Broken

Businesses and traffic in West Hollywood doused after century-old pipe bursts belowgroundA century-old water pipe buried below a bustling boulevard in a Los Angeles county city burst early Thursday, sending a shock of water spewing into the streets and snarling traffic as several major roads shut down.The 36in riveted steel pipe’s rupture left a protruding sinkhole and cracked pavement in West Hollywood. Images of the aftermath showed local metro buses partially submerged in murky brown water. Continue reading...

• The United Nations is preparing for the selection of its next Secretary-General, a role critical for navigating current global instability. • African nations are expected to advocate strongly for the position, noting that the continent has not held the post since Boutros Boutros-Ghali served from 1992 to 1996. • This push for leadership is driven by Africa's disproportionate role in hosting UN peacekeeping missions and managing severe humanitarian, climate, and debt crises.

Expected next prime minister focuses on restoring faith in politics, cost of living and devolution in major speechAndy Burnham has set out his blueprint to transform the UK with a promise to improve living standards and restore faith in politics through the “biggest rebalancing of power our country has ever seen”.The person widely expected to be the next prime minister said the current system was “broken” and that “more of the same” would not be enough to tackle the significant challenges faced by the country.A long-term ambition of greater public control of essential services such as water, housing, energy and transport to help curb the cost of living.A No 10 North hub to oversee the distribution of power and resources from Whitehall across the country, which the Guardian revealed would be run by his former chief executive in Manchester.The biggest council housing building programme since the postwar period, and a high street “renaissance” through reform of business rates.Rebalancing an education system that he said had been too focused on the university route and putting academic and technical courses on an equal footing. Continue reading...

Plans to protect people fall ‘far short of what is needed’, government told, as MP warns of heatwave deathsUK politics live – latest updatesThe UK government is facing increasingly urgent calls for action to protect people against the intensifying effects of the climate crisis, as the highest maximum temperature record for June was broken for the third day in a row.With the country in the grip of the worst heatwave ever recorded in western Europe – a direct result of global heating – the chair of parliament’s environmental audit committee warned ministers of the urgent threat and said the UK was falling “far short of what is needed”. Continue reading...

• Afghanistan is facing a dire economic crisis nearly five years after the Taliban returned to power. • The collapse is driven by a combination of deep-rooted domestic structural failures and persistent regional geopolitical constraints. • This instability highlights the Taliban's inability to establish a functioning financial system or secure broad international legitimacy.

Thermometer shows 23.5C overnight in Welsh capital as climate crisis makes such extreme temperatures more severe and more likelyEurope live – latest updatesA sweltering night in Cardiff has broken another new UK heat record as brutally hot conditions continue across England and Wales. Temperatures only fell to 23.5C overnight in the Welsh capital, the Met Office said, making it the highest minimum temperature ever recorded in June.The UK’s high temperature record for June is also likely to be broken on Thursday, just a day after the previous record. The heatwave, supercharged by the climate crisis, drove the temperature to 36.1C at Gosport in Hampshire on Wednesday, beating the previous record of 35.6C set in Southampton in 1976. Continue reading...

• The traditional compact between American science and politics is fracturing, exemplified by budget hawks in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) pressuring NASA to implement broad buyouts and early retirement packages. • This political interference extends to research constraints, where scientists like Christopher Reynolds face potential project cancellations and funding instability. • An NSF director warns that researchers attempting to ignore critical variables such as ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status to secure grants will face rejection from peer reviewers.

• The 2026 FIFA World Cup has become the largest in history, featuring 48 teams and a record 1,248 registered players across 26-man squads. • For the first time, the tournament is co-hosted by three sovereign nations—the United States, Canada, and Mexico—spanning 39 days from June 11 to July 19. • The event boasts the largest prize pool in sports history at $727 million, with the winning federation earning $50 million and all participants receiving at least $10.5 million.