Kagiyama leads at the Finlandia Trophy in search of another figure skating Grand Prix win

HELSINKI (AP) — Japanese figure skater Yuma Kagiyama was on course for back-to-back wins in the Grand Prix series after he took the lead in the short program at the Finlandia Trophy on Friday.

Skating to “The Sound of Silence,” Olympic silver medalist Kagiyama opened with a quadruple salchow and landed a quad toeloop-triple toeloop combination for a score of 103.97.

That gave Kagiyama a commanding 13-point lead ahead of Saturday's free skate, though it was nearly two points below his short score on his way to winning the NHK Trophy on home ice last week.

Countryman Kazuki Tomono was second on 90.78 after landing two quads in the only other clean skate of the day. Kevin Aymoz of France was third on 85.13 despite bailing out of a planned triple lutz.

In the women's short program, Japan's Hana Yoshida took a narrow lead against a field depleted by the withdrawals last week of world silver medalist Isabeau Levito of the United States and European champion Loena Hendrickx of Belgium.

Yoshida landed a triple lutz-triple toeloop combination, though the second jump wasn't fully rotated, and a triple loop for her best short score of the season of 67.87 as she aims for a second career Grand Prix win.

Italian skater Lara Naki Gutmann got a spot in the competition because of the withdrawals and made the most of it with a personal-best 67.06 for second place with a program themed around the Netflix show “Squid Game.”

Sarah Everhardt of the United States was third on 66.28 for her Irish dance-inspired program.

Canada's Deanna Stellato-Dudek and Maxime Deschamps were firmly on course for their second Grand Prix title this season after leading the short program on 75.89. The Italian pair of Rebecca Ghilardi and Filippo Ambrosini were second on 67.43 and Hungary's Maria Pavlova and Alexei Sviatchenko third on 61.29.

The Finlandia Trophy is the fifth of six rounds in the Grand Prix series. Each skater or pair can compete twice at most. The best-placed skaters overall qualify for the Grand Prix Finals next month in Grenoble, France.

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Maxime Deschamps and Deanna Stellato-Dudek of Canada during the pairs short program at the international figure skating competition Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Mikko Stig/Lehtikuva via AP)

Sarah Everhardt of the United States competes in the women's short program at the Finlandia Trophy Grand Prix figure skating competition in Helsinki, Finland, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Mikko Stig/Lehtikuva via AP)

Hana Yoshida of Japan performs during the women's short program at the international figure skating competition Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Mikko Stig/Lehtikuva via AP)

Hana Yoshida of Japan performs during the women's short program at the international figure skating competition Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Mikko Stig/Lehtikuva via AP)

Kevin Aymoz of France skates during Men's, Short Program, at the international figure skating competition Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Mikko Stig /Lehtikuva via AP)

Kevin Aymoz of France skates during Men's, Short Program, at the international figure skating competition Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Mikko Stig /Lehtikuva via AP)

Kazuki Tomono of Japan skates during Men's, Short Program, at the international figure skating competition Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Mikko Stig /Lehtikuva via AP)

Yuma Kagiyama of Japan skates during Men's, Short Program, at the international figure skating competition Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Mikko Stig /Lehtikuva via AP)

Yuma Kagiyama of Japan skates during Men's, Short Program, at the international figure skating competition Grand Prix Finlandia Trophy in Helsinki, Finland on Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. (Mikko Stig /Lehtikuva via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Three daughters of Malcolm X have accused the CIA, FBI, the New York Police Department and others in a $100 million lawsuit Friday of playing roles in the 1965 assassination of the civil rights leader.

In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, the daughters — along with the Malcolm X estate — claimed that the agencies were aware of and were involved in the assassination plot and failed to stop the killing.

At a morning news conference, attorney Ben Crump stood with family members as he described the lawsuit, saying he hoped federal and city officials would read it “and learn all the dastardly deeds that were done by their predecessors and try to right these historic wrongs.”

The NYPD and CIA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice, which was also sued, declined comment. The FBI said in an email that it was its “standard practice” not to comment on litigation.

For decades, more questions than answers have arisen over who was to blame for the death of Malcolm X, who was 39 years old when he was slain on Feb. 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom on West 165th Street in Manhattan as he spoke to several hundred people. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, Malcolm X later changed his name to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.

Three men were convicted of crimes in the death but two of them were exonerated in 2021 after investigators took a fresh look at the case and concluded some evidence was shaky and authorities had held back some information.

In the lawsuit, the family said the prosecution team suppressed the government’s role in the assassination.

The lawsuit alleges that there was a “corrupt, unlawful, and unconstitutional” relationship between law enforcement and “ruthless killers that went unchecked for many years and was actively concealed, condoned, protected, and facilitated by government agents,” leading up to the murder of Malcolm X.

According to the lawsuit, the NYPD, coordinating with federal law enforcement agencies, arrested the activist's security detail days before the assassination and intentionally removed their officers from inside the ballroom where Malcolm X was killed. Meanwhile, it adds, federal agencies had personnel, including undercover agents, in the ballroom but failed to protect him.

The lawsuit was not brought sooner because the defendants withheld information from the family, including the identities of undercover "informants, agents and provocateurs" and what they knew about the planning that preceded the attack.

Malcolm X’s wife, Betty Shabazz, the plaintiffs, “and their entire family have suffered the pain of the unknown” for decades, the lawsuit states.

“They did not know who murdered Malcolm X, why he was murdered, the level of NYPD, FBI and CIA orchestration, the identity of the governmental agents who conspired to ensure his demise, or who fraudulently covered-up their role,” it states. "The damage caused to the Shabazz family is unimaginable, immense, and irreparable."

The family announced its intention to sue the law enforcement agencies early last year.

FILE - Malcolm X speaks to reporters in Washington, D.C., May 16, 1963. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Malcolm X's daughters Malikah Shabazz, left, Attallah Shabazz, second from left, Malaak Shabazz, third from left, and Gamilah Shabazz, talk to the media outside the Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx borough of New York, following the death of their mother, Betty Shabazz, June 23, 1997. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File)