section
Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
3700 stories archived
Mexico face up to their most terrifying opponent: the ghost of World Cup game four
El Tri have made a habit of qualifying from the group stage and then falling at the first hurdle. They are hoping the memory of 1986 will help end the curse In Mexico, the phrase ya merito (“almost there”) is closely linked to the country’s men’s football team. In Mexican Spanish, it’s a colloquial, almost affectionate expression; a way of describing something that’s close enough to touch, but that can never quite be reached. Now the phrase seems to capture something more profound about Mexico’s national team – shorthand for El Tri’s habit of not exactly failing, but always just falling short. Continue reading...
UK ‘minded to’ intervene in Paramount’s $110bn takeover of Warner Bros Discovery
Lisa Nandy to ask regulators to assess mega-merger involving Channel 5, CNN and TNT Sports on grounds of media plurality and competition The UK culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, intends to ask the British media and competition watchdogs to examine Paramount’s $110bn (£85bn) acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery. The WBD takeover deal will create a media powerhouse controlling assets including: the Hollywood studios behind franchises including Superman, Batman and Top Gun; the UK’s Channel 5; news channel CNN; TNT Sports, which broadcasts Champions League, Premier League and the Olympics; and the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services. Continue reading...
One million migrants in Spain apply to regularise status in new scheme
Programme defending benefits of immigration attracts double number of applicants expected More than 1 million undocumented migrants and asylum seekers have applied to regularise their status in Spain under a government programme to harness and defend the benefits of immigration at a time when most European countries are pulling up the drawbridge. Although the massive regularisation initiative, announced by the socialist-led government in January, was originally intended to benefit about 500,000 people, it had attracted more than twice that number of applicants by the time the registration period ended on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Starmer warns Burnham not to borrow to fund defence as he reveals £15bn plan
The prime minister unveiled his long-awaited defence investment plan on Tuesday after months of delays Keir Starmer warned his successor not to borrow more to pay for defence as he raided energy, transport and housing projects to pay for a £15bn military spending plan. The prime minister revealed his long-awaited defence investment plan (Dip) on Tuesday after an 11-month government row that cost him his defence secretary and arguably contributed to his downfall. Continue reading...
Muskets in hand, historical re-enactors are in demand as US celebrates 250 years
‘Living historians’ have stepped back into the spotlight as US prepares to celebrate its semiquincentennial this week In 1972, a young man named Joe Ryan was teaching his middle school class in northern Westchester about the American Revolutionary when one of his students posed a question. “Mr Ryan, were our ancestors stupid?” he asked. Continue reading...
A generational shift is transforming the US-Israel relationship | Kenneth Roth
The Iran war has accelerated the fraying of ties. An end to unconditional US support would force a reckoning with reality A generational shift is under way in the relationship between the United States and Israel. Tensions were already palpable because of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu’s role in pushing Donald Trump to join a counterproductive war against Iran was the last straw. Stopping unconditional US support for Israel would certainly be important for curbing US complicity in Israeli war crimes . It may also be the best thing for Israel if it is to have any hope of avoiding the dangerous dead end of relentless military escalation. And it is a prerequisite for Palestinians to have any prospect of escaping Israel’s endless occupation. Kenneth Roth is a Guardian US columnist, visiting professor at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs, and former executive director of Human Rights Watch. He is the author of Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments Continue reading...
I’ve worked closely with both Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer. A single quality separates them | Nazir Afzal
Personable warmth is something that mistrustful voters sorely need, and Burnham has it. But he’ll also need a little of what Starmer has to succeed in No 10 Keir Starmer has stepped down and Andy Burnham is, in all likelihood, about to walk through the door of No 10. I have had the rare privilege of working closely with both men. For five years I served as a chief prosecutor while Keir Starmer was director of public prosecutions (DPP). And for much of Burnham’s time as mayor of Greater Manchester, I worked with him on violent crime, working-class representation and community cohesion. I have watched both lead, up close and under real pressure. And as the country changes hands, I keep returning to the single quality that separates them – because it happens to be the quality Britain needs most right now. Nazir Afzal is a former chief crown prosecutor for north-west England Continue reading...
