A man has died after falling from a hot air balloon in West Sussex.
Emergency services carried out an extensive search for the man involving police drones and dogs after receiving reports of the incident near Newpound Common, in Wisborough Green, shortly after 9am on Friday.
His body was found in a field at 1.50pm, police said.
The man has not yet been formally identified, but Sussex police said he had been part of a group on a balloon flight from Billingshurst to Dunsfold.
A Sussex police spokesperson said: “An investigation is taking place as to the circumstances and at this time the incident is not being treated as suspicious.”
Federal law enforcement agents used teargas and pepper balls to disperse a group of about 100 protesters, including two Democratic candidates for Congress, during a series of early morning clashes outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) building in Chicago on Friday.
Demonstrators had attempted to block a number of government SUVs from entering and exiting the facility, which has become an operating hub and detention location during an immigration crackdown in the Democratic city dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz”.
At least two protesters were arrested during the scuffles, which saw masked homeland security agents, dressed in riot gear, fire pepper balls at protesters from a rooftop and launch multiple canisters of teargas. One agent stood with what appeared to be an unholstered firearm. The facility is lined with razor wire, and its windows are boarded with plywood.
Kat Abughazaleh, a progressive candidate for Illinois’s ninth congressional district, had sat at an entrance to the facility, alongside dozens of other protesters, before teargas was launched into the crowd. Earlier in the morning she was shoved to the ground by a masked agent as a group of vehicles entered the facility.
She described the episodes as a “violent abuse of power” in a later post on social media, adding: “It’s still nothing compared to what they’re doing to immigrant communities.”
Illinois’s lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, a frontrunner in the race for US Senate next year, was also present earlier on at the protest, although had left before law enforcement officers deployed teargas.
“Protesters showed up today with handmade signs and cellphones. They were singing, chanting, praying, and linking arms to stand up for their neighbors and to speak out against the cruelty happening inside Ice’s Broadview facility and across Illinois,” Stratton said in a statement.
“The fact that DHS responded with tear gas and by throwing protesters on the pavement tells you everything you need to know – this isn’t about safety. This is about fear, control, and the Trump administration’s attempt to intimidate Illinoisans into silence. We will never be silent.”
Bushra Amiwala, another candidate for Illinois’s ninth congressional district, was also present when agents fired teargas.
“There was no justification for using such violence against peaceful demonstrators,” she said. “What happened in Broadview today is an affront to our democracy.”
Protesters chanted the name of the Silverio Villegas González, a 38-year-old father of two who was fatally shot by an immigration officer during a traffic stop in the Chicago area last Friday.
Earlier in the morning agents arrested a protester after a group swarmed out from the facility to escort another vehicle. The protester was dragged inside by two masked agents after being slammed to the floor and pinned to the ground.
The demonstration comes as immigration enforcement in Chicago ramped up after the city was targeted by Donald Trump’s administration in an ongoing crackdown involving Democratic cities. While Trump has not sent the national guard to Chicago, as he has to Washington DC and Los Angeles, California, the city has seen a surge of Ice raids in several neighborhoods.
Estonia requests Nato Article 4 consultation over Russian fighter jets incident
Estonia has formally requested a Nato Article 4 consultation over the Russian violation of its airspace earlier today, the country’s prime minister Kristen Michal said.
In a post on X, he confirmed that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace, and were confronted by Nato fighters, before they were “forced to flee.”
“Such violation is totally unacceptable,” Michal said.
That’s all from me, Jakub Krupa, as I hand the blog over to Lucy Campbell for more reactions and comments on the Russian violation of Nato airspace in Estonia (16:13, 16:43, 16:58, 17:16, 17:35), which prompted Tallin to request Article 4 consultations within Nato (19:40, 19:44).
Earlier today, the German delegation to Nato flagged up yet another incident, as it said its Eurofighter jet scrambled from the Laage military base to respond to a Russian Il-20 military aircraft flying “close to Nato airspace without a flight plan or transponder signal.”
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy condemns ‘outrageous’ violation of Estonian airspace, calls for ‘strong action’ against Russia
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the Russian violation of Nato airspace in Estonia as “outrageous,” urging allies to take a “strong action” against Moscow.
“These are not accidents,” he warned in a social media post, referring to a long list of Russian violations of European airspace of Poland, Romania and Estonia and alleged interference in electoral processes in Romania and Moldova.
He said:
“It requires a systemic response. Strong action must be taken – both collectively and individually by each nation.
Russia must feel increasing pain from the world’s pressure, first and foremost through its economy, and that is best ensured by sanctions. At the same time, Russia’s war losses must continue to rise, which is best achieved by a strong Ukrainian army.
I thank everyone who helps. Europe, the United States, the Group of Seven – strong action is required from all.”
‘Russia escalated, we do nothing… starting to see pattern there,’ former Lithuanian minister says
“Russia escalates, we do nothing, Russia escalates more, we do nothing, Russia escalates even more, we do nothing… guys, I think I am starting to see a pattern here.”
Nato says Russian violation ‘not type of behaviour one would expect from professional air force’ as confirms details of response
Nato’s Supreme Headquarters Allied Command Operations, or SHAPE, in Belgium has offered a bit more on the Estonian incident.
It confirmed that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets violated Estonia’s airspace, noting with a bit of understatement that “this is not the type of behaviour one would expect from a professional air force.”
“Nato quickly responded under Eastern Sentry, scrambling Italian F-35 fighter jets based in Estonia,” it said, adding that Sweden and Finlandalso scrambled their quick reaction aircraft.
It added:
“Nato’s Allied Air Command maintained a consolidated air picture and close coordination with Allies throughout the response.
“As we have stated previously, Eastern Sentry integrates air and ground-based defences and better connects existing activities like air policing into a more coherent defensive posture. That was on display today.”
Nato’s response was ‘quick and decisive,’ secretary general Rutte says after call with Estonian PM
Nato’s s secretary general Mark Rutte has just posted a social media update confirming he had a chat with the Estonian prime minister about the Russian violation of the Estonian airspace earlier today.
“Nato’s response under Eastern Sentry was quick and decisive,” he says.
UK condemns ‘another reckless incursion into Nato airspace by Russia’
Meanwhile, UK foreign secretary Yvette Cooper also expressed the country’s solidarity with Estonia condemning “another reckless incursion into Nato airspace by Russia.”
“We must continue to increase pressure on Putin, including driving forward the important new economic sanctions announced by the UK & EU in recent days,” she said.
