section
Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
5082 stories archived
Dolly Parton laid to rest in private Nashville funeral
The queen of country was interred next to her late husband in an intimate ceremony attended by close family Dolly Parton was laid to rest in a private ceremony in Nashville on Friday, her family has confirmed. The queen of country music, who died aged 80 on 25 August “after bravely facing a brief battle with cancer”, was interred at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum alongside her husband of 60 years Carl Thomas. Continue reading...
Pentagon plays down report of Hegseth regularly overruling military advice
Response seeks to discredit Washington Post story that four generals and admirals advised against prolonging Iran war Pete Hegseth regularly receives formal objections from senior commanders and proceeds anyway, the Pentagon’s top spokesman has said, as he tried to discredit a Washington Post report that four generals and admirals had advised against prolonging the war in Iran. “Of course, we demand candid military advice,” Sean Parnell wrote on X , formerly Twitter. “Non-concurs are standard. The Secretary sees them constantly. That’s how you run a real military.” Continue reading...
Burnham’s bumpy ride ahead: PM’s in-tray full of dilemmas as parliament returns
Labour leader faces tough decisions on issues such as North Sea drilling, electoral reform and defence spending After a relatively cheery summer in which he announced a range of eye-catching cost of living policies, Andy Burnham may find his return to parliament this week to be a rude awakening. While the new prime minister has enjoyed some success in the polls, he is faced with many of the same problems that stymied Keir Starmer and has some difficult and unpopular choices to make . Continue reading...
Border area between Nepal and China where 33 Australians are missing still almost entirely cut off
Majority of missing Australians were near Gyirong Port minutes before impact. Rescuers say the area is now destroyed, covered in metres of silt and debris Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast It has been almost a week since the catastrophic floods in Nepal and not even a vehicle can get into the area where the majority of missing Australians were last heard from. Gyirong Port, the border area between Nepal and China, was the first to be hit. Images from Chinese rescue teams who have managed to get in by helicopter or hiking show the area has been completely flattened. The immigration building, the power lines, everything, just wiped away. Continue reading...
Met Gala exhibition honoring John Galliano is cancelled after backlash
Fashion designer was convicted of hate crime by French court in 2011 after series of racist and antisemitic remarks The controversial fashion designer John Galliano announced on Monday that an exhibition honoring his work that New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art had scheduled to open for the upcoming spring’s Met Gala is not going to go forward. The museum’s decision to honor Galliano, who was convicted of a hate crime by a French court in 2011 after a series of racist and antisemitic remarks , had drawn controversy and backlash. Continue reading...
US Open 2026: Alcaraz and Sabalenka enter fray on day two after Djokovic shock – live
Ailing Djokovic goes out | Williams loses after 2am start You can email Taha and follow us on TikTok and Bluesky A 12.13am start! It’s a no from me. Hello, hello, hello and welcome to another day of action at Flushing Meadows. We’ve got two weeks left of this thing and, somehow, Novak Djokovic is already out of the picture, having suffered his first first-round loss at a slam since January 2006. Wild . Continue reading...
Germany poised to identify suspect in Leipzig drone attack on Ukrainian plane
Berlin expected to outline response to incident this month widely speculated to have been coordinated by Russia The German government is imminently expected to announce who it believes was behind a suspected drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane earlier this month and to outline its response to the incident in coordination with its European and Nato partners. The chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told the public broadcaster ARD in an interview on Sunday evening: “We are in the process of concluding the investigations; we have reached a broad agreement within the federal government on how we will respond, and we will make this clear in the coming days. It won’t take much longer.” Continue reading...
A pediatrician is running for Senate. Can doctors change the political debate over health and science?
After Lindsey Graham’s death, Democrat Annie Andrews finds herself in a closely watched race as she seeks to flip his Republican seat Annie Andrews was a dark horse Democrat challenging a five-term Republican in the US Senate when 314 Action, a political action fund devoted to electing scientists and doctors, first backed her. Now, after the unexpected death of Senator Lindsey Graham, Andrews finds herself in a closely watched race. Donald Trump persuaded South Carolina voters last week to select Graham’s sister, Darline , as the new Republican candidate. They will face off in November in an election still heavily favored to remain in Republican hands in the conservative state. Continue reading...
