GREEN MAG

Wisconsin UCLA Basketball

The Bruins (27-1, 17-0) are close to completing the first undefeated league season since 2014-15, when Maryland went 18-0. They finished 14-0 at home and have one road game remaining.

Wearing white title caps, the Bruins gathered at center court in a group hug and posed with the trophy.

UCLA had already clinched the title by the time it took the court, thanks to No. 13 Iowa's 62-44 victory over sixth-ranked Michigan earlier in the day. Both Michigan and Iowa are tied for second with three losses each.

Gabriela Jaquez had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Bruins, who had five players in double figures.

Dorja Zaja scored 16 points and Lily Krahn added 13 for the Badgers (13-15, 5-12). They lost their eighth in a row and fell to 2-9 on the road.

Wisconsin struck for two quick baskets to open the third and get within seven. Destiny Howell scored and Ronnie Porter hit a 3-pointer.

Advertisement

But the Bruins took over, outscoring Wisconsin 24-15 to take a 65-49 lead into the fourth.

The Bruins led by 14 points on Jaquez's 3-pointer early in the second quarter. The Badgers twice cut their deficit to eight points before trailing 41-29 at halftime.

On Senior Day, the Bruins honored Betts, Kiki Rice, Jaquez, Charlisse Leger-Walker, Gianna Kneepkens and Angela Dugalic with flowers before the game. Rice and Jaquez have spent their entire four-year careers at UCLA; the others transferred to Westwood.

Up next

Wisconsin: Hosts No. 13 Iowa on March 1 to end regular season.

UCLA: Visits crosstown rival USC in regular-season finale on March 1.

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP women's college basketball:https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-pollandhttps://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball

Bridgeman played it safe, shooting 1-over-par 72 in the final round to finish 18-under 266 at the finale of the season-opening West Coast Swing. After holding a seven-shot lead at one point early in his final round, he needed a 3-foot putt at 18 to make the win official.

"This morning I wouldn't say it's a bad thing to let myself think about winning, but I did and I thought it would be a lot easier than it was," said Bridgeman, 26. "I kind of had everything under control, especially to start the day, and I felt great throughout the day. Then some guys started making a little run. ... Yeah, it got a lot tighter than I wanted it to."

Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy (4-under 67) closed with birdies on the final two holes to finish tied for second with Kurt Kitayama (64) at 17 under, while Australia's Adam Scott (63) finished fourth at 16 under. Scott, the tournament winner in 2005 and 2020 who entered on a sponsor's exemption, had two rounds of 8-under 63.

South Africa's Aldrich Potgieter (68) was alone in fifth at 15 under and Jake Knapp (66) was sixth at 13 under.

During an emotional week, as the tournament returned to the Los Angeles-area neighborhood that was devastated by a wildfire last January, Bridgeman fought back tears on the 18th green when his breakthrough was complete.

"I've seen so many guys walking up 18 with the crowd kind of behind you, the amphitheater surrounding the green is such a cool moment," Bridgeman said. "I pictured myself walking up that hole with a four-shot lead and knowing that I'd won, but unfortunately it was only a one-shot lead and it became a lot more nervous. So I kept my head down, didn't really look up until the end."

Content to play it safe after starting the day with a six-shot lead, Bridgeman was even par through 15 holes after two birdies and two bogeys. His bogey at No. 16, dropped him to 18 under and allowed Kitayama to pull within a stroke.

Nine strokes back at the start of the day, Kitayama's charge included four birdies over his first five holes of the final round. He had four more birdies on the back nine to deliver his first top-five finish since winning the 3M Open in July 2025.

"Had a dream start to the day," Kitayama said. "Didn't really go into it thinking I had a chance, just kind of plugged along, and coming down the stretch figured if I could make some birdies, add a little pressure, but overall, great day."

Advertisement

It was almost one year to the date when Bridgeman started to show that his first trophy was near. He was runner-up at Cognizant Classic last February and delivered four top-five finishes in just over four months.

The run continued this season with a fourth-place finish at the Sony Open at Hawaii and a tie for eighth at Pebble Beach last week. After never holding an overnight lead since joining the PGA Tour, Bridgeman was in the top spot all four days this weekend, including a tie for first after each of the first two rounds.

Playing in the final round with McIlroy, Bridgeman held his own against the world's No. 2 player. McIlroy was merely even par on the front nine, before collecting four birdies after the turn. McIlroy made it interesting with a long birdie putt from the fringe at the final hole.

"I holed some putts on the back nine, which is nice, but I'll rue basically all 18 holes (Saturday) and then the front nine today, like 27 holes where I failed to capitalize on the chances I gave myself," McIlroy said. "But overall, a really positive week."

Bridgeman, a South Carolina native and Clemson alumnus, who reached 21-under par early in his round, finished off the victory with a pars at 17 and 18.

An infrequent visitor to the West Coast until joining the PGA Tour, Bridgeman not only earned a hefty payday, he did it while playing on the legendary Riviera layout for the first time.

