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Sassi Mizrahi sentenced to federal prison after he and his brother targeted over 40 people in San Fernando Valley in Ponzi schemeA southern California man has been sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison after he and his younger brother scammed more than 40 people out of $7m in investments. Their fraud targeted victims from the San Fernando Valley's orthodox Jewish Israeli community.From 2012 to 2019, Sassi and his brother and co-defendant Motty Mizrahi ran an investment and money management firm called MBIG Company that boasted risk-free investments and an annual return rate of 30% to double the original investment, according to court records. To add legitimacy to MBIG, Motty Mizrahi also passed himself off as a licensed broker, certified accountant and veteran trader. Continue reading...

Peter Antonacci, the chief elections fraud official, died after a heated meeting in the governor's office and slumped in the hallwayRon DeSantis's chief elections fraud official collapsed after abruptly leaving a contentious" meeting in the Florida governor's office, then lay dead or dying for almost half an hour in the hallway outside until he was found, an investigation published Monday has revealed.Previously unreported details of the September 2022 death of Peter Antonacci in the Tallahassee capitol building appeared on the website of the Florida Bulldog, an independent online watchdog of the state's politics and government. Continue reading...

Activists including Cynthia Nixon say they are launching five-day fast to showcase the actions of President Biden'Leftwing activists including the actor Cynthia Nixon, famous for her role in Sex and the City, have begun a hunger strike outside the White House aimed at pressing Joe Biden into demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.The five-day fast was launched to coincide with what had been the scheduled end of a four-day truce in Israel's military offensive into the Palestinian coastal territory, during which the Palestinian group Hamas released dozens of hostages. Israel has also released several batches of Palestinian prisoners, most of them women and minors. The truce was later extended by a further two days following mediation from Egypt and Qatar. Continue reading...

President says there is no place for violence or hate in America' after suspect arrested on SundayJoe Biden has expressed horror at the shooting of three Palestinian students in Burlington, Vermont and, amid heightened tensions with the crisis in Israel and Gaza reverberating in the US, reiterated on Monday that there is no place for violence or hate in America".A suspect was arrested on Sunday after the shootings the night before that wounded the men, police said, adding that contrary to media reports the shooter did not speak before firing.Edward Helmore and Chris Stein contributed reporting Continue reading...

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Jewish Voice for Peace estimates more than 1,500 protesters calling for permanent ceasefire blocked cars amid holiday trafficNew York peace activists calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza staged their most dramatic action to date on Sunday, closing down the Manhattan Bridge for three hours as people were returning from the Thanksgiving break.Organizers with the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice For Peace (JVP) estimate more than 1,500 protesters blocked traffic on the bridge connecting lower Manhattan to Brooklyn as they chanted let Gaza live" and other messages calling for a permanent ceasefire in the Palestinian territory where Israel and Hamas have warred since October. Continue reading...

Short-lived PM does not mention frontrunner for nomination by name but says I hope a Republican will be returned in 2024'Liz Truss, the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, who was memorably shown to have a shorter shelf life than a lettuce, has in effect backed Donald Trump in next year's US presidential election.Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Truss - who spent just 49 days in No 10 Downing Street before being turfed out by her own Conservative party in large part for pitching the UK economy into crisis - said she wished for a Republican president next. Continue reading...

From a disappointing title fight to Anthony Gordon's star-making performance, we hand out honors (and dishonors) from the Premier League weekend

We're always being told that our festive drinks or feasts come at a cost. It's just another way for people to feel superiorI've got to stop putting wellness influencer" in inverted commas. These are real people; we have to accept that they have influence. Wellness is, incontrovertibly, a real thing, since health" is a bit too neutral to be illness's opposite. So, anyway, a wellness influencer has posted on TikTok the number of alcoholic drinks you have to down before you'll gain 1lb (450g) in weight. I know for an absolute fact that this isn't how the human body works. The calories-in-calories-out mechanical understanding, where all calories have a like effect and every body is the same, has been debunked from every which way. Even if we were to agree that 37.5 flutes of prosecco should add 1lb of body weight, uniformly, to any drinker, we'd know immediately that circumstances would move the dial. What if you drank them all in one go? You could make yourself so ill that you actually lost weight.The list was a kind of homage to the great mysteries of alcohol: how on earth is lager more calorific than Guinness? Whose bright idea was the strawberry and lime Rekorderlig, a Swedish cider that packs more energy in nine bottles than Corona can in 25? But the list also joined the canon of self-hate for the annual self-indulgence" that I'm not sure is any more real than Santa.Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Political activist who was intern in Bill Clinton White House urges wide-ranging review of constitution in Vanity Fair articleMonica Lewinsky has called for elected officials to be subject to mandatory retirement ages and for presidential self-pardons to be banned.The former Bill Clinton White House intern whose affair with the president eventually set the stage for his 1998 impeachment pushed for those measures in an opinion piece published on Monday by Vanity Fair. Continue reading...

