World news | The Guardian

AFL boss says panel will examine allegations Hawks separated Indigenous players from their families and pressured one couple to terminate a pregnancy

Antony Blinken calls referendums plan a ‘sham’ and Moscow’s possible mobilisation of extra forces ‘a sign of Russian failure’ ahead of Biden speechJoe Biden will use his speech at the United Nations on Wednesday to rally the world to stand firm in the face of Russian plans to hold referendums in occupied parts of Ukraine and possibly introduce widespread conscription, which the US described as signs of desperation unlikely to halt Ukrainian military gains.Biden will seek the broadest possible support for Ukrainian resistance at the UN general assembly (UNGA) by depicting it as a direct violation of the UN’s founding charter, and will make new announcements about the US funding of measures to address global food insecurity, caused in part by the Russian invasion, which has threatened developing countries with famine. Continue reading...

The acclaimed Argentinian sculptor’s immersive installation will headline the gallery’s $344m expansion, which opens in December

MTC, which has been accused of ‘gross negligence’ that allegedly led to gang rape, will be paid during same period as previous contractor Canstruct

Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey – the first woman to be appointed permanently in the role – take up their posts in JuneThe Royal Shakespeare Company has appointed two people to be co-artistic directors for the first time in four decades.Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey – the first woman to be permanently appointed artistic director at the RSC – will take up their post in June next year. Continue reading...

The actor, 45, quietly entered the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship in Milton Keynes and won all his matchesActor Tom Hardy made a surprise appearance in a martial arts competition on Saturday, ultimately winning the event.Hardy, 45, entered the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship, a competition held by Ultimate Martial Arts Championships at Oakgrove school in Milton Keynes, Hyde News & Pictures reported. Continue reading...

PM uses first foreign trip to rally UN allies to keep up the pressure on RussiaRussian president Vladimir Putin must leave Ukraine and pay “proper recompense” for his invasion through financial reparations before he can ever return to the international fold, Liz Truss has warned.The prime minister used her first foreign trip to rally UN allies to keep up the pressure on Russia, with government sources insisting pulling out of Ukraine was a ‘red line’ for any resumption of diplomatic relations. Continue reading...

Mike Ashley is stepping down from Frasers Group board, but Sports Direct founder leaves lasting legacy• Mike Ashley to step down from Frasers Group boardMike Ashley’s retreat from the public face of the business he founded is a return to form for the reclusive retailer.Before his group, then called Sports Direct, floated on the stock exchange in 2007, the only pictures of Ashley available were those from his days as a county squash player back in the 1970s. Continue reading...

Russian leader’s escalatory threat to annex parts of Ukraine in effort to halt counteroffensive is fraught with riskVladimir Putin has backed himself into a corner in Ukraine. And true to form, the Russian leader is ready to escalate, perhaps up to the brink of nuclear war, rather than admit defeat.Seven months after Putin launched his invasion, Russian troops have been driven back in the Kharkiv region, and Ukrainian forces are advancing in Luhansk and squeezing his troops and supply lines in Kherson. Continue reading...

Coroner says evidence must provide safeguards for authors of material accessed by teenager before her deathThe inquest into the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell was delayed by legal discussions on Tuesday as the coroner raised concerns about protecting people whose social media posts appear at the hearing.The teenager, from Harrow in north-west London, took her own life in November 2017 after viewing content including posts linked to anxiety, depression, self-harm and suicide.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 counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org. Continue reading...

Richard Boyle alleges tax office blocked him from helping individuals and one senior staff member said ‘I am sick of taxpayers threatening suicide’

Academics, economists and tenant groups have dismissed the claims by state opposition and real estate group

Elizabeth II ‘had a deep affection with Australia and Australians have remembered her fondly since her passing’, the prime minister says

Activists barred from accessing hundreds of miles of land earmarked for UK high-speed rail project

Prime minister says chancellor will explain how tax cuts will be paid for on Friday. This live blog is now closedRosie Cooper has indicated that she intends to stand down as Labour MP for West Lancashire to take up a new job as chair of the Mersey Care NHS foundation trust. In her statement announcing the move Cooper says that events in recent years have “undoubtedly taken their toll” – a reference to Cooper being targeted by a neo-Nazi who was jailed for life in 2019 for plotting to kill her.Cooper’s statement implies she will resign and trigger a byelection. At the last election she had a majority of more than 8,000 over the Conservatives, and in a byelection Labour would be expected to hold the seat very easily. Continue reading...

