Author: staff
Listen on Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music Sky News Is the Labour leadership contest about to get messy and plunge the party into chaos? Sam and Anne start the day expecting Wes Streeting to resign as health secretary to spark a contest, but a new intervention may have changed everyone’s calculations. Angela Rayner has said that an HMRC investigation into her tax affairs is over, paving a way for a challenge. But will she join the contest and can Andy Burnham find a way to enter the fray? The duo analyse the developing situation and ask whether it will be…
The EU’s equality chief Hadja Lahbib told Euronews’ Europe Today programme that conversion therapy is “torture” that can lead to depression and suicide – “and that’s why we need really to react and to combat these practices.” The comments came following a presentation by the European Commission regarding a citizens initiative signed by more than one million signatures calling for a bloc-wide ban on the practice. Instead of meeting the demands, the Commission will next year will put forth the non-binding recommendation that cover actions to increase societal awareness, help victims seek legal action and strengthen medical and psychological support.…
The price of paraffin continues to rise. Tension in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40% of the fuel used by commercial aircraft worldwide passes, has sent airlines’ energy bills soaring. This has brought back to the table a question that many travellers thought they had forgotten: can you get to Spain without taking a plane? The short answer is yes. The long answer is that it depends a lot on where you come from, how much time you have and how much you care about the journey itself. Iberia holds its own, but the industry trembles Iberia’s president, Marco…
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is braced for an imminent challenge to his position with Health Secretary Wes Streeting expected to launch a bid for the leadership of the ruling Labour Party Thursday. It comes as former Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, another potential rival, said she has been cleared of wrongdoing in a tax probe — overcoming a major hurdle to her own potential challenge for the top job. Starmer is still reeling from dire election results in England, Wales and Scotland last week. More than 90 of his MPs have called for him to go — either now…
From the glacial lakes of Banff to the tablelands of Gros Morne, Canada’s national parks offer spectacular vistas that need to be seen to be believed. If you’re visiting this summer, you won’t have to pay a penny to see them either, as Parks Canada is waiving entry fees for all visitors from 19 June to 7 September. Covering all national historic sites, national parks and national marine conservation areas operated by Parks Canada, the offer amounts to some serious savings if you’re planning on visiting a few in one trip. During the same period, you’ll also get a 25%…
The changes at the top of the Commission, introduced when von der Leyen started her second term in December 2024, reflect a broader political shift away from environmental topics — the Green Deal having been a key part of her first term — toward business and defense. The Commission now has its first commissioner dedicated to defense issues, while many European governments have shifted to the political right. As a result, said Sven Harmeling, head of climate at civil society organization CAN Europe, “sometimes it’s not clear which DGs [directorates-general, or departments] are involved,” which “creates challenges in terms of understanding…
The model is simple: national assets remain under national control but can be used collectively when Europe needs them. The ICEYE satellites and ground segment, developed together with Polish industry for the Polish Armed Forces, offers an end-to-end operational system. It is also the first sovereign space capability that will serve their operational units — a system that will be working on European soil, with European technology, under European control. This is why Europe should be developing a concept that we call Constellation Europe: a federated network of more than 1,000 European-owned satellites, combining national systems, commercial assets and institutional…
US President Donald Trump told Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday that the two nations would have a “fantastic future together”. “It’s an honour to be with you. It’s an honour to be your friend, and the relationship between China and the USA is going to be better than ever before,” Trump told Xi as they met for talks in Beijing. Xi, on his end, told Trump that the two superpowers should be “partners and not rivals”. “A stable China-US relationship is a boon for the world. Cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both. We should be partners and…
While 31 percent thought Starmer and his team had changed the country in the right way, “but not enough,” more than half — 56 percent — said Labour has either not changed anything since winning power in 2024 or changed the country for the worse. And a similar proportion — 53 percent — said Labour has no realistic chance of being re-elected whenever the next election comes. For Nigel Farage’s nationalist Reform UK party, by contrast, the verdict is dramatically more positive. Not only is Farage distinctly more popular than Starmer, his party is seen as more likely to succeed at handling key…
In last year’s race for deputy Labour leader the first round of nominations closed just six days after the incumbent, Angela Rayner, resigned. Yet it would take Burnham until June at the very earliest to clear all the necessary hurdles to become an MP. Burnham supporters are asking NEC members to agree an election timetable with a nomination window long enough to include a full by-election campaign, said the three people cited above, all granted anonymity to speak frankly. This would make the timetable more akin to Labour’s three-and-a-half month leadership election in 2020. One of the three people, a…