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Politics
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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...
Anger at supreme court ruling on Trump’s power to fire agency chiefs – US politics live
Today is the final day for the supreme court to lay out the last rulings of its nine-month term Hello, and welcome to the US politics live blog. In a significant victory for the president on Monday, the court granted him the ability to fire leaders of some independent US agencies at will, in a move one advocacy group called “disastrous.” Continue reading...
Labor’s gambling ad legislation a ‘capitulation’ to industry lobby, Liberal MP says
Coalition, Greens and crossbenchers all say the planned reforms are too weak and the proposals are ‘half-arsed’ Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Labor’s reforms to gambling advertising have been branded a “capitulation” and “half-arsed” by opponents, as the Liberals and Greens combine to urge the government to go further in cracking down on wagering. Three years this week since the Murphy report recommended a full ad ban, Labor’s proposed wagering reforms have underwhelmed the parliament, with the Coalition, Greens and crossbenchers all saying the changes are too weak – making it unclear whether the government’s bill will have enough support to pass into law. Continue reading...
Telegraph’s £575m takeover by German group completed
Acquisition by Axel Springer ends three years of uncertainty over ownership of 172-year old titles Business live – latest updates The European media group Axel Springer has completed its £575m takeover of the Telegraph , ending three tumultuous years of uncertainty over the future ownership of the 172-year-old titles. The Germany-headquartered company, which gazumped the owner of the Daily Mail by tabling a blockbuster offer at the 11th hour, said it has now received all regulatory approvals in the UK, Ireland and Austria to take full control of Telegraph Media Group (TMG). Continue reading...
Alleged Epstein victim and Trump accuser living in fear of retaliation, relative says
Trump administration faces an escalating controversy over handling of ‘Jane Doe 4’ documents in Epstein files. White House has called her allegations ‘completely baseless’ A woman known as Jane Doe 4 in the Jeffrey Epstein files is “staying off the grid” and lives in fear of retaliation from the Trump administration amid an escalating controversy over its handling of her case, according to a family member. “Trauma is brutal. Chronic trauma destroys,” said the relative, who described the woman’s life as layers of abuse dating back to early childhood. “She’s coping as best she can.” Continue reading...
The supreme court has again undermined the power of Congress | Moira Donegan
The Trump v Slaughter decision allows the president further influence over agencies Congress itself created What is Congress for? According to the supreme court, not very much. On Monday, the supreme court overturned Humphrey’s Executor, a 91-year-old precedent, nullified the Federal Trade Commission Act , a 112-year-old law, and presumed to settle a 250-year-old debate on the scope of presidential authority when it reapportioned power away from the people’s representatives in the House and Senate and gave it instead to Donald Trump. In Trump v Slaughter , the court ruled that that the heads of independent agencies that Congress created cannot be protected from arbitrary firings by laws that Congress passed. Instead, Donald Trump is now free to fire agency heads at will and to replace them with political loyalists, regardless of what Congress has said about it. The ruling has one key exception: Donald Trump does not, according to the justices, have the ability to fire members of the board of governors of the Federal Reserve without cause and without proper procedure. A separate decision found for Lisa Cook , the Joe Biden appointee who was the first Black woman to serve on the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, and who was fired via social media post by Donald Trump last year. In addition to Cook’s job, the decision protects the independence of the Federal Reserve and the health of financial markets, to say nothing of the considerable personal wealth of the justices themselves. Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
Share your views on Andy Burnham’s plans for a new No 10 North
Burnham announced that as UK prime minister he would set up a ‘No 10 North’ in Manchester to oversee a devolution of power and resources across the UK Andy Burnham’s tenure as mayor of Manchester has come to an end after nine years. But after his Makerfield byelection victory, the PM-in-waiting plans to maintain his links with the city by setting up a “No 10 North” in Manchester to oversee a devolution of power and resources across the UK . Burnham has asked Caroline Simpson, the chief executive of the Greater Manchester combined authority, to lead the new No 10 North and help put his vision of “Manchesterism” into practice. Continue reading...
EU halves duty-free steel quota but UK and other partners given better rate
Twelve countries with a free trade agreement with Brussels have their quota reduced by just one-third Business live – latest updates The EU has halved the amount of duty-free steel it will accept from abroad, but has agreed to higher levels of imports for 12 trading partners including the UK. The curbs are designed to reduce cheap Chinese steel coming into the bloc. However, 12 countries with a free trade agreement (FTA) with Brussels, including the UK, have had their quota reduced by just one-third. Continue reading...
Georgie Purcell facing antisemitic and misogynistic abuse due to having Jewish partner, commission hears
The royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion is hearing evidence about hateful speech in the online environment Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Vile, threatening abuse is being levelled at witnesses to the antisemitism inquiry, while a Labor MP says attacks on his partner are heightened because they are stacked with misogyny. Meanwhile, data analysis has shown how quickly factual reports are transformed into conspiracy theories online, and that while there was a spike in antisemitism after the Bondi terror attack, there was a “huge spike” in anti-Muslim hate. Continue reading...
