Birmingham school is focus of long campaign to halt LGBT equality messages being taughtA high court judge has been asked to extend an exclusion zone permanently banning activists against LGBT equality lessons from demonstrating outside a Birmingham primary school.Protesters went head to head with a local authority during the five-day trial to stop protests outside Anderton Park primary school. The school, in the Sparkhill area of the city, has become the focus of a long campaign to halt LGBT equality messages being taught in the classroom. Continue reading...

Isolated clashes break out during mass demonstrations that follow general strikeMore than half a million people have participated in a series of mass rallies in Barcelona called in protest at the jailing of nine pro-Catalan independence leaders over their roles in the failed push for secession two years ago.Earlier, workers in Catalonia downed tools, shops were closed and activists blocked roads in a general strike, while tens of thousands of people who marched from across the region began converging in Barcelona. Continue reading...

Other European states also preparing to repatriate citizens accused of Isis links via safe zoneBelgium and other European states are preparing to evacuate citizens accused of having links to Islamic State from detention camps in north-eastern Syria through a newly declared safe zone being carved out by Turkish forces along the border.Belgian officials informed family members of detainees held in two camps on Friday that they would attempt to take advantage of a five-day ceasefire to retrieve nationals allegedly tied to the terror group. The Guardian has learned that other European states, including France and Germany, are also looking at ways to take advantage of the window declared by US vice-president Mike Pence on Thursday to repatriate women and children. Continue reading...

Lobby group calls for transition extension and loosening of migration rules on eve of vote

Andrés Manuel López Obrador said security forces saved lives by releasing jailed kingpin’s son after his brief capture in CuliacánMexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has insisted that his government was right to release one of the sons of imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, a day after his brief capture by the army sparked a wave of attacks by cartel gunmen who took soldiers hostage and paralyzed the northern city of Culiacán.“This decision was taken to protect citizens. You cannot fight fire with fire,” López Obrador said in his daily press conference on Friday morning. “We do not want deaths. We do not want war.” Continue reading...

Kurdish Red Crescent says six people, some civilians, in hospital with mysterious burnsUN chemical weapons inspectors have announced they are gathering information following accusations that burning white phosphorus was used by Turkish forces against children in Syria earlier this week.The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said on Friday morning that “it was aware of the situation and is collecting information with regard to possible use of chemical weapons”. Continue reading...

MP for Grimsby asks colleagues to back plan in an article with Tory Victoria Prentis

Juncker says failure of EU to keep its promises was ‘major historic mistake’Leaders of the EU institutions have condemned the bloc’s refusal to open membership talks with North Macedonia and Albania as a “historic mistake”.In a blow to pro-EU politicians in the small Balkan states, EU government leaders missed a deadline to approve the launch of talks. Continue reading...

• ‘Only Southgate heard chants,’ says Mihaylov on quitting

Artillery fire and ground clashes reported in violation of US-brokered five-day truceFighting is continuing on the border between Syria and Turkey in defiance of a supposed five-day ceasefire negotiated between the US and Turkey.Intermittent artillery fire and ground clashes were heard in the border town of Ras al-Ayn on Friday morning, one of the two main targets of the nine-day-old Turkish offensive, as the Turkish military and Syrian rebel proxies struggled to wrest control of the town from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Continue reading...

Dutch government warns there will be 75 million people with condition worldwide by 2030Dementia poses a threat to global health on the same scale as HIV and Aids, the Dutch government has said, warning that the number of people with the condition will not be far off the population of Germany by 2030.In a speech to the World Dementia Council summit in Japan on Friday, Hugo de Jonge, the Dutch health minister, said dementia was underfunded, misunderstood and overlooked, as HIV and Aids were in their early days. Continue reading...

Residents near campus say university has failed to tackle students’ antisocial behaviourThe University of Bristol is paying for night-time police patrols in areas around its campus after years of complaints from residents about loud parties and disruption caused by its growing number of students living in rented houses.While a number of British universities already fund or subsidise police activities to safeguard students and staff, Bristol appears to be the first university to pay for police to protect residents from students. Continue reading...

Benjamin Field killed Peter Farquhar in village of Maids Moreton to inherit his house and moneyA church warden has been jailed for life after being found guilty of murdering a university lecturer following a sustained campaign of physical and mental abuse.Benjamin Field, 28, was convicted in August of killing Peter Farquhar, 69, a retired teacher and part-time university lecturer, to inherit his house and money, and trying to make his death look like an accident or suicide. Continue reading...

Court of appeal unanimously rejects request for urgent hearing before Commons vote

MPs have reacted to the prime minister’s new Brexit deal, which will be voted on by the House of Commons in a historic knife-edge vote on Saturday.Both Jo Swinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, have said Johnson's deal is worse than Theresa May's, while Jeremy Corbyn and the DUP have said they cannot support the new agreement Continue reading...