Estonia requests Nato Article 4 consultations — snap analysis
Jakub Krupa
This is the ninth time the Nato Article 4 procedure is getting triggered in the alliance’s history since 1949 – and the second in just over a week.
The procedure says that:
“The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened.”
It was last triggered by Poland earlier this month after Russian drones incursion into its airspace, and previously by a group of countries in 2022 after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
It’s a clear sign that Estonia sees the incident as a direct threat to its security, and of growing regional concerns about Russia’s increasingly aggressive posture and provocations.
Estonia requests Nato Article 4 consultation over Russian fighter jets incident
Estonia has formally requested a Nato Article 4 consultation over the Russian violation of its airspace earlier today, the country’s prime minister Kristen Michal said.
In a post on X, he confirmed that three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace, and were confronted by Nato fighters, before they were “forced to flee.”
“Such violation is totally unacceptable,” Michal said.
Nato’s border ‘tested for reason,’ Lithuanian defence minister warns, references 2015 Turkish decision to shot Russian jet down
Lithuanian defence minister Dovilė Šakalienė is the latest European minister to respond to the incident over Estonia, saying it “is one more hard proof that #EasternSentry is long due.”
“Nato’s border in the North East is being tested for a reason. We need to mean business,” she said.
Curiously, she also referenced the 2015 incident in which the Turkish air force shot down a Russian jet after Ankara said it had violated the Turkish airspace.
“PS. Türkiye set an example 10 years ago. Some food for thought,” she said.
Poland says Russian jets performed low pass over Petrobaltic platform in Baltic Sea, violating safety zone
We are now getting a new line from Poland with the country’s Border Force reporting that two Russian fighter jets violated the safety zone of the Petrobaltic oil and gas exploration platform in the Baltic Sea by performing a low pass over the platform.
“The Polish Armed Forces and other authorities have been notified,” the force said.
‘Vigilance is price of freedom,’ German FM says as he condemn Russian incursion into Estonia
In his reaction, the German foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, went for a famous quote, often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, that “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
‘This principle of Nato has lost none of its relevance. The unacceptable violation of Estonian airspace by Russia today demonstrates this with utmost clarity,” he said on X.
He added:
“I have assured my colleague @Tsahkna of Germany’s full solidarity. By immediately intercepting the Russian aircraft, we demonstrate: The @Nato is always ready to defend.”
Russian incursion into Estonian airspace ‘direct threat to transatlantic security,’ Ukrainian foreign minister says
Ukrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha also struck a similar tone, saying in his statement that “today’s incursion of three Russian fighter jets into Estonian airspace is another Russian escalation and a direct threat to transatlantic security.”
He added:
“Ukraine stands with Estonia in the face of Russia’s reckless intimidation. I agree with my Estonian friend @Tsahkna that half-measures are no longer enough.
Russia must face crushing political and economic pressure. As long as it doesn’t get a really strong response, Moscow will only get more arrogant and aggressive.
It’s time to put an end to Putin’s sense of impunity.”
Estonian incident shows ‘seriousness of Russian threat,’ Swedish PM says
Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson said the Russian incursion into Estonian airspace showed “the seriousness of the Russian threat to European security,” also warning that Nato’s readiness is “constantly being tested.”
He said:
“Highly concerning reports of Russian violation of Estonian airspace. This incident, like other recent Russian violations of Nato countries’ airspace, once again illustrates the seriousness of the Russian threat to European security and the fact that our and Nato’s readiness is constantly being tested.
The Swedish Air Force maintains a standing quick reaction alert to handle incidents such as this. As a Nato member, Sweden stands in solidarity with our allies and contributes to security in our region.”
Russia is ‘escalating tensions … and testing how far it can go,’ Czech PM warns
Czech prime minister Petr Fiala also warned that “Russia is further escalating tensions on Nato’s eastern border and testing how far it can go.”
“The violation of Estonian airspace demonstrates the aggression of Putin’s regime,” he said, urging the alliance to “resolutely strengthen our defence capabilities.”
Russia ‘directly threatens Euroatlantic security,’ Lithuania’s foreign minister says
Lithuanian foreign minister Kęstutis Budrys warned that Russia’s increasingly aggressive behaviour shows that Nato “is being tested militarily,” as he accused Moscow of “directly threatening Euroatlantic security.”
In a statement, he said:
“Russia directly threatens Euroatlantic security and tests Nato’s limits.
Today, 3 Russian fighter jets violated Estonian airspace. These provocations will only escalate until the Alliance fully transforms Baltic air policing into Baltic air defence, rotational air defense models become a reality and Estern Sentry comes up and running 24/7.
These are not accidents. The Alliance is being tested militarily. We must sharpen Nato’s posture to the point where no one dares to test our deterrence. #Lithuania stands in full solidarity with our ally #Estonia.”
EU’s Costa blasts ‘unacceptable provocation’ by Russia, says leaders will discuss at next summit
European Council president António Costa said the EU leaders will discuss “collective response to Russia’s action” at the upcoming informal European Council meeting in Copenhagen on 1 October.
In a post on X, he said:
“The European Union stands firmly in solidarity with [Estonia].
Today’s violation of Estonian airspace by three Russian military aircraft is another unacceptable provocation.
It underscores yet again the urgent need to reinforce our Eastern flank, deepen European defence cooperation, and intensify pressure on Russia.
We will address our collective response to Russia’s actions at the informal European Council meeting in Copenhagen on 1 October.”
Russian jets intercepted by Italian F-35s stationed in Estonia, army confirms
The Estonian army has confirmed that the Russian fighter jets were intercepted by Italian F-35s based in Ämari in Estonia as part of an air policing mission over the Baltic sea.
EU’s von der Leyen urges leaders to ‘swiftly’ adopt sanctions against Russia after Estonia incident
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has now weighed in on the Estonian incident too, linking it with the need to “swiftly” approve the new package of sanctions against Russia proposed earlier today (14:14, 14:16, 14:21, 14:43).
She said:
“Europe stands with Estonia in the face of Russia’s latest violation of our airspace.
We will respond to every provocation with determination while investing in a stronger Eastern flank.
As threats escalate, so too will our pressure.
I call on EU leaders to swiftly approve our 19th sanctions package.”
The United Nations general assembly has voted to allow the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to address next week’s annual gathering of world leaders next week in New York via video link after Donald Trump said he would not give him a US visa.
