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Tag: talk

  • Brink of war: President Trump demanding Iran abandon its nuclear program or face military action

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    American and Iranian officials are meeting today in Switzerland to discuss U.S. demands for Iran to abandon its nuclear program, amid threats from President Donald Trump and a buildup of American military assets. Trump has warned of using force if a deal is not reached.”I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal. They want to make a deal,” Trump said.Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are in Geneva for a second round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program. Iran has stated that it will respond with an attack of its own if the U.S. initiates military action. The Trump administration insists that Iran must cease uranium enrichment, a process that could lead to the development of nuclear weapons, while Tehran maintains its program is for peaceful purposes.Trump is increasing American military presence near Iran, having recently announced the deployment of the world’s largest aircraft carrier from the Caribbean Sea to the Middle East, where another guided-missile destroyer is stationed.Trump was asked Friday if he wants regime change in Iran. He said it seems like that would be the best thing that could happen, but he did not comment on the specifics of who he wants to take over. Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:

    WASHINGTON —

    American and Iranian officials are meeting today in Switzerland to discuss U.S. demands for Iran to abandon its nuclear program, amid threats from President Donald Trump and a buildup of American military assets. Trump has warned of using force if a deal is not reached.

    “I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal. They want to make a deal,” Trump said.

    Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, are in Geneva for a second round of talks over Iran’s nuclear program.

    Iran has stated that it will respond with an attack of its own if the U.S. initiates military action.

    The Trump administration insists that Iran must cease uranium enrichment, a process that could lead to the development of nuclear weapons, while Tehran maintains its program is for peaceful purposes.

    Trump is increasing American military presence near Iran, having recently announced the deployment of the world’s largest aircraft carrier from the Caribbean Sea to the Middle East, where another guided-missile destroyer is stationed.

    Trump was asked Friday if he wants regime change in Iran. He said it seems like that would be the best thing that could happen, but he did not comment on the specifics of who he wants to take over.

    Keep watching for the latest from the Washington News Bureau:


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  • Iran’s president seeks ‘fair and equitable negotiations’ with the United States

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    Iran’s president said Tuesday that he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States, the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate as tensions remain high with Washington after the Mideast country’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.The announcement marked a major turn for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who broadly had warned Iranians for weeks that the turmoil in his country had gone beyond his control. It also signals that the president received support from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for talks that the 86-year-old cleric previously had dismissed.Video above: Iran warns of “regional war” if U.S. attacksTurkey had been working behind the scenes to make the talks happen there later this week as U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling in the region.But whether Iran and the U.S. can reach an agreement remains to be seen, particularly as President Donald Trump now has included Iran’s nuclear program in a list of demands from Tehran in any talks. Trump ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.Iran’s president signals talks are possibleWriting on X, Pezeshkian said in English and Farsi that the decision came after “requests from friendly governments in the region to respond to the proposal by the President of the United States for negotiations.”“I have instructed my Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists — one free from threats and unreasonable expectations — to pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence, and expediency,” he said.The U.S. has yet to acknowledge the talks will take place. A semiofficial news agency in Iran on Monday reported — then later deleted without explanation — that Pezeshkian had issued such an order to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who held multiple rounds of talks with Witkoff before the 12-day war.Khamenei adviser speaks on the nuclear issueLate Monday, the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen, which is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, aired an interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top Khamenei adviser on security.Shamkhani, who now sits on the country’s Supreme National Security Council and who in the 1980s led Iran’s navy, wore a naval uniform as he spoke.He suggested if the talks happened, they would be indirect at the beginning, then moving to direct talks if a deal appeared to be attainable. Direct talks with the U.S. long have been a highly charged political issue within Iran’s theocracy, with reformists like Pezeshkian pushing for them and hard-liners dismissing them.The talks would solely focus on nuclear issues, he added.Asked about whether Russia could take Iran’s enriched uranium like it did in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Shamkhani dismissed the idea, saying there was “no reason” to do so. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Russia had “long offered these services as a possible option that would alleviate certain irritants for a number of countries.”“Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, will not seek a nuclear weapon and will never stockpile nuclear weapons, but the other side must pay a price in return for this,” he said.Video below: “HELP IS ON ITS WAY:” Trump weighs response to deadly protests in IranIran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn’t armed with the bomb.Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war.“The quantity of enriched uranium remains unknown, because part of the stockpile is under rubble, and there is no initiative yet to extract it, as it is extremely dangerous,” Shamkhani said.Witkoff traveling to IsraelWitkoff is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli security officials on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity. He will travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, later in the week for Russia-Ukraine talks, the official said.“We have talks going on with Iran, we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. Asked what his threshold was for military action against Iran, he declined to elaborate.“I’d like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.” Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

    DUBAI, Dubai —

    Iran’s president said Tuesday that he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States, the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate as tensions remain high with Washington after the Mideast country’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.

    The announcement marked a major turn for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who broadly had warned Iranians for weeks that the turmoil in his country had gone beyond his control. It also signals that the president received support from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for talks that the 86-year-old cleric previously had dismissed.

    Video above: Iran warns of “regional war” if U.S. attacks

    Turkey had been working behind the scenes to make the talks happen there later this week as U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is traveling in the region.

    But whether Iran and the U.S. can reach an agreement remains to be seen, particularly as President Donald Trump now has included Iran’s nuclear program in a list of demands from Tehran in any talks. Trump ordered the bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.

    Iran’s president signals talks are possible

    Writing on X, Pezeshkian said in English and Farsi that the decision came after “requests from friendly governments in the region to respond to the proposal by the President of the United States for negotiations.”

    “I have instructed my Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists — one free from threats and unreasonable expectations — to pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence, and expediency,” he said.

    The U.S. has yet to acknowledge the talks will take place. A semiofficial news agency in Iran on Monday reported — then later deleted without explanation — that Pezeshkian had issued such an order to Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who held multiple rounds of talks with Witkoff before the 12-day war.

    Khamenei adviser speaks on the nuclear issue

    Late Monday, the pan-Arab satellite channel Al Mayadeen, which is politically allied with the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, aired an interview with Ali Shamkhani, a top Khamenei adviser on security.

    Shamkhani, who now sits on the country’s Supreme National Security Council and who in the 1980s led Iran’s navy, wore a naval uniform as he spoke.

    He suggested if the talks happened, they would be indirect at the beginning, then moving to direct talks if a deal appeared to be attainable. Direct talks with the U.S. long have been a highly charged political issue within Iran’s theocracy, with reformists like Pezeshkian pushing for them and hard-liners dismissing them.

    The talks would solely focus on nuclear issues, he added.

    Asked about whether Russia could take Iran’s enriched uranium like it did in Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Shamkhani dismissed the idea, saying there was “no reason” to do so. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday said Russia had “long offered these services as a possible option that would alleviate certain irritants for a number of countries.”

    “Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, will not seek a nuclear weapon and will never stockpile nuclear weapons, but the other side must pay a price in return for this,” he said.

    Video below: “HELP IS ON ITS WAY:” Trump weighs response to deadly protests in Iran

    Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. The International Atomic Energy Agency had said Iran was the only country in the world to enrich to that level that wasn’t armed with the bomb.

    Iran has been refusing requests by the IAEA to inspect the sites bombed in the June war.

    “The quantity of enriched uranium remains unknown, because part of the stockpile is under rubble, and there is no initiative yet to extract it, as it is extremely dangerous,” Shamkhani said.

    Witkoff traveling to Israel

    Witkoff is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli security officials on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly about the talks and spoke on condition of anonymity. He will travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, later in the week for Russia-Ukraine talks, the official said.

    “We have talks going on with Iran, we’ll see how it all works out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. Asked what his threshold was for military action against Iran, he declined to elaborate.

    “I’d like to see a deal negotiated,” Trump said. “Right now, we’re talking to them, we’re talking to Iran, and if we could work something out, that’d be great. And if we can’t, probably bad things would happen.”

    Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani, Matthew Lee and Konstantin Toropin in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Beyond the dashboard: Why K-12 educators need data literacy, not just data

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    Key points:

    Walk into any data meeting at a K-12 school today, and you’ll likely see a familiar scene: educators huddled around printed reports, highlighters in hand, trying to make sense of student data spread across multiple dashboards. If you’ve ever left one of these meetings feeling mentally exhausted without clear next steps, you’re not alone. The problem isn’t that we lack data in education, but rather that most dashboards show us the past–not the path ahead. It’s like trying to drive while only looking in the rearview mirror.

    The education sector sits on massive amounts of student data, yet most schools lack data maturity. They’ve committed to using data and may even have systems that centralize records. But they haven’t embraced what’s possible when we move from having data to using it well; from describing what happened to predicting what’s likely to happen if nothing changes.

    We have dashboards–now what?

    Every district has dashboards. We can see attendance rates, assessment scores, and demographic breakdowns. These tools tell us what happened, which is useful–but increasingly insufficient for the challenges facing K-12 schools. By the time we’re reacting to chronic absenteeism or declining grades, we’re already behind. And, when does an educator have time to sit down, pull up multiple dashboards, and interpret what they say about each student?

    The power of any data dashboard isn’t in the dashboard itself. It’s in the conversations that happen around it. This is where data literacy becomes essential, and it goes far beyond simply reading a chart or calculating an average.

    Data literacy means asking better questions and approaching data with curiosity. It requires recognizing that the answers we get are entirely driven by the questions we ask. A teacher who asks, “Which students failed the last assessment?” will get very different insights than one who asks, “Which students showed growth but still haven’t reached proficiency, and what patterns exist among them?”

    We must also acknowledge the emotional dimension of data in schools. Some educators have been burned when data was used punitively instead of for improvement. That resistance is understandable, but not sustainable. The solution isn’t to check professional expertise at the door. It’s to approach data with both curiosity and courage, questioning it in healthy ways while embracing it as a tool for problem-solving.

