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‘He’s a dictator’: Biden claims progress in Xi meeting, but deep fault lines remain

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

WOODSIDE, Calif. — President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping held a tightly-scripted diplomatic encounter Wednesday on the sidelines of a Pacific states summit aimed at calming fears over the U.S. and China drifting toward military conflict in the Indo-Pacific.Then, in the waning moments of his remarks to the press following the meeting, Biden stood by his prior assessment that Xi is a dictator.“Look, he is. He’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country,” Biden said during a news conference following his four-hour session with Xi.The remarks could spark possible backlash from China. The last time Biden called Xi a dictator, at a June fundraiser in Northern California, Chinese officials called the remarks absurd and a provocation.Biden just minutes earlier Wednesday had announced agreements on a number of confidence-building measures — specifically a resumption of high-level military-to-military communications. “Open, clear, direct commu...

Prominent settler leader pushes Netanyahu to rebuild Israeli homes in Gaza

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

TEL AVIV — While the world tries to work out what Israel’s goals are in Gaza, a prominent settler from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party is seizing on a moment of national crisis to tell him to reintroduce West Bank-style settlements in the coastal enclave as a defensive belt.Yossi Dagan, an influential figure on Israel’s right wing who leads a settler community in the occupied West Bank, told POLITICO in an interview it was time to turn the clock back to before 2005 and rebuild settlements in Gaza. These would, he explained, act as well-guarded outposts to prevent the recurrence of attacks like the onslaught on October 7, in which Hamas Islamist militants murdered some 1,200 people. “If you have communities and people, you have the army and you have more control, and whenever you retreat from the land, you have what happened — a Holocaust,” said Dagan, who has close ties with rightwing American Christian Evangelicals, and has be...

Does the architect of Europe’s Green Deal truly understand what he’s unleashed?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

As a candidate for Dutch prime minister, Frans Timmermans could soon be grappling with the changes he set in motion.By KARL MATHIESENIllustration by Weston Wei for POLITICOHEERLEN, NetherlandsTHE ARCHITECT OF EUROPE’S GREEN REVOLUTION knew he was unleashing dislocation and suffering across the Continent. He knew that, because half a century ago his family and practically everybody they knew had their lives turned upside down by the same kind of industrial upheaval he himself has now loosed across the European Union.As the European commissioner in charge of the wrenching transformation the bloc must undergo to meet its climate ambitions, Frans Timmermans has spoken often about the fate of the former Dutch coal town where he spent part of his early life. In his telling, Heerlen is a cautionary tale, a warning of the dangers for communities when not enough is done to cushion them from change.Timmermans resigned as executive vice president of the European Commission in August to r...

Rishi Sunak fights to save his Rwanda policy — and his skin

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

LONDON — In two huge political moments this week, Rishi Sunak was asked to pick a side and declined. His mixed messages may just keep him in business. His flagship immigration policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda was dealt a crushing blow Wednesday as it was declared unlawful by the U.K. Supreme Court.Polls show immigration is a major concern of British voters, and Sunak has pledged to “stop the boats” making illegal crossings across the Channel, a promise some suggested he was rowing back from after he sacked his hard line home secretary Suella Braverman Monday.Following the Supreme Court judgement, Sunak at first made clear he would respect the ruling and focus efforts on forging a new treaty with Rwanda. It was immediately clear this would not be enough to satisfy the right of his party, which lost no time in calling on him to effectively bin the U.K.’s human rights framework, or even just ignore the court altogether.“The planes should just go ahead and t...

Meet David Cameron’s Indo-Pacific fixer: an ex-MEP known for championing Beijing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

LONDON — As Westminster debated the wisdom — or otherwise — of David Cameron’s return to frontline politics this week, one former colleague was in no doubt.“Cameron is in the right place at the right time,” wrote former Tory MEP Nirj Deva of the new U.K. foreign secretary. “There are very few if any international leaders who could lead on so many fronts with knowledge, deep relationships and meticulous attention to detail.”Deva’s glowing appraisal was hardly surprising. The pair are friendly — and picture after picture shows him and Cameron together at events around the world.But Cameron’s association with the ex-MEP raises further questions about his own past involvement with Chinese investment projects which could cause a conflict with Britain’s core strategic interests.During a 20-year career in Brussels, Deva was well known for building links with China, even founding an EU-China friendship group that was later wound up after conce...

