Eldest son to answer questions from Trump's lawyers after saying earlier this month accountants were responsible for documentsDonald Trump Jr is expected to take the witness stand in New York for a second time as defense lawyers for the family firm make their case in the $250m fraud trial.Trump Jr is the first witness to testify from the defense's witness list, which also includes Donald Trump and Eric Trump as witnesses, though it is unclear whether they will end up being called. Continue reading...

Every Texas A&M donor helping to fund Jimbo Fisher's buyout could have put that check toward tablets or school lunches in a poor districtTexas A&M University fired football coach Jimbo Fisher on Sunday, amid his latest disappointing season. The axing is richly deserved. The money Fisher will get not to work is not. In late 2017, A&M poached Fisher - who had won a national championship at Florida State in 2013 - from FSU with a 10-year, $75m, fully guaranteed contract that broke the collegiate record with its total value. The school extended that deal and tacked on dollars in 2021, but Fisher's performance never got close to matching his paycheck, and the fully guaranteed" part of the contract would come back to haunt the Aggies. He lost at least four games every year but 2020, when pandemic interruptions created a zany season whose chaos included a 9-1 record and No 4 finish in the rankings for A&M. But even that team fell short of loftier goals like a Southeastern Conference title or College Football Playoff berth.The on-field failures belied not just his deal, but his advantages in the job. A&M signed some of the best recruiting classes in college football, including a 2022 class that scouting agencies considered one of the best ever. In assembling those classes, Fisher had the help of a rich and enthusiastic booster corps, buttressed by oil money who craved success. Nobody was better positioned to take advantage of a recent liberalization of limits on athlete compensation by third parties than A&M. In discussing the firing on Sunday, AD Ross Bjork decried a lack of consistency, positivity, and confidence" in Fisher's program. Continue reading...

The Texans were adrift after a series of bad trades and a fallout with their former star. Their new head coach and quarterback have been a revelationBefore this year's draft, most experts had CJ Stroud as the most NFL-ready quarterback available. That may have been a historic understatement. At the moment, Stroud is the clear-cut offensive rookie of the year favorite and has helped turn the Houston Texans into a playoff contender.The Texans had the second pick in the 2023 draft after going 3-13 the previous year. After the Carolina Panthers made the safe choice of selecting Bryce Young at No 1, Houston made the obvious move of selecting Stroud with the idea that he could start immediately. Oh boy, could he, it turns out! After Sunday's 30-27 road win over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Texans are now 5-4 and in pole position for the final AFC wildcard spot. Continue reading...

The pro-Israel political consensus has shut out any dissenting voices - as I found in a TV debate with the vice-chancellorI've lived in Germany for nearly a decade now, but the only people with whom I've ever been able to discuss the conflict in the Middle East are Israelis and Palestinians. Germans tend to cut off any attempt at constructive conversation with the much-favoured phrase that topic is much too complicated. As a result, the understandings I've reached about the geopolitical developments of the past three decades are the result of private conversations, safely tucked away from the judgmental eyes of a German society eager to lecture us on how any criticism of Israel is antisemitic.I have also discovered that a transactional relationship defines the public representation of Jews in Germany - and it obscures the views of an unseen majority of Jewish people who don't belong to communities financially supported by the German state, and don't constantly emphasise the singular importance of unconditional loyalty to the state of Israel. Because of the enormous power the official institutions and communities wield, non-affiliated voices are often silenced or discredited, replaced by the louder ones of Germans whose Holocaust-guilt complexes cause them to fetishise Jewishness to the point of obsessive-compulsive embodiment. Continue reading...

Democratic congressman invokes strongmen Putin and Orban to characterize the threat posed by a second Trump presidencyIf Donald Trump wins a second presidency, the US would resemble the authoritarian regimes of Vladimir Putin's Russia and Viktor Orban's Hungary, a prominent Democratic congressman predicted Sunday.During an appearance on MSNBC's Inside with Jen Psaki, Jamie Raskin invoked the names of some of the globe's most powerful strongmen political leaders to characterize the threat posed by Trump's status as the leading contender for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination despite the mound of legal problems with which he is grappling. Continue reading...

We dash to salvage gas cylinders, shout messages from building to building, make lukewarm coffee. And always, a missile could be only seconds away Atef Abu Saif is the Palestinian Authority's minister of cultureAtef Abu Saif has been Palestinian Authority's minister of culture since 2019 and is the author of six novels. He was visiting Gaza with his son, Yasser, when Israel started bombarding the strip in response to Hamas's 7 October attacks on Israel. He has been keeping a diary, which he has been sending via WhatsApp to his publisher, Comma Press, in Britain. This is an edited excerpt.Sunday 29 October Continue reading...

