-
2 weeks ago | 
theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |John Harris |Eleanor Biggs |Elizabeth Cassin
When James was a child, he loved playing songs over and over. I Am the Walrus, by the Beatles. Autobahn, by Kraftwerk. “He hears emotion in music. I know that for a fact,” James’s father the Guardian journalist John Harris tells Helen Pidd. After James’s autism diagnosis, John found that music was a great way for them to connect, which he explores in his new book, Maybe I’m Amazed: A Story of Love and Connection in Ten Songs.
-
1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Michael Safi |Patrick Wintour |Pjotr Sauer |Eleanor Biggs |Raphael Boyd |Tom Glasser | +2 more
After weeks of diplomatic tension, on Tuesday the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced that Ukraine had signed up to a 30-day ceasefire agreement. As the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, explains to Michael Safi, this deal would cover the whole of Ukraine and by accepting it, Ukraine will again receive military aid and intelligence sharing from the US.
-
1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Lucy Hough |Eleni Courea |Ruth Abrahams |Eleanor Biggs |Joel Cox |Elizabeth Cassin
On Friday, the MP Rupert Lowe criticised Nigel Farage in an interview with the Daily Mail, saying Reform UK was a “protest party led by the Messiah”, and that it was “too early to know whether Nigel will deliver the goods” and become prime minister. The next day, Lowe was suspended by the party. Reform UK published a statement making a series of allegations against him, including that he had made threats against the party chair, Zia Yusuf.
-
1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Michael Safi |Jon Henley |Eleanor Biggs |Ruth Abrahams |Rudi Zygadlo |Courtney Yusuf
On Thursday, after the US decided to halt military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, European leaders in Brussels agreed to a massive and unprecedented increase in defence spending. The Guardian’s Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, explains to Michael Safi that this €800bn fund marks a new era for the union and will mean tearing up fiscal rules to loosen borrowing. For some member states, such as Germany, achieving this defensive autonomy will require profound constitutional changes.
-
1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Michael Safi |Eleanor Biggs |Joel Cox |Courtney Yusuf |Phil Maynard
“I’d quite like to just try and get a deposit together, to buy a house and stuff.”After Mark* saw an advert for a financial trading website, he signed up to what he believed was access to an adviser who called herself Lilliana. Through long phone calls together, Mark believed that he was making investments and that they were generating lucrative returns. But when he tried to access his earnings, he found himself on a slippery slope that ended with him losing all of his life savings.
-
1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Helen Pidd |Luke Harding |Ruth Abrahams |Eleanor Biggs |Rudi Zygadlo |Courtney Yusuf
This weekend’s fractious Oval Office meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy had much of the world talking. But what do Ukrainians make of the meeting, their president, and a possible Trump-led peace deal? The Guardian’s senior international correspondent Luke Harding has been in Ukraine for much of the the last three years.
-
1 month ago | 
theguardian.com | Hannah Moore |Eleanor Biggs |Tony Onuchukwu |Courtney Yusuf |Elizabeth Cassin
“As a Muslim, you always question: ‘Have I pleased God, or have I angered him or her?’”Imam Muhsin Hendricks of Cape Town, South Africa, was the world’s first openly gay imam. In early February, he was shot and killed and the identities and motives of those responsible are still unknown. Reporter Jamie Fullerton met and visited Imam Muhsin at his Inner Circle mosque.
-
2 months ago | 
theguardian.com | Lucy Hough |Nesrine Malik |Eli Block |Courtney Yusuf |Joel Cox |Eleanor Biggs
“My community, living here in the refugee camp, is already vulnerable,” Sahat Zia tells Lucy Hough. “I’m very concerned, especially for the children and the women.”Sahat is a Rohingya activist and photographer based in Kutupalong refugee camp, Bangladesh. Hearing Donald Trump’s decision to cut USAid came as a shock to Sahat. US foreign assistance is a lifeline for the many thousands of people in the camp, providing access to food, education and healthcare.
-
2 months ago | 
theguardian.com | Hannah Moore |Eleni Courea |Eleanor Biggs |Joel Cox |Sami Kent
In October last year, the UK and Mauritian governments reached a historic agreement to transfer the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, a series of atolls in the Indian Ocean that have been described as Britain’s last African colony. It seemed, as political correspondent Eleni Courea describes, a diplomatic triumph for the new Labour government, ending decades of legal dispute over the ownership of the islands.
-
2 months ago | 
theguardian.com | Hannah Moore |Andrew Roth |Eleanor Biggs |Joel Cox |Elizabeth Cassin
“China is operating the Panama canal and we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”Donald Trump’s claim in his inauguration speech that Panama had “broken its promises” to the US was alarming for many Panamanians. Washington relinquished control of the canal in 1977, so why is Trump pressing the issue now?
