First Thing: Supreme court threatens midterms mail-in voting as it backs Trump plan

• World leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly to address escalating conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East alongside risks from artificial intelligence. • The assembly focused on managing global instability and the regulatory challenges posed by emerging AI technologies.

• Ed Sheeran's current United States tour has drawn the global pop music industry into a public debate regarding art, activism, and Palestine. • The situation highlights a culture clash as artists face increasing public pressure to take political stands on polarizing global conflicts.

• A top Iranian official announced on September 19 that the country has provided specific conditions to mediators to facilitate talks with the United States. • The US State Department notified Congress of a determination approving a possible foreign military sale to Ukraine for air defense development upgrades and related services.

• Dr. Emmanuel Kotia published a paper detailing how state intelligence agencies maintain peace and security across African nations. • These agencies perform specific duties including monitoring conflict dynamics, identifying armed groups, and evaluating ceasefire agreements.

Exclusive: Five gardening teams shortlisted for Royal Horticultural Society’s new Railway Stations in Bloom awardEvery year since 1964, towns across the UK have bloomed with hanging baskets and brightly coloured flowerbeds planted by residents.They wield their trowels in aid of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Britain in Bloom competition, a coveted accolade for the 1,600 communities that enter each year. Continue reading...

Rafael Moreno, whose company has opened demo plant in Brazil, says market is ‘nervous’ as Trump-Xi summit loomsThe head of a mining company hoping to supply the EU with rare earths in two years’ time has said it is “paramount” to end China’s stranglehold on the supply of the raw materials used in everything from cars to wind turbines and military jets.As Donald Trump and China’s president, Xi Jinping, prepare to meet on Thursday in their second summit of the year, Rafael Moreno said it was also “imperative” that they do a deal for Beijing to ease up, once again, on its threat to ban exports of rare earths. Continue reading...

It’s not clear that financial interests are driving White House policy, but they run parallel even as resistance mountsDonald Trump’s sons, through a series of AI-linked defense and technology ventures, have picked up a $620m Pentagon loan, a Marine Corps robotics contract and an undisclosed air force drone deal in the past year. His longtime friend Michael Dell won a Pentagon contract worth nearly $9bn. And this week, as public support for artificial intelligence sinks to some of the lowest levels ever recorded, the president went to bat for the industry. .“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades,” he posted on Truth Social Monday. “There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers.” It was the first of many aggressively pro-AI posts he would make this week. Continue reading...

Bridget Phillipson says Burnham’s past criticisms of US president not an issue as PM prepares to meet Trump at UNNext month’s budget will be made more difficult by Donald Trump’s war with Iran, one of Andy Burnham’s cabinet ministers has said, while adding she did not expect the prime minister’s previous disparaging comments about the US president to be an issue.Burnham is expected to meet Trump early next week at the UN general assembly summit in New York, the pair having previously spoken twice by phone since Burnham entered No 10. Continue reading...

Candidates have been selected for November’s midterms – have Republicans and Democrats made the right choices?Primary season has official concluded in the United States, with Democrats leading the polls among voters amid widespread economic anxieties, a war with Iran and Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda continuing into the end of the year.Democratic and Republican voters have selected contenders for key races in the 3 November midterms that will decide the balance of power in Congress, and the future of both parties. Democrats have been rocked by the primary victories of leftwing candidates. Republicans have doubled down on backing the president’s policies, despite his low approval ratings. And both parties are navigating the fallout from a series of scandals that have forced some candidates from the race, while others decided to press on. Continue reading...

The Warsaw event saw 26 teams compete across a series of demanding tasks, inspired - to varying degrees - by tram drivers’ day-to-day tasksGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastIt’s the grand final for gunzels. But despite having one of the largest tram networks in the world, Melbourne’s Tramaroos finished second last at this year’s European TramDriver Championship, just ahead of London.The event, held in Warsaw on Saturday, saw 26 teams compete across a series of demanding tasks, inspired – to varying degrees – by tram drivers’ day-to-day work. Continue reading...

Shabana Mahmood is concerned about length and £144m cost of inquiry into intrusive police surveillanceVictims of intrusive police surveillance have accused the government of seeking to cut short the spycops public inquiry that has been examining widespread misconduct committed by undercover officers.The independent judge-led inquiry is scrutinising how officers, who spied on tens of thousands of political activists over more than four decades, carried out abuses such as deceiving women into sexual relationships and fathering children. Continue reading...

Comments come after he accused King Charles of gaslighting him in response to claims made in new memoirEarl Spencer has said the relationship between the press and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex “echoes” the way the media treated his sister Diana, Princess of Wales.In an interview with the BBC to be aired on Sunday evening, Spencer described the press’s coverage of Harry and Meghan as having a “cancerous influence”, adding it would be “beholden on people to learn from Diana’s example”. Continue reading...