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France's foreign minister said Russian President Vladimir Putin should understand that NATO also has nuclear weapons when making threats to deploy his arsenal. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was speaking with French television network TF1Info when he was asked if Putin's remarks were "tantamount to threatening Russian use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict," Reuters reported. He said he believed so.

If there's one person who shouldn't pontificate about dealing with Putin and Russia, it's Hillary Clinton. As Obama's Secretary of State, Hillary staged that pathetic, supposed, "reset" of relations with Putin's Russia, capped by laughingly pushing her [mistranslated] reset button with Putin's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Subsequently during Obama's tenure, Putin invaded and annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine, as Obama meekly responded with some feckless sanctions. So much for your reset, Hillary. But there was Hillary on Friday's Morning Joe, opining at great length about how America should respond to the invasion. Joe Scarborough rolled out the red carpet...

Most Americans live in places where healthy people, including students in schools, can safely take a break from wearing masks under new U.S. guidelines released Friday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention outlined the new set of measures for communities where COVID-19 is easing its grip, with less of a focus on positive test results and more on what’s happening at hospitals. The new system greatly changes the look of the CDC’s risk map and puts more than 70% of the U.S. population in counties where the coronavirus is posing a low or medium threat to hospitals. Those are...

From the moment President Biden promised to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been the likeliest pick. And that is who he he nominated Friday to fill retiring Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s seat. “She cares about making sure that democracy works for the American people,” Biden said Friday as he nominated her, also saying “For too long the government and the courts have not looked like America.” Here’s what you need to know about her. She’s got a background made for a Supreme Court nominee: Jackson grew up in Miami, her mom a...

If you want to make your vote count in Texas in 2022, you should vote in the March 1 primary. Here’s why: the general election in November—the one that pits Republicans against Democrats—will likely be the least competitive in a long time, at least when it comes to congressional and statehouse races. The candidates who prevail in the primary will by and large be shoo-ins in the fall. The culprit is gerrymandering. New district maps drawn by Republicans in the Texas Legislature last year have dramatically reduced the number of congressional and statehouse districts in which both the Republican and...

U.S. consumer spending increased more than expected in January, offering the economy a strong boost at the start of the first quarter, but price pressures continued to mount, with annual inflation surging at rates last experienced four decades ago. Growth prospects were further brightened by other data on Friday showing solid demand by businesses for equipment last month. The reports from the Commerce Department suggested underlying strength in the economy that could sustain the expansion as the Federal Reserve starts raising interest rates to quell inflation, and provide a shield from the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The first...

A leading hypothesis to explain the “Universal vaccination nation” obsession is that vaccine passports are a strategic portal to achieving a key World Economic Forum objective. That being development of a digital identity-based social credit scoring system which will enable management of human behavior by weaponizing banking and access to funds based on behavior and speech. The core hypothesis here is that western democratic governments (which in normal times have personal privacy constraints) can leverage the emergency to mandate a digital identity and proof of vaccination with associated QR codes and cell phone-based contact tracing in the interests of “public...

In a recent private meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump made a personal pitch to Senate Republican campaign chief Rick Scott. “You should run for Senate majority leader,” he told the National Republican Senatorial Committee, according to a person familiar with the exchange. It wasn’t the first time, either: Trump has repeatedly told Scott he’d be great at the job and should challenge Mitch McConnell, multiple people with knowledge of the interactions told POLITICO. The Florida Republican didn’t tell Trump “no” that day — though he’s told reporters that he supports McConnell for leader. Instead, Scott quickly pivoted to the reason...

British troops arrive in Estonia transporting military equipment and tanks

KYIV—Ukraine is under attack by its aggressive neighbor Russia, and Climate Czar John Kerry couldn't just sit around and do nothing. Kerry immediately hopped in his private jet, picked up a stack of solar panels, and flew them into war-torn Ukraine to airdrop them to citizens and soldiers about to get hit hard by the Russian army. "This will help offset your missiles' carbon emissions!" Kerry shouted down at the surrounded Ukrainians. "You're welcome!" Kerry says he hopes the solar panels will help the Ukrainians achieve carbon neutrality in the midst of a full-on attack by Russia. The move comes...

