Experts says PM’s proposal for bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland fraught with problems

PM’s upbeat account dismissed as Jean-Claude Juncker warns time is running outEU officials have rejected Boris Johnson’s claim that “a huge amount of progress” is being made in Brexit talks, as Jean-Claude Juncker warned that time is running out.Juncker, who will stand down as European commission president on 31 October, is expected to ask Johnson to spell out his ideas for replacing the Irish backstop when the pair meet over lunch in Luxembourg on Monday. Continue reading...

Former PM and deputy PM deploy incendiary language to describe decriminalisation bill being considered by NSW parliamentThe former prime minister and deputy prime minister of Australia have claimed at an anti-abortion rally in Sydney that a proposed decriminalisation bill has nothing to do with decriminalisation.Tony Abbott described the bill as “infanticide on demand”, while Barnaby Joyce described it as “the slavery debate of our time” while also perpetuating a false claim about pro-choice protesters on Saturday. Continue reading...

The bands played but the funeral of Zimbabwe’s ex-president was a strange affair in a divided nationAt just before 11.30am, the thousands of mourners in the vast bowl of Zimbabwe’s national stadium stood and the casket carrying the mortal remains of Robert Gabriel Mugabe began its short journey across the green grass to the podium where it would lie during the long, hot hours of the funeral.A military brass band led the procession. Then came the bereaved family and Mugabe’s successor, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, followed by foreign dignitaries, before a small crowd of ministers and officials from the ruling Zanu-PF party. Continue reading...

Prime minister warns Brussels that he will reject any offer of prolonged membership and renews his threat of no dealBoris Johnson will tell the outgoing European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, on Monday that he will defy a new act of parliament and refuse to discuss or accept any offer to extend the UK’s membership even if a Brexit deal cannot be agreed, Downing Street said last night.The prime minister’s hardline message to Brussels that he will take the UK out of the EU on 31 October, come what may, will enrage MPs from all parties who joined forces last week to force through a new law mandating him to ask the EU to prolong UK membership from the current deadline of 31 October until 31 January next year, to avoid a no-deal outcome. Continue reading...

Former PM vents fury in his memoirs at his old colleagues over their stance on Brexit and compares Leave campaign to racist Tory electioneering in 1964Boris Johnson is a liar who only backed the Leave campaign to help his career and Michael Gove was a “foam-flecked Faragist” whose “one quality” was disloyalty, David Cameron writes in his memoirs.The former prime minister poured vituperation on both his former colleagues Priti Patel, the current home secretary, and Dominic Cummings, the No 10 adviser, in extracts from the book published on Sunday. Continue reading...

For Haredi Jews exempt from military service, volunteering can mean a family break-upLife in one of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox military units does not proceed according to the usual army schedule. The morning starts with prayers just before dawn. Meals in the barracks are prepared under the strictest kosher requirements. Training is halted twice more during the day for prayers; once again for a rabbi to teach soldiers about religious texts. Unlike the rest of the Israel Defense Forces, there are no women on duty.Many of the unit’s deeply observant members were raised to be rabbis, which is seen as the highest calling and duty. But as Daniel Rosenberg, an ultra-Orthodox who operated a heavy machine-gun, explained, sometimes a “kid doesn’t want to be a rabbi; he wants to be a fighter”. Continue reading...

The MP says he has joined Jo Swinson’s party to fight No 10’s ‘scorched earth approach’ to leaving the EUBoris Johnson has suffered a fresh blow as the former Tory universities minister Sam Gyimah dramatically defected to the Liberal Democrats, accusing the prime minister of “veering towards populism and English nationalism”.Related: Sam Gyimah: ‘I am an outcast in the Tory party’ Continue reading...

Restaurant industry says change would be ‘incredibly challenging’A grieving family’s call for a law compelling restaurants to put full allergen information on menus has been coolly received by the body representing the industry because of the extra costs involved at a time when many businesses are struggling.Owen Carey died from anaphylactic shock after eating a burger that had been marinaded in buttermilk. On Friday a coroner ruled he was misled into believing the burger was safe for him to eat because he had warned staff he was allergic to dairy products. Continue reading...

