A special exhibition has been held in the eastern Belgian city of Liege to raise public awareness of children safety.
With enlarged furniture and decorations, the House of Giants exhibition offers the public an opportunity to view the daily indoor environment through the point of children and make them aware of the various dangers that may threaten the little ones.
People visit the House of Giants exhibition in Liege, Belgium, Oct. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
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People visit the House of Giants exhibition in Liege, Belgium, Oct. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
People visit the House of Giants exhibition in Liege, Belgium, Oct. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
A woman visits the House of Giants exhibition in Liege, Belgium, Oct. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
Since its launch in 2016, the Pacific Airshow has seen an explosion in popularity year after year, attracting millions of spectators every fall. The show has grown to be the largest airshow in the United States by attendance.
One of the largest airshows in the United States returned to Southern California on Friday after one year off due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual Pacific Airshow line-up will feature the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, U.S. Navy Blue Angels, the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, U.S. Army Golden Knights, U.S. Air Force ACC F-35 Demo Team and the U.S. Marine Corps V-22 Osprey Demo Team this year in three days over the weekend in Huntington Beach, a coastal city in Southern California, according to the air show’s official website.
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Photo taken on Oct. 1, 2021 shows a view of the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach, California, the United States. (Xinhua)
Organizers said that dozens of other military aviators and civilian performers will also make up the roster of the show.
Since its launch in 2016, the airshow has seen an explosion in popularity year after year, attracting millions of spectators every fall. The show has grown to be the largest airshow in the country by attendance, said its website.
People watch the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach, California, the United States on Oct. 1, 2021. (Xinhua)
Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said they created an antiviral pill that can reduce the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization and death by about 50 percent, but health experts cautioned that it wasnt a replacement for vaccinations, which remain the most effective path to ending the coronavirus pandemic if enough people get their shots.
The United States has set the pace to expand the spectrum of COVID-19 vaccines, while its vaccination campaign drags on as it hit a grim milestone of 700,000 deaths in the pandemic that has entered its 19th month.
Topping the world, the United States on Friday surpassed 700,000 deaths from COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins University’s data. Meanwhile, the average number of people getting vaccinated, at 270,531 per day, is the lowest it has been since Aug. 15, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
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The CDC updated on Saturday that 214,597,690 people have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, making up 64.6 percent of the whole U.S. population; fully vaccinated people stood at 184,852,416, accounting for 55.7 percent of the total. A total of 4,363,791 people, or 2.4 percent of the fully vaccinated group, received booster shots.
A man sits beside white flags placed on the National Mall to honor the lives lost to COVID-19 in Washington, D.C., the United States, Sept. 18, 2021. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua) Related Stories
Trying to add some bright color to the ongoing tragedy, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters at a White House briefing on Friday that weekly COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the United States were down by 15 percent from the previous week.
According to The New York Times’ update, the seven-day average of confirmed cases of the pandemic stood at 109,192 nationwide on Friday, with its 14-day change striking a 27-percent fall. The COVID-19-related deaths were 1,883 on Friday, with the 14-day change realizing a 5-percent decrease.
WIDE-RANGING VACCINE REQUIREMENTS
“As many companies impose COVID-19 vaccine mandates, employees who refuse to get jabbed are getting the ax,” reported CBS on Friday, adding that employers in the health care and aviation industries this week dismissed hundreds of workers who declined to get inoculated.
A case in point is Christiana Care, which is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, and has 1,200 beds across three hospitals. On Monday, it announced that some 150 of its employees had failed to meet a Sept. 21 deadline to be fully vaccinated. As a result, they were fired.
Health care organizations account for most of the firings of unvaccinated workers, but other kinds of employers are also expected to follow suit when workers start reporting to offices again in earnest.
Currently, a dilemma is being weighed for some companies considering vaccine mandates: an acute worker shortage among retailers, restaurants, hotels and other service-sector employers, according to the report.
On Friday, the Broadway League announced that all its 41 theaters in New York City will continue to require COVID-19 vaccinations for audience members, performers, backstage crew and venue staff at least through the end of the year.
