Month: September 2024

london — An animal rights group trying to get real fur out of the bearskin caps worn by King’s Guards at Buckingham Palace took aim Thursday at the cost of the ceremonial garb.  The price of the caps soared 30% in a year to more than 2,000 pounds ($2,600) apiece for the hats made of black bear fur, the Ministry of Defense said in response to a freedom of information request by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.  “Stop wasting taxpayer pounds on caps made from slaughtered wildlife and switch to faux fur today,” the group said in a statement.  …

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pentagon — The Pentagon says it has nearly $6 billion in funding for Ukraine left that could expire at the end of this month unless Congress or the State Department acts to extend the military’s authority to draw weapons from its stockpiles to send to Kyiv. “We have $5.9 billion left in Ukraine Presidential Drawdown Authority, all but $100 million of which will expire at the end of the fiscal year,” Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder said Friday. “The department will continue to provide drawdown packages in the near future and is working with Congress to seek an extension …

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washington — The United States and some of its allies have launched a global campaign to undercut efforts by RT and other Russian state-backed media outlets, accusing them of operating on behalf of the Kremlin’s intelligence agencies. The State Department on Friday announced sanctions against two people and three entities, including RT’s Moscow-based parent company, saying new intelligence leaves no doubt that they are no longer engaged in providing anything that resembles news and information. RT’s parent company and its subsidiaries “are no longer merely fire hoses of Russian government propaganda and disinformation,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters …

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Washington — When Kamala Harris and Donald Trump met in a presidential debate on Tuesday, they spoke about a range of foreign policy issues, including China and Russia’s war in Ukraine. But while the debate attracted large audiences and coverage in the United States and Europe, Beijing and Moscow’s state-run media were relatively quiet on the event. The minimal coverage is a contrast to the presidential debate between Joe Biden and Trump in June. Chinese media After that debate, Beijing-run outlets — like media around the world — were flooded with coverage of Biden’s poor performance. But Harris-Trump coverage was noticeably …

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Warsaw, Poland — Poland’s lower house of parliament on Friday adopted legislation to reform the controversial constitutional court that remains under the control of the nationalists previously in power. To enter into effect, the legislation still needs to be signed by President Andrzej Duda — an ally of the preceding right-wing Law and Justice, or PiS, party government — who has not indicated what he plans to do. The constitutional court had been a source of contention between the PiS government and Brussels, which believed the tribunal damaged the independence of Poland’s judiciary and extended the party’s influence over the courts. …

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Ukraine is preparing for winter, which energy experts predict will be the most difficult since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Russia’s intense rocket attacks over the spring and summer destroyed 90% of Ukraine’s thermal generation capacity, and Ukrainians are rushing to restore damaged power plants. Lesia Bakalets in Kyiv reports on those efforts. Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets …

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Washington — United States President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are meeting Friday amid an intensified push by Ukraine to loosen restrictions on using weapons provided by the U.S. and Britain to strike Russia.  The talks come amid signs that the White House could be moving toward a shift in its policy, and as Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned that Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons would put NATO at war with Moscow.  Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided long-range missiles against targets deeper inside Russia during this week’s visit to Kyiv by U.S. Secretary of State …

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Singapore — Pope Francis wrapped up an arduous 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Friday, defying health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. The 87-year-old pontiff flies home to Rome from Singapore, completing his longest trip in duration and distance since he became head of the world’s estimated 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 13 years ago. The Argentine pope has relied on a wheelchair since 2022 because of knee pain and sciatica. He had a hernia operation in June 2023, and earlier this year he battled flu and bronchitis. …

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