Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi tells US climate envoy John Kerry cooperation on reducing emissions cannot be separated from the broader relationshipChinese foreign minister Wang Yi has warned US climate envoy John Kerry that deteriorating US-China relations could undermine cooperation between the two countries on climate change.In a video link call on Wednesday, Wang told Kerry that such cooperation cannot be separated from the broader relationship and called on the US to take steps to improve ties, a foreign ministry statement said. Continue reading...

PM Jacinda Ardern says country is starting to see ‘positive trends’ in the numbers, with fewer cases infectious in the community

Mark Milley says it's possible the US will seek to coordinate on strikes in Afghanistan, though defence secretary Lloyd Austin remains scepticalUS Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said it was “possible” the United States will seek to coordinate with the Taliban on counterterrorism strikes in Afghanistan against Islamic State militants or others.The extent and nature of a US-Taliban relationship, now that the war is over, is one of the key issues to be worked out. US military commanders have coordinated daily with Taliban commanders outside Kabul’s international airport over the past three weeks to facilitate the evacuation of more than 124,000 people, but that was a matter of convenience for both parties. Continue reading...

Some media reported soldiers identified in Brereton inquiry had been allowed to continue serving, but investigators reaffirm that has no bearing on their inquiriesGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingInvestigators are continuing to look into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan uncovered by the Brereton inquiry, despite media claims implying some individuals have been exonerated.Several media outlets have reported that more than a dozen soldiers who were issued with “show cause” notices no longer face termination, and in some cases this development has been conflated with separate investigations into alleged war crimes. Continue reading...

Authorities deployed troops and shut down the internet as a precautionary measure, police saidIndian Kashmir politician Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a veteran separatist, has died in Srinagar. He was 91 years old.In response to the news, authorities deployed troops around the city. Continue reading...

The media host says he used ivermectin, a medication that the FDA has warned againstJoe Rogan, the host of Spotify’s most popular podcast, has contracted Covid, he announced on Wednesday. He says he is feeling better – but his health update undoubtedly made health experts instantly sick.On Instagram, the podcaster, who professes not to be “an authority on health” but has discouraged young people from getting the coronavirus vaccine, said that he had “immediately thrown the kitchen sink” at his infection. Among the many medications he used, he said, was ivermectin, a drug used to deworm horses. Continue reading...

Conditional approval for plan to organize drugmaker into new company with board appointed by public officials

Dominic Raab grilled by foreign affairs select committee over why he did not act on risk assessmentThe UK Foreign Office’s own risk assessment warned that the Taliban could return rapidly to power, causing cities to collapse and triggering a humanitarian crisis, less than four weeks before the fall of Kabul.Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, told MPs on Wednesday that he believed the Afghan capital would remain safe until next year based on an assessment by the joint intelligence committee, a view he said was widely shared by Nato allies. Continue reading...

For three decades, Kevin Martin has detonated the British music scene with various apocalyptically noisy projects – all as a way to ‘get over the crushing tyranny of existence’Kevin Martin’s industrial dancehall project the Bug started 20 years ago, in chaotic circumstances. As part of electronic duo Techno Animal, the producer was playing a show in Bern, Switzerland, and had just started his soundcheck when the ramshackle wood-framed arts complex was attacked by football hooligans, some brandishing incendiary devices.Speaking to me from his home in Brussels, the permanently baseball-capped Martin says: “It was like warfare. There were people barricading doors. Glass was shattering as concrete went through windows. We were shitting our pants: ‘Hold on, this is a wooden building – if one of those molotovs goes off, we’re chargrilled!’” Continue reading...

‘I didn’t understand at the time was how transgressive this was. For her generation, you did not show your passport to anyone – let alone have it photographed’One day when I was around 11, I had to take a day off school. I had asthma and felt rotten, but I also felt ashamed about not being well. Mum decided to take me out to cheer me up. She took me to an auction – it wasn’t anything special, just one of those local things that would be advertised in the papers back in the day. She was hoping we might find a bike, probably just to stop me crying because everyone else had one and I felt left out.We took a bus to the Royal Horticultural Halls in Westminster and arrived late. Almost everything had gone. There were no bikes left. I was despondent. Mum was gunning for anything to cheer this moany kid up when a Kodak Instamatic went up for sale. I wasn’t convinced, but she persuaded me we should get it. By the time we’d got back home, it was an obsession – the best toy I’d ever received.

