On the first day of his second term in office, Donald Trump suggested he wanted the US to ‘expand’ its territory. Few thought he could actually mean taking Canada and making it the 51st state. But could he actually do that? Jonathan Freedland speaks to the reporter Leyland Cecco in Toronto about the possibility of…

Forget gazpacho, patatas bravas or the tang of paprika in your chorizo. Such dishes may be considered staples of the Mediterranean diet but a new exhibition celebrating Spain’s oldest surviving cookbook suggests medieval Spanish cuisine was nothing like its modern successor. Dating from 1324, almost 170 years before Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to…

Ministers are trying to “mission-wash” every item of spending in their departments, according to officials, before a spending review at which Rachel Reeves has demanded they justify every pound they receive. Sources have told the Guardian that secretaries of state and their officials are looking for ways to link their spending to one of Labour’s…

Federal agencies ordered to fire all probationary employees The office of personnel management has directed federal agencies to lay off all their probationary employees, who generally have less than a year on the job and don’t have full civil service protection, the Associated Press reports. The notification, sent on Thursday afternoon, was confirmed to the…

The National Park Service eliminated all references to transgender people from its website for the Stonewall national monument on Thursday. The monument commemorates a 1969 riot outside New York City’s historic Stonewall Inn, led by trans women of color, that ignited the contemporary gay rights movement. The move comes as federal agencies across the country…

Mexico’s president has accused the US of harboring drug cartels and American citizens of working with organized crime groups in Mexico, in a riposte to Donald Trump’s allegation of an “intolerable alliance” between traffickers and her government. “There is also organized crime in the United States and there are American people who come to Mexico…

Donald Trump’s takeover of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington has generated outcry from performers and members, with several stars pulling out of engagements or associations. Trump purged the board of the arts foundation last week, clearing the group of appointees by Joe Biden. Stacked with Trump loyalists, the new…

The Trump administration has released Alexander Vinnik, a cybercriminal who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, to Russia, as part of an exchange that freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel on Tuesday. Vinnik, who arrived in Moscow on a flight from Turkey on Tuesday after having been released from custody in California, is accused…

U.S. President Donald Trump sits in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 13, 2025. Kevin Lamarque | Reuters Defense stocks dropped sharply Thursday afternoon after President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. could massively cut defense spending. Trump said Thursday at the White House the U.S. could cut defense spending in…

In the aftermath of Donald Trump’s incendiary call with Vladimir Putin, UK ministers and officials have had to do some extraordinary contortions. There is no greater priority in the UK’s foreign policy than keeping the volatile occupant of the White House on side. And that has meant over the past 24 hours that some pronouncements…