Latest articles

The GuardianScandalSouth East England
‘Army of Christian patriots’: how a black-clad vigilante group swarmed Portsmouth

‘Army of Christian patriots’: how a black-clad vigilante group swarmed Portsmouth

Daniel Thomas has spent months trying to unify the UK’s disparate far right to form a disciplined anti-migrant forceJust a few days ago, Daniel “Tommo” Thomas let a group of fellow far-right sympathisers in the north-west of England into a secret. “Groups of men all across the United Kingdom are joining up as one, as one group of resistance,” said Thomas, a convicted kidnapper who is a former bodyguard to Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. “Something is about to go down and it is about to send a fucking shock wave. What is the end goal of all of this? It is to start something that will then snowball. Once we pull this off it will then snowball across the country.”The trigger event prophesied by Thomas in a YouTube video last week came to pass on Saturday morning, when hundreds of masked men dressed in black appeared on the streets of Dover. By occupying key roundabouts at 7am, the group caused a 4-mile-long queue of traffic along the A20, closing it in both directions. Perhaps more significantly, a uniformed gathering that brought to mind the black shirts of Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in the 1930s forcefully grabbed the nation’s attention.

6h ago
The GuardianEconomyUSA & Canada
Canada’s retaliatory US tariffs take effect as trade dispute grows

Canada’s retaliatory US tariffs take effect as trade dispute grows

Counter-measures covering several sectors come after Trump announced 50% tariffs on Canadian goods Canada’s retaliatory tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of American imports have come into effect, escalating a that has been marked by intensifying tensions between US president Donald Trump and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney.The tariffs took effect at 12.01am on Tuesday, and range from 15% to 50% and apply to products covering $20bn in imports from the US. The measures target sectors including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics – industries that have been most affected by US tariffs.

6h ago
The GuardianScandal
UK to adopt tougher stance on Israel with illegal settlements trade ban

UK to adopt tougher stance on Israel with illegal settlements trade ban

Ed Miliband to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move likely to draw fierce criticism from US and IsraelEd Miliband will announce what he has described as a on Tuesday, promising the government will take a more active approach in supporting the Palestinian cause.In an intervention that is expected to draw fierce criticism from the US and Israel, the foreign secretary will impose a UK ban on the trade in goods and some services from illegal Israeli settlements. He has also told civil society groups he is determined to reassert the call for a two-state solution to the conflict with an appeal for the protection of Palestinian rights and respect for international law.

15h ago
The TelegraphHumanityFrance
Eiffel Tower workers strike after female staff removed during Hindu visit

Eiffel Tower workers strike after female staff removed during Hindu visit

The Eiffel Tower was forced to close on Monday after staff went on strike over the removal of female employees during a private visit by a Hindu religious group. Members of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (Baps) an ultra-conservative Hindu denomination from India, visited the tower on Saturday as part of wider celebrations to inaugurate a temple built by the group near Paris.

12h ago
The TelegraphScandalSouth East England
The far-Right activist leading the protests

The far-Right activist leading the protests

Danny “Tommo” Thomas, a convicted attempted kidnapper, is a leading figure in the protests against Channel migrant arrivals by hundreds of balaclava-clad men in Dover and Portsmouth. The 37-year-old former soldier helped organise the protests under the banner of “Patriot Platform”, a group which he set up in June to “reclaim our borders, restore order and send a clear message: Britain belongs to the British”.

16h ago
The GuardianHumanityUSA
‘Nakedly political’: US attempts to link trans support to authoritarianism in new health department report

‘Nakedly political’: US attempts to link trans support to authoritarianism in new health department report

HHS releases report linking ‘gender ideology’ to political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conductedThe US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a linking “gender ideology” to leftwing authoritarianism and political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conducted and “nakedly political”, likely leading to greater politicization of science and health.It follows attempts by the administration to limit access to gender-affirming care – including, on Friday, an reached between the Department of Justice and a New York hospital to no longer offer pediatric gender-affirming care. Dozens of hospitals stopped offering gender-affirming care after the Trump administration began investigating them for offering the standard of care.

