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Baku has drawn the ire of the EU and US after years of promoting itself as a reliable security partner and vital transport hubAs the dramatic images emerge of thousands of Karabakh Armenians forced away from their homes in a mass exodus, some in the west are beginning to rethink their relationship with Azerbaijan.Through a mixture of skilled diplomacy and lobbying, the resource-rich country has for years promoted itself in the UK and EU as a reliable security partner and vital transport hub. Continue reading...

Superannuation and property investment fuels growing inequality, with the richest fifth worth an average of $3.2m

Compassion just dissipates' among public when young victims of abuse become offenders, expert says

Christopher Saunders, who denies grooming young boys, criticised the Catholic church's response to child sexual abuse allegations at a royal commission in 2017

Exclusive: Johns, who is facing calls to resign, also described the National Indigenous Australians Agency as a shadow government'

Streamlined party under Ed Davey will concentrate its finite resources on a number of key, mainly Tory, constituencies at the next election

Lib Dem leader closes party conference with speech reinforcing party's focus on the NHS

There have been several recent incidents in the US in which people have been shot after approaching the wrong residenceEarly on Monday, an off-duty Texas highway patrol officer thought someone was trying to break into his apartment in Houston, according to authorities. He pulled his gun out, shot the person behind his shuttered door - and realized it was his neighbor, officials said.The latest case of an off-duty law enforcement officer encountering and shooting a member of the public took place after midnight at an apartment complex just outside Minute Maid Park, where Houston's professional baseball team, the Astros, plays. Continue reading...

Fewer than half of companies meeting their targets on leaks, says the regulator, OfwatWater companies in England and Wales have been ordered to return 114m to customers through lower bills next year because progress on leakage and sewage spills has been too slow".In its annual water company performance report, the regulator, Ofwat, said the majority of water and wastewater companies were underperforming on targets set for 2020-25 to deliver better outcomes, for customers and the environment. Continue reading...

Despite Feijoo's party winning July's snap poll, his rival Pedro Sanchez remains best placed to form a government

Labour says veterans minister inferred he did not receive money

Coogan will follow in Peter Sellers' footsteps to play multiple roles in stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick's 1964 satirical war filmSteve Coogan is to star in Armando Iannucci's stage adaptation of the satirical war film Dr Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.The play, set to open in London next autumn, reunites the pair who worked together more than 30 years ago on the BBC radio comedy On the Hour, in which Coogan played Alan Partridge, and on subsequent Partridge projects. Continue reading...

Russia again strikes at Ukraine's port and grain infrastructure; border crossing with Romania closed following drone attack

Labor colleagues hail Andrews as a giant' who was tested by some of the toughest times', as opposition says he resigned due to things falling apart'. Follow the day's news live

UK home secretary in US to call for rewriting of UN asylum rules so they are fit for the modern age'A Labour MP has urged LGBTQ+ Conservatives to condemn Suella Braverman's speech, in which she will say that Britain should not grant asylum to people who are simply fearful of persecution for being gay.Ben Bradshaw, a former minister, made the call before a speech the home secretary is due to make in the US where she will make her case for the rewriting of key international refugee rules so they are fit for the modern age". Continue reading...

Operation Dudula changes tactics from evictions and violence, with plans to fight elections on platform of expelling foreignersAn anti-migrant vigilante organisation in South Africa has registered as a political party and plans to contest seats in next year's general elections.Operation Dudula, whose name means to force out" in Zulu, wants all foreign nationals who are in the country unofficially to be deported. Continue reading...

Advisers of detained Mohamed Bazoum say French withdrawal removes coup leaders' pretext for power grabAides and supporters of Niger's deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, have welcomed the decision of France to withdraw its diplomatic staff and military from the country, saying it will deny the military junta a scapegoat" to disguise its failings.Bazoum, a French ally whose election in 2021 had boosted hopes of stability in the unstable Sahel state, was detained on 26 July by members of his guard. Senior soldiers took power in the unstable Sahel state shortly afterwards. Continue reading...

