Category: News
US military says Air Force One will be painted red, white and blue
WASHINGTON — A red, white and blue color scheme championed by President Donald Trump will become the new look for Air Force One, the U.S. military said Thursday.
The Air Force said a “red, white, gold and dark blue paint scheme” will be used for the updated jet that is slated to serve as Air Force One as well as other, smaller jets that routinely fly other top government officials.
The military released a rendering of the new look that matches an airplane model that has been seen in the Oval Office for meetings with foreign leaders.
Boeing is in the process of modifying two of its 747-800 aircraft that are slated to replace the existing fleet of two aging Boeing 747-200 aircraft that the president currently uses and that take on the Air Force One call sign when the president is aboard.
In 2018, Trump directed that those new jets would ditch the iconic Kennedy-era blue-and-white design for a white-and-navy color scheme. Instead, the top half of the plane would have been white, while the bottom, including the belly, would have been dark blue. A streak of dark red would have run from the cockpit to the tail. The coloring was almost identical to the exterior of Trump’s personal plane.
An Air Force review had suggested the darker colors would increase costs and delay delivery of the new jumbo jets, and President Joe Biden reversed the decision in March 2023.
Trump told reporters last month that “we want power blue, not baby blue,” referring to the current color of the aircraft.
“Everything has its time and place. We’ll be changing the colors,” Trump added.
The Air Force’s statement says a third 747-8i Boeing jet will be painted in the same colors.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally accepted a luxury Boeing 747 jet from Qatar last May for use as Air Force One despite questions about the ethics and legality of taking the expensive gift from a foreign nation.
Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers last June that the security modifications to the jet would cost less than $400 million but provided no details.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/19/air-force-one-donald-trump/
The US Must Be Confident It Has A Plan In Place To Lower Oil Prices Once It Strikes Iran
The US Must Be Confident It Has A Plan In Place To Lower Oil Prices Once It Strikes Iran
By Michael Every of Rabobank
Lots Of Xs Vs Lots Of Ys
US vs. Iran: The media today talk of a “90% chance of war” and “as soon as Saturday.” We’ve long stressed there’s a high likelihood of a fresh US-Iran conflict, recent US logistics movements said soon, and an Axios headline yesterday refocused oil markets on it. The balance of risks now tilts to a US strike after market close Friday, even if the materiel moved to the Middle East suggests any attack is likely to last weeks rather than being over by the Monday open. One caveat is Secretary of State Rubio is set to meet with PM Netanyahu in Israel on February 28, hard to achieve if missiles are flying. Yet Israel is preparing for exactly that. Indeed, expectations are Iran will retaliate across the region, potentially via terror cells in the West (including in Europe), and perhaps in Hormuz directly if the regime sees itself as at risk. The broader region is flammable too, with tensions running: Egypt vs Ethiopia vs Eritrea; Somalia vs Somaliland; Sudan vs South Sudan; Yemen vs South Yemen; and the Saudis (and Turkey and nuclear-armed Pakistan) vs the UAE (and Israel and nuclear-armed India).
To say that this could be market- and geopolitics-moving is an understatement. Oil, and presumably LNG, prices would spike. How quickly they come down would depend on exactly how this plays out. The US must be confident that it has a plan in place to mitigate these kinds of risks. It certainly did, in a much less risky environment, in Venezuela.
The Fed: The latest minutes were significantly more hawkish than expected. Indeed, the Bloomberg take, accurate or not, is that several members may be leaning towards rate hikes not rates cuts. Given we are months away from the appointment of a new Fed Chair who wants to see the latter, that sets the Eccles Building up for some serious conflict ahead. Indeed, note the colliding views on what the AI revolution means for the US economy. Warsh, based on some optimistic thinking, says it means lower rates; Barr and Daly, based on surrealistic thinking, say it means higher rates. Our US strategist is sticking with 3 cuts this year for now, starting from June (see here).
The ECB: President Lagarde is going to step down early, setting off a scramble for succession. Our ECB team do an excellent job of working through the labyrinth of Byzantine European monetary politics in this report. In a nutshell, it’s not so much about policy preference, or protecting the ECB from the pollutant of political populism, nor about the presidency per se; rather, it’s potentially perpetuating an ECB executive board seat for France. And what would any key European decision be without France trying to do that? C’est la guerre, c’est Lagarde. (And does she have a better gig lined up? The whisper had been Davos leadership, but post-Trump’s stomp on it, is that still a step up?)
