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MP Nigel Adams, who spelt out the cuts, says it is wrong to say council can only make impact with offices in-country

Pubs, restaurants and retailers face significant legal and logistical questions about how they will manage their new anti-Covid obligations

Russian president and Belarusian leader negotiate over greater union of countries’ economies and policiesVladimir Putin is meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko in the Kremlin on Thursday as the two discuss negotiations to integrate their countries’ economies and government policies before massive joint military exercises.Ahead of the talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said that no documents were expected to be signed, signalling that the isolated Lukashenko continues to resist pressure from Moscow to concede control over government policy in exchange for Russian support. Continue reading...

Study suggests a worst-case scenario where 97% of Afghans would sink below poverty line by 2022Afghanistan’s population of 38 million people risks being plunged into near-universal poverty faced with a “catastrophic deterioration” of the country’s heavily aid-dependent economy, according to a warning issued by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).The study, which examines a series of scenarios facing the already impoverished country under the Taliban’s new hardline rule, suggests a worst-case scenario where as many as 97% of Afghans would sink below the poverty line by next year – a staggering increase of 25%. Continue reading...

Macklowe collection includes works by artists including Picasso, Rothko and GiacomettiIt is a collection that has attained almost mythical status in the art world, one that contains spectacular works by Picasso, Rothko, Warhol and a nightmarish Giacometti sculpture of a Pinocchio-like nose in a cage.After a US judge ordered its sale to help settle a billionaire couple’s acrimonious divorce there has been a string of rumours and stories about who would sell the collection and when. Continue reading...

Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said Rebel News needed to take responsibility for polarising opinion across the country about coronavirus vaccines.After the official French-language federal leaders' election debate, Trudeau was questioned by a member of Rebel News, which counts Katie Hopkins and Tommy Robinson among its contributors, about Canada's rules that exclude some from election press conferences.'I salute all extraordinary hard-working journalists who put science and facts at the heart of what they do and ask me tough questions every day, but make sure that they are educating and informing Canadians from a broad range of perspectives – which is the last thing that you guys do,' he responded. Continue reading...

Canadian PM’s response to Rebel Media goes viral after court victory allows them to attend election debateCanada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has slammed a far-right website in the final days of the country’s federal election, accusing it of spreading misinformation about coronavirus vaccines and contributing to the growing number of protests across the country.After Wednesday night’s French language debate between federal leaders, Trudeau was asked by a member of Rebel Media – a website whose contributors include Katie Hopkins and Tommy Robinson – if he would continue to exclude the group from covering the election. Continue reading...

Churchill’s grandson oversaw change that had almost no complaints until Daily Mail and Sun coverageThe Churchill Fellowship has rejected allegations by Boris Johnson that it has airbrushed out images of Britain’s wartime prime minister from its website in an attempt to rewrite history, saying its was proud of its association with the wartime prime minister.Several newspapers have carried reports suggesting that the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, a charitable foundation that funds UK citizens to study abroad, had changed its name and removed pictures of Churchill in an attempt to “woke-wash” his memory. Continue reading...

Aaliyah, 15, had been missing since leaving family home in Sidcup, south London, on Sunday eveningPolice searching for missing teenager Aaliyah Chen have found her in a south London nature reserve, her family have said.Aaliyah, 15, sneaked out of a window of her family home in Sidcup, south London, on Sunday evening and had been missing since. Continue reading...

Jordanian intelligence officer tells Guardian Lafarge factory was used by intelligence agencies to gather information on IS hostagesA cement plant in Syria at the centre of a terror financing investigation in France was used by western intelligence agencies to gather information on hostages held by Islamic State, sources connected to the operation have said.A Jordanian intelligence officer who was central to the spying effort has confirmed to the Guardian that the Lafarge factory, which continued operating after the terrorist group overran eastern Syria, in one of the most controversial episodes of the war, was the regional hub of a failed effort to rescue up to 30 hostages. Those IS held included the American journalist James Foley, British photographer John Cantlie and Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh, two of whom were later confirmed to have been killed. Continue reading...

Threats force several scholars to withdraw as ‘far-right fringe groups’ accuse event of being ‘anti-Hindu’An academic conference in the US addressing Hindu nationalism is being targeted by rightwing Hindu groups, which have sent death threats to participants and forced several scholars to withdraw.The conference, titled Dismantling Global Hindutva, which is co-sponsored by more than 53 universities including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Columbia, Berkeley, the University of Chicago, the University of Pennsylvania, and Rutgers, has come under attack after several groups in India and the US accused the event of being “anti-Hindu”. Continue reading...

