This is an edition of the revamped Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here.Audiobooks have never worked for me; as a rule, I don’t listen to them. I recognize this as my own failing, but while one is playing, I’m easily distracted. All it takes is one glance up at a poster on the street, or down at my phone, and I’m tuning out what I’m hearing.
We speak with journalist and author Antony Loewenstein about his new book, The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World. Loewenstein explains that Israel’s military-industrial complex has used the Occupied Palestinian Territories for decades as a testing ground for weaponry and surveillance technology that it then exports around the world for profit.
This week, Israel has launched several attacks on Palestinians with weapons used in the conflict for the first time in nearly 20 years, including deploying U.S.-made Apache helicopter gunships inside the West Bank and firing a targeted assassination aerial strike. Jewish settlers have also raided Palestinian villages in the West Bank, attacking residents and setting fire to homes and vehicles.
As many as 700 migrants are feared to have died after an overloaded fishing vessel capsized last week off the coast of Greece. As search and rescue efforts continue with dwindling expectations, the Greek Coast Guard is facing backlash over its failure to help rescue passengers before the boat sank. Most of the migrants were women and children; many were from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Egypt, Syria and Palestine.
Jews, Episcopalians, Unitarians, Satanists and other people of faith say the laws infringe on their religious rights.
District Judge Jay Moody issued a permanent injunction against the Arkansas law.
The blockbuster weight loss drugs’ access to a key market — older Americans — is limited, as Medicare is banned from covering weight loss drugs as part of the Part D program.
Inflation slowed to just 4% in May.
The Fed is paying particular attention to so-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs and are regarded as a better gauge of longer-term inflation trends.
Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son, is pleading guilty to federal tax offenses and a separate felony gun charge for which he is avoiding prosecution, according to a plea agreement with the Justice Department announced Tuesday. The deal caps a multiyear probe by the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Delaware.
Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel went to bat for a pledge that paves the way for a candidate’s appearance in the first GOP primary debate.
The Colorado Republican said what she didn’t put her “life on pause” for after name-calling from Greene, her Georgia GOP colleague.
The Ohio Republican’s critics agreed with him for once… just not in the way the congressman likely hoped.
“It begs the question: Could this have been resolved differently if leadership had just acted sooner?” Rep. Dan Crenshaw said.
Career IRS agent Gary Shapley made the allegation before the Justice Department charged the president’s son with tax crimes.
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here.An expedition to see the remains of the Titanic turned into a tragedy. How did it go so wrong?First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic:
Why not Whitmer?
The ghost of a once era-defining show
How the vape shops won
Go ahead, try to explain milk.
In the long and checkered history of possibly terrible impulse decisions, here’s one for the ages: A few years ago, the comedian Alex Edelman decided on a whim to show up uninvited to a casual meeting of white nationalists at an apartment in New York City, and pose as one of them. Why? He was curious. He wanted to see what it would be like to be on the inside of a gathering that would never have knowingly included him, given that he is Jewish.
The dreadful saga of the missing Titanic submersible is finally drawing to a close. On Sunday, the vessel, called the Titan, was supposed to take five people on an hours-long, 12,500-foot-deep journey to the wreckage of the Titanic, which rests at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Instead, less than two hours into the tour, the submersible lost contact with its support ship. At a press conference this afternoon, the U.S.
Welcome to Up for Debate. Each week, Conor Friedersdorf rounds up timely conversations and solicits reader responses to one thought-provoking question. Later, he publishes some thoughtful replies. Sign up for the newsletter here.
We speak with Dr. Joy Buolamwini, founder of the Algorithmic Justice League, who met this week with President Biden in a closed-door discussion with other artificial intelligence experts and critics about the need to explore the promise and risk of AI. The computer scientist and coding expert has long raised alarm about how AI and algorithms are enabling racist and sexist bias.
Officials in Beijing have denounced U.S. President Joe Biden for describing Chinese President Xi Jinping as a “dictator,” calling it a breach of diplomatic protocol. Biden’s remark at a fundraising event this week came just days after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited China to help thaw relations at a time of growing competition and suspicion between the two superpowers.
President Joe Biden is hosting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a four-day state visit this week amid growing concerns about the Indian leader’s human rights record. Modi has been prime minister since 2014, during which time he has cracked down on dissent, curtailed the free press, targeted Muslims and other minorities and pushed an aggressive form of Hindu nationalism that violates the pluralistic vision of modern India’s founders.
Fifteen states have banned access to the procedure in most situations.
Not everything played out the way people expected.
District Judge Jay Moody issued a permanent injunction against the Arkansas law.
The blockbuster weight loss drugs’ access to a key market — older Americans — is limited, as Medicare is banned from covering weight loss drugs as part of the Part D program.
The agency followed the guidance of its independent advisory committee, which identified a commonly circulating strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Mandy Cohen’s experience parrying GOP assaults is seen as a key attribute she’ll need in leading the CDC.
Inflation slowed to just 4% in May.
The Fed is paying particular attention to so-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs and are regarded as a better gauge of longer-term inflation trends.