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Exclusive: IGP&I says Greek shippers are acting legally, in rebuff to Ukrainian anti-corruption agencyA City of London body whose members comprise the world’s biggest shipping insurers is embroiled in a row with Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency over enabling the export of Russian oil, the Guardian can reveal.The International Group of Protection and Indemnity Clubs (IGP&I), whose members insure 90% of the world’s ocean-going tonnage, has enraged Ukrainian officials after failing to dissuade its members from insuring the transport of the Russian fossil fuel. Continue reading...

Sydney’s Inner West council aims to train 1,000 people for a civic education program that could become a model for other jurisdictions

IMA says millions could lose right to live in UK post-Brexit if they do not reapply for settled status and this is ‘unlawful’British government ministers are being taken to court by a body chaired by the former leader of the Conservatives in the EU parliament, over allegations the government is breaking the law on EU citizens’ rights post-Brexit.The Independent Monitoring Authority claims 2.6 million EU citizens are at automatic risk of losing their right to live, work and retire in the UK and may face deportation because of an alleged “unlawful” interpretation of the withdrawal agreement (WA) by the Home Office rules. Continue reading...

Prospective prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, says three parties will ‘cooperate’ with the Sweden DemocratsThree Swedish rightwing parties have agreed to form a minority government with the unprecedented support of the far-right Sweden Democrats, conservative leader Ulf Kristersson has said.The incoming government immediately announced plans for nuclear reactors to meet Sweden’s rising electricity needs. Continue reading...

Mel Stride says that markets won’t be settled if government’s policy change just ‘nibbles at the edges’A senior Conservative MP has said that Liz Truss must not “nibble at the edges” but instead perform a “powerful” and “significant” U-turn with its so-far disastrous economic plan.Mel Stride, the chair of parliament’s Treasury select committee, told the BBC’s Today programme: “My personal view is that it [a U-turn] should happen, we have reached a point where we need this very powerful and significant signal to the markets that fiscal credibility is firmly back on the table, and I think that means doing something right now and not delaying. Continue reading...

Shane and Sheldon Shorey, aged six and seven, died after Jacob Steven Donn crashed a car in Wellington, in central west NSW, while he was drug-affected

Daniel Andrews says 500 homes have been flooded and another 500 have been isolated. This blog is now closed

The bill would amend laws to include a ‘pattern of behaviour’ and update the definition of stalking

Postal service expects operating loss of about £350m in year to end of March, which could rise to £450mRoyal Mail said it may need to cut up to 10,000 roles by next August, blaming strike action by its workers and the continuing decline of its core business.In an unscheduled trading update a day after Royal Mail workers staged a 24-hour strike over pay and conditions, its parent company International Distributions Services said thousands of roles would have to go at Royal Mail because of damage and disruption caused by industrial action, as well as declining parcel volumes. Continue reading...

Comes after Katarina Carroll was last week confronted with dozens of cases that were dealt with via ‘local management resolution’

Classified document alleges Frontex involvement in cover-ups and illegal pushbacks of asylum seekers from Greece and MaltaA classified EU report on Frontex, the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency, details serious allegations of cover ups of human rights violations in EU member states by the agency and its staff.The report, more than 120 pages long, is the result of a months-long investigation and a score of witness interviews by Olaf, the EU anti-fraud agency. The findings, in part, led to the dramatic resignation of Frontex executive director, Fabrice Leggeri, in April this year. Until now the classified document has been available only to members of the European parliament under strict conditions. German freedom of information specialists Frag Den Staat, Lighthouse Reports and Der Spiegel, to whom the report was leaked, have now published the document in full, citing reasons of public interest particularly for the European taxpayer, whose taxes help to fund the agency. Continue reading...

Scramble to censor posts about Sitong bridge incident in Beijing where defiant banners were hung and a fire lit in lead-up to Communist party congressChinese authorities have strictly censored discussion of a rare protest in Beijing on Thursday that saw large banners unfurled on a flyover calling for boycotts and the removal of Xi Jinping, just days before China’s most important event of its five-year political cycle.Photos and videos of the protest on the Sitong bridge emerged on social media on Thursday afternoon, also showing plumes of smoke billowing from the bridge over a major thoroughfare in the Haidian district of the capital. Continue reading...

