12 h. ago Whitmer says 'massive economic uncertainty' is to blame on semiconductor project failure in Michigan

A widely anticipated potential semiconductor project that would have brought a new plant to Michigan has fallen through and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is blaming economic uncertainty

Events

23 h. ago What should Jewish New Yorkers make of Zohran Mamdani? | Beth Miller and Jo

Jo-Ann Mort and Beth Miller go head to head on Zohran MamdaniWhile headlines would have you believe otherwise, Jewish New Yorkers supported Zohran Mamdani in the New York City mayoral Democratic primary in droves. We showed up because our communities want to live and thrive alongside our neighbors in an affordable city where no one is left behind, and because we want a mayor who believes in Palestinian human rights.Beth Miller is the political director of Jewish Voice for Peace ActionJo-Ann Mort is co-author of Our Hearts Invented a Place: Can Kibbutzim Survive in Today’s Israel? She writes frequently about Israel for US, UK, and Israeli publications Continue reading...

Politics

35 h. ago Immigration agency flexes authority to sharply expand detention without bond hearing

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is moving to detain far more people than before, tapping a legal authority to jail anyone who entered the country illegally

Culture

43 h. ago CIA historian Tim Weiner: ‘Trump has put national security in the hands of crackpots and fools’

The longtime chronicler of the spy agency on his Legacy of Ashes follow-up and what keeps him up at nightIt may seem perverse to pity the Central Intelligence Agency. The powerful spy organization’s history is rich with failures and abuses – from the Cuban missile crisis to the post-9/11 torture program to its role in the overthrow of a long string of democratically elected leaders. But among the many consequences of Donald Trump’s open hostility toward America’s intelligence community is that no less a CIA critic than Tim Weiner now sounds like a defender.To understand why, Weiner – author of the unsparing history of the agency, the 2007 bestseller Legacy of Ashes – suggested a thought experiment in a recent interview: imagine spending years as an intelligence officer, working diligently to subvert the Kremlin, only to watch the US stand with Russia, Iran and North Korea, as it did in February when it voted against a UN resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine. In that moment,...

Politics

4 d. ago Is Trump's 'personal Gestapo' turning America into a police state? US president's heavily armed shock troops behind raids on illegal migrants will soon outnumber the FBI

Clad head to toe in combat gear, dozens of heavily armed federal immigration agents descended on Los Angeles last week in an intimidating show of force.

Events

4 d. ago Trump announces sweeping tariffs on America's biggest trading partners as he slams 'major threat to economy'

President Donald Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs to the US' biggest trading partner as he slammed that the trade deficit was a 'major threat' to America's economy.

Politics

4 d. ago 2024 book review: Trump, Biden, Harris and a turbulent election full of what

Deeply sourced narrative charts the delusions of the main players and the disastrous debate that reset the campaignDonald Trump is on a roll. The “big, beautiful bill” is law. Ice, his paramilitary immigration force, rivals foreign armies for size and funding. Democrats stand demoralized and divided. 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf, is a book for these times: aptly named, deeply sourced.Kamala Harris declined to speak. Joe Biden criticized his successor in a brief phone call, then balked. Trump talked, of course.2024 is published in the US by Penguin Random House Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago Monty Python star says he’d be in ‘select company’ if thrown out of Trump’s America

‘It’s very scary now because they’re stopping comedians at the border,’ said the star

Politics

6 d. ago ‘I’d be proud to be thrown out of America!’ Eric Idle on Trump, life after Python and not talking before lunch

Ahead of his UK tour, the former Monty Python star responds to questions from Catherine Zeta-Jones, David Mamet, Janet Suzman, Steve Coogan, Bill Oddie and othersWhen news broke in 2021 that Eric Idle had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, dismay was followed by relief when he survived to get the all-clear. Now 83, Idle is thriving and about to embark on his first UK tour since 1973.Over haddock and chips in London last month, a gentle and friendly Idle answered questions submitted by readers and fellow writers, actors and comedians about his time as a Python, Broadway smash Spamalot – his musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail – as well as selfies, Peter Cook and why he feels sorry for the royals. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago US state department announces plan to lay off nearly 15% of its domestic staff

