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Angels recover after giving up late lead, beat Astros in 10
By The Associated Press ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Matt Thaiss scored on Michael Hermosillo’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, and the Los Angeles Angels snapped their three-game skid with a 5-4 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Jason Castro delivered a tying RBI double in the ninth for the Angels, who improved the majors’ worst record to 3-6 despite blowing a two-run lead in the ninth. David Fletcher hit a leadoff single in the 10th off Nivaldo Rodriguez (0-1), sending Thaiss to third. After the Astros walked Anthony Rendon to load the bases, Thaiss scored on Josh Reddick’s inaccurate throw from medium right field. Angels reliever Noé Ramirez got two outs in the 10th, and Ryan Buchter (2-0) struck out Abraham Toro with the bases loaded in a rare bright moment for the Halos’ struggling relievers. YANKEES 5, RED SOX 2 NEW YORK (AP) — Gio Urshela hit his first big league grand slam, Aaron Judge homered for a career-high fourth straight game and New York won its fifth straight. Nick Nelson (1-0) pitched three hitless innings to win his major league debut. At 6-1, the Yankees are off to their best start since 2003. Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka made his season debut after recovering from a concussion sustained when he was hit in the head by Giancarlo Stanton’s line drive during practice on July 4. Tanaka lasted just 2 2/3 innings and 51 pitches, tiring in his second time through the order. David Hale finished the six-hitter for his third career save, his first this year. Judge homered in the first inning off Zack Godley (0-1), a 455-foot drive to left-center. Urshela hit his second homer of the season an inning later for a 5-0 lead. TWINS 3, INDIANS 0 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Miguel Sanó homered twice and Kenta Maeda pitched six scoreless innings in his home debut for Minnesota. Eddie Rosario added a solo homer for the Twins, who got another strong start from a veteran newcomer to its starting rotation. Maeda (2-0) retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced and didn’t allow a hit until Bradley Zimmer beat out a weak ground ball to second base in the fifth inning. Carlos Carrasco (1-1) gave up six hits in six innings for Cleveland and was done in by three solo home runs from the Twins. Maeda, acquired in an offseason trade from the Dodgers, was one of three key additions to strengthen Minnesota’s rotation along with Rich Hill and Homer Bailey. BRAVES 7, METS 1 ATLANTA (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. shook off a slow start by driving in two runs with two hits, including his first homer, and Atlanta won its fourth straight. The Mets have lost four straight, including the first two games of the four-game series between the NL East rivals. Marcell Ozuna hit a two-run homer, his third, off Michael Wacha (1-1) in the first inning. Acuña led off the game with his 18th strikeout, the most in the majors, before emerging from his funk. He doubled in a run in the second for his first RBI as the Braves stretched the lead to 5-0. Acuña lined his first homer into the left-field seats in the sixth off right-hander Franklyn Kilome. Josh Tomlin (1-0) pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings with three strikeouts for the win. WHITE SOX 11, ROYALS 5 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Gio Gonzalez made his first start for the hot-hitting Chicago White Sox more than 16 years after they drafted him, and the veteran responded by holding the Kansas City Royals scoreless into the fourth inning. Eloy Jimenez hit a three-run homer and finished with a career-high four hits, and rookie Luis Robert had four hits while finishing a triple shy of the cycle, leading a White Sox barrage of 21 hits in all. Leury Garcia also pounded out four hits, Yoan Moncada added three and Yasmani Grandal had a pair of hits while driving in two runs. That was plenty of support for Gonzalez, who scattered five hits and three walks while striking out six in 3 2/3 innings. Matt Foster (1-0), one of six White Sox relievers, got the win. Much of Chicago’s damage came off spot starter Ronald Bolanos (0-2), who allowed five runs in 1 2/3 innings. Whit Merrifield hit a two-run homer for the Royals. Ryan O’Hearn drove in their other two runs. ROCKIES 6, PADRES 1 DENVER (AP) — Kyle Freeland pitched six innings of two-hit ball and was backed by the superb defense of Trevor Story and Nolan Arenado as Colorado beat San Diego. Freeland (2-0) allowed a two-out single to Tommy Pham in the first and then retired 13 in a row before Francisco Mejia’s double in the sixth. The left-hander struck out four and walked one in throwing an economical 83 pitches. Story contributed at the plate as well with a solo shot in the fourth. It was his second straight game with a homer. Matt Kemp hit a solo homer in the third for the Rockies. Padres lefty Joey Lucchesi (0-1) had a forgettable outing in going 1 2/3 innings and giving up three runs. Trent Grisham homered to center in the eighth off Rockies reliever Yency Almonte. DODGERS 11, DIAMONDBACKS 2 PHOENIX (AP) — Chris Taylor hit a three-run homer, A.J. Pollock and Edwin Ríos added two-run shots and Los Angeles rolled past Arizona. The bottom of the Dodgers' order showed big power in the fourth inning when Ríos — who was hitting seventh — smashed a two-run homer over the 413-foot sign in center field. Two batters later, Matt Beaty ripped another homer that barely stayed fair down the right-field line. D-backs starter Luke Weaver (0-2) took the loss after giving up six runs in four-plus innings. The Dodgers broke the game open with a five-run fifth when the first six batters reached base on Weaver and reliever Yoan López. Justin Turner hit a two-run triple and Pollock added a two-run homer as Los Angeles pushed its lead to 8-2. Taylor’s three-run homer in the eighth made it 11-2. Dodgers starter Julio Urías (1-0) gave up two runs over six innings while striking out five......»»
