BREAKING NEWS Alert!

Taken at face value, Kevin Durant’s silence-breaking remarks this week indicated the Knicks were never on his radar — just Brooklyn. Most NBA cognoscenti, however, were skeptical about that comment. But even if Knicks president Steve Mills was misled by Durant’s agent and manager Rich Kleiman, it doesn’t change the franchise’s view that it did the right thing in trading Kristaps Porzingis to the Mavericks on Jan. 31, according to people familiar with the situation. “If I was leaving the Warriors, it was always going to be for the Nets,” Durant told Yahoo Sports on Wednesday, in his first public comments since before the NBA Finals began. “They got the pieces and a creative front office. I just like what they were building. … The basketball was appealing.” Strong words. But not enough to make the Knicks regret the Porzingis trade. That blockbuster deal widely was heralded as a maneuver to open up two max salary slots for free agents — ideally Durant and buddy Kyrie Irving. The Kni...

TORONTO — They got the wrong man. Aaron Judge’s night off Friday got cut short when Yankees elder Brett Gardner found himself thrown out of his team’s game against the Blue Jays in the top of the fourth inning at Rogers Centre, with the Yankees trailing, 3-0. Gardner grew so enraged by the news that he charged onto the field and had to be restrained by manager Aaron Boone. Replays of the skirmish, broken down by Twitter video maven @Jomboy, showed the reason behind Gardner’s rage: Home-plate umpire Chris Segal had tossed him for something that his teammate Cameron Maybin said. After Maybin got called out on a questionable third strike, Boone led the criticism of Segal, asking, “F–k are we doing? C’mon, man!” Gardner, stealing his own tactic from a memorable game last month at Yankee Stadium, slammed his bat against the top of the visitors’ dugout as he glared … but said nothing. When Segal called a strike on Toronto pitcher Sean Reid-Foley’s first pitch to Mike Tauchman, which a...

President Trump said the US and China were hoping to continue trade talks, but he was not ready to make a deal, stoking fears that the standoff would worsen the global economic slowdown. “We’re talking to China. We’re not ready to make a deal, but we’ll see what happens. But, you know, we’ve been hurt by China for 25, 30 years. Nobody has done anything about it. And we have no choice but to do what we’re doing,” he said. Credit: Source link The post Trump ‘not ready’ to make trade deal with China appeared first on Fox USA Live . from Fox USA Live https://ift.tt/31wcgwu

TORONTO — Three more homers served up by J.A. Happ combined with tough dusk sky and rabbit ears on an overmatched umpire with suspect knowledge of the strike zone combined to end the Yankees’ longest winning streak of the season at nine with an 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays. Happ gave up three homers in five innings and has allowed 29 in just 120 innings this season after allowing 27 in 177 ²/₃ last year. First baseman DJ LeMahieu lost an easy foul pop in the sky that would have ended the fourth inning, then helplessly watched Danny Jansen crush the next pitch for a three-run homer. And Brett Gardner had to be restrained from going after plate umpire Chris Segal, who apparently believed it was Gardner complaining from the dugout about his strike calls to Cameron Maybin and Mike Tauchman in the fifth. In reality, it was Maybin who was chirping from the bench and not Gardner. “F—ing terrible, let’s go,’’ yelled Maybin, whose lips were easy to read during television replays that even Seg...

There’s a television war brewing for female eyeballs that pits Discovery, home of “90 Day Fiancé,” against NBCUniversal, home to “Real Housewives.” “90 Day Fiancé” and its spinoff series have helped catapult Discovery to the top when it comes to female viewers — toppling NBCUniversal for the first time ever and causing a stir in the halls of NBC, sources said. The captivatingly trashy reality show — which gives American citizens and their foreign fiancés 90 days to wed before the foreigner’s visa expires — also boosted ratings at TLC, the Discovery network that airs the show. For the month of July, TLC beat out NBC’s Bravo — home to the equally audacious “Real Housewives” franchise — among women during the day and in prime time, according to TV ratings giant Nielson. NBC’s second-place finish was not well-received at NBC, sources told The Post. After Discovery boss David Zaslav crowed about the win on his firm’s earnings call Tuesday, unnerved NBC staffers called up Nielsen to ver...

A suspected neo-Nazi was busted by the feds for gathering bomb-making materials and plotting to attack a synagogue and gay bar in Las Vegas, authorities said Friday. Conor Climo, 23, of Las Vegas, had been chatting with other racists online about making Molotov cocktails and other explosive devices, the Justice Department said. Climo also used homophobic language and allegedly talked about surveilling an LGBTQ-friendly bar in downtown Vegas in the chats, DOJ added. During a search of Climo’s home on Aug. 8 investigators also recovered a hand-written notebook that included sketches of plans to carry out an attack in Vegas. He also allegedly tried to recruit a homeless person to help him case a synagogue and other targets while planning an attack, authorities said. “Threats of violence motivated by hate and intended to intimidate or coerce our faith-based and LGBTQ communities have no place in this Country,” United States Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich said in a statement. Climo,...

