Labour leader says government is ‘completely at end of the road’ and his party is preparing for power

Operator insists service will be turned round by Christmas as travellers report late and overcrowded trainsAvanti West Coast bosses have admitted “we’re still not good enough”, a week after its contract was controversially renewed, but insisted that the failing intercity train service will be turned round by Christmas.The train operator cut back its schedules and stopped selling advance tickets in August, blaming a lack of staff overtime – causing enormous disruption to Britain’s major rail artery linking cities between London and Glasgow. Continue reading...

Watchdog provisionally concludes former Tory MP broke transparency rules when he lobbied on behalf of RandoxThe disgraced former Conservative MP Owen Paterson faces being fined after a Whitehall watchdog provisionally concluded that he broke transparency rules by failing to register as a lobbyist for a healthcare firm.On Friday, Harry Rich, the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, said he proposed to conclude that Paterson had acted unlawfully when he lobbied ministers on behalf of Randox. The watchdog intends to fine Paterson up to £7,500 but gave the former MP an opportunity to overturn the decision. Continue reading...

Images from Netflix series also show Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth and Dominic West as CharlesWhen John Major was prime minister in the 1990s, the actor Jonny Lee Miller was best known for playing the peroxide-haired Sick Boy in Trainspotting and for his tabloid-friendly marriage to Angelina Jolie.Almost three decades later, the first image has been released of Miller portraying the former Tory prime minister – nicknamed “the grey man” – in the new series of The Crown, complete with side-parting and large glasses. Continue reading...

Biopic imagines Brontë’s life in the years leading up to her writing one of English literature’s most feted novelsA new, sensuous drama about Wuthering Heights author Emily Brontë is a chance to introduce the Brontë sisters to younger audiences, one of the film’s stars has said.Released in cinemas on Friday, Emily – directed by Frances O’Connor and starring Sex Education’s Emma Mackey in the titular role – imagines Brontë’s life in the years leading up to her writing one of English literature’s most feted novels. Continue reading...

In England about one in 35 people had Covid in week ending 3 October, according to ONS dataCovid infection levels are rising across much of the UK, with more than 1.7 million people thought to have had the virus in the most recent week, data has revealed.About one in 35 people in England – 2.8% of the population – had Covid in the week ending 3 October based on swabs from randomly selected households, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. It is an increase from one in 50 the week before. Continue reading...

ICRC responds to Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticism, saying it is frustrated at being refused entry to notorious Olenivka prison

Chancellor shares letter saying he has accepted prime minister’s request for him to stand aside

Some attribute Labour’s loss in North Evington to its candidate’s apparent support for India’s ruling BJP partyA Leicester council byelection resulted in a huge swing towards the Conservatives, as they took the seat from Labour who were knocked into third place in an area gripped by civil unrest last month.The Conservatives took 49.6% of the vote in North Evington, with a 32.7-point swing in their favour, while Labour received just 22.5% of votes. Continue reading...

Neil Maxwell, who killed himself in 2019, suspected over disappearance of woman who went missing earlier that yearThe prime suspect in the murder of Leah Croucher, who disappeared in February 2019, has been named as convicted sex offender Neil Maxwell, who killed himself in April that year.Thames Valley police launched a murder investigation after discovering human remains at an address in Milton Keynes on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Survey shows strong support within alliance for tougher sanctions and Nato aid, but more pro-Russia views elsewhere

Move marks rise in younger consumers investing in classic sustainable pieces rather than buying disposable fashionBen Affleck wore a dark suit, while his wife, Jennifer Lopez, chose a pinstripe dress. Laura Dern was in black tie, while Sylvester Stallone was in a smoothly brushed suede jacket.On the eve of his 83rd birthday, the Bronx-born Ralph Lauren, who is in his seventh decade as a designer, staged his first ever catwalk show on the west coast of the US, in the gardens of the Huntington Library in California, and Hollywood dressed up for the event. Continue reading...

Retired teacher from Saxony is suspected of having been the ‘ideological brains’ behind the groupA pensioner believed to be the ringleader of a terrorist group planning to launch attacks on German politicians and power infrastructure has been remanded in custody.Identified only as Elizabeth R in accordance with German legal norms, the 75-year-old retired teacher from the eastern state of Saxony is suspected of having been what investigators have called the “ideological brains” behind the far-right group, which had planned kidnappings and attacks on power facilities meant to cause blackouts across the country. Continue reading...

Andrew Walker’s report says government should consider separate platforms for adults and childrenThe coroner at Molly Russell’s inquest has recommended that the government considers separate social media platforms for children and adults as he called for a review of child use of online content.The senior coroner Andrew Walker, who presided over the inquest into 14-year-old Molly, has issued safety recommendations that focused on child access to social media content. Molly, from Harrow, north-west London, died in November 2017 after viewing extensive amounts of material related to suicide, depression, anxiety and self-harm on platforms including Instagram and Pinterest. Continue reading...

Leave is set to increase by two weeks a year from the present scheme of 18 weeks at minimum wage and can be split between partners

Huge montage in Tehran taken down within 24 hours after protests by those depicted or their relativesThe Iranian authorities suffered a PR fiasco after being forced to take down a giant billboard in a central square in Tehran when women in the poster, or their relatives, objected to being depicted as supporters of the government and the compulsory-wearing of the hijab.The billboard controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was a montage of about 50 Iranian women wearing the hijab under the slogan “Women of my Land”. It was taken down within 24 hours after at least three of the women pictured said they objected to their image being misused. Continue reading...

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