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Chicago Bears Q&A: Has the time come to add an edge rusher? What young players are standing out at OTAs?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

The Chicago Bears are finishing their second week of organized team activities at Halas Hall. Despite their offseason additions, they still have some roster deficiencies. Brad Biggs addresses concerns in his weekly mailbag.It’s June 1. Do you think the Bears will be active this week or next for edge help? — @just_acyJust because the Bears have not added a defensive end with a track record does not mean general manager Ryan Poles and his staff have not been working on this initiative. I expect the team to add a veteran edge defender at some point.“We’re interested in a lot of free agents,” coach Matt Eberflus said Wednesday when asked if he would like to get some help at the position. “We’re interested in a lot of guys at all positions. We’re just excited about being able to look at those guys and potentially add as we go through camp and getting closer to the season.”Does this mean something will happen this week or next? Maybe. ...

Spanish Catholic bishops find evidence of 728 sexual abusers, 927 victims since 1945

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Catholic bishops’ conference says it has found evidence of 728 sexual abusers within the church since 1945, through the testimony of 927 victims, in its first public report on the issue.The church said 83% of the victims and 99% of the abusers were male and that more than 60% of the offenders were dead. In a report presented Thursday, more than 50% of offenders were said to be priests. The rest were other church officials.The church said that most cases occurred in the last century, 75% of them before 1990.The conference said the collection of testimonies was continuing and the figure would be updated periodically. The data was collected in some 200 offices for the protection of minors, set up by the church around Spain in 2019.Leading daily El País, which has been reporting constantly on cases in Spain and abroad, said Friday the real figures of abuses within the church were likely to be much higher, as the church report only referred to cases recorded since 2...

Light rain arrives in Nova Scotia as two major wildfires burn out of control

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

HALIFAX — Scattered showers are moving across parts of Nova Scotia this morning, providing some relief to a province still struggling with its worst wildfire season on record.The forecast is calling for steady rain tonight and into Saturday, but two major wildfires continue to burn out of control — one northwest of downtown Halifax and another larger fire in the southwestern corner of the province.As of today, more that 21,000 people have been forced to leave their homes by evacuation orders — 16,000 in suburban Halifax and 6,700 in Shelburne County, which is about half of the municipality’s population.By Thursday night, 50 per cent of the Halifax-area fire had been contained, but the Barrington Lake fire continued to grow, reaching 200 square kilometres — the largest recorded wildfire in the province’s history.About 200 structures, including 151 homes, have been destroyed in the Halifax area, and another 50 homes and cottages have been consumed by the Barrington Lake fi...

From Jordan, Jill Biden arrives in Cairo as part of Mideast tour aiming to empower women, youth

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

CAIRO (AP) — Jill Biden arrived in Cairo on Friday, on the second leg of her six-day trip across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe that seeks to empower women and promote education for young people.The first lady arrived in the Egyptian capital from Amman, Jordan, where she attended the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Saudi architect Rajwa Alsei f on Thursday. She is traveling to Morocco on Saturday before heading to Portugal, the final stop of her tour, on Monday. The nuptials in Jordan drew a star-studded list — headlined by Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate — but also held deep significance for the region, emphasizing continuity in an Arab state prized for its longstanding stability. Egypt is one of the largest recipients in the Mideast of American economic and military aid and a longstanding U.S. ally. However, in recent years, U.S. lawmakers have sought to condition that aid on human rights improvements and reforms.Biden was greeted on the tarmac by Entissar...

UN warns of aid shortage, looming food crisis in wake of devastating cyclone that hit Myanmar

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The United Nations warned Friday that far too little aid is reaching cyclone-hit areas of Myanmar and the country could face a major food crisis soon if farmers are unable to plant crops.Cyclone Mocha struck the western state of Rakhine and nearby regions last month, killing hundreds of people and damaging thousands of dwellings. “The devastation is truly immense,” said Titon Mitra, a U.N. representative in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city. Strong winds “twisted telecom towers, snapped concrete poles in half and uprooted even 100-year-old trees,” he said.An estimated 700,000 homes have been damaged and rains, combined with storm surges, have wreaked havoc on the agricultural and fisheries sector, according to the U.N. Among those hardest hit are members of the Rohingya minority who have been living in crowded displacement camps since losing their homes in a brutal 2017 counterinsurgency campaign led by Myanmar security forces. Adding to this the U.N. is concerned a...

