Trade minister says Australia has a strong relationship with Europe and it is sometimes necessary to have ‘difficult conversations’• Get our free news app; get our morning email briefingThe federal trade minister, Dan Tehan, insists Australia’s free-trade agreement negotiations with the European Union are “business as usual”, despite growing unease over Australia’s treatment of France during the finalisation of the Aukus deal.Tehan’s trip to Europe early next month will now be partly spent trying to smooth over tensions with the European Commission which has asked for a “please explain” over Australia’s dealings with its key member state France, in both cancelling a $90bn submarine contract, and entering into a strategic Indo-Pacific agreement which excludes Europe. Continue reading...

If Chinese property company Evergrande sinks under its $300bn debt its failure would resound across the global economyEvergrande Real Estate – or Heng Da Group in Chinese – owns more than 1,300 building projects in more than 280 cities across China. Continue reading...

Canadian prime minister will stay in power but has not won the majority he hoped for after calling a snap election

Boasting the shark from Jaws, the robe from the Big Lebowski, and the slippers from Oz, the Academy museum is finally open. But the real story is its exposé of Hollywood’s racist, sexist pastIn 1939, the Academy of Motion Pictures published its first “players directory”, which grouped actors into categories such as “leading women” and “comediennes”, but set aside separate sections for “coloured” and “oriental” performers. The Academy removed the segregated categories a few years later, but many of the actors of colour weren’t integrated into other sections. They were eliminated.These racist directories are on display at the new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, which celebrates some of the most important film-makers in history while also attempting to confront head-on the dark legacy of exclusion and discrimination in the industry. The hope is to tell a much more complicated, and accurate, story of Hollywood through the years. Continue reading...

From subtle riffs on traditional script-based decoration to a late father’s letters to his lover, the artists vying for the Jameel prize generate deep emotion from meticulousnessWords have had outsize importance in Muslim culture since the beginning. The Qur’an, which literally means “recitation”, was of course revered as the word of God. But, crucially, images of human beings and animals were disapproved of because they could distract people from prayer; as a result, artists poured all their creativity and imagination into calligraphy. Facing the same restriction, craftsmen and architects created dazzling geometric forms into which words were often incorporated. The discipline imposed by not being able to depict living things gave rise to some of the most beguiling decoration on the planet. Continue reading...

World leaders gather for the UN general assembly in New York, with Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro taking stand against Covid vaccine mandates

Michael Gandolfini is goosebump-inducing as the young Tony Soprano, amid race riots and antagonism towards rival African American gangsMaybe it was inevitable that the greatest TV show in history should spawn a feature-length prequel that is somehow disappointing: it is watchable but weirdly obtuse with a tricksy narrative reveal that doesn’t add much. The Many Saints of Newark, co-written by the Sopranos’ legendary creator David Chase and directed by Alan Taylor, gives us the childhood of a leader: the teenage Tony Soprano, growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s, specifically the time of the 1967 Newark riots, which caused the “white flight” racism that explains the older Tony having that palatial home way out there in the suburbs that he drives up to in the opening credits each episode.Young Tony is portrayed with goosebump-inducing deja vu by Michael Gandolfini, son of the late James Gandolfini, who played the role on TV. Tony’s sleepy-eyed sensitivity, his melancholy, his glowering resentment and dangerous hurt feelings are there in embryo. His father, Johnny, is played by Jon Bernthal, and his terrifying mother Livia by Vera Farmiga who gives a superb rendering of Livia’s own haughty mannerisms. But you could spend this entire movie hanging on for the first sign of those all-important petit mal fainting fits that the TV show said originated in Tony’s dad. Is history being rewritten, or misrememberings corrected? Continue reading...

Head of the military regime that briefly ruled Egypt after the 2011 uprising and the fall of Hosni MubarakField Marshal Mohamed Tantawi, who has died aged 85, took charge of Egypt from the ousting of its president, Hosni Mubarak, in February 2011 until a return to democracy with the election of Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in June 2012.Despite being a pillar of the former regime – “Mubarak’s poodle” to some – Tantawi was given the job in response to the demands of a huge protest movement. He was respected for his decency and clean human rights record, though he became the focus of anger in his own right when demonstrators returned to the streets to protest against the army’s handling of the transition. Continue reading...

