Supreme court nears the end of its term with cases about Donald Trump’s power to be decided – US politics live

• Prof Michel Chossudovsky and Drago Bosnic released a video on August 31, 2026, alleging that President Trump and the Pentagon are targeting civilians globally. • The authors argue that the U.S. military has maintained an unspoken practice of routinely targeting non-combatants from World War II to the present day.

U-turn on early release scheme will create ‘stresses and strains’ on prison system, says former justice secretaryAndy Burnham is taking a “big risk” by seeking to continue running prison capacity to the limit, according to the former justice secretary appointed by Keir Starmer to oversee a review of sentencing.As parliament resumes on Tuesday, the government will confirm its U-turn on its early release scheme, which would have seen thousands of prisoners released early as part of a plan to ease prison overcrowding. Continue reading...

Exclusive: 7,280 suspected illegal spills in rivers and sea recorded in first five months of 2026The number of suspected illegal discharges of raw sewage into rivers and seas by water companies during dry weather increased significantly during the first five months of 2026.Dumping raw sewage into waterways during dry spells via overflows amounts to pollution. It is considered a breach of the permits given to water companies and is illegal. Discharging during dry weather increases the toxicity of the sewage pollution entering waterways. Rivers have less flow and volume, and there is no rainwater to dilute the sewage pollution entering the waterway. Continue reading...

In-store inflation rises to an annual 1.5% in August, according to a survey for the British Retail ConsortiumThe pace of price rises in UK shops rose to its highest level in two years in August, a trade body index shows, with higher energy costs pushing up the price of food and AI chip demand making technology more expensive.In-store inflation stepped up to 1.5% year on year in August, up from 0.9% in July, led by prices for tinned and packaged food which increased by 2.5% against 1.1% in the prior month, according to data from the research company NIQ for the British Retail Consortium. Continue reading...

Chancellor says he wants everyone from apprentices to senior economists to take part in brainstorming exerciseJohn Healey has asked junior Treasury staff – including IT workers and apprentices – to send him ideas for his October budget, saying he will listen to all suggestions regardless of grade or profession.The chancellor’s unorthodox approach comes as he faces a tricky autumn with expected inflation rises, sluggish growth and potential cuts from other departments to fund extra defence spending. Continue reading...

A yes to membership would have given Brussels a boost but Icelanders have not voted to isolate themselves Iceland’s 52.8% to 47.2% vote against reopening EU accession talks is, undeniably, a blow for Brussels. But claiming it as a Brexit-style victory for “national sovereignty” or evidence of broad rejection of the EU misrepresents the reality of the island’s relationship with the bloc.For the EU, Iceland was a dream candidate: small, stable, prosperous and strategically located in an increasingly contested Arctic. Eager as it is to wield more geopolitical clout and revive flagging momentum around enlargement, a vote in favour would have given Brussels a very welcome boost. Continue reading...

Exclusive: FCA pressures firms to do more to sort 760,000 accounts as watchdog urges families to use free tracking serviceChild trust fund providers are being put under the spotlight to check they are treating savers fairly and doing all they can to reunite young people with lost accounts.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said about 760,000 accounts worth an average of £2,000 were yet to be claimed – more than £1.5bn in total – as it launched a review of the market. Continue reading...

City council emphasises economic case for Madring amid local outrage over disruption and environmental impactOpponents of Madrid’s newly constructed Formula One circuit have accused the regional authorities of putting profit before people’s wellbeing after tests for the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the track later this month yielded noise levels that were almost twice the legal decibel limit.The regional government of Madrid and the city council are hoping that the 5.4km-long (3.3 miles) Madring circuit – which has been built in the north-east of the Spanish capital at a cost of €83m (£71m) – will attract visitors, boost the local economy and put the city firmly on the motor racing map. The Madring bills itself as “a perfectly connected circuit: just 20 minutes from the city centre”. Continue reading...

Sally Dowling tells budget estimates that Michael Daley called to tell her he was appointing a senior counsel and ‘raised quite a number of names’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe top prosecutor in NSW says she discussed a list of barristers to lead an independent review into controversial findings against her office with the state’s attorney general, before he appointed someone she had known “professionally and socially” for nearly 30 years.Last month, a state parliamentary committee voted 4-3 to find that the New South Wales director of public prosecutions (DPP), Sally Dowling SC, had given false evidence about the pitching of a story about an Indigenous child performing an acknowledgement of country at a sentencing hearing to radio station 2GB. Continue reading...

Critically endangered New Zealand bird enjoys record breeding season triggered by mass fruiting of native tree, pushing its numbers to 325The population of the world’s heaviest parrot, the kākāpō, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree.Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to 325 – a record high since recovery efforts began. Continue reading...

A Las Vegas jury on Monday found Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis guilty in the 1996 murder of the hip-hop iconJury finds Duane Davis guilty of murder of Tupac ShakurThirty years after the killing of Tupac Shakur, conspiracy theories and rumors about the perpetrator’s identity, one man has now been held criminally responsible for the rap icon’s death.A Las Vegas jury convicted Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a 63-year-old former South Side Compton Crips gang leader, of murder for his role in the drive-by shooting. During the two-week long trial, prosecutors argued Davis was the “on-the-ground, on-site commander of the effort to kill Tupac” and had sought revenge after the musician was involved in a fight with his nephew, Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson. Continue reading...

Pamela Cisneros, 49, was wielding two knives when she stabbed a woman, who died in the hospital, and a manNew York City police shot and killed a woman Monday after she stabbed two people in Times Square, city authorities said during a press conference.Jessica Tisch, the New York City police commissioner, described the stabbings as “random and unprovoked” acts carried out by a woman with previous mental health problems. Continue reading...