Good morning 99percenters!
A little news and The Moody Blues

'Glimmer of Hope' as Minsk Talks Result in New Ukraine Cease Fire
With the U.S. sidelined, diplomacy led by France and Germany allows Russia and Ukraine to make new progress towards political settlement

Following marathon overnight talks in Minsk, Belarus that began Wednesday, world leaders emerged near dawn to announce that a cease-fire agreement has been reached to at least temporarily stop the fighting in eastern Ukraine with stated hopes that a long-term political solution will follow.

Spurred by a renewed effort by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande, the talks brought Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko to the table with Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate on behalf of rebel forces in the east who have refused to submit to the authority of the Kiev government following a coup last year.

It was Putin who first declared that more than 16 hours of negotiations had yielded substantial progressive and the agreement of a cease-fire that would begin on Saturday. "We have agreed on a ceasefire from midnight 15 February," Putin told reporters early Thursday.

For his part, Poroshenko said, "The main thing which has been achieved is that from Saturday into Sunday there should be declared without any conditions at all, a general ceasefire."

House approves Keystone XL pipeline despite veto threat

The House of Representatives easily passed a measure approving the construction of the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline, setting up a showdown with President Barack Obama, who has promised to veto the bill.

In a 270-152 vote led primarily by Republicans, the House passed the same bill that the Senate itself approved last month. The pipeline was first proposed in 2008 and would carry oil 1,179 miles from Canada’s tar sands to Nebraska, where it would connect to an existing pipeline and continue traveling south.

Also included in the bill was an amendment passed by the Senate that acknowledged the existence of climate change, marking the first time many Republicans have gone on record about the issue. A separate amendment stating that humans contribute to climate change, however, was rejected.

"We're going to continue to keep our promise to the people by finishing our work on the Keystone pipeline," House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Wednesday prior to the vote, as quoted by the Associated Press. Boehner added that President Obama was caving in to "left-fringe extremists" and not listening to the American people.

Seen on C-SPAN: House passes #KeystoneXL Pipeline legislation. pic.twitter.com/SiFqnXcZwc

— CSPAN (@cspan) February 11, 2015