Presidents share 50-minute phone call – their second conversation this month – as Russia continues to amass troops along Ukraine border
Last modified on Fri 31 Dec 2021 05.55 EST
Good morning.
With Russia amassing tens of thousands of troops near its border with Ukraine over the past two months, Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, hopped on a 50-minute phone call yesterday to exchange warnings.
“President Biden urged Russia to de-escalate tensions with Ukraine,” said Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, in a statement. “He made clear that the United States and its allies and partners will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.”
The talk – the leaders’ second conversation this month – did little to lower the political temperature, according to their governments.
Biden has laid out “two paths” out of these escalating tensions, according to a senior administration official: one of diplomacy and deescalation, the other of deterrence “including serious costs and consequences” such as economic sanctions, strengthening Nato’s force posture and military assistance to Ukraine.
“Our president immediately responded that if the west decides in this or other circumstances to impose these unprecedented sanctions which have been mentioned then that could lead to a complete breakdown in ties between our countries and cause the most serious damage to relations between Russia and the west,” Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser, told Reuters.
Now that former British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted of recruiting and grooming teenage girls for sexual encounters with the disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein, speculation is growing that that she may try to cut a deal to reduce her sentence and become a government witness in any broader investigation into Epstein’s elite social circle.
Maxwell was found guilty Wednesday of five of six charges for her involvement in ex-boyfriend Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls.
There is pressure for high-profile visitors to Epstein’s properties in New York, Palm Beach and the the US Virgin Islands to be held accountable for any potential crimes – especially as the government’s case against Maxwell appeared to avoid reference to broader aspects of the conspiracy.
Several obstacles stand in the way of a possible deal, however, including statutes of limitations on criminal and civil sexual crime complaints and the fact that there are just some defendants whose crimes are so egregious that the government would not want to strike a deal in exchange for testimony.
Two fast-moving wildfires driven by strong winds have destroyed close to 600 homes and forced tens of thousands of residents to flee in northern Colorado.
At least one first responder and six others were injured, with officials acknowledging the possibility of more to come due to the intensity of fires burning to the north and south of the city of Boulder.
Colorado governor Jared Polis has declared a state of emergency in the region.
The Colorado governor has reduced the 110-year sentence handed down to a trucker for his role in a fatal 2019 collision following widespread outcry and calls for leniency.
Nascar driver Brandon Brown has partnered with a sponsor inspired by his unintentional association with the rightwing anti-Biden “Let’s go Brandon” meme.
US senator Ted Cruz is being ridiculed for mistaking a Facebook post by the government of Western Australia on New Year’s Eve party Covid restrictions for an edict by the Democrat-run state of Washington.
Today marks two years since news reached the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of “pneumonia” in Wuhan, China, the cause of which was unknown.
In those two years, more than 5 million people worldwide lost their lives to the disease now known as Covid-19, as vaccination rollouts offered new hope – and proof that they reduced the risk of infection leading to hospitalization or death. As of 20 December, about 3.7 billion people were fully vaccinated.
The disasters that came one right after another in 2021 – the floods, the freezes, the fires, the storms – have forced Joe Biden and his obligatory presidential disaster tours to take on different meaning under the long shadow of the climate crisis. The last five years of climate and weather disaster events have comprised nearly one-third of the disaster cost total of the last 42 years, with 2021 on course to be the costliest disaster year of all time at more than $100bn.
Wildland firefighters who spent months in the trenches, battling wildfires, are returning home in the offseason to find themselves ensconced in yet another fight: with their mental health.
This year, everyday Americans stood up to powerful oil and gas companies, making a difference in the fight to cut emissions and put fossil fuels in check. Here’s a roundup of those victories, everything from the divestment movement to local communities fighting back against communities looking to set up shop in their neighborhoods.
An American woman voluntarily self-isolated in an airplane bathroom for five hours after testing positive for Covid-19 mid-flight to Iceland. “There’s 150 people on the flight, and my biggest fear was giving it to them,” Marisa Fotieo, a teacher from Michigan, told NBC News.
Fotieo had taken a rapid Covid test midway through her trip after her throat began to hurt. She had received two negative PCR tests prior to boarding, and is fully vaccinated with a booster shot.
