The Foreign Office initially told Ashoori’s family Middle East minister, James Cleverly, could meet themThe foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has agreed to meet the family of the British-Iranian dual national Anoosheh Ashoori who is being held in Evin prison in Tehran. They are calling on the Foreign Office to give him the same diplomatic protection as that granted to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.The move comes as Nazanin’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, enters the 11th day of a hunger strike outside the Foreign Office. He is pressing the UK government to pay the £400m debt it owes to Iran from a court case dating back to the 1970s. Iran has made it clear that although the debt is a standalone issue, its payment would help with the release of British-Iranian detainees. Continue reading...

Ofgem says latest collapses will leave about 24,000 households in need of a new supplierAnother four energy suppliers have gone bust in a single day as historic gas market highs continue to rip through the UK’s energy market amid fresh fears that Russia may curb gas supplies to Europe.The energy regulator, Ofgem, said the collapse of four small energy suppliers on Tuesday would leave about 24,000 households in need of a new supplier, and bring the total number of bust energy companies to 17 since the start of September, affecting more than 2 million households. Continue reading...

Trevor Smith, 52, died after being struck by bullet that ricocheted off bed frame, jurors toldA 52-year-old man was killed by a ricocheting police bullet when he refused to leave his room during an attempted arrest, an inquest has heard.Trevor Smith, a van driver who was suffering from mental health problems, was fatally shot when officers attempted to arrest him at his home in Lee Bank, Birmingham, in the early hours of 15 March 2019. Continue reading...

$2.2bn deal under threat after attorney general files antitrust suit claiming Penguin Random House would ‘exert outsized influence’The US justice department is suing to block a $2.2bn book publishing deal that would have reshaped the industry, saying consolidation would hurt authors and, ultimately, readers.The German media giant Bertelsmann’s Penguin Random House, already the largest American publisher, wants to buy New York-based Simon & Schuster, whose authors include Stephen King, Hillary Clinton and John Irving, from the TV and film company ViacomCBS. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Paris shelved plans to ban UK boats from French ports following last-ditch talks

PM urges citizens to arm themselves as US clears way for further economic sanctionsEthiopia has declared a state of emergency after forces from the northern region of Tigray said they were gaining territory and considering marching on the capital Addis Ababa.The declaration came as Joe Biden accused the government of “gross violations of internationally recognised human rights” and said he that he was removing Ethiopia from a key US trade program, clearing the way for further economic sanctions over its failure to end the nearly year-long conflict. Continue reading...

When Gadia Zrihan’s family were forced to leave their dog behind, they left a part of themselves too – a part they feared they could never get back. Lifestyle editor Alyx Gorman recommends this story about a heartwarming family reunion during uncertain times

Long after the toilet paper frenzies, there are still shortfalls of many goods. What’s behind it and which products are worst affected?

‘Mega-MPA’ in Pacific will link waters of Ecuador, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica to protect migratory turtles, whales and sharks from fishing fleetsFour Pacific-facing Latin American nations have committed to joining their marine reserves to form one interconnected area, creating one of the world’s richest pockets of ocean biodiversity.Panama, Ecuador, Colombia and Costa Rica announced on Tuesday the creation of the Eastern Tropical Pacific Marine Corridor (CMAR) initiative, which would both join and increase the size of their protected territorial waters to create a fishing-free corridor covering more than 500,000 sq km (200,000 sq miles) in one of the world’s most important migratory routes for sea turtles, whales, sharks and rays. Continue reading...

Dutch director David Verbeek’s stylish, Taipei-set horror-satire looks fabulous but is too soft on its wealthy charactersBlack Mirror meets Succession in this arthouse-y psychological vampire drama, the story of five super-rich millennials – the bored, entitled offspring of global billionaires – who become vampires. The satirical dig here, of course, is that they’re already soulless, uncaring bloodsuckers, even before waking up with actual fangs. But director David Verbeek’s script doesn’t quite wield the scalpel with enough sadistic glee. Instead, this film feels ever-so-slightly sluggish and dour in places.What Verbeek does brilliantly is to create an eerie parallel world of sterile luxury: glass-walled, penthouse restaurants and gleaming, first-class lounges. The film was shot in the Taiwanese capital Taipei, where the five old friends have jetted in. Money can buy whatever they want; but what this lot craves is new experiences. So they have formed an elite club, staging elaborate events and pranks for each other. For his turn Bin-Ray (Philip Juan) fakes his own death. Continue reading...

