Глобальна температура на поточний рік уже перевищує торішні показники. Це робить майже неминучим встановлення нового річного рекорду, вказано у звіті
…
The results of the 2024 U.S. presidential election rattled the country and sent shockwaves across the world — or were cause for celebration, depending on who you ask. Is it any surprise then that the Merriam-Webster word of the year is “polarization”?
“Polarization means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s announcement. “Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center.”
The election was so divisive, many American voters went to the polls with a feeling that the opposing candidate was an existential threat to the nation. According to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters, about 8 in 10 Kamala Harris voters were very or somewhat concerned that Donald Trump’s views — but not Harris’ — were too extreme, while about 7 in 10 Trump voters felt the same way about Harris — but not Trump.
The Merriam-Webster entry for “polarization” reflects scientific and metaphorical definitions. It’s most commonly used to mean “causing strong disagreement between opposing factions or groupings.”
Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million pageviews a month on its site, chooses its word of the year based on data, tracking a rise in search and usage.
Last year’s pick was “authentic.” This year’s comes as large swaths of the U.S. struggle to reach consensus on what is real.
“It’s always been important to me that the dictionary serve as a kind of neutral and objective arbiter of meaning for everybody,” Sokolowski said. “It’s a kind of backstop for meaning in an era of fake news, alternative facts, whatever you want to say about the value of a word’s meaning in the culture.”
It’s notable that “polarization” originated in the early 1800s — and not during the Renaissance, as did most words with Latin roots about science, Sokolowski said. He called it a “pretty young word,” in the scheme of the English language. “Polarized is a term that brings intensity to another word,” he continued, most frequently used in the U.S. to describe race relations, politics and ideology.
“The basic job of the dictionary is to tell the truth about words,” the Merriam-Webster editor continued. “We’ve had dictionaries of English for 420 years and it’s only been in the last 20 years or so that we’ve actually known which words people look up.”
“Polarization” extends beyond political connotations. It’s used to highlight fresh cracks and deep rifts alike in pop culture, tech trends and other industries.
All the scrutiny over Taylor Swift’s private jet usage? Polarizing. Beef between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake? Polarizing. The International Olympic Committee’s decision to strip American gymnast Jordan Chiles of her bronze medal after the Paris Games? You guessed it: polarizing.
Even lighthearted memes — like those making fun of Australian breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn’s performance — or the proliferation of look-alike contests, or who counts as a nepo baby proved polarizing.
Paradoxically though, people tend to see eye to eye on the word itself. Sokolowski cited its frequent use among people across the political spectrum, including commentators on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN.
“It’s used by both sides,” he said, “and in a little bit ironic twist to the word, it’s something that actually everyone agrees on.”
Rounding out Merriam-Webster’s top 10 words of 2024:
Demure
TikToker Jools Lebron’s 38-second video describing her workday makeup routine as “very demure, very mindful” lit up the summer with memes. The video has been viewed more than 50 million times, yielding “huge spikes” in lookups, Sokolowski said, and prompting many to learn it means reserved or modest.
Fortnight
Taylor Swift’s song “Fortnight,” featuring rapper Post Malone, undoubtedly spurred many searches for this word, which means two weeks. “Music can still send people to the dictionary,” Sokolowski said.
Totality
The solar eclipse in April inspired awe and much travel. There are tens of millions of people who live along a narrow stretch from Mexico’s Pacific coast to eastern Canada, otherwise known as the path of totality, where locals and travelers gazed skyward to see the moon fully blot out the sun. Generally, the word refers to a sum or aggregate amount — or wholeness.
Resonate
“Texts developed by AI have a disproportionate percentage of use of the word ‘resonate,'” Sokolowski said. This may be because the word, which means to affect or appeal to someone in a personal or emotional way, can add gravitas to writing. But, paradoxically, artificial intelligence “also betrays itself to be a robot because it’s using that word too much.”
Allision
The word was looked up 60 times more often than usual when, in March, a ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. “When you have one moving object into a fixed object, that’s an allision, not a collision. You’re showing that one of the two objects struck was not, in fact, in motion,” Sokolowski said.
Weird
This summer on the TV news show “Morning Joe,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz called Republican leaders “weird.” It may have been what launched his national career, landing him as the Democratic vice presidential nominee. Though it’s a word that people typically misspell — is it “ei” or “ie”? — and search for that reason, its rise in use was notable, Sokolowski said.