Exclusive: halt to production of Shanchol vaccine alarms WHO amid ‘unprecedented’ global outbreaksThe manufacturer of one of only two cholera vaccines for use in humanitarian emergencies is to halt production at the end of this year, just as the world faces an “unprecedented” series of deadly outbreaks, the Guardian has learned.Shantha Biotechnics, a wholly owned Indian subsidiary of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi, will stop production of its Shanchol vaccine within months and cease supply by the end of 2023, causing alarm among health officials. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Eight firms that received pandemic contracts to be urged to withdraw due to ‘clear conflicts of interest’Families bereaved by Covid will write to eight PR companies that received hefty government contracts during the pandemic asking them to withdraw from a tender process to manage part of the inquiry.The tender process is to run the Listening Project, announced earlier this year as a formal part of the Covid-19 inquiry, which is to be awarded to one of 12 firms on a pre-approved government list. Many of those firms also undertook work for the government during the pandemic, the Guardian revealed last month. Continue reading...

Secondary school competition ‘did not demonstrate the relevance to the contemporary art context of Aotearoa’New Zealand’s arts council has pulled funding for a Shakespeare festival that has been running in secondary schools for roughly three decades, after questioning its relevance to the country and because it focuses on “a canon of imperialism”.Every year, the Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand runs the Sheilah Winn Shakespeare festival – a secondary school competition where students perform excerpts from Shakespeare’s plays. Continue reading...

Government critics and activists intimidated by police ahead of Sunday’s Communist party meeting, where Xi Jinping is expected to gain third term

Basic with Ads will launch in Australia on 3 November as the streaming service hopes to recoup its first subscriber losses in more than 10 years

Regional development minister Catherine King says uncontracted funding awarded by the Coalition is being heavily scrutinised

Higgins resumes giving evidence in trial of Bruce Lehrmann, who has pleaded not guilty

Court hears former Liberal staffer, who has pleaded not guilty, told police neither he nor Higgins was very drunk when they went to Parliament House in the early hours of the morning

Former minister’s chief of staff tells court Lehrmann, who denies rape allegation, told her later he went back to the office to drink whisky

Gregory Lee Roser has pleaded not guilty to murdering 54-year-old north of Brisbane in 2017, saying he feared he ‘would end up like Bruce’

A majority aren’t familiar with the term for non-consensual removal of condom during sex, a criminal act in four jurisdictions, so reporting is lowAustralians overwhelmingly agree that “stealthing” – the non-consensual removal of a condom during sex – should be a crime, but more work needs to be done to make people familiar with the term, new research has found.Stealthing is explicitly criminalised in four Australian jurisdictions – Tasmania, NSW, and Victoria following the lead of the ACT – with Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia either considering legislation or reviewing sexual assault legislation for gaps.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

With people aged 65 and over controlling 51% of Britain’s wealth, the logic for investors is simple• Canadian owners of care homes avoided UK taxes, researchers claimWith a spa, cinema and wood-panelled hall, Reigate Grange in Surrey, where Ann King was abused, is part of a growing trend for luxury care homes. Fuelled by global investors’ desire to capitalise on older people’s property wealth, luxury care applies a cruise-ship sheen to the grittier reality of dementia and the end of life.The logic for investors is simple. People aged 65 and over in the UK now control 51% of Britain’s wealth, up from 42% in 2008, the year of the financial crash, according to the Resolution Foundation. A large minority of older people can afford £100,000-a-year care home fees because they have houses worth far more that they no longer need. A person in a £1m home who survives for the typical two years of a care home resident would still leave £800,000 in their will. Continue reading...

Speculation that reversal on leadership campaign pledge risks split with her chancellor, Kwasi KwartengLiz Truss has bowed to intense pressure from Conservative MPs and the markets by agreeing to redraw her mini-budget, paving the way for a major U-turn on her signature corporation tax cut.In another serious blow to her authority as prime minister, government sources told the Guardian that a climbdown on the plan to scrap the rise in corporation tax was now “on the table”. Continue reading...

Latest in spate of ballistic missile launches further raises animosities between the two countriesNorth Korea has launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters and flew warplanes near the border with South Korea, the South’s military said, further raising animosities triggered by the North’s recent barrage of weapons tests.South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said the launch happened early on Friday local time but gave no further details including how far the weapon flew. Continue reading...

