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Cautious Keir Starmer tiptoes toward power

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

LIVERPOOL, England — Keir Starmer is 17 points clear in the polls and seemingly cruising toward Downing Street. But it won’t be big spending pledges that get him over the line.The Labour leader and his shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have one job to do at their annual party conference this week: Persuade British voters the party is finally ready to govern after 13 years in the wilderness.As Starmer edges closer to power, he is desperate not to put a foot wrong — and nowhere is this more obvious than in his approach to the country’s public finances.His leadership so far has focused on removing Labour’s glaring electoral vulnerabilities, exerting a tighter grip on party structures and honing a message of fiscal discipline. His strategy has been so deeply rooted in caution that anyone who shows a little verve, as Reeves did Monday, risks upstaging him — while questions about how Labour would mend Britain’s ailing public services without new spending remain unanswered...

Multilateralism is broken

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

Nathalie Tocci is director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali and a part-time professor at the European University Institute. Her latest book, “A Green and Global Europe,” is out with Polity.No major European foreign policy speech or document has ever neglected to mention the existential importance of multilateralism and the rules-based order. The rhetoric remains unscathed to this day, and multilateralism is still the knee-jerk corollary to anything Europeans say about their role in the world.But in practice, Europe is doing little to prevent the tragic death of global governance.At various junctures throughout its history, Europe stood out as multilateralism’s staunchest defender. And at no point was this clearer than during the most recent Republican administrations in the United States, when Washington turned its back on international rules, regimes and organizations in favor of unilateral action.During former U.S. President George W. Bush’s first administration, Europeans pr...

Hamas’ gift to Vladimir Putin

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor and Christian Oliver is head of news at POLITICO Europe.Hamas’ brutal assault against Israel came on Vladimir Putin’s birthday. Such a catastrophic security shock in the Middle East was probably a welcome surprise for a Russian president whose strategic priority is to divert Western support and attention away from Ukraine. A massive conflagration in Israel risks doing exactly that. The big question is how much credit to give the Kremlin for the perfect storm of mounting crises — in Israel, Kosovo, the Caucasus and Africa — that are rearing up on America and Europe. For many, it’s tempting to see Putin as a mastermind or puppetmaster, stirring up more conflicts than the West can cope with. In truth, Putin didn’t ignite all these crises, but he’s now happy to slosh fuel on the fire, and play them to his advantage. He’s relishing the chaos. The Kremlin’s crowing propagandists are already spreading a narrative tha...

Israel’s ambassador in Brussels calls on EU allies to help contain war

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

BRUSSELS — Israel’s top diplomat in Brussels said he wanted support from EU countries to keep his country’s war against Hamas in Gaza from spreading elsewhere, days after more than 900 people died after Hamas’ attacks.“We hope and we ask the EU or international community to pass a strong message to Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, this is [only] with Gaza,” Haim Regev, the Israeli ambassador to the EU and NATO, told POLITICO in an exclusive interview. Since then, Israel engaged in retaliatory strikes in Gaza and Israel’s defense minister imposed a “complete siege” on the Hamas-led territory, cutting off electricity, fuel and food to 2 million residents. The war’s death toll on both sides totaled nearly 1,600 people Monday evening. The Israeli army continued to exchange fire with gunmen on its northern border with Lebanon since Sunday. Hezbollah — a Lebanese militant group and political party — denie...

GOP braces for messy fight over speakership as McCarthy doesn’t rule out a return to power

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

(CNN) — House Republicans remain badly divided over their two choices for speaker in the aftermath of the ouster of Kevin McCarthy from the speakership – and are bracing for the possibility that neither House Majority Leader Steve Scalise nor House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan can get the 217 votes needed to be elected speaker.The deep uncertainty has heightened talk in GOP circles that a dark-horse candidate could emerge, as McCarthy himself refused on Monday to rule out a return to the speakership if Scalise or Jordan fail to win the votes to assume the most powerful position in Congress.“I’m going to allow the conference to do their work,” McCarthy said repeatedly at a Monday news conference, refusing to publicly endorse Scalise or Jordan for the job.The comments – and the 11th-hour talk of a McCarthy comeback, which is still seen as a long-shot – underscore the deep turmoil that exists this week as Republicans struggle to coalesce behind ...

