The US president has been quite clear that Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Greenland are in his sights. We must believe him As Venezuela’s skyline lit up under US bombs, we were watching the morbid symptoms of a declining empire. That may sound counterintuitive. After all, the US has kidnapped a foreign leader, and Donald Trump has announced that he will “run” Venezuela. Surely this looks less like decay than intoxication: a superpower high on its own force. But Trump’s great virtue, if it can be called that, is candour. Previous…
Tag: US news
US foes and allies denounce Trump’s ‘crime of aggression’ in Venezuela at UN meeting
The US has faced widespread condemnation for a “crime of aggression” in Venezuela at an emergency meeting of the United Nations security council. Brazil, China, Colombia, Cuba, Eritrea, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Spain were among countries that on Monday denounced Donald Trump’s decision to launch deadly strikes on Venezuela and snatch its leader, Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to stand trial in the US. “The bombings on Venezuelan territory and the capture of its president cross an unacceptable line,” Sérgio França Danese, the Brazilian ambassador to the…
Trump’s attack leaves China worried about its interests in Venezuela | Amy Hawkins
Hours before his life and the fate of his country was changed dramatically, Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, was exchanging smiles and handshakes with a Chinese delegation in the presidential palace in Caracas. On Friday evening, shortly before he was seized by US forces, Maduro wrote on Telegram of his meeting with China’s special envoy for Latin American affairs, Qiu Xiaoqi: “A fraternal meeting that reaffirms the strong bonds of brotherhood and friendship between China and Venezuela. Through thick and thin!” Those bonds will be put to the test now that…
Trump is wrong: ‘woke’ policies aren’t the real threat to Europe | Nouriel Roubini
Donald Trump’s new national security strategy offers a misguided assessment of Europe, long regarded as the US’s most reliable ally. Unrestrained immigration and other policies derided by administration officials as “woke”, it warns, could lead to “civilisational erasure” within a few decades. That argument rests on a fundamental misreading of Europe’s current predicament. While the EU does face an existential threat, it has little to do with immigration or cultural politics. In fact, the share of foreign-born residents in the US is slightly higher than in Europe. The real threat…
Five tech trends we’ll be watching in 2026
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, wishing you a happy New Year’s Eve filled with cheer, champagne and Mariah Carey’s comically awful rendition of Auld Lang Syne. Today, we’re looking forward to the next year in technology news. I am watching five trends I think will define the year: datacenters will see rapid proliferation beyond the US and China; billionaires will reap billions more; self-driving cars will park themselves in a slew of brand-new locales; AI will find its niche at work; and consumer tech will…
Copper price on track for biggest rise in 15 years amid global shortage fears
Copper, the metal that underpins the fast-growing renewable energy industry, is on course for its biggest annual price rise in more than 15 years as traders react to fears of global shortages. As one of the main beneficiaries of the “electrification of everything”, copper has soared by more than 35% in value this year, spurred by US tariff uncertainty and concerns about mining disasters that could restrict supply. Analysts said copper had also joined silver and gold as a safe haven asset for investors wanting to hedge against the falling…
The Guardian view on the new space race: humanity risks exporting its old politics to the moon | Editorial
During the cold war’s space race, the Apollo moon missions were driven by the need to prove American superiority. Having made that political and technological point with the 1969 moon landing, the contest between Moscow and Washington petered out. A new dash across the skies kicks off in 2026, reigniting geopolitical competition under the guise of “peaceful exploration”. The moon’s south pole is emerging as the most valuable real estate in the solar system, offering “peaks of eternal light” for solar arrays and ice deposits in craters shielded from the sun. The…
Through the lens of history, Trump’s legacy will be more of a blotch than a Maga masterpiece | Simon Tisdall
For those who lived through the cold war, the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, was an unforgettable moment. The sinister watch towers with their searchlights and armed guards, the minefields in no-man’s land, the notorious Checkpoint Charlie border post, and the Wall itself – all were swept aside in an extraordinary, popular lunge for freedom. Less than a month later, on 3 December 1989, at a summit in Malta, US president George HW Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev declared that after more than 40 years,…
China imposes sanctions on US defence firms over Taiwan arms deal
China’s foreign ministry has hit US defence companies including Boeing with sanctions after Donald Trump approved a large package of arms sales to Taiwan. The ministry said on Friday that the measures – against 10 individuals and 20 US firms including Boeing’s production hub at St Louis in Missouri – would freeze any assets the companies and individuals hold in China and bar domestic organisations and individuals from doing business with them. It comes after the Trump administration last week announced a package of arms sales to Taiwan valued at…
US drops plan to deport Chinese man who helped expose abuse of Uyghurs in Xinjiang, say activists
Decision comes amid growing public support for Guan Heng – who secretly filmed detention facilities in China – after he illegally entered US by boat The Department of Homeland Security has dropped its plan to deport a Chinese national who entered the country illegally, two rights activists have said, after his plight raised public concerns that if deported the man would be punished by Beijing for helping expose human rights abuses in China’s Xinjiang region. Rayhan Asat, a human rights lawyer who assisted in the case, said Guan Heng’s lawyer…