Politics - Sunday, April 12, 2026

Vice President JD Vance's marathon negotiations with Iranian officials in Islamabad failed to produce a deal, prompting President Donald Trump to order a Strait of Hormuz blockade.

Iran denied that the American destroyers had entered the strait, as negotiations for an extended cease-fire continued in Islamabad.

Ministers admit carer’s allowance penalties will continue while review of more than 200,000 cases is carried out Thousands of unpaid carers will continue to be hit with hefty and potentially unfair benefit repayment demands, it has emerged, as a government initiative gets under way to fix welfare injustices that have drawn comparison to the Post Office scandal. Ministers will on Monday launch an audit of more than 200,000 historical carer’s allowance benefit cases, with an estimated 25,000 carers issued with unlawful overpayments since 2015 likely to see their repayment debts cancelled or reduced as a result. Continue reading...

New York Mayor Mamdani highlights stark racial wealth gap in city report but sidesteps questions about why DEI language was removed from the document.

In an interview with The New York Times, the Rev. Al Sharpton reflected on the performances of 10 Democrats who spoke and explained why two did not.

Campaigners welcome first update of school food standards in 13 years, which aims to help lower obesity rates The government is to announce an overhaul to school food standards in England that will lead to calorific classics such as fish and chips and steamed sponges being banned. The new rules of the first major update to school food standards in 13 years will apply from September. They are part of efforts to lower the rates of childhood obesity, with data for 2024 released by the NHS in January showing that 24% of nursery and primary school children were overweight or living with obesity. Continue reading...

UK’s willingness to consider role in removing mines from strait is seen as distinct from Trump’s blockade proposal Middle East crisis – live updates The UK will not be involved in any blockade of the strait of Hormuz, the Guardian understands, after claims by Donald Trump on Sunday that the US would be blockading the waterway with the assistance of Nato allies. Speaking to Fox News, Trump said “it won’t take long to clean out the strait” and claimed “numerous countries are going to be helping us”, adding that the UK and other nations were sending minesweepers. Continue reading...

China, the U.S., Russia and others have ramped up their contest over artificial-intelligence-backed weapons and military systems. The buildup has been compared to the dawn of the nuclear weapons age.

Iran-U.S. negotiations fell apart after Tehran misjudged its leverage, a U.S. official says, as Vice President JD Vance departed Pakistan without a deal.

Mauritian foreign minister pledges to ‘spare no effort’ to regain control of islands, as US fails to give approval of deal A senior official in Mauritius’ government has vowed that the Chagos Islands will be “decolonised” after Keir Starmer was forced to shelve legislation to hand the islands back to Mauritius. On Friday, UK government officials acknowledged that they had run out of time to pass legislation within the current parliamentary session, which ends in the coming weeks, after a lack of support from Donald Trump. Continue reading...