COLU @ CONCEPTS

Wherever he went, Don Baylor left his mark on baseball. He was an MVP and Manager of the Year, respected as a powerful slugger, punishing runner and commanding presence in any clubhouse. And during nearly a half-century as a pro, baseball left its mark on him. Lots of them, in fact. When Baylor retired, he’d been plunked more than anyone in major league history. Baylor was hit by fastballs, sliders and a bunch of pitches 267 times in his career. Baylor set the modern-day record in 1987 while playing for Boston, on the day he turned 38. After the game, the Red Sox gave him the souvenir ball. “I can think of other ways to get a birthday present,” Baylor said. Baylor, the bruiser who also held the bruise record for almost three decades, died Monday of cancer. He was 68. His family said in a statement that Baylor died in his hometown of Austin, Texas, after a 14-year battle with multiple myeloma. “One of the nicest men I’ve known unless you were a middle infielder on a DP,...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte met Monday with America’s top diplomat, where he voiced solidarity with the U.S. amid global concerns over North Korea’s nuclear program and angrily dismissed media questions about human rights abuses by his government. Duterte and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met in Manila at a regional Asia gathering. It was the highest-level interaction to date between a member of President Donald Trump’s administration and Duterte, accused by human rights groups of flagrant abuses in his bloody war against illegal drugs. If the two leaders discussed those or other U.S. concerns about Duterte’s government, they didn’t do so in public. Instead, the two focused on the alliance between the two countries and on the North Korea issue as reporters were allowed in briefly for the start of their meeting. Entering an ornate, wood-paneled hall in the Philippine leader’s palace, Tillerson was introduced to members of Duterte’s ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — After six months of infighting, investigations and legislative failures, President Donald Trump is trying to combat new signs of weakness in his Republican base and re-energize his staunchest supporters. White House officials have been urging the president to refocus on immigration and other issues that resonate with the conservatives, evangelicals and working-class whites who propelled him to the Oval Office. The president has ramped up his media-bashing via Twitter, long a successful tactic for Trump, and staged rallies hoping to marshal his base to his defense. The effort underscores Trump’s shaky political positioning not yet seven months into his presidency. Trump has remained deeply unpopular among Democrats, and there are signs that his support among Republicans may be softening. His advisers are aware that a serious slip in support among his core voters could jeopardize hopes for a major, early legislative accomplishment and would certainly increase R...

LONDON (AP) — Chloe Ayling’s ordeal sounds like a tale spawned by nightmares of the evil that lurks online. The 20-year-old British model says she was lured to Italy with the promise of a photo shoot, then drugged, stuffed into a suitcase, transported to an isolated farmhouse and held, at times in handcuffs, for almost a week. Ayling has told police the “terrifying experience” ended when her captor, who had threatened to hold her for ransom or advertise her as sex slave on the criminal “dark web,” decided instead to drop her off at the British consulate in Milan. As made-for-the movies as the young woman’s account sounds, Italian police have arrested a suspect: a 30-year-old Polish man who claimed to be a paid killer for a group called the Black Death. The lawyer Ayling has while the case is under investigation — standard procedure in Italy — acknowledged Monday that aspects of the case seem bizarre. He said investigators initially had “more than understandable doubts”...

DENVER (AP) — With Taylor Swift looking on, potential jurors in her lawsuit against an ex-Denver radio host were asked Monday if they had ever been inappropriately touched or wrongly accused of groping someone — the issues at the center of the case. A  15-page questionnaire  released during jury selection in the dueling lawsuits also asked candidates if they had seen any pictures related to the case — a possible reference to a photo that shows DJ David Mueller with his right hand behind the pop superstar, just below her waist, before a 2013 concert in Denver. Entertainment litigation attorney Tre Lovell and Billboard magazine music editor Jason Lipshutz discuss Taylor Swift’s upcoming court case, in which the pop star alleges she was groped by a Denver radio host. (Aug. 4) The photo was obtained by TMZ then sealed by a judge earlier in the case. Swift claims Mueller grabbed her on the buttock during a meet-and-greet photo session at the show. Her lawyers hav...

MAFRAQ, Jordan (AP) — Married at 15 and divorced at 16, a Syrian teen says she regrets having said yes to a handsome suitor — a stranger who turned into an abusive husband. Yet the reasons that transformed her into a child bride have become more prevalent among Syrians who live in Jordanian exile because of a six-year-old civil war back home. More families marry off daughters to ease the financial burden or say marriage is the way to protect the “honor” of girls seen as vulnerable outside their homeland. Figures from Jordan’s population census document the long suspected increase for the first time. In 2015, brides between the ages of 13 and 17 made up almost 44 percent of all Syrian females in Jordan getting married that year, compared to 33 percent in 2010. With Syrians expected to remain in exile for years, it’s a harmful trend for refugees and their overburdened host country, U.N. and Jordanian officials say. More Syrian girls will lose out on education, since most chi...

NEW YORK (AP) — A memo written by a male engineer at Google about gender differences sparked a quick rebuttal from Google after it circulated widely online. Google CEO Sundar Pichai denounced the memo in an email on Monday for “advancing harmful gender stereotypes” and said he was cutting short a vacation to hold a town hall with staff on Thursday. The engineer, James Damore, was fired, according to Bloomberg , which cited an email from him. An email sent to an address believed to be used by Damore was not immediately returned; Google declined to comment. The engineer’s widely shared memo, titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” criticized Google for pushing mentoring and diversity programs and for “alienating conservatives.” Google’s just-hired head of diversity, Danielle Brown, responded earlier with her own memo, saying that Google is “unequivocal in our belief that diversity and inclusion are critical to our success.” She said change is hard and “often uncom...