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Redcar and Cleveland tops rankings for most allotment land per person, while there is a dearth of supply in Scotland

In today's newsletter: Poor teacher recruitment and retainment puts children on the back foot before they barely step in the classroomGood morning. It's back-to-school week, and the daily ritual (or, perhaps, panic) begins as uniforms are being donned and lunchboxes packed across the UK to start a new year. My sympathies to you teachers setting early morning alarms, and parents dragging children out of bed after six weeks of lie-ins.Last year, Keir Starmer promised to leave no stone unturned to give every child the very best start at life", but how is that going? More than half a million GCSE students in England will start the year with no physics teacher, while many kids from poorer families feel they cannot afford to have their children study geography or languages, new Guardian reporting shows.Afghanistan | The Taliban has called for international aid as Afghanistan reels from an earthquake that killed more than 800 people and left thousands injured.Israel-Gaza war | A plan circulating in the White House to develop the Gaza Riviera" as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an insane" attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory's population.Politics | Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has been moved to a new senior role in Downing Street as Keir Starmer attempts to get a grip on delivery before what is likely to be a tumultuous autumn for the government.Health | A three-minute brainwave test can detect memory problems linked to Alzheimer's disease long before people are typically diagnosed, raising hopes that the approach could help identify those most likely to benefit from new drugs for the condition.UK news | Prominent women including cultural figures, politicians and campaigners have signed a letter criticising rightwing attempts to link sexual violence in Britain to asylum seekers. Signatories include the musicians Paloma Faith, Charlotte Church and Anoushka Shankar. Continue reading...

Institute of Physics says critical' shortage means 700,000 pupils are deprived of a subject specialistA quarter of state secondary schools in England will start the new term with no dedicated physics teacher, with schools in poorer areas worst affected, analysis has found.The lack of specialists means more than half (58%) of pupils studying for a science GCSE will have the physics component taught by a teacher who has not studied a physics-related subject beyond the age of 18. Continue reading...

Fernando Fontoura, who moved to the UK aged 12, detained in drive to find people illegally working' as delivery driversA motorcycle rider out on a shopping trip was arrested and detained for a month as part of a high-profile government crackdown on undocumented migrants working for food delivery apps.Fernando Fontoura, 33, who moved from Portugal to the UK when he was 12, was arrested by immigration enforcement officers after he parked his motorbike near a grocery store in south-east London on 22 July. He was taken to a detention centre near Gatwick airport where he was held for 29 days. Continue reading...

Members to co-own event that organisers say will cut costs by up to 40% after 78 independent festivals closed last yearA group of festival organisers and grassroots venues have launched a pioneering, gamechanging music collective" to counter what they say is the slow collapse of the UK's alternative live circuit.Blaming soaring costs and corporate dominance for pushing dozens of smaller events to close, the not-for-profit festival will bring together independent festivals, venues and collectives to share resources, cut costs and pool audiences. Continue reading...

Mass protests first erupted last week, prompted by anger over the perks and benefits given to lawmakers, including a controversial housing allowanceAt least 20 people are missing following violent protests that have gripped cities across Indonesia over the past week, a human rights group has warned.Mass protests first erupted on 25 August, prompted by anger over the perks and benefits given to lawmakers, including a controversial housing allowance. Public fury escalated further when a motorcycle taxi driver, 21-year-old Affan Kurniawan, was run over by a police vehicle at a protest site. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Open letter says politicians are exploiting violence against women to fuel hate and division'Prominent women including cultural figures, politicians and campaigners have signed a letter criticising rightwing attempts to link sexual violence in Britain to asylum seekers.Signatories include the musicians Paloma Faith, Charlotte Church and Anoushka Shankar as well as Labour, Green and independent MPs including Kim Johnson, Ellie Chowns, Diane Abbott and Zarah Sultana. Continue reading...

Shamikh and Majed Badra said four men threatened them, allegedly because Majed was wearing a keffiyeh

What does North Korea's involvement in Ukraine mean for Kim Jong-un's geopolitical ambitions? With Jean LeeWhen Hyun-Seung Lee was 17 he was conscripted into the North Korean army. Meals were basic and conditions were poor.Most soldiers wash their clothes and bathe in streams or rivers ... Soldiers must gather their own firewood from nearby mountains for heating and cooking," he says. Continue reading...

Changes announced by Michelle Rowland include new charges for FoI requests as well as tougher rules related to cabinet confidentiality

From online grievances about migration to men dressed in black in a sea of Australian flags, far-right groups clearly intended to capitalise on events

Those in UK aged 11-17 said seeing a celebrity gambling or advertising it made them want to emulate them, survey findsChildren as young as 11 feel tempted to try betting after being flooded" by celebrities and sports stars promoting it, according to two reports that found nearly 90% of children aged 13-17 are exposed to gambling content online.The UK's leading gambling charity, GambleAware, which commissioned the reports, urged regulators and policymakers to address social media accounts and influencers producing betting content on platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Twitch in light of the findings. Continue reading...

