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Column: A chilly spring for David Ross and Pedro Grifol and other warning signs for the Chicago Cubs and White Sox for the summer ahead

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

What the Washington Post termed “a bizarre, localized cold front” hit Chicago on Tuesday afternoon, suddenly turning a warm spring afternoon into a chilly night.Meteorologists called it a “pneumonia front,” comparing it to the chills one experiences when getting ill.Coincidentally, Cubs fans also have been going through a pneumonia front after a feel-good start to the 2023 season evaporated into thin air, leaving them cold and confused and looking for someone to blame.The Cubs blew a five-run, eighth-inning lead Wednesday night in Houston in a 7-6 loss to the Astros, extending their losing streak to five games and falling to 19-24, tied with the rebuilding Cincinnati Reds for third place in the National League Central.Drew Smyly pitched seven perfect innings in a 13-0 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 21, leaving the Cubs at 12-7. They’ve gone 7-17 since, wasting another strong outing by Smyly on Wednesday.The Cubs batted .242 with a .709 OPS...

Get to know Tyler Scott: Q&A with the new Chicago Bears wide receiver’s college coach

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

Speed. That’s the first word on every scouting report for Chicago Bears rookie wide receiver Tyler Scott. A fifth-round pick in last month’s draft, Scott was a Junior Olympian in track as a kid in addition to being a burner as a high school running back.After he got to college at Cincinnati, he converted to wide receiver and last season produced 54 catches, 899 yards and nine touchdowns for the Bearcats.The Bears felt fortunate to select Scott as late as they did (No. 133) and envision him becoming a dynamic weapon for quarterback Justin Fields. Former Cincinnati receivers coach Mike Brown, who is now at Wisconsin, can’t say enough about Scott’s speed and approach to the game.Brown spoke to the Tribune recently to relay his experience with Scott and offer insight on the rookie’s skill set. Here’s that interview, edited for clarity.Note: This is part of a series of conversations with the college position coaches of this year’s Bears draft pic...

Canada Goose reports $3.1M Q4 loss, revenue up more than 30% from year ago

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

TORONTO — Canada Goose Holdings Inc. reported a loss of $3.1 million in its fourth quarter compared with a loss of $9.1 million a year earlier as its revenue rose more than 30 per cent.The luxury parka maker says it lost three cents per diluted share for the quarter ended April 2, down from a loss of nine cents per diluted share a year earlier.Revenue in the fourth quarter of the company’s 2023 financial year totalled $293.2 million, up from $223.1 million in the same quarter last year.On an adjusted basis, Canada Goose says it earned 14 cents per diluted share, up from an adjusted profit of four cents per diluted share a year earlier.Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of 11 cents per share and $259.1 million in revenue, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.In its outlook for its 2024 financial year, Canada Goose says it expects total revenue between $1.4 billion and $1.5 billion and an adjusted profit between $1.20 and $1.4...

Hong Kong leader defends removing politically sensitive books from public libraries

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader said Thursday the city’s public libraries would not recommend books featuring “bad ideologies” to residents after they pulled titles related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and certain political figures, further shrinking the city’s freedoms. Chief Executive John Lee was addressing a lawmaker’s question about dozens of books in public libraries that were taken down without a clear explanation. Those include publications about the bloody crackdown and others written by pro-democracy politicians and political commentators.Hong Kong is a former British colony that returned to China’s rule in 1997, promising to retain its Western-style freedoms. But the city’s cultural and creative sectors said the city’s freedoms have shrunk since Beijing imposed a tough national security law following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019. Critics said the book pulling would further undermine Hong Kong’s reputa...

WestJet starts to cancel flights as pilot strike looms, negotiations in stalemate

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

MONTREAL — WestJet has started to cancel flights as talks with the pilots’ union remained at a “critical impasse,” the company said Thursday, jeopardizing travel plans for thousands of passengers ahead of the May long weekend. Some 1,800 pilots at the carrier and its Swoop subsidiary are poised to walk off the job as of 3 a.m. ET after the Air Line Pilots Association issued a strike notice Monday.WestJet issued a statement early Thursday saying negotiations with the union remained “in a stalemate.” “We remain at a critical impasse with the union and have been left with no choice but to begin taking the painful steps of preparing for the reality of a work stoppage,” CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said in a statement. WestJet Group is parking the majority of its 737 and 787 fleet in a “measured, phased and safe approach,” the statement read. The airline said WestJet Encore, WestJet Link as well as limited 737 flights will continue to operate during this time. With ...

