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Island country’s president says Taiwan could take ‘strong countermeasures’ if necessaryTaiwan fired warning shots at a Chinese drone that buzzed an offshore islet shortly after President Tsai Ing-wen said she had ordered Taiwan’s military to take “strong countermeasures” against what she termed Chinese provocations.It was the first time warning shots have been fired in such an incident amid a period of heightened tension between China and Taiwan, which Beijing views as its own territory. Taiwan strongly disputes China’s sovereignty claims. Continue reading...

Prime minister urges people to have hope cost of living crisis will ease as he uses final week in office to highlight achievements

Sandrine Rousseau was hoping to draw attention to the impact of meat-eating on climate changeA prominent French green MP has sparked a national debate by suggesting that red meat is macho and grilled ribs are a gender issue.Sandrine Rousseau, a leading figure in the EELV party and self-declared “eco-feminist”, has raised one of the most talked about topics of the end-of-holidays period. Continue reading...

Food experts say shipment is drop in bucket for drought-hit Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia but hope supplies pick upThe first ship carrying grain from Ukraine for people in the hungriest parts of the world has docked at Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, as areas of east Africa are badly affected by deadly drought and conflict.Food security experts say it is a drop in the bucket for the vast needs in the worst-hit countries of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, the country to which the shipment is going. But the flow of Ukrainian grain to other hungry parts of the world is expected to continue, with another ship leaving on Tuesday for Yemen. The UN World Food Programme has said it was working on multiple ships. Continue reading...

Xi Jinping expected to be given third term and be anointed as country’s most powerful leader in decadesChina’s ruling Communist party will begin its 20th congress on 16 October, state media has reported, a meeting at which President Xi Jinping is expected to be anointed as the country’s most powerful leader in decades.The congress in Beijing comes as Xi faces significant political headwinds, including an ailing economy, deteriorating relations with the US and a strict zero-Covid policy that has accelerated China’s inward turn from the world. Continue reading...

Government urged to ensure thousands living in park homes in Great Britain receive £400 paymentsGypsy and Traveller groups are calling on the government to ensure thousands of households living in park homes are not excluded from its energy bills support scheme this winter as bills soar.The scheme will pay out a total of £400 to all households in Great Britain with a domestic electricity connection between October and March, with monthly payments administered by their energy supplier. Continue reading...

More than 300 festival goers also injured during 2022’s Bous al Carrer festivitiesAuthorities in the eastern Spanish region of Valencia are calling on festival goers not to “lose respect for bulls” after seven people were killed by the animals during this year’s Bous al Carrer bull-running fiestas.The summer festivities – which translate as “bulls on the street”, and which are held in towns and villages across Valencia – have also resulted in more than 300 injuries in the past two months. Continue reading...

High-speed rail firm blames departure from EU and Covid for decision to halt service next summerEurostar has decided to stop direct services from London to Disneyland Paris from next summer, citing the fallout from Brexit and Covid.The high-speed train operator said on Tuesday it was scrapping trains running from the British capital to the Disneyland site in Marne-la-Vallée, in the eastern Paris suburbs. Continue reading...

Despite their costs going ‘through the roof’, education leaders fear they will be a low priority for the next occupant of No 10Education leaders in England fear one thing: that schools, colleges and universities will be hammered by the cost of living crisis but will not be enough of a priority to get the help they need from government. And they see little hope from a change in leadership at No 10.“Our costs are going through the roof, our staff badly need pay rises and are going to strike, our students are suffering, but our income is stuck,” said one vice-chancellor, echoing their peers in schools and colleges around the country. Continue reading...

Manager of Takayo Nembhard pays tribute to ‘talented’ 21-year-old who performed as TKorStretchA man stabbed to death at Notting Hill carnival was Takayo Nembhard, 21, a rapper from Bristol, his manager said.Chris Patrick said in a statement to PA Media: “He went to carnival with his younger sister and friends to have a good time. This is the worst possible ending for a talented kid.” Continue reading...

