John Healey to duck meeting UK defence spending target in budget

• El Niño-driven drought conditions in Djibouti have left 256,000 people—approximately 25% of the population—acutely food insecure through December. • Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has allocated $2 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address the crisis.

• A top UN official addressed the Security Council on Thursday regarding Syria's ongoing transition and rebuilding efforts following more than a decade of war. • Key developments mentioned include the recent dissolution of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces and the United States' decision to remove Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Judge Indira Talwani placed a 14-day hold on government implementing Trump’s order to limit mail votingSign up for the US Breaking News emailHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.A federal judge has halted, at least temporarily, attempts to implement Donald Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting.Plaintiff states have neither time nor funds to design new mail ballots, seek approval of the new designs, order production of mail ballots, update their own election management systems, train election officials to use the USPS portal and upload citizen data to the portal, all before the midterms.Documents obtained by the Guardian and interviews with military leadership show the war in Iran has depleted the US Navy’s budget.A senior Democratic senator is calling for a criminal investigation into the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, following reporting by the Guardian that indicated he lied during Senate confirmation hearings last year.Trump called the media into the Oval Office to watch him sign an executive order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America”.“The name Lake Ontario comes from the Wendat word Ontari’io, which, appropriately, means ‘the lake is beautiful, the lake is big’, Canada’s prime minister Mark Carney noted. “The name is more than 400 years old, predating both the Confederation of Canada and the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.”Three journalists who were fired by the Pentagon from a US government-funded news outlet sued the US Department of Defense in federal court in Washington DC on Thursday arguing that their dismissals were illegal and violated their first amendment rights to free speech. Continue reading...

Survivors begin receiving letters with payment amounts months after $305m settlement agreement was struck Survivors of child rape and other sexual abuse within New Orleans’s Roman Catholic archdiocese learned that $641,000 or so is the most they can individually get under a settlement approved in December to resolve a years-long bankruptcy protection case.Those amounts were communicated in letters that hundreds of clergy abuse survivors participating in the New Orleans archdiocese’s bankruptcy began quietly receiving on Tuesday. The figures are well below a $2.4m jury verdict awarded to an unrelated Louisiana religious sexual abuse claimant in June 2025 after the state’s legislature temporarily eliminated filing deadlines for such cases. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Michael Boren, a senior official overseeing the US Forest Service, is accused by Democratic senators of ‘inappropriate interference’Donald Trump’s administration is facing calls to launch an investigation into allegations that Michael Boren, a senior official who oversees the US Forest Service, pressed agency staff to deploy additional resources to fight a fire burning near his Idaho ranch.Three Democratic senators accused Boren of “inappropriate interference” in a letter seen by the Guardian, demanding answers from Brooke Rollins, US agricultural secretary. Boren serves as undersecretary of agriculture for natural resources and environment. Continue reading...

Sales of beans, lentils and soya bean derivatives on rise while Britons buy less real and fake meatBritish shoppers are munching more beans, lentils, tofu and tempeh – while cutting back on both real and plant-based fake meat – to save money and improve their diet.The amount of beans, pulses and soya bean derivatives sold in the UK increased by 7.3% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period last year, led by a surge in cheap dried lentils, an analysis has found. Continue reading...

Soaring demand for services has led to tenfold increase in spending in a year in some areas, says NHS AllianceNHS leaders have warned that the costs of meeting soaring demand for ADHD and autism services in England are “running out of control” and have become unsustainable, with spending in some areas rising by up to tenfold over the course of a year. The NHS Alliance, which represents health managers, said the rise in demand since the coronavirus pandemic was forcing some to close waiting lists and look at reining in other services they provide.One integrated care board (ICB) cited in a report said its monthly spend had risen from £146,000 in 2024/25 to £1.5m last year. Continue reading...

Two 17-year-olds accused of subjecting teenage girl to hours-long sexual assault granted bailTwo boys allegedly invited to join a “degrading” and “humiliating” gang rape in Sydney have been granted bail.The pair are among three-17-year-olds accused of subjecting a teenage girl to an hours-long sexual assault on the night of 16 August. Continue reading...

Cara Severino calls parents – but still faces trek of more than 110km to reach Kathmandu on footGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn Australian woman has made contact with her family, more than two days after she was reported missing in flash flooding in Nepal.At least 469 people have been killed and more than 1,500 are missing after a catastrophic flash flood hit the China-Nepal border on Wednesday. Cara Severino, 25, is the first of 39 Australians who had been reported missing in the tragedy to have been confirmed safe. Continue reading...

Flash flooding and mudslides in Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures, while convective storms hit western EuropeFollowing an “unprecedented” deluge in Chiba in mid-August, Japan has had more extreme rainfall in recent days. Moisture from the Sea of Japan brought relentless heavy rain to the prefectures of Ishikawa and Toyama on Thursday. In Himi, Toyama, 361.5mm of rain fell in 24 hours, equivalent to half the average annual rainfall in London and Paris. As a result of the downpours, several rivers burst their banks, leading to flash floods and mudslides with trees felled and buildings damaged.Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued its highest-level rain warning within the two prefectures earlier in the week as well as landslide warnings, leading to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands from the region. Models on Thursday indicated there could be a further 200mm of rain just south of this region as it continues to come in from the west. Continue reading...

About 80 people sign open letter to Andy Burnham calling for legislation to protect voice ownershipNicola Coughlan, Hugh Bonneville and Matt Lucas are among a group of actors backing a campaign against artificial intelligence voice cloning.Save Our Voices Now, which is also being supported by Luke Evans, Jen Brister, Siobhán McSweeney and Pearl Mackie, aims to stop the practice in which AI technology is used to replicate a real person’s voice to say anything it is prompted to. Continue reading...