China’s loans pushing world’s poorest countries to brink of collapse

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

A dozen poor countries are facing economic instability and even collapse under the weight of hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign loans, much of them from the world’s biggest and most unforgiving government lender, China.An Associated Press analysis of a dozen countries most indebted to China — including Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia — found paying back that debt is consuming an ever-greater amount of the tax revenue needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. And it’s draining foreign currency reserves these countries use to pay interest on those loans, leaving some with just months before that money is gone.Behind the scenes is China’s reluctance to forgive debt and its extreme secrecy about how much money it has loaned and on what terms, which has kept other major lenders from stepping in to help. On top of that is the recent discovery that borrowers have been required to put cash in hidden escrow accounts that push China to the ...

Iran warns Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers not to violate its water rights, over Helmand River

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s president warned Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Thursday not to violate water rights of the Iranian people over their shared Helmand River, the state-run IRNA news agency reported..President Ebrahim Raisi said his government is determined to defend Iran’s water rights. “We will not allow the rights of our people to be violated,” he said and warned the Taliban to take his words seriously, emphasizing the importance of Helmand River, which flows from Afghanistan into Iran .Raisi spoke in a Pakistani border town on Thursday, during his first official visit to the neighboring country in 10 years, to inaugurate the first of six markets along the Iran-Pakistan border. He also urged the Afghan Taliban to allow Iranian hydrologists to check the water levels of the river, which originates in the Afghan Hindu Kush mountain range.The Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 after the United Sates and NATO pulled out of the country followi...

Syrian president heads to Saudi Arabia for regional summit, sealing country’s return to Arab fold

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad headed to Saudi Arabia on Thursday to attend a regional summit, his first visit to the oil-rich kingdom since Syria’s conflict began in 2011, the president’s office said. Assad’s attendance at the Arab League summit, which starts Friday, is expected to seal Syria’s return to the Arab fold following a 12-year suspension and open a new chapter of relations after more than a decade of tensions. The 22-member league, which is convening in the Saudi city of Jeddah, recently reinstated Syria and is now poised to welcome Assad, a long-time regional pariah, back into the fold. The Syrian president was officially invited to attend the summit last week. During Syria’s civil war, Saudi Arabia had been a key backer of armed opposition groups attempting to overthrow Assad. However, in recent months, Riyadh has called for dialogue to end the conflict that has killed half a million people and displaced half of Syria’...

Deutsche Bank to pay $75 million to settle lawsuit from Epstein victims, lawyers say

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Deutsche Bank has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a lawsuit claiming that the German lender should have seen evidence of sex trafficking by Jeffrey Epstein when he was a client, according to lawyers for women who say they were abused by the late financier.A woman only identified as Jane Doe sued the bank in federal district court in New York and sought class-action status to represent other victims of Epstein. The lawsuit asserted that the bank knowingly benefitted from Epstein’s sex trafficking and “chose profit over following the law” to earn millions of dollars from the businessman.One of the law firms representing victims in the case, Edwards Pottinger, said it believed the sex-trafficking settlement is likely the largest with a bank in U.S. history.“This groundbreaking settlement is the culmination of two law firms conducting more than a decade-long investigation to hold one of Epstein’s financial banking partners responsible for the role it played in fa...

Australia to provide surveillance drones to Philippines amid South China Sea tensions

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 15:51:39 GMT

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Australia will provide surveillance drones and other high-tech gear to the Philippine coast guard and is considering whether to take part in joint patrols in the disputed South China Sea, Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Thursday.Wong, who held talks in Manila with her counterpart, Enrique Manalo, also thanked the Philippine government for its help in the discovery of a ship that sank during World War II in the northern Philippines, killing nearly a thousand Australians “in a very sad chapter in our history.”The United States and the Philippines, which are longtime treaty allies, have been holding talks on proposed joint naval patrols in the South China Sea, where China has fortified its vast territorial claims by transforming disputed reefs into missile-protected island bases and deploying Chinese coast guard and militia ships on constant patrols.Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei are also embroiled ...