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Astros reinstate first baseman José Abreu from injured list

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Astros reinstated first baseman José Abreu from the injured list before their game Wednesday night against the Boston Red Sox.He was batting sixth and playing first base as the Astros looked to win a third straight over the Red Sox.Abreu has been out since Aug. 10 with lumbar spine inflammation. The 36-year-old had two cortisone shots in his back soon after he was placed on the injured list and said then that he’d been dealing with the issue on and off all season.Abreu has underperformed in the first year of a three-year, $58.5 million contract, hitting just .234 with 10 homers and 56 RBIs. He went 2 for 21 in the seven games before he was placed on the injured list.Manager Dusty Baker said the Astros hope his stint on the injured list will help the 2020 AL MVP get back on track.“He’s looked better in batting practice than he has in a couple of months,” Baker said. “So, I think the time off helped him, helped his movement, helped his flexibility, whi...

Tua Tagovailoa responds to comments that ESPN’s Ryan Clark made about his offseason work ethic

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa responded pointedly to comments made by ESPN NFL analyst Ryan Clark that questioned his offseason work ethic. Clark, a former NFL player, said earlier this week that Tagovailoa “wasn’t in the gym” during the offseason. Clark played 13 seasons in the NFL as a defensive back with the New York Giants, Washington and Pittsburgh. He won Super Bowl 43 with the Steelers in the 2008 season, made the Pro Bowl in 2011 and finished with 16 interceptions in 177 games.“He might spend a lot of time in the tattoo parlor,” Clark said. “He was not at the dinner table eating what the nutritionist had advised. He looks ‘happy.’ He is thick.”Clark also compared Tagovailoa’s current body to a dancer at a strip club.After Dolphins practice on Wednesday, Tagovailoa defended his offseason preparation and asked Clark to keep “my name out your mouth.”“He probably knows more about me than I know about myself,” Tagovailoa said. “R...

Extremists abduct more than 40 women in latest attack in northeast Nigeria

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — At least 42 women have been abducted by Islamic extremist rebels during an attack in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state, locals told The Associated Press on Wednesday.The rebels attacked the women as they gathered firewood in the Jere district of Borno, which is the epicenter of a 14-year-long insurgency launched by the extremist group known as Boko Haram, according to a member of the Civilian Joint Task Force local security group who identified himself as Abba.Locals also said the victims were from a camp for internally displaced persons in the neighboring Mafa district and had been selling firewood to boost their income as economic hardship in Nigeria under the new president bites harder.Kachalla Maidugu, a government spokesman in the district, confirmed the incident that occurred on Tuesday but was only reported late Wednesday. “We received information yesterday that 46 women were abducted, but only four were allowed to return home while 42 were held back,”...

AP PHOTOS: Hungary hosts track and field world championships, a major sports event

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Millions of viewers around the world turned their focus to Hungary this month to watch the 2023 World Athletics Championships as the country’s capital of Budapest stepped on the global stage to deliver a major international sports event. At a cost of nearly $700 million, the city’s sparkling National Athletics Center, on the left bank of the Danube River, is hosting more than 2,000 athletes from over 200 countries.Here are some of the best AP images from the first few days of the nine-day track and field event that wraps up on Sunday.The selection was curated by AP photo editor Anita Baca in Mexico City.Follow AP visual journalism: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apnews AP Images on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Images AP Images blog: http://apimagesblog.com/ Source

Movie Review: ‘Bottoms’ is a gonzo gay high-school comedy that comes out on top

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

The rites and rituals of the raunchy high-school comedy can be as prescribed as a class syllabus. But what makes Emma Seligman’s “Bottoms” such an anarchic thrill is how much it couldn’t care less. Sure, come to “Bottoms” with your expectations of house parties and hijinks. But you’ll be leaving with a field full of bloodied football players.Seligman’s film, which opens in theaters Friday, instead follows its own demented logic in a winding and surreal comedy of adolescent absurdity. The brash PJ ( Rachel Sennott ) and the more hesitant Josie ( Ayo Edebiri ) are longtime best friends who, in reaching senior year at Rock Ridge High, have either finally attained a much sought-after status (“We’re finally hot,” insists PJ) or bottomed out at the low end of the high-school totem pole. “Could the ugly, untalented gays please report to the principal’s office?” the principal (Wayne Pére) announces over the PA.PJ and Josie, accepting that descriptio...

