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Centrists won't beat Reform UK by echoing its messages. They should emphasise the true unworkability of policies like BrexitIn the middle of an election or the early stages of an administration, populist politics can feel like a liberation. The unsayable is said. Political rules are broken. Constitutional restrictions are flouted. Populist rallies are boisterous, seemingly uninhibited, with enemies of the movement taunted or intimidated.For many voters, and even some activists and politicians, conventional politics can be boring, with its careful rhetoric and predictably choreographed campaigns, its compromised and complicated centrist policies. Populism promises something much more visceral, with larger-than-life leaders and dramatic national goals: make America great again", take back control". Digital media, with its constant hunger for brevity and straightforward narratives, is a perfect environment for populism's seductive claim that politics is actually quite simple.Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Our political history is one of catastrophe, communism, and developing powerful antibodies against oppressionIn 2016, one year after the rightwing populist Law and Justice party won an overall majority in Poland, there was a knock at a door. The mother of a young journalist opened it. To her astonishment, it was the security services looking for her son. No details were provided. Thus began an informal campaign by the authorities against the media and civil society in Poland, including our thinktank, Kultura Liberalna. After hearing the news about the journalist, we called Aleksander Smolar. The legendary anti-communist dissident, who ran his own NGO, told us that the security services were also trying to arrange informal" meetings with his staff. And he comforted us: Don't worry, we've had a playbook for this kind of situation since the 1960s."At that moment, we almost travelled back in time. We spoke about responding to this new regime as if we were once again under communism. What is striking in retrospect is that we all knew what to do. Our eastern European political culture, shaped by historical catastrophes, has developed some antibodies against oppressive power. Over the past centuries, the state has often been wiped off the map or occupied by foreign aggressors. Adversity sparks initiative.Jarosaw Kuisz is editor-in-chief of the Polish weekly Kultura Liberalna and the author of The New Politics of Poland: A Case of Post-Traumatic SovereigntyKarolina Wigura is a Polish historian and co-author of Post-Traumatic Sovereignty: An Essay (Why the Eastern European Mentality is Different) Continue reading...

US president says face-to-face meeting at Vatican improved relations with Ukrainian president and demurs on trust in Vladimir PutinUS President Donald Trump has said he thinks Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to give up Crimea, despite his Ukrainian counterpart's previous assertions on the Black Sea peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014.Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey on Sunday a day after meeting with Zelenskyy at the Vatican, Trump said Oh, I think so," in response to a question on whether he thought Zelenskyy was ready to give up" the territory. Continue reading...

Trump expresses newfound sympathy for his Ukrainian counterpart, saying he wants to do something good for his country' - key US politics stories from Sunday 27 April at a glanceDonald Trump appears to have warmed to Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the two presidents met at the Vatican, with the US leader emerging from talks with a plea for Vladimir Putin: stop shooting".Trump on Sunday said Zelenskyy wants to do something good" for Ukraine and is working hard", adding he was also surprised and disappointed" that Russia continued to strike Ukraine after discussions between his peace envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Putin. Continue reading...

Noem's purse was nabbed on Easter Sunday and reportedly contained about $3,000 in cash, her keys and identificationTwo suspects have been arrested in connection with the theft last week of the US homeland security secretary Kristi Noem's purse as she ate at a Washington DC restaurant, officials said Sunday.Noem's purse was nabbed on Easter Sunday and reportedly contained about $3,000 in cash and her keys, driver's license, passport and homeland security badge. The homeland security department said Noem had cash in her purse to pay for gifts, dinner and other activities for her family on Easter. Continue reading...

Lawyers in both cases, one in Louisiana and another in Florida, say clients arrested at routine Ice check-insThe Trump administration has removed a two-year-old US citizen from the country with no meaningful process", according to a federal judge, while in a different case the authorities deported the mother of a one-year-old girl, separating them indefinitely.Lawyers in the two cases, the first in Louisiana and the second in Florida, say their clients were arrested at routine check-ins at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) offices and were given virtually no opportunity to speak with them or family members. Continue reading...

Andreas Kalcker, prominent peddler of chlorine dioxide remedy, to appear at Truth Seekers Conference' in MiamiDonald Trump's private golf resort in South Florida will next week host one of the world's leading purveyors of chlorine dioxide, a potentially life-threatening form of industrial bleach that is claimed without evidence to be a cure for cancer, Covid and autism.Andreas Kalcker is among 50 listed speakers at the Truth Seekers Conference", a two-day event opening on Thursday at the US president's resort, Trump National Doral Miami. The event features several anti-vaxxers and other conspiracy theorists who have been brought together by the far-right commentator Charlie Ward. Continue reading...

