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Andy Burnham wins crucial UK by-election, in blow to Keir Starmer

World

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Andy Burnham wins crucial UK by-election, in blow to Keir Starmer

BREAKING, Greater Manchester mayor's victory in Makerfield clears way for a bid to unseat Starmer as prime minister.Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has cruised to victory in a high-stakes by-election in northern England, paving the way for him to challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer for the leadership of the Labour Party and the United Kingdom.Burnham handily defeated his closest challenger Robert Kenyon, the candidate for the anti-immigration Reform UK, in the seat of Makerfield, vote results showed early on Friday, securing the House of Commons seat he needs to mount a bid for the prime ministership.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Cuba’s Communist Party approves opening economy in unprecedented movelist 2 of 4Are prices really dropping in the US, as Trump claims?list 3 of 4Mamdani gives New York Knicks keys to city after NBA titlelist 4 of 4Bosnia’s World Cup knockout stage hopes dented with 4–1 loss to Switzerlandend of listBurnham won 24,927 votes, beating Kenyon by more than 9,000 votes.Rebecca Shepherd of Restore Britain was a distant third, trailed by Michael Winstanley of the Conservative Party, the Sarah Wakefield of the Green Party, and the Liberal Democrats Jake Austin.“Everyone knows that politics is not working,” Burnham said in his victory speech.“Everyone can feel that the country isn’t where it should be. Tonight could – just could – be the turning point. From here on, I will give everything that I have got to make it so, to ensure the name Makerfield is forever synonymous with bringing about the change this country needs.”Burnham’s victory is likely to either precipitate Starmer’s resignation or set off a leadership contest pitting the prime minister against the outgoing mayor and Wes Streeting, the former health secretary.Burnham is widely considered a strong favourite to become the next prime minister if he challenges Starmer.In an Ipsos poll published earlier this week, Burnham was chosen by 25 percent of British adults as the preferred prime minister, compared to 12 percent for Starmer.If he does succeed Starmer, Burnham, who was the early favourite in the 2015 Labour leadership race before coming second to Jeremy Corbyn, would be the UK’s seventh prime minister since the country voted for Brexit in 2016.After leading Labour to a thumping election victory in 2024, Starmer has been under mounting pressure to step down amid widespread public dissatisfaction with his leadership.Calls for his resignation within Labour have mounted since the party suffered crushing losses in local and regional elections in May.Twenty ministers have resigned from Starmer’s government in less than two years, nearly half of whom expressed a loss of confidence in his leadership or clashed with him on policy, including Streeting.Starmer has rebuffed calls to resign, pledging to fight any challenge to his leadership and insisting that such a contest would be a “bad thing for the country”.Burnham – dubbed the “king of the north” for his grassroots appeal across northern England and his willingness to challenge Westminster – ran on the promise to “change Labour” to “change politics and change the country”.As mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham built an avid following across the UK’s less developed northern regions by channelling populist themes about elite apathy and industrial decline.First elected mayor in 2017, and re-elected in 2021 and 2024, he has criticised the UK’s political system as “too London-centric” and taken aim at neoliberal economic policies and trickle-down economics that did not “trickle down very much at all”.Burnham, who served in several ministerial portfolios under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, had been the narrow favourite in the race, holding a five-point lead over Kenyon in an opinion poll released on Saturday by pollster Opinium.Labour’s Josh Simons, who previously held the seat of Makerfield, triggered the by-election last month by resigning his seat to allow Burnham to c

3 days left to lock in 50% off a second ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Technology

