US officials are struggling to explain the mission of up to a thousand US troops in Syria, who have mostly taken up positions near oil fields in response to Donald Trump’s orders. A fortnight after ordering a complete evacuation of US troops ahead of a Turkish incursion into northeastern Syria, abandoning Kurdish partners in the…
Category: News
Tom Watson: anger and regret follow deputy’s resignation
The shock news of Tom Watson’s resignation as deputy leader of Labour has caused introspection and anger among parliamentarians concerned over Jeremy Corbyn’s transformation of the party. Dawn Butler, the shadow women’s minister, was the first person to confirm that she would run for the vacant position, and Watson’s former allies in the parliamentary party…
Orangutan Sandra granted personhood settles into new Florida home
A 33-year-old orangutan granted legal personhood by a judge in Argentina is settling into new surroundings in central Florida. Patti Ragan, director of the Center for Great Apes in Wauchula, said Sandra the orangutan is “very sweet and inquisitive” and adjusting to her new home. She was born in Germany and spent 25 years at…
Johnson accused of misunderstanding own Brexit deal after NI remarks
Boris Johnson has declared he will not “implement” or “enact” checks on goods from Northern Ireland to Great Britain despite arrangements for customs controls under the Brexit deal he agreed last month with the EU. In a visit to Northern Ireland, he told business representatives that elements of his Brexit deal related to exports from…
Rightwing columnist smacks journalist Glenn Greenwald on Brazil radio show
Brazil’s bitterly divided politics reached a new low on Thursday, when a rightwing columnist smacked the US journalist Glenn Greenwald in the face on a live radio program. Greenwald and Augusto Nunes are prominent figures on opposite ends of the political spectrum, but Thursday’s physical violence – which was being livestreamed – left Brazilians stunned….
Samantha Bee: Trump’s ‘key demographic is world’s worst white people’
Late-night hosts have weighed in on the latest evidence against Donald Trump and the state of his 2020 campaign. Samantha Bee On Full Frontal, Samantha Bee addressed the current polling that places Joe Biden out front with Trump and Elizabeth Warren close behind. “If this polling pattern continues then we could be in a repeat…
PM gives ‘cast-iron’ pledge to refuse second Scottish independence vote
Boris Johnson has made a “cast iron” pledge that he will not grant Nicola Sturgeon the powers she needs to hold a second independence referendum, regardless of whether the Scottish National party (SNP) wins a majority of Scottish seats in December’s general election or if they win a pro-independence majority in the Holyrood elections of…
‘Witnesses of history’: the man who kept slabs of the Berlin Wall
“The Berlin Wall was lifted – it did not fall,” insists Hans Martin Fleischer. The bureaucrat produces photographs and film footage shot on hand-held camera on 12 November 1989 – three days after the East German border was first breached. They show the first segments of the concrete barrier that had encircled West Berlin for…
Why November is the true revolutionary month
One of the subtle ironies of Soviet life was that its founding moment was habitually celebrated in the wrong month. The “great October” marking the events of 1917 used to be commemorated every year on 7 November, thanks to a quirk of chronology dating back centuries. This was not lost on the locals, with their…
Selena Gomez’s Latest Ads Are Fit and Fierce: ‘I Might Not Be Perfect, but I’m Always Me’
Selena Gomez may have just starred in her second collection for Puma back in January — as a ballerina for the brand’s En Pointe collection, which is a collaboration with the dancers of New York City Ballet — but the actress and singer, 25, is already back with another sporty campaign shoot for the brand. To complement…