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Who is Petteri Orpo? Meet Mr. Dependable, Finland’s election winner

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 GMT

Finns have played it safe with a post-pandemic recession looming and their giant eastern neighbor Russia waging a brutal war in Ukraine. In center-right leader Petteri Orpo, the Finnish electorate has backed someone with a trusted track record in party politics that stretches back decades. Orpo convinced voters that the Finnish economy was in trouble and that he — rather than his free-spirited and freer-spending rival Sanna Marin — was the steady hand Finland needs. The shift will mark a radical change in tone for Finland and for the wider European political scene. Marin, a popular personality on the left of EU politics, found herself in hot water last year after a video emerged of her dancing exuberantly at a party with friends. Yet it was her government’s reputation on economic policy that cost her. In Sunday’s election, Orpo’s get-it-done persona won out. He played on deeply rooted (if mundane) Finnish fears about rising government debt and of...

Government shines a light on UK cyber operations

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 GMT

Conrad Prince is a Distinguished Fellow and senior cyber adviser at RUSI. He is the former director general for operations and deputy head of the U.K. government’s signals intelligence and cyber security agency, GCHQ.The last decade has seen a notable increase in openness and engagement from the United Kingdom’s intelligence and security agencies — especially in contrast to the days, not all that long ago, when the government didn’t even officially admit to their existence. But today, we have speeches and media appearances from agency heads, extensive websites and even a presence on social media.Now, that process has taken a significant step further with a publication by one of the newest additions to this secret world — the National Cyber Force (NCF). The NCF has released a document setting out the operating principles behind the U.K.’s use of what is sometimes called “offensive cyber.” That is, operations in cyberspace to disrupt an adversary’s ability to use the Internet and digi...

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

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 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 Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 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 Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 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 Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 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 Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 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 Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 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 Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 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 Mon, 23 Dec 2024 09:55:00 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...