JD Vance attacks Tim Walz’s military record as election race heats up

Vance, who served as a correspondent in the marines, accused Walz of ‘stolen valor garbage’

JD Vance went on the offensive on Wednesday, attacking the military record of Tim Walz, Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential pick.

Speaking in Michigan, Donald Trump’s Republican running mate said: “You know what really bothers me about Tim Walz? When the United States Marine Corps … asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do and I did it honorably, and I’m very proud of that service.

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Biden ‘not confident at all’ in peaceful transfer of power if Trump loses race

President says in CBS News clip that Trump ‘means what he says’ about ‘a bloodbath for the country’ if he loses election

Joe Biden has said he is not confident there will be a peaceful transfer of power after the November presidential election.

“If Trump wins, no, I’m not confident at all. I mean, if Trump loses, I’m not confident at all,” the president said in an interview with CBS News that is due to air in full this Sunday.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Illinois governor calls for resignation of sheriff whose deputy killed Sonya Massey

JB Pritzer calls on Jack Campbell to step down over ‘failures’ that led to Sean Grayson fatally shooting Massey

JB Pritzker, Illinois governor, has called for the resignation of the sheriff whose deputy fatally shot Sonya Massey in her home last month after the Black woman had called 911 for help.

Pritzker, a Democrat, said on Wednesday that the sheriff, Jack Campbell, should step down.

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Cori Bush warns pro-Israel lobby ‘to be afraid’ after primary loss

Member of progressive ‘Squad’ says her loss has freed her to openly challenge Aipac

Representative Cori Bush has warned the pro-Israel lobby “to be afraid” after it poured millions of dollars into defeating the prominent member of the “Squad” of progressive Democrats in Tuesday’s primary election in St Louis.

Bush said her loss to St Louis county prosecutor Wesley Bell after the hardline American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) targeted her for opposition to Israel’s attack on Gaza had freed her to openly challenge the powerful pressure group, which has vowed to spend $100m to influence US elections this year in favour of Israel.

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Trump claims – without evidence – to have saved Walz from protesters in 2020

Trump tells Fox News that he announced Walz was a ‘good person’ to dissuade protesters from surrounding his house

Donald Trump claimed to have saved Kamala Harris’s running mate, Tim Walz, from rightwing protesters in 2020 during unrest in Minnesota after the police murder of George Floyd, a statement that appears to contradict Walz’s own descriptions of calls between the two politicians.

Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Trump said, without offering evidence or specific dates or times, that he publicly announced Walz was “a good person” in order to dissuade protesters from surrounding Walz’s house.

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Peggy Flanagan in line to be first US female Indigenous governor if Harris and Walz win

Walz can continue serving as Minnesota’s governor until the election, but if he and Harris are successful, Flanagan will take over

Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, could become the first US female Indigenous governor if Kamala Harris’s vice-presidential pick, Tim Walz, resigns from office. Walz can continue serving as the state’s governor until the November election, but if he and Harris are successful, Flanagan will take over his gubernatorial duties.

In fact, a series of firsts would be triggered should the Harris-Walz ticket win: Harris would become the nation’s first woman, first Black woman and first person of Indian descent to ascend to the country’s top office. Flanagan, already the highest-ranking Native woman in a state-level executive office, would become Minnesota’s first female governor and the first Indigenous woman to serve as governor of a US state. And Minnesota’s senate president, Bobby Joe Champion, would become Minnesota’s first Black lieutenant governor.

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Volunteer with key role in New Orleans church bankruptcy admits to stunning lack of qualifications

Lee Eagan said he lacked prior experience, failed to familiarize himself with rules and suffered cognitive decline as case expenses soar to $40m

A US government official is questioning the soaring legal fees paid by the Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans after the volunteer managing the organization’s four-and-a-half-year-old bankruptcy admitted under oath to a stunning lack of qualifications for his role. Lee Eagan, a local businessman, testified in early July to having never previously policed the costs of a bankruptcy as well as failing to familiarize himself with the rules for that kind of proceeding.

He also swore – in a separate series of earlier depositions – to grappling with substantial cognitive decline after a severe car crash nearly two years beforehand.

