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The Orioles’ winning streak showed what they’re capable of. What happens after will matter more. | ANALYSIS

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

To Brandon Hyde, the start of a baseball season offers no clear benchmark that calcifies how good a given team is. Ideally, the fifth-year Orioles manager said, a team improves as the year goes on.That would bode well for what his 2023 squad can accomplish.Although Tuesday night’s 8-6 loss to the Boston Red Sox ended Baltimore’s seven-game winning streak, the run before it and the rally within it showed what kind of team these Orioles can be. Plenty of time remains for them to prove whether their 15-8 start is truly a reflection of how good they are.“I had no idea what kind of club we were going to be at this time last year. I still don’t know this year,” Hyde said over the weekend. “I’m excited. I’m happy with our start. I think we’ve played fairly well. Would love just to get better over the course of the year like we did last year. That’s really, really important to me, that we improve, that we just don’t get off t...

Who will the Chicago Bears select at No. 9? Brad Biggs’ NFL mock draft 3.0.

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

Matching elite NFL prospects with team needs and putting together a mock draft is an exercise that can look like a mess after a few picks.The normally heightened level of guesswork is even greater this year, when it seems like Bryce Young will be the top pick by the Carolina Panthers but at least some doubt remains.Few positions outside of running back (Texas’ Bijan Robinson) have a consensus best player, adding to the questions. One team’s top offensive lineman might be fourth on another team’s board and vice versa. There isn’t a dominant wide receiver in this class, and it’s possible — maybe even likely — one isn’t selected in the top 10.Speculation is the Houston Texans won’t select a quarterback at No. 2. If true, that makes selling the pick more difficult and it’s fair to assume the Texans would want a big package to trade down. If the Texans struggle to trade out of No. 2, the Arizona Cardinals might have similar issu...

The 10 NFL Draft prospects who best fit the Patriots after the 1st round

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

A successful draft for the Patriots will mean more than nailing their first pick Thursday night.They must also hit Friday and Saturday, when they’re scheduled to hold 10 picks. It’s unlikely they use them all, possibly packaging a few in a trade up.Behold, the best Patriot fits on Day 2 and Day 3 of the upcoming NFL Draft.Liberty WR Demario DouglasThe Patriots coached Douglas at the East-West Shrine Bowl, where he shined as an explosive, yet fluid, athlete in space. He would add the type of dynamism missing from the team’s receiving corps. At 5-foot-8, Douglas is small, but his long speed (4.4) and short-area quickness should be too much to pass up come the fifth and sixth rounds.Oregon State TE Luke MusgraveMusgrave fits the mold of another tight end the Patriots took in the second round: Rob Gronkowski.Not in the sense he’s destined to become one of the greatest tight ends of all time, but Musgrave stock has dropped due to injury. Musgrave appeared in just ...

UK blocks Microsoft’s Activision deal over competition fears

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

British regulators have blocked Microsoft’s $69 billion deal to buy video game maker Activision Blizzard over worries that it would stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. The Competition and Markets Authority said in its final report Wednesday that “the only effective remedy” to the significant loss of competition that the deal would result in “is to prohibit the Merger.”The all-cash deal was set to be the biggest in the history of the tech industry. But it faces stiff opposition from rival Sony and is also being scrutinized by regulators in the U.S. and Europe over fears that it would give Microsoft control of popular game franchises like Call of Duty.Microsoft said it was disappointed and signaled it wasn’t ready to give up. “We remain fully committed to this acquisition and will appeal,” President Brad Smith said in a statement. He said the U.K. watchdog’s decision “rejects a pragmatic path to address competition concerns” and discourages tech inno...

