As towns declare themselves ‘LGBT-free zones’, Polish DJs and musicians are leading furious opposition to widespread homophobia and police brutalityIn August, as a giant bouncy castle was throwing a shadow on Warsaw’s baroque-style Ujazdow castle – home to the Centre for Contemporary Art – a party was under way. It was the last in To Be Real, an events series aimed at maximising the space’s fleeting inclusivity of Poland’s LGBTQ+ community. One of the artists was running late. “I came almost straight out of jail and played probably the most aggressive set in my life,” says DJ and producer Avtomat.A day earlier, he had been arrested at a protest against the pre-trial detention of an LGBTQ+ rights campaigner known as Margot. Human Rights Watch described the government’s violent crackdown on activists as an attempt to crush dissent against state-sanctioned homophobia: the ruling Law and Justice party has pledged to fight “LGBT ideology” to protect the so-called traditional Polish family unit. Continue reading...

Assessment process needs to be simplified and begin long before residents move into a nursing home, says former treasurerElderly people should face tougher means-testing and potentially pay more for aged care, the former federal treasurer, Peter Costello, has said, while arguing the assessment process needs to be simplified and begin long before residents move into a nursing home.Costello served as John Howard’s treasurer from 1996 to 2007 and is now chair of the $160bn Future Fund. Over the past few days, the aged care royal commission has been asking economic experts how aged care could be funded given the ageing population and increasing costs. Continue reading...

The UK, with an inflated view of its negotiating power, is threatening to renege on the EU withdrawal agreement Continue reading...

Leader of Cavite province sets up hotline for noise complaints, saying good sleep is essential in fighting disease

Workers felt pressure from employers to continue working and keep quiet to keep their jobs

Daniel Andrews government faces legal fight as regional Victoria prepares to ease restrictions and state reports 42 new coronavirus cases and eight deaths

16 September 1924 People wrongly believe that this majestic group of ruins was the Westminster Abbey of the Druids in BritainThe belief that Stonehenge, in common with other megalithic remains in the British Isles — menhirs, dolmens, and circles, — is druidical, and that the majestic group of ruins on Salisbury Plain was the Westminster Abbey of the Druids in Britain, is widely held, and especially by the non-scientific public. It has found expression in many of the older Ordnance maps, in which the term druidical is applied to groups of prehistoric remains which are now known to belong to the Neolithic or Bronze Age. This error will doubtless be erased in future editions.It has also led within recent years to the formation of a sect at Clapham who assume that they are the heirs of the Druids, and as such claim the right to bury the ashes of their dead at Stonehenge, which they view as the Mecca of their faith. From their own account it appears that they have already buried the ashes of some of their members and the bodies of some of their children within the precincts. Whatever they do in the future, we look to the Board of Works to prevent further desecration of the noblest pre-historic monument in Europe, or any interference with the exploration now being carried on by the Society of Antiquaries and the Wiltshire Archeological Society. Continue reading...

According to survey of adults 18-39, 23% said they believed the Holocaust was a myth, had been exaggerated or they weren’t sureAlmost two-thirds of young American adults do not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and more than one in 10 believe Jews caused the Holocaust, a new survey has found, revealing shocking levels of ignorance about the greatest crime of the 20th century.According to the study of millennial and Gen Z adults aged between 18 and 39, almost half (48%) could not name a single concentration camp or ghetto established during the second world war. Continue reading...

Teaching council says student teachers are not able to complete the requisite number of practical hours because of this year’s lockdowns

Overall sales have fallen 20% between January and August but Audi sales have actually increasedNew car sales in Australia have slumped since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but one sector is bucking the trend – luxury brands.Overall sales have fallen 20% as people have lost jobs and income, overseas factories have closed down and the recession has begun to bite. Continue reading...