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Dar Leaf, Michigan’s ‘constitutional sheriff’, wins re-election by landslide

Pro-militia and election denying Republican will continue 20-year run as sheriff in Barry county

Dar Leaf, the prominent election-denying sheriff of Barry county, Michigan, and leader in the rightwing “constitutional sheriffs” movement, will win his Republican primary by a wide margin, according to unofficial vote totals.

No Democrats filed to run, so Leaf is likely to continue serving as sheriff.

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Maui celebrates recovery of 151-year-old banyan tree after 2023 wildfire damage

Community landmark is now thriving and bearing fruit after about half its branches died due to intense heat

When a deadly wildfire tore through Lahaina on Maui last August, the wall of flames scorched the 151-year-old banyan tree along the historic town’s Front Street. But the sprawling tree survived the blaze, and thanks to the efforts of arborists and dedicated volunteers, parts of it are growing back – and even thriving.

For generations, the banyan tree served as a gathering place along Lahaina’s waterfront. By many accounts, it was the heart of the oceanside community – towering more than 60ft (18m) high and anchored by multiple trunks that span nearly an acre.

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Middle East crisis: US warns Israel and Iran that conflict must not escalate – as it happened

Antony Blinken says US has been ‘engaged in intense diplomacy’ as the region braces for attacks from Iran and its allies

It has just gone 2pm in Jerusalem. If you’re just joining us, here are the day’s developments:

The United States has communicated to Iran and Israel that conflict in the Middle East must not escalate, secretary of state Antony Blinken said. The Middle East is bracing for a possible new wave of attacks by Iran and its allies after last week’s killing of senior members of militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

The Israeli military has issued new evacuation orders for an area in northern Gaza that was heavily bombed at the start of the war some 10 months ago. The IDF said it would respond to a Hamas rocket attack from the Beit Hanoun area the day before and urged residents to relocate to Gaza City, large areas of which have been destroyed.

More than 39,677 Palestinians have been killed and 91,645 have been injured in Israel’s military offensive in Gaza since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said in a statement on Wednesday.

Protesters have disrupted an Israeli supreme court hearing about a shadowy military facility where Israel has held Palestinian detainees throughout the war in Gaza. The protesters yelled “Shame!” as the attorney for a number of Israeli human rights groups argued that the Sde Teiman facility should be closed permanently over repeated allegations of detainee abuse. An Associated Press investigation into the facility, as well as others by rights groups, found detainees endured abysmal conditions there.

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Utah outlaws books by Judy Blume and Sarah J Maas in first statewide ban

State has ordered books by 13 authors, 12 of them women, to be removed from every public school, classroom and library

Books by Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur and Sarah J Maas are among 13 titles that the state of Utah has ordered to be removed from all public school classrooms and libraries.

This marks the first time a state has outlawed a list of books statewide, according to PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman, who oversees the organisation’s free expression programs.

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Cori Bush loses primary after pro-Israel groups spend millions to oust ‘Squad’ member

St Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell defeated Missouri’s first Black female member of Congress with about 51% of the vote

A prominent member of the progressive “Squad” in Congress, Cori Bush, has lost her Democratic primary in St Louis after pro-Israel pressure groups spent millions of dollars to unseat her over criticisms of Israel’s war on Gaza.

St Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell defeated Missouri’s first Black female member of Congress with about 51% of the vote. Bush took about 46%.

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Texas: judge rules against Black high school teen in hair discrimination case

Darryl George, 18, filed civil rights lawsuit after Barbers Hill school system punished him for refusing to alter hairstyle

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed most of the claims in a lawsuit filed by a Black high school student who alleged that school officials committed racial and gender discrimination when they punished him for refusing to change his hairstyle.

The ruling in the case of Darryl George was another victory for the Barbers Hill school district near Houston, which has said its policy restricting hair length for male students instills discipline while teaching grooming and respect for authority.

