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Ex-President Donald Trump has asked a federal court to dismiss the election interference case against him, arguing his role entitled him to "absolute immunity". Mr Trump's lawyers say his attempts to cast doubt on the 2020 election fell within his duties as president and are not subject to criminal prosecution. The claims were "at the heart of his official responsibilities", they argue. Separately, Mr Trump has asked for a delay in his classified documents case. Mr Trump's attorneys have asked for that trial, in which the former president is accused of improperly handling sensitive files, to be held after the 2024 presidential election. It is part of a flurry of legal filings in recent days related to a number of Mr Trump's ongoing cases. In a new filing in the election interference case on Thursday, his lawyers argue that Mr Trump's public statements about the 2020 contest were attempts at "ensuring the integrity of federal elections". "The acts alleged in the indictment lie firmly within the 'outer perimeter' of the President's official responsibility," the lawyers argue. "Therefore, they cannot form the basis of criminal charges against President Trump." The former president made a range of allegations about fraud in the 2020 presidential election after his loss, but no evidence has emerged of any widespread fraud that would have altered the result. FULL STORY

President Joe Biden is under fire from both sides of the political spectrum after his administration announced new border wall construction in Texas. Mr Biden has said he "can't stop" the work because the funding was signed off while Donald Trump was president. Members of Mr Biden's Democratic Party said walls did not work, while rival Republicans accused him of hypocrisy. The Department of Homeland Security has said there is an "acute" need for the barriers. US authorities have detained over 2.2 million migrants this fiscal year alone. The growing number of migrants in US cities such as New York have increasingly become a challenge for Mr Biden, who has faced intense criticism over his handling of the border. According to US officials and President Biden, funding for the new border barrier - first announced in late June - was appropriated during the 2019 fiscal year, under Mr Trump's presidency. Approximately 20 miles (32km) of new border barriers will be built in Starr County, a sparsely populated stretch of border in the Rio Grande Valley. In 2020, Mr Biden promised he would not build another foot of wall if elected. The Texas town caught in America's border battle A senior administration official on Thursday laid the blame for the new construction on the US Congress, claiming it resisted efforts to "rescind" the funds in Mr Biden's first budget request issued in May 2021. Under a 1974 law, appropriated funds must be made available for their intended purpose unless a rescission is approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives. "We have repeatedly asked Congress to rescind this money but it has not done so and we are compelled to follow the law," Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. FULL STORY

America's epidemic of chronic illness is killing them too soon The United States is failing at a fundamental mission - keeping people alive. After decades of progress, life expectancy - long regarded as a singular benchmark of a nation's success - peaked in 2014 at 78.9 years, then drifted downward even before the coronavirus pandemic. Among wealthy nations, the United States in recent decades went from the middle of the pack to being an outlier. And it continues to fall further and further behind. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. A year-long Washington Post examination reveals that this erosion in life spans is deeper and broader than widely recognized, afflicting a far-reaching swath of the United States. While opioids and gun violence have rightly seized the public's attention, stealing hundreds of thousands of lives, chronic diseases are the greatest threat, killing far more people between 35 and 64 every year, The Post's analysis of mortality data found. Heart disease and cancer remained, even at the height of the pandemic, the leading causes of death for people 35 to 64. And many other conditions - private tragedies that unfold in tens of millions of U.S. households - have become more common, including diabetes and liver disease. These chronic ailments are the primary reason American life expectancy has been poor compared with other nations. Sickness and death are scarring entire communities in much of the country. The geographical footprint of early death is vast: In a quarter of the nation's counties, mostly in the South and Midwest, working-age people are dying at a higher rate than 40 years ago, The Post found. The trail of death is so prevalent that a person could go from Virginia to Louisiana, and then up to Kansas, by traveling entirely within counties where death rates are higher than they were when Jimmy Carter was president. FULL STORY

In October 2023, a video went viral on social media, purportedly proving that U.S. President Joe Biden behaved inappropriately with a minor. "She was 12, I was 30," one viral post captioned the video, citing his alleged remark at a public event. "I'm definitely not surprised ???? he is a weirdo," one X (formerly Twitter) user commented. A post from September 2022, with the same video and caption, received a comment that read, "When a pedophile TELLS you he's a pedophile BELIEVE it! #PedoHitlerbiden." FULL STORY

