Author: Morgan

A high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and top congressional Democrats on Monday resulted in no apparent breakthrough in negotiations to keep the government open, with JD Vance declaring afterwards: “I think we are headed into a shutdown.”

Democrats, who are refusing to support the GOP’s legislation to continue funding beyond Tuesday unless it includes several healthcare provisions, struck a more optimistic tone following the Oval Office encounter, which also included the Republican leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said he had outlined his concerns about the state of healthcare in the country to Trump, and said: “He seemed to, for the first time, understand the magnitude of this crisis.

“We hope he’ll talk to the Republican leaders and tell them, we need bipartisan input on healthcare, on decisions into their bill. Their bill does not have these – they never talked to us.”

But there was little sign that Republicans had shifted from their demands that Senate Democrats vote for their bill that would keep the government open through 21 November, so that long-term funding talks may continue. The GOP passed that bill through the House on a near party-line vote earlier this month, but it needs at least some Democratic support to advance in the Senate.

“This is purely and simply hostage-taking on behalf of the Democrats,” said Senate majority leader John Thune.

Referring to the Republican funding proposal, Thune said: “We could pick it up and pass it tonight, and pass it tomorrow before the government shuts down.”

Vance sought to pin the blame for any shutdown on the Democrats, saying: “I think we’re headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing. I hope they change their mind, but we’re gonna see.”

Trump has not yet commented publicly on the meeting, which was not opened to reporters. In an interview earlier in the day with CBS News, the president said “I just don’t know how we are going to solve this issue” and alleged the Democrats “are not interested in waste, fraud and abuse”.

The Democratic stand on healthcare comes as the party seeks to regain its footing with voters ahead of next year’s midterm elections, in which they are viewed as having a shot at regaining control of the House and winnowing the GOP’s majority in the Senate.

The party has refused to support the GOP funding proposal unless it includes an extension of subsidies for Affordable Care Act (ACA) health plans, which expire at the end of the year. They also want the undoing of cuts to Medicaid – the program providing healthcare to poor and disabled Americans – and public media, which Republicans approved earlier in the year.

Schumer signaled that the Democrats may be willing to compromise. Outside the White House, he said Trump was “the decision-maker, and if he will accept some of the things we ask, which we think the American people are for, on healthcare and on rescissions, he can avoid a shutdown, but there are still large differences between us”.

If Congress does not act, a shutdown will begin Wednesday at midnight, and would see workers furloughed and federal agencies close their doors. Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget released a memo saying it would exploit a shutdown to carry out more mass firings as part of its crusade to slash government bureaucracy.

Polling from Morning Consult released on Monday found that 45% of voters would blame congressional Republicans for a shutdown, while 32% would blame Democrats.

In March, House Democrats voted against a Republican bill to extend government funding, only to see Schumer encourage his colleagues to advance the measure through the Senate, arguing a shutdown at that time would be “devastating”. The episode amplified disillusionment with the minority leader among the Democratic base.

On Monday afternoon, reports circulated that Schumer had discussed with Democratic lawmakers the possibility of voting for a bill that would keep the government open for about a week. At a press conference that evening, Schumer insisted he was not going to change his demands.

“We have to get it done,” he said. “The way to do this is the president, who is really listening to us, tells the Republicans to do it.”

Donald Trump and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu have delivered an ultimatum to Hamas, warning the militant group to accept their 20-point peace plan for Gaza or face the consequences.

The two leaders met at the White House in Washington on Monday then held a joint press briefing in which they hailed their proposal as a historic breakthrough and new chapter for the Middle East.

But it was clear that Hamas had not been consulted and its position on the terms remained uncertain. Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi said the group had not even received the plan, the Reuters news agency reported.

Both Trump and Netanyahu made clear that they were not offering Hamas a choice in the matter. If the group refused, Trump told reporters, “Israel would have my full backing to finish the job of destroying the threat of Hamas.

