As President Trump continues to brush off the issue, Democrats believe one of the biggest strengths in his first term could now become a major vulnerability.
How a Manosphere Star Accused of Rape and Trafficking Was Freed
Barred from leaving Romania, Andrew Tate courted powerful figures on the American right, from Tucker Carlson to Barron Trump. Then an extraordinary order let him go.
Millions of teenagers in Australia woke up on Wednesday to find themselves locked out of social media accounts after the government introduced a ban for under-16s – the first of its kind – on the platforms.
Far from being a kneejerk response to a moral panic, it’s a move backed up by detailed investigation into the effects of unfettered online access on children – and one that several other countries are poised to follow. Australian eSafety research found seven in 10 children aged 10 to 15 had encountered content associated with harm online. Three-quarters of those had most recently encountered that – including misogyny, violence, disordered eating and suicide – on a social media platform.
“We are seeking to create some friction [in the] system to protect children where previously there has been close to none … We are treating big tech like the extractive industry it has become,” Australia’s eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, told an audience earlier this year.
Spotlight | Syria, one year after Assad While country’s return to global stage has filled many Syrians with pride, domestically old grievances threaten efforts to rebuild the state. William Christou reports from Damascus
Feature | The inside story of the race to create the ultimate AI In Silicon Valley, rival companies are spending trillions of dollars to reach a goal that could change humanity – or potentially destroy it. Robert Booth reports
Feature | On the trail of London’s snail farming don Terry Ball – renowned shoe salesman, friend to former mafiosi – has vowed to spend his remaining years finding ways to cheat authorities he feels have cheated him. His greatest ruse? A tax-dodging snail empire. Jim Waterson caught up with him
Opinion | What words are left to describe Trump’s global rampage? Deadly US boat strikes in the Caribbean are the latest example of a president corrupting both the law and morality, argues Jonathan Freedland
Culture | The best books of 2025 From fiction to food, people to poetry, science to sport: Guardian critics round up the year’s essential reads
Officials initially weighed sending survivors of U.S. attacks on boats suspected of drug smuggling to a notorious prison in El Salvador, to avoid American courts.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed congressional leaders about the monthslong military campaign targeting people suspected of trafficking drugs at sea.
The Challenges to Europe’s Security Go Beyond Trump’s Lack of Support
Europeans find themselves stranded between hostile powers, Russia and the U.S., with key decisions looming over the future of Ukraine.
President Trump’s speech in Pennsylvania was meant to alleviate concerns about affordability. But he kept going off script and dwelling on issues like immigration.
In a sign of bipartisan vexation with the Defense Department, the defense policy bill aims to compel the Pentagon to share execute orders and documentation.
Hundreds of thousands of people fled a deadly border conflict, the authorities said, some sheltering at a racetrack in Thailand and some near temples in Cambodia.
The Supreme Court has generally allowed the firings to take effect through temporary emergency orders. This case is an opportunity for a conclusive ruling.
As a lawyer, Ms. Bondi, now the attorney general, filed a Supreme Court brief last year saying service members who followed such orders were committing crimes.
Former President Biden and his top advisers rejected recommendations that could have eased the border crisis that helped return Donald Trump to the White House.
Russian forces have advanced on several fronts in recent weeks. Vladimir Putin says Russia will achieve its territorial aims by whatever means necessary.
President Trump’s new strategy describes a country that is focused on doing business and reducing migration while avoiding passing judgment on authoritarians.
The court’s conservative majority said that Texas’ asserted political motives justified letting the state use voting maps meant to disadvantage Democrats.
Companies are petitioning for exemptions from the Trump administration’s high levies on foreign-made goods, saying they hurt business and raise prices.
Watching with horror from London last week as flames ripped through seven adjacent apartment blocks in Hong Kong, it was impossible not to think back to the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017, which exposed major systemic failures around UK social housing and eventually led to law changes around safety and accountability for high-rise buildings.
The comparisons with Hong Kong were not just visually obvious but also because the semi-autonomous city’s worst fire in decades appears to have followed months of complaints from residents about shoddy materials used in building works.
Hong Kong is of course a very different place to London, with politicians facing less public accountability in a political climate that makes it much harder for citizens to express dissent. But, as anger rises, hard questions are nevertheless being asked of authorities amid accusations of negligence and corruption.
Five essential reads in this week’s edition
The big story | Can Europe unite to tame Russia – without the US? Washington’s Putin-appeasing plan for peace in Ukraine has failed, but many heard the death knell sound for European reliance on US protection, writes Patrick Wintour
Spotlight | If Rachel Reeves goes, will Keir Starmer fall with her? British prime ministers rarely sack their chancellors – and when they do it almost inevitably leads to their own downfall. After last week’s budget, Starmer knows the same is true of him and Reeves, says Jessica Elgot
Feature | The dangerous rise of extremist Buddhism Buddhism is still largely viewed as a peaceful philosophy – but across much of south-east Asia, the religion has been weaponised to serve nationalist goals. Sonia Faleiroinvestigates
Opinion | From the West Bank to Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s onslaught continues Broken ceasefires, bombing, ground incursions and mounting deaths: Israeli imperialism is now expanding across the region, says Nesrine Malik
Culture | Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater: two men on the moon As their 11th movie together, Blue Moon, is released, the actor and director tell Xan Brooks about musicals, the legacy of Philip Seymour Hoffman and what being bald and short does to your flirting skills
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
Boomers Daily 