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Analysis shows half of the most-deprived areas in England have not benefited from investmentA proposal to curb ministerial influence over the £4.8bn levelling up fund after claims of possible bias in favour of Tory seats has been rejected by the government.Analysis has revealed more than half of the 100 most deprived areas of the country have not yet benefited from the fund. The awards are under fresh scrutiny after former chancellor Rishi Sunak told an audience in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, that he changed funding formulas to divert money from “deprived urban areas”. Continue reading...

The women – aged 48 and 39 – died after the offender opened fire on them as they sat in a car in Revesby on Saturday night

Two victims including pregnant woman in serious condition, according to Israeli hospital officials, while police say suspected attacker turned himself inA gunman opened fire at a bus near Jerusalem’s Old City early on Sunday, wounding eight Israelis in a suspected Palestinian attack that came a week after violence flared between Israel and militants in Gaza, police and medics said.Two of the victims were in serious condition, including a pregnant woman with abdominal injuries and a man with gunshot wounds to the head and neck, according to Israeli hospitals treating them. Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy warns Russian troops against shooting from nuclear plant; blasts heard in Melitopol; Ukraine claims to have shot down Russian fighter jet

Suspect from New Jersey is accused by prosecutors of ‘preplanned’ attack on author in New York before being remanded without bailThe man suspected of stabbing the novelist Salman Rushdie at a literary festival in western New York pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at a court appearance on Saturday.District attorney Jason Schmidt alleged on Saturday that Hadi Matar, 24, took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID. “This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr Rushdie,” Schmidt alleged. Continue reading...

Thérèse Coffey ‘set out to minimise evidence’ on studies including research into deaths of benefit claimants and help for vulnerableMinisters have been accused of deliberately attempting to hide the impact of the government’s wide-ranging welfare reforms by concealing a range of official reports on benefits.Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, said she would not publish five reports or research on the benefit cap, deaths of benefits claimants, the impact of universal credit (UC), and benefit sanctions, and that she had no plans to publish two further reports on unpaid carers and work capability assessments. Continue reading...

Emergency services search scene after man in 20s said to have been in stretch of water in Lakeside, DoncasterA body has been found in a lake in South Yorkshire after emergency services responded to reports that a man had got into difficulty, police have said.Emergency services were contacted at about 4.30pm about the man, aged in his 20s, being in the stretch of water in Lakeside, Doncaster. Continue reading...

Pleasance theatre cancels Scottish comic, saying his material ‘does not align with our values’The Scottish comedian Jerry Sadowitz has had his Edinburgh fringe show cancelled by the venue after complaints from staff and audience members.Sadowitz played just one night, on Friday, before the Pleasance banned him from performing again. His show was entitled Jerry Sadowitz: Not for Anyone and carried a warning that it contained “strong language and themes some may find distressing”. Continue reading...

Transferring critically endangered species within Europe to broaden the gene pool is more difficult with Britain outside the EUBreeding programmes designed to save critically endangered species are being jeopardised by Brexit, with zoos warning they are being prevented from transferring animals such as rhinos and giraffes by red tape created by the UK’s departure from the EU.The animal health regulation was passed in 2016 before the EU referendum, but came into force in April 2021. There have been no reports that the UK dissented from the regulation. Continue reading...

The RBA is looking into the idea of a central bank digital currency as cryptocurrencies continue to gain popularity

William Lodewyk Crowther, later premier of Tasmania, mutilated the corpse of Aboriginal man William Lanne in 1869Get our free news app, morning email briefing or daily news podcastHobart city councillors will decide on Monday whether to remove the city’s controversial statue of William Lodewyk Crowther, who in 1869 mutilated the body of the Aboriginal man William Lanne.On 4 August, the council’s community, culture and events committee voted unanimously to recommend the removal of the statue from Franklin Square in central Hobart. The vote followed years of requests from the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and an art project designed to foster public discussion about the statue’s future.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Hospitals across Australia are bracing for increased demand for specialised treatment and rehabilitation after winter Omicron wave

Reforms to the state’s assisted reproductive treatment laws are set to come into effect on Monday

First minister of Scotland also jokes she never thought she would look back fondly on Theresa May as PMNicola Sturgeon has said Boris Johnson is the only prime minister she has worked with who was “a disgrace to the office”.Speaking at a panel event at the Edinburgh fringe on Saturday afternoon, hosted by broadcaster Ayesha Hazarika, she said: “I disagreed with David Cameron, I disagreed with Theresa May, I disagreed with Boris Johnson, but he’s the only one who’s actually disgraced the office of prime minister. The sooner he’s gone, the better.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: Survey for Observer reveals striking lack of enthusiasm for foreign secretary, or her rival Rishi Sunak, and nostalgia for Boris JohnsonLiz Truss holds a commanding 22-point lead over Rishi Sunak in the race to become the next Tory leader and prime minister, according to an exclusive poll of party members for the Observer.With less than three weeks to go before the September 2 deadline for voting, the survey by Opinium of 570 Conservative members puts the foreign secretary on 61% and the former chancellor on 39%. Continue reading...