“But I hope that we’re going to have a deal for peace, and if Hamas rejects the deal … Bibi, you’d have our full backing to do what you would have to do.”

The Israeli prime minister said ominously: “If Hamas rejects your plan, Mr President, or if they supposedly accept it and then do everything to counter it, then Israel will finish the job by itself. This can be done the easy way or it can be done the hard way, but it will be done.”

Netanyahu added: “We’d prefer the easy way but it has to be done. All these goals must be achieved because we didn’t fight this horrible fight, sacrifice the finest of our young men to have Hamas stay in Gaza and threaten us again and again and again with these horrific massacres.”

Neither man took questions from reporters. Earlier the White House released the 20-point plan aimed at ending the war in the Palestinian enclave that erupted after the deadly attack on 7 October 2023.

It calls for a ceasefire, a swap of hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Hamas disarmament and a transitional government led by an international body.

Trump said: “If accepted by Hamas, this proposal calls for the release of all remaining hostages immediately, but in no case more than 72 hours … The hostages are coming back.”

The plan also demands that Hamas lay down its arms and renounce governance in the strip. Hamas members who commit to peaceful coexistence would be given amnesty to remain in Gaza or they would be granted safe passage to receiving countries.

Trump’s plan would also establish a temporary governing board that would be headed by Trump himself and include former British prime minister Tony Blair.

Trump said: “To ensure the success of this effort, my plan calls for a new international oversight body – the Board of Peace – which will be headed, not at my request … by a gentleman known as President Donald J Trump of the United States.”

Earlier, a leaked 21-page draft document, seen by the Guardian and Haaretz in Israel, showed that a postwar Gaza governing authority would sideline key Palestinian political figures while giving significant authority to its chair on most key issues.

The president caused uproar earlier this year when he spoke of turning Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East” that involved massive financial investment and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Monday’s 20-point plan does state that “a Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energise Gaza will be created by convening a panel of experts who have helped birth some of the thriving modern miracle cities in the Middle East”.

But it also notes: “No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return.”

At the joint press briefing in the state dining room, against a backdrop of US and Israel flags, Trump said they were “beyond very close” to forging the elusive peace deal and that he hoped Hamas militants would also accept it.

“We’re not quite finished. We have to get Hamas, but I think they’re going to be able to do that. So now it’s time for Hamas to accept the terms of the plan that we’ve put forward today.”

Trump added: “I also want to thank Prime Minister Netanyahu for agreeing to the plan and for trusting that if we work together, we can bring an end to the death and destruction that we’ve seen for so many years, decades, even centuries and begin a new chapter of security, peace and prosperity for the entire region.”

In Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the White House since Trump returned to office in January, the rightwing Israeli leader was looking to shore up his country’s most important relationship after a slew of western leaders formally embraced Palestinian statehood last week in defiance of the US and Israel.

Trump, who sharply criticised the recognition moves as a prize for Hamas, was seeking Netanyahu’s agreement despite Israel’s misgivings on parts of the plan.

Washington presented its peace plan to Arab and Muslim states on the sidelines of the UN general assembly last week, and Trump’s main objective on Monday was to try to close the remaining gaps with Netanyahu. He appeared to have succeeded.

The Israeli prime minister said: “I support your plan to end the war in Gaza, which achieves our war aims. It will bring back to Israel all our hostages, dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities, end its political rule, and ensure that Gaza never again poses a threat to Israel.”

He added: “Hamas will be disarmed. Gaza will be demilitarized. Israel will retain security responsibility, including a security perimeter, for the foreseeable future. And lastly, Gaza will have a peaceful, civilian administration that is run neither by Hamas nor by the Palestinian Authority.”

But Hamas’s apparent absence from the negotiations has raised questions about the prospects for the latest initiative.

In a statement late on Monday, Blair said: “President Trump has put down a bold and intelligent plan which, if agreed, can end the war, bring immediate relief to Gaza, the chance of a brighter and better future for its people, while ensuring Israel’s absolute and enduring security and the release of all hostages.

