Donald Trump has announced new travel restrictions on visitors to the United States that will expand his controversial travel ban to eight countries. The new proclamation, which will come into effect on 18 October, will continue to target travellers from Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Libya and Iran, but also adds North Korea, Chad and Venezuela to the list of targeted countries. Sudan has been dropped from the administration’s list of nations and Iraqi citizens will be subjected to “additional scrutiny” but will not face any blanket bans.

Seven of the countries face wide-ranging restrictions, which effectively block travel for most citizens, while the limits imposed on Venezuela will only apply to a group of government officials and their families. “As president, I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people,” Trump’s statement said. The president later tweeted: “Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet.” Unlike the administration’s previous travel bans, which were intended as temporary measures as homeland security officials were instructed to review vetting procedures, the new restrictions are not time-limited. The proclamation marks the administration’s third move to limit travel into the United States after Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US on the campaign trail.(theguardian)…[+]

Iraqi Kurds are casting ballots in Iraq’s Kurdish region and disputed territories on whether to support independence from Baghdad, in a historic but non-binding vote that has raised regional tensions and fears of instability. The referendum will not immediately bring independence, but it would mark a definitive stance by the Kurds to break away, and Kurdish leaders say they will use a “yes” vote to press for negotiations with Iraq’s central government to win statehood. Iraq has called the vote constitutional and it is opposed by Iran, Syria and Turkey, who also have Kurdish minorities.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the Turkish president, on Monday threatened military intervention in response to the vote, stressing that Kurdish independence was unacceptable to his country and that this was a “matter of survival.” He said Turkey would take also take political and economic measures against steps toward independence and suggested it could halt oil flows arriving through a pipeline from northern Iraq, depriving Iraqi Kurds of revenues. “We have the valve. The moment we shut the valve, that’s the end of it,” he said.(theguardian)…[+]

One of the world’s “big four” accountancy firms has been targeted by a sophisticated hack that compromised the confidential emails and plans of some of its blue-chip clients, the Guardian can reveal. Deloitte, which is registered in London and has its global headquarters in New York, was the victim of a cybersecurity attack that went unnoticed for months. One of the largest private firms in the US, which reported a record $37bn (£27.3bn) revenue last year, Deloitte provides auditing, tax consultancy and high-end cybersecurity advice to some of the world’s biggest banks, multinational companies, media enterprises, pharmaceutical firms and government agencies.

The Guardian understands Deloitte clients across all of these sectors had material in the company email system that was breached. The companies include household names as well as US government departments. So far, six of Deloitte’s clients have been told their information was “impacted” by the hack. Deloitte’s internal review into the incident is ongoing. The Guardian understands Deloitte discovered the hack in March this year, but it is believed the attackers may have had access to its systems since October or November 2016. The hacker compromised the firm’s global email server through an “administrator’s account” that, in theory, gave them privileged, unrestricted “access to all areas”.(theguardian)…[+]