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White House Chief of Staff’s Wealth and Connections Collide With Biden’s Clean Energy Strategy

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

As the Biden administration pursues its strategy of building resilient supply chains for the surging clean energy industry, one metals company has seen a substantial boost. Last month, TechMet, which is part-owned by the U.S. government, announced that it had closed a $200 million fundraising round. Celebrating more than $180 million invested in projects around the world over the last year, the company noted in a press release that “both the US President and Vice President have cited TechMet’s role as a leading critical minerals company in the global effort to combat climate change.”At the G20 summit last November, President Joe Biden touted a TechMet project in Brazil to mine nickel and cobalt for electric vehicle batteries. And during her trip across Africa earlier this year, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a U.S.-brokered agreement between TechMet and another company, Lifezone Metals, to mine one of the largest nickel deposits in the world: Tanzania’s Kabanga mine. Ye...

In a closed-door forum, tech titans will give senators advice on artificial intelligence

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has been talking for months about accomplishing a potentially impossible task: passing bipartisan legislation within the next year that encourages the rapid development of artificial intelligence and mitigates its biggest risks. On Wednesday, he’s convening a meeting of some of the country’s most prominent technology executives, among others, to ask them how Congress should do it. The closed-door forum on Capitol Hill will include almost two dozen tech leaders and advocates, and some of the industry’s biggest names: Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and X and Tesla’s Elon Musk as well as former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. All 100 senators are invited, but the public is not. Schumer, D-N.Y., who’s leading the forum with Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, won’t necessarily take the tech executives’ advice as he works with Republicans and fellow Democrats to try and ensure some oversight of the burgeoning sector. But...

Vigil planned for Prince George’s Co. student who was shot and killed

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

Norfolk State University student Jahari George, who was from Accokeek in Prince George’s County, Maryland, was shot and killed near campus earlier this month. (Courtesy Norfolk State University)A vigil is planned for Wednesday at Norfolk State University after a 20-year-old student was shot and killed near the Virginia campus earlier this month.Jahari George, who had just started his junior year at the school, died on Saturday, Sept. 2.A “Celebration of Remembrance” will be held for George at 6 p.m. in the student center on the university’s campus.George, who was from Accokeek in Prince George’s County, Maryland, was studying to be an electrical engineer.“Our hearts overflow with gratitude for the support, prayers, calls, texts, posts, donations and all the acts of kindness and solidarity that have touched our lives,” said TeAnna George, the victim’s mother. “We knew we were blessed to have been chosen as his parents, and now we see ho...

Talks between Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un end after 4-5 hours, Russian state media report

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Talks between Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un end after 4-5 hours, Russian state media report.Source

A Berlin bus gets lifted with the help of 40 people to free a young man pinned by a rear wheel

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — About 40 people lifted a Berlin bus to free a young man trapped under the vehicle, police in Germany’s capital said.The 18-year-old got pinned by a tire of the rear axle when he fell down while running to catch the bus as it pulled away from a stop on Monday afternoon, authorities said. The bus driver immediately stopped and with the help of about 40 people managed to lift the right side of the bus high enough to extricate the man, according to police. Surgeons and nurses from a nearby medical in the Spandau neighborhood of Berlin went to the scene to provide first aid. The man suffered scrapes, bruises and an arm injury, police said. He was taken to a hospital, where he underwent surgery.Berlin police were investigating how he ended up under the bus. They said they were impressed by the collective rescue action and praised the people who pitched in as “heroes.”“Thank you, Spandau, thank you, Berlin,” the police department wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.So...

The flooding that engulfed a city in eastern Libya has displaced at least 30,000 people, UN says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

DERNA, Libya (AP) — The flooding that engulfed a city in eastern Libya has displaced at least 30,000 people, UN says.Source

We can’t rely on Russia to protect us anymore, Armenian PM says

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

YEREVAN — Russia’s catastrophic invasion of Ukraine means Armenia can no longer rely on Moscow as a guarantor of its security, even as fears grow of a return to open conflict with Azerbaijan, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told POLITICO in an interview. Pashinyan’s unusually pointed criticism of Russia’s inability to act as a policeman in the Caucasus only compounds a sense the Kremlin is losing its influence — and once much-vaunted superpower status — across former Soviet republics that Moscow once saw as its stamping ground. Disillusion in Yerevan could represent a major turning point for the country of 2.8 million people as it has delegated much of the control of its railways, its energy sector and even its borders to Russia after the collapse of the USSR. When Armenia fought a 44-day war against the stronger, Turkish-backed forces of Azerbaijan in 2020 — a conflict that killed thousands on each side — it was Russian peacekeepers that were deployed to m...

At global pariah summit, Putin and Kim Jong Un talk weapons and satellite tech

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

On the lunch menu Wednesday at the Vostochny cosmodrome in Russia’s far east: Crab dumplings, entrecôte of marbled beef … with a side of deadly weapons. At the closely watched summit of global outcasts, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday pledged cooperation with North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Un.While Russia was widely believed to be seeking an arms deal with North Korea, the meeting ended without major announcements on weapons, although Putin acknowledged that the issue was on the agenda.The meeting took place against the backdrop of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, which has isolated the Kremlin and left it hunting allies — and military equipment — in other ostracized capitals like Pyongyang and Tehran. “Our friendship has deep roots, and now our country’s first priority is relations with the Russian Federation,” Kim told reporters, after he arrived following a lengthy journey on his armored train for his first trip to Russia since 2019, accordin...

Dunkin’s newest pumpkin drink contains actual donuts

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

New York (CNN) — Dunkin’ is elevating the pumpkin drink wars with, what else, donuts.Beginning Wednesday, its newest fall drink combines Munchkin pumpkin-flavored donuts mixed with frozen coffee and topped with whipped cream and caramel drizzle, marking the chain’s first time it has added donuts directly to its beverage lineup.The drink, called “Ice Spice Munchkins Drink,” is a collaboration with rapper Ice Spice and perhaps Dunkin’s biggest fan, actor Ben Affleck. The duo stars in a TV ad promoting the drink, which notes that fans of the rapper are called “munchkins.” It’s also the second ad that Affleck has starred in for Dunkin’ after making his debut in a spot for this year’s Super Bowl.Dunkin rolled out its fall-themed menu in mid-August, a few weeks before Starbucks added its pumpkin spice latte to menus. On Tuesday, Wendy’s began selling for a limited time a pumpkin spice-flavored Frosty, a new flavor to its menu, and a pumpkin spice-flavored col...

MTV VMAs 2023: See the full list of winners

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:24:42 GMT

(CNN) — The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards were presented on Tuesday.Taylor Swift led the pack with a total of eight nominations, including artist of the year, video of the year and song of the year for her hit 2022 track “Anti-Hero.” She won all the categories in which she was nominated that were televised.Beyoncé, Doja, Karol G, Minaj and Shakira joined Swift as artist of the year nominees, marking the first time since the category was introduced in 2017 that all artist of the year nominees are women. Shakira received the Video Vanguard Award. The night also welcomed brand new category Best Afrobeats.Demi Lovato, Shakira, Olivia Rodrigo, Cardi B with Megan Thee Stallion, Diddy, Lil Wayne, Doja Cat and Fall Out Boy, among others, all performed during the ceremony.The list of nominees follows below, with winners indicated in bold:VIDEO OF THE YEARDoja Cat – “Attention”Miley Cyrus – “Flowers”Nicki Minaj – “Super Freaky Girl”Olivia Rodrigo – “vampire”Sam Smith, Kim Pe...