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Merger of Foreign Office and Department for International Development will mean better value for money, minister saysDominic Raab has pledged that the controversial merger of the Foreign Office and Department for International Development (DfID) will give taxpayers better value for money on government aid spending.The foreign secretary has ordered a review into the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI), the body for overseeing government aid, in a move he said would lead to “more effective and accountable aid spending” when the new Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is formally launched next week. Continue reading...

Three-year-old Belgian shepherd malinois saved lives by tackling an al-Qaida gunmanA retired British military dog is to receive a medal for valour after he was injured in action while tackling an al-Qaida gunman.Kuno will receive the PDSA Dickin Medal in a virtual ceremony in November, giving him the highest honour for military animal valour. Continue reading...

Climate protests including ‘funeral march’ due to take place across UK, with focus on airportsClimate demonstrations are due to take place across the UK this weekend, as the environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion launches its latest “uprising”.This weekend’s events will include a “funeral march” in Lewes, East Sussex, to “mark the death and destruction wrought by humans on our natural world”. The march, described as a Procession for the Planet, will include mourners dressed in black and a jazz band. Continue reading...

Figure of 7,379 infections is highest number of new cases in 24 hours since height of epidemic at end of March

When the author wrote her 2011 bestseller, she assumed she was through the hard bit. Ten years later, she’s still learningOne day, back in 2011, I was on the train going into central London, when a big group of 14-year-old girls ran up to me, like a gang of giggling meerkats, shouting, “Are you – are you CAITLIN MORAN? You wrote How To Be A Woman? Oh, my God! We learned about masturbation from that! Dude, it’s amazing! We’ve all started doing it now! We’ve formed a gang! At school! It’s called wank club! And we come in every morning and say how many times we did it last night – and then high five each other! In the playground! Shouting Wank Club! Can we shake your hand?”“Well, if your wrists aren’t already too tired – then, yes,” I said. Continue reading...

Police will allege in court that the child was assaulted with a wooden stickA five-year-old boy is in a critical condition after allegedly being beaten with a wooden stick in a domestic violence assault at a home in Sydney’s south-west.When officers from Fairfield city police area command arrived at the Cabramatta home on Friday night, they found the boy with serious injuries. Continue reading...

Emerenziana Lucia Favaro Ballan was stoic and generous but those closest to her treasured her mischievous nature“My life has been hard at times but I am grateful to God for everything.”Those were the words Emerenziana Lucia Favaro Ballan lived by. Continue reading...

Julio Mora, 110, and Waldramina Quinteros, 104, a combined nearly 215 years, received Guinness certification in mid-AugustJulio Mora slipped away from his parents to secretly marry Waldramina Quinteros one February day. Both families disapproved.Seventy-nine years later, they’re still together – he is 110 years of age, and she is 104, both lucid and both in good health, though relatives say they’re a little depressed because they miss their big family get-togethers due to the pandemic. Continue reading...

Causes of death yet to be confirmed as witness describes last moments of one dolphinAt least 40 dolphins have died mysteriously in an area of Mauritius affected by an oil spill from a Japanese boat, officials and witnesses have said, as a witness described the moment one mother dolphin died in front of him.Residents who had ventured out in a boat alerted Reuben Pillay to a dolphin swimming around her dying baby. He went to try to find them but the baby had died by the time he arrived, he said on Friday, but the mother initially looked normal. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Third-party reports set out allegations at 18 Leicester suppliers

Typical holiday destinations across Europe are seeing an influx of a new type of visitor: local staycationersIt is usually the domain of hangover-nursing sunbathers and rowdy tourists getting an early start on beach parties. But this year – as quarantines, restrictions and advisories take a toll on travel – the white sandy beaches and crystal-clear waters of Magaluf on the Spanish holiday island of Mallorca have some new visitors: Mallorcans.“This is the first time we’ve ever come – Mallorcans do not come to Magaluf,” laughed Laura, 31, as she settled in for a day on the beach with her friends. “We came this year only because we knew there were no tourists.” Continue reading...

After outrage at her death in Glasgow, people who knew her remember her vibrant spirit and her devotion to her sonMercy Baguma loved colourful lipsticks: red, blue, purple – the brighter the better. It was a reflection of her personality, says a close friend. “Mercy was a rainbow,” she said. “She had such a vibrant spirit. As a friend, she would always put you first. She really was the best of the best.”Baguma, 34, was found dead in a flat in Glasgow at the weekend next to her distressed one-year-old son, prompting outrage as reports circulated that she and the boy had been “starving”, the latest victims of a brutal asylum system. Continue reading...