Ten fire engines dispatched to the scene of blaze covering 900m by 600m area of grassland in EnfieldAbout 70 firefighters are tackling a grass fire in north London.An area of grassland measuring about 900m by 600m is alight and 10 fire engines were dispatched to the scene on Rammey Marsh in Enfield after being called at 12.59pm. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labour calls for the price cap to remain at £1,971 as charities warn Tory leadership candidates of catastrophic impact on the cost of livingLabour leader Keir Starmer is to call for a ban on crippling energy price rises this autumn in a move that would save the average household more than £2,000 a year on gas and electricity bills, the Observer can reveal.The demand to freeze the energy price cap at the current £1,971 level – blocking the regulator Ofgem from allowing a huge anticipated rise to around £3,600 in October – will place intense pressure on the Tory leadership candidates Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak to follow suit when one becomes prime minister. Continue reading...

Before he was stabbed, the author said ‘a lot of people today live with similar threats’ to those made against himSalman Rushdie believed his life was “very normal again” and that fears of an attack were a thing of the past, he had told an interviewer just two weeks before he was stabbed on stage in New York on Friday.The novelist, who remained in hospital yesterday, was knifed several times, including in the neck and abdomen. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said his liver had been damaged and that he was likely to lose an eye. Continue reading...

Motive for violence at New York event remains unclear, with author in hospitalDetails have begun to slowly emerge about Hadi Matar, the man who has been charged with the attempted murder of the author Salman Rushdie.Matar, 24, was arrested on Friday after allegedly storming the stage of a literary event in New York and stabbing Rushdie as he prepared to speak. Rushdie’s agent said the novelist suffered stab wounds to his arm and liver in the attack, would probably lose an eye and couldn’t speak because he had been put on a ventilator. Continue reading...

Politician’s office says move comes after ‘intense exertion’, while adviser denies reports of a strokeThe prime minister of Mali, Choguel Maïga, has been ordered by his doctor to rest after months of intense exertion, his office said on Saturday, while an adviser denied media reports that he had been hospitalised after having a stroke.“After 14 months of working without a break, the prime minister, head of government, Choguel Kokalla Maïga was placed on forced rest by his doctor,” his office said on its Facebook page. “He will resume his activities next week, God willing.” Continue reading...

Foreign ministry warns US not to place Russia on its list of state sponsors of terrorismUkrainian president Zelenskiy’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Saturday the war could only end with the return of the Crimea peninsula and the punishment of the Russian leaders who ordered the military invasion, saying on Twitter:The Kyiv Independent reports that the Ukrainian military has shot down a Russian fighter jet, as well as four Russian drones. Continue reading...

British prime minister-in-waiting Liz Truss is said to want to appear in the fashion glossy, but she should be careful what she wishes forLiz Truss, heavily tipped to be the next leader of the Conservative party, would like to get into Vogue. We know this because she asked the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, how to go about it at the Cop26 climate conference last November. Sturgeon said Truss “looked a little bit as if she’d swallowed a wasp” when she told her she had made its pages twice.“This is going to sound really up myself but I don’t mean to … I’d just been interviewed by Vogue, as you do … that was the main thing she wanted to talk to me about – she wanted to know how she could get into Vogue”, Sturgeon told an Edinburgh fringe event last week. Continue reading...

A year after the fall of Kabul, Abdullah Sayyid is in hiding, his wife has been murdered and the Home Office seems to have lost his case fileAbdullah Sayyid often thinks about the moment the Taliban broke down his door, burst inside and shot his wife. The gunmen left, but would soon redouble their efforts to kill him because of his work for the British government.Sayyid’s wife was murdered during the chaotic aftermath of Operation Pitting, the UK’s emergency mass airlift from Kabul that began on 13 August last year. Continue reading...

Suspect had a ticket for Chautauqua event but some say protections should have been enhanced given sensitiviesA day after the bloody attack on Salman Rushdie, questions in western New York are being asked about how the perpetrator gained untrammeled access to the event with apparently minimal security precautions.Rushdie, 75, was attacked at 10.47am on Friday, moments after he had sat down on stage in the Chautauqua Institution, a historic community of artists and thinkers about 15 miles south of Lake Erie. The auditorium, which accommodates about 4,000 people, was two-thirds full. Continue reading...

