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It’s Groundhog Day for EU fiscal rule reform

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

Sander Tordoir is a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform. Jasper van Dijk is the head of research for the Instituut voor Publieke Economie in the Netherlands.A desperately needed reform of the EU’s fiscal rules is finally underway.The current rules are too complicated — they impose unrealistic demands on some countries, and they lead to overspending in economic booms and austerity in recessions. Unsurprisingly, member countries barely adhere to them, and they just mandated the European Commission table legislation to address these flaws.For a long time, the European Union pretended that enforcing fiscal rules was a technocratic exercise, hiding political questions behind technical details. But the Commission’s original proposal, tabled in November, opened the door for more workable rules and better enforcement. It did away with rules that took little account of macroeconomic conditions or political realities, and it replaced them with multi-year debt-reduction pl...

It’s Rishi Sunak’s ‘green day.’ Just don’t mention net zero 

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

LONDON — Britain used to shout about its net zero targets. Not anymore.Worn as a badge of honor by previous Conservative governments — Theresa May made Britain the first major economy to enshrine a net zero target into law, while Boris Johnson was a vocal advocate of environmental policies — the pledge to eliminate carbon emissions now finds itself taking a back seat to Rishi Sunak’s tougher-sounding promise of “energy security” for the nation.To that end, Sunak and his energy security secretary, Grant Shapps, will travel to a location outside London Thursday to unveil a mish-mash of decarbonization initiatives badged collectively as an “energy revolution.” The push had originally been dubbed “green day” in Whitehall, according to Bloomberg, and was intended to reveal more details of the U.K.’s response to green subsidies under U.S. President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.But British government officials have since been desperate to play this down, with one i...

The EU’s Mr. Aviation finds emergency exit

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

BRUSSELS — Henrik Hololei just wanted to say a big thank you to the airlines.Through an uncharacteristic stutter in his otherwise keynote-ready bombast, the EU’s aviation chief told the audience of industry figures — with a slight quiver in his voice — how grateful he was for their backing.At the time, just a week ago, Hololei was still fighting to keep his job as head of DG MOVE, the European Commission’s transport policy department. He was speaking almost a month after POLITICO first revealed that he had accepted free Qatar Airways flights while his team struck an open skies deal with the Gulf state. The strain was growing. An internal inquiry into his actions was under way following alarm from transparency campaigners and politicians. Commission officials scrambled to tighten the rules on free trips, and there was pressure from some of Hololei’s own colleagues to step aside. Aviation had been his one true love while in his role, according to advisers a...

Kyiv says Big Oil should pay to rebuild Ukraine’s shattered infrastructure

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

BRUSSELS — Major international energy companies that raked in bumper profits because of price spikes over the course of the war should pour some of that cash into rebuilding Ukraine’s shattered power infrastructure, Kyiv’s Energy Minister German Galushchenko told POLITICO. In a wide-ranging interview, Galushchenko also argued the West needed to close sanctions loopholes on Russian energy sales to prevent an “endless war” in Ukraine, and said Kyiv could provide alternative nuclear fuel so some EU countries could wean themselves off their dependence on Russian supplies. “A lot of energy companies get enormous windfall profits due to the war. So we estimated this at more than $200 billion,” Galushchenko said on a visit to Brussels. “They get this money because we are fighting, because of the war.” “I think it would be fair to share this money with Ukraine. I mean, to help us to restore, to rebuild the energy sector,” he added...

UK goes light-touch on AI as Elon Musk sounds the alarm

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

LONDON — As Elon Musk urged humanity to get a grip on artificial intelligence, in London ministers were hailing its benefits.Rishi Sunak’s new technology chief Michelle Donelan on Wednesday unveiled the government’s long-awaited blueprint for regulating AI, insisting a heavy-handed approach is off the agenda.At the heart of the innovation-friendly pitch is a plan to give existing regulators a year to issue “practical guidance” for the safe use of machine learning in their sectors based on broad principles like safety, transparency, fairness and accountability. But no new legislation or regulatory bodies are being planned for the burgeoning technology.It stands in contrast to the strategy being pursued in Brussels, where lawmakers are pushing through a more detailed rulebook, backed by a new liability regime.Donelan insists her “common-sense, outcomes-oriented approach” will allow the U.K. to “be the best place in the world to build, test and use AI technology.”Her department’s ...

