World news | The Guardian

Authorities accuse Ukraine of trying to disrupt poll and say 1,600 drones in total intercepted, while at least two people killed and oil refinery damagedHundreds of drones targeting Moscow and its surrounding region killed at least two people and damaged a major refinery on the final day of the country's parliamentary elections, authorities said on Sunday.The capital's mayor said that more than 1,600 drones had been intercepted and shot down, 450 of which were aimed at Moscow. Continue reading...

Beijing believes slowdown calls aim to lock in US advantage, and is pursuing a different balance between safety and paceAbout two years ago, education entrepreneur Boris But had what he calls a penny-drop moment" - that, like countless others in China, his company needed to embrace AI before it was made obsolete by it.His clients, well-off parents looking to send their children to study overseas, had begun arriving in his office reeling off information and opinions gleaned not from rival firms, but from chatbots. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Analysis lays bare' something midwives already know from their day-to-day workAbout 20,000 disclosures of domestic abuse are estimated to be made to maternity services in England every year, analysis has found.The figures are likely to be an underestimate of the true scale of disclosures, according to experts, highlighting the role maternity professionals play in identifying abuse. Continue reading...

Operator that runs services between London Marylebone and Birmingham is sixth to be nationalised since 2025Chiltern Railways has become the latest train operator to enter public ownership as the government closes in on its ambition to renationalise all major passenger rail services.The operator, which runs commuter rail services on the Chiltern mainline between London Marylebone and Birmingham, on Sunday became the sixth to be nationalised under Labour, with the remaining four to follow by the end of 2027. Continue reading...

Reform leader also tells US event Europe should have more sensible view' of president's administrationNigel Farage has said he wants to hijack" Donald Trump's hardline ICE adviser and bring him to the UK to secure our borders".Speaking at an event in the US, the Reform UK leader also called for Europe to take a more sensible view" of the US president's administration rather than seeing it as villainous". Continue reading...

Josh Babarinde wants to target big tech and crypto billionaires while giving power and cash back to the publicStanding outside Toynbee Hall in the East End of London, Josh Babarinde doesn't exactly look like a rabble-rouser. But despite the well-cut suit and disarmingly large smile, the president of the Liberal Democrats is, apparently, up for a fight.There are big modern giants that are getting in the way of people's ability to thrive, and it is the job of Liberal Democrats to address that," says the 33-year-old. How are we going to do that? Well, first of all, we've got to flip the table over and rise up." Continue reading...

This blog is now closed

A Bondi Beach woman in her 90s, a 23-year-old in Wagga Wagga and a woman in her 70s in Mole River died within hours of each other on Saturday

Embattled Friedrich Merz faces nervous wait while far-right Alternative fur Deutschland party targets further gainsVoters in two German states are going to the polls with the political future of the embattled chancellor, Friedrich Merz, hanging in the balance and an emboldened far right targeting further gains.Coming two weeks after a seismic election in Saxony-Anhalt in which the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) scored its highest ever result in a regional poll, the nativist party is expected to drain support again from Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Continue reading...

Authorities issued warnings for city in first such alerts for Riyadh since fighting with Iran-backed Houthis escalated in JulyYemen's Houthis said they attacked sensitive" sites in the Saudi capital with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of black smoke were seen rising above Riyadh airport on Saturday.The Saudi government sent air raid alerts to citizens by phone overnight warning of aerial attacks, marking the first time the government has issued such alerts for Riyadh since fighting with the Iran-backed Houthis escalated in July. Continue reading...

Tory leader claims prime minister is avoiding difficult decisions as she urges him to increase defence spendingKemi Badenoch has accused Andy Burnham of fiddling while Europe is at risk of burning", as she repeated her call for the prime minister to cut the welfare budget to fund increase spending on defence.Speaking to the Telegraph, the Tory leader said that Burnham may be a people pleaser but difficult choices cannot be avoided through dither and delay". Continue reading...