The Chinese will see this high tariff level is unsustainable for their business,' says Scott BessentThe US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said there is a path" to an agreement with China over tariffs after he had interactions with his Chinese counterparts last week in Washington.I had interaction with my Chinese counterparts, but it was more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings," Bessent told ABC News's This Week on Sunday, explaining that he had spoken to the Chinese during International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington. I don't know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi," he added. Continue reading...

He's got name recognition and gravitas. But he lacks ideas for how to heal the fissures in Canadian societyMonday's Canadian federal election is likely to determine the economic future of the country for years to come. Someone should inform the Conservatives and the New Democratic party (NDP). On 6 January this year, Justin Trudeau announced his resignation as prime minister and leader of the Liberal party, which had been in power since 2015. His resignation came amid plummeting support: the Liberals hadn't formed a majority government since 2019 and on the day Trudeau resigned, the party netted its lowest approval rating at 20%. After a truncated leadership race, Mark Carney became Canada's prime minister and leader of the Liberal party. He is now on the brink of retaining his position.Pierre Poilievre, on the other hand, leader of the official opposition Conservative party, has seen his party's fortunes ignominiously drop from 44% support when Trudeau resigned to 37% on 9 April. This is a battle of leadership, and while for two and a half years Poilievre seemed on course for victory at the next election, the re-election of Donald Trump in November reoriented politics. Poilievre has been flatfooted and unable to adjust to the new environment. Now he is struggling to retain his own seat.Erica Ifill is a political columnist based in Canada Continue reading...

Joining Mom and Dad can work as long as you know what you're bringing - and what you're giving upIt happens all the time. And not just in Hallmark movies.The son or the daughter pooh-poohs their family business and moves away from the heartland to pursue their fortune in New York or Chicago. Then - penniless and more than a little hungover - they return to their home town, hat in hand. Continue reading...

From humble beginnings, the 50501 community is one of many coming together to resist the president and his policiesIt started with a Reddit post.50 PROTESTS - 50 STATES - 1 DAY," the user who goes by Evolved Fungi wrote, kicking off a movement that has since drawn hundreds of thousands to the streets in protests against Donald Trump across the country. Continue reading...

Having fled here from Chile after Pinochet seized power in 1973 my father feared the state's arbitrary power to turn lives upside down. His outlook has never felt more relevantDon't open the door to nobody," my father warned throughout my childhood - right up until the day he died. He trusted no politicians, no organized religion and definitely no strangers knocking unannounced.Lately, his words echo louder than ever. Continue reading...

From Samuel Pepys to Joan Didion, many literary greats wrote for no one but themselves - then found posterity pawing through their secrets. Trust me: you don't want to know my innermost thoughtsA few years ago, a friend asked me to be her literary executor". We were both, I think, tickled by the grandiose sound of it, as if I would be playing off competing bids from the Bodleian and the New York Public Library for her juvenilia and early drafts (she is not actually primarily a writer). What she wants, though, is quite serious: I am to destroy her diaries when she dies.That is because they aren't meant for anyone's eyes but her own. Whatever is in there (I don't know, didn't ask), it was never meant for public consumption. Many diarists feel that way: Sheila Hancock wrote about destroying decades' worth of hers: Maybe this vicious, verging-on-insane woman is the real me, but if it is I don't want my daughters to find out."Emma Beddington is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Event took place with no Trump, no comedian and notably fewer politicians or Hollywood stars than in past yearsJournalists rallied in defence of press freedom on Saturday, insisting they are not the enemy of the people" at a Washington media gala snubbed by Donald Trump.The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) dinner was a muted affair with no US president, no comedian and notably fewer politicians or Hollywood stars than in past years. Continue reading...

The president's clashes with the judiciary over immigration have launched a constitutional crisis. We're headed toward a collisionDonald Trump issued his declaration of war against his enemies within" at the Department of Justice on 14 March. Thus the president launched a constitutional crisis that encompasses not just a group of migrants snatched without due process and transported against federal court orders to a foreign prison, but a wholesale assault on virtually every major institution of American society.We will expel the rogue actors and corrupt forces from our government. We will expose, and very much expose, their egregious crimes and severe misconduct," he pledged. It's going to be legendary." Continue reading...

