Healthcare providers report unprecedented demand for reproductive and gender-affirming medications: ‘We’ve never seen this before’

When the presidential election results were handed down on Wednesday, Rebecca Gomperts, the founder of Aid Access, the No 1 supplier of abortion pills by mail in the United States, was huddled in a Paris apartment with her team of eight American physicians and 15 support staff. The group – which usually operates remotely, shipping out more than 9,000 abortion pills a month – had convened in person before the election, knowing they might have to spring into action.

They were right: as news of Trump’s victory spread, the website received more than 5,000 requests for abortion pills in less than 12 hours – a surge even larger than the day after Roe v Wade fell. “I can see all the new requests ticking in as we’re talking,” Gomperts said in a phone call on Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve never seen this before.”

Christian nationalists will hope for increased political influence after key voting bloc helps to deliver at the polls

At a Republican watch party early Tuesday evening in the Milwaukee suburbs, Dimitra Anderson, a 64-year-old bellydancer, clutched her boa constrictor – a pet that travels with her everywhere – and issued a confident proclamation: “I’m ecstatic because I believe he’s going to win in a tidal wave.”

The night was young, no swing states had been called yet, but Anderson, who describes herself as a born-again believer, had been following the preachings of the self-styled prophets of the Christian right. They were saying Trump would win.

(Warner Records)
They sold millions as the most poppy and emotional band in nu-metal. Now, returning with Emily Armstrong as frontwoman, they remain just as dynamic

In September, Linkin Park’s comeback single The Emptiness Machine entered the UK singles chart at No 4. You could see that as an extraordinary state of affairs: an august metal band whose lead singer died seven years ago – recently replaced with the largely unknown Emily Armstrong – gatecrashing a Top 5 that spent most of 2024 as the exclusive domain of a handful of pop and pop-dance artists, most of them too young to remember the 2000 release of Linkin Park’s debut album Hybrid Theory first-hand.

Then again, perhaps not. For one thing, the nu-metal scene that birthed them has been enjoying a resurgence in interest: quite aside from a wave of early 00s nostalgia, there’s an intriguing correlation between the genre’s feel-my-pain angst and the emotional tenor of latter-day pop. Perhaps more importantly, Linkin Park always stood slightly apart from their rap-rock peers. One popular line is that they were to nu-metal what Def Leppard were to glam metal, not just because of their vast sales figures or the expensive, radio-friendly sheen to Hybrid Theory’s sound, but because, like Def Leppard, they never bothered to conceal their pop leanings.

The PM echoes Tony Blair in his pledge to be tough on crime – but he is less interested in the causes behind the Channel crossings

• Enver Solomon is chief executive of the Refugee Council

It may not be one of the government’s five stated missions , but Keir Starmer is making disrupting the criminal gangs behind cross border migration his own crusade. The prime minister told the annual assembly of Interpol in Glasgow on Monday it was his “personal mission to smash the people-smuggling gangs”.

This government seems to be replacing its predecessor’s “stop the boats” slogan with “smash the gangs”. The focus is on enforcement, including rapid prosecutions, echoing the government’s response to the far-right violence in August. Starmer, who is meeting other leaders at the European political community summit in Hungary on Thursday, also wants to establish a new security pact with the EU to overcome the fact that Brexit has hamstrung efforts to clamp down on the crossings – in particular, by removing access to the EU-wide fingerprinting database.

Enver Solomon is chief executive of the Refugee Council

Network hopes to deliver projects across Essex, Norfolk, Kent and Suffolk, crucial to ‘decarbonising’ power system, year earlier

National Grid is considering whether it can fast-track two controversial power cable projects to help the government meet its pledge to create a clean electricity system by 2030.

The FTSE 100 energy company is reviewing plans to build a 114-mile (184km) power line from Tilbury in Essex to Norwich, which is expected to begin construction in 2027 and carry electricity from offshore windfarms by 2031.

Trump says he will choose personnel who will make life ‘affordable, safe, and secure’ as Harris says: ‘this is not a time to throw up our hands’

• US election results 2024: live map and tracker
• Senate and House results 2024: live maps and tracker
• The key swing states and counties that handed Trump the White House

Rudy Giuliani will appear in a New York City courtroom on Thursday to explain to a federal judge why he hasn’t surrendered his valuables as part of a $148m defamation judgment, the Associated Press reports.

US District Judge Lewis Liman ordered the former New York City mayor to report to court after lawyers for the two former Georgia election workers who were awarded the massive judgment visited Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment last week only to discover it had been cleared out weeks earlier.

The judge had set an 29 October deadline for the longtime ally of once-and-future President Donald Trump to surrender many of his possessions to lawyers for Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss.

Representatives for Giuliani did not respond to an email from Reuters on Wednesday seeking comment.

While Kemi Badenoch was the first politician since the US presidential election result to publicly challenge Keir Starmer over Labour’s previously tense relationship with Donald Trump, she is unlikely to be the last.

EPC summit in Budapest to discuss Ukraine, migration and global trade may reveal stark divisions within bloc

European leaders are gathering in Budapest for two days of top-level talks that should give an indication of how united the continent can remain in response to Donald Trump’s second term as US president, but could also reveal its divisions.

Hosted by Hungary’s authoritarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, a Trump ally who has enthusiastically hailed the Republican candidate’s re-election, the EU 27’s leaders are being joined on Thursday by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the UK’s Keir Starmer, the Nato secretary general Mark Rutte and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Prime minister’s chief fixer, Pat McFadden, says he thinks government can get by without Nigel Farage’s assistance

Keir Starmer will today sign new agreements to intercept criminal gangs smuggling migrants through the Western Balkans as part of efforts to bring down small boat crossings, PA Media reports. PA says:

Starmer will announce the deals to boost intelligence sharing, expertise and co-operation with Serbia, North Macedonia and Kosovo at a meeting of the European Political Community in Budapest, Hungary.

He is expected to urge European partners to take action to reduce deaths in the Channel during small boat crossings and tell them that lawful, international co-operation will be key to efforts.

There is a criminal empire operating on our continent, exacting a horrendous human toll and undermining our national security.

Backed by our new Border Security Command, the UK will be at the heart of the efforts to end the scourge of organised immigration crime – but we cannot do it in isolation.

Perhaps the biggest worry that Sir Keir Stammer faces in policy terms is that Trump has announced a big tariff regime. Britain is, potentially, in a fortunate position. Such tariffs might be avoided – but only by direct negotiations with Team Trump, something of which Stammer’s friends in the European Union would not approve. Which way will Starmer jump?

Britain is really going to have to roll out the red carpet for Trump very quickly. If we don’t, a great opportunity will be squandered.

I’m overjoyed that this process has already begun, with our very sensible Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, making clear that Trump will be able to address parliament during his State visit next year.

Iran foreign ministry says US approach in past has led to ‘bitter experiences’; Lebanese capital’s south hit after Israel orders evacuations

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said the presidential election result in the US is a chance for a new administration to “review the wrong approaches of the past”.

Reuters quotes Esmaeil Baghaei saying “We had bitter experiences with various US governments’ past policies and approaches. Elections are an opportunity to review the wrong approaches of the past. What is important for Iran will be how we evaluate the actions of the US government.”