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State health minister says evidence given to inquiry that patients wait up to 36 hours to see a doctor are ‘rubbish’The New South Wales health minister has rejected criticism of the state’s healthcare system as “third-world” by doctors speaking at a parliamentary inquiry.Brad Hazzard dismissed some of the comments made by emergency medical experts on Wednesday. The doctors had been quizzed at an inquiry hearing about “war zone” conditions in public hospitals that remain under pandemic stress.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Higgins tells court she didn’t want allegation against Bruce Lehrmann to be a ‘media frenzy’ and wasn’t sure if making complaint would cost her her job

Authorities respond to growing outrage over death of Nika Shakrami, but continue violent crackdownIranian prosecutors have opened an investigation into the death of a teenage girl during the early days of protests in Tehran, who has become an icon for the anti-government movement.The popular uprising against Iran’s theocratic rulers was sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd detained for allegedly violating the country’s laws on clothing, and has largely been led by women. Continue reading...

PM pledges to get country ‘through the tempest’ but Tories leave Birmingham downbeat and dividedLiz Truss has attempted to unite her party around a common enemy of the “anti-growth coalition” of the unions, remainers and green campaigners after a turbulent Tory conference that left her party downbeat and divided, and her leadership in peril.After a fractious four-day gathering in Birmingham, the prime minister pledged to get the country “through the tempest” of the economic crisis this winter by pressing on with her economic plan for growth despite the “disruption” it risks unleashing. Continue reading...

More than half of the donations came from hedge fund bosses, venture capitalists and other City financiersLiz Truss was given more than £500,000 for her leadership campaign, with about half of it coming from donors linked to hedge fund bosses, venture capitalists and other City financiers.The prime minister, who has made a virtue of being pro-business and cutting taxes, saw a further round of donations declared on the register of MPs’ interests on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Australian teen drama spends two weeks in streaming platform’s Top 10, while fans drive billions of views on social media

NSW Taxi Council says ‘no excuse’ for drivers to charge off-meter, while industry under pressure with fees frozen since 2014

Archer tells Albanese government ‘it’s OK to change your mind’ as debate continues within ALP about future of Coalition tax package

Government had been calling Australia ‘the largest non-Nato contributor’ but that language has shifted as it becomes harder to measure

Prize worth £3.55m to be split between 433 winners who all chose multiples of nine for their numbersA “strange and unusual” lottery draw in the Philippines that led to 433 people winning with a combination of numbers that were all multiples of nine has prompted suspicion and calls for an investigation.A prize of 236m pesos (£3.55m) will be split between the winners, with each receiving about 545,000 pesos, subject to taxes, for picking the numbers 09, 45, 36, 27, 18 and 54 during the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) grand lotto draw on Saturday. Continue reading...

Home secretary reportedly planning ban on anyone who enters UK via irregular routes claiming refuge

Band founder tweeted in anger after PM walked on conference stage to hit 1993 single Moving On UpLiz Truss has become the target of the wrath of the founder of M People for walking on stage for her Tory party conference speech to the band’s 1993 single, Moving On Up.Michael Pickering, who co-wrote the song and founded the group, expressed anger on Twitter before the Truss speech was even finished, tweeting: “No permission given for that we’re very angry.” Continue reading...

Inquiry examines records going back to the 1940s and finds culture of victim-blaming, misogyny and protectionismThe Church of England has suffered from a culture of deference, inertia, misogyny, protectionism and victim-blaming, a three-year internal review of abuse cases has found.Almost 400 new cases involving actions by clergy, officials and volunteers against children and vulnerable adults were uncovered in the most extensive review of personnel records ever undertaken. Continue reading...

After week of hostile reactions to her policies, prime minister’s address contained nothing of substance

Aslef leader’s comment echoes new transport minister’s change in tone as driver dispute hits networkUnion leaders said that they hoped to “find a solution together” with the government to end the long-running dispute over pay, as a train drivers’ strike brought many services around Great Britain to a complete halt on Wednesday.Delegates who had remained at the Conservative party conference for Liz Truss’s speech were unable to travel by train with Avanti, CrossCountry, Chiltern and West Midlands, which were among the 12 operators left without drivers. Continue reading...

