GDP rises by 4.8% year on year between July and September, down from second-quarter growth rate of 5.2%
China’s economy grew at its slowest pace in a year in the latest quarter amid a trade war with the US and long-running woes in its property market.
Fragile domestic demand has left China’s economy heavily reliant on manufacturing and trade, at a time of mounting tensions with the Donald Trump administration.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Trump’s stance on the war continues to oscillate while Zelenskyy’s infantry face gruelling stints at the ‘zero line’ amid increasingly lethal Russian attacks
Good morning. It looked, for a moment, as if Donald Trump had finally taken a clear side in the war between Russia and Ukraine: with hints that he might be ready to provide Tomahawk missiles, and a vaunted White House meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, some observers thought he was on the brink of rowing in behind Ukraine in a decisive way.
Then he got on the phone with Vladimir Putin, and agreed to a face-to-face meeting within the next two weeks. And, after the White House meeting on Friday, Trump downplayed the idea that the missiles would be provided. Later reports suggested that the meeting was a “shouting match” in which Trump echoed Russian talking points and added: “If [Putin] wants it, he will destroy you.”
Israel-Gaza war | Israel launched waves of lethal airstrikes on Sunday and cut off all aid into Gaza “until further notice” after a reported attack by Hamas, in escalations that marked the most serious threat so far to the increasingly fragile ceasefire. Israel later said that it had “begun the renewed enforcement of the ceasefire”.
Royals | The Metropolitan police are looking into claims that Prince Andrew asked his taxpayer-funded close protection officer to uncover information about Virginia Giuffre hours before the emergence of a bombshell picture of them together. The news follows Friday’s announcement that Andrew had relinquished his royal titles.
China-UK relations | Approving a Chinese super-embassy in east London could be unlawful if ministers gave Beijing assurances about the project in advance, a top planning lawyer has concluded. The news came as the government denied any political interference in the decision to drop charges against two men accused of spying for China.
France | French police are hunting four thieves who carried out a highly professional daylight robbery on the Louvre, breaking into one of the museum’s most ornate rooms and escaping with eight pieces of “priceless” historic jewellery, including a necklace given by Napoleon to his wife.
Reform UK | The leader of Reform UK’s flagship local authority has told councillors that she has launched a hunt for the “cowards” who leaked a recorded meeting in which she said those who disagreed with decisions would have to “fucking suck it up”. Bitter divisions among Reform members of Kent county council were laid bare at the weekend by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Officials confirm reports that Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic party will join forces with rightwing Nippon Ishin
Sanae Takaichi is on course to become Japan’s first female prime minister this week after her party agreed to form a new coalition with a minor party.
Officials confirmed on Monday that Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic party (LDP) had joined forces with the rightwing Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation party), which shares her hawkish stance on China and support for restrictions on immigration.
Continue reading...Trump made the comments after a tense meeting with Zelenskyy in which the Ukraine leader failed to secure supplies of Tomahawk missiles
Donald Trump has suggested the best way to end the war in Ukraine would be to “cut up” the country’s Donbas region in a way that would leave most of it under Russian control, after reportedly pushing Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a White House meeting to give up swaths of territory.
“Let it be cut the way it is,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday. “It’s cut up right now,” he said, adding that you can “leave it the way it is right now”.
Continue reading...Trump vows to cut US funding as Pete Hegseth says US hit Colombian rebel group vessel and ‘three terrorists killed’
Donald Trump on Sunday accused Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, of being an “illegal drug dealer” and threatened to immediately cut US funding to the country as the defense secretary confirmed in a social media post an attack on a vessel associated with a Colombian leftist rebel group.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Sunday that US forces had attacked another vessel, this time associated with a Colombian leftist rebel group. Hegseth, in a post on X, said “three terrorists were killed” in the operation which was “conducted in international waters”.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s president calls for meeting of European-led ‘coalition of the willing’ on his return from talks with Trump
Ukraine’s president has urged allies against appeasing Russia after returning from a trip to the US, where he failed to secure long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy had flown to Washington after weeks of calls for the weaponry, hoping to capitalise on Donald Trump’s growing frustration with Vladimir Putin after a summit in Alaska failed to produce a breakthrough in the war.
Continue reading...Outside of typical remarks from Donald Trump, JD Vance and Mike Johnson and a Fox News report, party stayed mum
Republican voices were mostly silent as No Kings rallies and marches against Trump administration policies unfurled on Saturday, many in the spirit of a street party that countered the “hate America” depiction advanced by senior members of the party.
Instead of provocation, there were marching bands, huge banners with “we the people” references to the US constitution, and protesters wearing inflatable costumes, particularly frogs, which have emerged as a sign of resistance.
Continue reading...Decommissioning Hamas weapons seen as major stumbling block, with British diplomats advising on process
A European and US-backed UN security council motion to give a planned international stabilisation force robust powers to control security inside Gaza is being prepared, with the strong expectation that Egypt will lead it, diplomats have said.
The US is pressing for the force to have a UN mandate without being a fully fledged UN peacekeeping force and will operate with the kind of powers given to international troops operating in Haiti to combat armed gangs.
Continue reading...Events scheduled in more than 2,700 locations, from small towns to large cities, aligning behind message that the US is sliding into authoritarianism
Americans across all 50 states will march in protests against the Trump administration on Saturday, aligning behind a message that the country is sliding into authoritarianism and there should be no kings in the US.
