David Lammy to host JD Vance as US vice-president arrives for UK holiday
They will discuss UK-US relations in a bilateral meeting before being joined by their families.
The pair are said to have developed a warm friendship, bonding over their difficult childhoods and Christian faith.
Mr Lammy is reported to have attended Mass at the vice-president's Washington residence during a visit in March, and now plans to repay the favour with the stay at Chevening.
Built in the 17th century, Grade I-listed Chevening was previously the home of the earls of Stanhope, before it was gifted to the state in 1959.
It has traditionally acted as the foreign secretary's country residence, but the prime minister can nominate any of his cabinet colleagues to use the house.
Friday's meeting comes at a time of persistent global uncertainty, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting an expansion of his country's campaign in Gaza and Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly preparing to meet Donald Trump in the coming days.
The US and UK have found themselves at odds on Gaza, with Sir Keir Starmer's pledge to recognise a Palestinian state if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire drawing criticism from Washington.
On Ukraine, Mr Trump said on a visit to the UK last month that he would bring forward the deadline for Mr Putin to agree a ceasefire or face higher tariffs to Friday.
But speaking in the White House on Thursday, the US president would not commit to taking action when the deadline expires, saying only that it was 'up to' Mr Putin.
Kremlin officials claimed that a meeting between the US and Russian presidents had been agreed and could take place as early as next week, despite Moscow showing no sign of relenting in its attacks on Ukraine.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged Mr Lammy to use his meeting with Mr Vance to press for new American sanctions ahead of any meeting between the presidents.
He said: 'We've been here before: Putin stalling and trying to curry favour with Trump through promises of a ceasefire – before rocking Ukraine with even more bombs.
'With his self-imposed deadline elapsing tomorrow, Trump needs to put his money where his mouth is and introduce the sanctions he promised on Russia. It would be a disaster if Trump lets himself be fooled by Putin again.'
The vice-president and his family are also expected to visit Hampton Court Palace during their trip to the UK, the bulk of which will be spent in the Cotswolds.
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The Guardian
a few seconds ago
- The Guardian
Penny Wong warns Israel that occupying Gaza could violate international law
Penny Wong has urged Israel not to follow through on its plans to occupy Gaza, a step she said could constitute a breach of international law. In a statement to Guardian Australia, Australia's foreign minister pushed back on Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to take control of the whole Gaza Strip. The plan approved by Israel's security cabinet after an overnight meeting on Thursday, to take over Gaza City, stopped short of that, but will likely displace tens of thousands of Palestinians already suffering from famine. 'Australia calls on Israel to not go down this path, which will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,' Wong said. 'Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international law.' Sign up: AU Breaking News email Netanyahu's office said on social media that the Israel Defense Forces will prepare to take over Gaza City and to provide aid to civilians outside the areas of fighting. A post on X said: 'The Security Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister's proposal for defeating Hamas. The IDF will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones.' Asked in an interview with Fox News if Israel would 'take control of all of Gaza', Netanyahu replied: 'We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there.' The Israeli prime minister added, 'we don't want to keep it', instead suggesting setting up 'a security perimeter' and a plan to 'hand [Gaza] over to Arab forces'. Wong said Australia and international partners were maintaining ongoing calls for a ceasefire, the return of hostages and aid to flow unimpeded. 'A two-state solution is the only pathway to secure an enduring peace – a Palestinian state and the State of Israel, living side-by-side in peace and security within internationally recognised borders,' she said. Netanyahu's office also said on X that its priorities in occupying Gaza included demilitarisation of and Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip, as well as establishing 'an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority'. Israel's pledge that it would not accept the Palestinian Authority as part of Gaza's future administration may complicate Australia's pathway to recognising a Palestinian state. Anthony Albanese this week spoke with Mahmoud Abbas, head of the Palestinian Authority, and has repeatedly mentioned or invoked that organisation when asked about Australia's preconditions for recognising a Palestinian state. Other nations such as Canada have conditioned their recognition of Palestine on reforms to the Palestinian Authority, including holding