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This blog is now closed. Read our latest live news coverage of China’s military drills around Taiwan hereHere’s a summary of the latest developments as it passes 2pm in Taipei.

Shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie warns of ‘bleak’ outlook in region as Chinese embassy condemns Australia’s ‘finger-pointing’• Get our free news app, morning email briefing and daily news podcastThe shadow defence minister, Andrew Hastie, has called for Australia to develop and operate its own missiles, warning the era of the “lucky country” is over.On Sunday, Hastie argued Australia needs greater deterrents given the “very bleak” strategic outlook, with a “rising China” displaying “revisionist and expansionist ambitions”.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Albanese government says it is committed to pay for any increase ordered by Fair Work Commission, with unions calling for 25%

Candidate for PM proposes to raise prestige of vocational education and mandate sixth-form maths and English with a British baccalaureateRishi Sunak has vowed to phase out university degrees that do not improve students’ “earning potential”, create a Russell Group of world-class technical colleges and introduce a British baccalaureate that would prevent 16-year-olds from dropping maths and English.The Tory leadership hopeful said his plans to reform post-16 education marked “a significant stride towards parity of esteem between vocational and academic education”. Continue reading...

Public and rescue services searched lake for an hour after girl disappeared under water and ‘didn’t come back up’An 11-year-old girl has died in hospital after getting into difficulties at a water park in Windsor, police said.The youngster, who has yet to be formally identified, had gone missing after getting into a lake at Liquid Leisure near Datchet in Berkshire on Saturday afternoon. Continue reading...

Ministers expected to accept recommendations that payments should be no less than £100,000A scheme handing payments to those affected by the contaminated blood scandal will be announced this week, as ministers scramble to help those harmed by the “historic wrong”.Whitehall sources confirmed that a programme handing interim payments will be confirmed in the coming days, once officials have ironed out issues to ensure that victims are not taxed on the payments or have their benefits affected by them. It is thought that ministers accept recent recommendations that infected people and bereaved partners should get “payments of no less than £100,000”. Continue reading...

800 people evacuated as smoke billows towards Havana after lightning strikes oil tank in Matanzas supertanker baseA fire set off by a lightning strike at an oil storage facility raged uncontrolled on Saturday in the city of Matanzas, where four explosions and flames injured nearly 80 people and left 17 firefighters missing, Cuban authorities said.Firefighters and other specialists were still trying to quell the blaze at the Matanzas supertanker base, where the fire began during a thunderstorm on Friday night, the ministry of energy and mines tweeted. The government said later that it had asked for help from international experts in “friendly countries” with experience in the oil sector. Continue reading...

Former minister also argues Britain should move beyond first-past-post political system at Edinburgh festival fringeFormer Foreign Office minister Rory Stewart has said he has found it “painful” to watch the Conservative party “lurch to the right”, arguing that electoral reform is the only way to plug a “gaping hole in the middle of British politics”.

Country’s government says Sexual Minorities Uganda ‘operating illegally’ in east African nationThe Ugandan government has suspended the country’s leading gay rights organisation, accusing it of operating illegally in the east African nation, in a move campaigners condemned as “a clear witch-hunt”.The National Bureau for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) – part of the internal affairs ministry – announced on Friday that it had suspended Sexual Minorities Uganda (Smug) for not registering with the authorities. Continue reading...

UK’s Ministry of Defence says troop build-up could be in anticipation of Ukrainian counter-offensive or for a new assaultHere are some of the latest images from photographers on the ground in Ukraine:Concerns are growing for the safety of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after an attack by Russian anti-aircraft missiles on 5 August. Continue reading...

Observer investigation shows how online platform’s algorithm pushed Andrew Tate posts to an imaginary teenagerAn Observer investigation has revealed how TikTok is promoting misogynistic content to young people despite claiming to ban it.

Health authorities in Palestinian enclave report 15 dead in Israeli attacks targeting Islamic JihadResidents of the Gaza Strip were bracing for the possibility of a new round of war on Saturday after two days of “pre-emptive” Israeli airstrikes against a Palestinian militant group.Israeli warplanes hit several sites in the blockaded territory on Friday, part of a surprise operation named “Breaking Dawn” that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said thwarted alleged planned rocket attacks by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Continue reading...

In the past 10 years alone, 42,000 hours of PE lessons have been lost in UK secondary schools – and girls are the worst hitTwelve years of Tory government have had a disastrous impact on girls’ sport in schools, experts have said, warning that last weekend’s women’s Euro victory will be squandered unless drastic action is taken.In the past 10 years, 42,000 hours of PE lessons have been lost in secondaries – with girls the most affected – and the situation is getting worse, according to the Youth Sport Trust. Continue reading...

Outage that affected services across system may not be fully resolved until next week, says IT providerMinisters are working to coordinate a “resilience response” after a cyber-attack caused a significant outage across the NHS computer system.The outage affected services across the system such as patient referrals, ambulances being dispatched, out-of-hours appointment bookings, and emergency prescriptions. Continue reading...

