Kakko's late goal lifts Rangers past Canadiens 4-3HOUSTON (AP) — The Astros welcomed first baseman Christian Walker to the team Monday, in one of two moves that almost certainly marks the end of Alex Bregman’s time in Houston. Walker signed a $60 million, three-year contract that will pay him $20 million annually just more than a week after the Astros acquired infielder Isaac Paredes from Cubs in the trade that sent outfielder Kyle Tucker to Chicago . “The way I view it right now is Paredes is going to play third base and Walker is going to play first base,” general manager Dana Brown said Monday. “And Bregman’s still a free agent.” The Astros had hoped to re-sign Bregman, the team’s third baseman for the last nine seasons, but Brown said the negotiations stalled. “I thought we made a really competitive offer, showing that we wanted him back,” he said. “But we had to pursue other options. We couldn’t just sit there. We locked in Paredes early in that trade, knowing that he could play third or first and then when the opportunity to add another bat came up we just jumped on it.” The addition of a first baseman was a priority this offseason for the Astros after they released struggling first baseman José Abreu less than halfway through a $58.5 million, three-year contract. “We knew we had to get better at first base,” Brown said. “We pursued (Walker) and we’re excited to have him because we know that we’re going to have a really good first baseman that can defend and also hit the ball on the seats from time to time.” Walked was attracted by the sustained success of the Astros, who won their first two World Series titles in 2017 and '22. “I’ve been watching this team for a while now, and that edge, the energy, the expectation, you can tell that they’re going out there with a standard,” he said. “And I’m very excited to be a part of it.” Walker is looking forward playing on an infield with star second baseman Jose Altuve. He’s fascinated by the success and consistency Altuve has had over his 14-year career. “I get a chance to learn from Jose Altuve,” Walker said. “Nothing really gets better than that.” Brown was asked what he would tell fans disappointed to see the Astros lose another star after George Springer and Carlos Correa left as free agents in recent years. “I would just tell the fans that look, we are very focused on remaining competitive,” he said. “We’re very focused on winning division and going back to the World Series, and I think with these additions that we have the ability to do that. So, I feel strongly that we’re going to be picked to win the division first off. And if our pitching holds up, which I feel strongly about, as well, I think we’ll get deep into the postseason.” The Astros won the AL West for a fourth straight year this season before being swept by the Tigers in an AL Wild Card Series. Walker, who turns 34 during the opening week of the season, hit .251 with 26 homers, 84 RBIs, 55 walks and 133 strikeouts this year. That was down from 2023, when he batted .258 with 33 homers and 103 RBIs as the Diamondbacks reached the World Series. Walker played in 130 games this year, down from 157 in 2023 and 160 in 2022. He was sidelined between July 29 and Sept. 3 by a strained left oblique. He spent the last eight seasons with the Diamondbacks, where he hit 146 homers with 442 RBIs and a .251 batting average. He didn’t secure a full-time job in the big leagues until 2019. He’s provided consistent power over the past six seasons and has grown into an elite defensive first baseman, winning Gold Gloves in each of the past three seasons. Walker played college ball at South Carolina and was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in 2012. He made his big league debut with the Orioles in 2014 but couldn’t stick in the majors and was claimed off waivers by Atlanta, Cincinnati and Arizona in a five-week span. Walker’s contract has a limited no-trade provision allowing him to block deals to six teams without his consent. He would earn $200,000 for winning an MVP, $175,000 for second, $150,000 for third, $125,000 for fourth and $100,000 for fifth. Walker also would get $100,000 for World Series MVP, $50,000 for League Championship Series MVP and $75,000 apiece for making the All-Star Game or winning a Gold Glove or Silver Slugger Award. Infielder Grae Kessinger was designated for assignment to open a roster spot. ___ AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report. ___ AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb Kristie Rieken, The Associated Press
India Will Never Forget Manmohan Singh, Vundavilli Aruna Kumar