“It offers us the best chance of ending two years of war, misery and suffering, and I thank President Trump for his leadership, determination and commitment.”

Netanyahu earlier extended a formal apology to his Qatari counterpart for a recent military strike targeting Hamas officials in the Gulf emirate that infuriated Arab leaders and triggered rare criticism by the US of Israel.

Netanyahu made the call to Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, as he met with Trump, according to the White House.
Trump described the exchange between the Israeli and Qatari leader as a “heart-to-heart” call.

“As a first step, Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed his deep regret that Israel’s missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman,” the White House said in a statement. “He further expressed regret that, in targeting Hamas leadership during hostage negotiations, Israel violated Qatari sovereignty and affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future.”

Netanyahu added to reporters: “Israel was targeting terrorists, it wasn’t targeting Qatar, and of course we regretted the loss of the Qatari citizen who wasn’t our target.”

Previous US-backed ceasefire efforts have fallen apart due to a failure to bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas, and Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is completely dismantled.

The White House talks came as Israeli tanks on Monday thrust deeper into the heart of Gaza City. Israel has launched one of its biggest offensives of the war this month, with Netanyahu saying he aims to wipe out Hamas in its final redoubts. The war has left much of Gaza in ruins and caused a major humanitarian crisis.

Elon Musk has accused the Anti-Defamation League, one of the most prominent Jewish organizations in the US, of being a “hate group” against Christians, suggesting that it encourages murder.

“The ADL hates Christians, therefore it is is [sic] a hate group,” Musk responded on Sunday night to an X account that posts anti-immigrant content.

Musk made the comments on his social media platform X in response to the ADL’s documentation of racist and extremist statements by members of Charlie Kirk’s group, Turning Point USA. The ADL previously defended Musk against accusations of antisemitism after he gave what were widely criticized as two fascist-style salutes on stage following Trump’s inauguration.

“Using such false and defamatory labels about people and organizations encourages murder,” Musk said in response.

Musk’s attacks on the ADL show that his recently positive relationship to the organization, which came to his aid after the inauguration, has soured. The ADL’s defense of Musk, who has repeatedly denied being antisemitic, led to immense backlash from longtime donors and staff.

The Tesla CEO also responded to several other rightwing influencer accounts targeting the ADL, some of whom have been seeking punishment of groups or individuals that have been critical of Kirk after his killing. They shared screenshots on Sunday of a page from the ADL’s website that documents the Christian Identity movement, an extremist ideology dating back to the 19th century which promotes a racial holy war against Jews and other minority groups.

The ADL’s page on Kirk’s organization states: “TPUSA’s leadership and activists have made multiple racist or bigoted comments and have been linked to a variety of extremists”, citing numerous incidents such as a TPUSA chapter head posting a joke about the murder of three Black students at their university; another chapter president caught on video yelling “white power”; and the organization inviting a prominent white nationalist to speak at Iowa State University.

“The idea that @ADL is anti-Christian is offensive and wrong. Many of our staff members are Christian. Many of our supporters are Christian. We are blessed to work with many Christian brothers and sisters in the shared fight against antisemitism and all forms of hate,” Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, posted. The statements from the ADL and Greenblatt did not address the page on TPUSA.

The ADL’s backing of Musk was a rare example of an anti-hate group supporting the tech mogul, who has faced years of criticism from extremism monitors over his amplification of far-right content. Earlier this year, the head of Yad Vashem, Israel’s memorial to victims of the Holocaust, denounced Musk’s endorsement of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and his statement that Germans should move “past guilt”.

The organization’s relationship with Musk has been a continual source of contention for the organization, which has faced backlash in recent years over its narrowing mission and Greenblatt’s leadership.

ADL staffers have previously alleged that Greenblatt has pursued pro-Israel policies and cozied up to powerful actors such as Musk in a way that has undermined the ADL’s broader goal of combating extremism.

