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Conservative leadership contenders Jenrick, Cleverly and Tugendhat reject rival's comments, while Rosie Duffield criticises Keir StarmerQ: Do you agree with Kemi Badenoch that some cultures are less valid than others?Jenrick says culture matters. But he says he disagres with Badenoch on immigration numbers. He says he thinks you have to have a cap on numbers. And he also says he believes the UK has to leave the European convention on human rights. He says Badenoch is just talking about developing a plan in a few years time, and that's a recipe for infighting and for losing the public's trust". Continue reading...

Leadership contender's team in damage control mode after she is criticised for saying burden on business is excessive'Kemi Badenoch's campaign was in damage control mode on the first day of Conservative party conference, as rival candidates criticised comments she made on maternity pay, saying the burden on business was excessive" and that people should exercise more personal responsibility".Badenoch, the frontrunner among party members in the four-way contest, was forced to twice clarify the comments and emphasise that she of course" believed in maternity pay. But the comments were seized upon by other candidates, who distanced themselves from Badenoch's words. Continue reading...

Ex-Gucci star brings 70s haute bourgeoisie ladies in trailing chiffons and Gen Z boys in tattoos and pearls to the runwayValentino was the hottest ticket of this Paris fashion week, and the show had a sense of occasion to match.A vast floor was laid with smashed mirror tiles, glittering like a ballroom after an earthquake. Five hundred armchairs and a smattering of glowing lamps lay beneath a shroud of white sheets, as if a grand house had been locked up for a long winter. The house of Valentino was shaking off the cobwebs for a new era and hitting the dance floor. Continue reading...

Jean Pallant says return of long-lost coat, spotted in a pile of Oxfam donations, was like seeing a child' againA British fashion designer said rediscovering one of her long-lost designs, which was found in an Oxfam charity shop after nearly 40 years, has been like seeing a child" again.Jean Pallant was told the orange coat with large buttons she had made at her kitchen table in 1988 had turned up in a donation bag at the Oxfam shop in Mill Hill, London. Continue reading...

Telecom has so far extracted 3,300 tonnes of potential 200,000 tonnes of cables amid 15bn rollout of full-fibre broadbandBT has received 105m as an upfront prepayment for the sale of surplus copper cables from its old network which it is replacing in a 15bn rollout of high-speed full-fibre broadband to 25m homes in one of the UK's biggest private national infrastructure programmes.The telecoms company has struck a deal with a recycling company and received the sum after entering into a forward agreement to sell copper granules created from surplus copper cables which are being replaced by its new full-fibre network. The 105m transaction is the first of its kind. Continue reading...

At least nine people have died and 48 are missing after vessel carrying 87 people sinks off island of El HierroPatrol boats and helicopters were searching on Sunday for about 48 people missing after their migrant boat sank near the Spanish island of El Hierro in what could become the deadliest such incident in 30 years of crossings from Africa to the Canary Islands.Nine people, one of them a child, have been confirmed as dead after the vessel sank in the early hours of Saturday morning, emergency and rescue services said. Continue reading...

Contest ends on 2 November, meaning Rishi Sunak would respond to the budget then step down three days laterTwo Tory leadership candidates, Robert Jenrick and Tom Tugendhat, have publicly called for the party to cut short the contest, a move that is opposed by rival Kemi Badenoch.Senior Conservatives were reported to be in talks about bringing forward the announcement by a week, according to the Mail, but the party said on Sunday that there are currently no plans to change the date, despite calls from candidates. Continue reading...

Stand Up to Racism looking for relatives of people who were at Battle of Holbeck Moor, as blue plaque unveiledStand Up to Racism is searching for family members of the 30,000 people who stood up to Oswald Mosley in Leeds at the Battle of Holbeck Moor in 1936, as a blue plaque is unveiled in the city on Sunday.The event was one of the biggest anti-fascist demonstrations in UK history, occurring a week before the Battle of Cable Street in the East End of London. Continue reading...

Treasurer cites lower government spending as the key driver behind the $15.8bn surplus, which is $6bn better than May's forecast

More than 6,000 people do the Mori war dance at Eden Park rugby stadium in Auckland to break France's recordNew Zealand has reclaimed the world record for the largest mass haka after more than 6,000 people performed the Mori war dance, dethroning France.The record was broken in deafening fashion at Eden Park rugby stadium in Auckland, where thousands of men, women and children combined on the pitch to complete the traditional native challenge involving vigorous movements, stamping feet and rhythmic shouting. Continue reading...

