Europe watches Harris-Trump debate for clues on direction US may take

Diplomats most struck by Republican’s refusal to say whether he wanted Ukraine to defeat Vladimir Putin

The TV debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was as keenly watched by European diplomats and politicians as by US voters, eager to see who may be next in the White House and – crucially – the direction that a vital ally may next take.

One diplomat said they empathised when Harris adopted a series of poses that ranged from pity, bemusement and genuine curiosity about what craziness would emerge from Trump’s mouth next as she listened to his conspiracy-laden theories. However, the diplomat said they still did not underestimate Trump and the hold he had over one part of a divided America, adding: “Never write him off.”

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Harris-Trump debate watched by 15m more than Biden clash – as it happened

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Russia has accused both presidential candidates of using Vladimir Putin’s name as part of a domestic political fights, saying: “we really, really don’t like it”.

Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that the US was hostile and negative towards Russia, Reuters reports, and the Kremlin hoped that candidates would drop such references to Putin.

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Campbell’s to drop soup from company name after 102 years

Plan to rename group the Campbell’s Company part of shift in focus to other food it sells

Bosses at Campbell Soup Company, whose cans feature in one of Andy Warhol’s best known 1960s pop artworks, have announced plans to drop ‘soup’ from its name after more than 100 years.

Its chief executive, Mark Clouse, said the decision to rename the group the Campbell’s Company was part of a shift in focus to the other snack foods and jarred sauces it sold.

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Harris warns of ‘what’s at stake’ for US as vice-president appears to win debate with Trump – as it happened

Candidates clashed on January 6, abortion, immigration, Gaza and Ukraine.

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Donald Trump arrived in Philadelphia earlier today for his debate with Kamala Harris.

Photographers captured him and his entourage deplaning:

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Harris delivered a ‘masterclass’ debate. Will it change the race?

With the presidential race on a knife’s edge, Trump’s support remains relatively stable

The debate began on her terms. The vice-president of the United States walked across the stage at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, stretched out her hand and introduced herself“: “Kamala Harris.”

It was, incredibly, the first time Harris had ever met Donald Trump, whose election to the White House in 2016 coincided with her election to the Senate. Since then, they have circled each other, Harris carving out a reputation in the Senate for grilling Trump administration officials. Four years later, she helped defeat Trump as Joe Biden’s running mate.

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Wednesday briefing: Trump takes the bait on night that could transform the presidential race

In today’s newsletter: His advisors wanted him to tie Harris to the Biden administration – but instead he lost his temper. Here are the key moments

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Good morning. If you had a sinking feeling on 28 June when you woke up to the news that Joe Biden had turned in an utterly incoherent debate performance, you will probably have a bit more appetite for your boiled egg this time. A few hours ago, the only scheduled debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris came to an end – and even Fox News said Harris won.

Democrats’ moods can only have been improved by the news, a few minutes after it ended, that Taylor Swift had endorsed Harris, and signed her post “childless cat lady”. And CNN’s snap poll suggested that voters thought Harris won by a margin of 63% to 37% – nearly as big a margin as Trump achieved over Biden last time around. Key to Harris’ success was baiting her opponent into rants on marginal topics, instead of talking about the issues that voters are interested in.

Winter fuel allowance | MPs have voted to remove the winter fuel allowance from all but the poorest pensioners in England and Wales. Just one Labour MP, Jon Trickett, voted for the opposition motion but 52 abstained – at the higher end of predictions.

Conservatives | Mel Stride has been knocked out of the race to succeed Rishi Sunak as Conservative party leader after the second round of voting by MPs. On Tuesday, the former work and pensions secretary became the second casualty in the weeks-long leadership contest, which is due to culminate in early November.

Israel-Gaza war | Israeli airstrikes on al-Mawasi “humanitarian zone” in the Gaza Strip have killed at least 19 people and injured a further 60, according to witnesses and medical officials in the blockaded Palestinian territory.

Port Talbot steelworks | The British steel industry is braced for 2,500 job cuts at the Port Talbot steelworks, with thousands more jobs at risk in the UK, as the government prepares a taxpayer-backed deal for the south Wales plant. Owners Tata Steel are expected to get a rescue deal worth £500m.

