February 19 2025

1. US and Russia Signal Major Reset, Seek Ukraine Peace Deal
2. GOP Districts Reap Billions from Biden Climate Law
3. DOJ Drops NYC Mayor Adams Case, Political Crisis Deepens
4. Islamist Forces Surge Across African Sahel
5. Pope Francis Hospitalized with Double Pneumonia
February 19, 1847: After resorting to cannibalism, Donner Party rescued from the Sierra Nevada Mountains

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FLASH…Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed…Chinese warships sail within 150 nautical miles of Sydney…

1. US and Russia Signal Major Reset, Seek Ukraine Peace Deal

The United States and Russia moved toward a head-spinning reset of their relationship on Tuesday, agreeing to work together on ending the Ukraine war, financial investment and re-establishing normal relations. The meeting between senior officials from both countries was a striking display of bonhomie after three years of American efforts to isolate Moscow for its 2022 invasion. After more than four hours of talks, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that both sides had agreed to work on a peace settlement for Ukraine as well as to explore “the incredible opportunities that exist to partner with the Russians,” both geopolitically and economically. “We weren’t just listening to each other, but we heard each other,” Sergey V. Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, said. “I have reason to believe that the American side started to better understand our positions.” The meeting, the most extensive negotiations in more than three years between the two global powers, was the latest swerve by the Trump administration in abandoning Western efforts to punish Russia for starting Europe’s most destructive war in generations. It signaled Mr. Trump’s intention to roll back the Biden administration’s approach toward Moscow, which focused on sanctions, isolation and sending weapons to Ukraine that helped kill tens of thousands of Russian soldiers.

Article Source: NYT

2. GOP Districts Reap Billions from Biden Climate Law

The senior US Republicans tasked with dismantling Joe Biden’s signature climate policy have enjoyed an investment boom of more than $130bn in the areas they represent thanks to the former president’s law. The majority of Republicans on the House ways and means committee, the House and Senate budget committees, and the Senate finance committee, which will implement sweeping tax cuts promised by Donald Trump, have benefited from a jump in clean energy investment under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, according to a Financial Times analysis. On the campaign trail Trump pledged to “terminate” the act — which can only be done by Congress — and on his first day in office, he signed an executive order freezing loans and grants worth more than $300bn. With the Republicans holding a narrow three-seat majority in the House, party members must secure near-unanimous support to implement the president’s pledge and scale back or repeal the act that has poured billions into their districts.

Article Source: FT

3. DOJ Drops NYC Mayor Adams Case, Political Crisis Deepens

The decision by the Justice Department to drop criminal charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams has put him in political peril. On Tuesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul met top Democratic leaders to determine whether he was fit to serve after the mayor faced accusations of a quid-pro-quo deal with the Trump administration. And a federal judge ordered prosecutors to explain in a court hearing Wednesday why they sought to dismiss the bribery case against Adams that was years in the making. A Justice Department memo said the reason for dropping the Adams prosecution was so the mayor could better focus on fighting illegal immigration. The memo said that federal prosecutors reserved the right to bring a case against him after the 2025 mayoral election.  The mayor’s political rivals and some of his former allies have seized on those conditions to say he is compromised and have called on him to resign.

Article Source: WSJ

4. Islamist Forces Surge Across African Sahel

Across the breadth of Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, stretches a belt of turmoil. Nowhere else have Islamist extremists recorded such stunning gains since the defeat of the Islamic State in the Middle East, with this swath emerging as the new epicenter of jihadist activity. Nowhere on Earth is seeing such a dramatic reversal of democracy, with military strongmen carrying out eight coups since the start of the decade. Nowhere, outside the war in Ukraine, has Russia proved so determined to expand its influence as Africa becomes another front in Vladimir Putin’s competition with the West. And as the dictators, militants and Russians press forward, the United States has seen its influence in this part of Africa wane. These powerful and violent forces are converging in a new crossroads of conflict, with potential consequences well beyond this region and high stakes for much of the world.

My article: Afrighanistan

Article Source: WaPo

5. Pope Francis Hospitalized with Double Pneumonia

Pope Francis has developed pneumonia in both lungs and will not participate in activities through the weekend because of his health issues, the Vatican announced on Tuesday. Francis, who was admitted to a hospital in Rome on Friday, had initially been diagnosed with a polymicrobial infection, which means he has a mix of microbes, like a virus or bacteria, in his lungs or another part of his respiratory tract. In an update on his status Tuesday evening, the Vatican said that the 88-year-old pope’s clinical condition “continued to present a complex picture” and that his treatment would be modified.

Article Source: NYT

February 19, 1847: After resorting to cannibalism, Donner Party rescued from the Sierra Nevada Mountains

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Sources

2. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/world/europe/us-russia-saudi-ukraine.html?campaign_id=7&emc=edit_mbae_20250218&instance_id=147846&nl=morning-briefing:-asia-pacific-edition&regi_id=61468173&segment_id=191321&user_id=02b32d846497687a8f0c061d7ffd16b1

3. https://www.ft.com/content/e627f043-9c95-4a7b-8a65-8d55630ec864

4. https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/judge-sets-hearing-over-bid-to-dismiss-bribery-case-against-eric-adams-d541459d?mod=hp_lead_pos10

5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2025/africa-sahel/russian-terror-military-influence/?itid=hp-top-table-main_p001_f014

6. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/world/europe/pope-francis-health.html?campaign_id=7&emc=edit_mbae_20250218&instance_id=147846&nl=morning-briefing:-asia-pacific-edition&regi_id=61468173&segment_id=191321&user_id=02b32d846497687a8f0c061d7ffd16b1