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Europe’s disunity over China deepens

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

BRUSSELS — Just when you thought Europe’s China policy could not be more disunited, the two most powerful countries of the European Union are now also at odds over whether to revive a moribund investment agreement with the authoritarian superpower.For France, resuscitating the so-called EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) is “less urgent” and “just not practicable,” according to French President Emmanuel Macron.Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in favor of “reactivating” the agreement, which stalled soon after it was announced in late 2020 after Beijing imposed sanctions on several members of the European Parliament for criticizing human rights violations. Speaking to POLITICO aboard his presidential plane during a visit to China earlier this month, Macron said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discussed the CAI, “but just a little bit.”“I was very blunt with President Xi, I was very honest, as far as this is a Europe...

EU schemes up sweeteners to woo countries from Russia and China

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

The EU is plotting how to win friends and influence people — in other countries. Earlier this week, EU officials circulated a confidential briefing, obtained by POLITICO, that details several individualized plans to win back — or not lose — four key “priority countries” that sit on the edge of the Western-led alliance trying to isolate Russia, arm Ukraine and constrain China.The countries: Brazil, Chile, Nigeria and Kazakhstan.The document indicates where — and how — the EU thinks it can make progress in each one. There is the expected invocation of possible trade agreements, but the document goes well beyond that, suggesting tailored offers the EU can make on energy, migration, economic development or security coordination. The focus is distinctly on carrots, not sticks. The unstated goal: To get more friends and build a next-generation economy without cozying up to autocrats. Indeed, Russia and China loom over the entire document, with several anxious mentions of th...

Germany’s sharp-tongued Annalena Baerbock rips up the diplomatic playbook

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

BERLIN — Annalena Baerbock is ready to fight — against autocracies and her own chancellor.Standing beside her Chinese counterpart Qin Gang in Beijing, the German foreign minister voiced a few appreciative remarks about China’s rise to the top world powers before turning up the heat on her host.“Many in the world are asking how China will use this growing influence,” Baerbock said at the press conference in the palatial Diaoyutai state guesthouse earlier this month. “I have to say frankly, I wonder why the Chinese position has so far not included a call upon the aggressor Russia to stop the war.”Along with Baerbock’s broadside against Beijing over its (not-so-indirect) support for Russia’s war in Ukraine came warnings to China that an escalation against Taiwan would amount to “a horror scenario,” as well as criticism over Chinese human rights violations. What had started friendly quickly descended into a tense meeting, with Qin sn...

In defense of the dollar

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

Jay Newman was a senior portfolio manager at Elliott Management and is the author of the bestselling thriller “Undermoney.” Meyrick Chapman’s career spans 40 years in international finance and currently lectures University of Buckingham. He founded Hedge Analytics Ltd in 2020.There’s no question about it — the United States dollar is under attack.Finance is prone to fads, and its latest mania is de-dollarization: the notion that the dollar will soon meet its demise as the world’s preeminent reserve currency.Everyone seems to hate the greenback. China recently crowed about its “triumphant” purchase of an LNG cargo, which was paid for in yuan and traded through China’s Shanghai Petroleum & Natural Gas Exchange. And Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has called for development of a new currency for BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — to dethrone the dollar.Such events attract media attention, of course, but they may just turn out to be sidesh...

Targeted killings spark debate within Russian opposition

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. KYIV — “She’ll say whatever the FSB [Federal Security Service] wants her to say,” said Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian lawmaker-turned-dissident who now lives in Kyiv.Discussing who was behind the bombing of a St. Petersburg café earlier this month — which left 40 injured and warmongering military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky dead — the “she” in question was 26-year-old Darya Trepova who, until recently, was an assistant at a vintage clothing store and a feminist activist, and has been accused of being the bomber.And the St. Petersburg bombing — as well as another carried out against commentator Darya Dugina — has now sharpened a debate within the deeply fractured, often argumentative and diverse Russian opposition, regarding the most effective tactics to oppose President Vladimir Putin and collapse his regime — raising the question of whether violence should play a role, and if so, when and how?Russian authorities arrested Trepo...

