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NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is seeking to move up the start of his trial on corruption and bribery charges so he can focus on his campaign for reelection this spring.

In a letter sent to the federal judge on Monday, an attorney for Adams, Alex Spiro, requested the trial begin on April 1 rather than the current planned date of April 23.

“An earlier trial date will ensure that Mayor Adams’s speedy trial rights are upheld, that the Mayor will be able to fully participate in his reelection campaign and that this City’s voters can be rid of the distraction of this misguided indictment as they hear from and evaluate the Democratic candidates for Mayor on their merits,” Spiro wrote.

Adams, a Democrat, was indicted in September on charges that he accepted luxury travel perks and illegal campaign contributions from a Turkish official seeking political favors. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and insisted he will remain in office as he fights the case.

He is expected to face a contested Democratic primary in June, with several opponents already announcing their interest in challenging him.

Inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan were not returned.

At a hearing earlier this month, prosecutors said they would be ready for a trial whenever it is scheduled, but noted they were still making their way through reams of seized records and had not yet accessed Adams’ personal cellphone. According to his indictment. Adams changed his password just before giving the phone to authorities, then claimed he forgot it.

In his letter on Monday, Spiro said he would waive access to certain discovery materials if it meant speeding up the date of the trial. Under the current schedule, he predicted a verdict would come in late May, giving the mayor only a short window of time to clear his name among voters.

“Given the realities of the news and election cycle, this earlier trial date is not only feasible, but essential here,” Spiro wrote.
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MOSCOW — The key task for Russia and China is to counter any attempt by the United States to contain their countries, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin told China’s foreign minister on Tuesday.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose steep tariffs on China and other countries, raising fears of a trade war and the United States casts China as its biggest competitor and Russia as its biggest nation-state threat.

China’s Xi Jinping and Putin in May pledged a “new era” of partnership between the two most powerful rivals of the United States, which they cast as an aggressive Cold War hegemon sowing chaos across the world.

Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing that the strong relations between Moscow and Beijing were a stabilizing influence on the world.

“I see the most important task as countering the policy of ‘dual containment’ of Russia and China pursued by the United States and its satellites,” Shoigu was quoted as saying by Russian state news agencies.

Xi and Putin believe the post-Cold War era of extraordinary U.S. dominance is crumbling after the perceived humiliations of the 1991 Soviet collapse and centuries of European colonial dominance of China.
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«Можливо, російські війська вдарили по дамбі, щоб спричинити значні довготривалі повені на захід від Курахівського водосховища»
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OAKLAND, Calif. — Voters in Oakland, California, have ousted Mayor Sheng Thao just two years after she narrowly won office to lead the liberal San Francisco Bay Area city.

The Associated Press called the race Monday.

“Thank you for choosing me to serve as your Mayor. As the first Hmong American woman to become the mayor of a major American City, it has been the honor of my lifetime,” she said in a statement last week.

She committed to ensuring a smooth transition.

Thao must vacate the office as soon as election results are certified Dec. 5 and the Oakland City Council declares a vacancy at its next meeting, which would be Dec. 17, Nikki Fortunato Bas, City Council president, said in a statement.

A special election for a new mayor will be held within 120 days, or roughly four months.

Until then, Bas — as president of the City Council — would serve as interim mayor unless she wins a seat on the Alameda County Board of Supervisors. As of Monday, Bas was trailing in that race.

Thao was elected mayor in November 2022 and became the first Hmong American to lead a major city. She faced criticism almost immediately after taking office for firing popular Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong. Frustrated voters, including the local NAACP, blamed Thao for a long list of city woes related to public safety, homelessness and the city’s budget.

In her statement, Thao said she was proud of her administration’s accomplishments.

Thao was not the only official booted from office in Tuesday’s election. Pamela Price, district attorney for Alameda County, which includes Oakland, also was ousted by voters in a recall election. Critics of both Thao and Price disagreed with the officials’ progressive politics.

