11 h. ago Trump asks Supreme Court to allow him to end humanitarian parole for 500,000 people from 4 countries

President Donald Trump's administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow it to end humanitarian parole for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from four countries

Politics

20 h. ago New stats show New Zealand still has more sheep than people. But that could change

There are about three sheep per Australian

Politics

21 h. ago Yes, New Zealand still has more sheep than people. But humans are catching up

New Zealand is still one of a few countries in the world where sheep outnumber people

Politics

38 h. ago UN experts demand action to avert ‘annihilation’ of Palestinians in Gaza – Middle East crisis live

More than 20 experts call on countries to act or ‘witness the slaughter of innocents’‘Desperate people’: Gaza faces wave of looting, theft and violenceThe Dutch government, seen as one of Israel’s most loyal allies in the European Union, is calling for an urgent review of the EU Israel association agreement, the basis for the EU-Israeli free trade agreement, the Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp told the Guardian.Veldkamp described the Israeli ban on the supply of aid into Gaza as “catastrophic, truly dismal” and in clear breach of international humanitarian law.You cannot starve the people of the Gaza Strip. It is against international law. It’s morally wrong. It’s dangerous. I don’t think it’s in Israel’s own interest. Continue reading...

Events

69 h. ago Israel will move Gaza's entire 2million population to 'humanitarian zone' under plan to 'conquer' the strip and hold it indefinitely

Gaza has been under total Israeli blockade since March and faces a severe humanitarian crisis, with more than 52,000 people killed since the start of the conflict, per health officials

Politics

6 d. ago Does human rights law really stop the UK controlling migration? No – and Keir Starmer knows that | Jamie Burton

It would be wrong for Labour to collude in the attack on the European convention. It’s fuelled by myths and false narrativesHere’s a recent quote from a Downing Street source: “We have to be able to say something on this that isn’t just defending the status quo.”The aide was discussing the European convention on human rights (ECHR), a postwar treaty to protect the freedoms of people in Europe, ratified by the UK in 1951. Although it was also central to Keir Starmer’s entire pre-political career, his government is looking to water down some of the key provisions.Jamie Burton is a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers. Finnian Clarke, also a barrister at Doughty Street, co-authored Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Beachgoers 'leave human waste in gardens' and people are 'peeing in bins'

Residents near a popular beach claimed there was "human waste" in their gardens and jet-skiers were "splashing about under the influence of alcohol" at a council meeting

Politics

7 d. ago Email mistake reveals secret plans to end research on Head Start and other child safety net programs

A Department of Health and Human Services employee has emailed dozens of people this week, mistakenly including plans to slash research related to child safety net programs

Society

7 d. ago Equalities watchdog lashes out at critics of Supreme Court trans ruling who question judges' 'integrity'

Baroness Falkner, the chairwoman of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) the said it was unacceptable for people to question the integrity of Supreme Court justices.

Events

7 d. ago I’m an evolutionary expert. Here’s who would really win in a fight between 100 men and a gorilla

A gorilla can make ‘human-mash’ with one hand, but people fight dirty, writes Renaud Joannes-Boyau

Science

8 d. ago 28 people taken ill after visiting UK tourist attraction in suspected outbreak

Cryptosporidium comes from parasites that live in the faeces of infected animals and can cause illness in humans - at least 28 people have fallen ill in a suspected outbreak

Science

8 d. ago Katy Perry labels herself 'a human piñata' as she lashes out at 'unhinged and unhealed' people who left her 'battered' after Blue Origin space flight

Katy Perry has described herself as 'a human pinata' after she was repeatedly mocked online following her Blue Origin space flight organised by Jeff Bezos.

Politics

8 d. ago Deadly Syria clashes continue for second day outside Damascus

At least 11 civilians and security officials killed in Druze-majority areas around the capital on WednesdayAt least 11 civilians and security officials were killed in clashes in a town near Damascus on Wednesday, state media reported, the second consecutive day of fighting in Druze-majority areas around Syria’s capital.Reports said fighting had started overnight in the town of Ashrafiah Sahnaya, south-west of Damascus, after unknown gunmen attacked a security checkpoint. An attack on the Druze-majority Damascus suburb of Jaramana a day earlier left at least 10 people dead, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Katy Perry labels herself 'a human piñata' as she lashes out at 'unhinged and unhealed' people who left her 'battered' after Blue Origin space flight criticism

Katy Perry has described herself as 'a human pinata' after she was repeatedly mocked online following her Blue Origin space flight organised by Jeff Bezos.

