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China’s Xi tells Biden as talks open: ‘Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

WOODSIDE, Calif. (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping plunged into their first-face-to-face meeting in more than a year Wednesday pledging to work to stabilize fraught relations in talks with far-reaching implications for a world grappling with economic cross currents and wars in the Middle East and Europe.“Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed,” Xi told Biden.The U.S. president told Xi: “I think it’s paramount that you and I understand each other clearly, leader-to-leader, with no misconceptions or miscommunications. We have to ensure competition does not veer into conflict.”The two warmly shook hands as they met and made a red carpet entrance to a bucolic Northern California estate for what was expected to be hours of work on detangling a multitude of tensions.Xi, speaking through a translator, said the relationship between China and the U.S. has never been smooth but has kept moving forward. “For two large countries like China and the...

Keir Starmer hit by major rebellion as 10 of his frontbenchers back Gaza cease-fire

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

LONDON — A wave of Labour frontbenchers backed calls for a cease-fire in Israel and Gaza Wednesday night, in direct defiance of an order from the party’s leader Keir Starmer.Labour MPs were ordered to abstain on a parliamentary motion Wednesday night calling for a cease-fire. But 56 MPs — including 10 of Starmer’s top team who have now left their positions as a result of their defiance — said they could not follow the order. Most cited concerns about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza to explain their rebellion. The vote in the House of Commons was comfortably defeated, by 125 votes to 293, reflecting that Westminster is yet to fully row behind cease-fire calls made by the United Nations and some European nations among others.However, the vote is a major blow to Starmer’s authority as he seeks to unite his party behind a common position on the conflict in the Middle East. Labour figures as senior as Jess Phillips, a former leadership contender an...

America’s top-selling car will soon come only as a hybrid

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

(CNN) — The Toyota Camry, the best-selling car in America, is going hybrid-only.The Camry is available in a hybrid version now, but the redesigned 2025 Camry will be offered only as a hybrid car combining a gasoline engine with electric motors.It will join a number of other Toyota models, such as the Sienna minivan, Venza SUV, the Sequoia full-sized SUV and others in being available only as a hybrid. And, of course, there’s still the Prius.The decision to go hybrid-only on the Camry points up how accepted the technology has become. Once a novelty found on only a few models – and mostly of interest during gas price spikes – it’s become much more mainstream. So much so that Toyota, a company not known for taking big risks, feels customers are ready to go hybrid-only on this very mainstream sedan.“We’ve been putting electric motors and batteries in vehicles since the first Prius back in 2000, so it’s a space that we know and love,” Mike Tripp, group vice president f...

Plane turns back to JFK after horse escapes on board

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

(CNN) — A Boeing 747 en route from New York JFK to Liege, Belgium, was forced to turn around on November 9 after a horse got loose in the cargo hold.The cargo flight operated by charter airline Air Atlanta Icelandic had climbed to around 31,000 feet when the crew contacted Air Traffic Control in Boston to report that the horse had escaped from its stall.“We don’t have a problem (…) flying-wise,” one of the pilots says in a video reconstruction by YouTube channel “You Can See ATC,” but “we cannot get the horse back secured.”In the recordings, Air Traffic Control can be heard granting the pilots’ request to return to JFK Airport and, because the plane was too heavy, to dump 20 tonnes of fuel east of Nantucket.The pilot also asks for a veterinarian to meet the plane upon landing, because “we have a horse in difficulty.”A representative from Air Atlanta Icelandic told CNN that the information in the “You Can See ATC” video is correct.The flight history on tracking si...

Fantasy Fixer: Week 11

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

7’s Morey Hershgordon has the inside scoop on who to start and sit this week in Fantasy Fixer. Go set your lineups!

