Is Mandelson vetting scandal the final straw for Starmer?

• Qatar has formally condemned Iranian attacks on civilian targets in Bahrain and Kuwait, labeling the actions a "grave violation" of national sovereignty. • The State asserts that these strikes breach the 1949 Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law, specifically the principles prohibiting indiscriminate attacks on civilians.

• J. Ricardo Martins argues that the "Geneva fiasco" demonstrates the danger of replacing professional diplomats with business-oriented dealmakers in international relations. • The author contends that these dealmakers mistakenly viewed compromise as weakness, which escalated a negotiable crisis into an active conflict with Iran.

• Israel's military operations, which began with the destruction of Gaza, have expanded into Lebanon, Iran, and the Gulf region. • The escalation is being sustained through significant financial support and arms shipments provided by the United States.

Three GOP senators joined Democrats as dispute over proposed payouts exposed party divisionsUS politics live – latest updatesSenate Republicans on Thursday narrowly scuttled an attempt by Democrats to stop Donald Trump from creating a $1.8bn fund to pay his allies, even as signs emerged that dissent over the proposal was spreading inside the US president’s own party.Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, had proposed inserting language barring the payouts into Republican-backed legislation to fund Trump’s mass deportation campaign through the duration of his term. Continue reading...

Since 2015, destructive fires have undone years of effort to reduce ozone levels, underscoring a growing public health crisisThe highly destructive wildfires that have battered the US and North America in recent years have significantly increased emissions and been linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths, but their impact on air quality is greater than previously known, according to new research.A study published in Science on Thursday found that, since 2015, wildfires have reversed US progress toward ozone air quality standards, as the worsening pollution caused by wildfire smoke has undone years of efforts to reduce emissions. Ground-level ozone (O3) is created when pollutants from cars, refineries and industrial sources reacts with sunlight, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Continue reading...

Policy agreement means trans people will continue to have access to Kenwood Ladies’ and Highgate Men’s ponds in north-west LondonThe bathing ponds at Hampstead Heath in north-west London will remain trans-inclusive after a public consultation overwhelmingly favoured its existing rules.There are gender-segregated ponds for men and women, with trans people able to swim in whichever they feel most appropriate, or use the heath’s mixed-gender pond instead. Continue reading...

Ron Wyden tells of ‘grave concerns’ over plan, first revealed by Guardian, to hold families at sprawling Louisiana facilityThe ranking member on the US Senate’s influential finance committee has demanded transparency over a proposed “first-of-its-kind” ICE family and child detention center in Alexandria, Louisiana, citing reporting by the Guardian that first revealed the Trump administration’s plans in March.Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, has written to the project’s contractors and to the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] expressing concerns over conflicts of interest, environmental contamination, and “the absence of a public process” in the center’s planning. Continue reading...

Mother demands overhaul of maternity care after settling case over birth at Queen’s hospital in Romford in 2019The family of a girl left brain-damaged at birth have agreed to accept £28m in damages after the NHS trust involved admitted that its mistakes led to the tragedy.Barking, Havering and Redbridge NHS trust failed to monitor the baby’s heart rate while her mother was in labour or ask an obstetrician to review the case, either of which might have led to the girl being born in a healthy condition. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Greater Lincolnshire mayor walks out on cabinet minister after row over social media role in community tensionsAndrea Jenkyns walked out of a meeting on Thursday with a cabinet minister and several other metropolitan mayors after a heated discussion about the murder of Henry Nowak and the civil unrest that has followed.The Reform mayor of Greater Lincolnshire walked out of the meeting with the communities secretary, Steve Reed, and other regional leaders after a row over the role social media has played in exacerbating community tensions. Continue reading...

While huge donations are nothing new in UK politics, some fear electoral finance is distorting democracy itselfKeir Starmer may be relaxed about allowing millions from cryptocurrency billionaires to flow into Reform UK’s coffers but Labour MPs are tearing their hair out every time the quarterly data on electoral finance drops.“I look at it through my fingers,” says one MP, as the latest figures show a further £7m went to Reform UK from just two men – Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo. Continue reading...

Zulkernain Ahmed was in pursuit of a group on bikes when he hit Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Taleb, who was walking on pavementTwo brothers have been jailed for killing a 16-year-old boy who was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” when he was hit while walking by a car being deliberately driven at a group on bikes.Abdullah Yaser Abdullah Taleb, who had come to the UK “in search of safety and a better life”, was hit by the vehicle, driven by 21-year-old Zulkernain Ahmed in Sheffield in June 2025. Continue reading...

Peter Kyle says British politics fails to reward political accomplishment and Labour risks aping Tory instabilityThe Labour party has not learned the right lessons from the Conservatives about changing leader, a senior cabinet minister has warned, saying in a swipe at potential challengers that “entitlement is not a qualification”.Peter Kyle, the business secretary, said he was worried that British politics “rewards the wrong behaviour” and there was little credit for the work of his own department, including negotiating trade deals, rescue packages for companies and preserving British industry. Continue reading...