Top World News

Conservative leader defends plan to extend free childcare to high earners, as Tory conference begins in Birmingham todayOn Friday the Times revealed that Katie Lam, the communities secretary, told a meeting in private earlier this year that the state pension system needs a fundamental overhaul.Speaking in June, when she was a frontbencher but not yet in the shadow cabinet, Lam was asked at a meeting with activists if she thought the pensions triple lock was sustainable. She replied:Ultimately I think what we will need in the end is an entirely new pension system.I mean, a baby that is born today has a 20% chance of living to be 100 and I don’t think we can fund one in five people half of their lives, you know, for the first 20 and the last 30 years. But obviously if you are 90 you probably can’t go out and get a job right, so I think you have to be realistic about how you would taper that and bring that in across the population.The fact is, the triple lock and pensions are things that people have contributed to.Conservatives believe that if you have contributed, then you deserve to get your state pension. Continue reading...

Considered Republican frontrunner for presidential election, Vance is cozying up to the movement – as it splitsJD Vance, widely considered to be the Republican frontrunner for the presidential election in 2028, is aligning himself with the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) movement as some say it is shedding its grassroots supporters in favor of political and corporate interests.The US vice-president has positioned himself as the inheritor of Make America Great Again (Maga), and attaching himself to Maha, which many in the Trump administration believe helped to win the 2024 election, signals a greater overlap between the two movements as the administration’s popularity plummets amid the war in Iran and rising prices. Continue reading...

Global campaign group 350.org urges Cop31 hosts to announce a coal phase-out date and national roadmaps to get off fossil fuelsSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereThe hosts of the next major United Nation climate conference, Turkey and Australia, are facing criticism for being partners in a coal supply chain while remaining near silent on the need for a global deal to rapidly get off fossil fuels.With the Cop31 summit in the Turkish Mediterranean city of Antalya just a month away, the two countries running the fortnight-long talks have been accused by activists of a “vacuum of action” on plans for a transition away from coal, gas and oil – a key goal of many nations at the talks. Continue reading...

Annual population growth for the North American nation has slowed to just 0.5% – and the economy is ‘adjusting’Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWould slashing net overseas migration “trash the economy” or deliver the necessary population “reset” to restore Australia’s stagnant living standards?Labor and an ascendant One Nation have presented starkly different visions of what a migration program in the national interest looks like. Continue reading...

Attack happened shortly after Friedrich Merz arrived in city, on unannounced visit intended to underline Germany’s backingRussia has struck another major bridge in Kyiv as the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, arrived in the capital in a show of support for Ukraine.A Russian drone hit Kyiv’s key Northern Bridge over the Dnipro River, marking the fourth consecutive day that Russia has targeted bridges used by thousands of residents commuting between the city’s two banks. Video footage showed cars driving across the bridge as the drone plunged into the roadway and exploded in a burst of fire. Two people were injured in the strike, said Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Continue reading...

The co-pilot, identified as Hamam al-Hammami from Oman, attacked the captain of the flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv on Wednesday.

Immigration court judge finds ‘unsafe journeys’ policy was applied unlawfully to two familiesA decision by the Home Office to block mothers and children in Gaza from joining their families in the UK has been quashed by a court.Families abroad who have had their applications approved to reunite with loved ones in the UK usually have to undergo biometric checks, including fingerprinting and facial images at a visa application centre. But the VAC in Gaza has been closed since October 2023 and it is difficult to get out of the territory. Continue reading...

Rallies have been mainstay of president’s brand but even some in his own party fear voters are sick of the sight of him“Get your asses in that car.” That was Donald Trump’s order, he later recalled, to his motorcade after foul weather grounded Air Force One in Texas on Thursday. The 85-mile dash to Oklahoma at nearly 100mph was proof that nothing can keep Trump from a Trump rally.Which might not be the good news for Republicans it once was. As the US president embarked on a 32-day campaign blitz aimed at helping them defend narrow congressional majorities in next month’s midterms, some fear that he is driving them towards an electoral wipeout. Continue reading...