Players in Everton v Ipswich Town match wear black armbands as supporters join in minute's applausePlayers wore black armbands during Everton's home match against Ipswich Town on Saturday, as part of a tribute to three-year-old Noah Woods, whose body was found after he went missing in Suffolk this week.A photograph of the boy was shown on the big screen before the Premier League game in Liverpool, and three minutes after kick-off both sets of supporters stood to applaud in memory of Noah. Continue reading...

Leader says party won't give up the fight' to defeat nasty populism' in first-day speech to delegates in BrightonThe Liberal Democrats' leader, Sir Ed Davey, took aim at Nigel Farage and Elon Musk on the first day of his party's annual conference, saying Lib Dems would not give up the fight to defeat nasty populism" and Reform UK's 72m arsenal of hate and lies".On stage at Brighton Centre, Davey called on the assembled delegates not to be deterred in the face of Reform's hope that the anger and the hatred and the lies will grind us down until eventually we just give up". Continue reading...

Arson attacks related to illegal tobacco trade are also causing revenue and reputation problems for neighbouring businesses

Authorities ban anti-immigration march after fireworks and other projectiles thrown at officers in city centre parkDutch riot police dispersed several hundred far-right protesters in The Hague on Saturday after violence erupted and local authorities banned a planned march in the city against immigration and asylum policies.The Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported that 24 people had been arrested, after some protesters threw fireworks and other projectiles at police. Continue reading...

Premier Ben Carroll vows to legislate new form of manslaughter and increase maximum penalty for rape to life imprisonment

Supporters' club says billionaire should stand down after completely unacceptable' comments on the UK and empireManchester United's Muslim supporters' Club (MUMSC) has called for the Premier League side's co-owner to step down after he made completely unacceptable" comments during a BBC interview.Sir Jim Ratcliffe described the UK as being a country on the slide" from the days when it had the greatest empire in the world". Continue reading...

No injuries reported after about 280 people taken to safety from the Grand Burstin in Folkestone after blazeA large fire that broke out overnight at a seaside hotel and forced hundreds of people to evacuate is being treated by police as suspicious.Emergency services were called just after 1am on Saturday to the Grand Burstin hotel in Folkestone, where a fire is believed to have started in the basement, Kent fire and rescue service said. Continue reading...

British Museum chair tells Big Brue festival he thought no one would find out about the private viewingGeorge Osborne has said he thought no one would find out about a private viewing of the Bayeux tapestry he organised for the tech billionaire Peter Thiel at the British Museum.The former chancellor, who is chair of the museum, told the Big Brue festival in Somerset that he had been on holiday when Thiel was shown the medieval artwork. Continue reading...

Pasadena's Norton Simon Museum holds 16th-century paintings stolen by the Nazis during the second world warJewish heirs of Holocaust victims and their representatives have filed two lawsuits in California staking their claims to Nazi-looted paintings that still hang on the walls of prominent museums in Los Angeles and Auschwitz.This pair of lawsuits are the first to be filed after the recent passage of laws by California and the US Congress, which strengthen US-based claims to artwork that were forcibly taken from Jewish families during the second world war. Continue reading...

Michael Marra supports development of the North Sea sites, calling for a more rational' approach to energy policyScottish Labour's new leader Michael Marra has backed the development of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gasfields in the North Sea in one of his first acts after being elected, calling for a more rational" approach to energy policy.On Saturday, the MSP for North East Scotland won a near two-thirds majority to lead the party in Holyrood, becoming Scottish Labour's 11th leader. He replaces Anas Sarwar after his shock decision to resign in July to join Andy Burnham's new government as a trade minister. Continue reading...

Acts of familicide' have increased dramatically this year - in the US, the killer is more likely to have easy access to a gunThe US is often known globally for its shocking levels of violence, but acts of family annihilation" or familicide" rank among the most disturbing of crimes.They occur when an assailant kills four or more of their own family members and often see the killer also kill themselves. These types of crime have increased dramatically this year, according to data from Northeastern University. Continue reading...

