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Carrie Lam interrupted twice by angry pro-democracy politicians, who shouted her down during address

Today, we are making a public pledge to ourselves and our readers, that we are committed to taking responsibility for our role - both journalistically and institutionally - on how to impact the climate crisis we are facing. Continue reading...

Thousands trek to Sorte Mountain each year to perform fiery rituals in tribute to the goddess Continue reading...

New extension beyond 31 October seems inevitable, even as PM gains support for his Brexit deal

Paul 'Jock' Palfreeman, who served 11 years in prison for fatally stabbing a Bulgarian student, has been released from immigration detention in the capital, Sofia, nearly a month after being granted parole. Speaking to journalists as he left the detention centre, Palfreeman voiced a desire to stay in Bulgaria if possible. 'Many people probably think, that I have had protection from Australia for the last 12 years, but the truth is, that the people who have helped me were Bulgarians and I trust them' Continue reading...

Business and city leaders warn of economic damage of cancellation and call for 2012 Olympics-style authorityA review of HS2 by northern business and city leaders has called for control of construction of the high-speed railway to be devolved to the north and Midlands – and warned that its possible cancellation would leave no viable alternatives for transforming their economies.The Northern Powerhouse Independent Review (NPIR), established to inform or pre-empt the government’s own review of HS2, recommended a new body, HS2 North, be established to integrate HS2 with proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail links. Continue reading...

Residents of Drenthe, a province in the north-east Netherlands, reacted to the discovery of a group of people believed to have spent years living in the cellar of a remote farmhouse 'waiting for the end of time'.

Four adults and three children were held in ‘baby jail’ in what they call ‘scariest experience’ of their livesThe Foreign Office is helping a British family of seven who were arrested in the US and subject to the “scariest experience” of their lives at the hands of the immigration authorities after inadvertently crossing the border from Canada.David and Eileen Connors and their three-month-old son were on a family road trip on 3 October near Vancouver with David’s cousin Michael, his wife Grace, and their two-year-old twin daughters. Continue reading...

Three-quarters of MPs want the caps, with 23% saying misrepresentation by media their greatest dislikeThree-quarters of federal parliamentarians want caps placed on both donations and election spending to help restore Australians’ trust in the democratic process.On Wednesday, Democracy2025 will release the results of a survey of 98 out of 226 politicians in the last term of parliament, which shows while most politicians are satisfied with Australian democracy (61%) compared with the public at large (41%), they are still concerned about lack of trust and a growing disconnect with the public. Continue reading...

Decision to make first black female winner, Bernardine Evaristo, share £50,000 prize with Margaret Atwood causes controversyThe Booker prize judges’ decision to break the rules and jointly award the prize to Margaret Atwood and Bernadine Evaristo has been criticised, with detractors pointing out that the first black woman ever to win Britain’s most prestigious literary award has had to share it – while receiving half the usual money.Chair of the judges Peter Florence shocked the literary world on Monday night when he revealed that the jury had decided – unanimously, he said – to flout rules, which have been in place since 1992, that the Booker “may not be divided or withheld”. After more than five hours of deliberation, he announced that this year’s £50,000 award would be split between Atwood’s follow-up to The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments, and Evaristo’s polyphonic novel Girl, Woman, Other. Told in the voices of 12 different characters, mostly black women, Evaristo has said that the novel, her eighth, stems from the fact that “we black British women know that if we don’t write ourselves into literature, no one else will”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Royal British Legion decision means symbol will also mark terror attack deathsIf you wear a red poppy this year, it will mean something different. The Royal British Legion has decided that the symbol that has long represented remembrance of the UK’s armed forces will now also stand for civilian victims, not just of war, but terrorism too.The decision by the 98-year old charity, which distributes 40m red poppies a year, opens up the official meaning of the famous symbol to encapsulate the memory of victims of the Manchester Arena attack in 2017, as well as civilians in Nazi Germany in the second world war. Continue reading...