Former President Trump’s fraud trial ended its third day on Wednesday, which was mostly spent cross-examining the government’s first witness, an accountant who oversaw business dealings involving some of Trump’s most prime real estate properties. The trial grew testy with the judge scolding Trump’s attorneys for dragging out the matter, which at one point was interrupted in order to force another witness to take the stand. The accountant has been on the stand since Monday and is expected to be further cross-examined when the trial convenes on Thursday. Follow below for a recap from the courtroom in New York. Judge Arthur Engoron has dismissed Trump’s civil fraud trial for the day, with the first witness in the government’s case still under cross-examination by the defense. Thursday will begin with more cross-examination of Donald Bender, the ex-Trump accountant, which a defense attorney suggested could carry on through the morning. Once Bender’s cross-examination is over, Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney — a defendant in the case — is expected to testify. Defense attorneys indicated that they did not expect time for the government’s fourth witness Thursday. FULL STORY

Rudy Giuliani sued President Biden for defamation Wednesday over his comments calling the former New York City mayor a “Russian pawn” during a 2020 presidential debate. The 16-page lawsuit, filed in New Hampshire state court, names Biden, his campaign and several fundraising committees as defendants, taking aim at two statements Biden made during the final presidential debate against former President Trump on Oct. 22, 2020. In the first statement, Biden was answering a question about combating foreign election interference when, after some hesitation, he mentioned Giuliani. “Well I won’t get — I shouldn’t — well, I will,” Biden said. “His buddy, Rudy Giuliani,” Biden continued, referring to the close Trump ally. “He’s being used as a Russian pawn. He is being fed information that is Russian — that is not true.” Giuliani’s lawsuit alleges the statement “falsely claimed and depicted the Plaintiff to our nation as a liar.” Later in the debate, after Trump mentioned the “laptop from hell,” referring to the infamous Hunter Biden laptop story that had surfaced days earlier, then-candidate Biden insisted to the moderator that he needed to respond to the reference about his son. “Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan,” Biden said at the debate. FULL STORY

Nancy Pelosi and her long-time deputy Steny Hoyer have been ordered to leave their workspaces in the US Capitol by acting House Speaker Patrick McHenry. Both were told locks on their office doors will be "re-keyed" on Wednesday. The evictions come after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the chamber's plum post on Tuesday and Mr McHenry, a top loyalist, was appointed in the interim. Mrs Pelosi, who is not currently in Washington, criticised the decision as "a sharp departure from tradition". Her office will be handed over to Mr McCarthy, Republican Congressman Garret Graves announced on Wednesday, saying that it is supposed to belong to the "preceding speaker". "Now that she and other Democrats have caused there to be an immediately preceding speaker, she has removed herself from that office ... that was a decision that Democrats and Speaker Pelosi made in giving that office to McCarthy," he said, according to Axios. Mrs Pelosi released a statement on Tuesday slamming the decision. "With all of the important decisions that the new Republican Leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new Speaker Pro Tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol," she said. "Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time." FULL STORY

Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise have become the first two Republicans to join the race to replace Kevin McCarthy, who was voted out as Speaker in an unprecedented move on Tuesday. Other Republicans are also rumoured to be mounting a bid, and some have even floated Donald Trump as an option. The Speaker can technically be anyone in the US. Republicans plan to hold a speaker candidate forum next Tuesday, followed by a possible vote the next day. McCarthy ousted as House Speaker in historic vote McCarthy has gone. What happens now? The next US Speaker will inherit a poisoned chalice Here's a quick rundown of the candidates who could be next in line. Jim Jordan Steve Scalise Kevin Hern Donald Trump FULL STORY

Tax breaks for foreign residents in Portugal are “no longer justified”, the prime minister, Antonio Costa, has declared, promising to close the scheme for new applicants in 2024 after it stoked housing prices in one of western Europe’s poorest nations. Launched in 2009, the scheme allows people who become residents by spending more than 183 days a year in the country to benefit from a special 20% tax rate on Portuguese-sourced income derived from “high value-added activities“”, such as doctors and university teachers. It was introduced to attract investors and professionals as Portugal suffered from the financial crisis. Other benefits of the scheme – known as Non-Habitual Resident – include tax exemptions on almost all foreign income if taxed in the country of origin and a 10% flat tax rate on pensions from a foreign source. Portuguese citizens who lived abroad for five years or more could also apply. Costa told CNN Portugal late on Monday the scheme had “inflated the housing market”, calling it a “fiscal injustice that is no longer justified”. “It no longer makes sense,” Costa added, explaining that those who already benefit from it would continue to do so. The announcement came two days after thousands of people took to the streets of Lisbon and other cities across Portugal to protest against soaring rents and house prices stoked by growing gentrification and record tourism. Government data show more than 50% of workers earned less than €1,000 (£866) a month last year, and a 65% increase in Lisbon rents since the start of the tourism boom in 2015 has made flats unaffordable for many. FULL STORY

