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Column: With the Chicago Cubs in a heated race, every decision by manager David Ross is highly scrutinized

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

For a guy who participated in “Dancing With the Stars,” Chicago Cubs manager David Ross has no real feel for Hollywood endings.Making his major-league debut off the bench Monday night at Coors Field in Colorado, top prospect Pete Crow-Armstrong came to the plate with a runner on first and no outs in the ninth inning, after the Cubs had taken a one-run lead over the Rockies.Cubs fans, who could recall Willson Contreras and Christopher Morel homering in their first major-league at-bats, were hoping for some similar heroics from the most hyped rookie since Kris Bryant, hitting in the hitter-friendly ballpark.Then Crow-Armstrong laid down a sacrifice bunt. The Cubs failed to score an insurance run but escaped with a one-run win. Crow-Armstrong would have to wait another day to show us what the hype is all about. Ross presumably slept well.These final 17 games will be about whether the Cubs can avoid the agitating offensive shutdowns that have cropped up from time to time, in...

Floods Wipe Out Roads Rails and Homes in Leominster

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

Heavy rains opened Pleasant St. and bared the foundation of this house at the intersection of Colburn St. in Leominster. September 12, 2023 (Staff Photo Chris Christo/Boston Herald)Heavy rains opened Pleasant Street in Leominster. (Staff Photo Chris Christo/Boston Herald)Officials including Gov. Healey and Phillip Eng look over where heavy rains washed away the ground under MBTA tracks off Route 13 near Hamilton St. in Leominster. September 12, 2023 (Staff Photo Chris Christo/Boston Herald)Keolis workers measure MBTA tracks where heavy rains washed away the ground off Route 13 near Hamilton St. in Leominster. September 12, 2023 (Staff Photo Chris Christo/Boston Herald)Heavy rains washed out the ground under MBTA tracks and buried a property with earth and debris on Hamilton St. off Route 13 in Leominster. September 12, 2023 (Staff Photo Chris Christo/Boston Herald)Heavy rains washed out the ground under MBTA tracks and buried a property with earth and debris on Hamilton St. off Rou...

Fire that burned in a 9-story apartment building in Vietnam’s capital has killed at least 56 people

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A fire in a nine-story apartment building in Vietnam’s capital killed at least 56 people, including at least four children, while 37 more are being treated, state media reported citing the police.Of the 56 people confirmed dead, the police have identified 39 victims, the state-owned Viet Nam News said Wednesday evening.Initial reports about the death toll were unclear since the injured and dead were taken to different hospitals across the city. The fire started around midnight and was extinguished in the morning, rescue operations continued throughout the day.The police have detained the owner of the building as part of their investigation.State-owned national television channel VTV said four children were among those killed.The fire was believed to have started late Tuesday and rescuers struggled to reach the building on a narrow lane in south Hanoi. It wasn’t immediately clear how much of the building had burned.It was home to 150 residents, and 5...

Pakistani police arrest 3 people sought in death of 10-year-old girl near London, send them to UK

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Three people sought in connection with the death of a 10-year-old girl near London have been arrested in Pakistan and flown to Britain, police said Wednesday.Sara Sharif was found dead with extensive injuries at her home in Woking on the southern outskirts of London on Aug. 10. British police identified her father Urfan Sharif, his wife Beinash Batool, and his brother Faisal Malik as people they wanted to speak to in the investigation.The three flew to Pakistan on Aug. 9, with the couple going into hiding in central Pakistan and police launching a manhunt.Sialkot police spokesperson Khan Mudassir confirmed the arrests. He said the three were handed over to the Federal Investigation Agency, which flew them to Britain from Sialkot in eastern Punjab province. He gave no further details.An autopsy of the girl didn’t establish a cause of death but showed that she had suffered “multiple and extensive injuries, which are likely to have been caused over a sustained a...

Norwegian princess to marry American self-professed shaman

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — The Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Märtha Louise, will marry her Hollywood partner, the self-professed shaman Durek Verrett, next summer, the couple announced Wednesday.King Harald V said in a statement that his family was “delighted to welcome” Verret, who is from California and claims to be a sixth-generation shaman. The Norwegian princess can trace her ancestry back to Britain’s Queen Victoria.The couple, who toured the country in 2019 as “The Princess and The Shaman,” have created waves in Norway with their alternative beliefs.For the past several years, Märtha Louise, 51, has said she can talk with angels, while Verret, 48, claims that he communicates with a broad range of spirits, wields ancient medicine and has a medallion which helps ward off heavy energies, spells and darkness.The wedding will take place on Aug. 24 in Geiranger, prized for its typical Norwegian scenery among mountains and fjords. Geiranger is 265 kilometers (165 miles) nort...

