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‘I honestly don’t know if this is the last time’ — America’s great peacemaker returns to Belfast

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

BELFAST — He fought for peace in Northern Ireland — and now George Mitchell is fighting for his life.The former U.S. Senate majority leader from Maine, who became a diplomatic superhero in Northern Ireland after leading years of painstaking talks to produce the Good Friday Agreement, may be visiting his adopted homeland for the final time.He hopes not. But, as Mitchell reflected in an interview with POLITICO, he simply cannot know.Welcomed by well-wishers young and old this week as he returned to Belfast and to Queen’s University, where he served as chancellor for a decade following his peacemaking triumph in 1998, Mitchell opened a conference marking the accord’s 25th anniversary.For nearly 45 minutes, Mitchell argued passionately for the power of compromise, his message leavened with well-timed jokes poking fun at the entrenched attitudes — and tough-to-decipher vowels — that tested him in Northern Ireland.You’d never have known that Mitchell, 89, was making his first public speec...

The West’s shortsightedness makes life harder for Russia’s opposition

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former political prisoner and CEO of Yukos Oil company, is the author of “The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin’s Power Gambit — and How to Fix It.”Due to pressure from the regime, as the war in Ukraine continues, Russia’s opposition and its anti-war movement are working in the most difficult of conditions inside the country — and the circumstances they face outside Russia aren’t simple either.Still, in the spirit of self-criticism, we must admit we’re not being as effective as we would like in opposing Russian President Vladimir Putin.In the background, there’s the constant buzz of the regime, accusing critics of “selling out the Motherland.” They are traitors, the regime says; and from time to time, draconian prison sentences are handed down. My friend Vladimir Kara-Murza — one of the leaders of the Russian democratic opposition — was sentenced to 25 years just earlier this week.Yet, while the opposition is targeted by the regime and leading dis...

By the numbers: Europe’s pensions problem

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

The French have been protesting loudly against President Emmanuel Macron’s pensions reform — but their government is far from the only one with a plan to increase the retirement age. With workers living much longer lives than previous generations, the number of beneficiaries of old-age pensions has seen a constant rise across the EU in the last decades. Most member countries spent more money on pensions in 2020 than ever before. Some countries have laid out aggressive plans to delay workers’ retirement: Young Danish citizens are expected to work until they turn 74. Citizens currently joining the labor market in Estonia and Italy are right behind them. Here’s a look at the present and future of pensions across the Continent, in figures and charts.This infographic is from POLITICO Pro’s DataPoint library. DataPoint provides ready-to-use, customizable data presentation slides based on research by POLITICO journalists and data analysts. Use them in your newsletter...

Education reforms don’t add up, but Fox’s lawsuit does

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

Welcome to Declassified, a weekly humor column.I’m now back in Brussels, where children who go to Dutch-speaking schools are just back from holidays and children who go to French-speaking schools are still waiting to take their vacation (and children who go to international schools don’t need to take holidays because they weekend in ski lodges).It’s been a tough week for politicians and education. In Germany, Britta Ernst, who happens to be the wife of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, is stepping down as education minister of the east German state of Brandenburg. Ernst wanted to cut 200 vacant teaching positions and staff them with social workers instead, a plan that didn’t go down well with her colleagues in the local Social Democratic Party, who presumably thought that hiring actual teachers was the way to go. Meanwhile in the U.K., Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to boost numeracy among Brits and promised to take on an “anti-maths mindset” that, he argued, se...

Top EU diplomats head to the English seaside for secret Brexit away day

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

LONDON — Ambassadors from all 27 EU countries will gather at a secret location in England later this month for private talks about the post-Brexit relationship.The EU Delegation to the U.K. is organising “the first ever EU Heads of Mission Retreat” on April 28-29, according to an invitation seen by POLITICO. The event will be hosted by the EU Ambassador Pedro Serrano in a grand manor house on the south coast of England.All 27 London-based ambassadors and high commissioners of EU member states have been invited to the retreat, described in the invitation as taking place “in an informal setting, with overnight stay, to exchange ideas and debate common challenges with key British interlocutors.”A spokesperson for the delegation said further invites have been handed to U.K.-based think tanks — though not to British government officials or politicians — in order to promote a candid discussion.A group of envoys had asked Serrano shortly after his arrival in London last year...

