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A peculiar loss brings more concern — but a little optimism too: Brad Biggs’ 10 thoughts on the Chicago Bears

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

10 thoughts after the Chicago Bears’ peculiar 24-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome, with reasons for concern — and a little optimism as well.It’s really difficult to turn the ball over five times, not get a single takeaway and wind up with not one, not two, not three, not four but five fourth-quarter possessions with an opportunity to go ahead or tie.1. Usually when you wind up minus-5 in turnovers, the game is a total blowout.Turn off the television in the third quarter, head outside and rake leaves this time of year. That’s typically been the case for the Bears, who last committed five giveaways in the 38-3 loss at Tampa Bay back in Week 7 of the 2021 season. As you might recall, they trailed 35-3 at halftime in a complete blowout at Raymond James Stadium. The Bears did manage a takeaway so they were only minus-4 that day against the Bucs. The last time they were minus-5, as they were Sunday, was a 41-21 loss to Washington...

Moldova’s pro-Western government hails elections despite mayoral losses in capital and key cities

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — Moldova’s ruling pro-European party has lost a bid for the mayorship of the country’s capital and other key cities despite victories in many areas in local elections that were overshadowed by accusations that Russia was meddling to undermine the vote, according to preliminary results. Lilian Carp of the Party of Action and Solidarity, or PAS, lost out to incumbent Chisinau mayor, Ion Ceban, who won just over 50% of the capital’s vote, according to the Central Electoral Commission. Before Ceban set up a pro-European party last year, he was widely considered to hold a pro-Russian stance, and many believe he still does. In recent years, Moldova has looked to foster closer ties with its Western partners and was granted EU candidate status in June last year.Sunday’s elections in the country of about 2.5 million people, situated between Romania and Ukraine, were under the spotlight because of ongoing accusations by Moldovan authorities that Russia was meddling to ...

Brookfield Asset Management Q3 profit up from year ago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

TORONTO — Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. says it earned US$122 million in its latest quarter from its stake in the asset management business it owns with Brookfield Corp.The company, which owns a 25 per cent stake in the asset management business that is 75 per cent owned by Brookfield Corp., says the profit in U.S. dollars amounted to 31 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Sept. 30.The asset management business, Brookfield Asset Management, was spun off from Brookfield Corp. in December last year. The full asset management business, which keeps its results in U.S. dollars, earned US$494 million in its third quarter, up from US$395 million a year earlier.Distributable earnings for the quarter amounted to US$568 million, up from U$524 million in the same quarter last year.Brookfield Asset Management president Connor Teskey says the company has raised $61 billion of capital year-to-date including $26 billion in the third quarter. This report by The Canadian Press was first...

Pakistan steps up security at military and other sensitive installations after attack on an air base

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani authorities have stepped up security at military and other sensitive installations following the weekend attack by militants on an air base that damaged three grounded aircraft and destroyed a fuel tanker, security officials said Monday.A recently formed group, Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan, has claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack in Mianwali, a city in eastern Punjab province, where police have repulsed multiple attacks by another group, the Pakistani Taliban, in recent months.Tehreek-e-Jihad Pakistan emerged earlier this year and has claimed multiple attacks, including the July 12 one on a security post in southwest Pakistan in which nine soldiers and a female passerby were killed.The military asserted that Saturday’s attack at the Mianwali Training Air Base was largely thwarted because of a “swift and effective response” from security forces.Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press, taken Saturday hours after the attack, show on...

Ontario to consult on banning NDAs in cases of workplace harassment, misconduct

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

Ontario is considering banning the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of workplace sexual harassment, misconduct or violence.Labour Minister David Piccini is set to announce consultations on the issue today, as he discusses his ministry’s next piece of legislation.Piccini says that non-disclosure agreements should never be used to silence victims or to sidestep accountability.Ontario has previously banned the use of NDAs in sexual misconduct cases among post-secondary employees who are looking for work at a different institution.Members of the Canadian Bar Association voted in favour of discouraging the use of non-disclosure agreements in cases of abuse and harassment.The government says seven in 10 workers have reported experiencing a form of harassment or violence in their workplace, with the rates even higher for women and gender-diverse people.“We want to hear from Ontarians and (our) consultations will work with the legal community, survivors, employers to id...

