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German chancellor also shares views on Brexit and climate crisis in interview
Europe must reposition itself to stand up to the challenges posed by its three big global rivals, China, Russia and the US, Angela Merkel has said before her final European election as German chancellor.
Facing challenges that range from Russian interference in elections to China’s economic clout and the US’s monopoly over digital services, Europe needs to get better at putting up a united front, Merkel said in a wide-ranging interview shared with the Guardian.
After giving a commencement address and quoting Robert Mueller - you know, the man whose investigation he oversaw - Rosenstein went on to speak at the annual meeting of the Greater Baltimore Committee, where he continued to make waves.
Ex-Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein in a speech in Baltimore tonight is defending his handling of the Mueller probe and taking aim at ex-FBI director James Comey.
Rosenstein also says: “Based on what I knew in May 2017, the investigation of Russian election interference was justified.”
In his prepared remarks, Rosenstein said Trump, “did not tell me what reasons to put in my memo,” but noted what the special counsel report had said. He said he did not include what Trump wanted because it was not relevant, and he did not have personal knowledge of what Comey had told Trump.
Rosenstein said he “did not dislike” Comey but that Comey took steps that were “not within the range of reasonable decisions” during the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Rosenstein suggested that if he — rather than Trump — had been in charge, “the removal would have been handled very differently, with far more respect and far less drama.”
Trump’s hardline stance against China puts Republicans in an awkward position, while Democrats are split
Donald Trump has again defended tariffs as his dogged, often self-contradictory pursuit of a trade war with China put allies and opponents alike in a difficult spot.
Following his instincts, the president has slapped tariffs on $200bn of Chinese imports but the consequences are unpredictable
Donald Trump’s obsession with tariffs may be based on one of his few core beliefs. Or it may be part of a grand strategy to win votes. Either way, triggering a trade war between the world’s two biggest economies represents a huge gamble ahead of next year’s US presidential election.
The US has raised tariffs on $200bn in imports from China to 25% from 10%, with another round in the offing. Beijing vowed to retaliate but Trump, ever the salesman, claimed on Twitter that the new tariffs will bring “FAR MORE wealth” to America.
The president’s bullish advisers may be taking a hard line, but the chances of a deal are better than they look
During Donald Trump’s campaign to be president, he regularly cited China’s export subsidies as “evil”, and in his manifesto he pledged to “cut a better deal with China that helps American businesses and workers compete”.
The president turned decades of musings into a policy mission after his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, handed him a book by the academics Peter Navarro and Greg Autry – Death by China – which set out to explain how China manipulated the global trade system for its own ends.
Top official condemns lack of focus on record 41 million people left homeless in their own countries after fleeing violence
Record numbers of people have been forced from their homes by conflict in a crisis that has received “pitiful” international attention, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council has said.
A total of 41.3 million people were living in a state of internal displacement by the end of 2018 due to violence, researchers for the organisation found, with increasing numbers unable to return home for protracted periods. This is a rise of more than a million on the previous year.
Britain’s construction sector grew by 1% in the last quarter, as building firms got busier.
But Clive Docwra, managing director of construction consulting and design agency McBains, says Brexit is still hurting the sector.
“Today’s figures mark another increase in output, coming after last month’s statistics showed unexpected moderate growth during February.
“However, this was driven by repair and maintenance - there was no growth in new work across the first quarter of the year, including a decrease in private commercial and housing work.
Britain’s politicians are predictably split on whether the UK is romping along healthily, or simply scrambling to protect itself from Brexit.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, takes an upbeat view on today’s growth figures, pointing out that we’ve now enjoyed nine years of growth.
“Today’s figures show the economy remains robust, with growth of 0.5% in Q1 benefitting every major sector.
“The economy has grown for nine consecutive years, debt is falling, employment is at a record high and wages are rising at their fastest pace in over a decade.
“It’s not surprising to see households and businesses protecting themselves against a potentially disastrous Tory No Deal Brexit.
“With this government increasingly resembling a business entering administration it’s time they admitted the failure of their approach and stood aside for a General Election.
Stigma and ignorance drive young people to undertake high-risk treatment without telling families, Amnesty researchers say
Young transgender people in China are risking their lives and health by taking unsafe hormones and attempting surgery on themselves, according to researchers at Amnesty International.
An “alarming” lack of knowledge and expertise within the country’s public health system, as well as restrictive eligibility requirements, has made it almost impossible for trans people to access safe hormone therapy or other gender-affirming treatment, said the human rights group in a report published on Friday.
Donald Trump has insisted that there is “no rush” to secure a deal with China despite growing business and Wall Street fears that the ratcheting up of US tariffs risks a full-blown trade war between the world’s two economic superpowers.
