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Nationals visit the Braves to start 3-game series

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

Washington Nationals (69-90, fifth in the NL East) vs. Atlanta Braves (103-56, first in the NL East)Atlanta; Friday, 7:20 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Nationals: Trevor Williams (6-10, 5.55 ERA, 1.57 WHIP, 107 strikeouts); Braves: Allan Winans (1-2, 4.33 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 32 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Braves -285, Nationals +232; over/under is 10 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Atlanta Braves host the Washington Nationals on Friday to begin a three-game series.Atlanta has a 103-56 record overall and a 51-27 record in home games. Braves hitters have a collective .502 slugging percentage to lead the NL.Washington is 69-90 overall and 35-43 in road games. The Nationals are 21-12 in games when they did not allow a home run.The teams meet Friday for the 11th time this season. The Braves are up 7-3 in the season series.TOP PERFORMERS: Ozzie Albies has 30 doubles, four triples, 33 home runs and 107 RBI for the Braves. Ronald Acuna Jr. is 15-for-43 with two doubles, a triple and four hom...

Pirates take on the Marlins in first of 3-game series

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

Miami Marlins (82-76, third in the NL East) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (75-84, fourth in the NL Central)Pittsburgh; Friday, 6:35 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: No starters namedBOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Pirates host the Miami Marlins to begin a three-game series.Pittsburgh is 75-84 overall and 38-40 at home. The Pirates have a 30-9 record in games when they hit at least two home runs.Miami has an 82-76 record overall and a 36-41 record on the road. The Marlins are 52-8 in games when they scored five or more runs.Friday’s game is the fifth time these teams square off this season. The Marlins are ahead 3-1 in the season series.TOP PERFORMERS: Jack Suwinski has 20 doubles, two triples and 26 home runs for the Pirates. Bryan Reynolds is 7-for-40 with three home runs over the past 10 games.Luis Arraez has 30 doubles, three triples and 10 home runs for the Marlins. Jon Berti is 14-for-28 with two doubles, a triple, four home runs and six RBI over the last 10 games.LAST 10 GAMES: Pirates:...

The Purge: Meloni clears critics out of Italian culture

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

ROME — Italy prides itself on its spectacular cultural heritage, with a peerless pedigree of some of the Western world’s greatest artists, stretching from Leonardo da Vinci, Dante and Vivaldi to Federico Fellini. Now many of the country’s foremost cultural institutions — including those charged with safeguarding that national legacy — find themselves in a political battle, raising fears that their independence is at risk. Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stands accused of trying to stamp her authority on the arts and media, in a purge her critics say is designed to silence dissent.In recent months, her government has cleared out the old leadership of some of Italy’s most prestigious museums and cultural organizations and installed sympathetic executives at the top. Even EU officials in Brussels are starting to worry. Last week two politicians from parties in Meloni’s coalition demanded a senior museum dir...

Authorities investigating officer-involved shooting in Lakeville

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

Authorities are investigating an officer-involved shooting in Lakeville, the chief announced Friday morning.The intersection of Pickens and Precinct streets is closed and will remain closed until further notice. Motorists are being asked to avoid the area, according to a statement issued by Lakeville Police Chief Matthew Perkins.There is no danger to the public.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

New Hampshire sheriff pleads not guilty to theft, perjury and falsifying evidence

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

BRENTWOOD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire sheriff accused of stealing $19,000 in county funds pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges of theft, perjury and falsifying evidence.Strafford County Sheriff Mark Brave is accused of using his county credit card to pay for travel to fictitious business meetings with multiple paramours and then lying about it to a grand jury. He was arrested last month and made an initial court appearance Thursday, where he spoke only to request that his bail conditions be modified to allow him to bring his daughter to and from school in Massachusetts. Prosecutors agreed to the request.Brave, a Democrat elected in 2020 as New Hampshire’s first Black sheriff, said after his arrest that he was innocent and that none of his spending was “due to deceive the county or the people of Strafford County.” He has called the allegations politically and racially motivated. County commissioners, all of whom also are Democrats, have denied his claims.Brave, who was p...

