Sources close to Tory leader say Jack Ross, who faces party investigation after undercover report, worked as social media consultant
A former Conservative election candidate who was suspended after he was filmed discussing the cost of hiring contract killers worked as a consultant in Kemi Badenoch’s office as recently as last year.
Jack Ross is facing an investigation by the Tories after he was filmed apparently asking an undercover reporter: “What do you want done?” and apparently offering to “broker” the services of an alleged far-right paramilitary group.
Almost 1,000 arrested as police charge crowd in Paris and teargas used to stop protesters reaching other city centres
Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren’s demands for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his final months as president.
The prosecutor’s office in the southern city of Nice said on Sunday that 59 people had been taken into police custody, including 11 suspected of belonging to extreme-right groups. They were alleged to have gathered with the intent of committing violence. Some were arrested in two vehicles with masks, gloves, gas sprays and truncheons, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement to public broadcaster FranceInfo.
This gives the company an advantage in tracking objects in orbit, raising national security concerns and fears of greater control over the space industry
The US military has given Elon Musk’s SpaceX access to restricted space tracking data, raising a new round of questions about whether the Trump administration is attempting to hand over traffic control in Earth’s orbit to a controversial donor.
The access also raises new national security questions, industry observers say.
Experts say Bank of England unlikely to increase rates by full percentage point – and could lower them by end of 2027
Financial markets are wrong to predict the Bank of England will raise UK interest rates by a full percentage point or more by next summer, City economists believe.
According to market-implied interest rate expectations, the Bank is likely to raise interest rates at least four times over the next year, lifting the bank rate from 3.75% today to 4.75% by the end of July, and possibly to 5% – meaning five rises – by December 2027.
Irish and Welsh authors Chris Haughton and Nicola Davies show solidarity after Rooney’s support for Palestine Action
The children’s laureates for Ireland and Wales are donating royalties from their works to Sally Rooney in a show of solidarity after she was forced to stop selling books in the UK because of her support for Palestine Action.
Chris Haughton, Ireland’s children’s literature laureate, said he also wanted to demonstrate the “absurdity” of the bestselling author being unable to receive royalties from her own UK sales because of her public support for the direct action group.
Exclusive: Forensic analysis of found images continues as Meghan’s father denies possessing child sexual abuse images
All signs point to Thomas Markle Sr being a “possible sex offender of the grossest kind” although a full forensic investigation will give a “definitive picture”, the Philippine interior minister has told the Guardian.
Authorities in the south-east Asian country are analysing digital images allegedly belonging to the estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex that were said to have been found at his former home in Cebu. Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, reported to authorities last week that he had apparently discovered a stash of child sexual abuse images.
Stakeholders concerned more people at risk of food insecurity after One Big Beautiful Act took effect
Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) has decreased significantly over the past year in the US following restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, which has forced more people to seek help from food banks or go hungry, stakeholders say.
The number of people who receive food stamps has dropped from 41.6 million in July 2025, before the One Big Beautiful Act took effect, to 36.5 million in June 2026, a 13% decrease, according to the latest data from the US Department of Agriculture, which administers the program.
Police closed case of Andrew Frederick despite autopsy report ruling his death a homicide
A time-critical investigation into the death of a British father whose body was found in a ransacked property on the Caribbean island of Grenada has stalled because of diplomatic delays between the two countries.
Charity workers supporting the family of Andrew Frederick are demanding immediate government intervention to clear the path for a full investigation to begin almost 10 months after his death, which has been ruled a homicide by a pathologist.
Teesside town has come out worst in children’s commissioner’s report, but residents say such rankings are demoralising and counterproductive
“It’s disappointing, it’s just another kicking,” said a youth worker after the town in which they work was labelled as the hardest place in which to be a child in England.
“It suggests our children are living unhappy lives,” said a teacher, who described her pupils as joyful.
For three decades, the recruitment industry treated Andrew Woosnam well.
Having learned his trade during the 1990s, he graduated to create his own firm at the turn of the millennium – which allowed him to bank millions of pounds in salary, dividends and loans and to buy assets including a grand house in Berkshire once owned by the comedians Dawn French and Lenny Henry.
