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Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
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Esther Rantzen now ‘too physically fragile’ to end her life in Switzerland
Broadcaster, 86, had intended to end her life in Swiss clinic after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2023 Esther Rantzen has said she is no longer able to travel to Switzerland to end her life because she has become “too physically fragile”. Rantzen, who presented the TV current affairs programme That’s Life! for 21 years and founded the youth support charity Childline, had intended to end her life in a Dignitas assisted dying clinic in Switzerland after being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2023. Continue reading...
H.Res. 1520: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the terrorist attacks launched against the United States on September 11, 2001, on the 25th anniversary of that date.
Agreed To (Simple Resolution): Last Action: On agreeing to the resolution Agreed to without objection. Explanation: This simple resolution was agreed to on September 10, 2026. That is the end of the legislative process for a simple resolution.
Tiafoe v Shelton US Open semi-final a legacy of the departing Gaël Monfils
Veteran Frenchman bowed out in New York but the clash of two black players in the last four of the men’s singles is testament to his effect The early days of this year’s US Open can be told in a series of farewells to competitors who plan to end their careers this year. The most moving of them all came in the form of Gaël Monfils’s grand departure inside Louis Armstrong Stadium against the wildly talented 20-year-old Learner Tien . Tien was competing in front of his home crowd, one of the Americans capable of a deep run, but for much of his straight sets defeat the Frenchman had the American crowd in the palm of his hands. Beyond the massive popularity he has garnered among tennis fans, one of the most striking parts of Monfils’s long farewell was seeing how highly nearly all of his fellow professional players, and particularly his fellow black players, regard him. Frances Tiafoe says he spent his youth looking up to Monfils. Arthur Fils considers Monfils his older brother. Naomi Osaka’s nickname for Monfils, one of her idols, is simply “the GOAT”. They all hold Monfils in such great esteem, and for good reason. Continue reading...
James Talarico accuses Ken Paxton of ‘ignoring’ Epstein survivors
Democrats are targeting Trump’s relationship with Epstein as part of strategy ahead of midterm elections James Talarico , the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, accused his rival Ken Paxton of “ignoring” survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse, as Democrats seek to increase pressure on Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections. Speaking in Dallas, where Republicans are holding a midterm convention this week, Talarico appeared alongside one of Epstein’s victims at an exhibit that featured about 3.5m pages of Department of Justice’s files related to Epstein. Continue reading...
Victim families say it has ‘taken way too long’ to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for alleged support on 9/11
Terry Strada, whose husband was killed in the attacks, says she remains hopeful for justice as a lawsuit alleging Saudi support for the hijackers moves toward trial The leader of one group of 9/11 victims’ families says it has “taken way too long” to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for its alleged support of the terrorists who carried out the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, whose 25th anniversary was observed across the US on Friday. As that grim milestone approached, Terry Strada – the national chair of 9/11 Families United – said she felt as if it had “been several lifetimes” for there to be progress in the effort “to achieve a modicum of justice through our court system” in connection with the deadliest act of terror against the US. Continue reading...
US home sales weaken to slowest pace in more than a year as mortgage rates and prices climb
Housing market has been stymied by borrowing costs, as mortgage rates marched higher amid war between the US and Iran Sales of previously occupied US homes declined in August to their slowest annual pace in more than a year as home shoppers grappled with rising mortgage rates and home prices. Existing home sales fell 2% last month from July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.98m units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. This is the third straight monthly decline. Continue reading...
‘It was all hands on deck’: how the CIA responded to 9/11
Veterans recall chaos and confusion as the attacks unfolded – followed by a ‘war on terror’ that left agency with a tarnished reputation A generation of spies had lost an enemy but not yet found a role. Then came 9/11. A decade after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, al-Qaida’s devastating attacks on New York and Washington on 11 September 2001 announced to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that the long era of battling communism, for which it had been founded, was officially at an end. Continue reading...
