Intrigue is building by the day in Belarus ahead of the ballot on August 9, in which the president, for the first time in his 26 years in power, faces a genuine opposition challenger who is not a token candidate. Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, initially a stand-in candidate for her husband Sergei Tikhanovsky, who had been barred, has captured the imagination of people around the country. She has appeared on stage with the wives of two other opposition figures, Veronika Tsepkalo and Maria Kolesnikova....

MORE: Must-see second-round photos Johansson left Monday’s Game 3 after Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang appeared to hit him in the head with a late shoulder. It’s the second particularly bad hit of the series; Brooks Orpik injured Olli Maatta in Game 2. It should also be the second suspendable hit; it’s tough to watch it and not see how, if Orpik deserved three, Letang doesn’t deserve the same. He also seemed to launch himself into Johansson....

Medlen exited Sunday's spring training game against the New York Mets with a strained forearm. A Monday MRI of his elbow showed “some involvement in the ligament,” Braves general manager Frank Wren told the AJC. Medlen now is expected to cosult with Dr. James Andrews, who performed Tommy John surgery to reconstruct his elbow in August 2010. "MRIs on patients who previously had Tommy John surgery can be difficult to read, and the previous surgeon is consulted before any additional steps are taken after another injury," the newspaper reports....

The Latvian 20-year-old swatted six shot attempts by the Wolves, including four from 2014 No. 1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins, during the first half of the Knicks’ 107-102 win over the Timberwolves night Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. The Heat’s Hassan Whiteside had 10 blocks in a game earlier this season — the most in any game this season — while Porzingis finished his game with seven blocks. MORE: Porzingis an All-Star?...

Spencer, directed by Pablo Larraín, follows three days in the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, with Stewart’s portrayal eagerly anticipated by movie buffs. On Wednesday, a first poster for the film was released featuring Stewart ahead of its premiere at the Venice Film festival next week. The striking poster image shows Stewart bent over and weeping into a large white gown, which is similar to the late royal’s Diaghilev gown....

“I never once asked for special treatment for Kassidy,” Noem said in a video posted to YouTube. “She is my daughter and I’m proud of her. I raised her to accomplish things on her own.” In July of 2020, Noem held a meeting with Peters and the state employee who was overseeing her daughter’s application. The Department of Labor and Regulation had moved to deny Peters the license prior to the meeting....

The outspoken father of star NBA Draft prospect Lonzo Ball has been a regular guest on FS1’s “The Herd” and “Undisputed” with Skip Bayless, Shannon Sharpe and Joy Taylor as well as ESPN’s “First Take” with Stephen A. Smith, Max Kellerman and Molly Qerim. But Ball crossed the line when he turned his back on Leahy and told her to “stay in your lane.” Leahy fired back. She seemed rattled when relating the death threats Thursday....

The one-off payment “will be offered to all associates who receive the full manufacturer-recommended doses” of the vaccine, a news release said on Friday. The Cincinnati-based company, which owns Ralph’s, Food 4 Less and Smith’s Food and Drug, employs nearly 500,000 people across 35 states. Those who cannot receive the vaccine because of medical or religious reasons can complete a health and safety course to receive the $100 payment, Kroger said....

Busch believed he had a chance to win the race until getting shoved into the infield. Busch also saw a chance to take the Chase points lead spin away. Logano’s apology landed on deaf ears. MORE: Getting wilder as Chase nears | Keselowski wins | Busch brothers’ night As the field exited Turn 4 and into the tri-oval, Logano and Busch followed eventual race winner Brad Keselowski on the inside lane, while Kyle Busch and Trevor Bayne occupied the top....

“I’m very happy to be back with Stewart-Haas Racing and proud to take Monster Energy to the Sprint Cup Series,” Busch said. “This is exactly where I want to be, and I have two partners who want to win as much as I do.” MORE: Stewart-Haas Racing drivers | Standings entering Talladega Since joining SHR for the 2014 season, Busch, 37, has three wins, including two this season. Heading into Sunday’s CampingWorld....

