News
Biden Visits Zelensky In Kyiv And Says Putin ‘Dead Wrong’ On Ukraine War
The United States will support Ukraine in its fight against Russia for “as long as it takes,” President Joe Biden said during an unannounced and symbolic visit to Kyiv.
“We have every confidence in your ability to prevail,” he said.
Russia invaded Ukraine a year before Mr. Biden went there for the first time as vice president.
He declared President Putin was “dead wrong” to believe Russia could outlast Ukraine and its Western allies.
He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the two went to a memorial for soldiers who died in the nine years since Russia annexed Crimea and its proxy forces took control of parts of the eastern Donbas region.
A White House statement said that Mr. Biden’s presence was meant to show that the United States is “unwaveringly committed to Ukraine’s democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.”
According to the New York Times, he took a 10-hour train ride from Poland to Kyiv.
On Monday, he left Ukraine for Poland.
The US Will Also Provide An Additional $10 Million To Ukraine
After the visit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a new $450 million (£373 million) package of security aid for Ukraine. It includes ammunition for howitzers and the Himars rocket system, Javelin missiles, and air surveillance radars.
The US will also provide an additional $10 million (£8.3 million) in emergency assistance to Kyiv “to keep Ukraine’s energy infrastructure up and running,” Mr. Blinken said.
A new round of sanctions targeting individuals and companies “trying to evade or backfill Russia’s war machine” will be announced later this week.
“The results of this visit will undoubtedly be seen and reflected on the battlefield in liberating our territories,” Mr. Zelensky said.
Mr. Zelensky said it was a “symbolic day” that demonstrated “how important Ukraine is to the world” in his nightly address on Monday.
He also stated that the two leaders discussed the possibility of sending additional weapons that had not previously been supplied.
The white House Has Planned The Trip For Months.
Mr. Zelensky has asked for F-16 fighter jets many times, but the US and other allies have not given their permission.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan – who was among President Biden’s entourage – said the US notified Russia about the trip a few hours before President Biden’s departure for “deconfliction purposes”.
He refused to comment on Moscow’s reaction to the news.
Officials at the White House said the trip had been planned for “months,” and the final decision to travel was made on Friday.
Air raid sirens wailed while President Biden and Mr. Zelensky were in St Michael’s Cathedral in central Kyiv, adding drama to the most high-profile visit to Ukraine since the war began. In Kyiv, sirens are heard regularly.
Joe Biden attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Kyiv’s war memorial.
Mr. Biden laid a wreath to remember those who died during the nine-year conflict.
While other world leaders have visited Ukraine in the last year, the US president’s visit during a war in which American soldiers are not fighting is a show of unity at a time when Russia claims Western support for Ukraine is dwindling.
Ukrainians In Kyiv Welcomed The Visit.
“I’m so grateful for his help – it means a lot to us,” Roksoliana Gera told the BBC.
“I admire his bravery in taking on this challenge and coming to show the American people’s support.”
Oleksandra Soloviova said the visit was an “important sign for the world”.
“First and foremost, it demonstrates that the United States supports us and will continue to support us with sanctions and military equipment,” she said.
Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff to Ukraine’s president, stated that the visit was strategic and historic. “Many issues are being addressed, and those that have stalled will be moved forward,” he said.
According to the US State Department, the US is one of Ukraine’s most important allies and has announced $24.9 billion (£20.6 billion) in military assistance.
Mr. Biden announced in January that the US would send 31 battle tanks and longer-range missiles.
However, there is a growing political divide in the United States over how much aid Kyiv should receive in the future.
President Biden is in Ukraine ahead of a three-day trip to Poland.
He will meet with Poland’s President, Andrzej Duda, and Nato military alliance members from Eastern Europe.
SOURCE – (BBC)
Politics
Trump Is Back At His New York Civil Fraud Trial As Testimony Nears An End
NEW YORK – After a month of criticizing the proceedings from afar, former President Donald Trump returned to his civil business fraud trial as a spectator on Thursday.
After more than two months of testimony, the Republican presidential candidate for 2024 arrived to hear an accounting professor testify about financial issues relevant to the case.
Trump is slated to testify for the second time on Monday.
Even as he campaigns to retake the office and fights four criminal charges, Trump focuses heavily on the New York lawsuit. Outside the courtroom, he’s been a dissatisfied bystander, a combative witness, and a furious pundit.
“This is a witch hunt, and it’s a very corrupt trial,” Trump remarked as he entered the courtroom on Thursday.
The case is putting his net worth on trial, probing his real estate empire, and threatening to bar him from doing business in his home state.
Trump Is Back At His New York Civil Fraud Trial As Testimony Nears An End
In the claim, New York Attorney General Letitia James accuses Trump, his corporation, and some officials of defrauding banks and insurers by providing them with financial statements that overstate the value of trademark properties such as his Trump Tower penthouse and Mar-a-Lago, the Florida club where he now resides.
