Their failed attack showed that despite an asphyxiating security blanket around the capital, Afghanistan's insurgency is far from defeated after nearly 12 years of war, and militants can still menace the capital.

Gunfire and explosions from the pre-dawn battle could be heard in many parts of Kabul. No one was killed except the attackers, but it emphasized the challenges faced by Afghanistan's fledgling security forces as they prepare to take the lead from a U.S.-led coalition that is rapidly withdrawing its remaining forces.

The spectacular attacks are aimed at demoralizing the population and sowing mistrust in the Afghan security forces' ability to protect their citizens rather than military gains.

"We can expect high profile attacks, we can expect insider threats and we can expect maybe some assassinations," said German Gen. Gunter Katz, spokesman for the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force. "We adapt our security measures appropriately, we assess the security situation on a permanent basis and we remain very vigilant."

The Taliban, who claimed responsibility for the airport attack, have been testing Afghan security forces as foreign combat troops pull back more than a decade after the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban regime for sheltering al-Qaida's leadership after the Islamic extremist group launched the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

In declaring their spring campaign, the Taliban said they would target Afghan and coalition forces and government officials around the country. Although they said they would not target civilians, the overwhelming number of dead and wounded so far has been ordinary Afghans.

The attack was one of three against state facilities on Monday morning by insurgents around the country.

In addition to the airport attack, six militants wearing suicide bomb vests tried to storm the provincial council building in the capital of southern Zabul province, while three attempted to attack a district police headquarters near the capital. Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed a Polish soldier in the NATO force.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said that in Zabul the attackers wounded 18 people, including three police officers, when they detonated a car bomb outside the building in the city of Qalat, but security forces shot and killed them before they could enter. On the outskirts of Kabul, police killed one attacker and arrested two others who tried to storm the headquarters building in the Surobi district.

At the airport, the insurgents did not get close enough to attack aircraft and were not near the runway's flight path. Even if they had managed to damage the airport, it would have affected civilian flights but not had an impact on military operations, which are carried out from a military airfield at Bagram about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the capital.

But they did manage to sneak in a minivan full of explosives, rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and assault rifles along with their suicide vests. Such weapons have been used repeatedly in Kabul attacks over the recent months, including an eight-ton bomb on a truck in March that was discovered just before it was to be used to attack a NATO base.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government would not be deterred.

"These cowardly terrorist attacks on the Afghan people cannot change the chosen path of the Afghan people toward progress, development, peace and elections," Karzai said, referring to next spring's poll to elect a new head of state.

Karzai was not in Kabul during the attack, but was visiting the Gulf state of Qatar, where he was discussing his country's stalled peace process and the possible opening of a Taliban office in Doha.

Both Afghanistan and the United States support the opening of a Taliban political office in Qatar as part of an effort to rekindle talks with the insurgent group. But first, Kabul and Washington say, the Taliban must renounce all ties to al-Qaida and other terrorist groups and accept Afghanistan's constitution.

Sediqi said the attacks are motivated by the upcoming handover of the lead for security from the U.S.-led coalition to the Afghan army and police. Afghan forces are now leading 90 percent of the military operations in areas where 80 percent of the country's population lives. After the handover later this month, the coalition will assist, train and mentor, providing military support only in emergencies.

The 352,000-strong force numbered less than 40,000 six years ago. The coalition will shrink by half its current 97,000 troops at the end of this year.

"Of course, in the coming days, there will be a transition and security is going to be handed over to Afghan forces," Sediqi said. "They are trying to sabotage that process and trying to bring the ability of the Afghan security forces into question, which they cannot because today's incidents in three different parts of the country were all foiled without significant casualties."

The Kabul airport itself was not damaged and reopened shortly after the fighting was over, said airport chief Yaqub Rassuli.

"There was no damage to the runway. Some shrapnel fell nearby, but we have cleared it away," Rassuli said.

