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President Donald Trump is making all of Vladimir Putin’s dreams come true in Ukraine, but even at the Kremlin officials find the head-spinning turn of events hard to believe. Friday’s extraordinary Oval Office humiliation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by the U.S. leader and his vice president, JD Vance, exceeded anything Russia could have expected. The response out of Moscow was swift. Former President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, said Trump told Zelenskyy “the truth to his face” before adding: “But it’s not enough — military aid should be stopped.” On the X social media platform, Medvedev called Zelenskyy an “insolent pig.” Source link

Phoenix – Almost like clockwork, Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant appears 90 minutes before each home game, walking onto the court, ready to get started. The road to 30,000 career points? It didn’t begin here, but the routine played a significant role. Pregame shooting routines unfold every night across the NBA. Charlotte Hornets coach Charles Lee says they are like a “mental sanctuary” where players visualize and replicate what they’re about to face. Taylor Jenkins, coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, calls them confidence-boosting opportunities, a final primer before tipoff. Golden State’s Stephen Curry is perhaps best known for his pregame shooting routine, but Durant’s is also legendary. Source link

U.S. President Donald Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, are trying to spin the Oval Office clash with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a show of American strength toward an ungrateful supplicant. But their joint dressing down of Zelenskyy will go down in history — indeed, will live in infamy — as a shameful moment of American betrayal. Trump and Vance berated the leader of a nation that’s been fighting for its existence for three years. “Have you said thank you once?” Vance asked Zelenskyy. In fact, Zelenskyy has thanked the U.S., as well as Trump, scores of times since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his war of aggression against Ukraine. (And he did so again after.) It’s just that Zelenskyy always adds that he needs even more support for his nation to survive and more security guarantees in any future peace negotiations to deter Putin. As Zelenskyy pointed out in the meeting, Putin has broken previous ceasefires. That caveat was too much for Trump. “It’s going to be very hard to do business like this,” he told Zelenskyy, who kept his arms folded through much of the shouting. “You’ve got to be more thankful,” Trump continued. “Because let me tell you, you don’t have the cards. With us, you have the cards, but without us you don’t have any cards.” Source link

Japan’s Fair Trade Commission advised Friday that home electronics retailer Bic Camera not underpay its subcontractors any further. According to the antimonopoly watchdog, Bic Camera paid ¥557 million less than originally agreed upon to 51 contracted manufacturers of its private-label products including home appliances between July 2023 and August 2024, although the subcontractors did not have any faults. The company specifically deducted a total of 11 types of costs — such as for sales assistance and expansion — and rebates that it required the subcontractors to pay. Bic Camera is believed to have started cutting payments in 2020, when it began selling items under its own name. The FTC also warned the firm of the possibility that its payment cuts for suppliers of goods under other brands will be regarded as an abuse of its superior position, a violation of the anti-monopoly law. Admitting to its violation of the subcontractor law, Bic Camera had paid the subcontractors in full by Feb. 14. “We will enhance compliance efforts across the company to prevent a recurrence (of similar payment reductions),” it said. Source link

Ethiopia’s Tadese Takele won the Tokyo Marathon in a time of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 23 seconds on Sunday as Uganda’s two-time Olympic track champion Joshua Cheptegei finished ninth. Takele broke clear of the pack with around 4 kilometers to go in warm conditions to claim his first major marathon title, shaving a second off his previous personal best. Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta was second in 2:03:51, with Kenya’s Vincent Kipkemoi Ngetich third in 2:04. Source link

Washington – A U.S. company successfully landed its spacecraft on the moon on Sunday, marking only the second private mission to achieve the milestone — and the first to do so upright. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 touched down shortly after 3:34 am U.S. Eastern Time near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation in Mare Crisium on the moon’s northeastern near side. “Y’all stuck the landing, we’re on the moon,” an engineer at mission control in Austin, Texas, called out as the team erupted in cheers. Source link

Washington – U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday designated English as the official language of the United States, saying it would bring cohesion to a country characterized by immigration from around the world. The White House published an executive order by Trump which says it is “long past time” that English is declared as the nation’s official language. “A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language,” the document states. Source link

Thousands of people evacuated from parts of northern Japan as the country’s largest wildfire in three decades raged unabated Sunday after killing at least one person, officials said. The fire has now spread over 1,800 hectares, with the burned area expanding by 400 hectares in a day, according to the municipal government of Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture. Around 2,000 people fled areas around the city to stay with friends or relatives, while more than 1,200 evacuated to shelters, according to officials. Source link

The government plans to strengthen support for regional companies that hire urban corporate workers with specialized know-how in the form of side jobs or dual jobs. The Cabinet Office will provide subsidies that cover 80% of costs for hiring such workers, starting in fiscal 2025, which begins next month. The move is designed to create opportunities for side and dual jobs that allow people to interact with regional areas without the need to move from urban areas, part of broader efforts by the administration of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba to revitalize regional areas. Source link

Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred is reviewing a petition filed by Pete Rose’s family to have the game’s all-time leader in hits posthumously removed from baseball’s ineligible list, ESPN reported on Saturday. The ESPN report comes one day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would pardon Rose, who admitted in 2004 that he had bet on games, though never against his own team. According to the ESPN report, Los Angeles lawyer Jeffrey Lenkov said he filed the reinstatement petition after he and Rose’s oldest daughter met with Manfred in the commissioner’s office last December. “The commissioner was respectful, gracious and actively participated in productive discussions regarding removing Rose from the ineligible list,” Lenkov said in the ESPN report about the December meeting. Lenkov told ESPN he is seeking Rose’s removal from MLB’s banned list for betting on baseball so they can seek his induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. The ESPN report said MLB sources acknowledged the meeting took place and that Manfred is reviewing the petition. MLB did not immediately respond to an email seeking confirmation of the ESPN report. Rose, who died last September at age 83, was barred for life from baseball in 1989 after an investigation into allegations he had broken baseball’s cardinal rule by gambling on games while he was manager of the Cincinnati Reds. The ban blocked Rose from election into the Hall of Fame. Nicknamed “Charlie Hustle” for his tenacious playing style, Rose spent most of his career with Cincinnati, won the World Series three times and remains MLB’s career leader in hits, games played, at-bats, singles and outs. Source link