Revelation comes days after prime minister Justin Trudeau blamed the assassination of the Sikh activist on the Indian governmentThe FBI warned at least three Americans active in the Sikh community that their lives were in danger in the immediate aftermath of the murder of a Sikh activist in Canada last June.Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has blamed the apparent assassination on the Indian government, as assessment that has reportedly been backed by Canadian and US intelligence sources and has created a rupture in Ottawa's relationship with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's government. Continue reading...

Trade bodies join political figures in backing policy of alignment with standards and regulations' with blocSenior business leaders and trade bodies have backed Keir Starmer's comments that Britain should not part from the European Union on standards ranging from the environment to employment.The Labour leader has come under fire from the Conservatives, who accused him of wanting to unpick" Brexit after saying that most of the conflict" since 2016 had arisen because the UK wants to diverge and do different things to the rest of our EU partners". Continue reading...

Other sites to be restored include Cardiff's Victorian market, Lowestoft town hall and a lochside churchA 19th-century thatched ice house that was an important staging post for fish between the sea and the nation's stomachs is to be transformed into a circus training centre.The quayside Grade II-listed Great Yarmouth Ice House, built as one of a pair between 1851 and 1892, was a key asset in the town's once-thriving fishing industry. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Police and charities warn of rise in harmful sexual behaviour among young peopleChild abuse experts and police are warning that access to increasingly extreme pornography is driving a rise in harmful sexual behaviour among young people, from sexting to watching online child abuse.One charity that works to prevent child sexual abuse said there had been a 30% increase in under-18s contacting them, and a 26% rise in adults contacting them because they were concerned about the behaviour of a young person. Continue reading...

Historian says ignorance and indifference between UK nations could pose biggest threat to future of unionSchools in the UK need to teach the history of all four nations, the historian David Olusoga has said, warning that ambivalence and indifference risk pulling apart the union.The fact that A-level pupils in England do not learn much about the history of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and vice versa means that Britons struggle to understand key contemporary political issues in the other nations, for example the Scottish independence movement or sectarianism in Northern Ireland, Olusoga said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Roberta Metsola warns pushing the can down the road' will fuel nationalism and the far rightThe European Union must begin a major wave of change to prepare for the arrival of Ukraine as a member state, the leader of its parliament has said, with nothing off the table", including removing trade tariffs and giving Kyiv access to internal markets before full membership.Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, Roberta Metsola, an MEP from Malta who became the European parliament's youngest ever president last year, said she expected member states to begin formal negotiations with Ukraine as soon as December. Continue reading...

Exclusive: BCG relied on verbal agreements' with senior bureaucrats to secure extra $880,000, according to emails attached to a submission to Senate inquiry

Metropolitan police firearms officers have downed their weapons in protest at the charging of a colleague with murder. Vikram Dodd reports on what happens nowLast September, a Metropolitan police operation led to the killing of Chris Kaba, an unarmed 24-year-old man, by a firearms officer in south-east London. Last week, the officer identified only as NX121 was charged with murder.The Guardian's crime correspondent, Vikram Dodd, tells Michael Safi that the decision to prosecute a colleague for murder has led to dozens of officers putting down their weapons and asking for clarity about their duties. Continue reading...

Adam Robert Corden Britton, 51, tortured and sexually exploited more than 42 dogs and also transmitted child abuse material before his arrest in April 2022Warning: this story contains graphic content

The 78-year-old, the show's oldest ever contestant, demonstrated advanced moves in the cha-cha-chaWhether you can do the splits is a favoured test of flexibility in the playground, but it's generally assumed that most people over 40 can't. So when 78-year-old Angela Rippon kicked her leg into a standing split on Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing, she caused a stir among viewers.Rippon is the show's oldest ever contestant, yet experts say her move is difficult for most younger people and highly unusual for someone her age, as the body stiffens with age, while balance and muscle strength decline. Continue reading...

The stricken authority now set to receive a revised emergency budget after Michael Gove was forced to call in commissionersBirmingham city council has voted to approve spending control measures, as well as endorsing a financial recovery plan" that is already under way.The council debated the plan to tackle an estimated 760m equal pay liability before giving the go-ahead for the section 114 notice it issued earlier this month. The notice in effect declared the authority bankrupt and it is now expected to receive a revised emergency budget at another meeting late next month. Continue reading...

