A volcano blasted ash two miles into the sky after erupting on Japan's southern island of Kyushu on Wednesday.

Plane’s owner said pilot had been involved in airspace infringements, Cardiff crown court hearsThe owner of a light plane that crashed into the sea, killing the professional footballer Emiliano Sala, had ordered the pilot not to fly the aircraft, a jury has been told.Fay Keely said she told the plane’s operator, David Henderson, that pilot David Ibbotson, who also died in the crash, should not fly the plane after she was notified of two airspace infringements he was involved in by the UK aviation regulator. Continue reading...

Villeneuve’s take on the sci-fi classic starring Timothée Chalamet, Oscar Isaac and Zendaya has been given room to breathe, creating a colossal spectacleIf there can ever be a moment of triumph for a director, when the anxiety of influence is vanquished – for a bit, anyway – then Denis Villeneuve might have achieved it. This eerily vast and awe-inspiring epic, a cathedral of interplanetary strangeness, is better than the attempt a generation ago by an acknowledged master.David Lynch’s Dune from 1984 was an interesting, rackety, flawed movie that attempted to cram the entirety of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel into its running time – the result was like Flash Gordon without the laughs. Villeneuve, with his co-writers Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth, has used less than half the book (with a second episode to come) and allowed it room to grow: to breathe and drift through unimaginably vast reaches of fictional galaxies, with images of architecturally enormous spacecraft moving into view, or delicately lowering themselves on to alien landscapes of parched and austere beauty, particularly the ravishingly pure desert landmass of “Dune”, the contested planet itself. Star Wars’ debt to Dune, and now Dune’s debt to Star Wars, has been extensively discussed (amusingly, Dune gives us moving holograms rather like the one in which Princess Leia first begged Obi-Wan Kenobi for help). But this blockpulverising film feels more like TE Lawrence’s imperious version of The Phantom Menace. This is how it ought to have been. Continue reading...

Animal charity says gangs shipping diseased dogs to UK mainlandNorthern Ireland has become a gateway for an “abhorrent” multimillion-pound illegal trade in puppies in Britain in what has been called the new drugs trade by animal welfare investigators.A BBC and Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals investigation found puppies were being bred in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and illegally moved across to Great Britain through Belfast port to cater for the rocketing demand for pets during the Covid lockdown. Continue reading...

Lawyers hail judgment as landmark case for English nationals injured or killed abroadA woman whose husband was killed in a car crash in Egypt during an excursion booked through the hotel they were staying in has won permission to sue the hotel in the English courts, in a judgment her lawyer says will have significant implications for other English nationals injured or killed abroad.Sir Ian Brownlie QC, a leading international lawyer, died aged 77 in 2010 in an accident in which his daughter from his first marriage, Rebecca, whose two young children were in the vehicle, was also killed. The driver was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Continue reading...

Analysis: 95-year-old monarch has been to Wales and Ascot in the last week and has key events coming upThe Queen’s 11th-hour cancellation for medical reasons of a long-planned visit to Northern Ireland comes at a busy period for the 95-year-old monarch, and is a decision that will not have been taken lightly.Much preparation goes into official visits. On this occasion the Queen was due to meet members of the community at Hillsborough and attend a service of reconciliation and hope at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, marking the centenary of partition and Northern Ireland’s foundation, alongside Boris Johnson. Continue reading...

Buckingham Palace says monarch has ‘reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for next few days’The Queen has cancelled a planned two-day visit to Northern Ireland after advice from her doctors that she should “rest for the next few days”.Buckingham Palace said in a statement: “The Queen has reluctantly accepted medical advice to rest for the next few days. Continue reading...

Nothing to indicate account given by girl’s parents anything other than ‘accurate and truthful’, inspector says

Former coronavirus success story announces month of restrictions including night-time curfew

One of the brightest talents in UK dance music is getting used to bigger stages, thanks to her infectiously fun tracks that draw deeply from black cultural historyNights out are a culmination of so many stimuli: pre-party rituals, journeys through the club and echoes of nightlife that linger into the next day. For Manchester producer and DJ Anz – AKA Anna-Marie Odubote – they are an experience she brings into her work. “I always listen to garage before I go out,” she says in a Mancunian bar, eyeing the entertaining mix of people leaving offices late or getting on the lash early to mark the end of another week. “I want to hear a drum workout at peak time. When they’re about to kick us out the club, I want something big, hands-in-the-air, like: oh my God, where are we going after?”This narrative arc is the inspiration for her new EP All Hours. Bookended by a bright piano intro signifying the waking morning, and a dreamlike synth outro designed to sooth you into sleep as the sun comes up and strangers have passed out on your sofa, each track corresponds to a time of day so listeners can “choose their own adventure” through 24 hours. Continue reading...

