Top official said it is the first time Russia has recruited such high-ranking “moles” inside Ukrainian security services ..read more

“We have to stop destroying the planet as we feed ourselves,” a World Bank official said, as red meat and dairy drive CO2 emissions ..read more

President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned of a “ferocious” surge of antisemitism in America and around the world, in comments that both called out the violent excesses of pro-Palestinian campus protest and reaffirmed the U.S. alliance with Israel. “On college campuses, Jewish students [have been] blocked, harassed, attacked, while walking to class,” Biden declared. “Antisemitism, antisemitic posters, slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world’s only Jewish state. Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7... It is absolutel ..read more

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona condemned campus demonstrations upending colleges this spring as the top Republican on the House education committee called for his resignation. House Education and the Workforce Committee Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) once again pressed Cardona to step down over his response to antisemitism and campus demonstrations which have led to hundreds of arrests at universities around the nation. “From the beginning, I’ve urged a firm hand in dealing with the explosion of antisemitism on campus,” Foxx said in her opening remarks at a Tuesday oversight hearing on the ..read more

Porn star and director. Former stripper. And now, witness for the prosecution. Stormy Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, had a lucrative career as a porn star before an alleged sexual encounter with Donald Trump almost two decades ago changed her life and, arguably, the course of American politics. That moment is at the heart of the former president’s hush money trial. Tuesday was the first time Daniels and Trump have been in the same room since allegations were made public about a hush money payment, and after years of the two trading crass insults and being involved in legal b ..read more

The Biden administration is holding up shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel, according to a U.S. official and six other people with knowledge of the deliberations. The U.S. has yet to sign off on a pending sale of Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions — both the munitions and kits that convert them to smart weapons — and Small Diameter Bombs, according to six industry and congressional sources with knowledge of the discussions. While the Biden administration has not formally denied the potential sale, it is essentially taking action thro ..read more

He’s been found liable for committing sexual abuse. He’s bragged about grabbing women by the you-know-what. He’s in the middle of a court case over paying hush money to a porn star with whom he allegedly cheated on his wife — the third woman he’s married. And he’s the de facto leader of American evangelicalism. How could Christians embrace a leader who has seemingly treated half the “thou shalt nots” in the Bible as a challenge? The typical answer is that it’s a matter of political convenience. Donald Trump may not be a choir boy, the conventional wisdom suggests, but he offers Christians win ..read more

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) has named her price for backing down on her threat to call a vote on Speaker Mike Johnson's removal. In a nearly two-hour long meeting yesterday requested by Greene to explore potential off-ramps, the MAGA firebrand and allied Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) outlined several policy demands they are seeking before calling off their plans. They include, according to people familiar with the talks: No further aid for Ukraine; A return to the “Hastert Rule,” meaning no legislation is brought to a vote without support from a majority of the House majority; Defunding ..read more

NEW YORK — After waking up each morning with swollen eyes and hair falling out in clumps, New York City public housing resident Sheletha Hill landed in a hospital emergency room with suspected arsenic poisoning in March. A urine sample showed arsenic levels of 117 micrograms per liter — more than double the threshold triggering a report to the state — and Hill was treated in an emergency room for “symptoms concerning for arsenic toxicity,” according to medical records she shared with POLITICO. Hill is not alone: Several similarly ailing neighbors at the Jacob Riis Houses in Manhattan’s East V ..read more

INDIANAPOLIS — The GOP gubernatorial primary in the heavily Republican, traditionally congenial state of Indiana has become so divisive that Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, who is running in a crowded field to succeed Gov. Eric Holcomb, says that she has only spoken to him once in the last six months. The governor doesn't see Crouch as his natural successor, and his own installed GOP state party chair accused her of creating a “toxic” dynamic in the party. She and five other candidates have altogether sunk a record-breaking $40 million into the contest. But what may be most surprising is not the mon ..read more