For a decade, Eric Schmidt ran Google as chief executive and as the “adult” in the room, mentoring the internet company’s young founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In 2011, Mr. Schmidt handed control of Google back to Mr. Page. He has not taken another C.E.O. job since. But on Monday, Mr. Schmidt told employees … Read more
In a press conference on Sunday to mark 100 days since the beginning of her second term as European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen erred on the side of understatement when asked whether she still considered the US to be an ally. The answer was yes, she replied, before adding that “we have our … Read more
A few Thursdays ago was a wrap. For my brief acting career, that is. One of the benefits of having a writer’s schedule in a city like Paris is the ability to say yes to the flurry of random opportunities that pop up. When an announcement flashed across a WhatsApp group that a Hollywood comedy-thriller … Read more
As the Nobel laureate Robert Lucas quipped during the 2008 financial crisis: “I guess everyone is a Keynesian in a foxhole.” Donald Trump’s upending of the postwar security consensus has underlined the enduring wisdom of Lucas’s observation. But now, instead of bank bailouts and emergency bond buying, European firepower is being directed at bombs, tanks … Read more
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