The Guardian
Trump’s bid to reopen Hormuz pushes region back to the brink
The US has launched Donald Trump’s attempt to open a route through the strait of Hormuz for hundreds of ships trapped with their crews in the Gulf, in a move that has brought the region back to the brink of fullscale war as Iran sought to reassert its...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Here to entertain: Boyle’s pop-culture spectacular
One of the cast of hundreds in You Are Here, the director Danny Boyle’s collaborative celebration of music, dance, theatre and fashion to mark 75 years since the opening of London’s Southbank Centre.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
PM vows to act against protesters ‘venerating the murder of Jews’
Keir Starmer has pledged to crack down on those “venerating the murder of Jews” at protest marches as the UK terror threat level was raised to severe last night after the Golders Green attack. The prime minister promised to do “everything in our power...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Police declare terrorist attack after two Jewish men stabbed
Police are treating the stabbing of two men in London yesterday as terrorism, with the suspect described as hunting for anyone “visibly Jewish” to attack. The stabbings, which took place just after 11am in Golders Green, follow a series of arson...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Charles hails alliance of US and Britain in age of division
King Charles yesterday extolled the importance of Britain’s “special relationship” with the US in a speech to Congress that made pointed reference to the importance of Nato, the defence of Ukraine and the climate crisis. Charles told Congress that...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
No cameras at Trump’s meeting with king
King Charles will be spared the potential humiliation of being upbraided in public by Donald Trump during his state visit after the White House agreed that any meeting between the two men should be held off camera. The king and queen arrived in...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Washington in shock after Trump press gala shooting
A stunned Washington faced searching questions about political violence and gun control last night after shots were fired at a prestigious media gala attended by Donald Trump and senior White House officials. A man targeted a Secret Service agent at a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
PM pushes back against Trump’s Falklands threat
Downing Street was forced to insist yesterday that Britain would not yield sovereignty over the Falkland Islands after a leaked Pentagon email proposed the US should reassess its support for the UK’s claim on the islands because of a lack of support...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Foreign Office shuts unit tracking potential law breaches by Israel
The Foreign Office unit tracking potential breaches of international law by Israel in Gaza and more recently Lebanon has been closed because of cuts within the department, the Guardian can reveal. The decision to close down the international...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
PM isolated as cabinet divisions emerge over Mandelson scandal
Keir Starmer was looking increasingly isolated over his handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal last night, with divisions in cabinet over his decision to sack the senior Foreign Office civil servant Olly Robbins. The Guardian has learned of concerns...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Robbins accuses No 10 of applying huge pressure over Mandelson job
The civil servant sacked by Keir Starmer gave a devastating account of his government yesterday, saying Downing Street had put huge pressure on the civil service to approve the appointment of Peter Mandelson as Washington ambassador despite the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Starmer on collision course with Robbins over Mandelson vetting
Keir Starmer has accused Olly Robbins of deliberately and repeatedly obstructing the truth about the Mandelson vetting scandal ahead of a high-jeopardy appearance of the sacked top official before MPs today. Six days after the prime minister said he...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Commons showdown for Starmer over Mandelson vetting scandal
Keir Starmer will deliver a highstakes statement to MPs today as he struggles to overcome fears inside his government that the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal could yet cost him his leadership. In what is likely to be a dramatic showdown, the prime...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Starmer warned he faces ‘judgment day’ next week
Keir Starmer’s claim he was “staggered” not to have been told of Peter Mandelson’s vetting failure provoked incredulity across Westminster and accusations that he sacked a senior civil servant to save his premiership. Senior government figures said...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Revealed: Mandelson failed security vetting for US role
Peter Mandelson failed his security vetting clearance but the decision was overruled by the Foreign Office to ensure he could take up his post as ambassador to the US, an investigation by the Guardian can reveal. According to a number of sources,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
War windfall: big oil makes extra $30m every hour during conflict
The world’s top 100 oil and gas companies banked more than $30m every hour in unearned profit in the first month of the US-Israeli war against Iran, according to exclusive analysis for the Guardian. Saudi Aramco, Gazprom and Exxon-Mobil are among the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Iran conflict could spark recession with Britain hit hardest in G7 – IMF
A further escalation in the Iran war could trigger a global recession that would affect the UK more than any of the other G7 nations, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Against an increasingly volatile backdrop, the Washington-based fund said...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Pope says he will still speak out against war after Trump criticism
Donald Trump was embroiled last night in a row with Pope Leo, describing the pontiff as not doing a very good job and ‘catering to the radical left’. Leo, who arrived in Algeria yesterday, said at the weekend that the ‘delusion of omnipotence’ had...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Hungary enters new era as election ends Orbán’s 16-year grip on power
