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US actively considering giving cluster munitions to Ukraine

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

The Biden administration is actively considering sending cluster munitions to Ukraine to help Kyiv’s counteroffensive punch through Russia’s defenses, two U.S. officials and a person familiar with the debate said.The discussion to send dual-purpose improved conventional munitions has intensified in recent days as Ukraine’s effort to break through Russia’s frontline has stalled. The belief among some senior U.S. officials is that the munitions could be one of many tools that makes Ukraine’s campaign more successful.Late last year, the administration said it had “concerns” about delivering the munitions to Ukraine, mainly for humanitarian reasons and also the U.S. didn’t assess Ukraine needed them at that point. The administration never ruled out their delivery, but cluster munitions didn’t receive a serious look as there were other priority items to give to Kyiv first.But the internal administration debate over their use has intensified since the sputtering counteroffensive...

‘Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’ flounders as tale of high school angst

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

What is a teenage kraken to do? Well, she could try going away, which I’m sure will happen soon. Dreamworks’ “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” tells the story of a not-quite-human-looking adolescent kraken, which according to one source is an “enormous, mythical sea monster said to appear off the coast of Norway.” In “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken,” the title character Ruby (Lana Condor) is a “mathlete,” who does not fit in at her seaside high school, which could be because she is blue with fins for ears.Ruby and her somewhat less outlandish best friends, including Margot (Liza Koshy), have made a pact not to attend prom. But when Ruby learns that Margot and the others are going to prom, she has a crisis of identity. You see Ruby, her real-estate sales-working mother Agatha (Toni Collette), father Arthur (Coleman Domingo), who runs a company called Bottled Up, little brother Sam (Blue Chapman) are all krakens. They are no longer kraken-sized because they no longer live in th...

Ghosh: Biden can’t just slip a new Iran deal past Congress

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

If it looks like a deal, and smells like a deal, then Congress has the power to reject it. That is the message lawmakers are sending the White House as administration officials try to strike a new bargain with Iran over its nuclear program.After indirect parleys through Oman, President Biden’s team has agreed to release payments owed to the Islamic Republic that have long been frozen by sanctions. Officials with knowledge of the negotiations have said Tehran has in turn agreed to free three Americans wrongfully detained in Iranian prisons, as it did three Europeans earlier this month. The ransom for the hostages may be in the region of $10 billion, in the form of sanctions waivers that allow Iraq to pay about $2.7 billion it owes Iran for natural-gas shipments, and South Korea to transfer $7 billion for previous oil purchases.More significantly, the U.S. is offering Iran the opportunity to export more oil if it will limit its uranium-enrichment levels and cooperate more fully ...

‘Nimona’ needs more than shape-shifting to succeed

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

Set in a futuristic, medieval fortress kingdom, computer-animated entry “Nimona” is the story of a mysterious shape-shifting teenage girl (voiced by Chloe Grace Moretz) with strangely sharp teeth, who becomes the sidekick of fugitive Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed). A former “knight of the realm,” Ballister appears to have assassinated the Queen (Lorraine Toussaint) just as she touched his shoulder with his sword on kingdom-wide television during his knighthood ceremony. He escapes, but not before Knight Ambrosius (I take no responsibility for these names) Goldenloin (Eugene Lee Yang), Ballister’s love interest, cuts off one of Ballister’s arms. Thanks, dear bro. When we and Nimona first meet fugitive Ballister, he is in his “secret lair,” attaching an artificial, robotic arm to his shoulder.A legend in the kingdom speaks of a hero who rose to destroy a great evil a long time ago. The hero was a young woman named Gloreth. In addition to being gay, Ballister is a person o...

Editorial: Supreme Court puts equality over equity

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

You can have equality. You can equity. But according to the Supreme Court’s Thursday decision banning affirmative action, you can’t have both.The High Court declared that race can’t be a factor in admissions. As the Associated Press reported, the court’s conservative majority effectively overturned cases reaching back 45 years in invalidating admissions plans at Harvard and the University of North Carolina, the nation’s oldest private and public colleges, respectively.Chief Justice John Roberts said that for too long universities have “concluded, wrongly, that the touchstone of an individual’s identity is not challenges bested, skills built, or lessons learned but the color of their skin. Our constitutional history does not tolerate that choice.”Like the Court, reactions were divided along conservative and liberal lines.From the Black conservatives at Project 21: “Today we have a 21st century Brown v. Board moment,” Project 21 Chairman Horace Cooper sai...

