Group took over upper floors of house claiming squatters’ rights and changing locksTwo dozen homeless protesters have stormed a council-owned building in Chester, north-west England, and barricaded themselves inside.
The protester held two signs, one condemning anti-Islam party For Britain, and another that said ‘Bigmouth indeed’Morrissey has ejected an anti-far-right protester from a show in Portland. During his performance at the city’s Moda Center on Monday night (30 September), a woman held up two signs. One depicted the logo of the anti-Islam party For Britain struck through by a red line. The other read: “Bigmouth indeed.â€In fan footage from the concert, Morrissey can be seen addressing the woman after the second song of the night. “Let’s be quite frank,†he says. “When you with the sign are removed, I will continue.†His fans then join in as he repeatedly shouts “goâ€, “we don’t need you†and “goodbyeâ€, calling upon his lighting technician to bring up the house lights. Continue reading...
Pyne’s GC Advisory has been engaged by property developers to fight the state Liberal government’s land tax proposalsThe crossbench senator Rex Patrick has labelled Christopher Pyne’s lobbying of South Australian Liberals on behalf of property developers an “offensive†use of his political connections, while transparency campaigners have renewed calls for a five-year prohibition on post-ministerial lobbying.Pyne’s GC Advisory has been engaged by a group of influential South Australian property developers to fight the state Liberal government’s land tax proposals, raising eyebrows given Pyne’s recent leading role in the federal Liberal party. Continue reading...
by Tom Phillips in Aldeia Nova, Rondônia state. Phot on (#4RMDZ)
Activists say onslaught has intensified as illegal loggers and land-grabbers take the president’s verbal offensive against indigenous communities as a green light to actMore than 30 bullet holes told Awapu Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau a sinister tale.“Their message is that they’re going to finish us off, isn’t it?†the village chieftan said as he examined the pockmarked sign warning outsiders to stay off the giant Amazon reserve he calls home. Continue reading...
A year on, no action has been taken about the killing. The Trump administration has much to answer forExactly one year ago, I stood outside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, waiting for my fiance, Jamal Khashoggi, to come out with the marriage documents we needed to begin our life together. I was optimistic, even excited. Yet I never saw Jamal again.I did not expect to have my life transformed. I did not expect to have to alert the authorities to Jamal’s disappearance, or to find myself at the centre of a story that would shake the world. I did not expect, on a day that seemed unremarkable, to have my dreams shattered. By necessity I was put on a path, compelled to begin a campaign for justice for the man who was not only stolen from me but also taken away from those who read his work, and who admired him for his courage and his unrelenting commitment to the truth. Continue reading...
NRMA blames volatile world oil prices and says Australia is ‘hugely exposed’Motorists in Sydney and Brisbane have been told it is too late to fill up cheaply before the long weekend and petrol prices are set to hit record highs.In Sydney the average price of petrol is expected to reach 166c a litre on Wednesday and will not drop again until next week. In Brisbane the record average of 169.9c a litre across the city, set a year ago, will be threatened. Continue reading...
The capital’s skyline is filled with cranes. They can’t disguise sky-high rents, a cultural brain-drain and growing inequalityThere’s a reason that “Was it for this?†remains one of WB Yeats’s most recited fragments of poetry in Ireland. The line comes from Yeats’s September 1913, which poured scorn on how the greed and hypocrisies of the business class had replaced the romanticism of previous Irish generations.Ireland’s modern dismay, however, is at rampant and growing inequality, and the way in which its cities and cultural spaces are being hollowed out by speculation, gentrification, poor or absent planning and squandered opportunities. Continue reading...
Hever Castle’s new painting depicts king described as ‘murderous thug’ by historian David StarkeyThere are many who believe Richard III has an undeservedly malignant reputation. For the historian David Starkey it is not malignant enough.He was a “murderous thugâ€, Starkey said on Tuesday as he unveiled a late 16th-century portrait of the king, which goes on public display from Wednesday for the first time. Continue reading...
Wednesday: Violence escalated as China marked its National Day. Plus, damage to Australia’s coastal ecosystems is increasing emissionsGood morning, this is Helen Sullivan bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Wednesday 2 October. Continue reading...
