10 h. ago Top EU official von der Leyen to outline plans for dealing with Europe's challenges in major speech

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is set to deliver a major state of the union speech on the challenges facing the world’s biggest trading bloc and laying out her vision for tackling them

Politics

41 h. ago China's export growth slows in August amid trade tensions with US

China's customs agency reports that the country's exports grew last month, but at a slower pace than in recent months

Events

4 d. ago João Almeida trumps Jonas Vingegaard on Angliru for Vuelta stage victory

Portuguese rider wins stage 13 after brutal climbBritain’s Tom Pidcock holds on to third spot overallPortugal’s João Almeida held off race leader Jonas Vingegaardat the top of the brutal summit finish of Angliru to win stage 13 of the Vuelta a España on Friday.The top two in the general classification battled it out for the stage win, leaving the rest behind in the final 5km. Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) did all the work on the climb and stayed ahead of Visma-Lease a Bike’s Vingegaard in the sprint to the line. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago The cork in your wine bottle is one of very few products that dodged Trump's tariffs

U.S. winemakers have something to celebrate: the corks they’re popping aren’t subject to tariffs

Politics

4 d. ago Donald Trump axes security aid to Europe's frontline against Russia in shock move

The US is dramatically phasing out crucial security assistance programmes for European armies stationed along Russia's menacing border, as Donald Trump aggressively pushes the continent to cough up for more of its own defence.

Events

4 d. ago Macron says 26 nations ready to provide postwar military backing to Ukraine

French president says allies would either deploy ‘reassurance force’ troops to Ukraine, or be present in the area on land, sea or in the airTwenty-six nations have pledged to provide postwar security guarantees to Ukraine, including an international force on land and sea and in the air, Emmanuel Macron said after a summit at which European leaders sought to pin down Donald Trump on the level of support he is willing to give Kyiv.“The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” the French president told a press conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris, standing alongside Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Leaders gather for ‘Coalition of the Willing’ talks on Ukraine security guarantees – Europe live

Emmanuel Macron says Europe ready to provide such guarantees at meeting in Paris todayRutte gets also asked about his views on Russia’s opposition to the deployment of any Nato troops to Ukraine as part of security guarantees.He says:“But why are we interested in what Russia thinks about troops in Ukraine? It’s a sovereign country. It’s not for them to decide. Russia has nothing to do with this. Ukraine is a sovereign nation. If Ukraine wants to have security guarantee forces in Ukraine to support the peace deal, it’s up to them. Nobody else can decide about it. “Do you really think if he would not have been elected president united states, that Italy, Canada, Spain, Slovenia, Belgium and Luxembourg would have committed to do 2% this year? Do you really think that the whole of Nato would have committed to 5% committed to 5% including 3.5% core defence spending at the Nato Summit in The Hague?”“He took that leadership role, and it is not easy to solve this, but he is absolutely commi...

Politics

6 d. ago ‘You need solidarity and consistency’: Pedro Sánchez on the EU, Trump and fighting the far right

Spanish PM insists ‘migration is an opportunity’ and is not afraid to discuss what he considers Europe’s recent failuresWhen Pedro Sánchez and Keir Starmer meet in Downing Street on Wednesday it will be the first such bilateral summit between a Spanish prime minister and his British counterpart for more than a decade, an interregnum explained by Brexit and the now healed sore of Gibraltar.The absence of highest level diplomacy has become more glaring given the two men are the leading social democratic leaders of Europe, facing similar problems of migration, souring populist parties, the climate crisis and divisions over how to minimise the damage caused to the European global influence by Donald Trump’s erratic unilateralism. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago The Guardian view on Donald Trump and India: the tariff war that boosted China | Editorial

The White House wanted India to bow. Instead, Narendra Modi flew to China, shook Xi Jinping’s hand and left Washington sidelined Donald Trump’s imperial tendencies see the US president wield tariffs and sanctions in the expectation that America will receive tributes. Yet his latest move – punishing India with 50% tariffs for Russian oil purchases once encouraged by the US – has produced not submission but spectacle. It has sent India’s Narendra Modi to China for the first time in seven years as Xi Jinping hosted more than 20 leaders for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. And it is in Tianjin, not Washington, where it looks as if the hinge of history is moving.The SCO is easy to dismiss: the bloc is a bundle of contradictions. India and Pakistan remain adversaries. China and India still stare across a garrisoned Himalayan frontier, though relations have thawed since last October’s border breakthrough. Russia and China vie for influence in Central Asia. Unl...

Politics

8 d. ago Putin and Modi hold hands as leaders gather for China summit

Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi held hands as they greeted Xi Jinping at a summit in China on Monday, 1 September.

