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Broncos report card: So many little failures add up to one big stinker for Sean Payton’s team

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

Offense — DThe Broncos roared to life late and there’s merit in that. They gave themselves a legitimate chance at winning the game. But they needed to put New England to bed early on Christmas Eve rather than letting them get hyped up on sugar cookies and in the mood to wait up to see Santa. The Broncos had multiple chances to do just that. And they failed in far too many of those. Add another wretched third quarter to the ledger, and it’s hard to see this as any kind of good performance even though the numbers looked closer to season averages by night’s end. Average won’t get it done often enough in the NFL, as the Broncos learned the hard way.Defense — CVance Joseph’s defense forced a turnover on the first play of the night and looked primed for a big-time outing. It held strong through the first half. But by the end of the night, they had left too much on the table. They didn’t get any favors from the offense, first in the failure to build a lead on their hard work and late with ...

Broncos’ playoff hopes go bust on Christmas Eve after comeback falls short against Patriots: “Our margin for error right now is not where it needs to be”

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

The Broncos will wake up Monday morning with nothing but coal in their stockings.They’ve got only themselves to blame for a blue, blue, blue, blue Christmas.Needing three wins to close the season and hosting the 3-11 New England Patriots on Christmas Eve, the Broncos marred their own holiday weekend with a loss that all but seals their 2023 fate.The offense: Putrid at the start, roaring to life too late.The other two units: Strong early, only to sustain massive letdowns at critical junctures.The final count: New England 26, Denver 23 after Chad Ryland drilled a 56-yard field goal with 2 seconds left to stick a fork right through the Broncos.The real damage is this: Any hope of making it out of a jumbled AFC playoff picture practically speaking went out the window when the Broncos dropped to 7-8 for the season. It’ll take 10 wins minimum barring something exceedingly unlikely happening. The teams that hit that mark will undoubtedly be more injured than this Denver team is. At least a...

Patriots turn rough start into memorable finish in 26-23 victory over Broncos

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The game couldn’t have started any worse for the New England Patriots — or finished any better.A rare highlight in what’s been a tumultuous season in New England was a gutsy 26-23 victory in Denver on a cold Sunday night that all but eliminated the Broncos from the postseason picture.Quarterback Bailey Zappe lost a fumble on the opening snap and the Patriots surrendered a 16-point lead in the fourth quarter but it all worked out in the end when Chad Ryland drilled a career-long 56-yard field goal with two seconds remaining.It was a blow not only to the Broncos’ playoff chances — which the NFL now calculates at a mere 6% — but also to the Patriots (4-11) and their chances at a higher draft pick. Not that it was on their minds as they celebrated the upset.“I’m on cloud nine, if that’s even a thing,” said Zappe, who engineered the seven-play, 43-yard drive to get the Patriots in position for Ryland’s winning kick and which was aided by two ti...

Pakistani police free 290 Baluch activists arrested while protesting extrajudicial killings

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani police Monday freed 290 Baloch activists who were arrested when they attempted to hold a protest last week in the capital, Islamabad. Their release came days after protest organizers gave authorities a deadline to release all those detained. The activists had traveled 1,600 kilometers (about 1,000 miles) on Thursday from Turbat, a town in Baluchistan province, to protest forced disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the militancy-ravaged southwest. The protesters were mostly women and some had brought along their children, aged 7-12, when security forces used batons and water canons to disperse and arrest them.They wanted to draw attention to the case of 24-year-old Balaach Mola Bakhsh, who died in November while in police custody in Baluchistan. Authorities said he was killed after militants ambushed the police vehicle transporting him.Police said Bakhsh was carrying explosives when he was arrested. His family insists he is innocent, demanding justi...

AI pioneer says public discourse on intelligent machines must give ‘proper respect to human agency’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

She’s an important figure behind today’s artificial intelligence boom, but not all computer scientists thought Fei-Fei Li was on the right track when she came up with the idea for a giant visual database called ImageNet that took years to build.Li, now a founding director of Stanford University’s Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, is out with a new memoir that recounts her pioneering work in curating the dataset that accelerated the computer vision branch of AI.The book, “The World I See,” also portrays her formative years that abruptly shifted from China to New Jersey and follows her through academia, Silicon Valley and the halls of Congress as growing commercialization of AI technology brought public attention and a backlash. She spoke with The Associated Press about the book and the current AI moment. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Q: Your book describes how you envisioned ImageNet as more than just a huge data set. Can ...

