Article content The Saskatchewan Roughriders have traded for experienced quarterback Jake Maier, a four-year CFL veteran who was the Calgary Stampeders starter for the past two seasons. Maier could become a free agent when his contract expires Feb. 11. The Roughriders sent an eighth-round selection in the 2025 CFL draft to Calgary, which allows them to negotiate with Maier before his contract expires. It’s a common practice in the CFL — two years ago Calgary sent veteran quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in an offseason trade three months before his contract expired. Hamilton subsequently signed Mitchell to a contract. Because the Roughriders just secured returning starter Trevor Harris with a one-year contract extension, Maier is destined to be Saskatchewan’s backup quarterback. Last year’s backup, Shea Patterson, replaced Harris for seven games in 2024 and will likely become a free agent in February. Rookie Jack Coan and prospect Michael Hiers are the other quarterbacks under contract. A, six-foot, 200-pound product of California-Davis, Maier spent his first two seasons backing up Mitchell. He posted three straight 300-yard passing games as a fill-in during his rookie season and through two campaigns passed for 3,600 yards with 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, bumping Mitchell out of his starting assignment. Maier passed for 4,244 yards with 19 touchdowns and 15 interceptions in 2023 before throwing for 3,841 yards with 22 touchdowns and 14 interceptions last season. Maier lost his starting role last season as the Stampeders posted a 5-12-1 record and missed the playoffs. His quarterbacks coach during the previous three seasons was Marc Mueller , who joined the Roughriders in 2024 as their offensive co-ordinator. The Stampeders recently acquired Vernon Adams Jr. from the B.C. Lions in a trade that involved five draft choices. An eight-year CFL veteran with three teams, Adams is projected to be Calgary’s starting quarterback in 2025. The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe. With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe. Share this Story : Saskatchewan Roughriders trade for Calgary Stampeders quarterback Jake Maier Copy Link Email X Reddit Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr
Mr Biden told African leaders the resource-rich continent of more than 1.4 billion people had been “left behind for much too long”. “But not anymore,” Mr Biden added. “Africa is the future.” Mr Biden used the third and final day of a visit to Angola – his long-awaited, first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president – to travel to the coastal city of Lobito and tour an Atlantic port terminal that’s part of the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment. Mr Biden described it as the largest US investment in a train project outside America. The US and allies are investing heavily in the project that will refurbish nearly 1,200 miles of train lines connecting to the mineral-rich areas of Congo and Zambia in central Africa. The corridor, which likely will take years to complete, gives the US better access to cobalt, copper and other critical minerals in Congo and Zambia that are used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies that Mr Biden said would power the future. China is dominant in mining in Congo and Zambia. The US investment has strategic implications for US-China economic competition, which went up a notch this week as they traded blows over access to key materials and technologies. The African leaders who met with Mr Biden on Wednesday said the railway corridor offered their countries a much faster route for minerals and goods – and a convenient outlet to Western markets. “This is a project that is full of hope for our countries and our region,” said Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, whose country has more than 70% of the word’s cobalt. “This is not just a logistical project. It is a driving force for economic and social transformation for millions of our people.” The leaders said the corridor should spur private-sector investment and improve a myriad of related areas like roads, communication networks, agriculture and clean energy technologies. For the African countries, it could create a wave of new jobs for a burgeoning young population. Cargo that once took 45 days to get to the US – usually involving trucks via South Africa – would now take around 45 hours, Mr Biden said. He predicted the project could transform the region from a food importer to exporter. It’s “something that if done right will outlast all of us and keep delivering for our people for generations to come,” he said. The announcement of an additional $600 million took the U.S.’s investment in the Lobito Corridor to 4.0 billion dollars (£3.15 billion).T hick, dark