None‘Insult to Dr Manmohan Singh’s legacy, Sikh community’: M K Stalin retorts over family's appeal to perform last rites
Trump’s tariffs in his first term did little to alter the economy, but this time could be differentPresident-elect Donald Trump on Sunday, in his first rally-like speech since the November election, threatened to retake control of the Panama Canal, pushed back on criticism of Elon Musk’s influence, and suggested he could soon meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Trump’s speech in Phoenix, at a Turning Point USA gathering of conservative activists celebrating his victory last month, largely echoed the rhetoric he used on the campaign trail — including lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election — but were tempered with his satisfaction at having won. “We had no riots. We had no anything. It was a beautiful thing to watch,” Trump said, noting Democrats’ concession of the 2024 election. “They just said, ‘We lost.’ And we want to try bringing everybody together.” Trump did not address the chaotic past week in Washington, which saw him play a central role in scuttling a House short-term government funding deal with a last-minute declaration of his opposition — and a ferocious social media campaign led by Musk against it. Their opposition set off a scramble that led lawmakers to approve a different short-term measure , without the debt ceiling suspension Trump had demanded, to avert a government shutdown. Instead, Trump vowed to keep the promises he made on the campaign trail and to take action on his firsts day in office on, among other things, immigration, energy production and a series of culture war issues. Here are six key lines from Trump’s speech on Sunday: Panama Canal Trump said he would consider retaking control of the Panama Canal, which he referred to as a “vital national asset,” doubling down on social media posts he’d made on the topic Saturday. “Our Navy and commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, highly unfair, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama — I say, very foolishly, by the United States,” Trump said. “This complete rip-off of our country will immediately stop.” It was a demonstration of how the United States’ approach to foreign policy could shift under Trump, who has shown a willingness to use bellicose rhetoric — even toward allies — to accomplish his goals. He’s threatened 25% tariffs, for example, on Canada and Mexico on day 1 of his administration. The Panama Canal, which links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is a vital passage for American commerce that was built principally by the United States and opened in 1914. President Jimmy Carter signed a treaty that began the process of transferring control of the canal to Panama in 1977, and that transfer was finalized in 1999. “It was given to Panama and to the people of Panama, but it has provisions — you’ve got to treat us fairly. And they haven’t treated us fairly,” Trump said. “We will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to the United States of America in full, quickly and without question. I’m not going to stand for it. So to the officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly.” Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino stated in a video message Sunday afternoon that the Canal and its adjacent zone belong to Panama. “The sovereignty and independence of our country are not negotiable,” Mulino said in a statement posted on X , pointing to the 1977 treaty. “Panama respects other nations and demands respect. With the new government of the United States, I aspire to preserve and maintain a good and respectful relationship,” he added. “Security issues such as illegal migration, drug trafficking and organized crime should be a priority on our bilateral agenda, as they are a real threat that should concern us,” Mulino said. Putin meeting Trump suggested he could meet with Putin early in his presidency as he seeks to negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Trump said bringing the war to an end is “one of the things I want to do quickly,” and said Putin wants to meet with him “as soon as possible.” “So we have to wait for this. But we have to end that war,” Trump said. During Putin’s year-end media availability last week, he said he’s “ready” for potential talks with Trump. Musk’s influence Trump pushed back on Democrats’ characterization of Musk as acting as the de facto president, after Musk — who has spent much time with Trump at Mar-a-Lago since the president-elect’s victory — helped tank the bipartisan government funding bill last week. “No, he’s not taking the presidency. I like having smart people,” he said. “They’re on a new kick. ‘Russia, Russia, Russia,’ ‘Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine,’ all the different hoaxes. The new one is ‘President Trump has ceded the presidency to Elon Musk.’ No, no, that’s not happening.” Trump went on to praise Musk’s company, SpaceX, for making advancements in space travel and for its Starlink satellite technology, but again reiterated that Musk is “not going to be president.” “No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,” he said. “And I’m safe, you know why? He can’t be — he wasn’t born in this country.” Renaming Denali Former President Barack Obama’s administration renamed the highest mountain peak in North America, Mount McKinley, to Denali to honor Alaska’s native population, which had used the name for centuries. Trump arrived at the topic after crediting President William McKinley with spurring the economic prosperity that allowed President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration to begin construction of the Panama Canal. Trump said McKinley should have his name restored because he was a “great president” who “deserves it.” “McKinley was a very good, maybe a great president. They took his name off Mount McKinley. That’s what they do to people,” Trump said. “President McKinley was the president that was responsible for creating a vast sum of money,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons that we’re going to bring back the name of Mount McKinley, because I think he deserves it.” Trump also said he would restore the names of military bases like North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, the former name of what’s now Fort Liberty. The name was changed in 2023 to strip the military base of its Confederate namesake. “Woke has to stop. Because along with everything else, it’s destroying our country. We’re going to stop woke,” Trump said. “Woke is bullsh*t.” Vaccine skepticism Trump defended his controversial pick for Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — and seemed to suggest he would allow Kennedy to probe for links between vaccines and autism, despite no evidence supporting the connection that Kennedy has long claimed exists. Trump pointed to rises in diagnoses of autism, childhood cancer and chronic diseases, and said that “something’s wrong.” “Together, we’re going to make America healthy again,” Trump said. “Something bad is happening.” Kennedy’s long history of vaccine skepticism has been a source of focus for some Republican senators who are meeting with Trump’s Cabinet nominees ahead of confirmation hearings. Both Kennedy and Trump have in recent weeks sought to address those concerns — with Trump at a recent news conference describing himself as a “a big believer in the polio vaccine” and Kennedy saying he’s “all for” the vaccine. Still, at the same news conference, Trump similarly noted higher autism rates, and said he wants Kennedy to “come back with a report as to what he thinks. We’re going to find out a lot.” TikTok’s future Trump again expressed openness to allowing the social media app TikTok to continue operating in the United States, suggesting that the app may have helped reach some key voters. His comments come as the Supreme Court last week agreed to decide whether a controversial ban on the social media app violates the First Amendment. The high court agreed to expedite the case and hear arguments on January 10. Trump touted his popularity on the app and the gains he made with young voters in the 2024 election, saying he is “going to have to start thinking about TikTok.” “We did go on TikTok, and we had a great response. We had billions and billions of views,” he said. Trump said he was shown a chart highlighting the views his campaign had received there. “As I looked at it I said, ‘Maybe we gotta keep this sucker around for a little while,’” he said.
Disneyland announces closure date for Red Car Trolley attraction
MACON, Ga. (AP) — Myles Redding returned an interception 25 yards for a first-quarter touchdown and Whitt Newbauer threw a four-yard touchdown pass to start the fourth quarter as No. 7-seeded Mercer beat No. 10 Rhode Island 17—10 on Saturday. Mercer advances to the FCS semifinals for the first time and will face No. 2 North Dakota State, which beat No. 15 Abilene Christian 51-31. Redding swooped in front of Hunter Helms' intended receiver for his seventh interception of the season with 3:33 left in the first quarter, tying him with teammate TJ Moore for the most in the nation. Rhode Island got a 17-yard field goal from Ty Groff as time expired in the first half and took the lead late in the third quarter when Helms connected with Marquis Buchanan on a 56-yard touchdown for a 10-7 lead. Senior Dwayne McGee set up two fourth-quarter scores for the Bears, slashing through the right side for a 33-yard gain to give Mercer a first-and-goal at the Rhode Island 10. On third-and-goal from the 4, Newbauer found Adjatay Dabbs for the go-ahead touchdown. After the Bears twice forced the Rams to punt in their own half of the field, McGee ran 40 yards on first down to give Mercer a first down at the Rhode Island 25, setting up a 24-yard Reice Griffith field goal for the game's final score. McGee finished with 114 yards on 21 carries and CJ Miller added 81 yards on 10 carries for Mercer (11-2), which remained unbeaten in seven home games. Helms finished 22 of 33 passing for 266 yards and Buchanan caught 11 passes for 119 yards to lead Rhode Island (11-3), but the Rams managed just 46 yards on 26 carries on the ground. — Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
