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Hundreds of residents are set to protest amid claims wealthier landholders have received favourable planning decisionsA group of families left in “indefinite limbo” by planning decisions that favoured wealthy landowners near the Western Sydney airport have called for an end to secretive backroom dealing as they prepare to stage public protests against their treatment by government.Two separate scandals have now raised serious questions about the way land near the massive airport development is being handled, and the degree to which landholders are lobbying state and federal governments for favourable treatment. Continue reading...

Australia’s border policies continue to be felt in a country where almost 14,000 refugees and asylum seekers endure a ‘painful, hopeful wait’ to be resettled

Parts of Spain and Italy facing restrictions as Ireland set to become first EU country to reimpose national lockdownRegions in Spain and Italy have returned to lockdown and Ireland will do so from Wednesday as countries across Europe continue to report new Covid infection highs and governments struggle to contain the second wave of the pandemic.The northern Spanish Navarre region, where the number of cases per 100,000 people is 945 against 312 nationally, announced a two-week lockdown from Thursday that will be stricter than measures imposed on Madrid by central government. Continue reading...

Fifty-four-year-old died during shoot for Netflix and BBC drama Black Earth Rising, inquest hearsThe death of a camera operator during a stunt that went wrong should have been prevented by the professional standards normally expected on set, his cinematographer father has said.Doug Milsome spoke on Monday as an inquest opened into the death of his son Mark Milsome. The 54-year-old died during a shoot for the Netflix and BBC drama Black Earth Rising in Ghana in 2017. Continue reading...

I’ve interviewed those seeking safe passage to the UK: their plight was obvious, their stories shockingLast night the government voted against attempts to protect the right of unaccompanied child asylum seekers to join family in the UK. Only six Conservative MPs rebelled to support the amendment, put forward by former child refugee Lord Dubs, that would have enshrined the legal right to family reunion for child refugees after the UK leaves the EU at the end of the year.It’s hard to emphasise the immeasurable loss that this vote will impose on thousands of families in the years to come. Over the past few years I’ve interviewed young people trying to reach their relatives in the UK and families here desperate to get children and young people to safety. The suffering was always enormous, consuming every minute of their day. Continue reading...

Regional health minister of Madrid described state of emergency as ‘attack on people of Madrid’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageLockdown tensions between central government and regional authorities are not confined to the UK.On 9 October, Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government was forced to declare a state of emergency to put Madrid and eight surrounding towns into a limited lockdown after the regional government flip-flopped, protested and mounted a legal challenge to the restrictions. Continue reading...

Josh Powell’s family car was in a collision with an HGV on the A40 near Oxford on 12 OctoberA man who survived a car crash in which his wife and three of his children died has paid tribute to a wonderful family with a hunger for adventure.Josh Powell’s 29-year-old wife, Zoe, their daughters Phoebe, eight, and Amelia, four, and six-year-old son Simeon all died in a collision between their people carrier and a lorry. Continue reading...

PM set to impose England’s strictest restrictions as parties unable to agree on funding

Peter Madsen, a Danish man convicted of torturing and murdering a Swedish journalist on his homemade submarine, escaped the suburban Copenhagen jail where he is serving a life sentence – but was recaptured nearby on Tuesday. Danish media showed video of Madsen sitting in the grass with his hands behind his back and police at a distance

Enterprising film expertly conjures up a supposedly bewitched Bulgarian horror that has killed all those who have watched itYou probably haven’t heard of Antrum, such is the dread and secrecy that surrounds this “cursed film”. And that’s for your own good. Antrum was made in the late 70s and implicated in the mysterious deaths of several film festival programmers and foolhardy horror fans. Now, though, some documentarians have dug up a copy at an estate sale and are sharing it with anyone brave enough to watch.Or so goes the framing narrative of this part-found-footage-part-mockumentary horror. It would be wonderful to stumble across Antrum with little prior knowledge, in a FrightFest-style festival screening, perhaps, or as a midnight movie in your local cinema: remember back when The Blair Witch Project was still a “true story”? Sadly, the pandemic is denying many of us that pleasure, so we might as well openly appreciate the meticulous care that Antrum’s Canadian co-directors have put into fabricating the look of a 40-year-old, low-budget Bulgarian curio, utilising effects both technical and psychological. Continue reading...

Memo from Hanbury Strategy calls for ‘velvet no’ campaign to convince voters to stay in the unionA leaked memo given to senior Conservatives suggests the UK government should agree to a fresh independence referendum if the Scottish National party wins an outright majority next May.The document written by Hanbury Strategy, a consultancy with very close links to the Tories, argues the UK government could offer significant new powers to the Scottish parliament and put both options to the vote. Continue reading...

