‘I’m over the moon’: New York’s small business owners rejoice as Mamdani cuts red tape 25. July 2026 (13:00) Initiatives including cutting permits just to serve ice-cream amount to a sweeping program of deregulationRed Scare? The democratic socialist mayor of New York City spent this week talking about red tape.On Tuesday, Zohran Mamdani – the politician at the center of a revived rightwing panic about socialists and purported communists winning elections across America - posted a video on X of himself putting a sheet of paper with the phrase “RED TAPE” into a paper shredder. Other pieces of paper, with phrases like “cumbersome fees and fines” and “a permit you need just to serve ice-cream”, were shredded too. The video, set to Wu Tang Clan’s If Time Is Money, shows Mamdani joining a handful of city officials and small business owners throwing the resulting paper shreds into the air like confetti. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Treasure as trinkets: Zendaya’s earrings renew debate on ownership of ancient artefacts 25. July 2026 (13:00) Jewellery made from BC Iran worn at Odyssey photocall throws spotlight on the trade of rare archeological findsThe Odyssey has stormed cinemas, but while its take on the Homeric epic has created ripples among western classicists, it is an actor’s earrings that have made waves further afield.Zendaya, who portrays the goddess Athena in the movie, provoked outrage when she appeared at a London photocall wearing earrings that were allegedly made from Iranian artefacts dating back to the 1st millennium BC. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
India’s education minister resigns amid Cockroach youth movement protests 25. July 2026 (12:37) Dharmendra Pradhan steps down after demonstrations over exam leak scandal, in major victory for protestersIndia’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has resigned after a week of mass demonstrations, handing a major victory to a new youth movement that has posed an unprecedented challenge to Narendra Modi’s government.In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Pradhan said he had submitted his letter of resignation to the prime minister after student pressure. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Southport killer ‘trying to retraumatise families from cell’, says lawyer 25. July 2026 (12:18) Comment follows news Axel Rudakubana was transferred from prison to psychiatric hospitalThe lawyer for the families of Axel Rudakubana’s victims has said the Southport killer is “trying to retraumatise the families from his cell” after it emerged he had been transferred from prison to a psychiatric hospital.Rudakubana, now 19, was given a life sentence for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Shameful’: Pentagon accused of cover-up over US military casualties in Iran war 25. July 2026 (12:00) No press briefing has been held for months, as the defence department belatedly or inaccurately releases figuresThe Pentagon is taking a “shameful approach” to releasing information about US casualties in the Iran war, Leon Panetta, a former defence secretary and CIA director, has told the Guardian.The defence department has not held a press briefing for two-and-a-half months. Officials have faced accusations that they are engaged in a cover-up designed to hide the true cost of Donald Trump’s war of choice in Iran, fearing a public backlash before November’s midterm elections. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
What’s behind Maga influencer Laura Loomer’s about-face on Ukraine? 25. July 2026 (12:00) After a Kyiv visit, rightwing firebrand now supports Ukraine – but perhaps it’s just because Trump favors a winnerLaura Loomer, the online Maga provocateur, has never worked in the White House or anywhere else in the government, but her sudden conversion to the Ukrainian cause this week is significant because her social media posts often have real policy implications in the second Trump administration.The rightwing commentator has spent the last few days in Kyiv, where she announced a newfound sympathy for Ukraine in its long war with Russia, and admitted that she had previously fallen for Russian propaganda. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Nobody was there for us’: mother urges Andy Burnham to reopen case of daughter killed in Texas 25. July 2026 (12:00) Lucy Harrison, 23, was shot in 2025 with her father’s gun. He was never arrested and a grand jury chose not to indict himLucy Harrison felt that 2024 was her best year yet. The 23-year-old had graduated from university with first class honours, landed her dream job and bought her first house with her boyfriend.She was a “big girl adult” now, Lucy would say. She shed tears of joy seeing her idol, Taylor Swift, at Wembley on the Eras tour that summer. Life could hardly get any better. “All the hard work, all the tears, everything was coming to fruition,” said her mother, Jane Coates, from Warrington in north-west England. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Entire Cairngorms village evacuated as raging wildfire nears 25. July 2026 (11:45) Major incident declared over blaze which started 11 days ago as wind strengthensA major incident has been declared over a wildfire that has been raging in the Cairngorms national park for more than a week, police have said, with a whole village having been evacuated.Officers from Police Scotland said there had been a significant change in weather conditions, with strengthening winds making a fire that has been burning out of control for 11 days yet more difficult to contain. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Maybe he’s a racist’: Donald Trump takes bizarre swipe at NBA great LeBron James 25. July 2026 (11:35) US president responds to question about NBA’s ‘best ever’James backed three candidates who ran against TrumpIn a bizarre response to being asked to weigh in on the basketball careers of Michael Jordan and LeBron James, the US president Donald Trump said that James might be “a racist”.In Friday’s White House press conference, the Fox News reporter Peter Doocy mentioned that James intends to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, then asked the president whether Jordan or James is the “best ever”. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Home Office rejects Palestinian Jerusalemite woman’s UK visa but approves husband’s 25. July 2026 (11:25) Officials said they were not satisfied Therese Abdallah was a ‘genuine visitor’ and believed she would not leave after visit to son in LondonA Palestinian Jerusalemite who lives in London has been left devastated after a planned trip by his parents had to be cancelled when the Home Office ruled his mother was not a “genuine visitor”.Karim Abdallah, who has lived in the UK since 2019, was looking forward to hosting his parents, Therese Abdallah, 69, a retired English teacher, and his father, Ghassan Abdallah, a psychologist, for a few weeks. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