Audiences also will be required to wear masks inside the theaters at least for the remainder of 2021, except while actively eating or drinking in designated locations.
The announcement extended the COVID-19 protocol policy that has been in place since Broadway resumed performances in July. At that time, the League said it would review the procedures in the fall. Theater owners will again review the policies by Dec. 1 for performances starting Jan. 3, 2022.
“We know that with these policies in place through the end of the year, we will continue to help our audiences feel safe and to deliver them the thrill of Broadway night after night,” Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, said in a statement.
Pedestrians walk past a broadway theater in New York, the United States, July 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)
PILLS, MORE VACCINES
Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics said on Friday that they created an antiviral pill that can reduce the risk of COVID-19 hospitalization and death by about 50 percent, but health experts cautioned that it wasn’t a replacement for vaccinations, which remain the most effective path to ending the coronavirus pandemic if enough people get their shots.
“This can be used in conjunction with the vaccine. And it’s not an alternative to vaccination. We still have to try to get more people vaccinated,” Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), was quoted by CNN as saying. Gottlieb acknowledged that the antiviral medicine could be effective for those who choose not to get vaccinated as well as those who catch the virus while fully vaccinated.
Merck said that it will seek FDA emergency use authorization for its molnupiravir medication “as soon as possible.” If permitted, it would become the first oral medicine that fights viral infection for COVID-19.
“If approved, I think the right way to think about this is this is a potential additional tool in our toolbox to protect people from the worst outcomes of COVID,” White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients said on Friday.
Also on Friday, the FDA announced that its independent vaccine advisory committee will hold three meetings in October to discuss COVID-19 booster shots, mix-and-match boosters and vaccines for children aged 5 to 11.
The first two meetings, on Oct. 14 and 15, will cover booster doses of the Moderna vaccine and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, both of which are authorized for use in adults. During the second meeting, the committee also will discuss data from the National Institutes of Health and the safety and efficacy of getting initial doses of one COVID-19 vaccine and, later, a booster dose of another manufacturer’s shot.
Less than two weeks later, on Oct. 26, the FDA panel will discuss Pfizer’s request to FDA to authorize its COVID-19 shot for 5 to 11-year-old children. No vaccines are currently available for kids under 12, and only Pfizer’s shot is available for teens 12 to 17.
“The meetings set up a rough timeline for a slate of FDA decisions that could help the country avoid a damaging winter surge, and ultimately help bring the pandemic to an end,” reported U.S. news portal Politico.
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration moved Thursday to grant 323,000 people who are severely disabled automatic federal student loan forgiveness to the tune of $5.8 billion, setting the stage for reforms to a process that is widely criticized as cumbersome and onerous.
“The Department of Education is evolving practices to make sure that we’re keeping the borrowers first and that we’re providing relief without having them jump through hoops,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said on a call with reporters Thursday. “I’ve heard from borrowers over the last six months that the processes are too difficult so we’re simplifying it.”
By law, anyone who is declared by a physician, the Social Security Administration or Department of Veterans Affairs to be totally and permanently disabled is eligible to have their federal student loans discharged. The benefit has never been widely publicized, so few have taken advantage. And when they do, many are met with tedious paperwork and requirements.
There is a three-year monitoring period in which borrowers must submit annual documentation verifying their income does not exceed the poverty line. The requirement routinely trips up people who wind up having their loans reinstated. To ease the burden, the Biden administration in March waived the paperwork requirement during the coronavirus pandemic, retroactive to March 13, 2020, when President Donald Trump declared a national emergency.
On Thursday, Cardona said the Education Department will indefinitely extend the income waiver. The department will also pursue the elimination of the requirement altogether through the negotiated rulemaking process in October. The federal agency is proposing new rules to provide automatic disability discharges for anyone identified as eligible through data matching initiatives with Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration.
In 2016, the Education Department partnered with the two other agencies to identify eligible borrowers. While the department removed the application requirement in 2019 for veterans, it did not do the same for people identified through the SSA match. Only half of the people identified through the SSA match have received the discharge, according to the Education Department.
