Comey due in court over Justice Department case accusing him of lying to Congress – US politics live
Former FBI director expected to plead not guilty in case that has amplified concerns that the department is being used to pursue Trump’s enemiesA series of “violent” texts sent by a Democrat seeking to become Virginia’s attorney general has shaken up the state’s governor’s race, with Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears seizing on the controversy to try to reverse her opponent’s double-digit polling lead.Earle-Sears has released new campaign advertisements condemning Democratic former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, her opponenent in the governor’s race, for continuing to support Jay Jones, whose private texts three years ago speculated about a senior state Republican getting “two bullets to the head” and “breeding little fascists”. Continue reading...
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Tories would abolish stamp duty, Badenoch tells party conference – UK politics live
Party leader says measure is a ‘bad tax’ and scrapping it would free up the housing market and improve social mobilityVoting in the Labour deputy leadership election opens today. Lucy Powell, the former Commons leader, is seen as the favourite and, as Jessica Elgot reports, Powell told supporters yesterday that, if she is elected, she will use the post to argue for changes in the way the government is operating. “We can’t sugarcoat the fact that things aren’t going well,” she said.Powell is no longer a government minister and, if she is elected deputy leader, she will do the job from the backbenches. In an interview on Newsnight last night, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary standing against Powell, said a Powell victory would be “destabilising” for the party. She said:[Electing Powell] risks destabilising the party … we best achieve what we need to do together when we have those fierce conversations, including disagreements, behind closed doors.Members need to understand that there’s a potential challenge around all of that – that if you’re not inside when the big decisions are being made, you’re not at that table, you’re not in those conversations. Continue reading...
Bank of England warns of growing risk that AI bubble could burst
Possibility of ‘sharp market correction has increased’, says Bank’s financial policy committee Business live – latest updatesThe Bank of England has warned there is a growing risk of a “sudden correction” in global markets as it raised concerns about soaring valuations of leading AI tech companies.Policymakers said there were also threats of a “sharp repricing of US dollar assets” if the Federal Reserve lost credibility in the eyes of global investors. It comes as Donald Trump’s continues to attack the US central bank and threaten its independence. Continue reading...
Country superstar Zach Bryan criticised by US Homeland Security over Ice lyrics
Government department taunts chart-topping artist who sang of scared children and Ice raids on unreleased new songZach Bryan, one of the biggest stars in US country music, has been criticised by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over a new song in which he sings about immigration raids by Ice.The DHS’s assistant secretary of public affairs, Tricia McLaughlin, told Bryan to “stick to Pink Skies, dude,” referring to one of his previous hits, in comments reported by the Independent. The DHS also made a provocative post on X, laying another Bryan song, Revival, over footage of Ice officers arresting migrants, with the caption “we’re having an All Night Revival”. Continue reading...
Outgoing French PM says ‘there is desire’ to agree budget and talks down prospect of snap election – Europe live
Sébastien Lecornu speaks at the Matignon Palace and expresses optimism that parliament will not need to be dissolvedEmmanuel Macron’s second term is set to end in May 2027 and he has repeatedly said he will not resign, the Associated Press (AP) reports.If the French president were to quit, the Constitutional Council would declare a vacancy, the Senate president would assume interim powers and a new presidential election would be held within 35 days. On the far left, Melenchon’s France Unbowed has asked for Macron’s departure. More surprisingly, and a sign of Macron’s growing isolation inside his own camp, Édouard Philippe, Macron’s first prime minister after he swept to power in 2017 and once a close ally, has suggested the president should step down and call an early presidential election once the 2026 budget is adopted. Since 1958 and the inception of the Fifth Republic, only one French president has resigned: Charles de Gaulle after losing a 1969 referendum.New Caledonia, which may seem far from mainland France but on which, as you know, important texts (…) [are to be adopted] in the coming days, and unfortunately the political situation prevents us from starting the debates and the possible adoption of these texts by the National Assembly and the Senate. This is a major concern. Continue reading...
First Thing: National guard troops arrive in Chicago as governor decries Trump’s ‘military invasion’
Illinois governor says President Trump is ‘taking away people’s rights’. Plus, the key stats highlighting Israel’s destruction of GazaGood morning.Texas national guard troops arrived in the Chicago area on Tuesday, marking an escalation of Donald Trump’s crackdown on the city, in a move condemned as “military invasion”.How are elected Illinois officials responding to Trump’s incursion? The state’s governor, JB Pritzker, decried the move, saying: “Any kind of troops on the streets of an American city don’t belong unless there is an insurrection … I’m going to do everything I can to stop him from taking away people’s rights and from using the military to invade states”.How has Trump tried to weaponize the attorney general’s office? The president has overtly piled pressure on Bondi to more aggressively pursue senior public officials he regards as his political enemies, including Comey.How did Bondi respond to Democratic senators’ questioning? When pressed during the five-hour hearing, she personally attacked several senators or invoked the ongoing government shutdown to depict them as negligent. Continue reading...
Key US and regional mediators join talks in push to end Gaza war
Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner's arrival in Egypt comes after Hamas submitted a list of Palestinian prisoners it wants Israel to release in exchange for hostages.
Outgoing French PM hopeful for concessions to avoid snap elections
Sébastien Lecornu continues meetings with party leaders in effort to pass budget and avoid further political instability• Europe live – latest updatesFrance’s caretaker prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has said his talks with various party leaders had revealed a “willingness” to pass a budget by the end of the year and that snap parliamentary elections were now looking less likely.“This willingness creates a momentum and a convergence, obviously, which make the possibilities of a dissolution more remote,” he said in a brief address on Wednesday from the courtyard of Matignon Palace, the prime minister’s residence, in Paris. Continue reading...
Israeli forces intercept new aid flotilla bound for Gaza
Activists on board nine vessels carrying food and medical supplies for Palestinians will be deported, Israel says.
Gaza ceasefire talks live: Hamas says hostage and prisoner lists exchanged with Israel
Qatari PM and US’s Witkoff and Kushner join Hamas and Israeli negotiators working on Trump’s Gaza planAs part of the Guardian’s Israel-Gaza: two years on series marking the second anniversary of the Hamas attack into Israel and the war in Gaza, the below has been published:The children’s names appear on a list of victims of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, maintained by health authorities in the territory. As of the end of July it ran to 60,199 names, of whom 18,457 were under 18s. Far from comprehensive, the list does not include the thousands still buried under the rubble of destroyed buildings, as well as the war’s many indirect victims. Continue reading...