Judge homers again, Yankees roll past Red Sox 5-1
By The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge homered for the third straight night, Jordan Montgomery cut up one of the league’s hottest lineups in his 2020 debut and the New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 5-1 on Friday night in their first home game of the coronavirus-shortened season. Judge took aim at Yankee Stadium’s short right field porch in the third, a half-inning after starting a double play from right. Gio Urshela and Brett Gardner hit their first home runs of the season, Chad Green pitched two perfect innings in relief, and Adam Ottavino and Jonathan Holder closed up shop as New York improved to 5-1. Michael Chavis homered for Boston and Phillips Valdez impressed over 2 2/3 scoreless innings, but the club couldn’t overcome another poor start by Ryan Weber (0-2). There was also a moment of silence for late Yankees co-owner Hank Steinbrenner, who died in April. New York is wearing uniform patches with his initials this season. Montgomery (1-0) pitched 5 2/3 innings, limiting the Red Sox to a run, five hits and a walk with four strikeouts. TIGERS 7, REDS 2 DETROIT (AP) — Spencer Turnbull and the Detroit bullpen combined on a three-hitter, and Austin Romine and Travis Demeritte each drove in two runs. Turnbull (1-0) allowed two runs and three hits in six innings. He struck out six, walked one and didn’t allow a hit until former Tigers teammate Nick Castellanos doubled leading off the fifth. Detroit relievers Gregory Soto, Buck Farmer and Bryan Garcia retired nine consecutive batters in the final three innings. Luis Castillo (0-1) gave up five runs on eight hits in six-plus innings. BRAVES 11, METS 10 ATLANTA (AP) —Travis d’Arnaud drove in five runs, including three with a bases-loaded double that capped a five-run eighth against his former team and Atlanta rallied from six runs down. D’Arnaud had three hits. The biggest was the double off Seth Lugo (1-1) that gave Atlanta the lead and completed the comeback from deficits of 8-2 and 10-5. Dansby Swanson’s RBI single started the scoring in Atlanta’s decisive inning before Ender Inciarte scored on a wild pitch from Dellin Betances to cut New York’s lead to 10-8. Lugo walked Marcell Ozuna to load the bases. Johan Camargo popped out to shallow right field before d’Arnaud cleared the bases with his double to the gap in right-center. Chris Martin ended the game when Wilson Ramos hit a fly ball to deep right field with runners on first and second. Martin earned his first save. Grant Dayton (1-0) pitched a scoreless eighth. Yoenis Céspedes had a two-run double in New York’s six-run fifth inning, J.D. Davis hit a two-run homer and drove in three runs. Robinson Canó had three hits, including a homer. WHITE SOX 3, ROYALS 2 KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Adam Engel hit a three-run homer in the second inning as Chicago spoiled Kansas City's home opener. Dallas Keuchel picked up the win for the White Sox. Alex Colome converted his first save opportunity. Kuechel (2-0) worked out of trouble seemingly the entire game. He retired the Royals in order in only one inning, and allowed just two runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out three. Kris Bubic (0-1) settled down after struggling early in his big league debut for Kansas City. He allowed three runs (two earned) on three hits. He walked one and hit James McCann twice. TWINS 4, INDIANS 1 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Max Kepler hit his second leadoff home run of the season, and Alex Avila added his first homer for Minnesota. Randy Dobnak (1-1) pitched five scoreless innings for Minnesota following a day of COVID-19 testing and uncertainty due to two positive tests by the St. Louis Cardinals, who played here earlier in the week. Mike Clevinger (0-1) allowed four runs in four innings for Cleveland. He gave up six hits and walked five. Taylor Rogers finished off his second save of the season......»»
Nationals beat Blue Jays 4-0 in 10 in road game at home
By The Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Adam Eaton’s bases-loaded chopper broke a scoreless tie in the 10th inning on a close play and Asdrúbal Cabrera followed with a three-run triple, helping the Nationals snap a three-game losing streak by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 Wednesday night. In a quirky game befitting this pandemic-altered, upside-down season, Toronto’s team played its “home opener” at Washington — batting in the bottom half of each inning, wearing its white uniforms, playing its players’ walk-up music and even blaring the song “OK Blue Jays,” the club’s traditional seventh-inning stretch staple. Toronto’s Nate Pearson, in his big league debut, and Washington’s Max Scherzer, in his 358th start in the majors, put up plenty of zeros. So did the relievers that followed. In the top of the 10th, though, Washington moved ahead on an odd-looking play. After starting with the automatic runner on second base Washington loaded the bags with two walks from Toronto’s sixth pitcher, Shun Yamaguchi (0-2). After two strikeouts, Eaton bounced a ball off the mound. Second baseman Cavan Biggio grabbed it and tried to dive glove-first at the bag, but was edged out by runner Andrew Stevenson. After a replay review of more than two minutes, the “safe” call was upheld, making it 1-0. Cabrera then homered. Daniel Hudson (1-0) got five outs for the win. DODGERS 4, ASTROS 2, 13 INNINGS HOUSTON (AP) — The Dodgers and Astros showed no carry-over from a fracas in the series opener that led to suspensions, and Edwin Ríos hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning to lift Los Angeles over Houston. No pitches were thrown above or behind any batters, nobody made any ugly faces and everyone remained in their respective dugouts. The loudest noise was the crack of Ríos’ bat when he took Cy Sneed (0-1) deep for a leadoff homer — a two-run drive under the new extra-innings rule that starts with an automatic runner on second base. The Dodgers played without manager Dave Roberts, suspended one game for his part in Tuesday night’s testy matchup that saw the dugouts clear. Bench coach Bob Geren managed the team in Roberts’ absence. Los Angeles used nine