Today's Liberal News

“Hell’s Army”: New Film Tracks Russia’s Wagner Group & Rise of Mercenary Armies

We speak with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rick Rowley about his new documentary, Hell’s Army. The film tracks the Wagner Group, the notorious Russian mercenary army that has fought in Ukraine and other parts of the world. The group’s founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was a confidant to Putin until a failed 2023 mutiny against the government. He died in a suspicious plane crash two months later.

The U.S. Had No Choice but Diplomacy—Yet Again

Declaring that “the deal is all signed” with Iran, as President Trump did today, is like shopping for a wedding dress after a good first date: It’s just too soon.
A deal has an element of finality and permanence. A nuclear deal with Iran, for example, would require specific obligations, concessions, and verification measures, such as inspections, agreed to by all parties.

The White House Is Ratcheting Up Its War Against Anthropic

In theory, Donald Trump has a consistent position on AI. On the first full day of his second term, the president declared that he would use his full authority to speed the AI industry along and, in particular, to beat China in the AI race: “We have an emergency,” he said. “We have to get this stuff built.” If AI is poised to become the most important technology ever made, the thinking goes, whichever country commands the most powerful bots will dominate the rest of the century and beyond.

There’s a Name for the People Who Drain You

One of the most repeated truisms in social-science research is: “The No. 1 best thing for your well-being is your relationships.” Despite using this line myself many times, I’ve nevertheless questioned its universality.

The Warner Bros.–Paramount Merger Isn’t Hollywood’s Biggest Problem

In the fall of 1929, the Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation, then the most successful film company in America, seemed poised to buy Warner Brothers Pictures Inc. The latter was smaller and newer, but it had already become a lucrative commodity, having recently bought Vitagraph, an even tinier studio that operated cutting-edge sound technology.

The Unpopular Truth About World Cup Ticket Prices

Even before the first ball of the World Cup was kicked in Mexico City on Thursday, there was one team that everyone was already rooting against. FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, have been widely lambasted for ticket costs this year—which are four to 10 times higher than they were for comparable matches at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

DOJ Approves Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger Amid Fears Trump Allies Will Tighten Grip on Media

The Trump administration has approved media conglomerate Paramount’s $111 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros., one year after Paramount and Skydance Media signed a similar merger that placed Paramount’s movie studio, streaming service and broadcast network CBS under the control of the multibillionaire Ellison family, founders of Skydance and close allies of Donald Trump. The Warner Bros.

Major Antiracist Rally Held in Belfast to Condemn Anti-Immigrant Riots Egged On by Elon Musk

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman is in Belfast, where several days of racist riots have targeted immigrants and ethnic minorities with violence, threats and property destruction. It is the third consecutive summer of organized mob violence against immigrants in Northern Ireland, with roots in the extant paramilitary structures that remain there after decades of sectarian warfare.

Will Israel Blow Up Trump’s Deal? Jeremy Scahill on Iran Talks, Strait of Hormuz, Nukes & More

More than 100 days into hostilities, Iran and the United States say they have reached a preliminary deal to end the war. Israel, however, is not a party to the tentative deal and says it plans to keep occupying areas of southern Lebanon — a position still contested by Iran and the key sticking point to the partial ceasefire deal agreed to by the U.S. and Iran in April.