Targeting of group's leaders has failed to win Israel significant strategic advantage in past, let alone deal fatal blow

City authorities take case to Lombardy regional court in effort to block initiative by Matteo SalviniMilan council has appealed against a grotesque" move to rename the city's main airport after the scandal-tainted late former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.The council approved a resolution to take the case to the Lombardy region's administrative court after the initiative to rename Malpensa was accelerated by Matteo Salvini, the transport minister in Giorgia Meloni's far-right government. Continue reading...

Five executions, five states: a glut of judicial killing not seen in 20 years took place last week - and there was nothing random about itThe death penalty is waning in America. Most states have abolished it or put it on pause, the annual crop of executions and new death sentences is in decline, and public opinion is turning steadily against the practice.So the battle to break America's primal adherence to a-life-for-a-life is prevailing. Continue reading...

Local Jewish and Palestinian groups are preparing to mark one year since the October 7 attacks

But the national carrier says contingencies are in place to prevent traveller chaos in capital cities on Monday morning

A surge in claims for pension credit will make thousands more people eligible for the payments and other benefitsRachel Reeves has been warned that her cut to pensioner winter fuel payments risks saving hundreds of millions less than anticipated, in a new blow to her attempts to close the hole in Britain's finances.The chancellor and her Treasury team are already re-examining parts of a plan to crack down on non-dom tax status over concerns that it may not raise any money. Continue reading...

Thanks to the city's famously rainy climate, trees suffering in the south can be moved, says the Royal Horticultural SocietyThe climate is changing British gardens everywhere. Well, almost everywhere. The Royal Horticultural Society has modelled how global heating will affect its property until 2075 and discovered that summers will be hotter and drier in all its gardens - except in Manchester.Greater Manchester's renown as a rain trap - there is even a website tracking rainfall, called Rainchester - means that the RHS Bridgewater garden in Salford is being earmarked for species that thrive in a cooler, wetter climate. Continue reading...

Economically illiterate' Defra letter sent to anti-sewage groups cites 2018 report commissioned by water companiesLabour used economically illiterate" analysis paid for by water companies in order to argue against the nationalisation of the sector, the Guardian can reveal.In an official letter recently sent to anti-sewage groups, civil servants cited a paper by the Social Market Foundation as a reason to avoid nationalisation as part of its review of the sector. The report from 2018 was commissioned by United Utilities, Anglian Water, Severn Trent and South West Water. Continue reading...

The state's shadow treasurer, David Janetzki, says general practitioners would be exempt from payroll tax with David Crisafulli as premier

Bridget McKenzie tells Insiders she is working on the opposition's transport policy ahead of the next federal election - including EV plans

It follows a weekend of wild weather in NSW, where SES responded to 270 calls including two adults and a baby stranded in flood waters near Tweed Heads

Officials expect death toll to rise as flood waters inundate Kathmandu after highest rainfall since 1970Flooding and landslides caused by continuous rainfall have killed at least 101 people in Nepal while 64 people are missing, officials have said.

Mechanical thrombectomy can save a patient from permanent disability or death, but its availability depends on where they liveMost stroke patients in England suitable for treatment that can save them from serious disability or even death cannot access it, new figures reveal.It is estimated that at least 10% of stroke patients can benefit from a treatment known as mechanical thrombectomy. Under the procedure, a wire and stent is manoeuvred towards the brain to pull out the clot blocking the blood flow. The treatment reduces the adverse effects of a stroke and in the best outcomes a patient could walk out of hospital the next day. Continue reading...

This blog is now closedNumerous reports have said that Hezbollah's long-time leader Hassan Nasrallah was the target of Israel's strikes on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Friday evening. There has been no official confirmation of whether Nasrallah was killed in the strikes or not.The Israeli Defense Forces said the military carried out a very accurate" strike on Hezbollah headquarters, but did not mention Nasrallah's name. Media outlets quoted Hezbollah sources as saying he was alive and well" but the Iran-backed militant group haven't yet made an official statement.The Syrian Arab republic strongly condemns all these continuous crimes, and renews its affirmation that the Israeli terrorist entity's insistence on shedding blood and committing all kinds of war crimes and crimes against humanity that are blasphemy, will lead the region to a dangerous acceleration that is impossible to predict its consequences. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Breaches linked to social engineering' rise by more than 440% after nine reported last year

Thousands of public transport users are having to rethink their schedules, commutes and lives as the Bankstown to Sydenham metro conversion begins

Rescue services say they saved 27 of the 84 people aboard the vessel believed to have come from MauritaniaNine people are confirmed drowned and at least 48 are missing after a boat carrying migrants capsized off Spain's Canary Islands overnight, rescue services said on Saturday, the latest in a series of such disasters off the west coast of Africa.Sea rescue teams said in a statement they had answered a distress call off El Hierro, one of the islands in the Atlantic archipelago, shortly after midnight. They managed to save 27 of the 84 people on board. Continue reading...