Global bond selloff resumes as surging oil prices stoke fears about inflation
Crude jumps above $107 a barrel amid concerns over Middle East conflict and out-of-control government borrowing Nervous investors across big economies have been dumping government bonds, driving up the cost of borrowing, as surging oil prices amplified fears about rising inflation. The cost of a barrel of oil jumped 6% to above $107 on Thursday amid concerns that advances by Houthi rebels along the Red Sea coast in Yemen could choke off Saudi crude exports. Continue reading...
Trump faces growing scrutiny over ‘profoundly concerning’ cash gifts for aides including Natalie Harp
The payments amounted to 30% of each aides’ $150,000 annual salary Donald Trump may have committed “serious” ethical violations by giving three officials including his close personal aide Natalie Harp cash gifts of $45,000 each, according to a former White House “ethics czar”, as a watchdog group called for an investigation. The nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint with the US Office of Government Ethics over the US president’s handouts to a handful of staff, arguing that an investigation is “clearly warranted”. Continue reading...
Does Trump’s $5,000 ‘dividend’ count as a bribe if we never get the money?
Trump’s promise to pay $5,000 to every adult US citizen if the Republicans win in November was only one questionable moment in a nearly two-hour speech Hello, from the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, where on Wednesday night Trump definitely, definitely, did not try to bribe the American public into voting for his party in November. Speaking for almost two hours at the American Airlines Center, Trump promised to pay every adult citizen in the US $5,000 if Republicans retain the House and Senate in the midterm elections. The speech felt very much like a desperate last pitch to voters: the electoral equivalent of a dumped boyfriend offering to take his estranged girlfriend on a mini-break to Venice. Trump promise of $5,000 for US citizens after midterms decried as ‘bribery’ As the midterms loom, Trump returns to his happy place: on stage in the theatre of the absurd Trump’s top six falsehoods about 9/11 as 25th anniversary nears Continue reading...
US trial against China’s Huawei opens with prosecutor calling the company a criminal enterprise
The defense says: ‘It’s about competition, not conspiracy’ A US prosecutor described China ’s Huawei as a criminal enterprise that stole from US companies to build its telecommunications empire, as the trial against the tech giant kicked off in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday. “Theft, lies, cover-up,” Taylor Stout, a trial attorney from the US Department of Justice, said in the government’s opening statement. “For 20 years, that’s how Huawei, a massive Chinese telecommunications company, victimized American companies and abused the American financial system, all in an effort to dominate the telecommunications industry around the world.“ Continue reading...
The Guardian view on the prisons crisis: moving men into women’s jails is not the answer | Editorial
Kneejerk reactions to overcrowding will do more harm than good. Ministers should focus on probation It is not hard to see why ministers are considering converting parts of the women’s prison estate for use by men. While Andy Burnham’s decision to narrow the early-release scheme was born of political necessity, it has made an already acute capacity problem worse. Excluding manslaughter and further sexual offences cut projected early releases from 6,000 to 4,500 . The family of PC Andrew Harper, who was killed on duty in 2019, welcomed the assurance that his killers would not be released early. But the change left overcrowded English and Welsh jails with even less room. The government is trying to innovate. Last week it was announced that £110m will be spent on creating new cells in existing jails, by converting underused spaces such as storage and laundry areas. Deportations are to be speeded up, if foreign governments can be persuaded to cooperate. There is an overdue and welcome commitment to examine how indeterminate imprisonment for public protection sentences can be phased out. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here . Continue reading...
Forgetful Farage shares rose-tinted memories of Reform’s party conference | John Crace
Oops, Nige’s round-robin email skipped over the most embarrassing and dark details – let’s set the record straight Which one of us has not dreamed of getting a personal email from Nigel Farage? So imagine the excitement that Reform supporters must have felt when a message from their leader dropped into their inboxes late on Wednesday night. And mine. Could he also be about to offer everyone in the country £5,000 in return for electing a Reform government? Sadly, not. Even Honest Bob’s planned welfare cuts won’t cover that. Instead, Nige was treating us all to his reflections on his party conference that had just ended. The only drawback was that there appeared to be some gaps in his memory. Let’s be kind and assume he was pushed for space. So let’s help him fill in the blanks. Continue reading...
