Trump again defends Amy Acton’s estranged mother, who stayed with her husband charged with raping her daughter; Iowa Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson denounced ad earlier today

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• Trump attacks Ohio governor over call for Ramaswamy to drop ‘deeply troubling’ ad

Reporting from Anchorage, Alaska

Mary Peltola’s campaign to represent Alaska in the US Senate has taken her to parts of the massive state’s interior that are inaccessible by road and on the frontlines of the cost-of-living crisis she hopes will make her the first Democrat to win the seat in nearly two decades.

French government will show ‘absolute’ determination to stop the riots, Macron says

As we are waiting for Macron, first details of the planned police response to this weekend’s protests are emerging.

Junior interior minister, Jean-Didier Berger, said that the police presence will be “20% higher” than last weekend, with reinforcements from the army, elite police forces and gendarmerie.

Vice-president says GOP representatives should ‘stop whining’ about advertisement featuring estranged mother of Ramaswamy’s Democrat opponent

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Reporting from Jerusalem

The Israeli military has detained about 80 US, Israeli and British volunteers helping Palestinians harvest olives near Bethlehem, including the New York Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander, several rabbis and Israel’s former deputy attorney general.

President also announces incentive program for people to report fraud, as administration continues attack on Minnesota

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A new survey reveals a widening “empathy gap” between Republicans and white evangelicals and the rest of the American public.

On Tuesday, the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute released its annual American Values Survey. The survey found that white evangelical Protestants are the only religious group in which a majority does not agree that empathy is foundational moral value (42%). Instead, a majority (54%) say empathy can be dangerous when it leads people away from a society guided by God’s truth, PRRI said.

Interior minister confirms military to reinforce police as Italy poised to approve tougher security measures in response to protests

Nordic correspondent

As well as Steve Witkoff, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also meet the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre and the Finnish president Alexander Stubb and Norway’s new King Haakon during his visit to Oslo.

Curfews to apply to parts of cities including Paris, Nice and Lyon after days of violence on French streets

• Macron criticises ‘unbridled violence’ after 2,400 arrests across France

French PM Lecornu says he has asked prefects to implement “a number of partial curfews” in certain “localised” urban areas to stop further disorder, which he attributes to “the extreme-left” and some criminal elements.

We will no doubt hear more on this from local authorities, as in the example of Marseille (10:32).

The president lobbed familiar attacks on Abdul El-Sayed, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib during rally for Republican senator Roger Marshall

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A new Washington Post-ABC poll shows that Donald Trump’s approval rating has reached a new low – 33%.

This comes, just over two weeks away from the November midterms, as the president continues crisscrossing the country as part of his campaign blitz for embattled Republicans.

The prime minister says he wants to focus on tackling the cost of living

Burnham spoke of Ravenscraig, once the pride of Scotland’s steel industry that employed tens of thousands of people before it closed in 1992.

He said:

When it closed, it wasn’t just a works that shut, it was a whole community which saw the pillars underneath it just taken away, collapsed beneath it.

That was a decision taken hundreds of miles away without any real consequences for what that would mean for people here, taken by people who would never have to live with those consequences, or see those consequences.

I was the MP there for 16 years from the early 2000s, just after the pits had shut in the 1990s. It broke my heart to see the old miners shuffling into my surgery, carrying oxygen bottles, still struggling to get compensation for the damage that was done to their lungs.

It pained me to drive past the wasteland around Bickershaw Colliery, one of the last pits to close in Leigh. Nobody asked Leigh what was going to come next either.

I care about Scotland a lot, and I am coming today with a big offer and in search of common ground.

When I walked into Downing Street in July, I said I wanted to do politics differently. Place first, not party first. Honestly, I meant it, and I arrive here in that spirit because people in Scotland, in my view, deserve better from politicians and politics.

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Sky are reporting that Reece James, who Chelsea confirmed this morning had undergone minor knee surgery, is expected to be out for three months.

Fulham fans fretting about life under Álvaro Arbeloa will not feel any better when they remember how things were under Marco Silva, who was one of the most effective managers in the Premier League when it came to making substitutions.

Silva’s substitutes were involved in the fourth-highest goal contributions last season and the most in the 2024-25 season. Fulham knew how to dig in and salvage unlikely points. But Silva left last summer, joining Benfica after concluding he could achieve nothing more at Craven Cottage, and his replacement is already under pressure after some puzzling tactical choices.

Pentagon spokesperson says pair spoke before announcement canceling plan to broadcast execution of Nidal Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood

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The US government could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a media campaign in South Africa to figure out why more white Afrikaners are not applying to become refugees to the US, as Donald Trump had hoped.

State department officials, according to an August proposal seen by the Guardian, outlined a roughly $335,000 research and advertising effort after applications to the refugee program “trended lower than expected” since Afrikaners were allowed to apply directly online in November 2025. The document, written by the US mission in South Africa with a department research unit for the embassy in Pretoria, admits officials know little about why.

Defence secretary’s meeting comes after Burnham said he would help facilitate reconciliation between Zelenskyy and Trump

Labour says it’s told all of its local councils who share power with the Green Party to review their agreements after the Greens passed a “Zionism is Racism” motion at their autumn conference earlier this month.

If Green coalition partners don’t agree to condemn the policy, the Labour council groups have been instructed to terminate existing power deals.

We cannot support a partnership with a party that holds [the] position that has recently been adopted.

“Now is the time to step up pressure on Putin and step up support for Ukraine.”

“I’m working on different ways we can step up support for Ukraine, military, diplomatic, and economic, and you know, if anybody needed any reminder of that, it’s what we see coming out of Ukraine, with Putin targeting these energy systems, leaving thousands without power, as we’ve got a harsh winter approaching.

