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Parliamentary rule that only English is allowed has reignited debate about language, legitimacy and postcolonial identityWhen the Jamaican MP Nekeisha Burchell stood up to give her maiden speech, she was keenly aware of how much her country’s parliament mirrored the Westminster version thousands of miles away in London.As in the UK, the session on 12 May had started with the arrival of the ceremonial mace – a 1.7-metre ornamented silver staff representing the British monarch’s authority over parliament – which now rested on a table between the government and the opposition. Despite the heat outside, debate was presided over by the speaker dressed in a ceremonial robe. Continue reading...

• Ed Gallrein, the Trump-backed former Navy SEAL, defeated Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s Republican primary on May 20, 2026, in one of the night’s highest-profile contests. • The race was among the most expensive House primaries on record, with nearly $33 million spent as Trump allies tried to remove one of the GOP’s most independent-minded lawmakers. • Gallrein’s win is being read as another sign of President Trump’s grip on Republican voters in solidly red states, even as broader national polling has shown softer approval on some issues.

US president, like a cult leader whose commune keeps getting smaller, commands fierce loyalty from a shrinking base“Thomas Massie caught in a throuple!” screamed the AI-generated attack ad that showed the Republican congressman supposedly dining with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar then checking into a hotel with the two progressives. “Thomas Massie betrayed President Trump!” it added.Crude but effective, as it turns out. Massie, from northern Kentucky, lost the most expensive House of Representatives primary election in history on Tuesday to Ed Gallrein, a farmer and former US Navy Seal backed by Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Seven-term incumbent had spoken out against Iran war, government spending and Jeffrey Epstein files. Plus, Trump’s ‘board of peace’ receives just $23m to rebuild GazaGood morning.Voters in northern Kentucky on Tuesday rejected the incumbent congressman Thomas Massie, who has been critical of Donald Trump, in favor of the president’s hand-picked candidate.Where else held primaries on Tuesday? Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and Idaho. Georgia also delivered a defeat to a prominent Trump critic, while a Trump ally won in Alabama, too.How significant was Kentucky? Massie, a seven-term incumbent, has been an outspoken GOP opponent to Trump – repeatedly clashing with the president over Iran, government spending and the Jeffrey Epstein files. In response, Trump treated the primary as a personal vendetta.What is at the top of the agenda? For Putin, it is likely to be reciprocal trade and investment, as Russia’s economy continues to suffer over the cost of its war in Ukraine and related sanctions. China, Russia’s largest trading partner, buys almost half of Moscow’s oil exports.What about foreign policy? Xi said the world was in danger of returning to the “law of the jungle”, adding that further hostilities in the Middle East were “inadvisable”, and calling for a ceasefire, state media reported. Continue reading...

Ukrainians lament appalling toll of fighting on their country’s bird populationRussia sent kamikaze drones to attack the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia in February. They hit buildings and killed several people. One unreported victim of the bombardment was a male long-eared owl, blinded in one eye and found with a badly broken wing. A passerby scooped up the stunned bird, put him in a box and took him to the city of Dnipro.The owl – nicknamed Sunny – is now recovering in a cosy room belonging to Veronica Konkova. No longer able to fly or hunt, Sunny instead hops around. Continue reading...

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...

Victory for Ed Gallrein, former Navy Seal hand-picked by Trump, shows strength of president’s grip on party Donald Trump displayed his supremacy over the Republican party on Tuesday when voters in northern Kentucky rejected the maverick congressman Thomas Massie in favour of the US president’s hand-picked challenger.Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy Seal and farmer who was recruited into the race by Trump, defeated the seven-term incumbent in a primary election in Kentucky’s fourth congressional district in what the president’s allies framed as a test of whether dissent could still exist inside today’s Republican party. Continue reading...

Outcome of contest for seat just outside Wigan could change the course of British politics for years to come Andy Burnham will face Reform UK’s Robert Kenyon in next month’s crucial Makerfield byelection in a clash that could change the course of British politics for years to come.Reform are billing Kenyon, a plumber and army reservist who contested the seat just outside Wigan in the 2024 general election, as a local champion taking on a professional politician who is using the seat for his own advantage. Continue reading...

New information surfaced at hearing into the UPS freight plane crash, which happened in November 2025The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed on Tuesday that it is reviewing reports of cracks in a wing mount before the left engine sheared off from a UPS freight airplane on takeoff from Louisville, Kentucky, in November, resulting in a crash that killed 15 people.That information surfaced at the beginning of a two-day hearing into the crash of the delivery service’s MD-11, which left all three crew members and 12 people on the ground dead. An additional 23 people on the ground were injured as an auto parts recycling ignited after the freighter crashed into it.Reuters and the Associated Press contributed reporting Continue reading...