At least 21 people have died and 18 were injured after a tourist coach crashed off an overpass near Venice in northern Italy. The coach was carrying a group of tourists who were returning to a campsite in Marghera after spending the day in Venice, according to reports in the Italian media. Officials said the vehicle fell 30 metres (98ft) on to electricity lines and caught fire at about 7.45pm local time. Those on board included Ukrainian, German and French citizens, according to Venice prefect Michele Di Bari. Two of the dead were children. The Italian driver, aged 40, was also killed, Di Bari said. “The bus is totally crushed. The firefighters had difficulty getting a lot of the bodies out,” Di Bari told Sky Italia television. Four of the injured were in serious condition, said Renato Boraso, a Venice city official. The coach veered off the road in Mestre and landed close to railway lines where it caught fire, TGCom24 reported. Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, said the bus “flew 30 metres”. “It seems that the aggravating factor of the scenario was determined by the fact that it [the bus] was powered by methane, therefore the fire developed quickly,” he told TG1. Mestre is connected to Venice by a bridge. The cause of the incident is unclear. “It’s an apocalyptic scene. I am speechless,” Venice’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, posted on X, formerly Twitter. FULL STORY

A gun charge hanging over President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, is rarely filed by prosecutors. Will it stand up in court? Patrick Darnell Daniels was pulled over by police in April 2022 for driving a truck without a registration plate in Hancock County, Mississippi. Inside his vehicle officers found marijuana cigarette butts and two loaded firearms. The 26-year-old was charged under a law that bans users of illegal drugs from owning guns. Hunter Biden pleads not guilty to gun charges A judge denied him bail and ruled him a flight risk, citing a previous contempt of court, a history of substance abuse and a lack of stable residence. He was convicted and sentenced last October to nearly four years in prison. But in August an appeals court overturned Daniels' conviction. He was freed on 26 September. Hunter Biden, 53, faces the same charge: possession of a firearm by an unlawful user of a controlled substance. It carries a maximum prison sentence of up to five years. He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday. South Texas College of Law Professor Dru Stevenson, who has published research on gun charges against drug users, says it's unusual for such cases to make it to court. "It's just really rare that they would go after someone and prosecute them for this," Prof Stevenson said. "But this [Hunter Biden] is a high-profile person and there's been members of Congress demanding he be prosecuted." Of the 7,454 people sentenced for illegal gun possession in 2021, only about 5% of them were charged due to drug use, according to US Sentencing Commission data. FULL STORY

The judge presiding over Donald Trump's civil fraud case issued a limited gag order after the ex-president made "disparaging" remarks about a court clerk. Mr Trump had attacked Judge Arthur Engoron's clerk in a post on his social media site, Truth Social. The judge warned of "serious sanctions" if the order was disobeyed. Mr Trump has repeatedly made personal attacks on the judge and called him "deranged" and a "rogue adjudicator". But Tuesday's gag order is limited and restricted to public comments against members of court staff. Mr Trump on Tuesday posted a picture of principal clerk Allison Greenfield with Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer at a campaign event. In the post, he called Ms Greenfield "Schumer's girlfriend" and said that the case against him should be dismissed. After a court break, Judge Engoron did not mention anyone by name but referenced the social media incident saying that a defendant "posted to a social media account a disparaging, untrue and personally identifying post about a member of my staff". "Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate and I will not tolerate them under any circumstances," he said. "Failure to abide by this order will result in serious sanctions," he said. Justice Engoron said that his statement should be considered a gag order forbidding any posts, emails or public remarks about members of his staff. The post on Mr Trump's social media site, Truth Social, was removed following the judge's order. Mr Trump has called the trial a "fraud" and a "scam" and pledged to take the stand in his own defence. Asked if he would testify in the case, he said: "Yes, I will. At the appropriate time, I will be." The former president, his two adult sons and the wider Trump Organization are accused of massively inflating the value of their properties by over $2bn (£1.65bn), in order to secure favourable loans. Attorney General Letitia James is seeking $250m (£207m) and sanctions that could prevent the Trump family from doing business in the state of New York. None of the defendants will face jail time if convicted, because this is a civil case not a criminal one. The trial is a bench trial, meaning that the ultimate decision on whether the co-defendants are liable and any damages or penalties rest on Judge Engoron alone, not a jury. FULL STORY