From wellness farms' to expanded involuntary commitment policies, the US is embracing psychiatric incarceration under the guise of compassionAcross the country, a troubling trend is accelerating: the return of institutionalization - rebranded, repackaged and framed as modern mental health care". From Governor Kathy Hochul's push to expand involuntary commitment in New York to Robert F Kennedy Jr's proposal for wellness farms" under his Make America Healthy Again (Maha) initiative, policymakers are reviving the logics of confinement under the guise of care.These proposals may differ in form, but they share a common function: expanding the state's power to surveil, detain and treat" marginalized people deemed disruptive or deviant. Far from offering real support, they reflect a deep investment in carceral control - particularly over disabled, unhoused, racialized and LGBTQIA+ communities. Communities that have often seen how the framing of institutionalization as treatment" obscures both its violent history and its ongoing legacy. In doing so, these policies erase community-based solutions, undermine autonomy, and reinforce the very systems of confinement they claim to move beyond. Continue reading...

For the foreseeable future, international courts provide the only realistic prospect of justice for SyriansThere are few regimes as cruel as the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad. There was seemingly no limit to what it would do to sustain his grasp on power, including dropping chemical weapons and barrel bombs on civilians in territory held by the armed opposition, and starving, torturing, disappearing" and executing perceived opponents. The victims numbered in the hundreds of thousands.Since December, Assad is gone, toppled by the HTS rebel group that now controls the interim government in Damascus. The leader of the interim authorities, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has promised a far more inclusive and rights-respecting rule. The jury is still out on whether he will live up to those vows, but one place where he has fallen short is in satisfying the Syrian people's quest for justice. Both he and international courts could play a role.Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, is a visiting professor at Princeton's School of Public and International Affairs. His book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments, was published by Knopf and Allen Lane in February. Continue reading...

The quarterback had to wait until the fifth round to be drafted. He now has to fight for his place on the Browns and prove those who briefed against him wrongWith the 144th overall pick in the fifth round of the 2025 draft, the Cleveland Browns ended Shedeur Sanders' precipitous slide down the board, and gave him an NFL home.This was not at all what anybody outside the league expected. Based on Sanders' tape alone, he looked like a second-round talent, which - based on quarterback prospects over time - could have shoved him into the first round, given the importance of the position. Continue reading...

Most of us, with our lumpen faces, fragile bank balances, and bobbled polyester clothing, fall out regularly. That doesn't have to be a bad thingSomebody give George Clooney a medal. In an interview with CBS a few days ago, the actor claimed he has never, in 11 years of marriage, argued with his wife, the human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. Let's just accept it to be true that you can be married to a lawyer for more than a decade and never find yourself in an argument. And in this case, I suppose, why should it not be? These are some of the most beautiful people in the world. On top of this, they are extremely rich. They can have houses and holidays wherever they want. They can buy whatever clothes and dinners they choose. What would you have to argue about if you lived such a gilded existence?And actually, I do find myself wondering about that quite often these days, especially when I see the strange spectacle of enormously wealthy and successful celebrities arguing with strangers online. Maybe the fact this does happen is evidence that, for some people, even in a life with no material problems, artificial grievances can always be invented. Still, I can dream that I would not end up like that, and that if I was that rich, I would never argue. In fact, I simply would not have a phone. I would live a life surrounded only by beauty. I would buy new socks and new peach silk underwear every day. I would spend every minute of my days smiling calmly. And if I did run into problems with my partner, I would simply employ someone - let's call them a relationship tension expert - to work things out on my behalf.Rachel Connolly is a writer and the author of the novel Lazy CityDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

The US constitution protects incompetence. But don't underestimate the self-destructive power of the president's own hubrisTyrants come to a sticky end, or so history suggests. Richard III and Coriolanus made bloody exits. More recently, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows, Slobodan Milosevic went to jail, Bashar al-Assad went into exile. Libya's Muammar Gaddafi was run to ground in a sewer. Tyranny, from the Greek turannos (absolute ruler"), is typically fuelled by hubris and leads ineluctably to nemesis. Tyrants are for toppling. Their downfall is a saving grace.Tyranny, in its many forms, is back in vogue, and everyone knows who's to blame. To be fair, to suggest similarities between the aforementioned abominable individuals and Donald Trump would be utterly wrong. In key respects, he's worse. Measured by willingness and capacity to harm the world's poorest and most vulnerable, wreak global economic mayhem and threaten nuclear annihilation, Trump is uniquely dangerous - and ever more so by the day.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentatorDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

US president tasks secretary of state Marco Rubio with making immediate' progressDonald Trump has demanded free transit for American commercial and military ships through the Panama and Suez canals, tasking his secretary of state with making progress immediately".Trump has for months been calling for the United States to take control of the Panama canal but his social media post also shifted focus on to the vital Suez route. American ships, both military and commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez canals!" Trump posted on Saturday. Continue reading...

