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On Oct. 9, 1987, a debate more than half a century in the making unfolded on the banks of the Rogue River in Oregon. Ted Williams and Bobby Doerr first met in 1936. Williams was 17 years old, Doerr 18, and even then, before their Hall of Fame careers with the Boston Red Sox had even begun, they disagreed on things.Over the following decades, among their conversations on endless subjects, none animated Williams and Doerr like talking hitting. Doerr came from the classic school of baseball instruction: swing down on the ball to create the backspin that would carry it…

Madonna is the top nominee heading into the 2026 MTV VMAs, the network announced on Tuesday, with the pop icon earning 11 nominations overall this year, including for artist of the year, video of the year, song of the year for her Sabrina Carpenter collaboration “Bring Your Love” and video of the year for “Confessions II – The Film.” Taylor Swift, the most-awarded act in VMAs history, came in second this year with nine nominations, including for artist of the year and video of the year with “The Fate of Ophelia.” Ariana Grande and Carpenter are tied for third with…

The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, has threatened to demolish houses built on or obstructing designated water channels. Mr Wike spoke on Tuesday during a press conference in Abuja where he argued that the structures are contributing to flooding in the Nigerian capital and must be removed to restore proper drainage. His remarks came after some parts of Abuja were flooded following a heavy rain on Saturday. Residents of Adetokunbo Ademola Crescent, Lokogoma and some other areas were caught up in the flood while cars were submerged by the flood. The flooding validated the prediction made…

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has reiterated that Iran’s claim it is holding missing Iranian aircrew is untrue and a ‘media ploy’, adding that Tehran has not responded to invitations to verify the claim.Published On 18 Aug 202618 Aug 2026Click here to share on social mediashare-nodesSharegoogleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo

Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for freeYour guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the worldWalt Disney has sued the US media watchdog, accusing the Trump administration of launching a “retaliatory campaign” against the group’s ABC television networks over the content of its broadcasts. The lawsuit in US federal court marks the latest escalation in a row between Disney and the Federal Communications Commission, after the regulator in April ordered a review of all broadcast television stations owned by Disney for violations of rules including “unlawful discrimination”.The FCC is also probing whether longtime ABC talk…

Like most AI assistants, Copilot can receive prompts that are embedded into a URL. The base part of the URL can allow the LLM to open, say, Gmail. Parameters and text to the right in the URL can then instruct the assistant to summarize inbox contents or begin drafting a new message. As noted already, the commands aren’t supposed to execute without user approval. With the Copilot revelation of the undocumented parameter, the researchers now had a simple means to circumvent the protection and inject a prompt directly into Copilot. The format of the URL looked like this: https://copilot.microsoft.com/?q=&autorun=1 One…

The Gambling Commission has been urged to investigate claims that companies linked to Reform UK donors and allies of Nigel Farage have been operating without a licence.The Labour party’s chair, Bridget Phillipson, has written to the watchdog asking it to look into Tether.bet, a Montenegro-based gambling company, and Fispay, a UK company owned by Reform’s data protection officer, Mowbray Jackson.It comes after the Sunday Times reported that both companies had been operating without a licence. Crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne’s £5m gift to Farage is already under scrutiny by the parliamentary commissioner for standards.George Cottrell, a convicted fraudster and long-term ally…

Astronomers may have found some of the strongest evidence yet for one of quantum mechanics’ strangest predictions: even apparently empty space can influence the way light travels. Known as ‘vacuum birefringence’, the phenomenon was predicted nearly 90 years ago by Werner Heisenberg, one of the pioneers of quantum mechanics. His work suggested that a perfect vacuum is not truly empty. Instead, it should contain ‘virtual particles’ that briefly appear and disappear. Researchers, including Dr. Marcus Lower from Swinburne University of Technology, investigated this long-standing quantum mystery by studying a magnetar, a rare type of neutron star that possesses the strongest…

Root, England’s greatest batter and a veteran of 166 Tests, said he hoped his “natural persona” is suited to bringing a sense of calm to the men’s national team.Off-field issues dominated last winter’s tours, including an incident involving Harry Brook being punched by a nightclub bouncer in Wellington and the team’s drinking during a mid-Ashes trip to Noosa, culminating in a heavy 4-1 defeat by Australia.The issues continued into the summer when Stokes broke a team curfew, setting in motion a chaotic six weeks that resulted in a 2-1 series defeat by New Zealand, Stokes’ retirement and the sacking of…

Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, will perform two shows in St Petersburg this October, becoming the most well-known western star to play in Russia since its invasion of Ukraine four years ago.The artist has attracted controversy in recent years, with his antisemitic outbursts and expressions of sympathy towards nazism increasingly overshadowing his music and making some countries and venues uneasy about hosting his tour.He is set to perform on 10 and 11 October at St Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena.Russian fans rushed to secure tickets after the shows were announced on Monday. Nearly all of the most expensive tickets,…