All posts by She Seeks Serene

My Journey of Reimagining Life, Love and Education

THE NEW YORK TIMES – FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2025

Big Tech’s A.I. Spending Is Accelerating (Again)

Despite the risk of a bubble, Google, Meta, Microsoft and Amazon plan to spend billions more on artificial intelligence than they already do.

The Debate Dividing the Supreme Court’s Liberal Justices

Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson are split over the best approach: investing in diplomacy inside the court or sounding the alarm outside.

Trump’s Call to Resume Nuclear Testing Revives a Cold War Debate

President Trump explained the order by saying other, unnamed nations were testing their own nuclear weapons, even though no country has tested since 2017.

What to Know About Testing U.S. Nuclear Weapons

Executions and Mass Casualties: Videos Show Horror Unfolding in Sudan

Evidence of atrocities emerging from the city of El Fasher stoked fears that the region of Darfur was plunging, again, into a cycle of genocidal violence.

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 1, 2025 PREVIEW

THE ECONOMIST MAGAZINE: The latest issue featuresThe battle for New York

The battle for New York

A fight is brewing between Donald Trump and Zohran Mamdani 

Why funding Ukraine is a giant opportunity for Europe

The bill will be huge. It is also a historic bargain

America and China have only holstered their trade weapons

Neither country wants decoupling or confrontation—at least, not yet

Javier Milei’s chance to transform Argentina and teach the world

Lessons in public finance from the original sinner

TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT – OCTOBER 31, 2025 PREVIEW

TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT: The latest issue features ‘Extinction rebellion’ – How Tennyson speaks to our fears.

Collision course

The troubled history of US-China relations By Katie Stallard

Playing a game to tell the truth

Iris Murdoch’s unseen poetry, transcribed for the first time By Miles Leeson

The Kraken wakes

Tennyson’s embrace of science and catastrophe theory By Angela Leighton

Winter is coming!

Tales of the uncanny from a master of ambiguity By Joyce Carol Oates

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – OCTOBER 31, 2025 PREVIEW

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘Pressure Points’ – Will US sanctions put the squeeze on Putin?

Donald Trump’s sudden decision last week to sanction Russian oil producers suggested the US president has finally lost patience with Vladimir Putin after a series of fruitless talks over ending the war in Ukraine.

Could it break the deadlock? Oil sanctions have the potential to genuinely damage Moscow’s finances, as the Russian president himself admitted last week. It remains to be seen, though, whether economic pressure alone can bend Putin’s arm over a conflict he views as defining to his legacy.

In this week’s big story, Guardian Russia affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer asks whether sanctions could succeed where diplomacy has failed, while Christopher S Chivvis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace argues that a negotiated settlement remains the likeliest way to bring nearly four years of fighting to a halt.

In the frontline Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, senior reporter Peter Beaumont finds little hope of a quick resolution, with much of the population having left and the remaining soldiers stuck in a war they believe is “going nowhere for either side”.

Five essential reads in this week’s edition

Spotlight | The populist leaders’ economic playbook
From Milei to Meloni, are the economics of populism always doomed to failure? This long read from economics editor Heather Stewart tries to bridge the gaps between populist aspiration and fiscal reality

Environment | The deadly migration routes of elephants
Human-wildlife conflict has overtaken poaching as a cause of fatalities among elephants – and is deadly for people too. Now some villages are finding new ways to live alongside the mammals, reports Patrick Greenfield

Interview | Is Jimmy Wales the good guy of the internet?
The Wikipedia founder stands out from his contemporaries for being driven by more than money. But can the people’s encyclopedia withstand attacks from AI and Elon Musk? By David Shariatmadari

Opinion | Without genuine truth and justice, the war in Gaza cannot end
A fragile ceasefire is in place, but what’s needed is an international tribunal for resolution and reparation. That’s the only route to lasting peace, argues Simon Tisdall

Culture | The electrifying genius of Gerhard Richter
He has painted everything from a candle to 9/11, walked his naked wife through photographic mist, and turned Titian into a sacred jumble. A new Paris show reveals the German artist in all his contradictory brilliance, says Adrian Searle

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS – NOVEMBER 20, 2025

Table of Contents - November 20, 2025 | The New York Review of Books

THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS: The latest issue features Fintan O’Toole on Kamala’s pointless campaign memoir, Jonathan Lethem on One Battle After Another, Anne Diebel on the trials of infertility, Colin B. Bailey on Watteau’s sad clowns, Linda Kinstler on the invention of sovereign states, Langdon Hammer on James Schuyler’s shimmering poetry, Samuel Stein on NIMBYs and YIMBYs, Miranda Seymour on Frankenstein’s mother, Adam Shatz on Alice Coltrane, a poem by Rae Armantrout, and much more.

