11 h. ago A biblical hatred is engulfing both sides in the Gaza conflict – and blinding them to reason | Jonathan Freedland

Israel starving Palestinians, two killings at a Jewish museum: both are atrocities. But vanishingly few can see itI sat this week with Hussein Agha, a man who has given his working life to seeking peace between Israelis and Palestinians, negotiating from the Palestinian side of the table. He was gloomier than I have ever seen him, adamant that peace between the two sides can never, ever come. Because, Agha explained, this conflict was not about mere lines on a map or forms of words, the goods in which diplomats trade. This was about emotions, and specifically hatreds. Hatreds that, he feared, are becoming too murderous to contain. “It’s biblical,” he said.What he had in mind was the fury that drove Hamas to slaughter around 1,200 Israelis on a sleepy Saturday morning nearly 20 months ago and the fury that has driven the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to bombard Gaza ever since, killing more than 50,000, according to the Hamas-controlled health ministry, and, over the last 80 days,...

Events

3 d. ago Trump the AI salesman makes deals in the Gulf – and rich men benefit

The president sold the US model of the industry that made it: enormous power concentrated in the hands of a few menHello, and welcome to TechScape. This week in tech: Donald Trump the AI salesman visits the Middle East; 23andMe gets bought, mostly for its data; and Elon Musk’s bot hallucinates an offensively incorrect historical record – twice.Legal aid hack: data from hundreds of thousands of people accessed, says MoJHow to protect your data after a cyber-attackScattered Spider hackers in UK are ‘facilitating’ cyber-attacks, says GoogleLargest US crypto exchange says cost of recent cyber-attack could reach $400m Continue reading...

Economics

4 d. ago Trump once condemned Qatar. How things have changed | Mohamad Bazzi

The country’s charm offensive and global mediator role – as well as a $400m plane – reveal a complicated relationshipOn his tour of the Middle East last week, Donald Trump was treated like royalty by the leaders of the wealthiest countries in the Arab world. The US president was feted in gilded ballrooms, his motorcade was flanked by dozens of men riding white Arabian horses and he was awarded an elaborate gold medal necklace. The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates went out of their way to show Trump that they respect him more than his predecessor, Joe Biden.While Trump frequently praised Saudi and UAE leaders during his first term, he was highly critical of Qatar, a small emirate that is rich in natural gas but usually overshadowed by its two larger and more powerful neighbors. In June 2017, Trump said Qatar “has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level” and he supported a blockade against the country, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Qa...

Politics

5 d. ago The Guardian view on Britain’s new aid vision: less cash, more spin. The cost will be counted in lives | Editorial

With development assistance cuts, ministers have traded responsibility for rhetoric and borrowed from Donald Trump’s playbook Last week, the government justified cutting the UK’s development budget from 0.5% to 0.3% of gross national income – the lowest level in more than 25 years – by claiming Britain’s role is now to “share expertise”, not hand out cash. With a straight face, the minister responsible, Jenny Chapman, told MPs on the international development committee that the age of the UK as “a global charity” was over. But this isn’t reinvention – it’s abdication, wrapped in spin. No wonder Sarah Champion, the Labour MP who is chair of the committee, called Lady Chapman’s remarks “naive” and “disrespectful”. Behind the slogans lies a brutal truth: lives will be lost, and Britain no longer cares. Dressing that up as the “new normal” doesn’t make it less callous.Kevin Watkins of the London School of Economics analysed the cuts and found no soft-landing options. He suggests chartin...

Economics

7 d. ago ANDREW NEIL: Donald Trump's 'bromance diplomacy' in the Middle East has achieved more in a few days than the conventional approach has in decades

Call it diplomacy by bromance. Donald Trump deployed it in the Middle East this week and made more progress in a few days than conventional diplomacy has made in decades.

Politics

7 d. ago Gianni Infantino under pressure to release details of Gulf trip with Donald Trump

Fifa president accompanied US president in Middle EastHuman Rights Watch wants ‘meaningful accountability’Gianni Infantino should account for his trip alongside Donald Trump to the Gulf this week and “detail precisely what it achieved for football and human rights”, according to a leading critic of Fifa’s governance.Human Rights Watch says that Infantino’s trip, in which he accompanied the US president to Qatar and Saudi Arabia and missed a series of key meeting at Fifa’s annual congress, was indicative of the lack of “meaningful accountability” at the top of football’s global authority. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago What Donald Trump did this week should terrify Benjamin Netanyahu. This is why | Jonathan Freedland

The president’s Middle East tour made one thing clear – he will betray his one-time ally in a heartbeat. He is already doing it It’s come to something when the Palestinians’ best hope for relief rests on a man who dreams of emptying Gaza of its people and turning the place into a beach resort. And yet the clearest, and perhaps only, way out of the current agony lies with Donald Trump – and his growing impatience with an ever-more isolated Israel.If this were any of Trump’s predecessors, you would be hailing the past week as confirmation of a radical, even epochal shift in US foreign policy. But because it’s Trump, you can’t be sure it’s not a passing whim that will be undone in another equally drastic shift a matter of weeks, or even hours, from now.Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Delegates walk out of Fifa congress after Infantino arrives late from Trump trip

FA chair among those to walk out of annual meetingInfantino arrived late after Donald Trump tripRepresentatives from several European Fifa member associations walked out of the governing body’s annual congress in Paraguay in protest of president Gianni Infantino’s late arrival to the proceedings on Thursday. Infantino had been in the Middle East this week along with Donald Trump visiting leaders from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and arrived in Paraguay hours late for a scheduled 10.30am start time to his organization’s annual meeting.The departing members included eight European members of the Fifa Council – the main decision-making body that sets the agenda for the wider congress. Uefa’s representatives on the Council to have walked out include Uefa president Alexander Čeferin and Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt. Other delegates to have left proceedings in protest include Norway Football Federation president Lise Klaveness, who called Infantino’s late arrival “disappointing” an...