What is USB-C, the charging socket that replaced Apple’s Lightning cable?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Bye, Lightning cable. Hello, USB-C. Apple is ditching its in-house iPhone charging plug and falling in line with the rest of the tech industry by adopting a more widely used connection standard. A big part of the reason is a European Union common charging rule that’s coming soon for the 27-nation bloc. Here’s a look at the USB-C plug and what it means for consumers: WHAT IS USB-C AND HOW CAN I TELL IT APART FROM OTHER PLUGS? The first part of the acronym stands for Universal Serial Bus, and it replaces earlier versions of the USB cables used on everything from printers and hard drives to computer mice and Kindle readers. The USB-C plug comes in a different shape than its predecessors — an elongated oval. It’s also symmetrical and reversible, which eliminates one of the common gripes about previous versions like the rectangular USB-A connectors because there’s no wrong way to plug it in. WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT USB-C? USB-C cables can carry more power so...

South Korean and Polish leaders visit an air base in eastern Poland, discuss defense and energy ties

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

MINSK MAZOWIECKI, Poland (AP) — South Korea’s prime minister was in Poland on Wednesday for talks on regional security amid the war in neighboring Ukraine, and also to discuss military and nuclear energy cooperation as his country continues to strengthen ties with Warsaw.Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, visited an air base in the town of Minsk Mazowiecki in eastern Poland, where they watched Korean FA-50 fighter jets that Poland recently bought along with other military equipment. They discussed further cooperation on military weapons and equipment, as Poland also wants to help produce South Korean weapons. South Korea is also to take part in Poland’s development of nuclear power.“We are united in defending (our) civilization and peace,” Morawiecki said after the talks, referring to Russia’s almost 19 months of war on Ukraine. “For that reason we have more and more of joint projects in the economy and in the defense ...

Escaped murderer Danelo Cavalcante has been arrested in Pennsylvania, officials say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — An escaped murderer was captured Wednesday after eluding hundreds of searchers for two weeks, bringing relief to anxious residents of southeastern Pennsylvania who endured sleepless nights as he hid in the woods, broke into suburban homes for food, changed his appearance, and fled under gunfire with a rifle pilfered from a garage, authorities said.Authorities used thermal imaging from aircraft to pinpoint a possible location and then used ground forces to capture escaped inmate Danelo Souza Cavalcante, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation, which played out over several hours.State police announced Cavalcante’s capture on social media on Wednesday, as the search entered its 14th day, and planned a news conference announcing details for 9:30 a.m. Aerial video footage from Fox 29 News showed a handcuffed man in a gravel lot and wearing a grey, long-sleeve shirt with law enforcement off...

Coal mine collapses in northern Turkey, killing 1 miner and injuring 3 others

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A section of a coal mine collapsed in northern Turkey on Wednesday, leaving one miner dead and injuring three others, officials said. There were 280 workers inside the Armutcuk coal mine near the town of Eregli in northern Zonguldak province but only four miners were working in the section that caved in, Gov. Osman Hacibektasoglu told NTV television. The cause of the collapse was not immediately known. Three of the miners were brought out with injuries and two of them were in critical condition in hospital, the governor said.Families rushed to the entrance of the coal mine for news of their loved ones, television footage showed.Turkey’s worst mine disaster was in 2014, when 301 miners died after a fire erupted inside a coal mine in the town of Soma, in the west of the country. Last year, an explosion in another coal mine in northern Turkey killed 41 people. The Associated Press

Stock market today: Wall Street churns a bit higher in early trading

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:38:56 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are churning slightly higher on Wall Street after a highly anticipated report showed inflation accelerated across the country last month, but not by much more than expected. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in early trading Wednesday. The Dow was up 119, and the Nasdaq composite was up 0.2%. The report said U.S. consumers paid prices last month that were 3.7% higher than a year earlier, up from July’s inflation rate of 3.2%. Much of the acceleration was because of higher fuel costs, which can swing very sharply and quickly. Underlying inflation trends still look to be pointing toward continued moderation.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.Wall Street pointed slightly lower early Wednesday ahead of a key report on U.S. inflation that could sway the Federal Reserve’s upcoming decision on interest rates. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1% lower before the bell, while the S&P 500 are essentially unchanged.Eco...