MUNICH — If the Munich Security Conference had a soul it was embodied in Senator John McCain, always an invigorating presence here and always a fierce advocate of the trans-Atlantic alliance. He’s gone now and so is the idea of inevitable liberal democratic convergence, replaced by great power competition in the age of the strongman. […]
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A senior executive from Amazon, one of the world’s biggest companies, led by the world’s richest person, found himself last weekend in a showdown with a suburban state senator. The executive, Brian Huseman, who is based in Washington D.C., was trying to find out whether the New York state senator, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, would exert more […]
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — As the N.B.A. prepares for All-Star Game festivities this weekend in Charlotte, N.C., the backdrop to the celebration is unequivocally political, as nearly everything in the divided state seems to be these days. The event was supposed to be in Charlotte in 2017. But in March 2016, the Republican-controlled legislature passed a […]
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WASHINGTON — When Amazon canceled its plans to build an expansive corporate campus in New York City this week, officials more than 200 miles away in Northern Virginia decided to make a statement. Their region had its act together, they had been far more prepared and they were free of drama. That message came from […]
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MADRID — Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain on Friday called for a snap general election in April, opening a new chapter of national turmoil as the territorial conflict over Catalonia continues to weigh on the country’s politics. The announcement from Mr. Sánchez came two days after his minority Socialist government suffered a major defeat […]
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I’ve always thought Americans would come together when we realized that we faced a dangerous foreign foe. And lo and behold, now we have one: China. It’s become increasingly clear that China is a grave economic, technological and intellectual threat to the United States and the world order. And sure enough, beneath the TV bluster […]
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[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.] The news on Thursday that Amazon had decided not to build a second headquarters in New York City was an equal-opportunity stunner, to the politicians and activists who had fought against it, and to the business leaders and elected […]
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CAIRO — The Egyptian Parliament approved sweeping measures on Thursday that would allow President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to extend his rule until 2034, further entrenching his authoritarian rule and enshrining in law the military’s dominance over the country. The vote by Parliament, whose workings are quietly managed by Mr. el-Sisi’s intelligence agencies, sets in motion […]
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NEW DELHI — India’s government has proposed giving itself vast new powers to suppress internet content, igniting a heated battle with global technology giants and prompting comparisons to censorship in China. Under the proposed rules, Indian officials could demand that Facebook, Google, Twitter, TikTok and others remove posts or videos that they deem libelous, invasive […]
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JAKARTA, Indonesia — When Joko Widodo, the incumbent president of Indonesia, last year chose Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate for the general election this April, it became clear that Indonesian politics is now backed into a corner. Mr. Ma’ruf is an Islamic cleric and scholar, and Mr. Joko was perhaps hoping to dampen attacks […]
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“Any collective reckoning with racism that comes out of this moment must go beyond the personal and offensive,” Jamelle Bouie writes in his column, “Blackface Is the Tip of the Iceberg,” which talks about the implications of a photo on the 1984 medical school yearbook page of Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia, showing one man […]
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Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia should resign. Not because he most likely wore blackface in the 1980s. He should resign because in 2019 he seems unwilling to address how, or whether, his views on race have evolved. His silence demonstrates a lack of integrity, and it’s disrespectful to one-fifth of Virginia’s electorate, the 87 percent […]
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WARSAW — Before top officials from 65 nations began meeting in Warsaw at an American-led conference on Middle East security, an unmistakable voice rang out at a rally outside the city’s main stadium, calling for regime change in Iran: the former mayor Rudy Giuliani. Mr. Giuliani contended he was there representing an Iranian opposition group, […]
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The Yellow Vests have been coming out to demonstrate in Paris and other large French cities for 13 straight Saturdays now, bedeviling the government of President Emmanuel Macron with the vagueness of their demands and the lack of a leadership to negotiate with. How it plays out could have consequences well beyond France’s borders. The […]
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MADRID — Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain lost a crucial budgetary vote in Parliament on Wednesday, most likely forcing him to call a snap national election and once again plunging the nation into political uncertainty linked to the issue of Catalan independence. It was only with the cooperation of Catalan separatist parties that Mr. […]
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MADRID — Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of Spain lost a crucial budgetary vote in Parliament on Wednesday, most likely forcing him to call a snap national election and once again plunging the nation into political uncertainty linked to the issue of Catalan independence. It was only with the cooperation of Catalan separatist parties that Mr. […]
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BEIJING — A Cultural Revolution-era film by a celebrated Chinese director has been withdrawn from the 69th Berlin Film Festival, where it was set to show in the festival’s main competition. A statement posted Monday on the film’s official Weibo account said the film by Zhang Yimou, “One Second,” had been pulled for “technical reasons,” […]
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RICHMOND, Va. — To Constance Cordovilla, the president of the Virginia National Organization for Women, the two sexual assault allegations against Lt. Gov. Justin E. Fairfax are not just grounds for him to resign — the detailed claims also demand that women side with his accusers. “It would set back survivors if we don’t because […]
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BAYONNE, France — The government in Paris disapproves. But the local mayor doesn’t care. He says he will continue sheltering the Africans crossing the Spanish border into France. For Jean-René Etchegaray, mayor of Bayonne, a quiet and refined city in the French Basque Country, 22 miles from the border, it is a matter of necessity […]
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SYDNEY, Australia — The Australian Parliament on Wednesday narrowly passed legislation that would let some asylum seekers being held on remote Pacific islands come to Australia for medical treatment, a blow to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who had strongly opposed the measure. Under Australia’s offshore detention policy, asylum seekers who try to reach the country […]
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