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Tag: political

  • Opinion | British Labour’s Fiscal Mess

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    Britain’s stock and bond markets flopped Friday morning on new evidence that the country’s Labour Party leadership doesn’t have a clue what to do about the economy or budget. Add this to the list of welfare-state cautionary tales out of Europe.

    At one point Friday morning, the yield on the benchmark 10-year government bond, or gilt, had risen 11 basis points to 4.55%. The main London stock index dipped nearly 2%, and the pound fell. This was in response to a Financial Times report Thursday night that Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves is abandoning plans to increase income-tax rates in her budget plan this month.

    This sounds like good news. but investors interpreted it as a sign that Ms. Reeves and her boss, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have run out of politically viable ways to balance the government budget—which is true. Estimates of the budget “black hole” Ms. Reeves needs to fill range up to £30 billion per year—the gap between likely spending and revenue if current policies stay the same.

    An attempt over the summer to cut some particularly generous welfare benefits collapsed amid a rebellion from Labour backbenchers in Parliament, putting welfare reform off the table. Mr. Starmer is rightly under pressure to increase defense spending. Labour’s promises of economic growth via public “investment” translate mainly to pay increases for government workers.

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    The Editorial Board

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  • Exclusive | Secret U.S. Memo Authorizing Drug-Boat Strikes Cites Chemical Weapon Threat

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    The brief outlines the Trump administration’s legal case for military action against alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean and Pacific.

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    Alexander Ward

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  • China Tells Citizens to Avoid Japan as Taiwan Spat Deepens

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    Beijing is furious with the Japanese prime minister after she said Japan would defend itself if China moved to seize the island.

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    Jason Douglas

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  • Opinion | What Does ‘White Guilt’ Mean in 2025?

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    Victim politics gave us pro-Hamas activism and a powerful reaction in the form of Donald Trump, argue Shelby Steele and his son, Eli.

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    Tunku Varadarajan

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  • Opinion | Maduro Caused the Disaster

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    Regarding Quico Toro’s essay “ Another U.S. Attempt to Topple Maduro Would Be a Disaster” (Review, Nov. 8): Venezuela’s economic collapse and migratory crisis began in 2013, at least four years before the U.S. imposed broad U.S. sanctions. From 2013 onward, Venezuela experienced the highest inflation rate in the world and a precipitous decline in gross domestic product, driven directly by the devastating economic policies of Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, including widespread nationalizations, reckless monetary and fiscal policies and the implementation of universal price and currency controls.

    Mr. Toro neglects the consequences of the Biden administration’s policy of accommodation. Far from improving conditions, diplomatic passivity has allowed the government to dig in its heels, intensifying repression and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

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  • U.S. Agrees to Cut Switzerland Tariffs to 15% in Trade Deal

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    The U.S. has reached a deal to reduce the crippling 39% import tariffs on Switzerland to 15%, easing a growing burden on the Alpine country’s export-dependent economy and the steepest tariff the Trump administration had imposed on a developed nation.

    “We’ve essentially reached a [trade] deal with Switzerland,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Friday on CNBC. “They are going to send a lot of their manufacturing to the United States—pharmaceuticals, gold smelting, railway equipment.”

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    Georgi Kantchev

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  • Israeli Settlers Burn Mosque as West Bank Violence Escalates

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    Israeli settlers extended a wave of attacks in the West Bank, drawing rare condemnation from authorities and concern from the U.S. over the escalating violence.

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    Feliz Solomon

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  • How American and Chinese Drone Arsenals Stack Up

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    The U.S. is falling behind China in one of the defining technologies of the modern battlefield.

    Drones have proven indispensable in conflicts like Ukraine, where troops rely on them to destroy tanks, lay mines, evacuate wounded fighters, and deliver food and medication. Advances in artificial intelligence increasingly allow unmanned systems to operate with minimal human direction, such as tracking and attacking targets on their own.

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    Jason French

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  • U.S. to Cut Tariffs on Bananas, Coffee and Other Goods From Four Countries

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    The U.S. plans to eliminate tariffs on bananas, coffee, beef and certain apparel and textile products under framework agreements with four Latin American nations, a senior administration official told reporters Thursday.

    The expected move—which would apply to some goods from Ecuador, Argentina, El Salvador and Guatemala—is part of a shift from the Trump administration to water down some of its so-called reciprocal tariffs in the midst of rising prices for consumers, as well as legal uncertainty after a Supreme Court hearing this month.

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    Gavin Bade

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  • Opinion | AI Is a Tool, Not a Soul

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    Pope Leo XIV tries to head off claims that chatbots are sentient beings with rights.

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    Kristen Ziccarelli

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  • Germany’s Answer to Its Conscription Dilemma: a Database of Young Men Fit for War

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    BERLIN—Germany will build a database of young people detailing their fitness, aptitude and outlook to help it pick whom to draft should the country be attacked.

    The proposed move, a step toward reintroducing military conscription, comes as countries across Europe grapple with how to repopulate their armed forces under pressure from Washington and an expansionist Russia that European capitals accuse of waging a hybrid war on the continent.

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    Bertrand Benoit

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  • Kid Rock honors Charlie Kirk by adding religious verse to country hit during rodeo performance

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    NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

    Kid Rock brought an unexpected yet powerful moment of faith and remembrance to the stage.

    During his concert at the Hondo Rodeo Fest in Arizona over the weekend, Kid Rock honored the late conservative activist Charlie Kirk with a brand-new verse added to Cody Johnson’s chart-topping hit, “’Til You Can’t.”

    The country rocker, who filled in for Johnson as the singer recovered from surgery for a burst eardrum, took the stage before a packed arena.