Steven Kolb of the Council of Fashion Designers of America was filmed during an altercation at New York fashion weekThe chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Steven Kolb, has resigned after he was filmed physically restraining two animal rights activists during an altercation at New York fashion week.After 20 years leading the CFDA, I have made the difficult decision to step down as CEO and president," Kolb said in a statement. I am enormously proud of what we have built together and believe this is the right moment for both me and the organisation to begin a new chapter." Continue reading...

The revelation left experts scratching their heads at exactly what Donald Trump has in his cosmic arsenal'In Hollywood at least, space weapons are a relatively simple concept. The good guys, from Captain Kirk and his crew in Star Trek, to Luke Skywalker's rebel alliance in Star Wars, battle intergalactic villains with an array of colorful lasers and particle-beam cannons, then the bad guys get dispatched in a spectacular, explosive finale.The messaging coming out of the White House on the subject, by contrast, could not be more vague. Continue reading...

Case highlights severe financial strain on sector across UK as string of university housing schemes fail

Fed chair presided over unanimous decision to raise interest rates despite intense campaign from White HouseIn the end, Kevin Warsh's Federal Reserve acquitted itself well. For all the uncertainty he had sparked at the previous meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, when he refused to provide any indication of what he was prepared to do to tame stubborn inflation, the chair on Wednesday presided over a unanimous decision to raise interest rates for the first time in three years.Today's action starts to show that we're serious about this," he said at the press conference after the meeting, with this" meaning inflation in excess of the Fed's 2% target for over five years. Welcome though it was, his embrace of economic orthodoxy nonetheless did little to dispel the Keystone Cops quality of governance in Donald Trump's US. Continue reading...

As villagers take stock following symbolic vote, some fear far-right weaponisation of asylum dispute and influx of masked people like in Dover'The first significant event in the newly independent principality of Piddington was a decision to select the newt as the national animal, reflecting optimism that the amphibian's endangered status might help block plans to open a centre for 1,250 asylum seekers on neighbouring land.The choice was announced on Thursday morning, the day after Piddington announced that villagers had voted overwhelmingly to leave the UK. Parish councillors were also thinking about asking local children to design a flag and considering whether the new principality's national sport should be cricket or football. Continue reading...

Exclusive: key White House loyalist orchestrating multi-agency effort condemned by critics as cruel and racistStephen Miller is leading an unprecedented and intense White House drive across a host of government departments to accelerate the removal of undocumented immigrant children from the US, using tactics that critics say are cruel and racist and, in some cases, flout federal law, the Guardian has learned.As deputy chief of staff at the White House, focused on immigration policy, Miller is seen as the mastermind and enforcer behind Donald Trump's hardline anti-immigration agenda. Continue reading...

Jake Richards says changes would be part of carrot-and-stick' approach to try to turn around young offendersParents whose children commit crimes could lose their benefits, face fines and even be jailed, a minister has said.Jake Richards said the youth justice system should hold parents to account in a proportionate way for ensuring that they play their role in keeping communities safe". Continue reading...

Crypto billionaires' 72m will be used to hire campaign managers and professional staff in target constituenciesFor Nigel Farage, the 72m lavished last week on his party by the crypto billionaire donors Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne finally places Reform UK on a level playing field with its political rivals.The donations are the largest received by a UK political party since declarations became required in 2001 and led to warnings Farage was aiming to buy" his way to power, with a row still raging over whether they are legal. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lib Dem leader bullish ahead of party conference despite static poll ratings and MPs' frustrationsThe Liberal Democrats have begun work on a new manifesto in case of a possible snap election, as Ed Davey said he understood the frustrations of some of his MPs who fear that the party's message is currently at risk of being lost.But Davey also urged his party not to panic at static polling numbers, arguing that with tactical voting and fragmented political loyalties, he fully expects the party to do even better at the next election than in 2024, when it won 72 seats, the highest total for a century. Continue reading...

Much of the UK is still officially in drought after its hottest summer on record, but grasslands are slowly recovering their colourThe landscapes of southern England and Wales are slowly regaining their colour after this summer's extreme heat.The UK's hottest summer on record left the south of the country dried out and brown, making the impact of the drought particularly visual. Continue reading...