23h ago
The GuardianCompaniesUnited Kingdom
UK retailers to create 100,000 placements for young people out of work

UK retailers to create 100,000 placements for young people out of work

In partnership with DWP, firms such as John Lewis and M&S plan to offer 18- to 24-year-olds placements of two to four weeksUK retailers plan to create up to 100,000 short-term placements for young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) over the next three years to give them a first step on the ladder to paid work.In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), more than 40 retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Pets at Home, Asda and the John Lewis Partnership, will offer Neets aged 18-24 placements of two to four weeks to gain “the skills and confidence needed to take their first step into work”.

5h ago
The GuardianHumanitySouth East England
Why does the hard right have such a high tolerance for domestic abusers in their midst?

Why does the hard right have such a high tolerance for domestic abusers in their midst?

The ‘stop the boats’ narrative is increasingly presented as if it stems from a concern for women’s safety. This is just the laundering of thuggeryIt was a busy weekend for the insurgent and hard right, as Reform party delegates redoubled their commitment to women’s safety by and Patriot Platform, a new group established by Danny Tommo, real name Daniel Thomas, arrived in Dover on Saturday, then Portsmouth on Sunday, dressed in balaclavas. No arrests were made in Dover, and therefore the protest was deemed peaceful. “A message was sent!” Thomas exclaimed later on his socials. “Now imagine how powerful the next message will be.” The next powerful message of peace the following day spurred from Hampshire police, alongside some smashed windscreens (of police cars) and advice for local people to avoid the area.The “stop the boats” narrative, along with a lot of Reform’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, has become increasingly bound up with a concern for the safety of women and children. It might be a , in which he doesn’t want his daughters sharing a neighbourhood with men “who broke into the country illegally, about whom we know next to nothing”, or it might be that the nation is prepared to “sacrifice British women and girls on the altar of diversity”. Protesters outside hotels housing asylum seekers get all their righteous wrath from the danger posed to women from foreign nationals, and Thomson stated his aims straightforwardly on Instagram – posting video of Saturday’s protest, he wrote: “Protect our country! And more importantly our women and children! This is our warning!”

18h ago
The GuardianElectionsGermany
‘It breaks my heart’: far-right’s big election victory sparks dismay in German state capital

‘It breaks my heart’: far-right’s big election victory sparks dismay in German state capital

Fears expressed for immigrants and for country’s future after AfD vote hits historic high in Saxony-AnhaltMaryam and her best friend were ambling through Magdeburg toward the railway station, talking over the dramatic events of the previous evening and the surge by the far-right Alternative für Deutschland .“Don’t laugh at me,” she said, “but I wish we could go back to the days of Angela Merkel, when things were OK in Germany”.

4h ago
The GuardianElectionsGermany
German chancellor vows to stay in office despite AfD triumph in state election

German chancellor vows to stay in office despite AfD triumph in state election

Friedrich Merz said his conservative CDU was shaken ‘to its very foundations’ after far-right victory in Saxony-AnhaltA “shocked” and chastened Friedrich Merz has vowed to stay in office despite that has brought anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin politicians within striking distance of power.The German chancellor, appearing ashen-faced in front of reporters in Berlin, said on Monday that the landslide victory by the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt had shaken his conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) “to its very foundations”.

16h ago
The GuardianElectionsGermany
Merz says ‘shock’ AfD victory in key German state ‘is an election result we cannot simply move past’ – as it happened

Merz says ‘shock’ AfD victory in key German state ‘is an election result we cannot simply move past’ – as it happened

German chancellor says vote for far-right party ‘will have repercussions’ across the countryAfD’s Chrupalla continues in this vein, saying the German public wants to see a change in direction, and specifically saying the electorate is “fed up” as the government keeps “transferring billions of our tax money to Ukraine … instead of using it for our own population.”He says the party has “a clear mandate” to rule in Saxony-Anhalt and will hold discussions with others about what can be done.

18h ago
The GuardianElectionsEngland
Tuesday briefing: What happens next after Germany’s far-right breakthrough?

Tuesday briefing: What happens next after Germany’s far-right breakthrough?

