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Barcelona Extends La Liga Lead; UFC Champion Retains Title; Protests Erupt in Milan; Ukraine Faces Blackouts; Gaza Border Reopens
Barcelona extended its lead at the top of La Liga with a 3-1 victory over Elche on Saturday, while Alexander Volkanovski defended his featherweight title at UFC 325 in Sydney. Meanwhile, hundreds protested the deployment of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) staff at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan, and Ukraine experienced mass power outages due to a "technical malfunction." In the Middle East, the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt saw increased activity as limited travel resumed after years of near-complete closure.
In Spain, Lamine Yamal scored one goal and created another, helping Barcelona reach 55 points from 22 matches, four ahead of Real Madrid, according to Al Jazeera. Elche remained in 12th place with 24 points from 22 games.
In Sydney, Australia's Alexander Volkanovski defeated Diego Lopes by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 50-45) at UFC 325, retaining his Ultimate Fighting Championship featherweight title. Al Jazeera reported that Lopes, with a record of 27-8 in MMA (6-3 in UFC), challenged Volkanovski (28-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC), but Volkanovski secured the win after five rounds.
In Milan, hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Piazza XXV Aprile on Saturday to protest against the presence of ICE at the Winter Olympics. Sky News reported that the protesters blew whistles and sang Bruce Springsteen songs, echoing anti-ICE demonstrations in the United States. The square is named after the date of Italy's liberation from the Nazis in 1945.
Ukraine's power grid suffered mass outages on Saturday following a "technical malfunction" that caused a simultaneous shutdown of the 400 kilovolt line between the power grids of Romania and Moldova and the 750 kilovolt line, according to Ukraine's energy minister, as reported by Euronews. The incident follows Russia's months-long campaign targeting Ukraine's critical infrastructure, which has inflicted severe damage to the energy system.
Finally, Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt was busy with activity Sunday as Israel said that limited travel to and from the territory is set to resume after years of near-complete isolation, according to the Associated Press. NPR reported that Israel announced Sunday that the crossing has opened in a test. Reopening the border crossing is a key step as the Israel-Hamas ceasefire moves ahead.
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