slurry flecked with stones and twigs covers the entire ground floor of Ralph Connor and Tina Honeyfield’s terraced house in the former coal mining village of Cwmtillery in south Wales. They use the lights on their phone to show what happened when a long-abandoned coal tip collapsed during last weekend’s torrential rainfall and surged through their front and back doors. “Our house bore the brunt of the landslide... I spent an hour holding the door to prevent the slurry from getting in [last Sunday night],” says Connor, 49, as he stands in the cold gloom of their powerless living room. “It was frightening but when you are in it, you just react. It’s fight or flight.” The millions of tonnes of coal dug up from rich seams below Cwmtillery and other Welsh valleys powered British industry in the 18th and 19th centuries. But the mining companies left behind giant spoil piles on hillsides, which now pose a growing threat to the miners’ descendants – not only because torrential rain can cause landslides, but because the carbon emitted from that same coal they extracted hundreds of years ago is driving up global temperatures and causing heavier rainfall. The tip above Connor and Honeyfield’s home was categorised as posing the highest risk to public safety under a Welsh government programme launched after a landslip in a nearby former mining valley in 2020. Overall, there are 360 coal tips deemed to be a risk in Wales, which are inspected either twice a year or once a year because increasingly intense rainfall is making them more unstable. The entire Connor-Honeyfield family, including their two teenage children, have been placed in a family room in a Premier Inn since the landslip. But they come back regularly because they run the community cafe in the village. Other residents have also been moved out in case more of the tip comes down. “People are angry that we were living under a tip that we didn’t know was dangerous,” says Honeyfield, 49. “I’d like it to be removed because then I wouldn’t need to worry.” The Welsh government estimated it needed at least £500m to £600m to remedy the country’s tips in 2021 but the Conservative government failed to provide extra funding. The Labour government allocated £25m in its first budget but it costs between £30m and £40m to reclaim a single tip. “I think lifelong Labour voters are disillusioned. They feel the valleys have been neglected,” says Honeyfield. “It’s always been Labour, so they are putting responsibility at their door.” Now a political party which denies that the flooding is linked to climate change, and has made opposition to net zero one of its flagship policies, may reap the rewards. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK , which came second in 13 constituencies across Wales in the general election, has targeted Wales’s Senedd elections in 2026 as its next breakthrough moment. There are some signs of support for Reform outside Connor and Honeyfield’s cafe, Caffi Tyleri. A group of dog walkers are finishing their coffees. “I’ve voted Labour all my life... and my mum and dad did... but that’s it,” says Christine Taylor, 78, a retired factory supervisor, who has lived in the area all her life. “I’m going to give Reform a go and see what they do.” The landslide has triggered painful memories of the Aberfan disaster , where a coal tip slipped down a hillside killing 116 children and 28 adults in 1966. “It brings back memories [of Aberfan] to every Welsh person because it was such a terrible, terrible time. I knew a first-year teacher who perished [in the disaster],” says Pat Lewis, 77, a retired teacher, sitting outside the cafe. Lewis has also voted Labour her entire life. But she is not sure if she will in two years. “They need to sort out [the tips]. It has happened here. It could be a lot worse somewhere else. Who knows? Who knew about Aberfan?” The same intense downpour which may have caused the landslip in Cwmtillery also filled rivers across the Welsh valleys. In the market town of Pontypridd, which is 20 miles away, the River Taff burst its banks again, flooding many of the same homes that were inundated during Storm Dennis in 2020. While fewer properties flooded than last time, feelings are still running high. Lesley Glennie, 57, says her husband only received a text message flood warning, which indicates homes will be flooded, once the water was bubbling up through their laminate boards. “I’m bloody angry,” she says, as a multitude of dehumidifiers dry out her sodden floors and walls. “We had no warning. We didn’t have a clue... it came up six inches in the end.” Her daughter, Becky Carney, 30, who is autistic, found the experience terrifying: “I hate feeling trapped and claustrophobic. When I saw the water coming in, everything was going to mind. I thought I was going to drown. I felt so overwhelmed.” Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion The Labour first minister of Wales , Eluned Morgan, claimed last week that investment in flood defences had protected a significant number of homes in Wales. But this is no comfort to Glennie, who is furious more has not been done to protect the town since 2020. “This happened in Storm Dennis. I don’t want to go through any more floods. I don’t want [Becky] to go through them,” she says. “I won’t vote Labour ever again. But who can you trust? Who will help us?” While Natural Resources Wales (NRW) insists flood warnings in Pontypridd were issued at 7.41am on Sunday, some residents claim the first they heard about the flood was a knock from Carolyn Morton, who runs the dental laboratory on the road. “Nobody was to be seen when the river went on Sunday morning,” says Morton, who rushed to the road after seeing river levels rise on the NRW website.“I am angry with the authorities because they keep passing the buck. Nobody wants to take responsibility.” On the other side of the river, the same homes flooded again. Some residents complain that they were denied floodgates, which were installed by the council after the last flood. “This is climate change... but there are things that could have been done to help us. We applied for a flood gate but they said we weren’t eligible,” says Linda Davies, 78, who has been moved out of her flooded, damaged home again. “They didn’t want to know.” People who moved in since the last floods hoped the road would be better protected. “We knew it had flooded in Storm Dennis but we were told the official categorisation was a once-in-a-century storm,” says Mike Crippen, 49, who works for Cardiff University. “This was meant to be a long-term place but, if we decide we can’t live with the river now, it might be hard to sell again.” He was alerted to the flood by Davies, who knocked on his door. He now needs to replace the kitchen and find temporary accommodation. He has applied for a £1,000 flood recovery grant from the Rhondda Cynon Taf council. “The insurance has paid for everything... but they have pulled out [of] the market now. The new company will probably hike the premiums.” Reform UK’s newly appointed Welsh lead spokesperson, Oliver Lewis, is eyeing up an opportunity: “It is highly likely support for us will continue to grow, particularly in south Wales.” He claims political parties in government in Cardiff and London are being held responsible for the failure to invest in Welsh infrastructure, including flood defences: “[The flooding in Wales] reflects inadequate flood defences.” Lewis, however, denies it is linked to climate change: “That’s a red herring. It’s ridiculous. Britain has had bad weather forever... the issue is that these debates are being hijacked on the basis of the climate changing... instead of very serious, legitimate questions being asked about governance.” Back in Cwmtillery, a soft dusk is falling over the tightly packed terraces clinging to the valley. Connor thinks the UK government should take responsibility for the legacy of the coal used to power the British economy: “All of these Welsh resources were stolen... taken... stripped away and Wales has been left with the aftermath, which is genuinely dangerous.”
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Available in shades like black and charcoal, the burgundy set has taken social media by storm, with enthusiasts heading to stores to grab this sought-after ensemble. TikToker @Chris_fairley couldn't hold back his excitement when posting a video of the collection to his followers. He said: "They've finally arrived. Burgundy butter gym sets." Chris discovered items at the Primark store in Liverpool’s city centre, as reported by The Mirror . However, those further afield can check their local store's stock via Primark's online tool. The leggings are offered in an inclusive range of sizes from XXS to XL, coming in a palette of burgundy, taupe, chocolate, charcoal, and black. Similarly, T-shirts also span sizes XXS to XL and come in ecru, burgundy, taupe, chocolate, charcoal, or black, while the yoga shorts are up for grabs in burgundy or black. Given the tidal wave of admiration Chris' video has garnered, with over 70,000 likes, these gym sets are tipped to fly off the shelves. Among the sea of enthusiastic comments, one viewer said: “Omg, I love these”, while another added: “Burgundy is a lifestyle." A third said: “My colour always and so comfy as well.” For those looking to explore different shades, Primark's gym range also features Seamless Performance Full-Length Leggings for £8, and Seamless Contour Leggings for £11. These leggings are sold separately but can be matched with coordinating pieces such as the Seamless Contour Long Sleeve Gym Top for £10, and the Seamless Zip-Through Workout Jacket for £12.