By TALES AZZONI

The Winter Paralympics celebrate its 50th anniversary at Milan Cortina, where Ukraine is expected to boycott the opening ceremony as the Russian flag and national anthem make a return to the global sports stage.

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Five decades after some 200 athletes competed in two sports at the inaugural 1976 Ornskoldsvik Winter Paralympics in Sweden, more than 600 athletes are expected to participate across six sports in Italy from March 6-15.

The opening ceremony on March 6 at Arena di Verona marks the first time a Paralympic ceremony is held at a UNESCO World Heritage site. The ancient Arena has been retrofitted with new wheelchair ramps and accessible restrooms along with other safety upgrades.

The closing ceremony on March 15 is at the renovated Cortina Curling Stadium, a former venue of the 1956 Winter Olympics.

The Winter Paralympics come 20 years after Italy hosted the first time in Turin.

China staged the Paralympics four years ago in Beijing and set a medals record at a single Winter Games of 61. China is favored to dominate again.

Russian flag returns

The Russian flag hasn’t been flown at the Paralympics since the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, while the national anthem has not been heard at any Olympics or Paralympics since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.

It could be the first time in four years the anthem is played at any major global sporting event. Russian athletes were initially banned because of the state-sponsored doping program, and the sanctions continued after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Ukraine’s sports minister has said the nation will not be present at the opening ceremony.

“We will not take part in any other official Paralympic events,” sports minister Matvii Bidnyi said in a social media post after the IPC announced the return of the Russian flag and anthem on Feb. 18.

The few allowed Russian and Belarusian athletes have been competing as individual neutral athletes without their flag, anthem or team colors.

Top athletes

Oksana Masters, born in Ukraine with radiation-induced birth defects, is the most decorated American Winter Paralympian with 14 medals to go along with five Summer Paralympic medals. In Para biathlon and Para cross-country skiing, Masters became the first American to win seven medals — in seven events — at a single Paralympics in Beijing.

FILE – Russian flag waves as actors make performance at the Fisht Olympic stadium during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia, on March 7, 2014. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

Fellow American Brenna Huckaby, whose right leg was amputated at 14, will try to win her fifth and sixth medals in Para snowboarding. Huckaby has three golds and a bronze.

Italian Giacomo Bertagnolli, visually impaired, will have a chance to add to his four Paralympic gold medals and 10 world titles while competing at home in all five Para alpine skiing events.

Norway’s Jesper Pedersen, born with spina bifida, won four of the five medal events in Para alpine skiing in Beijing and is set to fight for medals again in Italy.

Wang Haitao won gold in wheelchair curling in PyeongChang in 2018 and Beijing, becoming only the second captain to win back-to-back Paralympic titles after Canada’s Jim Armstrong. Wang will try to become the first three-time Paralympic champion in the sport.

Ukrainian Oleksandra Kononova, who has a stunted right arm, won three gold medals in Para biathlon and Para cross-country skiing as a 19-year-old in Vancouver in 2010. She’s won two more Paralympic titles and over a dozen world titles since then despite injuries.

The six sports

— Para alpine skiing: Introduced at the first Winter Paralympics in 1976, it includes five events — slalom, giant slalom, super-G, downhill and super combined. Athletes use monoskis, outriggers or audio transmission systems for vision impaired competitors.

— Para biathlon: Combines the strength and endurance of cross-country skiing with the precision and composure of target shooting. Athletes compete on a variable-length ski course across three classes: Vision impaired, standing and sitting.

— Para cross-country skiing: Five events divided into three categories: Standing, sitting (for skiers on a sit-ski) and vision impaired (for skiers who compete with a guide skier).

— Para ice hockey: Debuted at Lillehammer in 1994. Since 2010, it has been a mixed-gender sport. It is played by athletes with a physical disability in their lower limbs. Players use sledges made of aluminium or steel, and use two blades and two sticks to push themselves and handle the puck.

— Para snowboard: Debuted in Sochi in 2014 as part of the alpine skiing program. Two events in three categories for men and one for women depending on the disability.

— Wheelchair curling: Celebrating its 20th anniversary. Players can choose whether to throw the stone alone or with a teammate who holds the wheelchair steady. Athletes can use an extender to add speed and direction. For the first time the program will feature a mixed team event and a pairs competition.

How to watch

FILE – President of the International Paralympic Committee Andrew Parsons passes the Paralympic flag to Mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, not pictured, after receiving it from Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, not pictured, during the closing ceremony of the 2024 Paralympics, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)

Peacock will be the U.S. streaming home of the Milan Cortina Paralympics. The service will stream every sport and event and will feature all linear programming, full-event replays, originals, clips and more.

Daily highlights will be available on NBC, NBCUniversal’s digital platforms and Versant’s CNBC and USA Network.

The Eastern time zone in the U.S. is six hours behind Milan and Cortina.

