World news | The Guardian

On trip to Beijing, James Cleverly says Britain is clear-eyed' about its disagreements with world's second largest economyJames Cleverly has said it would be a mistake try to isolate China, during the first visit to Beijing by a UK foreign secretary in five years.On Wednesday, Cleverly met China's vice-president, Han Zheng, and was expected to meet the foreign minister, Wang Yi. Continue reading...

Senate inquiry told tax concessions for property investors making housing crisis worse and locking young people out of home ownership

Queensland premier says everyone is entitled to leave' as rumours circulate of a leadership challenge

City of Melbourne council approved in-principle regulations on short-stay rental accommodation on Tuesday night, with a view to combating the housing crisis

Startup considers cities including Leeds and Glasgow for new versions of its paywalled local media modelThe local news outlet Manchester Mill is preparing to expand across the UK after being valued at 1.75m by a group of investors including the former New York Times boss Mark Thompson.Joshi Herrmann, the founder, said his startup was considering Leeds, Birmingham, Glasgow and Newcastle among the targets for new versions of its high-end paywalled local newsletter model. We've shown in the past few years that very high quality reader-funded local media is possible," he said. What we've done is build up an unusually zealous and committed number of readers who want better coverage, better writing, better investigative writing." Continue reading...

Demand to join Nato, coupled with claim France and Germany would leave, pissed off' US president, author Franklin Foer reportsIn a development likely to cause consternation in Washington and Kyiv, an eagerly awaited new book says Volodymyr Zelenskiy bombed" his first Oval Office meeting with Joe Biden.The two men reportedly failed to establish a rapport as the Ukrainian leader's demand to join Nato and absurd analysis" of alliance dynamics left the US president pissed off". Continue reading...

Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates workforce expansion plan means NHS would employ 49% of all public sector staffOne in 11 workers in England will be NHS employees by 2036-37 if Rishi Sunak's staffing plan for the health service goes ahead, new research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) shows.The planned massive expansion of the NHS workforce also means that it would employ almost half (49%) of all public sector staff by then, the thinktank estimates. That compares with the 38% who did so in 2021-22. Continue reading...

Outgoing Runnymede Trust head Dr Halima Begum says government has major credibility issue'The outgoing head of the UK's leading race equality thinktank has said the continued denial of institutional racism has created a credibility issue for the government.Dr Halima Begum, who is stepping down as the director of Runnymede Trust after three years, said that soon after the government released its controversial report on race, which claimed to not find evidence for institutional racism, there were several national scandals that showed otherwise. Continue reading...

Exclusive: spending data shows Home Office hired resilience practitioners' after what PCS union calls trauma assessments'The Home Office has provided border officers with mental health workshops to help them manage the stress of dealing with the small boats crisis.Spending data released by the Home Office shows it hired mental health professionals referred to as resilience practitioners" for UK Border Force staff who were dealing with small boats. Continue reading...

Federal circuit court judge Salvatore Vasta made series of basic errors when he locked up man known as Mr Stradford in late 2018, federal court finds

Larger than expected fall reduces likelihood Reserve Bank of Australia will raise interest rates again

Foreign select committee report published as foreign secretary, James Cleverly, travels to BeijingBritain must take a tougher stance on China over its severe human rights abuses and help Taiwan build its defences to deter a potential attack from Beijing, an influential group of MPs says.

Interest rate rises on mortgages are weakening demand, property website saysThe number of UK homes sold this year is expected to fall to the lowest level in more than a decade, as the soaring cost of mortgages puts off homebuyers.House sales reaching completion are expected to fall 21% year-on-year to about 1m in 2023, the lowest level since 2012, according to a report from the property website Zoopla. Continue reading...

Statement on former reality star's Instagram was revealed to be result of a hack, echoing social media rapper Lil Tay's recent ordealThe former Bachelorette contestant Josh Seiter has said a death statement posted to Instagram and reported by several media sites was a hoax and the result of an account hack - a turn of events which, on the heels of a similar hoax regarding the alleged death of the social media personality Lil Tay, has prompted another round of caution at taking social media statements at face value.On Monday, a post on Seiter's Instagram account, attributed to his family, announced the death of the reality TV alum, who appeared during Kaitlyn Bristowe's season in 2015 and has since worked as a model and adult film actor. Continue reading...

Award-winning poet last seen in early hours of Saturday morning in Kelmarsh, NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire police are appealing for information to help find the award-winning poet Gboyega Odubanjo, who has been missing since the early hours of Saturday morning.Odubanjo, 27, was last seen at about 4am on 26 August. He was attending Shambala festival in the Kelmarsh area of Northamptonshire, where he was due to perform later that day. Continue reading...

