July 2019

‘Chernobyl’ miniseries sends curious tourists to Lithuania

Travel /

An HBO miniseries featuring Soviet-era nuclear nightmares has sparked global interest in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and boosted tourism in Lithuania. The Baltic country, which served as the filming location for “Chernobyl,” has become a destination of so-called atomic tourism since the program aired earlier this year. At Ignalina nuclear power plant, Mikhail Nefedyev was […]

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Democrats Know Trump’s Playbook on Race. They’re Not Sure How to Respond.

Politics /

WASHINGTON — For three weeks President Trump has engaged in the sort of racial divisiveness unseen from a national political figure since the days of George Wallace, pushing forward with grievance-based attacks against Democrats of color that he is convinced will energize his base of rural white voters. But Democrats who might otherwise be giddy

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Moroccan king seeks government shake-up to calm frustrations

Lifestyle /

Morocco’s king is calling for a government reshuffle, seeking “new blood” and saying the country’s development policy isn’t doing enough to meet citizens’ needs. In a speech Monday night marking his 20 years on the throne, King Mohammed VI reproached the Islamist-led government and tasked Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani with proposing new government candidates

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Giffgaff fined £1.4m for overcharging mobile customers

Business /

Image copyright Getty Images Mobile phone group Giffgaff has been fined £1.4m by regulator Ofcom for “unacceptable” billing mistakes that saw 2.6 million customers overcharged. Ofcom said Giffgaff, owned by O2’s parent Telefonica, overcharged people up to a total of almost £2.9m. “Getting bills right is a basic duty for every phone company,” said Gaucho

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Australian swimming embarrassed after positive drug test

Sports /

If only the world championships ended as well as it started for the swimmers from Down Under. The much-vaunted Australian squad had an impressive but controversial beginning on the opening day of the swimming program — an upset win by 18-year-old Ariarne Titmus over three-time 400-meter freestyle champion American Kate Ledecky. Then there was a

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Fact-Checking Trump’s Claim He ‘Spent a Lot of Time’ With 9/11 Responders

Politics /

WASHINGTON — President Trump walked into the Rose Garden on Monday and signed into law a bill that would permanently fund the care of emergency workers who became ill after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He also revived an old claim that he spent time at ground zero alongside firefighters and police officers. Mr.

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Fed set to cut rates for first time in decade. Is it a risk?

Finance /

There’s little dispute that the Federal Reserve this week will do something it hasn’t done since 2008, when the U.S. economy was gripped by the Great Recession: Cut its benchmark interest rate. This time, by contrast, the economy is solid by most measures. Consumers are spending. Unemployment is close to a half-century low. A recession

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