Team of civilians has been deployed to make sure random searches will not involve racial profilingA policy of randomly frisking people on the streets of Amsterdam is being trialled by police in response to a rise in youth gun crime but the police union has objected to the involvement of civilian observers.To assuage fears that the searches will involve ethnic profiling, a team of civilian monitors has been deployed tasked with reporting on any suspicious patterns. Continue reading...

His new HBO series has been re-edited after backlash over featuring 9/11 ‘truthers’ – but a thread of distrust remainsSpike Lee is no stranger to controversy, but pre-emption is new for him. His incendiary work has inspired scandals both righteous (Do the Right Thing frightened a complacent America with its vision of urban unrest) and regrettable (the Jewish club owners in Mo’ Better Blues attracted charges of antisemitism), and now, his new docuseries NYC Epicenters 9/11 —> 2021½ has landed him in the same hot water that never seems to cool.Related: Two decades after 9/11, the real threat to the US is our own far right | Harsha Panduranga Continue reading...

Foreign minister warns reviving site traditionally used for diplomacy with Palestinians could be ‘destabilising’Israel has said a US plan to reopen its consulate in Jerusalem that was traditionally a base for diplomatic outreach to Palestinians is a “bad idea” and could destabilise the prime minister’s new government.The previous US administration of Donald Trump signalled support for Israel’s claim on Jerusalem as its capital by moving its embassy there from Tel Aviv and subsuming the consulate in that mission. Continue reading...

Syed Taalay Ahmed, who worked for Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International, was ambushed in TamaleTributes have been paid to a British journalist killed in an armed robbery in Ghana.Syed Taalay Ahmed, 31, who grew up in Hartlepool, was working for Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International (MTA) when he was killed, the station said. Continue reading...

Militants show off Humvees as leaders gather in group’s southern Afghan heartlandTaliban fighters have stood aboard captured Humvees as they prepared for a parade of plundered US military hardware in their southern Afghan heartland.A long line of green vehicles sat in single file on Wednesday on a highway outside Afghanistan’s second-biggest city, Kandahar, many with white-and-black Taliban flags attached to aerials, according to an AFP journalist. Continue reading...

Manchester City footballer faces possible trial on four counts of rape and one of sexual assaultThe Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy will remain in custody before a potential trial on rape charges after a bail application was refused.The 27-year-old French international has been in custody at HMP Altcourse in Merseyside since last Friday, when he appeared at Chester magistrates court charged with four counts of rape and one of sexual assault. Continue reading...

Women forced out of jobs despite Taliban promises to allow them to keep working, survey findsFemale journalists in Afghanistan are being forced out of jobs and told to stay at home despite Taliban promises to allow them to keep working and to respect press freedom, according to a report.Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) says it believes fewer than 100 of Kabul’s 700 female journalists are still working and only a handful are continuing to work from home in two other Afghan provinces. Others have been attacked and harassed. Continue reading...

Francis ‘moved’ by Angela Merkel’s words on western intervention – in fact said by Russian presidentPope Francis has criticised the west’s recent involvement in Afghanistan – inadvertently quoting Vladimir Putin in doing so.In a wide-ranging interview with Spanish radio station COPE, the pope was asked for his thoughts on the redrawn political map of Afghanistan following the withdrawal of the US and its allies from the country after 20 years of war. Continue reading...

Reporters covering rightwing protests have been assaulted, robbed and sprayed with mace as victims say police fail to enforce the lawLos Angeles has seen volatile protests almost every weekend this summer over trans rights, political opposition to masks and vaccines, and the recall of the Democratic governor. At least seven journalists have been physically assaulted while covering these rallies, six of them by rightwing demonstrators.Attacks on the press are just one part of escalating rightwing street violence in the city, which has included multiple stabbings, people being sprayed in the face with bear Mace, an assault on a breast cancer patient outside a clinic, and repeated physical brawls with leftwing protesters in the streets. In another sign of growing tensions, protesters rallying against vaccine mandates showed up at the homes of two Los Angeles city council members on Sunday. Continue reading...