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments, including reaction to leaked UK plans for the Irish border, the PM’s interviews and Priti Patel’s speech to Tory party conference
The nationalism that taps into people’s angst and dislocation can be effectively challenged with a bazooka of a eurozone budgetLast month Germany’s version of the Sun, Der Bild, ran a sensationalist attack on the outgoing president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi. Depicting the central banker as “Count Draghilaâ€, replete with vampirish teeth and velvet collar, the article portrayed the ECB boss as a fiend sucking the bank accounts of German savers dry of billions of euros with low interest rates. A day later the tabloid interviewed the head of the German central bank to ram the message home under the headline “Is our money in danger?â€. There is an undoubted perception across Europe’s largest economy that the ECB was penalising savers through easy money policies that have given populists a stick to beat mainstream politicians with. However, the release of the latest economic data shows that Mr Draghi was right and German sentiment was wrong.It is increasingly clear the risk of recession in Europe is rising. Growth is sputtering while inflation is falling. The eurozone manufacturing sector suffered its worst month in seven years while inflation dropped to a three-year low. Mr Draghi has for years attempted to resuscitate the eurozone’s sluggish economy through monetary means. Last month the ECB lowered interest rates further into negative territory and restarted the ECB programme of buying bonds. Yet as one economist perceptively put it, the problem for the eurozone is that “weak credit growth is driven by the lack of demand from creditworthy borrowers rather than the supply cost of financeâ€. This can be solved in part by governments stepping up to boost demand in the eurozone. Mr Draghi is right to say it is no longer tenable to claim that monetary policy alone can deal with the entrenched problems of the continental economy. Instead he correctly called for fiscal policy to become the main economic instrument to sustain demand in the eurozone. Continue reading...
Farmers and residents demand information from government after huge blaze last weekTrade unions, farmers and residents have taken to the streets in the northern French city of Rouen, demanding the government publish all data on the impact of a huge fire at a chemical factory amid fears for health and the environment.The government has by criticised by residents and environmentalists since the fire broke out early last Thursday at a storage facility owned by Lubrizol, a manufacturer of industrial lubricants and fuel additives that is owned by the billionaire US investor Warren Buffett. Continue reading...
Court to hear compensation claims after landmark ruling lifts statute of limitationsThe relatives of five men summarily executed during the final years of Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia will have their case heard in court after a ground-breaking decision to lift the statute of limitations.The court of appeal in The Hague found there was sufficient evidence that language differences and social disadvantage had stood in the way of claims being made against the state. Continue reading...
One man sentenced to death and others receive long sentences in further blow to efforts to calm US-Iranian tensionsIranian courts have sentenced one man to death for spying for the US and jailed two others for 10 years for the same crime, as well as imprisoning a fourth person for six years for spying for Britain, an Iranian judiciary spokesman has said.“One person has been sentenced to death for spying for America … but the ruling has been appealed,†Gholamhossein Esmaili told the judiciary’s news website, Mizan, on Tuesday. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#4RJ17)
Offences include repeatedly asking for a date or sending explicit texts, survey showsOne in five doctors has been sexually harassed or witnessed it at work, with offences including explicit text messages or emails or being groped, propositioned or repeatedly asked to go on a date, a survey has found.The perpetrators are mostly patients but sometimes they are fellow medics or nurses, according to a survey of 1,378 hospital doctors and GPs across the UK. Continue reading...
Family pays tribute to internationally celebrated medal of arts recipientJessye Norman, the renowned international opera star whose passionate soprano voice won her four Grammy awards and the national medal of arts, has died, according to a family spokesperson, Gwendolyn Quinn. She was 74.Related: Jessye Norman: a powerful voice joins America’s race debate | Observer profile Continue reading...
Critics say Hajar Raissouni’s one-year sentence is a crackdown on criticism governmentA Moroccan journalist has been sentenced to a year in prison on charges of having an illegal abortion and premarital sex, in a trial observers say was concocted to crack down on criticism of the government.A Rabat court sentenced journalist Hajar Raissouni to one year in prison, on charges of “having an illegal abortion and sexual relations outside marriageâ€. Her fiancee, Prof Rifaat al-Amin was given a one-year sentence for alleged complicity. Continue reading...
Chris Ling was first investigated in 1990 after abuse allegations but case was dropped due to supposed lack of evidenceThe Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) could and should have extradited a paedophile music teacher suspected of grooming and sexually abusing a string of girls at a school in Manchester, the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse has heard.In 1990, detectives began investigating Chris Ling, a violin teacher at Chetham’s School of Music. He had moved to the US with some sixth form pupils – one of whom he married – promising to make them classical music stars. Continue reading...