Residents of Lebanon's capital flee their homes and seek shelter as the death toll from Israel's airstrikes risesGunshots fired into the air, women wailing in the streets, the ever-present buzz of drones and the distant thud of Israeli airstrikes: this was the sound of mourning in Beirut on Saturday. Hassan Nasrallah, who led Hezbollah for 32 years, was dead, killed in an Israeli airstrike on Dahieh, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the day before.For many in Lebanon, his killing had been unimaginable. But Israel's war with Hezbollah had long surpassed what was previously thought possible. Pagers had exploded in hands, walkie-talkies blew up in belts and Israeli warplanes killed hundreds in half a day. The death of Nasrallah was one more blow to the Lebanese psyche, already struggling to grasp soaring death tolls and, for some, the loss of their home overnight. Continue reading...

Politician cites cruel and unnecessary policies' as she lambasts prime minister's managerial and technocratic approach'A Labour MP has resigned from the parliamentary party after criticising Keir Starmer's cruel and unnecessary" policies and lambasting the prime minister's managerial and technocratic approach" to politics.In a furious letter announcing her decision, Rosie Duffield, the Canterbury MP, said she felt relief in making the decision. She said the row over freebies handed to Starmer and his top team demonstrated that sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale". Continue reading...

Incident at London's National Gallery came just hours after other members of group jailed over similar protestThree protesters have been charged with criminal damage and will appear in court after soup was thrown at two Vincent van Gogh paintings on Friday.Just Stop Oil activists poured soup over two paintings in the National Gallery, London, just hours after other members of the group were jailed for damaging the gold frame of the artist's Sunflowers painting. Continue reading...

Residents from Michoacan to Oaxaca evacuate after storm ravages Pacific coastline, bringing floods and landslidesResidents in south-western Mexico on Saturday evacuated from homes flooded by the remnants of Hurricane John that ravaged the Pacific coastline for a week, bringing deadly floods and landslides that left 22 people reported dead.In Guerrero, the worst-hit state and one of Mexico's poorest, 18 people were killed, according to local media, many due to mudslides that crushed houses. To the south, local media reported three deaths in Oaxaca, and a young boy died in a river to the north in Michoacan state. Continue reading...

IDF says southern front commander Ali Karki and other senior leaders killed in bombing of Beirut headquarters, as fears grow of spiralling conflict

Former prime minister's claims about wanting to seize Covid vaccines being held in the EU may have been a joke'Senior Tories have cast doubt on Boris Johnson's claim that he seriously considered invading the Netherlands to seize vaccines during the pandemic, saying the story had obviously been overblown and re-heated to boost sales of his memoirs.The former prime minister says in his new book, Unleashed, that he asked senior members of the armed forces about the possibility of conducting an aquatic raid" on a warehouse in Leiden in March 2021 in order to get hold of 5m doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine which he believed the EU did not want to be exported to the UK. Continue reading...

Schools that are part of the Harris Federation accused of taking too long to help staff get UK teaching qualificationTeachers recruited from Jamaica to work for a major chain of academy schools in London have spoken of their devastation" on finding out that they are being paid thousands of pounds a year less than English-trained recruits with similar levels ofexperience.The Harris Federation, England's second largest academy chain, with 54 state-funded schools, has been recruiting from Jamaica in recent years, bringing teachers to the UK who are attracted by higher salaries than they can earn in the Caribbean. Continue reading...

Reports of dissenters working for 4 a day on onion plantation owned by Saxony state parliament AfD member Jorg DornauMidway through Nikolai's shift sorting onions alongside other political prisoners in a warehouse in western Belarus, a tall and bald foreigner entered the building.He arrived in a car with German license plates. Then he came over and greeted us warmly," Nikolai*, recalled in an interview with the Observer. Continue reading...

Former PM likens Keir Starmer to a bullock having a thermometer unexpectedly shoved in its rectum' in UnleashedPlanning military incursions into the Netherlands, likening himself to ancient Greeks and comparing Keir Starmer to castrated bulls: the serialisation of Boris Johnson's forthcoming memoir kicked off in characteristic fashion this weekend.Excerpts from Unleashed, which will be released on 10 October, have been published in the Daily Mail on Friday and Saturday, and the Mail on Sunday is due to reveal more. Continue reading...