Police asked to give urgent update on inquiries into reports of women being drugged via drinks or needlesThe home secretary has requested an urgent update from police on investigations into a spate of reports of women having their drink spiked or being drugged by injection on nights out, the Guardian understands.Priti Patel’s intervention comes after police in Nottingham arrested a 20-year-old man as part of an investigation into spiking, following reports of women being injected with needles in the past fortnight. Continue reading...

A fiscal conservative in the job and a new era of debt limitation could spell disaster for EU countries

Extreme heat can kill or cause long-term health problems – but for many unendurable temperatures are the new normalThe impact of extreme heat on the human body is not unlike what happens when a car overheats. Failure starts in one or two systems, and eventually it takes over the whole engine until the car stops.That’s according to Mike McGeehin, environmental health epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “When the body can no longer cool itself it immediately impacts the circulatory system. The heart, the kidneys, and the body become more and more heated and eventually our cognitive abilities begin to desert us – and that’s when people begin fainting, eventually going into a coma and dying.” Continue reading...

Normally referrals to the privileges committee are waved through on the voices but on Wednesday afternoon Peter Dutton bowled up a rude shock

From a pottery paw print to a treasured tattoo, contributors share their ideas for keeping their pets’ memories aliveMr Horatio Parmouk, our beloved cat, turned up at my house as a stray and never left. He was a large, black tom cat with the sweetest disposition and was named partly after Nelson, partly after a character in Downton Abbey. Everyone loved him; he had his own Facebook page, wore various outfits in return for a cat biscuit or six and even starred in an advert for a hat company. Before he passed, we sponsored a seat at the London Coliseum in his name, so opera-goers can now sit in his seat. He was a real feline character. Cathy Peake, nurse manager, Barnet Continue reading...

French player accused of ‘complicity’ in alleged plot to extort money from former teammate Mathieu ValbuenaA trial is under way of the French international footballer Karim Benzema who is accused of involvement in an alleged attempt to blackmail a former teammate with a sex tape.The Real Madrid striker is accused of “complicity” in the alleged targeting of Mathieu Valbuena, who plays for the Greek Super League club Olympiacos. Investigators claim Benzema encouraged midfielder Valbuena, 37, to pay the blackmailers. Continue reading...

Since leaving Turkey in July, Little Amal, a 3.5-metre (11ft 5in) tall puppet of a nine-year-old Syrian girl, and her entourage of about 25 people have navigated Covid border restrictions to walk across Europe to the UK. Amal, whose name means hope in Arabic, was created by Handspring, the company that made the equine puppets in War Horse. The puppet represents the millions of children forced to leave their homes in desperate situations. The global pandemic has made them more vulnerable than ever Continue reading...

Nicola Brookes was groomed by a senior officer she trusted and she is not alone – 2,000 police officers have been accused of sexual misconduct in four years. In the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder, what can be done?Nicola Brookes was at the lowest point of her life when she turned to the police for help. By the time she met Inspector Anthony Lumb, she had suffered years of online abuse – including death threats, letters sent to her house and relentless trolling.Her problems began in November 2011, when she sent an innocuous message of support to an X Factor contestant on Facebook. The contestant was being trolled online and Brookes wrote: “Keep your friends and your family close. They’ll move on to someone else soon.” Within hours, she had received hundreds of abusive messages. Brookes was stunned – she was called an “insane old crone”, a “demented witch”. A cloned Facebook account was created in her name, suggesting she was a paedophile and a drug dealer. Her address was even published online. Then the campaign spread to multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts, blogs, online radio and video channels. Continue reading...

Kidnappings of 16 Americans and a Canadian in Port-au-Prince come as hundreds of local residents face similar targeting, with at least 628 abductions so far this yearFirel Joseph was driving through Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, one evening this year when he noticed a white Toyota Land Cruiser with official license plates trailing close to his rear bumper. Assuming the other driver wanted to overtake him, the 44-year-old development worker gave way. Then things took a hellish turn.The car skidded to a halt in front of Joseph, while another vehicle appeared behind, boxing him in. Six men, wearing flak jackets and armed with rifles, piled out of the Land Cruiser, moving with military discipline. Continue reading...

