A savvy electoral campaign against two lacklustre opponents has put the SPD leader ahead in the polls to succeed Angela MerkelOf all the political posters and billboards that line the streets of German towns and cities this late summer, the ones most likely to stop commuters in their tracks are those bathed in traffic-light red.Using a stark colour scheme usually exclusive to the Marxist-Leninist parties on the fringe of the German left, the posters are surprising in more ways than one: in the centre of the picture sits a bald, suited man who looks less like a leftwing rabble-rouser promising you radical change than a middle manager at a regional building society scrutinising your loan application. Continue reading...

Border staff left dealing with backlog of travellers as reports emerge of people fainting in three-hour queuesDelays at Heathrow airport have been described as “unacceptable” by the Home Office, af reports of passengers fainting in queues of up to three hours.Border staff were left dealing with a huge backlog of travellers, with witnesses saying they had seen people – including a pregnant woman – passing out while queueing. Continue reading...

Ten years after village doc Le Quattro Volte, Michelangelo Frammartino returns with an observational piece centring on a deep-cave system in CalabriaIn 2011 Italian artist Michelangelo Frammartino scored a small indie hit with a film called Le Quattro Volte, a metaphysical study of a mountain village that featured bleating goats and ringing bells, charcoal burners and Roman centurions. Le Quattro Volte was odd and gentle and by and large people loved it. I’m not sure how much money one earns from a small indie hit. Probably enough to pay for a weekend break in Tropea. Now Frammartino is back – 10 years later, not wanting to rush things – with the lovely Il Buco, another film that is content to saunter on the wild side, gazing at woods and sky, rocks and trees and identifying a serene, quiet heaven in everything that it sees. It’s not quite a documentary, yet nor is it exactly a narrative feature. It lives alone; the cinematic equivalent of a hermit on a mountaintop.Frammartino’s last film was inspired by Pythagoras. This one takes its prompt from a 1961 potholing expedition in Calabria, mapping out a labyrinthine cave system which was confirmed at the time as the third deepest in the world. The film shows the cavers descending its slick twists and turns and uncovering an old photo and a damp magazine with JFK on the cover. Whatever item slips into the crevasse instantly becomes history, or a lost memory; a teasing remnant of the people who once walked above. Continue reading...

As number of victims updated from six to seven, police say ‘every legal avenue’ was explored to try to contain threat of attackSeven people were injured in the Islamic State-inspired terror attack in New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern has said, updating initial reports that only six people had been hurt.Speaking at a media conference in Wellington on Saturday, New Zealand’s prime minister said that of the seven injured, five were in hospital, and three of them were in a critical condition. Continue reading...

Rebels say they are holding on despite celebratory gunfire in Kabul amid reports that hardliners have wiped out last pocket of resistanceMilitia forces say they are enduring “heavy assaults” as they battle the Taliban in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley, the final holdout against hardline Islamist control.The Taliban face the enormous challenge of shifting gears from insurgent group to governing power, days after the US fully withdrew its troops and ended two decades of war. Continue reading...

Afghan resistance fighters clashed with the Taliban in the Panjshir valley, the final province holding out against hardline Islamist control. Celebratory gunfire rang out across Kabul late on Friday as rumours spread that the valley had fallen. The Taliban made no official claim to victory and the former Afghan vice-president Amrullah Saleh, among other opposition leaders, said his side had not given up

Helicopter and lifeboats take part in search after men fail to return from exploring HMS Scylla on FridayA major search is under way for two divers presumed dead after they disappeared while exploring a shipwreck off the coast of Cornwall.The men failed to return after they had been exploring the wreck of HMS Scylla, which was sunk in 2004. Continue reading...

Minister says government will not ‘sweep away’ NI Brexit protocol, but renews demands for major changesThe UK will not “sweep away” the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol, despite renewed calls for its abolition by the Democratic Unionist party, the Brexit minister has said.However, David Frost renewed his demands for fundamental changes on its implementation, warning the row could have a long-term chilling effect on wider EU-UK relations unless it was resolved. Continue reading...