US president calls Paxton an ‘America First Patriot’ and ‘MAGA Warrior’ ahead of runoff against John CornynUS politics live – latest updatesDonald Trump has endorsed the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, in the state’s Republican primary, bolstering his bid to unseat the incumbent US senator, John Cornyn.The US president praised Paxton, who has pitched himself as a political warrior for Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, as an “America First Patriot” in a post on social media on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Contest seen as latest test of president’s grip on GOP as he urges voters to reject one of the few senior Republicans who has defied himSign up for the Breaking News US email Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.Voters will head to the polls in primaries across six states today, with the contest in Kentucky seen as a test of Donald Trump’s grip on the Republican party.Police are investigating a deadly shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego as a hate crime, after three people were killed and two dead suspects were identified near the scene. Democratic leaders from across the country issued statements in the wake of the shooting calling out Islamophobia and advocating for stricter gun laws.At a healthcare affordability event, Donald Trump announced that his website TrumpRx.gov will now include a catalog of generic drugs. Trump touted the move as “increasing the number of drugs available on TrumpRx by nearly seven times, adding over 600 affordable generics to the website”.Trump moved to dismiss a $10bn lawsuit against the Interal Revenue Service and his administration created a $1.776bn “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate his allies for supposed persecution by the government. Democrats harshly criticized the settlement, saying it amounts to the creation of a “slush fund” for the president’s allies.An effort to reshape South Carolina’s congressional districts got its first full airing Monday in the state House. Lawmakers launched a lengthy discussion over the consequences of acceding to Trump’s calls for a US House map that could yield a clean sweep for Republicans.Trump also said he is requesting the attorney general and Justice Department investigate mail-in voting in Maryland. In a post on Truth Social, Trump alleged that Maryland had “sent out 500,000 Illegal Mail In Ballots” and blamed “the Corrupt Governor of the State, Wes Moore”, a Democrat, who “allowed this to happen in order to make sure that Democrats win”.Nancy Pelosi has endorsed San Francisco supervisor Connie Chan in the race to fill the seat Pelosi will vacate at the end of her term.The Trump administration has proposed allowing up to 17,500 white South Africans to enter the United States as refugees, beginning in the new fiscal year, CNN reports, citing an emergency determination letter sent to Congress that it obtained. Continue reading...

Republican critic of president faces challenge from Ed Gallrein, while Georgia and Pennsylvania hold key contestsThe biggest day of primaries yet arrives Tuesday, with voters in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Alabama, Oregon and Idaho, heading to the polls to select candidates ahead of November’s midterm elections.While many primaries will be resolved with little drama, some have shaped up to be among the most contentious elections of the year so far, serving as gauges of Donald Trump’s control of Republicans, and the direction Democratic voters are looking to steer their party as they seek to retake control of Congress. Continue reading...

Film-maker and longtime Corbyn ally says ‘poor behaviour’ squandered chance to unite the left in fight against far rightKen Loach has accused Your Party of squandering an opportunity to unite the left in the fight against the far right after the upstart socialist movement founded by the former Labour figures Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana became mired in infighting.“There was great hope when Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana joined forces; 800,000 people expressed interest – that’s three times the size of a political party,” he said. “But I’m afraid some of the behaviours were very poor and they lost a historic opportunity.” Continue reading...

Council of Europe members plan to change interpretation of rights laws to make it easier to deport peopleKeir Starmer’s government has been accused of trying to water down legal protections for torture victims as ministers from 46 countries including the UK prepare to make it easier to deport refused asylum seekers and foreign criminals.Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, is expected to agree a “political declaration” on Friday with other members of the Council of Europe, which oversees the European convention on human rights (ECHR). Continue reading...

The £20,000 award for writers aged 39 or under goes to Joy Is My Middle Name, a collection about navigating race, addiction and womanhoodA debut poetry collection with themes including race, addiction and womanhood has won this year’s Swansea University Dylan Thomas prize.American poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney took home the £20,000 prize – awarded to writers aged 39 or under in honour of the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who died at that age – for her debut collection Joy Is My Middle Name. She was announced as the winner at a ceremony in Swansea, Thomas’s birthplace. Continue reading...

Celeste Calocane gives evidence for first time at inquiry into Valdo Calocane’s 2023 attacksThe mother of the man who killed three people in an attack in Nottingham in 2023 has told an inquiry that the mental health “system is broken” and until there is a crisis “no one listens to you”.Valdo Calocane, who has paranoid schizophrenia, was sentenced to a suspended hospital order in January 2024 after killing students Barnaby Webber and Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and Ian Coates, a 65-year-old caretaker, on 13 June 2023, and attempting to kill three others. Continue reading...

NHS experts and MPs say he ‘told a good story’ as health secretary while kicking the difficult cans down the roadUK politics live – latest updatesWes Streeting’s 22 months in office was characterised by relentless media interviews, newspaper editorials and Department of Health and Social Care press releases. They portrayed a dynamic health secretary who was clearing up the mess he inherited in the NHS, pushing ahead with radical changes and making progress on what matters most to patients – accessing care when they need it.Having initially declared the NHS “broken” – by the Conservatives – it is six months since he first declared that the health service was now, on his watch, “on the road to recovery” – a claim he has made regularly since. He included the gist of it again – a sort of greatest hits collection – in his resignation letter to Keir Starmer at lunchtime on Thursday. Continue reading...

Wall Street has proved incredibly resilient to instability, and while consumer confidence has dipped, shares have soaredIt was a dark Friday for Wall Street on 27 March. Oil prices were climbing and the war with Iran raged on. Markets responded accordingly, with the Dow and Nasdaq entering correction territory, falling more than 10% below their peak, after a month of selloffs.Fast forward seven weeks later to 13 May, and the situation in Iran only looked marginally better. Oil prices were high, and the strait of Hormuz was still closed. Peace talks with Iran seemed tenuous, even with the pressures of high gas prices. Donald Trump on Wednesday said he is “not even a little bit” motivated by Americans’ financial situation to end the war. Continue reading...

Homebuyers more cautious due to possible mortgage rate rises and higher inflation as sellers sit on propertiesFears of higher mortgage rates and rising inflation as a result of the Middle East conflict are leading to a subdued and downbeat housing market, according to estate agents.Demand from potential homebuyers across England and Wales has shown a “noticeable softening” recently, according to a monthly survey of estate agents by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Continue reading...

• The United States Women's National Team secured a 3-0 victory over Japan in a friendly match held in Colorado on May 12, 2026. • Kennedy Wesley, coming off the bench in her sixth cap, scored her first international goal and provided her first assist, highlighting the team's depth. • Sophia Wilson made her return to the USWNT after nearly a two-year hiatus, contributing to the dominant performance against the Japanese side.

Labor introduced condolence motions in parliament on Tuesday to honour the five-year-old who was allegedly murdered in Alice Springs last monthWarning: This article contains references to Indigenous Australians who have diedFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe mother of Kumanjayi Little Baby has directly asked politicians not to use the death of her daughter for “reasons that do not honour and respect my baby girl”.In a statement read out by the minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, in a condolence motion for the five-year-old Warlpiri girl in the Senate on Tuesday, the girl’s mother, who has not been named for her own safety, asked that her child not be used for political gain. Continue reading...

Four Australian citizens and one permanent resident from the MV Hondius to fly home via Perth on TuesdayFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia will repatriate four citizens and one permanent resident from the MV Hondius, the ship at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak, on a charter flight due to land in Perth on Tuesday.The ship, carrying 146 people, arrived at Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands, on Sunday morning after three people died of the virus and eight others became ill. Passengers and crew were confined to their cabins to help stop the spread of the virus. Continue reading...

US CDC personnel are reportedly meeting ship in Canary Islands to accompany Americans on a flight to NebraskaThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reportedly sending personnel to the Canary Islands to meet the cruise ship affected by the hantavirus outbreak, with plans to accompany American passengers back to the US on a chartered flight and place them into quarantine in Nebraska.An additional CDC team is already headed to Nebraska, according to unnamed sources who spoke with CNN. The sources indicated that passengers are expected to undergo quarantine measures there to help prevent any possible spread of the virus. Nebraska is home to both the federally supported National Quarantine Unit and the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit. Continue reading...

• Kapamilya singer-songwriter Angela Ken kicks off a busking tour to promote her new EP 'Panahon,' starting with performances around the metro area. • Her first stop is scheduled at SM North EDSA, bringing the EP's tracks to life through live street performances. • The tour highlights the rising popularity of intimate busking formats in the Philippines music scene.

‘Unprecedented operation’ under way to receive MV Hondius off Tenerife to assess and repatriate those onboardThe Spanish authorities are finalising preparations for the arrival of the MV Hondius this weekend, saying an “unprecedented operation” is under way to receive, assess and repatriate the 149 passengers and crew members onboard the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship.The Dutch-flagged vessel, which was sailing from Argentina to Cape Verde, is due to arrive off the Canary island of Tenerife at around midday on Sunday. Continue reading...

David Hinton will remain in post while successor is found, utility says, a week after group’s chairman quitThe chief executive of South East Water has announced plans to step down just a week after the group’s chairman quit in the wake of major supply outages in Kent and Sussex.The supplier said David Hinton, who joined the group’s board in 2013, would stay in post to allow an “orderly transition” over the summer while the group hunts for his successor. Continue reading...