Data shows Foreign Office spending was up by 45% on items ranging from dining, wallpaper and adult colouring booksThe Foreign Office, under Liz Truss’s leadership, is facing questions about its spending on credit cards including £1,841 at Norwich City football club online, and £10,000 at Fortnum and Mason.Emily Thornberry, the shadow attorney general, wrote to the Foreign Office questioning why spending was up by 45% on its government procurement cards between September 2021 to July 2022. Continue reading...

Executive at parent company Meta says guidelines changed in 2019 to ban ‘all graphic suicide and self-harm content’A senior executive at Instagram’s parent company has defended the platform’s policies on suicide and self-harm content, telling the inquest into Molly Russell’s death that guidelines had always been drafted in consultation with experts.Elizabeth Lagone, head of health and wellbeing policy at Meta, said the social media group worked “extensively with experts” when writing guidelines, which allow users to discuss feelings related to suicide or self-harm.In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Divisions of leadership contest return to the fore as some MPs criticise extra borrowing to pay for tax cuts

Met confirms two men interviewed under caution over allegations linked to Prince’s FoundationTwo men have been questioned under caution by officers investigating cash-for-honours allegations linked to King Charles III’s charity the Prince’s Foundation.In a brief statement, the Metropolitan police confirmed that on 6 September officers had interviewed a man in his 50s and a man in his 40s under caution in relation to offences under the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925. Continue reading...

Katharine Birbalsingh says disadvantaged pupils with few resources struggle to win placesThe UK’s social mobility tsar has cast doubt on Liz Truss’s plans to revive grammar schools in England, arguing that they mainly benefit children whose families can afford to coach them to pass entrance exams.Katharine Birbalsingh, the headteacher named last year by Truss as chair of the government’s social mobility commission, said selective schools educated few disadvantaged or working-class pupils because they struggled to win places. Continue reading...

Childcare, health problems or other constraints mean taking action to boost earnings will be a strugglePart-time workers have reacted with dismay at the tightening of rules that could result in a cut to their benefits unless they work longer hours or take steps to increase their earnings.The changes, which that come into force in January, will require claimants who work up to 15 hours a week (24 hours a week for couples) to take action to boost their earnings. The current threshold is nine hours, but this goes up to 12 hours a week on Monday, and 19 hours a week for couples. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Some employees report feeling pressed by private equity owners to contribute to an ailing businessMorrisons’ private equity owners have asked hundreds of staff – from store managers upwards – to invest thousands of pounds of their own money in the business.More than 800 people have been asked to invest in the ailing supermarket in the past few months, with one well-placed source saying middle management level departmental heads had been asked for £10,000 while the directors of departments had been asked for £25,000 each. It is understood the minimum investmentrequired to participate was £2,000. Continue reading...

Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford criticise UK government over mini-budget that ‘embeds unfairness’

Investigating teams reported evidence of executions, torture and sexual violence in civilian areas

Packed rally in Rome closes campaign for group forecast for landslide victory in polls on SundayA conservative coalition forecast to glide into power in the Italian general election on Sunday has wrapped up its campaign to a packed square in central Rome, filled with supporters old and new, young and not so young, a smattering of anti-abortion activists and a descendant of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.The trio – led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, a party with neofascist origins, and including Matteo Salvini’s far-right League and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia – has experienced loud and robust support over the past months and remained relatively close-knit, in stark contrast to a campaign by its main rival, the centre-left Democratic party, that has been so lacklustre it managed to breathe new life into the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) in southern Italy. Continue reading...

Network Rail advises passengers not to travel as a third rail union confirmed it would join the strikeNetwork Rail has advised passengers not to attempt to travel next Saturday when coordinated industrial action will wipe out most train services across Great Britain, as a third rail union confirmed it would join the strike.Train drivers in Aslef and signallers and crew in the RMT union will walk out for 24 hours on 1 October at the start of the Conservative conference. They will be joined by members of the TSSA at Network Rail and 11 train operating companies. Some Network Rail power-supply staff in Unite will also strike. Continue reading...

At the time of Anthony Barber’s ‘dash for growth’ budget, a pint of milk cost 6p, Nilsson was top of the charts and Brian Clough was in his heyday at Derby CountyThe Institute for Fiscal Studies has said Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcement on Friday amounts to the biggest tax-cutting budget since Anthony Barber’s on the 21 March 1972, just over 50 years ago. Here is a roundup of some of the prices you would have been paying, and things you might have been watching and listening to at the time. Continue reading...

