What’s at stake on Super Tuesday?
Millions of voters in 15 states are casting their ballots on Super Tuesday, one of the most important dates on the US political calendar.
It’s the day in the presidential primary cycle when the most states vote, and it will move the race closer to a White House rematch in November between President Biden and Donald Trump. It will also almost certainly be a blow to Nikki Haley, Trump’s Republican challenger.
Results will start coming soon after we send out this newsletter. Here is the latest.
Trump is trying to get Haley out of the race. Recent polls in Texas and California — the states that will award the most delegates on Tuesday — show him with wide leads.
For Biden, who has no major opponents, observers are seeing the turnout and the popularity of the “unbinding” ballot option in states like Minnesota as a protest vote.
Although it’s difficult to make reliable predictions about the general election based on primaries, my colleague Maggie Astor, who is covering the primaries, said the contest will give us signs about the coming months.
“Aspects of Super Tuesday’s results — including how close Nikki Haley comes to Trump, how many people cast protest votes against Biden, and how big the turnout is — can give some indication of how united and passionate the Democratic and Republican parties are.” They are,” she said. said
background: The American primary system can be difficult to understand, even for Americans. It is not a direct vote. Instead, states award delegates — the people who will vote on the party’s nomination during the summer convention — based on preliminary results. To become the Republican nominee this year, for example, a candidate must win a majority of 2,429 delegates. By the time Super Tuesday is over, a total of 1,151 will be allocated.
Do Americans have “collective amnesia”? It’s only been three years, but memories of Trump’s presidency are changing fast and fast.
Can China achieve its growth targets?
China’s top leaders announced a potential economic growth target of around 5 percent this year. It will be difficult for them to pull it off.
China’s economy is reeling from a property crisis, loss of consumer confidence and financial pressure from indebted local governments. But Beijing did not announce major spending increases to support local government, revive the property market or take steps to bolster consumer confidence. With leaders short on action, economists and investors are skeptical.
“It’s a surprisingly unrealistic set of goals,” said one Chinese researcher.
But the money for the military is: Leaders plan to increase spending by 7.2 percent in 2024, reaching about $231 billion. (That’s the same percentage increase as last year, and it’s been going on for a decade.) China also plans to increase spending on science and technology research by 10 percent.
Russia has stepped up its air campaign
Over the past two years, the war in Ukraine has been largely fought on the ground, but as the Russian military has intensified its offensive in the east, its air force has taken on a greater role. Military analysts say Russia has used warplanes close to the front lines to drop powerful guided bombs on Ukrainian positions and clear the way for infantry to advance.
The strategy has helped Russia gain ground in eastern Ukraine, but has also given Kiev’s military more opportunities to shoot down their planes.
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middle east
China and India are engaging the Maldives with construction projects. Their efforts – part of a wider competition for influence in South Asia – are dragging the fledgling democracy as its politicians seek to broker a rapprochement between the two world powers.
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Arts and ideas
Yamamoto wins the Pritzker Prize
Riken Yamamoto, a Japanese architect, creates buildings meant to inspire social interaction and transparency. He just won the Pritzker Prize, architecture’s highest honor.
He has built family homes without exterior walls, public buildings made of transparent glass and connected by roofs, and a fire station that allows them to walk up to watch the firefighter train.
The Pritzker jury said that his designs “enable people to organize their lives in their buildings with beauty, simplicity, poetry and joy.”