Delhi plans to ban petrol rickshaws and scooters in effort to cut toxic fumes
Government hopes for 30% of city’s fleet to be electric by 2030, in move hailed by some as ‘gamechanger’ The unruly chaos of Delhi’s roads would be unrecognisable without the rickshaws and scooters that zip through India’s capital in their millions, emitting toxic fumes in their wake. But now, ambitious policies aim to give the city’s most recognisable vehicles an environmental makeover. On Monday, Delhi’s government announced plans to eventually ban petrol scooters, motorbikes and autorickshaws in favour of those running on electricity, in an attempt to bring down dangerously high pollution levels in the city by the end of the decade. Continue reading...
‘I’m going to miss this place’: Aqueduct bids farewell after 132 years as New York City’s racetrack
The last thoroughbred racetrack in New York City went dark after its final races on Sunday, closing the book on 132 years of history and one of the city’s last great communal spaces For the better part of a century, the subway ride to Aqueduct Racetrack followed a familiar rhythm. The closer the train drew to Ozone Park, the more animated the conversations became. Men with folded racing forms debated trip notes, overlays and bombs. Regulars swapped tips while newcomers eavesdropped, hoping to catch a profitable whisper. By the time the doors opened at the Aqueduct-North Conduit Avenue stop, thousands of New Yorkers had arrived at what many considered the city’s most democratic sporting venue. That ritual took place for the last time on Sunday. After 132 years, Aqueduct hosted its final day of thoroughbred racing before closing for good, marking the end of the last racetrack within New York City limits and a fixture of city life that had endured since the Gilded Age. Pictured above: A towering 60ft-by-80ft mural depicting Secretariat, painted by renowned Los Angeles street artist David Flores, has welcomed visitors to Aqueduct for years. Pictured below: Scenes from around Aqueduct on Sunday’s closing day. All photographs by Lauren Caulk. Continue reading...
Thai police investigate if Australian man charged over 17-year-old girl’s murder linked to other unsolved cases
Police say there are similarities but no evidence of links between Thunchanok Donhomla’s alleged murder and two other deaths in past two years in same region Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Thai police are investigating whether an Australian man charged with murdering a 17-year-old girl could be linked to two unsolved cases in the region. Police colonel Anek Srathongyoo, a superintendent of Pattaya City police station, told the Guardian on Tuesday that although there was no evidence linking Simon Peter Carman to the cases in neighbouring regions, they were investigating the possibility given similarities between the cases. Continue reading...
NSW’s deadly one-in-100-years floods could have been slashed by two metres using dams, CSIRO finds
Governments have not committed to measures modelled in the report on Lismore’s 2022 floods, which led to the deaths of 13 people Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Building 10 new dams in New South Wales’s northern rivers could have reduced flood levels by up to two metres during devastating floods in 2022, but not enough to prevent a key levee overspilling, a report has found. The CSIRO report was released on Tuesday, four years after it was commissioned by the Morrison government following NSW’s one-in-100-years floods. Continue reading...
Europe and US on collision course over next high representative for Bosnia
Diplomats from around world meet in Sarajevo in second attempt to agree on top envoy, as US pushes for its choice Diplomats from around the world are due to meet in Sarajevo on Tuesday in an attempt to resolve a deep rift between the US and Europe over a top envoy appointment that could have a powerful influence on the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Disagreement has erupted over who should become the next high representative for the international community, a post with significant powers, in an overt test of political wills, with the Trump administration assertively pushing a business-driven agenda, potentially at the expense of Bosnia’s delicate postwar political balance. Continue reading...
Reader Q&A: ask Ajit Niranjan anything about Europe’s hellish week of heat
Our European environment correspondent has been reporting on the shocking heatwave that continues to scorch its way across Europe, covering everything from the lack of preparation to ways to deal with the heat Post your questions now – Ajit will be here at 1pm BST (2pm CEST) to answer them Many European countries, including Germany, France, Czechia, Poland and Hungary have experienced their hottest days ever . The UK and others have suffered their hottest ever day in June. Over the past week Ajit, alongside the rest of our environment team and network of reporters, has been following this extreme heat wave as it headed east across the continent. Today, Budapest is expected to hit 40C and other parts of eastern Europe have issued red warnings for extreme heat. We have looked at how the heatwave has been used as a political football ; the best ways to stay safe in the heat and how these kind of temperatures disproportionately impact women and low-income families . Continue reading...
