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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Alaska's quiet is pierced with a cacophony of questions over Trump-Putin summit
On the Alaska governor's desk, the horned skull of a musk ox, an ice age relic, is proudly displayed, resting on a collage of pictures of the state. It was hunted by Mike Dunleavy himself on a trip to an island in the Bering Sea, the narrow strait of water which separates the US from Russia, where plane will cross into American airspace before his first foray onto US soil in almost a decade. The governor, the state's most senior politician, proudly tells me that there is another trophy from his hunting trips on show in the nearby airport, a large brown bear hide, encased in glass. Follow latest updates from Ukraine war Alaska is a vast wilderness which is sparsely populated. But the quiet is being pierced now by a cacophony of questions over this summit. Why was Putin invited here? What does he want? What's he willing to concede? And is Donald Trump about to walk into his trap? The summit will take place on a military base on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska's biggest city. It was thrown together at short notice so there were few venue options available, given the security that is required. Even so, many of the visiting journalists and support staff for politicians are staying in Airbnbs because there are not enough hotel rooms available for everyone. There is the sense that this is a momentous occasion. The last time Putin met a US president was in 2021, when he exchanged starkly differing views with in Geneva. But that was before his invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He's been a pariah ever since, wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, including the abduction of Ukrainian children. With this invite, is bringing him back in from the cold. I ask Governor Dunleavy whether Putin is being rewarded for his invasion of a sovereign nation. "I don't think so," he replies, "I think this is an opportunity for the president to sit down face to face [with Putin]. "And the president is going to ascertain really quickly in a face-to-face meeting whether he's serious or not for peace. It's difficult to solve these wars unless you have a discussion with the participants." In a green, timber-framed house around the corner, Meg Leonard - a one-time Republican who describes herself as a "never Trumper" - has a different view. On a tree in her front garden, the Ukrainian flag hangs. She bought it after watching Zelenskyy's disastrous meeting with Trump in the Oval Office in February on TV. Read more:Ukrainians are appalled at Trump's naive and cack-handed diplomacy Zelenskyy was mocked for not wearing a suit and told by Trump he "didn't hold the cards" in the situation. "I think he was denigrating the president of Ukraine and that is not good," she says. "Right after that, I ordered the flag and hung it up because I support Ukraine. Putin should not be allowed to take land that is not his. "I think Donald Trump thinks he's a strongman and that Putin should capitulate to him. "I don't think Putin has any intention of doing that." Meg says she is appalled that this meeting is taking place one-on-one, without Ukraine's president. Trump has said that Vlodymyr Zelenskyy will be invited to any follow-up meeting. "Trump should not be making decisions for Ukraine," Meg says, "Zelenskyy should at least have a voice in what is being decided. It is his country and his people. "Putin's going to be five miles from here. He's not welcome by me. He is an international criminal; he should be arrested. He is killing women and children, and people in hospitals." But you don't have to go far in Alaska to find a contrasting view. In Whittier, a port town mostly home to fishermen, boat operators and tourists, wildlife photographer Tim Colley from New York thinks Trump is an underestimated dealmaker. He's not concerned about Zelenskyy's absence from the summit. "I think Trump truly wants peace," Tim says, "At some point in time, you've got to decide how many more people need to die. Does Zelenskyy want to just keep throwing people into the fire? "I think these two guys [Trump and Putin] have probably the ultimate egos in the world. I'm not sure Zelenskyy's got the self-control to tread lightly on those egos." There is a symbolism to this meeting taking place in Alaska. The US bought the state from Russia in 1867. It's an example of how territories can be traded. Ukraine is nervous that their land may, too, be carved up, without them in the room. Trump has promised that is not on the table in this initial meeting with Putin, but the US president is famously unpredictable. When he met with Putin in 2018 in Helsinki, he went against his own intelligence community to side with the Russian president, suggesting there hadn't been Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The people of Ukraine, who are enduring a terrifying and intensifying onslaught from Russia, will watch nervously as this summit takes place thousands of miles away without an advocate for them in attendance.
Sky News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Sky News
Alaska's quiet is pierced with a cacophony of questions over Trump-Putin summit
On the Alaska governor's desk, the horned skull of a musk ox, an ice age relic, is proudly displayed, resting on a collage of pictures of the state. It was hunted by Mike Dunleavy himself on a trip to an island in the Bering Sea, the narrow strait of water which separates the US from Russia, where Vladimir Putin's plane will cross into American airspace before his first foray onto US soil in almost a decade. The governor, the state's most senior politician, proudly tells me that there is another trophy from his hunting trips on show in the nearby airport, a large brown bear hide, encased in glass. Alaska is a vast wilderness which is sparsely populated. But the quiet is being pierced now by a cacophony of questions over this summit. Why was Putin invited here? What does he want? What's he willing to concede? And is Donald Trump about to walk into his trap? The summit will take place on a military base on the outskirts of Anchorage, Alaska's biggest city. It was thrown together at short notice so there were few venue options available, given the security that is required. Even so, many of the visiting journalists and support staff for politicians are staying in Airbnbs because there are not enough hotel rooms available for everyone. There is the sense that this is a momentous occasion. The last time Putin met a US president was in 2021, when he exchanged starkly differing views with Joe Biden in Geneva. 