Hungary’s opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, has won the general election, ending leader Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power, in a result that is likely to rattle the White House and reshape the country’s relationship with the European...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Netanyahu calls for Lebanon talks after Israeli airstrikes condemned
Benjamin Netanyahu has called for peace negotiations with Lebanon after worldwide condemnation of Israel’s intense bombardment of Beirut and other Lebanese cities, which threatened to undo the dayold US-Iran ceasefire. The Israeli prime minister said...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Fragile ceasefire at risk as Israel bombards Lebanon
The fate of the deal on a two-week ceasefire in the Iran conflict looked uncertain last night as both sides gave divergent versions of what had been agreed, Israel intensified its bombing campaign in Lebanon and Iran halted the passage of oil tankers...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Nasa releases astonishing set of images from Artemis mission
Nasa’s Artemis II astronauts yesterday described their powerful emotions when soaring over the moon as they photographed impact craters, cracks and ridges, and began their long journey home. Among the eagerly awaited images captured by the crew, who...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump says Iran ‘can be taken out in one night’ as peace talks falter
Diplomatic negotiations aimed at halting the war in the Middle East yesterday appeared to be faltering a day before a deadline imposed by Donald Trump, with a threat to destroy Iran’s bridges and attack its power stations. Mediators from Pakistan,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump threatens to unleash ‘hell’ on Iran in expletive-laden tirade
Donald Trump has issued an expletive-laden warning to Iran that it has until tomorrow night to reopen the strait of Hormuz or his forces would obliterate the country’s power stations and bridges. In response, Iran’s powerful parliament speaker warned...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
One still missing after US jet shot down over Iran
One US service member has been rescued after a US F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet was shot down over Iran yesterday, prompting a frantic effort to locate its two-strong crew, in the first such incident of the five-week long war. US officials familiar...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
You have to be serious, Macron tells Trump in rebuke over Nato
Emmanuel Macron sharply criticised Donald Trump’s inconsistent and often contradictory pronouncements on the Iran war and Nato yesterday, saying if “you want to be serious” it was better not to say something different every day. “There is too much...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump ‘absolutely’ considering taking US out of Nato alliance
Donald Trump has said he is “absolutely” considering withdrawing the US from Nato, warning that the matter was “beyond reconsideration” after the refusal of allies to join the US-Israeli war against Iran. The president’s threats, his most determined...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Go get your own oil, Trump tells UK in new outburst against allies
Donald Trump has launched a tirade against European countries that refused to join his war against Iran, calling out the UK and France, as transatlantic relations sour from the spiralling conflict that has wreaked havoc on the global economy. On his...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Scott Mills sacked by BBC over claims about conduct
The BBC has been plunged into a new crisis after sacking the leading Radio 2 presenter Scott Mills over allegations about his personal conduct. Mills, who hosted Britain’s most popular radio breakfast show on the station, was blindsided by the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘Nothing left’: parents tell of day US bombed Iran school
Zahra’s family When Marzieh heard the first bang, an almighty crash that rattled the room, her first thought went to her youngest son, Mohammad. He must have got out on to the balcony and discovered a new game, she thought: using all of his small...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
The woman who introduced models to ‘dear friend’ Jeffrey Epstein
A female executive at the top of the modelling industry had a close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and introduced him to women on the agency’s books. Until last November, Faith Kates ran Next Management modelling and talent agency, which has...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump extends Hormuz deadline, claiming Iran talks ‘going very well’
Donald Trump has extended his deadline for Iran to open the strait of Hormuz by 10 days to 6 April after saying talks with the Islamic republic are “going very well”. The president made the statement yesterday in a social media post, saying: “As per...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Iran rejects US ceasefire proposal amid attempts to keep talks alive
Iran dismissed a US ceasefire proposal yesterday and countered with a plan of its own, as intermediaries sought to keep diplomatic channels between the warring countries alive. Iranian state TV quoted an anonymous official as saying Tehran had...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
US set to deploy airborne troops as Middle East strikes intensify
The US was poised to deploy airborne troops to the Middle East as strikes intensified across the region yesterday and Donald Trump claimed Washington was in “very good” talks with Iran to end the war. Iranian barrages targeted Israel, Gulf Arab states...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Arson attack on Jewish charity condemned by PM
Security agencies are investigating whether a group linked to Iran is behind an arson attack on four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity in north London. The Metropolitan police said efforts to authenticate a claim of responsibility made by a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Triple triumph
Amid a gold rush for the ages, one image became instantly seared on the mind: Georgia Hunter Bell, Molly Caudery and Keely Hodgkinson jumping in pure delirium, before screaming in delight as they revelled in surely the greatest night for British...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump brands Nato ‘cowards’ over war
