Pink Floyd reaches deal with Sony to sell music catalog for $400m – report

British rock band also agree to sell rights to their name and likeness after years of reported infighting among members

Pink Floyd has reportedly reached a deal with Sony to sell their music catalog, as well as their name and likeness, for about $400m.

The British rock band agreed to sell the rights to their recorded music catalog, their name and their likeness, but not the rights to their songwriting, according to the Financial Times, who first reported the news of the deal on Tuesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

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John Boyega to play Otis Redding in new biopic alongside Danielle Deadwyler

Star Wars actor will lead Otis & Zelma, which will celebrate the ‘eternal love story’ between the singer and his wife

John Boyega is set to play Otis Redding in a new film telling the story of the soul singer’s decade-long relationship.

Otis & Zelma will see the Star Wars and Attack the Block actor play the tragic star with the Till breakout Danielle Deadwyler playing his wife, Zelma.

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Hurricane Helene leaves thousands without clean water in its wake

Damage to sewage systems and pipes means widespread boil water notices and conservation orders could last weeks

Hurricane Helene left a path of devastation behind, with storm-ravaged areas struggling to access safe water for days because flooding damaged sewage systems, wastewater treatment plants and pipes that deliver drinking water to residents in the affected areas.

Boiling water advisories and water conservation orders are in place in counties in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia.

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Trip on psychedelics, save the planet: the offbeat solution to the climate crisis

Proponents say using hallucinogens can spark ‘consciousness shifts’ to inspire climate-friendly behaviors

Thousands gathered for New York City’s annual Climate Week last week to promote climate solutions, from the phaseout of fossil-fuel subsidies to nuclear energy to corporate-led schemes like carbon credits. Others touted a more offbeat potential salve to the crisis: psychedelics.

Under the banner of Psychedelic Climate Week, a group of academics, marketers and advocates gathered for a film on pairing magic mushrooms with music, a discussion on funding ketamine-assisted therapy and a panel on “Balancing Investing & Impact with Climate & Psychedelic Capital”.

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Democrats laser in on Pennsylvania as they scramble to keep Senate majority

Democrats’ prospects in Montana and West Virginia look grim – and money is pouring in to help Trump-backed Dave McCormick

Pennsylvania has come into laser focus in the 2024 election as the must-win state of the presidential election. But further down the ballot is another race in the battleground state – one that could decide whether Democrats are able to hold on to a one-seat majority in the Senate.

With the party bracing to lose a seat in West Virginia and incumbent Jon Tester’s prospects looking grim in Montana, a lot of attention and money is flowing into the Senate race between Democrat Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick in Pennsylvania.

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Mark Robinson skipped vote to declare Hurricane Helene a state of emergency

North Carolina lieutenant governor who has been criticized for alleged explicit posts was the only member to not vote

Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor and Republican gubernatorial candidate, skipped a vote on declaring a state of emergency in advance of Hurricane Helene’s arrival to the southern state, according to a report.

Robinson, who has been under attack recently over alleged racist and explicit posts on a pornography website’s message board, was the only council of state member who did not vote on Democratic governor Roy Cooper’s emergency declaration, WRAL News reported.

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Buried US second world war bomb explodes at Japanese airport

Unexpected blast at Miyazaki airport makes crater in taxiway and leads to grounding of 80 flights but no injuries

A US bomb from the second world war that had been buried at a Japanese airport has exploded, causing a large crater in a taxiway and the cancellation of more than 80 flights but no injuries, Japanese officials said.

Land and transport ministry officials said there were no aircraft nearby when the bomb exploded at Miyazaki airport in south-western Japan on Wednesday.

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Vance-Walz debate live: vice-presidential candidates to square off in key debate

JD Vance and Tim Walz will go head to head in New York just weeks ahead of the general election

The White House Correspondents’ Association said it has grown “increasingly concerned” about the “lack of media access” inside debate halls.

For tonight’s vice-presidential debate, CBS is allowing only one print representative, one television representative and six still photographers, who will not be permitted to move around to take photos during the event, the group said.

The WHCA’s insistence on having a full pool inside the room isn’t just about reporters being able to witness the debates. This is about the public having multiple sets of eyes and ears to properly record these moments for history.

Jason Miller, senior adviser to Donald Trump

Donald Trump Jr, a son of Donald Trump

Tom Cotton, Arkansas senator

Katie Britt, Alabama senator

Elise Stefanik, New York representative and House Republican conference chair

Byron Donalds, Florida representative

Howard Lutnick, longtime chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP

Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota senator

Mark Kelly, Arizona senator

Jared Polis, Colorado governor

JB Pritzker, Illinois governor

Jasmine Crockett, Texas representative

Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee

Ben Ray Luján New Mexico senator

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Trump tells rally Kamala Harris ‘wouldn’t have won The Apprentice’

Republican nominee visits Wisconsin, pledges to ‘solve’ inflation, and calls Biden and Harris ‘grossly incompetent’

Donald Trump reprised his role of a reality TV character during a rally in Waunakee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, telling voters in the key swing state that his Democratic rival Kamala Harris wouldn’t have succeeded on his business competition show.

“Kamala, you’re fired!” the ex-president said, invoking his contestant-eliminating tagline from The Apprentice after he urged voters to support him. “Get out of here!”

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San Francisco sees hottest day of 2024 as heatwave scorches US south-west

Excessive heat warnings bring elevated wildfire risk, potential for power outages and rising death toll

San Francisco recorded its hottest day of the year on Tuesday, and Phoenix set a record for the hottest 1 October on record, as the National Weather Service predicted record-high fall temperatures across the south-western US.

