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Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
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Cambridge University defends its mental health support for Jason Arday
University says it continued to provide support after resignation of academic, who was found dead this week The University of Cambridge has defended its mental health support for the academic Jason Arday. The university said it had continued to provide Arday with extensive mental health support and security measures, including installing panic alarms and screening racist emails and post, after he resigned from his post as professor of sociology of education earlier this month. Continue reading...
Hurricane Lala skirts Hawaii’s Big Island as heavy wind and rain lash region
One person died in a car accident, governor says, while rainfall could produce flooding and mudslides Hurricane Lala skirted Hawaii ’s Big Island on Saturday without making landfall and was expected to gradually weaken after lashing the region with strong winds and drenching rain that flooded roads and turned rivers into raging torrents. Hawaii governor Josh Green said at least one person died in a car accident in the South Point area of the Big Island. About 60,000 households were temporarily left without power while 19 roofs were lost and 190 flights were postponed. Continue reading...
Murder inquiry opens after death of man bitten by dog in West Yorkshire
Detectives say 55-year-old man arrested and appeal for anyone who witnessed altercation in Wakefield Police in West Yorkshire have launched a murder investigation into the death of a man after being bitten by a dog. Officers were dispatched to Wakefield just after 1.30pm on Saturday, after receiving reports that an altercation that had taken place a short time earlier on an old trainline footpath. Continue reading...
Taliban threaten former Afghan police worker after MoD leak reveals identity
UK has refused resettlement application despite ‘years of loyal service’ that have resulted in ‘constant fear’ of reprisals A man has received threats from the Taliban after his work for the Afghan police was revealed by a Ministry of Defence leak and the UK refused his application for resettlement. Hamid* worked for the Afghan national police special unit and received certificates for his work signed by senior British figures praising his “dedication, unparalleled service and leadership”. His details were also included in an accidental 2022 leak by an MoD official that identified 18,700 Afghans who had worked with or for the British government. Continue reading...
‘Our rota crew have the best summer’: parents share how they get through the school holiday
As research suggests six weeks of childcare can cost £1,145, parents are relying on spreadsheets, savings and sharing the load The summer holidays are in full swing, bringing the annual challenge many parents face in balancing work and looking after school-age children. With children off school for about 13 weeks a year, but most employees entitled to far less annual leave, parents have told the Guardian that the sums simply do not add up. New research suggests arranging six weeks of holiday childcare can cost working parents up to £1,145 a child , while almost three-quarters of parents say the summer childcare juggle can damage their career . Continue reading...
Why cancer, not cost of living, may be the biggest issue in Iowa’s midterm elections
A broad group of diseases in the agricultural powerhouse is top of mind for the midterm elections In Iowa , one of the key battleground states in November’s midterm elections , just about every political candidate agrees on one thing: something must be done about the state’s rising rates of cancer. The midwestern state has the second-highest rate of cancer nationwide and, together with Utah and West Virginia , is one of only three states where incidences of the disease are rising, according to cancer rate monitoring from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Continue reading...
Florida sets record for sea turtle nests but Trump move could stall recovery
Loggerhead turtles abound this season but rollback of Endangered Species Act protections could threaten future Wildlife groups in Florida are celebrating record numbers of sea turtle nests this season, but experts warn Donald Trump’s recent gutting of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) could reverse decades of their recovery from the edge of extinction. With more than two months of the summer nesting season still to run, loggerhead turtles have already laid 13,770 nests , hundreds more than recorded in any previous year, along an 8.5-mile stretch of shoreline monitored by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center in Juno Beach, on Florida’s Atlantic coast. Continue reading...
‘Why did it become personal?’: furore over plans to expand Kent oyster shack
James Green’s oyster company owns a chunk of Whitstable’s shoreline but success has not brought affection from residents The clink of glasses and the lapping of the tide was punctuated by giggling toddlers and the slurp of oysters at tables populated by people gently sizzling on a baking day on the Kent seaside. But James Green, of the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company, had the demeanour of a man who had found grit in his mollusc. “I don’t like to use the term but it is nimbyism,” he said. “Why did it become personal? I don’t know really. Because we’re a family business, it’s a relatively small town?” Continue reading...
