private, but he has not done so.

"I believe that the court terminating our marital status will help Kanye to accept that our marital relationship is over and to move forward on a better path which will assist us in peacefully co-parenting our children."

The couple have four children: eight-year-old daughter North, son Saint, six, daughter Chicago, four, and two-year-old son Psalm.

The pair, who began dating in 2012 and married in a lavish ceremony in Italy two years later, rapidly became one of the world's most instantly recognizable couples.

But their union ran into trouble with reports of bizarre outbursts from Ye, who suffers from bipolar disorder.

"While I wish our marriage would have succeeded, I have come to the realization that there is no way to repair our marriage," Kardashian wrote in the filing.

"Kanye does not agree but at least it appears that he has come to the realization that I want to end our marriage, even if he does not."

Agence France Presse

NBA: Gilgeous-Alexander powers Thunder to OT win vs Pacers

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander posted 36 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 129-125 overtime win over the Indiana Pacers on Friday in Indianapolis.

The Thunder won for just the 2nd time in 9 games while the Pacers have dropped 8 of their last 9.

After Indiana shot 53.9 percent in regulation, it cooled off in overtime, making just 1 of 11 from the floor as the Thunder pulled off the split in the season series.

Both games between the teams went to overtime.

Tre Mann added 22 points for the Thunder, while Darius Bazley and Theo Maledon scored 14 each, with Bazley adding 10 rebounds.

In the final minute of regulation, Gilgeous-Alexander missed a pair of free throws to keep Indiana alive.

After Mann's free throws put the Thunder up three with 8.9 seconds left, the Pacers had a chance to tie it. Buddy Hield's 3-pointer clanged off the front of the rim, setting off a scramble for the ball. Oshae Brissett, falling to the floor, pushed the ball out to Lance Stephenson in the corner, where he buried the 3-pointer with 1.6 seconds left to tie it.

Hield led the Pacers with 29 points, hitting five 3-pointers.

Isaiah Jackson added 17 points with 5 blocked shots and Jalen Smith 16 off the bench as 7 Pacers scored in double figures.

In Malcolm Brogdon's first appearance since Jan. 19, the Pacers' offense hummed along from the start. Brogdon, who missed the last 15 games with a sore right Achilles, returned to a remade lineup. It was the first game for Brogdon to play alongside Hield and Tyrese Haliburton, who were both acquired in a trade deadline deal with Sacramento.

The Pacers scored the game's first 10 points before the Thunder settled in.

By the final minute of the first half, Oklahoma City led by 10 points thanks to a 16-6 run and took an eight-point lead into the break.

Indiana led by eight with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.

Mann's nine points the rest of the way in the fourth helped put the Thunder in position to win before Stephenson's 3-pointer.

Josh Giddey missed the game for Oklahoma City with right hip soreness.

-reuters

NBA: DeMar DeRozan extends scoring record as Bulls top Hawks

DeMar DeRozan converted the go-ahead 3-point play with 15.1 seconds remaining as part of a 37-point scoring effort to give the Chicago Bulls a 112-108 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks on Thursday night.

DeRozan was 15 of 21 from the field to extend his NBA record of scoring at least 35 points and shooting 50 percent or better to eight consecutive games. 

He also scored at least 30 points for the ninth straight game to move within two of the franchise mark set by Michael Jordan during the 1986-87 season.

Zach LaVine scored 20 points as Chicago won its sixth straight game and moved a half-game ahead of the Miami Heat atop the Eastern Conference. Nikola Vucevic added 12 points and 10 rebounds, Ayo Dosunmu also scored 12 points and Tristan Thompson added 11 points.

Bogdan Bogdanovich scored a season-best 27 points and Danilo Gallinari scored a season-high 26 points and equaled his season best of nine rebounds for Atlanta. Trae Young had 14 points and 10 assists and Clint Capela added 14 points and 17 rebounds as the Hawks had a two-game winning streak snapped.

DeRozan knocked down a jumper to pull Chicago within one with 46.9 seconds before converting the go-ahead three-point play.

Bogdanovic missed the possible go-ahead 3-pointer and Javonte Green added two free throws with 4.5 seconds left to give the Bulls a four-point edge.

Chicago made 48.8 percent of its field-goal attempts, including 8 of 27 from 3-point range.

The Hawks shot 42.3 percent and were 8 of 28 from behind the arc.

Atlanta's John Collins (foot) sat out his fourth straight game, while teammate De'Andre Hunter (two points in 13 minutes) missed the second half with an illness.

Dosunmu made consecutive baskets and Coby White followed with a hoop to cap a 14-4 burst that saw Chicago take a 102-94 lead with 5:51 left.

A short time later, Atlanta rolled off nine straight points to take a 105-104 lead. Bogdanovic hit a 3-pointer and Gallinari scored the next six.

DeRozan split two free throws with 2:31 left to knot the score. But Capela scored on a dunk 16 seconds later and Gallinari split two free throws with 1:59 remaining to give the Hawks a 108-105 lead.

Bogdanovic and Huerter knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to give Atlanta its first lead of the game at 67-65 with 6:30 left in the third quarter.