Airlines told to take every possible step' to aid stranded passengers as costs of travel disruption mountHundreds more flights were cancelled on Tuesday as the fallout from Monday's UK air traffic control failure continued to disrupt travel, with the government telling airlines to take every step to help stranded passengers.Many holidaymakers remain unable to return home for several days, and Downing Street said airlines should fulfil their responsibilities to passengers whose flights have been scrapped or delayed. Continue reading...

Spokesperson says those who wish to bid their farewell' to the mercenary leader should go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery. This live blog is closed

More than 1,300 schools destroyed in Ukraine since war began; farewell ceremony' held Yevgeny PrigozhinA farewell ceremony" for Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash last week, took place behind closed doors, his spokespeople said on Tuesday in a statement on social media.More than 1,300 schools have been destroyed in government-held areas of Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion, Unicef has said.Vladimir Putin has no plans to attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed when his plane crashed last week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday.An FSB security services helicopter crashed Tuesday in central Russia, leaving three people dead, regional officials said. The Mi-8 helicopter went down near the village of Krasnoe Pole in the Chelyabinsk region.Ukraine said on Tuesday that its forces had pushed deeper into Russian defensive lines near the village of Robotyne, a day after claiming control over the village on the southern front.Russian president Vladimir Putin will skip the G20 summit in India next month and will send his foreign minister instead, prime minister Narendra Modi's office said.Russian air defences reportedly downed Ukrainian drones over the Tula and Belgorod regions, Moscow's defence ministry said on Tuesday, without indicating if there had been damage or casualties.The US on Monday accused Moscow of attempting to intimidate and harass US employees after Russian state media reported that a former US consulate worker had been charged by security services with collecting information on the war in Ukraine and other issues for Washington.The EU should get ready to admit new members from eastern Europe and the Balkans by 2030, EU chief Charles Michel argued on Monday. With Russia's war in Ukraine continuing and Moldova's pro-western government scrambling to reform, senior officials have previously been reluctant to offer precise timetables.Pope Francis came under criticism on Monday for telling Russian youths to remember that they are the heirs of tsars such as Peter the Great, whom President Vladimir Putin has held up as an example to justify the invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine said the comments, which Francis made on Friday in a live video address to Catholic youths gathered in St. Petersburg, were deeply regrettable". Continue reading...

Residents say council ignored pleas to fix road which slopes in both directions and floods frequentlyResidents in the area where an elderly couple died after their car drove into a flooded road said they had been complaining to the council to fix and prevent the recurrent problem for years.Elaine and Philip Marco, who were 75 and 77, were found inside a submerged black Mercedes on Queens Drive between North Mossley Hill road and Dovedale road on Saturday evening. Police were alerted at 9:20pm. Continue reading...

Fifteen children and a teacher were injured in the 2021 incident at Rosemead preparatory in south LondonAn independent school has been fined 80,000 after a classroom ceiling collapsed, injuring 15 children and their teacher.The pupils, who were seven and eight years old, suffered injuries including fractures to their upper limbs, concussion and cuts after tables and chairs stored overhead came crashing down on them. Continue reading...

Francis's comments acknowledge divisions in US Catholic church, which has been split between progressives and conservativesPope Francis has rebuked the backwardness" of some conservatives in the US Catholic church, saying they have replaced faith with ideology and that a correct understanding of Catholic doctrine allows for change over time.The pope's comments were an acknowledgment of the divisions in the US Catholic church, which has been split between progressives and conservatives who long found support in the doctrinaire papacies of St John Paul II and Benedict XVI, particularly on issues of abortion and same-sex marriage. Continue reading...

Creator of series, which has set viewership records on Netflix this summer, says palace objected to the word poppycockThe creator of Suits, the legal drama which launched the acting career of the Duchess of Sussex, is opening up about input from the royal family on scripts.Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter about the show's resurgence on Netflix, where it has broken multiple viewership records for an acquired series, the creator, Aaron Korsh, said the royal family weighed in" on scripts involving Meghan, who played paralegal Rachel Zane for seven seasons, once she started dating Prince Harry in 2016. Not many things, by the way, but a few things that we wanted to do and couldn't do, and it was a little irritating," he said. Continue reading...