Demonstrations and candlelit vigil after woman, 30, dies of septic shock in 22nd week of pregnancyA Polish hospital has said that doctors and midwives did everything they could to save the lives of a pregnant woman and her foetus in a case that has put the spotlight on the country’s new stricter abortion law.The 30-year-old woman died of septic shock in her 22nd week of pregnancy. Doctors did not perform an abortion, even though her foetus was lacking amniotic fluid, according to a lawyer for the family. Continue reading...

At least 29 people killed on Sunday in rebel missile strike in escalating fight for control of MaribMore than 100 civilians in the Yemeni province of Marib have been killed or injured in the past month as fighting rages for the country’s last major government-loyal stronghold.Marib city has been under sustained attack since the beginning of the year from Houthi rebels, whose forces have steadily closed in on the central desert area on three different fronts. Continue reading...

From obesity to heart disease, there are many harmful effects of a lack of sleep. Now scientists are adding an unexpected one to the list: a wobbly gait

Ministry of Commerce website notice posted amid price rises and ongoing Covid outbreak

Israel’s Karine Elharrar could not attend summit on Monday due to lack of accessibilityAn Israeli government minister has received an apology from Boris Johnson and the organisers of Cop26 after she could not attend the summit on Monday due to a lack of wheelchair accessibility.Karine Elharrar, Israel’s minister of energy and water resources, described how she was denied entry to the summit because as a wheelchair user she was unable to access the Glasgow venue, criticising the refusal to accommodate her as “outrageous”. Continue reading...

Confidence shattered by ‘crude’ leak of president’s message to prime minister Scott Morrison, says adviserElysée officials have expressed fury at the decision of Australian prime minister, Scott Morrison, to leak a private text message from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, as the diplomatic rift between the two countries deepened.“Confidence has been completely shattered,” a close adviser to Macron told French media on Tuesday. “Disclosing a text message exchange between heads of state or government is a pretty crude and unconventional tactic.” Continue reading...

CBC investigation into Carrie Bourassa has drawn comparisons with case of Rachel Dolezal in USA Canadian official and academic specialising in Indigenous health issues has been placed on administrative leave from her university after an investigation challenged her claims of Indigenous ancestry.Carrie Bourassa, a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, has described herself as having Métis, Anishinaabe and Tlingit heritage. In 2019 she appeared at a TEDx talk wearing a blue embroidered shawl and holding a feather, where she identified herself as “Morning Star Bear”. Continue reading...

Scope of UN investigation constrained by Addis Ababa’s involvement, experts sayAn international human rights investigation into the brutal civil war in Ethiopia’s Tigray province will be published on Wednesday amid concerns that the scope of the UN inquiry has been constrained by both Addis Ababa and the ongoing conflict.Due to be released almost exactly a year after the conflict began, the joint UN Human Rights Office and government-created Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC), will nevertheless be the most authoritative overview of the war and its consequences. Continue reading...

The refugee camp became notorious in 2015, as 1 million people fled war and danger to come to Europe. Years after it was demolished, 2,000 migrants are still waiting there, at the centre of a political stormA small group of Ethiopian and Eritrean men stand shoeless and shivering in Calais. A few hours earlier, they almost drowned in the Channel, trying to cross to the UK. They got into difficulty when the motor on their boat failed. Their jeans are stiff and sodden with sand and seawater.“We called the French coastguard to rescue us but they told us to call the English coastguard,” says one man. “Eventually, the French rescued us and brought us back to Calais.Migrants and police at the ‘Old Lidl’ site in Calais. The police clear the site regularly, evicting anyone living there and seizing remaining belongings. Continue reading...

Yellow, blue and red spiders, native to east Asia, thriving in warm weather and sending experts scramblingNorthern Georgia has found itself besieged by millions of large yellow, blue and red spiders, in scenes residents say bring to mind the movie Arachnophobia.The Joro spider is an invasive species, native to east Asia, that was first spotted in Georgia in 2014. Since then, the 3in arachnid appears to have thrived in the warm climes of the state. Continue reading...