elections next year. Australia's prime minister pledged to meet Abbas on the sidelines of the UN general assembly next month, the forum where it is speculated Australia could signal its intent on Palestinian recognition. Labor is under mounting pressure from inside and outside its own ranks to join the growing global moves toward recognising Palestine. Greens senator David Shoebridge, the Greens' spokesperson on foreign affairs, said Israel's actions should be a 'red line' for the Australian government, urging Albanese to level new sanctions on senior members of the Israeli government and security forces that echo those put on the Russian government – including Magnitsky-style sanctions. The shadow foreign minister, Michaelia Cash, said the 'operational tactics' of Israel's military campaign in Gaza were 'a matter for the Israeli Government'. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion 'The Coalition wants to see this war end and for no more civilians to suffer. We again call on the terrorist group Hamas to release their hostages and surrender to avoid further loss of human life,' Cash said in a brief statement. 'Russian-style sanctions on Israel would halt millions of dollars in trade that fuels the occupation and genocide in Palestine. These sanctions must also be extended to the Security Cabinet of Israel, which has just signed off on another bloody escalation in the genocide,' Shoebridge said in a statement. 'It's not good enough for the Albanese government to still be debating how strong our language should be … Increasingly harsh statements will not feed people, it will not stop the Israeli war machine. Sanctions will.' Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, said Israel had already essentially been an occupying power in Gaza since its military assault began following the 7 October 2023 terror attack by Hamas, where 1,200 Israeli civilians were killed and dozens of hostages captured. But Rothwell said Israel's moves to further occupy and militarily control all of Gaza, as threatened by Netanyahu, raised concern about total annexation of the territory by Israel, and how that could affect global momentum toward recognising a Palestinian state. 'Israel's obligations as an occupying power are no different last week … They need to provide food, humanitarian aid and assistance to civilians, there's no change in their obligations,' he said. 'But [Wong] made the point this week, in the aligned recognition debate, that there might soon be no Palestine left to recognise. This is a further step which will further intensify those concerns by Australia and other like-minded countries.'
The Guardian
a few seconds ago
- The Guardian
Friday briefing: What will US funding cuts on mRNA vaccines mean for the health of the world?
Good morning. You may have heard a saying along the lines that 'when the US sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold'. So when the US health department announced plans to cut half a billion dollars in vaccine research funding on Wednesday, the world took notice. The US is the world's largest funder of biomedical research, but this position has become more precarious with the appointment of Robert F Kennedy Jr, a longtime vaccine sceptic, as US health secretary. This week, Kennedy has announced plans to terminate 22 federal contracts for mRNA-based vaccines, casting doubt on the safety of a technology widely credited with helping end the Covid-19 pandemic and saving millions of lives. In total the affected projects are worth nearly $500m (£376m), according to the health agency. As for Kennedy, he said: 'We reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted.' The only problem? The scientific community in the US and around the world has overwhelmingly condemned the decision. To understand why, for today's newsletter I spoke to Michael Head, a global health researcher at the University of Southampton. That's after the headlines. Israel-Gaza war | Benjamin Netanyahu's office said his security cabinet had approved a plan to take over Gaza City after the prime minister earlier said Israel planned to take full control of the Palestinian territory. The decision early on Friday marks another escalation of Israel's offensive in Gaza. Follow developments live Ukraine | Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ahead of an expected meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin that Europe must participate in the peace process between Ukraine and Russia. As the Kremlin refused a three-way meeting with Zelenskyy and Trump, the Ukrainian president said: 'Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side.' Economy | The chancellor and prime minister will begin to foreshadow tax rises and reforms from September to prepare the country for a difficult budget that could be held in November, the Guardian has been told. A rise in gambling levies – advocated by Gordon Brown – is thought to be near-guaranteed as part of the package of tax rises. UK news | Amnesty International has warned the Met police against arresting participants protesting this Saturday in London in support of Palestine Action. Labour | The UK homelessness minister, Rushanara Ali, resigned after it emerged she evicted tenants from her east London property before increasing the rent by almost £700 a month. The first thing to understand is that mRNA vaccines work differently from traditional ones. The latter generally introduce a weakened or inactivated part of a virus to train the immune system to recognise and fight it in the future; whereas mRNA vaccines use a molecule that tells our cells how to make a viral protein, which triggers the body's immune responses. This technology is a scientific gamechanger, to the extent the researchers behind it won the Nobel prize in 2023. But since rising to prominence during the Covid pandemic, mRNA vaccines have been dogged by misinformation (this analysis by my colleague Nicola Davis is well worth a read.) Michael Head tells me that mRNA technology offers a very effective and adaptable approach to developing vaccines. 