The Guardian view on falling birthrates: cash alone cannot buy belonging | Editorial
Young people still want partners and children. Governments must address the insecurity and isolation preventing them from building families Why are people in one of the world’s richest, safest countries having so few children? Singapore is asking that question. In 2000, its fertility rate matched America’s at 1.6 children per woman. By 2025, it had dropped to 0.87 – almost half the US rate . Singapore’s leaders, worried about population collapse, have reached for the chequebook. Each child, including those born to unmarried parents, will get $55,000 in government support by the time they turn 17. Yet a quarter of Singaporeans say they do not intend to have children. Wealth and security, clearly, don’t guarantee more babies. UN data shows that global fertility fell from 5.3 births per woman in 1963 to 2.2 in 2023. But this masks a growing divide. In some poor sub-Saharan African countries there are around six births per woman. Compare this with England and Wales , where the figure is just 1.39. More than half of the world – including a billion women in India and China – have a fertility rate below the global 2.1 “ replacement level ” needed to sustain populations without migration. But even in poor countries with high mortality rates and consequently higher replacement rates, births outpace deaths. In Nigeria, for example, the fertility rate of 4.4 exceeds its replacement rate of 2.6 children per woman . Continue reading...
Former PE teacher faces lengthy jail term for sexually abusing pupils
Bronwen James, 30, admitted offences against two girls at schools in Wiltshire and Hampshire, and found guilty of charges involving boy A former PE teacher is facing a lengthy jail sentence for grooming and sexually abusing three pupils at two schools. Bronwen James, 30, admitted offences against two girls at schools in Hampshire and Wiltshire and was found guilty by a jury of charges involving a boy. Continue reading...
California Republican vows to abolish state DMV if elected governor
Steve Hilton calls department of motor vehicles a ‘bloated bureaucracy’ as he seeks to boost his longshot campaign The longshot California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton pledged this week to abolish the state’s department of motor vehicles if he is elected, promising to shutter the oft-criticized department for good and set a flat $73 annual registration fee per car. Hilton, a Trump-backed former conservative pundit running in reliably blue California, called the state’s DMV a “bloated bureaucracy”, during a Tuesday campaign event, echoing the Trump administration’s efforts to slash the federal workforce. Continue reading...
Charley Hull to face world No 1 Nelly Korda in tantalising Solheim Cup opening
Hull will partner debutant Lottie Woad for Europe USA seeking to retain trophy they won in 2024 Galleries at the 20th Solheim Cup have been granted a blockbuster start with Nelly Korda and Charley Hull to face off in Friday morning’s foursomes. The meeting of Korda, the world No 1, and Hull, Europe’s star turn, should ensure an electric opening in the Netherlands as the USA seek to retain the trophy won in Virginia two years ago . Korda nudged out Hull at the US Women’s Open in June. Hull will partner the Solheim Cup debutant Lottie Woad against the formidable USA pairing of Korda and Allisen Corpuz to begin the tournament. Nanna Koerstz Madsen and Céline Boutier will represent Europe in match two, where they will take on Alison Lee and Lauren Coughlin. Esther Henseleit and Leona Maguire have been selected for the hosts in the penultimate match, with Andrea Lee and Lindy Duncan in opposition. The foursomes will conclude with Europe’s Swedish duo of Maja Stark and Linn Grant facing Rose Zhang and Jennifer Kupcho. Continue reading...
US appeals court rejects Trump’s bid to impose restrictions on mail-in voting before midterms
Court declined to put on hold injunction preventing the USPS from tightening rules around postal voting A US appeals court has rejected Donald Trump’s bid to impose sweeping restrictions on mail-in voting before November’s midterm elections, dealing a fresh blow to the president’s attempted crackdown. The Boston-based first US circuit court of appeals declined to put on hold an injunction issued by a lower court judge last week, preventing the US Postal Service from tightening rules around postal voting. Continue reading...