About 6,000 Canary islanders evacuated so far as fears rise over possibility of toxic gasFive hundred more people have been forced to flee their homes on the Canary island of La Palma as the ongoing volcanic eruption pushed streams of lava towards inhabited coastal areas and raised fears over the formation of clouds of toxic gas.The eruption, which began on Sunday afternoon on the Cumbre Vieja ridge, one of the most active volcanic regions in the archipelago, has destroyed at least 183 homes and led to the evacuation of about 6,000 people to date. Continue reading...

Ageing population is putting strain on system that is a point of national pride for manyThe churned-up garden of the clubhouse for pensioners is preoccupying Peter Klotsche. “It’s the raccoons,” he says. “They come at night and toss up the earth looking for worms and we really don’t know how best to stop it.”The clubhouse, Stille Strasse, in northern Berlin, is abuzz with members wanting to put questions to local politicians before Sunday’s elections. The raccoons are a central talking point, as well as affordable housing and, not least, the future of the club itself, which remains at the centre of a struggle over attempts to turn it into luxury homes. A decade ago, its members squatted in it for more than 100 days to save it from developers. Continue reading...

Officer was travelling with CIA director William Burns when he experienced symptoms consistent with being exposed to directed energyA US intelligence officer suffered symptoms linked to a series of suspected directed-energy attacks known as “Havana syndrome” while traveling with the CIA director, William Burns, in India this month.Experts are in the process of verifying the officer’s symptoms, which are consistent with the scores of other cases in recent years linked to Havana syndrome, according to James Giordano, a scientist briefed on the case and others. CNN first reported the incident. Continue reading...

Production to resume after work paused because of gas price surge

Charity says Covid policy is having ‘devastating consequences’ for sector already in crisis

Officials and military sources say a group of officers had tried to occupy state media buildingSudan’s fragile political transition has been plunged into uncertainty following a reported coup attempt by soldiers loyal to former autocrat Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019.As Sudan woke up to the government’s claims of the alleged coup, details – including the individuals behind it – remained murky. Bashir himself came to power following a military coup in 1989. Continue reading...

Delicious, versatile and good for you – there’s so much you can do with this ruby-coloured root vegetable apart from pickling it. Here are some of the best recipes to get you startedThe beetroot has a long and storied history. Assyrian texts from 800BC describe beetroots growing in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. The ancient Romans considered them an aphrodisiac and used them to treat everything from fever to constipation. In 1653, Nicholas Culpeper said they embodied the energy of Saturn. The Victorians used them to dye their hair. Even now beetroot is heralded as an incredible source of folate, manganese, iron and vitamin C. And to think I spent my childhood flicking it off my plate because I didn’t want it turning my potato salad pink. Here are 10 excellent beetroot recipes for your perusal. Continue reading...

The 3,600-year-old tablet that shows parts of a Sumerian poem will be returned by the US to the country it was taken from in 1991A 3,600-year-old tablet showing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh will be formally handed back to Iraq by the US on Thursday.The tablet, known as the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, shows parts of a Sumerian poem from the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s oldest known religious texts. It is believed to have been looted from a museum in Iraq in 1991, and “fraudulently” entered the US in 2007, according to Unesco, the United Nations’ cultural body. It was acquired by Christian arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby for display in its museum of biblical artefacts in 2014, and seized by the US Department of Justice in 2019. Continue reading...

Drone footage captures the moment boiling lava seeps into a swimming pool on the Canary island of La Palma, as volcanic eruptions continue on the Spanish island forcing thousands to be evacuated.The island had been on high alert after more than 22,000 tremors were reported within a week in Cumbre Vieja, one of the most active volcanic regions in the archipelago

Man using the name Sergey Fedotov alleged to have been working with Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov

Government urged to give sanctuary to hundreds of female judges and lawyers living under the TalibanBaroness Helena Kennedy QC has launched an urgent appeal to provide support to judges along with lawyers, women’s rights activists, human rights defenders, and their families at risk in Afghanistan and in need of a safe haven abroad.As part of the #EvacuateHer” campaign, Kennedy has also launched a petition, calling on the UK government to provide sanctuary to Afghan judges and lawyers at risk. The Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (Arap) initially stated judges were eligible under the scheme but no longer includes this group. Continue reading...