South Carolina senator launched campaign with the promise of offering a more optimistic vision about America's futureSenator Tim Scott of South Carolina has suspended his presidential campaign, conceding that he does not see any path to the Republican nomination as Donald Trump maintains a significant lead in primary polling.Scott told Fox News in an interview on Sunday evening that he had suspended his campaign. His exit may provide a modest boost for other candidates trying to dislodge frontrunner Donald Trump from the top spot. Continue reading...

Residents advised to use public transit as hazardous materials crews cleared burned matter and engineers examined damagesLos Angeles motorists should expect traffic snarls indefinitely as crews assess how much damage was caused by a raging fire that closed a major elevated interstate near downtown, officials said Sunday.Gavin Newsom, the state governor, declared a state of emergency Saturday afternoon and directed the state department of transportation to request assistance from the federal government. Continue reading...

US European command says cause of crash remained under investigation, but there was no indications of hostile activity'Five US military special operations troops were killed in a refueling accident during training that caused an aircraft carrying them to crash into the Mediterranean Sea, the American defense department said in a statement on Sunday.US European Command said search and rescue operations were launched immediately following the crash and an investigation into its cause is under way. The troops aboard the helicopter were US army special operations personnel, according to two US officials speaking on the condition of anonymity. Continue reading...

Don Samuels says he will once again run after being narrowly defeated by the twice-elected congresswoman in 2022Ilhan Omar got a prominent Democratic primary challenger Sunday when former Minneapolis city council member Don Samuels announced he'll try once again to unseat the representative after coming close in 2022.Omar, a charter member of the squad" of progressive House Democrats, won re-election twice despite making comments in her first term that were widely criticized for invoking antisemitic tropes and suggesting Jewish Americans have divided loyalties. But Omar - a Somali American and Muslim - has come under renewed fire for condemning the Israeli government's war in Gaza. Continue reading...

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Nine Americans still missing as Hamas says it's suspending talks amid Israel's handling of besieged al-Shifa hospital in GazaNine Americans are still missing following the 7 October attack by Hamas on Israel, the US national security adviser said on Sunday.Jake Sullivan, the White House's chief security adviser, said the US is involved in ongoing negotiations" for the release of hostages believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza. Continue reading...

Captor also killed, officials say, after Austin police responded to 911 call that reported someone had been stabbed in a homeAn attempt by police in Texas's capital city to rescue two people being held hostage ended in deadly bloodshed Saturday - both hostages died while their captor as well as a tactical officer were fatally shot, according to officials.Austin police responded to a 911 call at 3am Saturday that reported someone had been stabbed in a home. Officers forced their way into the home in question but were shot at, the Austin police department said in a press briefing attended by CBS News. Continue reading...

Amid concern over the president's poll ratings, Gavin Newsom appears to be running something of a shadow campaignOne of the strongest candidates for US president in 2024 may be one who's not yet in the race. There's growing evidence that Gavin Newsom, the charismatic and energetic Democratic governor of California, is running something of a shadow campaign to Joe Biden and ready to step up if, or when, the incumbent is out of the running.Several developments in recent days suggest Newsom, who romped to re-election a year ago without really campaigning, is ready to bring forward what was already expected to be a strong run for the presidency in 2028. Continue reading...

Generous investment in Seoul, Bogota and beyond has created local artists who can rip up the world stage. Meanwhile, the UK cuts its fundingThe dominance of English-language pop music appears to be waning. Before Psy's breakthrough K-pop single Gangnam Style hit the Top 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2012, the previous foreign-language hit to do so was Los Lobos' La Bamba in 1987. But so far in 2023 there have been seven foreign-language songs in the Billboard Top 10.Around the world, listeners are turning away from English-language popstars to embrace beats, rhymes and lyrics in their own languages. According to a 2021 analysis of Spotify data published in the journal Nature, this trend has been accelerating since 2017. Data from the London School of Economics exploring European listening habits shows that across the continent, more Italians are listening to Italian music, French to French music and so on. Continue reading...