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morethancourt

3 days left to lock in 50% off a second ticket to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Spotify’s move to cater to music’s superfans is now going live. On Thursday, the streaming giant announced the launch of “Reserved by Spotify,” a new system that will identify eligible top fans of an artist, then hold two tour tickets for them before the general ticket sale opens. The feature will first be available starting today in the U.S. for Premium subscribers (ages 18+). Timed alongside his tour news, Role Model will be the first artist partner to take advantage of the ticket-holding system, and fans will begin to receive notifications about their secured tour tickets starting on June 23, before the general public sale. Spotify said it won’t collect any fees on the transactions. The feature is only available for artists playing at the Live Nation venues for now, and ticket sales are through Ticketmaster. The streamer said it aims to add more partners over time to include smaller venues as well as international users. Image Credits:Spotify The Reserved system is designed to reward music fans at a time when tickets for new concerts are immediately captured by scalpers using automated tools, which are then resold at a higher price as the event sells out. For Spotify, Reserved serves as an easy way to encourage paid subscriptions and increase engagement with its app. If fans are getting concert tickets held for them by streaming their favorites, they’re more likely to log on and do just that. Spotify first announced its plan to cater to superfans in May, noting that it would use signals like streams, shares, and other activity to determine who it considers a real fan. The company also said the platform would monitor activity to ensure that fans don’t game these stats using bots or AI agents. In other words, it won’t be possible to snag the ticket by endlessly playing an artist’s music over and over — the company will be looking for signals that you’re still engaging with its app as a normal user would. Or, as Spotify puts it, “leaving music on in the background won’t give anyone a leg up.” Reserved will also look at the user’s location to ensure they’re near the show before making an offer. After going live, eligible fans will see a personalized offer on their Spotify Home screen, allowing them to view tour dates, see the Reserved window, and set a reminder to buy the tickets. When the window for the Reserved tickets opens — usually around a day — they can purchase two tickets before they’re on sale to the public. In addition, Spotify noted that there will be more superfans than there are seats available in many cases, which means not every fan will get an offer of tickets every time. Role Model, whose tour is reaching 17 U.S. cities and shows, will be the first of “a slate” of additional artists’ tours launching this week, noted Spotify without naming names. When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software. You can contact or verify outreach from Sarah by emailing sarahp@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at sarahperez.01 on Signal. View Bio

Trump abruptly ends NBC interview after clash over 'rigged election' claim

World

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Trump abruptly ends NBC interview after clash over 'rigged election' claim

16 minutes agoKathryn ArmstrongandRayhan Demytrie,Caucasus correspondent, YerevanReutersNikol Pashinyan came to power in 2018 on the back of protests against former leader Serzh SargysanArmenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's party has won a crucial election billed as being key in deciding whether the country continues to move closer to the West.Pashinyan's centrist Civil Contract Party secured 49.8% of the vote, with the Strong Armenia Alliance coming in second with 23.2%. The Armenia Alliance was third with 9.9%. Sunday's vote was the first general election since Armenia, a small South Caucasus country of three million people, suffered a crushing military defeat by Azerbaijan in 2023. It was viewed as a test of the prime minister's push to deepen ties with the West while facing mounting economic pressure from Russia, its largest trading partner and traditional ally.Pashinyan, who has been in power since 2018, declared victory on Monday after early results showed his party had secured more than 50% of the vote."Armenian people voted for peace, regional prosperity and cooperation," he said.The election drew significant international attention to the country. On Monday, France and the EU were among European powers that congratulated Pashinyan, praising Armenia's closer ties with the West. Civil Contract's success came despite Pashinyan's domestic support falling from 54% in 2021 to around 30% today, according to polls.A total of 19 parties and alliances took part in the election but few of these earned enough votes to gain a seat in the national assembly. Turnout was 59%, the electoral commission said. The conservative Prosperous Armenia party, led by businessman Gagik Tsarukyan, came fourth with 4% of the vote. It, like the Strong Armenia Alliance - led by Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan, and the Armenia Alliance - led by former President Robert Kocharyan, are pro-Russian. "We will continue the course of rapprochement with the West, but we will also continue our participation and membership in the Eurasian Economic Union," Pashinyan also said on Monday. In late May, the Russian president called on Armenia to hold a referendum "as soon as possible" on whether to join the EU or remain in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), a customs bloc from which Armenia benefits.Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin listed the economic benefits Armenia stood to lose if it pursued closer ties with the West - pointedly noting that "the crisis in Ukraine began with efforts to move toward EU accession".Russia supplies Armenia with gas at $177.50 (£132.90) per 1,000 cubic metres, while European market prices, as Putin pointed out to Pashinyan in April, exceed $600.In the two weeks preceding the election, Moscow banned the export of Armenian flowers, mineral water, cognac, fresh vegetables and fruit.He also hosted a large summit of EU leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the capital, Yerevan, earlier this year.Despite Pashinyan developing, good-natured relationship with European leaders, Armenia doesn't even have EU candidate status yet, and membership of the bloc is still a long way off.His loss of popularity is mainly due to the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous enclave inside Azerbaijan that was home to 100,000 ethnic Armenians until Azerbaijan took it by force in 2023.Pashinyan's critics have never forgiven him for making concessions in favour of peace with Azerbaijan, like refusing to campaign for the release of former leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh who are in jail in the neighbouring country.The peace deal with Azerbaijan, too, remains deeply divisive, with one recent poll showing 44% of public opinion in support and 41% opposed.Lala is among those who voted to keep the current government in powerIn the Armenian capital, Yerevan, the election results were not met with much excitement and people were going about their days as usual. Lala, 70, is a gardener who looks after the roses

