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Callahan: Bailey Zappe’s release another reminder the Patriots have no sacred cows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

Was it a fever or a fever dream?Did a fourth-round rookie quarterback really inspire hope during the most hopeless Patriots season of the Belichick era? Did those chants actually ring out that hazy Monday night last October — “Zap-pe! Zap-pe! Zap-pe!” — and echo across Gillette Stadium? And did that quarterback, once a heartbeat or ankle twist away from becoming the starter, get unceremoniously waived Tuesday?Yes, yes and yes.Bailey Zappe’s fall from beloved backup to the waiver wire ended with a small bounce-back Wednesday when he re-signed to the practice squad. All 31 other teams declined to pick him off waivers, which allowed Zappe to return to New England. He freely chose the Patriots.But did the Patriots choose him, or fail to find a suitable replacement?Conflicting reports arose Wednesday, with some indicating the Pats preferred a veteran backup for Mac Jones. Others declared, despite waiving him, Zappe remained their ideal No. 2. Cutting Zappe was merely a ...

2023 Honda CR-V is perfection

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

Lets face it, when you think of long lasting, economy vehicles, Honda and Toyota are clearly top of the conversation. And thinking that Honda delivered excellence in their fifth generation, wait till you experience the sixth generation, 2023 Honda CR-V. The precise, deep expansion of the CR-V is here and a perfect display of excellence is born.With model sales exceeding 300K in 2021, the CR-V was ready for a re-design and one that appealed better to consumers while maintaining great values, excellent safety features and the great reliability that the CR-V has been known for during its existence since 1997. In fact, the CR-V is outright the best-selling crossover in America. Our tester, a 2023 Honda CR-V AWD Touring Sport Hybrid. Wrapped in a beautiful Canyon River Blue which has some metallic flake and a nice pearl to its base coat, delivered nicely apportioned offsetting black wheels and black plastic fender wells. Powering the 2023 Honda CR-V offers two motor options. A 1.5L turbo...

Summer heat to return to GTA as cooler-than-usual August wraps up

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

A fall feel has taken over the GTA over the last couple of days of August, but summer-like conditions are expected to return during the Labour Day long weekend.Toronto did not see a single 30 C day in August and there are frost advisories out for parts of cottage country early Thursday where temperatures fell well into the single digits overnight.CityNews meteorologist Jill Taylor says that trend will be turned upside down when a heat dome forms over the city as September arrives. From Sunday to Wednesday the GTA is expected to see a four-day stretch of daytime highs in the low 30s.Toronto and the GTA will see a high of 22 C with sunshine on Thursday before things dip down to the low teens overnight. It will be slightly warmer and sunny again on Friday with a high around 24 C before things really warm up for the long weekend.“By Labour Day Monday it will feel like 40 (with the humidex) and that will extend into Tuesday and Wednesday,” says Taylor. “For the long wee...

As Israel pushes punitive demolitions, family of 13-year-old Palestinian attacker to lose its home

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — With the walls stripped bare and furniture dismantled, the east Jerusalem apartment is a far cry from the vividly-hued haven it was in early February, when members of the Zalabani family played cards on the cobalt couch and feasted on stewed chicken with richly spiced rice.That February dinner — a day before 13-year-old Mohammed Zalabani boarded a bus at an Israeli army checkpoint in the Shuafat refugee camp and lunged at an Israeli police officer with a kitchen knife — was the last time the Palestinian family gathered in their home that will soon be blown up. Last week, Israel’s Supreme Court dismissed the family’s appeal and decided to destroy the new, third-floor apartment where they’ve lived for almost three years.Demolition crews arrived Thursday to inform the family the explosion would take place within days. The family’s case — which rights groups describe as uniquely problematic from a legal prospective — has drawn attention to Israel’s con...

EU examines its training of African armies as another coup rocks the continent

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union ministers expressed deep concern Thursday at the growing number of military coups across Africa as the bloc draws up sanctions targeting the junta in Niger which overthrew an elected government a month ago.On Wednesday, the oil-rich nation of Gabon became the eighth Central or West African country to be hit by a military takeover in the last three years. The EU has not been training Gabon’s armed forces -– although French troops have -– but it has funded and taught troops in Mali and Niger.The military training has focused mainly on the volatile Sahel region to combat extremism, particularly groups linked to al-Qaida. Many Europeans worry that instability in Africa will drive more people to flee, and the 27-nation bloc is already divided over how to cope with large numbers of migrant arrivals.Some European countries have strong economic interests in Africa, notably France with its need for Niger’s uranium. The growing influence of Russia th...

