World news | The Guardian

Government facing questions about state of criminal justice system as search for Daniel Khalife continuesThe escape of a former soldier from a London jail has provoked a furious political row with ministers criticised over cuts and staff shortages that have left potentially dangerous inmates in low-security prisons.With the hunt for Daniel Khalife involving 150 counter-terrorism officers, the police were on Thursday urgently trying to establish whether the 21-year-old had help fleeing from HMP Wandsworth. Continue reading...

NHS expected to come under pressure with unprecedentedly long spell of hot September weatherThe UK has provisionally recorded its hottest day of the year, with this week expected to be the longest prolonged period of hot weather ever seen in September, the Met Office has said.Temperatures reached 32.6C (90.7F) in Wisley in Surrey on Thursday, the Met Office said. Amber heat-health alerts are in place for much of England, with only the north-east under a yellow alert. Continue reading...

Bombings around Izmail, main port along Danube river, last three hours and injured two truck drivers, Odesa governor saidRussia has maintained its bombing campaign against Ukrainian food exports with the fourth drone attack in five days on grain silos and other infrastructure around the port of Izmail along the Danube river.The governor of the Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said Thursday's attack lasted three hours, and the general prosecutor's office said two truck drivers were hurt and several homes were damaged by blast waves. The Ukrainian military said agricultural facilities were damaged but did not give details. Continue reading...

Study finds one in five institutions are leaving themselves vulnerable by continuing to accept cashA significant number of UK universities are still taking millions of pounds in cash as payment for tuition fees and accommodation, making them vulnerable to criminal gangs and money laundering, according to a study.A fifth of universities who responded to a freedom of information (FoI) request said they had accepted cash payments, while three institutions each accepted more than 1m in cash in 2019-20 alone. Continue reading...

Torrential rain blocks roads, causes power cuts and severs water suppliesFour days of cataclysmic rain have lashed the central Greek region of Thessaly, triggering landslides, road and bridge collapses and severing water supplies.In what was described as a biblical catastrophe", storms also hit other parts of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. Continue reading...

Donations in second quarter were 10.4m, including 3m from David Sainsbury and 2.2m from business tycoon Gary Lubner

A member of the public in Chapel St Leonards, Lincolnshire, called emergency services to report people lying on the floorA yoga class was cut short after a member of the public called the police to report a mass killing" after seeing several people lying on the floor.Participants in the class, which was being held at the Seascape cafe, inside the North Sea observatory in Chapel St Leonards, Skegness, Lincolnshire, were in the midst of meditation when officers turned up on Wednesday night. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Move criticised as inadequate, with Australian Centre for International Justice saying it minimised gravity of allegations

Exclusive: Access to immediate testosterone therapy significantly reduces gender dysphoria, depression and thoughts of suicide, research findsFast access to testosterone therapy for transgender adults is life-saving", leading to a significantly reduced risk of depression and suicide, a clinical trial led by the University of Melbourne has found.It is the world's first study to examine the impact of access to hormone therapy on mental distress for trans people through a randomised control trial, a strong type of study crucial in medicine due to the minimal risk of confounding factors influencing the results. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Recently built Caboolture watch house, north of Brisbane, expected to be converted to child-specific facility by October

Indigenous Australians minister says claims of potential clandestine' burials at former Kinchela Aboriginal Boys' Training Home are deeply disturbing'

Exclusive: Treasurer expects bumpy' year ahead as Australia feels the squeeze of higher interest rates and China's slowdown

Ex-footballer was among those at restaurant in Bournemouth when royal dropped in to highlight his homelessness campaignFormer England footballer Paul Gascoigne had an affectionate encounter with the Prince of Wales after popping up in a Pret a Manger where the royal was highlighting his homelessness campaign.The one-time England midfielder was among staff and diners at the sandwich chain in Bournemouth as William dropped in to help out as part of his Homewards initiative. Continue reading...

Chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown also says clients are not properly served if workers avoid Mondays and FridaysWorkers should come into the office at least three days a week - and not just Tuesday to Thursday - to ensure clients are properly served throughout the week, according to the head of the world's biggest insurance market.Bruce Carnegie-Brown, the chairman of Lloyd's of London, said he wants to see people working in its building in the City for most of the week, and to avoid a situation where people were taking long weekends" every week, and Mondays and Fridays weren't properly covered for clients. Continue reading...

There will be pressure on rich countries to fulfil a commitment to provide climate finance to poorer nationsThe run-up to this weekend's G20 summit in Delhi has largely been dominated by two issues: the host's efforts to project India as a superpower; and the intriguing decision of Xi Jinping not to attend. The substance of what world leaders will discuss during their two days together has struggled to surface.Yet this year's G20 - the 24th since the format was inaugurated in 1999 - is potentially a make or break moment for the organisation that includes the world's 19 wealthiest nations plus the European Union as a bloc. With one part of the world increasingly gathering in the now expanded Brics format where China has a leading role, and the west comfortable with its annual G7 summitry, the G20 is the best remaining hope of keeping the principle of multilateralism alive. The United Nations secretary general, Antonio Guterres, spoke on Thursday of a real risk of fragmentation of the world order, while his own organisation is paralysed by the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Police in Western Australia say 25-year-old Lachlan Bowles, who is alleged to have killed a workmate, has died

Julie Fujishima, niece of late pop mogul, apologises and acknowledges agency founder's abuse for first timeThe president of Japan's biggest boyband talent agency has resigned after acknowledging for the first time that its late founder sexually abused aspiring young stars.The country's most powerful pop mogul, Johnny Kitagawa, who died in 2019 aged 87, was accused of sexually assaulting multiple teenagers over decades, but evaded justice because his victims feared he would destroy their careers if they spoke out. Continue reading...

Duo's 2019 hit was alleged to have imitated 2015 song Dancing With Strangers, performed by Jordan VincentSam Smith has won a copyright lawsuit filed by songwriters who claimed Smith's hit Dancing With a Stranger imitated their own track.Jordan Vincent, Christopher Miranda and Rosco Banlaoi had alleged that their song Dancing With Strangers, performed by Vincent, was infringed upon by Smith's song, a duet with US singer Normani which shares the same chorus line dancing with a stranger". Dancing With Strangers amassed over 500,000 streams after being uploaded to Soundcloud in 2015. Continue reading...

The man, 56, has pleaded not guilty to the incident in October 2021 and another allegation of intimidation in November 2020

Investigation launched over escape of Daniel Khalife from category B facility, cabinet minister confirmsAn investigation is under way into why a former soldier accused of terrorism who is now on the run was held in a lower-security prison, a cabinet minister has said.Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, said the government's top priority" was tracking down Daniel Khalife, who absconded from HMP Wandsworth on Wednesday morning by clinging to the bottom of a delivery van. Continue reading...

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Tech to scan cloud storage services is operated by Meta, Microsoft and Google, but Apple stopped development last year to focus on warnings for explicit images

Renee Jeffery says country's discomfort' stems from reluctance to address own history including treatment of First Nations people

Born Ready Shady, bred on the NSW mid-north coast, sold for $144,000 above his reserve at the Kempsey saleyards on Saturday

Luke Nardini, 31, was involved in a head-on crash in the Santa Cruz Mountains that killed Jack and Linda Davis, both 80

