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Entering Year 3 as Chicago Cubs president, Jed Hoyer believes ‘we’re on the front edge of where we want to be’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

The Chicago Cubs faced a crossroads coming off the 2020 season.A third division title in a five-year span ended with a sweep in the National League Division Series and questions about the core of the roster. Jed Hoyer’s promotion to president of baseball operations in November 2020 to replace the resigning Theo Epstein put the direction of the organization in Hoyer’s hands. Now entering his third season leading the Cubs, Hoyer’s influence in shaping the big-league roster is apparent.Of the 47 players to appear in a game for the 2020 Cubs, only five remain on the 40-man roster: Ian Happ, Nico Hoerner, Patrick Wisdom, Kyle Hendricks and Adbert Alzolay. Four others — David Bote, Rowan Wick, Brad Wieck and Brailyn Marquez — are in the minor leagues.An offseason plan built around pitching and defense brought in Dansby Swanson, Cody Bellinger and Jameson Taillon, notably adding athletic defenders at premium positions. It reflects how Hoyer envisions building ...

Orioles CEO John Angelos again whiffs on self-imposed deadline to share club’s finances | ANALYSIS

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

First, it was “next week.” Then, it was “before spring training is over.” Now, Orioles CEO and Chairman John Angelos has self-imposed two deadlines to go over the team’s finances with Baltimore reporters and has twice failed to follow through.The Orioles played their final spring training game Monday, more than two months after Angelos initially told media members he would welcome them back to Camden Yards within the week to “show you the financials of the Orioles” and a month after he said he would instead hold that meeting before the team’s exhibition slate ended. An Orioles spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment from either the team or Angelos as to why the meeting has yet to take place.“When I say something — like I’m gonna sit down with you guys, explain the business from my perspective — I’m gonna do it,” Angelos said at the Orioles’ spring training complex in Febru...

Russia stops sharing nuclear forces information with US

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — A senior Russian diplomat said Wednesday that Moscow has suspended sharing information about its nuclear forces with the United States, including notices about missile tests.Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that Moscow has halted all information exchanges with Washington after previously suspending its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms pact with the U.S.Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended the New START treaty, charging that Russia can’t accept U.S. inspections of its nuclear sites under the agreement at a time when Washington and its NATO allies have openly declared Russia’s defeat in Ukraine as their goal.Moscow emphasized that it wasn’t withdrawing from the pact altogether and would continue to respect the caps on nuclear weapons. The Russian Foreign Ministry initially said Moscow would keep notifying the U.S. about planned test launches of its ballistic missiles.The Russ...

Dollarama reports $261.3M Q4 profit, raises quarterly dividend

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

MONTREAL — Dollarama Inc. raised its dividend as it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $261.3 million, up from $220.0 million a year earlier.The retailer says it will now pay a quarterly dividend of 7.08 cents per share, up from 5.53 cents per share.The increased payment to shareholders came as Dollarama says it earned 91 cents per diluted share for the 13-week period ended Jan. 29, up from 74 cents per diluted share a year earlier.Sales for the quarter totalled $1.47 billion, up from $1.22 billion in the same quarter last year.Dollarama says comparable-store sales grew 15.9 per cent as the number of transactions rose 14.1 per cent and the average transaction size increased 1.6 per cent.In its outlook for its 2024 financial year, the company says it expects 60 to 70 net new store openings and comparable store sales growth of 5.0 to 6.0 per cent. Dollarama says it expects gross margins of 43.5 to 44.5 per cent.This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 29, 2023.Comp...

South Africa manhunt for convicted killer who escaped prison

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South African police have launched a manhunt for convicted rapist and murderer Thabo Bester who escaped from a privately-run maximum security prison in the Free State province under bizarre circumstances.Bester, known as the “Facebook rapist,” was found guilty in 2012 of raping two women and killing one after luring them with the social media platform. In March last year officials reported that he had died in a fire in his cell at the Mangaung Correctional Center, near Bloemfontein. But now it appears Bester escaped from his cell amid the fire and has been living lavishly in Johannesburg’s posh Hyde Park suburb.According to information first revealed by the South African news outlet GroundUp and confirmed by the police, the body found burned in the cell was not Bester according to DNA results. Autopsy results have determined that the person found dead in the cell died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head before the fire.The fire appears to have bee...

