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Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as GDP rises in June despite Iran war after stagnating in MayThe biggest factor for the FTSE 100's underperformance on Thursday morning relative to other European markets is a big decline in the mining sector.Chilean miner Antofagasta is the biggest faller on London's benchmark index, down 4.9% after it cut its guidance for future output.The London-listed miner cut its 2026 copper output estimate to between 625,000 and 655,000 metric tons, from a previous forecast of 650,000 to 700,000 tons, due to a shutdown at its Los Pelambres mine in July after extreme rains prompted Chile's government to declare a state of catastrophe" in the Coquimbo Region.While there has been no material impact on key equipment and infrastructure, the miner said it will need to repair some pipeline platforms and water management systems. Continue reading...

More students are advocating for their own digital wellbeing and developing programs to thrive in tech-free learning environmentsAs students across the country return to school this month, many will be confronting a new reality: classrooms without smartphones.Educators and parents have long fronted the fight against the debilitating influence technology can wield. Yet, many young people say they've been left out of important conversations around school phone policies, which are now in effect in at least 39 states and Washington DC. Continue reading...

The dangers of AI become clearer every day. Why are we still acting as if we have no choice about our future?Rather than producing jobs, the US economy actually lost 23,000 jobs in July, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Friday. In addition, May and June's job numbers were revised downward, showing a combined 103,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.As if this weren't bad enough, wage growth has also slowed. Average hourly earnings rose by just 0.1% from June. Continue reading...

Critic of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau leadership was put under investigation and suspended from job

We look at the many contenders for the English title this season, one of the big potential moves of the summer and chaos at FifaIt's difficult to recall a Premier League season starting amid such widespread uncertainty as this one. Half the division, including Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City, is under new management. The Pep Guardiola era is over and, as Jonathan Wilson put it, the Premier League has no alpha manager possibly for the first time ever. Continue reading...

The author of a new novel about the famed detective explores a little-known facet of Holmes's creatorWhat do Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle have to do with boxing? More than you may think. Doyle, who created Holmes, was a boxing enthusiast who boxed a bit and wrote extensively about the sport.Doyle stood 6ft tall and weighed in the neighborhood of 200lb. He began sparring while a medical student at the University of Edinburgh and described himself as a fair average amateur".McMurdo," cried Sherlock Holmes genially. I don't think you can have forgotten me. Don't you remember the amateur who fought three rounds with you at Alison's rooms on the night of your benefit four years back?"Not Mr Sherlock Holmes!" roared the prize-fighter. God's truth! How could I have mistook you? If instead o' standin' there so quiet, you had just stepped up and given me that cross-hit of yours under the jaw, I'd ha' known you without a question. Ah, you're one that has wasted your gifts, you have! You might have aimed high, if you had joined the fancy."Thomas Hauser's email address is thomashauserwriter@gmail.com. His next book - Sherlock Holmes and Mrs. Rutledge - will be published later this month and is available for preorder on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk as well as other platforms. In 2019, Hauser was selected for boxing's highest honor - induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Continue reading...

McKenna West initially agreed to an abortion after diagnosis, but then fled to state where abortion is illegal and broke contact with biological parents, attorney allegesA surrogate mother who traveled to Texas, where abortion is illegal, claiming she was pressured to end the pregnancy after the discovery of a severe heart defect, gave birth on Wednesday to a baby boy.The child's biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California, confirmed the birth through their lawyer, while denying they forced McKenna West, who is from Alaska, to undergo an abortion, the Texas Tribune reported. Continue reading...

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Democratic socialist Francesca Hong fell just short as David Crowley strives for unity for the general electionFrancesca Hong, a democratic socialist, was on course to win the party's nomination for Wisconsin governor on Wednesday by a clear margin, according to the polls - presaging the latest in an extraordinary wave of leftwing victories across the country, challenging the party's establishment.It was not to be. In a photo finish after a messy campaign, David Crowley eked out a win by a few thousand votes over Hong, raising questions over the limits of the progressive movement that has swept through Democratic contests in recent months. Continue reading...

Recent data compiled by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission shows 19 pedestrians were killed across the US in crashes with ebike riders from 2017 to 2024. That's roughly the average number of pedestrians killed by motorists every day of 2024 Continue reading...