As schools in England prepare to reopen, we examine the situation around the world

Foreign visitor was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital in Longyearbyen

A growing number of policy experts, users and advocates argue that dramatically expanding access can save livesKathleen Radu thought her son was getting better.After three stints in private drug treatment programs, Morgan Goodridge was stable again. His prescription drug-replacement treatments seemed to be working. He had just bought his first car, and hadn’t used street drugs in five months. Continue reading...

Parisian pedestrians must wear face coverings from Friday; Spain says school children over six must wear masks; China goes 12 days without local case

Intelligence cyber crime agencies called in to help after chaotic week of distributed denial of service attacksThe New Zealand government has activated national security systems after the nation’s stock exchange was disrupted by cyber attacks for a fourth day.There was no clarity on who was behind the “offshore” attacks, but the failure to stop them has raised questions about New Zealand’s security systems, experts said. Continue reading...

Thousands of ritual statues are dunked into the sea off Mumbai each year – but coronavirus and pollution concerns are forcing changeIn the quiet housing estate of Angrewadi in the heart of Girgaon in south Mumbai, people are celebrating the 100th consecutive year of the Ganesh Chaturthi, the Hindu festival of the elephant-headed god of new beginnings. Statues of Lord Ganesh are brought into homes and put on display for offerings and prayers.On the 11th and final day of the festival, the ritual of Ganesh Visarjan takes place – falling this year on 1 September. The statues, normally made of soluble plaster of paris, are traditionally carried in a public procession with music and chanting, and are then immersed in either a river or the sea. Here, they slowly dissolve in a ceremony that dramatises the Hindu view of the ephemeral nature of life – but also causes widespread pollution. Continue reading...

Despite 12 new coronavirus deaths, number of new cases going ‘in right direction’, with 113 for second day in row

Case prompts Queensland’s chief health officer to call the sheer volume of medical applications ‘unsustainable’Queensland’s top health official says the sheer number of people applying for medical exemptions to enter her state is “unsustainable” following the death of an unborn twin in NSW.Dr Jeannette Young granted an exemption to a Ballina woman pregnant with twins who required emergency surgery on Thursday, but it came only after the expectant mother had waited 16 hours and then flown to Sydney. Continue reading...

28 August 1980: Lech Walesa has become the effective leader of hundreds of thousands of strikers along the country’s northern Baltic coastAs the Polish journalist surveyed the committee hall at the Lenin shipyard crammed with strikers’ delegates from some 300 factories, he kept repeating one sentence over and over again: “I never thought I would live to see such a scene in Poland.”In Poland, over the last fortnight, much that was previously unthinkable has now become thinkable. The extraordinary scenes in Gdansk – of conflict, of uninhibited free speech, of unity and discipline among the strikers – are a measure of that change. The movement for independent trade unions in Poland has grown from scattered groups of dissident activists to what can only be described as a huge and efficient mass organisation. So large has the movement become that it is difficult to see how it can either now be crushed by force or gently persuaded to disband itself. Continue reading...

Human Rights Watch says it has found a ‘very, very disturbing’ pattern of intimidation and persecution of government criticsVenezuelan security forces are using the coronavirus pandemic as cover to wage a disturbing “full force” campaign against dissenters, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.The New York-based human rights group said that dozens of journalists, health professionals, human rights lawyers and government opponents had been arbitrarily detained and prosecuted since President Nicolás Maduro declared a Covid-19 state of emergency in mid-March. Continue reading...

West Mathewson was attacked without warning by lions during one of their regular walksA South African conservationist has been killed by lions he hand-reared. West Mathewson, 69, was walking two white lionesses on Wednesday when one of the animals attacked and killed him without warning, his family said on Thursday.The incident took place on the premises of the family-owned Lion Tree Top Lodge, in South Africa’s northern Limpopo province. Continue reading...

Heavy rain brought flooding on Thursday, causing travel chaos for motorists and rail passengersTorrential rain and flooding brought traffic mayhem as more heavy showers and thunderstorms are expected across parts of the UK on Friday.Forecasters predict this bank holiday Monday could be the coldest on record for some parts of the UK as temperatures are expected to be well below average for the time of year. Continue reading...

Chinese coastguard stopped a speedboat on Sunday suspected of an illegal border crossingMore than 10 Hong Kong residents, including an activist charged under the city’s punitive national security law, have been detained by China’s coastguard while trying to flee to Taiwan, according to reports.China’s coastguard released a statement on Weibo saying that on Sunday at 9am, authorities in Guangdong tracked down a speedboat suspected of an illegal border crossing. The notice, posted on Wednesday evening, said more than 10 people had been arrested including two suspects surnamed Li and Deng. Continue reading...

Friday: Aboriginal sites dating from before the ice age could be destroyed by mining companies. Plus, the drawbacks of gas-burning stovetopsGood morning, this is Emilie Gramenz bringing you the main stories and must-reads on Friday 28 August. Continue reading...

