World news | The Guardian

Russia loses full control of Luhansk as Ukraine retakes village; forensic experts exhume 146 bodies from mass burial site at Izium

Prime minister says cost of weaning UK off cheap gas and oil will not be passed on to bill payersHigher energy bills are a price worth paying to guarantee the UK’s security from foreign aggressors, but the cost should not be passed on to householders, Liz Truss has said.The British prime minister warned that the UK must not jeopardise its safety for the sake of cheap gas and oil from authoritarian regimes such as Russia. Continue reading...

Couple sought redress from European court of human rights after libel case against detective was overturnedThe parents of Madeleine McCann have lost their European court of human rights challenge to the Portuguese supreme court’s decision to throw out their libel case against a former detective who implicated them in their daughter’s disappearance.Kate and Gerry McCann sued Gonçalo Amaral, who led the botched police search for Madeleine in 2007, over statements he made in a book, documentary and newspaper interview alleging that they were involved in Madeleine’s disappearance. Continue reading...

Retail tycoon to remain as remain as the controlling shareholder of Sports Direct and House of Fraser ownerMike Ashley is to step down from the board of Frasers Group, which owns high street brands including Sports Direct and House of Fraser, 40 years after he opened his first sports shop in Maidenhead.The company announced that the billionaire retail tycoon and founder of Sports Direct would not be standing for re-election as a director at this year’s annual meeting on 19 October. Continue reading...

Police accused of unnecessary force as president’s son shares video of detention to show Britons ‘don’t like communists either’The Metropolitan police have been accused of using unnecessary force and handing a propaganda coup to Brazil’s far right after a peaceful demonstrator was detained and handcuffed during a protest outside the Brazilian ambassador’s London residence.Ali Rocha, a 50-year-old Brazilian and British citizen, and her flatmate were intercepted by officers on Sunday lunchtime as they joined a protest against Brazil’s radical rightwing president, Jair Bolsonaro, who was in the UK for the Queen’s funeral. Continue reading...

Property owner Sharon Beighton tells court she thought ‘where’s Bruce?’ before being told 54-year-old had fallen into woodchipper

Culture secretary says she will ‘re-examine the business case’ but declines to say if licence fee could be axedMinisters are reviewing the decisions to privatise Channel 4 and to scrap the BBC licence fee, the new culture secretary has said, saying she is “re-examining the business case”.Michelle Donelan said that as culture secretary she would look at the BBC licence fee “in the round” but declined to say whether it could be scrapped. Donelan also said she was revisiting the online harms bill and the provisions around “legal but harmful” speech. Continue reading...

Reason party leader says she still plans to fight November state election after undergoing surgery next month

PM admits talks are not even taking place and plays down hopes from Brexiters that they could start ‘in the short to medium term’Britain may not strike a free trade deal with the US for years, Liz Truss has admitted ahead of her first bilateral meeting with Joe Biden.The new prime minister conceded that talks were unlikely to start in the “medium term” as she travelled to New York on her first foreign trip since entering Downing Street. Continue reading...

Ron Gittins, who died in 2019, left behind a rented flat decorated and piled high with artworksThe front room of the late Ron Gittins’s flat has a Pompeii Villa of the Mysteries vibe to it. The hall could be an Egyptian tomb. The bathroom, an aquarium fever dream. Handmade fireplaces include a lion 3 metres tall, a minotaur and – in the kitchen – a Roman altar.The interior of Gittins’s home would stop you in your tracks anywhere. The fact that noone knew it was there, that he spent decades creating it by stealth in his rented ground-floor property in the Merseyside town of Birkenhead, stops you a bit longer. Continue reading...

Sgt Christopher Hand tells inquest he was concerned of ‘safety risk’ to police if Yuendumu community found out Warlpiri man had died

Frank Mawer, who lived alone until late last year, contracted Covid several weeks ago after which his health went downhill

The Karish maritime reservoir, part of which is claimed by Lebanon, is estimated to hold 2-3tn cubic feet of natural gasIsrael is preparing to connect a disputed Mediterranean gas field to its national gas network, a development helping the country cement its new role as a supplier to Europe at the risk of inflaming tensions with Lebanon’s Hezbollah.The Israeli energy ministry said last week that it would conduct tests on the rig and natural transmission system in the Karish maritime reservoir, part of which is claimed by neighbouring Lebanon. The work is expected to begin on Tuesday, and London-listed company Energean, which has licensed the field, has said that it is “on track to deliver [the] first gas from the Karish development project within weeks.” Continue reading...