5 people shot in Illinois neighborhood and 2 are in critical condition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — Five people have been shot in an Illinois neighborhood and two of them were in critical condition, police said.The wounded, as well as a sixth person who suffered a laceration, were taken to a hospital following the shooting, which happened about 9 p.m. Wednesday, the Peoria Police Department said in a news release, saying 29 rounds were fired.The wounded were men and juvenile males, police said. With the exception of those in critical condition, police described the injuries as non-life-threatening.“When we arrived here, obviously there was chaos,” Police Chief Eric Echevarria told WEEK-TV. “You can imagine when you have six victims and family members, and everybody that comes out from their homes, nobody wants to hear that amount of gunfire in their neighborhood. One round is enough, let alone 29 rounds.”In addition to local police, members of the Peoria County Sheriff’s Department, the Illinois State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firea...

CIBC reports $1.43B Q3 profit, down from $1.67B a year ago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

TORONTO — CIBC reported its third-quarter profit fell more than 10 per cent compared with a year ago as the amount it set aside for bad loans in the quarter tripled.The bank says it earned $1.43 billion or $1.47 per diluted share for the quarter ended July 31, down from a profit of $1.67 billion or $1.78 per diluted share a year ago.Revenue totalled $5.85 billion, up from $5.57 billion in the same quarter last year.CIBC says its provision for credit losses in the quarter amounted to $736 million, up from $243 million in its third quarter last year.On an adjusted basis, CIBC says it earned $1.52 per diluted share in its most recent quarter, down from an adjusted profit of $1.85 per diluted share a year earlier.Analysts on average had expected an adjusted profit of $1.68 per share, according to estimates compiled by financial markets data firm Refinitiv.This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:CM)The Canadian Press

Germany-born pandas celebrate their 4th birthday ahead of expected trip to China

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The first giant pandas born in Germany celebrated their fourth birthday Thursday as the Berlin Zoo prepares to send them to China, a journey that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.Pit and Paule, who also are known by the Chinese names Meng Xiang und Meng Yuan, have been a star attraction at the zoo since their birth in 2019. On Thursday, keepers presented them with an ice cake made with apples, carrots and beetroot, and a side serving of snow.While China for decades gifted friendly nations with its unofficial mascot as part of a policy of “panda diplomacy,″ the country now loans pandas to zoos on commercial terms. Pit and Paule’s parents, Jiao Qing and Meng Meng, arrived in Berlin in 2017.Florian Sicks, the zoo’s curator for mammals, said the young pandas belong to China and its Chengdu Panda Base, and officials hope the pair will travel there soon.“As a rule, this happens at age 2 or 3,” Sicks said. “Because of the pandemic, it was delayed a bit so that...

An airstrike on southern Syria hits an alleged drug factory, causing damage but no casualties

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — An airstrike early Thursday hit an alleged drug factory in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, causing damage but there was not word on casualties, Syrian opposition activists said. They said the attack was believed to have been carried out by Jordan’s air force.Jordan’s state media reported over the past weeks that several drones carrying drugs were shot down after crossing from Syria.The Captagon industry has been a huge concern for Jordan, as well as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, as hundreds of millions of pills have been smuggled over the years, where the drug is used recreationally and by people with physically demanding jobs to keep them alert.Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist who covers developments in southern Syria said the target was also used as a narcotics warehouse where smugglers would prepare and package illegal drugs before smuggling them across the southern border into Jordan. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based...

Report says close associates of India’s Adani Group secretly purchased large numbers of shares

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:47:24 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Two people closely linked to India’s Adani Group, one of the country’s largest conglomerates, secretly purchased millions of dollars of stocks in the group’s companies, possibly violating Indian law, according to a report Thursday by a network of investigative journalists.Market rules require that at least 25% of a company’s shares be available for public purchase. The report by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project said the two men used “opaque investment funds based in the island nation of Mauritius” to obscure their involvement in controlling up to nearly 14% of the public shares.The findings by the non-profit project were reported by The Guardian and The Financial Times. The project said they were based on files from multiple tax havens, bank records and internal Adani Group emails.It identified the two investors as Nasser Ali Shaban Ahli and Chang Chung-Ling, and said they have longtime business ties to the Adani fam...