Australians have more negative view of Israel than of China, Guardian Essential poll finds

Poll also finds perception of Donald Trump has soured since his re-election, with fewer than a third of respondents viewing him positively

Australians have a more negative view of Israel than of China, the latest Guardian Essential poll has found, with women and middle-aged people exhibiting the least positive perception of Israel.

The poll also finds Australians’ perceptions of Donald Trump have tumbled since his re-election, with fewer than a third of voters having a positive response to the US president.

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Trump to attend opening of Roosevelt library amid overturning conservation efforts

Theodore Roosevelt protected swathes of land, while Trump has lifted them from more than 86m acres

Donald Trump will attend a ribbon cutting for the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library on Wednesday, touting the legacy of a president his own administration is attempting to destroy, critics say.

While in office from 1901 to 1909, Roosevelt established five new national parks, protected swaths of land and passed legislation enabling himself and future presidents to proclaim historic landmarks and other objects of historic or scientific interest in federal ownership as national monuments.

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‘Historic Event’: Trump announces Republican midterm convention

President unveils plans for Dallas summit, in break with tradition of conventions only in presidential election years

Donald Trump has announced that Republicans will stage their first ever national convention ahead of the midterm elections, a move aimed at energizing voters as the party fights to hold its narrow congressional majorities in November.

The two-day gathering will take place in Dallas on 9 and 10 September, marking a break from the longstanding tradition of holding national conventions only during presidential election years. Trump confirmed the plans on Tuesday in a Truth Social post, describing Dallas as “One of my favorite places in the World”.

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Trump claims Iran has agreed to hold peace talks in Doha after recent clashes

US president posts that meeting will take place on Tuesday in Qatari capital after exchange of fire in strait of Hormuz

Donald Trump has claimed that Iran has agreed to hold talks in Doha after the US and Tehran traded fire in the strait of Hormuz this weekend, threatening the collapse of a ceasefire meant to keep the strait open and pave the way for peace talks.

In a terse post on Truth Social, the US president claimed the meetings would take place in the Qatari capital, as US media reported that the two sides had agreed to halt strikes after tit-for-tat attacks that once again cut off shipping through the crucial waterway.

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Biden calls Trump ‘a loser’, portraying him as incompetent, corrupt and vain

Pugnacious speech invokes Trump’s ‘vanity projects’ to makeover Washington and the ‘brazen, blatant corruption’

Joe Biden called Donald Trump “a loser” in a pugnacious speech on Saturday that invoked his presidential successor’s attempted makeover of Washington DC to portray him as incompetent, corrupt and vain.

He delivered those remarks while giving the keynote address at a gala in Hanover, Maryland, hosted by the state’s Democratic party, which is hoping to help wrest control of Congress away from Trump and his Republican allies during November’s midterm elections.

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Donald Trump threatens to annihilate Iran after crossfire over Hormuz – as it happened

Iran attacked Bahrain and Kuwait after US strikes, and threatened a ‘complete halt’ to talks

We will soon be closing this liveblog, but you’ll be able to stay up-to-date with our ongoing coverage of the Middle East here.

Here is a summary of today’s events:

Iran launched drone and missile attacks Sunday targeting Bahrain and Kuwait in response to US airstrikes that hit the Islamic Republic, and threatened a “complete halt” in negotiations to end the war if Washington continues its attacks.

US president Donald Trump accused Iran of violating the ceasefire agreement in a post of social media and said the US may be “forced to militarily complete the job”. Iran also accused the US of violating the ceasefire agreement.

JD Vance continued to reiterate the administration’s triumphant line on the war with Iran hours before the latest round of strikes were exchanged. “America wins either way,” he said.

Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi was in Baghdad for a meeting with his Iraqi counterpart. He called for a security framework to be established with the Gulf nations after it struck US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation to US strikes.

The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRCG has said on state-run SNN TV that it will respond with more force if there are any more blow-for-blow attacks from the US.

Countries including Jordan, the UAE and Italy all condemned Iran’s attacks.

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Escalating US-Iran strikes threaten interim peace agreement

Tehran attacks Bahrain and Kuwait amid efforts to open strait of Hormuz without Iran’s direct oversight

A new round of escalating strikes between Iran and the US has continued, further undermining the fragile interim peace agreement between the two countries, and prompting Donald Trump to threaten violence that would ensure Iran “will no longer exist”.

On Sunday, Tehran launched drone and missile attacks against Bahrain and Kuwait after new US strikes on sites in southern Iran, and threatened a “complete halt” to negotiations to end the war. Trump said that a moment might come soon when he abandoned talks and the US would “militarily finish the job”.

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Trump says he will nominate Lance Schroyer as next ICE director

Schroyer, whom Trump calls ‘a patriot’, led deportation campaign in Oklahoma under ICE-partnered program

Donald ​Trump said on ⁠Saturday ⁠that ​he ‌will ‌nominate ‌Lance Schroyer as ‌the next director of US ​Immigration ⁠and ​Customs ​Enforcement (ICE), succeeding David Venturella, who had been performing the duties of the director.

Trump said in a Truth Social post that Schroyer “has over 29 YEARS of Law Enforcement experience in Oklahoma — A State where I WON all 77 Counties in 2016, 2020, and 2024! Lance is a former Oklahoma State Trooper, and United States Marine”.

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White House unveils new images of US ‘patriot passports’ for America’s 250th

Democrats called plans for commemorative passport and gold coin with Trump portrait ‘more befitting a monarchy’

Donald Trump’s efforts to brand the US government with his name and image advanced on Friday when the White House unveiled new images of a passport watermarked with his portrait to mark America’s 250th anniversary.