Treasurer says improvement comes in large part from higher than expected commodity prices boosting returns from mineral exports

Students were among 13 people killed in the deadliest attack on children since the military coup last yearGovernment helicopters have struck a school in north-central Myanmar, killing at least 13 people, including seven children, in what would be the deadliest attack on children since the junta seized power last year, a school administrator and an aid worker have said.School administrator Mar Mar* said she was trying to get students to safe hiding places when two of four government Mi-35 helicopters hovering north of Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin, about 110km (70 miles) north-west of Mandalay, began attacking on Friday. Continue reading...

Powerful images dominated the newspaper front pages after a nation gathered to say goodbye to its longest-serving monarchAfter 10 days of national mourning, remembrance and no small amount of expectation, newspapers around the world gave their front pages over to Queen Elizabeth II’s final journey back to Windsor.The Guardian’s main image displays the bearer party taking the Queen’s coffin up the steps into the darkened entrance of the George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor Castle, above a report from Caroline Davies on the most intimate part of the day: a family farewell. Other pieces from Jonathan Freedland, Esther Addley and Marina Hyde assess the future, past and present of the monarchy. Continue reading...

Floods and rain wreak havoc as critics say total blackout shows authorities have learnt nothing since 2017 hurricanesMost of Puerto Rico was still without power or safe drinking water on Monday, with remnants of a category 1 hurricane that struck there a day earlier forecast to bring more heavy rain and life-threatening flooding.Hundreds of people are trapped in emergency shelters across the Caribbean island, with major roads underwater and reports of numerous collapsed bridges. Crops have been washed away while flash floods, landslides and fallen trees have blocked roads, swept away vehicles and caused widespread damage to infrastructure. Continue reading...

New PM must win over Joe Biden after threats to rip up Northern Ireland protocol, but will find common ground on UkraineLiz Truss has arrived in the US where she will hold talks with Joe Biden, the US president, on her first foreign trip as UK prime minister.Relations between the two leaders are already strained by her threats as foreign secretary to rip up the post-Brexit trading arrangements in Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

Killers to be prevented from accessing parole unless they reveal whereabouts of their victim’s remains

Controversial spit hoods will no longer be used in Queensland watchhouses, commissioner says

President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo signs new penal code for central African countryEquatorial Guinea, one of the world’s most authoritarian countries, has abolished the death penalty, according to state television, which cited a new law signed by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.Capital punishment was “totally abolished” in the oil-rich central African country after the president signed a new penal code, the vice-president tweeted on Monday. Continue reading...

The official website of the royal family said a private burial took place in the King George VI Memorial Chapel. This blog is now closed

Ceremonial splendour in London gave way to a quiet burial in Windsor as Britain said goodbye to its longest-reigning monarch

Scale of operation surpasses 2012 Olympics as world leaders and hundreds of thousands of spectators attend event in LondonThe success of the enormous security operation surrounding the Queen’s funeral followed decades of intricate planning and heightened public vigilance, a counter-terrorism expert has said.Royalty, world leaders and hundreds of thousands of members of the public were kept safe on Monday, amid heightened concerns over possible attacks. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Concerns outsiders have stirred up trouble between Hindu and Muslim groups heightened after discovery people travelled into the cityAlmost half of the 18 people arrested after violence between Hindu and Muslim communities in Leicester over the weekend came from outside the county, the Guardian has learned.Concerns that outsiders have stirred up trouble in the city have heightened as it was discovered eight of those arrested were not from Leicestershire. Of these, five came from Birmingham, while one came from Solihull, one from Luton and one gave an address in Hounslow. Continue reading...

Students living away from home, under family pressure or struggling with work are more likely to cheat on essays and assignments, one expert says

Airline says it changed menu during Covid but critics say ‘one size fits all’ alienates passengers and is a sign of decline

Liz Truss and Lady Scotland only two politicians to speak at service, giving readings from the Bible

Emma the pony and corgis Muick and Sandy led out for parts of Monday’s ceremonial events

A guide to proceedings of first state funeral since Winston Churchill’s in 1965

From myrtle to the gem-encrusted cross on the orb, there is a wealth of symbolism behind each object

Edmunds’s eponymous restaurant in Lexington Street was considered one of the last hangouts of bohemian ‘old Soho’The death has been announced of the restaurateur and art dealer Andrew Edmunds, best known for a famously intimate restaurant in Soho that bears his name.Edmunds, who was 79 this month, founded his eponymous restaurant in 1985 in an 18th-century townhouse, in Lexington Street. Continue reading...