Top EU official switches jobs as Qatar questions linger

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union transport official who accepted free flights and accommodation in Qatar has been transferred to another post at his own request, the European Commission said Wednesday, but it remains unclear whether the man is suspected of any wrongdoing.The head of the commission’s transport department, Henrik Hololei, traveled for free with Qatar Airways nine times between 2015 and 2021. Two flights were paid by Qatar; the others by lobby groups and conference organizers, according to online news outlet Politico.The trips were made when the department, known as DG MOVE, was involved in negotiating an EU-Qatar air transport agreement, which was signed on October 18, 2021. Hololei did not take part in the negotiations, but he did lead the department conducting them.The commission launched an investigation into whether his actions constituted a conflict of interest and the inquiry was still ongoing as of Wednesday. Top officials at the commission greenlight their...

Group: Oil tanker tied to US-traded firm receiving Iran oil

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An oil tanker owned by a major U.S.-traded transportation company appears to be taking on Iranian crude oil in a key Asian maritime strait in violation of American sanctions, an advocacy group alleges. The firm allegedly involved, Euronav, said Wednesday it will “take appropriate action when necessary.”Satellite photos and maritime tracking data analyzed by The Associated Press put the Belgian-flagged crude oil tanker Oceania just next to the Vietnamese-flagged tanker Abyss for a possible ship-to-ship transfer. The group United Against Nuclear Iran has warned the Oceania’s owner, the Antwerp-based Euronav, that it believes the Abyss took on Iranian crude oil in late February. The suspicion comes as Iran remains able to trade its crude oil at sea despite American sanctions snapping back into place after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018. Now nearly five y...

UN atomic watchdog chief returns to Ukraine nuclear plant

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

DNIPRO, Ukraine (AP) — The head of the U.N.’s atomic energy watchdog returned Wednesday to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, a day after saying a deal to protect Europe’s largest nuclear power facility from a catastrophic accident due to the war in Ukraine was “close.”International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi crossed the war’s front lines for a second time to reach the plant, which is located in a partially Russia-occupied part of Ukraine where combat has intensified. The IAEA, which is based in Vienna, Austria, has a rotating team permanently based at the plant. Grossi told The Associated Press in an interview Tuesday he feels it is his duty to ramp up talks between Kyiv and Moscow aimed at safeguarding the facility.He met Monday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and said he would “most probably” head to Moscow in the coming days. However, Zelenskyy said in a separate interview with the AP that he was less optimistic a deal was near. “...

Letters with powdered substance sent to Sweden’s counties

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Several county boards in Sweden received letters containing a powdered substance Wednesday, leading to the evacuation of employees in some places. At least two people were taken to hospitals, Swedish media said.Police in Jonkoping, a city 280 kilometers (174 miles) south of Stockholm, said no one was injured there after the arrival of ”a suspected dangerous object” — a letter with powder. “Because it cannot be ruled out that the powder is dangerous, we have been called in to check it more closely with the emergency services,” Katarina Rusin, a police spokesperson in southern Sweden told Swedish news agency TT.At least 18 of Sweden’s 21 counties received the letters, TT reported.Police said the contents were being analyzed. The Associated Press

Editorial Roundup: Mississippi

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 18:06:08 GMT

Columbus Dispatch. March 28, 2023. Editorial: A state up to the taskAs dawn broke Monday across a swath of destruction across central Mississippi, from Rolling Fork to Amory and continuing into Alabama, the sobering reality of what lies ahead was fixed in the minds of those who call these places home.Between Friday night, when tornadoes first touched down near Rolling Fork, and Monday, the politicians have come and gone, staying long enough to have their photos taken and make proclamations. These little towns aren’t likely to see hide nor hair of them again.By now, the curious gawkers have gone home, too, and the nation’s attention will turn to the next big event — the next storm, the next shooting — and the far less dramatic and less photogenic business of piecing together these little communities and towns will continue quietly. For days. For weeks. For months.There will be no official end to the recovery and perhaps no full recovery, in the sense that some of these places can onl...