Top World News

Jul 31, 2026 - World

Andrés Felipe Valencia Barrientos found guilty of two counts of assault and not guilty of three of six counts of rapeA British musician and YouTube personality on trial for allegedly violently raping a fan in a Perth hotel has been acquitted of three sexual penetration charges.But the jury found the rapper Yung Filly guilty of two assault offences related to his September 2024 encounter with a 20-year-old woman after a show. Continue reading...

Jul 31, 2026 - World

Geoffrey Watson criticises Victorian government as union administrator warns of ongoing criminality on construction sitesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIntegrity expert Geoffrey Watson SC says “nobody” from the Victorian Labor government has contacted him about his bombshell report alleging corruption in the construction union which he estimated cost taxpayers at least $15bn, as its administrator warned “criminality” still exists in the sector.Watson’s Rotting from the Top report was commissioned by a former administrator of the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) and was tendered during a Queensland inquiry into the CFMEU in February. Continue reading...

Jul 31, 2026 - World

Leftwing Democrats are having their moment in the sun, with Zohran Mamdani in New York, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan and endless calls for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to run for president in 2028. Has Democratic socialism shifted from the political fringe to the mainstream? And can this group lure back the all-important swing voters?Jonathan Freedland speaks to Bhaskar Sunkara, president of the Nation magazine, founding editor of Jacobin and author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme InequalitiesArchive: AP, ReutersWatch Jonathan Freedland on our new Politics Weekly YouTube channelSend your questions and feedback to [email protected] support the Guardian. Go to theguardian.com/politicspodus Continue reading...

Jul 31, 2026 - World

Campaigners worry politicians will have moved on by time of elections in which Marine Le Pen is expected to challengeAs dozens of forest wildfires burned across France this week amid the summer’s fourth brutal heatwave and increasing air pollution, some wondered whether voters’ first-hand experience of the climate emergency would change the political debate ahead of next year’s presidential election.The Green leader, Marine Tondelier, who cut short a tour of France on medical advice that at seven months pregnant she should avoid breathing smoke-filled air in the south-west near a huge wildfire in Gironde, said the political class still had its head in the sand. Continue reading...

Jul 31, 2026 - World

Queensland police fine driver of another car that allegedly caused Yaris to swerve before it hit kerb and catapulted into air – and busA Queensland driver has been fined after being involved in a stunning crash that saw a car become airborne and then stuck in the side of a bus.The drama unfolded at Rocklea in Brisbane’s south on Wednesday evening. A blue Toyota Yaris hit a traffic island and was catapulted into the air before smashing into the side of the council bus. The back of the car was left protruding from the bus. Continue reading...