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Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
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Germany blames Russia for drone attack at Leipzig airport
Government says ‘dangerous behaviour’ is part of effort by Moscow to cause damage with hybrid attacks The German government has blamed Russia for the drone attack on Leipzig airport last month, calling it “dangerous behaviour” and part of a systematic and concerted effort by Moscow to “cause great damage” through a large number of hybrid attacks. The interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, and the foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, ended weeks of speculation and the government’s hesitancy to blame Russia, saying in a brisk 10-minute briefing in Berlin that all indications were the Russian state had provided the knowhow and equipment for the planned attack and “low-level agents” were recruited to carry it out. Continue reading...
Five held by police after newborn baby dies from stab wounds in South Yorkshire
Officers responded to reports concerning safety of baby girl at property in Wincobank area of Sheffield Five people are being held on suspicion of murder after a newborn baby died from stab wounds in South Yorkshire on Sunday. Police officers found the girl at a property in Holywell Heights, in the Wincobank area of Sheffield, while responding to reports concerning her safety just before 6am on Sunday. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...
US launches new airstrikes on Iranian targets as hostilities flare
Move from Washington quashes hopes that exchange of fire last weekend might not presage wider renewal of hostilities Middle East crisis live – latest updates The US launched new airstrikes on Iranian targets on Tuesday, quashing hopes that an exchange of fire last weekend might not presage a wider renewal of hostilities. Oil prices had already risen after that first exchange of direct attacks since July and after reports of two tankers being hit leaving the strait of Hormuz, the global oil supply waterway that Iran has effectively closed to shipping. Continue reading...
One last Starmer U-turn and it’s over to Andy ‘less policy, more vibes’ Burnham | John Crace
What former PM could resist upstaging the new one hours before his first dispatch box appearance in 16 years? UK politics live – latest updates No good deed goes unpunished. Or any deed for that matter. It was only a few weeks ago that Keir Starmer was insisting he would remain an MP until the next general election. So we should all probably have guessed that he would be off at the earliest opportunity . U-turns were a distinguishing feature of his two years in office. And what former prime minister could resist upstaging the new one hours before his first appearance at the government dispatch box for 16 years? Especially when the new one had been plotting his downfall for at least a year. It’s what everyone would have wanted. Right? Continue reading...
‘I think he’s sensible’: constituents on Keir Starmer stepping down as MP
Few regrets voiced in Holborn and St Pancras over decision despite former PM having had ‘rough time of it’ UK politics live – latest updates In Keir Starmer’s north London constituency, full of pretty pubs and elegant townhouses, few tears were being shed at the news of his departure as its MP . One man nursing a pint outside a pub in Kentish Town simply remarked “good” when informed his MP had quit. He added: “I thought he was very nice before he became prime minister; I met him a few times. But he messed the country up and screwed over pensioners.” Continue reading...
Who is John Ternus, Apple’s next CEO?
Hardware engineering executive succeeding Tim Cook is a longtime Apple insider, indicating company will continue strategy that has led to record profits Tim Cook stepped down as CEO of Apple on 31 August. John Ternus, a longtime company veteran, succeeded him the next day as the company’s new chief executive. Cook has transitioned to the role of executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors. Ternus, a hardware engineering executive, is a tenured Apple insider, and his ascension indicates the company will stay the course that has led to record profits under Cook’s leadership. Apple’s yearly profit now tops $100bn, the company is worth about $4.5tn, and it has notched record revenue from its iPhones this year, boosted by renewed demand in China . Continue reading...
Russia targets Ukraine’s rail network as war enters deadly new phase
Six employees killed on Tuesday after Moscow escalates attacks on infrastructure and Ukrainian capital Russia has opened a deadly new phase in its war against Ukraine by deliberately targeting the country’s railway network, with six employees killed on Tuesday in the latest strikes on Kyiv. Ukraine’s state-owned railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said its workers died when a ballistic missile plunged into a locomotive depot. The Russians hit other railway facilities, it added, during a massive bombardment of Kyiv and the Kyiv region. At least 12 people died , with a dozen wounded, including three children. Continue reading...
Ella Baron on Andy Burnham’s first prime minister’s questions – cartoon
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ICE holds man with stage 4 cancer in detention despite permanent US residency
ICE spokesperson says Loreto Javar failed to disclose criminal conviction in Philippines when he applied for visa A 76-year-old man holding permanent US residency and grappling with stage four prostate cancer is reportedly being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention in Tacoma, Washington . Federal immigration officials detained Loreto Javar during his US citizenship interview in Tukwila, Washington, in June. Javar, a Filipino national, moved to the US in 1995 and has lived in the country with his wife and daughter ever since. Continue reading...