'It's often described as plug-and-play because you can adapt constituents of the vaccine with, for example, the latest Covid variant.' For something like a flu vaccine, researchers need to incubate the virus and grow it, which takes weeks, Head explains. 'That's fine to an extent when it comes to producing an annual vaccine like we do for seasonal influenza, but the advantage to mRNA technology is that it can be updated so quickly that it allows us to produce new vaccines or update existing vaccines quicker, which can hopefully then reduce the threat of whatever infectious disease is present.' This is crucial during a pandemic such as Covid. 'The mRNA vaccines saved about 20 million lives globally in the first year of their rollout,' Head says. Why is Kennedy doing this? Kennedy once described mRNA Covid vaccines as 'the deadliest vaccine ever made'. On Wednesday, he justified the health agency's decision to terminate research by claiming that data shows mRNA vaccines 'fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like Covid and flu'. Kennedy offered no scientific evidence to support this – and Head said Kennedy has been spreading vaccine misinformation for years. 'He has on at least one or two occasions compared vaccines to being like the Holocaust, a common anti-vaccine trope.' He has also recently falsely claimed vaccines such as the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab contain 'aborted foetus debris'; ordered a sweeping new study on the long-debunked link between vaccines and autism; and dismissed a panel of government vaccine experts, replacing them with his own appointees – who then voted to ban a longstanding vaccine preservative that has been a frequent target of the anti-vaccine movement despite its strong safety record. Kennedy claims he is shutting down research on mRNA vaccines and instead shifting funding to 'safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate', and that mRNA vaccines 'encourage new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics'. It's just not true, though. Head says variants actually tend to emerge in the absence of vaccinations, and in people with long-term infections – often those who are immunocompromised and can't get over the virus quickly. That gives the virus more chances to multiply and mutate. 'Vaccines reduce the risk of transmission and infection,' Head says, which means fewer opportunities for the virus to mutate. 'So vaccines will have a protective effect against new variants emerging, rather than as Kennedy suggests.' What impact will this have? The question of the next pandemic is not if, but when. History shows pandemics happen, Head says, pointing to the 1918 flu pandemic, swine flu, Sars, and of course Covid. Head says this is especially true in our era of globalisation and human encroachment into new environments. 'If you create enough opportunities, a new virus will enter human beings. There might be a scenario where it runs out of control like we saw with Covid. Or, it might be a bit more like Sars, where we were able to get it under control within a couple of months. 'But again, globalisation and the mixing of people and animals makes things more challenging. And so a pandemic will happen at some point. We just don't know when.' Technologies like mRNA vaccines, then, are vital. Head added that the potential applications go far beyond infectious disease. 'There's quite promising research on skin cancer and the potential for this technology to be applied across different areas of health,' Head says. That is another reason Kennedy's decision is so damaging, he adds. One of Head's research areas focuses on how funding decisions impact science such as cancer research. 'It's very early days, but we are starting to see a slightly alarming picture. It'll be very hard for the rest of the world to fill the cancer research gaps that the US is likely to leave.' Is this a worrying time for the scientific community? There is no way to sugarcoat it; this is a particularly alarming moment for scientists. The World Health Organization coined the term 'infodemic' during the pandemic to describe the overwhelming amount of misinformation that spreads during a public health crisis, Head says. Even before Covid, in 2019 the WHO listed vaccine hesitancy as one of the top 10 global health threats. 'I have huge concerns that if a pandemic happened again tomorrow, whether populations in the UK, US, and around the world would trust public health decision making that would be vital to mitigate the impacts of any new pandemic. So the role of misinformation is significant and it can be very severe,' Head warned. 