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4 observations from the Chicago Cubs, including a mic’d up Cody Bellinger and the Christopher Morel conundrum

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

Riding a wave that has yet to crest, the Chicago Cubs swept the San Francisco Giants to solidify their spot in the wild-card chase while moving up on the Milwaukee Brewers.Every game matters, and every moment is magnified from here on out.Here are four observations from the Cubs scene.1. Talk-show debate“This is good,” Cody Bellinger said. “This is a lot going on. A lot going on.”Bellinger was mic’d up by Marquee Sports Network in the top of the third inning of Tuesday’s 11-8 Cubs win over the Giants. The wind was blowing out and Bellinger was playing center field and talking to Boog Sciambi and Joe Girardi on the broadcast.Then came a technology malfunction during a question from Taylor McGregor on his friendship with Joc Pederson. Bellinger said he couldn’t hear anything, just as Pederson launched a line shot toward him in center.“Right at ya,” Sciambi told Bellinger, who fielded the ball after it bounced near the base of the w...

Rescue efforts are underway for an American caver who fell ill while exploring a deep cave in Turkey

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish and international cave rescue experts are working to save an American speleologist trapped at a depth of more than 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) in a cave in southern Turkey after he became ill.Mark Dickey, 40, became sick during an international expedition in Morca cave in southern Turkey’s Taurus Mountains, within the Mersin province, according to the European Cave Rescue Association. He has gastrointestinal bleeding and has been unable to leave the cave on his own, the association said on its website.It described Dickey as “a highly trained caver and a cave rescuer himself” who is well known for his participation in many international expeditions. He is secretary of the association’s medical committee.Dickey was on an expedition mapping the 1,276-meter (4,186-feet) deep Morca cave system for the Anatolian Speleology Group Association (ASPEG) before becoming sick at around 1,000 meters deep, according to Yusuf Ogrenecek of the Speleological Federation of Turkey...

Severe flooding in Greece leaves at least 4 dead and 6 missing, villages cut off

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Widespread flooding in central Greece has left at least four people dead and six missing, with severe rainstorms turning streams into raging torrents, bursting dams, washing away roads and bridges, and hurling cars into the sea.Authorities deployed divers and swift water rescue specialists as residents in some villages took refuge on the roofs of their homes on Thursday to escape floodwaters that rose to more than 2 meters (6 feet). Flooding triggered by severe rainstorms also hit neighboring Bulgaria and Turkey, leaving a total of 15 people dead in the three countries.In Greece, helicopters, unable to fly earlier due to frequent lightning, began plucking people from flooded areas and winching them to safety on Thursday afternoon.At least three villages in central Greece were completely cut off by floodwaters, with residents dialing in to radio stations to report homes collapsing and to appeal for rescue.The body of one man who had been reported missing on Wedn...

G2 driver clocked at more than double speed limit on Hwy. 400

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

An Ontario driver is facing a stunt driving charge after getting nabbed at more than double the speed limit on a GTA highway.Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say officers clocked a G2 driver travelling 214 km/hr on Highway 400 south of King Road. The speed limit on that section of highway is 100 km/hr.In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, OPP say the 26-year-old driver had their vehicle impounded for two weeks and their driver’s license suspended for 30 days.The driver is also facing charges for stunt driving.Stunt driving actions in Ontario include driving more than 50 km/hr above the speed limit and driving more than 150 km/hr on any road, regardless of the speed limit.#AuroraOPP charged a 26 year-old G2 driver with #StuntDriving for going 214km/hr on Highway 400 south of King Rd. #14DayImpound, #30daylicenceSuspension, #insuranceratesgoingup.^mh pic.twitter.com/VU3q6hXyVb— OPP Highway Safety Division (@OPP_HSD) September 7, 2023

Former Sri Lankan president denies that suicide bombings were staged to enable his election

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday denied allegations in a British television program that Islamic State-inspired extremists were used to carry out suicide bomb attacks in 2019 to create insecurity in the country and help him win election later that year.“To claim that a group of Islamic extremists launched suicide attacks in order to make me president is absurd,” Rajapaksa said in a public statement, his first since being ousted from power in July last year.He said the documentary on Britain’s Channel 4 television was “mostly an anti-Rajapaksa tirade.”In the program broadcast Tuesday, Channel 4 interviewed a man who said he arranged a meeting between a local Islamic State-inspired extremist group, National Thowheed Jamath, and a top state intelligence official loyal to Rajapaksa to formulate a plot to create instability and enable Rajapaksa to win the presidential election. Rajapaksa, a former senior defense official, was seen...

