Randy Arozarena says he apologized to Cal Raleigh after World Baseball Classic handshake dispute

One of the odder controversies to emerge from the2026 World Baseball Classicappears to have come to a close.

Seattle Mariners outfielder Randy Arozarena released a statement Saturday saying he had apologized to star catcher Cal Raleigh for their handshake controversy during the tournament,via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times:

"I understand that with Opening Day a few days away, I don't want it to be a distraction. Cal and I have talked and I apologized for what I said after the game. Nothing in the WBC takes away from the fact that we are brothers and teammates. He's family, and we are both focused on helping the Mariners win the World Series."

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The incident in question occurred when Arozarena's Mexico team faced Raleigh and Team USA during pool play. As Arozarena came to the plate, he reached out a hand for Raleigh to shake, but the reigning AL home run champion declined to reciprocate.

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It was a seemingly harmless moment — and not even unprecedented, as Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers had the same reaction when Arozarena pulled the move during the 2023 WBC — but it soon became clear it meant something to Arozarena.

Speaking after the game,the two-time All-Star said his teammate should "f*** off" and "go to hell."

That might be a bit concerning if you're a Mariners fan, though both Raleigh and Mariners manager Dan Wilson downplayed the incident in the aftermath.Mariners first baseman Josh Naylor also decided to play the joker by facetiously making the same offer to Raleigh when his Canada team faced Team USA.

Speaking after Saturday's spring training game, Raleigh said he was also sorry:

"We talked it out. Randy knows that I love him and he's a brother. It's in the past and none of us are carrying this forward. We're in a good spot. We talked it out. We're both sorry, and we both got in a good place, and we're both happy to be here too."

With everyone now back in spring training, the matter appears settled. Both Raleigh and Arozarena are important parts of the Mariners for 2026, a season in which the club is a -105 favorite to win the AL West at BetMGM, and is tied for the third-best odds to win the World Series ast +1300.

byAlpha World

in

March 22, 2026

Randy Arozarena says he apologized to Cal Raleigh after World Baseball Classic handshake dispute

One of the odder controversies to emerge from the2026 World Baseball Classicappears to have come to a close. S...

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Arkansas survives battle with No. 12 High Point to reach second straight Sweet 16 under coach John Calipari

It took a long time to put High Point away, but head coach John Calipari and Arkansas are making a return trip to theNCAA tournament'sSweet 16.

Arkansas, after a battle with No. 12 High Point, pulled away behind a massive 36-point outing from star Darius Acuff Jr. as theNo. 4 Razorbacks picked up a 94-88 win over the Panthersat the Moda Center in Portland. It was Arkansas' second straight trip to the Sweet 16 since Calipari took over.

High Point hung in there in the first half, and even took the lead over Arkansas briefly down the stretch after Chase Johnston drained a 3-pointer on the wing. Johnston barely touched the ball before he fired.

Arkansas ended up taking a one-point lead into the locker room. The Razorbacks shot 49% from the field in the first 20 minutes, but couldn't get much separation from the Panthers.

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Arkansas finally pulls away

Acuff was trying to create some distance from the Panthers for nearly all of the second half, it just took him awhile to pull that off.

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It looked like he nearly got it done early, after he fought through contact and converted a tough and-one layup just inside the five-minute mark. That put the Razorbacks up by seven points, which was their largest lead of the game.

But the Panthers cut it back to a single possession a minute later when Rob Martin drew a foul on a fast-break layup. He tied it up a possession later with an easy layup, which got him to 30 points on the night.

Then High Point's shots stopped falling. Johnston missed back-to-back 3-point attempts, and Martin had one blocked. Arkansas came up with several stops in a row, which proved to be the key. Then Acuff drained a 3-pointer, a bucket that was big enough to push the Razorbacks to the win.

Acuff had six assists with his 36 points. He shot 11-of-22 from the field and had just two turnovers all night. The freshman, who earned consensus All-American honors and was the SEC's Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, averaged 23 points and 6.6 assists per game this season.

Martin had 30 points and five assists to lead the Panthers, who beat Wisconsin on a late layup in the final seconds in the first round. That marked the program's first NCAA tournament win in history. Cam'Ron Fletcher added 25 points and eight rebounds off the bench, and Terry Anderson finished with 15 points.

Arkansas will now take on either top-seeded Arizona or Utah State in the Sweet 16 next weekend in California. A win there would send Calipari, who is competing in his 15th career Sweet 16, into the Elite Eight for the first time since 2019 when he was with Kentucky.

Even though Saturday's outing was far from the blowout win they posted in the first round, the Razorbacks are still standing. If Acuff pulls out another performance like he did against the Panthers, there's no telling how far the program can go this March.

byAlpha World

in

March 22, 2026

Arkansas survives battle with No. 12 High Point to reach second straight Sweet 16 under coach John Calipari

It took a long time to put High Point away, but head coach John Calipari and Arkansas are making a return trip to theNCAA...

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Japanese national detained in Iran last year has been released, Japan's foreign minister says

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Sunday that one of twoJapanese nationals detained in Iranhas been released and is headed home.

Motegi, speaking on a Fuji Television talk show, said the person had been detained since last year and was released on Wednesday. He said the person took a flight from Azerbaijan which was scheduled to arrive in Japan on Sunday.

Kyodo News agency and other Japanese media said the former detainee later returned to Japan.

Motegi said another Japanese national who was arrested earlier this year is still in custody.

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Motegi said the release came after his repeated demands to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and that he is "working to win an early release" of the other detainee while communicating with his family and other concerned parties.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has named the person detained in Iran in January as a journalist at Japan's public broadcaster NHK. The CPJ said the NHK journalist was arrested Jan. 20 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was transferred Feb. 23 to Evin Prison, quoting unidentified sources citing fear of persecution.