The ADL faced more internal turmoil earlier this year after it called Musk’s on-stage salute “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute” and asked that “all sides should give one another a bit of grace, perhaps even the benefit of the doubt”. Since defending his gestures, the organization has criticized Musk for incidents that have included his Grok AI chatbot praising nazism and calling itself “MechaHitler”.

In another incident from 2023, Musk faced widespread criticism after he endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory on X that Jewish communities push “hatred against Whites”. Greenblatt praised Musk days later, however, after the billionaire posted that the pro-Palestinian slogan “From the river to the sea” would violate X’s content moderation policies. The incident led to an uproar among staff and the head of the ADL’s Center for Technology and Society, Yael Eisenstat, resigning over the disagreement.

Andy Burnham has hit back at Labour colleagues who have criticised him for challenging Keir Starmer during a Labour party conference that has been dominated by speculation over the prime minister’s leadership.

The Greater Manchester mayor rejected attacks by members of his own party who have accused him of launching a pre-emptive putsch against the party leader, saying the criticism “sticks in my throat”.

Speaking at a live recording of the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast in Liverpool, he repeatedly refused to say whether he had spoken to Labour MPs about returning to Westminster and challenging for the leadership of his party.

But he also attempted to calm relations with Downing Street, saying he had no ability to launch a leadership campaign while he was still mayor.

“It sticks in my throat somewhat to have people who have just arrived on the scene to be throwing some of the comments at me that they have done,” he said. “I did everything I possibly could to make this conference a success, and I would suggest more people did.”

After days of questions about his leadership ambitions – fuelled in part by an interview he gave to the Telegraph in which he said Labour MPs had contacted him over the summer about a possible bid – Burnham tried to quell the speculation.

“I can’t launch a leadership campaign, I’m not in parliament,” he said. “So that’s the bottom line.”

But asked whether he had discussed the idea with colleagues, he said: “I’m not going to go and say every conversation I have with every MP. I have many conversations with MPs.”

Burnham was speaking soon after Rachel Reeves appeared to criticise him for previous comments he made that the UK should not be “in hock” to the bond markets.

The chancellor warned in a speech: “There is nothing progressive, nothing Labour, about government using one in every £10 of public money it spends on financing debt interest.”

Burnham hit back, saying: “If you change the way things are run, you can make public money go further … I reject entirely this idea that I am hopeless and have no idea about how to make it add up.”

He also rejected the call from his former cabinet colleague Alan Johnson to rule out a leadership tilt. “I remember Mr Johnson not being a model of loyalty when it came to Jeremy Corbyn,” Burnham said.

But he added: “Someone has to speak up for some of the ideas that we need to have that plan to beat Reform.”

He urged the prime minister to be more radical to help the party keep seats in Wales, Scotland and other parts of the UK at next May’s local and devolved elections.

“There’s a calling for more to take to the doorstep,” he said. “If I look at the world right now, and you think of the populist right – whatever we may think about what they’re doing, they are putting big things on the table.

“Well, we have to do the same the other way, never pandering to them, but put big ideas on the table.”

The Manchester mayor discussed several changes he would make to the government’s economic policies, including rewriting the fiscal rules to make it easier to invest, scrapping the two-child benefit cap, imposing a land value tax and launching a review of council tax.

He defended his previous comments about the bond markets, insisting he did not mean that the government should borrow billions of pounds more to finance policies such as ending the two-child cap.

Instead, he said the chancellor should consider modifying her debt rule – which says debt must be forecast to fall at the end of a five-year period – to allow her to borrow more capital investment.

He also criticised two other central planks of government policy – launching digital ID cards and refusing to rule out rejoining the EU.

Talking about ID cards, which the prime minister announced on the eve of conference as a way for employers to check whether someone has the right to work in the UK, Burnham said simply “Not now”.

On Britain’s membership of the EU, he said: “I want to rejoin. I hope, in my lifetime, I see this country rejoin the European Union.