Thao went into Tuesday’s election weakened by an FBI raid in June of her home — along with properties owned by a politically influential family that controls the city’s recycling contract. Thao has maintained her innocence and authorities have not said what they are investigating.

Oakland uses a ranked choice voting system that allows voters to list multiple choices in order of preference. Thao narrowly beat Loren Taylor in 2022 despite getting fewer first-place votes than Taylor.

Oakland has about 400,000 residents and is, at times, more politically liberal than San Francisco. It is Vice President Kamala Harris’ hometown.

In recent years, Oakland has lost three professional sports franchises, including Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has sent state highway patrol officers, state prosecutors, and surveillance cameras to help Oakland battle crime.
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WASHINGTON — The election of Donald Trump as president for a second time and the Republican takeback of the U.S. Senate could undo many of the national climate policies that are most reducing planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions, according to climate solutions experts. 

When they list measures that are making the most difference, it lines up with policies Trump has said he’ll target.

These rollbacks will come as more lives are being lost in heat waves, record amounts of climate pollution are accumulating in the atmosphere, the United States has been hit with what may be two of its most expensive hurricanes, and nations, which will meet in Baku, Azerbaijan for climate negotiations, have failed to take strong action to change these realities.

Here are some of the measures

The Inflation Reduction Act, the nation’s landmark climate law

This law is significant because it is expected to reduce U.S. emissions by about 40% by 2030, if it unfolds as planned in the coming years.

It funnels money to measures that substitute clean energy for dirty. One major way it does so is by giving credits to businesses people who build new solar and wind farms.

But it’s not limited to that. It encourages developers of geothermal energy and businesses that separate the carbon dioxide from their smokestacks and bury it underground. It incentivizes the next generation of nuclear power. It gives a $7,500 tax credit to people who buy electric cars. People who buy their cars used can get a credit too, as long as they don’t earn too much to qualify.

Trump, by contrast, has summed up his energy policy as “drill, baby, drill” and pledged to dismantle what he calls Democrats’ “green new scam” in favor of boosting production of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas and coal, the main causes of climate change.

He vows to end subsidies for wind power that were included in the landmark 2022 climate law.

If Trump does target the climate law, there are provisions that are likely safe. One is a credit for companies in advanced manufacturing, because it is perceived as “America first and pro-U.S. business,” said David Shepheard, partner and energy expert at the global consultant Baringa. Incentives for electric vehicles are likely most at risk, he added.

Pollution from electric power plants

The main U.S. rule aimed at reducing climate change that comes from making electricity at power plants that burn coal is also considered vulnerable. This rule from the Environmental Protection Agency, announced in April, would force many coal-fired plants to capture 90% of their carbon emissions or shut down within eight years, Shepheard said.

It was projected to reduce roughly 1.38 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide through 2047, along with tens of thousands of tons of other harmful air pollutants.

The United States has been reducing carbon dioxide emissions primarily by replacing coal-fired power plants with clean, renewable power, said Stanford University climate scientist Rob Jackson, who chairs the Global Carbon Project, a group of scientists that tracks countries’ carbon dioxide emissions.

“I hope that we don’t lose sight of the benefits of clean energy,” he said. “It’s not just about the climate. It’s about our lives and our health.”

Limiting leaks from damaging methane, or natural gas

The Biden administration was under pressure to reduce one of the main pollutants contributing to drought, heat waves, flooding and stronger hurricanes — methane or natural gas. It leaks out of oil and gas equipment, sometimes deliberately when companies consider it too expensive to transport.

The Biden administration issued the first national rules on this.

Industry groups and Republican-leaning states challenged the rule in court. They say the Environmental Protection Agency overstepped its authority and set unattainable standards.

The EPA said the rules are within its legal responsibilities and would protect the public.

Fuel-efficient vehicles

The EPA issued its strongest rules on tailpipe emissions from cars and trucks under the Biden administration.

Under Trump, the EPA is considered likely to begin a lengthy process to repeal and replace a host of standards including the one on tailpipe emissions, which Trump falsely calls an electric vehicle “mandate.”

