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UK PM to join delegation of leaders lobbying US president to step up supplies

The flagship environmental project has achieved negligible' results. Why so little progress, and what are the risks as the planet gets hotter? Plus, fusion dance pioneer Usha Jey Don't get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereIndia set out to expand its forested areas a decade ago. Last week, however, we learned that the forest cover programme had barely taken root when the government's auditors released their findings of the flagship Green India Mission. The shortfall of 97.57% from India's initial pledge in 2014 was stark enough to alarm the government's own auditor, who described the progress as negligible".Yet if you ask the government about forest cover, you'll get a far greener picture. Continue reading...

Man arrested after being restrained and pinned down by heroic' bystanders, Victoria police say

10bn for housing with 60% social renting is at odds with PM's previous call for programme to be spent entirely on social homesA housing minister has rejected suggestions that Andy Burnham has failed to his keep promises on council housing, as the government unveiled a nearly 10bn plan to boost genuinely affordable homes".The prime minister has pledged to carry out the biggest council housebuilding programme since the postwar period, with more than 70,000 homes, 60% allocated for social rent, to be delivered across England.No, I don't. I mean, Andy Burnham said in the byelection that he wanted to see more money spent on social rent on council housebuilding.That's exactly what we're doing through this initial wave of funding.There's 39bn allocated over a 10-year period ... I'm saying that should be dedicated to council homes. Let's not be coy any more ... I'm saying council homes because control matters. Continue reading...

Bills have jumped 42% in England over the past 10 years - and that excludes the cost of breakfast clubs and extracurricular activitiesParents of primary schoolchildren in England will pay 42% more for after-school childcare this year than they did 10 years ago, with annual bills now exceeding more than 2,800 a child in some parts of the UK.A Guardian analysis of data collected by the children's charity Coram has revealed that the annual cost of after-school care for children aged 5 to 11 in England has risen by 5% over the past year to 2,636. Continue reading...

Rise in claims linked to heat-related deaths and illness, especially among older people, could drive up premiumsEurope's intense heatwaves could hit insurers' earnings as companies face a rise in claims linked to heat-related deaths and worsening health conditions, the rating agency S&P has said.While a long summer of extreme heat will have increased drought and wildfire-related claims, the rating agency said there would also be fallout for life and health insurers, and for the reinsurers who provide financial protection to insurance companies. Continue reading...

UK prime minister likely' to attend UN general assembly, after meeting Zelenskyy and saying supply problem is fixable

Bitcoin rises above $80,000 for the first time since May amid uncertainty over US fiscal plans

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Royal commission recommended First Nations healing centres in 2021 but the Indigenous health service says the state has done nothing' to fund it

The Guardian's senior international reporter Luke Harding will be answering your questions live from 1pm BST. Ask him about his new book on Trump and Putin, the state of the war in Ukraine, or his career reporting from Kyiv, Moscow and around the worldAsk a question: log in or sign up hereLuke Harding, author and award-winning foreign correspondent, has covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and most recently Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2011 he was the Guardian's chief writer in Moscow before being expelled by the Kremlin.Luke has been reporting this week on the Andy Burnham's renewal of support for Ukraine and Russia's loudening threats to Britain. He has also recently written in depth about Ukraine's increasingly successful drone warfare tactics and the aftermath of injuries for Ukrainian soldiers. Continue reading...

NSW parole authority says Mohommed Farhat followed extremist ideology of antisemitic character' while separately judge ruled Fuk Israel' was political comment'

Australia's biggest oil and gas company recorded a 27% increase in sales profit to $1.67bn in the six-month reporting period

Bathla Group says softening sales and impacts from federal government's May budget contributed it being placed in voluntary administration

Australian consumer watchdog says it received hundreds of complaints about the US-based dating site and its memberships

Coles full-year results show that despite gaining market share over past 12 months, sales fell over four weeks of competitor's collectables campaign'

In Indonesia's Kalimantan, fires have ravaged tens of thousands of acres, with suffocating smoke reaching Malaysia and putting Singapore on alertSuwadi can barely see five metres in front of him when he steps outside his home in Indonesian Borneo.Each breath, he says, feels like smoking a cigarette". Continue reading...