Spain’s tourist sector – including the new Four Seasons hotel – is bearing the brunt of Covid, with the capital’s occupancy rates at 15%

Children as young as five still exposed to hazardous work in countries including Ghana and Ivory Coast, report revealsNearly 20 years after the world’s major chocolate manufacturers pledged to abolish employment abuses, hazardous child labour remains rife in their supply chains, a new study finds.

Police say mobile sirens and surveillance cameras also used to deter crossings into EU

Curator of Hay’s inaugural festival in Abu Dhabi has accused Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan of sexual assault, which he deniesHay literature festival will not return to Abu Dhabi until a senior Gulf royal is removed from his post as the United Arab Emirates’ minister of tolerance, after the curator of the inaugural Hay festival in the country accused him of sexual assault.Caitlin McNamara was the curator of the first sister festival in Abu Dhabi, which was feted as an opportunity to promote freedom of expression, human rights and women’s rights in the UAE. In an interview with the Sunday Times, she accused Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan of sexually assaulting her on 14 February, 11 days before the festival began. Continue reading...

Madsen, who was convicted of murdering Kim Wall in 2017, was arrested shortly after escaping from jail in CopenhagenA Danish man convicted of torturing and murdering a Swedish journalist on his homemade submarine escaped the suburban Copenhagen jail where he is serving a life sentence but was found nearby on Tuesday.The Ekstra Bladet tabloid posted a video of Peter Madsen sitting in the grass with his hands behind his back and police at a distance. According to the daily, Madsen “had a belt-like object around the abdomen”. Continue reading...

Coronavirus cases rising rapidly in Italian region badly hit by first wave of infections

My country seemed to have all the ingredients for a coronavirus disaster, so what has it done right?On the evening of 7 March 2020, I received an email from the manager of the office building where I work in central Hanoi. It said the father of Nguyen Hong Nhung, the 17th Covid-19 patient in the country and first in the city, had dined on the third floor of the building the night before. Although he had twice tested negative for the virus, the building managers had reported his presence to the authorities. Seven staff who had been in contact with him were isolated and the building was immediately cleaned with disinfectant spray.To date, Vietnam (population: 95 million) has recorded 35 deaths from the novel coronavirus. My office building’s response was typical of the aggressive contact-tracing strategy the country adopted from the beginning of the pandemic. During the first phase, the government managed to cut off all the virus transmission routes promptly and comprehensively. Every infected person was hospitalised. People in contact with them were traced to the fourth layer and isolated. Their homes and neighbourhoods were put under local lockdown and sanitised by the army. The country has effectively been acting as if this were biological warfare. Continue reading...

Inquiry continues into death of 36-year-old Indigenous man from Rooty Hill who suffered an asthma attack in jailPrison officers took about 10 minutes to respond to a call for help from an Indigenous man who later died from an asthma attack, a Sydney inquest has heard.Nathan Reynolds, 36, called for assistance at 11.27pm after struggling to breathe at a South Windsor prison’s minimum-security wing on 31 August 2018. Guards arrived 12 minutes later after walking there. Continue reading...

Local leaders are understood to have agreed to ask for lump sum as noon deadline to agree to tier 3 curbs approaches

Authorities say canal views blighted by bikes and pedestrians pushed off pavementsAmsterdam prides itself on being one of the world’s most cyclist-friendly cities. But even the Dutch capital has its limits.The municipality has complained that the views of some of the most beautiful canals are being blighted while pedestrians are being forced into the street by the accumulation of bikes being tied to bridge railings. Continue reading...

The former Howard government minister insists, however, that Crown didn’t turn a blind eye to illegal activityThe Crown Resorts chairman, Helen Coonan, has admitted the company facilitated money laundering at its Melbourne casino but denied it was “turning a blind eye” to criminal activity instead blaming it on “ineptitude”.The concession was made at the New South Wales Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority’s inquiry into Crown’s suitability to hold a Sydney casino licence. Continue reading...

Government accused of failing to protect generation Z from harm caused by pandemic response

Site used to be one of the largest asbestos mines in the world but residents now want it to be called Val-des-SourcesResidents in the Canadian town of Asbestos have voted to rename their community to distance it from the once-ubiquitous mineral now recognised as being extremely poisonous and linked to lung and other cancers.The town, formerly home to one of the world’s largest asbestos mines, voted 51.5% in favour of changing its name to Val-des-Sources over five other options, according to results announced on Monday from a four-day referendum. Continue reading...

Spanish DJ and producer, who became famous with the Café del Mar bar and compilation series, dies from colon cancerJosé Padilla, the Spanish DJ who helped define chillout music in the 1990s, has died aged 64 from colon cancer.An update on his Facebook page reads: “It is with great sadness that we bring you the news that José passed away peacefully in his sleep on Sunday night here on his beloved island of Ibiza … Now he has gone and the sunset in Ibiza will never be the same without him, but the beautiful music of José Padilla will stay with us forever.” Continue reading...