Gravity is undefeated: Ja Morant’s spectacular fall back to Earth is complete
The guard was once touted as the future face of the NBA. Now, after off-court problems and injuries, he has been hustled out of the city that made him a star When Ja Morant jumps into the air, he levitates past the natural apex of his arc, as if gravity decided to give him an extra half-second of respite. Men a foot taller or with 50 lbs more muscle don’t have as much spring as is packed in his 6ft 2in frame. He can end up almost fully horizontal when he dunks. He is hardly a one-dimensional player though: he sees the game in higher definition than his peers too, zipping passes to teammates a beat before his opponents process the situation. Morant is rarely the best player on the floor at a given moment, but he often seems to be having the most fun. His highlights invite smiles. What could be cooler than a little guy outperforming giants with craft? Imagine if, in the NBA finals, Jalen Brunson had dunked over Victor Wembanyama. Morant knows what that would feel like, because he’s done it . The Memphis Grizzlies drafted Morant second overall in 2019. They watched him blossom into 2020 Rookie of the Year and a two-time All-Star as the franchise player on a semi-reliable playoff team. In 2022, he scored 47 points in a playoff win against the Golden State Warriors, the eventual champions that year. As a young star with such a particular style, Morant figured to reach even greater heights, on the Grizzlies and as one of the faces of the league. Continue reading...
First Thing: Supreme court backs Trump’s ability to fire agency chiefs but rules against him on mail-in ballots
Decision in case concerning Rebecca Slaughter overturns decades of precedent curbing executive power. Plus how one man survived eight days lost in the Pacific Ocean Good morning. Yesterday the US supreme court handed Donald Trump – and all future presidents – the power to fire leaders of independent agencies or commissions , overturning 90 years of court precedent curbing executive power. While Trump celebrated the decision on Truth Social as a “big win”, labor advocates, unions, and consumer advocacy groups criticized the decision on the case, Trump v Slaughter, and warned of the long-term impacts for democracy in the US. Rebecca Slaughter, the federal trade commissioner fired last March, said she was “profoundly disappointed about today’s decision” during a press call. Our columnist, Moira Donegan, says the court’s verdict has again undermined the power of Congress . What have lawyers said about the verdict? Stephen Vladeck, a Georgetown law professor, wrote: “There’s no sugar-coating [it]. It’s an enormously important ruling. It’s a huge win for Trump/the executive. And it’s going to have massive ramifications for the functioning of the government long after Trump is gone.” What other decisions did the court make? The supreme court sided against national Republicans and Trump’s administration to allow mail-in ballots that arrive after election day to be counted , upholding the law in more than a dozen states. It also ruled that law enforcement’s use of sprawling warrants that sweep up smartphone location data requires privacy protections under the fourth amendment, in a boost to critics who view their use as an unconstitutional dragnet. How did Trump and Carroll react? The US president wrote on Truth Social: “Surprisingly, the supreme court declined to ‘review’ a Fake Case brought against me”. Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, also issued a statement in response to the decision, saying: “Today’s supreme court decision affirms once and for all the jury’s unanimous verdict that President Donald J Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E Jean Carroll.” Continue reading...
China is a clear winner from Trump’s war in Middle East, report concludes
Beijing, whose stockpiles and renewables industry allowed it to withstand energy shock, is now gaining from global solar and EV push China has emerged as the sole winner in Asia from the strait of Hormuz crisis, according to a report published on Tuesday. The report by the Asia Group thinktank concluded that China had weathered the storm of the global commodities crisis resulting from the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway, and also stood to gain from the economic and geopolitical trends sparked by the wider conflict. Continue reading...
