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• Senior Labour figures, including Lucy Powell and Steve Reed, have indicated that party MPs are supporting a "coronation" of Andy Burnham as leader rather than a contested election. • A Labour party spokesperson stated that the National Executive Committee has already established a clear timetable for the leadership election process. • The party emphasizes that the government remains focused on delivering promised changes and addressing the cost-of-living crisis while the process unfolds.

Kemi Badenoch, who joined US anti-abortion activists and European far-right parties at ARC, described energy secretary as a ‘villain’Britain’s net zero policies and energy secretary Ed Miliband have come under fire at a conference of conservatives, rightwing populists and wealthy US backers linked to Donald Trump.The energy policies pursued by the British government were described as a “tragic mistake” by Trump’s energy secretary, one of a number of officials from the US administration who are attending the event. Continue reading...

• In 2017, surveyors conducting fieldwork in the Nazca Desert of Peru discovered 303 previously hidden geoglyphs. • The discovery was made possible through a combination of meticulous ground surveys and advanced technology used to scan the dry, flat landscape. • These findings are significant as they provide deeper insight into the artistic capabilities and cultural practices of ancient civilizations.

Exclusive: Event co-founded by Jordan Peterson will bring together global populist-right figures, US state officials and Eton teachersThe Reform UK MPs Sarah Pochin and Andrew Rosindell will be there. As will a plethora of Reform advisers, backroom staff and figures such as Ben Delo, a British crypto billionaire who has given £4m to Nigel Farage’s party.Yet as populist-right politicians from across the globe and their multimillionaire backers prepare for this year’s Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (Arc) – a rightwing London summit dubbed an “anti-woke” Davos – others whose expected attendance has not been publicised potentially raises more questions. Continue reading...

Labor minister says Australians would lose their jobs and wages would go down if One Nation’s policies became lawGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastPauline Hanson has been roundly condemned for her National Press Club speech, with advocacy groups accusing the One Nation leader of using “hatred for political gain” while the Greens say Hanson is echoing “rubbish” lines from rightwing figures in the UK and US.In Hanson’s first address after 20 years in politics, the leader claimed transgender ideology “has penetrated almost every regulatory authority”. Continue reading...

PM hit by three-pronged attack from ex-defence secretary, former defence minister and chief of defence staffUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer is leaving British troops underfunded and unable to carry out the operations he expects from them, according to scathing remarks delivered in parliament on Tuesday by three senior defence figures.The prime minister came under fire in separate interventions from his former defence secretary John Healey, the former defence minister Al Carns and the country’s current senior military officer, Rich Knighton. Continue reading...

Published for the first time, the data recorded 2,241 daily cases of A&E corridor care, with 699 patients also treated in other inappropriate settingsAlmost 3,000 patients a day in England are receiving care in hospital corridors due to an unavailability of beds in A&E units across the country, according to official figures.Corridor care occurs when a patient receives treatment in a setting that is clinically inappropriate and is deemed to be undignified and unsafe. Continue reading...

• Bulgaria won the 70th Eurovision Song Contest for the first time, with Dara's song "Bangaranga" taking first place and Israel finishing second. • Total viewership dropped to 131 million, a decrease of 35 million from the previous year. • The decline follows a boycott by five countries—the Netherlands, Iceland, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia—due to Israel's participation.

Senior medical staff call for solutions to tackle root causes of excess deaths amid tenfold increase in a decadeMore than 1,300 patients a month in England are dying needlessly due to long A&E waits, a tenfold rise in a decade, figures suggest.There were more than 300 deaths linked to long waits every week in 2025, up from 30 a week in 2015, according to analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. Continue reading...

• Bulgaria won the 70th Eurovision Song Contest for the first time, with Dara's song "Bangaranga" taking first place over Israel, which finished second. • Total viewership dropped to 131 million, a decrease of 35 million from the previous year, following a boycott by five nations over Israel's participation. • The boycotting countries included the Netherlands, Iceland, Spain, Ireland, and Slovenia, with the latter three refusing to broadcast the event entirely.