Insolvent businesses reacquired by their previous management in “pre-pack” administrations are much more likely to fail again and tend to repay far less to creditors, research for the Guardian suggests.
The study is the latest to raise questions about the practice of “phoenixism” – accounting’s controversial art of liquidating companies to allow directors to return with a new entity, free of debts.
Reality TV show returns to focus on childbirth, diversity and the sharing of stories in a social media age
When One Born Every Minute first aired in 2010, viewers loved its fly-on-the-wall take on life in a maternity unit, from midwives idly chatting about unusual pregnancy cravings to parents squabbling over whether to call their child Zeus.
Almost two decades later, as the show is rebooted for a generation who spend their lives on social media, much has changed. Parents now share far more about their struggles with miscarriages, infertility and mental health; audiences have to be lured away from watching reels on their phones with more rigorous storytelling.
From pub toilets and private parties to football terraces and far-right marches, cocaine has become a familiar presence across modern Britain. Deaths linked to the drug have risen to record levels, while its supply supports a multibillion-pound criminal industry.
But who is using the drug, and how has the picture changed? The figures do not necessarily show millions of new users, but highlight an established market in which some people take more cocaine, more often – and face greater harm as they grow older.
Novelist says demise of Britain’s ‘incredible’ welfare system and housing struggles have led to deeper divisions
The novelist Zadie Smith has said that inequality has made culture clashes feel “existential”, adding that it has become “natural to look to your left and think ‘who the fuck are you?’”
In an interview with Dua Lipa as part of the Southbank Centre’s London literature festival, Smith argued that the demise of Britain’s “incredible, historic” welfare system has led to greater divisions.
British police are recording a growing number of crimes linked to cocaine, including assaults, domestic abuse and dangerous driving, as figures show consumption has surged across England.
A Guardian investigation has found police forces across Britain recorded a 10% rise in crime rates associated with the class A drug since 2019, while the Home Office estimates cocaine usage at sites across England has risen by 26% since 2021.
PM Benjamin Netanyahu vows ‘to destroy this place’ in retaliation for militant attack on army checkpoint
Israeli troops have levelled a neighbourhood in Hebron, driving out hundreds of families in collective punishment for a militant attack on an army checkpoint outside the West Bank city, local Palestinian authorities said.
The Hebron municipality estimated that 35 hectares (86 acres) had been destroyed or marked for destruction and about 1,500 people had been evicted from their homes by Saturday afternoon in the district of Ein Deir Baha. The whole city of 250,000 people was sealed off by checkpoints on every point of entry.
Humanitarian catastrophe largely ignored as rivals Gadi Eisenkot and Benjamin Netanyahu vow to end Hamas rule
As Israel prepares to go to the polls, Palestinians in Gaza are bracing for an outcome that could shape their future, knowing their fate rests with the country that has reduced much of the territory to rubble and killed nearly 75,000 people.
Gaza, where nearly a million displaced Palestinians face dire sanitary conditions, water shortages and the constant threat of Israeli strikes, has been largely absent from the election campaign.
When Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s long-ruling dictator, was toppled from power in the Arab spring protests of 2011, his downfall sent shock waves across the Middle East. It also helped change the face of modern Manchester.
Mubarak’s successor, the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi, was a sworn enemy of the United Arab Emirates, whose rulers feared the advance of Morsi’s Islamism.
BoM predicts hail, damaging winds, flash flooding and power outages across southern Queensland, western NSW, the ACT and eastern Victoria on Sunday afternoon
Large parts of eastern Australia were put on alert for severe thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon with more potential storms and flood risk in store for Monday.
On Sunday afternoon, the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Sydney, greater Wollongong and parts of Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury, Gosford, Wyong and Wollondilly, Wingecarribee areas.
Australia’s top federal law enforcement official has drawn a direct link between politicians’ rhetoric and threats and abuse being directed at leaders.
The safety of elected representatives at all levels has been thrown into the spotlight after independent MP Helen Haines was allegedly deliberate attacked outside her Wangaratta electoral office.