Rare Renaissance paintings by Antonello da Messina stolen from Sicilian museum
Four works were taken during public holiday, the day after Italian police recovered paintings by Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse Four of the most important works of art by the 15th-century Renaissance master Antonello da Messina were stolen during a national holiday from a museum in the Sicilian port city of Messina. Thieves gained access to the regional museum of Messina , or MuMe, on Saturday evening, possibly capitalising on attention being focused on La Vara, a huge religious festival that takes place in the city on 15 August, when Italy marks the ferragosto national holiday. Continue reading...
Andy Burnham has barely acknowledged the climate crisis. If only Britain’s workers had that luxury | John Harris
Nurses collapsing, builders with heatstroke, bus drivers in cabs that reach 44C. The new PM wanted to spend the summer talking about the cost of living – he should change his plans I don’t think I have ever written before about a British strike directly related to the climate emergency. But that’s exactly what began late last week in north London, with a zeitgeisty connection to Andy Burnham’s fixation on buses: picket lines outside depots and massed walkouts, while the temperatures in the relevant parts of the capital and its suburbs hovered at about 34C (93F). Last Friday, more than 1,500 drivers employed by the transport giant Arriva began a planned run of 26 stoppages through to October, affecting bus routes spread between London and Essex. Everything is being led by the union Unite, whose recent grievances include alleged company union-busting and assaults by the public on staff. But the fundamental basis of the dispute is at the heart of the national condition: the near-impossibility for millions of people of working through another insanely hot summer. John Harris is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Burnham urged to crack down on gig economy firms to protect 4m workers
Exclusive: Campaigners say millions are missing out on key rights including sick pay and protection against unfair dismissal Andy Burnham is being urged to protect 4 million gig economy workers by prosecuting companies that use widespread “bogus” self-employment practices to deny people their rights. As the prime minister fleshes out his agenda, the Fabian Society and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation have warned that millions of workers are missing out on key statutory rights including parental leave, redundancy pay and protection against unfair dismissal. Continue reading...
Man under threat of deportation to Jamaica wins right to rejoin his British family
Mark Nelson released from immigration detention on bail after lawyers challenge decision to remove him A Jamaican man who has lived more than half his life in the UK and was facing imminent deportation has been allowed to reunite with his British family after a legal challenge. Mark Nelson, 47, came to the UK in 2000 and later set up his own car-mechanic business. He has five British children and a British partner. He faced deportation in 2022 after serving a four-year prison sentence for possession with intent to supply a class B drug, abstracting electricity and two offences of racially aggravated intentional harassment. He had not committed any further offences. Continue reading...
Bus carrying Polish pilgrims crashes in Hungary, leaving 12 dead
Another 10 people in serious condition after bus veers off motorway and overturns Twelve people have died after a bus carrying a group of Polish tourists overturned on the M3 motorway in Hungary on the way back from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Local police said the bus crashed near the town of Mezőkeresztes after it “went off the straight road into a ditch and overturned” at 1am local time. Early reports suggested the driver had probably fallen asleep. He survived the crash and was taken into custody. Continue reading...
‘Massive’ Ukrainian drone attack on Russia kills at least six, says Moscow
Kyiv launches what may be its largest attack wave of war, with fire breaking out at warehouse near Russian capital Ukraine has launched one of its largest drone attacks since the start of the war, causing a fire at a distribution warehouse near Moscow and killing at least six people overnight, according to Russian authorities. Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 822 drones, while the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, reported that 600 drones were flying towards the capital’s region, of which 201 were destroyed. Continue reading...
Joy in Hollywood as historic Cinerama dome to reopen: ‘People still want to go to the movies’
Sony Pictures in July announced that the celebrated theater, built in 1963 and shuttered during Covid, will reopen in 2028 Drive down Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and you’ll see a movie theater straight out of The Jetsons. Built in 1963, the Cinerama dome is instantly memorable: a white, geodesic construction that looks like a giant golf ball cut in half and plopped down in the middle of the city. Continue reading...
‘Outrageous’ handcuffing of New Orleans journalist sends ‘chilling message,’ says media group
Danny Monteverde had been protesting the closure of a courtroom during indictment of state attorney general The “outrageous” handcuffing of a New Orleans journalist covering the indictment in July of Louisiana’s attorney general – a case that ultimately was dismissed – conveyed “a chilling message to members of the press and the public” for which there is no excuse, according to a prominent media rights advocacy organization. An attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) made those assertions in a recent letter to the New Orleans criminal district courthouse where deputies temporarily detained WWL Louisiana investigative producer Danny Monteverde and outlet lawyer Elana Beiser in the course of their duties in early July. Continue reading...
