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Politics
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Report to National Crime Agency of £5m Farage gift is ‘deeply serious’
Labour party chair says Reform UK leader must cooperate with authorities instead of trying to distract public with byelection • UK politics live – latest updates The revelation that a £5m gift to Nigel Farage by a cryptocurrency billionaire was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers concerned it may have been laundered money, has been described as “astonishing and deeply serious”. Responding to the Guardian story, Anna Turley, the chair of the Labour party, also called on Farage to “come clean and cooperate” with the NCA. Continue reading...
The great carbon capture con: behold the wasted billions Burnham could claw back | George Monbiot
There are far better ways to tackle climate breakdown, but successive governments have chosen to listen to the fossil fuel companies instead The new prime minister will be looking for money? Well, here’s £21.7bn lying on the ground. The government could cancel its deranged, disastrous carbon capture and storage (CCS) programme at no cost to public welfare: in fact, it would greatly reduce the harm we will suffer. Sorry, did I say £21.7bn? That’s the figure the government has been putting in its press releases for spending on this programme between now and 2050. But this covers only the first phase of the project. The climate experts Dr Andrew Boswell and Simon Oldridge worked through the data produced by the government’s Climate Change Committee, which was scattered across different spreadsheets, and discovered that the projected cost of the full CCS programme between now and 2050 is £264bn . George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Arthur Fery: the Wimbledon wildcard carrying Britain’s hopes
The fearless 23-year-old is determined to keep a level head as he prepares to face Flavio Cobolli on Wednesday A week ago, very few people knew who Arthur Fery was. But he has been propelled into the limelight as the last man standing after a disastrous start to Wimbledon for British players. Fery, who is ranked No 114 in the world, defied expectations on Monday night when he triumphed on Centre Court over one of the top players for most of the past decade, the former world No 3 Grigor Dimitrov. Continue reading...
Nato leaders meet in Turkey for summit after Trump renews calls for US to take over Greenland – Europe live
Meeting begins this morning after president threatens to pull American troops out of Europe as he arrived in Ankara yesterday Trump renews call for US to take over Greenland as he arrives for Nato summit Arriving early for the summit, Nato’s Rutte said the meeting was “about implementation, about getting it done” after last year’s push to increase defence spending. He said that European allies and Canada were “stepping up” with more money, more jobs, and more capacity, but there is still more to be done. Continue reading...
Anika Wells ridicules Angus Taylor and Barnaby Joyce for linking Telstra outages with China
Kristy McBain criticises shadow communications minister Sarah Henderson for ‘testing’ Triple-zero system during major network blackout The communications minister, Anika Wells, has accused Barnaby Joyce and Angus Taylor of “going off half-cocked” by raising without evidence the prospect of China having been behind the major Telstra outage affecting millions of Australians nationwide. Wells’s fellow federal minister Kristy McBain also criticised the shadow communications minister, Sarah Henderson, after the Liberal senator said she had “tested” the Triple-zero system by making unnecessary calls to the emergency line – which carries a criminal penalty. Continue reading...
Health risk fears for storks in Europe over ‘junk food’ from landfill
Rubbish dumps can expose birds to contaminants, raising questions over whether landfill foraging helps or harms Storks are gaining weight from a diet of literal junk, according to research that suggests the previously disappearing birds face potential health risks as a result of increasingly eating from rubbish dumps. Landfill offers what appear to be quick and convenient meals for white stork populations in Europe . But new research suggests they may be gaining a short-term energy boost at the cost of hidden long-term health effects. Continue reading...
Virgin Media fined £28m for preventing customers from cancelling contracts
Ofcom levies largest-ever consumer protection fine after finding firm deliberately mishandled millions of phone calls Virgin Media has been fined £28m by the UK telecoms watchdog for repeatedly preventing customers from cancelling their contracts over a near-three-year period. Ofcom discovered that Virgin Media “likely mishandled” millions of phone calls between the start of 2022 and autumn 2024, with deliberate call-dropping tactics, unnecessary call transfers and putting customers on hold for “no reason”. Continue reading...
High-profile Melbourne man called rapist and punched in face shortly after he raped former employee, court hears
The man, who cannot be named, faces two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in Victoria’s county court. He has pleaded not guilty Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A high-profile Melbourne man was called a rapist and punched in the face by his former personal assistant shortly after he raped her at his home, a Victorian court has heard. But the man’s barrister, Dermot Dann KC, told the rape trial on Wednesday that the alleged victim had “massive issues” in relation to her credibility and reliability, including having previously made false allegations against police. Continue reading...
UK housebuilders have far too much power. Now a £4.5bn lawsuit could change that for good | Peter Apps
A legal case on behalf of some 700,000 people against the country’s biggest housebuilders could be a catalyst for much-needed industry reform Every new government – at least for the past decade or so – has come into office with a promise to build more homes. New ministers don a hard hat, take a trip out to a recently completed development and smile indulgently as a bright young couple get given the keys to a smart-looking new-build. Then follows a speech about aspiration. The unspoken truth will be that it is not up to the minister how many new homes are built in his or her term. Instead, this decision is mostly made in the boardrooms of the largest developers, who together control the land and resources to dominate the market in this country. Peter Apps is the author of Show Me the Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen Continue reading...