Man in Hamburg airport hostage drama used a rental car and had no weapons permit

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — A man who drove onto the tarmac at Hamburg Airport with his 4-year-old daughter, starting an 18-hour standoff with police that ended with his arrest, was using a rental car and lacked a weapons permit, authorities said Monday.Operations at the airport returned to normal on Monday after the lengthy closure caused by the hostage situation, and the airport operator signaled that it would strengthen security.The 35-year-old Turkish citizen broke through an airport gate on Saturday evening, fired into the air and threw two incendiary devices out of the car, according to witnesses, before parking the vehicle under a plane just outside a terminal building. He had reportedly taken his daughter from her mother in Stade, some 52 kilometers (32 miles) from Hamburg, in an ongoing custody battle, and was already under investigation for allegedly kidnapping his daughter and taking her to Turkey without authorization last year.Stade police spokesperson Rainer Bohmbach said that the v...

Ethiopia says disputed western Tigray will be settled in a referendum and displaced people returned

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Ethiopia’s federal government says the future of contested land in its northern Tigray region will be settled by a referendum, and hundreds of thousands of forcibly displaced people will be returned. Monday’s announcement came one year after a cease-fire ended a devastating civil war there.The disputed status of western Tigray, a patch of fertile land bordering Sudan, was a key flashpoint in the two-year conflict between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, and the federal government.Western Tigray belongs to Tigray under Ethiopia’s constitution. But it was occupied by forces from neighboring Amhara province, which claims the area as its own. Hundreds of thousands of Tigrayans were forcibly expelled, prompting accusations of ethnic cleansing.In a statement to mark the anniversary of the cease-fire, the government said the displaced people would be returned and the federal military would assume responsibility for local security.A referendu...

This holiday season, the mean ol’ Grinch gets a comedy podcast series hosted by James Austin Johnson

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — What would the mean ol’ Grinch be doing in 2023? Would that Christmas sad sack be hosting a cooking show on TikTok? Writing long essays for Substack? No, you know what he’d be doing — a podcast.“The Grinch Holiday Talk Show” arrives this holiday season with James Austin Johnson of “Saturday Night Live” fame voicing the Grinch and a new celebrity guest on every episode.“This is a celebration of great Christmas mischief,” says Johnson during a recent break from taping the show in Brooklyn. “I think he is a curmudgeon and he’s grumpy and he just needs a nap and a bottle.”The 30-minute podcasts — a production of Dr. Seuss Enterprises and Wondery — hopes to be something that both adults and children can enjoy, like during that 30-minute commute to skating lessons or while baking a pie.“Hopefully kids hear stuff that’s funny to them. Hopefully the parents hear stuff that’s funny to them and everybody’s having a good time listening to it together,” says Johnson.Guests...

Double shooting in Toronto’s east end leaves two males with serious injuries

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

An overnight double shooting in Toronto’s east end has sent two men to hospital with serious injuries.Police say the shooting happened outside near Danforth and Greenwood avenues around 12:15 a.m. Monday.Two male victims made their own way to hospital before emergency crews arrived at the scene. Both victims have serious but non-life threatening injuries.No suspect information has been made available.The investigation is ongoing.

Kimberly Palmer: 5 strategies for navigating today’s digital tipping culture

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:07:01 GMT

The nearly universal experience of finding yourself face-to-face with a checkout counter screen asking you to select an amount to tip for service can prompt a cascade of awkward questions: How much should you tip on a $5 coffee if anything? How can you decide before the cup has even been poured? Is it rude to select “no tip,” then slink away with your drink?The answers to those questions vary depending on whom you ask, but tipping experts agree on one thing: We get prompted to tip much more frequently these days, largely because of the explosion of cashless payment methods with automated tipping options. Another thing they agree on: You don’t always have to say “yes.”“During the pandemic and post-pandemic, we’ve seen a dramatic shift in the way tips are given. Suddenly, you see tablets where you are prompted to give specific tip amounts at points of purchase where never before would anyone have dreamed of giving a tip,” says Thomas Farley, also known as “Mister Manners,” a New York-...