Is the U.S. at War With Iran? What to Know About Trump, Congress and War Powers
© Eric Lee for The New York Times
© Eric Lee for The New York Times
© N. Scott Trimble/The Post-Standard, via Associated Press
Nigel Farage will outline Britannia Card policy that could give the low paid £600 to £1,000 extra a year
Reform UK are to offer wealthy foreigners and returning British expats a bespoke tax regime in exchange for a one-off payment of £250,000 with all funds collected redistributed to Britain’s lowest-paid workers, the party claims.
The proposal, dubbed the Britannia Card, is due to be unveiled by party leader Nigel Farage later this week. It promises a 10-year residence permit and a return to the controversial “remittance basis” of taxation, allowing cardholders to shield overseas income from UK tax and avoid inheritance tax entirely.
Continue reading...© Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA
© Photograph: Jeff Moore/PA
The Iraq war was built on a lie. Now history is repeating itself
In May 2003, George W Bush landed on the deck of a US aircraft carrier to deliver a triumphant speech, declaring that major combat operations in Iraq had ended – six weeks after he had ordered US troops to invade the country. Bush spoke under a now infamous banner on the carrier’s bridge that proclaimed, “Mission Accomplished”. It would turn into a case study of American hubris and one of the most mocked photo-ops in modern history.
As Bush made his speech off the coast of San Diego, I was in Baghdad covering the invasion’s aftermath as a correspondent for a US newspaper. It was clear then that the war was far from over, and the US was likely to face a grinding insurgency led by former members of the Iraqi security forces. It would also soon become clear that Bush’s rationale for invading Iraq was built on a lie: Saddam Hussein’s regime did not have weapons of mass destruction and was not intent on developing them. And Iraq had nothing to do with the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US, despite the Bush administration’s repeated attempts to connect Hussein’s regime to al-Qaida.
Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies and an associate professor of journalism at New York University
Continue reading...© Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters
© Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters
Yorkshireman hits 99 with first Test on knife edge
‘He was pretty gutted to get out,’ says England No 3
Ollie Pope hailed the ability that the “unbelievably skilled” Harry Brook possesses “to flip a game” after the Yorkshireman’s quickfire 99 helped England to sprint to a total only six runs short of India’s first-innings 471 on day three at Headingley. With India reaching stumps on 90 for two the outcome of the first Test remains beautifully uncertain.
“Everyone knows what a fantastic player Harry is, and I think being able to put really skilled bowlers under that much pressure shows exactly the skills he has got,” Pope said. “But it is not just slugging, it is very well thought out. The ability to kind of flip a game – we were saying: ‘Oof, if he bats for another hour here we could be in an amazing position.’ That just shows the kind of skill he’s got, and power. It was unbelievably skilled.”
Continue reading...© Photograph: Manjit Narotra/ProSports/Shutterstock
© Photograph: Manjit Narotra/ProSports/Shutterstock