World news | The Guardian

Benjamin Netanyahu’s office clumsily tries to edit out mix-up over former Russian leader’s nameThe office of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has released a video that clumsily tries to edit out a gaffe where he calls the British prime minister by the wrong name.Netanyahu misspoke at Sunday’s weekly cabinet meeting, referring to his UK counterpart Boris Johnson as Boris Yeltsin, the former Russian president who died in 2007. Continue reading...

The Natural History Museum has released a selection of highly commended photographs from a range of categories. The winners will be announced on 15 October and the exhibition opens on 18 October Continue reading...

Former MP falsely accused of child rape and murder says IOPC failed in its duty to publicA former Conservative MP falsely accused of child rape and murder has condemned the police watchdog for clearing the Met officers who investigated the allegations, following a meeting with its director.Harvey Proctor said in a statement released on Sunday that the watchdog had failed in its duty to protect the public from police incompetence, gross negligence, and “institutional stupidity”. Continue reading...

Centre Alliance’s Rex Patrick wants to overturn the decisions that limit Australia’s exposure to international courtsThe crossbench senator Rex Patrick will push to fix a historic wrong stemming from the “shameful” treatment of Timor-Leste during oil and gas negotiations by overturning decisions that limit Australia’s exposure to international courts.In 2002, the then Howard government decided to limit Australia’s acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the international court of justice and international tribunal for the law of the sea. Continue reading...

Attention is on Moscow vote after arrests of would-be opposition candidatesRussians have gone to the polls in local elections after weeks of opposition protests that led to the biggest police crackdown on dissent in nearly a decade.Although municipal and regional polls were held across the vast country, most attention has been focused on the vote in Moscow, where independent would-be candidates and their supporters have been arrested and jailed and large protests were held over the summer. Continue reading...

Riot police clashed with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, in an area crowded with banks, jewellery shops and luxury shopping arcades, which became littered by graffiti, broken glass and bricks torn up from pathways. Protesters started street fires and vandalised the district's MTR station

His successor must address corruption and human rights abuses and engage with the millions who feel disenfranchisedZimbabwe’s founding leader, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, has died. The widespread reaction to his death has revealed starkly the divided legacy he leaves behind. From one viewpoint he is Zimbabwe’s founding father, the man who led his comrades through an armed struggle for the liberation of Zimbabwe’s black majority from Rhodesian white-minority rule. His achievements in those early, heady years of independence were exemplary, with emphasis on health, education and women’s empowerment, thus opening up possibilities to many Zimbabweans, particularly the rural poor, who were shut out from Rhodesia’s opportunities.From another viewpoint, he is the hero who became a villain, his 37-year rule characterised by massive human rights abuses, from the Gukurahundi massacres and persecution of supporters of the rival Zapu party of Joshua Nkomo just after independence, to the persecution of perceived enemies, both in the opposition and within his own party, whom he considered threats to his power. Even the land reform programme, much admired across Africa for restoring land to its rightful owners, was implemented amid chaos and violence. Continue reading...

French foreign minister decries ‘worrying’ lack of progress as EU diplomats express frustrationThe French government has threatened to veto a further Brexit extension due to the “worrying” lack of progress in the recent talks, as EU diplomats expressed their frustration at being caught up in game-playing by the British government.In a sign of rising exasperation, the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, highlighted the lack of realistic proposals being put forward by Downing Street as an alternative to the Irish backstop. Continue reading...

Accusations come as PM is set to meet Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar in DublinEuropean officials have accused Boris Johnson of “reneging” on pledges to uphold the Good Friday agreement, ahead of the prime minister’s first meeting with his Irish counterpart.Johnson will meet the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, in Dublin on Monday at a tumultuous moment in the Brexit process, with only 52 days until the UK’s departure. Talks are set to be tense as fears grow in Dublin and Brussels that the British prime minister is backsliding on promises to protect the tightly knit economic and social links on the island of Ireland. Continue reading...

The 84-year-old Michiko, wife of former emperor Akihito, has undergone surgery for early-stage breast cancerJapan’s former empress Michiko underwent surgery on Sunday after the 84-year-old was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, the imperial household agency said.Michiko’s husband Akihito formally stepped down as emperor in April, the first abdication for 200 years in the world’s oldest monarchy. Continue reading...