Unicef report finds poorest children at greatest risk, while price of healthy food in rich nations drives food povertyAt least one in three children under five are either undernourished or overweight, and one in two lack essential vitamins and nutrients, the UN children’s agency has warned.The Unicef report laid bare the alarming rate at which poor diets and a “failing” food system are damaging children, saying that “millions are eating too little of what they need and millions are eating too much of what they don’t need: poor diets are now the main risk factor for the global burden of disease”. Continue reading...

Ex-footballer claims he told woman ‘you’re beautiful’ after another passenger insulted herThe former England footballer Paul Gascoigne wept as he denied sexually assaulting a woman on a train, claiming he wanted to boost her confidence after she was called “fat and ugly”.The 52-year-old denied he was drunk or that he “forcibly and sloppily” kissed the passenger on a packed train on 20 August last year. The ex-Newcastle United star said he told the woman “You’re not fat and ugly – you’re beautiful inside and out”, then gave her a “peck on the lips”. Continue reading...

Royal Court, London

Attendees at ‘immigration surgeries’ at churches and centres told it won’t involve enforcementThe empty doorway: A death in WestminsterThe Home Office is using information gathered in “immigration surgeries” at charities and places of worship to deport vulnerable homeless people who are told that attending will help them get financial support, the Guardian has learned.Interviews and internal emails revealed the Salvation Army, Sikh gurdwaras and a Chinese community support centre are among the bodies allowing Home Office teams in London to run sessions in spaces that are intended to be safe havens for homeless people. Continue reading...

New envoy to UK also says Riyadh is losing confidence in Donald TrumpThe Turkish assault on north-east Syria is a disaster for the region and has dented Riyadh’s confidence in Donald Trump, according to the new Saudi Arabian ambassador to the UK, Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud.He also claimed his country had much more to lose than Iran from a conflict between the two countries and wanted to behave as “the adults in the room” by not escalating tensions with Tehran. He said Saudi Arabia would have further to fall if a conflict took place. Continue reading...

Paris show includes treatment of woman France loved to hate in mangas, fashion and filmWhen Marie-Antoinette met a gruesome end at the guillotine 226 years ago this week, she was the most hated woman in France. As the horse-drawn cart carried the former queen, her blonde hair shorn and prematurely grey, through the streets of Paris to her execution in 1793, the crowds jostled to spit and hurl insults at her.She was 37, an Austrian-born “foreigner” accused of treason and of being aloof, branded a shameless spendthrift and nicknamed “Madame Deficit” for the bills she had run up on the finest clothes and jewels. Continue reading...

Government officials admit credit cards can still be used to buy restricted itemsPeople on the cashless debit card (CDC) are still able to gamble and buy alcohol, drugs, cigarettes and pornography because a potential loophole in the system allows them to use credit cards without detection while they are on income management.Government officials have admitted it is unable to track the use of credit cards, and people who have credit cards can still use them to buy restricted items and use their CDC income to pay off the debts. Continue reading...

Two women with ties to Islamist militants sentenced to at least 25 years for unsuccessful 2016 atttackTwo women with Islamist militant ties who tried to set off a crude car bomb outside Notre Dame cathedral three years ago each have been sentenced to at least 25 years in jail.They were among five members of an all-female jihadist cell, aged between 22 and 42, who were arrested after a car packed with seven gas cylinders was found parked near the bustling esplanade in front of the Paris cathedral in September 2016. Continue reading...

Newborn baby girl was heard crying after being buried alive in clay pot in Uttar PradeshA man digging a grave in northern India found a newborn girl buried alive, police have said, in the latest case to shine a spotlight on female infanticide in the country.Hitesh Sirohi had gone to bury his own daughter, who died a few minutes after birth on Wednesday, when his spade hit an earthen pot, local police in Uttar Pradesh state told AFP. Continue reading...

City-wide Met police operation begins to clear Trafalgar Square and other protest sitesPolice have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s camp in Trafalgar Square.The Metropolitan police issued a revised section 14 order on Monday night that said “any assembly linked to the Extinction Rebellion ‘Autumn Uprising’ ... must now cease their protests within London (MPS and City of London Police Areas)” by 9pm. Continue reading...

