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Bassitt goes 8 strong for Jays, who improve playoff positioning in 7-1 win ove Athletics

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Former Athletics ace Chris Bassitt allowed one run in eight strong innings and the Toronto Blue Jays took sole possession of the third AL wild card spot with a 7-1 win over Oakland on Tuesday night.Toronto’s fifth win in six games moved the Blue Jays past the Rangers in the crowded AL playoff race. Texas lost to Houston 14-1 earlier in the day.“We’re showing a lot of maturity behind the scenes of not chasing a 3½ game deficit within one game,” Bassitt said. “Just concentrate on ourselves and win every series. If we win every series the rest of the way, we’re going to be world champions. That’s the way it is.”The Blue Jays did it behind plenty of offense and a superb outing from Bassitt (14-7), who was 30-24 over six seasons with the A’s and was an All-Star in his final season with Oakland in 2021. The 6-foot-5 right-hander allowed seven hits and didn’t walk anyone while striking out seven. Despite his history with the A’s, Bassitt said he didn’t have any added...

Ben Shelton tops Frances Tiafoe in historic US Open quarterfinal

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Ben Shelton reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at age 20 by edging Frances Tiafoe 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-2 at the U.S. Open in a back-and-forth contest filled with huge hitting by both on a muggy night.The matchup, which began in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday evening and ended after midnight on Wednesday, was the first major quarterfinal of the Open era, which dates to 1968, between two African-American men. It was also the first U.S. Open quarterfinal since 2005 between two men from the host country, which hasn’t claimed a Slam trophy in men’s singles since Andy Roddick won at Flushing Meadows two years prior to that.The crowd seemed to have a tough time deciding for whom to cheer, prodding both players at various points of the often even matchup.Shelton will face 23-time major champion Novak Djokovic on Friday for a berth in the final.Djokovic reached his record 47th Grand Slam semifinal, breaking a tie with Roger Federer for the most by a man, by defeating Tayl...

A national program in Niger encouraged jihadis to defect. The coup put its future in jeopardy

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — It took months of convincing before the former jihadi commander decided to defect, trading in his guns and wealth for amnesty and a chance to live with his family.Before leaving the Islamic State group, Mouhamadou Ibrahim was told by Niger’s government that his wife and children would be cared for, that he’d be welcomed into the community and that he would not face charges, as long as he provided intelligence about the militants and urged other jihadis to come home. But those promises were made before mutinous soldiers ousted Niger’s democratically elected president, putting the national program to reintegrate former jihadis into society at risk. For Ibrahim, 40, the coup has upended months of work and the relationships he built with Niger’s security forces — and now he wonders whether he should return to fight with the extremists. Since President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown by members of his presidential guard in July, the future of th...

3 sailors from Russia and France are rescued off Australian coast after sharks attacked their boat

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — Three sailors from Russia and France were rescued on Wednesday after the inflatable catamaran they were trying to navigate from Vanuatu to Australia came under attack from sharks, authorities said. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said it responded to an alert from an emergency beacon at about 1:30 a.m. When rescuers arrived at the scene more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of the Australian coast in the Coral Sea, they found both hulls of the men’s 9-meter (30-foot) boat had been damaged after several shark attacks. The agency enlisted the help of a Panamanian-flagged ship, the vehicle-carrying “Dugong Ace,” which was able to complete the rescue and take the two Russians and one Frenchman aboard. A rescue plane also flew to the scene.“The three males were very happy to be rescued, and they’re all healthy and well,” said Joe Zeller, duty manager at the agency’s Canberra response center.The men, aged between 28 and 64, are due...

The UK says it will declare Russia’s Wagner mercenary group a banned terrorist organization

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. announced Wednesday it will declare Russia’s Wagner mercenary group a banned terrorist organization, saying it remains a threat to global security even after the death of leader Yevgeny Prigozhin.The government said an order will be introduced in Parliament to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act. The designation, once approved by lawmakers, will bar membership in or support for Wagner, which has played a major fighting role during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It also has operated in Syria and several African nations.Home Secretary Suella Braverman said Wagner “has been involved in looting, torture and barbarous murders. Its operations in Ukraine, the Middle East and Africa are a threat to global security.”“They are terrorists, plain and simple – and this proscription order makes that clear in U.K. law,” she said.The ban will allow U.K. authorities to seize the organization’s assets, though that power is largely symbolic as Wagner is not known to...

