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Cubs bring 2-1 series advantage over Cardinals into game 4

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

St. Louis Cardinals (44-55, fourth in the NL Central) vs. Chicago Cubs (47-51, third in the NL Central)Chicago; Sunday, 2:20 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Cardinals: Jordan Montgomery (6-7, 3.14 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 101 strikeouts); Cubs: Jameson Taillon (3-6, 6.05 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 67 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Cardinals -144, Cubs +123; over/under is 9 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Chicago Cubs bring a 2-1 lead into the next game of the series against the St. Louis Cardinals.Chicago has a 47-51 record overall and a 26-26 record in home games. Cubs hitters have a collective .330 on-base percentage, the eighth-best percentage in MLB play.St. Louis has a 44-55 record overall and a 22-29 record in road games. The Cardinals have hit 135 total home runs to rank seventh in the majors.The teams match up Sunday for the ninth time this season. The season series is tied 4-4.TOP PERFORMERS: Nico Hoerner has 16 doubles, four triples, six home runs and 54 RBI for the Cubs. Cody Bellinger is 17-for-3...

Marlins enter matchup with the Rockies on losing streak

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

Colorado Rockies (39-59, fifth in the NL West) vs. Miami Marlins (53-47, third in the NL East)Miami; Sunday, 1:40 p.m. EDTPITCHING PROBABLES: Rockies: Ty Blach (0-0, 6.75 ERA, 1.95 WHIP, five strikeouts); Marlins: Jesus Luzardo (8-5, 3.34 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 131 strikeouts)FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK MLB LINE: Marlins -259, Rockies +214; over/under is 8 runsBOTTOM LINE: The Miami Marlins play the Colorado Rockies after losing eight straight games.Miami has a 30-20 record in home games and a 53-47 record overall. The Marlins have a 28-8 record in games when they did not allow a home run.Colorado is 16-33 on the road and 39-59 overall. Rockies hitters are batting a collective .250, which ranks ninth in the NL.The teams meet Sunday for the seventh time this season. The Rockies lead the season series 5-1.TOP PERFORMERS: Bryan De La Cruz has 21 doubles, 12 home runs and 54 RBI for the Marlins. Jesus Sanchez is 13-for-42 with three doubles and three home runs over the past 10 games.Elias Diaz has a .2...

Trump documents trial: The schedule is set. Here’s what to know

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

Ten months.That’s what Judge Aileen Cannon says is needed to get a trial underway in the historic criminal case charging former President Donald Trump with hoarding national security secrets at his Florida home and obstructing the federal investigation into his actions.It’s about five months more than prosecutors for special counsel Jack Smith proposed. But Cannon’s order Friday setting a trial date of May 20, 2024, is a speedier timeline than the one favored by Trump, who argued that he could not receive a fair trial until after the 2024 election. And it is an ambitious schedule for a case that presents a variety of novel legal issues and involves some documents alleged to be classified at the highest levels.In addition to the trial date itself, Cannon’s order scheduled a string of other key pretrial deadlines on matters that will shape the scope of the case — and may even determine whether the case reaches a jury at all.Based on high-profile trials involving the same kinds of clas...

Twitter to ditch bird logo, Musk says

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

Twitter is set for a rebrand, if its owner Elon Musk is to be believed. “And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds,” Musk wrote in a tweet early Sunday.And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023pic.twitter.com/IwcbqMnQtA— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 23, 2023The change might come as soon as Monday. In a follow-up tweet, Musk said: “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make [it] go live worldwide tomorrow.”“It should have been done a long time ago,” Musk said in a Twitter Spaces audio chat, according to a Reuters report. The X probably refers to Twitter’s business name X Corp. Musk also posted a tweet of a flickering X. The rebrand is the latest change to Twitter by Musk since he acquired the company in October 2022 for $44 billion. Since taking over, Musk has made big changes to how Twitter works and has laid o...

Israel’s Netanyahu recovers from a heart procedure while his judicial overhaul plan moves forward

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recovering in a hospital on Sunday after an emergency heart procedure while opposition to his government’s contentious judicial overhaul plan reached a fever pitch and unrest gripped the country. Netanyahu’s doctors said on Sunday the heart pacemaker implantation went smoothly and that Netanyahu, 73, felt fine. According to his office, he was expected to be discharged later in the day. But tensions were surging as lawmakers began a marathon debate over the first major piece of the overhaul, ahead of a vote in parliament enshrining it into law on Monday.Mass protests continued, part of seven straight months of the most sustained and intense demonstrations the country has ever seen. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Israel on Saturday night, while thousands marched into Jerusalem and camped out near the Knesset, or parliament, ahead of Monday’s vote.Netanyahu’s sudden...

