World news | The Guardian

After Covid thwarted two attempts to bring out Christian Spuck’s acclaimed Messa da Requiem, the festival has finally announced it as next year’s centrepiece

Opponents say the events pose a fire risk and water is being wasted in attempt to make them safeOrganisers of the “Rhine in Flames” firework displays have come under heavy criticism for staging the event during this summer’s drought, as water levels in the river continue to drop.The annual event has become a flashpoint, with climate campaigners and others furious about the fire risk and waste of precious water as the Rhine risks becoming unnavigable. Continue reading...

Zheng Zeguang says Britain would face serious consequences if it were to ‘follow in the footsteps of the US’China’s ambassador to the UK has said Britain would face “serious consequences” if it crossed the “red lines” over Taiwan and warned against following in the footsteps of the US.In a Guardian opinion piece that comes days after Liz Truss said China’s actions “threaten peace and stability in the region”, Zheng Zeguang wrote that Taiwan had become a “touchstone” for bilateral relations that he warned were “at an important juncture”. Continue reading...

Doctor killed along with a nurse and another woman at a hospital in the suburb of Ecatepec, on the outskirts of Mexico CityA Cuban doctor has been shot to death at a hospital in a rough neighborhood on the outskirts of Mexico City, prosecutors in the state of Mexico confirmed late on Monday.The doctor, whose name was not provided, was killed on Friday along with a nurse and another woman at a hospital in the suburb of Ecatepec. Continue reading...

Gary Connery, who parachuted into London 2012 opening ceremony, convicted of grievous bodily harmA stuntman who acted as a double for the Queen during the London Olympics has been jailed for pushing his then girlfriend down the stairs.Gary Connery, who parachuted into the 2012 opening ceremony dressed as the head of state as part of a skit, was convicted by a jury of grievous bodily harm in a case of domestic violence. Continue reading...

Artist Philip Chatfield hopes river journey will alert people to damage being done by poultry excrementIt was not the most elegant start to the day. The sculpture was trundled down to the Herefordshire riverbank on a sack truck borrowed from a builder before being bolted and strapped to a makeshift catamaran constructed out of two canoes.But after that, it was much more graceful and serene as the peculiar vessel was pushed off into the current, and craft and carving, Our Lady of the Waters and the Wye, began to meander downstream. Continue reading...

Company is trying to boost UK business as workers prepare for strike action that it says will push it into lossRoyal Mail has announced it will offer doorstep parcel collection for free until the end of the year as it tries to boost its UK business in the face of significant losses.The service allows customers to arrange for a package being sent or returned to be collected directly from their home by a postal worker as part of the daily post round. Continue reading...

Rotherham-born actor and comedian played Ted Spear in ITV soap and starred in Last of the Summer WineThe comedian and actor Duggie Brown, who starred in Coronation Street and Last of the Summer Wine, has died at the age of 82, his manager has said.Rotherham-born Brown found fame in Ken Loach’s 1969 film Kes, based on Barry Hines’s novel, and became one of the most well-known comedians of his generation. Continue reading...

Campaign to force vote on motion contradicting Keir Starmer’s stance will be launched by sacked shadow minister

While not formally confirming responsibility for mystery strike, Kyiv officials react with glee on social media

Exclusive: Opinium poll also shows overwhelming support for Labour’s policy to freeze price capMore than two-thirds of Conservative voters say that the government should temporarily renationalise energy companies if they cannot offer lower bills.The poll, released by the campaigning organisation 38 Degrees, also shows overwhelming support for Labour’s policy to freeze the price cap this year, keeping it at its current rate of £1,971. The Opinium poll found 86% of the public and 85% of current Conservative voters back keeping the price cap. Continue reading...

Analysis: You may be amazed by that answer, but the area of land used for grazing is vast compared with the meat and milk produced

Travel disruption expected as rain and thunderstorm warnings remain in place for much of UKFlooding has hit parts of the UK as official warnings for rain and thunderstorms remained in place for much of the country, while a drought has been formally declared in Yorkshire.The Environment Agency placed Yorkshire into drought status, joining eight other areas of England declared dry on Friday. Continue reading...