The resolution received 145 votes in favour and five votes against, while six countries abstained.
The US has refused to grant visas for as many as 90 members of a Palestinian delegation due to attend both a one-day conference on Monday on a two-state solution as well as the UN general assembly high-level week that starts on Tuesday.
A number of western states including Canada, France, the UK, Belgium and Australia are due to formally recognise Palestine at the conference on Monday. The UK announcement is now expected to come on Sunday with David Lammy, the deputy prime minister and former foreign secretary, taking a lead role. He will emphasise that UK recognition assumes Hamas wil play no role in a future Palestinian government.
Abbas had intended to address the UN general assembly to thank those states that had come to recognise a Palestinian right to self determination and to set out his vision for a future Palestine free from the rule of Hamas.
Iran’s nuclear programme will also be in focus at the UN with the apparent breakdown in talks between Tehran and European leaders on the reimposition of UN sanctions upon Iran.
France, the UK and Germany – the three European states calling for the reimposition – claim Iran is failing to re-engage with the US on the future of its nuclear programme after the US-Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear sites. There seems a growing likelihood that the UN sanctions will be reimposed next week, and that it will lead to further calls for a military strike on Iran by Israel, possibly with the US, citing the threat posed by Iran.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is due to address the general assembly on Friday and soon afterwards is set to hold talks with Trump in Washington.
In a move endorsed by France and the UK, the security council on Friday rejected a resolution to permanently lift sanctions on Iran, but Tehran and key European powers still have eight days to try and agree to a delay, including through talks in New York. Iran described the actions of the three European powers as “illegal, unjustified and provocative”.
Britain, France and Germany launched a 30-day process on 28 August to reimpose UN sanctions, accusing Tehran of failing to abide by a 2015 deal with world powers that aimed to prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran says it has sent messages to the US to discuss terms for reopening talks, but that it has received no response.
The US federal government drew closer to a shutdown on Friday, after Democrats opposed a Republican-backed measure that would extend funding for another two months, saying it did not include provisions to protect healthcare programs.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved the spending bill on a near party line vote, with only Maine Democrat Jared Golden breaking with his party to vote in favor. The Senate will consider the measure later in the day, but its chances of passage are slim, since it will need at least some Democratic support to clear the 60-vote threshold to overcome the filibuster.
Democrats’ rejection of the GOP’s proposal to keep the government open through 21 November sets up a showdown over spending that, if not resolved, could see federal departments and agencies close and workers furloughed at the end of September, when the current funding authorization expires.
“We don’t work for Donald Trump, we don’t work for JD Vance, we don’t work for Elon Musk, we work for the American people,” said Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democrat. “And that is why we are a hard no on the partisan Republican spending bill because it continues to gut the healthcare of everyday Americans.”
Democrats, who were relegated to the minority in both chambers of Congress last year, have seized on the funding negotiations to take a stand against Trump’s healthcare policies. They released legislation to fund the government through the end of October that would undo cuts to Medicaid, the healthcare program for poor and disabled Americans, which Republicans approved earlier in the year. They have also proposed extending subsidies for Affordable Care Act insurance plans that are set to expire at the end of 2025.
Both parties’ measures are intended to give congressional appropriators more time to pass the 12 bills that authorize federal spending for the fiscal year. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the Democratic proposal later on Friday, but it is not expected to receive enough votes from Republicans to pass.
Speaking on the floor after the House vote, John Thune, the Republican Senate majority leader, called the Democratic proposal “fundamentally unserious”.
“Instead of working with Republicans to fund the government through a clean, nonpartisan continuing resolution, so that we can get back to bipartisan negotiations on appropriations, Democrats are yielding to the desires of their rabidly leftist base and are attempting to hold government funding hostage to a long list of partisan demands,” he said.
Little time remains for lawmakers to reach a compromise. The House and Senate are scheduled to be in recess next week for the Rosh Hashanah holiday, and return on 29 September – a day before funding expires.
The Greens have seen their membership jump by more than 1,000 people in a day after a very public split between Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana cast doubt on the viability of the pair’s proposed new leftwing party.
Almost 1,400 people signed up to the Greens in the 24 hours since the bitter disagreement emerged, which saw Corbyn and his allies refer Sultana to the information watchdog after claims she started collecting membership subscriptions without authority.
The leap helped push the Greens in England and Wales above 75,000 members, a more than 10% increase on the number when Zack Polanski won the contest to be their leader at the start of the month, the party said.
Following his victory, Polanski has expressed willingness to potentially cooperate with the party being set up by Corbyn, the former Labour leader, and Sultana, who was elected as a Labour MP but who now sits as an independent, tentatively called Your party.
However, the Green leader has said it is impossible to know if and how that might happen given the lack of any party structure or policies . He added that the Greens already offer a political home for left-leaning voters disillusioned with Labour.
In a statement to the Guardian, Polanski said his focus was “to keep growing the Green party and to be a voice for bold leadership”.
He added: “My door is always open for conversations with Jeremy and Zarah, two people committed to making our country fairer who I really respect. But today I’m focused on what I can do towards that end, and that’s to keep growing the movement within the Green party.”
After Sultana launched a membership portal for the new party on Thursday, Corbyn responded angrily, describing it as a “false membership system” that collected money and data without authorisation. He said the party had referred the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office and urged supporters to cancel any payments made.
A counter-state from Sultana said she had been frozen out by a “sexist boys’ club” inside the party. Corbyn said late on Thursday that she had not been “excluded from any discussions” and remained part of a process “rooted in inclusivity and mutual respect”.
Sources within the party said on Friday that efforts were being made on both sides to calm the mood and find a way forward, with some news likely next week.
“Emotions were running high but there is an appetite for de-escalation on both sides, and serious efforts underway to figure out what a realistic way forwards looks like,” one said.
Two ambulance trust staff have been arrested in connection with the deaths of six people in Wiltshire, police have said.
A man in his 30s and a 59-year-old woman, who were both employed by the South Western ambulance service NHS foundation trust, have been arrested and released on conditional bail.
The man, arrested in June 2024, was held on suspicion of six counts of gross negligence manslaughter and four counts of ill-treatment or wilful neglect by a care worker, while the woman was detained in March this year on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.
Both members of staff were suspended and one is no longer employed by the trust.
A spokesperson for the South Western ambulance service NHS foundation trust, said: “As soon as the trust became aware of any concerns, we immediately initiated an internal investigation which resulted in a prompt police referral, and we have been working closely with them as part of the ongoing investigation.