Defence investment plan criticised as ‘too little, too late’ ahead of launch – UK politics live
Defence investment plan, which was originally due in the autumn, criticised by Tories and Lib Dems Good morning. After Keir Starmer agreed to stand down next month to let Andy Burnham replace him, he said that he would not make major policy announcements in his final days in office. But there was one exemption; Starmer was committed to publishing the defence investment plan (Dip) before the Nato summit in Turkey next week, and he took the view that, since it was more or less ready, this was an existing policy commitment, not a new one. It is certainly a policy that has already consumed vast amounts of goverment time. The government published its strategic defence review (SDR) more than a year ago. The Dip, the plan setting out how much money ministers would commit to defence spending to meet the threats identified in the SDR, was originally due in the autumn. It is finally coming today – but only after triggering the resignation of John Healey as defence secretary earlier this month because he wanted defence spending to rise to 3% of GDP by 2030 – and was not happy about the Dip only lifting it to 2.68% by the end of the decade. The new defence secretary, Dan Jarvis, has squeezed a bit more out of the Treasury, and he will present the Dip in a statement to MPs later. This is too little, too late. Too little because it is barely more money than John Healey and Al Carns resigned over when they said Britain would be “less safe”. And too late because the plan is now almost a year overdue and only being rushed through because Keir Starmer is desperate for a legacy. This late and underfunded plan is unforgivable. It is a political choice that makes us all less safe, puts jobs at risk and threatens businesses across the country in supply chains. The government have dangerously short-changed our armed forces when they need urgent investment after years of Conservative negligence. Defence chiefs have been forced to make hard choices, when they should be given what they need. Continue reading...
EY sacks graduate employee after he allegedly accessed Australian PM’s bank account
Two men – including one who worked for EY – appear in court after being charged over accessing restricted data An employee at one of the big four accounting firms has been sacked after he and another man allegedly accessed prime minister Anthony Albanese’s personal banking account. The men, aged 21 and 25, faced court on Tuesday over the breach which Australian federal police alleged occurred when the EY graduate was on secondment at the Commonwealth Bank. Continue reading...
Bereaved mother says England maternity commissioner role would be ‘fundamentally dangerous’
Emily Barley, founder of Maternity Safety Alliance, says recommendation in Amos report will not solve wider cultural problems The appointment of a national maternity commissioner would be “fundamentally dangerous”, a bereaved mother who founded a maternity safety campaign group has warned. Emily Barley, whose daughter Beatrice died because of failings at Barnsley hospital in 2022, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the recommendation for a maternity commissioner in England in the Amos review was “not going to do what we need to move maternity safety forwards”. Maternity triage services – the childbirth equivalent of A&E – need an urgent overhaul, including more staff on duty, so that women’s concerns are acted on more quickly. Families should get the right to seek a fresh, independent investigation when things go wrong if they are not happy with the hospital’s own inquiry. The NHS’s “brutal” and “cruel” system of agreeing compensation with harmed and bereaved families should be replaced by a new process in which hospitals admit errors immediately. The NHS must root out racism and discrimination that is “embedded throughout the maternity and neonatal system”. Continue reading...
Monaco parcel bomb blast severely wounds Ukrainian oligarch
Source says Vadym Yermolaiev was one of two adults left with life-threatening injuries after apartment blast on Monday A parcel bomb blast wounded a Ukrainian oligarch and two others in Monaco on Monday in an unprecedented act that has rocked the super-safe principality. A couple and a teenager were wounded in the explosion at about 9pm on Monday in a residential building on a street along the border with France. Continue reading...
How I survived the record Paris heatwave while seven months pregnant
It feels as if we are being abandoned to our fate by those in power, with further extreme heat expected next week In the summer of 2019, I had a “fun” idea for a piece. Paris was due to experience its hottest day in history, and I proposed travelling around the city trying out its various cooling-off strategies to see if they would help. Reader, it was not fun and they did not help . Last week, Paris experienced its worst period of catastrophic heat on record, worse than that day in 2019, and worse than in 2003, when a sustained heatwave killed nearly 15,000 people. I now live in a neighbourhood in Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest département in mainland France and one of the most exposed to extreme heat, and, to add to the complications, am seven months pregnant. So how did my week go this time? Continue reading...
Taking time out to remember a remarkable life lived at 100mph
Bill Nuttall is the goalkeeper who cleaned out Pelé, coached Gerd Müller and built a US national team from scratch At the foot of Signal Mountain on a bend in the Tennessee river, over the little level crossing like a postcard of America, past the sheriff at the gate and through an avenue of pines, the perfect pitch awaits Lamine Yamal, Rodri and the rest. So does a man. He’s 6ft 3in, 78 years old, his name is Bill Nuttall, and he’s here every day. “I’ve got nothing else to do,” he says, laughing. He’s done it all: he cleaned out Pelé and got cleaned out by Gordon Banks, coached Gerd Müller and built a US national team from scratch, the hosts making history in 1994. He also brought Spain here, an even better host now than he was back then. Continue reading...