President says he has to ‘do something’ about the body after it rules that duties on $200bn worth of Chinese goods breached regulationsThe United States has described the World Trade Organization as “completely inadequate” after it criticised the Trump administration’s tariffs on China.The WTO said on Tuesday that the US breached global trading rules by imposing levies on more than $200bn of Chinese goods in the opening salvo of president Donald Trump’s trade war with Beijing two years ago. Continue reading...

Contenders to help the mostly French-speaking town in Quebec move on from its past include Phénix, Trois-Lacs and ... JeffreyA town in Quebec named after the deadly substance that was for years mined there – asbestos – has narrowed down to four a list of new names as it prepares to adopt a new identity.The Canadian town’s four finalists, chosen from a list of 1,000 suggestions, include Phénix for the mythical bird reborn from fire (though asbestos exposure is often a concern after major fires). Another option is Apalone, after a species of turtle, or Trois-Lacs (three lakes), after a neighbourhood in the town. The final contender is simply “Jeffrey”, the name of what was until recently the town’s largest asbestos mine, the establishment of which was funded in 1880 by a W H Jeffrey, according to a local history website. Residents aged 14 or over are allowed to vote. Continue reading...

Man, 35, and woman, 27, arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughterTwo people have been arrested after a dog fatally attacked a 12-day-old baby boy in Doncaster.South Yorkshire police said the infant had suffered serious injuries and died in hospital on Sunday. Continue reading...

Stephen Donnelly was taken ill after unveiling country’s pandemic plan

Ship had been used to take Mayas captured during an 1847-1901 rebellion to work in sugarcane fields in CubaArchaeologists in Mexico have identified a ship that carried Mayan people into virtual slavery in the 1850s, the first time such a ship has been found.Related: Mexico’s Amlo proposes referendum on prosecuting country’s ex-presidents Continue reading...

Mexican president delivered document to senate asking for plebiscite to be held alongside midterms in June 2021Mexico’s president has announced plans for a referendum on whether to prosecute his unpopular predecessors, saying he wants “the people” to give the green light to any legal proceedings against the country’s former presidents.Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commonly called Amlo, delivered a document to the senate on Tuesday, asking for a plebiscite on prosecuting former presidents to be held along midterm elections on 6 June 2021. Continue reading...

Labor hopes voters will continue to back its coronavirus response, but conservatives are lobbing grenades over border closuresOn Sunday in Brisbane, a light plane looped the city trailed by the slogan “she is heartless”. Everyone on the ground knew exactly who “she” was.Annastacia Palaszczuk was once Queensland’s “accidental premier”; as Labor attempts to win a third successive term, it is now framing a presidential-style campaign around her massive social media following and popular pandemic leadership. Continue reading...

News updates: UK records rise in cases in 24 hours; more people need hospital treatment; Hancock says testing shortage will take weeks to fix

Intervention by PM raises expectations of a deal with backbenchers over legislation

Daniel Nyqvist, 37, admits killing boy and woman 15 years ago but claims it was manslaughter

Sale of Mountain Equipment Co-op, outdoor retailer with over 5m members, comes as bitter blow but follows dip in performanceCanada’s best-known outdoor supplies retailer has been sold to a US private equity firm, in a move which has shocked members and former staff of the country’s largest cooperative.Related: Groundhogs to blame for scattered human bones in Canadian cemetery Continue reading...

Public inquiry into 2017 terror attack hears tributes to victims killed by blastFamilies have told of their lives being “shattered” by the Manchester Arena bombing in a series of poignant tributes.During commemorative hearings at the public inquiry into the terror attack the families of the 22 victims were able to share photographs and moving memories. Continue reading...

Reneging on an international treaty shows the prime minister cares more about a Eurosceptic fantasy than the Good Friday agreementThere are cases in history of national leaders being coerced into treaties. Yet only Boris Johnson claims to have signed an international agreement by mistake. In the prime minister’s telling, the UK was bamboozled into a substandard Brexit deal last year. Events were moving “at pace”; the politics were “challenging”; European rules were smuggled into the small print. So parliament must pass a law disagreeing with the agreement. To fix the deal, the deal must be broken.Related: Boris Johnson’s push for no deal will harm the country and his party | Polly Toynbee Continue reading...

