Comment on 5 things to know Friday

Whatever Chris Armas prescribed to his Colorado Rapids over the two-week international break, the giving-up-goals bug seems to have been cured. After allowing 13 goals in the four matches leading up to the break, the Rapids have now earned two straight clean sheets since returning while scoring five goals in that span, including a 3-0 win against St.

On the heels of arguably their most painful loss in an endlessly painful season, the Rockies discovered some joy with a clutch string of at-bats. Brenton Doyle delivered a game-tying sacrifice fly in the seventh and another sac fly in the ninth to hand Colorado a dramatic 7-6 win over the Dodgers on Wednesday.

Vietnam welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin, underlining its decades-old relationship with Moscow in the face of U. S. criticism over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Putin arrived in Hanoi on Thursday from North Korea, where he signed a comprehensive strategic partnership with Kim Jong Un who vowed to “unconditionally” support Russia in the war. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Read More: Putin’s North Korea Visit Reeks of Desperation, Not Strength “The visit demonstrates that Vietnam actively implements its foreign policy with the spirit of independence, self-reliance, diversification, multilateralism,” according to a statement on Vietnam’s government website. Vietnam and Russia have ties going back decades to the Soviet Union.

A blackout hit the whole of Ecuador on Wednesday, leaving the nation of 18 million without power. Energy Minister Roberto Luque blamed the massive outage on a incident with a transmission line in southern Ecuador which triggered a “cascading disconnection.” [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The blackout was the first of its kind in 20 years and “shows how fragile our system is, and reflects the energy crisis we’re experiencing,” Luque told reporters in Guayaquil.

New York’s highest court has declined to hear Donald Trump’s appeal on the gag order in his hush money case, according to a decision list posted Tuesday. The gag order, issued by Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case against Trump, remains in effect. Separately, Trump has asked Merchan to terminate the gag order ahead of his sentencing scheduled for July.

Donald Trump’s transparent attempt to portray himself as a lover of Wisconsin came hard on the heels of reporting he had called Milwaukee, the host of the upcoming RNC convention called Milwaukee, the host of the upcoming RNC convention, a “horrible city,” Oh sure, Trump and the RNC furiously tried to spin his smear of the swing state as a lie, yet Trump all but owned up to it. In case you had any doubt that Trump really did stick his foot in his mouth about Wisconsin, his clumsy, obviously insincere and faint praise during a Tuesday rally in Racine should convince you. In the clip above, Trump was whining about the “beautiful life” he would have had with 200 fewer lawyers.