Police said they believed deceased man was assailant in domestic-related homicide at daycare centerA man killed a woman and their child inside a small in-home daycare center they own in Minnesota before taking his own life, police said on Wednesday.Hopkins police department said in statement they responded to a report of a stabbing at the residence on the 200 block of Tyler Avenue North around 9am in the Minneapolis suburb of Hopkins. Inside, they found two adults and a child dead. Continue reading...

Military official says AH-64 Apache had been on a routine training flight near Fort Hood when it went downAn army Apache helicopter crashed in a central Texas field on Wednesday, killing both people on board and sparking a wildfire that forced several homes to be evacuated, a sheriff's official said.Officials from nearby Fort Hood announced that the AH-64 Apache helicopter had crashed. Cliff Coleman, spokesperson for the Bell county sheriff's office, confirmed that both occupants had died. Continue reading...

Trump's most prominent spokesperson won regular plaudits from her boss for her unflinching defense of his agendaDonald Trump's most prominent spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, is leaving the White House. The US president announced on Wednesday that his press secretary would depart at the end of the month.Leavitt, who has served in the role since Trump's returned to power in January 2025, won regular plaudits from her boss for her unflinching defense of his agenda, but faced frequent criticism for amplifying misinformation and curbing press freedom. Continue reading...

After person is spotted disposing of suspicious device, police with K-9 unit halt major roadway for two hoursA stretch of a major Washington DC roadway was brought to a standstill during Wednesday morning's rush hour after the city's bomb squad responded to a suspicious device - only for police to later identify the object as a sex toy.The situation unfolded at about 7am as many commuters were on their way to work. Authorities initially told WUSA9 that a witness had reported seeing someone place a suspicious package inside a trash can near the Tenleytown fire station. Continue reading...

US president announced departure on social media, saying Leavitt was leaving to spend more time' with family

On 13 August, three states are set to carry out executions by lethal injection. It's the first time since 2010 that three people will be put to death on the same day in the US. In Tennessee, the execution of Darrell Hines is in the spotlight, because the last lethal injection in the state was botched. Ed Pilkington speaks to Kai Wright about the doctor at the center of that botched execution, whose identity was revealed inadvertently last year. Ed explains how his reporting has lifted the lid on a role that is usually hidden away from public view, and what it tells us about the American death penalty todayUnmasked: the doctor who helps put prisoners to death Continue reading...

Reiner, 32, charged with first-degree murder in deaths of Hollywood towering figures Rob Reiner and Michele ReinerA grand jury has indicted Nick Reiner with first-degree murder in the deaths of his parents, the renowned director and actor Rob Reiner and photographer Michele Singer Reiner, the Los Angeles county district attorney's office announced on Wednesday.Prosecutors accuse Reiner, 32, of stabbing the couple to death in December in their Brentwood home, before fleeing the scene. He was arrested shortly after and charged with murder. Reiner has since been held in custody without bail. Continue reading...

Prosecutors charge Heidi Beirich with financial crimes as part of case against the Southern Poverty Law CenterThe justice department on Wednesday arrested a leading expert on far-right extremism, charging her with financial crimes as part of the government's ongoing case against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).Federal prosecutors charged Heidi Beirich, who formerly served as the group's chief financial officer, with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank and conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. Continue reading...

Justice department asks justices to pause decision that blocked Trump's order to tighten voting by mail rulesDonald Trump's administration again asked the US supreme court on Wednesday to intervene to fully implement the president's executive order restricting the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections that will decide control of US Congress.The US Department of Justice filed a request asking the justices to put on hold a decision made on Tuesday by US district judge Indira Talwani in Boston that blocks the US Postal Service from nationwide enforcement of the directive's tighter rules for voting by mail. Continue reading...

Darrell Hines's lawyers ask supreme court to intervene, arguing he could face fate similar to failed execution in MayTennessee is scheduled to execute a man this week despite bipartisan backlash after the state botched its previous lethal injection, which dragged on for more than an hour before it was canceled.Darrell Hines, who was convicted of the 1985 murder of Catherine Jean Jackson Jenkins, a motel maid and mother of four, is due to be put to death on Thursday. Continue reading...

With almost all votes counted in Republican primary for governor, Lisa Demuth is ahead by over 10% of ballots

Mortgage and student loan balances saw small decline' with increases elsewhere, says post alongside Fed reportCredit card debt in the United States is growing close to a record high, having crept up from $54bn to $1.26tn between April and June compared with the same period last year, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.That figure is just shy of last year's record high of $1.28tn. Continue reading...