Published 21:46 IST, December 28th 2024 BJP President JP Nadda launched a pincer attack on the Congress stating it never wanted the last rites of ex-PM late PV Narasimha Rao to take place in Delhi. New Delhi: BJP President JP Nadda, on Saturday, launched a pincer attack on the Congress stating it never wanted the last rites of former Prime Minister late PV Narasimha Rao to take place in Delhi. Nadda's remarks came after a row erupted over a memorial for the former prime minister, with the Congress demanding that former PM Manmohan Singh's last rites be performed at a place where a memorial could be built later. In a sharp rebuke, Nadda said, "The Congress never gave respect to Manmohan Singh when he was alive now it is politicising in the name of respect." The Congress party alleged that the government led by the BJP was "deliberately insulting" the first Sikh prime minister of the country in not doing so. After the matter of a memorial to Singh took a political colour, the government clarified that a decision to build one had already been conveyed to Kharge by the Union home minister after Friday's Cabinet meeting. A government statement also said the funeral could be held as the process of setting up a trust and allotting land for the memorial could take a while. Kharge had written to Modi on Friday seeking a memorial for Singh. Several sections of the society also urged the government to confer Bharat Ratna on the late economist-prime minister. Singh died of age-related complications at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, the ace tertiary-care public establishment where the former prime minister always got admitted whenever he faced medical complications. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh, who led India to the path of economic liberalisation in the 1990s, was cremated with full state honours at Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Saturday in the presence of top dignitaries from the country and abroad. A seven-day national mourning is being observed as a mark of respect to the former prime minister during which the national flag will be flown at half-mast across the nation, the Union home ministry has announced. (with PTI inputs) Get Current Updates on India News , Entertainment News along with Latest News and Top Headlines from India and around the world. Updated 21:46 IST, December 28th 2024Stock market today: Wall Street slips as the 'Magnificent 7' weighs down the market
Yashasvi Jaiswal, 23, is a tough competitor who seems destined for gloryAP News Summary at 9:54 a.m. EST
Medical & beauty offers top prospects
Shockwaves are reverberating through the e-bike industry in Canada and the United States after a year that saw several prominent brands declare bankruptcy or stop selling in the North American market, citing an inability to compete in an increasingly consolidated environment. Experts say changes that followed the industry’s unprecedented pandemic boom – from a rise in factory direct sales to rapidly evolving technology – have been devastating for independent brands. Vancouver-based DOST Bikes, California-based Juiced Bikes and iGO Electric of Montreal all declared bankruptcy or went into receivership within roughly the past year. Even global brands such as Japanese motor sports giant Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd. and Swiss company Stromer recently announced they were pulling their e-bikes out of North America, citing a softened market. The speed and comfort of e-bikes set them apart from traditional bicycles, opening up the age-old mode of transport to a wider range of users. From delivery people to commuters, the resounding sentiment from most e-bike fans is it’s fun to go fast and the power assist makes long trips so much easier. In Canada, the federal standard for an e-bike’s maximum speed is 32 km/h, and range varies from about 50 to 100 kilometres. The pandemic saw e-bike sales soar, as consumers with extra time and pent-up energy splurged on devices to stay active outdoors. In 2022, the Canadian market was worth about $240-million, with about 70,000 e-bikes sold that year, according to Rize Bikes. By 2025, Rize estimates the market will reach $345-million, with more than 100,000 bikes sold annually. Prices range from $14,000 for a Stromer bike to $3,100 for an ENVO and just $600 on Amazon.com Inc. for a bike from an overseas manufacturer. But makers and retailers say the domestic industry is flatlining. While it’s nowhere near taking its last breath, the changing landscape is forcing local brands to carve out a niche for themselves just to survive, in a market that has become dominated by cheap, direct-to-consumer sales. Sam Atakhanov, the founder of multiple e-bike startups, launched DOST Bikes in 2019 – just before the industry took off. “Things were going normal. Then there was that chain of events that happened over the last few years that really crippled our industry,” he said. For Mr. Atakhanov, it all began with Apple’s release of the iOS 14 operating system in