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Blinken meets top Chinese diplomat as efforts to ramp down tensions continue

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

(CNN) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken “had candid and constructive discussions on a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues” with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi on Thursday – the latest in a series of increased high-level interactions between Washington and Beijing.Their meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Jakarta comes less than a month after the two met in Beijing for what was also described by the US as “candid and constructive” conversation.Wang, who is the top foreign policy chief for the Chinese Communist Party, attended the diplomatic gathering in place of China’s Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, who is unable to attend due to health reasons, Reuters reported, citing a spokesman for his ministry.Efforts to stabilize the relationship between the world’s two biggest economies have intensified in recent months following a period of immense friction between the United States and China.There were no “breakthroughs” from the meeting...

Mets, Justin Verlander to begin second half with critical series against the Dodgers

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

Coming into the 2023 season, Mets fans likely circled the Dodgers series to open the second half as a potential NLCS preview between two of baseball’s most talented teams.While Los Angeles sits in a familiar position atop the NL West, the disappointing Mets enter this weekend’s three-game set at Citi Field desperate for wins to keep their playoff hopes alive.The Mets (42-48) begin the second half 18.5 games behind the NL East-leading Braves and seven games out of the third and final NL Wild Card spot. Baseball’s most-expensive roster needs to pass five teams to find itself back in the playoff picture.That mission resumes Friday night, with Mets co-ace Justin Verlander scheduled to pitch against the Dodgers’ Julio Urias.The 40-year-old Verlander — who is in the first season of a two-year, $86.7 million contract — ended his uneven first half on a high note, allowing two runs over 18 innings across his last three starts.He’ll look to continue h...

Orioles’ 2024 schedule features first opening day in Baltimore since 2018

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

On the same day Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Orioles CEO and Chairman John Angelos issued a statement about the future of Camden Yards, the team announced its regular-season schedule for next season.The Orioles’ lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority expires at the end of this year, but Baltimore is scheduled to host the club’s opening day game for the first time since 2018. After five straight years of the Orioles beginning the season on the road, they will host the Los Angeles Angels on March 28 to start their 2024 campaign.The Orioles’ 2022 opener was scheduled to be played at Camden Yards before the league’s owners’ lockout caused a one-week delay to the season.Baltimore’s 2024 opening homestand also includes a series with the Kansas City Royals before the club heads to Pittsburgh and Boston for its first road trip. Beginning in 2023, each team plays MLB’s 29 others, alternating home-and-road series each year with teams in the opposite...

MLB Network peers explain why Sean Casey will thrive as Yankees hitting coach: ‘He’s got a passion for hitting’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

Mark DeRosa has three musts for hitting coaches.The first is availability. “He has to be a cage rat,” DeRosa, who spent 16 seasons in the majors, told the Daily News. The second is a “ridiculously positive” demeanor that can guide a player through inevitable failure. The final requirement is the ability to solve a hitter’s problems in a timely manner. “You got to get me out of a slump quicker than I can get myself out of it,” said DeRosa, who is now an analyst for MLB Network.“You got to be able to do those three things,” the former utility man continued, “and I know he can do those three things.”The “he” in question is Sean Casey, who became the Yankees’ lead hitting coach this past week after the fourth-place team fired Dillon Lawson following prolonged offensive struggles.Casey, who introduced himself to reporters on Wednesday, comes to the Yankees with 12 major league seasons, a lifetime .302 ave...

FTC investigating ChatGPT creator OpenAI over consumer protection issues

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has launched an investigation into ChatGPT creator OpenAI and whether the artificial intelligence company violated consumer protection laws by scraping public data and publishing false information through its chatbot.The agency sent OpenAI a 20-page letter requesting detailed information on its AI technology, products, customers, privacy safeguards and data security arrangements. An FTC spokesperson had no comment on the investigation, which was first reported by the Washington Post on Thursday.The FTC document the Post published told OpenAI the agency was investigating whether it has “engaged in unfair or deceptive privacy or data security practices” or practices harming consumers. OpenAI founder Sam Altman tweeted disappointment that the investigation was disclosed in a “leak,” noting that the move would “not help build trust,” but added the company will work with the FTC.“It’s super important to us that out technology is safe and pro-consumer, an...