Having blazed a trail with raucous gigs, the Melbourne punk band’s singer deepens her oft-caricatured image on their new albumThere is a moment at the end of Amyl and the Sniffers’ music video for Guided by Angels that sees frontwoman Amy Taylor quiet and alone, for once. After ripping down freeways and tunnels in the back of a Mitsubishi Lancer, her tiny body hanging halfway out of the back window, diving into the sea and dancing between the stationary Sniffers – drummer Bryce Wilson, guitarist Dec Martens and bassist Gus Romer – Taylor walks down a dark footpath, sits in the car’s front seat, laughs briefly and is suddenly still.Related: The Guide: Staying In – sign up for our home entertainment tips Continue reading...

Moderna vaccine gets green light for over-12s; more than 1,000 families asked to isolate after Queensland girl tests positive. This blog is now closed

The actor opens up about why her divorce from Brad Pitt is a human rights issue, escaping Harvey Weinstein and what young activists have taught her• ‘People try to stop us speaking up’ – Jolie meets inspirational young campaignersAngelina Jolie sits at a desk, back straight as a rule and rather regal. Her features are cartoonishly beautiful – straight black hair, vertiginous cheekbones, huge blue eyes and lips like a plumped red sofa. She is talking on Zoom to four young activists. It is a horribly apt day to be discussing human rights – the Taliban has just captured Ghazni city on its approach to Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.If this were a movie, you might suspect Jolie was playing a divine leader addressing the fortunate few. Yet it soon becomes apparent that things aren’t quite as they seem. The actor and film director is the one in awe, not the activists. The young people talk about the work they have done raising awareness of the carnage in Syria, the environmental crisis, trans rights and food poverty. Jolie hangs on their every word. She tells them they have inspired her children who follow their work, warns them against burnout, apologises for the failings of her generation and says how honoured she is to meet them. Continue reading...

From new novels by Sally Rooney and Colson Whitehead to Michel Barnier’s take on Brexit, Bernardine Evaristo’s manifesto and diaries from David Sedaris – all the releases to look out for Continue reading...

A new series relives the affair between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky and here, those involved remember and reflect on a national scandalBob Shrum had known Bill Clinton since their student days at Georgetown University in Washington. Working as a political consultant, he was at the White House to advise on the US president’s State of the Union address when it was rocked by one of the scandals of the century.“I was walking up the driveway and camera crews were trying to chase me to get me to comment on it,” Shrum recalls of the first reports that Clinton had an affair with Monica Lewinsky, a 22-year-old intern. “The president, when we all assembled in the cabinet room, was very down and just said, well, we’ll reconvene tomorrow. Continue reading...

As Ada Ferrer writes, ‘Cuba – its sugar, its slavery, its slave trade – is part of the history of American capitalism’In July, the eruption of unexpected protests in Cuba, sparked by food shortages and growing frustration with the government, unsurprisingly met with a corresponding flood of commentary from its opinionated neighbour.Related: Forget the Alamo review: dark truths of the US south and its ‘secular Mecca’ Continue reading...

Mired in debt, the mother of three left to work as part of the Gulf’s kafala labour system. She was last heard from in 2015 and her family want answersEdelyn Eborda Astudillo wanted a better life for her three children. The 36-year-old from Mariveles in the Philippines, and her husband, Crisanto, had been unemployed for six years and things were getting desperate. So, in early 2015, Edelyn made the decision to travel to the Middle East to get a job as a domestic worker.After applying to a Philippine recruitment agency, Manumoti Manpower, Edelyn was soon on a flight abroad. She was placed in a house to work for a couple in Taif, in the west of Saudi Arabia. Continue reading...

Cam, 26, consultant, meets Ash, 29, police analystWhat were you hoping for?

Double Booker prize winner tells La Repubblica she may take Irish citizenship to feel European againHilary Mantel has said she feels “ashamed” by the UK government’s treatment of migrants and asylum seekers and is intending to become an Irish citizen to “become a European again”.In a wide-ranging interview with La Repubblica, the twice Booker prize-winning novelist also gave her view on the monarchy, told how endometriosis has “devastated my life”, and how Boris Johnson “should not be in public life”. She also addresses the criticism of JK Rowling and her stance on transgender rights. Continue reading...