Decision on indefinite leave to remain under resettlement scheme to be made ‘in due course’A decision has yet to be made on whether Afghans moving to the UK under the Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme will be granted indefinite leave to remain, a government minister has said.Those who worked for the British military and UK government are able to move to the UK permanently and work under the Arap (Afghan relocations and assistance policy), the Home Office has announced. Continue reading...

Victoria announces lockdown changes for 23 September, after reporting 120 new cases and confirming two deaths; NSW records 1,164 cases and four deaths, with state to open to international Australians at 80% vaccination; June quarter economic growth revealed.This blog is now closed

Killings of police officers in tiny mountain kingdom has added to sense of ‘lack of consequences’, say analystsThe tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho has the sixth highest murder rate in the world, according to a recent World Population Review report.The global average murder rate is seven per 100,000 people, found the report, and Lesotho had a rate almost six times higher at 41.25. The report ranked Lesotho as only safer than El Salvador (82.84 per 100,000 people), Honduras (56.52), Venezuela (56.33), Virgin Islands (49.26) and Jamaica (47.01). Continue reading...

Graphics from a new book show causes and consequences that are hard to detect with the naked eyeIn a new book, Atlas of the Invisible, the geographer James Cheshire and designer Oliver Uberti redefine what an atlas can be. The following eight graphics reveal some of the causes and consequences of the climate crisis that are hard to detect with the naked eye but become clear when the data is collected and visualised. Continue reading...

How contagious is the Delta Covid variant? Take charge of this interactive and watch how small changes in isolation or reproduction rates of Covid-19 can affect our battle against it.One important characteristic of viruses and other pathogens is how contagious or infectious they are. One key measure of this is the R0, or basic reproduction number, which indicates how many new cases one infected person generates.

Awesome alpacas, frolicking flamingos and recuperating ravens … these rescue animals – in Sage Sohier’s photographs – have a zest for life and a remarkable willingness to forgive people Continue reading...

When I received the call about my father’s heart attack, there wasn’t time to scrub the polish off my fingers. I realised I wanted to share the truth of my life with my loved onesI was in a Pret in Cambridge city centre when I got the call: the senior tutor of my college, Pembroke, told me I had to come and see him. I was needed urgently back in London for a family emergency, and he would drive me to the train station.It was an October morning, 2016, and I was about to go to a lecture. But my heart sank in that moment: it was the kind of call that can only signal tragedy. My father had a heart condition – cardiomyopathy – and I knew that the offer to take me to the station meant he was certainly dead. Continue reading...

The Chinese president’s political ideology is incorporated into the national curriculum as the new school year beginsChinese pupils returned to school with new textbooks peppered with “Xi Jinping thought”, as the Communist party aims to extend his personality cult to children as young as seven and rear a new generation of patriots.The education ministry has said it will incorporate Xi’s vaguely defined political ideology into the national curriculum, from primary schools to graduate programmes, at the start of the new school year on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Fears towers will block out natural light and increase noise around 320-year-old Bevis Marks synagogueTucked away in a courtyard in the City of London, surrounded by glass, steel and concrete skyscrapers, is a historic and religious gem: the oldest synagogue in the UK.On Friday evenings, at the start of the Jewish sabbath, it takes 45 minutes to light up to 240 candles in the original chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the 320-year-old building. Continue reading...

Israel records nearly 11,000 new Covid infections; EU hits its target for vaccinating adults; Ireland’s cabinet to sign off on plans to remove restrictions

Brazilian former football star denies a report of a more serious health issue and says he is in ‘very good health’Brazilian footballing legend Pelé has said that he was undergoing routine exams in hospital and that he was in good health, denying a report of a more serious health issue.“Guys, I didn’t faint and I’m in very good health. I went for my routine exams, which I had not been able to do before because of the pandemic,” Pelé, who is 80, wrote on Twitter. Continue reading...

Conservation charity’s supporters give more than £865,000 despite pandemic closing majority of sitesThe National Trust has reported a 383% increase in online donations during the pandemic year when most of the charity’s venues were “put into hibernation”.Figures from the charity showed that online donationswere more than £865,000, an increase of 383% from 2019/20. Continue reading...

