A Christian party has quit Lebanon’s coalition government after more protests against tax rises and alleged corruptionA Lebanese Christian party quit the coalition government on Saturday after tens of thousands of people took to the streets for a third day of protests against tax increases and alleged official corruption.After protesters marched in Beirut, Tripoli and other cities, the head of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, said his group was resigning from the government. Continue reading...

Quim Torra urges dialogue for democratic solution to tensions following fifth consecutive night of violenceCatalonia’s president, Quim Torra, has called for talks with the Spanish government. Speaking on Saturday morning, Torra again condemned the violence of recent days, adding: “Violence has never been our flag.”He urged talks with Spain’s acting government “to open a dialogue to find a democratic solution and a political and democratic” way out of the crisis over regional independence. Continue reading...

Youngsters, aged between 14 and 17, detained alongside 18-year-old over death of Clinton EvbotaFive youths have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of an 18-year-old man in south-east London on 10 October, police have said.The youngsters, aged between 14 and 17, were detained alongside an 18-year-old man over the death of Clinton Evbota, who was stabbed to death on the Brandon Estate in Camberwell, south-east London. Continue reading...

Lambie’s vote will decide the fate of the medical evacuation laws the previous parliament’s crossbench was instrumental in passingShe came in like a wrecking ball.But Jacqui Lambie, the senator, has grown up. Continue reading...

After water restrictions and emergency infrastructure, the final drought strategy is sheer perseverancePeople have started visiting the outback town of Pooncarie just to see a place that’s running dry.Josh Sheard, the publican at the Pooncarie hotel, says the remote town in far south-west New South Wales needs the attention. Continue reading...

The blunt words of Sydney archbishop Glenn Davies come at a critical moment for Australian churches and demands for religious freedomFor a man renowned for his civility, the language was blunt. During his annual speech to the Anglican Church’s Sydney synod, Archbishop Glenn Davies told supporters of same-sex marriage to “please leave us”.“My own view is that if people wish to change the doctrine of our church, they should start a new church or join a church more aligned to their views,” he said. “But do not ruin the Anglican Church by abandoning the plain teaching of scripture.” Continue reading...

Sources tell Hollywood reporter Bruce Lee’s daughter raised concerns over the film’s portrayal of the martial arts starQuentin Tarantino will not edit Once Upon a Time in Hollywood to placate Chinese censors, the Hollywood Reporter said.Related: Bruce Lee's daughter hits out at father's portrayal in Tarantino film Continue reading...

Led by mayor Sadiq Khan, around one million protesters gathered to demand a fresh referendumIn one of the largest public demonstrations in British history, a crowd estimated at around one million marched outside parliament to demand MPs grant them a fresh referendum on Brexit.Organisers of the march said the turnout, buoyed by the dry weather and the promise of “super Saturday”, was comparable to the previous second referendum rally six months ago, when a million people gathered in central London. Continue reading...

The jailing of nine pro-independence Catalan leaders over their roles in the failed push for secession two years ago has sparked five nights of violent unrest in Barcelona and other areas of Catalonia. The region's president, Quim Torra, has called for talks with the Spanish government after a peaceful march and general strike was followed by further clashes between protesters and police

Somewhere in the middle of the Irish Sea, a mermaid is luring us to our doom• You can buy your own print of this cartoon Continue reading...

Greater Manchester force detain 26-year-old under Mental Health ActA man has been detained under the Mental Health Act after a major security incident at the Arndale shopping centre in Manchester.Police descended on the centre at 8.55pm on Friday to reports of a man with a knife. The alert comes a week after two people were stabbed by a man in a random attack at the shopping centre. Continue reading...

Despite last week’s US-brokered truce, fighting continues on the Turkish-Syrian borderIt’s an unusually hot autumn in the plains of southern Turkey, where in some places nothing but wire fencing is all that separates this country from the chaos that has engulfed Syria over the last eight years.Cotton, pistachio and olive trees grow on both sides of the border. But plumes of black smoke are only rising above towns on the Syrian side. Continue reading...

Investigation launched into safety regime at alluvial mine in remote Krasnoyarsk regionAt least 15 gold miners were killed when a dam collapsed, flooding a mining encampment in a remote part of Siberia, officials have said.Heavy rains weakened the dam and water broke through, sweeping away several cabins where the miners lived, about 100 miles south of the city of Krasnoyarsk. Continue reading...

