World news | The Guardian

Togo-sponsored resolution calls to phase out traditional map that depicts continent as similar size to GreenlandThe UN general assembly will vote on Friday on a resolution for the world to formally phase out the traditional Mercator map of the globe in favour of one that more accurately displays Africa's size.Robert Dussey, Togo's foreign affairs minister, said the resolution was sponsored by Togo and backed by countries including the African Union's 54 other member states. He did not specify the total number. Continue reading...

Lorena Isceri was thrown off a motorway bridge, allegedly by ex-boyfriend Federico VellaA 45-year-old woman abducted and thrown off a motorway bridge near Florence has become the seventh alleged femicide in Italy since mid-August.Lorena Isceri was abducted on Thursday afternoon, allegedly by her ex-boyfriend, Federico Vella, in the Rifredi area of Florence, before being forced into the boot of his car and driven towards a bridge on the A1 motorway.In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org Continue reading...

Abelardo De La Espriella posts video of himself with rows of body bags as performative populism continues to sweep AmericasColombia's hardline president, Abelardo De La Espriella, has provoked outrage after posting a video on social media in which he strides through rows of white body bags that he says contained the corpses of 23 neutralised" guerrillas.De La Espriella took power last month vowing all-out war" against illegal armed groups and he published the footage on Thursday in an apparent attempt to show he was fulfilling that pledge. Continue reading...

Bank of England governor says central bankers must explain decisions or risk being seen as unrepresentative elite'The governor of the Bank of England has said the rise of populist politicians presents a serious challenge to independent central banks.As Nigel Farage's Reform UK gathered for its annual conference in Birmingham, Andrew Bailey said central bankers must be prepared to explain their decisions to the public or risk being attacked as an unrepresentative elite". Continue reading...

Investigation broadcast by Channel 4 News shows man posing as impermissible donor' paying for polling that helped Reform

Wildfire victims rebuilt their homes in Lahaina only to find USPS had eliminated' their addresses - while houses that didn't burn receive mail as normalTwo months after a devastating wildfire whipped through Lahaina in August 2023, Pam Reader was allowed back to see what was left of her home. With a heavy heart, she returned to the Hawaiian oceanside town now filled with endless blocks of burned houses. As she rounded her corner, she saw the only thing remaining was her bright turquoise mailbox.It was an old crappy mailbox," Reader said. It was metal, though, which is why I think it survived." Continue reading...

Deadlocked jurors to return on Friday to see if they can reach a decision after dramatic day of deliberationsThe deadlocked jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial went home without a verdict Thursday in a dramatic sixth day of deliberations.Her defense lawyer told the judge that the panel's foreperson said in a note that a single juror would not follow the court's instructions about reasonable doubt and was holding up a verdict. Continue reading...

Exclusive: New environment secretary insists nothing is off the table' in dealing with ailing Thames WaterBritain's insolvency laws cannot deal with the aggressive behaviour shown by the companies that control Thames Water, the environment secretary has said, as she confirmed ministers were prepared to take it into public ownership.Angela Eagle told the Guardian she was determined to reform the water industry after being told by Andy Burnham to make it her top priority. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Angela Eagle urges people to be a bit more resilient' as she tells UK citizens to plan for national emergenciesBritish people have been urged to have enough food and water on hand to survive a few days without power or water, as the UN said the El Nino climate phenomenon was supersizing before our eyes", exacerbating extreme weather events worldwide.Forecasters say they are braced for the biggest El Nino in 1,000 years, bringing wildfires and floods to parts of the world, and the threat of a wet, stormy winter for the UK.

Maria Corina Machado says interim government does not have democratic mandate to negotiate natural resourcesThe Venezuelan opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, has questioned Donald Trump's oil deal with Venezuela's interim government, declaring that the country's natural resources do not belong to an illegitimate regime".In her first public comments since Trump announced what he called the biggest oil deal in world history" with Venezuela last Friday, Machado walked a diplomatic tightrope between challenging the controversial agreement and trying not to rile the White House. Continue reading...