Cognitive
Whether the word was used to raise questions about President Joe Biden’s debate performance or Trump’s own age, it cropped up often. It refers to conscious intellectual activity — such as thinking, reasoning, or remembering.
Pander
Pander was used widely in political commentary, Sokolowski said. “Conservative news outlets accused Kamala Harris of pandering to different groups, especially young voters, Black voters, gun rights supporters.” Whereas Walz said Trump’s visit to a McDonald’s kitchen pandered to hourly wage workers. It means to say, do, or provide what someone — such as an audience — wants or demands even though it is not “good, proper, reasonable, etc.”
Democracy
In 2003, Merriam-Webster decided to make “democracy” its first word of the year. Since then, the word — which, of course, means a form of government in which the people elect representatives to make decisions, policies and laws — is consistently one of the dictionary’s most looked up. “There’s a poignancy to that, that people are checking up on it,” Sokolowski said. “Maybe the most hopeful thing that the curiosity of the public shows, is that they’re paying attention.”
…
Both U.S. President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump reacted Sunday to the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria. Given its strategic interests in the Middle East, the U.S. is expected to keep a close eye on what lies ahead in Syria. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.
…
Washington — Celebrities, cultural icons and a few surprise guests are gathering for the annual Kennedy Center Honors celebration Sunday evening in Washington.
This year’s recipients of the lifetime achievement award for artistic accomplishment are director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola, the Grateful Dead, jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, and singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt. In addition, the venerable Harlem theater The Apollo, which has launched generations of Black artists, is being recognized.
There will be personalized tributes with performances and testimonials from fellow artists during the gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Medallions were presented during the traditional Saturday night ceremony at the State Department.
The tribute performances are often kept secret from the recipients themselves, most notably in 2018 when Cyndi Lauper flat out lied to her longtime friend Cher about being unable to attend. Lauper appeared on stage to perform Cher’s hit, “If I Could Turn Back Time.”
Several of the latest honorees have themselves participated in past tributes to friends and colleagues at the Kennedy Center.
Coppola spoke during fellow director Martin Scorsese’s induction in 2007. Sandoval performed in the tribute to his mentor, jazz trumpet legend Dizzy Gillespie. Raitt has taken part in tributes to Buddy Guy and Mavis Staples. Raitt even attended the Kennedy Center Honors in the 1970s when her father, Broadway performer John Raitt, was taking part in a tribute to composer Richard Rogers.
The tribute to the Grateful Dead is expected to double as a memorial to the band’s founding bass player Phil Lesh, who died in October at age 84.
This could also be the last Kennedy Center Honors ceremony without political intrigue for a while.
During Republican Donald Trump’s first four years in office, Kennedy Center officials were forced to walk a public tightrope between the tradition of the president attending the ceremony and the open antipathy toward Trump from multiple honorees. In 2017, recipient Norman Lear threatened to boycott his own ceremony if Trump attended. Trump, who takes office in January, skipped the ceremony for the entirety of his first term.
Democratic President Joe Biden is scheduled to host a reception for the honorees at the White House and plans to attend the Kennedy Center ceremony afterward.
The show will air on CBS on Dec. 22.
…
U.S. President Joe Biden declared Sunday that the sudden demise of the Syrian government under Bashar Assad was a “fundamental act of justice,” but that it was “a moment of uncertainty” for the Mideast.
Biden, speaking at the White House, said the collapse of the decades-long iron rule by the Assad family was “the best opportunity in a generation for the Syrian people to forge their own destiny.”
Biden said that action by the U.S. and its allies over the last two years weakened Syria’s backers — Russia, Iran and Iran-supported Hezbollah militants in Lebanon — to the extent that “for the first time” they could no longer defend the Assad government.
“Our approach has shifted the balance of power in the Middle East,” Biden said, after a meeting with his national security advisers at the White House.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday that Assad had fled his country, which his family had ruled for decades, because close ally Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, “was not interested in protecting him any longer.”
Trump’s comments on his social media platform came a day after he decried the possibility that the U.S. might intervene militarily in Syria to aid the rebels as they moved to oust Assad, declaring, “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT.”
The Biden administration had no intention of intervening, according to Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
The U.S has about 900 troops in Syria, including forces working with Kurdish allies in the opposition-held northeast to prevent any resurgence of the Islamic State group.
Biden said he intends for those troops to remain, adding that U.S. forces on Sunday conducted “dozens” of what he called “precision airstrikes” on Islamic State camps and operations in Syria.