At 109, education pioneer Edith Renfrow reflects on 'The greatest century we have seen'

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

CHICAGO — Edith Renfrow Smith is about to turn 109 years old, and as she sits down in a leather chair in the dining room at a senior home, she’s ready to talk about everything, just don’t ask her how she’s feeling. “Don’t ask me,” she said. “I am not sick. I am old. You know, birthdays come around every year.” Food fighters: New Chicago-based U.S. Army Reserve unit provides meals, morale to soldiers Smith has seen and experienced more than almost anyone alive. Her first birthday, July 14, 1914, was two weeks before the start of World War I.She has been alive for two pandemics, two World Wars, the moon landing, the fall of the Soviet Union and the election of President Barack Obama. “I think this has been the greatest century we have seen,” she said. “There have been so many changes.”The technological advances have been staggering. She’s lived through the dawn of radio, television, and the internet, but nothing wowed her like her family’s first telephone, installed back in 1917 whe...

11 confirmed tornadoes after Wednesday night's storms: National Weather Service

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

CHICAGO — The National Weather Service confirmed Thursday a total of eleven tornadoes after Wednesday night’s storms.The first Elgin tornado had a maximum intensity EF-1 and maximum wind speed of 100 mph. The track roughly started east of Rt. 47 and ended near the railroad tracks west of Villa Olivia Golf Course.The NWS says the second tornado in Elgin had a max intensity of EF-0 with max wind speed of 85 mph. The tornado began close to McDonald Road and ended along Hopps Road.A NWS team confirmed a third tornado after grounds were surveyed from Burr Ridge to Stickney. A EF-1 with max winds near 110 mph was identified.The fourth tornado confirmed by NWS was reportedly an EF-0 with a maximum wind speed of 85 mph in northeastern Oswego and eastern Boulder Hill Wednesday evening.NWS survey teams confirmed three additional tornados across McHenry and Lake County in Illinois. In Huntley, an EF-1 with max wind speeds of 90 mph. Two EF-0 tornados were also confirmed with one in Barrington ...

Man gets 30-year prison sentence in connection with 2022 fatal 6th Street stabbing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A man convicted of first-degree murder June 21 was sentenced to serve 30 years in state prison, according to Travis County court documents.Records showed 26-year-old Donald Carrillo pleaded guilty to the murder charge the same day he was convicted and sentenced. RELATED: Man wanted for deadly 6th Street stabbing arrested by US Marshals Past KXAN reporting showed Carrillo was arrested in connection with the stabbing death of 33-year-old Michael O'Brien in January 2022 in downtown Austin.According to court documents, Carrillo has a jail credit of 513 days toward his prison sentence.

Paul Krugman: Pointing toward a soft landing

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

The latest numbers on consumer prices arrived Wednesday, and they were better than even optimists had expected. Even media reports, as far I can tell, generally omitted the “but concerns remain” qualifiers that have seemed mandatory when covering good news about the Biden economy.Which is not to say that everyone was happy. Republicans are more or less in denial, no doubt worried that they may be losing pretty much their only substantive campaign issue — leaving them with nothing to run on besides wokeness and Hunter Biden. And there have been some fairly peevish reactions from economists who had committed themselves to the grim view that we would face a nasty “sacrifice ratio” — that controlling inflation would require years of high unemployment.For this report was anything but grim. It strongly suggested that we may be heading for a soft landing — a return to acceptable inflation without a large rise in unemployment.We’re not there yet, and I’ll talk shortly about what may still g...

Nicole Woitowich: Clinical trials are better at including women. But data analysis is still a real problem.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:23:56 GMT

The summer of 1993 was an eventful time: Prince changed his name to a symbol, “Jurassic Park” was released and Congress passed the National Institutes of Health Revitalization Act requiring the inclusion of women in clinical research.Most people aren’t aware of this law, which requires that women be included in research to develop drugs, therapies and treatments that are designed to improve the health of all people. For decades, women were underrepresented in or excluded from biomedical research studies because they could become pregnant or their hormones were deemed “too complicated.” This caused large gaps in our understanding of how sex and gender inform health and disease.Because men made up the majority of research participants, women’s health suffered. Drugs, therapies and medical devices were developed with the male patient in mind. A 2001 Government Accountability Report found that eight out of 10 drugs pulled from the market had greater h...