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Politics
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Ben Jennings on Nigel Farage’s byelection announcement – cartoon
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Maine progressives race to find candidate to replace Graham Platner
Platner’s former backers are seeking ‘real progressive’ to prevent nomination going to establishment Democrat US politics live – latest updates Progressive groups and lawmakers who rallied behind Graham Platner’s insurgent bid for a US Senate seat are now racing to decide where to transfer their support after his withdrawal from the Maine race following yet another allegation of sexual assault. The scramble and apparent heartbreak underscores the uncertainty facing the coalition surrounding Platner’s anti-establishment message, and the response from more centrist Democrats to proceed with caution. Organizations, voters, volunteers and elected officials that once saw him as a vehicle for a more populist progressive agenda are now weighing whether to unite behind a successor, or hold back until the party’s replacement process plays out. Continue reading...
How Trump's yo-yo summit left Nato a little bit bruised – video
Donald Trump's erratic performance at the Nato summit in Turkey left his allies guessing. One moment he criticised fellow leaders for their contribution to defence spending, the next he praised the alliance's unity. From Ankara, Guardian defence and security editor Dan Sabbagh explains how Nato emerged from the chaos Continue reading...
'He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline': Son of man fatally shot by ICE speaks out – video
Ronaldo Salgado, the son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican immigrant who was fatally shot by a federal immigration agent on Tuesday in Texas called for an independent investigation into his killing. Salgado, 52, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official on Tuesday morning while on his way to work at a construction site. He had lived in the US for more than 30 years and was in the process of obtaining his work permit, according to his family. Salgado’s family, including his wife and three sons, found out about his death from news reports. ‘He did not deserve to die’: family of man fatally shot by ICE agent speaks out Continue reading...
Fery-mania builds in advance of Wimbledon semi-final against Zverev
Tennis fans suggest Henman Hill should be renamed Arthur’s Seat if new British star continues his meteoric rise Tennis fans gathered on Wimbledon’s famous grass mound spent much of Thursday speculating how Henman Hill – more recently known as Murray Mound – might be renamed if the newest British star, Arthur Fery, continues his meteoric rise. As Fery-mania builds in SW19 and across the UK in advance of Fery’s hotly anticipated semi-final match against the German No 2 seed, Alexander Zverev, on Friday, they have eschewed suggestions such as Fery Field to alight on one name: Arthur’s Seat. Continue reading...
Tinubu under pressure as fake Nigerian government agency sparks political storm
President ordered investigation after fictitious federal body allocated funding and office space, triggering renewed scrutiny of corruption A fictitious federal entity that was allocated 1.3 billion naira (£705,248) in Nigeria’s 2026 budget has precipitated a political storm in Africa’s largest democracy in the run-up to January’s general election. The fake agency came to light last October when Femi Gbajabiamila, the president’s chief of staff, wrote to the police alleging that his signature, along with official seals and reference numbers, had been forged by Adeniyi Adeyemi Matthew, who was claiming to have been appointed by the presidency to head the presidential foreign intervention promotion council (PFIPC). Continue reading...
Turkish president gives Nato leaders engraved guns and bullets at summit
Keir Starmer revealed Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s strange choice of gift on the flight back from Ankara What does a world leader do with a gun and six bullets? That was the conundrum Nato leaders faced after the Turkish president offered them each a revolver after the Ankara summit. Keir Starmer was the first to mention the highly unusual gift presented by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to his guests. On the flight back from Ankara, where Nato leaders had gathered for two days, the British prime minister said he and others had received a revolver engraved with their name. Continue reading...
Andy Burnham apologises for Labour’s stance on Gaza – podcast
Andy Burnham has apologised for Labour’s slow response in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. In an exclusive interview with Pippa Crerar, he says that more pressure should be put on the Israeli government, including a ban on trade in goods with illegal settlements. Burnham also says that there is increasing evidence that war crimes appear to have been committed, but that international courts must determine this, not politicians. Plus Pippa and Kiran discuss the fallout from Nigel Farage’s shock resignation on Tuesday You can read Pippa’s exclusive on Andy Burnham here You can read Anna Isaac’s investigation into Nigel Farage and Reform UK here You can read Josh Halliday’s article on Reform activists here Please keep sending your comments and questions to Pippa and Kiran at politicsweeklyuk@theguardian.com Please follow and subscribe to the Politics Weekly YouTube channel here Continue reading...