For the third consecutive week, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (65) turned a poor start into a solid finish. He finished 11 under for the weekend and in a tie for 12th after scrambling to make the cut on the number.

"I think after Thursday I did some pretty good stuff," Scheffler said. "... I think I was in dead last after Thursday, battled just to make the cut and think I had two solid (rounds) over the weekend."

Collin Morikawa (65), who ended a victory drought of over two years last week at Pebble Beach, was in a group of five, along with Tommy Fleetwood and Xander Schauffele, that finished tied for seventh place at 12 under.

In the middle of a rough round, Max Greyserman had a hole-in-one at No. 14 after he was 4 over on the day to that point. He finished in a tie for 24th place at 7 under.

--Doug Padilla, Field Level Media

Martin Chivers, soccer, 1945-2026

" style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />

Sports figures we lost in 2026

"It is with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of 2x WNBA Champion Kara Braxton. A 10-season veteran, Kara played with the Detroit Shock, Tulsa Shock, Phoenix Mercury, and New York Liberty. Our thoughts are with her family, friends, and former teammates at this time," the WNBA shared on X.

Braxton was drafted No. 7 overall in the 2005 WNBA Draft by the Detroit Shock. She was named to the WNBA All-Rookie team after averaging 6.9 points and 3.0 rebounds. A 6-foot-6 power forward, she would go on to win championships in 2006 and '08 with Detroit.

She played in Tulsa, when the Shock relocated, and also spent time with the Phoenix Mercury and New York Liberty. Braxton also played overseas in Poland, Turkey, China and Italy through the 2017-18 season.

Advertisement

Born in Jackson, Michigan, on Feb. 18, 1983, Braxton attended high school there her freshman year before transferring to Westview High School in Portland, Oregon. She was named Oregon Gatorade Player of the Year as a senior. She played college basketball at Georgia for two-and-a-half seasons before being dismissed from the team by then-coach Andy Landers for undisclosed reasons.

Braxton worked for Nike in Oregon after her retirement from professional basketball before moving to the Atlanta area. Her son, Jelani Thurman, was on the 2024 Ohio State national championship football team. He played tight end.

Braxton is survived by her husband, Jarvis Jackson, and her two sons, Thurman and Jream Jackson.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Former WNBA All-Star Kara Braxton dies at 43, league announces

Russia Ukraine War Anniversary

Thefighting enters its fifth yearon Tuesday, and it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon.

The U.S. hasbrokered talkswith delegations from Moscow and Kyiv as part of the Trump administration's yearlongpush for peace. But reconcilingkey differences, such as the future of Russian-occupied Ukrainian land and postwar security for Ukraine, has thwarted progress.

Meanwhile, thousands of each countries' troops havedied on the battlefield, and Ukrainian civilians have been battered byRussian aerial strikesthat have brought years of power outages and water cuts.

Here's a look at the conflict, by the numbers, since the full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

1.8 million

The upper end of the estimated number of soldierskilled, wounded or missingon both sides, according to a report last month by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank.

It estimated that Russia suffered 1.2 million casualties, including up to 325,000 troop deaths, between February 2022 and December 2025 — what it said was the largest number of troop deaths for any major power in any conflict since World War II.

Russia has not released figures on battlefield deaths since January 2023, when it said more than 80 soldiers were killed in a Ukrainian strike, bringing the total military deaths Moscow has confirmed to just over 6,000.

CSIS estimated that Ukraine has seen 500,000 to 600,000 military casualties, including up to 140,000 deaths.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that 55,000 Ukrainian troops have died in the war. Many are missing, he said.

Neither Moscow nor Kyiv gives timely data on military losses. Independent verification is not possible.

14,999

The U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission's count for civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia's all-out invasion, though it says that is likely an underestimate. More than 40,600 civilians were injured over the same period, it said in a December report.

The war has killed at least 763 children, according to the U.N.

Last year was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since 2022. The conflict killed 2,514 civilians and injured 12,142 in the country in 2025 — a 31% increase in civilian casualties over 2024, it said.

Advertisement

19.4%

The percentage of Ukrainian land occupied by Russia, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

Over the past year, Russia has gained just 0.79% of Ukraine's territory in the grinding war of attrition, the Washington-based think tank said in calculations provided earlier this month to The Associated Press, underscoring the little progress Moscow's forces have made despite huge costs in troops and armor.

Before Russia's all-out invasion, it controlled nearly 7% of Ukraine, including Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east, as Moscow-backed separatists fought the Ukrainian army, according to Ukrainian officials and Western analysts.

The percentage drop in foreign military aid to Kyiv last year compared with the annual average between 2022 and 2024, according to Germany's Kiel Institute, which tracks assistance to Kyiv.

U.S. President Donald Trump stopped sending American weapons paid for by the U.S. to Ukraine after he took office just over a year ago. European countries, striving to make up the difference, increased their military aid last year by 67% compared with the 2022-2024 period, the institute said in a report this month.

