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Europe’s media look on in bemusement at Downing Street’s post-Brexit ‘revolving door’
Front pages across the continent reflect on Britain’s political turmoil after Starmer becomes seventh prime minister to quit since 2016 Europe live – latest updates In Germany, Downing Street was likened to a transit station, given the regular comings and goings of different prime ministers and staff. Meanwhile, a bemused Spanish newspaper concluded No 10 seemed to have been fitted with a revolving door. As news outlets across Europe digested the implications of Keir Starmer’s precipitous fall from landslide election winner to ousted prime minister , many also focused on a wider reality – Britain’s once much vaunted political stability was a thing of the past. Continue reading...
A super El Niño threatens disaster. Trump is handling it recklessly | Terry Garcia
The administration interrupted data streams that are key to forecasting. These systems should not be vulnerable to political whims In 1877, North Americans experienced an unusually mild winter – it was known as the “year without a winter”. It coincided with one of the strongest El Niño events ever recorded. Scientists suspect the same El Niño was a major factor in one of the worst environmental disasters in history. As much of the world was enveloped in drought, harvests collapsed in India, China, parts of Africa, and Brazil. The drought, compounded by colonial and other socioeconomic policies, led to the “Great Famine”, which killed between 30 and 60 million people, about 3% of the world’s population at the time. What distinguishes us from the victims of 1877 is not luck but data. When I served as deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, I saw modern ocean monitoring and forecasting provide the advance warnings the Victorians lacked. This lead time saves thousands of lives and billions of dollars each year. Today, we can anticipate climate shocks before they arrive. Terry Garcia is a former deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Continue reading...
Reader Q&A: ask Rafael Behr your questions now
It’s 10 years since Brexit – and it’s also another one of those weeks in British politics … Guardian columnist Rafael Behr will be here at 5pm to answer your questions about Burnham, Starmer, Brexit and more. Sign up here to join the discussion and post your questions Welcome to our latest Q&A with a Guardian journalist. Raf will be joining us at 5pm. We have originally asked him to take questions about Brexit as we mark 10 years since the UK’s vote to leave the EU. But … you may well have questions about the last 48 hours as Andy Burnham looks certain to become the next prime minister. In the meantime, though, Andrew Sparrow is covering another busy and dramatic day in Westminster on the politics live blog and here’s some more on the end of Keir Starmer’s premiership: Continue reading...
Kenyan minister orders halt to construction of US Ebola facility
Decision comes after Aden Duale was held in contempt for ignoring previous high court ruling to stop work Kenya’s health minister has told a court he has ordered a halt to preparations for a US-run Ebola quarantine facility, after being held in contempt for ignoring a previous stop-work order. Many Kenyans strongly oppose the plan and deadly protests have erupted since the facility was announced in May for US citizens evacuated from the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is grappling with a large-scale Ebola outbreak. Continue reading...
Majority of datacenters are vulnerable to climate threats like floods and fires, study finds
Study warns AI datacenters are vulnerable to the climate hazards that their global greenhouse gas emissions bolster Amid rising concern that the artificial intelligence boom is fueling the climate crisis, a new report has found that nearly 80% of datacenters are also exposed to extreme climate hazards, including flooding, extreme winds and wildfires. Those impacts are leaving the infrastructure vulnerable to disrupted operations, increased time offline and inflated insurance and repair costs, the research from climate risk analytics firm First Street shows. Continue reading...
Look at Keir Starmer’s tenure as prime minister. This is no ‘decent man’ who got unlucky | Owen Jones
From Gaza to the Peter Mandelson row, his abandoned pledges to the ‘island of strangers’ claim, Starmer’s time at No 10 was truly dismal Good riddance, Keir Starmer. No sooner had the toppled prime minister wiped away his tears than the solemn guff began. The Labour leader is “principled” and “driven by a deep sense of public service and duty to this country”, said deputy prime minister David Lammy. He showed “the great dignity and integrity that is the mark of the man”, said energy secretary Ed Miliband. “A devoted and dedicated public servant” said home secretary Shabana Mahmood. No. This was not a decent man defeated by circumstance, a man of duty and integrity who was simply in the wrong job, a principled leader undone by events. This was an unprincipled politician who abandoned promises with as much enthusiasm as he trousered freebies from rich donors . Continue reading...
Cult leader William Kamm and wife groomed young girl for a decade, Sydney court told
The 76-year-old allegedly ordered he should have 12 wives to ‘repopulate’ the world. He and his wife deny the charges Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The leader of a cult and his wife allegedly groomed a young girl over a decade so she could bear 45 of his children in a post-apocalyptic world. William Kamm, also known as “Little Pebble”, was the leader of the Order of Saint Charbel, a religious cult run from a property on the New South Wales south coast. Continue reading...
