Tag Archives: News

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2026

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The Surprising Reasons China Is Skeptical of A.I. Safety Calls

In China, A.I. doomsday warnings can feel distinctly Western or like a ploy to stop Chinese A.I. companies from trying to overtake their U.S. rivals.

Russian Foreign Minister Vows Russia Will See Ukraine War Through

Russia’s foreign minister met with his German counterpart during the U.N. General Assembly but spent part of his address defending his country’s war on Ukraine.

Small Flying Machines Become Weapons of War in Myanmar

Years after a coup, the military is increasingly using motorized paragliders and gyrocopters to bomb towns and villages in rebel-held territory.

As A.I. Accelerates, Governments Are Increasingly Being Left Behind

The gap between technology and policymaking has gotten wider with artificial intelligence, leaving a global policy vacuum as A.I. models advance.

White House Claim of Finding $250 Billion in Fraud Uses Questionable Numbers

The ledger used by a task force created by President Trump is difficult to verify and includes cases that went to trial during the Biden administration.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – SATURDAY, SEPT. 26, 2026

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At Summit, Xi Sought to Tilt Trump’s Stance on America’s Place in Asia

In his talks with President Trump, the Chinese leader used praise, warnings and wartime history to challenge American support for Taiwan and Japan.

China’s Xi Snubs a Troubled U.N. for Trump, Overshadowing Its Big Week

The U.S.-China summit offered a sharp contrast with the action at the faltering United Nations in a gridlocked New York.

You Get an Eagle, and You Get an Eagle: Xi Takes Home Trump’s Go-To Gift

The president has often reached for statues of the national bird on diplomatic occasions in his second term. (Ronald Reagan favored them, too.)

Heroine or Public Enemy? The Israeli Blocking Much of Netanyahu’s Agenda.

Gali Baharav-Miara, Israel’s first female attorney general, has stopped many of the government’s efforts to remove constraints on its power.

A 7-Day Standoff That Said So Much About Trump and the Media

An abrupt decree, a network boycott, a legal intervention and an uneasy détente: This was no typical battle between a president and his press corps.

White House Blocks CNN From Air Force One

In the latest twist, the news outlet won’t be able to accompany President Trump on a trip to Tennessee today.

Intellitakes, News, Opinion

DOES A SHIELD MAKE PEACE?

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The Intellitake
One argument · Two sides · One verdict · Daily
Friday, September 25, 2026 · The Missile Defense Debate
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Geography no longer protects America. A shield over the homeland is not a provocation — it is a commitment to peace through strength.

The Thesis — Gen. Mike Guetlein, The Washington Post

THE ARGUMENT

In the Washington Post, Gen. Mike Guetlein — the U.S. Space Force general who directs Golden Dome for America — makes the program’s public case. For generations, he writes, Americans could believe that two vast oceans and friendly neighbors kept major conflict far from our shores; that era of quiet skies is over. His framing, consistent with his testimony to Congress: near-peer competitors, specifically China and Russia, are rapidly expanding and modernizing their strategic arsenals, while the old U.S. missile defense architecture was designed only for rogue-state threats. The shield — a network of sensors and interceptors against ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles — is, in his words, a commitment to peace through strength and deterrence: raising the cost of attacking America until no adversary tries.

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THE ANSWER

Veteran nuclear-policy analyst Joe Cirincione, in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, states the stability school’s counter-case: any missile defense stimulates an offensive arms race, because the cheapest answer to a shield is more spears — an adversary cannot assume the system will fail, so it must build enough missiles to overwhelm it. That, he notes, is precisely why Nixon and Kissinger paired the first offensive arms treaty with the ABM Treaty in 1972: you cannot limit offense without limiting defense. China’s missile buildup, on this view, is already partly a response to U.S. defenses — and analysts like Laura Grego add the arithmetic: intercepting even a handful of ICBMs could require tens of thousands of space-based interceptors. The shield, the critics conclude, doesn’t end the missile age; it accelerates it.

