Forget the “Trump put”, as financial analysts called the bet that the US president’s policies would unleash a winning era for the nation’s stock markets. By Friday, the chat was of the “Merz spurt”. The decision by Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor-in-waiting, to cut a deal on ditching Germany’s debt brake – still to be … Read more
The founding fathers of the USA – James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin and more – were quintessential disciples of the European Enlightenment. Their intent was to embed Enlightenment values into the government and culture of the New World. America would be a republic of laws. Its constitution would ensure governance of the … Read more
There was an audible gasp in the room at the Council on Foreign Relations as Keith Kellogg, the White House’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, characterised the US decision to cut off intelligence sharing and military aid to Kyiv as like beating a farm animal with a piece of wood. “Very candidly, they brought … Read more
Feb. 28: This article was updated to include an announcement on Thursday night from NASA about the status of the Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft. The moon is not bone dry, scientists now know. But how many drops of water will thirsty astronauts find? No one knows for sure. A robotic NASA spacecraft called Lunar Trailblazer, which … Read more
Starship — the huge spacecraft that Elon Musk says will one day take people to Mars — failed during its latest test flight on Thursday when its upper stage exploded in space, raining debris and disrupting air traffic at airports from Florida to Pennsylvania. It was the second consecutive test flight of the most powerful … Read more
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2025/mar/08/chris-riddell-on-europe-gasping-at-its-800m-rearmanent-bill-as-it-accepts-that-trump-cant-be-trusted-cartoon
Britain and Europe are together facing a watershed moment, a turning point, a second Zeitenwende, a paradigm shift, a new world order. Regardless of which of these overused phrases best describes the dramatic shifts unfolding since Donald Trump began his second US presidential term in January, politicians, diplomats and analysts all agree: nothing will be … Read more
Donald Trump’s sinister affinity for Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, has long been the subject of intense speculation. Former KGB officers claim Trump was recruited in Moscow in 1987 and cultivated as an asset in the years prior to his 2016 US election victory. Two retired Russian spies weighed in again last month, alleging that the … Read more
For SpaceX, 2025 should have been the best year yet. Elon Musk, the founder of the private space company, is one of the most influential people in the Oval Office, and President Trump has endorsed his vision of sending humans to Mars. But so far, it has not been a great year for the rocket … Read more
Europe’s rightwing populist parties are split over how far to distance themselves from Donald Trump’s pressure on Ukraine, with some fearing unflinching solidarity with the US president’s brand of nationalism will damage their efforts to widen their domestic support. Broadly, unease over Trump’s treatment of Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the ominous encroach of authoritarianism … Read more