Author: Press Room

It is not clear whether local exchanges are particularly useful

By Tim Britton, Johnny Flores Jr. and Andy McCulloughEvery week,​ we​ ask a selected group of our baseball​ writers​ — local and national — to rank the teams from first to worst. Here are the collective results, with the average rankings of our panel in parentheses.The first weekend of the baseball season offered its usual cornucopia of familiar sights and unexpected delights. Shohei Ohtani sent a baseball soaring over the fence at Dodger Stadium; Aaron Judge sent four of his own into orbit in the Bronx. Zack Wheeler looked sharp. Paul Skenes threw hard. Matt Chapman still knows how to pick…

People of Italian descent have for decades been able to dig through their family trees, find an Italian ancestor and apply for citizenship to Italy, securing a powerful passport that allows them to enter more countries without a visa than travelers of almost any other nationality.But so many have tried to claim the benefit that their applications have congested Italy’s courts, consulates and municipal offices, grinding other work to a near halt.The government has had enough.Fewer people of Italian descent will now be able to obtain citizenship after the government narrowed eligibility only to those with Italian parents or grandparents.The…

A long-simmering fight over whether to allow members of Congress to vote remotely after the birth of a new child is coming to a head on Tuesday afternoon, when Speaker Mike Johnson’s behind-the-scenes efforts to quash the majority-supported change to the chamber’s rules will be tested on the House floor.The quiet push from a bipartisan group of younger lawmakers and new parents started more than a year ago, when Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida, began agitating for a change to House rules that would allow new mothers to designate a colleague to vote by proxy on their behalf…

President Trump said he has settled on a final plan for sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs, but he declined to reveal the details ahead of an announcement in the Rose Garden at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, a move that appeared to rattle markets and governments around the world.Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday, Mr. Trump said the U.S. would be “very nice, relatively speaking,” in imposing tariffs on a vast array of countries — including U.S. allies — that he believes are unfairly inhibiting the flow of American exports.“That word reciprocal is very important,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “What…

John Davidson has difficulty remembering the last time Wayne Gretzky visited his childhood home across the street in this small city a couple hours’ drive southwest of Toronto. The modest home with a one-car garage in a quiet residential neighborhood remains in the family, but the Great One’s visits have been fewer and farther between, especially since his beloved father Walter died in 2021. The backyard ice rink where Gretzky developed his generational talent has since been replaced by a pool.Now 85, Davidson still chases away the occasional curiosity seeker, a far cry from the days when busloads of children…

After the 16-0 Women’s Ashes humbling swept away England’s leadership former skipper Charlotte Edwards has been asked to front the rebuild as a new head coach.

TRUMP’S HISTORY WITH TARIFFS  Trump has hyped up his impending announcement on reciprocal tariffs as Liberation Day because his policies aim to free the US economy from dependence on foreign goods. “We’re going to charge countries for doing business in our country and taking our jobs, taking our wealth, taking a lot of things that they’ve been taking over the years,” Trump said last week when he announced 25 per cent auto tariffs. “They’ve taken so much out of our country, friend and foe. And, frankly, friend has been oftentimes much worse than foe.” Trump’s displeasure with trade ties between the…

Police say suspects in custody are among 200 people who gathered at Harare’s Freedom Square and threw stones at officers.Zimbabwe police say they have arrested 95 people on charges of promoting public violence for taking part in demonstrations that called for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to leave office. A large police deployment in Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital, and other cities on Monday, largely neutralised a call by war veterans for large protests against plans to extend Mnangagwa’s rule. Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party said in January that it wanted to extend Mnangagwa’s term in office by two years until 2030. Eighty-two-year-old Mnangagwa, who…

Hundreds of federal health workers, including doctors in senior leadership positions, began hearing early Tuesday morning that they are losing their jobs, part of a vast restructuring that will winnow down the agencies charged with regulating food and drugs, protecting Americans from disease and researching new treatments and cures.Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last week that he is shrinking his department by 10,000 employees. Some senior leaders based in the Washington, D.C., area received notices that they were being reassigned to Indian Health Service territories, a tactic to force people out, employees said, because it would entail moving…