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Meet the Labour think tank guiding Keir Starmer’s path to power

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

LONDON — It began as a vehicle to stop the U.K. Labour Party from splitting under Jeremy Corbyn and to win back control from the hard left.Now under Keir Starmer, Labour Together has evolved into a highly influential think tank quietly shaping the direction of the party which, according to current polling, is on course to form the next government.Headed by Josh Simons, a former Harvard postdoc who has worked on AI ethics for Facebook, Labour Together divides its time between developing policy and measuring public opinion.The think tank maintains a low profile in Westminster but has close links to Labour HQ — those who run it are in regular contact with senior officials including campaign director Morgan McSweeney, strategy director Deborah Mattinson and policy chief Stuart Ingham.It’s also doing some serious fundraising, having amassed more than £1.8 million in donations since Starmer became leader in April 2020.In party circles Labour Together is seen as particularly close to McSwe...

As Lebanon’s border simmers, life in downtown Beirut goes on (for now)

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. LEBANON — Walking in downtown Beirut, with its gleaming apartment blocks, outdoor cafes and stylish restaurants, one would never know Lebanon is possibly a missile or two away from a war — one that would make the 2006 conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah seem minor by comparison.Since Hamas launched its attacks on southern Israel two weeks ago, Hezbollah and the Israeli Defense Forces have been trading fire across the border — and these incidents have been intensifying. Twelve thousand people have fled their homes in southern Lebanon and 25 have been killed, among them 16 Hezbollah fighters and five Israeli soldiers.On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited troops on the country’s northern border, warning that Hezbollah would be making “the mistake of its life” if it decided to fight another war in support of its ally Hamas. “We will strike it with a force it cannot even imagine, and the signifi...

EU Parliament chief to Ukraine: You should have ‘observer’ MEPs while you wait to join the bloc

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

BRUSSELS — European Parliament President Robert Metsola suggested that Ukrainian and Moldovan lawmakers could join the assembly as “observer” members while the two countries await formal accession into the European Union. The EU last year designated Ukraine and Moldova as official candidate countries, shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine. Since then, Metsola has been clamoring for official accession negotiations to begin this year. EU leaders are due to decide whether to formally open Ukraine and Moldova’s accession talks at a summit in December, once they’ve parsed a heavily anticipated report from the European Commission providing a status update on all countries still waiting in the EU’s wings.“Make no mistake: Politically if a country looks to Europe, then Europe should fling its doors wide open,” Metsola told POLITICO in an interview in her ninth-floor office at the Parliament in Brussels.The center-right politician suggested that a hos...

Mike Johnson picked as new GOP speaker nominee just hours after Tom Emmer drops bid

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

(CNN) — The House GOP picked Rep. Mike Johnson as their latest speaker nominee Tuesday evening, though the Louisiana Republican so far lacks the 217 votes needed to win the gavel – the latest sign that Republicans are still no closer to electing a new speaker three weeks after Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster.The vote for Johnson came at the end of a tumultuous day that began when Republicans voted to elect Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer as speaker nominee only for Emmer drop out just hours later amid stiff resistance from the right flank of the conference and a major rebuke from former President Donald Trump.Republicans are under intensifying pressure to find a new leader as the House remains in a state of paralysis, and the GOP remains unable to govern without a speaker. The conference has repeatedly failed to coalesce around a successor to McCarthy amid deep division within its ranks.The politically precarious situation has plunged the House into uncharted territory as it looks in...

Reports: Red Sox hire Craig Breslow as head of baseball operations

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

The Red Sox have reportedly hired Craig Breslow as their new head of baseball operations. Multiple sources including the Boston Globe reported the hiring on Tuesday and said Breslow had accepted the job. The Red Sox fired previous Head of Baseball Operations Chaim Bloom on Sept. 14 after the team’s third last-place finish in four seasons. Brewslow’s reported hiring now follows an extensive search over the past 5.5 weeks.The 43-year-old Breslow pitched for seven teams over a 12-year career, including two stints in Boston, where he won a World Series in 2013.Breslow has additional New England ties as a New Haven, Conn. native and Yale graduate. He comes to the Red Sox front office after serving as the assistant to the general manager of the Chicago Cubs. This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Humanitarian crisis deepens in Gaza as Israel warns ground invasion could be imminent

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel escalated airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, crushing families in the rubble of residential buildings, as health officials said hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the past day and medical facilities were shut down because of bomb damage and lack of power.The soaring death toll from the bombardment is unprecedented in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It augurs an even greater loss of life in Gaza once Israeli forces backed by tanks and artillery launch an expected ground offensive aimed at crushing Hamas militants.Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been running out of food, water and medicine since Israel sealed off the territory following the devastating Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on towns in southern Israel.The Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas, said Israeli airstrikes killed at least 704 people over the past day, mostly women and children. The Associated Press could not independently verify the deat...

