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Category: Politics

Welcome back, Donald Tusk: EU sighs in relief over Poland election results

Welcome back, Donald Tusk: EU sighs in relief over Poland election results

Politico reports: Politicians across Europe cheered Sunday’s projected victory by Polish opposition forces — especially in Germany, the favorite target of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party. “I expect that Poland will become a constructive partner and that the change in government will strengthen its standing in Europe,” Terry Reintke, a German MEP who is co-leader of the Greens in the European Parliament, told German radio. “Poland is an extremely relevant democracy for Europe.“ German-Polish relations have suffered in recent…

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Hamas’s barbarism does not justify the collective punishment of Palestinians

Hamas’s barbarism does not justify the collective punishment of Palestinians

Kenan Malik writes: ‘They too have casualties, they too have captives and they have mothers who weep … Let’s make real peace”. Not a liberal peacenik speaking from the safety of London or Washington but Yaakov Argamani, whose daughter Noa was taken hostage by Hamas at a music festival near Re’im on Israel’s border with Gaza. I hope I never have to face the torment that now engulfs Yaakov Argamani. But if I do find myself in as dark a…

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Kibbutz Be’eri massacre survivor: ‘We need a political solution’

Kibbutz Be’eri massacre survivor: ‘We need a political solution’

This 19y.o survivor of the horrific massacre at Kibbutz Be'eri in Southern Israel has a powerful message for Israel & the world: "Don't offer us more soldiers or more protection. We need a political solution." If you watch one thing today, make it this.pic.twitter.com/TXC5BlTflc — Breaking the Silence (@BtSIsrael) October 15, 2023

Settlers take advantage of Gaza war to launch West Bank pogroms

Settlers take advantage of Gaza war to launch West Bank pogroms

Yuval Abraham reports: While the world focuses on the Hamas massacre in southern Israel and Israel’s massive bombing of the Gaza Strip, settlers in the occupied West Bank are taking advantage of the chaos to attack and expel Palestinians from a number of small villages. Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed 51 Palestinians in the West Bank since Saturday, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. At least two villages, Al-Qanub and Wadi Al-Sik, have been entirely depopulated…

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‘You Muslims must die,’ yelled Chicago landlord before fatally stabbing 6-year-old and wounding his mom

‘You Muslims must die,’ yelled Chicago landlord before fatally stabbing 6-year-old and wounding his mom

CNN reports: A Chicago-area landlord was arrested and charged with murder and hate crimes after authorities said he stabbed and killed a 6-year-old boy and seriously wounded his mother, allegedly because the tenants are Muslim. Joseph M. Czuba, 71, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, the Will County, Illinois, Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The sheriff’s office said Czuba did not make a…

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French authorities investigate potential poisoning of Russian anti-war journalist

French authorities investigate potential poisoning of Russian anti-war journalist

Politico reports: French prosecutors are investigating the potential poisoning of former Russian state TV journalist turned Kremlin critic Marina Ovsyannikova after she was suddenly taken ill in Paris this week. Ovsyannikova reportedly called for help on Thursday afternoon “because she had collapsed outside her home in the 6th arrondissement and feared poisoning,” a spokesperson with the Paris Criminal Court said. The Paris prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into the incident and police were reportedly examining her apartment…

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How a billionaire-backed network of AI advisers took over Washington, diverting attention away current risks

How a billionaire-backed network of AI advisers took over Washington, diverting attention away current risks

Politico reports: An organization backed by Silicon Valley billionaires and tied to leading artificial intelligence firms is funding the salaries of more than a dozen AI fellows in key congressional offices, across federal agencies and at influential think tanks. The fellows funded by Open Philanthropy, which is financed primarily by billionaire Facebook co-founder and Asana CEO Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna, are already involved in negotiations that will shape Capitol Hill’s accelerating plans to regulate AI. And they’re…

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The secret musicians of Afghanistan

The secret musicians of Afghanistan

Amanda Florian and Abdul Wahab Siddiqi write: Day breaks in western Afghanistan. Outside, gunshots fired by the Taliban pierce the hazy sky. A loudspeaker plays a cappella chants — or taranas — that demand the attention of citizens. Emergency vehicles transferring bodies broadcast recitations from the Quran. As children fight and play on unpaved roads, the chant-like prayers of mullahs reverberate across the city five times a day. There’s only one sound that’s missing — music. Under the Taliban’s regime,…