“Two members of staff were suspended. The suspension of the two members of staff meant that they were immediately relieved of all duties, including the treatment of patients. We would like to reassure people that this is an isolated situation and there is no ongoing risk to patients. Please continue to call 999 in a life-threatening emergency.
“One of the two individuals that were initially suspended is no longer employed by the trust.”
Israel army says will use ‘unprecedented force’ in Gaza City and urges residents to leave
The Israeli military warned on Friday it will operate with “unprecedented force” in Gaza City, urging residents to flee southwards while announcing the closure of a temporary evacuation route opened 48 hours earlier.
In a post on X addressing residents of Gaza City, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said:
From this moment, Salah al-Din road is closed for southbound travel. The Israeli Defence Forces will continue to operate with unprecedented force against Hamas and other terrorist organisations.
He added the only possible route south was via Al-Rashid street and urged residents to “take this opportunity and join the hundreds of thousands of city residents who have moved south to the humanitarian area”.
Strikes by Israeli artillery, tanks and warplanes hit Gaza City again on Thursday as a UN official said “new waves of mass displacement” were under way, after about 60,000 fled the new assault in 72 hours earlier this week.
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes during a military operation in Gaza City. Photograph: Ebrahim Hajjaj/Reuters
Israeli military officials said Gaza City was a “Hamas stronghold” and that as many as 450,000 civilians had left. The estimate was based on multiple sources, including drone surveillance, an official told the Guardian.
Swathes of Gaza City, once a busy commercial and cultural hub, have been reduced to uninhabitable ruins. Until weeks ago, more than a million people were living there, many already displaced numerous times.
More on this in a moment, but first here are a number of other key developments:
More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced from Gaza City in the last month, according to figures from the UN, with tens of thousands more forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in the face of a new Israeli offensive.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has insisted the timing of the UK announcement that it could recognise the state of Palestine as early as Friday has nothing to do with Donald Trump’s visit, even though the US president said at a press conference that he disagreed with Britain’s decision, without elaborating.
More than 140 world leaders will arrive in New York next week for the annual United Nations general assembly summit, which will be dominated this year by the future of the Palestinians and Gaza. One world leader who will miss the gathering is Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian president who Washington denied US visas to attend, along with his officials.
The US once again has vetoed a UN security council resolution that had demanded an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. It also expressed alarm about a recent famine report and Israel’s expanding offensive in Gaza City. The 14 other members of the United Nations’ most powerful body voted in favor of the resolution Thursday
Key events
Israeli fire killed at least 22 people across Gaza on Friday, including 11 in Gaza City, according to a tally of figures given by Gaza hospitals contacted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In a statement, the Israeli military said its troops continued to “expand their activity” in Gaza City, adding it had “dismantled more than 20 military infrastructure sites” over the past day.
Japan does not plan to recognise a Palestinian state at UN meetings this month, foreign minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Friday.
But he also said that for Tokyo, which supports a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, it is not a matter of whether to recognise a Palestinian state, but when to recognise it.
“I’m aware voices calling for the recognition as a state are getting louder in the international community as well as in Japan,” Iwaya told a press conference.
“But the government has a responsibility to look hard into what will really lead to a two-state solution and to make diplomatic efforts towards that direction.”
A handful of US allies are preparing to recognize a Palestinian state as world leaders meet at the UN General Assembly in New York next week in the hope of putting pressure on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and seek long-term peace.
Pakistan’s defence minister says his nation’s nuclear programme “will be made available” to Saudi Arabia if needed under the countries’ new defence pact, marking the first specific acknowledgment that Islamabad had put the kingdom under its nuclear umbrella.
Defence minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif’s comments underline the importance of the pact struck this week between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which have had military ties for decades, AP reports.
The move is seen by analysts as a signal to Israel, long believed to be the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed nation.
It comes after Israel’s attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar last week killed six people and sparked new concerns among Gulf Arab nations about their safety as the Israel-Hamas war devastated the Gaza Strip and set the region on edge.
Palestinian authorities have arrested a key suspect in an antisemitic attack on a Jewish restaurant in Paris which left six people dead in Paris in 1982, French prosecutors said on Friday, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The office of the France anti-terror prosecutor said it was informed by Interpol of the arrest of 70-year-old Hicham Harb, welcoming “this major procedural breakthrough” and thanking the Palestinian authorities for their cooperation.
President Emmanuel Macron hailed the announcement, saying the suspect had been arrested in the occupied West Bank. He said on X:
I welcome the excellent cooperation with the Palestinian Authority. We are working together to ensure his swift extradition.
This is another step forward for justice and truth. My thoughts are with all the families who have endured the pain of waiting for so long.
Harb is suspected of leading the attackers in the gun assault on the Jo Goldenberg restaurant in Paris’s Marais district, a historically Jewish quarter.
Harb, who has been the subject of an international arrest warrant for 10 years, is one of six men referred to the special assize court in Paris in July over the attack, reports AFP.
The attack on 9 August 1982, which left six people dead and 22 injured, was blamed on the Abu Nidal Organisation, a splinter group of the militant Palestinian Fatah group.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) footage from the Al-Rashid coastal road on Thursday showed long lines of Palestinians heading south on foot or in vehicles piled high with meagre belongings.
In western Gaza City on Friday, displaced Palestinian Sami Baroud described “relentless and intense shelling”. “Our life has become nothing but explosions and danger,” the 35-year-old told AFP by telephone. Baroud added:
We have lost everything – our lives, our future, our sense of safety. How can I evacuate when I can’t even afford transportation?
Umm Mohammed Al-Hattab, 49, also told AFP that her family had nowhere to go and couldn’t afford the cost of moving. She said:
My seven children and I are still living in tents in western Gaza City after [Israel] bombed our home.
The bombing hasn’t stopped, and at any moment, we expect a missile to fall on us. My children are terrified, and I don’t know what to do.
Displaced Palestinians, fleeing northern Gaza due to an Israeli military operation, move southward after Israeli forces ordered residents of Gaza City to evacuate. Photograph: Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
Recognising Palestinian state ‘key’ for peace, says Luxembourg PM
Recognising a Palestinian state will help keep alive the peace process in the Middle East, Luxembourg’s prime minister told Agence France-Presse (AFP) as his country prepares to take the step next week.
Of the United Nations’ 193 member states, 147 already recognise a Palestinian state, but none of the Group of Seven major economies did so until now.
