World
Biden to meet Saudi king, prince MBS after human rights rift
JERUSALEM (AP) — Whether or not Joe Biden’s first journey to the Center East as president ends successful or a failure might hinge on what occurs when the American chief first locks eyes with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
The world will likely be watching the extremely anticipated assembly Friday to see if the gaffe-prone U.S. president and notoriously vengeful Saudi prince can start repairing a rift between the 2 strategic companions, with the ebb and circulate of the world’s oil provide hanging within the steadiness.
There’s been appreciable hypothesis about each the choreography and the substance of how Biden, who had vowed as a presidential candidate to deal with the Saudis as a “pariah” for his or her human rights report, will go about interacting with the crown prince.
Requested Thursday whether or not he would elevate the 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S.-based journalist and critic of the dominion, with the crown prince, Biden didn’t give a direct reply.
The Democratic president final yr accredited the discharge of a U.S. intelligence discovering that decided the crown prince, generally known as MBS, probably accredited Khashoggi’s killing. The discharge of the report brought about an additional rupture in U.S.-Saudi relations.
“My views on Khashoggi have been completely, positively clear. And I’ve by no means been quiet about speaking about human rights,” Biden mentioned. “The rationale I’m going to Saudi Arabia, although, is far broader. It’s to advertise U.S. pursuits — promote U.S. pursuits in a method that I believe we’ve got a possibility to reassert what I believe we made a mistake of strolling away from: our affect within the Center East.”
Biden arrives within the Crimson Sea port metropolis of Jeddah on the third day of a four-day swing by way of the Center East. He spent the primary two days assembly with Israeli officers and traveled to the West Financial institution on Friday to fulfill with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and others earlier than flying to Saudi Arabia.
As soon as in Jeddah, Biden will meet with Saudi King Salman after which maintain a bigger working assembly that’s to incorporate Prince Mohammed and different senior Saudi officers in addition to the president’s high advisers.
Requested if Biden would shake fingers with MBS, a senior administration official demurred and famous the Biden White Home is “centered on the conferences, not the greetings.”
The Saudis did make a step towards normalization of relations with Israel earlier than Biden’s go to, asserting early Friday that it was opening its airspace to “all air carriers,” signaling the tip of its longstanding ban on Israeli flights flying over its territory.
Biden hailed the choice as “an necessary step in direction of constructing a extra built-in and steady Center East area,” including that the choice “may help construct momentum towards Israel’s additional integration into the area, together with with Saudi Arabia.”
Biden additionally will participate in a Saturday gathering of leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council —Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — earlier than returning to Washington. The leaders of Mideast neighbors Egypt, Iraq and Jordan are additionally to attend.
The Saudi go to is among the most delicate that Biden has confronted on the worldwide stage. Any type of respectful greeting that Biden can handle, and the Saudi crown prince can mirror again, would possibly assist either side soothe relations.
But it surely may additionally open Biden, already floundering within the polls at house, to deeper criticism that he’s backtracking on his pledges to place human rights on the middle of international coverage.
Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, mentioned that, with the go to to Saudi Arabia, Biden was backing down on human rights.
“It’s a really large backing down really,” Cengiz advised The Related Press in an interview Thursday. “It’s heartbreaking and disappointing. And Biden will lose his ethical authority by placing oil and expediency over rules and values.”
Biden’s criticism of the Saudis as a candidate grew to become extra tempered in current months as Russia’s conflict on Ukraine aggravated what was already a world provide crunch for oil and fuel. Elevated gasoline costs have pushed inflation in the US to its highest ranges in 4 many years.
Saudi political analyst Turki al Hamad mentioned he was not optimistic in regards to the prospects for Biden’s journey.
“Biden and his workforce will come and set their eyes on the U.S. elections, and enhancing the Democrats’ scenario by popping out with an settlement on rising oil manufacturing,” Hamad tweeted, saying that “doesn’t matter to the Saudi management.”
Aaron David Miller, a senior fellow on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace and former U.S. State Division official, mentioned Biden is wanting ahead to visiting Saudi Arabia “like I’d sit up for a root canal operation.”
Miller contrasted Biden along with his predecessor, President Donald Trump, who visited Saudi Arabia on his first international journey. That journey was highlighted by a mystifying picture op of the leaders gathered round a glowing orb and Trump briefly becoming a member of a ceremonial sword dance.
