Hard Times Getting Harder

HOUSTON — Miami Dolphins star wide receiver Jaylen Waddle injured his right knee in the first half of Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans. Waddle was blocking on a run by tailback De’Von Achane, and he had a Texans defender roll up over his right leg. The fourth-year wide receiver quickly hopped on his left leg to the Miami sideline.

The Miami Dolphins will need a huge rally to get a win in Houston against the 8-5 Texans. Catch up with the commentary of the Sun Sentinel’s Dolphins coverage team.

By WAFAA SHURAFA and NATALIE MELZER DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel said Sunday it will close its embassy in Ireland as relations deteriorated over the war in Gaza, where Palestinian medical officials said new Israeli airstrikes killed over 30 people including several children. The decision to close the embassy came in response to what Israel’s foreign minister has described as Ireland’s “extreme anti-Israel policies.” In May, Israel recalled its ambassador to Dublin after Ireland announced, along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, it would recognize a Palestinian state. The Irish cabinet last week decided to formally intervene in South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

DETROIT — It is easy to forget in the NBA what happened a month ago. The games, the practices, the flights tend to keep it all very much forward thinking. And then the NBA filled out its schedule for teams that did not make it to the NBA Cup’s knockout rounds and here are the Heat, back in Detroit Monday night, again to take the court at Little Caesars Arena, 34 days after last visiting, back at the scene of the crime. Well, perhaps not a moment necessarily criminal, but a moment when a lapse robbed them of a chance at victory. To refresh: After bungling a defensive possession up two with 1.8 seconds to play in overtime, when Pistons center Jalen Duren somewhat broke free at the rim for a tying alley-oop dunk, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra marched onto the court, signaling a timeout. A timeout he did not have. One that led to a technical foul. A technical foul that afforded the Pistons’ Malik Beasley the free throw that put Detroit up one with 1.1 seconds to play in what would close as a 123-121 Heat loss. In the immediate wake, a shaken Spoelstra said in that Nov.

By SAMYA KULLAB KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian drone struck a campus belonging to Russia’s National Guard Sunday in the Russian region of Chechnya, as Kyiv continues to strike back after a mass air attack from Moscow. Footage on social media showed a drone swooping low over the Chechen capital, Grozny, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of the front line in Ukraine, before exploding.

GAINESVILLE — The list of animals hit by airplanes in Florida so far this year reads like a tragic version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”: five opossums, four iguanas, three turtles, two alligators and a coyote on a runway that, luckily, narrowly missed meeting with a 737 landing in Tampa. Other strange terrestrials have found their way in the paths of planes in recent years, including snakes, deer, foxes, armadillos, raccoons and cats as reports of wildlife strikes continue to rise in the state, according to the latest data from the Federal Aviation Administration.