8 h. ago Warning for Brits with blackbirds in their garden as deadly disease spreads rapidly

A mosquito-borne virus that has recently emerged in the UK has fueled fears for the nation's blackbirds, with scientists urging people to help monitor the situation

Events

8 d. ago 11,000 troops, 200 tanks, and dozens of foreign leaders: Putin stages Moscow parade in ‘belligerent’ show of force

Since Putin invaded Ukraine, the annual military parade has been a shadow of former years - but on Friday the Russian president put on an aggressive military display

Politics

2 w. ago Inside Taganrog: beatings, electrocution and starvation at prison where Ukrainians were tortured

Russia is holding an estimated 16,000 civilians in arbitrary detention at 180 separate facilities. Taganrog was the most notorious.Some weeks after being detained as she attempted to leave a Russian-occupied part of Ukraine in January 2023, Yelyzaveta Shylyk was given a polygraph test. As her interrogators attached the lie detector’s wires to her, they calmly issued a threat about what would happen if she failed the test: “You’ll go to a place where you’ll regret being born.”That place, she would later find out, had a name: Sizo number 2, a pre-trial detention centre in the southern Russian city of Taganrog. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Trump signs orders stepping up immigration crackdown and ‘unleashing America’s law enforcement’ – US politics live

Executive orders target sanctuary cities, give legal help for police accused of misconduct and require truck drivers to speak EnglishHere is an extract from The Atlantic’s piece on Trump’s first 100 days – in an interview secured after initially being canceled by the president over previous reporting from the journalists, who then reached the president on his cellphone – detailing some of the key development’s of his second term so far.The president seemed exhilarated by everything he had managed to do in the first two months of his second term: He had begun a purge of diversity efforts from the federal government; granted clemency to nearly 1,600 supporters who had participated in the invasion of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, including those caught beating police officers on camera; and signed 98 executive orders and counting (26 of them on his first day in office). He had fired independent regulators; gutted entire agencies; laid off great swaths of the federal workforce; and...

Politics

2 w. ago Job cuts delay Pentagon plans to expand work to prevent sex assaults and suicides

Senior defense officials say personnel cuts across the Defense Department will delay plans to hire at least 1,000 more civilians to help prevent sexual assault, suicides and behavior problems within the military

Events

2 w. ago Trump to step up immigration crackdown with extra powers for law enforcement – US politics live

Press secretary says president also to sign executive orders increasing pressure on sanctuary cities and statesHere is an extract from The Atlantic’s piece on Trump’s first 100 days – in an interview secured after initially being canceled by the president over previous reporting from the journalists, who then reached the president on his cellphone – detailing some of the key development’s of his second term so far.The president seemed exhilarated by everything he had managed to do in the first two months of his second term: He had begun a purge of diversity efforts from the federal government; granted clemency to nearly 1,600 supporters who had participated in the invasion of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, including those caught beating police officers on camera; and signed 98 executive orders and counting (26 of them on his first day in office). He had fired independent regulators; gutted entire agencies; laid off great swaths of the federal workforce; and invoked 18th-century ...

Politics

3 w. ago Ukraine has exposed Trump’s true identity: as a vandal, an autocrat, a gangster and a fool | Jonathan Freedland

This presidency places authoritarian ambition above all – and now the people of Ukraine are paying the priceTo see the true face of Donald Trump, look no further than Ukraine. Laid bare in his handling of that issue are not only his myriad weaknesses, but also the danger he poses to his own country and the wider world – to say nothing of the battered people of Ukraine itself.Don’t be fooled by the mild, vaguely theatrical rebuke Trump issued to Vladimir Putin on Thursday after Moscow unleashed a deadly wave of drone strikes on Kyiv, killing 12 and injuring dozens: “Vladimir, STOP!” Pay attention instead to the fact that, in the nearly 100 days since Trump took office, the US has essentially switched sides in the battle between Putin’s Russia and democratic Ukraine, backing the invaders against the invaded.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist and the host of the Politics Weekly America podcast100 days of Trump’s presidency, with Jonathan Freedland and guests. On 30 April, join ...

Politics

3 w. ago Archaeologists find wreck of large medieval boat in Barcelona

Experts hope vessel’s old timbers and nails will help shed light on how boats were built during medieval periodArchaeologists excavating the site of a former fish market in Barcelona have uncovered the remains of a large medieval boat that was swallowed by the waters off the Catalan capital 500 or 600 years ago.The area, which is being dug up in order to build a new centre dedicated to biomedicine and biodiversity, has already yielded finds ranging from a Spanish civil war air-raid shelter to traces of the old market and of the city’s 18th-century history. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Lithuania unveils evacuation plan for its capital’s 600,000 civilians amid fears Putin will invade it next

Vilnius’s mayor Valdas Benkunskas told a press conference residents would be ordered to leave towards the West

Politics

3 w. ago Lithuania reveals evacuation plan for its capital's 600,000 civilians as the NATO member tells of fears it will be next nation invaded by Putin

Lithuania's capital Vilnius presented Wednesday an evacuation plan in case of war, as the NATO member revealed its anxieties that Russia could target it next after its invasion of Ukraine.

Politics

3 w. ago Lithuania reveals evacuation plan for its capital's 600,000 civilians as the NATO member reveals fears it will be next nation invaded by Putin

Lithuania's capital Vilnius presented Wednesday an evacuation plan in case of war, as the NATO member revealed its anxieties that Russia could target it next after its invasion of Ukraine.

Politics

3 w. ago From the archive: ‘I pleaded for help. No one wrote back’: the pain of watching my country fall to the Taliban – podcast

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.This week, from 2021: As the fighters advanced on Kabul, it was civilians who mobilised to help with the evacuation. In the absence of a plan, the hardest decisions fell on inexperienced volunteers, and the stress began to tellBy Zarlasht Halaimzai. Read by Serena Manteghi Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago The Guardian view on the IMF’s warning: Donald Trump could cost the world a trillion dollars | Editorial

The US president’s economic agenda collides with fragile financial systems, triggering market fears, investor flight and developing nation chaosWake up! When the most sober of global institutions, the International Monetary Fund, abandons its usual technocratic calm to sound the alarm on the political roots of global financial instability, it’s time to pay attention. The IMF is warning of a non-negligible risk of a $1tn hit to global output, as Donald Trump’s erratic “America first” agenda – part oligarchic enrichment scheme, part mobster shakedown – collides with a perfect storm of global financial vulnerabilities.Such a shock would be equivalent to a third of that experienced in the 2008 crisis. But it would be felt in a much more fragile and politically charged environment. This time, the crisis stems not just from markets but from the politics at the heart of the dollar system. The IMF’s latest Global Financial Stability Report sees the danger in Mr Trump’s trade ...

Events