Bogdanovic drained his third 3-pointer of the quarter with 1.8 seconds left to knot the score at 82.

DeRozan had 16 first-quarter points and 22 in the half as Chicago led 52-50 at the break.

-reuters

NBA: Nuggets to sign DeMarcus Cousins for rest of season -- report

The Denver Nuggets are planning to sign center DeMarcus Cousins for the rest of the season, The Athletic reported Tuesday.

Cousins, 31, is currently a free agent after his third and final 10-day deal with the Nuggets ended Saturday. He's not eligible for another with the Nuggets unless it's a hardship contract, requiring a player to go into health and safety protocol.

In eight appearances with the Nuggets, Cousins is averaging 6.1 points and 6.3 rebounds in 13.1 minutes played per game.

Cousins started the season without a team but signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Milwaukee Bucks in November. He played in 17 games (five starts) for the Bucks, averaging 9.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 60 percent on all two-point shots and 81 percent from the free throw line.

The Bucks released him on Jan. 6. He inked his first 10-day deal with Denver on Jan. 21.

The four-time All-Star -- who was selected fifth overall by the Sacramento Kings in 2010 -- averages 19.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists for his career.

Nuggets coach Mike Malone coached Cousins for one season in Sacramento, in 2013-14. Cousins shot a career-best 49.6 percent from the floor that season.

-reuters

'Suisse Secrets' puts Swiss banking back in spotlight

ZURICH, Switzerland - The "Suisse Secrets" data leak claiming to reveal how Credit Suisse handled billions of dollars in dirty money has renewed pressure on Switzerland's financial sector, which has spent years trying to clean up its image.

Switzerland's second largest bank was rocked Sunday by a vast investigation by dozens of media organizations into leaked data they said showed Credit Suisse held more than $8 billion in accounts of criminals, dictators and rights abusers.

The bank flatly rejected the "allegations and insinuations" in the investigation, coordinated by the non-profit journalism group the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).

It stressed in a statement that many of the issues raised in the probe were historical, some dating back more than 70 years, and that 90 percent of the accounts in question had been closed.

The allegations, it said, "appear to be a concerted effort to discredit not only the bank but the Swiss financial marketplace as a whole."

The investigation was only the latest blow to the scandal-plagued bank, which was rocked last year by the implosions of financial firms Greensill and Archegos.

Last month saw its chairman resign for having breached Covid quarantine rules.

But it could also hit Switzerland's powerful financial sector as a whole, which for years has strived to improve its image on the international stage.

Switzerland 'high risk'? 

Following the Suisse Secrets investigation, the European People's Party (EPP) -- the largest political group in the European Parliament -- said the findings "point to massive shortcomings of Swiss banks when it comes to the prevention of money laundering.

"When the list of high-risk third countries in the area of money laundering is up for the revision the next time, the European Commission needs to consider adding Switzerland to that list," Markus Ferber, the EPP group's spokesman in the EU parliament's economic and monetary affairs committee, said in a statement.

Switzerland buckled to international pressure nearly a decade ago to begin weaning its powerful financial sector off the banking secrecy laws that had made it so attractive to the ultra wealthy around the world.

Switzerland signed a deal with the United States in 2014 and another with the European Union a year later on exchanging bank data, making it easier to uncover ill-begotten fortunes and crack down on tax cheats.

"Efforts in the battle against money laundering have been continuously boosted and strengthened in recent years," the Swiss Bankers Association told AFP in an email.

"Dubious money is not of interest to the Swiss financial sector, which sees its reputation and integrity as key."

'Judicial risk' 

While acknowledging the role banking secrecy once played in creating the Swiss banking powerhouse, Swiss daily NZZ stressed that a number of the cases revealed by Suisse Secrets "would no longer be possible" under today's legislation.

A report published last October by the Swiss finance ministry found that banks had reported four times more suspected cases of money laundering to authorities between 2015 and 2019 than during the preceding decade.

Its authors suggested that banks were keeping a far closer eye on their clients and were quicker to report irregularities, after having witnessed the fallout from large-scale financial data leaks such as the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers.

But while Switzerland's secrecy laws have largely been dismantled for the banks, they have been tightened for the media, making it an offence to reveal leaked banking information. 

Experts say the laws effectively silence insiders or journalists who may want to expose wrongdoing within a Swiss bank.

So while 48 media companies from around the world participated in the Suisse Secrets investigation, no Swiss news media took part due to the risk of criminal prosecution.

"The judicial risk is simply too big," acknowledged the Tamedia media group, which has taken part in previous international data leak investigations. 

Agence France-Presse

Football: Kiwi own-goal hat trick helps US to SheBelieves Cup win

LOS ANGELES -- Three own goals by New Zealand defender Meikayla Moore helped deliver the reigning Women's World Cup champion United States a 5-0 victory Sunday over the Football Ferns in the She Believes Cup.

Moore, who plays for Liverpool in the English Women's Championship, knocked US crosses in the fifth, sixth and 36th minutes into the Kiwi net.