EU foreign policy chief rules out nuclear response to Putin but vows powerful answer from military

Move follows axing of 32 in February as ‘most of our customers are shifting to mobile and online banking’NatWest is to shut a further 43 branches on top of the 32 it axed earlier this year, claiming that most customers are shifting to mobile and online banking.The outlets will close in the first half of next year and the move means the group will have 678 UK branches, down from its current figure of 721. Continue reading...

Jimmy Carr-fronted show accused of seeking attention with something akin to book burningChannel 4 has come under fire over plans for a new show that will allow a studio audience to decide whether Jimmy Carr should destroy a painting by Adolf Hitler.As part of its latest season of programmes, the TV channel has bought artworks by a range of “problematic” artists including Hitler, Pablo Picasso, the convicted paedophile Rolf Harris and sexual abuser Eric Gill. Continue reading...

Ian Katz says new show celebrates the channel’s tradition of ‘iconoclasm and irreverence’Channel 4 has bought a painting by Adolf Hitler and will allow a studio audience to decide whether Jimmy Carr should destroy it.As part of its latest season of programmes, the TV channel has bought artworks by a range of “problematic” artists, including Pablo Picasso, as well as convicted paedophile Rolf Harris and sexual abuser Eric Gill. Continue reading...

Deputy PM says residents will be helped to move away from southern Ukrainian region partly occupied by invaders

Labour’s Barry Sheerman says BBC revealed as ‘incompetent’ in dealing with Alex Belfield’s harassment of female workersThe BBC is guilty of a “miscarriage of justice” over its “unacceptable” and total lack of support for female employees who were harassed for 10 years by the jailed stalker, Alex Belfield, an MP has said.Barry Sheerman, the Labour MP for Huddersfield, said the BBC’s treatment of the women – who include his constituent, the BBC Radio Leeds veteran Liz Green – revealed an “incompetent and remote” organisation that failed to understand or care what was happening to its employees. Continue reading...

On visit to Port Moresby, defence minister says ‘it would be so meaningful’ for PNG to become National Rugby League’s 18th teamAustralia’s deputy prime minister has held talks with National Rugby League officials to push the case for a Papua New Guinea team, declaring “now is the time” to expand the competition.Richard Marles, visiting PNG in his capacity as defence minister, said on Thursday that he had “personally spoken with the NRL a number of times about this”.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Family of Yokun call for government apology and compensation as university says sorry for storing remains

High ownership of multiple residences among state MPs has prompted accusations they are ‘blind’ to the escalating rental crisis

Greens senator says she won’t put her energy into ‘yes’ campaign until there is ‘concrete progress’ on other elements of Uluru statement from the heart

NHS in England would need to spend £10.2bn to bring rundown buildings and kit up to standard, figures showThe cost of eradicating a huge backlog of repairs to NHS hospitals and equipment has hit £10bn for the first time, it has emerged.Figures from NHS Digital’s annual report into the condition of the NHS’s estate show it would cost the health service in England £10.2bn to improve rundown buildings and clapped-out kit. Continue reading...

Court of session rules criteria that meant Ola Jasmin missed out by 58 days breached her human rightsStudents from migrant families in Scotland will have the same right to free university tuition as their peers, after a landmark court judgment which legal experts say highlights the positive impact of human rights legislation.The court of session in Edinburgh found that Iraq-born Ola Jasim, who has lived in Scotland for nine years but missed out on the criteria for free tuition fees by 58 days, had her human rights breached. Continue reading...

Ryanair, easyJet and BA owner say trading holding up despite political instability and cost of living crisisAirline bookings and revenues have remained stronger than expected, according to the UK’s three main carriers, which said trading had held up in the face of political instability and the cost of living crisis.British Airways’ owner, IAG, said there was “no indication of weakness” in bookings, as it guided higher than expected profits, while both Ryanair and easyJet said they were confident customers would continue to book with them in the year ahead. Continue reading...

