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Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
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Large sinkhole in Malibu prompts evacuation of more than 30 properties
Actor Nicolas Cage is reportedly owner of home where sinkhole formed, roughly 25-30ft deep and 30-by-60ft wide The city of Malibu, California, has ordered the evacuation of more than 30 properties after a large sinkhole opened on Tuesday. Malibu officials declared a local emergency Tuesday evening after a “large sinkhole” emerged near 31630 Sea Level Drive. The officials said the sinkhole was believed to have begun developing on Monday, and had grown to roughly 25-30ft deep and 30-by-60ft wide by Tuesday evening. Continue reading...
‘The heartbeat of game day’: how NWSL fans in Boston built culture from the ground up
Through the loss of one franchise, name controversies and stadium changes, Legacy supporters have created an environment of advocacy and belonging More than two years of work had led to this moment for the Boston Independent Supporters’ Association (ISA). Even before Boston’s new NWSL team had a name, a mascot or a roster, there were fans organizing, ready and waiting to embrace the franchise. On 14 March 2026, it finally paid off. The Boston ISA members marched into Gillette Stadium for the Legacy’s opening match, following behind the marching band from Boston Public Schools and holding their “Up the Swans” scarves over their heads. The group arrived at their seats in the supporters’ section behind the north goal and unfurled the tifo they had spent many hours diligently painting. Continue reading...
Protesters outside Portsmouth hotel confuse Pakistan U19 cricket team for asylum seekers
Reform councillor said he urged activists to stand down Stand Up to Racism condemns ‘dangerous’ gathering Anti-immigration protesters gathered outside a Portsmouth hotel were forced to cancel their demonstration after discovering the Pakistan Under-19 cricket team rather than a group of asylum seekers were staying there. Portsmouth had been the site of a large protest on Sunday following the arrival of a large dinghy containing an estimated 140 asylum seekers at the city’s Eastney harbour. A black-clad vigilante group attempted to block the streets around the port to stop the arrivals from leaving the area. Continue reading...
Western Hawaii islands survey damage after Hurricane Lowell passes by
Downed trees cause widespread power outages on Kauai as winds and rains rip up roads and coat homes in mud Damaging winds and heavy rains from Hurricane Lowell caused significant damage on Hawaii’s western islands, knocking out power to thousands, ripping up stretches of road and drenching homes and stores with mud. Fierce winds downed trees and caused widespread power outages on the island of Kauai, home to 73,000 residents. The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative reported that nearly all of its roughly 35,000 members were without power on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Noel Clarke charged with six sexual offences including assault and voyeurism
CPS says charges relate to alleged sexual misconduct by the actor towards five women between 2007 and 2016 The actor and filmmaker Noel Clarke has been charged with six sexual offences, including two of sexual assault, after allegations made by five women. The charges against the former Doctor Who actor involve two counts of sexual assault, three counts of voyeurism and one count of exposure. Continue reading...
Farage is clearly struggling – I saw that for myself. But his legacy will be a poison that runs deep | Andy Beckett
The mood at the Reform conference was volatile and brittle. But the forces massing further to the right of the party are testament to its impact For much of the time since Nigel Farage resumed the Reform UK leadership two long years ago, his party has been an island of relative stability in the increasingly rough sea of British politics. While other parties plunged queasily in the polls, messily purged dissidents, argued publicly about their direction and changed leaders, Farage dominated Reform UK and gave impregnably self-assured interviews. The party’s popularity moved steadily upwards, comfortably above that of all the others. It is a paradox that a new party with wildly expectant members, not many experienced politicians and few properly worked-out policies became the pole around which the country’s political debate revolved, and yet this seemed to do no harm to Reform’s chances of winning the next general election. As with rising rightwing populist parties across the world, Reform’s tendency to make it up as it went along appeared to be not a weakness but, for many voters, much of its appeal. Andy Beckett is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Wes Streeting praises Wargame TV series for highlighting UK defence needs
Minister says new series, which depicts Russian attack and features Michael Gove and Nicola Sturgeon, will ‘make people think’ A docudrama depicting a Russian attack on a Britain led by an unlikely pairing of Michael Gove and Nicola Sturgeon has been praised by the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, for writing “my spending review submission”. Wargame, due to be broadcast on Sky later in September, features a string of former politicians advised by ex-securocrats, grappling with an unusually powerful Moscow, while highlighting limitations in the British military. The Wargame airs on Sky One from 21 September Continue reading...