Former PM says leadership candidates must understand that party lost election because it trashed our brand'The Conservatives failed to see the threat from the Liberal Democrats" while focusing too much on the rise of Nigel Farage's Reform UK, Theresa May has said.Writing in the Times on the eve of the party's annual conference in Birmingham, Lady May said the remaining candidates for the Tory leadership could play into Reform's hands" by failing to understand the reasons behind their electoral humiliation. Continue reading...

Once hailed as a philanthropic marvel, Fashion For Relief ran up hefty expenses and left charity partners angryFive years ago, a glitzy charity fundraising gala in the British Museum organised by the model Naomi Campbell was commonly accepted to be a triumph. It was the toast of London fashion week and a powerful showcase for Campbell's philanthropic mission to raise money for young people in poverty.Awash with celebrities (Naomie Harris, Pierce Brosnan, the rapper Skepta and Alexa Chung) and wealthy paying guests, it combined a catwalk show with a charity auction of art (drawings by Matisse, Dali and Tracey Emin, a signed Warhol print), jewellery and luxury watches. Continue reading...

PC Ross Benson accused of smacking the girl, who was known to him, multiple times in 2018A Metropolitan police officer has been sacked and banned from policing after allegedly spanking a 12-year-old girl's bare bottom.PC Ross Benson, of the North West Basic Command Unit, was accused of smacking the girl several times between April and August 2018 when she was aged 12 to 13, and there was an alleged sexual element to his behaviour. Continue reading...

Long-understood rules governing balance of deterrence between militant group and Israel have been blown away

Early years experts warn of lack of staff, playgrounds and toiletsPrimary schools may not have enough space, specialist facilities or staff to deliver the 100,000 new nursery places in England that the government has promised, early childhood experts have warned.Labour is under intense pressure to create enough places to fulfil its promise of 30 hours of free childcare a week for eligible parents of children from the age of nine months to three years from next September - a commitment inherited from the previous government. Continue reading...

Richard Fuller's pre-conference remarks echo others who worry candidates have edged right to combat ReformThe new Conservative leader must make sure the party focuses on its traditional base rather than just chasing voters who defected to the likes of Reform, its chair has said before the Tories' first conference since their crushing election defeat.Richard Fuller, the North Bedfordshire MP, who has served as interim chair since the election, will announce details of a review of the loss at the gathering in Birmingham, as well as structural changes to start modernising the party. Continue reading...

Magic Notes tool records and analyses face-to-face meetings and suggests follow-up actionsHundreds of social workers in England have begun using an artificial intelligence system that records conversations, drafts letters to doctors and proposes actions that human workers might not have considered.Councils in Swindon, Barnet and Kingston are among seven now using the AI tool that sits on social workers' phones to record and analyse face-to-face meetings. The Magic Notes AI tool writes almost instant summaries and suggests follow-up actions, including drafting letters to GPs. Two dozen more councils have or are piloting it. Continue reading...

Explosions have rocked Lebanese capital again, a day after massive Israeli strike apparently targeting Hassan NasrallahIsrael has launched another series of attacks on Beirut and Lebanon, a day after it carried out a massive strike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital in an apparent attempt to kill Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a key ally of Iran.Reuters witnesses heard more than 20 airstrikes before dawn on Saturday. Abandoning their homes in the southern suburbs, thousands of Lebanese congregated in squares, parks and sidewalks in downtown Beirut and seaside areas. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Our latest live coverage of the Middle East crisis is here

Exclusive: Calls for urgent reform after figures show almost half of donations since 2010 given in last two yearsMPs have declared more than 6m in freebies" since 2010 with the cash price of gifts given almost tripling over two years, analysis reveals, leading to calls for urgent reform.The value of gifts, benefits and hospitality" declared by MPs was 1.3m in 2023, analysis shows, up from 483,507 in 2021. And the amount of gifts increased to 768 from 337 during the same period. Continue reading...

There will be meet our candidates' Q&As, and fringe events - but limited self-reflection at the gathering in BirminghamThe first party conference after a defeat generally tends to be a cross between a wake, an inquest, and a beauty contest for those who believe they have the answers to what went wrong. The Conservatives' gathering in Birmingham is set to be no different - but with a particular emphasis on the third.So what is in store from Sunday for the embattled party faithful and remaining MPs, plus sections of the media and lobbying industry who decide it's worth going along for a look? Continue reading...

Australian broadcaster's Europe correspondent Kathryn Diss and camera operator Fletcher Yeung accused of illegally' crossing into Russia from Ukraine on 31 August

Kenneth Toll, a 62-year-old diabetic, was found dead in a private NSW hospital's bathroom three days after his operation