‘When my brother died, it separated us’: the grief and trauma pulling apart siblings of homicide
When André Robinson Jr was shot and killed in Oakland in 2020, his family was upended – how do siblings navigate the fallout from violent loss? The Robinson family once looked forward to Sundays. It was the day they would gather with dozens of their closest relatives and friends to eat, laugh and catch up. “Sunday was the day that we cherished the most,” said RoShanda Robinson, the oldest child in the family. But in the fall of 2020, these get-togethers abruptly stopped. A day that used to include bountiful meals and booming laughter suddenly became a painful reminder of life-changing loss. Continue reading...
South Yorkshire police investigate video of officers appearing to shove teenage girls
Force describes footage of police response to incident in Rotherham as ‘nothing short of shocking’ South Yorkshire police have described video footage that appears to show officers shoving and drawing batons and stun guns on teenage girls as “nothing short of shocking”. The footage, widely shared on social media over the weekend, shows police officers being confronted by a number of girls dressed up for a night out, before one of the officers appears to shove one of the teenagers and then draws his baton. Continue reading...
Royal Mail boss’s pay package soars to £6.9m despite profits slide
Martin Seidenberg, chief executive of parent company IDS, handed payouts after takeover of UK postal service Business live – latest updates The boss of the parent company of Royal Mail saw his pay and bonus package more than triple last year to almost £7m, despite group profits slumping by a fifth. Martin Seidenberg, the group chief executive of International Distribution Services (IDS), took home £6.9m in pay, bonus and long-term incentive scheme awards in the year to 31 March. This compares with the £2.1m he took home the previous year. Continue reading...
Middle East crisis live: Iranian ambassador warns it will respond to any Israeli attack in Lebanon
The Iranian ambassador to the UN in Geneva described Israeli attacks on Lebanon as a red line in negotiations Iran and Oman has formed a joint committee to discuss the strait of Hormuz , Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf , Iran’s chief negotiator, said on Telegram on Tuesday. Under the memorandum of understanding, Iran is required to ensure toll-free passage for commercial vessels for at least 60 days, with full restoration of traffic within 30 days. Continue reading...
Air pollution is a fixable problem – just look at how London and New York have cleaned up their acts
We’ve shown that rapid, measurable progress is achievable in our cities. Here’s how that can now be replicated worldwide Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London. Michael Bloomberg is a former mayor of New York City Some public health threats make global headlines: Covid-19. Ebola. Famine. When these disasters hit, photographs and videos of people suffering and dying spur countries to respond, international bodies to cooperate and individuals to donate supplies and money. Yet one of the world’s deadliest threats gets almost no attention at all, because it is largely invisible to the public and mostly absent from media coverage: air pollution. Every day, billions of people are inhaling air that is shortening their lives and making them sicker with every breath. Every year, air pollution kills more than 8 million people worldwide . That’s more deaths than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined . It hides in plain sight and strikes without mercy, leading to heart and lung disease, cancers and other deadly conditions. Sadiq Khan is the mayor of London. Michael Bloomberg is a former mayor of New York City Continue reading...
First Thing: Judge thwarts Trump administration attempt to overthrow LA ‘sanctuary city’ policy
Central California US district court rejected claim policy was ‘unconstitutional’. Plus House of the Dragon star Olivia Cooke on being sworn at by people wanting selfies Good morning. A California court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Donald Trump’s administration against Los Angeles over a city ordinance making it a “sanctuary city” and limiting its cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Fernando Olguin, a judge in the central California US district court, rejected the administration’s argument that the city’s policy was unconstitutional. He gave the administration permission to file an amended complaint. The White House did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment. What did the city say about the victory? The Los Angeles city attorney, Hydee Feldstein Soto, said: “This order reinforces the well-established principle that local governments have the authority to decide how to use their personnel and resources. The goal of this ordinance … is to encourage victims of and witnesses to crime to feel safe coming forward to seek help from LAPD regardless of their immigration status. It does not obstruct or impede lawful federal immigration enforcement operations.” Why did both sides want the act to pass? The legislation comes as Democrats and Republicans prepare for November’s midterm elections, in which concerns about affordability are expected to loom large in the minds of voters. A shortfall in construction of new homes is seen as a key driver of housing costs, which have crept higher in recent years. Continue reading...
