Hillary Clinton criticised Donald Trump’s communications with Ukraine, saying he had ‘turned American diplomacy into a cheap extortion racket'. Speaking at Georgetown University on Friday, the former Democratic presidential candidate said the US president had ‘endangered us all by putting his personal and political interests ahead of the interests of the American people'. Clinton's comments come in the wake of a whistleblower complaint that revealed Trump attempted to pressure Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden’s family Continue reading...

In a new book, Labor’s Tim Watts takes a political and personal look at Australia’s great achievement – ‘outgrowing its beginnings’Tim Watts is the product of six generations of graziers, Anzacs and pilots who could have come from the pages of Russel Ward’s The Australian Legend, the 1950s book that distilled the mythical characteristics of the early white nation.The Labor MP for Gellibrand grew up on the Darling Downs in Queensland where his ancestor John Watts was one of the first colonisers. After managing a section of land on that rich black soil, John became its first MP in the Queensland parliament in 1859. Continue reading...

Imran Khan tells UN assembly ‘two nuclear-armed countries will come face to face’Pakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, warned last night that India’s actions in Kashmir could cause a “bloodbath” in the region and provoke war between the two nuclear-armed countries.In an address to the United Nations general assembly in New York, Khan described the situation in Kashmir as a test for the UN and warned that a conflict between India and Pakistan would have “consequences far beyond the borders”. Continue reading...

Michael Roby, 36, accused of public order offence at Birmingham constituency officeA 36-year-old man has been charged in connection with a disturbance outside the constituency office of the Labour MP Jess Phillips.Michael Roby, of Billesley in Birmingham, was arrested after police officers were called to the Birmingham Yardley MP’s premises in the Acocks Green area of the city on Thursday afternoon. Continue reading...

Alek Minassian said after his arrest he drew inspiration from men who used violence as retribution for ‘being unable to get laid’The man accused of killing 10 people by ploughing his van onto a crowded Toronto sidewalk has admitted that he was a violent misogynist who was radicalized online, in a video that was made public on Friday.Alek Minassian is accused of driving a rental van into a crowd on one of Toronto’s busiest streets, killing 10 pedestrians and injuring 16, in the deadliest act of mass murder in the city’s history. Continue reading...

Anti-Taliban resistance veteran faces off against old rival Ashraf Ghani in election on SaturdayAbdullah Abdullah has spent more than a decade trying to become Afghanistan’s president, contesting three separate votes and coming within touching distance in 2014 before watching the prize slip from his grasp.In most other countries, repeated high-profile losses would almost certainly spell the end of a political career, despite Abdullah’s credentials from years serving with the anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance and later in government. Continue reading...

Bill is Emmanuel Macron’s biggest social reform since he was elected in 2017France has taken a step towards allowing lesbian and single women to conceive children with medical help, setting the stage for a clash with the country’s religious conservatives.To loud applause, France’s lower house of parliament approved a draft bioethics law in a move that has already sparked outrage from opponents, including some in President Emmanuel Macron’s own centrist party. Continue reading...

Former cabinet minister says ‘casual approach to safety of MPs and their staff is immoral’

Following concerns about the potential for violence, several chains will not allow face coverings or clothing that ‘would make other guests feel uncomfortable’Major cinema chains in the US have announced that they will enforce bans of masks, costumes and toy weapons at screenings of Joker, the new film starring Joaquin Phoenix as Batman’s nemesis, as concerns about the potential for violence connected to the film’s release on 4 October circulate.Landmark Theatres says on its website that “no masks, painted faces or costumes will be permitted into our theatres”. AMC Theatres, the US’s largest cinema chain with more than 600 venues, has said in a statement that they are “working with law enforcement” and that their standard policy allows audience members to wear costume but “we do not permit masks, face paint or any object that conceals the face … [or] weapons or items that would make other guests feel uncomfortable”. Continue reading...

Prince continues work of his mother by supporting minefield clearance in AngolaMonths before her death in a Paris car crash, the striking image of Diana, Princess of Wales, wearing a protective visor and vest and walking through a live Angolan minefield drew global attention to the lethal scourge of landmines.On Friday, Prince Harry put on similar attire as he helped set off a controlled explosion in a partially cleared Angolan minefield similar to the one visited by his mother 22 years ago. Continue reading...