52-year-old Berkshire man arrested on terrorism charges but police say no immediate risk to publicCounter-terrorism officers and an explosive ordnance disposal team are searching a property in Maidenhead in Berkshire following the arrest of a 52-year-old man.The counter-terrorism policing South East team said its officers arrested the man from Berkshire at about 4.20pm on Friday 13 September on suspicion of terrorism offences. Continue reading...

Lavatory valued at £1m taken from Winston Churchill’s birthplace just before 5am on SaturdayPolice are on the hunt for an 18-carat gold toilet stolen overnight from Winston Churchill’s birthplace.Officers were called to reports of a burglary at Blenheim palace in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, where the loo – valued at £1m - was on display as part of a contemporary art exhibition, just before 5am on on Saturday. Continue reading...

The No Logo author talks about solutions to the climate crisis, Greta Thunberg, birth strikes and how she finds hope• Read an extract from her new book, On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal hereWhy are you publishing this book now?

Cambridge-educated lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University has been in prison in Tehran for almost a yearThe third foreign national revealed this week to be imprisoned in Iran has been named by the Australian government as Dr Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a Melbourne academic who has published work on the 2011 Arab uprisings and on authoritarian governments.Moore-Gilbert, a dual UK-Australian national, is Cambridge educated and worked as a lecturer in Islamic Studies at Melbourne University. She has been in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison for almost a year. Continue reading...

The tourist destination relies on a life support system of fishermen, hotel workers and laborers. They’ve been hardest hitHolidaymakers queuing at immigration at the Bahamas’ Nassau airport are still serenaded by three pink-shirted men playing jovial music. They are still sunbathing on the beaches and still swimming in the sea. It is as if nothing has changed in paradise.Yet 40 minutes away by plane, on the Abaco Islands, heaven turns to hell. The Mudd, a shantytown that was home to the Bahamas’ biggest Haitian immigrant community, has been obliterated by Hurricane Dorian as if by a massive bomb. Continue reading...

Donald Trump has blamed energy-efficient lightbulbs for his sometimes orange appearance. Speaking before an audience of Republican legislators in Baltimore on Thursday evening, he addressed criticism of his recent plans to weaken regulations on environmentally friendly bulbs. 'The bulb that we're being forced to use, number one, to me, most importantly, the light's no good,' he said. 'I always look orange. And so do you! The light's the worst'

Edward Snowden has spent the last six years living in exile in Russia and has now decided to publish his memoirs, Permanent Record. In the book he reflects on his life leading up to the biggest leak of top secret documents in history, and the impact this had on his relationship with his partner, Lindsay Mills. The Guardian's Ewen MacAskill, who helped break Snowden's story in 2013, has been given exclusive access to meet him

‘Fundamental flaws’ in £32bn takeover proposal mean LSE board sees no merit in itThe board of the London Stock Exchange has “unanimously rejected” an approach by its Hong Kong rival after the Asian bourse made a surprise £32bn bid to take over the 321-year-old City institution earlier this week.In an uncompromising response to the approach, which the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) described as a “significant backward step”, the UK firm said it saw “no merit in further engagement” with Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX). Continue reading...

Informal group including social workers, pastors, lawyers and medics have banded together to support demonstratorsOn Saturday, as Hong Kong braced for another weekend of youth-led mass pro-democracy protests, a group of middle-aged and elderly volunteers prepared for their own rebellion.Gathered in a metro station, they put on bright yellow vests and fumbled with goggles and gas masks. They listened attentively as an organiser went over tactics for slowing the police down and letting protesters escape: distract the officers by asking for change, to borrow their phone, or even by pretending to faint. Continue reading...

Young couple set off a week ago bound for Thomson Dam in West GippslandA young woman found dead alongside her boyfriend in a four-wheel drive crash in regional Victoria is being remembered as an “outgoing” character by her footy clubmates.The bodies of Shannon Lowden, 21, and Caleb Forbes, 22, were found on Friday, after the pair set off a week ago on a camping trip to Thomson Dam in West Gippsland. Continue reading...

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern’s credentials at home and abroad as a new kind of leader all hang on her next moveIt’s just shy of a year ago that Jacinda Ardern stood in the UN general assembly and spoke in support of the #MeToo movement. There was spontaneous applause from the floor for that small part of a much longer speech – it felt like a significant moment.The New Zealand leader’s trip to New York attracted the usual grumbles here at home – those who could not quite get their head around the very idea of a 38-year-old unmarried woman as prime minister carped about her decision to take her three-month-old daughter along – but the result was the blossoming of an international media love affair. Baby Neve’s appearance at the back of the UN chamber was just the icing on the cake. Continue reading...

