The Guardian World

Closures within chain formerly under the WH Smith brand raise fears of high streets becoming ‘postal deserts’

Towns and even city centres face being left as “postal deserts” after it emerged that more than a third of post offices within the troubled TG Jones chain are closing.

So far this year 36 branches within the high street chain formerly known as WH Smith have closed and a further 34 are set to close by early 2027, according to Post Office records analysed by the Guardian.

Established under the Franco dictatorship, the lunchtime ritual is in decline but all is not lost

A little before lunchtime each working day across Spain, evidence of one of the lingering, if less notorious, legacies of the Franco dictatorship is carefully traced in chalk, marker pen and printer ink.

Beckoning to hungry workers from blackboards, whiteboards and pieces of paper hastily taped to windows, the competitively priced menú del día, or daily set-price lunch, has been part of everyday Spanish life for more than half a century. But while 4m menús are still served each weekday, Spain is slowly losing its appetite for the familiar ritual.

Security forces to include elite units usually used for counter-terrorism after worst street violence in years

France will deploy about 70,000 police around the country on Saturday as the government seeks to prevent more civil unrest after some of the worst street violence in years erupted on the fringes of cost-of-living protests last weekend.

The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said on ⁠Friday ⁠the security forces would include elite units usually used for counter-terrorism operations and hostage rescues, adding that there had been social media calls for violence from “ultra-left” groups.

Chancellor says government to commit hundreds of millions to develop ‘distinctively British’ approach to AI

John Healey has pledged to use Wednesday’s budget to harness the power of artificial intelligence to bolster Britain’s security and prosperity against the risks in the accelerating global technology arms race.

As he prepares for his debut budget, the chancellor said that Andy Burnham’s government would commit hundreds of millions of pounds to develop a “distinctively British” approach to AI that would capitalise on the benefits of the frontier technology.

The prime minister has defined and dominated his country’s politics for three decades and is putting his rivals on the defensive before Tuesday’s general election

They chant his name, they cheer and clap – and yet he is not the most dominant person in the room. Looming over the crowd that has gathered to hear Gadi Eisenkot, the former general who is the lead opposition challenger in Tuesday’s Israeli election, is a man who is not there. It is the man Eisenkot seeks to replace as prime minister, the man who first served in that role three decades ago and who has held it, on and off, for 19 of the past 30 years. It is Benjamin Netanyahu.

Naturally, the warm-up speakers at this evening rally in the modest city of Modi’in, halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, stress the virtues of Eisenkot, a son of working-class Moroccan Jews who rose through the ranks to become chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces and entered politics only four years ago. But every sentence might as well end with two words that go unspoken: unlike Bibi.

Humble breakfast staple at heart of trend stirred up by health concerns and hearty spoonfuls of nostalgia

The clocks may be going back in the UK this weekend, but the biggest sign winter is coming is a steaming bowl of porridge on a breakfast table.

A staple for centuries, porridge is traditionally made with oats, water and a pinch of salt or sugar. However, the humble dish is now experiencing its own renaissance, with the latest iterations transforming it from drab to decadent. The trend is being driven by a growing fibre-centric movement as well as by nostalgia.

The Senate candidate denounced opponent Ken Paxton, calling out corruption allegations and support from Musk

James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Texas, has taken aim at Elon Musk, warning that the tech mogul is trying to buy political influence and declaring: “Texas is not for sale.”

Talarico held a campaign rally on Friday at the University of Texas at Austin, packing an auditorium at his alma mater with hundreds of students and other supporters, who cheered, whooped and waved campaign signs.

Super typhoon weakening but large parts of Taiwan, including Taipei, still mostly closed and flights cancelled

Typhoon Champi swept past Taiwan on Saturday killing one person, injuring more than 500, and uprooting trees and severing power as it weakened and ⁠headed north toward ⁠the ​Chinese coast.

Earlier classified as a super typhoon and one of the strongest storms in the ⁠Pacific this year, Champi was still packing gusts of about 126km per hour (78 miles per hour) near its ⁠centre, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA).

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With less than two weeks until the midterms, my colleague Jonathan Freedland and Guardian US columnist Moira Donegan are answering your questions in this week’s episode of Politics Weekly America.

They break down the final stretch ahead of these hugely consequential elections, that will decide control of Congress in Donald Trump’s final two years of office.

Letters from federal prosecutors represent latest escalation as Trump continues to make claims of voter fraud

Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice said may belong to noncitizens, according to the Los Angeles county registrar and a letter obtained by the Associated Press.