pitchers, but not Joe Kelly. The reliever was suspended for eight games by Major League Baseball after buzzing a fastball behind the head of Alex Bregman, then striking out Carlos Correa and mockingly taunting him by sticking out his tongue and pouting his bottom lip. TIGERS 5, ROYALS 4 DETROIT (AP) — JaCoby Jones hit a tiebreaking solo homer in the seventh inning, and Detroit’s bullpen came through again to beat Kansas City. A night after pitching six scoreless innings in a win over the Royals, the Tigers’ relievers held Kansas City without a baserunner for four. Detroit rallied from a 4-0 deficit thanks in large part to Jones, who doubled twice before connecting off Ian Kennedy (0-1) for his third homer. Jonathan Schoop also went deep for the Tigers. Maikel Franco hit two doubles and a single for Kansas City, and Whit Merrifield had two hits and scored twice. Bryan Garcia (1-0) earned his first big league win, one of four Detroit relievers who pitched in the game. Joe Jimenez worked the ninth for his fourth save. YANKEES 9, ORIOLES 3 BALTIMORE (AP) — The New York Yankees stepped in for the Miami Marlins and ruined Baltimore’s home opener, hitting three home runs to back right-hander Gerrit Cole. The Orioles were originally slated to launch the home portion of the abbreviated 60-game schedule against Miami, but the Marlins were ordered to take a hiatus after several players and coaches contracted COVID-19 over the weekend. New York was scheduled to play Philadelphia on Wednesday, but the Phillies’ season was put on hold as a precaution because they were Miami’s opponent in the opening series. So Major League Baseball thrust the Yankees and Orioles together while the Marlins and Phillies recover. Cole (2-0) gave up three runs and four hits in 6 2/3 innings to win his 18th straight decision. After DJ LeMahieu homered off Asher Wojciechowski (0-1) on the game’s second pitch, Aaron Judge and Aaron Hicks both went deep in the third for a 5-1 lead. GIANTS 7, XXX 6 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mike Yastrzemski homered twice, the second a towering solo shot into McCovey Cove in the ninth inning, lifting San Francisco past San Diego. Donovan Solano had a three-run home run in the eighth and Alex Dickerson also went deep as the Giants rallied to beat the Padres, who entered the the game tied for the best record in baseball. Brandon Crawford added three hits for San Francisco. Manny Machado and Trent Grisham homered for San Diego. The Giants trailed 6-3 with two outs in the eighth before rallying. MARINERS 10, ANGELS 7 ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Kyle Seager drove in three runs, Dylan Moore hit a three-run homer and Seattle rallied from two late deficits. Moore connected during the Mariners’ five-run sixth, and Seager put the Mariners ahead for good with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning of Seattle’s second victory of the season. Shohei Ohtani had a three-run homer, Mike Trout got three hits and Justin Upton hit his 300th career homer for the Angels, who have lost four of six. Brian Goodwin homered and added a two-run double that put the Angels ahead in the sixth. Seattle surged back in front by battering Los Angeles’ bullpen, which flopped mightily in a game featuring four lead changes. The Angels’ bullpen yielded eight runs — one more than it had given up in LA’s first five games combined. The Mariners made their decisive rally in the seventh against Jacob Barnes (0-1). Bryan Shaw (1-0) allowed five baserunners and gave up three runs in the sixth. Dan Altavilla pitched the ninth for his first save. WHITE SOX 4, INDIANS 0 CLEVELAND (AP) — Yasmani Grandal and Eloy Jiménez hit sacrifice flies and Chicago scored four runs in the ninth inning — three charged to ineffective Cleveland closer Brad Hand. The Indians got eight terrific innings from No. 5 starter Zach Plesac. He struck out a career-high 11, shut out the White Sox on three hits and continued a strong run of Cleveland pitching to start the season. Rookie Luis Robert hit a two-run single in the ninth as Chicago snapped a three-game losing streak and salvaged one game in the series. Chicago starter Lucas Giolito matched Plesac pitch for pitch through six, holding the Indians scoreless on four hits. It was a nice bounce back by the All-Star right-hander, who gave up a home run in Minnesota on his first pitch of the season and was touched for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings. RED SOX 6, METS 5 NEW YORK (AP) — Christian Vázquez hit a tying home run off Seth Lugo in the seventh inning and a two-run single against Justin Wilson in a three-run eighth, rallying Boston. Boston had lost four in a row following its opening day win over Baltimore -- the equivalent of 11 straight over a full season -- that included a pair of defeats to the Mets at Fenway Park. New York closed with a run in the ninth, when a diving stop by third baseman Rafael Devers helped Brandon Workman strand the bases loaded. Workman recovered for his first save of the year by striking out Yoenis Céspedes and retiring Robinson Canó on a soft liner to shortstop. Jacob DeGrom, throwing at up to 101 mph, extended his consecutive scoreless streak to 31 innings before allowing a pair of runs in the fourth but got his second straight no-decision, allowing two runs and three hits in six innings with four strikeouts. He left with a 3-2 lead, but Vázquez tied the score when he drove a hanging curveball from Lugo for his second home run this season. RANGERS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 4 ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) —Joey Gallo hit a tying, two-run homer in the eighth inning and Texas scored three more runs after that to snap a three-game losing streak. After Gallo lined an opposite-field shot to left off Andrew Chafin (0-1) for his second homer of the season, the Rangers loaded the bases with two outs. Elvis Andrus then hit a two-run single before Nick Solak added an RBI single. Todd Frazier hit his first homer and had two doubles for Texas, whose five-run inning accounted for only one run fewer than it had scored combined in their first four games in the new $1.2 billion stadium with a retractable roof. Jonathan Hernandez (1-0) got