Police say Kenneth Law, 57, linked to 88 deaths in Britain, may have shipped as many as 1,200 packages to 40 countriesThe Canadian man accused of selling sodium nitrite to people at risk of suicide is believed to have shipped as many as 1,200 packages to 40 countries, police said as they laid a dozen new charges in a sprawling investigation.Kenneth Law, 57, previously charged with two counts of counselling or aiding suicide in the province of Ontario, is now facing 12 new charges in connection with deaths across the province, the York regional police inspector Simon James told reporters. The victims range in age from 16 to 36. Continue reading...

London councils report 120% year-on-year rise in requests for return of properties used as temporary homesHomeless families are being evicted from emergency accommodation to be replaced by private tenants as the number of landlords quitting the temporary housing sector in London more than doubled in eight months.A survey by London Councils, the cross-party organisation representing the capital's local authorities, found that between September 2022 and April 2023, 15 boroughs reported receiving a notice to quit, a legal document requesting the return of a property, from landlords for 3,531 properties in use as temporary accommodation. Continue reading...

Tracy Dixon and Nicola Bradley put oven cleaner and paint on friend's bird and threw it in tumble dryerTwo women who tortured and killed a friend's pet parrot during a lengthy drinking session have been jailed by a judge who described their cruelty as beyond comprehension".A court heard that Tracy Dixon, 47, and Nicola Bradley, 35, sprayed Sparky the female African grey parrot with Mr Muscle oven cleaner, daubed it with gloss paint and tried to feed it to a dog. They later threw it in a tumble dryer that was turned on. Continue reading...

South Australia and Tasmania expected to decide future of voice to parliament as Anthony Albanese confirms date at Adelaide rally

Peer did not declare 13 meetings with Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund when he sought permission to work for Bahraini companyA former minister who is to work for a Bahraini investment company has been criticised after he did not declare 13 meetings with its single largest shareholder, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, when seeking permission to take the role.Sir Gerry Grimstone, as he was then, was elevated to the peerage and handed a job in Boris Johnson's government in March 2020, serving as minister of state for investment until July 2022. Continue reading...

Pakistan police search for family of 10-year-old found dead in Woking as Surrey police appeal for more informationThe cause of the death of Sara Sharif has not yet been established, an inquest has heard, although coroners said the 10-year-old's death - which has led to an international manhunt - was likely to be unnatural".Sara's body was found alone at home in Woking, Surrey, on 10 August, a day after her family had travelled to Pakistan. Continue reading...

A memorandum of understanding published in 2016 required the NHS to hand over non-clinical records

Discriminatory' development sparks concern among healthcare union and migrants' rights groups

Rightwing broadcaster attacks Charles Haywood after Guardian exposed his sponsorship of secret societyThe rightwing broadcaster Glenn Beck has attacked Charles Haywood, a shampoo magnate and would-be warlord", as a false prophet" on his radio broadcast after the Guardian exposed Haywood's sponsorship of a secretive, far-right men-only fraternal society.Last week Beck devoted five minutes of airtime on the Blaze - in which he read the Guardian's article aloud and interspersed his own commentary - to criticising Haywood and Haywood's Society for American Civic Renewal (SACR). Continue reading...

Michele Bullock uses speech to detail how central bank is preparing for increased risk of extreme weather events

The UK series, which employed hundreds of Australian cast and crew, is the latest victim of cost-cutting measures at Disney and beyond

Fears that China's crackdown on dissidents is expanding into cultural sphere after linguistic group closes over a fictional essay about erosion of libertiesA Cantonese language group has shut down after Hong Kong national security police raided the founder's home over a fictional essay submitted to the group's literary competition three years ago.Andrew Lok Han Chan, who created and convenes the Societas Linguistica Hongkongensis (SLHK) group, said in a Facebook post that the officers from a police division set up to enforce the 2020 national security law, visited a home where some of his family members live last week when he was out of town. The officers, who did not have a search warrant, asked that he remove the essay from his group's website immediately, he said. Continue reading...

Federal court hears closing submissions in defamation case brought by Russell against the public broadcaster

Data from the Trans Justice Project and the Victorian Pride Lobby also shows anti-trans hatred has increased over the last three years

TUC says urgent investment needed in Cinderella sectors' to head off demographic timebomb

Sarah, an adult social care worker, has seen lower wages, more insecure work and years of staff shortages Exploitation and low pay causing poverty among care workers, says TUCUnless you've actually experienced some sort of care in your life, it's an invisible job," says Sarah*, a senior adult social care worker who has more than two decades of experience.It's an endless job. It's a relentless job. With the ridiculous pay and the way we're treated, yeah, you've got to have a passion." Continue reading...

