The Guardian

Thousands of police deployed to Erfurt in central Germany as AfD holds conference on key Nazi date Riot police have clashed with opponents of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party on the streets of Erfurt in Germany, where thousands met to block roads and prevent AfD delegates from attending the party’s biennial national conference to elect its leadership. Police reported 20,000 p…

Former worker at Metropolitan on Park Lane in London says he had to share tips with managers and other staff A Mayfair casino is facing legal action from a former waiter who says he was not given a fair share of tips. The former worker at the Metropolitan Mayfair – part of the Metropolitan Casinos group owned by the US investment firm Silver Point Capital, which operates seven casinos in the UK a…

Exclusive: Analysis finds lower reading fluency than children from other ethnic backgrounds and richer peers A third of disadvantaged white pupils in England leave their primary school unable to read well enough to access the secondary curriculum, leading to disengagement and school absence, according to new research. The findings were published days after an independent inquiry into white workin…

Exclusive: £20bn of ‘potential’ £30bn AI investment touted by UK ministers appears to have been hypothetical It was to be the biggest undertaking in Britain for OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Stargate UK – a multibillion-pound UK datacentre project – would represent “a major step forward in the US-UK technology partnership”. But the plans were paused in April , with an OpenAI spokesperson ci…

El Obeid becomes key battleground in war between Sudan’s armed forces and their paramilitary enemies, the RSF Fatima is losing count of the number of drone attacks on the besieged city of El Obeid in Sudan, but says the attacks this past weekend were the most violent so far. The drones hit schools and fuel stations, killing more than 20 people, including students, she says. “Over the past few mon…

Guardian reports after the disaster told of 5,000 deaths, much of the capital being razed, and doubts about Mexico hosting the finals Mexico last hosted the World Cup in 1986 , but the competition was almost cancelled several months before the start when an earthquake struck the capital, Mexico City, leaving at least 5,000 people dead, 30,000 homeless and much of the city flattened, in one of the…

Oasis tune has been sung from Texas to Massachusetts and soon in Mexico City – and the players have joined in too It has become England’s World Cup anthem more three decades after it was first released, being belted out by fans from Texas to Massachusetts. Wonderwall by Oasis will soon be heard in Mexico City too, where the Three Lions will face the tournament co-hosts Mexico on Sunday evening – …

Cornell Lab for Ornithology plans data linkup between app and population monitoring on eBird platform The Merlin bird ID app will allow users to feed real-time bird identifications into one of the world’s biggest citizen-science biodiversity projects in an update it is hoped will aid conservation of at-risk birds. Since 2021, the free Merlin app, created by the Cornell Lab for Ornithology, has us…

Officers found the body of a 34-year-old man in a luxury rental home in the Pattaya area, local media says A 21-year-old British woman has been arrested in Thailand after allegedly fatally stabbing her boyfriend, according to local media reports. The Bangkok Post reported that on Thursday morning local time, officers found the body of a 34-year-old man, who operated a cannabis farm, in a luxury r…

Prime minister holds no ‘personal animosity’ toward Burnham and emphasises success at improving NHS waiting lists and ‘stabilising economy’ Labour “should go on to win the next election” under his likely successor, Andy Burnham, Keir Starmer has said, based on what he has achieved while in power. In his first interview since he announced he will quit as prime minister, Starmer also said he held n…

Savings plans for children born between January 2025 and December 2028 launched as president seeks electoral boost Trump accounts, a savings vehicle named after the US president and authorized by congressional Republicans, are set to go live on Saturday, offering American parents a new way to save money for their children by investing in funds managed by major Wall Street firms. All accounts esta…

Up to 30 million people expected to attend delayed events for Ali Khamenei, killed at start of war with US and Israel The funeral of the former Iranian supreme leader has begun as the gates of the sprawling Grand Mosalla mosque in central Tehran let in thousands of mourners who had been waiting through the night to enter the grounds. Iran is staging mass funeral processions for Ali Khamenei – who…

The programme, aimed at keeping 1m girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, withdrawn after aid cuts A leading higher education programme, aimed at keeping 1 million girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, has been axed by the British government just two years after it was announced. The scheme, Strengthening higher education for female empowerment (SHEFE), which …

Brexit means ‘home fee’ qualification ends in 2028, leaving those hoping to study in UK not now eligible for loans British teenagers living in the EU could be priced out of UK universities in two years’ time as a Brexit rule change means they face the double whammy of paying costlier international fees, while losing access to student finance. British passport holders living in the EU still qualif…

Politicians across Celtic nations braced for constitutional turmoil if Reform continues to rise The rise of Nigel Farage has prompted political leaders across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to game the unthinkable: the break-up of the United Kingdom. Unionists who wish to save the union and nationalists who wish to end it are bracing for constitutional turmoil if Reform UK emerges …