California law would force companies to disclose toxic chemicals in disposable diapers
Legislation requiring disclosure of chemicals in diapers passed assembly and will go before state senate soon New California legislation would require manufacturers to disclose the “mystery cocktail” of toxic chemicals used in disposable diapers. Diapers often contain among the most toxic substances – phthalates, lead, Pfas, quats, arsenic, a range of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and “fragrance”, which can include any number of 1,200 compounds thought to be hazardous to human health. Continue reading...
US law to investigate foodborne illness outbreaks has been delayed for 15 years
Law was set to go into effect in January, months before cyclosporiasis outbreak, but now is set for 2028 Congress passed a law to help federal agencies investigate outbreaks of foodborne illness – a regulation experts said could have stopped the US’s largest cyclosporiasis outbreak much sooner. The only problem? The rule has been delayed – for 15 years, including most recently amid lobbying in 2025. Continue reading...
Angela Rayner moves to protect pubs from being turned into houses or offices
Housing secretary says developers will have to prove there’s no way to save pub, as she prepares planning shakeup All pubs will get protection from being turned into housing or offices under a shakeup of planning laws in England to be presented by Angela Rayner this week. The housing secretary will publish a new national planning policy framework aimed at loosening planning laws even further to help build 3m homes by the end of the parliament. Continue reading...
Families of US sailors denounce Trump and Hegseth for ‘dismissing their experiences and calling them liars’
One US sailor’s mother asks: ‘My son signed up to serve his country. But why isn’t his country serving him?’ Naval families with loved ones deployed for months on US warships amid the Iran war have reacted with fury to Donald Trump and the defense secretary Pete Hegseth ’s dismissal of their concerns about the extreme pressures and dire conditions they are enduring. The Guardian has talked to three naval families who have been following the physical and mental stresses bearing down on their relatives with mounting alarm. The families, with loved ones on board the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli, all spoke anonymously for fear of retribution against their active duty relatives. Continue reading...
Trump’s midterm malaise: endless war and high prices could spell doom for Republicans in November
‘Complete unraveling’ of Trump and Republican project reflects attitude of not caring at all about governance He was always one step ahead. Donald Trump won the US presidency as a wildly unlikely outsider in 2016 and staged an astonishing comeback to win it again in 2024. Even his foes grudgingly called him a political savant with an intuition for exploiting grievances that left so-called experts floundering. But now they are asking if the dark genius has lost his touch. Trump is trapped in the quagmire of an unpopular war, obsessing over monuments in Washington and looking for a new spokesperson after his White House press secretary quit . If the 80-year-old was deliberately trying to sabotage his Republican party in November’s midterm elections, it is not clear what he would do differently. Continue reading...
A positive new report raises the question: was Reeves undermined by dodgy data? | Heather Stewart
Assessment that has found a jump in UK productivity emphasises urgent need to appoint a national statistician Keen new chancellor, John Healey, responded to last week’s better-than-expected economic news by claiming the government is “bringing hope back”. Growth did not plunge as feared after Donald Trump unleashed war on Iran – with GDP expanding at a pretty decent 0.4% in the second quarter. But what if we should have held on to a bit more hope all along? A new assessment of the UK’s recent productivity suggests this critical measure of the country’s economic strength may have been systematically underestimated. Continue reading...
Block export of ‘national treasure’ UK fossils, says MP
Sale of one of UK’s top collections overseas prompts call new rules to help keep items in country One of UK’s best fossil collections sold in ‘loss to the nation’ An MP has called on ministers to change export controls so that significant fossils can be classed as national treasures after one of the UK’s best collections, unearthed on Dorset beaches, was sold overseas. Last week, a Guardian investigation revealed that an unparalleled collection of fossils from the UK’s Jurassic Coast, comprising hundreds of specimens including ichthyosaurs, had been sold to the Natural History Museum in Abu Dhabi for what one source described as an “eight-figure sum”. Continue reading...
University spinout to launch water quality app for UK and US waters
Molendotech will collate data from daily tests that detect E coli and other bacteria amid reports of swimmers falling ill A UK university spinout behind a rapid bacterial water testing kit is planning to launch live water quality maps, as scores of beachgoers report falling ill after swimming. Molendotech, a spinout from the University of Plymouth, sells a portable test that detects E coli and other bacteria in water and delivers results on the spot, without waiting for days to get laboratory results. Continue reading...