Trump has said EV manufacturing will destroy jobs in the auto industry and has falsely claimed that battery-powered cars don’t work in cold weather and aren’t able to travel long distances. Trump softened his rhetoric in recent months after Tesla CEO Elon Musk endorsed him and campaigned heavily for his election.

Even so, industry officials expect Trump to try to slow a shift to electric cars.

Drilling in Alaska refuge

Trump is almost certain to reinstate oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, continuing a partisan battle that has persisted for decades. Biden and other Democratic presidents have blocked drilling in the sprawling refuge, which is home to polar bears, caribou and other wildlife. Trump opened the area to drilling in a 2017 tax cut law enacted by congressional Republicans. No drilling has occurred in the refuge, although the U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday proposed a lease sale by the end of December that could lead to oil drilling. The sale is required under the 2017 law.

Transition to cleaner energy, transport will continue

Trump, who has cast climate change as a “hoax,” has said he will also eliminate regulations by the Biden administration to increase the energy efficiency of lightbulbs, stoves, dishwashers and shower heads.

Dan Jasper, a senior policy advisor at Project Drawdown said climate action will continue to move forward at the state and local level.

Zara Ahmed, who leads policy analysis and science strategy at Carbon Direct, agreed. While there may be an abdication of leadership at the federal level on climate, she’s optimistic that states including California will continue to lead.

Clean Air Task Force Executive Director Armond Cohen said Wednesday that states, cities, utilities and businesses that have committed to net zero emissions will keep working toward those goals, driving record installations of wind and solar energy.

Governors of both parties are also interested in ramping up nuclear energy as a carbon-free source of electricity, Cohen said.

Trump has said he, too, is interested in developing the next generation of nuclear reactors that are smaller than traditional reactors.

Gina McCarthy, a former EPA administrator who was Biden’s first national climate adviser, said Trump will be unable to stop clean energy such as wind, solar and geothermal power.

“No matter what Trump may say, the shift to clean energy is unstoppable and our country is not turning back,” McCarthy said. 
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DEARBORN, Michigan — Faced with two choices she didn’t like, Suehaila Amen chose neither. 

Instead, the longtime Democrat from the Arab American stronghold of Dearborn, Michigan, backed a third-party candidate for president, adding her voice to a remarkable turnaround that helped Donald Trump reclaim Michigan and the presidency. 

In Dearborn, where nearly half of the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent, Vice President Kamala Harris received over 2,500 fewer votes than Trump, who became the first Republican presidential candidate since former President George W. Bush in 2000 to win the city. Harris also lost neighboring Dearborn Heights to Trump, who in his previous term as president banned travel from several mostly-Muslim countries. 

Harris lost the presidential vote in two Detroit-area cities with large Arab American populations after months of warnings from local Democrats about the Biden-Harris administration’s unwavering support for Israel in the war in Gaza. Some said they backed Trump after he visited a few days before the election, mingling with customers and staff at a Lebanese-owned restaurant and reassuring people that he would find a way to end the violence in the Middle East. 

Others, including Amen, were unable to persuade themselves to back the former president. She said many Arab Americans felt Harris got what she deserved but aren’t “jubilant about Trump.” 

“Whether it’s Trump himself or the people who are around him, it does pose a great deal of concern for me,” Amen said. “But at the end of the day when you have two evils running, what are you left with?” 

As it became clear late Tuesday into early Wednesday that Trump would not only win the presidency but likely prevail in Dearborn, the mood in metro Detroit’s Arab American communities was described by Dearborn City Council member Mustapha Hammoud as “somber.” And yet, he said, the result was “not surprising at all.” 

The shift in Dearborn — where Trump received nearly 18,000 votes compared with Harris’ 15,000 — marks a startling change from just four years ago when Joe Biden won in the city by a nearly 3-to-1 margin. 

No one should be surprised 

The results didn’t come out of nowhere. For months, in phone calls and meetings with top Democratic officials, local leaders warned, in blunt terms, that Arab American voters would turn against them if the administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war didn’t change. 

