Composite: Stephen Swintek/Getty Images A cornerstone of the American dream is drifting out of reach. The estimated number of first-time homebuyers in the US dropped to a little more than 1.1 million in 2024, according to data from the National Association of Realtors shared with the Guardian: the lowest level since the NAR started tracking…
A decade after MPs voted to hold the referendum that led to Britain leaving the European Union, a poll has found majorities in the bloc’s four largest member states would support the UK rejoining – but not on the same terms it had before. The YouGov survey of six western European countries, including the UK,…
Portraits celebrating the Windrush generation in the heart of Brixton have been restored after a vandalism attack led to a global outpouring of support. The Windrush Untold Stories exhibition, displayed in Windrush Square, features 20 portraits and recollections of people who arrived in the UK from the Caribbean in the postwar era. The exhibition, a…
Councils run by Reform UK have an average of fewer than 0.5 diversity and equality roles each, it has emerged, calling into question the party’s stated aim to save significant sums of money by cutting such jobs. According to freedom of information requests, across the 10 Reform-run English councils there was a combined 4.56 full-time…
A man shot dead by police while wielding a large machete was approaching a group of women involved in a shopping centre car park brawl that included his wife, police have alleged. The 29-year-old died at the Mount Druitt Westfield in Sydney’s west on Saturday afternoon with the officers involved in the incident hailed for…
France has announced a “historic” accord with New Caledonia in which the overseas territory, rocked by deadly separatist violence last year, would remain French but be declared a new state. “A State of New Caledonia within the Republic: it’s a bet on trust,” the French president, Emmanuel Macron, posted on X on Saturday, hailing a…
David Gergen, a veteran of Washington politics and an adviser to four presidents, Republican and Democrat, in a career spanning decades in government, academia and media, has died. He was 83. Gergen was perhaps best known for a line he summoned for then presidential candidate Ronald Reagan for a TV debate with Jimmy Carter: “Are…
FBI director Kash Patel has denied swirling resignation rumors over reported unhappiness at a justice department decision to close the book on Jeffrey Epstein after administration officials teased a big reveal earlier in the year. In a Saturday social media post, the agency director said: “the conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been. It’s…
Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has issued an apology after its chatbot Grok made a slew of antisemitic and Adolf Hitler-praising comments earlier this week on X. On Saturday, xAI released a lengthy apology in which it said: “First off, we deeply apologize for the horrific behavior that many experienced.” The company went on…
More than $113,000 worth of rare Pokémon cards have been stolen from a Massachusetts shop, according to the store’s owners. Officers responded to a reported break-in at 1st Edition Collectibles, a trading card shop in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on Tuesday. The break-in reportedly happened around 2.30am and the thief stole a handful of Pokémon cards…