The Scottish-born actor was most famous for his stint in the 60s spy TV series, and most recently for his work on NCISActor David McCallum, who became a teen heartthrob in the hit series The Man from UNCLE in the 1960s and was the eccentric medical examiner in the popular television show NCIS 40 years later, has died. He was 90.McCallum died on Monday of natural causes, surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital, CBS said in a statement. Continue reading...

Overwhelming conference vote defies Ed Davey strategy of reshaping policy to court wavering Tory votersLiberal Democrat members have handed a very public rebuke to Ed Davey before his key speech to the party conference, rebelling in large numbers over a plan by the leadership to scrap national targets for housebuilding.In a first tangible sign of internal pushback against the Davey-led idea of shaping the Lib Dems' policy platform to tempt wavering Conservative voters to backing the party in so-called blue wall" seats, members voted to maintain a target of 380,000 homes a year. Continue reading...

Home secretary's address in Washington will urge reform of UN convention and has already prompted concern from charitiesSuella Braverman will appeal on Tuesday to world leaders and political thinkers to consider rewriting key refugee rules so they are fit for the modern age".In a move to alter an agreement that undermined UK plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, the home secretary will argue that the United Nations 1951 refugee convention must be reformed to tackle a worldwide migration crisis. Continue reading...

The gold-medal winner will run in Colchester after current Conservative incumbent is to stand downThe Olympic gold-winning rower James Cracknell will stand as a Conservative candidate at the next general election.The rowing champion will run in Colchester, where the incumbent Conservative MP Will Quince is to stand down. Continue reading...

Morning runs by Edgar Lungu and party supporters amount to activism' that requires clearance, police sayA former president of Zambia has been warned that his morning jog is turning into political activism" for which he must seek police approval.The police said the runs by Edgar Lungu and some of his party supporters requires their clearance to ensure the safety of the man who lost power in 2021. Continue reading...

More than 6,000 ethnic Armenian refugees have left region following Azerbaijan victory

The Turkish president described last week's offensive in the disputed territory as a matter of pride'The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, and the Azerbaijani leader, Ilham Aliyev, have lauded Baku's military victory in Nagorno-Karabakh as thousands of ethnic Armenians fled their homes in the breakaway region and headed to Armenia.Aliyev hosted his Turkish counterpart on Monday in the autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, a strip of Azerbaijani territory separated from the rest of the country by Armenia. Last week, Erdoan, an ally of Aliyev who backed Azerbaijan with weaponry in the 2020 conflict, said he supported the aims of Azerbaijan's latest military operation but had played no part in it. Continue reading...

Force says allegations against performer are non-recent and there have been no arrestsScotland Yard has launched an investigation into a number of sexual offence allegations from across the country after media reporting of claims against Russell Brand.The 48-year-old comedian and actor has been accused of rape, assault and emotional abuse between 2006 and 2013, when he was at the height of his fame working for the BBC and Channel 4 and starring in Hollywood films. He denies the allegations. Continue reading...

Technology secretary, Michelle Donelan, hopes safety summit will help to establish early warning signs in technologyA smoke alarm" for dangerous artificial intelligence systems is needed in order to head off a range of serious threats such as mass loss of life, cyber-attacks and AI technology spiralling out of control, UK ministers have warned.The technology secretary, Michelle Donelan, said she hoped a forthcoming safety summit hosted in the UK would help to establish an early warning system whereby tech companies look for risks in the AI products they are building and know how to respond to them. Continue reading...

In stern letter to Olaf Scholz, Georgia Meloni criticises support provided for saving people in the MediterraneanItaly's far-right prime minster, Giorgia Meloni, has written a stern letter to the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, telling him she was astonished" to learn that Berlin was paying charities to rescue people in the Mediterranean.The row between Italy and German broke out after the Catholic charity Sant'Egidio said it had signed a fresh deal with Berlin to fund activities assisting refugees in Italy. Continue reading...