    From descriptive to predictive: What’s possible

    Let’s distinguish between types of analytics. Descriptive analytics tell us what happened: Jorge was absent 15 days last semester. Diagnostic analytics tell us why: Jorge lives in a household without reliable transportation, and his absences cluster on Mondays and Fridays.

    Now we get to the game-changers: predictive and prescriptive analytics. Predictive analytics use historical patterns to forecast what’s likely to happen: Based on current trends, Jorge is at 80 percent risk of chronic absenteeism by year’s end. Prescriptive analytics go further by helping the educator understand what they should do to intervene. If we connect Jorge’s family with transportation support and assign a mentor for weekly check-ins, we can likely reduce his absence risk by 60 percent.

    The technology to do this already exists. Machine learning can identify patterns across thousands of student records that would take humans months to discern. AI can surface early warning signs before problems become crises. These tools amplify teacher judgment, serving up insights and allowing educators to focus their expertise where it matters most.

    The cultural shift required

    Before any school rushes to adopt the next analytics tool, it’s worth pausing to ask: What actually happens when someone uses data in their daily work?

    Data use is deeply human. It’s about noticing patterns, interpreting meaning, and deciding what to do next. That process looks different for every educator, and it’s shaped by the environment in which they work: how much time they have to meet with colleagues, how easily they can access the right data, and whether the culture encourages curiosity or compliance.

    Technology can surface patterns, but culture determines whether those patterns lead to action. The same dashboard can spark collaboration in one school and defensiveness in another. That’s why new tools require attention to governance, trust, and professional learning–not just software configuration.

    At the end of the day, the goal isn’t simply to use data more often, but to use it more effectively.

    Moving toward this future requires a fundamental shift in how we think about data: from a compliance exercise to a strategic asset. The most resilient schools in the coming years will have cultures where data is pervasive, shared transparently, and accessible in near real-time to the people who need it. Think of it as an instructional co-pilot rather than a monkey on the back.

    This means moving away from data locked in the central office, requiring a 10-step approval process to access. Instead, imagine a decentralized approach where a fifth-grade team can instantly generate insights about their students’ reading growth, or where a high school counselor can identify seniors at risk of not graduating with enough time to intervene.

    This kind of data democratization requires significant change management. It demands training, clear protocols, and trust. But the payoff is educators empowered to make daily decisions grounded in timely, relevant information.

    Turning data into wisdom

    Data has been part of education from the very beginning. Attendance records, report cards, and gradebooks have always informed teaching. What’s different now is the volume of data available and the sophistication of tools to analyze it. K-12 educators don’t need to become data scientists, but they do need to become data literate: curious, critical consumers of information who can ask powerful questions and interpret results within the rich context of their professional expertise.

    The schools that harness their data effectively will be able to identify struggling students earlier, personalize interventions more effectively, and use educator time more strategically. But this future requires us to move beyond the dashboard and invest in the human capacity to transform data into wisdom. That transformation starts with data literacy, and it starts now.

    Latest posts by eSchool Media Contributors (see all)

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    Dr. Curt Merlau, Resultant

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  • Trump-Zelenskyy talks will address security guarantees, reconstruction, Ukraine leader says

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    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.Related video above: Ukraine and U.S. discuss peace proposals on Christmas Day amid Russian attacksZelenskyy told journalists that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday’s talks and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90% ready.”The meeting will take place at Mar-a-Lago.An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelenskyy said, but added that he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”The Ukrainian side will also raise “territorial issues,” he said. Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “would like the Europeans to be involved,” but doubted whether it would be possible at short notice.“We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well,” he said.The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war, but efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.Zelenskyy’s comments came after he said Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S. representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with U.S. envoys in Florida.“It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue,” he said.Trump is engaged in a diplomatic push to end Russia’s all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv. Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.On the ground, two people were killed and six more wounded Friday when a guided aerial bomb hit a busy road and set cars aflame in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.One person was killed and three others were wounded when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.Meanwhile, Ukraine said that it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.Ukraine’s General Staff said that its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.“Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said that a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple Ukraine’s power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

    KYIV, Ukraine —

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.

    Related video above: Ukraine and U.S. discuss peace proposals on Christmas Day amid Russian attacks

    Zelenskyy told journalists that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday’s talks and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90% ready.”

    The meeting will take place at Mar-a-Lago.

    An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelenskyy said, but added that he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”

    The Ukrainian side will also raise “territorial issues,” he said. Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.

    Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “would like the Europeans to be involved,” but doubted whether it would be possible at short notice.

    “We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well,” he said.

    The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war, but efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

    Zelenskyy’s comments came after he said Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S. representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with U.S. envoys in Florida.

    “It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue,” he said.

    Trump is engaged in a diplomatic push to end Russia’s all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

    Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

    Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.

    On the ground, two people were killed and six more wounded Friday when a guided aerial bomb hit a busy road and set cars aflame in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.

    One person was killed and three others were wounded when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.

    Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.

    Meanwhile, Ukraine said that it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

    Ukraine’s General Staff said that its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.

    “Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.

    Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said that a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.

    Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple Ukraine’s power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

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  • Trump-Zelenskyy talks will address security guarantees, reconstruction, Ukraine leader says

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    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.Related video above: Ukraine and U.S. discuss peace proposals on Christmas Day amid Russian attacksZelenskyy told journalists that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday’s talks and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90% ready.”An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelenskyy said, but added that he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”The Ukrainian side will also raise “territorial issues,” he said. Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “would like the Europeans to be involved,” but doubted whether it would be possible at short notice.“We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well,” he said.The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war, but efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.Zelenskyy’s comments came after he said Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S. representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with U.S. envoys in Florida.“It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue,” he said.Trump is engaged in a diplomatic push to end Russia’s all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv. Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.On the ground, two people were killed and six more wounded Friday when a guided aerial bomb hit a busy road and set cars aflame in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.One person was killed and three others were wounded when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.Meanwhile, Ukraine said that it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.Ukraine’s General Staff said that its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.“Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said that a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple Ukraine’s power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

    KYIV, Ukraine —

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida over the weekend.

    Related video above: Ukraine and U.S. discuss peace proposals on Christmas Day amid Russian attacks

    Zelenskyy told journalists that the two leaders will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine during Sunday’s talks and that the 20-point plan under discussion “is about 90% ready.”

    An “economic agreement” also will be discussed, Zelenskyy said, but added that he was unable to confirm “whether anything will be finalized by the end.”

    The Ukrainian side will also raise “territorial issues,” he said. Moscow has insisted that Ukraine relinquish the remaining territory it still holds in the Donbas — an ultimatum that Ukraine has rejected. Russia has captured most of Luhansk and about 70% of Donetsk — the two areas that make up the Donbas.

    Zelenskyy said that Ukraine “would like the Europeans to be involved,” but doubted whether it would be possible at short notice.

    “We must, without doubt, find some format in the near future in which not only Ukraine and the U.S. are present, but Europe is represented as well,” he said.

    The announced meeting is the latest development in an extensive U.S.-led diplomatic push to end the nearly four-year Russia-Ukraine war, but efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

    Zelenskyy’s comments came after he said Thursday that he had a “good conversation” with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.

    Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday that the Kremlin had already been in contact with U.S. representatives since Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev recently met with U.S. envoys in Florida.

    “It was agreed upon to continue the dialogue,” he said.

    Trump is engaged in a diplomatic push to end Russia’s all-out war, which began on Feb. 24, 2022, but his efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands by Moscow and Kyiv.

    Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he would be willing to withdraw troops from Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland as part of a plan to end the war if Russia also pulls back and the area becomes a demilitarized zone monitored by international forces.

    Though Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday that there had been “slow but steady progress” in the peace talks, Russia has given no indication that it will agree to any kind of withdrawal from land it has seized.

    On the ground, two people were killed and six more wounded Friday when a guided aerial bomb hit a busy road and set cars aflame in Ukraine’s second biggest city, Kharkiv, mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.

    One person was killed and three others were wounded when a guided aerial bomb hit a house in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, while six people were wounded in a missile strike on the city of Uman, local officials said Friday.

    Russian drone attacks on the city of Mykolaiv and its suburbs overnight into Friday left part of the city without power. Energy and port infrastructure were damaged by drones in the city of Odesa on the Black Sea.

    Meanwhile, Ukraine said that it struck a major Russian oil refinery on Thursday using U.K.-supplied Storm Shadow missiles.

    Ukraine’s General Staff said that its forces hit the Novoshakhtinsk refinery in Russia’s Rostov region.

    “Multiple explosions were recorded. The target was hit,” it wrote on Telegram.

    Rostov regional Gov. Yuri Slyusar said that a firefighter was wounded when extinguishing the fire.

    Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion. Russia wants to cripple Ukraine’s power grid, seeking to deny civilians access to heat, light and running water in what Ukrainian officials say is an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

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  • Ukraine and Western allies meet in Geneva to discuss US peace plan

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    Talks between Ukraine and its Western allies on a U.S.-proposed peace plan to end Russia’s invasion got underway in Geneva on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.The head of the Ukrainian delegation, presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak, wrote on social media that they held their first meeting with the national security advisers from the U.K., France, and Germany. The allies have rallied around Kyiv in a push to revise the plan, which is seen as favoring Moscow.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to join the talks together with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.”The next meeting is with the U.S. delegation. We are in a very constructive mood,” Yermak said. “We continue working together to achieve a lasting and just peace for Ukraine.”Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was waiting for the outcome of the talks. “A positive result is needed for all of us,” he said.”Ukrainian and American teams, teams of our European partners, are in close contact, and I very much hope there will be a result. Bloodshed must be stopped, and it must be guaranteed that the war will not be reignited,” he wrote in a post on Telegram on Sunday.Ukraine and allies have ruled out territorial concessionsThe 28-point blueprint drawn up by the U.S. to end the nearly four-year war has sparked alarm in Kyiv and European capitals. Zelenskyy has said his country could face a stark choice between standing up for its sovereign rights and preserving the American support it needs.The plan acquiesces to many Russian demands that Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory. The Ukrainian leader has vowed that his people”will always defend” their home.Speaking before Sunday’s talks, Alice Rufo, France’s minister delegate at the Defense Ministry, told broadcaster France Info that key points of discussion would include the plan’s restrictions on the Ukrainian army, which she described as “a limitation on its sovereignty.””Ukraine must be able to defend itself,” she said. “Russia wants war and waged war many times in fact over the past years.”Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, Trump said the U.S. proposal was not his “final offer.””I would like to get to peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened,” Trump said. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”Trump didn’t explain what he meant by the plan not being his final offer, and the White House didn’t respond to a request for clarification.Rubio’s reported comments cause confusionPolish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday that Warsaw was ready to work on the plan with the leaders of Europe, Canada and Japan, but also said that it “would be good to know for sure who is the author of the plan and where was it created.”Some U.S. lawmakers said Saturday that Rubio had described the plan as a Russian “wish list” rather than a Washington-led proposal.The bipartisan group of senators told a news conference that they had spoken to Rubio about the peace plan after he reached out to some of them while on his way to Geneva. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said Rubio told them the plan “was not the administration’s plan” but a “wish list of the Russians.”A State Department spokesperson denied their account, calling it “blatantly false.”Rubio himself then took the extraordinary step of suggesting online that the senators were mistaken, even though they said he was their source for the information. The Secretary of State doubled down on the assertion that Washington was responsible for a proposal that had surprised many from the beginning for being so favorable to Moscow.___Associated Press writers Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

    GENEVA —

    Talks between Ukraine and its Western allies on a U.S.-proposed peace plan to end Russia’s invasion got underway in Geneva on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.

    The head of the Ukrainian delegation, presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak, wrote on social media that they held their first meeting with the national security advisers from the U.K., France, and Germany. The allies have rallied around Kyiv in a push to revise the plan, which is seen as favoring Moscow.

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was expected to join the talks together with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.

    Win McNamee/Getty Images

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio

    “The next meeting is with the U.S. delegation. We are in a very constructive mood,” Yermak said. “We continue working together to achieve a lasting and just peace for Ukraine.”

    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was waiting for the outcome of the talks. “A positive result is needed for all of us,” he said.

    “Ukrainian and American teams, teams of our European partners, are in close contact, and I very much hope there will be a result. Bloodshed must be stopped, and it must be guaranteed that the war will not be reignited,” he wrote in a post on Telegram on Sunday.

    Ukraine and allies have ruled out territorial concessions

    The 28-point blueprint drawn up by the U.S. to end the nearly four-year war has sparked alarm in Kyiv and European capitals. Zelenskyy has said his country could face a stark choice between standing up for its sovereign rights and preserving the American support it needs.

    The plan acquiesces to many Russian demands that Zelenskyy has categorically rejected on dozens of occasions, including giving up large pieces of territory. The Ukrainian leader has vowed that his people”will always defend” their home.

    Speaking before Sunday’s talks, Alice Rufo, France’s minister delegate at the Defense Ministry, told broadcaster France Info that key points of discussion would include the plan’s restrictions on the Ukrainian army, which she described as “a limitation on its sovereignty.”

    “Ukraine must be able to defend itself,” she said. “Russia wants war and waged war many times in fact over the past years.”

    Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Saturday, Trump said the U.S. proposal was not his “final offer.”

    “I would like to get to peace. It should have happened a long time ago. The Ukraine war with Russia should have never happened,” Trump said. “One way or the other, we have to get it ended.”

    Trump didn’t explain what he meant by the plan not being his final offer, and the White House didn’t respond to a request for clarification.

    Rubio’s reported comments cause confusion

    Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Sunday that Warsaw was ready to work on the plan with the leaders of Europe, Canada and Japan, but also said that it “would be good to know for sure who is the author of the plan and where was it created.”

    Some U.S. lawmakers said Saturday that Rubio had described the plan as a Russian “wish list” rather than a Washington-led proposal.

    The bipartisan group of senators told a news conference that they had spoken to Rubio about the peace plan after he reached out to some of them while on his way to Geneva. Independent Maine Sen. Angus King said Rubio told them the plan “was not the administration’s plan” but a “wish list of the Russians.”

    A State Department spokesperson denied their account, calling it “blatantly false.”

    Rubio himself then took the extraordinary step of suggesting online that the senators were mistaken, even though they said he was their source for the information. The Secretary of State doubled down on the assertion that Washington was responsible for a proposal that had surprised many from the beginning for being so favorable to Moscow.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Claudia Ciobanu in Warsaw, Poland and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

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  • U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visits DMZ ahead of security talks with South Korean officials

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    U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas on Monday as he began a two-day visit to ally South Korea for security talks.Hegseth and South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back received a briefing from military officials at Observation Post Ouellette, a site near the military demarcation line that past U.S. presidents, including Donald Trump during his first term in 2019, had visited to peer across the border into North Korea and meet with American soldiers.Hegseth and Ahn also visited the Panmunjom border village, where an armistice was signed to pause the 1950-53 Korean War. Ahn’s ministry said the visit “reaffirmed the firm combined defense posture and close coordination” between the allies.Hegseth did not mention North Korea, which has ignored Washington and Seoul’s calls for dialogue in recent years while accelerating the expansion of its nuclear weapons and missile programs.South Korea’s military also said Monday that the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, oversaw a combined formation flight aboard South Korean and U.S. F-16 fighter jets above a major U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek.The flight, conducted for the first time, was intended to demonstrate the allies’ “ironclad combined defense posture” and the “unwavering” strength of the alliance, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said.Hegseth and Ahn, who previously met on Saturday at a defense ministers’ meeting in Malaysia, will attend the allies’ annual defense talks in Seoul on Tuesday.The talks are expected to cover key alliance issues, including South Korea’s commitment to increase defense spending and the implementation of a previous agreement to transfer wartime operational control of allied forces to a binational command led by a South Korean general with a U.S. deputy.There are also concerns in Seoul that the Trump administration may demand much higher South Korean payments for the U.S. military presence in the country or possibly downsize America’s military footprint to focus more on China.Hegseth’s visit comes days after Trump traveled to South Korea for meetings with world leaders, including South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju.During his meeting with Trump on Wednesday last week, Lee reaffirmed South Korea’s commitment to increase defense spending to reduce the financial burden on America and also called for U.S. support in South Korean efforts to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.Trump later said on social media that the United States will share closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, and that the vessel will be built in the Philly Shipyard, which was bought last year by South Korea’s Hanwha Group. The leaders also advanced trade talks, addressing details of $350 billion in U.S. investments South Korea committed to in an effort to avoid the Trump administration’s highest tariffs.

    U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas on Monday as he began a two-day visit to ally South Korea for security talks.

    Hegseth and South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back received a briefing from military officials at Observation Post Ouellette, a site near the military demarcation line that past U.S. presidents, including Donald Trump during his first term in 2019, had visited to peer across the border into North Korea and meet with American soldiers.

    Hegseth and Ahn also visited the Panmunjom border village, where an armistice was signed to pause the 1950-53 Korean War. Ahn’s ministry said the visit “reaffirmed the firm combined defense posture and close coordination” between the allies.

    Hegseth did not mention North Korea, which has ignored Washington and Seoul’s calls for dialogue in recent years while accelerating the expansion of its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

    South Korea’s military also said Monday that the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Dan Caine, oversaw a combined formation flight aboard South Korean and U.S. F-16 fighter jets above a major U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek.

    The flight, conducted for the first time, was intended to demonstrate the allies’ “ironclad combined defense posture” and the “unwavering” strength of the alliance, Seoul’s Defense Ministry said.

    Hegseth and Ahn, who previously met on Saturday at a defense ministers’ meeting in Malaysia, will attend the allies’ annual defense talks in Seoul on Tuesday.

    The talks are expected to cover key alliance issues, including South Korea’s commitment to increase defense spending and the implementation of a previous agreement to transfer wartime operational control of allied forces to a binational command led by a South Korean general with a U.S. deputy.

    There are also concerns in Seoul that the Trump administration may demand much higher South Korean payments for the U.S. military presence in the country or possibly downsize America’s military footprint to focus more on China.

    Hegseth’s visit comes days after Trump traveled to South Korea for meetings with world leaders, including South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Chinese President Xi Jinping, on the sidelines of this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Gyeongju.

    During his meeting with Trump on Wednesday last week, Lee reaffirmed South Korea’s commitment to increase defense spending to reduce the financial burden on America and also called for U.S. support in South Korean efforts to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

    Trump later said on social media that the United States will share closely held technology to allow South Korea to build a nuclear-powered submarine, and that the vessel will be built in the Philly Shipyard, which was bought last year by South Korea’s Hanwha Group. The leaders also advanced trade talks, addressing details of $350 billion in U.S. investments South Korea committed to in an effort to avoid the Trump administration’s highest tariffs.

