National Endowment for Democracy Sues Top Trump Aides Over Funding Freeze

The National Endowment for Democracy, a nonprofit that has had bipartisan support over decades for its work promoting democracy abroad, is suing the U.S. government and cabinet officials for withholding $239 million in congressional appropriations. Members of the group’s board, which includes current and former Republican and Democratic politicians, said the organization filed the lawsuit … Read more

Trump’s Decision to Halt Aid to Ukraine Could Reorder the Battlefield

On the battlefields of Ukraine and western Russia, a stalemated war has ground on, with Ukrainian troops defending against Russian progress that can be measured sometimes in mere yards. The cost has been heavy casualties on both sides. President Trump’s decision this week to pause military assistance and intelligence sharing could reorder the battlefield, either … Read more

C.I.A. Director Says U.S. Has Paused Intelligence Sharing With Ukraine

The C.I.A. director John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday that intelligence sharing with Ukraine had been paused alongside military aid to pressure its government to cooperate with the Trump administration’s plans to end the country’s war with Russia. Speaking on Fox Business, Mr. Ratcliffe applauded the Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelensky’s statement on Tuesday praising President Trump … Read more

French Cinema Celebrates Its Covid Recovery

Ronald Chammah, who owns a pair of small cinemas on the Left Bank of Paris, remembers well the grim days in 2022, when he wondered whether the French passion for moviegoing — a pastime that France invented 130 years ago — had been irreparably diminished by pandemic lockdowns. But that was then. On a recent … Read more