Directors recommend 110p-a-share deal with ABG, which values the London-listed clothing firm at £211mTed Baker has agreed a cut-price £211m takeover by the US group that owns Reebok and a stake in David Beckham’s clothing and merchandise empire.The board of the retailer, which has more than 500 shops and concessions around the world, has recommended shareholders approve the buyout by Authentic Brands Group (ABG). Continue reading...

The rapper is accused of shooting in the direction of A$AP Relli in Los Angeles last November, after the latter filed a related civil lawsuit last weekA$AP Rocky has been formally charged with assault with a firearm after being arrested in April over the alleged shooting of A$AP Relli during a disagreement in Los Angeles last November, Rolling Stone reports.Rocky, AKA Rakim Meyers, faces charges of assault with a semiautomatic firearm with allegations of personally using a firearm. The US rapper could face up to nine years in prison if found guilty. Continue reading...

Michael O’Leary says move will mean capacity for 100,000 more passengers and takes swipe at ‘hopeless’ HeathrowRyanair is to add more than 500 flights to its London Stansted schedule to keep pace with demand during the October half-term holiday.Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of the low-cost airline, said extra capacity at the Essex airport would mean capacity for another 100,000 passengers at a time when “hopeless” Heathrow suffers further travel chaos. Continue reading...

Management and Training Corporation is set to take over running Australia’s immigration regime on the island

Suspension of Gaurav Sharma for party rule breaches comes after he made allegations of bullying within the partyNew Zealand’s Labour party has suspended MP Gaurav Sharma over what the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said were “repeated breaches” of caucus rules in the past week.Ardern had called an emergency caucus meeting on Tuesday afternoon, where it was unanimously agreed to suspend Sharma, who has recently made widespread allegations that he and others had experienced bullying within the party. Continue reading...

Indigenous authority will act as an independent umpire to oversee treaty negotiations with the state government

Crown was exempted from smoking bans more than 15 years ago, but health advocates say the royal commission response is a chance to close the loophole

Beijing carries out ‘combat drills’ and acts against seven individuals for allegedly supporting Taiwan independenceChina has sanctioned senior Taiwanese officials and staged a new round of military drills around Taiwan in response to a brief visit to the island by a delegation of bipartisan US lawmakers. The arrival of the lawmakers took place after the House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to the island.On Monday, Chinese state media announced seven individuals had been sanctioned for allegedly supporting Taiwan independence, including Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US, Hsiao Bi-khim, the head of Taiwan’s national security council, Wellington Koo, and Lin Fe-fan, the deputy secretary general of the governing Democratic Progressive party. Continue reading...

Founder of Australia’s Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance will run against the deputy Liberal leader

Review by Graeme Head finds hiring process may not have been ‘fully in keeping’ with public servants’ code of ethics

Twitter reacts as it turns out it wasn’t so much ‘jobs for the boys’ as ‘jobs for the boy’ when it came to former PM Morrison

‘Overwhelming evidence’ education system leaves too many poorer students behind, despite decades of policy focusThe attainment gap between poorer pupils and their better-off class mates is just as large now as it was 20 years ago, according to a damning new report which says the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have increased the inequalities in educationThe landmark study, based on research carried out for the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that disadvantaged pupils start school behind their better-off peers, and those inequalities persist through their school years and beyond – eventually having an impact on earnings. Continue reading...

Party aims to get out message on plan to tackle cost of living before new Conservative PM enters No 10Labour is planning a campaigning blitz in order to take ownership of its new energy price cap policy in case the next Tory leader bows to pressure and cancels the 80% rise expected in October.Keir Starmer has vowed that his party “wouldn’t let people pay a penny more” on their gas and electricity bills this winter, proposing freezing the price cap at current levels and preventing the average household bill from reaching £3,600. Continue reading...