The Guardian's Richard Sprenger steps inside a farm, an abattoir and a knackers yard to see how the industry deals with dead and dying animals, and what that says about our own humanity. The welfare of farm animals is well regulated in the UK, but in many cases these animals still suffer traumatic, messy deaths through sickness, injury or the lengthy process that leads to the abattoir. It’s an area of farming that we rarely think about, let alone see – but the safe disposal of carcasses takes many forms

Suspect held after woman discovered dead in village four days after her weddingPolice are continuing to question a 45-year-old man after the body of a woman was found dumped in a suitcase four days after her wedding.The woman, named locally as Dawn Walker, was found dead in the village of Lightcliffe, three miles east of Halifax, West Yorkshire, on Sunday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: high representative says threat by Serb separatists to create their own army risks return of conflictThe international community’s chief representative in Bosnia has warned that the country is in imminent danger of breaking apart, and there is a “very real” prospect of a return to conflict.In a report to the UN seen by the Guardian, Christian Schmidt, the high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that if Serb separatists carry out their threat to recreate their own army, splitting the national armed forces in two, more international peacekeepers would have to be sent back in to stop the slide towards a new war. Continue reading...

Delphi, an online AI bot, promises to answer any moral question users pose. We put it to the testCorporal punishment, wearing fur, pineapple on pizza – moral dilemmas, are by their very nature, hard to solve. That’s why the same ethical questions are constantly resurfaced in TV, films and literature.But what if AI could take away the brain work and answer ethical quandaries for us? Ask Delphi is a bot that’s been fed more than 1.7m examples of people’s ethical judgments on everyday questions and scenarios. If you pose an ethical quandary, it will tell you whether something is right, wrong, or indefensible. Continue reading...

Officers also sifting through garbage collected from roadside bins near where four-year-old went missing

Exclusive: Boost for attempts to focus Glasgow Cop26 summit on limiting temperature riseThe US has rejoined the High Ambition Coalition at the UN climate talks, the group of developed and developing countries that ensured the 1.5C goal was a key plank of the Paris agreement.The decision by the world’s biggest economy and second biggest emitter, after China, to return to the High Ambition Coalition group of countries marks a significant boost to attempts to focus the Cop26 summit on limiting temperature rises to 1.5C, the tougher of the two goals of the Paris agreement. Continue reading...

The New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, abruptly halted a media conference after being heckled by at least two people who appeared to be anti-vaxxers. One man claiming to be a journalist continued interrupting, asking Ardern: 'Why is the vaccine not working in Israel? And you are still pushing it.' Ardern replied: 'Sir, I will shut down the press conference if this continues.'For context, Israel is recording a seven-day average of about 600 new daily cases, compared with a peak of about 11,000 daily infections in September. No vaccine on the market claims to be 100% effective at preventing transmission

His most famous satires are often seen as part Shakespeare comedy, part Carry On film. But Tate Britain’s Hogarth and Europe exhibition shows the artist was no Little EnglanderIn one of his most celebrated paintings, O the Roast Beef of Old England, William Hogarth appears as himself, sketching the fortifications at Calais at the very moment of being mistakenly arrested as a spy in 1748. It is not what you would call a subtle scene. The raggedy French soldiers are on their last legs, barely sustained by watery soup, while a gaggle of fishwives resemble the flounder they are selling from their tatty basket. There’s a fat, greedy friar trying to get his hands on a sumptuous joint of beef which has just been unloaded and is on its way to one of the many English restaurants that thrive in Calais (only 200 years earlier the town had belonged to Britain). Spying, by implication, is not something that Britons resort to, although the figure of Hogarth busily sketching to one side is a warning not to dismiss John Bull as dense. The “Old England” Hogarth conjures up here is affluent, abundant and free. The French, meanwhile, are reduced to a series of humiliating stereotypes: silly, salacious and in thrall to the absolutist Roman Catholic church (you can just make out some gorgeously attired priests and abasing peasants in the background).It is easy to see why Hogarth is so often positioned as the founding father of a particular strand of art which is essentially British: figurative, storytelling and not afraid to poke fun at itself. His most famous social satires including A Rake’s Progress and Marriage A-la-Mode are often read as a cross between a Shakespearean comedy and a Carry On film, with more disguises, reversals of fortune, libidinous ladies and drunken lads than you can shake a bottle of gin at. Continue reading...