The White House called it simply the “patriot passport”, while on Truth Social the president introduced it as “The U.S.A.’s New Passport, which says, ‘Welcome, but be good!’”

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Trump threatens 100% tariff on European countries that impose digital tax

US president says levy would be imposed immediately and supersede pre-existing trade deals with the country

Donald Trump has threatened to place a 100% import tariff on any European country that imposes a tax on digital services from US companies.

Writing on Truth Social on Friday, the US president said that “numerous European countries” had been discussing putting a digital services tax on American companies and that “some of these countries are close to actually doing this”.

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US says it struck Iran targets after attack on cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz

Strikes against military facilities were in response to drone attack a day earlier on a cargo vessel

The US has struck Iran in a tit-for-tat response to a drone strike on a cargo ship, as the ceasefire between the US and Iran that reopened the strait of Hormuz undergoes its greatest test yet.

The US strikes targeted multiple missile and drone facilities in Iran near the strait of Hormuz and on Qeshm Island on Friday in what appeared to be a limited strike meant to respond to Iran’s attack on a Singapore-flagged cargo ship without escalating the conflict.

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Trump blames Iran for drone strike on cargo ship in strait of Hormuz

US president calls it ‘foolish violation’ of ceasefire agreement after drone damaged ship’s upper deck

Donald Trump on Friday blamed Iran for carrying out a drone strike on a cargo ship in the strait of Hormuz, calling it a “foolish violation” of the ceasefire agreement with the US.

One drone damaged the upper deck of the ship but the ship was able to proceed, the US president said. The US shot down three other drones aimed at the ship, he said.

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UN calls for ‘prompt investigations’ of deaths in US immigration custody

High commissioner for human rights calls for ‘those responsible for violations of the law’ to be held to account

The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Volker Türk, on Friday raised the alarm internationally about deaths in US government immigration custody and called for “prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigations”.

Türk’s call came as the Trump administration faced investigations by watchdogs at its own Department of Homeland Security (DHS) into deaths and use of force against people detained in its expanding immigration detention system across the country.

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Mamdani-backed candidates sweep Democratic primaries in New York City

JFK’s grandson Jack Schlossberg fails to advance in election to replace Jerry Nadler in Manhattan district

Zohran Mamdani’s growing influence over the Democratic party was on show in New York City on Tuesday as three congressional candidates endorsed by New York’s democratic socialist mayor won closely watched primaries, while voters in Maryland, Utah and South Carolina cast ballots in primaries and runoffs.

Brad Lander, the former New York City comptroller who also ran for mayor last year before endorsing Mamdani, won his race comfortably, defeating the Democratic representative Dan Goldman.

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Trump claims ‘vandals’ foiled his $14m revamp of DC’s reflecting pool. What actually happened?

Trump’s pre-Fourth of July renovation project has endured problems with algae, peeling paint and an inflating price tag

Donald Trump’s rush to repaint the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, a symbol of Washington DC, has hit roadblock after roadblock as the country’s 250th anniversary nears.

The public has been gripped by the ill-fated $14m attempt to renovate the reflecting pool, which the US president vowed to make “beautiful” in time for this summer’s birthday celebrations at the capital.

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At least seven people killed in Chicago shootings as Trump renews military call

Mayor says ‘violence has no place in our city’ as president criticizes governor for not accepting national guard troops

At least seven people have been killed and dozens injured in several shootings in Chicago since Friday, police said, with Donald Trump once again calling for military intervention in the midwestern city.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump questioned why Illinois’s governor, JB Pritzker, had not welcomed military deployment.

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Trump faces fresh bipartisan criticism on Iran deal as Vance hails peace talks

Objections comes as Trump threatens to renew attacks on Iran if it doesn’t rein in its proxy in Lebanon

US political figures from left and right voiced fresh objections on Sunday to Donald Trump’s provisional deal with Iran – even as the US president made new threats while Vice-President JD Vance hailed progress during the first round of direct peace talks in Switzerland.

Negotiations in Lucerne between the US and Iran have already run into difficulties, after Trump wrote on Truth Social that “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”

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Trump says repair work to begin ‘immediately’ on beleaguered reflecting pool

Algae blooms and peeling paint mar $14.2m renovation as president claims pool has been ‘seriously vandalized’

Repair work will begin “immediately” at the troubled Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington DC, Donald Trump said on Sunday, after suggesting the pool would need to be drained and blaming alleged “vandals” for the disruption.

The reflecting pool has been plagued by algae blooms and peeling paint following the controversial recent renovation efforts for America’s 250th anniversary celebrations next month.

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Trump unveils new Air Force One, a converted Qatari 747

New craft, called VC-25B Bridge, had provoked protest since $400m jet wildly exceeds limit on unsolicited gifts

Donald Trump unveiled the new, temporary Air Force One at a hangar at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on Friday, a day after White House officials bid farewell to one of two Boeing 747s used to transport presidents for more than 30 years.

The new jet, designated VC-25B and decked out in a punchy red, white, dark blue and gold livery, was gifted to Trump by the Gulf emirate of Qatar, provoking howls of political protest since the $400m jet wildly exceeds the limit on unsolicited gifts of $50 in value in a single calendar year from the same source.

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Israel and Hezbollah renew ceasefire after deadly flareup disrupts opening of Iran talks

JD Vance pulls out of US-Iran meeting in Switzerland on implementation of peace deal after clashes in southern Lebanon

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to renew a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday after 24 hours of intense violence that posed an early challenge to the new agreement between the US and Iran to end their conflict.

A meeting that was scheduled to take place on Friday between Washington and Tehran in Switzerland to discuss implementation of the new deal was cancelled when Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers and Israel carried out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley that killed at least 47 people.

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