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Column: The MLB postseason faces a Swiftian ratings challenge — going head to head vs. new NFL icon Taylor Swift

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

October always has been synonymous with baseball.The former national pastime televises its postseason games for four weeks on various networks, culminating in the World Series that now creeps into November. It’s the dessert fans have been waiting for all season, and by adding a third wild-card team to each league in 2022 and making that round best of three instead of single elimination, MLB hopes for more drama and many more eyeballs.But baseball soon could face a challenge unlike any other in modern TV sports history.Going head to head against NFL games almost always has been a losing proposition for the postseason schedule makers who decide which games go into afternoon or prime-time slots.The Taylor Swift phenomenon only adds to baseball’s ratings anxiety.Swift’s performance on Sept. 24, jumping up and down in a super suite while cheering on her new beau, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, helped Fox’s ratings zoom for the Chiefs blowout of the...

Tropical Storm Philippe pelts northeast Caribbean with heavy rains and forces schools to close

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Tropical storm Philippe dropped heavy rains in the northeast Caribbean on Tuesday, forcing governments to close schools in the region as forecasters warned of flash flooding.The storm was located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northwest of Anguilla on Tuesday morning and had winds of up to 50 mph (85 kph). It was moving northwest at 10 mph (17 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.A tropical storm warning was still in effect for Barbuda and Anguilla after Philippe made landfall in Barbuda late Monday. A tropical storm watch was in effect for the British Virgin Islands. Forecasters warned that the strongest winds and rains would be felt by islands located south of the storm’s center as Philippe moves north of the Leeward Islands on Tuesday.Officials in the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda closed schools and government offices, while those in the French Caribbean territories of St. Martin and St. Barts closed schools.Mean...

Michigan school shooter’s parents cleared to stand trial on involuntary manslaughter charges

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

DETROIT (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court turned down an appeal Tuesday, clearing the way for the parents of a teenager who killed four fellow students in a shooting at Oxford High School to face trial on involuntary manslaughter charges.James and Jennifer Crumbley are accused of making a gun available to Ethan Crumbley and ignoring his mental health needs.The state appeals court in March said the couple could face trial, and the Supreme Court said it would let that decision stand.The shooter killed Madisyn Baldwin, Tate Myre, Hana St. Juliana and Justin Shilling at Oxford High, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) north of Detroit, in November 2021. Six students and a teacher were also wounded.Ethan Crumbley pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder. A judge last week said he is eligible for life in prison without parole.Attorneys for the parents insist the school shooting was not foreseeable. They acknowledge that bad decisions were made but not ones that should rise to charges of involunt...

Frequent price increases by businesses contributing to sticky inflation: BoC official

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

MONTREAL — Bank of Canada deputy governor Nicolas Vincent says businesses are still raising their prices more frequently than they did before the pandemic, which is contributing to higher-than-expected inflation.Vincent made the comments Tuesday in his first speech as deputy governor to the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal.According to his prepared remarks, the deputy governor says price increases have been larger than normal and more frequent than before the pandemic – a trend that has persisted.“We believe that this behaviour by firms – both here and abroad – is intimately linked to the stronger-than-expected inflation we’ve seen,” Vincent said.Although he notes pricing behaviour by firms has been shifting closer to normal since the beginning of the year, that progress has been slow.Corporate profits have drawn a lot of attention post-pandemic, as some people have questioned the fairness of rising profits during a period of high inflation.The NDP has been e...

Swiss LGBTQ+ rights groups hail 60-day sentence for polemicist who called journalist a ‘fat lesbian’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

GENEVA (AP) — LGBTQ+ groups hailed the 60-day jail sentence a court in Switzerland gave to a writer and commentator for deriding a journalist as a “fat lesbian” and other critical remarks.The Laussane court sentenced French-Swiss polemicist Alain Bonnet, who goes by Alain Soral, for the crimes of defamation, discrimination and incitement to hatred on Monday. He was ordered to pay legal fees and fines totaling thousands of Swiss francs (dollars) in addition to the time behind bars. Soral lashed out at Catherine Macherel, a journalist for Swiss newspapers Tribune de Geneve and 24 Heures, in a Facebook video two years ago. He called her a “fat lesbian” and said Macherel’s work as a “queer activist” meant she was “unhinged,” according to Swiss public broadcaster RTS. “This court decision is an important moment for justice and rights of LGBTQI people in Switzerland,” Murial Waeger, co-director of the lesbian activist group LOS, said in a statement. “The conviction of Al...

