29 h. ago The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: a boon to the UK, as well as audiences elsewhere | Editorial

Britain would benefit from pledging more sustained and committed support in this age of disinformation and global turmoilTwo years ago, BBC Arabic radio left the airwaves after decades. Soon afterwards, Russia’s Sputnik service began broadcasting on the frequency left vacant in Lebanon. That detail illuminates a larger picture. China, Russia and others see global-facing media as central to their global ambitions and are investing accordingly – pumping out propaganda to muddle or drown out objective, independently minded journalism. These outlets are state-controlled as well as state-owned.Meanwhile, conspiracy theories and disinformation proliferate online, attacks on press freedom intensify and the Trump administration is dismantling media organisations including Voice of America and Radio Free Asia (RFA), which have been essential sources of information for audiences under repressive regimes. Official Chinese media were gleeful at what RFA’s president, Bay Fang, cal...

Events

29 h. ago Kari Lake brought back a skeleton crew to Voice of America. They’re ‘angry most of the time’

‘To me, it feels like emotional terror to ensure obedience,’ VOA White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara, who is on administrative leave, told The Independent

Events

63 h. ago Court halts conclusion of Chagos Islands deal with injunction

Sir Keir Starmer had been expected to attend a virtual ceremony alongside representatives from the Mauritian government to sign off on the deal.

Economics

3 d. ago China ‘seriously concerned’ over Trump’s Golden Dome defense system – live

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Trump’s project carries ‘strong offensive implications’ and heightens risks of space militarization and arms raceA small southern California school district must immediately pause its ban on critical race theory (CRT), a California appeals court ruled on Thursday morning.The 4th district court of appeals ruling put a halt to the Temecula Valley unified school district ban until its litigation is settled in the California legal system. The decision is the latest in a long-running legal battle over the CRT ban, which was first adopted as a resolution by the Temecula Valley Board of Education in December 2022 as they attempted to purge elementary school textbooks that reference gay rights icon Harvey Milk. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago DOGE’s ‘brute force’ takeover of Institute of Peace was illegal and should be ‘null and void,’ judge says

Judge Beryl Howell blasts ‘gross usurpation of power’ in Trump efforts to dismantle congressionally funded agency

Events

6 d. ago Libraries are cutting back on staff and services after Trump's order to dismantle small agency

Libraries across the United States have cut back on some digital services weeks after the Trump administration's move to dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services

Politics

9 d. ago South Africa says Trump's aid cuts stripped more than 8,000 health workers from its HIV program

The Trump administration’s dismantling of USAID has put more than 8,000 health workers in South Africa’s national HIV program out of work

Politics

9 d. ago Bruce Springsteen says Trump is running ‘rogue government’ and ‘siding with dictators’

Rock’n’roll legend makes series of blistering speeches on stage in Manchester, targeting ‘corrupt, incompetent and treasonous administration’Bruce Springsteen has made a series of rousing, splenetic speeches castigating Donald Trump and his administration, calling the president “unfit” for office.In what amounts to one of the most sustained attacks on Trump and American lawmakers from a cultural figure, he made the speeches on stage in Manchester, as he opened his Land of Hope and Dreams tour with the E Street Band.There’s some very weird, strange and dangerous shit going on out there right now. In America, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now.In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. This is happening now. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Meet Chinese Donald Trump as impersonator who nails president’s accent goes viral

Chen Rui is a marketing executive in China who has never been to America or studied abroad, but has absolutely nailed the voice and mannerisms of US President Donald Trump

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Maduro did not close our bureau – Trump did’: Voice of America journalists speak out

Workers at the esteemed news service say they’re being silenced by the president – but they’re vowing to fight backCarolina Valladares Pérez, a Washington-based correspondent for the government-funded international news service Voice of America, has reported from places where press freedom is severely restricted – war zones and autocratic states – in the Middle East and across Latin America. Intimidation and threats from state officials were not unusual – but she always managed to get the story out.Now for the first time in her career, Valladares Pérez says she has been silenced – not by a faraway regime, but by the government of the United States. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Mark Twain by Ron Chernow review – the story of America’s first literary celebrity, from the author of Hamilton

