Kentucky Senate hopeful says Mitch McConnell doesn't deserve lifetime achievement award
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
North Koreans swim and play at a beach resort touted as a boost for tourism
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Koreans swam, rode water park slides and enjoyed other water activities at a newly opened mammoth beach resort, state media reported Wednesday, as the country largely maintains a ban on the entry of foreign tourists. The Wonsan-Kalma eastern coastal tourist zone, which North Korea says can accommodate nearly 20,000 people, is at the heart of leader Kim Jong Un's push to boost tourism as a way to improve his country's struggling economy. But prospects for the resort, the biggest tourist complex in North Korea, aren't clear, as the country won't likely fully reopen its borders and embrace Western tourists anytime soon, observers say. The official Korean Central News Agency reported the Wonsan-Kalma area began service Tuesday, drawing a large number of North Koreans who enjoyed open water swimming, slides and other attractions at a water park and various water activities in the area. 'The guests' hearts were filled with overwhelming emotion as they felt the astonishing new heights of our-style tourism culture blossoming under the era of the Workers' Party,' KCNA said in a typical propaganda-driven dispatch. Photos released by North Korean state media showed children with tubes and inflatable balls dipping into the sea, while others in colorful swimsuits beamed while sitting beneath red-and-white parasols. Kim said at the opening ceremony last week the site would be recorded as 'one of the greatest successes this year' and called its opening 'the proud first step' toward realizing the government's policy of developing tourism. State media said North Korea has plans to build similar tourist zones around the country. North Korea, however, hasn't said whether and when it would fully resume international tourism that is key to their success. Since 2022, North Korea has been slowly easing the curbs imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic and reopening its borders in phases. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. But Chinese group tours, which made up more than 90% of visitors before the pandemic, remain stalled while there are questions about ties between the two socialist neighbors. In February this year, North Korea allowed a small group of international tourists to visit its northeastern border city of Rason, only to stop that tour program in less than a month. Since February 2024, North Korea has been accepting Russian tourists amid expanding military cooperation between the countries. But Russian government records seen by South Korean experts show a little more than 2,000 Russians, only about 880 of them tourists, visited North Korea last year, a number that is too small to revive North Korea's tourism. Russia's Primorsky region, which borders North Korea, said last week that the first group of Russian tourists to the Wonsan-Kalma resort will depart on July 7 for a eight-day trip that includes a visit to Pyongyang. ___ Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung contributed to this report.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
US, Indo-Pacific partners agree to strengthen maritime, critical minerals cooperation
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States. Australia, India and Japan have agreed to expand their cooperation on maritime security in the Indo-Pacific and further collaborate on supplies of critical minerals and rare earths that are key components of high-tech production. The foreign ministers of the four countries, known as the 'Quad,' met in Washington on Tuesday as the Trump administration seeks to expand U.S. influence in the Indo-Pacific to compete with a rising China amid tensions with partners over trade and defense issues. In a joint meeting with his three colleagues, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Quad must be a 'vehicle for action' that goes beyond statements of intent and stressed that commerce and trade will be critical to ensuring the group's relevance in the future. To that end, the four announced in a statement the creation of a 'Quad Critical Minerals Initiative' that aims 'to strengthen economic security and collective resilience by collaborating on securing and diversifying critical mineral supply chains.' The statement did not provide details of the initiative. 'We are deeply concerned about the abrupt constriction and future reliability of key supply chains, specifically for critical minerals,' they said. 'This includes the use of non-market policies and practices for critical minerals, certain derivative products, and mineral processing technology.' The statement did not mention China by name, but Chinese domination of the critical minerals supply chain has long been a concern of the U.S. and others. The ministers expressed specific concern about rising tensions in the East and South China Seas, where Beijing has become increasingly assertive of maritime and territorial claims that are rejected by its smaller neighbors. 'We reiterate our strong opposition to any unilateral actions that seek to change the status quo by force or coercion,' they said. 'We express our serious concerns regarding dangerous and provocative actions, including interference with offshore resource development, the repeated obstruction of the freedoms of navigation and overflight, and the dangerous maneuvers by military aircraft and coast guard and maritime militia vessels, especially the unsafe use of water cannons and ramming or blocking actions in the South China Sea.' The ministers also condemned North Korea for continuing to launch ballistic missiles, expand its nuclear weapons program and engage in malicious cyberactivity. In a veiled reference to North Korean support for Russia in its war against Ukraine, they expressed 'deep concern about countries that are deepening military cooperation with North Korea, which directly undermines the global nonproliferation regime.'
Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
Republican budget bill dismantles climate law passed by Democrats
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sprawling Republican budget bill approved by the Senate Tuesday removes a proposed tax on solar and wind energy projects but quickly phases out tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy. The Senate approved the bill 51-50 as President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers move to dismantle the 2022 climate law passed by Democrats under former President Joe Biden. Vice President JD Vance broke a tie after three Republican senators voted no. The bill now moves to the House for final legislative approval. The excise tax on solar and wind generation projects was added to the Senate bill over the weekend, prompting bipartisan pushback from lawmakers as well as clean energy developers and advocates. The final bill removes the tax but mostly sticks with legislative language released late Friday night and would end incentives for clean energy sooner than a draft version unveiled two weeks ago. Some warn of spike in utility bills Democrats and environmental groups said the GOP plan would crush growth in the wind and solar industry and lead to a spike in Americans' utility bills. The measure jeopardizes hundreds of renewable energy projects slated to boost the nation's electric grid, they said. 'Despite limited improvements, this legislation undermines the very foundation of America's manufacturing comeback and global energy leadership,' said Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association. If the bill becomes law, 'families will face higher electric bills, factories will shut down, Americans will lose their jobs, and our electric grid will grow weaker,'' she said. The American Petroleum Institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, applauded the bill's passage. 'This historic legislation will help usher in a new era of energy dominance by unlocking opportunities for investment, opening lease sales and expanding access to oil and natural gas development,'' said Mike Sommers, the group's president and CEO. While Democrats complained that the bill would make it harder to get renewable energy to the electric grid, Republicans said the measure represents historic savings for taxpayers and supports production of traditional energy sources such as oil, natural gas and coal, as well as nuclear power, increasing reliability. In a compromise approved overnight, the bill allows wind and solar projects that begin construction within a year of the law's enactment to get a full tax credit without a deadline for when the projects are 'placed in service,'' or plugged into the grid. Wind and solar projects that begin later must be placed in service by the end of 2027 to get a credit. The bill retains incentives for technologies such as advanced nuclear, geothermal and hydropower through 2032. Bill 'could have been worse,' Murkowski says Changes to the renewable energy language — including removal of the excise tax on wind and solar — were negotiated by a group of Republican senators, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Iowa Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley. Iowa is a top producer of wind power, while Murkowski is a longtime supporter of renewable energy as crucial for achieving energy independence, particularly for isolated rural communities in Alaska. Murkowski, who voted in favor of the final bill, called her decision-making process 'agonizing.' Changes that push back the timeline for terminating wind and solar credits mean that 'a good number' of Alaska projects would still qualify, she said. 'Again, it's not all we wanted. It could have been worse,' she told reporters Tuesday. Murkowski praised provisions calling for more oil lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other areas in Alaska and increased revenue sharing. Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, called the bill a 'massively destructive piece of legislation' that 'increases costs for everyone by walloping the health care system, making families go hungry and sending utility bills through the roof.' The bill 'saddles our children and grandchildren with trillions and trillions of dollars in debt — all to serve giant corporations, fossil fuel polluters and billionaire Republican megadonors who are already among the richest people on the planet,' Whitehouse said. EV credits eliminated Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 Senate Republican, hailed the bill for rescinding many elements of what he called the Biden administration's 'green new scam,' including electric vehicle tax credits that have allowed car owners to lower the purchase price of EVs by $7,500. The bill also blocks for 10 years a first-ever fee on excess methane emissions from oil and gas production. Industry groups fiercely opposed the methane fee, which was authorized by Democrats in the 2022 climate law but never implemented. The GOP bill also increases oil and gas leases on public lands and revives coal leasing in Wyoming and other states. 'Today, the Senate moved President Trump's agenda forward,'' said West Virginia Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican who chairs the Senate environment committee. Clean energy advocates were deeply disappointed by the bill, which they argue undoes much of the climate law before it fully takes effect. 'By eliminating a number of clean energy incentives and slashing others, this bill represents a significant step backward for America's energy future,' said Nathaniel Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, a nonprofit that seeks to accelerate the global transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. 'Curtailing incentives for electricity generated from wind and solar power is particularly shortsighted'' and will raise energy prices for households and businesses and threaten reliability of the electric grid, Keohane said. ___
