US urges Netanyahu to condemn settlers besieging Palestinians in West Bank

US tax policy deprives the government of revenue and overwhelmingly serves the interests of the rich After the House passed its version of Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) last year – the one that paired a $5tn-plus tax cut with $1tn-plus of cuts from food stamps and Medicaid – the House speaker, Mike Johnson, explained that “this is not giving tax cuts to the millionaires”. The beneficiaries, he said, were “small business owners” that “provide the jobs in every community in America”. Johnson was playing to the myth of the modest, sturdy Main Street job creator. It is an appealing story. It’s also the most consequential piece of BS distorting American policy that deprives the government of tax revenue, stunts American capitalism, twists regulations, thwarts competition and overwhelmingly serves millionaires’ interests...

Venezuela's government freed 131 detained ​prisoners on Friday, as human rights groups hailed releases of some ​people ‌they say were being held ⁠unjustly or for political reasons.

Palestinian residents of three houses in Qusra near Nablus in the occupied West Bank say they have been effectively cut off from food and other supplies since the siege by Israeli settlers began on Sunday. But the Israeli military has not done anything to remove the settlers. "We are seeing the cracks of Israeli politics, including a paralysed prime minister’s inability to condemn basic filmed violent acts, play out in the West Bank," says FRANCE 24 correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky.