Grip

Outcome of polls in four states offer mixed signals about direction of two major parties before November’s midtermsProgressives rallied round the controversial Graham Platner after his primary victory in Maine on Tuesday, while Donald Trump again exerted his grip on the Republican party, helping defeat a politician who pushed for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.Primary elections were held in four states – Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina – ahead of November’s midterms to decide control of both houses of Congress. The results offered mixed signals about the direction of the two major parties. Continue reading...

Video of figures clambering in and out of manholes sparks intrigue – and comparisons with crime-fighting turtlesIt started in early May. Under cover of darkness, three people pried open a manhole cover in Queens, New York, and clambered down into the sewer.The incident might have gone unnoticed, but the subterranean quest, which was caught on film, captured New Yorkers’ interest when it happened again, and again, in the same month, with two other groups filmed making their way in and out of the sewer system in Brooklyn. The string of events have seen those involved dubbed “mole people” by the local press. Continue reading...

While president’s last-minute endorsement of Randy Feenstra failed, he has enjoyed successes in Texas, Indiana and KentuckyZach Lahn’s victory in Iowa’s gubernatorial primary on Tuesday is a rare instance of Republican voters rejecting Donald Trump, who has used his endorsement to elevate proteges and oust rivals nationwide ahead of the November midterm elections.In the race to replace Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s Republican governor, who is not seeking re-election, the president had given Randy Feenstra, a congressman, his “Complete and Total Endorsement”, which would normally be enough to see him to victory. Instead, Lahn, a farmer and businessman, won Tuesday’s Republican primary with 38% of the vote to Feenstra’s 37.2%, according to the Associated Press. Continue reading...

Fab Four are still making waves 60 years on – and upcoming Sam Mendes films are expected to turn the hype up to 11If anyone needed a reminder of the enduring cultural clout of the Beatles, the past few weeks have provided a glut. Firstly, there’s the small matter of The Boys of Dungeon Lane, Paul McCartney’s 20th solo album, billed as “an adventurous and limber take on guitar music” by the Guardian.When England announced their World Cup squad, the soundtrack was Come Together, played alongside a film of fashionable young people in New York and a clip of a young, puckish John Lennon. The same week Stephen Colbert was played off from his final episode of the Late Show by a Paul McCartney rendition of Hello Goodbye. Continue reading...

The US president’s backing of Maga extremists turns off the very voters Republicans need to win over in the midtermsDonald Trump gave it a minute.At 9.01pm it was confirmed that Texas attorney general Ken Paxton – a hardliner backed by the US president – had triumphed over incumbent John Cornyn in the state’s Republican primary runoff for the US Senate. By 9.02pm, Trump had started celebrating on social media. Continue reading...

At least seven people have died in recent days as people have tried to cool off in Britain’s waterwaysWater safety experts have warned about the dangers of outdoor swimming after a spike in drownings as people try to escape soaring temperatures by cooling off in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and other bodies of water.In recent days, emergency services have reported at least seven deaths because of water-related incidents, with six involving young people, as Britain’s heatwave sends crowds of people to the seaside and other swimming spots. Continue reading...

• European leaders are currently divided over strategies to reduce Big Tech's dominance, specifically regarding mobile satellite spectrum access and cloud tender restrictions for multinationals. • The debate centers on the EU's Cloud and AI Development Act, which aims to protect sensitive data from bad actors and close the digital services gap with the U.S. and China. • These internal disagreements have caused repeated delays in the legislative process, reflecting a tension between protecting sovereignty and maintaining global competitiveness.

• The Chinese government has imposed new overseas travel restrictions on top AI talent working for private firms, including Alibaba Group and DeepSeek. • These measures target a broad spectrum of professionals, specifically startup founders, researchers, and executives involved in advanced AI research and development. • This move signals escalating global competition and a strategic effort by Beijing to prevent the leakage of critical intellectual property and talent to foreign rivals.

Scandal-plagued Ken Paxton has won Trump’s backing – can he defeat John Cornyn in a high-stakes primary runoff? Ken Paxton, the state attorney general, takes on four-term incumbent John Cornyn on Tuesday in the ugliest primary election of the year. The winner of the Republican Senate runoff in Texas will contest November’s general election against Democrat James Talarico.Paxton and Cornyn have spent months coveting the most valuable endorsement in Republican politics: Donald Trump. Last week, scandal-plagued Paxton got it, with the US president describing him as “a true Maga warrior”. Continue reading...

• The UK Business and Trade Committee is calling for a comprehensive investigation into Live Nation to determine if the company holds an unfair market dominance over the live music industry. • The report describes a "climate of fear" among artists and promoters, alleging that the ticketing giant uses its scale to stifle competition and dictate terms. • This scrutiny follows growing concerns over predatory pricing, lack of transparency in ticketing fees, and the systemic exclusion of smaller independent operators.

Republican Congressman defeated by Trump-backed challenger in most expensive House primary in historySign up for the Breaking News US emailGood morning, and welcome to our live coverage of US politics. Donald Trump has tightened his grip on the Republican party after the independent-minded Congressman Thomas Massie was defeated in the Kentucky Republican House primary by the president’s hand-picked challenger.Massie lost by a vote of 55% to 45%, in what became the most expensive House primary in US history, drawing over $32m in spending. Continue reading...

Vulnerable children placed in caravans, Airbnbs and holiday camps, with children’s commissioner saying practice must stopMinisters must get to grips with the “national scandal” of England’s shadow child social care system, the children’s commissioner has warned, as a shocking new report reveals the number of children in unregulated settings has increased by more than 370% in five years.Some of the most vulnerable children in England are being temporarily placed in unregulated caravans, Airbnbs and holiday camps, which risk the “accumulation of increasing levels of harm for children who have already faced enough distress for several lifetimes”, according to a new report. Continue reading...

Corruption scandals and a surging opposition have turned the vote into the biggest test yet for the long-serving populist leaderThe drone footage showed a sprawling residence in northern Hungary, complete with manicured gardens, a swimming pool and an underground garage. But it was what came next that captured much of the country’s imagination: zebras darting across the countryside. Continue reading...

Nasa’s Orion capsule will be just over 4,000 miles above lunar surface, allowing astronauts to see both polesThe four astronauts on Nasa’s Artemis II mission are poised to begin the first flyby of the far side of the moon in more than half a century, bringing them to the furthest point from Earth ever reached by humans.The crew of three Americans and one Canadian earlier entered the moon’s “sphere of influence”, where its gravity has a stronger pull on the spacecraft than Earth’s. Continue reading...

There are flooding rains in Hawaii, rare snow in Alabama and a severe heatwave in the west coastSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe US is experiencing a striking mix of weather extremes this March. Flooding rains in Hawaii, rare snow in Alabama, flip-flopping temperatures in the north-east and, perhaps most concerning, a severe heatwave affecting the west coast are raising questions about how strange these patterns really are, and what role the climate crisis is playing.Experts suggested that people around the US need to pay closer attention to the climatecrisis and do what they can to “minimize the impacts”. Continue reading...