1 hour ago More than 400 migrants arrive in the UK crossing the Channel in small boats

It brings the total for the year so far to 17,817.

Events

4 h. ago Voices: Could Angela Rayner’s squeeze on landlords hurt the very people it’s supposed to help?

The deputy prime minister’s plans to reform the rental housing market are well-intentioned – and built on ideas first mooted by Michael Gove – but, says James Moore, if they end up restricting supply, renters will suffer the consequences

Politics

5 h. ago ‘The final countdown’: Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez fights for his political life

Series of allegations facing those around the PM have hit the reputation of the socialist-led minority governmentPedro Sánchez could be forgiven for remembering the autumn of 2018 with a deep and nostalgic sigh. Back then, having been in office for just six months, Spain’s socialist prime minister could afford to mock his opponents’ frequently hyperbolic attempts to depict him and his administration as an existential threat to the country.“I know you think I’m a dangerous, extreme leftwinger who’s trying to break Spain apart,” he told the senate at the end of October that year. “I know that everything I do, and everything my government does, is illegal, immoral and even fattening.” Continue reading...

Politics

6 h. ago Senegal women’s basketball team denied US visas, prime minister says

The visa denials come amid a push by the Trump administration to have countries improve vetting travelers

Politics

9 h. ago Voices: Whitehall isn’t working – here’s how the PM can fix it

Keir Starmer complains that the government machine is slow to crank into life when he demands action. To prevent his ‘mission-driven’ domestic agenda from being doomed to failure, the prime minister should first get rid of the Cabinet Office, says Andrew Grice

Events

9 h. ago Iran is the enemy Netanyahu has always wanted to destroy. Even from their bomb shelters, most Israelis support his war | Aluf Benn

Within Israel, Iran is seen as the ultimate threat. The prime minister knows this is his chance to rewrite his bloodied legacy “It’s 1938 and Iran is Germany The Jewish people will not allow a second Holocaust.” Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recited slogans like these incessantly for decades, urging action against the gravest threat to the Jewish state – a nuclear-armed Iran. He conveyed the message to successive US presidents. He presented a bomb cartoon at the UN. At countless Holocaust memorial events he described Iran’s nuclear ambitions as the present-day “final solution”.Netanyahu talked and talked about the pressing Iranian threat, but his listeners were not convinced. They dismissed him as an alarmist whose deadline Iran crossed year after year without deploying a nuclear weapon (it still hasn’t). Netanyahu’s critics at home taunted him as a chicken who would never dare to attack Iran’s nuclear installations – unlike his more decisive predecessors, who had ord...

Events

16 h. ago Senegal women's basketball team members denied US visas, prime minister says

The Senegalese women’s basketball team has scrapped plans to train in the U.S. for the upcoming AfroBasket tournament in the Ivory Coast next month after several players and team officials had their visas denied

Politics

21 h. ago Canada poised to pass infrastructure bill despite pushback from Indigenous people

Bill prioritizes ‘nation-building’ pipelines and mines, causing concern that sped-up approvals will override constitutional rightsCanada’s Liberal government is poised to pass controversial legislation on Friday that aims to kick-start “nation building” infrastructure projects but has received widespread pushback from Indigenous communities over fears it tramples on their constitutional rights.On its final day of sitting before breaking for summer, parliament is expected to vote on Bill C-5. The legislation promised by Mark Carney, the prime minister, during the federal election, is meant to strengthen Canada’s economy amid a trade war launched by Donald Trump. Continue reading...

Politics

23 h. ago Deputy FM accuses Leo Varadkar of reinventing himself after Irish unity comments

Emma Little-Pengelly took a swipe after he said that Irish unity would become ‘centre stage’ if Nigel Farage became UK prime minister.

Politics

24 h. ago Assisted dying Bill: How Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and cabinet members voted

MPs passed a bill which would allow terminally ill adults with a life expectancy of less than six months to end their lives

Politics

29 h. ago Malaysian court drops money laundering charges against jailed ex

A Malaysian court has dropped three money laundering charges against jailed former Prime Minister Najib Razak in a case linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of a state fund

Events

30 h. ago Russian attacks on Ukraine continue as Odesa hit by drones – Europe live

One person was reported killed and 14 injured when Russian drones attacked the Ukrainian city of Odesa overnightNorwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre is about to give a press conference on Norway’s contribution to Nato shortly.Let’s see if he has anything to say on Spain’s objections, too. Continue reading...