Coalition MP accused of hypocrisy for disparaging Australian Extinction Rebellion protestersGovernment backbencher Tim Wilson has defended his decision to join pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and said environmental protests in Australia have a right to operate “so long as they stick within the law”.Wilson joined protesters in Hong Kong last week but was accused of hypocrisy because of previous comments disparaging protests in Australia. Continue reading...

With the US gone, the implications of their departure is beginning to sink in across the Middle EastThe moment that changed the Middle East arrived with a sudden silence. Just before 7pm on Sunday, the internet was cut across north-eastern Syria where, for half an hour, the Kurds of the region had been digesting a news flash. The Syrian government was returning to two towns, Manbij and Kobane. The implication quickly sunk in.The regional capital, Qamishli, soon emptied; streets that had bustled with minibuses and shoppers became eerie and still. With the internet down phones were no help and nor were officials who had vanished along with the traffic. Air seemed to be suddenly vacuumed from the city, and the few people still around knew exactly what it meant: this was the moment power changed hands. It was a time to be scared. Continue reading...

Eurosceptics and Labour MPs indicate they could back prime minister if he clinches agreement in BrusselsBoris Johnson is edging towards the parliamentary numbers needed to pass a Brexit deal after more hardline Eurosceptics and pro-deal Labour MPs indicated they could back a new agreement made with the EU.The prime minister will need to win over almost all the 28 Tory “Spartans” who held out against Theresa May’s deal if he manages to bring an agreement back from Brussels, as well as either the Democratic Unionist party or a chunk of Labour backbenchers. Continue reading...

Christian Porter suggests claim the bill could harm Victorian ban on conversion therapy is either ‘inept’ or ‘malicious’The attorney general Christian Porter has emphatically rejected the Victorian government’s claim the religious discrimination bill could harm its proposed ban on gay conversion therapy.In comments to Guardian Australia, Porter accused the Andrews Labor government of a “clear lack of understanding” of the bill which he said preserves states’ rights to pass their own laws, suggesting the criticism was either inept or malicious. Continue reading...

Margaret Owen says the UK is complicit in Erdoğan’s offensive into north-eastern Syria and as guilty as Trump in allowing this invasion, Andy Brown suggests kicking Turkey out of Nato, Anthony Bradley asks what can be done to help the victims. Plus letters from David Bricknell and Sibyl GrundbergThis betrayal of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) and Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) is sickening (Turkey launches Syria strikes as Trump scorns America’s Kurdish allies, 10 October).It is they who have been fighting Isis as the most reliable local forces on the ground, who liberated Kobane and Raqqa, who host the many refugees of all ethnicities and religions in their autonomous administration, Rojava, and hold many Isis members captive. Continue reading...

Concerns raised over law change advocates say will reduce obstacles to trans rightsSenior Scottish National party MPs, MSPs and councillors have expressed concerns about its proposed changes to gender recognition laws, as they launched a pledge calling for women to have the right to discuss such policies.Several women at the launch for the SNP Women’s pledge said they were close to quitting the party because of what they considered to be a refusal by officials to address concerns that women and girls could fall victim to predatory men or lose access to single-sex services. Continue reading...

The children are believed to have been taken to safety following mass fleeing of camp holding Islamic State affiliates in north-east SyriaThree orphans believed to be British citizens have been evacuated from an area in northern Syria that was the focus of recent attacks by Turkish troops and their allies.The Guardian understands that the three children, Amira, 10, her sister, Hiba, eight, and their brother, Hamza, were evacuated from a camp for people associated with Islamic State in Ain Issa on Sunday. They were part of a group of 28 children taken to safety by the UN refugee organisation. Continue reading...

The singer and former f(x) member, who was the victim of online bullying, had severe depression, according to policeThe K-pop star and actor Sulli has been found dead at the age of 25. Police said that the celebrity, born Choi Jin-ri, was discovered unconscious at her Seongnam residence on 14 October.“Her manager visited her home after failing to reach her since their last call the night before,” Seongnam police said, adding that Sulli had been experiencing severe depression. “It seems that she took her own life but we are also looking into other possibilities.” Continue reading...

