The new Labour government is preparing to unveil a Budget that needs to raise the sums necessary to fulfil the party's manifesto promises without breaking its fiscal rules.

When Rachel Reeves faces the Commons on 30 October, it will be a "huge moment", said The Observer's political editor Toby Helm: not only because she will become the first female chancellor to deliver a Budget in the country's history, but also because "no new occupant of the post can ever have faced so many competing challenges".

What did the commentators say?
Reeves needs to fill a £22 billion "black hole" in the public finances left by the Conservatives, but Labour also promised not to raise taxes for working people, to repair public services, and to create the fastest-growing economy in the G7. On top of that, she has committed to balancing day-to-day spending with tax revenues, and reducing national debt as a share of the economy, within five years.

Reeves yesterday "gave her clearest signal yet" that business taxes would rise, repeatedly refusing to rule out an increase in employers' National Insurance contributions, said the Financial Times. Introducing National Insurance at the highest current rate of 13.8% on employer pension contributions could raise as much as £17 billion a year for the exchequer, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.

Another potential source of revenue is adjusting capital gains tax. Keir Starmer was forced to squash speculation this week that his chancellor was considering a rise of up to 39%. But an adjustment "would not be targeting working people", so "an increase seems almost a given", said Sebastian Payne, director of centre-right think tank Onward, writing for the i news site.

There are also likely to be changes to Reeves' fiscal rules. One of the "bolder shifts" floated by Treasury officials is a change to how the government measures debt, said The Times. Treasury officials have pointed to using a measure of "public sector net worth", which would allow the government to offset assets, such as the £236 billion owed in student loans, against the wider national debt. Such a move could potentially unlock "£60 billion in headroom" for Reeves.

What next?
The chancellor has a difficult balancing act ahead of her. Labour needs a "complete change of gear", a former Treasury insider told The Guardian. "The obvious time to do that is the budget. But there is no easy way. You can't raise these sums without some pretty mighty rows."

A new film dramatising Donald Trump's rise to fame and fortune has provoked everything from an eight-minute standing ovation at Cannes to threats of legal action from the former president.

"The Apprentice", which opens in UK cinemas on Friday, examines Trump's career as a property mogul in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, when he was mentored by ruthless lawyer Roy Cohn. The movie includes the disclaimer that portions were "fictionalised for dramatic purposes", said The Guardian, but it still faced "numerous roadblocks" to get made.

'Most brutal Trump biopic'
Most controversially, "The Apprentice" contains a scene in which Trump, played by Marvel actor Sebastian Stan, sexually assaults his first wife Ivana (Maria Bakalova). In real life, she claimed during divorce proceedings that Trump had raped her but later downplayed the allegation, saying in 1993 that she didn't want her words to be "interpreted in a literal or criminal sense".

The new film, said Rolling Stone, is "the most brutal Donald Trump biopic imaginable". Even without the "sickening" rape scene, it would still feel like a "damning portrait". That might explain why Hollywood institutions were reluctant to finance the project.

In a post on his Truth Social platform this week, Trump called the film a "cheap, defamatory and politically disgusting hatchet job" designed to thwart his presidential campaign. His team threatened legal action to "address the blatantly false assertions from these pretend filmmakers".

'Not a hit job'
"The Apprentice" does portray Trump as "a rapist, a liar and a sketchy businessman who stiffs just about everyone", said Politico's Michael Schaffer. But it is "an almost shockingly sympathetic depiction". Rather than a "born psychopath", the character is a "striver who gradually loses his humanity". While there is plenty to "absolutely horrify" Trump's supporters, he is depicted as "tragic, not evil".

Financing for the film "fell apart" several times because the depiction was deemed by liberal figures to be "too sympathetic" towards Trump, the director, Ali Abbasi, told NPR.

"This is not a hit job on Trump," said Deadline. It is a portrait of a man "striving for the approval of a tough-love father, unsure but determined to succeed" – and he comes across as "even oddly charming at times".

Autumn is officially here, bringing a dazzling patchwork of foliage. From fiery red maple leaves to coppery bronze beech trees, it won't be long until the UK's forests begin to change colour. Here are some of the best places to be among the trees.

Coombe Hill, Buckinghamshire
The top of Coombe Hill offers a magnificent view across the Chiltern Hills, in "all their autumnal glory", said Time Out. And if the conditions are right, you should be able to see all the way to the Cotswolds.

New Forest National Park
Spanning Hampshire and Wiltshire, this "great treescape" has been a "place of autumn magnificence for centuries", said The Telegraph. The sprawling national park is home to ancient oaks and "elderly beeches", alongside evergreen yews that have "murmured with the breeze for the best part of a millennium".

Howick Hall, Northumberland
Set in the grounds of Howick Hall is a 65-acre arboretum grown almost entirely from seeds collected in the wild from China, Japan and Vietnam. Visitors "feeling energetic" can "combine strolls beside burnt-orange beech and rose-pink katsura trees" with an amble along the East Arboretum's Long Walk Trail to a "peaceful sandy cove", said The Times.

Glen Affric, Highlands
Glen Affric is a beautiful place to visit at any time of the year, said James Forrest in The Telegraph, but it's "even more magical" come autumn when the "ancient Caledonian pines and haunting moorlands morph colours into golden hues". For a "real adventure", consider taking the 44-mile long-distance hiking trail, the Affric Kintail Way, from Drumnadrochit on the shores of Loch Ness to Morvich in Kintail.

US troops in Israel shows wider war is getting closer
Patrick Cockburn for the i news site
Joe Biden's decision to send an advanced missile defence system, operated by US soldiers, to Israel is a "significant step towards the US becoming directly engaged in a regional war", says Patrick Cockburn. Benjamin Netanyahu "can safely calculate" that, "whatever he does in Gaza, in Lebanon and against Iran", he will "risk little since he is effectively under US military protection". Tehran "might conclude that only by striking at the US" can it "hope to force Washington to restrain Israel".

Tory leadership hopeful Kemi is neither a triumph for diversity nor hope for future
Darren Lewis for The Mirror
If Kemi Badenoch "scrapes home" in the "backstabbing race to become the next Conservative party leader", the "delusionists and the indignant will have you see it as a triumph for diversity", writes Darren Lewis. But "she'd be nowhere near the top table had she not been willing to demonise and vilify immigrants and people of colour". The supporters "toasting her success as a triumph for racial diversity" will be "those who have very little racial diversity around them".

Does Strictly's 'hand incident' mean it still has a women problem?
Claire Cohen for The Independent
"Strictly Come Dancing" couple Katya Jones and Wynne Evans have apologised for a "stupid joke that went wrong", but "many women watching will have frozen at the same moment, and felt a pang of recognition", says Claire Cohen. The "sad reality" is that most women "have been groped by bosses, colleagues or friends' partners" and "it's not a joke" but "harassment" that "crosses a boundary, and we don't like it".