Distracted Italian pedestrians who cross road while on phone could be fined under new code

• Iran's president has defended a memorandum of understanding with the U.S., claiming it represents the most effective path to resolve a stalled conflict. • In contrast, Iran's new security chief adopted a defiant tone on Sunday, warning neighboring nations against participating in new U.S. sanctions.

Test of US rhetoric will rest on whether nations such as India, China and Russia view economic threats as credibleIran has vowed to retaliate against any country that cooperates with the US attempt to impose fresh sanctions against Iran in what the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has billed as “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary”.In advance of the US announcement, the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s single biggest trading partner in the Middle East, announced it was ending all trade with Iran, a move Tehran believes was coordinated between Washington and Dubai. Continue reading...

Watchdog data shared with Guardian shows contributions to Republican Attorneys General Association and othersOver a dozen US companies that signed a 2021 letter urging Congress to strengthen the Voting Rights Act continue to contribute to state political groups that are actively working to undermine the legislation, according to a campaign finance watchdog.Researchers at the Center for Political Accountability (CPA), a nonpartisan organization that tracks financial disclosures, found that companies – including Airbnb, DoorDash, Target and Zillow – that signed the letter are contributing to groups known as 527 organizations that prop up key state races, according to data provided exclusively to the Guardian. Continue reading...

Algorithms are responsible for fever pitch content surrounding trial, including misinformation, experts sayAs the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children, starts to wind down, a now international discussion on social media about the case has hit a fever pitch as viewers examine details of the trial and question the state of maternal mental healthcare in the United States.Amateur sleuths and armchair psychologists have been creating content throughout the several weeks of the trial, pointing out perceived discrepancies in evidence. They’ve pointed to Clancy’s last recorded heart rate and body temperature as “smoking guns”, suggested that Patrick Clancy, Lindsay’s ex-husband and father of the children, actually committed the crime, despite no legal evidence to back up the claim. Continue reading...

Luke Pollard warns government will force platforms to remove content, after latest deadly crash involving a car driving in wrong directionA minister has pressed social media companies to remove content from their platforms showcasing dangerous driving in the wake of a fatal collision that killed seven people in Middlesbrough.The crash in the early hours of Saturday, in which PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough died, occurred when a Volkswagen Passat, containing five individuals aged between 23 and 17, crashed head-on with a marked armed response vehicle while driving the wrong way on the A66. Continue reading...

Moscow warns of increased tensions with Britain as Burnham visits Kyiv to offer declassified details of missile componentsEurope live – latest updatesThe Kremlin has warned of an escalation in tensions between the UK and Russia as Andy Burnham arrived in Kyiv to present Ukraine with newly declassified blueprints to allow Ukraine to improve its production of long range missiles.In his first trip abroad as the prime minister, Burnham will give Ukraine previously classified information on the British manufactured components for long-range cruise missiles. Continue reading...

House Democratic leader meets with president’s son-in-law has ignited fury amongst own party Democrats incredulous over Hakeem Jeffries and Jared Kushner meetingHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries’ meeting with Jared Kushner, the president’s influential son-in-law, has sparked backlash from his own party and other Donald Trump critics.Throughout this Congress, Republicans have adopted a my-way-or-the-highway approach to governing that has failed the American people. To stop the madness, we have repeatedly made clear that an extremist approach will not work and will be met with forceful opposition.The American people want bold change and that’s what House Democrats will deliver. In every conversation that we have with the Trump administration, we will continue to make it explicitly clear that the affordability crisis is not a hoax and nothing short of transformational policy change is acceptable. We are fighting for an affordable America. The question is whether Republicans will join us.Tim Scott defended fellow US South Carolina Republican senator Darline Graham’s knowledge of national security issues ahead of their state’s runoff election on Tuesday. Graham, who was appointed to fill the Senate seat held by her brother Lindsey Graham after his sudden death in July, is in a Republican primary runoff against South Carolina congressman Ralph Norman.Dan Sullivan supports Dan Sullivan against Dan Sullivan in Alaska’s US Senate election, says a former Alaska mayor who recently backed the race’s Republican incumbent over a challenger sharing their name. That development provided another of multiple absurd elements to Dan S Sullivan’s campaign for a third term in the US Senate, which – beside Mary Peltola, a former Alaska Democratic congresswoman – has drawn opposition from Dan J Sullivan.The Donald Trump aide Natalie Harp flooded a since-disabled social media account with pro-Trump posts on the day that the president’s supporters attacked the US Capitol in early 2021, years before she went to work for him and developed an extraordinary close relationship with him, a new report has revealed.A series of moves by Donald Trump’s administration to sow doubt in the integrity of US elections has intensified concern among voting experts – and sparked hope among election deniers – that it could declare a national emergency. The White House and US federal agencies have released a string of documents this summer – including disputed analyses of alleged voting by noncitzens and historical intelligence memos – stoking expectations that the US president could move to exert greater control over November’s US midterm elections.Iran’s foreign minister has dismissed the threat of a fresh round of US economic sanctions as a “desperate” ploy, even as its president acknowledged that the Iranian people are facing “many problems” amid Washington’s efforts to isolate and debilitate the country’s economy. Continue reading...

Campaigners say proposal for £10bn rescue deal in bid to avoid nationalisation is a ‘cosy stitch-up’Business live – latest updatesThe group of creditors pursuing a rescue bid for Thames Water have been accused of shuffling the deckchairs on the Titanic after proposing an overhaul of the stricken utility’s board.In a bid to stave off temporary nationalisation by Andy Burnham, the lenders said they would appoint Liz Barber, the former chief executive of Yorkshire Water, and Clive Selley, the former chief executive of network operator Openreach, as directors if they are allowed to take formal control of the company. Continue reading...

West African country reports 46 suspected cases in outbreak declared in July, amid fears virus may be spreading undetectedMore than half of the mpox cases reported in Guinea-Bissau have been among children, local authorities have said, almost two months since the country announced an epidemic.A national outbreak was declared on 4 July, just over a week after a 27-year-old woman became the first confirmed case of mpox in the west African country. Since then, there have been seven confirmed cases and 46 suspected cases. Half of those patients have been children, with 16 under the age of four. Continue reading...

The US is scooping up treasury bonds in an effort to raise their price and push yields down – but it’s not workingThe bond market is driving the Trump administration crazy. Last week, the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, announced that the government would sharply ramp up its purchase of treasury bonds, in an effort to raise their price and thus push down their yield, which amounts to the interest rate the government pays on its debt.It didn’t quite work as planned. Yields on treasurys fell after Bessent’s bond market intervention but soon bounced back. By Friday afternoon, the yield on the 10-year treasury was back near where it was before the secretary’s announcement. The yield on the 30-year bond was again trading around its highest level in 20 years or more. Continue reading...

Civil liberties groups decry plan to use gloves linked to death of Kentucky man allegedly shocked 27 times in county jailPlans to supply Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers with special gloves that can deliver electric shocks have alarmed experts and drawn scrutiny amid some high-profile lawsuits over their use in local correctional facilities.In one extreme case, a 43-year-old man died after allegedly being shocked 40 times by officers with a combination of the gloves and a Taser in a county jail in Kentucky, and the man’s widow is suing authorities. Continue reading...