Even in demoralised Zimbabwe, contemporary art is thriving – and it isn’t the only exampleWherever you travel as a journalist, however dicey the destination, there is usually an Upside tale to be found in art.I have a few personal favourites: Bosnian war art, the humour of the Mitki in the late Soviet period, the only artist in the Falkland Islands … Continue reading...

Kingdom eyes holidaymakers as part of plan to diversify economy away from oilSaudi Arabia is to offer tourist visas for the first time, opening up the ultra-conservative kingdom to holidaymakers as part of a push to diversify its economy away from oil.But female tourists will still be required to wear “modest clothing”. Continue reading...

Not just a religious sacrament, a child’s first communion is experienced as an important rite of passage to be properly celebrated, and a community event with many levels of interpretation and meaning. Photographer Diana Bagnoli followed the lavish first communions produced by Ivana and Miriam Pipolo in NaplesNine-year-old Maria wakes up and can’t wait for her party day to get started, after the first communion sacrament she received the day before. When the photographers and the videomakers arrive at her home, she slips into her bedroom and puts on some makeup to welcome the guests. She is ready for the day she will never forget. Continue reading...

The ACCC says new code of conduct proposed by banks doesn’t address recommendations of royal commissionThe competition regulator has said it will impose conditions beefing up protections for consumers on a new code of conduct proposed by the banks because the current version doesn’t properly address the recommendations of the Hayne royal commission.Moves by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to heap pressure on the banks come even as the political pendulum has slammed back in the finance industry’s favour, with the treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, joining a chorus of government backbenchers in attacking regulators for pursuing the industry. Continue reading...

NAO says data does not show that health services will be ready if UK leaves EU next monthMinisters will not know whether there are enough medicines, medical supplies or freight capacity to support the NHS if the UK leaves the EU without a deal next month, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.With just five weeks to Britain’s scheduled withdrawal on 31 October, the National Audit Office (NAO) said there were still risks, with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) still to do a “significant amount” of work . Continue reading...

A child icon will automatically pop up to alert passengers to where a child between eight days and two years old is seatedBeing stuck on a long-haul flight within earshot of a crying baby could be a thing of the past for passengers on Japan Airlines (JAL), after the carrier unveiled an online booking tool that indicates where toddlers will be seated.When passengers with children aged between eight days and two years old reserve their seat, a child icon automatically appears on the seat plan, alerting other passengers who have yet to select their seats. Continue reading...

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Friday: Whistleblower complaint says president poses ‘risks to US national security’. Plus, the unenviable choice that follows a cancer diagnosisGood morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 27 September. Continue reading...

Artist tries to ‘jazz up’ issue as local region plans to regain public control of servicesA roller-skating musical about bus regulation is to premiere in Greater Manchester as the region’s mayor moves towards taking buses back under public control.Bus Regulation: The Musical is one artist’s attempt to “jazz up” the issue of bus ownership. Continue reading...

Candidates from Hungary and Romania are rejected in unprecedented move over alleged conflicts of interestThe European parliament has rejected EU commissioner candidates from Hungary and Romania over alleged conflicts of interest, in a blow to the incoming president, Ursula von der Leyen.The unprecedented move by MEPs ratchets up pressure on Von der Leyen, who must see her team of 26 EU commissioners approved next month if her new commission is to be ready for its launch day on 1 November. Continue reading...

Licence granted for area close to golf course despite objections from Aberdeenshire residentsDonald Trump’s family firm has won permission to build a luxury housing estate beside his Aberdeenshire golf course despite record objections from local residents and anti-Trump protestors.Aberdeenshire councillors approved the proposals by 38 votes to 24 on Thursday after planning officers said the Trump Organization’s £20m scheme to build 550 homes and holiday villas would boost jobs and tourism. Continue reading...