It started with construction workers opposing compulsory vaccinations but grew into a broader ‘freedom’ rally which shut down freeways and bridges

Victoria police say 1,000-2,000 people attended second day of protests in Melbourne CBD; NSW cases back over 1,000 as kids allowed to meet in friend bubbles for school holidays; Tweed, Byron Bay and Kempsey LGAs to lockdown from 5pm; Qld records no new local cases; Victoria’s highest number of cases for this outbreak. Follow all the day’s news live

After years caught in the crossfire between the Taliban and security forces, farmers in Kandahar face a new threat, as water sources dry upThe war in Afghanistan might be over but farmers in Kandahar’s Arghandab valley face a new enemy: drought.It has hardly rained for two years, a drought so severe that some farmers are questioning how much longer they can live off the land. Continue reading...

Clément Beaune says Brexit fallout and secret defence pact have undermined Franco-British relationsThe British-French alliance lacks trust, France’s EU affairs minister has said, citing Downing Street’s approach to the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland and the secretly negotiated defence agreement with the US and Australia.Clément Beaune, a close ally of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said that while the two problematic issues should not be mixed, together they highlighted the flaw in the relationship. Continue reading...

New Jersey-born singer had a US No 1 hit with the R&B trio, and later worked with the Rolling StonesSarah Dash, member of R&B trio Labelle who had a US No 1 hit with Lady Marmalade, has died aged 76.No cause of death has been given, though she had reportedly told family she was feeling unwell in recent days. Continue reading...

Body of Sabina Nessa, 28, was found near community centre in Kidbrooke on SaturdayA south-east London primary school has been left “devastated” by the suspected murder of one of its teachers after her body was found near a community centre on Saturday.The Metropolitan police named the victim as Sabina Nessa, 28, from Kidbrooke, and said her death was being treated as murder. A man in his 40s who was arrested on suspicion of killing her has been released under further investigation. Continue reading...

Henry Vaughan and Fitzroy Maynard sue Home Office, saying delays have caused them years of stressTwo victims of the Windrush scandal have launched legal proceedings against the Home Office over protracted delays in issuing compensation, asking for clarity on how claims can be expedited.Both Henry Vaughan, 67, and Fitzroy Maynard, 55, are struggling financially while living in unsuitable bedsit accommodation. They say they are unable to begin rebuilding their lives after years of problems caused by the government’s mistaken decision to classify them as illegal immigrants. Continue reading...

With poverty deepening, state services are failing to cope with rising rates of addictionKola* was in secondary school in Nigeria when he started smoking cigarettes. He soon graduated to cannabis, heroin and eventually to crack cocaine. Access to drugs was easy and he felt the pressure of friends to participate.In 2002, when he was 39, he was introduced to a private drug rehabilitation centre in Ibadan, in the south-west of the country, where he spent 90 days weaning himself off his addiction. Continue reading...

The moderates are mobilising – and the prime minister’s office knows itAt 7.31am on Tuesday morning, Scott Morrison’s backbench liaison staffer sent out a WhatsApp blast to Liberal MPs asking them not to front the media without first checking with the prime minister’s press office.Obviously there is a lot happening. The prime minister was meant to fly straight to Washington, but has instead diverted to New York in an effort to quell the diplomatic storm from France and its European allies prompted by Australia’s decision to terminate the Naval Group’s $90bn submarine contract. Continue reading...

Record firm’s €40bn flotation is just beginning of new wave of music consumption, says Sir Lucian Grainge

They took RuPaul from obscurity to global fame – inventing The Adam and Joe Show along the way. As Drag Race UK returns to the BBC, we talk to Fenton Bailey and Randy BarbatoMore than 20 years before Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato launched RuPaul’s Drag Race under the banner of their World of Wonder production company, they spotted the future drag superstar in the lobby of the Marriott hotel in Times Square, New York. It was the mid-1980s, and the 6ft 4in RuPaul Charles was sporting football shoulder pads, thigh-high waders, a loincloth and a mohican.“We were, like: ‘Oh my God,’” says Bailey. “There was simply nowhere else you could look.” Continue reading...

Heroin production has boomed in Afghanistan in recent years and the country produces most of the world’s supply of the drugNearly three tonnes of heroin with a street value of $2.7bn (£2bn) from Afghanistan have been seized from a western Indian port in a major bust, officials said.Two Indians were arrested after the heroin, which was kept in two containers marked as carrying talc, was found by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Mundra Port in the western state of Gujarat, the government agency said. Continue reading...

