“The chicken Alfredo ($10.95) was warm and comforting on a cold day,” she wrote from North Dakota. And suddenly the national media made her a celebrity.
The stakes are high. But why aren’t democrats acting like there’s a five alarm fire? On the latest episode of Interesting Times, NYT Opinion columnist Ezra Klein talks about how political inaction is the real reason to despair.
Jumaane D. Williams, the New York City public advocate, was among the elected officials arrested on Thursday while protesting outside a federal building where migrants are detained.
Donald Trump has suggested Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer could use the military to stop illegal migration, at a news conference during the US president's second state visit to the UK.
The US president said he discussed migration issues with Sir Keir during a meeting at his country residence Chequers.
Trump talked about his policies to secure borders in the US and said the UK faced a similar challenge with migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats.
"You have people coming in and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn't matter if you call out the military, it doesn't matter what means you use," Trump said.
"It destroys countries from within and we're actually now removing a lot of the people that came into our country."
Standing alongside Trump, the prime minister said illegal migration was an issue his government had been taking "incredibly seriously".
Sir Keir said his government had struck several migrant returns deals with other countries, including France, and had been taking action to crack down on people-smuggling gangs.
"That's an important step forward," Sir Keri said. "But there's no silver bullet here."
More than 30,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year.
It is the earliest point in a calendar year this figure has been passed since data on crossings was first reported in 2018.
The rise in crossings is one of the most prominent issues in British politics and has piled pressure on the prime minister to come up with a solution.
There were no divisions between Trump and Starmer on action to tackle illegal migration, as the leaders projected a sense of unity and affection for each other.
The pair touted the "special relationship" between the UK and the US, and announced a new tech deal Trump said would help the allies "dominate" in the world of artificial intelligence (AI).
But in one flashpoint, Trump said he had "a disagreement with the prime minister" on the subject of Palestinian statehood.
The news conference brought to an end Trump's unprecedented second state visit to the UK.
In two days of pomp and pageantry, Trump was hosted at Windsor Castle by King Charles and the Royal Family, and attended a state banquet on Wednesday before his political meeting with the prime minister.
Israeli strikes hit the southern Lebanese village of Debbin
Israel has carried out a large wave of air strikes in southern Lebanon, saying it was targeting positions of the Iranian-backed armed group Hezbollah.
The attacks came after evacuation warnings were issued for several locations. There has been no immediate report of casualties.
Israel has carried out air strikes on people and places it says are linked to Hezbollah almost every day despite a deal that ended the war with the group in November.
The Lebanese prime minister called on the international community to urge Israel to stop what he described as intimidation and attacks, and to fulfil its ceasefire obligations.
Footage posted online showed huge plumes of smoke in Mais al-Jabal, one of the locations hit.
An Israeli military spokesman said the targets were infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah and in response to the group's attempts to re-establish activities in the area. He provided no evidence.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee said its forces had attacked and raided Hezbollah weapons warehouses, and their presence "constituted a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon".
He earlier had warned residents to evacuate buildings in the villages of Mais al-Jabal, Kfar Tibnit and Debbin, and later in two more villages.
Lebanon's prime minister Nawaf Salam said on X his country was committed to ceasing hostile actions, but asked: "Where is Israel's commitment to these mechanisms?"
He called on the international community, especially the countries sponsoring the ceasefire, "to exert maximum pressure on Israel to immediately stop its aggressions", to immediately withdraw from Lebanese territory and release prisoners.
It states that Lebanon will "prevent Hezbollah and all other armed groups in the territory of Lebanon from carrying out any operations against Israel". Meanwhile, Israel will "not carry out any offensive military operations against Lebanese targets, including civilian, military, or other state targets, in the territory of Lebanon".
The Lebanese government has tasked the army with establishing a state monopoly on arms, a decision which Hezbollah has said it will disregard.
President John Mahama has been criticised by opposition MPs for failing to present the deportation deal in parliament for ratification
Eleven people detained in Ghana after being deported from the US have sued the West African nation's government, their lawyer has told the BBC.
Oliver-Barker Vormawor said the deportees had not violated any Ghanaian law, and their detention in a military camp was therefore illegal.
He wanted the government to produce the group in court, and justify why they were being held against their will, the lawyer added.
The government has not yet commented on the law suit, but has previously said that it plans to accept another 40 deportees. Opposition MPs are demanding the immediate suspension of the deportation deal until parliament ratifies it, saying this was required under Ghanaian law.