Stopgap spending bill, which omits funding for Israel or Ukraine, faces opposition from both parties in CongressUS House speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a Republican stopgap spending measure late Saturday aimed at averting a government shutdown in a week, but the measure quickly ran into opposition from lawmakers from both parties in Congress.Unlike ordinary continuing resolutions that fund federal agencies for a specific period, the measure announced by Johnson would fund some parts of the government until 19 January and others until 2 February. House Republicans hope to pass the measure Tuesday. Continue reading...

The two-time World Cup winner's final professional game ended in defeat. But the positive legacy she leaves behind is undeniableThe only storyline ahead of the NWSL championship was the storyline itself, which seemed too perfect: Megan Rapinoe of OL Reign would square off against Ali Krieger of NJ/NY Gotham FC. Two American legends playing their final matches for a trophy that neither had ever won.What a way to go out, and what a story for this league to sell. Continue reading...

The arrest of Carrie and Jon Hallford in Oklahoma follows shocking news to the loved ones of about 190 dead peopleOver the years, the families of about 190 dead people whose remains were entrusted to a Colorado funeral home run by Carrie and Jon Hallford were led to believe that their loved ones' remains had been cremated or buried.They even received what were supposed to be ashes of their late family members, comforting keepsakes meant to help the grieving honor and remember their dead. Continue reading...

To have fun requires shedding fear, guilt and embarrassment. No wonder it is a struggle right now. But, like Barbra Streisand, I would appreciate some more in my lifeBarbra Streisand is looking for fun. I haven't had much fun in my life, to tell you the truth," she told the BBC. And I want to have more fun."I find this unnerving. She is Barbra Streisand - surely she could just click her fingers and have fun brought to her, like a Roman emperor? She cloned her dog, twice! She created her own historical shopping mall (which anyone who knows York Castle Museum's Victorian street recreation will find uncannily familiar, although hers has more haunted dolls)! Plus, if the video I just watched is accurate, she even has a room dedicated to napping", which - forget being an Egot - is the pinnacle of achievement. If she isn't having fun, what hope is there for anyone else?Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The first Palestinian American woman in Congress was formally rebuked this week, but allies say she'll keep speaking up for peace and justiceAs Israeli ground troops battled in Gaza City amid a spiralling civilian death toll on Tuesday, the congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the sole Palestinian American member of the US Congress, rose to answer a censure motion rebuking her for comments she made about the war.Gripping a photograph of her sity, her grandmother who lives in the occupied West Bank, she defended her stance and declared that she will not be silenced" and will not let you distort my words". Continue reading...

1819 News published images of FL Bubba' Copeland of Smiths Station dressing as a woman in addition to his erotic fictionA small Alabama town has expressed grief and outrage at the death of a beloved mayor who died by suicide after facing intense online harassment when images of him dressed in women's clothing and wigs were published by a far-right website.Mayor FL Bubba" Copeland, 49, of Smiths Station in east Alabama, killed himself on 3 November. At the time, local police were attempting to perform a wellness check on him, the Lee county sheriff's office said in a statement.In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

We business owners can't just shrug and say it's the accountant's job - it's our signature on those formsEvery year, millions of individuals and small business owners have their tax returns prepared by outside accountants. It makes sense. Taxes can be complicated so it's a good idea to have someone who knows this stuff well - a professional - to do your year-end reporting, and do it right.But let's say there's a problem with your tax return. Maybe your tax professional made a mistake. Or was negligent. Or wasn't up to date on the rules. And let's say this problem resulted in you owing more money to the IRS. Or even - if serious enough - it results in the IRS taking you to court. Who's ultimately responsible for this problem? Is it your accountant? Continue reading...

This must-see film about youthful hedonism reveals how far we haven't comeAre issues surrounding sexual consent (the relentless murk, mystery and misunderstandings) doomed to remain roughly the same, generation to generation? Every so often, a parent-/adult-frightening", youth-oriented film (Kids, Thirteen) comes along that rewires the conversation. One such film, How to Have Sex, by writer-director Molly Manning Walker, won the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes this year. To be clear: your daughters and sons (all young people) need to see this film, and so do you.At times filmed in the style of a quasi-documentary, it's about three 16-year-old British girls holidaying in Crete after taking GCSEs; one of them anxious to lose her virginity. In among the youthful hedonism (shrieking; partying; penis-shaped pools; slightly older youths; rowdy clubs featuring onstage blowjobs; copious alcohol; cheesy chips), the film tells a fundamental devastating truth: that, however much sexual consent is theorised, debated and culturally disinfected, out in the field", where it matters, where the real girls and boys are, it remains a slippery concept, and too often a non-existent one.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...

