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HONG KONG (AP) — At Lunar New Year, red holds the promise of luck and reunion — a color meant to call people home and carry wishes for the year ahead.

Lunar New Year Red Photo Gallery

It sits at entrances and lingers along walls. It threads through wishes and wraps around food. In smoke, it lifts and thins into the air.

Across much of Asia — where the festival is known as the Spring Festival, Tet, or Seollal — the new year is marked by rituals long believed to gather people against darkness and draw good fortune near. This year's festival begins the Year of the Horse, one of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac.

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These photographs follow the color red from public celebrations to smaller, everyday spaces.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP'scollaborationwith The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

With the fresh fantasy baseball season approaching, it's time to get you some tiered rankings from my Shuffle Up series. Use these for salary cap drafts, straight drafts, keeper decisions or merely a view of how the position ebbs and flows. We've already handled all the hitters; now, we move to the mound.

Starting pitchers in fantasy baseball are similar to running backs in fantasy football. The position will generally be riddled with injuries. We'll want to have several speculation plays on our bench, guys who just need one thing to click. And getting this position right — or running lucky at this position — is probably the most important part of your fantasy season.

[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Baseball league for the 2026 MLB season]

In past years, I would often be the last manager to address starting pitching, blanching at the uncertainty. Occasionally, I had success with this concept (one year I won the Yahoo Friends & Family League despite not drafting a starter; I did build a staff later) but I've since discarded the idea as a -EV strategy.

I want to proactively build my staff, like most of my competitors, at the draft. And I'll have to live with the variance like anyone else.

The numbers are unscientific in nature and meant to reflect where talent clusters and drops off. Assume a 5x5 scoring system, as usual, and away we go.

More Tiered Rankings

• Catcher

• First Base

• Second Base

• Shortstop

• Third Base

• Outfield

• Starting Pitcher

• Relief Pitcher

The Big Tickets

• $43 Tarik Skubal

• $41 Paul Skenes

• $39 Garrett Crochet

• $36 Cristopher Sánchez

• $35 Yoshinobu Yamamoto

• $35 Hunter Brown

• $34 Logan Webb

• $32 Logan Gilbert

• $31 Jacob deGrom

• $30 Chris Sale

If you're open to a high-priced ace but would prefer to start with a hitter, pray that Crochet slips to the second part of your draft. He's in the prime of his career, tied to a team expected to contend for the playoffs and not reliant on a max-velocity fastball. Crochet will also be helped by his defense — the infield might be in flux, but the outfielders are all excellent, and the catching is also above average. Crochet was a little homer-prone at Fenway but still dominant there, and no one touched him on the road (2.25/1.00). The Red Sox were right to go all-in on Chris Sale once upon a time, and history repeated itself when it cleared out the prospect chest for Crochet last year.

Because the Dodgers already have nine toes in the playoffs, I'm going to be careful with workload projections for everyone on staff. Los Angeles will basically run a six-man rotation all year, and anytime a pitcher has the slightest hiccup with their arms and elbows, a rest is to be expected. Yamamoto is the only L.A. pitcher who's qualified for the ERA title over the last three years (162 innings), and he's also the only returning Dodger starter who logged more than 91 innings last year.

Webb is 60 innings ahead of the field over the past three years and working in San Francisco mitigates some of his mistakes. With a good-but-not-elite strikeout clip and a ground-ball bias, we have to accept that in some starts, Webb will get crushed by BABIP misfortune. And you have to be okay with his fastball checking in at an ordinary 92.6 mph. But Webb looks like a perfect fourth-round target to me.

DeGrom's inning count has turned into an unsolvable SAT question. Starting in 2021 and cutting off the partials, this is what we're looking at: 92, 64, 30, 10, 172. He's moving into his age-38 season. Maybe it's a fool's errand to suppose any pitcher has a legitimate floor, but I know deGrom at this stage doesn't have one. My heart will always be invested in deGrom, so I'll avoid doubling down with fantasy investment. You have to decide for yourself.