Events

33 h. ago New Zealand Prime Minister Luxon talks trade in meeting with China's Xi

The prime minister of New Zealand has stressed the importance of his country’s trade ties with China in a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping

Politics

38 h. ago Thai PM apologises over leaked call with Hun Sen as crisis threatens to topple government

In the phone call, Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra discusses a border dispute with former Cambodian leader and calls him ‘uncle’Thailand’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, apologised on Thursday for a leaked phone call with former Cambodian leader Hun Sen that provoked widespread anger and threatened to break up her ruling coalition.As pressure grew on Thursday, Paetongtarn apologised at a news conference alongside military chiefs and senior figures from her Pheu Thai party. Continue reading...

Events

42 h. ago London MP resigns from the government in protest over proposed welfare cuts

The resignation follows a backlash from MPs over Sir Keir Starmer’s planned welfare reforms

Politics

43 h. ago Donald Trump delays decision on Iran strikes as Keir Starmer calls for restraint

The US president said he would decide on military action within the next two weeks

Politics

43 h. ago From Beersheba to Babylon: Netanyahu casts himself as liberator of Iran

Speaking at a hospital hit by an Iranian missile, the Israeli prime minister invoked ancient Persia as he hinted at a historic missionIt was in the Beersheba, about a thousand kilometers and 2,500 years from Babylon, that Benjamin Netanyahu suggested on Thursday that the time had come for the Jews to repay their ancient debt to Cyrus the Great and bring liberation to Iran.The Israeli prime minister had just made a tour of Beersheba’s Soroka hospital which a few hours earlier had sustained a direct hit from an Iranian ballistic missile on one of its buildings. It was for that reason the scene of an escape which was already being dubbed miraculous by Israel’s leaders. Continue reading...

Politics

44 h. ago Thawing of relations between Pakistan and US raises eyebrows in India

Trump ends isolation of country once snubbed so badly Imran Khan had to take the subway to the UN general assemblyAfter years in the diplomatic deep freeze, US-Pakistan ties appear to be quickly thawing, with Donald Trump’s effusive welcome for Pakistan’s army chief, Gen Asim Munir, signalling a possible major reset.Once snubbed so badly that Imran Khan, a former prime minister, rode the New York subway to the UN general assembly in 2019 unescorted, Pakistan is now enjoying top-level access in Washington, including a White House lunch for Munir on Wednesday and meetings with top national security officials. Continue reading...

Politics

44 h. ago The Guardian view on Trump and Iran: Netanyahu’s war has no visible exit | Editorial

The US president promised to keep his country out of conflicts. The Israeli prime minister has other ideasThe maxim that wars are easy to start and hard to end does not appear to be troubling Benjamin Netanyahu. For the Israeli prime minister, conflict is an end as much as a means, extending his political survival. Under international pressure – however belated and insufficient – over the slaughter in Gaza, he launched the attack on Iran. Initially presented as essential to prevent Tehran from the imminent acquisition of a nuclear bomb, a claim running counter to US intelligence, it is increasingly discussed as the path to bringing down the regime. The defence minister, Israel Katz, has said that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, “can no longer be allowed to exist”.Donald Trump has generally seen armed conflict as a trap rather than an escape route. He said that the US would “measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the war...

Politics

45 h. ago Spain rejects Nato plan for member states to spend 5% of GDP on defence

PM Pedro Sánchez says he wants a ‘more flexible formula’ that would make target optional or allow Madrid to opt outSpain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has rejected Nato’s proposal for member states to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP, saying the idea would “not only be unreasonable but also counterproductive”.Sánchez said that he was not seeking to complicate next week’s Nato summit in The Hague, but he wanted there to be a “more flexible formula” that would either make the target optional or allow Spain to opt out. Continue reading...

Politics