Collapse: Politics

Political breakdown coverage — climate migration, disaster response cuts, resource nationalism, state capacity failure — as provenanced claim-state bundles.

Mourners line Bangkok streets to pay respects to Thailand’s Princess Bha

<p>Funeral procession travels to palace as people remember royal’s campaigning and work for underprivileged</p><p>As the sun began to set on the golden spires and gilded finials of Bangkok’s Grand Palace, the gates waited to open for the return of a princess.</p><p>Since December 2022, Princess Bajrakitiyabha had been in hospital, having collapsed while out training her dogs. After nearly four years in a coma, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/12/thailand-princess-bajrakitiyabha-dies-aged-47">the princess died earlier this week</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/13/bangkok-thailand-princess-bha-royal-funeral-procession-mourners">Continue reading...</a>

Jessie J’s triumphant return puts lucrative Chinese market in spotlight

<p>Other western acts have attempted to crack country’s music scene since singer’s breakout success in 2018</p><p>One week after announcing she was “cancer free”, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/nov/29/jessie-j-interview-cancer-miscarriage-album-dont-tease-me-with-a-good-time">British pop star Jessie J</a> did what any recovering patient would do and travelled thousands of miles around the world to perform for an audience of more than a billion people.</p><p>On 29 May, the singer-songwriter, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, belted out a stage-rattling rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way on the stage of Singer, a hugely popular Chinese singing competition similar to The Voice. She also performed her new song, California, briefly adapting the lyrics to change California to Changsha, the Chinese city where Singer is hosted.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/13/jessie-j-lucrative-chinese-market-westlife-charli-xcx">Continue reading...</a>

An ideological tug-of-war: the pressures facing Iran’s World Cup squad in US

<p>Flag bans, travel headaches and a religious regime video among bumps in road, as team prepares to be first to play in country with which it is at war</p><p>Iran will present a major challenge to Fifa’s “football unites the world” slogan on Monday by becoming the first country in World Cup history to compete on the soil of a host nation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/us-israel-war-on-iran">with which it is at war</a>.</p><p>The national team’s opening match against New Zealand in Los Angeles will kick off amid continuing hostilities between Iran and the US that have intensified in recent days, as a fragile ceasefire has failed to hold and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/11/trump-seize-control-iran-oil-gas-ceasefire">attempts at reaching a negotiated settlement have sputtered</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/12/iran-first-play-war-world-cup-fifa">Continue reading...</a>

Bandits in north-west Nigeria abduct villagers they invited to discuss peace talks

<p>Thirty-nine people taken near Magamin Diddi village in Maradun municipality, north-west Zamfara state, police say</p><p>Armed bandits in north-west Nigeria abducted dozens of villagers whom they invited to a meeting about potential peace negotiations, authorities and residents said on Monday, highlighting the region’s worsening security.</p><p>According to local police, 39 people were seized on Sunday during a meeting in the forest near Magamin Diddi village in the Maradun municipality of north-west Zamfara state. But some residents and officials believe the number of those abducted could be as high as 50.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/08/bandits-in-north-west-nigeria-abduct-villagers-they-invited-to-discuss-peace-talks">Continue reading...</a>

Canada police investigate whether Toronto police death linked to global terror attacks

<p>Constable Marc Pinizzotto, 43, was killed while executing search warrants related to a shooting at US consulate</p><p>Authorities in Canada are investigating whether the killing of a Toronto police officer while he was executing search warrants related to a shooting at the city’s US consulate is linked a broader series of global terror attacks.</p><p>Constable Marc Pinizzotto, 43, a member of the emergency taskforce, was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/11/toronto-police-shot-us-consulate-attack">killed on Thursday</a> during a dawn search of an apartment building in the west of the city.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/12/canada-police-investigate-toronto-police-death-global-terror-attacks">Continue reading...</a>

Canadian mother sues OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT led her daughter to kill herself

<p>Suit filed in US alleges chatbot told Alice Carrier, 24, ‘maybe this is just the end’ as she struggled with suicidal thoughts</p><p>A Canadian mother sued OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, in US court on Thursday, alleging that ChatGPT encouraged her daughter to kill herself. The lawsuit is the latest in a slew accusing the company of failing to address dangerous conversations between users and the company’s chatbot.</p><p>Kristie Carrier said in a lawsuit filed in San Francisco state court that her daughter, Alice, told ChatGPT about her suicidal ideations more than a dozen times leading up to her death but that OpenAI’s safety systems never flagged the conversations for human review or terminated them.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/11/canada-mother-chatgpt-daughter-suicide-lawsuit">Continue reading...</a>

China arrests US academic at conference for ‘espionage activities’

<p>Arrest of Min Zin, who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy, comes just month after Trump visit to Beijing</p><p>China has arrested a US scholar who writes about Myanmar and Chinese foreign policy on suspicion of spying.</p><p>Min Zin was suspected of “engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security,” China’s ministry of foreign affairs spokesperson, Lin Jian, said on Friday.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/12/china-arrests-us-academic-min-zin-espionage">Continue reading...</a>