“I believe in unions of all kinds. The union that is the UK, the European Union, trade unions, [all] benefited this country. People get to prosper more when they’re part of unions of countries.”

Serbian police have arrested 11 people, accusing them of “inciting hatred” in France and Germany, and linking them to acts that include placing pigs’ heads near mosques and defacing Jewish sites.

The arrests came days after French prosecutors said foreign interference was probably to blame for a spate of provocative acts that had targeted Jewish and Muslim sites in France in recent years, as tensions run high over the war in Gaza. French officials have previously said they were investigating Russia’s role in destabilising operations that have stoked social tensions and sown division in France.

On Monday, Serbia’s interior ministry said the 11 people arrested were Serbian nationals. They were believed to have been trained by another suspect who was “acting under the instructions of a foreign intelligence service” and who remained on the run, it added. The ministry did not specify the nationality of the other suspect.

The ministry alleged the group had been involved in acts that took place between April and September this year, citing the defacing of a French Holocaust memorial and three synagogues with green paint, the placing of pigs’ heads outside Paris-area mosques and “concrete skeletons” inscribed with messages left at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.

“Their objective was also to spread ideas advocating and inciting hatred, discrimination and violence based on differences,” the ministry noted.

The arrests came weeks after the latest incident prompted outrage across France. After pigs’ heads were left outside at least nine mosques in and around Paris, prosecutors in the city said the acts had been carried out by foreign nationals “with the clear intention of causing unrest within the nation”. The two people involved were believed to have crossed into Belgium a few hours after the acts.

Prosecutor Laure Beccuau said the tactics used to target the mosques echoed other incidents that had rocked France in the past two years, from the painting of about 60 stars of David on buildings in Paris and districts on the outskirts, and the red hands spray-painted on the wall of the city’s Holocaust memorial.

“So we could be convinced that these incidents are acts of interference,” she told broadcaster BFMTV earlier this month. “Why? Because they have similar modus operandi.”

She said the acts were carried out by eastern Europeans who often take photos to document what they’ve done and send these images to people beyond France’s borders.

French police had detained several suspects in connection with these attacks. Three Serbian nationals were detained in May, linked to the green paint used to vandalise synagogues and a Holocaust memorial, while four Bulgarians are expected to stand trial next month over the red-hand symbols.

After the appearance of stars of David on Paris’s buildings sparked fears of antisemitism, police arrested a Moldovan couple and prosecutors said they were investigating whether the graffiti had been carried out at the behest of someone abroad.

An alleged handler, a pro-Russian Moldovan businessman, was later identified amid suspicions that Russia’s security services were behind that campaign, according to Agence France-Presse.

With contribution from Agence France-Presse

How do you solve a problem like Andy? Schrödinger’s very own guest feline at the Labour party conference in Liverpool. The man who is both there and not there.

Not invited on to the main stage, but the star attraction at countless fringe events. The man no cabinet minister dares mention by name, yet who is seemingly buried deep in everyone’s subconscious. Living rent free in the heads of Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. The man who is making a leadership bid and not making a leadership bid. Andy Burnham is the man who likes to have it every which way.

You also have to ask yourself why these things keep happening to Andy. It just doesn’t seem fair somehow. There he was just giving a front page interview to the Daily Telegraph on the eve of the conference about how the government was lacking leadership and needed a change of direction, and somehow people just jumped to the conclusion that he was putting himself in the frame to be the next prime minister.

There he was giving a 5,000-word interview to the editor of the New Statesman just before the party conference in which he spelled out his vision for Britain, and yet again people put two and two together and make five, assuming he is positioning himself to replace Keir.

And there he was talking to various broadcast outlets about how various Labour MPs had been begging him to quit as mayor of Greater Manchester and return to Westminster as the leader-in-waiting. From king of the north to top of the world, ma. And still people were talking behind his back, saying the guy has designs on Keir’s job. Just how much more unlucky can Andy get?

