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BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Skiers from host Italy still trying to secure starting spots led the second downhill training session at theMilan Cortina Winter Olympicson Thursday and Austria's Daniel Hemetsberger crashed.

Milan Cortina Olympics Alpine Skiing

Mattia Casse posted the fastest time but missed a gate midway down. Teammates Florian Schieder andGiovanni Franzoniwere second and third, respectively.

Franzoni, the breakout star of the Italian team who recently won the downhill in Kitzbuhel, Austria, already has a starting spot, along with Dominik Paris, who holds the Bormio record with seven World Cup victories. Casse, Schieder and Christof Innerhofer — who was seventh — are vying for the last two spots.

Favorites like Marco Odermatt and Ryan Cochran-Siegle, the American wholed the opening sessionWednesday, tested only portions of the Stelvio course and otherwise stood up out of their tuck positions.

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Hemetsberger lost control midway down, got spun around and crashed through a gate — causing his helmet to pop off. He then hit the safety nets at high speed. He quickly got back up but was holding his face and nose area.

A third and final training session is scheduled for Friday before the downhill race on Saturday awards the first Alpine skiing medal of the Games.

AP Winter Olympics:https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

One of the biggest cricket games of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 is currently in limbo of being played.

Pakistan is threatening to boycott the Feb. 15 match against archrival India, in protest and to stand with Bangladesh, which is out of the World Cup after refusing to play games in India, due to security concerns.

The decision to skip what is usually the biggest match of any international cricket tournament comes straight from the Pakistan government, as tensions continue to mount between the neighboring countries in Asia.

Despite the Pakistan-India match likely not happening, the T20 World Cup hosted by India and Sri Lanka will still have many exciting games. Here's a look at eight of the top matches to watch in the 2026 T20 World Cup:

USA vs India

• Date: Saturday, Feb. 7

Team USA opens its second T20 World Cup appearance with a match against the host India from Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India.

During the 2024 T20 World Cup, the U.S. fell to India by 7 wickets on June 12, 2024. How the USA competes in this game against the host and favorite could tell fans how the tournament will go.

Italy vs Scotland

• Sunday, Feb. 8

Italy will make its T20 World Cup debut against the team it defeated in the European qualifier to seal the spot for its first-ever World Cup in the format.

Scotland backed into the tournament as a replacement for Bangladesh, when it was removed from the World Cup after a refusal to play in India due to security concerns.

USA vs Pakistan

• Date: Tuesday, Feb 10

On June 4, 2024, USA cricket had a historic win over Pakistan in the T20 World Cup in Dallas. The win is considered by many to be the biggest upset win in cricket history.

Now the U.S. will need to hold off an angry Pakistan team that will be seeking revenge for the embarrassing loss when the team's square off from the Singhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

England vs West Indies

• Date: Wednesday, Feb. 11

The match pits two of the finalists from the 2016 T20 World Cup. West Indies defeated England on back-to-back-to-back-to-back sixes from Carlos Brathwaite in the 20th over.

Both teams will be under new leadership during this tournament when they face off in Mumbai, as both made coaching changes in 2025.

South Africa vs Afghanistan

• Wednesday, Feb. 11

In the 2024 semifinals, South Africa defeated Afghanistan to clinch an appearance in its first-ever T20 World Cup final.

The two teams will again square off at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India.

USA vs Netherlands

• Date: Friday, Feb. 13

Following two matches against two of the powerhouses in cricket, Team USA will get a bit of an easier match against the Netherlands from Chepauk Stadium in Chennai.

If the USA can steal a win against India or Pakistan, it will have a chance to qualify for the Super 8's for the second consecutive World Cup.

USA vs Namibia

• Date: Sunday, Feb. 15

The USA completes its Group A stage games against Namibia from Chepauk Stadium in Chennai.

Coming into this match, Team USA should know if this is its final match in India or if it is playing for a spot in the Super 8's. Either way, this could be a statement game ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which will have cricket as a sport.

Australia vs Sri Lanka

• Date: Monday, Feb. 16

While the initial group stages do not have a ton of star power going up against each other, the Australia and Sri Lanka match is one of the exceptions. Both teams have previously won a World Cup in the format.

With Sri Lanka acting as a co-host for the World Cup, this match could be a chance to signal to the cricket world that it is back to its winning ways against one of the most successful cricket powers.

