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Kunti Kamara charged with torture, cannibalism and complicity in crimes against humanity during civil war between 1989 and 1996A former Liberian rebel commander will go on trial in Paris on Monday charged with acts of barbarity including torture, cannibalism, forced labour and complicity in crimes against humanity during the country’s first civil war more than 25 years ago.It is the first trial in France of a non-Rwandan suspect accused of wartime atrocities since the special crimes against humanity tribunal was set up in Paris in 2012. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lib Dems accuse PM of ‘taking taxpayer for a ride’ with expense of 20 overseas trips between January and June this yearLiz Truss racked up a bill of almost £2m on overseas visits during her final months as foreign secretary, according to new analysis that the Liberal Democrats said showed she had “quite literally been taking the taxpayer for a ride”.In 20 trips during the first six months of the year, a total of £1.8m was spent, despite the now prime minister’s call for prudence with public money and government departments being told to find “efficiency savings”. Continue reading...

News broadcaster’s footage of building’s blood-stained floor sparked police investigationCNN has said it deeply regrets any distress caused by its report on the nursery killings in north-east Thailand, after its footage of the building’s blood-stained floor sparked a police investigation and a debate over how the media should cover such tragedies.The US network’s report, which has since been pulled, was condemned by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand and the Thai Journalists Association, while police launched an inquiry over allegations the crew entered the crime scene without authorisation. Continue reading...

Exclusive: UK’s most senior female bishop calls for long-awaited white paper promising ‘bold action’The most senior female bishop in the country has launched a scathing attack on the government, accusing it of “burying its head in the sand” over “shocking” and “rampant” health inequalities.Dame Sarah Mullally, the bishop of London, spoke out after the Guardian reported that Thérèse Coffey was dropping the government’s long-promised white paper on health disparities. Continue reading...

Scottish first minister said she ‘detested’ Conservatives and wanted a Labour government in LondonNicola Sturgeon has said she would prefer a Labour government in London but was accused of employing “dangerous language” when she added she “detested” the Tories.The Scottish first minister said Labour would clearly do a better job at Westminster than Liz Truss’s Conservatives, even though she said Keir Starmer had “thrown in the towel” on the EU by refusing to reverse Brexit. Continue reading...

Plan would see a 30% tax imposed, which analysis suggests will add $1.21bn in revenue over a decade

Minister takes aim at Coalition’s handling of defence projects, saying money was ‘flushed down the toilet’

Ineos Automotive’s plans for Grenadier 4x4 hit by global supply chain disruptionSir Jim Ratcliffe’s drive to make a rival to the Land Rover Defender has racked up steep losses amid difficulty sourcing parts because of global supply chain disruption.Pre-tax losses at Ineos Automotive, a subsidiary of the billionaire’s chemicals conglomerate, doubled to €212m (£186m) last year, accounts filed with Companies House show. It has run up total losses of €506m since its inception in 2017, and last year received a loan of €944m from its parent company, on top of €471m in 2020. It plans to repay the loan from future revenues from the off-road vehicle. Continue reading...

Headaches facing the prime minister may worsen infighting beyond the Conservative party conferenceLiz Truss and her cabinet have launched a fresh bid for unity after the most difficult party conference the Conservatives have seen in years saw MPs and ministers openly attacking her policies.However, the appeal for an end to infighting may only offer a temporary reprieve, given the headaches facing the prime minister this autumn. Continue reading...

Vladimir Putin orders extra security around Kerch bridge in Crimea as limited traffic starts to resume

In a now viral video of a 2016 interview, the Brazilian president claims he would eat human fleshIt was a shocking statement, even for a politician who has glorified torturers and called for rivals to be shot.“I’d eat an Indian, no problem at all,” Jair Bolsonaro bragged to a foreign journalist in 2016, as he described a trip to an Indigenous community where he had purportedly been offered the chance to consume human flesh. Continue reading...

Tributes pour in for Creeslough victims, among them three children including Shauna Flanagan Garwe, fiveShauna Flanagan Garwe, five, and her father, Robert Garwe, were in the petrol station shop buying a birthday cake for Shauna’s mother.Leona Harper, 14, was choosing an ice-cream from the fridge. Jessica Gallagher, 23, was a designer who had recently moved back home after a stint in Paris. Catherine O’Donnell, 39, was with her 14-year-old son James Monaghan. Continue reading...

