World news | The Guardian

Rentals in NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and ACT dropped below 18C more than 80% of the time, report findsAustralian rental homes are colder and more damp than is considered safe by the World Health Organization, with homes in New South Wales so humid as to promote mould growth, a new report has found.Tenant advocacy organisation Better Renting recruited 75 renters around Australia to install tracking devices in their homes that recorded temperature and humidity levels at one-minute intervals from 13 June to 31 July this year.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

‘Tariff deficit fund’ proposed by ScottishPower and Eon would involve banks putting cash into state-backed fundTwo of the UK’s biggest energy suppliers have thrown their weight behind a plan being debated in the industry to devise a fund that could freeze customer bills for two years.The British Gas owner Centrica and Octopus Energy are understood to support a scheme that would create a multibillion-pound facility to spread the cost of an emergency funding package over a decade, the Guardian can reveal. Continue reading...

The pay of the top 1% of earners is rising fast, while many in the Cities of London and Westminster are struggling“You have got to be kidding me,” says Louis Margeite. “If that’s the average salary, some people must be earning millions, because no one we know earns anything remotely close to that.”The 52-year-old postal worker has just learned he lives in the parliamentary seat with the highest average salary: the Cities of London and Westminster, where the mean average for full-time workers is almost £80,000, according to HMRC statistics, and rising fast. Continue reading...

Ucas, Ofqual and DfE hope to steady nerves as this year’s university admissions set to be among the most competitive in living memoryThe head of the universities admissions service has said this year’s A-level results were “never going to be pain-free”, as students are told to prepare themselves for lower grades and increased competition for university places.With results published on Thursday, the Ucas chief executive, Clare Marchant, said the government’s policy of reining in grade inflation in order to bring results gradually back to a pre-pandemic level, had been necessary but it was “not easy”. Continue reading...

Singer tells of devastation and vows to ‘nail’ the rescheduled dates that will take place later this yearAdele has said the decision to cancel her Las Vegas residency was the “worst moment in my career” and vowed to “nail” the rescheduled shows later this year.Speaking seven months after the dates were cancelled, the British singer-songwriter explained why she pulled out just 24 hours before she was due on stage. Continue reading...

Athlete and his partner, sprinter Bianca Williams, were stopped and handcuffed two years agoAn athlete who was allegedly racially profiled during a stop and search two years ago has said he was pulled over for a second time by “seven armed officers” while driving home in London at the weekend.The Portuguese sprinter Ricardo Dos Santos published a series of tweets and video footage of him being pulled over and questioned by police. Continue reading...

Analysis: Kwasi Kwarteng and Thérèse Coffey could be among the big winners if Truss becomes PMLiz Truss has three weeks before she is likely to walk through No 10’s black door as prime minister, facing a difficult in-tray. Here we take a look at how senior roles could shape up. Continue reading...

Presenter admits reason for his departure was new BBC schedule for Sunday afternoon showPaul O’Grady thanked his listeners and said he can now “run free” as he signed off from his final BBC Radio 2 show on Sunday.O’Grady, 67, had hosted the Sunday afternoon programme for nearly 14 years before a schedule shake-up meant he shared the hosting role with the comic Rob Beckett, swapping every 13 weeks. Continue reading...

Ousted leader of Myanmar will appeal against new conviction added to earlier 11-year sentenceA court in military-ruled Myanmar convicted the country’s ousted leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, on more corruption charges on Monday, adding six years to her earlier 11-year prison sentence, a legal official said.The trial was held behind closed doors, with no access for media or the public, and her lawyers were forbidden by a gag order from revealing information about the proceedings. Continue reading...

Majority will now earn minimum of £12.66 an hour, up from £11.95, with those in London on at least £13.05Aldi is giving its warehouse workers their second pay rise in a year, with wages rising almost 6% for most staff next month, in the latest sign of the intense competition for workers in the UK.The UK’s fifth-largest grocer said the majority of its warehouse workers, known as selectors, would now earn a minimum of £12.66 an hour, up from £11.95 at present after an increase from £11.48 in January. Those working in London will receive a minimum of £13.05 an hour. Continue reading...

