Tag: politics

The Welfare-Industrial Complex Is Booming
Business

The Welfare-Industrial Complex Is Booming

Dec. 31, 2023 11:23 am ETDrill into the nation’s 3.7% unemployment rate, and you’ll find a growing welfare-industrial complex beneath the seemingly strong labor market. Government, social assistance and healthcare account for 56% of the 2.8 million net new jobs over the past year, and for nearly all gains in blue states such as New York and Illinois.The tens of thousands of migrants pouring into big cities need to be tended to. So do the hundreds of thousands of drug-addled and mentally ill homeless living on the streets. Progressive government doesn’t do anything on the cheap. America’s welfare state has thus become a proverbial Big Dig, and it keeps getting bigger.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Congo’s President Has Been Re-Elected. His Climate Policy Will Have Global Significance.
World

Congo’s President Has Been Re-Elected. His Climate Policy Will Have Global Significance.

Dec. 31, 2023 11:51 am ETCongolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Sunday was declared the winner of this month’s national election, handing him a pivotal role in global efforts to combat climate change thanks to his country’s vast forests and rich mineral reserves. The Democratic Republic of Congo’s electoral commission said the 60-year-old Tshisekedi won a second five-year term with 73% of the vote in the Dec. 20 presidential election, well outpacing his challengers. But the election was fraught with delays: Many polling stations didn’t get voting materials on time, which led the commission to extend the vote by an extra day. The vote also came amid a hunger crisis and the worst fighting in years in Congo’s war-torn east.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 8...
The World Is On the Move
World

The World Is On the Move

Updated Dec. 31, 2023 12:20 am ETListen to article(1 minute)Migration from the world’s poorer countries to more affluent ones is at the highest level in decades. Millions of people are on the move, taking routes both legal and illegal to secure work or refuge.The surge in arrivals is stoking social tensions, helping to topple governments and fostering the rise of right-wing nationalist groups from France to the Netherlands.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Jack Smith Asks Appeals Court to Reject Trump’s Immunity Claim
World

Jack Smith Asks Appeals Court to Reject Trump’s Immunity Claim

WASHINGTON—Special counsel Jack Smith asked a federal appeals court on Saturday to reject Donald Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election, arguing that his defense “threatens to license Presidents to commit crimes to remain in office.”In an 82-page court filing, the special counsel’s team used some of its most strident language to date in a bid to bolster the first-ever federal prosecution of a former president. Declaring flatly that Trump is wrong, prosecutors said separation-of-powers principles, legal precedent and history combined to “make clear that a former President may be prosecuted for criminal acts he committed while in office—including, most critically here, illegal acts to remain in power despite losing an election.”C...
Taiwan Says Chinese Lip-Syncing Probe Aims to Pull Rock Band to Beijing’s Side
World

Taiwan Says Chinese Lip-Syncing Probe Aims to Pull Rock Band to Beijing’s Side

TAIPEI—A Chinese investigation into purported lip syncing by a rock band from Taiwan is aimed at pressuring the band into supporting Beijing’s stance on the island and is part of a broad effort to interfere in its politics, Taiwanese officials said.Mayday, one of Taiwan’s most commercially successful rock bands, is under scrutiny from authorities in Shanghai after the band declined to publicly back the view that Taiwan is a part of China, the officials said. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
IDF Faces a Harsh Reality in Southern Gaza
Health

IDF Faces a Harsh Reality in Southern Gaza

Khan Younis, GazaWhat is happening in southern Gaza—and as important, what isn’t happening—threatens to leave the Middle East violently unstable for years. The battle for Khan Younis is forcing Israel to face a harsh reality: Hamas likely won’t be totally annihilated. And Israel’s two goals, killing Hamas’s leaders and rescuing all the hostages, are coming into contradiction.Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
The Ruined Landscape of Gaza After Nearly Three Months of Bombing
World

The Ruined Landscape of Gaza After Nearly Three Months of Bombing

Listen to article(2 minutes)The war in the Gaza Strip is generating destruction comparable in scale to the most devastating urban warfare in the modern record.By mid-December, Israel had dropped 29,000 bombs, munitions and shells on the strip. Nearly 70% of Gaza’s 439,000 homes and about half of its buildings have been damaged or destroyed. The bombing has damaged Byzantine churches and ancient mosques, factories and apartment buildings, shopping malls and luxury hotels, theaters and schools. Much of the water, electrical, communications and healthcare infrastructure that made Gaza function is beyond repair. Copyright ©2023 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
When you buy a Washington lottery ticket, where does the money go? | News
Money

When you buy a Washington lottery ticket, where does the money go? | News

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Austrian government supports Vienna Boys Choir to help it out of financial difficulties
Entertainment

Austrian government supports Vienna Boys Choir to help it out of financial difficulties

BERLIN -- The Austrian government said Saturday that it is giving the country's centuries-old Vienna Boys Choir 800,000 euros ($884,000) to help it out of severe financial difficulties. “It goes without saying that we will rescue them from their financial plight,” Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said.“We are proud of this world-famous choir, which has existed for more than 500 years and is part of the Austrian identity, and we will do everything we can to secure its future," he added in a written statement.The choirboys should be able to “go into the coming year without existential worries," the chancellor added.The choir had been struggling with rising costs due to inflation and a lack of income after many of its concerts were canceled during the coronavirus pandemic. The Vienna Boys C...