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1 week ago | 
thecritic.co.uk | Mark Almond
Behind the ovations for Britten’s masterpiece looms the death of opera in Wales There was thunderous applause at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre on Saturday night. It followed well-deserved ovations for the cast of, and production team behind, an outstanding performance of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes.
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3 weeks ago | 
express.co.uk | Mark Almond
OPINIONDespite Trump's suggestions on the campaign trail the world seems far from quieting down (Image: AP)Washington loves a scandal. The bizarre tale of how a reporter was added into a Signal app discussion of an impending air strike on Yemen between key US government officials has been consuming media attention. But the growing risk of US direct involvement in a growing Middle East conflict is the big issue.
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1 month ago | 
yahoo.com | Mark Almond
The mass protests across Turkey after the arrest of the opposition mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, are the biggest challenge yet to Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s domination of the country since 2002. But this is no simple internal crisis of an ageing authoritarian crony regime; it cuts to the heart of the EU’s aspirations to be a pan-European superpower determining the political terrain of its neighbourhood.
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1 month ago | 
telegraph.co.uk | Mark Almond
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1 month ago | 
dailymail.co.uk | Mark Almond
As a worldly wise US diplomat once remarked: ‘If you ain’t at the table, you’re probably on the menu.’Once again, the White House and the Kremlin today sat down to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, like hungry diners deciding what to order.
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1 month ago | 
independent.co.uk | Mark Almond
CommentPeace – or at least a ceasefire – seems very likely soon, writes Mark Almond – but the deal’s success hinges on delicate negotiations, territorial concessions and security guarantees. And neither the US nor the Russian leader is particularly known for delicacy... The Kremlin has now confirmed that Vladimir Putin will speak on the phone to Donald Trump tomorrow. The White House says Ukraine’s President Zelensky will come to Washington on Friday.
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1 month ago | 
msn.com | Mark Almond
Microsoft Cares About Your PrivacyMicrosoft and our third-party vendors use cookies to store and access information such as unique IDs to deliver, maintain and improve our services and ads. If you agree, MSN and Microsoft Bing will personalise the content and ads that you see. You can select ‘I Accept’ to consent to these uses or click on ‘Manage preferences’ to review your options and exercise your right to object to Legitimate Interest where used.
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1 month ago | 
independent.co.uk | Mark Almond
CommentAs the Russian leader says the US-brokered truce is 'difficult to accept', a pause in fighting could be exactly what he needs to regroup – and to shatter the wartime solidarity keeping Ukrainian society united against his invading forces, says Mark AlmondFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing.
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1 month ago | 
thesun.co.uk | Mark Almond
HE’S been back in the White House hardly seven weeks, yet Donald Trump has unleashed such a tsunami of policy changes that it seems more like seven years. Americans at home still seem largely supportive, but America’s allies have been bewildered by Trump’s abandonment of key principles of US foreign policy since World War Two. Free trade, democracy and defence of the weak against the aggressive strong were Washington’s key attractions for allies.
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1 month ago | 
belfasttelegraph.co.uk | Mark Almond
Donald Trump gave them three days to try to rustle up a reaction to his row with Volodymyr Zelensky. When the “coalition of the willing” summit in London revealed differences about what exactly the members would do, and how to pay for it — and after Trump was enraged by the Ukrainian president saying the end of the war was “very, very far away”, he moved to pour salt into the wounds. “America will not put up with it for much longer,” he declared in a post on Truth Social.