Volunteers ‘operating blind’ about refugees’ needs, while hotels left with no staff to distribute aidThe government’s response towards families evacuated from Afghanistan to Britain has been “chaotic and uncoordinated”, hampering volunteers’ efforts to help, charities have said.One hotel where 50 babies were in quarantine with their families after fleeing the Taliban had no formula milk, they said. In other hotels, supplies of clothes, toiletries and nappies donated by the public were turned away by managers who had no staff to distribute them. Continue reading...

Is the $450m Salvator Mundi a fake? This film – featuring tearful sycophants, sneering experts, dodgy dealers and a secretive superyacht – may finally settle the great da Vinci controversyIt is almost exactly 10 years since Salvator Mundi was unveiled, this “lost Leonardo” instantly triggering astonishment around the world. Since those giddy days, the work has had a turbulent time. As well as becoming the most expensive painting in history, going for $450m (£326m) at auction, Salvator Mundi was denounced by many as a fake and subsequently vanished from view. The painting is now the subject of The Lost Leonardo, a documentary by Andreas Koefoed that opens in cinemas this week.“I would be surprised,” says Luke Syson, “if I went to see this documentary.” Syson is the curator who, back in 2011, first displayed The Saviour of the World, as its title translates, at the National Gallery’s Leonardo da Vinci blockbuster. Syson is probably making a wise choice. He’s in the film and the way he clams up mid-interview makes him look like the archetypal embarrassed expert caught out on screen. Continue reading...

Former UK prime minister urges rich nations to transfer unused supplies to countries in desperate need

Two-hour siege in which staff hid in safe room ends with officers leading away man in his 50s dressed in blackA man in his 50s has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after staff were taken hostage at knifepoint at a petrol station in Bristol.The man, dressed entirely in black, was seen being led away in handcuffs by officers after a two-hour siege within the Esso station on Hengrove Way in the south of the city. Continue reading...

Some people cannot prove they are in the country legally because of glitch in digital residency permitsEU nationals living in the UK who apply to change their status risk being rejected by landlords, employers and mortgage lenders because of an anomaly on the digital residency permits issued by the government.Before they can access public or financial services, EU nationals have to prove that they have been granted either settled or pre-settled status by the Home Office. Continue reading...

Ahead of the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark hitting cinemas, here are 30 organised crime flicks you must see before you sleep with the fishesOur criteria here is films featuring actual mobsters and the organised crime milieu – as opposed to hitmen, heists or bank robbers. Stefano Sollima’s punchy neo-noir, set in 2011, fits the bill with its imbroglio of crime families, political corruption and Rome real estate. Financed by Netflix, this is essentially a feature-length pilot for the addictive Suburra: Blood on Rome prequel series. Continue reading...

The Russian star brings his take on Bach’s Goldberg Variations to the Proms, having recently torn the piece apart with choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker. He explains his new, ‘tree-like’ twist“Like climbing an infinite stairway, one step at a time.” That is how Pavel Kolesnikov describes working on JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations, one of the outstanding releases of last year. On Friday 10 September, he will perform them at the penultimate night of the Proms.“I’ve never had the chance to dedicate so much quality time to a piece before,” he says when we meet in a tiny cafe in central London. The city has been home since the Siberia-born Kolesnikov, now in his early 30s, came to study at the Royal College of Music. He had grown up listening to recordings of the Goldbergs by Glenn Gould and Rosalyn Tureck, but had never considered performing them himself – “I did not feel I had anything to add”. Continue reading...

Civil defence units and health personnel wearing gas masks and hazmat suits featured in celebrations in Pyongyang to mark the 73rd anniversary of North Korea’s founding, in a departure from previous militaristic displays Continue reading...

Peter Dutton meets with Jakarta counterpart, who says the two countries ‘would like to be even closer friends’

Fast-track scheme is aimed at those whose jobs put them at risk in pandemic

Justices decision to decriminalise abortion was based on human rights arguments and will mean fewer criminal investigationsActivists in Mexico have hailed a supreme court decision to decriminalize abortion, saying it would stop the legal prosecution of women who terminate their pregnancies – and those reported to the authorities after suffering miscarriages.The decision, handed down unanimously on Tuesday, declared that criminal sanctions for abortion in the northern state of Coahuila were unconstitutional. The decision sets precedent, according to lawyers involved in abortion cases, and will be applicable across the country. Continue reading...

Fourteen questions on general knowledge and topical trivia plus a few jokes every Thursday – how will you fare?The quiz master is away, but do not fret. Before he left, a cache of documents written in invisible ink were entrusted to a secret operative in the Guardian offices, containing 14 questions on topical trivia and general knowledge. As usual, there’s a hidden Doctor Who reference to spot, a picture of our beloved Kate Bush, and one round that has anagrams in it just to be annoying. Have fun. There are no prizes, but let us know how you get on in the comments.The Thursday quiz, No 20 Continue reading...

