Tag Archives: Israel

The New York Times — Friday, November 17, 2023

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Santos Won’t Seek Re-election After House Panel Finds Evidence of Crimes

Representative George Santos made the announcement after the release of a damning report by the House Ethics Committee, which found evidence he had broken federal law.

The findings, which were referred to prosecutors, are likely to prompt another attempt to expel the embattled congressman from the House.

Pressure Mounts as Israel Combs Through Gaza Hospital for Hamas’s Presence

Al-Shifa Hospital, in northern Gaza, is the enclave’s largest hospital complex.

The Israeli military said troops had uncovered a Hamas tunnel shaft underneath the Al-Shifa Hospital complex, as well as a vehicle on the hospital grounds packed with weapons.

Jewish Celebrities and Influencers Confront TikTok Executives in Private Call

TikTok faces escalating accusations that it promotes pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel content. “Shame on you,” Sacha Baron Cohen said on the call.

How R.F.K. Jr. Has Turned His Public Crusades Into a Private Windfall

The causes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has championed have brought him admiration, criticism — and tens of millions of dollars.

Previews: The Economist Magazine – Nov 18, 2023

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The Economist Magazine (November 18, 2023): The latest issue features The World Ahead 2024 – 90-page guide to the coming year; How the young should invest – Markets have dealt them a bad hand. They could be playing it better; Better ways to fund science – Too much of researchers’ time is spent filling in forms; The best films of 2023 – They featured cattle barons, chefs, composers, physicists and whistleblowers…

Donald Trump poses the biggest danger to the world in 2024

What his victory in America’s election would mean

Ashadow looms over the world. In this week’s edition we publish The World Ahead 2024, our 38th annual predictive guide to the coming year, and in all that time no single person has ever eclipsed our analysis as much as Donald Trump eclipses 2024. That a Trump victory next November is a coin-toss probability is beginning to sink in.

Will Japan rediscover its dynamism?

People shop along the streets of Shinsaibashi in Osaka, Japan

Rising prices and animal spirits give it a long-awaited opportunity

Global investors are giddy about Japan again. Warren Buffett made his first visit to Tokyo in more than a decade this spring; he has built up big holdings in five trading houses that offer exposure to a cross-section of Japan Inc. Last month Larry Fink, ceo of BlackRock, the world’s biggest asset manager, joined the pilgrimage to Japan’s capital. “History is repeating itself,” he told Kishida Fumio, the prime minister. He likened the moment to Japan’s “economic miracle” of the 1980s. Even disappointing gdp figures released on November 15th will not dent investors’ optimism.

The New York Review Of Books – December 7, 2023

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The New York Review of Books (December 7, 2023 Issue)The latest features A Fallen Artist in Mao’s China – Ha Jin’s The Woman Back from Moscow; Gut Instincts – Recent books about the importance of the microbiome have driven many patients to fixate on the idea of “gut health.” Are they right to do so?; Prelude to Empire – Abdulrazak Gurnah’s novels, whether set in German East Africa or the United Kingdom, never cease to demonstrate how the minutiae of people’s lives have been affected by European colonialism…

A Fallen Artist in Mao’s China

Ha Jin’s The Woman Back from Moscow, a fictionalized account of the life of the actress Sun Weishi, depicts the hypocrisy of the Communist elites and the fate of those who embraced new ideals after the revolution.

Perry Link

The Woman Back from Moscow: In Pursuit of Beauty by Ha Jin

This book will be denounced in Beijing. Ha Jin’s The Woman Back from Moscow is a novel based on the life of Sun Weishi, an adopted daughter of Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, whose brilliant mind and intensive study in Moscow of the Stanislavski acting method brought her to the pinnacle of China’s theatrical world during the Mao years. Her beauty and effervescent personality attracted powerful men—not only Zhou, who doted on her, but also Lin Biao, the Chinese Communist Party’s leading general, who divorced his wife in order to propose marriage to her (unsuccessfully), and Mao, who apparently raped her during a long rail trip. She had several other suitors and eventually married the film star Jin Shan.

Gut Instincts

Recent books about the importance of the microbiome have driven many patients to fixate on the idea of “gut health.” Are they right to do so?

Nitin K. Ahuja

Reviewed:

A Silent Fire: The Story of Inflammation, Diet, and Disease by Shilpa Ravella

Flush: The Remarkable Science of an Unlikely Treasure by Bryn Nelson

The Anti-Viral Gut: Tackling Pathogens from the Inside Out by Robynne Chutkan

Right before their colonoscopies, with the stress of a bowel prep still rumbling in their bellies and a mental image of the procedure beginning to sharpen, some patients will ask me why I chose a career in gastroenterology: “What made you interested in this?” The reason I usually give is that you could go all your life without a heart problem, or a lung problem, or a kidney problem, but not without a bit of nausea, constipation, or abdominal pain. The work of digestion is part of the rhythm of our daily lives, I tell them, which helps my work feel similarly immediate.

