Corporation pays tribute to outstanding' journalist who presented shows including Today and One O'Clock NewsThe broadcaster and journalist Edward Stourton has died aged 68, the BBC has said.He died on Saturday surrounded by his family after being diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2014, the BBC announced in a statement. Continue reading...
by Vivian Ho (now) and Adam Fulton (earlier) on (#773FX)
Revolutionary Guard says it targeted US aircraft in Jordan and stopped two tankers in strait while American military says it is holding Iran accountable'
Keir Starmer will give his final speech from Downing Street before Burnham arrives and is appointed as new PMGood morning. Today we are getting a new PM. It is the sixth time this has happened in just over a decade (Theresa May replaced David Cameron on 13 July 2016), and so in some respects there is nothing very new or surprising about this. Yet the process has been unusual. In the past, when parties in power have replaced a PM, generally they have opted for someone popular with their own MPs, but less popular than their predecessor with the public at large (Liz Truss, Theresa May, Gordon Brown), or for someone more popular with the public, but less liked by their own activists (John Major, Rishi Sunak). At the start of the year, anyone looking at polling would have concluded that the logical choice for Labour would have been to replace Keir Starmer with Andy Burnham. Labour is not always noted for taking decisions that will be electorally beneficial, but in this case that is what it has achieved. It has replaced a PM who had become an electoral millstone with one of the most admired politicians in the country, and with someone - for the moment at least - with his whole party behind him.That may not be the case by the end of the day, after Burnham has named his cabinet. We'll have to see. Here is Rowena Mason's overnight story about what to expect today.This week [Burnham] will tell us of his ten-year plan for the country". Perhaps his premiership won't last that long, he conceded. I'm not saying that means I'm setting out to say I'm going to be here for ten years ... it's more that we're not in the right place structurally, we're not in the right place as a country. I think people can feel that."One thing I heard most on the doorsteps in Makerfield was frustration about the personal allowance, frozen at 12,570 ... [That complaint] lodged in my mind.They're just characterising me as a tax raiser. Well, again, it's never that simplistic, is it? Continue reading...
Rapper pleads not guilty to six counts of sexually penetrating a 20-year-old woman without consent after a gig in PerthA British YouTuber and musician bit and slapped a young female fan while he was raping her after a gig in Western Australia, a court has been told.Yung Filly, 30, has pleaded not guilty to six counts of sexually penetrating a 20-year-old woman without consent in a Perth hotel room in September 2024. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#773KF)
Exclusive: Maternity staffing shortages worsen as more and more under-35s quit because of burnoutMore and more midwives are leaving the NHS before they reach 35 because of burnout, worsening the staffing problems that are affecting maternity units.The growing trend of early career quitting has sparked fears it poses a threat to the quality and safety of care that mothers and babies receive from already-understaffed childbirth services. Continue reading...
Is the machinery of state jammed, or is the reason for the slow pace of change more personal than institutional?Eighteen months into the 24 it turned out he would last in No 10, Keir Starmer was a man in a hurry. The biggest frustration with the job, he told MPs, concerned speed and the ability to get things done". The underlying problem, he thought, was that every time something had gone wrong in the past, successive governments have put in place another procedure or another body or another consultation to try to stop ourselves ever making a mistake again".In airing his impatience, if little else, Starmer is in tune with the country he has become too unpopular to lead. Julian Gallie, a pollster at Merlin Strategy, says voters have been crying out for change for a decade", even if they have sent inconsistent signs about what sort of change it should be. The Brexit vote, the Corbyn surge of 2017, the Johnson majority of 2019 and the Tory rout of 2024 can all be seen as a desperate roll of the dice against a status quo" that somehow feels impossible to shift. Continue reading...
Chaos of Capita-run scheme has left some people waiting up to a year for payments and in financial hardshipRetired civil servants have been failed by the decision to outsource their pension scheme, the government has admitted, and the maladministration meant some were left waiting up to a year for payments.Multiple members of the civil service pension scheme, run by the private company Capita since December, have come forward to say they are unable to afford rent and have been forced to use food banks after being left without an income. Continue reading...
by Tom Phillips in the Sararé Indigenous territory on (#773KH)
The Guardian goes on the ground with Brazilian forces fighting to eradicate mining that has destroyed protected areas of Indigenous landThe jerry-built bordello at the foot of Vila Cururu, an illegal gold-mining settlement at the heart of Brazil's most desecrated Indigenous territory, was a hive of depravity until just a few weeks ago.Inebriated prospectors huddled around wooden tables, swigging beer and Scotch whisky, and ogling pole-dancing sex workers before going with them to shacks behind the brothel. Continue reading...
