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Category: Politics

Iran restricts supply of cheap oil to Syria, leaving ally in crisis

Iran restricts supply of cheap oil to Syria, leaving ally in crisis

The Wall Street Journal reports: Iran’s ambitions to position itself as a leading power broker in the Middle East have been dealt a fresh blow—this time by its own struggling economy and how it is crimping Tehran’s ability to supply cheap oil to allies such as Syria. The Islamic Republic of Iran has used cash and discounted oil in a hearts-and-minds campaign to expand its influence in Syria and challenge regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iran and Russia are…

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Suspect in shootings at New Mexico Democratic officials’ homes called himself the ‘MAGA King’

Suspect in shootings at New Mexico Democratic officials’ homes called himself the ‘MAGA King’

Insider reports: The failed GOP candidate accused of plotting shootings at Democratic officials’ homes called himself “the MAGA King” and said he was “researching his options” after he lost his state election by nearly 50 points. Republican Solomon Pena ran for New Mexico’s House District 14 in 2022, but lost to incumbent Democrat Miguel P. Garcia — with Garcia claiming 74% of the votes and Pena only 26%. But Pena refused to concede, tweeting “I dissent. I am the MAGA…

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What the Jan. 6 probe found out about social media, but didn’t report

What the Jan. 6 probe found out about social media, but didn’t report

The Washington Post reports: The Jan. 6 committee spent months gathering stunning new details on how social media companies failed to address the online extremism and calls for violence that preceded the Capitol riot. The evidence they collected was written up in a 122-page memo that was circulated among the committee, according to a draft viewed by The Washington Post. But in the end, committee leaders declined to delve into those topics in detail in their final report, reluctant to…

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Unreleased video reveals Twitter team warned of ‘shooting in the streets’ ahead of Jan. 6

Unreleased video reveals Twitter team warned of ‘shooting in the streets’ ahead of Jan. 6

Rolling Stone reports: Anika Collier Navoli was at her “wits’ end.” Twitter’s safety policy team had gathered via video conference to walk through what they expected to see the next day, Jan. 6, 2021, and began to argue. Safety policy staff had clashed repeatedly with Twitter’s management over whether to take a tougher stance on incitement to violence by Donald Trump and his legions of election deniers. She and colleagues were seeing worrying signs and feared what might happen the…

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Justice Department considered but rejected role in Biden documents search

Justice Department considered but rejected role in Biden documents search

The Wall Street Journal reports: The Justice Department considered having FBI agents monitor a search by President Biden’s lawyers for classified documents at his homes but decided against it, both to avoid complicating later stages of the investigation and because Mr. Biden’s attorneys had quickly turned over a first batch and were cooperating, according to people familiar with the matter. After Mr. Biden’s lawyers discovered documents marked as classified dating from his term as vice president at an office he…

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Shrinking population presents major implications for China, its economy and the world

Shrinking population presents major implications for China, its economy and the world

The New York Times reports: The world’s most populous country has reached a pivotal moment: China’s population has begun to shrink, after a steady, yearslong decline in its birthrate that experts say is irreversible. The government said on Tuesday that 9.56 million people were born in China last year, while 10.41 million people died. It was the first time deaths had outnumbered births in China since the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong’s failed economic experiment that led to widespread famine…

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Saudi crown prince ‘has been paying Donald Trump unknown millions for the past two years,’ says human rights group

Saudi crown prince ‘has been paying Donald Trump unknown millions for the past two years,’ says human rights group

Middle East Eye reports: A Washington-based human rights group is calling on the US government to investigate the business dealings between the Saudi Arabia-financed LIV Golf tour and former US President Donald Trump, who hosted a series of LIV golf tournaments at his resorts last year. The demand for a probe into the business dealings comes after it was stated in a court hearing last week that the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) owns 93 percent of LIV and…

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GOP House oversight chair can’t explain why he’s investigating Biden classified docs but not Trump’s

GOP House oversight chair can’t explain why he’s investigating Biden classified docs but not Trump’s

Rolling Stone reports: Rep. James Comer, the Republican House’s incoming Oversight and Accountability Committee chair, failed to clearly articulate why the newly discovered classified documents found in President Joe Biden’s home and former personal office were worth the committee investigating but not the classified documents found at former president Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. “Do you only care about classified documents being mishandled when Democrats do the mishandling?” CNN host Jake Tapper pressed Comer on Sunday’s State of the Union. CNN asks…