Jonathan Edwards’s membership of Welsh party sends out ‘wrong message’, says Adam PriceThe leader of Plaid Cymru has called for an MP who received a police caution for assaulting his wife to stand down.Jonathan Edwards, the MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, had been suspended since July 2020 but on Thursday the party said he was being readmitted to its Westminster group.In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org Continue reading...

Nick Gardner bagged Cairn Gorm on Saturday, ending his quest in aid of Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis charitiesAn 82-year-old man said he felt “like a child on Christmas Eve” as he set out to scale the final peak in a mission to climb every Scottish Munro.Nick Gardner embarked on the challenge in an attempt to raise funds for Alzheimer’s Scotland and the Royal Osteoporosis Society (ROS) after his wife, Janet, 84, who has since moved to a care home, developed both conditions. Continue reading...

Odinga has 52.54% of the vote against 46.76% for William Ruto, as country waits for final countKenya’s one-time opposition leader Raila Odinga is slightly ahead in the race for the presidency against the incumbent deputy president, William Ruto, partial official results showed.Odinga has 52.54% of the vote against 46.76% for Ruto, according to figures issued by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission in the early afternoon based on results from about 30% of polling stations. Continue reading...

Countryfile and former Blue Peter presenter completes lineup of dancers in 2022 show, due to air in SeptemberThe Countryfile presenter Helen Skelton has been confirmed as the final contestant for Strictly Come Dancing 2022.The 39-year-old’s participation was announced on Saturday morning by Claudia Winkleman, who also co-hosts the celebrity dance show with Tess Daly, during her BBC Radio 2 show. Continue reading...

Uoc Van Nguyen was one of the four Vietnamese nationals reported missing after the fireThe partial human remains of one of the four men feared dead following a fire at a mill in Oldham have been identified.Authorities were able to identify through fingerprint analysis the remains as having belonged to Uoc Van Nguyen. Further DNA testing is still to come. Continue reading...

Secret addresses have been exposed inadvertently, letting abusers track down families - with migrants most at riskVulnerable women and children in refuges are at risk because their addresses have been inadvertently disclosed through court documents, the Observer can reveal.The addresses of women’s refuges – where those who have suffered abuse including domestic violence, rape and coercive control seek protection – are highly confidential, and staff and residences sign strict agreements not to disclose their locations. Continue reading...

As author remains on a ventilator, messages of support champion free speech and talk of his ‘extraordinary resilience’Writers and politicians have condemned the attack on Salman Rushdie as the novelist remains on a ventilator in the US.The 75-year-old author was stabbed as he was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York on Friday. Continue reading...

Warnings of floods and mudslides on Honshu island south-west of Tokyo as storm heads towards the capitalTropical storm Meari unleashed heavy rains on Japan’s main Honshu island as it headed northward towards the capital, Tokyo, according to Japanese weather officials.The national meteorological agency said Meari made landfall in Shizuoka prefecture south-west of Tokyo on Saturday afternoon, bringing sudden heavy rains and blasting winds to a widespread area and prompting warnings about mudslides and flooding. Continue reading...

Dorset and Wiltshire fire service reports 492% increase in number of August wildfires compared with 2021A large blaze at a Dorset nature reserve was most likely caused by a barbecue, firefighters have said.Firefighters battled through the night to bring the fire at Studland Heath under control on Friday. Continue reading...

Massien Belguesmia, nine, who went missing at about 9.20am on Saturday, is reunited with his parentsA nine-year-old boy who went missing from Bournemouth beach in Dorset on Saturday morning has been found.Dorset police issued a appeal to find Massien Belguesmia after he disappeared from the seafront at about 9.20am on Saturday. Continue reading...

Since returning to power the Taliban have banned secondary school-aged girls from getting an education. Here Farzana*, 16, tells her storyLast year I was in 11th grade, the second highest-placed student in my class, with an average grade of 95%. Now I sit at home all day doing almost nothing. Sometimes I help my mum with housework, but really there are no distractions for me.I can’t even read books, because I have lost the will to continue. After you lose 11 years of effort all at once, you can’t hold on to your dreams to make something of your life. Continue reading...

Deputy prime minister instead insists Liz Truss had been laying groundwork for her campaignDominic Raab has defended Rishi Sunak over accusations he betrayed Boris Johnson for the chance of becoming the Conservative leader.The former chancellor quit the government over differing economic outlooks and Johnson’s failure to act on misconduct allegations against former deputy chief whip Chris Pincher. Continue reading...

Praise for attack on writer targeted by decades-old fatwa comes as some fear incident will leave Iran more isolatedIranians have reacted with a mixture of praise and concern over the attack on novelist Salman Rushdie, the target of a decades-old fatwa by the late supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his death.It remains unclear why Rushdie’s attacker, identified by police as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the author as he prepared to speak at an event on Friday in western New York state. Iran’s theocratic government and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault. Continue reading...

