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Farm Report: Mayer bounces back after slow start at High-A

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

There’s been an increased focus on the Red Sox farm system.That’s to be expected when a team is underperforming, struggling, or rebuilding at the major league level; when the present isn’t fun, turn to the future.Entering the season the Red Sox farm ranked anywhere from 10th (Baseball America) to 23rd (Keith Law, The Athletic). On the bright side, BA ranked Boston in their top-10 for the first time in over half a decade; a significant jump from when they ranked dead last in 2019.On the other hand, Law wonders if there’s a “future MLB starter anywhere on their full-season rosters.” By his evaluation, Boston’s “group of position-player prospects is probably in the upper half of farm systems, but their group of pitching prospects is one of the weakest.”It’s worth noting that Brayan Bello exceeded his rookie eligibility last season and doesn’t factor into Law’s equation. Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez believes that Bello has Cy Young potential.Down on the farm, Marcelo Mayer is the organi...

Sudanese fleeing clashes flood port city, borders with Egypt

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Sudanese fleeing the fighting between rival generals in their capital flooded an already overwhelmed city on the Red Sea and Sudan’s northern borders with Egypt, as explosions and gunfire echoed Monday in Khartoum.Many exhausted Sudanese and foreigners arrived in Port Sudan, the country’s main seaport, joining thousands who have waited for days to be evacuated out of the chaos-stricken nation. Others have been driven in packed buses and trucks, seeking shelter in Egypt, Sudan’s northern neighbor.“Much of the capital has become empty,” said Abdalla al-Fatih, a Khartoum resident, “all (residents of) our street fled the war.”The fighting, now in its third week, has turned Khartoum and its neighboring city of Omdurman into a battlefield. Fierce clashes taking place inside residential neighborhoods that have become “ghost areas,” residents say. The conflict, which capped months of worsening tensions, pits the military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, against a rival p...

Hong Kong to slash elected seats in setback to democracy

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s leader on Tuesday stepped up a campaign to shut down further democratic challenges by unveiling plans to eliminate most directly elected seats on local district councils, the last major political representative bodies chosen by the public.Chief Executive John Lee said the proposed overhaul will reduce the proportion of directly elected seats in the municipal-level organization to about 20% — from some 90% currently. That is even lower than the level when these bodies were first set up in the 1980s, when Hong Kong was ruled by Britain. He said the rest of the 470 seats will be filled by government appointees, rural committee chairpersons and others elected by local committees that are staffed by many pro-establishment figures.The planned electoral changes are widely seen as part of Beijing’s increasing control over the former British colony, which was promised autonomy when it returned to China in 1997. Two years ago, Hong Kong already amended its e...

Media: Ugandan minister shot and killed by bodyguard

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

A bodyguard shot and killed a government minister in Uganda early Tuesday in an apparent private dispute, according to local media. The victim, Charles Engola, served in the government of President Yoweri Museveni as the junior minister in charge of labor. He was a retired army colonel. The attacker, who has not been publicly identified, then shot himself, according to state broadcaster UBC and others. The shooting took place inside Engola’s home in a suburb of the Ugandan capital, Kampala. Police detectives are now at the crime scene. The motive was not immediately clear, but the local press said there had been an apparent dispute over the guard’s wages. “Witnesses claim that the soldier was yelling that he had not been paid for a long time despite working for a minister,” the online newspaper NilePost reported. The incident is likely to send shockwaves in a country where other high-profile officials have been killed in gun attacks over the years. In 2021, a former army...

Australian government cracks down on smoking and vaping

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s tobacco tax will be increased by billions of dollars over the next four years as the government cracks down on smoking and vaping.Recreational vaping will be banned as the government seeks to prevent the next generation from becoming addicted to nicotine, Health Minister Mark Butler said Tuesday.The tobacco tax would be raised by 5% a year starting from September, Butler said — a total increase of 3.3 billion Australian dollars ($2.2 billion) over four years. This follows an AU$234-million ($157-million) boost for tougher regulation of e-cigarettes, including new controls on their importation and packaging.The government will work with the states and territories to shut down the sale of vapes in retail and convenience stores and make it easier to get a prescription for therapeutic use.To tackle the growing black market, the government will increase the product standards for vapes, including by restricting flavors and colors. It will require pha...