The Hollywood actor’s much-viewed public service announcement in character urges young New Yorkers to heed Covid-19 dangersWhile Paul Rudd could just about pass as millennial, at 51 the Hollywood actor is really a few years off.Related: Living With Yourself review – are two Paul Rudds better than one? Continue reading...

West Midlands chief constable defends force after city centre attacks in which university worker diedPolice response to the Birmingham stabbing spree in which a university employee was killed and seven other people were attacked earlier this month, will be reviewed after the West Midlands force was was criticised for its reaction times.David Jamieson, the police and crime commissioner for the West Midlands, confirmed the review at the force’s monthly strategic crime board meeting, and said he was awaiting a report on the “exceptional” attacks. Continue reading...

The ex-Blink-182 singer now has his own UFO show. He talks about spooked moon-walkers, a mysterious 1940s crash – and what Donald Trump and Boris Johnson dare not revealSeconds before my interview with Tom DeLonge is due to begin, I’m told: “Don’t mention aliens.” This seems odd, because the former Blink-182 frontman produces and occasionally appears on Unidentified: Inside America’s UFO Investigation, currently showing on Sky. But aliens and UAPs – the term is unidentified aerial phenomenon these days, despite the show’s title – don’t necessarily go hand or jelly-like tentacle in hand.DeLonge, you see, is extremely keen to keep himself credible. “People need to buckle up,” he says, “open their minds and stop talking about, you know, aliens and extraterrestrials, because I have a feeling that that’s not exactly what it is.” Aliens! I clock the not-mentioning-aliens score at 1-0 to me. Continue reading...

Tensions between locals and South Sudanese refugees have left at least 10 dead as authorities act to prevent escalationUganda has sent security troops to its north-west region where tensions are on the rise following deadly attacks on refugees by local people.More than 10 South Sudanese refugees were killed, including a teenage girl and a 25-year-old woman and her baby, and 19 others were seriously wounded in clashes at a water point in Madi-Okollo district last week. Continue reading...

Michelle Loielo says she has lost 99% of her business under Melbourne’s stage-four lockdownA Mornington Peninsula cafe owner has mounted a legal challenge against the Victoria government’s coronavirus curfew, arguing it is putting her small business at risk.Michelle Loielo filed a suit in the state’s supreme court on Tuesday stating she had lost 99% of her business under Melbourne stage-four lockdown. The curfew originally required people to stay home between 8pm and 5am but was pushed back to start at 9pm from Monday. Continue reading...

Alexei Navalny says he can breathe independently in Instagram post sent from hospital in BerlinRussian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is now able to breathe without any external support, he has said in his first public statement since he was poisoned last month.Navalny, who German authorities say was poisoned with the nerve agent novichok, posted a photograph on Instagram of him sitting up in a hospital bed surrounded by his wife and their two children. Continue reading...

Lebanon’s club scene was perhaps the most vibrant in the Middle East, but the explosion that rocked its capital last month has silenced it. We spoke to promoters and DJs picking up the piecesBeirut’s people are broken. The catastrophic blast that tore through the port and surrounding areas on 4 August obliterated any remaining optimism in the city, long eroded by economic problems and regional instability. Of the 2.4 million inhabitants, more than 300,000 are now homeless. Almost 200 people died; 6,000 were injured. The cost of the devastation is currently estimated to be $15bn. Parts of the city closest to the centre of the explosion are in ruins, including the nightlife district, which has been virtually wiped out.The city’s club culture, once the finest in the Middle East, was an antidote to the misery of an unravelling economy, and to hostilities spilling over from the Syrian civil war during the last decade. Rend Shamma, 34, art director of nightclub Überhaus, says clubbing “was one of the biggest outlets we had, to just dance it off. We had all the different religions under one roof together. I don’t know what that void will be filled with, but right now it’s filled with anxiety.” Continue reading...