Knicks interim coach Kurt Rambis says Fisher “skirted over” implementing the triangle offense with the team, and didn’t put in the necessary time for players to grasp it. MORE: Teams with longer playoff droughts than the Sixers | Nerlen Noels destroyed his rental home “If you want to learn something and truly learn something, you have to immerse yourself in it,” Rambis said Friday, via Newsday. “We didn’t fully immerse ourselves into practicing it, developing it, learning how to work with it, going through the breakdown drills to execute it properly, so we kind of skirted over things....

The ministry issued a statement Thursday condemning what it called the deportation of Ukrainian citizens in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Ukrainian officials and human rights groups have raised alarm over reports of Ukraine’s citizens being deported against their will to Russia during the war. But Kremlin-backed officials instead said they’ve evacuated Kherson, a region of which Russia earlier claimed control, out of concerns for civilian safety. The forced relocations are occurring on the east bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson’s Skadovsky and Kakhovsky districts near other Russian-occupied territories, according to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry....

A heavy schedule is no problem for Larson, who is used to racing in various divisions in sprint cars. He will have a busy 2014 schedule as he runs all the NASCAR Sprint Cup races and all of the companion Nationwide Series events. MORE: 30 years of rookies of the year | MWR exec reinstated | Head-to-head: Kurt Busch vs. Truex | Harvick vs. Newman The 21-year-old Cup rookie’s primary focus will be on the Cup car as the replacement for Juan Pablo Montoya at Chip Ganassi Racing....

About a week ago he and his wife, Katelyn Sweet, introduced a baby boy into the world. Today, he announced the passing of his grandmother. Larson’s grandfather passed away in September of this year. The 22-year-old was the 2014 Sprint Cup Rookie of the Year and the 2013 Rookie of the Year in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. 

Kyle Schwarber hit two more home runs on Thursday, bringing his total to 12 in his last 13 games. Yep, practically a homer-per-game pace for two straight weeks. That’s impressive. We’ll get to the “historic” part in a moment. MORE: Scherzer, Nats wanted Harper’s hair checked for sticky stuff First: He’s doing this for his new team, the Nationals. Schwarber made $7.01 million in 2020 (well, a prorated amount of that) and was set to earn as much as $9 million in arbitration for 2021....

The signal-caller left late in the second quarter of Saturday’s game against Auburn after he was hit in the knee on a pass play by Auburn defensive end Marlon Davidson. Trask was down for a few minutes before he was taken to the locker room. He was able to walk on his own power. Emory Jones replaced Trask at quarterback for one drive until Trask returned to action before halftime....

In the end, Murray and the Cardinals agreed to a contract extension ahead of the 2022 season, and the drama ceased. But then the drama immediately returned. It became public knowledge that the contract — which made Murray the third-highest paid QB in the NFL by average annual salary — included a clause that required him to put in a certain number of hours of film study during the week....

Arizona left the first quarter of its wild-card matchup against the Rams trailing 7-0 with negative yardage, and things only got worse in the second quarter. The worst part: Rather than take a safety in the end zone with his team already down 14-0, Murray flipped the ball up to try to avoid the sack but wound up throwing a pick-six. The next drive, Rondale Moore saved Murray from a second interception in a bizarre exchange with a defender, only for Murray to respond with another pick on a screen pass three plays later....

The reality TV star filmed as she took an excited trio of children, one of them her daughter Stormi, into Target. While the cute video was praised by thousands of her fans, many responded with sarcasm that Jenner was playing a “normal life simulator” and brought up the recent controversy involving private planes. A Twitter thread detailing the use of Jenner’s jet went viral recently as flight logs showed that the plane was used for a three-minute flight, as well as multiple 15-minute flights....

The pivotal nature of Game 4 between Brooklyn and Milwaukee was taken a bit literally by Milwaukee’s Thanasis Antetokounmpo, who pivoted into that other dimension or realm after an absolutely absurd Kyrie Irving crossover in the first quarter. Ultimately, Antetokounmpo contested the shot as he quickly got back to his feet and forced Irving into a miss. The Nets would open an 11-point lead after that, though, before the Bucks came storming back in the back-and-forth affair....