Liz Truss to relaunch podcast on channel of broadcaster famous for ‘grow concrete’ exchange

• The UN stabilization mission in the Central African Republic reported a gradual return to normal life in Am-Dafock following an attack by armed groups. • The violence killed 29 people and displaced more than 17,000 residents near the border with Sudan.

• The Taliban’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum signed a major oil and gas exploration and production agreement with the Saudi company Delta Energy in Kabul. • The deal focuses on the exploration and production of energy resources within Afghanistan.

Wall Street billionaire’s meeting with John Healey comes amid deep speculation over higher windfall tax on banks in October budgetJamie Dimon, the boss of the largest US bank JP Morgan, is set to warn John Healey against raising taxes on banks in his inaugural budget in October.The Wall Street billionaire will meet the new chancellor on Wednesday and caution him that higher taxes could put investment and employment in the UK at risk, it is understood. Continue reading...

TSA PreCheck program members will be eligible to send off friends and family at gate in change to post-9/11 ruleSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailSome people without plane tickets will be allowed to pass through security at US airports and go to gates to see off family or friends, rolling back a rule that was introduced after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.Certain people who are part of the TSA PreCheck program but who do not have tickets to fly will be able to go through security to airport gates, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said. Continue reading...

Defence secretary says docudrama, featuring Michael Gove and Nicola Sturgeon, has helped write his ‘defence spending review submission’A docudrama depicting a Russian attack on Britain led by an unlikely pairing of Michael Gove and Nicola Sturgeon was praised by the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, for writing “my spending review submission”.Wargame, due to be broadcast on Sky later in September, features a string of former politicians advised by ex-securocrats, grappling with an unusually powerful Moscow, while highlighting limitations in the British military.The Wargame airs on Sky One from 21 September Continue reading...

Friedrich Merz says Alternative für Deutschland is ‘dividing our society’ after party won nearly 44% of vote in Saxony-Anhalt state electionEurope live – latest updatesGermany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has accused the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) of seeking “ethnic cleansing” with its “remigration” drive, after the nativist party’s seismic weekend victory in a state election.In their first public confrontation since Sunday’s shock outcome in Saxony-Anhalt, Merz said at a raucous parliamentary debate that the AfD would take an axe to one of the pillars of the German economy with a racist campaign of mass deportations. Continue reading...

Authorities and public bodies to be urged to buy goods and services from Europe, but without binding quotasEuropean authorities will be encouraged to buy more domestic goods and services when they spend public money under the EU latest effort to counter China’s economic might.In a further “Buy European” plan, the European Commission published proposals on Wednesday for a sweeping overhaul of EU public procurement rules. Continue reading...

Charity stresses small boat rescues are tiny part of its work and speaks out after volunteers abused by far-right agitatorsThe lifeboat charity RNLI has vowed to continue to rescue asylum seekers in the Channel despite attacks on volunteers and staff after the recent high-profile small boat landings.RNLI bosses said workers had been subjected to online and physical abuse and there had been “baseless” rumours that the charity has housed asylum seekers or moved them to secret locations after helping them to shore. Continue reading...

The state can’t use new congressional districts under one court order – or its old ones under another. Plus, the architects in Europe turning urban spaces into areas of climate respiteGood morning. Clashing court rulings plunged Missouri’s congressional elections into uncertainty less than two months before the November midterms that will decide which party controls a closely divided Congress.Conservative justice Brett Kavanaugh denied the emergency request from Missouri officials to use a congressional map in November that was redrawn with Donald Trump’s support to give Republicans an edge in the midterms, but a ruling by a federal judge in Missouri temporarily prevented the state from using its old congressional maps.Why is there legal action over the maps? The Missouri supreme court has previously ruled that the new map must go before voters to approve or reject the new districts, meaning it cannot be used in time for the November election. The president and Republicans had fumed over the decision, with Trump calling it “horrible, ridiculous, and unconstitutional”.What are the significant changes to the map intended to favor Republicans? The revised map targeted the fifth congressional district, held by longtime Democratic representative Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. It reassigned portions of Kansas City to two neighboring districts represented by Republicans and stretched the remainder of Cleaver’s district far eastward into rural Republican areas.What has the British prime minister said? Writing in the Guardian, Andy Burnham said he would “not stand by” as horrific suffering continued, and that for too long the UK had been hesitant to act “fearful of being accused of being anti-Israel”. “The measures we are taking,” he said, “are about targeting illegal settlements and increasing the pressure on the Israeli government to change course. We are not imposing sanctions on Israel as a whole.”How has Israel reacted? Israel has ordered the closure of the British consulate in occupied East Jerusalem among retaliatory measures including entry bans on several UK lawmakers. The Israeli government added that longstanding British involvement in the training of Palestinian security forces on the West Bank would be terminated. Britain will also be excluded from the US-led Gaza coordination mission. Continue reading...

Bridget Phillipson to announce creation of unit which will make class a key part of its equalities agendaUK politics live – latest updatesThe government is putting class at the heart of its equalities agenda by creating a new unit that will make tackling white working-class inequality a priority.The unit, which the minister for women and equalities, Bridget Phillipson, will announce on Wednesday, will sit within the Office for Equality and Opportunity and examine disparities linked to class and socioeconomic background across all ethnic groups. Continue reading...

AFL-CIO calls for ban on such labels to protect consumers and workers from surveillance pricing and job cutsThe universal adoption of electronic shelf labels in grocery stores across the US could cost tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost wages while further driving up grocery costs, according to a report released on Tuesday.An analysis by the AFL-CIO Tech Institute of the label manufacturers’ own marketing materials found the universal adoption of electronic shelf labels, which are marketed to retailers as a cost-cutting measure, could cost workers between $1.6bn to $6.9bn in lost wages annually and affect between 44,223 and 191,633 jobs. Continue reading...