Le Journal

LeBron James’ 21-year NBA All-Star Game starting streak came to an end on Tuesday after the Los Angeles Lakers star was excluded from the 10 starters named for next month’s midseason showpiece. The 41-year-old NBA icon, who has been named as an All-Star starter in every season since 2005, was the biggest omission from this year’s event, at the Los Angeles Clippers’ Intuit Dome on February 15. The 10 starters – five from the Western Conference and five from the Eastern Conference – will be joined...

Legendary couturier Valentino Garavani, founder of the Valentino fashion house, died yesterday in Rome. He was 93. Those closest to the designer included his long-time friend and business partner Giancarlo Giammetti, also known as GG. Throughout the 1960s until the early 70s, the duo were in a romantic relationship, and while it didn’t last, they remained inseparable for decades. Here’s what to know about the gentleman who was always by Valentino’s side. He co-founded Valentino Born in Rome in...

Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, qui avait pris le pouvoir en 2022 avant d’être renversé à son tour la même année, est régulièrement accusé par la junte burkinabée de fomenter de nouveaux coups d’Etat.

Le premier ministre va tenter d’échapper à la censure, mardi, sur le volet recettes du projet de loi de finances, puis, quelques jours plus tard, sur la partie dépenses. Il a réaffirmé à plusieurs reprises son objectif de ramener le déficit à 5 % du produit intérieur brut.

I had the great privilege of chatting with Baseball America National Writer Carlos Collazo. We had a very fun discussion about his background, the Nationals’ new regime, the state of the Nats farm system and the 2026 draft. He provided great insights, as you would expect from one of the best prospect evaluators and writers in the space. How He Got Started: Ever since he was a kid, Carlos Collazo has been in love with baseball. His dad taught Carlos and his brothers to play the game at a very young age. By the time he was four, a young Carlos Collazo was all-in on baseball. Like most kids, Collazo dreamed of being a big league player. He played through high school, and even had a D3 offer. However, he had realized that his playing career was not going to progress beyond that. Collazo, who already had a growing passion for writing, decided to go to the University of North Carolina to pursue a career in journalism. This led him to Baseball America, which was headquartered in that area back then. He landed an internship at BA before turning that into a full-time job. Collazo has been working for BA since 2017. Along the way, Collazo has met plenty of interesting people in the baseball industry. One of the people he formed a connection with over the years is new Nationals President of Baseball Operations Paul Toboni. He told me that, “Paul Toboni is one of the few POBO’s I have gotten to know prior to him becoming a the top guy”. Collazo said that he has a lot of respect for what Toboni did in Boston and holds the people he has hired in high regard. As a younger writer who has spent a lot of time in the scouting world, Collazo has a unique insight into Toboni, as well as the baseball world as a whole. Nationals BA Connection: There is one hire Toboni made that Collazo has an extra special connection to though. Just over a week ago, the Nationals hired Peter Flaherty to be the Northeast area scouting supervisor. Flaherty worked with Collazo on draft content for Baseball America over the last few years. The two had a special relationship, with Collazo calling him “my side-kick”. Unlike Collazo, who arrived at BA straight out of college, Flaherty had scouting experience. He worked with the Yankees for a year and spent his summers working in the Cape Cod League. Collazo said that, “Peter has a natural feel for evaluating and scouting players”. While he is excited for his friend, Collazo told me he was going to miss his pal. He noted that he is “very sad to see him leave from a selfish perspective because he’s done an awesome job helping us elevate our draft coverage”. Collazo’s loss is the Nationals gain, as it seems like the organization is getting a great scout and someone Collazo described as an A+ human. Thoughts on Washington Nationals Prospects: Flaherty will help rebuild a Nationals farm system that Collazo sees as solid, but underwhelming. While he is high on some of the prospects, Collazo does not think the system is where it needs to be considering how much the Nats have been losing in recent years.  None of the Nats prospects are going to appear in the top 15 of BA’s next update. For a team that has not had a winning season since 2019, you would like to see more blue chip talent in the system. That is not to say the Nats have a bad system according to Collazo. One guy he really likes is 2025 first overall pick Eli Willits. The high school shortstop got overshadowed by the more famous Ethan Holliday, but Collazo is very high on Willits. He did not appreciate some of the rhetoric about Willits being the cheap option, saying, “There were a lot of narratives that kind of got out of control that I did not appreciate”. Collazo did not think that selecting Willits first overall was a reach, and noted that Willits was a top 3 player on their board in a draft without a clear top player. According to him, Willits was the most well rounded offensive player in the class and had less swing and miss questions than Ethan Holliday.…