61 h. ago Melania Trump launches new initiative to help children raised in foster system

Donald Trump signed order creating ‘Foster the Future’ to develop opportunities and online hub for resourcesMelania Trump, the first lady, is spearheading a new initiative aimed at improving career and education opportunities for children raised in foster care.Her husband, Donald Trump, signed an executive order on Thursday that creates a “Fostering the Future” program that brings together federal entities, non-profits, educational institutions and the private sector to develop those opportunities for foster youth. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago The Walmart and Costco effect: How superstores create overconsumption by design

Supercenters’ locations typically sit away from residential areas to maximize each trip with larger shopping carts

Politics

1 week ago ‘Am I allowed my fantasies?’ Joan Baez ponders lifelong pacifism in Trump

Last year, the acclaimed singer and civil rights activist Joan Baez published her debut poetry collection. Today, she shares a fiery new work exclusively with ‘The Independent’ that takes aim at the Trump administration and wrestles with her lifelong dedication to pacifism

Politics

1 week ago Joan Baez brutally roasts Trump’s government in Thanksgiving

Last year, the acclaimed singer and civil rights activist Joan Baez published her debut poetry collection. Today, she shares a fiery new work exclusively with ‘The Independent’ that takes aim at the Trump administration and wrestles with her lifelong dedication to pacifism

Politics

1 week ago Family speaks out after death of man deported by ICE in vegetative state

Randall Alberto Gamboa Esquivel’s family alleges negligence and inhumane treatmentThe recent death of a Costa Rican man who was jailed by US immigration authorities in February before being deported in a vegetative state in September has prompted his family and supporters to speak out with allegations of negligence and inhumane treatment.Nonetheless, a spokesperson for Donald Trump’s administration – which has aimed to deport as many people as possible from the US since his second presidency started in January – maintained in a statement that the medical treatment Randall Alberto Gamboa Esquivel received before his death is better than many immigrants “have received in their entire lives”. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Putin meets North Korea puppet for 'outcast handshake' as they're choked with sanctions

While Ukraine dominates global headlines, Russia's Mad Vlad quietly courts North Korea – building a friendship that could reshape sanctions and global power plays

Politics

2 w. ago Era of free trade and investment is over, Canada’s PM tells Apec summit

Mark Carney warns Asia-Pacific leaders global economy undergoing profound change, as China’s president mounts defence of free tradeThe Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has warned that the era of free trade and investment that formed the foundations of the postwar global economy has ended.In a stark message to Asia-Pacific leaders at the Apec summit in South Korea on Friday, Carney said rules-based open trade no longer worked in a global economy that was undergoing one of its most profound periods of change since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago How 'Love is Blind' is reshaping global views on love, from Japan to Brazil

Netflix's “Love Is Blind” explores love beyond appearances, with adaptations in various cultures

Politics

2 w. ago Trump raises eyebrows with awkward Narendra Modi impersonation during APEC speech

Donald Trump raised eyebrows with an awkward impression of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea.

Politics

3 w. ago Trump aims to ‘reshape the global economic order’ on Asia trip and will sit

Chinese leader has not met with an American president since he visited San Francisco and met with Joe Biden in November 2023

Politics

3 w. ago Canada’s PM Carney courts Asia to cut economic dependence on US

Prime minister begins first visit to Indo-Pacific since taking office as country seeks to double its trade with rest of world

Economics

3 w. ago 'Considerable chance' Trump may meet North Korean tyrant Kim Jong

The American president is due to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in South Korea next week.

Politics

3 w. ago Trump says all Canada trade talks ‘terminated’ over ad criticising tariffs

US president accuses Canada of ‘egregious behaviour’ after release of ad featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about tariffs Donald Trump has said he is ending “all trade negotiations” with Canada after the release of a television ad opposing US tariffs. The US president accused Canada of “egregious behavior” aimed at influencing US court decisions.The Thursday night post on Trump’s social media site came after Canadian prime minister Mark Carney said he aims to double his country’s exports to countries outside the US because of the threat posed by Trump’s tariffs. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump's turnaround on sanctions targets Russia's oil companies that fund the war in Ukraine

U.S. President Donald Trump has done a turnaround on sanctions against Russia, taking aim at Russia's two biggest oil companies and the billions of dollars they reap for Moscow's war against Ukraine

Events

3 w. ago Vance says Knesset votes on annexing West Bank are an ‘insult’ as Netanyahu halts progress

US vice-president suggests votes were ‘stupid political stunt’ as Israeli PM halts further work on billsMiddle East crisis – live updatesThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has ordered a halt to the advancement of parliamentary bills linked to the annexation of the West Bank after the US vice-president, JD Vance, described a vote on two bills in the Knesset as an “insult”.The bills applying Israeli law to the occupied West Bank, which would be tantamount to the annexation of land Palestinians want for a state, won preliminary approval from Israel’s parliament on Wednesday, barely a week after Donald Trump pushed through a deal aimed at ending a two-year Israeli offensive in Gaza. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie sit out Tottenham training before Monaco trip

Spurs captain Romero pulled out in the warm-up of Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa with an adductor issue.

Politics

4 w. ago Inside the Republican network behind big soda’s bid to pit Maga against Maha

A Guardian investigation finds the US soda and snack-food industries, threatened by RFK Jr’s movement to change Americans’ eating habits, have turned to a group of well-connected strategists, shadowy pollsters and ‘anti-woke’ influencersMajor US soft-drink and snack-food corporations are waging a coordinated campaign that aims to pit Donald Trump’s Maga faithful against Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again movement, a Guardian investigation in partnership with environmental watchdog Fieldnotes has found. Their goal is to stymie the Maha-led effort to curb Americans’ consumption of soda and ultra-processed foods.To carry out the plan, the companies have turned to a partially formalized network of for-hire pollsters, strategists and political financiers with deep ties to the national Republican party – several of whom have taken steps that obscure their connection to the effort and to one another. In the process, the industry has also been aided less directly by a loose co...

Politics