UK news | An inquest into a man who killed himself a week after appearing on The Jeremy Kyle Show has found “insufficient evidence” to rule that participating in the programme caused his death.

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Harris targets Trump for falsehoods on abortion and immigration in fiery debate

Presidential candidates meet for first time in contentious face-off as moderators fact-check Trump’s statements

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump sparred on Tuesday in a contentious presidential debate that repeatedly went off the rails, as Trump pursued bizarre and often falsehood-ridden tangents about crowd sizes, immigration policy and abortion access.

The Philadelphia debate marked arguably the most significant opportunity for both Harris and Trump since Joe Biden withdrew from the presidential race in July, and the event began cordially enough. Harris crossed over to Trump’s podium to shake his hand and introduce herself, an acknowledgement that the two presidential nominees had never met face to face before Tuesday night.

Fact-checking the presidential debate

Harris slams Trump for falsehoods in fiery debate

Taylor Swift endorses Harris in post signed ‘childless cat lady’

‘Maga mad libs’: How the debate played out on social media

Presidential poll tracker

Rally sizes, abortion and eating cats: the Trump and Harris debate – podcast

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Family of US activist shot dead by Israeli forces says Biden has not called

Secretary of state and defence secretary decry fatal shooting of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi in West Bank

The family of the American activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi said on Tuesday that neither the White House nor Joe Biden had called to offer condolences.

Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, 26, who is also a Turkish national, was shot dead last Friday at a protest march in Beita, a village near Nablus where Palestinians have been repeatedly attacked by far-right Jewish settlers.

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Dave Grohl says he has become father of baby girl born ‘outside my marriage’

Foo Fighters frontman posts that he aims to be loving parent to new daughter and earn family’s forgiveness

Dave Grohl has announced that he has become the father to a baby girl born “outside of my marriage”.

The Foo Fighters frontman, 55, said he plans to be a “loving and supportive parent” to his new daughter in an Instagram post on Tuesday.

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Lawsuit seeking power to not certify Georgia elections is dismissed

Judge dismisses election board member’s lawsuit because of an incorrect party name, but she is allowed to refile

A lawsuit arguing that county election board members in Georgia have the discretion to refuse to certify election results has been dismissed on a technicality, but the judge noted it could be refiled.

Fulton county election board member Julie Adams filed a lawsuit in May asking a judge to declare that the county election board members’ duties “are discretionary, not ministerial, in nature”. At issue is a Georgia law that says the county officials “shall” certify results after engaging in a process to make sure they are accurate.

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Family of Ethel Rosenberg say US document proves she was no Soviet spy

Sons whose mother was executed with her husband Julius in 1953 say newly released document proves innocence

The family of Ethel Rosenberg, who was sent to the electric chair along with her husband, Julius, in 1953 after being convicted of spying for the Soviets at the height of the Red Scare, have called on Joe Biden to formally exonerate her after a newly released document appeared to show that the US government knew she was not a spy.

The couple maintained their innocence until the end and the case of the Rosenbergs has long been seen as a possible miscarriage of justice. Though most historians see Julius Rosenberg as a real Soviet spy, questions about Ethel Rosenberg’s role have lingered and their sons, Robert and Michael Meeropol, have long campaigned in their family’s cause.

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2024 US presidential polls tracker: Trump v Harris latest national averages

Find out who’s up and who’s down in the latest US presidential election opinion polls

On 21 July, Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Kamala Harris. This historic move changed the landscape of the election and how many felt about the race. As the election enters its final weeks, Guardian US is averaging national and state polls to see how the two candidates are faring. We will update our averages once a week, or more if there is major news.

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Melania Trump boosts conspiracy theory online about rally shooting

In a video promoting her memoir, she declares ‘we need to uncover the truth’ about assassination attempt on Trump

Former first lady Melania Trump has raised questions around the law enforcement response to the attempted assassination of her husband, in a video she published on Tuesday to promote her new book.

