section
Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
3670 stories archived
Flowers, food and a fairytale castle: Taylor Swift wedding comes to New York
Singer and fiance Travis Kelce have been coy but festivities appear to be getting under way at Madison Square Garden In her hit song Welcome to New York, Taylor Swift sings: “Like any great love, it keeps you guessing.” The megastar has certainly done that this week, as preparations got under way for what appears to be a giant wedding at Madison Square Gardens in New York . Vans unloading flowers, food, and what looks like the makings of a massive, white fairytale castle, have been seen outside the arena in recent days. Continue reading...
First Thing: Iran to show defiance in six-day funeral for supreme leader
Ceremony for Ali Khamenei intended to be epic display of national power. Plus, the expected wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce pays dividend to good causes Good morning. Final preparations are under way for Ali Khamenei’s six-day funeral . The farewell to the former supreme leader is expected to draw millions in Iran. Khamenei was killed in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli attack on the country in February, and the funeral is intended to be an epic display of personal mourning, national power, resilience and social cohesion. Iran’s first vice-president, Mohammad Reza Aref, who is the lead funeral organiser, described the ceremony, which begins on Saturday in Tehran and will end with Khamenei’s burial on Thursday in Mashhad, as “the most important event of this century” and the most attended event since the 1979 revolution. The scale of the funeral has been conceived to relay political and religious messages of resistance to the rest of the world. At the request of Iraqi politicians, Khamenei’s body will also be carried through the Iraqi Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf. Will Ali Khamenei’s successor take part? Khamenei’s son and successor, Mojtaba Khamenei, is not expected to make an appearance at his father’s funeral. He was severely injured in the same US-Israeli strike that killed his father and also killed Mojtaba’s wife and his 14-month-old daughter. The extent of Mojtaba’s injuries is unknown and he has so far issued only written statements, including one that distanced himself from the ceasefire negotiations but sanctioned their continuance. Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, threatened to kill him this week, saying he was marked for death. Why is Trump so unhappy with Nato? Aside from the failure of countries such as the UK and France to join in with the US-Israeli war on Iran, Trump has long complained that Europe does not spend enough on defence. Under pressure from the US, Nato leaders agreed at a gathering last year to boost defence-related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. Continue reading...
I’m in no mood to ‘celebrate’ America. Our country is broken and needs repair | Jamil Smith
America at 250 is not a finished monument, but a structure still under repair To call this Saturday the nation’s 250th birthday is to indulge a comfortable fiction. 1776 was a declaration, not a birth certificate – and the founders wrote its claims of human equality while this nation enslaved human beings. A truer account of American freedom runs through 1619 and Juneteenth , when Americans forced the country, at last, to begin making its promises answerable to reality. So I’m not in the mood to celebrate “America 250”, and I’m not alone. The affection is thin this summer: the Pew Research Center found that 69% of Americans were dissatisfied with the country’s direction early this year. That is not ingratitude. Sometimes a sour mood is simply clear vision. Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
‘We’re trying to get some fireworks’: US men’s and women’s rugby teams seek Fourth of July wins
Amid America’s 250th-birthday celebrations, the Eagles are facing tough challenges, looking for momentum and meaning on and off the field Saturday is America’s 250th birthday and a huge national holiday but the US Eagles will be working. The men are in Denver, kicking off the World Rugby Nations Cup against Portugal, champions of Europe’s second tier. The women are in Johannesburg for the first of two games against South Africa, a double bill with the Springbok men facing England. “I’m dual nationality,” said the women’s captain, Georgie Perris-Redding, who speaks with a Manchester accent but was born in Detroit and whose development included a stint at the American Pro Rugby Training Center in Little Rock, Arkansas , a groundbreaking operation that nurtured US women’s talent. USA v South Africa and USA v Portugal are broadcast in the US on Paramount+ . Martin Pengelly writes on rugby in the US on Substack, at The National Maul . Continue reading...