Incumbent prime minister says he ‘cannot conceive of the mindset’ that enabled Scott Morrison to appoint himself to additional positions while PMScott Morrison secretly appointed himself to five additional ministries while Australia’s prime minister, in what his successor has labelled an “unprecedented trashing of the Westminster system”.Prime minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday he was waiting on legal advice over any possible ramifications of the secret appointments, and was “open to reforms and suggestions,” so the situation did not re-occur. Continue reading...

The boys – aged eight and three – were taken to hospital with critical injuries after incident on North-South Motorway in South Australia

Suit alleges CIA and its ex-director Mike Pompeo violated US constitutional protections for confidential discussionsLawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are suing the US Central Intelligence Agency and its former director Mike Pompeo in a suit filed in a New York district court on Monday, alleging the agency recorded their conversations and copied data from their phones and computers.The attorneys, along with two journalists joining the suit, are Americans and allege that the CIA violated their US constitutional protections for confidential discussions with Assange, who is Australian. Continue reading...

Three-year formal inquiry will detail injustices faced by First Nations people, with an independent First Nations Treaty Institute established in law

Former prime minister says appointing himself to multiple portfolios was a necessary safeguard during the pandemic

Nearly 50 years after speech on behalf of Marlon Brando about depiction of Native Americans, Academy apologises for ‘unwarranted’ abuse she enduredNearly 50 years after Sacheen Littlefeather stood on the Academy Awards stage on behalf of Marlon Brando to speak out about the depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood films, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences apologised to her for the abuse she endured.The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Monday said that it will host Littlefeather, now 75, for an evening of “conversation, healing and celebration” in September. Continue reading...

Supermarket Iceland is part of scheme to offer sums of £25 to £100 to buy everyday itemsA zero-interest loans scheme aimed at helping thousands of people who are struggling to put food on the table is being rolled out across the UK.The initiative, the result of a link-up between the supermarket chain Iceland and a charity-owned lender, is the latest interest-free loans scheme to launch in response to growing concern about households who find themselves at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis and are unable to access or afford existing forms of credit. Continue reading...

Actor tells Radio Times of social media backlash after landing part in Game of Thrones prequelSteve Toussaint has revealed he received racist abuse online after he was cast as Corlys Velaryon in the upcoming Game Of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon.The 57-year-old British actor has previously starred in Doctor Who, Line of Duty and Death in Paradise. Continue reading...

Three Britons and two EU citizens appear in Donetsk court accused of ‘undergoing training to seize power by force’Five Europeans captured in eastern Ukraine have gone on trial in a court administered by Kremlin-backed separatists in the city of Donetsk, Russian media reported.The five – Mathias Gustafsson of Sweden, Vjekoslav Prebeg of Croatia, and Britons John Harding, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy – all pleaded not guilty to charges of being mercenaries and “undergoing training to seize power by force”, according to Russian media reports. Continue reading...

Gangs in Guayaquil use increasingly violent tactics in battle for dominance of cocaine trafficking routes to Europe and the USEcuador’s embattled president, Guillermo Lasso, has declared a fourth state of emergency in the violence-racked city of Guayaquil after a deadly bomb attack killed at least five and injured 17 people.Ecuador’s interior minister, Patricio Carrillo, described Sunday’s explosion as a “declaration of war on the state” by organised crime in the country’s largest city and it has been classified as a terrorist act. Security forces will be mobilised for a month and allowed to make home inspections. Continue reading...

Victim pronounced dead at scene about 40 minutes after police were called to reports of stabbing in Poland StreetA man has been stabbed to death in a side road near London’s Oxford Street. The Metropolitan police said officers were called at around 11.40am on Monday to reports of a stabbing in Poland Street.Both London ambulance service and the air ambulance attended, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene 40 minutes later. A man has been arrested. Continue reading...