'It does not help that some of the most powerful people, like US president Donald Trump and Robert F Kennedy Jr, are making poor quality comments on vaccination because that does have an impact on population level decision making.' Some of Head's research has looked into vaccine uptake in Ghana during the pandemic. The study found that political views played a big role in whether someone agreed to receive a Covid vaccine. 'The government was saying, go and get vaccinated, please, but there was a fair amount of anti-government sentiment at the time. And hesitancy was greater if you voted for the opposition and therefore trusted the government messaging less. So there are lessons to be learned on who delivers the messaging to get your vaccine, and how to address that lack of trust in governance,' Head said. For now, the world holds its breath … and hopes no one sneezes. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Patrick Barkham's piece about the recent hopeful surge of some wildlife is both a joyous celebration of animals' resilience and a call for us to give them a helping hand. Lucinda Everett, newsletters I love this ranking of Daniel Day-Lewis films, and to learn that the triple Oscar winner has retired from acting, and returned twice. Aamna We asked our readers to share the strangest things they've found in a new home, and they didn't disappoint. Forgotten placenta, anyone? Lucinda This story by my colleague Mark Townsend is extraordinary: it pieces together, using intelligence reports and witness testimony, how the RSF paramilitary began a massacre described as 'genocidal' in Zamzam refugee camp. Aamna Daniel Boffey examines how David Lammy is wooing JD Vance, from inviting the US vice-president to pray with him, to shedding tears over his memoir. Lucinda Tennis | Ahead of the Cincinnati Open, Emma Raducanu told Tumaini Carayol in an exclusive interview that she believes her new coaching partnership with Francisco Roig can help to take her game to the next level. Football | Liverpool have agreed a fee of £46.3m plus add-ons with Al-Hilal for Darwin Núñez. The Uruguay international is expected to complete a move to the Saudi Pro League once personal terms have been finalised. Cricket | The leader of the Tech Titans consortium that has bought 49% of London Spirit believes the Hundred will become a multibillion-dollar competition to rival the Indian Premier League. The Guardian print edition reports 'Netanyahu defies warnings over taking military control of all Gaza'. 'Minister resigns over rental 'hypocrisy' – that's the Telegraph while the i paper expands on that: 'UK's minister for homelessness quits after she's caught ejecting tenants and hiking rent'. 'Minister for hypocrisy is forced to quit' the Mail delights. 'Single-sex spaces 'off limits to trans women'' says the Times. 'Weight loss pill 'on NHS'' and 'Pill for weight loss on NHS' – the Mirror and Express both says it's a possibility. Deep breath needed before reading the FT's headline aloud: 'BoE lowers rates but tight vote forces investors to rein in bets on more cuts'. 'He's our brave little miracle' reports the Metro, about a lifesaving 'world-first operation' on a little boy. Our critics' roundup of the best things to watch, read, play and listen to right now MusicAmaarae: Black Star | ★★★★☆Weaving elements of house, trance and EDM into Afrobeats rhythms and spiky rap cadences, the Ghanaian-American singer's slick take on a club record is deliriously in love with wealth, celebrity and all the power it affords. But there is a difference between Amaarae and the other stars fixated on such topics: for her, glamour is a side quest and love is the motive. Shaad D'Souza TVLucy Letby: Beyond Reasonable Doubt? | ★★★★★ Neonatal nurse Lucy Letby became, in tabloid parlance, 'Britain's worst child serial killer' when she was convicted in 2023 of seven murders and seven attempted murders of infants in her care. This brilliantly cogent documentary, which forces sentiment aside and unpacks the science and statistics around the most contested pieces of evidence, covers more ground more meticulously in an hour than any documentary I've seen in recent years, and perhaps ever. Lucy Mangan FilmThe Kingdom | ★★★★☆ Lesia, a moody 15-year-old, is sent to her mob boss father's luxurious and fortified family compound , and she is thrilled when she quickly becomes lieutenant. There are fierce and overwhelmingly authentic performances from first-time actors in Julien Colonna's intensely atmospheric, absorbing and exciting drama. Peter Bradshaw GamesTime Flies | ★★★★☆ This perception-warping bug puzzler reimagines the inevitably short lifespan of a housefly as an absurd tragedy – by providing the soon-to-perish pest with a bucket list. Over the course of roughly a minute, players buzz around minimalist 2D environments trying to make those last wishes come true. By blending this thinky thesis with playful mechanics, it supplies a lighthearted canvas for players to engage with existentialism for an hour or two. Sarah Thwaites Inside China's fast-fashion factories as a US trade war looms The Guardian's senior China correspondent, Amy