World Cup 2026: Egypt fury after Argentina win thriller, Switzerland triumph in shootout – live
⚽ All the latest as we look ahead to the quarter-finals ⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Golden Boot | Email us Greetings everyone. Welcome to the kind of day we’ve not had for four weeks – a day with no World Cup football! Time to finally tackle that pile of plates in the sink, that layer of dust on all work surfaces, that sock drawer. Or you could just stare blankly at the screen until the quarter-finals start on Thursday, or talk about it all here. And we now know the identity of all those quarter-finalists after one of those days that all World Cups have – a thriller around which swirl rancour and accusations of bias towards big teams/players, followed by a frustrating, deadening 0-0 in which the side that missed the most presentable chances in 120 minutes inevitably lose the shootout. So commiserations Colombia and Egypt, and congratulations Switzerland – in their first quarter-final for 72 years – and Argentina. Continue reading...
Labour calls on Farage to ‘come clean’ over £5m gift and work with crime agency over money laundering concerns - UK politics live
Lib Dems tell Reform UK leader ‘the game is up’ as political rivals vow to boycott ‘stunt’ Clacton byelection Revealed: Farage’s £5m gift reported to UK crime agency over money laundering concerns Good morning. In a surprise announcement, yesterday Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said he would resign from the Commons so that he could fight a byelection in the hope of being re-elected as MP for Clacton. He thought a resounding win would somehow invalidate the parliamentary inquiry into claims that he broke parliamentary rules by not disclosing a £5m donation (and potentially other donations too). But within hours all the main parties had said they would not be contesting the byelection, and it may be that Farage’s only notable opponent is Count Binface. The Telegraph, a paper that is normally supportive towards Farage (although that seems to be changing a bit – perhaps because new owners have taken control?), sums up the situation well with its splash headline. The £5m gift to Nigel Farage by a cryptocurrency billionaire was reported to the National Crime Agency by bankers who were concerned it may have been laundered money, the Guardian can reveal. The disclosure will put further pressure on the Reform UK leader, who is awaiting a decision by the standards commissioner over whether his failure to declare the money breached parliamentary rules. Continue reading...
The Telstra outage is a stark reminder of the widespread effects of single system failures
The network disruption – which brought trains, traffic lights and Eftpos payments to a halt – raises questions about the resilience of services Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Wednesday’s national Telstra mobile outage serves as another stark reminder of how reliant on connectivity Australia now is, and how single points of failure can have widespread consequences across the country. The nearly five-hour outage – which brought train lines to a halt, affected traffic lights, stopped Eftpos payments and even people being able to charge their electric vehicles – was caused by what Telstra chief financial officer Michael Ackland said was time-keeping servers that feed out up-to-date information to the rest of the network. Continue reading...
Britons to buy 8m mini fans this year – but almost half will end up in landfill
Shoppers urged to seek quality products or alternatives as data shows demand surpassing least year’s total Britons are expected to buy nearly 8m mini fans this year as they are “surging on to the market” in the hot weather – but almost half of those are expected to be low-quality products that end up in landfill within a year. Waste managers and recycling campaigners have raised concerns as the number of online searches for electrically powered handheld fans, which sell for as little as £2, has already surpassed that seen in the whole of 2025 in the first six months of this year. Continue reading...
Search under way after Boeing 737 cargo plane goes missing off Pakistan coast
Early flight data showed the K2 Airways plane with five crew on board possibly crashed into the sea southwest of Karachi A Pakistan-registered Boeing 737 cargo plane with five crew members on board lost contact with air traffic control on Tuesday night after reporting a navigational system problem on its way to Karachi, Pakistan aviation authorities said. Early flight data indicated the 27-year-old converted freighter operated by K2 Airways from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates possibly crashed into the sea southwest of Karachi after a series of sharp altitude changes, before a steep final descent, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24. Continue reading...
Farage is likely to win in Clacton but can his credibility survive? | Peter Walker
While the Reform leader casts himself as the victim questions about his finances are unlikely to disappear Farage quits as an MP amid scrutiny of his finances For Nigel Farage, a year that was progressing quite nicely started to go wrong when the Guardian revealed he had received an undeclared gift of £5m from a crypto billionaire. Just 10 weeks later, he has been pushed into perhaps one of the biggest gambles of his political career. That gamble is seemingly not with his role as an MP. Farage took more than 45% of the vote in Clacton in 2024, and the heavily Reform-friendly constituency was always likely to elect him again, even before the bulk of the other parties announced they would stand aside in a byelection they have dismissed as a stunt. Continue reading...
What is the Timms review into Pip and what is it likely to conclude?