President von der Leyen participates in the Africa Climate Summit 2023 in Nairobi, Kenya

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

On 5 September, President Ursula von der Leyen (pictured) was in Nairobi, Kenya, where she participated in the Africa Climate Summit (ACS) 2023.President von der Leyen has been invited to deliver a statement during the high-level opening of the Summit, which will take place between 8:00 and 9:00 CEST.Later, at +/- 11:30 CEST, the President will participate in a panel discussion on the “New Global Climate Finance Architecture”, along with the Presidents of Kenya and Ghana, the Prime Ministers of Egypt, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, the Secretary-General of the UN and the President of the COP28.The President's opening speech, as well as her panel discussion, will be broadcast live on EbS.In the margins of the Summit, President von der Leyen and the President of Kenya, William Ruto, will launch the Green Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap for Kenya. This Green Hydrogen Strategy and Roadmap will be laid out with the support of Global Gateway, the EU's investment strategy f...

Bangladesh is not a banana republic

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

To the signatories to the recent Open Letter on Professor Yunus.The Open Letter on Professor Yunus was an act that militated against ethics and against the norms of political behaviour - writes Syed Badrul Ahsan. When the 170-plus global personalities decided to send what they called an open letter to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and at the same time have it carried as an ad in newspapers, they did not quite seem to realise that such an act was a deliberate move aimed at humiliating not only Bangladesh’s leader but also the nation she happened to govern. The language employed in the letter is not the language in which a head of government is addressed.We speak of the Nobel Laureates as well as others who recently thought it fit to speak up in defence of Professor Muhammad Yunus, who has of late been mired in legal complexities in Bangladesh. His travails apart, there is little question that Professor Yunus, who won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2006, is a widely respected ...

San Mateo: Theft suspects arrested on suspicion of punching loss prevention agent

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

SAN MATEO – A pair of San Francisco residents was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of stealing items from a San Mateo department store and assaulting a loss prevention agent, police said.The incident happened around 7:50 p.m. Saturday at the Macy’s inside the Hillsdale Shopping Center, the San Mateo Police Department said in a statement Tuesday.Police said the 37-year-old and 36-year-old suspects stole items from the Macy’s and were confronted by a loss prevention agent when they tried to leave the store. The younger suspect reportedly punched the agent, and both suspects ran away from the mall.Officers found the suspects, along with items stolen from the store, a few blocks away from the mall, police said.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Wrong-way, head-on collision kills 2, injures 3 others in San Mateo County Crime and Public Safety | East Bay man arrested on suspicion of stealing over $5,000 worth of writing implements at ‘Pen Show...

Parents of people who overdosed speak about the dangers of fentanyl

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

(KRON) -- As the death count from fentanyl continues to climb in the Bay Area, KRON4 spoke with the mothers of four people who died from the deadly drug. You can watch the full story using the video player above. The four mothers share a tragic bond -- each losing their beloved child to the same drug. "He was exposed by taking other drugs that he thought was something else," Tori Knopp said about her son, Xander. "He'd experimented. I came home from work and he was face-down on his bedroom floor. So, there's no way to describe that." Each of the other three mothers has a similar story. Jessica Schiller's daughter Naomi was a straight-A student before taking a $15 Uber to San Francisco's Tenderloin District to buy fentanyl that would ultimately kill her. Teenagers have experimented and made mistakes for generations, but with fentanyl on the streets, the consequences are deadly, the women said. "When we were young and we were experimenting, or whatever that is, there wasn't this type ...

Ahead of Dreamforce, SF leaders working to solve homelessness crisis

Published Fri, 07 Feb 2025 12:00:21 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Dreamforce starts one week from Tuesday in San Francisco, and set-up is in full swing at the Moscone Center. It’s vital for this three-day conference to go off without a hitch after the Salesforce CEO threatened to pull the conference from San Francisco if conditions don’t improve in the city.Salesforce CEO Mark Benioff is pointing to homelessness and drug use in San Francisco. Supervisor Dean Preston says he hopes his new resolution will put a real dent at least in the city’s homelessness crisis, for not only the unhoused but for the entire community. Dreamforce is expected to bring 40,000 people to San Francisco, providing a big boost to the local economy. But with what’s become a common sight around the city – tents crowding sidewalks and people using drugs outdoors – Salesforce fears the dream-like atmosphere they create will turn into a nightmare the second attendees leave the gates. Marina residents, including Joe Montana, sue San Francisco over r...