Move follows revelations that opposition leader was placed under surveillance while serving as MEPGreece is to launch a parliamentary inquiry into a spy scandal embroiling the government as MEPs also step up calls for an investigation into the use of phone taps in the country.An inquiry proposed by the centre-left Pasok party was backed by the entire political opposition late on Monday after revelations that the group’s leader, Nikos Androulakis, had been placed under surveillance while serving as an MEP. Continue reading...

Manchester mayor says he sees no controversy in Labour frontbenchers joining strikers during cost of living crisisAndy Burnham has voiced criticism of Keir Starmer’s policy of stopping Labour frontbenchers from joining picket lines, saying he would not “see this as controversial” during a crisis over the cost of living.The mayor of Greater Manchester is due to join Mick Lynch, the leader of the RMT rail union at the launch of the Enough is Enough movement in the city on Tuesday. The new movement is calling for lower energy prices and increases to wages and benefits. Continue reading...

Hit podcast examines Chris Dawson’s extra-marital affair with teen student and 1982 disappearance of wife Lynette DawsonAn Australian former teacher who was the subject of an investigation by a wildly-popular true crime podcast has been found guilty of the 1982 killing of his wife.The New South Wales supreme court on Tuesday found Christopher Dawson, 73, guilty of murdering his former wife Lynette Dawson, who he had wanted to leave so that he could pursue an uninterrupted relationship with a teenage schoolgirl known in the trial as JC. Dawson pleaded not guilty and has always maintained his innocence. Continue reading...

Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani accused of ‘using the internet to tear Saudi Arabia’s social fabric’Another Saudi Arabian woman has been sentenced to decades in prison by the kingdom’s terrorism court for using social media to “violate the public order”, according to court documents seen by a human rights group.Nourah bint Saeed al-Qahtani was sentenced to 45 years in prison after a specialised criminal court convicted her of “using the internet to tear [Saudi Arabia’s] social fabric”, according to documents that were obtained and reviewed by Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), an organisation founded by Jamal Khashoggi. Continue reading...

Supreme court verdict in case that was the subject of popular Teacher’s Pet podcast will be appealed, Dawson’s lawyer says

Researchers and Greens raise concerns about ‘national interest test’ introduced by Coalition which Labor has signalled will remain

A 2010 book on the British empire by the man set to be chancellor shows a very different worldview to that of some of his Tory colleaguesThe British empire was an anti-democratic, poorly governed institution that created some of the world’s worst geopolitical flashpoints. Steeped in public school snobbery, it otherwise had very little unifying ideology.“Much of the instability in the world is a product of its legacy of individualism and haphazard policymaking,” Kwasi Kwarteng concludes in Ghosts of Empire: Britain’s Legacies in the Modern World, published a few months after his election in 2010 as the MP for Spelthorne. He claimed to be sidestepping the “sterile debate” over whether “empire was a good or bad thing”, but the book’s conclusions are quietly, firmly critical. Continue reading...

Sky News broadcaster said an article and two tweets defamed her by wrongly portraying her as mocking Polynesian names

Former Australian of the year shares screenshots on Twitter purportedly from the now-suspended account of the man who repeatedly abused her in 2010

Government told mass job losses are inevitable in absence of help, with sector still battling back from CovidThousands of pubs face closure without urgent government support to soften the blow from soaring energy bills, the beer industry has said, putting jobs at risk in a sector still battling to recover from the Covid pandemic.The bosses of companies owning almost half of the UK’s 47,000 pubs said tenants were already giving notice because they could not cope with energy bills, which are due to rise more than fivefold in some cases. Continue reading...

Dominic Perrottet pushing for cut to five days, while Daniel Andrews open to shift if supported by health advice

At least 15 killed in clashes between Iraq militias after Shia leader announces his exit from Iraqi politicsMonths of political tensions over stalled attempts to form a government in Iraq have spilled over into violence, with at least 15 people killed and hundreds hurt in clashes between militias in Baghdad’s Green Zone and a nationwide curfew imposed.The gunfire followed an announcement by the powerful Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr that he was quitting politics and an earlier decision by his spiritual mentor to retire and attempt to persuade Sadr to transfer his fealty to Iran. Continue reading...