• Eurovision viewing figures declined significantly this year after five countries—Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain—boycotted the contest to protest Israel's participation. • Despite the boycott, the EBU reported that over 50% of TV viewers tuned in across 14 participating nations, with Finland (92.8%) and Sweden (85.5%) seeing the highest market shares. • The drop in traditional viewership highlights the growing geopolitical tension surrounding Israel's inclusion in the competition, though digital engagement reportedly rose.

• The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest saw a significant decline in viewership, drawing 131 million viewers—35 million fewer than the previous year. • Organizers attribute the drop to boycotts by five countries protesting Israel's participation, with notable viewing decreases in Britain (3.7 million), Poland (3.8 million), and France (3.3 million). • Despite the overall decline, Bulgaria secured its first-ever victory with Dara's song "Bangaranga," and the event maintained strong engagement among viewers aged 15 to 24 at 54.8%.

• The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest saw a significant decline in viewership, drawing 131 million viewers—a drop of 35 million compared to the previous year. • Organizers attributed the decline to boycotts from five countries protesting Israel's participation, with notable viewing losses in Britain (3.7 million), Poland (3.8 million), and France (3.3 million). • Despite the overall dip, the event maintained strong engagement among youth, with a 54.8% viewing share for those aged 15 to 24, and peak popularity in Finland at 93%.

Settlement over alleged child molestation by school janitors is latest in troubling string of allegations spanning decadesOne of the most prominent Catholic high schools in New Orleans has agreed to pay a seven-figure monetary sum to settle a lawsuit claiming child molestation by janitors at the institution decades earlier.The plaintiff struck the agreement with Jesuit high school ahead of a trial scheduled to start in the Louisiana city’s civil district courthouse on 15 June, roughly six years after he sued under a pseudonym. Continue reading...

Farage’s party brings in £9m largely from crypto billionaires in three months, more than twice that of Labour and Tories• UK politics live – latest updatesReform UK is raising millions more than the other political parties from private donations, bringing in £9m largely from cryptocurrency billionaires in the first three months of the year.Nigel Farage’s party took a £3m donation from the cryptocurrency and aviation investor, Christopher Harborne, who is a British-Thai dual citizen, and £4m from the cryptocurrency entrepreneur Ben Delo, who is relocating to the UK from Hong Kong. Continue reading...

Mathew Lawrence and Mark McVitie, previously seen as favouring Burnham and Streeting respectively, say change of direction is neededUK politics live – latest updatesTwo of Labour’s leading policy figures, who put forward “manifestos” for Andy Burnham and a centrist grouping, are to join forces to help forge new ideas for a future government.The authors of the two essays – which have previously been described as competing visions for a Burnham- or Wes Streeting-led government – said Labour urgently required a serious intellectual debate about its direction rather than simply a change of personality. Continue reading...

• Eurostat has released a fully revamped edition of its "Key figures on European business" report to provide a comprehensive snapshot of EU business activity. • The updated publication features a more streamlined structure and introduces new indicators to improve data accessibility and relevance. • This overhaul matters as it ensures policymakers and analysts have the most up-to-date and comprehensive data on the European business landscape.

Andy Burnham and Torsten Bell say the former Labour PM’s essay does not address today’s challengesUK politics live – latest updatesTony Blair’s criticism of the Labour party fails to engage with inequality and the “extremes of austerity”, senior party figures have said.Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, who is widely expected to launch a leadership challenge if he wins next month’s Makerfield byelection, said the essay merited a “considered response” and he would set one out on Thursday. Continue reading...

Vetting officials also flagged £1m loan when recommending he should be denied security clearanceKey questions: did ‘mitigations’ cover links to China and Russia?Peter Mandelson’s associations with senior figures in China, Russia and Israel were among the concerns raised by the UK’s vetting agency when it concluded he should be denied clearance, multiple sources have told the Guardian.Mandelson’s links to China’s minister of finance, Lan Fo’an, the sanctions-hit Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska and a former Israeli military intelligence general, Tamir Hayman, were all flagged by the agency as areas of concern shortly before he took up his post as the UK’s ambassador to the US, the sources said. Continue reading...

