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Liz Truss is gone. But Tories still dream of tax cuts on budget day

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

LONDON — Six months after Liz Truss’ ‘mini-budget’ meltdown, tax cuts remain a highly-prized ideal among U.K. Conservatives. Under the new Tory regime, they look set for short-term disappointment. U.K. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will give his budget speech Wednesday — the first time there’s been a full-fat budget since October 2021, when someone called Rishi Sunak was in charge at the finance ministry. Hunt will ask the country, and his party, to hold tight in the face of a murky outlook for growth in 2023, resisting all calls for major tax cuts. It was reported by the Guardian Tuesday evening that what small fiscal headroom he has available will be spent on increasing free childcare for working families.That policy will be warmly welcomed, given the U.K.’s painfully-high childcare costs, but it’s not the only rabbit his backbenchers had hoped to see plucked from the chancellor’s hat on Wednesday afternoon. After all, it wouldn’t be budget w...

Europe is out of the immediate energy crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

Ben McWilliams is a consultant, Simone Tagliapietra is a senior fellow and Georg Zachmann is a senior fellow in the field of energy and climate policy at Bruegel, Brussels.After surviving the most perilous winter on record without any serious interruptions to gas or electricity supply, Europe’s energy crisis is morphing into a new, less acute phase.In fact, the Continent has emerged from this emergency with very healthy volumes of stored gas — a rather remarkable feat that was grounded by the commitment of governments to allow markets to function. Higher prices drew liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes away from Asia and encouraged demand reduction at home.Most significantly, however, Russia has now exhausted its substantial market power over European supply. Over the last 12 months, as Moscow selectively cut exports, intraday price movements were recorded that, in magnitude, exceeded the absolute price pre-invasion. But today, Russian pipeline exports account for around 7 percent of...

It’s just not easy saying goodbye to China and Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

Elisabeth Braw is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, an advisor to Gallos Technologies and author of the upcoming book “Goodbye, Globalization.”Saying goodbye isn’t easy.Hundreds of companies have announced they’re leaving Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began — yet many of them seem to have remained there. Meanwhile, when it comes to China, Apple and other famous multinationals have declared they’re friendshoring to countries like Vietnam, India and even the United States — yet trade between the U.S. and China hit new records last year. So, what’s going on?The bottom line is that it’s extremely hard for companies to withdraw from countries — especially from ones that are hostile or unwilling to let go.For example, a much-consulted list maintained by researchers at Yale University reports that over 1,000 Western companies have curtailed operations in Russia. But, in December, trade and business professors Simon J. Evenett and Niccolò Pisani found that le...

Pope John Paul II and pedophile priests becomes Poland’s top political issue

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

WARSAW — War? Inflation? Corruption? Nope, the big subject dominating Poland’s politics ahead of this fall’s parliamentary election is the legacy of John Paul II.Although the canonized Polish pontiff has been dead since 2005, he’s become the hottest subject in Poland following an explosive documentary aired by the U.S.-owned broadcaster TVN, alleging that when he was a cardinal in his home city of Kraków, he protected priests accused of sexually molesting children.That caused a collective meltdown in the ranks of the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which is closely allied with the powerful Roman Catholic Church.U.S. Ambassador Mark Brzezinski was even summoned (later toned down to “invited”) to appear at the foreign ministry. In a statement, the ministry said it “recognizes that the potential outcome of these activities is in line with the goals of a hybrid war aimed at causing divisions and tensions within Polish society.”PiS also pushed through ...

Europe’s green dilemma: Mining key minerals without destroying nature

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

For decades, the environmental and human cost of mining minerals like lithium and cobalt has largely been hidden from Europe’s view. That’s about to change. As the EU looks to diversify its supply of critical raw materials away from China, it wants to make it easier to tap into domestic reserves of the minerals it needs to build green technology like wind turbines and solar panels. But locals and green campaigners warn that slashing red tape for extraction projects risks taking a wrecking ball to decades of work to preserve nature and biodiversity, pointing out that mining can cause serious water and soil pollution and lead to deforestation and biodiversity loss.In Tréguennec, a coastal area in Brittany in northwestern France, locals are living above what they say feels like a time bomb. Some 130 meters below their homes lies the country’s second-largest deposit of lithium, a key component of the batteries used to power electric cars. Mining that so-called “w...