Police respond to shooting in Little Italy

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- There is heavy police presence on State Street in downtown San Diego after calls came in for a shooting late Sunday night. San Diego Police responded to the 1600 block of State Street in Little Italy around 11:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve for reports of a shooting. Suspected burglary leads to police pursuit; four arrested after tracked down by K-9 SDPD has confirmed to FOX 5 one person was shot.There are currently no suspects in custody. Police say the situation is active at this time and they will be releasing more information as it develops. Stay with FOX 5 for the latest on this story.

California police seek a suspect in the hit-and-run deaths of 2 young siblings

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

ANTIOCH, Calif. (AP) — Authorities in a California community are seeking a suspect in a hit-and-run collision that killed two young brothers on Friday.Police responded to a reported traffic collision at an intersection in Antioch around 11:30 p.m., the Antioch Police Department said in a statement.Officers arrived at the scene of an accident involving two vehicles, including one carrying two boys, aged 12 and 13.The boys were transported by ambulance to area hospitals but died of their injuries, police said.The driver of one of the vehicles fled on foot, police said.“It appears speed and reckless driving were factors in this incident,” the police statement said.A witness reported seeing a black SUV speed past. He heard a crash and went to the scene, where he found the driver of the car that apparently was hit by the SUV, KGO-TV reported.The witness said he helped the man, believed to be the father of the two boys, remove one of them from his car.The Antioch police asked ...

Fire breaks out on Russian nuclear ship Sevmorput but is quickly extinguished, authorities say

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s emergencies ministry said a fire broke out on a nuclear-powered container ship and icebreaker in the northern port of Murmansk but was quickly extinguished.The ministry said in statements on Telegram that the fire occurred late Sunday in a cabin of the Sevmorput vessel and spread to about 30 square meters (300 square feet). The fire was put out about an hour after the initial report and there were no injuries, it added. The statement did not disclose what caused the fire or how close it was to the ship’s reactor.The 260-meter (830-foot) Sevmorput is the only nuclear cargo ship in service.The Associated Press

China approves 105 online games after draft curbs trigger massive losses

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — China’s press and publications authority has approved 105 new online games, saying it fully supports the industry after proposed curbs caused massive losses last week for investors in major games makers. The National Press and Publication Administration issued a statement on its WeChat social media account Monday saying the approvals by the Game Working Committee of China Music and Digital Association were “positive signals that support the prosperity and healthy development of the online game industry.”Tencent’s “Counter War: Future” and NetEase’s “Firefly Assault” were among games approved.Draft guidelines for curbs on online gaming had caused share prices of video game makers like Tencent and Netease to plunge on Friday, causing losses of tens of billions of dollars and dragging Chinese benchmarks lower. The administration’s guidelines said online games would be banned from offering incentives for daily log-ins or purchases. Other restrictions include l...

Jonathon Cooper after Broncos’ loss to Patriots torpedoes playoff chances: “We had everything to play for”

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 09:00:10 GMT

The frustration and disappointment were clear as day inside the Broncos’ locker room late Sunday night.A loud scream echoed from the showers. Outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper stood in front of his locker, shaking his head and at a loss for words. Quarterback Russell Wilson walked off the podium before the final question was asked.“We had everything to play for and we were at home,” Cooper said in disbelief after Denver fell, 26-23, to the New England Patriots on Christmas Eve. “It sucks.”On Sunday night, the Broncos’ Christmas miracle turned into a nightmare in an instant.Denver scored 16 straight points to tie the game at 23 late in the fourth quarter, then got the ball back with 1:42 to play and a shot at a game-winning drive. The Broncos offense went three-and-out instead, and the defense let quarterback Bailey Zappe drive the Patriots 43 yards on seven plays to set up Chad Ryland’s 56-yard game-winning field goal with two seconds remaining.“You just can’t do that. ...