    KID ROCK CRITICIZES MAINSTREAM MEDIA ‘NUTHOUSES’ AFTER KIRK’S ASSASSINATION

    Kid Rock delivered an emotional tribute to Charlie Kirk during his performance at the Hondo Rodeo Fest in Arizona. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

    What began as a standard set quickly turned into a moving tribute.

    “Now, a few weeks ago, I woke up alone early on a Sunday morning and had this song stuck in my head,” Kid Rock said, according to a fan video. “And in that moment, someone or something spoke to me and told me there was still a verse missing from this song and to get up and write it down. So I did.”

    As Kid Rock addressed the crowd, the large video screens behind him suddenly lit up with Kirk’s image during his tribute.

    “And now I know exactly who was speaking to me that morning,” Rock continued, his voice heavy with emotion.

    LEADERS AND INFLUENCERS FLOOD SOCIAL MEDIA WITH TRIBUTES TO CHARLIE KIRK AS THOUSANDS PACK ARIZONA MEMORIAL

    Kid Rock smiles while wearing dark sunglasses and a white hat at the White House.

    Kid Rock filled in for Cody Johnson and added a new verse about faith to the chart-topping song, “‘Til You Can’t.” (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

    The new verse focused on faith and forgiveness.

    “There’s a book that is sitting in your house somewhere that could use some dusting off / There’s a man that died for all our sins / Hanging from the cross /

    “You can give your life to Jesus / And He’ll give you a second chance /

    “’Til you can’t, ’til you can’t.”

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    Charlie Kirk speaking

    Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on Sept. 10. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

    The audience was heard cheering loudly in response to Kid Rock’s new lyrics and special tribute to Kirk. 

    The Turning Point USA founder was assassinated on Sept. 10.

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    Charlie Kirk smiles onstage ahead of the Republican National Convention

    Kirk is remembered for his outspoken political commentary and deep faith. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

    Kirk was remembered for his outspoken political commentary and deep faith.

    Shortly after his death, Kid Rock criticized the mainstream media as “nuthouses” for continuing to fuel division.

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    “The mainstream media is fricking public enemy number one right now,” he previously argued on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

    Kid Rock’s comments come following national debate over what drove Tyler Robinson, the suspect in Kirk’s death, to allegedly want to kill the conservative activist.

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  • Iraq’s Prime Minister, Iran-Backed Militias Set for Difficult Negotiations After Election

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    Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s coalition came first in this week’s parliamentary election, but Iran-backed militias also had a strong showing, setting up what could be long negotiations over who will be the country’s leader.

    Sudani had been seeking a second term, positioning himself as a leader who could make Iraq independent of both the U.S. and Iran, the two rivals that have battled for influence over the country since the 2003 American-led invasion.

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    Jared Malsin

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  • U.K. Economy Grows at Slower Pace Ahead of Budget

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    GDP rose 0.1% in the third quarter, compared with 0.3% in the second, amid uncertainty about the government’s budget and the impact of a cyberattack on a major carmaker.

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    Don Nico Forbes

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  • Britain Is Preparing Tens of Billions in New Taxes—Again

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    LONDON—The U.K. has long been torn between two mutually exclusive desires: Voters want European levels of welfare with American levels of taxation.

    By accident or design, that debate is slowly being resolved in the direction of higher taxes, as Britain’s Labour government prepares its second major tax increase in as many years.

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    David Luhnow

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  • Why It’s Easier to Rob a Museum Than a Jewelry Store in France

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    Barely 24 hours had passed since thieves had broken into the Louvre Museum and stolen France’s crown jewels when the mayor of Langres, a walled medieval town in Eastern France, received a troubling phone call. 

    The director of the town’s museum was on the line to report that it too had been robbed. Thieves had penetrated the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot overnight and gone straight for a display case housing its collection of historic gold and silver coins. 

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    Noemie Bisserbe

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  • Opinion | Escape From Zohran Mamdani’s New York

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    Arnold Toynbee’s “Cities on the Move” (1970) documents the history of big cities around the world becoming impoverished and insolvent—some never to recover. Many of the patterns he describes apply to New York now.

    Real estate contributed roughly $35 billion of the $80 billion in city tax receipts in fiscal 2025, and personal taxes another $18 billion. The financial sector, real estate, construction, tourism and retail trade sectors are the major contributors to these revenues.

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    Reuven Brenner

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  • The Gaza War Has Been Big Business for U.S. Companies

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    Two years on, Israel’s war in Gaza might be finally drawing to a close. The conflict built an unprecedented arms pipeline from the U.S. to Israel that continues to flow, generating substantial business for big U.S. companies—including Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Caterpillar.

    Sales of U.S. weapons to Israel have surged since October 2023, with Washington approving more than $32 billion in armaments, ammunition and other equipment to the Israeli military over that time, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of State Department disclosures.

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    Benoit Faucon

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  • What the Looming Fall of a Ukrainian City Says About Putin’s War

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    When Russians finally began to outnumber Ukrainians in Pokrovsk in recent weeks, the city lay in ruins and bodies lined the streets.

    The brutal fight for the Ukrainian city points to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ultimate aims in the war—and explains why President Trump’s peace efforts have, so far, failed.

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    Thomas Grove

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  • Opinion | Syria Comes to Washington—at Long Last

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    Can you believe President Trump sat down with him at the White House? That’s the question most of the media has posed after the Monday visit of Ahmed al-Sharaa, the former al Qaeda and Islamist rebel commander who now rules Syria. But what if this framing gets the dynamic backward?

    Mr. Trump will meet with anyone, as he’s amply demonstrated. The real geopolitical news here is that a President of Syria has come to the White House—for the first time—to bring his country into the American orbit. This is an opportunity to reverse seven decades of enmity.

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    The Editorial Board

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