List of exempt physical activities includes football, rugby, cricket and hockey among others

Almost 700,000 people, many of them young, have left company payrolls since March

Growing list of MPs want refugees to be offered permanent residency if they pick fruit on short-staffed farmsYoung Australians could be incentivised with jobseeker payments to pick fruit as short-staffed farms desperately seek to make up for absent backpackers due to Covid-19 border restrictions.A parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday recommended the government “urgently” set up a program targeted at year 12 and university students, encouraging them to “have a gap year at home” by moving to regional Australia to pick fruit. Continue reading...

Many senior Tories did not vote and two Conservative MPs rebelled in the first Commons division on Boris Johnson’s new bill, which would break international law Continue reading...

Atlassian co-founder says it is ‘bullshit’ that giant fossil fuel companies need subsidies to extract gas and export itThe Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes has expressed an interest in developing an option to replace the ageing Liddell coal-fired power plant if the Morrison government can clearly identify the rules of engagement for any proponents.After the prime minister said in a speech on Tuesday the government would back the construction of a new gas-fired power station in the Hunter Valley if the energy company AGL failed to replace Liddell, Cannon-Brookes told Guardian Australia the prime minister needed to be clear about what the government was proposing and then let the market sort out the optimal replacement. Continue reading...

American Greg Kelly denies concealing $87m in payments in Tokyo trial expected to last 10 monthsA former Nissan executive who is accused of conspiring with the firm’s fugitive former chairman, Carlos Ghosn, to falsify financial statements has pleaded not guilty in the first hearing of his highly anticipated trial.American Greg Kelly, who faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of financial misconduct, faces a single charge – conspiring to under-report tens of millions of dollars in pay that Ghosn was allegedly due to receive after his retirement. Continue reading...

Óscar Denis was taken by Paraguayan People’s Army days after military killed two 11-year-old girls in unclear circumstancesViolence has intensified in Paraguay in the conflict between security forces and the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP) – a communist guerrilla movement active in the country’s north-east.A former vice-president was kidnapped by rebels days after the military killed two 11-year-old girls in unclear circumstances during an operation against the EPP, which human rights organisations described as a possible “state crime”. Continue reading...

Prison sentences range from two-and-a-half years and seven-and-a-half years for role in 2019 operation in which 39 people diedVietnam has jailed four people over their roles in the death of 39 migrants found in a refrigerated truck in Britain last year, state media reported.The deaths of the 31 men and eight women from Vietnam, who were found in a vehicle near London in October 2019, highlighted the risks of illegal migration to Europe and sparked an international outcry. Continue reading...

Coronavirus deaths pass 925,000; biosafety head at Chinese CDC says vaccine progress ‘very smooth’; South Korea to secure early vaccines for 30 million

‘Mally’ Kennedy was a dedicated father of three girls working as a London bus driver. Would PPE and an earlier lockdown have saved him?Ellen Kennedy had only been living with her dad for a few weeks, but already they had settled into an easy routine. Mervyn Kennedy, known to all as Mally, would wake up at about 9am and ask his youngest daughter to go for breakfast with him. Ellen, 31, would demur – the vegan options around their south London flat weren’t great – but Mally would insist, and so they would walk together to the Pond cafe in Thornton Heath.Mally always ate breakfast at the Pond cafe before a shift, because it was opposite his bus depot. The 67-year-old bus driver had moved to the UK from Zimbabwe in 1999 in search of a better life for his wife, Patricia, and daughters, Melanie, Penny and Ellen. And it more or less was a better life, although Patricia died suddenly in 2004, a loss from which Mally never really recovered. Continue reading...