In her first media interview since the June incident, Leah Stewart, 34, says her thoughts while being bitten were of her one-year-old daughterAn Australian woman who lost an arm after a shark attack at a beach in Sydney's eastern suburbs has recalled the moment she came face-to-face with the monster".Leah Stewart, a 34-year-old teacher and mother of a one-year-old daughter, was attacked by a large shark while on a morning swim at Coogee beach on 13 June. Continue reading...

Eight costumes spanning Queen frontman's career will feature in a free trail developed with his former fianceeEight famous costumes worn by Freddie Mercury, including the outfit featured on the cover of Queen's debut album and the catsuit from the video for Bohemian Rhapsody, are to go on display at the V&A in London this autumn to mark what would have been the singer's 80th birthday.Freddie Mercury | Splendid Things, a free trail developed with Mercury's former fiancee and close friend Mary Austin, will run from 24 October 2026 to 17 January 2027. Austin is lending seven of the looks, which span Mercury's career from the 1970s to his final years. Continue reading...

NHS has target of eliminating the cancer by 2040, but up to 4 million eligible women are not up to date with screeningMillions of women in England who have missed cervical screening appointments will be offered free home testing kits on the NHS.The move comes amid concerns that only two-thirds of women attend in-person cervical screening appointments when asked to do so, leaving as many as 4 million women not up to date. Continue reading...

A day after suggesting other projects were more important to Victorians, Ben Carroll says train line will go ahead but at a slightly reduced cost

Three boys, two aged 14 and one aged 13, on bail and yet to enter a plea after alleged assault in Sydney's east

Ombudsman Iain Anderson says he is concerned police had no clearly understood definition of racial profiling'

After repairs to Hirosaki Castle in Aomori prefecture, officials employed a technique known as hikiya to move the structure more than two metresTo chants of so-re, so-re", about 1,800 people came together in northern Japan over the weekend to pull a 360-tonne castle keep a little more than two metres closer to its original resting place as part of ongoing renovations.The keep - a fortified tower within a castle - had to be moved to repair a wall that was damaged in a major earthquake. Continue reading...

Far-right leader echoes ally Donald Trump and says operations to track down illegal immigrants' should begin this week, amid earthquake aftermathColombia's far-right president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has announced a crackdown on immigrants, ordering authorities to detain and deport people who are in the country irregularly or have committed crimes.In office for just over two weeks, the millionaire former lawyer made the announcement on Sunday as the country continued to grapple with the aftermath of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake on 10 August that killed more than 300 people and destroyed more than 30,000 homes. Continue reading...

Death rate three to four times higher than among general population blamed on isolation of those leaving care

US Southern Command has struck another vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing two accused of trafficking drugsThe US military has launched a deadly strike on a vessel in the Pacific Ocean, killing two people accused of drug trafficking.On Monday, US Southern Command (SouthCom) announced it executed a lethal kinetic strike on a low-profile vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific". Continue reading...

About 40% of 10bn from Affordable Homes Programme will now go on types of housing such as sheltered and shared ownershipAndy Burnham has backtracked on his proposal to rip up the government's housing plans and boost social home building.Ministers laid out plans on Monday to spend an initial 10bn from the 10-year Affordable Homes Programme on a mix of subsidised housing types in England, in line with the Starmer government's policy. Continue reading...

Blaze near Crawley destroyed 140 vehicles, damaged nearby businesses and led to power cuts on Saturday nightA man has been arrested on suspicion of arson after a fire tore through a car park used by people flying from Gatwick airport, destroying about 140 vehicles.The blaze erupted at Caldyne business park near Crawley, about eight miles from the airport just after 9pm on Saturday. Images showed vehicles on fire and enormous plumes of smoke rising close to overhead power lines. Continue reading...

Washington launches campaign to isolate Tehran but it is unclear whether it will apply measures to ChinaThe US has threatened to impose severe sanctions against any country or entity maintaining economic ties with Iran, hoping to achieve with economic measures what military means have so far failed to do.It is unclear, however, how far the Trump administration is prepared to go in confronting China, Iran's biggest trading partner, which has signalled its resistance to US economic pressure to cut off links with an ally. Continue reading...

