5 h. ago Tony Blair thinktank worked with project developing ‘Trump Riviera’ Gaza plan

Staff at former UK PM’s institute took part in calls as proposal led by US consulting firm and Israeli business people evolvedTony Blair’s thinktank worked with a project developing a postwar Gaza plan that included the creation of a “Trump Riviera” and a manufacturing zone named after Elon Musk.The project, led by Israeli business people and using financial models developed by the US consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), was developed against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s vision of taking over the Palestinian territory and transforming it into a resort. Continue reading...

Politics

7 h. ago Tony Blair think tank 'involved in talks over plan for Gaza Riviera holiday destination' with staff saying Israeli attacks created redevelopment 'opportunity'

Staff from the former Labour prime minister's Institute for Global Change said the damage caused by months of Israeli attacks had created a 'once-in-a-century opportunity' to redevelop it.

Events

28 h. ago Tony Blair’s staff took part in ‘Gaza Riviera’ project with BCG

Former UK prime minister’s institute participated in meetings on plan to turn shattered enclave into trading hub

Politics

39 h. ago The UN is our best defence against a third world war. As Trump wields the axe, who will fight to save it? | Simon Tisdall

If the US cuts off the cash it will have world-changing effects, but it’s not the only country falling short in its obligations to the United Nations The United Nations and its agencies have long struggled with funding shortfalls. Now an entrenched problem is becoming an acute crisis in the shadow of Donald Trump’s executioner’s axe. The US is the biggest contributor, at 22%, to the UN’s core budget. In February, the White House announced a six-month review of US membership of all international organisations, conventions and treaties, including the UN, with a view to reducing or ending funding – and possible withdrawal. The deadline for decapitation falls next month.Trump’s abolition of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and scrapping of most aid programmes, has already badly damaged UN-led and UN-backed humanitarian operations, which rely on discretionary funding. Yet Trump’s axe symbolises a more fundamental threat – to multilateralism and the much-battered inter...

Politics

45 h. ago Families to get £400m boost as government revives New Labour's biggest success story

The cash boost for early years support comes as ministers prepare to bring back a revamped version of Sure Start - the family hubs introduced under Tony Blair's Labour government

Politics

5 d. ago DAN HODGES: What one Cabinet minister has told me about what REALLY lies behind Reeves's public breakdown, the truth about Angela Rayner's role

We may never properly learn what finally brought Rachel Reeves to break down in tears in the House of Commons chamber yesterday.

Politics

5 d. ago DAN HODGES: No wonder Rachel's crying! Keir Starmer's behind

The House of Commons has just witnessed one of its most incredible - and distressing - sessions of Prime Minister's Questions.

Politics

5 d. ago EPA forced to auction off 20,000 lab rats, mice, and rabbits as Trump shuts down research projects

Approximately three quarters of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development — representing 1,000 scientist positions — will be cut under the Trump administration

Politics

6 d. ago EPA staffers are trying to get people to adopt lab rats as Trump team shuts down research projects

Approximately three quarters of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development — representing 1,000 scientist positions — will be cut under the Trump administration

Politics

6 d. ago How Labour welfare vote rebellion compares to previous revolts by MPs

Keir Starmer has suffered a blow inflicted by his own Labour MPs, but how does it stack up against previous votes under other prime ministers, including Tony Blair’s controversial policies on university tuition fees and the Iraq war?

Politics

6 d. ago The Guardian view on Trump’s aid cuts and development: the global majority deserve justice, not charity | Editorial

Funding is plummeting as needs grow, with the closure of USAID, the slashing of UK and European aid budgets, and the obstruction of debt reform and cancellationWhen one door closes, you would hope that another opens. As USAID was formally shut down on Monday, a once-in-a-decade development financing conference was kicking off in Seville. But while initially intended to move the world closer to its ambitious 2030 sustainable development goals, it now looks more like an attempt to prevent a reversal of the progress already made.A study published in the Lancet predicted that Donald Trump’s aid cuts could claim more than 14 million lives by 2030, a third of them among children. For many poor countries, the scale of the shock would be similar to that of a major war, the authors found. More than four-fifths of the US agency’s programmes have been cut, with surviving projects folded into the state department. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Obama and Bush call Trump’s USAID closure a ‘travesty’ as report warns of 14 million extra deaths