September, 2020. The update affected advertisers’ ability to reach their target audiences, which meant Mr. Atakhanov’s ads on Google weren’t working as well as they used to. Then, pandemic supply-chain disruptions threw a wrench into his company’s cash flow, bumping manufacturing lead times from three months to a year, he said. “We’re sitting here with no stock for nearly a year before the money comes in, so we’re living off of lines of credit, our own cash, investment capital. We’re digging ourselves a hole,” he said. While supply chains improved by 2022, Mr. Atakhanov said rising interest rates and a receding customer base were some of the final blows dealt to his business. Retailers had rushed to double their stock during the pandemic, but the high demand disappeared almost as quickly as it came. “Then it’s a vicious cycle, race to the bottom, everybody’s trying to offload,” Mr. Atakhanov said. The last straw for DOST Bikes was when e-bike factories overseas began bypassing local companies, like DOST, to sell directly to North American consumers, Mr. Atakhanov said. “When that happened, our value proposition for all that great design, branding, marketing, all that just went right out the window because a factory can sell for half the price.” DOST Bikes filed for insolvency in December, 2023. “It was death by a thousand cuts,” Mr. Atakhanov said. And it wasn’t unique to DOST, said Haseeb Javed, a member of the product and engineering team at electric mobility company ENVO Drive Systems in Vancouver. He conducts industry research to determine what causes companies to fail and said most of them have a story similar to DOST’s. Based upon his research, Mr. Javed said ENVO has been very careful to diversify where its products are sold so it’s not reliant on a single revenue stream. For example, the company sells through Costco Wholesale Corp., storefronts and direct to consumers online. ENVO also sells more than just e-bikes, with e-scooters, water bikes with pontoons and snow bikes with skis also in its repertoire. Mr. Javed said this helps with the company’s brand awareness. “Some business models are better for this market. But ultimately, I believe that anyone who survived, either you need to be a Chinese factory who is selling at very low margins or you need to have differentiation,” he said. Kevin McLaughlin, the CEO of Zygg E-Bikes, which operates in Toronto and Vancouver, said 2024 has been a challenging year for his subscription-based company. At Zygg, customers can rent or buy new and used e-bikes, a model that sets the company apart from stores that only sell new bikes. He said Zygg is a popular choice with food delivery workers. At the peak of the pandemic, Zygg did about $2.5-million a year in sales. This year, revenues will come in under $2-million. Amid the technological evolution of e-bikes, Mr. McLaughlin said he’s scrambling to modernize his fleet. And bikes that he bought at $2,000 and once sold for $3,000 now have a markup of just $400. “There’s enormous downward pressure,” he said. Mr. Atakhanov said his company has also had to compete with bigger brands that can afford to innovate – and market those innovations – at a much faster pace. For example, tech company DJI created an e-bike drive system that can connect to a user’s smartphone, allowing them to control things such as their bike’s lock status or power assist through an app. “My product, all of a sudden, over the weekend, looks like it’s last year’s model,” he said. While smaller companies may be struggling to keep up, the prevailing sentiment among industry players is that demand for such micromobility devices isn’t going away. Michael Pasquali, the founder of the Canadian Electric Bike Association, said people are going to continue to buy e-bikes even if the industry never again reaches the heights it did during the pandemic.AP Business SummaryBrief at 4:04 p.m. EST
Sexyy Red Has Fans Fawning Over Her Natural Hair In New Social Media PostJustin Herbert tosses 3 TDs, Chargers clinch a playoff spot with a 40-7 rout of Patriots FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Justin Herbert threw three touchdown passes and the Los Angeles Chargers clinched their second playoff appearance in three seasons with a 40-7 victory over the New England Patriots. The win also secured the fourth postseason appearance in Jim Harbaugh’s five seasons as an NFL coach, adding to the three he made during his stint with the San Francisco 49ers. Herbert finished 26 of 38 for 281 yards to become the third player in NFL history with at least 3,000 passing yards and 20 touchdown passes in each of his first five seasons. The Patriots have lost six straight games, their second such losing streak of the season. They are now 2-14 the last two seasons at home. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.