US president says after meeting that maybe Vladimir Putin doesn't want to stop the war'; Trump's US polling figures slide - key US politics stories from Saturday 26 April at a glanceDonald Trump spent his Saturday at the Vatican, attending the funeral of Pope Francis along with his wife Melania and leaders from more than 150 countries. Before the ceremony, the US president met with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for the first time since their heated Oval Office exchange in February.This time, the two men sat face to face on chairs drawn up in St Peter's Basilica, after huddling briefly with the French president, Emmanuel Macron. The results of the quiet conversation were apparent soon after, when Trump posted on his social media platform that there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days. It makes me think that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war, he's just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently". Continue reading...

Las Vegas Review-Journal, owned by billionaire Miriam Adelson, condemns pardon of ex-lawmaker Michele FioreA Nevada newspaper owned by a Donald Trump mega-donor has savaged the US president's decision to pardon a Republican councilwoman who was convicted of using donations intended to fund a statue of a police officer to pay for cosmetic surgery.The Las Vegas Review-Journal, owned by the billionaire Miriam Adelson, described the decision as a debasement of presidential pardon power" in a scathing editorial published after Trump granted clemency to Michele Fiore, a former Las Vegas councilwoman and Nevada state lawmaker. Continue reading...

Trump scores poorly on economy and immigration as some fear he is exceeding powers' and focussed on wrong issuesAmericans, including some Republicans, are losing faith in Donald Trump across a range of key issues, according to polling released this week. One survey found a majority describing the president's second stint in the White House so far as scary".Along with poor ratings on the economy and Trump's immigration policy, a survey released on Saturday found that only 24% of Americans believe Trump has focussed on the right priorities as president. Continue reading...

US president's epiphany that Putin may not want to stop Ukraine war follows symbolic' talk with Zelenskyy in St Peter's BasilicaIt was a fitting moment for an epiphany, if that's what this was. Donald Trump sat in the morning light in St Peter's Basilica hunched over in conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the assembled royalty and foreign leaders, the cardinals and bishops, and thousands of faithful gathered outside to prepare for the papal funeral.His revelation soon came in the guise of a Truth Social post. There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days," Trump mused. It makes me think that maybe [Putin] doesn't want to stop the war." Continue reading...

Giuffre's family issue statement confirming she killed herself at her farm in Western Australia

Governor Tony Evers takes aim at White House's dangerous rhetoric' as Republican Tony Wied demands Dugan resignThe FBI's arrest of Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan has triggered strong reactions from Republican and Democratic politicians, as the Trump administration veered closer to direct confrontation with the judiciary over its crackdown on immigration.Following the Milwaukee county circuit judge's arrest on Friday, over allegations that she helped a man evade US immigration officers at her courthouse, Republicans have called for her removal while Democrats regard her arrest as a reflection of the administration's increasing disregard of judicial independence amid its push to deport immigrants on an enormous scale. Continue reading...

Evidence suggests an elaborate cover-up. The Met must act

Family issue statement on alleged Jeffrey Epstein victim who said she was trafficked to Prince AndrewVirginia Giuffre has been hailed as an unflinching campaigner for survivors of sexual abuse, who took on the wealthy and the powerful during the course of her life.Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors," her family said in a statement confirming her death. Continue reading...

A study shows the impact of feeding challenges on maternal mental health. With official help in short supply, it's time to support each otherAnyone who has struggled mentally knows it is often only with time and recovery that you can challenge the destructive thought patterns that once plagued you. That said, hindsight can also be a strange thing. While collecting Republic of Parenthood columns for a book, I spent time revisiting my old articles about my struggles with breastfeeding. I felt vindicated, as some of the things I wrote have since been confirmed.This week, the largest ever qualitative study on how difficulties with breastfeeding affects mothers' mental health has been published in Scientific Reports. More than 2,000 mothers were surveyed with 65% reporting difficulties with infant latching, which seemed to impact mental health".. Feeling like a bad mum" and like I had failed my baby" were some of the common reasons given by participants.Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The actor announced the change on her podcast. Apparently this is international news - and it has a serious sideYou're going to want to sit down for this one, because there's a lot to digest. Gwyneth Paltrow, who has consciously uncoupled from multiple food groups in the past, is bringing pasta back into her life. And she can have a little bread and cheese, too, as a treat. Continue reading...

