World news | The Guardian

Trials of baxdrostat have produced exciting' results for people whose hypertension has proved difficult to controlDoctors are hailing a new pill for patients with high blood pressure resistant to existing medication as a gamechanger" and a triumph of science".Globally, more than 1.3 billion people have hypertension. In half of them, their high blood pressure is uncontrolled or resistant to existing treatments. They face a much higher risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease and early death. Continue reading...

Lower court to decide if Ralph Leroy Menzies, who killed Maurine Hunsaker in 1986, is competent to face executionThe impending execution of a man by firing squad in Utah was blocked by the state's supreme court on Friday after his attorneys argued he should be spared because he has dementia.Ralph Leroy Menzies, 67, was set to be executed on 5 September for abducting and killing Utah mother of three Maurine Hunsaker in 1986. When given a choice decades ago, Menzies selected a firing squad as his method of execution. He would have become only the sixth US prisoner executed by firing squad since 1977. Continue reading...

As fertility rate hits all-time low in England and Wales, is there cause for concern for the economy and services?We happen to be alive at this really transitional moment," said Prof Jane Falkingham, the director of the Centre for Population Change at the University of Southampton. We're moving from a world with high fertility and high mortality to a world of low mortality and low fertility. We have to get our heads around how we're going to make that transition from the old world to the new world."Earlier this week, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the fertility rate for England and Wales had fallen for the third year in a row to reach a record low of 1.41. The rate represents the average number of live children women can expect to have in their child-bearing life. Continue reading...

Citizen patrols' and self-styled protective forces are fuelling social fears and the far right, say expertsSporting black shirts emblazoned with an iron cross, a dozen or so men marched through the centre of Reykjavik, courting attention on a buzzy Friday night. In Poland and the Netherlands, vigilantes thronged along the German border, ready to turn back any asylum seekers they came across. In Belfast, they roamed after sunset, demanding to see the identity documents of migrants and people of colour.Each of the groups, who are part of a renewed wave of anti-migrant vigilantes that have sprung up in recent months across Europe, have sought to cast themselves as a sort of protective force. But those who have studied vigilantes warn that their actions often exacerbate security concerns, sow fear and fuel the far right. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closedAndriy Parubiy, a Ukrainian politician who previously served as the parliament speaker, has been shot dead in western city of Lviv, say officials.Confirming the news, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X:Ukraine's minister of internal affairs Ihor Klymenko and prosecutor general Ruslan Kravchenko have just reported the first known circumstances of the horrendous murder in Lviv. Andriy Parubiy was killed.My condolences to his family and loved ones. All necessary forces and means are engaged in the investigation and search for the killer. Continue reading...

Charlie Falconer says government was right to challenge Epping hotel ruling but now has to move forward'A former Labour justice secretary has warned that Reform UK will continue to rise in opinion polls unless the government moves faster to close hotels housing people seeking asylum.On Friday, the government won a court of appeal challenge against an injunction by Epping Forest district council that would have resulted in 130 asylum seekers being moved out of the Bell hotel. In recent weeks the hotel has become the focus of repeated protests, some of which have been orchestrated by far-right extremists and have turned violent. Continue reading...

Cities in Indonesia rocked by protests after motorcycle taxi driver run over by police tactical vehicleProtesters have torched parliamentary buildings in three further Indonesian provinces, a day after at least three people were killed by a fire started by demonstrators at a council building in the city of Makassar.Protests erupted across Indonesia after footage spread showing a motorcycle taxi driver being run over and killed by a police vehicle on Thursday night during earlier demonstrations over low wages for workers and perks for lawmakers. Continue reading...

Police launch investigation into escalation of dispute in bar in Evreux, Normandy, after five others injuredA man has driven a car into a crowd outside a bar in northern France after a dispute in which one person was killed and five others injured, according to prosecutors.The incident took place in the town of Evreux, Normandy, at about 4am on Saturday. Continue reading...

The clandestine businesses - a financial lifeline for many women - have been given a month to cease operationsThe Taliban have issued an order targeting underground beauty salons operating in secret across Afghanistan, warning the women running them that they have one month to stop or face arrest.Officially, all beauty salons were closed by the Taliban in August 2023, shuttering 12,000 businesses with the loss of more than 50,000 female beautician jobs. Yet clandestine salons have continued to operate within communities across the country. Continue reading...

Regulator Easa concludes there is not enough evidence it is as safe as flying with two pilots as currently requiredProposals for commercial aeroplanes to operate with just one pilot in the cockpit have been put on ice after a report for the European regulator suggested it would make flying more dangerous.A three-year research project into extended minimum crew operations" commissioned by the EU Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) found that despite advances in technology there was not sufficient evidence that flying with a single pilot could be as safe as with the two currently required. Continue reading...