Luxembourg is among a number of nations including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France and the United Kingdom that plan to join their ranks at a UN summit in New York on 22 September.
“I would like the Israeli and Palestinian peoples to keep hope alive that one day they will be able to live in peace,” prime minister Luc Frieden said in an interview with AFP.
The recognition will be “a key moment in this process … an important step in a long march towards peace and stability in the region”, said the 62-year-old centre-right leader, who will be in New York to represent his country.
Last week, the UN general assembly overwhelmingly adopted a text supporting a future Palestinian state, albeit without Hamas.
“We will see on Monday what the Arab countries have to say. The fact that they condemn Hamas is new. Hamas must go and Arab countries must help us to achieve this,” Frieden said.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said “there will be no Palestinian state” and his government maintains that recognising Palestinian statehood would destabilise the Middle East and reward Hamas.
“Everything we do is not against the Israeli people but is intended to stop the atrocities we are seeing in Gaza,” said Frieden.
Luxembourg, one of the European Union’s founding members, supports proposed EU sanctions against Israel including curbing trade ties, he added.
“If they don’t listen to us, unfortunately we will have to move towards sanctions,” he said of Netanyahu’s government.
More than 250,000 displaced from Gaza City in past month, UN figures show
Jason Burke
More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced from Gaza City in the last month, according to figures from the UN, with tens of thousands more forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in the face of a new Israeli offensive.
Strikes by Israeli artillery, tanks and warplanes hit Gaza City again on Thursday as a UN official said “new waves of mass displacement” were under way, after about 60,000 fled the new assault in 72 hours earlier this week.
Israeli military officials say the total number following Israeli orders to evacuate Gaza City is much higher.
An unbroken column of traffic heavily laden with household utensils, blankets, mattresses, gas cylinders and often entire families packed Gaza’s narrow coastal road on Thursday as a steady stream of Palestinians headed south towards areas designated by Israel.
Prices for transport have soared, forcing some to walk, laden with belongings and young children. “We are heading to go sleep on the streets towards the beach, like this, barefoot … We don’t know where to go,” said Yasser Saleh, speaking as he stood on a rickety trailer being pulled by a car.
Israeli military officials said Gaza City was a “Hamas stronghold” and that as many as 450,000 civilians had left. The estimate was based on multiple sources, including drone surveillance, an official told the Guardian.
Israeli forces now control Gaza City’s eastern suburbs and in recent days have moved into the Sheikh Radwanand Tel al-Hawa areas, from where they would be positioned to advance on the central and western districts where most of the remaining population is sheltering.
Swathes of Gaza City, once a busy commercial and cultural hub, have been reduced to uninhabitable ruins. Until weeks ago, more than a million people were living there, many already displaced numerous times.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz and Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez on Thursday acknowledged differences over the Gaza conflict after talks in Madrid, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The two governments hold “divergent views” on the conflict and draw “different conclusions” regarding the situation, Merz said at a news conference with Sanchez.
The conservative German chancellor said that Germany stood “firmly” with Israel but described its military response in Gaza as “disproportionate”.
“Criticism of the Israeli government must be possible, but we must never allow it to be used to incite hatred against Jews,” he said, adding that he and Sánchez agreed on this point. But unlike Sánchez, Merz avoided calling the Israeli offensive in Gaza a “genocide” and made clear that Germany currently had no plans to recognise a Palestinian state, as Spain has done. “This is not on the agenda,” he said.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez (R) and German chancellor Friedrich Merz (L) hold a press conference after their meeting at Moncloa Palace, in Madrid, Spain, on Thursday. Photograph: ZIPI/EPA
On proposed EU sanctions against Israel, Merz said Germany would finalise its position in the coming days and present it at an EU Council meeting on 1 October in Copenhagen.
Sánchez, meanwhile, voiced his full support for the European Commission’s proposed sanctions against Israel, warning that the country’s Gaza offensive would leave it “more isolated”.
Spain’s left-wing government has been one of Europe’s most outspoken critics of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his military campaign in Gaza, launched in response to the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.
On Monday, Sánchez called for Israel to be barred from international sporting events over the war in Gaza, where the UN says Palestinians face starvation.
In the latest episode of the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast, diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour and Arab Barghouthi, who advocates on behalf of his father, Marwan, a Palestinian political leader commonly referred to as ‘Palestine’s Mandela’, speak with host Nosheen Iqbal about what is motivating the UK’s imminent recognition of Palestine and why it matters.
You can listen to the podcast here:
UK preparing to recognise Palestinian state as early as Friday
Patrick Wintour
The UK is preparing to recognise the state of Palestine as early as Friday, after Israel failed to meet conditions that would have postponed the historic step, including a ceasefire in Gaza.
Keir Starmer insisted the timing of the UK announcement had nothing to do with Donald Trump’s visit, even though the US president said at a press conference that he disagreed with Britain’s decision, without elaborating.
Recognition will bring a wave of criticism from Israel, including claims that it is a reward for Hamas and terrorism, a charge the UK rejects by saying it envisages only a Palestinian state in which Hamas is disarmed, plays no part in the future government, and the leadership of the Palestinian Authority is subject to elections within a year.
Starmer emphasised there would be no place for Hamas, insisting the group were terrorists, and adding he agreed with Trump on the need for a roadmap.
US president Donald Trump and UK prime minister Keir Starmer hold a press conferenceafter their meeting at Chequers. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
The UK prime minister said recognition was “part of that overall package which hopefully takes us from the appalling situation we’re in now to the outcome of a safe and secure Israel, which we do not have, and a viable Palestinian state”.
The US, now in effect opposed to a two-state solution as unobtainable and undesirable, has rejected the UK move as unhelpful, but Trump has decided not to make the matter a point of division with Starmer given Washington sees it as a largely symbolic act that will not weaken Israel. The president has his own private frustrations with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to agree a ceasefire, as well as his bombing of Qatar last week.
The UK Foreign Office had long parried calls for recognition, saying the step should only be taken when it had maximum impact on the peace process. Following intense consultations with French diplomats, the UK shifted to backing recognition four days after Emmanuel Macron made his announcement on 25 July.
The delay gave Starmer time to talk privately to Trump on his visit to Scotland, and to set conditions that if fulfilled would delay UK recognition of Palestine. These included a resumption of humanitarian aid, a ceasefire, Israeli engagement in a sustained peace process, and no further Israeli land annexations in the West Bank. Israel was never likely to meet these preconditions, making UK recognition largely an issue of timing rather than content.