The Mexican capital was founded by Aztecs on an island in a vast lake. No wonder water flows through so many of its unbuilt projectsEver since Mexico City was founded on an island in the lake of Texcoco its inhabitants have dreamed of water: containing it, draining it and now retaining it.Nezahualcoyotl, the illustrious lord of Texcoco, made his name constructing a dyke shielding Mexico City’s Aztec predecessor city of Tenochtitlan from flooding. The gravest threat to Mexico City’s existence came from a five-year flood starting in 1629, almost causing the city to be abandoned. Ironically now its surrounding lake system has been drained, the greatest threat to the city’s existence is probably the rapid decline of its overstressed aquifers. Continue reading...

PM tours bushfire area as Queensland emergency minister laments continuing climate change denialThe prime minister, Scott Morrison has dismissed suggestions his government has not acted to address climate change, while acknowledging climate was “one of many factors” that fuelled ferocious bushfires in Queensland and New South Wales.Speaking at Canungra in the Gold Coast hinterland on Friday, Morrison was asked about climate policies in the aftermath of a bushfire that remarkably burned into nearby areas of subtropical rainforest. Continue reading...

Weather system expected to hit Mediterranean regions of Valencia, Alicante and MurciaParts of eastern Spain received what in some places was the heaviest rainfall on record on Thursday, as storms wreaked widespread destruction and killed at least two people.The regional emergency service said a 51-year-old woman and her 61-year-old brother had been found dead in an overturned car that floodwaters had washed away in Caudete, about 60 miles (100km) south of Valencia, the private Spanish news agency Europa Press reported. Continue reading...

Auditor general says Scottish Prison Service is being adversely affected by cuts and overcrowdingScottish prisons are on the brink of a serious safety crisis because of unsustainable funding cuts and chronic overcrowding, the country’s spending watchdog has warned.Caroline Gardner, the auditor general, said the deep cuts in day to day spending and historically-high overcrowding meant Scotland’s prisons were running “well over operating capacity”. Continue reading...

Collection for Smart Works charity is intended to help women get back into workHer return from maternity leave coincides with the beginning of London fashion week, but after the furore that surrounded her trip on Elton John’s private jet, the Duchess of Sussex was not about to make the mistake of facing photographers from the glitz of a catwalk front row. Instead, she entered John Lewis on Oxford Street in London via the back door, smart but low-key in a £120 pair of black trousers and an £85 white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, to launch the Smart Set, a collection of interview-appropriate clothing for unemployed women looking to enter the workplace.The duchess is a patron of Smart Works, a charity that provides interview coaching and appropriate outfits for women in need. The Smart Set collection – comprising a trouser suit, a white shirt, a dress and a leather bag – goes beyond awareness-raising with an ambitious plan to improve the quantity and quality of clothing stock at the charity. For each piece sold on the shopfloor, one will be donated to Smart Works. Continue reading...

More than 130 bushfires are burning across New South Wales and Queensland as firefighters battle to gain control. Buildings that have been destroyed include the heritage-listed Binna Burra Lodge, in Queensland. Acting fire commissioner, Mike Wassing, said the extraordinarily dry conditions, combined with high winds and temperatures, ‘will continue for weeks and potentially months’

EU’s top negotiator tells MEPs Britain has not offered credible proposals for Irish borderMichel Barnier has told MEPs there remain insufficient grounds for reopening formal negotiations over the Irish backstop, six months after Theresa May and the European commission closed them.In a private briefing with the European parliament’s leaders, the EU’s chief negotiator said Boris Johnson’s officials, led by his envoy, David Frost, were yet to offer any credible plan on which the two sides could build. Continue reading...

Tafida Raqeeb’s mother tells high court daughter would like to live whatever her condition because of her ‘Islamic values’A five-year-old girl at the centre of a legal dispute over whether her life support should be withdrawn would have wanted to live whatever her condition because of her Islamic beliefs at an early age, her mother has told a court.Tafida Raqeeb, from Newham, east London, is on ventilation at the Royal London hospital, having sustained a brain injury in February. Doctors say she has no awareness nor any prospect of recovery. Continue reading...

Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny says searches show ‘Putin is very angry’ after Moscow pollsRussian state security services have carried out simultaneous nationwide raids on the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s regional headquarters four days after pro-Putin candidates suffered massive losses in the Moscow city assembly elections.The operation, involving more than 1,000 officers in at least 200 individual raids and ostensibly in connection with money-laundering charges Navalny says are politically motivated, was carried out across 40 towns and cities the length and breadth of Russia, from Murmansk in the Arctic to Vladivostok on the Pacific coast. The homes of dozens of Navalny activists were also searched. Continue reading...

Helicopter pilot finds trekker’s body in Pindus mountains after three-day search operationA British hiker has been found dead in a gorge in north-western Greece after a three-day search operation.A pilot flying one of two helicopters brought in to help the search discovered the the body of Robert Fromer, 26, on the slopes of a ravine in the Pindus mountain range. Police said an operation was under way on Thursday to remove his body from steep and rocky terrain. Continue reading...

Smoking rates are falling in the UK, US and much of Europe. Forty-five per cent of Brits smoked in the 60s and 70s, compared with just 15% today.You would think this was bad news for cigarette profits, but tobacco companies are making more money than ever. They claim they no longer market traditional cigarettes, but behind-the scenes tactics suggest otherwise. Leah Green explains how the most successful business enterprise in history has weathered its fall from grace Continue reading...

President Amlo says his new immigration plan is working, but huge numbers still travel north – aided by smugglers’ bribesMario Rosales is organising travel arrangements for his latest clients, a Honduran woman and her two primary school-aged children hoping to reach the United States.Rosales, 47, a coyote, or people smuggler, sends their photos via WhatsApp to his contact in the Mexican National Immigration Institute (INM) in order to obtain fake identity cards – all part of the family’s travel package, which costs $1,800 per person to traverse about half (1,750km) of the region’s most dangerous migration route. Continue reading...

Meth, cocaine and ecstasy found stashed under seaweed off Western Australia after yacht used by alleged smugglers ran agroundThree more men have been charged over a massive A$1bn drug haul found on a tiny island off Western Australia after a yacht ran aground and was abandoned, sparking a search for its occupants.Police launched a raid on Burton Island off the port town of Geraldton last week, finding Frenchman Antoine Dicenta, 51, and British man Graham Palmer, 34, allegedly with 1.087 tonne of methylamphetamine, cocaine and ecstasy in dozens of bags that they had attempted to hide under seaweed. Continue reading...

Thursday: Scott Morrison will not make it to the UN climate summit this month. Plus: the most habitable planet outside the solar systemGood morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 12 September. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

Police hold man on suspicion of murder after boy found in River Irwell in RadcliffeA baby boy rescued from a river has died in hospital.Police were called to reports that a child was in the River Irwell in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, shortly before 4.25pm on Wednesday.

The Israeli political leadership, with the help of Donald Trump, is making finding a way out of conflict with the Palestinians impossibleBenjamin Netanyahu’s plans to annex Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank – and, crucially, seize the bread basket of the Jordan valley – if he wins the Israeli election next week are not only illegal under international law but would, if enacted, make peace impossible in the Holy Land. Neither of these things appears to bother Mr Netanyahu, who refuses to recognise the Palestinian right to national self-determination and statehood.The Likud leader framed his land grab as a defensive measure, yet – as Wednesday’s rocket exchanges show – his country’s military is busy on Israel’s western flank, not its eastern one. Missiles can vault the valley, puncturing the security argument that it could provide a buffer against an Arab invasion or guerrilla infiltration from the east. Israel seized the West Bank from Jordan in the 1967 war. It is worth noting that in 2001, in peace talks with Palestinians, Israeli security officials suggested an offensive utility for the Jordan valley, saying that if its peace treaty with Jordan was violated then the space afforded by the fertile strip could provide a useful way to “take action”. Given Israel’s recent offensive strikes outside its borders, this might explain why security arguments have resurfaced. Continue reading...