The rise and fall of geopolitical Europe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

Nathalie Tocci is director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, a part-time professor at the European University Institute and a Europe’s Futures fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences. Her latest book, “A Green and Global Europe,” is out with Polity.As the European Union’s leadership enters its last lap, with the European Parliament elections scheduled for 2024, it’s worth reflecting on the bloc’s global role and the lessons to be drawn from the wars and crises of the last four years.So, against the backdrop of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s ambition of a “geopolitical Commission,” announced at the beginning of her term, how is global Europe actually faring?Let’s begin, for once, with the good news: Europe’s policy toward Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has featured all the elements of a successful foreign policy.Of course, this doesn’t mean Europe will necessarily succeed in its goals or that Ukraine will win its existential battle of survival against imperia...

Ten more years: Emmanuel Macron’s broken glyphosate promise

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

In 2017, President Emmanuel Macron ignited the hopes of environmentalists and health advocates when he vowed that France would ban the controversial herbicide glyphosate within three years.“I have asked the government to take the necessary steps to ban the use of glyphosate in France as soon as alternatives are found, and within three years at the latest,” he said at the time.The French leader’s announcement followed a bitter political battle in the European Union, which saw the world’s most widely used pesticide re-approved for use by farmers in the bloc amid concerns that it is both carcinogenic and harmful to biodiversity.Pressured by the European Parliament and influential agricultural powerhouses France, Germany, and Italy, EU countries reluctantly reached a compromise to extend the authorization by five years — shorter than the typical 10- to 15-year approval period for agricultural chemicals. The license was extended for another 12 months last December...

Tractor-trailer rollover causes serious injuries, prompts lane closures in Grafton

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

Emergency crews responded in Grafton Wednesday night after two tractor-trailers were involved in a crash, officials said. Massachusetts State Police in a post on X said the crash happened on the eastbound side of I-90. In addition to the tractor-trailers, police said multiple other vehicles were also involved. State police said one tractor-trailer reportedly rolled over.The state Department of Transportation in a separate post said the crash happened near Exit 98. MassDOT continued, saying the crash caused serious injuries. Officials said only one lane of traffic was getting through the eastbound side of I-90 in the area as of around 10:15 p.m.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

Boston Marathon bombing survivor launches new organization to help others in similar situations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

A Boston Marathon bombing survivor who spent more than three years in and out of medical facilities is now launching a new organization to help others in similar situations. Marc Fucarile wants to be a lifeline for those who receive life-altering news. As he continues his work, he recently spoke to 7NEWS.“You’ll be able to talk to people who are living the same experiences you are about to have,” Fucarile said of the MARC Network, his new mobility awareness resource community.Fucarile lost his leg on the day of the marathon bombing more than 10 years ago.When he regained consciousness in the hospital, as grateful as he was to be alive, he didn’t know what was next for him. Neither did the loved ones by his bedside.“After surgery, and surgery, and surgery every day, yeah, I didn’t know what my life was going to look like moving forward,” he said. “My family was terrified.”“I had a five-year-old boy,” he continued. “I was scared.” After 3.5 years in and out of medical facili...

Concord-Carlisle punches its ticket to the Division 1 boys soccer final

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:54:09 GMT

LYNN — If you told Concord-Carlisle boys soccer coach Ray Pavlik his team was going to be undefeated and having a chance to play for a Division 1 state title this season, he probably wouldn’t have believed it.Yet that’s exactly what the Patriots are going to do on Saturday at Walpole High.The top-seeded Patriots controlled their state semifinal against No. 5 Weymouth for most of the 80 minutes on Wednesday as Sean Fernandez-Davila had a pair of penalty kick goals in a 3-1 win at Manning Field.“Sean has been our go-to guy in those situations all season,” Pavlik said. “He showed a lot of poise and finished with two real quality shots.”The Patriots (19-0-1) set the tone almost from the opening kick as they swarmed around Weymouth goalie Bo Carley’s net. The pressure resulted in a takedown in the box in the seventh minute and a penalty kick.Fernandez-Davila calmly stepped to the spot and drilled a shot low inside the post for a 1-0 lead.The Wildcats, who were in the semifinals for a sec...