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THE INTELLITAKE

Both sides claim the same goal — deterrence — and prescribe opposites, because they disagree about what an adversary sees when it looks at a shield. Guetlein sees a wall that makes attack futile; Cirincione sees a promise that America means to strike first and block the reply, which makes an adversary build until the wall is irrelevant. This is not a new argument: it is the SDI debate of 1983 and the ABM debate of 1972, rerun with hypersonics and orbital interceptors. What is new is the author — not a columnist but the program’s own director, making his case to the public in a newspaper, which is itself a datum: shields need believers to deter. The unresolved question is the one the 1972 negotiators answered one way and this administration answers the other: is defense the end of the arms race, or its engine?

TODAY’S PROVOCATION

If a perfect shield existed, would you trust your own government more — knowing it could strike without fear of reply?

— THE EDITORS, INTELLICURIOUS —

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2026

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In Trump’s White House, China’s Strongman Is Welcome. The U.S. Media, Less So.

President Trump’s partial media ban played out as he welcomed President Xi Jinping, whose government is ranked among the world’s most repressive.

Flyovers, Pandas and Pomp Masked Divides in U.S.-China Summit

President Trump pressed his personal brand of diplomacy as China’s leader made his first trip to the White House in more than a decade.

Stalled on the Battlefield, Russia Intensifies Its Focus on Ukraine’s Economy

Ukrainian officials are calling Russia’s campaign “total war” for its emphasis on economic impact, rather than on battlefield gains or infrastructure damage.

Powerful Fall Storm Strengthens as It Crawls Up the East Coast

Rain, flooding and gusty winds are in the forecast this weekend for the Northeast, including New York and Boston.

Leo XIV, Trying to Be Everyone’s Pope, Tours Secular France

After visiting Africa, Pope Leo’s four-day trip to France shows how he is seeking to appeal to Roman Catholicism’s original heartlands as well as to the church’s newest strongholds.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – THURSDAY, SEPT. 24, 2026

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Trump Hosts Xi for Summit, Where Pomp May Mask Tensions

President Xi Jinping is making his first visit to Washington in a decade as President Trump continues his sharp turn from a hard line on China. Little progress is expected on the many issues dividing the powers.

The ‘Monster’ Behind Russia’s Global Effort to Evade Western Sanctions

A Moscow firm uses shell companies and cryptocurrency to launder money, and a custom app to forge trade records, to help Russia bypass sweeping restrictions.

As Russia Steps Up Shadow War, Europeans Waver on How to Respond

If President Vladimir V. Putin was hoping to get Europeans’ attention, he’s succeeded with a series of close-call incursions. The question now is what they will do about it.

Netanyahu and Abbas to Give Dueling Speeches to U.N. General Assembly

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas are set to deliver addresses amid criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza.

Judge Blocks Trump’s White House Ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico

A federal judge issued a temporary restraining order and told the White House to immediately restore press credentials for employees of the three news outlets.

Culture, Magazines, Opinion, Politics, Reviews

THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY – SEPTEMBER 25, 2026

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THE GUARDIAN WEEKLY: The latest issue features ‘A NEW LEAF’ – What does the Canada-EU alliance mean?

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, last week extended an unprecedented offer to Canada, inviting it to become the EU’s first “associate member”.

For our big story this week, Brussels correspondent Jennifer Rankin explores what the proposed alliance might mean. While there is a lot of common ground for the two parties, she writes, their agreement raises many questions and is clouded in uncertainty.

Meanwhile, senior correspondent Lisa O’Carroll examines the possible implications for the UK – asking whether it offers a blueprint for Britain, or a reminder it is out in the cold.

Then, former White House speechwriter Ted Widmer says Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s remarks before the European parliament set out what a new west might look like, without its most powerful member – the US.

Spotlight | Yemeni families’ flight
Fierce fighting has forced people to abandon their homes, leaving everything behind to seek shelter in refugee camps. Nasser Al-Sakkaf reports from Taiz

Science | ‘A map is never neutral’
The cartographers who took on centuries of western bias with the new Equal Earth projection speak to Oliver Holmes, Ana Lucía González Paz and Pablo Gutiérrez about their alternative to the 16th-century Mercator display

Feature | How to fight end times fascism
An unholy alliance is working toward an apocalyptic future from which only a chosen few will emerge unscathed. It’s becoming clear how we stop them, say Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor

Opinion | This Israeli election could be the country’s last
Spend time on the ground and you see how high the stakes are for next month’s contest – for Israelis and Palestinians alike, writes Jonathan Freedland

Culture | Present and correct
Author Jonathan Franzen talks to Sophie McBain about a new TV adaptation of his bestseller The Corrections, the future of reading and why creating new work is “horrible”

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23, 2026

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At the U.N., Trump Lays Out a Winner-Takes-All Vision of U.S. Power

President Trump’s speech at the U.N. General Assembly amounted to a rejection of the founding concept of the United Nations.