The House on Tuesday voted to remove Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as Speaker, a never-before-seen historic vote that leaves the lower chamber of Congress in chaos. The mutiny, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), came days after McCarthy averted a government shutdown by putting a stopgap measure on the floor that garnered Democratic support — a move that infuriated hardline Republicans. In the final 216-210 vote, seven Republicans joined Gaetz to unseat McCarthy. Every Democrat in the chamber also voted to boot McCarthy, refusing to help protect him from his unruly conference. McCarthy said he would give Democrats nothing if they were to vote to help him. The House is now in uncharted territory, with House members and aides unsure what will happen next. Immediately after the vote to remove McCarthy, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) was declared Speaker pro tempore. He said the House would go into recess so that Democrats and Republicans could meet separately to “discuss the path forward.” McCarthy said Tuesday he would not run again for Speaker. No votes are expected in the House the rest of the week, and Republicans said they would meet to select their pick for Speaker next Tuesday. FULL STORY

Russell Brand is facing a second criminal investigation in connection to allegations of harassment and stalking. The 48-year-old comedian and actor has been accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame working for the BBC and Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films. He denies the allegations. On Monday, it emerged Thames Valley police were investigating claims made by a woman who contacted the force two weeks ago with “new information” about “harassment and stalking”. Brand lives in Oxfordshire, within the Thames Valley catchment. Without naming Brand, Thames Valley police said in a statement: “Thames Valley police in the past two weeks received new information in relation to the harassment and stalking allegations dating back to 2018. “This information is being investigated. As such, it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation.” The woman reported her allegations to Thames Valley police numerous times between 2018 and 2022 but no further action was taken. Brand had also accused the woman of harassment against him in 2017, according to the BBC. Brand has been approached for comment. Last week, the Metropolitan police said it had opened an investigation after receiving a number of allegations of sexual offences in London and “elsewhere in the country”. The offences were all non-recent, the Met said, adding that officers would be offering specialist support to all the women who had made allegations. FULL STORY

“It is going to be difficult for my Republican friends to keep calling President Biden ‘feeble’ while he continues to take Speaker McCarthy’s lunch money in every negotiation,” Gaetz said in his floor speech. “It is becoming increasingly clear who the speaker of the House already works for, and it’s not the Republican conference.” Gaetz had vowed on Sunday that he would soon introduce a motion to remove McCarthy as speaker, but he declined to outline a specific timeline for that effort in his floor speech. Calling on McCarthy to reveal the details of his alleged “secret deal” with Biden, Gaetz suggested the motion could be introduced as early as Monday. “There may be other votes coming today or later this week that could be implicated by the answers to these questions,” Gaetz said. “Members of the Republican party might vote differently on a motion to vacate if they heard what the speaker had to share with us about his secret side deal with Joe Biden on Ukraine. I’ll be listening. Stay tuned.” Speaking to reporters after the floor speech, Gaetz reiterated his plans to introduce a motion to vacate the chair at some point this week, and he indicated he would keep pushing the issue until McCarthy is removed. “It took Speaker McCarthy 15 votes to become the speaker, so until I get to 14 or 15, I don’t think I’m being any more dilatory than he was,” Gaetz said. Gaetz’s threats come after McCarthy was forced to rely on Democratic votes to advance the stopgap funding bill, known as a continuing resolution. Gaetz had threatened that he would move to oust McCarthy if he collaborated with Democrats to keep the government open, and he now appears ready to make good on that threat. Any single House member can force a vote on vacating the chair, and the motion requires only a simple majority for approval. Because of House Republicans’ narrow majority, McCarthy can only afford to lose five votes within his conference and still hold the speakership, assuming every House member participates in the vote. Despite that tricky math, McCarthy has responded to Gaetz’s threats with defiance, insisting he has the votes to keep his gavel. FULL STORY