Intricately carved coffins with mummies from 1000BC ‘biggest such find in over a century’Egypt has revealed details of 30 ancient wooden coffins with mummies inside, which were discovered in the southern city of Luxor in the biggest find of its kind in more than a century.A team of Egyptian archaeologists found a “distinctive group of 30 coloured wooden coffins for men, women and children” in a cache at Al-Asasif cemetery on Luxor’s west bank, the ministry of antiquities said in a statement on Saturday. Continue reading...

Ben Atkinson, 43, climbed scaffolding around clock tower dressed as Boris JohnsonAn Extinction Rebellion activist who scaled Big Ben’s tower and evaded capture for more than three hours has been released by police.Ben Atkinson, 43, climbed the scaffolding surrounding the clock tower dressed as Boris Johnson – complete with a blond wig, shirt, jacket and tie – at about 3.30pm on Friday. Continue reading...

Top art historians clash over authenticity of Apsley House treasureA painting thought to be by Titian, which will be included in a touring exhibition to begin at the National Gallery in London next March, has been dismissed as a “dud” by a leading art historian.Professor Charles Hope, a Titian expert, told the Observer that The Danaë, an early 1550s picture on a mythological subject, is “a later pastiche” and should be downgraded from being attributed to the 16th-century Italian master to that of a minor hand. Continue reading...

People on a crowded underground platform in Buenos Aires came to the rescue of a woman who fell on to train tracks.CCTV footage from Pueyrredón station shows the woman being knocked off the platform by a man who fainted. Passengers quickly responded by waving their hands to alert the train driver. They then jumped on to the tracks to help the woman after the train came to a halt Continue reading...

Matteo Salvini’s League joins rightwing parties in ‘Italian pride’ protestThousands of protesters are gathering in Rome for an “Italian pride” rally that brings together the rightwing League of Matteo Salvini, the far-right Brothers of Italy party led by Giorgia Meloni and former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.Salvini’s League, which remains Italy’s largest party, called for the mass demonstration to protest against the government forged by two former arch-enemies, the centre-left Democrats and the 5-Star Movement. Continue reading...

• Aaron Smith’s double sets rampant All Blacks on way to victory

State blames Taliban for blasts targeting worshippers during Friday prayersPolice and local residents were searching for bodies in the rubble of a mosque in the eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan, after bomb blaststhat killed at least 69 people during Friday prayers.The explosives had been placed inside the mosque in the Jawdara area of Haska Mena district. Continue reading...

James Chadwick, 21, arrested and charged after incident in Radcliffe on WednesdayA man has been charged with the murder of a one-year-old baby girl.James Chadwick, 21, of Radcliffe, had been arrested along with Chelsea Crilly, 19, from Atherton, both in Greater Manchester. Continue reading...

PM appears to accept he would have to request delay if MPs pass amendment to avoid no deal

Crime Has No Gender website shows suspects hidden behind masks, which users removeEurope’s policing agency has launched a campaign to catch the continent’s most wanted female criminals.Europol’s new website, called the Crime Has No Gender campaign, reveals the faces of fugitives wanted by 21 EU countries in an interactive way. Eighteen of them are women. Continue reading...

Prime minister suggests Coalition may commit to extra funding relief in Liberal party federal council speechScott Morrison has indicated the federal government might be prepared to commit extra relief funding to drought-stricken communities, reaffirming the drought is the government’s top priority.In a triumphal speech to the Liberal party’s federal council in Canberra on Saturday, Morrison again said the drought was “the most pressing and biggest call on our budget”. Continue reading...

The first black woman to win the Booker prize argues that a revolution is sweeping through British publishing. But can it lead to lasting change?Chidera Eggerue, AKA The Slumflower, is a social media star, south-east London homegirl and feminist. She first came to prominence in 2017 when she created the hashtag #SaggyBoobsMatter on Twitter in order to promote the body-positive message that women’s breasts and bodies are fine just as they are. It’s an important idea and antithetical to a beauty industry that berates us for our imperfections. A year later Eggerue published a self-help motivational book, What a Time to Be Alone: The Slumflower’s Guide to Why You Are Already Enough, which entered the Sunday Times bestseller list the week it was published in 2018, when she was 23. In her very pink, zanily illustrated book, Eggerue, a self-styled “guru, confidante and best friend” to her readers, offers advice on self-worth and self-acceptance. An earlier booklet called Little Black Book: A Toolkit for Working Women, by Otegha Uwagba, became a bestseller in 2016, paving the way for Eggerue. This, in turn, was probably influenced by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s 2014 essay We Should All Be Feminists.These are unprecedented times for black female writers, in no small part due to the internet. It has reconfigured how we present ourselves to the world at large, as well as bringing previously marginalised social groups and writing to the fore in ways hitherto unimaginable. As a society we are beginning to recognise and take seriously the ills and pitfalls of social media, but it is still the most exciting channel of mass communication since history began. Continue reading...

Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft and Google decline to release figures despite pledge in wake of Christchurch attackUS tech companies have declined to release data on the online spread of footage of last week’s shooting in Halle, Germany, despite pledging greater transparency as part of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s “Christchurch Call”.Companies including Facebook and Twitter committed in May to take “transparent, specific measures” to prevent the amplification of violent content, after the killing of 51 people in Christchurch, New Zealand was livestreamed on Facebook. Continue reading...

Maythem Radhi accused of being part of syndicate that charged 421 mostly Iraqi and Afghan refugees for place aboard Indonesian boatAn Iraqi man has been charged in Australia with people-trafficking in connection with the drowning deaths of more than 350 asylum seekers in the 2001 SIEV X tragedy.Maythem Radhi, 43, was arrested at Brisbane airport late Friday after being extradited from New Zealand and has been charged with “organising groups of non-citizens into Australia”, police say. Continue reading...

How does it feel to campaign against racism, come out, have an abortion or lose a parent to suicide? People who went through the same things, years apart, share their storiesSam, 26, and Diane Munday, 88, had abortions five decades apart Continue reading...

US lawmakers including Ted Cruz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez write to Tim Cook urging him to restore HKMapp appA bipartisan group of prominent US lawmakers has urged Apple chief executive Tim Cook to restore the HKMap app used in Hong Kong, as protesters push ahead with plans for another unsanctioned mass rally on Sunday.Earlier this month, Apple removed the app that helped track police and protester movements, saying it was used to target officers. Continue reading...

Former party president Jim Savage threatens legal action to call Brisbane meeting null and voidA former president of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party says he has been refused entry to its national conference because he wanted to raise concerns about how the party is being managed.Former president Jim Savage – one of about six disgruntled members refused entry to the meeting in Brisbane on Saturday – said there was no democracy in the party and members were treated with “disgust”. Continue reading...

Louvre will host works of Italian artist after long-running political spats and legal battlesThe most important blockbuster art show in Paris for half a century took 10 years to prepare and was nearly thwarted by the worst diplomatic standoff between Italy and France since the second world war. With days to go before the opening, there is still no sign of whether one of the major works will appear.The Louvre’s vast Leonardo da Vinci exhibition to mark 500 years since the death of the Italian Renaissance master will finally open next week as the world’s most-visited museum prepares to handle a huge influx of visitors. Continue reading...

President announces order in televised address after fare-dodging protest by students in capital widens

Dong Hwa Kim allegedly jumped in woman’s back seat, bound her hands and ordered her to drive to Ermington bankA kidnapped woman allegedly ordered at knifepoint to withdraw cash from a Sydney bank was able to alert staff to her situation, police say.Yun Fang, 36, was driving out of the car park of the Macquarie Centre in Macquarie Park, a suburb of northern Sydney, on Friday afternoon when Dong Hwa Kim allegedly jumped into the back seat and threatened her with a knife. Continue reading...

Melbourne synod’s vote comes days after Sydney archbishop said Anglicans who back same-sex marriage should leave churchMelbourne’s Anglican church has formally voted to record its “sorrow” over a regional Victorian diocese’s decision to bless same-sex marriages.The nod of approval given by the Wangaratta diocese in August has angered the Melbourne church’s governing body. Continue reading...

Dozens wounded or held as warnings over economy spark biggest protests in decadeSecurity forces fired teargas and chased down protesters in Beirut on Friday after tens of thousands of people across Lebanon marched to demand the demise of a political elite they accuse of looting the economy to the point of collapse.Riot police in vehicles and on foot rounded up protesters, according to Reuters. They fired rubber bullets and teargas canisters, dispersing demonstrators in Beirut’s commercial district. Dozens of people were wounded and detained. Continue reading...

