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The EU in 2035: Bigger, messier, tougher 

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

Paul Taylor is a contributing editor at POLITICO. PARIS — A few weeks ago, a graduate student challenged me to imagine the European Union in 2035. Most of the time, we aren’t even sure how the next summit will turn out, or whether the bloc’s east-west and north-south divides will be bridged or papered over one more time. If a week is a long time in politics, 12 years is an eternity — and a crystal ball is no scientific instrument. Yet, some features of that future Europe are discernible today. For one, the EU will have more, not fewer, members by the mid-2030s — possibly as many as 36 compared to today’s 27.  It will be a bigger, messier yet tougher EU, shaped — as always — by unexpected events, and the bloc will struggle to defend its interests and values in a world of great power rivalry. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, geopolitics has become the strongest driving force raising pressure on Brussels and Western European capitals when it c...

Russia wants you to think the Black Sea grain deal is drowning, not waving

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

BRUSSELS — Some 28 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain have been exported under the Black Sea Grain Initiative since last July, including to poor countries facing the brunt of the world’s spiraling food crisis.But Russia is threatening to walk away from the pact, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, unless its demands are met. The Kremlin is effectively threatening a return to the full-scale maritime blockade that halted Ukraine’s grain exports in the months after its full-scale invasion in February last year.Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in New York next week to discuss an extension of the deal beyond May 18.The outlook is “not looking good,” the Kremlin has said, sparking speculation that the deal, which allows limited Ukrainian grain volumes to reach foreign buyers, will soon be dead in the water. Ratcheting up the pressure, a letter from Russia to the Joint Coordination Committee of the Black Sea Grain I...

Panthers cool off Bruins 6-3, return to Florida tied 1-1

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Brandon Montour scored twice and the Florida Panthers had four third-period goals to beat the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Bruins 6-3 on Wednesday night and send Boston to its first loss in 10 games.The Panthers — the NHL’s top regular-season team last season — tied the best-of-seven series and head home for Games 3 and 4 on Friday and Sunday. There will be a Game 5 back in Boston on Wednesday.Montour scored 22 seconds into the third period to break a 2-2 tie, Carter Verhaeghe added an insurance goal, then Montour scored again for Florida and Eetu Luostarinen added an empty netter with 2:25 to play to make it 6-2.Alex Lyon stopped 34 shots, and Sam Bennett and Eric Staal also scored for the Panthers, who seemed overmatched by the NHL-best Bruins in a 3-1 series-opening loss.Brad Marchand scored a short-handed goal, and Tyler Bertuzzi and Taylor Hall also scored for the Bruins, who won their last eight – and 15 of their last 16 — regular-season games while setting N...

US airlines about to be hit with ‘tsunami’ of pilot retirements

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

(CNN) — The US airline industry is about to be hit with a “tsunami of pilot retirements” that will further the nation’s pilot shortage, limiting flight availability for passengers and putting upward pressure on fares, an industry group told Congress Wednesday.“The pilot shortage has resulted in a collapse in air service,” Faye Malarkey Black, president and CEO of the Regional Airline Association, told a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing in prepared remarks.More than half of pilots working today hit the mandatory retirement age of 65 in the next 15 years and younger pilots are not making up for those aging out.The “severe and ongoing pilot shortage” is nationwide, Black noted: 42 states have less airline service now than before the pandemic, 136 airports have lost at least a quarter of their service, and airlines have completely cut off flights to 11 airports in smaller cities that connect to larger ...

Suspects arrested after high-speed chase in Florida 

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

A wild car chase in South Florida ended Wednesday after a brief standoff. Two people have now been arrested following the chase and the standoff, which was caught on camera Wednesday afternoon. Officials said two people carjacked a white Lexux, taking off on a Miami highway. They were seen weaving between cars and across lanes, hitting speeds up to 140 miles per hour. The suspects at one point suddenly slowed down. One of them jumped out of the car with a rifle and unsuccessfully attempted to carjack someone else. Later, one of the men was seen making a run for it while the other got in a different car and took off. Though deputies eventually crashed into the stolen car, the driver didn’t give up. Instead, he was seen running into a Miami neighborhood, diving into a canal and dashing through another neighborhood before breaking into someone’s home. As this played out, neighbors said they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. “I saw the guy ...

Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres play hero in win over Angels as Jhony Brito rebounds

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

It looked as if Shohei Ohtani had given the Angels an early lead for the second game in a row when his bat connected with a Jhony Brito changeup in the first inning Wednesday night.Then Aaron Judge’s feet left the ground.The Yankees’ 6-7 center fielder robbed Ohtani of a home run into Monument Park, impeding the fence-clearing ball with his Rawlings leather. Unable to squeeze the 111.5-mile-per-hour projectile, Judge caught the ball with his bare hand after it bounced off his glove. The play elicited MVP chants for the man who won the award over Ohtani last season.But Judge’s first inning theatrics were far from over, as he then crushed a no-doubter deep to left after leadoff man Anthony Volpe singled. The 111.7-mph, 412-foot blast off Angels starter Griffin Canning gave the Yankees an early lead in a series-tying, 3-2 win over Los Angeles that ultimately ended with a walk-off sacrifice fly from Gleyber Torres in the 10th inning.Brito, starting for the first time s...

Orioles shortstop Jorge Mateo ‘day to day’ after exiting game against Nationals with right hip discomfort

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

Orioles shortstop Jorge Mateo left Wednesday’s game against the Washington Nationals in the second inning with an injury to his right hip.Mateo grounded out to shortstop to end the second inning, and the speedster labored while running down the first base line. He exited with right hip discomfort, the Orioles announced.Manager Brandon Hyde said after the game that Mateo is “day to day” and added the day off Thursday could help him recover.The 27-year-old has been one of the Orioles’ best players through the first three weeks of the season. Entering Wednesday, he led the Orioles in FanGraphs’ wins above replacement at 1.1 — slightly ahead of Adley Rutschman’s 0.9.Adam Frazier replaced Mateo in the lineup and went to play defensively at second base; Ramón Urías moved to third and Gunnar Henderson moved to shortstop. In Frazier’s first at-bat, he clobbered an 83 mph curveball from Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore over the right ...

Bruins fall apart in the third period, lose to Florida, 6-3

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

The Bruins went 65-12-5 in what was a magical regular season. But now, in the only season that matters, they are 1-1 and will need to win in a building where they lost both their games this year if they want to keep their dream alive.The Bruins were outplayed in the critical areas of the ice all night by the opportunistic Florida Panthers, handing the puck to their opponent continually and fell, 6-3, in Game 2 at the Garden on Wednesday.So good in the third period all season long, the B’s gave up four goals in the third and now the series shifts to Florida Live Arena, where the B’s have lost in both tries, a regulation loss in November and an overtime loss in January.The Panthers seized the game from the B’s immediately in the third.After a back and forth second period, the Panthers took their third lead of the game when, using a Sasha Barkov screen, Brandon Montour beat Linus Ullmark with a long distance wrist shot over the blocker just 22 seconds into the third.T...

Champagne asks telecoms for update on service agreement in Toronto subway

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

Canada’s industry minister is calling on the country’s major telecom companies to come to an agreement over wireless service in Toronto’s subway system.In a letter on Twitter, François-Philippe Champagne said he has taken note of Rogers Communications Inc.’s recent announcement that it’s buying the company that owns the wireless network in the Toronto Transit Commission subway system.The letter addressed to executives of Bell Canada, Telus Communications Inc., Quebecor Inc. and Rogers said arrangements are still not in place to ensure service is available to customers who are with a service other than Rogers.Champagne said he wants the telecom companies to rectify the situation with urgency to reach agreements that would allow any company to access the TTC network.He requested that the companies respond to his letter within 30 days detailing their respective statuses on the issue, as well as outlining a joint plan to offer mobile service to all customer...

India will pass China to be most populous nation by mid-2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:52:48 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — India is on track to surpass China by mid-2023 as the world’s most populous nation, United Nations data said Wednesday, raising questions about whether a booming, young Indian population will fuel economic growth for years to come.While India’s 254 million people between ages 15 and 24 is the largest number in the world, China is struggling with an aging population and stagnant population growth. That has sparked expectations that the demographic changes could pave the way for India to become an economic and global heavyweight.India’s young citizenry could drive the country’s economic growth for years to come, but it might just as easily become a problem if they aren’t adequately employed. Economists have cautioned that even as India’s economy is among the fastest-growing as its population rises, joblessness has also swelled.Tech giant Apple, among other companies, hopes to turn India into a potential manufacturing hub as it moves some production out of ...