What Trump's Ukraine-Russia Special Envoy Nominee Has Said About the WarParty City to close its stores as company files for bankruptcy LOS ANGELES (AP) — Party City announced that it's going to “wind down” its retail and wholesale operations as it prepares to shutter nearly 700 stores nationwide. The company said Saturday it has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection "to maximize value for the benefit of the company’s stakeholders.” The New Jersey-based retailer said it will keep more than 95% of its 12,000 employees to help with the process of closing down. Customers have flocked to Party City for Halloween costumes, favors for children’s birthday parties and decorations for New Year’s Eve celebrations for nearly 40 years. It has faced growing competition from Walmart and Target and from occasion-based pop-up stores such as Spirit Halloween. A million taxpayers will soon receive up to $1,400 from the IRS. Who are they and why now? Approximately 1 million taxpayers will automatically receive special payments of up to $1,400 from the IRS in the coming weeks. The money will be directly deposited into eligible people’s bank accounts or sent in the mail by a paper check. Most people shouldn't get their hopes up about receiving the cash. The IRS says it’s distributing about $2.4 billion to taxpayers who failed to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit on their 2021 tax returns after missing one of the COVID stimulus payments or receiving less than the full amount. The IRS says most taxpayers eligible for the federal stimulus payments received them. Bluesky finds with growth comes growing pains — and bots Bluesky has seen its user base soar since the U.S. presidential election, boosted by people seeking refuge from Elon Musk’s X, or wanting an alternative to Meta’s Threads and its algorithms. The platform grew out of the company then known as Twitter and was eventually intended to replace it. While this is still very much a pie in the sky, Bluesky’s growth trajectory could make it a serious competitor to other social platforms. With growth, though, comes growing pains. It’s not just human users who’ve been flocking to Bluesky but also bots, including those designed to create partisan division or direct users to junk websites. 'Sonic 3' bests 'Mufasa: The Lion King' at the box office NEW YORK (AP) — In the holiday season battle of big-budget family movies, Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” sped past the Walt Disney Co.’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to take the top spot at the box office. The results came just ahead of the lucrative Christmas corridor in theaters. According to studio estimates, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” debuted with $62 million in ticket sales over the weekend. “Mufasa,” however, was humbled in its opening weekend, coming in notably shy of expectations. It returned just $35 million in domestic ticket sales. Amazon and Starbucks workers are on strike. Trump might have something to do with it Amazon delivery drivers and Starbucks baristas are on strike in a handful of U.S. cities as they seek to exert pressure on the two major companies to recognize them as unionized employees or to meet demands for an inaugural labor contract. Strikes during busy periods like the holidays can help unions exercise leverage during negotiations or garner support from sympathetic consumers. One expert says he thinks workers at both companies are “desperate” to make progress before President-elect Donald Trump can appoint a Republican majority to the National Labor Relations Board. Workers at Starbucks, Amazon and some other prominent consumer brands are fighting for their first contracts after several locations voted to unionize. Farmers are still reeling months after Hurricane Helene ravaged crops across the South LYONS, Ga. (AP) — Farmers in Georgia are still reeling more than two months after Hurricane Helene blew away cotton, destroyed ripened squash and cucumbers and uprooted pecan trees and timber. Agribusinesses in other Southern states saw costly damage as well. The University of Georgia estimates the September storm inflicted $5.5 billion in direct losses and indirect costs in Georgia alone. In rural Toombs County, Chris Hopkins just finished harvesting his ravaged cotton crop and figures he lost half of it, costing him about $430,000. Poultry grower Jeffrey Pridgen in Georgia's Coffee County had four of his 12 chicken houses destroyed and others badly damaged. Farmers say more government disaster assistance is needed. Ex-OpenAI engineer who raised legal concerns about the technology he helped build has died Suchir Balaji, a former OpenAI engineer and whistleblower who helped train the artificial intelligence systems behind ChatGPT and later said he believed those practices violated copyright law, has died, according to his parents and San Francisco officials. He was 26. He was well-regarded by colleagues at the San Francisco company, where a co-founder this week called him one of OpenAI’s strongest contributors who was essential to developing some of its products. But he grew disillusioned with the company and told The Associated Press this fall he would “try to testify” in copyright infringement cases against it. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge shows price pressures eased last month WASHINGTON (AP) — An inflation gauge that is closely watched by the Federal Reserve barely rose last month in a sign that price pressures cooled after two months of sharp gains. Prices rose just 0.1% from October to November. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, prices also ticked up just 0.1%, after two months of outsize 0.3% gains. The milder inflation figures arrived two days after Federal Reserve officials, led by Chair Jerome Powell, rocked financial markets by revealing that they now expect to cut their key interest rate just two times in 2025, down from four in their previous estimate. Albania to close TikTok for a year blaming it for promoting violence among children TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albania’s prime minister says the government will shut down video service TikTok for one year, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children. Albanian authorities held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents following the stabbing death of a teenager in mid-November by another teenager following a quarrel that started on TikTok. Prime Minister Edi Rama, speaking at a meeting with teachers and parents, said TikTok “would be fully closed for all. ... There will be no TikTok in the Republic of Albania.” Rama says the ban will begin sometime next year. Albanian children comprise the largest group of TikTok users in the country, according to domestic researchers. Stock market today: Wall Street rises to turn a dismal week into just a bad one NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose to turn what would have been one of the market’s worst weeks of the year into just a pretty bad one. The S&P 500 rallied 1.1% Friday to shave its loss for the week down to 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 500 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1%. A report said a measure of inflation the Federal Reserve likes to use was slightly lower last month than expected. It’s an encouraging signal after the Fed shocked markets Wednesday by saying worries about inflation could keep it from cutting interest rates in 2025 as much as earlier thought.
What happens when 'The Simpsons' join 'Monday Night Football'? Find out during Bengals-CowboysHelen Flanagan breaks silence on reunion with ex Scott Sinclair after admitting he BLOCKED her just weeks ago
Rebel forces push into Damascus suburbs, continue fighting in Homs: Will Syria's Assad be surrouded soon?Musk causes uproar for backing Germany's far-right party ahead of key elections
Former US President Jimmy Carter dies
Baltimore Ravens star running back Derrick Henry wasn't moved by Los Angeles Chargers linebacker Khalil Mack's comments about him following Monday night's game. When asked about Mack saying, "I don't think it's hard to play against that guy," Henry simply told reporters, "We won." This article will be updated soon to provide more information and analysis. For more from Bleacher Report on this topic and from around the sports world, check out our B/R app , homepage and social feeds—including Twitter , Instagram , Facebook and TikTok .Lisa Simpson once said during an episode of “The Simpsons:” What could be more exciting than the savage ballet that is pro football? On Monday night, the entire Simpsons universe gets to experience it in a way not many could have imagined. The prime-time matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Dallas Cowboys will also take place at Springfield’s Atoms Stadium as part of “The Simpsons Funday Football” alternate broadcast. The altcast will be streamed on ESPN+, Disney+, and NFL+ (on mobile devices). ESPN and ABC have the main broadcast, while ESPN2 will carry the final “ManningCast” of the regular season. The replay will be available on Disney+ for 30 days. Globally, more than 145 countries will have access to either live or on replay. “We’re such huge football fans, and the Simpsons audience and the football audience, I feel, are like the same audience of just American families and football. And the Simpsons are so much a part of the DNA of the American family and culture that for us to, like, mush them together in this crazy video game, it’s so fun,” said Matt Selman, executive producer of “The Simpsons.” While the game is the focal point, the alternate broadcast, in some ways, will resemble a three-hour episode of “The Simpsons.” It starts with Homer eating too many hot dogs and having a dream while watching football. Homer joins the Cowboys in the dream while Bart teams up with the Bengals. Lisa and Marge will be sideline reporters. “That’s the beginning of the story, and the story continues through the entire game until Homer wakes up from his dream at the end of the game. It is like a complete story, and the NFL game will happen in between. It’s just going to be an amazing presentation with tons of surprises,” said Michael “Spike” Szykowny, ESPN’s VP of edit and animation. This is the second year ESPN has done an alternate broadcast for an NFL game. It used the characters from “Toy Story” for last year’s Sunday morning game from London between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars. “The Simpsons” has featured many sports-themed episodes during its 35 seasons. Even though “Homer at the Bat” remains the consensus favorite sports episode for many Simpsons fans, there have been football ones such as “Bart Star” and “Lisa The Greek.” There also was a Super Bowl-themed one after Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl 33 between Denver and Atlanta in 1999. Even