Inquest examined why killer was granted gun permits despite his history of domestic violence

Alexandre Moratto’s feature about workers lured into modern-day slavery in Brazil takes an unexpected turnYou would expect a film about human trafficking and modern-day slavery to be devastating, and this Brazilian drama duly horrifies. But it doesn’t evolve in quite the direction you might anticipate which, strictly from a film point of view, makes it much more interesting than your standard social realism. With a Brechtian approach that compels the viewer to question both their own ethical assumptions and tacit complicity in a worldwide consumerist culture that exploits people all over the planet, 7 Prisoners is deeply uncomfortable but utterly compelling viewing.The film reteams director Alexandre Moratto, making his second feature-length work after Sócrates in 2018 with young actor Christian Malheiros, who starred as the title character. This time Malheiros plays Mateus, a young man from Brazil’s deep inland farm country, who has accepted a job offer in São Paulo doing hard menial work, for significant enough money that it will make a real difference to his mother and siblings’ quality of life back home. But when Mateus and three other young men from the region arrive at the squalid junkyard where they will spend their days salvaging copper and scrap metal it soon becomes clear they’ve all been duped. First their passports are confiscated, and then absurd amounts for travel and accommodation expenses are deducted from the pay they were promised. Continue reading...

Move comes as former deputy premier John Barilaro labels as ‘rumour’ a suggestion he will join the prestigious racing regulator’s board

In her 50-year career, Baca has been a singer, ethnomusicologist and Peru’s minister of culture. As she releases her 16th album, she reveals why her work is as vital as it has ever beenSusana Baca has lived multiple lives in her 77 years. She is one of Peru’s most celebrated singers, and a champion of Afro-Peruvian music, amplified by a partnership with David Byrne’s Luaka Bop record label. She is trained as an ethnomusicologist and manages a cultural centre in Peru, and she was only the second Afro-Peruvian minister in the history of independent Peruvian government, serving as minister of culture in 2011.“It was not an easy path to achieve all that I have,” Baca says, speaking over video call. She is draped in a black shawl, speaking via an interpreter, from her home in Cañete. “My parents used to play music all the time when I was a child – my earliest memories are of my father singing and my mother dancing – but when I decided that I wanted to be a singer, my mother was horrified. We were very poor and all the musicians she had heard of had died from tuberculosis. It was an extreme life.” Continue reading...

Coffs Harbour cops a hammering as shopping centre ceiling collapses; Australia records its largest ever hailstone

Morrison government to announce more funding for global climate finance as Bridget McKenzie says Coalition adopting net zero without the Nationals ‘will be ugly’; Christian Porter will not be referred to privileges committee; Victoria records 1,841 local cases overnight, NSW 283 – 19 people have died with Covid across both states; Australia hits 70% vaccination target. Follow updates live

Gascón, who frequently clashed with Rodrigo Duterte over his ‘war on drugs’, has been hailed as a ‘true hero’ of democracyJosé Luis Martín C Gascón used a walking stick to carry out his duties as the Philippines’ “courageous” human rights lawyer, a result of living with with diabetes and the wound it left on his right foot.But in the words of his brother, Miguel Gascón, who confirmed his death on Facebook earlier this month, “of all the battles you fought, we had to lose you to Covid-19”. Continue reading...

From an early age, she encouraged me to be strong, physically and mentally. Those gifts helped me through the day we buried herMy mum was a PE teacher and coach. One of her early gifts was to help me feel like a physically capable female. For the couple of years before she died, my body had taken a battering, with illness and major surgery, then pregnancy and the aftermath, so I wasn’t feeling at all hale. Carrying a coffin is not something a woman necessarily plans to do – usually men perform this task; assumed to be stronger bearers. It’s a frightening, demanding duty.

Four hundred items of clothing and accessories which belonged to García Márquez and his wife, Mercedes Barcha, go on sale this Wednesday to raise funds for a charity helping children of indigenous communities in Mexico Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ipsa plans to reduce publication of claims for travel and venue hire after killing of David AmessThe UK’s parliamentary spending watchdog has begun redacting parts of MPs’ expenses to protect their safety since the killing of Sir David Amess.After the veteran MP was stabbed to death at a constituency surgery on Friday, some colleagues raised concerns with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) over the amount of information released about their claims for travel and venues hired for surgeries under transparency requirements. Continue reading...

Damning report highlights greater risk of EU worker exploitation and vulnerability of undocumented migrantsA damning new report on trafficking in the UK has warned that Brexit and the Home Office’s new plan for immigration are increasing the risks to trafficking victims.The report has also found links between terrorism and trafficking in cases involving families from the UK ending up with Islamic State in Syria and an increase in the recruitment of trafficking victims via social media. Continue reading...