Deputy Kabul police chief Dawood Amin said two insurgents blew themselves up with suicide vests at the start of the assault and five were shot and killed by police during the battle.

The last major incident in Kabul was May 24, when six suicide bombers attacked a U.N.-affiliated group, killing three people. On May 16, a suicide bomber rammed a car into a NATO convoy, killing 15 people, including two American soldiers and four civilian contractors.

___

Associated Press writers Amir Shah, Rahim Faiez and Kay Johnson contributed.

That means video games discs users buy will not be limited to one Xbox One device, and players can share or trade in the games they have bought for other used games, just as they have been able to do in the past.

Microsoft Corp. said in a blog post Thursday that it will not charge a fee to retailers, publishers or gamers for transferring their old games.

The Xbox One, which goes on sale later this year, will need to be connected online at least once every 24 hours to work. Some players had been concerned that the console was going to require a constant Internet connection.

Users will be able to access their games from other consoles through an online library after installing them on their primary device, but they will need to connect to the Internet at least every hour. They will be able to watch live TV and Blu-ray and DVD movies on the Xbox One without an Internet connection, Microsoft said.

Microsoft will give more details about the Xbox One next week at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles.

Shares of Microsoft rose 71 cents, or 2 percent, to close at $35.67 Friday. GameStop Corp.'s shares rose $2.13, or 6.2 percent, to close at $36.75. The stock has traded in the 52-week range of $15.32 and $39.87.

__

Online: http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/main

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Wearing a white veil and a simple long dress, Lyudmila Putin smiles softly from a picture snapped thirty summers ago, holding tight to the hand of a young KGB officer on their wedding day.

On Thursday, Vladimir and Lyudmila stood together again before a camera, but they did not touch as they told Russian state television their marriage was over.

The awkward announcement in the Kremlin confirmed the widespread assumption that President Vladimir Putin and his wife had separated, and were ending their troubled alliance with what she called a "civilized divorce".

"Our marriage is over due to the fact that we barely see each other," she said. "Vladimir Vladimirovich is completely submerged in his work. Our children have grown up, each of them is living her own life... And I truly don't like publicity."

That became increasingly clear over her husband's 13 years at the helm of the world's biggest country as president or prime minister. The pair had last been seen in public together at Putin's inauguration to a third term on May 7, 2012.

Lyudmila had rarely been seen in recent years, even on her own, sparking speculation she was in a convent. During her husband's two-term Kremlin stint in 2000-2008 she was at his side but rarely looked comfortable.

In their appearance on Thursday, the president told the nation his wife had "done her shift" as Russia's First Lady.

She never wanted the job.

"She is a vital, natural person, without any caprices typical of ambitious people," said Slava Zaitsev, a top Moscow fashion designer who has dressed her on several occasions. "An exceptionally modest person."

"Back then she also used to tell me how she did not like too much to travel, show herself in public. She was not ready for this role. Being a president's wife came down on her unexpectedly," Zaitsev told Reuters.

Putin has closely guarded his private life and his family. But the Kremlin's wall of silence only enhanced speculation about their marriage. A newspaper that reported rumors of an affair between him and a gymnast was abruptly shut.

SOVIET-ERA LOVE

The life of a first lady "was just not her thing," said Vladimir Shevchenko, a former aide to Putin and acquaintance of the family. "Yes, she was not a public person, yes, she did not like the camera. But as a person, she was just amazing."

A linguist who speaks French, German and Spanish, she worked in her youth as a flight attendant, a highly coveted job in the Soviet era.

She met her husband in their home city of Leningrad, now St Petersburg, when a mutual friend invited Putin to see a play along with several girlfriends. He is said to have hidden for much of their three-year courtship that he worked as a KGB spy.

"I started dating one of them. I became friends with Lyuda, my future wife," Putin says on his presidential website.

"I understood that if I don't marry for another two-three years, I will never marry. Though, of course, I had made a habit of leading a bachelor's life. Lyudmila uprooted it."

