World
Economic portfolios are key in talks to chose new EU commissioners
![Economic portfolios are key in talks to chose new EU commissioners Economic portfolios are key in talks to chose new EU commissioners](https://static.euronews.com/articles/stories/08/60/74/86/1200x675_cmsv2_66122ccd-cb2f-5173-9552-dd82b3cf3e39-8607486.jpg)
All governments must announce their nominees for the European Commission by August 30.
Ursula von der Leyen is facing challenging negotiations to create her new College of Commissioners with economic portfolios among the most coveted by European Union member states.
Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, Czechia and Romania have all indicated they hope to claim one such portfolio, with the one including the budget highly sought after.
“We have the Multiannual Financial Framework to be negotiated in the next term. This will be a very difficult and very heavy dossier, but it will also be something which will be very determining the priorities of the years to come,” Janis Emmanouilidis, a senior policy analyst at the European Policy Center (EPC), told Euronews.
France is also in contention for a strong portfolio as it has nominated Thierry Breton, now Commissioner for the Internal Market, to stay in Brussels for a second term.
“There is always a great interest in Competition and Trade, areas where the EU has a lot of competence,” Sophia Russack, a researcher at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), told Euronews.
“The same applies to those that have a particularly high impact on the budget, for example the cohesion and agriculture funds which together represent around a third of the entire EU budget,” she added.
The new portfolios for grabs
In these power plays, Ursula von der Leyen can also use defence, a new portfolio dedicated to the military industry, seen as very relevant due to the war in Ukraine.
The Mediterranean – linked to migration management – and housing will also have dedicated commissioners for the first time.
To complete the “puzzle” and designate executive vice-presidents, the centre-right Commission chief will also have to take into account which political parties backed her reappointment in the European Parliament in July.
“One can assume that again – given that she is from the EPP, the Conservative Party – there should be a Socialist, a Liberal, and potentially a Green, among the top positions in the Commission,” Emmanouilidis said.
Italy, the EU’s third-biggest economy, has yet to officially indicate its candidate. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni abstained during the European Council vote to renew von der Leyen at the helm of the bloc’s executive.
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), to which Meloni’s party Brothers of Italy belongs, became the fourth biggest political group in the European Parliament and voted against von der Leyen’s confirmation. What portfolio Italy will get is one of the hottest topics in Brussels.
The gender issue
Another trump card to use in the negotiations with the 27 capitals is gender balance as requested by von der Leyen whose first college achieved parity. But fewer than 10 women have been nominated so far by governments to head to Brussels.
“She can argue that if the country offers a very good candidate, then it can also offer her a very interesting portfolio. There are these kinds of backroom deals that can be made to put pressure on member states. So it’s a mix of gender, political and geographical issues, a very complex agreement to implement,” Emmanouilidis said.
On Wednesday, Portugal nominated former Finance Minister Maria Luís Albuquerque, but Denmark announced a male name, Dan Jørgensen, former Minister of Climate and Energy.
“The issue of gender is also a sign of current times. Parliament itself is currently made up of fewer female members than it was in the past, not even 40%. But we also have to say that in some countries there are internal procedures, for example, that the Parliament and or the President have to agree with the choice of the Prime Minister,” Russack said.
After receiving all the names, von der Leyen will conduct individual interviews and present the final selection to the European Parliament, which will hold hearings with the 26 candidates. If some are rejected, new names must be presented until the entire team is approved in a plenary session.
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World
ESPN Inks 12-Year, US Open TV Rights Extension
![ESPN Inks 12-Year, US Open TV Rights Extension ESPN Inks 12-Year, US Open TV Rights Extension](https://www.sportico.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-2168642419-e1724873576101.jpg?w=1024)
U.S. Open tennis matches will stay on ESPN’s networks through 2037 under a deal announced Wednesday.
The tie-up represents ESPN’s longest-term tennis agreement. Beyond America, it also includes broadcast rights in Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada. ESPN has aired the New York-based event since 2015. Financial details were not announced.
IMG brokered the deal as the media rep for the United States Tennis Association. “The new agreement will super-charge this iconic, captivating Grand Slam’s exposure, production, promotion, content and economic investment, ensuring record year-on-year growth for the next decade and beyond,” IMG EVP and head of Americas, media Hillary Mandel said.
Last year’s U.S. Open saw viewership jump 40% on championship weekend for its second highest mark on the channel. The women’s final, won by Coco Gauff, was ESPN’s most-viewed women’s final. The current tournament concludes September 8.
“I talked earlier about our continued commitment to women’s sports,” ESPN EVP, programming and acquisitions Rosalyn Durant said Wednesday. “Tennis is one of those sports that lends itself to that.”
The new agreement comes with expanded streaming rights for ESPN, something the network has prioritized as it prepares to launch a digital service next year. Among the new elements will be an ESPN+ exclusive whip-around show set to debut in 2026.
ESPN2, meanwhile, will carry live coverage during “Fan Week” before the main draw starts. ABC will air matches on the middle and final Sundays of the competition. ESPN has also retained limited sublicensing rights. The previous, 11-year deal was reportedly worth more than $825 million.
“This agreement reinforces our long-term dedication to tennis,” ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a statement.
World
Boy accidentally destroys 3,500-year-old artifact in Israeli museum
![Boy accidentally destroys 3,500-year-old artifact in Israeli museum Boy accidentally destroys 3,500-year-old artifact in Israeli museum](https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/Broken-Jar-Haifa.jpg)
A boy on a visit to a museum in Israel accidentally knocked over a 3,500-year-old jar, shattering the relic.