Archaeologists are enriching our knowledge about those who were ‘vulnerable class during political crises and food shortages’A trunk with its lid left open, a wooden dishware closet and a three-legged accent table topped by decorative bowls. These are among the latest discoveries by archaeologists that are enriching knowledge about middle-class lives in Pompeii before Mount Vesuvius’s furious eruption buried the ancient Roman city in volcanic debris.Pompeii’s archaeological park, one of Italy’s top tourist attractions, announced the recent finds on Saturday. Continue reading...

One of UK’s biggest LGBTQ+ parades returns to mark 30th anniversary after Covid cancellationsThousands of people were expected to fill the streets of Brighton on Saturday to celebrate the return of one of the UK’s biggest Pride events.The parade and concerts, headlined by Christina Aguilera to a sold-out audience on Saturday and Paloma Faith on Sunday, mark the return of the LGBTQ+ celebration for the first time in three years after the last two were cancelled due to Covid. Continue reading...

Pedigree livestock breeders in Britain could be forced to spend millions of pounds to build facilities in France for ‘red tape’ checks by vets so their animals are allowed to enter the single marketBritish farmers are trying to set up red tape and border checks in France costing millions of pounds – and may even pay for it themselves.Breeders in Britain are unable to export their pedigree cattle, sheep and pigs to the EU because no one has built any border control posts where vets can check the animals before they enter the single market. Continue reading...

Reports of further incursions over median line in military drills, as US and allies condemn use of missiles

Mother says 12-year-old ‘fought until the end’ following withdrawal of treatment at Royal London hospitalArchie Battersbee, the 12-year-old boy whose parents fought a long-running legal battle to prevent his life support treatment from being removed, has died, his mother has said.Speaking outside the Royal London hospital, Hollie Dance said he had “fought right until the very end”. Continue reading...

The explosion happened in a western district where the minority Shia Muslim community regularly meetA bomb exploded in a busy shopping street in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul on Saturday injuring at least 22 people, hospital officials and witnesses said.The blast occurred in a western district of the city where members of the minority Shia Muslim community regularly meet. Continue reading...

When Francia Márquez became the South American country’s VP elect, she chose the unknown Esteban Sinisterra Paz to create her outfitsEsteban Sinisterra Paz, a 23-year-old fashion designer from Colombia’s conflict-ridden and impoverished Pacific region, had not long started his career when he received a call from a history-making client.Francia Márquez – the renowned environmental activist and Colombia’s first black female vice-president-elect – was on the line, and she wanted two outfits made. Continue reading...

Incident at Parkdean Resorts in Camber Sands on Friday involved ‘a group of people’, police saySix people have been arrested after an altercation at a holiday park in Sussex in which a man died.The incident happened at Parkdean Resorts in Camber Sands, East Sussex, just before 11pm on Friday and involved “a group of people”, police said. Continue reading...

Russians accused of barbaric behaviour apparently seen in videos and photos from captured city of Popasna

Leadership candidate sparked outrage in Tunbridge Wells saying he helped redirect money to more prosperous townsFormer minister Andrew Mitchell has defended Rishi Sunak, claiming his comments on taking money from deprived urban areas and redirecting it towards more prosperous towns such as Tunbridge Wells were “misunderstood”.The former chancellor sparked outrage after he made the admission while speaking to Conservative party members in the affluent Kent town on Friday. Continue reading...

Incredible lineup of First Nations acts perform at the Amphitheater in Darwin’s botanic gardens

Leading author accuses Tory leader of going ‘missing in action’ as his premiership winds downFor most prime ministers, the certain knowledge that their premiership is coming to an end sparks a frenetic final effort to complete as much of their policy agendas as possible and secure a legacy. Yet Boris Johnson’s decision to spend his last months thanking supporters at Chequers, holding a wedding party and taking a holiday weeks before his time in Downing St expires is an “enigmatic end for an enigmatic premiership”, according to one of the country’s best-known contemporary historians.Sir Anthony Seldon, who has written books on the Blair, Brown, Cameron and May premierships and studied the impossible job prime ministers face, said Johnson’s approach contrasted sharply with that of his predecessors who had the luxury of planning their final weeks. Continue reading...

Health Security Agency warns against complacency despite figures suggesting outbreak has slowedThe monkeypox outbreak in the UK is showing signs of plateauing, the UK Health Security Agency has said.The organisation said there had been 2,859 confirmed and highly probable cases of the viral disease as of 4 August, the majority of which are transmitted between men who have sex with men. Continue reading...

Eighteen of 30 people injured are in serious condition, say authorities, after vehicle veered off motorwayTwelve Polish nationals have died and 30 others were injured when a bus bound for Zagreb veered off a motorway in northern Croatia.The injured were taken to hospitals in the area and 18 were in a serious condition, said Maja Grba Bujević, head of Croatia’s emergency services. Continue reading...

Grant Shapps says the proposed law will be the ‘cycling equivalent of death by dangerous driving’ and aims to tackle a ‘selfish minority’Cyclists who kill pedestrians could be prosecuted in the same way as motorists under a proposed government crackdown.The transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said the law is needed to “impress on cyclists the real harm they can cause when speed is combined with lack of care”. Continue reading...

