The grifters behind the Southport riot are only getting started – and they have a voice in parliament | Gaby Hinsliff

They started coming almost as the new day dawned, bringing brooms and buckets, trays of drinks or just goodwill. The rubble was swept from Southport’s once-quiet streets and the windows shattered by rioters were fixed. Local builders volunteered to shore up a wall outside the mosque, smashed in the previous night’s orgy of self-righteous thuggery, … Read more

UN calls for foreign security forces to be deployed faster to quash Haiti gang wars | Global development

The UN has called for the deployment of international security forces in Haiti to be accelerated after a report that at least 1,379 people were killed or wounded in gang warfare and 428 people kidnapped in the country between April and June this year. “Service providers report receiving an average of 40 rape victims a … Read more

Failed State by Sam Freedman review – how to fix Britain | Politics books

Most books about politics concern personalities or ideologies rather than systems. Sam Freedman’s first book sets out to be an exception, and he acknowledges at the outset that this comes with risks: “Issues of governance and constitutional failure are inherently abstract and, to most of the population, impenetrable.” It’s more fun, in other words, bitching about wicked … Read more

Middle East crisis live: killing of Hamas leader ‘doesn’t help’ Gaza ceasefire talks, Biden says | Israel-Gaza war

Opening summary Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the Middle East crisis. The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran “doesn’t help” efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Israel’s war in Gaza, US President Joe Biden has said, a day after the Hamas leader was killed. Speaking to reporters as he welcomed back … Read more

The long road to prisoners deal

Getty Images When a notorious Russian assassin and an American newspaper correspondent boarded separate planes in Turkey on Thursday, it marked the culmination of a secretive, dramatic prisoner swap deal between Russia and the West that was years in the making. The origins of this deal, which involved two dozen prisoners, can be traced back … Read more

Joe Biden burnishes his legacy with historic prisoner swap

Getty Images President Biden announces prisoner swap with Russia Last month, President Joe Biden said that he had “no higher priority” than gaining the release of Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan from Russian prison. On Thursday, after months of behind-the-scenes negotiations, arm-twisting and manoeuvring, he accomplished that task. The multilateral exchange of 24 prisoners with … Read more