Key T20 World Cup dates

• Super 8s: Feb. 21 through March 1

• Semifinals: March 4-5

• Final: March 8

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Best T20 World Cup cricket matches to watch

MILAN (AP) — Finland's women's hockey team is not sure if it will have enough players to face Canada on Thursday night in each team's first game at the Milan Cortina Olympics because of a stomach virus depleting its roster.

Finland practiced with just eight skaters and two goaltenders. Finnish Ice Hockey Association spokesperson Henna Malmberg said the remaining 13 players are either infected or in quarantine.

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Teams are allowed to dress up to 20 skaters and two goalies. Finland would forfeit, resulting in a 1-0 Canada win, if it cannot dress enough players to participate. The game is scheduled to start at 9:10 p.m. local time.

AP Olympics:https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

After parts of the Northeast saw a top 10 coldest two-week period to end January, the region cannot seem to catch a break.

The active pattern that has set up across the Eastern U.S. will continue to bring in reinforcing shots of bitterly cold arctic air. The next delivery of fresh frigid air will arrive this weekend behind a cold front.

Ahead of the cold front, high temperatures may rise slightly above freezing for a day or so. That may not sound warm, but to New Yorkers, this is exciting news.

NYC finally broke its nine-day streak of at-or-below freezing temperatures on Monday, as its high hit 35 degrees.

Washington D.C. also saw 9 consecutive days at or below freezing, which was the 6th longest stretch for the city and the longest stretch since 1989.

The bitter cold settles in this weekend. Dozens of daily record cold highs will be in jeopardy both on Saturday and Sunday. These records are hard to accomplish during the coldest time of the year, but we keep seeing repeated rounds of record cold.

Here are the latest forecast highs for the Northeast.

Gusty north to northwest winds will add to the misery, as wind chills plunge below zero once again both Saturday and Sunday.

Any Relief Coming?

Some milder, or at least less cold, air is coming to the East, but it may take until late next week to arrive. Meanwhile, the cooler air will be swapping coasts to the West Coast.

Recap Of The 2026 Cold So Far

This year has started off quite chilly for parts of the East.

In mid-January, a system brought rare southern snow to parts of Alabama, Georgia and the Florida panhandle.

Next up wasWinter Storm Fern. This was a significant storm that brought bitter cold, ice, snow, rain and sleet to millions. Some communities are stillwithout power.

Just one week after Winter Storm Fern, we were trackingWinter Storm Gianna, which brought even more snow, cold air and gusty winds to the Southeast.

(RECAPS:Winter Storm Fern Recap|Winter Storm Gianna)

And with each winter storm came those dreaded arctic blasts. Fortunately, this latest cold air will not surge as deep into the South.

A Silver Lining From The Cold

With the ongoing bitter cold streak for the Northeast, that cold air often moves over the Great Lakes to get to the region.

As a result, the lakes are freezing, with Lake Erie nearly 100% frozen over:

Lake Erie is the shallowest lake, so it freezing over is not uncommon. However, this does impact lake-effect snow.

In order to have powerful lake-effect snow bands, bitter cold air is needed to move over the relatively warmer waters of the Great Lakes.

(MORE:Lake-Effect Snow)

So, places like Buffalo may only be see snowfall from low-pressure systems for the time being.

That is good, because the city has seen over 60 inches of snowfall since December, about 10 inches above average.

Tiffany Savonais a meteorologist for weather.com with more than 15 years of experience in forecasting the weather across the country.

Rob Shackelford is a meteorologist and climate scientist at weather.com. He received his undergraduate and master's degrees from the University of Georgia studying meteorology and experimenting with alternative hurricane forecasting tools.

LONDON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologised to the victims of ​Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday and said he ‌was sorry for having appointed Peter Mandelson as U.S. ‌ambassador, who was a close friend of the late sex offender.

Starmer said he had not known about the strength of the relationship between Mandelson ⁠and Epstein when ‌he appointed him to the role in December, 2024.

Starmer has previously said ‍he will release the vetting advice he was given when he selected Mandelson for the Washington role, but ​on Thursday he said he also needed ‌to abide by a police request not to release anything that could prejudice an investigation.

"It had been publicly known for some time that Mandelson knew Epstein, but none of us knew ⁠the depth and the darkness ​of that relationship," he ​told reporters.

"I want to say this (to the victims): I am sorry. Sorry for what ‍was done ⁠to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you, sorry for having ⁠believed Mandelson's lies and appointing him."

(Reporting by William James ‌and Paul Sandle; writing by Kate Holton; ‌editing by Sarah Young)