Author: Reporter

Mission Accomplished: Why the political debate over repealing presidential war powers in Iraq matters

Congress is moving toward doing something it has not done since the Vietnam War, repealing authorizations for the president’s use of military force. For lawmakers, that is an important gesture toward reclaiming a say over the wars America wages abroad. The Senate voted 66-30 on March 29 to repeal the 2002 resolution giving President George W. Bush the green light to invade Iraq, an authorization that many now see as a mistake. The measure also would repeal the 1991 resolution authorizing the U.S. military’s combat action against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. Approval by the House, which...

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Medal of Honor: Black veteran gets long overdue recognition for heroism in Vietnam War

Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation’s highest award for bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, will receive the prestigious Medal of Honor on March 3. The overdue recognition for the 83-year-old Virginia resident comes after his recommendation for the medal was lost, resubmitted — and then lost again. It was not until 2016 — half a century after Davis risked his life to save some of his men by fighting off the North Vietnamese — that a...

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UN expert recommends Russian soldiers who illegally invaded Ukraine be allowed to compete in Olympics

Russian athletes who have actively served in the military invasion of Ukraine should be allowed to return to international sports if they did not take part in war crimes, according to a United Nations expert advising the International Olympic Committee. The U.N. special rapporteur for cultural rights, Alexandra Xanthaki, said on March 26 that only Russian military members implicated in “allegations of war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity or propaganda for war” should be denied neutral status to compete in international sports ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Xanthaki angered Ukrainian athletes who took part in an IOC-hosted call...

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy: An interview with the Ukrainian President on what a Russian victory would mean

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on March 28 that unless his nation wins a drawn-out battle in a key eastern city, Russia could begin building international support for a deal that could require Ukraine to make unacceptable compromises. He also invited the leader of China, long aligned with Russia, to visit. If Bakhmut fell to Russian forces, their president, Vladimir Putin, would “sell this victory to the West, to his society, to China, to Iran,” Zelenskyy said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. “If he will feel some blood — smell that we are weak — he...

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Takeaways from the interview with the Ukrainian President on a train to Kyiv

A team of journalists from The Associated Press spent two days traveling by train with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he visited the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, which still faces regular shelling from Russian forces, and northern towns in the Sumy region that were liberated shortly after the war began a year ago. Zelenskyy rarely travels with journalists, and the president’s office said AP’s two-night train trip with him was the most extensive since the war began. Here are some takeaways from an interview with Zelenskyy as he returned to Kyiv on March 28. WESTERN WEAPONS Throughout much of...

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Calls for justice: Ukraine marks grim anniversary of the liberation of Bucha

Ukrainians marked the anniversary of the liberation of Bucha on March 31 with calls for remembrance and justice after a brutal Russian occupation that left hundreds of civilians dead in the streets and in mass graves, establishing the town near Kyiv as an epicenter of the war’s atrocities. “We will not let it be forgotten,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a ceremony in Bucha, vowing to punish those who committed outrages there that are still raw. “Human dignity will not let it be forgotten. On the streets of Bucha, the world has seen Russian evil. Evil unmasked.” Bucha’s name...

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