The Netherlands' longtime ruling party says it won't join a new government following far-right's win
The process of forming a new government for the Netherlands after a far-right party's election victory is underway
2023-11-25 00:48
Putin’s main Black Sea shipyard up in flames as Ukraine and Russia exchange air strikes
Russia’s main shipyard in Crimea has been struck in a major attack involving 10 cruise missiles, according to Russian officials, with videos overnight appearing to show large explosions at a port in Sevastopol. It comes as Ukraine said it shot down 32 drones out of 44 fired by Russia overnight, with Ukrainian port infrastructure in Odesa described as being the main target. The two sides exchanged heavy air strikes just a couple of hours before Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un sat down in Russia’s far east for weapons and trade talks. Follow our Ukraine live blog here The attack on Sevastopol targeted the main facility where Russia builds and repairs ships for its Black Sea Fleet, which has been involved in blockading grain exports from Ukraine. Of a total 10 cruise missiles fired around 3am, seven were downed by Russia’s air defence systems, the country’s defence ministry said. The Russian defence ministry said at least three high-speed boats also targeted the Crimean facility but were destroyed. “As a result of being hit by enemy cruise missiles, two ships under repair were damaged,” the ministry said. Videos purporting to show the strike showed three explosions in quick succession in Sevastopol. Read More
2023-09-13 14:26
US senator Feinstein suffered more complications from illness than publicly disclosed- NYT
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who returned to Washington in May after a months-long absence due to shingles, suffered
2023-05-19 02:28
David Cameron memes: The funniest reactions as former PM makes shock return to government
Former prime minister David Cameron has returned to government as Foreign Secretary and will be made a peer, No 10 said. In a lengthy statement Cameron wrote: "The Prime Minister has asked me to serve as his Foreign Secretary and I have gladly accepted. We are facing a daunting set of international challenges, including the war in Ukraine and the crisis in the Middle East. At this time of profound global change, it has rarely been more important for this country to stand by our allies, strengthen our partnerships and make sure our voice is heard. He added: "While I have been out of front-line politics for the last seven years, I hope that my experience – as Conservative Leader for eleven years and Prime Minister for six – will assist me in helping the Prime Minister to meet these vital challenges. Britain is a truly international country. Our people live all over the world and our businesses trade in every corner of the globe. Working to help ensure stability and security on the global stage is both essential and squarely in our national interest. International security is vital for our domestic security." Rishi Sunak’s reshuffle means that for the first time since 2010 the top four positions in government – Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary – are all held by men: Mr Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, James Cleverly and David Cameron respectively. The last occasion was at the end of Gordon Brown’s Labour government, when these roles were held by Mr Brown, Alistair Darling, Alan Johnson and David Miliband respectively. Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden said: “A few weeks ago Rishi Sunak said David Cameron was part of a failed status quo, now he’s bringing him back as his life raft. “This puts to bed the Prime Minister’s laughable claim to offer change from 13 years of Tory failure.” Amid Cameron's shock return to government memes about the former PM have predictably gone viral. What year is it again? Additional reporting by PA. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
2023-11-13 18:53
India central bank keeps key rate steady; signals tight liquidity
(Reuters) -The Reserve Bank of India's key lending rate was held steady at a fourth consecutive policy meeting on Friday,
2023-10-06 13:58
Yemen's Houthi rebels hijack an Israeli-linked ship in the Red Sea and take 25 crew members hostage
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized an Israeli-linked ship in a crucial Red Sea shipping route and taken the 25-member crew hostage
2023-11-20 08:25
Hun Sen is the longest serving leader in Asia. He’s purged critics and is set to win Cambodian polls
Cambodians go to the polls Sunday with incumbent Prime Minister Hun Sen and his party all but assured a landslide victory thanks to the effective suppression and intimidation of any real opposition
2023-07-23 06:16
Texas woman charged with threatening to kill judge overseeing Trump's federal election interference case
A Texas woman has been charged with threatening in a voicemail to kill the federal judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's criminal case in Washington, DC, over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
2023-08-17 10:51
What’s in the cliffhanger deal struck by Biden and McCarthy to raise the debt limit?