Republican challenger says rival's language and conduct a contributing factor to rising antisemitism and IslamophobiaDonald Trump's intolerance towards everyone" encourages antisemitism and Islamophobia in the US amid tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas, said Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.When you show intolerance towards everyone - which is what he does - you give permission as a leader for others to have their intolerance come out," Christie told CNN on Sunday. Continue reading...

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Perhaps the mayhem in the city centre last week will finally end politicians' complacency about violent anti-immigrant groups

Benjamin Netanyahu says he would welcome an extension if it means Hamas releases more hostages. Plus, why cosy living is good for you Don't already get First Thing in your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning.The truce between Israel and Hamas has entered its final 24 hours, with the militant group saying it was willing to extend the pause after it freed more hostages, including a four-year-old orphaned by its 7 October attack.What has Biden said about the deal being extended? The US president said: That's my goal, that's our goal, to keep this pause going beyond tomorrow so that we can continue to see more hostages come out and surge more humanitarian relief into those in need in Gaza."Who has been released by Hamas? A four-year-old Israeli-American girl who was among three US hostages held by Hamas was released yesterday. Biden confirmed that Abigail Mor Edan was in the hands of Red Cross officials. Meanwhile, teenage siblings Noam and Alma Or were released only to find out their mother had been murdered by Hamas on 7 October.Who will be at Cop28? The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is expected to attend, and King Charles will give the opening speech, along with the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, and the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Pope Francis will also be there, as well as the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. An invitation has been extended to the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad. Continue reading...

State makes unusual move in submitting journal of Manuel Tortuguita' Paez Teran, killed by state troopers in JanuaryThe diary of an environmental activist police shot and killed earlier this year is playing a crucial role in Georgia's conspiracy case against 61 people tied to a police and fire department training center known as Cop City", offering an early window into the state's approach to the prosecution.The Georgia deputy attorney general, John Fowler, has put forward a legal motion to enter the diary of Manuel Paez Teran, known as Tortuguita, as evidence in the Rico, or racketeering, case, sidestepping standard legal procedure while employing smear tactics and falsehoods, said observers of the case and based on the Guardian's reporting. Continue reading...

Jewish organizations are embracing public figures who have circulated antisemitic tropes - because they support IsraelPerhaps the most bizarre spectacle of the past month has been watching some of the world's most wretched antisemites lining up to give their unalloyed support to Israel. Even more jarring has been their embrace by those who are supposed to advocate for Jewish safety.These people include the radical US pastor John Hagee, who previously claimed that Adolf Hitler had been born from a lineage of accursed, genocidally murderous half-breed Jews" and sent by God to help the Jews reach the promised land. (He apologized in 2008 for some of his remarks.) He was invited to speak last Tuesday to an audience of thousands at the March for Israel in Washington, organised by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, to help condemn the rising trend of antisemitic violence". Continue reading...

The Covid pandemic accelerated enormous societal changes - and nowhere is that more true than transnational organized crimeThis week in Vienna, at the annual global meeting of police leaders from around the world, whether in huddled groups in quiet corridors or on the main stage, every law enforcement officer will be talking about one thing: the explosive growth of transnational organized crime.What every police force knows, but the rest of the world has yet to realize, is that there has been an epidemic of transnational organized crime and at such a scale that it is now a global security crisis.Jurgen Stock is the secretary general of Interpol Continue reading...