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  • Pivotal talks between Israel and Hamas begin in Egypt on eve of Gaza war anniversary

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    Israeli and Hamas officials launched indirect talks Monday at an Egyptian resort on a U.S.-drafted peace plan to end the ruinous war in Gaza on the eve of its second anniversary.Many uncertainties remain about the plan presented by President Donald Trump last week, including the disarmament of the militant group — a key Israeli demand — and the future governance of Gaza. Trump has indicated an agreement on Gaza could pave the way for a Middle East peace process that could reshape the region.Despite Trump ordering Israel to stop the bombing, Israeli forces continued to pound Gaza with airstrikes, killing at least 19 people in the last 24 hours, the territory’s Health Ministry said.An Egyptian official said talks began Monday afternoon at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the talks.The Israelis are led by top negotiator Ron Dermer, while Khalil al-Hayyah leads the Hamas delegation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk would be present for Israel, but it was not clear if Dermer had arrived yet.Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News television station reported that the talks began with a meeting between Arab mediators and the Hamas delegation. Mediators will then meet with the Israeli delegation, the station said.Egyptian and Qatari mediators will discuss the outcome of their meetings with both parties, before U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff joins the talks, it said.Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is also expected to join the talks, Egypt’s state-run al-Ahram reported.Hamas said negotiations will focus on the first stage of a ceasefire, including the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces as well as the release of hostages held by the militants in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention.This latest push for peace comes after Hamas accepted some elements of the U.S. plan that Israel also said it supported. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 of whom are believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.The talks in Egypt are expected to move quickly. Netanyahu said they would be “confined to a few days maximum,” though some Hamas officials have warned that more time may be needed to locate bodies of hostages buried under rubble.Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi hailed Trump’s efforts, underscoring the importance of preserving the U.S.-crafted “peace system” in the Middle East since the 1970s, which he said “served as a strategic framework for regional stability.”El-Sisi spoke in a televised address commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1973 war with Israel that led to Egypt reclaiming the Sinai Peninsula, where Sharm el-Sheikh is located.US wants Israeli bombing to stopThe U.S. has said Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza would need to stop for the hostages to be released. Israel says it’s largely heeding Trump’s call. The Israeli military said it is mostly carrying out defensive strikes to protect troops, though dozens of Palestinians have been killed since the military’s statement Saturday night.Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that the bodies of 19 people, including two aid-seekers killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire, had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours. Another 96 were wounded. The deaths brought the Palestinian toll to 67,160 since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war, with nearly 170,000 wounded, the ministry said.The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack. Most of the largely Israeli hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals.Meanwhile, families of Israeli hostages petitioned the Nobel Prize Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump for what they called his unprecedented contributions to global peace.“At this very moment, President Trump’s comprehensive plan to release all remaining hostages and finally end this terrible war is on the table,” the families wrote. “For the first time in months, we are hopeful that our nightmare will finally be over.”In a commemoration ceremony for Israelis killed at the Nir Oz Kibbutz on Oct. 7, Daniel Lifshitz said the primary focus of talks should be the swift release of all remaining hostages.“Israel will pay painful concessions by releasing mass murderers and terrorists that killed many among our friends and families here in Israel, but we cherish life and in Trump we trust to make it happen,” said Lifshitz, grandson of slain hostage Oded and released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz.’Living in fear, war and displacement’In Gaza, families of Palestinian babies born on the day the war began hoped to celebrate their second birthday with the sound of laughter and cheers instead of the cacophony of bombs and bullets.The babies’ mothers have been repeatedly displaced and live in constant fear for their safety. They also lack access to health care.Amal al-Taweel and her husband, Mostafa, had their son, Ali, after three years of trying for a child. They now live in a tent without proper sanitation, food, vaccinations or toys.“I was envisioning a different life for him … He couldn’t experience what a safe family life feels like,” al-Taweel said.The Vatican marked the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by condemning the “inhuman massacre” of innocent people in Israel and calling for the return of hostages. But it also said Israel’s razing of Gaza is itself a disproportionate massacre, and called on countries to stop supplying Israel weapons to wage the war.“Those who are attacked have a right to defend themselves, but even legitimate defense must respect the principle of proportionality,” Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said on the eve of the anniversary. “The perverse chain of hatred can only generate a spiral that leads nowhere good.”___Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Shurafa from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

    CAIRO —

    Israeli and Hamas officials launched indirect talks Monday at an Egyptian resort on a U.S.-drafted peace plan to end the ruinous war in Gaza on the eve of its second anniversary.

    Many uncertainties remain about the plan presented by President Donald Trump last week, including the disarmament of the militant group — a key Israeli demand — and the future governance of Gaza. Trump has indicated an agreement on Gaza could pave the way for a Middle East peace process that could reshape the region.

    Despite Trump ordering Israel to stop the bombing, Israeli forces continued to pound Gaza with airstrikes, killing at least 19 people in the last 24 hours, the territory’s Health Ministry said.

    An Egyptian official said talks began Monday afternoon at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the talks.

    The Israelis are led by top negotiator Ron Dermer, while Khalil al-Hayyah leads the Hamas delegation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said foreign policy adviser Ophir Falk would be present for Israel, but it was not clear if Dermer had arrived yet.

    Egypt’s state-owned Al-Qahera News television station reported that the talks began with a meeting between Arab mediators and the Hamas delegation. Mediators will then meet with the Israeli delegation, the station said.

    Egyptian and Qatari mediators will discuss the outcome of their meetings with both parties, before U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff joins the talks, it said.

    Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner is also expected to join the talks, Egypt’s state-run al-Ahram reported.

    Hamas said negotiations will focus on the first stage of a ceasefire, including the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces as well as the release of hostages held by the militants in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention.

    This latest push for peace comes after Hamas accepted some elements of the U.S. plan that Israel also said it supported. Under the plan, Hamas would release the remaining 48 hostages — about 20 of whom are believed to be alive — within three days. It would give up power and disarm.

    The talks in Egypt are expected to move quickly. Netanyahu said they would be “confined to a few days maximum,” though some Hamas officials have warned that more time may be needed to locate bodies of hostages buried under rubble.

    Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi hailed Trump’s efforts, underscoring the importance of preserving the U.S.-crafted “peace system” in the Middle East since the 1970s, which he said “served as a strategic framework for regional stability.”

    El-Sisi spoke in a televised address commemorating the anniversary of the start of the 1973 war with Israel that led to Egypt reclaiming the Sinai Peninsula, where Sharm el-Sheikh is located.

    US wants Israeli bombing to stop

    The U.S. has said Israel’s heavy bombardment of Gaza would need to stop for the hostages to be released. Israel says it’s largely heeding Trump’s call. The Israeli military said it is mostly carrying out defensive strikes to protect troops, though dozens of Palestinians have been killed since the military’s statement Saturday night.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that the bodies of 19 people, including two aid-seekers killed by Israeli strikes and gunfire, had been brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours. Another 96 were wounded. The deaths brought the Palestinian toll to 67,160 since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, triggered the war, with nearly 170,000 wounded, the ministry said.

    The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

    Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack. Most of the largely Israeli hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals.

    Meanwhile, families of Israeli hostages petitioned the Nobel Prize Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Trump for what they called his unprecedented contributions to global peace.

    “At this very moment, President Trump’s comprehensive plan to release all remaining hostages and finally end this terrible war is on the table,” the families wrote. “For the first time in months, we are hopeful that our nightmare will finally be over.”

    In a commemoration ceremony for Israelis killed at the Nir Oz Kibbutz on Oct. 7, Daniel Lifshitz said the primary focus of talks should be the swift release of all remaining hostages.

    “Israel will pay painful concessions by releasing mass murderers and terrorists that killed many among our friends and families here in Israel, but we cherish life and in Trump we trust to make it happen,” said Lifshitz, grandson of slain hostage Oded and released hostage Yocheved Lifshitz.

    ‘Living in fear, war and displacement’

    In Gaza, families of Palestinian babies born on the day the war began hoped to celebrate their second birthday with the sound of laughter and cheers instead of the cacophony of bombs and bullets.

    The babies’ mothers have been repeatedly displaced and live in constant fear for their safety. They also lack access to health care.

    Amal al-Taweel and her husband, Mostafa, had their son, Ali, after three years of trying for a child. They now live in a tent without proper sanitation, food, vaccinations or toys.

    “I was envisioning a different life for him … He couldn’t experience what a safe family life feels like,” al-Taweel said.

    The Vatican marked the second anniversary of the Oct. 7 attacks by condemning the “inhuman massacre” of innocent people in Israel and calling for the return of hostages. But it also said Israel’s razing of Gaza is itself a disproportionate massacre, and called on countries to stop supplying Israel weapons to wage the war.

    “Those who are attacked have a right to defend themselves, but even legitimate defense must respect the principle of proportionality,” Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said on the eve of the anniversary. “The perverse chain of hatred can only generate a spiral that leads nowhere good.”

    ___

    Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Shurafa from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press Writer Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

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  • ‘Constructive’? Look again at the smoke and mirrors of the Trump-Putin summit

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    We’ve read quite a bit about President Trump’s “hot mic” comment, during a meeting with European leaders about the Russian war against Ukraine, that Vladimir Putin “wants to make a deal for me, as crazy as it sounds.”

    Pundits debated whether this was an embarrassment for Trump; they wondered why he would say such an important thing in a whisper to French President Emmanuel Macron — as if Trump’s verbal goulash were something new. Headlines were full of the word “deal” for a while, including three days later, when they were reporting that Trump said Putin might not want “to make a deal.” And, of course, there is no deal.

    The press coverage of the meeting in Alaska said there were lots of “constructive” conversations. Putin spoke about “neighborly” talks and the “constructive atmosphere of mutual respect” in his conversations with Trump. There were reports about agreements “in principle” on various things under discussion, although there were no details about what they might be.

    I covered more than a few superpower summits, first as a reporter for the Associated Press and later for the New York Times. Although that was more than 30 years ago, the smoke and mirrors nonsense usually produced by meetings like these has not changed. Verbal gas is abundant and facts almost nonexistent. Trump’s comments were worth about as much as anything else he has said on the subject, which is almost nothing. And yet, they were reported and parsed endlessly as if they had the same meaning as other presidents’ words had in the past.

    I had a powerful sense of deja vu from a five-day trip to Afghanistan in January 1987. The Kremlin had finally agreed to let a group of Western journalists visit Kabul and Jalalabad to witness the “cease-fire” that had been announced a few days before we arrived. The visit was billed as an Afghan government tour, which nobody — especially the Afghan government — believed.

    We saw no fighting, although we could see artillery fire in the hills at night. Some of the “specials,” as we wire service correspondents called the major media then, reported that we were fired on. We were not.

    Mostly, we shopped for rugs and drank cold Heinekens, which were unavailable in Moscow but mysteriously well stocked at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. We were ushered to various peace and unity events between the Afghan and Russian peoples and toured the huge Soviet military camps just outside Kabul with a U.S. official (allegedly a diplomat from the Embassy, but we knew from experience that this person was from the Central Intelligence Agency).

