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Britain’s political parties are quietly raking in millions. No one will say where it’s coming from

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

LONDON — What connects a Lancashire manor house, several exclusive dining clubs, and a bronze sculpture of David Cameron on a bicycle? The answer is millions of pounds in opaque donations to Britain’s political parties.This is the weird world of “unincorporated associations” — shadowy groups which constitute one of the least-regulated and most-poorly understood aspects of British election finance. Jess Garland, of campaign group the Electoral Reform Society, said they represent a “dangerous loophole in our political financing rules.”In the past five years alone, donations to British political parties from these little-known entities have surpassed £14 million — a sum almost equivalent to the ruling Conservative Party’s entire outlay during its triumphant 2019 election campaign. British political parties are generally required to be open about how and where they raise their cash. Yet unincorporated associations remain an enormous transparency black...

Cool, Some Smoke, Some Showers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

While mostly cloudy skies and a few spotty showers/sprinkles drifted through the skies yesterday, the big story across the Northeast U.S. was the amount of smoke in the air. While the amounts of smoke were modest in central and eastern Mass, western Mass, CT, and certainly down near NYC, saw very unhealthy levels of air quality and reduced visibility thanks the heavy smoke in the air. This morning, the air quality is worse the farther south and west you go. That will tend to be the case through the day, but from time to time, enough smoke mixes in to produce unhealthy air quality for sensitive groups, but we won’t be seeing the Mars like views they had over New York yesterday. What we will see later today, are a few spotty showers popping up from time to time as highs hold in the 60s. Certainly cool for early June, but not as cold as the past weekend. Pop-up showers and storms are a bit more widespread tomorrow with highs again in the 60s. Keep the umbrella handy midday into ...

Chicago Bears team leaders to chat with select group of Arlington Heights area community members at invite-only meeting

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

Despite headlines this week about the Chicago Bears’ proposed Arlington Heights stadium project possibly being “at risk,” the NFL football team’s brass will come face to face with about 300 people later this month at a meeting meant to promote communication between local stakeholders and the team.The Bears, operating as the Chicago Bears Football Club, has proposed a multi-billion dollar stadium development at the site of the former Arlington International Racecourse the team purchased in February.“We will hear directly from Kevin Warren on his experience with stadium development and what it’s going to take to make Arlington Park the home of the Chicago Bears,” according to a meeting announcement.The meeting, set for June 26 at the Metropolis Center for the Performing Arts, located in Arlington Heights, is an initiative of the newly formed Touchdown Arlington group, a private group that sees the arrival of the team as an economic opportunit...

5 things we learned at Chicago Bears practice, including the ‘best friends’ rapport between DJ Moore and Justin Fields

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

The Chicago Bears are completing organized team activities and will be back at Halas Hall next week for a mandatory three-day minicamp. Coaches and players feel encouraged with the progress they’re making through the offseason program and hope to squeeze a little more out of their remaining practices before separating for a short summer break in advance of training camp.Here are five things we learned Wednesday from practice and during interviews with coaches and players.1. The chemistry continues to grow between new receiver DJ Moore and quarterback Justin Fields.With each practice, it has becoming increasingly apparent that Fields is gaining trust in Moore, who is showing a consistent ability to get open. The most attention-grabbing endorsement Wednesday might have come from Bears safety Jaquan Brisker.“They look like they’re best friends,” Brisker said. “Justin’s definitely throwing him the ball. … You’re going to see. You will see....

AP Exclusive: Drone footage of collapsed dam shows ruined structure, devastation and no sign of life

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — Exclusive drone footage of the collapsed Ukrainian dam and surrounding villages under Russian occupation show the ruined structure falling into the flooded river and hundreds of submerged homes, greenhouses and even a church — and no sign of life.An Associated Press team flew a drone over the devastation on Wednesday, a day after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River. The buildings that remain visible above the rushing waters did not show damage typical of a bomb dropped from above, such as scorch marks or shrapnel scars. Russia accused Ukraine of bombarding the structure, which was under Moscow’s control, while Ukraine alleged that Russia blew it up from within.The collapse of the dam in an area that Moscow has controlled for over a year and the emptying of its reservoir has irrevocably changed the landscape downstream, and shifted the dynamic of the 15-month-old war.In the images captured by the AP, most of the dam was submerged by ...