Campaigners say only 82 sites have been fully examined and classified as contaminated, so scale of threat not knownResearch from Friends of the Earth Cymru has found that at least 45,000 sites across Wales could be contaminated with toxic waste but have never been adequately inspected, leaving communities and wildlife vulnerable to a potential environmental crisis.Despite Wales's extensive industrial history, Tuesday's publication found that due to a lack of funding and oversight, only 82 sites across the country have ever been fully examined and classified as contaminated, meaning the actual scale of the threat is unknown. Continue reading...

Police believe Logan Carter was killed after e-bike wheels were used to propel roundabout at Wharton recreation groundA teenager has been arrested after a 12-year-old boy died after falling in a park playground in Cheshire.Police believe Logan Carter was killed after the wheels of an e-bike were used to propel the roundabout at the Wharton recreation ground in Winsford on Friday 29 August. Continue reading...

Swiss multinational finds Laurent Freixe breached code of conduct as it names Philipp Navratil as his replacementNestle has dismissed its chief executive, Laurent Freixe, after an investigation into an undisclosed romantic relationship" with a subordinate that was found to have breached its code of business conduct.The Swiss-headquartered multinational named Philipp Navratil as his replacement. Continue reading...

What Rayner may be asked to explain about the arrangements behind her purchase of an 800,000 homeAngela Rayner is under pressure to explain her property arrangements after she bought an 800,000 flat in Hove, far from her constituency of Ashton-under-Lyne.Most of the criticism has centred on the complicated tax arrangements surrounding the purchase, though the deputy prime minister's allies insist she has done nothing wrong and she is not under investigation by the prime minister's adviser on ministerial standards.

NHS equips all centres with life-saving software that will increase number of patients avoiding serious disabilityHalf of all people who experience a stroke in England will now recover thanks to a revolutionary AI scanning system that increases the number of patients avoiding serious disability.The NHS has equipped every stroke centre in England with life-saving software that quickly tells doctors if they need to perform emergency surgery and can triple the rate of recovery. Continue reading...

Announcement comes a day after a US federal judge halted the deportation of 10 unaccompanied Guatemalan minorsGuatemala is ready and willing to receive about 150 unaccompanied children of all ages each week from the United States, the country's president has said, a day after a US federal judge halted the deportation of 10 Guatemalan children.Those children had already boarded a plane when a court responded to an emergency appeal on Sunday. They were later returned to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Continue reading...

Yvette Cooper says rules were designed years ago to help families separated by war but are being used in a different way now

Yvonne Hayward and 46 others, including a senior NHS doctor, charged under section 13 of the Terrorism ActAn 81-year-old woman is among 47 more people charged for allegedly showing support for the proscribed group Palestine Action during protests this summer.More than half are over 60, according to details released by the Metropolitan police. The overall number of people charged now stands at 114. Continue reading...

Home secretary under fire over suspension of family reunion system that she said was at risk of exploitationYvette Cooper has been accused of pushing children into the arms of people smugglers" after halting a scheme allowing refugees to bring their family to the UK.The home secretary said the refugee family reunion route was at risk of exploitation and she would temporarily suspend new applications until tougher rules were introduced next year. Continue reading...

Prospectus proposes forced displacement of entire population and puts territory into US trusteeshipA plan circulating in the White House to develop the Gaza Riviera" as a string of high-tech megacities has been dismissed as an insane" attempt to provide cover for the large-scale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian territory's population.The Washington Post published on Sunday a leaked prospectus for the plan, which would see the forced displacement of Gaza's entire population of 2 million people, and put the territory into a US trusteeship for at least a decade. Continue reading...

Several villages in Kunar province completely destroyed', says public health ministry, as rescue operations take place. This live blog is closed

Meeting, co-chaired by France's Emmanuel Macron and UK's Keir Starmer, will focus on Russia's refusal to end warEU transport spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen also offered a bit more detail on the issue of GPS jamming and its impact on operations.She said:Generally, we have been seeing a quite a lot of such jamming and spoofing activities, notably in the eastern flank of Europe.Europe is the most concerned region in the or most affected region globally, on this.We are, of course, aware and used to somehow to the threats and intimidations that are [a] regular component of Russia's hostile behaviour.Of course, this will only reinforce even further our unshakable commitment to ramp up defence capabilities and support for Ukraine."This incident actually underlines the urgency of the mission that the President is carrying out in the frontline member states." Continue reading...

Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey are back, talking through all of the challenges the government faces as MPs return to Westminster. Plus, they discuss the prime minister's shake-up of his Downing Street team Continue reading...

Departures and new hires expected to give PM more direct oversight on delivery of key government prioritiesA reshuffle on the Monday morning before parliament returned from recess had been long rumoured, but many in Westminster had expected a shake-up of junior ministers rather than Downing Street.Staff in No 10 were gathered in awkward silence at 9.30am in the Pillared Room to wait for the prime minister to explain the changes, many of whom had thus far only read about them online. Continue reading...

Jaguar Land Rover says required safety levels cannot be achieved' for EVs so PM must to stick to petrol versionWould-be car buyers considering ditching petrol for electric tend to fret - not always correctly - about higher upfront costs, access to chargers and whether their battery will last on long journeys.But Keir Starmer has an unusual obstacle to making the switch - Britain's largest carmaker has claimed electric vehicles (EVs) do not offer adequate bomb protection. Continue reading...

People tell of losing children and other relatives and of digging their way out of the rubble after the disaster

Objects including three-metre spears were collected in late 19th and early 20th centuries and donated to city's museumFor decades, they have languished in storage in the basement of a museum in the English West Country.Finally, an extraordinary collection of weapons and ceremonial objects taken from the Larrakia people more than a century ago is beginning a winding journey home to the saltwater landscapes of the Northern Territory in Australia. Continue reading...

Foreign ministry says US will be dictating what happens once UN-wide sanctions are reimposedEurope is on the verge of abandoning its role of a mediator between the US and Iran and instead handing the Iran nuclear file over to Donald Trump's veto, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson said in an interview with the Guardian in Tehran.Esmail Baghaei said that as soon as UN-wide sanctions are reimposed at Europe's demand in less than 30 days, the US will regain its security council veto over what happens next, including the continuance of the sanctions. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Darren Jones appointed to new senior role in charge of day-to-day delivery of PM's prioritiesDarren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, has been moved to a new senior role in Downing Street as Keir Starmer attempts to get a grip on delivery before what is likely to be a tumultuous autumn for the government.The senior MP, whose new title will be chief secretary to the prime minster, has been put in charge of day-to-day delivery of the prime minister's priorities after No 10 spent the summer struggling to get on the front foot on issues including the economy and migration, and lags behind Reform UK in the polls. Continue reading...

Aircraft with European Commission president onboard reportedly forced to circle Bulgarian airport for an hour

International Association of Genocide Scholars resolution backed by 86% of members who votedAn overwhelming majority of members of the world's leading genocide scholars' association have backed a resolution stating that Israel's actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of the crime.Eighty-six per cent of those who voted in the 500-member International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) supported the motion. The resolution states that Israel's policies and actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of genocide in article II of the United Nations convention for the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide (1948)." Continue reading...

Woman who testified at producer's trial says despite mixed verdict she is proud to have stood up and told her storyVictims of sexual crimes and #MeToo harassment have, on multiple fronts, seen setbacks in the US in recent months.The movie mogul Harvey Weinstein is now looking at a third trial on sexual assault charges after previous cases delivered mixed results for his victims. A high-profile case of federal racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking against the rapper Sean Combs returned a verdict only on lesser charges. Continue reading...

Emotional toll of constant negative news and unlimited access to doomscrolling' has led to record-high news avoidanceNews has never been more accessible - but for some, that's exactly the problem. Flooded with information and relentless updates, more and more people around the world are tuning out.The reasons vary: for some it's the sheer volume of news, for others the emotional toll of negative headlines or a distrust of the media itself. In online forums devoted to mindfulness and mental health, people discuss how to step back, from setting limits to cutting the news out entirely. Continue reading...

Chancellor aims to reassure creditors but says ministers are planning for all options including special administration

Heavy rain, lightning and tornadoes lash swaths of continent, with France, Italy and Slovenia among worst hitSevere storms linked to a deep upper air trough formed from the ex-hurricane Erin lashed parts of western and southern Europe last week.Italy was hit by severe rainfall on Thursday that caused flooding in the Lombardy region. The commune of Busto Arsizio was badly affected, with more than 100mm of rain and frequent lightning. Continue reading...

Experienced instructor Stephen Hoare and his tandem passenger Alex Welling died while skydiving at Goulburn airport

Amid backbench and opposition criticism, the prime minister says non-citizens do not have a legitimate' reason to stay in AustraliaAnthony Albanese has insisted there's nothing secret" about a $400m deal with Nauru to offload hundreds of non-citizens to the tiny Pacific island as questions mount over the agreement's fine print.The Albanese government quietly announced the news on Friday evening without attaching a dollar figure to the deal, nor providing details of the agreement between the nations. Continue reading...