    On Jan. 19, we were taken (each reporter in an individual government car with a minder) to a news conference by Mohammad Najib, the Afghan leader whose name had been Najibullah until he changed it to make it sound less religious for his Bolshevik friends. Najib said that Afghanistan and the Soviet Union had agreed “in principle” on a “timetable for withdrawal” of Soviet occupation forces.

    At that point, the Reuters correspondent, who was fairly new to Moscow still, bolted from the room and raced back to our hotel, where there was one Telex machine for us all to send our stories back to Moscow. He filed a bulletin on the announcement. When the rest of us made our leisurely return, we were greeted with messages from our home offices demanding to know about the big deal to end the war in Afghanistan.

    We wrote our stories, which were about a business-as-usual press conference that yielded no real news. We each appended a message to explain why the Reuters report was just plain wrong. Talk of Soviet withdrawal was common, and always wrong. The very idea that the puppet government in Kabul had something to say about it or was a party to any serious discussions about ending the war was absurd. The most pithy comment came from the Agence France-Presse reporter, who told her editors that the Reuters story was “merde.” The Soviet military did not withdraw until February 1989, more than two years later, following its own schedule.

    Much of the recent coverage about Russia and Ukraine reminds me of that Afghan news flash in 1987. The Kremlin has never been, was not then and is not now interested in negotiation or compromise. Under Soviet communism and under Putin, diplomacy is a zero-sum game whose only goal is to restore Russian hegemony over Eastern Europe. And yet, for some reason, the American media and the country’s diplomats seem as oblivious today as they always were. After the summit, they announced breathlessly that there was no peace deal out of the summit, although they all knew going in that there was no deal on the table and there never was going to be one.

    But of course Putin wants a “deal” on Ukraine. It’s the same deal he has wanted since he violated international law (not for the first time) and invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. He wants to redraw the boundaries of Ukraine to give him even more territory than he has already seized, and he wants to be sure Ukraine remains out of NATO and under Moscow’s military thumb as he has done with other former Soviet regions, like Georgia, which he invaded in 2008 as soon as the country dared to suggest it might be interested in NATO membership. His latest nonsense was to demand that Russia be part of any postwar security arrangements. He wants the NATO allies to stop treating him like the war criminal that he is and to be seen as an equal actor on the international stage with NATO and especially the United States.

    That he got, in abundance, from Trump in Alaska, starting with the location. Trump invited Putin to the United States during a period of travel bans to and from Russia, immediately giving the Russian dictator a huge PR win. It also, conveniently, put him in the only NATO country where he is not wanted on charges of crimes against humanity.

    As for peace talks, check the headlines from Ukraine before, during and after the Alaska summit: The Russians have stepped up their killing and destruction in Ukraine with new ferocity and have been grabbing as much land in eastern Ukraine as they can. Every square inch of that land — and more the Kremlin has not yet occupied — will be part of any “deal” that Putin will accept. Trump himself has been talking about “land swaps” (as he has from the start of the war, by the way) — a nonsensical idea when you consider the land Ukraine holds is its sovereign territory and the land Russian holds was stolen.

    The brilliant M. Gessen, perhaps the leading authority on dictatorship, published an essay in the New York Review, “Autocracy: Rules for Survival,” shortly after the 2016 election. “Rule #2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality,” they wrote.

    A U.S. president and a Russian leader sitting down to talk and emerging with bluster about progress seems normal enough, perhaps encouraging when American-Russian relations have been at a historic low. Just remember that coming from these two men, the comments signify nothing — or, worse, make us wonder what Trump has given away to Putin with his talk of land swaps.

    Andrew Rosenthal, a former reporter, editor and columnist, was Moscow bureau chief for the Associated Press and Washington editor and later editorial page editor for the New York Times.

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  • Faculty accuse UC campuses of labor violations over pro-Palestine protest crackdowns

    Faculty accuse UC campuses of labor violations over pro-Palestine protest crackdowns

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    Faculty across the state have accused the University of California system of carrying out a sweeping campaign to suppress pro-Palestinian speech and protests in violation of state labor law.

    The Council of University of California Faculty Associations said UC administrators have threatened faculty for teaching about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and launched disciplinary proceedings against faculty for supporting on-campus student encampments as well as backing a strike by student academic workers this spring.

    The faculty group made the allegations in a 581-page complaint filed Thursday with California’s Public Employment Relations Board, which oversees labor-management interaction for public employees in the state. The unfair labor practice charge was co-signed by faculty associations at seven UC campuses, including Los Angeles, Irvine, San Diego, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Davis and San Francisco.

    Faculty members gathered at UCLA midday Thursday to announce the charge. At the news conference, Constance Penley, president of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, described the university’s actions as a “relentless campaign to chill faculty’s exercise of their academic freedom and to deter them from teaching about the war in a way that does not align with the university’s position.”

    Faculty have also been investigated for pro-Palestine social media posts, arrested for exercising their free speech rights and were surveilled and intimidated by university representatives, the filing alleged.

    The push from faculty highlights how, months after police cleared pro-Palestinian encampments at universities, the fallout has continued on various campuses, with university officials implementing new protest rules and students grappling with ongoing suspensions and holds on their records.

    The faculty claims build on an earlier charge filed by the UCLA Faculty Assn. in the aftermath of attacks and mass arrests faced by students and faculty participating in an on-campus encampment in April and May. And they parallel similar allegations made by unions representing UC employees, including United Auto Workers Local 481, which represents student academic workers and the University Council-American Federation of Teachers, which represents 6,500 librarians and teaching faculty across the university system.

    The various charges, filed earlier this year with the state labor board allege essentially that the university had failed to maintain safe working conditions, disregarded the free speech rights of its employees, and unlawfully made changes to working conditions in response to campus protests.

    The university defends its course of action. In response to a request for comment, UC spokesperson Heather Hansen pointed to a university statement previously filed with the state labor board in response to the UCLA Faculty Assn.’s charge.

    The university stated that while it “supports free speech and lawful protests,” it must also “ensure that all of its community members can safely continue to study, work, and exercise their rights, which is why it has in place policies that regulate the time, place, and manner for protest activities on its campuses.”

    “The University has allowed — and continues to allow — lawful protesting activities surrounding the conflict in the Middle East. But when protests violate University policy or threaten the safety and security of others, the University has taken lawful action to end impermissible and unlawful behavior,” the university said.

    The filing details instances of the university allegedly investigating and disciplining faculty.

    Soon after the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas on Israel, and the start of Israel’s bombing siege of Gaza, the university began sending emails to faculty threatening that they could be investigated and disciplined for teaching content outside the scope of their courses. In November, UC San Diego investigated two lecturers for teaching about the history of the Palestinian territories, the filing said. A UC Irvine faculty member was sent a “letter of warning” by the administration for holding a vote on whether to conduct class at the on-campus encampment, with optional attendance.

    In another example cited, a medical school lecturer at UC San Francisco who delivered a talk in April about trauma-informed care at a health equity conference was barred from participating in future educational activities after she devoted some six minutes of a 50-minute course to discussing the topic as it related to Palestinians’ health challenges. A campus administrator informed the lecturer they had received complaints that her talk was “biased and antisemitic,” and took down an online video of the talk. The ban was eventually lifted, but the video remains offline.

    The complaint says the university’s “harsh crackdown against professors for expressing pro-Palestinian viewpoints stands in stark contrast to its treatment of vocal pro-Israeli faculty.”

    The university refused to initiate a formal disciplinary investigation into a pro-Israel faculty member at UC Irvine accused of harassing and physically intimidating an undergraduate student, although video footage was provided of the faculty member “cornering, physically intimidating, and interrogating a visibly scared student,” the filing said.

    After an unfair labor practice charge is filed, the Public Employee Relations Board will review and evaluate the case, and decide whether to dismiss the charge or proceed with having parties negotiate a settlement. If no settlement is reached, the case would be scheduled for a formal hearing before an administrative law judge.

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    Suhauna Hussain

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  • Microsoft clearly still cares about Game Pass. Exclusives? Not so much

    Microsoft clearly still cares about Game Pass. Exclusives? Not so much

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    Last week, I posited that the Xbox showcase on June 9 would be the most important in the history of Microsoft’s gaming division. If it wasn’t, that could be because this slick prerecorded show couldn’t possibly compete for historical impact with, for example, the garbage fire that was the 2013 Xbox One reveal event, or the bungled E3 show that followed it. It was confident and smooth in its orchestration, impressive in a way that was almost calming after the awkward anticlimax of Summer Game Fest two days earlier. But it was still immensely significant: for its indication of the seismic publishing power Microsoft now holds, for the questions it answered about Xbox’s future, and for the questions it didn’t.

    In fact, the two most telling bits of news emerged outside the boundaries of the show itself. The first was the confirmation, more than a week before the show, that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be released on Game Pass on day one. The second, which was not mentioned by Microsoft during its showcase but slipped out in a press release alongside it, is that Doom: The Dark Ages (one of the biggest first-party reveals of the event) is also coming to PlayStation 5.

    Between them, these two facts spell out Microsoft’s strategy quite clearly: Game Pass is everything, and Xbox consoles aren’t. Microsoft is doubling down hard on its subscription service, and bringing its new, almost terrifying might as a game publisher to bear on the Game Pass catalog. But the company had little to say about Xbox hardware, and its attitude to console exclusivity for Microsoft-owned games remains ambivalent at best.

    Doom: The Dark Ages’ PS5 version was quietly the most significant news of the night.
    Image: id Software/Bethesda Softworks

    After the shock release of four former Xbox exclusives on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch earlier this year, many Xbox fans were looking to Sunday’s showcase for explicit reassurance that Microsoft was still investing in Xbox consoles by getting its vast army of first-party studios to make exclusive games for them. That reassurance did not come. In fact, Xbox console exclusivity was not mentioned once. The words “coming to Xbox Series X and PC” appeared as much at the end of trailers for games in storied Xbox franchises like Fable and Gears of War as they did for multiplatform releases from third-party publishers like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. There was no attempt at differentiation on this score.

