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Politics
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‘Lauf’ and ‘minceur’: the words that made a 13-year-old from Melbourne a world Scrabble champion
Dineth Fernando – who moved to Australia with his family in February – says he just needed to ‘find the word and play – that’s all’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Dineth Fernando’s first language isn’t English and he only arrived in Melbourne six months ago – but already he’s claimed an international Scrabble title with an Australian flag draped around his shoulders. The 13-year-old won the 2026 world youth Scrabble championships in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi over the weekend, becoming the third Australian representative in the competition’s history to take out the prize. Continue reading...
South Korean airport becomes busiest in world for global traffic amid Iran war
Incheon airport had 38.39m international passengers in first half of 2026, as traffic diverted from Middle East hubs South Korea’s Incheon airport has become the world’s busiest airport for international passengers, in part owing to disruption in the Middle East caused by the Iran war. The airport, South Korea’s main gateway, about 30 miles (48km) west of Seoul, handled 38.39 million international passengers in the first half of 2026, according to preliminary figures compiled by the Airports Council International (ACI), the global trade body for airports. Continue reading...
This week’s soccer questions: is this the Premier League wide open and should Barça avoid Rodri?
We look at the many contenders for the English title this season, one of the big potential moves of the summer and chaos at Fifa It’s difficult to recall a Premier League season starting amid such widespread uncertainty as this one. Half the division, including Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, is under new management. The Pep Guardiola era is over and, as Jonathan Wilson put it , the Premier League has no alpha manager possibly for the first time ever. Continue reading...
‘Boxing is in the blood’: Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle and the prize ring
The author of a new novel about the famed detective explores a little-known facet of Holmes’s creator What do Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle have to do with boxing? More than you may think. Doyle, who created Holmes, was a boxing enthusiast who boxed a bit and wrote extensively about the sport. Doyle stood 6ft tall and weighed in the neighborhood of 200lb. He began sparring while a medical student at the University of Edinburgh and described himself as “a fair average amateur”. “McMurdo,” cried Sherlock Holmes genially. “I don’t think you can have forgotten me. Don’t you remember the amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison’s rooms on the night of your benefit four years back?” “Not Mr Sherlock Holmes!” roared the prize-fighter. “God’s truth! How could I have mistook you? If instead o’ standin’ there so quiet, you had just stepped up and given me that cross-hit of yours under the jaw, I’d ha’ known you without a question. Ah, you’re one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy.” Thomas Hauser’s email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com . His next book – Sherlock Holmes and Mrs. Rutledge – will be published later this month and is available for preorder on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk as well as other platforms. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing’s highest honor - induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Continue reading...
Former Catholic bishop accused of hosting alcohol-fuelled parties to sexually abuse Aboriginal men found guilty
Christopher Alan Saunders found guilty of 13 sex offences in West Australian district court on Thursday. He was acquitted of six other charges Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A former high-ranking Catholic known for hosting boozy shirts-off parties has been convicted of sexually abusing two young Aboriginal men. Former bishop of Broome Christopher Alan Saunders, 76, was found guilty of 13 sex offences on Thursday following a jury trial in the West Australian district court. Continue reading...
Polls open in Clacton, as research shows Farage has spent more than £10,000 in byelection – UK politics live
The Reform UK leader resigned as the MP for Clacton at the start of July and forced a byelection Good morning. In the media, August is known as the “silly season”. With parliament not sitting and many people on holiday, there is less proper news than normal, which means the nonsense stories get (even) more attention than usual. We are almost slap bang in the middle of the month, and today we’ve got a silly season classic in Clacton, where Nigel Farage, the Reform UK candidate, is fighting a byelection in which his main opponent is a joke candidate who dresses up as a dustbin. Farage is not inherently silly. Few politicians have been more consequential over the past quarter of a century (because he did more than any other single individual to make the Brexit referendum happen); for most of the past 16 months his party has had a big poll lead and he has a very realistic chance of being the next PM; and even if he doesn’t become PM, his hard-right, anti-migrant, crass, crypto-friendly populism will have changed British politics significantly. POLITICO analysis of the Reform UK leader’s digital campaign messages shows that Farage has run a twin-track strategy in the seaside seat as polls open Thursday. The two key themes of the digital air war have been painting Farage as a champion for local residents — as well as an insurgent leader harried by the “establishment” machine. Farage and his party have spent more than £10,000 pushing those messages via ads on Meta’s platforms — which include Facebook and Instagram — in the campaign so far. Almost £1,000 has been spent on videos of Farage urging local supporters to request the party deliver and install an “I’m with Nigel” garden sign. Meanwhile, around £500 went to ads asking voters to return their postal votes and “send a message to the establishment.” The largest single sum — between £4,000-£4,500 — was spent on an almost five-minute campaign video in which Farage waxes lyrical about the connection he’s made with local constituents, while claiming his party’s surging success has resulted in the powers-that-be using “foul means” to hamper him. Continue reading...
