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5 storylines to watch as the Chicago Bears begin OTAs today, including rookie Darnell Wright’s development

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

The Chicago Bears begin organized team activities this week with a revamped roster at several positions.Many of the old and new players have been around Halas Hall for the offseason program, but their training will kick up a notch with nine OTA sessions over the next three weeks followed by veteran minicamp June 13-15.Here are five storylines for the Bears as they enter the next phase of their offseason program.1. Offensive line shake-upThe only offensive line starter to stay in his place from last season is left tackle Braxton Jones. The rest of the line has been shuffled with offseason moves.The Bears added free agent Nate Davis, who will be at right guard, and No. 10 draft pick Darnell Wright, who should start at right tackle. Teven Jenkins will move from right guard to left, and Cody Whitehair will move from left guard to center, where he will compete with Lucas Patrick.So the Bears have a lot of work to do settling into their new roles. The development of Wright and continued g...

Financial charges cast cloud over Man City’s dominance in English soccer

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Manchester City’s ruthless run to the Premier League title can be traced back to the morning of Feb. 6, when the club was hit with more than 100 charges of financial wrongdoing.City has not lost a game in any competition since then and is on track to win three trophies, having also advanced to the finals of the Champions League and the FA Cup.But even if the accusations made by the Premier League appear to have marked a turning point in potentially the most successful season in the club’s history, they continue to cast a cloud over City’s years of dominance in English soccer.City has been England’s leading club for more than a decade thanks to the lavish backing of Abu Dhabi’s ruling family. The club was bought by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2008.The latest title triumph was the club’s fifth in six years and seventh in the past 11.On Sunday, as City celebrated with its fans at Etihad Stadium — named for a sponsor deal with the s...

New Madrid museum set to unveil five centuries of Spain’s royal collections

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

MADRID (AP) — It’s not as if Madrid was short on world-ranking galleries with the likes of the Prado Museum, the Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Reina Sofía, among others.But next month, Spain is set to unveil what is touted as one of Europe’s cultural highlights of the year with the opening in the Spanish capital of The Royal Collections Gallery. The swanky new museum will feature master paintings, tapestries, sculptures, decorative art pieces, armory and sumptuous royal furniture collected by Spanish monarchs over five centuries, spanning the empire’s Hapsburg and Bourbon dynasties.“This is the biggest museum project in Spain in decades, and also in Europe”, says Ana de la Cueva, President of the Patrimonio Nacional, a government body that runs the Gallery.Unlike many other monarchies, Spain’s Royal Collections do not belong to the crown but to the public, thanks to a historical twist nearly a century ago. Now, Patrimonio Nacional oversees palaces, monasteries, convents, an...

Belarusian dissident who was pulled off forced-down plane says he has been pardoned

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — The Belarusian state news agency on Monday reported that a dissident journalist who was pulled off a flight that was forced to land in the country and was later sentenced to eight years in prison says he has received a presidential pardon.“I literally just signed all the relevant documents that I was pardoned. This, of course, is just great news,” Raman Pratasevich was quoted as saying by the news agency Belta.Pratasevich was convicted and sentenced May 3 for organizing unrest and plotting to seize power.He ran a Telegram messaging app channel that was widely used by participants in mass protests against the disputed August 2020 election that gave authoritarian Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office.The protests, which lasted for months, were the longest and largest demonstration of opposition to Lukashenko since he took power in 1994. Belarusian authorities responded to the demonstrations with a brutal crackdown that saw more ...

Vinícius Júnior gains more support as Spanish soccer again embroiled in racism

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

MADRID (AP) — Spanish soccer is again embroiled in racism, with the support for Vinícius Júnior growing rapidly after yet another case of abuse against the Brazil forward this weekend.Officials, players and former players showed solidarity with Vinícius, who on Sunday considered leaving the field after being insulted by fans during Real Madrid’s 1-0 loss at Valencia in the Spanish league.Vinícius said after the match the Spanish league “now belongs to racists” and that Spain “is seen as a racist country.”“Full solidarity to Vinicius,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said. “There is no place for racism in football or in society and FIFA stands by all players who have found themselves in such a situation. Events during the match between Valencia and Real Madrid show that this needs to be the case.”The support for Vinícius, who is Black and as been subjected to racist abuse since he arrived to play in Spain five years ago, came from former players and current stars.“You’re not alone,” ...

