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Claudia Winkleman will host The Piano, which poses as a documentary to take undiscovered keyboard talent all the way to a London concert finaleThe gentle, soothing (though sometimes tear-inducing) art of creating fabulous cakes and biscuits has for many years drawn huge audiences to The Great British Bake Off. Now its creators hope to do the same with another calming and often genteel pastime: piano playing.This search for undiscovered ivory-tinkling talent will be documented weekly in The Piano, which will follow amateur pianists all the way to a finale concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall. It aims to tap into the “street piano” phenomenon, which has spawned viral videos of people playing in public, and is the brainchild of Richard McKerrow, co-founder and creative director of Love Productions, which also makes The Great Pottery Throw Down and The Great British Sewing Bee. Continue reading...

Next weekend will be crucial for party leader as he addresses divisive issues including the possible return of Jeremy CorbynLabour will come under pressure to support inflation-matching pay increases, joining picket lines, renationalisation and the return of Jeremy Corbyn as a party candidate, in a crucial annual conference for Keir Starmer.The Labour leader will use next weekend’s conference to set out key dividing lines after the government’s mini-budget on Friday, with announcements on tax cuts, bankers’ bonuses and borrowing set to dominate the political debate for months to come. Continue reading...

Local MP says firearms officer being investigated should have been suspended immediatelyHundreds of people have gathered outside New Scotland Yard as part of a series of protests across the country calling for justice for Chris Kaba, an unarmed black man who was shot dead by police in south London.The protest is one of many taking place in the UK, in areas such as Manchester, Coventry and Southampton, as part of a National Day of Action organised by the Justice for Chris Kaba campaign. Continue reading...

Psychiatrists in the city can now prescribe free visits to cultural venues to complement other treatmentsA tour of ancient sewers? An encounter with a masterpiece of 16th-century lace-making? These are two of the therapies on offer to people in Brussels suffering from depression, stress or anxiety.From this month, psychiatrists in one of the city’s largest hospitals have been able to offer patients “museum prescriptions”, a free visit with a few friends or family members to discover one or more of Brussels’ cultural institutions. Continue reading...

Chancellor expected on Friday to outline proposals to deal with cost of living crisis and boost growthKwasi Kwarteng is preparing to announce £30bn of tax cuts in an effort to ease the pressure of the cost of living crisis and boost economic growth, according to reports.It is thought the chancellor will outline plans to reverse the recent national insurance rise and freeze corporation tax in an emergency mini-budget on Friday. Continue reading...

A new film tells the story of the song, written over 10 years with 180 versionsHallelujah is one of the most famous songs ever written, yet a new film reveals it took Leonard Cohen 180 attempts over a decade to perfect – only for it to be rejected by his record company. Nearly 20 years went by before an animated ogre, Shrek, turned the song into a monster hit.The makers of the documentary, Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, had unprecedented access to Cohen’s many notebooks, showing his scrawled handwriting and deletions. “We got Leonard’s ‘tacit blessing’ not long before he died in 2016,” says co-director Dan Geller. Continue reading...

Despite warnings, hundreds of people have reportedly gathered in Mahsa Amini’s home town of Saqqez for her burialA series of protests have broken out in Iran after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, who died in hospital on 16 September, three days after she was arrested and reportedly beaten by morality police in Tehran.Demonstrators initially gathered outside Kasra hospital in Tehran, where Amini was being treated. Human rights groups reported that security forces deployed pepper spray against protesters and that several were arrested. Continue reading...

Broadway’s longest-running musical never fully recovered from the pandemic shutdown and will close next FebruaryThe Phantom of the Opera, Broadway’s longest-running show, is scheduled to close in February 2023.The musical – a fixture on Broadway since 1988, weathering recessions, war and cultural shifts – will play its final performance on Broadway on 18 February, a spokesperson said on Friday. The closure will come less than a month after its 35th anniversary. It will conclude with an eye-popping 13,925 performances. Continue reading...