A definitive new biography takes in adventures on the Mississippi, racist stereotypes and get-rich-quick schemesIn his lifetime, Mark Twain was the greatest literary celebrity the world had ever known. In the US, he hobnobbed with presidents; on his many travels, he would dine privately with the German kaiser, the Austrian emperor, or the Prince of Wales. Visiting England to collect an honorary degree from Oxford University, he was cheered off his ship by the stevedores of the London docks, before making his way to Windsor Castle for tea with the king and queen.He was the bracing, irreverently humorous voice of America. Like Charles Dickens, whom he heard read from his own work in New York, he became a performer as well as an author. In London he was feted when he read passages from his travelogue of the Wild West, Roughing It. Everyone loved the “twang of his drawl”. He went on to take his work in progress, Huckleberry Finn, round more than 100 American towns and cities, earning ha...

Culture

2 w. ago ‘Fight back’: journalist taking Trump administration to court calls for media to resist attacks

Patsy Widakuswara, lead plaintiff in lawsuit fighting order to dismantle Voice of America, says US government is becoming more aggressiveThe lead plaintiff in a lawsuit fighting Donald Trump’s order to dismantle Voice of America has said the media has to resist as the administration becomes increasingly aggressive against the press.“I never in a million years thought I would have to fight for freedom of the press in the United States of America. And yet here we are,” says Patsy Widakuswara, the White House bureau chief for the broadcasting network. “As journalism is under attack, it feels empowering to fight back. We need more people to resist and fight back.” Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Voice of America to resume airing after court halts Trump’s dismantling of broadcaster

The broadcaster, a target of president’s sweeping cuts to US media agencies, could be back on air as soon as next weekVoice of America (VoA), the US-taxpayer funded news service for overseas listeners, could be back on the air as soon as next week, after a federal appeals court granted a temporary stay on an executive order dismantling the broadcaster.VoA was effectively shut down after Trump signed an order on 14 March dismantling or shrinking seven agencies including the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM). Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago ‘A cocktail for a misinformed world’: why China and Russia are cheering Trump’s attacks on media

Today on World Press Freedom Day, there are warnings that US attempts to withdraw from promoting independent journalism will have far-reaching effectsAs Donald Trump’s executive order in March led to the shuttering of Voice of America (VOA) – the global broadcaster whose roots date back to the fight against Nazi propaganda – he quickly attracted support from figures not used to aligning themselves with any US administration.Trump had ordered the US Agency for Global Media, the federal agency that funds VOA and other groups promoting independent journalism overseas, to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law”. The decision suddenly halted programming in 49 languages to more than 425 million people. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Venezuela rejects UN court order to halt election in territory under dispute with Guyana

Venezuela’s government has rejected a ruling from the United Nations’ top court ordering the South American country to refrain from holding elections for officials who supposedly would oversee a resource-rich region in neighboring Guyana that both nations claim as their own

Politics

3 w. ago Judge temporarily blocks Trump administration from dismantling library services agency

A federal judge has agreed to temporarily block the Trump administration from taking any more steps to dismantle an agency that funds and promotes libraries across the nation

Politics

3 w. ago Court refuses to halt execution of Gulf War veteran who killed girlfriend and three children

Hutchinson's lawyers said he suffers from Gulf War Illness as well as post-traumatic stress disorder

Events

3 w. ago US funds supported Nepal's growing LGBTQ+ community. Now that money is gone

Many support centers for Nepal’s LGBTQ+ community have closed since the Trump administration began dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development

Economics

3 w. ago Equinor considers suing Trump administration over halted US windfarm

Norway’s state energy company’s $2.5bn project off coast of New York was almost a third finishedNorway’s state energy company may take Donald Trump’s administration to court after it ordered an “unprecedented” halt to a $2.5bn (£1.87bn) windfarm project off the coast of New York.Equinor is considering its legal options after the US interior secretary, Doug Burgum, ordered the company to “immediately halt all construction activities” on an offshore windfarm last month. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago AmeriCorps cuts prompt two dozen states to sue Trump administration

About two dozen states have sued the Trump administration over the dismantling of AmeriCorps

Politics