the win despite giving up two runs in the eighth, and Nick Goody worked a perfect ninth for his first save. ROCKIES 5, ATHLETICS 1 OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — German Márquez struck out eight over six impressive innings to bounce back after losing on opening day, and Colorado wrapped up a successful season-opening road trip. Charlie Blackmon delivered an insurance run with an RBI double in the eighth, then reached on an error in the ninth that led to a pair of runs. Garrett Hampson hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fourth to help back Márquez (1-1). Carlos Estévez relieved Márquez and escaped the seventh unscathed with the tying run on second. Jairo Diaz struck out Robbie Grossman with the bases loaded in the eighth, putting Oakland at 0 for 14 with runners in scoring position during these two games. Matt Chapman homered in the bottom of the first for the A’s. Colorado came right back when Tony Wolters hit a tying single in the top of the second against Frankie Montas (0-1). BRAVES 7, RAYS 4 ATLANTA (AP) —Freddie Freeman homered and drove in three runs on a four-hit night, leading Atlanta in its home opener. Freeman, stricken with the coronavirus before the shortened season and became so ill that he feared for his life, has quickly reclaimed his place as one of the game’s most feared hitters. He hit his first homer of the season in the third, a two-run shot into the empty seats in right field, and added an RBI single that capped a three-run sixth after Tampa Bay pulled ahead with three runs in the top half. The Braves snapped Tampa Bay’s four-game winning streak. Tampa Bay scrapped out an unearned run off Mike Soroka in the fifth and pulled ahead for the first time in the sixth, doing the bulk of the damage after Darren O’Day (1-0) took over for the Atlanta starter. With two outs, Kevin Kiermaier drove in the tying run and Hunter Renfroe followed with a two-run single that put the Ray ahead 4-2. But the Tampa Bay bullpen couldn’t hold the lead. Andrew Kittredge gave up back-to-back doubles, retiring only one hitter before giving way to Oliver Drake (0-1). The funky right-hander had a chance to escape with the lead intact, but Willy Adames bobbled a high chopper by Ozzie Albies that was ruled an infield hit. Freeman followed with his fourth hit of the night, lining an RBI single to right-center. Albies was thrown out at third to end the inning, but Ender Inciarte had already crossed the plate with the go-ahead run. BREWERS 3, PIRATES 0 PITTSBURGH (AP) — Milwaukee’s Brandon Woodruff allowed one hit and struck out 10 while working into the seventh inning as the Brewers beat struggling Pittsburgh. Woodruff (1-1) retired 19 of 21 batters, allowing a swinging bunt single to Phil Evans in the first. Pittsburgh didn’t manage another baserunner until Evans walked leading off the seventh. Woodruff threw 92 of his 61 pitches for strikes against a lineup that is struggling to produce. The Pirates are hitting a majors-worst .171 during their 2-4 start. Ben Gamel gave Woodruff all the support he would need with a third-inning two-run homer over the right-field seats off Joe Musgrove (0-2). REDS 12, CUBS 7 CINCINNATI (AP) — Mike Moustakas and Nick Senzel homered in their returns from a COVID-19 scare, Nick Castellanos added a grand slam, and Cincinnati ended a four-game losing streak. Sonny Gray (2-0) extended his major league record to 35 consecutive starts allowing six hits or fewer. He gave up only Ian Happ’s double and fanned 11 as he pitched into the seventh inning. Moustakas and Senzel missed the last three games after feeling sick a day after teammate Matt Davidson went on the injured list because he tested positive for the coronavirus. After passing tests, they returned and helped the Reds to their best run total of the season. Kyle Hendricks (1-1) threw a three-hit shutout against the Brewers in the season opener but couldn’t make it through the fifth inning against Cincinnati. Moustakas had a two-run shot in the fourth, and Hendricks left after Eugenio Suárez’s bases-loaded single an inning later. TWINS 3, CARDINALS 0 MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Rich Hill pitched five scoreless innings in a smooth Minnesota debut, backed by Eddie Rosario’s homer and Nelson Cruz’s RBI double. Alex Avila, another Minnesota newcomer, had an RBI single. Taylor Rogers pitched a perfect ninth for his first save, and the Twins finished a two-game sweep to improve to 4-1. Currently the second-oldest player in the majors, the 40-year-old Hill needed only 68 pitches to pick up his first victory for a Twins team that signed him this winter with the assumption he’d be ready around midsummer after his recovery from elbow surgery. The Cardinals, after winning their first two games against Pittsburgh, have scored four runs on 15 hits over a three-game losing streak. Daniel Ponce de Leon (0-1) struck out eight over 3 2/3 innings......»»
Badoy guilty of indirect contempt for threats vs judge
The Supreme Court has slapped a P30,000 fine against Lorraine Badoy, former spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict for indirect contempt over her “vitriolic statements and outright threats” against a judge......»»
SC: Lorraine Badoy guilty of indirect contempt for red tagging judge
MANILA, Philippines — Loraine Badoy-Partosa, former spokesperson of the government’s anti-insurgency task force, has been found guilty by the Supreme Court (SC) of indirect contempt for red-tagging a Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) judge. Badoy was ordered to pay a fine of P30,000 and warned against repeating the same or similar acts in the future,.....»»
Fuel Masters seek decider vs Hotshots
Coming off a big comeback win, Phoenix will try and force a do-or-die Game 5 semifinals in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup against Magnolia......»»
Phoenix rises from 21-point hole to stay alive vs Hotshots
The Phoenix Fuel Masters flipped the script in the second half and successfully clawed back from a 21-point second quarter deficit to force a Game 4 in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals against the Magnolia Hotshots, 103-85, Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City......»»