Pope allows women to vote at upcoming bishops’ meeting

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has decided to give women the right to vote at an upcoming meeting of bishops, an unprecedented change that reflects his hopes to give women greater decision-making responsibilities and laypeople more say in the life of the Catholic Church.Francis approved changes to the norms governing the Synod of Bishops, a Vatican body that gathers the world’s bishops together for periodic meetings.The Vatican on Wednesday published the modifications he approved, which emphasize his vision for the lay faithful taking on a greater role in church affairs that have long been left to clerics, bishops and cardinals.For decades, women have demanded the right to vote at synods, the next of which is scheduled for October.Ever since the Second Vatican Council, the 1960s meetings that modernized the church, popes have summoned the world’s bishops to Rome for a few weeks at a time to debate particular topics.At the end of the meetings, the bishops vote on specific proposals...

China’s Xi talks with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy by phone

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping talked Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by phone, state media reported, in a long-awaited move after Beijing said it wanted to act as peace mediator in Russia’s war against Ukraine.No details of the phone call were immediately released.China has tried to appear neutral in the war but refused to criticize Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.Xi’s government released a peace proposal in February and called for a cease-fire and peace talks.Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint statement before the February 2020 invasion saying their governments had a “no limits friendship.” The Associated Press

Pakistan army says 2 troops, 2 militants killed in shootout

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — An army operation in Pakistan’s northwest targeting militants triggered a firefight that left two soldiers and two insurgents dead, the military said Wednesday.The firefight happened in Tirah, a former militant stronghold in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, the military said in a statement. It provided no details about the slain insurgents.The raid came a day after the military announced it had expanded operations against militants across the country, especially in the northwestern former tribal regions that once served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban. The group has waged an insurgency over the past 15 years.The Pakistani Taliban, known as the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, are a separate organization but allied with the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. The takeover emboldened the TTP, which has stepped up attacks in recent months. The Associated Press

Jailed Kremlin foe Navalny says he may face life sentence

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Wednesday that he was facing new extremism and terrorism charges that could land him in prison for life as authorities set the stage for a new trial against the Kremlin’s leading critic.Navalny said by video link from prison during the hearing that the extremism charges could land him in prison for 30 years. He added that an investigator had told him that he also would face a separate military court trial on terrorism charges that could potentially carry a life sentence.His top ally said that investigators were trying to link the terrorism charges against Navalny to a bombing that killed a well-known Russian military blogger earlier this month.Navalny, 46, who exposed official corruption and organized massive anti-Kremlin protests, was arrested in January 2021 upon returning to Moscow after recuperating in Germany from nerve-agent poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin. He initially received a 2 1/2-year prison sente...

Indigenous Brazilian soccer players eye Women’s World Cup

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

PERUIBE, Brazil (AP) — This year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is a world away from Indigenous Brazilian leader Guaciane da Silva Gomes, who lives in the isolated village of Tapirema in southern Sao Paulo state. She and her teammates, however, can still dream about it.Gomes and her friends, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, play soccer on a dusty field between a lake and palm trees in the city of Peruibe, 138 kilometers (86 miles) south of Sao Paulo. When she finds only a handful of other female players available, she joins the men and tackles just as hard to keep her passion running high. A passion she believes will grow with the Women’s World Cup.“I will definitely find the time and place to watch, learn some techniques, watch the best of the best,” Gomes said last weekend after playing at the first Indigenous Games of Peruibe. “What they do there also inspires us here. We are all seeking visibility.”Brazil’s Indigenous women often lead thei...

US, Filipino forces show firepower at sea amid China tension

Published Thu, 26 Dec 2024 18:15:30 GMT

SAN ANTONIO, Philippines (AP) — American and Filipino forces sank a ship with a barrage of high-precision rockets, airstrikes and artillery fire in their largest war drills on Wednesday in Philippine waters facing the disputed South China Sea which are likely to antagonize China.President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. watched the American show of firepower from an observation tower in the coastal town of San Antonio in northwestern Zambales province, the latest indication of his strong backing of the Philippines’ treaty alliance with the U.S. Marcos has ordered his military to shift its focus to external defense from decades-long domestic anti-insurgency battles as China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the South China Sea become a top concern. The shift in the Philippine defense focus is in sync with the Biden administration’s aim of reinforcing an arc of alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to better counter China.China has angered the Philippines by repeatedly harassing its navy...