8 h. ago US shutdown enters second week as Senate votes again on funding bill

Democrats and Republicans apparently no closer to deal to restart funding as Trump warns of imminent job cutsThe US government shutdown entered its second week on Monday, with Democratic and Republican lawmakers making no apparent progress towards reaching a deal to restart funding, while the Trump administration warned it was moving forward with plans to slash the federal workforce.Many agencies and departments closed their doors and told employees to stay home last Wednesday, after Congress failed to approve legislation to continue the government’s authority to spend money. Continue reading...

Economics

11 h. ago Police seize guns from ‘sovereign citizens’ who reject government authority

The crackdown follows the fatal shooting of two police officers in Victoria in August

Politics

22 h. ago Police in Australia seize guns from dozens of owners who hold views rejecting government authority

Police in Western Australia have seized guns and suspended or cancelled permits for dozens of gun owners who are linked to sovereign citizen ideologies, which reject government authority

Politics

3 d. ago Tourism bosses welcome possible changes to potential Dumfries and Galloway visitor levy

Industry leaders are now calling for a consultation to be halted while the Scottish Government decides whether to allow local authorities to charge a flat fee.

Politics

4 d. ago Donald Trump is digging in heels over 'authoritarian' US government shutdown

Donald Trump has pledged mass redundancies of federal workers after Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to reach agreement on fresh spending proposals

Politics

6 d. ago Afghanistan ‘blind without phones and internet’ on second day of telecoms blackout

Taliban authorities cut fibre-optic network in nationwide shutdown of communications to prevent ‘vice’Afghanistan faced a second day without internet and mobile phone service on Tuesday after Taliban authorities cut the fibre-optic network.The government began shutting down high-speed internet connections to some provinces earlier in the month to prevent “vice”, on the orders of the supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. Continue reading...

Technology

7 d. ago Postwar Gaza authority potentially led by Tony Blair ‘would sideline Palestinians’

Draft plan’s critics say it hands power to international figures and splits Gaza from Palestinian Authority in West BankA plan for a postwar Gaza governing authority potentially headed by the former UK prime minister Tony Blair would sideline key Palestinian political figures, while giving significant authority to its chair on most key issues, according to a leaked confidential proposal.The 21-page draft document, seen by the Guardian and Haaretz in Israel, envisions the governance and reconstruction of postwar Gaza being led by international officials, with Palestinians relegated to subsidiary roles. It also proposes a Gaza investment promotion and economic development authority involving “public-private partnerships and blended finance instruments” aimed at delivering “commercially viable returns” for investors. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago US set for largest mass resignation in history as Trump continues deep cuts

Federal workers say they have little choice but to depart, with 100,000 leaving under deferred resignation programThe Trump administration is set to oversee the largest mass resignation in US history on Tuesday, with more than 100,000 federal workers set to formally quit as part of the latest wave of its deferred resignation program.With Congress facing a deadline of Tuesday to authorize more funding or spark a government shutdown, the White House has also ordered federal agencies to draw up plans for large-scale firings of workers if the partisan fight fails to yield a deal. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Lanarkshire to receive more than £40 million in neighbourhood funding

Both local authorities are to benefit from the UK government's Pride in Place initiative

Economics

1 week ago Israel carrying out crime against humanity in Gaza, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas tells UN – Middle East crisis live

Speech by Palestinian Authority president also says Hamas should have no role in governing Palestine and must disarmAlimi says the policy of containment has given the Houthis time to expand its arsenal.“It has become clear the peace we seek cannot be asked for but must be imposed by force,” he says. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago DAA board should be sacked instead of chief executive, O’Leary says

Michael O’Leary also criticised the Irish Government as well as planning and environmental authorities.

