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Biden to open embassies in Cook Islands, Niue as he welcomes Pacific leaders for Washington summit

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to announce the opening of new U.S. embassies on Cook Islands and Niue on Monday as the Democratic administration aims to demonstrate to Pacific Island leaders that it remains committed to increasing American presence in the region.The announcement about the new diplomatic missions in the South Pacific comes as Biden prepares to welcome leaders to Washington for the two-day U.S.-Pacific Island Forum Summit. Talks are expected to heavily focus on the impact of climate change in the region.Biden has put a premium on improving relations in the Pacific amid rising U.S. concern about China’s growing military and economic influence. Plans about the embassies were confirmed by two senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity before the formal announcement.White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would use the summit to strengthen “ties with the Pacific Islands and discuss how we address com...

Horoscopes Sept. 24, 2023: Nia Vardalos, pick up the pace

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Spencer Treat Clark, 36; Erin Chambers, 44; Nia Vardalos, 61; Kevin Sorbo, 65.Happy Birthday: Having structure, planning and keeping busy will be your tickets to success this year. Put a time frame and budget in place, and don’t let anyone get in your way. Following through instead of waiting for someone else to do the dirty work will be more rewarding than you imagined. Challenge yourself to revamp your life and implement a healthier, practical and less demanding lifestyle. Pick up the pace. Your numbers are 9, 13, 26, 28, 33, 43, 47.ARIES (March 21-April 19): Raise your awareness, recognize what’s essential and put your energy where it counts. How you reach out to others will determine whether someone takes you for granted or appreciates you for what you offer. Set ground rules and boundaries, and do your part. 2 starsTAURUS (April 20-May 20): Simplify your life and pay attention to whatever will benefit you most. You’ll fall short o...

Bridge: Sept. 24, 2023

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

Alfred Sheinwold, who founded this column as “Sheinwold on Bridge,” wrote wonderful columns challenging the reader to “find the criminal”: to discern who had erred. In some deals, it’s hard to find an innocent man.Today’s South opened one club, planning to bid spades twice. But North’s sequence — one diamond, then a jump to three — was invitational, and since South had only 11 high-card points and no tolerance for diamonds, he risked getting overboard if he bid a third time. Still, South stuck to his plan; he passed gratefully when North bid four spades.West led the jack of hearts, and South won and led a club to dummy’s king. East took the ace and led the king of hearts, and South ruffed and took the queen of clubs. He next tried to avoid an overruff on the third club by taking the A-K of trumps … and West discarded.South then ruffed a club with dummy’s last trump. East overruffed and led another heart, but Sou...

Ask Amy: No one likes this woman, so why must the bride include her in the wedding?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

Dear Amy: My youngest son is planning his wedding. He wants his brother “Randall” to be his best man. My three grandchildren will also be part of the wedding party in some way.My son’s fiancee is wondering if she should invite Randall’s wife to be a part of the wedding party as well, even though she doesn’t want to (no one likes Randall’s wife for various reasons).My son’s fiancee thinks it may be awkward in some way if she doesn’t invite her to be in the wedding party.I’ve tried to tell her that this is her wedding, and she shouldn’t feel obligated in any way to make this person part of the wedding party if that’s not what she wants.I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.– Mother of the GroomDear Mother of the Groom: You are correct. The bride and groom have the right and responsibility to plan and host their wedding according to their preferences.And yet, weddings are the public celebration of the joining of two families. One way to ...