Motegi did not identify either of the people detained but said the released Japanese national was detained in 2025.

The Foreign Ministry said earlier this month the detainees were safe and in good health, but only acknowledged that one was detained last year and the other one in January.

The ministry gave no further details and did not say whether the two cases were related.

byAlpha World

in

March 22, 2026

Japanese national detained in Iran last year has been released, Japan's foreign minister says

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Sunday that one of twoJapanese nationals detained in Iranha...

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Cuba plunged into second nationwide blackout in less than a week

Cuba has suffered another island-wide electrical blackout, the Ministry of EnergyannouncedSaturday evening, leaving more than 10 million people without power.

"A total disconnection of the National Electric System has occurred," the ministry said in a post on X. "Protocols for restoration are already beginning to be implemented."

Cuba was still recovering from a nationwide power grid collapse on Monday, the first since the US beganblocking fuel suppliesfrom Venezuela earlier this year. Just prior to Saturday's blackout, the country's state-owned electricity companyreportedon social media that it was expecting a power deficit of 1.704 megawatts during its busiest period on Saturday night.

US President Donald Trump has spoken frequently in recent weeks about Cuba, predicting an imminent collapse of its communist government. On Monday, he wondered aloud whether he would have the "honor of taking" the island.

"You know, all my life I've been hearing about United States and Cuba, when will the United States having the honor of taking Cuba? That's a big honor," Trump said from the White House. "Taking Cuba in some form, yeah, taking Cuba — I mean, whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it."

The president refused to say when asked whether an operation to "take" Cuba would involve the same level of force as the US capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro – a key ally of Havana – in January.

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Yesterday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said in a speech to international activists bringing humanitarian aid to the island that his government recognizes that "there could be an attack on Cuba," and is preparing accordingly.

Last week, Díaz-Canel confirmed in a national address that Cuban officials were speaking with their US counterparts about negotiations to end the fuel embargo. Since then, Cuba's government has clarified that it does not intend to negotiate about its political system.

Since Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista in 1959, the country has been under a strict economic embargo from the United States. Cuba has weathered previous stretches of severe economic uncertainty, such as the "Special Period," when the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union cut the communist government's main source of outside assistance.

This latest crisis is similarly bleak. The lack of fuel from Mexico and Venezuela has stopped virtually all tourism to the island, disrupted education, cut services at hospitals, and prevented farmers from taking their produce to market.

CNN's Uriel Blanco, Patrick Oppmann and Anabella González contributed.

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byAlpha World

in

March 22, 2026

Cuba plunged into second nationwide blackout in less than a week

Cuba has suffered another island-wide electrical blackout, the Ministry of EnergyannouncedSaturday evening, leaving more ...

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Museum sues Trump administration alleging it canceled grant on basis of race

An Underground Railroad museum in upstate New York alleged in a lawsuit Friday that the Trump administration unlawfully terminated its federal grant on the basis of race, pointing to President Donald Trump's efforts to dismantle diversity-focused initiatives.

The Underground Railroad Education Center, located in Albany N.Y., alleges in its lawsuit that the National Endowment for the Humanities' cancelation of a $250,000 grant amounted to viewpoint and racial discrimination, violating the First and Fifth Amendments, respectively.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York, calls for the funds to be reinstated.

The suit citedTrump's January 2025 executive orderthat required federal agencies to eliminate any operations supporting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within 60 days. The 40-page brief outlined 1,400 grants that were terminated in early April 2025 "for their conflict with President Trump's EOs and the new agency priorities adopted in their wake."

Nina Loewenstein, a lawyer for the museum, told NBC News that there is "just no legitimate basis" for the grant's cancellation, adding that it is "just explicitly erasing things associated with the Black race."

Loewenstein and the team of lawyers volunteering on the case through Lawyers for Good Government, an organization that provides free legal services for civil and human rights cases, argued that the Underground Railroad Education Center is just one of thousands of organizations that have been unlawfully targeted by the Trump administration.

"Numerous statements of the current Executive Branch leadership reflect overt and coded racism supporting white supremacy and denigrating Black history in America," the lawsuit said.

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It added that the administration "systematically targeted grantees and programs that sought to increase the public's understanding of Black history and cultures."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday evening.

The Trump administration has targeted museums and exhibits across the United States in an effort to enforce the president's anti-DEI directives. A judge ordered the administration last month torestore a slavery exhibit in Philadelphiaafter pieces of artwork and informational displays were removed at the President's House Site.

The administration also changed which days Americanscan visit national parks for freethis year in a November directive, removing Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth. In August, it called foran expansive review of the Smithsonian's museumexhibitions, materials and operations to ensure they aligned with the president's view of history.

The Underground Railroad Education Center is based in the home of Stephen and Harriet Myers, abolitionists who helped thousands of people escape slavery in the decades leading up to the Civil War, according to the museum's co-founders, Paul and Mary Liz Stewart.

The Stewarts began working on Underground Railroad research in the late 1990s, after Mary Liz, a fifth-grade teacher at the time, heard from her students that they had almost no awareness on the subject despite the deep ties it had to their neighborhood. Since 2004, the couple has worked to restore the home and turn it into a place at the center of the community, hosting tours and activities.

The Stewarts had been working towards funding a $12 million project to construct an interpretive center next to the Myers' residence, as its current operations have outgrown the space. Losing the $250,000 grant from the NEH, they said, caused a major setback for the project.

Mary Liz said the grant "validated who we are as an organization, what we were trying to do. And in turn, sort of said to the to the wider world, this is an organization worth paying attention to."

byAlpha World

in

March 22, 2026

Museum sues Trump administration alleging it canceled grant on basis of race

An Underground Railroad museum in upstate New York alleged in a lawsuit Friday that the Trump administration unlawfully t...

Read More