Images show banners emblazoned with protest messages hanging from overpass on major road in BeijingA rare protest against the Communist party in Beijing and fears over renewed Covid restrictions across Shanghai are stoking political tensions just days before President Xi Jinping is expected to secure a third term in power in a key meeting on Sunday.On Thursday, at least half a dozen photos and videos emerged on social media, showing two banners emblazoned with protest messages hanging from an overpass of a major thoroughfare in the north-west corner of the Chinese capital. The photos show plumes of smoke billowing from the bridge. Continue reading...

Killing of Israeli soldier led to closure of refugee camp and worst violence in contested city in monthsIsraeli forces have used live fire during confrontations with hundreds of Palestinian protesters throwing stones and firebombs in the worst violence in the contested city of Jerusalem in months, sparked by the search for a suspected Palestinian gunman.The killing of an Israeli soldier at a checkpoint in the neighbourhood of Shuafat on Saturday led to raids and the four-day closure of a nearby sprawling refugee camp. By Wednesday, with tensions soaring, Palestinians across occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank launched a general strike in solidarity with the residents of Shuafat, and demonstrations overnight quickly turned violent, with clashes lasting into the early hours of Thursday. Continue reading...

The chief mouser was seen on camera chasing away a larger intruder on his patch. Experts explain his behaviourLarry, the Downing Street cat, stepped up from mouser duties this week to chase an urban fox off his patch. The burly tabby was caught on camera intently stalking the fox before launching into a fully fledged pursuit when the trespasser tried to take cover in a flowerbed.Larry emerges the victor, but the encounter has led some to wonder what gives cats the brazen confidence to take on larger animals such as foxes or dogs. Continue reading...

Nurse accused of murdering seven babies on neonatal ward also wrote ‘I am a horrible evil person’, jury toldA nurse accused of murdering seven babies in a hospital neonatal unit wrote: “I killed them on purpose because I’m not good enough to care for them,” a court has heard.The trial of Lucy Letby was told on Thursday that police had recovered several handwritten documents from her home after her arrest in July 2018. Continue reading...

Gilts and pound rallied after speculation cuts to corporation and dividend taxes wouldn’t go ahead

Ignazio La Russa, party’s co-founder, filmed in 2018 showing off photos, medals and statue of MussoliniA Brothers of Italy politician who collects fascist memorabilia has been elected speaker of the upper house of parliament in the first step towards the formation of Italy’s most rightwing government since the second world war.Ignazio La Russa, a former defence minister whose father was secretary of Benito Mussolini’s fascist party, co-founded Brothers of Italy alongside leader Giorgia Meloni, who is poised to become prime minister of a government that includes Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Former shadow Wales secretary will now sit as an independent in the CommonsA senior Labour MP has been stripped of the party whip after allegations of bullying her constituency staff, the Guardian can reveal.Christina Rees, who was shadow Wales secretary during Jeremy Corbyn’s time as leader, will now sit as an independent in the House of Commons. Continue reading...

Women who fled regime are working hard to expose abuses in Iran and say this time real change is possibleIranian and Kurdish women living in the UK believe the prospect of freedom for millions of women in their home country has never been greater following protests after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in Tehran for not wearing her headscarf correctly.Many of those who fled the Iranian regime because of its attacks on human and women’s rights are working hard behind the scenes to support women in their home country to expose the abuses in the hope of encouraging the international community to act to bring about regime change. Continue reading...

Alleged move by Biden administration came before mid-term elections in which petrol prices are key issueSaudi Arabia has claimed it was pressured by the Biden administration to delay by a month a decision to cut oil production, a move that would have reduced the likelihood of an unpopular fuel price rise just before the US mid-term elections.In its first remarks since the US president warned on Tuesday of consequences over the production cut, the Saudi foreign ministry said it rejected the overture and pressed on with the reduction. Continue reading...

Rural towns worked to evacuate livestock and dig trenches as rivers burst, with some areas facing the worst flooding in almost 50 years

Campaigners say DfT was wrong to only assess emissions against national carbon budgetA legal challenge has been launched against a road scheme that opponents say clashes with climate goals.Changes aimed at improving car journeys between Milton Keynes and Cambridge by upgrading junctions and building a 10-mile dual carriageway on the A428 between Black Cat and Caxton Gibbet were approved in the summer. The scheme, estimated to cost £810m-£950m, is listed in the government’s growth plan for accelerated delivery. Continue reading...