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In the news today: Nervous US allies hedge their bets; why Trump's Crimea proposal shocked Ukraine; and a CBS reporter's on-air remark offers an unusual peek into the turmoil at '60 Minutes.' Also, the AP takes you inside a Maasai warrior training camp. |
A Chinese flag flies from a ship at the Port of Oakland on Tuesday, April 15, 2025, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) |
The US and China are on a collision course, and nations are being forced to choose sides |
America’s unnerved allies and partners are cozying up with China to hedge their bets. It comes as President Donald Trump’s trade push upends a decade of American foreign policy — including his own from his first term — toward rallying the rest of the world to join the United States against China. Read more.
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China is the world’s largest exporter and the U.S. the largest importer. Beijing is reaching out to countries far and near, portraying itself as a stabilizing force and a predictable trading partner, both to cushion the impact from Trump’s tariffs and to forge stronger trade ties outside of the U.S. market. Earlier this month, Chinese President Xi Jinping — on his first foreign trip this year — visited Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, resulting in mutual pledges for closer economic and trade ties.
Countries caught between the U.S. and China are in “an impossible situation” because they need to stay economically connected both to China, “a source of a lot of their input and imports” and to the powerhouse U.S. market, said Matthew Goodman from the Council on Foreign Relations. Last week, while the Swiss president was in Washington to lobby U.S. officials over Trump’s threatened 31% tariff on Swiss goods, the Swiss foreign minister was in Beijing, expressing his nation’s willingness to strengthen cooperation with China and upgrade a free trade agreement.
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The White House has framed any negotiations as being between Trump and Xi, but neither leader seems willing to make the initial outreach without some kind of concession. The two countries can’t even agree publicly whether they are holding talks. In the latest Ipsos poll, for the first time, more people globally now say China has a positive impact on the world than the U.S. The pollster cited the broad backlash to Trump’s tariffs.
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Shocked by US peace proposal, Ukrainians say they will not accept any formal surrender of Crimea |
A peace proposal by the Trump administration that includes recognizing Russian authority over Crimea has shocked Ukrainian officials. They say they will not accept any formal surrender of the peninsula, even though they expect to concede the territory to the Kremlin, at least temporarily. Crimea, a strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine, was seized by Russia years before the full-scale invasion that began in 2022. Read more.
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Elements of Trump’s peace proposal would see the U.S. formally recognizing Crimea as Russian and de facto accepting Moscow’s rule over occupied Ukrainian territories, according to a senior European official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic discussions. Formal recognition of Crimea would also amount to political suicide for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It could expose him to legal action in the future, said Tymofiy Mylovanov, a former economics minister.
Giving up the land that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 is also politically and legally impossible, according to experts. It would require a change to the Ukrainian constitution and a nationwide vote, and it could be considered treason. Lawmakers and the public are firmly opposed to the idea. Unlike a territorial concession, a formal surrender would permanently relinquish Crimea and abandon the hope that Ukraine could regain it in the future.
- Polls indicate a rising percentage of the Ukrainian public accepts that land must be ceded as part of any armistice. Much of the messaging about land concessions has suggested that they are not necessarily permanent. In return for these concessions, Ukraine wants robust security guarantees that ideally would include NATO membership or concrete plans to arm and train its forces.
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Witnesses recount Vancouver’s 'darkest day' |
The smells of crispy lumpia, caramelized plantains and other Filipino street foods beckoned attendees of the Lapu Lapu Day festival on an unusually sunny spring day in the Canadian city. As the sun set, lines for food trucks began to wrap around the block. A slow trickle of cars entered the closed street to replenish vendor supplies. Then, one driver hit the accelerator, killing 11 people and injuring dozens. Kai-Ji Adam Lo, a 30-year-old Vancouver man, was arrested and charged with eight counts of second degree murder. Read more.
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Clothing vendor Kris Pangilinan said he will never forget the sound of bodies hitting the hood of the black Audi SUV as it rammed into the crowd. Adonis Quita pulled his 9-year-old son out of the way as the SUV plowed into the line of families waiting for their food. For the young boy, who had just relocated to Vancouver from the Philippines, the festival celebrating British Columbia’s large Filipino population was his first taste of home away from home. But now, his father said the boy cannot close his eyes without seeing flashbacks of bloody bodies.
Investigators ruled out terrorism in what Interim Police Chief Steve Rai proclaimed “the darkest day in Vancouver’s history.” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said the suspect has a “significant history of mental health issues.” As Quita rushed his son away from the commotion, he said he was comforted to see festivalgoers circle the SUV and subdue the suspect. Video circulating on social media shows a man in a black hoodie with his back against a chain-link fence, surrounded by bystanders screaming and swearing at him. Of the more than two dozen injured, some remain in critical condition and others have not yet been identified, Rai said.
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