10 buildings damaged, 8 displaced after home explosion in Woodstock

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

WOODSTOCK, Ill. — Emergency response teams were still on scene in Woodstock Monday night, hours after an explosion reduced a home to ruble and caught nearby structures on fire. Officials say it was around 2:40 p.m. when the two-story home exploded, damaging 10 buildings and displacing eight people."The house is burned to the ground and there’s nothing left," said Becky Bosowski, the homeowner's sister. Bosowski said her bother shared the home with his wife, their roommate, two dogs and a cat. According to Bosowski nobody was home at the time of the explosion. "All three of them were at work," Bosowski said. Officials say the gas company was working in the area when a gas main was struck shortly before the explosion happened. Woodstock Fire and Rescue District Fire Chief Brendan Parker said crews were notified about the smell of natural gas in the area around 12:35 p.m. after the two-inch gas line was hit."The explosion instantly leveled a home and...

Pulitzer Prize winner returns to Northwestern classroom with a lesson on George Floyd's life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

EVANSTON, Ill. — Northwestern University alum Robert Samuels is back in his college classroom at Fisk Hall in Evanston for the first time since graduating in 2006, but now, in a sense, he’s the one doing the teaching.  “It's so surreal,” Samuels said. “I didn't really think about how much it would hit me until I walked through the doors.”Samuels, an accomplished Washington Post reporter, and now a New Yorker writer has a new title: Pulitzer Prize winning author. “I don't think I knew I could cry happy tears, but I was so elated,” he said. “I was totally surprised.”Samuels reflected on the ways in which his time at Northwestern, in Evanston, and in Chicago shaped his views. “There are so many ways,” he said. “One of the reasons I wanted to come to Northwestern is because I grew up in the Bronx, and I had never spent any time in the Midwest. I thought that would be a good thing for me. And a lot of the conversations that I used to have with people on campus were about race and racism...

Man surrenders after climbing iconic Ferris wheel in California, prompting evacuation

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

(KTLA) -- A man who scaled the famous Ferris wheel at the Santa Monica pier in California and prompted an evacuation after allegedly claiming to have a bomb has surrendered to police.The incident began around 3 p.m. PST Monday when witnesses heard the man allegedly make comments about being in possession of a bomb. At some point, the man scaled the Ferris wheel and refused to come down, according to the Santa Monica Police Department. A crisis negotiation team was called to the scene and was in contact with the man in hopes of getting him to surrender. Airbnb guest won’t leave after staying at rental for over a year without paying, homeowner says After about an hour of talking with the man, he began working his way down the structure, where he was quickly apprehended by police just before 4:30 p.m.Police evacuated the Santa Monica Pier after a man scaled the Ferris wheel at Pacific Park on Oct. 9, 2023. (KTLA)Throughout the incident, the man was seen holding a backpack, but police...

Passing rain showers for some on Tuesday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Tropical moisture from two tropical storms in the Pacific and a low pressure system in the Gulf of Mexico is forecast to move into southeast Texas Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing cloudy skies locally with a few passing, light rain showers.There is higher than normal uncertainty in how much rain ends up falling in our area depending on where the tropical moisture ends up, but we currently expect a 50% chance of light rain Tuesday and early Wednesday with rain totals generally under 0.25".Rain showers should be most numerous from early Tuesday afternoon through Tuesday evening.Dry weather is forecast from Thursday as a dry cold front sets up to our north. That front is expected to breeze through early Friday, dropping temperatures and humidity for ACL weekend two.Music fans may be able to pull off the impossible and have a second consecutive wonderful autumn weekend at Zilker Park with highs in the 70s and low humidity. Annular solar eclipse Saturday, Oct. 14The weath...

Magnolia Cafe owner discusses South Congress rent increases, businesses priced out

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:40:21 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) --- Businesses continue to open and close in the Austin area. According to the Downtown Austin Alliance's 2023 State of Downtown Report, since February 2020, 125 storefront businesses closed and 71 opened. Just up the street on South Congress, Magnolia Cafe Owner Kent Cole said he's seen some closings and openings in that area as well.Cole said for businesses lined up along the well-known street, it costs a pretty penny to be there. "We're in a situation on the street where we have seen enormous growth within blocks of here and an enormous escalation of the rental prices," Cole said. It's caused some businesses there to close down or move. RELATED COVERAGE: South Congress Books ‘priced out,’ announces relocation to old Austin neighborhood "Some of our long established neighboring businesses have left. Some simply relocated out by Ben White, south and other ones have gone east," Cole said. "Many of them have simply gone home and just stopped or went into another line ...