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Lucy Powell agrees Ed Miliband would be ‘good’ as Andy Burnham’s chancellor

Labour deputy leader says she thinks energy secretary would suit Treasury but ‘tittle-tattle’ over posts ‘unedifying’Ed Miliband would make a “good” chancellor to Andy Burnham, Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, has said, ahead of the likely next prime minister’s first major speech on the economy since he returned to Westminster.Powell, who served as Miliband’s chief of staff in opposition and is close to the former party leader, appeared to endorse him to run the Treasury – although some in Burnham’s camp acknowledge such a move could be politically risky. Continue reading...

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Defense official stuns with answer to why US keeps having to restrike same Iranian sites

A senior U.S. defense official has explained why the American military keeps returning to bomb the same Iranian targets it has already struck repeatedly since the conflict began in late February, according to Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin.In a post on social media, Griffin said she pressed the official on why the U.S. has had to go back and restrike sites that have been hit multiple times since February 28, when the war began. The answer, she reported, was that Iran has rebuilt its air defense and missile systems along the Strait of Hormuz in the months since the U.S. bombing campaign wound down on April 7.That reconstitution, the source told Griffin, is why the military is now having to strike areas like Qeshm Island and Sirik that it had already targeted in the past."In the time since the cease fire on 7 April, Iran has reconstituted — thus the targets around the Strait of Hormuz," the official told Griffin.The official acknowledged the scale of the damage already inflicted on Iranian positions while making clear that Tehran has adapted."There is a LOT that is damaged… a LOT… but they moved things around," the source said.Griffin noted that roughly 10 weeks had passed since the April ceasefire was announced — a window during which, by the official's account, Iran was able to rebuild enough capability to draw fresh U.S. strikes.The reporting offers a window into the cyclical nature of the campaign, in which previously degraded Iranian systems are repaired and repositioned, prompting renewed American attacks. The post was amplified by conservative commentator Erick Erickson.I asked a senior defense official why the US has had to go back and restrike these sites that have been hit multiple times since February 28 when the war began. I was told Iran has reconstituted its air defense and missile systems along the Strait of Hormuz since the US bombing…— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) June 27, 2026

Temperature records tumble across Europe as heatwave moves east

More than 191m people in Europe face temperatures over 35C, with extreme heat warnings from Germany to Hungary‘A sad inevitability’: after decades of climate warnings, why is Europe so unprepared for rising heat?Poland, Czechia and Slovakia are braced for record temperatures of over 40C as a heatwave linked to hundreds of deaths in western Europe spreads east.More than 191 million people in Europe faced temperatures of at least 35C on Sunday, with extreme heat warnings in Germany, Czechia, Poland and Hungary. Continue reading...

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The curious case of the cremation ashes left at Newbury racecourse burger van

Urn with loving messages to ‘Gary Bonsor’ to be buried in local churchyard as efforts to find family draw a blankIt is a puzzling story with a still unsolved mystery at its heart: just who is the individual whose cremated remains were left on the counter of a burger van at Newbury racecourse?And why – despite the cremation urn being labelled with a name and a message that hints at a loving family – has no one come forward to claim it? Continue reading...

When it comes to taxing the super rich, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel

Any new tax on the rich won’t raise much money unless many of the exceptions and loopholes are dealt withIn this new era of rampaging oligarchs, nothing may seem as satisfying as slapping a tax on Elon Musk’s new trillion-dollar fortune. What most bothers Americans about federal taxes is that billionaires don’t pay their fair share. As the race to develop artificial intelligence mints more billionaires, policymakers’ temptation to directly tax their brobdingnagian wealth is becoming unbearable.The first state out of the blocks is California, where voters in November will decide whether to impose a one-time tax of 5% on fortunes worth more than $1bn. Given the ease with which plutocrats avoid paying income taxes, the case for this sort of direct tax on their stash appears unassailable. Continue reading...