Pentagon official and former Aukus sceptic says deal is ‘full steam ahead’, echoing Trump
Elbridge Colby, a US under secretary of war, says he is ‘very pleased’ with the nuclear submarine program’s progress Elbridge Colby, the third-highest-ranking official at the Pentagon and formerly an avowed Aukus sceptic , has mirrored his president’s language on the nuclear submarine deal, saying it is “full steam ahead”. Colby, a US under secretary of war, was the author of the Trump administration’s review of the Aukus deal, which would see the US sell three in-service Virginia-class submarines to Australia, before the development of Australia’s domestically built Aukus-class submarines. Continue reading...
How to keep babies and children safe in heatwaves
Biological factors mean a child’s core temperature rises faster than an adult’s – and that can result in a medical emergency Children and babies are more vulnerable in heatwaves than healthy adults. As temperatures rise again , how do we keep children safe? Continue reading...
Millions face higher water bills as suppliers allowed £3.4bn extra spending
Firms in England and Wales seek to fund measures including supporting new homes and datacentres Business live – latest updates Millions of households in England and Wales face higher bills after water companies were given the green light to spend £3.4bn more than planned, including to support new homes and datacentres. The new spending will come on top of the £104bn programme of investment approved by the regulator that had already meant water bills will rise by 36% over the second half of the decade. Continue reading...
Europe heatwave live: Temperatures of 40C expected in Spain, with amber heat health warning in place across large parts of UK
In France, 80 departments have been placed on an orange heat warning The government will look at banning disposable barbecues as wildfires continue to rage across the UK, Andy Burnham has said. Disposable barbecues have been the cause of a number of serious fires over the last few years, but campaigners were critical of the prime minister’s failure to link those fires more broadly to the climate crisis. Macclesfield, Cheshire, July 2026: a large woodland fire that was tackled by dozens of firefighters. Cheshire fire and rescue service said a discarded barbecue was the probable cause Three separate fires in one day around London, July 2026: in Feltham , 6 hectares of heathland close to houses were damaged. The London fire brigade urged people not to use disposable barbecues and to properly extinguish cigarettes after crews tackled three grass fires. The Trossachs, Scotland, May 2025: covered 2 hectares in the Glen Finglas region of the national park. Glen Finglas is the biggest Woodland Trust site in the UK. The barbecue understood to have sparked that fire was found with a burger still on the grill. Continue reading...
Met police incapable of change, says mother of murdered sisters after Simon Levy case
Mina Smallman, whose daughters were killed in north London park in 2020, says force ‘decides who matters’ The Metropolitan police does not take all cases of violence against women seriously and “decides who matters”, the mother of two murdered women has said. Mina Smallman, whose daughters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman were killed in a north London park in 2020, also said Britain’s biggest police force is incapable of change. Two police officers were jailed in 2021 after taking photographs of the dead bodies of her daughters and sharing the images in WhatsApp groups, referring to them as “dead birds”. Continue reading...
