Policies

President visits swing state to promote ‘Trump accounts’ and says high prices lingering from Joe Biden’s presidency Donald Trump scoffed at the word “affordability” as a political message, describing it at a campaign rally on Wednesday as a term concocted by Democratic political consultants to criticize his presidency. Yet even as the president dismissed the notion of affordability, he devoted much of his speech at Wheeler high school to touting the bread-and-butter benefits of his economic policies.“So I just want you to remember that if you’re paying a little bit more – a lot of it’s come down now, we got it coming down very rapidly actually,” Trump said in Marietta, an Atlanta suburb, casting higher prices today as a lingering effect of the Biden administration. Continue reading...

Royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion hears of response of universities to incidents on campus Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe interim vice-chancellor of the University of Melbourne (UoM) says pro-Palestine sit-ins on campus led to the institution “quite sharply” changing its protest policies and that further restrictions could arise.Prof Glyn Davis appeared before the royal commission into antisemitism and social cohesion on Wednesday, which is examining the lived experiences of Jewish students and academics, including the response of universities. Continue reading...

Exclusive: ‘The preferred policy is, of course, a carbon price,’ Dr Huw McKay says, amid slowdown in BHP action on emissionsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA former chief economist at mining company BHP says stronger climate policy by governments is needed to “move the needle” and incentivise tough decarbonisation decisions at major resource companies.Internal documents, leaked to Guardian Australia and the ABC earlier this year, showed BHP had delayed vast renewables projects in the Pilbara, scrapped a project that would have delivered significant cuts to global emissions, and war-gamed options to push the electrification of its polluting diesel truck and train fleets into the next two decades. Continue reading...

Anti-abortion policies may have appeal, but with one in three Australian churchgoers born overseas, talk of a monoculture may put them offGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWhen One Nation recruit Barnaby Joyce addressed anti-abortion campaigners at a Sydney rally in early June, the former deputy prime minister told the audience he could see “about 1,500 people who can hand out how to vote cards”.Christian leaders spoke at the rally. The Lord’s Prayer was recited. Many there were active churchgoers. Continue reading...

Between 1949 and 1976, an estimated 185,000 babies were taken from unmarried mothers and placed for adoption in England and WalesGood morning. Keir Starmer is clearing the decks in his last three weeks in office, and today he is going to settle one unresolved issue when he delivers a formal apology on behalf of the state to victims of forced adoption policies that were in place in the middle of the last century.Between 1949 and 1976, an estimated 185,000 babies were taken from unmarried mothers and placed for adoption in England and Wales as a result of a culture of shame surrounding pregnancy outside marriage. The mother and baby homes involved were mostly run by religious organisations, but councils were involved in placing children for adoption.Survivors of historical forced adoption are to get the state apology they have spent decades campaigning for when Keir Starmer says sorry in parliament.The prime minister is expected to stand in the Commons and acknowledge the harm caused when an estimated 185,000 babies of unmarried mothers were adopted in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976. Continue reading...

Survey shows two-point fall in vote amid concern about Pauline Hanson’s links to Gina Rinehart and ability to run countryFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralians have emphatically rejected some of One Nation’s key policies, including shutting down SBS and ending multiculturalism, with voters raising concerns about Pauline Hanson’s closeness to the billionaire mining magnate Gina Rinehart and whether the party has the skills needed to run the country, according to a new poll.But even as the latest Guardian Essential poll finds voters have major reservations about Hanson and her party, more than half of respondents said they were either definitely or at least considering voting for One Nation at the next election. Continue reading...

• Paris is currently facing severe overheating issues, which are exacerbated by decades of urban planning decisions. • Strict city regulations limit the installation of external air-conditioning units to preserve the historic facades and aesthetic appeal of the city's architecture. • This conflict between preserving heritage and adapting to rising temperatures has left the city ill-prepared for the impacts of climate change.

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...