The statements were submitted to assist in secure deals, such as loans with low-interest rates available to the ultra-wealthy, and certain loans required fresh statements every year.
Donald denies any wrongdoing and claims that the figures in the statements understated his wealth. He has repeatedly minimized the value of the documents in closing agreements, stating that lenders and others should conduct their analyses.
And he argues that James and Judge Arthur Engoron, both Democrats, abused their power in the case.
Eli Bartov, an accounting professor at New York University, testified in Trump’s defense on Thursday.
Trump Is Back At His New York Civil Fraud Trial As Testimony Nears An End
Bartov rejected the attorney general’s assertions that Trump’s financial statements violated basic accounting principles in a report written before his hearing. According to the professor, such statements are merely a starting point for recipients to do their own assessments in the accounting and financial world.
Trump has frequently lamented the situation on his Truth Social platform.
Going to court in person provides him with a microphone —several of them, thanks to the press cameras stationed in the hallway. He frequently expostulates and casts various developments as wins on his way into and out of the proceedings, which cameras cannot record.
When Engoron ruled Trump had breached a gag order that forbids trial participants from publicly commenting on court staffers, he penalized him $10,000 on Oct. 26. Trump’s lawyers are challenging the gag order.
James has not gone unchallenged, frequently — but not on Thursday — showing up to court when Trump is present and making her statements on social media and on the courthouse steps. Lawyers in the case have been instructed not to make press remarks in the hallway, but the former president has been permitted to do so.
Trump Is Back At His New York Civil Fraud Trial As Testimony Nears An End
“Here’s a fact: Donald has been committing financial fraud for years.” “Here’s another fact: There are consequences when you break the law,” her office tweeted this week on X, formerly Twitter.
While the non-jury trial focuses on allegations of conspiracy, insurance fraud, and manipulating corporate documents, Engoron previously concluded that Trump and the other defendants committed fraud. He appointed a receiver to take charge of some of Trump’s properties, but an appeals court has stayed that order for now.
During the trial, James seeks more than $300 million in penalties and a ban on Donald and the other defendants doing business in New York.
It is unclear when the testimony will conclude, although it is expected before Christmas. Closing arguments are slated for January, and Engoron hopes to reach a verdict by the end of the month.
SOURCE – AP
Entertainment
Wikipedia, Wrapped. Here Are 2023’S Most-Viewed Articles On The Internet’s Encyclopedia
NEW YORK – Remember what you were looking for in 2023? Wikipedia, on the other hand, has the receipts.
According to data provided Tuesday by the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit behind the free, openly edited online encyclopedia, English Wikipedia received more than 84 billion views this year. The most popular piece was on ChatGPT (the AI chatbot that appears to be everywhere these days).
OpenAI’s ChatGPT has flown into the public eye since its inception just over a year ago, as the technology makes its way into schools, health care, legislation, and even religious preaching. The chatbot has also contributed to developing arguments regarding the possible benefits and risks of generative AI, most of which are detailed on its Wikipedia page.
Here Are 2023’S Most-Viewed Articles On The Internet’s Encyclopedia
The annual list of fatalities was the second most-read article on Wikipedia in 2023, after taking the #4 and #1 rankings in 2022 and 2021, respectively. Individual entries for important figures who died this year drew much attention, notably those for Matthew Perry and Lisa Marie Presley.
Meanwhile, the highly anticipated 2023 Cricket World Cup came in third place — along with three other cricket-related entries in Wikipedia’s top 25 this year, including the Indian Premier League at #4, marking the first time cricket content has made the list since the Wikimedia Foundation began tracking in 2015.
“Barbenheimer,” Taylor Swift and others also appeared to influence our internet-reading habits in 2023. Here are this year’s top 25 English Wikipedia articles.
According to the Wikimedia Foundation, this top 25 ranking was constructed using English Wikipedia statistics as of November 28. The charity plans to update full-year figures on January 3, 2024.
The United States (33.2 billion) and the United Kingdom (9 billion), along with India (8.48 billion), Canada (3.95 billion), and Australia (2.56 billion), are the top countries that accessed English Wikipedia globally in 2023, according to Wikimedia Foundation data shared with The Associated Press.