BT on track for estimated £2bn windfall from selling old copper amid AI boom
Telecoms company to benefit from rollout of full-fibre broadband and soaring prices for recycled metal BT is on track for an estimated £2bn-plus windfall over the next decade from selling off old copper cabling, as it cashes in on soaring prices amid the AI market frenzy and switches the UK’s network to full-fibre broadband. Copper is one of the main beneficiaries of the “electrification of everything” , essential for the rapid growth of AI data centres, electronics and the fast-growing renewable energy industry. Continue reading...
Cisco probably violated Middle Eastern and Muslim employees’ civil rights, US agency finds
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finds ‘reasonable cause to believe’ tech firm subjected workers spoke up about Palestine to hostile work environment The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency tasked with enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws, has found that Cisco, the global tech company, probably violated the civil rights of Middle Eastern, Muslim and other company employees. The determination, reached earlier this summer, is believed to be the first by the federal agency finding a major company at fault in connection to pro-Palestinian advocacy that swept campuses and workplaces in recent years. Continue reading...
South African airline defends dramatic low-level flyby before rugby union clash
Cape Town stunt sparks major debate over safety risks Airlink insist flyby conducted according to regulations A pre-game stunt involving two passenger jets flying dramatically low over a stadium in South Africa drew huge cheers from the estimated crowd of around 56,000 people, but also sparked a major debate over safety risks. The flyby by two Embraer jets, operated by local airline Airlink, happened on Saturday before the second rugby union Test between South Africa and New Zealand in Cape Town. Continue reading...
Nepal rescuers race to reach hundreds feared trapped in hydropower tunnels
Workers thought to be stuck in underground areas at 11 sites after last week’s devastating flash floods Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 11 hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods , the country’s disaster management authority has said. The death toll from the unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 903, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. Nearly 5,000 are missing on the two sides of the border. Continue reading...
British family plead with French authorities to release body of relative who died in the Channel
Jasmeet Wadhwa, who fled Taliban persecution in Afghanistan, lost his life in April A British family is pleading with French authorities to release the body of a relative that officials have held for five months after he died in the Channel in April. Jasmeet Wadhwa, 32, died while attempting to reach the UK on a dinghy on 1 April with his mother, Harbans Kaur Wadhwa, after they fled Taliban persecution in Afghanistan in January of this year. Continue reading...
Georgia police officer put on leave after family’s pet donkey killed during search
Donkey named HeeHaw was shot and killed as authorities reportedly looked on property in search of a missing person A police officer in the US state of Georgia was placed on leave after a family’s pet baby donkey was shot and killed during an early-morning search on their property. The animal’s owner, Hannah Israel, said officers were at her pasture without notification or permission at about 12.45am on Sunday, reportedly looking for a missing person when they encountered the small male donkey named HeeHaw. Continue reading...
Iran’s economy in crisis as US launches new sanctions campaign
Trump’s Operation Economic Outcast is expected to push many Iranians into deeper poverty as food inflation soars For many Iranians, the new US sanctions campaign, called Operation Economic Outcast, seems superfluous given the grim economic situation in their country. Iranians are facing runaway food inflation, closed petrol stations and a seemingly never-ending depreciation of the nation’s currency caused by a lack of foreign exchange reserves. Continue reading...
Smelling test: children need education in sniffing aromas, scientist says
Exclusive: Dr Will Tullett says better understanding of scents can improve wellbeing and perception of the world Children need a better education in sniffing aromas, a leading historian of smells has said, noting it may improve their wellbeing and help them understand the world around them. Dr Will Tullett, of the University of York, said pollution had been found to impair people’s olfactory abilities, while many objects and substances today – from margarines to car interiors and even our own homes – were stripped of their original smells and “reodourised” with synthetic scents. Continue reading...
Ministers consider closing social mobility watchdog as part of planned shake-up
Exclusive: Labour MPs believe SMC has become ineffective and its work ‘should be a core function of government’ Ministers are considering a shake-up of the government’s social mobility watchdog that could range from giving it more teeth to abolishing it outright. The move comes amid concerns that the Social Mobility Commission (SMC) – originally conceived under Gordon Brown’s government in 2010 – has become ineffective. Continue reading...