Millions are expected to turn out for the No Kings protests, the second iteration of a coalition that marched in June in one of the largest days of protest in US history. Events are scheduled for more than 2,700 locations, from small towns to large cities.
Continue reading...Former Republican US representative walks free after being sentenced in April to more than seven years in prison for deceiving donors and stealing identities of 11 people
Donald Trump announced on Friday he had commuted the sentence of George Santos, the disgraced former New York representative and serial fabulist who had been sentenced to more than seven years in prison after a short-lived political career marked by outlandish fabrications and fraudulent scheming.
Santos left the Federal Correctional Institution Fairton in New Jersey just hours later and was “on his way home”, his attorney Joseph Murray told Agence France-Presse by phone late on Friday.
Continue reading...President says Venezuelan counterpart ‘doesn’t want to fuck around with the United States’
Donald Trump used an expletive to threaten the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, on Friday, claiming that the leftist autocrat had offered major concessions to appease the US.
The US president was speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday during a meeting with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Continue reading...In the six attacks on similar vessels launched by Trump, this is the first where any survivors have been reported
The US has seized survivors of a military strike on a suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, the first since Donald Trump began launching deadly attacks in the region last month, according to officials in Washington.
Trump later confirmed the attack, telling reporters that the targeted vessel was a narco-submarine.
Continue reading...Trump critic also expected to appear in court to face charges that he mishandled classified information
John Bolton, the former national security adviser to Donald Trump who has since become one of the US president’s biggest Republican critics, surrendered to authorities on Friday to face criminal charges that he mishandled classified information. He was expected to make an initial appearance in court later in the day.
The justice department filed federal charges against Bolton in federal court in Maryland on Thursday, accusing him of transmitting and retaining highly classified information under the Espionage Act.
Continue reading...Prime minister says CGIL head is ‘clouded by resentment’ and accuses the left of hypocrisy towards women
Giorgia Meloni has condemned the boss of Italy’s biggest trade union after he referred to the prime minister as the “courtesan” of Donald Trump.
Maurizio Landini, the leader of CGIL, which organised several pro-Palestinian protests before the Gaza ceasefire deal, made the remarks on TV on Tuesday, the day after world leaders, including Meloni, met in Egypt for a Middle East peace summit.
Continue reading...It is unknown whether US military rendered aid to survivors after attack on suspected ‘narcoterrorist’ vessel
The US military carried out a new strike on Thursday against a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean, and in what is believed to be the first such case, there were survivors among the crew, a US official told Reuters.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not offer additional details about the incident, which has not been previously reported. But it raises new questions, including whether the US military rendered aid to the survivors and whether they are now in US military custody.
Continue reading...The Liberal leader says the prime minister must extract ‘concrete’ results on Aukus and trade. Follow today’s news live
Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast
Hume: Ley describing Melbourne as Australia’s ‘crime capital’ just ‘explaining what every Victorian already knows’
The federal Liberal senator for Victoria, Jane Hume, was on ABC Radio National a short time ago speaking about crime in the state.
Sussan and the shadow ministry team are putting together our policy agenda as we speak. It is only five months since the last election, but I don’t agree that there is nothing that a federal government cannot do. In fact, there are plenty of things that a federal government can get involved in to help states tackle crime, whether it be working for consistent bail laws across the country.
Continue reading...Eighteen-count indictment handed down by federal grand jury in Maryland as US president calls former ally a ‘bad guy’
The justice department filed federal charges against John Bolton, the former national security adviser to Donald Trump who turned into one of his biggest critics, accusing him of transmitting and retaining highly classified information under the Espionage Act.
The 18-count indictment was handed up by a grand jury in federal district court in Maryland on Thursday. Bolton has been charged with sending diary entries to two unnamed individuals about his day-to-day activities when he was national security adviser, many of which contained highly classified information.
Continue reading...President says plans will lead to ‘many more beautiful American children’ but unclear if companies will sign up
The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it is urging US employers to create new fertility benefit options to cover in vitro fertilization (IVF) and other infertility treatments.
In an announcement from the Oval Office, Donald Trump also said his administration had cut a deal with the drug manufacturer EMD Serono to lower the cost of one of its fertility drugs and list the drug on the government website TrumpRx.
Continue reading...US president has repeatedly hinted at supplying Kyiv with Tomahawks but some in Moscow say Kremlin sees it as negotiating gambit
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is to head to the White House on Friday for a crucial meeting with Donald Trump, hours after the US president said he planned to soon meet with Vladimir Putin in Budapest after a “very productive” call.
The possible supply of US Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine is expected to top the agenda during the Ukrainian president’s visit. Trump has repeatedly hinted in recent weeks that he may deliver Tomahawks, which would give Kyiv its longest-range weapon yet that would be capable of striking Moscow with accurate, destructive munitions.
Continue reading...The US president claimed Modi had assured him of deal, but Indian officials insist no such conversation took place
India has cast doubt on claims by Donald Trump that its prime minister, Narendra Modi, had agreed to stop buying Russian oil.
On Wednesday, Trump claimed that Modi had assured him “today” that India would put an end to its purchase of Russian oil.
Continue reading...