Rescue efforts hampered by steep terrain after shallow quake that was felt more than 100 miles away in Kabul

Average price for a home drops by 0.1% to 271,079 in August compared with July, according to Nationwide

Australia had its second coolest winter this decade, bureau data shows, but temperatures were still above long-term average

Housing providers and charities want development rights abolished amid concern over lack of affordable homesDozens of organisations have signed an open letter calling on the government to scrap office-to-residential conversions in England, which analysis has found led to the loss of almost 28,000 affordable homes.Local government campaigners, housing providers and homelessness charities have all joined the call to abolish some permitted development rights (PDR), which grant automatic planning permission to building projects and are often used to convert office blocks into housing. Continue reading...

East Midlands passengers to check in for travel on their phones and will be automatically charged the best fares at the end of dayA new pay-as-you-go rail ticketing system that tracks passengers' locations as they travel is to be trialled in England for the first time, as part of the government's plan to reform the railway network's complex fare system.Passengers on routes in the East Midlands will be the first in the country to test a pilot system, checking in for travel on their phones with their journey tracked using satellite location technology. Continue reading...

China's leader urges attendees to oppose cold war mentality' while Russian president claims Ukraine war was provoked by the west'Xi Jinping has criticised the bullying behaviour" of other countries while Vladimir Putin has blamed the west for his war on Ukraine, on the second day of a major summit in China which seeks to challenge western-led multilateral blocs.The Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) began in the city of Tianjin on Sunday, with Xi welcoming dozens of leaders from Eurasian member states and other partner and observer countries, including Putin, and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi. Continue reading...

At the end, the poor guy from Guinness world records was still there, having to pull down my sweaty undies to verify it ... he doesn't get paid enough,' says Daniel ByrnesThey came from around the globe, aged in their teens to their 80s. They were dressed as Labubus, pints of beer and kangaroos. One wore thongs and carried a surfboard, while another donned dozens of underpants.Sydney's debut as a World Marathon Majors event wasn't just a testament to athletic prowess. It was also a celebration of creativity, culture and smashing little-known world records, with many participants opting to stand out in their long-distance attire. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: Nigel Farage ploughed ahead in the polls over recess, and Keir Starmer is now under pressure to define what his party stands forGood morning. Parliament has returned from its summer recess. MPs are filing back into those hallowed halls to resume the business of running the country. Have you missed them? Judging by polling on trust in politicians, the answer from many of you is likely a resounding no.For most MPs, the summer recess is a chance to pause and reset. Not so for Reform UK. The insurgent party, which has just four MPs, spent the summer working the country like it was in the middle of a general election campaign. It has been hard to escape Nigel Farage (pictured top) and Reform: the party has held at least five press conferences since recess began (with another scheduled for today). There has also been a flurry of statements and open letters, and record-breaking polling to top it all off. Reform returns to parliament riding high.Afghanistan | At least 250 people were dead and hundreds more injured in a magnitude 6 earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border. The quake was centred 27km north-east of the city of Jalalabad.Israel-Gaza war | Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed at least 18 people in and around Gaza City, local health authorities said, as Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet prepared to discuss plans to seize the city.Conservatives | Doubts have surfaced over Kemi Badenoch's claim to have been offered a place at a prestigious US medical school at 16, with admissions staff unable to recall the proposal and the university not providing the course.UK news | A police officer was allegedly punched in the face and four people were arrested at an anti-immigration protest march in London on Sunday.Heart disease | Doctors have found a drug that is better than aspirin at preventing heart attacks and strokes, in a discovery that could transform health guidelines worldwide. Continue reading...

Members of the public are helping harbour the gunman alleged to have shot dead two officers, police believeVictoria police believe people are helping harbour alleged Porepunkah gunman Dezi Freeman, saying some members of the community know where the fugitive is.Speaking to media on Monday afternoon, Supt Brett Kahan said Freeman's network was wide" and asked those who know where he is to come forward. Continue reading...

Police set up checkpoints across Jakarta on Monday after deadly protests that have forced Prabowo Subianto to remove perks include a housing allowance worth 10 times the minimum wageIndonesian political parties have agreed to cut some lawmakers' perks, including a controversial $3,000 housing allowance, the president said, as security measures were stepped up in an attempt to halt protests that have gripped the country for a week.President Prabowo Subianto, accompanied by leaders of eight Indonesian political parties, told a televised news conference in the capital, Jakarta, on Sunday that they had agreed to cut the housing allowance and suspend overseas trips for members of parliament. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Chris Evans says blind spots' in modern slavery laws means few prosecutions occur and some companies are taking the mickey' in their approach to reporting