Politics

9 d. ago It’s time for the US to guarantee healthcare to all | Bernie Sanders

We spend almost twice as much per capita on healthcare as any other country on Earth. It’s time to change thatI have held public meetings all over Vermont and in many parts of the country. At these gatherings I almost always ask a very simple question: is our healthcare system broken? And the answer I always receive is: Yes! The American healthcare system is broken. It is outrageously expensive. It is horrifically cruel.Today, we spend almost twice as much per capita on healthcare as any other country on Earth. According to the most recent data, the United States spends $14,570 per person on healthcare compared with just $5,640 in Japan, $6,023 in the United Kingdom, $6,931 in Australia, $7,013 in Canada and $7,136 in France. And yet, despite our huge expenditures, we remain the only major country on Earth not to guarantee healthcare to all people as a human right.Bernie Sanders is a US senator and a ranking member of the health, education, labor and pensions committee. He represent...

Politics

1 week ago Equalities watchdog under pressure to scrap new guidance on trans people using single sex spaces

Interim guidance published by the equalities watchdog risks outing trans people and breaching human rights, campaigners warn

Events

1 week ago We now leave navigation to our phones. The result: more of us are getting hopelessly lost | John Harris

The blue dot of GPS has cut us off from a basic human skill. It’s no wonder mountain rescuers are being called out so oftenIt does not involve protest or violence, but it might be the quintessential human image of our times: a small group of people in the midst of spectacular natural scenery, drawn there in the certainty that the apps on their phones could somehow get them from A to B to C – but utterly, hopelessly lost.Two weeks ago, Mountain Rescue England and Wales published figures showing a record number of annual callouts. For the first time, in fact, teams – of overworked volunteers, mostly – had been called out on every day of the year. Between 2019 and 2024, the total number of rescues had increased by 24%, and there was a marked jump among the 18 to 24 age group, among whom callouts almost doubled. Similar trends were evident in data from Scotland: across Britain, there is evidently a mounting problem about the gap between people’s urge to experience wild and open spaces, ...

Politics

2 w. ago MSP defends Supreme Court ‘bigotry’ comment after claim it puts judges at risk

Maggie Chapman told a transgender rights demonstration ‘bigotry, prejudice and hatred’ had come from the UK’s top court.

Events

2 w. ago ‘Marriage feels like a hostage situation, and motherhood a curse’: Japanese author Sayaka Murata

The Convenience Store Woman author is renowned for challenging social norms in darkly weird near-future fiction. She discusses sex, feminism and her struggles to be an ‘ordinary earthling’“I have had relationships with humans, but I’ve also loved a lot of people in stories,” Sayaka Murata, the Japanese author of the bestseller Convenience Store Woman, confides a few minutes into our interview. “I’ve been told by my doctor not to talk about this too much, but ever since I was a child, I’ve had 30 or 40 imaginary friends who live on a different star or planet with whom I have shared love and sexual experiences.”It is 7pm in Tokyo, mid-morning in London. Sitting upright at a desk in an empty publisher’s office, the 45-year-old author – wearing a cream silk blouse and with a neatly curled bob – might be reading the news rather than discussing imaginary friends. For context, her latest novel to be translated into English, Vanishing World, depi...

Events

2 w. ago The Guardian view on Sudan’s third year of conflict: a war against civilians | Editorial

The ambitions of two generals and the interests of other states have led to the massacre of adults and children already forced to flee their homesSudan has begun its third year of civil war in the bleakest manner imaginable: mourning the massacre of hundreds of civilians and relief workers in displacement camps in Darfur. What began as a power struggle between generals has led to the killing of tens of thousands of people and widespread sexual and ethnic violence. The International Rescue Committee says the result is the biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded: 640,000 people face catastrophic hunger. Basic services and infrastructure, already woefully inadequate, have been destroyed.“One thing that has been consistent since day one,” the Sudanese activist and commentator Dallia Mohamed Abdelmoniem observed this week, “[is that] it’s a war on civilians. Now, I think we’ve become so desensitised to it, that doesn’t make much of a difference any more. There’s no impact.” Continue re...

Events