Canada’s Trudeau survives no-confidence vote in latest test for his gov’t
No-confidence motion fails to pass in House of Commons, but Justin Trudeau faces more challenges ahead.
US Senate votes unanimously to hold hospital CEO in criminal contempt
Ralph de la Torre, paid at least $250m by Steward Health Care amid facility issues and closures, ignored subpoena
The US Senate has voted unanimously to hold the CEO of Steward Health Care in criminal contempt for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena – marking the first time in more than 50 years that the chamber has moved to hold someone in criminal contempt.
On Wednesday, the Senate voted to hold Ralph de la Torre in contempt of Congress after the 58-year-old head of the Massachusetts-based for-profit healthcare system – which declared bankruptcy earlier this year – ignored a congressional subpoena and failed to appear at a hearing over the hospital chain’s alleged abuse of finances on 12 September.
Continue reading...US Congress passes government funding package to avert shutdown
Senate approves bill extending funds until December two hours after House passes it, sending it to Biden’s desk
US Congress passed a three-month government funding package on Wednesday, sending the bill to Joe Biden’s desk and averting a shutdown that was set to begin next Tuesday.
The Senate approved the funding package just two hours after the House passed the bill on Wednesday afternoon, as lawmakers raced to return to their home districts six weeks before election day.
Continue reading...Two-state solution the ‘only solution’, Spanish PM tells UNGA
A two-state solution between Israel and Palestine is the “only possible solution,” the Spanish Prime Minister said.
US thwarts French and British push for Lebanon ceasefire call at UN
Washington says Israel has legitimate security problem and more complex diplomatic agreement is required
An effort led by France and Britain to secure a joint statement by the UN security council calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon has stalled in the face of US objections.
Washington is eager to avoid any suggestion there is any equivalence of blame for the eruption of the crisis that has led to the loss of life of hundreds of people in Lebanon.
Continue reading...As Israel attacks, displaced Lebanese people come together in Hamra
As Israel's bombs rain down on the south, Lebanese people are fleeing northwards, trying to find safety.
‘Nowhere near winning this,’ Haiti’s PM says of battle against gangs
Prime Minister Garry Conille offers grim view of progress in anti-gang mission on sidelines of UN General Assembly.
Labour to announce £10bn AI project in Northumberland backed by pro-Trump billionaire
Stephen Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group will fund data centre bringing 4,000 jobs to north-east England
Keir Starmer is set to announce the creation of a £10bn AI datacentre, bringing 4,000 jobs to north-east England, which will be funded by a private equity firm run by a big Donald Trump supporter.
The prime minister is due to host chief executives in New York on Thursday, where he is trying to drum up interest in foreign investment into the UK. He will hail the investment in an “artificial intelligence datacentre” – due to be built in Blyth in Northumberland by Blackstone – as a “vote of confidence in the UK”.
Continue reading...Hurricane John Inches Along Mexico’s Coast – The New York Times
- Hurricane John Inches Along Mexico’s Coast The New York Times
- ‘Zombie’ Hurricane John regains strength in Pacific, flooding parts of Mexico’s southwestern coast CNN
- ‘Zombie’ storm Hurricane John regains strength as it returns to coastal Mexico The Guardian
- NOAA’s Crossfire Hurricane The American Prospect
- Two 'Devastating' Hurricanes Could Hit North America in Under 72 Hours Newsweek
Wreckage shows how Titan’s hull came apart
Experts told the US Coast Guard on Wednesday there were safety problems with Titan's hull.
Harris says cost of living ‘still too high’ as she lays out economic agenda
Democratic presidential nominee fleshed out economic vision for middle class and small businesses
Millions of Americans are struggling to make ends meet, Kamala Harris has said, as the Democratic presidential candidate fleshed out the economic agenda she hopes to adopt in the White House.
Conceding that the cost of living in America “is still just too high”, the vice-president argued this was true “long before” the Covid-19 pandemic ravaged the global economy, and she took office with the president, Joe Biden.
Continue reading...Trump-Zelenskyy feud escalates as Republicans demand envoy’s removal
Zelenskyy’s visit to Pennsylvania weapons factory upsets speaker as Trump continues attacks on Ukrainian president
The US House speaker, Mike Johnson, has demanded that Ukraine fire its ambassador to Washington as the feud between Donald Trump and Volodymr Zelenskyy escalated and Republicans accused the Ukrainian leader of election interference.
In a public letter, Johnson demanded that Zelenskyy fire the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, over a visit to a munitions factory in Scranton, Pennsylvania, last week where the Ukrainian president thanked workers for providing desperately needed shells to his outgunned forces.
Continue reading...Jared Kushner’s private equity firm faces inquiry as it fails to return profits
Trump son-in-law’s Affinity Partners fuels Senate suspicions of foreign influence-buying before US election
A private equity firm owned by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, has been paid $157m in fees since 2021 without returning any profit to investors, according to a US Senate inquiry.
The finding from the Senate finance committee has fuelled suspicions that the Miami-based company, Affinity Partners, may be a foreign influence-buying operation established in anticipation of the former president returning to the White House.
Continue reading...OpenAI CTO Mira Murati says she’s leaving firm to do her ‘own exploration’
Chief technology officer had taken over the ChatGPT maker when its board ousted CEO Sam Altman in November
In a surprise move, OpenAI’s chief technology officer announced on Wednesday that she would soon leave the company after six and a half years.
In a note shared with the company and then posted to Twitter/X, Mira Murati wrote she was leaving the tech company behind ChatGPT. “After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAI … I’m stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration,” she said.
Continue reading...We danced with joy then hid among the dead – Nova survivors recall Hamas massacre
A new BBC documentary provides a harrowing glimpse into the Hamas attack at the Nova music festival in Israel, in which hundreds of people were killed.
Can diplomacy succeed in bringing peace to the Middle East?
World leaders meet at the United Nations amid growing fears of an all-out regional war.
IMF approves $7bn funding agreement for Pakistan
Approval comes more than two months after international lender and Islamabad said they had agreed on programme.
Justin Trudeau survives confidence vote but other problems still loom
Main political rival of Canada’s prime minister fails to gather enough support to end nine years of Liberal rule
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, has easily survived a vote of confidence after his main political rival failed to muster enough support to end nine years of Liberal party rule.
Legislators in the House of Commons voted 211-120 to defeat a motion by the official opposition Conservative party declaring a lack of confidence in Trudeau’s minority Liberal government.
Continue reading...Macron: We cannot have a war in Lebanon – The Jerusalem Post
- Macron: We cannot have a war in Lebanon The Jerusalem Post
- Macron urges end to Israeli ‘escalation’ and Hezbollah rocket fire Al Jazeera English
- Macron says France stands by Lebanon, calls to deescalate, doesn’t mention Hezbollah The Times of Israel
- Macron presses Iran president for Lebanon de-escalation The Courier=Times
- France to Send Foreign Minister to Lebanon in Bid to Stop War, Macron Says U.S. News & World Report
Comedian Janey Godley receiving end-of-life care for cancer
Scottish standup posts video saying she is getting palliative care and will be going into a hospice
The comedian Janey Godley has revealed she is receiving end-of-life care after her terminal cancer spread.
The 63-year-old announced she would be getting palliative care and going into a hospice in a video shared on social media on Wednesday.
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