Poland’s defence, interior and foreign ministers lined up in front of a tall, metal wall topped with barbed wire. Speaking to assembled television cameras, the three men warned of a terrible plot against Poland, orchestrated in the Kremlin. The weapons in this “special operation” were not tanks or bombs, suggested the foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau, but people from the Middle East and Africa. It was only the decision of the patriotic Polish government to construct the wall behind him that had foiled this Russian plan to sow discord and chaos in Poland, he said. “Otherwise, we would have become Lampedusa, but a Lampedusa filled with migrants who had been given military training. Ninety per cent of them, then and now, have been recruited by the Russian special services,” Rau claimed, falsely. Job done, the three ministers headed back to Warsaw. Their speeches were fed into the daily churn of migration scare-stories on pro-government television. The temperature rises each week, as Poland enters the final phase of a closely contested election campaign. That same evening in late August, on the other side of the border wall, the health of 20-year-old Sadia Mohamed Mohamud was deteriorating. By then, Sadia had been stuck in the thin strip of land between the two border fences, Polish and Belarusian, for almost a month, together with a few fellow Somalis also trying to get to the EU. Sadia told the others she had left her conflict-torn home country in the hope of earning money in Europe to provide a decent life for her two young children, who remained in Mogadishu. FULL STORY

One of New Zealand’s youngest political candidates, 21-year-old Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, has experienced more politically targeted abuse in the past week than many senior politicians have experienced in their entire careers. The candidate for minor party Te Pāti Māori, has had her home broken into twice, her belongings and rubbish bins rifled through, a threatening letter left in her mailbox and a man turn up to her house in the early hours of the morning yelling racial slurs while trying to break down her fence. In the same week, Labour candidate Angela Roberts was confronted by a member of the public who, she said, grabbed her shoulders, shook her and then slapped her face with both his hands. Two weeks earlier, Labour’s MP for Northland, Willow-Jean Prime, said she experienced the worst racism of her career, after a crowd shouted and jeered at her for using Māori words during a candidate debate. “When I said Aotearoa, the crowd shouted ‘it’s New Zealand’,” Prime said in a media conference, adding she was told to stop speaking “that language”. “That is racism … and that is unacceptable,” she said, adding “what is really worrying is that they feel so emboldened that they can come out and say these things publicly.” New Zealand enjoys relatively open access to its politicians, and historically election campaigns have been fairly safe. But abuse, threats and attacks have been ramping up as the 14 October election draws near, with women and Māori candidates being especially targeted. Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, told the Guardian the party was no stranger to hate speech and online threats, but that the attacks directed towards their candidate, Maipi-Clarke, had crossed a line. FULL STORY

Apple has blamed a bug in its operating system and updates to apps such as Instagram for its new iPhone 15 overheating. Since the latest model of the smartphone went on sale in September, some users have complained the devices are getting too hot to touch. Apple said there was a bug when updating iOS 17 on the phone. But it also claimed that changes to third party apps are "causing them to overload the system". iPhone users have come to expect their devices to become hotter during the initial set-up or when they are being backed up, due to the amount of processing power being used and the handset working overtime - but these issues with the iPhone 15 have been worse. Users took to social media to complain the new phones were searing. Apple said that the device may feel warmer in the first few days "after setting up or restoring the device because of increased background activity." The company said: "We have identified a few conditions which can cause iPhones to run warmer than expected." This includes a bug in iOS 17 which is the latest version of Apple's software which is accessible for its most recent models. It said that "another issue involves some recent updates to third-party apps that are causing them to overload the system," and it is working with app developers on fixes that are in the process of being rolled out. Among the apps blamed for the problem are Instagram, Uber and the video game Asphalt 9, according to Apple. FULL STORY

Former President Donald Trump has attacked a judge and prosecutor in a day of courtroom drama as he attended the opening of a fraud trial that could threaten his business empire. On entering the room on Monday dressed in a blue suit, Mr Trump - who turned up voluntarily - looked ahead as he walked past the prosecutor who brought the case. State's attorney general Letitia James, sitting in the front row, averted her gaze. Their paths did not cross for the rest of opening statements as both sides laid out their case. Mr Trump, the Trump Organization, several executives and two of his children - Donald Jr and Eric - are the defendants in the civil trial in New York Superior Court. Fact-checking Trump's claims about NY fraud trial They are accused of fraud, falsification of business records, issuing false financial statements and conspiracy. As the trial got under way, the former president occasionally glanced in the direction of Judge Arthur Engoron as he addressed the court. Moments beforehand, in a tirade outside court that echoed across the chamber, Mr Trump had called the judge a "rogue adjudicator". FULLL STORY