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Orioles reset: The AL East is a beast — again. Baltimore, now battle-tested, is proving it belongs. | ANALYSIS

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 GMT

“It’s early.”That’s what Orioles manager Brandon Hyde has repeatedly said when asked about his team’s success this season. The caveat from the skipper is understandable, as a hot start far from guarantees the same the rest of the way.However, it’s no longer “early.” The season is nearly 30% finished, and the Orioles (31-16) still own the second-best record in the major leagues — a status they’ve held for most of May. Through 47 games, Baltimore is battle-tested, and they’ve largely passed those tests with flying colors.In April, the Orioles took care of business against several inferior opponents to have one of the best first months in franchise history. In May, they’ve held their own against National League-best Atlanta, won a series against MLB-best Tampa Bay and, most recently, completed a rare three-game sweep of American League East foe Toronto.Baltimore lost its first two series against division opponents,...

Schoen: The time has come for Biden to negotiate on debt ceiling

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 GMT

With less than two weeks until the United States government essentially runs out of money to pay its bills, a new ABC/WaPo poll finds President Joe Biden with a dismal 36% approval rating, and trailing former President Donald Trump by 6 points in the 2024 race for the White House.For months, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his GOP allies have demanded spending cuts in exchange for voting to raise the federal debt ceiling. Biden and congressional Democrats have refused to acquiesce, citing the bipartisan tradition of lifting the country’s borrowing limit without preconditions.To be sure, Biden’s argument prevails in a vacuum: both parties accrue debt, and thus are equally responsible for ensuring the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. It is regrettable — and dangerous — that House Republicans are using the debt ceiling as a political football, and there is merit to Biden’s claim that McCarthy is “holding the economy hostage.”That being said, with just days until default, ...

Meta fined record $1.3 billion and ordered to stop sending European user data to US

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 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 of 1.2 billion euros is the biggest since the EU’s strict data privacy regime took effect five years ago, surpassing Amazon’s 746 million euro fine in 2021 for data protection violations.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 countless other companies transferring data between the EU and U.S.,” Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global and affairs, and Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Newstead said in a statement. It’s yet another twist in a l...

Vatican confirms August trip by pope to Lisbon for World Youth Day, including Fatima stop

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis will travel to Portugal for World Youth Day in the first week of August and include a stop at the popular Marian shrine in Fatima, the Vatican said Monday.The Aug. 2-6 visit is longer than originally expected and covers almost the entire week of the big Catholic rally that St. John Paul II inaugurated to try to invigorate young people in their faith. Francis is staying in Lisbon for the length of the visit but will make a day trip to Fatima on Aug. 5. Francis previously traveled there in 2017 to mark the 100th anniversary of one of the most unique events of the 20th-century Catholic Church: the visions of the Virgin Mary reported by three shepherd children and the “secrets” she told them.Francis’ visit this time around comes as war is raging in Ukraine, providing a comparison to when the original visions were reported at a time when Europe was in the throes of World War I.The Fatima mystery has fascinated Catholics and non-Catholics alike for a century, blen...

A fire in a dormitory of a school in Guyana kills at least 20 children

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 GMT

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Fire raced through a school dormitory in Guyana early Monday, killing at least 20 students and injuring an undetermined more, authorities said.The Guyanese government said in a press statement that the fire broke out in the dormitory building of a secondary school in the city of Madhia, 200 miles south of Georgetown, Guyana’s capital.“We have lost many beautiful souls in that fire,” the government said. It added that several other students are being treated for injuries.The fire began shortly after midnight.The Associated Press

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

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 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...

How damage from a US debt default could cascade across the global economy

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — If the debt crisis roiling Washington were eventually to send the United States crashing into recession, America’s economy would hardly sink alone.The repercussions of a first-ever default on the federal debt would quickly reverberate around the world. Orders for Chinese factories that sell electronics to the United States could dry up. Swiss investors who own U.S. Treasurys would suffer losses. Sri Lankan companies could no longer deploy dollars as an alternative to their own dodgy currency.“No corner of the global economy will be spared’’ if the U.S. government defaulted and the crisis weren’t resolved quickly, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.Zandi and two colleagues at Moody’s have concluded that even if the debt limit were breached for no more than week, the U.S. economy would weaken so much, so fast, as to wipe out roughly1.5 million jobs.And if a government default were to last much longer — well into the summer — the consequ...

India scorched by extreme heat with monsoon rains delayed

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 GMT

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Swathes of India from the northwest to the southeast braced for more scorching heat Monday, with New Delhi under a severe weather alert, as extreme temperatures strike parts of the country.The Indian Meteorological Department issued a heat wave alert for seven southern and central states last week and broadened it to the capital and some northern states on Monday as sizzling temperatures breached normal levels.It warned that blistering heat will continue for the next few days before rains bring some relief. The southwest monsoon is slightly delayed this year and will hit in the first week of June, causing temperatures to stay high longer than usual, it said.As temperatures crossed 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, some parts suffered blackouts lasting more than 12 hours despite a March order for all power plants in the country run at full capacity to reduce power cuts. The heat wave in the state is likely to con...

Iran’s president appoints new official in powerful security post, replacing longtime incumbent

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s president on Monday appointed a new official to take over the post of secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, replacing the longtime powerful official Ali Shamkhani after becoming implicated in a recent spy scandal. President Ebrahim Raisi issued a decree replacing Shamkhani who has faced persistent corruption allegations — which he denied — as well as scrutiny because of close ties with a British-Iranian man hanged on spying charges earlier this year in Iran. Shamkhani was a key player in negotiations with the West over Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. He was also in office during the years of tensions that followed then-President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw America from the accord. The decree, reported by the state-run IRNA news agency, offered no explanation for the change. In a message on Twitter on Sunday night, as rumors about his position circulated, Sh...

US bomb designed to hit targets like Iran underground nuclear sites briefly reappears amid tensions

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 18:48:08 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — As tensions with Iran have escalated over its nuclear program, the U.S. military this month posted pictures of a powerful bomb designed to penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground facilities that could be used to enrich uranium. The U.S. Air Force on May 2 released rare images of the weapon, the GBU-57, known as the “Massive Ordnance Penetrator.” Then it took the photos down — apparently because the photographs revealed sensitive details about the weapon’s composition and punch.The publication of the photographs comes as The Associated Press reported that Iran is making steady progress in constructing a nuclear facility that is likely beyond the range of the GBU-57, which is considered the U.S. military last-ditch weapon to take out underground bunkers. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT AMERICA’S MASSIVE ORDNANCE PENETRATOR?The U.S. developed the Massive Ordnance Penetrator in the 2000s as concerns grew over Iran hardening its nuclear ...