Leftwing US commentator calls decision to ban him from UK ‘Kafkaesque’

• The "Geneva fiasco" highlights the risks of replacing professional diplomats with business dealmakers who misinterpret diplomatic compromise as weakness. • This shift in approach transformed a negotiable crisis into an active conflict with Iran, undermining traditional diplomatic strategies.

• Former President Donald Trump admitted to calling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "crazy," reflecting a shift in his previous strong support for the leader. • Trump claimed that Israel's current actions and policies are complicating potential peace negotiations and diplomatic efforts involving Iran.

• Global stability is facing a systemic threat as economic warfare, resource shortages, and geopolitical tensions create a dangerous chain reaction of overlapping failures. • These intersecting crises are driving increased migration pressures and widespread social unrest, which further destabilize societies and intensify international conflict.

• Israeli strikes in Lebanon have resulted in at least 1,070 deaths and 2,966 injuries, according to the Ministry of Public Health. • The conflict has displaced over one million people, representing approximately one-fifth of Lebanon's total population.

• The text examines how major global conflicts over the last 200 years, including the two World Wars and the Cold War, fundamentally reshaped international borders and power structures. • These confrontations drove significant technological progress and forced a redefinition of global diplomacy and defense strategies.

State election officials continue to work through the uncounted primary ballots, a process that could take days or weeksHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.The race to become California’s next governor in the Senate remains up in the air, with voters potentially waiting weeks until the results are known.A leftwing US political commentator has described the UK government’s decision to ban him from entering the country as “haunting and hilarious” and “Kafkaesque”. Cenk Uygur, the founder and a host on Young Turks, a well-established progressive media outlet, was banned earlier this week from entering the UK to attend a speaking engagement alongside Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who has become a popular figure on the US political left.The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.Before signing an executive order related to customs in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump took seven minutes to reassure an anxious public, beset by worries about a protracted war with Iran, surging gasoline prices and rising inflation, that progress has been made on at least one front: the resurfacing of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is nearly complete.The president also took time to once again attack the CNN host Kaitlan Collins for not smiling in his presence and blamed her network for the suicides of four January 6 defendants.The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, refused to say whether Trump, his family and his businesses would still get immunity from IRS audits after the administration yesterday abandoned plans for a $1.8bn fund that would have benefited the president’s allies.Bessent did confirm that he threatened to beat up a fellow administration member, Bill Pulte, last summer. Continue reading...

Violence flares before protests on Thursday over president’s decision to remain in office after his term expiredGovernment troops and militias allied with the opposition have exchanged fire in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, damaging property and forcing some civilians to flee.The violence flared up ahead of planned protests on Thursday over president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s decision to remain in office after his term expired in May. In March, parliament backed constitutional changes that could allow Mohamud to extend his term by a year and push back an election. Continue reading...

PM says Britons are ‘reasonable, tolerant people’ and backs MP’s legal action against Grok firm over fake sexualised imagesUK politics live – latest updatesElon Musk is “interfering in our politics” and attempting to create division, Keir Starmer has said in a significant toughening of government language about the X owner.It follows weeks of posts by Musk on his social media platform about the murder of Henry Nowak, many of which have used far-right themes and talking points. Continue reading...

Police allege the 44-year-old lauded for disarming one of the gunmen in December’s attack put his father in a headlockGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Sydney man who disarmed one of the Bondi terror attackers has been charged with assaulting his father.Ahmed al-Ahmed, 44, is accused of allegedly putting his father in a headlock on 9 March at a house in Bankstown, in the city’s west. Continue reading...

Farage’s party brings in £9m largely from crypto billionaires in three months, more than twice that of Labour and Tories• UK politics live – latest updatesReform UK is raising millions more than the other political parties from private donations, bringing in £9m largely from cryptocurrency billionaires in the first three months of the year.Nigel Farage’s party took a £3m donation from the cryptocurrency and aviation investor, Christopher Harborne, who is a British-Thai dual citizen, and £4m from the cryptocurrency entrepreneur Ben Delo, who is relocating to the UK from Hong Kong. Continue reading...

State election officials continue to sift through uncounted primary ballots, which could take days or even weeksThe California governor’s race remained unsettled Thursday, as state election officials continued to sift through uncounted primary ballots – a process that could take days or even weeks as voters eagerly await the results.Polls indicated that British-born conservative pundit Steve Hilton was narrowly leading the race, followed by former US human services and health secretary Xavier Becerra. Billionaire Tom Steyer trailed behind the pair. Under California’s primary system, the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election. Continue reading...

Foreign affairs minister says her position is to ‘always believe women’ when sexual assault allegations are madeGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says she believes the Australian women who have alleged they were raped and beaten by Israeli soldiers after being detained as part of a humanitarian flotilla attempting to bring aid to Gaza.Appearing at Senate estimates, Wong said the treatment of the Australian women was “unacceptable”, and the allegations they had subsequently made were “distressing”. Continue reading...