Labor frontbencher says proposal makes life harder not only for those on the card but for their local shops and businessesTony Burke has given the strongest indication yet that Labor plans to push back against Scott Morrison’s “compassionate conservative” agenda on welfare, as the government flags a national rollout of cashless debit cards.Just days after reviving the drug testing policy for Newstart recipients which failed to pass the last parliament, the prime minister has told Nine newspapers the government will extend its cashless debit card program, despite the auditor general finding it was “unclear” whether it had any positive impacts. Continue reading...

Comic book movie starring Joaquin Phoenix takes top award and An Officer and a Spy wins grand jury prizeJoker, Todd Phillips’ mordant spin on Gotham’s grinning antihero, has won the Golden Lion award at the 76th Venice film festival.The film, which stars Joaquin Phoenix as a would-be standup comic, was ecstatically received at its premiere on the Lido last weekend, with critics immediately tipping it to be the first superhero film to take the best picture Oscar. Continue reading...

Each country releases 35 prisoners in biggest exchange since start of Crimea conflictKyiv and Moscow have exchanged dozens of prisoners in a dramatic operation that resulted in freedom for 24 Ukrainian sailors taken captive by Russia, as well as a potential suspect and key witness in the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17.

Security was tightened at Hong Kong's airport on Saturday in a bid to prevent protesters paralysing the travel hub. It came after violent clashes between police and protesters on Friday night. Riot police fired teargas and bean bag rounds at protesters outside Mong Kok metro station after they occupied roads and set fire to barricades Continue reading...

All his life, people have assumed the theatre director is mixed race – and he was happy to embrace that identity. Then he was accused of faking itAnthony Ekundayo Lennon remembers the moment his life spun out of control. It was late morning, Friday 2 November 2018. The actor and director was giving a talk about the performing arts to university students, and his phone kept flashing. It was so incessant that the students suggested he’d better take a look. He told them it wouldn’t be anything important, turned the phone over and got on with his lecture. When the class broke for lunch, he saw missed calls from Talawa theatre company, where he had been working for the past year, as well as several unknown numbers and messages.One text stood out. It was from a journalist at the Sunday Times, asking for a comment on a story the paper was preparing to run about Lennon’s place on a prestigious scheme – the artistic director leadership programme (ADLP) for black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) theatre practitioners. Lennon had been awarded an 18-month residency with Talawa, Britain’s best-known black-led theatre company. He scrolled down the text. Continue reading...

British citizens living in EU27 nations tell of feeling abandoned as a no-deal exit looms on horizonIf Brexit ends in no deal, many British people who live in the EU will become foreigners overnight – “third-country nationals” in legal language.There is no EU equivalent of settled status for the 1.3 million British citizens in EU27 countries, although the European commission has urged EU governments to “take a generous approach” to securing their rights in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Continue reading...

Human Rights Watch calls for information on fate of 34-year-old amid a spate of disappearances of activistsRights groups in Thailand have urged the government to investigate the apparent enforced disappearance of Od Sayavong, a prominent pro-democracy activist from Laos who has been missing for almost two weeks.The 34-year-old Laotian activist was last seen at his Bangkok home on 26 August, sparking fears for his safety in a region where there has been a spate of enforced disappearances of political activists. Continue reading...

Previous bill stalled twice in the Senate amid concerns it demonised those on NewstartWelfare recipients who test positive for drugs will be placed on income management under draft laws to go to federal parliament next week.A previous bill stalled in the Senate amid concerns about unfairness, and lapsed at the end of the last parliament. Continue reading...

A 73-year-old woman in southern India who has given birth to healthy twin girls may be the oldest woman to conceive. Mangayamma Yaramati started the menopause 25 years ago and so an egg was taken from a donor and fertilised with her 82-year-old husband Sitarama Rajarao’s sperm through IVF. She conceived in the first cycle and was found to be pregnant in January Continue reading...

