About 1,000 fewer prisoners to get early release as Burnham tightens rules

• Ukraine has appointed Umerov to lead a combined portfolio overseeing foreign intelligence, peace negotiations, and defense-technology priorities. • His key responsibilities include managing critical military initiatives, specifically drone procurement deals and the Freyja anti-ballistic program.

• President Trump announced that diplomatic talks regarding the conflict with Iran will begin on Monday, delaying planned "massive" military strikes. • The decision follows persuasion from Gulf allies, including Saudi Arabia, who urged the administration to prioritize diplomacy over immediate force.

Levy could raise £19bn to help pay for Andy Burnham’s support for those struggling with bills, say campaignersBusiness live – latest updatesCampaigners have renewed calls for a windfall tax on UK banks that could raise £19bn towards Andy Burnham’s cost of living agenda, after HSBC raked in $10.1bn (£7.5bn) worth of profits in the second quarter of the year.Bosses at HSBC reported on Tuesday that profits rose 60% year on year in the three months to the end of June, helped by fees from wealth management and insurance business, as well as higher interest rates, which allow the bank to charge more for loans and mortgages. Continue reading...

A Guardian investigation finds irrigation canals polluted with microplastics in Turkey, a major destination for UK waste• ‘Nobody cares’: Turkish farmers bear the burden of UK’s plastic waste problemHigh levels of microplastics and other plastic contamination have been discovered in a waterway close to a major recycling hub in Turkey supplied with plastic waste by British companies.The polluted waterway, which floods into agricultural fields after heavy rain, feeds into a larger canal used for irrigating crops on the Çukurova plain, in the city of Adana, in the south of the country. It is one of the largest and most fertile agricultural basins in Turkey. Continue reading...

US president hits out at ExxonMobil and Chevron, saying they should ‘give some of that back to the public’Business live – latest updatesDonald Trump has criticised oil companies for “making too much money” from the global energy market disruption caused by his war on Iran.Brent crude had been trading at about $70 (£52) a barrel before the first US-Israeli strikes at the end of February, but by the end of April had soared as high as $126 and is now trading at about $85 a barrel. Continue reading...

Government revises plans to tackle prison overcrowding amid pressure from MPs and victims but domestic abusers and killers could still be released earlyGood morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. The mother of PC Andrew Harper said her family are “bitterly disappointed” that her son’s killers remain eligible for early release after the government revised plans to tackle the overcrowding crisis in prisons.Following pressure from victims, MPs and frontline prison officers, rapists, child sexual abusers and groomers will be excluded from the scheme for England and Wales, the government said on Monday.It feels like we’re letting Andrew down again. We’ve been through the justice system, we thought we’d done as best as we could. Now we’re standing up to fight again … so I just feel really let down, for Andrew’s sake as well as ours. Continue reading...

PM Péter Magyar says country nearly forced into decision as extreme heat and low water levels in Danube pose challenges in regionHungary has come “within millimetres” of having to shut down its nuclear power plant overnight, prime minister Péter Magyar said, as low water levels in the Danube continue to pose challenges for countries in south-eastern Europe.“Around 1:30 a.m. we were a few millimetres away from completely shutting down the Paks Power Plant, but then the water level stopped falling and by morning it had risen 1.5 centimetres. The last turbine is currently operating safely,” Magyar said on social media. Continue reading...

Journalist’s son says his mother was examining leak from Electrogas, part owned by Yorgen Fenech who is on trialDaphne Caruana Galizia was investigating suspected corruption by the businessman Yorgen Fenech and members of Malta’s government when she was killed, a jury has heard.The heir to one of Malta’s biggest fortunes, Fenech is on trial for murder, accused of commissioning and paying for Caruana Galizia’s killing in a car bombing in October 2017. Continue reading...

National Foreign Trade Council ‘disappointed’ at move to expand News Bargaining Incentive but Australian experts say government is not going far enoughFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA major US trade body has rubbished the Albanese government’s plan to make more big tech platforms pay for Australian journalism, issuing a veiled warning about how Donald Trump may respond to the “deteriorating trend”.The National Foreign Trade Council said it was “disappointed” at the Australian government’s move to expand its News Bargaining Incentive (NBI) to take in Microsoft’s LinkedIn, amid trade tensions between Washington and Canberra including newly increased tariffs on Australian goods. Continue reading...

Energy company’s $5.73bn quarterly profits come after Shell posted second highest quarterly earnings on recordBusiness live – latest updatesBP has reported its highest quarterly profits since the first year of Russia’s war on Ukraine because of rising oil and gas prices caused by the Middle East crisis.The oil company’s quarterly profits more than doubled to $5.73bn (£4.27bn) in the three months to the end of June, up $2.5bn from the quarter before, as the ongoing conflict in the Middle East continued to disrupt energy exports from the Gulf. Continue reading...

Montgomery died in a single-vehicle crash in Sydney just one day after completing his latest fundraising cycling trip with his teenage grandsonFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBob Montgomery, a charity cyclist who has just finished a 5,200km bike ride from Broome to Bowral, died on Monday at the age of 82.His family confirmed his death on social media, saying he had died unexpectedly just a day after completing the cycling feat alongside his grandson, Tom, as a fundraiser for motor neurone disease. Continue reading...