The Guardian

Donald Trump has his hands in multiple pies around the world. Not satisfied with the Middle East, the president is attempting to end the war in Ukraine, influence elections in Argentina and manage conflict with Venezuela.
This week, Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian’s Andrew Roth about what happened to the ‘America first’ president. Having made himself the king of America, does Trump want to be king of the world?
Archive: CBS News, ABC News, CBS Chicago, Global News, NBC News
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Rare earths are a specific category of critical minerals crucial for defence, auto and electronic industries that have become a flashpoint in diplomacy and trade
Critical minerals are vital for the global economy and include nickel, manganese and cobalt.
Rare earths are a specific, highly useful category of critical minerals that are used to make magnets essential for the auto, electronic and defence industries, as well as in renewable energy. Securing reserves and production of rare earths has become a flashpoint in global diplomacy and trade.
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Donald Trump has said his call with Vladimir Putin – which lasted more than two hours – was ‘good and productive’ and that they agreed to convene a meeting of high-level staff, including secretary of state Marco Rubio, next week. In a post on the US president’s Truth Social platform, Trump said he and the Russian president would then meet in Budapest
Zelenskyy to make missiles case in US as Trump plans to meet Putin in Budapest
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US president has repeatedly hinted at supplying Kyiv with Tomahawks but some in Moscow say Kremlin sees it as negotiating gambit
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will head to the White House on Friday for a crucial meeting with Donald Trump, hours after the US president said he had agreed to another summit with Vladimir Putin in Budapest after a “very productive” call.
The possible supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine is expected to top the agenda during the Ukrainian president’s visit. Trump has repeatedly hinted in recent weeks that he may deliver Tomahawks, which would give Kyiv its longest-range weapon yet that would be capable of striking Moscow with accurate, destructive munitions.
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Hawks want regime change. Democrats and others are right to warn against illegal and unauthorised use of force
The drumbeat is growing louder. Covert operations are supposed to remain just that, but on Wednesday Donald Trump confirmed that he had approved secret CIA actions in Venezuela and suggested that he was considering strikes on its territory. These comments follow the administration’s extrajudicial killings at sea: attacks on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean that have left at least 27 dead – a frightening new precedent denounced by UN experts as illegal. The US has already built up forces in the region, with about 6,500 troops now stationed there. “No to war in the Caribbean … No to regime change … No to coups d’état orchestrated by the CIA,” railed Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s dictator, after Mr Trump’s remarks.
The US president’s repeated claim that each boat strike saves 25,000 American lives is even more preposterous than it first sounds. The fentanyl that killed 48,000 pe..

Strikes cause outages in eight regions before Washington talks to discuss US providing Kyiv with cruise missiles
A massive Russian drone and missile attack has hit gas facilities in eastern Ukraine as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, flew to Washington for a meeting with Donald Trump to discuss the US providing Kyiv with long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Russia launched hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles, as well as glide bombs early on Thursday, sparking outages in eight regions in another large-scale bombardment targeting Ukraine’s energy network.
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I am not celebrating the end of the ‘war’ because this was not a war – and it’s not over, either
Thank you, Donald Trump. Thank you, Benjamin Netanyahu. Thank you, Jared Kushner. Let’s all pause, shall we, and have a moment of appreciation for these three wise men who have finally brought peace to the Middle East. Blessed are the peacemakers!
And, of course, thank you to the Israeli military which, as a US taxpayer, I have done my part to help fund. To echo Kushner: “Instead of replicating the barbarism of the enemy, [Israel] chose to be exceptional.”
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Treasury secretary Scott Bessent raises possibility of taking more direct stakes in companies to protect national security in wake of Beijing’s curbs on rare earths exports
The Trump administration has criticised China’s increased restrictions on rare earth exports as a threat to global supply chains, and said it would seek to tighten control over strategic sectors by taking more stakes in key companies to counter Beijing.
Treasury secretary Scott Bessent told an event on Wednesday that China’s dramatic new restrictions on rare earth minerals and magnets demonstrated the need for the US to be self-sufficient in critical materials or rely more on trusted allies.
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Israel’s defence minister has said the country could resume fighting if Hamas does not honour the terms of the ceasefire deal
Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti assaulted by Israeli prison guards, son says
Hamas has announced that the remains of all the deceased Israeli hostages that it can reach have been handed back and it would need specialist recovery equipment to retrieve the rest from Gaza’s ruins, amid threats from Israel to resume fighting if the terms of ceasefire are not honoured.
Two further bodies were handed over late on Wednesday, after Hamas had already returned the remains of seven of 28 known deceased hostages – along with an eighth body which Israel said was not that of a former hostage.
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State department says it has ‘no obligation’ to host foreign nationals who ‘celebrate heinous’ death of far-right activist
US politics live – latest updates
Donald Trump’s US state department said on Tuesday it had revoked the visas of six foreigners over social media comments made about the assassination of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk.
“The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the state department said in a statement posted on X. “The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk.”
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