Albanian charged with supporting terror attacks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian law enforcement authorities on Tuesday charged an Albanian man with supporting terror attacks in Western Europe on social media.A statement from the special prosecutor’s office against corruption and organized crime accused Bledar Zeneli of promoting and urging terror attacks, falsifying documents and weapon possession.If convicted, he faces up to 17 years in prison.Using a false profile on Facebook Zeneli and other people, who have yet to be identified, supported terror attacks in Nice, France, and Vienna in October and November 2020 “and other terror attacks and radical actions from extremist persons,” according to prosecutors.About two-thirds of Albania’s 2.8 million people are Muslims. A decade ago hundreds of them joined radical groups in Syria and Iraq, although the mainstream religious leaders urged believers not to become members.No Albanians have joined extremist groups in Syria and Iraq in the last seven to eight years, authorities say. The ...

In The News for May 2 : Farewell to “rare talent” Gordon Lightfoot

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

In The News is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to kickstart your day. Here is what’s on the radar of our editors for the morning of May 2 …What we are watching in Canada …Gordon Lightfoot, the legendary folk musician whose silvery refrains told a tale of Canadian identity that was exported to listeners worldwide, has died at 84.The singer-songwriter died of natural causes at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto on Monday evening, said Victoria Lord, the musician’s longtime publicist and a representative for the family. He had suffered numerous health issues in recent decades.Considered one of the most renowned voices to emerge from Toronto’s Yorkville folk club scene in the 1960s, Lightfoot went on to record no less than 20 studio albums and pen hundreds of songs, including “Early Morning Rain,” “Carefree Highway” and “Sundown.”“We have lost one of our greatest singer-songwriters,” tweeted ...

Canadian broadcasters ramp up coronation coverage ahead of main event Saturday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

TORONTO — Canada’s major networks have kicked off a week of coronation coverage leading to Saturday’s historic crowning of King Charles III and Queen Consort, Camilla.CBC’s flagship newscast “The National” and “CTV National News” are each broadcasting live from London all week, while “Global National” heads overseas Thursday, Saturday and Sunday.In-depth coverage of the coronation at Westminster Abbey will begin in the wee hours Saturday for much of the country, and is set to feature Lisa LaFlamme on Citytv, Adrienne Arsenault on CBC, Dawna Friesen on Global and Omar Sachedina on CTV.Live coverage of Saturday’s main event begins at 4 a.m. ET on channels including Citytv, CBC TV, CBC News Network, CTV, CP24 and CTV News Channel. Global starts its live coverage at 5 a.m. ET.Streaming coverage also begins at 4 a.m. ET through digital options including CBC Gem, CBC News Explore, CBC Listen, CTVNews.ca and the CTV and CTV News apps. Coverage on Globalnews.ca starts at 5 a.m. ...

Tom Cochrane, Steven Page recall Gordon Lightfoot’s influence on Canadian music

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

TORONTO — Gordon Lightfoot left a lasting impression on music fans and some Canadian musicians say his influence on the country’s collective identity is immeasurable.Rock singer Tom Cochrane described Lightfoot, who died Monday at 84 years old, as a personal friend and inspiration who proved himself as one of Canada’s “seminal cultural artists” while being “a heck of a nice guy” all the while.Cochrane twice honoured the “If You Could Read My Mind” and “Sundown” singer-songwriter for his musical contributions – the first time was when he inducted Lightfoot into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003.At that ceremony, he compared Lightfoot to one of the Group of Seven artists, a compliment Cochrane says resonated with the folk musician who “saw himself genuinely as the cultural embodiment of who we are as a nation.”A representative for Lightfoot’s family says he died of natural causes at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. He had suffered numerous heal...

Fishers crabby over Japan’s Russian imports, but Tokyo says Canada exports negligible

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:34:22 GMT

OTTAWA — Atlantic fishers are feeling the pinch as Japan brings in cheap Russian product rather than Canadian snow crabs, with federal ministers and provincial premiers saying they are raising the issue with Japanese officials.But Tokyo is pushing back on claims that its trade decisions are undermining G7 sanctions — or that they are having much of an effect on the Canadian industry.Snow crab prices have dropped in Newfoundland and Labrador from $7.60 per pound at the start of last year’s season to an opening price of $2.20 this year. Fishers in the province have refused to start harvesting this year as they scramble to sell off last year’s surplus, although the price could still rise.Analysts say crab is a lucrative species for Atlantic Canada, and it was the country’s second-largest seafood export in 2021. Market prices hit record highs during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but began plummeting last year.The United States blocked sales from Russia to punish t...