Biden expresses optimism as debt ceiling negotiations push toward critical default deadline
Hard-line Republicans in the House of Representatives have threatened to block any bill that does not meet their expectations, including sharp spending cuts. Progressive Democrats have also threatened to withhold support for some of the compromises raised, particularly around imposing new work requirements on federal anti-poverty programmes.
Chaina says Ukraine war raises urgency for unconventional warfare to repulse US threat
Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars poured into defence spending, China’s armed forces do not have much recent experience in a hot war, with its last – and brief – military conflict in 1979 with Vietnam. The ability to win is needed to maintain national security, Wang wrote.
China court sentences US citizen to life in prison for espionage, without specifying offence
The sentencing comes amid growing tensions between China and the US on a number of fronts, from accusations of Chinese spying and human rights abuses, to US efforts to build up military alliances to curb China’s ambitions toward Taiwan and in the Pacific.
Foreign military sales and direct commercial sales data show US is selling weapons to world’s autocracies
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been the world’s biggest weapons dealer, accounting for about 40 per cent of all arms exports in a given year. In general, these exports are funded through grants or sales. There are two pathways for the latter category: foreign military sales and direct commercial sales.
Coming to America: US border city calm as Title 42 lifts and asylum restrictions take effect
Just before Title 42 was set to expire at midnight on Thursday, immigration advocates represented by the American Civil Liberties Union sued over the new asylum bars, claiming they violate US laws and international agreements.
US Congress, White House begin tough debt limit, budget talks that have put investors on edge
Adding to the urgency, Biden is scheduled to leave on May 18 for an annual meeting of leaders of the Group of Seven major industrialised nations, although he said he would cancel that trip if needed to work on a debt limit deal.
Inflation cloud obscures Fed peak with markets edgy about the US debt ceiling standoff
If consensus forecasts are correct, the April inflation readout later on Wednesday may well force the Fed to keep that equivocal line up for a bit longer. Annual inflation is expected to stick at March’s near two-year low of five per cent – while the higher core rate, excluding food and energy prices, is set to ebb a tenth of a point to 5.5 per cent.
War on terror sought to cast US as a beacon of democracy, but private army Blackwater inflicts suffering on societies they work in
Recently, I spoke with one Marine infantry veteran who had completed four combat tours abroad for America. He told me that, after leaving the service, he lacked a community that understood what he had been through. He sought to avoid social isolation by getting a government job. However, after applying...
Privatising war: Why the US and Russia hire private companies to fight for them on frontlines
The involvement of private companies has allowed Washington to continue to conduct its operations around the globe, even if many Americans think that our war on terror in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere has ended. I tried looking for any kind of a survey of how many of us realise that it continues in Iraq and elsewhere, but all I could find was pollster Nate Silver’s analysis of “lessons learned” from that global conflict, as if it were part of our history.
Texas investigators link Texas gunman to white supremacism as US records 200 incidents of mass killings this year
Federal officials are looking into whether the gunman who killed eight people at a Dallas-area mall expressed an interest in white supremacist ideology on Sunday as they work to discern a motive for the attack, a law enforcement official has revealed. The official cautioned the investigation is in its early...
