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Ohtani, Japan rally in 9th, edge Mexico 6-5, reach WBC final

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

MIAMI (AP) — Shohei Ohtani sparked a ninth-inning rally with a leadoff double, and Munetaka Murakami hit a walk-off, two-run double to lift Japan over Mexico 6-5 Monday night and into the World Baseball Classic final.Yu Darvish is set to start when Japan faces the defending champion United States in Tuesday night’s championship game — Japan has won the tournament twice, Team USA has done it once. Merrill Kelly is likely to start for the U.S. side.Ohtani went 2 for 4. The Los Angeles Angels star scored in the seventh when Masataka Yoshida hit a tying, three-run homer off reliever JoJo Romero.Ohtani’s double off Giovanny Gallegos was his fourth of the tournament. After Ohtani got the rally started, Yoshida walked to bring up Murakami.The game began as a pitching duel between Rōki Sasaki and Patrick Sandoval, but Japan’s offensive power proved too much for Mexico’s relievers.Sasaki struck out three in four innings in his first appearance on a global stage. Dozen...

Wolves overcome Randle’s 57 points, beat Knicks 140-134

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Julius Randle scored 57 points in one of the greatest nights in Knicks history. The Minnesota Timberwolves had the most sizzling start in the NBA this season.Even in an era where the scoreboard totals seem to balloon higher all the time, this spectacular display of shooting and scoring felt different.“It was a movie,” Minnesota’s Taurean Prince said. The Timberwolves overcame Randle’s performance by riding a sizzling start and a steady finish to beat New York 140-134 on Monday night.Prince scored a season-high 35 points and went 8 for 8 from 3-point range for the Timberwolves, while Mike Conley added 24 points and 11 assists. His three free throws gave Minnesota the lead for good with 2:17 remaining.Randle’s final basket, a three-point play with 42 seconds remaining, cut it to 137-134, but he was beaten to a rebound by Kyle Anderson on Minnesota’s next possession, and a cutting Prince scored inside with 10.1 seconds left before Conley made a f...

Editorial: Rate hikes roiled banks, but Biden blames execs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

“No one is above the law — and strengthening accountability is an important deterrent to prevent mismanagement in the future.”Joe Biden issued that statement Friday. He was talking about executives at failed banks in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse followed by that of Signature Bank, as RollCall reported.As Biden tells it, the bank execs are to blame, and he urged Congress to pass legislation that would give the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation authority to “claw back” executive pay at failed banks and to bar the executives from jobs in the banking industry.It’s easy to understand the scorched-earth take since so many investors have been thrown into upheaval in the chaos, but Biden’s ire is misplaced.While the White House maintains that SVB CEO Greg Becker sold more than $3 million in shares days before the FDIC took control – an underhanded move considering so many depositors faced devastating losses – the execs ...

Ambrose: Do we need protection from ‘Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah’?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

Listen, I don’t want to sound authoritarian, but I hereby announce that the coming week is “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah Week” and that everyone 16 or older is required to sing its lyrics in public at least once a day. After all, the oomph of this delightful ditty has been making millions feel bubbly for decades, and now its Disney owners are banning it from their domain.The Disney bosses featured the song in two “Magic Happens” parades a day in Disneyland until the COVID-19 virus hit hard. They are now finally restoring the parades using a Peter Pan song as a substitute. The reasoning is that the snappy, peppy “Zip” tune and lyrics were first sung in a 1946 Disney movie, “Song of the South,” which was racist.The singer, however, was James Baskett, the first Black actor to win an Oscar. He was not racist and neither is the song, which won an Academy Award. What’s more, few likely know much if anything about the 1946 movie and wouldn’t think the song objectionable if they did. At th...

Julian Assange’s father pleads his case in ‘ITHAKA’ doc

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

As a father dedicated to freeing his son, the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the world’s most famous political prisoner, John Shipton embodies the mantra at the heart of a new documentary: “A father, a family, a fight for justice.”That documentary chronicling Shipton’s years-long efforts is called “ITHAKA” – a reference to a Greek poem emphasizing that it’s the journey not the destination. It screens Thursday at the Salem Film Festival (salemfilmfest.com)  which seems an all too appropriate setting for Assange, 51, held since 2019 in a London prison and whose supporters see him as the victim of a 21st century witch hunt.Shipton, 78 and Australian, is actively trying to help his son who for the last four years has been kept in solitary confinement in Belmarsh prison, diagnosed as depressed and considered potentially suicidal. Assange is the first publisher ever to be accused of espionage, a charge that threatens the guarantee of the United States Constitution’s First Amendment fre...

