Musk wants to slash $2 trillion in federal spending
(NYTimes) — President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to cut wasteful government spending, fire what he considers rogue bureaucrats and overhaul federal agencies once he is back in power. But slashing the budget and substantially scaling back the federal workforce is a formidable task. Among other things, it could require cutting popular programs that aid older Americans and reducing resources at agencies that support the nation’s defense and security. After Trump promised on the campaign trail to tap Elon Musk to head an efficiency commission, the entrepreneur said it could cut “at least $2 trillion” from the $6.75 trillion federal budget, but he did not provide details about how that could be done.
Liberal Berkeley’s toughened stance on homeless camps is a bellwether
(NYTimes) — Berkeley, California, long associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, has a reputation for erring on the side of compassion when it comes to the enforcement of drug use and homelessness. So it came as a shock to some when Berkeley joined more than 75 cities nationwide that have decided to tighten enforcement on homeless camps this year. Eric Tars, the legal director of the National Homelessness Law Center in Washington, D.C., was struck by how quickly liberal enclaves have moved in on homeless encampments. “People are frustrated — even in this very progressive city that cares deeply about addressing homelessness,” said Jesse Arreguín, the mayor of Berkeley.
Israel strikes near Beirut as two medics killed in south Lebanon
(NYTimes) — The Israeli military pressed on Saturday with its dayslong bombing campaign targeting an area near Beirut dominated by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, while in the country’s south, Israeli airstrikes killed two paramedics, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. Throughout the day, there were multiple waves of attacks on the Dahiya, a predominantly Shiite area south of Beirut where Hezbollah holds sway. After sundown, powerful blasts were felt and heard in the Beirut city center. Israel, which issued a new flurry of evacuation warnings to local residents, has said these strikes are targeting facilities used by Hezbollah and has accused the group of hiding “terrorist infrastructure” in residential areas.
Infighting tarnishes opposition to Putin
(NYTimes) — It was the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, with a Russian assassin and seven others returned to Moscow in August in exchange for 16 prisoners who had run afoul of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Among those released by Russia were four political prisoners and three people with ties to the country’s most prominent opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in February. The deal seemed poised to breathe new life into a fractured movement that had struggled to exert influence in the aftermath of Navalny’s death. But months later, there are signs that the Russian opposition movement has never been more divided.
China hit again with fatal violence as at least 8 die in stabbing
(NYTimes) — Eight people were killed and 17 others injured in a stabbing attack Saturday night in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi, police said, in what appeared to be a second burst of deadly violence in China in less than a week. A person wielding a knife attacked people about 6:30 p.m. at the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology, police in Yixing said. A suspect, described as a 21-year-old man who had graduated from the college this year, was arrested at the school, police said. The stabbing took place only days after a man killed at least 35 people by driving a vehicle into a crowd in Zhuhai.
Biden and Xi Meet as U.S.-China Relationship Faces New Uncertainty
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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