Brazil’s president accused of ‘drinking from the sewers of history’ by recommending The Suffocated TruthBrazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has been accused of “drinking from the sewer of history†after urging teenage students to read a book by a notorious dictatorship-era torturer accused of directing interrogation sessions where victims were were whipped, given electric shocks and pounded with vine wood canes.Bolsonaro, an outspoken fan of the 1964-1985 military regime during which hundreds of political opponents were murdered and thousands more tortured, met with students at the gates of the presidential palace in the capital, BrasÃlia, on Monday. Continue reading...
by Sarah Martin Chief political correspondent on (#4RGX5)
Greens leader says ALP will lose again if it retreats from climate action, and coal workers deserve ‘honest conversation’ about transition from fossil fuelsGreens leader Richard Di Natale says Labor has learned “all the wrong lessons†from its election defeat, warning that a retreat from action on climate change will see it lose the next election.Ahead of a new parliamentary inquiry into future employment for regional areas that begins hearings on Tuesday, Di Natale said neither major party had been prepared to have an “honest conversation†with workers in the coal industry who would be affected by the transition away from fossil fuels. Continue reading...
Song Moujiang, jailed for people trafficking, escaped prison in 2002Chinese police reportedly used drones to track down a convicted human trafficker who had been on the run for 17 years and was living in a cave.Song Moujiang, 63, who was jailed for trafficking women and children, had evaded police capture after escaping a prison camp, Yilaochang Farm in Sichuan province, in March 2002, the BBC reported. Continue reading...
Emotionally powerful exhibition of Iraqi Kurdish artists will include paintings peppered by bulletsKurdish artworks that survived Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons as well as Islamic State’s cultural vandalism will go on display at a London gallery this week.Iraqi Kurdish artists have made paintings and art installations from artefacts including Assyrian reliefs from 700 BC peppered by Isis bullet holes and the farewell “death†notes of a charity worker smuggling aid to Isis-controlled Mosul. Continue reading...
Emergency services search for person feared swept away by River Severn waveA threat-to-life warning has been issued as parts of Britain brace for two more days of heavy rain, ahead of some snowfall and the leftovers of a hurricane later this week.On Monday, emergency services were searching for a person apparently swept away by the River Severn, after a yellow weather warning was issued for parts of Wales and the Midlands. Continue reading...
Italian capital’s waste management problems compounded by inefficiency and corruptionDemand for pest control services in apartment buildings in Rome has boomed in recent months as authorities in the Italian capital struggle to overcome its rubbish crisis.Rats, cockroaches and other insects have been infiltrating apartment buildings in areas, mostly beyond the centre, where rubbish had piled up on the streets for days before collection. Continue reading...
Freedom party’s vote collapses to 16%, as others stall in Italy, Spain, France and elsewhereThe slump in support for the nationalist Freedom party (FPÖ) in Austria’s elections on Sunday is the latest indication that if the tide has not turned against Europe’s far-right populists, it does seem – for the time being, at least – to have stopped rising.Sebastian Kurz’s conservative People’s party (ÖVP) won 37.1% of the vote, its best score since 2002, while the share held by FPÖ, until May his junior coalition partner in government, collapsed to 16.1%, down a full 10 percentage points. Continue reading...
Many in China may prefer to forget the chaotic and bloody decades under the rule of Chairman Mao Zedong, but 70 years after he founded the People’s Republic his face is on memorabilia in shops across the country. The Great Helmsman has had a kitsch makeover, appearing on everything from posters, fans and ornaments to mugs and plates Continue reading...
Military police have launched only 35 probes into racially aggravated crimes in five yearsMilitary police have launched 35 investigations into racially aggravated crimes over the past five years, prompting warnings that many service personnel from BAME backgrounds are “suffering in silenceâ€.The number of military police investigations – which the Ministry of Defence has admitted is low – was revealed following a Freedom of Information Act by the Guardian and cover those conducted in the army, navy and air force since 2015. Continue reading...
Crackdown begins on high-profile activists in Hong Kong and the mainland ahead of 70th anniversaryAuthorities have arrested at least two high-profile activists as Hong Kong prepares to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China on Tuesday.A large demonstration organised by the group Civil Human Rights Front, which has organised previous mass protests, has been banned by the police, but protesters have vowed to turn out on 1 October to show their anger and frustration at the erosion of rights under Chinese rule. Continue reading...