Lyudmila gave birth to their first daughter, Maria, just before they left for Germany where her husband was stationed as a Soviet spy in 1985-1990. Their second child, Katerina, was born in Dresden a year later.

After they returned to Russia, they lived in St Petersburg while the future president developed a career in municipal government. A person who knows the Putins from St Petersburg in the 1990s said that initially Lyudmila was eager to build an active role to match her husband but met with his resistance.

"She was very upset that he never took her anywhere, kept her in the shadow," said the person, who declined to be named. "He did it because of the children, he worried if Lyudmila was in the spotlight, it will have a negative effect on the girls."

"He thought a wife should be more modest and should not stick out."

She is unlikely to raise her profile now, and is expected to remain loyal.

"What will she do now? ... I don't think we will never even hear about it," said analyst Dmitry Oreshkin. "She never had any political ambitions, or any ambitions at all for that matter. She was just a person sorely tired of all that."

(Additonal Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Denis Pinchuk; Editing by Steve Gutterman and Peter Graff)

Hibbert scored 24 points as the Pacers beat the Miami Heat 91-77 on Saturday to force a deciding game seven in South Florida on Monday but the 26-year-old responded with a rant in the televised press conference.

Hibbert used the phrase "no homo" to describe his play and also attacked the media, using foul language when asked to discuss his low place in voting for the Defensive Player of the Year.

The league said in a statement that Hibbert had used "inappropriate and vulgar language".

Before the fine, Hibbert had issued an apology on the Pacer's official website.

"I am apologizing for insensitive remarks made during the postgame press conference after our victory over Miami Saturday night," read Hibbert's statement.

"They were disrespectful and offensive and not a reflection of my personal views. I used a slang term that is not appropriate in any setting, private or public, and the language I used definitely has no place in a public forum, especially over live television.

"I apologize to those who I have offended, to our fans and to the Pacers' organization. I sincerely have deep regret over my choice of words last night," he said.

The NBA noted Hibbert's statement but said he still deserved a fine.

"While Roy has issued an apology, which is no doubt sincere, a fine is necessary to reinforce that such offensive comments will not be tolerated by the NBA," said commissioner David Stern.

After the press conference, Hibbert sent a tweet to fellow NBA player Jason Collins, who in April became the first active player in the league to come out as a gay.

"Hey can I get a follow? Would like to discuss somethings with you," read the tweet from Hibbert which was later deleted.

(Reporting By Simon Evans; editing by Julian Linden)

(Reuters) - Nike Inc is dropping its partnership with the Livestrong Foundation, the cancer charity founded by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, the latest repercussion from the doping scandal that last year stripped him of his titles.

Nike said on Tuesday it would end production of its Livestrong gear and apparel after the 2013 holiday line, concluding a long-standing licensing agreement for footwear and apparel between the two that helped Livestrong raise a total of $100 million over the course of the partnership.

"We expected changes like this," Katherine McLane, a Livestrong spokeswoman, said in a conference call with reporters. "Could there be fallout? Of course," she said. "We remain enormously confident...We are in strong fiscal shape."

When Armstrong left Livestrong's board, Nike said it would still back the charity, but no longer sponsor the man behind it.

However, Nike spokeswoman Mary Remuzzi told Reuters late on Tuesday that the decision to drop the partnership was taken as sales of the products had not met company's expectations.

Nike also distributed Livestrong's ubiquitous yellow wrist-bands, of which 87 million were sold.

Armstrong founded Livestrong in 1997 after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. The group flourished during his cycling career in which he won the Tour de France seven times.

The cyclist, who stepped down from Livestrong's board last October, admitted in January to systematic use of banned, performance-enhancing drugs after years of denials.

"This does show there are pros and cons of (a philanthropic foundation) being so closely associated with one person," said Patrick Rooney, associate dean of academic affairs and research at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Still, Rooney predicted a large enough number of people would be able to separate Armstrong's misdeeds and the foundation's good works that it could survive.