Phrases such as green economy' turn voters off, it seems - and Labour has already reframed its language

The quarterback's only positive contribution to his team this season may be to provide a long-term successorMac Jones and the New England Patriots have had a classic relationship arc. When Bill Belichick broke his historic bond with Tom Brady after the 2019 season, he was adrift. He had unproductive flings with Cam Newton and Jarrett Stidham in 2020's pandemic-disrupted season. But in 2021, Belichick decided to settle down again; he drafted Jones, who had just led Alabama to a national championship, with the 15th pick. Belichick and Jones' first year together was a vision; Jones wasn't a star, but he was the most productive rookie quarterback in a class that included Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields, Trey Lance (yikes) and Zach Wilson (doubles yikes). The Patriots made it to the playoffs, and though Jones had some limitations, he looked like Belichick's partner for the long haul.The situation gradually disintegrated in 2022 as Jones failed to progress, and it looks in tatters 12 weeks into the current season. In a 10-7 loss to a mediocre New York Giants team on Sunday, Belichick benched Jones for the fourth time this season, in favor of Bailey Zappe. The Patriots fell when kicker Chad Ryland missed a 35-yard field goal as time expired, but that may prove to be a long-term victory. Jones' two interceptions and 89 yards on 12-of-21 passing helped the Patriots drop to 2-9. For the moment, they're positioned to pick third overall in the 2023 draft. By playing miserably, Jones has given the Patriots a decent shot at drafting a superior successor to him next year. Continue reading...

During the pandemic I fell for the beauties of nature and a slower pace - and revised my thoughts about men in LycraCyclists are a menace and should be banned from the roads," read the headline. It was 2015, and the most controversial article I had ever written had just been published on a national newspaper's website, attacking Mamils - middle-aged men in Lycra - and anyone, as I then saw it, stupid enough to ride a bike.The backlash was caustic. Furious hordes accused me of stirring up hate, of encouraging reckless, criminal motorists and of indirectly putting cyclists in danger. Cyclists who had been knocked off their bikes and people whose cycling relatives had been injured got in touch. I was horrified but also convinced that most motorists were careful, sensible and well-meaning, so the accidents must have been tragic, rare, isolated incidents. Continue reading...

From Belgium to Germany and Britain, western countries still seek to dictate which colonial abuses are redressed and howI still remember the sense of excitement that ran through activist circles in Brussels when the king of Belgium expressed his regret for colonial violence in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was the height of the Black Lives Matter protests in June 2020, and suddenly it felt like the mask of collective amnesia over Europe's colonial past was starting to crack, setting us on a path towards real, reparative justice.But three years on, the fight for justice seems more fraught than ever. In recent weeks, heads of state from Germany and Great Britain have addressed the colonial crimes committed in Tanzania and Kenya respectively. King Charles III, on an official visit to Kenya in early November, expressed his deep regret" for the colonial abuses perpetrated by British forces. The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, asked for forgiveness" for the crimes perpetrated by the German army in Tanzania against up to 300,000 people during the Maji Maji revolts at the beginning of the 20th century.Liliane Umubyeyi is the co-founder and executive director of African Futures Lab Continue reading...

People have seen too much that will stay with them too long. Trust in the international community' will never be the sameThe images of hostages and prisoners being reunited with their families are almost too hopeful to absorb. Even as Israeli authorities explicitly try to suppress Palestinian expressions of joy" at the return of their prisoners, the fact that they were released, and that some Israeli hostages are now safe and reunited, signals some small promise. But even if the wildest hope is realised - a lasting ceasefire - what has already unfolded over the past 52 days will be hard to forget.There is a short video, posted on social media a few weeks ago, that I cannot get out of my head. In the clip, a man in Gaza is holding two plastic bags that carry the body parts of a child, presumably his. There are other details. The look on the man's face. The way those around him avoid eye contact once they realise what he is carrying. I see these details often now, sudden and unbidden. The emotional and psychological impact of the war on those outside Gaza - no matter how intense - is a sort of privilege, happening, as it is, only on our screens. But there is something lasting about these images. Others I know are haunted too, by different visions. By the doctor who came across her husband's body while treating bombing victims. By the father stroking and rocking a dust-covered baby on his chest one last time.Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnistDo 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...

