‘What has the BBC ever done for me?’ Romesh Ranganathan reboots corporation’s 1985 licence fee plea

• The US-Iran ceasefire is reportedly crumbling, leading to the reimposition of a US naval blockade on Iran. • This escalation marks a significant shift in international affairs, signaling a breakdown in diplomatic efforts to maintain regional stability.

• The global economic and political systems, which functioned effectively for nearly 80 years following World War II, are currently facing significant stress. • This era of stability was established after the United States assisted Britain and its allies in winning the Second World War.

Sergio Furnari said he thought the lifesize sculpture – which no one commissioned – would raise ‘millions’ of dollarsA New York sculptor has been left furious after spending $100,000 of his own money to build a lifesize statue of Charlie Kirk, only to find that no one wants to buy it.Sergio Furnari, originally from Italy, had hoped the statue of the deceased far-right activist, which he intends to display in Times Square, would raise “millions” of dollars. Instead, he said he has been inundated by messages from people saying they intend to urinate on the sculpture. Continue reading...

Former state legislator in strong position to become Democratic candidate after several appointments drop out over the weekend In other news, the Trump administration has filed a first-ever petition to a secretive and dormant court created 30 years ago to consider government requests to deport so-called “alien terrorists” from the US.The Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC) was established in 1996 but had never received a petition until Wednesday, when the US justice department filed an application seeking the removal of an individual whose name is withheld from the single-page document posted on the court’s website. Continue reading...

Statement by Israeli embassy in Canberra challenges proposed positions on settler violence and annexation of Palestinian territoryGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIsrael has made an intervention into the Labor party’s internal processes, publicly criticising a draft policy platform that it claims risks blaming Israel for the Gaza conflict while giving “insufficient attention” to the role of Hamas.The Israeli embassy in Canberra issued a four-page statement on Monday challenging the proposed positions on Palestine, Hamas and settler violence in the West Bank, due to be debated at this week’s Labor national conference. Continue reading...

Senator says Trump revisiting failed run against Biden ‘distracts from important things’ such as Iran warRather than continue fixating on the 2020 election defeat that ended his first presidency, Donald Trump could instead “do something positive”, including resolving the US war in Iran, Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman said in an interview on Sunday.“I don’t know why the president is dragging up all this stuff,” Fetterman remarked on CNN’s State of the Union, three days after Trump dedicated a televised, primetime address to claims about Chinese meddling in the 2020 White House race that he lost to Joe Biden. “You’re the president. Do something positive – and you are talking about 2020; that’s been settled over six years ago. Continue reading...

Company aims to develop AI software that cuts research times and use of rare metals in chipmakers’ supply chainsBusiness live – latest updatesAmazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, and the UK government have invested in a £2bn British artificial intelligence startup that is aiming to become the “search engine for rare materials” that accelerates the next wave of technological breakthroughs.The Cambridge-based CuspAI has raised $450m (£330m) in funding from investors including Bezos and the government’s sovereign AI fund, valuing the two-year-old business at $2.6bn. Continue reading...

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...

Jules Von Hep and Mark Beverlo, who have been trying to become parents since 2020, are now seeking help abroadRise in overseas surrogates ‘increases risk of stateless babies’Why Mexico is at the heart of ethical debate over global surrogacyJules Von Hep has wanted a baby ever since he can remember. For many people that dream is straightforward to realise – but, as a gay man, he has always known it would take years of saving and searching.The only way he can have a biological child is to use a surrogate, which costs tens of thousands of pounds, and it often takes years of searching to find the right match. For Von Hep, it has been an “incredibly painful, incredibly expensive” process. Continue reading...

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...

Catholic order with a record of child abuse could be subject to hundreds of redress claims worth up to $65mFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralian taxpayers could be forced to cover up to $65m in payouts to hundreds of abuse victims when a failing arm of the Catholic church disappears, new court documents reveal.Last month, the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order with a shocking record of child abuse, informed a court it was going broke and would not be able to afford to pay out survivors. 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...