Gordon S Wood, Pulitzer-prize winning historian, dies after being struck by a car in Rhode Island

• President Zelensky met with his closest European allies to establish a framework for potential peace negotiations. • The allies have outlined five specific conditions that must be met before peace talks can commence.

• Israel's air force launched strikes against targets in Iran following a series of escalating military exchanges between the two nations. • Donald Trump has urged both sides to cease hostilities, calling for a return to peace and diplomacy to avoid further violence and destruction.

• Global Research criticizes CNN for reporting that Russia is facing a "strategic defeat" and labeling Ukraine as a "military innovator." • The analysis argues that such claims ignore the reality of shifting battlelines and the unreliable nature of casualty counts provided by both sides and their allies.

• Latin America is experiencing a record surge in internal displacement driven by criminal violence, weak state governance, and the neglect of marginalized neighborhoods. • According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), families are being forced from their homes but remain trapped within their own national borders due to a lack of protection.

Survey puts Labor behind the Coalition and One Nation in state election race; advocacy groups say care burden will shift to womenGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGood morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it will be Nick Visser with the main action.Jacinta Allan will be feeling the heat today after a poll showed her Labor party trailing the Coalition and One Nation before November’s state election. More coming up. Continue reading...

Attorney general pick joined Trump’s legal team in 2023 – there seems little doubt he would be prepared to carry out the president’s wishesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailTodd Blanche’s nomination to be permanently made the attorney general marks the apex of a gamble from a man who bet everything on representing Donald Trump and became one of his most steadfast and punishing enforcers.Trump announced the news at the White House on Monday. The nomination will require Senate confirmation to become permanent. Continue reading...

Former Trump lawyer, acting in the role since April, faces Senate confirmation after controversial DoJ movesSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailDonald Trump has nominated Todd Blanche to serve permanently as attorney general, lining up his former personal lawyer to be the country’s ⁠top ⁠law ⁠enforcement officer.The US president suggested earlier this week that Blanche, who was appointed on an acting basis in April after the president fired Pam Bondi, was set to receive the nod. “He’s a very talented guy,” Trump told a podcast. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ukrainian president says ‘small mistake can break a big friendship’ in wide-ranging interview with GuardianVolodymyr Zelenskyy has said the decision by some Reform UK councils to take down the Ukrainian flag was the kind of “small mistake that can break a big friendship”, as he underlined the significance of strong bilateral relations.The Ukrainian president tempered his rare foray into UK domestic politics by stressing how much the two countries “need each other” in the battle against Russia, which he said posed a threat not only to Ukraine but to Britain too. Continue reading...

Fire in Bermondsey sends huge plumes rising high over the city and disrupts train travel in the areaFifteen fire engines and about 100 firefighters have been called to tackle a major fire at a recycling centre in south London.Fire control officers were first called just after 5.30pm on Monday to the centre on Landmann Way in Bermondsey. Continue reading...

Department of Agriculture ays new cases in Texas and New Mexico as officials move to combat parasite’s spreadThe US Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Monday confirmed three additional cases of New World screwworm – two more in Texas and the other in New Mexico, according to the agency’s animal health arm.The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said the two Texas cases affected a calf in La Salle county and a goat in Gillespie county. Continue reading...

Recent exchange of missiles between Iran and Israel highlights diverging views between US president and Israeli PM The latest eruption of hostilities between Iran and Israel appears to have been contained for now after Donald Trump insisted he called “all the shots” in the Middle East, but in a dangerously fragile region Benjamin Netanyahu has again shown he is ready to take shots of his own.The exchange of missiles on Sunday and Monday was ample demonstration of the inherent instability of the current limbo between war and peace, but it also shone a bright light on the complex and conflicted relationship between the US president and the Israeli prime minister, frenemies who could determine the fate of the current ceasefire. Continue reading...