The salmon has always been a barometer for the health of the planet. Now industrial-scale farming is bringing pollution, plagues of sea lice and threatening the future of wild salmon. By Mark KurlanskyWhen a fish is in crisis, the public wants to blame the fishermen. It is preferable to blaming ourselves. But a fish whose only problem was overfishing, a fish stock that could be saved simply by a ban on all commercial fishing, would be very rare. It would be an enviably easy problem to fix.The salmon is as magnificent an animal as anything on the Serengeti – beautiful in its many phases; thrilling in its athleticism; moving in its strength, determination and courage – and it would be a tragedy if it were to disappear. All that is true, but a more important point is that if the salmon does not survive, there is little hope for the survival of the planet. Continue reading...

When Lindsay Posner was asked to direct a production of Twelve Angry Men from his home in the UK, with a Japanese cast in Tokyo, he took a giant leap into the unknownReginald Rose’s drama Twelve Angry Men is an American theatre classic that has proved popular with audiences in Japan, where trial by jury was reintroduced in Japan in 2009 for the first time since 1943. Before the pandemic hit, I signed up to direct the play at the Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon, Tokyo, with rehearsals due to begin this summer. Towards the end of July, Tokyo’s theatres reopened for socially distanced audiences. But with no easing of travel restrictions, I was asked if I would be willing to direct the play by Zoom instead of in person, opening the show in Tokyo from my home in west London. Faced with an indefinite postponement and intrigued by the prospect of a novel way of directing, I agreed – and kept a diary of rehearsals. Continue reading...

Records show relatively even contributions to Coalition and Labor as Morrison government announces ‘gas-led recovery’ of economy

White House ceremony for agreements with UAE and Bahrain derided as ‘shameless propaganda’

Beijing confirms for first time they are likely to face criminal charges, as foreign ministry accuses them of separatismChinese authorities have confirmed the criminal detention of 12 Hongkongers accused of attempting to travel illegally to Taiwan by boat last month, a group the foreign ministry in Beijing has labelled separatists.The 12 people, aged 16 to 33, were under “compulsory criminal detention” in accordance with Chinese law for illegally crossing the border, a statement from the public security bureau in Shenzhen read on Sunday. It said they were arrested on 23 August. Continue reading...

Washington says ‘vocational’ centres are concentration camps as EU calls for independent observers in China’s western provinceThe US will block a range of Chinese products it says are made by forced labour in the Xinjiang region, including from a centre it branded a “concentration camp” for Uighur minorities.Washington’s move came as the EU urged Beijing to let independent observers into Xinjiang and warned China must make concessions if it wants to agree a major investment deal with the bloc. Continue reading...

New Zealand’s national language week will have little or no impact on most Kiwis, but we must protect te reo as a national treasureI can already feel my heart begin to race when I know I am expected to speak te reo Māori, the Indigenous tongue of Aotearoa, New Zealand. Where I am from, people know me as this confident, fluent speaker of the Māori language. But here I am today, sweaty-palmed at the mere thought of saying a simple greeting and introduction in my mother tongue.It is a far cry from the old me, who would win back-to-back Māori language speech competitions at a school where we learned everything in total immersion te reo Māori. Continue reading...

Man was shot and injured in the upper body as witness spoke to radio 3AW on Tuesday morningA man has been shot by police in Melbourne as thousands of people listened live on radio.A witness named Pauline was describing a tense stand-off between police and a man allegedly armed with a knife in the south-eastern suburb of Lilydale to radio station 3AW when she saw the man shot about 9.15am. Continue reading...

Bill passes at second reading by 340 votes to 263

30 Tory MPs abstain and two vote against controversial bill which will break international lawConservative MPs fired a warning shot at Boris Johnson’s conduct of the Brexit process on Monday night, as former cabinet ministers and attorney generals withheld support for a controversial bill which will break international law.One government source said the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, was “wobbly” and had asked for additional cabinet scrutiny of a controversial clause of the bill. Continue reading...