The RBA vs. the government: Strong wages growth and jobs data keep the pressure on the Reserve Bank. Private sector wages were +3.4% y-o-y in Q4 and public sector +4%. Jobs growth in January was 17.8K, broadly in line with expectations, but with a surge in full-time employment of over 50K, while unemployment fell a tick to a near-historic low of 4.1%. Yes, there are questions about data quality, population growth, and AI, even if Australia is hardly at the cutting edge in that key area. But what excuses can the RBA keep finding not to be hawkish, even if that eventually sets up a collision with the housing market? There’s already one underway between former RBA Governor Lowe and the government, the former saying the latter needs to stop spending to get rates down again, the latter saying that’s just a personal vendetta.
The BOE: Reform Party not-Shadow Chancellor Jenrick pledged to retain BOE independence and the Office for Budget Responsibility, while…. drum roll… reforming both. The BOE will be stripped of political goals and a climate mandate, with a focus purely on inflation: QE was mentioned as a bad thing. The OBR is to change its models, with competitions to see which forecaster is most accurate in calling growth and the budget deficit right (as if it’s the salary that makes forecasting hard). He also spoke of making The City a ‘crypto leader’… but is that in Bitcoin, dollar stablecoins, or Euro or sterling ones? Expect major collisions on that front both between legacy banking and crypto, and between crypto players… albeit only from 2029 onwards, barring a political shock.
France vs Germany: Aside from ECB politics, Chancellor Merz has just said that the Eurofighter project that was supposed to be built between France and Germany ‘fails to meet Germany’s needs’. That follows similar recent spats over protectionism and trade deals. More broadly, as Germany rearms, adding military muscle to its existing, if shrinking, economic heft, Franco-German tensions are only going to increase on multiple fronts, forging new intra-EU alliances to emerge.
Canada vs the US: ‘Carney offers to ‘broker a bridge’ to build giant anti-Trump trade club’ – joining the EU with the CPTPP’s Canada, Mexico, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and other Pacific nations. Really? Mexico is deepening trade integration with the US behind a de facto common external tariff. The UK is trying to get back in with the EU via dynamic regulatory alignment, but the benefits are likely to be low given businesses know Reform could win the next election and reverse it. Japan is all in on the US. Australia is close to an FTA with the EU, NZ has one, and both rely entirely on the US security umbrella. The smaller Asian economies are linked to China, with US trade deals not allowing transshipment. And almost all those countries want to net export to the US. With USMCA renegotiation months away, does Canada think this is leverage when the US holds the best cards?
Green vs not green: ‘US pressures global energy body to drop net zero modeling’. “US Energy Secretary Chris Wright made the call to other energy ministers at a closed-door ministerial meeting of the International Energy Agency in Paris on Wednesday, two people who were part of the discussions told POLITICO. The comments met with a muted response from other ministers, the people said…. It comes just a day after Wright publicly threatened to quit the organization unless it abandoned its focus on the energy transition… Wright said the agency should stop basing its modeling on assumptions that it’s possible to cut emissions to zero, arguing such targets will never be met… Doing away with those baseline assumptions would be a significant shift for the IEA, which has made them central to forecasts that have in turn formed the basis of global political decision-making around the green transition and underpinned billions in green energy investments.”
Free speech vs hate speech: Welcome to glasnost, reverse-Gorbachev style. Reuters reports the Trump admin is to set up a website, Freedom.org, as a portal which everyone globally can use to access whatever information or apps that they want, regardless of what their own governments won’t let them see for various reasons. This would apparently operate via a permanent VPN. Obviously, this is going to cause tensions with the likes of China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea… and Australia, the UK, and much of Europe. (Many readers will nod at immediately: but stop for a moment and think just how bizarre that would have read 10 years ago.)
Young vs. Old: ‘Over 65? Congratulations, You Own the Economy’. As the Wall Street Journal puts it, “The elderly are physically and financially healthier than ever. So why do their needs keep taking priority over younger generations?”
Tyler Durden
Thu, 02/19/2026 – 10:15
US Pending Home Sales Hit Record Low Despite Falling Mortgage Rates
US Pending Home Sales Hit Record Low Despite Falling Mortgage Rates
After plunging in December (biggest drop since COVID), US Pending Home Sales disappointed once again with a modest 0.8% MoM decline in January (+2.0% MoM exp). This left sales down 1.23% YoY…
Source: Bloomberg
This left the Pending Home Sales Index at a record low…
Source: Bloomberg
Mortgage rates continued to slide… so WTF is holding buyers back?