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A bipartisan coalition of congressional lawmakers, including Sens. Christopher Coons, D-Del., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, had urged Trump to automatically discharge the debt, much like his administration had done in 2019 for permanently disabled veterans. But the Trump administration failed to act, while hundreds of thousands of disabled borrowers defaulted on their loans.
A Freedom of Information Act request made by the D.C.-based nonprofit National Student Legal Defense Network found over 517,000 individuals as of May had not received relief.
Asked about the discrepancy between the May figure and the 323,000 announced Thursday, Ben Miller, a senior adviser at the Education Department, said the older figure likely includes duplicates that may be showing up in multiple matches. He assured the latest figure accounts for all of the borrowers currently on the books.
“Obviously, we anticipate there will be new matches each quarter,” Miller said. “This is not just a one-time action.”
Eligible borrowers will receive notice of their approved discharge in September and the department expects cancellation will occur by the end of the year. People who wish to opt-out of forgiveness will be given the opportunity. While borrowers will not be subject to federal income taxes on the canceled debt, they may encounter state taxes.
Consumer groups had urged the Biden administration to automatically discharge the federal student loans of eligible borrowers, rather than require them to submit an application for debt forgiveness. Many were disappointed when the Education Department announced the income waiver in March without automating the process. Advocates praised the administration Thursday for stepping up.
“This is a life-altering announcement for hundreds of thousands of student loan borrowers with disabilities,” Dan Zibel, chief counsel at the National Student Legal Defense Network. “Today’s step is another indication that the Department is listening to the voices of student loan borrowers.”
Federal prosecutors have requested that two members of The Base, a white-supremacist group, be sentenced as domestic terrorists after investigators accused them of planning to sow violence at the Virginia Capitol and assassinate the states speaker of the House.
On Thursday night, the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland filed a 45-page memo asking Judge Theodore Chuang to send the men to prison for 25 years each, followed by three years of supervised release – a punishment that factors in the government’s proposed terrorism enhancement.
“The defendants pose a severe risk to public safety,” federal prosecutors wrote. “They are domestic terrorists and should be sentenced accordingly.”
The men – Patrik Mathews and Brian Lemley Jr. – were arrested days before a gun rights rally in Virginia in January 2020. In announcing the charges, the Justice Department said the men planned to spark a “race war” at the event in Richmond.
Mathews, a Canadian national, and Lemley, of Elkton, Md., pleaded guilty to firearms and immigration-related charges in U.S. District Court in Maryland in June. At the time, federal prosecutors described the men’s’ involvement in The Base, which organizes military-style training and supports racist and antisemitic violence, and the men acknowledged their participation in the group.
But prosecutors at the plea hearing did not discuss the gun rights rally or detail any allegations of the men’s plans before the event, laying out new accusations in the sentencing memo filed this week.
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The men discussed cutting power and transportation lines to the city, killing Black children and establishing a base camp in the Shenandoah Valley, according to transcripts included in the memo.
On Jan. 9, just weeks before the gathering, Mathews and Lemley discussed assassinating House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, D, prosecutors said.
The men talked about obtaining the home address of Filler-Corn, the first Jewish and first woman speaker in the state, and placing a sniper outside, according to a transcript of the their conversation prosecutors included in the sentencing memo. But Mathews said that was “too high risk,” according to prosecutors, and Lemley commented that he doubted there was anywhere within 500 to 600 yards of her home where someone could sit and shoot.
The men then considered targeting Filler-Corn on her route to work, according to the transcript.
Their hope was to make the speaker a martyr for gun-control advocates, which would “probably accelerate their gun control agenda,” Mathews said, according to prosecutors. That would then, in their eyes, inspire their gun-rights comrades to become more enraged – and more violent.
Eventually, Mathews and Lemley decided to abandon the alleged assassination plan until they had a better sense of whether state lawmakers would pass the bills, prosecutors wrote.
