World news | The Guardian

Experts say the trend in New York, Chicago and San Francisco appears to be linked to immunity and behavior changesMonkeypox cases in some large US cities appear to be declining, matching trends seen in Europe, and experts are cautiously optimistic the outbreak may have peaked in places hit hardest by the virus.The optimism comes just as US officials on Friday said there’s enough of a supply of monkeypox vaccine available now – though the shots aren’t getting to some of the people who need the protection the most. Continue reading...

Keir Starmer praises an ‘unrivalled social democratic thinker’ who was vital to party regaining power in 1997Keir Starmer has paid tribute to former Labour politician Giles Radice, after reports he has died aged 85.The party leader praised the peer and former MP as a “wise and kind man” and “unrivalled social democratic thinker”. Continue reading...

Ashton has discussed her difficulties in getting a series commissioned, including being shouted at by a producerThe actor Zawe Ashton has revealed that she has suffered incidents of “bullying, demeaning and gaslighting” during her career.The 38-year-old, best known for her role in Manchester-based comedy series Fresh Meat, stars in new Regency period drama Mr Malcolm’s List. Continue reading...

Students were then turned over to commander of the local army base who ordered their killingsSix of the 43 Mexican students forcibly disappeared in 2014 were allegedly kept alive in a warehouse for days, and then turned over to the commander of the local army base who ordered their killings, the Mexican government official leading the Truth Commission said Friday.The interior undersecretary, Alejandro Encinas, made the revelation with little fanfare during a lengthy defense of the commission’s report, first released a week earlier. At that time, despite declaring the disappearances a “state crime” and saying that the army watched it happen without intervening, Encinas made no mention of six students being turned over to Col José Rodríguez Pérez. Continue reading...

Business Council of Australia also calls for migrant intake boost as Greens set up Senate standoff to raise wages in female-dominated industries

The 850 metre-long strip in the innercity suburb of Fitzroy was the only street in Australia to make Time Out’s 2022 list. So what makes it so special?

Giovanna Boniface received an $8,000 bill from Avis after driving roughly 300km around Toronto and surrounding areaCar rental companies have long earned a reputation for gouging customers, penny-pinching on frills and finding new and unscrupulous ways to charge for add-ons.But a Canadian woman says she was billed thousands in extra mileage after a rental company claimed she drove a distance nearly the circumference of the Earth over a three-day period. Continue reading...

War’s six months of horror; shelling cuts Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant from Ukraine grid; five predictions for conflict’s next six months

Robert Hendy-Freegard, subject of Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman documentary, may face attempted murder chargesA British conman who was the subject of a Netflix documentary is on the run and facing possible attempted murder charges in France after injuring two police officers while fleeing a raid, local officials have said.Robert Hendy-Freegard had been illegally breeding dogs while living in the French village of Vidaillat, according to the local mayor, Martine Laporte. Continue reading...

James Purnell, a minister under Gordon Brown, says corporation feared his appointment would anger Boris Johnson’s governmentA former BBC executive has claimed he was blocked from a top job at the broadcaster due to fears his background in Labour politics would anger Boris Johnson’s government.James Purnell spent almost a decade at the BBC in a variety of executive roles, before leaving two years ago after the arrival of Tim Davie as director general. He had previously been an MP and served as a cabinet minister in Gordon Brown’s government. Continue reading...

Tory MPs are jittery while Keir Starmer is gaining traction with his plan for a price freeze

This live blog has now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereWhen Mikhail Sokolov signed up to work for the FSB security services, he never imagined his journey would end here: in a crowded refugee camp on the outskirts of a sleepy town in the rural Netherlands.“The last six years were a rollercoaster. I am happy I am no longer in the claws of the FSB,” the former FSB informant and staffer for the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption network said in an interview with the Guardian this week.[The new names] should perpetuate the memory of significant historical events of Ukraine, as well as famous figures and heroes who glorified Ukraine and fought for the independence of our state.” Continue reading...