US president is balancing the demands of a Middle East war and a presidential campaign expected to heat up in JanuaryUS President Joe Biden will not attend a gathering of world leaders focused on climate change in Dubai this week, a US official said on Sunday.The announcement comes after the New York Times reported that Biden would not attend. Continue reading...

Crew recovers body of Kara Heller, whose parents and sister found dead, and look for third child of family and their neighborAuthorities recovered the body of an 11-year-old girl Saturday evening from the debris of a landslide in south-east Alaska that tore down a wooded mountainside days earlier, smashing into homes in a remote fishing village.The girl, Kara Heller, was the fourth person confirmed killed by last Monday night's landslide. Continue reading...

Prophet Song imagines an Ireland under fascist control, breaking through the it-couldn't-happen-here complacency of western societies Soul-shattering' Prophet Song by Paul Lynch wins 2023 Booker prizeWith Paul Lynch's Prophet Song, the judges have chosen perhaps the most timely and urgent book on the shortlist - a novel explicitly plugged into global strife and political tectonic forces. But it's also the very intimate, elemental story of one woman's love for her family, and her desperate attempts to hold on to the immediate world around her in the face of rising chaos.Lynch imagines an Ireland that has fallen under fascist control. Eilish Stack is a Dublin scientist and mother of four, busy with work, family and her elderly father, averting her eyes from the increasingly worrying news reports. Then grim reality comes knocking at her door: the newly created secret police arrive to interrogate her husband, Larry, about his work as a trade unionist. Along with many others, he is disappeared into the maw of the state. Their teenage children want to take to the streets - to wear the colours of protest, to march, to fight back - but all Eilish wants is to keep them hidden and safe. As civil war breaks out, and the streets of Dublin are filled with roadblocks and snipers, she remains frozen in a state of denial. Her sister, who lives in Canada, begs her over the phone to try to escape. History is a silent record of people who did not know when to leave." Continue reading...

Abigail Mor Edan, who was one of three US hostages, was among the 17 captives freed on Sunday under cease-fire termsA four-year-old Israeli American girl who was among three US hostages held by Hamas was released Sunday.President Joe Biden confirmed on Sunday that the girl - Abigail Mor Edan - was in the hands of Red Cross officials.Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

Victims reportedly were wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh and speaking in Arabic when they were attacked in BurlingtonThree college students described as being of Palestinian descent were shot and wounded on Saturday evening in Burlington, Vermont, on their way to a family dinner.The head of the Palestinian mission to the UK, Husam Zomlot, identified the victims as Hisham Awartani, Tahseen Ahmed and Kinnan Abdalhamid, undergraduate students at Brown, Haverford and Trinity. Zomlot said on X - formerly known as Twitter - that each of the victims was wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh when they were attacked, though authorities have stopped short of publicly discussing a possible motive for the triple shooting. Continue reading...

Minneapolis police chief provided updates about attack on former officer who was convicted of murdering George FloydThe former Minneapolis police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd and was stabbed in prison by a fellow inmate Friday is expected to survive the attack, officials have told media outlets.Updates about Derek Chauvin, the wounded convicted killer and ex-cop, were provided to various media outlets - including the Associated Press and the news station KSTP - by the Minneapolis police chief, Brian O'Hara, as well as a spokesperson for Minnesota state attorney general Keith Ellison's office on Saturday. Continue reading...

Social media videos show protesters igniting smoke devices and spattering fake blood outside Michael Tuchin's homeA protest outside the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) president's Los Angeles home is reportedly being investigated as a possible hate crime after social media videos showed demonstrators igniting smoke devices and spattering fake blood.According to reports by the Los Angeles Times and other news outlets, Aipac president Michael Tuchin's home in the Brentwood section was vandalized Thursday on Thanksgiving by protesters who also pounded pots in the driveway and held up a sign that read: Fuck your holiday, baby killer." Continue reading...

