Politics and Government

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares199 Views

      in Elections

      Muere Violeta Chamorro, presidenta de Nicaragua tras la guerra civil

      by

      En 1990 se convirtió en la primera mujer en dirigir un país centroamericano. Su presidencia llegó después de que la nación se viera sumida en luchas políticas.Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, quien llegó a la presidencia de Nicaragua en 1990 como una figura de unidad tras la guerra civil y fue la primera mujer elegida para gobernar un país centroamericano, murió el sábado por la mañana en su apartamento de San José, Costa Rica. Tenía 95 años.Su muerte fue confirmada por su hijo Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, quien dijo que llevaba muchos años delicada de salud.Violeta Barrios de Chamorro pasó al primer plano de la política nicaragüense tras el asesinato de su marido, Pedro Joaquín Chamorro, director de un periódico, una figura crítica con los revolucionarios sandinistas de izquierda y un feroz opositor a un némesis compartido: la dictadura de la familia Somoza, que comenzó durante la presidencia de Anastasio Somoza García en 1936.Barrios de Chamorro fue presidenta en la década de 1990, al final de un periodo en el que el país había sido conmocionado por la guerra. La gestión cotidiana del gobierno la delegó a un yerno y se posicionó como un símbolo de unidad en un país profundamente dividido.Su agenda política generó rechazo tanto de la izquierda como de la derecha. Sin embargo, en los últimos años, las encuestas de opinión pública sugerían que era la figura más admirada de Nicaragua, un símbolo de reconciliación teñido en un aura de profunda fe católica similar a la de una virgen maternal.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      Defying Calls for De-Escalation, Israel and Iran Exchange Deadly Fire

      by

      As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to fight “as long as it takes,” Iran fired missiles at Israel, and Israeli warplanes attacked air defenses around Tehran.Israel widened its targets in Iran on Saturday to strike at oil and gas installations, as leaders of both countries vowed to intensify their attacks despite international pleas for de-escalation.In a sweeping assault on Iranian nuclear and military assets that began early Friday, Israel initially focused on Iranian nuclear sites, air defenses and military targets. But the strikes on Saturday went a step further, targeting an energy industry that is vital to Iran’s economy. So far, Israel has killed more than 70 people, including four top security chiefs and several nuclear scientists, damaged Iran’s main nuclear site at Natanz and systematically degraded air defenses, particularly around the capital, Tehran.Iran, in turn, has launched barrages of ballistic missiles and drones at Israel targeting what it says are military assets, but with less apparent success. At least three people have been killed and dozens more wounded.The fighting, the most intense in decades between the two heavily armed countries, has stirred anxiety over the prospect of an increasingly deadly conflict that could draw in the United States and other major powers.The salvos of missiles scuttled talks between the United States and Iran aimed at curbing the Islamic Republic’s progress toward obtaining a nuclear weapon. The talks had been scheduled to resume in Oman on Sunday, but American and Omani officials said they were canceled.A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Esmail Baghaei, said on Saturday that the negotiations would remain suspended until Israel ends its attacks, and he accused Washington of supporting the Israelis.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares179 Views

      in Elections

      California Leaders React to Governor Gavin Newsom’s Speech

      by

      Elected officials, as well as social media influencers, had wide-ranging opinions of the governor’s prime time address warning that democracy is in danger.For months, Californians weren’t sure what to make of Gov. Gavin Newsom.There was the new podcast on which he interviewed right-wing influencers and said he felt trans athletes shouldn’t participate in women’s sports. There was the meeting in February with President Trump in the White House. And there were occasional snipes at Republicans, but nothing like those Mr. Newsom had dished out in years past.Then came a blistering nine-minute speech on Tuesday in which Mr. Newsom warned Americans that Mr. Trump was destroying democracy and acting as an authoritarian who would eventually send the military to states across the country.Many liberals in California cheered Mr. Newsom, finally seeing in him the leader of the resistance that they had been missing. Those feeling confused and fearful since Mr. Trump started his second term were looking for someone to stick up for them and said they appreciated Mr. Newsom’s forcefulness.“In a time of rising fear and growing threats to democracy, he spoke not just as a governor, but as a moral leader,” said Representative Lateefah Simon, Democrat of California. “He named the danger plainly.”But others, while supportive of his message, were not entirely convinced. They said testing the political climate ahead of a potential run for president.“Even if you’re late to the party, you know, welcome to the fight,” said Hugo Soto-Martinez, a progressive City Council member in Los Angeles, who appreciated what Mr. Newsom said but wished the governor had stood up to the president sooner.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 88 Shares179 Views