A space-exploration organization solved a technological feat more than a decade in the making — launching a pair of satellites capable of creating artificial solar eclipses. It is considered a breakthrough development in solar physics, according to scientists and the European Space Agency, which oversaw the Proba-3 mission and its launch last Thursday in India. Through a precise flying formation, the satellites will create a six-hour window for scientists to research the sun’s outer atmosphere — an opportunity previously restricted. “On Earth, scientists must travel the world to position themselves for a brief glimpse of the Sun’s corona lasting just a few minutes at a time during total solar eclipses,” the European Space Agency said in a news release. Now, the satellites, called the Occulter Spacecraft and the Coronagraph Spacecraft, will provide scientists with the ability to make “solar eclipses on demand.” The satellites, about the size of a washing machine, were launched into space attached together. They will separate and move into a highly elliptical orbit up to 60,500 kilometers away from the surface of Earth. The Occulter will line itself up with the sun and use a disc — the stand-in for the Moon — to cast a shadow onto the Cornograph, which will be about 500 feet away. The two satellites must be aligned down to the precise millimeter to avoid excessive light leaking through and hindering data. “Think about standing at one end of a football field and landing a pass on a penny at the other end; that would be easy compared to what they’re doing here,” said Daniel Seaton, a co-investigator on Proba-3 and a solar physicist at the Southwest Research Institute. Seaton said the investment into the Proba-3 mission allows for further research into the sources of solar wind, how the corona reaches its towering temperatures and the drivers of solar activity in a way “that you just cannot do with any other technology that we have.” The technology could perhaps one day be extended to larger pairs of satellites, permitting them to block out starlight and allow scientists to go planet hunting, Seaton said. Traditionally, scientists rely on coronagraphs, instruments invented nearly a hundred years ago by French astronomer Bernard Lyot, to study the corona, the sun’s outermost layer that is hard to see outside an eclipse. But doing so came with its own challenges, according to Amir Caspi, an astrophysicist at the Southwest Research Institute unaffiliated with the Proba-3 mission. The coronagraph worked best in places with dark skies that minimized the bending of light around the disc used to cover the sun’s brightness. In space, scientists aren’t limited by the brightness of the sky, achieving a darkness similar to a total solar eclipse. “For those of us who like to study the sun, any new mission is exciting, but especially this kind of new mission that is going to break new ground in science by making observations that simply weren’t possible before this mission,” Caspi said.
L'Oréal: A Great Business For Long-Term Growth And Dividends, Cycle Perhaps Helps
Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey has been fined $11,255 for unsportsmanlike conduct (taunting) during their 34-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 16. NFL insider Tom Pelissero posted a clip of the incident to X. The NFL fined #Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey $11,255 for unsportsmanlike conduct (taunting) — holding the ball towards #Steelers WR Calvin Austin III on his pick-six last week. pic.twitter.com/nhxhjfSKkk Early in the fourth quarter, Humphrey picked off Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown. The NFL fined Humphrey because it believed he was taunting Pittsburgh receiver Calvin Austin by holding the ball out towards him while running it back. However, after the game Humphrey claimed that wasn't the case. "I want to make this pretty clear," Humphrey said. "When I was running with the football, I saw [Ravens linebacker] David Njabo, a really great teammate of mine, and I was trying to pitch him the football. Some people brought up to me that it looked like taunting or something, but I was trying to pitch him the football. There was no taunting there at all. I just want to make that very clear." It is important to note that Humphrey was not flagged on the play. The lack of consistency between being penalized and fined for something has been very frustrating for players over the last several years. Both Austin and Njabo were behind Humphrey as he was running, so it's difficult to establish intent. Regardless, that's a pretty hefty amount of money for something that didn't hurt anyone. Humphrey has a good reputation as a standup person, making the fine even more harsh. The veteran defender is a former All-Pro and three-time Pro Bowler. In 15 games played this season Humphrey has 63 tackles, six interceptions (tied for second-most in the league), 14 passes defensed, and two forced fumbles. As