FTSE 100 drops more than 2% to trade below 7,000 for first time since early MarchKwasi Kwarteng’s tax-cutting mini-budget has sent financial markets into a tailspin, with UK government borrowing costs soaring and the pound slumping to a 37-year low against the dollar.Issuing a punishing verdict on the chancellor’s “dash for growth”, traders in the City of London sent sterling tumbling on Friday amid a broad-based sell-off in response to the massive rise in public borrowing required to finance his plans. Continue reading...

Plans set out in chancellor’s mini-budget include abolishing stamp duty and sweeping aside planning rules

Adel al-Jubeir decries as ‘cynical’ accusations his country was trying to improve its image after Khashoggi killingIt would be cynical to see Saudi Arabia’s efforts to secure the release of international prisoners held by Russian proxies in Ukraine as an attempt to improve the country’s image after the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, its foreign minister has said.Adel al-Jubeir said on Friday Riyadh had first approached the UK government in April, shortly after Aiden Aslin, a British citizen, and others were captured at Mariupol, and had acted for compassionate reasons, hoping to negotiate their release. Continue reading...

Zelensky urges Russians to resist mobilisation; traffic at Russian border crossings surges amid exodus; Putin reportedly directing generals in the field

International Diabetic Federation decries reports ongoing war has led to shortages of life-saving drug at Ethiopian region’s biggest hospitalDoctors at the biggest hospital in Tigray say they have just days supply left of insulin, as the resumption of fighting between rebels and Ethiopian government troops once again cuts off supplies to the region.In what the head of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) has branded “a humanitarian crime,” medics at Ayder specialist referral hospital warn they have already run out of one kind of the life-saving medicine and have only a week’s supply of another. Continue reading...

Yoon Suk-yeol accused of discourtesy in London and of swearing after chat to Joe BidenSouth Korea’s president has been accused of causing a “diplomatic disaster” after his first major international trip, to the Queen’s funeral and the UN general assembly, was marred by alleged discourtesy and an expletive directed at members of the US congress.Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative who was already battling low approval ratings only months after taking office, drew criticism from across the South Korean political spectrum after he failed to attend the Queen’s lying in state despite traveling to London. Continue reading...

PM says relaxation will take effect from 11 October as Hong Kong scraps hotel quarantine measures for visitors

Activists say that the company’s own audits have been ineffective and workers receive inadequate safety protectionsWorkers and activists have been campaigning to push Levi’s, one of the world’s largest clothing brands, to sign on to an international accord for workers’ health and safety in Bangladesh and Pakistan.On 24 April 2013, the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which housed five garment clothing factories, collapsed, killing 1,134 people and injuring approximately 2,500, in the deadliest disaster in the garment industry’s history. Continue reading...

NSW Labor leader claims he sacked his frontbencher via voicemail less than 24 hours after he asked her to produce evidence to back up her claims

Indigenous minister says ‘swirling emotions’ have included respect for monarch and memories of past discrimination

Han Lay appealed for help on social media after being stopped at Bangkok airport, saying Myanmar police there want to speak to herA Myanmar model who has spoken out against the military junta that seized power last year says she has sought help from the UN’s refugee agency after she was denied entry to Thailand.Han Lay, who was stopped at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok this week, asked for help in a Facebook post on Thursday night, saying Myanmar police were at the airport and trying to speak with her. Continue reading...

Threat comes as UN member states meet in Geneva amid pressure to take action on a damning report on abuse of UyghursA Chinese envoy to the United Nations has warned western nations and allies that Beijing is ready for a “fight” amid growing pressure for global action against China over its human rights abuses in Xinjiang.The threat follows the release of a report by the UN office of the high commissioner for human rights which found the government was likely committing crimes against humanity with its abuses of Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. Continue reading...

Stabbing triggers accusations that authorities are failing to take violence against women seriouslyThe murder of a South Korean woman who had been stalked by her alleged killer for years has sparked outrage and demands for changes in the law to better protect women.The woman’s murder in a bathroom at the subway station where she worked earlier this month has shocked South Korea, coming a day before her alleged attacker, named by police as 31-year-old Jeon Joo-hwan, had been due to be sentenced for stalking her. Continue reading...