Young Kabuki actor’s debut breaks Japanese theater traditions

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

TOKYO (AP) — Ten-year-old Maholo Terajima Ghnassia loves watching anime and playing baseball. He likes making beats and whisper ASMR. And he’s breaking conventions in Japan’s 420-year-old Kabuki theater tradition.In Kabuki, all the roles are played by men, including beautiful princesses — a role Maholo accomplishes stunningly in his official stage debut as Maholo Onoe at the Kabuki Theater in downtown Tokyo. In the performance, which ran May 2 through 27 to full audiences, he starts out disguised as a woman, dancing gracefully, before transforming into sword-wielding warrior Iwami Jutaro. He then makes a quick costume change right there on the stage, all while delivering singsong lines in a clear resonating voice unaided by a microphone. Out to avenge his father’s death, striking spectacular poses, Maholo performs swashbuckling fight scenes and slays a furry baboon. “I like ‘tachimawari’ (fight scenes). It feels good, and people who are watching it think it’s cool,” said...

14-year-old killed, 4 wounded after shooting involving police on South Side; 1 in custody

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

CHICAGO — A 14-year-old boy was killed in a shooting that left four others wounded, including the alleged suspect on the city's South Side. Three police officers were also injured and hospitalized for observation.According to a preliminary police statement, a group of offenders with guns fired shots towards another group in the 4200 block of South Wells around 8:20 p.m. Thursday.Police officers responding to a ShotSpotter alert at the location and found multiple wounded people on the ground and a man with a gun. According to police, the armed man fired shots in the direction of the officers.Police said an officer returned fire and the man fled the scene. He was caught and taken into custody a short time later. The man had a gunshot wound to the leg but it is unclear at this time how he was shot.A 14-year-old was killed and four others, including the alleged suspect, were injured.A 14-year-old boy was shot in the chest and was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center w...

Friday Forecast: Temps in low 90s with isolated showers and storms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

Friday: Mostly sunny, isolated shower/storm, ENE 5-10. High: 91, Low: 85Friday Night: Mostly clear, NE 5-10. 65Chicago Weather | Tom Skilling and the WGN Weather Center's Forecast (wgntv.com)Saturday: Mostly sunny, NE 5-10 G15. High: 88, Low: 82

Nearly 1 in 10 adults around the globe identify as LGBTQ: survey

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

(The Hill) -- About 9 percent of adults from around the world identify themselves as LGBTQ, according to a global survey released Thursday.  The survey conducted by Ipsos found that 3 percent of those around the world identify themselves as lesbian or gay, 4 percent as bisexual, 0.9 percent as pansexual and 0.9 percent as asexual. The survey noted that those in Generation Z — people born after 1997 — were more than twice as likely to identify as bisexual, pansexual or asexual than millennials and more than four times as likely than those in Generation X and baby boomers.  Across 30 different countries surveyed, those identifying as LGBTQ range from 4 percent in Peru to 15 percent in Brazil. About 9 percent of survey respondents in the United States identified as LGBTQ, a 1 percent drop since 2021.  Spain is the country with the highest share of those saying they are gay or lesbian at 6 percent, and Brazil and the Netherlands were most likely to say they are bisexual at 7 p...

Parents concerned about intersection near northeast Austin school

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 20:40:45 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Aisha Milburn lives just a short distance from where her two children go to elementary school. It's a five minute walk to Bluebonnet Trail Elementary, but you will never see her two kids walking to school. That's because Milburn believes the intersection that separates her neighborhood from the school is extremely unsafe. "It's extremely worrisome. I can't even consider it," Milburn said. What's wrong with the intersection?Less than half a mile from Bluebonnet Trail Elementary is the intersection of Farmhaven Road and Harris Branch Parkway, a four-way stop that sees heavy amounts of traffic. Milburn said drivers will speed in the school zone, run stop signs, and fail to see pedestrians in the crosswalk. Even during an interview with KXAN, there were three close calls where drivers had to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision. "There have been many times where people just blow through and realize somebody is coming on Farmhaven and slam to a stop," Milburn explaine...