World news | The Guardian

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

Poem entitled Daughter written in tribute to Queen Elizabeth IICarol Ann Duffy, the former poet laureate – who was appointed by the Queen in 2009 – has written a poem entitled Daughter, shared exclusively here, to mark the monarch’s death. Continue reading...

Windrush campaigner Eulalee Pennant has appealed that her application for further leave to remain be resolved before she diesA great-grandmother and Windrush campaigner who has terminal cancer has begged the Home Office to resolve her immigration status before she dies, but it has refused to expedite her case.Eulalee Pennant, 64, of Jamaican heritage, arrived in the UK in 2001 and was granted a student visa. At one point, her immigration case was stuck in a Home Office backlog for a decade. She was granted discretionary leave to remain in 2019 on the basis of family life with her partner, Gilford Fraser, a British citizen and Windrush descendant, who arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1968 at the age of 12. Continue reading...

Mother of Tamil family will recount their remarkable journey, from fleeing war-torn Sri Lanka to enduring Australia’s immigration detention system

Sam Uffindell had been stood down after allegations he had bullied a female housemate while at universityA New Zealand MP who has apologised for attacking a fellow student at high school has been reinstated to the opposition National party after an inquiry cleared him of bullying a female flatmate while at university.Sam Uffindell had been suspended so the party could carry out an investigation into allegations of violence and intimidating behaviour at university, but on Monday he was reinstated to his former position, after the investigation found no evidence of bullying after high school. Continue reading...

Daniel Andrews defends plan to change name of Maroondah hospital from Woiwurrung word that celebrates the natural environment

Homes in Gunnedah inundated and residents in Wee Waa region warned to move livestock and machinery to high ground

Former head of Investment NSW set to receive 12 months’ salary after being terminated from high-profile job

Head of domestic markets says rate rises will depress commercial and residential property prices but wider risks appear contained

Tragedy in Guizhou province became a lightning rod for social media criticism of zero-Covid policy before posts were shut downAnger has flared among social media users in China after 27 people died when a bus carrying them to a Covid-19 quarantine facility crashed in the south-west province of Guizhou.With millions of Chinese still under tight restrictions thanks to Beijing’s strict zero-Covid strategy, the deaths in the early hours of Sunday quickly became a lightning rod for criticism of the government. Only two people have died from Covid in Guizhou in the entire pandemic. Continue reading...

Moment of mourning observed after tribute from Camilla, Queen Consort, but Big Ben did not strike as planned

David Hunter, who has admitting smothering wife, Janice, ‘desperate’ for case to be heard, says lawyerA British pensioner charged in Cyprus with the premeditated murder of his terminally ill wife says he is “desperate” to have his day in court ahead of the trial opening on the island.David Hunter is due to appear before an assize court in the coastal city of Paphos on Monday, almost nine months to the day after he admitted smothering his 75-year-old spouse, Janice, to death. Continue reading...

UK medical records over 21 years show both groups survived less time after diagnosis than white counterpartsBritons of black and south Asian origin with dementia die younger and sooner after being diagnosed than white people, research has found.South Asian people die 2.97 years younger and black people 2.66 years younger than their white counterparts, according to a study by academics from University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Continue reading...

Regulations will be relaxed in up to 12 places, with taxes cut to incentivise investmentThe chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, is expected to announce the creation of a network of low-tax, low-regulation investment zones in an emergency budget on Friday.Planning regulations will be relaxed in up to 12 places earmarked for this status, and taxes will be cut to incentivise investment. Continue reading...

Staff forced to choose between collaborating or fighting against Russian takeover of schoolsAt the beginning of summer, several months after the Russians had taken over a large chunk of southern Ukraine in the first days of the war, the headteacher of a school in an occupied town gathered his teaching collective for a meeting.The school would cooperate with the Russian occupation authorities, he told them, and reopen for the new school year in September, teaching the Russian curriculum. Continue reading...

Whether to pay homage to the Queen amid the party dresses has divided participantsThere was only one show in town in London this weekend, and that was the Queue. But the catwalks of London fashion week soldiered on.“It felt important to keep going, because this is a time when London needs to stick together, and right now some of this city’s young designers are at risk of losing their businesses,” said the designer Jonathan Anderson after his JW Anderson show. Continue reading...

