HOT POINT

Baltimore Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday will miss Opening Day due to a broken hamate bone in his right hand, general manager Mike Elias announced on Wednesday morning.

Holliday, who sustained the injury during live batting practice last Friday, will undergo a procedure to address the issue on Thursday. His timeline for recovery likely will be measured in weeks, per Elias.

Holliday, 22, batted just .242 with 17 homers and 55 RBIs in 149 games last season.

Advertisement

He is the top overall pick of the 2022 MLB June Amateur Draft and the son of seven-time All-Star Matt Holliday.

New acquisition Blaze Alexander likely will take the younger Holliday's place in the field.

Also on Wednesday, Elias announced third baseman Jordan Westburg is nursing a right oblique injury. The injury, however, is not expected to prevent Westburg from playing at the start of the regular season.

--Field Level Media

You have questions about the2026 NBA All-Star Game, which for the first time pits the USA vs. World in a round-robin tournament of three teams across four 12-minute games.

It is confusing, and the story of how we got here is a long and winding one, featuring a ton of wrinkles to the format, each of which has failed to inspire competition from the players.

Let us summarize that story for you, as we answer your questions.

When is the 2026 NBA All-Star Game?

The 2026 NBA All-Star Game is on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET on NBC.

Prior to that: The celebrity game, Rising Stars competition and HBCU Classic will be held in succession on Friday, beginning at 7 p.m. ET; and the slam dunk and 3-point contests, as well as the return of the Shooting Stars competition, will highlight All-Star Saturday, which begins at 5 p.m. ET.

NBC will air all events for the first time since 2002.

[Subscribe to Yahoo Sports NBA on YouTube]

Where is the 2026 NBA All-Star Game?

The Los Angeles Clippers will host the 2026 NBA All-Star Game at the Intuit Dome, which opened its doors to fans in 2024. The arena features a uniquewall of standson one end.

An interesting wrinkle: Steve Ballmer's Clippers are currentlyunder investigationby the NBA for allegedly circumventing the salary cap. Kawhi Leonard, whose alleged no-show job at Ballmer-funded Aspiration is central to the investigation, is an All-Star this season.

Who is in the 2026 NBA All-Star Game?

The rosters, as selected by conference, in alphabetical order:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

Deni Avdija, Portland Trail Blazers

Scottie Barnes, Toronto Raptors

Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns

Jaylen Brown, Boston Celtics

Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors

Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks

Kevin Durant, Houston Rockets

Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons

Luka Dončić, Los Angeles Lakers

Jalen Duren, Detroit Pistons

Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves

Brandon Ingram, Toronto Raptors*

Shai Gileous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder

Jalen Johnson, Atlanta Hawks

Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder

Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers

LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers

Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers

Nikola Jokić, Denver Nuggets

Norman Powell, Miami Heat

Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers*

Pascal Siakam, Indiana Pacers

Jamal Murray, Denver Nuggets

Karl-Anthony Towns, New York Knicks

Alperen Şengün, Houston Rockets*

Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs

* Alperen Şengün was named as an injury replacement for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal strain). Brandon Ingram was named as an injury replacement for Stephen Curry (knee). NBA commissioner Adam Silver also selected Kawhi Leonard to the game in order to balance the rosters under the new USA vs. World format.

What is the new All-Star Game format?

The new format will feature a round-robin tournament between three teams — two made up of players from the United States (USA Stars and USA Stripes) and a third consisting of international competitors (Team World). Each roster must include at least eight players.

Because theoriginal 24 All-Star selectionsresulted in nine international players and 15 from the U.S., the commissioner added Leonard to the U.S. player pool.

Advertisement

Here's how the teams have been divided for the 2026 All-Star Game:

USA STRIPES

Scottie Barnes

Jaylen Brown

Giannis Antetokounmpo

Devin Booker

Jalen Brunson

Deni Avdija

Cade Cunningham

Kevin Durant

Luka Dončić

Jalen Duren

Brandon Ingram

Nikola Jokić

Anthony Edwards

LeBron James

Jamal Murray

Chet Holmgren

Kawhi Leonard

Alperen Şengün

Jalen Johnson

Donovan Mitchell

Pascal Siakam

Tyrese Maxey

Norman Powell

Karl-Anthony Towns

Victor Wembanyama

Each team will face each other once in the elimination stage:

• Game 1: Stars vs. World

• Game 2: Stripes vs. Game 1 Winner

• Game 3: Stripes vs. Game 1 Loser

• Game 4: Championship

The two teams with the best records will advance to the championship game. If all teams finish the round robin with a 1-1 record, the two teams with the highest point differential will play each other for the title.

Each game will be 12 minutes.