Polling suggests climate crisis will be a key factor for more than a quarter of votersMore than 27% of Swiss voters say the climate crisis will be a determining factor in their vote, prompting predictions of a green surge and a fall in support for the nationalist Swiss People’s party (SVP) in parliamentary elections on Sunday.Most voters have already cast their ballots by post in the nationwide poll, which elects 245 members of Switzerland’s federal assembly - 200 to the lower house, known as national council, and 46 to the upper house, the council of states. Continue reading...

Spain seeks to extradite Carles Puigdemont as Catalonia braces for general strikeCarles Puigdemont, the former Catalan president sought by Spanish courts over his role in the region’s failed independence bid, has been released on bail after testifying before judicial authorities in Belgium in response to the reactivation of an international arrest warrant against him this week.News of his court appearance came as Catalonia braced itself for a general strike and a huge demonstration in Barcelona after a fourth night of violent protests triggered by the jailing of nine pro-independence leaders by the Spanish supreme court on Monday. Continue reading...

Archbishop of Canterbury says daughter’s honesty about illness helped remove stigmaThe archbishop of Canterbury has revealed he is taking medication for depression and has urged others who are “walking in darkness” to reach out for help.Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day slot before a mental health conference at Lambeth Palace in London on Friday, Justin Welby said: “Last year I realised I was depressed. I have a daughter who has been very open about her experiences of depression, and she helped me see that it wasn’t something to be ashamed of. It’s just life – and I got help.” Continue reading...

Experts and commenters disagree on whether it helps or harms ducks and swansA sign urging people to feed “starving” ducks with bread has gone viral and sparked a heated debate about whether it is in the animals’ best interests.A neatly designed sign appeared in a park in Buxton, Derbyshire, but the managers of the park denied any responsibility. Continue reading...

Family say six-year-old is making progress but faces a lengthy recovery periodA six-year-old boy who sustained severe injuries after allegedly being thrown from a viewing platform at Tate Modern in London has been moved out of intensive care.The boy, a French national who cannot be named, was visiting London with his family and fell 30 metres from the art gallery’s 10th floor on to a fifth-floor roof in August. Continue reading...

Votes of opposition could be crucial when parliament sits on Saturday to discuss PM’s plan

Police have had to intervene and separate groups at events in university citiesSupporters of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests say they are being intimidated and harassed by pro-Beijing Chinese students and others at their events around the UK, forcing police to step in to separate them from counter-demonstrations.Below-the-radar tensions have boiled over into incidents that include the arrest of a 19-year-old Chinese student after bottles were thrown at a Sheffield event, while police and university security have intervened in other town centres and campuses. Continue reading...

Anger grows at culture of exploitation and failure of agencies to protect performersThe death this week of the South Korean singer and actor Sulli has turned the spotlight on the darkest corners of the highly pressurised K-pop industry and sparked anger over the failure of management agencies to protect their stars from the menace of “toxic fandom”.Sulli, a former member of the group f(x), had spoken publicly about her mental health problems and shock at her death has led to calls for greater support for performers. Authorities said she was suffering from severe depression and are investigating suicide as a possible cause of death. Continue reading...

The Canadian prime minister’s progressive shine is looking tarnished and shop-worn as the country heads to the polls on 21 October – and Justin Trudeau is now in the fight of his political life.In 2015, Trudeau was a proudly progressive candidate who promised to fight the climate crisis, repair a broken relationship with indigenous people and resettle Syrian refugees, but fours years of scandals have left young voters uncertain of Trudeau’s promise to do politics differently, as the Guardian’s Canada correspondent, Leyland Cecco, explains

Dutch media report that 67-year-old was former member of movement known as MooniesThe father of a family that spent nearly a decade living in a secret room in a Dutch farmhouse once belonged to the Rev Sun Myung Moon’s controversial Unification church and was trying to found a cult of his own, Dutch media have reported.The 67-year-old man, who has not been identified by Dutch police but was named by the movement, often known as the Moonies, as Gerrit-Jan van Dorsten, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of “depriving people of their liberty, harming the health of others and money laundering”, police said in a statement. Continue reading...

The NSW coroner hears that Aboriginal prisoner Eric Whittaker was unconscious and would not have been able to moveThe NSW coroner has heard it was “horrific” that Aboriginal man Eric Whittaker, who died in hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage in prison custody, had been shackled to the bed in the last days of his life despite being unconscious and unresponsive.An emergency medicine researcher from the University of New South Wales, Anna Holdgate, went on to tell the court “we would only use restraint as a last resort” and “for the briefest time possible”. Continue reading...