News: Israel Seizes Gaza Hospital, Putin Restricts Media, Taiwan Politics

The Globalist Podcast (November 16, 2023) – The Norwegian Refugee Council’s Shaina Low on the latest from Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital,

Vladimir Putin approves new media restrictions ahead of next year’s presidential election and Taiwan’s opposition unites on a joint ticket. Plus: why Finland is considering closing its border with Russia and the state of democracy in Madagascar.

The New York Times — Thursday, Nov 16, 2023

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Israel Seizes Gaza Hospital That Became Symbol of the War Itself

Satellite image of Al-Shifa Hospital and surroundings in Gaza City, on Saturday.

A raid of a hospital that Israel asserts is a base for Hamas is shaping up as a watershed moment in a conflict that has put the Mideast on edge.

So Thieves Nabbed Your Catalytic Converter. Here’s Where It Ended Up.

The innards of a catalytic converter are coated in some of the rarest, most expensive metals on the planet.

The pollution control devices contain valuable metals, making them a hot commodity for recycling. Some beneficiaries of the thefts look the other way.

Biden-Xi Talks Lead to Little but a Promise to Keep Talking

Both American and Chinese accounts of the meeting indicated scant progress on the issues that have pushed the two nations to the edge of conflict.

Palestinian and Israeli Teens Swam in the Same Pool. Then Came Oct. 7.

The teenagers in the Greater Jerusalem swim club made a point of not focusing on their differences. That changed with the war.

News: Calls For Forced Israel Ceasefire, Xi Jinping In U.S. To Meet With Biden

The Globalist Podcast (November 15, 2023) – Will growing calls from foreign states force Israel into a ceasefire?

Plus: Xi Jinping visits the US for the first time since 2017, democratic elections are under threat in the UK and controversy strikes New Zealand’s Bird of the Century vote.

The New York Times — Wednesday, Nov 15, 2023

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Israel Says Military Has Entered Gazan Hospital Grounds to Root Out Hamas

The operation at the main hospital complex in Gaza came after Israel released videos showing what it said were weapons inside a children’s hospital in the enclave.

Inside the Desperate Effort to Evacuate Young Cancer Patients From Gaza

An overhead view of people camped out in a hallway of a hospital with blankets laid on the floor and clothes hanging over railings.

A mission to rescue cancer-stricken children from the violence in Gaza has involved multiple countries and last-minute connections in the chaos of war.

Jewish Groups Rally for Israel on National Mall

The rally was a response to large protests across the United States and the world denouncing the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

Freeway Closed? Just Take the 10 to the 110 to the 5, Angelenos Say.

Southern California residents are bracing for longer commutes over the next month, after a fire forced the closure of a central freeway segment. But they don’t seem to be panicking yet.

News: Israel-Lebanon Tensions, Nord Stream Pipeline, Sudan Genocide

The Globalist Podcast (November 14, 2023) – The latest as tensions rise on the Israel-Lebanon border. Also, Ukraine’s role in the Nord Stream pipeline explosion, and writer and broadcaster Yassmin Abdel-Magied discusses the EU’s warnings of genocide in Sudan.

Plus, Monocle’s transport correspondent, Gabriel Leigh, on the Dubai Airshow.

The New York Times — Tuesday, November 14, 2023

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Death and Despair at Gaza Hospital as Fighting Reaches Its Doors

Bodies in the courtyard of Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on Friday.

“I’m watching patients die in front of my eyes,” one doctor at a besieged hospital said, “and I can’t provide them the slightest bit of help.” Israel said its forces were targeting Hamas fighters.

Rashida Tlaib, Censured by the House, Is Praised and Condemned at Home

Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in the House, serves a district that has sizable Jewish and Arab American communities.

The Democratic congresswoman from the Detroit area and the only Palestinian American in the House faces a complicated landscape in her district.

What It Means to Be a Texan Is Changing in Surprising Ways

White people make up a declining minority in Texas, even among those born in the state. And all those people moving in? They’re as likely to be Black, Hispanic or Asian.

Behind Public Assurances, Xi Jinping Has Spread Grim Views on U.S.

Speeches by the Chinese leader show how he was bracing for an intensifying rivalry with the United States from early in his rule.

News: Urban Warfare In Gaza, US-India Meeting, Argentina Rivals Debate

The Globalist Podcast (November 13, 2023) – ‘Haaretz’ journalist Allison Kaplan Sommer from Tel Aviv discusses the latest updates from the Middle East and we discuss urban warfare in Gaza with expert Antônio Sampaio.

We get a roundup of the day’s headlines with Vincent McAviney, discuss a meeting of Indian and US ministers in New Delhi, and assess the outcomes of last night’s presidential debate in Argentina.