Wednesday: the Taliban marks first full day of control of Afghanistan as the last US troops depart. Plus: light at the end of pandemic dating tunnelGood morning. Afghan citizens have experienced their first day under complete Taliban control after the last US troops left the country, marking an end of two decades of western presence.America’s longest war has come to an end with the last evacuation flight flying out of Kabul airport just after midnight local time. It brought to an end a US presence that lasted nearly 20 years and claimed tens of thousands of lives. The Taliban marked the start of their first day in full control of Afghanistan with celebratory gunfire, minutes after the last US plane of soldiers and their ambassador lifted off. Citizens spoke of an “absolute feeling of depression” under the first day of Taliban rule. “I have been crying since this morning. My brother went out and bought me a burqa, I burned my jeans today. I was crying and burning them, I burned my hopes with them,” said Arifa Ahmadi. Continue reading...

Anthony Sharwood, author of The Brumby Wars, says all the stockmen were Indigenous where the legendary ride is thought to have happenedThere is “overwhelming evidence” that the legendary stockman featured in The Man From Snowy River was Aboriginal, a new book argues.Did AB “Banjo” Paterson “paint his stockman white to appease the literary tastes of the times”?, the journalist Anthony Sharwood asks in The Brumby Wars. Continue reading...

As guards dismantle barricades at airport, leadership holds talks on how the spoils of power will be shared

Citizens tell of ‘absolute feeling of depression’ after last American troops left country overnightArifa Ahmadi* started her first day under full Taliban control by burning her jeans and any other clothes that the Taliban would be likely to disapprove of as the nation woke up to a new era after the last American troops left the country overnight.Ahmadi is a part of the generation that has grown up during the past 20 years and enjoyed freedom, education and employment under a government backed by the west – but lost her job after the Taliban took over the country. Continue reading...

My Kid Could’ve Done That! invited 15 artists to create work alongside their children. From leaking breasts to hours in front of childrens’ TV, the results are admirably honestAt five years of age, Astrid might well be the youngest exhibition curator of all time.“I’m really looking forward to deciding where the art goes,” she says, demonstrating a natural instinct for her new role. “And I’ve really enjoyed working with Daddy too!” Continue reading...

Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford told by officials that her visa would not be renewedThe BBC’s Moscow correspondent has used her final dispatch before her expulsion from Russia by the Kremlin to warn that the country was “moving in reverse” when it came to free speech and press freedoms.Sarah Rainsford recorded the moments after she was pulled aside by authorities at the airport on a return trip to Moscow and informed that Russia’s FSB security service had banned her from life from the country. Continue reading...

Population returns almost to level recorded after famine that killed 1m and forced millions more to emigrateIreland’s population has surpassed 5 million for the first time since the aftermath of its 19th-century famine.The republic reached the milestone in April, reflecting a combination of net migration and natural increase, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Six guards facing criminal cases after footage showed widespread abuse of detainees at Tehran facilityIranian prosecutors have opened criminal cases against six guards at Tehran’s Evin prison after footage showing widespread abuse of detainees at the facility leaked out last week.The judiciary said “some” prison guards were in detention after a three-day investigation into mistreatment and grim conditions at Evin. Zabihollah Khodaeian, a judiciary spokesperson, said authorities had also summoned two guards and punished others. He did not elaborate on the penalties or identifying the suspects. Continue reading...

It’s easy to put off tender discussions, but successfully addressing the most emotional subjects always starts with listeningThere’s a conversation you’re avoiding. It feels important, the stakes are high, there are strong feelings involved and you are putting it off: “The time isn’t right”; “I can’t find the words”; “I don’t want to get emotional”.But delaying doesn’t solve anything and anticipation is often far more uncomfortable than the conversation itself. Getting started might involve some awkward moments, but, after that, the situation is open for discussion and exploration. Continue reading...