Jefferson Bosela, family spokesperson, says IOPC’s timeline for homicide investigation too long“He was the life of the party, you know, everywhere he went, he didn’t shy away from showing the people he cared for that he cared for them,” says Jefferson Bosela, describing his cousin Chris Kaba. “He was a big brother, he was a fiance, he was a dad-to-be, so he had so much going for him, which makes this tragedy all the worse.”On 5 September, Kaba was driving through Streatham, south London, when the vehicle was flagged by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) before being pursued and intercepted by two Metropolitan police cars. Continue reading...

Australian prime minister says his visit is about ‘commemorating a life well-lived’

Want to avoid Monday’s proceedings? Maybe go for a long walk, or consider leaving the country altogether

The PM will hope for some credit for taking out the big bazooka, but there are fears it’s missing the target and may backfireBack in March, just a few weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Liz Truss’s future chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng became one of the first cabinet ministers to acknowledge bluntly the costs of the conflict for consumers at home.“People are willing to endure hardships in solidarity with the heroic efforts that the people of Ukraine are making,” he told MPs. “People understand this in this country, because we’re a generous and giving country.” Continue reading...

Some parent bodies helping with core costs, raising fears of growing gap between rich and poor areasDays into the new academic year, headteachers have raised the alarm about a looming funding crisis in schools, with some parents urged to make donations and parent-teacher associations on standby to plug funding gaps for classroom essentials.As energy bills and wage costs rise, school leaders say money from PTA fundraising efforts will be needed to cover core costs rather than “nice to have” extras. In affluent areas where PTAs are able to raise huge sums, it could even be used to save jobs and help pay bills. Continue reading...

Senator tells Festival of Dangerous Ideas the rise of the teals is ‘the breakthrough our country’s been waiting for’

PM Narendra Modi to welcome the eight animals amid fears that they may struggle with Kuno national park habitat or clash with leopardsEight Namibian cheetahs have been airlifted to India, part of an ambitious project to reintroduce the big cats after they were driven to extinction there decades ago, officials and vets said.The wild cheetahs were moved by road from a game park north of the Namibian capital of Windhoek on Friday to board a chartered Boeing 747 dubbed “Cat plane” for an 11-hour flight. Continue reading...

‘Intense battles’ in the contested region is the latest outbreak of violence to hit the former Soviet UnionFighting has erupted on the disputed border between Kyrgyzstan and its central Asian neighbour Tajikistan, leaving 24 people dead in the latest outbreak of violence to hit the former Soviet Union.Both of the impoverished landlocked nations have accused each other of restarting fighting in a disputed area, despite a ceasefire deal. Continue reading...

The bombings also targeted the countryside, according to Syrian state media, and reportedly killed two Iranians as wellAn Israeli airstrike near Damascus airport has killed five Syrian soldiers, according to state media in Syria.“The aggression led to the death of five soldiers and some material damage,” Syria’s official news agency Sana quoted a military source as saying on Saturday. Continue reading...

UN to permit Zelenskiy video address despite Moscow’s objections; 99% of bodies exhumed from Izium site had signs of violent death, says Ukraine

Beechworth Lawn Tennis Club pulls federal court challenge claiming Sport Australia ‘acted unlawfully’ in refusing grant

King, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward watch over coffin for 15 minutesUK-based correspondents from European news outlets have written for the Guardian about how Britons will deal with political turmoil, Brexit, recession and the loss of the Queen.Here’s an excerpt from Stefanie Bolzen, UK and Ireland correspondent for Die Welt, Germany:The days we are living through mark a new beginning. Only time will tell what the post-Elizabethan era will bring. For the moment, what it does feel like is a juggernaut of one too many challenges coming at the same time, a surreal wave. The aftermath of the pandemic, which has left the UK with a lot of scars; Brexit finally being felt in real life, whether on the M2 towards Dover, in my local Sainsbury’s, or in the port of Larne; Russia’s war on Ukraine; a fourth prime minister in six years. And now the death of Elizabeth II, who seemed to many immortal.Reporting on the UK as a foreigner often makes it easier to take a step back, to see “the big picture”. Since last Thursday, though, this has become a challenge. The 24/7 coverage of the Queen’s death is all-consuming with layers of events, history and traditions to process. It would not be fair to suggest that these layers are somehow serving to sugarcoat the crisis in this country. Elizabeth II was a historic figure, she symbolises a century that transcended Europe’s borders. What I do notice, however, is that the foreign media cover this long period of ceremonial mourning with less servility. Hardly any British media, for example, dared comment on King Charles III’s rude gesture of impatience during the acclamation.The actress, known for her role in the BBC hit series Killing Eve, will participate in a procession of national honours as part of the service on Monday.

