Joe Biden’s Surprise Visit To Ukraine: Reporters Kept Trip Secret As President Traveled With Small Group Amid Security Concerns

America may be deeply divided, but politics and the culture wars will not be center stage at this year’s Oscars if the organizers have their way.

Tatiana Siegel For the past year, Volodymyr Zelensky has been greeted with open arms by awards shows, film festivals and even the New York Stock Exchange. But when it comes to landing airtime on the most coveted telecast of all — the Oscars — the Ukrainian leader is being met with a cold shoulder. For the second year in a row, the Academy has snubbed Zelensky, who was hoping to follow up his Berlin Film Festival (remote) appearance last month with a virtual spot on Sunday’s Oscar telecast on ABC. Sources say WME power agent Mike Simpson made a plea to the Academy to include the comedic actor-turned-politician but was shut down. The Academy declined comment. 

A Ukrainian expatriate group disseminated to press an open letter addressed to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, questioning whether Top Gun: Maverick should be allowed to remain in this year’s Oscar race following reports the film was partly funded by a Russian oligarch who put money in the film as a silent investor in LA-based New Republic Pictures.

​Jill Biden says the concept floated by GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley that any politician over age 75 submit to a mental compentancy test is a nonstarter.

President Biden had a small skin lesion with cancerous tissue removed from his chest during his physical exam in February and «no further treatment is required,» according to the White House physician.The tissue was excised during a procedure at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland on Feb. 16 and sent for a traditional biopsy, Dr. Kevin O'Connor wrote in a letter released by the White House on Friday.

Disney Entertainment co-chairman Dana Walden is among the business executives named to the President’s Export Council, which advises Joe Biden on international trade.

“Oh, it’s wonderful to be here in the town of East Palestine, not a great name,” said the James Austin Johnson portrayed Donald Trump tonight kicking off Saturday Night Live. “I’m here and I brought hats, cameras and hats” he added after taking a swipe at Joe Biden for visiting the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier this week and had a visit from his own legal troubles.

Sean Penn is doubling down on his call for the United States to supply Ukraine with modern fighter jets amid the country's war against Russia. The 62-year-old actor, who first pressed the White House on Ukraine's need for jets last March, said President Joe Biden's surprise trip to Kyiv this week to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion was "extremely encouraging." However, he stressed that the U.S. continue sending military aid, including modern aircraft, to the war-torn nation.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine and, like many people around the world, he felt helpless at the images of people fleeing their homes.“The world felt like it was in a new place that it hadn’t been in decades,” the three-time Grammy winner recalls.On Friday, the one-year anniversary of the war’s start, Paisley is releasing a new song called “Same Here,” featuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaking proudly about his country and people.The song is Paisley’s first from his new record, “Son of the Mountains,” to be released later this year on Universal Music Group Nashville.The West Virginia native wrote the song with Lee Thomas Miller (co-writer on Paisley hits “The World” and “Perfect Storm”) and Dawes frontman Taylor Goldsmith. It’s a three-part narrative that reflects on universal similarities, despite distance and language.While it doesn’t mention Ukraine specifically, the song ends with Paisley and Zelenskyy in conversation, recorded during a video call.

Good afternoon Insider team, Max Goldbart here. It has been a wild ride of a week with Berlin drawing to a close. Read below for a good ol’ recap.

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden was accompanied by her granddaughter Naomi Biden on her visit to Africa. President Joe Biden’s wife and eldest grandchild arrived on Wednesday, Feb.

Don Lemon returned to CNN early Wednesday morning with no mention of him stirring up controversy last week. Instead, Lemon saved his comment for social media -- posting to Twitter moments before going on air.«I appreciate the opportunity to be back on @CNNThisMorning today,” he wrote. „To my network, my colleagues and our incredible audience — I’m sorry.

CNN anchor Don Lemon tweeted an apology to viewers for his remarks about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley shortly before returning to work on Wednesday, then stuck to the news.

Broadcast and cable networks are planning specials, a town hall and other coverage Thursday tied to the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Correspondents also will report from sites around the country, with Vladimir Putin’s regime mounting a winter offensive.

Don Lemon returned to CNN This Morning on Wednesday and issued another apology for comments he made about women on the show last week.

once again called for red states to secede from the United States, “The View” host Sunny Hostin is pretty sure the Georgia congresswoman is unaware of how and why the Civil War actually started.Shortly after the reveal that President Joe Biden secretly traveled to Ukraine on Monday, Greene claimed Biden “chose Ukraine over America” by visiting the wartime nation on a federal holiday. She later tweeted, “We need a national divorce. We need to separate by red states and blue states and shrink the federal government.

The head of railways in Ukraine has apologised to passengers — for only having nine in ten of services run ON TIME yesterday.

once again, a red state secession – over his surprise Kyiv visit on Monday. “We need a national divorce,” Greene tweeted.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Matt Damon revealed he was in the “early stages” on a project about Ukraine during the press conference for “Kiss the Future” at the Berlin Film Festival. Damon is a producer on the documentary which chronicles the struggle of Sarajevo citizens during the Bosnian War. World premiering in the Berlinale Special section, the politically minded documentary is directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and based on “Fools Rush in: A Memoir” the memoir of Bill Carter, an aid worker. It shows how his determination resulted in the enlistment of the world’s largest rock band, U2, to help shine a light. Fifth Season and WME handling worldwide sales. Asked if he was considering following the footsteps of Sean Penn with “Superpower” with a film on the war in Ukraine, he said he’s “watched as everyone has with horror that unfolded there in the last year,” and although they “don’t have anything on it right now there isn’t any doubt that we’ll be doing.”

said in a statement.The charity created by the 98-year-old former president said that Carter «decided to spend his remaining time at home with his family and receive hospice care instead of additional medical intervention.»It said he has the full support of his medical team and family, which «asks for privacy at this time and is grateful for the concern shown by his many admirers.»In August 2015, Carter had a small cancerous mass removed from his liver. The following year, Carter announced that he needed no further treatment, as an experimental drug had eliminated any sign of cancer.Carter celebrated his most recent birthday in October with family and friends in Plains, the tiny Georgia town where he and his wife, Rosalynn, were born in the years between World War I and the Great Depression.The Carter Center, which the 39th president and the former first lady established after their one White House term, last year marked 40 years of promoting democracy and conflict resolution, monitoring elections, and advancing public health in the developing world.Carter, a Democrat, became the 39th U.S.