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Biden to host Hanukkah ceremony at the White House amid fears about rising antisemitism

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is hosting a White House reception Monday to mark Hanukkah, celebrating the holiday as he has continued to denounce rising antisemitism in the U.S. and abroad amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.The president, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will attend the reception. Hanukkah continues through Friday.The Biden administration in May announced what it called the first-ever national strategy to counter antisemitism. That laid out more than 100 actions, including a series of steps to raise awareness and understanding of antisemitism and the threat it poses around the U.S. Still, antisemitism has only intensified in some quarters since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and other militants sparked Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which faces heightened criticism for the mounting Palestinian death toll. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned of an impending “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged its members to de...

Biden heads to Philadelphia for firefighters and fundraising

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will join Philadelphia firefighters on Monday to announce federal funding that will reopen three fire companies, according to the White House. The companies — Engine 6, Ladder 1 and Ladder 11 — were decommissioned during the Great Recession. Union leaders have said the cutbacks hampered the city’s response to a deadly rowhouse fire in the Fairmount neighborhood last year. Three adults and nine children were killed in the blaze. The White House said Philadelphia would receive $22.4 million to pay for 72 firefighters’ salaries and benefits for three years. The money comes from the Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) program, which is administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and was made available through last year’s budget. Also scheduled to attend Monday’s event are Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell. Ed Kelly, p...

The Golden Globe nominations are coming. Here’s everything you need to know

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

After scandal and several troubled years, the Golden Globes are ready for a comeback.The revamped group, now a for-profit endeavor with a larger and more diverse voting body, is announcing nominations Monday for its January awards show.HOW TO WATCH THE GLOBE NOMINATIONSCedric the Entertainer and Wilmer Valderrama will announce the nominees, starting at 8 a.m. Eastern on www.CBSNews.com/GoldenGlobes. At 8:30 a.m., an additional 10 categories will be announced on “CBS Mornings.”In addition to nominations for films, shows and actors, segmented between comedy/musical and drama, the 2024 show will have two new categories: cinematic and box office achievement and best stand-up comedian on television.Analysts expect films like “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” “Poor Things” and “The Color Purple” will be among the top nominees.WHAT’S NEW WITH THE GOLDEN GLOBES?The 81st Golden Globe Awards will be the first major broadcast of awards season, with a new h...

Holocaust survivors will mark Hanukkah amid worries over war in Israel, global rise of antisemitism

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Holocaust survivors from around the globe will mark the start of the fifth day of Hanukkah together with a virtual ceremony as Jews worldwide worry about the Israel-Hamas war and a spike of antisemitism in Europe, the United States and elsewhere. Survivors can join an online ceremony of a menorah lighting on Monday night to pay tribute to the 6 million European Jews killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust. Several dozen survivors were also expected to gather in-person for a menorah lighting at Jerusalem’s Western Wall — the holiest place where Jews can pray.“Holocaust survivors somehow overcame the depravity of concentration camps, death camps and killing centers, among other horrors, to become our living exemplars, providing a roadmap on how light can overcome darkness,” Greg Schneider, the executive vice president of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, said in remarks released to The Associated Press ahead of the ceremony. The New York-based confer...

Russian presidential hopeful vows to champion peace, women and a ‘humane’ country

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

Sometime in the early 2010s, Yekaterina Duntsova’s eldest daughter drew a picture of her debating Russian President Vladimir Putin live on prime-time TV.A decade on, the little-known journalist and mom-of-three from a small town in western Russia recalls the drawing as a joke about her civic activism — but says it also carried a “message about the future.”Duntsova hopes that future might see her forcing Putin into a run-off in Russia’s next presidential vote, scheduled for March, despite her political inexperience and analysts’ assessments that the Kremlin leader’s tight grip on politics has virtually assured him another term as head of state.Speaking to The Associated Press in Moscow, Duntsova, a 40-year-old independent, said her message of peace with Ukraine, freedom for imprisoned critics of the government and a “humane” Russia that heeds its citizens’ concerns could give hope to those opposing the Kremlin’s military operation in Ukraine, the decades-long centralization of power ...