Country has cracked down on migration after Donald Trump threatened in May to slap tariffs on Mexican importsMexico has announced a 56% reduction in the number of undocumented migrants crossing the country towards its northern border – a figure the government hopes will help fend off Donald Trump’s threat of crippling trade tariffs.The US president threatened in May to slap tariffs on all Mexican imports, but the two sides agreed to a 90-day window for Mexico to crack down on migration. That period ended this week, and the foreign secretary, Marcelo Ebrard, is to meet with US officials on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Benn bill passes the upper house without being amended, meaning it does not have to go back to House of Commons

President urged citizens to hit the streets and show ‘the Amazon is ours’ amid sinking ratings and vilification over the AmazonBrazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has urged citizens to clad themselves in the country’s yellow and green colours and hit the streets as part of a populist push designed to shore up support amid sinking ratings and international vilification over the Amazon.Bolsonaro made the appeal ahead of Saturday’s annual 7 September independence day celebrations, for which tubthumping and highly politicized displays of patriotism will be held across the country. Continue reading...

Analysis of 250,000 reviews for top-rated hotels finds one in seven with ‘hallmarks’ of fakesThe travel website TripAdvisor is failing to stop fake reviews boosting the rankings of top-rated hotels, Which? has claimed.The consumer organisation analysed almost 250,000 reviews for the 10 top-ranked hotels in 10 popular tourist destinations around the world, finding one in seven had “blatant hallmarks” of fake reviews. Continue reading...

British planes and British bombs are spearheading the killings. Politicians and the media must raise their voices in oppositionNothing can diminish the threat of a disorderly Brexit, or the significance of Boris Johnson’s recent anti-democratic prorogation of parliament. That those stories lead the news is no surprise. But when our government provides crucial support to a campaign of indiscriminate killing in Yemen that has claimed the lives of thousands of people, and this is treated as a footnote in our politics rather than a national scandal, it is plain that something has gone badly wrong.This week a report by UN experts warned that Britain could be complicit in war crimes through its arming of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition intervening in Yemen’s civil conflict. The report is the latest in a long line from the UN and the world’s most respected NGOs documenting a consistent pattern of violations. The experts note that leading arms providers like the UK “have a specific influence” on the belligerents “and may be held responsible for providing aid or assistance for the commission of international law violations”. Continue reading...

Prime minister accused of abusing impartiality of officers by using them as backdropBoris Johnson is facing mounting criticism for abusing the impartiality of police officers after he used them as a backdrop for a political speech.The prime minister’s speech at a police training college in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was meant to highlight the government’s commitment to returning 20,000 officers to the streets. But it will be remembered for his sometimes rambling remarks about Brexit and the prospects of an election, and the moment when an officer behind him had to sit down after feeling faint. Continue reading...

Labor’s Tony Burke says comments by Gerard Boyce risk ‘damaging the commission’s reputation as an impartial, independent umpire’Labor and unions have taken aim at a Coalition-appointed deputy president of the Fair Work Commission for social media posts defending ministers’ use of travel entitlements and labelling the unions’ election campaign a “big waste of money”.Gerard Boyce was appointed in December with three other deputy presidents from employer backgrounds, prompting Labor to accuse the Morrison government of “stacking” the industrial tribunal. Boyce was a barrister who previously worked for the Australian Mines and Metals Association and the National Electrical and Contractors Association. Continue reading...

Having been in the spotlight since she was nine years old, her decades-long career is a bellwether for how Australia treats its female artistsShow me the girl at nine and I’ll show you the woman at 51.Tina Arena first appeared on Australian television screens in the children’s talent show Young Talent Time in 1974. Known as Pina at home, the little girl with a big voice was so popular with viewers that the station was inundated with requests to give her a regular spot. Continue reading...