How China’s Leader Plans to Win the Future With A.I.

A decade ago, Xi Jinping asked if China could master A.I. His push is remaking the economy, challenging the United States and keeping society under control.

Iran’s President to Address World Leaders After Trump Threat

Masoud Pezeshkian is the first leader whose country is at war with the United States to travel to New York to address the General Assembly. President Trump said he faced a choice over whether to “annihilate” the Islamic republic.1h ago

Trump’s New Favorite Neighbor: Mexico

President Trump built his political brand in part on bashing Mexico. Now his second presidency depends on deepening partnerships with the country.

Why Germany’s Leader Is Struggling: Painful Cuts and a Wooden Style

As the far right surges, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s unpopular economic policies and gruff manner have failed to sway voters turned by rivals’ promises of easy fixes.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – TUESDAY, SEPT. 22, 2026

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With Time on His Side, Xi Jinping Seeks to Extend Truce With Trump

Facing an American president constrained by war and politics, China’s leader may seek to lock in a tactical truce while he shores up a fragile economy at home.

China’s Control of Rare Earths Looms Over Trump-Xi Meeting

Manufacturers are struggling with supplies of the metals as U.S. and Chinese officials negotiate over export restrictions with consequences for global industry.

Japan, Suffering Xi’s Ire, Hopes Trump Can Help Temper China

After Global Search, Tech Utopians Plan to Build Futuristic City in Uruguay

After a sprawling world tour, Praxis, a New York-based, crypto-backed “digital nation,” has signed a deal to build a physical city in Uruguay.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on 2028: ‘Life Doesn’t Wait for You to Be Ready’

In an interview, the New York congresswoman offered her most detailed insight yet into how she is thinking about a possible presidential run.

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – MONDAY, SEPT. 21, 2026

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Trump Gets Caught in a Dilemma Over a Saudi Plea for Military Help

President Trump decided not to join Saudi Arabia, for now, in strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, but he needs the kingdom’s cooperation in the Iran war.

China’s Leader Wants Trump to Delay Arms Sales to Taiwan. Will He?

As Beijing presses President Trump to freeze a proposed $14 billion weapons sale to the island, Taiwan is trying to show that its security is in U.S. interests.

U.S. and China Discuss System to Warn of A.I. National Security Issues

Challenges to Identity, Real and Imagined, Drive Europe’s Far Right

The populist emphasis on national identity and pride, rather than the sins of the past, finds a deep response in voters adrift in a world they no longer understand.

Germany’s Merz Vows to Stay After Another State Election ‘Disaster’

News, Newspapers, Opinion, Politics

THE NEW YORK TIMES – SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2026

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China’s A.I. Makes a Great Leap Forward, but Its Economy Is Falling Behind

As Xi Jinping arrives in the U.S. for a state visit, China’s advances in A.I. will be in the air. Its economy will be less discussed, our columnist writes.

A.I. Gone Rogue? Trump Proposes Not New Rules but an ‘A.I. Force.’

Hundreds of Drones Target Moscow on Final Day of Russian Elections

Ukraine says it used a newly developed ballistic missile in the attacks, which also targeted other parts of Russia.

Israeli Tourist Trap ‘Herod’s Pool’ Is Draining Palestinians’ Land Dry

Israeli lawmakers have promoted visits to an ancient reservoir in the West Bank that was refilled this summer with water diverted from Palestinian-owned farms.

How President Trump Broke the Kennedy Center

Emails and documents demonstrate the political capture of the institution, including how officials once pursued a plan to unload much of the art collection.

After a String of Losses, Trump Turns to a Familiar Target: The Press

President Trump’s ban of three media outlets from the White House fits a pattern of using the apparatus of government to crack down on his perceived enemies.