Heath Freeman, the boss of private equity firm Alden Global Capital, is throwing a wrench into the mega-merger between Gatehouse Media and USA Today owner Gannett. In a bombshell disclosure Friday, it was revealed that MNG Enterprises, the newspaper group Alden controls, snapped up 9.4 percent of the stock of New Media Investment Group, which is poised to acquire Gannett. Shareholders can vote on the merger. The SEC filing said MNG may vote down or campaign against the plans to create the largest newspaper publisher in the country. New Media’s Gatehouse Media is the nation’s second-largest newspaper owner behind Gannett. And more trouble is brewing. One well-placed source told The Post that Tribune Publishing is also considering entering the fray with a $10-a-share cash bid for Gannett. Tribune would do it only if Gannett’s stock stays under $10 a share, where it has fallen this week on the merger news. Freeman’s potential opposition to the deal is ironic considering that his MNG ...

If Dustin Johnson’s putter had been going, he might have left the field in the dust. Instead, the long-bomber scratched out a 4-under 67 in his second round of The Northern Trust at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City on Friday, giving him a one-shot edge over a star-studded leaderboard. That includes Jordan Spieth (11-under), Jon Rahm (10-under), Justin Rose (9-under) and Rory McIlroy (9-under). “I felt like I gave myself a lot of chances and very makeable putts all day,” said Johnson, who finished with 27 putts on the day — including an 8-footer on 18 that he made for a birdie, giving him the outright lead going into the weekend of this first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. “Felt like I was rolling it good, too. I was burning the edges all day, but hitting my putts with good speed. I did stay patient and I knew I was hitting it good, so I was going to keep giving myself chances.” Johnson won this event two years ago when it was held at Glen Oaks on Long Island, beating Spie...

TORONTO — Knock three times on the ceiling if you want me…out of the game. Aaron Judge’s night off Friday got cut short when Yankees elder Brett Gardner found himself thrown out of his team’s game against the Blue Jays in the top of the fourth inning at Rogers Centre, with the Yankees trailing, 3-0. Home-plate umpire Chris Segal tossed Gardner from the game in the middle of Mike Tauchman’s at-bat, moments after Segal called Cameron Maybin on a third strike that appeared low. Gardner, upon realizing he had been ejected, stormed onto the field and had to be held back by his manager Aaron Boone. Gardner had been raising a stink from the dugout, yelling and banging his bat on the ceiling — the same protest tactic he had used July 18 at Yankee Stadium in a game against the Rays. That went viral — someone cleverly synced up the video with the Dawn song “Knock Three Times” — on the same night that Boone’s “My guys are f—ing savages” rant became a thing. Gardner, who started in center f...

It sure looks like we’re approaching a time when we’re not going to see Tiger Woods competing at tournaments regularly anymore … if we haven’t already arrived at that place. Woods’ withdrawal from The Northern Trust on Friday, two hours before he was to play his second round at Liberty National in Jersey City and one day after he posted the second-worst first-round score in the 120-player field, is the latest in a series of ominous smoke signals puffing from the chimney of Woods’ cloak-and-dagger camp. Though Woods has committed to play in Japan in October, you have to wonder if we’ve seen the last of him until he leads the American team in the Presidents Cup this December in Australia, where he’s expected to compete as a playing captain. Other than his rousing Masters victory in April, Woods has been largely absent from the golf season. He has played in just five tournaments since Augusta, missing the cut at the PGA Championship in May, finishing a respectable ninth at the Memoria...

Danny McBride and Adam Devine play brothers on HBO’s new comedy “ The Righteous Gemstones ” — but in their very first meeting, Devine had to flee. “I met Danny at a party once [a few years ago],” says Devine, 35. “And I go, ‘You’re a bright shooting star!’ I was just so nervous to meet him, because he’s on the Mount Rushmore of comedy heroes for me. Then I immediately grabbed my girlfriend and said, ‘I just called him a shooting star — we have to leave!’ ” “The Righteous Gemstones” is a half-hour series following a famous and wealthy family of televangelists, which includes patriarch Eli Gemstone (John Goodman), oldest son Jesse (McBride), daughter Judy (Edi Patterson), and youngest son Kelvin (Devine), who Devine says is modeled after “every cool-guy youth minister that gets the Justin Biebers and Ariana Grandes of the world to come to their churches.” It’s the third HBO show McBride has created and starred in, after “Eastbound & Down” (2009-2013) and “Vice Principals” (2016-2...