US airports to let some people without tickets pass through security
TSA PreCheck program members will be eligible to send off friends and family at gate in change to post-9/11 rule Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Some people without plane tickets will be allowed to pass through security at US airports and go to gates to see off family or friends, rolling back a rule that was introduced after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Certain people who are part of the TSA PreCheck program but who do not have tickets to fly will be able to go through security to airport gates, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said. Continue reading...
JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon to warn UK chancellor against bank tax hike
Wall Street billionaire’s meeting with John Healey comes amid deep speculation over higher windfall tax on banks in October budget Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of the largest US bank, JP Morgan, is to warn John Healey against raising taxes on banks in his inaugural budget in October. The Wall Street billionaire will meet the new chancellor on Wednesday and caution him that higher taxes could put investment and employment in the UK at risk, it is understood. Continue reading...
Liz Truss to relaunch podcast on channel of broadcaster famous for ‘grow concrete’ exchange
Podcast will be on YouTube site of Mike Graham, fired from TalkTV after racist post appeared on his Facebook page When Liz Truss launched her podcast last year, she declared it would bring a “counter-revolution” to take on the “deep state”, which, she said, “tried to destroy” her. The revolution, however, has not yet arrived. Truss, whose stint as UK prime minister abruptly ended after her disastrous mini-budget crashed the economy, has so far failed to find a wide audience with her media career. Continue reading...
Texas had one of the biggest socialist party chapters in the country – could it come back?
Long before state became a rightwing political stronghold it was defined by cowboys on strike and farmers organizing Texas is well-known as a Republican-red state, but it has another, largely forgotten red history of the radical shade. Long before it became a rightwing political stronghold, it was defined by cowboys on strike, farmers organizing against the railroads, and one of the largest Socialist party chapters in the country. “In Texas, the history of our radical politics and labor and working class tradition has been purposefully hidden,” author David Griscom said. “It’s important to go back and correct the record and see that there was an effort to try to make Texans forget the radical roots in the kind of more recent past.” Continue reading...
Death and fear stalk Haitians in Ohio city amid Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown
Springfield community mourns one of its own after Pierre Damas Bel, who was forced to wear electronic ankle bracelet by ICE, walked into traffic and was killed by truck For 20-year-old Pierre Damas Bel, the humiliation of starting college last month with an electronic ankle bracelet – attached by ICE agents this summer – was deeply traumatic. “I’m walking through the streets of the United States with a GPS monitor on my leg, carrying a feeling of shame and humiliation that I never imagined I would experience,” he wrote on Instagram in July. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org . In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...
German chancellor accuses far-right AfD party of seeking ‘ethnic cleansing’
Friedrich Merz says Alternative für Deutschland is ‘dividing our society’ after party won nearly 44% of vote in Saxony-Anhalt state election Europe live – latest updates Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz , has accused the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) of seeking “ethnic cleansing” with its “remigration” drive, after the nativist party’s seismic weekend victory in a state election. In his first public confrontation with the AfD since Sunday’s shock outcome in Saxony-Anhalt , Merz said at a raucous parliamentary debate that the far-right party would take an axe to one of the pillars of the German economy with a racist campaign of mass deportations. Continue reading...
‘Their boat was sinking’: RNLI vows to keep rescuing asylum seekers despite attacks
Charity stresses small boat rescues are tiny part of its work and speaks out after volunteers abused by far-right agitators The lifeboat charity RNLI has vowed to continue to rescue asylum seekers in the Channel despite attacks on volunteers and staff after the recent high-profile small boat landings. RNLI bosses said workers had been subjected to online and physical abuse and there had been “baseless” rumours that the charity has housed asylum seekers or moved them to secret locations after helping them to shore. Continue reading...