      in Elections

      Tusk Government Wins Confidence Vote in Poland

      by

      Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the vote to seek endorsement of his government after a political opponent won the presidency.Poland’s centrist government won a confidence vote in Parliament on Wednesday, averting political turmoil for the biggest country on the European Union’s eastern flank and a robust supporter of Ukraine.Prime Minister Donald Tusk last week called the vote for legislators to endorse his government, hoping to reassert his authority after the victory of a political opponent, Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist historian, in a presidential election this month.In the vote, 243 lawmakers voted in favor of Mr. Tusk and 210 against, giving him a majority in the 460-member lower house of Parliament.Speaking to Parliament on Wednesday, Mr. Tusk acknowledged that Mr. Nawrocki’s win in the presidential vote would create challenges “greater than we expected.” But, referring to the president’s limited and largely ceremonial duties, he insisted that the result of that election “in no way reduces our responsibility, our duties or the scope of our power or competences.”Mr. Tusk’s victory Wednesday in the confidence vote is a blow for the Law and Justice party, which had been hoping for a possible return to power in the event of early elections. A vote against Mr. Tusk’s government would have required him to resign after about only 18 months in office.Bruised by Mr. Nawrocki’s victory in the presidential poll and under pressure from Law and Justice to resign, Mr. Tusk last week acknowledged the “gravity of the moment,” but, gambling on a confidence vote, he insisted that “we do not intend to take a single step back.”Mr. Nawrocki, like Andrzej Duda, the departing president, is closely aligned with Law and Justice, and his victory over a liberal candidate backed by Mr. Tusk is likely to harden the stalemate between a presidency and a government pulling in opposite directions.The Polish president has no say in setting policy but has veto power over legislation passed by Parliament, a prerogative that has hobbled Mr. Tusk’s government to carry out its agenda. That includes repairing relations with the European Union and reversing changes Law and Justice made during its time in power that compromised the independence of the judiciary and all but banned abortion.Law and Justice lost its parliamentary majority in a 2023 election, but the coalition of legislators that Mr. Tusk put together to form a government has been a fractious alliance made up of liberals, centrists and conservatives that shared little common ground other than opposition to Law and Justice.Anatol Magdziarz More

    • 100 Shares99 Views

      in Elections

      Palestinian Authority President Says Hamas Must Exit Gaza

      by

      Mahmoud Abbas gave assurances to President Emmanuel Macron of France, who has set conditions for possible recognition of a Palestinian state at a U.N. conference next week.Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, has called for Hamas to “hand over its weapons,” immediately free all hostages and cease ruling Gaza, the French presidency said on Tuesday after receiving a letter from him.The letter was addressed to President Emmanuel Macron of France and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, who will jointly chair a U.N. conference in New York next week to explore the creation of a Palestinian state. Mr. Macron has set a number of conditions for the possible French recognition of such a state at that meeting, including the disarmament of Hamas.“Hamas will no longer rule Gaza and must hand over its weapons and military capabilities to the Palestinian security forces,” Mr. Abbas said in the letter, according to a statement from the Élysée Palace. He added that the Palestinian forces would oversee the removal of Hamas with Arab and international support, an undertaking that is certain to provoke skepticism in Israel, and probably also in Washington.“Hamas must immediately release all hostages and captives,” the letter said, reiterating a demand that Mr. Abbas has made before.A bitter feud has divided Mr. Abbas’s Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, and Hamas in Gaza for many years. The rival factions in the two Palestinian territories have defied several attempts at reconciliation, something that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has seized on to dismiss a two-state solution.Mr. Abbas condemned the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people in some of the strongest terms that he has used, calling it “unacceptable and reprehensible.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares159 Views