People who stayed through last year's occupation are now abandoning the city amid fears of a Bakhmut 2.0'Antonina Sanina, 75, had spent the last two nights hiding in the basement of her apartment block in Kupiansk. She had endured six and a half months of Russian occupation last year, but now the renewed shelling of the city had prompted her to abandon her home. I couldn't take it any more," she said a few minutes after local volunteers had driven her to safety.She said eight neighbours hid in the cellar with her as the Russians targeted what they thought, wrongly, was a barracks nearby. You could barely sleep. It would be on and off. Then you'd just wake up and you wouldn't know - was that an actual hit or was it a dream?" A day before she took flight, one civilian was killed and 11 injured in a daytime artillery strike on the city centre. Continue reading...

While screening can help some people live longer, data shows some people's lives are shortened as result of screeningCommon cancer screening tests may not extend people's lifespans, with the possible exception of colorectal cancer screening, data suggests.Although the findings do not indicate cancer screening should be abandoned, scientists say patients should be better counselled about the risks and benefits of screening. Continue reading...

Exclusive: MPs urged to implement Poccum's law, named in honour of First Nations woman who died in a cell while on remand

Study finds average walking time to retrieve public access defibrillator from centre of any given postcode is 19 minutesLives are needlessly being put at risk in Britain because defibrillators are located too far away from where they are needed, experts have said.The lifesaving devices give a high-energy electric shock to the heart of someone who is in cardiac arrest. With nearly three in 10 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests happening at weekends and four in 10 between 6pm and 6am, quick access to a defibrillator at any time is crucial. Continue reading...

Extreme heat over Mediterranean begins to break down with cold front and low pressure creating strong windsThe extreme heat that had been affecting the Mediterranean began to break down over the weekend as colder air surged south-eastwards. A strong cold front, in conjunction with a rapidly deepening area of low pressure in the Mediterranean Sea led to an explosive show on Sunday, with severe thunderstorms racing through the Balearics towards Sardinia.Palm trees were ripped out from the ground and boats toppled in harbours as strong winds raced through the archipelago, with a couple of official weather stations in Mallorca recording wind gusts of about 66mph (106kmph). Roads turned into rivers under the torrential downpours. Continue reading...

Pupils in grammar school areas experience little boost in results, while grades among brightest may actually be lowerPupils in English regions dominated by grammar schools experience little or no boost in results compared with counterparts in other areas of the country, while exam grades among the brightest pupils may actually be lower, according to new research.The authors said their evidence suggested there was no case for further expansion of grammar schools in England, and a strong argument for the dismantling of selective school systems that use 11-plus entry exams in areas such as Kent and Trafford. Continue reading...

Exclusive: experts fear the cost-of-living crisis is forcing people to forgo evidence-based healthcare

Exclusive: Fire Brigades Union outlines serious fire and safety concerns' over Bibby StockholmSuella Braverman's stalled plan to house asylum seekers on a giant barge is facing a major legal hurdle after firefighters launched a judicial review claiming the vessel is a potential deathtrap".The Guardian has seen a formal letter sent by the Fire Brigades Union to the home secretary this weekend that outlines serious fire and operational safety concerns" over the 220-bedroom Bibby Stockholm, which is docked in Portland, Dorset. Continue reading...

Administrative hold-ups leave buyers missing best mortgage deals and some owners unable to sellLong delays in registering properties with the Land Registry across Great Britain are causing frustration among homeowners and buyers with some being left out of pocket as a result.Latest figures from His Majesty's Land Registry show that it is taking almost two years for some applications to make changes to the register to be completed. Continue reading...

A NSW fire and rescue superintendent said the death of a man in a Sydney fire on Saturday night was part of a marked increase' in such incidents

Spain forward rejects FA chief's claims as categorically false' as the national women's team refuses to play until he resigns Ego above dignity': Rubiales' defiance over kiss shocks SpainThe Spain forward Jenni Hermoso has said she did not consent to be kissed by the Spanish football federation president, Luis Rubiales, as the women's team announced that they would not play until he is removed.Rubiales has faced fierce criticism for days, as well as a Fifa investigation, after he grabbed Hermoso by the head and kissed her on her lips during the Women's World Cup final trophy presentation. Continue reading...

Ministers initially ignored calls by victims' families for inquiry that would be able to force witnesses to give evidenceRelatives of Lucy Letby's victims have welcomed the clearest indication yet that ministers will reverse their decision not to order a full statutory inquiry into how the former neonatal nurse was able to murder seven babies and attempt to murder six more.The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it was ready to bow to the wishes of the victims' families for an inquiry that could compel witnesses to give evidence, while the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said he believed the process should be judge-led. Continue reading...