The climate crisis is the prime suspect, but the vulnerability of poor citizens and other factors are important tooThe climate crisis is the prime suspect for the devastating scale of flooding in Pakistan, which has killed more than 1,000 people and affected 30 million. But the catastrophe, still unfolding, is most likely the result of a lethal combination of factors including the vulnerability of poor citizens, steep mountainous slopes in some regions, the unexpected destruction of embankments and dams, and some natural climate variation.The horrific scale of the floods are not in doubt. “We are witnessing the worst flooding in the history of the country,” said Dr Fahad Saeed, a climate scientist with the Climate Analytics group, who is based in Islamabad. Continue reading...

Nadhim Zahawi to go on fact-finding trip to discuss measures on energy costs in what are likely to be his last days in postNadhim Zahawi will spend what are likely to be his final few days as chancellor in the US on a fact-finding trip to discuss measures to tackle soaring energy costs.Zahawi, who took over as chancellor eight weeks ago and is likely to be replaced if, as widely expected, Liz Truss is unveiled as the next Conservative leader, will also discuss the Ukraine war and cooperation on financial services. Continue reading...

Southern command spokesperson says Ukrainian troops have begun long-awaited counter-offensive in Kherson region. This blog is now closed

Warning raises prospect of continued rationing, as Total boss says Europe has to plan for future without Russian suppliesGas shortages across Europe are likely to last for several winters to come, the chief executive of Shell has said, raising the prospect of continued energy rationing as governments across the continent push to develop alternative supplies.Cuts to the supply of Russian gas since the invasion of Ukraine have plunged European countries into a devastating energy crisis, driving up wholesale prices to leave consumers facing huge bills and the highest rates of inflation since the 1980s. Continue reading...

Adam Bandt says changes will ‘turbocharge’ inequality as parliamentary budget office analysis finds men will benefit the most

The Allianz Stadium has been rebuilt at a cost of $800m but the harbour city still lacks the right grounds in the right places

In the lead-up to Labor’s jobs and skills summit, unions have also called for payments to match actual wages and the inclusion of superannuation

Truss now likely to become prime minister without undergoing a single sit-down grilling on TVLiz Truss has pulled out of Tuesday’s planned interview with the BBC, the corporation has said, meaning she is likely to become prime minister without undergoing a single sit-down quizzing.Earlier this month the foreign secretary agreed to the primetime interview with the veteran political journalist Nick Robinson, something already done by Rishi Sunak, her rival to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative party leader. Continue reading...

PM vows government will not disappoint flood victims as economic losses estimated at more than $10bnThere are growing fears for people living in communities in Pakistan cut off by devastating flooding caused by unusually strong monsoon rains, as damage to major roads hampers the military-led relief effort.On a visit to a badly flooded area in the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Monday, the prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, described the rains as “unprecedented in the last 30 years”. “I have never seen such devastation in my life,” he said, vowing that his government “won’t disappoint” flood victims. Continue reading...

Frontrunner to be new PM next week is ‘clear further support may be required’, says campaign teamRefuse workers in Scotland have been presented with a new offer in an attempt to end ongoing strike action.Scottish council cleansing staff across much of the country are striking over pay disputes with local authorities. Continue reading...

Security service claims without evidence that man helped assemble car bomb that exploded near Moscow

Exclusive: findings of UK survey come as charity warns early exposure risks creating a pathway to addictionChildren whose parents are problem gamblers are more likely to have been bought scratchcards, according to research from the GamCare charity, which is warning that early exposure risks setting young people on a pathway to addiction in later life.More than a third (38%) of Britons who were problem gamblers had bought scratchcards for their children, compared with 22% of those who had a low-level problem, 8% of non-problem gamblers and 5% of non-gamblers, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by GamCare, which runs the National Gambling Helpline. Continue reading...

Videos show several tents set on fire on Sunday, and police say about 50 people ejected from site after disorderThe end of this weekend’s Reading music festival was marred by violence and the burning of tents, prompting complaints to police and organisers about lax security.A number of videos were shared online showing several tents being set on fire on Sunday evening, the final night of the three-day festival. Festivalgoers also complained of objects being thrown as fights broke out. Continue reading...