New Yorkers vote as Democrats weigh competing visions in era of Trump
Democratic primary elections to test strength of party’s left flank as old guard faces string of challenges New Yorkers were voting on Tuesday in a slate of Democratic primaries poised to reveal the strength of the party’s left flank and shape the battle for control of the US House of Representatives in November. Voters in Maryland and Utah will also nominate congressional candidates on Tuesday, while South Carolina holds a series of runoff elections for candidates who did not receive a majority of the vote earlier this month. Continue reading...
It’s not easy being green: Trump’s botched reflecting pool becomes 2,028ft metaphor
The symbolic power of a stagnant pond beneath Lincoln’s statue has proven irresistible for the president’s critics Narcissus was cursed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Donald Trump is finding that his effort to overhaul the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington has turned into a perverse tourist attraction and 2,028ft national metaphor. On Monday afternoon a massive algae bloom had turned the pool a green reminiscent of a plane passenger clutching a sick bag. It also stank, but that did not deter a steady flow of curious tourists snapping photos and TV crews doing eyewitness interviews about the folly of Donald Trump’s $14.7m renovation . Continue reading...
Serial rapist ex-NFL player Darren Sharper registers as sex offender in Virginia
Sharper, who pleaded guilty or no contest to raping women in four states, was transferred to a halfway house in May Convicted serial rapist and former National Football League champion Darren Sharper has registered as a sex offender in his home state of Virginia, after being transferred from federal prison to a halfway house there, according to official records. With a projected 2028 release date nearing, the US Bureau of Prisons (BoP) recently confirmed that the 50-year-old Sharper had been moved on 27 May from a federal correctional institution near Elkton, Ohio, to either home confinement or a facility colloquially known as a halfway house overseen by the agency’s residential re-entry management office in Baltimore. Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organizations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...
I stand by what I said 10 years ago. We were right to leave the European Union | Larry Elliott
The Brexit vote showed that class still matters in British politics – and the changes needed are ones the EU would never have allowed Read more from the Brexit Vote: 10 Years On series On the morning after the vote for Brexit, the Guardian’s newsroom was deathly quiet. There was disbelief that the public had voted the way it had, and the place was in mourning. With one exception the paper’s columnists had backed remain, and the shock of defeat was all the harder to bear because they had expected their side to triumph. The exception to the house view was me – and I certainly received some old-fashioned looks from my colleagues that day. Judging by my inbox, both then and thereafter, my colleagues were more in tune with the readers than I was, but the editor thought it important that my leftwing case for Brexit should be given a hearing. Ten years on, that case is worth restating. The first strand in the argument is that Europe isn’t working, and hasn’t been working for a long time. There has always been an economic case for EU membership but it has become harder to make down the years. When Britain was first applying to join what was then the European Economic Community, the major European economies were growing a lot faster than Britain, and were also closing the gap with the US. That is no longer the case. In the more than 17 years since the financial crisis, the US has grown by 87%, compared with the EU’s 13.5% – more than six times as fast. True, the Office for Budget Responsibility has estimated that the economy will be 4% smaller in the 15 years after the referendum than it would have been had the UK remained in the single market – but this finding should be treated with some scepticism. As Jeremy Hunt, who campaigned for remain, told the BBC last week, for the economy to be 4% bigger today it would have had to have grown as fast as the US – something the former chancellor finds implausible. The second is that Brexit highlighted the weaknesses of Britain’s financial services-dominated economic model, and provided the opportunity to try something different. While it would be wrong to blame Brussels for all Britain’s economic woes, any serious repair job requires a freedom of manoeuvre that EU membership made more difficult. The government’s decision to impose tariffs to protect Britain’s steel industry and to cut duties on 100 imported food products to ease the cost of living crisis are examples of that freedom being used. If Andy Burnham is serious about reversing “40 years of neoliberalism” , that will require curbs on the free movement of capital, goods and people – all expressly forbidden by single-market rules. And third, Brexit was a howl of anger from those parts of Britain that felt marginalised and forgotten. It was a vote for a different economic settlement to put right the damage caused by deindustrialisation and globalisation. Larry Elliott is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Rory Kennedy revisits Boeing in new film sparked by whistleblower’s death: ‘We’ve got to stay at this’
Film-maker talks about her documentary on John Barnett, the Boeing whistleblower who killed himself in 2024 It is widely recognized that for the Kennedys, tragedy has come often and from unexpected quarters. The filmmaker Rory Kennedy , born six months after the assassination of her father Robert Kennedy, has known her share. But in 2024 it was a loss outside the political dynasty that shook her to the core. John Barnett, a quality inspector turned whistleblower at Boeing , one of the world’s biggest plane manufacturers, was found dead in his truck outside a hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. Affectionately known as “Swampy” because of his roots in Louisiana, Barnett had a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Continue reading...
