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Blinken to travel to China next week, carrying out trip postponed after spy balloon incident

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken is planning to travel to China next week as the Biden administration pushes to improve ties that hit a new low in February after a Chinese surveillance balloon was shot down over U.S. airspace.U.S. officials say Blinken expects to be in Beijing on June 18 for meetings with senior Chinese officials, including with Foreign Minister Qin Gang and possibly President Xi Jinping.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the State Department nor the Chinese foreign ministry has yet confirmed the trip. The visit, which was agreed between Xi and President Joe Biden last year at a meeting in Bali, had been initially planned for February but was postponed after the spy balloon incident. Beijing insists the craft was a weather balloon that strayed off course. Since then, there have been contacts between the U.S. and China, but they have been rare as tensions have risen over China’s conduct in the South China Sea, aggre...

Exclusivo: Donald Trump admite en una grabación que no desclasificó “información secreta”

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

(CNN) — El expresidente Donald Trump reconoció en una grabación de una reunión de 2021 que había retenido información militar “secreta” que no había desclasificado, según una transcripción del audio obtenida por CNN.“Como presidente, podría haber desclasificado, pero ahora no puedo”, dice Trump, según la transcripción.CNN obtuvo la transcripción de una parte de la reunión en la que Trump discute un documento clasificado del Pentágono sobre atacar a Irán. En la grabación de audio, que CNN informó anteriormente que los fiscales obtuvieron, Trump dice que no desclasificó el documento al que hace referencia, según la transcripción.Trump fue acusado este jueves de siete cargos en la investigación del fiscal especial Jack Smith sobre el mal manejo de documentos clasificados. Los detalles de la acusación no se han hecho públicos, por lo que se desconoce si alguno de los siete cargos se refiere a la reunión registrada de 2021. Aún así, la cinta es significativa porque muestra que Trum...

Biden to attend first 2024 rally in Pennsylvania next week, as campaign plots flurry of fundraising

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden next week is set to attend his first political rally since launching his 2024 reelection bid in April, as he steps up his political activity before the end of the fundraising quarter.Biden will attend the rally in Philadelphia on June 17, which will be hosted by area unions, campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said, a key constituency in a city and state that are crucial to his 2024 prospects. Biden’s campaign isn’t expected to host its own large-scale rallies until next year, following the timetable followed by former President Barack Obama in 2012. The event comes as Biden is launching on a flurry of fundraising trips this month ahead of the June 30 second quarter fundraising deadline, with stops in Connecticut, Illinois and California. Biden, who has declined to reveal information on his fundraising haul since launching his candidacy, will report his totals next month to the Federal Election Commission.Source

Top UN court allows a record 32 countries to intervene in Ukraine’s genocide case against Russia

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Court of Justice has accepted requests from 32 countries to back Ukraine in a genocide case against Russia, the United Nations’ highest court said Friday. It’s the largest number of countries to join another nation’s complaint at the world court based in The Hague, Netherlands.Ukraine’s government filed the legally creative case days after Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. The Kremlin snubbed hearings held the next month, while protesters holding Ukrainian flags chanted antiwar slogans outside the court building’s gates. Latvia was the first country to intervene in the complaint, which alleges Russia violated the 1948 Genocide Convention by falsely accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in its eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions, and using that as a pretext for the invasion.A record 33 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia and every European Union member nation except Hungary req...

US announces new $2.1 billion package of military aid to Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon announced Friday that it will provide an additional $2.1 billion in long-term weapons aid for Ukraine. The new assistance package will include funding for more Patriot missile battery munitions, Hawk air defense systems and missiles, and small Puma drones that can be launched by hand.The latest infusion of funding, one of the larger packages the U.S. has provided, comes as there are signs that Ukraine is beginning — or about to begin — the much anticipated counteroffensive to try to take back territory that has been seized by Russia. Unlike the U.S. equipment, weapons and ammunition that are more frequently sent from Pentagon stocks and delivered quickly to Ukraine, this money would be provided under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative and is meant to be spent over the coming months or even years to ensure Ukraine’s future security needs.In a statement, the Pentagon said the package shows America’s continued commitment “to both Ukraine’s c...

