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Donald Trump has said the war in Iran is “very complete, pretty much”, as the economic toll of the joint US-Israeli operation has risen, disrupting global oil trade and threatening to engulf the Middle East in a regional war.

The US president made the comments before a speech and press conference in Florida where he sought to emphasise that the US military campaign would be ending soon amid mounting concerns from Republican allies. “I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” he said in a phone call with CBS News. “They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force.”

During the press conference, in which he delivered a contradictory and confusing forecast for the war, he evaded a reporter’s question about whether that meant the war could end this week. “No, but soon. I think soon. Very soon.”

When reporters asked him to clarify whether the war was “very complete”, or, as the US defense secretary said, “this is just the beginning”, Trump told reporters: “I think you could say both … It’s the beginning of building a new country.”

X suspends 800m accounts in one year amid ‘massive’ scale of manipulation attempts

The social media company X (formerly Twitter) said it suspended 800m accounts in 2024 as part of its fight against “massive” attempts to manipulate the platform.

X spokespeople told British MPs it was constantly battling state-backed attempts to hijack the agenda on its network. The firm has been criticised for its approach to content moderation since it was acquired by Elon Musk in 2022.

There were 800m accounts suspended in 2024 for breaching its rules on platform manipulation and spam – although it did not reveal how many of those suspensions related to foreign interference.

Trump threatens not to sign any bills until Congress approves strict voter ID act

The president renewed his push to curtail voting access on Monday, before midterm elections that are expected to be bruising for Republicans and after threatening not to sign any bills until Congress passes the legislation.

“All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote,” Trump said during remarks about the Save America Act at a Republican event in Miami. “No mail-in ballots, except for illness, disability, military or travel.”

On Sunday, as he threatened not to sign other bills until the act was passed, Trump laid out a list of what he wanted in the bill, much of which is not currently in the proposal: showing voter ID and proof of citizenship, and banning mail ballots except for a few instances.

• What else is included? Entirely unrelated to voting is a ban on transgender people participating in women’s sports and gender-affirming surgeries for minors.

• What progress has the bill made? The US House passed it earlier this year, but it faces steep odds in the Senate.

In other news …

• Satellite images reveal the long-term “starvation strategy” being used against the people of Sudan, according to a Guardian investigation.

• Robert F Kennedy Jr’s pick to review the safety of Covid vaccines has authored misleading research, according to more than a dozen scientists and public health experts.

• Georgia will vote in a high-stakes primary on Tuesday for Marjorie Taylor Greene’s House seat, in a race that may act as a poll of Donald Trump’s influence.

• The Iranian women’s football team – minus five players who have been formally granted protection in Australia – were whisked away by police and airport staff on a bus at Sydney airport after exiting their plane from the back.

Stat of the day: South Africa’s homicide rate is 30% below its 1993 peak

Violent crime fell by half during the two decades after apartheid’s end in South Africa, and though homicide rates have risen since the late 2010s and remain very high by global standards, they are still about 30% below their 1993 peak. The US far right has bought into the myth of white South Africa’s persecution, but white people in the country are overall less likely than Black citizens to be victims of crime.

Culture pick: Liza Minnelli’s memoir offers a heady brew of gossip, glamour and defiance

Liza Minnelli’s memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! is truly a tell all. It covers her difficult childhood as Judy Garland’s daughter, her subsequent problems with addiction, the inside scoop on Lady Gaga – and also her tumultuous love life. But Minnelli is characteristically breezy in her conclusion: “It’s been a lifetime of high notes and low notes, baby. And I want you to know … it’s been a life very well lived. I have no regrets. None.”

Don’t miss this: How to recognize – and handle – a psychopath

Psychopaths – who are selfish, callous, impulsive and manipulative, and often come across as charming and confident – are everywhere. One per cent of the general population have clinical levels of psychopathy, and 18% have “elevated” levels of these characteristics. Dr Leanne ten Brinke says people with these traits could be in our families, workplaces or neighborhoods. “It started to occur to me that these traits aren’t just confined to an underworld. These traits appear in all aspects of our lives,” she says.

Climate check: Can pumping chemicals into the ocean help stop global heating?

Last summer, scientists pumped 65,000 litres of an alkaline chemical into the Gulf of Maine. The researchers behind the scientific experiment hope to advance a technology to combat both global heating and ocean acidification – but questions remain if it can work safely at the level needed to fight the climate crisis.

Last Thing: A squeak peek? Brain activity gives scientists insight into mice’s minds

Scientists have created short movies using the brain activity of mice in an attempt to understand how animals perceive the world. The clips offer a glimpse into how mice, when shown videos, processed the footage, which featured people taking part in various sports, including gymnastics and wrestling.

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