Flagship

Libya FM flees after Israel backlash

Libya’s foreign minister fled the country after being fired for meeting her Israeli counterpart for unofficial talks. Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen tweeted that he met with Najla Mangoush last week in Rome, sparking protests in Tripoli. The talks were intended to normalize the countries’ relations. Cohen’s announcement was attacked as “amateurish” by the Israeli opposition, “putting a life in danger for a headline.” The U.S knew about the meeting, according to The Times of Israel, and had encouraged Mangoush to attend, believing them to be secret. The White House is reportedly “furious” at the revelation. Libya’s government called the talks “an unofficial and unprepared casual meeting” and rejected any “normalization with the Zionist entity.”

UK air traffic glitch disrupts flights

Fliers face a second day of disruption after a “technical fault” in the United Kingdom air traffic control system restricted flights through some of the world’s busiest international airports. Automatic flight-plan processing failed, meaning staff had to enter details manually, slowing the process and requiring traffic restriction. Hundreds of flights were affected on Monday, a public holiday and one of the busiest travel days of the year. Meanwhile, a technical glitch shut down all Toyota manufacturing in Japan. Highly centralized computer systems can make processes more efficient, but they’re vulnerable to a single bug shutting down entire industries.

Trump trial date set

A U.S. judge set Donald Trump’s trial date on charges of election interference for March 4, 2024 — the day before the Super Tuesday slate of Republican election primaries. It points to the growing clash between the country’s political and justice systems: The ex-president is the runaway favorite for the 2024 Republican nomination and, as one Republican pollster noted, most of the party’s voters “really do like him.” But Trump faces a packed legal schedule, with two other cases set to begin in March and May respectively and another one yet to be determined. The March 4 trial will, however, be “the centerpiece … of accountability for Trump,” the Los Angeles Times’s legal affairs columnist noted.

Ukraine takes back key village

Ukraine said its troops had liberated the southern village of Robotyne. It’s the first settlement captured in two weeks, as the ongoing counteroffensive faces heavy resistance from dug-in Russian forces. Taking Robotyne represents a breach in the first line of Russian defenses, allowing Kyiv to target more weakly protected areas in the rear, and use long-range artillery to attack deeper into occupied territory. The village is also just 15 miles from Tokmak, a strategically important road and rail hub. Ukraine’s Western allies are increasingly concerned about the counteroffensive’s lack of progress. Kyiv is keen to trumpet the success in Robotyne as evidence that there is still momentum.

China cautious on economy

China took steps to bolster its stock and property markets, but stopped short of full-fledged fiscal stimulus. The latest measures — cutting share trading costs and easing rules on first-time home purchases — come with several economists lowering their forecasts for Chinese economic growth. Experts have called for Beijing to aggressively promote consumer spending, including with cash handouts, but Chinese authorities reportedly fear that “Western-style social support would only encourage laziness” among its people, one source told The Wall Street Journal. There are benefits to the world of a slowing Chinese economy, potentially dampening inflation in the West and resulting in “the most dramatic reduction in emissions the world has ever seen,” one Bloomberg columnist wrote.

Pressure grows on Spanish soccer chief

Prosecutors opened a sexual assault investigation into the Spanish Football Federation president after he kissed a player following Spain’s victory at the Women’s World Cup. Luis Rubiales has insisted his kiss of the Barcelona forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the celebrations was “mutual and consensual.” Hermoso said it was not. Spanish soccer leaders have called upon Rubiales to resign, while FIFA, football’s world governing body, suspended him. Hundreds gathered in Madrid to support Hermoso and call for Rubiales to step down, while Rubiales’s mother locked herself in a church and went on hunger strike over the “inhumane and bloody hunt” of her son.

China on agenda in US-Costa Rica meet

U.S. President Joe Biden and his Costa Rican counterpart Rodrigo Chaves are expected to discuss immigration and China’s growing clout in the Americas during talks today. The Biden administration is eager to improve ties with Central American nations, on which it relies to help curb the rising flow of migrants to the U.S. border. It’s also keen to counter China’s increasing influence: Last week, PARLACEN, a bloc of Central American nations, expelled Taiwan as a permanent observer and replaced it with China. “When elephants fight, they can cause a lot of damage to the minnows,” Chaves said ahead of his trip.

The lurch to the right that never happened

The much-predicted rise of Europe’s far right has failed to materialize, and the real story is the resilience of the center, the European politics expert Mujtaba Rahman argued in the Financial Times. “There is no route to power” for the hard-right Alternative for Germany, Poland can expect to elect the liberal Eurocrat Donald Tusk soon, and in Spain, “early elections or a leftwing minority government are now more likely” than the far-right Vox taking office, Rahman wrote. Elsewhere, Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy has fascist roots but made “a sharp pivot to the centre” upon taking power, while France’s Marine Le Pen does well in midterm polls but underperforms in elections. “While it makes for less provocative headlines,” says Rahman, “Europe’s centrists remain on stronger ground than their critics imagine.”

Europe’s ski resorts face climate pain

More than half of Europe’s ski resorts will likely face snow shortages in a world of 2 degrees Celsius warming, and almost all of them will in a 4-degree scenario. The authors of a new study write in Carbon Brief that they looked at 2,234 ski resorts across 28 European countries, and found that snow cover is already at “unprecedented” low levels. Europe has the world’s largest ski industry, with more than 50% of the world’s resorts, and much of the region is economically reliant on skiing tourism. Snowmaking machines could reduce the impact, but even taking that into account, more than a quarter of resorts could face shortages at 2 degrees of warming.

More streaming choices, more choosing

The number of shows and films available to stream has jumped by 39% in two years. The rise of free but ad-supported streaming services has driven the increase, according to a report by market analysts Nielsen looking at the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, and Germany. There are now 167 streaming providers, up from 118 two years ago, with 2.35 million options between them. Inevitably, increased choice has led to increased difficulty choosing: The average time taken to choose something to watch was seven minutes in 2019, and is now over 10.

• Central and Eastern European leaders gather at Slovenia’s Lake Bled for an annual conference.
• Malaysia holds a farewell ceremony for two locally born panda cubs to mark their return to China as part of a conservation agreement between the two countries.
• Sega releases Samba de Amigo: Party-To-Go, a new rhythm action game for the Nintendo Switch.

Almost 50 years to the day after Victor Jara’s murder, Chile’s Supreme Court convicted the seven armed forces members responsible for his death. One of Chile’s most beloved composers, Jara — a communist activist — was targeted by Augusto Pinochet’s far-right putschists a day after they overthrew the country’s leftist government. Jara, along with thousands of others, was taken to the country’s national stadium, which now bears his name, where he was tortured and killed. In a unanimous decision, the court sentenced all seven former soldiers to prison sentences ranging from eight to 25 years.

China’s business elite is reviving national interest in a longstanding poker-like card game called guandan. The country’s economic downturn and its fraying ties with the U.S. are factors in the growing popularity of the four-person game, which translates as “throwing eggs,” according to Reuters: Financiers are using guandan to build “guanxi” or connections with officials as they court domestic capital in the face of fading foreign investment. “From observing someone’s playing style, you can tell if he is smart, aggressive or a team player. This can help you decide if you want him as a business partner,” a businessman said.

• Warner Bros. Discovery’s search for an outsider to run CNN has taken it to two high-profile veterans of the BBC.
• Bitter disputes over the outcome of Zimbabwe’s general election are looming after President Emerson Mnangagwa was declared winner.
• A YouTuber’s attempt to bring together one person “from every country on Earth” for a competition is the latest viral moment to highlight the fraught political nature of maps in pop culture.