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Pirates open 3-game series at home against the Cardinals

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

St. Louis Cardinals (25-32, fourth in the NL Central) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (28-27, second in the NL Central)Pittsburgh; Friday, 7:05 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Jack Flaherty (3-4, 4.81 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 58 strikeouts); Pirates: Roansy Contreras (3-4, 4.33 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 36 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Cardinals -130, Pirates +110; over/under is 9 1/2 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Pittsburgh Pirates open a three-game series at home against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.Pittsburgh has gone 12-13 at home and 28-27 overall. The Pirates are 18-2 in games when they scored at least five runs.St. Louis has a 13-16 record in road games and a 25-32 record overall. Cardinals hitters have a collective .326 on-base percentage, the sixth-ranked percentage in the NL.Friday’s game is the fifth time these teams square off this season. The season series is tied 2-2.TOP PERFORMERS: Carlos Santana has 14 doubles, three home runs and 24 RBI for the Pirates. Jack Suwinski is 9-fo...

Diamondbacks host the Braves, look to extend home win streak

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

Atlanta Braves (33-23, first in the NL East) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks (34-23, first in the NL West)Phoenix; Friday, 9:40 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Braves: Charlie Morton (5-5, 3.59 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 63 strikeouts); Diamondbacks: Merrill Kelly (6-3, 3.11 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 69 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Braves -127, Diamondbacks +108; over/under is 9 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Arizona Diamondbacks will try to keep a five-game home win streak going when they face the Atlanta Braves.Arizona is 34-23 overall and 19-12 at home. Diamondbacks hitters have a collective .325 on-base percentage, the seventh-ranked percentage in the NL.Atlanta has gone 18-9 in road games and 33-23 overall. Braves pitchers have a collective 3.69 ERA, which ranks sixth in the majors.The teams meet Friday for the first time this season.TOP PERFORMERS: Corbin Carroll has 14 doubles, a triple and nine home runs for the Diamondbacks. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is 13-for-41 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs and...

Webb telescope spies massive plume erupting from Saturn’s moon Enceladus

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

(CNN) — A record-breaking water plume erupted from Saturn’s moon Enceladus, and the James Webb Space Telescope was watching when it occurred.Beneath the thick, icy crust of Enceladus is a global saltwater ocean. Previous missions like Cassini have spied plumes jetting for hundreds of miles between cracks — dubbed “tiger stripes” by scientists — in the ocean world’s surface. The geyser-like plumes release water vapor, organic chemicals and ice particles into space.But the plume witnessed by the Webb telescope spanned more than 6,000 miles (9,656 kilometers), which is nearly the distance between Los Angeles and Buenos Aires, Argentina, according to a NASA release. A study detailing the finding has been accepted for publication in the journal Nature Astronomy.“When I was looking at the data, at first, I was thinking I had to be wrong. It was just so shocking to detect a water plume more than 20 times the size of the moon,” said lead study author Geronimo Villanueva, a planetary scienti...

Azerbaijan accuses Macron of ‘distorting’ Armenia peace talks after EU summit

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

An EU-backed effort to avert a new conflict in the South Caucasus has been overshadowed by a growing diplomatic row, with Azerbaijan accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of misrepresenting what was discussed during high-stakes peace talks with Armenia.Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan met on Thursday evening on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Moldova for the latest in a series of negotiations on a potential peace treaty. Macron, along with European Council President Charles Michel and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, joined the sit-down as mediators.In a statement following the summit, the Elysée Palace said the “European leaders called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to respect all their commitments,” urging the two neighboring nations to release prisoners of war and avoid “hostile rhetoric.” In addition, Macron’s press service added, the three Western leaders “stressed the imp...

West should avoid ‘third world war’ with Russia, top adviser to Brazil’s Lula says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

Ukraine’s Western allies, who have been helping Kyiv defend itself from Russia’s full-scale invasion, risk escalating the war, the top foreign policy adviser to Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said.“We don’t want a third world war. And even if we don’t have that, we don’t want a new cold war,” said Celso Amorim, a former foreign and defense minister who is now the Brazilian president’s chief adviser on international affairs, in an interview with the Financial Times released Friday.Amorim’s remarks come as Brazil has sought to position itself as an intermediary in talks to end Russia’s war on Ukraine, with Lula’s adviser visiting both Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv in the past few weeks.But while Lula has condemned Russia’s war, he has refused to provide military aid to Kyiv or to sanction Moscow. The Brazilian president has also made a series of contro...