Filler-Corn said in a statement Friday that she had only learned of the men’s plans on Thursday, the day the sentencing memo was submitted. She thanked law enforcement in Virginia and Maryland for investigating and prosecuting the case.
“This is extremely disturbing, and it should disturb all Americans,” she said. “This pattern of using violence to intimidate the leaders and symbols of our democracy undermines the core values of our democracy itself.”
Lemley’s federal public defender, Ned Smock said in a statement that the sentence prosecutors are recommending is “exponentially higher” than the 33 months he believes his client should receive.
Smock said a 25-year prison term is consistent with sentences imposed in cases involving death, not the 33 to 41 months outlined in sentencing guidelines for the crimes to which Lemley pleaded guilty.
Smock also said Lemley has no criminal record and has never engaged in violence, and that prosecutors are basing their enhancement argument on “hundreds of hours of secretly monitored conversations” inside the apartment he shared with Mathews.
“Mark Lemley is a U.S. Army veteran who proudly served our country in Iraq,” Smock said. “He lost his way during a difficult time in his life and has accepted responsibility for the crimes he committed.”
An attorney for Mathews did not immediately return a request for comment.
Mathews, a former combat engineer in the Canadian army reserve, pleaded guilty to transporting a firearm and ammunition in interstate commerce with intent to commit a felony, and being an alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition. Lemley, who had served as an Army scout, pleaded guilty to similar charges, as well as with transporting and harboring an alien.
The men were also charged with obstruction of justice because they smashed their cellphones and dumped them into a toilet as federal agents were trying to arrest them.
Mathews and Lemley do not face domestic terrorism charges, however, because no federal statute dealing specifically with homegrown terrorism exists. Prosecutors often seek a terrorism “enhancement” during sentencing in such cases as a result.
Sentencing enhancements allow a judge to increase a person’s prison term. Prosecutors can ask for enhancements based upon how a crime was committed or who was victimized, but a judge ultimately decides whether an enhancement is appropriate based on a preponderance of the evidence.
In their memo, federal prosecutors wrote that the evidence is sufficient, including taped conversations in which the defendants “repeatedly confirmed . . . that their crimes were intended to promote enumerated federal crimes of terrorism.”
As Base members, Mathews, Lemley and a third man in the case, William G. Bilbrough IV, attended a training camp for the group in Georgia, prosecutors said. In late 2019 and early 2020, the men began assembling firearms and collecting thousands of rounds of ammunition, according to court documents.
According to federal prosecutors, Lemley and Mathews discussed further violence in additional conversations in mid-January ahead of the gun rights rally, some of which were witnessed by an undercover FBI agent.
The men said they expected 60,000 militia members to show up at the Virginia Capitol and that they were “rolling for chaos,” according to court documents.
Lemley allegedly told Mathews they “must act now.”
Mathews responded, according to prosecutors, by citing a late white-supremacist leader, then said, “We can’t fail where they have failed or else the White race is extinct.” They said they’d be ashamed if a “Battle of Richmond” took place and they weren’t involved.
“It’s just that we can’t live with ourselves if we don’t get somebody’s blood on our hands,” Lemley said, according to court documents.
The day before their arrest, according to the sentencing memo, the men also discussed the possibility they would be detained.
“Right now, if I ever get captured, I am going to jail for the rest of my life,” Mathews said. “You realize they’re just going to call us terrorists . . .”
He said they “might as well go to jail for something good.”
Mathews added: “Might as well do some damage to the system.”
On Jan. 16, 2020, federal agents arrested both men at a residence in Delaware.
Mathews and Lemley are scheduled to be sentenced at the end of October.
Bilbrough pleaded guilty to two counts of transporting an alien and was sentenced to five years in federal prison in December.
The commissioner of the National Womens Soccer League resigned Friday night, hours after the league called off all of this weekends games, as the NWSL grapples with multiple reports of alleged abuse of players and claims that the league had failed to address allegations of sexual coercion by a male coach.
In a statement, the league said it had “received and accepted Lisa Baird’s resignation as its commissioner.”
