Sotheby’s says estimate for 550-year-old painting is largest it has ever set for an old master

Government ministers have ‘shamefully washed their hands’ of those unable to return home, tearful Melbourne woman tells inquiryFederal politicians have been berated for “abandoning” Australian citizens overseas during the coronavirus pandemic with witnesses telling a Senate inquiry government ministers had “shamefully washed their hands” of those unable to return.Melbourne woman Peta Stoyanovich-Kristie broke down in tears on Thursday when explaining the situation of her 79-year-old mother-in-law, Stanika, and husband, Luke. They are stuck in Serbia, where Luke flew with a valid exit exemption after his father died in July. Continue reading...

As the two Germanies prepared to become one on 3 October 1990, Richard Boston visited East Germany to ask people how they felt about the end of their nation2 October 1990 Continue reading...

Christian Porter will choose reforms without agreement of all parties after negotiations descended into acrimony

Chen Qiushi who reported on Chinese response to virus believed to be in detention

After Australia suspended the extradition treaty over China’s national security laws, Hong Kong hit back by pausing the mutual legal assistance treatyAustralian law enforcement agencies have made seven requests to Hong Kong for help with investigations that will now be placed “on hold” because a legal assistance treaty is in limbo, an inquiry has heard.After the Australian government announced it would suspend the extradition treaty because of concerns about the impact of China’s sweeping new national security laws, Hong Kong authorities hit back by informing Australia a second treaty – the mutual legal assistance treaty – would also be paused. Continue reading...

Wong released on bail after arrest over 2019 protest and for allegedly violating mask lawHong Kong authorities have arrested Joshua Wong over a 2019 protest and for allegedly violating an anti-mask law which courts have since found partially unconstitutional, according to the activist’s social media accounts.The veteran activist Koo Sze-yiu was also arrested, pro-democracy figures told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Graeme Walker tells of how the animals rammed his yacht off the west coast of Spain

Three orcas rammed a boat off the coast of Spain.The incident lasted 45 minutes, during which the animals bit off part of the the sailing boat's rudder as the crew had to travel to a port in Galicia to check for further damage.A number of incidents involving orcas and sailing boats have been reported near Spanish and Portuguese coasts, but the reasons behind the behaviour are still not clear Continue reading...

South African music track and dance steps created in Angola have caught the imagination of politicians, priests and millions more

Healthcare workers and health departments will be among the first to use the rapid antigen tests

Curbs eased at NSW schools and weddings as state reports no new community transmissions, while Victorian health minister Jenny Mikakos tells hotels inquiry she was not involved in decision to use private security. Follow live

China has built nearly 400 internment camps in Xinjiang region, with construction on dozens continuing over the last two years, even as Chinese authorities said their “re-education” system was winding down, an Australian thinktank has found.The network of camps in China’s far west, used to detain Uighurs and people from other Muslim minorities, include 14 that are still under construction, according to the latest satellite imaging obtained by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.Most information about the camps, and a wider government campaign against Muslim minorities in the region, has come from survivors who have fled abroad, leaked Chinese government documents, and satellite images that have confirmed the location and existence of camps.

Despite government’s efforts, rules for Covid-safe behaviour are far from simple

Hamilton says ban is ‘retaliation’ after Australia revoked visas of Chinese academics Chen Hong and Li JianjunChina has banned Australian academic Clive Hamilton and researcher Alex Joske from entering the country, with state media dubbing the pair “anti-China scholars”.On Thursday, the Global Times, a hawkish state media mouthpiece, reported Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University and author on the Chinese Communist party, and Joske, a researcher for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, had been banned from entering the country. Neither Hamilton nor Joske had plans or visas to travel to China. Continue reading...

UK-US media figure was behind huge investigations and was harsh critic of Rupert MurdochSir Harold Evans, whose commitment to investigative reporting while editor of the Sunday Times helped shape British journalism during the second half of the 20th century, has died at the age of 92.Under Evans’ leadership between 1967 and 1981, the newspaper gained a reputation for its crusading journalism on behalf of the victims of the thalidomide scandal and for stories such as exposing Kim Philby as a Soviet spy. Continue reading...

Discrimination against Indigenous students and teaching staff ‘deeply ingrained’ and endemic

Analysis of stories across six countries including UK found fewer than a fifth of experts quoted on the pandemic were women

A blinded politician, a woman who was gang-raped, and a young man whose kidney was stolen tell how they had no choice

Seoul says regime ‘committed an act of brutality’ against ministry official who was investigating claims of unauthorised fishing on maritime borderSouth Korea has condemned as “an act of brutality” the death of an official who it claims was shot by North Korean soldiers near the countries’ maritime border, and called for those responsible to be punished.The defence ministry in Seoul said the 47-year-old oceans and fisheries ministry official had been killed and his corpse burned after disappearing from an inspection boat in waters off the western border island of Yeonpyeong on Monday. Continue reading...