Politics

8 d. ago Putin says he and Trump came to ‘understanding’ about how to end Ukraine war at Alaska summit

Putin addresses leaders gathered in China for the SCO summit

Politics

8 d. ago Side by side in China, Putin and Xi in summit picture to chill the West... so what was Modi doing there alongside them?

On Sunday, China hosted the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin, a grand meeting of the leaders of 26 nations, many of them opposed to the US and Europe.

Politics

9 d. ago Putin given the red carpet treatment as he discusses Trump talks with Xi on sidelines of China summit

Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi are among the 20 leaders meeting in China for a security summit

Politics

9 d. ago Vladimir Putin meets Xi Jinping arrives in China for security summit – Ukraine war live

Russian president and his Chinese counterpart shake hands as more than 20 world leaders attend Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in TianjinFollowing a meeting with Ukraine’s top general, Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that his country’s forces are planning new strikes deep into Russia.In a post on X, the Ukrainian leader wrote:We analysed in detail the situation in the Zaporizhzhia direction and the enemy’s intentions. Also the situation in the border areas of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions.We will continue our active operations in exactly the way needed for Ukraine’s defence. The forces and resources are prepared. New deep strikes have also been planned. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Vladimir Putin arrives in China for security summit – Ukraine war live

Russian president and Indian prime minister among more than 20 world leaders attending Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in TianjinThe Guardian’s Russian affairs reporter, Pjotr Sauer, has written a piece about Putin’s trip and what it may mean for the war in Ukraine. Here is an extract of his story:Key on the agenda, analysts say, will be for Putin and Xi to align their positions on the war in Ukraine amid US efforts to end the fighting. “It is an important time for them to talk about where the war is headed and how likely it is to be stopped in the near future,” said Alexander Gabuev, the director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre.Gabuev said Moscow wanted to know whether it could expect any further assistance from China and how Beijing would respond if the US were to ask it to put pressure on Russia to end the fighting Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Who are the world leaders attending China's upcoming summit and military parade

Beijing will roll out the red carpet for more than two dozen world leaders at two major events in the coming week

Politics

1 week ago The Guardian view on Russia’s strike on Kyiv: Putin is testing Trump’s will and Europe’s resolve | Editorial

The Kremlin sent a clear message with its lethal overnight raid on the Ukrainian capital. Will the US heed it?Wednesday night brought a grim return to Russia’s form: one of the heaviest air raids on Kyiv since the full-scale invasion began. Moscow eased off its strikes on major cities in the run-up to the Alaska summit, and it held off its attack on the Ukrainian capital until Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy, had finished his visit there. But within hours of his departure, at least 18 people, including several children, were dead in an attack on a residential block, and the European Union mission had been severely damaged.Donald Trump periodically suggests that he is drawing a line for Vladimir Putin. Yet each time he appears to set a limit, the Russian president breezes through it. The Kyiv attack shows that it is Mr Putin who is testing the US president. Mr Trump threatened “severe consequences” if Moscow did not immediately agree to a ceasefire – but in Anchora...

Politics

1 week ago After a summer of submission to Trump, Europe knows it must defend Ukraine – and itself – alone | Paul Taylor

Can a European-led coalition really provide credible security guarantees? Past examples are not encouragingAfter an unusual August of geopolitical summitry, the reality is sinking in that Europe is on its own in defending Ukraine’s sovereignty and hence its own security against Russian aggression and cannot count on much support from the United States.The sense of strategic loneliness in an increasingly brutal global power contest follows a summer of submission in which the EU accepted a manifestly unbalanced trade deal imposed by Donald Trump and pledged improbably large investments in the US while European Nato members promised to boost their defence spending to an aspirational 5% of gross domestic product – all to appease Trump in hopes of keeping the US engaged in European security.Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago A US tariff exemption for small orders ends Friday. It's a big deal to some shoppers and businesses

Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods

Economics

2 w. ago The Guardian view on protests in Serbia: a battle for democracy that the EU must not ignore | Editorial

An authoritarian crackdown on mass demonstrations in an EU candidate country requires a stronger response from BrusselsDuring a summer in which European leaders have focused on shuttle diplomacy with Donald Trump over trade and Ukraine, they have maintained a discreet silence regarding another crisis in Europe’s east. For more than nine months, mass student-led protests in Serbia have been challenging the authoritarian rule of Aleksandar Vučić, who has been in office as prime minister and president for 11 years. Up to now, Brussels has largely opted to look away.The catalyst for some of the largest demonstrations in Serbia’s history was the collapse of a newly renovated railway station roof in the country’s second city, Novi Sad, leading to the deaths of 16 people. The disaster was widely attributed to entrenched fraud and corruption presided over by Mr Vučić’s ruling Serbian Progressive party, and swiftly became the spark for a movement for democratic reform. The students are deman...

Events