US forward Sophia Smith kicked the ball from the left side and Moore's attempt to stop the ball with her right foot only sent it into the goal.

Seconds later, American defender Sofia Huerta charged upfield and crossed the ball from the right wing to the heart of the penalty area, where Moore deflected it into the goal.

US striker Margaret Purce charged in from the right wing into the penalty area in the 36th minute and flicked the ball in front of the goal, where it deflected into the goal off Moore's left foot.

The 25-year-old from Christchurch slumped forward, bent at the waist, for several seconds after watching the third own goal. She was soon replaced and consoled on the sidelines.

It marked the first match the US women had ever gotten the benefit of three own goals, their pressuring early attack a byproduct of settling for a goal-less draw in their tournament opener against the Czech Republic.

"This game we just came out with a wad of energy and I think that was big for us," Smith said.

"There was just more urgency for us to get in behind and score goals and create opportunities so I would say overall we played with energy and urgency."

US reserve Ashley Hatch nodded home a goal off a Huerta pass in the 51st minute and Mallory Pugh scored a final goal off a feed from Hatch three minutes into stoppage time.

The Americans improved to 17-1-1 in the all-time series against New Zealand, including a 6-1 US rout at last year's Tokyo Olympics.

The US women stretched their home soil unbeaten streak to 64 matches, including 57 triumphs and seven draws. They have kept 16 straight home clean sheets since last surrendering a goal in a 3-1 win over Japan in 2020's She Believes Cup.

- Iceland wins 2-1 -

The Americans conclude the round-robin tournament on Tuesday against Iceland, which defeated the Czechs 2-1 in Sunday's second game.

Natasha Anasi scored in the 11th minute and Selma Sol Magnusdottir followed in the 18th to give Iceland a half-time lead. Michaela Khyrova answered the for the Czechs in the 85th minute but it was not enough.

The US women must defeat Iceland in order to capture the title, while a draw on Tuesday will be enough to give Iceland the crown.

The Football Ferns, who opened with a 1-0 loss to Iceland, will close against the Czechs in the final double-header at Frisco, Texas.

The tournament serves as a warm-up for US qualifying for next year's Women's World Cup and the 2024 Paris Olympics. That North American event will be played in July at Monterrey, Mexico.

New Zealand will serve as co-hosts with Australia of the 2023 Women's World Cup, where the United States hopes to win a record third consecutive crown.

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Team Cavs win Skills Challenge on long heaves

Evan Mobley hit a halfcourt shot as part of the Skills Challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend, giving Team Cavs the victory Saturday night at Cleveland.

Team Cavs needed one basket in the halfcourt shot phase and Mobley drained it. After Jarrett Allen missed wide left, Mobley swished the team's second attempt, so the group didn't even have to use the rest of its attempts.

Earlier, Darius Garland and Mobley of the hometown Cavaliers combined to give Team Cavs the early lead in the skills competition in the jump shot portion of the event.

Still, Team Rooks -- comprised of rookies Scottie Barnes, Cade Cunningham and Josh Giddey -- surged into the lead with 200 points compared with 100 points each for Team Cavs and Team Antetokounmpos.

Team Cavs made it to the final when Garland hit a 3-pointer to break the tie with Team Antetokounmpos.

Giannis Antetokounmpo had a solid beginning in the shooting category.

This was a new event that featured three three-man teams. It involved shooting, passing, a relay and, as the final, the half-court shooting drill.

-reuters

NBA: Lakers’ Davis (ankle) out 2 weeks, report says

Lakers forward Anthony Davis is expected to be sidelined at least two weeks after sustaining a right ankle sprain in Los Angeles' 106-101 win against the Utah Jazz on Wednesday, ESPN reported.

Per the Lakers, Davis underwent X-rays on Wednesday that revealed no fracture. He has an MRI scheduled for Thursday, and the team announced he will be re-evaluated after the upcoming All-Star break.

Davis was pulling down a rebound in the air when his right foot landed on the heel of Utah's Rudy Gobert. Davis' right ankle rolled, sending him immediately to the floor.

After a visit from team medical staff, Davis was helped off the court, unable to put weight on his right foot. He collected 17 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in 17 minutes before leaving.

"Win games until we get him back," Lakers coach Frank Vogel told reporters. "It's that simple. We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We don't know obviously how long it will be, but we gotta win as many games as we can down the stretch and believe in the group that we have. And hopefully we're able to get whole as quickly as possible."

The Lakers (27-31) return to action on February 25 against the visiting Los Angeles Clippers.

It has been an injury-plagued season for the 8-time All-Star, who had been listed as probable for Wednesday's game with a wrist injury. Davis had just returned January 23 from a 17-game absence because of a knee injury. He also missed significant time last season with separate calf and knee injuries.

Davis, 28, is averaging 23.1 points and 9.7 rebounds in 37 games this season. He has averaged 23.8 points and 10.2 rebounds in 601 career games (596 starts).

-reuters

Judge tosses most of lawsuit by Mariah Carey's brother over singer's memoir

NEW YORK — A New York judge dismissed most of a defamation lawsuit by Mariah Carey's older brother over her 2020 best-selling memoir, though the singer must still face two claims.