Review: ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ is a prequel for pre-sold fans only

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

Michael Phillips | Chicago Tribune (TNS)Like its title, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” takes its sweet time getting where it’s going. Seriously, I would’ve gone with just songbirds, or snakes. As is, it’s two-fifths of the way to “The Ballad of Songbirds, Snakes, Presidential Origin Stories, Katniss Everdeen Wannabes and Problems with Pacing.”Running times are relative, of course. In a separate division, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is an hour longer and twice as compelling. But “Songbirds and Snakes” takes its job super seriously, with more solemnity than imaginative excitement.The “Hunger Games” prequel asks: How did future dystopian hellhole president Coriolanus Snow (played by Donald Sutherland in the previous “Hunger Games” movies) tip over to the dark side, where all the cool, misunderstood kids from Darth Vader to Elphaba to Cruella de Vil hang out? Pre-invested fans of the “Hunger Games” franchise, intrigued by the rising politico Snow’s young adult...

Boston College freshman split end Jaedn Skeete making an impact

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

True freshmen have a hard time making an immediate impact at the Power-5 level in the age of redshirts, fifth-year graduate students and the open transfer portal.Boston College wide receiver Jaedn Skeete is one of the few exceptions. The 6-1, 176-pound speedster from Hyde Park has become a fixture in quarterback Thomas Castellanos’ progressions despite a crowded field of receivers.Freshman WR Jaedn Skeete. (BC Athletics photo)“We need the next guy to step up and do the best that he can and we have a lot of young guys playing right now,” said BC head coach Jeff Hafley. “Guys that step up have to play and Skeete is one of those guys.“If you look at what Skeete did the last two weeks, he is a young guy that is starting to play really well. He has started now in multiple games and he is seeing significant playing time.”Skeete will compete in his fifth game since replacing Ryan O’Keefe at the X-receiver slot when BC (6-4, 3-3) encounters the Pittsburgh Panthers (2-8, 1-5) on Thursday nig...

Novelist Tess Gerritsen’s neighbors are retired spies. So she wrote about it.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

A mystery writer moves into a town full of spies.It sounds like the plot of the latest streaming series, but that’s really what happened to the internationally bestselling mystery writer Tess Gerritsen, best known for her police procedural series featuring Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles (which inspired the TNT television series, “Rizzoli & Isles”).Originally from San Diego, Gerritsen moved with her husband to a 5,000-person town on the rocky coast of Maine some 33 years ago – and what happened next eventually ended up inspiring her most recent novel, “The Spy Coast.” This novel also launches a whole new series for the author about a group of retired spies who called themselves The Martini Club.Gerritsen makes a recorded appearance on Friday’s episode of “Bookish,” the virtual program produced by the Southern California News Group that goes live at 5 p.m. via Zoom with fellow guests David Ulin talking about his noir thriller “Thirteen Ques...

Rep. Peter Durant to be sworn-in as state senator on Nov. 29, officials confirm

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

State Rep. Peter Durant will be sworn-in as a senator the afternoon of Nov. 29 after winning a special election for a Central Massachusetts seat last week, Senate President Karen Spilka’s office confirmed Wednesday.Durant, a Spencer Republican, claimed victory over Rep. Jon Zlotnik, a Gardner Democrat who plans to run for reelection to his House seat next year. Durant succeeds Anne Gobi, a Democrat who left the Legislature to serve as rural affairs director for the Healey administration.“I’m looking forward to our new role and we’re currently working on transition from the old district to make sure that no constituent issues fall through the cracks,” Durant said in a statement to the Herald Wednesday.A spokesperson for Spilka said the ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. in a yet-to-be-determined location.Durant will bring the total number of Republicans in the Senate to four, well below the number necessary to break Democrats’ veto-proof majority in the ...

Red Sox announce return of Winter Weekend fan festival in Springfield

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:45:45 GMT

The Red Sox Winter Weekend fan festival will return to Springfield early next year, with the club announcing the eighth annual event will take place on January 19-20, 2024.For the second straight year and for the third time overall, Red Sox Winter Weekend will be held at MGM Springfield and the adjacent MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield. The event will include a welcome and introduction of new and returning players, roundtable discussions with club officials and decision makers, as well as autographs, photos and more.Members of the coaching staff will also be in attendance, as will a number of Red Sox alumni. A specific list of attendees has not yet been announced.The weekend has traditionally served as a celebration of all things Red Sox, though last year’s event took a foreboding turn when owner John Henry and then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom were booed on stage by fans during a question and answer session.Whether the vibes improve this year remains to be seen...