Private equity’s London takeover spree goes on – and the politicians ignore it
The latest swoop – for Bodycote, another FTSE 250 industrial firm – has barely raised barely an eyebrow in Westminster The UK is the business of “reindustrialising”, says the prime minister. If we are, an increasing portion of the activity will be under foreign ownership. Tuesday brought yet another overseas private equity swoop on a FTSE 250 industrial firm. This time it’s the Macclesfield-based Bodycote, which describes itself as “the world’s largest service provider of heat treatment and specialist metallurgical technologies” – think, for example, processes and coatings to toughen jet engine blades. The buyer is the US buyout firm Veritas for £1.65bn or 940p a share, or £1.85bn including debt. Unless, that is, the rival bidder, CVC, a European private equity firm, comes back for another bite, which the market clearly thinks is a possibility because Bodycote’s shares closed at 955p. Continue reading...
Swinney sticks with pledge to cap prices on basic foods in Scotland
First minister sets out his government’s agenda and defends policy described by industry groups as a ‘potty gimmick’ John Swinney insisted on Tuesday he still planned to introduce a legally binding price cap on bread, milk and other essential food items in Scotland despite fierce opposition from farming and business groups. Unveiling the Scottish National party’s programme for government – the equivalent to the king’s speech – the first minister said he wanted to give “families greater peace of mind at a time of rising prices”. Continue reading...
Burnham’s ambitious plans need room to breathe – and Westminster suffocates change | Rafael Behr
A summer on the road suited the prime minister’s open style, but now the walls of conventional politics are closing in Nothing stays fresh for long in parliament and no one sounds normal. The air, thick with convention, suffocates originality, tuning every voice to the same Westminster pitch. The need to escape that climate is one reason why Andy Burnham quit his Commons seat to run for mayor of Greater Manchester. Or that is how he tells the story. Returning after nearly a decade away, the prime minister says he wants to throw open the windows, let in some air. He thinks devolution can cultivate a healthier political culture. He intends to rebalance England’s centre of gravity with a power base in the new No 10 North. Continue reading...
UK entrepreneur makes £500,000 political donation to Restore Britain
Simon Galbraith says Rupert Lowe’s party can ‘spark a British renaissance’ if it gets into power UK politics live – latest updates The hard-right Restore Britain party has got its first major donation of £500,000 from an IT entrepreneur in a sign it may continue to pose a threat to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK. Rupert Lowe, an MP who left Reform UK before starting his own party, announced on Tuesday that the British businessman Simon Galbraith had contributed two donations of £250,000 this year. Continue reading...
US lawmakers demand investigation into Trump administration’s secret surveillance of Americans
Exclusive: Two congressmembers respond to revelations of government snooping on journalists, non-profits and unions Two congressional Democrats asked a government watchdog Tuesday to investigate the Trump administration’s use of an obscure law to secretly collect records on journalists, non-profits and unions without judicial oversight. The request from the senator Ron Wyden of Oregon and the representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington seen by the Guardian comes amid mounting scrutiny over the way the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently used its power to issue administrative summonses related to customs matters to make extraordinary unilateral demands for information. They sent their request to the government accountability office (GAO), the nonpartisan congressional watchdog. Continue reading...
Sydney’s beaches enter the drone age to get swimmers back in the water after spate of shark attacks
Seventy beaches across New South Wales are part of the $34m dawn-to-dusk drone monitoring program, which one expert has called ‘the best technology we have at the moment’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast “Hey Taha, what’s the visibility like?” shouts a man with a towel slung over his shoulder. “Uh, nice,” says Surf Life Saving New South Wales drone operator Taha Kafil-Hussain. Continue reading...
College football coach famed for Netflix show fired after calling officials ‘idiots’
Buddy Stephens, who was featured on Last Chance U, publicly criticized his school and league hierarchy A college football coach who rose to prominence in a Netflix documentary series about student athletes trying to make the big time on their final opportunity has been fired after publicly calling officials “idiots” for changing the structure of the league in which his team competed. Buddy Stephens, the coach in question, starred in the first two seasons of the gritty reality show Last Chance U that chronicled the struggles endured by football players at East Mississippi Community College (EMCC) as they juggled academics, challenging home lives and their full-contact sport in their efforts to reach the NFL . Continue reading...
Mark Carney rebukes Trump officials, urging US to ‘start being serious’ amid escalating trade war
Canadian PM is set to retaliate against tariffs levied by Donald Trump and criticized US officials over insults US politics live – latest updates Mark Carney has rebuked Donald Trump’s administration and urged officials in Washington to “start being serious” amid escalation trade tensions between the US and Canada. Days before Canada is due to retaliate against Trump’s sweeping tariffs with its own duties on US goods, the Canadian prime minister criticized US officials for insulting his country. “It is beneath their office,” he said. Continue reading...
