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Biden to meet with congressional leadership as threat of national debt default looms

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

(CNN) — President Joe Biden is set to meet with congressional leadership on Tuesday amid a stalemate in Washington to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a default that would have catastrophic economic consequences.A path forward to raising the debt ceiling remains unclear. House Republicans want to attach spending reductions to a debt ceiling increase and have passed a debt limit plan that does just that. But Biden and congressional Democrats are insisting on passing a clean increase on the debt limit before addressing a framework for spending.During Tuesday’s meeting in the Oval Office at 4 p.m. ET — the first in-person, top-level discussions to take place at the White House in months — the president will be joined by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.Biden has not formally held a meeting with McCarthy since February, when the two l...

Sorting through the Chicago Bears’ pass rusher options as GM Ryan Poles seeks to beef up the defense

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

Not only did Jaquan Brisker have the unusual distinction of leading the Chicago Bears in sacks last season as a defensive back, he was the first homegrown player atop that category since the middle of the Lovie Smith era.Brisker’s four sacks paced the league’s last-ranked pass rush in 2022, when the rookie safety became the first player drafted and developed by the Bears to lead them in sacks since Alex Brown had six in 2008.During that 13-year span, Adewale Ogunleye, Israel Idonije, Julius Peppers, Willie Young, Lamarr Houston, Akiem Hicks, Khalil Mack and Robert Quinn took turns spearheading the pass rush, evidence of how reliant the Bears have been on free agency and the trade market at a marquee position.Now general manager Ryan Poles has to sort through potential options to beef up the pass rush like a shopper hitting the mall in search of the perfect gift the day after Christmas. The Bears have essentially admitted they need help at defensive end. The good news is ...

Ravens WR Zay Flowers played ‘every position’ at rookie camp. Here’s how he fits in the offense.

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

Zay Flowers’ first “Welcome to the NFL” moment came in the form of a message from Baltimore native and former NBA star Carmelo Anthony, who reached out after the Ravens selected the Boston College wide receiver 22nd overall in last month’s draft.“He was like ‘Welcome to flock nation,’” Flowers said. “I was like ‘Carmelo Anthony texted me?’ Then I clicked on his page and there were 7 million followers; I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s him.’”Flowers’ actual debut was much more routine — he joined 23 others at a three-day rookie minicamp Thursday through Saturday at the team’s facility in Owings Mills.In many ways, it was just another couple of practices for a player who’s been having them for most of his life. But it also gave Flowers — and Ravens coaches — a feel for how he might be used in the offense. There were some differences from his days at Boston College.R...

Willson Contreras embraces the villain role on the other side of the Cubs-Cardinals rivalry: ‘When you get booed, you’re doing something right’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

Willson Contreras, decked out in St. Louis Cardinals red, admitted to experiencing nerves Monday in the visitors dugout at Wrigley Field.Those feelings had nothing to do with the Cardinals’ decision to make him their full-time designated hitter for the foreseeable future in an effort to overhaul the catcher’s behind-the-scenes work with the pitching staff.Contreras wasn’t sure what type of reception he would receive from Chicago Cubs fans on a damp, cool night at Wrigley Field in his first game back since signing a five-year, $87.5 million contract with the Cardinals in the offseason. Contreras, 30, hoped for the best, but the three-time All-Star acknowledged not all fans might be able to look past his new allegiance despite helping the Cubs win a World Series title in 2016.“The welcome back is probably going to be 50-50: 50% is going to be happy and 50% is going to boo me, which is acceptable,” Contreras said. “I’m not mad about the fan bas...

Imran Khan, ex-Pakistani PM, is arrested, his party says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s anti-graft agents on Tuesday arrested former Prime Minister Imran Khan as he appeared in a court in the capital, Islamabad, to face charges in multiple graft cases, police and officials from his party said. The arrest, which marks a dramatic escalation on Pakistan’s political scene, drew nationwide condemnation from the supporters of the popular opposition leader and former cricket star. Khan was dragged outside the Islamabad High Court and pushed into a police vehicle by agents from the National Accountability Bureau, according to Fawad Chaudhry, a senior official with Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Chaudhry denounced the arrest as “an abduction.” Pakistan’s independent GEO TV broadcast images of the 72-year-old Khan being pulled by security forces towards an armored vehicle, which took him away. Khan was ousted in a no-confidence vote in April 2022. He has claimed his ouster was illegal and a Western conspiracy and has campaign...