Britain's scorched fields mean a food crisis – and the government is ignoring the one measure that would help | George Monbiot
This summer’s extreme weather and wars in Iran and Ukraine have made our need for food stockpiles more pressing than ever When a business makes long-term plans, they call it prudence. When a government makes long-term plans, they call it communism. Any sustained state intervention attracts the prefix “Soviet-style”, and triggers vicious attacks across the billionaire media. So governments have developed a bias against long-term thinking. This may explain why we no longer maintain strategic food reserves. In Britain, where soils have parched , market analysts warn that we’re facing the most severe food security crisis in decades. In normal years, crop failures at home don’t threaten our security, thanks to global trade. This is one of the reasons why hunger and famines are rarer and less deadly than they used to be. But this is not a normal year, because the problem is now global. George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Bragg says lower-income earners should accept substandard housing as colleagues rebuke his migration target
Angus Taylor cautions NSW senator for diverging from policy in National Press Club speech as Nationals warn against changes to working holiday visas Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Andrew Bragg has agreed that lower-income Australians should accept poorly built housing in a bid to boost the number of dwellings built nationally, amid growing internal fallout continues over his proposal to cap net migration to modern historic lows . The opposition leader, Angus Taylor, and several of Bragg’s colleagues publicly cautioned the NSW Liberal moderate for going off script in his speech on Wednesday as the Nationals warned against any changes to working holiday visas. Continue reading...
Three private school students charged after alleged sexual assault of 14-year-old girl in Sydney’s east
The three teenagers are students at Scots College, one of Sydney’s oldest boys’ private schools Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Three students from a Sydney boys’ private school have been charged with sexual assault offences in relation to the alleged assault of a teenage girl. Police launched an investigation after reports that a 14-year-old girl had last month been assaulted in an alleyway in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Continue reading...
UK economy grows by 0.4% in second quarter as some businesses helped by World Cup and hot weather – business live
Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as GDP rises in June despite Iran war after stagnating in May Good morning, and welcome to our live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets. The UK economy grew by 0.4% in the second quarter of 2026, in line with economists’ expectations, but with faster growth than expected in June as the football World Cup and warmer weather helped retailers and leisure sectors. The FIFA Football World Cup, which started on 11 June 2026, was cited as a reason for an increase in turnover in June 2026 by businesses in industries such as the manufacture of alcohol, wholesale, food and beverage serving activities, publishing activities, television production and advertising. Some positive impacts were cited by some businesses across a range of manufacturing industries, retail, accommodation, and amusement and recreation activities. On the reverse, the warm weather was also cited as having a negative impact in terms of construction activities and also in education where schools were closed because of the heatwave. 10am BST : Eurozone industrial production (June; previous: -0.2%; consensus: -0.1%) 1:30pm BST : US producer price index inflation (July; prev.: -0.3%; cons.: 0.2%) Continue reading...
UK economic growth slows down as Iran war pushes up energy prices
GDP expanded by 0.4% in three months to June, down from 0.6% in the first quarter, says ONS Economic growth slowed in the second quarter of the year, as the disruption unleashed by the Iran war began to take its toll, official figures show. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said GDP expanded by 0.4% in the three months to June, down from 0.6% in the first quarter , in line with City economists’ expectations. Continue reading...
Clacton polls open with Farage up against slew of fringe candidates
Longest ballot in UK voting history features likes of Count Binface and Howling Laud Hope alongside Reform leader Polls have opened in Clacton, with thousands of residents in the Essex seat to vote in a ballot featuring Nigel Farage and a range of novelty and fringe candidates led by Count Binface. The Reform UK leader resigned as the MP for Clacton at the start of July and forced a byelection in an attempt to address complaints over a deepening scandal about gifts he received. Continue reading...
Yvette Cooper says Labour ‘did not do government very well’ under Starmer
Health secretary praises more collegiate style under Andy Burnham and says previous No 10 sidelined her from key policy launch Yvette Cooper admits Labour has “not done government very well” in the last couple of years, and accused Keir Starmer’s No 10 of sidelining her during the launch of a key immigration policy when she was home secretary. Speaking on the Political Currency podcast with the former Conservative chancellor George Osborne, Cooper highlighted some of the difficulties ministers faced with Starmer’s leadership, which she summarised as “bring me solutions, not problems”. Continue reading...
Thursday briefing: What happens after an asylum hotel closes?
