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    Mother of jailed Egyptian-British activist hopes she doesn’t die in hunger strike to secure his release

    Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseThe mother of a jailed British-Egyptian activist has not had a meal for close to a month – a hunger strike that she hopes will lead to her son’s release before she starves to death.Laila Soueif, a 68-year-old maths professor born in London but who now lives in Cairo, is in the UK to call for Alaa Abdel Fattah’s release.Fattah, 42, is one of Egypt’s most prominent pro-democracy voices and has spent much of the last decade in prison. In 2021, he was charged with spreading false news for sharing a Facebook post about torture in Egypt, having already spent more than two years in pretrial detention. He had also already served five years on similar charges between 2014 and 2019. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have decried the charges and called his trials a sham.His mother has been on hunger strike since a day after Fattah’s second five-year sentence ended on 29 September without his release. The Egyptian government has justified keeping Mr Fattah in prison by claiming his pre-trial detention does not count towards his time served.“I hope I won’t die in this attempt,” says Soueif during a sit down with The Independent, her daughter Sanaa Seif and Fattah’s cousin, Omar Robert Hamilton.“I don’t particularly want to leave my children with the memory of a martyred mother,” she says, talking about existing on water, rehydration salts, sugarless tea or coffee, and cigarettes. She adds that she is feeling fine, “but I know the other part is coming”, a reference to when her starving body will start to consume her muscle tissue for energy. Her daughter winces next to her as she speaks.Soueif gets to see Fattah, whose 13-year-old son, Khaled, lives in Brighton, for 20 minutes once a month. She says Fattah remains as positive as he can in prison but refuses to talk about the future.Laila celebrates her 63rd birthday alongside her son Alaa and her grandson Khaled in Cairo, Egypt, in May 2019, months before Mr Fattah was arrested again More

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    Trump campaign files complaint over ‘foreign interference’ by ‘far-left’ Labour Party in US election

    Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseDonald Trump’s presidential campaign has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s “far-left” Labour Party of interfering in the US election.The Trump-Vance campaign filed a complaint with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) accusing Labour of illegal foreign campaign donations.In a statement, the campaign’s co-manager Susie Wiles campaign claimed: “The far-left Labour Party has inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric.“In recent weeks, they have recruited and sent party members to campaign for Kamala in critical battleground states, attempting to influence our election.”The complaint referenced a Washington Post report that suggested “strategists linked to Britain’s Labour Party have been offering advice to Kamala Harris about how to earn back disaffected voters and run a winning campaign from the center left”.The Trump campaign has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party of interfering in the US presidential election More

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    Zelensky demands UK extradites political opponent in Ukraine Orthodox Church row

    Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentA Ukrainian MP sheltering in London is set to appear in court to fight an extradition request from the Zelensky government.Artem Dmytruk, a former member of Volodymyr Zelensky’s party, told The Independent he was forced to flee Ukraine because of his opposition to a controversial law attempting to close down the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC).The extradition request is based on “hooliganism” charges from an incident he was involved in 2020 when he tried to force his way into a political meeting.Artem Dmytruk is fighting an extradition demand from Ukraine More

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    Biden scolds Sky News journalist over question about Putin’s threat of war

    Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentUS president Joe Biden scolded a British journalist in a fiery exchange during a bilateral meeting with Sir Keir Starmer in Washington.Mr Biden told Sky News US correspondent James Matthews to be quiet as he shouted a question about Vladimir Putin’s threat of war over Kyiv’s use of long-range missiles.The US president and UK prime minister met at the White House on Friday amid reports they could allow Ukraine to launch Western missiles deep inside Russian territory.When asked what he thought about Mr Putin’s warning that doing so would bring Russia into conflict with Nato, Mr Biden snapped back: “You be quiet while I speak, OK?”The veteran reporter asked a second time what he made of Mr Putin’s remarks, to which Mr Biden again replied: “You have got to be quiet now I have got to make a speech, OK.”Sir Keir travelled to Washington on Thursday where he met US president Joe Biden to discuss the war in Ukraine, as well as the ongoing conflict in Gaza More

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    Russia expels six British diplomats it accuses of spying and sabotage

    Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentRussia has revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow, accusing them of spying and sabotage.As president Vladimir Putin warned that Nato will be at war with Moscow if Western nations allow Ukraine to use their long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russian territory, Russia’s FSB security service accused British diplomats of working to ensure Moscow’s defeat in the 30-month conflict.The FSB claimed to have documents showing a British foreign office department in London was coordinating what it called “the escalation of the political and military situation” and was tasked with ensuring Russia’s strategic defeat against Ukraine.Vladimir Putin has issued a new threat as Keir Starmer travels to Washington to discuss Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles More

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    Biden was opponent Trump prayed for, ex-UK ambassador says

    Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorDonald Trump will have harboured hopes of winning a landslide US election victory against Joe Biden, who was the opponent he would have “prayed for”, the UK’s former ambassador to Washington has suggested.The 81-year-old incumbent announced on Sunday that he would cede to calls to end his re-election bid, which had reached a fever pitch over the 25 days since his disastrous TV debate against Mr Trump sparked concerns about his mental fitness.With just 105 days left until the election, all eyes are now on who will replace Mr Biden as the Democratic Party nominee set to face up against an increasingly feverish Trump campaign, which is in the ascendancy after his defiant reaction to an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month.Endorsed by Mr Biden, vice president Kamala Harris has emerged as the most likely frontrunner. But others have called for a wider contest to be decided at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on 22 August – a selection process abandoned more than 50 years ago in favour of primaries and caucuses.Sir Kim Darroch – who was forced to resign as the UK’s ambassador in 2019 after leaked cables showed him labelling Mr Trump an “incompetent” and “inept” president – urged Democrats on Monday not to “rush to a decision” on anointing Ms Harris as their candidate.The ex-diplomat said: “The tide at the moment is flowing strongly with Kamala Harris. I’m not sure if it’s sensible to rush to a decision on that, because what the Democrats have to do is look at three key swing states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – and think ‘who is the best placed Democrat to take those?’.“So they need to just pause a little bit and think about this.”Speaking to LBC, Lord Darroch said he believed it had been “a mistake” for Mr Biden, already the oldest president in US history, to initially insist on putting his name forward for a second term in the Oval Office.Sir Kim Darroch was appointed to the House of Lords by Theresa May in 2019 More

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    Why did some of the UK’s worst political rejects like Johnson and Truss spend the week parading about the RNC?

    Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorNapoleon had the island of Saint Helena, Leon Trotsky had various spots across Turkey, Norway and Mexico. These days political exiles from the UK all appear to end up in a far more desolate place: The Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Among the crowds of US political bigwigs, state delegates and zealous supporters of Donald Trump, several familiar British faces have appeared – usually with the prefix of “former” before their job title – to rub shoulders with the GOP elite.At the 2024 convention, where Trump officially accepted the Republican presidential nomination and selected JD Vance as his running mate, a rollcall of infamous names from across the pond dropped by to pay their respects.The former UK prime minister and Donald Trump were pictured together at the RNC on Tuesday, with Johnson’s trademark disheveledness standing in stark contrast to Trump’s polished veneers and white ear bandage.Donald Trump and Boris Johnson at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin More

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    ‘Lefty lawyer’, Mark Darcy inspo but ‘lacking star power’: How American media covered UK’s new PM

    Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe UK has a new political leader and a new ruling party after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won a historic landslide victory in the nation’s general election on Thursday.Winning 412 seats to just 122 for Conservatives, Rishi Sunak’s party spectacularly crashed out of power after 14 years.Britain’s short-lived former prime minister Liz Truss (who put in an appearance at CPAC in February) lost her seat, as did a host of other prominent Tories.Meanmwhile, MAGA ally Nigel Farage finally won a seat for his right-wing Reform UK party, in what marked his eighth attempt at joining the House of Commons.Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has already rushed to Truth Social to congratulate his old ally while remaining silent on Starmer’s triumph.President Joe Biden is expected to join other world leaders in putting in a call to Starmer as he enters 10 Downing Street later on Friday, with whoever wins November’s presidential election expected to forge a bond to ensure the fabled “special relationship” between the United States and Britain remains in rude health.But how has America’s news media reacted to these seismic political developments across the Atlantic? And what do they make of the UK’s new leader?Sir Keir Starmer is the UK’s new prime minister after the Labour party won the election in a landslide More