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Angels lingering around .500 despite the exploits of Ohtani and Trout

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

The week began with another remarkable feat by Shohei Ohtani — he reached base five times in a game he pitched — and then Mike Trout hit a couple home runs later in that series.Through it all, the Los Angeles Angels still looked pretty average.The Angels are 25-23, so they appear poised to improve on last season’s dismal 73-89 mark. They might even finish with a winning record for the first time since 2015. But the bar is likely to be much higher if they want to reach the postseason with the Ohtani-Trout combo.Right now, Los Angeles is third in the AL West behind Texas and Houston, and the competition for the wild cards figures to be formidable thanks to the strength of the AL East.The Angels did manage a split in a four-game series at Baltimore and then took two of three against AL Central-leading Minnesota, but the reality is they’ve had a hard time getting too far from the .500 mark. Los Angeles has had records of 1-1, 5-5, 7-7, 8-8, 9-9, 10-10, 11-11, 12-12, 14-14 an...

Koepka gets another major win at PGA, LIV gets a major champion

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Brooks Koepka now has five major championships, remarkable because he only started playing them on a regular basis 10 years ago. Slightly more than a third of his wins on top-level tours around the world have come with the biggest trophies in golf.LIV Golf now has one major.No one is keeping score that way, and Koepka didn’t sound terribly interested in measuring how much of an effect his PGA Championship victory Sunday at Oak Hill would mean for the Saudi-funded rival league he joined last summer.The chatter about guaranteed riches up front, 48-man fields with no cut and $20 million purses for the individual competition was that players would be too comfortable to work or perhaps too rich to care about what matters in golf.Majors matter to Koepka, no matter where he’s playing. All he ever wanted was good health.He never looked better at Oak Hill, a tough course that demanded exquisite golf. Not since Tiger Woods has anyone won so many majors in so...

Young Indiana Fever focusing on present during 20-game skid and not their losing past

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The Indiana Fever are just focusing on this season and not dwelling on the past.Indiana (0-2) lost its 20th consecutive game dating to last year with Sunday’s 90-73 loss to New York. That tied the Tulsa Shock for the longest losing skid in WNBA history. Indiana also owns the third-longest losing streak “We poured our mess out in our first team meeting,” Indiana first-year head coach Christie Sides said. “We’re not talking about last year. We’ve got to figure out how to find that win.”Indiana hopes that victory comes next Sunday in its next game when the Fever visit Atlanta.“(We’re) 0-2. That’s all that matters,” Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell said. “I can’t help what history says. (Stinks) to be a part of it. I feel we are in transition and changing and I do my best to lean on that.”Mitchell was part of the team last season that lost its final 18 games. She already feels a shift in the organization.“Culture has been big for our program and organization...

AP Interview: Spy chief warns authoritarian states stoking anti-government mood in Germany

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency warned Monday of a rise in anti-government extremism fueled by authoritarian states such as Russia that seek to divide society and topple the government. German security agencies have disrupted several plots in recent years by small groups linked to the Reich Citizens movement accused of planning attacks on critical infrastructure, government officials and even the national parliament. While it is unclear how far advanced such plans were, authorities have expressed alarm that the alleged plotters had acquired weapons and included people who aren’t usually on the radar of security agencies, such as judges and police officers.Thomas Haldenwang, who heads the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, or BfV, said the mixing of previously separate groups — from far-right extremists to QAnon conspiracy theorists — and their willingness to use violence was particularly worrying.“What links all of the...

Nordic American Tankers: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

HAMILTON HM 11, Bermuda (AP) — Nordic American Tankers Ltd. (NAT) on Monday reported net income of $46.9 million in its first quarter.On a per-share basis, the Hamilton Hm 11, Bermuda-based company said it had profit of 22 cents.The tanker company posted revenue of $87.1 million in the period._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on NAT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NATSource

Facebook parent Meta hit with record fine for transferring European user data to US

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The European Union slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion privacy fine Monday and ordered it to stop transferring user data across the Atlantic by October, the latest salvo in a decadelong case sparked by U.S. cybersnooping fears.The penalty fine of 1.2 billion euros from Ireland’s Data Protection Commission is the biggest since the EU’s strict data privacy regime took effect five years ago, surpassing Amazon’s 746 million euro penalty in 2021 for data protection violations. The Irish watchdog is Meta’s lead privacy regulator in the 27-nation bloc because the Silicon Valley tech giant’s European headquarters is based in Dublin. Meta, which had previously warned that services for its users in Europe could be cut off, vowed to appeal and ask courts to immediately put the decision on hold. “There is no immediate disruption to Facebook in Europe,” the company said. “This decision is flawed, unjustified and sets a dangerous precedent for the c...

French Open offers players protection against online harassment

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

PARIS (AP) — French Open organizers are giving all players access to an online tool meant to protect them from cyberbullying and harassment on social media. The French tennis federation said Monday the technology developed by a French company will be made available to all players taking part in this year’s clay-court Grand Slam tournament. The software uses artificial intelligence to filter comments posted to social media accounts and block those that are deemed toxic or abusive. It said the tool “aims to preserve the players, their mental health, the values of sport and tennis and to banish people who come to spread their aggression and hatred on social networks.” “Tennis being one of the sports most affected by this scourge, athletes can thus be victims in a direct or indirect way,” the federation added.Players and tennis officials can opt to connect their social networks to the technology, developed by the Bodyguard.ai company, before the tournament and keep it in pla...

Australian prime minister says he is working effectively to free WikiLeaks founder

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia: (AP) — Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was working in the “most effective way possible” to secure the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, but declined an invitation Monday to meet the Australian citizen’s wife.Independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie asked Albanese if he would meet Assange’s wife Stella Assange, who was watching Parliament from the public gallery. Albanese said a meeting with Stella Assange wouldn’t help her 51-year-old husband who is in a London prison fighting extradition to the United States.“A priority for us isn’t doing something that is a demonstration, it’s actually doing something that produces an outcome,” Albanese told Parliament. “And that’s my focus, not grandstanding.”Albanese was with U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in Japan over the weekend for the Group of Seven leading industrial nations summit. Albanese did not say whether he had raised with either leader Australia’s positio...

European Union hits Facebook parent Meta with record $1.3 billion fine over transfers of user data to US

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

LONDON (AP) — European Union hits Facebook parent Meta with record $1.3 billion fine over transfers of user data to US.Source

Stock market today: Global shares mostly rise despite worries about US debt talks

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:28:15 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Global shares mostly drifted higher Monday as investors fretted over whether the United States government will be able to reach a deal to avoid a federal default.France’s CAC 40 inched down less than 0.1% in early trading to 7,489.72, while Germany’s DAX slipped 0.1% to 16,261.45. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3% to 7,780.30. U.S. shares drifted higher with Dow futures up less than 0.1% at 33,512.00. S&P 500 futures rose less than 0.1% to 4,206.00. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.9% to finish at 31,086.82. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slid 0.2% to 7,263.30. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.8% to 2,557.08. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.2% to 19,678.17, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.4% to 3,296.47. Markets are closely watching a pivotal meeting set for later in the day at the White House between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the debt ceiling. A default on the U.S. debt would almost surely ca...