In today's newsletter: As the Department of Work and Pensions looks to tighten' work capability assessments, we look at the impact of a decade of welfare policies Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.After a decade of austerity, the Conservative party's track record on providing an adequate safety net for those who need it has been heavily criticised. A growing body of research indicates that a reduction in health and social care spending in real terms has led to tens of thousands of excess deaths.Police | An undercover officer used his fake identity to deceive a woman into a 19-year relationship in which they became partners and had a child together, on whose birth certificate he used his fake name, the Guardian can reveal.Politics | Labour should consider using wealth taxes to raise 10bn as the UK needs to go further" to bring in money to repair public services, the head of the Trades Union Congress, Paul Nowak, has said.Climate | The summer of 2023 was the hottest ever recorded, as the climate crisis and emerging El Nino pushed up temperatures and drove extreme weather across the world.Schools | Nine out of 10 schools in England have said they are providing clothing and uniforms for students, while seven out of 10 are giving out food in the form of parcels, food bank provisions, vouchers or subsidised breakfasts because of the cost of living crisis. Teachers are reporting deteriorating hygiene among pupils as families cut back on brushing teeth, showering and even flushing the toilet.Technology | The EU has unveiled a set of revolutionary" laws to curb the power of six big tech companies, including allowing consumers to decide what apps they want on their phone and to delete pre-loaded software such as Google or Apple's maps apps. Continue reading...

Sentencing of Sai Zaw Thaike at one-day trial for treason and defamation shows press freedom has been completely quashed' under junta, editor saysA Myanmar court has sentenced a photojournalist to 20 years in prison with hard labour over his coverage of the aftermath of a deadly cyclone, according to Myanmar Now, the media organisation he worked for.The sentence given to Sai Zaw Thaike, a photographer for the independent online news service, appeared to be the most severe for any journalist detained since the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021. Continue reading...

Two-fifths of UK adults disconnected for three hours or more with one in four left without service for nearly a weekThe number of Britons who have experienced their internet connection failing for at least three hours has almost doubled in the last year, with irate consumers now ranking broadband outages as a bigger frustration than roadworks or public transport delays.In the past year, two-fifths (41%) of all UK adults - 22 million consumers - have had their internet disconnected for three or more hours, a significant increase on the 12 million who reported disruption the previous year, according to a report by the price comparison website Uswitch. Continue reading...

Survey finds cost of living crisis has increased both number of children needing extra support and level of need

At a speech in Sydney, Philip Lowe has said some of his economic explanations missed the mark' but that media should avoid clickbait'

UK losing belief that hard work brings better life, and fewer millennials now think work always comes first, survey indicatesIn the great live to work or work to live" debate, Britons have traditionally been seen to fall into the first group. But research appears to turn that reputation on its head.According to a study of 24 countries, Britons are less likely than people from elsewhere to place importance on work. Increasingly, they also no longer believe that hard work brings a better life. Continue reading...

Set in a psychiatric hospital in Aberdeenshire, new National Theatre production puts Mina Murray at centre of actionThe first major staging of Dracula with an all-woman and non-binary cast aims to reclaim and subvert" gothic tropes of fragile and corruptible females by retelling the genre classic through the eyes of Mina Murray.In Bram Stoker's 1897 novel, Murray's fiance, the solicitor Jonathan Harker, clumsily embroils Mina and her friend Lucy in Dracula's bloodlust when he travels to Transylvania to assist the count in a property purchase. However, the new National Theatre of Scotland production puts Mina at the centre of the action. Continue reading...

Paul Nowak says Keir Starmer's party has some progressive ideas on tax but needs to go furtherLabour should consider using wealth taxes to raise 10bn as the UK needs to go further" to bring in money to repair public services, the head of the Trades Union Congress has said.Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the organising body for trade unions in England and Wales, said proposals put forward by the TUC to bring capital gains tax into line with income tax or to impose a wealth tax on assets of more than 3m were relatively modest" and were supported by the public. Continue reading...

Government seeks views on periods, contraception, fertility, pregnancy and menopause for health strategyWomen in England are being urged to help shape reproductive health policy by sharing their experiences of a range of issues.The government's launch of the survey comes more than a year after ministers first promised to seek women's views on issues including periods, contraception, fertility, pregnancy and the menopause, as part of its women's health strategy. Continue reading...