Duran homers, hits Maeda in Red Sox’s 11-5 win over Twins

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Jarren Duran lined one ball off Kenta Maeda’s ankle, knocking the Twins starter out of the game, and another off the Green Monster during a six-run third inning on Thursday to lead the Boston Red Sox to a 11-5 victory over Minnesota.Maeda (0-3) allowed a home run to Alex Verdugo to lead off the bottom of the first and left trailing 1-0 after taking Duran’s 111 mph line drive off his left ankle in the second inning. The Twins right-hander made the play to get the out at first and end the inning.X-rays were negative.“He got hit squarely,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “You’re really hoping not to get a really bad result, like a broken ankle or something like that. We were fearful, to be honest, watching him on the ground out there. But as he got up and the initial pain went away, he was able to stand and move around. So that was positive.”Emilio Pagan relieved Maeda and gave up five straight hits, including Duran’s double, as Boston opened a 7-0 lead...

Man taken to hospital after shooting in Lawrence 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

A man was taken to an area hospital after a shooting in Lawrence Thursday night, officials said. Lawrence police said officers responded to a report of shots fired near South Union and Foster Streets around 7:30 p.m.Once on scene, police said officers found an adult man with non-life-threatening injuries.Police said the incident does not appear to be a random attack.Police had not announced any arrests in the case and an investigation was ongoing as of Thursday night. 

Mets Notebook: Michael Conforto faces former team for first time

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Conforto might not be in New York anymore, but he’s still been following the Mets from the West Coast.Conforto had plenty of time to follow the Mets and the rest of the league after sitting out the 2022 season with yet another shoulder surgery. Now that he’s back in baseball, the former Mets’ outfielder finally gets a chance to face the club that he came up with for the first time Thursday night at Oracle Park as a member of the San Francisco Giants.“I texted with Nimmo a bit last night,” Conforto said Thursday in the Giants dugout. “I’ve been watching from afar, keeping up on over the offseason some of the guys getting paid, just checking in on spring training and everything. Those guys were my family for six, seven years, so that doesn’t go away, that’s for sure. I like to keep checking in and making sure I’m aware of what’s going on.”The 30-year-old Conforto became a sensation wi...

Nets crumble late and lose Game 3 to Sixers, 102-97

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

Spencer Dinwiddie looked at the scoreboard, the time left on the clock, and slapped his hands in frustration.Brooklyn’s starting point guard just blew it — and he knew it.Dinwiddie went to the foul line with the Nets down three and had an opportunity to make Thursday’s Game 3 in Brooklyn a one-point game. The first free throw bounced on the rim four times before falling into the net.The second clanked off the rim into Sixer possession.And on the next possession after the Nets got a defensive stop, Dinwiddie advanced the ball and blew by Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey for a layup that would have tied the game.By the time he let it go from his hands, Sixers’ presumptive MVP Joel Embiid rotated over for the rejection.And on the ensuing possession, after P.J. Tucker missed a free throw that kept it a one-possession game, and after a Jacque Vaughn timeout for a drawn-up play, veteran guard Royce O’Neale had his pass intercepted by De’Anthony Melton, who too...

‘The damage is unbelievable:’ Tornadoes kill 3 in Oklahoma

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:55 GMT

By KEN MILLER and JAMIE STENGLE (Associated Press)DALLAS (AP) — Crews scrambled Thursday to restore power to thousands of residents after tornadoes plowed through Oklahoma during another deadly spring storm in the U.S., killing at least three people and damaging dozens of homes.A day after at least eight tornadoes spun through Oklahoma, Gov. Kevin Stitt said authorities were still assessing the scale of destruction. He toured the aftermath in Shawnee, where nearly every building at Oklahoma Baptist University showed damage. A home improvement store was destroyed, but several people sheltering inside survived. Two long-term care facilities and a hospital in Shawnee were also damaged.“The damage is unbelievable when you walk through there,” Stitt said after touring the city.Stitt also visited the small town of Cole, where he said two people died and 50 to 100 homes were damaged. Authorities said a third person who was injured had also died, but it was not immediately...