Comment on Capitol Hill Buzz: New Speaker, new facial hair

At the end of May, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak surprised British voters by announcing a snap election on July 4, several months earlier than expected. But with most polls predicting an electoral wipeout for the Conservative Party, which is behind the opposition Labour Party by almost 20 points, Sunak has attempted to rescue a faltering campaign by putting forward policies seen more in line with traditional Tory strengths.

CARACAS, Venezuela — A fleet of Russian warships on Wednesday began entering the Caribbean in what some see as a projection of strength as tensions grow over Western support for Ukraine. The first two ships slowly crossed the mouth of the Havana Bay under a downpour. The ships were accompanied by small boats that guided them through the narrow entrance channel. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The U.

BEIRUT — Lebanon’s Hezbollah fired a massive barrage of rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday to avenge the killing of a top commander, further escalating regional tensions as the fate of an internationally-backed plan for a ceasefire in Gaza hung in the balance. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The retaliatory attack came as U. S.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg agreed to guarantee that Hungary won’t have to take part in the military alliance’s deepening support for Ukraine, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said. Hungary, in exchange, won’t block any related NATO decisions, Orban said at a briefing in Budapest on Wednesday. Orban said it was an acknowledgment that most members of the military alliance don’t share his views on how to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Renowned linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky suffered a stroke last June and is recovering in a hospital in his wife’s native country of Brazil. Chomsky’s absence from the public eye over the past year fueled speculation about his health, culminating in an outpouring of tributes over the weekend. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] On Monday, Brazilian newspaper Folha de São Paulo reported that the 95-year-old American public intellectual has not commented on the ongoing war in Gaza, despite requests from his supporters and the press, because he had “a massive stroke” in the U.

Oops. He did it again. Weeks after apologizing for using an Italian word which roughly translates to “faggotry,” Pope Francis reportedly used the same term again in a closed-door meeting with Roman priests on Tuesday—right in the middle of Pride Month. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “There is an air of frogaccine in the Vatican,” the head of the Catholic Church said, according to Italian news agency Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA), which cited sources present at the meeting at Salesian Pontifical University in Rome.