Families who fled Taliban rule say they are grateful for the help they have received but long for a home where they can settleThe west London hotel where Fawzia Amini, a senior Afghan judge, her husband and their four daughters have lived for the last nine months has comfortable sofas in the foyer, a restaurant serving tasty meals on the first floor, and friendly reception staff – but it isn’t home.After the turmoil and danger of fleeing their spacious home in Kabul when the Taliban seized control of the Afghan capital, the family say that while they are grateful for everything the UK government has done for them, they long to be in a place of their own where they can cook their own food, work, study, and entertain relatives and friends. Continue reading...

JCVI will decide whether to use Moderna-manufactured jab in planned autumn booster campaignA vaccine designed to target two different forms of Covid has been approved by the UK regulator for use as booster jabs in people over the age of 18.Manufactured by the US firm Moderna, the vaccine targets not only the original coronavirus – as is the case for vaccines currently in use – but is designed specifically to target the Omicron variant BA.1, which fuelled a wave of Covid in the UK last winter. Continue reading...

Appeal by lawyers for US basketball star may indicate no deal has been reached for prisoner swap between Russia and the USLawyers for American basketball star Brittney Griner have filed an appeal against her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession.Griner, a centre for the Phoenix Mercury who had been playing in Yekaterinburg during the WNBA off-season, was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage. She was convicted on 4 August. Continue reading...

Former Tasmanian premier mutilated body of William Lanne in 1869 and sent skull to Royal College of Surgeons in London

Accountancy company says move is about trying to attract job starters from broader range of backgroundsPwC has removed a requirement that new employees achieve a minimum of a 2:1 at university, acknowledging that talent and potential is “determined by more than academic grades”.The accounting company, a leading employer of UK graduates, said it was also removing the requirement from its internship and placement programmes. Continue reading...

Long-term forecasts indicate dry conditions will prevail across south and east through autumnExceptionally hot and dry conditions have continued to plague parts of western Europe, including the UK. Although not as intense as the heatwave in July, temperatures above 30C were reached widely across England and Wales for several days. A provisional high of 34.9C was recorded in Charlwood, Surrey, on Saturday.The high temperatures follow the driest July in England since 1935, with parts of central southern England and the south-east experiencing the driest July since records began. February is the only month this year in England when there has been above average rainfall. Continue reading...

PM says ‘self-reliant India is the responsibility of every citizen’ 75 years after end of British rule

Survey reveals common practice is seen as ‘strange’ by parents handed child’s soiled nappies to take homeWaiting lists for Japanese nurseries are finally falling, but many parents have found that securing one of the coveted places comes at a price – taking home their child’s soiled nappies.A survey has shone a light on the common but rarely discussed practice, with about 40% of towns and cities in Japan saying they demand the guardians of their infant clientele take their used nappies with them. Continue reading...

ClubsNSW alleges in a federal court document that sending information to journalists was intended to breach confidentiality

Government will ensure 2023 increase is below rate of inflation and will be delayed until MarchPassengers in England will not face a crippling double-digit rise in rail fares of as much as 12% after the government said it would step in to keep prices lower amid the soaring cost of living crisis.Fares traditionally increase each January, based on the retail prices index (RPI) recorded the previous July plus 1%. Continue reading...

Home Office urges Afghans who fled Taliban a year ago to look for accommodation in private sectorThousands of Afghan refugees who have been living in UK hotels since the Taliban takeover of their country a year ago have been told by the Home Office to look for new accommodation on Rightmove or Zoopla.On the first anniversary of the fall of Kabul, the government is still providing hotel accommodation to 9,500 Afghans who sought refuge in the UK, with only 7,000 having been rehoused. Continue reading...