The letters are the latest escalation in a legal battle between California and Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, which has recently focused on the state in its efforts to root out noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections.

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth alleges Confucius Institutes operating in disguise on US university campuses

The ⁠US defense department has designated Chinese-funded cultural centers on university campuses ⁠known as Confucius ⁠Institutes ​as a threat to US national security, defense secretary Pete ⁠Hegseth said on Friday.

Washington has long accused Confucius Institutes of being Chinese propaganda ⁠tools and has taken steps to ​crack down on them.

WA politician says he considered attending Senate estimates virtually but was told it would be ‘unacceptable’

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Jordon Steele-John has confirmed he will not attend parliament next week as the embattled Greens senator apologises for publicly releasing the letter outlining the claims against him.

On Saturday afternoon, Steele-John removed a social media post containing a three-page letter marked as “confidential” sent to the Greens leader, David Shoebridge, earlier this month. The letter urged an investigation into allegations he had acted inappropriately towards women between 2017 and 2025.

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Independent MP now serious but stable, according to update from Melbourne’s Alfred hospital

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Independent MP Helen Haines’s condition has been downgraded to serious but stable after she lost both legs following an alleged attack near her electorate office in north-east Victoria on Monday afternoon.

The Alfred hospital in Melbourne provided an update on Haines’s condition on Saturday morning.

US secretary of state makes comments after Trump tells US rally warships could intervene on return from Iran

Marco Rubio urged Cubans seeking political change in their country to act, saying “now is the time” moments after Donald Trump told a Friday rally for candidates in south Florida that US warships could intervene in Cuba on their way back from the Iran war.

The US secretary of state, in his social media post addressed “to those who seek to create positive change”, urged Cubans to capitalize on Trump’s plans. “The disappointment of failed promises, corruption, and the privileged lives of only a few; seize this opportunity to create the change you desire through a discrete [sic] partnership with the CIA,” Rubio said.

Parts of Queensland, Victoria and South Australia can expect severe storms on Saturday, moving into NSW and Tasmania by Sunday

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Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain will sweep across most Australian states this weekend, adding to the deluge in an already drenched Queensland.

Flash flooding in south-east Queensland this week prompted hundreds of SES callouts and the closure of multiple schools. On Saturday morning, the Bureau of Meteorology had nine flood warnings in place for south Queensland.

Kaylub Giamanco recounts the day he confronted the Silver Rail elementary school shooter, who killed three boys and one teacher

The Oregon father hailed as a hero for stopping a school shooting last week spoke for the first time about the incident, describing his experience and how he told a 911 operator: “I have to go in. People are going to die.”

Kaylub Giamanco, a 36-year-old carpenter, has received national attention and praise for stopping the bloodshed at Silver Rail elementary in Bend, Oregon, where his children attend school.

Campaigners call lack of progress ‘staggering’ as online regulator issues review of first nine months of new regime

Landmark online safety measures have failed to limit the proportion of children suffering harm from social media, the UK’s online regulator has admitted, in an assessment branded “staggering” by campaigners.

The proportion of children being fed unsafe content that often left them frightened, confused and upset, was almost unchanged, according to an Ofcom review of the first nine months of supposedly strict requirements on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram.

David Shoebridge’s newly-minted leadership under pressure over handling of misconduct allegations as Senate estimates looms

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More than a week after allegations that Greens senator Jordon Steele-John had behaved inappropriately towards women made headlines, his position in the party remains in limbo and its new leader’s handling of the issue in question.

David Shoebridge’s first major challenge at the helm of the federal Greens came earlier this month when the Nine newspapers reported a three-page letter had been sent to him urging an independent investigation into Steele-John.

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Dozens of schools in Cornwall also affected as Storm Boelo heads for Scotland, Northern Ireland and north of England

Thousands of homes are without power and schools were closed as the first named storm of the year hit UK shores.

Storm Austen brought severe conditions to parts of the south-west, with a gust of 76mph recorded at St Mary’s airport on the Isles of Scilly on Friday morning. By 3pm, more than 31,000 homes in the south-west were without power, according to National Grid.

Rodney Hinton ran over Larry Henderson after he viewed body-cam footage of police shooting dead his son Ryan

An Ohio man who killed a deputy with his car just hours after seeing video of his son killed by Cincinnati police was found guilty of murder and other charges on Friday, according to authorities.

Rodney L Hinton, 40, faces between 15 years and life in prison after his convictions in the death of Hamilton county special deputy Larry Henderson. His sentencing is tentatively scheduled for 16 November.