State police investigating after pedestrian struck in Dorchester

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

State police are investigating after a pedestrian was struck by a vehicle on Gallivan Boulevard in Dorchester on Sunday night, officials said.Troopers responding to a reported pedestrian crash around 9:35 p.m. found a pedestrian suffering from life-threatening injuries, according to state police.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Mets drop series finale to Giants, 5-4

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — The Mets needed a big hit and Francisco Alvarez needed one for himself.He belted his first home run of the 2023 season and the second of his career Sunday night in the Mets’ 5-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. It tied the game for the Mets and gave them a chance, but Drew Smith (1-1) struggled in the eighth and allowed an RBI double to Joc Pederson. The Mets went down quietly in the ninth as Camilo Doval converted the save.The Mets (14-9) went 7-3 over a 10-game trip, dropping the last two to split the series with the Giants (11-13).Alvarez’s home run was the highlight of the game for the visitors. The Mets’ top prospect has been billed as a power-hitting catcher since he was signed out of Venezuela five years ago. The power has been obvious at every level of baseball except for the Major League level, though he showed a preview of it last fall during a late-season call-up.The Mets were hoping a year in Triple-A would help him...

Magnitude 7.1 quake hits remote Pacific, no tsunami threat

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A magnitude 7.1 quake struck in a remote part of the Pacific Ocean on Monday but did not appear to generate a tsunami.The quake struck near the Kermadec Islands about 900 kilometers (560 miles) northeast of New Zealand’s North Island at a depth of 49 kilometers (30 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake posed no threat to Hawaii and the wider Pacific. A localized potential for a tsunami passed without any confirmed impact.New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency said it was assessing whether the quake could affect New Zealand but gave its standard advice for people to move away from coastal areas if they felt a long or strong quake.The Kermadec Islands are uninhabited except for Raoul Island where New Zealand scientists sometimes stay over to carry out meteorological observations or weed control work. The islands are the site of frequent large earthquakes. They were geolog...

Lack of snow condemns Italy’s Po to a desperately dry summer

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

TRENTO, Italy (AP) — Italy’s largest river is already as low as it was last summer, with the winter snow fields that normally save it from drying up over the warmer months having receded by 75%, according to the Bolzano climate and environment agency.It’s already causing some reliant on the Po to course correct.“In a few days I will have to cancel all bookings for our Po River cruises because of the shallow water,” said captain Giuliano Landini as he shook his head, his arms stretched wide on the command deck of the Stradivari ship docked under the Boretto bridge and surrounded by long stretches of sand.His 60-meter (196-foot) long vessel used to transport up to 400 people even on shallow waters, but the flow rate of the river is just 350 cubic meters (92,000 gallons) per second, as low as last June, when conditions were some of the hottest and driest in 70 years. Navigation will soon become impossible if abundant rainfall doesn’t arrive soon.The 652-kilometer (405-mile) Po Ri...

Vigil held on 4th anniversary of the murder of Marlen Ochoa Lopez, baby cut from womb

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:52 GMT

CHICAGO — Clergy, community leaders, legal counsel and the family of Marlen Ochoa Lopez held a vigil Sunday on the fourth anniversary of her grisly murder.Attendees gathered in front of a large Pilsen mural that pays homage to the two, honoring her memory with a celebration of life that also functioned as a call for justice. ‘Day of the Dead’ altar built in honor of Marlen Ochoa-Lopez and infant son "I was there in the hospital. I held the baby. I saw the baby," said Attorney Frank Avila, who is representing the family in court. "I had been in a lot of cases, but this is probably one of the most heart wrenching cases.”Ochoa Lopez was a 19-year-old pregnant mother two weeks away from her due date when she was murdered on April 23, 2019. On that day, she went to Clarisa Figueroa's home under the impression she was getting free items for her soon-to-arrive toddler after the two of them connected in a group on Facebook, prosecutors say.When she arrived, prosecutors alleged Figueroa's...