Thousands of military personnel from the UK and Commonwealth took centre-stage at the Queen’s funeral

From Melbourne to Paris, New York to Delhi, the solemn events in London resonated across the globe

At a facility for older people in South Lanarkshire, residents watch coverage from Westminster Abbey

Mood sombre in Treorchy, previously named UK’s best high street, despite diverse opinions on the monarchy

Damage to overhead electric wires blocks train lines between Paddington and Reading

George, second in line to the throne, and his sister, were youngest mourners at Westminster Abbey service

Archaeologists believe the find in an olive grove in the Gaza Strip dates from 5th-7th century ADAn ornate Byzantine floor mosaic showing colourful birds and other animals has been discovered by chance in Gaza after a Palestinian farmer planted new trees on his land.Salman al-Nabahin unearthed the mosaic pavement, thought to date from the fifth to the seventh century AD, six months ago while working in his olive orchard in Bureij refugee camp, about half a mile from the border with Israel. Continue reading...

Appeal for funds to rebuild bridge at Remagen destroyed after capture by US troops in final days of warOfficials in Germany have announced plans to rebuild a bridge over the Rhine that collapsed days after its capture by US soldiers in the final weeks of the second world war.The bridge at Remagen, which featured in a 1969 film of the same name starring George Segal, Ben Gazzara and Robert Vaughn, focusing on the heroism of the allies’ final advance into Germany, could be standing again within a decade, town planners have said. Continue reading...

Prime minister faces difficulties over proposal to ditch soft drinks industry levy amid growing backlashLiz Truss has run into difficulties in her desire to scrap the sugar tax amid a growing backlash against the plan, which health experts have said is “dangerous” and “nonsensical”.Whitehall sources say there is “a question mark” over how the prime minister can overcome a number of legal and parliamentary procedural obstacles to abandoning the soft drinks industry levy. Continue reading...

Director’s most autobiographical film to date picks up audience prize generally seen as indicator of awards success to comeSteven Spielberg’s new film The Fabelmans has won the Toronto international film festival’s People’s Choice award, long regarded in the film industry as a key indicator of awards success over the next few months.The Fabelmans, directed by Spielberg and co-written with Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner, has been hailed as Spielberg’s most autobiographical film and has won generally admiring reviews. The story of a teenage boy coping with his parents’ disintegrating marriage in the 60s midwest, the Guardian described it as a “rare insight into the world’s most famous director who has usually kept us at arm’s length”. Continue reading...

Italian actor, who often worked with his wife Kathryn Hunter, was a co-founder of Complicité, a gifted clown and a voiceover artist for PinguTributes have been paid to the actor Marcello Magni whose death at the age of 63 was announced on Sunday by Simon McBurney and Complicité, the theatre company they co-founded almost 40 years ago.McBurney said he was “utterly bereft” and called Magni “my brother, my comrade, compañero, hilarious dancer, unparalleled improviser [and] partner-in-play”. Other theatre-makers acknowledged Magni’s huge influence. Told By an Idiot’s artistic director, Paul Hunter, tweeted: “He simply blew me away and changed the way I thought about performing.” Continue reading...

Monarch pictured at Windsor Castle wearing cherished jewellery given to her by her parents on her 18th birthday

Category 1 storm damage ‘catastrophic’, says governor, while it continues to strengthen and barrels toward Dominican RepublicMost of Puerto Rico is without power after a category 1 hurricane bringing heavy rains and dangerous winds made landfall on Sunday evening, causing severe flooding and landslides and damaging infrastructure.Hurricane Fiona was causing “catastrophic flooding” in Puerto Rico early on Sunday evening, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. Continue reading...

One union says employers granting staff the day off is a chance to give back to underpaid employees and boost morale

White House confirms US policy has not changed after president’s remarks on 60 Minutes show

Battle over influence at Human Rights Council, with Beijing warning of ‘politicisation of human rights’Western powers are weighing the risk of a potential defeat if they table a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council calling for an independent commission to investigate alleged human rights abuses by China in Xinjiang.The issue is a litmus case for Chinese influence at the UN, as well as the willingness of the UN to endorse a worldview that protects individual rights from authoritarian states. Continue reading...

Fair Work Commission to rule on whether action, slammed by the government as dangerous, can go ahead