At a time when he wants to project stability, China’s president is grappling with a long-term crisis over Taiwan, a faltering economy and ongoing Covid outbreaksHaving presided over a grand celebration of the party’s centenary and suppressed mass Covid outbreaks last year, China’s president, Xi Jinping, told his countrymen and women in his 2022 New Year address that the Chinese nation was “making confident strides on the path toward the great rejuvenation”.But so far, the Year of the Tiger has been full of stumbling blocks. First, the draconian Covid lockdowns in major cities such as Xi’an and Shanghai, the commercial capital, sparked outcry and disrupted global supply chains. Then the economy showed signs of a serious slowdown, leading to growing unemployment among the young. Xi’s “no limit” partnership with Vladimir Putin also made China a target of western criticism. Continue reading...

Jason Alexander arrived uninvited at pop star’s California home as she got ready to marry Sam AsghariA man once briefly married to Britney Spears has been convicted of aggravated trespassing and battery after appearing uninvited at the pop star’s wedding in June.Jason Alexander, 40, pleaded no contest to two misdemeanour counts in a California court, prosecutors in Ventura County said. Continue reading...

Strong gusts hit the Medusa electronic music festival in Cullera south of Valencia in the early hours of SaturdayOne person was killed and dozens were injured when high winds caused part of a stage to collapse at a dance music festival near the Spanish city of Valencia in the early hours of Saturday, regional emergency services said.Other infrastructure was also damaged when gusts battered the Medusa festival, a huge electronic music festival held over six days in the east coast town of Cullera, south of Valencia. Continue reading...

Nitesh Bissendary, 30, due to appear at Margate magistrates in connection with car collision with family of fiveA man has been charged after an incident in Kent that left two people dead and a child seriously injured, Kent police said.A black Alfa Romeo was involved in a collision with five pedestrians, all members of the same family, outside the multistorey car park in Ramsgate, Kent, at about 9.35pm on Wednesday. Continue reading...

NHS England credits James’s campaign to raise awareness for surge in number of people referred for checksA record number of people in England are having bowel cancer checks after the death of Deborah James, the NHS has said.James, who is also known by her social media handle Bowel Babe, had been raising awareness about the disease until her death in late June at the age of 40. Continue reading...

Girls forced to stop attending school under Taliban are taking huge risks to keep studying – as are the teachers helping themWhen inspectors arrive at the school gate, which is most weeks now, the older girls know the drill. They slip away from their classes, race to a musty room and huddle together for long minutes that sometimes stretch into hours, hoping they won’t be discovered by the men who want them shut up at home.The Taliban have banned secondary education for girls, the only gender-based bar on studying in the world. Continue reading...

David Littleproud says regional Australians should be considered at Labor’s jobs summit as he outlines vision to party faithful

Big online retailers are barring shoppers – sometimes for reasons they don’t understandRetailers can bar shoppers for – in their view – returning too many items or making too many complaints, as Nannette Herbert has discovered.Herbert told Guardian Money she has been banned by a number of retailers – including Amazon and Waitrose – for making complaints and refund requests. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Scale of cuts puts lives and homes at risk as firefighters find themselves on frontline of climate crisisAs the role of the fire service in tackling the worst effects of the climate crisis becomes clearer, so does the scale of cuts to the service in recent years.Guardian analysis of publicly available data shows total firefighter headcount across 46 English fire authorities has fallen 20.4% since 2010, with 35,279 in 2021 compared with 44,307 in 2010, accounting for full-time and on-call firefighters. Continue reading...

Outgoing PM expected to find new home for his old trade as journalist after Telegraph cools on his qualitiesThree days before he became prime minister, Boris Johnson’s final column for the Daily Telegraph was published: a call for Britain to heed the lessons from the 1969 moon landings and embrace a “can-do spirit” while implementing Brexit.Such political insight did not come cheap, with Johnson pocketing a £275,000 salary for working 10 hours a month on his weekly opinion pieces. Continue reading...

US citizen released after paying fine as United Arab Emirates court confiscates $4.9m it says illegally moved through countryThe US citizen and civil rights attorney Asim Ghafoor, who had represented Jamal Khashoggi before the Saudi journalist was murdered, has been freed from custody in the UAE where he was convicted on money laundering charges.Ghafoor was headed home to the US, said his lawyer, Faisal Gill, having been freed after paying a fine and with help from the US embassy in the UAE. Continue reading...

Ukraine claims strike on Russian depot near key southern bridge; UN urges demilitarised zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant amid more shelling

Teachers say ‘Covid generation’ students will feel they got ‘unfair deal’ if they miss out on university