Source: Bloomberg
“Improving affordability conditions have yet to induce more buying activity,” NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a statement.
Yun cautioned that the mix of lower mortgage rates and a still-tight supply of houses could cause home prices to start rising quickly again, assuming the lower borrowing costs encourage more buyers.
“This will put increasing pressure on affordability, which is why it is critical to increase supply by building more homes,” Yun said.
Weather could have impacted sales as sales were weakest in the NorthEast and South – where the winter storm was most impactful.
Pending-homes sales tend to be a leading indicator for previously owned homes, as houses typically go under contract a month or two before they’re sold.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 02/19/2026 – 10:10
Los 11 días que abrieron de par en par la lucha por el título de la Liga Premier
Por JAMES ROBSON
MANCHESTER, Inglaterra (AP) — Los jugadores de Arsenal se retiraron del campo el 7 de febrero tras una convincente victoria en casa por 3-0 ante Sunderland, con una ventaja de nueve puntos como líderes de la Liga Premier.
Luego las cosas empezaron a torcerse.
Para cuando Arsenal salte al campo en el derbi del norte de Londres del domingo contra Tottenham, la brecha sobre el Manchester City, su perseguidor inmediato, podría ser de apenas dos puntos.
A lo largo de un duro periodo de 11 días, lo que empezaba a parecer un paseo hacia el primer título de la liga inglesa en 22 años ahora era mucho menos seguro. El City es el que ha tomado impulso, un equipocon antecedentes muy recientes de recortar distancias a Arsenal en el tramo final.
Tras haber liderado durante tanto tiempo esta temporada, Arsenal vuelve a temblar bajo el fragor de la lucha por el título.
Punto de inflexión
Si el City termina ganando un séptimo título en nueve años, su dramática victoria 2-1 contra Liverpool probablemente quedará como el momento definitorio de la temporada.
Al jugar en Anfield un día después de que Arsenal ampliara su ventaja a nueve puntos, el equipo de Pep Guardiola no podía rezagarse. Dado que el City había ganado en apenas una de sus 23 visitas anteriores a Anfield, eso parecía poco probable.
Y cuando Liverpool se puso 1-0 arriba, a los 74 minutos, las aspiraciones del City parecían fulminadas.
Lo que siguió fue un caótico desenlace que incluyó un decisivo penal de Erling Haaland en el tiempo añadido.
La diferencia con Arsenal se redujo a seis puntos, pero el resultado se sintió mucho más significativo que eso.
Todo es cuestión de percepción
El calendario de la liga hizo que el City volviera a jugar antes del siguiente partido de Arsenal y tuviera la oportunidad de recortar aún más la desventaja a tres puntos.
Una cómoda victoria en casa por 3-0 ante Fulham hizo exactamente eso y, aunque Arsenal no había tocado el balón desde su triunfo contra Sunderland, de repente la sensación era que los Gunners estaban comprometidos.
En realidad, la ventaja de nueve puntos siempre fue solo provisional, ya que el City tenía un partido pendiente, pero la percepción era que la pelea por el título dio un gran vuelco. Esa percepción se volvió mucho más tangible cuando Arsenal, que jugó el último partido de la jornada esa semana, empató 1-1 en Brentford después de haberse puesto en ventaja.
Problemas de calendario
Si la semana pasada pareció jugar en contra de Arsenal el hecho de jugar después de todos los demás, el miércoles tuvo la oportunidad de recuperar el impulso en un partido reprogramado contra el colista Wolverhampton. Arriba 2-0 cumplidos 56 minutos en la visita al Molineux, Arsenal se encaminaba a una victoria para calmar los nervios. Pero los Wolves no se amilaron y el debutante adolescente Tom Edozie marcó en el cuarto minuto del tiempo añadido para rescatar un empate.
“Es momento de hablar en el campo porque cualquier cosa que digamos ahora mismo nace de la rabia, la frustración, la decepción, y no va a salir nada que beneficie y ayude al equipo de cara a lo que viene”, indicó Mikel Arteta, el técnico de Arsenal.
Los Gunners están cinco puntos por delante del City, pero han jugado un partido más.
El City puede acercarse a dos puntos con una victoria contra Newcastle el sábado.