Campaigners fear report into disability benefits will seek to make cuts despite assurances that would not be its aim Disability benefits in England and Wales not fit for purpose, Timms review to find A government review of the personal independence payment (Pip) disability benefit, ordered after ministers were forced to abandon proposed £5bn cuts to the payment last year, is due to be published this week. This is what we know so far. Continue reading...
Disability benefits in England and Wales not fit for purpose, Timms review to find
Exclusive: Landmark review by disability minister will call for ‘dehumanising’ assessment system to be redrawn What is the Timms review into Pip and what is it likely to conclude? Disability benefits in England and Wales are “not fit for purpose” and the entire assessment system must be redrawn as part of a radical welfare overhaul, the government’s landmark review of personal independence payments will say. The Guardian understands the review will conclude that the points-based system of assessment is in effect worthless because of the rising number of new conditions – particularly relating to mental health – that can fluctuate considerably in severity. Continue reading...
Almost no progress made on UK regional household income divide in 30 years, report finds
Despite promises of successive governments, gap between richest and poorest areas consistent since 1997 Britain’s deep regional income divide has barely changed in 30 years despite the promises of successive governments to narrow the gap, according to a report showing the challenge for Andy Burnham. As the prime minister-in-waiting prepares for government, the Resolution Foundation said almost no progress had been made since 1997 to tackle stark divisions in household income, before housing costs are taken into account, between the richest and poorest parts of the country. Continue reading...
‘More public control’: what will Burnham do about water and energy?
In the fifth of a series on nationalisation, we look at utilities – including the cost of ending private ownership Will Burnham ‘go big’ in expanding the role of the state? Atlee: the postwar blueprint that inspires Burnham How council housebuilding is central to Burnham’s vision How Burnham aims to shake up UK transport When the former Undertones frontman turned campaigner Feargal Sharkey backed Keir Starmer for prime minister in 2024, he hoped that the Labour leader would be the man to clean up Britain’s polluted rivers and bring the water industry into public ownership – starting with troubled Thames Water. Two years later, Sharkey has been disappointed. Now he is hoping that Andy Burnham will begin the job when he is confirmed as prime minister. Continue reading...
Asylum seeker in UK as part of ‘one in, one out’ scheme says it is unfair on those deported
Man flown from France as part of legal entry programme decries effect on others ‘who may have a similar case’ An asylum seeker brought to the UK by the Home Office has said it feels unjust that he was allowed into the country only because someone else was deported. The individual benefited from the “one in” part of the controversial “one in, one out” scheme , where one asylum seeker who reached the UK on a small boat is forcibly returned to France in exchange for another being brought legally to Britain. Continue reading...
Two in five Britons think Muslims cannot integrate in UK, poll finds
Government’s former extremism adviser sounds alarm as idea that diversity is harmful becomes ‘mainstream view’ Two in five Britons believe Muslims cannot integrate into British society and more than half believe the country’s national identity is disappearing due to “diversity”, a report authored by a former government adviser on extremism has found. Sara Khan, who stood down in 2024 as the UK’s first counter-extremism commissioner, said such views contrasted sharply with accompanying findings that showed 85% of Muslims “favour integration”. Continue reading...
US charges Indian criminal gang leader with organising murder of Canadian Sikh activist
Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in prison in India, is accused of orchestrating the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023 US authorities have announced charges against the leader of an Indian criminal group in connection with the political assassination of a prominent Sikh activist in Canada – a high-profile killing that strained diplomatic relations between Canada and India at the time. Lawrence Bishnoi – the imprisoned head of an Indian criminal gang - and his childhood friend Satinderjeet Singh, are accused of orchestrating the assassination of a well-known Sikh independence activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was fatally shot outside a temple where he served as president in 2023. Bishnoi is in custody, but Singh has not been apprehended. Continue reading...
Investigations into former anti-corruption chief Paul Brereton nixed over cost concerns
National Anti-Corruption Commission inspector, Gail Furness, says systemic issues behind two complaints have been addressed Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Two investigations into complaints made against the former national anti-corruption commissioner, Paul Brereton, will discontinue after its watchdog said it could not “justify such expenditure”. In a statement released on Wednesday morning, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (Nacc) inspector, Gail Furness, said she would end the ongoing investigations due to Brereton’s resignation and her belief that the “systemic issues which had been identified have been satisfactorily addressed”. Continue reading...
Karmelo Anthony seeks new trial after 35-year sentence in killing of Austin Metcalf
Defense attorneys say prosecutors coerced Anthony, 19, into waiving his right to testify, and cite additional reasons Karmelo Anthony’s legal team is seeking a new trial and the recusal of a state judge a month after a Texas jury convicted the 19-year-old of murder and sentenced him to 35 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf, 17, at a track meet in 2025. In a Tuesday motion, Anthony’s defense attorneys argued that their client’s conviction should be overturned because prosecutors coerced him into waiving his right to testify, among other reasons. Continue reading...