In last year's All-Star Game round-robin tournament, each member of the winning team received $125,000 and each member of the runner-up team received $50,000.

So why is there a new format, and why is it so confusing?

The All-Star Game was once held between teams from the Eastern and Western conferences, facing each other in what looked a lot like an NBA game — four 12-minute quarters and intense competition among the greatest basketball players in the world.

Somewhere along the way, most likely as parties and corporate sponsorships took greater priority throughout the weekend, the players stopped caring as much about competition.

As players took the game less seriously, scores for the first time soared into the 190s in 2016 and 2017, and in 2018 the NBA changed its All-Star Game format for the first time.

For six years, the NBA named two captains who selected their 12-man teams from the 24-player field. That stretch featured a number of wrinkles, includingan Elam Endingand a playground-style draft, each meant to inspire more competition among the players, and each failing most every year.

• 2018: Team LeBron 148, Team Stephen 145

• 2019: Team LeBron 178, Team Giannis 164

• 2020: Team LeBron 157, Team Giannis 155

• 2021: Team LeBron 170, Team Durant 150

• 2022: Team LeBron 163, Team Durant 160

• 2023: Team Giannis 184, Team LeBron 175

The January 2020 death of four-time All-Star Game MVP Kobe Bryant, who epitomized effort across 18 appearances in the exhibition, did inspire an uptick in intensity that year, when a team captained by LeBron defeated one captained by Antetokounmpo 157-155.

The resurrection of the All-Star Game was short-lived, however, and in 2024 Silver reverted to the East vs. West format.It did not go well, as the East beat the West 211-186.

So, Silver instituted a just-as-confusing round-robin tournament last year, featuring three teams of All-Stars and a fourth of Rising Stars, and that, obviously,did not go well, either (Shaq's OG's beat Chuck's Global Stars 41-25).

Rather than scrap the game entirely, ending what was once one of its signature events, Silver made another effort to inspire the same from the players in this confounding USA vs. World round-robin format.

The only thing that will truly change the level of competition is care from the players, who are more incentivized to remain healthy for the teams that pay them millions. If — and that's a big if — the new format inspires increased competition from players who want to represent their countries, much like the Olympics elicits effort, bring it on.

Houston Astros closer Josh Hader's availability for Opening Day is in doubt because the left-hander is dealing with biceps soreness, manager Joe Espada told reporters Wednesday.

Hader, a six-time All-Star, resumed his throwing program at the team's first workout with pitchers and catchers Wednesday. Espada revealed Hader had been shut down from throwing for more than a week earlier this winter after imaging on his left arm showed biceps inflammation.

Neither Espada nor Astros general manager Dana Brown could say if the injury would keep Hader off the Opening Day roster.

"I don't know really the timeline on it," Brown said Wednesday. "The good thing is he was ramping it up and was on his fourth (bullpen session). The first three were seamless. The good thing is he feels good right now, he's been feeling good for a few days and he's going to throw today."

Advertisement

The injury is not believes to be related to the left shoulder capsule strain that caused Hader to miss Houston's final 46 games last season, the first time he had been on the IL in nine seasons for anything but an illness. Hader told reporters at a charity event in December he felt "back to normal" from the shoulder capsule injury.

Hader was 6-2 with a 2.05 ERA over 48 appearances with the Astros last season and was 28-for-29 in save opportunities.

The 31-year-old has 227 saves over nine big-league seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers (2017-22), San Diego Padres (2022-23) and Astros (2024-25). He is 34-31 with a 2.64 ERA in 468 career relief appearances.

--Field Level Media

ADEN, Yemen (AP) — At least five people have died in clashes between supporters of Yemen's main separatist group and local security forces, with more than two dozen others injured, officials and separatists said on Wednesday.

Eshraq al-Maqtari, the newly appointed legal affairs minister inYemen's internationally recognized government, wrote on X that the Shabwa governorate has experienced "painful events."

The clashes erupted when supporters of Yemen's separatist Southern Transitional Council stormed the governorate's local administrative authority building in the city of Ataq, during which an attempt was made to take down the Yemeni flag, eyewitnesses Khaled al-Merfedi and Salem Lahtal told The Associated Press.

They said local security forces quickly regained control of the building, secured it, and deployed throughout the surrounding area.

"Hope rests on the leaders, elites, youth, and women of Shabwa to resolve this tension, in which the only losers are the lives, safety, and security of its citizens. The interests of Shabwa must be prioritized above all narrow interests," al-Maqtari said.

The STC branch in Shabwa confirmed in a statement the deaths of the five protesters.

Shabwa is currently under the control of thePresidential Leadership Council, headed by Rashad al-Alimi. Forces allied with the council reportedly intervened and fired warning shots to disperse the crowd.