Last week, Ghana's President John Mahama said that 14 deportees of West African origin had arrived in the country following an agreement reached with the US.
He later said that all of them had been returned to their countries of origin, though Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa contradicted him by saying that only most of them had been returned.
Mr Vormawor's court application contradicts both of them, saying that 11 deportees are still in detention in Ghana.
The 11 were held in a US detention facility before being shackled and deported in a military cargo aircraft, according to papers filed in court.
The deportations are part of the US government's hard-line approach towards immigration since President Donald Trump took office in January.
He has vowed to conduct record-level deportations of migrants in the country illegally.
Ghana's foreign minister was quoted on Monday by Reuters news agency as saying the decision to accept the deportees was based on "humanitarian principle and pan-African empathy".
"This should not be misconstrued as an endorsement of the immigration policies of the Trump administration," he said.
Five of the detainees, three Nigerians and two Gambians, have also sued the US government, arguing that they were protected by a court order and should not have been deported.
At least ten people have died and 25 others injured after a fire broke out in a high-rise building in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.
Videos on social media on Tuesday showed occupants of the seven-storey Afriland Towers jumping out of the third and fourth floors when the fire started.
The victims were commercial workers who were trapped inside the building, which is host to most commercial companies and organisations in the city.
Most of the survivors suffered burns and fracture injuries while trying to escape, while others had respiratory distress from smoke inhalation.
Authorities say the occupants became disoriented due to rapid smoke spread and lack of clear evacuation guidance, and desperate occupants broke windows to jump, leading to severe trauma.
Chukwuemeka Eze, a trader who witnessed the incident, told the BBC: "It was scary, some jumped from up there, many people inside were so scared to jump down, we got a wooden ladder to assist them."
In a statement, the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (Lasema) said the fire, which lasted for hours, started in the basement of the building where electrical equipment was installed.
The agency said it suspects the cause was poor maintenance and inadequate ventilation in the inverter battery area, which caused overheating and combustion.
The statement added "there was absence of mechanical smoke extraction systems, this allowed smoke to migrate unchecked. The public address systems were not functioning and there was inadequate signage, this worsened the confusion".
"The building was designed with sealed windows. The facility and building managers also inhaled smoke and passed out during the incident leaving no incident manager or safety warden in charge," the statement added.
Lasema said it extinguished the fire after a couple of hours, but thick, black smoke travelled throughout the building.
Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu described the incident as unfortunate and commiserated with families of the deceased victims.
The Nigeria Federal Fire Service said it has launched an investigation to establish the causes of the incident, including the state of safety systems, maintenance practices and compliance with fire safety regulations. The findings will be made public, and all recommendations will be implemented, the service added.
In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the president’s pledges to guarantee free speech have been replaced by efforts to suppress — and even criminalize — what their critics have to say.
President Trump speaking to members of the media this week. In his inauguration speech, he vowed to “immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”
Jay Jacobs, who leads the state Democratic Party, is said to have told associates in recent days that he would sooner resign as chairman than support Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic mayoral nominee in New York City.
Mayor Eric Adams’s remarks, aimed at a policy allowing students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity, came two days after the Trump administration expressed concern over such guidelines.
“I don’t support girls and boys using the same restroom,” Mayor Eric Adams said of New York City’s policy allowing students to use bathrooms that align with their gender identity.
Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have delivered a joint press conference at the end of the US president's second state visit to the UK.
The press conference at the PM's country residence Chequers, lasting just under an hour, saw the leaders field questions on topics ranging from world affairs to domestic politics.
Here are the main points.
1. Trump skirted round Palestine 'disagreement'
The UK's imminent recognition of Palestinian statehood was a potential flashpoint, with Trump having previously said that the move could reward Hamas.
But asked directly about the UK's plans, Trump merely noted that he had a "disagreement" with Starmer on the issue, adding for good measure that it was one of only a "few disagreements" between the pair.
Starmer emphasised that the timing of the UK's decision, which is set to take place in the coming days, had "nothing to do" with Trump's visit, and should be seen in the context of an overall plan for a "plan for peace" in the Middle East.
And he added that Hamas, a designated terror group in the UK, could play "no part" in any future Palestinian state.
Those comments were warmly welcomed by Trump, with the US president reaching across his podium to give Starmer a pat on the back.
