By JOHN WAWROW

Kelly Pannek has spent the past decade enjoying a front-row view of U.S. teammate Hilary Knight and Canada’s Marie-Philip Poulin one-upping the other in a fierce, friendly rivalry involving two of the most accomplished players in the history of women’s hockey.

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Playful and easygoing as the two are away from the rink, Pannek has witnessed the intensity, gamesmanship and dialed-in ability to step up their games in the biggest moments.

“They push each other,” Pannek said, before recalling the Americans’ 6-3 gold-medal win over Canada at the 2023 world championships.

“I laugh actually because Poulin scores on the 5-on-3, and she shot it right over Hilary’s foot,” Pannek said. “Hilary took that personally, and then scored three goals and won us that game.”

Knight doesn’t dispute it. “Yeah, I was pissed,” she said, laughing. And, yes, it mattered who scored.

“When a great player finds the back of the net against you, and it’s your job to keep it out of the net, you’re like, ‘All right, let’s go,’” Knight said.

Captain America vs. Captain Clutch

The gripping back-and-forth swings of gold-medal highs and silver-medal lows have played out over some 17 years and more than 100 games on the international stage between two players with altogether different backgrounds. Knight grew up in the Chicago suburbs, and Poulin in Beauceville, a rural town an hour’s drive south of Quebec City.

It will be in Milan where the two meet next month for a fifth and potentially final time at the Winter Games.

“If that’s the case, it’s a shame,” Team Canada coach Troy Ryan said. “It’s been a privilege to watch and to be witness to the back and forth.”

They are guaranteed one more meeting in a preliminary round matchup on Feb. 10. There is a good chance they will face off again for gold nine days later. At 36, Knight already has announced these Games will be her last. At 34, Poulin has not shed light on her Olympic future.

Veteran U.S. defender Lee Stecklein still can’t fathom the thought.

“I’ll believe Hilary’s done when I see it. I don’t believe her,” she said with a laugh.

The numbers are astounding for two generational icons, and first to earn International Ice Hockey Federation female player of the year honors, Knight in 2024 and Poulin last June.

Knight has the edge with 10 world championship gold medals to Poulin’s four. Knight also holds the world tournament record for goals (67), assists (53) and points (120).

Poulin has shined at the Olympics, earning her “Captain Clutch” nickname by scoring the gold medal-winning goal three times. She is second behind Knight on the world championship list with 89 points, and second on the Olympic list with 35 points, trailing former Canadian teammate Hayley Wickenheiser.

“I think it just goes to show that we want to be the best player every single time we hop on the ice, specifically also against one another,” Knight said. “And we’re going to put on a show.”

National icons

The two are the faces of women’s hockey in their respective nations.

“It takes a really special person to be able to withstand — especially in Canada — that amount of pressure and responsibility. And she does it with grace,” former U.S. Olympian Meghan Duggan said of Poulin.

“Similar to Hilary,” added Duggan, Knight’s teammate from 2007 to 2018. “Her ability to just naturally show up in big moments is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

FILE- United States forward Hilary Knight (21) and Canada forward Marie-Philip Poulin (29) battle during the second period of the gold medal game at women’s world hockey championships in Brampton, Ontario, Sunday, April 16, 2023. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

They first met on the international stage at the 2009 world championships, where Poulin made her Team Canada debut. It didn’t take long for each to begin taking notice of the other.

Poulin’s first memory was falling into the boards on a failed backcheck as Knight broke free to score in overtime of a 3-2 win in the gold-medal game at the 2011 world championships in Zurich.

“Yeah, that’s how it started,” Poulin said, laughing.

For Knight, her first recollection of Poulin came at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

“She got loose on the draw, and it’s in the back of our net pretty quickly,” Knight said of Poulin scoring her second goal in Canada’s 2-0 gold-medal win. “Our center drops her and I’m just like, ‘Oh, my gosh, here we go.’”

They’ve gone at it ever since, and even spent a season as teammates in Montreal with the now-defunct Canadian Women’s Hockey League.

Their legacies include playing instrumental roles in the growth of women’s hockey, and in helping establish the Professional Women’s Hockey League. The league, now in its third year, grew from six to eight teams this season, with more expansion on the horizon.

“They’re both legends,” said PWHL executive Jayna Hefford, a Hockey Hall of Famer. “I think it’s a special moment for women’s hockey to have the two of them facing off maybe one last time. Who knows, right? Who knows what they might do? I’ll feel like a fan watching it and just trying to enjoy it.”

Knight has found peace in already calling these her last Olympics. And yet, she continues dropping hints to suggest a potential change of mind.

“Unless you convince me otherwise,” Knight said in November when asked if she might get the itch again. “Yeah, maybe. We’ll see.”