“There are instances where display items are intentionally damaged, and such cases are treated with great severity, including involving the police,” Lihi Laszlo of the Hecht Museum told the BBC.
“In this case, however, this was not the situation,” Laszlo said. “The jar was accidentally damaged by a young child visiting the museum, and the response will be accordingly.”
The jar dated to the Bronze Age, between 2200 and 1500 B.C. — predating the time of Kings David and Solomon — and it was totally intact, making it a rare find and valuable artifact. Experts have speculated that the jar likely carried local supplies, such as wine and olive oil.
ISRAEL OPENS TOMBS FROM ANCIENT ROME TO THE PUBLIC FOR THE FIRST TIME: ‘WONDERFUL PAINTINGS’
A young preschooler accidentally shattered a nearly 3,500-year-old jar that was not behind glass at the Hecht Museum in Haifa. (Hecht Museum)
The museum, located in Haifa, had put the piece on display near the entrance and without protection to show a piece “without obstructions.”
The boy had pulled on the jar to find out what was inside, and that caused it to fall over, shattering to pieces. The museum immediately appointed a specialist in conservation to restore the jar, which will return to its place near the front entrance once completed.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNSEAL 2,000-YEAR-OLD TOMB, FIND MUMMY IN ‘EXCELLENT STATE’
![Remains of a broken 3,500-year-old jar](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/Broken-3500-year-old-jar-haifa.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
The 3,500-year-old jar was accidentally smashed by a reported 4-year-old boy visiting the Hecht Museum last Friday. (Hecht Museum)
The museum insisted that the piece will also return without obstructions.
Israeli museums are no stranger to incidents that destroy priceless works: An American tourist allegedly smashed a sculpture in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem in October last year.
ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER UNDERWATER MOSAIC BELIEVED TO DATE BACK TO ROMAN EMPIRE
![A set of jars on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/08/1200/675/Jars-on-display.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
The Hecht Museum did not place the 3,500-year-old jar behind glass, believing there is a “special charm” to showing historical finds without obstructions. (Hecht Museum)
The tourist allegedly destroyed a pair of Roman statues dating from the 2nd Century because they were “against the Torah.” His lawyer, however, denied that he had acted out of “religious fanaticism.”
One statue depicted Athena, daughter of Zeus, and the other depicted a griffin grasping the wheel of fate of the Roman god Nemesis, according to The Times of Israel.
Police arrested the tourist at the scene, identifying him only as a 40-year-old Jewish American tourist.
World
Donating a kidney is even safer now than long thought, US study shows
WASHINGTON (AP) — People who volunteer to donate a kidney face an even lower risk of death from the operation than doctors have long thought, researchers reported Wednesday.
The study tracked 30 years of living kidney donation and found that by 2022, fewer than 1 of every 10,000 donors died within three months of the surgery. Transplant centers have been using older data – citing a risk of 3 deaths per 10,000 living donors – in counseling donors about potentially deadly surgical complications.
“The last decade has become a lot more safe in the operating room for living donors,” said Dr. Dorry Segev, a transplant surgeon at NYU Langone Health. He co-authored the study published in the journal JAMA.
Newer surgical techniques are the key reason, said Segev, calling for guideline updates to reflect those safety improvements – and maybe increase interest in living donation.
He often finds transplant recipients more worried about potential risks to their donors than the would-be donors themselves.
“For them, this is even more reassuring to allow their friends or family to donate on their behalf,” Segev said.
Thousands of people die each year waiting for an organ transplant. It’s possible for living donors to give a one of their two kidneys or part of a liver, the only organ that regenerates.
With nearly 90,000 people on the U.S. list for a kidney transplant, finding a living donor not only shortens the yearslong wait — those organs also tend to survive longer than ones from deceased donors.
Yet last year, just 6,290 of the nation’s more than 27,000 kidney transplants came from living donors, the most since before the pandemic. Safety isn’t the only barrier to living donation. So is awareness, as many patients are reluctant to ask. And while the recipient’s insurance covers medical bills, some donors face expenses such as travel or lost wages as they recover.
The NYU team analyzed U.S. records of more than 164,000 living kidney donations from 1993 through 2022 and found 36 post-surgical deaths. Most at risk were male donors and those with a history of high blood pressure.
Only five of those deaths occurred since 2013. That period coincided with U.S. transplant centers switching to minimally invasive kidney removal as well as adopting a better way to stop renal artery bleeding, Segev said.
“Over time, it’s a safe operation that’s become even safer,” important for would-be donors to know, said Dr. Amit Tevar of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who wasn’t involved in the study.
But there are long-term risks to consider, too, he stressed — including whether a donor’s remaining kidney is expected to last the rest of their life.
The risk of a donor later experiencing kidney failure also is small and depends on such factors as obesity, high blood pressure, smoking and family history of kidney disease. Risk calculators help doctors determine a potential donor’s likelihood of later-in-life trouble, and transplant centers may have slightly different eligibility criteria.
“There’s no such thing as a moderate- or high-risk donor — either you’re perfect or you’re not,” is how Tevar puts the decision to accept or turn away a potential donor.
Doctors once thought young adults were the ideal living donor. But Segev said there’s a shift toward more older living donors because it’s easier to correctly predict that they won’t outlive their remaining kidney.
If a living donor later experiences kidney failure, they get priority for a transplant, he noted.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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