Farage hints that Reform’s £72m donations may not be legal under new elections bill – UK politics live

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In an interview about the donations, he said they are compliant with the law ‘today’

Andy Burnham has cancelled engagements today and tomorrow following the death of his father Roy, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s, the Press Association reports.

Burnham has spoken about his father’s illness which meant that he did not know his son had become prime minister.

[We] will continue bringing forward further reforms to strengthen confidence in our democracy.

Following on from the previous minister for democracy’s letter to you of 10 July 2026, we wanted to reiterate the government’s concerns, shared by many members of the public and parliamentarians, about the rise in the volume and concentration of money in UK politics. We have to limit the way financial power can end up dominating political power, to get to a politics that works for all people in all places.

We believe spending limits on parties and candidates are too high, and ought to be reduced.

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Africa’s richest man aiming to make $23bn from continent’s biggest-ever IPO

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Public offering of Aliko Dangote’s Nigerian oil refinery business could swell his net wealth by two-thirds

The fortune of Africa’s richest person could swell by two thirds to nearly $60bn (£44bn) after his refinery in Nigeria listed publicly in the continent’s biggest-ever initial public offering.

If Monday’s flotation of Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals on the Nigerian exchange goes to plan, then Aliko Dangote will add a further $23bn (£17bn) to his $35bn net worth.

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Gulf states postpone strait of Hormuz talks with Iran as Yemen conflict intensifies

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Impasse comes amid growing Saudi anger with Tehran over Houthi advances and strikes on airbase and pipeline

Gulf states have postponed a critical meeting with Iran on the future of the strait of Hormuz owing to a lack of Arab consensus and growing Saudi Arabian anger with Tehran for helping the Houthis loosen Riyadh’s grip in Yemen.

The stalemate over the vital waterway came as Houthi rebels launched a fresh barrage of missile and drone attacks on Saudi military targets. A Houthi military spokesperson claimed its forces had attacked the King Khalid airbase in Khamis Mushait, hitting fighter-jet hangars, radar systems, runways and landing strips, ammunition depots and additional targets.

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The far right’s march to power in Sweden has been halted, but its influence remains

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The Sweden Democrats slipped to third after decades of growth, but their hardline positions have already reshaped the political mainstream

Since the party was founded in 1988, the story of the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) has been one of such continuous growth that a triumph in Sunday’s general election seemed inevitable.

In 2022, the party capitalised on electoral gains – and the desperation of right-leaning parties to form a minority administration – and almost made its way into government. A supporting role in prime minister Ulf Kristersson’s Tidö coalition earned the party, which has neo-Nazi roots, huge influence and mainstream acceptance by the political establishment.

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UK unions split over donations cap as TUC chief says ‘super-rich’ corrupting politics

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Sources say there are ‘significant differences’ in opinion as debate inflamed by crypto billionaires’ £72m donations to Reform

The head of Britain’s trade union movement, Paul Nowak, has said the government must act to “stop the super-rich corrupting our politics”, as union leaders met on Monday to discuss possible support for a domestic cap on donations.

Union leaders are split on the prospect of limiting domestic donations to political parties, with many including the GMB fearing it would lead a future rightwing government to curb union donations.

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Scientists find nine new sponge species in glimpse of Alaska’s deep-sea diversity

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But their habitat is threatened by bottom trawling in the region and Trump’s plan to expand seafloor mining

Scientists have discovered nine new deep-sea sponge species off Alaska, offering new insights into the region’s largely unexplored marine biodiversity.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) announced the discovery on Thursday, saying the species were found in the Gulf of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. The findings bring the total number of known sponge species in Alaska to 232.

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First Thing: Oil prices surge as attacks on Saudi Arabia stoke supply fears

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Strike on kingdom’s east-west pipeline could affect 4% of global oil supply. Plus, report reveals British monarchy’s role in financing slave trade

Good morning. Oil prices have climbed above $108 a barrel after a series of drone attacks from Iraq’s territory forced Saudi Arabia to close its east-west crude pipeline. Saudi traders said the kingdom would run out of oil stocks for export if it did not reopen within days. Gas prices also climbed higher. Energy prices have surged this year, as the US-Israel war with Iran has disrupted oil and gas supply across the Middle East.