Politics

8 d. ago Donald Trump visits Qatar without Melania and people have same theory

President Donald Trump arrived in the Middle East this week, but people have been quick to notice one key thing. It appears his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, is "missing"

Politics

8 d. ago US applications for jobless benefits hold firm as layoffs remain low despite tariff uncertainty

U.S. applications for jobless benefits held steady last week as layoffs remain low despite uncertainty over how President Donald Trump’s tariffs will impact the economy

Economics

8 d. ago Starmer’s former economic adviser warns Reeves will have to raise taxes

Labour prime minister and chancellor under pressure as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs continue to hit the UK, despite last week’s trade deal

Events

1 week ago Crass, flashy, outrageous: Trump media blitz redefines meaning of presidential

White House communications have adopted a Trumpian air that’s ‘either completely malevolent or completely brilliant’There was a disturbance in the Force. Donald Trump celebrated “Star Wars Day” this week with an AI-generated image of himself as a muscle-bound warrior holding a red lightsaber in front of two US flags and eagles.It seemed like a bit of fun but appeared on the White House’s official X account with a dark political message: “Happy May the 4th to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting so hard to bring Sith Lords, Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, & well known MS-13 Gang Members, back into our Galaxy. You’re not the Rebellion – you’re the Empire. May the 4th be with you.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago The art of dealing with Donald Trump? Don’t fight him alone | Jonathan Freedland

This week’s trade deal is a boost for Keir Starmer. But a lasting win will only come by joining forces with other nations to resist the US president’s entire destructive agendaDonald Trump wanted Thursday, like every day, to be all about him. He thought the news cycle would be dominated by his sealing of the first US trade deal since he blew a hole in the world economy with the dynamite of tariffs. He gathered his vice-president and several cabinet members in the Oval Office to announce the new agreement – with the UK, as it happens – only for the gaze of the world to be diverted. All eyes were on Rome, where Trump was upstaged by one of the few global players who can outdo him when it comes to putting on a show.Don’t think Trump is not simultaneously wondering how he can use that whole white-smoke thing – perhaps to signal his winning of a constitutionally prohibited third term in 2028 – and worrying that Leo XIV is a serious rival for the commodity he craves more than any other: a...

Politics

2 w. ago Trump to reportedly unveil Medicare drug pricing plan after teasing ‘earth

Trump’s upcoming announcement is to revive his plan to lower Medicare drug costs, CBS reports, a policy blocked during his first term and scrapped by Biden administrationThe major “earth-shattering” announcement Donald Trump teased earlier this week in the Oval Office is a “most favored nation” plan to cut Medicare drug prices, sources have told CBS News.In his first administration, Trump signed an executive order to implement a “most favored nation” clause that would have required Medicare to pay drug companies the lowest price paid in similar countries for some expensive, physician-administered drugs. The Biden administration rescinded the proposal under pressure from hospitals and drug companies.We’re going to have a very, very big announcement to make – like as big as it gets. It will be one of the most important announcements that have been made in many years about a certain subject. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Pope Leo overcame damning Donald Trump remark to become first American pontiff

Donald Trump sparked outrage last week when he jokingly said he wanted to be the next Pope, before the White House shared an AI-generated image of him dressed as the pontiff

Politics

2 w. ago Trade deals, global wars and AI Jedi posts: where is Trump’s focus? – podcast

Jonathan Freedland and the senior Washington editor of Semafor, Elana Schor, discuss what the US president is choosing to make a priority, and what he’s neglecting in returnOn Thursday, the White House announced a framework for a US-UK trade deal. Earlier in the week, when asked for his take on India’s missile attack on Pakistan, Donald Trump replied: “I get along with both.” But before all of that, on an otherwise quiet Sunday, the US president announced tariffs on foreign films and the reopening of Alcatraz. Throw in the White House posting another AI-generated image of Trump – this time featuring a lightsabre, muscly arms and two bald eagles – and you have one chaotic week.Archive: BBC News, CBS News, ABC News, NBC News, Sky News, Sky News Australia Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Melania will skip Trump's big Middle East trip as he plans major power play on the world stage

First lady Melania Trump is skipping President Donald Trump's whirlwind trip to the Middle East next week.

Politics

2 w. ago Pentagon stopped Ukraine military aid shipments in February without Trump’s approval

Order to cancel 11 military aid flights – which were quickly reinstated – originated in defense head Pete Hegseth’s officeUS politics live – latest updatesRoughly a week after Donald Trump started his second term as president, the US military issued an order to three freight airlines operating out of Dover air force base in Delaware and a US base in Qatar: stop 11 flights loaded with artillery shells and other weaponry that were bound for Ukraine.In a matter of hours, frantic questions reached Washington from Ukrainians in Kyiv and from officials in Poland, where the shipments were coordinated. Who had ordered the US Transportation Command, known as TransCom, to halt the flights? Was it a permanent pause on all aid? Or just some? Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Donald Trump posts bizarre image of himself as pope just week after pontiff’s funeral

The US President previously joked he ‘would be my number one choice’ to replace late Pope Francis

Politics

2 w. ago Donald Trump posts picture of HIMSELF as pope just a week after Francis' funeral

US President Donald Trump has posted an AI picture of himself as the Pope only a week after the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican City.

Politics