Biden said the U.S. is “clear eyed” that ISIS will try to take advantage of the situation in Syria.
The Syrian opposition that brought down Assad is led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. The Biden administration has designated the group as a terrorist organization and says it has links to al-Qaida, although Hayat Tahrir al-Sham says it has since broken ties with al-Qaida.
“We will remain vigilant,” Biden said. “Make no mistake, some of the rebel groups that took down Assad have their own grim record of terrorism and human rights abuses.” He added that the groups are “saying the right things now.”
“But as they take on greater responsibility, we will assess not just their words, but their actions,” Biden said.
Trump, who takes office January 20, linked the upheaval in Syria and Russia’s war in Ukraine, noting that Assad’s allies in Moscow, as well as in Iran, the main sponsor of Hamas and Hezbollah, “are in a weakened state right now.”
Vice President-elect JD Vance, a veteran of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, wrote on his own social media Sunday to express skepticism about the insurgents.
“Many of ‘the rebels’ are a literal offshoot of ISIS. One can hope they’ve moderated. Time will tell,” he said.
With the collapse of the Assad regime, the family of missing U.S. journalist Austin Tice renewed calls to find him.
“To everyone in Syria that hears this, please remind people that we’re waiting for Austin,” Tice’s mother, Debra, said in comments that hostage advocacy groups spread on social media. “We know that when he comes out, he’s going to be fairly dazed & he’s going to need lots of care & direction. Direct him to his family please!”
Tice disappeared in 2012 outside Damascus.
“We’ve remained committed to returning him to his family,” Biden told reporters. “We believe he’s alive, we think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence to that yet. And Assad should be held accountable.”
The president added: “We have to identify where he [Tice] is.”
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press.
…
NEW DELHI — India is not pursuing the creation of a shared BRICS currency, an idea that has met with a strong verbal pushback from incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, but the South Asian giant is making efforts to promote trade in its local currency, according to analysts in New Delhi.
Trump has threatened a 100% tariff on products from BRICS nations if they develop their own currency to replace the U.S. dollar.
The BRICS bloc, which began with China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa, expanded this year to include Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Egypt.
“We require a commitment from these countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency nor back any other currency to replace the mighty U.S. dollar,” Trump said in a post on the Truth Social media platform.
Talk of a BRICS currency gained some momentum following U.S.-led sanctions on Russia in 2022 and since, in recent years, economic and political tensions have grown between the West and China. Russia and China have publicly expressed a desire to explore diversification of international trade away from the dollar.
Ajai Sahai, director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, though, said New Delhi does not plan to move away from the American currency.
“Trump’s post is like a forewarning to tread carefully down this road. But at the moment, this is just an idea, and a common BRICS currency is simply not on India’s agenda,” Sahai said.
The creation of such a currency is unlikely to gain traction due to mistrust and internal differences within major countries in the alliance such as India and China, according to analysts working in the Indian capital.
“India is not supportive of this particular initiative. Any common currency is not going to help anyone; only the dominant countries like China ultimately will dictate. So, it is very difficult to develop a consensus to have a common currency,” according to Chintamani Mahapatra, founder of the Kalinga Institute of Indo Pacific Studies.
The emerging countries group is also too diverse to make it economically viable to forge a competing currency, according to Mahapatra.
“Unlike the European Union, we [BRICS countries] don’t have a common market. We don’t have a common trade policy. We have nothing in common,” Mahapatra said.
At the same time, several BRICS members have accelerated efforts to explore ways to reduce dependence on the U.S. dollar, which has been the world’s dominant currency since the end of World War II. BRICS countries account for about 40% of the world’s population and an estimated one-third of global gross domestic product.
At a summit held in the Russian city of Kazan in October, BRICS nations agreed to boost efforts to trade in local currencies rather than in U.S. dollars and said they would strengthen banking networks within the group to facilitate settlements in their currencies.
“Trade in local currencies and smooth cross-border payments will strengthen our economic cooperation,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.
India, which adopted a new foreign trade policy last year to support using the rupee more frequently for trade, has identified 17 countries with which it wants to use rupees or the other country’s currency, according to Biswajit Dhar, a senior professor at the Council for Social Development in New Delhi.
Those countries include Russia. New Delhi, which did not join U.S. sanctions against Russia, is paying for its crude oil imports from Moscow in rupees. As trade with Russia increases exponentially, though, that also presents problems.