Cabinet minister says it is ‘only right we plan for every scenario’ after National Grid warningBlackouts this winter are “extremely unlikely” and government plans to ensure the UK has enough energy mean people will be able to enjoy Christmas, a senior cabinet minister has said.Nadhim Zahawi, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said it was “only right that we plan for every scenario,” but confirmed a £14m public information campaign advising people how to conserve energy would not go ahead. Continue reading...

Exclusive: People not trying to claim being trafficked to gain UK asylum, says head of labour abuse authorityThe head of Britain’s labour abuse watchdog says her organisation has not seen anyone “gaming” the modern slavery system for immigration purposes.The comments directly contradict the home secretary, Suella Braverman, who said last week that trafficking claims from “people gaming the system” were “derailing the UK’s policy on illegal migration”. Continue reading...

‘What I have lived, the youth is living now,’ says Marjane Satrapi, whose graphic novel depicted girl’s life in 1979 Islamic revolutionThe creator of Persepolis, the acclaimed graphic novel depicting the childhood of an Iranian girl during and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that was made into an Oscar-nominated movie, has said today’s protesters are “beautiful and inspiring”.History was repeating itself in the protests sweeping across the country, Marjane Satrapi told the Guardian. “What I have lived, the youth is living now. My hope is that the situation will go towards something beautiful that is called freedom and democracy.Persepolis book art will be auctioned on 19-25 October as part of Sotheby’s online 20th century art/Middle East sale. The works will be exhibited in Sotheby’s London galleries from 21 October Continue reading...

Ex-minister urges Truss to stop being a ‘disrupter’ and calls on her to ‘start engaging with the parliamentary party’Nadine Dorries has warned the Conservatives could face “complete wipeout” at a general election and urged Liz Truss to stop being a “disrupter”, while a cabinet minister called on warring colleagues to back the prime minister.After a week of bitter feuding overshadowed this week’s Tory party conference, Dorries said Truss should “start engaging with the parliamentary party”. Continue reading...

Simple measures to cut gas and electricity costs, from hooded blankets to chimney balloons

Rising costs are also forcing local councils to ration energy use, raising fears for the safety of vulnerable peopleLiz Truss has ignored the government’s own climate advisers in opposing an energy-saving campaign this winter, it has emerged, amid mounting frustration over her resistance to the plan.The advisory body the Climate Change Committee wrote to the prime minister last month outlining the need for a “comprehensive energy advice service” to reduce demand. Continue reading...

Writers at annual book event in Ukrainian city say storytelling and art have helped many endure violenceIn a time of violence, warfare and bloodshed, what is the use of literature? This was a question addressed at the Lviv BookForum, a three-day literary festival in the Ukrainian city, staged despite – and in defiance of – the Russian invasion.The festival has brought together Ukrainian, British and international authors including human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, whose bestselling book, East West Street, is largely set in 20th-century Lviv. Continue reading...

In 18-month period 4,363 men in Great Britain were in crashes that injured or killed pedestrians compared with 1,473 womenMale drivers are almost three times more likely than women to be involved in road collisions that kill or seriously injure pedestrians in Great Britain, a gap that has widened over the past decade.A Guardian analysis of government road accident and journey data shows that in 2020 and the first half of 2021, 4,363 male drivers were involved in collisions that seriously injured or killed pedestrians, compared with 1,473 female drivers. Continue reading...

Crackdown follows a rise in disorder and pitch invasions at football matchesMore than 1,300 “violent and abusive” football fans in England and Wales will be banned from travelling to the World Cup in Qatar next month following a season disfigured by a dramatic surge in disorder at matches.Measures will come into force this Friday requiring 1,308 people with a history of football-related violence or disorder to surrender their passports, preventing them travelling to the Gulf state or neighbouring countries from where they could commute to games. Continue reading...

Government launches ‘every mind matters’ mental health campaign to help sufferers deal with stress and sleeplessnessThe “Sunday Scaries” regularly affect more than two-thirds of Britons who report work stresses, lack of sleep and looming to-do lists as the primary causes of anxiety before the start of the working week.The worst affected were young adults with 74% of those aged 18-24 experiencing what psychologists call “heightened anticipatory anxiety” as the weekend comes to a close. Continue reading...