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

By MEGAN JANETSKY

TAPALPA, Mexico (AP) — Maria Dolores Aguirre’s family corner store has lived off tourism that has flowed into her charming cobblestoned town of Tapalpa, tucked away in the mountains of Jalisco state.

That was until gunshots erupted and helicopters flew overhead as the Mexican army killed the country’s most powerful drug lord, just a few miles from her home.

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Now, the 50-year-old Aguirre worries that the bloodshed will deal a blow to her livelihood and change towns like hers. It is something many in the western Mexican state are grappling with, from its Pacific Ocean beaches to its capital Guadalajara that will host matches in June for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

“It’s going to affect us. It’s collateral damage,” Aguirre said. “The government is going to have to have a lot of security. … The entire world just saw what happened and, of course, people are going to think twice about coming.”

President Claudia Sheinbaum was asked at her daily news briefing on Tuesday what guarantees there are that World Cup matches will be held in Jalisco. “Every guarantee, every guarantee,” she said, adding that there was “no risk” for fans coming to the tournament.

Fighting between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and Mexican security forces raged on in a number of states Monday, fueling fears among many like Aguirre that there will be more violence to come.

More than 70 people died in the attempt to capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes and its aftermath, authorities said Monday. Known as “El Mencho,” he was the notorious leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the fastest-growing criminal networks in Mexico, known for trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine to the United States and staging brazen attacks against Mexican government officials.

The White House confirmed that the U.S. provided intelligence support to the operation to capture the cartel leader and applauded Mexico’s army for taking down a man who was one of the most wanted criminals in both countries. The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of “El Mencho.”

The death of Oseguera Cervantes came as Mexico’s government has stepped up its offensive against cartels in an effort to meet demands by U.S. President Donald Trump to crack down on criminal groups, threatening to impose more tariffs or take unilateral military action if the country does not show results.

Mexico hoped the death of one of the world’s biggest fentanyl traffickers would ease that pressure, but many people were anxious as they waited to see the powerful cartel’s reaction.

Oseguera Cervantes died after a shootout with the Mexican military on Sunday. Mexican Defense Secretary Gen. Ricardo Trevilla said Monday that authorities had tracked one of his romantic partners to his hideout in Tapalpa. The cartel leader and two bodyguards fled into a wooded area where they were seriously wounded in a firefight. They were taken into custody and died on the way to Mexico City, Trevilla said.

In the aftermath, a sense of unease simmered in tourist towns.

The Pacific Ocean resort city of Puerto Vallarta also was hard hit by cartel reprisals, frightening tourists.

Steve Perkins, 57, was visiting Puerto Vallarta with his wife Gayle and some friends. They were on their hotel room’s terrace when explosions and black smoke started appearing around the city Sunday morning.

Their return to Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, was delayed when their flight was canceled Monday and they were rebooked for March 1.

Perkins and his wife have been taking annual trips to Puerto Vallarta since 2012 and have always felt safe, until now. He said they don’t plan on returning to Mexico.

“There’s a lot of Americans trapped here,” Perkins said.

Aguirre worked next to her son from the small neighborhood shop her family has owned for 50 years. The 15-year-old’s classes were canceled due to the violence.

Aguirre said it was unclear who exactly was in control of the area surrounding her: the military or the cartel. The other question on her mind was if this was just a one-off, or if there was more violence to come.

“We don’t know if these people (cartel leaders) are permanently here or not,” she said. “If they really did kill this leader, it could be that they fight between each other to win control or see who will lead it.”

Associated Press writer Juan Lozano in Houston contributed to this report.

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and DEVI SHASTRI

U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post Saturday that he would deploy a hospital ship to Greenland, alleging many people there are sick and not receiving care, even though both of the U.S. Navy’s hospital ships are undergoing maintenance at a shipyard in Alabama.

The announcement prompted a defense of Greenland’s health care system from its prime minister in the latest point of friction with Trump, who has frequently talked about seizing Greenland, which is a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

Here is a closer look at the facts:

Trump claims there is widespread illness

Referring to his special envoy to the Arctic territory, Trump said, “Working with the fantastic Governor of Louisiana, Jeff Landry, we are going to send a great hospital boat to Greenland to take care of the many people who are sick, and not being taken care of there.”

THE FACTS: There have been no reports of major illnesses in Greenland lately and it was not clear which sickness Trump was referring to.

All of Greenland, which has a population of around 57,000 people, is served by the Queen Ingrid Hospital in the capital Nuuk, according to the Danish Medical Journal. The territory also has several regional health centers.

Most health care services in Greenland are free for citizens and permanent residents. This includes treatment by general practitioners, medical specialists and hospitals, health centers, prescription medicine, public dental care and home nursing care, according to the website of the Nordic Council of Ministers, which is the official body for intergovernmental cooperation in the Nordic Region.