LandPaths takes at-risk youth out of their concrete, urban environments and into the natural one, offering many their first encounters with the landAlejandro Elizarraraz stands in the middle of a grassy field with a saw in his hands. On a hillside overlooking the lush forests of northern California, the 18 year old cuts back brush and branches as a way to help prevent wildfires.We're going to give the tree a high fade cuz it's 10 feet," he said, grinning. You get it?" Continue reading...

Energy is cheaper than at its peak in late April, but gas is still nearly $1 a gallon more expensive than before the Iran warUS consumer prices cooled slightly in July as the annualized inflation rate dipped down to 3.4%, though prices still remain higher than levels seen before the war with Iran.Though inflation decreased 0.7% in June during a brief ceasefire between the US and Iran that brought energy prices down, consumer prices have remained elevated. Price increases hit a three-year high in May, with annual inflation reaching 4.2%. Continue reading...

Primaries across US included Darline Graham advancing to runoff, while progressive Francesca Hong and MyPillow's Mike Lindell fell shortA series of primary elections on Tuesday shaped the future of both the Democratic and Republican parties, pitting newcomers against established candidates and testing name recognition.Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, South Carolina, Vermont and Connecticut held elections, with a gubernatorial race in Wisconsin capturing nationwide attention. Continue reading...

US immigration has ramped up operations against Haitians, whose temporary protected status was removed by TrumpWhen Monsanto Maler walked out of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Blue Ash, Ohio, at 9.15am on Sunday with an ankle monitor freshly attached to his left leg, he put his hand over his face, burst into tears and fell to the ground.He had come to the US in June 2023, fleeing gangs in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, where he had been hit over the right side of his head, leaving a large, visible scar. Continue reading...

Democrats demand congressional briefing after passenger-laden Air Force One sent on decoy flight despite security scare. Plus, the 11 biggest wellness trends of 2026 so farGood morning.Democrats have called for a congressional briefing after a charade in which Donald Trump was secretly spirited into a different plane than the one the public and press believed he was travelling on.How did the plot to smuggle Trump off the plane unfold? In this video, the Guardian breaks down the footage from that day, showing how the president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies before flight.Where have progressives enjoyed electoral success this week? Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota's lieutenant governor, won her Democratic primary for US Senate in a race centered on immigration enforcement. Flanagan, who beat the congresswoman Angie Craig, recently told the Guardian: So often I think Democrats are like: What do we think we can win?' Instead of: What are the fights that we should be picking?'"What happened in South Carolina's abbreviated special Republican primary? Darline Graham, appointed to complete the Senate term of her late brother, Lindsey, will face the congressman Ralph Norman in a runoff on 25 August. The winner will face the Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in November's midterms. Continue reading...

Marni von Wilpert helped draft Protecting the Right to Organize act, and now wants work toward implementing itLegislation that would modernize federal labor law began with a handful of lawyers meeting, of all places, in an ice-cream shop.We wrote for hours what we would do to amend the National Labor Relations Act," said Marni von Wilpert, a member of the San Diego city council who was then an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Bringing together our collective experience as labor lawyers over the years, really trying to unrig the rules so that working people could have a fair shot". Continue reading...

Iran lost top leaders in the war and US humiliation ... a form of revenge', say experts, after administration's flight ruseSince the joint US-Israeli strikes in February that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and scores of other senior Iranian officials on the first day of the war, a revenge plot to kill Donald Trump should not have appeared far-fetched.But the US administration's elaborate ruse to spirit Trump off of Air Force One in Turkey last month indicates a credibility to the Iranian threat that has surprised many in Washington - including the Trump aides and journalists left on the jet that may have remained the target of an Iranian missile strike. Continue reading...

With wing spans up to 3ft, the shy cownose ray species typically arrive in Long Island waters in the warmer monthsDrone footage of dozens of stingrays in the ocean off New York has captivated beachgoers and marine enthusiasts, offering a rare bird's-eye view of a species that scientists say has visited the area for decades.The footage was captured las`t Friday off the coast of Southampton on the Long Island peninsula by Joanna Steidle, a Hamptons-based professional drone pilot known for her aerial ocean shots. It shows cownose rays gliding through the water en masse near the surface. Continue reading...

