US boosts Middle East firepower as Americans and Israelis discuss President Biden Tel Aviv visit
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken – speaking in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday after days of Middle East shuttle diplomacy – delivered a blunt message and a veiled warning to US foe Iran: “When it comes to Israel security, we have Israel’s back.”
Israel-Hamas war in Gaza testing Republican’s isolationist shift as voters doubt Trump’s credentials
The Republican Party’s White House hopefuls are offering conflicting messages on the mounting foreign policy challenges as a presidential election long centered on domestic kitchen-table issues suddenly shifts its focus abroad. The rapidly evolving dynamics are testing the limits of the GOP’s embrace of an isolationist foreign policy and threaten to undermine the party’s broader argument that Democratic President Joe Biden has mismanaged US relationships with the rest of the world.
World Economic Forum calls for collective action to fight misinformation, disinformation
The “Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act” would limit what New York officials say are the harmful and addictive features of social media for children. The act would allow users under 18 and their parents to opt out of receiving feeds driven by algorithms designed to harness users’ personal data to keep them on the platforms for as long as possible.
US spy agency CIA admits 1953 Iran coup it backed was undemocratic as it revisits Argo rescue
The CIA’s podcast, called “The Langley Files” as its headquarters is based in Langley, Virginia, focused two recent episodes on the story of the six American diplomats’ escape. While hiding at the home of the Canadian ambassador to Iran, a two-man CIA team entered Tehran and helped them fly out of the country while pretending to be members of a crew scouting for a made-up science fiction film.
Trial document: Trump gave penthouse size as 11,000 square feet, not 30,000 he later claimed
Weisselberg said on Tuesday he learned of the Trump Tower penthouse size discrepancy only when a Forbes magazine reporter pointed it out to him in 2016. He testified that he initially disputed the magazine’s findings but said he couldn’t recall whether he directed anyone to look into the matter.
Everybody’s hiding their skeletons: A gloves-off debate on aid diversion, double standards
Shrinking government budgets and fear of a public backlash in big donor countries has heightened scrutiny on fraud and mismanagement among aid groups and donors. Recent cases of aid diversion – including in emergency responses in Somalia and Ethiopia – continue to hit the headlines. Aid groups expect donor budgets to be significantly tightened due to domestic politics and economic trends in the coming months, raising the stakes at a time when programmes are being slashed.
Trump rails against New York attorney general as he’s accused of pocketing $100m via fraud
Trump’s election campaign used the start of the trial for fundraising, saying he was defending his family and reputation from New York Democrats it called “corrupt tyrants.” The case concerns accusations by the attorney general that Trump inflated his assets and his own net worth from 2011 to 2021 to obtain favourable bank loans and lower insurance premiums.
Six CIA whistleblowers received ‘significant financial incentives’ to buy their silence on Covid leaking from Chinese lab
A joint letter from the subcommittee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (Republican-Ohio), sent September 12 to CIA Director William Burns, outlined the testimony of a “multi-decade, senior-level, current agency officer” alleging six of the seven analysts investigating the Covid-19 origins were given a “significant monetary incentive to change their position.”
US Supreme Court to decide whether social media are publishers or can exercise editorial control over content
Social media platforms’ First Amendment rights are also at issue. In a brief submitted to the Supreme Court, the State of Texas argued that HB 20 does not affect social media platforms’ free speech rights because “no reasonable viewer could possibly attribute what a user says to the Platforms themselves.”
Big Tech social media content: US Supreme Court has last say on Texas, Florida censorship laws
Supporters of the Florida and Texas laws “argue that the measures are needed to combat what they called Silicon Valley censorship,” including on issues like Covid-19 and claiming election fraud, the Times also reported.