In today’s newsletter: With more sites closed and more lives upended, a look at the rhetoric and reality of where asylum seekers should be housed Good morning. This week, immigration minister Anna Turley announced, with minor fanfare, the government will stop using a further 13 hotels to house asylum seekers across the country. It brings the total shut this year to 44, in pursuit of Labour’s manifesto pledge, now reiterated by Andy Burnham, to cease hotel use completely by the end of this parliament. Doing so would remove what have become highly visible symbols of an increasingly toxic debate about migration. Less than 160 to go, according to the Home Office. Solar eclipse | Wednesday’s eclipse began in Russia’s remote Arctic north , going on to trace an arc over much of western Europe. From the UK to northern Italy, tens of millions of people turned to the sky as the light of the setting sun was almost completely blocked out. UK news | Nurses are collapsing during shifts amid “inhumane and impossible” conditions caused by extreme heat, their union has warned, as Andy Burnham promised to grapple with “the bigger questions” of climate adaptation. US politics | Karoline Leavitt will step down as White House press secretary at the end of August, Donald Trump announced. Science | Astronomers claim to have discovered a new kind of cosmic object , a black hole “star”, which is the size of the entire solar system and glows with a brilliant red light. Middle East | Israeli militants have besieged two Palestinian families in their homes since the weekend, aiming to take over their properties in the West Bank village of Qusra through a campaign of terror. Continue reading...
Swim hero Katie Ledecky extends 16-year winning streak with Pan Pacs gold
American wins 1500m freestyle in 15min 36.09sec Walsh beats Douglass to claim 50m butterfly title Urlando breaks Michael Phelps’ 20-year-old record Katie Ledecky won the 1500m freestyle on opening night of the Pan Pacific Championships on Wednesday, earning the first international medal of her storied career on home soil. The two-time Olympic champion in the event was under her own world-record pace in the early stages of the 30-lap race, with fans at the outdoor pool in Irvine, California, on their feet cheering throughout. Continue reading...
Alan Jones’ lawyers accused by defence of ‘intimidating’ witness in indecent assault case
Judge rejects intimidation claim as high profile trial continues with complainant J’s ex-girlfriend cross-examined by shock jock’s defence team The prosecutor in the Alan Jones trial has accused the defence team in court of “intimidating” an alleged victim’s former girlfriend after she asserted she wasn’t financially motivated to provide evidence supporting her ex’s allegations. On Thursday, complainant J’s ex-girlfriend was cross-examined by Jones’s defence team, during which she maintained she had a conversation with J more than 20 years ago in which he alleged Jones touched him. Continue reading...
Category C and women’s prisons could be upgraded to ease overcrowding
Exclusive: Ministers explore diverting male prisoners serving short terms or on remand away from tougher jails Ministers are examining a possible upgrade of security at men’s category C and women’s prisons to deal with an overcrowding crisis across the England and Wales estate, the Guardian understands. Officials have explored diverting prisoners on remand or serving short sentences away from category B “reception” prisons such as HMPs Liverpool, Manchester and Pentonville in north London. Continue reading...
Reform council leader, 20, defends record one year on: ‘The establishment will throw anyone under the bus’
George Finch plagued by bullying claims and other controversies since taking helm at Warwickshire council George Finch, who made history last year after he was elected as leader of Warwickshire county council at the age of 19, is no stranger to criticism. His year at the helm of a minority Reform administration has been dominated by a string of controversies, including three code of conduct investigations and a no-confidence call – which he survived by just one vote. Continue reading...
Australia’s largest aluminium smelter to run on renewables by 2023 after Rio Tinto strikes $2.5bn taxpayer bailout deal
Rio Tinto makes power supply deal with federal and NSW government to cut emissions and decarbonise, preventing potential closure Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Resources giant Rio Tinto says Australia’s largest aluminium smelter will run entirely on renewable energy by 2033 after it struck a $2.5bn subsidy deal with the federal and New South Wales governments to prevent a potential closure. The deal – announced by Anthony Albanese and the NSW premier, Chris Minns, at the Tomago smelter near Newcastle on Thursday – is for a 10-year below-market power supply guarantee that begins after the facility’s existing coal-focused electricity contract with AGL ends in December 2028. Continue reading...