Prosecutors admit error after Jade McCrossen-Nethercott was accused of having rare sleep conditionA woman is suing the Crown Prosecution Service after it admitted her rape case should not have been dropped because of claims she had an episode of a rare sleep condition called sexsomnia.Jade McCrossen-Nethercott spent months investigating the condition and challenged the decision, forcing the CPS to apologise and admit it was wrong not to take her case to trial. Continue reading...

Thorburn, who resigned over links to church that condemns homosexuality, fears example will ‘reduce tolerance for others and diversity of thought’

Foreign secretary backs PM on economy and calls Conservatives trailing Labour in polls a ‘blip’

Assistant treasurer Stephen Jones says government ‘not walking away’ from previous policy but framing budget in ‘difficult’ circumstances

Exclusive: Tobias Ellwood said the party should focus on sticking to its sensible and fiscally responsible rootsTobias Ellwood has urged moderate Conservatives not to leave the party as he suggested Liz Truss has until Christmas to turn her troubled premiership around.The senior MP, who chairs parliament’s defence select committee but was stripped of the Tory whip in July, said the party should stick to its sensible and fiscally responsible roots. Continue reading...

About 60 wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed IS combatants to be rescued from Roj camp, but some women face arrest upon return to Australia

Top economist believes internet access issues are standing in the way of decarbonisation and more efficient production

Start date for dialogue with the National Liberation Army will be announced after first week of NovemberColombia’s government and the nation’s largest remaining guerrilla group have announced that they will restart peace talks next month for the first time since 2018.After meeting in Caracas, representatives of the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army issued a statement saying a start date for the peace talks would be announced after the first week of November. The statement added that Norway, Venezuela and Cuba would be “guarantor states” in the talks, and that the participation of civil society groups would be “essential” for the peace talks to succeed. Continue reading...

Football authorities say flaw contributed to disaster in which 131 died after violence at the end of a matchDelays in unlocking stadium gates after violence broke out at the end of a football match contributed to a crowd crush in which at least 131 people died, Indonesia’s national football association has said.The Football Association of Indonesia said it has permanently banned the chief executive and security coordinator of the host team for failing to secure the field or promptly issue a command to unlock the gates. Continue reading...

Jolie alleges Pitt was abusive toward her and two of their children on a 2016 flight as legal battle over French winery escalatesAngelina Jolie has shared new details of the 2016 plane flight that led to the dissolution of her marriage to Brad Pitt, describing alleged abusive behavior.In a cross-complaint as part of an ongoing legal battle over the French winery the A-list former couple once co-owned, the actor filed papers in Los Angeles on Tuesday. Lawyers for the 47-year-old allege that negotiations for Jolie to sell her share of Chateau Miraval to Pitt broke down over his demand that she sign “a nondisclosure agreement that would have contractually prohibited her from speaking outside of court about Pitt’s physical and emotional abuse of her and their children”. Continue reading...

Conservative disharmony shows no sign of abating as cabinet ministers fight over further potential U-turns

People in Ukrainian city try to pick up pieces amid remains of Russia’s chaotic and bloody withdrawal

Aslef general secretary says dispute will continue until government intervenesRail passengers face further travel chaos on Wednesday due to another strike in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions, with many Conservative party conference attendees set to leave early to avoid disruptions.Members of the drivers’ union Aslef and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA), encompassing 12 train operators, will walk out, causing huge disruption to services across the UK. Continue reading...

Home secretary says her ‘ultimate aspiration’ was to reduce migration figure from current level of 239,000Suella Braverman has revived a previous Conservative pledge to reduce net migration to tens of thousands of people, despite the failure of successive governments to hit the same target over a nine-year period.The home secretary said she would aspire to cut the overall migration figure from the current level of 239,000 amid a growing clamour from party activists for the government to take control of immigration levels. Continue reading...

Productivity Commission says education sector must make improvements to meet future skills needs

Reform advocates to tell Labor-led inquiry into military deployment that MPs should be accountable for consequences of war

Strong ties between government and LGBTQ+ community leads to proactive messaging and quick action on vaccines, experts say

Kentucky-born singer went from poverty and teenage marriage to becoming one of the most celebrated stars of US countryLoretta Lynn, whose tales of heartbreak and poverty are among the most celebrated in the country music canon, has died aged 90.Lynn died at home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, on 4 October, her family confirmed. Continue reading...