Democratic socialist clinches Rhode Island nomination amid party victories
David Morales wins Democratic primary for Providence mayor, unseating the incumbent mayor, Brett Smiley In the latest in a string of victories by progressives across parts of the US, the democratic socialist David Morales won the Democratic primary for mayor in Providence, Rhode Island, on Wednesday night, unseating the incumbent mayor, Brett Smiley. The Rhode Island state representative, who was endorsed by the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders as well as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), is now the favorite to secure the mayoralty in the deep blue city’s November general election against the Republican nominee, 77-year-old David Talan. Continue reading...
Sacha Baron Cohen lined up for Quentin Tarantino’s West End playwriting debut
The Ali G and Borat creator is reported to be taking the lead in The Popinjay Cavalier, a swashbuckling comedy Tarantino is developing for early 2027 He will soon be seen resuming his old Staines rudeboy persona in the film Ali G: Who Iz I? , but Sacha Baron Cohen may also be eyeing a new departure – on stage. The actor will reportedly star in Quentin Tarantino’s first play, The Popinjay Cavalier , which is billed as a “ rambunctious comedy of deception and disguise” and a “sweeping celebration of theatre and its heightened romance”, set in 1830s Europe. According to Deadline , Baron Cohen will play the swashbuckling title character in the play, which Tarantino will also direct. Continue reading...
Shabana Mahmood urges police to curb far-right, anti-migrant protests
Home secretary tells officers to make ‘full use’ of their powers after masked vigilantes cause weekend of chaos Shabana Mahmood has urged police to curb the activities of far-right, anti-migrant groups which have “obvious malign intent” after a weekend of chaos caused by balaclava-wearing vigilantes. In a meeting on Thursday, the home secretary told senior officers to make “full use” of their powers, including bans on face coverings, after police were assaulted and ports were disrupted in Kent and Hampshire. Continue reading...
Remains found in North Carolina in 1970s identified as 15-year-old girl
Advanced DNA testing reveals skeletal remains belong to Cindy Marcell Blizzard, who had run away from home Skeletal remains discovered nearly 50 years ago in North Carolina have been identified as those of a 15-year-old girl who had run away from home. On 29 December 1977, skeletal remains and clothing were discovered in a wooded area near a tire manufacturing plant in Wilson, a city approximately 40 miles east of Raleigh. After decades of DNA testing, including advances in technology, investigators identified the remains as belonging to Cindy Marcell Blizzard, a 15-year-old girl who had run away from her home in Monkton, Maryland, in the spring of 1977, the North Carolina state bureau of investigation said . Continue reading...
‘All the persuasiveness of a North Korean newscast’: Democrats decry Fetterman video at GOP convention
Surprise appearance by Pennsylvania senator raises fresh questions over loyalty to and future in Democratic party The Democratic senator John Fetterman’s decision to address the Republican National Committee (RNC) midterm convention via video sparked a furious response from some members of his party. Fetterman’s surprise appearance – and praise of his fellow Pennsylvania senator, Republican Dave McCormick – raised fresh questions over his loyalty to, and future inside, the Democratic party. Continue reading...
The hospitality industry fears a tourist tax will deter visitors – the evidence says otherwise
Studies from hotspots across Europe that have introduced levies suggest they have no impact on visitor numbers If you wandered down Las Ramblas or lazed on a beach in the Balearics this summer, you probably paid a tourist tax for the privilege. In fact, if you enjoyed any of Europe’s beauty spots in recent years, it is likely that an overnight levy was added to your bill. Britons have become used to paying these fees abroad but ministers have shied away from introducing them in the UK. The furious response from UK hospitality bosses helps to explain why. Continue reading...