King Charles led second vigil with siblings as the public filed pastThree measured taps of the guard’s stick on the stone steps inside Westminster Hall signalled the start of the vigil of the princes as Queen Elizabeth II’s four children, led by the King, marched slowly down, stopping in front of the catafalque.Another triple tap, and they stepped on to it. King Charles, red-eyed and blinking, took up his place at the head of the coffin, the Princess Royal and Earl of Wessex to each side of it, and the Duke of York at its foot. Continue reading...

Sergiu Boianjiu raped and stamped on woman and left her for dead, 20 years after killing his girlfriendA Moldovan man has received a life sentence for the “evil and depraved” rape and attempted murder of a stranger whom he left to die in an alleyway.Sergiu Boianjiu, who came to Britain after serving 10 years for killing his girlfriend, was caught on CCTV in February as he raped and repeatedly stamped on the head of a woman in Northamptonshire. Continue reading...

Monarch says he is a ‘committed Anglican Christian’ but his role will involve ‘protecting the space for faith itself’

Former England captain recalls receiving his OBE as he waits with thousands of mourners in central London

Saodat Narzieva was added to the list in April, after Russia’s invasion of UkraineThe sister of the oligarch and former Arsenal football club shareholder Alisher Usmanov has been removed from the EU’s sanctions list, which was compiled in response to the war in Ukraine.Usmanov’s sister, Saodat Narzieva, was among a number of relatives of Russian officials and oligarchs added to the list in April. Continue reading...

With polling moving against the institution, especially among Scots, young people and ethnic minorities, King’s performance is seen as key

Anti-monarchy activists showed their disapproval at Senedd and gates of Cardiff CastleFor more than half a century he held the title Prince of Wales, but in autumnal sunshine on Friday, Charles was helicoptered across the Severn from his Gloucestershire country home for his first visit to the country as King.The reaction of the crowds that lined the streets of the Welsh capital was largely warm, but he was booed as he entered Cardiff Castle by anti-monarchy protesters and there were small demonstrations at Llandaff Cathedral and the Senedd building. Continue reading...

Gates to Southwark Park reopen minutes after announcement that 14-hour line was at capacity

Officers drafted in from across country as hundreds of thousands of people expected in London and Windsor

Sergei Gorenko and deputy killed in their offices as Kherson also comes under bombardment from Ukraine forces

The monarchies are hopeful of stronger UK ties under King Charles, but plans for the ceremony have not gone down well

Residents in traditionally leftwing Garbatella district not surprised by rise of woman poised to be Italy’s next PMHalf-torn posters, one with a still fairly legible slogan, are all that remain of a branch of the youth wing of the neofascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) in Rome’s traditionally leftwing and working-class Garbatella district, where Giorgia Meloni, poised to become Italy’s prime minister after elections next weekend, grew up and charted her political path.Undeterred by the at times violent confrontations between young left and rightwing militants in the early 1990s, and the messages to “kill the fascists” daubed on the walls of Garbatella, Meloni knocked on its door aged 15 and signed up. Continue reading...

Calls grow as first minister suggests Prince of Wales will want to ‘recognise the importance’ of language

Alex Belfield was found guilty last month after subjecting victims to ‘avalanche of hatred’A former BBC local radio DJ has been jailed for five years and 26 weeks for stalking broadcasters including Jeremy Vine and subjecting his victims to an “avalanche of hatred”.Alex Belfield, 42, was last month found guilty of waging a relentless stalking campaign against broadcasters, with Vine labelling him “the Jimmy Savile of trolling”. Continue reading...

Three refineries put into trusteeship ahead of partial European embargo on Russian oil later this yearGermany has taken the German subsidiary of the Russian oil giant Rosneft under state control, putting three refineries into a trusteeship ahead of a partial European embargo on Russian oil at the end of the year.The federal network regulator will become the temporary trust manager of Rosneft Germany and its share of refineries in Schwedt, near Berlin, in Karlsruhe and in Vohburg, Bavaria, Germany’s ministry for economic affairs announced on Friday. Continue reading...