Can Reform UK recover from its summer horribilis?
Clacton, funding, internal divisions – party prepares for annual conference next week after a season of missteps Senior Reform UK figures like to boast that the summer time – and parliament’s longest recess – is when the party makes hay. Supposedly, it’s when Nigel Farage and co can muscle in on the news cycle with provocative statements and new policies, painting “establishment” opponents as workshy layabouts. Continue reading...
Defence spending is an insatiable beast. John Healey is right to tame it | John McTernan
The MoD grossly overspends then claims poverty. It’s high time it was treated as just one part of a progressive government Nowhere was the confidence of the prime minister, Andy Burnham, shown as clearly as in his appointment of chancellor. There were weeks of speculation that this appointment was a choice between the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, and the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, with their contrasting political economies. It has been a hallmark of Burnham’s politics that he and his team do not get involved in briefing wars, so it was only when former defence secretary John Healey appeared in Downing Street together with Mahmood that it was clear that the prime minister had cut the Gordian knot, reassuring the markets with a cool, calm political operator with extensive Treasury experience as chancellor. Healey’s two years in defence meant that he would know both sides of the argument when it came to one of the biggest questions of the forthcoming budget: how to meet the bold new Nato defence spending targets without derailing the social ambitions of the Burnham government. Continue reading...
Grand Canyon braces for more storms after flash flood leaves one person dead
National park officials say body of a man, 46, was recovered and about 15 others remain missing or unaccounted for The Grand Canyon area braced for more rain and thunderstorms on Monday after a flash flood that left one person dead and about 15 others missing or unaccounted for – with scores of visitors evacuated and the only water pipeline for tourists and residents destroyed. Emergency water restrictions that began on Monday prevented tourists from staying overnight at lodges and hotels within the park. Year-round residents were asked to conserve water. Continue reading...
The London office, the empty boxes and the £1bn tax loophole
Exclusive: How a court case over an unoccupied office block could end a widely used tax avoidance scheme From the outside, the seven-storey building at 2 America Square looks like any other office block in the heart of London’s financial district. Located about half a mile from Tower Bridge, one might expect it to be a hive of commercial activity, teeming with employees holding important meetings. However, much of the property is home not to staff vying for their next bonus, but to stacks of nondescript black boxes arranged in neat lines. Continue reading...
AI is hurting US politics. Here’s how candidates could use it for good | Bruce Schneier and Nathan E Sanders
The technology can help candidates listen more deeply to voters, as examples from Japan and Scotland show There are plenty of signs that AI will make all of our experiences of the US midterm elections worse. Voters have anxiety about AI’s impacts on the country. Politicos are using AI deepfakes to spread lies. The White House is posting slopaganda . Meanwhile, candidates are missing a real opportunity to use AI to make campaigning better. The technology can help candidates listen more deeply to voters’ concerns, engage constituents more inclusively, and formulate policy platforms that are more responsive to our input. There are vanishingly few examples of this in US politics, but groups in Japan, Scotland and the US’s own academic and private institutions show how that could change. Continue reading...
Countries legally obliged to consider slavery reparations, says UN committee
Guidance says states must implement ‘comprehensive measures’ to address legacy of racial discrimination A UN committee has said countries are legally obliged to consider reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and take other measures to address the enduring legacy of racial discrimination. Guidance published on Monday by the committee on the elimination of racial discrimination (CERD) said the obligations arose from a legally binding 1965 convention on racial discrimination, not from the legal standards that existed when the slave trade took place. Continue reading...
Cross-party talks needed to tackle climate crisis, say Lib Dems
Andy Burnham urged to seek consensus over response to extreme heat and forthcoming ‘super El Niño’ Andy Burnham should call a cross-party meeting to discuss the UK’s response to worsening extreme weather, including the forthcoming ‘super El Niño’ , the Liberal Democrats have said. The prime minister chaired a Cobra emergency meeting on the drought earlier this month but there has been little from the government on the wider threats posed by five successive heatwaves since May and expected global issues with food shortages and inflation. Continue reading...