US military says it struck three Iranian tankers after American warships came under missile attack

Reform UK leader maintains innocence in overseas funding controversy on last day of party conferenceUK politics liveNigel Farage has claimed that he “wasn’t even listening” during a meeting at the centre of a controversy about whether his party considered evading the law on accepting donations from overseas.The Reform UK leader also claimed that he knew donation law “better than anybody” during interviews as he sought to salvage the final day of his party conference from the fallout that has already cost him two of his closest aides. Continue reading...

Ryan Bridge, arrested this year on suspicion of religiously and racially aggravated harassment, says party invited himThe leader of a flag campaign group who was arrested on suspicion of causing religiously and racially aggravated harassment was given access to Reform UK’s annual conference.Ryan Bridge, whose Raise the Colours group has put up hundreds of union and St George flags across England, told the Guardian he was invited to the conference. Continue reading...

MPs applaud PM’s ambition and optimism but John Healey has yet to show he can match leader’s radical perspectiveUntil now, Andy Burnham has been a lucky prime minister. In office for just over six weeks, no major domestic crisis derailed his plans over the summer, Reform has been on the back foot, and he arrived back at Westminster with his personal approval ratings soaring and optimism undampened.But underneath the sense of relief that many Labour MPs are feeling that their high-stakes gamble of ousting Keir Starmer appears – for now – to have paid off, there is an unease that Burnham’s premiership is yet to make contact with economic reality. Continue reading...

US envoys expected to meet Vladimir Putin before going to Kyiv, after peace efforts floundered in recent monthsThe US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived in Moscow to try to resuscitate a deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as both sides said they would halt airstrikes for the visit.The envoys were met at the airport on Saturday by the Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, a key interlocutor for the Trump administration’s efforts to end the Ukraine-Russia war. The US outlet Axios reported that they were expected to meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, later in the day. The visit came as Trump suggested on Friday a new proposal to end the war, without providing any details on what his new plan might be. Trump made ending the war a priority early in his second term, but his efforts have so far yielded little results. Continue reading...

Politicians on the right and left are pushing back against Flock as more Americans voice opposition to the techGrowing factions from both sides of the political aisle in the US are pushing back against surveillance cameras made by a single company, a rare response in a sharply divided country with a president pushing an unwaveringly pro-tech agenda.The bipartisan backlash against Flock Safety cameras resembles nationwide rage toward the construction of large datacenters that power artificial intelligence. Polling shows roughly 75% of Americans oppose new datacenter construction in their areas. Continue reading...

Houthi rebel offensive against government forces on west coast leads to some of deadliest clashes in yearsClashes between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces and the Iran-aligned Houthi rebel movement killed more than 60 people, including civilians, as the Houthis pushed forward with a military offensive on Yemen’s western coast.Twenty-six government troops and 31 Houthi fighters were killed during several hours of fighting in the country’s south-west on Saturday, medical and military sources told Agence France-Presse (AFP). A missile strike also killed six civilians and injured seven others travelling by bus in the city of Taiz. Continue reading...

District attorney must decide whether to retry case after jury’s failure to reach verdict despite hours of deliberationLindsay Clancy, prosecutors, defense lawyers, the judge and millions watching on are back where they started after her five-week trial over the murder of her three children ended in a mistrial.America’s saddest case has ceased for the moment, but the legal wrangling is not over, and a second trial could now be on the horizon, prolonging and repeating an agonizing spectacle that has gripped America and the world. Continue reading...

After bringing injured queen Phoebee home in July, Gilly McArthur expected her soon to die, but she’s bumbling onFifty-two days ago, Phoebee was lying by the side of a road in the blistering sun with a broken wing. Today, she’s clambering up the arm of Gilly McArthur, around the nape of her neck and disappearing into her hair.“I couldn’t leave her by the roadside,” McArthur says. “So I bought her home and made her a bed of flowers. I thought she’d be dead in a day or so.” Continue reading...

Sector has avoided issue because of stigma fears, expert warns ahead of closure of Nottingham attacks inquiryMental health organisations have “failed to acknowledge” the risk of violence from a minority of people with severe mental illnesses, the chief executive of Mind has said ahead of the closure of the inquiry into the Nottingham attacks.Dr Sarah Hughes, who has led mental health charity Mind for four years and has worked in the sector for almost four decades, said charities had shied away from addressing the risk of violence due to the fact it had increased the stigma and harassment around people with mental health conditions. Continue reading...

Healthy middle-aged people deemed to be at higher risk of developing condition among those eligible to participatePeople without memory loss will be offered an experimental Alzheimer’s drug that could stop the development of the condition before dementia symptoms emerge.Healthy middle-aged people deemed to have a higher risk of developing the condition will be eligible to participate in the trial, which is being run by an NHS trust as part of an international clinical trial aiming to prevent dementia. Continue reading...

Chinese man at Trishuli hydropower project and Nepali woman in Nuwakot found 10 days into rescue operationEmergency responders rescued a Chinese man and a Nepali woman in two separate operations on Saturday, as authorities continued to search for thousands of people missing 10 days after massive floods hit Nepal.The Nepali military said a joint team comprising personnel from its army and South Korean disaster experts rescued the man from a tunnel in the Upper Trishuli-1 hydropower project, and that he was undergoing a health assessment. Pictures showed him being evacuated by helicopter after being carried out of the tunnel. Continue reading...