LIVE UPDATES: Creamline vs Choco Mucho, PVL 2nd All-Filipino finals – December 16
Mighty Creamline goes for a once seemingly improbable 15-0 conference sweep even with a shorthanded roster as it aims to retain its PVL All-Filipino title, while finals debutant Choco Mucho aims to force a do-or-die Game 3.....»»
San Beda bounces back, escapes Mapua to force NCAA finals Game 3
Jacob Cortez leads San Beda's NCAA finals bounce-back effort, bucking a third-quarter collapse to escape misfiring Mapua and force a winner-take-all Game 3.....»»
LIVE UPDATES: San Beda vs Mapua, NCAA Season 99 finals Game 2 – December 10
The Mapua Cardinals look to finish a 32-year NCAA men's basketball title hunt with a Season 99 finals sweep, while the San Beda Red Lions hope to bounce back and force a deciding Game 3.....»»
Archers far from finished
Vengeful La Salle shoved it back – hard and loud – on the University of the Philippines with an emphatic 82-60 win in Game 2 to force a winner-take-all duel in the UAAP Season 86 men’s basketball finals in front of 20, 863 fans yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.....»»
Archers get back at Maroons to force Game 3
The La Salle Green Archers forced a Game 3 in the UAAP men's basketball finals after obliterating the UP Fighting Maroons in Game 2, 82-60......»»
Pasig keeps MPBL hopes alive, kicking
Pasig City-MCW Sports exacted sweet payback on Caloocan, pulling off a 65-61 squeaker in Game 2 to force a rubber match in the MPBL North Division quarterfinals Friday night at the Caloocan City Sports Complex......»»
Microsoft CEO hits out at ‘dominant’ Google in US trial
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told a US court on Monday that Google's dominance of the search engine market made it very hard for rivals to emerge, hitting out sharply at the business practices of his company's archrival. Nadella spoke to a courtroom in Washington DC, where lawyers from the US Department of Justice are attempting to persuade a federal judge that Google has illegally paid billions to Apple and others to preserve its monopoly. Microsoft's Bing has been trying since 2009 to build market share against Google, but Nadella said it could never compete against the search engine behemoth, largely due to its arrangements with Apple. "You can call it popular, but to me it's dominant," Nadella told a Google lawyer during tense cross examination. The three-month trial is the biggest US antitrust case against a big tech company since the same department took on Microsoft more than two decades ago over the dominance of its Windows operating system. Nadella broadly backed the government's contention that Google's intake of data from being the world's preeminent search engine created a network effect that only made Google a more powerful tool to advertisers and users. "It becomes even harder to break through when you don't have (market) share," Nadella said. 'Defaults matter' Nadella said distribution was key to a successful search engine and that his company was prepared to pay Apple dearly to give Bing the default status on the iPhone. "Defaults are the only thing that matters" and arguments by Google that users will easily switch to another app were "bogus," Nadella said. "It would be a game changer (for Bing) to be a default on Safari," he added. Apple instead stuck with Google and receives billions of dollars every year from the search engine giant with a generous revenue sharing deal, earlier testimony has revealed. With his approaches rebuffed by Apple, Nadella said that Bing has remained a very small player. The company has continued to invest in Bing, Nadella said, awaiting a possible "paradigm shift" or some sort of government intervention to restructure the business. The CEO also testified that despite some early "exuberance," he no longer believed the emergence of ChatGPT would reshape Google's dominance of the search business. Microsoft earlier this year moved aggressively to integrate the AI technology into its Bing search engine, creating some expectation that Google's singular position was under threat. Nadella said he was now worried that Google would be able to use its dominance in search to strongarm content providers that are key to training generative AI models. "I worry a lot in spite of my enthusiasm that this vicious cycle can become even more vicious," Nadella said. The post Microsoft CEO hits out at ‘dominant’ Google in US trial appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
High seas treaty moves closer to reality with first signatures
Dozens of nations on Wednesday began signing a first-ever treaty on protecting the international high seas, raising hopes that it will come into force soon and protect threatened ecosystems vital to the planet. "It's an amazing moment to be here and see such multilateral cooperation and so much hope," said actor Sigourney Weaver said in New York as the signatures opened. The treaty marks change in "the way we view the ocean, from a big garbage dump and a place where we can take stuff, to a place that we take care of, that we steward, we respect," she told AFP. Around 70 countries are set to sign the treaty on Wednesday on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly, including the United States, Chile, Fiji, Norway, and the European Union as a whole. But each country must still ratify the treaty under its own domestic process. The treaty will come into force 120 days after 60 countries ratify it. "It is clear that the ocean is in urgent need of protection," said Belgium's deputy prime minister, Vincent van Quickenborne. Without action, "it's game over," he said. After 15 years of discussion, the United Nations sealed the first treaty on the high seas in June by consensus, although Russia said it had reservations. The start of signatures marks "a new chapter" of "establishing meaningful protections" for the oceans, said Nichola Clark of the Ocean Governance Project at The Pew Charitable Trusts. The high seas are defined as the ocean starting beyond countries' exclusive economic zones, or 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) off coastlines -- covering nearly half the planet. Nonetheless, they have long been ignored in discussions on the environment. A key tool in the treaty will be the ability to create protected marine areas in international waters -- only around one percent of which are now protected by any sort of conservation measures. The treaty is seen as crucial to an agreement to protect 30 percent of the world's oceans and lands by 2030, as agreed by governments in a separate historic accord on biodiversity reached in Montreal in December. 'Race to ratification' Mads Christensen, interim executive director of Greenpeace International, voiced hope that the treaty would come into force in 2025, when the next UN oceans conference takes place in France. "We have less than seven years to protect 30 percent of the oceans. There is no time to waste," he said. "The race to ratification has begun and we urge countries to be ambitious, ratify the treaty and make sure it enters into force in 2025." But even if the treaty draws the 60 ratifications needed to come into force, it would still be well below the universal support for action sought by environmental defenders. Oceans are critical for the health of the whole planet, protecting often microscopic biodiversity that supports half of the oxygen breathed by land life. The oceans are also critical to limiting climate change by helping absorb greenhouse gas emissions. The treaty, officially known as the treaty on "Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction" or BBNJ, also introduces requirements to carry out environmental impact studies for proposed activities on the high seas. Such activities, while not listed in the text, would include anything from fishing and maritime transport to more controversial pursuits such as deep-sea mining or even geo-engineering programs aimed at fighting global warming. The post High seas treaty moves closer to reality with first signatures appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