Clare Dunne stars in and writes this self-empowering story of a battered Dublin cleaner who builds her own house, directed by The Iron Lady’s Phyllida LloydClare Dunne is the young Irish stage and screen performer who takes a commanding role in this heartfelt and engrossing personal movie: she is the star and co-writer with Malcolm Campbell (who scripted Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did). The director is Phyllida Lloyd, known for mainstream films like Mamma Mia! and The Iron Lady, and she shows a confident touch with both the subdued moments, the intestine-clenching spasms of domestic abuse and the big C-major chords of emotional uplift. It’s a really unexpected drama: unexpected for a heartwarmer, unexpected for a tough social-realist picture, these being the two genres in which it finds a Venn overlap.Sandra (Dunne) is a young woman in Dublin who has had to separate from her toxic and violently abusive husband Gary (scarily portrayed by Ian Lloyd Anderson), taking her two young daughters with her, taking cleaning jobs and living in state-funded hotel accommodation near the airport where she is humiliatingly told to come in through the service door at the back so her evident distress and poverty won’t upset the well-heeled customers. The hatchet-faced concierge icily reminds her of this arrangement whenever she cowers past the sleek flight attendants and pilots in their uniforms who are overnighting there. Here is how Sandra gets her nose rubbed in the glamorous world of international travel, a brutal reminder of how she is imprisoned at home – and doesn’t even actually have a home. Continue reading...

Justin Welby says favouring wealthy pensioners over young and poor not a ‘people-centred policy’Boris Johnson’s plan to increase national insurance contributions to raise £12bn for the NHS and social care could pose a “serious problem” for low-income workers, the archbishop of Canterbury has said.Justin Welby said privileging wealthy pensioners over the poorest young people was “not a people-centred policy”, as he stressed the need for “intergenerational equity”. Continue reading...

Supermarket ‘closely reviewing’ report that found the certification system failed to prevent a mass fish kill in TasmaniaSupermarket giant Woolworths says it is concerned by claims an environmental certification scheme used to assess the Tasmanian salmon it sells may not be “fit for purpose”.The comments were in response to an independent report commissioned by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) that found an Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) certification system had failed to prevent a mass fish kill in Macquarie Harbour, on the state’s west coast, in 2018 because it was not designed to identify and address potential threats before they occurred. Continue reading...

Move aims to tackle decline in use of contraception ‘because it costs too much’, says health minsterYoung French women will be offered free contraception from next year, the health minister has announced.Olivier Véran said those under 25 would not be charged for medical appointments, tests, or other medical procedures related to birth control. Continue reading...

Prime minister says Pfizer’s ‘focus was not on Australia’ in mid-2020; NSW freedoms come into effect the Monday after 70% over-16 vaccination is achieved; state confirms five more deaths; new case in Qld quarantine; 107 of Victoria’s new cases linked to known outbreaks – follow the latest updates live

In Rajasthan a project developing self-esteem and skills is getting people off the streets and into workPandit Tulsidas, 52, was resting under a tree by a road junction in Jaipur, Rajasthan, where he had begged for years.When an official approached him about a government scheme that would teach him job skills, he rejected the offer. When the man said his meals would be looked after and he would have a room to share with only one other person, he refused again. Continue reading...

Crackdown follows arrest of four members of civil society group that ran June 4th MuseumHong Kong authorities have raided the city’s Tiananmen massacre museum a day after arresting four members of the civil society group that ran it.The raid is the latest act by police in a sweeping crackdown on dissent and civil society groups that do not toe a pro-Beijing line, and came on the same day 12 activists pleaded guilty over a banned Tiananmen vigil last year. Continue reading...

New Zealand prime minister’s face shows full range of emotions after being asked about Auckland patient’s liaison that health chief called a ‘high-risk activity’

At Thursday's daily Covid-19 briefing, the typically unflappable prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, could barely contain her expression when asked to respond to an allegation that a visitor and a patient had sex in a shared room at Auckland hospital. The allegation comes as the Auckland District Health Board faces criticism for allowing hundreds of visitors a day into hospitals, despite the strict lockdown measures in place to help the country stamp out an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant.

