Boosting military spending by slashing welfare is not the answer, senior Labour figures warn Reeves

• The U.S. and Iran agreed on Tuesday to a two-week ceasefire, marking a potential diplomatic breakthrough after 47 days of conflict. • Under the agreement, both Iran and Oman will be permitted to participate in the pause in hostilities, with U.S. military personnel and weaponry remaining positioned in and around Iran until a peace deal is finalized. • The ceasefire emerges as negotiators push for a next round of talks, though tensions remain high with shipping disruptions continuing in the Strait of Hormuz.

The S&P breached 7,000 points for the first time in history, in a rally that erased stark losses incurred at start of warWall Street scaled a fresh all-time high on Wednesday amid growing optimism among investors that the US-Israel war on Iran will soon be over.The benchmark S&P 500 breached 7,000 points for the first time in history, after climbing 0.8% over the course of the day, finishing at 7,022.95. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also rose 1.6% to 24,016.02, its own record high, while the Dow Jones industrial average remained broadly flat. Continue reading...

Liberal judge attacks emergency-docket rulings designed to benefit president as ‘scratch-paper musings’The supreme court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson has delivered a sustained attack on her conservative colleagues’ use of emergency orders to benefit the Trump administration, calling the orders “scratch-paper musings” that can “seem oblivious and thus ring hollow”.Jackson, the court’s newest justice, delivered a lengthy assessment of roughly two dozen court orders issued last year that allowed Donald Trump to put in place controversial policies on immigration, steep federal funding cuts and other topics, after lower courts found they were probably illegal. Continue reading...

Verdict in states’ lawsuit says concert giant stifled competition, raising pressure for changes to ticketing marketA jury has found that concert giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, dealing the company a loss in a lawsuit over claims brought by dozens of US states.A Manhattan federal jury deliberated for four days before reaching its decision Wednesday in the closely watched case, which gave fans the equivalent of a backstage pass to a business that dominates live entertainment in the US and beyond. Continue reading...

Commons rejects proposal by 256 to 150 to side with government on plan to tackle online harms affecting childrenMPs have voted against a proposal to ban under-16s from using social media for the second time, as the prime minister summoned tech bosses to demand tougher action on internet safety.The House of Commons rejected a Lords amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill that imposed a new age limit on using social media platforms, amid pressure from parents and campaign groups for greater urgency in tackling online harms. They voted by 256 to 150, a majority of 106, to side with the government on its plan to tackle social media-linked harms affecting children. Continue reading...

Brain Cole Jr, accused of planting the devices near the RNC and DNC buildings in DC, faces two more felony countsThe individual accused of placing pipe bombs near the headquarters of both the Republican and Democratic national committees on the night before the January 6 Capitol attack is now facing two more felony counts, as detailed in a newly released indictment on Wednesday.Brian Cole Jr, 30, of Woodbridge, Virginia, had previously been arrested in December and charged with transporting and positioning two improvised explosive devices outside the DNC and RNC buildings. The updated indictment introduces charges of attempting to use weapons of mass destruction and carrying out an act of terrorism while armed. Continue reading...

Donors exceed funding target at Berlin conference but prospects for ceasefire remain distantMore than £1bn (€1.15bn) has been pledged for war-ravaged Sudan at a conference in Berlin, eclipsing the funding target organisers had set to help mitigate the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.The financial commitments made on Wednesday will also help offset a chronic humanitarian funding shortfall in a country devastated by three years of conflict, where two-thirds of its population – 34m people – require assistance. Continue reading...

Who wouldn’t want to be a king, a footballer, a friend of lions, a maestro and Jesus?This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every WednesdayIn Donald Trump’s telling, the image showed him as a medical professional, never mind the lack of training.“It’s supposed to be me as a doctor making people better,” Trump said, responding to the outrage after he posted an AI-generated photo which critics – including some on the right – say showed him as a Jesus Christ-figure.A kingA skilled footballerA person roaring with a lionA maestroWhat I think is supposed to be a rich guy, but instead looks like a money laundererSupermanA 1930s-era private dickColonel Kilgore from Apocalypse NowA Nobel peace prize winnerA very muscly Sith lord Continue reading...

US president will need to show heavy costs of war were worthwhile while Iran must choose between instant and delayed gratification Middle East crisis – live updatesIf talks between Iran and the US reconvene within the next few days in Islamabad, Donald Trump will have two major political hurdles to overcome – first showing that any deal he secures is better than the one signed by Barack Obama in 2015 and from which he withdraw in 2018, and secondly proving the deal is more favourable than the one on offer in Geneva in February before he launched his war.Otherwise he will have inflicted massive damage on the world economy when alternatives were available that were less costly in blood and treasure. He will also have to show that Iran has made no permanent gain by taking control of shipping passing through the strait of Hormuz. These are the yardsticks, or tests, around which his negotiating team will be keeping an anxious eye. Continue reading...

Justin Sun said World Liberty Financial built a ‘backdoor blacklisting function’ that froze his account. ‘We have the truth. See you in court,’ the company respondedSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe largest investor in Donald Trump’s crypto venture has claimed that the firm “secretly” implemented a tool to unilaterally freeze his holdings of its cryptocurrency. He claimed the company could do the same to any other user.In posts on social media platform X on Sunday, crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun said, without offering evidence, that World Liberty Financial had embedded what he described as a “backdoor blacklisting function” in the blockchain-based contracts used for the WLFI tokens. Continue reading...

Donald Trump says he is ‘working very hard’ with House Republicans to extend Section 702 without changesUS politics live – latest updatesA controversial law that grants the US government sweeping powers for warrantless surveillance is set to expire next week. Replacing it has inspired fierce debate within the White House and Congress, including a scheduled vote cancelled the day of.A coalition of progressive Democrats and far-right Republicans is pushing for reform of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa), but they face strong bipartisan opposition from lawmakers advocating for an 18-month renewal with no changes, in line with Donald Trump’s demands. House GOP leaders delayed a procedural vote on a clean extension of Section 702 on Wednesday, after the chamber’s rules committee approved the measure on Tuesday night. Republican leadership was expected to bring the measure to the floor on Wednesday but canceled the scheduled vote, amid dissent from privacy advocates in their own party. Legislative action on the bill could still occur later in the day, as Republicans address their internal disagreements. Continue reading...