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Iran’s foreign minister warns Israel it could suffer ‘a huge earthquake’

Iran’s foreign minister warns Israel it could suffer ‘a huge earthquake’

Politico reports: Iran’s foreign minister on Saturday called on Israel to stop its attacks on Gaza, warning that the war might expand to other parts of the Middle East if Hezbollah joins the battle, and that would make Israel suffer “a huge earthquake.” Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters in Beirut that Lebanon’s Hezbollah group has taken all the scenarios of a war into consideration and Israel should stop its attacks on Gaza as soon as possible. Israel considers Hezbollah its most…

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Why Israel must reconsider its Gaza evacuation order

Why Israel must reconsider its Gaza evacuation order

The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, writes: Thursday night’s order by the Israel Defense Forces to Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate their homes within 24 hours was dangerous and deeply troubling. Any demand for a mass evacuation on extremely short notice could have devastating humanitarian consequences. The evacuation order applies to approximately 1.1 million people. It applies to a territory that is already besieged, under aerial bombardment and without fuel, electricity, water and food. It applies to…

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What more must the children of Gaza suffer?

What more must the children of Gaza suffer?

Fadi Abu Shammalah writes: The bomb exploded a few hundred feet from where I was sitting with my wife, Safa, and my three children, Ali, Karam and Adam. Ali, 13, screamed; Karam, 10, buried his face in my chest; and Adam, 5, burst into tears. We were in the outdoor area at the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on Tuesday morning. I had been lucky enough to obtain permits for my wife and kids to cross into…

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Inside MSNBC’s Middle East conflict

Inside MSNBC’s Middle East conflict

Semafor reports: MSNBC has quietly taken three of its Muslim broadcasters out of the anchor’s chair since Hamas’s attack on Israel last Saturday amid America’s wave of sympathy for Israeli terror victims. The network did not air a scheduled Thursday night episode of The Mehdi Hasan Show on the streaming platform Peacock. MSNBC also reversed a plan for Ayman Mohyeldin to fill in this week on the network for host Joy Reid’s 7 p.m. show on Thursday and Friday. Mohyeldin,…

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The real danger in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent run

The real danger in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent run

Jesse Wegman writes: Most of the concern over the independent presidential campaigns of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cornel West and the No Labels party has focused on the risk that they could draw votes away from President Biden and throw the 2024 election to Donald Trump. That’s understandable, given what happened in 2000 and 2016. But there is another reason to fear these candidacies, and it’s right there in the Constitution: a contingent election decided by the House of Representatives,…

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Leonard Leo, the man behind the Right’s Supreme Court supermajority

Leonard Leo, the man behind the Right’s Supreme Court supermajority

ProPublica reports: The party guests who arrived on the evening of June 23, 2022, at the Tudor-style mansion on the coast of Maine were a special group in a special place enjoying a special time. The attendees included some two dozen federal and state judges — a gathering that required U.S. marshals with earpieces to stand watch while a Coast Guard boat idled in a nearby cove. Caterers served guests Pol Roger reserve, Winston Churchill’s favorite Champagne, a fitting choice…

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Judge punishes Rudy Giuliani for ‘continued and flagrant disregard’ of court orders

Judge punishes Rudy Giuliani for ‘continued and flagrant disregard’ of court orders

NBC News reports: The judge presiding over the upcoming damages trial against Rudy Giuliani said Friday she will tell jurors that the former Trump lawyer intentionally hid financial documents and other records in defiance of court orders. In a five-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said the move was necessary given “Giuliani’s continued and flagrant disregard of this Court’s August 30 Order that he produce financial-related documents concerning his personal and his businesses’ past and present assets” and other…

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Israel has dropped a staggering 6,000 bombs on Gaza in less than a week

Israel has dropped a staggering 6,000 bombs on Gaza in less than a week

Dozens of fighter jets and helicopters attacked a series of terrorist targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip. So far, the IAF has dropped about 6,000 bombs against Hamas targets. pic.twitter.com/3Xm1vxvq7D — Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) October 12, 2023 The Washington Post reports: The Israeli air force on Thursday said it had dropped 6,000 bombs against Hamas targets so far — a staggering number over the course of six days, according to warfare experts. “Israel is dropping…

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