Wearing pink and holding signs that read ‘Protect Medicaid’ and ‘Musk steals’, Democrats protested and heckled as Donald Trump gave an address to Congress laying out his vision for his second term
Continue reading...The US has suspended all military aid to Ukraine. What does this mean for European security? Andrew Roth reports
On Monday, Donald Trump’s administration suspended all US military aid to Ukraine, in an attempt to pressure Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to agree to a ceasefire deal on US terms. It comes after an explosive meeting between the leaders in the Oval Office on Friday.
“Donald Trump is such a singular political force right now that he’s managing to repaint many aspects of the argument over Ukraine in American political life,” Andrew Roth, the Guardian’s global affairs correspondent, tells Michael Safi.
Continue reading...Economists believe that meeting the target will be challenging as Beijing grapples with Donald Trump’s new trade war
China has set its GDP target for 2025 at “around 5%”, a figure which was unveiled by Premier Li Qiang at the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing on Wednesday.
Li announced the growth target in the annual government work report, which also outlined plans to stabilise economic growth by boosting domestic demand and creating 12m new urban jobs.
Continue reading...Woman aged 77 died of shrapnel wounds; Zelenskyy offers minerals deal signature and peace plan. What we know on day 1,106
A Russian drone attack late on Tuesday killed one person and caused power, water and heating cuts in Odesa for the second day running, said the regional governor, Oleh Kiper. A 77-year-old woman died of shrapnel wounds on the outskirts of the city, he said, and drone strikes damaged critical infrastructure, leaving neighbourhoods without services.
Kiper said fragments from downed drones had damaged private houses and started fires in outlying city districts. A missile strike had destroyed an empty sanatorium near the town of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi, south of Odesa, he added.
East of the capital, Kyiv, drones targeted a multi-storey apartment building near the town of Boryspil, smashing windows and triggering a fire in a business. Local officials reported no casualties.
Zelenskyy has proposed a peace plan to end the war, saying he is willing to work “constructively” under Donald Trump’s “strong leadership” and to sign a deal giving the US access to Ukrainian mineral wealth. In an attempt to mend fences with Washington after Trump abruptly suspended supplies of military aid, Zelenskyy said on Tuesday he was “ready to come to the negotiating table as soon as possible … I would like to reiterate Ukraine’s commitment to peace”.
Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, welcomed Zelenskyy’s “steadfast” commitment to securing peace in a phone call between the two leaders on Tuesday, his office said. Starmer told Zelenskyy “it was vital that all parties worked towards a lasting and secure peace for Ukraine as soon as possible”.
The British defence minister, John Healey, will meet the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, in Washington on Thursday to discuss a peace plan, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
The British foreign minister, David Lammy, on Tuesday said he had spoken to counterparts in France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Spain and that their determination to strike a peace deal remained clear. “We will step up and we are stepping up – together.”
Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said on Tuesday that his CDU/CSU party and the Social Democrats would propose an unprecedented package of billions of euros in extra spending on defence and infrastructure. Merz also said he wanted to get immediate approval for a €3bn aid package for Ukraine that has been held up for weeks.
Merz’s proposals would also mark a “sea change” and “a major loosening of Germany’s fiscal straitjacket”, said the Berenberg bank economist Holger Schmieding, noting the country’s longstanding avoidance of large public debts. Merz’s promise of “whatever it takes” recalled the pledge made in 2012 by the then president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, during the sovereign debt crisis. Schmieding described Merz’s plans as “a really big bazooka”, the phrase used to describe the ECB’s interventions under Draghi.
The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, on Tuesday welcomed European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s plans to raise European defence funds as “an important first step”. “Two things are now essential for peace through strength: additional aid – military and financial – for Ukraine, which is defending our freedom. And a quantum leap to strengthen our EU defence,” Baerbock said.
Continue reading...