Donald Trump branded the UK and other Nato allies “cowards” yesterday, amid growing anger among ministers that his war in Iran could jeopardise Britain’s fragile finances. Senior members of the government are in despair about the potential effects on...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘A weight’s been lifted’
Sitting in the House of Commons, waiting for the speaker to call her name last week, the MP Charlotte Nichols was doing breathing exercises to try to keep calm. “I was just trying to get myself into the headspace where I could say what I wanted to say...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘A dangerous escalation’: Israel strikes world’s largest gasfield
Israel struck Iran’s giant South Pars gasfield yesterday, marking a major escalation of the war hours after Israeli forces killed the regime’s intelligence minister and launched some of the most intense airstrikes in Beirut for decades. The attack on...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Farage backs rioter and uses far-right slogans in video clips
Nigel Farage has sold online videos in which he endorsed a neo-Nazi event, repeated extremist slogans and supported a man convicted over his involvement in a far-right riot, the Guardian can reveal. The videos – which the Reform UK leader says should...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Academy Awards
Paul Thomas Anderson’s counterculture caper One Battle After Another has won the Oscars war, taking home six awards after a hotly contested season. The big-budget comedy thriller, inspired by Thomas Pynchon’s novel Vineland, was named best picture and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Britain could send minesweeping drones to help clear vital oil route
Ministers are drawing up plans to send minesweeping drones to the strait of Hormuz amid concerns in Whitehall that complying with Donald Trump’s demand to send ships could escalate the crisis. The government is working on plans to send aerial...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Europe rebukes US for easing Russia oil ban
European countries have pushed back against Donald Trump’s decision to ease some US sanctions on Russian oil amid Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz, insisting pressure must be maintained on Moscow over its war against Ukraine. The UK has joined...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Hidden hand of Putin aids Iran’s tactics, says Healey
Vladimir Putin’s “hidden hand” lies behind Iran’s military methods, the UK defence secretary said yesterday, after a night in which drones struck a base used by western forces in Erbil, northern Iraq. John Healey was speaking after British officers at...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Warship HMS Dragon sails for Mediterranean
The Royal Navy destroyer left Portsmouth yesterday, a week after its deployment was first announced by Keir Starmer. It is expected to take five to seven days to reach Cyprus
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Reeves warns of cost-of-living rise as war on Iran hikes energy prices
Britain was likely to be hit by rising inflation because of the US war with Iran, the chancellor said yesterday as she suggested that a “rapid de-escalation” would be the best protection against an energy price jump. Rachel Reeves stopped short of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Fears for global economy grow as Iran threatens oil facilities
Iran threatened to attack oil facilities in neighbouring countries yesterday after Israel struck at least five energy sites in and around Tehran, smothering the city in black smoke and escalating fears that the conflict will result in significant...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Trump demands Iran’s unconditional surrender
Donald Trump said yesterday that only Iran’s “unconditional surrender” would end the offensive launched a week ago, as the US and Israel carried out some of the heaviest bombardments so far in the conflict. “There will be no deal with Iran except...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Israel tells 500,000 to flee Beirut ahead of airstrikes
The Israeli military ordered the entire population of Beirut’s southern suburbs to evacuate yesterday, as it continued to bomb Lebanon and Iran, while Tehran launched retaliatory airstrikes against Israel and US bases across the region. The Israel...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
At least 87 dead as US sinks Iranian ship near Sri Lanka
A torpedo fired by a US submarine sank an Iranian warship off the south coast of Sri Lanka, in an escalation of Washington’s war on Iran, as the Trump administration followed through on its threats to destroy Iran’s military and political...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
US and Israel intensify Iran attacks as conflict widens
Israel and the US intensified their attacks on Iran yesterday, launching multiple waves of strikes targeting command and control facilities, strategic state offices and missile launch sites as Donald Trump said he had rejected what he claimed was an...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Fears grow as Iran conflict spreads across Middle East
The war in the Middle East triggered by the joint US and Israeli attack on Iran expanded dramatically yesterday, with casualties and destruction reported across at least nine countries, including major strikes on Tehran. Israeli and US warplanes...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Middle East rocked by a second day of bombing
Donald Trump said yesterday he was prepared to talk to what was left of the Iranian leadership in the wake of the killing of the country’s supreme leader in airstrikes aimed at overthrowing the regime. Trump was speaking as a second day of intense...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Green delight sparks nightmare for Labour
Keir Starmer is facing an ultimatum from his own party to change direction or face a leadership challenge within months after the Greens humiliated Labour with a historic byelection victory in the Manchester seat of Gorton and Denton. Overturning a...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Drop in migrant workers ‘will be a car crash’ for NHS and care homes