    Reports indicate that Microsoft has “no red line” internally when it comes to which of its games it will consider for release on other platforms, and the wording (or lack of it) used on Sunday shows that the company is keen to keep its options open. It’s striking that Microsoft chose to open the showcase with two heavy hitters that’ll be available on PlayStation: Black Ops 6, which was already slated for PS5 (per Microsoft’s Call of Duty deal with Sony), and Doom: The Dark Ages, which wasn’t.

    The Dark Ages’ PS5 release is a clue to how Microsoft intends to handle exclusivity in the short term, at least as far as games from Bethesda, Activision, and Blizzard are concerned. Speaking to IGN after the showcase aired, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said, “Doom is definitely one of those franchises that has a history of so many platforms. It’s a franchise that I think everyone deserves to play. When I was in a meeting with Marty [Stratton, id Software studio director] a couple years ago, I asked Marty what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to sell it on all platforms. Simple as that.”

    Spencer’s explanation — as well as Microsoft’s handling of Minecraft — suggests that Microsoft does not intend to make previously multiplatform game series exclusive. It’s a strong indication that Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls 6, for one, will get a PlayStation release. For everything else, it’s an open question. It might seem unthinkable that Gears of War: E-Day or Fable will come out on PS5, but nothing said (or unsaid) on Sunday indicates that that’s off the table.

    Title cards for 16 games above the words “Play day one with Game Pass”

    Microsoft is keen to ram home Game Pass’ value to subscribers.
    Image: Xbox

    As far as Game Pass goes, however, Microsoft could not have been more emphatic. “Play it day one with Game Pass,” boomed the stinger on the end of trailer after trailer after trailer. Of the 30 games, expansions, and updates featured in Sunday’s showcase, 20 will go straight to Game Pass. Of those 20 Game Pass titles, 13 come from Microsoft-owned studios; nine are scheduled to debut in 2024, eight in 2025, and three have no release windows yet.

    Call of Duty, Doom, Gears of War, State of Decay, Perfect Dark, Fable, Indiana Jones, STALKER, Flight Simulator, Avowed… all coming to Game Pass as soon as they’re released. There are blockbuster shooters and role-playing games, strategy and sim games, wistful indies, and, thanks to partnerships with companies like Kepler Interactive and Rebellion, a good helping of AA Eurojank (perhaps the ideal kind of Game Pass game).

    In a way, it’s more illustrative to look at what from the showcase won’t be coming to Game Pass. Those 10 titles include big third-party franchises like Metal Gear Solid and Assassin’s Creed; a handful of smaller third-party games; and expansions for Starfield, Diablo 4, The Elder Scrolls Online, and World of Warcraft. Selling DLC for Game Pass-included titles like Starfield, Diablo 4, and TES Online is a big part of the Game Pass business model, so you could still consider those titles under the Game Pass umbrella. (World of Warcraft is the outlier here as the only Microsoft-owned game featured that isn’t on Game Pass at all — and indeed, the only one not available on Xbox consoles.)

    If Microsoft has doubts about the commercial viability of console-exclusive releases in the long term, it certainly doesn’t seem to have those doubts about Game Pass. With subscriber numbers seeming to have plateaued (according to Microsoft’s rarely released figures), and with the presumed considerable loss of revenue resulting from rolling a guaranteed seller like Black Ops 6 into a subscription service, many were wondering if Microsoft’s “Netflix for games” approach made economic sense. It’s possible that this debate has been ongoing in Microsoft until recently: Black Ops 6 developer Treyarch told Game File’s Stephen Totilo “it wasn’t that long ago” that the studio was informed that the game would launch on Game Pass. But taken as a whole, the showcase was a resounding vote of confidence in the service, and an indication that it will go on to provide great value to subscribers through 2025 and beyond.

    An image of a white all-digital Xbox Series X, a white Series S with 1 TB of storage and a black Series X with 2 TB of storage

    New Xbox console variants with more storage were announced with little fanfare.
    Image: Xbox

    After its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is now the third-biggest gaming company in the world by revenue — and arguably the biggest in terms of intellectual property and publishing might. Sunday’s showcase demonstrated quite convincingly how it intends to fill those massive boots: dozens of solid-looking games in famous, fan-favorite franchises, stretching far into the future. Quality and quantity. The surprise inclusion of a few long-gestating titles that had reportedly been stuck in development hell, like Perfect Dark and State of Decay 3, seemed like a pointed message that Microsoft can be trusted to keep all these projects on track, despite its spotty record in studio management.

    But Xbox hardware only got the briefest mention, in the form of three new console configurations and a promise that “we’re hard at work on the next generation.” The rumored handheld announcement did not materialize. And exclusivity remains a glaring open question.

    Regarding Microsoft’s position in the broader game industry, it seems we have our answer: It’s now a publisher first, a subscription platform second, and a console hardware platform a distant third.

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    Oli Welsh

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  • We Still Don’t Know How to Talk About Amy Winehouse

    We Still Don’t Know How to Talk About Amy Winehouse

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    We weren’t very kind to Amy Winehouse when she walked among us. She was a tremendous singer with a mesmerizing style, a strange case of a 21st-century pop star who was largely influenced by postwar jazz. She was also an alcoholic and, in her later years, a connoisseur of harder drugs, including heroin and crack cocaine. We know this much about Amy Winehouse because The Sun published photos of her at home in East London, smoking crack, sure enough, on a famous front page with the splashy headline “Amy on Crack.” The tabloids tracked her emaciation in real time, swarming her at every smoke break and liquor run, running a barefoot woman down as if they were chasing a wet rat all over London, New York City, and Miami. Ultimately, Amy Winehouse recorded only two albums, her striking debut, Frank, and her legendary breakout, Back to Black, the latter selling millions of copies, winning a ton of awards, and setting her up for still more massive success in the long run. But Winehouse died from alcohol poisoning, alone in her flat, at age 27, five years after Back to Black, and so she became the sort of icon who now arouses great defensiveness in all corners—only now it’s too late for anyone to protect her in any real way.

    So now we have the obligatory biopic, Back to Black, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey, A Million Little Pieces). Fans of Winehouse have been dreading this thing for months. The trailers seemed treacherous. Here you have the opportunity to produce a biopic about the edgiest pop singer of the century so far, and yet you’ve got Marisa Abela seeming so perfectly harmless, in the baddest of signs, in the lead role. What also doesn’t help is the very existence of Asif Kapadia’s excellent 2015 documentary, Amy, full of home video footage and passionate interviews with her family, friends, and peers. Back to Black, by comparison, seemed cartoonish. This, many feared, would be Disney’s Amy Winehouse: a pretty, sappy, plastic bit of hagiography turning her into one of those chibi caricatures of famous people that you see in children’s books. A disgrace, surely.

    Really, though, Back to Black isn’t bad. We might’ve braced ourselves for something exceptionally awful, but no, Back to Black is perfectly mediocre and otherwise unremarkable, as far as these things go. It’s unsatisfying only so far as biopics, in general, are almost inherently irritating: It’s trite, it’s formulaic, and it’s conspicuously easy on key figures with keen interest in not coming off too poorly in the story of a woman who clearly wasn’t served very well by the company she kept. The two most controversial men in her life were her father, Mitch Winehouse, who notoriously discouraged her from entering rehab to address her alcoholism a couple of years after Frank; and her ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, who introduced the singer to hard drugs circa Back to Black. Nearly a decade ago, Mitch trashed the Amy documentary and told those filmmakers to their faces, “You should be ashamed of yourselves,” presumably due to the film’s characterization of him as self-absorbed and negligent in the face of his daughter’s disorders.

    Back to Black, as a biopic, was going to have be a more diplomatic project; Taylor-Johnson met Mitch and Janis Winehouse, and the director ultimately won the family’s approval. Back to Black isn’t entirely uncritical of Mitch but rather depicts him as a loving father who was understandably blinded by the limelight and too proud of his daughter to see the darker signs. Blake Fielder-Civil wasn’t involved in the making of Back to Black, but the biopic nonetheless spares him much blame for the hard drugs and physical violence in his relationship with Amy. What Back to Black says about Fielder-Civil is more or less what he’s said about himself in recent years: He was a bad influence, yes, but he tried to distance himself from Winehouse and ultimately divorced her in July 2009—nearly three years after the Back to Black album and two years before her death—hoping to “set her free.” With this biopic, Taylor-Johnson seems to have a similar agenda—to finally end the cycle of recriminations about the death of Amy Winehouse and instead treat the world to a more sentimental and straightforwardly enjoyable overview of her life and her music.

    But who ever wanted to see that? Fans of Winehouse, if anything, might’ve found themselves wishing, perversely, to see something as startling and ugly as the contemporary tabloid coverage, something as irreverent as “Stronger Than Me,” something as righteous as “Rehab,” something as intense as “You Sent Me Flying” or, well, “Back to Black.” Amy is grainy and candid and argumentative, and that’s all about right, but of course that’s a documentary. As a biopic, Back to Black is somewhat hamstrung by the absence of the real Winehouse and its need to be significantly less demoralizing and infuriating than the real story, which culminated with one of the greatest singers of her generation dying alone, watching YouTube, on the losing end of alcohol addiction and also bulimia. The trailers, to the movie’s detriment, show a lot of scenes of the singer in her late teens, the years when she’s less recognizable as the tattooed, beehived icon she’d become, but really, this is who Winehouse was, too. Abela sells both the musical wonderment and jazz geekery of Winehouse in her formative years as well as the bruised and bleary disillusionment of her 20s, as she slathered herself in booze and tattoos, in the years after Frank and Blake. Together, Abela and Jack O’Connell, as Amy and Blake, do a decently captivating dance as two troubled lovers who clung to each other in all the wrong ways and for all the wrong reasons. It just isn’t enough for the audience. It was never going to be enough.

