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Biden to host Zelenskyy at White House amid stalled negotiations over Ukraine aid

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

President Joe Biden will host President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine at the White House on Tuesday, as negotiations on an aid deal for the country remain stalled in Congress.Zelenskyy’s visit will “underscore the United States’ unshakeable commitment to supporting the people of Ukraine as they defend themselves against Russia’s brutal invasion,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.The meeting is the latest White House effort to apply pressure on Congress, where a deal that would deliver emergency aid to Ukraine seems to have reached an impasse.In a letter to congressional leaders last week, White House budget chief Shalanda Young warned that inaction before the end of the year on a new round of funding threatens to “kneecap Ukraine on the battlefield.”

Saudi-led fight against COP28 deal shows ‘panic,’ German climate envoy says

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The full-scale resistance that oil-exporting countries are mounting against a COP28 deal to end fossil fuel use is a sign of “panic,” said Germany’s climate envoy. Last week, as ministers descended on the U.N. climate talks in Dubai, the OPEC cartel of oil-rich nations urged its 13 members, including Saudi Arabia, and OPEC+ countries to reject any agreement that aimed to slash fossil fuel production. The appeal sparked contentious debate over the weekend as officials tried to finalize a deal before COP28’s scheduled end on Tuesday. But to Jennifer Morgan, Germany’s special envoy for international climate action, the letter was also a rare admission from the oil industry that these climate talks pose an existential threat to its business model.“They obviously felt they needed to engage,” Morgan said in response to a question from POLITICO while speaking to a group of reporters. “Whether it was a bit of panic, whether it was a bit of realization...

Column: Baseball circus surrounding the Shohei Ohtani courtship was one for the record books

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

Shohei Ohtani wound up where almost everyone expected from the start Saturday when he agreed to a record 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.It is the biggest contract in North American team sports, and its reverberations will be felt in baseball for years after surpassing the next-highest MLB deal, Mike Trout’s 12-year, $427 million contract signed in 2019, by $273 million.But the story of the Ohtani courtship was a long and twisting road that had baseball fans engrossed for weeks, especially in the 24 hours before the deal was agreed upon, when an errant report and social media speculation had the entire country of Canada on edge over an alleged trip Ohtani took to Toronto on a private jet.As it turned out, tracking Ohtani’s phantom flight to Toronto on Friday afternoon to find out whether baseball’s unicorn would shock the world and sign with the Blue Jays was a colossal time-waster for fans with social media accounts and plenty of time to wa...

Trump says he won’t testify Monday at his New York fraud trial and sees no need to appear again

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump said Sunday he has decided against testifying for a second time at his New York civil fraud trial.In a social media post, the former president said that he “VERY SUCCESSFULLY & CONCLUSIVELY” testified last month and saw no need to appear again.Trump had been expected to return to the witness stand Monday as the last big defense witness in the case, which threatens his real estate empire and cuts to the heart of his image as a successful businessman.Trump announced he was canceling his testimony in an all-capital letters, multipart statement on his Truth Social platform, writing: “I WILL NOT BE TESTIFYING ON MONDAY.”Trump was often defiant and combative when he testified on Nov. 6. He sparred with the judge and slammed New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is suing him. Trump defended his wealth and denied wrongdoing.When he was questioned by the state lawyers who are suing him, he often responded with lengthy diatribes. Trump’s verbose a...

Guyana agreed to talks with Venezuela over territorial dispute under pressure from Brazil, others

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — The government of Guyana, under pressure from neighboring Brazil and a Caribbean trading bloc, agreed Sunday to join bilateral talks with Venezuela over an escalating territorial dispute.The century-old dispute between the two South American nations recently reignited with the discovery of masses of oil in Guyana. The government of Nicolas Maduro, through a referendum last week, has claimed sovereignty over the Essequibo territory, which accounts for two-thirds of Guyana and lies near big offshore oil deposits.Even as troops mass on both sides of the shared Venezuela-Guyana border, Guyana President Irfaan Ali said Sunday that his country will meet on the Eastern Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent on Thursday to discuss where border lines between the two nations are drawn.But any agreement is likely to be hard won with flaring tensions on both sides.“I have made it very clear that on the issue of the border controversy, Guyana’s position is non-neg...

Kenya falls into darkness in the third nationwide power blackout in 3 months

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A nationwide power blackout hit Kenya Sunday evening, paralyzing large parts of the country, including the main airport in the capital, Nairobi, a major transport hub connecting East Africa to Asia, Europe and other parts of the world.Sunday’s outage began around 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) and was the third national power supply failure within the last three months.Among the key establishments affected was the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, as well as Eldoret Airport in western Kenya, where emergency power generators failed to kick in after the power grid failed.The state-run utility, Kenya Power, blamed the the blackout on a “system disturbance” which it claimed was being addressed by technicians.“We have lost electricity supply to various parts of the country due to a suspected fault affecting the power system,” a statement said. “We are working to restore normalcy within the shortest time possible. An update on the restoration progre...

Petrochemical giant’s salt mine ruptures in northeastern Brazil. Officials warned of collapse

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A mine belonging to Brazilian petrochemical giant Braskem ruptured Sunday in the northeastern coastal city of Maceio, the city’s civil defense authority said.Video the authority distributed shows a sudden murky bubbling of the water in the Mundau lagoon in the city’s Mutange neighborhood, reflecting the mine’s rupture.The area had previously been evacuated and there were was no risk to any people, it said in a statement. A press officer said officials were still assessing the rupture and would soon provide further information. The development came as no surprise to residents and local authorities. Braskem’s 40 years of rock salt mining in Maceio has prompted the displacement of tens of thousands of people, hollowing out communities, and on Nov. 28 the company alerted authorities of the imminent risk the mine would collapse. Land around the mine has been steadily sinking ever since, falling a total of 2.35 meters (7.7 feet) as of Sunday morning...

‘The Boy and the Heron’ is No. 1 at the box office, a first for Japanese anime master Miyazaki

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

For the first time in Hayao Miyazaki’s decades-spanning career, the 82-year-old Japanese anime master is No. 1 at the North American box office. Miyazaki’s latest enchantment, “The Boy and the Heron,” debuted with $12.8 million, according to studio estimates.“The Boy and the Heron,” the long-awaited animated fantasy from the director of “Spirited Away,” “My Neighbor Totoro” and other cherished anime classics, is only the third anime to ever top the box office in U.S. and Canadian theaters and the first original anime to do so. The film, which is playing in both subtitled and dubbed versions, is also the first fully foreign film to land atop the domestic box office this year.Though Miyazaki’s movies have often been enormous hits in Japan and Asia, they’ve traditionally made less of a mark in North American cinemas. The director’s previous best performer was his last movie, 2013’s “The Wind Rises,” which grossed $5.2 million in its entire domestic r...

Eight nights of Hanukkah with JCC Chicago

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

Eight nights of Hanukkah with JCC ChicagoLove the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.

Weekend Break: Timeless Toys in Lincoln Square

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:19 GMT

Marcus Leshock joins us with Weekend Break at Timeless Toys in Lincoln SquareLove the WGN Morning News? We love you, too. And you can have all the hijinks delivered to your inbox every weekday morning. Sign up and subscribe to our WGN Morning News newsletter.