Electoral commission chair declares deputy president winner of tight race as other senior officials disown resultsWilliam Ruto has been declared the winner of Kenya’s presidential election, amid last-minute chaos as four senior election officials denounced the week-long count and disowned the result.Official results showed that Ruto, the current deputy president, won 50.5% of the vote, beating the longtime opposition leader Raila Odinga and narrowly avoiding a run-off. Continue reading...

Loss-making airport says restricting numbers to 100,000 a day is reducing last-minute cancellationsHeathrow airport has extended its 100,000 passenger a day cap for another six weeks as the aviation sector continues to struggle to meet increased demand for travel amid staffing shortages.The capacity limit was initially meant to last until 11 September, but that date was pushed back on Monday to 29 October, overlapping with the autumn half-term break for most schools. Continue reading...

Deal for 16,000 workers including cabin crew, engineers and baggage handlers follows strike threatAbout 16,000 workers at British Airways are to receive a pay rise worth as much as 13%, reversing cuts imposed during the Covid pandemic.Union leaders said the deal arose after the threat of strike action earlier this summer by check-in staff, which resulted in a pay agreement that was being extended across the workforce. Continue reading...

Hugh Laidlaw, 50, posted offensive image and comments aimed at black footballers who missed penalties in England’s defeatA man has been fined and given a suspended prison sentence after sending a “hateful and racist” post aimed at the black footballers who missed penalties in England’s Euro 2020 final defeat.Hugh Laidlaw, 50, posted an offensive image and comments soon after the July 2021 shootout on the Metal Detecting UK Facebook page. Other online users were so offended that they alerted police, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said. Continue reading...

Russian attack in eastern region also leaves 13 injured, Ukrainian officials say; Vitali Klitschko talks about ‘harsh realities’ facing residents

Nursing bodies say that increasing the role of nurses – not the Medicare rebate – is the solution to Australia’s bulk-billing crisis

PM alleged to have ‘predetermined’ application after project was blocked despite recommendation to the contrary by national petroleum administrator

Analysis: As questions are asked of Labor, David Elliott and Matt Kean were busy criticising each otherA week ago, the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, was publicly calling on two of his most senior MPs – the treasurer, Matt Kean, and the transport minister, David Elliott – to stop taking public shots at one another.Perrottet had, he said, counselled both MPs on the “importance of unity” in the wake of an ugly buildup to the election of a new deputy leader. Continue reading...

Foreign ministry spokesperson blames author and supporters after stabbing that left him with ‘life-changing’ injuriesIran has denied having any role in the attack on Salman Rushdie but claimed the author had only himself to blame for crossing a “red line” over Islam in his writings.Rushdie’s life was reported to be out of danger but he was said to have sustained “life-changing” injuries after being stabbed 10 times when he was speaking at an event on Friday in Chautauqua, New York. Continue reading...

Analysis: Although the fatwa against Rushdie was issued more than 30 years ago, the threat never went awaySalman Rushdie spent nine years in hiding following the issue of a notorious fatwa authorising his killing.Though he will be loth to return to that kind of existence, the attack on him last week will most likely lead to a drastic rethink of his security.

Manchester City player and alleged ‘fixer’ accused of ‘callous indifference’ to 13 young women they allegedly attackedThe Manchester City footballer Benjamin Mendy raped women in locked “panic rooms” in his isolated mansion from which they believed they could not escape, a court has heard.The 28-year-old French international defender abused his wealth and fame to lure women back to his gated Cheshire home and rape them when they either said no or were too drunk to consent, a jury at Chester crown court heard on Monday. Continue reading...

Dan Harrison, who beat Kim Harrison to death, had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for 15 yearsThe family of a man who beat his father to death an hour after absconding from a psychiatric ward has claimed the killer was not given the help he needed for his mental health problems in the years before he launched the fatal attack.Dan Harrison, 37, punched, kicked and stamped on Kim Harrison, 68, a retired chest specialist, at his home in Clydach, Swansea, after becoming increasingly paranoid and believing that his mother, Jane Harrison, was in danger from her husband. Continue reading...