Nothing to see here: EU shrugs off Silicon Valley Bank collapse

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

It may be the largest banking collapse since the 2008 financial crisis but for the EU it’s somebody else’s problem.The failure over the weekend of America’s Silicon Valley Bank, which had assets of $200 billion, has prompted fears of wider meltdown, with share prices plummeting and U.S. agencies scrambling to contain the fallout and prevent runs on other lenders.In the European Union, it’s very definitely seen as something that’s happening to other people.“At the EU level, there is very limited presence of Silicon Valley Bank,” Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice president of the European Commission, said Tuesday. “We are in touch with the relevant competent authorities, but we don’t expect much of a spillover effect.”His was just the latest in a series of chilled-out comments from leading EU figures as they looked on while the financial blowup raged.“I don’t see any risk of contagion,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Monday. “We are monitoring the si...

On eve of safety summit, FAA investigates another runway close call

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

(CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating yet another close call between commercial airliners, this time at Reagan National Airport near Washington, DC — the seventh since the start of this year.On March 7, Republic Airways Flight 4736 crossed a runway, without clearance, that United Airlines Flight 2003 was using for takeoff, according to a preliminary review, the FAA said. The United pilot had just been cleared for takeoff from the runway, the agency said.“An air traffic controller noticed the situation and immediately canceled the takeoff clearance for the United flight,” the FAA said.Recordings accessed from LiveATC.net show air traffic controllers in the tower exclaiming, “United 2003 cancel takeoff clearance!” The crew of the United flight responded, “Aborting takeoff, United 2003.”The pilot of the Republic flight had been cleared to cross a different runway, “but turned on the wrong taxiway,...

Cornerback Trayvon Mullen reportedly returning to Ravens on one-year deal

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

Trayvon Mullen will be returning to the Ravens next season.The 25-year-old cornerback — who was claimed off waivers from the Dallas Cowboys in January and is a cousin of quarterback Lamar Jackson’s — has agreed to a one-year deal, his agent Kevin Conner confirmed to NFL Network on Tuesday. No other terms were disclosed.“Baltimore know what time it is, my journey not finished” Mullen tweeted Tuesday night.Mullen, a second-round draft pick out of Clemson by the then-Oakland Raiders in 2019, did not appear in any games for Baltimore last season. He did, however, play in eight games for the Cardinals after being traded by the Raiders to Arizona before the season.The Cardinals released Mullen in December and he was claimed off waivers by the Cowboys, suiting up for Dallas in Week 18. He had a combined 16 tackles, a forced fumble and a pass defended between the two teams.Mullen, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound corner who was the Defensive Most Valuable Player of the 20...

Bruins lose to lowly Blackhawks, 6-3

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

Life is not easy for the Bruins these days. Whether their Secretariat-in-the-Belmont lead over the NHL field is dulling their edges or free-and-easy, lesser teams are looking for a nice notch on their belt, the B’s have looked quite pedestrian over the last week.This time it was lowly Chicago Blackhawks who took their shot, and they landed it on the B’s chin, scoring four third-period goals to beat the B’s, 6-3, at the United Center. The B’s gave up prime scoring chances again and, in a rarity, Linus Ullmark did not come up with the stops to cover the blemishes. The B’s have lost two straight and three of their last four.After the B’s took a brief lead in the third period, the Hawks tied it and then Boris Katchouk gave the Blackhawks the lead again at 6:59 of the third period when he deked Derek Forbort in the neutral zone and then beat Ullmark with a wrist shot from the right circle.The B’s thought they’d tied it on a subsequent power...

Body found near US-Mexico border

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:11:33 GMT

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. -- Authorities on Tuesday found a body within the Border Field State Park area in Imperial Beach, officials said.The discovery occurred around 12:24 p.m. when a Border Patrol agent came across the deceased person near the border fence south of the 700 block of Monument, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department stated in a news release. Deputy in East County shooting identified First responders retrieved the body from the flooded area with help from four-wheel drive vehicles and heavy equipment to gain access, according to authorities. Law enforcement says the unidentified body "appeared to be" a man in his 70s.The sheriff's department believes foul play is not suspected in the incident.