Parents of teenager killed in road accident say they will only meet US diplomat’s wife if she commits to UK returnThe parents of Harry Dunn have given their first US TV interview, recounting the death of their son in a road accident as part of a campaign to pressure a US diplomat’s wife involved in the collision to return to the UK and face police questioning.Anne Sacoolas, 42, left the UK shortly after the collision between Dunn’s motorbike and a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August. She is believed to have been driving the car and met Northamptonshire police afterwards. But no investigation followed after the force was advised by the UK government that she had the protective status granted to foreign diplomats. Continue reading...

Labour’s Dan Jarvis and Tory David Davis go to high court over abandoned promiseA Labour and a Conservative MP have joined with a human rights charity to mount a legal challenge against a decision to abandon a promise to hold a judge-led inquiry into torture and rendition involving British intelligence agencies after 9/11.Dan Jarvis and David Davis have submitted an application for a judicial review in the high court in conjunction with Reprieve to try to reverse a decision made in the last days of Theresa May’s government, which contradicted a promise originally made by David Cameron. Continue reading...

Demonstrators take to streets in Barcelona and elsewhere in Spain after verdicts

Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Michael Kremer ‘dramatically improved’ practical solutionsAcademics who have pioneered on-the-ground experiments to discover the most effective ways to tackle poverty in the developing world were awarded the Nobel prize for economics on Monday.Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of the Massachusetts Institute for Technology secured the 9m Swedish krona (£720,000) prize with Harvard professor Michael Kremer. Continue reading...

President cancels austerity package that sparked weeks of violent street demonstrationsEcuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, has struck a deal with indigenous leaders to cancel a disputed austerity package and end nearly two weeks of protests that have paralysed the economy and left seven dead.Under the agreement, Moreno will withdraw the International Monetary Fund-backed package, known as Decree 883, that included a sharp rise in fuel costs. Indigenous leaders, in turn, will call on their followers to end protests and street blockades. Continue reading...

Despite earlier briefings that 40 were taken, only ‘Beatles’ duo are said to be under US controlUS forces in north-east Syria were able to seize only two British Islamic State prisoners, leaving behind a cluster of others despite previous briefings that about 40 had been forcibly taken from Kurdish custody.Kurdish military guarding the prisoners – supposedly among the most dangerous of several thousand Isis fighters in the region – refused to allow US special forces to take individuals other than Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh. Continue reading...

Seventy‑one‑year‑old Owen Tydd is one of the last windmill repairmen in Australia. He has been called upon by thousands of farmers across New South Wales and beyond to repair and install windmills for the past 30 years. He calls himself a windmill mechanic and estimates he has climbed more than 10,000 windmills during his career. Windmills were originally used to mill grain or pump groundwater and have become an iconic part of the Australian rural landscape. But with the use of new technologies they are fast becoming obsolete. ‘They are all becoming fairly old, with new windmills available but not a lot being put up,’ Tydd said. ‘The thought pattern at present is if you want to put something new in to pump water, you either put in an electric submersible pump or a solar pump. And because I am just about to retire, I am not going to argue about that. I’m going to convince people to put in solar pumps to save me from being asked to climb their windmills’ Continue reading...

Legend has it that Faroto tribesmen once defended their community in north Colombia by dressing as women to lure Spanish conquistadors into an ambush. In a country ravaged by civil conflict, the annual ‘danza de las Foratas’ keeps the indigenous tradition alive and contributes to dialogue and peace-buildingAll photographs by Louise Norton for Cafod Continue reading...

Japan’s Typhoon Hagibis made landfall south of Tokyo on Saturday evening with heavy rain, which flooded the city and surrounding areas. The death toll has reached 36 and many people are still missing. Emergency workers swung into action, with helicopters plucking people from flooded buildings and police swimming through waters looking for missing people Continue reading...