A day of 2 prime ministers in Poland begins the delayed transition to a centrist, pro-EU government

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The national conservatives who have ruled Poland for eight years are expected to finally relinquish power this week to a centrist bloc led by political veteran Donald Tusk.The transition will come in several steps over three days, starting Monday, nearly two months since Poles turned out in huge numbers to vote for change in a national election. The transition was delayed for weeks by the president, who chose to keep his political allies in office as long as possible.The change of power in Poland is consequential for the 38 million citizens of the central European nation, where collective anger produced a record-high turnout to replace a government that had been eroding democratic norms.There is relief for many, including women who saw reproductive rights eroded and LGBTQ+ people who faced a government hate campaign that drove some to leave the country.The change holds important implications for Ukraine and the EU as well.Tusk, a past EU leader, is expected to ...

Jury trial will decide how much Giuliani must pay election workers over false election fraud claims

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A trial set to get underway in Washington on Monday will determine how much Rudy Giuliani will have to pay two Georgia election workers who he falsely accused of fraud while pushing Donald Trump’s baseless claims after he lost the 2020 election. The former New York City mayor has already been found liable in the defamation lawsuit brought by Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, who endured threats and harassment after they became the target of a conspiracy theory spread by Trump and his allies. The only issue to be determined at the trial — which will begin with jury selection in Washington’s federal court — is the amount of damages, if any, Giuliani must pay. The case is among many legal and financial woes mounting for Giuliani, who was celebrated as “America’s mayor” in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attack and became one of the most ardent promoters of Trump’s election lies after he lost to President Joe Biden. Giuliani is ...

Biden’s 2024 dilemma: US economy looks solid, but voters still not feeling it

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden goes into next year’s election with a vexing challenge: Just as the U.S. economy is getting stronger, people are still feeling horrible about it.Pollsters and economists say there has never been as wide a gap between the underlying health of the economy and public perception. The divergence could be a decisive factor in whether the Democrat secures a second term next year. Republicans are seizing on the dissatisfaction to skewer Biden, while the White House is finding less success as it tries to highlight economic progress.“Things are getting better and people think things are going to get worse — and that’s the most dangerous piece of this,” said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, who has worked with Biden. Lake said voters no longer want to just see inflation rates fall — rather, they want an outright decline in prices, something that last happened on a large scale during the Great Depression. “Honestly, I’m kind of mystified by it,...

Texas tops Stanford 3-1 to clinch spot in NCAA volleyball semifinals

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — There's only one team that isn't a No. 1 seed in its region headed to the NCAA volleyball national semifinals, and it's the defending national champion Texas Longhorns.The second-seeded Longhorns avenged an early-season loss to top-seeded Stanford 3-1 in the regional final Saturday at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, California. Texas will play Wisconsin on Thursday in Tampa, Florida. It's the 15th time in school history that Texas has made it to the national semifinals.MORE THAN THE SCORE: Stay up to date on sports stories like these, and sign up for our More than the Score sports newsletter at kxan.com/newslettersSet scores were 25-16, 15-25, 25-19 and 25-22.Madisen Skinner put the Longhorns on her back in the deciding set, hammering eight of her match-high 24 kills in the frame with a service ace to lift them to victory. Asjia O'Neal had 10 kills with five blocks while Bella Bergmark and Molly Phillips combined for 12 blocks.Texas was much more efficient in its attac...

Concert review: Young musicians bring sweet reverence to Lucia Celebration Concert

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:02:01 GMT

The American Swedish Institute’s Lucia Choir brought a bit of light to these dark days through the museum’s annual Lucia Celebration Concert, commemorating the Feast of Saint Lucia, practiced in Sweden as well as other Scandinavian countries.The choir, made up of children and teenagers who rehearse for five weeks, performed two sold-out concerts at Larson Hall in the Nelson Cultural Center on Sunday. Led by Lucia choir director Ingrid Aune, with accompanist Janis Aune impressively switching between piano, Nyckelharpa (a bowed string instrument with more strings than a violin, and held by the waist), and harp, the group admirably rang in the festival of light.At times, the young people doubled as instrumentalists, accompanying the singing as part of ASI’s Lilla Lag fiddle/cello folk music ensemble. The youth will perform a sold-out final show in the museum’s historic Turnblad mansion on Dec. 13.The feast day of Lucia of Syracuse (283–304), also known as Saint Lucy Day, began to be ce...