Cost of living has hit campaign group while multinationals are threatening to squeeze out independent breweriesFor centuries, the wooden real ale pump has been the hallmark of a good British boozer. But now problems are brewing for the proper pint, as the Campaign for Real Ale has seen its membership sink to an eight-year low and its accounts show it is firmly in the red, making an 800,000 loss last year.Real ale is a traditional draught cask beer, a living" product that is produced and stored in its cask. It differs from a cold, fizzy lager, in which the yeast is killed and carbon dioxide is added. Real ale contains live yeast so it continues fermenting until it is served. Continue reading...

Mette Frederiksen, who was attending meeting in Kyiv, advises high-profile women to embrace self-acceptanceSick of getting unsolicited beauty tips on social media, even while she's in a war zone, Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen rebuffed a male cosmetic surgeon's offer to fix" her and advised women in similar situations to embrace self-acceptance.Frederiksen, a Social Democrat and Denmark's second female prime minister, posted on Instagram that she had just returned from a trip to Ukraine where she was subjected to air raid sirens when she found a message proposing some help with her appearance. Continue reading...

Coalition of the Willing condemns Russian strikes on Ukraine, pledges to work on constraining Russia's war chest'Here's the full quote from Kremlin's Peskov, via AFP:Britain is methodically and regularly throwing oil on the fire and methodically and regularly plotting schemes to prevent even the slightest progress in the peace process." Continue reading...

Restore Britain leader paid up to 1,476 an hour by platform, which critics say is financially incentivising inflammatory contentRupert Lowe, the leader of Restore Britain, is on course to earn as much from the social media platform X as he does from his salary as an MP, after surging income from posts that include demands for mass deportations.Lowe has earned 932 an hour for his posts on X, formerly Twitter, since the start of the year, according to his own declarations in the register of MPs' financial interests, which detail how many hours he has spent on X for each payment he received from the platform. Continue reading...

Spokesperson for Duke of Sussex says he remains an active and avid supporter' of African Parks' missionThe Duke of Sussex has stepped down from the board of a major African wildlife charity that had been at the centre of a human rights controversy.Prince Harry's spokesperson confirmed he was no longer a trustee of African Parks, which admitted last year that human rights abuses were committed by its rangers in the Republic of the Congo. Continue reading...

As well as pledging military help and diplomatic backing, the prime minister could be useful in dealing with the USSince moving into Downing Street in July, Andy Burnham - a foreign policy neophyte - has expressed strong support for Ukraine. But on Monday he saw the bitter human cost of the war up close for the first time, visiting Kyiv during his first international trip as prime minister.The occasion was the 35th anniversary of Ukraine's independence. Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave awards to the families of fallen soldiers. Relatives wept, hugging Ukraine's president. Photos of young men in their prime were shown on a giant screen. Continue reading...

The host also discussed the rise of forgotten monthly subscriptions for anything from dishwashers to litter boxesOn the Sunday night episode of his HBO show, John Oliver discussed the rise of subscription-based business models across the worlds of music, film and TV, beauty, food, cleaning services and more.Subscriptions are now basically everywhere and many of us don't even realize how much we spend on them," Oliver said. Continue reading...

After higher prices for winter kick in, energy debt unpaid for more than 30 days likely to rise, says Energy UKHouseholds in Great Britain could owe their energy suppliers as much as 7bn by the end of the year after higher gas and electricity prices forecast for the winter kick in, an industry group is warning.Domestic energy debt and arrears climbed by about 500m over the past year to a record 6bn at the end of June as the Middle East conflict continued to stoke rising gas market prices. Continue reading...