In a 29-page decision on Tuesday, Justice Barbara Jaffe of the state Supreme Court in Manhattan said Morgan Carey can sue his sister over passages suggesting he distributed cocaine to "the beautiful people," and implying he might have "been-in-the-system" -- in prison -- for a serious crime.

But the judge dismissed claims over seven other passages from "The Meaning of Mariah Carey," including one discussing a fight between Morgan Carey and the Careys' father that required police intervention.

Jaffe said that while that passage "reasonably conveys a defamatory inference that plaintiff was abusive toward his family," Morgan Carey, who is about a decade older than his sister, failed to show he suffered "special damages" resulting from harm to his reputation.

The judge also dismissed claims against the memoir's publishers, saying it wasn't clear how Mariah Carey's "alleged vindictiveness" showed that they knew the disputed passages were false or had serious doubts they were true.

Lawyers for Morgan Carey and the publishers declined to comment on Wednesday. Lawyers for Mariah Carey did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mariah Carey's memoir described a dysfunctional poverty-stricken childhood and early career struggles for the 51-year-old singer known for songs including "Vision of Love," "One Sweet Day" and "All I Want for Christmas Is You."

The defendants included the memoir's co-author, the publisher Macmillan and Andy Cohen Books, an imprint named for the television producer and Bravo host.

The case is Carey v Carey et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 152192/2021.

Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Mark Porter

-reuters

NBA: Trae Young scores 41 to lead Hawks past Cavs

Trae Young scored 41 points -- his fifth game with 40-plus points this season -- to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 124-116 win over the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

Young was 13 of 22 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from long distance. He also went 11 of 13 from the foul line and had nine assists. 

It marked the second straight 30-plus-point effort for Young and the 23rd time this season to reach that milestone.

Atlanta also got a season-high 25 points from Danilo Gallinari, who started at forward in place of John Collins, the team's No. 2 scorer, who missed his second straight game with a foot injury.

Cleveland was led by Darius Garland, who scored 30 points and added eight assists. 

Garland has 20-plus points in nine of his past 11 games and remained on pace to become the second player in league history to average 20 points, eight-plus assists, shoot 46-plus percent from the field and 90-plus percent from the line.

Evan Mobley added 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Kevin Love came off the bench to score 21 for the Cavs, who have lost two in a row.

Atlanta, which ended a two-game skid, leads the season series, 2-1. The teams split two earlier games in Cleveland and will meet for the final time on March 31.

Both teams were hot from the field in the first quarter, with Cleveland shooting 56.5 percent -- including eight 3-pointers -- and Atlanta making 54.2 percent. 

The Cavs led, 36-34, and Love scored 14 points, putting him over 14,000 for his career.

Atlanta, led by Young's 11 second-quarter points, took a 66-61 lead into intermission. Garland had 18 points in the first half.

The Hawks led, 94-90, after three quarters and were able to squash any Cleveland attempt to regain the lead in the final period.

The Cavs got within 105-102 on a bucket by Love with 6:33 left, but Atlanta answered with an 8-2 run that included 3-pointers from Young and Hunter that established a nine-point lead. 

Cleveland never got closer than four thereafter.

-reuters

Cricket 'fairy tale': Philippines amateurs chase World Cup berth

MANILA -- The Philippines is better known for boxers than batsmen and its cricket team has not played for three years, but the side of amateurs hope to make their mark in T20 World Cup qualifiers.

As the lowest-ranked side in the eight-team qualifying tournament taking place this month in Oman featuring the likes of Nepal, Ireland and United Arab Emirates, few are more surprised than the Philippines to be pulling on the pads at global level.

"It's like a fairy tale," said skipper Jonathan Hill, a high-school teacher in Jervis Bay in Australia's New South Wales, where he plays club cricket. 

The Philippines team is made up of mainly Indian expats in Manila and Filipino-Australians based in Australia who take time off from their day jobs to train and play. 

Preparations for the biggest fixtures of their lives have been "far from ideal", Hill said. 

The last time the Philippines played a match was three years ago -- a victorious, rain-soaked five overs against Vanuatu in a regional qualifying tournament in Port Moresby which unexpectedly secured their berth in Oman.

After the Covid pandemic hit and competitions were cancelled, players were left mostly to train alone as lockdowns and border closures made it impossible to gather in one place. 

When the 14-strong squad assembles in Oman this week for Friday's opening clash against Canada, it will be the first time some of the players have met.

"We're definitely heavy underdogs," said Hill.

"But at the end of the day cricket is still a game. 

"It's bat versus ball and the thing I love most about it is that it's not just skill level or fitness level or even intellect -- so much of cricket is about heart and that's something we've always played with."

- Fundraising appeal -

The top two teams in Oman will book spots in the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year.

"We will try our best," said 42-year-old off-spinner Vimal Kumar, who took a break from his lending and trading business in Manila recently to join a rare practice session in the Philippine capital.

"It's an unpredictable game, you never know who is going to win." 