Officials say there was ‘little if any risk’ of transmission as all passengers and crew were wearing face masks

Exclusive: UK artist finances bright pink motor yacht that set sail in secrecy to avoid being intercepted by authoritiesThe British street artist Banksy has financed a boat to rescue refugees attempting to reach Europe from north Africa, the Guardian can reveal.The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean where on Thursday it rescued 89 people in distress, including 14 women and four children. Continue reading...

Foreign minister says two countries ‘playing with fire’ in the eastern MediterraneanGermany has called for naval exercises in the eastern Mediterranean to cease in an attempt to defuse tensions between Greece and Turkey that it fears could tip over into “catastrophe”.Greece and Turkey lay competing claims to the same parts of the eastern Mediterranean sea and are at odds over potentially abundant gas reserves and maritime rights. Continue reading...

In the face of national protests, Netanyahu’s 29-year-old son has increasingly emerged as his attack dogIsrael’s Benjamin Netanyahu has long been accused of dog-whistle politics but in a battle for political survival, sometimes a whistle won’t do. For that, a foghorn is needed.Enter Yair Netanyahu, the leader’s 29-year-old son. He has increasingly emerged as his father’s attack dog, defending the prime minister as he faces relentless protests and widespread public anger over his government’s handling of the country’s coronavirus crisis and charges of alleged corruption. Continue reading...

An irresistibly charismatic farm boy, displaced by a housing development on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital, is the star of this affecting documentaryThe American director Mo Scarpelli makes a miraculous discovery in her new documentary – a 10-year-old Ethiopian farm boy who has been displaced from his home by urbanisation. Scarpelli has said that when she spotted Asalif Tewold on the street in Addis Ababa, she knew instantly that she wanted to make a film about him. You can see why. A charismatic kid with energy and imagination, he’s at that perfect stage of boyhood with an appetite for adventure and make-believe. That said, Scarpelli’s observational film-making style, slow and lingering, is a challenge and likely to be off-putting to all but hardcore lovers of arthouse. Continue reading...

Irish journalist Aaron McNicholas’s visa was rejected in what’s believed to the first such case at a local titleAfter months of reassurance that Beijing’s national security law would not affect Hong Kong’s free press, the government has denied a visa to local media outlet, the Hong Kong Free Press.The English-language outlet had sought to employ a new editor, Aaron Mc Nicholas, an Irish journalist already based in Hong Kong. However the immigration department rejected an application to transfer his work visa after an almost six-month wait, without giving an official reason. Continue reading...

The latest US move against Beijing cracks down on firms whose goods may support Chinese military activities

Italy sees 1,367 new cases; Croatia reports record 358 new cases; Lebanon’s caretaker PM country could ‘lose control’ of outbreak. This blog has now closed. Stay up to date on our latest blog below

Jonathan Slater to stand down; Boris Johnson tries to blame ‘mutant algorithm’ for exam results chaos in England; Scotland records first deaths from Covid-19 in over a month. This live blog is now closed - for more coronavirus updates, please follow the global live blog6.54pm BSTHere’s a list of the key coronavirus developments from the UK today:Related: Coronavirus live news: Italy hits record daily cases since May; Croatia reports record daily infections rise5.54pm BSTAs many as 30 young people may have coronavirus in Plymouth following a holiday to the Greek island of Zante, the city council has said.At least 11 of the group of 18- and 19-year-olds have tested positive for Covid-19, the council said, as it warned residents to take precautions.We know that some of these young people had no symptoms, and so carried on as normal, including a night out in Plymouth’s bars and restaurants, until they became aware of the risk. That means more people could be infected.“While young people might have fairly mild symptoms, and sometimes none that you would notice, our big concern is that we know it can be very serious for people who have existing health problems or are older. Continue reading...

Roger Hallam one of five people ordered to be detained before weekend of planned actionOne of the co-founders of Extinction Rebellion has been detained for four weeks before a weekend of planned action.Roger Hallam, 54, of Wandsworth in south-west London, was among five people arrested on Monday and charged with conspiracy to cause criminal damage. Continue reading...

Author Svetlana Alexievich says she refused to cooperate with investigatorsAuthorities in Belarus have questioned the Nobel prize-winning author Svetlana Alexievich as part of an investigation into an opposition council created to facilitate a political transition in the country.Alexander Lukashenko, who has been president for 26 years and is under pressure from protesters to step down after a rigged election win this month, has described the council as an attempt to seize power, and prosecutors have opened a criminal case. Continue reading...