Monday: A legal loophole is depriving people of unpaid wages. Plus, Boris Johnson could bypass a law preventing a no-deal BrexitGood morning, this is Stephen Smiley bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Monday 30 September. Continue reading...
Alice Springs woman warned she could lose her wages and her house by debt collectorsAn Alice Springs woman says she was pursued by an external debt collector who warned they could seize her wages or stop her travelling overseas over a $3,700 Centrelink overpayment that a tribunal later found was entirely caused by the agency’s mistakes.But Emma Delahunty, a single mother of a one-year-old, will be forced to pay back the money due to what she called a “loophole†in the rules for people receiving paid parental leave. Continue reading...
‘They are shorting the pound and the country’ warns Nick Macpherson of Boris Johnson’s hedge fund supportersFormer chancellor Philip Hammond’s attack on Boris Johnson’s hedge fund backers has been supported by a former top Treasury civil servant, as financial experts raise concerns over the PM’s links to the City.Nick Macpherson, former permanent secretary to the Treasury, said Hammond was right to question the political connections of some of the hedge funds with a financial interest in no deal. Continue reading...
Rolling coverage of Tory conference in Manchester, as PM defends use of the term ‘surrender act’ and says ‘nothing to declare’ over Jennifer Arcuri
Activists from diverse political movements assemble in Moscow in sanctioned rallyTens of thousands of activists have rallied in Moscow to call for an end to prosecutions tied to this summer’s mass protests, as Russia’s opposition seeks to maintain its momentum after the largest anti-Kremlin demonstrations in years.Russian police estimated at least 20,000 demonstrators – and organisers said the numbers were higher – joined the sanctioned rally on a drizzly autumn Sunday to listen to speeches attacking the political crackdown amid chants of “let them goâ€. Continue reading...
Yemen militant group says it captured further 2,000 troops in operation in Saudi ArabiaHouthi rebels in Yemen say they have killed 500 Saudi soldiers, captured a further 2,000 and seized a convoy of Saudi military vehicles.The extraordinary claims at a press conference on Sunday, involving still photographs and inconclusive videos of captured soldiers, many not in uniform, could not be corroborated, and there was no independent confirmation from Saudi Arabia. Continue reading...
Worsening relations between the two countries now affecting trade, security, tourism and day-to-day lifeLong lunchtime queues form outside restaurants serving samgyeopsal (barbecued pork belly) and sundubu jjigae (a tofu stew). Groups of teenage girls brave the drizzle and eat Korean-style hotdogs on street corners after shopping for cosmetics and K-pop merchandise.This is not Seoul, but Shin-ÅŒkubo, a little slice of Korea in central Tokyo. It is home to a large ethnic Korean community, some the descendants of people at the heart of a dispute between Japan and South Korea that local business owners fear is turning them into collateral victims. Continue reading...
PM says UK can still leave with no deal and fails to deny asking EU nations to block extensionBoris Johnson has ramped up speculation that he is planning to bypass a law that stops the UK from crashing out of the EU without a deal.The prime minister told the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show that Britain can still leave the bloc on 31 October despite the passing of the Benn Act, which aims to prevent a no-deal Brexit by forcing him to ask Brussels for a delay. Continue reading...
Riot officers confront crowds gathered in Causeway Bay shopping districtPolice have used teargas and pepper spray on thousands of protesters in Hong Kong as demonstrations enter their 17th week in the city’s most serious political crisis for decades.The protest, which was not sanctioned by the police, was scheduled to start at 3pm local time (0800 BST) in the Causeway Bay shopping district, but dozens of riot police began guarding the area hours before. They stopped and searched a number of young people dressed in black. Continue reading...
Detective identifies gangster Billy Hill as mastermind of 1963 crime that still fascinates the publicWho was the mastermind? Who were the ones who got away? And why do we still want to know? Nearly 60 years after the Great Train Robbery, fresh claims are being made about who planned it and who were the robbers who were never caught. Never mind whodunnits; there’s now a genre of whoreallydunnits.A book published this week, written by a former British Transport police detective with the help of one of the robbers, will claim that the mastermind of the heist was the late gangster Billy Hill, and that one of the team who got away with it was a relative of an Arsenal and England football player. It will also suggest that the person named recently as the “real†inside man was, in fact, a blameless postman. Already some of the new claims are being challenged by relatives of the men named. Continue reading...
The prime minister and his poisonous sidekick react to accusations of ‘dangerous language’•You can buy your own print of this cartoon Continue reading...
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