Global brands ‘likely’ using mineral that funds rebels accused of atrocities in DRC, investigation finds

<p>Amazon and Sony among firms that may have sourced coltan, used in phones, from supply chains controlled by the M23 rebels, says Global Witness</p><p>Leading global brands including Amazon, Ericsson and Sony are “likely” to have sourced minerals linked to a militia accused of widespread sexual violence, summary executions and torture, a new investigation claims.</p><p>The companies allegedly, but unknowingly, acquired coltan smuggled from mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/dec/21/children-executed-and-women-raped-in-front-of-their-families-as-m23-militia-unleashes-fresh-terror-on-drc">occupied by the M23 militia</a>, which has committed myriad atrocities in eastern DRC.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/jun/10/coltan-drc-m23-global-witness-investigation">Continue reading...</a>

London council seizes social housing flat rented by Sierra Leone first lady

<p>Fatima Jabbe-Bio kept tenancy in Southwark despite living for much of year at presidential lodge in Freetown</p><p>A social housing flat rented by Sierra Leone’s first lady has been seized by a London council.</p><p>Southwark council confirmed it had repossessed the two-bedroom home in Walworth previously occupied by Fatima Jabbe-Bio, whose tenancy was reported by <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/uk/london/article/sierra-leones-first-lady-rents-a-council-flat-in-south-london-8htp25xs3">the Times</a> last year.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/11/london-council-seizes-social-housing-flat-sierra-leone-first-lady">Continue reading...</a>

Man shot dead during protest against proposed US Ebola quarantine facility in Kenya

<p>Police dispersed demonstrators in Nanyuki, 120 miles from Nairobi, amid rising anger at US plans</p><p>Kenyan police have shot dead a man during a protest against a proposed Ebola quarantine facility for US citizens.</p><p>Patrick Wahome, who has organised protests in Nanyuki against the centre, told Reuters on Tuesday the man died from a gunshot wound to the head. Reporters from the agency saw his body lying motionless in a police van with a large head wound.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/09/man-shot-during-protest-against-proposed-us-ebola-quarantine-facility-in-kenya">Continue reading...</a>

‘Spy turtles’ and ‘spy fish’ being used to monitor Chinese waters, Beijing claims

<p>Ministry says animals fitted with sensors by foreign agencies collect sensitive sea data, in ‘invisible secret war’</p><p>China’s ministry of state security has claimed that foreign espionage and intelligence agencies are using innovative new methods to monitor the country’s waters, including deploying “spy” animals fitted with sensors.</p><p>In a post on the Chinese platform WeChat on Friday, the ministry warned that an “invisible secret war” was quietly playing out in the seas around China as foreign agencies were collecting sensitive data “through a variety of new spying devices” to produce underwater maps that pose a “serious threat to our national security”.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jun/12/china-spy-turtles-spy-fish-monitor-waters-claims">Continue reading...</a>

Trump says leader of Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang killed in US strike

<p>President says Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores killed in ‘swift and lethal’ military strike with help from Venezuela</p><p>The US military has killed a leader in the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, with the help of Venezuela, Donald Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116740105083348004">announced</a> on Friday.</p><p>“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet Earth,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/12/trump-venezuela-tren-de-aragua-leader-killed">Continue reading...</a>

Trump targeting immigrants from countries hit most by climate shocks

<p>A Guardian analysis reveals how most of 39 countries facing US entry restrictions are most vulnerable environmentally</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/10/climate-change-crisis-refugees">‘Every day it’s more barriers’: how the US is shutting out climate refugees</a></p></li></ul><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump">Donald Trump</a>’s immigration crackdown is largely targeting people from the countries most vulnerable to displacement from climate-driven disasters, a Guardian analysis shows.</p><p>As the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/trump-administration">Trump administration</a> pushes policies to boost planet-heating <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/fossil-fuels">fossil fuels</a>, millions of people are being forced to flee their homelands due to storms, floods and droughts worsened by the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a>.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/10/trump-administration-immigrants-climate-crisis">Continue reading...</a>

Weather tracker: heat, humidity and thunderstorms a danger at World Cup

<p>With matches in 16 cities across the US, Mexico and Canada, players and fans face an array of weather-related challenges</p><p>With the 2026 World Cup now under way, all 48 teams face a common opposition: summer weather across North America. Matches will be played in 16 cities, from southern Mexico to Canada, with a range of weather risks possible at each venue.</p><p>Thunderstorms disrupted play before the tournament had even begun. England’s warm-up against Costa Rica in Orlando was delayed by about an hour after storms brought lightning and heavy rain that waterlogged the pitch. Safety regulations at US venues mean play is suspended when lightning is recorded within roughly 8 miles of a stadium, not resuming until 30 minutes after the last strike.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/12/weather-tracker-heat-humidity-thunderstorms-risk-world-cup">Continue reading...</a>