Fire razes school dormitory in Guyana, kills at least 20 children

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — Fire raced through a school dormitory in Guyana early Monday, killing at least 20 students and injuring an undetermined more, authorities said.The Guyanese government said in a press statement that the fire broke out in the dormitory building of a secondary school in the southwestern border town of Mahdia, 200 miles (320 kilometers) south of the capital, Georgetown.“We have lost many beautiful souls in that fire,” the government said. It added that several other students are being treated for injuries and at least seven were flown to the capital for treatment.The fire began shortly after midnight at the school that serves mostly Indigenous children aged 12 through 18, according to security adviser Gerald Gouveia. He said it was too early to speculate what might have caused it.Local newspaper Stabroek News reported that the fire broke out in a girls’ dormitory, and that inclement weather was a challenge for those responding to the emergency by air.Oppo...

‘Brokeback Mountain’ brings two rising acting stars to the London stage

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

LONDON (AP) — “Brokeback Mountain” was a star-making story onscreen. It may turn out to be the same onstage.Rising American stars Lucas Hedges and Mike Faist are making their London theater debuts in an adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story about two star-crossed Wyoming shepherds whose love is stifled by the strictures of their society.Proulx’s tale of homophobia on the range, first published in 1997, reached a huge global audience through Ang Lee’s Academy Award-winning 2005 film, which cemented the stardom of Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger.A new stage version at London’s Soho Place theater, stars Hedges as taciturn ranch hand Ennis Del Mar and Faist as livewire cowboy Jack Twist, who fall passionately in love during a 1960s summer on an isolated mountainside.Both are already acclaimed young actors. Hedges got an Oscar nomination for playing a bereaved teenager in 2016 drama “Manchester by the Sea,” and Faist is a Tony Award nominee for “Dear Evan Hansen” and made a ...

Kimberly Palmer: How to set and vet money goals midyear

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

If you set money goals for 2023 back in January, now can be a smart time to check in on your progress. And if you didn’t, it’s not too late to create goals for the next six months and beyond.“If you don’t have your goals, everyone is so busy with life that a year will whiz by and you’ll have forgotten to start,” says Dan Casey, owner of Bridgeriver Advisors, a financial firm in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.With many people’s money goals hampered by the dual headwinds of inflation and economic uncertainty, it’s easy to get discouraged if you haven’t made as much progress as you’d hoped. Financial experts offer these five strategies for using the midyear point as a way to get back on track, or to embrace a slightly altered course.DEFINE AND REFINE WHAT YOU WANTRebecca Eve Selkowe, New York City-based accredited financial counselor and owner of the financial counseling firm RebeccaEve.com, urges people to first define what they want their money to accomplish, noting that those goals can ...

National police force grapples with calls for change, shifting role as it turns 150

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

As the RCMP marks its 150th anniversary, a familiar, nagging question about the storied national police force is resurfacing: Should the Mounties withdraw from small communities across Canada to fully concentrate on big-ticket federal files such as cybercrime, fraud and human trafficking?The notion of a more focused version of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, a sort of “FBI North” that leaves provincial and municipal policing to others, has rarely been far from conversations about the force’s mandate and future direction.But debate and introspection about aspects of what the RCMP does have come to the fore following crises including the 9/11 attacks, the 2014 storming of Parliament Hill by a gunman,and the 2022 blockades of border crossings and downtown Ottawa.In recent years, calls for change have been driven by the force’s reckoning over harassment and bullying of members, public anger about police brutality and racism, shortcomings in the force’s r...

RCMP at 150: Key events in the evolution of the national police force

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:33:58 GMT

OTTAWA — A timeline of some key events in the evolution of the RCMP’s structure and responsibilities:May 3, 1873: Act establishing the North-West Mounted Police introduced by then-prime minister John A. Macdonald.May 23, 1873: Bill passes unopposed through Parliament and receives royal assent. However, it does not immediately establish NWMP, as it is merely an emergency measure.Aug. 30, 1873: Order-in-council brings NWMP into existence. Oct. 18, 1873: George Arthur French becomes first permanent commissioner. Nov. 3, 1873: First 150 recruits for the NWMP gather at Lower Fort Garry, Man., north of Winnipeg. July 8, 1874: March West to what is now Alberta begins at Fort Dufferin in Manitoba.1876: First public performance of riding skills at Fort Macleod in Alberta. 1887: Musical Ride first performed at Regina.June 5, 1895: A NWMP contingent leaves for Yukon, extending presence to northern frontier. June 24, 1904: King Edward VII confers title of “Royal” upon North-We...