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NHS experts and MPs say he ‘told a good story’ as health secretary while kicking the difficult cans down the roadUK politics live – latest updatesWes Streeting’s 22 months in office was characterised by relentless media interviews, newspaper editorials and Department of Health and Social Care press releases. They portrayed a dynamic health secretary who was clearing up the mess he inherited in the NHS, pushing ahead with radical changes and making progress on what matters most to patients – accessing care when they need it.Having initially declared the NHS “broken” – by the Conservatives – it is six months since he first declared that the health service was now, on his watch, “on the road to recovery” – a claim he has made regularly since. He included the gist of it again – a sort of greatest hits collection – in his resignation letter to Keir Starmer at lunchtime on Thursday. Continue reading...

• The Senate voted 49-50 on Wednesday to block continued U.S. military action in Iran, falling short even as three Republicans joined Democrats in support. • Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul and Susan Collins backed the resolution, while Democratic Sen. John Fetterman again opposed his party’s effort. • The vote underscored widening GOP unease as the war becomes more unpopular and gas prices rise, adding pressure on Trump’s handling of the conflict.

One of PM’s expanding cohort of critics in Labour party says policy programme ‘sums up where we have gone wrong’For Keir Starmer’s Labour critics, his second king’s speech, in which the government set out what it would do in parliament over the next 12 to 18 months, was a crystallisation of everything that was wrong with the prime minister’s strategy.Over 34 bills and three draft ones, Starmer set out a programme he said would “make this country stronger and fairer”. But the package, which included limiting trial by jury, reshaping the NHS and moving the country closer to the EU, fell short of what some in the prime minister’s party feel is needed to win back voters’ trust. Continue reading...

State officials told vendors at the facility to prepare for a breakdown of the tented camp beginning next monthSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailAn alliance of environmental groups and immigration advocates has welcomed what looks to be the imminent closure of Alligator Alcatraz, the notorious immigration jail in the remote Florida Everglades celebrated by Donald Trump for its harsh conditions.State officials told vendors at the facility on Tuesday to prepare for a breakdown of the tented camp beginning next month, the New York Times reported, citing its ongoing cost. Continue reading...

Queenslander under pressure after YouTube interview where he said he was ‘not ruling it out’ but ‘I don’t have the facts yet’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastOne Nation senator Malcolm Roberts has caused further confusion in comments about the Bondi beach antisemitic terror attack, clarifying that he thought it was an “absurd proposition” to call the shooting a “false flag” but standing by his claim that he didn’t have “data” to rule it out.Roberts, Pauline Hanson’s fellow senator from Queensland, was interviewed on a YouTube channel, with the clip posted earlier this month. At one point in the 23-minute clip, social media creator Lisa Jane Spencer asked “do you think that Bondi was a false flag?” Continue reading...

Downing Street insiders suggest health secretary does not yet have the support for a leadership pushUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer was increasingly confident that he had seen off the immediate threat to his job on Tuesday after a challenge from Wes Streeting failed to materialise despite several of the prime minister’s allies quitting the government.Downing Street insiders suggested that the health secretary did not yet have the required support from the 81 MPs he needed to formally launch a leadership bid after Starmer issued a ‘put up or shut up’ ultimatum to his cabinet. Continue reading...

• A failed peace proposal over the weekend propelled oil prices and 10-year Treasury yields higher on Monday morning, with equity futures opening modestly lower. • Markets shrugged off geopolitical risks last week as oil declined on Iran ceasefire comments, but renewed tensions reversed that trend amid global energy volatility. • Gas prices rose nationwide, complicating inflation outlook with headline CPI above 3.5% despite easing core PCE, dimming Fed rate cut prospects.