though “The Simpsons” remains a staple on Fox’s prime-time schedule, it is part of the Disney family after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox in 2019. All 35 seasons are on Disney+. The show’s creators have worked with ESPN and the NFL to make sure the look and sound is definitely Simpsonsesque. The theme song is a mash-up of “The Simpsons” opening and “Monday Night Football’s” iconic “Heavy Action.” There have also been pre-recorded skits and bits to use during the broadcast featuring Simpson’s legendary voices Hank Azaria, Nancy Cartwright, Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, and Yeardley Smith. The telecast will be entirely animated, with the players’ movements in sync with what is happening in real-time on the field. That is done through player-tracking data enabled by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats system and Sony’s Beyond Sports Technology. While Next Gen Stats tracks where players are on the field with a tracking chip in the shoulder pads, there is skeletal data tracking and limb tracking data — which uses 29 points per player — to get closer to the player’s movements. The other data tracking will allow Beyond Sports and Disney to add special characters to the game. For example, there might be a play where Lisa catches the ball and goes 30 yards instead of Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins. “Lisa is much smaller than the rest of the players. So, in real life, the ball would go over her head, but now, with data processing, we can take the ball and make it go exactly into her hands. So for the viewer, it still looks believable, and it all makes sense,” said Beyond Sports co-founder Nicolaas Westerhof. The other major challenge is making “The Simpsons” two-dimensional cartoon characters into 3-D simulations. Szykowny and his team worked to make that a reality over the past couple of months. “That’s a big leap of faith for them to say, hey, we trust you to make our characters 3-D and work with it. Our ESPN creative studio team has done a wonderful job,” Szykowny said. Lisa, Krusty, Nelson, Milhouse and Ralph will be with Bart and the Bengals; while Carl, Barney, Lenny and Moe join up with with Homer and the Cowboys. The broadcast will also feature ESPN personalities Stephen A. Smith, Peyton Manning and Eli Manning. ESPN’s Drew Carter, Mina Kimes and Dan Orlovsky will call the game from Bristol, Connecticut, and also be animated. They will wear Meta Quest Pro headsets to experience the game from Springfield using VR technology. For Kimes, being part of the broadcast and being an animated Simpsons character is a dream come true. She is a massive fan of the show and has a framed photo of Lisa Simpson — who she said is a personal hero and icon — as part of her backdrop when she makes appearances on ESPN NFL shows from her home in Los Angeles. “I didn’t have any input, and I didn’t see anything beforehand, so I wasn’t sure if it would look like me, but it kind of does, which is very funny,” said Kimes, who drew Simpsons characters when she was a kid. “To see the actual staff turn me into one was a dream.” Even though the Bengals (4-8) and Cowboys (5-7) have struggled this season, Selman thinks both teams have personalities that appeal to “The Simpsons” universe. “We were just so lucky also that the Cowboys are sort of like a Homer Simpson-type team, American team, and Mike McCarthy might be a Homer-type guy, one might imagine,” he said. ”And then you have Joe Burrow on the other side who is a cool young, spiky-haired, blonde bad boy -- he’s like Bart. And that fits our character archetypes so perfectly. “If Homer is mad at Bart and has a hot dog dream while watching ’Monday Night Football’, and then it’s basically McCarthy versus Burrow, Homer versus Bart, and that’s the simple father versus son strangling — Homer strangling Bart dynamic that has been part of the show for 35 years. I don’t know if that would have worked as well if it was like Titans versus Jacksonville. We would have found something. We would have made it work.” AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
Every Yamaha Motorcycle Announced For 2025, Ranked By Price
CHICAGO (AP) — (AP) — Des Watson led Loyola Chicago with 14 points and sealed the victory with a 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining as the Ramblers knocked off South Florida 74-72 on Saturday. Watson shot 3 for 15 (2 for 8 from 3-point range) and 6 of 8 from the free-throw line for the Ramblers (8-0). Kymany Houinsou scored 12 points while finishing 5 of 7 from the floor and added seven rebounds and five assists. Jalen Quinn had 12 points and shot 4 of 8 from the field and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line. The Ramblers extended their winning streak to eight games. The Bulls (5-4) were led by Jayden Reid, who recorded 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Kasen Jennings added 13 points for South Florida. Jamille Reynolds had 12 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Justin Moore scored six points in the first half and Loyola Chicago went into the break trailing 38-35. Watson scored a team-high nine points for Loyola Chicago in the second half, including their game-winning shot in the final minute. NEXT UP Loyola Chicago next plays Sunday against San