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Column: Chicago White Sox need to follow the Cubs’ game plan and clean house for 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

The Chicago Cubs and White Sox have traded places since the finale of the 2021 City Series, when the Sox pummeled Kyle Hendricks in a 13-1 win at Guaranteed Rate Field for a three-game sweep.The ’21 Cubs, coming off their vaunted sell-off, went into that game on the South Side with a 6-20 record in August and the third-worst record in baseball since the All-Star break, ahead of only the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers. The Sox were 19 games over .500 with a 10-game lead in the American League Central.The future looked exceedingly bright for the Sox, while the Cubs were entering the rebuild that president Jed Hoyer wouldn’t call a rebuild.As Hendricks took the mound again Tuesday night at Wrigley Field, the Cubs were back in the hunt for a playoff spot for the first time in three years, while the Sox had the fourth-worst record in the game and were 14 1/2 games out of first, playing out the string after a mini sell-off of their own.Times flies whether you’re hav...

Japanese mountaineer dies and another is injured while climbing a never-scaled peak in Pakistan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Japanese mountaineer is presumed dead after he and his partner fell about 70 meters (230 feet) while climbing a never-scaled mountain in northern Pakistan, their tour operator and a mountaineering official said Wednesday. The second climber, also Japanese, was injured.The accident occurred Friday afternoon as the pair climbed a mountain in the Andaq Valley, part of northern Pakistan’s Gilgit-Baltistan region which is also home to K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, said Karakarom Tours Pakistan.The climbers, Shinji Tamura and Semba Takayasu, fell when they had reached an altitude of 5,380 meters (17,650 feet), the tour operator said in a statement. Takayasu later said that their rappelling point had broken and that they fell together. He said his partner “was heavily hit” and badly injured. Both climbers were hit by rocks and Tamura then slammed into a rock when he landed, said Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan.Tamura was ser...

Rescuers recover 33 bodies from a landslide at a Myanmar jade mine, with 3 people still missing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — The bodies of 33 people have been recovered from a landslide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar and rescuers are searching for at least three people believed to be missing, a rescue official said Wednesday.In the landslide on Sunday in Hpakant, the center of the world’s largest and most lucrative jade mining district, earth and debris from several mines slid about 300 meters (1,000 feet) down a cliff into a lake below, carrying more than 35 miners with it.About 150 rescuers using five small boats have recovered the bodies from the muddy lake in Manna village in Hpakant, a remote mountainous town in Kachin state about 950 kilometers (600 miles) north of Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, the leader of a local rescue team said. He said at least three people were feared missing.He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared arrest by the military-installed government.The corpses were covered with green plastic sheets and placed in a row on the bank of the lake as rela...

CMHC says annual pace of housing starts fell 10% in July

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the annual pace of housing starts in July fell 10 per cent compared with June when they posted their strongest showing so far this year.The national housing agency says the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts in July came in at 254,966 units compared with 283,498 in June.The annual pace of urban starts was down 11 per cent in July at 234,857, while the rate of multi-unit urban starts fell 12 per cent to 193,446 and the pace of single-detached urban starts dropped four per cent to 41,411.CMHC says the annual pace of starts in July in Vancouver fell 23 per cent, while Toronto dropped 29 per cent. Meanwhile, Montreal rose 12 per cent, Calgary gained 33 per cent and Edmonton added 6 per cent.The annual rate of rural starts was estimated at 20,109 for July.The six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts was 242,525 in July, up from 235,819 in June.This report by The Canadian Press ...

Germany’s Cabinet approves a plan to liberalize rules on cannabis possession and sale

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a plan to liberalize rules on cannabis, setting the scene for the European Union’s most populous member to decriminalize possession of limited amounts and allow members of “cannabis clubs” to buy the substance for recreational purposes. The legislation is billed as the first step in a two-part plan and still needs approval by parliament. But the government’s approval is a stride forward for a prominent reform project of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s socially liberal coalition, though significantly short of its original ambitions.The bill, which the government hopes will take effect at the end of this year, foresees legalizing possession of up to 25 grams (nearly 1 ounce) of cannabis for recreational purposes and allowing individuals to grow up to three plants on their own. German residents who are 18 and older would be allowed to join nonprofit “cannabis clubs” with a maximum 500 members each. The clubs would b...