Brian Moylan urges coroner to be ‘courageous’ in pursuit of facts in inquest into death of his daughter, Annie O’Brien

Katarina Carroll will discuss the force’s capability and culture after critics questioned why she had not been called to appear

Melbourne indie game developer Massive Monster’s latest has ‘just blown up’ on first weekend of its release

Chris Minns says colleagues raised concerns over weekend, after Secord apologised for ‘shortcomings’

Retail sales and industrial output lower than forecast, with fears that China could miss its annual growth target for first time since 2015China’s economy unexpectedly slowed in July, with factory and retail activity squeezed by Beijing’s zero-Covid policy and a property crisis, while the central bank surprised markets by cutting key lending rates to revive demand.July’s industrial output grew 3.8% from a year earlier, slightly down from 3.9% in June, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed. That compared with a 4.6% increase expected by analysts in a Reuters poll. Continue reading...

Security contractor reports significant staff sick leave, leading to closure of several screening lanes

Federal court orders unredacted versions of certain exhibits to remain secret, with one document to be suppressed until 2052

Advocacy groups attack NSW authorities’ rejection of proposal to use former disability centres

Speakers to be installed across capital for daily pronouncements as government’s plan labelled ‘archaic and redundant’Vietnam’s capital of Hanoi is famous for its noise pollution, with the sound of vehicles driving, horns blasting, construction hammering, hawkers yelling and neighbours singing karaoke combining in a discordant cacophony. But if the city government has its way, there will soon be one more source clamouring for ear space: loudspeakers blaring out state proclamations.The use of loudspeakers harkens back to cold war-era information sharing and propaganda. They were officially retired by the city’s mayor in 2017, but started creeping back in a limited capacity during Covid-19. Continue reading...

Data shows just 43,000 EU citizens received visas for work, family, study or other purposes in 2021The number of EU citizens moving to the UK has plunged since Brexit closed the doors to low-paid workers, according to a report.The dramatic decline in migration from the EU has hit hospitality and support services hard. But the Migration Observatory (MO) at the University of Oxford and ReWage, a group of independent experts, have said that while Brexit “exacerbated” chronic labour shortages in Britain, it was not the only cause. Continue reading...

TUC calls on Department for Work and Pensions to make move to help workers access key benefitsMinisters should urgently classify Covid-19 as an occupational disease to prompt employers to reduce the risk of exposure and help workers access key benefits, the TUC has said.The UK is out of step with other major countries that have recognised Covid as a disease that people can get in the course of their work, especially in certain sectors, it says. Continue reading...

One year since the Taliban regained power, charities say urgent action needed to address economic crisisOne year on from the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, a group of 32 Afghan and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are urging the international community not to abandon the country’s people, but instead address the root causes of the its economic crisis, stand up for human rights and increase humanitarian aid.Reflecting a concern that the deep ideological deadlock between the Taliban and the international community is consigning millions of Afghans to destitution, they call for a clear roadmap that will lead to the restoration of the basic functions of the Afghan central bank and the release of Afghanistan’s assets frozen abroad, mainly in the US. The NGOs call for the disbursement of badly needed Afghan banknotes that have been printed but are impounded in Poland. Continue reading...

Victim pronounced dead at scene after police called to reports of a fight in east LondonThree men have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 60-year-old man died in east London.The Metropolitan police were called at just after midnight on Sunday to reports of a fight at the junction of Ford Road and Broad Street in Dagenham. Officers and the London ambulance service attended but the man was pronounced dead. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer says people won’t pay ‘a penny more’ and that plan would reduce inflationKeir Starmer has put a beefed-up £8bn windfall tax on energy company profits at the heart of a new plan to stop people having to pay “a penny more” on fuel bills this winter.The Labour leader confirmed that under his plan the energy price cap would be frozen at the current level, meaning that an expected 80% rise in October – taking an average household bill to about £3,600 – would not go ahead. Continue reading...