Livestrong said its 2013 budget is $38.4 million, a 10.9 percent reduction from 2012, but that revenue projections were ahead by 2.5 percent.

Livestrong has similar licensing deals with sports eyewear maker Oakley, owned by Italy's Luxottica and others.

Nike will benefit from distancing itself from the charity and from the scandal-tainted athlete, said Robert Boland, a professor of sport management at New York University's Tisch Center.

"Their relationship with Livestrong was so based on Lance Armstrong and his story that it's almost impossible to separate them from a branding standpoint," Boland said. "The chief thing that is motivating Nike is they're looking to move on and put their years with Lance Armstrong behind them."

(Reporting by Phil Wahba, Ellen Wulfhorst and Scott Malone; additional reporting by Sakthi Prasad; Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Leslie Adler, Marguerita Choy and Dan Grebler)

Nichole Cable was allegedly killed by an acquaintance who used a fake profile to lure her from her home, then kidnap her in hopes of becoming a hero when he miraculously "found" her, according to state police.

Meanwhile, rumor and speculation ran rampant on social media following Cable's disappearance and the charging of a 20-year-old who knew her.

Ashley Pattershall said Thursday some of her classmates at Old Town High School have opted to deactivate their Facebook accounts.

"A couple of my friends have deleted their Facebook, and some of my friends don't have Facebook anymore," said the 16-year-old Pattershall, who was a close friend of Cable.

Kyle Dube, 20, of Orono, used a phony Facebook account created in the name of a student from another school to lure Cable outside her Glenburn home, where he abducted and killed her on May 12, authorities said. Her body was found more than a week later in a wooded area of Old Town, north of Bangor.

Dube told others he wore a disguise to kidnap Cable and intended to return later and find her safe and sound, police said. Instead, he discovered she was dead when he went to check on his duct-taped victim in the back of his father's pickup.

Authorities said Dube told his girlfriend and brother that he dumped Cable's body and covered it with sticks. He was formally charged Wednesday with murder and kidnapping.

Dube's attorney, Stephen Smith, did not immediately return a phone call left at his Bangor office on Thursday.

Cable's mother, Kristin Wiley, said Thursday that she wants to brainstorm with school principals about how to help teens be safe online. A police officer also talked to her about doing seminars on teen safety, she said.

"We need to get awareness out. Even the Bible says, 'Do not stand idle by.' I'm not going to stand idle. For my daughter, I will not stand idle. I will do whatever I can," she said from her Glenburn home.

According to state police, detectives interviewed a young man named Bryan Butterfield a day after Cable was reported missing. Butterfield told police that someone had created a phony Facebook account in his name, and police traced it to Dube's parents' house in Orono.

Cable was frequently contacted by the fake Butterfield and agreed to meet with him at the end of her road to get some marijuana the night she went missing, according to the state police affidavit.

Social media's role in Nichole's disappearance and death was a wakeup call for students, many of whom have become paranoid about online contacts, said Pattershall, Cable's friend.

Pattershall, who said the fake Butterfield account had contacted her and others, said she cleaned out her Facebook "friend" lists, making sure only confirmed friends and family members can communicate with her.

Wiley choked up as she talked about how her neighbors looked out for each other on the dirt road with a handful of houses in Glenburn.

She still has difficulty fathoming the state police account of Dube jumping out to grab her daughter at the end of the road.

"It's very important that we prevent this from happening again, not just in our community but any community, Wiley said.

Wiley said her daughter would want her to act.

"She would not want anyone else to go through this."

___

Follow David Sharp at http://twitter.com/David_Sharp_AP

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will tell Chinese President Xi Jinping at a California summit this week that Washington considers Beijing responsible for any cyber attacks launched from Chinese soil and must take action to curb high-tech spying, White House officials said on Tuesday.