The EU will freeze the assets of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, as part of a sanctions package set for approval Friday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell confirmed on Friday. They will not, however, be banned from traveling to the EU, according to four diplomats. "This is an important step," Borrell said in brief remarks, noting that the only other world leaders under EU sanctions are Bashar al-Assad in Syria and Alexander Lukashenko in Belarus. The move comes as the EU faces pressure from Ukraine to ratchet up its penalties on Moscow, with Russian...

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened the alliance by telling it to withdraw forces from member nations or face consequences. This goes far beyond Ukraine," Stoltenberg warned. "This is about how Russia is actually challenging, contesting core values for our security. Then warning that NATO should withdraw all forces and infrastructure from almost half of our members. "They said that if we don't do that, if we don't meet their demands, there will be what they call ‘military-technical consequences,'" he added. The leader of the 30-member alliance said that in response to...

A convoy with ammunition from Poland has arrived in Ukraine, the Polish minister of defense has announced. Mariusz Błaszczak wrote on Twitter on Friday that "Poland supports and is in solidarity with the Ukrainian people," as he announced that a convoy with ammunition had reached that country. "Poland firmly opposes the Russian aggression," he added. The defense minister said that, in early February, the government had adopted a resolution on aid to Ukraine. "We will provide the most state-of-the-art Polish equipment - Polish Man-Portable Air Defense Missiles (MANPADS) - as well as ammunition," Błaszczak said.

A Russian spa in San Francisco has declared this weekend the “Weekend of Ukraine,” offering anyone with a Ukrainian passport free spa passes. Archimedes Banya, a Russian banya, or bathhouse, with elements of Greek, Turkish and German spa and steam room culture, issued a statement to its customers over email Thursday in support of Ukraine, after Russian forces launched an invasion of Ukraine. “We, the staff at Archimedes Banya, are supporting the independence and national sovereignty of Ukraine, and express our condolences to the Ukrainian people suffering from the aggression,” reads the statement from spa management, which was also posted...

Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden predicted potential conflict for Ukraine under a hypothetical second term of Donald Trump’s presidency on the campaign trail in 2019. The remarks resurfaced this week in light of the ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine under current President Biden ordered by leader Vladimir Putin on Thursday.

Thursday, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) told MSNBC host Joy Reid there were options for the federal government to prevent what Reid deemed to be “further price-gouging” by oil companies, which she suggested was really to blame for rising gas prices, not inflation. Jackson Lee urged Biden to use the “his bully pulpit” but also said legislation was an option to “penalize” oil companies for alleged price-gouging.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pledged to remain in the capital even as Russian troops fought to enter Kyiv, Zelensky said, "The enemy identifies me as the number one target." "They want to destroy Ukraine politically by destroying the head of state," Zelensky told Ukrainians in a video during early hours of Friday. His family was the No. 2 target, he said, but also remained in Ukraine. "My family is not traitors, but citizens of Ukraine. But I have no right to say where they are now." Zelensky said he was staying "with everyone who is needed for the work of...

This is the moment a deadly machine-gun skirmish broke out on the streets of a Kyiv suburb today between Ukrainian forces and alleged Russian saboteurs. The clash saw at least two people gunned down in a stolen Ukrainian army truck in a car park in front of a large apartment block in Obolon, found north of Kyiv. As the sound of gunshots echoed off the nearby buildings, a tank - said to have been stolen by Russians - also crashed and crushed a civilian car on the road running past the car park. Miraculously the driver - an elderly person...

President Biden’s previous comments on what could "happen in Ukraine" under former President Trump are resurfacing amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Back in 2019, then-candidate Biden took a dig at Trump while speaking at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Women’s Leadership Forum Conference, warning the audience against voting to re-elect Trump by suggesting a hypothetical fall of Ukraine. "It’s going to take a hell of a lot of work to make up for all the damage he’s done internationally and nationally," Biden said. "His network of thugs and co-conspirators are going to continue to try to undermine our...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought turmoil to commodities markets as the conflict ensnares merchant shipping. At least two merchant ships have been reportedly hit since Russian forces began the attack on its neighbor this week. Insurers are either not offering to cover vessels, or they’re demanding huge premiums to do so.