ViewsWeek Views from around the world
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on May 27, 2023, agreed in principle to a tentative deal that would raise the debt ceiling while capping some federal spending at current levels. The accord, if approved by both houses of Congress, would avert an unprecedented default that threatens to derail the economy and put hundreds of thousands of Americans …
May, 2023
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25 May
Why America Has a Debt Ceiling: 5 Questions Answered
epublicans and Democrats are again playing a game of chicken over the U.S. debt ceiling – with the nation’s financial stability at stake. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently said that June 1, 2023, is a “hard deadline” for raising the debt limit, currently set at US$31.38 trillion, to avoid an unprecedented default. The government hit the ceiling back in January …
April, 2023
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23 April
Afghanistan Watchdog: ‘You’re Gonna See Pilferage’ of US Aid to Ukraine
In the past year, Congress has allocated roughly $113 billion in support of Ukraine’s efforts to beat back Russia’s brutal invasion. More or less overnight, Kyiv became far and away the largest single recipient of U.S. military and economic support. In order to track all that spending, government watchdogs have taken some notable steps to expand oversight. The inspectors general …
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8 April
Chicago’s New and Extremist Political Machine Takes Over
Brandon Johnson, the Cook County Commissioner very few people had heard of, defeated Paul Vallas in the run-off for Chicago Mayor on April 4, ending the hope that many had to reverse the pro-crime policies that have made Chicago even more dangerous today than it was a decade ago.. Don’t believe that the major issues between the two candidates had …
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5 April
What Next for Donald Trump after Being Charged with 34 Felony Counts?
April 4, 2023, will go down in US history as the day when former President Donald Trump was charged with 34 felony counts, marking a significant turn of events in his post-presidential career. These charges, which include a range of allegations from financial crimes to obstruction of justice, have raised questions about what may be next for Trump. A stone-faced …
March, 2023
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31 March
Trump Indictment Won’t Keep Him from Presidential Race
A Manhattan grand jury has voted to indict former President Donald Trump. The specific state charges, reports The New York Times, “remain a mystery” but will be related to the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation of Trump for making hush money payments to a porn star just before the 2016 presidential election. It’s the first time a U.S. president or former …
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20 March
Ramadan Starts in North America
illions of Muslims across North America will start the holy month of Ramadan tomorrow, Thursday, March 23. American Muslims traditionally follow local moon sightings and scientific calculations while a large part of the community follows the Saudi Islamic calendar. This year the entire Muslim population will start the holy month on the same date because the Islamic Society of North …
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13 March
Why SVB and Signature Bank Failed So Fast
ilicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank failed with enormous speed – so quickly that they could be textbook cases of classic bank runs, in which too many depositors withdraw their funds from a bank at the same time. The failures at SVB and Signature were two of the three biggest in U.S. banking history, following the collapse of Washington Mutual …
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8 March
Global Diplomacy Breaks the Hard Nexus Between War and Famine
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Bengal Famine in India and the less well-known Henan Famine in China, which together killed around 3 million people in Asia’s two most populous countries. Historical memory in India will not easily forget the callousness of Winston Churchill, who declined to intervene in what was then British India to save lives so …
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6 March
Why Walking Through the Countryside ‘Tames’ Our Brain
El Cares hiking trail in Northern Spain. Shutterstock / SergioNF “I’m going to the countryside over the weekend to disconnect.” This is a common refrain among people who, overwhelmed by the big city, seek to spend a few days in nature as a means of escape. We all know it works – a couple of days spent in rural …