Sydney man Choi Han Chan allegedly used blackmarket contacts to broker deals in coal and iron, but also in weapons technologyA Sydney man charged over allegations he was a sanctions-busting “economic agent” of the North Korean regime attempting to sell ballistic missiles overseas has been refused bail.Choi Han Chan, 60, is the first person ever charged under Australia’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (Prevention of Proliferation) Act. Continue reading...

£400,000-worth of drugs also confiscated in a week as part of coordinated campaignMore than 700 people have been arrested and more than £400,000-worth of drugs confiscated in a week of UK-wide crackdowns on county lines gangs, police have said.In coordinated law enforcement activity between 7 and 13 October, 49 “deal lines” across Britain were disrupted, 389 vulnerable adults and 292 children were safeguarded and 169 weapons were seized, including 12 guns, knives, swords and machetes. Continue reading...

Four years on, frustration and apathy could alienate young people in a campaign marked by sniping, absence of bold policy and the blackface scandalIn an election defined by mudslinging and racist dog-whistling, Justin Trudeau stood apart.In a country weary of nearly a decade of Conservative rule, Canada’s Liberal leader was a sunny optimist promising change. And his refusal to play dirty politics – in contrast to the veteran politicians he was facing off against – inspired young voters to come out in record numbers. Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s concessions to EU were humiliating but he may still succeed, say pundits

MPs point to lack of progress on promised safeguarding improvements for whistleblowers and survivorsMPs have accused aid organisations of “dragging their feet” over combating sexual exploitation and abuse in the sector, despite safeguarding pledges made in 2018 after the Oxfam abuse scandal.Work to improve protection and support for whistleblowers has “stalled”, and more needs to be done to protect survivors, a report by the UK international development committee (IDC) has said. Continue reading...

The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6% in the three months ending in SeptemberChina’s economic growth sank to a 26-year low in the latest quarter amid pressure from a trade war with Washington, adding to a deepening slump that is weighing on global growth.The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6% in the three months ending in September, down from the previous quarter’s 6.2%, data showed on Friday. It was the weakest growth since China started reporting data by quarters in 1993. Continue reading...

With a dire shortage of land for graves, the holy city is reviving an ancient custom of underground burial – with lift access, LED lighting and golf buggiesCool air from deep inside the mountain lightly wafts through cavernous arched tunnels. Along the walls of the subterranean passages, rows of human-sized chambers have been dug into the rock. It is unmistakably a catacomb.Yet this mass tomb is not a relic of the Roman empire. It was made with huge electric diggers, and the walls are lined with concrete. People will enter by lift, and those with limited mobility will be able to use a golf buggy to traverse the necropolis. Continue reading...

World Bank targets ‘learning poverty’ as research shows major shortfall in basic reading skills among least privileged childrenNine out of 10 children in the world’s poorest countries are unable to read a basic book by the age of 10 – a situation mirrored in reverse in rich countries, where only 9% cannot do so by the same age.Data compiled by the World Bank and the UN also shows that when low- and middle-income countries are taken together – a total of 135 states – more than half of all children cannot read a simple text at 10 years old. Continue reading...

Many unionists are angry but widespread public disorder over deal seems unlikelyThe last time Downing Street foisted a deal on Northern Ireland’s unionists, the backlash was swift and bitter. Hundreds of thousands poured on to the streets to protest. A mob punched and kicked the secretary of state outside Belfast city hall. They hit him with a union jack-draped flagpole, grappled him into a headlock and chanted, “Traitor, traitor, traitor.”It was 1985 and Margaret Thatcher had signed the Anglo-Irish agreement giving Dublin a say in Northern Ireland’s affairs. It took burly bodyguards to save her secretary of state, Tom King, from the mob’s wrath. Demonstrations, strikes and civil disobedience raged for months. “We say, ‘Never, never, never, never!’” Ian Paisley, the Democratic Unionist party leader, bellowed to a crowd. Continue reading...

Makers of products ranging from Scotch whisky to biscuits and Savile Row suits to sufferBritish manufacturers of products ranging from Scotch whisky to biscuits and Savile Row suits are braced for a significant financial hit after US tariffs came into effect in retaliation for subsidies given to aerospace manufacturer Airbus.Tariffs of 25% came into effect at midnight on the US east coast (5am BST), damaging small businesses with few links to a 15-year aerospace industry battle between Airbus, the European champion, and American rival Boeing. Continue reading...