The Biden-Harris administration has remained a staunch ally of Israel since the brutal Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, which killed 1,200 Israelis and took over 200 hostages. The war between Israel and Hamas has killed more than 43,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health officials say. They do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. 

While Harris softened her rhetoric on the war, she didn’t propose concrete policies toward Israel or the war in Gaza that varied from the administration’s position. And even if she had, that might not have made much of a difference in places like Dearborn. 

“All she had to do was stop the war in Lebanon and Gaza and she would receive everyone’s votes here,” said Hammoud. 

More voters thought Trump would be better able to handle the situation in the Middle East than Harris, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. About half of voters named Trump as better suited, compared with about a third who said Harris. 

Among those who opposed more aid for Israel, 58% backed Harris in the presidential election; 39% supported Trump. 

Even some Harris voters had their doubts. About three-quarters of Harris voters in Michigan said she was the better candidate to handle the situation. Few preferred Trump, but about 2 in 10 Harris voters said they were equivalent or neither would be better. 

In the absence of support for Harris in the Arab American community, Trump and his allies stepped in. 

A key part of Michigan’s electorate — a state Trump won by nearly 11,000 votes in 2016 before he lost it by nearly 154,000 to Biden in 2020 — Arab Americans spent months meeting with Trump allies, who encouraged community leaders to endorse him. 

Things began to move in September, when Amer Ghalib, the Democratic Muslim mayor of the city of Hamtramck, endorsed Trump. Shortly afterwards, Trump visited a campaign office there. 

That was a turning point, said Massad Boulos, who led Trump’s outreach with Arab Americans. Boulos’ son Michael is married to Trump’s daughter Tiffany. 

“They very, very much appreciated the president’s visit and the respect that they felt,” said Massad Boulos. “That was the first big achievement, so to speak. After that, I started getting endorsements from imams and Muslim leaders.” 

An apparent shift toward Trump in final week 

While support for Harris had been declining for months — especially after her campaign did not allow a pro-Palestinian speaker to take the stage at August’s Democratic National Convention — some voters say the last week of the campaign was pivotal. 

At an October 30 rally in Michigan, former President Bill Clinton said Hamas uses civilians as shields and will “force you to kill civilians if you want to defend yourself.” 

“Hamas did not care about a homeland for the Palestinians, they wanted to kill Israelis and make Israel uninhabitable,” he said. “Well, I got news for them, they were there first, before their faith existed, they were there.” 

The Harris campaign wanted Clinton to visit Dearborn to speak in the days following the rally, according to two people with direct knowledge of the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about them. The potential visit never materialized after backlash over Clinton’s comments. 

“That comment was the talk of the town. It hurt many like me, who loved him,” said Amin Hashmi, who was born in Pakistan and lives in suburban Detroit. A self-proclaimed “die-hard Dem,” Hashmi said casting a ballot for Trump “was a seismic move” that came after he stood in the voting booth for 25 minutes. 

On the Friday before the election, Trump visited The Great Commoner in Dearborn, a Lebanese-owned restaurant. That stood in sharp contrast with Harris, who met with Dearborn’s Democratic mayor, Abdullah Hammoud — who didn’t endorse in the race — but never came to Dearborn herself. 

“He came up to Dearborn. He spoke with residents. Whether some people say it wasn’t genuine, he still made the effort. He did reach out and try to work with them, at least listen to them,” said Samia Hamid, a Dearborn resident. 
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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has picked Thomas Homan, his one-time acting immigration chief, to serve as “border czar” and fulfill his campaign vow to deport large numbers of undocumented migrants, potentially millions, back to their home countries.

Trump said on his Truth Social media platform late Sunday that the 62-year-old Homan would be “in charge of our Nation’s Borders,” south to Mexico and north to Canada. He added that he has “no doubt” that Homan “will do a fantastic, and long-awaited for, job.”

“I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders,” Trump wrote.

Trump is also set to appoint another immigration hard-liner, Stephen Miller, as deputy chief of staff for policy, U.S. news media reported.