Boston-based company creates added space in apartments with expandable and retractable furniture

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

A Boston-based company is showing off its futuristic robotic furniture, including beds, tables and other items that can expand, retract and be folded. Hasier Larrea came up with the idea for the company, Ori, while he was a student at MIT. Speaking with 7NEWS, he said the furniture is a great way to save space in small apartments. “Now, you can empower people to live large in a smaller footprint,” Larrea said.  Larrea gave 7NEWS a look at the technology in his own one-bedroom apartment, showing the furniture’s ability to transform.“At the press of a button you can start making a space adapt to you and your needs, hence making a smaller space feel much bigger than it actually is,”  Larrea said.Ultimately, Larrea said the company’s mission is simple, aiming to help solve real estate challenges including sustainability, climate change and lack of affordability. With the expandable furniture already available nationwide, creators said they have bigger...

Hospital shuttle bus driver stabbed in random attack in Roslindale

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

A hospital shuttle bus driver was stabbed in Roslindale Wednesday in what hospital officials said was a “random act of violence.”A statement from Mass. General Brigham said the violence happened off property while the bus was stopped in traffic on Washington Street around 4:30 p.m. Officials the driver was being treated Wednesday night, with police describing the driver’s injuries as minor. An investigation was ongoing as of Wednesday night.This is a developing story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest updates.

After slow start, Nets bounce back with much-needed win vs. Rockets

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

If this is what an expedited jelling process looks like, the Nets need a new overnight delivery service.Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn said ahead of tip-off against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday that the team has done everything — from spending more time together in the locker room to taking advantage of additional practice days — to fast track chemistry for a starting lineup that was assembled at the trade deadline.It’s clear after a lifeless performance against the league-worst Rockets just how much ground the Nets have to make up if they’re going to secure the sixth and final guaranteed playoff seed — the same seed the No. 7 Miami Heat are eyeing with their inspired play in recent weeks.The Nets rallied late to secure a 123-114 victory over the Rockets at Barclays Center on Wednesday, ending a skid in which Brooklyn had lost six of its last seven games. The Rockets, however, who have yet to crack 20 wins on the season and own the worst record in th...

Julius Randle suffers ankle injury in Knicks’ 101-92 victory over Miami Heat

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

The good and the bad.On a night the Knicks essentially clinched a playoff berth, their All-Star Julius Randle left the court in pain with a sprained ankle.He never re-emerged from the locker room after halftime, missing his teammates — most notably Immanuel Quickley — surge past the Heat in the fourth quarter of a 101-92 victory Wednesday over the Heat.The win pushed the No. 5 Knicks (44-33) four games ahead of the No. 7 Heat (40-37) with five to play. That race is basically over. New York’s magic number is one to clinch a top-6 spot for an automatic postseason spot.But Randle’s status is now in question.With 2:38 remaining in the first half of a tie game, the power forward grabbed a rebound and landed on the foot of Heat center Bam Adebayo. Randle’s ankle turned and he fell in pain. He stood up to shoot the free throws — hitting 1-of-2 — and limped to the locker room.Randle was ruled out at halftime, finishing with just three points in 15 m...

Winderman’s view: Duncan Robinson perhaps offers Heat hope in loss

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 13:04:52 GMT

Observations and other notes of interest from Wednesday night’s 101-92 loss to the New York Knicks:– It took foul trouble by Max Strus to deliver a glimmer of hope for the Heat.– Or perhaps it was trending this way, anyway, with Duncan Robinson getting minutes at the start of the fourth quarter Tuesday night in Toronto.– But for a team looking for a spark, Strus’ three quick fouls left Heat coach Erik Spoelstra with limited options.– Enter Robinson.– Who proceeded to make his first four 3-point attempts.– Yes, working Robinson’s defense into a mix that already includes Kevin Love and Tyler Herro could be precarious.– But 3-point shooting matters.– And Robinson certainly has a history in that regard.– With the pull of his gravity again evident in this one.– Sometimes all it takes is a moment.– Robinson got his moment Wednesday night.– And seized it.– Playing as the Heat’s first reser...