From space to telecommunications, the US has a long history of fostering technology for the public good. These AI models could be aligned to democratic values, not corporate profitsOpenAI, and then Anthropic, were each formed by AI developers who feared unrestrained corporate AI development - specifically, that companies like Google and Meta would steer the technology towards deleterious, maybe even catastrophically unsafe, outcomes for society. Their founders proclaimed that their new labs, uniquely, could be trusted to develop the technology in humanity's best interest. But each, in turn, were themselves co-opted by the same market incentives, themselves becoming corporate behemoths zealously guarding future investor value rather than the public interest.It was only a few weeks ago, in June, when OpenAI and Anthropic each filed for their IPOs and were met with buzz about trillion-dollar valuations. The hype around their valuations is so extreme that many worry about their potential for concentrating wealth on a global scale. In an effort to leave something for the rest of us, some observers have proposed that the federal government seize a share of these companies' stock to create a US sovereign wealth fund, or redistribute their revenues to produce a dividend for taxpayers. Continue reading...

In documenting the process, AOC is defying the right's pronatalist narratives about motherhood and women's careersOn Sunday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced that she is freezing her eggs. The 36-year-old New York congresswoman took to Instagram to document the process, complete with jabbing a syringe into her stomach on camera.Don't be weird about this," Ocasio-Cortez said, even though I know all of you will be." Continue reading...

It's a great betrayal: poor communities neglected while multimillionaires peddle a global Maga agenda. How is that America first?THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE," Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in February 2025. He was not referring to his own administration, but to the US Agency for International Development (USAID). CLOSE IT DOWN!" the president added.Just a few hours later USAID was in effect closed down, with most of the staff placed on indefinite administration leave. This was framed as part of Trump's America first" agenda. USAID, the Trump administration and his sycophants in the rightwing media had argued, was wasting taxpayers' hard-earned money on ridiculous projects abroad instead of improving life at home. In the lead-up to the shuttering of USAID, for example, one of the most shameless lies about the agency, repeated without any evidence by the likes of Fox News, was that it was spending millions on condoms for Gaza.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Democratic socialist is frontrunner in four-way race to face Republican Tom Tiffany in test of anti-establishment moodWisconsin voters will decide on Tuesday whether to nominate a democratic socialist for the state's highest office in the latest test of an anti-establishment wave among Democratic primary voters.Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist state lawmaker, emerged as the frontrunner in a four-way race to succeed Tony Evers, the Democratic governor who is not seeking another term. Continue reading...

State's Democratic lieutenant governor bests Angie Craig in another election contest pitting a progressive against a moderatePeggy Flanagan, Minnesota's lieutenant governor, won the Democratic primary for US Senate in a race centered on immigration enforcement after the Trump administration crackdown turned deadly and destructive earlier this year.Flanagan ousted congresswoman Angie Craig in yet another example of progressive campaigns toppling moderates amid an anti-establishment wave among Democrats. Continue reading...

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Journalists and others were allowed to fly on presidential jet despite security threat while Trump was spirited away

Nearly 500 personnel battle Timber fire in Los Padres national forest as blaze grows to 3,000 acresEvacuations have been ordered for areas along California's famous Big Sur coast as a wildfire burns in the nearby steep, rugged mountains.The Timber fire in Monterey county started on Sunday and grew to nearly 3,000 acres by Tuesday evening, according to Cal Fire, the state's fire agency. Nearly 500 fire personnel had been assigned to the fire in the Los Padres national forest. Continue reading...

Norman beat out Russell Fry, a congressman, and Mark Sanford, a former governor, to advance is closely contested race

According to manufacturer, shock is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds'ICE plans to spend up to $20m (15m) to purchase thousands of gloves for officers and agents that can deliver painful electric shocks by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.The devices, called Glove (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky. Continue reading...

Brittany Boltinhouse's attorney says removal of title and crown another troubling example of cancel culture'A lawyer for beauty queen Brittany Boltinhouse, dethroned as Miss North Carolina USA last week, is threatening legal action, claiming the actions of pageant organizers were wrongful and unjustified".The attorney, Patrick Mincey, described the removal of her title and crown another troubling example of cancel culture". Continue reading...

Ruling expands on earlier order that prevented implementation in 23 mostly Democratic-led states

Group says new executive order is attempt to evade supreme court's earlier ruling against the president