2. Using troops to stop illegal migration
Trump was also given a chance to comment on another tricky political issue for Starmer - his efforts to stop illegal arrivals into Britain amid record numbers of small boat crossings in the English Channel this year.
This time however the US president did not mince his words, suggesting Starmer should potentially involve the military, and warning that illegal migration "destroys countries from within".
Trump referred to his approach to securing the US border and said the pair had discussed the issue during their private meeting earlier.
He added: "I think your situation is very similar. You have people coming in, and I told the prime minister I would stop it, and it doesn't matter if you call out the military, it doesn't matter what means you use."
Starmer said the first flight under the migrant returns deal with France taking off earlier, calling it an "important step forward" on the small boats issue.
3. Tough talk on Ukraine
An area where the pair were seemingly united was in condemning Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, after Trump said earlier this week said he could impose tougher sanctions on the country if Nato allies meet certain conditions.
Starmer condemned recent Russian missile attacks that saw damage to the British Council building in Kyiv, and said the recent actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin were not those of someone who wants peace.
The US president said Putin had "really let me down", admitting he thought solving the Russia-Ukraine war would be one of the easier conflicts to deal with.
He added, however, that he did not regret holding the peace summit in Alaska with Putin a few months ago, and he felt an "obligation" to help find an end to the war due to the enormous loss of life in the conflict.
4. Free speech flashpoint avoided
Another potential point of tension was the subject of free speech, after Trump's vice-president JD Vance's scalding attack on European democracies, including the UK, over the issue earlier this year.
But asked whether he agreed with Vance and whether the issue remained an important area of disagreement with Starmer, Trump chose not to comment, instead moving to the next question.
Starmer promised the UK would protect free speech "jealously and fiercely," calling it one of the country's "founding values".
But he said free speech had to be balanced against the need for protections, such as protecting children from paedophiles and "those that peddle suicide" online.
5. Peter Mandelson - the elephant in the room?
The state visit has taken place one week after Sir Keir sacked former Labour minister Lord Mandelson as his ambassador to the US over his past friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
That had the potential to be awkward for both the prime minister and the US president, who also had a friendship with the now-deceased Epstein before falling out with him in the early 2000s, prior to the late financier's conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Referring to Mandelson as the "elephant in the room", Sky News reporter Beth Rigby asked Trump if he had sympathy with the sacked Labour peer.
Despite having shaken hands with Lord Mandelson in the Oval Office earlier this year, Trump relied: "I don't know him, actually," before suggesting Sir Keir would be better placed to speak on the subject.
The prime minister repeated his previous assertion that he had sacked Lord Mandelson after new information came to light about his association with Epstein.
Christopher Cash (left) and Christopher Berry (right) were both accused of being Chinese spies
England and Wales's chief prosecutor has said no "outside pressure" played a part in his organisation's decision to drop charges against two British men accused of spying for China.
Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions who leads the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said his team had considered "alternative offences" but concluded "none were suitable".
The case against Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a teacher, was dropped on Monday prompting fury from the UK government, opposition parties and Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle.
Cash and Berry had denied the allegations. Beijing called the claims "malicious slander".
The two men were accused of gathering and providing information prejudicial to the safety and interests of the state between 28 December 2021 and 3 February 2023.
Mr Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), said the independence of his team was "completely respected within Whitehall and government" and he could give his "own assurance" that there had been no outside pressure.
Parkinson's comments came in a letter to shadow home secretary Chris Philp who had asked whether the CPS had been "politically pressured directly or indirectly by any representative of the government".
Parkinson indicated that one factor in securing a conviction would have entailed proving that China was an "enemy" as stated in the Official Secrets Act 1911.
"To secure a conviction, the prosecution must prove that a person, for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state, communicated information to another person which is calculated to be, might be, or is intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an "enemy"," he said.
The law has since been changed with the National Security Act 2023 which Mr Parkinson said contained "more extensive provisions to deal with espionage and those who are acting on behalf of foreign powers".
The CPS decision was criticised by the Home Office and the prime minister's official spokesman who said it was "extremely disappointing" the individuals would not face trial.
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle told the Commons: "I am a very unhappy speaker with what has happened. The fact that it has taken two years, until today, for somebody to withdraw this case is not good enough."
Security minister Dan Jarvis said he was "extremely disappointed" that there would be no trial and the government remained "gravely concerned about the threat of Chinese espionage".
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