Residents of the Lower Ninth Ward say a huge industrial project will imperil its recovery from 2005's Hurricane KatrinaResidents ofNew Orleans' Ninth Ward, an area many declared dead after Hurricane Katrina, know their history - and the resurgent arts district that marks their comeback. They worry that a huge industrial project would bury the great resurrection. And it's only the latest crisis with which they have grappled.For all its grandeur and rocking street pageants, New Orleans faced another crisis after the New Year's Day terrorist attack killed 14 on its globally famed Bourbon Street. Would the killings turn away tourists? The city doubled down on security as it hosted the NFL's Super Bowl in February, with help from the state government. Lavish media coverage followed. The city rolled into Mardi Gras in early March, with crowded parades, nightclubs, restaurants and art galleries, a healthy boost for New Orleans's $8bn tourist economy. Continue reading...

David A Graham's latest book considers the vast far-right plan to change US politics - and why its architects are playing the long gameDavid A Graham doesn't say he read Project 2025 so you don't have to, but it might be inferred.The Atlantic staff writer's new book, The Project: How Project 2025 Is Reshaping America, is a swift but thorough overview of the vast far-right plan for a second Trump administration that achieved notoriety last year. Over just 138 pages, a passing dream next to the Heritage Foundation's 922-page doorstop, Graham considers the origins of Project 2025, its aims and effects so far.The Project is published in the US by Random House Continue reading...

Party eyes dramatic spending cuts to turn president's promises into reality - but not all lawmakers are on boardDonald Trump has made a simple request of Congress's Republican leaders: deliver one big, beautiful bill" that will turn his campaign promises into reality. By all indications, there will be little beautiful about the negotiations to come when Congress returns to session on Monday.The bill envisioned by the president will extend tax cuts enacted during his first term, fund more border defenses and mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and potentially include the president's vow to end the taxation of tips, overtime and social security payments. To pay for it, the GOP is eyeing dramatic reductions in government spending, and has targeted social safety net programs relied on by tens of millions of Americans. Continue reading...

The pro-Israel campaign to protect' Jews by punishing anti-Zionist speech often targets Jews. That is no surpriseThe Trump administration claims that its moves to defund universities, arrest and deport students and force schools to demote or monitor professors are meant to combat antisemitism, protect Jewish students and remove Hamas-supporting" foreign nationals from the country. American pro-Israel groups including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Hillel International, Aipac and the Heritage Foundation have united behind Republican measures to crack down on higher education and its putative antisemitism. Religiously identified groups such as the Orthodox Union and Christians United for Israel have joined the chorus, celebrating the punishment of supposedly antisemitic students and professors. Whatever their varied pasts, today's pro-Israel groups are not about protecting American Jews. Instead, they are allies in Maga's war on free speech, academic freedom and the US's democratic society itself.To be clear: the pro-Israel campaign to protect" Jews by punishing anti-Zionist speech often targets Jews. After a student complaint about a tenured Jewish professor's Twitter post, Muhlenberg College fired her. The ADL has rewarded Muhlenberg by grading it better than most" colleges for fighting antisemitism". The ADL also accused Jewish Voice for Peace, a large, anti-Zionist Jewish group with chapters on many American campuses, of promot[ing] messaging" that can include support for terrorists". Under pressure from the Trump administration, Columbia University expelled a Jewish graduate student and United Auto Workers local president who demonstrated against the war in Gaza.Joshua Schreier is a professor of history and Jewish studies at Vassar College. Continue reading...

Legal aid group says most students contacting them are Palestinian, Arab Muslim and other students of colorEK was completing a take-home exam on 6 March when the dean of student conduct at Swarthmore College emailed her about an urgent Zoom meeting. On the video call, she said, the dean told her that she would be suspended for one semester for staging a protest at the college's trustees' dinner in December 2023. Using a bullhorn, EK had interrupted the event to demand that the school divest from products that fuel Israel's war on Gaza.A panel of students and school employees had found her responsible for assault, among other code of conduct violations for the incident. EK, a final-semester senior who is using a pseudonym out of fear of retaliation, recalled being in shock: I've been really distraught by all of this," EK said. I used to be unhoused before I came to Swarthmore, so to be put into this situation again is very disturbing." Continue reading...