Settled in Seattle

Two months later, while promoting Hershey’s chocolate, Knight excitedly described the electric welcome the PWHL has received during her first season in Seattle.

“It definitely gives you a new life, a new breath,” she told The Associated Press. “It’s really heartfelt, and it only deepens that want for me to play even longer.”

She has not lost her scoring touch. Last season in Boston, Knight finished tied for the PWHL lead with 29 points. This season, she has two goals and nine points in 13 games.

Count Poulin among the doubters, saying, “We’ll see,” on whether these might be Knight’s last Olympics.

Not in question is Poulin’s admiration.

“She’s always holding herself to the highest standards. And she’s done it with tremendous professionalism and grace,” Poulin said. “She wants to leave the sport in a better place, and she has done it. And I hope she can finish with her head held high.”

AP Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno contributed to this report.

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

By WYATTE GRANTHAM-PHILIPS, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — As layoffs pile up, workers are feeling increasingly anxious about the job market.

In the U.S., economists have said that businesses are largely at a “no-hire, no fire” standstill, leading many to limit new work, if not pause openings entirely amid economic uncertainty. Hiring has stagnated overall — with the country adding a meager 50,000 jobs last month, down from a revised figure of 56,000 in November.

But a growing list of companies are also cutting jobs. Employers have initiated layoffs across sectors — with many pointing to rising operational costs that span from President Donald Trump’s barrage of new tariffs, stubborn inflation and shifts in spending from consumers, whose outlook on the U.S. economy recently plummeted to its lowest level since 2014. At the same time, some businesses are reducing their workforces as they redirect money to artificial intelligence, often baked into wider corporate restructuring.

Here are a few of the largest job cuts announced recently.

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Amazon cuts about 16,000 corporate jobs in the latest round of layoffs

Amazon

E-commerce giant Amazon slashed about 16,000 corporate roles on Wednesday — just three months after laying off another 14,000 workers. In its latest round of layoffs, Amazon cited restructuring aimed at “removing bureaucracy” in its operations, but the cuts also arrive as the company continues to ramp up spending on AI. CEO Andy Jassy previously said that he anticipated generative AI to reduce Amazon’s corporate workforce.

UPS

On Tuesday, United Parcel Service said it plans to cut up to 30,000 operational jobs this year — notably as the package company continues to reduce the number of Amazon shipments it handles amid wider turnaround efforts. UPS said these cuts will be made through a voluntary buyout offer for full-time drivers and attrition. The reductions come on top of a combined 48,000 job cuts that the company disclosed in 2025.

Tyson Foods

Late last year, Tyson Foods said it would be closing a plant that employed 3,200 people in Lexington, Nebraska — bringing job losses for nearly a third of the small town’s population of 11,000. The layoffs began on Jan. 20, but the company notified state officials that it was temporarily retaining under 300 workers to help complete the closure. Tyson in November also announced plans to cut one of two shifts at an Amarillo, Texas plant, eliminating an additional 1,700 jobs.

HP

Also in November, HP said it expected to lay off between 4,000 and 6,000 employees. The cuts are part of a wider initiative from the computer maker to streamline operations, which includes adopting AI to increase productivity. The company aims to complete these actions by the end of the 2028 fiscal year.

Verizon

Verizon began laying off more than 13,000 employees in November. In a staff memo announcing the cuts, CEO Dan Schulman said that the telecommunications giant needed to simplify operations and “reorient” the entire company.

Nestlé

In mid-October, Nestlé said it would be cutting 16,000 jobs globally — as part of wider cost cutting aimed at reviving its financial performance amid headwinds like rising commodity costs and U.S. imposed tariffs. The Swiss food giant said the layoffs would take place over the next two years.

Novo Nordisk

Also in September, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk said it would cut 9,000 jobs, about 11% of its workforce. The company — which makes drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy — said the layoffs were part of wider restructuring, as it works to sell more obesity and diabetes medications amid rising competition.

Intel

Intel has moved to shed thousands of jobs as the struggling chipmaker works to revive its business. Last year, CEO Lip-Bu Tan said Intel expected to end 2025 with 75,000 “core” workers, excluding subsidiaries, through layoffs and attrition. That’s down from 99,500 core employees reported the end of 2024. The company previously announced a 15% workforce reduction.

Procter & Gamble

Last summer, Procter & Gamble said it would cut up to 7,000 jobs over the next two years, 6% of the company’s global workforce. The maker of Tide detergent and Pampers diapers said the cuts were part of a wider restructuring — also arriving amid tariff pressures.

Microsoft

Microsoft initiated two rounds of mass layoffs last year — first impacting 6,000 and then another 9,000 positions. The tech giant cited “organizational changes,” but the cuts also arrived as the company spends heavily on AI.