Cathedral of the Armed Forces blends militarism, patriotism and Orthodox Christianity to controversial effectAngels hover above artillery, religious images are adorned with Kalashnikovs and the Virgin Mary strikes a pose reminiscent of a Soviet second world war poster. The imagery inside Russia’s vast Cathedral of the Armed Forces blends militarism, patriotism and Orthodox Christianity to breathtaking and highly controversial effect.An hour’s drive from Moscow, the cathedral has a metallic, khaki-green exterior, topped with golden domes and crosses that rise to 95 metres (312ft). Inside is the largest amount of mosaic of any church in the world, with many of the work depicting battles from Russian history and the second world war in particular. Continue reading...

Prime minister says police should investigate all issues associated with government’s Leppington Triangle land purchaseScott Morrison’s office says preliminary searches have not located any correspondence from the disgraced New South Wales MP Daryl Maguire during Morrison’s time in the immigration portfolio, or while he has been prime minister.During a hearing last week in the NSW independent commission against corruption, Maguire admitted to receiving thousands of dollars in cash to his parliamentary office from a former business associate, Maggie Wang, in relation to a “cash-for-visa” scheme the two established. Continue reading...

Budget estimates continue with Australia’s coronavirus response on the agenda. Victoria’s hotel quarantine inquiry will reconvene for an extraordinary session while in NSW testing rates drop below 7,000. Follow all the latest updates

Coronavirus tests that cost £80 offered to travellers to Italy and Hong Kong

It is unlikely a coronavirus vaccine will be in widespread use in Britain before next spring, the government's chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance said on Monday. The Sunday Times had reported that Britain's health service was preparing for a roll-out of jabs soon after Christmas, because late-stage trials of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine were going well, citing a briefing by the deputy chief medical officer to lawmakers. But Vallance said it was important not to get hopes up too early on the delivery of vaccines during a difficult winter, noting that vaccines usually took a decade to produce.

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news7.37am BSTGood morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the world economy, the financial markets, the eurozone and business.Related: Coronavirus live news: Greater Manchester facing tier 3 restrictions, Argentina passes 1m casesThe Speaker and Secretary Mnuchin spoke at 3:00 p.m. today for approximately 53 minutes. In this call, they continued to narrow their differences. The Speaker has tasked committee chairs to reconcile differences with their GOP counterparts on key areas. (1/2)The Speaker continues to hope that, by the end of the day Tuesday, we will have clarity on whether we will be able to pass a bill before the election. The two principals will speak again tomorrow and staff work will continue around the clock. (2/2)Dow closes >400 points lower w/one day left until Pelosi's stimulus deadline. Fear Index VIX jumps >29. https://t.co/whSerdm2dQ pic.twitter.com/z66hpl1toUThe two sides remain talking ahead of today’s deadline. While the Republican-led Senate has been reluctant to pass a stimulus bill above the $500 billion level that Majority leader McConnell has supported, President Trump has indicated that he is willing to go up to the $2.2 trillion range that Democrats have demanded. Mr Trump said yesterday that if an agreement with Democrats is reached, he would “lean” on Republican Senators to “come along.”Regardless, the confirmation that the two sides remain significantly apart saw the S&P 500 fall over 1.1% in the last 90 minutes of trading, though the index had been dripping lower throughout the day as risk sentiment soured after a healthy start.Markets pulling back again late in Asian session after early recovery.

Data from tens of thousands of people around the world used to identify those at highest risk of active TB before they get sickScientists have developed a new tool to predict the chances of a person developing tuberculosis, which could help limit the spread of the disease and improve the life chances of millions of people .Researchers at University College London (UCL) said they believe they have produced an algorithm that could help eliminate the disease in some countries. Continue reading...

In televised address, Rodrigo Duterte says he would ‘gladly’ go to jail over drugs killings carried out during drug warPhilippine president Rodrigo Duterte has said he has no problem with being held responsible for the thousands of killings under his government’s war on drugs, adding that he was ready to face charges that could land him in jail, though not charges of crimes against humanity.The president’s televised remarks on Monday night were among his clearest acknowledgement of the prospects that he could face a deluge of criminal charges for the bloody campaign he launched after taking office in mid-2016. Continue reading...