I lost my virginity to someone whose sexual needs far exceeded mine. Years later, I still hunger for a trusting relationship, but am haunted by the pain of that initial experienceI am a man in my 30s and have recently admitted to myself that I cannot form an intimate sexual relationship. I am not, and never have been, interested in sex for its own sake; I want trust and intimacy even more than sex, although I hunger for both together.I have been close with potential partners many times, but each time I get to the point where the other person wants to progress to sex, I freeze and cannot carry on, until one of us breaks it off. I then hate myself for not following through yet again.Pamela Stephenson Connolly is a US-based psychotherapist who specialises in treating sexual disorders.If you would like advice from Pamela on sexual matters, send us a brief description of your concerns to private.lives@theguardian.com (please don’t send attachments). Each week, Pamela chooses one problem to answer, which will be published online. She regrets that she cannot enter into personal correspondence. Submissions are subject to our terms and conditions: see gu.com/letters-terms.Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topics raised by the writer. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site. Continue reading...

Release of message from French president described as ‘highly unconventional behaviour between state leaders’

At the heart of the row is the Brexit deal’s failure to spell out what proof French fishers need to get a permitBritain and France have been at loggerheads over post-Brexit fishing licences for UK waters since the start of the year. Talks are continuing but both sides have threatened action – and mistranslations have not helped. Continue reading...

The futuristic Ravi Riverfront City development, championed by Imran Khan’s government, has been met with determined oppositionIt has been called Pakistan’s answer to Dubai, a brand new multitrillion-rupee development of towering skyscrapers, futuristic domes and floating walkways.But Ravi Riverfront City, described as the “world’s largest riverfront modern city” also faces accusations of rampant land grabs by prime minister Imran Khan’s government, which has championed the project. Hundreds of thousands of farmers who could never afford to live in the modern urban utopia are now at risk of eviction. Continue reading...

From extreme weather obliterating homes to rising sea levels ruining crops, climate breakdown is a terrifying daily reality for manyThroughout the 2021 United Nations climate change conference, the Guardian will be publishing the stories of the people whose lives have been upended – sometimes devastated – by the climate breakdown. Continue reading...

With her images of models on the streets of Paris and refugees fleeing the Algerian war of independence, the 96-year-old blazed a trail for female photographers Continue reading...

Peers question home secretary’s basis for saying 70% of people on small boats are ‘economic migrants’There are calls for Priti Patel to withdraw or justify claims she made before parliament that most people who travel to the UK in small boats are not genuine asylum seekers.Two Labour peers, David Blunkett and Shami Chakrabarti, have also questioned whether the home secretary has evidence that backs her claim that “70% of individuals on small boats are single men who are effectively economic migrants”. Continue reading...

Listening to the women who alleged abuse, and fighting to get their stories heard, helped change the treatment of victims by the media and the justice system

The singer died at 33 of cancer before the world got to hear her sing. Those who knew and worked with her look back on an unusual talentOn a late May day in 1996, the singer Eva Cassidy and her bandmate Chris Biondo drove to a remote factory in rural Virginia to collect copies of the recording that turned out to be the last she would ever make. “We picked up a total of about 1,100 cassettes and CDs,” Biondo recalled. “When we got in the car, Eva cracked open a box and started getting very worried. She felt she wasn’t going to be able to sell them all. I’ll never forget her comment: ‘When I’m dead and they find me, there’s going to be boxes of these in my basement,’ she said. Her expectations for the record could not have been more minimal.”After all, Cassidy had been performing for nearly a decade by then in relative obscurity and, while she had a number of meetings with record company executives in that time, they never went beyond the talking stage. Worse, by the summer of 96, the 33-year-old was facing something dire. Over the course of the next few months, she would receive increasingly grim diagnoses of a cancer that had already begun to make quickening race through her body, robbing her of any chance of making a mark during her time on earth. Given that, who could have foreseen that Cassidy’s music would one day generate a sustained catalogue that would sell in the multi-millions, creating chart hits all over the world? “At the time, we just hoped to make enough money to buy a PA system,” Biondo said. Continue reading...