by Neil Marks in Essequibo and Natricia Duncan Caribb on (#773C5)
Authorities launch criminal investigation after passenger list - showing more than 100 passengers - was found to be inaccurate, complicating rescue effortsA massive search-and-rescue operation is under way after a ferry sank off the coast of Guyana in South America late on Saturday, in what has been described by officials as one of the country's worst maritime disasters.Authorities launched a criminal investigation after a government official said the captain and a crew member of the ferry allegedly tested positive for marijuana and the vessel's passenger manifest was found to be inaccurate. Continue reading...
by Carmen Aguilar García and Antonio Voce in London; on (#773JC)
Exclusive: Outdoor workers losing up to 9% of income as weather becomes poverty multiplier', research saysExtreme heat is pushing some of India's poorest workers further into poverty, with income losses of up to 9% for outdoor workers, new research has found.Analysis done by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and shared exclusively with the Guardian, found that extreme heat is acting as a poverty multiplier" for hundreds of millions of workers in India's informal sector. Continue reading...
After the US military confirmed that a service member had been killed in Iraq - the third in recent days - Donald Trump said the new attacks were in honour' of the dead
In its final report the High Pay Centre says the median remuneration of a FTSE 100 CEO has risen to a record 5.06mThe bosses of Britain's largest listed companies received record pay last year, fuelling the widest earnings gap with workers in eight years.Median pay for FTSE 100 chief executives hit 5.06m in the last financial year, according to data released by the High Pay Centre, an 8.6% increase on 4.66m the previous year and the highest level on record. Continue reading...
Energy secretary grapples with mounting criticism over length of US war as Democrat calls conflict war of choice'A Trump administration official on Sunday grappled with mounting criticism over the length of the US war with Iran after months of promised diplomatic breakthroughs, short-lived ceasefires, and the deaths of three more American troops bringing the total number of American military members killed in the conflict to 17.Appearing on ABC's This Week, the US energy secretary, Chris Wright, defended the Trump administration's strategy after being confronted with his earlier claims that the war which began in February would have ended by now. Continue reading...
Labour leader will visit king to accept role on Monday and will start making cabinet appointments that afternoonAndy Burnham will say Britain must be honest about the challenges it faces when he becomes its sixth prime minister in a decade on Monday, as he prepares to introduce measures to ease the cost of living and allow more North Sea fossil fuel drilling.The Labour leader is expected to start making appointments in the afternoon after going to Buckingham Palace to accept the role of prime minister from the king. Continue reading...
Tensions between his aims are already there, including disputes over key appointments such as chancellorAndy Burnham's vision for cleaning up Westminster politics is a utopian one: ending the dominance of the whipping system, Whitehall power hoarding and the insidious briefing culture" of the bubble.In his first speech on becoming Labour leader, he warned his party it won't beat Britain's new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions". Continue reading...
More than 30 injured and 300 displaced after buildings collapse near SicayaA 5.5-magnitude earthquake shook the Andes region of Peru, killing at least six people, authorities said Sunday. More than 30 people were injured and 300 have been displaced.The US Geological Survey reported the quake struck on Saturday at 9.24pm, with its epicentre located 2km (1.2 miles) west-south-west of the city of Sicaya in Huancayo province. It was 10km (6.2 miles) deep. Continue reading...
Outbreak has sickened dozens in the city but officials say they believe source of outbreak has likely been eliminated'A second person has died amid a legionnaires' disease outbreak that has sickened dozens of people in New York City, according to officials, who also say there is evidence that the source of the outbreak has likely been eliminated".New York City's health department served notice of the second death in a statement on Saturday. The statement didn't have any information about that person's identity, age, or details on when and how they fell ill, as was the case when city officials on Friday announced the first death in the outbreak on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Continue reading...
Consortium preparing for potential legal battle amid reports new PM could put the company into temporary public ownershipThe group of investors pursuing a rescue bid for Thames Water have said they are willing to discuss greater public control but are also preparing for a potential multi-billion pound legal battle amid reports that Andy Burnham could temporarily nationalise the company.London & Valley Water (L&VW), a consortium of 100 institutional investors that hold 17bn of the company's 21bn debt, has said it is open to government involvement with Thames Water, but indicated that this does not include public ownership in the struggling company. Continue reading...