Several hundred bureaus will be merged or eliminated after supreme court sided with Trump administrationThe US state department has announced that it plans to move forward with mass layoffs as part of the most significant restructuring of the country’s diplomatic corps in decades. Officials say the cuts will align their mission with Donald Trump’s vision of America first.The layoffs, which are commonly called reductions in force (or RIFs), along with voluntary redundancies, will affect nearly 15% of the state department’s domestic staff. A senior state department official said that was close to 1,800 people. The restructuring will also see several hundred bureaus merged or eliminated entirely. The department advises the president and leads the US in foreign policy issues. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Bhutan tried to erase us. Now, Trump’s America is helping | Lok Darjee

The administration has deported over two dozen refugees back to the very nation that tried to erase us. Democrats must speak upIn mid-March 2025, I sat quietly in the back of a small, crowded room at the Asian Refugees United center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, surrounded by members of the Bhutanese diaspora. The silence was heavy, thick with fear and uncertainty. This modest office, once a vibrant hub for refugee youth, cultural celebrations, and literary competitions, had become an impromptu crisis center, where community leaders scrambled to make sense of the Trump administration’s escalating immigration crackdown on Bhutanese refugees across the country.Robin Gurung, the organization’s executive director, briefly outlined our legal rights. Another organizer then read aloud the names of those detained, awaiting deportation – or worse, already deported to Bhutan, the very country that once expelled them. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago ‘Ridiculous prices’ blamed for slump in Las Vegas visitor numbers

International arrivals at the Harry Reid International Airport were down 8.7 percent in May

Politics

9 d. ago Tesla shares slump amid Elon Musk’s America Party and President Trump drama

Tesla shares have dropped seven per cent following Musk’s America Party ‘launch’

Politics

9 d. ago Trump clashes with Musk and threatens additional tariffs on countries with ‘anti

Musk says he is setting up America party to challenge Republican and Democratic ‘Uniparty’Trump says tariffs are delayed until 1 August, sparking confusionThe president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said she had a “good exchange” with Donald Trump on Sunday, a Commission spokesperson told reporters during a daily press briefing this morning.The spokesperson said:We want to reach a deal with the US (by 9 July). We want to avoid tariffs. We believe they cause pain. We want to achieve win-win outcomes, not lose-lose outcomes. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Trump calls Elon Musk’s new political party ‘ridiculous’ and ‘confusing’

President Donald Trump slammed Elon Musk’s plan to launch a new political party, calling it “ridiculous” and insisting the US has always been a “two-party system.” (6 July)

Politics

1 week ago Voices: Elon Musk’s latest Trump spat could end the Maga saga for good

If the ‘train-wreck’ Tesla boss goes through with launching the America Party – bankrolling a new presidential candidate with his almost limitless wealth – it would do more than just derail Trump’s second term, asks Sean O’Grady

Politics

1 week ago Trump says Musk is ‘off the rails’ and calls his new political party ‘ridiculous’

US president railed against his former adviser online after tech billionaire said he will start and bankroll America partyDonald Trump called Elon Musk’s decision to start and bankroll a new US political party “ridiculous” on Sunday. “Third parties have never worked, so he can have fun with it but I think it’s ridiculous,” the president told reporters traveling with him back to the White House from his New Jersey golf club.He then elaborated, at great length, in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,” the president wrote. “He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States”. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Elon unveils clever plan to sabotage Trump as 'America Party' shocks GOP

The rollercoaster of a relationship between President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's has hit a new level.

Politics

1 week ago Butler by Salena Zito review – how Trump won America’s heartland

From the site of the failed assassination comes a sharp-eyed account of Trump’s political gains – and Democrats’ failings The Democrats’ famed blue wall is more the stuff of nostalgia than reality. On election day 2024, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin voted for Donald Trump for the second time in three elections. Barack Obama’s upstairs-downstairs coalition lies in ruins, as Democrats struggle to connect with working-class voters across racial and ethnic lines.Last November, Trump came within just three points of winning a majority of Latino voters. Such Americans walked away from their presumed political home – in droves. A Trump endorsement by Roberto Clemente Jr, son of the late Pittsburgh Pirates baseball star, was a harbinger. Likewise, Trump posted double-digit gains among Catholics and Jews, once core constituencies in the Democratic party of FDR.Butler is published in the US by Hachette Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Massive place gets new name as Google bows down to Donald Trump

In efforts to remain 'consistent' with 'longstanding practices' Google has adopted a geographical name change that Donald Trump believes will restore pride in America

Politics