Upblog
Australia federal election 2025 live: Albanese aiming for ‘back-to-back wins’ as Dutton makes final pitch; 8.5m cast early vote
Peter Dutton facing double threat in Dickson Dickson candidates Ellie Smith and Ali France are both cautiously hopeful of a historic victory over Libe...
Trump order targeting law firm Perkins Coie is unconstitutional, judge rules
A federal judge on Friday permanently struck down Donald Trump’s executive order that targeted the firm Perkins Coie, which once worked with his 2016 ...
Trump asks supreme court to allow Elon Musk’s Doge access to social security data – live
The state of Maine has notched a win in its battle over whether trans girls can participate in girls’ sports. The state reached a settlement on Friday...
‘Literary scandal’, ‘joke-a-minute’, ‘captivating’: the best Australian books out in May
I Want Everything by Dominic Amerena Fiction, Simon & Schuster, $34.99 This debut novel luxuriates in the lies it weaves. Dominic Amerena is a con...
Are actors getting better (and ‘bett-ah’) at Australian accents?
Australian actors have been putting on different accents for so long, and so undetectably, that one often stumbles upon surprise Aussies in films and ...
How to avoid ‘fast furniture’ and deck out your home with goods that will last
You’ve heard of fast fashion – but what about fast furniture? It’s the cheap stuff churned out in mass quantities with little regard for quality, all ...
Six Swarthmore College students suspended over pro-Palestinian camp
Over the first two days of May, a total of six Swarthmore College students were interim suspended for the creation of a campus encampment earlier in t...
Israel says airstrikes in Syria are ‘message’ to protect Druze minority
Israeli warplanes have carried out a series of airstrikes outside Damascus and across Syria, after warnings from Israeli officials that the country wo...
Australian election mini and micro party guide: how to avoid a vote you might regret in the Senate
The most recent federal election proved politics is no longer a two-horse race, with a record 16 independents and minor parties elected to the crossbe...
Australian election: interactive map, federal seat explorer and electorates guide – from safe to marginal
Notes In the election there will be a total of 150 electorates. This is one fewer than at the 2022 election, as two electorates were abolished due to ...
Prince Harry says king ‘won’t speak to him’ and he would ‘love’ to be reconciled
The Duke of Sussex has said it is “impossible” for him to bring his wife and children back to the UK after losing his legal challenge over personal se...
Five Great Reads: Heather Graham, Ozzy Osbourne, and the dirtiest race in Olympic history
Top of the weekend to you all. For Australian readers yet to cast your vote, here’s something to consider on your way to the polling booth. And a reco...
Bullish Lando Norris qualifies in third place for F1 Miami sprint race
Lando Norris wants only to focus on his racing as he attempts to re-establish his challenge for the Formula One world championship this season. The Mc...
Negative Spurs narrative can change with silverware, says Postecoglou
Ange Postecoglou says the only cure for the anxiety at Tottenham is for the team to end their 17-year wait for silverware. The manager felt the mood i...
‘A big, big talent’: Arteta excited by Dowman’s potential to be next Arsenal star
Mikel Arteta has tipped Max Dowman to be the next Arsenal teenager who can break into the first team and described the 15-year-old as a “big, big tale...
Arne Slot hopes title triumph will help Liverpool secure transfer targets
Arne Slot believes the emphatic nature of Liverpool’s title triumph and the emotional celebrations that followed will help the club beat off competiti...
Manchester City 1-0 Wolves: Premier League – as it happened
Will Unwin’s match report is here – time for me to say goodbye. Cheers for tuning in. KDB speaks to Sky and says he still doesn’t know what his future...
De Bruyne sinks Wolves to help Manchester City close in on top-five finish
Manchester City and Kevin De Bruyne know how to time a run perfectly, even if their long-lasting relationship is coming to an end. The Belgian’s dart ...
Battle royal: how Prince Harry’s four years of family exile unfolded
Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex made the decision to step away from royal duties in September 2020 as tensions mounted between the Sussexes and...
LS Lowry painting bought for £10 in 1926 sells at auction for £800,000
A rare painting by LS Lowry bought for £10 has sold at auction for more than £800,000. The painting, Going to the Mill, was bought by the literary edi...
Puerto Rico drops climate lawsuit after DoJ sues states to block threats to big oil
Puerto Rico has voluntarily dismissed its 2024 climate lawsuit against big oil, a Friday legal filing shows, just two days after the US justice depart...
Jack Draper strolls into Madrid Open final as clay breakthrough rolls on
When he arrived in Madrid two weeks ago, Jack Draper was still just trying to find his rhythm on clay, a surface he knew he could play well on but one...
Brilliant Zhao Xintong beats O’Sullivan with session to spare to reach final
Zhao Xintong produced an amazing display of attacking snooker to knock out his hero, the seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, with a session t...