Foreign humanitarian and financial aid to Ukraine fell by 5% last year in comparison with the average in the previous three years, it said.

5.9 million

The number of Ukrainian civilians who have left their country.

Some 5.3 million of those people have found refuge in Europe, according to a report this month from the U.N. office in Ukraine.

Additionally, around 3.7 million Ukrainians forced out of their homes have moved elsewhere within the country, the U.N. said in December.

Ukraine's prewar population was more than 40 million.

2,851

The number of Russian attacks that affected the provision of medical care in Ukraine, according to the World Health Organization. The figure covers the period from the full-scale invasion through Feb. 11.

The attacks include 2,347 strikes on health care facilities, as well as ones that damaged vehicles and the storage of medical supplies.

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine athttps://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Once a police officer, Oseguera went on to become one of the world's most wanted fugitives, with the United States alone offering a $15 million bounty for information leading to his arrest.

Oseguera, who formed and led the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), was an elusive figure who had been considered Mexico's most powerful cartel boss since Sinaloa kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán was arrested last decade.

Born in July 1966 in the western state of Michoacán, Oseguera later moved to the US and was deeply involved in drug trafficking from the 1990s, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). In 1994, he was convicted in California for conspiracy to distribute heroin and served three years in a US prison.

After he returned to Mexico, he worked as a police officer in the western state of Jalisco but soon resumed his criminal activities, building his influence in the shadowy world of narcotics and rising to become the head of one of the country's most powerful and ruthless criminal empires.

Wanted by authorities in Mexico and the US, Oseguera or "El Mencho" kept a low profile – so much so that only a handful of photographs of him exist.

His death on Sundayin a Mexican military operation in Tapalpa, in the western coastal state of Jalisco, has triggered widespread unrest across parts of the country.

On the most-wanted list

Oseguera had a long career in brutality before forming CJNG. For a time, he served as chief of hitmen, or key enforcer, for the Milenio Cartel, before overseeing security and operational violence for the famed Sinaloa Cartel, whose former leader Guzmán is serving a life sentence in a US prison.

According to the DEA, CJNG emerged in the 2010s from the remnants of the Milenio Cartel, which splintered amid a power vacuum after its leader Óscar Nava Valencia was captured in 2009.

Oseguera built the group with Abigael González Valencia, leader of Los Cuinis – a family-based cartel operating in Michoacán, which served as the financial and logistical arm of CJNG and oversaw its "diverse network of money laundering operations," according to the DEA.

But it was only through marriage to Abigael's sister, Rosalinda González Valencia, that Oseguera gained real influence in the new entity.

"In reality, El Mencho reached the cartel's leadership through a strategy of diplomacy via marriage," public security analyst David Saucedo told CNN en Español. "He was indeed the chief of hitmen for 'Nacho' Coronel (a Sinaloa Cartel leader), but he lacked the lineage that Rosalinda, his wife, possessed," Saucedo added.

The burgeoning cartel quickly grew its sphere of influence to claim a significant presence across Mexico and became a key player in the global drug trade.

Advertisement

It is a brutally violent operation responsible for assassination attempts on Mexican government officials and homicides against rival trafficking groups and Mexican law enforcement officers, according to the US State Department.

The cartel demonstrated its firepower in May 2015, when it responded to a security operation with simultaneous roadblocks across several municipalities and shot down a military helicopter. Three soldiers were killed in the clashes.

The following year, the gang was credited with abrazen kidnapping of Guzman's sonfrom a trendy restaurant in Puerto Vallarta. He was released a week later.

It wasn't long before the DEA added El Mencho to its most wanted list.

Sweeping drug network

CJNG is heavily involved in the production and trafficking of methamphetamine and fentanyl, with links to suppliers of chemical precursors in China, and controls several seaports for importing chemicals, according to US authorities.

The cartel is "a key supplier of illicit fentanyl" to the US, reaping "billions of dollars in profit," as well being one of the main suppliers of cocaine, according to the DEA.

The group has contacts in over 40 countries, including the Americas, as well as in Australia, China and Southeast Asia, according to the US State Department.

Mexico had been under pressure from US President Donald Trump to do more to limit the flow of drugs to the US.

The US designated CJNG as a terrorist organization in February 2025, and Oseguera had already been indicted multiple times in the United States, including being charged in 2022 with conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl for importation into the United States.

The death of "El Mencho" on Sunday has created turmoil across the country. But it won't necessarily cripple the JNGC's multi-billion drug trade.

The DEA says the gang is structured like a franchise business, and according to Eduardo Guerrero, director of Mexican consulting group Lantia Intelligence, it is composed of around 90 organizations.

"This fragmentation has meant that you'll need a more complex, more sophisticated strategy to weaken and dismember them," Guerrero told CNN earlier this year.

The Mexican military and police, backed by US intelligence and equipment have tried taking out kingpins before. But others emerged to take their place, and tons of drugs continued to flow over the US border.

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