The players are paying a heavy price to get to Oman. 

While the global governing body, the International Cricket Council, covers the cost of flights and accommodation for the Philippines, other expenses are left to the players to shoulder. 

A GoFundMe campaign recently launched by the Australia-based coach Henry Tyler seeks to raise AUS$7,500 (US$5,300) for expenses including training balls, travel insurance and the hire of practice nets.

"In order to represent the Philippines we must take unpaid leave from our work," Tyler wrote in the fundraising appeal, which as of Sunday had yet to reach its goal. 

Cricket has been played socially in the Philippines for more than a century but it never flourished in the former US colony where basketball and boxing have long been the most popular sports.

- Huge step up -

That started to change in 1999 when two expats in Manila started the Philippine Cricket Association. 

A few years later the Philippines joined the ICC as an associate member and they now have national men's and women's teams as well as domestic leagues.

Since making their international debut in 2011, the men's side have scored some victories over other minnows in the region. 

But playing against top-20 ranked teams in World Cup qualifiers is a huge step up.

Faisal Khan, co-founder of the cricket association and manager of the national squad, admitted the odds were stacked against them.

But he said the experience of playing "one step below the World Cup" was more important than winning.

"Let's get better and better," he said.

"Who knows, maybe one day we will be playing in the World Cup." 

Agence France-Presse

A match made in dating app

A man and a woman pose for a photo at a "Pray and swipe right" event organized by online dating app Tinder, with a photo booth where people can take profile pictures for their new accounts and free offering sets at the Trimurti shrine on Valentine's Day in Bangkok, Thailand on Monday. The Trimurti Shrine is believed to bring love to those who worship before it. 

-reuters

Oil majors face backlash as era of big profits returns

PARIS, France — Soaring energy prices have brought massive profits to oil majors -- along with fierce criticism from environmentalists and politicians at a time when consumers are left with rising bills.

US firm ExxonMobil, France's TotalEnergies, and UK giants Shell and BP announced in the past week 2021 profits totalling a whopping $66.7 billion.

It marked a huge turnaround from 2020, when they posted losses as the pandemic emerged, prompting lockdowns that brought the world economy to a grinding halt and caused crude prices to collapse.

But oil and gas prices rallied big time last year, surging to $70 per barrel after briefly sinking into negative territory in 2020.

The main international and US contracts rose to seven-year highs in January and now sit at around $90. Gas prices, meanwhile, hit records in Europe.

"Oil companies benefited from an extraordinary alignment of the planets," said Moez Ajmi, oil industry expert at EY consultancy.

In addition to higher energy prices, energy firms "cleaned up" their assets to only keep the most profitable ones, Ajmi said.

The companies also strengthened their cost-cutting policies which started in a previous price slump in 2014.

A gradual increase in output by OPEC and its allies has also helped.

ExxonMobil went from a $22.4 billion loss in 2020 to a $23 billion profit in 2021. 

Shell was $20.1 billion in the green last year after a $21.7 billion loss in 2020. 

TotalEnergies went from a historic $7.2 billion loss to a 15-year high profit of $16 billion.

BP's recovery was not as big, going from $20.3 billion in the red to $7.6 billion in the green.

Prices at the pump and utility bills, meanwhile, have gone up for consumers.

'Slap in the face'

BP said the result would allow it to accelerate "the greening" of the company.

But the performances at the companies triggered calls for a windfall tax on the profits of energy firms in the UK.

"These profits are a slap in the face to the millions of people dreading their next energy bill," Greenpeace UK's head of climate Kate Blagojevic said in a statement.

"BP and Shell are raking in billions from the gas price crisis while enjoying one of the most favourable tax regimes in the world for offshore drillers," she said.

"And these are the same companies responsible for pushing our world closer to catastrophic climate change."

Seeking to head off a political storm, the government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced last week a package of financial support after the state energy regulator lifted prices.

The opposition Labour Party said it was not enough.

Finance minister Rishi Sunak's "energy plans last week left families more worried than ever," tweeted Labour shadow minister Rachel Reeves after the oil companies published their results.

"It's time for Labour's plan for a one-off windfall tax on oil & gas producers to cut bills."

Sunak rejected the tax idea.

More profits

With a presidential election looming in France in April, Green candidate Yannick Jadot spoke out against profits made "on the back of French men and women" while "gas and petrol bills rise for the benefit of shareholders".

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that if the company paid more to governments, "it would be at the expense of investments, workers or shareholders".

But in apparent move to fend off criticism, TotalEnergies announced this week a discount at the pump in rural areas of France along with a 100-euro voucher for people struggling to pay their gas bills.

Oil majors, however, could be in for another banner year for their bottom lines as analysts forecast prices climbing to $100 per barrel.

"The health crisis appears to be ending, the economic recoveries in China, the United States and Europe don't appear to be flagging, supply continues to be limited due to a lack of oil investments in the past two years and environmental pressure," Ajmi said.

"So, yes, the profit rebound of the oil majors could continue in 2022."