Woman who won a rare victory at a tribunal says people are afraid to report harassmentThe recent tribunal case brought by banker Stacey Macken shows that sexual discrimination remains a problem in London’s financial district, despite the shockwaves from the #MeToo movement.Macken was handed a rare victory at a London employment tribunal last month, after claiming she was discriminated against due to her gender, and paid hundreds of thousands of pounds less than a male co-worker with the same job title at BNP Paribas. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Zelda Perkins and Rosanna Arquette predict more revelations about high-profile men to comeTwo women whose accounts of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein kick-started the #MeToo movement have warned that the allegations against the film mogul are “only the tip of the iceberg”.Speaking two years after press reports first detailed abuse by Weinstein, his former assistant and theatre producer, Zelda Perkins, and Bafta-award-winning actor Rosanna Arquette, hailed a “profound transformation” but told the Guardian there were likely more revelations to come about high-profile men abusing their positions. Continue reading...

Two women are at centre of trial exposing role of female jihadists in French terrorism

Gergely Karácsony’s victory is one of many defeats across Hungary for Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz partyHungary’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán has suffered his first electoral blow since coming to power in 2010, with an opposition candidate scoring a shock win in the Budapest mayoral race.The victory was “historic”, said the pro-European centre-left challenger Gergely Karácsony, 44, who was backed by a wide range of opposition parties from across the political spectrum. Continue reading...

Military called in after worst storm in six decades causes widespread damageAt least 25 people have died and 15 others are missing after one of the most powerful typhoons in decades struck wide areas of Japan’s main island on Saturday night.Media reports said thousands of troops, firefighters and other emergency workers had been dispatched to rescue people trapped by floodwater in the worst-hit areas, as utilities raced to restore power to hundreds of thousands of homes. Continue reading...

Agreement to hand over border towns comes after more than 700 Isis affiliates escape campKurdish-led forces in control of north-east Syria have reached a deal with the Assad regime to stave off a bloody five-day-old Turkish assault, as more than 700 people with links to Islamic State have escaped from a detention camp in the area.Kurdish fighters controlling the region would surrender the border towns of Manbij and Kobane to Damascus in a deal brokered by Russia, officials said on Sunday night. Continue reading...

The 14 carvings will hang from the ceiling in arts venue The Box, due to open in the springA collection of 19th-century wooden figureheads from British naval warships has been lovingly restored from the ravages of years at sea and will form a striking display at a new heritage and arts complex in Plymouth.The 14 figureheads, some of which were so badly water-damaged that their insides had turned into a soggy mulch, are to be suspended from the ceiling of The Box gallery and museum, which is due to open in the spring. Continue reading...

Heavier sentences for violent criminals among policies aimed at wooing Labour votersViolent and sexual criminals as well as foreign national offenders who return to the UK will face drastically heavier penalties under measures that will form the centrepiece of a Queen’s speech aimed at wresting the agenda away from the delicate Brexit negotiations.With just days to go before the deadline for Boris Johnson to clinch a last-ditch Brexit deal in Brussels, the Queen will on Monday set out his government’s priorities for a new session of parliament, including 22 new bills. Continue reading...

Conservative ruling party took 43.6% of vote according to Ipsos poll which also shows return of leftwing parties and seats for far-rightPoland’s ruling rightwing Law and Justice party is set to win a majority in the country’s parliament and secure another four-year term, according to an exit poll published at the close of voting on Sunday night.The poll, conducted by Ipsos for private broadcaster TVN, gave Law and Justice 43.6% of the vote, which if correct would give the party 239 out of 460 seats in the Polish Sejm. Continue reading...

Monday: Hundreds linked to Islamic State flee amid Turkish offensive. Plus, Labor senator calls Scott Morrison’s rhetoric ‘disturbingly lightweight’Good morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 14 October. Continue reading...

Barnier warns negotiations may have to continue as UK’s Irish border plans are an ‘untested’ riskA breakthrough in the Brexit talks has failed to materialise after a weekend of intensive negotiations, with European Union capitals concluding that it may now be impossible for the UK to leave the EU by 31 October with a deal.In a briefing to EU ambassadors on Sunday evening, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, raised the prospect of the talks having to continue after the forthcoming leaders’ summit on Thursday, such was the lack of progress. Continue reading...