Wednesday briefing: ​Do MPs have the will to stop mega-donors interfering in UK politics?

• China has reached a milestone with its reusable Long March 10B rocket, while the People's Liberation Army recently released a video featuring a diamond-shaped sixth-generation stealth aircraft. • The footage, which shows the aircraft's shadow and airmen discussing a refueling mission, leaves the exact stage of the jet's development and testing unclear.

US president’s statement is latest sign that negotations to end war and reopen strait of Hormuz have stalledDonald Trump has said he will demand that Iran pay compensation for the deaths of thousands of US soldiers and Iran’s own civilians killed in recent decades in the latest sign his negotiations to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz have reached an impasse.The US president is trying to end conflicts in Iran, Gaza and Lebanon, and his additional demands of Iran are likely to provoke anger in Tehran at the same time as Israel has rejected Trump’s terms for a 15-point roadmap to end the war in Gaza. Continue reading...

Order also recommends all shots be given at separate medical visits though cost of doing them together is lowerDonald Trump has signed an executive order with plans for sweeping changes to the childhood vaccination schedule that attempts to override the authority of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).It’s an attempt to undergird the changes made earlier this year to CDC vaccination recommendations, which were halted by a federal judge. The CDC is the federal agency tasked with recommending vaccines, not the White House. Continue reading...

Exclusive: FBU calls for more funding as ‘unprecedented summer’ puts rising demands on already stretched crewsFirefighters in the UK are under increased pressure as a result of an “unprecedented summer of dangerous and volatile wildfires”, the Fire Brigades Union has said, as many parts of the country brace for a fifth heatwave of the year.As authorities declared almost three-quarters of England was now in drought, Steve Wright, the FBU general secretary, said the unpredictable environmental challenges the UK was now confronted with meant it was a “national priority” to have enough properly equipped firefighters to “face these threats”. Continue reading...

Loyalist sworn in after Senate voted narrowly in favor of his confirmation Saturday morningTodd Blanche has been sworn as US attorney general, cementing Donald Trump’s installation of his former personal attorney in charge of the Department of Justice.Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general since April, was confirmed in his new position during a ceremony at the White House on Monday. Continue reading...

Scientists have made clear that the elevated heat in the US was being amplified by the human-caused climate crisisJuly was the hottest month ever recorded in the US, with repeated, scorching heatwaves across much of the country helping shatter all previous monthly temperature records stretching back over the full 132 years of reliable measurements.Last month’s average temperature was 3.3F (1.8C) higher than the 20th century average for the contiguous United States, which excludes Alaska and Hawaii, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). Continue reading...

Police looking into whether Joshua Kerry linked to alleged attempted burglary last year at Reform leader’s then homePolice are investigating whether Joshua Kerry, the man charged with the murder of the former Reform UK and Conservative politician Ann Widdecombe, had any role in an attempted burglary last year at the then London home of Nigel Farage.Kerry, 28, from Rotherham, was charged with the murder of Widdecombe, 78, who was killed at her Devon home in July, after an investigation by counter-terrorism police. Continue reading...

Luciana Berger, who was subject to abuse from Joshua Bonehill-Paine, said Tory leader should ‘listen to victims’The Labour peer Luciana Berger has urged Kemi Badenoch to “listen to victims” and reverse her decision to give a national advisory role to a former neo-Nazi.Joshua Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2015 for more than three years after posting antisemitic material online before a planned neo-Nazi rally. In 2016, he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment for abuse directed at Berger, an MP at the time. He was also the founder and leader of the National British Resistance, a far-right group. Continue reading...

Progressive US senator urges Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic to ‘stop building machines that humans cannot control’Senator Bernie Sanders has called on Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic executives to halt their development of artificial intelligence, warning that the US Senate will implement regulation if the companies continue deploying AI at their current pace.In a new letter addressed to the CEOs of three of the country’s leading AI companies, Sanders said the capabilities of these AI models have reached a critical risk threshold and that the companies are losing control over the technology. Continue reading...

Israeli prime minister’s unexpected move blindsided IDF commanders and risks alienating Trump, his main allyBenjamin Netanyahu’s public rejection of a US-backed deal for Gaza drew scepticism in Israel, amid reports he was personally hammering out details of a pilot military withdrawal days earlier.The Israeli prime minister is struggling to balance incompatible demands on Gaza policy from his key domestic and international allies. Continue reading...

Demonstrators accuse authorities of failing to tackle issues in exams for highly sought-after civil service jobsThousands of angry young job-seekers clashed with police in Jharkhand, one of India’s poorest states, on Monday as a weeks-long protest over alleged irregularities in recruitment drives for coveted government jobs escalated into a march on the state legislature.Police fired water cannon and teargas and swung batons as they tried to stop flag-waving demonstrators from clambering over barricades and surging towards the assembly in Ranchi, the state capital. Some of the protesters responded by dancing and cheering as jets of water drenched the crowd. Continue reading...

The former US president will host six episodes of A Great Book for Audible, discussing work from Toni Morrison and John le Carré to James BaldwinBarack Obama is set to host a podcast about books that have “profoundly shaped his worldview and our society”, from Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John le Carré.The podcast, called A Great Book with Barack Obama, will launch on Audible on 24 September. Continue reading...