The comic has come blazing out of lockdown fearless and on full throttle, buying a motorbike for her 50th birthday and turning the menopause – along with an incident in a park – into comedy gold‘I must tell you how old I’m going to be when I die,” says Bridget Christie, whipping out her phone to show me a small cartoon gravestone bearing the date of her demise. Fittingly, we’re sitting in a churchyard near her home in London, not far from some actual gravestones. According to the app, Christie, who recently turned 50, has 34 years left. As one of the many people who lost loved ones to Covid-19, death has been on her mind during the pandemic, and her thoughts on ageing have been exacerbated by the arrival of the menopause. In lockdown, preoccupied by the passage of time, she decided to look at the moon every night: “I thought about how many moons I’ve got left to see. I was like, ‘We’re not here for very long – what are you going to leave behind?’”Her thoughts coalesced into her BBC Radio 4 series Mortal, which tackled birth, life, death and the afterlife. Working with BBC Radio Theatre, where she’d previously recorded standup, she decided to try something different. Whispered monologues, surreal characters (Zeus, the Grim Reaper and dead Bridget among them) and real telephone conversations are stitched together into something quite intimate. Although she got their permission, she didn’t tell her dad, sister Eileen and friend Ashley exactly when she’d be recording their phone calls, lending a naturalness to the chats. Continue reading...

MPs propose raft of tough new measures aimed at getting more people to stop smoking

Workers, including teachers and supermarket staff, will need jab by end of year as premier Mark McGowan dashes hopes state will reopen for Christmas

A default by the property giant could have far-reaching consequences for China and the global economyThe rescue of embattled Chinese property company Evergrande appears to have stalled, leaving the developer on the brink of default and threatening to unleash contagion through the country’s giant real estate sector, home prices and the economy.The problems enveloping Evergrande, which has eyewatering total debts of $305bn, have hung over global financial markets in recent weeks and helped curb China’s post-pandemic recovery. Continue reading...

Key figures in Saudi Arabia and UAE accused of crimes against humanity include investors in BritainA group of human rights lawyers will on Wednesday file a legal complaint in the UK accusing key figures in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates of being involved in war crimes relating to the war in Yemen.They plan to submit a dossier to British police and prosecutors alleging that about 20 members of the political and military elite of the two Gulf nations are guilty of crimes against humanity, and call for their immediate arrest should they enter the UK. Continue reading...

A small number of people become severely unwell with Covid even if they are fully vaccinated, but the data suggests they mostly suffer from other conditions as wellOn Tuesday, there were 356 Covid-19 patients being treated in intensive care wards throughout Australia. Of those, 25 were fully vaccinated.While the data points to the extraordinary efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines in preventing people from becoming severely unwell, being hospitalised and dying, it does raise the question: why do a small number of people become seriously ill and, in rare cases, die, despite being fully vaccinated? Continue reading...

Hunt for person who asked to check on pet at home comes as Covid minister says daily case numbers could reach the ‘high hundreds’New Zealand officials are searching for a Covid-positive escapee, who allegedly absconded from quarantine after being allowed home to check in on a pet.The person had requested to return home to retrieve personal items, care for a pet and lock their house in south-east Auckland, said Rose King, joint head of managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ). “A security escort was set up to allow this to occur. They were given 10 minutes to do what they needed to. At the 10 minutes mark the security detail went to retrieve them and found the individual had disappeared from the address.” Continue reading...

UK reports further 223 deaths but UK government says no to plan B for now; US study shows success in preventing hospitalisation of 12- to 18-year-olds

Exclusive: Ali Harbi Ali received extensive support under government programme before case was closedThe suspect in the killing of the MP David Amess received extensive support under the government’s Channel counter-terrorism programme before his case was closed, the Guardian has learned.Ali Harbi Ali was first referred to Prevent, the early intervention scheme designed to turn people away from the risk of supporting violence, as a teenager in 2014. Continue reading...