Francisco at home, and South Florida will visit Utah State on Saturday. The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar .The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organization, Afenifere, has enjoined the parties and the general public, to allow the courts to do justice in the determination of the criminal defamation charges brought by the Nigeria Police against Mr Dele Farotimi, a legal practitioner, pursuant to the complaint lodged by a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and elder statesman, Chief Afe Babalola. Aare Afe Babalola, SAN, had considered aspects of the 104-page book, ‘Nigeria and its Criminal Justice’ authored by Farotimi, as defaming him and petitioned the Police to take action. The petitioner lives in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, while the author, Farotimi, lives in Lagos. The petitioner is of the view that the book can be read anywhere in the world, including Ekiti State where he resides. According to the National Publicity Secretary of the body, Comrade Jare Ajayi, “The legal system provides an opportunity for parties in a dispute to prove their cases. Afenifere is of the strong opinion that the interests of both parties and the general public must be protected and justice dispensed fairly.” He added that “the court is in the best position to determine how these interests are protected, and to ensure that the prosecution is conducted in a manner that better serves the interest of justice.” Afenifere encourages all parties to avoid statements and actions that may lead to a breach of peace while calling on the government to ensure a total observance of the rule of law. Afenifere is of the view that the appropriate forum to determine whose rights have been breached and how, is the court of law as established by our constitution. Meaning that the matter is presently where it ought to be, to enable all parties to prove their case. Accordingly, “we enjoin all parties to conduct themselves in total submission to and respect for the rule of law”, the spokesman added. While looking forward to the judiciary dispensing justice without fear or favour, Afenifere appeals to everyone, including the parties that are directly involved, to resist the temptation of heightening tension.None
SAP SE (NYSE:SAP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages
By RONALD BLUM NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball will test robot umpires as part of a challenge system during spring training at 13 ballparks hosting 19 teams, which could lead to regular-season use in 2026. MLB has been experimenting with the automated ball-strike system in the minor leagues since 2019 but is still working on the shape of the strike zone. An agreement for big league use would have to be reached with the Major League Baseball Umpires Association, whose collective bargaining agreement expires Dec. 1. “I would be interested in having it in ‘26,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said Wednesday after an owners’ meeting. “We do have a collective bargaining obligation there. That’s obviously a term and condition of employment. We’re going to have to work through that issue, as well.” Manfred said the spring training experiment will have to be evaluated before MLB determines how to move forward. “There’s two sides to that test,” he said. “It’s what the clubs think about it and also what do the players think about it? And we’re going to have to sort through both of those.” Triple-A ballparks used ABS this year for the second straight season, but there is little desire to call the strike zone as the cube defined in the rule book and MLB has experimented with modifications during minor league testing. Related Articles MLB | Tigers ace Tarik Skubal caps dominant season with American League Cy Young Award MLB | Tigers’ AJ Hinch finishes distant third in AL Manager of the Year voting MLB | Tigers confirm they’re staying on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit for 2025 MLB | Tigers remaining on FanDuel Sports Network Detroit in 2025, per court filing MLB | Tigers’ Skubal a finalist for AL Cy Young; AJ Hinch AL Manager of the Year finalist The ABS currently calls strikes solely based on where the ball crosses the midpoint of the plate, 8.5 inches from the front and the back. The top of the strike zone was increased to 53.5% of batter height this year from 51%, and the bottom remained at 27%. After splitting having the robot alone for the first three games of each series and a human with a challenge system in the final three during the first 2 1/2 months of the Triple-A season, MLB on June 25 switched to an all-challenge system in which a human umpire makes nearly all decisions. During the second half of the season, each team had three challenges in the Pacific Coast League and two in the International League. A team retains its challenge if successful, similar to the regulations for big league teams with video reviews. “I think we will have a spring training ABS test that will provide a meaningful opportunity for all major league players to see what the challenge system will look like,” Manfred said. “It won’t be in every single ballpark but we actually have a plan where every team will get meaningful exposure.”Shakeout rattles Canadian, U.S. e-bike industry