Aeolian Offshore and CWind, both of which usually serve offshore wind industry, providing boats and crewThe Home Office has paid private companies more than £2.5m this year to charter boats and crew to pick up people trying to cross the Channel, amid tension with the Royal Navy over its role in the home secretary Priti Patel’s plans to deter asylum seekers.Contract disclosures published on a government portal show that Aeolian Offshore, which is based on the Isle of Wight and usually serves the offshore wind industry, is the largest beneficiary. Continue reading...

Incident in Tangshan sparked outrage over gender-based violence when video went viralChinese authorities said they have charged 28 people and were investigating 15 officials including police for corruption more than two months after a shocking incident in which a group of men assaulted four women at a barbecue restaurant in Tangshan, in the east of the capital, Beijing.The men carried out the assault after the women rejected their apparent sexual advances on 10 June. CCTV footage circulated online showed a man placing his hand on a woman’s back as she shared a meal with two companions. After the woman pushed him away, the man struck her before others dragged her outside and dealt a barrage of blows as she lay on the ground. Another woman was knocked to the floor. Continue reading...

Cult LA theatre show Cages uses holographic avatars that blend seamlessly with real actorsAvatars of human beings that are indistinguishable from the real thing have been created for a new “rock musical” with groundbreaking technology that could revolutionise live theatre.The show, titled Cages, uses “mind-bending” special effects that can now achieve a theatre director’s wildest dreams. Digital characters will interact with an ensemble of seven live actors, appearing and disappearing instantaneously, suddenly filling the stage with a cast of hundreds or stretching a giant arm 20ft across the stage. Continue reading...

Little help is on offer from Ukrainian authorities five months after Russians’ retreat

Man attacked and fatally injured after scaling security fence in Accra, wildlife officials sayA lion in a Ghana zoo has killed a man who scaled the fence and landed in its enclosure, wildlife officials said.The man was attacked by the lion after jumping over the security fences of the zoo in the capital, Accra, on Sunday, said the Forestry Commission, the state agency in charge of wildlife in Ghana. Continue reading...

Critics say it would be wrong for town council to pay for installing and maintaining statue amid cost of living crisisA proposal for a bronze sculpture of a surfer overlooking the Atlantic breakers in Cornwall has been criticised because a cash-strapped local authority is being asked to pay for setting up and maintaining the artwork.Critics say it is wrong for Newquay town council to be landed with the bill when so many taxpayers are struggling with the cost of living crisis. Continue reading...

Pensioner tells royal commission he had to go weeks without shower in unsuitable accommodation after NSW emergency

Singer says the ‘extent of my madness’ was ‘playing chase with paparazzi’ and claims the conservatorship was ‘all premeditated’Britney Spears has shared – and subsequently deleted – a 22-minute voice note revealing new allegations about the 13 years she spent under a conservatorship that governed almost every aspect of her life. “They threw me away – that’s what I felt like, my family threw me away,” she said.On 1 February 2008, Spears was involuntarily placed under a conservatorship by her father, Jamie Spears and lawyer Andrew M Wallet after the singer had displayed erratic behaviour in public for several months. Spears claimed that the action that prompted the arrangement was simply speaking “in a British accent to a doctor to prescribe my medication … three days later there was a Swat team in my home, three helicopters”. Continue reading...

Christie Lee Kennedy has pleaded not guilty to two counts of unlawful striking causing grievous bodily harm after 2021 incident involving BMW

Estimated 4.3 million people using e-cigarettes, up from about 800,000 a decade ago in ‘vaping revolution’Vaping has risen rapidly over the past decade to reach record levels in Great Britain with an estimated 4.3 million people who are regular vapers, according to a report.

Parts of the Mullumbimby site were ‘too flood-prone’ for temporary housing but others could be raised, inquiry hears

At inquest William Hollaway tells parents of Aishwarya Aswath he was ‘heartbroken’ he couldn’t save her

Advocates blast state government for opting out of parts of the updated national building code

Sir Joseph Hotung’s gift is ‘one of the most generous ever received’ by museumAn outstanding collection of Chinese porcelain and jades has been left to the British Museum in “one of the most significant bequests” of its history.The artworks come from the collections of Sir Joseph Hotung, a businessman, philanthropist and art collector, who died last year. Continue reading...