Rescue workers retrieve at least three survivors from rubble of luxury apartments under constructionAt least six people have died after a luxury residential high-rise under construction in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, collapsed, trapping construction workers under a pile of concrete rubble, the state emergency services chief said.The official, Olufemi Oke-Osanyintolu, said a search and rescue effort had been launched for survivors late on Monday. Continue reading...

The company, which created an app that is now used in more than 180 countries, wanted to thank its 53 employees for helping it growAn education app founded by a group of university students nine years ago has surprised its 53 employees with a NZ$10,000 bonus, after being named the fastest growing company in New Zealand.Kami, meaning paper in Japanese, is a digital classroom platform and app, which allows teachers and students to interact with, and collaborate on, documents and learning resources, either within the classroom or remotely. Continue reading...

Joe Exotic’s nemesis accuses streaming giant of breach of contract for using footage of her and husband in trailer for second seriesJoe Exotic’s nemesis Carole Baskin may throw the second series of the hit Tiger King Netflix documentary into disarray after taking legal action in Tampa, Florida.The founder of Big Cat Rescue and her husband, Howard Baskin, have accused Royal Goode Productions and Netflix of breach of contract by using footage of the couple in the trailer of Tiger King 2. Continue reading...

NSW senator disclosed the work on her register of interests through a trust assisting ‘charitable organisations’

A more truthful understanding of history is largely dependent on education. A lot is riding on the success of this new curriculumAotearoa New Zealand has come a long way in the past few years in its efforts to engage with its history in a more upfront and honest manner. For those of us who have campaigned for such a change, this is not before time.This newfound willingness to move beyond a rose-tinted approach to the nation’s past in which anything uncomfortable or considered to reflect poorly on the Pākehā (European) majority is shunned and ignored has taken considerable effort and is still very much a work in progress. Continue reading...

A residential high-rise building under construction in Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos collapsed, trapping up to 100 workers under a pile of concrete rubble. The building was in the affluent neighbourhood of Ikoyi, where many blocks of flats are under construction. Building collapses are frequent in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, where regulations are poorly enforced and construction materials often substandard.

US, Brazil, India, Mexico and UK account for over half of deaths in Johns Hopkins University tally

A fiery war of words has erupted between the French president and Australian prime minister over submarines. So how did it come to this?

Kendall serves up more unconvincing psychobabble and rage-fuelled stunts, leading to all-out war with a humiliated Shiv. What a cracking episodeSpoiler alert: this recap is for people watching Succession season three, which airs on HBO in the US and Sky Atlantic in the UK. Do not read on unless you have watched episode three.A large bowl of snake linguine with a side order of sibling betrayal? Don’t mind if we do. Here’s your guide to the eventful third episode, titled The Disruption … Continue reading...

UK was braced for immediate measures but French president says ‘talks need to continue’France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has shelved his threat to clog up UK exports and ban its fishers from landing catches at French ports from midnight in a dispute over access to British fishing waters, as his deadline approached.Discussions resumed after a proposal was put forward by Macron’s government late on Monday. Downing Street had previously said it was bracing for Paris to deliver on its vow to retaliate over the issue of fishing permits. Continue reading...

Money will be directed to projects in Pacific and south-east Asia, Australia’s PM saysThe Morrison government has unveiled an additional $500m for international climate finance on the first day of the Cop26 summit in Glasgow.But Australia’s prime minister says the funding will be directed to projects in the Indo-Pacific rather than distributed through the green climate fund. Continue reading...

David Fuller, 67, sexually abused dead women in hospitals where he worked, trial hearsA man who sexually assaulted two women after killing them performed similar sex acts on bodies at two hospital mortuaries, a court has heard.David Fuller, 67, is on trial for the murder of Wendy Knell, 25, and Caroline Pierce, 20, in two separate attacks in Tunbridge Wells, Kent in 1987. He initially denied killing the women but changed his plea to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility after learning of DNA evidence, Maidstone crown court heard on Monday. Continue reading...