“This is another fantastic pick by the president,” Vice President-elect JD Vance said of the prospect of Miller joining Trump’s nascent administration. 

In another appointment, Trump named one of his staunchest Republican advocates in Congress, Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, to serve as the new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, calling her “an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America First fighter.”

Stefanik, 40, arrived in the House of Representatives in 2015 as a political moderate but over time has emerged as a vocal Trump defender. 

She drew national attention last year for her sharp questioning of Ivy League university presidents over antisemitism on their campuses in the wake of student protests against Israel’s conduct of its war on Hamas militants. Two of the academics, the presidents of Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, stepped down in the fallout from the hearing.

Homan’s appointment as “border czar” does not require Senate confirmation. He served as acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, from January 2017 to June 2018 during Trump’s first presidential term but left in frustration when the White House failed to push his nomination toward the required confirmation in the Senate.

Homan, a former police officer and Border Patrol agent, subsequently became a Fox News analyst on immigration and border issues.

Hours after his appointment, Homan on Monday told the “Fox & Friends” show: “I’ve been on this network for years complaining about what [President Joe Biden’s] administration did to this border. I’ve been yelling and screaming about it and what they need to do to fix it.”

“So, when [Trump] asked me, ‘Would you come back and fix it?’ Of course. I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t,” he said. “I’m honored the president asked me to come back and help solve this national security crisis, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Trump recaptured the White House in last week’s election after repeatedly telling thousands of his supporters at campaign rallies that he would round up undocumented migrants in the U.S. – perhaps 11 million or more – and send them back to their home countries.

“We’re going to have to seal up those borders,” Trump often said, claiming that other countries had emptied their prisons and mental health hospitals so migrants could flee to the U.S. He said the migrants in the U.S. are now causing a crime wave. Government statistics show that no such massive increase in crime has occurred.

In addition, immigration officials two months ago told Congress that more than 13,000 immigrants convicted of homicide — either in the United States or abroad — are living in the U.S. outside of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.

The immigrants are part of ICE’s “non-detained” list of migrants in the United States.  

Officials told Congress that means the migrants have pending immigration cases in the U.S., but they are not currently in detention either because they are not prioritized for detention, they are serving time in a jail or prison for their crimes, or because ICE cannot find them.

In another interview, Homan told Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures” show that military troops would not be used to round up and arrest undocumented immigrants.

ICE, he said, would work to carry out Trump’s plans in a “humane manner” in what will be a “necessary” and “well-targeted, planned operation.” 

Another Trump advocate, Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, told CNN’s “State of the Union” show on Sunday that deportation efforts would first focus on 1.3 million migrants who have already had court hearings and been rejected for asylum in the U.S., with Homeland Security agents and local police arresting them. 

Asked whether 3.6 million children who entered the U.S. with their undocumented parents and have been living for years in the U.S. should also be deported, Jordan said, “That question will be addressed later on.” 

Advocates for these migrants, now often young adults, call them “Dreamers,” and some U.S. lawmakers have, unsuccessfully so far, attempted to put them on a path to U.S. citizenship.

In his first term, Trump had pledged to build a border wall and make Mexico pay for it. Some of the wall was built but Mexico paid for none of it.

In addition, he sought to deport millions of immigrants but fell far short for lack of government financing, legal challenges brought by advocates of migrants and a public outcry over deportation tactics, including the separation of migrant children from their parents, a policy that Homan advocated.

During his tenure as the acting ICE chief, Homan pushed back against allegations that enforcement agents acted too aggressively. In the past, Homan has praised Trump for “taking the shackles” off ICE agents by allowing them to make a broader range of immigration arrests in the U.S. interior.

Homan told CBS News’s “60 Minutes” last month that, as the government has for decades, any mass deportation would prioritize the arrest of criminals and national security threats.

But he also said that anyone in the United States illegally could be returned on flights back to their home countries. He said he would restart raids on workplaces to find people employed illegally in the United States and deport them.