Reform MP chair of Welsh environment committee may ‘undermine scrutiny’, says thinktank
Climate campaigners question choice of James Evans for role given past criticism of green energy projects UK politics live – latest updates The appointment of a Reform UK MP as the chair of a key Welsh environmental committee could “undermine the hard graft of ministerial scrutiny”, a green thinktank has warned. James Evans, a former Conservative party MP who defected to Reform UK in January last year, has been appointed chair of the Welsh climate change, environment, sustainability and rural affairs committee. Continue reading...
Nuclear weapons storage in spotlight as US plans $4bn boost for its UK airbases
Exclusive: Pentagon files suggest some new facilities will store nuclear arsenal, with $163m also earmarked for secretive spy base More than $4bn (£3bn) is to be spent upgrading the US government’s military and spy bases in the UK, according to official documents that shed light on the UK’s apparent role as a secretive site for American nuclear weapons. The construction plans include building new bunkers in Suffolk, which will seemingly be used to store nuclear weapons, and modernising facilities to help covert units run secret operations. Continue reading...
Did US drug agents allow lethal fentanyl to hit New Mexico’s streets?
Explosive AP story based on whistleblower testimony suggests agents ‘sat back and watched’ in hopes of securing larger drug-trafficking bust Did the Drug Enforcement Agency break the law and gamble with public safety when it permitted large quantities of fentanyl pills to be trafficked in New Mexico in the hopes of getting a larger drug-trafficking bust? That is the question at the heart of an explosive story published in the Associated Press , based on information provided by a former DEA agent turned whistleblower; the whistleblower filed a complaint in 2023 that claimed agents had allowed hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills into Albuquerque – a city still reeling from the opioid crisis while many others across the country are seeing overdose rates decline. Continue reading...
UK watchdog plans to break Apple and Google’s ‘effective duopoly’ on mobile app stores
CMA says developers should be able to steer users away from app stores for payments to increase competition Business live – latest updates The UK’s competition watchdog is challenging Apple and Google’s “effective duopoly” over mobile platforms by allowing developers to steer users away from their app stores to make purchases. The Competition and Markets Authority argues that consumers and app owners are being let down by Apple and Google restrictions on spending money outside their app stores. Continue reading...
Grand Theft Auto workers seek union recognition after mass firings
Exclusive: Staff at Rockstar Games hope move can be completed before release of GTA VI scheduled for November The makers of Grand Theft Auto are attempting to gain official union recognition after mass sackings last year. Video game designers and other employees at Rockstar Games are working with the IWGB Game Workers Union to try to secure unionisation before the release of GTA VI scheduled for November . Continue reading...
UK disposable incomes squeezed by price rises and tax changes
ONS confirms 0.6% GDP growth in first quarter, with services, production and construction sectors expanding Business live – latest updates UK households suffered a drop in disposable incomes in the first three months of the year as price rises and extra wealth taxes hit average spending power. The Office for National Statistics said a rise in the consumer prices index (CPI) measure of inflation in the first quarter and higher capital gains tax receipts reduced real household disposable income by 0.8% from January to the end of March. Continue reading...
Monaco bombing was ‘attempted assassination’, not terror attack, say prosecutors – Europe live
Authorities are still searching to identify the suspect of an alleged assassination attempt of a Ukrainian business tycoon Police in Monaco are searching for a suspected bomber after a Ukrainian-born business tycoon, his wife and their child were injured in an unprecedented attack that has shaken the normally ultra-safe principality. Monaco prosecutor said this morning that the investigation was opened into an attempted assassination, after a terrorist attack was ruled out through early inquiries. The Monaco government said a suspect had left a parcel bomb in the lobby of a residential building that exploded shortly before 9pm on Monday, causing what officials described as a “powerful explosion”. French media identified the victims as Vadym Iermolaiev, his wife and their 13-year-old child. Iermolaiev and his wife had been taken to hospital with serious injuries, while their child was also wounded, French authorities said. Continue reading...