The Lingering Delusion

107 Days by Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris’s memoir 107 Days succeeds at least in distilling the evasions and weaknesses of the modern Democratic Party.

Falling Off the Map

The Life and Death of States:  Central Europe and the Transformation of Modern Sovereignty by Natasha Wheatley

How States Die: Membership and Survival in the International System by Douglas Lemke

World War I set the stage a century ago for new ways of thinking about where states come from and what happens when they disappear.

THE NEW YORK TIMES – THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2025

Trump and Xi, Hoping to Tone Down Trade War, Agree to 1-Year Truce

After a series of attempts to de-escalate the trade war, President Trump and Xi Jinping moved to roll back many contentious retaliatory measures.

Trump Threatens to Resume Nuclear Weapons Testing, Minutes Before Xi Meeting

Haiti and Jamaica Assess Damage as Hurricane Melissa Barrels Toward Bermuda

The storm, now a Category 2, passed through the Bahamas this morning. Officials said 23 people have been killed in Haiti, and five in Jamaica.

Syria’s Rocky Transition Brings New Waves of Displacement

More than 400,000 Syrians have been displaced in the year since the civil war ended, the U.N. says, driven by sectarian violence and property disputes.

THE NEW YORK TIMES – WEDNESDAY, OCT. 29, 2025

Hurricane Melissa Makes Landfall in Cuba After Thrashing Jamaica

The storm caused widespread infrastructure damage in Jamaica and cut internet access for most of its people. Cuba evacuated about 750,000 people.

Trump Meets South Korea’s Leader With a Trade Deal in the Balance

President Trump was meeting with President Lee Jae Myung as the two countries tried to finalize a trade deal that they agreed to in principle in July.

How the 19th-Century Opium War Shapes Xi’s Trade Clash With Trump

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, draws on lessons from Lin Zexu, a Qing official whose defiance of Britain led to China’s defeat but made him a national hero.

Netanyahu Orders Strikes on Gaza, Saying Hamas Violated Cease-Fire

Hamas denied involvement in an attack on Israeli forces, saying that it remained committed to the cease-fire and accusing Israel of violating it.

APOLLO MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 2025 PREVIEW

November 2025 - Apollo Magazine

APOLLO MAGAZINE: The latest issue features The Studio Museum in Harlem is back | have we reached peak Bloomsbury? | Tilda Swinton turns herself into art | how Constable ploughed his own furrow | Michaelina Wautier takes her place among the greats

Is the art market at a turning point?

After a gloomy few years, promising auction results and some exciting upcoming sales suggest that the market could be on the road to recovery

Yerevan, Armenia’s rock-star capital

A century ago, Alexander Tamanyan devised a startling layout for the city. Despite changes in regime and fashion, his vision has endured

THE NEW YORK TIMES – TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2025

Jamaica Braces for Catastrophic Wind and Rain as Melissa Bears Down

The Category 5 storm is the most powerful in the Atlantic Ocean this year. Jamaica and Cuba have issued evacuation orders for tens of thousands of people.

Melissa’s Powerful Winds Could Be Even Worse in Jamaica’s Mountains

Gusts in higher elevations could be up to 30 percent stronger, the National Hurricane Center said.

Fanfare on Trump’s Japan Trip, but No Trade Breakthrough

Beyond Trade War, China’s Leader Looks to Press Trump on Taiwan

Xi Jinping wants to weaken American support for Taiwan. But first he will want clarity about President Trump’s stance toward the island.

Israel Conducts First Airstrike in West Bank in Months and Kills 3

A militant group allied with Hamas confirmed the deaths, which were part of an increase in fighting during a surge of settler violence.

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 3, 2025 PREVIEW

The cover of the November 3 2025 issue of The New Yorker featuring skateboarders pedestrians and scooter riders in front...

THE NEW YORKER MAGAZINE: The latest cover features Victoria Tentler-Krylov’s “Racing Through Fall” – The city’s autumnal glow.

Why Trump Tore Down the East Wing

The act of destruction is precisely the point: a kind of performance piece meant to display Trump’s arbitrary power over the Presidency, including its physical seat. By Adam Gopnik

Trump and the Presidency That Wouldn’t Shut Up

His posts and rants are omnipresent, ugly, and unhinged. Don’t look to history to make it make sense. By Jill Lepore

Inside the Data Centers That Train A.I. and Drain the Electrical Grid

A data center, which can use as much electricity as Philadelphia, is the new American factory, creating the future and propping up the economy. How long can this last? By Stephen Witt