Organisers of the first grand prix in Sin City for more than 40 years vow to stage an unmissable event to rival the Super BowlWhat happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, as anyone who has ever rolled the dice knows. Decidedly not, however, for Formula One, which wants nothing more than the entire world to bear witness when the sport goes racing in the heart of Sin City next weekend.When F1 hits the track in Las Vegas its intent is to be a showcase like no other. In a city that does nothing by half, this will need to be big, brash and utterly spectacular if it is to outshine the bright lights of the Strip down which the cars will race. Continue reading...

From Britain and Italy to Tunisia and Pakistan, our leaders crave being seen to be tough as a distraction from their failures at homeOn Wednesday, the UK supreme court will give its verdict on the Rwanda deportation scheme. The decision will clearly have a major impact on those who face deportation. It will have an impact, too, on the political debate about immigration, with government supporters either hailing a victory or bemoaning the treachery of the liberal elite.But, whatever the decision, it will have little bearing on the immigration crisis". The government itself has acknowledged that, even were the court to deem the scheme legal, and deportation flights to Kigali take off, Rwanda could take only small numbers" of deportees, possibly 300 a year across the four years of the trial period. Given that there were almost 46,000 people crossing the Channel on small boats last year, and that by August this year the asylum backlog stood at 175,000, the deportation scheme amounts to little more than performative policy - the desire to be seen doing something and doing something cruel - rather than a serious attempt to tackle a problem. Continue reading...

It's nearly bedtime and a restaurant row in a seaside hotel leaves everyone shakenIt was almost 3am and I was lying awake in a large white bed working out what I should have said. What I could have said, were the circumstances just slightly in my favour, half an hour earlier or 6in to the left. But honestly, I was buzzing. I was absolutely completely alive, that night in half-term, in a hotel bed, in the dark, the only sound my family snoring gently beside me.We had taken the children to the seaside for the night and were staying in a hotel down a muddy country road 10 minutes from town. It was quite obscenely idyllic - a little country house, strewn with lights. We got there at 6pm and headed straight to the restaurant in the garden. This is when children eat. If children do not eat at six, something shifts, a change occurs as if a switch has tripped. But they were thrilled to be here, on holiday, in a restaurant, and they sat on their big chairs and buttered their own bread as we ordered our food, and the waitress was charming and then the lights went out. Continue reading...

Attacking Diego Velazquez's Rokeby Venus failed to achieve votes for women in 1914, so why do it again?Who doesn't love the suffragettes? A group of women who are heroic, right, and, perhaps most advantageously for their collective reputation, no longer with us. Even the older and more exhausting ones have yet to be firmly identified, unlike so many of their successors, as Karens.In adopting the suffragettes as role models, along with their slogan, deeds not words", Just Stop Oil has, rather brilliantly, picked a group that unites in admiration left and right, old and young, and, probably uniquely, Jeremy Corbyn and the current - at the time of writing - home secretary, Suella Braverman. Corbyn once stole into parliament to erect a plaque to Emily Wilding Davison. Braverman's horror of protests has not stopped her reminding girls: Always remember the suffragettes who gave you and me the right to vote, and cherish that right." In 2018, the centenary of partial women's suffrage, Theresa May paid tribute to Emmeline Pankhurst, founder and leader of the proudly militant Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), whose supporters engaged in arson, bombings, window smashing, spitting and throwing missiles at MPs. Postal workers were burned, a full theatre ignited. Continue reading...

Attempts to oust progressive lawmakers across state continue, as police union targets council member who voted against pay raisesA California state judge dismissed efforts this past week to halt a recall vote led by a local police union who are attempting to oust a progressive city council member.The union, which is upset that the politician voted against officers' pay raises, has so far spent more than $660,000 on the vote to recall Santa Ana council member Jessie Lopez, with voting happening 14 November. Continue reading...

DJ Hayden, who played nine seasons with the Raiders, Lions, Jaguars and Commanders, was in SUV hit by speeding carA former National Football League player was among six people who were killed in a collision that occurred when a speeding driver ran a red light in downtown Houston on Saturday.Before his death in Houston during his collegiate alma mater's homecoming weekend, 33-year-old DJ Hayden had played nine seasons in the NFL after the Raiders selected him in the first round of the college draft in 2013. Continue reading...