Richie Palacios has 3 hits as the Cardinals beat the Pirates to avoid a sweep

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Richie Palacios had a career-best three hits and drove in two runs, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-4 on Wednesday to avoid a three-game sweep.Palacios capped a three-run first inning with a two-run double, singled in his next two at-bats and walked in the ninth. The 26-year-old had his first three-hit performance in 61 major league games.“He’s under control,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “Takes really nice swings. The ball has been coming off his bat well. Knows the strike zone. Makes a lot of contact. It’s a good combination of skills.”The last-place Cardinals had lost six of seven and were outscored 17-4 in the first two games of the series.Zack Thompson (3-5) gave up two runs on six hits with five strikeouts in five innings. His outing was ended by a 92-minute rain delay with two outs in the top of the sixth.“You go through ups and downs in the season, I think the easiest way to stabilize that is to just be the same guy every ...

QB Stroud to start for Texans against Saints on Sunday

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Rookie C.J. Stroud will start Houston’s final preseason game Sunday night at New Orleans.Coach DeMeco Ryans made the announcement Wednesday, but the first-year coach still hasn’t said the second overall pick will be the team’s starting quarterback for the season.Ryans was asked Wednesday if Stroud had earned the right to be the starter.“In everybody’s case, we’ll see who earns what, and you’ll see our starters in Baltimore,” Ryans said of the team’s season opener Sept. 10.Despite this, it seems clear that the former Ohio State standout will replace Davis Mills this season. Stroud has started both of Houston’s first two preseason games and has worked almost exclusively with the first team throughout training camp.Ryans said Wednesday that Stroud and the rest of the players who start will play about two possessions before sitting down against the Saints. Stroud played the entire first half in a 28-3 loss to the Dolphins on Saturday, looking better than he did in h...

Business Highlights: Nvidia posts strong quarterly earnings; the Fed faces tough call on rates

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

___Nvidia’s rising star gets even brighter with another stellar quarter propelled by sales of AI chipsSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Computer chip maker Nvidia has rocketed into the constellation of Big Tech’s brightest stars while riding the artificial intelligence craze that’s fueling red-hot demand for its technology. The latest evidence of Nvidia’s ascendance emerged with Wednesday’s release of the company’s quarterly earnings report. The results covering the May to July period exceeded Nvidia’s projections for astronomical sales growth propelled by the company’s specialized chips needed to power different forms of artificial intelligence such as Open AI’s popular ChatGPT chatbot. Nvidia’s revenue doubled from a year ago to $13.51 billion and the company projected sales are bound even higher. The company’s shares surged 9% in extended trading.___Surprisingly durable US economy poses key question: Are we facing higher-for-longer interest rates?WASHINGTON (AP) — A year ago, Chair Jerome Pow...

Police watching street cameras kill man they saw pull a gun: chief

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Aurora Police are investigating a deadly shooting after officers fired at a man they said was holding a firearm.Just before 4 a.m. Wednesday, the Aurora Police Department tweeted about a shooting near the intersection of Colfax and Havana in the Del Mar Parkway neighborhood.According to interim Aurora Police Chief Art Acevedo, officers were monitoring cameras in the area at around 2:30 a.m. The area is known for high activity of drug use and theft. Officers saw two men get into a confrontation and one pulled out a firearm. Denver to clear homeless camp after downtown shooting Two of the officers who were monitoring the street cameras headed to the scene.Acevedo said two officers attempted to speak to the man with the firearm, he was noncompliant with the demands made by the officers, and that is when one officer fired at the suspect. Officers performed life-saving actions, but the man was transported to a hospital where was pronounced dead. No officers were injured...

Hundreds charged with more than $830M in COVID-19 fraud

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:05:59 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of people have been charged with the theft of more than $830 million in COVID-19 emergency aid following a nationwide operation conducted by federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday.More than 60 of the defendants have alleged connections to organized crime, the department said, including members of a criminal gang accused of using stolen pandemic aid to pay for a murder. Stolen items offered to CU for display returned to England “This latest action, involving over 300 defendants and over $830 million in alleged COVID-19 fraud, should send a clear message: the COVID-19 public health emergency may have ended, but the Justice Department’s work to identify and prosecute those who stole pandemic relief funds is far from over,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.The three-month operation, which ended in July, resulted in more than 300 people being charged, underscoring the pervasivenes...