President claims US negotiators spoke with Iranian officials through intermediaries after Iran says it ‘has no plans to negotiate with US’

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While the lawmakers in the US House have already left Washington to get a head start on midterm campaigning, the Senate is hoping to wrap up its legislative agenda this week. Today, we can expect a vote at 5.30pm ET on the Protect College Sports act, which attempts to provide greater protections for university athletes in the US.

The bill includes provisions for players to earn compensation from their name, image and likeness – known as NIL payments, and allow them to transfer schools (and teams) without being penalized or forced to sit out for a defined period of time. If the legislation clears the Senate it will still need to head back to the lower chamber before it can head to Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.

Counter terror police say earlier that they arrested five men who were British national in their 20s from London

• UK security forces aware of suspected bomb plot, hints defence secretary

• RAF Fairford suspected bomb plot: have you been affected?

Speaking at the Labour party conference in Liverpool, the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, said he could not give further details about the RAF Fairford incident because there is a live police investigation.

However, he used his speech to stress that the UK-US relationship is “the closest alliance” of any two countries in the world, adding the two nations will always “stand together” against those who wish to cause harm.

Poland’s centre for security upgraded a upgraded a warning to ‘threat of an air attack’ and told residents in eastern Poland to shelter

Back to Metz, we are still waiting for the main part of the event to begin – with Emmanuel Macron now welcoming guests outside the venue.

Former commission president Jean Claude Juncker gets a big hug on arrival.

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Scotland: Sebastien Pocognoli’s reign began with a 0-0 draw with Slovenia yesterday afternoon. It’s a decent first result for Steve Clarke’s successor and gives Scotland a platform to build on before games against Switzerland and North Macedonia in Group B1. Ewan Murray was there to watch …

Blue skies, a dainty stadium in Ljubljana and a second-half display that provided glimpses of optimism in respect of Scotland’s world, post-Steve Clarke. The best-forgotten first 45 minutes can be explained away by a squad operating under a new regime. By full time, Slovenia were grateful for their point. Scotland’s players took deserved applause.

Scotland’s failing here was a familiar one. A lack of goals haunted Clarke. Nonetheless, this version of Scotland did at least create a series of openings. Scott McTominay, a key attacking threat, was missing. Instilling ruthlessness in a team is no easy task; it is one, however, Pocognoli has the coaching credentials to meet. Slovenia, on this evidence, have the more significant challenges.

DUP’s Gavin Robinson says loyalists have ‘steadfast determination’ to march on Catholic enclave in Portadown

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill, at the scene of the counter-protest this morning also spoke alongside Mary Lou McDonald.

O’Neill said she had called on Northern Ireland secretary Chris Bryant to intervene.

She told reporters: “Does anybody think that this is a good idea? No right-minded person would make this decision.

“I still do not know the answer to this question - why, after 28 years of determination to block a march down this road, the Parades Commission thought that this was the right idea today to bring this mess back onto this community?”

Local MP Carla Lockhart, from the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, posted this morning on X describing the marchers as a “dignified grouping of men, walking silently down Garvaghy Road”.

She included a photo of the small group in suits, wearing orange silk sashes and black bowler hats and carrying a banner.

“There is no threat, no triumphalism, not even music. There is nothing to fear. The rule of law must prevail,” she wrote.

The Lions kick the last four goals of the decider to break the Dockers’ hearts and snatch a third straight flag at the MCG

Lachie Neale is one Brisbane player who should be arriving at the MCG with a huge smile on his face after the dual Brownlow medallist had a one-match ban overturned on appeal on Thursday night.

The former Dockers midfielder is thought to be playing his 186th and final game for the Lions today, with a move to the Magpies reportedly on the cards. But some of our From the Pocket subscribers were keen to question whether he should be playing at all today.

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Long-running fight over Trump-backed maps takes another turn as absentee voting is already under way in Missouri. This blog is now closed.

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Xi Jinping and his wife are back at the White House for the final day of the Chinese president’s pageantry-filled visit to Washington, where President Trump has given him an unexpectedly warm welcome.

The itinerary for the final day of Xi’s visit – which included a red carpet welcome on the tarmac on Wednesday, then a full day of talks followed by a lavish state dinner on Thursday – included an appointment for tea at the White House, followed by a tour of the National Archives, where the nation’s founding documents are on display.

The pope is set to deliver a landmark speech on AI development and discuss Europe’s future

Later today, Pope Leo will go to the Élysée Palace for (another) formal welcome and a meeting with authorities, civil society and the diplomatic corps, before visiting Unesco and delivering a speech on AI in mid-afternoon.

He is then expected to go on a stroll through the streets of Paris, before going to the restored Notre Dame Cathedral.

The media organisation reports that three of its journalists were denied media passes

A record £66m of emergency security funding was issued by the Home Office for mosques and related community sites in the UK when violent disorder spread in the aftermath of the Southport attacks in 2024.

Exclusive figures obtained by the Guardian also reveal a record of about £41m of security funding was issued for mosques and related community sites for the year from April 2025-26 as part of the protective security scheme.

We reserve the right to reject an application if we cannot find any evidence the applicant is a working journalist or photographer with a political portfolio or working on behalf of a relevant media outlet.”

Xi arrived at the White House on Thursday morning ahead of major talks, which are expected to cover trade, AI, Taiwan and more

In the first row in front of the leaders sit US vice-president JD Vance and his wife Usha Vance, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump and her daughter Arabella, US secretary of state Marco Rubio, treasury secretary Scott Bessent, defence secretary Pete Hegseth and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick.

Donald Trump is speaking now. He notes that Xi is the first Chinese leader to make a second formal visit to the White House, and says the two have “forged a truly great friendship” since Trump was first elected in 2016.