Demand for MIQ spaces is vastly outstripping supply, with spots snapped up in just two hours

Thanks for following along – this blog is now closed. You can catch up with the latest coronavirus coverage here.12.16am BSTThanks for following along – this blog is now closed. You can catch up with the latest coronavirus coverage here.11.09pm BSTHere are the key developments in today’s Covid news: Continue reading...

This intimate portrait of genius physicist Stephen Hawking shows the true toll of his physical decline on his family, via revealing interviews with his first wife and childrenThe brief history of Stephen Hawking is one we all know. Diagnosed at the age of 21 with motor neurone disease and given three years to live, he went on to marry his sweetheart Jane, have three children and become – despite increasingly severe disability and many health crises – a groundbreaking physicist and cosmologist. He was also a member of the Royal Society, the Lucasian professor of mathematics at Cambridge (a seat once held by Newton) and a world-famous author and lionised public figure after writing the bestselling A Brief History of Time. He died in 2018 at the age of 76.You could easily fill a documentary with stories of his genius. What Hawking: Can You Hear Me? (Sky Documentaries) did was take on the trickier task of illuminating the man and examining what it took, from him and all those around this hyper-focused, hyper-competitive mind, to accomplish all that he did. Continue reading...

Tuesday: Victoria’s construction industry shut for two weeks following violent protests. Plus: France seeks to delay EU-Australia trade deal amid Aukus falloutGood morning. Tensions are rising between Australia and the EU amid fallout from the Aukus submarine pact. Violent protests in Melbourne have led to a shut-down of the Victorian construction industry. And if the pandemic has made you look at your style differently, we have tips on how to fix your ill-fitting fashion.Victoria’s construction industry will shut down for two weeks after a protest against mandatory vaccines for workers in the sector became violent. Hundreds of construction workers and their supporters stormed the CFMEU office building and police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to move the crowd. Meanwhile, NSW recorded the lowest daily Covid caseload in more than three weeks, with 935 new cases, but premier Gladys Berejiklian warned that despite the falling infection numbers, hospitalisations and deaths will probably be worse in October. Pfizer report its vaccine has produced strong antibody responses in children aged five to 11. Its use in children has not yet been approved and adults in Australians have been told not to wait for Pfizer jabs due uncertainty over when the 9m doses due in October will arrive. Continue reading...

France seeks EU support to delay deal as punishment after Australia cancelled £48bn submarine contractFrance is seeking to enlist European Union support to delay a planned EU-Australia trade deal, as part of a plan to punish Australia for what it regards as serial deceit and subterfuge by Canberra before it cancelled the contract for 12 attack-class French submarines.The A$90bn (£48bn) submarine contract was the centrepiece of French-Australian cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, but the Australians have instead opted to form a US-UK-Australia pact dubbed Aukus, and build eight nuclear-powered submarines likely to be delivered between 2030 and 2040. Continue reading...

The pandemic has only made worse the sense of isolation felt by boarding students from remote communities

Lawyers say whiteboard image of man hanging was a ‘disrespectful, degrading and hurtful parody’A vulnerable Indigenous inmate who prison officers allegedly depicted hanging from a noose on a prison whiteboard is suing the Australian Capital Territory government, alleging the drawing was a “vile and racist caricature” of “another Indigenous person they wished to see die in custody”.In May 2018, correctional officers at the ACT’s jail, the Alexander Maconochie Centre, allegedly drew what appeared to be a game of hangman on a staff whiteboard. The man depicted hanging from the noose was an Indigenous inmate who has mental health issues and has previously attempted suicide. Continue reading...

Paul Rusesabagina, an ex-hotel manager, was subject of a Hollywood film about 1994 genocidePaul Rusesabagina, a businessman whose role in saving more than 1,000 lives during the 1994 genocide inspired the film Hotel Rwanda, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted of terrorism offences by a court in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali.The 67-year-old was found guilty on Monday after a seven-month trial and faces a life sentence. Rwandan authorities accused Rusesabagina of being “the founder, leader, sponsor and member of violent, armed, extremist terror outfits … operating out of various places in the region and abroad.” He denied all the charges against him. Continue reading...