Stock market today: Wall Street edges higher; Big Tech climbs

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose modestly in morning trading on Wall Street Friday and are on track to close out a relatively quiet week higher.The S&P 500 rose 0.4% and is headed for a fourth straight week of gains. Slightly more stocks rose in the index than fell. Big technology companies were doing much of the heavy lifting.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 94 points, or 0.3%, to 33,928 as of 10:59 a.m. Eastern. The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.5%.European markets were lower and Asian markets closed higher overnight.Trading has been listless throughout the week amid a lack of any big market moving reports or news. The benchmark S&P index still gained enough ground by Thursday to close 20% above its October low, entering a new bull market.Technology stocks, which have been responsible for much of Wall Street’s gains, helped lead the way on Friday. Microsoft rose 0.7% and chipmaker Nvidia rose 2%. The S&P 500 gives more weight to many Big Tech companies because of thei...

Chief suspect in Natalee Holloway disappearance pleads not guilty to extortion charges

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Joran van der Sloot, the chief suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges that he attempted to extort money from the missing teen’s mother.Van der Sloot was extradited to the United States on Thursday from Peru, where he is serving a 28-year prison sentence after confessing to killing a Peruvian woman. He was arraigned before a federal judge in Birmingham, not far from the suburb where Holloway grew up, in his first court appearance in the case.U.S. prosecutors say that in 2010, van der Sloot reached out to Beth Holloway, seeking $250,000 to disclose the location of the young woman’s body. A grand jury indicted him that year.Natalee’s mother watched the proceeding from the third row of the courtroom.“For 18 years, I have lived with the unbearable pain of Natalee’s loss,” Beth Holloway said in a statement Thursday. “Each day has been filled with unanswered questions and a longing for justice that ...

Former Marjory Stoneman Douglas students testify in trial of former school resource officer

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

More former Marjory Stoneman Douglas students took the stand to testify in the trial of a former school resource officer who is accused of failing to protect students during the 2018 school shooting. Scot Peterson’s trial entered its third day, Friday.The former deputy is being charged with not confronting the gunman at the school. Peterson took cover outside the 1200 building where the massacre occurred. He remained there for 45 minutes.On Friday, jurors heard from survivors who hid in classrooms as they waited for help.“Really scared and kind of wondering when help was going to arrive,” Arman Borghei said. “How long where you in that classroom,” said an attorney.“Felt like forever, maybe like an hour and a half, close to two hours,” Borghei said.On Thursday, jurors heard from Anthony Burges, who was 15 years old at the time. He was shot five times.He called his family from the hallway floor to say goodbye.“Why did you call your dad?&...

Exclusive: Donald Trump admits on tape he didn’t declassify ‘secret information’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

(CNN) — Former President Donald Trump acknowledged on tape in a 2021 meeting that he had retained “secret” military information that he had not declassified, according to a transcript of the audio recording obtained by CNN.“As president, I could have declassified, but now I can’t,” Trump says, according to the transcript.CNN obtained the transcript of a portion of the meeting where Trump is discussing a classified Pentagon document about attacking Iran. In the audio recording, which CNN previously reported was obtained by prosecutors, Trump says that he did not declassify the document he’s referencing, according to the transcript.Trump was indicted Thursday on seven counts in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the mishandling of classified documents. Details from the indictment have not been made public, so it unknown whether any of the seven counts refer to the recorded 2021 meeting. Still, the tape is significant because it shows that Tru...

Boston police investigating after several windows shattered at TD Garden

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:59:41 GMT

Police in Boston are investigating after several windows at TD Garden were shattered Friday morning.Officials said the department was first alerted around 10:35 a.m. after receiving a report of shots being fired by the sports arena. Multiple police cruisers could be seen in the area of Causeway Street as officers responded and located several, damaged glass windows on the side of the Garden facing I-93.Boston police said their department’s crime lab and analysts were on scene but that a preliminary investigation found no evidence of anything penetrating the windows.7NEWS sources said that as of midday, the damage to the windows appeared to have been caused by a BB gun, rather than actual bullets from a firearm.Police are hoping surveillance video from nearby cameras yield more evidence as their investigation continues.