The Globalist Podcast (December 14, 2023) – We discuss Ukraine’s EU membership bid as Hungary vows to stand firm against its accession.
Plus: the latest on Vladimir Putin’s annual call-in, questions over Emmanuel Macron’s political future and Serbia’s messy election campaign. And: an interview with Bob van den Oord on the future of luxury travel and hospitality.
Nearly 200 countries convened by the United Nations approved a milestone plan to ramp up renewable energy and transition away from coal, oil and gas.
The concept, important for determining the legality of an act of war, is about weighing civilian harm against military objectives, not about achieving a balanced number of casualties.
A Thai farmworker clung to hope during her nearly 50 days of captivity in Gaza by befriending a young Israeli girl and dreaming of reuniting with her boyfriend, who had also been abducted.
Federal regulators pressed the automaker to make updates to ensure drivers are paying attention while using Autopilot, a system that can steer, accelerate and brake on its own.
America Shouldn’t Give Up on the World It Made
Most Americans think their country is in decline. In 2018, when the Pew Research Center asked Americans how they felt their country would perform in 2050, 54 percent of respondents agreed that the U.S. economy would be weaker. An even larger number, 60 percent, agreed that the United States would be less important in the world. This should not be surprising; the political atmosphere has been pervaded for some time by a sense that the country is headed in the wrong direction. According to a long-running Gallup poll, the share of Americans who are “satisfied” with the way things are going has not crossed 50 percent in 20 years. It currently stands at 20 percent.
The War in Gaza and the Search for Security
By Amos Yadlin and Udi Evental
In a barbaric surprise attack launched by Hamas on October 7, more Jews were slaughtered than on any day since the Holocaust. Thousands of elite Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip infiltrated small communities and cities in southern Israel, where they proceeded to commit sadistic, repulsive crimes against humanity, filming their vile deeds and boasting about them to friends and family back home.
The president’s words exposed a widening rift between his administration and that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as casualties rise in Gaza.
Harvard’s governing body said it stood firmly behind Claudine Gay as the university’s president, a stance both praised and condemned by students, faculty and alumni.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine traveled to Washington to make a last-ditch appeal for more help to fight Russia. But Republicans said they wouldn’t act without a border deal.
More than 60 percent of French speakers now live in Africa. Despite growing resentment at France, Africans are contributing to the evolution and spread of the French language.
Top Israeli officials hinted at a powerful response to attacks by Hezbollah across the northern border with Lebanon, as to the south Israeli troops wage street battles against Hamas in Gaza.
From the halls of Congress to America’s streets and universities, a once largely academic issue has roiled national discourse, inciting accusations of bigotry and countercharges of bullying.
State and local leaders are proposing to roll back part of the nation’s pioneering drug decriminalization law and step up police enforcement.
More tenants than ever spend half or more of their income for shelter, leaving less for everything else, taking an emotional toll and leaving some without a place to call their own.
As Israeli forces pound Gaza, the area where Palestinians can seek shelter is shrinking, raising concerns that they could be forced into Egypt.
Republicans have been attacking elite universities for years. After a tense congressional hearing last week, many on the left are joining them.
Some border communities in the U.S. and Mexico are suddenly cut off from each other after a border crossing closed to cope with large numbers of migrants.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt grew increasingly unpopular amid a deep economic crisis. But the war in neighboring Gaza has given him a vital role on the international stage.
Current and former European diplomats said there was growing concern a second Trump presidency could mean an American retreat from the continent and a gutting of NATO.
The president, Elizabeth Magill, and the chairman of the board of trustees, Scott L. Bok, are leaving after intense pressure from donors, politicians and alumni.
The return of budget tour groups from mainland China is sparking frustrations — and a dose of snobbery — in a city starved for business.
Two- and three-wheeled vehicles, used by billions of people, are moving away from fossil fuels to batteries faster than cars in countries that have made the energy transition a priority.
Monocle on Saturday, December 11, 2023: Emma Nelson and Yassmin Abdel-Magied review the week’s news and culture. Also, Monocle’s Oslo correspondent, Lars Bevanger, visits Ambassaden – the former US embassy, which has been transformed into a food-and-drink hub. Arts and culture specialist Issabella Orlando also joins the panel to talk about other heritage-inspired spaces around the world.
The agreement over the A.I. Act solidifies one of the world’s first comprehensive attempts to limit the use of artificial intelligence.
The veto came amid a warning that “civil order is breaking down” in Gaza, and a day after the Biden administration warned that Israel’s military had not done enough to reduce harm to civilians.
The Iranian-backed militia in Yemen has launched drone and missile attacks on Israeli and American targets. American officials fear the group could go too far and incite a wider war.
Split over the leadership of Sam Altman, board members and executives turned on one another. Their brawl exposed the cracks at the heart of the A.I. movement.
The Justice Department charged President Biden’s son after a long-running and wide-ranging investigation with substantial political repercussions.
The government in Kyiv remains hopeful of further American assistance, but it is also looking to other resources — and trying to make clear what could be at stake.
Israel has recovered a trove of material that its military has used to assess the extent of the group’s attack plans, and its tactics and abilities, information reviewed by The Times shows.
A state court judge said a woman whose fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition could legally obtain an abortion despite the state’s bans.
Boomers Daily 