On WPS conflict, ‘Trillanes cut deals’
Amid the guessing game started by China on who the unnamed President was who promised to remove the BRP Sierra Madre from Ayungin Shoal, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile has pointed to a former senator as the culprit. “I haven’t heard from previous presidents that they promised to remove the Sierra Madre, but what I know is that the late President Benigno Aquino III did some backchanneling, and his backdoor agent was former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV,” Enrile said. He added: “Trillanes bypassed then Ambassador Sonia Brady in negotiating with China, and his only credential was he rode in a Philippine Navy boat when he was in the military service.” “The subject of the backchanneling was the Scarborough Shoal standoff, but Trillanes was deceived by the Chinese. The Philippine vessels withdrew from the area of the deadlock, but China stayed put,” he recalled. 2012 Senate skirmish Then-senator Enrile and Trillanes had a confrontation in September 2012 over the government’s covert negotiations with China that Aquino had assigned to Trillanes. In a face-off on the Senate floor, Enrile produced the so-called Brady notes, a report on the discussions between the ambassador and Trillanes on the backchanneling mission. During his several engagements with Chinese officials, Enrile quoted the Brady notes as saying that Trillanes indicated that Filipinos needed more interest in the conflicting claims in the region. Enrile said the Brady notes stated that Aquino was not made fully aware of the details of Trillanes’s actions, and there was a point when the President did not know the talks were suspended for two weeks and that Trillanes was acting on his own. “And for whom? Whose interest was he serving?” Enrile asked. While admitting that it was the prerogative of Aquino as Commander-in-Chief to resort to backchannel talks, designating Trillanes was a huge mistake, he said. “Trillanes should have been discreet, and he should have brought along an embassy representative to record the event. Trillanes thought he was James Bond. That should not have been allowed,” Enrile said. “A person entrusted by the President with a mission must first exercise discretion. When you go to a country to deal with a foreign power, you must notify the embassy,” he said. “Trillanes should have notified the embassy to alert them that he was there on a mission, and he should have brought along at least one responsible official,” he added. He continued: “Everybody should have known that international law already provided the way to settle the dispute, which was the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, but which China did not respect.” “China based its claims not on international law but on its might. We should have a counter-balancing force,” according to Enrile. “We should not rely solely on the assistance of other nations; we should keep building up our military assets.” “We should also be prepared, and one way to do that is to require all young Filipinos to undergo training to defend the country.” “Only Filipinos can fight for their country; nobody else can do the fighting for you,” Enrile stressed. False narrative Meanwhile, China was accused of using deception in its sea maneuvers when it tried to block a resupply mission to Ayungin Shoal on 7 September. Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson, Col. Medel Aguilar, at the weekly Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, said the Philippine Navy offered to help a Chinese rubber boat in distress near Ayungin Shoal. “Our troops offered assistance, but the Chinese refused and another boat came to their rescue,” Aguilar said. He said one of the Chinese rigid hull inflatable boats had gotten entangled in a fishing line while it was tailing the Philippine vessels heading to Ayungin to resupply the troops there. Aguilar said that while the Chinese boat’s refusal to accept aid from Philippine forces was expected, what surprised the troops was Beijing’s radio call where they blamed the Filipinos for the incident. “They had the guts to challenge our radio message. ‘Philippine Coast Guard, because of your maneuvers, the Chinese Coast Guard vessel came into problem,’” he quoted the Chinese as saying. Aguilar said this was another narrative the Chinese would tell their people. “After this incident, they will come up with their narrative to tell their people about what happened,” Aguilar said. “We don’t want the truth to be drowned out by what really happened,” he added. Misplaced bullying Aguilar described the China Coast Guard’s behavior as “misplaced bullying” amid its continued aggression in Philippine territorial waters. “The CCG is a misplaced bully in the WPS,” Aguilar said. Meanwhile, Commodore Jay Tarriela, PCG spokesperson, said several CCG ships and maritime militia vessels tried to block the Philippine vessels and stop the resupply mission. “It is very important for the government, for us, to be more transparent about what is happening in the West Philippine Sea,” he said. “We face the media; we give them the true story. The media will play a very important role in curtailing this fake news that spreads every time the Chinese release their narratives.” He said China has been pushing the narrative that the Philippines is acting on behalf of the United States. Ayungin Shoal, which is part of the Kalayaan island group, is an integral part of the Philippines and is well within its exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, over which the country has sovereignty, sovereign rights, and jurisdiction. The BRP Sierra Madre has been grounded on Ayungin Shoal since 1999, where it stands as a symbol of Philippine sovereignty and on which a dozen Filipino Marines and sailors are holding the fort. The post On WPS conflict, ‘Trillanes cut deals’ appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Luis Severino Leads Yankees to Victory over Tigers with Late-Season Surge
Headline: Luis Severino Shines as Yankees Defeat Tigers in Dominant Pitching Performance In a standout game against the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees pitcher Luis.....»»