Kathleen Foley, SC, says inquiry will examine other schools where former Beaumaris teachers had worked

Artists say the insurance carve-out by QBE will effectively prevent them doing public art and mural projects, or installing in galleriesThere are fears Australian artists may be left unable to work on large-scale and public art projects, as insurance giant QBE prepares to make another round of carve-outs to a policy held by thousands of artists.QBE will no longer cover artists working at heights of more than five metres, and those working at lower heights face extra premiums of up to $600 per annum. Continue reading...

Former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and senator Xochitl Galvez were selected as the candidates for the two major electoral groupsMexico will almost certainly have its first female president in 2024, after the governing Morena party and the opposition coalition both chose women as their candidates.Former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum was named Morena's candidate on Wednesday, despite runner-up Marcelo Ebrard's last-minute denouncement of the process and demand for it to be redone. Continue reading...

Omo blew the competition out of the water in a test of 70 detergents by Choice, but to get value for money the watchdog says using less is best

Father of alleged Heckenberg crash driver Johnson Kokozian accused of concealing serious indictable offence

Federal transport minister says treatment of Australian women subjected to bodily inspections at Doha airport in 2020 provided context for decision to block additional flights by Qatar Airways

Senior ministers condemn fighter's behaviour and comments on women in Australia but argue you can't taint a whole sport because of one or two people'

Romanian president deplores potential serious violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Romania, a Nato ally'

Decision to remove abortion from federal penal code comes amid trend in Latin America of loosening restrictions on procedureMexico's supreme court has unanimously ruled that state laws prohibiting abortion are unconstitutional and violate women's rights, in the latest in a series of victories for reproductive rights activists across Latin America.Wednesday's ruling came two years after the court ordered the northern state of Coahuila to remove sanctions for abortion from its criminal code, a decision which prompted a tortuous state-by-state process of legal battles. So far 12 of Mexico's 31 states have decriminalized the procedure. Continue reading...

Which? said firms are gathering far more data than needed for products to function

Institute for Fiscal Studies finds stark disparities in earnings based on geography and ethnicityMoving up the social ladder in Britain has become harder than at any point in more than half a century for children born into poor households, according to the country's foremost economic thinktank.Exposing a striking breakdown in social mobility, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said those growing up in the north of England and the Midlands, as well as those from a minority ethnic background, would find it a lot harder than others to become wealthier than their parents. Continue reading...

Tamir Pardo comments, slammed by ruling Likud party, carry weight because of high regard for intelligence agency in IsraelA former head of the Mossad intelligence agency has said Israel is imposing a form of apartheid on the Palestinians, joining a growing number of prominent Israelis to compare the occupation of the West Bank to South Africa's defunct system of racial oppression.But Tamir Pardo's views will have added impact because of the high regard for Mossad in Israel and because they come at a time when far-right members of Israel's government are moving to kill off any prospect of an independent Palestinian state. Continue reading...

Unclear what charges president's son will face but he has been under investigation for potential tax and gun law violations. This blog is now closed

Moscow targets cities with missiles as US secretary of state Antony Blinken makes surprise visit to Kyiv

Republican Senate leader, 81, says he will finish term as signs emerge of uncertainty over his future in GOP ranksMitch McConnell rejected speculation about his future as Republican leader in the US Senate, telling reporters: I'm going to finish my term as leader and I'm going to finish my Senate term."The remarks on Wednesday came amid intense speculation about the 81-year-old Kentucky senator's health, after two recent freezes in front of reporters, one on Capitol Hill in July and another in McConnell's home state last week. Continue reading...

Brian May and some fans express dismay as contents of late Queen frontman's home go under hammer in six-day saleFreddie Mercury's Yamaha baby grand piano has been sold for 1.74m as thousands of his possessions were auctioned on Wednesday night, amid criticism by some fans and Brian May.The Queen frontman left his Kensington home, Garden Lodge, and its contents to his close friend Mary Austin. More than 32 years after his death, Austin is selling the contents at Sotheby's, with some of the proceeds going to charity after the six-day sale. Continue reading...