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Politics
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Nasa astronaut casts midterms vote from space – video
Anil Menon has voted in the US midterm elections by casting an electronic ballot from the International Space Station. He said he filled out the ballot on his station computer and sent it to election officials in Harris county, Texas. In a social media post, he said all three US crew members onboard also had the chance to vote. US midterm elections 2026 live Continue reading...
US tech stocks recover after selloff spooks investors over AI spending
Midterms didn’t appear to have huge impact, though predicted wins for Democrats could mean more regulation US tech stocks made a recovery Tuesday afternoon after a selloff spooked investors over AI spending. The impact of Tuesday’s midterm elections didn’t appear to have a huge impact on Wall Street, though investors are predicting Democrats get at least a majority in the House and potentially gain seats in the Senate, which could lead to more AI regulation. Continue reading...
DoJ tells Democrats in letters they could be targets of Alaska ballot investigation
Top election lawyer and lawmakers received notes over alleged scheme to confuse voters with two Dan Sullivans The justice department has sent letters to a top Democratic election lawyer and other Democrats informing them they could be targets in a federal investigation into efforts to get an Alaska man with the same name as Republican senator Daniel Sullivan on to the ballot. The decision to send the letters is very unusual. The justice department has long avoided taking actions that could affect an election close to election day. It is also not common to send out target letters so early in an investigation; receiving a target letter does not mean that a person will be charged with a crime. Continue reading...
One dead and another missing in suspected grizzly bear attack in Canada
The incident took place in the same province where a grizzly attacked a group of schoolchildren last November A mother is dead and her daughter is missing in western Canada after a suspected grizzly bear attack in the same community where a bear attacked a group of schoolchildren earlier in the year. On Tuesday, the British Columbia Conservation Officer Service said in a social media post that it had launched a search for the two missing people on the weekend, and that during the search on Sunday an officer found the mother’s body. The search for her 19-year-old daughter is ongoing. Continue reading...
DoJ says Trump’s proposed 250ft arch would be completed after end of his term
Triumphal arch continues to face legal challenges as government says DC area project will take up to 39 months The US justice department said on Tuesday that Donald Trump’s proposed 250ft (76 meter) triumphal arch in Washington would not be completed until after the end of his second term. If it is given the go-ahead, the justice department said it expected an initial six to eight months of construction focused on excavation and foundation work that could begin as soon as Thursday, with above-ground construction beginning in May 2027 at the earliest. Total construction is anticipated to take 33 to 39 months, the government said. Continue reading...
Spanish transport minister resigns after deadly train crash
Óscar Puente also announces his withdrawal from upcoming election following disaster that killed 69 people Spain’s transport minister handed in his resignation on Tuesday after the train crash that killed 69 people last week, one of the worst railway disasters in Europe this century. Óscar Puente, who had earlier pledged to work “tirelessly” to restore confidence in the world’s second-largest high-speed rail network, also said he was withdrawing from the country’s upcoming general election. Continue reading...
AI ‘godfather’ Geoffrey Hinton says it might turn out humans would have been better off without AI
Nobel winner who devised concept of neural network warns AI could be near to triggering major incident such as power or banking shutdown One of the “godfathers of AI”, Geoffrey Hinton, has said it could turn out that humans would have been better off never developing the technology as he warned it could trigger a large-scale incident this year or next such as a temporary blackout of financial or power systems. The Nobel prize-winning computer scientist told the Guardian he is not a “doomer” about the technology that is underpinned by his groundbreaking research into artificial neural networks and believes AI has the potential to lead to a “wonderful future” but he said “it might be that we would have been better off never developing it”. Continue reading...
Investigators say they found tail pieces of Learjet that crashed in Florida, killing nine
National Transportation Safety Board says discovery of parts confirms plane was breaking apart before it crashed Investigators looking into the fatal crash of a Learjet in Florida have said they found pieces of the horizontal tail section more than a mile from where the aircraft made impact, killing all nine aboard and leaving a fiery crater in the ground. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member Tom Chapman said during a news conference on Tuesday that the discovery of tail parts broken into three pieces confirms the plane was breaking apart before it hit the ground. Continue reading...