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Legitimate Building Blocks

• $28 Bryan Woo

• $27 Hunter Greene

• $26 Max Fried

• $25 Cole Ragans

• $25 Joe Ryan

• $25 Freddy Peralta

• $23 Framber Valdez

• $23 Jesús Luzardo

• $22 George Kirby

• $22 Dylan Cease

• $20 Blake Snell

• $19 Kyle Bradish

• $18 Nick Pivetta

Rotator cuff problems cost Ragans more than half of his season, but the rest of his results were a cause of bad luck — everyreasonable ERA estimatorsays he should have been in the mid-2s, not the 4.67 number on the back of his card. Ragans gave us a reminder of his upside with 13 return innings in September, striking out 22. There's no reason why he can't return to his 2024 level of production (3.14/1.14, fourth in Cy Young voting).

Cease was a frustrating case last year, as he piled up 215 strikeouts but gave us hurtful ratios (4.55/1.33). Toronto's defense should help him turn more batted events into outs. Maybe he's not going to challenge for the Cy Young again, but normalized sequencing should give him a mid-3s ERA, and he's proven to be durable. Don't let his standard stats scare you off.

Talk Them Up, Talk Them Down

• $17 Nolan McLean

• $17 Tyler Glasnow

• $15 Kevin Gausman

• $14 Eury Pérez

• $13 Sonny Gray

• $13 Luis Castillo

• $13 Trey Yesavage

• $13 Robbie Ray

• $13 Cam Schlittler

• $13 Zack Wheeler

• $13 Spencer Strider

• $13 Nathan Eovaldi

• $13 Michael King

• $12 Brandon Woodruff

• $12 Shane Bieber

• $12 Sandy Alcantara

• $12 Jacob Misiorowski

• $12 Gavin Williams

• $12 Chase Burns

• $12 Trevor Rogers

• $12 Shota Imanaga

• $12 MacKenzie Gore

• $12 Andrew Abbott

• $11 Emmet Sheehan

• $11 Nick Lodolo

• $11 Bubba Chandler

• $11 Ranger Suárez

• $11 Shohei Ohtani

• $11 Cade Horton

• $10 Ryan Pepiot

• $10 Tanner Bibee

• $10 Carlos Rodón

• $10 Jack Flaherty

The Brewers have become the new Rays, the low-market team that makes better decisions than just about everyone else and winds up in the tournament every fall. Thus, I want to be proactive with their high-upside arms like Misiorowski and Henderson, while fully understanding that the team will be careful with workloads and pitch counts. If Misiorowski even gets to 24 starts, he probably returns his spring draft cost.

The early market is not bullish on Abbott, which means he can actually be worse than last year and still return a profit. Regress-and-win players are my jam. The strikeouts will play, andfly-ball pitchersare misunderstood — at least they're showing control of their outcomes.

The Marlins are ready to take the training wheels off with Pérez, and it's hard to unsee that tidy 0.96 WHIP he had over his final 16 starts. With the Tommy John surgery firmly in the background, Pérez is poised for a possible breakout. Hopefully, he doesn't feel like he needs to strike out the world — the Marlins have a problematic defense.

Some Plausible Upside

• $9 Drew Rasmussen

• $9 Shane McClanahan

• $9 Matthew Boyd

• $8 Merrill Kelly

• $8 Zac Gallen

• $7 Shane Baz

• $7 Edward Cabrera

• $6 Bailey Ober

• $6 David Peterson

• $6 Joe Musgrove

• $6 *Gerrit Cole

• $5 Aaron Nola

• $5 Tatsuya Imai

• $5 Bryce Miller

• $5 Jameson Taillon

Peruse theBoyd splitsand you might abandon the case — 12 of his wins were at home but he was a mess on the road, and his breakout stopped in the second half (4.63/1.19). And last season was his first full year starting out of six. But the Cubs have a top-five defense and a top-five lineup to support Boyd, and Yahoo rooms are giving you a reasonable 197.6 ticket. I can sign off.

Ober has always been a curious case, a 6-foot-9 righty withbelow-average velocity. A hip problem was probably responsible for his messy 2025; his three years prior gave us a 3.66 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He's well priced for profit, even if the Minnesota defense is no longer an asset.