Other companies that have taken job cuts recently

General Motors cut about 1,700 jobs across manufacturing sites in Michigan and Ohio last fall, in addition to hundreds of temporary layoffs for other employees.
Skydance-owned Paramount initiated roughly 1,000 layoffs in October, and later announced plans to cut another 1,600 jobs as part of diverstures in Argentina and Chile.
Target in October moved to eliminate about 1,800 corporate positions.
ConocoPhillips announced plans to lay off up to a quarter of its workforce, or between 2,600 and 3,250 workers, taking most of the cuts before the end of 2025.
Lufthansa Group says it will shed 4,000 jobs by 2030.

By SAM McNEIL

BRUSSELS (AP) — The ambitious free trade agreement between the European Union and India underscores the EU’s efforts to ink new global partnerships at a time when the Trump administration has rattled a continent deeply tied to Washington on trade, defense and diplomacy.

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The agreement announced Tuesday reflects a new priority for the 27-nation EU, the world’s largest trading bloc, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs because of opposition to American control of Greenland, only to back off days later. It follows trade deals struck or pending over the past year with India, Japan, Indonesia, Mexico and the five Mercosur nations of South America.

“The international order we relied upon for decades is no longer a given,” said Nikos Christodoulides, president of Cyprus, in a speech last week at the European Parliament. He was outlining Cyprus’ priorities as the island nation begins its six-month term at the helm of the EU.

“This moment calls for action, decisive, credible and united action. It calls for a union that is more autonomous and open to the world,” said Christodoulides, echoing widespread sentiment across the bloc.

Brussels’ deals across the world

After attending a military parade in New Delhi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed the free trade agreement to deepen economic and strategic ties with India. She called it the “mother of all deals.”

The pact could affect as many as 2 billion people and slash tariffs on nearly 97% of EU exports to India like cars and wine, and 99% of India’s shipments of goods like textiles and medicines to the EU.

“Europe and India need each other today like never before,” said Garima Mohan, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. She said that both Brussels and New Delhi had long sought closer ties as a counterweight to China’s economic rise. But the Trump administration’s newly aggressive stance on economic and security issues clinched the deal.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, center, welcomes European Council President Antonio Costa, left and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen before their meeting in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Jan. 27,2026. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

“This movement towards diversification, looking for new partners as well as building self-reliance was precipitated by the tensions with China and really driven home by the fracture of the trans-Atlantic partnership,” Mohan said. The deal “only came to pass at this particular geopolitical juncture, and that says something of the world we live in.”

The EU struck its first trade deal in July with Indonesia. Two weeks ago, von der Leyen signed a deal with the Mercosur nations of South America that was decades in the making to create a free trade market of more than 700 million people – and she’s said she has the authority to implement it despite objections raised by European Parliament.

The EU has also upgraded ties with Japan, South Korea and Australia, Pacific nations wary of Beijing’s strategic ambitions and Washington’s turbulent politics. Canada is “knocking on our door” to do the same, said Manfred Weber, head of the European People’s Party, Europe’s largest political bloc.

“There is a hope that things will change given the importance of the U.S. for us … but there is a realization now that we are a bit more alone in this world,” said Ivano di Carlo, a senior policy analyst at the European Policy Centre.

A burgeoning continental defense industry

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drove the EU to create financial tools to boost the bloc’s defense industry and infrastructure like trains, roads and ports — but the Trump administration’s criticism of the continent’s low levels of defense spending kicked those initiatives into overdrive.

Denmark’s prime minister has said Russia could pose a credible security threat to the EU by the end of the decade and that defense industries in Europe and Ukraine must be able to thwart that threat.

France has led calls for Europe to build “strategic autonomy,” and support for its stance has grown since the Trump administration warned last year that its security priorities lie elsewhere and that the Europeans would have to fend for themselves.

Shortly after Trump began his second term in the White House, EU leaders agreed to increase their own defense budgets. As a priority, 150 billion euros ($162 billion) in loans are designated for air and missile defense, artillery systems, ammunition, drones and air transport, as well as cyber systems, artificial intelligence and electronic warfare.

Industry leaders and experts across Europe have said truly self-sufficient military power would require overcoming a decades-long reliance on the U.S. as well as the fragmentation along national lines of Europe’s own defense industry.

Stocks in Europe’s major arms makers like Leonardo (Italy), Rheinmetall (Germany), Thales (France) and Saab (Sweden) have all been on the rise.

An energy dependency

While trying to cut its energy ties with Russia, the EU began buying more U.S. energy, according to the Institute for Energy Economic and Financial Analysis. But that too is risky for the bloc, said Dan Jørgensen, European commissioner for energy and housing, during a North Sea Summit in Hamburg, Germany on Monday.

The EU imports 14.5% of its oil and 60% of its liquefied natural gas from the U.S, according to the EU statistics agency Eurostat.