Opposition leader warns against powers so extensive they result in ‘show trials’ as ‘good faith’ talks on bill continue

Sale of investment firm business secretary co-founded could result in multi-million pound payoutRiding through London in the back of a Rolls-Royce in the early 1980s, 12-year-old Jacob Rees-Mogg proudly declared his ambitions: “I’ve always wanted to be rich.”The besuited youngster, who was already an ardent supporter of then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher, calmly explained to a French reporter that he had put his plans in motion five years earlier when he invested a £50 inheritance in the shares of utility firm GEC. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Local authorities frequently breach legal duty to prioritise housing for abuse survivors, risking further danger or traumaPeople fleeing domestic abuse are being put in danger by local authorities who fail to provide housing for months on end, despite a law which should prioritise them, a new study shows.Increased legal protections are failing to prevent the “systemic” blocking of support to those fleeing abusive relationships, the report by the Public Interest Law Centrefound. The situation puts survivors of abuse at risk of further trauma or returning to an attacker, the research said. Continue reading...

Sharon Graham says she is needed amid ‘crescendo’ of pay negotiations, but calls for Labour to show it sides with workersSharon Graham, the boss of Unite, is planning to skip Labour’s conference for a second year in a row to prioritise current industrial disputes, and said the party should correct the impression that it’s “wrong” to be on the picket line.Graham, the general secretary for just over a year, has presided over 450 disputes over the last 12 months and counted the outcome on pay as a win in 80% of cases. She said strikes are “coming to a crescendo at the moment” because of the cost of living crisis, when every penny in people’s pay packets counts. Continue reading...

Settlement is the culmination of more than 30 years of fighting for reparationsIt took decades of fighting for reparations but a Māori tribe has finally secured a long-awaited apology and millions of dollars in redress for atrocities committed by the crown, including for its “indiscriminate” killings and “massive” alienation of tribal land.On Wednesday, a charter train wound its way down the spine of New Zealand’s North Island, picking up hundreds of Ngāti Maniapoto iwi (tribe) members. The iwi travelled for nine hours until they reached Wellington where, the next day, they joined many more members in the parliament’s public gallery to witness the Maniapoto claims settlement bill become law. Continue reading...

Murdoch’s barrister moves to strike out parts of Crikey’s defence, calling it ‘embarrassing and irrelevant’. Plus: Speers moves to the capital

CEO says company has not yet confirmed how many people were affected by hack, but 9.8 million was ‘worst case scenario’

ACT chief justice says potential jurors who have seen Higgins speak publicly on the allegations must ‘search their souls’ about impartiality in case against Bruce Lehrmann

In the first part of a new series, the Guardian journalist Sirin Kale takes us to a small town in the north of England to uncover how one man began a decade of cyberstalking

Coalition committed to respond in ‘early 2022’ but failed to do so, while Labor has not issued a full response since taking office

Annual Good Food Nation survey finds a fifth of Britons no longer turn on their oven to save moneyFamilies have crossed Sunday roasts, stews and home baking off the menu and in drastic cases no longer use their oven, as soaring energy costs force big changes in the kitchen.One in four home cooks said they were less likely to prepare a roast dinner, while a fifth were not baking as many cakes or biscuits, according to the annual Good Food Nation report. Continue reading...

Former cabinet minister urges Labour leader to be ‘restless for change’ and challenge ‘post-truth’ campaign by Truss governmentLiz Truss will mount a “post-truth” campaign presenting the Conservatives as the party of change at the next election, Peter Mandelson has warned, as he called on Keir Starmer not to “sit back” and assume automatic victory.While Labour has held a steady lead in the opinion polls for nine months, Starmer was urged by the former cabinet minister to “do a better job” of showing voters how the party has evolved under his leadership to cement its chances of entering government. Continue reading...

State enacts temporary insurance protections for a quarter-million homeowners in areas affected by recent blazesCalifornia temporarily banned insurance companies on Thursday from dropping customers in areas affected by recent wildfires, a day after evacuation orders were lifted for residents near a two-week-old blaze that’s become the largest in the state so far this year.Several days of sporadic rain helped firefighters reach 60% containment on the Mosquito fire in the Sierra foothills about 110 miles (177km) north-east of San Francisco. At least 78 homes and other structures have been destroyed since flames broke out 6 September and charred forestland across Placer and El Dorado counties. Continue reading...