Security sources say majority of dead are children after blaze breaks out at Coptic Abu Sifin church in GizaA fire sparked by an electrical fault at a packed church in a working-class district of Greater Cairo has killed at least 41 people and injured another 45, Egyptian officials have said.About 5,000 people had gathered at the Coptic Abu Sifin church in Imbaba, Giza, for Sunday morning services, when a fire broke out just before 9am local time (7am BST). Continue reading...

Analysis: slurs traded between Truss and Sunak camps look hard to live down, though voters may have bigger worriesIt is not unusual for elections to be described as “the dirtiest ever”, but the current Conservative leadership contest has been so fractious that for once the description may be true.On Sunday, when the Conservative MP Greg Hands claimed in a Times Radio interview that “a lot of restraint” had been shown by the two campaigns, the presenter, the former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, could not conceal her disbelief. It was more “blood and thunder and eye-gouging”, she responded. Continue reading...

Richard Sharp used Cayman Island company to invest in crypto firm founded by oligarch, documents revealThe BBC’s chair used an offshore Cayman Islands company to invest in a crypto business founded by a now sanction-hit Russian oligarch.Richard Sharp was an early investor in Atomyze, a Swiss blockchain business established by the oligarch Vladimir Potanin. Also known as the “Nickel King”, Potanin has played ice hockey with Vladimir Putin and was one of the oligarchs summoned to the Kremlin when Russia invaded Ukraine. Continue reading...

With winter power cuts a possibility amid energy crisis, some Britons remember them as ‘very ordinary’When Judy Young first saw the government’s response to concerns over power supplies could be potential blackouts this winter, her first thought was: “Thank God I haven’t got young children any more.”On Tuesday, it was reported that under the government’s latest “reasonable worst case scenario” plan, Britain could experience several days of blackouts in January if the country is short of power. Continue reading...

The $48bn figure from world’s biggest oil firm is thought to be one of largest quarterly profits in historySaudi Arabia’s largely state-owned energy firm has highlighted the colossal profits made by gas and oil-rich nations during the energy crisis by revealing profits in the three months to the end of June up 90% to $48bn (£40bn).Saudi Aramco recorded what is believed to be one of the largest quarterly profits in history to easily beat the near $26bn it made a year earlier. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Renewed fears ceilings at affected hospitals could suddenly collapse, injuring staff and patientsThirty-four hospital buildings in England have roofs made of concrete that is so unstable they could fall down at any time, ministers have admitted.The revelation has prompted renewed fears that ceilings at the hospitals affected might suddenly collapse, injuring staff and patients, and calls for urgent action to tackle the problem. Continue reading...

Shipworms and crustaceans called gribbles have infiltrated the wood of the vessel off Rhode Island

Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin integrated care system says it is experiencing significant demand for all its servicesThe NHS in Shropshire has declared a critical incident over “continued and unprecedented” pressure on its services.Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin integrated care system (ICS) said it was experiencing significant levels of demand for all health and care services across the county. Continue reading...

University admissions will be ‘hardest in living memory’ after government asked regulators to set grade boundaries

Government pledges ‘judicial and political steps’ to enable talks to resume with nation’s last guerrillas broken off three years agoColombia’s new government and members of the nation’s last guerrilla group have taken steps towards restarting peace talks that were suspended three years ago in Cuba.Newly elected President Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group, has promised to establish “total peace” in Colombia and sent a high-level delegation to Cuba this week to meet with National Liberation Army (ELN) representatives there. Continue reading...

Boonwurrung elder fights plans to transfer land from the satirist’s estate to the Bunurong Land Council

Man opens fire at random in city of Cetinje, reportedly after a family disputeTwelve people including the gunman have been killed in a mass shooting in Montenegro, after a man opened fire at random in the city of Cetinje, reportedly after a family dispute.State television said the 34-year-old gunman had also wounded six people, including a police officer, during the shooting in the Medovina neighbourhood. Continue reading...

The writer had no idea his novel would unleash such anger and become a litmus test of freedom of expression

Author was attacked by a man storming the stage as he was preparing to give a lecture in western New York