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Ukraine prepares for new offensive as Russia and Belarus begin joint drills

Ukraine prepares for new offensive as Russia and Belarus begin joint drills

NBC News reports: The smell of sawdust hangs in the air around a network of neatly dug trenches in a quiet and densely forested area on Ukraine’s border with Belarus. Freshly cut planks reinforce the 5-foot high earth walls in the channels crisscrossing the forest floor. Every few meters, logs across the top form a kind of shelter, the makeshift roof covered in branches and earth for camouflage. Ukraine is preparing for battle in this quiet forest clearing less than…

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U.S. begins expanded training of Ukrainian forces for large-scale combat

U.S. begins expanded training of Ukrainian forces for large-scale combat

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. military has launched an expanded, more sophisticated training program of Ukrainian forces that is focused on large-scale combat and meant to bolster Ukraine’s ability to take back territory from Russian forces, the Pentagon’s top general said Sunday. Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on a flight from Washington to Europe that the training began Sunday at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in Germany and will continue for five or…

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Europe is winning the energy war with Putin, but food prices are likely to rise

Europe is winning the energy war with Putin, but food prices are likely to rise

Politico reports: Halfway through the first winter of Europe’s energy war with Russia, only one side is winning. When Vladimir Putin warned in September that Europeans would “freeze” if the West stuck to its energy sanctions against Russia, Moscow’s fossil fuel blackmail appeared to be going exactly to plan. European wholesale gas prices were north of €200 per megawatt hour, around 10 times higher than they had been for most of 2021. Plans were drawn up to cut gas demand…

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Ukraine liberated Kherson city. Now, Russia is destroying it, having already looted its cultural treasures

Ukraine liberated Kherson city. Now, Russia is destroying it, having already looted its cultural treasures

The Washington Post reports: Four charred baby cribs were all that was left in the maternity ward’s bomb shelter. The rest of the room was destroyed Wednesday when Russian forces attacked the city, striking one of the only hospitals in Kherson where babies can still be delivered. By fate or luck, many staff, accustomed to near-constant shelling, chose to hide in a nearby corridor rather than run to the place actually meant to keep them safe — a decision that…

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Biden’s classified documents blunder is nothing like Trump’s crime

Biden’s classified documents blunder is nothing like Trump’s crime

Jonathan Chait writes: The sweet spot for Donald Trump’s allies has always been when they can justify his abuses and crimes through misdirected comparisons rather than direct defense. Did Trump extort Ukraine into smearing his opponent? Well, Ted Kennedy once did something kind of like this. Did Trump try to stay in office after losing the election? Maybe so, but let us tell you about the time a Democrat registered an objection to the Electoral College count in Congress. The…

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Harbor City called George Santos a ‘perfect fit.’ The SEC called the company a fraud

Harbor City called George Santos a ‘perfect fit.’ The SEC called the company a fraud

The Washington Post reports: In July 2020, a small Florida-based investment firm announced that a man named George Devolder had been hired as its New York regional director. “When we had the opportunity to welcome him to our team, I was delighted,” the company’s founder and chief executive said in a news release. “He’s a perfect fit.” Devolder is now better known as George Santos, the 34-year-old freshman Republican congressman from New York’s 3rd Congressional District who brazenly lied to…

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Santos’s lies were known to some well-connected Republicans

Santos’s lies were known to some well-connected Republicans

The New York Times reports: In late 2021, as he prepared to make a second run for a suburban New York City House seat, George Santos gave permission for his campaign to commission a routine background study on him. Campaigns frequently rely on this kind of research, known as vulnerability studies, to identify anything problematic that an opponent might seize on. But when the report came back on Mr. Santos, the findings by a Washington research firm were far more…

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Bolsonaro faces investigation for inspiring Brazil’s capital riot

Bolsonaro faces investigation for inspiring Brazil’s capital riot

The New York Times reports: As the bus made its way from Brazil’s agricultural heartland to the capital, Andrea Barth pulled out her phone to ask fellow passengers, one by one, what they intended to do once they arrived. “Overthrow the thieves,” one man replied. “Take out ‘Nine-Finger,’” said another, referring to Brazil’s leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who lost part of a finger decades ago in a factory accident. “You might escape a lightning strike,” another man…

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