UK hospitals and care homes face “an impending car crash”, experts have warned, as research shows the number of nurses and care workers coming from overseas has collapsed. Analysis of Home Office quarterly datasets reveals the number of foreign nurses...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Damning report exposes scandal of NHS maternity unit ‘cover-ups’
Hospitals that cause harm and injury to women and babies during childbirth often resort to a “cover-up” of their mistakes, falsify medical records and deny bereaved parents answers, a damning report has found. “Negligent” care had devastating...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Zelenskyy appeals to Trump to visit Kyiv
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appealed to Donald Trump to visit Kyiv, in a video address on the fourth anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, and said Ukraine would not betray its people in any negotiations with Russia. Zelenskyy said Putin...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Mandelson arrested on suspicion of misconduct over Epstein links
Peter Mandelson was arrested yesterday by detectives investigating claims he committed misconduct in public office during his friendship with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Video footage showed the former British ambassador to the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ministers reveal £4bn package to support pupils with special needs
Ministers will reveal a “generational” overhaul of special educational needs support today, pledging £4bn to transform provision in schools in England and warning councils they could lose control of Send services if they fail to meet their legal...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Baftas
The Baftas film awards winners are announced tomorrow, and the event is shaping up to be one of the most competitive in years. Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another leads the field across several categories, with Ryan Coogler’s black vampire...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
King says ‘law must take its course’ after Andrew arrest
King Charles has declared “the law must take its course” after detectives took the unprecedented step of arresting his brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Police took him to Aylsham police station in Norfolk...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Taking the stand
Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg rejected in court yesterday a lawyer’s suggestion that he had misled Congress about the design of its social media platforms, at a landmark trial over youth social media addiction. Zuckerberg was questioned on his...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘We stood on his shoulders’
The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights campaigner who was prominent for more than 50 years and who ran strongly for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, died yesterday. He was 84. “Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family,...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Anger as PM abandons plans to delay May elections
Keir Starmer has been forced to abandon plans to delay local elections with less than three months’ notice in another policy U-turn that has prompted anger among his own MPs and scorn from opposition leaders. The prime minister is under fire after...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Gold medals at the double on super Olympic Sunday
Tabby Stoecker and Matt Weston celebrate gold in the team skeleton, securing Britain’s best-ever day at the Winter Games after Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won Team GB’s first gold on snow in mixed snowboard cross.
Read Full Story (Page 1)
High court rules ban on Palestine Action unlawful
Judges have humiliated ministers by insisting Palestine Action should not be banned under anti-terrorism laws in a ruling that has left thousands of its alleged supporters in legal limbo. The high court said yesterday the government’s proscription of...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Ukrainian in helmet row barred from Olympic race
Vladyslav Heraskevych accused the International Olympic Committee of doing Russia’s propaganda for them after he was barred from racing in the Winter Games because he wanted to wear a “helmet of memory” in honour of Ukraine’s war dead. In one of the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek dies aged 48
James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for playing the lead in hit 1990s teen drama Dawson’s Creek, has died from cancer aged 48. “Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Streeting still intent on deposing PM despite united front, say allies
Allies of Wes Streeting expect him to try to depose Keir Starmer within weeks despite the health secretary insisting he backs the prime minister and is not intending to move against him, the Guardian has been told. Starmer attempted to regain...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
‘I’m not prepared to walk away,’ embattled Starmer tells MPs
Keir Starmer has seen off an immediate challenge to his position from Labour’s leader in Scotland, telling his MPs that he was “not prepared to walk away” from power and plunge the country into chaos. But the prime minister emerged badly damaged from...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Starmer fights to regain control over party after McSweeney exit
Keir Starmer is fighting to reassert control over his party after accepting the resignation of his closest adviser, Morgan McSweeney, amid anger over the appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador. After days of pressure over the scandal, his...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Snoop Dogg hits the Olympic curling rink
This was an opening ceremony for the ages: effortlessly chic, bewitching and divine. Milan simultaneously delivered a three-hour love letter to Italy, and a plea for hope and harmony in a fractious world. But not everyone in the 60,000 crowd at the...
Read Full Story (Page 1)
Revealed Private jet owned by Trump friend used for ICE deportation flights
On the morning of 21 January, Israeli authorities left eight Palestinian men at a West Bank checkpoint. Disorientated, cold and dressed in prison tracksuits, they carried their few belongings in plastic bags. Hours earlier, they had been sitting with...
Read Full Story (Page 1)