This article is part of David Leonhardt’s newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it each weekday. When I was a teenager, my mom showed me a statement that she had received in the mail from the Social Security Administration. It included an annual history of her earnings, which showed a big string of […]

For months, they’ve been waiting for Joe Biden to collapse. Old Joe. Sputtering Joe. The Septuagenarian Slug. He’s That Seventies Show. The woke Democratic caucus waits for him to forget a name, or mistake his cellphone for the remote. Ditto the woke press. He mentioned “record player,” for God’s sake, answering a question about racism! […]

(Want to get this briefing by email? Here’s the sign-up.) Good morning. We’ve got details of Britain’s “Operation Yellowhammer,” a closely watched legal fight for paternity leave in Japan and a crowdsourced anthem for Hong Kong’s protesters. The U.K.’s worst-case Brexit scenario The British government laid out its contingency plan if it leaves the European […]

To the Editor: Re “Barbs Fly as Rival Democrats Confront End of the Beginning” (news analysis, front page, Sept. 13): I am dismayed once again by the Democratic debates. Here they are arguing with one another over health care and other “progressive” ideas. Instead, they should be debating how they each are going to do […]

Some Calgarians who are grateful for the support they received during a family health crisis are now helping the charity that helped them. It started after an ultrasound when Sarah Bourne was 20 weeks pregnant showed her baby had a defective heart. Bourne and her family travelled to Edmonton for her delivery, to be ready […]

When a 2-year-old Guatemalan boy had trouble staying silent in an immigration courtroom, the judge pointed his finger at him. “I have a very big dog in my office, and if you don’t be quiet, he will come out and bite you,” the judge, V. Stuart Couch, a former Marine, yelled at the toddler in […]

Good morning. We’re examining Russia’s reaction to news about a C.I.A. spy deep inside the Kremlin and a unique business proposal from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange operator. We also have a story about whale karaoke. Yes, you read that correctly. Russia mocks exposed C.I.A. spy The Kremlin’s propaganda machine kicked into high gear to […]

To the Editor: Re “The Cost of College for the Middle Class” (Sunday Review, Sept. 1): Caitlin Zaloom opens by discussing how the average cost to attend a private, four-year university is $50,000 per year. This is the approximate average sticker price of these institutions. However, the amount actually paid after scholarships and tax benefits […]

A Florida woman claiming to be psychic scammed a Texan out of US$1.6 million in a bid to rid the woman’s family of a curse. Sherry Tina Uwanawich, 28, was sentenced in Miami to three years and four months in prison following the crime. She pleaded guilty to wire fraud and must pay restitution. Investigators […]

A casual day at work for one American English teacher turned into a life-changing moment after she gave birth outside her school on Tuesday. Of course, it wasn’t what Lindsay Agbalokwu expected that day, given her due date was a full two weeks away. The sixth-grade teacher first mistook her labour pains for false contractions, […]