US applications for unemployment benefits fall to lowest level in 7 months

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits last week fell to the lowest level in seven months with labor market seemingly resistent to the higher interest rates put in to place, in part to cool hiring. U.S. applications for jobless claims fell by 13,000 to 216,000 for the week ending Sept. 2, the Labor Department reported Thursday.The four-week moving average of claims, which smooths out some of the week-to-week volatility, fell by 8,500 to 229,250.Jobless claim applications are seen as representative of the number of layoffs in a given week.Overall, 1.68 million people were collecting unemployment benefits the week that ended August 26, about 40,000 fewer than the previous week.Matt Ott, The Associated Press

Stock market today: Wall Street futures, global markets decline on weak China export data

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

Wall Street is pointing toward a third straight day of losses and global markets are falling as well with more signs of an economic slowdown in China despite efforts by Beijing to turn it around. Futures for the S&P 500 slipped 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%. Nasdaq futures are off 0.8%.China said its exports fell 8.8% in August from a year earlier — a fourth straight monthly decline — while imports were down 7.3%. The declines were smaller than the double-digit drops in July, however, and were better than most forecasts. On Thursday, the U.S. releases data on weekly jobs numbers and an update on mortgage rates arrives midday. Toro, the lawnmower and snowblower maker, reports its latest financial results before the bell, while electronic signature company DocuSign reports after the bell.ChargePoint Holdings, the electric vehicle charging network, fell nearly 11% in premarket after it posted nearly double the loss Wall Street had projected.Artificial intel...

Precision Drilling to buy CWC Energy Services in deal valued at $141M

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

CALGARY — Precision Drilling Corp. has signed an agreement to acquire CWC Energy Services Corp. in a deal valued at about $141 million including shares, cash and assumed debt.Precision CEO Kevin Neveu says the deal expands the company’s service business in both Canada and the U.S. with high-quality rigs and field personnel. The acquisition will add 62 marketed service rigs and seven marketed drilling rigs in Canada as well as 11 marketed drilling rigs in the U.S., including seven AC triple rigs. Under the deal, which requires CWC shareholder and other approvals, Precision will pay a total of 947,909 Precision shares and about $14 million in cash while assuming CWC’s outstanding debt.The implied blended offer price works out to 19.7 cents per CWC share based on Precision’s closing price on Sept. 1.CWC shares closed at 20.5 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange on Wednesday.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 7, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:PD, TS...

Germany arrests 2 Syrians, one of them accused of war crimes related to a deadly attack in 2013

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Two Syrian men have been arrested in Germany on suspicion of membership in extremist groups, and one of them is suspected of involvement in a 2013 attack in eastern Syria in which more than 60 Shiite fighters and civilians were killed, prosecutors said Thursday.The suspects, identified only as Amer A. and Basel O. in line with German privacy rules, were arrested on Wednesday, the federal prosecutors’ office said. Both are accused of membership in a foreign terrorist organization — Liwa Jund al Rahman, or Brigade of the Soldiers of the Merciful God, an armed rebel group that prosecutors said Amer A. formed in February 2013 and led.Amer A. is also accused of committing war crimes by means of forced displacement and of membership in the Islamic State group.The war crimes charges relate to a June 2013 attack on Hatla, in Syria’s eastern Deir el-Zour province, that killed about 60 Shiite residents. At the time, the attack underlined the increasingly sectarian na...

Lainey Wilson leads the 2023 Country Music Award nominations for the second year in a row

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:34 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s another landmark year for breakout country superstar Lainey Wilson, who tops the CMA Awards nominations for the second year in a row.Wilson was a first-time nominee in 2022, which means she’s made history in 2023 — becoming the first and only artist to top the nominations list in her first two appearances on the ballot.Last year, she claimed six nominations. This year, Wilson is up to nine, for album, song, music video, entertainer and female vocalist of the year, as well as two separate nominations in both the single of the year category (for “Heart Like a Truck” and her contributions to HARDY’s “wait in the truck”) and the musical event of the year category (once again for “wait in the truck” and her feature on Jelly Roll ‘s “Save Me.”)She now ties Merle Haggard and Miranda Lambert for scoring nine nominations in one year — just behind Alan Jackson, who set the record at 10 nods in 2002.Wilson is followed by first-time nominee ...