Baird’s resignation follows the firing of two NWSL coaches in the space of a week after both faced abuse allegations. Former Washington Spirit coach Richie Burke was fired Tuesday following a league investigation into allegations of verbal and emotional abuse that were first reported in The Washington Post.
And on Thursday, North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley was fired following a harrowing account of multiple allegations of sexual coercion published in the Athletic. Baird had been told of some of the allegations against Riley early this year, the Athletic reported, but declined a request from a player Riley allegedly abused to investigate him. (Riley denied the allegations to the Athletic.)
The revelations of alleged abuse, and of the league’s failures, prompted an outcry of anger from NWSL players and other prominent figures, with the player’s association calling for an end to “systematic abuse in the NWSL.”
The NWSL players called on the league to not hold the games, they said in a statement, to give them time to cope with the revelations. “This was not an easy decision, as there is nothing we love more than playing for our fans,” the players’ union said in a statement Friday. “… We also recognize, however, that mental health struggles are real.” The union said the NWSL had “worked overnight” to postpone the games.
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“I feel like the league has to have a complete rebuild,” Alex Morgan, star of the U.S. national team and a player for the Orlando Pride, said in an interview Friday. “I think they need to listen to their players, admit fault, apologize and be truthful and transparent for the first time.”
The 10-year-old NWSL has seen significant gains in popularity and investment in recent years, promoting a narrative of empowering and elevating female athletes. But its top ranks – among coaches, general managers and owners – have long been dominated by men, and players have criticized the league’s low pay and lack of rights such as free agency. It had few systems in place before this year for players to report abuse, and players said they feared for their jobs – and for the league’s future – if they spoke up against powerful coaches and owners.
Morgan was deeply critical of the league and of Baird for their failures to prevent abuse, especially in Riley’s case. A former NWSL player, Sinead Farrelly, alleged Riley had coerced her into having sex multiple times while he was her coach and that he had compelled her and another player to kiss in front of him.
The Athletic reported that Riley had been dismissed from a previous team, the Portland Thorns, in 2015 after misconduct allegations, only to be hired by another NWSL club within months. At the time, the Thorns thanked Riley “for his services to the club.”
On Friday, FIFA and the U.S. Soccer Federation announced they were opening investigations into Riley’s abuse. U.S. Soccer managed the NWSL at the time of the original allegations against Riley.
In total, four NWSL teams have seen their male coaches leave after allegations of misconduct this summer. One coach, OL Reign’s Farid Benstiti, was asked to resign following allegations that he had spoken abusively to players, The Post reported, though at the time, OL Reign’s CEO, Bill Predmore, said only that he had resigned and thanked him for his contributions.
All four coaches had faced previous allegations of misconduct, some of them public. Burke had been accused of verbally abusing youth players and calling them homophobic slurs when he was hired by the Spirit in 2019. And a prominent U.S. national team player, Lindsey Horan, had spoken of how Benstiti body-shamed her repeatedly when she played for him at the club Paris Saint-Germain.
“Men, protecting men, who are abusing women,” OL Reign star Megan Rapinoe said Thursday on Twitter. “… Burn it all down. Let all their heads roll.”
Morgan said she wanted to see accountability and widespread change in the league, emphasizing the importance of continuing investigations into people who had known of abuse and “brushed it under the rug.” The players’ union has called for the suspension of those in power within teams and the league who allegedly knew of abuse and did not report it.
“We’re not in the sunlight yet,” Morgan said. “We’re not even close to being there. But the optimistic person inside of me says we can get there.”
A former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice issued subpoenas Friday for documents related to the 2020 election, advancing a partisan ballot review sought by former president Donald Trump in a state he lost by 20,682 votes.
Michael Gableman, the former judge leading the effort, sent subpoenas to election officials in Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee and Racine. Copies of subpoeanas reviewed by The Washington Post request “all documents” pertaining to the November 2020 vote and ordering officials to testify at a hearing on Oct. 15. The hearing will focus in part on “potential irregularities and/or illegalities related to the Election,” according to copies of the subpoenas reviewed by The Washington Post.