Weeks of sniping back-and-forth between the White House and the Republican majority in the House of Representatives has finally yielded a deal: America will not default on its debt obligations, should Congress act and pass the legislation before Thursday. On Saturday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Joe Biden announced the end of negotiations and the agreement upon a deal late into the evening, with the text of the legislation itself soon to follow. The new compromise both touches on Republican priorities while also safeguarding Joe Biden’s legislative accomplishments. But it comes after weeks of bitter fighting. Republicans accused the White House and congressional Democrats of out-of-control spending, ignoring their rivals’s derisive reminders about the debt incurred by a GOP-led tax cut passed in 2017 that largely benefited wealthier Americans. Democrats, meanwhile, blamed Republicans for holding the country’s credit rating and ability to pay its loans hostage, and for seeking cuts to social welfare programs like food assistance for needy families. As we inch closer to Thursday’s deadline, let’s take a look at what leaders in Washington have come up with to break the deadlock. No more debt drama (for now) The first and most significant achievement of this deal: it raises the debt ceiling through the end of 2024. That guarantees the GOP won’t be able to wage a fight over the issue again, particularly as the presidential campaign season heats up later this year and into the next. Any debt ceiling battle during campaign season, particularly in the summer or fall of 2024, would take Joe Biden off the campaign trail and put his focus firmly on Washington at a time when either of his likely general election opponents, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, would be free to continue their politicking. In total, the deal calls for raising America’s debt limit by $4 trillion. Signing away that leverage for the next year is already proving to be one of the toughest pills for congressional conservatives in both the House and Senate to swallow, especially given the lack of other major concessions in the pending legislation. Spending caps The GOP’s big win in the negotiating process, this legislation is set to freeze federal spending at the current level, with the exception of military funding, through 2024. And growth of that spending will be capped at 1 per cent if Congress cannot agree upon a stopgap spending deal in January of 2025. This is a significant restriction for the federal government over the next year, and notably puts in place much stricter spending limits than members of Congress agreed to during the last debt limit fight in 2019. The language allowing for defence spending to increase while domestic programmes face a spending freeze is already irking progressives, who have long argued that the US military’s bloated budget should be at the top of the list for reforms. Caps set by this compromise are simultaneously the biggest victory for Republicans as well as their failure; while the spending caps are certainly more than what Democrats were demanding, they also eliminate the possibility of Republicans using the debt ceiling to make real cuts to programmes already implemented by the Biden administration as part of the Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation. That means that Mr Biden’s 2021-2022 legislative agenda will remain largely intact, despite demands by conservatives to roll back huge parts of it, like efforts to forgive student loans or expand green energy production. Work requirements for food stamps One of the GOP’s efforts to stem the tide of federal spending is centred around the issue of providing food assistance to low-income families. The new legislation is set to expand work requirements for the SNAP programme from the current age cap of 49 to a new cap of 54, meaning that Americans within that age bracket will have to prove employment to receive benefits. The issue may seem oddly specific for Republicans to hold up America’s ability to pay its debts upon, but tightening the restrictions fo federal assistance has long been a target of the GOP, and originally the party wanted to expand those work requirements to Medicaid as well. The new work requirements will sunset in 2030, unless extended before then by a GOP Congress. IRS funding halted The other specific ask that Republicans managed to secure in their compromise with the White House was a halt, at least in part, to a plan to fund new hiring initiatives at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), America’s tax collection agency. The beleaguered agency was set to receive more funding for agents that the federal government said were to assist taxpayers with filing issues and shore up the IRS’s capabilities; Republicans painted the issue instead as an effort to hire an army of IRS auditors to go after taxpayers for suspected fraud, a non-starter for the party that has long sought, particularly among its conservative wing, to diminish the power and capabilities of both the IRS and other federal agencies. But some conservatives are already complaining that the cuts aren’t enough. Congressman Chip Roy exclaimed angrily after the deal was announced that “98%” of the funding for the expansion of the IRS’s services would still go through. Covid aid The deal has one more minor win for Republicans — a provision to return Covid aid funding that has yet to be appropriated. Millions of dollars in this aid still remains unspent by the federal government, though Democrats have used it thus far to fund a number of federal health programmes which they warn could face cuts if the aid is rolled back entirely. Read More Debt ceiling agreement gets thumbs up from biz groups, jeers from some on political right President attends 2nd grandchild's graduation as daughter of Biden's late son leaves high school Democrats look set to back debt limit deal – while right-wing threatens to blow it up AP News Digest 8:40 a.m. Debt-ceiling deal: What's in and what's out of the agreement to avert US default Asylum-seekers say joy over end of Title 42 turns to anguish induced by new US rules
2023-05-29 05:48
Iowa governor at center of 2024 GOP race stays neutral but leaves door open for late endorsement
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is playing a central role in the opening stages of the 2024 Republican presidential contest, with candidates eager to bask in her glow in hopes of elevating their own campaigns. She's pledging her neutrality in the race -- for now, at least.
2023-08-12 14:24
Will Joe Rogan accept Donald Trump's interview request? Here's why 'JRE' host kept turning down ex-president's offer
Joe Rogan previously said he had no desire to support Donald Trump, despite his own condemnation for propagating Covid theories
2023-07-25 13:59
Arnold Schwarzenegger's daughter Katherine says her urge to 'scare people' comes from her prankster dad
Recently, Schwarzenegger, disguised as a large green bush, pranked his FUBAR co-stars
2023-06-06 20:54
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