Analysis

‘In just a few weeks homelessness has killed a baby, a young mother and a student,’ head of advocacy group says, calling for more investment in upcoming budgetGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFourteen rough sleepers are dying in public parks or countryside areas each year on average in Australia, an analysis of hidden death reports reveals.The deaths of a young international student sleeping rough in Hyde Park, a young homeless mother who died of sepsis in Western Australia, and a newborn baby at a makeshift homeless camp near Wagga beach have prompted an outpouring of grief and shock in recent weeks. Continue reading...

Harassment reported by 35% of students at ‘high tariff’ institutions compared with 17% at those with lowest entry gradesStudents at England’s leading universities were more than twice as likely to experience sexual harassment than those at “lower tariff” institutions, according to analysis.Data from a national survey of undergraduates shows that 35% of students at “high tariff” universities – those requiring the highest A-level grades for entry – reported experiencing sexual harassment, compared with just over 17% of those at universities requiring the lowest grades for entry and 26% of those at “medium tariff” institutions. Continue reading...

Reform UK leader has registered wide range of financial interests on top of his Commons salary since July 2024Cameo, speeches, pushing gold bullion: how Farage has made millions since becoming an MPNigel Farage’s income since he was elected as an MP has now reached £2m on top of his parliamentary salary, analysis of the register of MPs has shown.Farage’s earning power sets him alongside a small number of MPs who have been able to leverage their status for external income alongside their day jobs – drawing comparisons to Boris Johnson, who made about £5m on top of his MP’s salary in the six months after he resigned as prime minister. Continue reading...

UK was close behind, exporting 675,000 tonnes, with much of the waste sent to Turkey, Malaysia and Indonesia Germany was the world’s largest exporter of plastic waste in 2025 and sent more than 810,000 tonnes abroad, according to analysis of trade data carried out for the Guardian.The UK followed close behind, according to the analysis by Watershed Investigations and the Basel Action Network. It exported more 675,000 tonnes, its highest level in eight years and enough to fill about 127,000 shipping containers. Continue reading...

Climate group calls for urgent windfall tax on excess fossil fuel profits, as delegates tell Colombia conference their nations are sufferingThe Middle East oil and gas crunch will impose as much as a trillion dollars of additional costs on the global economy while petroleum companies rake in spectacular profits from elevated fuel prices, analysis has revealed.The uneven distribution of risk and reward comes amid rising concern that the US-Israeli attack on Iran is worsening inequality, poverty and hunger across a world that has become dangerously dependent on fossil fuels. Continue reading...

• OpenAI launched GPT-5.5, a powerful new model optimized for coding, research, data analysis, computer use, and complex workloads requiring minimal guidance. • The upgrade handles messier, real-world tasks with greater autonomy across multiple tools, reducing the need for extensive prompting. • This release intensifies competition in AI capabilities, targeting professional users in software development and scientific research.

Twin reports from top accounting firms underline scale of economic threat as Iran war shatters business confidenceA quarter of a million people could lose their jobs by the middle of next year as Britain “flirts with recession”, analysis suggests, after business confidence was shattered by the US-Israel war on Iran.As the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, summoned bank chiefs for talks aimed at containing the fallout, twin reports from top accounting firms underlined the scale of the economic threat facing the UK. Continue reading...

Authorities identified Kenneth and Barbara Martin and their daughter Barbie from remains in car in Columbia RiverDNA analysis has identified the remains found in a car in the Columbia River as those of an Oregon family that went missing in 1958 while on a trip to find Christmas greenery, authorities said Thursday.The state medical examiner’s office identified Kenneth and Barbara Martin and their daughter Barbie from remains located in the river within the wreckage of the car, according to the Hood River county sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office said it concluded its investigation and found no evidence of a crime. Continue reading...