Family in Plymouth searching for lost pendant holding 10-year-old boy’s late mother’s ashes 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

A search has continued in Plymouth in recent days after a 10-year-old boy lost a pendant with his mother’s ashes inside. Connor Datri lost the golden heart-shaped pendant to his necklace while on a soccer field at West School in Plymouth last week. While a few days have passed, the family was still holding out hope Tuesday they will find the pendant. Others have been helping, in the meantime.“We can always step over it and miss it, so there’s other people here trying,” said Marty Conceicao, one person looking for the missing item.  “It just made me cry,” Datri’s grandmother, Melissa Moriarty said of the help from others. “It makes me feel that people do still care.”Datri’s mother lost her life in a car crash in 2020. Datri has since relied on the pendant to keep his mom close to his own heart. Datri said he lost the pendant after his necklace fell off after he tripped over his soccer ball.“I’m kind of upset still,” Datri said. Moriarty initially took to...

Republicans nominate Mike Johnson for House speaker after Emmer's withdrawal, desperate to end chaos

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans chose Rep. Mike Johnson as their latest nominee for House speaker late Tuesday, hours after an earlier pick, Rep. Tom Emmer, abruptly withdrew in the face of opposition from Donald Trump and hardline GOP lawmakers.Johnson of Louisiana, a lower-ranked member of the House GOP leadership team, becomes the fourth nominee after Emmer and the others fell short in what has become an almost absurd cycle of political infighting since Kevin McCarthy's ouster as GOP factions jockey for power. Refusing to unify, far-right members won’t accept a more traditional speaker and more moderate members don’t want a hardliner. Johnson immediately faced a roll call behind closed doors to test his support ahead of a House floor vote, when he'll need almost all Republicans to win the gavel. Three weeks on, the Republicans are frittering away their majority status — a maddening embarrassment to some, democracy in action to others, but not at all how the House is expected to fun...

China said the US is a disruptor of peace in response to Pentagon report on China’s military buildup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — China said the United States is the “biggest disruptor of regional peace and stability” in the world in a scathing response Wednesday to a Pentagon report on China’s growing military buildup. The annual report that is required by Congress is one way the Pentagon measures the military capabilities of China, which the U.S. government sees as its key threat in the Asia-Pacific region and America’s primary long-term security challenge.The statement China’s Ministry of Defense issued in response called the Pentagon report’s findings false and used it in turn to hit back at the U.S.’ recent actions in helping Israel and Ukraine, as well as its buildup of military installations worldwide. “The U.S. has sent depleted uranium munitions and cluster bombs to Ukraine, sent its carrier battle groups to the Mediterranean and weapons and munitions to Israel, is this the so-called ‘gospel’ the ’human rights defender is bringing to the area?” said Wu Qian, the ...

Jury finds Baylor University negligent in Title IX lawsuit brought by former student

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:30:17 GMT

WACO, Texas (AP) — A federal jury on Tuesday found Baylor University negligent in a Title IX lawsuit and awarded $270,000 to a former student who alleged she was physically abused by a football player in 2014 during a period of wide-ranging scandal at the nation’s biggest Baptist school.In siding with former student Dolores Lozano, jurors in a Waco courtroom held that Baylor “maintained a policy of deliberate indifference to reports of sexual harassment” that put her at risk. The jury awarded her damages for negligence by Baylor but not for the Title IX violation. The verdict comes a month after Baylor settled a separate, years-long federal lawsuit brought by 15 women who alleged they were sexually assaulted at the school. That was the largest case related to a scandal that ultimately led to the ouster of the university’s president and football coach Art Briles. “It was never about the money, it was about justice,” Lozano said outside the courthouse after the verdict, accordin...