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Liza Minnelli announces memoir because documentaries ‘didn’t get it right’

Cabaret star says she felt ‘mad as hell’ after hearing stories from people who didn’t know her or her family, and will release untitled book in 2026

Liza Minnelli is to release a memoir after she claimed previous screen depictions of her life “didn’t get it right”.

The 78-year-old US actor and singer will release the book in spring 2026, which will take readers through her career, struggles with substance abuse and love life.

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The coach v the couch: key takeaways from the first Harris-Walz rally

Harris praises Walz’s time as a football coach as her VP pick says he’ll debate JD Vance ‘if he’s willing to get off the couch’

Kamala Harris introduced her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz, to supporters at a packed, energetic rally at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The event, which kicks off a week-long tour through the most politically competitive US states, marks a new chapter for the Harris campaign after securing enough delegates to be the Democratic nominee.

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Kamala Harris introduces running mate Tim Walz at raucous Philadelphia rally

Democratic nominee calls Walz ‘the kind of vice-president America deserves’ as pair vow to take fight to Donald Trump

Kamala Harris introduced her running mate Tim Walz as “the kind of vice-president America deserves” at a raucous rally in Philadelphia that showcased Democratic unity and enthusiasm for the party’s presidential ticket ahead of the November election.

Casting their campaign as a “fight for the future”, Harris and Walz were repeatedly interrupted by applause and cheering as they addressed thousands of battleground-state voters wearing bracelets that twinkled red, white and blue at Temple University’s Liacouras Center – a crowd Harris’s team said was its largest to date.

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US plans more frequent bomber deployments to Australia amid China’s ‘escalatory behaviour’

Australia-US talks also turn to Middle East conflict as representatives ramp up calls for Gaza ceasefire

The US says it plans “more frequent” deployments of bomber aircraft to Australia amid concerns over China’s “dangerous and escalatory behaviour” in the region.

The announcement after annual talks on Wednesday builds on a long-term trend of increased rotations of American forces to Australia, along with moves to upgrade Australian military bases and pre-position US army equipment in Australia.

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Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran charged in foiled plot to kill US leaders

Asif Merchant, 46, tried to recruit people for scheme to assassinate figures including Donald Trump, says FBI

A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran has been charged over a foiled conspiracy to carry out political assassinations on US soil, the justice department said on Tuesday as it disclosed what officials say is the latest murder-for-hire plot to target US public figures.

Asif Merchant, 46, sought to recruit people in the United States to carry out the plot in retaliation for the US killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ top commander, Qassem Soleimani, in 2020, according to a criminal complaint.

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Global markets partly recover but analysts fear ‘we’re not out of woods’

Shares on Wall Street and in Asia and Europe start to recover after Monday’s rout

Shares on Wall Street rose and many Asian and European markets staged a recovery after this week’s global stock market rout, but analysts warned: “We might not be out of the woods.”

The FTSE 100 index in London rose 18 points, or 0.2%, on Tuesday to close at 8,026.69, after losing 166 points, or 2%, on Monday, its biggest one-day points drop in more than a year.

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Tim Walz thanks Kamala Harris for ‘honor of a lifetime’ as she praises running mate for ‘fighting for middle-class families’ – live

Democrats welcome choice of Minnesota governor to be Harris’s running mate in race against Donald Trump and JD Vance

As we await Kamala Harris’s running mate announcement, Americans in some states are heading to the polls today.

Voters in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington state will cast ballots in their congressional primaries today. Results in Michigan will be especially scrutinized, as the battleground state will play a key role in the presidential election.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) pumped more than $8.5m into the race in Missouri’s first congressional district in support of Bush’s rival, St Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell, through its campaign funding arm, the United Democracy Project (UDP). …

The UDP accounts for more than half of all the money spent on the race outside of the campaigns themselves. Much of it comes from billionaires who fund hardline pro-Israel causes and Republicans in other races, including some who have given to Donald Trump’s campaign.

With the support of 99% of all participating delegates in the virtual roll call, Vice-President Harris has historic momentum at her back as we embark on the final steps in officially certifying her as our Party’s nominee.

We thank the thousands of delegates from all across the country who took seriously their responsibility throughout this process to make their voices – and the voices of their communities – heard.

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