Transport bosses warn network could be overwhelmed as demand for services into capital rises by 56%

Monarch will also meet leaders of countries where he is head of state before reception for overseas guests

A growing minority want an elected head of state – and some feel ‘shaken’ by treatment of anti-monarchistsTimothy Parker feels ambivalent about the events of the last week. “On the one hand,” the 21-year-old says, “someone of unquestionable importance has died.” On the other, the blanket coverage of royal affairs – “royals with flowers, royals with pens, royals with letters” – has left him frustrated.While he is respectful of those in mourning and understands that the death of the Queen is a historic event, he finds the pomp and ceremony during a cost of living crisis “infuriating”. “I’m aware that part of it is symbolic, but don’t those symbolic acts just reinforce the underlying class hierarchies that are so plain to see?” he says. Continue reading...

John Sentamu says ‘hearts and people’s cockles will be warmed’ by Westminster Abbey service rooted in 1662 Book of Common Prayer

Demand for leases of land for renewable energy projects is set to generate hundreds of millions for the crown estateThe royal family stands to benefit from a huge windfall from the boom in offshore energy, potentially sparking a debate about funding the monarchy.The Treasury has confirmed that an official review of the sovereign grant, which stands at £86.3m a year, is ongoing and is expected to come into effect from April next year. Officials say they want to ensure the funding is at “appropriate” levels. Continue reading...

Chancellor thought to be delaying full budget until next year, preventing spending watchdog from assessing his plansKwasi Kwarteng is paving the way to delay his first full budget until next year, amid growing concerns that he is avoiding scrutiny of a huge programme of tax cuts likely to break the government’s existing fiscal rules.The chancellor will unveil his plans for £30bn in tax cuts and more details of the energy price cap announced by Liz Truss as part of a “mini-budget” on Friday. It is likely to frame the political debate for some time. However, he is preparing to overhaul existing fiscal rules in the months ahead to ensure the programme can satisfy them. Continue reading...

The renowned British artist found inspiration in his own features after the pandemic left him without sittersWhat do you do when you are a portrait painter but can’t get anyone to sit for you? Frank Auerbach, once described by the Tate as “one of the greatest painters alive today”, has come up with an answer he didn’t expect to find. At 91, he has painted himself – and it’s all thanks to Covid.For decades, the painter and draughtsman has had friends and family sit for his portraits every week – until the lockdowns left him without any sitters. Instead, he found inspiration in his own features for a major series of self-portraits. He told the Observer that, while he had previously been uninterested in his own face, ageing has made it much more compelling. Continue reading...

Downing Street frames conversation between Australian PM and the British leader as chat rather than formal bilateral talks. This blog is now closed

MPs in talks with Taiwan to help phase out Confucius Institutes as relations between the countries worsenA group of cross-party MPs is in talks with Taiwan to provide Mandarin teachers to the UK as the government seeks to phase out Chinese state-linked Confucius Institutes, the Observer has learned.There are currently 30 branches of the Confucius Institute operating across the UK. Although controversies have existed for many years, they have continued to teach Britons Chinese language, culture and business etiquette. These schools are effectively joint ventures between a host university in Britain, a partner university in China, and the Chinese International Education Foundation (CIEF), a Beijing-based organisation. Continue reading...

‘It’s a nonsense’: government facing claims of manipulating questions to get desired result from survey on ‘Brexit bonus’It was meant to be one of the sure-fire wins for Brexit, but plans to bring back imperial measurements face criticism over claims of a biased government review.Ministers were keen to launch a review to revive imperial measurements – such as pounds and ounces – and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), now overseen by Jacob Rees-Mogg, conducted a government consultation over the summer. However, the questions appeared to have something missing. Continue reading...

Maroondah hospital could lose Aboriginal name in change Daniel Andrews says is a mark of respect to Queen’s ‘unwavering commitment to healthcare’

Thousands expected to gather to watch in cathedrals, parks and other public venues across UK