Senate expected to take up voter ID bill opposed by Democrats – US politics live

Jonathan Powell thought Tehran’s ‘surprising’ offer on its nuclear programme could prevent rush to war Middle East crisis – live updatesBritain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal.Powell thought that progress had been made in Geneva and that the deal proposed by Iran was “surprising”, according to sources. Continue reading...

White House will take a financial loss to make it easier for Americans to walk away from citizenship starting in AprilThe Trump administration has agreed to take a financial loss in order to make it easier for Americans to walk away from their US citizenship.In April, the cost to formally renounce citizenship will plunge from $2,350 to just $450, below the actual cost to the government of processing the requests – but fulfilling a years-long promise to reverse an unpopular fee adopted in 2015. Continue reading...

Nearly 700 deals pulled in two weeks and only a few fixed-rate products below 4% are available, says MoneyfactsBusiness live – latest updatesBritons taking out a new home loan face paying nearly £800 a year more on average than before the Iran war as “Trumpflation” pushes up UK mortgage rates, according to Moneyfacts.Nearly 700 mortgage deals have been pulled by lenders as the economic fallout from the war results in the biggest upheaval since the aftermath of Liz Truss’s disastrous mini-budget in 2022. Continue reading...

Falling costs and government incentives made solar an attractive option for many, which has reduced need for gasAfter prices of liquefied natural gas surged to record highs following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, millions of people in Pakistan were repeatedly left without electricity. An intense heatwave and gas shortages amid record-breaking prices resulted in power cuts across the country.But people soon started to realise there was an alternative. The falling costs of solar panels and generous government incentives to feed excess power back to the grid made rooftop solar an attractive option. Continue reading...

Exclusive: actor’s Papa Salt gin to get oyster-free version after venues says it is ‘not worth the risk’ Margot Robbie said she “couldn’t wait” to see the artisan gin brand she had created stocked in her London local. But the willingness of the capital’s venues to fulfil her dream has been seriously compromised by three words on the side of the bottle – “warning: contains molluscs”.The Wuthering Heights star has had to change the recipe of her spirit after top London bars and restaurants rejected it due to allergen concerns, the Guardian can reveal. Continue reading...

After carrying out an audit, the council found some parts of the town were ‘overwhelmed’ A local council has stopped residents from installing any more memorial benches in the town amid concerns that it is becoming “overwhelmed”.Hartlepool borough council has said it is not currently taking any new applications for benches, after concerns from residents that there are too many. Continue reading...

More than 100 others injured in bombings targeting post office, market areas and hospital in MaiduguriAt least 23 people have been killed and more than 100 others injured in multiple suspected suicide bombings in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri, shattering its reputation as a relative oasis of calm in recent years as a long-running insurgency was pushed to the rural hinterlands.Authorities said the explosions went off at the post office and market areas, as well as the entrance to the University of Maiduguri teaching hospital, on Monday evening during iftar, the breaking of fast in the month of Ramadan. Continue reading...

If confirmed, it would make Larijani the most senior Iranian figure to be killed in the war since Ali Khamenei. Plus, Oakland homicides down 48% from Covid peakGood morning.Israel says it killed Iran’s national security chief, Ali Larijani, in overnight strikes. If the claim is confirmed, it would make Larijani the most senior Iranian figure to die in the war since the supreme leader Ali Khamenei was killed on its first day.How significant could Larijani’s death be? Very. If confirmed, it would remove a pivotal figure at the center of the regime’s political and security establishment at a time of acute crisis.What’s happening to oil prices? Oil and gas prices have risen again after Iran successfully attacked production facilities for the first time since the start of the war. Brent crude reached $103.2 a barrel on Tuesday.Read our live coverage here. Continue reading...

Britons learn about the country’s involvement ‘almost as a self-congratulatory narrative’, says historian Joseph Mulhern In 1845 British citizens and companies were already legally prohibited from owning or buying enslaved people overseas, yet that year 385 captives were “transferred” to a British mining company in Brazil named St John d’El Rey.Despite a global campaign waged by the UK against slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, the move was not technically illegal because the enslaved people were not sold but “rented” – a practice permitted overseas under the 1843 Slave Trade Act. Continue reading...

Board members Jørgen Vig Knudstorp and Beth Ford face scrutiny for the coffee chain’s ongoing labor dispute Starbucks shareholders are pushing to remove two board members at the company who they argue have contributed to stalling the coffee chain’s long-fought-over union drive.The SOC Investment Group, Trillium Asset Management, Merseyside Pension Fund, the non-profit Shareholder Association for Research and Education (Share), and the New York state and New York City comptrollers wrote a letter to Starbucks shareholders to vote “no” on the re-election of board members Jørgen Vig Knudstorp and Beth Ford at Starbucks’s annual shareholders meeting on 25 March. Continue reading...

Scotland’s busiest station to run reduced trains timetable after estimated 953,000 passenger journeys affected so farScotland’s busiest station, Glasgow Central, will partially reopen its main concourse on Wednesday, including for cross-border services, after a fire gutted the Victorian building next to it.There will be a reduced timetable, including a scaled-down service to London Euston, and passengers are asked to check journeys before travelling. Continue reading...