Zamboanga swimming vendors
Bienvenidos bonito, bonita! Quetal ustedes? Oh! Dispensa, my dear readers, pardon my Chavacano, I am still practicing the words I recently learned from our three-day trip to Zamboanga City. Why Zamboanga? Well, why not? Zamboanga is, for me, the most colorful province I have visited as I travel around the Philippines, contrary to the stereotype of other people relating Mindanao to terrorism and chaos. Zamboanga is a must-visit on your travel bucket list. As colorful as the vintas along the shores and as vibrant as its people, Zamboanga is really one of the best places to go to in Mindanao. Have you tried their “curacha” covered in aligue (crab fat) cooked in coconut sauce? Or their Tiyula Itum (braised beef or goat soup) which at first glance looks like dinuguan, but voila! it tastes like tinola and curry combined. Oh, I’m salivating now just thinking about it. If you haven’t tasted the food, then you’re missing a part of your life and I’m not exaggerating. Go! Book that plane or ship right now. I was not in Zamboanga for leisure, you silly! I was there to visit the newly opened “Tindahan sa Pantalan” put up by the Philippine Ports Authority, which changed the lives of the swimming vendors of Zamboanga City. Have you seen the episode of a popular Sunday TV magazine show that featured vendors jumping off a port and swimming over 500 meters to board ships to sell their products to passengers? These vendors risk their lives swimming close to a ship’s propeller, jumping off slippery spots on a ship, and risking death and drowning to make a sale and get through the day. We cannot blame them — they are just making a living. They have their own stories like they weren’t accepted for jobs requiring at least a college education. Some have children with special needs, while others lost their jobs during the pandemic, and with children in college, they decided to take the dangerous plunge to make less than P500 a day. And not all of them know how to swim so they hang on to plastic bags and float to the ships. Devastating and sad, right? That is why “Tindahan sa Pantalan” was created. It is the first-ever store at the port, initiated by PPA General Manager Jay Santiago four months ago after he saw videos of these poor vendors. A 200-square-meter area was developed into a safe commercial space with eight stalls where the vendors can sell their goods rent-free. The good news is that these vendors will no longer have to risk their lives out there in the vastness of the sea. They are starting new lives selling food, lutong ulam, and other products at the port. Life-changing and amazing. The once cat-and-mouse game between the PPA and these illegal vendors jumping off the port is now a united and organized effort to help the vendors who are thankful to the PPA they once hated. We need to listen not only to the voice from above but to the voices at the grassroots level. Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. If the government can just provide the most needy people with the right opportunity and resources, I think there will be fewer poor families every day. We have a proposed P5.768-trillion national budget for 2024, and by the end of next year, the country’s debt is projected to climb to P15.8 trillion. We hope that ordinary people like these swimming vendors could also benefit from the trillions in the budget. Who should be taking the initiative to create opportunities for these poor vendors? Well, your guess is as good as mine. We need to act more than we talk. We need to know the problems and face them head-on because, folks, no matter how deep or shallow the water is we will both drown if simple things are not addressed properly…. because we are in the same vinta. Special thanks to Zamboanga Port Manager Arcidi Jumaani, Port Police Station commander Supt. Jef Hizolgon and the rest of Task Force Zamboanga for keeping us safe on our ride to Sta. Cruz Pink Island. To Ma’am Tash, Luz, Francisca, Mark, Abegail and others for giving us a taste of the best dishes in town and gifting us with colorful Mindanaoan fabric. The reason for this project, the vendors doing well now, should also be given a shout-out like Josephine, Darwisa and Kuya Wilfrido who gave me and my team a free bag of peanuts which they now sell in Tindahan sa Pantalan. Thank you very much for your kindness amid life’s challenges. You guys are amazing! Just keep swimming, I mean the idiom, not the old way! The post Zamboanga swimming vendors appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
On China’s Filipino collaborators
His torrid message indicting traitors in our midst has been delivered. His torrid message is not lost on us. Without a doubt, our hazy concepts of Filipino treachery and collaboration vis-à-vis China finally became palpably real when Coast Guard spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea Commodore Jay Tarriela fumed last week. “If you are a Filipino, whether in government or the private sector, regardless of your politics, defending and making excuses for China’s aggressive behavior should deem you unpatriotic and a traitor to the Philippines and to our people,” Tarriela said. Except perhaps for former Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson urging Tarriela to carry on, the Coast Guard spokesperson’s stinging rebuke effectively silenced our otherwise noisy political circles and fatuous officialdom. But then treachery and collaboration, by any political and moral yardstick, is an ugly business. Every culture tags treachery and collaboration as a moral failure, hence the silence. As such, most of us instinctively see traitors as sordid, louche creatures whose scabrous choice of supporting the nation by attacking it instead of the natural choice of defending it “is a sin which travesties even legitimize hatred.” Tragically, however, this same ugly treachery is a story many Filipinos don’t want to hear, or even recognize as their own story in the last five years or so. So tragic is this story of so many Filipinos brainwashed — the handiwork of odious political actors preying on their fears and naïve defeatism — Into combining a Chinese allegiance with their Filipino identity that we now need to admit the fact that those who resisted Chinese dominance during the previous regime were in the minority. China’s Filipino collaborators were, in fact, the majority. Previous general public opinion, of course, does not justify collaboration, but it does help make the issue understandable. Nevertheless, with Commodore Tarriela’s stinging rebuke, it seems that things have swung the other way. How the public lost its political and moral confidence in collaborating with China can be attributed to the fact that the previous political regime’s conscious collaboration turned into dishonor when it failed