Thursday: Wilcannia residents have been targeted by a someone offering to treat locals with an unproven drug for Covid. Plus: the funniest things on the internetGood morning. NSW is due to reveal its roadmap out of Covid today, which is expected to hinge on the state’s vaccination rates. The UK has been criticised for reportedly dropping Paris climate goals in its trade deal with Australia. And the US walks a delicate line trying to seek a consensus position for negotiations with the Taliban.The NSW government will reveal its roadmap to economic recovery on Thursday at the 11am press conference. It is understood premier Gladys Berejiklian will unveil the plan, which will involve a cautious reopening of restaurants, cafes, pubs and clubs for fully vaccinated patrons. It is expected that citizens will be allowed to attend pubs and clubs, get their hair cut and sit in cafes once the state reaches 70% double vaccination rates – most likely by 18 October.

Rallies in Afghanistan have already been broken up violently, now ‘severe consequences’ are threatened for demonstratorsThe Taliban has moved to tighten its crackdown on escalating protests against its rule, banning any demonstrations that do not have official approval for both the gathering itself and for any slogans that might be used.In the first decree issued by the hardline Islamist group’s new interior ministry, which is led by Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is wanted by the United States on terrorism charges, the Taliban warned opponents that they must secure permission before any protests or face “severe legal consequences’”. Continue reading...

Judge rules against governor while appeals court decides whether ban on public schools mandating masks is ultimately legalA Florida judge ruled on Wednesday that the state cannot enforce a ban on public schools mandating the use of masks against the coronavirus while an appeals court sorts out whether the ban is ultimately legal.Related: Three Vermont state troopers accused of creating fake Covid-19 vaccination cards Continue reading...

People under 20 who used vapes were found to be more than three times as likely to have ever smoked tobacco cigarettes

The far-right president has never hidden his admiration for dictatorship. There are growing fears he will not accept defeat in next year’s electionThough Jair Bolsonaro’s opponents warned of the dangers, most voters in the world’s fourth largest democracy were willing to elect a declared admirer of dictatorship. Many are now having second thoughts. The president’s popularity has plummeted, with almost two-thirds of Brazilians now rejecting him. Even those unfazed by the relentlessness of his aggressive ultra-conservatism have balked at a supreme court investigation into his own conduct and corruption allegations surrounding his allies and family, surging inflation and unemployment, and above all his decision to let Covid run rampant, killing more than 580,000 Brazilians.But those who backed him are getting what they voted for: a man with unabashed disdain for democracy and admiration for force. On current polling, the popular though polarising former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would beat him easily in 2022’s election. Mr Bolsonaro is acting accordingly. The president has already sought to cast doubt on electronic voting, and limited the power of tech companies to remove content – making it harder to tackle disinformation. On Tuesday, he unleashed rallies in the country’s biggest cities, Rio de Janeiro, Brasília and São Paulo. Though not quite on the scale he hoped for, the crowds were still sufficiently large and fervid to send his message. If the supreme court does not shift its course, “it may suffer that which we don’t want”, Mr Bolsonaro warned. Diehard supporters had a less euphemistic version of how to handle his opponents: “Shut down the court,” and “Shoot them”. Continue reading...

Main suspect’s courtroom tirade on opening day of long-awaited trial angers survivors of 2015 attacksThe opening of the long-awaited trial of 20 people accused of involvement in the 2015 wave of terrorist attacks in Paris was disrupted when the main suspect accused the French authorities of treating them “like dogs”.In an outburst on Wednesday that angered survivors and relatives of victims, Salah Abdeslam leapt to his feet in the dock, pulled off his mask and pointed at the president of the court. Continue reading...

Safety checks carried out at Mount Street primary after thunderstorms trigger flash floodingPupils at a primary school have been evacuated after the building was struck by lighting in thunderstorms that caused flash flooding and disruption in Devon.Devon and Somerset fire and rescue service was called to Mount Street school in Plymouth on Wednesday morning to carry out safety checks. It confirmed that lightning had hit the side of the building and tripped the alarm but there was no fire or injuries. Continue reading...

Africa is paying the price of western hoarding, and my country will endure Covid lockdowns until we get more doses• Jackee Budesta Batanda is a Ugandan writer and entrepreneurMy gardener, Emmanuel, returned a few days ago after a five-month hiatus. One of the conditions for his return was that he needed to be vaccinated. He comes from Karamoja in the north-eastern part of Uganda, where the vaccine uptake was low, so he was able to get vaccinated.I first thought that he was fibbing, as many Ugandans are prone to do when they get fake documents in order to get a pass. I checked his card and confirmed he had a genuine vaccination card. He told me that his whole family had been vaccinated. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Germany’s possible next chancellor on his plans for Europe, tackling inequality and how to revive the centre-leftThe new frontrunner to win Germany’s national vote at the end of this month says he believes he can reawaken Europe’s centre-left from its decade-long slumber with a two-fold promise: to guarantee his country’s continued economic success, while at the same time putting an end to the myth that individual success is always self-made.Germany’s vice-chancellor and finance minister, Olaf Scholz, has this summer surprisingly lifted his Social Democratic party (SPD) above Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in opinion polls, in large part due to a reputation for rational decision-making and fiscal prudence that mirrors that of the outgoing chancellor. Continue reading...

