Wallace’s dog Gromit was nearly a cat, reveals creator as Aardman turns 50

• The news — Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has unveiled ‘RAKSHA’, a strategic roadmap designed to make defence diplomacy a more structured component of India's international engagement. • The number — The roadmap outlines a strategic focus spanning the next decade to enhance global partnerships and maritime security.

• The news — Defence Minister Rajnath Singh released the 'RAKSHA' document in New Delhi, establishing a strategic framework for India's global defence diplomacy. • The number — The comprehensive roadmap outlines India's vision for international defence partnerships over the next 10 years.

• The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) released a report confirming that the El Niño phenomenon is now firmly established. • The WMO warns that the event will intensify into a "very strong" phase over the coming months.

Vice-president’s claim US-Iran conflict is not war draws ridicule from Democrat Ro Khanna. Plus, iconic feminist Gloria Steinem dies aged 92Good morning. The US vice-president, JD Vance, has responded to claims that an American strike was responsible for killing four people, including a child, at a wedding celebration in southern Iran by saying that “sometimes things happen”. The deaths were reported by the Iranian Red Crescent, which operates independently of Tehran and is treated by most international monitors as a credible source on casualty figures.In a further comment, described by the congressman Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, as “gaslighting”, the vice-president said the conflict between the US and Iran, which has stretched into a seventh month and caused the deaths of 18 US service members, was not presently “a war”. Iranian authorities have put the overall death toll from US and Israeli strikes in the thousands, figures outside observers, including US-based monitoring groups, have broadly corroborated.What did Vance say? At a White House press briefing he said: “I will say that the Iranian state media has not been a very good scribe about what’s happened in the conflict thus far, so I’m extremely skeptical of this. What I can say with 100% confidence is that, unlike the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the US never targets civilians in combat. We never will do that. We never have done that, and unfortunately, obviously, sometimes things happen”. Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to blow up Iran’s civilian infrastructure.What is happening with US military leadership? Trump on Thursday named Adam Telle as the acting army secretary after the departure of Daniel Driscoll amid widespread reports of tensions with the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. Telle is currently the assistant secretary of the army for civil works.What has the House decided about university boycotts of Israel? The House has passed a Republican-backed bill that would penalize universities that participate in boycotts of Israel. “This legislation is about a simple principle: our colleges and universities should not discriminate against Israel,” said Tim Walberg, the Republican chair of the House education committee. Thirty three Democrats broke with the rest of their party to vote in favor. It now goes to the Senate for consideration. Continue reading...

In the California City facility, ‘contact visits’ are strictly forbidden – but detained residents aren’t staying quiet. Are officials listening?Teresa Reyes drove 300 miles to be with her son on his 32nd birthday in May, but she couldn’t give him a gift, share a meal with him or give him a hug. She couldn’t even touch him.Her son, Guillermo, a tattoo artist from San Jose, is locked up in the California City immigration detention center, California’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility, and the only way he can see his mother is behind a thick pane of glass. Continue reading...

The decision marks a setback for Republicans in a national redistricting battleSign up for US Breaking News emailsHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.The Missouri supreme court blocked a Republican-drawn new congressional map ⁠from being used in November’s midterm ⁠elections, a blow to the party’s ​odds for maintaining its narrow US House majority.The Trump administration filed an emergency request asking the US supreme court to lift order blocking USPS from implementing mail-in voting restrictions. Chuck Schumer said the president was “[attempting] to destroy the integrity of our elections” with the move.Excavation work on Donald Trump’s “Great Triumphal Arch” project in Washington is set to begin in the coming weeks, interior secretary Doug Burgum said. Congressman Don Beyer, whose district includes Arlington National Cemetery, described the arch project as “illegal, gridlock-increasing [and] narcissistic”.Maryland’s supreme court has decided that a Democrat-backed congressional redistricting amendment can go before voters in the state in November in a win for Democrats.Donald Trump announced an interim replacement for army secretary, Dan Driscoll, who suddenly resigned earlier this week amid reports of tension between him and defense secretary Pete Hegseth.Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has been asked to testify before a congressional subcommittee as part of an investigation into the “potential misallocation” of federal funds by the region’s Homeless Services Authority. Congressman Robert Garcia described the move as “another attempt by Donald Trump and House Republicans to launch a witch-hunt against Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles.” Continue reading...

Mourning turns to anger as residents of Kuhestak say Baloch communities are being placed in path of conflictPeople in Kuhestak, a predominantly Baloch city in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province, are mourning after a strike on a wedding killed at least four people, including a child, and injured more than 60, according to local authorities.The blast hit at around 9.30pm on 1 September, turning a night of celebration into one of devastation for the small coastal community, which is on the strait of Hormuz. Continue reading...

Firm has celebrity fans and ambassadors including Prince Harry, Jennifer Aniston and Kim KardashianFans of Oura are accustomed to using its trendy smart rings to fastidiously monitor their health but now investors are preparing to track a new metric – its share price.The San Francisco-headquartered company’s filing to imminently list on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York was made public on Thursday. Continue reading...

As one card recently sold for £12m, opportunistic thefts have surged – envelopes are being opened en route, costing small businesses thousandsPokémon’s success over the last 30 years has seen it grow from a much-loved Game Boy classic, to a world-dominating brand with TV shows, spin-off games, toys and even a theme park. The trading card game is a huge part of that, with more than 85bn cards printed over its lifetime, and the appetite for them shows no signs of slowing down. Packs get snapped up after release so quickly it’s now almost impossible to find them in shops, and a booming resale market is driving the hobby into murky waters.One card recently sold for an eye-watering £12m, and an increasing number of people have gotten into the collecting business on the hunt for huge profits, leading to a rise in thefts targeting card shops. More recently though, some small businesses have reported that their sales have been hit by thieves targeting envelopes within Royal Mail, leading to thousands in lost revenue. Continue reading...

Defence secretary says ‘winds of change’ remarks by Argentina’s president are more about domestic politicsUK politics live – latest updatesBritish ministers have hit back after the Argentinian president said “winds of change” favourable to his country’s claim to the Falklands were “blowing around the world”.Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, said the statement by Javier Milei on Thursday night “tells us more about domestic politics in Argentina than it does about the Falkland Islands”. Continue reading...

Intensification of Middle East conflict and ongoing Russian export ban sees diesel prices rise 10% in less than a weekFarmers are facing an “astronomical” jump in the price of fuel needed to operate their vehicles and machinery after a surge in diesel costs in the UK and US.Renewed fighting between the US and Iran has driven up the price of crude oil, while last week Russia extended a ban on diesel exports, further pushing up market prices. Continue reading...