In December, the STC madeadvances in Hadramout and al-Mahra governorates, pushing out the Saudi-aligned National Shield Forces and forcing simmering tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi into the open. Deadly clashes in the country's south erupted and the separatist groupannounced its dissolutionin the weeks that followed, butprotestscontinued in support of the STC, withcalls for an independent south.

Yemen has been mired for more than a decade in a civil war that involves a complex interplay of sectarian and tribal grievances and the involvement of regional powers. The STC leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, is wanted for treason and has fled to Abu Dhabi.

"Masked members of the security and military forces opened fire on the demonstrators," the STC branch in Shabwa said in the statement.

It added: "As the mass march moved toward the al-Fakhama Hotel … the security and military forces began firing directly at the protesters using light and medium weapons, resulting in deaths and injuries."

The STC accused forces affiliated with Shabwa's local administration of storming the designated protest site, dismantling the stage, and surrounding the area with armored vehicles and troops, creating what it described as a scene "more akin to a battlefield."

Last week, al-Alimi,announced a new 35-member Cabinetchaired byPrime Minister Shae'a al-Zandani, who also serves as foreign minister. It included only two women: Afrah al-Zouba, minister of planning and international cooperation, and Ahd Jaasous, state minister for women's affairs.

Major US cities overall experienced a steep drop in violent crime last year, according to astatistical analysisreleased by the Major Cities Chiefs Association.

The analysis reflects an overall downward trend in recent years, after violent crime spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to year-end statistics compiled by the FBI through 2024.

The most recentMajor Cities Chiefs Associationsurvey, which was made up of statistics compiled from 67 of 68 responding law enforcement agencies and released earlier in February, shows homicides were down just over 19% last year. The report also showed that robbery was down almost 20%, rape was down almost 9% and aggravated assault was down almost 10% last year compared to 2024, the statistics show.

The report is just the latest crime statistical analysis that shows declines in violent crimes in 2025. It joins areport from the Council on Criminal Justicethat was released in January that also showed steep declines in homicides and other crimes.

The think tank zoomed in on year-end crime statistics from 40 large cities and found that homicides dropped 21% last year when compared to 2024, the largest single-year decline on record. They also project that when the FBI puts out their year-end statistics, the homicide rate will likely be the lowest it's been nationally since 1900.

Advertisement

Homicides dropped steeply in Chicago, from 587 in 2024 to 417 last year, the data shows. Columbus, Ohio, saw dramatic drops in every category, including rapes, down to 678 last year from 1,116 in 2024. Houston saw a drop in aggravated assault, from 18,590 in 2024 down to 15,378 last year, according to the report. Robberies were down in Los Angeles, from 8,593 in 2024 to 7,278 last year, the records show.

While it's nearly impossible to zero in on any one reason for why murders and other violent crime has dropped nationally in 2025, analysts point to a combination of renewed precision policing tactics that have coupled with advancements in technology, along with preventative measures, such as violence interrupters and the court system getting through backlogs from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite the overall downward trend in homicides and other violent crimes, not all cities were down, according to the statistics from the Major Cities Chiefs Association, made up of police executives who represent the largest cities in the US and Canada.

Boston saw more homicides last year, with 31, up from 24 in 2024. El Paso, Texas, also showed an increase of 30 homicides last year, up from 24 the previous year. Fort Worth, Texas, was up from 75 homicides in 2024 to 81 last year. Suffolk County on Long Island, New York, also saw a jump, from 11 homicides in 2024 to 26 last year, the data shows.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com

A group of Buddhist monks, a day after completing a108-day Walk for Peacefrom Texas to Washington, walked to Capitol Hill on Wednesday before heading to the Lincoln Memorial to conclude their journey.

Buddhist Monks Peace Walk Washington

The 19 monks and their dog, Aloka, walked 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) across several Southern states — sometimes in frigid conditions — drawing large crowds in churchyards, city halls and town squares. The group, with itsmessage of peace, has captured hearts across the nation and globe, earning it millions of online followers.

On Wednesday morning, themonks walked single file, followed by about 100 other monks and nuns who had joined them in Washington. Behind them was a sea of people showing peace signs and marching silently. More than 21,000 people followed the livestream online from around the globe, posting messages in Spanish, Hindi, Thai and Sinhalese.

Crowds cheered and thanked the monks from sidewalks as they walked from George Washington University, where they stopped for the night, to Capitol Hill. Later in the day, they were expected to address a large crowd at the Lincoln Memorial and formally conclude the peace walk. The Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, who has led the group, will also lead a loving-kindness meditation session at George Washington University.

