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Keir Starmer strikes uneasy truce with his MPs on Israel — for now

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

LONDON — Keir Starmer still isn’t calling for a ceasefire in Gaza — but he has agreed a temporary truce with his own MPs.In a speech Monday, the Labour leader set out why he isn’t backing a ceasefire in the Middle East despite open revolt in his own party.The address was a response to dozens of Labour MPs — including those on his front bench team — who have urged Israel to stop its offensive on Gaza amid the rising civilian death toll. They have been joined by some of the party’s most senior politicians including Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.Having ridden high in the polls for months, the row threatens to derail what appeared to be a smooth path for Starmer to victory in the general election due to be held by January 2025. Under the last Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the party came close to splitting amid accusations of anti-Semitism.Keen to avoid reopening the fault line, Starmer said in his speech he understo...

Sunak defends China invite at AI summit while facing down Tory hawks

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

BLETCHLEY, England — British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he had been vindicated in inviting China to his AI summit after securing Chinese and American backing for a shared communique on the emerging technology — including his predecessor Liz Truss.Talking on POLITICO’s Power Play podcast ahead of day two of his inaugural AI summit at Bletchley Park, Sunak said it had been the “right decision” to invite China, despite vocal opposition to that choice from his Tory backbenchers. “It’s the right decision for the country in the long term. I think there can’t really be a substantive conversation about AI without involving the world’s leading AI nations. And China is indisputably one of those.“I’m pleased that they’ve engaged … it hasn’t happened for a long time that, you know, we’ve all signed the same bit of paper, whether that’s us, the Americans, Europeans [or] China, which I think is a good sign of progress.”It’s been nothing sh...

Fantasy Fixer: Week 9

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

7’s Morey Hershgordon has the inside scoop on who to start and sit this week in Fantasy Fixer. Go set your lineups!

Nathan Eovaldi’s shutout start propels Rangers to first-ever World Series championship

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

On Wednesday night, Nathan Eovaldi once again shined when the spotlights were at their brightest, and was rewarded with a place in history.Starting Game 5 of the World Series, the former Red Sox star pitched six shutout innings, leading the Texas Rangers their first World Series championship in franchise history.What a half-decade it’s been for Eovaldi. Since the Red Sox acquired him from the Rays at the 2018 deadline, he’s pitched for three postseason teams and been a key figure in two championships.In the 2018 World Series, he was the hero in what became the longest postseason game – by innings and minutes – in MLB history, coming out of the bullpen to throw 97 pitches in a stunning relief appearance that stretched into the 18th inning.When the 2021 Red Sox were projected to finish last and win maybe 80 games, he led them to a Wild Card and all the way to the ALCS. It was his first All-Star season, and he finished fourth and 15th in American League Cy Young and MVP voting, respect...

Jaylon Johnson still is seeking common ground with the Chicago Bears on a contract extension: ‘I’m not asking to change the market’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

Jaylon Johnson wants to remain a Chicago Bear. That tune hasn’t changed.“I’ve said that since I got here,” Johnson reiterated Wednesday, a day after the Bears gave him permission to seek a trade that never materialized before Tuesday’s deadline.Bears general manager Ryan Poles would love to keep Johnson as part of the team’s core as he tries to build a championship contender at Halas Hall. Poles’ big-picture stance hasn’t changed either.“I don’t want to lose Jaylon Johnson,” he said.Yet the means for those wishes to become reality is a contract extension that hasn’t materialized through a negotiating process that has been slower and clunkier than either side wants.Johnson sees himself as one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL and wants to be rewarded accordingly with his second contract. Poles, meanwhile, has stressed business discipline throughout his time as GM, working hard not to wander far beyond the financ...

Rangers win first World Series in franchise history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi pitched six gutsy innings, Mitch Garver broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single in the seventh and the Texas Rangers are World Series champions for the first time in their 63-season franchise history after beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.Marcus Semien homered late and the Rangers, held hitless for six innings by Zac Gallen, finished a record 11-0 on the road this postseason by capping the Fall Classic with three straight wins in the desert.In his first season with Texas, manager Bruce Bochy won his fourth title 13 years to the day after his first, which came in 2010 when the Giants beat the Rangers. He also won it all with San Francisco in 2012 and 2014.One night after Texas took a 10-run lead by the third in a Game 4 snoozer, it finished baseball's third all-wild card Series by outlasting the Diamondbacks in a white-knuckle pitchers' duel, piling on four runs in the ninth for good measure.Gallen took a no-hi...

Air ambulance crash kills 4 crew members in central Mexico

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Four crew members died Wednesday when an air ambulance crashed in the central Mexican state of Morelos.The incident took place just before 14:30 p.m. local time, in a wooded, mountainous area near the town of Tetlama, Temixco: a township roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Mexico City.Officials from the army, National Guard and state security departments responded to the crash, the state department for civil protection reported on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter.In images posted to X and Facebook, smoke can be seen billowing from a charred gash in the side of a hill.The cause of the accident is not known, but the office of Morelos’ Attorney General is opening an investigation.The Associated Press

911 call shows man suspected in plan to attack Colorado amusement park was found dead near a ride

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The body of a heavily armed man who authorities suspected was planning a “heinous” attack at a mountaintop amusement park in Colorado was discovered with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the bathroom at a building that houses a ride that drops 110-feet deep into caverns, according to a 911 call released Wednesday.A Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park maintenance worker can be heard in the Saturday morning call calmly telling a dispatcher that the body was surrounded by weapons and alcohol in the women’s bathroom at a ride called the Crystal Tower.A message saying, “I am not a killer, I just wanted to get into the caves,” was written on the wall of the bathroom where Diego Barajas Medina’s body was found, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said earlier this week.No evidence has been released by authorities detailing exactly what the 20-year-old man had planned when he entered the park via a private service road in the hours before it opened over the weekend. Medina...

Panama’s Assembly looks to revoke contract for Canadian mining company after public outcry

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

PANAMA CITY (AP) — Facing a second week of impassioned, nationwide protests, Panama’s National Assembly has nearly passed a new law revoking a controversial mining contract in an environmentally vulnerable part of country. The bill passed a second debate late on Wednesday and now faces a final vote Thursday in which no changes can be made.Panama’s legislature first agreed a contract extension with Canadian mining company First Quantum and it’s local subsidiary, Minera Panama, in March. The resulting protests — the largest since a cost of living crisis last July — have sparked a series of backtracks from President Laurentino Cortizo.The new bill not only repeals that contract but extends a moratorium on all concessions for mining activities until the country’s Code of Mineral Resources is reformed.Before legislators debated the extraordinary measure, Cortizo first proposed a national referendum on the contract. Eight lawsuits were also filed with Panama’s Supr...

Rangers win World Series title, beat Diamondbacks in 5 games

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:46:24 GMT

The Texas Rangers won the first World Series in the franchise’s 63-year history, beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5.The Rangers won the best-of-seven series four games to one. THE TEXAS RANGERS ARE WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS! pic.twitter.com/hhHYTSrp4S— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) November 2, 2023Diamondbacks starting pitcher Zac Gallen had a no-hitter through six innings but had his bid broken up in the seventh with a single from Rangers slugger Corey Seager.Mitch Garver had an RBI single to drive in Seager for the first run of the game in the seventh.With runners on first and second, Jonah Heim lined one to centre field that drove in two runs as a result of a fielding error from Diamondbacks outfielder Alek Thomas.Former Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Marcus Semien hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth inning to secure the win for the Rangers, who won a postseason record 11 games on the road.After playing one season with the Blue Jays in 2021, Semien signed ...