Dos equipos, cuatro trofeos
Tanto Arsenal como el City pujan por pleno de trofeos esta temporada: Liga Premier, Liga de Campeones, Copa FA y Copa de la Liga inglesa.
Se enfrentarán en la final de la Copa de la Liga el próximo mes, lo que podría tener un impacto psicológico en la lucha por el título.
El City ya tiene ventaja en ese sentido, dado que en 2023 y 2024 recortó distancias dos veces para superar a Arsenal y llevarse el título.
Esta temporada hay ecos de esas campañas: Arsenal lideró la clasificación durante la mayor parte de esos cursos y está titubeando.
Jugarán entre sí en el Etihad Stadium del City en abril y, de manera peculiar, el título ahora está en manos de ambos equipos.
Si el City gana todos sus partidos restantes, será coronado campeón. Arsenal necesita evitar la derrota en el campo del City y ganar sus partidos restantes para conquistar el título.
“(Es) momento de centrarnos en nosotros, mejorar nuestro nivel y eso está bajo nuestro control”, dijo Bukayo Saka, el atacante de Arsenal.
Duelos clave
El derbi del norte de Londres tendrá implicaciones en la parte alta y baja de la clasificación. Arsenal pelea por el título, mientras que Tottenham —con el nuevo técnico Igor Tudor— corre el riesgo de verse arrastrado a una batalla por el descenso.
El Manchester United se las verá contra Everton el lunes con la intención de continuar su trayectoria ascendente bajo el técnico Michael Carrick.
Fuera del campo
El United enfrentará a Everton en su primer partido desde que el copropietario Jim Ratcliffe desató un revuelo al decir que Gran Bretaña había sido “colonizada” por inmigrantes. El United y sus aficionados estuvieron entre quienes reprocharon a Ratcliffe sus comentarios “ofensivos”. Los hinchas podrían hacer notar aún más lo que sienten durante el partido del lunes.
___
Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Pakistán convoca a diplomático afgano tras ataque que mató a 11 soldados
Associated Press
ISLAMABAD (AP) — El Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Pakistán convocó a un alto diplomático afgano y presentó una enérgica protesta por un atentado cometido por un perpetrador suicida a principios de esta semana, ataque que mató a 11 soldados paquistaníes y a una niña cerca de la frontera con Afganistán.
La cancillería informó en un comunicado que llamó el miércoles al jefe adjunto de misión de Afganistán en Islamabad y le entregó una protesta diplomática formal tras el ataque registrado el lunes en el distrito noroccidental de Bajaur, que, indicó, fue perpetrado por insurgentes con base en Afganistán.
“Pakistán se reserva el derecho de responder y eliminar a quienes estuvieron detrás del ataque dondequiera que se encuentren, para proteger a sus soldados, civiles y fronteras”, señaló. De momento no ha habido comentarios por parte de Afganistán.
Las tensiones han persistido entre los vecinos desde que enfrentamientos fronterizos en octubre de 2025 dejaron decenas de soldados, civiles y presuntos milicianos muertos. La violencia se produjo tras las explosiones ocurridas en Kabul el 9 de octubre, que Afganistán atribuyó a Pakistán. Desde entonces se ha mantenido un alto el fuego mediado por Qatar, aunque las conversaciones posteriores en Estambul no lograron un acuerdo definitivo y las relaciones siguen tensas.
Pakistán ha registrado un aumento de ataques en los últimos años, la mayoría atribuidos a los talibanes paquistaníes, conocidos como Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan o TTP. Son un grupo distinto, pero estrechamente aliado, de los talibanes de Afganistán, que regresaron al poder en 2021. Islamabad acusa al TTP de operar libremente dentro de Afganistán, una acusación que tanto el TTP como Kabul niegan. ___
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
8-month-old girl in good condition after stroller fell into Lake Michigan Wednesday
An 8-month-old baby was listed in good condition after her stroller fell into the water Wednesday on the North Side in the Lakeview neighborhood, Chicago police said.
Around 3 p.m. Wednesday, several witnesses saw a girl in a stroller fall into the water in the 3200 block of North Dusable Lake Shore Drive. The witnesses acted quickly and pulled the girl out of the water, and she was taken to Lurie Children’s Hospital where she was listed in good condition, police said.
Detectives are investigating the circumstances leading up to the rescue.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/19/8-month-baby-lake/
PJM Board Approves $11.8BN Transmission Expansion Plan
PJM Board Approves $11.8BN Transmission Expansion Plan
By Ethan Howland Of UtilityDive
The PJM Interconnection’s board last week approved $11.8 billion in baseline transmission projects, with Dominion Energy’s Virginia utility landing roughly $4.8 billion in those projects.