Canal+ head says he will not work with hundreds of actors and directors who signed protest against Vincent Bolloré’s political swayThe head of France’s biggest film producer, Canal+, has said the group will no longer work with hundreds of cinema figures who signed a petition voicing concern over the growing influence of the rightwing billionaire owner Vincent Bolloré.The open letter, published earlier this week to coincide with the opening of the Cannes film festival, was signed by more than 600 figures, including the actor-director Juliette Binoche, the director and photographer Raymond Depardon, the French-Iranian film-maker Sepideh Farsi and the director Arthur Harari, who co-wrote the Oscar-winning Anatomy of a Fall and is premiering his film The Unknown in the main competition in Cannes. Continue reading...

• A high-profile fight is set for July 4, announced by organizer White in a Tuesday interview, involving notable political personalities. • Event draws attention for blending sports and politics during Independence Day celebrations. • Could boost fundraising for related campaigns while entertaining national audience.

Hundreds of four-year-olds among ‘extremely overweight’ patients at 39 specialist centres since 2021More than 6,000 children living with obesity, including hundreds as young as four, have required treatment at specialist NHS weight-loss clinics, new figures reveal.NHS England data, published for the first time, underlines the scale of the growing childhood obesity crisis. Continue reading...

• More than a dozen individuals connected to high-profile organized crime families and NBA leadership have been implicated in an alleged illegal gambling ring investigation. • The conspiracy involves suspected coordination between crime organizations and prominent basketball industry figures, raising concerns about league integrity. • Federal authorities are examining the scope and nature of illegal wagering operations allegedly involving NBA personalities and organized crime connections.

Morgan McSweeney among those giving evidence to foreign affairs committee ahead of Commons vote Good morning. The former US president Lyndon Johnson is credited with saying the most important skill in politics is knowing how to count, meaning that ultimately what matters is being able to win a vote. But sometimes in politics what matters just as much, or even more, is the ability to win the argument. Today Keir Starmer will be tested on both these measures.Winning the vote should be easy. Here is our overnight preview story by Pippa Crerar on the events setting up today’s vote on a motion tabled by Kemi Badenoch, as well as MPs from five other opposition parties (the Lib Dems, the SNP, the DUP, Restore Britain, TUV) and a string of independents, referring Starmer to the privileges committee. Continue reading...

Conservatives expected to push for privileges committee involvement in a Commons vote on MondayA series of senior Labour figures have dismissed calls for a new investigation into what Keir Starmer told MPs about the appointment of Peter Mandelson as political point scoring, before a possible Commons vote on the issue.The Conservatives have called for the cross-party privileges committee, the remit of which includes examining whether MPs broke rules, to look at whether the prime minister misled parliament when he said normal procedures were followed with Mandelson’s appointment. Continue reading...

The defence minister insists that increases in spending did not happen because of thinktanks, retired generals ‘or washed-up bureaucrats’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIf there’s anyone who knows just how much pressure Donald Trump is heaping on allies to lift defence spending, it’s Richard Marles.The message was received loud and clear when he met his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, in Singapore nearly a year ago. Continue reading...

MPs and peers say pitting defence and welfare against each other risks losing public support for increased spending on the militarySenior Labour figures have warned that Rachel Reeves must find alternative ways to increase military spending rather than slashing welfare, saying it risks public support for investment in defence.Pressure has been mounting from Labour backbenchers for the Treasury to urgently agree the defence investment plan (Dip) after George Robertson, a former Nato secretary general, said there was a “corrosive complacency” on defence funding. Continue reading...

The 11-time Grammy winner had a net favorability of 65%, Obama came second with 14%, while Zelenskyy had 12%For the US public, the feeling that Dolly Parton expressed in her country music chart-topping 1974 classic I Will Always Love You is clearly mutual.A poll of Americans’ opinions about more than 20 international luminaries established as much, with the 11-time Grammy winner and philanthropist leaving her two closest competitors – Barack Obama and Volodymyr Zelenskyy – in the dust by more than 50 percentage points. Continue reading...