Rico Carty, who won the 1970 NL batting title when he hit a major league-best .366 for the Atlanta Braves, has died. He was 85. Major League Baseball , the players’ association and the Braves paid tribute to Carty on social media on Sunday. A family friend told Listín Diario — a newspaper in Carty’s native Dominican Republic — that he died Saturday night in an Atlanta hospital. “Carty was one of the first groundbreaking Latino stars in the major leagues, and he established himself as a hero to millions in his native Dominican Republic, his hometown of San Pedro de Macoris, and the city of Atlanta, where he was a beloved fan favorite,” the players’ association said in its statement . The Braves said Carty left an indelible mark on the organization. “While his on-field accomplishments will never be forgotten, his unforgettable smile and generous nature will be sorely missed,” the team said in its statement. Carty made his big league debut with the Braves in September 1963. He batted .330 with 22 homers and 88 RBIs in his first full season in 1964, finishing second to Dick Allen in voting for NL Rookie of the Year. The Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta after the 1965 season, and Carty got the franchise’s first hit in its new home on April 12, 1966, against Pittsburgh. Carty had his best year in 1970, batting .366 with 25 homers and a career-best 101 RBIs. He started the All-Star Game after he was elected as a write-in candidate, joining Willie Mays and Hank Aaron in the NL outfield. Carty batted .299 with 204 homers and 890 RBIs over 15 years in the majors, also playing for Cleveland, Toronto, Oakland, Texas and the Chicago Cubs. He retired after the 1979 season. We are saddened to learn of the passing of former Blue Jay and 15-year MLB veteran Rico Carty. A member of the Caribbean Baseball and Latino Baseball Halls of Fame and a humanitarian in the Dominican Republic – Carty’s legacy and impact will be remembered forever. Our... pic.twitter.com/9UvTbaCcMM
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi has come under a severe attack by the ruling government and other political parties over her recent controversial statement about Saudi Arabia, forcing the jailed leader and his political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to rush to her rescue and go in a full damage-control mode. Bushra Bibi released a video recently, urging everyone to take to the streets on Sunday (November 24) to protest against the “illegal imprisonment” of her husband Imran Khan. In the video, she also stated that Saudi Arabia was offended when they saw Imran Khan arriving barefoot to visit Madina. This, she claimed, resulted in multiple calls to then Army Chief (Retd.) General Qamar Jawed Bajwa, expressed concerns over Khan showing himself as the representative of Islam and Shariah to them at a time when they (Saudis) are abolishing it from their own country. The statement prompted immediate response from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who slammed Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, warning that any attempts to dent relations between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia would not be tolerated at all. On the other hand, PTI leadership maintained that, as Bushra is not a political figure, her statement should not be attributed to the party at large. “Bushra Bibi’s statement has nothing to do with PTI,” said senior PTI leader Shoaib Shaheen. However, Imran Khan seems to be endorsing what his wife had said. While speaking to the media from Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, Khan said that his wife had not named Saudi Arabia and that the statement was being twisted to directly target MBS (Muhammad Bin Salman) and Saudi Arabia. Imran Khan’s endorsement of his wife’s controversial statement was also picked up by the government, which slammed both of them for towing anti-state and anti-Pakistan agenda. “Imran Khan did not negate what his wife said and, in fact, he endorsed it. Imran Khan, his party and his so-called non-political wife are on an anti-Pakistan agenda. They are enemies of Pakistan. They can go to any extent to damage our country and its relationship with brotherly countries like Saudi Arabia,” said Azma Bukhari, spokesperson of the Punjab government. “This disgraceful statement from an uneducated and uninformed individual against friendly countries shows she is working on the agenda of hostile elements. The people of Pakistan have now witnessed the true faces of these two deceivers. The so-called ‘Fitna Party’ is no longer acceptable to the nation,” she added while speaking with reporters in Lahore on Saturday.HGTV Stars Erin and Ben Napier Share Exciting 'Home Town' UpdateWASHINGTON -- Federal authorities on Tuesday urged telecommunication companies to boost network security following a sprawling Chinese hacking campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. The guidance issued by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is intended to help root out the hackers and prevent similar cyberespionage in the future. Officials who briefed reporters on the recommendations said the U.S. still doesn't know the true scope of China's attack or the extent to which Chinese hackers still have access to U.S. networks. In one sign of the global reach of China's hacking efforts, the government's warning was issued jointly with security agencies in New Zealand, Australia and Canada, members of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, which also includes the U.S. and Britain. Dubbed Salt Typhoon by analysts, the wide-ranging cyberespionage campaign emerged earlier this year after hackers sought to penetrate the networks of multiple telecommunications companies. The hackers used their access to telecom networks to target the metadata of a large number of customers, including information on the dates, times and recipients of calls and texts. The hackers succeeded in retrieving the actual audio files of calls and content from texts from a much smaller number of victims. The FBI has contacted victims in this group, many of whom work in government or politics, but officials said it is up to telecom companies to notify customers included in the first, larger group. Despite months of investigation, the true scale of China’s operation, including the total number of victims or whether the hackers still have some access to information, is currently unknown. The FBI has said some of the information targeted by the hackers relates to U.S. law enforcement investigations and court orders, suggesting the hackers may have been trying to access programs subject to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. The law grants American spy agencies sweeping powers to surveil the communications of people suspected of being agents of a foreign power. But on Tuesday, officials said they think the hackers were more broadly motivated, hoping to burrow deeply into the nation's telecommunications systems to gain wide access to Americans' information. The suggestions for telecom companies released Tuesday are largely technical in nature, urging encryption, centralization and consistent monitoring to deter cyber intrusions. If implemented, the security precautions could help disrupt the Salt Typhoon operation and make it harder for China or any other nation to mount a similar attack in the future, said Jeff Greene, CISA's executive assistant director for cybersecurity and one of the officials who briefed reporters Tuesday. “We don’t have any illusion that once we kick off these actors they’re not going to come back,” Greene said. Several recent high-profile hacking incidents have been linked to China and what officials say is Beijing's effort to steal technical and government secrets while also gaining access to critical infrastructure such as the electrical grid. In September, the FBI announced that it had disrupted a vast Chinese hacking operation that involved the installation of malicious software on more than 200,000 consumer devices, including cameras, video recorders and home and office routers. The devices were then used to create a massive network of infected computers, or botnet, that could then be used to carry out other cyber crimes. In October, officials said hackers linked to China targeted the phones of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, along with people associated with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. China has rejected accusations from U.S. officials that it engages in cyberespionage directed against Americans. A message left with China's embassy in Washington was not immediately returned Tuesday.