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Who needs the EU’s ‘irrelevant’ Gaza peace plan? The EU does, of course

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

When is a Middle East peace plan not a Middle East peace plan? When it’s really a plan to pacify bickering Europeans.  Last week, the EU’s 27 national leaders called for an “international peace conference,” in addition to diplomatic and security initiatives to address in the longer Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the wake of the recent Israel-Hamas war. It was the bloc’s latest attempt to influence events in the Middle East following a series of open disagreements over how to handle the crisis among top officials. But a week after the call was issued at a gathering of leaders in Brussels, key questions about where such a summit would be hosted, who would attend and what its aims would be remain unanswered. A spokesperson for the Israeli mission to the EU said they are “not in a position to say if we would attend or not because we don’t know yet what it would actually mean,” adding that so far, no European officials had reached out on the ...

Tools of economic statecraft are powerful — and can cause lasting harm

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

Julia Friedlander is CEO of Atlantik-Brücke in Berlin and former advisor for European affairs at the U.S. National Security Council and Department of the Treasury. Josh Lipsky is senior director of the Atlantic Council GeoEconomics Center and previously was an advisor at the IMF.In director Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” which chronicles the life of the father of the atomic bomb, the character of physicist Niels Bohr warns: “We have to make the politicians understand, this isn’t a new weapon, it’s a new world.” And for many economists watching the film, the moment may have rung eerily true.Over the past few years, politicians have leaned heavily on the power of economics to shape foreign policy — what we call “economic statecraft.” From sanctions and export controls to the blocking of assets overseas, these tools appeal to policymakers who want to make an impact on a competitor or adversary, while avoiding direct military conflict.Of course, sanctions are nothing like atomic wea...

This global right-wing movement wants to save the world. It just needs a plan

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

GREENWICH, England — Call it the anti-Davos — a major conference where right-wing populists take aim at liberal elites and plan their revolution.Some of the most powerful people in Western politics joined forces for the first Alliance for Responsible Citizenship Conference (ARC) in southeast London this week, from U.S. presidential hopefuls and former Australian prime ministers right through to serving U.K. Cabinet members and even the newly-elected speaker of the U.S. Congress.But despite a star-studded cast of right-wingers and some high-minded aims, the three-day ARC conference in Greenwich — billed as creating a “better story for the future” — at times struggled to define itself, and may have its work cut out to turn sometimes-competing ideas into concrete action.“They need to be careful it doesn’t just become a center-right talking shop,” said one attendee.  Another, a theologian, mused that he was having a great time, but didn’t quite understand the point.ARC of the moral...

Keir Starmer strikes uneasy truce with his MPs on Israel — for now

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

LONDON — Keir Starmer still isn’t calling for a ceasefire in Gaza — but he has agreed a temporary truce with his own MPs.In a speech Monday, the Labour leader set out why he isn’t backing a ceasefire in the Middle East despite open revolt in his own party.The address was a response to dozens of Labour MPs — including those on his front bench team — who have urged Israel to stop its offensive on Gaza amid the rising civilian death toll. They have been joined by some of the party’s most senior politicians including Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.Having ridden high in the polls for months, the row threatens to derail what appeared to be a smooth path for Starmer to victory in the general election due to be held by January 2025. Under the last Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the party came close to splitting amid accusations of anti-Semitism.Keen to avoid reopening the fault line, Starmer said in his speech he understo...

Sunak defends China invite at AI summit while facing down Tory hawks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

BLETCHLEY, England — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he had been vindicated in inviting China to his AI summit after securing Chinese and American backing for a shared communique on the emerging technology — including his predecessor Liz Truss.Talking on POLITICO’s Power Play podcast ahead of day two of his inaugural AI summit at Bletchley Park, Sunak said it had been the “right decision” to invite China, despite vocal opposition to that choice from his Tory backbenchers. “It’s the right decision for the country in the long term. I think there can’t really be a substantive conversation about AI without involving the world’s leading AI nations. And China is indisputably one of those.“I’m pleased that they’ve engaged … it hasn’t happened for a long time that, you know, we’ve all signed the same bit of paper, whether that’s us, the Americans, Europeans [or] China, which I think is a good sign of progress.”It’s been nothing sh...

Fantasy Fixer: Week 9

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

7’s Morey Hershgordon has the inside scoop on who to start and sit this week in Fantasy Fixer. Go set your lineups!

Nathan Eovaldi’s shutout start propels Rangers to first-ever World Series championship

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

On Wednesday night, Nathan Eovaldi once again shined when the spotlights were at their brightest, and was rewarded with a place in history.Starting Game 5 of the World Series, the former Red Sox star pitched six shutout innings, leading the Texas Rangers their first World Series championship in franchise history.What a half-decade it’s been for Eovaldi. Since the Red Sox acquired him from the Rays at the 2018 deadline, he’s pitched for three postseason teams and been a key figure in two championships.In the 2018 World Series, he was the hero in what became the longest postseason game – by innings and minutes – in MLB history, coming out of the bullpen to throw 97 pitches in a stunning relief appearance that stretched into the 18th inning.When the 2021 Red Sox were projected to finish last and win maybe 80 games, he led them to a Wild Card and all the way to the ALCS. It was his first All-Star season, and he finished fourth and 15th in American League Cy Young and MVP voting, respect...

Jaylon Johnson still is seeking common ground with the Chicago Bears on a contract extension: ‘I’m not asking to change the market’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

Jaylon Johnson wants to remain a Chicago Bear. That tune hasn’t changed.“I’ve said that since I got here,” Johnson reiterated Wednesday, a day after the Bears gave him permission to seek a trade that never materialized before Tuesday’s deadline.Bears general manager Ryan Poles would love to keep Johnson as part of the team’s core as he tries to build a championship contender at Halas Hall. Poles’ big-picture stance hasn’t changed either.“I don’t want to lose Jaylon Johnson,” he said.Yet the means for those wishes to become reality is a contract extension that hasn’t materialized through a negotiating process that has been slower and clunkier than either side wants.Johnson sees himself as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL and wants to be rewarded accordingly with his second contract. Poles, meanwhile, has stressed business discipline throughout his time as GM, working hard not to wander far beyond the financ...

Rangers win first World Series in franchise history

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi pitched six gutsy innings, Mitch Garver broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the seventh and the Texas Rangers are World Series champions for the first time in their 63-season franchise history after beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.Marcus Semien homered late and the Rangers, held hitless for six innings by Zac Gallen, finished a record 11-0 on the road this postseason by capping the Fall Classic with three straight wins in the desert.In his first season with Texas, manager Bruce Bochy won his fourth title 13 years to the day after his first, which came in 2010 when the Giants beat the Rangers. He also won it all with San Francisco in 2012 and 2014.One night after Texas took a 10-run lead by the third in a Game 4 snoozer, it finished baseball's third all-wild card Series by outlasting the Diamondbacks in a white-knuckle pitchers' duel, piling on four runs in the ninth for good measure.Gallen took a no-hi...

Air ambulance crash kills 4 crew members in central Mexico

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:24:31 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Four crew members died Wednesday when an air ambulance crashed in the central Mexican state of Morelos.The incident took place just before 14:30 p.m. local time, in a wooded, mountainous area near the town of Tetlama, Temixco: a township roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Mexico City.Officials from the army, National Guard and state security departments responded to the crash, the state department for civil protection reported on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.In images posted to X and Facebook, smoke can be seen billowing from a charred gash in the side of a hill.The cause of the accident is not known, but the office of Morelos’ Attorney General is opening an investigation.The Associated Press