Backs

Backbencher says Keir Starmer’s speech was ‘too little, too late’ but stops short of standing herselfWho are the main threats to Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership?Catherine West, the Labour MP who announced a challenge to Keir Starmer’s leadership, has changed course and said she instead wants the prime minister to set a timetable of September for his departure.West, the MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet and a former Foreign Office minister, announced on Saturday that she would seek the gather the 81 Labour MPs’ names needed to formally challenge Starmer, while arguing that this was just a device to tempt others to stand, and that she did not wish to take over. Continue reading...

• Israel's Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved bills giving the government sole discretion over senior civil service appointments, reducing oversight mechanisms. • The committee deferred decisions on more radical proposals, including bills to cancel the Oslo Accords and restrict immigration and citizenship for non-Orthodox converts. • These moves signal a push toward greater executive control, amid ongoing debates on judicial and administrative reforms.

Disregard from UK Labour and struggling public services are just some of reasons behind ‘astonishing’ collapseUK politics live – latest updatesBy Friday night, Keir Starmer and much of the Westminster Labour group were quietly relieved that the local election results in England hadn’t been quite as bad as feared. In Wales, however, Labour’s collapse in the Senedd was even more total than the most pessimistic predictions.For more than 100 years, Welsh Labour was the democratic world’s most successful election-winning machine, but the political behemoth limped into third place this week with just nine seats in a 96-seat parliament. A new chapter in Wales’s political and cultural history has opened: pro-independence Plaid Cymru is set to form a minority government. Continue reading...

• In Beijing on May 6, 2026, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Iranian official Abbas Araghchi, labeling US-led military actions against Iran as 'illegitimate' and a violation of international law. • China urged an immediate and complete ceasefire, direct US-Iran engagement, and warned the region stands at a critical turning point amid escalating tensions. • Araghchi welcomed China's support, calling it a 'sincere friend,' while signaling openness to diplomacy contingent on a 'fair and comprehensive' agreement.

French president pitches in for Nikol Pashinyan, who faces stiff challenge from pro-Russia parties in vote next monthEmmanuel Macron has made an unabashed pre-election pitch on behalf of Armenia’s prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, saying the country’s destiny lay with Europe.The French president also accused Russia of abandoning Armenia after the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war that led to Azerbaijan displacing tens of thousands of Armenians. Continue reading...

Councillors in Leicestershire support move in efforts to reduce flooding as Reform faces divisions on nature policyA Reform UK council has backed the release of wild beavers into the countryside, despite the party’s opposition to rewilding.The Reform-led Leicestershire county council has backed the release of the rodents as part of efforts to reduce flooding. Continue reading...

• A multiyear international campaign is underway to repair damage to childhood immunization efforts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. • The initiative focuses on restoring vaccination rates that declined during the pandemic period across multiple countries. • Public health experts view this effort as critical to preventing resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases in vulnerable pediatric populations.

• The African Union convened emergency sessions Friday in Addis Ababa to address military coup concerns in three Sahel nations and coordinate response to deteriorating security conditions affecting 180 million people across West Africa. • Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have experienced military takeovers since 2020, with suspended AU memberships and international sanctions creating governance vacuums exploited by extremist groups and destabilizing the entire region. • The AU proposed conditional reinstatement frameworks for suspended nations contingent on democratic transition timelines, though France and Western partners expressed skepticism about implementation feasibility given entrenched military leadership.