Tag: Politics and Government

Why the War in Myanmar Matters

An escalating civil war threatens to break apart a country of roughly 55 million people that sits between China and India. That has international consequences, but the conflict hasn’t commanded wide attention. Over the past six months, resistance fighters in Myanmar’s hinterlands have been defeating the ruling military junta in battle after battle, stunning analysts. […]

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House Set to Vote on Foreign Aid Bills for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan

The House on Saturday was heading toward passage of a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as Speaker Mike Johnson put his job on the line to advance the long-stalled legislation in defiance against hard-liners from his own party. Lawmakers were expected on Saturday afternoon to vote separately on aid for […]

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Ex-Bernie Sanders Pollster Worried About RFK Jr.’s Appeal Among Crucial Voters

Happy Friday! Today, we’re looking at younger voters and other demographic groups who are generally crucial for Democratic victories in presidential elections — but who may back other candidates or sit out this year’s election in greater numbers than usual. I’ve asked my colleague Shane Goldmacher to kick things off. — Jess Bidgood Like many […]

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Arrests of Europeans for Aiding Russia Raise Fears of Kremlin’s Reach

The authorities in Poland and Germany have arrested at least five of their citizens in recent days and accused them of spying for Russia or of offering to help Moscow commit violence on European soil, including a “possible attack” on the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. The arrests underscored fears of the Kremlin’s furtive network […]

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At G7 Meeting in Capri, Blinken Tackles Rough Seas and Global Crises

Rough seas were a fitting symbol for this week’s meeting of Group of 7 foreign ministers on the Italian island of Capri. Coast Guard ships that ferried V.I.P.s across the Gulf of Naples to the island on Wednesday swayed precariously, leaving the passengers reaching for their motion-sickness medicine — and, in some cases, their sick […]

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Columbia, Free Speech and the Coddling of the American Right

​​​​As a journalist, you usually go to the front line to find the news. But sometimes the front line finds you. This happened to me not once but twice on Thursday, as an epic battle over freedom of expression on college campuses unfolded from one end of Manhattan to another. The first was when I […]

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Ukrainians Wait, Nervously, to See if U.S. Will Provide Critical Aid

From the bloody trenches of the battlefield to crowded cities battered by Russian bombardments, millions of Ukrainians waited in nervous anticipation as the United States Congress prepared, after months of delay, to decide if America will resume providing their country with critical military support. Private Pavlo Kaliuk, who has been fighting to slow the Russian […]

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Turkey Earthquake Trial Opens Amid Anger and Tears

The families addressed the court one by one, sobbing as they spoke the names of relatives who had been killed when their upscale apartment complex in southern Turkey toppled over during a powerful earthquake last year. One woman, whose son had died in the collapse alongside his wife and their 3-year-old son, lashed out at […]

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India’s 2024 Multiphase Election: What to Know

Why does this election matter? Indians began voting on Friday in a multiphase general election that will continue until June 1. The vote, whose results will be announced on June 4, will determine the political direction of the world’s most populous nation for the next five years. The election, for which turnout is usually high, […]

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Apple Says It Was Ordered to Pull WhatsApp From China App Store

Apple said it pulled the Meta-owned apps WhatsApp and Threads from its app store in China on Friday on government orders, potentially escalating the war over technology between the United States and China. The House of Representatives was preparing to vote on a bill as soon as this weekend that would force the Chinese internet […]

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12 Jurors in Trump Hush Money Trial Will Decide a Former President’s Fate

At 4:34 p.m. on Thursday, twelve citizens were selected to determine the fate of an indicted former president for the first time in American history, a moment that could shape the nation’s political and legal landscapes for generations to come. The dozen New Yorkers will sit in judgment of Donald J. Trump, the 45th president […]

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Nicola Sturgeon’s Husband Charged in Embezzlement Case in Scotland

Peter Murrell, the husband of Scotland’s former first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, was charged on Thursday in connection with embezzlement of funds from the Scottish National Party, which she once led and where he once held a senior position. The announcement, which follows a lengthy inquiry by the Scottish police, is another blow to the party, […]

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Croatia’s Election Result Makes a Far-Right Party a Possible Kingmaker

A far-right party emerged on Thursday as a potential kingmaker in Croatia after the governing conservatives finished first in a bitterly contested parliamentary election but fell short of winning enough seats to form a new government. The outcome of Wednesday’s vote signaled a new era of messy political uncertainty in the Balkan nation, which has […]

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Joe Biden’s Challenge With Gen Z Voters

Listen to and follow ‘The Run-Up’Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon In a close election, every vote matters. But in the 2020 presidential race, there’s a good argument that young voters mattered a lot — and helped tip the scales for President Biden. This year, though, things seem much less straightforward. Polling data shows that […]

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An ISIS Terror Group Draws Half Its Recruits From Tiny Tajikistan

