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World Series matchup exemplifies Orioles’ ideal offseason checklist | ANALYSIS

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

In 2021, three major league teams lost at least 102 games. Two years later, two of them — the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Texas Rangers — will meet in the World Series.The Orioles complete that trio of past losers, and although an American League Division Series sweep at the hands of the Rangers prevented them from reaching that same stage, their regular season featured more accomplishments than either club. After going 52-110 in 2021, Baltimore won 101 games and the AL East in 2023, enjoying what was comfortably MLB’s largest two-year improvement over the past century.If Texas claims its first championship, it will have only two more victories across the regular season and postseason than the Orioles managed, while it’s not possible for Arizona to catch Baltimore in that regard. Yet, the Rangers and Diamondbacks are in the World Series, and the Orioles are at home.Both teams, though, offer templates for Baltimore heading into the offseason. At his end-of-th...

High school roundup: Haylen Wilson nets 50th goal, Hingham coach Susan Petrie earns 200th win

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

Haylen Wilson scored her 50th goal (two in the game) as Hingham (14-2-1) defeated Hanover 4-0 in Patriot League field hockey action. It was head coach Susan Petrie’s 200th career victory.In the Cape Ann League, Brooke Shaughnessy netted a hat trick and Sophia Capillo added two assists as Essex Tech (9-6-1) took down Triton 4-1.Ally Lombardo and Caitlyn Popelka scored two goals each for Westford Academy in a 7-0 nonleague win over Lowell. … Anna Leverone tallied two goals for Lincoln-Sudbury (8-4-3) in a 5-1 victory over St. Mary’s (Lynn). … Alivia Barnes (two goals), Quinn Jordan (goal, assist) and Khloe Schultz (goal, assist) paced things offensively for Sandwich (16-0-1) in a 7-0 win over East Bridgewater. … Evie Schneider scored twice, and Avery Bent chipped in with a goal and three assists as Dover-Sherborn (13-2-2) edged Bishop Feehan 4-3. … Sophie Stanley scored two goals for St. John Paul II (11-2-4) in a 3-0 win over Plymouth South.In the Tri-Valley League, Shea Larkee set t...

Audi goes all electric with the ’23 Q8 e-tron

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

As Audi appears in the driveway this week with their EV flagship, the 2024 Audi Q8 E-tron, it’s not necessarily all the hype here. The Q8, RSQ8, Q5 and other recent Audi SUVs that we have tested seem to all have the same great features, excellent safety and security accouterments, sporty exteriors, and but what Audi has recently shown us, is that comfort is not the priority. As Volkswagen owns Audi and other brands like Lamborghini, Bentley and Porsche, we notice that Audi is the “Sporty Family” brand that consumers have come to enjoy in the company. But there is one big problem that is plaguing the brand… lack of comfort.Similar to VW’s Atlas and other Atlas-like take-offs, their SUVs have a very rough ride, rough for the driver, passenger and all rows of seating, the suspension demands an overhaul. As other brands have accepted that comfort is priority and have swallowed the pill, Audi seems to have run out of water. Wrapped in Plasma Blue Metallic, the color is superb. A 28...

Poland’s president calls for new parliament to hold first session Nov. 13

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s president said Thursday that he is calling the first session of the country’s newly elected parliament for Nov. 13.President Andrzej Duda’s announcement launches a timetable that will lead to the formation of a new government after Poland’s national election on Oct. 15. He must also announce a candidate for prime minister but said that decision would come later.Duda said there were two serious candidates for the post, the current prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, and Donald Tusk, a former prime minister who is the head of an opposition bloc that collectively won a majority of seats in the new parliament.Morawiecki belongs to the ruling conservative Law and Justice party. It won more votes than any other single party in the election but lost its majority in parliament and will not hold enough seats to govern the country. The party has said it considers itself the winner of the election and should be given the first chance to try to f...

Rajakovic era off to successful start as Raptors hold off Timberwolves

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

How to define success. Hmm.In professional sports, it should be easy: Winning. That’s why they keep score, that’s why the people who can contribute to winning get paid more — in theory — than those that don’t.But since only one team can win the last game of the season, get the trophy and call themselves champions, the definition of what is successful inevitably gets broadened depending on circumstance.No one around the Toronto Raptors has been talking about championships or trophies. They’re not that team, or don’t figure to be. They won 41 games last year and haven’t won a playoff round in four seasons.So as the curtain was finally lifted on the 2023-24 season and the start of the Darko Rajakovic era, the stated goals were less about specifics, and more about process as the new head coach gets a feel for his team and his role after taking over from Nick Nurse, who helped bring Toronto its first and only championship back in 2019.“A successful season for me, it’s really ...