Heavy gunfire in Somali capital as row over election delay escalates

World

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Heavy gunfire in Somali capital as row over election delay escalates

Democratic candidate for governor in California, Xavier Becerra, speaks to supporters during his election night gathering at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes on June 02, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Mario Tama/Getty Images SAN FRANCISCO — Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the November election for California governor, according to a race call by The Associated Press. After days of counting ballots, it remains unclear who will claim the second spot in the fall. In California's unusual primary system, all candidates, regardless of party, appear on a single ballot open to any registered voter. The top two candidates then move on to the general election. An estimated 3.5 million uncounted ballots remain. The state also counts mail-in ballots that arrive up to seven days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. The state hasn't had a wide-open primary like this one since the late 1990s. The winner in November will lead the country's most populous state, facing a large deficit and other obstacles, including the state's high cost of living, homelessness and wildfire risk. Incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is term limited and is widely thought to be running for president in 2028. Becerra, former Health and Human Services secretary under President Joe Biden, has staged one of the most surprising comebacks in recent state political history. As recently as April, polls were showing Becerra — also a former member of Congress and California attorney general — languishing in single digits in a crowded field. "The people of the great state of California, in the greatest nation on earth, have spoken — loudly and proudly," Becerra said in a written statement. "We will not be bought. We will not be bullied. And we are never backing down. November, here we come." For second place, Republican businessman Steve Hilton still has an edge over billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer, but Steyer has been gaining ground as ballots continue to be counted. Hilton was endorsed by President Trump in April, and in later polls, he pulled ahead of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, the other major Republican in the race. British-born Hilton is a former Fox News commentator who also served as a political adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron and has campaigned on the idea that California needs change after 16 years under total Democratic control. Steyer spent more than $213 million of his own money to boost his candidacy, making the race the most expensive gubernatorial election in California. He is currently in third place in the vote tally. In a state where registered Democratic voters far outnumber Republicans, Becerra goes into the general election as the early favorite, but it has already been an election season of unexpected developments. Some of the state's most high-profile Democrats — former Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and California Attorney General Rob Bonta — all stayed out. The race was disrupted in April when then-U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell's campaign for governor imploded amid allegations of sexual assault and harassment. Swalwell resigned from Congress shortly after the accusations surfaced and has denied assault allegations. Swalwell had been gaining in polls and racking up high-profile endorsements and his exit seemed to primarily benefit Becerra. The narrowing field also quieted Democrats' fears of splitting their vote to the extent that Bianco and Hilton would win the top spots in the June primary. That would have resulted in a guaranteed Republican governor in a state where Democrats outnumber GOP voters 2 to 1. Instead, though, Becerra surged. He has been aided by political groups operating independently of his campaign.

World

10updates

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Taiwan says it is an independent nation after Trump arms sale remarks

Trump holds to maximum demands on Iran, threatens more strikes The Washington Post Live updates: Trump says he won’t rush Iran deal because ‘I don’t care about the midterms’ CNN 'I don't care about the midterms': Trump makes clear he's in no rush to reach deal with Iran ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos A Frustrated President Can’t Get the Deal Done The Atlantic Iran's IRGC forces 'lying in wait' if Trump restarts combat; talks reach critical phase Fox News

Joy conquers all: Sasha Debevec-McKenney wins the 2026 Dylan Thomas Prize

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Joy conquers all: Sasha Debevec-McKenney wins the 2026 Dylan Thomas Prize