Tigst Assefa breaks the women’s marathon world record by more than 2 minutes at the Berlin Marathon

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Tigst Assefa breaks the women’s marathon world record by more than 2 minutes at the Berlin Marathon.Source

RYDER CUP ’23: The reachable par-4 16th is the highlight on a course designed for drama

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

GUIDONIA MONTECELIO, Italy (AP) — Rory McIlroy’s chances of winning the Italian Open a year ago at the Marco Simone course that will host this week’s Ryder Cup vanished when his tee shot on the reachable par-4 16th splashed into the pond right of the green.That came two days after Europe captain Luke Donald made a novice’s error by hitting the wrong ball upon landing in the thick rough, earning himself a two-stroke penalty and a triple bogey.A year earlier, Tommy Fleetwood’s bogey on the same hole meant that he ended up finishing one stroke behind the winner, Nicolai Hojgaard.If there’s one hole on the course outside Rome that is destined to be decisive in this year’s competition between the United States and Europe, it’s No. 16 — as long as contests make it that far in the match-play format.Bob McIntyre and Adrian Meronk, the last two Italian Open champions, both birdied 16 in their final rounds.“Dave (Sampson) of European Golf Design made a course fit for drama,” Marco Simone supe...

WTOP Book Report: Memoir recounts mother’s journey raising transgender daughter, twin brother

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

toggle audio on and off change volume download audio Author Kate Brookes speaks with WTOP's Terik King $(function () { $('.wtop-audio-container .fa-play').on('click', function(){ var audio_filename = $('div.wtop-audio-file').data("mp3-url"); ga('send', 'event', 'Audio', 'play', audio_filename); }); }); Imagine you’re in your early 40s, and after struggling through two years and seven rounds of fertility treatments, you become the mother of twin sons. But one of your children — from day one — is different from the other. Author Kate Bro...

Why fall, not winter, is the country’s most dangerous driving season

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

Earlier sunsets, wet leaves and daring deer are a couple of reasons why the most dangerous driving season in the country is about to rev up.Most drivers believe winter comes with the most accidents and collisions. But according to Patrick Olsen, editor-in-chief at Carfax, it’s actually fall.“Our data scientists looked at millions of crash information from 2022,” he said. “For most of the country, fall is the most dangerous time of year.”Researchers discovered almost 75% of the nation sees a spike in accidents in autumn, including Maryland, Virginia and D.C. Olsen said dark roads earlier in the day is one of three reasons for the uptick in wrecks.“Drivers are twice as likely to have an accident in the dark as they are in the daylight,” he told WTOP.Nationwide, car accidents occur about evenly between daytime and night, but drivers only travel about 25% in the dark, Olsen said.The second reason: more deer near busy roads as mating season kicks...

Kosovo says policeman killed in attack blamed on Serbia

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

One policeman was killed and another injured in an attack in northern Kosovo Sunday morning, which Kosovo’s leaders blamed on Serbia.Prime Minister Albin Kurti said the officers were targeted in a shooting early Sunday in the village of Banjska. “The attackers are professionals wearing masks and heavily armed,” he said in a Facebook statement.Kurti and Kosovo’s President Vjosa Osmani described the shooting as a terrorist attack, and blamed neighboring Serbia for seeking to destabilize their country.“Organized crime, which is politically, financially and logistically supported from Belgrade, is attacking our state,” Kurti said.Kosovo police said that two trucks without license plates had blocked off the bridge leading to the village in the early hours of Sunday. Upon arrival, police units had been targeted with an “arsenal of firearms,” including hand grenades, it said.Reuters reported that NATO troops, the EU police force EULEX and Kosovo police w...

‘Ethnic cleansing’ looms in Nagorno-Karabakh, Armenia leader warns

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:44:43 GMT

KORNIDZOR, Armenia — Tens of thousands of Armenians living in Nagorno-Karabakh could be forced to flee after Azerbaijan effectively conquered the breakaway region in a lightning offensive last week, Armenia’s leader said, with preparations for a mass evacuation under way amid growing fears of ethnic cleansing.Despite assurances from Russian peacekeepers on the ground, “the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh still face the danger of ethnic cleansing,” Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan warned in a televised address on Sunday.“If the needs of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh are not met [so that they are able to stay] in their homes, and effective mechanisms of protection against ethnic cleansing not put in place, then the likelihood is increasing that the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh will see expulsion from their homeland as the only way out,” he predicted.At the same time, Pashinyan said Armenia would welcome its “brothers” from the exclave — insid...