The Biden administration had ended such raids, which Homan said made it easier for employers to hire unauthorized workers, including children.
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U.S. President Joe Biden laid a wreath Monday to honor the nation’s fallen soldiers on Veterans Day, an event marking his first appearance with Vice President Kamala Harris since her election defeat last week.

The ceremony, at historic Arlington National Cemetery across the Potomac River from Washington, is also the first time Harris has been seen in public since her Nov. 6 speech in which she conceded the presidential election to Donald Trump.  

Democrats, facing a painful reckoning over their drubbing, have begun soul-searching internal discussions — and some not-so-private blaming — over what caused Harris’s loss, with some pointing to Biden’s initial insistence on running again at age 81, despite having promised to be a bridge president to the next generation.

Criticism of Harris herself has been more muted, and Biden heaped praise on Harris last Thursday in a televised White House address.  

Earlier Monday, Biden hosted veterans at the White House to mark the holiday before heading to Arlington, the final resting place of two presidents, generals from all major U.S. wars, and thousands of other military personnel.  

Biden and Harris, both dressed in dark suits, placed their hands on their hearts before participating in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  

The president was to deliver remarks at the cemetery’s Memorial Amphitheater.

The ceremony comes ahead of Biden hosting Trump at the White House on Wednesday.

The Republican has begun naming loyalists to his new administration. He announced he is bringing a hard-line immigration official, Tom Homan, back into the fold to serve as his so-called “border czar,” and congresswoman Elise Stefanik to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Trump himself has long claimed he is a fierce supporter of America’s military, but he has made a series of controversial comments about veterans.  

His longest-serving White House chief of staff, retired general John Kelly, has said the Republican leader privately disparaged U.S. service members, including describing those who died or were imprisoned defending America as “suckers” and “losers.”  

Trump denies the accusation.  

But the soon-to-be 47th president has been on record expressing contempt for late American war hero and senator John McCain, who spent years in a Hanoi prison during the Vietnam war.
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За даними Синєгубова, з 10 вересня евакуювали понад 5 300 жителів на Куп’янському напрямку і 1 181 місцевого жителя із Борівського напрямку Харківщини
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«Серед ушпиталених четверо дітей. Двоє з них – чотирирічний хлопчик та 17-річний юнак – у важкому стані»
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Donald Trump’s supporters in California, a state that went for his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, have been celebrating Trump’s presidential election victory. This comes as the state’s Democratic governor has called for a special legislative session to protect the state’s progressive policies from a Trump presidency. VOA’s Genia Dulot has the report.
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Anna Wiebe moved to the United States from Ukraine 25 years ago. Four of her Ukrainian relatives fled the country and joined her after Russia invaded in 2022. They settled in North Carolina. But then Hurricane Helene arrived. Rafael Saakov has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Aleksandr Bergan.
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Підрозділи РФ «намагаються витіснити наші війська та просунутись вглиб території, яку ми тримаємо під контролем», заявив головнокомандувач
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Загалом війська РФ випустили 74 ударних дрони типу Shahed та невстановленого типу з російських Курська, Приморсько-Ахтарська, Орла та Брянська
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KANSAS CITY, Kan. — After working at a crowded and dangerous internment camp in Iraq, Air Force Staff Sgt. Heather O’Brien brought home with her anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

A bouncy labradoodle and a Kansas City-area program helped her get back on her feet.

Dogs 4 Valor, operated through the Olathe, Kansas-based organization called The Battle Within, helps retired veterans and first responders work with their service dogs to help manage depression, anxiety and other challenges.

“A lot of times the veteran with severe PTSD is homebound,” said Sandra Sindeldecker, program manager for Dogs 4 Valor. “They’re isolated. They’re very nervous. They won’t make eye contact. Some won’t leave the house at all.”

The program involves both group and one-on-one training. The goal is to get the veteran and the dog comfortable with each other and understanding each other. The group takes outings to help the veterans regain their footing in public places like airports. Program leaders also provide mental health therapy at no cost.

The veterans and dogs graduate in six to nine months, but group gatherings continue.