The spike came as the Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen launched several attacks against Saudi Arabia and captured the strategic island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab strait on Sunday, expanding their control of the waterway.

Where did the attack on Saudi Arabia come from? Iraq’s government confirmed the attacks were launched from its territory and ordered an investigation. Baghdad is under mounting pressure to stop militant groups – including those backed by Saudi Arabia’s regional rival Iran – launching attacks on Gulf countries from Iraqi soil. The US president, Donald Trump, said he believed Tehran was responsible.

Why has Saudi Arabia been relying on its east-west pipeline? Riyadh has increased the use of the 745-mile pipeline since the start of the war on Iran in order to bypass the strait of Hormuz’s closure. The world’s biggest exporter has used the pipeline to reroute about 4m barrels a day – about 4% of global supply – but with the ‌pipeline out of service, the Red Sea port of Yanbu now has stocks to maintain exports for just five to seven days.

What is the Anthropic CEO proposing? Robert Booth explains Amodei’s suggestion: first, each US AI company grants access to third-party evaluators; second, all companies in democratic countries establish common safety standards; and third, the world’s democratic AI powers coordinate with autocracies – notably China – to control the race.

How has Barack Obama intervened over AI? The former US president made a direct appeal to Democrats to coalesce around a unified AI safety policy, arguing that waiting for voluntary compliance from tech firms was a recipe for governance failure.

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Democrats to train tens of thousands to monitor polls amid election interference fears

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Project will prepare volunteers across US to monitor polls, encourage early voting and respond to disinformation

The Democrats intend to train tens of thousands of volunteers to monitor the polls and counter possible voter intimidation under a new plan to protect November’s US midterm elections from anticipated interference from Donald Trump and his allies.

The nationwide initiative, dubbed the New Battlefield Project, will help state Democratic committees build up a vast coalition of volunteers to monitor the polls, push voters to cast their ballots early and create a network to respond to disinformation.

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Reform declines to say if £72m donors returned to UK within 12-month limit

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Richard Tice says contributions are legally compliant after author of review into overseas donations says rules will be applied retrospectively

Reform UK’s deputy leader has declined to say when two crypto billionaires who gave a combined £72m to the party returned to the UK, as the architect of a review into overseas donations said anyone here for less than 12 months would be subject to a limit on donations.

Richard Tice said that while he was completely confident Reform had complied with all current and proposed laws on donations, he could not say when Ben Delo returned to the UK from Hong Kong, or how much time the Thailand-based Christopher Harborne spent in Britain.

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Indonesian police investigate deaths of Australian man and two children in Bali as suspected murder-suicide

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Police in Bali believe the two young children died as a result of violence, while a 57-year-old man is believed to have taken his own life

Indonesian police are investigating the deaths of three Australians who died in Bali over the weekend, with initial reports suggesting a father killed his two young children before taking his own life.

The man, 57, and his two children, seven and four, who are also Indonesian citizens, were discovered deceased in a bungalow in Kuta on Sunday morning.

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Pauline Hanson’s comments about Indigenous Australians condemned as ‘nasty’ and ‘derogatory’

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Indigenous senators have criticised One Nation leader saying the comments showed ‘wilful ignorance’

Federal parliamentarians from across the political spectrum have joined in condemning resurfaced comments by Pauline Hanson as “nasty” and “derogatory”, after she labelled Indigenous Australians the “most primitive race on Earth”.

The Indigenous affairs minister, Malarndirri McCarthy, a Yanyuwa and Garrwa woman, described the One Nation senator’s comments as “totally outrageous” while her opposition counterpart, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, said Hanson’s comments showed “wilful ignorance” and had “dragged the conversation into appalling territory”.

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