A Swedish city is encouraging its residents to say hello to each other, which sounds like hell for most British people. But never fear - help is at handIn a development more chilling than its -10C temperature, the Swedish city of Lulea is encouraging people to say hello to each other. The Sag hej! campaign is trying to combat social isolation and loneliness during the long, dark Nordic winter by making people feel more seen and a bit more like you belong", according to the campaign's coordinator, Asa Koski. I admit that sounds admirable, but it is also horrifying.I consume a vast amount of energy when navigating interactions with strangers and I am pretty sure that is standard in the UK. Maybe it's different in Sweden (or perhaps not, given that they found 2-metre social distancing too close for comfort), but over here we live by the motto: Why make things simple when you could become ensnared in a web of awkwardness?" The Lulea campaign has made me realise we need help. So, having consulted widely, here are my draft guidelines for one-on-one stranger greetings. Continue reading...

Despite the current pause' in fighting, we increasingly fear that Israel wants to drive us out of the Gaza Strip altogetherAs I began to write this, here in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, Israeli missiles were striking nearby. Once you get over the initial shock of the loud explosions, the shaking of the house and your knees, the first instinct is to immediately rush to calm the children whose cries somehow seem louder and more painful than the strikes themselves.Throughout Israel's invasion, people in northern Gaza have been told to move to the safety" of the south. But our day-to-day lives here are testament to the fact that in Gaza, nowhere is safe. As missiles fall, our house is filled with relatives, including lots of children - some of whom lost their homes nearby to Israeli airstrikes, others who have fled the bombardment in northern Gaza for the safety" of the south. It was here in the south that I lost my closest relatives on my father's side. Three brothers and their wives and children were struck by Israeli missiles, and their entire building was reduced to rubble. Only a few of them survived, mainly those who had gone out to buy supplies. They had no warning whatsoever, and no leaflets had been dropped in the area telling people to evacuate.Rozan lives in Khan Younis in Gaza Continue reading...

The New York fabulist accomplished practically nothing in his political career, just self-promotion through sheer chutzpahIn a way, George Santos is one of the great success stories of American politics.The New York congressman is not responsible for exceptional legislative achievements. His brief tenure in Congress will not be held up as a success story for students of political history. Continue reading...

Experts debate whether Tuesday's transatlantic trip heralds a greener way to fly or a misguided stuntA Virgin Atlantic flight will set off on Tuesday from London Heathrow for New York, a Boeing 787 shorn of paying passengers but with a payload of scientists, aviation leaders, politicians and media, and powered largely by used cooking oil - or as it is now better known, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).The UK government and aviation industry hope the transatlantic journey, funded with 1m of taxpayer's money, will demonstrate that greener flying is possible and its 2050 jet zero" aspirations are more than hot air. Continue reading...

US students are relearning how to chitchat after lockdown damaged social skills. Maybe Rishi Sunak could take a courseAre you having a lovely weekend? Nice jumper, is it new? Did you see Doctor Who last night? You see, it's not difficult. Yet the younger generation seems to be struggling with the ancient art of small talk. Speaking about nothing but doing it pleasantly is an essential social lubricant. Sadly it seems to be drying up.Students in the US are taking lessons in conducting chitchat" after losing these social skills during lockdown and no longer knowing how to start anodyne face-to-face conversations. College professors are giving tips such as ask questions about their weekend plans, use people's names and make eye contact". Continue reading...

Breaking the cycle of unresolved conflicts will entail great risks, but it's our only hopeFrom late Friday afternoon, all of Israel was riveted to screens. For hours, the country watched and waited nervously for glimpses of the 13 Israeli and 11 foreign hostages being released from captivity in Gaza, after being snatched by Hamas from their homes on 7 October. Families of the hostages had been begging their government to reach a deal for the release of their loved ones ever since. Now it was here.Headlines tracked every tidbit of information of their journey from somewhere in the ruins of Gaza, to their crossing into Egypt, then Israel, before being whisked off to hospitals for medical attention. It was the first collective bright spot since that terrible Saturday.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...

An exhibition of feminist activism charts the struggle towards equality, but hard-won rights are increasingly being taken away around the worldBrainwashed by a homicidal policy" is how the man just elected president of Argentina described supporters of women's abortion rights. The far-right libertarian Javier Milei has pledged to hold a referendum to ban abortion, just three years after Argentina became the largest Latin American country to legalise it, and the country's feminists are gearing up for a big fight to protect their reproductive rights.This development is part of a depressing global picture. The UN has said the world is failing women and girls, and is way off track" to meet targets to improve women's lives. One in five girls is married before she turns 18, it is lawful to discriminate against women in more than half the countries in the world, and almost 250 million women experience physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner each year. In Afghanistan and Iran, the slide backwards from the relatively liberal 1970s, when women thronged the universities and cafes of Kabul and Tehran, has been absolute.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...