The subpoenas noted that failure to comply could trigger punishment, including imprisonment. The cover letters also contained several errors, including misspellings of the last name of Green Bay’s city clerk and a Latin phrase indicating recipients will be required to produce documents. A letter to Jim Owczarski, the city clerk of Milwaukee, who is not responsible for elections, also asked for documents related to the 2020 election in Green Bay, not Milwaukee.
“I don’t know why they keep getting this wrong,” Owczarski said in an interview, describing the subpoena as “wide of the mark” since his office does not oversee elections in either city.
“I have called them and explained this to them respectfully and said, ‘I’ll be anywhere you tell me to be’ – that’s me by nature – ‘but I can’t give you anything you want,'” he said.
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R, announced over the summer that Gableman would lead an investigation into the 2020 election despite multiple court rulings finding no evidence of the former president’s claims of fraud. Last month, a partisan audit in Arizona confirmed Biden’s victory there, after taking months longer than planned.
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Gableman, a former state Republican Party official, has come under fire for using an unsecure private email account to send instructions to county clerks about preserving evidence related to the 2020 election. He also caused a furor when he suggested in a video posted on YouTube that the burden fell to election clerks to prove that the election was not tainted. He has been given a budget of $680,000 in taxpayer funds to conduct his probe.
The subpoenas were first reported by WisPolitics.com.
In addition to Owczarski, they were received Friday by Celestine Jeffreys, city clerk of Green Bay; the Milwaukee Election Commission, which is led by executive director Claire Woodall-Vogg; Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl; Tara Coolidge, Racine’s city clerk; and a staffer in the office of Racine Mayor Cory Mason.
Woodall-Vogg confirmed her office had received one but declined to comment further.
It was unclear whether other cities or entities had also received the requests. Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl said she had not gotten one as of midafternoon Friday. Inquiries with officials in Kenosha, Wis., were not immediately answered. And Jim Witecha, staff attorney for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said the commission had also not received a subpoena as of midafternoon.
Gableman did not respond to an inquiry from The Post. A spokeswoman for Vos, who signed the subpoenas, did not respond when asked how many were issued.
“Ensuring the 2020 election was conducted fairly and legally is critically important to maintaining faith in our election system,” Vos said in a statement Friday. “Justice Gableman is dedicated to finding the truth and has determined subpoenas are necessary to move forward in his investigation. Assembly Republicans will continue to work with Justice Gableman to ensure confidence is fully restored in our elections.”
The subpoenas require election officials to turn over “all documents contained in your files and/or in your custody, possession, or control, pertaining to the Election” – a tremendous number in three of the state’s largest cities. Specific requests included election administrators’ communications with leaders, experts and entities outside their offices, including the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a nonprofit backed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. The group helped distribute millions of dollars last year to support election administration during the coronavirus pandemic and has become a target for right-wing critics.
In an interview, Jeffreys said many of the requested documents are already available through her office’s website. She said she would be conferring with legal counsel about how to respond.
“We here in the city – we follow the law, and that also pertains to the subpoena,” she said, adding: “We have to make a determination as to our response. All of that will be within the boundaries of the law.”
Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair Mark Spreitzer denounced the subpoenas, saying in a statement: “It is now clear that Speaker Vos is using every power available to him to placate far-right extremism.”
One more weekend brought a last reminder to Nationals Park – of what was and then wasnt in this season of distinct stages. The last time Kyle Schwarber played here, way back on July 2, he slapped a single, rounded first base and felt a pull in his right hamstring. Some around the Washington Nationals believe that was the beginning of the end, an early white flag before the club traded eight veterans at the deadline, including Schwarber to the Boston Red Sox for a 20-year-old pitcher.
Then Schwarber returned Friday, manning left field and batting second for a team in need of a win. No, Red Sox Manager Alex Cora did not hit him leadoff, even though Schwarber smacked 16 homers in 18 games out of that spot for the Nationals in June. Perhaps that would have been too on the nose. With the Red Sox fighting for an American League wild-card spot – and with Washington filling its duty to that race and its schedule obligations – Schwarber walked twice, popped out twice and struck out.