Underscoring growing U.S. suspicions of a Chinese role in cyber espionage that has targeted U.S. government entities and major corporations, aides to Obama made clear the issue would be high on the agenda at a relatively informal retreat to begin on Friday.

The talks, Xi's first encounter with Obama since taking over the presidency in March, are meant to allow the leaders to get to know each other away from the spotlight of Washington and begin easing mistrust between the world's two biggest economic powers.

But any feel-good vibe at the luxury resort in the desert near Palm Springs, could be soured by Obama taking a hard line with Xi over Chinese cyber hacking of U.S. secrets.

"Governments are responsible for cyber attacks that take place from within their borders," a White House official told reporters before the summit. "As a part of our interests in protecting U.S. businesses, we will raise with China any concerns we have about intrusions we believe emanate from China."

The official said Obama would make clear that China must abide by international "rules of the road" on cybersecurity. China has consistently denied U.S. accusations of cyber hacking and has insisted it is more a victim than a perpetrator.

The White House declined to specify what if any punitive measures the United States might take if Xi refused to cooperate and the cyber threats persisted.

But one official cited recent unfair trade cases that Washington had taken against China before the World Trade Organization as evidence that "when we believe we're not making progress simply through dialogue, we are willing to use the measures available to us within the international system."

The summit will be followed in July by the first high-level meeting of a U.S.-China panel on cybersecurity.

Obama has been under strong pressure from lawmakers to persuade Xi to take U.S. hacking worries seriously. The Washington Post reported last week that China had used cyber attacks to access data from nearly 40 Pentagon weapons programs. China dismissed the report.

'ASIA PIVOT'

With China worried the United States is trying to encircle it militarily with its "Asia pivot," Obama also faces the challenge of convincing Xi that America's reorientation of foreign policy and the shifting of some military resources toward the region are not meant as a threat to Beijing.

The strategy is widely seen as a way of reassuring allies like Japan and South Korea of the U.S. commitment to counter China's power.

At the summit, Obama will also be looking to build on recent signs of a sharpening of Chinese pressure on North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs, a shift that could bring Beijing closer to Washington's position. China has long been the closest thing North Korea has to an ally.

Another U.S. official said Obama would try to find specific ways the United States and China could work together to force North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. China has resisted full implementations of sanctions on its impoverished neighbour.

China told an envoy of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that Pyongyang should stop conducting nuclear and missile tests, although the North showed little sign of heeding the request, said a source with knowledge of the talks held late last month.

High-level U.S.-Chinese encounters of recent decades have been unable to match President Richard Nixon's groundbreaking visit to Communist China in 1972 that ended decades of estrangement between Washington and Beijing.

But U.S. officials held out the prospect that Obama and Xi would be able to develop personal rapport - something lacking between U.S. presidents and Xi's notoriously stiff predecessor, Hu Jintao - that could aid progress on substantive issues.

"He seems to be someone fast on his feet, open to engagement, willing to speak directly to Americans and to issues of concern to Americans in a manner that was not a hallmark of some of his predecessors," one White House official said of Xi.

A willingness to forgo the traditional pomp of a White House visit may signal a fresh approach by Xi, who as president-in-waiting met Obama in Washington in February of last year. He is a Communist Party "princeling," the son of a revolutionary leader. But he is also fond of Hollywood movie war dramas.

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Crabtree, San Francisco's leading receiver last season when they reached the Super Bowl before being beaten 34-31 by the Baltimore Ravens, injured his right Achilles during an organized team activity on Tuesday.

"(Coach) Jim Harbaugh tells media @KingCrab15 has torn Achilles tendon but has had successful surgery. Crabtree not expected to miss full season," the 49ers tweeted on Wednesday.

"We feel like someone is going to emerge there," Harbaugh later told reporters about the challenge facing the 49ers' younger receivers in Crabtree's absence.