Israel army says will use ‘unprecedented force’ in Gaza City and urges residents to leave
The Israeli military warned on Friday it will operate with “unprecedented force” in Gaza City, urging residents to flee southwards while announcing the closure of a temporary evacuation route opened 48 hours earlier.
In a post on X addressing residents of Gaza City, the military’s Arabic-language spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said:
From this moment, Salah al-Din road is closed for southbound travel. The Israeli Defence Forces will continue to operate with unprecedented force against Hamas and other terrorist organisations.
He added the only possible route south was via Al-Rashid street and urged residents to “take this opportunity and join the hundreds of thousands of city residents who have moved south to the humanitarian area”.
Strikes by Israeli artillery, tanks and warplanes hit Gaza City again on Thursday as a UN official said “new waves of mass displacement” were under way, after about 60,000 fled the new assault in 72 hours earlier this week.
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes during a military operation in Gaza City. Photograph: Ebrahim Hajjaj/Reuters
Israeli military officials said Gaza City was a “Hamas stronghold” and that as many as 450,000 civilians had left. The estimate was based on multiple sources, including drone surveillance, an official told the Guardian.
Swathes of Gaza City, once a busy commercial and cultural hub, have been reduced to uninhabitable ruins. Until weeks ago, more than a million people were living there, many already displaced numerous times.
More on this in a moment, but first here are a number of other key developments:
More than a quarter of a million people have been displaced from Gaza City in the last month, according to figures from the UN, with tens of thousands more forced to flee makeshift homes and shelters daily in the face of a new Israeli offensive.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer has insisted the timing of the UK announcement that it could recognise the state of Palestine as early as Friday has nothing to do with Donald Trump’s visit, even though the US president said at a press conference that he disagreed with Britain’s decision, without elaborating.
More than 140 world leaders will arrive in New York next week for the annual United Nations general assembly summit, which will be dominated this year by the future of the Palestinians and Gaza. One world leader who will miss the gathering is Mahmud Abbas, the Palestinian president who Washington denied US visas to attend, along with his officials.
The US once again has vetoed a UN security council resolution that had demanded an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages. It also expressed alarm about a recent famine report and Israel’s expanding offensive in Gaza City. The 14 other members of the United Nations’ most powerful body voted in favor of the resolution Thursday
Emmanuel Macron says recognising Palestinian state will isolate Hamas
French president Emmanuel Macron saidon Thursday that recognising a Palestinian state would isolate the militant group Hamas and reiterated his condemnation of Israel’s devastating offensive in Gaza.
Speaking in English in an interview with Israeli television’s Channel 12, Macron said:
Recognising a Palestinian state is just deciding to say: ‘The legitimate perspective of Palestinian people and what they suffer today has nothing to do with Hamas.’
Recognition of a Palestinian state is the best way to isolate Hamas.
France and the UK are among several western countries that have pledged to formally recognise a Palestinian state this month at the United Nations general assembly.
Their plan aims to sideline Hamas and allow a two-state solution to the decades-long Arab-Israeli conflict – a proposal resisted by Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
It has been reported that the UK is now preparing to recognise the state of Palestine as early as Friday, after Israel failed to meet conditions that would have postponed the historic step, including a ceasefire in Gaza.
Palestinians run for cover during an Israeli military strike on a building in Gaza City, on Saturday. Photograph: Yousef Al Zanoun/AP
With Israeli settlers pushing to occupy Palestinian territory in the West Bank, Macron said it was now the “last minute before proposing the two states would become totally impossible”.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Israeli tanks and jets pounded Gaza City on Thursday in a major ground offensive.
“This type of operations in Gaza is totally counterproductive” and “a failure”, Macron said:
You are completely destroying the image and the credibility of Israel, not just in the region, but in public opinion everywhere.
The British and Irish governments are to announce a new framework to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s Troubles, in an effort to resolve an issue that has bedevilled politics in the region and relations between London and Dublin.
The proposals, to be outlined on Friday afternoon, threaten to reopen a rift between the government and former troops who got amnesty from prosecution under the Legacy Act, passed by the Conservative government in 2023.
They have already been criticised by Richard Dannatt, the former chief of general staff of the British army, who said it would be unacceptable to launch what he considered “vexatious” investigations against elderly soldiers for events in the 1970s.
Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, and Simon Harris, Ireland’s foreign minister, are to publish the long-awaited proposals after a year of negotiations to overhaul the controversial Legacy Act.
On Friday, Harris described the proposals as “a night and day improvement” on the Legacy Act. However, a rare interstate lawsuit launched by Ireland against the UK is expected to remain pending until new legislation is passed.
The framework will outline legislation that both sides will need to pass to create a reformed agency tasked with investigating Troubles-era crimes.
The joint proposals reflect a reset in relations between Dublin and London after years of toxicity from Brexit and legacy-related disputes during successive Conservative administrations.
Intense behind-the-scenes talks between officials, and a meeting last week between Keir Starmer and the taoiseach, Micheál Martin, paved the way to the framework that Benn and Harris are to announce at Hillsborough Castle in County Down.
It will convert the independent commission for reconciliation and information recovery (ICRIR), which was established by the Legacy Act, into a new legacy commission with what are expected to be greater powers to investigate Troubles-era crimes. A separate agency will provide information retrieval to families seeking details about relatives’ deaths.
The Irish government wants the legacy commission to be compliant with the European convention on human rights. Dublin has a pending inter-state case against the UK at the European court of human rights that states the Legacy Act breached the convention by halting inquests, civil cases and criminal prosecutions. Officials indicated that Dublin would continue the case until the framework advanced towards legislation.
Dublin has emphasised the need to win the confidence of victims’ groups that seek truth and justice for killings during the 30-year conflict. Many opposed the previous legacy dispensation because it offered amnesty to combatants and all but extinguished any hope of prosecutions.
The British government also wants the endorsement of victims’ groups but is under pressure from army veterans’ groups and their allies to shield former soldiers from prosecutions that some have depicted as witch-hunts.
Although the full details will not be revealed until Friday afternoon, the move away from the Legacy Act is expected to be fought by veterans who could face prosecution over alleged murders in the 1970s during the Troubles.
Lord Dannatt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday it was “unacceptable that 30, 40, 50 years later former soldiers in their 60s, 70s, and possibly their 80s, are being taken back to events that happened in the 70s”.
He said it “defied logic” that evidence that “could not be adduced” back then could be produced now.