Andy Burnham says Labour ‘didn’t get it right’ as he apologises for its stance on Gaza
Exclusive: PM-in-waiting says party must ‘do better’ in approach to Middle East and he will put more pressure on Israel UK politics live – latest updates Andy Burnham has apologised for Labour’s initial response to Israel’s military action in Gaza, saying the party “didn’t get it right” and needs to “do better” under his leadership, as he signalled a significant shift in the UK’s approach to the Middle East. The prime minister-in-waiting told the Guardian he would put more pressure on the Israeli government, including through further sanctions on individuals and entities, but also potentially by banning trade in goods with illegal settlements. Continue reading...
Capita expects to lose up to £40m over pension scheme fiasco
Outsourcing firm counts cost of failures that left retired UK civil servants without an income for months Capita has revealed that the bill for cleaning up its mess at the crisis-hit civil service pension scheme could wipe up to £40m off annual profits – a day after its chief executive apologised to MPs for a “very poor service”. The company had faced a grilling at a Commons committee hearing on Wednesday, with its chief executive, Adolfo Hernandez, repeatedly apologising for failures that have kept thousands of civil servants waiting for payments and retirement quotes. Continue reading...
Erika Kirk asks for all exhibits linked to husband’s killing to be made public
Widow of far-right activist Charlie Kirk asks judge for ‘transparency’ to head off conspiracy theories Erika Kirk, the widow of the far-right activist Charlie Kirk , has asked a judge in Utah to allow the open courtroom display of every exhibit relating to her husband’s killing, saying she fears the proliferation of conspiracy theories. Kirk’s motion came on the third day of a preliminary hearing in Provo at which the district judge Tony Graf will decide if there is sufficient evidence to move ahead with a trial for Kirk’s alleged murderer, Tyler Robinson, in a shooting at Utah Valley University last September. Continue reading...
‘We will never use them’: the California universities stockpiling AR-15s, grenades and submachine guns
A 2021 state law allows campus police to own military equipment for civilian safety – students fear it may be used to quash dissent For many public colleges and universities in California, keeping their campuses safe includes owning military-grade weaponry: AR-15s, stun grenades designed to cause temporary blindness and sonic weapons that resonate so loudly they are known in the armed forces as the voice of God. According to California state law, campus police can only own military equipment if the college believes there is no other way to uphold civilian safety. Continue reading...
Louise Haigh accuses ‘cabal of men’ around Keir Starmer of mistreating women in cabinet
Former transport secretary said she was one of several victims of ‘sexist and unpleasant’ press briefs Louise Haigh has accused Keir Starmer’s allies of briefing “consistently and viciously” against her after she resigned as transport secretary as she spoke openly about her departure from the cabinet in 2024 and her reasons for backing Andy Burnham. Talking to the BBC’s Nick Robinson, she said she had been a victim of a “cabal of men mistreating women”, who also targeted her cabinet colleagues Lisa Nandy, Bridget Phillipson and Angela Rayner, as well as Starmer’s former chief of staff Sue Gray. Continue reading...
Muchova into Wimbledon final after nailbiting tie-break defeat of Coco Gauff
Czech 10th seed clinched a 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (10) victory Faces compatriot Noskova or Ukraine’s Kostyuk next Karolina Muchova edged out Coco Gauff in a deciding-set tie-break, saving a match point in a dramatic last-four clash to reach her first Wimbledon final on Thursday. The Czech 10th seed clinched a 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (10) victory and will face either compatriot Linda Noskova or Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk in Saturday’s show-piece match. Full report to come Continue reading...
Tributes paid to mother and children found dead at home in Bedfordshire
Relatives describe ‘unimaginable loss’ as police seek father who is suspected of killing them before fleeing to Zimbabwe Tributes have been paid to three members of the same family who were found dead in their home in Bedfordshire on Monday. Nothabo Zandile Tshuma and her daughters Natalie, 15, and Nala, five, were described as much-loved members of their community who brought joy to those around them. An international manhunt is under way for their husband and father, 45-year-old Ndodana Mkhanyisi Tshuma, who is suspected of killing them before leaving the UK for Zimbabwe. Continue reading...
‘It was back-to-back explosions’: Iranians recall 48 hours of terror after US attack on port cities
Residents in Bandar Abbas and Sirik regions describe communities in fear and ‘feeling abandoned’ after US launch fresh strikes over two-day period Residents in southern Iran have described two nights of fear this week after explosions shook coastal communities as the US launched fresh strikes on targets including the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik . US Central Command confirmed the attacks, saying they were carried out to “further degrade their ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the strait of Hormuz”. Continue reading...
Former top BHP economist urges tougher government policies to push miners to decarbonise
Exclusive: ‘The preferred policy is, of course, a carbon price,’ Dr Huw McKay says, amid slowdown in BHP action on emissions Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A former chief economist at mining company BHP says stronger climate policy by governments is needed to “move the needle” and incentivise tough decarbonisation decisions at major resource companies. Internal documents, leaked to Guardian Australia and the ABC earlier this year, showed BHP had delayed vast renewables projects in the Pilbara, scrapped a project that would have delivered significant cuts to global emissions, and war-gamed options to push the electrification of its polluting diesel truck and train fleets into the next two decades. Continue reading...