O’Brien, 40, recalled that the camp where she worked in Iraq sometimes had over 20,000 detainees. Violence and rioting were common and it left her with severe anxiety.

“When I got out of the military, I just assumed that you’re supposed to be on edge all the time as a veteran,” O’Brien said.

O’Brien’s mother spotted the frisky lab-poodle mix on Facebook and convinced her daughter to adopt the dog she named Albus. Months later, O’Brien learned about Dogs 4 Valor, and the pair joined the program in October 2023.

Now, O’Brien said she can get back out in public — she even went on vacation to Branson, Missouri, “things that I never would have thought I would do really, probably ever again.”

Mark Atkinson, 38, served in Afghanistan as a corporal in the Marine Corps. He returned home with PTSD and major depressive disorder, causing sleeplessness and anxiety. He adopted Lexi, now 5, in 2020.

Lexi, a muscular cane corso breed, needed Atkinson as much as he needed her. Her previous owner had kept Lexi on chains before surrendering her. Since joining Dogs 4 Valor, the two can get out together and enjoy life.

“I don’t really like leaving the house because I’m safe there, you know?” Atkinson said. “And having Lexi has just made me get out to be more social.”

Having a group of fellow veterans facing the same challenges has also helped, Atkinson said.

“We come from the same backgrounds, different branches,” Atkinson said. “Same issues. You know, PTSD or traumatic brain injuries. And they’re all very welcoming as well. There’s no judgment.”

O’Brien compared living with Albus to a relationship with a sometimes pushy best friend who often wants to go out.

“The best friend constantly wants to make you do things that make you nervous,” O’Brien laughed, acknowledging that it is ultimately up to her.

“I have to decide to walk out and just deal with life,” O’Brien said. “And so that has been hard. And it still is hard from time to time, but it’s it’s getting manageable.”

Some veterans said their family relationships have improved since they started the program.

“I’m able to talk, not fly off the handle and just get along with people and not be as stressed, not have as much anxiety,” Atkinson said. “Or even if I do, she (Lexi) is right there with me.”

Timothy Siebenmorgen, 61, said his relationships also are better with help from his 1-year-old American bulldog, Rosie, and Dogs 4 Valor, which he joined in July. He served in both the Marines and Army, deploying 18 times.

“You’re in the military, kind of taught not to show weakness,” Siebenmorgen said. “So you figure you can tackle everything yourself and you honestly believe that. And then you realize you can’t do it on your own.”

Veterans said the dogs, and the program, have given them new hope and a renewed ability to move forward.

“I got my life back,” O’Brien said.
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Baku, Azerbaijan — The annual U.N. climate summit kicks off Monday with countries readying for tough talks on finance and trade, following a year of weather disasters that have emboldened developing countries in their demands for climate cash.

Delegates gathering in Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku are hoping to resolve the summit’s top agenda item – a deal for up to $1 trillion in annual climate finance for developing countries.

The summit’s negotiating priorities, however, are competing for governments’ resources and attention against economic concerns, wars in Ukraine and Gaza and last week’s U.S. re-election of Donald Trump, a climate-change denier, as president of the world’s biggest economy.

COP29 host Azerbaijan will be tasked with keeping countries focused on agreeing to a new global finance target to replace the current $100 billion pledge expiring this year.

The Caspian Sea nation, often proud of being home to the world’s first oil wells, will also be under pressure to show progress from last year’s COP28 pledge to transition away from fossil fuels.

The country’s oil and gas revenues accounted for 35% of its economy in 2023, down from 50% two years prior. The government says these revenues will continue to decline, to roughly 32% of its GDP this year and 22% by 2028.

Before the summit talks can even begin, countries will need to agree on an agenda by consensus – including an 11th-hour proposal by China to bring trade disputes into the mix.

The Chinese proposal – made on behalf of the fast-developing “BASIC” group of countries including Brazil, India and South Africa – asked for the summit to address “restrictive trade measures” such as the EU’s carbon border tariffs going into effect in 2026.

Those concerns have been compounded by Trump’s campaign promise to impose 20% tariffs on all foreign goods – and 60% on Chinese goods.