In the 34-second video posted to her X account, Melania begins by describing the attempted assassination on her husband as a “horrible, distressing experience”. And now, she says in the video, which is overlayed with dramatic instrumental music, “the silence around it feels heavy”.

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Project 2025 ex-director accuses Trump campaign advisers of ‘malpractice’

Paul Dans slams Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita for allegedly failing to properly prepare Trump for potential Biden exit

The former head of Project 2025, a rightwing blueprint for remaking the US government that was created by many of Donald Trump’s former officials, has urged the former president to replace his two campaign managers if he wants to win November’s presidential election.

Paul Dans, who stepped down as the project’s director in July after Trump dissociated himself from it, turned his fire on Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita, blaming the advisers for a series of errors that he claims have jeopardised the Republican nominee’s chances of beating Kamala Harris.

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Blinken says Russia has received new ballistic missiles from Iran

US and Europe impose new sanctions on Iran in response to supply of weapons that US says Russia could use in Ukraine

Russia has received new deadly ballistic missiles from Iran for use in Ukraine and is likely to use them, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced on Tuesday in London as he prepared to travel with the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, to Kyiv.

The news, confirmed by the US for the first time and seen as of huge significance to the battlefield balance ahead of Ukraine’s difficult winter, led the US and Europe to impose new sanctions on Iran, so apparently slamming the door on the prospect of a rapprochement between the new reformist Iranian government and the west.

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Israel says ‘highly likely’ its troops killed Turkish-American activist

IDF expresses ‘regret’ over death of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi on West Bank while US calls it ‘unprovoked and unjustified’

Israel’s military has said it was highly likely its troops fired the shot that killed Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, the American-Turkish woman killed at a protest in the occupied West Bank.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said her death was unintentional and expressed deep regret.

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US and China hold high-level military talks in effort to stabilise ties

Washington and Beijing hoping to open new regular communication channels to avoid misunderstandings

The United States and China have held high-level commander talks for the first time, Chinese authorities said, amid efforts to stabilise military ties and avoid misunderstandings, especially in regional hotspots such as the South China Sea.

Washington hopes to open new channels of regular military communication with Beijing after ties sank to a historic low when the United States downed a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon last year.

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How China and a tariffs row cast a shadow over booming US solar power

The source of new renewable energy is also a battleground over China’s cheap exports of panels that has split US firms

The Biden administration touts solar energy as one of its big success stories, a booming new industry that is curbing the effects of the climate crisis and creating high-paying jobs across the country. But the more complicated truth is that the United States is mired in a long-running trade war with China, which is flooding the market with artificially cheap solar panels that carry an uncomfortably large carbon footprint and threaten to obliterate the domestic industry.

The price of solar panels has plummeted 50% over the past year, largely, industry insiders say, because of deliberate Chinese overproduction of key components and a game of international cat-and-mouse over trade rules often likened to a game of “Whac-A-Mole”. As different sets of rules get established, Chinese companies have proved adept at moving their manufacturing plants to other countries, in south-east Asia, and shifting strategies to work around US tariffs and other deterrent measures.

This article was amended on 10 September 2014. An earlier version incorrectly stated that this year’s RE+ conference took place in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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White Stripes sue Trump over ‘flagrant misappropriation’ of hit song

Band accuse campaign of unauthorised use of Seven Nation Army and seek ‘significant monetary damages’

The White Stripes’ Jack White and Meg White have filed a lawsuit against Donald Trump for what they allege is the “flagrant misappropriation” of a recording of their hit song Seven Nation Army in a campaign video.

In an Instagram post on Monday, Jack White shared the first page of the lawsuit, filed in court in New York, with the caption: “This machine sues fascists.”

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Bodycam shows police dragging NFL star Tyreek Hill from car before season opener

  • Miami receiver was detained before game on Sunday
  • Player says he followed orders given by officers

New video surfaced on Monday showing police officers forcefully removing Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill from his car and throwing him to the ground during a heated traffic stop before his team’s home opener on Sunday.

The Miami-Dade Police Department said it was releasing the available bodycam footage while continuing to investigate the incident. Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump posted a clip from the footage on X.

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