June 2023 will mark the end of system that saw babies born aged one, with a year added every 1 January South Korea has passed laws to scrap its traditional method of counting ages and adopt the international standard – a shift that will make its citizens either one or […]

Former SNP Commons leader claims he would have seen off his detractors had he sought reelection Ian Blackford has said he could have won the SNP’s race to elect a new Westminster leader if he had put himself forward. Speaking to TalkTV on Wednesday evening, Blackford, who stepped down as […]

MP for Solihull and chair of DCMS committee has had Tory whip removed ‘with immediate effect’ The Conservatives have removed the whip from Julian Knight after a complaint was made to the Metropolitan police. The chief whip, Simon Hart, removed the Tory whip, meaning Knight no longer sits in the […]

TUC and Unison say government is not negotiating in good faith, while PM accuses union leaders of being ‘unreasonable’ Union leaders have told ministers to stop “hiding behind” pay review bodies in winter strike talks amid warnings that industrial action on the railways could continue for six months. As a […]

Spending watchdog to give speech in parliament following supply scandals, including that involving Lady Mone The government had a responsibility to apply “basic standards” of procurement checks on PPE during the Covid pandemic, the auditor general will say, after scandals over supply, including that involving the peer Michelle Mone. Gareth […]

Michael Gove greenlights £165m project that will produce estimated 400,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year The UK will build its first new coalmine for three decades at Whitehaven in Cumbria, despite objections locally, across the UK and from around the world. Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, gave […]

Twelve-person jury returns guilty verdict against former president’s company after being sent out on Monday to deliberate A jury in New York has convicted the Trump Organization of criminal tax fraud in a stinging rebuke of the former US president’s company. Although Donald Trump was not personally on trial, prosecutors […]

Incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock in tight race with Republican Herschel Walker Not long ago, Herschel Walker took a slim lead, 50.4% to 49.6% (Georgia state results page here) over Raphael Warnock, but a lot of the experts and reporters I’m following here at Guardian central in New York are reporting […]

The environment secretary tells MPs it is ‘not the role of government to provide free food’ or to intervene in markets The government has ruled out making any intervention in the market to help farmers or consumers with high food prices, the environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, has said. Food prices […]

State media referred to ‘rioters’ in killing, a term commonly used by the government to refer to protesters Iranian authorities have sentenced five people to death for allegedly killing a member of a paramilitary force affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard, state media reported. 11 others received prison sentences. The […]