Ukraine flags block Russian ambassador’s path on Victory Day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A large installation representing Russian atrocities in Ukraine blocked the path of Russia’s ambassador to Poland as he sought Tuesday to place a wreath at a Warsaw memorial to Soviet soldiers on Russia’s Victory Day holiday.The installation included hundreds of fluttering blue and yellow Ukrainian flags and crosses serving as symbolic grave markers for Ukrainians killed by Russians during the full-scale war launched by Moscow last year. A pool of fake blood below the crosses underlined the message of the protest, which was created by Euromaidan-Warszawa, a citizens’ initiative that supports Ukraine.Organizer Viktoria Pogrebniak said the installation was meant to fight back against Russian propaganda, and “show the real picture to the world.”“We are bombed, we are killed, we are raped,” Pogrebniak said. “We are killed just because we are Ukrainians.”The protesters, mostly Ukrainians but also Poles, blocked Ambassador Sergey Andreev’s pas...

Germany proposes rules to ease legal changes of gender

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The German government on Tuesday presented a proposal for a law that will make it easier for people to legally change their name and gender, ending decades-old rules that require them to get expert assessments and a court’s authorization.Under the planned “self-determination law,” adults would be able to change their first name and legal gender at registry offices without further formalities.“We have taken another big step forward with the self-determination act and with it also in the protection against discrimination and the rights of transgender, intersex and nonbinary people,” Germany’s minister for families, Lisa Paus, said. “This way we can give back some of the dignity to those who have been deprived of it for decades,” she added.The existing “transsexual law,” which took effect in 1981, currently requires individuals to obtain assessments from two experts — such as physicians — whose training and experience make them “sufficiently familiar with the particular p...

SNC-Lavalin Group reports first-quarter profit and revenue up from year ago

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

MONTREAL — SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. reported its first-quarter profit rose compared with a year ago as its revenue also climbed higher.The engineering firm says its profit attributable to shareholders totalled $28.4 million or 16 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended March 31.The result was up from a profit of $24.8 million or 14 per diluted share a year earlier.Revenue totalled $2.02 billion, up from $1.89 billion in the first three months of 2022.The increase came as the company’s revenue from professional services and project management rose to $2.01 billion compared with $1.87 billion a year earlier. Revenue from its capital business totalled $16.3 million, down from $16.4 million.On an adjusted basis, the company says its profit from professional services and project management amounted to 32 cents per diluted share, up from an adjusted profit of 22 cents per diluted share in the first quarter of 2022.This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 9, 2023...

Toronto MP Nate Erskine-Smith launches leadership bid for Ontario Liberal Party

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

Toronto MP Nate Erskine-Smith says he’s running for the leadership of Ontario’s Liberal Party, making him the first person to officially announce a bid.The Liberal MP for the riding of Beaches-East York has been elected at the federal level three times since 2015 and says he’s running to rebuild the provincial party.The Ontario Liberals will announce a new leader on Dec. 2 to replace Steven Del Duca, who resigned after the party did not win enough seats in last year’s election to have official party status at the legislature for the second campaign in a row.Erskine-Smith, a former lawyer, says in a video announcing his leadership bid that he will focus on issues such as access to health care, senior care, mental health and addictions, climate change and wealth inequality.The Ontario Liberals have said the party will soon announce the opening date for official candidate registration, but a deadline of Sept. 5 has been set and candidates must have an entry fee ...

Germany saw more politically motivated crimes in 2022

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 12:51:06 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — The number of politically motivated crimes reported in Germany rose by 7% last year, the country’s top security official said Tuesday.Overall, Germany registered 58,961 politically motivated crimes last year, most of which were for offenses such as damage to property, insults or incitement to hatred, holding illegal gatherings or displaying Nazi symbols. However, 4,043 were classed as violent crimes — an increase of 4%, the minister said.There was a significant rise in crimes that could not be assigned to the traditional motivations of right-wing or left-wing ideology, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.A significant proportion of these “diffuse” offenses — which rose by 13% to 24,080 cases — were in connection with coronavirus restrictions or protests related to the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the rising cost of living, Faeser told reporters in Berlin.The minister stressed that the biggest threat to German society is still far-right extremism, of whic...