Readers respond to the new pact between the UK, Australia and the US, and its implicationsThe Aukus pact is not a “new global order” (17 September) but very much an old order; it is colonial gunboats. I do not expect politicians to have read history such as the first Anglo-Afghan war of 1839, but I do expect them to be aware of history in their own lifetimes. Eton may not teach the failures of empire, but China has been very clear about Taiwan since 1950.When Biden said, “This decision about Afghanistan is not just about Afghanistan. It’s about ending an era of major military operations to remake other countries”, he was committing to another battle in the Pacific. The global dominance of China has been clear for more than 20 years, and yet we are unwillingly signed up to face this new empire?

Man arrested on suspicion of murder after Derbyshire police were called to property in KillamarshTributes have been paid to three children and a woman who are suspected to have been killed at a house near Sheffield at the weekend.A man, 31, was arrested on suspicion of murder after Derbyshire police were called to a property in Killamarsh, Derbyshire, at 7.25am on Sunday. Continue reading...

The Aukus deal has enraged China and humiliated France, when British diplomacy should be concentrated on EuropeThe Aukus defence deal between Britain, the US and Australia grows murkier by the day. Essentially it is the outcome of an industrial dispute over who will build eight submarines for the Australian military. Australia ordered £48bn-worth of diesel-powered ones from France and then changed its mind, reneging on the deal. It now wants nuclear-powered ones from the US and Britain.Crewed submarines are approaching obsolescence, near useless in an age of “transparent” oceans and underwater drones. Like tanks, they drip with cost, inefficiency and a craving to fight outdated wars. But defence contracts have a corporate and political existence that transcends utility. If Australia seriously thinks China is a threat, it might as well have some new gold-plated weapons ready. Continue reading...

Dr Hossam Metwally injected girlfriend with anaesthetic drugs in belief she was possessed by spiritsAn anaesthetist has been given a 14-and-a-half year jail sentence for injecting his partner with drugs during a series of exorcism ceremonies that left her close to death.Dr Hossam Metwally, 61, made dozens of recordings of himself administering fluids through a cannula to Kelly Wilson, who was left with multiple organ failure. Continue reading...

Gay and trans people in Afghanistan already faced stigma, but now even a call from an unknown number sparks fearLaila, a transgender woman in Afghanistan, rubs her eyes to wipe tears away. “I am terrified. It’s like a nightmare. I don’t feel safe even in my room. I’m scared of the Taliban. When I see them I feel they will know who I am and they will come to beat me, kick me or send me to prison.”After the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August, Laila is far from an isolated case. Rehmat, a gay man, said: “Our lives are in danger. We are afraid of having mobile phones. I get afraid when I receive calls from unknown numbers, worried that it might be the Taliban.” Continue reading...

A surge of lava has destroyed about 100 homes on Spain’s Canary Islands a day after a volcano erupted, forcing 5,000 people to leave the area. Cumbre Vieja erupted on Sunday, sending vast plumes of thick black smoke into the sky and belching molten lava that oozed down the mountainside on the island of La Palma, one of the most westerly of the Atlantic archipelago off the coast of Morocco

Tourism minister derided for suggesting La Palma volcano could lure visitors to Spanish archipelagoSpain’s tourism minister has been accused of insensitivity after suggesting a devastating and ongoing volcanic eruption on the Canary island of La Palma could be used as an “attraction” to lure visitors to the archipelago.About 5,000 people have been evacuated and dozens of homes destroyed after the eruption in the Cumbre Vieja mountain range, one of the most active volcanic regions in the islands. Continue reading...

State government set to make announcement Monday night after Victoria police used pepper spray and rubber bullets to move crowd outside CFMEU office

Restrictions will be eased from midnight on Tuesday with more businesses allowed to provide click-and-collect services, PM saysAfter nearly five weeks in lockdown Auckland will move out of the highest setting, New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has said, adding she was confident there was no undetected transmission of the Delta variant in the community.New Zealand recorded 22 new cases of coronavirus in the community – including three cases outside Auckland – on Monday which some had feared could put the brakes on the easing of restrictions. Continue reading...

Research highlights six firms that increased their profits by a total of £16bnCampaigners have issued fresh calls for a windfall tax on companies that prospered during the pandemic, after research highlighted six firms that increased their profits by a total of £16bn.The outsourcing firm Serco and online clothes retailer Asos were among the companies that saw their global profits more than double over the last financial year, while one investment trust, Scottish Mortgage, saw its returns grow to nine times the average of preceding years. Continue reading...