This is an edition of the revamped Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.The figure of the diva dominates modern pop stardom. She’s “the female version of a hustler,” says Beyoncé (who made a public appearance on Wednesday night with another contemporary super-diva, Taylor Swift; both have cemented their status with record-breaking tours this year).
The World Health Organization warns Gaza’s healthcare system is at a “breaking point” under Israel’s unabated bombing of civilians, and its blockade of resources and medical supplies. The WHO also reports dozens of attacks on hospitals and ambulances. We speak with Dr. Zaher Sahloul, a physician specializing in disaster relief with the international medical nonprofit MedGlobal, which is supporting doctors in Gaza.
The unfolding crisis in Gaza, where relentless Israeli bombardment has killed more than 1,500 people since Saturday, is “a humanitarian catastrophe,” says Palestinian American human rights attorney Noura Erakat.
As more details emerge about the shocking Hamas attack on Saturday, we speak with Rabbi David Basior of Kadima Reconstructionist Community, a progressive Jewish group in Seattle focused on social justice. Basior’s former congregant Hayim Katsman was among those killed in Israel by Hamas militants who stormed Kibbutz Holit. The 32-year-old was a gardener, mechanic and peace activist who worked with anti-occupation groups.
Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff, recently retired European Union ambassador to Palestine, says Israeli pain and anger cannot justify war crimes in Gaza, where Israeli bombardment has already killed over 1,500 people. Now with Israel demanding the relocation of 1.1 million people ahead of an expected ground invasion, von Burgsdorff says Israel must adhere to international law and protect civilians.
Israel’s military on Friday ordered 1.1 million civilians in the northern Gaza Strip to evacuate “southwards” in just 24 hours, a demand that aid groups say will cause untold human suffering. The ultimatum comes ahead of an expected ground invasion of the besieged coastal enclave, where authorities say 1,537 people have been killed since Israel began devastating airstrikes in retaliation for a Hamas attack in which militants killed 1,300 people and took some 150 hostages.
The new strategy UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday signaled the strike could start having broader implications for the economy.
Abortion opponents have lost every state referendum since Roe was overturned. In Ohio, they’re wooing students, Black communities and even abortion rights advocates to turn their fortunes around.
Michael McCaul’s family has felt the pain of the drug overdose crisis first hand
Europeans are reconsidering standards of care, but aren’t nearly as hostile to treatment as many Republicans in the U.S.
A handful of pharmacies are offering the pills 10 months after the Biden administration allowed them to do so.
The slew of cases has alarmed legal experts, patient advocates and former health officials from both parties who say the consequences for the health care system — from drugmakers to nurses to patients — could be dire.
Democrats are loving the Biden economy. They’re less certain about his economic message.
The United Auto Workers announced a strike at three plants — one each at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — overnight.
So far this year, U.S. spending on Israel, typically the largest annual recipient of U.S. military aid, has been outstripped by military aid to Ukraine, though that balance could begin to change as President Biden plans to ask Congress to approve emergency funding to support Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip following Saturday’s attack by Hamas militants. For more on U.S.
Barbara McQuade explained why the former president now has a critical decision to make in his election interference case, which could end with even more scrutiny.
When Representative Steve Scalise emerged yesterday from the private party meeting where House Republicans narrowly nominated him to serve as the next speaker, he sounded anxious to get started. “We need to send a message to people throughout the world that the House is open and doing the people’s business,” Scalise told reporters.The Louisiana Republican wanted an immediate floor vote so that his members could formally elect him in a party-line tally.
A former IRS contractor charged with leaking tax information to news outlets about former Donald Trump and thousands of the country’s wealthiest people pleaded guilty.
DeSantis, stuck in a distant second place after five months, is beginning to take more shots at Trump now that the former president has him backed into a corner.
Hundreds of Israelis live with the knowledge that loved ones are hostages of Hamas, vulnerable to more harm. Officials hoping to help have few good options.
“I just shared with my colleagues that I’m withdrawing my name as a candidate for the speaker designee,” the Louisiana Republican said.
In federal court this week, Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, testified against her former boss and boyfriend, Sam Bankman-Fried. His two fallen crypto enterprises offer an object lesson in how not to run a start-up.First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic:
Why the most successful marriages are start-ups, not mergers
Against barbarism
Gal Beckerman: “The left abandoned me.
Israel continues to hit Gaza with air strikes in retaliation for Hamas’s surprise attack that has so far killed 1,300 people in Israel and wounded thousands more. An additional 1,400 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
If 10/7 was Israel’s 9/11, as many of the country’s leaders have said, the meaning of the comparison is not self-evident. Its implications still have to be worked out, and they might lead to unexpected places.The horror is comparable, but the scale isn’t.
No one alive has seen a race like the 2024 presidential election. For months, if not years, many people have expected a reprise of the 2020 election, a matchup between the sitting president and a former president.But that hasn’t prevented a crowded primary. On the GOP side, more than a dozen candidates are ostensibly vying for the nomination.
Palestinian journalist and senior editor at +972 Magazine Amjad Iraqi believes Hamas breaking through the military border between Gaza and Israel has shattered the belief that the occupation is sustainable. Without being able to ignore Palestinians, Iraqi says, long-term reflection on Israel’s apartheid system is possible, but in the short term, the international community is indulging Israel’s desire for revenge.
Michael Sfard, an Israeli human rights lawyer and expert on international human rights, calls for Israel to act within international law in response to Hamas’s attack on civilians Saturday. “My government is waging an attack that seems to be using war crimes to retaliate on war crimes,” says Sfard. “They want revenge, as if a revenge would bring back the dear ones that are gone.
We speak with two Palestinians in Gaza City about Israel’s devastating bombing campaign while blocking all food, water and fuel from entering the besieged territory. The U.N. reports that all of Gaza’s 13 hospitals are only partially operational due to a lack of fuel and medical supplies as the International Red Cross warns “hospitals are going to be turned into graveyards.
Michael McCaul’s family has felt the pain of the drug overdose crisis first hand
Europeans are reconsidering standards of care, but aren’t nearly as hostile to treatment as many Republicans in the U.S.