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These Tory MPs wanted an asylum clampdown. Just not in their own backyard

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

LONDON — Rishi Sunak’s ruling Conservatives are desperate to “stop the boats.” They seem less happy when his plan to end cross-Channel migration impacts on their own leafy constituencies.The U.K. prime minister unveiled proposals last month to house thousands of asylum seekers in ex-army barracks, one of a spate of announcements designed to deter the wave of small boats bringing undocumented migrants across the English Channel.The U.K. is even mulling the prospect of “accommodating migrants in vessels” — which could take the form of giant barges out at sea, Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, confirmed last month. Sunak has put cutting illegal migration at the top of his in-tray after a record 45,755 people made the dangerous crossing last year. The proposals were warmly welcomed by the vast majority of Tory MPs — until details were announced of where the thousands of asylum seekers will actually be housed. Sunak had vowed to show ̶...

Russian spies rebound in Europe

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe.Russia is trying to rebound from last year’s coordinated mass expulsion of Russian intelligence officers operating under diplomatic guise in Europe.And there’s now growing evidence that Russia’s foreign intelligence service (SVR) and its military intelligence agency (GRU) are aggressively trying to rebuild their human espionage networks — particularly with an eye toward military aid going to Ukraine.In what Ken McCallum, the head of Britain’s security service MI5, dubbed the “most significant strategic blow” against Moscow in recent intelligence history, more than 400 so-called undeclared intelligence officers have been drummed out of Europe since the invasion of Ukraine, including from France, Belgium and Germany, dramatically reducing the Kremlin’s reach and ability to spy in Europe.And on Thursday, Finland’s Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) said the expulsions of Russian intelligence officers, and visa refusals for their ...

Why the Paris referendum doesn’t mean the end of e-scooters

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

Parisians voted to ban shared e-scooters in the French capital — but the industry vows to keep fighting.Although Sunday’s referendum was non-binding and turnout was very low, in a late-night press conference Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo promised to respect the results and not renew contracts with Lime, Dott and Tier, the three operators currently running e-scooters in the French capital.“The voters have given us a clear road-map and we will follow it,” said Hidalgo. “There will be no more self-service e-scooters in Paris.”But that doesn’t mean trottinettes will leave the City of Lights overnight: Privately owned e-scooters remain legal, and the operating licenses for the 15,000 shared e-scooters in the city don’t run out until August 31.E-scooter operators lobbied hard to sway the referendum result. Despite that failure, they say they won’t give up Paris without a fight and argue the result is questionable because a mere 7.46 per...

Hoax call prompts police response at Harvard University dorm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

Frightened, startled and unsettled. That’s how several Harvard University students said they felt after police showed up at their door with guns drawn early Monday morning.A meeting was held at the Leverett House on Monday night to discuss the incident, which officials now say was a false alarm stemming from a swatting call. The incident happened at 4 a.m. in the Leverett Towers on the Harvard campus. Four seniors were inside their suite sleeping. When they didn’t answer calls from campus police around 3:50 a.m., the students say officers arrived at their door. Harvard Senior Jarah Cotton said officers were “in full riot gear,” with shields, helmets and rifles drawn. Cotton said officers told seniors in the suite to come out with their hands up. “Of course, we complied because we didn’t know what was going on,” David Madzivanyika said. “We exited the room.”Once the students got out and campus police cleared their suite, the students said official...

Reynolds, Delay homers help lift Pirates over Red Sox 7-6

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Bryan Reynolds hit a pair solo home runs, Jason Delay added another and the Pittsburgh Pirates edged the Boston Red Sox 7-6 on Monday night.On a mild evening in which the teams combined for six home runs, Masataka Yoshida hit his first since joining the Red Sox from Japan’s Orix Buffaloes. Yoshida and Triston Casas had two-run drives and Rafael Devers added a solo shot.Reynolds had his fourth multihomer game, his first since last Aug. 12 at home against Boston.Pirates starter Johan Oviedo and Boston’s Kutter Crawford had short nights.Ovideo gave up five runs — four earned — and six hits in 4 2/3 innings. Half the hits off him were home runs. Crawford (0-1) needed 32 pitches to get through the first inning and lasted four innings. He yielded seven runs and eight hits, including three homers.Duane Underwood Jr. (1-0) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings for his first win this season. David Bednar came on in the ninth an allowed a single but got his s...