In response to Trump’s post, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stressed the region’s free health care system and pointed out the differences in a jibe at the U.S. system.

“We have a public health care system where treatment is free for citizens. That is a deliberate choice — and a fundamental part of our society,” Nielsen said. “That is not how it works in the USA, where it costs money to see a doctor.”

Despite free health service, there are “major public health challenges” on the vast island, according to the Center for Public Health in Greenland.

Many of those challenges are related to undergoing “profound changes from a hunting society to a modern industrial and knowledge society” within a short period of time. Increasingly, people suffer from illnesses such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Anna Wangenheim, Greenland’s minister for health and persons with disabilities, recently posted an “urgent” request on her Facebook page saying the “national health service currently needs dentists for 3 different towns: Aasiaat, Paamiut, and Nanortalik.”

Despite difficult access to medical services in remote areas and a shortage of staff, notable improvements have been achieved in Greenland, which only assumed political responsibility for its own healthcare system in 1992, said Lene Seibæk, a professor at the Institute of Health and Nature at the University of Greenland.

“In 2020, life expectancy in Greenland was approximately 71 years for men and 77 years for women, representing an increase of approximately six years for men and five to six years for women since the 1990s and exceeding the global average,” Seibæk added.

Trump claims US hospital ship already headed to Greenland

“It’s on the way!!!” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post, saying one of the hospital ships already was headed to Greenland.

THE FACTS: The USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort are at a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, according to social media posts from the shipyard showing the pair of white hospital ships alongside each other in late January. Publicly available ship tracking data show both ships are still in the shipyard.

The Comfort arrived at the shipyard in the southern state on Jan. 23 and is expected to remain there through April, according to the government contract for the work.

Repairs to the Mercy, which arrived there in August, have run past their expected completion date. Government contract records show the ship is slated for more repairs in March in a shipyard in the northwest state of Oregon.

Should either ship be rushed out, it would need additional time before being ready to deploy. The standard crew of a U.S. hospital ship does not include the full complement of medical staff needed to man the vast medical facilities, which include 12 operating rooms and 1,000 hospital beds. Normally, the ships would draw doctors, nurses, corpsmen and supplies from hospitals surrounding their home ports of either Norfolk, Virginia, or San Diego before setting sail.

Trump’s envoy claims there is a service shortage

Landry, the Louisiana governor serving as Trump’s special envoy, echoed the president’s claim Sunday on X that “many villages and small towns lack basic services that Americans often take for granted.”

Landry added that “small settlements are without permanent doctors, diagnostic tools, or specialist care — forcing residents to travel great distances for vital treatments that should be available at home.”

THE FACTS: While medical service is sometimes not physically available in all settlements of the vast territory, telemedicine plays an important role for people living remotely.

Patients in areas without the necessary health care also can be transported to the national hospital or regional facilities. In complex cases, patients can be flown to Denmark for medical treatment with the government paying for transportation and treatment.

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Rural Americans, in comparison, have long faced challenges in accessing critical health care, in part due to financial inequities and long travel times. The barriers have worsened in the past decade as more maternity wards close, pharmacies struggle to stay in business and rural hospitals and clinics brace for federal Medicaid cuts.

Since 2010, 152 rural hospitals, many in the southern U.S., have cut inpatient services or closed entirely, according to data from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The expansion of telehealth can ease some inequities, experts say, but it is not a universal solution while many rural areas face provider shortages and unreliable broadband.

Landry’s state is no exception. Most of Louisiana’s parishes are fully or partially rural and 73% of residents live in areas without enough primary care providers, 86% without enough dental providers and 93% without sufficient mental health providers, according to the state’s health department.

Grieshaber reported from Berlin, Toropin from Washington, D.C., and Shastri from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

HIGHLANDVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Two Missouri sheriff’s deputies were fatally shot, one during a traffic stop and the other hours later during a shootout with the suspect, who was also killed, authorities said.

Christian County Sheriff Brad Cole said the initial shooting happened during a traffic stop south of Highlandville on Monday in southwest Missouri, news outlets reported.

About 100 officers, deputies, and state troopers helped with the search for the suspect, Cole said. He says U.S. Marshals and FBI and ATF agents were also involved.

The suspected shooter’s truck was found abandoned several miles south near Reeds Spring and law enforcement officers searched the area nearby, Cole said. Early Tuesday, deputies approached a heat signature detected in the woods. Cole said the suspect opened fire, hitting three deputies.

One Christian County deputy was killed and two other deputies — from Christian and Webster counties — were wounded with injuries that are not considered life-threatening, Cole said. Law enforcement officers shot back, killing the suspect, he said.

Cole identified the deputy killed in the initial shooting as Deputy Gabriel Ramirez.

“Deputy Ramirez was always kind to everybody, Cole said. “He was always a friend, was always there for anybody who needed a shoulder to lean on.”

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