Boston won, 4-2, to stick with the New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays. The worst the Red Sox could be was tied for the second wild-card spot at Friday’s end. They pushed ahead on back-to-back homers off Josh Rogers in the sixth – first a three-run shot by Hunter Renfroe, then a solo blast by Bobby Dalbec. And Washington (65-95), by contrast, pulled within two games of a long-accepted finish.
“You always want to win where you’re at, right?” Schwarber said before the game, reflecting on his short stint with the Nationals. “I know that’s what we were trying to accomplish when we were here. . . . The injuries piled up, the covid bug hit, and these things kind of were working against us. I thought we all did a really good job of trying to fight as much as we could to keep it off and, at the end there, it just didn’t work out. You get the moves and things like that, but it’s nice to be able to come back.”
Schwarber talks like someone who spent more than four months in Washington. The fans treated him as such, too. After he took a round of batting practice cuts Friday, a group shouted for him to sign back with the Nationals in the offseason. Ahead of first pitch, the team played a quick tribute video, highlighted by one of his two walk-off homers and that weeks-long power surge.
Really, though, is there a better player to illustrate 2021 for the Nationals? His historic stretch fueled their brief push up the standings. He was then injured as they faded from contention, sealing his fate as a rental for Boston. He got the call on a nighttime bus ride from Philadelphia to Washington on July 29, hours before the deadline. In another row, Max Scherzer officially OK’d a trade that sent him and shortstop Trea Turner to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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So in that way, this reunion was bittersweet. The Red Sox, who had dropped two of three to the last-place Baltimore Orioles, arrived with a lot on the line. The Nationals are playing out the string. For Schwarber, who will soon be a free agent, the chance to play into October – to chase a title and showcase his talents on a huge stage – is ideal. Trying to get there against his former team is the funny part.
“It’s definitely a little fiasco,” he said with a laugh. “But as a baseball player, you don’t want anything else besides to be in a playoff race. That’s what it’s about.”
To stay in the hunt, the Red Sox got to Rogers late and mostly handled the bottom of Washington’s order. Rogers, 27, a lefty who returned from his second Tommy John surgery in the spring, finished with a 3.28 ERA in 35 2/3 innings with the Nationals. He very much maximized his September chance. Early on Friday, he cruised through the Red Sox, getting 10 flyouts in the first four innings. And in the fifth, he smartly let a high bunt drop in front of him before starting a double play.
Full of boundless energy, Rogers looked at the dugout and shouted a few times. The crowd responded with a heavy cheer. But in the next inning, that was replaced by two loud roars from the Red Sox faithful in attendance. Renfroe cracked the score open, taking Rogers’s mistake fastball for a three-run homer to center. Dalbec followed by lofting a first-pitch, sitting-duck slider over the left field wall.
The Nationals had no answers aside from solo homers by Alcides Escobar and Jordy Mercer. Mercer, Carter Kieboom and Andrew Stevenson – batting sixth, seventh and eighth – fell short in two big spots.
They went a combined 2 for 12 with five strikeouts (though Stevenson, it should be noted, made three excellent plays in left field). In the fourth, after Washington loaded the bases with none down against Red Sox starter Eduardo Rodriguez, Mercer struck out, Kieboom popped out, and Stevenson tapped a grounder that left second baseman Enrique Hernández to make a diving toss to first. In the sixth, with two on and no outs, Mercer grounded into a fielder’s choice, Kieboom struck out on three straight sliders from reliever Ryan Brasier, and Stevenson struck out, too, wasting another threat.
And in the eighth, after Mercer homered and Stevenson doubled, Ryan Zimmerman stepped in to a loud ovation. But Zimmerman struck out lunging at a slider that was well outside. Each instance, of course, made something very clear: These Nationals could use a few hitters like Kyle Schwarber.