Ex-president's attorneys request live coverage of proceedings, but a rule prevents broadcasting of federal trialsDonald Trump's attorneys have requested authorization for live, in-courtroom television coverage of his trial on charges that he conspired to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss so that the former commander-in-chief can publicly argue that the proceedings are unfair.The legal filing late on Friday, citing unsubstantiated allegations that Trump is the victim of persecution by the Biden White House, supports efforts by news organizations to provide live television coverage from inside the trial, which is scheduled to begin in March 2024. Continue reading...

The daily lives of the current crop of liberal-minded royals could prove a prime target for the right writerRestraint is probably the mark of the true artist, but still it seems odd that Peter Morgan has chosen to end The Crown, which returns this week, in the mid-00s, thereby missing out a bonanza of royal plot points. He has, after all, spent five seasons spinning gold out of the familiar and the tangential, and at times you felt the material strain ever so slightly: an entire episode on Mohamed Al-Fayed, Dodi Fayed's father; stretches that are just deer drinking from streams or Anne showjumping; and an appearance, coming up soon, of the ghost of Diana.But how rich in drama the past two decades have been! The show will end, for example, before Meghan and Harry emerge, a duo that could quite easily sustain an entire season alone. It will miss two royal weddings, phone hacking and the succession, as supervised by Liz Truss. And think what Morgan could have done with Prince Andrew's fateful Newsnight interview (I would like to watch the scene in which he decides to accept the invitation, encouraged - or not - by his aides). Continue reading...

The cryptocurrency fraudster talked a lot of venture capitalists into pouring millions of dollars into his business. Maybe they should be more careful next timeOn 22 September last year, a fascinating article appeared on the website of Sequoia Capital, one of the leading venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. (It trades under the motto: We help the daring build legendary companies.") The article in question was a breezily readable piece about a tech wunderkind who had recently flashed on to the company's radar screen. His name was Sam Bankman-Fried (henceforth known as SBF) and he was the founder of Alameda Research, a hedge fund specialising in cryptocurrency, and FTX, a spectacularly growing and profitable exchange that enabled holders of crypto assets to trade efficiently and freely.Today, that glowing tribute to this young genius is nowhere to be found on Sequoia's website. Why? Because only the other day a New York jury convicted him of fraud and conspiracy to launder money in a crushing verdict that could keep the lad in prison for decades - and perhaps also whet the appetite of US authorities for bringing the crypto sector to heel. In the end, about $8bn of FTX's investors' money was missing. The verdict has also mightily embarrassed the top-tier venture capitalists who were mesmerised by SBF's ambitious fantasies - to the point where the lead sucker, Sequoia, felt obliged on 10 November to bury the online evidence of its delusions by removing the profile from its website. Continue reading...

Investigators are reportedly still looking into ambiguous' statement made by suspect in death of Detroit Jewish leaderA suspect in the deadly stabbing of Detroit synagogue leader and leftwing political adviser Samantha Woll was released from custody on Friday without being booked with a crime after police had detained the man for three days.The man's attorneys, Allison Kriger and Mark Kriger, confirmed their client's release to the Detroit News, which nonetheless cited four law enforcement sources who said investigators were continuing to examine an ambiguous statement the suspect made to police" about Woll's 21 October killing. Continue reading...

Deadline comes after federal court ruled that state's current map disfranchises Black voters - one-third of the state's populationThe Louisiana state legislature has until the middle of January to enact a new congressional map after a federal court ruled that the state's current map illegally disfranchises Black voters.A conservative federal appeals court in New Orleans issued the deadline on Friday. According to the order, if the state legislature doesn't pass a new map by the deadline, then a lower district court should conduct a trial and develop a plan for the 2024 elections. Continue reading...

After stinging defeat in a statewide vote, GOP lawmakers seek to move jurisdiction to legislature for constitutional amendmentFour Ohio Republican state lawmakers are seeking to strip judges of their power to interpret an abortion rights amendment after voters opted to enshrine those rights in the state's constitution this week.Republican state house representatives Jennifer Gross, Bill Dean, Melanie Miller and Beth Lear said in a news release on Thursday that they will push to have Ohio's legislature - not the courts - make any decisions about the amendment passed on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Websites like Jezebel revived feminism, showing the internet might have a re-radicalizing effect. Who will carry the torch?Jezebel is dead. After 16 years, the women's news site, launched by Gawker Media under the editor Anna Holmes in 2007, shuttered for good this past week. Its most recent parent company, G/O Media, announced that the site was not sufficiently profitable and that it had not been able to find a buyer. The site's closure will mean that its robust abortion coverage will cease; so will its investigations into sexual abuse and its feminist critiques of culture and politics. The entire Jezebel staff lost their jobs.There is one way to see the closing of Jezebel as a symptom of an ailing media business. Journalism layoffs have become something of a grim ritual, with dozens of talented, hardworking and well-sourced writers taking to social media to announce their need for new work whenever the industry turns the corner on a bad quarter. Media companies stumbled at the turn of the last century, when the advent of the internet made print advertising dramatically less profitable; they never recovered. Digital media arose, but has not been able to eke out sufficient profit growth as social media evolves and fractures, and traffic becomes harder to juice. Jezebel's slow death over the past few years was exacerbated by the injection of private equity into the media industry, a medicine that has turned out to be worse than the disease. Continue reading...

Rashida Tlaib and other Democratic members of the Squad' have been targeted but also a libertarian RepublicanThe pro-Israel lobby in the US is airing attack ads and beginning to back primary opponents to challenge Congress members who are not voting for or supporting Israel's war on Gaza.Over the last 10 days, groups that support Israel have launched ads in at least seven districts targeting those who have been particularly vocal in calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, opposing Israeli military aid or criticizing Israel's government.This article was amended on 11 November 2023 to clarify Thomas Massie's position on the Israel-Hamas conflict. Continue reading...

As with Ukraine, the Chinese president's so-called neutrality is designed to advance his nation and make the US look weak

The history of mass killings, for me, is never ending. And so are the lessons for todayThe world's attention is focused on Gaza. The range of opinions being debated in the media today varies between the claim that what we are witnessing is the start of a genocide, to the view that Israel is engaging in self-protection, reacting properly to a true existential threat. That empathy is required for the horrors now facing the Palestinian people should be obvious to all decent people, just as much as for the victims of Hamas's unspeakable savagery. But it is necessary to move beyond these reactions, to evaluate the arguments, and their consequences.It is not much of an exaggeration to say that my life has been defined by the European genocide of the Jewish people. This history, for me, is never ending. Recently, I was contacted over email by a distant relative of my mother, who sent me a list of my maternal relatives murdered at Sobibor - there were twelve people on this list, including my great-grandmother and multiple great-uncles. This past has defined my recent professional life, where I have looked theoretically at the conditions that enable mass killing.Jason Stanley is a professor of philosophy at Yale University, and the author, most recently, of How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them Continue reading...

Opinion polls show the twice impeached, quadruply indicted ex-president narrowly leading Biden - and experts say it would be a disaster for America'It is a cold day in Washington. A crowd is gathering on the National Mall for the swearing-in of the 47th president of the United States. At noon on 20 January 2025, Donald Trump places his hand on a Bible, takes the oath of office and delivers an inaugural address with a simple theme: retribution.This is the nightmare scenario for millions of Americans - and one that they are increasingly being forced to take seriously. Opinion polls show Trump running away with the Republican presidential nomination and narrowly leading Democrat Joe Biden in a hypothetical match-up. Political pundits can offer plenty of caveats but almost all agree that the race for the White House next year will be very close. Continue reading...

Upcoming membership talks must balance high political aspirations with thorny practical issues from subsidies to grainWhen the 27 EU heads of government convene in Brussels in December, they will face one of the most momentous decisions in the history of the European Union: whether to start membership negotiations with Ukraine. The European Commission's recommendation this week that talks begin means that the European Council will almost certainly give the green light, but this doesn't imply that Ukraine will be allowed to join any time soon. In fact, the war-torn country may well find itself trapped in negotiations that go nowhere.Nato's reluctance to make good on its promise of membership for Ukraine is one reason to expect protracted talks between Brussels and Kyiv. Eleven out of the 16 countries that have joined the EU since 1995 did so as Nato members - a status that helps to protect states such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania from Russian aggression. The EU's security and defence policy is too weak to match these security guarantees and its mutual defence clause, which offers aid and assistance to member states that are the victims of armed aggression, is untested.Dermot Hodson is the author of Circle of Stars: A History of the EU and the People Who Made It Continue reading...

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Union leaders on Friday shared details of three-year contract, on AI, wage increases and end to racist hair and makeup practicesStreaming services like Netflix will pay actors bonuses amounting to roughly $40m per year as part of the tentative labor agreement reached between the SAG-AFTRA actors union and major Hollywood studios, union leaders said on Friday after their board backed the deal.The proposed three-year contract, which the union said was valued at more than $1bn over three years, was endorsed by 86% of SAG-AFTRA's national board. Continue reading...