Watchdogs say six-year investigation had determined no grounds for action against unnamed individualsCity regulators have cleared former bosses of HBOS of misconduct in the lead-up to its near-collapse in 2008, despite previously having blamed the bank’s board for its failure.The Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Friday that they had concluded “rigorous and forensic investigations” into unnamed former managers, after gathering more than 2m documents, interviewing former bank managers, and undertaking “substantial analysis” of the bosses’ roles and responsibilities at what was then the country’s biggest mortgage lender and savings institution. Continue reading...

Some MPs backing leadership frontrunner showing signs of jitters over lack of response to soaring billsThe Conservatives were in disarray over their response to the energy crisis on Friday, with some Tory MPs backing Liz Truss showing signs of jitters over her refusal to spell out how she would help households.The frontrunner to be prime minister in just over a week’s time said she would “ensure people get the support needed to get through these tough times” but had no new suggestions about how much or who would get assistance, with the average energy bill set to hit £3,549 from October. Continue reading...

Exclusive: London mayor treated former commissioner unfairly, Sir Tom Winsor’s inquiry will findAn official inquiry will find that the mayor of London wrongly ousted Cressida Dick as commissioner of the Metropolitan police, the Guardian has learned.The findings come from a special commission conducted by Sir Tom Winsor, the former chief inspector of constabulary, after Dick’s decision to resign in February. Continue reading...

Government to review aid package as energy companies who seek share of surcharge post billion-euro earningsThe German government is under pressure to radically revise or scrap a controversial new gas levy on already stretched consumers after it emerged that some energy companies seeking a share of the surcharge have posted billion-euro earnings.Robert Habeck, the economy minister, said his ministry acknowledged the angry response to the surcharge and would urgently review the aid package in an attempt to prevent gas importers whose businesses have profited from recent energy inflation from benefiting from it. Continue reading...

The boys, thought to be brothers, were on holiday at the Eiserbachsee in Simmerath, near AachenGerman police say they are investigating the death of two British boys who drowned in a lake in western Germany on Thursday evening.The boys, aged seven and nine, were pulled from the Eiserbachsee near Aachen after their parents reported them missing. Doctors fought overnight to save their lives but they were pronounced dead in hospital in the early hours of Friday morning. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can read more on this story hereLiz Truss may trigger article 16 proceedings against the European Union within days of becoming prime minister, as a legal war with Brussels looms over the Northern Ireland protocol.The foreign secretary and Tory leadership frontrunner is understood to have received fresh advice from trade and legal experts about invoking the emergency clause contained in the post-Brexit deal. Continue reading...

Chongqing authorities criticised for move as area faces heatwave, wildfires, severe drought and power outagesResidents of the south-western Chinese city of Chongqing have been queueing on the streets to be tested for Covid, despite extreme temperatures that have soared past 40C (104F) this week.Photos posted on Chinese social media also showed health workers testing residents while wearing full hazmat suits in the heatwave. Other images showed that the tests were being carried out while bushfires raged in the background, prompting descriptions of the situation as “apocalyptic”. Continue reading...

As Ofgem raises the price cap hugely again, people explain how they will struggle to copeThe latest energy price cap increase by the regulator Ofgem threatens millions of households with an 80% energy bill rise from 1 October.As the new price cap for a household with “typical consumption” on a dual-fuel tariff paying by direct debit has risen to £3,549 per year – and is forecast to jump to £5,341 between April and June 2023 – three people from across the country explain what the latest price rises will mean for them as the cold weather approaches. Continue reading...

Party hits out at charity’s factcheckers after being accused of miscalculating households’ winter energy useLabour is at odds with Full Fact, the independent factchecking charity, after it claimed the party’s energy price cap freeze was underfunded by at least £5bn.The party said Full Fact had got its sums wrong, saying the charity did not understand how direct debit works. Continue reading...

Strictly winner tells Edinburgh TV festival she had to break through ‘countless barriers’ to succeedThe actor Rose Ayling-Ellis has said she is tired of playing the “token deaf character” in shows and says the TV industry needs to have more realistic storylines for disabled people.The Strictly Come Dancing winner also said she felt enormous pressure as the most prominent deaf actor in the UK. Continue reading...

Multimillion-pound programme to give Rooney’s account of libel case against Rebekah VardyColeen Rooney has secured a multimillion-pound deal with Disney for the rights of a tell-all documentary based on the “Wagatha Christie” saga.The programme, which will detail her high court case against Rebekah Vardy, will appear on the streaming service Disney+ after a bidding war with Amazon Prime, Netflix and Discovery. Continue reading...