Labour chair says uch cuts could mean vital public services like hospitals, schools and law enforcement are put at risk'The Electoral Commission has released political donation figures for the second quarter of 2026. They show that Reform UK continues to rake in far more than other parties. Nigel Farage''s party had declared donations worth 5.3m. Labour got 3.6m, and the Conservatives 2.8m.Most of Reform UK's money came from Ben Delo, who gave 4m. As Rowena Mason reported earlier this year, Delo is a British billionaire convicted in the US for failing to implement adequate anti-money-laundering controls in his cryptocurrency business. Continue reading...

Fragmented infrastructure and reliance on US continue to hinder defence readiness', says European court of auditors

Government lawyers tell coroner disclosing intelligence would pose serious risk to national securityMinisters are seeking to block intelligence material from being heard at an inquest into the death of two men killed in the 2025 Manchester synagogue attack.Lawyers for Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, told a coroner on Thursday that disclosing the MI5 files would pose a serious risk to national security. Continue reading...

The city of Senatobia made national news earlier this year after a white officer shot and killed Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old Black baby, while responding to a shoplifting callLate Tuesday, the city of Senatobia, Mississippi fired its police chief, Harold Vanderford, after it was reported that Vanderford regularly used racist slurs against Black people in his text messages. The town, which is about 40% Black, made national news earlier this year after a white officer fatally shot and killed Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old Black baby, while responding to a shoplifting call at Walmart. Officers fired into a vehicle, shooting the driver and killing the toddler, who was being held in his mother's arms.Though Vanderford submitted a resignation letter earlier on 1 September, the city's board of aldermen unanimously voted to reject it and to terminate the officer instead. Vanderford's firing came just under a week after the city wrote in a statement that, despite the messages, he would continue to serve the City with the confidence that was placed in him at the time that he was appointed as Chief". Continue reading...

British tourists reportedly discovered Luger pistol that is latest in long line of potential leads in mystery of al-Hilli deathsExperts are examining a gun found by tourists to determine whether it might have been used to kill a British family in the French Alps 14 years ago.In what remains an unsolved murder case, Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife, Ikbal, 47, and her mother, Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, were shot dead on a road near Annecy, a remote Alpine village in eastern France in September 2012. Continue reading...

Monarch tells Emmanuel Macron at the British Museum in London that the two nations will share a future woven together' by history and shared valuesThe loan of the Bayeux tapestry was the best possible symbol" of the entente amicale" between France and the UK, King Charles said, as he visited the famous embroidered masterpiece at the British Museum in London.Though the tapestry recounts a conflict, here it is today, nearly 1,000 years later, as a precious symbol of trust, at a time when trust seems sadly to be in short supply between nations," he said. Continue reading...

Defence minister says he believes US backing could tip regional balance in favour of forced resettlementIsrael's defence minister has said his country is seeking Donald Trump's support to approve plans to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in what has widely been condemned as a potential war crime.Israel Katz said there was no real solution for Gaza in the end without this

Sally Dowling tells budget estimates that Michael Daley called to tell her he was appointing a senior counsel and raised quite a number of names'

Critically endangered New Zealand bird enjoys record breeding season triggered by mass fruiting of native tree, pushing its numbers to 325The population of the world's heaviest parrot, the kkp, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree.Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to 325 - a record high since recovery efforts began. Continue reading...

North Carolina DA says girl, 17, who disseminated attackers' manifesto charged with murder by aiding and abettingA 17-year-old North Carolina girl who recorded a livestream of a shooting that killed three people at a San Diego mosque and disseminated the attackers' white-supremacist writings has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting, a district attorney said on Monday.Forsyth county district attorney Jim O'Neill said at a news conference in Winston-Salem that the girl, whose name was not mentioned during the news conference, was arrested last week. On Monday, just before she was due to begin the school year, a grand jury indicted her on three counts of murder and one count of conspiracy. Continue reading...