Ukraine says 34 officers were killed including Black Sea fleet admiral Viktor Sokolov in its missile strike on Sevastapol last week

With Moscow's resources clearly finite' the Kremlin has had to adapt to Baku's rising powerAzerbaijan's military victory in the extended 35-year conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh is a notable geopolitical setback for Russia, traditionally Armenia's partner and ally.Moscow's post-Soviet strategy has often been to stoke conflicts to weaken its near neighbours, creating crises in Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. But on this occasion the Kremlin has had to adapt to Azerbaijan's rising power - showing a willingness to sacrifice an old ally. Continue reading...

When it comes to investigating police shootings, what all sides agree on is it takes too longThe Metropolitan police's firearms command is seen as prestigious to serve in, but Louise Casey's damning report into Britain's largest force published in March found it had become dogged by cultural issues.Some of its virtues can slide into vices. It is close knit, offering strong support for colleagues in trouble, which can turn into an insularity. It's members volunteer to face extreme danger, rarely open fire, and some can appear to sneer at those who question them, viewing it as doubting their professionalism. Continue reading...

Airport will share 164 cancellations between airlines until Sunday as it seeks to avoid diversionsThousands of passengers flying to and from Gatwick this week will have their flights cancelled after the airport announced a cap on movements because of a shortage of staff in air traffic control.Gatwick imposed an immediate cap on Monday of 800 flights taking off or landing a day. Continue reading...

Comments from Paul Johnson of Institute of Fiscal Studies come as Downing Street hints at delay to work on second phase of rail linkAround 20,000 university workers are out on strike this week at more than 50 universities across the UK, despite a dramatic last-minute scaling back of industrial action.Strikes had been set to go ahead at 142 UK universities this week as part of a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions, but it emerged last week that two thirds of branches of the University and College Union (UCU) had declined to take part.Davey said the Lib Dem commitment - dating back to 1992 - to raise income tax by 1p to improve public services is unsustainable in the current economic climate. Originally the money raised was earmarked for education, but at the last election the party said it would use it to fund the NHS.Speaking from Bournemouth to broadcast studios, Davey suggested the burden should instead fall on companies making huge profits" while people struggle with the cost of living. Continue reading...

Incident that left police officer and four attackers dead marks one of gravest escalations in violence for yearsKosovan authorities say they have recovered a large cache of arms after ethnic Serb gunmen stormed a village in the restive north at the weekend, battling police and barricading themselves into a monastery.We can easily say that the equipment was destined for several hundred other assailants," the interior minister, Xhelal Svecla, said on Monday. Continue reading...

British territory's commissioner withdraws decision after supreme court challengeA group of Tamil asylum seekers stranded on a tiny British territory in the Indian Ocean have won their fight against being forcibly returned to Sri Lanka after a government climbdown.The group are on Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands, which the UK calls the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and over which it continues to claim sovereignty despite a UN court ruling that they are part of Mauritius. Continue reading...

Emma Heming Willis says she has been care partner' to husband, 68, after actor was diagnosed with frontotemporal degenerationSix months after Bruce Willis was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia, it is hard to know" whether the actor, known for roles in Die Hard and Pulp Fiction, is aware of the extent to which his condition has worsened, his wife has revealed in a new interview.Emma Heming Willis also told Today's Hoda Kotb in an interview broadcast on Monday that she has been a care partner" to her husband since the moment of the diagnosis. Continue reading...

David McAllister, chairman of the European parliament's foreign affairs committee, says ceasefire is only the first step

Former nurse, convicted of murdering seven babies at Countess of Chester hospital, will be retried in June 2024Lucy Letby will face a retrial on a charge of attempting to murder a newborn baby girl, a court has been told.The former nurse, 33, was found guilty in August of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill a further six at the Countess of Chester hospital in north-west England. Continue reading...

Southern port of Odesa hit by Russian missiles overnight; at least one person killed in attack on Beryslav

Advisers, MPs and former ministers are sharply split over committing or quitting on the high-speed rail line