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Ball, Hornets end 6-game slide by pulverizing Pistons

LaMelo Ball racked up 31 points and 12 assists, Terry Rozier notched a triple-double and the visiting Charlotte Hornets snapped a 6-game losing streak by pounding the Detroit Pistons 141-119 on Friday.

Rozier had 25 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds as the Hornets defeated the Pistons for the 15th consecutive time. Miles Bridges supplied 25 points and Montrezl Harrell, acquired from Washington on Thursday, contributed 15 points and 6 rebounds in his Charlotte debut.

PJ Washington added 13 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists and Kelly Oubre Jr. chipped in 11 points. Charlotte had 36 assists on its 54 made field goals.

Detroit's losing streak increased to 7 games and 11 of its last 12.

Saddiq Bey led the Pistons with 25 points and Hamidou Diallo supplied 16 points with 7 rebounds. Isaiah Stewart had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Jerami Grant also scored 15. Killian Hayes added a double-double with 11 points and 12 assists.

The Hornets outscored the Pistons 43-26 in the 2nd quarter while racing to a 79-55 halftime lead. Charlotte's backcourt of Rozier and Ball combined for 32 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Bey led the Pistons with 17 points.

The Hornets made 56.9 percent from the field and knocked down 9 3-pointers.

Charlotte was only up by 2 after Bey hit a 3-pointer with 11 minutes left in the half. The Hornets then reeled off 12 unanswered points, including 5 from Oubre.

Cade Cunningham made a 3-pointer with 7 minutes remaining in the half to cut Charlotte's lead to 52-43. Ball answered with a 3-pointer and the Hornets kept their lead in double digits the rest of the way. That basket sparked a 17-2 run, featuring 11 points from Rozier.

The Hornets led 90-70 midway through the 3rd quarter, then went on a 10-2 run. Ball made a pair of 3-pointers and Harrell capped it off with a dunk. Ball scored five points in the final minute of the half as Charlotte led 110-87 after 3 quarters.

-reuters

How criminals manage to steal cryptocurrency

US officials announced on Tuesday they had recovered $3.6 billion of bitcoin stolen in 2016, throwing a light on the scams that surround cryptocurrency.

But how exactly do criminals steal in the virtual world?

- Hacking the exchanges -

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are bought, sold and stored on exchanges, just like commodities in the non-virtual world.

But crypto investors, and those who organize exchanges, often object to centralized control and reject stringent oversight — and that sometimes leads to lax security.

"Exchange sites have stocks that are relatively large at any given time in crypto," says Manuel Valente of Coinhouse, a French company that manages crypto transactions. 

"But these are servers, machines — and malicious people sometimes manage to get into their servers and steal money."

Most of these problems are caused by weak security, he says.

Alexander Stachtchenko of KPMG agrees, pointing out that some platforms still store passwords on their servers.

"If you can get into the server you can steal the passwords," he says. "Once you have the passwords, you move the bitcoins from one address to another and then people don't have access to those bitcoins."

- Hacking the blockchain -

All things crypto rely on the blockchain — a chain of code composed of interlocking blocks. It stores the details of all transactions made in cryptocurrency.

Because each block is linked, it is impossible to change a block of code without altering the whole chain — the basis of the security claims made by those who trumpet the benefits of crypto.

However, there is a theory that if a group was to obtain more than 50 percent of a particular blockchain, it could start rewriting transactions, blocking new ones and double-spending coins.

An exchange called Gate.io alleged it lost $200,000 in an attack like this in 2019, but experts think it would be impossible to target major players such as bitcoin.

Such an attack "would be incredibly hard and incredibly energy intensive", says Erica Stanford, author of "Crypto Wars: Faked Deaths, Missing Billions & Industry Disruption".

"With bitcoin now it wouldn't be possible because of how much energy it would use."

- Crypto-adjacent crime -

Many of the scams around crypto are less to do with the technology and more linked to old-fashioned confidence tricks or extortion where the criminals asked for payment in crypto.

The main family of scams have been the Ponzi-style schemes, where a new coin is hyped and its value inflated by the creators, who then dump all their coin when the price reaches its highest point, leaving many investors penniless.

Such frauds, while not unique to crypto, netted $7 billion for scammers in 2019 but dropped massively the following year, according to analysis firm Chainalysis.

"The main scam hasn't been about crypto so much as about using the belief that people will get rich quick to trick people into investing," says Stanford.

She concedes, however, that the newness of crypto and its allure as a get-rich-quick idea has helped the scammers no end.

- The net closes -

While cryptocurrencies became notorious for these Ponzi-style schemes, Stanford points out that the high point of the scams was between 2016 and 2018.

She says the market has now matured, people are more knowledgable, law enforcement and regulators are more involved and analytical tools abound, allowing the currencies to be traced.

Chainalysis reported that overall crime related to crypto fell hugely last year. 

Stachtchenko points out that many of the major platforms have now ramped up security to combat hackers.

"Some have even bought 'bunkers' — a kind of digital safe," he says.

Valente agrees, saying that monitoring has been ramped up to such an extent that criminals will not be able to spend their crypto even if they hide it for years.

