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Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and his French counterpart, Jean-Noël Barrot, spoke in Paris on Wednesday about the challenges already posed to U.S. alliances by Donald J. Trump's imminent return to the White House, and said they believe that a The American conquest of Greenland was an impossible idea.But they also said their nations will try to continue working together despite potential political turbulence in the coming years, including war in Ukraine and conflicts in the Middle East.In recent days, European leaders have focused on what many see as incendiary statements from Trump and his allies. The president-elect has said he would like to make Greenland part of the United States. The autonomous territory is controlled by NATO ally Denmark. And one senior adviser, billionaire ent...

The United Automobile Workers union is seeking approval from federal labor regulators for a union election among workers at a Ford Motor battery plant in Kentucky, providing a major test of organized labor's strength following Donald's election J. Trump.The union filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board on Tuesday to allow workers at the new factory in Glendale, about 55 miles south of Louisville, to vote on whether they want to join the UAW. The plant, which is expected to begin production this year, is a joint venture between Ford and SK On, a South Korean battery company.In a statement, the UAW said a “supermajority” of workers at the plant had signed papers expressing their desire to join the union.“We want to be able to collaborate with management and have a say in how...

President-elect Donald J. Trump said Tuesday that "all hell will break loose in the Middle East" if hostages held by Hamas are not released by Inauguration Day, repeating the threat four times during a wide-ranging news conference at his headquarters. Mar-a-Lago Estate in Florida.“If they don't come back when I take office, all hell will break loose in the Middle East,” he told reporters. “And it won't be good for Hamas, and frankly it won't be good for anyone. All hell will break loose. I don't have to say anything else, but that's how it is."Trump has not said what actions he might take if the hostages are not released before he takes office. And he declined to provide details about what he or his advisers are doing in the days leading up to the inauguration. Officials say about 100 host...

Reports of a surge in respiratory virus cases in China have evoked dark echoes of the start of the Covid-19 pandemic almost exactly five years ago.But despite the superficial similarities, medical experts say this situation is very different and much less worrisome.The Chinese cases are believed to be infections with human metapneumovirus, known to doctors as HMPV. Here's what we know so far:What is HMPV?It is one of several pathogens that circulate around the world every year, causing respiratory diseases. HMPV is common, so common that most people become infected as children and may get several infections over the course of their lives. In countries with cold months HMPV may have an annual season, much like influenza, while in places closer to the Equator it circulates at lower levels th...

After struggling without heat for six days, a breakaway region of the eastern European country of Moldova is now also short of electricity, with authorities ordering eight hours of power cuts a day to prevent the electricity system from being overloaded collapse.The energy crisis in Transnistria, a sliver of pro-Russian territory between Moldova and Ukraine, began on January 1 when Moscow cut off the supply of natural gas through a pipeline running through Ukraine. It intensified this week as residents tried to keep warm using electric heaters, overloading and often blowing up an antiquated Soviet-era power grid. Power outages have in turn disrupted water supplies.The disruption of Russian gas supplies, caused by Ukraine's refusal to renew an expiring agreement on gas transit, has raised q...

In recent years, Mr. White and Mr. Zuckerberg, Meta's chief executive, have combined their passion for professional fighting, including mixed martial arts, which Mr. Zuckerberg took up in 2022.“Dana is the president and CEO of UFC and has built it into one of the most valuable, fastest growing and most popular sports enterprises in the world,” Zuckerberg said in his post. “I admired him as an entrepreneur and his ability to build such a beloved brand.”In 2023, White attempted to broker a cage match between Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, Tesla and SpaceX. Musk, who has become a close ally of Trump, eventually withdrew from the fight, citing an old injury. He said Mr Zuckerberg was guilty of not making himself available to fight afterwards.Meta, which owns Facebook, In...

A top U.S. envoy who helped broker the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah reassured Monday that Israel will fully withdraw from southern Lebanon, as called for in the fragile 60-day truce deal that put the bloodiest war on hold between the two sides in recent decades. .Speaking to reporters in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, envoy Amos Hochstein said Israeli troops had withdrawn from the southern city of Naqoura on Monday. In a statement, the Lebanese army said it had redeployed to the city following the Israeli withdrawal.“These withdrawals will continue until Israeli forces are completely out of Lebanon,” Hochstein said after meeting with senior Lebanese officials. “There has been a lot of progress in the last few days and I expect to see more progress in the days to come.”While the tr...

Snakes like these are giants. Black mambas can stretch up to 14 feet, and the longest king cobra ever recorded was 19 feet.Puff adders are small, by contrast, up to six inches short and no longer than six feet, but very thick. They have long, retractable fangs that can deliver venom to muscles.Their venom destroys blood clotting factors and victims die a slow, gruesome death, bleeding into the brain, eyes and mouth.Identifying the attacker can help personalize treatment. But many people never see the snake that bites them, or if they do, they can't identify it. To the untrained eye, venomous snakes may appear indistinguishable from harmless ones.The names don't make it any easier. Green mambas are green, but black mambas are light gray to dark brown; they are so called because the inside o...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer fired back at Elon Musk on Monday after days of inflammatory social media posts by Musk, the billionaire owner of X, indirectly accusing him and others of "spreading lies and misinformation" about gang victims of sexual abuse of minors. .“Those who spread lies and disinformation, as far as they can, are not interested in victims,” Starmer told reporters at an event in south London dedicated to the NHS clean-up. “They are interested in themselves.”Starmer also defended himself against Musk's accusations that he did not act quickly enough against gangs who abused and exploited young girls when he was chief prosecutor. Around 1,400 girls are estimated to have been exploited in the northern town of Rotherham by "grooming gangs" made up largely of British Pak...

“A journalist finds himself in the woods.” Marc Da Costa, a digital artist with a Ph.D. in anthropology, spoke from the controls of an AI-driven video installation at the Onassis Foundation's ONX Studio, a high-tech multimedia laboratory in the Olympic Tower in Midtown Manhattan. He was talking to the computer running this installation. About me.“A huge fleet of food delivery bicycles appears,” Da Costa continued, telling a nonsensical story that AI would soon render on screen. “The heavens open and a friendly, galactic being descends with a scepter. Frank and the galactic being meet the delivery men and share a meal under the forest canopy. ..."Moments later, a fleet of food delivery bikes actually appeared on the three enormous screens surrounding us, the entire scene rendered in a charm...