Dannatt said though the Legacy Act was politically unpopular, it worked for veterans. “Although it was unpopular with all political parties in Northern Ireland, it did benefit military veterans in many ways. So what I would look to see is reassurance with the new arrangements that we’re not going to see a return to, I think, what can be fairly called vexatious investigations,”
Mark Thompson, the chief executive of Relatives for Justice, told Radio 4 he had an issue with Dannatt’s claims that investigations would be “vexatious”.
“What people need to understand in the UK is that, I would say almost 400 killings by the British soldiers, the majority were carried out against unarmed civilians, men and women and children, to which there was never any investigation. Indeed, British soldiers were treated as witnesses, rather than suspects,” he said.
The 1998 Good Friday agreement sidestepped legacy – a catch-all term for unresolved Troubles-era killings by paramilitaries and security forces – and left bereaved families to seek answers and justice via inquests and prosecutions. The cases have stretched police resources and polarised politics.
Both governments and Northern Ireland’s main political parties agreed a joint approach to legacy in 2014 but the deal was not implemented. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak attempted to resolve the issue unilaterally but the Legacy Act prompted an outcry from unionists, nationalists and Dublin. Labour promised to repeal the legislation.
The Irish government has committed to cooperate with the new legacy mechanisms and investigate crimes committed south of the border – a key demand of critics who say Dublin has ignored questions about the Irish state’s role during the Troubles.
Gerry Kelly, a Sinn Féin assembly member, said families of victims and survivors would scrutinise the proposals and be the most important voice in the process. “History shows us that we should judge this on what is passed into law, as opposed to what is promised,” he said.
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Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that TV networks which cover him “negatively” could be punished by the government after his celebration of ABC suspending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
On Air Force One, the president spoke to reporters on his flight back to the US from his state visit to the UK. The president said major US networks were “97% against me”, though he did not offer evidence to prove this figure or detail how this conclusion was evaluated. He said he read the statistic “someplace”.
“Again, 97% negative, and yet I won easily. I won all seven swing states,” Trump said. “They give me only bad press. I mean they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their licenses should be taken away.”
The president’s claim that US TV networks need to be licensed by the government to operate is, however, incorrect. While local TV stations do require a license from the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC says clearly on its website that it does “not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox)”.
Trump supported ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, saying that the comedian was “not a talented person” who “had very bad ratings”.
“Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump told reporters during his state visit to the United Kingdom, adding “they should have fired him a long time ago”.
According to Nielsen ratings as reported by LateNighter, although Stephen Colbert’s Late Show leads the time slot in total viewers with 2.42 million, Kimmel’s show averaged 1.77 million viewers in the second quarter of 2025 and edged out Colbert in the key 18-49 demographic.
Barack Obama condemned what he called a “dangerous” escalation by the Trump administration over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show. “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” Obama wrote on X.
The indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has prompted impassioned calls for a boycott against Disney, ABC’s parent company, and other major media conglomerates that have refused to air Kimmel’s show. Boycott calls grew after ABC announced it would indefinitely suspend the popular show following complaints from the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr.
Kamala Harris watched mortified as her running mate, Tim Walz, fell into JD Vance’s trap in last year’s vice-presidential debate and “fumbled” a crucial answer, she writes in a campaign memoir. The former Democratic presidential nominee also admits that Walz had not been her first choice for vice-president in her book 107 Days, obtained by the Guardian ahead of its publication next week.
The Trump administration asked the US supreme court to allow it to fire the Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, as it continues its extraordinary attack on the central bank’s independence. In a filing on Thursday, Donald Trump’s officials requested an emergency order to remove Cook from the Fed’s board of governors, after an appeals court refused to go along with efforts to oust her.
Donald Trump accused Vladimir Putin of letting him down in a joint press conference with Keir Starmer during which the US president piled criticism on his Russian counterpart. Trump said he had hoped to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine soon after entering office, but that Putin’s actions had prevented him from doing so.
Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, has been appointed as the new CEO and chair of the board for Turning Point USA. The organization announced on Thursday that the late CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, who was shot and killed at an event last week, had previously expressed that he would want his wife to lead in the event of his death.
Key events
Maya Yang
The indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has prompted impassioned calls for a boycott against Disney, ABC’s parent company, and other major media conglomerates that have refused to air Kimmel’s show.
Boycott calls grew after ABC announced it would indefinitely suspend the popular show following complaints from the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr. Carr’s complaints stem from Kimmel’s recent monologue in which he addressed the killing of the rightwing activist Charlie Kirk by saying:
Many in Maga land are working very hard to capitalize on the murder of Charlie Kirk.
Carr, who was appointed by Donald Trump earlier this year, said Kimmel’s comments were “truly sick” and that ABC had violated its “public interest” broadcast obligations. ABC’s suspension of the show also came after Nexstar Media, one of the US’s largest owners of TV stations, said it “strongly object[ed]” to Kimmel’s comments and would pre-empt, or halt, any of the show’s episodes set to air on its stations “for the foreseeable future”.
Meanwhile, the conservative TV conglomerate Sinclair announced it would run a tribute to Kirk during Kimmel’s time slot on Friday. It also called on Kimmel to issue a formal apology and make a personal donation to Kirk’s family and his rightwing political advocacy group, Turning Point USA.
Overnight, calls to boycott ABC and Disney emerged, with Nelini Stamp, organizing director of the pro-labor union political group Working Families Party, sharing a viral boycott resource guide online that says:
Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t suspended because of what he said. He was suspended because the FCC threatened his employer. That’s state-sanctioned censorship and it is a giant red flag … Authoritarianism isn’t coming, it’s already here. Today it’s Jimmy. Tomorrow it’s the rest of us.
Sam Levin
A Los Angeles protester charged with assaulting a border patrol agent in June was acquitted on Wednesday after US immigration officials were accused in court of lying about the incident.
The not guilty verdict for Brayan Ramos-Brito is a major setback for the Donald Trump-appointed US attorney in southern California and for Gregory Bovino, a border patrol chief who has become a key figure in Trump’s immigration crackdown. The 29-year-old defendant, who is a US citizen, was facing a misdemeanor and was the first protester to go to trial since demonstrations against immigration raids erupted in LA earlier this summer.
Border patrol and prosecutors alleged that Ramos-Brito struck an agent during a chaotic protest on 7 June in the south Los Angeles county city of Paramount outside a complex where the Department of Homeland Security has an office. But footage from a witness, which the Guardian published days after the incident, showed an agent forcefully shoving Ramos-Brito. The footage did not capture the demonstrator assaulting the officer.
