1 week ago Europe does not have to choose between guns and butter. There is another way | Shahin Vallée and Joseph de Weck

Yes, defence spending has to rise – but slashing the welfare state to fund it would be a big mistakeEuropean governments are once again haunted by a tough choice between financing the military or spending on social programmes. That, at any rate, is the narrative that has taken hold since Donald Trump’s retreat from the postwar global security order and the urgent pressure to rearm Europe.But to frame the dilemma facing Europe in this way is a big mistake. History teaches us that the political choice has never been about guns or butter, but rather guns or taxes. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Donald Trump’s tax bill on the brink as House rebels hold up passage

Legislation’s deep healthcare cuts and implications for national debt spook parts of president’s Republican party

Politics

2 w. ago Iran's top diplomat says talks with US 'complicated' by American strike on nuclear sites

Iran's top diplomat says new nuclear talks with the U.S. are unlikely soon, citing complications from recent American military strikes

Events

3 w. ago Donald Trump says US to hold talks with Iran on nuclear deal as he doubles down on 'obliteration' of sites

US President says decision to target Iranian nuclear sites with bunker-busting bombs had ended the war, calling it ‘a victory for everybody’

Politics

3 w. ago Trump reveals crunch peace talks with Iran and says he has proof nuclear labs were obliterated: NATO live

President Donald Trump is using his NATO trip to double down on his 'total obliteration' of Iran's nuclear sites and has blasted the media for reporting on an intelligence assessment that cast doubt on the matter.

Politics

3 w. ago ‘A pause before something worse’: Iranians wary of what future holds

From renewed conflict to a resurgent regime, people tell of their fears, concerns and a glimmer of hopePeople from the Tehran area said the hours of darkness before Donald Trump’s ceasefire took hold were the most terrifying of the war as Israel intensified its bombardment.“We felt jets flying so low above our apartment that the windows shook. The bombing intensified to a level I’ve never experienced before. People ran into the streets, terrified and panicking,” said Mariam, 39, from the village of Kordan, about 30 miles (50km) north-west of the capital. Like everyone quoted in this article, she chose to use a pseudonym. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Iran and Israel launch intense wave of attacks as Trump talks of regime change

Attacks on both sides ramp up as US president questions if regime change in Tehran could ‘make Iran great again’Live coverage: region braces for Iranian response to US strikesUS-Iran crisis: what we know so farIran and Israel have launched intense waves of attacks and missile strikes after Donald Trump raised the prospect of regime change in Tehran, further provoking a situation that was drastically inflamed by US strikes on nuclear sites over the weekend.Israel’s military said on Monday it was attacking around Iran’s western city of Kermanshah. It said 15 fighter jets had struck missile launchers and storage sites close to the border with Iraq. One of its drones was downed during an operation, it said. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Global alarm at US strikes on Iran amid fears conflict could spiral out of control

Politicians express ‘grave concern’ and urge all parties to de-escalate and return to talks on Iran’s nuclear programmeMiddle East crisis – latest updatesNations in the Middle East and beyond responded with alarm after US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday night as the EU and the UN called for immediate diplomacy, amid mounting fears that the war could trigger a wider escalation that could spiral out of control.Qatar, which hosts the biggest US military base in the Middle East, said on Sunday that it feared there could be serious repercussions regionally and internationally. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Iran is the enemy Netanyahu has always wanted to destroy. Even from their bomb shelters, most Israelis support his war | Aluf Benn

Within Israel, Iran is seen as the ultimate threat. The prime minister knows this is his chance to rewrite his bloodied legacy “It’s 1938 and Iran is Germany The Jewish people will not allow a second Holocaust.” Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recited slogans like these incessantly for decades, urging action against the gravest threat to the Jewish state – a nuclear-armed Iran. He conveyed the message to successive US presidents. He presented a bomb cartoon at the UN. At countless Holocaust memorial events he described Iran’s nuclear ambitions as the present-day “final solution”.Netanyahu talked and talked about the pressing Iranian threat, but his listeners were not convinced. They dismissed him as an alarmist whose deadline Iran crossed year after year without deploying a nuclear weapon (it still hasn’t). Netanyahu’s critics at home taunted him as a chicken who would never dare to attack Iran’s nuclear installations – unlike his more decisive predecessors, who had ord...

Events

4 w. ago Stagflation warning as Fed resists Trump's pressure and holds interest rates

The US Federal Reserve, led by Chairman Jay Powell (pictured), left rates at a range of 4.25-4.5% as it cut its forecasts for economic growth.

Events