unfortunate as this is, Humphrey will have to try to put it behind him and move forward. He and the Ravens are rolling, winners of their last three games. They clinched a playoff berth with their Christmas Day win over the Houston Texans, and can secure the AFC North title with a win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 18, or with a Steelers' loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.Montana’s licensing board for outfitters and guides has opened 100 investigations against licensees — although the state agency overseeing that board has demanded those now under review receive an apology. The source of those investigations is a legislative audit that found 138 alleged violations in which outfitters or guides did not self-report criminal convictions while renewing their license or becoming licensed for the first time. The auditors triggered the investigations when they notified the state Board of Outfitters about the unreported violations. , among other things, ultimately recommended the Board of Outfitters move away from self-reporting requirements and establish rules to conduct background checks of those seeking licensure to lower the risk level "to an acceptable level for the board." And while the Legislative Audit Division contended its work was done properly, auditors received a sharp rebuke last week from the Montana Department of Labor, which houses the Board of Outfitters. Sarah Swanson, director at DLI, contended those licensees' due process rights were violated when legislative auditors conducted "dragnet" background checks on licensed outfitters and guides, something neither the Board of Outfitters nor the Department of Labor have the authority to do themselves. In total, the Legislative Audit Division found licensed guides or outfitters had 234 citations, 30 felonies and 114 misdemeanor convictions. The search was narrowed down only to violations that could affect licensure, including hunting and fishing regulations, recreation and crimes against a person or property. "The source of these complaints was a background check that no one consented to or were notified it was happening," Swanson told the Legislative Audit Committee during an Dec. 17 meeting. The state labor department oversees 29 professional licensing boards in Montana. Swanson said they all have different standards for when licensees need to report criminal convictions, but the department is now working on standardizing those requirements. The 138 cases legislative auditors reported to the licensing board included some outfitters or guides who had not renewed their licenses, Swanson said. Others were dismissed because of instances of "same name, wrong person," hence the 100 open investigations at the Board of Outfitters instead of 138, she told lawmakers. Swanson urged the legislative committee to reject the audit outright and clarify in law whether the Legislative Audit Division had the authority to conduct the background checks as it did. "I believe an apology on behalf of the state of Montana is warranted to each one of these licensees as well," Swanson said. Angus McIver, who heads up the Legislative Audit Division, said his office has done this type of research in several instances in the 20 years he has worked there, and said the process was not a criminal background check, which in most cases requires consent from the subject. He said this process was a Criminal Justice Information Network "data match," which largely leaned on public conviction information. He said Swanson had misunderstood the process. He added the committee in fact does not "accept or reject" any audit recommendations. Rather, lawmakers move forward with policy decisions that are informed by the information they provide. And, McIver noted, all state agencies are required to provide information to the legislative auditor, "confidential or otherwise." "It's an important thing that we do," he told the committee. "I'd urge you in this particular context to focus in on what the real issue is here; which is what is the appropriate balance here, the public safety risk." Board of Outfitters Chair John Way also testified at the hearing, and said the board does not oppose o advocate for being given the authority to conduct background checks of guides or outfitters who apply for licensure. "The overarching protection for the Board of Outfitters is to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public and that’s a lens we keep in mind with every decision we make on licensing," he told the committee, later adding, "... We feel that by the audit running background checks on licensees without consent is probably a violation of our licensees rights at this point." The , which also examined the board’s sanctions, working relationship with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and Net Client Hunter Use Days, can be found on the .
Police case lodged against woman bullying Kashmiri shawl sellers in HimachalCaterpillar Inc. Maintains Dividend
