UNITED KINGDOM

Sultana announced on Thursday she was quitting Labour to join Jeremy Corbyn’s Independent AllianceJohn McDonnell, independent MP for Hayes and Harlington and former shadow chancellor for Labour from 2015 to 2020, said Labour needs to “ask themselves” why someone like Zarah Sultana would choose to leave.This comes after Sultana, MP for Coventry South, announced she is resigning from the party to join Jeremy Corbyn’s Independent Alliance.The people running Labour at the moment need to ask themselves why a young, articulate, talented, extremely dedicated socialist feels she now has no home in the Labour party and has to leave.Politics isn’t just

Militant group said to want stronger guarantees of a permanent end to the war as Israeli prime minister prepares to fly to WashingtonHamas leaders are close to accepting a proposed deal for a ceasefire in Gaza but want stronger guarantees that any pause in hostilities would lead to a permanent end to the 20-month war, sources close to the militant Islamist organisation have said.Hamas officials met on Thursday in Istanbul to discuss the new ceasefire proposals and later issued a statement confirming they were talking to other “Palestinian factions” before formally announcing a response. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jul/04/gaza-ceasefire-talks-hamas-deal-israel

Ministers raise prospect of regulatory crackdown on sector over court case brought by 62 franchise operatorsMinisters are closely watching a court case in which Vodafone is alleged to have “unjustly enriched” itself at the expense of franchise operators, and have raised the prospect of a regulatory crackdown on the sector.The small business minister, Gareth Thomas, has said he will “track very carefully” a £120m legal claim brought against Vodafone last year by a group of 62 of about 150 franchise operators. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jul/04/uk-government-closely-watching-franchise-operators-120m-legal-claim-against-vodafone Author : Simon Goodley Publish date : 2025-07-04 04:00:00 Copyright for syndicated content

President holds rally after passage of sweeping policy bill and uses slur in speech about estate taxes and bankersTrump’s tax-and-spending bill passes Congress in major win for presidentJeffries has just passed the five-hour mark and has no intention of stopping: “We still got some ground to cover.”“We are going to continue as Democrats to take our sweet time on behalf of the American people because the issues are too significant to ever walk away from,” Jeffries said, to cheers from the Democrats in the chamber. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2025/jul/03/trump-big-bill-tax-spend-latest-voting Author : Robert Mackey (now); Lauren Gambino and Kira