"As soon as the stolen bitcoins start moving again, everyone knows," he says. "Now, almost no company will deal with bitcoins that have been stolen."

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Donovan Mitchell sparks big comeback as Jazz top Knicks

Donovan Mitchell scored 32 points and the Utah Jazz erased a double-digit, second-half deficit to defeat the New York Knicks 113-104 Monday night in Salt Lake City.

Mitchell spearheaded a late game-clinching 11-1 run and finished with seven rebounds, six assists and four steals to help the Jazz win their third game in a row.

Bojan Bogdanovic scored 20 points, Mike Conley Jr. added 18 points and seven assists, and Jordan Clarkson returned from missing two games with a knee injury to score 16 points for Utah.

Julius Randle scored 30 points, Mitchell Robinson contributed 19 points and 21 rebounds, and RJ Barrett fired in 23 points, but New York lost a third straight and for the ninth time in 11 outings.

After Utah erased the Knicks' early 21-9 lead in the first quarter, the teams went into halftime with the Jazz up 59-57.

The third quarter went from one extreme to the other. Utah scored nine of the first 10 second-half points to go up by 10.

But after a Udoka Azubuike dunk at the 9:53 mark, the Jazz didn't score again until Mitchell made a layup five minutes later.

The Knicks took advantage of Utah's nine straight missed field goals, scoring 17 consecutive points to seize a 75-68 lead. Randle matched New York's biggest lead of the game with back-to-buckets for an 82-70 lead after a 22-point turnaround in 6 1/2 minutes.

Clarkson helped the Jazz get back into it, hitting a 3 followed by a Trent Forrest layup and then ending the quarter with tip shot as Utah pulled within four at 86-82.

Utah regained the lead at 92-89 after a 7-0 run early in the fourth quarter and went ahead 98-92 a moment later after a pair of Royce O'Neale 3s.

Already without Rudy Gobert (calf), the Jazz lost a second center with five minutes remaining when Hassan Whiteside fouled out. 

Azubuike stepped up to the challenge, though, scoring on a dunk off of a nice Mitchell offensive rebound and pass to end a five-point run by the Knicks. He also grabbed four key rebounds down the stretch.

-reuters

NBA: Joel Embiid outduels DeMar DeRozan as 76ers beat Bulls

Joel Embiid had 40 points, 10 rebounds and two blocked shots to lift the Philadelphia 76ers past the host Chicago Bulls 119-108 on Sunday.

It was the seventh game that Embiid scored at least 40 points this season.

Tobias Harris scored 23 points, Tyrese Maxey added 16 and Seth Curry contributed 12 for the Sixers, who snapped a two-game losing streak.

DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 45 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Nikola Vucevic added 23 points and Javonte Green had 17.

The Bulls played without several key injured players -- Zach LaVine, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and Coby White.

The Sixers have won all three meetings against the Bulls thus far this season.

The Sixers bolted to a 51-36 lead after Embiid dropped in two free throws with 5:19 left in the second quarter.

DeRozan completed a three-point play with 1:49 remaining as the Bulls closed within 53-46.

Embiid hit a late 3-pointer, finishing the half with 22 points, and the Sixers led 61-52 at halftime. DeRozan kept the Bulls close with 26 on 10-of-15 shooting.

After the Bulls closed within five early in the third, Curry and Maxey each connected on a trey and the Sixers went ahead 67-56.

The Bulls cut the deficit to 81-75 with 4:23 to go in the third after a 3-pointer by Vucevic. Philadelphia led 89-81 at the end of the third.

Furkan Korkmaz hit a jumper, Danny Green followed with a trey and Harris scored on back-to-back trips to open the fourth as the Sixers took a 98-81 lead.

Matt Thomas came back with a 20-foot jumper for the Bulls to end a 9-0 run. The Bulls eventually countered with a 13-0 stretch of their own to get within 98-94 with 8:06 remaining after another jumper by DeRozan.

Embiid threw down a dunk with 6:03 left and Philadelphia held a 109-100 advantage.

Harris essentially sealed the win when he drove to the basket and scored for a 116-106 lead with 2:01 to go.

-reuters

NBA: Doncic posts 33-point triple-double, as Mavs beat 76ers

Luka Doncic tallied 33 points, 15 assists and 13 rebounds and the host Dallas Mavericks defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 107-98 on Friday.

It was the 8th triple-double of the season and the 44th of Doncic's career. The guard tied his season high for assists.

Reggie Bullock added 20 points, Jalen Brunson contributed 19 and Dwight Powell had 14 for Dallas. Dorian Finney-Smith also chipped in with 13.

The Mavericks played without Kristaps Porzingis for the 3rd straight game, as he has a bone bruise on his right knee.

Joel Embiid led the Sixers with 27 points and 13 rebounds, Tyrese Maxey added 18 points and Tobias Harris had 13. Georges Niang also contributed 13 and Seth Curry had 11.

In a bizarre scene, the game was delayed for 45 minutes with 6:03 remaining in the first quarter due to a crooked rim. Doncic hit a 3-pointer then pointed to the referees regarding the rim. After a quick check by maintenance workers, a new basket stanchion was brought in to replace the original one.