    Ultimately, the pre- and post-release grumbling about Back to Black isn’t owing to any egregious failure of Taylor-Johnson or whether or not Abela physically resembles the character so much as it speaks to a mean grief, persisting to this day, for Winehouse. It’s a grief to be rehashed but never relieved by a biopic such as this. We miss plenty of troubled entertainers who died too young, of course, but Winehouse especially rubbed her fate in our faces. Her biggest song was “Rehab,” for chrissakes. She was a dead woman walking through volleys of camera flashes for five years. She made her pain so plain and so integral to her music, yet it was ultimately something to be mocked and gawked at. The tabloids made her out to be some goddamned alien. The late-night comedians reduced her to a punch line. No one’s ever going to feel good about any of this, biopic or not. Amy Winehouse deserved better than just pop sainthood. She deserved so much more than Back to Black, even if it didn’t really do anything wrong. One day, we—so far as the collective consumers of popular entertainment and celebrity metaculture can be addressed as such—will be at peace about Amy Winehouse. But no time soon. We’re still mad about the girl.

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    Justin Charity

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  • How school leaders can manage and control emotions

    How school leaders can manage and control emotions

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    Key points:

    We need to manage and control our emotions better–and by better, I mean by not managing and controlling, but by utilizing and exercising them.

    “I need to control my emotions” is oft-spoken self-talk that we may hear ourselves saying as we reflect on our actions. Or occasionally we may have someone suggest that we need to manage our emotions better. But do we? Is the assumption that emotions and leadership are the oil and water of the workplace actually true? This may (still) be the last bastion of leadership assumptions that needs to be put to sea.

    We have spent generations being told that our emotions are those things that should be corralled, encircled, and subdued. It has fomented the ideas that we should “leave our personality at the door” and “keep business and personal separate.”

    Research found that school leaders and school principals who coped and adjusted to the pandemic the best where those who were able to utilize, and not ignore, their emotions.

    Before the pandemic, strong leaders were often expected to focus their leadership on process, accountability, and strategic planning that presented a very controlled picture of leadership. The leader led and others followed. There was a theoretical rhythm and cadence to how effective leadership should look.

    The pandemic changed this mindset.

    We saw leaders who were vulnerable, who were open to listening and acknowledged they might not have all the answers. These were leaders who whole-heartedly embraced the ambiguity and looked to thrive in the uncertain messiness. As Bryan Goodwin and Kent Davis of the nonprofit McRel have written, this shift can be difficult for some as it “requires them to reflect on not only what they must do, but more deeply, who they must be as leaders.”
    —The Case for Embracing Messy Leadership in Schools

    Granted, there are occasions when emotion can interfere with decision making, just as there are times when not showing emotion is a missed opportunity. Perhaps it’s not the separation of both, but rather the utilization of both that’s the sweet spot we should seeking. Perhaps it’s not the word “emotion” that is the issue, but the accompanying words that give it intended or unintended meaning.

    When we hear the word emotion in the workplace, it has often been sidled up with other words that on their own sound harmless but in fact spread an underlying frame of mind and intention:

    These words imply that emotions, and expression, work in opposition to our ability to lead and make decisions. They hint that emotions are the antithesis of a good leader. They are negative. They will lead to distraction. And because of that, they will make you appear weak. Strong leaders are those who can maintain the separation and not be affected or show emotion.

    The use of these words makes emotions appear like a deficit.

    What we have found, and are continuing to find, however, is that emotions are a strength. Brene Brown stated it as being authentically you: “Letting go who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are. Choosing authenticity means cultivating the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable.” (The Gifts of Imperfection)

    This has been echoed in research, showing strong links between trust, output, and performance. Higher levels of emotional connection and trust result in lower stress levels, a reduction in burnout, and a more than 75 percent increase in engagement.

    Compared with people at low-trust companies, people at high-trust companies report: 74 percent less stress, 106 percent more energy at work, 50 percent higher productivity, 13 percent fewer sick days, 76 percent more engagement, 29 percent more satisfaction with their lives, and 40 percent less burnout.

    By integrating vulnerability into your leadership approach, you can build stronger relationships, invite collaboration and open a pathway for more difficult but important conversations, which will improve the wellness and performance of the company and everyone within.
    —Vulnerability at work not about tears and over-shares

    It increases the potential of empowerment, and as such increases the likelihood of shared responsibility and collective leadership. Building emotional connections will take the pressure off the individual leader and share it across their teams. So maybe it’s not the word emotion that we need to change, but rather the words that accompany it:

    • Exercise
    • Utilize
    • Cultivate

    By selecting these words, we change the use, understanding, and meaning of “emotions.” Emotions are a key tool for forming alliances, building trust, conveying importance, demonstrating empathy, growing inclusion, and can be viewed as the hidden power of effective leadership.

    Too often we dismiss the little things we do–the human things–that are crucial in building relationships, trust, and a positive school climate. Now’s the time the celebrate these unconventional measures of success.
    —The Human Side in Developing a Positive School Climate 

    Leaders play a major role in surfacing, understanding, and balancing individual values on our teams. When we acknowledge and embrace the messiness that      comes with being human, each of us with a desire for shared community and purpose, we’re one step closer to unleashing the full potential of our teams and the teams we serve.
    —How to Embrace the Human Side of Leadership

    “Our emotions are a big part–maybe the biggest part–of what makes us human,” says Marc Brackett, author of Permission to Feel, “and yet we go through life trying hard to pretend otherwise.”
    —Reinventing How We Lead

    Rather than exclude emotions, we should be utilizing them to their best effect. It is more natural to show our personalities and it’s more authentic. It allows others to show theirs and it reduces stress, increases trust, and often results in greater satisfaction, engagement, and performance. Education is a relationship-driven sector and to ignore the tools and skills that enhance, build, and grow relationships would professionally be a backwards step.

    The emotion-problem school leaders and principals now face is to unlearn what we have assumed and help leaders embrace their emotions. It requires a new understanding and a new mindset–a mindset of effective leadership. It requires us to look at our emotions from a new perspective. Not as things to control, but as tools to utilize.

    The captain of the ship has sailed and it is time for us to lead in a new way.

    Latest posts by eSchool Media Contributors (see all)

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    Sean Slade, BTS Spark

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  • Talk Show Cooking Foibles, and the Pronunciation Bee

    Talk Show Cooking Foibles, and the Pronunciation Bee

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    Jason is joined by 670 The Score’s Laurence Holmes for the Local Angle. The two talk about what the Bears can learn from the teams that are still alive in the playoffs, next steps for the Bears in the team-building process, takeaways from Justin Fields’s three pro seasons, and more. To wrap up, the guys discuss the White Sox’s potential move from Guaranteed Rate Field.

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    Dave Chang

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  • How to Attend Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s SiriusXM Town Hall

    How to Attend Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s SiriusXM Town Hall

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    SiriusXM is giving you the chance to attend a Town Hall with Presidential Candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a special event hosted by Philip Levine on Thursday, December 7th, 2023 at the SiriusXM Miami Studios. If you’ll be in the Miami area on 12/7, see below for your chance to attend.

    The Town Hall will also air on SiriusXM’s POTUS (ch. 124) and be available on the SiriusXM app.

    How to Attend: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Town Hall

    • EMAIL rsvp@siriusxm.com
    • INCLUDE “RFK Jr. Town Hall” in the subject line of the email. In the body of your email, please provide your full name, age, city, and phone number

    All entry requests must be received no later than 8pm ET on December 5, 2023.

    No purchase necessary to enter or win. Must be a U.S resident at least 18 years of age. Incomplete requests are ineligible. Only winners will be notified via email or phone. Prize is for admission for you and a guest only. NO TRANSPORTATION INCLUDED WITH THE PRIZE.  For rules, visit siriusxm.com/studioeventrules.

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    Matt Simeone

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  • Jill Martin and Stacey Griffith Share Their Experiences with Breast Cancer

    Jill Martin and Stacey Griffith Share Their Experiences with Breast Cancer

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    For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, TODAY Show lifestyle contributor Jill Martin and SoulCycle instructor Stacey Griffith came together for a powerful, heartwarming conversation on TODAY Show Radio (Ch. 108) about their experiences with breast cancer, as both women are currently undergoing treatment.

    Listen to Jill and Stacey’s breast cancer awareness special on the SiriusXM App

    Close friends, Jill and Stacey spoke about testing, advances in technology, their own diagnoses, experiences with chemotherapy, cold-cap therapy, and their individual choices around working throughout treatment.

    Jill’s Family History & Genetic Testing

    Jill and her surgeon, Dr. Elisa Port of Mount Sinai Hospital, first and foremost stressed the importance of testing for breast cancer in order to be proactive.

    “I want to use this time properly because this could have been avoided, okay, through genetic testing,” Jill shared at the start of the episode. “Again, for people who didn’t know, my grandmother, we lost her to breast cancer. My mother is a 25-year breast cancer survivor … It’s on my father’s side. Doesn’t run in my father’s family. And if I had known, this could’ve been prevented, and so I could’ve taken steps.”

    Jill learned she was positive for the BRCA gene and scheduled preventative surgery, but unfortunately she had already developed breast cancer, and the need for preventative surgery turned into the need for immediate surgery. Had she known earlier about the BRCA gene, Jill said, she could’ve taken measures in her twenties that would’ve spared her the treatment she’s undergoing today.

    She also implored listeners not to put off their mammograms because “the alternative is worse.” Jill continued, “Get the information, use it for your power, and you take the power into your hands so that you can take steps.”

    Dr. Port added, “Early detection, early diagnosis is key and gives you the best chance of survival, and also the best chance of survival doing less. There is no one-size-fits-all, and that’s the huge advancement. Not everyone needs chemotherapy, but when you do, it certainly works.”