Shapiro: Hunter Biden story one of scandal, not a caring dad

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

This week, Republicans in the House of Representatives revealed the testimony of an IRS whistleblower who worked on the Hunter Biden investigation. That whistleblower had two revelations to present. First, he said that the federal prosecutor overseeing Hunter’s case told at least six witnesses that he had been blocked by Attorney General Merrick Garland from special counsel status — status that would allow him a free hand in fully investigating Hunter. Second, the whistleblower presented a WhatsApp message between Hunter Biden and a Chinese executive shaking down the executive for cash by leveraging Joe Biden’s presence in the room.“I am sitting here with my father,” Hunter texted, “and we would like to understand why the commitment made has not been fulfilled. Tell the director that I would like to resolve this now before it gets out of hand, and now means tonight. And, Z, if I get a call or text from anyone involved in this other than you, Zhang, or t...

Graham: It’s politics vs. showbiz in DeSantis-Trump battle

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

CONCORD, N.H. — During his appearance at a recent New Hampshire GOP women’s fundraiser, Donald Trump told the crowd his lead in the 2024 GOP presidential primary is so big, “I’d really have to work hard to blow it.”And the one thing Trump was not interested in doing that day was hard work.The former president had a room full of adoring fans and a fistful of new polls showing him well ahead in the New Hampshire primary. So he took the opportunity to indulge himself with a performance that was heavy on personality, light on policy, and full of snark.Trump rolled through his personal favorites: The election he “won” in 2020 (“They rigged the election of 2020, but we’re not going to let them rig the election of 2024”), the “fake news” that treats him unfairly, and of course his legal woes. “As you know, two weeks ago, Crooked Joe Biden ordered his top political opponent arrested,” Trump said. “Who’s that opponent? Wait — it’s me!”He even managed to work in an extended riff on his old TV...

Dear Abby: 29-year-old feels useless when compared to others

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

Dear Abby: I am a 29-year-old housewife with a loving husband, a caring mother and equally supportive in-laws. I’m writing because I feel useless. I don’t even have a hobby I’m good at. Although I like to play music, draw and play with cats, I don’t think I’m good at any of them, despite others telling me otherwise.My friends and family are better off than I am. My friend is participating in a skating competition, my brother is working toward becoming an electrician, and my husband’s first cousin is an illustrator whose book recently got published. Because of this, I have developed low self-esteem and argue with those around me.I can’t afford college because I have no job. I tried applying for a few only to be turned down. Abby, I haven’t accomplished anything special. All I want is to be good at SOMETHING, but I’m afraid it will blow up in my face. I can’t accept criticism.I’m at a loss about what to do. I’m re...

San Diego gas prices lower ahead of holiday weekend: Auto Club

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- It is fireworks at the pumps for travelers as gas prices are lower ahead of the Fourth of July weekend.As of June 29, the average price of self-serve regular gasoline in San Diego is $4.87, which is three cents lower than last week, two cents lower than last month and $1.39 lower than last year, according to the Auto Club's Weekend Gas Watch.Just north of San Diego, the American Automobile Association report shows Los Angeles-Long Beach area's average price of gas is two cents higher than San Diego while the state as a whole is at $4.83. However, nationally the price of gas is even cheaper at $3.55, which is also three cents lower than a week ago, per AAA. City announces opening of first safe sleeping lot for homeless “Local holiday travelers will be paying nearly $1.50 a gallon less than this time last year as they fill up for their trips,” Auto Club spokesperson Doug Shupe said. “Travelers can make sure they are not overpaying for fuel by using a tool such as t...

EU leaders pause talks as Poland and Hungary’s anti-migrant governments block progress

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:59:20 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders broke off migration talks early Friday as Poland and Hungary blocked progress after they were outvoted earlier this month on a plan to share out refugees arriving in Europe among the 27 member countries.Few leaders spoke to reporters as they left the summit venue after talks long into the night. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander DeCroo put on a brave face after what he described as a “rather difficult” discussion. Poland and Hungary refused to endorse a summit statement, which requires unanimity.“There are two options. Either we continue, or we give up and say there’ll be no summit statement, nothing. But there’s a clear willingness among the great majority of countries to try,” DeCroo said. The talks will resume later Friday.Ahead of the meeting in Brussels, Poland’s prime minister had insisted that the country wouldn’t be forced to accept European Union rules on migration, and he vowed to veto any plan that might force countries to...