China’s request showed it was flexing power following Trump’s re-election, which signaled the United States’ likely disengagement from global climate cooperation, said Li Shuo, director of China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Trump has called climate change a hoax and vowed to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the global treaty to reduce planet-warming emissions.

The European Union, along with current U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, have been pressing China and Gulf oil nations to join the pool of climate finance donor countries.

“If the EU wants to talk about climate finance with China, if it wants to talk NDCs, part of the conversation should be how to resolve our differences on trade and your tariffs,” Shuo said.

Extreme pressure

With this year on track to be the hottest on record, experts noted that climate extremes were now challenging rich and poor countries alike – from flooding disasters in Africa, coastal Spain and the U.S. state of North Carolina, to drought gripping South America, Mexico and the U.S. West.

Most countries are not prepared.

“Election results don’t alter the laws of physics,” said Kaveh Guilanpour, vice president for international strategies at the nonprofit Center for Climate and Energy Solutions.

“Unless the world collectively steps up its efforts, the impacts of climate change will become increasingly severe and frequent and will be felt by an increasing number of people in all countries, including in the United States.”

Many in Baku were worried that a U.S. disengagement could lead other countries to backpedal on past climate pledges or to scale back future ambitions.
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Manchester, England — Taylor Swift came out top at the 2024 MTV EMAs on Sunday, walking away with best artist, best U.S. act, best live act and best video for “Fortnight” (featuring Post Malone). 

Swift, who is currently finishing up her Eras tour on the other side of the Atlantic, thanked the fans for the bounty of prizes via video message. 

The U.K. show opened with an acrobatic Benson Boone suspended in the air on a gold grand piano performing his viral hit “Beautiful Things” and latest release “Slow it Down.” Boone also accepted his first EMA for best new act. 

South African newcomer Tyla gave Swift a run for her money picking up three awards for best afrobeats, best R&B and best African act. 

Tyla performed her smash hit “Water” for the EMA audience at the Co-op Live, Manchester, flanked by a host of dancers, as well as singing energetic new track “Push 2 Start.” 

British singer Rita Ora, who hosted the show for a record third time, paid tribute to former One Direction star Liam Payne, who died last month after falling from a balcony in Buenos Aires. 

Ora had a close relationship with the singer and the pair recorded a song together in 2018, “For You (Fifty Shades Freed).” She addressed the audience saying, “I want to take a moment to remember someone. Liam Payne was one of the kindest people I knew.” Her voice broke as she asked the crowd to take a moment to remember Liam saying, “He had the biggest heart and he left such a mark on this world.” 

Hip-hop legend Busta Rhymes was awarded the EMAs global icon award from British rapper Little Simz telling the crowd that in 34 years of professionally recording this was his first award from MTV and it felt incredible. The 12-time Grammy Award nominee, who has more than 10 million album sales under his belt, performed a mega medley of his greatest hits “Break ya Neck,” “Touch it” and “Put Your Hands Where the Eyes can See” accompanied by dancers wearing tracksuits with giant dragon heads. 

Shawn Mendes gave an intimate and heartfelt performance and also received the award for best Canadian act. Sabrina Carpenter picked up the honors for best song for her hit “Espresso,” while Ariana Grande was crowned best pop act and Eminem took away best hip hop act. 

U.K. duo Pet Shop Boys were honored with the inaugural Pop Pioneers Award for their contribution to pop music and closed out the show accompanied by local orchestra Manchester Camerata with a cover of David Bowie’s “All the Young Dudes” followed by their iconic hit “West End Girls” in celebration of the song’s 40th anniversary. 

Other performers on the night included K-Pop quintet Le Sserafim, Mexican singer and rapper Peso Pluma, English singer and songwriter Raye, multi-platinum singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes, American powerhouse Teddy Swims, Mexican rock sisters the Warning. 

LL Cool J, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale, mother-and-daughter musicians Neneh Cherry and Mabel and TV and film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Turner-Smith and Lucien Laviscount all presented awards. 
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