Crabtree, 25, caught 20 passes for 285 yards and three touchdowns in last season's playoffs after setting career-best marks with 1,105 yards, nine touchdowns and 85 receptions during the regular season.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Los Angeles; Editing by Gene Cherry)

MADRID (Reuters) - Revenues may be declining and customers disappearing for phone companies in recession-hit Spain, but that has not stopped Jaime Bustillo from launching a new mobile operator in the depths of a downturn that has left 27 percent of the workforce unemployed.

Bustillo, who used to work for Spain's second-biggest operator Vodafone, established Airis Mobile in May as an arm of low-cost technology firm Airis and hopes to attract 50,000 mobile customers in a year.

The business model Bustillo has set up - offering deals with low-cost smartphones and cheap call rates to other European countries - is tailor-made for the economic crisis as thousands of Spaniards seek work in neighboring countries.

"Really we are competing with (low-cost internet telecoms firm) Skype," Bustillo said in an interview, adding consumers have shifted to place less emphasis on operators and more on handsets since Apple introduced its iPhone.

So-called mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) like Airis Mobile do not own networks. Rather, they rent capacity from established operators to sell on to their customers, usually at low prices due to their small overheads, with cheap distribution through the internet or convenience stores.

Their share of the Spanish market grew to 10 percent in March from 7 percent a year before as cash-strapped consumers look to save money.

"Virtual operators can certainly take a bit more market share ... We aren't going to be as big as Telefonica or Orange, what we're looking for is something specialized," Bustillo said.

Across Western Europe, MVNOs have 13 percent market share. Markets vary hugely, according to data from consultancy Analysys Mason, with MVNOs accounting for 24 percent of the market in Germany, which has a strong tradition of discount retailing, and just 5 percent in Italy.

"There are some MVNOs that have successfully played on brand, (but) it's a relatively small proportion of the total. Most are targeting price or convenience," said Ceri Jones, manager at Analysys Mason.

NO GET RICH QUICK

Bustillo's model has been proven to work in Spain by others like Austrian Meinrad Spenger, who set up virtual operator Masmovil in 2008 and now has 140,000 clients and predicts MVNOs could reach 15 percent market share in a few years.

In March, industry leader Telefonica's market share fell to 35.6 percent from 38.6 percent a year earlier, while Vodafone's shrank to 25.7 percent from 28.6 percent. Total mobile revenues in Spain dropped to 2.9 billion euros ($3.7 billion) at end-2012 from 3.4 billion euros a year before.

For 6.9 euros a month, Airis Mobile offers 1 GB of internet surfing, national calls for under a cent a minute and calls within the EU for 9 cents a minute. SIM-only customers at Telefonica get 500 MB internet, 500 free texts and free national calls with a 15 cent connection charge for 9 euros a month.

But Spain's leading operators are relaxed about the growth of MVNOs. Virtual operators have high margins, but their marketing budgets are usually small, which limits their reach to potential customers, and they do not tend to subsidize handsets - a key selling point for customers wanting expensive models.

In some countries like France, MVNOs have had to get their pricing approved by incumbents that also benefit from wholesale rates. Virtual players have also lost market share there after widespread price cuts from traditional operators.

"There is an opportunity for MVNOs but it's a really difficult and tough market place ... It's not a get rich quick scheme that's going to work for everybody," said Carrie Pawsey, senior analyst at technology and telecoms research firm Ovum.

Virtual operators are usually much more limited in scope, targeting immigrant communities with own-language services and low international rates or small businesses often overlooked by traditional operators. Fixed-line specialists in Spain have led MVNO growth in recent months by offering mobile services packaged with home phone and internet services.

Generalists tend to be bought by operators when they get to a big enough size to be a real competitive threat and used as a sub-brand, something that has happened in the Nordic countries, where there is a longer history of MVNOs in the market.

Virtual operators are also heavily dependent on friendly regulation. Spain's telecoms watchdog did not open up the market to MVNOs until 2006, more than ten years after some countries, and in 2008 they had just 1.3 percent of the market.

