Whether or not US president fits the definition of a Russian asset, his actions align closely with the Kremlin’s interests
• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here
Could Donald Trump be a Russian asset? The headline on a review in the Guardian of my new book Betrayal has provoked heated international debate. Written by the historian Lawrence Freedman, the piece generated thousands of comments from across Europe and beyond on social media. Many people responded with a single word: “Duh!”
Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin is the biggest mystery in international politics. In 2017 I wrote a book called Collusion, which set out Moscow’s operation to support and cultivate Trump, going back decades. The US president, of course, denies links with Russia. But in his second term, his behaviour towards Putin has been as weird and perplexing as during his first.
Continue reading...The story of a serial killer taking revenge on the rich predatory men who abused her just earned a fantastic finale. With career-defining acting, daring Epstein parallels and super dark comedy, it’s a total must-watch
You could easily watch the first few minutes of Furious without knowing that it would turn out to be so special. It opens with a scene of pure horror: it’s Halloween night and a real monster is hiding among the pretend ones. A woman we come to know as Catherine Grace (an astonishingly good Lola Petticrew) is inside a man’s house, wearing a creepy kitten mask. The man is in bad shape, crawling on the floor, gasping for air and begging for his life. Catherine is alternately chirpy and tender with him, but eventually, she loses her patience with his pleading. She takes a syringe filled with fentanyl out of a pencil case decorated with sparkly stickers and jewels and finishes the job.
So far, so creepy crime drama, but Furious is already hiding in plain sight, because the monster is not who we think it is. What looks as if it will be a cat-and-mouse story, in which a tenacious FBI agent hunts a twisted serial killer, quickly rips up any expectations. We learn that Catherine was trafficked into sex work as a teenager, and is now making her way through a kill list of predatory and powerful men. Her life has been shaped by a conspiracy of abuse, violence, neglect and indifference. She has decided to take matters into her own broken hands.
Continue reading... The latest news from Flushing Meadows on day four
You can email Daniel and follow us on TikTok and Bluesky
Word up and welcome to the US Open 2026 – day four!
And, as you might expect, it’s yet another belter, so much so and – thanks in part to the rain – so, so sprawling, that’s it hard to know where discussion of it can possibly begin.
Continue reading...EINDHOVEN (ANP) - Koning Willem-Alexander heeft tijdens zijn bezoek aan Eindhoven woensdag kort stilgestaan bij het overlijden van zijn Noorse collega koning Harald. Hij noemde hem "een uniek persoon", een "grote vriend" en iemand van wie hij veel heeft geleerd.
"Hij leerde mij: je neemt het ambt en je verantwoordelijkheden heel serieus, maar jezelf niet. Dat is een levensles waar ik me elke dag aan houd", zei Willem-Alexander. "Ik ga hem missen, Noorwegen gaat hem missen en de wereld gaat hem missen. Ik ben intens dankbaar dat ik zo lang van zijn vriendschap heb mogen genieten."
De koning maakte tegelijkertijd van de gelegenheid gebruik de Noorse koninklijke familie, met in het bijzonder koningin Sonja, en de Noorse bevolking nogmaals "veel sterkte toe te wensen met het verwerken van dit grote verlies". Ook wenste Willem-Alexander de nieuwe koning Haakon veel succes.
De Nederlandse en Noorse koninklijke familie zijn goed bevriend. De op 89-jarige leeftijd overleden koning was onder meer de peetoom van prins Friso.
Clio Sze To paints in the same way she walks around her home in Paris. Setting out with an open agenda and allowing her route to evolve organically, the artist meanders through the city with an eye toward the patterns and textures that comprise the landscape. When she returns to the studio, the sights transform into impressionistic pieces that capture the feeling of a contemplative hour spent on foot.
In her forthcoming solo exhibition Échos, Sze To presents a suite of oil paintings based on photos she captures on her walks, which become fodder for her stylized composites. Passersby appear in several scenes, although the changing seasons and time of day are a central focus for the artist. The shifting light of dusk, the hazy glow of street lamps, and the dance of shadows as the sun filters through a tree’s canopy are dynamic influences on the urban landscape.

Bulles, or bubbles, was the first title Sze To settled on for this body of work because of the way the thin, translucent membrane can capture and reflect light as a chromatic prism. “Échos, by contrast, implies an outside: something that travels outward, rebounds, and returns to us transformed, rather than a space sealed in upon itself,” a statement says.
Échos is on view from September 4 to October 10 at Crèvecœur in Paris. Find more from the artist on the gallery’s website.








Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Dappled Light and Hazy Shadows Characterize Clio Sze To’s Dynamic Paintings appeared first on Colossal.