Greek authorities evacuate some 19,000 people as wildfire blazes on the Greek island of Rhodes

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Some 19,000 people have been evacuated from the Greek island of Rhodes as wildfires continued burning for a sixth day on three fronts, Greek authorities said on Sunday.The Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection said it was “the largest evacuation from a wildfire in the country.”Local police said that 16,000 were evacuated by land and 3,000 by sea, from 12 villages and several hotels, with no casualties. Six people were briefly hospitalized with respiratory problems and were later released.On Sunday morning, 266 firefighters and 49 engines on the ground were joined by five helicopters and 10 planes – seven Greek, two Turkish and one Croatian to help put out the wildfire, authorities said. A further 15 engines are expected later in the day.In the mountainous part of Rhodes, an active front of the wildfire, firefighters have been trying to stop the blaze from spreading to nearby dense forests.Southwest of the resort of Kiotari, the main focus of Saturday’...

5 dead, 2 missing after seasonal floods hit village in eastern China

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Five people died and two others were missing after floods caused by heavy rain hit a village in eastern China, state media reported on Sunday. China National Radio said the massive floods swept through the village in the Fuyang district of the city of Hangzhou, engulfing many villagers’ houses on Saturday afternoon. Authorities were conducting rescue operations and relocating affected residents.Every year, seasonal flooding hits large parts of China, particularly in the semitropical south. However, some northern regions this year have reported the worst floods in 50 years. The torrents have been affecting different parts of the country this month and have caused casualties. Earlier this month, at least 15 people were killed by floods in the southwestern region of Chongqing. According to CCTV on Sunday, torrential rain also turned many streets in Liaoning, a northeastern province, into rivers, forcing 5,590 people to be evacuated. About 30 houses and 54 hectares ...

David Fickling: Our civilization was built for a climate that’s vanishing

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

You can learn a lot about the climates we live in by the buildings we construct.The steep roofs of Thai temples and Norwegian stave churches are clues to the heavy loads of rain and snow that fall in those countries, which threaten to damage a structure if they don’t slide quickly to the ground.The traditional mud brick architecture of Africa’s Sahel is a marker of an arid environment with hot days and cool nights, where thick adobe walls can keep the interior cooler than the outside air.That parsimonious approach — adding only the features that are necessary for us to thrive in local conditions — applies across the world and throughout history. We’ve built our civilization on a series of local equilibria, paying the short-term cost of adapting to immediate conditions to avoid the long-term risks from extreme weather.With each tenth of a degree that the planet warms, we are breaking those equilibria.Climate records are falling on a daily basis right now...

Conor Sen: The White House knows where inflation’s headed. You can too.

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

The White House embraced “Bidenomics” to describe its economic agenda last month, reclaiming a term that President Joe Biden’s detractors have frequently used as a pejorative. Various administration officials have since talked up its ambitions. I have no doubt that they’re sincere about the importance of the middle-class, infrastructure investments and union jobs with an eye to the presidential election, but this is really a gamble on inflation — the tax that has hit middle-class pocketbooks hard these past two years.President Joe Biden’s team is betting that moderating price pressures, and the significant future declines in inflation already baked in, will boost consumer confidence and his standing with voters. The shifts we’ve already seen in the past few months suggest it’s a smart move.One of the architects of this strategy is likely Lael Brainard, a long-time member of the Federal Reserve who became the head of the White House Nat...

Bridge: July 23, 2023

Published Wed, 25 Dec 2024 19:22:52 GMT

“You know that Greek myth about the nymph Echo?” a club player asked me.“She displeased Hera, the queen of the gods,” I replied, “and was punished by not being able to speak first. She could only repeat what others said. The Greeks knew nothing of reflected sound waves; they concocted all kinds of pretty tales that attributed natural phenomena to divine influence.”“Well, my partner should be named Echo,” my friend grumbled. “She always has to have the last word.”My friend had been South in today’s deal from a team match. When North doubled West’s one club, South was willing to jump to four spades. West’s decision not to bid again was odd.“West led the king of clubs and shifted to the ten of diamonds,” South told me. “East captured dummy’s king and returned a diamond. I discarded a heart on dummy’s queen and drew trumps. Next, I led the ace and a second heart, playing low from ...