Signatories including Diane Abbott and Alf Dubs say the rights of EU nationals should be guaranteed. Plus Richard Griffiths on his Swedish wife’s difficulty in getting settled status and Emanuele Maindron on her family being torn apart. And another contributor says spare a thought for non-EU nationals tooIn his first statement as prime minister, Boris Johnson gave “unequivocally our guarantee to the 3.2 million EU nationals now living and working among us … that, under this government, they will have the absolute certainty for the right to live and remain”. In less than a day, the prime minister’s spokesperson rushed to clarify that this did not mean new legislation would be proposed. Instead Johnson would maintain the EU Settlement Scheme.As campaigners have pointed out, the current scheme implies that migrants who fail to apply will lose their legal status and residency rights. Figures suggest at least 2 million EU nationals have not applied for settled status yet. In order to be given settled status, migrants have to prove they have lived in the UK for at least five years. Continue reading...

Doctors say Abdullah Morsi suffered a heart attack while driving in CairoThe youngest son of the late former Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has died of a heart attack he suffered while driving in Cairo, doctors said.Abdullah Morsi, 25, was with a friend on Wednesday when he suddenly felt weak, and died shortly after arriving at a hospital in the capital, according to physicians who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief journalists. Continue reading...

Forty-two people killed in accidents in England and Wales, including 30 during pursuitsForty-two people were killed in road traffic accidents involving the police in England and Wales last year, the highest number in more than a decade and the third highest on record.Thirty of those deaths occurred during police pursuits, an increase of 13 on the previous year and the highest since 32 in 2005-06, which was also the worst year on record for police-related road traffic accidents, with 48 deaths. Continue reading...

Tie-up of rival parties likely to break from hardline immigration policyItaly’s new coalition government between the centre-left Democratic party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement has been sworn in, with many analysts casting doubt on how long it will last.The two parties are longstanding enemies. Should they fail, new elections might lead to them both being punished and open the way for a comeback by Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League. Continue reading...

Police arrested Graham Kurt Palmer, 34, along with a 51-year-old French national after receiving call about grounded yachtAbout one tonne of illicit drugs has been found on a Western Australian island after a yacht ran aground on a reef, with a British man and a French national charged over the massive seizure.Members of the public on Monday told police about the stricken vessel named Zero near Stick Island, which is part of the Houtman Abrolhos archipelago west of Geraldton, and the unusual movements of its crew. Continue reading...

Residents and politicians say authorities failed to close illegal factory that caused a fatal explosion in 2017An explosion at a fireworks factory in northern India has killed at least 22 people and caused the building to catch fire and collapse, officials have said.Police officer Mukhtiar Singh said 15 other people were injured in Wednesday’s blast in Batala, a town in Punjab state about 460km (285 miles) north of New Delhi. Singh said rescue work was continuing at the site. Continue reading...

Asio boss Duncan Lewis says risk of of terrorism ‘unacceptably high’ but it is not the most serious issue for AustraliaAustralia’s outgoing spy chief says malevolent state espionage and foreign interference poses an “existential threat” to Australia in a way that extremist terrorism does not.Duncan Lewis, the director general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, will retire this month after a five-year term, handing over to Signals Directorate boss Mike Burgess. Continue reading...

Israeli PM will also meet US defence secretary ahead of difficult elections at homeThe Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is travelling to London on Thursday to meet Boris Johnson, on a visit that had not been briefed in advance by either side.Netanyahu this week cancelled a scheduled trip to India, citing commitments at home surrounding the imminent general election in Israel. Continue reading...

Pro-European government seeks to draw line under crisis sparked by far-right leader

UK pair accused of defrauding German state through ‘cum-ex’ share trading scheme

Dr Tim Manfield tells inquest he has ‘beaten himself up’ for diagnosing Sarah-Jayne Roche with pulled hamstringA doctor has expressed his regret at failing to spot that a runner diagnosed with a pulled hamstring had actually suffered a broken leg, telling her inquest he wished he could go back in time and order an x-ray.Sarah-Jayne Roche, 39, pulled up while running the Cardiff half-marathon but went to hospital three times before it was realised that her femur was fractured. Continue reading...

The German photographer, who worked on the Duchess of Sussex’s Vogue cover, was best known for his 90s portraits of Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell and othersGerman fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh, who died on Tuesday aged 74, was renowned for black-and-white portraits that appeared in magazines including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and the New Yorker, as well as his refusal to retouch images. Recently, Lindbergh photographed women for the “Forces for Change” issue of British Vogue, guest-edited by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, including Jane Fonda, the climate activist Greta Thunberg, and New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern.On the duke and duchess’s official Instagram account, Meghan shared an image of herself with the photographer, captioned: “His work is revered globally for capturing the essence of a subject and promoting healthy ideals of beauty, eschewing photoshopping, and preferring natural beauty with minimal makeup.” Continue reading...