Jørgensen said the EU should seek further energy independence by investing in energy production and alternate suppliers.

“We do not want to replace one dependency for another — we need to diversify,” Jørgensen said.

Brussels is eyeing sources in the eastern Mediterranean and the Gulf, where negotiations are underway for a free trade deal with the United Arab Emirates.

“Decoupling is easier said than done,” but forging new global relationships gives the EU an edge in dealing with Beijing, Moscow and Washington, Mohan said.

By MICHAEL BIESECKER and LAURA BARGFELD

The man who sprayed an unknown substance on Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar at a town hall in Minneapolis has a criminal history and has made online posts supportive of President Donald Trump.

Anthony Kazmierczak, 55, was convicted of felony auto theft in 1989, has been arrested multiple times for driving under the influence, and has had numerous traffic citations, Minnesota court records show. There are also indications he has had significant financial problems, including two bankruptcy filings.

Police say Kazmierczak used a syringe to spray an unknown liquid at Omar during Tuesday’s event after she called for the abolishment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the firing or impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration enforcement officers. Officers immediately tackled and arrested Kazmierczak, who was jailed on a preliminary third-degree assault charge, police spokesperson Trevor Folke said.

Photos of the syringe, which fell when he was tackled, showed what appeared to be a light-brown liquid inside. Authorities haven’t yet publicly identified the liquid.

After the attack, there was a strong, vinegarlike smell in the room, according to an Associated Press journalist who was there. Forensic scientists were called in, but none of the roughly 100 people who were there had a noticeable physical reaction to the substance.

Omar continued speaking for about 25 minutes after Kazmierczak was ushered out, saying she wouldn’t be intimidated. While leaving, she said she felt a little flustered but wasn’t hurt, and that she was going to be screened by a medical team.

She later posted on X: “I’m ok. I’m a survivor so this small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work. I don’t let bullies win.”

A Trump supporter

Kazmierczak hadn’t been formally charged or scheduled for an initial court appearance as of Wednesday morning. The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office has until Thursday to charge him but could seek an extension. A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office didn’t immediately return a call seeking further information.

It isn’t clear if Kazmierczak has a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. The county’s chief public defender, Michael Berger, said the case hasn’t been assigned to his office.

In social media posts, Kazmierczak described himself as a former network engineer who lives in Minneapolis. Among other things, he made comments critical of former President Joe Biden and referred to Democrats as “angry and liars.”

“Trump wants the US is stronger and more prosperous,” Kazmierczak wrote. “Stop other countries from stealing from us. Bring back the fear that enemies back away from and gain respect that If anyone threatens ourselves or friends we will (expletive) them up.”

In another post, Kazmierczak asked, “When will descendants of slaves pay restitution to Union soldiers families for freeing them/dying for them, and not sending them back to Africa?”

Often at odds with the president

Omar, a progressive, has been a frequent target of Trump’s barbs since she joined Congress in 2019.

That year, Trump urged Omar and three other freshmen congresswomen of color known as “the squad” to “ go back ” to their countries if they wanted to criticize the U.S. Omar was the only one of the four born outside of the U.S., having immigrated to the country as a child when her family fled violence in Somalia.

Trump stepped up his criticism of Omar in recent months as he turned his focus on the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, which is home to about 84,000 people of Somali descent — nearly a third of the Somalis living in the U.S. During a Cabinet meeting in December, he referred to her as “garbage.” And he has linked the Twin Cities immigration crackdown to a series of fraud cases involving government programs in which most of the defendants have roots in the East African country.

The White House did not respond to a Tuesday message seeking comment. But, when asked about the attack Tuesday night, he told ABC News that he hadn’t watched the footage and accused her of staging the attack. “She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her,” Trump said.

Earlier Tuesday, the president criticized Omar as he spoke to a crowd in Iowa, saying his administration would only let in immigrants who “can show that they love our country.”

“They have to be proud, not like Ilhan Omar,” he said, drawing loud boos at the mention of her name.

He added: “She comes from a country that’s a disaster. So probably, it’s considered, I think — it’s not even a country.”

Lawmakers face rising threats

The attack came days after a man was arrested in Utah for allegedly punching U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, a Democrat from Florida, in the face during the Sundance Film Festival and saying Trump was going to deport him.

Threats against members of Congress have increased in recent years, peaking in 2021 following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol before dipping slightly only to climb again, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Capitol Police.

Following Tuesday’s attack on Omar, U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement that the agency was “working with our federal partners to see this man faces the most serious charges possible to deter this kind of violence in our society.”

Lawmakers have discussed the impact of the threatening political climate on their ability to hold town halls and public events, with some even citing it in their decisions not to seek reelection.

___

Biesecker reported from Washington. Associated Press reporter R.J. Rico in Atlanta contributed.

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