German minister says companies are exploiting situation' in Middle East, as sky-high prices become major domestic issue for leadersEuropean governments have discussed imposing a bloc-wide windfall tax on energy companies, as near-record fuel and gas prices pile pressure on leaders desperate to contain mounting public discontent and the challenge of the far right.With elections due next year in eight EU countries including France, Italy, Spain and Poland, leaders are scrambling to head off the potential fallout from what analysts have warned could be one of the continent's biggest energy shocks in decades. Continue reading...

Man, 63, fatally bitten by shark at Sorrento beach on Friday morning

Exclusive: Survivors say luxury store's attempt to recoup money is at odds with its public acceptance of responsibilityHarrods is seeking to recover the cost of the compensation paid to hundreds of women allegedly sexually abused by Mohamed Al Fayed from his estate, the Guardian understands.The luxury department store is seeking full indemnity from the late billionaire's estate for any settlements it is required to pay, according to evidence seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Thinktank calls on chancellor to end housing allowance freeze with typical two-bedroom household facing 158 week shortfall amid rent risesMore than 1.1 million low-income families in rented homes face a cost of housing" crunch without action from John Healey in next month's budget, the Resolution Foundation thinktank has warned.Local housing allowance (LHA) has been frozen in cash terms since autumn 2024. Continue reading...

As Gaza documentary wins cinematic acclaim, its directors face vitriol in Israel amid a febrile election campaignFirst there was a moment of stunned silence. Then, in the Sala Grande, the main screening hall of the Venice film festival within the Palazzo del Cinema, the audience stood almost as one and turned to applaud the film-makers for 25 minutes.The film the audience had watched for 80 harrowing minutes was the Gaza documentary NAZA, which has been produced by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Exclusive: In her first media interview since fleeing Russia, Rita Flores describes her three years of being run by the FSBFirst came the blackmail and death threats to secure cooperation, then came a series of tasks, each more sinister than the last: to inform on fellow activists, to elicit personal information from protest-minded artists and - eventually - to help with a plot to kidnap and murder a Kremlin enemy.That is how Rita Flores, a 29-year-old Russian artist, activist and former member of the Pussy Riot collective, described her recruitment and three-year handling by officers from Russia's FSB security service, a cooperation she only broke when she fled the country last month. Continue reading...

California judge finds company vicariously liable' for driver's negligence in death of Emily Normandin-ParkerUber was ordered to pay $40m to the parents of a 23-year-old woman who was killed after a driver kicked her and a friend out of his car by the side of a California freeway, according to newly public arbitration documents.An arbitrator, retired Calfornia judge Richard A Stone, found that the ride-share company was vicariously liable" for the driver's negligence. Continue reading...

Edgars Rinkvis says drone warfare in Ukraine is moving at lightning speed' and efforts to prepare for an aerial war could be obsolete by next yearLatvia's president has warned that Europe is not keeping up with developments of drone and aerial warfare in Ukraine and that most countries in Nato could not repulse an attack by Russian missiles if the conflict expands.The remarks came during a Guardian interview in Washington DC in which Edgars Rinkvis said that the technological developments in drone warfare in Ukraine are moving at lightning speed" and that current efforts to prepare for an aerial war could be obsolete by the middle of next year. Continue reading...

Navy veteran David Voight, his wife, Amy, and their child were found dead as relatives report Voight was suffering from PTSDAuthorities are investigating what led to the tragic case of a family who was found fatally shot in their San Diego area home on Wednesday morning.The San Diego police department identified the family as Amy Voight, 54, and David Voight, 56, and the couple's 13-year-old daughter. The family died of gunshot wounds, police said, and investigators found a weapon in the residence. Continue reading...

