British prime minister Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson, has become a French citizen, The Guardian reports.
The elder Johnson campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU in 2016, while his son Boris led the leave movement.
British prime minister Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson, has become a French citizen, The Guardian reports.
The elder Johnson campaigned for the UK to remain in the EU in 2016, while his son Boris led the leave movement.
“A long-awaited report into the partygate scandal by senior civil servant Sue Gray is unlikely to force Boris Johnson from office,” the Financial Times reports.
“King Abdullah II of Jordan issued a royal decree Thursday restricting the communications and movements of his half brother Prince Hamzah bin Hussein, whom Jordanian authorities accused last year of taking part in a coup attempt against the king,” the Washington Post reports.
“The letter — an extraordinary public airing of a family conflict — was the latest twist in a royal drama that began more than a year ago, when Hamzah was placed under house arrest and accused of fomenting a coup along with Bassem Awadallah, a former top aide to the king, and Sharif Hasan, a little-known member of the royal family.”
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“Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s government is facing a new threat to its existence after a second lawmaker quit the ruling coalition Thursday, leaving it with a minority in parliament less than a year since coming to power,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
North Korea had nearly 2 million “fever cases,” affecting 7.7% of the population, and 63 deaths in just a week since it reported the nation’s first confirmed Covid cases May 12, Caixin Global reports.
“In a sign of Russia’s urgent need to bolster its war effort in Ukraine, parliament said on Friday it would consider a bill to allow Russians over 40 and foreigners over 30 to sign up for the military,” Reuters reports.
“The White House is working to put advanced anti-ship missiles in the hands of Ukrainian fighters to help defeat Russia’s naval blockade, officials said, amid concerns more powerful weapons that could sink Russian warships would intensify the conflict,” Reuters reports.
North Korea is “preparing to conduct a nuclear test or a long-range ballistic missile test around the time of President Biden’s trip to the region this week, according to intelligence from Washington and Seoul,” the Washington Post reports.
“The Senate prepared to vote Thursday to deliver more than $40 billion in new military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, a move which would send the measure to President Biden after a week-long delay sparked by a lone senator’s objection,” the Washington Post reports.
Vladimir Putin is “weaponizing” global food supplies by stealing grain and destroying agricultural equipment as part of his war in Ukraine, the Telegraph reports.
“Taiwan, which has abandoned the zero-Covid strategy to live with the virus, hit a record number of domestic infections, rising rapidly from some 15,000 cases at the end of last month to more than 85,000 on Wednesday,” the South China Morning Post reports.
“President Biden is scheduled to host the prime minister of Sweden and president of Finland at the White House on Thursday, determined to send a strong signal of support for the two nations in their push to join NATO,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“The Russian military has fired or replaced a number of field commanders in Ukraine in recent weeks, according to the British Defense Ministry, suggesting that the poor performance of Russian forces is taking a toll on the country’s senior officer corps,” the Washington Post reports.
“The purge, described in an intelligence update Thursday, included the sacking of commanders involved in two of Russia’s most humiliating defeats since it invaded Ukraine in February.”
“The Biden administration is developing plans to further choke Russia’s oil revenues with the long-term goal of destroying the country’s central role in the global energy economy, a major escalatory step that could put the United States in political conflict with China, India, Turkey and other nations that buy Russian oil,” the New York Times reports.
“The proposed measures include imposing a price cap on Russian oil, backed by so-called secondary sanctions, which would punish foreign buyers that do not comply with U.S. restrictions by blocking them from doing business with American companies and those of partner nations.”
“The Senate confirmed Bridget Brink late Wednesday as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, filling the post as officials plan to return American diplomats to Kyiv during the nation’s continuing battle against the Russian invasion,” the AP reports.
“The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine.”
— Former President George W. Bush, in a speech.
“A 21-year-old Russian tank-unit officer pleaded guilty to shooting an unarmed civilian in Ukraine’s first war-crimes trial since Russia’s invasion of the country,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
Washington Post: “As President Biden makes his first presidential trip to South Korea and Japan in the next week, he faces shifting dynamics in Northeast Asia that pose steep challenges to U.S. efforts to shore up alliances to counter China’s rise. A key challenge is North Korea’s thawing relationships with China and Russia, aimed at reducing U.S. influence in the region.”
“In particular, China’s strategic overture to North Korea since the collapse of U.S.-North Korea diplomatic talks in 2019 has drawn the two countries closer. With tensions rising over the U.S.-China competition and a new South Korean conservative government that vows to take a harder line on North Korea and China, Beijing has more incentive to keep Pyongyang close, experts say.”
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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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