Once a year, we pupils were given total freedom, whether we chose to go to the zoo or get on the dodgems. I decided to surprise my mother with a visitThe best day of my school year was always the same: 29 May. It was known as Founder’s Day which, in most schools with such pretensions, meant being forced to dress in your best clothes, sing a hymn in Latin and then listen to some old bloke telling you how to live a good and righteous life. Doesn’t sound promising, does it? Except that at our school, it was different. We may have had the Latin hymn but, after that, we were told we must leave the school and go wherever we wanted (within legal limits, I suppose, though I don’t ever remember that being spelled out). This may not sound that spectacular, until you realise that this was a school for blind and almost-blind children.You were also presented with five shillings, which I suppose was intended as a survival kit, but which we realised could buy 60 penny chews, or a dirty book from the top shelf of the newsagents, which the one boy with a bit of sight could read to you with the aid of a powerful magnifying glass. Continue reading...

Police say Benjamin Green, 41, lived with Maddie Durdant-Hollamby in house where pair were found dead on FridayPolice have named a man suspected of murdering 22-year-old Maddie Durdant-Hollamby before killing himself and confirmed that he was in a relationship with her.Officers confirmed that Benjamin Green, 41, lived with Durdant-Hollamby at his house in Kettering, where they were both found dead shortly after 1pm on Friday after police went to the property after a report of concern for her welfare. Continue reading...

‘We are grateful to feed families, I’m happy to put a smile on people’s faces, I’m very happy. It is what it is’

Singapore agrees to vaccine ‘dose swap’ with Australia; NSW confirms 1,164 cases and three deaths; lockdown extended to 17 September in ACT; Victoria records 76 new cases; AMA says vaccinations for healthcare staff must be mandatory. Follow the latest updates live

As the Roy siblings strategise their next moves, get one step ahead with our at-a-glance stats of their potential for success (or, more likely, disaster) Continue reading...

To disrupt colonial power inequalities, the global south needs to take more controlThere have been many studies published recently on the prevalence of racism in the international aid sector.They have ranged from definitions of racial equity within global development, to the experiences of black, indigenous and other people of colour working in the sector, to the British government’s delayed sub-inquiry into racism as part of a larger inquiry into the culture and philosophy of UK aid. Continue reading...

They brawled with the Sex Pistols, gaffer-taped a journalist to the Eiffel Tower and got thrown out of Sweden twice. Now, for their 18th album and final tour, the punks seem to be maturing at lastAs Jean-Jacques Burnel drily admits, the Stranglers had “a bad reputation for quite a while”. During the punk years, their many outrages ranged from being escorted out of Sweden by police with machine-guns (twice) to gaffer-taping a music journalist to the Eiffel Tower, 400ft up, upside down, without his trousers. However, the singer and bass player says the biggest outcry actually came when they got themselves a keyboard player.“It was seen as sacrilege,” he laughs, recalling this supposed affront to the ramshackle garage punk ethos. “And worse than that – he had a synthesiser. We were called heretics and ostracised. Nobody wanted anything to to do with us. But look what happened a couple of years later: synth pop!” Continue reading...

The 34 outlets catering to students at four universities will offer only a single meat option four days a weekStudents at universities in Berlin will from this winter swap currywurst and schnitzel for seeds and pulses, as campus canteens in the German capital make heavy cuts to their meat and fish options.The 34 canteens and cafes catering to Berlin’s sizeable student population at four different universities will offer from October a menu that is 68% vegan, 28% vegetarian, and 2% fish-based, with a single meat option offered four days a week. Continue reading...

Director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said virus’ reproduction rate remained under one, meaning cases would continue to dropNew cases of Covid-19 have continued to drop in New Zealand, in a promising early indication that the country’s strict lockdown is working and its latest outbreak may be coming under control.The country announced 49 new cases on Tuesday – dropping for the second day in a row, down from 53 cases on Monday and 83 on Sunday. It is the lowest number of new cases reported in the country in six days. Continue reading...

Cal Fire chief warns of ‘fire activity that we have never seen before’ as fleeing residents clog roadsThousands of residents have been forced to evacuate the tourist town of South Lake Tahoe as the raging Caldor fire draws closer, prompting chaotic scenes and clogged roads as residents rush to leave the area.Monday’s fresh evacuation orders, unheard of in the city, came a day after communities several miles south of the lake were abruptly ordered to evacuate as the wildfire raged nearby. Continue reading...