 State Department Responds to Rumors of Rubio ResignationUS midterm results spark fears in Israel over future of two countries' tiesAs the US midterm election results rolled in, long-held Israeli assumptions about the transatlantic alliance began to shatter. "For us in Israel, this will be a generational sea change," wrote one prominent journalist in Israel's biggest-selling newspaper, right-leaning Yedioth Ahronoth. "The [prime minister, Benjamin] Netanyahu government sowed the wind and reaped the tsunami." Israel's opposition leaders have lined up to blame their prime minister, with one saying the US results showed "just how toxic Netanyahu has become" among both Democrats and Republicans. The prime minister himself has so far remained silent. "Israel's political establishment understood intellectually that things have been shifting. They have not understood how much and how quickly," one US official with knowledge of the situation told me. Israel's relationship with the US was a campaign issue in races across America. Many Democratic candidates were sharply critical of Israel's actions in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, and the costs of the joint US-Israeli war on Iran was a key issue for many voters. The US president himself blamed the Iran War for the Republican rout – a war that Israel's leader is widely seen as having promoted to him. And US Vice-President JD Vance cited the US relationship to Israel as one of four key reasons voters had deserted the party, hammering home the message that the relationship is now seen as a political problem by its key ally. "That might be even worse than what happened in the midterms," Israeli political and security analyst Yaakov Katz told me. "Because the Democrats we knew about, now [Vance] is pointing the finger and saying: 'Our voters want us to change our position on Israel' – and Israelis don't fully understand where this is going." FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx30ee8018lvo
With Stephen Miller pick, Trump readies for a battleIn the aftermath of the Republican Party's sweeping defeat in Tuesday's midterm elections, Donald Trump said he would be willing to work with the newly ascendent Democrats in Congress.On Friday, however, he elevated Stephen Miller, his bare-knuckled political operative and longtime adviser, to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff. Far from an olive branch to Congress, Miller's promotion could be a sign that the president is girding for political battle by installing a partisan firebrand in the top White House job. "The mission now is more clear than ever: Fight with all of our soul to support our president and defend this magnificent republic," Miller posted on X, adding that he was "honored beyond words" to be Trump's pick for the job. One of the most powerful positions in Washington, the chief of staff is gatekeeper to the president, agenda-setter in the White House and chief negotiator with Congress and other outside political interests. "Stephen Miller's been with me since the beginning," Trump said in comments to reporters after announcing the move on his Truth Social website. "He gets it." FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crp3gg2z171go
Why the US midterms sparked an AI stock selloff
Is the artificial intelligence (AI) gold rush coming to an end, or is this simply a reality check? That's the question which is hanging over investors, and which has prompted steep falls on the world's stock markets. The sell-off in the US on Thursday was most dramatic on the Nasdaq, home to tech industry titans such as Alphabet, Nvidia, Meta and Apple. It followed sweeping gains by the Democrats in this week's midterm elections in the US, which have given the party full control of Congress. A number of leading Democrats campaigned against the unhindered expansion of data centres, which have underpinned the growth of artificial intelligence. Fears this will lead to more regulation of AI appear to have concerned investors. But worries about the industry's prospects have been growing for some time. FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlykkzwwpydo New wave of bomb threats hit European airlinesEuropean airlines have again been hit with a new wave of bomb threats - in the third such incident this week. On Friday multiple flights to and from Lisbon, Rome, Prague and Sofia were targeted and the threats saw three planes escorted by Hungarian fighter jets, authorities said. It also saw a number of high-profile media organisations, including Ireland's public broadcaster RTÉ, evacuated after threats were made against them - although there has been no concrete links between the messages against airlines and the broadcasters. The disruption comes after nearly 30 aircraft and several airports across Europe were impacted by threats earlier this week, in what the UK called a "malicious hoax". FULL ARTICLE AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq62yy064vjpo |
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