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Police urge mother to attend hospital after baby's body discovered in Harrow Road in Auburn

Justice Natalie Adams says she is troubled by expert evidence about rape allegations in slain woman's police statement

Secretive state begins repairs on ageing facilities after being revealed as worst country for leaks of potent greenhouse gasTurkmenistan has started plugging the mega-leaks of methane that spew from its ageing oil and gas facilities, the latest UN data shows, in a move hailed as a breakthrough.Methane, also called natural or fossil gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. It traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide and causes 25% of global heating today. Stopping leaks can be quick and cheap and, because methane breaks down in the atmosphere far quicker than CO2, this has a rapid impact, with some experts calling it the climate emergency brake". Continue reading...

As families await news after the catastrophe, community members appeal for compassion in the face of hateful rhetoric

The long-running drama reaches Hitler's rise to power in its final season as its creators reflect on the unsettling parallels between Weimar Germany and the present dayIt's the global hit TV series that pulled audiences straight into the chaotic hedonism of 1920s Germany, dramatising the brilliance and brittleness of a newly built democratic system with unprecedented ambition.But in the 13 years that the German makers of Babylon Berlin have worked on the show, modern democracies from the US to Hungary to South Korea have come under pressure in ways the creators say they could never have imagined when they started. Continue reading...

Perrottet disagrees when counsel assisting Peggy Dwyer SC claims brother of former NSW premier is not truthful and constructing evidence'

An estimated 237 people have been rescued but 18 are missing after accident off the coast of northern Cyprus

One Nation candidate Luke Herdegen secures 57% of the vote after preferences as Barnaby Joyce says politics has changed'

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Son of former ABC chair will contest seat of Cessnock in March state election and says my wife's Japanese' so he doesn't believe party is racist

New rules are aimed at protecting people in debt in England and Wales and stopping homeowners being ripped offA clampdown on rogue bailiffs" has been launched by Andy Burnham amid concerns that vulnerable people are being overcharged and face aggressive behaviour.In the latest in a series of everyday fixes" to ease the cost of living and make Britain fairer", the prime minister said he was strengthening the rules that apply to bailiffs in England and Wales to better protect people in debt. Continue reading...

Prime minister intervenes amid anger at news Tony Burke was planning to cut intake of 20,000 arrivals by a third

Lawyers claim Eman el-Shazly, from Birmingham, was detained in effort to silence her sister, a critic of Sisi regimeThe UK Foreign Office has been asked to intervene to secure the release of a British-Egyptian woman who it is claimed has been arrested in Cairo because of her sister's political activism.Eman el-Shazly, a 45-year-old based in Birmingham, was arrested on 16 August while visiting Egypt. Her lawyers say she has been detained in an attempt to silence her sister Mona, a relentless and harsh critic of the Egyptian government on her UK-based YouTube channel. Continue reading...

The once world-leading producer of crude oil has plunged into an energy crisis as Kyiv targets its refineriesA sanctioned shadow fleet tanker carries oil from Nato member Turkey to a Russian Baltic port. A deal is signed for Russian oil to be processed in Kazakhstan. Fuel cargoes arrive from India via Egypt. The Kremlin pressures allies to sell it badly needed fuel.The data points may be diverse, but they point to a single inescapable conclusion. Continue reading...

Former building commissioner David Chandler told inquiry of clashes with loud and overbearing' developer Jean Nassif

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Rules will require hedge funds, insurers and pension firms to report all non-financial wrongdoingThe City's largest hedge funds, insurers and pension funds are racing to prepare for sweeping rules that will stop nearly 40,000 companies from hiding bullying and harassment cases from the financial watchdog.From the start of next month, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will expand a crackdown on bad behaviour in the banking industry to a wider group of City investment firms and brokers. Continue reading...