Murder investigation launched after boy found with stab injuries in StratfordA teenage boy has been fatally stabbed in east London, police said.Officers were called to reports of a fight in Byford Close, Stratford, at about 6.45pm on Tuesday. Continue reading...

A ‘yes’ in the referendum is a vote to regulate rather than criminalise a drug that’s widely used and less problematic than alcoholIn New Zealand, cannabis is classified as an illegal drug under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975. Its possession, use and supply are subject variously to penalties ranging in severity from fines to many years of imprisonment. On Wednesday, the Helen Clark Foundation released a report which sets out the case for legalising and regulating cannabis. New Zealanders have the opportunity to vote for that in a referendum next year.Related: Into the light: New Zealand's cannabis growers gear up for referendum Continue reading...

£120m haul was removed by police at Felixstowe before container continued on to Netherlands, where four people were arrestedHeroin with a street value of more than £120m has been discovered hidden among towels and dressing gowns on board a container ship.The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the haul weighing nearly 1.3 tonnes represented the largest ever seizure of the class A drug in the UK and one of the largest in Europe. It was recovered from a container on board the MV Gibraltar after it docked at Felixstowe on 30 August. The drugs were stored in packets labelled as protein powder, which were inside boxes filled with towels and dressing gowns. Continue reading...

Police have confirmed fatalities after a bus carrying about 20 overseas tourists crashed in bad weather on the North IslandA number of people have died in a bus crash north of Rotorua on New Zealand’s North Island.Police advised of fatalities after a bus carrying more than 20 people rolled from State Highway 5 at Ngātira in bad weather conditions on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Just 15% of voters are watching events in Canberra intently – and 15% have no interest at allAustralians are largely tuned out of federal politics, with the latest Guardian Essential poll suggesting only 15% are following events in Canberra closely.A further 15% of the sample professed absolutely no interest in politics at all, with the rest casual consumers of national affairs. Continue reading...

PM ticked secret memo while refusing to confirm decision in public, Edinburgh court hears• Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenBoris Johnson had secretly decided to suspend parliament nearly two weeks before asking the Queen, according to memos from Downing Street read out in court.The court in Edinburgh heard the first memo was written by Nikki da Costa, the prime minister’s senior legal adviser, on 15 August and spelled out the plan to suspend parliament in the week beginning 9 September. Continue reading...

Sarah-Jayne Roche died during surgery 12 days after Cardiff half marathon, inquest hearsA woman died after a broken leg sustained during a half marathon was misdiagnosed as a pulled hamstring, an inquest has been told.Sarah-Jayne Roche, 39, was injured while running the Cardiff half marathon but went to hospital three times before it was realised that she was seriously injured. Continue reading...

Jan Stroh built replica studio in his cellar - complete with palm trees and sound effectsA German lawyer who spent 15 years re-enacting episodes of the TV quizshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in his cellar, said his hobby had paid off as he walked away with the top prize this week.Jan Stroh, 35, even crudely reconstructed the studio of the German version of the popular programme – called Wer Wird Millionär? – complete with palm trees and exotic seascape backdrop, victory glitter and sound effects – in the basement of his Hamburg home. Continue reading...

Independent owner hosted Saudi leader in London last yearEvgeny Lebedev, the owner of the Independent and the Evening Standard, hosted a private dinner for the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, raising further questions about the media mogul’s links to the de facto ruler of the Middle Eastern kingdom.Lebedev’s news outlets are being investigated due to public interest concerns over a mysterious Saudi investment made through a web of offshore bank accounts, with the UK government suggesting that the Independent and Evening Standard are now part-owned by the Saudi state. The culture secretary, Nicky Morgan, has until Friday to decide whether or not to appeal against a court ruling that the UK government missed a deadline to intervene in the deal. Continue reading...