Today's Liberal News

“10 Minutes of Terror”: Lebanon Death Toll Tops 300 from Israel’s “Black Wednesday” Attack

As the United States and Iran prepare to hold talks in Pakistan aimed at ending the war, Israel is continuing to bomb Lebanon, where the death toll from Wednesday’s massive wave of attacks has topped 300.
“It was 10 minutes of terror, a day that the Lebanese are calling Black Wednesday,” says Lebanese Australian journalist Rania Abouzeid, speaking with Democracy Now! from Beirut.

The Thrill of Childhood Rituals

This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
When kids spend time together, they create their own rituals and traditions, Julie Beck wrote in 2022—“essentially, their own folklore, or, as researchers call it, ‘childlore.

The Iran War Is Putting Pressure on Europe

Editor’s Note: Panelists on Washington Week With The Atlantic joined to discuss growing opposition to President Trump’s attacks on Iran and what winning a war with unclear objectives could like.
President Trump’s war in Iran is putting economic pressure on many European countries. On Washington Week With The Atlantic, panelists joined to discuss the effects of the conflict on America’s allies, and more.
“It’s a very strange moment because, on the one hand, actually, U.S.

The Romance of the Gas-Station Sign

Adorning urban intersections and rising high at countryside interstate exits, the gas-station sign announces the mood of the consumer economy. For the past several weeks, the economic ramifications of the Iran war have been more or less universally represented through photographs and videos of them. It’s easy to see why: The price of gasoline is always displayed on the sign, in huge numbers that overwhelm the rest of the scene.

America Has a New GLP-1 Playbook

By most measures, the new GLP-1 pills are underwhelming. Earlier this month, the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly debuted a weight-loss tablet that is far less effective than its popular injectable counterpart, Zepbound. Oral Wegovy, which hit the market in December, can hold its own with the shot version—but it has to be taken on an empty stomach with fewer than four ounces of water. And both pills come with many of the same side effects as the shots, namely nausea and diarrhea.

Iran Could Speedrun the Vietnamese Path

The prediction that Iran will be America’s next Vietnam—a moral catastrophe, an abyss into which money and lives have been pitched, with the sole effect of weakening the United States and heartening its enemies—is already in general circulation among Americans. A few days ago, the Iranian embassy in Hanoi joined the doomsaying. Its X account featured an AI-generated image of a mouth-breathing American GI being lectured to by a smiling Vietnamese soldier in Saigon on April 30, 1975.

Iran Has the Upper Hand in the Upcoming Negotiations

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This morning, as the United States and Israel’s war with Iran neared the end of its sixth week, Vice President Vance headed for Pakistan, where he plans to sit down with Iranian officials.

Steven Soderbergh’s Strange, Surprising Heist Movie

Julian Sklar spends most of his workday performing on camera. Not for anyone important; the cantankerous artist (played by Ian McKellen), the protagonist of Steven Soderbergh’s new movie, The Christophers, is recording jokey Cameos for eager fans. Facing a ring-lit iPhone, he rambles about his fading career with chipper bumptiousness.