The projects are part of PJM’s 2025 Regional Transmission Expansion Plan Window 1, which is designed to bolster grid reliability that is strained by accelerated load growth in multiple areas across its Mid-Atlantic and Midwest footprint.
The projects are also needed to handle new generation in southern Virginia, future generation in western PJM, delays to New Jersey offshore wind projects and increased regional flows toward the eastern parts of PJM’s footprint, the grid operator said Friday.
PJM will monitor load and generation in its footprint to make sure needed transmission development is progressing in a timely manner, the grid operator said in its board-approved plan.
DataBank’s IAD4 data center under construction in Ashburn, Va
“PJM also clarified that siting, routing and regulatory processes, as well as construction, take a long time, and PJM needs the plan to be ready and advanced for the forecasted conditions proactively rather than bringing needed development late, which introduces impediments to development and reliability risks to stakeholders,” the grid operator said.
Meanwhile, transmission costs are making up a growing share of the price of wholesale electricity in PJM.
In 2024, transmission contributed $17.71/MWh to the cost of wholesale power in PJM, up 23%, or 5.8% a year, from $14.40/MWh in 2022, according to reports from Monitoring Analytics, PJM’s market monitor.
Transmission costs totaled $13.9 billion, or 32% of total wholesale costs of $43.6 billion, in 2024, the last full year of Monitoring Analytics’ reporting. Energy costs made up nearly 59% of the cost of wholesale power that year and capacity accounted for 6.6% of the total.
As part of PJM’s transmission expansion plan, Dominion Energy Virginia intends to build a $2.3-billion, 525-kV underground “backbone” transmission line in Virginia. The project, set to be online by June 2032, also calls for building two high-voltage direct current converter stations at each end of the 185-mile line for about $1.5 billion.
The project is designed to deliver 3,000 MW into Loudoun County in northern Virginia, the area with the most data center capacity in the world.
Like other multi-zone projects in the RTEP, the costs of the project will be shared across PJM’s footprint.
The just-approved plan also includes a $1.7-billion transmission line across central Pennsylvania proposed by NextEra Energy Transmission and Exelon. The project was opposed by Pennsylvania’s Office of Consumer Advocate, which argued that there were less expensive alternatives to the project.
The project addresses system-wide, structural reliability needs in PJM’s northeastern region that cannot be met with incremental upgrades or “terminal-only” solutions, NextEra and Exelon said in a Jan. 29 letter to PJM’s board.
“PJM’s own analyses and the convergence of independent developer proposals, demonstrates that new high-voltage backbone infrastructure is required to maintain reliable service under plausible future conditions,” the companies said. The project is slated to be operating by June 2031.
The transmission plan includes a $1.1 billion project in central Ohio proposed by Grid Growth Ventures, a joint venture between Transource Energy — a partnership between American Electric Power and Evergy — and FirstEnergy Transmission. The project includes 300 miles of 765-kV lines.
Under the plan, PPL Electric will build transmission projects totaling about $580 million, while Exelon subsidiaries Commonwealth Edison and Potomac Electric Power Co. will build projects totaling about $276 million and $292 million, respectively.
PJM’s RTEPs for 2024 and 2023 included $5.9 billion and $6.6 billion in baseline projects.
Tyler Durden
Thu, 02/19/2026 – 09:50
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/pjm-board-approves-118bn-transmission-expansion-plan
Trump gathers members of Board of Peace for first meeting, with some US allies wary of new body
WASHINGTON —President Donald Trump is gathering Thursday with representatives from more than two dozen countries that have joined his Board of Peace — and several that have opted not to — for an inaugural meeting that will focus on reconstruction and building an international stabilization force for a war-battered Gaza, where a shaky ceasefire deal persists.
Trump announced ahead of the meeting that board members have pledged $5 billion for reconstruction, a fraction of the estimated $70 billion needed to rebuild the Palestinian territory decimated after two years of war. Members are expected to unveil commitments of thousands of personnel to international stabilization and police forces for the territory.
“We have the greatest leaders in the world joining the Board of Peace,” Trump told reporters earlier this week. “I think it has the chance to be the most consequential board ever assembled of any kind.”