The third giant panda cub born in Malaysia made its public debut. The yet unnamed giant panda cub, born in May, is the first male giant panda born in the country.
Malaysians flocked to Zoo Negara, the country’s national zoo, on Friday, eager to lay eyes on the third giant panda cub born in Malaysia which is making its public debut.
The yet unnamed giant panda cub was born in May, bringing the total number of giant pandas housed at the Giant Panda Conservation Center to four. It is also the first male giant panda born in Malaysia, following his two sisters Nuan Nuan and Yi Yi.
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The giant panda cub is in good health and currently weighs about 7.4 kg, Giant Panda Conservation Center’s director Mat Naim Ramli told Xinhua.
A zookeeper presents a giant panda cub to the public during its debut at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 1, 2021. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
“We have taken precautions to secure all the animals at the zoo as a result of the pandemic. Special precautions are being taken by all staff for all animals to prevent any health risks.
“The public is encouraged here to see the pandas and other attractions we have at the zoo,” he said, adding that the cub would be on display in a special viewing enclosure twice a day.
A giant panda cub is seen at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 1, 2021. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
Visitors were seen lining up to buy tickets to enter the zoo, with admittance granted to those fully vaccinated in line with the government’s efforts to open up more sectors including recreational areas to the public since Oct. 1.
The parents of the third cub, Xing Xing and Liang Liang, arrived in Malaysia in 2014, marking the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China.
Coincidently, the third baby panda was born on May 31, which marked the 47th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The date Oct. 1 of its debut also marked the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
A zookeeper presents a giant panda cub to the public during its debut at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 1, 2021. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
The first Malaysian-born giant panda Nuan Nuan was born on Aug. 18, 2015, while the second Yi Yi was born on Jan. 14, 2018. Nuan Nuan returned to China in November 2017 after turning two years old.
A giant panda cub is seen at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 1, 2021. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
The core area of the Chinese capital Beijing has been decorated with 11 huge floral beds to celebrate Chinas National Day, which fell on Friday.
An installation in the shape of a flower basket measuring 18 meters in height and with a base diameter of 45 meters has been erected at the center of Tian’anmen Square as the highlight of this year’s display, creating a festive atmosphere.
The body of the basket is embellished with the Chinese characters “Best wishes to the motherland 1949-2021” and “Celebrating the National Day 1949-2021.”
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The centerpiece is flanked by 10 other installations lined up along the Chang’an Avenue, which cover a total area of 5,050 square meters. They are of various designs including spacewalking astronauts and ice-skating kids to echo some hot topics in China such as the Shenzhou-12 crewed mission and the upcoming Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games.
The decoration project boasts over 200 varieties of flowers including 16 species with China’s independent intellectual property rights.
This National Day marks the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
In 1986, flower beds were put up in Tian’anmen Square for the first time to mark the National Day. The move was deemed unprecedented at that time, causing a sensation across the country.
People visit the House of Giants exhibition in Liege, Belgium, Oct. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
People visit the House of Giants exhibition in Liege, Belgium, Oct. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
People visit the House of Giants exhibition in Liege, Belgium, Oct. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
A woman visits the House of Giants exhibition in Liege, Belgium, Oct. 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)
Photo taken on Oct. 1, 2021 shows a view of the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach, California, the United States. (Xinhua)
People watch the Pacific Airshow at Huntington Beach, California, the United States on Oct. 1, 2021. (Xinhua)
A man sits beside white flags placed on the National Mall to honor the lives lost to COVID-19 in Washington, D.C., the United States, Sept. 18, 2021. (Photo by Aaron Schwartz/Xinhua)
Pedestrians walk past a broadway theater in New York, the United States, July 2, 2021. (Xinhua/Wang Ying)
A zookeeper presents a giant panda cub to the public during its debut at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 1, 2021. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
A giant panda cub is seen at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 1, 2021. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
A zookeeper presents a giant panda cub to the public during its debut at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 1, 2021. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
A giant panda cub is seen at Zoo Negara near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Oct. 1, 2021. (Photo by Chong Voon Chung/Xinhua)
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