City 15 miles from Tory conference has England’s highest fuel poverty rate and is setting up warm banks for winter

Essendon says City on a Hill’s values are in ‘direct contradiction’ with its own, as Daniel Andrews labels its views on homosexuality and abortion ‘appalling’Andrew Thorburn has resigned as Essendon chief executive 24 hours after being appointed because his links to a church condemning homosexuality and abortion were in “direct contradiction” to the values of the AFL club.The Bombers announced on Tuesday afternoon that Thorburn, despite not holding the same personal views as the City on the Hill movement for which he is chairman, felt he could not serve in both roles and had offered his resignation. Continue reading...

Steve Wyborn tells court Australians had been ‘sold a pup’ with Higgins’s allegations Lehrmann sexually assaulted her in Parliament House

Then-president voiced concern after socialite’s sex trafficking arrest, according to book by New York Times’s Maggie HabermanAt an Oval Office meeting in July 2020, Donald Trump asked aides if Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein who had been arrested on sex trafficking charges, had named him among influential contacts she might count upon to protect her.According to a new book by Maggie Haberman of the New York Times, Trump asked “campaign advisers … ‘You see that article in the [New York] Post today that mentioned me?’ Continue reading...

Doctor noticed presenter was less exuberant when presenting long-running show, Paxman revealsA doctor diagnosed Jeremy Paxman with Parkinson’s disease after noticing the presenter was less “exuberant” when presenting University Challenge, the veteran broadcaster has revealed.The former Newsnight presenter said the diagnosis came when he was in hospital after collapsing while walking his dog. Continue reading...

RBA on Tuesday raised its official rate by 25 basis points as it seeks to stifle inflation

Liberal party source says departure of deputy director Scott Samson shows campaign is a ‘mess’

Daniel Andrews announces 12-year strategy to separate emergency care from elective surgery

Values across Australia’s capitals decline for fifth consecutive month – with only Darwin bucking trend

As part of bail conditions Tyrell Edwards cannot be in company of any person under age of 18 unless with his mother

Tennis star faces a charge of common assault relating to an alleged incident in January 2021Nick Kyrgios will seek to have his assault charge dismissed on mental health grounds.Lawyers for the tennis star appeared in Australian Capital Territory magistrates court on Tuesday and asked for an adjournment so forensic mental health reports could be prepared. Continue reading...

Outrage and condemnation over billionaire’s suggestions including formally making Crimea part of RussiaElon Musk has prompted an online row with Ukraine’s president after he asked Twitter users to weigh in on his ideas to end Russia’s war.In a tweet, Musk suggested UN-supervised elections in four occupied regions that Moscow has falsely annexed after what it called referendums. The votes were denounced by Kyiv and western governments as illegal and coercive. “Russia leaves if that is will of the people,” Musk wrote. Continue reading...

NGOs say Home Office is detaining more trafficking victims as figures show vast majority of claimants are genuineThe number of potential trafficking victims who have been detained by the Home Office has tripled in four years, according to a new report.In 2017 501 referrals for potential victims of trafficking were made among people the Home Office placed in immigration detention centres. By last year the number of referrals of potential victims who had been detained had jumped to 1,611. Continue reading...

Study finds three-quarters of users surveyed experienced online sexual violence while one-third reported in-person incidents

Far-right president forces second round after closely trailing Lula, disappointing those who had hoped to turn a page on his influenceTears filled Beatriz Simões’s eyes as she digested Jair Bolsonaro’s startlingly strong performance in Sunday’s Brazilian election.Hours earlier the 34-year-old publicist had been convinced a hope-filled dawn was coming with the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as Brazil’s next leader. Continue reading...

Police say incident occurred on Sunday evening when a bicycle and a black VW Golf were involved in a collisionA murder investigation has been launched after a 21-year-old cyclist was set upon and killed by four men after he collided with the car in which they were travelling in Slough.Thames Valley police have established that after the man collided with the car, believed to be a black Volkswagen Golf, in Earls Lane, four men exited the vehicle and chased him into Waterman Court where he was fatally attacked. Continue reading...

Monarch says his mother’s ‘deep love for Scotland was one of the foundations of her life’King Charles has conferred city status on Dunfermline, an ancient capital of Scotland, after carrying out his first official visit as monarch.During a short walkabout in the city, a burial place for medieval kings including Robert the Bruce, who fought off an English invasion 700 years ago, the King was greeted by large crowds. Continue reading...