4 min readMay 15, 2026 04:26 PM IST American poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney won the 2026 Dylan Thomas Prize for Joy Is My Middle Name. (Photo: swansea.ac.uk/press-office/)American poet Sasha Debevec-McKenney won the 2026 Dylan Thomas Prize on Thursday evening, taking home the £20,000 (approx. ₹25,88,800) award for her debut poetry collection Joy Is My Middle Name, published by London-based independent press Fitzcarraldo Editions. The Dylan Thomas Prize is one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards for writers aged 39 or under. Named after the celebrated Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who wrote the famous poem, “Do not go gentle into that good night” (1951), the Swansea University in Wales, UK hosts the award every year. Now in its 20th year, the prize recognises the best published work in English across poetry, novels, short stories and drama, making it one of the few major literary awards to honour poetry and fiction on equal footing.The announcement ceremony, which took place inside Swansea University’s Great Hall, was live streamed. “I really love writing poems,” Debevec-McKenney told the audience. “It’s like the thing that makes life worth living for me. It is like every experience, every feeling, there’s a poem for that.” The collection, which charts the passage from one’s turbulent 20s into steadier 30s, was praised by jury chair and award-winning Nigerian British author Irenesèn Okoje as “audacious and powerful,” a work that dissects race, womanhood, culture and addiction through a series of propulsive, intimate dispatches. “Hilarious and teeming with multitudes,” the jury summary read, “a book that fully embodies its title.” Debevec-McKenney, currently a creative writing fellow at Emory University in Atlanta, has published poems in The New Yorker, the New York Review of Books and the Yale Review. Speaking in a pre-ceremony video, Debevec-McKenney spoke about what the shortlisting alone had meant to her, “It means that I should keep writing poems — and more than that, that I should keep writing weird, funny poems like I like to write. And that just feels amazing.” With the prize now won, one imagines the poems will keep coming. The shortlist The books shortlisted for the Dylan Prize shortlist. (Generated using AI)The shortlist featured four novels and two debut poetry collections. Here are the five other finalists:Story continues below this ad 📌 To Rest Our Minds and Bodies by Harriet Armstrong (Les Fugitives): A debut novel following an unnamed psychology undergraduate through a consuming, unrequited obsession with a postgraduate student. Set against the backdrop of Gen Z campus life, it maps the slow disintegration of a young woman’s sense of self in this devastating anti-Bildungsroman. 📌 We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown (Chatto & Windus): Written in South Yorkshire dialect, this debut traces the friendship of three Doncaster women from adolescence into adulthood, as a long-buried secret threatens to unravel the bonds that have held them together. 📌 Under the Blue by Suzannah V Evans (Bloomsbury Poetry): A kaleidoscopic sequence of fragmental prose poems and prose postcards exploring the emotional weight of caring for an ailing parent. Candid, luminous and deeply humane, it gives voice to experiences that often go unspoken. 📌Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt (Jonathan Cape): A debut novel set across the seasons of a single year in rural Ireland, charting the tentative first love between two men.Story continues below this ad 📌Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu (Canongate) Told across two parallel timelines, this novel follows a young Black man navigating love, drugs and mental health in contemporary London. Aishwarya Khosla is a senior editorial figure at The Indian Express, where she spearheads the digital strategy and execution for the Books & Literature and Puzzles & Games sections. With over eight years of experience in high-stakes journalism, Aishwarya specializes in literary criticism, cultural comm

Economy

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Kevin Warsh wins in 54-45 Senate vote to replace Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chair

Trump Administration Live Updates: Warsh Confirmed as Next Federal Reserve Chair The New York Times Kevin Warsh confirmed as Fed chair, succeeding Jerome Powell CNN Why Warsh's Democrat problem could come back to bite him Politico Analysis: Trump finally gets his man at the Fed. Will Kevin Warsh disappoint him? CNBC The Economy That Kevin Warsh, the Federal Reserve’s New Chair, Is Inheriting The New York Times

general

2updates

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India Wins Gold and Three Silver Medals on Day Three of Commonwealth Youth Weightlifting Championships

India Wins Gold and Three Silver Medals on Day Three of Commonwealth Youth Weightlifting Championships News On AIR

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