Three countries object to animated movie scene showing Chinese territorial claims in South China SeaMalaysia’s film censors have ordered a scene to be removed from the animated movie Abominable which shows China’s nine-dash line in the South China Sea, an official has said, amid growing anger among countries with overlapping claims to the region.The U-shaped line is used on Chinese maps to illustrate its territorial claims over vast expanses of the resource-rich South China Sea, including areas claimed by other countries. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Independent senator says 99.9% are more concerned with ‘the dysfunction of Veterans Affairs’The independent senator Jacqui Lambie has rebuffed Peter Dutton’s claim that “the vast majority of veterans” would want her to abolish the medevac laws, as pressure mounts from all sides to secure her crucial swing vote.As expected, a government-heavy Senate inquiry into the legislation recommended repealing the laws, which make it easier for doctors to recommend refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island and Nauru be transported to Australia for medical treatment. Continue reading...

Security minister says decision not to detain Ovidio Guzmán López was made to protect citizens, after heavy gunfireIntense fighting has erupted in the Mexican city of Culiacán, where masked gunmen threw up burning barricades and traded gunfire with security forces after the arrest of one of the sons of the jailed former leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.Images shared on social media showed trucks with mounted heavy machine guns patrolling the city streets. Another clip showed a gunman with an assault rifle shooting at an unknown target against a soundtrack of continuous gunfire. Continue reading...

Move comes seven months after 51 people were killed at two mosques in the country’s worst peacetime shootingNew Zealand officials have said armed police will patrol parts of the country in a trial project following heightened security concerns after the mass shooting in Christchurch in March that killed 51 people.New Zealand, like the United Kingdom and Norway, is one of the few countries where police do not carry guns while on general duty. However handguns, rifles and Tasers are kept in their vehicles and can be used with a supervisor’s permission. Continue reading...

Trump hails ceasefire and ‘safe zone’ on Turkey-Syria border as ‘great day for civilisation’ but few believe itThe deal agreed between the US and Turkey immediately achieved the priority objective of vice-president Mike Pence’s peace mission to Ankara: Donald Trump was able to claim victory on Twitter.The president had unwittingly alienated most of his own party over his acceptance of the Turkish invasion of north-eastern Syria, and was already in the midst of an impeachment battle. Continue reading...

Quim Torra says people trying to damage reputation of independence movement as fourth night of violence rocks cityBarcelona suffered its fourth and worst night of violence on Thursday as pro-independence supporters clashed with police and right-wing groups in running battles well into the small hours of Friday morning.The disturbances followed a now familiar pattern as a large demonstration called earlier in the evening dispersed and groups of protesters clashed with police in the city centre who say that a clothing shop was set on fire and a bank was vandalised. Continue reading...

Other seat for Latin America went to Brazil, whose far-right leader has expressed contempt for the concept of human rightsActivists have responded with outrage after Venezuela won a fiercely contested vote for a seat on the UN’s human rights council on Thursday, despite its well-documented record of human rights abuses.The 193-member world body elected 14 members to the 47-member council on Thursday for three-year terms starting in January, with Venezuela claiming one of the two seats allocated to Latin America with 105 votes. Continue reading...

US vice president Mike Pence on Thursday announced that the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan, had agreed to a ceasefire in Syria, where Turkey had launched an offensive on Kurdish forces once allied with the US in the fight against the Islamic State group. Ankara will suspend its operation on Kurdish-led forces in north-east Syria for the next five days in order to allow Kurdish troops to withdraw

Friday: Mike Pence and Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan agree on five-day pause in hostilities. Plus, farmers claim minister gave tacit permission for clearingGood morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 18 October. Continue reading...

Roger Jenkins would have risked losing £50m if he had sought any criminal deal, lawyer saysA former Barclays executive who is on trial in London on fraud charges would have risked losing a £50m “good leaver” package if he had sought a criminal deal with Qatar during the credit crisis, a court has heard.It would have been “lunacy” for Roger Jenkins to put at risk such accrued benefits and a job that had paid him £38m in 2007 alone, his lawyer said at the Old Bailey. Continue reading...

Follow the day’s Brexit events as they happen

The row over Fañch or Fanch was settled after the parents’ two-year tussle with officialsA two-year French legal battle over an orthographic squiggle has ended in victory for a couple granted the right to write their infant son’s Breton first name as Fañch instead of Fanch.The country’s highest court for criminal and civil cases threw out an appeal bid by the authorities of Rennes, the capital of the north-western Brittany region, against an earlier ruling in favour of the family of Fañch Bernard. Continue reading...

Donald Tusk has failed to back Jean-Claude Juncker by refusing to rule out granting a further extension to the date of the UK’s departure from the EU. Speaking at a press conference after a new Brexit deal was endorsed by the EU, the European council president said he had ‘no idea’ what would happen in the House of Commons