In today’s newsletter: The AfD’s local election triumph has shocked Europe, and raised questions about how to counter the rising far rightGood morning. Across Germany – and Europe more widely – there has been a palpable sense of shock and disbelief after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) swept to in the early hours of Monday.It was, according to France’s European affairs minister, Benjamin Haddad, “a very grave moment for Europe”. The resonance was stark in the UK too: as the results came in, hundreds of were battling with police for a second night along England’s south coast.UK news | Batons and synthetic pepper spray were used to repel hundreds of masked, black-clad vigilantes in Portsmouth on Sunday, , as the policing minister said officers had been injured as they repelled organised “aggression”.Israel | Ed Miliband will announce what he has describedof the UK’s relations with Israel on Tuesday, promising the government will take a more active approach in supporting the Palestinian cause.US | The Trump administration over Downing Street’s plan to force digital platforms to hand more prominence to established broadcasters, warning the move risks “facilitating censorship”.Climate crisis | Nepal is demanding for the recent devastating floods, as a senior minister called on the world’s most polluting countries to “wake up” and accept shared responsibility.UK politics | There is little appetite for cuts to disability benefits even among Conservative and Reform voters, and proposals to reduce spending could prove politically risky, according to an .

4h ago
The GuardianElectionsGermany
Far-right AfD win in Germany is ‘grave moment’ for Europe, politicians warn

Far-right AfD win in Germany is ‘grave moment’ for Europe, politicians warn

Mainstream politicians express alarm while lead candidate in Saxony-Anhalt welcomes congratulations from Elon MuskMainstream politicians around Europe have expressed alarm after the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) swept to a , while nationalist figures cheered the result as a mandate for change.While falling just short of an absolute majority, the AfD surged into first place in the Saxony-Anhalt state election on Sunday, exit polls ⁠showed, putting the far right within reach ​of power at ‌the state level for ‌the first time since the second world war.

23h ago
The GuardianBasketballUSA
Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham have been stalked. They’re far from alone in the WNBA

Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham have been stalked. They’re far from alone in the WNBA

Players generally welcome interacting with their fans. But as the league’s popularity surges, there are dangers to be aware ofCaitlin Clark spent most of the 2025 WNBA season sidelined with a series of injuries that forced her to miss more than 30 games. But she also spent part of the season (and the preceding offseason) quietly navigating a tumultuous and scary reality: a 55-year-old man , and he was convinced they were in a relationship.That man, Michael Lewis, to two-and-a-half years in prison last July. Lewis sent Clark “hundreds” of messages – many of which were “threats and sexually explicit” – between 12 December 2024 and 11 January 2025. Lewis, who is from Texas, was arrested at a hotel in Indianapolis, where Clark plays for the . The case took a toll on Clark: she said she feared for her safety and had changed her appearance in public.

1h ago
The GuardianInformationChina
How the Nepal-Tibet disaster became the latest victim of China’s ‘Clean Internet’ campaign

How the Nepal-Tibet disaster became the latest victim of China’s ‘Clean Internet’ campaign

The online campaign used to focus on tackling cybercrime and hacking but has since expanded to suppress information that differs from official narrativesTsering Phuntsok watched news of the Nepal-Tibet flood unfold from thousands of miles away in southern India. The 46-year-old Tibetan in exile has missing family members on both sides of the border; those in Nepal are named in official government lists, but in Tibet he has received no information.“I have started praying for the lost ones now. I have to accept they will not return [because] … I’m not getting any information.”

7h ago
The TelegraphEducationYorkshire & the Humber
Badenoch: Labour is letting gang violence close Middlesbrough schools

Badenoch: Labour is letting gang violence close Middlesbrough schools

Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of “allowing gang violence to dictate the lives of law-abiding citizens” in Middlesbrough as more schools prepared to close for the funeral of one of the A66 joyriders. Four schools will shut early on Monday afternoon to “ensure safe transit home for all our families”, in response to concerns about disruption caused by the funeral of Theo Rae, which will take place nearby.

21h ago
The TelegraphScandalSouth East England
The live-streamed call-to-arms that brought hundreds to migrant protest

The live-streamed call-to-arms that brought hundreds to migrant protest

“Call everyone you know,” Daniel Thomas, a hard-Right activist, shouted to his YouTube followers as he ran towards a small beach just outside Portsmouth where dozens of migrants were about to be brought ashore. Tensions had been running high across the south coast throughout the day after reports that a “mega-dinghy”, carrying 120 migrants, was making its way across the Channel, from a Normandy location previously unused by people smugglers.

14h ago