Rubio calls US NATO allies ‘a bunch of junior partners’
The US secretary of state has urged member countries to increase defense spending US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has renewed pressure on NATO members to increase their defense contributions, describing the current arrangement within the military bloc as the US and “a bunch of junior partners.” While being part of NATO is in the US’ interests, its members must shoulder their share of the responsibilities, otherwise it’s not really an alliance, but a “dependency,” he told The Free Press…
Canada’s Role in a Shifting Global Order — with Mark Carney | Prof G Conversations
Mark Carney, Canada’s 24th Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party, joins Scott to discuss the country’s economic outlook, how Canada fits into a shifting global order, and whether the U.S.-Canada relationship can be repaired amid rising trade tensions.
Gaza has become a mass grave for Palestinians and those helping them
MSF considers that only international and independent investigations can bring to light the circumstances of, and the responsibilities for, these attacks on aid workers. Although the situation has already been catastrophic for over 18 months, over the past three weeks, MSF has witnessed several incidents involving the killing of humanitarian and medical workers. The coordination of humanitarian movements with Israeli authorities, known as the Humanitarian Notification System, an already imperfect mechanism, has become more unreliable and is now barely affording…
China orders its airlines to stop accepting Boeing jets, report says
The Chinese government has told the country’s domestic airlines to stop accepting deliveries of Boeing jets as a trade war between the world’s two largest economies escalates, Bloomberg News reports.China is also instructing its carriers to stop buying airline parts and other components from U.S. companies, according to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the situation.Boeing didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The aviation giant’s shares fell $4.88, or 3%, to $154.40 in pre-market trading. The order to stop…
US detains Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi at citizenship interview
Mahdawi’s lawyer says Columbia University student detained as ‘retaliation’ for pro-Palestinian stance. United States immigration agents have arrested a Palestinian man who led demonstrations at Columbia University against the war on Gaza. A green card holder since 2015, Mohsen Mahdawi was detained on Monday as he attended an interview at an immigration office regarding his application for citizenship, according to his lawyers. The arrest is the latest in a controversial crackdown by the administration of President Donald Trump on immigrant student…
Trump freezes over $2bn in Harvard funding over ‘non-compliance’
The move comes after the university rejected the US administration’s request for policy changes The administration of US President Donald Trump has announced it is freezing more than more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University, after the Ivy League school rejected a list of demands from the White House. A major clash between the administration and some of the country’s top universities has been unfolding in response to how the pro-Palestinian student protests…
Why bonds, not stocks, could predict the next economic crisis in the US
United States President Donald Trump’s tariffs have roiled financial markets globally. But while Trump’s trade salvoes have sent stock markets on a rollercoaster ride, it is the turmoil in the bond markets – specifically the fall of bonds in tandem with stocks – that has prompted the most concern among economists. What are bonds? Bonds are a type of investment that involves the buyer lending money to a government or corporation for a specified period. In return for their investment,…
Did Trump really ‘exempt’ Chinese phones, chips from tariffs?
United States President Donald Trump has threatened new tariffs on Chinese electronic goods, three days after his administration announced exemptions on smartphones, laptops, flash drives and a host of other tech products from levies he has announced since April 2. Those exemptions provided relief to US tech companies reliant on Chinese manufacturing, like Apple and chip company Nvidia, which saw their stocks rise considerably after the release of Friday’s notice. Then came Monday’s announcement, which sparked criticism of Trump over…
China halts exports of critical materials amid trade war with US – NYT
China has halted exports of several critical rare earth metals and magnets amid a deepening trade war with the US, the New York Times has reported. The move follows US President Donald Trump’s decision to drastically raise tariffs on imports from China and other countries earlier this month.
“History of Racism” page missing from Harvard’s Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging department site
As archived here. History of Racism Louis Agassiz Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) was a Swiss-born natural scientist, a professor of zoology and geology in the predecessor of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and a prominent supporter of racial segregation and white supremacy. Agassiz was educated and spent his early career in Western Europe (Irmscher, 2013, p. 41-84). He began his scientific career cataloguing fish fossils, work for which he would later win the Wollaston Medal, the proto-Nobel Prize (Irmscher,…
Video: Bodies of eight missing paramedics found in Gaza mass grave
The Palestine Red Crescent says it’s located the bodies of eight of the nine paramedics who went missing about a week ago. The medics had been surrounded by Israeli forces while responding to the scene of an attack in Rafah. Gaza’s Health Ministry says their bodies had been discovered in a hole, and that some were bound and had gunshot wounds to the chest. Mads Gilbert, professor of Emergency Medicine at Norway’s University of Tromso weighs in.
China adds 12 US entities to export control list, adds 6 US firms to unreliable entity list
China’s Ministry of Commence (MOFCOM) said on Wednesday that it has added 12 US entities to the export control list. In order to safeguard national security and interests and fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Export Control Law of China and the regulations on export control of dual-use items, the MOFCOM issued an announcement to include 12 US entities in the export control list and prohibit the export of dual-use items to…
Brussels threatens to block US from bidding for public contracts
Brussels has threatened to bar American companies from bidding for taxpayer-funded contracts as Europe seeks to retaliate against Donald Trump’s tariffs. Stéphane Séjourné, executive vice president of the European Commission, said the EU has “the cards” to hit back at Mr Trump’s new levies of 20pc on goods and 25pc on cars. “We could decide to withdraw all American companies from European public procurement,” Mr Séjourné, who is also commissioner for industrial strategy, told Radio France. It represents a fresh…
Telegram Accused of Removing Popular News Channel at Russia’s Request
The messaging app Telegram is facing censorship accusations after reportedly removing a popular Russian news channel whose alleged owners face criminal prosecution inside Russia. VChK-OGPU, an anonymously run channel claiming to share insider information from Russia’s security and law enforcement agencies, had 1.1 million subscribers when it was taken down overnight Monday. On a backup Telegram channel, VChK-OGPU’s owners wrote that the removal came at the request of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and state media watchdog Roskomnadzor….
UK court confirms Apple is suing British government over ‘backdoor’ request
A British court has confirmed that Apple is suing the British government over a legal order regarding the company’s encryption of iCloud accounts, lifting a veil of official secrecy regarding the controversial move. In a judgment on Monday, the Investigatory Powers Tribunal — the only court in the country that can hear certain national security cases — said it would confirm “the bare details of the case” despite the British government’s argument that to do so would undermine national security….
UK MPs barred from entering Israel
Two pro-Palestinian British MPs were denied entry to Israel and subsequently deported after local authorities accused them of misrepresenting the nature of their visit and planning to promote campaigns targeting the state. Abtisam Mohamed and Yuan Yang, both members of the governing Labour Party, landed in Tel Aviv at 2:30pm local time on Saturday, accompanied by two aides. During questioning at Ben Gurion Airport, they told border officers they were part of an official UK parliamentary delegation – a claim…