EU unveils ‘buy European’ public procurement rules to counter China
Authorities and public bodies to be urged to buy goods and services from Europe, but without binding quotas European authorities will be encouraged to buy more domestic goods and services when they spend public money under the EU latest effort to counter China’s economic might. In a further “Buy European” plan, the European Commission published proposals on Wednesday for a sweeping overhaul of EU public procurement rules. Continue reading...
Conflicting court rulings on Missouri map threaten November’s election | First Thing
The state can’t use new congressional districts under one court order – or its old ones under another. Plus, the architects in Europe turning urban spaces into areas of climate respite Good morning. Clashing court rulings plunged Missouri’s congressional elections into uncertainty less than two months before the November midterms that will decide which party controls a closely divided Congress. Conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh denied the emergency request from Missouri officials to use a congressional map in November that was redrawn with Donald Trump’s support to give Republicans an edge in the midterms, but a ruling by a federal judge in Missouri temporarily prevented the state from using its old congressional maps. Why is there legal action over the maps? The Missouri supreme court has previously ruled that the new map must go before voters to approve or reject the new districts, meaning it cannot be used in time for the November election. The president and Republicans had fumed over the decision, with Trump calling it “horrible, ridiculous, and unconstitutional”. What are the significant changes to the map intended to favor Republicans? The revised map targeted the fifth congressional district, held by longtime Democratic representative Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. It reassigned portions of Kansas City to two neighboring districts represented by Republicans and stretched the remainder of Cleaver’s district far eastward into rural Republican areas. What has the British prime minister said? Writing in the Guardian, Andy Burnham said he would “not stand by” as horrific suffering continued, and that for too long the UK had been hesitant to act “fearful of being accused of being anti-Israel”. “The measures we are taking,” he said, “are about targeting illegal settlements and increasing the pressure on the Israeli government to change course. We are not imposing sanctions on Israel as a whole.” How has Israel reacted? Israel has ordered the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem among retaliatory measures including entry bans on several UK lawmakers. The Israeli government added that longstanding British involvement in the training of Palestinian security forces on the West Bank would be terminated. Britain will also be excluded from the US-led Gaza coordination mission. Continue reading...
Democrats failed to win young voters in 2024. Progressives plan to reach them at campuses and quinceñeras
After young people shifted right for Trump, Democratic-aligned groups across the US are eager to capture gen Z voters where they are before November’s midterm elections On the first day of the fall semester at California State University, Northridge, student organizers holding “Hot People Vote” signs wheeled a bright pink wagon outside the student union. They offered “no strings attached” donuts, heart-shaped sunglasses and voting information for the November general election. Even though it was 105F outside, dozens of people stopped by to chat with the Donuts + Democracy volunteers and register to vote. One student told organizer Dzian Tran that she didn’t plan to vote because she was disillusioned with politics. Tran chatted with her about how civic engagement is important to democracy and how some elections are won by a margin of only 400 votes. As she thanked Tran, the student held her phone up to a QR code to get more information about voting. Continue reading...
Electronic shelf labels likely to cost jobs and drive up grocery prices, US report warns
AFL-CIO calls for ban on such labels to protect consumers and workers from surveillance pricing and job cuts The universal adoption of electronic shelf labels in grocery stores across the US could cost tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost wages while further driving up grocery costs, according to a report released on Tuesday. An analysis by the AFL-CIO Tech Institute of the label manufacturers’ own marketing materials found the universal adoption of electronic shelf labels, which are marketed to retailers as a cost-cutting measure, could cost workers between $1.6bn to $6.9bn in lost wages annually and affect between 44,223 and 191,633 jobs. Continue reading...