Former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush and singer Bono send emotional message to staff as organisation closesBarack Obama and George W Bush have criticised the closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as a study warned it could result in “a staggering number” of avoidable deaths – more than 14 million over five years.The former US presidents made rare public criticisms of the Trump administration as they took part in a video farewell for USAID staffers on Monday on its last day as an independent organisation. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Obama calls Trump’s USAID closure a ‘travesty’ as report warns of extra 14 million deaths by 2030

Former presidents Obama and George W Bush and singer Bono send emotional message to staff as organisation closesBarack Obama and George W Bush have criticised the closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as a study warned it would result in “a staggering number” of avoidable deaths.The former US presidents made rare public criticisms of the Trump administration as they took part in a video farewell for USAID staffers on its last day as an independent organisation. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago Obama and Bush call Trump’s USAID closure a ‘travesty’ as report warns of millions of extra deaths

Former presidents Barack Obama and George W Bush and singer Bono send emotional message to staff as organisation closesBarack Obama and George W Bush have criticised the closure of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as a study warned it would result in “a staggering number” of avoidable deaths.The former US presidents made rare public criticisms of the Trump administration as they took part in a video farewell for USAID staffers on its last day as an independent organisation. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago More than 14 MILLION could die as a result of Trump's foreign aid cuts, study finds

Research revealed that 4.5 million children under the age of five could die by 2030 as a result of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) being dismantled by the Trump administration.

Politics

2 w. ago Britain warns Trump's 'bullseye' air strikes on Iran won't stop Tehran developing nuclear weapons

The US president authorised bombings of key nuclear sites, including the heavily fortified Fordow plant

Events

2 w. ago Kirsty Coventry is now the most powerful person in sport and faces a bulging in

Successor to Thomas Bach is already making a positive impression and displaying a more human approachA new day has broken, has it not? For several reasons, Tony Blair’s 1997 election victory speech comes to mind on what will be a historic and symbolic day for sport. Because in Lausanne on Monday, after plenty of handshakes and platitudes, the 41-year-old Kirsty Coventry will become the first female and first African president of the International Olympic Committee in its 131-year-old history.It has been, by any measure, a dizzying ascent. In 2016, Coventry stepped out of an Olympic pool for the final time in Rio. Now, nine years later, she is the most powerful person in sport. Yet as she takes charge, there are some who suspect that the new dawn will look rather like the old one – and that her predecessor, Thomas Bach, and his administration, will remain puppet masters behind the throne. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Coventry makes history and has steel to make IOC role more than a puppet show | Sean Ingle

Bach’s successor is already making a positive impression but will need all her resolve at mammoth organisationA new day has broken, has it not? For several reasons, Tony Blair’s 1997 election victory speech comes to mind on what will be a historic and symbolic day for sport. Because in Lausanne on Monday, after plenty of handshakes and platitudes, the 41-year-old Kirsty Coventry will become the first female and first African president of the International Olympic Committee in its 131-year-old history.It has been, by any measure, a dizzying ascent. In 2016, Coventry stepped out of an Olympic pool for the final time in Rio. Now, nine years later, she is the most powerful person in sport. Yet as she takes charge, there are some who suspect that the new dawn will look rather like the old one – and that her predecessor, Thomas Bach, and his administration, will remain puppet masters behind the throne. Continue reading...

Culture

2 w. ago Tony Blair to help Scottish Labour in bid to oust the SNP from power

The former prime minister's non-profit organisation is working with Scottish Labour on health policy.

Politics

2 w. ago What it’s really like to know I’m going to miss my Harvard graduation because of Trump’s travel ban

Like many other international students I have had my educational dreams suspended without reason – and learned plenty about racism and resilienceNext May, I should be walking across a stage at Harvard – my two-year-old daughter in my arms, my name called out, my doctoral hood placed over shoulders that have carried far more than academic ambition.It was going to be more than a graduation. It was to be a culmination, a reclamation. My daughter’s presence would symbolise not only my personal triumph but the very journey that led me here: discovering my own uterine fibroid when I decided to become a mother inspired my doctorate. Continue reading...

Politics