Biden hopes for Ukraine de-escalation in call with Putin
CNN
President Joe Biden is speaking Thursday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in the hopes of defusing an unremitting crisis on Russia's border with Ukraine.
Putin requested the telephone call this week for reasons US officials said were not precisely clear. Biden and Putin last spoke on December 7 in a video conference that ended with a pledge to restart diplomatic discussions -- but no indication Russia was preparing to deescalate.
Since then, as many as 100,000 Russian troops have remained amassed at the Ukrainian border, despite warnings from Biden and European leaders of serious consequences should Putin move ahead with an invasion. US officials also say Moscow is engaged in a massive disinformation campaign meant to undermine Ukraine's government ahead of that country's national elections.
Friday featured yet another drop in the drip-drip-drip of new information from the Jeffrey Epstein files. This time: new pictures released by House Democrats that feature Donald Trump and other powerful people like Bill Clinton, Steve Bannon and Richard Branson, culled from tens of thousands of photos from Epstein’s estate.
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House Republicans unveiled a narrow health care package on Friday that does not extend soon-to-expire enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies — the latest sign that Congress is unlikely to avert skyrocketing insurance premiums for millions of Americans in the new year.
The Department of Labor held a Christian prayer service for its employees this week, TKTKTK this is highly unusual.
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Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander of US Southern Command who reportedly clashed with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the legality of the US military strikes in the Caribbean, officially retired on Friday in a ceremony in Floria where he handed the reigns of the command to his deputy.
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Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said Friday that she is focused on an orderly transition of power in her country should President Nicolás Maduro leave power, and is confident that Venezuela’s police and armed forces would not oppose such a transition.
The Venezuelan government said the US administration has unilaterally suspended deportation flights from the United States that were due to land on Friday.