    Stacey’s Path to a Diagnosis

    Before her breast cancer diagnoses, Stacey shared, she had been experiencing serious menopausal issues, including brain fog and night sweats, before her partner, Michelle, noticed a lump in Stacey’s breast.

    “My mammograms had fallen behind because of Covid,” Stacey explained. She’d struggled to get an appointment and eventually forgot about the lump, and it wasn’t until an appointment with her gynecologist to address her menopausal symptoms that she remembered to have a professional breast exam.

    Within 24 hours of that exam, Stacey had gotten an appointment with a breast specialist, who confirmed she did have breast cancer.

    “At that moment, I became a Stacey Griffith that I did not know I was capable of becoming,” Stacey said. “I never met this personality, I never felt her before. I was completely out of body, out of mind. I felt like I was on another planet.”

    Chemo: Meditation & Cold-Cap Therapy

    While Stacey recently “rang the bell” to celebrate the end of her 12 rounds of chemotherapy, Jill is still in the middle of her treatment, and Stacey’s next steps are surgery and radiation.

    “The chemotherapy part for me, in my mind, with my mental health, is not the hardest part, which makes everybody go, ‘What are you saying? Chemo sucks. It was awful. I don’t know how you could say that.’ And for me, I’m petrified of radiation,” Stacey admitted, because she saw her late father go through it firsthand.

    But, according to Stacey, Dr. Port told her that “this is the most amazing technology, this is how we zap it,” and it’s come a long way since her father’s time.

    To handle her anxiety, Stacey said, “I did so much meditating before everything,” recommending the teachings of Dr. Joe Dispenza. “I had headphones in my ears all night long. I listened to him all night long. I would wake up early in the morning, take a cold outdoor shower in freezing cold water, and just — my meditations, I think, and the trial medicines and the chemo are what healed it. I really, positively think without the meditation part, I don’t think that it would’ve been as easy for me.”

    Stacey — who regularly keeps her hair short and credits her lack of hair loss to her meditation — didn’t choose to try cold-cap therapy the way Jill did. Mount Sinai describes cold-capping as an “approach [that] cools your scalp to a very low temperatures (-22 degrees Fahrenheit), which constricts blood vessels beneath the skin of the scalp. This reduces the amount of chemotherapy drugs that reach and are absorbed by the hair follicles. As a result, hair may be less likely to fall out.”

    “It is just such a brave choice to do that,” Stacey said of Jill. “I’m an athlete, and I love ice baths, but I would not choose that just because I’m too much of a baby.”

    Even with the therapy, though, Jill shared that she lost an estimated 30 percent of her hair. “Everybody’s choice is different,” Jill said. “My choice to cold-cap — you know, my hair has always been my thing. I’m a secure person in the way I look. I always thought I’m pretty enough for whatever, I concentrate my efforts on other things. But it’s definitely a commitment, and it’s definitely something that I’m committed to doing through these last four [treatments].”

    Choosing When to Work

    Throughout her breast cancer treatment, Stacey made the decision to step back from both work and social media.

    “I don’t want to go into my job giving 50 percent of who I am as an instructor, because that’s not who I am,” Stacey said of her job with SoulCycle as a Founding Senior Master Instructor. “I have always shown up with 100 percent.”

    Although it’s been hard, she explained that the choice not to work gave her more time to focus on her relationship and family. And even though she’s now ready to become “a little bit more accessible” on social media, forgetfulness from chemotherapy and a quick temper from steroid treatment make tasks like posting regularly a frustration.

    Stacey isn’t yet sure when she’ll return to teaching her spin classes. “The comeback class has changed its date many times,” she acknowledged. “I thought I would be able to come back in January, which I doubt that will happen, just because everything starts in November, and then it’s six weeks from that, and then there’s another four weeks … so now we’re already at February.”

    Stacey is anticipating a flood of new riders coming back to SoulCycle when she makes her return, as people who rode in her early classes almost two decades ago have promised to get back on the bike in honor of her breast cancer survival, and she wants the company to be ready for that as well.

    “I just feel like the timing of me coming back has to be in-line with the timing of SoulCycle ready for a new generation of all of us riders,” she said.

    Jill, on the other hand, has continued working as best she can while in treatment because she wanted to document her journey in real-time and spread awareness of the importance of early detection. Her TODAY Show coworker Hoda Kotb went through her own breast cancer battle when she was diagnosed in 2007.

    “The non-treatment weeks, I can get my mojo going, and I can look like myself, I can come to work. But the treatment weeks are f-ing hell,” Jill shared. But, she added, “I want to leave this with hope and advancements in the technology so that you can live through chemotherapy and treatment if you need it.”


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    Jackie Kolgraf

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  • Talking With Your Child About CPP

    Talking With Your Child About CPP

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    Some kids seem to grow up faster than others. That’s even truer if your child has central precocious puberty (CPP). That’s sexual maturity that starts before age 8 in girls or age 9 in boys.

    Puberty can affect how your child looks, feels, and acts. And when it happens too early, kids may get confused or embarrassed. You and your doctor can help talk them through the process.

    Here are some topics to bring up. 

    Body Changes

    Often, it’s not a medical problem that causes CPP. It’s just an early start to a natural part of life. Jami Josefson, MD, an endocrinologist at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, says that’s something you should tell your child.

    “They may be the first one to have some body changes, and that’s OK,” Josefson says. “Let kids know there’s nothing wrong with them, this is just the way it goes. Soon, everybody else will have these changes, too.”

    Josefson suggests parents read about puberty with their child. There are lots of books to choose from, but she likes the Care & Keeping of You series by the American Girl doll company.

    Alla Vash-Margita, MD, chief of pediatric and adolescent gynecology at Yale Medicine, agrees that your child should know what’s happening to their body. You can tailor your talks based on your child’s level of maturity and age.

    In her practice, kids who are 7 or older usually understand the word puberty, but a 4-year-old may not. So for younger children, she’ll say they’re going through a “transition” from their childhood to teenage years.

    Vash-Margita, who treats girls and some transgender boys, says she also explains everything from breast development and growth spurts to pubic hair and periods. Sometimes she’ll use teaching aids.

    “I have lots of pictures in my office, so I show them what a body of a child looks like and the body of a girl who has had puberty.” 

    Medication

    It’s pretty common for kids with CPP to take drugs known as puberty blockers, Vash-Margita says. One of the main reasons is because early puberty shortens the window kids have to grow taller. Treatment can stop the brain from telling the pituitary gland to make the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen. If taken before puberty ends – something doctors figure out based on bone growth – medication can pause or reverse the maturing process until your child is older.

    Medical tests and treatments can be a little scary for kids. So Vash-Margita tells them why their puberty is early and why they’ll stop it. She uses illustrations to show how the brain, ovaries, and uterus all work together.

    Then she points out, “In your case, the brain started sending signals to your ovaries, and your ovaries started producing another hormone, and this hormone is making all these changes in your body, and we can give you medication to block that process.”

    It can be hard for really young children to grasp all that. So Vash-Margita sometimes just tells kids that medicine will slow some body changes down and “allow you to look just like your classmates and friends.”

    Emotional Challenges

    Girls who develop earlier than their friends may become self-conscious. “Developing breast buds when you’re 4 or 5 is stressful,” says Vash-Margita.

    On top of body changes, kids with CPP might have mood swings.

    Talk to your doctor if your child isn’t ready for puberty.

    “One of the goals of therapy is to keep girls from having a monthly menstrual cycle,” Josefson says. “Which, when girls are really young, can be a challenge to understand emotionally and also from a hygiene perspective.”

    Josefson says puberty blockers can “put everything on pause to prevent kids from developing and appearing older than their age.” 

    And let your child know they can come to you if they’re feeling low. Make sure to ask them how their schoolwork and friendships are going, too. Reach out to a mental health professional any time you or your child needs some extra help. Josefson says a social worker or therapist can help your family talk through some of the fears and anxieties around CPP.

    Keep in mind that CPP might be a little tougher on transgender children – those who don’t identify with the sex they were assigned at birth. Josefson says most kids with CPP are comfortable with their gender identity. But early puberty can be extra confusing or unwanted for those who aren’t.

    Talking to Others About CPP

    It’s important to have honest talks with your child and their doctor. But this kind of information is private, Josefson says, and you don’t have to share details with anyone else.

    If your extended family or child’s teachers bring the subject up, “you just say the child is tall for their age or this is how development runs in our family,” she says. “It’s kind of none of their business.”

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  • BEST OF 2022: Supermom In Training: Why you NEED to talk to your kids about sex

    BEST OF 2022: Supermom In Training: Why you NEED to talk to your kids about sex

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    Want to know why you need to talk to your kids about sex?!

    Just Google “what is sex?”. If you don’t tell them what sex is, this is what they will think it is.

    Scary, no?

    About a year ago, I had the full “sex talk” with my 8-year-old. He’s always been a pretty mature kid so I knew he was ready to hear it. Now, in third grade, he and his friends are doing a lot of joking around that centres around sexuality. The difference is, I know my son understands these jokes… but I also know the kids who are throwing around these terms and sound effects, and they most definitely don’t know or understand the depth of what they are saying.

    Yes, sound effects. Moaning, to be precise.

    There are lots of jokes about penises. Doodles of dinkies. Mentions of “humping” and more. So much more.

    Perhaps it’s better that your kids hear about sex and sexuality not from their friends, who are tossing around words without really knowing what they’re talking about. Sure, it might seem uncomfortable to say certain things about sex to your kids. After all, they’re so innocent, right?

    Trust me: Coming from a mom whose son trusts her enough to divulge all the on-goings of 8-, 9-, and 10-year-old kids, you want to help them out on this one. Because if you don’t fill in the blanks, Google or Siri or the kid in the schoolyard will. 

    A full-time work-from-home mom, Jennifer Cox (our “Supermom in Training”) loves dabbling in healthy cooking, craft projects, family outings, and more, sharing with readers everything she knows about being an (almost) superhero mommy.

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