OneSteel Manufacturing, the Gupta company which owns and operates the steel mill, lost $195m in the 2018 financial yearOn a sunny Sydney afternoon, things look good from Sanjeev Gupta’s office on the 28th floor. From one window you can see the $35m waterside mansion he bought last week as an Australian bolthole for his family; from the other, the south end of the Harbour Bridge looms large.But 1,500km west of Gupta’s blindingly white office suite, at the Whyalla steel mill in South Australia, things are decidedly grittier. Continue reading...

No reported injuries or wider threats to the community, says Greater Manchester policeOfficers from Greater Manchester police arrested a suspect on Friday after reports of a man with a knife at the Arndale shopping centre.Footage on social media appeared to show a large police and ambulance service presence outside the Manchester shopping centre, which closed at 8pm on Friday according to its website. Continue reading...

Intense fighting has erupted in the Mexican city of Culiacán, where masked gunmen threw up burning barricades and traded gunfire with security forces after authorities arrested one of the sons of the jailed former leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán. The chaotic scenes in Culiacán, a long-time stronghold for the Guzmáns' cartel, have increased pressure on President López Obrador, who took office in December promising to pacify a country weary after more than a decade of drug-war fighting.

Prime minister has said he is ‘very confident’ deal will be approved in historic Commons vote on Saturday

Boeing failed to turn over documents about MCAS program, linked to two fatal crashes of 737 Max airliners, to the FAA for four monthsA senior Boeing executive has said he may have “unknowingly” misled US regulators about the software program linked to two fatal crashes of 737 Max airliners.The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed on Friday that Boeing told it a day earlier about internal messages it had discovered “some months ago” that characterize “certain communications with the FAA during the original certification of the 737 Max in 2016”. Continue reading...

Senate inquiry told Australia should also drop prosecution of Witness K and Bernard CollaeryAustralia’s negotiations with Timor-Leste should be the subject of a royal commission, and the government should return $5bn unfairly taken from the impoverished nation, a parliamentary inquiry has been told.It should also drop the prosecution of Witness K and Bernard Collaery, who revealed the now infamous bugging of Timorese delegates during negotiations on what became the CMATS treaty. Continue reading...

How does Australia rank on a global scale for its policies on education, employment, immigration and climate change? Katharine Murphy talks to Andrew Wear, a Victorian public servant and author who is looking to foreign countries for inspiration on policy. Wear discusses how Australia is a global leader in immigration, but risks falling behind in other areas. Continue reading...

The public recoils, although sheep and cows are killed in identical fashion. But the racing industry has a serious case to answer tooThe biggest trucks at any horse sale belong to the meat dealers. At the end of the day, once those awarded a second chance have been led away, the dealers open the remaining pens and run their unlucky purchases through the saleyard to the loading ramp.Young, well-fed, well-muscled horses – such as thoroughbreds or standardbreds that have recently left the racing industries – are sent to export abattoirs in Peterborough, South Australia, or the Meramist abattoir in Caboolture, Queensland. The latter is currently being investigated for animal cruelty offences after footage aired on the ABC’s 7.30 program showed horses being shocked with electric prods, hit and kicked before slaughter. Continue reading...

Police move in after Ben Atkinson scaled scaffolding on Houses of ParliamentAn Extinction Rebellion activist who scaled Big Ben’s tower and unfurled banners calling for action on the climate emergency on Friday was brought to the ground by police three hours after his ascent.Ben Atkinson, a 43-year-old tree surgeon from Rydal in Cumbria, climbed scaffolding surrounding the clock tower without ropes in a protest that marked the culmination of the group’s fortnight-long “October rebellion”. Continue reading...

The Chilean capital, Santiago, has seen a significant roll-out of riot police after more than a week of mass fare evasion on the city's metro in protest over rising prices. Police and metro management said there had been more than 200 incidents of largely schoolchildren and students jumping barriers and forcing gates to access trains. Metro stations were closed or blocked and in some cases police responded with teargas and batons

Prosecutors said the president, Juan Orlando Hernández, enabled his brother’s traffickingThe Honduran politician Juan Antonio “Tony” Hernández has been found guilty in a vast drug conspiracy case in New York City after prosecutors said he relied on “state-sponsored drug trafficking” enabled by his brother – the country’s president.“Tony” Hernández was impassive as the verdict was announced by a jury that deliberated over parts of two days. He was convicted of drug conspiracy, weapons charges and lying to the Drug Enforcement Administration. Continue reading...