The musician is serving a 50-month federal prison term for prostitution-related offensesAttorneys representing rapper Sean Diddy" Combs say they are no longer acting for the disgraced star in a dispute over months of unpaid legal bills.The musician, who is serving a 50-month federal prison term for prostitution-related offenses, has become increasingly belligerent in recent months, causing a total breakdown in cooperation and communication" with New York law firm Sher Tremonte, one of its partners, Michael Tremonte, said in a court filing.This article was amended on 18 September 2026. An earlier version wrongly stated that Combs sued record producer Jonathan Hay for defamation. Hay is the plaintiff. Continue reading...

Buckingham Palace has rebutted claim by Charles Spencer, Diana's brother, that then prince told him we'll forget her soon enough'Earl Spencer has doubled down on his bombshell claim that King Charles said of Diana, Princess of Wales, rest assured, we'll forget her soon enough" days after her death, saying he is telling the truth.The alleged comments, revealed in Charles Spencer's memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which is being serialised in the Daily Mail, prompted Buckingham Palace to issue an extraordinary statement suggesting Diana's brother had misremembered events, saying the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise". Continue reading...

Police fire teargas as protests break out in city of Minna after deaths of suspected illegal goldminers, many of whom were childrenSurvivors from a prison cell in Nigeria where 37 suspected illegal goldminers died while in the custody of a paramilitary group this week have recounted their panic and struggle for breath, as police on Friday fired teargas at people protesting against the deaths and imposed an overnight curfew in the city of Minna.The victims - many of whom were children - were found dead on Thursday in the cells of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), which had raided suspected illegal gold mines and locked up dozens of miners in the city, the state capital of the mineral-rich state of Niger. Continue reading...

Critics say moves from leftwing incumbent president are electorally motivated two weeks before Brazil's electionsBrazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has announced a 15% increase in the country's main cash-transfer programme for poor families, as well as free weight-loss jabs, prompting criticism from opponents who say the moves are electorally motivated just two weeks before the presidential election.On 4 October, the leftwing incumbent will face the far-right senator Flavio Bolsonaro, son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro, who has been gaining ground in recent weeks. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Leader understood to have wanted to concentrate on Holborn and St Pancras campaign in London but executive committee voted against planZack Polanski requested that the Greens' ruling executive committee postpone the party's imminent annual conference so they could focus on the Holborn and St Pancras byelection but was refused.While party officials say the formal request came from staffers worried about diluting resources by staging a conference a week before Polanski tries to win Keir Starmer's former Commons seat, the Guardian understands the party leader wanted this to happen. Continue reading...

Error first occurred at 10am but major incident was not declared until 12.30pm, says report

Debut runway show with affordable pieces reflects resurgent style confidence at retailer after hit releasesJoan Collins declared the coats very chic", and has her eye on a graceful ivory evening dress with caped shoulders. Kemi Badenoch plans to snap up the classic black tuxedo jacket. If the British public are as enthusiastic as the celebrity front row, Marks & Spencer's first ever London fashion week catwalk looks like a hit.The show, held at the Design Museum for 310 guests including Ian Wright and Jamie Carragher, was a gamble on both sides. Would snobby fashionistas be traumatised by elasticated waistbands and practical rainwear? Would M&S customers be alienated by a world of 2,000 handbags and shoes you can't walk in? Continue reading...

The musician, who went from 90s altpop hits to Tony-winning Broadway success, died of organ failureDuncan Sheik, the singer-songwriter behind the 90s alt-pop touchstone Barely Breathing and the composer of the Tony-winning musical Spring Awakening, died on Thursday at a Manhattan hospital. He was 56.His death, from organ failure, was confirmed to the New York Times by his mother Suzanne Sheik. Continue reading...

Judge said Nina Power and her friend's social media posts had the whiff of threat and antisemitism'Reform UK's new mega-donor Ben Delo gave a 350,000 loan to a conservative writer fighting a legal case in which a judge later found she had engaged in online bullying and regrettable conduct with a whiff of threat and antisemitism".Nina Power and her friend, the writer Daniel DC Miller, brought the legal action for defamation against the performance artist Luke Turner, who they had accused of falsely calling them antisemitic. At the same time, Turner brought a counter-claim against the pair accusing them of harassment. Continue reading...