Transcripts of phone messages left for multi-millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — which include talk of providing him “females” — were revealed in documents unsealed Friday in connection with a defamation case against the perv’s alleged recruiter. The photos of the telephone message books were obtained by authorities through a search warrant in 2005 and include communications from Jean Luc Brunel, a modeling agency honcho who is alleged to have had sex with one of Epstein’s teenaged accusers. “He just did a good one — 18 years — (She spoke to me & said ‘I love Jeffrey’),” Brunel said in an undated phone call, according to a photo of the message book. “He has a teacher for you to teach you how to speak russian,” Brunel said in another phone call on Sept. 1, 2005, according to the documents. “She is 2 X 8 [16] years old not blonde. Lessons are free and you can have 1st today if you call.” Other messages from unknown callers include communications such as, “I have female for ...

Asdrubal Cabrera was very much interested in a reunion with the Mets — in the offseason. The Mets went a different route, but were the first team to call him last weekend after he was designated for assignment and released by the Rangers. Cabrera returned the favor and said thanks, but no thanks, and signed with Washington. So the 33-year-old infielder ended up Friday night back at Citi Field in a Nationals uniform — though not in the starting lineup — ready to chase a playoff spot with one of the Mets’ biggest rivals. “They called me and told me they wanted me to come back here,” Cabrera said. “But personally, they had the opportunity to keep me here in the offseason and they [brought] in different guys from different teams.” Cabrera spent two and a half years with the Mets, batting .279 with an .803 OPS before they traded him to the Phillies last July. He had become a fan favorite along the way, even after briefly requesting a trade in the summer of 2017 when he was unhappy the ...

A rocket explosion in Russia has sparked reports of a spike in radiation levels and sent residents into panic — even as the Kremlin denies anyone’s in danger. Defense officials have nonetheless shut down fishing, swimming and shipping traffic in a portion of the White Sea. Two people were killed and six — including a rocket engineer and a military specialists — were injured in what the Kremlin said was a test missile crash at a military testing site near the Northeastern Russian city of Severodvinsk, The Guardian reported. Defense ministry officials have denied reports of high radiation levels near the base, and said there had been “no harmful discharges into the atmosphere.” But the BBC reported that supplies of iodine — used to protect the thyroid from the effects of radiation — were running out in Severodvinsk and neighboring Arkhangelsk. “Yesterday it was all sold out,” one pharmacist said. “The excitement started at about five o’clock, and they brought all of it before we cl...

B.J. Goodson rose quickly up the ranks with the Giants, playing in 15 games, all off the bench, as a rookie linebacker after arriving as a 2016 fourth-round draft pick from Clemson. He started seven games his second season and 13 games in 2018. Other than injuries keeping him off the field, Goodson appeared to be a big part of the defense. Not so fast. Goodson has been supplanted on the first-team defense by Tae Davis, a converted safety who was undrafted out of Tennessee-Chattanooga and defied the odds by making the roster last season. This summer, Goodson is working with the second-team defense in training camp, and he played with the third team in Thursday night’s 31-22 preseason victory over the Jets. Goodson logged 28 snaps, and the more a veteran plays in these games, the worse it sometimes is for him. “He had a couple of days he wasn’t out practicing, he’s getting back in there,’’ coach Pat Shurmur said. “He’s in that linebacker crew competing to be on the team.’’ This coa...

A former Baltimore cop was sentenced to nine months in prison Friday for brutally pummeling a suspect and sending the victim to the hospital for three days. The ex-cop, Arthur Williams, was caught on video charging at 26-year-old Dashawn McGrier in East Baltimore last summer, hurling a barrage of punches that send McGrier to the ground, The Baltimore Sun reported. Williams joined the force just six months before he attacked McGrier — who suffered a broken jaw, fractured ribs, and swelling to his face, the Sun said. Williams resigned two days after the incident and was charged with first-degree assault and misconduct. Baltimore Circuit Judge Yolanda Tanner found Williams guilty of second-degree assault after a non-jury trial in June and sentenced him on Friday, telling him his “repeated blows to McGrier were without justification.” “I believe based on the evidence submitted, this is more than a mistake or a misunderstanding for the use of force,” the judge told a sobbing Williams...

Kickers and defenses. They are the fantasy equivalent of old TV credits running in front of a freeze-framed photo. The show is over, but there is still some scrolling left to do. It is common practice by many to wait until the end to draft the two most unpredictable and easily replaceable fantasy positions — for good reason: because they are unpredictable and easily replaceable. Certainly, the Madman endorses exactly this practice. After loading up on three each of running backs and wide receivers, after then addressing quarterback and tight end while sprinkling end at least two more at RB and WR, then you get to the final roster spots: kicker and defense/special teams. With rare exception, this is the preferred method. In recent years, we have altered our approach. We now prioritize a stable kicker over an unstable DST. For example, the lowest-ranked DST we like is the Cowboys. If they, or our other favorites who are more likely to be already taken (Bears, Jaguars, Texans) aren’t ...