“India runs a huge trade deficit vis-a-vis Russia, which means that when India is buying a lot of oil and is paying in rupees, Russia does not know what to do with the stock of rupees it is holding now,” Dhar said.
“Indian businesses are wary of selling to Russia because of the sanctions.” he said.
Aside from Russia, other countries such as Malaysia, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh also have agreed to facilitate trade in rupees. Such efforts however are modest, and India’s international trade is still dominated by the dollar.
Indian External Affairs Minister Jaishankar Subramanian has said that moving away from the U.S. currency is not part of New Delhi’s economic policy.
“We have never actively targeted the dollar. That’s not part of either our economic policy or our political or strategic policy,” he said responding to a question on dedollarization at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington in October.
But in an indirect reference to Russia, he said that India had to look for “workarounds” when trade in dollars with some partners became difficult.
“It was the U.S. actions targeting Russia that made countries search for mechanisms and options to the dollar. It was not to dislodge the dollar’s position,” according to Ajay Srivastava, of the Global Trade Research Initiative.
However, he said Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on products coming from countries adopting a BRICS currency makes the idea of such a potential new currency “unrealistic and more symbolic than practical.”
…
India is not supporting the creation of a shared currency among the nine-nation BRICS grouping but it is trying to promote trade in its local currency, according to analysts in New Delhi. Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump recently warned BRICS nations against efforts to replace the dollar with an alternative currency. Anjana Pasricha has a report from New Delhi.
…
The FBI is offering a 50-thousand-dollar reward for information that leads to the arrest of the assassin of a health-care CEO in New York City. Law enforcement took the unusual step of identifying a suspect without naming him as the search for the killer continues. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the story.
…
KYIV — U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Sunday called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, shortly after a meeting in Paris with French and Ukrainian leaders, claiming Kyiv “would like to make a deal” to end the more than 1,000-day war.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that Moscow and Kyiv have both lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a war that “should never have started.”
“There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin. Too many lives are being needlessly wasted, too many families destroyed,” he said, as he called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to act to bring the fighting to an end.
Trump’s remarks came after a meeting Saturday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that Zelenskyy later described as “constructive”.
Speaking to reporters later that day, Zelenskyy insisted that any peace deal “should be just” for Ukrainians, “so that Russia and Putin or any other aggressors will not have the opportunity to return.”
In a separate social media update Sunday, Zelenskyy asserted that Kyiv has so far lost 43,000 soldiers since Moscow’s all-out invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, while a further 370,000 have been wounded.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been reluctant to publish official casualty figures, but Western officials have said that the past few months of grinding positional warfare in eastern Ukraine have meant record losses for both sides, with tens of thousands killed and wounded each month.
…
«Наші люди ціною своїх життів захищають свій дім, і кожне життя наших воїнів і наших цивільних цінне для нас»
…
The oldest known wild bird in the world has laid an egg at the ripe age of about 74, her first in four years, U.S. wildlife officials said.
The long-winged seabird named Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago and laid what experts estimate may be her 60th egg, the Pacific Region of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said in a Facebook post this week.
Wisdom and her mate, Akeakamai, had returned to the atoll in the Pacific Ocean to lay and hatch eggs since 2006. Laysan albatrosses mate for life and lay one egg per year. But Akeakamai has not been seen for several years, and Wisdom began interacting with another male when she returned last week, officials said.
“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, said in a statement. Every year, millions of seabirds return to the refuge to nest and raise their young.
Albatross parents take turns incubating an egg for about two months. Chicks fly out to sea about five to six months after hatching. They spend most of their lives flying over the ocean and feeding on squid and fish eggs.
Wisdom was first banded as an adult in 1956 and has raised as many as 30 chicks, Plissner said.
The typical lifespan of a Laysan albatross is 68 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
…
WASHINGTON — The United States on Saturday announced a new $988 million military assistance package for Ukraine as Washington races to provide aid to Kyiv before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
It nearly halves the available $2.21 billion remaining in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) as the Biden administration works to commit to buying weapons from industry, rather than pull from U.S. weapons stocks.
Trump’s victory in the November election has cast doubt on the future of American aid for Ukraine, providing a limited window for billions of dollars in already authorized assistance to be provided before he is sworn in next month.
The package features drones, ammunition for precision HIMARS rocket launchers, and equipment and spare parts for artillery systems, tanks and armored vehicles, the Pentagon said in a statement.
The Biden administration has often used Presidential Drawdown Authority, which authorizes President Joe Biden to transfer excess articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval during an emergency.