Pannakara walked barefoot on Wednesday as he waved and smiled at crowds. Several people, including young children, handed flowers to the monks.

On Tuesday, the monks made stops at American University and the Washington National Cathedral for an interfaith conversation where thousands thronged to hear Pannakara speak.

The monk urged those gathered to practice mindfulness every day and cultivate peace in their hearts. He asked them to wake up every morning and intentionally write on a piece of paper the words: Today is going to be my peaceful day.

Advertisement

The monks' trek has had its perils. In November, outside Houston, the group was walking on the side of a highway when their escort vehicle was hit by a truck.Two monks were injured; Venerable Maha Dam Phommasan had his leg amputated. Phommasan, abbot of a temple in Snellville, Georgia, rejoined the monks near Washington and entered American University's arena in a wheelchair and joined the group on their walk to the Capitol.

Peace walks are a cherished tradition in Theravada Buddhism. Some of the monks have walked barefoot or in socks during parts of the journey to feel the ground directly and help them be present in the moment.

The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha that focuses on breath and the mind-body connection. Pannakara's peace talks, given at stops along the way, have urged listeners to put down their phones and find peace within themselves.

Their return trip should be less arduous. After an appearance at the Maryland State House, a bus will take them back to Texas, where they expect to arrive in downtown Fort Worth early on Saturday.

From there, the monks will walk together again, traversing 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) to the temple where their trip began.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP'scollaborationwith The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By Jan Wolfe

Feb 11 (Reuters) - The Trump administration's imminent repeal of an Obama-era scientific finding that greenhouse gases pose a public health threat could open up a new pathway for filing lawsuits against power-plant operators and other companies.

Legal experts said the policy reversal could lead ‌to a surge in lawsuits known as "public nuisance" actions, a pathway that had been blocked following a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that regulation of ‌greenhouse gas emissions should be left in the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency instead of the courts.

Now that the EPA is abandoning that regulatory effort, the legal shield created by the 2011 ​decision will likely unravel, legal experts said.

"This may be another classic case where overreach by the Trump administration comes back to bite it," said Robert Percival, a University of Maryland environmental law professor.

The Environmental Protection Agency is set this week to repeal a 2009 scientific determination known as the endangerment finding, which has been the foundation for federal climate regulations. The endangerment finding is what led the EPA to take action under the Clean Air Act of 1963 to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, ‌methane, and four other heat-trapping air pollutants from vehicles, power ⁠plants and other industries.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has called the rescission of the endangerment finding "the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States."

Power companies have generally favored President Donald Trump's deregulatory agenda, but have expressed concern about the ⁠repeal of the endangerment finding triggering a wave of lawsuits.

The Edison Electric Institute, which represents publicly traded electric utilities, said in September that rescinding the endangerment finding comes with the "potential for increased litigation alleging common-law claims, regardless of the merits of those suits."

'NEW FRONT' OPENING

U.S. courts have long recognized a legal theory known as "public nuisance," which prohibits activities that ​unreasonably ​interfere with the health and safety of a community.

Public nuisance lawsuits are typically brought by ​state and local governments, and seek to make the party ‌responsible for the nuisance pay to abate, or fix, the condition.

The cases are hard to win, in part because of difficulties in proving direct causation between a specific defendant's emissions and particular climate harms. But legal experts have said they are one potential tool for environmental activists to hold greenhouse gas emitters liable for climate harms.

In a 2004 lawsuit, California and five other states alleged that big power companies had created a public nuisance by contributing to climate change. The defendants included American Electric Power and Xcel Energy .

The case eventually ended up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against the six states in a unanimous 2011 ‌decision.

Writing for the court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said regulating greenhouse gases should be left ​to EPA under the Clean Air Act. That law and subsequent EPA actions like the endangerment ​finding, Ginsburg wrote, "displace the claims the plaintiffs seek to pursue."

That 2011 decision ​allowed power companies to escape public nuisance lawsuits filed in federal courts, though some cases brought in state court have survived.

The ‌policy reversal could give public nuisance cases a new lease ​on life, legal experts said.

"This has the ​potential to change the stakes of the game," said University of Pennsylvania law professor Sarah Light. "If the Clean Air Act no longer applies to greenhouse gas emissions, then there's no comprehensive statutory scheme in which Congress intended to displace nuisance claims, so they would likely be able to proceed ​in court."

Jenner & Block environmental lawyer Meghan Greenfield agreed that ‌a "new front" for lawsuits may be opening up.

"This is an area where things had been settled for the past 15 years, and, ​especially as the EPA steps out of this space for regulation, you can imagine others wanting to push those fronts ever harder," Greenfield ​said.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)