Campaigners from 31 NGOs urge MEPs to rethink plans to overhaul Eurodac databaseThe EU has been accused of planning “a powerful tool for the mass surveillance” of migrants through proposed changes to a fingerprint database for asylum seekers.Campaigners from 31 non-governmental organisations, including Amnesty International and the European Network Against Racism, made the charge in an open letter to the European parliament urging MEPs to rethink plans to overhaul the Eurodac database of asylum seekers’ fingerprints. Continue reading...

Motown-signed vocalist later became a minister and founded network of LGBT-friendly churchesCarl Bean, the US gospel artist and minister who sang the gay pride anthem I Was Born This Way, has died aged 77.A statement from the Unity Fellowship Church Movement, a church for Black LGBTQ+ worshippers founded by Bean, said he “made transition into eternal life” following a lengthy illness. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Dame Judith Hackitt urges people to challenge huge bills by insisting on second opinionLeaseholders risk being “fleeced” by profiteering landlords and builders in the post-Grenfell fire safety crisis, a senior government adviser has warned in comments likely to increase pressure on ministers to finally resolve the problem.More than four years after the disaster that claimed 72 lives, tens of thousands of leaseholders are being landed with crippling remediation bills exceeding £200,000 per household in the worst cases. But Dame Judith Hackitt is urging homeowners to challenge the demands by insisting on a second opinion, warning “profiteering” means “we are making lives worse than need be”. Continue reading...

‘A cop asked me: “How can you take photographs?” I told him: “I have to document this. It’s history”’I was asleep when the first plane hit. At the time, I lived just four blocks from the World Trade Center, right next to a hospital, a fire station and the HQ of the New York police. The sirens woke me up. They were nonstop. I turned on the television and saw one of the towers on fire. As I watched the second plane hit the south tower on TV, I also heard it because I lived so close.I was working for Associated Press (AP) as a photo editor. I knew, as their closest staff member, that I should go out and document it. I got dressed, threw some film into my camera bag, and ran out to the World Trade Center. A lot of photography is like muscle memory. Even in a situation like this, your body knows exactly what to do. I remember a cop asking me: “How can you take photographs?” I told him: “I have to document this. It’s history.” Continue reading...

State’s roadmap out of Covid expected to be announced on Thursday along with lifting of lockdown in parts of regional NSW

Gideon Mendel has been photographing people returning home after the devastation of recent wildfires on the island of Evia in Greece. The work follows his earlier projects about people affected by wildfires in New South Wales, Australia, and flooding globallyAt the end of August, as part of my long-term work on the global climate emergency, I travelled to Evia in Greece to explore the impacts of the unprecedented fires that had devastated village communities and the ecology of the island. I chose not to chase the drama of the burning flames, but rather to seek out their aftermath. I encountered endless blackened landscapes and made these portraits of people whose lives have been destroyed by the fire they describe as a “burning hell”. I know that it was not easy for my subjects to return to their homes to be photographed, and for some this was the first time that they had stepped inside since the fire. However, I found that they embraced this moment of having their fractured situation witnessed and were keen to share their stories. I was moved by their openness to my camera after all the horrors of their recent experience. Visually I found that an eerily precise symmetry seemed to emerge from the unspeakable chaos of their ruined homes, many of which are situated in places of profound beauty. I hope that their gaze at the camera will provoke a visceral sense of the climate threat we all face. Continue reading...

National cricket team included in prohibition, as interim government containing no women starts workAfghan women, including the country’s national women’s cricket team, will be banned from playing sport under the new Taliban government, according to an official in the hardline Islamist group.In an interview with the Australian broadcaster SBS, the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, said women’s sport was considered neither appropriate or necessary. Continue reading...

The former NSW premier will seek preselection in the safe western Sydney seat of Fowler, replacing retiring MP Chris Hayes

Entertainment industry told to ‘oppose decadent ideas of money worship and hedonism’Attendees of a Chinese entertainment industry symposium have been told to ensure they act with morality in both public and private, amid an intensive government crackdown on cultural sectors.The meeting on Tuesday in Beijing, with the theme of “Love the party, love the country, advocate morality and art”, was attended by senior Communist party officials, who laid out new regulations on industry practice and the behaviour of celebrities, state media reported. Continue reading...