Construction has continued despite Beijing’s claim ‘re-education’ system is winding downChina has built nearly 400 internment camps in Xinjiang region, with construction on dozens continuing over the last two years, even as Chinese authorities said their “re-education” system was winding down, an Australian thinktank has found.The network of camps in China’s far west, used to detain Uighurs and people from other Muslim minorities, include 14 that are still under construction, according to the latest satellite imaging obtained by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Continue reading...

Thursday: a new debt restructuring process to be unveiled by the Morrison government. Plus, will Covid create greener, livelier Australian cities?Good morning, this is Richard Parkin bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Thursday 24 September. Continue reading...

One Dutch MEP compared the plans to the far right while Von der Leyen’s party called them ‘a good starting point’The EU home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, hopes migration will become just another “normal policy area”, even “boring”.Since more than 1 million refugees arrived in Europe in 2015, migration has been neither “boring” nor easy for the European Union. Leaders flung accusations at each other, exposing painful divisions. In 2015, Italy’s then prime minister told his fellow leaders they were “time wasters”, who didn’t deserve to call themselves Europeans. Central European countries accused their neighbours of trying to “blackmail” them. Continue reading...

However, report concludes that some responses from 999 call operators were ‘unclear’Police helicopters circling Grenfell Tower did not fan the flames or cost lives by misleading trapped residents into thinking they would rescue them, an investigation managed by the national police watchdog has concluded.The surveillance helicopters were not close enough for their rotors to fuel the fire and residents who believed they were there to rescue them had not been misled by 999 call operators, according to a report by the Metropolitan police’s directorate of professional standards under the management of the Independent Office of Police Conduct. Continue reading...

Essential workers reported stress caused by increased workloads, understaffing, fears over Covid and struggles in enforcing social distancingTerri Prunty Kay has worked as a cashier at Walmart in Sonoma county, California since 2011. She had never cried at work because of treatment from customers before the pandemic.“It’s been a nightmare,” she said. “The first three months there were item limits. Everyone was angry and combative. Now it’s the masks.” Continue reading...

Investigation into alleged importation of firearms parts leads police to arrest of 36-year-old in NSW over alleged offencesA man in country New South Wales has been arrested as part of an investigation involving US Homeland Security for allegedly importing illegal firearm parts and drug manufacturing equipment.NSW police, Australian Border Force and Homeland Security investigators raided the man’s house in south Bathurst about 6am on Wednesday, NSW police confirmed in a media release. Continue reading...

Benjamin Jeremy Bourke, 25, allegedly shot a 15-year-old girl in the hand and stomach after walking in an Aldi in Ipswich on Tuesday afternoonA man charged with attempted murder after allegedly firing an arrow at a teenage girl in a supermarket in Queensland will remain behind bars.Benjamin Jeremy Bourke, 25, allegedly shot the 15-year-old in the hand and stomach after walking into Booval Aldi in Ipswich on Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading...

Royal commission hears more frequent natural disasters in Australia will become ‘a major strategic problem in its own right’The Australian defence force will need a bigger budget to meet growing community expectations that it will help out during natural disasters while maintaining preparedness for a traditional military threat, the royal commission into national natural disaster preparedness has heard.The ADF were called in to help the bushfire response this summer, and have been embedded in health and police departments as part of the response to the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...

NHS Tayside investigating further suspected cases at private accommodation for Abertay University

Victoria’s jobs minister, Martin Pakula, and emergency services minister, Lisa Neville, are likely to face questioning over the use of private security guards in hotel quarantine

PM says he is prepared for harsher restrictions, if new measures do not cut down virus’ spread

Follow live as Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin – among others – deliver video messages7.30pm BSTMacron is now criticising the US for withdrawing from the Iran nuclear agreement and for its sanctions.“The maximum pressure strategy, which has been underway for several years, has not at this stage made it possible to end Iran’s destabilising activities or to ensure that it will not be able to acquire nuclear weapons,” Macron said.

The leader of a cult who claims to be a reincarnation of Jesus was arrested in Russia in a special operation.

Announcement of tighter coronavirus restrictions in England and Scotland leaves millions bracing for a difficult winter

Light aircraft are ‘harder to see than the jets and turboprops and they don’t make as much noise’, the airport’s operations supervisor saysThe scarcity of commercial flights landing at Sydney airport has been a disaster for airlines and workers, but for hobby pilots the pandemic has provided the opportunity of a lifetime.The quieter than usual runways mean private pilots have been given the chance to land at the international airport for the first time. Continue reading...