Here Are 2023’S Most-Viewed Articles On The Internet’s Encyclopedia
1. ChatGPT: 49,490,406 pageviews
2. Deaths in 2023: 42,666,860 pageviews
3. 2023 Cricket World Cup: 38,171,653 pageviews
4. Indian Premier League: 32,012,810 pageviews
5. Oppenheimer (film): 28,348,248 pageviews
6. Cricket World Cup: 25,961,417 pageviews
7. J. Robert Oppenheimer: 25,672,469 pageviews
8. Jawan (film): 21,791,126 pageviews
9. 2023 Indian Premier League: 20,694,974 pageviews
10. Pathaan (film): 19,932,509 pageviews
11. The Last of Us (TV series): 19,791,789 pageviews
12. Taylor Swift, 19,418,385: pageviews
13. Barbie (film): 18,051,077 pageviews
14. Cristiano Ronaldo: 17,492,537 pageviews
15. Lionel Messi: 16,623,630 pageviews
16. Premier League: 16,604,669 pageviews
17. Matthew Perry: 16,454,666 pageviews
18. United States: 16,240,461 pageviews
19. Elon Musk: 14,370,395 pageviews
20. Avatar: The Way of Water: 14,303,116 pageviews
21. India: 13,850,178 pageviews
22. Lisa Marie Presley: 13,764,007 pageviews
23. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: 13,392,917 pageviews
24. Russian invasion of Ukraine: 12,798,866 pageviews
25. Andrew Tate: 12,728,616 pageviews
According to the Wikimedia Foundation, this top 25 ranking was constructed using English Wikipedia statistics as of November 28. The charity plans to update full-year figures on January 3, 2024.
The United States (33.2 billion) and the United Kingdom (9 billion), along with India (8.48 billion), Canada (3.95 billion), and Australia (2.56 billion), are the top countries that accessed English Wikipedia globally in 2023, according to Wikimedia Foundation data shared with The Associated Press.
SOURCE – (AP)
Entertainment
Rizz Named Word Of The Year 2023 By Oxford University Press
Are you adept at flirting or chatting up possible partners? If this is the case, you may already have rizz and be unaware of it.
Young folks utilize the Oxford word of the year, internet slang for romantic appeal or charm.
It was one of eight words chosen from a shortlist to define the mood, ethos, or preoccupations of 2023.
A public poll was used to narrow down the list before Oxford lexicographers made the ultimate selection.
Swiftie, Beige Flag, and Situationship were among the other contenders.
If you are not a member of Generation Z, the term may be meaningless to you.
However, it is widely utilized online, with billions of views of the hashtag “rizz” on TikTok.
Rizz Named Word Of The Year 2023 By Oxford University Press
It is described as style, charm, or attractiveness, as well as the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner, by Oxford University Press [OUP], which publishes the Oxford English Dictionary [OED].
The word “charisma” is assumed to be a shorter variant of “charisma.”
It can also be used as a verb, as in “to frizz up,” which means “to attract, seduce, or chat up someone.”
It’s essentially a modern version of the “game,” described as skill, proficiency, and the capacity to sexually entice people through one’s charm.
What do the shorlisted words mean?
Beige flag (n.): a character feature that indicates that a partner or possible partner is boring or lacks creativity; (also) a quality or habit, especially of a partner or potential mate, that is very distinctive but not good or bad. [proposed definition]
A situationship (n.) is a romantic or sexual relationship that is not formal or established.
Swiftie (n.): a devoted follower of Taylor Swift. [proposed definition]
Prompt (n.): a command issued to an artificial intelligence program, algorithm, or the like that affects or influences the content it generates [draft definition]
De-influencing (n.): the activity of deterring individuals from purchasing specific things or pushing people to consume less material goods, particularly through social media [draft definition]
The Oxford University Press emphasized that lexicographers are writing a draft definition “for the Word of the Year campaign” and that terms without draft definitions are already in the OED.
Rizz Named Word Of The Year 2023 By Oxford University Press
The rest of the words will be included in dictionaries “after assessment of their longevity, frequency, and breadth of usage,” according to the statement.
Kai Cenat, a Twitch streamer and YouTuber is widely credited with popularizing the term rizz, which he used with his buddies.
The word’s popularity has grown this year, and in June, actor Tom Holland was asked by Buzzfeed about the secret to his frizz.
Holland responded, “I have no rizz at all.” “I have limited rizz,” he says before detailing how he won his fiancée Zendaya over by playing the “long game.”
Another slang term characterizing “unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy” behavior that was last year’s Oxford word of the year was “goblin mode.”
Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, stated that while “goblin mode” was popular following the epidemic, “it’s interesting to see a contrasting word like rizz come to the forefront.”
He speculated that the word referred to “a prevailing mood of 2023, where more of us are opening up after a challenging few years and finding confidence in who we are.”
Mr. Grathwohl said that the increased use of the word frizz demonstrated that words and phrases derived from online culture “are increasingly becoming part of the day-to-day vernacular.”
The language specialists at Oxford University Press chose the selection of eight words.
This list was then subjected to a public vote in late November, narrowing the field to four finalists before the experts decided.
Collins Dictionary revealed “artificial intelligence” as the word of 2023 in November.
SOURCE – BBC
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