In Iran, Trump’s victory claims only deepened a self-made catastrophe | Sidney Blumenthal
What the US president succeeded in obliterating was any rationale he offered for going to war Before Donald Trump finally surrendered in his Iran war, he declared victory several dozen times, including on day eight– “ We’ve already won !” – day 10 – “ The war is very complete ”– day 12, proclaiming he had won five times in 13 seconds – “We’ve won, let me say we’ve won. You know, you never like to say too early you won, we won, we won the bet in the first hour it was over”– and day 39 –“Total and complete victory, 100%. No question about it”– and claimed a deal to end the war was just around the corner 38 times. The first time he raised the prospect of peace, on day 24, he said the two sides had reached “almost all points of agreement”. Trump boldly affixed his signature with a sharpie to the Memorandum Of Understanding on day 110, 17 June, at the Palace of Versailles, where the ruinous treaty concluding the first world war was signed. He seemed oblivious to the historical symbolism of the place, but bedazzled by its gold. “Versailles is not gold leaf – Versailles is the real deal,” he remarked . Continue reading...
David Pocock urges Albanese to stop tech companies training AI models using Australian content
Independent senator says Anthony Albanese is preparing to announce an AI copyright plan in July Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The independent senator David Pocock has challenged the Albanese government to rule out letting tech giants use Australian content to train AI models, as cabinet considers proposals to change copyright rules for the rapidly developing technology. Pocock used Senate question time on Tuesday to ask the government about intense lobbying from AI proprietors over possible new rules and regulations for Australian-made content – including suggestions Labor would create a new “carve out” or extend existing licensing arrangements. Continue reading...
Nigel Farage says £5m gift from crypto billionaire is ‘not any of your business’
Reform leader says it is ‘purely private matter’ and it is not hypocritical to criticise Keir Starmer for receiving glasses UK politics live – latest updates Nigel Farage has said his £5m gift from a crypto billionaire is “not any of your business”, saying the cash from the British Thai-based businessman Christopher Harborne was “a purely private matter”. The Reform UK leader also said it was not hypocritical of him to attack Keir Starmer for receiving donations of glasses and suits, because Starmer had been “the leader of the opposition and I was a presenter on GB News”. Continue reading...
RIP Alan Greenspan: you were charming, powerful, and wrong | Robert Reich
The former Federal Reserve chair was a smart guy – but he had a huge blind spot. Here’s what I wish I’d said to him Alan Greenspan has died at the age of 100. My students don’t recognize his name, but you probably do. When he was chair of the Federal Reserve – for more than 18 years, from 11 August 1987 to 31 January 2006 – he not only ran the US (and most of the world’s) economy but was also in many ways the most powerful person in the US. Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com . His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now in the US and in the UK Continue reading...
NBA draft 2026 predictions: a consensus at No 1 and a rising Mexican star
AJ Dybantsa is widely expected to have his name called first on Tuesday. But which other young stars are worth keeping an eye on? AJ Dybantsa looked like a pro among college kids in his lone season at BYU, becoming just the fifth Division I player in the last 40 years to average more than 25 points per game while shooting better than 51%. Even beyond the numbers, Dybantsa’s natural length and ability to create his own shot make him look more like a future All-Star than Kansas’s Darryn Peterson, whose load-management habits stand in stark contrast to Dybantsa’s workhorse approach. Andrew Lawrence Continue reading...
‘Devastating’: lives of nurses and patients upended by Trump migrant crackdown
Withdrawal of TPS designation puts workers who fill vital role in peril – and risks further shortages in US health system When Dolores Jacoby’s doctor told her there was little she could do to treat her acute myeloid leukemia, a deafening silence filled the hospital room, where she was surrounded by her family. Dolores had only recently been diagnosed with the rare aggressive cancer. Her beloved nursing assistant, Janeth, was standing just outside her room. After the doctor left, Janeth entered with a tray containing each family member’s favorite beverage. “If there’s anybody who can recover, it’s your mother,” she told John Jacoby, Dolores’s son, before leaving the room as inconspicuously as she had arrived. It was 2012. More than a decade later, John still remembers that day in his mother’s hospital room in the San Francisco Bay Area clearly. “We had just heard the worst news of our lives, and Janeth injected life into my mom, into her veins, into the atmosphere, you know, for all of us,” he said. Continue reading...