Dear Abby: Would-be parent wants children to aim high

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

Dear Abby: I’m a medical student. I don’t have kids or a family of my own yet, but I’d like it to happen one day. When I have kids of my own, I intend to push them to be the very best in whatever they want to do. I will ingrain in them “tough love” and demand excellence from them.My classmates, friends and I grew up similarly. We did well enough in high school to get into a good college and have successful lives after that. My friends and I did all the same things in college we did in high school. We joined clubs, volunteered, took leadership roles, earned good grades and got good recommendation letters in order to outcompete our peers and get where we wanted to go.When I have kids, I want them to emulate what I did, achieve the same way academically and succeed. Am I wrong? I know it will be challenging to raise kids to outcompete their peers for things they want to do or are passionate about. I know I won’t have complete control over them becaus...

Bullfighting ban faces critical legislative vote in Colombia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

VILLAPINZON, Colombia (AP) — A 61-year-old matador nicknamed “Little gypsy of America” fell headfirst into the dust when he was headbutted by a bull. He recovered to the applause of the crowd, and later killed the bull with a sword thrust to the back of its neck.He was among six veteran bullfighters performing for free on a recent Saturday in front of about 150 people at an emerald-green hacienda in Colombia’s Andes. The festival was to raise money for a foundation hoping to save the centuries-old tradition from a national ban being pushed by politicians who argue bullfighting is cruel and unethical.“Colombia’s art and culture must endure,” the matador, Jelain Fresneda, said after the difficult bout, shaking dust off his tight-fitting suit. “We need to ensure our freedoms are respected.”Colombia is one of just eight countries where bullfights are still legal. But the tradition has taken some blows around the world recently with courts and municipal governments in cities like Barcelo...

In Trump case, NY grand jury appears near end of its work

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York grand jury investigating Donald Trump over a hush money payment to a porn star appears poised to complete its work soon as law enforcement officials make preparations for possible unrest in the event of an indictment.Trump over the weekend claimed without any evidence that he would be arrested on Tuesday, with his representatives later saying he was citing media reports and leaks. There was no indication that prediction would come true, though the grand jury appeared to take an important step forward by hearing Monday from a witness favorable to Trump, presumably so prosecutors could ensure the panel had a chance to consider any testimony that could be remotely seen as exculpatory.The next steps in a grand jury process shrouded in secrecy remained unclear, and it was uncertain if additional witnesses might be summoned. But a city mindful of the riot by Trump loyalists at the U.S. Capitol more than two years ago took steps to gird itself from any violence t...

Army of lobbyists helped water down banking regulations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — It seemed like a good idea at the time: Red-state Democrats facing grim reelection prospects would join forces with Republicans to slash bank regulations — demonstrating a willingness to work with President Donald Trump while bucking many in their party. That unlikely coalition voted in 2018 to roll back portions of a far-reaching 2010 law intended to prevent a future financial crisis. But those changes are now are being blamed for contributing to the recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank that prompted a federal rescue and stoked anxiety about a broader banking contagion.The rollback was was leveraged with a lobbying campaign that cost tens of millions of dollars and drew an army of hundreds of lobbyists into the effort. It also was seeded with ample campaign contributions.The episode offers a fresh reminder of the power that bankers wield in Washington, where the industry spends prodigiously to fight regulation and often hires former members of...

Asian stocks rise ahead of Fed’s next interest rate decision

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:48:28 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets followed Wall Street higher on Tuesday ahead of a Federal Reserve decision on another possible interest rate hike amid worries about global banks.Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul advanced. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. Oil prices declined.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index rose 0.9% on Monday after U.S., European and Japanese central banks announced measures to ease strains on the financial system, including lending more dollars if necessary.The collapse of two U.S. banks and the takeover of troubled Credit Suisse have heightened fears other lenders might crack under the strain of repeated rate hikes to cool economic activity and inflation that is near multi-decade highs.Traders expect the Fed to go ahead with another rate hike Wednesday but think it might be held to 0.25 percentage points, down from the 0.5 points previously expected.“Can the Federal Reserve really continue to hike rates in the face of a banking crisis?R...