Anthony ‘AJ’ Elfalak, who is non-verbal, went missing on farm in Putty, near SingletonHundreds of volunteers are scouring bushland for a three-year-old boy who went missing on his family’s 260-hectare property in the New South Wales Hunter region almost 24 hours ago.Police were called to the farm in Putty, near Singleton, about an hour after Anthony “AJ” Elfalak was last seen around 11.45am on Friday. Continue reading...

Protecting children from the hazards of lead means a never-ending struggle against exposure to dirt, dust and even rainwater

The medical team hiked for five hours in 'horrendous' terrain to reach village and deliver just 25 vaccines to small community, as Fiji battles devastating outbreak of Covid-19, with more than 5% of the country's population having tested positive for the virus. Continue reading...

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North Dakota, South Dakota, Mississippi, Indiana, Arkansas and Florida eye similar measures to new Texas ban after six weeksRepublican leaders in as many as six US states are rushing to follow the lead of Texas in adopting an extreme abortion ban that critics, including Joe Biden, have slammed as unconstitutional and built to encourage vigilantism among the public.Abortion rights advocates are bracing to resist a flurry of initiatives from Florida to North Dakota in the wake of the new Texas law, the most extreme in the US, which the conservative majority on the supreme court refused to block. Continue reading...

Lawrence Casey went into Bude canal in Cornwall after daughter Jessica lost control of mobility scooterAn 86-year-old man has died while attempting to rescue his disabled daughter from a canal.Lawrence Casey went into Bude canal in north Cornwall to rescue his daughter Jessica after she suddenly lost control of her mobility scooter and plunged into the water. Continue reading...

Denis Villeneuve’s slow-burn space opera fuses the arthouse and the multiplex to create an epic of otherworldly brillianceDune reminds us what a Hollywood blockbuster can be. Implicitly, its message written again and again in the sand, Denis Villeneuve’s fantasy epic tells us that big-budget spectaculars don’t have to be dumb or hyperactive, that it’s possible to allow the odd quiet passage amid the explosions. Adapted from Frank Herbert’s 60s opus, Dune is dense, moody and quite often sublime – the missing link bridging the multiplex and the arthouse. Encountering it here was like stumbling across some fabulous lost tribe, or a breakaway branch of America’s founding fathers who laid out the template for a different and better New World.Related: Spencer review – Princess Diana’s disastrous marriage makes a magnificent farce Continue reading...

The shadow of the departing chancellor looms over a contest too close to callIn September 1998, when a relatively youthful Gerhard Schröder defeated Helmut Kohl and ended his 16-year reign as German chancellor, the victorious leader of the Social Democrats (SPD) told supporters that the country had opted for “a change of generation”. Mr Schröder’s triumph turned a page on the cold war era, aligning Germany with a fresh-faced centre-left resurgence in western democracies led by Bill Clinton and Tony Blair. It was, in the political vernacular, a quintessential “change” election.Almost a quarter of a century later, Angela Merkel will stand down of her own accord later this month – the first chancellor to do so – after equalling Mr Kohl’s longevity in office. But this time, ahead of a 26 September election, German voters seem to be somewhat reluctant to move on. None of Ms Merkel’s prospective replacements come close to matching her popularity. Fewer than one in five see the chancellor’s own preferred successor, the CDU/CSU candidate, Armin Laschet, as the best option to replace her. Caught on camera laughing during a visit to a town devastated by floods, Mr Laschet has fought a lacklustre campaign and has become a liability for his party. A poll last week found that from highs of around 35% at the start of the year, the CDU/CSU’s ratings have plunged on Mr Laschet’s watch to the low twenties and fallen just behind the SPD for the first time since 2006. The Greens electrified the contest by topping polls in the spring. Their extraordinary surge seemed to embody a widespread desire for a more environmentally driven politics to meet net zero pledges. But they too have lost their mojo as the party’s candidate for chancellor, the inexperienced Annalena Baerbock, struggles to recover from allegations of plagiarism and financial mismanagement. Continue reading...