Deal does not include Butlin’s property assets which were sold earlier this year to a private pension fundButlin’s has been bought by one of the holiday camp’s family backers for an estimated £300m.The seaside resort group, founded in 1936 in Skegness by Billy Butlin, includes sites in Minehead and Bognor Regis, which have played host to generations of entertainers. Recent bookings include Peppa Pig and Mister Maker to Peter Andre, Leo Sayer, Jason Donovan, Fatboy Slim and Sophie Ellis-Bextor. Continue reading...

British island territory imposes curfew and urges people to flee flood-risk areas after Category 3 storm lashes Dominican RepublicHurricane Fiona has blasted the Turks and Caicos Islands as a Category 3 storm after cutting a path of devastation through the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico – where most people remained without electricity or running water.The storm’s eye passed close to Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, on Tuesday morning after the government imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas. Hurricane-force winds extended up to 30 miles (45km) from the center. Continue reading...

Hae Min Lee’s family, however, are ‘deeply disappointed’ at how quickly developments have progressedThe conviction of Adnan Syed for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee – which was overturned on Monday – had “systemic problems”, the host of the Serial podcast, Sarah Koenig, said, as the slain young woman’s family said they were “deeply disappointed” at how quickly developments had progressed.A Baltimore judge ordered the release of Syed – whose case was chronicled in Serial as well as projects that separately followed up on that true crime series – after ruling that the state violated its legal obligation to share potentially exculpatory evidence with Syed’s defense. Continue reading...

Mark Fullbrook spoken to as witness in bribery case against financier and Tory donor Julio Herrera VelutiniLiz Truss has given her full support to the No 10 chief of staff, Mark Fullbrook, after it emerged he was questioned as a witness as part of a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) inquiry into alleged bribery in Puerto Rico.Truss’s spokesperson said she was backing Fullbrook, who is not travelling with her to the UN general assembly in New York this week. Continue reading...

Actor appears alongside Australian musician Nick Cave and British sculptor Thomas Houseago to reveal his first ever public art exhibition

United Nations mission says President Nicolás Maduro and others ordered ‘grave crimes’ including torture to stifle oppositionVenezuela’s intelligence agencies are committing crimes against humanity as part of a plan orchestrated at the highest level of government to repress dissent, UN experts have concluded.A team tasked with investigating alleged violations in Venezuela said it had uncovered how members of intelligence services implemented orders by President Nicolás Maduro and others in a scheme to stifle opposition. Continue reading...

Credit Suisse finds those with assets exceeding $50m total 218,200 after post-pandemic ‘explosion of wealth’The ranks of the global “ultra high net worth” (UHNW) individuals swelled by 46,000 last year to a record 218,200 as the world’s richest people benefited from “almost an explosion of wealth” during the recovery from the pandemic.The number of UHNW people – those with assets of more than $50m (£43.7m) – jumped in 2021 as the super-rich benefited from soaring house prices and booming stock markets, according to a report by investment bank Credit Suisse. The number of people in the UHNW bracket has increased by more than 50% over the past two years. Continue reading...

Ronson Chan was due to travel to the UK when he was arrested for ‘obstructing police’The head of Hong Kong’s journalist union was charged with obstructing police on Monday, 10 days before he was set to leave the city and begin an overseas fellowship at Oxford University.Ronson Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), was arrested on 7 September over a dispute with two officers who asked to see his identification while he was covering a residents’ meeting at a public housing estate. Continue reading...

Election candidate for the rightwing party had called Hitler a ‘great statesman’ in a 2014 Facebook post

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