Evelyn Reynolds

The surprisingly strong growth ‘reflected increases in consumer spending, exports and government spending’, according to officials. Key US politics stories from Tuesday 23 DecemberThe US economy surged over the summer, the commerce department announced on Tuesday, with gross domestic product (GDP) – a broad measure of the value of goods and services – rising at an annualized rate of 4.3% over the third quarter, far higher than expected and its fastest rate in two years.The report comes as polls show Americans have soured on Donald Trump’s handling of the economy and his tariffs. The supreme court is currently weighing legal challenges to those levies. Continue reading… More

In a 6-3 decision, the high court sided with a lower court ruling that blocked deployment of troops to the Illinois cityThe US supreme court refused on Tuesday to let Donald Trump send national guard troops to the Chicago area, in an important reining-in of the US president’s efforts to expand the use of the military for domestic purposes in historic moves against a growing number of Democratic-led jurisdictions.The nation’s highest court denied the US justice department’s request to lift a judge’s order in October that has blocked the deployment of hundreds of national guard personnel in a legal challenge brought by Illinois state officials and local leaders, who had opposed any federalization of those troops to offer backup to immigration enforcement. Continue reading… More

Files also include details about Epstein’s relationship with Larry Summers and apparently fake letter to Larry NassarA newly released batch of the so-called Epstein files on Tuesday includes many references to Donald Trump, including a claim by a senior US attorney that the US president was on a flight in the 1990s with the now-deceased convicted child sex offender and a 20-year-old woman.There is no indication of whether the woman was a victim of any crime, and being included in the files does not indicate any criminal wrongdoing. Continue reading… More

This live blog is now closed. For the latest news on the Epstein files, read our full report:Newly released Epstein files include references to Donald TrumpIn another released email exchange from November 2001, Ghislaine Maxwell appears to be organizing an instructor for Epstein who “has to be female youngish and attractive otherwise he will lose interest rapidly”.Maxwell emails someone called “Gibby”, saying: “JE is looking for an exercise instructor to work out with. He is looking for someone who can tone, flex and stretch.” “I am counting on you,” she adds.He likes, well you know what he likes. Continue reading… More

A Drag Queen Christmas, featuring artists from RuPaul’s Drag Race, will stop in Pensacola despite the state attorney general’s efforts to stop itA drag queen Christmas tour has become an annual holiday tradition in Florida – and in recent years, so has the ensuing backlash.Now in its 11th year, A Drag Queen Christmas, featuring performers from RuPaul’s Drag Race, will stop in the Florida Panhandle city of Pensacola on Tuesday night, despite state officials’ best efforts to cancel the show for what they claim is an “anti-Christian” performance at a city-owned theater. Continue reading… More

The very same immigrants welcomed to the US after risking their lives to fight the Taliban now fear detention or worseAli was 25 and a pilot for the Afghan air force, just like his father before him; he arrived at the special mission wing 777 airbase in Kabul around 11am one day in August 2021.The moment he stepped through the gates, he sensed something was wrong. Continue reading… More

A growing group has found community around Cincinnati. Trump’s ICE crackdown threatens to send them back to Mauritania, rife with human rights problemsMusician Khalidou Sy recalls the night his concert was shut down before he was taken away by the Mauritanian police and jailed for five days.While he was never given a reason for his detention, in his show Sy criticized the lack of electricity available to the Mauritanian public and called on the authorities to make a change. Continue reading… More

Liberal democracies view Putin’s Russia as a bully – and Trump’s US as an angry drunk with a bazooka. The response is pure venom There are people who argue that Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine is not motivated by fears or imperial ambitions, but by other countries’ disrespect. Russia once commanded authority as one of the world’s two superpowers, but it has since forfeited that status. It knows it has lost the respect of other countries (Barack Obama famously dismissed Russia as just a “regional power”), and the Ukraine war is its way of winning it back.What is perhaps surprising is that Donald Trump’s turn against Europe has similar motivations. Putin knows his aggressive revanchism won’t win Russia any love among countries whose respect he craves. But if he can’t be loved, he hopes at least to be feared. If you are in a social order that regards you as inferior, you have every incentive to turn spoiler.Henry Farrell is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation professor of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University. Sergey Radchenko is Wilson E Schmidt distinguished professor at the Henry A Kissinger Center, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies Continue reading… More