US Politics

Amid the chaos, havoc and war caused by a capricious and amoral US president, countries are waking up to the dangers of being excluded and abused by AmericaNever has there been a time when the world has been more interconnected than now. What happens in the secretive inner councils in Tehran, the mountains of south-west Yemen, the steppe of the Donbas, the still bloody wasteland that is Gaza and even the elegant boulevards of Paris and Milan have a common thread.One cannot understand one set of conflicts without weaving them into another, and it is this very interdependence that is making each problem so contagious, layered and difficult to resolve, leaving the world to live as if trapped inside a pressure cooker on the brink of an explosion. Continue reading… More

Order says local officials can’t be forced to separate or stop counting ballots that the government deems to be disputedA federal judge has barred the justice department from threatening or coercing election workers to stop processing ballots.The order issued late Friday also bars the justice department from demanding local election officials segregate or not count ballots that the federal government deems may have been cast by ineligible voters. Continue reading… More

Marco Rubio pulls plug on traditional photo op at meeting of foreign ministers after about one-third of countries threaten boycottThe traditional “family photo” to open the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting has been abruptly cancelled in the US after a host of nations – including Australia and the UK – refused to appear beside the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, pulled the plug after several European officials, the UK and Australia made it known they would boycott or walk out of the snapshot that often kicks off such international gatherings. Continue reading… More

Stephen Hubbard said that only when he was being taken from Moscow to St Petersburg did he believe he was ‘going somewhere’In his first comments since recently being released from a Russian prison, a retired Michigan teacher said he only believed he would be freed when he got new clothes.Stephen Hubbard, 74, remarked on Friday that he had heard many times previously that he would be released – but never really trusted what he was told, adopting a philosophy of “seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words”. Continue reading… More

Mary Peltola denies knowledge as party accused of recruiting spoiler candidate with same name as sitting RepublicanAlaska Senate race: what to know about Democrats’ alleged ballot-stacking effortThe top federal prosecutor in Alaska confirmed on Friday the existence of a criminal and a civil investigation into an alleged scheme by Democrats to confuse voters by recruiting a spoiler candidate on the ballot for US Senate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent, senator Dan Sullivan.Speaking at a news conference in Anchorage on Friday, US attorney Michael Heyman cited reporting by the New York Times which suggested that the Senate campaign of Democrat Mary Peltola and national Democrats had, in his words, “orchestrated a sprawling conspiracy to recruit and prop up Daniel J Sullivan as a sham candidate”. Continue reading… More

Donald Trump attacked the appearance of a Reuters reporter and called him ‘disgusting’ after the reporter asked a question about the president’s cancellation of two upcoming campaign events. A day later, Trump rescheduled the canceled rallies in Kansas and Iowa.Trump lashes out at Reuters reporter who asked why he canceled rally in Kansas Continue reading… More

Key contest between incumbent Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson will gauge how voters feel about Trump 2.0 and rising costsChristian LaMontagne has started slowing his lobster boat down.The 27-year-old fisher spends longer on the water when out hauling traps in Casco Bay, but the trade-off helps him save fuel at a time when costs have surged. Before the US war with Iran began in late February, filling his tank cost about $350 a week. Now it’s doubled to nearly $700. Continue reading… More

We need neither ‘peace in our time’ nor ‘perpetual peace’ – but enough peace to keep civilizationTo save the United Nations from the irrelevance in which it now wallows, the next secretary general will require the concerted backing of the few powers that govern the security council.The paradox is that the great powers who created the institution in the 1940s and recently treat it with a cavalier cynicism are now the ones who need it most, as does the rest of the world. Continue reading… More