2:54 But that was before his invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He's been a pariah ever since, wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, including the abduction of Ukrainian children. With this invite, Trump is bringing him back in from the cold. I ask Governor Dunleavy whether Putin is being rewarded for his invasion of a sovereign nation. "I don't think so," he replies, "I think this is an opportunity for the president to sit down face to face [with Putin]. "And the president is going to ascertain really quickly in a face-to-face meeting whether he's serious or not for peace. It's difficult to solve these wars unless you have a discussion with the participants." In a green, timber-framed house around the corner, Meg Leonard - a one-time Republican who describes herself as a "never Trumper" - has a different view. On a tree in her front garden, the Ukrainian flag hangs. She bought it after watching Zelenskyy's disastrous meeting with Trump in the Oval Office in February on TV. Zelenskyy was mocked for not wearing a suit and told by Trump he "didn't hold the cards" in the situation. "I think he was denigrating the president of Ukraine and that is not good," she says. "Right after that, I ordered the flag and hung it up because I support Ukraine. Putin should not be allowed to take land that is not his. "I think Donald Trump thinks he's a strongman and that Putin should capitulate to him. "I don't think Putin has any intention of doing that." 3:44 Meg says she is appalled that this meeting is taking place one-on-one, without Ukraine's president. Trump has said that Vlodymyr Zelenskyy will be invited to any follow-up meeting. "Trump should not be making decisions for Ukraine," Meg says, "Zelenskyy should at least have a voice in what is being decided. It is his country and his people. "Putin's going to be five miles from here. He's not welcome by me. He is an international criminal; he should be arrested. He is killing women and children, and people in hospitals." But you don't have to go far in Alaska to find a contrasting view. In Whittier, a port town mostly home to fishermen, boat operators and tourists, wildlife photographer Tim Colley from New York thinks Trump is an underestimated dealmaker. He's not concerned about Zelenskyy's absence from the summit. "I think Trump truly wants peace," Tim says, "At some point in time, you've got to decide how many more people need to die. Does Zelenskyy want to just keep throwing people into the fire? "I think these two guys [Trump and Putin] have probably the ultimate egos in the world. I'm not sure Zelenskyy's got the self-control to tread lightly on those egos." There is a symbolism to this meeting taking place in Alaska. The US bought the state from Russia in 1867. It's an example of how territories can be traded. Ukraine is nervous that their land may, too, be carved up, without them in the room. Trump has promised that is not on the table in this initial meeting with Putin, but the US president is famously unpredictable. When he met with Putin in 2018 in Helsinki, he went against his own intelligence community to side with the Russian president, suggesting there hadn't been Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The people of Ukraine, who are enduring a terrifying and intensifying onslaught from Russia, will watch nervously as this summit takes place thousands of miles away without an advocate for them in attendance.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Icy treats for Moscow zoo animals as Russian capital bakes in record high temperatures
As Moscow sweltered in record-breaking summer heat, animals at the city's zoo cooled off with icy treats and baths. Using creative ways to cool down, a lynx was seen dunking itself in a bath, while a muskox turned a sprinkler into its personal spa.
CBC
28-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Yukon Wildlife Preserve 'hand-raising' baby muskox after complicated birth
Social Sharing It's baby season at the wildlife preserve near Whitehorse, but one little creature has required a little more help than the rest — a muskox calf, who's being bottle-fed by the animal care team after his mother had health complications after birth. While the calf himself was healthy after being born at the end of April, Yukon Wildlife Preserve executive director Jake Paleczny said the calf's mother had a retained placenta, where the organ doesn't fully and properly expel itself. That meant the mother continued to have contractions after giving birth, which made her uncomfortable, and she didn't allow the calf to feed after he was born. "That first feeding in the early hours is really important and at a certain point, you know, it was becoming clear that this wasn't going to happen," Paleczny said, adding that other muskox were starting to "investigate" the calf and knock him over with their horns. "We ended up having to intervene and so we're now bottle-raising, hand-raising this little baby muskox." Both the calf and the mother, neither of which have names, are doing well now, Paleczny said, but the initial separation meant the pair never got to have a "critical early bonding period." Instead, the preserve's animal care team has had to step into the parenting role, sustaining the now almost four-week-old-calf on a special formula — he gets his first bottle of the day at 6 a.m., and the last one at 7 p.m. — while introducing solid food in the form of pellets. The calf is also being kept in a pen separate from, but adjacent to, the rest of the herd's muskox herd, with the care team planning to allow him to gradually mingle with and eventually fully rejoin his peers — something both sides seem to be interested in. "We've been seeing them coming up to the fence and checking each other out," Paleczny said. "There was some nervousness at first, even some of the adults running away as the baby came up — it's this unusual situation." The calf, Paleczny said, will have "a little door that he can come and go" from the herd's pen because "there are a lot of big animals in there," and is still getting food that the rest of the herd doesn't have access to. The care team, meanwhile, is trying to limit interactions with the calf to prevent him getting too accustomed to humans. "We want him to be a fully-fledged, functioning member of this muskox herd, not, you know, a person, a human in muskox form," Paleczny said. Besides the muskox, the preserve has also seen the birth of bison and elk calves this spring, with mule deer and thin-horn sheep expected to be born in the coming weeks. Some caribou calves and mountain goat kids could be on their way too. Paleczny said the preserve's animals are largely able to have successful births and raise their young without intervention, with the muskox being the only baby the care team has had to help this year. The calf, on Tuesday morning, was alert and curious, running around his pen and following a caregiver as he topped up the pen's water and pellets. He weighed 12 kg, double his birth weight but still a far cry from his final size — male muskox can reach more than 350 kg when fully grown and stand five metres tall at the shoulder. For now, though, the calf is closer to the size of a small dog, little more than a ball of black-and-brown fluff zooming around his enclosure or napping in a pile of hay. "On a scale of one to 10," Paleczny acknowledged, "this guy is 11 on cuteness."
CBC
28-05-2025
- General
- CBC
Why you can't cuddle with this adorable muskox (even if you wanted to)
It's baby season at the wildlife preserve near Whitehorse. But one calf has needed a little more help than the rest. Staff are currently bottle-raising and hand-raising this little baby muskox.