The sustainable development goals, which promise to end extreme poverty and inequality by 2030, are alarmingly off track. It’s not too late to actWe might seem a strange group to be writing this together – a British film-maker, a Libyan doctor and women’s rights activist, and an indigenous leader from Chad – but what we have in common is that we are all appointed by the UN secretary general as advocates for the sustainable development goals.Some won’t have heard of these global goals – 17 objectives to which every nation signed up in 2015 – but they form the basis of a masterplan to make us the first generation to end extreme poverty, the last to be threatened by climate change, and the most determined to end injustice and inequality. Continue reading...

Youth players targeted with racist insults similar to high-profile Serie A stars, study findsRacism blights youth football in Italy as much as it does the top leagues, with about 80 cases recorded over the last two seasons, campaigners have said.The issue has resurfaced after a string of incidents in Serie A in recent weeks, but scant attention has been given to what occurs in the lower rungs. Children as young as 12 are suffering racist abuse from adversaries and spectators, according to an independent organisation that collates data on racism incidents. Continue reading...

Senate committee says investigation into former ministers Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne was flawed and should be reopenedA Senate inquiry has called for the reopening of an investigation into the former ministers Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne taking industry jobs connected with their portfolios, saying the initial probe had failed to ask “crucial questions”.The Senate inquiry into Bishop and Pyne’s post-political appointments delivered its report on Thursday, urging that the incoming secretary of the department of prime minister and cabinet reopen an investigation into whether ministerial standards were breached. Continue reading...

Pakistan PM says he has tried to tell world leaders of growing risk of conflict with India over disputed regionPakistan’s prime minister, Imran Khan, has said he has been trying to raise the alarm at the United Nations this week about the danger of a nuclear war breaking out over Kashmir.India and Pakistan came close to a conflict in February when India bombed Pakistani territory for the first time in a half century and warplanes from both countries fought a dogfight over the divided region. Continue reading...

Minister says attorney general Christian Porter is looking at ‘trendy’ law changeChristian Porter has warned Australian Capital Territory cannabis users they may not be protected by a new law legalising recreational use, weighing in alongside home affairs minister Peter Dutton against the law.On Thursday, Dutton described the new laws as unconscionable, comments interpreted as urging the attorney general to challenge or overturn the ACT law, passed on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Applause in parliament on Thursday after contentious bill cleared its final hurdle, following weeks of protestNew South Wales parliament has passed a bill decriminalising abortion, overturning a 119-year-old law and achieving what advocates say is a “massive step forward for women” in the state.There was applause in the lower house as the Abortion Law Reform Act 2019 passed its final hurdle after more than 70 hours of debate in both houses and weeks of protest. Continue reading...

Readers discuss the stance of neutrality adopted at this week’s party conference and whether Jeremy Corbyn can appeal to both sides of the EU debatePaula Surridge is right up to a point (The political divide goes deeper than leave v remain, Journal, 24 September). I found, as did friends to the right and left of me in the Labour party, that Europe and EU membership is a stronger part of my identity than being part of the political tribe of Labour. I was a member for 38 years, but Brexit is something both existential and civilisational that has driven me to leave Labour as its leadership continues to traduce the party’s pro-European values. This is despite agreeing with many of Labour’s policies. Being European is simply bigger than being Labour.

Sandra Muller calls verdict in favour of Eric Brion ‘backwards step’ and vows to appealA woman who launched a French version of the #MeToo campaign to expose abusive male behaviour has been found guilty of defaming a media executive she accused of making lewd and sexist remarks.Sandra Muller said Eric Brion had humiliated her with sexual remarks at a function in Cannes in 2012. She was ordered to pay €15,000 in damages to the executive and €5,000 in legal fees, and was also told to delete a tweet about him and publish the statements issued by the court on her Twitter account and in two press outlets. Continue reading...