Man, who has no criminal record, says Home Office is unfairly targeting Albanians as it fast-tracks removalsAn Albanian man who was taken to Harmondsworth immigration removal centre near Heathrow airport last week has been told he faces imminent deportation, the day after the Home Office announced plans to fast-track the removal of refused Albanian asylum seekers.The man, who claimed asylum in the UK a decade ago, has no criminal record, has never absconded and says he has consistently complied with immigration requirements by reporting fortnightly to the Home Office. His two children were born in the UK and have leave to remain. Continue reading...

Actor tells Edinburgh TV festival audience that media mogul would find him ‘tiresome and boring’Brian Cox has said Logan Roy, the character he plays in Succession, would “hate him” if the pair ever met.“I have a lot of respect for Logan,” said the Scottish actor, who is filming his fourth series as the foul-mouthed media mogul. Continue reading...

Tory frontrunner understood to have received new advice about emergency clause as Northern Ireland legal deadline loomsLiz Truss may trigger article 16 proceedings against the European Union within days of becoming prime minister, as a legal war with Brussels looms over the Northern Ireland protocol.The foreign secretary and Tory leadership frontrunner is understood to have received fresh advice from trade and legal experts about invoking the emergency clause contained in the post-Brexit deal. Continue reading...

GRU officer spent decade posing as Peruvian jewellery designer, say investigative journalistsA team of investigators claim to have unmasked a deep-cover spy from Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, who spent a decade posing as a Latin American jewellery designer and partied with Nato staff based in Naples.The investigators say the woman went by the name of Maria Adela Kuhfeldt Rivera, and told people she met that she was the child of a German father and Peruvian mother, born in the city of Callao, Peru. Continue reading...

Pop artist and activist’s ‘signature’ Radiant Baby image first drawn on wall of family home in Pennsylvania

Comments come as chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, says Britons should consider cutting down on energy use

Mother says she is tortured by her mind replaying night on which killer Lewis Haines met her ‘beautiful girl’An “evil” 31-year-old man who murdered an 18-year-old woman to silence her after she rejected his sexual advances and left her part-naked body in a town millpond has been told he will serve at least 23 years and four months in prison.Lewis Haines, an oil refinery worker, forcibly removed Lily Sullivan’s top and strangled her before pushing her into the water in Pembroke, south-west Wales, hours after meeting her in a nightclub. Continue reading...

French president responds to ‘jury’s out’ comments by Tory leadership favourite Liz Truss about key allyEmmanuel Macron has suggested France and Britain may be heading for “serious problems” after Liz Truss told the penultimate Conservative leadership hustings that “the jury is still out” on whether the French president was “friend or foe”.Asked for his response to the remarks, Macron, on an official visit to Algeria, said it was “not good to lose your bearings too much.” If he was asked the same question, he said: “I wouldn’t hesitate for a second. France is a friend of the British people.” Continue reading...

Labour attacks ‘dereliction of duty’ as TV and radio presenters call on members of government to respond

One of last UK tech firms listed in London on course to be snapped up by Nasdaq-listed OpenTextOne of the few remaining British technology firms listed in London is to pass into foreign ownership after a Canadian software provider on Thursday night announced a £5bn deal.Shares in IT firm Micro Focus surged more than 90% on Friday after it revealed it was set to be snapped up by OpenText in a deal expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2023. Continue reading...

Calculations made for the Guardian based on Ofgem and ONS figures are ‘truly terrifying’Some of Britain’s poorest families will see as much as 47% of their entire household budget swallowed up by energy costs this autumn, figures produced for the Guardian show.The calculations were done by investment platform Interactive Investor on Friday morning, moments after the new energy price cap announcement, and are based on figures from Ofgem and Office for National Statistics (ONS) family spending data. Continue reading...

Company says 379 of its 1,200 delivery offices are processing mail, with ‘essentials items’ the priorityRoyal Mail has said it is relying on a skeleton staff to deliver only “essential items” after 115,000 postal workers went on strike in year’s biggest industrial action so far.The 500-year-old postal service’s employees are striking on Friday, Wednesday next week and 8 and 9 September in a dispute over pay and working practices. Continue reading...