Former Roman Catholic priest and two dominatrices were evidently recording sexual videos in the church in 2020A judge in Louisiana has ordered the return of electronics belonging to an ex-Roman Catholic priest who pleaded guilty to obscenity for being caught having sex with two dominatrices atop a church altar while still belonging to the clergy in 2020.However, the judge also told authorities to erase all data from the devices and storage media as a precaution against videos taken of the tryst from becoming public. Continue reading...

Therapists say they are seeing negative impacts of people increasingly turning to AI chatbots for helpVulnerable people turning to AI chatbots instead of professional therapists for mental health support could be sliding into a dangerous abyss", psychotherapists have warned.Psychotherapists and psychiatristssaid they were increasingly seeing negative impacts of AI chatbots being used for mental health, such as fostering emotional dependence, exacerbating anxiety symptoms, self-diagnosis, or amplifying delusional thought patterns, dark thoughts and suicide ideation. Continue reading...

Some are happy to see new faces in the chambers but many are frustrated with a lack of improvements on the ground since party's sweeping victoriesThis motion is bizarre to say the least," said a bemused Doncaster Labour councillor as Reform proposed that the council fly no flags apart from the union flag from its buildings.It would not just mean no Pride flag on Pride Day, a debate heard. It would mean no white rose flag on Yorkshire Day, no Rovers flag celebrating the football team winning the league, no St George's flag marking England's Lionesses' Euros triumph, and no green flags celebrating municipal park management achievements in the city's green spaces. The motion was a waste of time and a waste of resources", one councillor said. Continue reading...

Users of the salary advance service marketed by their employers say it was all too easy to slip into debt

Critics concerned as Wagestream offers loans of up to 25,000 to workers at Pizza Express, Asda and others

It is understood an investigation will look at whether Paul Bean of Durham council breached civil service codeA local councillor for Reform UK who works for the Home Office processing asylum and immigration claims has been suspended from his job while an investigation is carried out, the Guardian has learned.Paul Bean, who serves as a councillor for Crook ward at Durham county council, declared his day job as a civil servant at the Home Office in his register of interests. Continue reading...

An agreement relating to the NZYQ cohort, who previously faced indefinite immigration detention, was signed by home affairs minister Tony Burke on Friday

As a new academic year begins providers say national insurance rises and food price inflation has forced up pricesParents across England are facing higher prices for school lunches as the new school year begins, with caterers blaming the government's national insurance increase alongside rising food and energy costs.Lunch providers say increases in staffing costs, including employer national insurance contributions announced by the chancellor last year, have added significant extra pressure" to their budgets. Continue reading...

Organiser of petition says French president ignoring expert advice that artefact too fragile to be transported to UKThe Bayeux tapestry is so fragile that transporting it risks irreparable damage, French experts have said, as a petition urging Emmanuel Macron to reverse a catastrophic" decision to loan the unique embroidery to Britain passed 60,000 signatures.France's president declared in July that the nearly 1,000-year-old, 70-metre-long wool-on-linen artwork, which depicts William the Conqueror's victory over King Harold II of England at Hastings in 1066, would cross the Channel next year. Continue reading...

Analysts say Putin and Xi will aim to align positions during Russian leader's unusually long stayVladimir Putin will travel to China this weekend for what the Kremlin has called a truly unprecedented" visit to his most important ally, which comes at a crunch moment in talks over Ukraine.During the trip, which is expected to stretch to close to a week - unusually long for the Russian leader - he will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, hold talks with Xi Jinping, and take in Beijing's Victory Day military parade marking 80 years since Japan's defeat in the second world war, where Putin is due to be the star guest alongside North Korea's Kim Jong-un and leaders of Iran and Cuba. Continue reading...

MHRA is cracking down on unlicensed anti-wrinkle products after spate of botulism cases in EnglandSellers of fake Botox jabs could be jailed for up to two years, the UK's medicine watchdog has warned, as it increases efforts to track down those flouting the law.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says it is cracking down on the trade of unlicensed botulinum toxin products after a spate of botulism cases across England thought to be linked to them. Continue reading...

The 56-year-old made a series of threats against police and had a long history of minor offences, culminating in the loss of his driver's licence in 2022

County court judge found physical and psychological injuries from the accident caused complete destruction of her capacity for any form of meaningful remunerative work'

Home Office and Bell hotel owner challenged injunction granted to council that would have stopped dozens of asylum seekers being housed thereUK bank shares tumbled on Friday, cutting the stock market value of the sector by almost 8bn in morning trading, as fresh calls for a windfall tax on large lenders in the autumn budget spooked investors.Calls for a tax grab, in a paper written by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank, took a toll on some of the UK's biggest high street banks. NatWest Group suffered the biggest drop on Friday morning, registering a decline of as much as 5% in its share price, while Lloyds Banking Group and Barclays followed close behind, falling 4.5% and 3.6% respectively. HSBC dropped more than 1%. Continue reading...

