Man charged in Washington state with starting largest wildfire in the area

• Air strikes, shelling, and shooting continued in Gaza over the weekend, resulting in dozens of casualties, including civilians, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. • Gaza’s Ministry of Health reported over 150 fatalities during July, marking the highest monthly death toll recorded so far this year.

• Ukraine has appointed Umerov to lead a combined portfolio overseeing foreign intelligence, peace negotiations, and defense-technology priorities. • His key responsibilities include managing critical military initiatives, specifically drone procurement deals and the Freyja anti-ballistic program.

Probation inspector says ‘clunky’ system needs upgrade and huge increase in staff to monitor offenders effectivelyThe electronic tagging system which will be relied upon to monitor thousands of offenders released early from prison is failing to alert the authorities of potential breaches of conditions, a watchdog has warned.Martin Jones, HM inspector of probation in England and Wales, said the current system relies upon hard-pressed police and probation officers looking up individual cases and then deciding whether potential breaches need to be investigated further. Continue reading...

Judge puts hold on mask ban while allowing state law prohibiting cooperation between police and ICE to standA New York law banning US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from wearing face coverings and requiring that they wear visible identification has been put on hold by a federal judge. But a state law prohibiting cooperation between local police departments and ICE has been allowed to stand.The mask ruling comes after federal judges have blocked similar laws in California, Virginia and Pennsylvania that sought to ban federal immigration agents from covering their faces. They are still required to wear agency identification badges and badge number. Continue reading...

Beginning his career as an actor, Gill went on to write plays including The York Realist as well as directing for the Royal Court and National TheatreTributes have been paid to the director and playwright Peter Gill who died on Monday at the age of 86. His agent Mel Kenyon said Gill’s work had a “rare emotional delicacy” and was “beautifully observed and finely tuned” while the director Michael Grandage said Gill’s “contribution to the British theatre will come to be regarded as quietly seismic”.Gill began his career as an actor at London’s Royal Court in 1958 when still in his teens. Over the next six years, he played Silvius opposite Vanessa Redgrave as Rosalind in Michael Elliott’s lauded RSC production of As You Like It, as well as several roles in the British premiere of Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Continue reading...

Israeli takeover of al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock compound in Jerusalem said to be ‘imminent’ threatMiddle East crisis live – latest updatesJordan is convening an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from the Arab and Islamic world over what it says is an “imminent” threat of an Israeli takeover of the most important religious site in Jerusalem, with the potential to “trigger a religious conflict”.The meeting on Wednesday – and the Jordanian warning – follow an escalating pattern of government-backed incursions by Jewish religious extremists on the compound around the al-Aqsa mosque and Dome of the Rock, in violation of a status quo treaty overseen by Jordan’s Hashemite monarchy, by which only Muslims can pray at the site. Continue reading...

Special rapporteurs say ‘transnational repression by Indian authorities’ has put Moninder Singh in dangerUN rights experts have urged Canada to take all feasible measures to protect the Sikh activist Moninder Singh, who has been repeatedly warned by the Canadian authorities of credible threats to his life.In a letter to the Canadian government, the five UN experts raised “concerning allegations of foreign intimidation and reprisals” against Singh, a Canadian national. Continue reading...

Foreign ministry says efforts to reach resolution between the US and Iran were continuing despite conflicting statements from Trump and TehranHello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East.Qatar’s foreign ministry said efforts to reach a diplomatic solution between the US and Iran were “ongoing”, despite conflicting statements from Tehran and Washington over whether negotiations had resumed. Continue reading...

£2.2bn project will allow about 100,000 more flights a year to use Britain’s second busiest airportBusiness live – latest updatesGatwick airport is to start development of its second runway after campaigners lost a legal challenge to the plans.The court of appeal on Tuesday dismissed a bid by local campaign groups to challenge an earlier high court ruling that the scheme could proceed. Continue reading...

Incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a moderate who owns an auto repair shop, hopes to retain congressional seatThe two-term Democratic congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez is heading into one of the country’s most closely watched contests on Tuesday after national recognition for flipping a Republican seat in 2022.Representing Washington state’s third district, Gluesenkamp Perez finds herself squeezed between Democrat and progressive Brent Hennrich and Republican state senator John Braun on her right. There are six other candidates on a single crowded ballot and the top two finishers will advance to the November general election regardless of party. Continue reading...

After a blitz of small wins, PM is finding that like Keir Starmer there is only so much he can control on the big calls UK politics live – latest updatesIf Andy Burnham wanted to demonstrate he was the anti-Keir Starmer, the first fortnight could not have gone better. Instead of painting a gloomy picture of tough times and an economic black hole that would only improve with sacrifices such as cutting winter fuel allowance, Burnham’s first week was a blitz of small wins including cutting bus fares.But the new prime minister can only control so much. And like Starmer, within his first days in office he found himself facing immediate decisions where every call will make you unpopular. And – like Starmer – blaming your predecessor counts for nothing with an angry public. Continue reading...