Virus has already caused catastrophic losses in pinnipeds in South America and sub-Antarctica, particularly among pups

Downing Street repeats calls for social media platforms to review content and policies as companies urged to uphold legal dutiesLee Anderson, the Reform UK MP for Ashfield, is first up to speak. He says young people in his constituency - and in many areas across the country - have absolutely no chance" of securing council housing or social housing. He says that Reform's government would put British people first" in a housing system he characterises as being unfair.Reform UK will use a press conference that is due to begin at 11am to announce its pledge to prioritise British-born workers under 35 when allocating social housing. We will bring you the key lines from the conference, fronted by deputy leader, Richard Tice, and the party's chairman, Lee Anderson, here. You can watch it live: Continue reading...

EU police agency says shift could point to involvement of new criminal networks focused on specific artefactsRobberies at European museums are becoming increasingly violent, with thieves sometimes brandishing guns, assaulting staff and using sledgehammers, axes and even explosives to smash their way into buildings and display cases, according to a report by Europol.The EU police agency said that while museum thefts were generally seen as a non-violent form of organised property crime, member states had detected a recent shift towards violent and forceful methods" that could point to the involvement of new criminal networks focused on specific cultural artefacts. Continue reading...

Nine men and three women aged between 19 and 61 arrested as part of investigation into events leading to deadly collisionTwelve people have been arrested on suspicion of offences including being involved with organised crime as part of the investigation into events leading to a crash on the A66 that killed two police officers and five others.Cleveland police confirmed that nine men and three women were detained by officers investigating the events that led up to PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough dying when a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way on the A66 near Middlesbrough collided with their marked armed response vehicle. All five men who were in the second car, aged between 17 and 23, were pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...

Campaigners accuse ministers of trying to grab headlines with announcement before a working system is readySurvivors of violent crime and families of victims have criticised the UK government for announcing world first" plans to introduce restriction zones for serious offenders freed from prison within a few weeks without spelling out how they would work.Key campaigners who have championed the idea of the zones, designed to lock" offenders into specific areas, accused the government of seeking to grab headlines rather than providing the detail that would reassure survivors and families. Continue reading...

World's largest streaming services have also increased subscription costs repeatedly in US, research finds

Moscow warns of increased tensions with Britain as Burnham offers Ukraine declassified details of missile components

Test of US rhetoric will rest on whether nations such as India, China and Russia view economic threats as credibleTehran has vowed to retaliate against any country that cooperates with the US attempt to impose fresh sanctions against Iran in what the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has billed as the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary".In advance of the US announcement, the United Arab Emirates, Iran's single biggest trading partner in the Middle East, announced it was ending all trade with Iran, a move Tehran believes was coordinated between Washington and the UAE. Continue reading...

Updated draft highway code follows several court rulings assigning blame for road accidents to careless pedestriansItaly's updated highway code will target pedestrians who stare at their mobile phones while crossing the road, as the country's transport ministry strives to improve road safety by cracking down on perilous distractions.The offence, contained in a draft version of the highway code which is expected to be approved by mid-October, carries fines of 75 or more. Continue reading...

Watchdog data shared with Guardian shows contributions to Republican Attorneys General Association and othersOver a dozen US companies that signed a 2021 letter urging Congress to strengthen the Voting Rights Act continue to contribute to state political groups that are actively working to undermine the legislation, according to a campaign finance watchdog.Researchers at the Center for Political Accountability (CPA), a nonpartisan organization that tracks financial disclosures, found that companies - including Airbnb, DoorDash, Target and Zillow - that signed the letter are contributing to groups known as 527 organizations that prop up key state races, according to data provided exclusively to the Guardian. Continue reading...

Algorithms are responsible for fever pitch content surrounding trial, including misinformation, experts sayAs the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of killing her three children, starts to wind down, a now international discussion on social media about the case has hit a fever pitch as viewers examine details of the trial and question the state of maternal mental healthcare in the United States.Amateur sleuths and armchair psychologists have been creating content throughout the several weeks of the trial, pointing out perceived discrepancies in evidence. They've pointed to Clancy's last recorded heart rate and body temperature as smoking guns", suggested that Patrick Clancy, Lindsay's ex-husband and father of the children, actually committed the crime, despite no legal evidence to back up the claim. Continue reading...

Campaigners say proposal for 10bn rescue deal in bid to avoid nationalisation is a cosy stitch-up'