Police units deployed across South Africa before anti-immigration protests
Government fears repeat of anti-migrant violence in 2008 that led to looting and resulted in deaths of 62 people South African authorities have deployed police units to towns and cities around the country before planned demonstrations against undocumented foreign nationals . Security personnel were seen patrolling the central business district in Johannesburg, the economic capital, where many shopkeepers decided not to open on Tuesday. Trucks and other assets belonging to the South African National Defence Force were also present, according to local media reports. Continue reading...
Chris Martin’s lost James Bond theme goes on auction with unheard Coldplay tapes
Acoustic recording of a song titled The World Is Not Enough included in wide-ranging auction featuring formative Coldplay recordings A lost demo recording of a song Coldplay’s Chris Martin reportedly intended for 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough is going up for auction, alongside other recordings from the band’s earliest years. For the auction by Wax Poetics , the British producer Chris Allison is making available an archive of recordings the band made prior to their Allison-produced second EP The Blue Room, released in October 1999. Continue reading...
Meet Wisconsin-born Esmir Bajraktarević, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s World Cup hero
The former New England Revolution midfielder came up through the US system, but felt a pull toward his parents’ homeland Esmir Bajraktarević’s uture offered two options with little overlap. Born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, a Midwestern river town where Harry Houdini also came of age, Bajraktarević’s development took him from the nearby Chicago Fire’s academy to the New England Revolution. He began representing the United States at youth levels, first the U-19s and then the U-23s. He was included in Gregg Berhalter’s squad camp in January 2024, making his senior debut against Slovenia. He was involved at Olympic level too, helping the US qualify for Paris 2024. Continue reading...
Progressives are winning in American cities. Can they win rural voters too? | Bhaskar Sunkara
Democratic socialists need to do more than win in the big American cities. And they can, with the right message I joined the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in April 2007 at the age of 17. DSA back then was a small group with an ageing membership and an almost negative amount of buzz. If you’d told me its candidates would someday sweep primaries across New York City, I would have been surprised to say the least. Last week, they did. Darializa Avila Chevalier, an organizer in her early 30s, beat the five-term incumbent Adriano Espaillat in a Harlem-and-Bronx seat. Claire Valdez, another socialist, took the open seat Nydia Velázquez is leaving in Brooklyn and Queens. Add the state races, and DSA will seat at least 15 of its endorsed candidates in Albany next year. The movement that made Zohran Mamdani mayor is starting to look less like a pressure campaign and more like a bloc that can govern. Bhaskar Sunkara is a Guardian US columnist. He is the president of the Nation, the founding editor of Jacobin, and the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality Continue reading...
Wimbledon 2026: Serena Williams returns, Swiatek, Zverev and Boulter in action – live
Updates from day two | Serena on her SW19 return Sabalenka overcomes wobble | Diary | Email Daniel Wotcha one and all and welcome to Wimbledon 2026 – day two! As you’d expect, we’ve a faintly daunting and thoroughly thrilling banquet of tennis awaiting us today, so let’s dig right in. Continue reading...
Kash Patel draws flak for posting FBI case details on social media ‘to make himself look good’
FBI veterans believe director may have flouted legal rules by prematurely divulging details of UFC attack plot inquiry Kash Patel may have flouted legal constraints and the FBI’s disciplinary code in prematurely divulging arrests in an alleged plot to attack this month’s Ultimate Fighting Championship bout at the White House, bureau veterans have alleged. Continue reading...
Sainsbury’s chief says grocery inflation not as bad as feared so far
Supermarket has lifted sales with Aldi price match, and has benefited from hot weather and World Cup matches Business live – latest updates Grocery inflation in the UK has not been as bad as feared so far, the boss of Sainsbury’s has said, but “pressure in the system” remains as the industry hopes for a swift resolution to the Middle East conflict. Simon Roberts, the chief executive of the UK’s second largest supermarket, said it was still early in the year and there was “still uncertainty where inflation will go”, but suggested it could come in well below the Food and Drink Federation’s initial prediction of at least 9% by December . Continue reading...