You might conclude that Burnham is a shit conspirator. A good plot requires organisation and timing. Andy’s has had nothing but ambition going for it. His immediate leadership bid was all but dead on arrival. There was no momentum. If he had friends in high places, they thought better of making themselves known. For now.

Maybe the Andy drum will beat louder next May if Labour suffers a wipeout in the Welsh, Scottish and regional elections. For now he stays in Manchester.

But what you can’t deny is that Andy has a charm that many other leaders just don’t have. He is a good storyteller – essential for any politician – and is at ease with himself. Where Starmer and Kemi Badenoch appear awkward in public, Burnham comes across as a regular kind of guy. Even when you know he’s not. He’s a politician through and through. A man who has always had one eye on the big prize. Yet somehow you forgive him for it. Even when you suspect he’s telling you what you want to hear.

Those qualities were all on show on Monday at a fringe event organised by the Guardian. He was just having a low-key conference, he insisted. Hadn’t been out at any bars. Was looking forward to going to the football that night.

Leadership campaign? That was all just a big misunderstanding. He had merely been trying to be helpful, but somehow things had all got a bit out of hand. The Telegraph interview had been overwritten and inaccurate. Who would ever have imagined that a rightwing paper might do that to a Labour politician? The very idea.

Andy leaned in. Daring the audience to fall into his eyes. There wasn’t a disloyal bone in his body. In the past week he had been working tirelessly behind the scenes with survivors so the government could announce its Hillsborough law at the conference. You couldn’t say fairer than that. All he wanted was for Labour to put its best foot forward at next year’s elections. To give councillors a decent story to tell on the doorstep. To offer a hopeful alternative to the division and discrimination of Reform. As I said, Burnham is good at stories.

And no, he had never suggested that Labour break its fiscal rules and stop worrying about the bond markets. He would never borrow to spend. Merely to invest in more social housing. The thing you needed to know about the fiscal rules was that they were elastic. Here was the thing. The stronger the fiscal rules, the more you could bend them to your will. He made it sound all very plausible. His sentences washed over you. You wanted to believe.

He did have one small criticism of the current government. Back in the Blair-Brown years, dissent among Labour MPs was tolerated. That was healthy. Now not so much. But look, Andy had some sympathy for Keir. Labour had inherited an economy that was on its knees and it was always going to be hard to turn things round. Especially within a year. It was just that time was not on Labour’s side. People needed change they could feel and recognise. Andy’s change.

Now Burnham was on a roll. Out came some old favourites. Cheaper rail and bus fares. More social housing. The end of the two-child benefit cap. Electoral reform. All crowd pleasers. All easy to offer. Not so easy to deliver. But that wasn’t the point. With Nigel Farage you have to fight fire with fire. Promise the world. Work out how to make it happen later. It’s all about the plausibility.

We ended back where we started. With Andy insisting a leadership challenge – why did people keep bringing this up? – had never been on the cards. “I’m Manchester through and through,” he said. “I’m not a Westminster person.”

That’s odd. He certainly sounds like one. Maybe it’s just that he’s one of those guys who these things happen too. Some people are born great. Some achieve greatness. Others have greatness thrust upon them.

“I’m just trying to be helpful,” he said again as the packed audience began to disperse. Hmm. If this is him being helpful, I dare say Starmer wouldn’t want to encounter him when he’s being difficult.

Labour is to bring back maintenance grants for tens of thousands of students from low-income backgrounds who sign up to “priority” courses that support the government’s industrial strategy.

The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said the means-tested grants were aimed at “those who need them most” and would be funded by a new international student levy, as outlined in a recent immigration white paper.

Making the announcement at the Labour party conference, Phillipson said: “The Tories treated our universities as a political battleground, not a public good. Labour is putting them back in the service of working-class young people.”

Students’ time at college or university should be spent learning or training, “not working every hour God sends”, she told delegates.

The reintroduction of maintenance grants, which were scrapped in 2016 and replaced by maintenance loans, was welcomed by many in the sector, though there were calls for them to be extended to a wider range of courses.