Mario Draghi’s announcement sparks row in country where protests and violence from anti-vaxxers are on the rise

There are signs of a return to something worryingly close to the hardline restrictions of the past across Afghan lifeWhen Taliban fighters moved into Herat city in western Afghanistan last month, one thing mattered more to some of them than the battle itself. As gunmen faced off around the governor’s office, a group of militants came to Shogofa’s* workplace and ordered all the women home.“They hadn’t even taken all the city, but they came to our headquarters. The manager called an emergency meeting and they told all the women to leave,” she said. Continue reading...

Contents will be trucked to Lebanon to ease energy crisis, a plan that could challenge US resolve towards two foesAn Iranian tanker carrying fuel bound for Lebanon was at anchor in the Red Sea on Friday ahead of the final leg of a voyage to Syria, which is set to pose the biggest test yet to US sanctions imposed on two arch regional foes.The tanker is expected in the Syrian port of Baniyas early next week, in defiance of US sanctions that prevent oil exports from Iran and imports to Syria, which have both been subject to stringent US-imposed restrictions on trade. The imminent arrival is being hailed by the Lebanese militant group turned political bloc, Hezbollah, as a sanctions-busting solution for an energy crisis that has brought Lebanon to a standstill and led to widespread blackouts. Continue reading...

Song written in 1998 by singer who left Afghanistan during the civil war has taken on new significanceAs yet another generation of Afghans fled their homeland over the past fortnight, one song has resonated as a poignant anthem for the exodus.My Homeland – Sarzamin i Man in Farsi – was written in 1998 by the singer Dawood Sarkhosh, who himself had to leave Afghanistan in the civil war that erupted following the Soviet withdrawal. Continue reading...

Warm air from Mediterranean predicted to push temperatures in parts of Britain to 28C next weekAfter weeks of soggy weather, temperatures are expected to soar in parts of the UK next week.The south-east is predicted to experience the hottest weather, with the mercury rising to 28C thanks to warm air sweeping in from the Mediterranean after a grey and cooler August. Continue reading...

Kristen Stewart’s entirely compelling Di has no escape from the dress-up game of monarchy in Pablo Larraín’s unreverential movieSandringham, Christmas 1991. Bare trees, frosted fields, dead pheasants on the drive. Inside the grand house the dining table has been laid in readiness, but one of the principal guests – arguably the main course – is running late and lost. She grinds her car to a halt, tosses her perfect hair in frustration. “Where the fuck am I?” asks Diana, Princess of Wales.And so begins this extraordinary film, which bills itself as “a fable from a true tragedy” and spotlights three days in the dissolution of Charles and Di’s marriage. Working off a sharp script by Steven Knight, Chilean director Pablo Larraín spins the headlines and scandals into a full-blown Gothic nightmare, an opulent ice palace of a movie with shades of Rebecca at the edges and a pleasing bat-squeak of absurdity in its portrayal of the royals. Larraín’s approach to the material is rich and intoxicating and altogether magnificent. I won’t call it majestic. That would do this implicitly republican film a disservice. Continue reading...

Swedish pop group shows cross-generational appeal, amassing 5.5m likes on TikTok since 1 SeptemberTwo singles released from Abba’s first album in 40 years have raced to the top of the streaming charts, in a comeback that has generated praise and excitement among fans who remember the original releases and a new younger audience.The first two singles from Abba’s forthcoming album, to be released on 5 November, were in first and third place on YouTube’s trending rankings in 12 countries on Friday, including the UK. I Still Have Faith In You gained 4.4m views within 24 hours in Britain and Don’t Shut Me Down 1.4m views.

Judge said court report suggested man shot dead by police posed high risk of reoffendingThe man shot dead by police after stabbing six people in an Islamic State-inspired attack on Friday was reportedly sentenced by a New Zealand court earlier in the year for possessing IS propaganda that encouraged acts of violence and terrorism.The man, whose name is covered by legal suppression orders and who is referred to only as “S” in court proceedings, was reportedly found guilty by a jury of possessing objectionable material, and failing to assist a police officer exercise a search power. Continue reading...