The president welcomed China’s Xi Jinping at the White House, which media outlets opted not to provide video feed for because Trump’s aides had not yet restored access for three outlets he banned last week

• Journalists for CNN, MS Now and Politico allowed back into the White House after judge’s ruling

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Lawyers for the news outlets President Trump banned from the White House have requested an emergency hearing after several journalists were turned away from the building Thursday morning, in apparent defiance of a federal judge’s order to restore their access.

“This morning journalists from each of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO attempted to enter the White House and were turned away, and Secret Service agents confiscated the hard pass of journalists whose hard passes had not previously been confiscated,” a new court filing read.

Israeli prime minister hails IDF as ‘most moral army in the world’

The Russian foreign minister Sergei ⁠Lavrov has been spotted speaking to officials on the sidelines of the general assembly. He has already spoken to the US secretary of state Marco Rubio and is scheduled to address the general assembly on Saturday. Meanwhile his country has continued bombing Ukraine, where at least seven people were killed and a further 12 people injured in a Russian strike on a farm in the north-eastern region of Kharkiv. My colleague Jakub Krupa has the latest over on our Europe live blog here.

To follow Donald Trump’s movements today, including his talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, my colleague Chris Hippensteel has the latest over on our US politics live blog here:

Kirsten Gillibrand says acting US navy secretary told her of attempted suicides after carrier strike group’s lengthy deployment as part of US war in Iran

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Rubio also briefly addressed Trump’s meeting with Delcy Rodriguez, the interim Venezuelan president, who last night posed for a friendly photo with Trump at a Manhattan hotel only miles from where her predecessor, Nicolás Maduro, was incarcerated.

“It was a short meeting, but it was a very important meeting,” Rubio said.

Acting president says Venezuela returning strongly after ‘setbacks’; Trump meets Chinese leader at US air base ahead of meeting set to include trade, AI and Iran war

• Trump greets Xi Jinping at plane as Chinese leader arrives for state visit

These latest attacks come just hours before Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to the UN general assembly, so he is likely to reflect on them during his UN speech later.

So far, we have had no public comment from Zelenskyy or Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha.

This year’s shortlist for the Booker prize was announced last night. Our books editors answered your questions about the contenders, the judges and literary fiction

Kohtao says: Can’t believe the two best books – Switzy and Shadow of the Object - were cut. Huge shame as they really added something different to the range.

Liese: I was sad not to see Switzy on the shortlist too. I am a big fan of Emma Cline’s writing and felt that it did something really interesting. I am sure that, as always, there were plenty of arguments and some horse-trading among the judges to arrive at this list – which does still include ambitious and experimental work such as The Disappearers (Marlon James) and one of my other faves, the brilliantly weird Black Bag.

Charlotte: It’s interesting that even Jarvis Cocker, one of this year’s judges, said that he found the male dominance of the list “quite surprising, because generally speaking the male-written books weren’t as good as the ones written by women”. And it’s also surprising in the light of the recent debate around the lack of contemporary novels written by men – there was even a small press, Conduit Books, established last year to focus on new male writers. So perhaps we could say that’s succeeded! But in fact, a lot of the men on the list are very long established, and there are two previous winners among them – Marlon James and Douglas Stuart.

I would say that although the perspectives are predominantly male, they’re not necessarily similar in other ways – they encompass different sexualities, and as you say, one isn’t gendered at all (funnily enough, I hadn’t read it that way, but others on the desk did and that’s obviously how it was intended). It’s interesting that we have a female author, Elizabeth Strout, writing from a male perspective, and a male author, M John Harrison, writing from a female perspective. Though Harrison’s novel isn’t entirely from Marnie’s perspective, and for me there are many other themes that jump out from these books, beyond masculinity – anxiety about the world and the future, sexuality, history, oppression. As a shortlist, it seems pretty varied to me, and I didn’t find that I missed a female perspective when I was reading these books.

Trump threatens to ‘annihilate’ Iran and ‘drive them into Hell’ if there isn’t a deal, while also underscoring US policy on Cuba, Mexico, Greenland and AI

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Trump is arriving at the UN HQ right now.

After very brief doorstep comments – almost exclusively mocking CNN - he answers a reporter’s very loud question by saying his message to Putin is: “settle the war.”

The US president made the comments as he arrives at the UN headquarters in New York

Nordic correspondent

Emotions among Greenlanders are a mixture of hope, scepticism and fear ahead of the signing of a new much vaunted deal on Arctic security between the US, Greenland and Denmark.

“There have been many different reactions in Greenland because they are talking about a deal but no one can see the deal, we don’t know what it is all about, and what’s in it for us or what’s in it. Also, because we have been terrorised as a people for the last 1.5 years by the American president, so many people feel no trust at all.”

The UN secretary-general said the world must work together to solve problems in final major assembly address as secretary general

Tehran appears to have relaxed its preconditions for reopening the strait of Hormuz, saying it is prepared to do so within seven days so long as the US takes reciprocal steps to ease the pressure on Iran.

Previously Iran had set seven onerous pre-conditions for lifting the blockade including “an end to war on all fronts” and a commitment by the US to cease all aggressive actions against Iran including sanctions.

President repeats frequent ‘fake news’ attacks as four other networks that make up White House TV pool decided they would cease coverage in solidarity with banned CNN

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The three news outlets President Trump banned from the White House last Friday have filed their anticipated lawsuit against his administration to restore their access.

In the new complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday, CNN, MS Now and Politico alleged that Trump had violated the First Amendment and due process by stripping the outlets of their White House access in a blatant act of retaliation for coverage he disliked.

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Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alex Scott, Cole Palmer and Rio Ngumoha are in. There is no place for Phil Foden.

Full squad to come below.