Zohran Mamdani to deliver speech to mark US’s 250th birthday in New York
New York mayor’s remarks at city hall to come just hours before Trump is set to deliver address at Mount Rushmore Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, is expected to deliver a speech on Friday morning to mark America’s 250th birthday. The address, scheduled to begin at 10am local time and streamed live, will be delivered from behind George Washington’s desk in New York city hall. Mamdani will be surrounded by recently naturalized citizens. Continue reading...
Salvaged steel and a slice of countryside: Caro sculptures on show in Oxfordshire fields
Visitors can get free peek at works by one of UK’s most significant 20th-century artists and one of his successors Swifts screech overhead, hares lope along the grassy paths and butterflies flutter in the woodland fringe. There is an orchard; there are chickens, beehives. It seems simply a lovely, if conventional, slice of English countryside – until you happen upon striking sculptures fashioned out of chunks of reclaimed steel or machinery parts salvaged from factories, shipyards and farms. The pieces are the stars of a show called Heavy Metal, which brings together work by one of the UK’s most significant 20th-century artists, Anthony Caro, and one of his successors, James Capper. Continue reading...
Keir Starmer ally Hollie Ridley to step down as Labour general secretary
Exclusive: As well as citing personal reasons, Ridley says she is making way for a successor ‘to work alongside new leader’ Hollie Ridley, Labour’s general secretary, is to step down this autumn after two years in the job, she has announced to party staff. Ridley, an ally of Keir Starmer who ran Labour’s field operations in the 2024 general win election, said in an internal email she would stand down after the party’s annual conference in September. Continue reading...
Woman suspected in Monaco parcel bombing reportedly seen in Germany
Suspect is said to be a woman who tried to pass off as a man during attack apparently targeting Ukrainian-born oligarch The main suspect in a bomb attack in Monaco this week is a woman who has been spotted in Germany, a judicial source in Monaco told Reuters on Friday. Three people were wounded on Monday evening in a parcel bomb explosion in the wealthy principality, which was believed to be an attack on a Ukrainian-born oligarch. Continue reading...
For allies and adversaries alike, America at 250 is a solid global citizen gone rogue
America has long stood for freedom and prosperity, but under Trump insults, threats and unpredictability have become the new norm. As the US marks its 250th anniversary, Guardian correspondents around the world report on how it is perceived elsewhere Amy Hawkins in Beijing Continue reading...
A council housebuilding boom is central to Burnham’s vision. Can it be done?
With 1.5m families waiting for social housing and Labour’s building targets already falling short, the challenge is huge From the front garden of the red-brick terrace where she has lived for nearly three decades, Coral McKeown, 50, points to the gleaming new council house she was supposed to move into five years ago. It sits behind heavy metal fences surrounded by building work and an empty construction vehicle. She does not expect it to be ready until next year at the earliest. Continue reading...
Weather tracker: Heatwave breaks June temperature records across Europe
UK provisional high of 37.7C shatters previous record by huge margin, while Germany experiences all-time high of 41.7C Last week’s heatwave across western Europe broke national records for June maximum temperatures as well as setting new all-time highs. The UK recorded a provisional high of 37.7C at Lingwood, Norfolk, on Friday 27 June, shattering the previous June record of 35.6C in 1976. This kind of margin is exceptional; temperature records are normally beaten by 0.1 or 0.2 degrees rather than, as in this case, a whole 2.1 degrees. Germany recorded 41.7C on 28 of June in Coschen, beating the previous all-time record three days in a row. The Netherlands broke its June record with 39.4C on 26 June, while Hungary broke its all-time record, with 42C recorded in Szécsény on the 30 June. Continue reading...
Andy Burnham says Labour manifesto has room for ‘movement on tax’ – UK politics live
The Labour MP hinted that he’s open to flexibility for some taxes that could aid high street businesses Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. Andy Burnham , the lead contender to succeed prime minister Keir Starmer, has hinted at some of his tax proposals as he draws up plans to revitalise Britain’s high streets. Continue reading...