Caspar Seale Jones’s drama about a young woman afraid of her past is a masterclass in engrossing, show-don’t-tell film-makingHere’s one of those rare lowish-budget, entirely off-radar British debuts that feels like a discovery. Adventurous writer-director Caspar Seale Jones has relocated a stock horror starting point – fraught young woman fleeing something abominable in her past – to Japan, which instantly gifts his frames more distinctive vistas than all those potboilers pursuing teenagers through the streets of Peterborough or Stroud. More intriguingly, To Tokyo is in that Japanese folk-horror tradition that yielded Onibaba and Kwaidan, making merry-macabre use of a still relatively unfamiliar set of demons and ghouls.To Tokyo scores high on dreamy-bordering-on-nightmarish atmosphere. On learning her mother is gravely ill, Alice (Florence Kosky) passes into either a fugue state or an actual wilderness that encompasses forests, deserts and a mountainside hut where she slaps on warpaint and receives offerings of fruit and entrails from whatever dragged her there. For half its running time, To Tokyo is just Kosky, some spectacular landscapes (cinematographer Ralph Messer apparently taking notes from that visual whizz Tarsem Singh) and a properly creepy spectre. Seale Jones makes the bold, rewarding decision not to explain a damn thing. The result is a masterclass in show-don’t-tell cinema. Continue reading...

Four-month-old makes royal tour debut with anti-apartheid stalwart, 87, in Cape TownArchie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor made a memorable royal tour debut by meeting the Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu in Cape Town.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, on a tour of South Africa, released video footage and photographs on their Instagram feed of four-month-old Archie’s introduction to one of the heroes of the anti-apartheid movement. Continue reading...

Tashan Daniel killed in ‘senseless attack’ at Hillingdon while on way to Arsenal matchA 20-year-old football fan who was stabbed to death in a “senseless attack” at a tube station in north London has been named by police.Tashan Daniel was killed at Hillingdon station just before 4pm on Tuesday as he waited for a train with his friend on their way to an Arsenal match. British Transport Police (BTP) said two other men provoked a fight with the pair, during which one stabbed Daniel in front of horrified passengers. Continue reading...

Police say 43-year-old was set upon at house in WidnesA 43-year-old woman has died after being attacked by two dogs.Cheshire police confirmed she died after being attacked at a house in Widnes on Tuesday. Continue reading...

With 200m people but only 150 psychologists, Nigeria needed a new idea. So Victor Ugo started somethingIt was a most unusual consultation. Dr Ayo Ajeigbe received the patient at his private practice in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, in his customary welcoming manner.But there was, it turned out, nothing wrong with the man. And when Ajeigbe asked why he was there, he simply replied: “I just wanted to see what a psychologist looked like.” Continue reading...

Inaugural World Poverty Forum – dubbed ‘Davos with the poor’ – to take place in Kenya’s Kibera to ensure voices of poorest are heardA global conference on poverty is to take place in Africa’s largest slum in an effort to make sure the poorest get a voice.The inaugural World Poverty Forum will be announced on Wednesday in New York at the Decade of Action event taking place during UN general assembly week. It is already being dubbed as “Davos with the poor”. Continue reading...

Greens describe as ‘abysmal’ report that avoids scrutiny by excluding data breakdownsLabor and the Greens have accused the Morrison government of deliberately avoiding scrutiny of its new welfare compliance regime after an “abysmal” official report excluded data that has been disclosed every three months for a decade.The jobseeker compliance data report, which was published on Tuesday, has been the subject of a political fight after the government refused to release it for more than six months, including under freedom of information, and instead provided selected statistics to some media outlets. Continue reading...

Australia’s ambassador earlier led a coalition of countries condemning the kingdom for human rights abusesSaudi Arabia has accused the Australian government of racism and of supporting anti-Islamic terrorists like the alleged Christchurch shooter, in an extraordinary dispute that has erupted at the United Nations.Earlier this week, Australia led a coalition of countries condemning Saudi Arabia over a raft of human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Move came days after exit of integrity manager, who had pushed for external investigationA senior Queensland public servant accused of rigging tenders to disadvantage a charity was swiftly cleared of wrongdoing by her own department last month, just days after the departure of the department’s integrity manager who had been pushing for an external investigation.The state’s corruption watchdog found prima facie evidence of alleged corrupt conduct by the public servant, who works in the Department of Child Safety, Youth and Women. Continue reading...

During holiday, Janarthanan Vijayaratnam was killed with two other men and his wife is now missingRelatives have demanded answers after a British resident was shot dead by police while on holiday in Malaysia, and his wife went missing at the same time.Janarthanan Vijayaratnam, a 40-year-old Sri Lankan national and UK resident was fatally shot by police in an apparent car chase and shootout in the early hours of 14 September, alongside his Malaysian brother-in-law and a second Malaysian man. He was on holiday with his wife and three children, aged five, 10 and 17, at the time. Continue reading...