Investigators arrest 31-year-old man identified as Charles Medina in connection with death of Rapp who was 26US boxer Hannah Rapp, who in June fought for the World Boxing Council (WBC) women's featherweight championship, was killed on Saturday while she bicycled in Texas after a motorist struck her with his car, according to authorities.Rapp was 26, and investigators arrested a 31-year-old man identified as Charles Medina in connection with her death, the sheriff's office of Brazos county, Texas, said in a statement. Continue reading...
As with the John Cleese original, comedian is supported by famous faces from Claudia Winkelman to David JasonJohn Cleese's 1985s advert for the BBC in which he asks a pub full of stars, What has the BBC ever given us?" is one of the most famous examples of the corporation making the case to the public for the value of paying the licence fee.In the advert, Cleese is complaining to the bartender that he has just bought his TV licence. Fifty-eight quid for the privilege of sitting in your own home, watching your own television set. It's diabolical. I mean, what's the BBC ever given us for 58 quid?" he says, before being put right by a string of punters, ranging from David Attenborough and John Humphrys to Terry Wogan and David Jason. Continue reading...
NYC mayor says in Times interview that's he's in active conversation' with city's law department about the matterNew York City mayor Zohran Mamdani has said he was reviewing whether his administration could arrest Benjamin Netanyahu if as expected the Israeli prime minister visits the city for the UN general assembly in September.Mamdani's comments on Saturday's episode of the New York Times's the Interview podcast echoed ones he had made to the publication as he successfully ran for mayor last fall. Continue reading...
Britain seeks extradition over charges including rape, trafficking for sexual exploitation and offences relating to extreme pornographyThe controversial influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate have been arrested in the US as part of a UK police investigation into a number of alleged sexual offences.The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it was bringing further charges in relation to four further individuals, and had requested the two men's extradition. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England editor on (#77380)
A longstanding bromance means the Liverpool regional major very much has the ear of the soon-to-be PMWhen a new prime minister enters Downing Street, observers usually look to those around the cabinet table to see where influence lies. With Andy Burnham, they should look 200 miles north - not to Manchester, but Liverpool.Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool city region, may not have a formal role in government but he has a strong claim to having the closest personal bond to the incoming prime minister, a man he calls his bezzie mate". Continue reading...
As Andy Burnham enters No 10, Guardian data analysis reveals the fissures with Labour's traditional supporters, and the traps the new PM will want to avoidKeir Starmer entered 10 Downing St on a wave of optimism after a landslide victory in the 2024 general election. His Labour party had overturned a defeat in 2019 in which the party crashed to its worst result since 1935. Labour won 412 seats, just a few shy of the 418 won by Tony Blair in 1997, a result that gave Labour a leader in office for a decade.But a little more than two years after he came to power, Starmer's tenure is over. Over the past 24 months the popularity of the human-rights lawyer turned prime minister has plummeted, from a net approval rating of -3 when he took office, to -66 by September 2025 - the lowest net approval rating recorded by Ipsos for any prime minister since 1977. Continue reading...
Reform leader says support from fraudster before last election is totally undeclarable in every single way'Nigel Farage has admitted his close friend the fraudster George Cottrell let him use one of his London homes and paid for social media filming before the last election but insisted it was totally undeclarable in every single way".The Reform UK leader spoke in depth for the first time about his support from Cottrell and the 5m gift from the Thailand-based businessman Christopher Harborne in an interview with the anti-woke Triggernometry podcast. Continue reading...
Changes inside the Florida international airport are hardly evident as state and county hold back funds for full remodelOne of Donald Trump's most grandiose vanity projects, a multimillion-dollar makeover of Florida's Palm Beach international airport into a self-aggrandizing, gold-plated transportation hub, is running into turbulence, barely a week after the first plane's wheels touched the runway.At first glance, the rebranding of the airport less than 5 miles from his opulent Mar-a-Lago resort appears to be complete. Its website bears the name and oversized logo of the President Donald J Trump international airport, and state transportation workers were quick to erect highway signs leaving drivers in no doubt where they were heading. Continue reading...
People in Tunbridge Wells area face lower pressure, intermittent supply or no water after instrument failure'Thousands of homes and businesses in Kent are facing water supply problems for a second day, including a complete lack of water" in some cases, South East Water said.About 7,000 properties in the Tunbridge Wells area could face low pressure, intermittent supply or no water, after an instrument failure" at a nearby water treatment works, SEW said. Continue reading...