3 juveniles in custody after teens wave weapons during fight in Worcester

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

Three juveniles were taken into custody this week after a fight in Worcester where teenagers were seen waving weapons outside a local store, police said.The incident near the Gala Foods supermarket was captured on a surveillance camera. Witnesses said a large group of teenagers were yelling at each other. Video then showed one person who appeared to pull a knife. Another person was seen pointing a gun. “This is a tough neighborhood,” one area community member told 7NEWS. “But that scared me.” “Roughly 30 seconds later, we heard the sirens in the background,” the same person said.Investigators said officers responded to the area on Main Street for what was reported as a fight between the teens, possibly involving a firearm and a knife just after 6:30 p.m.The group ran away. Later Wednesday night, though, Worcester police said three of the individuals had been arrested. Worcester police said their investigation into this incident is ongoing, asking anyone with informati...

White House wants to engage Russia on nuclear arms control in post-treaty world

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is ready to have talks with Russia without preconditions about a future nuclear arms control framework even as it is enacting countermeasures in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to suspend the last nuclear arms control treaty between the two countries.White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan will make clear the Biden administration’s desire for talks on building a new framework during an address to the Arms Control Association on Friday, according to two senior administration officials who previewed the address on the condition of anonymity. Putin announced in February he was suspending Russia’s cooperation with the New START Treaty’s provisions for nuclear warhead and missile inspections amid deep tensions between Washington and Moscow over Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Russia, however, said it would respect the treaty’s caps on nuclear weapons.The officials said that Sullivan would unders...

China Ukraine envoy urges governments to ‘stop sending weapons to the battlefield,’ negotiate peace

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Ukraine envoy appealed Friday to other governments to “stop sending weapons to the battlefield” and hold peace talks but gave no indication that his trip to the region made any progress toward a settlement.Li Hui’s appeal came as Washington and its European allies are ramping up supplies of missiles, tanks and other weapons to Ukrainian forces that are trying to take back Russian-occupied territory.Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government says it is neutral and wants to serve as a mediator but has supported Moscow politically. “China believes that if we really want to put an end to war, to save lives and realize peace, it is important for us to stop sending weapons to the battlefield, or else the tensions will only spiral up,” Li told reporters. Li visited Ukraine, Russia, Poland, France, Germany and the European Union headquarters during a May 15-28 trip.Political analysts saw little chance that the Chinese initiative would make progress, but it gives Beijing a...

Unconscious man pulled from burning building in Mississauga

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

A man is in critical but stable condition after being pulled from a two-alarm fire in Mississauga overnight. Fire crews say they were called to a generator fire on the exterior of a two-storey commercial property in the area of Dundas and Hurontario Streets around 10:30 p.m. Thursday.“Upon arrival, crews noticed heavy flames coming from the rear of the building, extending into the roof,” Fire Chief Deryn Rizzi said in an online post. “Crews used a thermal imaging camera to detect a person in the dark, smoke filled structure.”Incredible rescue by Captain Skare and the crew from FS 110 in what became untenable fire conditions within the structure (video taken prior to a person being rescued). Firefighters used aggressive fire tactics to knock down the fire and prevented fire extension to exposures. pic.twitter.com/9vCjSihEJ7— Chief Deryn Rizzi (@derynrizzi) June 2, 2023The unconscious man was pulled from the building with a pulse. Paramedics transported h...

Centrist parties alarmed as poll shows growing support for German far right

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 16:16:10 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Prominent members of German mainstream parties have expressed alarm at a new poll that shows support for the far-right Alternative for Germany at a record high.The DeutschlandTrend survey, conducted monthly by infratest dimap for public broadcaster ARD, that was released on Thursday puts voter support for Alternative for Germany at 18%, on a par with Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats. In the 2021 election, Scholz’s party received 25.7% of the vote, while Alternative for Germany, or AfD, got 10.3%.“This (…) is a disaster and should be understood as an alarm signal for all parties of the center,” said Norbert Roettgen, a senior lawmaker for the main opposition Christian Democrats, whose support stood at 29% in the poll of 1,302 voters conducted from May 30-31. The margin of error was up to 3 percentage points.Roettgen said his own center-right party should ask itself why it hasn’t profited as much from voters’ unhappiness at the gove...