Pressure builds in Spain to deny US extradition request for leftwing donor

• An Iranian commercial vessel was attacked near Qeshm Island, resulting in one death and four injuries. • An official attributed the attack to the "US terrorist enemy."

• The Vatican convened an international symposium to document systemic violence and religious persecution against faith communities in the Middle East and the Global South. • The event focused on the geopolitics of 21st-century faith and the specific patterns of violence targeting believers in these regions.

Fire survivors and bereaved urge Barnet Group to ‘reconsider’ appointment of Laura Johnson, who pushed for cheaper contractorGrenfell survivors and bereaved relatives have criticised the “outrageous decision” to hire a director who oversaw cost-cutting at Grenfell Tower in a £150,000-a-year senior council housing role.Laura Johnson, the director of housing at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) at the time of the 2017 Grenfell fire, has been appointed the permanent director of development and property at the Barnet Group, which manages the borough’s 13,000 council homes. Continue reading...

In a new video, Klein and Taylor outline a ominous evolution taking shape on the far right – and how to stay loyal to this planet and each otherThe end times fascists are plotting their escape from our world. Our mission is clearAn ominous evolution is under way on the far right. It is a dangerous shift that is linked to our era of existential crises, defined by its pandemics, climate emergencies, resource wars and rogue tech. Today’s fascists are part of a dangerous and fractious alliance – from messianic venture capitalists to army-controlling theocrats – united by the belief that the end of the world is upon us and that only a chosen few deserve to be saved. That is the thesis of Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor’s new book, End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World.Since it can be hard to believe that political and corporate leaders would actively give up on our shared future on this singular planet, they also collaborated with film-makers Emma Dessau, Austin Bedell and P Nick Curran to create a video in which we hear directly from many of the people behind this threat – and outline why this is the moment for the rest of us to commit to each other and our shared home. The Guardian is pleased to share it for the first time.End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World is out 15 September via Farrar, Straus and GirouxNaomi Klein is a Guardian US columnist and contributing writer. She is the professor of climate justice and co-director of the Centre for Climate Justice at the University of British ColumbiaAstra Taylor is a writer, organizer and documentary maker and a co-founder of the Debt Collective Continue reading...

Iran war and turbulent global bond markets add to pressure as rate decisions loom this week in major western economiesEconomics viewpoint: perilous UK economic conditions trace back to TrumpCentral bankers in economies including the US, Japan and the UK will face a moment of truth this week, as surging inflation raises the prospect of higher interest rates.Policymakers in all three countries will set rates in the next seven days against the backdrop of turbulent global bond markets. Continue reading...

Angela Rayner says manifesto pledge is not being dropped but focus is now on building council housesUK politics live – latest updatesThe government is unlikely to meet its target of building 1.5m homes, Angela Rayner has acknowledged, saying there was only a “slim chance” enough houses would be built before the next election.The manifesto pledge to build 1.5m houses by the next election was a “stretch target”, the communities secretary added, but that it was not being ditched and she was “definitely not giving up”. Continue reading...

Party with neo-Nazi roots is in line for key ministerial positions if rightwing bloc wins the electionVoting is under way in Sweden in a high-stakes election that could lead to the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) entering government for the first time.It comes after an unusually heated and polarised campaign punctuated by personal attacks between leaders, accusations of misinformation and Maga-inspired ads. Polls suggest an extremely tight race, with one showing just 0.3 percentage points between the left and right blocs. Continue reading...

Richard Huye charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud in apparent scheme linked to 2021 storm aftermathThe first defendant charged in connection with an alleged major property insurance fraud scheme in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in 2021 in Louisiana appears poised to plead guilty, if federal criminal court records are any indication.Richard William Huye III, who faces a count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud while working as an attorney for Texas law firm McClenny Moseley and Associates (MMA), is scheduled to tentatively appear at a rearraignment hearing on 28 September, filings in New Orleans’s federal courthouse show. Continue reading...

President has hyped growth of federal investment accounts to help US children – for his own political gainSince returning to the White House, Donald Trump has scrapped rules that made childcare more affordable and pushed to cut funding for the nation’s public schools. But with midterm elections fast approaching and his approval ratings very low, the US president has repeatedly trumpeted a two-month-old program designed to help the nation’s children. That program, unhumbly named “Trump accounts”, calls for the federal government to give a one-time $1,000 seed deposit to every newborn whose family applies.In campaign speeches this summer, Trump has sought to milk these accounts for maximum political advantage, making big promises about how much these accounts will help the nation’s children. In a speech in Las Vegas last month, Trump hailed the program, saying: “It’s really giving [children] a head start on the American dream… They start off with $1,000 … and they can end up with $100,000, $200,000, $300,000” and if the stock market booms, “you’d end up with $1m”. Continue reading...

Authorities were caught off guard by the disruption, which they labelled a ‘protest’ despite mass intimidation tacticsTo anybody watching the videos of a group of masked men, all wearing black, descending on the port of Dover last weekend, it was immediately obvious that something novel and disturbing was happening: a mass intimidation in uniform not seen in Britain since the 1930s.Yet to the police and the rest of the UK’s intelligence apparatus, the arrival of the men chanting “stop the boats” was a surprise, despite the fact that residents of a village 18 miles away tried to report that dozens of men were congregating there on the Friday, threatening to go to Dover and “attack Muslims”. Continue reading...

Ex-Tory chancellor says economy has ‘fallen off a cliff’ since Brexit but rejoining union could be ‘quite simple’Former chancellor George Osborne said Britain’s economy has “fallen off a cliff” since Brexit and that rejoining the European Union’s customs union would be the fastest route to recovery.Osborne, who resigned as chancellor after being part of David Cameron’s cabinet at the time of the referendum, said it was important to rebuild links with the EU. Continue reading...