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.
Iran Looks to Houthi Proxies to Escalate Fight With Israel
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.
Inside OpenAI’s Crisis Over the Future of Artificial Intelligence
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 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.
How Israel Is Using Real-Time Battlefield Intelligence to Target Hamas
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.
Texas Judge Grants Woman’s Request for Abortion, in Rare Post-Roe Case
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.
The Economist Magazine (December 7, 2023): The latest issue featuresIsrael and Palestine: how to get to peace – For there to be any hope, both Israelis and Palestinians need new leaders; What if Trump stumbles? – And what might happen if Trump dropped out; Make or break for renewables – Supply-chain dysfunction, rising interest rates and protectionism are making life tough; Our books of the year – This year’s picks transport readers to mountain peaks, out to sea and back in time…
The Atlantic Magazine – December 7, 2023: The latest January/February 2024 issue features ‘IF TRUMP WINS’ – A second Trump presidency won’t just mirror the first. It will be much worse. In The Atlantic’s January/February issue, two dozen writers warn what could happen if Donald Trump is reelected, from destroying the rule of law to abandoning NATO and reshaping the international order.
“We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Donald Trump said this past November, in a campaign speech that was ostensibly honoring Veterans Day. “The real threat is not from the radical right; the real threat is from the radical left … The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within.”
In late 2020, even as the instigators of insurrection were marshaling their followers to travel to Washington, D.C., another kind of coup—a quieter one—was in the works. On December 21, in one of his departing acts as attorney general, Bill Barr submitted a proposed rule change to the White House. The change would eliminate the venerable standard used by the Justice Department to handle discrimination cases, known as “disparate impact.” The memo was quickly overshadowed by the events of January 6, and, in the chaotic final days of Donald Trump’s presidency, it was never implemented. But Barr’s proposal represented perhaps the most aggressive step the administration took in its effort to dismantle existing civil-rights law. Should Trump return to power, he would surely attempt to see the effort through.
As ambassador to the United Nations, Ms. Haley strove to stay in the president’s favor and avoided some battles to change his mind on contentious issues.
Police Trainers Used Sexist Language and Glorified Violence, Videos Show
Street Cop Training, a private police training company, encouraged the use of unconstitutional tactics, a report by New Jersey’s comptroller says.
Jewish American Families Confront a Generational Divide Over Israel
Gen Z and young Millennials often see Israel as an occupying power oppressing Palestinians — a shock to their parents and grandparents, who tend to see it as an essential haven fighting for survival.
Amid some of the war’s heaviest bombing, Israeli forces battled Hamas deep into the city of Khan Younis, with few signs that Israel was heeding Biden administration calls to show more restraint.
Legislation to send military aid to Ukraine and Israel was on the brink of collapse, after a briefing devolved into a screaming match one day before a critical test vote in the Senate.
How Nations Are Losing a Global Race to Tackle A.I.’s Harms
Alarmed by the power of artificial intelligence, Europe, the United States and others are trying to respond — but the technology is evolving more rapidly than their policies.
Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home Care
Facing a severe shortage of aides and high costs, people trying to keep aging loved ones at home often cobble together a patchwork of family and friends to help.
Donald Trump has long exhibited authoritarian impulses, but his policy operation is now more sophisticated, and the buffers to check him are weaker.
White House Warns Ukraine Aid Is Running Out, Pressing Congress for More
The warning, in a letter to congressional leaders, comes as Republican support for funding Kyiv’s war effort is waning, and an emergency funding package is stalled in Congress.
The New Yorker – December11, 2023 issue: The new issue‘s cover featuresBarry Blitt’s “Special Delivery” – The artist discusses holiday shopping and his prized Popeye punching bag.
After the Civil War, Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy, was to be tried for treason. Does the debacle hold lessons for the trials awaiting Donald Trump?
Jefferson Davis, the half-blind ex-President of the Confederate States of America, leaned on a cane as he hobbled into a federal courthouse in Richmond, Virginia. Only days before, a Chicago Tribune reporter, who’d met Davis on the boat ride to Richmond, had written that “his step is light and elastic.” But in court, facing trial for treason, Davis, fifty-eight, gave every appearance of being bent and broken. A reporter from Kentucky described him as “a gaunt and feeble-looking man,” wearing a soft black hat and a sober black suit, as if he were a corpse. He’d spent two years in a military prison. He wanted to be released. A good many Americans wanted him dead. “We’ll hang Jeff Davis from a sour-apple tree,” they sang to the tune of “John Brown’s Body.”
The companies had honed a protocol for releasing artificial intelligence ambitiously but safely. Then OpenAI’s board exploded all their carefully laid plans.
At around 11:30 a.m. on the Friday before Thanksgiving, Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, was having his weekly meeting with senior leaders when a panicked colleague told him to pick up the phone. An executive from OpenAI, an artificial-intelligence startup into which Microsoft had invested a reported thirteen billion dollars, was calling to explain that within the next twenty minutes the company’s board would announce that it had fired Sam Altman, OpenAI’s C.E.O. and co-founder. It was the start of a five-day crisis that some people at Microsoft began calling the Turkey-Shoot Clusterfuck.
Eighty percent of Gazans are displaced from their homes as Israel orders more evacuations. See where thousands have been sheltering amid the war’s destruction.
Ego, Fear and Money: How the A.I. Fuse Was Lit
The people who were most afraid of the risks of artificial intelligence decided they should be the ones to build it. Then distrust fueled a spiraling competition.
‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates
Mississippi has long had high childhood immunization rates, but a federal judge has ordered the state to allow parents to opt out on religious grounds.
Beleaguered Gazans, having fled the territory’s north, emerged from a night of bombardment wondering where to go next for safety.
Drunk and Asleep on the Job: Air Traffic Controllers Pushed to the Brink
A nationwide shortage of controllers has resulted in an exhausted and demoralized work force that is increasingly prone to making dangerous mistakes.
Divided by Politics, a Colorado Town Mends Its Broken Bones
Two years after death threats and aspersions roiled little Silverton, the town has found a semblance of peace and a lesson for a ruptured nation.
A Russian Village Buries a Soldier, and Tries to Make Sense of the War
In Russia, the pain and loss of the war in Ukraine are felt most profoundly in small villages, where a soldier’s burial produces not just grief but a yearning to find meaning in his death.
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