Death of Samira Islam, 20, follows deaths of Rafiqul, 51, and Mahiqul, 16, during holidayA woman has become the latest family member of a British family of five on holiday in Bangladesh to die from a suspected poisoning.Samira Islam, 20, died on Friday after she was discovered unconscious in a locked room by police officers on 26 July. Her father, Rafiqul Islam, 51, a taxi driver, and his 16-year-old son, Mahiqul, also died in the rented flat in the eastern city of Sylhet. Continue reading...

British nationals living in country are unable to access healthcare, change jobs or travel in and outBritish nationals living in Portugal are unable to access healthcare, change jobs, or travel in and out of the country as its ministers have not issued them with post-Brexit residency cards, it has emerged.The UK government has raised the issue at ministerial level and urged Portugal to implement fully the withdrawal agreement and protect the rights of the 34,500 Britons who made the country their home before Brexit. Continue reading...

Industrial action by Aslef members at nine companies is scheduled to take place on Saturday 13 AugustRail passengers are being warned of fresh disruption to services because of a planned strike by train drivers at nine companies in the long-running row over pay and conditions.Industry leaders said the 24-hour strike by members of the Aslef union next Saturday, 13 August, coincides with another busy weekend of football, with Premier League games in Manchester, London, Birmingham and Brighton likely to be affected. Continue reading...

Melbourne-born entertainer rocketed to international fame in the 1960s with hits including The Carnival is Over, A World of Our Own and Georgy Girl

Family were told treatment to be withdrawn after attempt to have 12-year-old moved to a hospice failsThe mother of Archie Battersbee has said she has done everything she promised her son she would do as the family prepares for his life support to be withdrawn on Saturday morning.Archie’s parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, made an unsuccessful last-ditch plea to the European court of human rights on Friday night to intervene after their attempt to appeal against a high court ruling that he must remain at the Royal London hospital was rejected by the court of appeal. Continue reading...

Mock the Week host also says people ‘should fight to protect the BBC’ as series draws to a close after 17 years

Independent review recommends home buybacks for NSW flood victims. This blog is now closed

Win as One hopes to raise money to support candidates from progressive parties who are in favour of changeA grassroots campaign is hoping to raise £1m to bring more supporters of electoral reform to the Commons at the next general election.The group, called Win as One, will work with candidates from progressive parties who are well-placed to beat the Tories and are in support of proportional representation (PR). Continue reading...

Condemnation as Beijing pulls out of climate change co-operation with US, while military exercises in Taiwan Strait continueTaiwan has accused the Chinese army of simulating an attack on its main island, as Beijing continued retaliation for Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei.Beijing on Saturday continued some of its largest-ever military drills around Taiwan – exercises seen as practice for a blockade and ultimate invasion of the island. Continue reading...

Hourly bus serves local villages and brings staff – and sometimes customers – to Michelin-starred restaurantWith rural buses in long-term decline and a funding crisis putting more routes in peril, a surprising service has appeared on the English transport menu: the No 46 bus to Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.Raymond Blanc’s celebrated restaurant and hotel in the heart of the Oxfordshire countryside may not appear classic bus territory. The Michelin-starred establishment’s seven-course dinner with matching wines starts at £350 a head, rising to just over £1,000 if you want to drink the good stuff. Continue reading...

Increased number of people arriving in UK in more overcrowded vessels shows Rwanda plan not working, say campaignersPeople-smugglers have dropped their prices and are cramming more people than ever before into already overloaded, flimsy boats, the Guardian has learned.This week 696 asylum seekers crossed the Channel from France to the UK in one day, the Ministry of Defence said. Continue reading...

Tory leadership candidate is praised as an earnest workaholic, but critics say politically he has a glass jaw and is naive“Let me tell you a story,” Rishi Sunak says in his soft-voiced campaign launch video, highlighting his status as the grandson of hard-grafting Indian immigrants.If he wins the race for No 10, the 42-year-old would be the first person of colour to be the UK prime minister, and the first practising Hindu, in a historic break with the past. Yet, in other ways, his story is as establishment as it comes: private school, PPE at Oxford, the City, the Tory party. Continue reading...

Retaliatory measures threaten ‘guardrails’ between two countries as Beijing continues military drills

Labour’s request is latest PM contender has faced with regards to management of family’s fortuneLabour is calling on Rishi Sunak to be more transparent about his finances after the prime ministerial candidate declined to answer questions about the source of hundreds of thousands of pounds he loaned to a company that he jointly owned with his wife.The move is the latest request for the former chancellor to explain details about how he has managed his family’s fortune, which is said to total £730m and has led to him being routinely referred to as the UK’s richest MP. Continue reading...

Breakthrough in the decades-old cold case comes after scientists conducted an isotope ratio analysis of the man’s bones

Daughter and ABC presenter Laura Tingle pays tribute to her father who she says was her ‘greatest urger-on, fan and critic’

Beijing says it will withdraw cooperation on a range of issues in retaliation for the visit of US House speaker Nancy Pelosi. This blog is now closed

Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of strikes at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant; Putin and Erdoğan meet; three ships carrying grain depart Ukrainian ports