President Gustavo Petro’s proposed legislation could raise $11.5bn a year with measures including wealth tax and levy on oil exportsColombia’s new leftist government has proposed an ambitious plan to tax the rich and oil exports in an effort to combat poverty in one of the most unequal countries in the Americas.If implemented, the Piketty-esque legislation proposed by President Gustavo Petro could raise more than $11.5bn annually to fund anti-poverty efforts, free public university and other social welfare programs. Continue reading...

Expert says Tory ministers and leadership candidates doing nothing to allay people’s panic and dismay

Albanese may be setting up a standoff over whether the former PM will cooperate but the greatest pitfall for Labor could be distraction

Increase will pile more pressure on government to announce further support for households this winter

David Elliott hopes a deal is brokered next week, but warns of up to six months of further train delays if it isn’t

Government also cites food security after heatwave stunted domestic output and drove up pricesIndia’s cabinet has approved restrictions on wheat flour exports to calm prices in the local market.The government banned the export of wheat itself in mid-May as a heatwave curtailed output and domestic prices hit a record high. That ban boosted demand for Indian wheat flour, exports of which jumped 200% between April and July from a year ago, and lifted prices in the local market, the government said on Thursday. Continue reading...

Anthony Albanese announces details of new inquiry to be led by former high court justice Virginia Bell

As opening salvo begins in dispute that could reshape a UK institution, group chair does not mince his wordsIn a summer when picket lines have become a familiar sight, the casual observer could be forgiven for mistaking Friday’s strike at Royal Mail as a cookie-cutter pay dispute. In fact, the strike, the first of four, represents the culmination of years of simmering tensions between executives and its main union. If Royal Mail’s board takes the nuclear option, it could result in the break up of a 500-year-old postal service still struggling to find its feet nearly a decade after privatisation.The corporate drama intensified on Thursday when the government said it would step in to review the billionaire Daniel Křetínský’s stake in the company. The investor, known as the Czech Sphinx owing to his inscrutable public persona, hopes to raise his Vesa Equity Investment’s shareholding in Royal Mail from 22% to above 25%, sparking speculation he may launch a full takeover bid. Continue reading...

Donate the Rebate organisers say £5.4m could be redistributed from ‘uber-rich’ to people in needSecond homeowners in Cornwall are being urged to donate their £400 government energy rebates to impoverished neighbours facing hardship this winter through a scheme launched on Friday and backed by business leaders, charities and politicians.Those behind the Donate the Rebate scheme says that if every second homeowner in Cornwall took part, £5.4m could be re-distributed from the “uber-rich”, who would hardly notice the payment, to people who desperately need help in one of northern Europe’s poorest regions. Continue reading...

Once plans for the series came undone, producer Ryan Naumenko found himself the victim of a plot arranged by the former wife of underworld killer Carl Williams and her associates

Honiara did not respond to request for coast guard vessel to refuel amid tensions over security pact with ChinaA United States coast guard vessel was unable to enter Solomon Islands for a routine port call because its government did not respond to a request to refuel and provision, a US official said.The Solomons government did not immediately answer a Reuters request for comment. It has had a tense relationship with the US and its allies since striking a security pact with China in May. Continue reading...

Efficiency standards and increased accessibility for Australian housing are under discussion at meeting of building ministers in Sydney

In the latest example of ‘shrinkflation’, the popular chocolate bar has lost a chunk of weight in a move from overseas production back to Ballarat

Kiribati’s court of appeal said government’s latest bid to deport high court justice David Lambourne on national security grounds was ‘far-fetched’Kiribati’s constitutional crisis is no closer to resolution, with the country’s court of appeal criticising the government for its conduct towards suspended high court judge David Lambourne, an Australian citizen.In an extraordinary judgment on Friday, the appeals court – consisting of three retired New Zealand judges – upheld an earlier decision that had found efforts to undermine Lambourne’s tenure unconstitutional. Lambourne is a longtime resident of Kiribati and formerly the nation’s solicitor general. His wife, Tessie Lambourne, is the opposition leader. Continue reading...