Low Covid vaccination rates among Māori reflect practical barriers – but they also have good reason to distrust the governmentOne of my earliest memories is racing up a flight of hollow stairs in Kawerau’s town hall as Tiwi, my first friend, counts down from 20. “Ready or not, here I come” he roars from the stage. I slide through the doorway to the makeup room, carving a two-lane highway into the dusty floors. The lighted mirrors paint the room in yellow and gold. I wriggle my tiny body into one of the cubby holes for bags and belongings. The doorknob turns. The door creeps open. “Found me”, I yell at Tiwi. After a three-second delay he yells back “but where”, still searching behind the velvet curtains on stage.Dad’s boxing gym is hidden below that stage. The heavy bags, the leather pads, the medicine balls, and the sparring gloves wash the stage in the smell of rubber and sweat. Tiwi and I tutu (fidget) with the flood lighting most weeks, waiting for the boxers to finish their cardio session on stage and head for sparring and pad work downstairs. Dad screams at that perfect decibel level where the soundwaves crash against your ear but the background violence scrambles the electrical signal to your brain. Is he saying “right, left, right” or “left, right, left”? For most of Kawerau in the 1990s the town hall was a boxing gym with cosmetic facilities. For Tiwi and I, it was our playground. Continue reading...

Ismail Abedi had been ordered to attend hearing, as childhood friend arrested trying to leave countryThe older brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber has left the UK and there is no indication of whether he will return in time to give evidence this week to the public inquiry into the atrocity, it has emerged.The bomber’s childhood friend Ahmed Taghdi tried to leave the country on Monday as well but was arrested, the public inquiry was told on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Court hears David Henderson responded to news of crash by saying it ‘opens up a can of worms’A plane operator who organised the flight in which the footballer Emiliano Sala was killed knew the pilot was not qualified to fly at night and was not competent in bad weather, a jury has been told.The court heard that when David Henderson was told the plane piloted by David Ibbotson had crashed into the sea he messaged a friend: “Ibbo has crashed the Malibu and killed himself and VIP pax [passenger]! Bloody disaster. There will be an enquiry.” Continue reading...

‘If something doesn’t change, we are going to see single mums sleeping under bridges’, one lawyer says

Monarch ‘politely but firmly’ turns down title because she ‘does not believe she meets relevant criteria’The Queen has received many accolades over her 95 years, but one she is refusing to accept is the Oldie of the Year award, believing she does not meet the criteria and explaining that “you are as old as you feel”.She “politely but firmly” declined the award, which is given annually to celebrate the achievements of members of the older generations who have made a special contribution to public life, although she sent organisers her “warmest best wishes”. Continue reading...

Video appears to show piled-up furniture, dirty toilets and animal excrement as Covid pass becomes law

Canadian singer ‘heartbroken’ after being unable to rehearse for new concert residency in Las VegasCéline Dion has postponed the start of her latest Las Vegas concert residency after suffering what a statement describes as “severe and persistent muscle spasms”.The Canadian singer was due to begin the new concert series, an update of her ongoing residency entitled Céline, at the Resorts World Las Vegas venue next month, but she has been unable to rehearse due to the illness. The dates, from 5-20 November and 19 January to 5 February, are intended to be rescheduled. Continue reading...

Police investigating possible ‘crimes against republic’ as senate prepares to vote on transferring Miloš Zeman powersThe Czech Republic is facing a full-blown political crisis after the prime minister, Andrej Babiš, demanded the resignation of the chief aide to the country’s gravely ill president and police said they were investigating possible “criminal offences against the republic”.On Tuesday the senate’s constitutional committee voted unanimously in favour of suspending the powers of the president, Miloš Zeman. Continue reading...

Group threaten to kill themselves unless Spanish PM helps victims, but end protest after a few hoursSurvivors of a mass canola oil poisoning four decades ago occupied the Prado museum in Madrid for a few hours and threatened to kill themselves if the government did not respond to their demands.The Cadena SER news outlet published a photo showing five protesters, including one in a wheelchair, in front of the Diego Velázquez painting Las Meninas. Continue reading...

Dennis Hutchings was three days into hearing in Belfast for 1974 killing when he died from Covid on MondayThe lawyer of a terminally ill 80-year-old army veteran who died of Covid-19 three days into a trial over a fatal shooting during the Troubles in Northern Ireland has said the proceedings contributed to his death.Philip Barden, who acted for Dennis Hutchings, said he would be “alive today” had he not been compelled to go to Northern Ireland to stand trial over the killing of a 27-year-old man with learning difficulties in 1974. Continue reading...

Father says Alta ‘was our whole world’ after two-year-old girl taken off life supportA two-year-old girl whose parents fought a legal battle over her medical treatment has died after being taken off life support.Alta Fixsler, who suffered a serious brain injury at birth, died at a Manchester hospice with her parents at her bedside. Continue reading...