      in Elections

      Extremely Lifelike Dolls Cause a Frenzy in Brazil

      by

      A young woman posts a video that appears to show her holding her baby, Bento, and packing his bag for a trip to the hospital. She calls it “one of the busiest and scariest days for me.”She grabs onesies, a bottle and medical documents and tucks him in the back of a car. At the hospital, he is weighed and lies in a bed, where she removes his pacifier, bottle-feeds him and wipes a few drops of formula from his cheek.But this was not an actual medical emergency — it was role-playing by a content creator — and the baby was not a real baby. It was a shockingly lifelike doll, called a reborn doll, which is handcrafted to look and feel like a baby.The video, which received more than 16 million views on TikTok, is part of a social media craze that has turned into a cultural and political flashpoint in Brazil. Widely circulated videos show women taking the hyperrealistic dolls to the park in strollers, celebrating their birthdays with cake and songs, and simulating childbirth. (A select few even simulate the dolls’ having a nosebleed or potty training.)The YouTuber Gabi Matos with her collection of dolls in Campinas, Brazil, in May.Nelson Almeida/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images“The ones I like the most are the newborns,” said Juliana Drusz Magri, 36, who lives in Curitiba, the capital of the Brazilian state of Paraná, and works in human resources. She said she began collecting the dolls in 2018 and now has 22.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 38 Shares189 Views

      in Elections

      Hope After Trump

      by

      Is President Trump irrecoverably damaging America?I’ve been pondering that lately, partly because several of my friends have been so traumatized by Trump that they are wondering whether to give up on America and move to Canada to rebuild their lives there. I’ve tried to reassure them that this is not 1938 Germany.They shrug and note that 1935 Germany wasn’t 1938 Germany, either — but that’s what it became.Yet in the post-Cold War era, the typical authoritarian model isn’t the police state conjured by Hitlerian nightmares. Rather, it’s more nuanced. It’s one in which a charismatic leader is elected and then uses a democratic mandate to rig democratic institutions.In such states, there are elections that aren’t entirely fair, news organizations that aren’t free but also aren’t Pravda, a repressive apparatus that may not torture dissidents but does audit and impoverish them. The rough model is Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Hungary, or the Law and Justice party’s Poland, or President Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines or Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s India. You can call this competitive authoritarianism or a rigged democracy or something else, but a key feature is that elections still matter even if the playing field is tilted — and most important, such authoritarians are periodically ousted.These 21st-century authoritarians have gained ground in many countries, partly in reaction to surging migration. But the longer trend runs against autocrats, I think.That’s partly structural. Authoritarians surround themselves with sycophants, so that no one warns them when they proclaim dumb policies that tank the economy. Free from oversight, they yield to dissolution and corruption.I’ve been covering authoritarians around the world my entire career, and so often they seemed unassailable as they banned me “for life.” But it usually turned out to be the dictator’s life, not mine.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 138 Shares139 Views

      in Elections

      Russia Launches Broad Assault on Kyiv and Other Cities in Ukraine

      by

      Air defense crews in the capital were racing to combat a large-scale bombardment before dawn on Friday, officials said. Explosions rocked Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, before dawn on Friday as air defense crews raced to combat a large-scale Russian bombardment, the authorities said. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Russia had begun launching ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at the capital and other cities overnight. Multiple fires were reported across Kyiv, including at a 16-story apartment block. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said at least three people had been injured, and officials cautioned that the toll could rise as the attack was still underway. Russia has launched more than 1,000 drones per week at military and civilian targets in Ukraine in recent months, including more than 300 in a single night last week. On Wednesday, Russia’s leader, Vladimir V. Putin, warned President Trump that his country would retaliate against Ukraine for its audacious drone attack last weekend on airfields across Russia, according to Mr. Trump. On Thursday, Mr. Trump compared Russia and Ukraine to two fighting children who needed to work out their differences before their bloody war could end. “Sometimes you’re better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart,” he said in the Oval Office as Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, urged him to leverage the power of the United States to end the conflict. Mr. Trump avoided answering a question about whether he was willing to increase pressure on Russia. The Kremlin has repeatedly resisted his calls for an unconditional cease-fire. Since the beginning of this year, the Russian military has carried out attacks against Ukraine using nearly 27,700 aerial bombs, almost 11,200 Shahed drones, around 9,000 other attack strike drones and more than 700 missiles, including ballistic ones, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said on Thursday. “This is the pace of Russian strikes, and they deliberately set this tempo from the very first days of the full-scale war,” Mr. Zelensky said. “Russia has restructured its entire state, society, and economy to be able to kill people in other countries on a massive scale and with impunity.” Before the overnight bombardment, Russia launched high-explosive aerial bombs at the center of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Thursday morning, partially destroying the Regional State Administration building and damaging several surrounding structures. On Wednesday night, the Russians attacked the city of Pryluky in the northeastern Chernihiv region, killing at least five people, including a 1-year-old baby, Ukrainian officials said. More