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Andy Burnham is to undertake a national tour this coming week as he aims to improve the government’s connection with the British public during his premiership.The prime minister is expected to announce a set of policies that will help people financially as many struggle with the cost of living, as well as indicate his intent to improve high streets across the country.Burnham has previously given the public “breathing space” since succeeding Keir Starmer in the role last month, but is said to be in “listening mode” as he tours Britain and pushes his “10-year plan to bring back hope”.While an…

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for an end to what he describes as a state of “neither war nor peace” with the United States as negotiators seek an agreement to end the war.Pezeshkian said on Saturday that Iran was in a position of strength and he believed it was the right time to reach an agreement with the US.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe president’s remarks came as Iran and Oman pursue an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil shipments transited in peacetime.Tehran has de facto…

Oliver Burkhard does not like champagne. Even if he did, the chief executive of German shipbuilder TKMS would not be popping corks, despite just having been picked for what promises to be the biggest deal in the company’s history. Although TKMS was named the “preferred supplier” of up to 12 new submarines last month by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in a deal worth some tens of billions of euros, Burkhard says it is too early to celebrate.“The real work starts now,” he told the FT. “We must negotiate to reach a contract. We don’t have it yet.”It is a typically…

The rating agency Moody’s has said the race to adopt AI is putting big banks at the mercy of a small group of Silicon Valley firms, leaving them vulnerable to widespread outages and price gouging by profit-hungry tech bosses.The financial sector’s efforts to integrate AI into day-to-day operations will eventually cut costs and increase revenues across the City and Wall Street, Moody’s said.But that will require “substantial investments”, and with so many rivals racing towards the same goal, many of those benefits will end up being “competed away”.AI will also create bigger risks around data privacy, cybersecurity, fraud and so-called…

The health and social care sector employs 4,500 people in the Clacton constituency. While the NHS, and access to GPs and dentists has been mentioned by many of the 34 candidates, social care has rarely featured.”Social care is the biggest economy in the area. It’s the most important economy in the area,” says Rahul Jagota, who runs The Corner House care home in Clacton and is a former chair of the Essex Care Association. “We need our leaders to speak about it, speak about the issues, speak about what great work we do, be very positive about it and look…

MFM have emerged champions of the inaugural Louis Edem West Africa Women’s Basketball Championship after defeating record Nigerian Women’s Basketball League champions First Bank 49-41 in the final. The final, played on Saturday at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos, produced a competitive contest before MFM secured victory, adding another title to their women’s basketball achievements. MFM, two-time winners of the Nigerian Women’s Basketball League, held their nerve against First Bank, who remain the most successful team in the history of the domestic league. In the third-place match, Victoria Queens of Lagos defeated Ghana’s GRA…

The Super Falcons of Nigeria will face familiar opponents when they take on Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Casablanca on Sunday. The match, scheduled for 6 p.m. at the Stade Larbi Zaouli, carries a huge prize: the winner advances to the semi-finals and secures a ticket to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil. Nigeria entered the contest as defending champions and the most successful team in the history of the competition, while Cameroon have reached the knockout stage unbeaten. But while the numbers strongly favour Nigeria, Cameroon believe they have…

Chilean duo Cristobal León and Joaquín Cociña made a dream nightmare debut with “The Wolf House,” a stop-motion fantasy that turned heads both with its wholly original design — incorporating claymation, puppetry and papier-mâché to palpably handmade but immersively surreal effect — and its trajectory from a seemingly juvenile storybook premise to very grownup recesses of horror and trauma. Their 2024 follow-up “The Hyperboreans” captured fewer imaginations with its dense, narratively abstruse melange of history, psychology and political theory, but still dazzled with technique, adding live-action cinematography to the filmmakers’ varied visual quiltwork. In their beguiling third feature, “Donkey Princess,”…

Paddleboarding the Esk in North YorkshireIt’s early afternoon on an unusually hot and sunny Yorkshire day. I’m standing on my paddleboard on the tidal section of the River Esk, near Whitby’s New Bridge, as cars stream across. The 28-mile-long Esk is special, as it is the only major river in Yorkshire that flows directly into the North Sea.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.Ahead of me is a bustling marina, the famous abbey and the West and East piers. The town is full to the brim with visitors in search of…

Nigeria’s Flying Eagles will have more than the WAFU B U-20 Championship trophy on their minds when they face familiar foes Burkina Faso in Sunday’s 2026 final. The two sides have emerged as the last teams standing after four matches apiece, setting up a repeat of their Group B encounter and giving Nigeria an immediate opportunity to avenge the only defeat they have suffered in the tournament. But with the regional title and qualification for next year’s Africa U-20 Cup of Nations in Ghana at stake, there is little room for sentiment when the two West African heavyweights meet again…