Senior officials unsure who to believe after aides fired and chief of staff quits amid look into Panama canal media leakDefense secretary Pete Hegseth's orbit has become consumed by a contentious leak investigation that those inside the Pentagon believe is behind the firing of three senior aides last week, according to five people involved in the situation.The secretary's office has been marked for weeks by ugly internal politics between chief of staff Joe Kasper, who left the department on Thursday, and the three ousted aides, including senior adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief Darin Selnick and chief to the deputy defense secretary Colin Carroll. Continue reading...

Annual event likely to prove gloomy affair amid Trump attacks on press and rise of Maga media ecosystemIt is no laughing matter. The annual dinner for journalists who cover the White House is best known for American presidents trying to be funny and comedians trying to be political. But this year's edition will feature neither.Instead the event in a downtown Washington hotel on Saturday night will, critics say, resemble something closer to a wake for legacy media still trying to find an effective response to Donald Trump's divide-and-rule tactics and the rise of the Maga media ecosystem. Continue reading...

Some, especially within the US, see the conclave as an opportunity to establish a more conservative leaderFor Catholics who cherished Pope Francis's relentless defence of the dignity of migrants and minorities, the footage of his deeply awkward meeting with JD Vance on Easter Sunday made for unsettling viewing. During his 12 years in St Peter's chair, Francis railed against Christian complicity with America first"-type nationalist movements across the west. Here, looming over him on what turned out to be the eve of his death, was the White House embodiment of the insular, bullying politics he spent so much energy fighting against.What now? The pope from the ends of the earth" will be laid to rest on Saturday in an unadorned tomb in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, after a funeral attended by about 50 heads of state and 130 delegations from around the world. Progressives inside and outside the church will hope that encounter with the US vice-president was not an ominous portent. Continue reading...

Coming from Egypt, I know a dictatorship when I see one. The same can't be said for the white voters who brought Trump to powerWhat's he done now?" My parents live in Cairo and I'm in New York City. We FaceTime once a week and that question is like a game we play. My parents ask about Donald Trump and I ask about Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, whom Trump calls my favourite dictator". Aren't we Egyptian-Americans lucky - a dictator for each side of our hyphen.Tellingly, the he" my parents ask about has dominated our conversations lately.Mona Eltahawy writes the FEMINIST GIANT newsletter. She is the author of The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls and Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual RevolutionDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

In the early hours of 24 April the realisation dawned: Putin will get a deal that humiliates Ukraine - or continue to slaughter our civiliansDay 1,156 of the invasion; 24 April 2025. Thirty hours after the end of Russia's fake Easter ceasefire". It is 6.21am: feeling anxious, I call my father. He is travelling by train from the western part of Ukraine to Kyiv, due to arrive in 40 minutes. He picks up the phone, and from his cheerful tone I gather that he has not yet heard the news. I ask if the train is running late. My father says everything is fine, he can already spot familiar places in the Kyiv region. He wants to know why I doubt the arrival time. I tell him that sadly Russia has been shelling the country all night long. In Kyiv, I say, we have lived through one of the worst nights. I'm jumping in a taxi," I add. I'll see you soon."Those who survive shelling often imitate the sounds of explosions when they talk about the experience. I instantly think of this when an early morning roll call of how are you?" starts in the friends' group chat. Whoosh. Whiz. Boom. Bang. The only thing I can write is the sounds of what came flying at us the during the night. Like a child learning to talk. Or a person who has lost the ability to speak. Continue reading...

Pam Bondi, US attorney general, says conduct of federal employees who leak information to media is treasonous'. This blog is now closed.Apple is reportedly planning to switch assembly of all iPhones for the US market to India as the company seeks to reduce its reliance on a Chinese manufacturing base amid Donald Trump's trade war.The $3tn (2.3tn) technology company aims to make the shift as soon as next year, the Financial Times reported. Continue reading...

FBI director Kash Patel accuses judge Hannah Dugan of helping an illegal alien' evade arrest - key US politics stories from 25 April at a glanceThe Trump administration's war on the judiciary deepened on Friday as the FBI arrested a county circuit judge on charges of obstruction, accusing her of helping a man evade immigration authorities as they sought his arrest at her courthouse.The judge, Hannah Dugan, was apprehended in the courthouse where she works in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a spokesperson for the US Marshals Service confirmed to the Guardian. Kash Patel, the Trump-appointed FBI director, wrote on X that he believed Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from" Eduardo Flores Ruiz, who he called an illegal alien". Agents chased down" the man and arrested him later, he added. Continue reading...