According to Sir Patrick Vallance's evidence, figures bamboozled' Boris Johnson. Did he learn only entitlement at Eton?At the beginning of Saltburn, Emerald Fennell's new addition to Brideshead-genre stately worship, the outcast status of a non-posh Oxford student is instantly signalled by, to add to his low stature, his friendship with a mathematical genius with no social skills. Bespectacled, naturally.In a film so thoroughly captivated by its upper-class inventory, inert and otherwise, it makes perfect sense that this outcast would rather be condescended to by the pretty college patrician and his vacuous circle. So it's goodbye geek, hello Saltburn's disapproving butler, complex place settings and non-mathematician style gems like I can wear my suit of armour, Elsbeth".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...

The Party for Freedom leader succeeded last week because he has become part of the Dutch political furniture. This disturbing trend needs to be halted Read more: Riots, race and the end of the Irish welcome'Election results lend themselves to different stories, certainly in the Netherlands, where so many old and new parties compete for votes. Yet the 2023 election will be remembered for one reason: a far-right party topped the polls for the first time, and by a large margin. Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) is set to win 37 of the 150 seats in Dutch parliament, more than doubling its 2021 tally.Far-right parties in Europe primarily attract voters on their core issues of immigration and multiculturalism. Most also express a populist message, criticising political elites and calling for popular sovereignty. Wilders' PVV is no different. Continue reading...

On X Spaces Friday night, Republican congressman charted his rise from It girl' to Mary Magdalene of the United States Congress'Republican George Santos has said he expects to be expelled from Congress following a scathing report by the House ethics committee that found substantial evidence of lawbreaking by the lying New York representative.In a defiant speech Friday sprinkled with taunts and obscenities aimed at his congressional colleagues, Santos insisted he was not going anywhere". But he acknowledged that his time as a member of Congress may soon be coming to an end. Continue reading...

The Heller family was at home when the rockslide buried their home on Friday; neighbor Otto Florschutz was also killedThe deadly landslide in south-east Alaska early this week killed five family members and their neighbor, a commercial fisher who made a longshot bid for the state's lone seat in the US House last year, authorities said on Friday.Timothy Heller, 44, and Beth Heller, 36 - plus their children Mara, 16; Derek, 12; and Kara, 11 - were at home on Monday night when the landslide struck near the island community of Wrangell. Search crews found the bodies of the parents and the oldest child late on Monday or early Tuesday; the younger children remain missing, as does neighbor Otto Florschutz, 65, the Alaska public safety department said in a statement that identified the victims of the disaster. Continue reading...

A progressive carbon tax on flying would protect poor people far more than simply abandoning green policiesIs net zero a luxury belief"? A strange assumption seems to have become knitted into the climate debate: that the burden of cutting carbon emissions will - must, inevitably - fall hardest on the poor.This is the logic by which climate activists are sometimes deemed snobby, classist virtue-signallers - and the principle on which, earlier this year, Rishi Sunak signalled a tactical retreat on green policies. It cannot be right for Westminster to impose such significant costs on working people," the prime minister said. Because, of course, this is the group such policies would hurt the most. Continue reading...

As a distracted world looks elsewhere, US and China have a common interest in halting Asia's accelerating nuclear arms raceFor western liberals and progressive champions of open, democratic government, a clutch of recalcitrant regimes around the world seems firmly stuck on what Barack Obama once called the wrong side of history". Iran's misogynistic theocrats and Myanmar's genocidal generals are among the worst offenders.Then there's Vladimir Putin's Russia, harking back to largely illusory former glories. Belarus, Syria, Nicaragua, Cambodia and Eritrea meet the regressive criteria, too. What all these regimes have in common is denial of the basic human right to self-determination - the individual's right to have a say in how society is ordered. Continue reading...