World Cup 2026: Portugal through to face Spain after VAR drama, Salah fit to face Australia – live
⚽ All the latest news and reaction from the World Cup ⚽ Player guide | Bracketology | Knockout draw | Email us Spain looked ominous in beating Austria. The group stage is something you have to do but the World Cup starts here, Lamine Yamal had insisted, and down on the Pacific that was how it played out. It wasn’t just that Spain defeated Austria to reach the last 16 against Portugal or Croatia, their first victory at the knockout stage since they were champions in 2010; it was that on an enjoyable sunny afternoon they were Spain again. Two goals from Mikel Oyarzabal and another from Pedro Porro completed a 3-0 win that was as recognisably theirs as their coach had requested beforehand. “Almost perfect,” Luis de la Fuente called it afterwards. No wonder Newcastle United are working overtime to wrap up a deal for Johan Manzambi. The secret, if there was such a thing, is well and truly out when it comes to the 20-year-old Freiburg forward who destroyed the Algeria defence to tee up Breel Embolo for Switzerland’s opener in an ominously comfortable victory to reach the last 16. Continue reading...
US heatwave threatens 250th anniversary events and World Cup
Weekend’s high temperatures and humidity ‘virtually impossible’ without climate crisis, researchers say The scorching heat blanketing much of the US this week would have been “virtually impossible” if not for the climate crisis, researchers have found, warning that the high temperatures could threaten Independence Day celebrations and World Cup matches this weekend. “The climate the country has today is fundamentally different to the one it had when the founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence,” said Theodore Keeping, extreme weather and wildfire researcher at Imperial College London, in a press release. Continue reading...
Far from waging war on the south, Burnham could improve the lives of Londoners. Here’s how | Polly Toynbee
The right wants to paint Manchesterism in terms of north v south – but poverty everywhere is solved by prioritising the public purse over private pockets When the “king of the north” called London “the world’s greatest capital city” this week, it didn’t reassure those who fear that Andy Burnham represents that old national grievance, the north-south divide. The right warned southerners that he was coming to tax their extravagant properties until the pips squeaked. The idea that London is reviled as a swelling boil or a vampire sucking life from the provinces long pre-dates William Cobbett . Go north of Watford, go east or south-west, and populists can always raise a hiss against the capital. Envy and loathing come in many political shapes: for the right, London is the citadel of left-leaning elitism and also the multicultural crime-ridden swamp of Trump-Vance fabrication. Who doesn’t resent the gilded greed of City bankers – takers, not makers. And Burnham’s popularity is built on northernness. Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Details of MCG assault against Lidia Thorpe revealed after court lifts suppression order
Ebony Bell convicted and handed community work order following assault on senator and second ‘gratuitous act of violence’ while on bail Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A woman has been handed a community work order for punching Lidia Thorpe outside the MCG over claims the independent senator disrespected her mother. Ebony Bell was initially told to undertake an anger management course after her 2024 attack on Thorpe, but committed a second “gratuitous act of violence” while on bail, the Melbourne magistrates court was told in June. Continue reading...
Burnham’s funding gap: what state are UK finances in for the PM-in-waiting?
Given pressures on the public purse, the Makerfield MP may have to look at autumn tax rises to fund his ‘new direction’ An economy rattled by a global energy shock, jittery bond markets and rising spending demands. As Andy Burnham prepares for government, the pressures on the public finances are in focus. The prospective prime minister pledged a new direction for Britain this week within two constraints: sticking to Labour’s current fiscal rules, and consistency with its 2024 manifesto. Continue reading...
Friday briefing: The US at 250: who gets to tell the story?