PM announces 10pm closing for pubs, a ban on indoor team sports and new weddings curbs

British-Iranian woman under house arrest in Tehran sends details to prosecutor’s office

The UK is at a 'perilous turning point' and must act, Boris Johnson has told MPs, announcing new restrictions for England including reducing the size of wedding gatherings and bans on indoor team sports, as well as a return to home working

Rose Patterson made internet searches related to suicide in weeks before her death, inquest toldThe chairman of Aintree racecourse, Rose Paterson, took her own life in woodland near her family home, a coroner has ruled.Paterson’s husband, the former environment secretary Owen Paterson, paid tribute to his wife’s achievements in horse racing and the arts after the hearing. Continue reading...

Keith Schembri is under investigation for money laundering linked to sales of passports to rich foreignersPolice in Malta have arrested Keith Schembri, the former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff, as part of an investigation into alleged kickbacks connected to the sale of Maltese passports.Schembri was arrested shortly after midnight on Tuesday, hours after a court issued a wide-ranging order for all his assets and those of his family and companies to be frozen. Being questioned alongside Schembri is the high-profile Maltese accountant Brian Tonna, and one of his associates, who are also subject to the same freezing order. All three men deny wrongdoing. Continue reading...

Former traffic officer Sergei Torop, AKA Vissarion, arrested in special operation in Siberia

Matteo Salvini has failed to capture Tuscany. But as the extreme right becomes more mainstream, the left must make a better offer“Europe is watching us”, declared La Nazione newspaper in Tuscany, the only Italian leftwing stronghold that the centre-left managed to retain in the 2019 European elections. This weekend, it was on the verge of having its first ever rightwing governor. Ultimately, Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigrant League party failed to capture Tuscany, but it would be a mistake for the continent to become complacent. That the right came so close in a “red region” betrays deep underlying issues in Italian politics and society, years in the making, which have parallels across the world.Related: Far-right Brothers of Italy close to snatching Marche region from left Continue reading...

Exhibition at the Box looks back 400 years to the settlers’ voyage to America and its effect on the indigenous peopleOne of the galleries features both a full-scale model of a woolly mammoth and a collection of tiny sea creatures pickled in jars that look more like an installation by Damien Hirst than a city museum exhibit.A second is dominated by a replica of the Mayflower, the ship that sailed from the UK to what is now the US exactly 400 years ago, but also highlights precious artefacts and images that tell the story of the indigenous people who suffered in the decades following the ship’s landing. Continue reading...

British officials hand over evidence after mother of one of accused men loses challenge

PM widely expected to beat challenger in October but both criticised after ‘muddled’ exchangesThe first election debate between the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and the opposition leader, Judith Collins, went off without a bang, with both leaders failing to properly ignite.Ardern is widely expected to win the election on 17 October. In a Colmar Brunton poll released an hour before the debate, her Labour party garnered 48% as preferred leaders, compared with 31% for the National party. Continue reading...

Ex-health minister says not enough was done to avoid using contaminated US blood to treat haemophiliacsNot enough was done to stop contaminated blood being imported from the US to treat British haemophiliacs in the 1970s and 80s, the former UK health minister David Owen has said.Giving evidence to the infected blood inquiry, the one-time Labour MP said he had supported making Britain self-sufficient in blood products and had been determined to “stop blood coming in from America”. Continue reading...

The decision to drop the Queen had long been planned, but the shameful Windrush scandal altered perceptions of the ‘mother country’Barbados’s recent announcement that it will become a republic, ending the tenure of the Queen as head of state by November 2021, is noteworthy not only for what is said about the island but also about changes in perception of Britain and its monarchy.There is legitimacy in the stance taken by the prime minister, Mia Amor Mottley. A toddler in 1966 when “Little England” (as Barbados was referred to) achieved independence, this highly regarded Caribbean leader has strong nationalist and regional instincts. With many leading Commonwealth Caribbean countries already republics, she, like others born in the independence era, sees republicanism as a coming of age. Continue reading...

Spooky opening gives way to a leaders’ showdown with little drama and lacking in sparkThere was high drama at the first televised debate last night between New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and the leader of the oppositionNational party, Judith Collins, when host John Campbell crept out of the darkness and onto the studio floor in the spooky opening seconds. His eyes were bulging. He clutched some kind of weapon in his hands. Campbell has always had an excitable, untamed spirit, and his menacing entrance made him look like Michael Myers from Halloween except in a grey check suit.And that was it for the high drama. After the curious stage direction, Campbell gave a warm welcome to Ardern and Collins, and revealed that he was holding nothing more sinister than a brand new clipboard. The next 90 minutes were all downhill. Continue reading...

Prestigious award follows the restoration of his citizenship last year after decades of exile in Paris