British lawyer Dapo Akande elected to UN top court in big diplomatic win
Akande joining the international court of justice comes a decade after previous British judge failed to get re-elected A British judge has been elected on to the UN’s international court of justice, in a big British diplomatic victory that comes almost 10 years after a previous British judge failed to get re-elected. Dapo Akande will now serve as one of the ICJ’s 15 judges for a minimum nine-year term. Continue reading...
King Charles addresses summit as demands for slavery apology grow
Speaking in Antigua, the king did not give explicit support for reparations but said he wanted to ‘address past wrongs’ King Charles has said that deepening his understanding of the horrors of slavery has made him more determined to address the wrongs of the past, as Caribbean leaders and campaigners intensified demands for an apology and reparations from Britain. “We cannot change the actions of those who came before us,” Charles told leaders at the opening of the Commonwealth summit in Antigua and Barbuda on Tuesday. “We can, however, learn from the past. Continue reading...
Minneapolis community leave ‘I Voted’ stickers at Alex Pretti’s memorial site
Residents are sending a clear message about the violent deportations taking place across the country during this midterm cycle Alex Pretti’s memorial site, which has been covered by flowers and signs for months, now has new pops of color – “I Voted” stickers from community members. Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care unit nurse at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, was killed by federal immigration officials during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in the Minneapolis region in January. His death happened just days after an immigration official in the city shot and killed another US citizen, Renee Good. Continue reading...
Americans head to the polls to vote in critical midterm elections – video
US voters vote today in the midterm elections, which will decide whether Republicans retain control of the House and Senate. A Democratic victory in either chamber would significantly constrain Trump’s ability to advance his domestic agenda. Even if Republicans retain one or both chambers, a reduced majority could make passing legislation more difficult, and could pave the way for Democrats to launch investigations into the administration. US midterm elections 2026 live: Americans go to the polls to decide control of Congress What are the races to watch in the US midterm elections and why do they matter? Continue reading...
Google says there’s no way to use Search without using artificial intelligence
In announcement geared to schools, tech giant showed how entwined AI is with the world’s most popular website Google just acknowledged that you can’t use Google Search without using artificial intelligence . The search giant announced a slate of new AI products for classrooms and schools on Tuesday as well as more ways for teachers and schools to limit or restrict use of those AI tools. The company said the schools should have control over whether students use AI in the classroom. There’s one catch, though: if a school or teacher blocks the use of Google’s AI features, students won’t be able to use Google Search. Continue reading...
Andy Burnham to unveil EU trade deals worth billions of pounds
Agriculture, youth visas and emissions agreements nearly tied up under PM’s plan for a much closer relationship with Brussels The UK-EU food produce deal: what was agreed and will it affect shoppers? Andy Burnham is preparing to announce billions of pounds of trade deals with the EU covering everything from youth visas to pet passports under his vision of a much closer relationship with the bloc. With the prime minister scheduled to meet his European counterparts in Brussels on 20 November, officials have all but agreed three deals that would allow farmers to sell freely to the continent and travellers to take their animals abroad more easily. Continue reading...
Nasa telescope launched in 2004 to plunge back to Earth after failed rescue mission
Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere Wednesday, burning up in the process Nasa’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which has spent two decades studying the most powerful explosions in the cosmos, is expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday, burning up in the process. The satellite, which was designed to operate with its three telescopes for just two years, is no longer able to steer or observe, and its re-entry is uncontrolled. Continue reading...
Convicted murderer who escaped from Tennessee prison captured in Missouri
Jacob Morley, serving a life sentence for killing a co-worker, slipped through a prison fence last week A man convicted of murder who escaped from a Tennessee prison was recaptured on Tuesday in Missouri after more than a week on the run, authorities said. Jacob Morley, who was serving a life sentence for killing a co-worker four years ago, was apprehended outside Kansas City, Missouri, before midday by the state highway patrol. Continue reading...
Two Australians confirmed dead in Spain’s high-speed train crash
Legal body handling identification says three latest victims include two Australians and a Japanese citizen Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Two Australians are among 69 people who died in last week’s high-speed train collision after Spanish authorities confirmed the identities of three more victims. A legal body set up to handle the identification work, made up of police and forensics experts, announced in a statement late on Monday the three latest confirmed victims – two Australians and a Japanese citizen. They have not been named. Continue reading...