Retailer Roots reports $8M Q1 loss, sales down from year ago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

TORONTO — Roots Corp. reported a first-quarter loss of $8 million compared with a loss of $5.3 million a year earlier, as its sales edged down on lower demand for its popular sweatpants.Roots chief executive Meghan Roach says the results aligned with the company’s internal projections and reflected a challenging economic environment.The retailer says the loss amounted to 19 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended April 30 compared with a loss of 13 cents per diluted share in the same quarter last year.Sales in the quarter totalled $41.5 million, down from $43.1 million a year ago.Roots says the decline in sales came as its direct-to-consumer sales amounted to $35.4 million, down from $37.4 million in the same quarter last year.Partner and other sales, which includes wholesale Roots branded products, licensing to select manufacturing partners and the sale of certain custom products, totalled $6.1 million, up from $5.7 million a year ago.Roach noted the company saw strengt...

Smoky haze blanketing US and Canada could last into the weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — On air quality maps, purple signifies the worst of it. In reality, it’s a thick, hazardous haze that’s disrupting daily life for millions of people across the U.S. and Canada, blotting out skylines and turning skies orange.And with weather systems expected to hardly budge, the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.That means at least another day, or more, of a dystopian-style detour that’s chased players from ballfields, actors from Broadway stages, delayed thousands of flights and sparked a resurgence in mask wearing and remote work — all while raising concerns about the health effects of prolonged exposure to such bad air.The weather system that’s driving the great Canadian-American smoke out — a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia — “will probably be hangi...

US vice president announces more than $100M to help Caribbean during official visit to Bahamas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the U.S. is investing more than $100 million in the Caribbean region to crack down on weapons trafficking, help alleviate Haiti’s humanitarian crisis and support climate change initiatives.The announcement was made ahead of an official trip to the Bahamas for a meeting of Caribbean and U.S. leaders hosted by Harris and Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis.As part of the initiatives, the U.S. Justice Department expects to appoint a coordinator to oversee cases involving illegal weapons smuggling in the Caribbean as island nations report a rise in violent crimes. In addition, the State Department vowed to help improve forensic work in the region, help strengthen local police departments and support a unit based in Trinidad and Tobago aimed at helping islands solve gun-related cases and provide training for the collection and analysis of related intelligence.The U.S., with help from the U.K., also wi...

Italian court throws out case alleging early pandemic mismanagement by ex-premier, ex-minister

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

MILAN (AP) — A special Italian court has shut down a probe into whether the country’s former premier and former health minister caused unnecessary deaths by failing to extend a lockdown zone in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. The Court of Ministers in Brescia threw out the case against ex-Premier Giuseppe Conte and ex-Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Wednesday. The investigation alleged errors were made in not extending a “red zone,” initially imposed on a limited number of towns in northern Italy’s Lombardy and Veneto regions, to neighboring Bergamo as the number of deaths there skyrocketed.Both officials have said they acted according to scientific knowledge and expert opinion available at the time.Conte told RAI state TV that the court’s decision “comforts me.”“We were facing a virus that by then was galloping, and within a few days we made the decision to close other regions in a very strict way,’’ Conte said, adding that the court’s decision als...

Senegal’s president calls for an investigation into deadly clashes, says he’s open to dialogue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:40:00 GMT

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Senegal’s president has ordered an investigation to determine who was responsible for protests by supporters of a political opponent that turned deadly last week but said he was open to consulting with the parties involved. President Macky Sall made his first remarks about the unrest while speaking at a council of minister’s meeting on Wednesday. At least 16 people, including members of the security forces, were killed, according to the government. The opposition says at least 19 were killed. “The president of the republic has strongly condemned these extremely serious attacks against the state, the republic and its institutions,” government spokesman Abdou Karim Fofana said. He said the protests had included violence, looting and cyber-attacks, “the aim of which was undoubtedly to sow terror and bring our country to a standstill.”Clashes between some protesters and police erupted after opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was convicted of corrupting you...