20 men accused of involvement in 2015 massacre, but it is unclear whether the key accused will break their silenceDeep inside Paris’s historic law courts on the bank of the River Seine, builders were putting the finishing touches to an extraordinary architectural structure described as a cross between a high-security bunker and modern church.Its sleek pale wood and white lighting were chosen by the French justice ministry to create “a sense of calm” in contrast to the horrific events which will soon be examined there. This temporary structure will from next week host the biggest criminal trial ever held in France, when 20 men are accused of planning, aiding and carrying out the November 2015 Paris terrorist attacks on a stadium, bars and restaurants and the Bataclan concert hall. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says Afghanistan’s fall came ‘faster than anyone anticipated’ during Islamabad visitDominic Raab has said there was widespread surprise including among the Taliban at the speed with which the group swept to military victory in Afghanistan, but the UK now wanted direct communication with the militants.Raab was speaking after holding talks with officials in Pakistan, the country with the greatest sway over the Taliban. It was his first visit to Islamabad as foreign secretary, and follows criticism that he had not engaged with the Pakistan foreign policy elite in the six months prior to the crisis erupting. Continue reading...

Three performers – among the one million people suffering from long Covid – explain the painful process of getting back on stageIn 2019, the actor and director Helen Oakleigh was hired to stage a number of shows in China that would be playing throughout 2020. They flew from London to Wuhan on 1 January last year and then on to Chengdu but, soon after arriving, began to feel unwell with a virus that would later be diagnosed as Covid-19. Although able to return to work soon afterwards, they struggled to concentrate and experienced sensory overload. Today, Oakleigh is “unrecognisable” from her former self and, along with many others working in the stage industry, is dealing with both the effects of the pandemic on the arts as well as long Covid.Oakleigh is one of around a million people in the UK with long Covid. After working all around the world on stage and screen projects, from Harry Potter to Shakespeare, the actor is now also an advocate for helping fellow sufferers. Oakleigh never felt 100% better but by July 2020 was getting there and, thinking she was just “deconditioned”, began to push slowly back to previous fitness levels and enjoy hockey, netball and cycling again. “I was doing a lot and also working. I was really proud that I had got to that level.” Continue reading...

Security contractors among hundreds from the Philippines, India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka stuck without clear plans for evacuationWhen Taliban fighters started to kick at the door of a UN compound in a northern province 250 miles (400km) from the Afghan capital, Kabul, Rajesh* was certain he was going to be killed.The Taliban had taken control of the area on that day. Rajesh, a UN security contractor from India, hurried with his colleagues into an emergency steel-doored room. Before they sealed themselves in, they saw a group of seven or eight heavily armed men. Continue reading...

Businesses are becoming increasingly aware that exhaustion is a ticking timebomb

Natalia López and Eneko Abad crisscross Aragon serving elderly customers who cannot get to salonsWhen Natalia López travels to her parents’ village in northern Spain, she packs the essentials: scissors, combs and clippers.As the Zaragoza-based hairdresser strolls the streets of Huesa del Común, an isolated hamlet of 69 residents, her skills are in high demand. “I style my mother’s hair, give my father a haircut, and there are always neighbours who say: ‘Since you’re here, can you cut my hair as well? Or touch up my colour?’” Continue reading...

Prime minister says deal will boost supplies in September as 12-to-15-year-olds join vaccination rollout

Jacinda Ardern says attack was carried out by a ‘violent extremist’ who followed Islamic State ideology and was being monitored by policeAn attack at a New Zealand supermarket was “a terrorist attack” by a “violent extremist” who follows Islamic State ideology and who had been under heavy surveillance by police, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said.A man was shot dead on Friday afternoon by police after entering a West Auckland supermarket and stabbing at least six people, who are now in hospital. Continue reading...

Linda Burney claims the vaccine blitz plan shows the government has ‘completely stuffed up’ the protection of vulnerable Aboriginal populations

Secret documents reveal scale of funeral strategy and government anxieties over resourcesThe UK government’s vast security operation to manage the immediate aftermath of the death of the Queen include official social media blackouts and a ban on retweets.The secret documents, codenamed Operation London Bridge and seen by Politico, reveal the scale of the plans for the funeral and government anxieties about whether the UK has the resources to execute them. Continue reading...