With Biden and Prince Mohammed, “there aren’t going to be loads of sword dances, or smiling picture ops, or heat embraces,” Miller mentioned.
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Knickmeyer reported from Sacramento, Calif., and Megerian from Washington.
World
Italian state railways plans 1.3 bln euro investment in solar plant
World
Christmas in Puerto Rico is a 45-day celebration with caroling, festive decorations, family feasts and more
Christmas, Navidad in Puerto Rico, extends far beyond Dec. 25.
The island proudly proclaims itself as having the “longest holiday season in the world,” according to the website Discover Puerto Rico.
On average, the holiday festivities in Puerto Rico last about 45 days, per the source, commencing right after Thanksgiving, and stretching all the way through mid-January.
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The holiday season in Puerto Rico is full of rich traditions beloved by families.
One tradition those who visit Puerto Rico will immediately notice during the holiday season is decorations.
In Puerto Rico, decorations are typically put up by Thanksgiving, and kept up until the season concludes in mid-January, with opportune picture moments at every corner.
Parrandas, Christmas caroling, is a holiday staple.
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Carolers choose houses of family and friends to visit, typically starting around 10 p.m., performing aguinaldos (traditional Christmas songs), with not only their voices, but often with instruments as well, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
The group you begin caroling with is likely not the same group you end with.
In Puerto Rico, when carolers visit a house, they’ll often stop inside for conversation, food and drink before moving to the next residence.
Usually, the residences of the house visited will join the group for the next house, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
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A night of serenading loved ones can last quite a while, often stretching into the early morning hours of the following day, according to the source.
The biggest day of the holiday season in Puerto Rico actually isn’t Christmas, but instead, the night before.
In Puerto Rico, Dec. 24 is Nochebuena. On that day, loved ones gather for the exchange of gifts, caroling and a large feast.
Many families will also attend a midnight Mass on the day, known as Misa de Gallo.
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After Christmas passes, the festivities go on in Puerto Rico.
Another big event in the holiday lineup is Three Kings Day on Jan. 6, a holiday that “commemorates the visit that the Three Wise Men paid to Jesus after his birth,” according to Discover Puerto Rico.
On the eve of the day, children fill up a shoebox with grass to be left for camels to munch on while the Three Kings leave behind gifts for them, according to PuertoRico.com.
For a particularly festive Three Kings Day, Juana Díaz is the place to go, as it hosts the largest celebration in Puerto Rico for the holiday. In Juana Díaz, there is an annual festival and parade in honor of Three Kings Day that brings together over 25,000 people every year, according to Discover Puerto Rico.
Then, eight days later is Octavitas, a post-holiday celebration where families get together and celebrate one last time for the season.
The end of the holiday season is marked with the San Sebastián Street Festival.
This festival, spanning over multiple days, takes place in Old San Juan, and is filled with live music, dancing, shopping and parades.
World
Small plane crashes into Brazil town popular with tourists, killing 10
Twin-engine plane crashed in largely residential neighborhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff, authorities say.
A small plane has crashed into a tourist hotspot in southern Brazil, killing all 10 people on board and injuring more than a dozen people on the ground, officials have said.
The twin-engine Piper PA-42-1000 hit the chimney of a home and the second floor of a different house before crashing into a shop in a largely residential neighbourhood of Gramado shortly after takeoff from Canela, Brazil’s Civil Defense agency said on Sunday.
Rio Grande do Sul Governor Eduardo Leite told a news conference that the aircraft’s owner and pilot, Luiz Claudio Galeazzi, was killed along with nine members of his family.
Leite said that 17 people on the ground were injured, 12 of whom were still receiving treatment in hospital.
Galeazzi’s company, Galeazzi & Associados, confirmed that its CEO and Galeazzi’s wife and three daughters had died in the crash.
“Luiz Galeazzi will be forever remembered for his dedication to his family and for his remarkable career as a leader of Galeazzi & Associados,” the company said in a post on LinkedIn.
“In this moment of immense pain, Galeazzi & Associados is deeply grateful for the expressions of solidarity and affection received from friends, colleagues and the community. We also sympathize with all those affected by the accident in the region.”
Gramado, located in the Serra Gaucha mountains, is a popular destination for vacationers, especially during the Christmas season.
The crash comes a little more than a year after Brazil suffered its worst air disaster in nearly two decades when a twin-engine plane crashed in the southeastern city of Vinhedo, killing all 62 people on board.
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