Lawmakers seek to strip Flordelis dos Santos de Souza, accused of orchestrating ‘barbaric’ murder of her husband, of parliamentary immunityA gospel-singing Brazilian lawmaker accused of masterminding the assassination of the husband who was once her adopted son is facing calls for her expulsion from congress so she can face murder charges.Flordelis dos Santos de Souza – a favela-born celebrity congresswoman whose rise to stardom was celebrated in a film featuring some of Brazil’s top actors – is fighting to avoid jail after police claimed she had orchestrated her partner’s 2019 murder. Continue reading...

Police looking into whether attacks may be linked to satanic rituals or an online challengeFrench police are hunting the perpetrators of a series of savage animal mutilations across the country in recent weeks.Investigators have advised the owners of horses and donkeys to be particularly vigilant after more than a dozen attacks left animals dead or severely injured. Continue reading...

Data showing fiscal deficit rose to £15bn in 2019-20 sparks row over case for independenceScotland’s deficit has risen to nearly £2,000 per person after the gap between tax income and spending widened to become more than three times larger than the UK as a whole.Data released on Wednesday showed Scotland’s fiscal deficit rose to £15bn in 2019-20, fuelling a row over the case for independence at first minister’s questions between Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Labour leader, Richard Leonard. Continue reading...

Louise Anderson hopes to use sample frozen at Glasgow clinic to produce a grandchildThe mother of a transgender teenager is preparing to take legal action to prevent fertility doctors from destroying her dead daughter’s frozen sperm.Louise Anderson, from Stirling, says she wants to honour her daughter Ellie’s wish to produce a grandchild, using her sperm, an egg donor and a surrogate carrier. Continue reading...

Coalition to introduce laws to prevent Australian governments and universities making ‘detrimental’ deals with foreign powersThe Morrison government will pursue new powers to stop state, territory and local governments and universities entering agreements with foreign governments that it considers detrimental to Australia’s foreign policy objectives.The government will introduce legislation next week empowering the foreign affairs minister to review and cancel agreements – such as Victoria’s decision to sign up to China’s belt and road initiative – if the commonwealth judges the arrangement adversely affects Australia’s foreign relations. Continue reading...

Fundraiser for woman found dead next to baby in Glasgow flat almost triples its targetAn appeal for funeral expenses for Mercy Baguma, the Ugandan asylum seeker who was discovered dead next to her crying baby in a flat in Glasgow, has nearly tripled its original funding target as calls grow for an inquiry into her death.Baguma’s body was found by police on Saturday morning next to her one-year-old son, who was reportedly suffering from malnutrition and required hospital treatment. It is believed he has since been released into the care of his father, another asylum seeker who also lives in Glasgow. Continue reading...

Report says racism is endemic in UK aid department’s HQ and network of offices abroadMany black, Asian and minority ethnic men working in the Department for International Development claim to have experienced prejudice at work, including racist jokes and doubts about their legality as UK citizens.The government’s aid department has also been severely criticised for signing off an anti-sexual harassment campaign that portrayed BAME men following or restraining white women, in a report seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Largest US childrenswear retailer blames Covid for move, as employees say they are struggling to buy food after wage cutsThe largest childrenswear retailer in the US has cancelled millions of dollars worth of clothing orders from suppliers in Ethiopia because of the coronavirus pandemic, pushing companies into debt and leaving employees facing pay cuts.The Children’s Place (TCP), which has more than 1,000 stores in the US and 90 around the world and had a turnover of $2bn (£1.5bn) last year, cancelled orders from Ethiopia in March and delayed payments by six months for orders completed in January and February, suppliers told the Guardian. Continue reading...

Ted Hui and Lam Cheuk-ting held over incident in July 2019 when white-clad thugs attacked activists at train stationHong Kong police have arrested pro-democracy lawmakers over involvement in protests in 2019, including one who was injured when a large group of thugs attacked protesters and civilians at the Yuen Long transport station.The arrests come amid a crackdown on dissent and freedom of expression. Continue reading...

Irish government says it has lost confidence in Phil Hogan after he flouted quarantine regulations

Letetra Widman, the sister of Jacob Blake, who was shot in the back by police on Sunday, gives an impassioned plea saying that above all the other labels given to her brother, he is human.Letetra said she had been inundated with messages of support but that all she really wanted was change.

Premier Daniel Andrews urges more Victorians to come forward for testing and Queensland reports one new case. Follow all the latest news and updates, live

Demonstrations over hunger by people thrown out of work by the pandemic have been met with violent repressionVioleta Delgado was at a protest over food shortages under Chile’s coronavirus lockdowns when the police arrived and fired off a volley of teargas rounds.Delgado, who was seven months pregnant, says she put her hands up to show she was unarmed, but was struck by a police vehicle and knocked to the ground. Continue reading...