The Sixers bolted to a 40-24 lead early in the 2nd quarter and held on for a 63-53 advantage at halftime. Embiid led the way with 18 points and 9 rebounds before the break.

Doncic paced the Mavericks with 15 first-half points.

Dallas came out aggressive in the 3rd and quickly closed within 68-67 when Powell dropped in 2 free throws with 8:08 left.

The Mavericks tied the game at 76 when Doncic completed a 3-point play with 3:36 to go. Bullock drained a trey on their next possession for a 3-point lead.

The Sixers looked out of sync on offense for most of the 3rd and trailed 85-78 at the end of the quarter. Doncic scored 11 points in the 3rd.

Maxey hit a pair of free throws on the Sixers' first possession of the 4th. Niang added a short runner in the lane, Maxey made a difficult layup, and the deficit was one with 9:26 remaining.

Niang then hit a 3-pointer, Danny Green drove to the basket and scored and the Sixers capped an 11-0 run to lead 89-85.

Bullock hit consecutive 3-pointers and the Mavericks went back ahead 96-91 with 5:25 to go.

Doncic's three-point play with 1:39 left gave the Mavericks a 103-96 advantage.

-reuters

Snapchat parent shares soar on first quarterly profit

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Shares in Snap soared on Thursday after the firm behind image-centric, ephemeral messaging app Snapchat reported its first-ever quarter profit.

Shares that had been dragged down by worries about the broader market and concerns about tightened iPhone privacy making it tougher to target ads launched nearly 60 percent on earnings that beat expectations.

Snap ended last year with a loss trimmed to $488 million, and posted a net income of $22.5 million in the final three months of the year.

"2021 was an exciting year for Snap and we made significant progress growing our business and serving our global community," chief executive Evan Spiegel said in an earnings release.

He added that strength in Snap's core business has allowed it to invest in augmented reality, "transforming the way that the Snapchat community experiences the world through our camera."

Snapchat became a hit, particularly with young smartphone users, by letting people share moments in the form of photos or videos in messages that self-destruct after being viewed.

Popular features in the app included "lenses" that allow people to overlay special effects on pictures.

Snap has since redefined itself as a "camera company," launching Spectacles sunglasses that have built in cameras and synch to smartphones.

Snap revenue for the recently ended quarter was $1.3 billion, a 42 percent increase from the same period a year earlier.

"Snapchat ended 2021 on a high note, exceeding our expectations for ad revenue," said Insider Intelligence principal analyst Jasmine Enberg.

"Snapchat is clearly not as prone to the 'TikTok effect' as Meta, with strong daily active user growth in all regions."

Competition from short-form video sharing sensation TikTok helped bruise Facebook-parent Meta, which saw its ranks of daily users shrink for the first time in the final three months of last year.

While Snap earnings felt the sting of supply chain woes and changes to iPhone operating software that make it tougher to target online ads, it was "buoyed by banner quarters" earlier quarters in the year, according to Enberg.

The California-based company says at its website that Snapchat is used daily by an average of 319 million people.

Snap revenue for 2021 was $4.1 billion, up 64 percent from the previous year, according to its earnings report.

Agence France-Presse

NBA: Rockets beat Cavs to snap winless skid at home

Christian Wood scored 21 points and Kevin Porter Jr. added a late 3-pointer plus an alley-oop against his former team as the Houston Rockets snapped an 11-game home losing skid with a 115-104 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday.

Wood followed a three-point play from Cavaliers rookie Evan Mobley that cut the Houston lead to 105-102 with 2:44 left with a 10-footer and a 3-pointer that keyed a 10-2 closing run. Porter, who totaled 16 points and seven assists, helped seal the Rockets' first home win since Dec. 8.

Rockets rookie Jalen Green, picked second overall in the 2021 NBA Draft and one spot ahead of Mobley, tallied 21 points, five rebounds and five assists to emerge from a prolonged slump.

Garrison Mathews and KJ Martin added 16 and 10 points, respectively, off the Houston bench.

Mobley paired a career-high 29 points with 12 rebounds while Kevin Love added 21 points and 13 rebounds off the bench. Love scored 19 in the second and third periods combined to keep the Cavaliers afloat, but they could not overcome a 15-point deficit and 12 missed free throws.

Mobley was effective early, tallying eight points and three boards to help the Cavaliers build their largest lead of the game at 17-10 early in the first quarter. But when Mathews sank a 3 through a foul the Rockets were within one point, and despite Mathews' missed free throw, the Rockets later claimed the lead following back-to-back 3s from Mathews and Josh Christopher.

Rookie Alperen Sengun (nine points, eight rebounds, three assists) was instrumental in helping Houston extend to a 57-42 lead with his two-way play, but the Cavaliers used a late 9-2 run to cut into that deficit.

But Cleveland struggled to defend without fouling prior to the intermission, sending the Rockets to the line 29 times, the most by a team in any half this season. That helped Houston take a 64-53 lead at the half, despite Love and Mobley posting double-doubles.

-reuters