The jury delivered its not guilty verdict after a little over an hour of deliberations, the Los Angeles Times reported. Bovino testified earlier in the day and faced a tough cross-examination from public defenders.
Bovino was one of four border patrol agents who testified as witnesses, but was the only one to say he saw the alleged assault by Ramos-Brito, according to the LA Times. Videos played in court captured the agent shoving Ramos-Brito, sending him flying backward, and showed the protester marching back toward the agent, the paper reported. The videos did not capture Ramos-Brito’s alleged assault.
There were multiple factual discrepancies in DHS’s internal reports on the protest, which initially led to charges against five demonstrators, the Guardian reported in July. A criminal complaint suggested Ramos-Brito and others had attacked agents in protest of the arrests of two sisters, but records showed the women had been arrested in a separate incident that occurred after Ramos-Brito’s arrest.
A supervisor later documented the correct timeline and “apologized” for errors, records showed.
DC Democrat challenges long-serving House delegate amid age concerns
Chris Stein
Washington DC’s long-serving delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton is under renewed pressure to step down after a city council member announced on Thursday he would challenge her in next year’s election, saying the federal district needs its “strongest fighters” as it faces unprecedented interference from Donald Trump and the Republican party.
Robert White’s decision to jump into the race for the non-voting role in the House of Representatives comes amid mounting concern over the 88-year-old Norton’s ability to continue doing the job at a tense moment for the city.
Trump in August ordered a temporary federal takeover of the Washington DC police department and dispatched national guard and federal agents onto its streets to fight what he called an “out-of-control” crime wave, a claim city leaders disputed.
In a video announcing his candidacy, White, an at-large council member who made an unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2022, referred to Norton as “our lion on the Hill” but implied it was time for new leadership.
“I have never seen my city more vulnerable than we are right now, and in this entire Congress, there is one person whose job it is to protect and stand up for our residents, and we need our strongest fighters,” said White. “I’m ready to take this torch.”
The announcement comes days after Donna Brazile, a former chief of staff to Norton who rose to serve as interim chair of the Democratic National Committee, said that she should not seek a 19th term in the office she has held since 1991.
Though not allowed to cast votes in the House, Norton was known as a tenacious advocate for the rights of the federal district, but has appeared subdued in recent years.
She had been pictured requiring the help of an aide at public appearances, and reads haltingly from prepared remarks at committee appearances, even when the topic concerns contentious proposals to change Washington DC’s laws.
Representatives Don Bacon and Ro Khanna plan to introduce bipartisan legislation that would exempt coffee products from any tariffs imposed after 19 January, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing a copy of the draft legislation.
The exemption would apply to roasted and decaffeinated coffee, as well as coffee husks, skins, and other drinks or substitutes containing coffee, the report said.
Republican Bacon and Khanna, who is a Democrat, said they focused on coffee because they want to help Americans save on a daily staple, according to the report.
“Why are we tariffing American citizens on something that we don’t even grow? It doesn’t make sense,” Bacon told the newspaper. Representatives for Bacon, Khanna and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Coffee is one of the items that are keeping food prices in the United States persistently high since the Trump administration applied a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports at the end of July, including green coffee.
Prices for arabica coffee, the mild variety mostly used by coffee chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts, have since jumped around 50% at the Intercontinental Exchange in New York. Brazil used to supply a third of all the coffee used in the US, but shipments have dried up since the tariffs were imposed.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you the latest news lines over the next few hours.
We start with news that Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that TV networks which cover him “negatively” could be punished by the government after his celebration of ABC suspending late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
On Air Force One, the president spoke to reporters on his flight back to the US from his state visit to the UK. The president said major US networks were “97% against me”, though he did not offer evidence to prove this figure or detail how this conclusion was evaluated. He said he read the statistic “someplace”.
“Again, 97% negative, and yet I won easily. I won all seven swing states,” Trump said. “They give me only bad press. I mean they’re getting a license. I would think maybe their licenses should be taken away.”
The president’s claim that US TV networks need to be licensed by the government to operate is, however, incorrect. While local TV stations do require a license from the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC says clearly on its website that it does “not license TV or radio networks (such as CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox)”.
Trump supported ABC’s decision to suspend Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, saying that the comedian was “not a talented person” who “had very bad ratings”.
“Well, Jimmy Kimmel was fired because he had bad ratings more than anything else, and he said a horrible thing about a great gentleman known as Charlie Kirk,” Trump told reporters during his state visit to the United Kingdom, adding “they should have fired him a long time ago”.
According to Nielsen ratings as reported by LateNighter, although Stephen Colbert’s Late Show leads the time slot in total viewers with 2.42 million, Kimmel’s show averaged 1.77 million viewers in the second quarter of 2025 and edged out Colbert in the key 18-49 demographic.
Barack Obama condemned what he called a “dangerous” escalation by the Trump administration over the suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s show. “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like,” Obama wrote on X.
The indefinite suspension of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show has prompted impassioned calls for a boycott against Disney, ABC’s parent company, and other major media conglomerates that have refused to air Kimmel’s show. Boycott calls grew after ABC announced it would indefinitely suspend the popular show following complaints from the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr.
Kamala Harris watched mortified as her running mate, Tim Walz, fell into JD Vance’s trap in last year’s vice-presidential debate and “fumbled” a crucial answer, she writes in a campaign memoir. The former Democratic presidential nominee also admits that Walz had not been her first choice for vice-president in her book 107 Days, obtained by the Guardian ahead of its publication next week.
The Trump administration asked the US supreme court to allow it to fire the Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, as it continues its extraordinary attack on the central bank’s independence. In a filing on Thursday, Donald Trump’s officials requested an emergency order to remove Cook from the Fed’s board of governors, after an appeals court refused to go along with efforts to oust her.
Donald Trump accused Vladimir Putin of letting him down in a joint press conference with Keir Starmer during which the US president piled criticism on his Russian counterpart. Trump said he had hoped to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine soon after entering office, but that Putin’s actions had prevented him from doing so.
Erika Kirk, the widow of Charlie Kirk, has been appointed as the new CEO and chair of the board for Turning Point USA. The organization announced on Thursday that the late CEO and co-founder of Turning Point USA, who was shot and killed at an event last week, had previously expressed that he would want his wife to lead in the event of his death.