Beijing urges India to fulfil promise to return corporal who it says got lost in disputed mountainous region after helping herd yaksChina’s military has said it hopes India will honour its pledge to swiftly return a Chinese soldier, found lost along their mountainous and contested border zone, where both militaries have been locked in a tense standoff for decades.India said on Monday that the soldier, Corporal Wang Ya Long, had been apprehended inside Indian-controlled Ladakh’s Demchok area and was to be released soon. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary condemns ‘cynical and reckless’ bid to disrupt Games, before they were postponedRussian military intelligence services were planning a cyber-attack on the Japanese-hosted Olympics and Paralympics in Tokyo this summer in an attempt to disrupt the world’s premier sporting event, the UK National Cyber Security Centre has revealed, disclosing a joint operation with the US intelligence agencies.The Russian cyber-reconnaissance work covered the Games organisers, logistics services and sponsors and was under way before the Olympics was postponed due to coronavirus. Continue reading...

As their hard-hitting TV show Enslaved comes to an end, the star and his wife LaTanya Richardson talk about roots, race, revolution – and how to get rid of ‘the orange man’From Spike Lee joints to Tarantino thrillers, Star Wars to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Samuel L Jackson has done it all. Last year he was named “Hollywood’s most bankable star”, with films grossing a total of $13bn to date – more than the annual GDP of Iceland. The New York Times has described him as “his own genre”.And yet, despite having one of the most recognisable faces on the planet, until recently Jackson didn’t know quite where that face had come from. Like many African Americans, he was descended from people who were enslaved, leaving a question mark over his origins. That was until he embarked on a process of genealogy and DNA testing, which led him back to Gabon’s Benga tribe. “A lot of people tried to trace themselves and find out where they came from – all they could find out was maybe a country,” he explains. “So to go through what I went through – to find out what tribal ancestry I had and to be able to step back into – it was a really emotional, satisfying feeling. There’s a fullness that comes upon me, every time I land in Africa. As I step on the ground, everything sort of changes”. Continue reading...

Jackson Williams, who grabbed the woman off a street as she walked to work, has been convicted of common assaultA man who grabbed a nurse off a Melbourne street and dragged her into an alleyway has been acquitted of attempted sexual assault.Jackson Williams had been out clubbing and drinking when he grabbed the 39-year-old from behind as she walked to work through the CBD early on 28 October 2018. Continue reading...

Famous for his role of The Dude in The Big Lebowski, Bridges says the disease is serious but his prognosis is goodActor Jeff Bridges has said he is being treated for lymphoma and his prognosis is good.The 70-year-old channeled his The Dude character from The Big Lebowski in a statement on social media about the diagnosis on Monday evening, tweeting “New S**T has come to light”. Continue reading...

New South Wales reports five new Covid-19 cases while Victorian case may prove to be historical

Activist said she was arrested at a protest in November 2019 and fled to Germany via TaiwanGermany has granted refugee status to a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist facing a rioting charge in connection with the 2019 protests, the protester told Reuters on Monday.The 22-year-old university student showed Reuters a letter from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) dated 14 October that confirmed the granting of refugee status. Continue reading...

Authorities reveal blood glucose test devices were incorrectly used on 243 people, necessitating screenings for blood-borne diseases

Minister battles to rescue retailers amid fears for 50,000 shops and hundreds of thousands of jobs

Campaigners say sale of drugs should be nationalised to undermine organised crimeCocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines should be “nationalised” and sold legally in government-run pharmacies to undermine global drug-related crime, a UK drugs reform charity has recommended.In a book – with a foreword written by the former prime minister of New Zealand Helen Clark – the drugs liberalisation campaign group Transform has sought to set out practical ways to sell the drugs in state-run special pharmacies as an alternative to what it calls the “unwinnable war against drugs”. Continue reading...

Government says it will impose tier 3 restrictions on the region if no agreement reached

Neil Hatfield tells inquiry into attack that he heard ‘alarm bells in my head straight away’A father waiting to collect his daughters from Ariana Grande’s Manchester Arena concert thought “suicide bomber” when he first saw Salman Abedi at the venue, he told an inquiry into the attack.Neil Hatfield said “alarm bells in my head just went straight away” when he noticed a young man carrying a bag containing something “rock solid”. Continue reading...

Tuesday: US president insults top infectious disease expert as global infections top 40 million. Plus: why did Celeste Barber’s copycat post get blocked?Good morning, this is Tamara Howie bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Tuesday 20 October. Continue reading...

First minister announces lockdown from 23 October to give NHS breathing space before winter

Compensation payment pledged for alleged role in bombing of two US embassiesWashington has removed Sudan from a terrorism blacklist after the country agreed to pay $335m in compensation for its alleged role in the bombing of two US embassies in east Africa by al-Qaida in 1998.Donald Trump tweeted the news of the deal on Monday. “GREAT news! New government of Sudan, which is making great progress, agreed to pay $335 MILLION to U.S. terror victims and families. Once deposited, I will lift Sudan from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list. At long last, JUSTICE for the American people and BIG step for Sudan!” he wrote. Continue reading...