Nola routinely comes upshort of his expected statsto the point that you have to accept it as part of his profile. And even if that horrible 6.01 ERA was reduced to his 4.58 FIP, it's not like either stat helps you. His fastball has lost velocity for four straight seasons and homers, always a problem, hit a new low last season. Nola might seem like a tantalizing name pick at a reduced ADP, but I'm not chasing him on the back-9 of a slowly-fading career.

Bargain Bin

• $4 José Soriano

• $4 Roki Sasaki

• $4 Noah Cameron

• $4 Quinn Priester

• $4 Logan Henderson

• $4 Clay Holmes

• $4 Seth Lugo

• $3 Connelly Early

• $3 Ryne Nelson

• $3 Kris Bubic

• $3 Mitch Keller

• $3 Casey Mize

• $3 Michael Wacha

• $3 Sean Manaea

• $3 Shane Smith

• $3 Chris Bassitt

• $3 Brayan Bello

• $3 Ryan Weathers

• $3 Zebby Matthews

• $3 *Corbin Burnes

• $2 Yusei Kikuchi

• $2 Jack Leiter

• $2 Zach Eflin

• $2 Brady Singer

• $2 Reynaldo López

• $2 Parker Messick

• $2 *Hurston Waldrep

• $2 Ian Seymour

• $2 Brandon Pfaadt

• $2 Kodai Senga

• $2 José Berríos

• $2 Justin Verlander

• $2 Max Meyer

• $2 Lucas Giolito

• $2 Braxton Garrett

• $2 Dustin May

• $2 Cody Ponce

• $2 Matthew Liberatore

• $2 Dean Kremer

• $1 *Spencer Schwellenbach

• $1 *Grayson Rodriguez

• $1 Cade Cavalli

• $1 Jeffrey Springs

• $1 Joey Cantillo

• $1 Troy Melton

• $1 Will Warren

• $1 Braxton Ashcraft

• $1 Michael McGreevy

• $1 Luis Severino

• $1 Slade Cecconi

• $1 Mike Burrows

• $1 Chad Patrick

• $1 Jonah Tong

• $1 Zack Littell

• $1 Eduardo Rodríguez

• $1 Tyler Mahle

• $1 Payton Tolle

Senga has a wide range of outcomes — you could imagine him being in a playoff rotation come October, but he's also not guaranteed to make the Mets out of training camp. Maybe Senga's second-half collapse was mostly about hamstring problems, but keep in mind he's 33 and we're three years removed from his last full season.

With someone like Matthews, we follow the strikeout rate and the prospect pedigree and hope he can improve the control. His ultimate success will come down to finding a solution against lefties, who slashed .316/.372/.572 against him last year.

Kevin Durant has found himself at the center of more "burner" account accusations, the latest of which swirled on social media while the Houston Rockets standout played in his 16th NBA All-Star Game on Sunday.

The 37-year-old is alleged to be behind direct messages from an anonymous account that criticized players and coaches he's accompanied during a career that's seen him win two titles and one league MVP award.

"I know you gotta ask these questions, but I'm not here to get into Twitter nonsense,"Durant told reporters after Houston's practice on Wednesday. "I'm just here to focus on the season, keep it pushing. But I get you have to ask those questions."

Durant added:

"My teammates know what it is. We've been locked in the whole season. ... We had a great practice today, looking forward to this road trip."

At the moment, there's no evidence actually linking these critical comments to Durant. Still,social media ran rampant with the theory, circulating screenshots of an anonymous user who, among other things, blamed Rockets All-Star center Alperen Şengün for his defense, said that they couldn't trust forward Jabari Smith Jr. to make a shot or get a stop and took a dig at former Phoenix Suns star teammate Devin Booker.

Durant is quick to quip, confront and discuss with everyday social media users from his own verified X account,which has more than 19 million followers. He isn't afraid to stir the pot online or engage with casual fans. Many love him for that kind of engagement, which he willingly offers and most NBA stars avoid.

Durant was asked at this year's All-Star Weekend media availability on Saturday if he'd rather give up video games or Twitter, now known as X, for the rest of his life.