The mother of one of the suspects in the bloody attack on a concert hall near Moscow last month wept as she talked about her son. How, she wondered, did he go from the bumpy, dirt roads of their village in Tajikistan, in Central Asia, to sitting, bruised and battered, in a Russian courtroom accused […]

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Modi’s Hindu Utopia Is a Tawdry Mirage

The sleepy pilgrimage city of Ayodhya in northern India was once home to a grand 16th-century mosque, until it was illegally demolished by a howling mob of Hindu militants in 1992. The site has since been reinvented as the centerpiece of the Hindu-chauvinist “new India” promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2020, as Covid-19 […]

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Björn Höcke of the AfD Goes on Trial in Germany

One of Germany’s most prominent far-right leaders, Björn Höcke, stands trial on Thursday, facing charges of using banned Nazi slogans at political rallies. Using National Socialist slogans and symbols is a punishable crime in Germany, which, because of the legacy of Hitler’s rise to power, has a far more restrictive approach to free speech compared […]

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TikTok Bill to Be Bundled With Aid to Ukraine and Israel, House Speaker Indicates

The House on Wednesday made another push to force through legislation that would require the sale of TikTok by its Chinese owner or ban the app in the United States, accelerating an effort to disrupt the popular social media app. Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated that he intends to package the measure, a modified version […]

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Is Trump’s Trial Really About ‘Hush Money’?

As former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial begins, there is one battle taking place in a Manhattan courtroom, where he faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. But there is another fight taking place in the court of public opinion, which concerns a much more basic question: What should this trial even be […]

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4 Takeaways from Today’s Hearing on Antisemitism at Columbia University

Four Columbia University officials, including the university’s president and the leaders of its board, went before Congress on Wednesday to try to extinguish criticism that the campus in New York has become a hub of antisemitic behavior and thought. Over more than three hours, the Columbia leaders appeared to avoid the kind of caustic, viral […]

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Trump Election Inquiries Gain Ground in Swing States

The chairman of the Nevada Republican Party has been indicted. So has the former chairman of the Georgia G.O.P. In Michigan, a former co-chairwoman of the state party is facing charges. As Donald J. Trump goes on trial in the New York criminal case, other investigations and prosecutions in five crucial swing states are continuing […]

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A Timeline of Britain’s Troubled Plan to Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda

Britain’s Conservative government hopes to pass the Safety of Rwanda Bill on Wednesday, after a prolonged back and forth through the two houses of Parliament in which the legislation has come under sustained criticism. The bill is intended to clear the way for the government to put some asylum seekers on one-way flights to Rwanda, […]

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Bob Graham, Former Florida Governor and Senator, Dies at 87

Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat who as a little-known state senator mucked out stables and waited on tables in a clever populist strategy that helped to boost him into the governorship, the United States Senate and a run for the presidency, has died. He was 87. His daughter Gwen Graham posted a family statement announcing […]

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For Israel’s Allies, Iranian Missile Strike Scrambles Debate Over Gaza

Two weeks ago, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain was facing a chorus of calls to cut off arms shipments to Israel because of its devastating war in Gaza. On Monday, Mr. Sunak saluted the British warplanes that had shot down several Iranian drones as part of a successful campaign to thwart Iran’s attack on […]

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Inside the Manhattan Courtroom Where Trump Is on Trial

It was about 2:30 on Monday afternoon when the first 96 potential jurors filed into a drab courtroom in Lower Manhattan to encounter the world’s most famous defendant: Donald J. Trump. Some craned their necks to catch a glimpse, an indication of the undeniable power of Mr. Trump’s celebrity. But not long after, more than […]

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Hochul Announces $237 Billion Budget, Including a Housing Deal

New York State leaders have agreed on the outline of a $237 billion state budget that includes a sweeping package aimed at stemming one of the worst housing shortages in the nation. The deal, which was announced by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday, arrives two weeks past the April 1 budget deadline, following intense debates […]

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New York Nears a Major Housing Deal to Confront Affordability Crisis

New York state leaders have reached a deal on the framework of a legislative plan to address one of the worst housing crises in the nation, according to three people familiar with the deal who spoke anonymously because they did not want to jeopardize negotiations. The agreement was negotiated by the governor and leaders in […]

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Far Right’s Ties to Russia Sow Rising Alarm in Germany

To enter a secret session of Germany’s Parliament, lawmakers must lock their phones and leave them outside. Inside, they are not even allowed to take notes. Yet to many politicians, these precautions against espionage now feel like something of a farce. Because seated alongside them in those classified meetings are members of the Alternative for […]

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Ukraine’s Draft Dodgers Run, and Swim, to Avoid the War

The roiling water can be treacherous, the banks are steep and slick with mud, and the riverbed is covered in jagged, hidden boulders. Yet Ukrainian border guards often find their quarry — men seeking to escape the military draft — swimming in these hazardous conditions, trying to cross the Tysa River where it forms the […]

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