US shares, which were falling for much of the day, staged a late rally on Friday night after Trump tweeted that trade talks “will continue” after the hiking of tariffs on $200bn of Chinese goods.
US president tells rally China ‘broke the deal’ and publishes list of imported products that will face higher tariffs from Friday
Donald Trump has warned that China has “broke the deal … so they’ll be paying” as the US and China moved to within 36 hours of a full-scale trade war and the US trade representative’s office filed the formal paperwork needed to increase duties on $200bn (£153bn) of Chinese goods.
Speaking at a rally in Panama City, Florida, on Wednesday night, the US president accused China of going back on their deal. “By the way, you see the tariffs we’re doing?” he asked supporters. “Because they broke the deal. They broke the deal. So they’re flying in, the vice premier tomorrow’s flying in – good man – but they broke the deal. They can’t do that, so they’ll be paying.”
The president added: “If we don’t make the deal, nothing wrong with taking it over $100bn a year – $100bn, we never did that before.”
Chinese will surpass the US for per capita intake by 2030, research shows, but Moldova claims top spot for now
The world is consuming significantly more alcohol than 30 years ago thanks in large part to heavier and more widespread drinking in China and India, researchers have claimed.
On current trends, global consumption per capita will rise another 17% over the next decade, they reported in The Lancet, after a 10% rise in drinking between 1990 and 2017 .
Guardian and Bellingcat investigation finds more than two dozen Islamic religious sites partly or completely demolished since 2016
Around this time of the year, the edge of the Taklamakan desert in far western China should be overflowing with people. For decades, every spring thousands of Uighur Muslims would converge on the Imam Asim shrine, a group of buildings and fences surrounding a small mud tomb believed to contain the remains of a holy warrior from the eighth century.
Pilgrims from across the Hotan oasis would come seeking healing, fertility, and absolution, trekking through the sand in the footsteps of those ahead of them. It was one of the largest shrine festivals in the region. People left offerings and tied pieces of cloth to branches, markers of their prayers.
Secretary of state chides China’s ‘aggressive behaviour’
Pompeo also accuses Russia of ‘provocative actions’
The US plans to beef up its Arctic presence to keep Russia’s and China’s “aggressive behaviour” in check in the resource-rich region, the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has warned
“The region has become an arena of global power and competition” owing to vast reserves of oil, gas, minerals and fish stocks, Pompeo said in a speech in northern Finland.
Stocks in China fell almost 6% on Monday morning as investors in Asia Pacific were caught off guard by the US president’s tweets and the alarm intensified as reports indicated that the government in Beijing might pull out of this week’s scheduled talks.
In a highly charged attack, the Pentagon says up to 3m people could be imprisoned in detention centres
The United States has accused China on Friday of imprisoning more than a million Muslims in “concentration camps” in some of Washington’s strongest condemnation of Beijing’s treatment of minorities.
The comments by Randall Schriver, who leads Asia policy at the US defense department, are likely to increase tension with Beijing, which is sensitive to international criticism and describes the sites as vocational education training centres aimed at stemming the threat of Islamic extremism.
Authorities use an app to collect personal data on Uighurs as part of a vast surveillance network, Human Rights Watch says
Using too much electricity or having acquaintances abroad are among a list of reasons that prompt authorities in China’s western Xinjiang region to investigate Uighurs and other Muslims who might be deemed “untrustworthy” and sent to internment camps, according to a Human Rights Watch report.
The report, released on Thursday, analyses a mobile app used by authorities in Xinjiang to collect personal data from ethnic minorities, file reports about people and objects they find suspicious, and carry out investigations.
Chinese firm’s technology is security risk, says Strayer after council gives partial go-ahead
A US official has warned that the UK’s leaked proposal to adopt Huawei technology for 5G mobile phone networks risks affecting intelligence cooperation with the United States, prompting further criticism from Conservatives opposed to the plan.
Robert Strayer, a deputy assistant secretary at the US state department, said on Monday that Huawei “was not a trusted vendor” and any use of its technology in 5G networks was a risk, contradicting the British stance.
Destroyers William P Lawrence and Stethem transited through the waterway on Sunday as Pentagon ups the ante with Beijing
The US military has sent two navy warships through the Taiwan Strait as the Pentagon increases the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China.
Sunday’s voyage risks further raising tensions with China but will likely be viewed by self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing.
Residents fear law will allow Beijing to demand Hong Kong hand over political dissidents
Tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents have taken to the streets to demand their government halt a plan that would make it easier to extradite people to the secretive judicial system in mainland China.
The march organisers estimated that more than 100,000 people filed through central Hong Kong on Sunday. Police said the march drew 22,800 people at its peak.