State media report number of casualties currently unknown in blaze at telecommunications firmA fire engulfed a skyscraper in the central Chinese city of Changsha, with authorities saying that no casualties had yet been found.The blaze broke out in a 42-floor building housing an office of the state-owned telecommunications company China Telecom, according to the state broadcaster CCTV. Continue reading...

Prime minister will welcome the US president for first time since taking office on Sunday at No 10Liz Truss will meet Joe Biden and other world leaders flying in for the Queen’s funeral over the weekend but the government will not reveal what is discussed because of the national mourning period.The prime minister is to see the US president on Sunday in Downing Street, along with the Irish taoiseach, Micheál Martin, the Polish president, Andrzej Duda, and the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau. She will meet the Australian prime minister, Tom Albanese, and the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, at Chevening on Sunday. Continue reading...

Hatice Cengiz, fiancee of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and other campaigners condemn planMohammed bin Salman’s plan to touch down in London on Sunday to pay his respects to the Queen has been condemned by Hatice Cengiz and other human rights defenders as a “stain” on the monarch’s memory and an attempt by the Saudi crown prince to use mourning to “seek legitimacy and normalisation”.Cengiz, who was engaged to Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist who was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Istanbul consulate in 2018, said she wished that Prince Mohammed would be arrested for murder when he lands in London, but said she feared that UK authorities would turn a blind eye to serious and credible allegations against the future king. Continue reading...

Observers struck by Charles’s composure, pen incidents aside, as he completes exhausting round of official duties

Train operators are understood to have been notified of two 24-hour walkouts on 1 and 5 OctoberDisruption to rail services across Britain will resume after the Queen’s funeral, with drivers at 12 train operating companies staging further coordinated strikes at the start of October.Operators are understood to have been notified of two 24-hour walkouts on 1 and 5 October, which would affect services across the country and bring rail chaos at the beginning and end of the Conservative party conference in Birmingham. Continue reading...

With large numbers expected for funeral, there will be ‘welfare trains’ on platforms for vulnerable people

Artist and activist tells event in London he is not clear in own mind about whether struggles for freedom were ‘worth it’The Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has said his desire to be reunited with his 90-year-old mother could lead him to return to China, but that she has implored him not to give up his British exile.The sculptor and activist, who divides his time between Cambridge and Portugal, spent 81 days in custody in Beijing in 2011 and fled his home country four years later on the return of his passport. Continue reading...

Mass burial site with 440 bodies found in recaptured Izium; Ukraine strikes occupied Kherson, damaging pro-Russian administration buildings; Prosecutor general of separatist LPR killed by bomb in officeSee all our Ukraine coverage Continue reading...

Ascension of King Charles III has prompted renewed questioning of a British monarch as head of stateIn a crisp black suit, white shirt and black tie, Daniel Pryce reached the end of a mile-long driveway flanked by palm trees and clipped lawns. He had come to King’s House to perform his duty, as he put it, by signing a book of condolence for the Queen, whom he served as equerry on her final visit to Jamaica in 2002.“The very last moment of that visit, as she was about to alight the aircraft, she turned around and she shook my hand and she said ‘Thank you, Daniel’,” the 58-year-old recalled on Tuesday as flags flew at half mast in serene sunshine. “It was the first time she referred to me by my first name and that was special for me.” Continue reading...

William and Harry to be in uniform, accompanied by other grandchildren in morning suits and formal dresses

Commons Speaker moves after sanctions imposed on British MPs, but Chinese vice-president may be allowed

Ex-officer was head of army base in Iguala when students were abducted in what a report called a ‘state crime’Mexican authorities have arrested a retired general and two other members of the army for alleged links to the disappearance of 43 students in the south of the country in 2014.The assistant public safety secretary, Ricardo Mejia, said that among those arrested was the former officer who commanded the army base in the Guerrero state city of Iguala in September 2014, when the students from a radical teachers’ college were abducted. Continue reading...

Boyle took unprecedented step of invoking Australia’s whistleblower protections after exposing tax agency’s aggressive debt collecting practices in 2018