Man arrested as girl, 17, found in Oregon after disappearing from Utah last year
500-plus-day search for Kylie Arellano ends as FBI warns of ‘gore groups’ targeting and exploiting children A 17-year-old girl who disappeared last year from Garden City, Utah, has been found in Oregon, and a 39-year-old man has been taken into custody. The recovery of the teenager took place last Sunday, following a 500-plus day search involving Oregon law enforcement, the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office and the Rich county sheriff’s office in Utah. Continue reading...
Latest Sarah J Maas book becomes UK’s fastest-selling adult fantasy novel
A Court of Splintered Harmony also records biggest single week of sales since Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman in 2015 Sarah J Maas’s long-awaited return to her bestselling romantasy series has smashed UK sales records, with A Court of Splintered Harmony becoming the fastest-selling adult fantasy novel since accurate records began in 1998. The novel, the sixth in Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses (Acotar) series and her first return to it in more than five years, sold 188,914 copies in the UK between publication day on 27 October and 31 October, according to NielsenIQ BookData. That also makes it the fastest-selling hardback novel since Dan Brown’s Inferno, which sold 229,000 copies in its first week in 2013. Continue reading...
Ella Baron on the future of care workers in Britain – cartoon
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The Guardian view on apologising for slavery: a necessary process has at last begun | Editorial
Andy Burnham’s commitment to a structured dialogue with Caribbean governments is a step forward, but they need more than words There was a risk, in the run-up to the Commonwealth heads of government meeting (Chogm) this week, that important discussions could be derailed by the UK government’s refusal to apologise for slavery and the slave trade, combined with its continuing rejection of calls for financial reparations. For the Caribbean governments and campaigners pushing for these steps, the siting of the biennial gathering in Antigua and Barbuda offered a vital opportunity to press their case and raise awareness of the challenges that they face. That deadlock was broken when Andy Burnham wrote in the Guardian at the weekend of his “sorrow and regret for the pain and suffering of so many millions of people”, and pledged to listen to calls for a formal apology as part of a structured dialogue. While he reiterated the UK government’s position that financial reparations will not be offered, he also indicated a willingness to discuss aid, investment and the restructuring of debt . King Charles did not say sorry when he addressed Chogm on Tuesday, but a very necessary process of reconciliation and redress has at last begun. 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...
The Guardian view on Labour’s growth obsession: a different economics is possible | Editorial
The latest edition of Radical Thinking, the Guardian’s new podcast, should be required listening at a Treasury still stifled by outdated orthodoxies As prime ministers have come and gone at bewildering speed in recent years, the search for elusive economic growth has become the overriding fixation of the British political class. In the lead-up to the 2024 general election, Sir Keir Starmer declared that “growth must become Labour’s obsession”, given the financial constraints that any new government would be under. The scale of Labour’s progressive offer, it was made clear, would be umbilically linked to its ability to generate a significant uptick in GDP. “Growth in every postcode” is also the early mantra of Andy Burnham’s government. The prime minister swept to power partly by running on Greater Manchester’s record as the UK’s fastest-growing city region while he was mayor. Echoing Mr Starmer’s approach, Mr Burnham’s chancellor, John Healey, told the Labour party conference in September: “Without growth, there is no social democracy.” 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...
Even if US democracy can be salvaged from Trump, Europe is moving on | Rafael Behr
It will take decades to rebuild trust in a country that removed a tyrant once – and then reinstated him four years later When Joe Biden entered the White House in 2021 it was possible to believe that Donald Trump’s reign had been an aberration. “America is back. The transatlantic alliance is back,” the new president declared to relieved European leaders shortly after winning the 2020 race. It was true, but not for long. Trump’s defeat proved that US democracy was mechanically operational, not culturally robust. His supporters tried violent subversion to prevent the inauguration of a successor. A second term should have been unthinkable. Republicans who failed to denounce the 6 January insurrection should have been unelectable. Instead, within four years, US voters reinstated the champion of a failed coup against their cherished constitution as commander-in-chief. Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Panel rules out further inquiry into sexual harassment claims against Lib Dem peer Chris Rennard
Party leader Ed Davey ‘disappointed and upset’ at decision by independent panel after claims original investigation was flawed The Liberal Democrat peer Chris Rennard has been told there will be no further investigation into sexual harassment allegations made against him, after an independent panel concluded it could not reopen the claim. The party leader, Ed Davey, said he was “disappointed and upset” by the conclusion, having suspended Rennard from the party after an investigation was reopened earlier this year amid claims a previous inquiry was flawed. Continue reading...