There are also concerns among vice-chancellors about the proposed 6% international student levy that will pay for the grants. Recent research suggested the levy could cost universities in England more than £600m a year.

The government said the maintenance grants would be available to students in levels four to six, studying priority courses including university degrees and technical qualifications. Further details will be set out in the autumn statement.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union, said: “Treating international students as cash cows to fund maintenance grants amounts to robbing Peter to pay Paul. Instead of attacking foreign students, the Labour government should be fixing our colleges and universities through huge public investment.”

Nick Harrison, CEO of the Sutton Trust, said it was a positive step in breaking down barriers to opportunity for students from the poorest backgrounds. “They have long been faced with the greatest debt burden, and have been hit hard by the rising cost of living, having to work excessive hours to make ends meet.

“The reintroduction of maintenance grants for these students on selected courses is a step in the right direction in equalising access to higher education.”

Dani Payne, head of education and social mobility at the Social Market Foundation thinktank, said: “Many students are struggling with the cost of living, and ensuring those from lower income families, with less family support, can afford to study both at university and for technical qualifications is a vital step for social mobility.”

Three members of the Michigan-based family featured on TLC’s reality show Meet the Putmans were recently killed in a car crash, and five other members were injured.

In a statement shared on Saturday, the family said its patriarch Bill “Papa” Putman, his wife, Barb – who goes by Neenee – and their daughter-in-law Megan were killed in a “tragic car accident” that was evidently reported the previous night.

“They have gone home to be with the Lord,” the statement added.

The family added that members identified as Uncle Blake, Lulu, Alena, Noah and Gia were also injured in the crash and remained hospitalized.

“We are asking for complete healing and strength for each of them,” they said. The statement also solicited prayers for the “whole family as we walk through this deep loss”.

“Your support means more than words can express,” the statement said. “Please continue to lift us up, that our hearts remain fixed on the truth that Jesus conquered death so we could have eternal life.”

Without identifying the Putmans, the Tuscola county sheriff’s office in Michigan said in a statement that three people were killed and five others were injured in one of two vehicles that crashed with each other at about 9pm on Friday. Two people in the other vehicle were also hurt.

Police say that a 55-year-old man from Florida was driving a semi-truck southbound with a female passenger “when it failed to stop at a stop sign”.

The truck then collided with a Jeep carrying eight people traveling eastbound.

Three were pronounced dead at the scene, the sheriff’s office said. And the agency said the remaining five passengers were transported to nearby hospitals, some in critical condition.

The sheriff’s office added that the semi-truck driver and his passenger sustained minor injuries and were also transported to the hospital.

The driver was subsequently arrested and was being referred to prosecutors for formal charges, the sheriff’s office said.

On Saturday, authorities said that the crash remained an active investigation and therefore the names of those involved would not be released.

“We are asking the public to please pay more attention when driving,” the office said. “We are having far too many crashes that are destroying people’s lives.”

On Sunday, the family shared updates on Noah and Gia. Noah, they said, was “still sedated” but was responding to them with movement. Gia, they said, underwent a craniotomy and her “brain pressure has gone down significantly”.

“Keep lifting Noah and Gia up as they heal,” the family wrote.

Meet the Putmans aired in 2017 on TLC for six episodes. The reality show documented the lives of Bill and Barb’s multi-generational family of 25 who all lived under one roof in Tuscola county.

The UK’s biggest drugmaker, AstraZeneca, has said it will list its shares directly on the New York Stock Exchange in a decision described as a “knock-back for London”.

The FTSE 100 company said its direct listing in New York would replace trading in its American depositary receipts (ADRs) – which give US investors exposure to a non-US company – on the Nasdaq.

As the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, addressed the Labour party conference in Liverpool with tensions between government and business running high, the company further stoked speculation over whether it could switch its listing away from the UK to the US. Such a move would represent a damaging blow to the government’s growth ambitions.

