17 h. ago Six great reads: 100 Doge days, the magic of kitchen objects and what your dog is thinking

Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days Continue reading...

Politics

35 h. ago Revealed: Forecasts of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels soar in Trump’s first 100 days

Tariff chaos hampers Trump’s pledge to ‘drill, baby, drill’, but analysis still shows surge in planet-heating emissions‘A ruthless agenda’: charting 100 days of Trump’s onslaught on the environmentDonald Trump’s ambitions for the US to “drill, baby, drill” for more fossil fuels have ironically been hampered by the economic chaos unleashed by his own tariffs, but the US is still on track to increase oil and gas extraction, causing a surge in planet-heating emissions, a new analysis shows.The US was already the world’s leading oil and gas power, producing more of the fossil fuels than any country in history during Joe Biden’s administration. But Trump has sought to escalate this further, declaring an “energy emergency” to open up more land and ocean for drilling and launching an unprecedented assault on environmental regulations in his first 100 days back in the White House. Continue reading...

Politics

36 h. ago Trump 100 days: White House action plan makes Project 2025 look mild

Donald Trump tried to distance himself from the radical rightwing blueprint for government during the campaign but its prescriptions are all over the administration’s agendaTrump’s whirlwind start to his second presidencyWhen Donald Trump chose a Project 2025 author to lead a key federal agency that would carry out the underpinnings of the conservative manifesto’s aims, he solidified the project’s role in his second term.Shortly after he won re-election, the US president nominated Russ Vought to lead the office of management and budget. Vought wrote a chapter for Project 2025 about consolidating power in the executive branch and advances a theory that allows the president to withhold funds from agencies, even if Congress has allocated them. Consolidating power, in part through firing a supposed “deep state” and hiring loyalists, is a major plank of the project – and of Trump’s first 100 days. Continue reading...

Politics

61 h. ago Move fast and destroy things: 100 chaotic days of Elon Musk in the White House

From mass firings to unprecedented influence, Musk has left little of the federal government untouched in Doge roleOne hundred days after Elon Musk entered the White House as Donald Trump’s senior adviser and the de facto leader of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), the Tesla CEO has left little of the federal government unscathed. Over the course of just a few months, he has gutted agencies and public services that took decades to build while accumulating immense political power.Musk’s role in the Trump administration is without modern precedent. Never before has the world’s richest person been deputized by the US president to cull the very agencies that oversee his businesses. Musk’s attempts to radically dismantle government bureaus have won him sprawling influence. His team has embedded its members in key roles across federal agencies, gained access to personal data on millions of Americans and fired tens of thousands of workers. SpaceX, where he is CEO,...

Events

3 d. ago Trump 100 days: tariffs, egg prices, Ice arrests and approval rating – in charts

The first few months have seen record-breaking use of executive powers – here are some of the outlying trendsTrump 100 days: inside Trump’s whirlwind start to his second presidencyWhen reading a chart, an outlier is often the first thing you notice. The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second term has been full of them: immigration arrests spiking. Markets falling. Emission trends reversing. Hundreds of day one pardons to insurrectionists. Record-breaking use of executive powers. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago Readers give their verdict on Trump’s 100 days: ‘Extraordinary destruction’

The president promised an ‘extraordinary’ first 100 days in office but for many that has been true in all the wrong waysThe first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second term have polarized the United States and the world.Public opinion polls show the president’s approval rating is around 40% – having flipped from positive to negative since his inauguration. A vast majority of Americans are worried about a recession and how his trade war will affect the economy. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Trump 100 days: delusions of monarchy coupled with fundamental ineptitude

Trump has wasted no time in trying to remake the US in his image – with results that are sweeping, vengeful and chaotic100 days Trump – interactiveHe has blinged it with gold cherubs, gold eagles, gold medallions, gold figurines and gilded rococo mirrors. He has crammed its walls with gold-framed paintings of great men from US history. In 100 days Donald Trump has turned the Oval Office into a gilded cage.The portraits of Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan and other past presidents gaze down from a past that the 47th seems determined to erase. Trump is seeking to remake the US in his image at frightening speed. The shock and awe of his second term has challenged many Americans’ understanding of who they are. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Death, divorce and the magic of kitchen objects: how to find hope in loss

As they pass through different hands, cooking utensils can magically connect us to loved ones who are no longer with us I have long felt that kitchen objects can have a life of their own. Even so, I found this eerie. One August day in 2020, I was going to fetch clothes out of the washing machine when suddenly a cake tin fell at my feet with a loud clang. It wasn’t just any cake tin. It was the heart-shaped tin I had used to bake my own wedding cake. I wouldn’t have thought much of it except that it was only two months since my husband had left me, out of the blue.Nearly 23 years ago, this giant metal heart had been brand new. My husband-to-be had told me he liked fruit cake but hated glace cherries. For our wedding, I decided to bake him a rich, dark fruit cake with no cherries and chopped-up dried apricots to take their place. There are photos of us cutting the cake together looking blissfully happy. We would soon be on our way to Venice for our honeymoon. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Hearts have point to prove as Frankie Kent tells Neil Critchley he's '100 per cent ready' to face Aberdeen

The Jambos defender made no excuses as he admitted 'we haven't played well enough as our position shows'

Politics

3 w. ago US senator introduces conflict of interest bill aimed at Elon Musk

Exclusive: Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire seeks to set limits on special government employees in response to Musk’s White House roleA Democratic senator has introduced a bill that would prohibit awarding government contracts and grants to companies owned by special government employees, taking aim at Elon Musk, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO.The bill, authored by Jeanne Shaheen, the longtime Democratic New Hampshire senator, is an attempt to prevent conflicts of interest and was crafted in response to Musk’s role in the White House, where Donald Trump has designated him a special government employee, according to a Senate aide. Special government employees, which also include many members of Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), serve a limit of 130 days and are exempt from some financial disclosure rules. Continue reading...

Events

last month At least 27 killed in Israeli bombing of shelter in Gaza City, rescuers say

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians flee from southern city of Rafah in one of war’s biggest mass displacementsAn Israeli bombing of a school turned shelter in Gaza City has killed at least 27 people, rescuers said, and hundreds of thousands in the Rafah area are fleeing in one of the biggest mass displacements of the war amid Israel’s newly announced campaign to “divide up” the Gaza Strip.Three missiles hit Dar al-Arqam school in the al-Tuffah neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon, the civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmoud Bassal said, killing several children and wounding 100 people. Continue reading...

Events

last month Musk to remain ‘friend and adviser’ to Trump after leaving Doge, says Vance

Vice-president makes remark after reports that president told cabinet members billionaire will be stepping backJD Vance said on Thursday that Elon Musk would remain a “friend and an adviser” to the vice-president and Donald Trump after he leaves his current role with the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge).In recent days, several news outlets, including Politico, reported that Trump had told members of his cabinet that the tech billionaire, who holds the position of “special government employee”, would soon be stepping back from his role in the administration, and would take on a supporting role and return to the private sector. Continue reading...

Politics

last month ‘Potentially historic’ flooding threat looms after almost 100 tornadoes hit US

Rainfall near Memphis, Tennessee, is expected to exceed 12in over the next three daysA prolific tornado outbreak will give way to a rare and widespread flooding threat across the midwest and southern US this week, stressing the nation’s short-staffed weather forecasting and disaster response efforts.At least four people have reportedly died so far as nearly 100 tornadoes struck on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Events