Questions over Karoline Leavitt’s replacement as she steps down as White House press secretary – US politics live

• South Africa has been confirmed as the host country for the 2025 G20 Summit. • This event marks a historic milestone as it will be the first time the summit is held on the African continent.

• A Washington Post report reveals that the CIA questioned the validity of Israeli intelligence regarding a threat to Donald Trump prior to a plane switch in Turkey. • While the report indicates the threat was actually real, CIA officials reportedly deemed the intelligence "not compelling enough" to warrant a different response.

• Myanmar is challenging the traditional diplomatic model where governments must make political concessions and end human rights abuses to end international isolation. • Historically, Western diplomacy utilized conditionality, applying economic restrictions and diplomatic pressure to force rehabilitation and political reform.

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group acquires Knightsbridge-headquartered retailer after it went into administrationBusiness live – latest updatesThe owner of Sports Direct has bought Harvey Nichols out of administration after the upmarket department store chain warned it could run out of money if it did not find new funding.Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group said on Thursday it had bought the department store chain, which is headquartered at its store in Knightsbridge, for an undisclosed sum on the same day as it was placed into administration. It has 13 stores and 1,200 employees. Continue reading...

Two planes came close to collision on the runway on Sunday – hours after another near miss – making a total of three in recent weeksGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe transport safety watchdog is investigating a another near-collision between two planes at Sydney airport – an incident that occurred on the same day as one that made national news and raised concerns about air traffic control.The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said on Thursday night that it was investigating a second “runway incursion” on Sunday 9 August. Continue reading...

State is US’s largest user of pesticide that is virtually proven to cause Parkinson’s diseaseCalifornia is banning paraquat, a highly toxic, controversial herbicide used across millions of acres of American cropland.Public health advocates characterize it as a deadly substance that is virtually proven to cause Parkinson’s disease. It is already outlawed in more than 70 countries, including China, the UK and the EU. Yet in the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reapproved it for use in 2021 and 2024. Continue reading...

Indiana faced most outages at 267,000, about 8% of its customers, with severe thunderstorms and wind aheadPower supply was cut on Thursday ⁠to about 540,000 homes and businesses across the US midwest as severe storms battered the region, data ⁠from PowerOutage.us showed.Indiana ⁠was the ​hardest-hit state, with more than 267,000 outages, representing about 8% of its roughly 3.3 million customers, the data ⁠showed. Continue reading...

Ethics experts and Democrats express alarm as Trump uses office to grow his personal fortune to ‘unprecedented’ level Donald Trump’s use of his second presidency to grow his personal fortune has alarmed legal and ethics experts and congressional Democrats as he has reaped an “unprecedented” $2.2bn in 2025 revenues by amassing big cryptocurrency holdings, benefitting from wealthy foreign interests, expanding his Truth Social business and more, while federal oversight of his actions has waned.Trump last year raked in at least $1.4bn from his crypto ventures according to financial disclosure forms he filed in June. Simultaneously, about one million investors in a Trump crypto scheme suffered almost $3.8bn in losses as their volatile crypto holdings tanked in value. Continue reading...

The order cannot affect change, and is only ‘undermining trust in vaccines’ as CDC guidance remains the sameDonald Trump’s executive order on vaccines does not change the US recommendations for the shots – but experts say it does create confusion and doubt about vaccines, which will lead to more illness and possibly deaths among children and will make it harder for families and pediatricians to protect them.The executive order was an attempt to reinstate sweeping changes to the vaccine schedule made earlier this year by Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services and a longtime vaccine opponent – changes that were later halted by a federal judge. Continue reading...

Foreign affairs minister and first Asian-Australian to serve in federal cabinet to use Lowy Institute address to criticise politicians stoking racial divisionsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLabor has escalated its pushback on One Nation’s surging political support, with the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, labelling Pauline Hanson’s push for a monoculture a “melancholic fantasy” that would harm national security.Wong, the first Asian-Australian to serve in federal cabinet, will use a major address at The Lowy Institute on Friday to criticise politicians stoking racial divisions, insisting the country’s multicultural success remains a national asset. Continue reading...

Move blocking funds through Medicaid and Chip to make it harder for vulnerable children to get healthcare, experts sayThe Trump administration finalized a rule on Tuesday to end gender-affirming care through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip), a move that will make it harder for vulnerable children to access healthcare and that eschews evidence to advance an anti-transgender ideology, opponents say.The rule is set to take effect on 13 October – but legal challenges could delay or block it entirely. Continue reading...