Fans evacuated from sold-out open-air show as organisers promise full refundsAn open-air show by the Puerto Rican music star Bad Bunny was abandoned in Italy on Saturday night because of a violent hailstorm, but the organiser said ticketholders would be reimbursed.Videos posted on social media showed large hailstones hitting people at the sold-out show, along with strong winds and driving rain, after the star began his set at Milan's Snai La Maura Hippodrome. Continue reading...
Health Foundation paper argues health is an economic asset and improving it could generate 72bn for public financesRestoring the deteriorating health of the UK's population to the level of 2014 would boost GDP by 2% and generate a 72bn dividend for the public finances, research suggests.A paper by the Health Foundation thinktank, published on Sunday, argues the nation's health should be valued by policymakers as an economic asset. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#772T0)
Data shows 32,559 earnings-related overpayments in 2025-26 after DWP's measures to end carer's allowance scandalScores of unpaid carers were hit with demands to repay sums of more than 20,000 and hundreds more put at risk of prosecution last year as a result of official failures in what appear to be continuing problems with carer's allowance.New figures showed carers were asked to repay 33m in 2025-26 as a result of 32,559 earnings-related overpayments, despite the introduction of measures over a year ago designed specifically to prevent carers falling foul of the system. Continue reading...
At least one person killed after dozens of missiles arrive in less than an hour and three-storey building catches fireRussia has carried out one of its biggest-ever ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv, launching a five-hour raid that left at least one person dead and seven injured, with fires and damage across the city.Ukrainian officials said the capital was hit with about 40 Iskander-M and hypersonic Zircon missiles. Residents heard an air raid siren sound at 1.30am. There was the sound of air defences, followed minutes later by a series of booms and explosions. Continue reading...
by Maanvi Singh in San Francisco and Fabiola Cineas i on (#7731P)
The fatal shootings of two men, both killed in their vehicles by ICE agents, have rekindled anger over the US's militarized deportation pushLorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, was driving to work with his brother and two other passengers in Houston, Texas, when immigration agents began tailing his car. They pulled him over and fired a fatal shot through the open passenger-side window.Six days later in Biddeford, Maine, Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, 26, was driving around his neighborhood when agents stopped him at an intersection - right outside the laundromat where he'd often go with his three-year-old daughter - and shot him dead. Continue reading...
Sirens sound in Bahrain and Kuwait accuses Tehran of targeting civilian sites and infrastructure as Iran strikes US alliesThe US retaliated against Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) after two American troops were killed and one was missing in Jordan when Tehran launched a wave of attacks against US allies in the Middle East.Iran's attacks came as the renewal of US strikes on Iran entered a second week and fighting escalated over the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...
Incumbent Carlos Vila Nova hopes to defeat his former party and secure second term as independentVoters in Sao Tome and Principe go to the polls for a presidential election on Sunday as one of Africa's least populous countries seeks to burnish its democratic credentials.According to the National Election Commission, about 142,000 people are registered to vote in the tiny African state's elections, approximately 15% of whom live in the diaspora. Continue reading...
Tamas Sulyok signed the constitutional amendment that cited serious loss of confidence' in him as leaderHungary's president, Tamas Sulyok, has agreed to step down after signing a constitutional amendment passed by the ruling Tisza party of the prime minister, Peter Magyar.The amendment will end Sulyok's term immediately, citing society's serious loss of confidence" in a leader elected in early 2024 by lawmakers from the former prime minister Viktor Orban's nationalist Fidesz party. Continue reading...
Incoming PM will reallocate unspecified resources from unpopular plan to helping with cost of livingAndy Burnham is expected to scrap Keir Starmer's plans for digital ID cards in a reset of priorities" when he enters Downing Street on Monday.The new Labour leader plans to redirect the resources earmarked for the scheme towards tackling the cost of living, his team indicated on Saturday. Continue reading...
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Summer Lee join rally to support Justin Pearson's bid for CongressMore than a thousand people rallied for Justin Pearson, a Democratic state representative running for Congress, in the wake of four fatal shootings by members of Donald Trump's Memphis Safe Task Force over the last two months.Crowds packed New Direction Christian church in the city's Hickory Hill neighborhood in support of Pearson, who is running in the now-fractured ninth congressional district's Democratic primary. Continue reading...