in its promise to shield Filipinos from persistent Chinese bullying. Still, even if we are to use Napoleon’s chief diplomat Talleyrand’s (Charles–Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord) pregnant remark that treason is a matter of dates, that what looks like acquiescence at one moment can mean betrayal at another, there are no assurances China’s Filipino collaborators are a spent force. Late last week, Commodore Tarriela pointedly warned that fake news peddlers and their shadowy operators were among the reasons why some Filipinos were still siding with China. At the least, fake news peddlers and trolls undermining Filipino national solidarity against Chinese bullying are no more than paid, perhaps even bankrolled by China herself, caffeine-fueled slavish adventurers with odious political ideals. Mercenary fake news peddlers, however, aren’t the only ones in the opportunist’s game. So-called responsible political agents and their suspect political choices, like some of our social media stars and news hacks whose obvious nihilism amounts to convincing everybody to accept bare political and economic power as they are, are the other opportunists. While we can definitely dismiss these loud-mouthed louts, using English novelist Rebecca West’s words, as having “no intelligence, only a vacancy which there rolled a snowball of Fascist chatter,” they still have to be squarely dealt with. These chancers’ and sycophants’ rear guard actions insidiously influencing Filipinos to cease their resistance to China and their flimsy attempts at legitimizing Chinese incursions is still a cause for worry. So, with Commodore Tarriela drawing open the curtains on the question of China’s Filipino collaborators, we’re now armed with the sense that treachery and collaboration have even more grave significance than had been supposed. This leaves us with no other choice but to be averse to normalizing treachery and collaboration and becoming fully cognizant of the fact that any future historical judgment on collaborators would depend on what each one of us honestly thinks and does today. The post On China’s Filipino collaborators appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»
Dangerous escalation: U.S. troops in Hormuz
US President Joe Biden sent 3,000 soldiers to the Red Sea last 6 August in what TV Vantage News viewed as a step towards responding to “Iranian aggression.” Washington justified the move by saying Iran had captured around 20 tankers in the Gulf in the last 20 years. The US fears that continued “Iranian aggression” will worsen with the currently high global price of oil. The US soldiers are aboard two warships, the USS Bataan, an amphibious assault ship, and the USS Carter Hall, used for docking. The goal is for the rapid deployment of troops on oil tankers which are considered potential targets for capture by the Iranian navy. The idea is for the presence of US soldiers to act as a “deterrence” against an Iranian assault. They are thus being placed up front as possible sacrificial lambs if Iran insists on assaulting the troop-laden tankers. Biden’s move is essentially a psychological tactic. It is similar to terrorists using civilians as shields against an assault. Soldiers have no value or role in a naval confrontation of missiles and drones. In fact, Iran’s undeterred response to the US troop initiative is to arm its warships with the new Abu Mehdi missiles, which have a range of 1,000 kilometers. How can soldiers face missiles? It is like the children sent by the Church as crusaders, in the hope the Muslims would not harm children. They were instantly massacred without hesitation. Who drew first blood? Actually, the original aggressor, the one that drew first blood, was the US, consistently capturing Iranian vessels, prior to the troop initiative, on the pretext of its almighty sanctions. For a long time, Iran had no response for fear of derailing the ongoing nuclear deal negotiations, which was a thorn in its throat, until finally they could not take it anymore. They also must have felt that the negotiations were not going anywhere. Iran’s Defense Minister Nasser Kenaani, in response to the US troop initiative, said the US troops were not necessary and that the region can handle local security by themselves without foreign interference. Indeed, the US move may be seen as an invitation to a confrontation rather than a “deterrence.” The presence of US troops in Hormuz has “massive implications both for the US and for the rest of the world,” according to Vantage. The US, in its military initiative in Hormuz, is actually a multi-tentacled octopus spreading itself too thin across the planet, such as in the protracted war in Ukraine, and in the Taiwan Strait. The US is worried that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are shifting towards relations with China. US carriers are tied down in the West Philippine Sea, especially following the recent Philippine diplomatic protests over China harassing its Coast Guard. The Philippines may invoke mutual defense if push comes to shove. The US maintains 17 military bases throughout the breadth and length of the Philippine archipelago. The Hormuz chokepoint, where about 20 percent of global oil supplies pass through, is a mere 39 kilometers wide between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. It is considered one of the most dangerous powder kegs in the entire Middle East, capable of evolving into a full-scale war in the blink of an eye. History of US-Iran conflict In 1988, a tanker war ensued wherein the US attacked Iranian oil rigs and sank many Iranian vessels. All these happened after the US lost control of Iranian oil and gas with the fall of the Shah, the greatest single tragedy of the US in its search of gulf energy. Since then, the Pentagon had been planning the future invasion of Iran, staging the most expensive and ambitious $250-million war game called 2002 Millennium Challenge. In 2011, the sinking of the Fifth Fleet in Bahrain was predicted by military experts. Admiral William Fallon, ex-US Centcom Commander and head of the Fifth Fleet, in fear of Iranian underground hypersonic missiles, said, “There will be no attack on Iran on my watch.” He was sacked instantly and replaced by Gen. David Petreaus. Pentagon initiatives are deterred by 1) an Iranian underground air force with hypersonic missiles and killer drones (now being used by Russia in Ukraine); 2) Iran being an ally of Russia (an attack on Iran instantly involves Russia), and 3) a more sober civilian government opposing Pentagon brinkmanship. In his frustration, Biden, worried about his reelection and his dwindling charisma, is sending US troops to Hormuz, a dangerous catalyst to all-out war. The post Dangerous escalation: U.S. troops in Hormuz appeared first on Daily Tribune......»»