The newsletter platform has poached big names including Salman Rushdie along with a slew of comic book authors from DC and MarvelThe subscription newsletter platform Substack announced on Wednesday it had signed an exclusive deal with Salman Rushdie – but he is just the latest in a growing number of authors making the leap to write serialised fiction delivered straight to the inboxes of subscribers who pay a monthly fee.Several comic book writers and artists have announced lucrative deals to provide exclusive content for the California-based company founded four years ago, in some cases eschewing contracts with Marvel and DC to do so. Continue reading...

Move comes on back of Beijing encouraging firms to share wealth as part of a drive to ease inequalityChina’s Alibaba Group will invest 100bn yuan ($15.5bn) by 2025 in support of “common prosperity”, it said, becoming the latest corporate giant to pledge support for the initiative driven by the president, Xi Jinping.Beijing has been encouraging companies to share wealth as part of the effort to ease inequality in the world’s second-largest economy. Other companies that have made similar announcements include Tencent Holdings, which also pledged 100bn yuan, and Geely Automobile. Continue reading...

After winning Sundance in 1992, the director’s career stalled, thanks in part, he says, to Harvey Weinstein. It was making films with his family that saved himWhen Alexandre Rockwell’s basement flooded a few years ago, he spotted an opportunity. Why not do the repairs himself and put the $80,000 (£58,000) insurance payout towards making a new film? He hired graduate students from New York University, where he is the head of directing at the graduate film school, as crew and cast his children, Lana, 18, and Nico, 15, in the leading roles. Lana is on our video call, too, laughing at her dad as he finishes the story. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to make a film,” he jokes. “I just hope I don’t have to burn my house down next time, or cut my leg off.”Lana was 15 when the family shot Sweet Thing. It is the second movie directed by their dad that she has appeared in with her brother Nico – a follow-up of sorts to 2013’s Little Feet. In both, the Rockwells play siblings growing up dirt poor, constantly in harm’s way, but whose innocence is a kind of magical overcoat, protecting them from the world – up to a point. Little Feet was about two little kids taking their goldfish to the ocean to set it free. The new one is a coming-of-age tale, Stand by Me meets Badlands. Shot in black and white on 16mm film, the two movies share a freewheeling energy and a fairytale quality; the world seen through a child’s sense of wonder. Continue reading...

An innovative community project has brightened buildings, ‘brought people together’ and provided an emotional outlet after traumatic journeysJadhav*, 18, from Bangladesh, arrived in Italy 10 months ago, but is still haunted by memories of his journey with people smugglers across the Mediterranean Sea.“There were 156 people packed into a small boat. There were women and children,” says Jadhav in broken Italian and Bengali translated on a smartphone app. “Waves were coming over the side. People were weeping. There was no hope of survival.” Continue reading...

Thieves will face tougher penalties under legislation unveiled by government after surge in crimesDognappers will face tougher penalties under government plans to introduce a criminal offence of pet abduction.Pet theft is currently prosecuted under the Theft Act and is subsequently treated as loss of property to the owner, which for years campaigners have been saying fails to recognise the emotional distress caused by the crime. Continue reading...

Statement comes after allegations king helped George Brown’s killers return to TongaTonga’s royal family has denied an allegation that the late King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV was involved in covering up the murder of Australian horse trainer George Brown almost four decades ago.Brown’s incinerated body was found in a burnt out car in bushland near Sydney in 1984. Continue reading...

Leader dogged by poor opinion ratings unexpectedly announces intention to step down after just a year amid anger over Covid responseJapan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, is to step down from his party’s leadership this month amid mounting discontent at his government’s handling of the pandemic.“The battle against the coronavirus takes a vast amount of energy and I don’t feel it is possible to carry on with that and fight the upcoming election for the party leadership,” said Suga in a brief statement to reporters, during which he took no questions. Continue reading...