Malcolm Kenyatta is on a 105-mile march to highlight drastic cuts to the stat's regional public transport servicesThe best part of this is I get to eat as many carbs as possible," jokes Malcolm Kenyatta, who has lost 100lbs over the past two years. I had a bagel already, I'm eating snacks, I'm having a good time."The Democratic state representative was speaking by phone from Broomall, Pennsylvania, on Friday, around 12 miles into a one-man, 105-mile march from Philadelphia to Harrisburg in protest to drastic cuts to regional public transport services. Continue reading...

Fletcher Merkel, eight, and Harper Moyski, 10, died during the attack on the Annunciation Catholic school churchAn eight-year-old boy and a 10-year-old girl who were killed in a mass shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school have been identified by their parents.Fletcher Merkel, eight, and Harper Moyski, 10, died during the attack on the Annunciation Catholic school church on Wednesday morning, their parents confirmed. A further 17 people, 14 of them children, were injured in the shooting. Continue reading...

Trump officials accused of false imprisonment and unconstitutional racial profiling' over incident in LAThe mother of a 15-year-old boy who was detained at gunpoint by federal immigration agents is seeking $1m in damages and accusing the Trump administration of false imprisonment and unconstitutional racial profiling".The teenager, a US citizen with disabilities, was in a vehicle with his mother outside Arleta high school in Los Angeles on 11 August when masked immigration agents surrounded them and pulled them from the vehicle. They said the boy was a suspect in a crime, and handcuffed him for several minutes until they realized had the wrong person, the Los Angeles Times reported. Continue reading...

Israeli military announces move in Gaza City as it steps up attacks before planned offensiveIsrael's military will no longer pause fighting to allow aid deliveries in Gaza City, a military spokesperson has said, in a decision likely to deepen the famine already gripping the north of the territory.Israeli forces have been stepping up attacks in and around Gaza City as the military prepares for a ground operation that humanitarian groups and many of Israel's closest allies have warned will be catastrophic for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians already struggling to survive hunger, disease and Israeli attacks. Continue reading...

First female senator to represent Iowa had a rocky reception from constituents earlier year over Medicaid cuts

Step comes when France is leading a push to recognise Palestinian state after Israel's unyielding bombing of GazaThe US has begun denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the United Nations general assembly meeting in September, the state department said on Friday.The Trump administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace," it said in a statement. Continue reading...

Ruling has bought government time to plan closures but Farage and Tories have more fuel for their grievances

At hearing for Federal Reserve governor's suit over firing, attorney says president engages in litigation by tweet'Donald Trump has been accused of wielding unconfirmed allegations of mortgage fraud as his weapon of choice" to attack the Federal Reserve's independence, as a governor at the central bank sues the president over his bid to fire her.In court on Friday, lawyers for Lisa Cook argued she was fired without the notice or cause" required to remove a Fed governor. Cook learned of her removal from the board via a post on social media, they said. Continue reading...

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Chao Xu, of Greenwich, admits 24 offences against six women and police say there could be many more victimsA businessman who concealed cameras in his home and drugged women has pleaded guilty to a string of sexual offences, and police fear the full scale of his crimes may be vast".Chao Xu, 33, pleaded guilty at a pre-trial hearing on Friday to 24 offences against six young women in London over three years, including rape, digital penetration, sexual assault, administering a substance with intent and voyeurism. Continue reading...

Judges say decision to allow injunction was seriously flawed' and contained several errors in principle'

French president says he will speak to US counterpart amid calls for a Monday deadline for Russian leader to agree to bilateral talksEuropean Commission president Ursula von der Leyen is in Latvia today, and has been speaking to the media in the last few minutes.Speaking alongside Latvia's prime minister Evika Silia, she praised the country's work on becoming a true drone and anti drone powerhouse" in Europe, contributing to Nato's security in the region bordering with Russia.We know that Europe is only safe if the eastern border is safe.The risks your country and the other Baltic States warned us about, unfortunately, have materialised.Russia's brutal war against Ukraine is now in its fourth year, Putin is a predator, Putin's proxies have been targeting our societies for years with hybrid attacks, with cyber-attacks, [and] the weaponising of migrants is another example." Continue reading...

Greg Abbott battled Democrats to bring bill to vote, and redrawn district maps will heavily favor RepublicansTexas's governor, Greg Abbott, has signed a new redistricting bill that will redraw the state's congressional map to heavily favor Republicans.On Friday, Abbott signed the highly controversial bill which prompted state Democrats to stage a weeks-long walkout earlier this month. Continue reading...

Elias Morgan, 35, shot former HMP Altcourse officer Lenny Scott four years after a row over an illicit phoneA former inmate has been found guilty of murdering a prison officer in a revenge killing, four years after saying I promise I will get you."Elias Morgan, 35, planned and carried out the shooting of Lenny Scott, a former HMP Altcourse prison officer who had discovered Morgan's illicit mobile phone hidden behind bars in his cell. Continue reading...