In today’s newsletter: As official celebrations spotlight a narrow cast of white heroes, communities across the US are reclaiming the histories that Freedom 250 leaves out Good morning, and a very happy 250th birthday to the United States of America. If you prefer to celebrate with cage fighting on the White House lawn, an IndyCar rally through the streets of Washington DC, or simply by watching the president do his lonely bop to YMCA at a sparsely attended state fair , so much the better. It takes a special kind of someone to make the semiquincentennial birthday of a nation of 349 million people, from a whole variety of backgrounds, all about himself. But he wouldn’t be the only one centred on a very particular (white, male, Christian-centric) view of how the nation came to be. UK news | Women from Black and Asian backgrounds are less likely than their white counterparts to receive an epidural while giving birth , research has revealed. Ukraine | Ukraine and Russia have promised fresh assaults after Moscow launched a huge barrage on Kyiv , killing at least 27 people, tearing open apartment buildings and sending tens of thousands of people to shelters. UK news | Criminal investigators in the UK say they have uncovered a “truly international network” of organised drug-facilitated sexual assault in which victims are sedated before being raped and sexually assaulted. UK politics | Keir Starmer has formally apologised for the British state’s role in past forced adoptions after decades of campaigning by mothers and children affected. World news | A rescue team pulled a 43-year-old security guard alive from a collapsed basement, ending an operation that became a symbol of hope after the devastation of twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela. Continue reading...
Ali Khamenei’s six-day funeral expected to draw millions in Iran
Huge scale of funeral for supreme leader across five cities is intended to relay message of resistance to rest of the world In the small hours of Friday the police roadblocks, stalls, posters and army vans were starting to appear across Tehran as millions of Iranians prepared to attend the long-delayed six-day funeral ceremony for Ali Khamenei’s, Iran’s supreme leader for 36 turbulent years. Killed in the opening salvo of the US-Israeli attack on the country in February, the funeral is intended to be an epic display of personal mourning, national power, resilience and social cohesion. Small groups of mourners carrying flags were gathering along the roads festooned with the red fist, the symbol of the funeral alongside the slogan “We must rise”. At a ceremony dedicated to the families of martyrs, Khamenei’s coffin was displayed. Continue reading...
Jacinta Allan admits criminals infiltrated Big Build but rejects calls for royal commission
Premier apologised over organised crime in some of Victoria’s largest construction projects, in op-ed that claimed a royal commission would not solve the issue Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Jacinta Allan has admitted that criminals have infiltrated some of Victoria’s largest construction projects – but has again rejected growing calls for a royal commission into alleged corruption involving unions and labour hire companies. In an opinion piece published in the Age on Thursday night, the premier wrote that “we now know that criminals operated on some of Victoria’s construction sites” during projects dubbed by the Labor government as the Big Build. Continue reading...
‘Ridiculous’ for US to maintain current Nato support, Trump warns ahead of alliance summit
President says Washington’s relationship with Nato is ‘not reciprocal’ and ‘they were not there for us’ in Iran war Donald Trump has said it is “ridiculous” for the US to continue its “one sided” relationship with Nato, less than a week before a summit of the military alliance in Ankara. Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that “They were not there for us!!!” and Washington’s relationship with Nato “is not reciprocal”. Continue reading...
Spyware used against MEP investigating Pegasus abuses, report finds
Researchers say Stelios Kouloglou’s device was compromised after he joined European parliamentary committee NSO Group’s hacking software was repeatedly used against a member of the European parliament while he was conducting an investigation of spyware abuses in Europe, according to a new report. Researchers at the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto said they could not attribute the attacks against Stelios Kouloglou to any particular government operator of Pegasus spyware. But their investigation found the attack against the Greek now-former MEP bore the hallmarks of a previous hacking campaign against exiled Russian and Belarusian journalists in Europe. Continue reading...
‘Bigger than football’: Norway fans’ Viking row makes waves at World Cup
From Times Square to the Norwegian parliament and even in fighter jet cockpits, the choreographed row is everywhere The fans have done it, in their thousands, in the stadiums. The players have done it on the pitch. Pretty much anyone who was there did it in New York’s Times Square . Norwegian MPs did it in parliament . Prince Sverre Magnus, third in line to the Norwegian throne, rowed in an Oslo subway carriage . Care home residents in their 90s rowed in rural Norway and Norwegian Royal Air Force pilots rowed in their F-35 fighter jets. Continue reading...
Trump hijacks America at 250 celebrations – podcast
This weekend marks 250 years since the signing of the declaration of independence, but Donald Trump is making the celebration all about himself. As the anniversary approaches, Jonathan Freedland talks to the Atlantic’s Yoni Appelbaum about why so many Americans are feeling less patriotic these days Archive: AP, Reuters Continue reading...