The USAI funds are separate and will go to purchase new weapons from the defense industry or partners rather than drawn from American stocks, meaning it will not immediately arrive on the battlefield.
It follows a $725 million package announced Monday that included a second tranche of landmines as well as anti-air and anti-armor weapons.
The outgoing U.S. administration is working to get as much aid as possible to Ukraine before Trump — who has repeatedly criticized U.S. assistance for Kyiv and claimed he could secure a ceasefire within hours — takes over.
Trump’s comments have triggered fears in Kyiv and Europe about the future of U.S. aid, and Ukraine’s ability to withstand Russian attacks in the absence of further American support.
The United States has spearheaded the push for international support for Ukraine, quickly forging a coalition to back Kyiv after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 and coordinating aid from dozens of countries.
Ukraine’s international supporters have since then provided tens of billions of dollars in weapons, ammunition, training and other security aid that has been key to helping Kyiv resist Russian forces.
The Biden administration still has about $6 billion of congressionally granted presidential drawdown authority, including funds authorized in 2024 and funds discovered by the Pentagon after overestimating the value of arms shipped to Ukraine.
Since the Russian invasion in February 2022 the U.S. has committed more than $62 billion worth of security assistance to Ukraine.
Some material in this report is from Reuters.
…
NEW YORK — New York’s mayor said Saturday “the net is tightening” on the man suspected of gunning down a top health insurance executive before fleeing the city.
Mayor Eric Adams said detectives knew the name of the fresh-faced suspect, an image of whom was released by investigators Thursday and who has now been on the run for almost four days.
Adams praised “the manner in which (investigators) were able to follow his footsteps to recover evidence — some of it is known, some of it is unknown — but the net is tightening and we’re going to bring this person to justice,” he said, the New York Post reported.
Adams was quoted by the Post as saying the police were withholding the suspect’s name for now.
“We don’t want to release that,” the mayor said. “If you do, you are basically giving a tip to the person we are seeking, and we do not want to give him an upper hand at all. Let him continue to believe he can hide behind the mask.”
“We revealed his face,” the mayor continued, referring to numerous security camera photos and video released after Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare was gunned down. And eventually, “we’re going to reveal who he is and we’re going to bring him to justice,” Adams said.
The masked assailant was caught on camera entering a bus station in a northern neighborhood of Manhattan in the wake of Wednesday’s slaying, but he could not be identified exiting the facility on foot, a police spokesperson confirmed to Agence France-Presse.
“They believe he’s not in New York City,” the spokesperson added.
The image of the smiling suspect was obtained from a youth hostel where the gunman apparently stayed before the hit, detectives said, with media reporting he lowered his mask to flirt with a receptionist.
The FBI, which said it was assisting the New York police, offered a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to his capture.
‘Delay’ and ‘deny’
The gunman on Wednesday sprayed Thompson of United Healthcare — one of the country’s largest medical insurers — with bullets in front of bystanders, in an audacious attack captured by a surveillance camera and now seen by millions.
Thompson was attending an investor conference in the Midtown business district.
Police have yet to suggest a motive and would not confirm media reports that the words “delay” and “deny” — often used by insurance companies to reject claims — were written on shell casings found at the scene.
Video footage shows Thompson on the sidewalk outside the New York Hilton Midtown when a man in a hooded top, his lower face covered, approaches from behind, then fires several shots at his 50-year-old victim, who crumples to the ground.
Camera footage showed the suspect fleeing on foot, before getting on a bicycle, with police revealing he headed to Central Park.
Officers have confirmed that a cell phone as well as DNA from a coffee cup were recovered from near the murder scene.
In the absence of an arrest, speculation has been rife that the gunman may have sought revenge for adverse medical coverage decisions made by the insurer.
UnitedHealthcare is a major player in the lucrative American health care market; the parent group had revenues of $100.8 billion in the third quarter of the year.
…
PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Donald Trump to Paris on Saturday with a full a dose of presidential pomp, and they held an impromptu meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymr Zelenskyy on a day that mixed pageantry with attention to pressing global problems.
U.S. President-elect Trump said when he arrived at the Elysee Palace for a face-to-face meeting with Macron — which soon expanded to include Zelenskyy — that the two would be discussing a world that’s gone “a little crazy.”
Trump’s visit to France, part of a global celebration of the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral five years after a devastating fire, came as Macron and other European leaders are trying to win Trump’s favor and persuade him to maintain support for Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion. Macron’s office said that would be discussed as well as the wars in the Middle East.