Households in Great Britain will pay equivalent of 1,723 a year, prompting calls for more support

Gunmen attacked worshippers in Dekara village on Friday taking women, children and older peopleAn armed group has posted a video showing what residents said were about 600 women, children and older people abducted in an attack on a mosque in Nigeria's north-central Niger State last week.The video, posted on Facebook and WhatsApp, showed large groups of people seated in a forested area surrounded by armed men. Several children could be heard crying in the background. Continue reading...

Claire Lomas had been filming a series for Apple TV in Amman, Jordan when she lost control of the aircraftThe death of a disability campaigner after a microlight crash while filming a TV programme for Apple was an accident, a coroner has concluded.An inquest heard on Thursday that Claire Lomas, 44, died of severe traumatic injuries on 22 August 2024, five weeks after a light aircraft that she had been piloting while filming a promotional video for Apple's Vision Pro headset veered off the runway" and crashed into a rock in Amman, Jordan, on 15 July. Continue reading...

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to return to live in Britain, six years after leaving for the US: a decision that was subject to intense media scrutiny. The couple and their two children are expected to relocate later in August to a non-royal residence.Nosheen Iqbal speaks to senior national editor Aaron Sharp - watch on YouTube Continue reading...

Pre-tax profits rose at high street opticians to 429.7m in the year to February while sales rose 7% to 4.3bnSpecsavers has paid 12m to its parent company controlled by its founders Doug and Dame Mary Perkins after the high street optician's profits increased by more than a quarter.The group operates nearly 3,000 optometry, audiology and ophthalmology businesses globally in at least eight countries, including more than 1,200 in the UK, through hundreds of independent partners. Continue reading...

The country risks the collapse of the entire book ecosystem' following destruction of warehouses in July and August, say Ukrainian publishersThe Ukrainian Book Institute has called on the international publishing community to support Ukrainian publishers after Russian attacks in July and early August destroyed about 10m books and a significant share of the country's book production capacity.The institute said the attacks on publishing, printing and warehouse infrastructure had left some companies at risk of financial collapse. A major attack on 1 August hit warehouses belonging to the RNK-Ranok publishing group in Kharkiv, destroying approximately 8m books, following July attacks in Kyiv which led to the loss of more than 1.5m books. In all, the recent attacks have led to the destruction of approximately 30% of the volume of books produced annually in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Device was near country's Neptun Deep gas platform in the Black SeaRomania's military has destroyed a marine drone spotted just a few hundred meters" from the Neptun Deep platform, a major offshore gas project in the Black Sea.The drone, spotted just a few hundreds of meters" from the gas extraction works at the Neptun Deep platform located some 80 miles east of the city of Constana, was destroyed by a Romanian F-16 fighter jet. Continue reading...

Dulwich Picture Gallery show to feature British artist's work hung next to paintings by Dutch and Flemish greatsThe contemporary UK artist David Shrigley will apply his trademark arch humour and distinctive artistic practice in dialogue" with old masters of Dutch and Flemish painting in a major new solo exhibition in London.The celebrated visual artist will explore the 17th-century paintings with his own new works responding to" and hung alongside original masterpieces by artists including Jan Steen, Adriaen Brouwer, David Teniers the Younger, Adriaen van Ostade, Pieter Brueghel the Younger and Rembrandt van Rijn. Continue reading...

Club's board meets on Tuesday night to decide penalties after league boss calls reports deeply concerning'The Sydney Swans AFL club will sanction players for serious breach" of standards over an incident that led to a report of sexual assault.Victorian police on Tuesday confirmed the sexual crimes squad was investigating a reported sexual assault at Melbourne's Pullman Hotel early on Monday morning. No arrests have been made and no charges have been laid. Continue reading...

Consumers also turn to supermarket deals to save money, helping slow grocery price inflation

Iran war prompts cost of living squeeze for workers as ONS reports unemployment rate stays at 4.9%

Robert Smith, Olly Alexander and Paris Paloma also among signatories to letter saying exploitation of Rosebank and Jackdaw fields defies climate reality