But while MVNOs are unlikely to compete head-to-head with firms like Telefonica, they promote competition and are vital for innovation when incumbents are weak, said Jacques Bonifay, chairman of the European Association of Full MVNOs.

"Because we are still small and we need to innovate to survive, we are really pushing hard," he said.

($1 = 0.7716 euros)

(Editing by Leila Abboud and Mark Potter)

Instead, the Braves scored just once against the Nationals' bullpen in a 3-2 loss on Friday night.

Freeman accounted for both Atlanta runs. His fifth homer, a solo shot in the second, came off Strasburg, and his RBI single in the seventh came off Tyler Clippard. But Freeman credited Craig Stammen with setting the tone for the game after replacing Strasburg, who strained his right oblique, to start the third.

"He mowed right through us, and we weren't able to get to him," Freeman said. "But we got into the bullpen, so maybe that will help us out the next two games."

Atlanta managed just one baserunner in the seventh off Drew Storen, and nothing against Nationals closer Rafael Soriano in the ninth.

The Braves have lost two of three and five of six. Their lead over second-place Washington was trimmed to 4 games.

For the Nationals, Stammen pitched four perfect innings, and Denard Span tripled twice and scored two runs to help Washington snap a two-game skid.

Strasburg left with a 2-1 lead. He allowed two hits and one run with no walks and two strikeouts. The Nationals are sending him back to Washington for an examination of his right oblique.

"He was complaining of discomfort warming up, and it was more severe than the last time out," Nationals manager Davey Johnson said. "He's a gamer. He wanted to continue. But something like that I'm not going to take a chance with his arm. That's the main concern."

Stammen (3-1) shut down the Braves by striking out three and allowing no baserunners through the sixth.

In the seventh, Clippard escaped a bases-loaded jam that he created by allowing Freeman's single that cut the lead to 3-2 and by hitting the next two batters he faced.

Clippard settled down, though, to strike out Dan Uggla and Chris Johnson.

"We couldn't put the ball in play and we couldn't hit a fly ball," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said. "That's just the way it goes sometimes."

Storen pitched a scoreless eighth for the Nationals, and closer Soriano converted his 15th save in 18 chances by retiring Freeman on a flyout, striking out B.J. Upton and getting Brian McCann to ground out in the ninth.

The Nationals took the lead in the first off Julio Teheran (3-2) when Span led off with a triple and scored on Steve Lombardozzi's sacrifice fly.

Washington went up 2-0 in the second. Roger Bernadina singled, advanced to third on Danny Espinosa's single and scored on Kurt Suzuki's fielder's choice RBI.

Stammen retired all 12 batters he faced. He was replaced by a pinch-hitter in the top of the seventh.

The Nationals took a 3-1 lead in the sixth when Span tripled again and scored on another sacrifice fly by Bernadina.

Teheran's night ended when Anthony Varvaro replaced him with a runner on second. Teheran allowed seven hits, three runs, one walk and a career-high nine strikeouts.

"With Strasburg going out, I thought we had a better chance, but Stammen came in and shut us down," Freeman said. "Against Clippard, we were able to get to him, but Storen and Soriano kind of shut us down. But it was a good game. It's always going to be close when we're playing each other."

NOTES: Freeman's RBI single raised his average with runners in scoring position to .487, best in the NL. ... Braves LF Justin Upton went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts. ... His struggling brother, B.J. Upton, entered the game as a pinch-runner in the seventh, and his average dropped to .145 with 62 strikeouts in 159 at-bats. ... Jason Heyward was in the leadoff spot for the second time in his four-year career and for the first time since June 27, 2011. He finished 0 for 4, dropping his average to .146. ... Nationals OF Bryce Harper missed his fifth straight game with left knee bursitis. Johnson said he won't play this weekend. ... Washington RF Jayson Werth is on a rehab assignment and hopes to return on Tuesday. ... The Nationals have won three straight against Atlanta after dropping nine consecutive to the Braves.