Trump administration to end nearly all abortions even though third of female veterans are sexual assault survivorsDoctors at the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) would be barred from performing abortions, even in cases of rape and incest, under new rules proposed by the Trump administration.The draft regulations, which also forbid providers from counseling female veterans about terminating a pregnancy, have generated nearly 20,000 comments in the federal register from conservative activists, abortion rights supporters and female veterans, many of them survivors of sexual assault. Continue reading...

Durham council says strong rope on bunting was found to be a risk, amid controversy over flag-flying across EnglandA Reform-led council has started to remove flags and bunting displaying the St George's cross and the union flag after concerns were raised that they could cause accidents.Durham county council issued a statement on X on Friday saying that while the council understand and respect the community's desire to express national pride, celebration, or remembrance, it is important to ensure such expressions do not compromise public safety". Continue reading...

Controversial painting of Robert E Lee and enslaved man taken down after 2020 law to remove Confederate tributesA controversial portrait of General Robert E Lee, which shows an enslaved man holding the Confederate leader's horse, is being returned to the library at West Point, according to Pentagon officials who spoke with the New York Times.The nearly 20ft canvas, which had hung in the US military academy since 1952, was removed following a 2020 law that ordered Confederate names and tributes to be stripped from military installations. Continue reading...

Unifil mandate extended but troops patrolling Lebanon-Israel border to be withdrawn in December 2026

Apple will source all of its iPhone glass from Harrodsburg, but residents worry about taxes and threats to immigrantsFor people reading the news on an iPhone, the chances are the glass screen they are tapping on was made in a small town in central Kentucky you've never heard of.Now, Donald Trump wants all iPhone and Apple Watch glass screens to be made in the US, and the giant tech company recently announced it would oblige. Continue reading...

President's new security directive cancels one-year extension signed by Biden before leaving officeDonald Trump has revoked Secret Service protection for the former vice-president and 2024 Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, according to a letter obtained by CNN and confirmed to the Guardian by a senior White House official.The letter, dated on Thursday and titled Memorandum for the Secretary of Homeland Security", instructs the Secret Service to discontinue any security-related procedures beyond those required by law" effective 1 September 2025. Continue reading...

Roger Wicker and Deb Fischer meet island's president in Taipei as Beijing says trip sends gravely wrong signal'A visit to Taiwan by two US senators has drawn criticism from China, which claims the island as its own and objects to any contact between officials of the two sides.The chair of the Senate armed services committee, Roger Wicker, and the Nebraska senator Deb Fischer arrived in Taipei on Friday for a series of high-level meetings with senior Taiwanese leaders to discuss US-Taiwan relations, regional security, trade and investment, according to the American Institute in Taiwan, Washington's de facto embassy in lieu of formal diplomatic relations with the self-governing island democracy. Continue reading...

Educating Yorkshire Part 2 shows inspirational teachers negotiating challenges in young people's livesBasically, there's summat wrong with me. I'm like ... a psychopath. Genuinely!" A teenage girl with the face of an angel is confiding in Mr Wilson, one of the student managers. He listens solemnly, but his mouth twitches with the beginnings of a smile.I'm going to start by disagreeing with you," he says with all the seriousness he can muster. You're not a psychopath." The girl in the sky-blue hoodie relaxes and rewards him with a broad smile. Continue reading...

Guardian US partner WWL Louisiana called in Ray Theriot, who used utility bills, driver's licenses and property recordsA woman who died at home during Hurricane Katrina in a community outside New Orleans, but who remained unidentified for nearly two decades, has finally been named before the storm's 20th anniversary on Friday.The woman, who was identified with the help of New Orleans's CBS affiliate, WWL Louisiana, has been named as Dorothy Virginia Driggers Taquino, 81. Continue reading...

Human Rights Watch says US military personnel could face criminal prosecution for assisting Israel's war in GazaHuman rights groups and activists who protest against continued US support for Israel have focused primarily on the flow of US weapons, warning that continuing to send weapons to a state which has been documented using them in probable war crimes makes the US complicit.However, this week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) highlighted another facet of US military support for Israel: military cooperation and intelligence sharing. Continue reading...

Investor jitters follow report by IPPR, with stock market value of sector cut by almost 8bn in morning trading

Outsourcing firm Mitie listed several roles aimed at providing safe and productive' environment for detaineesJobs aimed at improving the wellbeing of people at an immigration detention centre, including holding workshops in floristry and balloon craft, are unnecessary and should be removed, a government minister has said.The outsourcing firm Mitie, which manages the Heathrow immigration removal centre (IRC) in west London, listed several roles online, including a painting and decorating tutor and gym manager, for salaries ranging between 31,000 and 38,000. Continue reading...