A deal to expedite grain exports has been reached between Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania have agreed on a plan they hope will help expedite Ukrainian grain exports, officials said Tuesday, with needy countries beyond Europe potentially benefitting from speedier procedures.The deal means that grain inspections will shift from the Ukraine-Poland border to a Lithuanian port on the Baltic Sea, according to a statement from the Ukrainian farm ministry.The move seeks to facilitate the transit of Ukrainian exports through Polish territory, the statement said, without providing further details.From the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda, where the inspections for pests and plant diseases will take place from Wednesday, the grain can be exported by sea around the world.While the stated goal is to hasten Ukrainian grain exports, the agreement may also help defuse tensions over grain prices between Ukraine and Poland a time when some international support for Kyiv’s efforts to throw back Russia’s invasion may be fraying.Agric...

UK court says the government’s routine housing of unaccompanied child migrants in hotels is unlawful

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s government acted unlawfully when it routinely housed newly arrived unaccompanied child asylum seekers in hotels, the High Court ruled on Thursday. A child protection charity brought legal action against Britain’s Home Office and local authorities in Kent, on England’s southern coast, over their treatment of unaccompanied migrant children, saying the temporary housing arrangements deny the youngsters the statutory child protection safeguards to which they are entitled. Justice Martin Chamberlain ruled that authorities breached legal duties of care owed to all children who require looking after, irrespective of their immigration status. “Ensuring the safety and welfare of children with no adult to look after them is among the most fundamental duties of any civilized state,” the judge said. Every Child Protected Against Trafficking, the charity that brought the lawsuit, said hundreds of children who arrived alone had gone missing, with ma...

Stock market today: Unrelenting rise in Treasury yields drags Wall Street lower

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

BANGKOK — Wall Street turned lower early Tuesday as pressure from rising bond yields continued to undercut stocks.Futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.5% before the bell Tuesday, while the Dow Jones industrials dipped 0.4%.After a sizzling first half of 2023, stocks have shed about 40% of their gains since the end of July amid growing acceptance that interest rates will remain elevated for longer than previously thought as the Federal Reserve tries to trim inflation to its 2% target.That in turn has pushed Treasury yields to their highest levels in more than 16 years.The yield on the 10-year Treasury continued its ascent early Tuesday, climbing to 4.74% from 4.69% late Monday. It’s near its highest level since 2007. High yields send investors toward bonds that are paying much more than in the past, which pulls dollars away from stocks and undercuts their prices. The yield on the 2-year Treasury inched up to 5.12% from 5.11% late Monday. Any relief rally from a compromise spendin...

Police say suspect slapped and threw rocks at someone in downtown Toronto

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

Police are looking for a man who they say assaulted someone in downtown Toronto over the weekend.Officers were called to the area of Yonge and Dundas streets around 5:45 p.m. on Saturday for reports of an assault.It is alleged a suspect threatened someone and then threw rocks at them. The suspect then allegedly went on to slap the victim before running from the area.Police have identified the suspect as 20-year-old Tibor Orgona of Toronto. He is wanted for uttering threats, assault and assault with a weapon.Anyone with information is asked to contact Toronto police.

A government shutdown in Nigeria has been averted after unions suspended a labor strike

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:38:54 GMT

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian government workers on Tuesday continued working after last-minute efforts by authorities averted a nationwide strike to protest growing hardship that could have shut down government services in Africa’s most populous country.The indefinite strike by Nigerian labor unions scheduled to start Tuesday is being suspended for 30 days, while meetings and talks with the government will be held over the coming days, said Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, or NLC, which is the umbrella body of the unions.A joint statement issued late Monday by senior government officials and the leadership of the labor unions noted several resolutions including a monthly wage increase of 35,000 naira ($46) for all workers, payment of 25,000 naira ($33) for three months to 15 million vulnerable households as well as the provision of 100 billion naira (nearly $130 million) for gas-powered buses to be rolled out for mass transit in Nigeria starting from Nov...