Hawkins, visits factories threatened by US tariffs in Guangzhou, south China, as the deadline for a US-China trade agreement approaches with no deal yet in sight. A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad Lynx – shy wild cats no bigger than a Labrador – became extinct in Britain 1,300 years ago thanks to hunting and habitat loss. But a paper published in the Journal of Environmental Management says the animals could thrive in Northumberland's Kielder Forest area. The paper found that releasing 20 lynx over several years would eventually create a healthy population of about 50 animals, bringing benefits like helping to curb the overpopulation of deer in woodlands. According to the researchers, Kielder Forest is the only area of England and Wales with enough woodland for lynx to thrive. But thankfully locals are keen on the plan, with 72% of people in the project area supporting reintroduction. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
Telegraph
30 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Middle-class children ‘to be shut out of best schools' in Labour equality crackdown
Middle-class children risk being shut out of the best schools as part of a Labour policy to impose equality on Britain, the Tories have claimed. Sir Keir Starmer plans to update the Equality Act to give public authorities a new duty to consider a person's 'socio-economic background'. The changes could mean that schools are forced to give pupils from a working-class background priority when applying for school places, according to Conservative research, instead of judging applications based on how far away from a school someone lives. The Tories said the new duty could also mean that working-class people leapfrog the middle classes on NHS waiting lists. It could also lead to another form of 'two-tier policing', with crime-fighting resources targeted towards rundown areas. Alex Burghart, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: 'The politics of envy is running rife in this punishing Labour Government. 'Labour ministers are intent on clobbering middle England by any means necessary. Young people should not be shut out of schools or jobs because of the occupation of their parents. 'Rather than dragging people down through social engineering, we should instead focus on improving equality of opportunity, so hard-working people can get on, irrespective of their class, colour or creed.' The socio-economic duty has been dubbed 'Harman's law' after former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman, who originally brought it in as part of the Equality Act in 2010. The Tories kept the Act when they took over later that year, but scrapped the socio-economic element. Now the Prime Minister has pledged to bring it back. A consultation on the proposal closed in June. The Government has not yet brought in guidance to explain how it would be implemented, but the Conservatives said it could herald 'class discrimination' in school admissions. It could mean pupils priced out of their places at independent schools would be further punished for their perceived privilege: being placed at the bottom of waiting lists for school places. Strategic review At present, children with special needs are considered first in the application process, followed by siblings of those already at the school. Places are then allocated based on proximity to the school. Explanatory notes to the 2010 Act explicitly gives the example of influencing the school admissions process. It said: 'The duty could lead a local education authority, when conducting a strategic review of its school applications process, to analyse the impact of its campaign to inform parents about the applications process, looking particularly at different neighbourhoods. 'If the results suggest that parents in more deprived areas are less likely to access or make use of the information provided, the authority could decide to carry out additional work in those neighbourhoods in future campaigns, to ensure that children from deprived areas have a better chance of securing a place at their school of choice.' The Tories said the changes would mean NHS and GP waiting lists superseded by 'social value' judgments, rather than providing access based on clinical need. Middle England would face longer waiting times. The section of the Equality Act which will be added requires that a public authority 'must, when making decisions of a strategic nature about how to exercise its functions, have due regard to the desirability of exercising them in a way that is designed to reduce the inequalities of outcome which result from socio-economic disadvantage'. 'Reduce the inequalities' A consultation document on the change, published in April, said: 'The socio-economic duty requires specified public authorities, when making strategic decisions such as deciding priorities and setting objectives, to consider how their decisions might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. 'Being 'socio-economically disadvantaged' means living in less favourable social and economic circumstances than others in the same society. This can include having a low income or living in a deprived area. 'The decisions that public authorities could make, may be, for example, in education, health, or housing.'