Orioles one-hit Rangers, 2-0, as Kyle Bradish leaves with injury, Tyler Wells steps up

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

The gas gauge on the Orioles’ bullpen was already closer to empty than full entering Monday’s game against the Texas Rangers.When starting pitcher Kyle Bradish exited in the second inning after taking a line drive to his right foot, it appeared as if the fatigued Orioles bullpen, which combined for 13 2/3 innings of relief this past weekend, was in store for a long night.But Tyler Wells, expected to start Tuesday’s game, came to the rescue — not just for the health of the bullpen, but also to lead the Orioles to victory.Wells pitched five innings of scoreless, no-hit ball in unexpected relief to guide Baltimore to a 2-0 win over the Rangers. The 6-foot-8 right-hander was hyper-efficient — tossing just 47 pitches, walking none and striking out two in his five frames. He retired 15 of 16 batters he faced, with the only one to reach base coming on an error.Left-hander Danny Coulombe originally replaced Bradish with two outs in the second after the right-ha...

Yankees knock Phillies around in series opener

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

Phillies starter Taijuan Walker’s Monday evening began with a poorly played triple off the bat of DJ LeMahieu and three first-inning walks, but it wasn’t until later that the Yankees started pouring it on.The Bombers only came away with a pair of runs in the opening frame, but they scored two more off Walker before his night ended after 4.1 innings. Reliever Yunior Marte surrendered four more runs and three more walks before Philadelphia’s bullpen settled down, paving the way for an easy 8-1 Yankees win in the three-game series opener.The victory featured contributions from most of the Yankees’ lineup. Highlights included a third-inning solo shot from Gleyber Torres — his second home run of the season and the 100th of his career — and a two-run, second-deck drive from Anthony Rizzo, his first longball of 2023, in the fifth inning. Franchy Cordero lined a two-RBI double in his Yankees debut, while Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Trevino each drove a run...

How long can Red Sox keep overcoming their own starting rotation?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

The 2023 Red Sox are competing against two opponents:Other teams, and their own starting pitching.The Red Sox scored 9+ runs in each of their first three games of the season for the first time in franchise history, and are only the third team in MLB history to do so.But the bats aren’t showing out just for fun. In their first two games of the season, the lineup faced six-run deficits early, and had to attempt to overcome them. They were unable to do so on Monday night, and fell 7-6 to the Pittsburgh Pirates.Through four games, Tanner Houck is the only starter to pitch deeper than four innings. He’s also the only one to pitch a scoreless first inning. Each of the other three starters allowed five or more runs before exiting.Kutter Crawford became the latest starting pitcher to get shelled in his season debut when he took the mound for the series opener.A 32-pitch first inning resulted in three runs that were originally unearned, but later changed to earned. The 27-year-ol...

Berrios falters as Blue Jays fall to Royals

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

It wasn’t the start the Toronto Blue Jays and Jose Berrios envisioned.In his first regular-season appearance, Berrios took the loss after surrendering nine hits and eight earned runs as the Blue Jays fell 9-4 to the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.Berrios lasted 5 2/3 innings and struck out seven before being replaced by Canadian reliever Zach Pop. A lot of the damage against Berrios came in the first and fourth innings, where the Royals would score seven runs against the starter.Berrios also gave up a ton of hard contact on the night, with Royals hitters swinging early and often, leading to seven exit velocities of 100 mph or more. His fastball and sinker were particularly hit hard, with an average exit velocity of 98 mph.“Good and bad. Really good innings but pitches in the middle of the plate, which we’re trying to avoid,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said post-game.This was arguably the cushiest season-opening assignment José Berríos could get, aga...

B.C. throat-slashing suspect charged with terrorism linked to Islamic State group

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:31:32 GMT

SURREY, B.C. — A suspect accused of slashing a person’s throat on a bus in Surrey, B.C., on Saturday has been charged with four terrorism-related offences in an attack that left a man with life-threatening injuries.RCMP say Abdul Aziz Kawam is charged with attempting to commit murder in association with a terrorist group, assault causing bodily harm in association with a terrorist group, aggravated assault in association with a terrorist group and assault with a weapon in association with a terrorist group.Kawam, who was born in 1995, originally faced eight separate charges, including attempted murder and assault along with four counts that he acted for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a terrorist group. However, the RCMP say the amended charges relate to allegations that the assaults were carried out for the Islamic State. Metro Vancouver Transit Police say they discovered during their investigation that the suspect made several concerning comments,...