The body gave an award for unionising workers to the IWGB, which it now refuses to recogniseIt was once home to some of the world’s most celebrated radicals and changemakers including Karl Marx, Charles Dickens and Nelson Mandela, but now the Royal Society of Arts has become the centre of a bitter battle over trade union recognition.Nearly half the workforce below senior manager level at the 270-year-old charity’s headquarters in central London have joined the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain, with most staff, in and outside the IWGB, backing unionisation. But the RSA’s executive team led by new chief executive Andy Haldane, a former chief economist at the Bank of England and government levelling-up adviser, has refused three times to voluntarily recognise the union, which would give the workers’ elected representatives the ability to negotiate pay and conditions. Continue reading...

Unnecessary policies and overpayments for services are draining the accounts of vulnerable customersElderly and vulnerable customers are being routinely overcharged by utility and insurance firms in a hidden scandal highlighted today by one of the country’s senior financial services executives. Unfair practices are putting them at risk of being unable to afford food and heating, he warns.Michael Donald, a former director of Visa UK, said he was staggered to discover hundreds of pounds of overcharging when he carefully checked the direct debits on his 79-year-old mother’s accounts. Continue reading...

Headteachers fear impact on children of unfilled vacancies as support staff say rising bills force them to leave jobs in educationHeadteachers across the country say they cannot fill vital teaching assistant vacancies and that support staff are taking second jobs in supermarkets to survive because their wages are “just a joke”.Schools are reporting that increasing numbers of teaching assistants are leaving because they will not be able to pay for high energy bills and afford food this winter. And with job ads often attracting no applications at all, heads fear they will be impossible to replace. They warn this will have a serious impact on children in the classroom, especially those with special educational needs, and will make it increasingly hard for teachers to focus on teaching. Continue reading...

Search through debris called off after blast at Applegreen service station outside village of CreesloughIreland is in mourning after the death toll from the explosion at a petrol station in County Donegal rose to 10, including a young child and two teenagers.Emergency services called off a search on Saturday evening after sifting through rubble all day, and did not expect to find more survivors or bodies. Continue reading...

Two people were arrested and later released without charge over the protest at the National Gallery of VictoriaTwo Extinction Rebellion activists glued themselves to a prized Pablo Picasso painting at the National Gallery of Victoria to draw attention to environmental causes ahead of the state election next month.The protesters – who were arrested and later released without charges being laid – used superglue on Sunday to attach themselves to Picasso’s Massacre in Korea, which was on loan to the gallery as part of its Picasso Century exhibition. The NGV said in a statement the artwork, which was protected by a perspex glazing, was not harmed.Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning Continue reading...

Liberal Democrats write to cabinet secretary to demand examination of meeting with financiers after chancellor’s mini-budgetThe head of the civil service is facing calls to order an investigation into whether Kwasi Kwarteng breached the ministerial code when he attended a champagne reception with hedge fund managers after his mini-budget.The chancellor has conceded that “with hindsight it probably wasn’t the best day to go” to the gathering following his statement, which included scrapping the bankers’ bonus cap and the abolition of the 45p top rate of tax. He was later forced to U-turn on his 45p plan. Continue reading...

Businessman Robert Tsao bankrolls a people’s militia on the island – inspired by the example of Ukraine – to defend against invasionOn a sleepy Sunday morning 50 anonymous young men and women have wandered into a nondescript Taipei office for training with Kuma Academy. The one-day course includes cross-strait geopolitics and strategy, invasion scenarios, and disinformation. Later, they’re taught the difference between the opposing armies’ uniforms, and how to tie a tourniquet.The citizen warriors are being trained with a 1bn Taiwan dollar (£28m) donation from businessman Robert Tsao. He made global headlines last month when he pledged the money to train “three million people in three years” and 300,000 sharpshooters for a civilian militia. The “warrior” training would be in conjunction with the academy, a volunteer civilian training organisation that launched in 2021. Continue reading...

Local health chief says match had been deemed ‘harmless’ because away fans had been banned to prevent violenceOnly four paramedics were on standby inside the football stadium in Indonesia where 131 people were killed in a crowd crush, with a further 12 nearby, the head of the local public health office has said, promising a thorough evaluation of the response.The match was not considered to be a high-risk event because only fans of Arema, the home side, were present, said Wiyanto Wijoyo, the head of Malang regency public health office. Supporters of the opposing team, Persebaya Surabaya, who won the match, had been banned as a precaution to prevent violence between rival fans. Continue reading...