As rainforests worldwide disappear, burn and degrade, a summit to protect them opens in Brazzaville

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

Leaders from countries with the largest tropical forest basins are meeting in the Republic of Congo on Thursday to work together to protect the forests from deforestation and destruction.Delegates from Brazil, Indonesia, Republic of Congo and dozens of other countries at the Three Basins Summit in Brazzaville are hoping to form a coalition of leaders from the basins of the Amazon, the Congo and Borneo-Mekong in Southeast Asia to discuss how to finance the protection of their wildlife-rich regions, which are also major sites for storing planet-warming carbon dioxide.The countries in the three basins have 80% of the world’s tropical forests and two-thirds of the Earth’s biodiversity, according to the World Wildlife Fund. But logging, forest degradation, loss of native species and extreme weather events fueled by climate change have the forests under enormous pressure that’s putting local economies and food security at risk. Despite pledges by governments and businesses to stop forest ...

Harris will attend an AI summit at a UK estate that was a base for World War II codebreakers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris will attend a summit on artificial intelligence in the United Kingdom next week, shortly after President Joe Biden issues a highly anticipated executive order on an emerging technology that has generated excitement and fear. She’s scheduled to leave on Tuesday and return on Nov. 2, and she’ll be accompanied by her husband, Douglas Emhoff, according to her office.Harris will deliver a speech outlining the Democratic administration’s approach to artificial intelligence on Nov. 1 before attending a summit on the topic the next day. Emhoff is expected to participate in events with civil society groups and young leaders focused on science learning, gender equity and countering hate.Kirsten Allen, a spokeswoman for Harris, said the goal is a future “where every person is safe from the harms of AI and where every person can share equally in its benefits.”Governments around the globe are racing to set guidelines for artificial intelligence. Bes...

European Union to press the leaders of Serbia and Kosovo to set decades of enmity behind them

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union is set to ramp up pressure on Serbia and Kosovo to normalize their relations by enlisting the leaders of three heavyweight member countries and senior officials to make a major push to get the former war foes to set aside decades of differences.Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Albin Kurti distrust each other and are not likely to meet face to face. But they are due to hold talks separately with the leaders of France, Germany and Italy, plus the two EU officials supervising a stuttering “dialogue” between them.The meetings in Brussels come on the sidelines of an EU summit. Fears are high of a resumption of the violence that characterized their ties during a 1998-99 war and since Kosovo unilaterally broke away from Serbia in 2008. Belgrade still considers Kosovo a Serbian province and has never recognized its independence. Both Kosovo and Serbia want to join the EU, but they’ve been warned that they must sort out their difference...

Swedish court acquits Russian-born businessman of spying for Moscow

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A Russian-born Swedish businessman was acquitted on Thursday of collecting information for Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, for almost a decade.Sergey Skvortsov, 60, had been accused of “ gross illegal intelligence activities against Sweden and against a foreign power,” namely the United States.The Stockholm District Court said Skvortsov had largely acted in the way prosecutors alleged and that advanced technology was acquired and delivered to Russia.But the court said in its verdict “that the business (was) only intended for the procurement of technology from the West and not aimed at obtaining information concerning Sweden or the United States that may constitute espionage.”Judge Jakob Hedenmo said in a statement that the prosecutor was unable to prove that Skvortsov was involved in espionage.Skvortsov was arrested in November together with his wife in a predawn operation in Nacka, outside Stockholm. Swedish media reported that elite police r...

List: Mass killings in the United States since January

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 10:25:49 GMT

The latest mass killing in the U.S. happened Wednesday night in Lewiston, Maine, when a man opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar, killing at least 16 people, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. Dozens of people were also wounded.The alert for Lewiston was made shortly after 8 p.m. as the sheriff’s office reported that law enforcement agencies were investigating “two active shooter events.”The man identified as a person of interest in a mass killing in Maine is a firearms instructor trained by the military and was recently committed to a mental health facility, according to a state police bulletin.The shooting was the country's 36th mass killing this year, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. At least 188 people have died in those killings, which are defined as incidents in which four or more people have died within a 24-hour period, not including the killer — the same ...