If convicted, the Colombian singer faces an eight-year prison sentence and a fine of more than €23mThe Colombian singer Shakira, who is facing trial in Spain over allegations that she failed to pay €14.5m (£12.1m) in taxes, has accused the country’s fiscal authorities of waging “a salacious press campaign” against her and insisted she owes them nothing.According to Spanish prosecutors, Shakira and her family lived in Barcelona between 2012 and 2014, meaning she should have paid tax in Spain on her worldwide income for those years. They are seeking an eight-year prison sentence and a fine of more than €23m if she is convicted. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Constitutional review by Gordon Brown also recommends devolving economic powersLabour is considering abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with an upper house of nations and regions, as well as handing sweeping new powers to local regions and devolved nations, a leaked report reveals.The constitutional review by the former prime minister Gordon Brown, which has been seen by MPs and shadow cabinet ministers, recommends devolving new economic powers including over taxation and creating new independent councils of the nations and for England.New tax powers for devolved government which could include stamp duty.Powers for local people to promote bills in parliament via democratically elected bodies.A constitutional guarantee of social and economic rights.Powers for mayors on education, transport and research funding. Continue reading...

ITV presenters could highlight the good causes they have helped, PR experts suggestQueen Elizabeth II’s funeral was an emotional event for many Britons. It allowed the nation to reflect on the passage of time, to deal with the loss of a historic figure, and to unite in criticism of the ITV presenters Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby for supposed queue-jumping offences.The presenters of This Morning went from national sweethearts to national villains after they were accused of avoiding the eight-hour queue to see the Queen lying in state by entering Westminster Hall via a side entrance. Continue reading...

Multiple passengers say they have had nightmare experiences trying to retrieve lost baggage, but airline maintains its service is back to pre-Covid levels

Players’ association has backed calls for a club-by-club review in the wake of the Hawthorn racism allegations

The Prince and Princess of Wales were meeting volunteers and staff who worked on events surrounding the state funeralPrince William admitted he got “choked up” after seeing the Paddington Bear tributes to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.In his first engagement since her death earlier this month, the Prince of Wales met volunteers and staff who worked on the events surrounding the state funeral. Continue reading...

Company proposes Acas meeting as it threatens to tear up elements of nine-year deal with unionRoyal Mail’s row with employees over pay and conditions has escalated, with the company saying it is prepared to tear up elements of its nine-year deal with workers to push through a modernisation programme, prompting accusations of “Uberisation”.The company has written to the Communications Workers Union to propose that talks should be taken to the arbitration service Acas, but the CWU is yet to respond. Continue reading...

Border guards cite ‘exceptional’ number of people leaving the country after ‘partial mobilisation’ announcementRussia-Ukraine war – latest updatesHours after Vladimir Putin shocked Russia by announcing the first mobilisation since the second world war, Oleg received his draft papers in the mailbox, ordering him to make his way to the local recruitment centre in Kazan, the capital of the ​​Tatarstan republic.As a 29-year-old sergeant in the Russian reserves, Oleg said he always knew that he would be the first in line if a mobilisation was declared, but held out hope that he would not be forced to fight in the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Week-old legislation that severely limited procedure likely offended ‘liberty guarantees’ of state constitution, judge saysAn Indiana judge on Thursday blocked enforcement of the state’s abortion ban, putting the new law on hold as clinic operators argue it violates the state constitution.The Owen county judge, Kelsey Hanlon, issued a preliminary injunction against the ban that took effect a week ago. The injunction was sought by clinic operators who argued the state constitution protects abortion access. Continue reading...

Ronson Chan was arrested in September as part of an ongoing crackdown on dissent and free expression in the cityThe head of Hong Kong’s journalists’ association will be allowed to travel to the UK for an Oxford fellowship after a court granted him bail and declined to place restrictions on his movement over a charge of obstructing police officers.Ronson Chan was arrested on 7 September while he was covering a residence meeting at a Hong Kong housing estate. Police allege he refused to provide ID and behaved in an “uncooperative” way despite multiple warnings, and he was charged this week. Chan has claimed innocence, saying he was within his rights to ask police for identification before he produced his. Continue reading...

Celia Marsh’s family say more people will die unless testing throughout food industry is improvedThe family of a woman with a severe dairy allergy who suffered a fatal reaction after eating a “vegan” Pret a Manger wrap contaminated with milk protein have warned that more people will die unless comprehensive testing throughout the food supply chain and better labelling is introduced.Celia Marsh’s family also said they believed the 42-year-old dental nurse would still be alive if a company that made a coconut yoghurt added to the wrap had informed Pret there was a risk it could have been contaminated because it was made in a factory that used milk. Continue reading...