Religious Vance seeks to avoid Maga schism as he keeps the faith for 2028

• Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian discussed geopolitical developments and bilateral relations during an exclusive interview while visiting India for the BRICS summit. • Pezeshkian emphasized expanding cooperation on the Chabahar Port to strengthen regional trade networks.

Minister points to legislation’s retrospective effect, but Reform says it is confident funding is within the lawUK politics live – latest updatesReform UK’s record £72m in donations from two crypto billionaires could be caught in a new bill which will apply retrospectively, a cabinet minister has suggested.Labour MPs have voiced anger on internal WhatsApp groups that the government did not act last week to restrict domestic donations in the elections bill after two donors – Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo – gave Reform UK a total of £72m over the weekend. Continue reading...

Campaigners say at current glacial pace some unpaid carers will die before receiving a refundUnpaid carers who were pursued for bills for thousands of pounds after welfare officials unlawfully changed benefit rules could wait years before learning whether they will get the money back, campaigners have warned.The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is working through 200,000 cases where carer’s allowance benefit recipients were incorrectly given overpayments. An estimated 25,000 carers could receive full or partial refunds. Continue reading...

With sales up 12%, pickles are moving beyond traditional role as a side to become an ingredient in their own rightThe humble pickled onion, long associated with classic pub culture, the ploughman’s lunch and cold festive buffets, is enjoying a revival as Britain’s appetite for pickles grows.About 8.5m UK households bought pickled onions over the past year, according to the consumer data firm Worldpanel by Numerator, with particularly strong momentum in recent months. Continue reading...

Women say they are too fearful to pursue criminal prosecution of rapes, for fear of having their claims refusedFemale asylum seekers are reporting rapes and sexual assaults by British men but many say they are too fearful to pursue criminal prosecutions.Their voices are rarely heard but some have spoken to the Guardian at a time when the far right is intensifying tropes about endemic rape of English women and girls by “fighting age” male asylum seekers. Continue reading...

Pilot project in Preston comes with apprenticeship offer for Neets at end of three-week courseIn a youth centre opposite Preston bus station, the UK government is trying to address two of the greatest challenges facing the national economy: AI and youth unemployment.The hope is that one will solve – rather than cause – the other. In a room at the recently opened Vault, a community hub in the Lancashire city, an “AI bootcamp” is under way – part of a trial in the north-west to give 16- to 24-year-olds AI training. Continue reading...

Reform UK’s economic spokesperson talks to Sky News and BBC after record donations Christopher Harborne matches £36m Reform donation of Ben DeloAnalysis: Donations of £72m make Reform’s prospects both rosier and riskierGood morning and welcome to the Guardian’s politics live blog in what is a fairly tumultuous period in electoral financing. To recap: In the past 48 hours, Reform UK has received a staggering sum of £72m from two crypto billionaires, the largest single donations in British political history. Christopher Harborne’s £36m donation, which he announced in the Telegraph newspaper yesterday, matches that given by another cryptocurrency investor Ben Delo on Friday.The huge injection into Reform’s coffers obviously help fund the anti-immigration party’s operations leading into the next general election, to be held by 2029. But it has also further muddied the reputation around the party’s finances and who it says it serves. Reform has pledged more crypto-friendly policies i.e. greater adoption of the unregulated currency across the UK if the party were to come into power. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Supermarket joins line of firms and sports stars including Bellingham and Haaland to have their image hijacked via adsTesco has alerted City of London police after it became the latest in a string of companies and sports stars, including Barclays bank and Lewis Hamilton, to have its image hijacked in a “scam” by unlicensed casinos advertising via Facebook and Instagram.The supermarket chain is among several household-name businesses to have been targeted in an apparent effort by casinos that cannot legally operate in Britain to capitalise on their brand recognition. Continue reading...

More than 100 others on board were evacuated from the Virgo ⁠Transport 8 ship, including one who diedIndonesian rescuers were searching on Sunday for 140 people from a ⁠passenger ship that was earlier reported missing in the Java Sea ​after 103 others were evacuated, ‌one of whom ‌died, a search and rescue agency official said.A passenger ship carrying more than 240 people was reported missing after losing contact during bad weather in the Java Sea early on Sunday, the country’s ⁠search and rescue agency said. Continue reading...

Criticism of three-year threshold repayment freeze prompts update to guidance warning terms and conditions could changeUniversity students taking out student loans are to be warned that the terms and conditions could change so they are better informed about what they are signing up to, the government has said.In July, a report by MPs said slideshows that compared student loan repayments to the cost of a mobile phone contract, and YouTube videos that did not mention the fact that conditions could be altered amounted to mis-selling by the government. Continue reading...

Rhun ap Iorwerth, the first non-Labour Senedd leader, questions Westminster’s willingness to relinquish powersAndy Burnham has to be serious about devolution and understand that Wales is a nation and “not a region in England”, according to the country’s first minister.Rhun ap Iorwerth, who is the first non-Labour leader of the Senedd since devolution, told the Guardian that while he was encouraged by initial discussions with the new UK prime minister, he was wary about Burnham being captured by a consensus Westminster view against relinquishing further powers. Continue reading...