Trump center stage at RNC in midterms gamble – US politics live
President to give speeches on both days of unprecedented gathering Republican midterm convention will be ‘Trumpist pageantry’ – at the party’s own risk Sign up for US Breaking News email Donald Trump gave sizable holiday gifts to four White House aides, according to new financial disclosures released by the administration, including $45,000 to executive assistant Natalie Harp. Communications adviser Margo Martin and deputy director of Oval Office operations Chamberlain Harris also received $45,000, while director of Oval Office operations Walt Nauta received a $20,000 gift. Clashing court rulings plunged Missouri’s congressional elections into uncertainty. The US Supreme Court decided not to intervene to reinstate a Donald Trump-backed US House map, upholding a a ruling from the state’s highest state court that prevented the use of the map in the November elections. But shortly after a federal judge temporarily barred the state from using its old congressional maps in November. The US military destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers after a US navy warship was targeted with ballistic missiles. Iran had targeted the warship twice over two days, the US Central Command said. The US will ban Canadian dairy products, motorcycles and most alcoholic beverages. The move marked an escalation in the ongoing trade war between the North American countries, and comes just after Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on $20bn in US goods. Congressman Chris Pappas beat back progressive challenger Karishma Manzur in the New Hampshire Democratic primary for US Senate. Former senator John E Sununu, who is backed by Trump, won the state’s Republican Senate primary. Lonnie G Bunch III announced he is stepping down as secretary of the Smithsonian Institution after seven years in the role amid Donald Trump’s unprecedented crackdown on the world’s largest museum’s autonomy. Continue reading...
Ministers to put white working-class people in UK at heart of new equalities unit
Bridget Phillipson to announce creation of unit which will make class a key part of its equalities agenda UK politics live – latest updates The government is putting class at the heart of its equalities agenda by creating a new unit that will make tackling white working-class inequality a priority. The unit, which the minister for women and equalities, Bridget Phillipson, will announce on Wednesday, will sit within the Office for Equality and Opportunity and examine disparities linked to class and socioeconomic background across all ethnic groups. Continue reading...
Republicans in fight to hold on to majority look to ‘midterm convention’ to overcome Trump unpopularity
Republicans plan to center the US president at the two-day event, while slamming Democrats as socialists Republicans will gather in Texas on Wednesday for a rare “midterm convention”, as they attempt to convince Americans to vote for a party led by a deeply unpopular president who has overseen price increases, inflation, and led the US into an increasingly unpopular war. Donald Trump will dominate the two-day convention, appearing both nights as the GOP works to cling to control of the House of Representatives in November. Republicans plan to put the president at the center of the event, a bold strategy given his approval rating is hovering at about 38%, while accusing the Democratic party as being socialist and out of touch with Americans. Continue reading...
Homeland security agent charged with child rape in Alabama, officials say
Kent Blacklidge, who officials say was ‘directly involved with child exploitation cases’, turned himself in last week A federal law enforcement agent tasked with “trying to provide justice in cases involving kids” has been charged with child rape in Alabama , state authorities said on Tuesday. Kent Blacklidge, described as a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), turned himself over to the Baldwin county jail on 5 September in connection with a grand jury indictment charging him with first- and second-degree rape, sodomy and sexual abuse, police in the city of Spanish Fort said in a statement. Continue reading...
US allies lack resources to keep pace on AI, top Pentagon official says
Cameron Stanley talks up ‘revolutionary’ AI capabilities and says Washington working with Nato and Five Eyes partners The Pentagon’s top artificial intelligence official said on Tuesday that America’s closest allies lack the resources to keep pace with the US military’s adoption of AI, and that Washington is working to steer them away from mistakes it made along the way. “They don’t have the resources that we do, they don’t have the experience that we do, they don’t have the scale that we do,” Cameron Stanley, chief digital and artificial intelligence officer at the Department of War, said at an event at the Billington Cybersecurity summit. Of Nato and the Five Eyes, an intelligence-sharing partnership of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Stanley said Washington was “actively working with a number of our partners” so “they don’t make the same mistakes that we make”. Continue reading...
Miliband rejects chief rabbi’s claim that West Bank sanctions put UK Jews at risk
Foreign secretary says Sir Ephraim Mirvis wrong to suggest measures against Israeli settlements will make British Jews less safe UK politics live – latest updates Ed Miliband has rejected warnings from the UK’s chief rabbi that the government’s sanctions against illegal Israeli settlements will make British Jews less safe, as he stressed ministers can confront the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government while also fighting antisemitism. The foreign secretary announced sweeping sanctions on trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday , with the government taking the position that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory was unlawful. An import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories and a new ban for arms licences and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation”. A comprehensive sanctions regime against providing services such as construction or financing for Israeli settlements and a ban on advertising them in the UK. Personal sanctions against key individuals accused of promoting settler violence. A new ban for arms licences and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation”. Continue reading...