As Trump arrived at the official residence of the French president, Macron went out of his way to project an image of close ties, posing for multiple handshakes interspersed with plenty of back-patting. Trump said it was “a great honor” and talked about the “great relationship” they have had. A grand red carpet was rolled in the same way the French welcome sitting American presidents.
Before they went inside, Trump said, “It certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy right now. And we’ll be talking about that.”
Zelenskyy arrived at the palace about 45 minutes after Trump.
Macron had planned to meet with Zelenskyy, and the French president’s office said the three-way meeting was proposed by Macron and arranged shortly before Trump’s arrival. Trump has pledged to end the war in Ukraine swiftly but has not specified how, raising concerns in Kyiv about what terms may be laid out for any future negotiations.
Macron, who has had an up-and-down relationship with Trump, has made a point of cultivating a relationship since the Republican defeated Democrat Kamala Harris last month. But Macron’s office nonetheless played down the significance of the invitation, saying other politicians not now in office had been invited as well.
Trump was invited as president-elect of a “friendly nation,” Macron’s office said, adding, “This is in no way exceptional, we’ve done it before.”
The red-carpet treatment, however, was a sign of how eager Macron and other European leaders are to win Trump’s favor even before he takes office.
During one of Trump’s first trips as president during his first term was to Paris, where Macron made him the guest of honor at Bastille Day events. Trump later said he wanted to replicate the grand military parade back in the United States.
President Joe Biden also was invited but will not attend. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre cited a scheduling conflict and said first lady Jill Biden will represent the United States.
The meeting with the French president is taking place before the Notre Dame event, as will the get-together with Prince William, who’s also scheduled to meet with Jill Biden, according to the British royal palace.
To build trust with the incoming U.S. administration, Zelenskyy’s top aide, Andriy Yermak, met key members of Trump’s team on a two-day trip earlier this week. A senior Ukrainian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak publicly, described the meetings as productive but declined to disclose details.
Relations between France and the United States during Trump’s first term began warmly enough but grew increasingly strained over time.
Macron was the guest of honor at Trump’s first state dinner, and Trump traveled to France several times. But the relationship suffered after Macron criticized Trump for questioning the need for NATO and raising doubts about America’s commitment to the mutual defense pact.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump often mocked Macron, imitating his accent and threatening to impose steep tariffs on wine and champagne bottles shipped to the U.S. if France tried to tax American companies.
But Macron was one of the first global leaders to congratulate Trump last month after the election.
When he accepted the invitation to travel to Paris, Trump said Macron had done “a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!”
A fire in 2019 nearly destroyed the 861-year-old landmark.
More than 20 French government security agents were helping ensure Trump’s safety alongside the Secret Service, according to French national police. A special French police van provided anti-drone protection for Trump’s convoy.
Security was tighter than usual outside the U.S. Embassy and other sites around Paris for the Notre Dame reopening, where dozens of international VIPs were expected.
Trump was president in 2019 when the fire engulfed Notre Dame, collapsing its spire and threatening to destroy one of the world’s greatest architectural treasures, known for its mesmerizing stained glass.
“So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” he wrote at the time on what was then Twitter.
Last weekend, Trump announced that he intends to nominate real estate developer Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to serve as ambassador to France. Predecessors in that prestigious role include Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.
…
WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday the U.S. should not be involved in the conflict in Syria, where rebel forces are threatening the government of President Bashar Assad.
“Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump said because Russia, an Assad ally, is tied up fighting a war with Ukraine, it “seems incapable of stopping this literal march through Syria, a country they have protected for years.”
If Russia were forced out of Syria, it “may actually be the best thing that can happen to them” because “there was never much of a benefit in Syria for Russia,” Trump said.
Trump’s comments appeared to reflect his opposition to the presence of some 900 U.S. troops in Syria, mostly of them in the northeast, where they have backed a Syrian Kurd-led alliance in preventing a resurgence of Islamic State militants.
Trump announced in 2018 during his first term that he wanted to withdraw the U.S. troops because he said Islamic State was near defeat.
But he held off as advisers warned that a pullout would leave a void that would be filled by Iran and Russia.
…
Під наглядом лікарів залишаються троє дітей, їхній стан не виникає занепокоєння у медиків, додав голова області
…
Шість безпілотників були локаційно втрачені, ще один – вийшов з повітряного простору України в напрямку Росії
…