With temperatures hitting 100F (38C) or higher in many places, officials and local media outlets issued warnings that the heat posed “a significant threat to property or life”. Excessive heat warnings were in place across the region, bringing with it warnings about elevated wildfire risk, the potential for sweeping power outages in California and a rising toll of heat-related deaths, a particularly deadly risk for unhoused people and the elderly.

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Biden reaffirms US support for Israel amid Iran’s missile attack

President directed the military to aid Israel’s defense against any future assaults as US ‘fully supportive’ of ally

Joe Biden has reaffirmed US support for Israel after Iran’s ballistic missile attacks, describing the barrage as “defeated and ineffective” and ordering the US military to aid Israel’s defense against any future assaults.

“The attack appears to have been defeated and ineffective, and this is a testament to Israeli military capability and the US military,” the US president told reporters on Tuesday after Tehran launched an unprecedented salvo of 180 high-speed ballistic missiles.

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US man, 81, sentenced to six months for creating giant hybrid sheep for hunting

Arthur Schubarth of Montana used tissue and testicles from Marco Polo sheep to clone animal and create hybrid

An 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced on Monday to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and testicles from large sheep hunted in central Asia and the US to create hybrid sheep for captive trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota.

The US district court judge Brian Morris said he struggled to come up with a sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth of Vaughn, Montana. He said he weighed Schubarth’s age and lack of a criminal record with a sentence that would deter anyone else from trying to “change the genetic makeup of the creatures” on the Earth.

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Hurricane Helene: Harris to travel to Georgia to survey storm impact – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on US politics, you can see full coverage here.

Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a rally in Saginaw, Michigan, on Thursday at 3pm ET.

In 2016, the former president narrowly won Saginaw county, which sits around 100 miles north-west of Detroit and is home to around 200,000 people. However, in 2020, Joe Biden won the county.

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Biden urges port operators to increase wages after 45,000 workers go on strike

Strike – the first by port workers on US east coast since 1977 – threatens to shut down ports from Maine to Texas

Joe Biden has urged port operators to give workers a “meaningful increase” in pay after tens of thousands went on strike, prompting some of the busiest ports in the US to brace for crippling disruption.

About 45,000 port workers represented by the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) began walking off the job after their contracts expired at midnight, with 36 ports along the east and Gulf coasts affected. They typically handle about half of the nation’s ocean shipping.

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Doctors issue stark warning as Louisiana reclassifies abortion pills

Officials class mifepristone and misoprostol as ‘controlled substances’ – which medics say could imperil women’s lives

Two common abortion pills are, as of Tuesday, classified as “controlled substances” in Louisiana, due to a first-of-its-kind law that medical professionals warn will endanger the lives of women by restricting medication used to treat postpartum hemorrhage and other conditions.

Louisiana, which already bans abortion, passed a law reclassifying mifepristone and misoprostol as schedule IV drugs – a designation typically reserved for drugs that carry a risk of abuse or dependence. People caught with the drugs without a valid prescription could face up to five years in prison, although pregnant women who procure it for their own use are exempted from punishment under the law.

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Walz-Vance debate: when is it and how can I watch?

The debate between the Ohio senator and Minnesota governor will be hosted by CBS News at 9pm ET on Tuesday

Tim Walz and JD Vance will face off Tuesday night in the first – and only – vice-presidential debate before the November election. With the campaigns currently neck-and-neck in the polls, and with voting under way in some states, it’s a chance for the would-be vice-presidents to introduce themselves to a wide US audience.

While VP debates don’t usually tip the scales much, they could matter in a close race – and they build profiles for lower-profile politicians who will probably stay on the national scene for years to come.

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US couple blocked from suing Uber after crash say daughter agreed to Uber Eats terms

New Jersey appeals court sides with ride-hailing company, saying arbitration provision in terms was ‘valid’

A New Jersey couple seriously injured when their Uber driver ran a red light and collided with another car has lost a bid to take legal action against the company in court.

John McGinty and Georgia McGinty argue Uber is enforcing an arbitration agreement after their daughter clicked “agree” when presented with updated terms and conditions while ordering food via her mom’s Uber Eats account.

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Georgia judge says women aren’t ‘some piece of collectively owned community property’ in ruling to overturn abortion ban – live

A judge in Georgia struck down the state’s ban on abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy

Donald Trump has been taunting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for not rushing to the areas affected by Hurricane Helene and the storm’s aftermath.

Harris has returning early to Washington DC from election campaigning out west, as the Democratic party’s nominee for president since Biden, the sitting president, quit his race for re-election in July.

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Georgia judge strikes down state’s abortion ban, allowing care to resume

Fulton county judge issues order that abortions must be regulated as they were before law took effect in 2022

A Georgia judge on Monday struck down the state’s six-week abortion ban, ruling that the ban is unconstitutional and blocking it from being enforced.

In a 26-page opinion, the Fulton county superior judge Robert McBurney ruled that the state’s abortion laws must revert to what they were before the six-week ban – known as the Life Act – was passed in 2019. The ban was blocked as long as Roe v Wade was the law of the land, but went into effect after the US supreme court overturned Roe in 2022.

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Trump visits hurricane-ravaged Georgia and makes false claims about Biden

The ex-president said Brian Kemp, the state governor, was trying to reach the president who was ‘sleeping’, in vain

Donald Trump spoke in front of a furniture store gutted by Hurricane Helene in Valdosta, Georgia, on Monday, claiming falsely that Georgia’s governor had not been able to reach Joe Biden.

Upon landing in Valdosta, Trump claimed to reporters the president had been “sleeping” and that Brian Kemp, the governor, had been “calling the president and hasn’t been able to get him”. He repeated the false claim when speaking in front of the store.

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