The future of Ukraine is the future of European security, and that’s that’s why it’s so crucial that Putin doesn’t prevail.”d

European Commission declined to comment on reported disruption to Starlink’s services in Ukraine

• Ukrainian soldiers have access to Starlink satellite internet restricted

Rutte gets asked “is Russia foolish enough to consider attacking any of Nato countries?”

He says “we don’t think so” and that there is “no imminent threat against Nato territory,” but stresses that “if we see a build up, we will react to it.”

“We will never, ever mount a attack towards anyone else because that is not in our interest. We are a defensive alliance.”

“But here’s the main thing: we are stronger. Russia is not in a good place. These hybrid attacks, whatever it is, are a sign of weakness. What they allow us to do is to talk about it the whole day and to be rattled and to have press conferences on it. We’re not going to do that. We will react where we need to react.”

Brand is in Southwark crown court today where his rape and sexual assault trial begins

Taking jurors through the third allegation, Karmy-Jones said Brand pulled another woman into a toilet during an incident at a bar in Soho in 2004.

The third complainant was “not so lucky as to be able to pull away”, the prosecutor said.

She continued to resist saying, ‘I’m not coming in there, don’t be silly. Are you mad? Get off,’ and she managed to pull herself away, and to release his grasp.

At that point he gave up and went into the toilet, and she left the area.”

This blog has now closed. Read the latest here

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Ahead of her White House podium debut, Katie Zacharia reportedly monitored Donald Trump’s public schedule every day, and monitored his Truth Social, and made sure she was on-air when she assumed he might be watching, according to Politico, citing a person familiar with the matter.

That source noted that and a number of high-profile conservative anchors – including from Fox News, Newsmax and OANN – also backed Zacharia for press secretary. She is now set to the sixth person to hold the role throughout both of Trump’s terms in office.

Ukraine’s president says his country has halted strikes on Russian oil refineries for two days after Trump’s energy ceasefire announcement

On frozen Russian assets, Poland’s Sikorski says the use of frozen Russian assets is “a complicated issue,” but takes a very clear stance in response to any suggestion of releasing them back to Russia.

“We are working on it, but there is also some rumours that some people are expecting these assets to be released back to Russia.

I don’t think I’m speaking just for myself in saying: over our dead bodies.”

“Russia right now is not ready for ceasefire, but still, this only can encourage us to stay with Ukraine and to, strengthen, the pressure on Russia and always be ready for conversations, but and also especially for, for ceasefire negotiations.

But, until this doesn’t happen, we are with Ukraine. We are with the president the German government is is backing the Ukrainian government and the president, completely. He is the person to lead Ukraine, and we are with him.”

Zelenskyy had proposed a 60-day total ceasefire to allow Ukraine to hold presidential elections

• Trump announces partial ceasefire in Ukraine war as Zelenskyy says deal is ‘news to me’

Addressing the conference virtually, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on Trump’s “sudden but very important” energy ceasefire declaration over the weekend.

He said it is clear that Putin “does not read Truth social”, the site that the US president posted his ceasefire declaration on.

Russia wants to ruin the existing security architecture in Europe to make sure that Russian domination comes back to where it was before 1989. We have no doubt about it.

Ukraine’s president reportedly says Kyiv would accept a deal if Moscow does after US president posts announcement with no detail on social media

• Trump announces partial ceasefire in Ukraine war as Zelenskyy says deal is ‘news to me’

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The President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has expressed her “full support for President Zelenskyy” amid calls for a ceasefire.

In a telephone call with the Ukrainian leader, von der Leyen posted on X that she “fully supported the call of President Zelenskyy for a ceasefire that would protect global food supplies and energy infrastructure in Ukraine and Russia.

“Ukraine supports the ceasefire, and it’s important for Russia to support it as well. We are awaiting details from the American side. From our Ukrainian side, there is always FULL support for de-escalation steps, protection of lives, and the necessary decisions to end the war and ensure lasting peace.”

First Atlantic hurricane of the 2026 season makes landfall in the US as officials warn of ‘spinoff tornadoes’

• Full story: Two dead as Isaias weakens to post-tropical cyclone after striking Florida panhandle

• Key things to know about Hurricane Isaias as millions under evacuation orders

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Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, said no requests for search and rescue assistance had been received following Isaias, which he described as “cautiously, a good sign”.

Speaking to Fox News, he said:

I think that may be a sign that people heeded the warnings, took proper precautions. We sure would love to say we have not gotten a report of a fatality yet, and we’ll see what happens.

There’s also a lot of hazards post-storm that people should be careful of, but so far we’ve had a lot of assets in place that have not been called on, which is a good sign. I’d rather be over-prepared, and not have to use them, than not have what you need.”

Hurricane Isaias has weakened to a post-tropical cyclone early Saturday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, after it made landfall in Florida and lashed the US Gulf coast with heavy rain and fierce winds.

The category 2 hurricane hit the coast near Destin, Florida, late on Friday, with maximum sustained winds of 105mph.

The storm is expected to move across Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley, the NHC added, with maximum sustained winds decreased to near 35mph.

The ⁠ICC’s deputy prosecutor condemned the sanctions and said they would not halt the tribunal’s work

You can watch along below, but I will bring you all the key lines here.

Spoiler alert (not really).

⚽ All the latest football news heading into the weekend
⚽ Ten things | Maresca coy on future | Mail Rob

Football Weekly: You can watch/listen to the pod squad discuss Sunday’s clash between Liverpool and Manchester City, plus much more, in the latest episode.

A reminder that Enzo Maresca will face the media in 20 minutes’ time at the Etihad Campus in Manchester. You can follow the press conference live here.