2 h. ago Does Trump truly care about Nigerian Christians? Of course not – he just knows faith sells | Simon Tisdall

In a bid to exercise absolute power, today’s crop of authoritarian leaders is recruiting – and exploiting – believersDonald Trump’s crusading threat to invade Nigeria and save Christians from Islamist terrorists is typical attention-seeking. Surely even he must realise that unilateral US military intervention would invite disaster. And he’s got his facts wrong. The threat of Islamist terrorism is real, but it affects Nigerian Muslims as much, if not more, than Christians. There’s no evidence of genocide, contrary to the alarmist claims of US far-right internet warriors. Trump’s intervention was about politics, not faith.In speaking out, he was massaging a key domestic constituency, not acting from genuine, God-fearing concern for “our cherished Christians” in a land he’s never visited. Christian nationalist votes helped clinch Trump’s two presidential victories despite the obvious insincerity of his professed beliefs. His support among white evangelical Protestants is much higher th...

Politics

59 h. ago BBC newsreader 'broke rules' by pulling a face because her script said 'pregnant people'

Martine Croxall went viral earlier this year when she made a face while reading the autocue script during a live broadcast, winning her a legion of fans.

Politics

67 h. ago Trump is weaponizing the welfare state to attack healthcare | Moira Donegan

The proposed withholding of Medicaid and Medicare to restrict gender-affirming care follows the same logic as attacks on abortion careIn United States v Skrmetti, a supreme court decision issued this summer, the rightwing justices made it legal for states to ban gender-affirming care for trans minors, in a ruling whose reasoning strained logic, claiming that state laws banning the treatment did not discriminate on the basis of sex. The ruling upheld laws in 27 states, all of them passed since 2021, which banned the treatment outright; according to the Human Rights Campaign, about 40% of trans minors live in states where treatment for them is against the law. Now, the Trump administration seems to be looking to cut off access to care for the other 60% of those kids.In a proposed rule leaked to NPR, the administration plans to ban gender-affirming care for minors from being covered by Medicaid or by the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or Chip. In a second, more sweeping proposed ...

Events

3 d. ago Election results live: Trump sounds like mob boss assessing Mamdani win: ‘We’ll take care of it’

California Republicans sued California Governor Gavin Newsom hours after voters approve Prop 50

Politics

7 d. ago President JD Vance or Marco Rubio? We’re seeing the first signs of the battle over Trump's succession | Simon Tisdall

It’s currently a two-horse race – and the next US leader is guaranteed to be a careerist who knows nothing of statesmanshipMillions of Americans yearn for 7 November 2028, the scheduled date of the next presidential election. That’s the day the Trump era effectively ends. Probably. That’s the day the Democrats will atone for Kamala Harris’s calamitous 2024 failure. Possibly. That’s the day US democracy is reborn. Hopefully. Succession talk is tantalising Washington. Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, has given the clearest sign yet that he’ll run and glossing over past blunders, Harris reckons she deserves a second chance.Yet most attention is focused on the Republicans, after Trump, 79, again threatened to defy the constitution and seek a third term. “I would love to do it,” he said this week. He rowed back later, albeit unconvincingly. “We’ll see what happens,” he teased. This undignified narcissist’s electoral fan dance will drag on interminably. Of greater practical interest a...

Politics

2 w. ago The war in Gaza is supposed to be over. But be warned: without truth and justice, it will never truly end | Simon Tisdall

A fragile ceasefire is in place, but what’s needed is an international tribunal for resolution and reparation. That’s the only route to lasting peaceDonald Trump insists the war in Gaza is over. No, it isn’t. The violence is much reduced. Yet Israeli forces have reportedly killed about 100 Palestinians and wounded hundreds more since the 10 October ceasefire began. Food aid supplies are still heavily restricted. The occupation continues, in Gaza and the West Bank. US officials fear prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his accomplices may renege on the deal, as in the past.Likewise, Hamas elements and rival gangs have kept fighting. The terrorist group is not disarming; Israeli forces have not fully withdrawn to the agreed lines. US-framed security, governance and reconstruction proposals remain vague, hypothetical and contentious. The war’s root causes, principally the denial of Palestinian sovereignty and statehood, are not addressed. Unless that changes, it will all kick off agai...

Events

2 w. ago Trump warns Hamas he could 'take care of them in two minutes' as he condemns terror group for breaking peace deal terms after videos of them torturing and executing Palestinians emerge

Donald Trump has warned Hamas he could 'take care' of the terror group in just two minutes as he condemned them for not honouring its ceasefire deal with Israel. 

Events

3 w. ago Xi Jinping is preparing to go toe to toe with Donald Trump – and there will only be one winner | Simon Tisdall

Beijing has realised that reckless America First policies are alienating old and new friends alike, creating a vacuum it can fillHolding court for the cameras in Sharm el-Sheikh last week, a manically self-congratulatory Donald Trump, Gaza’s make-believe saviour, hailed his fellow “tough guys” – tame tyrants, such as Egypt’s Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who helped fabricate his flimsy Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.Yet later this month, the American pharaoh-president is due to face a far less biddable tough guy: China’s leader, Xi Jinping. Bookmakers may withhold odds on the outcome. In the US-China race for 21st-century primacy, Xi is sprinting ahead, assisted by spur-heeled Trump’s many missteps.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump spills the tea on what he and Melania did on their first night in the White House

‘It’s just a special place, what can I say. So we have to take care of it,’ Trump said of the White House

Politics

4 w. ago France is not alone in its political crisis – belief in a democratic world is vanishing | Simon Tisdall

The populist right offers a solution in the form of turning back the clock. Macron and his counterparts need to find a different answer fastEmmanuel Macron sounded like a man in grief. Not angry, not defiant, just a little triste. Europe, he lamented, was suffering a “degeneration of democracy”. Many threats emanated from outside, from Russia, from China, from powerful US tech companies and social-media entrepreneurs, France’s president said. “But we should not be naive. On the inside we are turning on ourselves. We doubt our own democracy We see everywhere that something is happening to our democratic fabric. Democratic debate is turning into a debate of hatred.”Squeezed between vituperative extremes of right and left, Macron knows of what he speaks. But “ungovernable” France is not alone in its bitter, intractable divisions. Across Europe, in the UK and the US, distrust and grievance daily deepen political dysfunction and social discord. Macron’s words apply, in fact, to almost an...

Politics