"I'm gonna go Twitter,"Durant said before continuing jokingly, "because they don't deserve to hear this God-level-like talk I'm giving to them. They take it for granted."

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But Durant has used burner accounts before.

In 2017, Durant posted in the third-person from his personal account, throwing shade on the Oklahoma City Thunder and then-head coach Billy Donovan while explaining his decision from the previous year to leave the franchise that drafted him for the Golden State Warriors, a Western Conference foe and the league's crown jewel at the time.

Durant owned his mistake and apologized for itin the aftermath of the social media storm he caused.

In 2019,according to The Athletic, Durant said in an interview on ESPN's "The Boardroom" that he used anonymous accounts as a way to speak out and dodge the notoriety that's often impossible to hide from as an NBA player.

Durant is playing in his 18th NBA season. He's spent 19 total years in the league, representing five franchises.

Now with the Rockets, he's still among the best in the sport. He's shooting above 50% from the field and north of 40% from 3. His 25.8 points per game are tops on the team.

While fourth in the West, the 33-20 Rockets will need a strong push to grab the No. 2 seed like they did ahead of last year's playoffs.

Durant is trying to tune out the noise, even if it's once again loud and scrutinizing his social-media presence.

Less than a month afterwinning Super Bowl 60, the Seattle Seahawks are going up for sale. The franchise announced it had begun a "formal sale process" Wednesday in the hopes of selling the franchise in the coming months.

The team announced the move on social media, saying it was "consistent with [former owner Paul] Allen's directive" after his death.

Allen's foray into sports ownership began in 1988, when he purchased the Portland Trail Blazers. He entered the NFL world in 1997, buying the Seahawks.

In 2009, Allen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.He died in 2018due to complications from the cancer. Since Allen's death, the Seahawks have been owned by his estate, which is headed by his sister, Jody Allen.

As part of Allen's will, he dictated that his sports holdings should be sold following his death, with the proceeds going toward philanthropic efforts. In addition to that, the NFL does not allow a trust to serve as a team owner. NFL teams must be owned by individuals.

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The Trail Blazers followed through on Allen's directive, goingup for sale in May.The team was sold a few months later,going for over $4 billion.

Because of that, it was only a matter of time before the Seahawks also went up for sale. But not before a little infighting between the franchise and the NFL. In January, reports emerged suggesting the Seahawks would be put up for sale after the Super Bowl. Allen's estate refuted those reports, saying theteam was not for sale.

The NFL took issue with that, reportedlyfining the team $5 millionfor refusing to adhere to league rules.

A sale could come together relatively soon. The Seahawks hired Allen & Company, an investment bank, to help lead the sale process. Allen & Company was also hired by Allen's estate when it was looking to sell the Trail Blazers, and that deal came together after just a few months.

The Seahawks stand to be sold for a higher price than the Trail Blazers. In August, Sportico estimatedSeahawks' value at $6.59 billion. It's unclear how much the team's price has risen following its impressive run to a Super Bowl title this season.

It's every parent's biggest fear. A shocking video shows a man attempting to snatch a child away from her mother at a northern Italian supermarket.

The incident occurred at Esselunga mall in Bergamo on Saturday, Feb. 14, Storyful reported.

Surveillance footageshared by the Italian State Policecaptured the alleged attacker grabbing the girl before trying to flee, resulting in a violent physical confrontation between the man, the child's parents and other witnesses on the scene.

"The woman's resistance prevented the worst from happening until her father, the security guards, and the bystanders stopped the attacker until the police arrived," police said in the press release translated to English.

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Watch video of the attempted kidnapping

See Lunar New Year celebrations around the world full of color, tradition

Man arrested, charged following attempted kidnapping

According to the Italian State Police, the victim was transported to the hospital and was determined to have a fractured femur.

More news:Gisèle Pelicot's rape trial captivated world. Her memoir tells the story.

The unidentified man was arrested. Following an investigation, he was charged "with attempted aggravated kidnapping, as it was committed against a minor, and aggravated bodily harm," the news release from Italian police stated.

Taylor Ardrey is a news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at tardrey@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Man tries to snatch child in attempted kidnapping at supermarket