Eighty-six people intercepted on Tuesday amid concerns about Calais camp closureBorder Force intercepted what is thought to be the highest number of migrants in a single day amid warnings the closure of a French camp could prompt a spike in the number of attempted Channel crossings.Eighty-six people attempted the journey in small boats on Tuesday, with some landing on beaches before being detained, the Home Office said. It is thought to be the highest number of people intercepted by UK authorities on a single day so far. Continue reading...

Teenager died by misadventure after taking ‘perfect storm’ of drugs, finds inquestFélicité Tomlinson, sister of the former One Direction star Louis Tomlinson, accidentally overdosed on cocaine, an anxiety drug and painkillers, an inquest has found.The 18-year-old was found collapsed at her flat in Earl’s Court, west London, in March. Continue reading...

Hopes of eradicating the disease by 2050 will fail unless we tackle the poverty and weak governance that allow it to thriveThe Lancet Commission on malaria eradication received widespread attention this week with its claim that the disease could be eradicated by 2050. This would be a very welcome achievement, as malaria currently kills about 435,000 people – predominantly children – each year.The report argues that the key to eradicating malaria is the application of existing and new technology, coupled with £1.6bn extra annual funding. Unfortunately, this solution is unlikely to be successful because it fails to address the underlying causes of malaria: grinding poverty and state incapacity. Continue reading...

Michael Hanley deliberately hit Morgan Berry in his 4x4 and then punched him in faceA man who used his 4x4 to knock down a teenage cyclist before beating him up and trashing his new bicycle during a road rage row has been jailed for six months.A judge told Michael Hanley: ‘‘Cyclists are entitled to share the road with drivers. Whatever got you into that state is beyond me – a complete rush of blood to the head.” Continue reading...

Case could embarrass Vladimir Putin and prompt Ukrainian demands for reparationsThe Russian state directed and ran the military coup in Crimea and its subsequent annexation in 2014, Ukraine has told the European court of human rights.The case in Strasbourg is one of a series brought by the Ukrainian government designed to expose alleged Russian state complicity in human rights abuses. It has the potential to embarrass Vladimir Putin and lead to Ukrainian demands for reparations from Russia. Continue reading...

President Hassan Rouhani signals approval of firing of national security adviserIran’s president has urged the US to “put warmongers aside” after the dismissal of John Bolton as national security adviser, with tensions remaining high in the Gulf.Hassan Rouhani’s remarks signalled approval of Donald Trump’s decision to remove Bolton, who had been hawkish on Iran and other global challenges. Continue reading...

The recent record investment in renewable energy is showing signs of slowing dramatically, the Clean Energy Council warnsA new snapshot of Australia’s clean energy sector warns new investment committed in the first half of 2019 has fallen back to 2016 levels, when Tony Abbott invited an investment strike when he tried to abolish the renewable energy target.While the Morrison government has been trumpeting record recent investment in renewable energy to rebut persistent arguments the Coalition lacks ambition on climate policy, an assessment of the investment outlook prepared by the Clean Energy Council, to be released on Wednesday, warns the positive trend is in danger of abrupt reversal because of the ongoing lack of policy certainty. Continue reading...

The prime minister has told his cabinet he is a liberal Tory running a one nation government

Charities and opposition parties highlight ex-cricketer’s conviction for domestic abuseBoris Johnson is being urged to withdraw Geoffrey Boycott’s knighthood over his conviction for domestic violence and the former England cricketer’s response to criticism.Women’s charities and opposition parties made the call after Boycott said he did not “give a toss” about condemnation of his knighthood from a leading domestic violence charity. Continue reading...

A new book says the actor was scared of going on the record at first but then encouraged other women to speak outGwyneth Paltrow has been named a key figure in the New York Times story that first catalogued a series of sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, and led to the film producer’s dismissal from his own company and subsequent prosecution.In a new book titled She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey – the New York Times reporters whose story on 5 October 2017 triggered Weinstein’s downfall – Paltrow is said to have been “scared to go on the record but became an early, crucial source, sharing her account of sexual harassment and trying to recruit other actresses to speak”. Continue reading...

Permanent venue will show current releases at shop on Oxford Street in LondonSelfridges is to be the first department store in the world to install a permanent cinema. It will open to the public at the end of November at its London site on Oxford Street.The three-screen facility will be fitted with the latest state-of-the-art sound and vision technology and will offer cinemagoers food and drink along with a membership loyalty programme. Continue reading...