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• The Supreme Court issued a technical ruling allowing a presidential order regarding mail-in ballots to proceed toward the November election. • While Democrats have expressed significant concern over the decision, the editorial argues that the ruling is procedural and unlikely to have a practical impact on the vote. • The legal battle is expected to continue as both sides litigate the specifics of the election order in the coming weeks.

Defense files motion to dismiss state case after federal guilty plea but prosecutors say they are prepared to litigateAfter Luigi Mangione admitted in Manhattan federal court that he killed UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, most experts believe that the state murder case against is highly unlikely to proceed – though some still see a slim possibility that it may yet happen.Mangione, who pleaded guilty on 14 August to two federal stalking counts, was scheduled for a New York state trial on 8 September for murder and weapons charges in the December 2024 killing. In the wake of Mangione’s surprise plea, legal experts said New York’s state-level double jeopardy law – which means someone cannot be tried twice for the same crime – could derail his local prosecution. Continue reading...

• Astronomers may have discovered the first confirmed exomoon, marking a significant milestone since the first exoplanets were identified in the 1990s. • Despite the cataloging of over 6,000 exoplanets, scientists have previously struggled to confirm any moons orbiting these distant worlds. • This discovery is particularly notable because the potential exomoon appears to be unlike any satellite found within our own Solar System.

US president veers from praising the alliance to threatening Iran and confusing world leaders’ namesHaving arrived at Nato’s annual summit under a familiar cloud of resentment and grievance, Donald Trump’s farewell message on Wednesday was an unlikely tale of love and darkness.Addressing journalists in the presence of his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US president surprised everyone by directing his affections at an alliance he spent much of the previous day spewing bile over, citing the now well-worn gripe about Greenland, among others. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Patrick is using freedom of information rules to seek where nuclear waste from Aukus submarines will be keptGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastJacqui Lambie, Pauline Hanson and David Pocock have joined a push for the government to stop a legal threat against Rex Patrick, after bureaucrats unexpectedly escalated a transparency case to the federal court.Patrick, a transparency campaigner and former senator, is seeking documents detailing where nuclear waste from the Aukus submarine fleet will be kept within Australia, and won an administrative appeal under freedom of information rules in May. Continue reading...

Christopher Harborne, who also gave Nigel Farage £5m ‘gift’, reported to have registered to vote in HampshireChristopher Harborne, the Thailand-based crypto investor who has given millions of pounds to Reform UK, would be unlikely to get around a planned cap on overseas political donations even if he has registered to vote in the UK, it is understood.Harborne, who also gave Nigel Farage, the Reform leader, £5m as a “gift”, has registered to vote in Hampshire, the Times reported, with a spokesperson for the billionaire quoted in the paper saying that he had decided to become a “registered voter in the UK”. Continue reading...

Spokesperson says departing PM will serve out remainder of his term representing Holborn and St PancrasUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer will remain the MP for Holborn and St Pancras after standing down as prime minister, Downing Street has confirmed.Starmer’s spokesperson said he was not expecting to take a role in Andy Burnham’s cabinet if offered one, though some MPs have suggested Burnham could make Starmer foreign secretary. Continue reading...

Over 15 months, the ex-Democrat with no notable relevant background took actions seemingly meant to flatter TrumpTulsi Gabbard’s tumultuous 15-month tenure as the US’s top intelligence official ended Friday, when Gabbard submitted her resignation as director of national intelligence.Gabbard was an unconventional choice for the role, given she was a former Democrat with no notable intelligence background. Her political views, particularly on foreign intervention, have at times diverged from Donald Trump’s. But she also undertook norm-breaking actions as the country’s top intelligence chief that appeared designed to flatter Trump and his agenda of election denial. Continue reading...

Populist former president’s falling-out with the Tehran regime allegedly drew him into a takeover plotUS and Israel hoped to install Ahmadinejad as Iran’s leaderFor all their outward differences, there always seemed to be things that linked Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Donald Trump.A visit to the then Iranian president’s rather humble Tehran neighbourhood nearly 20 years ago highlighted cost of living problems that prefigured those facing Trump now. Continue reading...

Former David Cameron adviser says a vote for him will make California ‘Califordable’ – not everyone is convinced He “knows how to wind people up like Trump”, according to friends, and made his name in the UK with zany policy ideas including making the country sunnier using state-owned cloud busters.Now the controversial strategist Steve Hilton, named the “pint-sized Rasputin” of Conservative politics, has become an unlikely frontrunner in the primary race for California governor. Continue reading...

Matthew Pennycook says ending system must be done slowly to avoid hitting housing supply and legal pitfallsA ban on new leasehold properties in England and Wales is unlikely to come into force until after the next election, the housing minister has said, as he defended the government’s piecemeal attempts to dismantle the system.The long-promised end would take years to “switch on”, Matthew Pennycook said, even though the ban of leaseholds on new houses was passed in 2024 and the government intends to pass one on new flats soon. Continue reading...

Simon Roberts says Easter shop will be unaffected by Middle East conflict, but industry warns prices may rise this yearShoppers will not see food prices rise until at least the summer and Easter will be unaffected by conflict in the Middle East, the boss of Sainsbury’s has said, despite fears of an inflation spike.Simon Roberts said it was “too early” to say whether and when food price inflation related to higher commodity costs would hit supermarket shelves and that the UK’s second-largest supermarket had long-term agreements with suppliers to help protect shoppers. Continue reading...

Writer looked to topics such as computer engineering and life in a nursing home to produce richly researched booksTracy Kidder, an award-winning narrative nonfiction writer who turned everything from computer engineering to life in a nursing home into unexpected bestsellers, has died. He was 80.Kidder’s longtime publisher Random House confirmed his death in a statement on Wednesday: “Tracy’s gifts for storytelling and tireless reporting are an enduring reflection of the empathy, integrity, and endless curiosity he brought to everything he did.” Continue reading...

Diplomats say US president’s latest claimed plan probably based on now outdated framework put forward in May 2025Middle East crisis – live updatesThe 15-point framework plan for peace with Iran that Donald Trump has said is being discussed is based on a proposal put forward by his negotiating team during nuclear talks almost a year ago, diplomats with knowledge of the talks believe.That original 15-point plan was the basis for negotiations in late May 2025, shortly before the talks collapsed due to Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear programme. Continue reading...

PM said to be wary of opening up new divisions among Labour MPs by giving bill time in next session of parliamentSenior ministers believe Keir Starmer will not intervene to give the assisted dying bill further time in the next session of parliament as he is wary of opening up new divisions among Labour MPs.The bill, which was passed by the Commons, is now certain to be blocked in the House of Lords without ever reaching a vote because of the large number of amendments its opponents have tabled and debated. Continue reading...

Advocates say 24/7 coverage of US attacks will not last for ever – and spotlight will return to Epstein and his crimesAs the US woke to news that Donald Trump had bombed Iran, domestic discord was fast simmering.There was unrelenting outrage over ICE raids. There was frustration with the rising cost of living. There was fear over rocketing healthcare prices, mounting household debt, not to mention many Americans’ nagging sense of desperation in a country, some warned, where democracy itself was under threat. Continue reading...

Looking for molecular evidence of life on other worlds is tricky, but a test based on the reactivity of carbon compounds could be a useful indicator