Growing legal bill for failed defence of controversial NSW protest laws runs to hundreds of thousands of dollars
Exclusive : Documents show $117,455.50 was spent in a single legal fight over laws rushed through after Bondi attack Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The New South Wales government has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees to unsuccessfully defend constitutional challenges against protest laws that were expected to be struck down. The costs, outlined in documents obtained by Guardian Australia via freedom of information legislation, include $117,455.50 of taxpayers’ money on a single challenge to controversial public assembly restriction declaration (Pard) laws. Those laws were enacted following the Bondi beach terror attack and were in place during a now infamous rally against the Israeli president , Isaac Herzog, in February. Continue reading...
This huge hairy-legged Australian arachnid may be the fastest spider on the planet
A brown huntsman is the quickest of more than 250 species analysed by scientists in the UK and Germany If arachnophobes were not frightened enough by the horrific ability of Australia’s huntsman spiders to drag dead mice up the sides of fridges , they now have another reason. They might be the fastest spiders on the planet. Continue reading...
The fight against AI data centers is important – but it’s just a starting point | Bruce Schneier and Nathan E Sanders
AI companies want to capture the value created by entire industries. That concentration of wealth and power is society’s greatest risk Opposition to AI datacenters has emerged as a primary theme in US politics, one that – surprisingly – doesn’t fall along party lines. We applaud people coming together for constructive debate on any issue, and agree that communities need to evaluate whether any economic benefits these datacenters bring is worth their costs. Still, we worry that a focus on datacenters obscures the larger impacts of AI on people’s lives: the concentration of power of AI companies, and their widespread political and financial influence. Local datacenter opposition is grounded in legitimate concerns about misallocation of land resources when housing is at a premium, pressures on already higher energy prices, and localized environmental impact. Unlike other resource-consuming and polluting industrial facilities, datacenters produce very few jobs . The fact that US opposition to datacenters seems to be most fierce among lower-income communities reflects righteous indignation with an inequitable bargain, where tech companies and developers profit from exploiting local resources but offer little in return. On a global scale, their carbon footprint could grow unsustainably if usage accelerates. And all this is in aid of a technology that many fear will propagate misinformation, take their jobs, or even cause existential risks for humanity. Continue reading...
Former US Olympian pleads not guilty to damaging reflecting pool amid Trump’s renovation
David Hearn is accused of destroying ‘American flag blue’ lining material on the bottom of the reflecting pool David Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to damaging Washington’s reflecting pool after a $14.7m renovation project. Hearn, a three-time US Olympian, was indicted last week on a single felony count of property destruction. He appeared in local superior court in Washington DC, to enter the plea after he was criminally charged over the incident in mid-June. Continue reading...
US air force cancels promotions over grading error in security test
‘Highly unprecedented anomaly’ meant 135 people given incorrect scores and wrongly informed of promotions The air force has canceled the promotions of dozens of service members after discovering what it said was a grading error in a test of their security knowledge. The “isolated and highly unprecedented anomaly” was announced in a press release on Tuesday, which said 135 airmen and women had been awarded incorrect scores on the security forces specialty knowledge test (SKT) and been wrongly informed they had earned promotion. Continue reading...
Doreen Lawrence will not foot any of legal bill in failed attempt to sue Daily Mail
Exclusive: Source close to co-claimant Prince Harry says he is ‘protective’ of social campaigner and will not ‘see her out of pocket’ Doreen Lawrence, the social justice campaigner, will not foot any of a multimillion-pound bill for the failed attempt to sue the publisher of the Daily Mail, the Guardian understands. Lawrence, the mother of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence , whose case was the subject of a long-running Daily Mail campaign from the late 1990s, was one of seven claimants defeated in court over claims the Mail titles used unlawful methods to source stories. Continue reading...
Fraudster Cottrell was introduced as Farage’s chief of staff, says ex-Reform candidate
Exclusive: Questions grow over close ally’s role in 2024 election in which he held no official position UK politics live – latest updates Why is Farage quitting as an MP, only to stand again? George Cottrell was routinely introduced as Nigel Farage’s chief of staff before the 2024 election despite denials that he had any official role, according to a Reform candidate who stood aside for the party leader. Others who have been closely involved in the party have also claimed Cottrell arranged for the Land Rovers that ferried Reform’s newly elected MPs to parliament, and that he covered the cost of a fundraising lunch with potential donors before the national vote. Continue reading...