The UK’s second-biggest listed company, with a market value of £170.5bn, insisted it would remain headquartered in Cambridge, England, and stay listed on the London Stock Exchange.

The New York listing, however, puts its US shares on an even footing with its London-listed stock.

The company’s chair, Michel Demaré, said the proposed structure would allow it to “reach a broader mix of global investors and will make it even more attractive for all our shareholders to have the opportunity to participate in AstraZeneca’s exciting future”.

The move, which shareholders need to approve, also opens the company up to US pension funds.

The US is the world’s biggest capital pool, and its largest pharmaceutical market. AstraZeneca made $23.2bn (£17.25bn) in US revenue last year, about 43% of its total, and the figure is expected to reach 50% by the end of the decade.

Neil Wilson of the investment platform Saxo Markets said: “There is probably relief that it’s not pursuing a primary listing in New York, but the decision is hardly a ringing endorsement of London.”

He added that the decision was “a bit of a knock-back for London”.

Russ Mould, the investment director at the stockbroker AJ Bell, said: “Although there has been no suggestion that AstraZeneca is imminently going to up sticks and move its primary listing from London, there may be some nervousness this morning around the risk that the UK market might lose one of its largest constituents.

“While there is logic to shifting to a direct listing in the US rather than American Depositary Receipts beyond setting up for any longer-term moves, it does at least hint at the possibility of a more dramatic shift at some point in the future.

“Big investors could well end up asking questions about AstraZeneca’s ultimate intentions ahead of a vote on the change later this year.”

The group’s commitment to the UK has come under increasing scrutiny, after it paused a planned £2oom expansion of its research site in Cambridge earlier this month, which was expected to create 1,000 jobs. In January, it ditched a £450m revamp of its vaccine site in Speke in Liverpool, citing a cut in government support after months of negotiations.

They are among a number of projects that have been ditched or paused by big pharmaceutical firms, amid an ongoing row with government over drug pricing.

There have also been reports that Sir Pascal Soriot, the long-serving chief executive, would like to move its stock market listing, and potentially the company’s headquarters, to the US.

Soriot has publicly expressed his frustration over the UK’s rejection of AstraZeneca’s breast cancer drug Enhertu, and has said the UK and Europe are falling behind China and the US in resesarch. A recent industry report showed the UK slipping down the global rankings in investment and research.

Donald Trump has ramped up the pressure on the pharmaceutical industry, threatening to impose steep tariffs unless they invest in the US, and has asked them to lower their prices, which have traditionally been much higher in the US than elsewhere. The deadline for companies to respond is Monday.

A shift in AstraZeneca’s listing would be a big loss for the London Stock Exchange, which has already suffered a string of departures by companies seeking higher valuations. In recent years, the equipment rental company Ashtead, Paddy Power bookmaker owner Flutter Entertainment, building materials supplier CRH and packaging company Smurfit Westrock have all left the LSE.

Such a move by AstraZeneca would probably spur an attempt to intervene by the UK government, which has made life sciences one of its main growth pillars. However, it would not have any formal power to stop AstraZeneca from moving its listing.

Soriot was the highest-paid chief executive on the FTSE 100 for several years, receiving £14.7m in 2024 and £16.85m the previous year. Last year, his pay package ranked behind those of the current and former boss of the engineering group Melrose, Peter Dilnot and Simon Peckham, respectively.

The government has been approached for comment.

Quick Guide

Contact Guardian Business about this story

Show

The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.

If you have something to share on this subject you can contact the Business team confidentially using the following methods.

Secure Messaging in the Guardian app

The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said.

If you don’t already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Scroll down and click on Secure Messaging. When asked who you wish to contact please select the Guardian Business team.

SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post

If you can safely use the tor network without being observed or monitored you can send messages and documents to the Guardian via our SecureDrop platform.

Finally, our guide at theguardian.com/tips lists several ways to contact us securely, and discusses the pros and cons of each. 

Illustration: Guardian Design / Rich Cousins