Corrections and clarifications
• An article (National park visitors warned of catastrophic wildfire risk, 19 April, p24) included a quote from Tom Hind, who is CEO at the North York...
State Man romps home in Punchestown as Constitution Hill flops again
State Man, who was denied a repeat success in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham in March when he fell at the final flight, gained a measure of compens...
Prince Harry loses legal challenge over police protection in UK
The Duke of Sussex has lost a legal challenge over the level of taxpayer-funded security he is entitled to while in the UK, allowing the government to...
English local elections: Farage says ‘it’s the beginning of the end of the Conservative party’ after sweeping Reform wins – as it happened
This blog will be closing shortly. Thank you for reading the updates and for commenting below the line today. There are still some council results to ...
Five years on: how Covid changed sport for better and for worse
Sound the trumpets, beat the drum, let loose the buttock-rockets of hope. One of the strangest and most unsatisfying things about the Covid‑19 pandemi...
Prince Harry tells the BBC of his pain, and it’s queasy viewing. But who will switch it off?
Well, isn’t this a plot turn? You switched on for the latest cinematic episode of Prince Harry fights the fight – not against the Mirror this time, no...
Somerset v Essex, Middlesex v Kent, and more: county cricket day one – as it happened
Joe Root and Harry Brook pulled on their Yorkshire boots to warm up for the Zimbabwe Test. It didn’t go entirely to plan on a 16-wicket day at Heading...
Government ready to back plan for ban on Premier League games abroad
The government is ready to back plans to add provisions to the football governance bill that would prevent the Premier League and EFL from staging com...
AfD ‘extremist’ label sets up political high-wire act for Friedrich Merz
The decision by Germany’s domestic spy agency to call the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party “extremist” amounts to the starkest move yet by ...
Measles outbreak: how contagious is it and what are the symptoms?
Twenty-five years ago, the US eliminated the measles virus. Measles is extremely contagious, and sporadic cases and outbreaks are expected. But as of ...
Championship relegation lurking for Stoke, Derby, Preston, Luton or Hull
It is high season for engravers, a fertile few weeks for after-dinner speakers to make hay at elaborate end-of-season dos, but not every Championship ...
Syria calls Israeli air strikes on Damascus a ‘dangerous escalation’
Syria’s new rulers have angrily denounced raids launched by Israel’s air force against unidentified targets near the presidential palace in Damascus, ...
Farage claims Reform UK local election gains ‘beginning of the end’ for Tories
Nigel Farage claimed he had broken the grip of Britain’s two main political parties as Reform UK gained an MP and swept to a string of victories in En...
Weinstein accuser breaks down while recounting experiences in rape retrial
A woman who alleges Harvey Weinstein forced oral sex on her broke down under intensely personal cross-examination during her fourth day on the witness...
‘My moment of glory’: Nicolas Cage lookalikes assemble in London
On a sunny, bustling late afternoon outside a cinema in Soho, central London, more than 100 people have gathered, a number of whom sort of, if you squ...
Wall Street and European markets finish week on a high after US jobs report
Markets on both sides of the Atlantic rose on Friday after hiring in the US slowed less than expected in April, offering a glimmer of hope that the wo...
Anti-immigrant Reform UK makes broad gains in English local elections
Britain’s anti-immigrant and Trump-aligned Reform UK party has made sweeping gains in English local elections, challenging the traditional political d...
The Guardian view on Reform election victories: a barometer of disillusionment
There is no such thing as a “safe” parliamentary seat. Last July, Labour won Runcorn and Helsby with a majority of 14,696 and more than 50% of the vot...
The Guardian view on Tate Modern at 25: a monumental success
The novelist Ian McEwan tells a good story about the opening party for Tate Modern on 11 May 2000, when he was introduced to the then prime minister, ...
Reform UK’s victories are just the latest chapter of political fragmentation
Fragmentation in British politics is not new. Disillusionment with the choices on offer is not new. The two-party share of the vote has been below 70%...
Farage has declared a new dawn before, but this time things could really be different
In May 2014, Nigel Farage stood in front of the television cameras and declared his party’s victory in the European elections was “about the most extr...
Premier League team news: predicted lineups for the weekend action
MANCHESTER CITY v WOLVES Friday 8pm Sky Sports Premier League Venue Etihad Stadium Referee Peter Bankes This season G21 Y85 R3 4.19 cards/game Manches...
Election results and the rise of Reform UK reflect a broken voting system
The sudden apparent collapse in support for Labour witnessed in Thursday’s elections was perhaps not unexpected. While long predicted, it has taken ma...
Those who prefer a map to an app abound in the age of GPS
John Harris’s observations on the implications of using unsuitable phone apps for navigation when walking in the wilds resonated with me (We now leave...