The board was initiated as part of Trump’s 20-point peace plan to end the conflict in Gaza. But since the October ceasefire, Trump’s vision for the board has morphed and he wants it to have an even more ambitious remit — one that will not only complete the Herculean task of bringing lasting peace between Israel and Hamas but will also help resolve conflicts around the globe.
But the Gaza ceasefire deal remains fragile and Trump’s expanded vision for it has triggered fears the U.S. president is looking to create a rival to the United Nations. Trump earlier this week said he hoped the board would push the U.N. to “get on the ball.”
“The United Nations has great potential,” he said. “They haven’t lived up to the potential.”
Trump started the meeting by taking part in a family photo with officials from nations that have joined the board.
Most countries sent high-level officials, but a few leaders—including Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, Argentinian President Javier Milei, and Hungarian President Viktor Mihály Orbán—traveled to Washington for the gathering.
Some US allies remain skeptical
More than 40 countries and the European Union confirmed they were sending officials to Thursday’s meeting, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to comment publicly. Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom are among more than a dozen countries that have not joined the board but are taking part as observers.
The U.N. Security Council held a high-level meeting Wednesday on the ceasefire deal and Israel’s efforts to expand control in the West Bank. The U.N. session in New York was originally scheduled for Thursday but was moved up after Trump announced the board’s meeting for the same date and it became clear that it would complicate travel plans for diplomats planning to attend both.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin told reporters earlier this week that “at the international level it should above all be the U.N. that manages these crisis situations.” The Trump administration on Wednesday pushed back on the Vatican’s concerns.
“This president has a very bold and ambitious plan and vision to rebuild and reconstruct Gaza, which is well underway because of the Board of Peace,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “This is a legitimate organization where there are tens of member countries from around the world.”
Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., also pushed back on skeptical allies, saying the board is “not talking, it is doing.”
“We are hearing the chattering class criticizing the structure of the board, that it’s unconventional, that it’s unprecedented,” Waltz said. “Again, the old ways were not working.”
Questions about disarming Hamas
Central to Thursday’s discussions will be creating an armed international stabilization force to keep security and ensure the disarming of the militant Hamas group, a key demand of Israel and a cornerstone of the ceasefire deal.
But thus far, only Indonesia has offered a firm commitment to Trump for the proposed force. And Hamas has provided little confidence that it is willing to move forward on disarmament. The administration is “under no illusions on the challenges regarding demilitarization” but has been encouraged by what mediators have reported back, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Subianto, the Indonesian president, pledged to work closely with other leading Islamic countries invited by Trump to “join in the endeavors to try to achieve lasting peace in Palestine.”
“We recognize there are still obstacles to be overcome, but at least my position is at least we have to try, and we have to do our best,” he said at an event at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, where he met with members of the business community.
On Thursday, updates are expected from the Gaza Executive Board, the operational arm of the board, about its efforts to create a functioning government system and services for the territory, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the broad outlines of the meeting.
Michael Hanna, U.S. program director at the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit group focused on preventing conflicts, suggested the skepticism some U.S. allies are showing is not unwarranted.
“Without any clear authorization for the expansion of its mandate beyond Gaza, it is unsurprising that many U.S. allies and partners have chosen to decline Trump’s offer to join the board,” Hanna said. “Instead, many of the states most invested in Gaza’s future have signed up with the hope of focusing U.S. attention and encouraging Trump himself to use the influence and leverage he has with Israel.”
Real Madrid envía a la UEFA ‘pruebas disponibles’ de un presunto insulto racista a Vinícius Júnior
Por TALES AZZONI
MADRID (AP) — El Real Madrid envió a la UEFA “todas las pruebas disponibles” sobre el presunto insulto racista contra Vinícius Júnior en el partido de la Liga de Campeones contra Benfica.
“Nuestro club ha colaborado de manera activa con la investigación abierta por UEFA tras los inaceptables episodios de racismo vividos durante dicho partido”, informó el club el jueves, sin dar más detalles sobre las pruebas.
La UEFA designó a un investigador especial el miércoles para recopilar pruebas sobre lo ocurrido en Lisboa en la victoria del Madrid por 1-0 sobre Benfica en el partido de ida de la serie de repechaje de la Liga de Campeones.
Vinícius acusó Gianluca Prestianni, jugador argentino de Benfica, de llamarlo “mono” después de que el astro brasileño marcara el único gol del encuentro. Prestianni estaba entre los jugadores de Benfica molestos con Vinícius después de que el delantero celebrara junto a la bandera de córner del cuadro local.