Politics

2 w. ago Trump signs order designating antifa as a ‘domestic terrorist organization’

Executive order revives controversial pledge from Trump’s first presidency in wake of Charlie Kirk’s killingDonald Trump signed an executive order on Monday that designates antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization”, reviving a controversial pledge from his first presidency in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing on 10 September and yesterday’s memorial service.“Antifa is a militarist, anarchist enterprise that explicitly calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law,” the order reads. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Public service broadcasters say ministers misunderstand consolidation meaning

Speaking at the Royal Television Society Convention in Cambridge, UK media bosses agreed merging PSB’s would not be a good thing for the UK.

Politics

2 w. ago More revelations will follow leak which led PM’s aide to resign, author says

‘A lot more revelations’ about senior figures at the heart of Sir Keir’s Government will come to light in a new book, author Paul Holden said.

Culture

3 w. ago Around 5m wet wipes cleared from Thames as work to remove ‘island’ completed

Diggers scooped up wipes, towels, scarves, trousers, a car’s engine timing belt and a set of false teeth from the river foreshore in west London.

Politics

3 w. ago Charlie Kirk shooting latest: search for killer under way as Trump vows crackdown on ‘political violence’

In an address delivered before the person who killed Kirk had even been identified, Donald Trump blamed ‘the radical left’ for the shooting Here is a graphic showing the site of the Charlie Kirk shooting at Utah Valley University campus and also the reported location of the shooter:Here is a summary of what we know and the developments so far:Kirk, a 31-year-old influential ally of President Donald Trump, was fatally shot on Wednesday while speaking at a university in Utah, triggering a manhunt for a lone sniper who the governor said had carried out a “political assassination”.Authorities said they still had no suspect in custody as of Wednesday night, about eight hours after the midday shooting at Utah Valley University campus in Orem during an event attended by 3,000 people.On Wednesday night, the campus of Utah Valley University (UVU) in Orem remained on lockdown, with traffic cones and flashing police cars blocking every entrance. At the nearby Timpanogos regional hospital, wher...

Events

3 w. ago Former champion trainer John Gosden makes impassioned speech against increase in horseracing tax

Gosden said that the implications of the tax increase are ‘very dangerous’ to the existence of the sport

Economics

3 w. ago John Gosden makes impassioned case on day of strike action over tax fears

‘The implications are very dangerous this will take the lifeblood out of the game’.

Events

4 w. ago From now on, Labour has one mission only. It must focus on saving Britain from Farage | Polly Toynbee

The hard right doesn’t speak for most voters. The progressive cause is not yet lost, but there is an urgent need for energy, purpose and claritySign up for our new weekly newsletter Matters of Opinion, where our columnists and writers will reflect on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading and moreLabour has just one overriding task. Forget all the other missions and milestones: Britain faces a peril that was beyond imagining a short time ago. Saving the country from Nigel Farage is the urgent, patriotic duty of this government; it is vital that it prevents an extremist, racist, authoritarian takeover which would be against the will of the overwhelming majority of the population. Nothing else matters more.The Labour government has come adrift. It lacks direction and purpose. Its many welcome policies are missing any thread to make sense of them. Now a new role and function have arrived, uninvited. It’s not a political choice but an obligation when the country is under at...

Events

4 w. ago Reshuffle it how you like, Starmer’s ‘grownup’ Labour has the Tory whiff of spiteful incompetence | Nesrine Malik

Here we are again: constant rebooting, cruel rhetoric and crackdowns. And hurtling towards a Reform-shaped futureSign up for our new weekly newsletter Matters of Opinion, where our columnists and writers will reflect on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading and moreThere has been a familiar feeling in the air for a while, but not one I could identify until last week, when it finally settled. It is a sense that this Labour government is just as terminally dysfunctional and directionless as its predecessor. I am beginning to feel the same sense of frustration, confusion, anger and depletion that I carried through all those years of Conservative government.Here we are again, with the pettiness and authoritarianism, the performatively cruel rhetoric and crackdown on immigration, the ridiculous posturing on flags, the empty sloganeering – and with the constant rebooting in order to jumpstart a broken machine. The result is that government has been reduced to the same intrus...

Politics