Tax office files documents in support of freeze order over Chinese businessman’s assets and Mosman mansionThe Australian Taxation Office has accused the controversial Chinese businessman Huang Xiangmo of intentionally setting up complicated business structures in Australia to frustrate efforts to recover money from him.In documents filed with the federal court, the ATO, which has hit Huang with a $140m tax bill, said it had concerns that Huang “intentionally structured his asset holdings in such a fashion so as to delay or hinder recovery by creditors”. Continue reading...

In a city that has destroyed or forgotten most of its past, fragments of Auckland’s deep histories still survive at Ihumātao

Academic, feminist and peace activist who explored the themes of masculinity and war, and gender and technologyKnown for her research and activism in the field of gender, war and peace-making, Cynthia Cockburn, who has died aged 85, worked closely with female peace activists in countries experiencing acute conflict.Her publications included The Space Between Us: Negotiating Gender and National Identities in Conflict (1999), based on research of women’s organisations working across ethno-national lines in Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Israel/Palestine; The Line: Women, Partition and the Gender Order in Cyprus (2004); From Where We Stand: War, Women’s Activism and Feminist Analysis (2007); and Antimilitarism: The Political and Gender Dynamics of Peace Movements (2012), mainly featuring peace movements in South Korea, Japan, Spain, and the UK. Continue reading...

Brussels officials think Boris Johnson has lost control and will not be able to crash UK out

Lin Hwai-min has spent 46 years tackling revolt, repression and rice in his fast-changing homeland. Now he is handing over his dance-theatre juggernaut to a former slipper sellerIt’s a hot, humid evening and I’m sitting on the ground with around 50,000 other people, all about to watch Cloud Gate Dance Theatre give its annual outdoor performance in Taipei. The atmosphere in Liberty Plaza is extraordinary. I can’t think of another dance company in the world that could draw so large and so festive a crowd. Most of the audience have brought picnics, many enduring a day of rainstorms to bag a position close to the stage. Yet, although this is a special performance – one of the last before Cloud Gate’s founding director Lin Hwai-min steps down – such devotion has been normal for the company almost since it was formed.Cloud Gate was named as the outstanding company at the British National Dance awards last year and is a headline attraction of the new Sadler’s Wells season. Lin’s success in turning a small experimental dance company into a national icon and international brand is a remarkable story. Now 71, with a fierce energy and a huge crinkled smile, Lin acknowledges that he had almost no experience of professional dance when he staged his first programme back in 1973, and discovered that he’d sold 3,000 tickets for just two shows. “I almost had a nervous breakdown,” he says. “I thought, ‘My god, now I have to learn how to choreograph.’” Continue reading...

Ex-foreign secretary adds debt would not form deal for release of Nazanin Zaghari-RatcliffeThe former UK foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has said Britain would obey a court order to repay £400m to Iran, if the precise sum owed is agreed, but added the cash could not be linked to the release of the imprisoned British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.He also said western policy towards Iran was not working, arguing Europe and the US needed to come together with a new policy that provided a ladder for Iran to climb down leading to sanctions relief. Continue reading...

Government says transfer of body to municipal cemetery will occur as soon as possibleThe remains of Francisco Franco are to be moved from the state mausoleum in which he was buried to a municipal cemetery to lie alongside the former dictator’s wife, after Spain’s supreme court ruled in favour of exhuming his body.The ruling on Tuesday is likely to be the final chapter after decades of controversy over Franco’s burial place. Removing his body from its tomb in the Valley of the Fallen memorial near Madrid, where he was placed after his death in 1975, has been a priority of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE) since it came to power in June last year. Continue reading...

NCA to take no further action over £8m funding claims against Brexit campaign groupThe National Crime Agency says it has found no evidence of criminality after investigating a series of claims against the Brexit campaign group Leave.EU and the businessman Arron Banks.Investigators interviewed Banks and the Leave.EU campaign’s chief executive, Liz Bilney, as they looked into potential offences concerning £8m of EU referendum campaign funding. Continue reading...