First Run News

EUFAULA, Ala. — The facts of Southern history, according to Brad Griffin, are beyond dispute. “It was a slave society,” he said. “They had white supremacy. It was definitely racist. This is the truth.” It is a truth long hammered by activists who oppose the civic display of monuments honoring the Confederacy. But Mr. Griffin, 36, is no such activist. He sees the white-dominated reactionary ideology of the antebellum South not as something to condemn but as a source of inspiration. An avowed white nationalist, Mr.

BOSTON — Tens of thousands of demonstrators, emboldened and unnerved by the eruption of fatal violence in Virginia last weekend, surged into the nation’s streets and parks on Saturday to denounce racism, white supremacy and Nazism. Demonstrations were boisterous but broadly peaceful, even as tension and worry coursed through protests from Boston Common, the nation’s oldest public park, to Hot Springs, Ark., and to the bridges that cross the Willamette River in Portland, Ore.

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s security forces, which suffered huge casualties in the nine-month-long slog to take back the city of Mosul, are replenished enough to begin the fight for the Islamic State stronghold of Tal Afar — one of the last urban areas held in Iraq by the militant extremist Sunni group, American defense officials said Friday. But the estimated 1,000 Islamic State fighters who are believed to be there could make a brutal and bloody last stand, the officials said, because Tal Afar has been encircled by Iraqi and Kurdish forces, making it difficult for the fighters to flee in large numbers.

Venezuela’s new Constituent Assembly granted itself wide powers to write and pass legislation on Friday, a move that essentially nullifies the opposition-led legislature and puts President Nicolás Maduro’s party firmly in control of the country. In a decree, the assembly said it would “assume the ability to legislate over matters directly related to guaranteeing peace, security and sovereignty,” as well as a long list of other areas. The move enables the

STOCKHOLM — A knife attack that killed two people and wounded eight others in southwestern Finland is being investigated as a terrorist attack apparently aimed at women, Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation said on Saturday. The suspect, who was shot after the attack in Turku and hospitalized with a leg wound, is an 18-year-old Moroccan, the bureau said

Two police officers have died after being shot Friday night in Kissimmee, Fla., in what the police chief said may have been an ambush while they were responding to a call complaining of suspicious activity on the city’s north side. It was one of three cases on Friday night in which a total of six law enforcement officers were shot in Florida and Pennsylvania. In Kissimmee, about 20 miles south of Orlando, the officers were found around 9:30 p.m.

The nation has split into political tribes. The culture wars are back, waged over transgender rights and immigration. White nationalists are on the march. Amid this turbulence, a surprising group of Americans is testing its moral voice more forcefully than ever: C.E.O.s. After Nazi-saluting white supremacists rioted in Charlottesville, Va., and President Trump dithered in his response, a chorus of business leaders rose up this past week to condemn hate groups and espouse tolerance and inclusion.

For Parson Hicks, a health care finance executive who supports President Trump, this past week has felt a little like déjà vu. Mr. Trump says something. His opponents howl and then predict, with certainty, a point of no return. The last time this happened, she said, was in October with the notorious “Access Hollywood” recording of Mr. Trump talking lewdly about women. His opponents were sure he was finished. His supporters knew better. “Let’s be honest, the people who are currently outraged are the same people who have always been outraged,” said Ms.

He heaped praise on Jared Kushner at a private gathering of bankers and corporate executives in December, congratulating President Trump’s son-in-law on the surprise election triumph. He stood up again in May before a group of corporate leaders on the 39th floor of Citigroup’s offices to remind them of all the good the Trump administration could do for the economy and the country. And at a meeting on Monday with his employees, as Mr.

He heaped praise on Jared Kushner at a private gathering of bankers and corporate executives in December, congratulating President Trump’s son-in-law on the surprise election triumph. He stood up again in May before a group of corporate leaders on the 39th floor of Citigroup’s offices to remind them of all the good the Trump administration could do for the economy and the country. And at a meeting on Monday with his employees, as Mr.