Prestianni se cubrió la boca con la camiseta cuando presuntamente le habló al jugador brasileño y negó haber insultado racialmente a Vinícius, quien es negro y ha sido objeto de repetidos insultos racistas en España.
“El Real Madrid agradece el respaldo unánime, el apoyo y el cariño que ha recibido nuestro jugador Vinicius Jr. desde todos los ámbitos del fútbol mundial”, señaló el club. “El Real Madrid seguirá trabajando, en colaboración con todas las instituciones, para erradicar el racismo, la violencia y el odio en el deporte y en la sociedad”.
Benfica, por su parte, afirmó Prestianni ha sido víctima de una “campaña de difamación” y alabó la investigación abierta por la UEFA el miércoles, al indicar que “apoya plenamente y cree la versión presentada” por Prestianni.
El presidente de la FIFA, Gianni Infantino, declaró el miércoles que estaba “conmocionado y entristecido al ver el incidente de presunto racismo” y elogió al árbitro por activar el protocolo antirracismo durante el partido, que se detuvo durante casi 10 minutos en el Estadio da Luz.
___
Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Bajan las solicitudes de ayuda por desempleo en EEUU
Por MATT OTT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Las solicitudes del subsidio por desempleo en Estados Unidos bajaron la semana pasada, mientras los despidos se mantienen en niveles históricamente bajos.
La cantidad de estadounidenses que solicitaron ayuda por desempleo en la semana que terminó el 14 de febrero disminuyó en 23.000, a 206.000, frente a la semana anterior, informó el Departamento de Trabajo el jueves. Analistas encuestados por la firma de datos FactSet esperaban 225.000 nuevas solicitudes.
Las solicitudes son un barómetro de los despidos y miden en tiempo real la salud del mercado laboral.
El Departamento de Trabajo informó a principios de este mes que los empleadores de Estados Unidos añadieron 130.000 empleos en enero, una cifra sólida, y que la tasa de desempleo bajó a 4,3% desde 4,4%. Sin embargo, revisiones del gobierno recortaron las nóminas de Estados Unidos de 2024-2025 en cientos de miles, reduciendo el número de empleos creados el año pasado a apenas 181.000. Eso equivale a aproximadamente un tercio de los 584.000 informados previamente y es el nivel más débil desde el año de la pandemia de 2020.
Aunque los despidos semanales se han mantenido en un rango históricamente bajo, en su mayoría entre 200.000 y 250.000 durante los últimos años, varias empresas de alto perfil han anunciado recortes recientemente, entre ellas UPS, Amazon, Dow y The Washington Post en las últimas semanas.
El aumento de anuncios de despidos en el último año, combinado con los propios informes gubernamentales lentos sobre el mercado laboral, ha dejado a los estadounidenses cada vez más pesimistas sobre la economía, aunque esta registra un crecimiento sólido.
El Departamento de Trabajo también informó recientemente que las vacantes cayeron en diciembre al nivel más bajo en más de cinco años.
Los datos del último año han revelado en términos generales un mercado laboral en el que la contratación se ha desacelerado claramente, lastrada por la incertidumbre avivada por los aranceles del presidente Donald Trump y por los efectos persistentes de las altas tasas de interés que la Reserva Federal impulsó en 2022 y 2023 para contener un repunte de la inflación provocado por la pandemia.
Los economistas están divididos sobre si las ganancias de empleo de enero, más fuertes de lo esperado, son un hecho aislado o posiblemente la primera señal de un mercado laboral en recuperación, lo que podría llevar a la Reserva Federal a retrasar aún más nuevos recortes de su tasa de interés clave.
Algunos funcionarios de la Fed han argumentado específicamente que la débil contratación del año pasado muestra que los costos de endeudamiento están pesando sobre el crecimiento y desalentando a las empresas a expandirse. Un repunte sostenido de la contratación podría socavar esa teoría.
El informe del jueves mostró que el promedio móvil de cuatro semanas de las solicitudes del subsidio por desempleo, que atenúa parte de la volatilidad semanal, disminuyó en 1.000, a 219.000.
El número total de estadounidenses que solicitaron prestaciones por desempleo en la semana anterior, que terminó el 7 de febrero, aumentó a 1,87 millones, 17.000 más que la semana previa, indicó el gobierno.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/19/bajan-las-solicitudes-de-ayuda-por-desempleo-en-eeuu/