Catholic Memorial football star Guerby Lambert makes the grade

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

WEST ROXBURY — Catholic Memorial coach John DiBiaso has an elite offensive lineman who is also an elite student.When he came to CM, 6-foot-7, 300-pound Guerby Lambert had no designs on playing football at all.“I came here for the academics and the brotherhood,” Lambert said at practice Wednesday. “I planned to play soccer and basketball. I didn’t come for football.”Now, however, Lambert had scholarship offers from the likes of Ohio State and Alabama, and also Harvard and Yale.It was on that soccer pitch that DiBiaso discovered Lambert, who was not the size he is now, but still on the bigger side.“My first impression was, we were going to get him to play football,” DiBiaso said. “And after we got him out here, we noticed he had great feet from soccer, naturally, you know, running around. He was very light on his feet. I remembered something they said about Patrick Ewing when he played basketball. They said he had great feet for a big ma...

Dozens dead after blast in southwestern Pakistan at a rally celebrating birthday of Islam’s prophet

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A powerful bomb exploded near a mosque at a rally celebrating the birthday of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in southwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 52 people and injuring nearly 70 others, police and a government official said.The bombing occurred in Mastung, a district in Baluchistan province, where around 500 people had gathered for a procession to celebrate the birth anniversary of the prophet. Muslims hold rallies and distribute free meals to people on the occasion, which is known as Mawlid an-Nabi.TV footage and videos on the social media showed an open area near a mosque strewn with the shoes of the dead and wounded after the bombing. Some of the bodies had been covered with bedsheets, and residents and rescuers were seen rushing the wounded to hospitals, where a state of emergency had been declared and appeals were being issued for blood donations.Baluchistan has witnessed scores of attacks by insurgents and militants, but they usually ta...

A new Spanish law strengthens animal rights but exempts bullfights and hunting with dogs

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

MADRID (AP) — A new animal welfare law that took effect Friday in Spain outlaws the use of animals for recreational activities that cause them pain and suffering but allows bullfights and hunting with dogs.Spain’s first specific animal rights legislation is intended to crack down on abuses. The law particularly targets the mistreatment of domestic animals, introducing fines of up to 200,000 euros ($212,000).It bans the buying of pets in stores or online, but gives stores a grace period to find homes for their animals. In the future, it only will be legal to purchase pets from registered breeders. The new rules allow pets into most establishments, including restaurants and bars.The law bans the use of wild animals at circuses and gives owners six months to comply. It allows zoos to keep using the marine mammals in their dolphin shows until the animals die. Bullfights are regarded as part of Spain’s cultural heritage. A proposal to include hunting dogs in the law prompted an out...

Novelist Murakami hosts Japanese ghost story reading ahead of Nobel Prize announcements

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami hosted a ghost story reading event in Tokyo amid growing attention before the announcement of this year’s Nobel Prize in literature, an award he is a perennial favorite to win. Murakami said at Thursday’s reading that he enjoys scary stories and wanted to write more of them. The event featured one from the 18-century collection “Tales of Moonlight and Rain,” which intrigued Murakami since his childhood and is known to have inspired his work.The classic collection written by Akinari Ueda and called “Ugetsu Monogatari” in Japanese explores a blurry borderline between the real and surreal, which Murakami said in a guide he contributed to a 2021 magazine made him wonder which side he was on. Borders and walls are important motifs in Murakami’s writing. Protagonists in his stories often travel through walls or between two worlds and encounter mysterious, exotic characters. While Murakami has said he grew up mostly reading W...

Inflation drops sharply in Europe. It offers a glimmer of hope, but higher oil prices loom

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:41:12 GMT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Inflation that has been plaguing Europeans declined sharply in September, strengthening hopes that consumers will eventually get relief from costlier groceries, vacations and haircuts — and that the European Central Bank won’t have to further restrict the economy by raising interest rates from already-record highs.The annual rate was 4.3% this month, a drop from 5.2% in August. But recently higher oil prices are casting a shadow over prospects for beating inflation back down to the central bank’s target of 2%. Core inflation, which excludes volatile fuel and food prices, fell more than analysts expected — to 4.5% from 5.3%, according to data released Friday by the European Union’s statistics agency, Eurostat. The ECB closely watches this figure to assess how inflation is coming down.The fall in core inflation “reinforces our view that the ECB has finished raising interest rates,” said Jack Allen-Reynolds, deputy chief eurozone economist at Capital Eco...