Todd Haynes and Wallace Shawn among signatories of letter backing Mark Ruffalo amid antisemitism charge
More than 170 Jewish artists, also including Joel Coen, Hannah Einbinder and Miranda July, have supported the actor after he criticized Paramount A collective of more than 170 prominent Jewish artists – including Todd Haynes , Joel Coen , Miranda July , Hannah Einbinder , Wallace Shawn and Naomi Klein – have signed an open letter supporting Mark Ruffalo . The actor had been accused of invoking antisemitic tropes after he criticized Paramount Skydance, the media company owned by David Ellison, a Donald Trump ally. Ruffalo had spoken out about the $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD). Continue reading...
Olivia Rodrigo is standing up for the vulnerable. I wish Taylor Swift would do the same | Arwa Mahdawi
This weekend, Rodrigo raised millions for charities that benefit women and girls, and she has previously been vocal about Gaza and Ice. With free speech increasingly under threat, her peers should take note Donald Trump, the 80-year-old president of the United States, spent his weekend whining about a lake and posting memes of Donald’s Ducks . While he was busy with his ducks, Olivia Rodrigo, a 23-year-old pop star, spent her weekend trying to Make America Somewhat Decent Again. On Saturday, Rodrigo hosted the inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival , bringing together female artists to raise money for women-focused non-profits which have had their funding slashed by the Trump administration. The festival raised $10m (£7.4m) which Melinda French Gates matched, bringing the total to $20m. In a perfect world a singer holding a benefit concert for feminist charities wouldn’t be radical stuff. But we don’t live in a perfect world, do we? We live in hell. Trump has successfully bullied US institutions into doing his bidding. Universities have defunded Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programmes, many media outlets have kowtowed to the US’s self-styled king and tech CEOs have jumped into bed with him. Women’s rights are going backwards globally and our civil liberties are under attack. Continue reading...
NSW government to resume pill testing at music festivals but rejects calls for wider community rollout
Use of sniffer dogs and searches will continue despite health and harm reduction groups arguing they could lead to riskier drug taking Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Drug testing will resume at New South Wales music festivals from October, but will not be rolled out into the wider community despite calls from peak health and harm reduction groups, while the controversial use of sniffer dogs and searches will continue. On Wednesday the state government announced NSW Health will consult with the music festival industry and harm reduction organisations to roll out pill testing at up to 15 music festivals each year. Continue reading...
House prices head for historic 10% drop as fourth interest rate hike looms
Cotality data reveals property prices are now falling in more than 90% of Australian suburbs, while analysts expect market downturn to continue Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The prospect of the steepest property market downturn in history will not stop the Reserve Bank from delivering a fourth interest rate hike as it battles to bring inflation back under control , economists say. New data from Cotality revealed house prices are now falling in more than 90% of Australian suburbs, amid a perfect storm of higher borrowing costs, a weak economy, and a once-in-a-generation change in the tax treatment of property investors. Continue reading...
Inside knowledge or ‘making stuff up’? Charles Perrottet’s advice to Jean Nassif put under microscope by Icac
Brother of former treasurer and premier faces questions about texts that appear to indicate he was aware of fast-tracking policy before it was announced Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Did the former premier’s brother, Charles Perrottet, have prior knowledge of a Covid-era New South Wales government policy to introduce a fast track to approve major developments? Did he take steps to ensure that developments owned by the fugitive developer, Jean Nassif, were successful through the fast track? Continue reading...
New system for screening mail-in ballots risks denying entire batches, says whistleblower
US senator says that project, a key part of Trump’s voting restrictions, is ‘perilously rushed and potentially unlawful’ A new system to screen millions of mail-in ballots for this November’s US midterm elections was thrown together so hastily, and tested so little, that a single scanning glitch could see entire batches of ballots turned away, a whistleblower has told Congress. The project – a key part of Donald Trump’s new restrictions on voting – is “perilously rushed and potentially unlawful”, according to the US senator Richard Blumenthal, who disclosed the warning in a letter to David Steiner, the postmaster general, on Tuesday. Continue reading...
US Open 2026: Fery, Rybakina, Fritz and Keys in action on day three – live
Alcaraz victorious on return | Sabalenka up and running Alex Eala is already a global star: next up, the US Open You can email Katy and follow us on TikTok and Bluesky Hello, hello! Full disclaimer: this is my first day back after nearly three weeks on holiday and I’ve also spent the past three hours trying and completely failing to install some computer updates. So it may take a bit of time before I’m firing on all cylinders. Though Madison Keys, Flavio Cobolli and Elena Rybakina will be hoping for far smoother starts, as they get the action under way on the main courts on this third and final day of the first round, with Mirra Andreeva, Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur to follow later in the day session, along with the British trio of Arthur Fery, Jan Choinski and Fran Jones. Coco Gauff, Alexander Zverev, Gael Monfils and Alexandra Eala, meanwhile, play in the evening session* as Monfils - after Stan Wawrinka’s emotional goodbye yesterday - begins his final grand slam on his 40th birthday. Allez Gael! Two send-offs in two days would be too much to handle. * By which point I estimate there’s a 0.03% chance of me figuring out how to resolve my IT issues Continue reading...