NFI Group reports US$48.1M Q2 loss, ramping up production in second half of the year

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

WINNIPEG — NFI Group Inc. reported a loss of US$48.1 million in its latest quarter compared with a loss of US$56.0 million in the same quarter last year as it looks to ramp up production in the second half of the year.NFI chief executive Paul Soubry says the company expects some temporary inefficiencies as it looks to increase production, but it sees a path for significant margin growth in 2024 and 2025.The bus maker, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, says the loss amounted to 62 cents per share for the quarter ended July 2 compared with a loss of 73 cents per share a year earlier.Revenue for the quarter totalled US$659.6 million, up from US$398.0 million in the same quarter last year. On an adjusted basis, NFI says it lost 46 cents per share in its latest quarter compared with an adjusted loss of 64 cents per share a year earlier.In its guidance for its full year, NFI says it now expects revenue of US$2.6 billion to US$2.8 billion compared with earlier expectations for between...

Stock market today: Wall Street quiet ahead of more retail earnings, Fed minutes release

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

TOKYO — Wall Street trading is stable early Wednesday, a day after another economic red flag for China’s economy overshadowed more evidence that consumer spending in America, a dominant driver of the U.S. economy, remains very strong. Futures for the Dow Jones industrials and S&P 500 were essentially unchanged before the opening bell Wednesday.In a week heavy with retail sales data, the government reported Tuesday that Americans increased their purchases at retailers last month, a sign that solid consumer spending is still powering a resilient U.S. economy.Retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0.7% in July from June, and higher than a revised 0.3% increase the previous month. While economists pointed out that some of that spending got a jolt from events like Amazon’s annual sale, it was also the fourth consecutive month of increased spending. How long Americans can absorb elevated in inflation and rising interest rates is still a hotly contested subject. “This is ...

Section of Oshawa roadway closed following vehicle rollover

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

A portion of a roadway in Oshawa is closed following a two-vehicle collision on Wednesday morning.Durham Regional Police officers were called to the scene on Winchester Road near Highway 7 around 6:30 a.m.CityNews flew over the scene and saw a vehicle that was rolled over in the grassy area.Injuries are unknown at this time.Winchester Road is closed both ways between Thornton Road and Simcoe Street.There is heavy damage to both vehicles and reconstruction is underway.Road Closure – Oshawa – Winchester Rd is closed between Simcoe St and Thornton Rd for a motor vehicle accident. Please avoid the area, will update when reopened. Thank you.— Durham Regional Police (@DRPS) August 16, 2023

Muslim mob attacks 3 churches after accusing Christian man of desecrating Quran in eastern Pakistan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — A Muslim mob on Wednesday stormed a Christian locality in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, burning one church, damaging two others and demolishing the house of a man after accusing him of desecrating the pages of Islam’s holy book, police said.The attack happened in the district of Faisalabad in eastern Punjab province, local police chief Rizwan Khan said. He said the mob attacked the Christian colony after some of the Muslims living nearby accused a local Christian, Raja Amir, and his friend of desecrating pages of the Quran.Khan said the accusations angered Muslims who had begun gathering there, and the demonstrators then started attacking multiple churches before they were dispersed by police swinging batons. Authorities are trying to restore order with help from elders and clerics in the area of Jaranwala where the attack happened, he said. Police say they are registering cases against those who desecrated the Quran.He said all those Muslims who ...

Why does (most of) Canada suck at building transit?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:00:20 GMT

By now you might be familiar with the long, sad story of the Ottawa LRT—which just returned from being totally shut down for a month. But that project is far from the only large Canadian transit project to run into delays, mistakes, errors, sky-high budgets and everything else that can turn an ambitious idea into a headache.Reece Martin is a former transportation planner and the creator of the RM Transit YouTube channel and substack. He says that mistakes can often stem from a lack of institutional knowledge on how to properly build transit. “These are extremely complicated projects, and you want to get the details right, and when you don’t, you have an Ottawa LRT situation,” says Martin.So, why does it seem so difficult to get new transit built in Canada? Are we really awful at building this stuff, or do we just love to complain about our infrastructure?You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.