Economists say the tax cuts are unaffordable and should be trimmed or changed, either now or in May

Linking with pay rather than inflation would leave households worse off – but ministers must get measure past their own MPsLow-income households will be almost £400 a year worse off under No 10’s plans to increase benefits at a lower rate than inflation, new analysis for the Observer has revealed.Liz Truss and her government are considering uprating welfare in line with earnings rather than inflation. It would mean increasing them by 5.5% rather than about 10%, according to the most recent official data, saving about £5bn. Continue reading...

Disgraced producer, already poised to spend life in prison, faces 11 additional sexual assault chargesFive years after the bombshell reports that ended his career, the disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein will go on trial in Los Angeles on Monday over a series of alleged sexual assaults involving five different women.It’s the second trial of the former Hollywood titan, who has been incarcerated since February 2020 when he was convicted of sexual assault and rape in proceedings in New York. Continue reading...

Experts to assess extent of damage as limited traffic appears to resume on key bridge and Vladimir Putin orders extra security for infrastructure

Nicaraguan soldiers assist evacuations as up to 38cm of rain forecast across Central America after tropical storm strengthened into hurricaneHurricane Julia swept by just south of Colombia’s San Andres island on Saturday evening soon after strengthening from a tropical storm, as Nicaraguans rushed to prepare for the storm’s arrival on their coast overnight.After gaining power throughout the day, Julia’s maximum sustained winds had increased to 120km/h (75mph) by Saturday evening, the US National Hurricane Center said. Continue reading...

The party said it would save a typical family $3,500 a year, and cost nearly $1.3bn over four years

Gig, disability and home care workers would also gain access to a portable entitlement scheme

Tokyo says North Korea’s seventh round of weapons tests in two weeks may have been launched from submarineNorth Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward its eastern waters, the latest of its recent barrage of weapons tests, a day after Pyongyang warned the redeployment of a US aircraft carrier near the Korean peninsula was inflaming regional tensions.South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff said in a statement that it detected two missile launches between 1.48am and 1.58am on Sunday local time from the North’s eastern coastal city of Munchon. It added that South Korea’s military has boosted its surveillance posture and maintains a readiness in close coordination with the US. Continue reading...

Ian Blackford says Tory mini-budget will go down as one of worst financial interventions in modern historyLiz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget “will go down as one of the worst financial interventions in modern history”, the Scottish National party’s Westminster leader has said.Speaking on the first day of the party’s conference in Aberdeen, Ian Blackford took aim at the pair over the economic consequences of their “fiscal event”. “Only a matter of weeks into their new roles, the disastrous duo of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng have crashed the economy, sent the pound plummeting, put pension funds at risk and caused mayhem for mortgage holders,” Blackford said. Continue reading...

Tory minister, who denies any wrongdoing, reported for incident in hotel bar during party’s conferenceThe trade minister Conor Burns was sacked from the government and suspended as a Conservative MP after he was seen touching a young man’s thigh in a Tory conference hotel bar, it has been claimed.According to the BBC on Saturday, an eyewitness said the former minister was seen with the man in the early hours of Tuesday in the Hyatt Regency hotel bar in Birmingham, which was a popular venue for conference attenders. Burns has denied any wrongdoing. Continue reading...

Public opinion for repealing the package jumped 7% from the previous month as people become better informed about the consequences

Valeriy Tarasenko was left with ‘significant injuries’ but expected to survive, according to Quebec policeAn associate of the Ukrainian woman who posed as a member of the Rothschild banking family at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club was reportedly shot outside a lakeside resort north-west of Montreal, Canadian newspaper LaPresse has reported.The shooting left Valeriy Tarasenko, 44, with “significant injuries”, but he was expected to survive, said the Sûreté du Québec, the Quebec provincial police. The police said it had launched a search for the shooter and any accomplices behind the attack. Continue reading...

Tehran authorities ‘shaken to core’ as demonstrations grow and death toll mountsThe mother of a 16-year-old Iranian girl, Nika Shakarami, who died during protests that continue to sweep the country, has rejected official claims that her death was caused by falling from a building and insisted she was beaten to death by regime forces.Nasreen Shakarami said authorities refused to notify the family about her daughter’s death for 10 days and then removed Nika from the morgue, burying her in a remote village without the family’s consent. Her mother says records of Nika’s death show her skull was severely damaged and her injuries were consistent with being struck repeatedly on her head. Continue reading...

Ukrainians relish show of Russian vulnerability after explosion on supposedly untouchable 18-mile prestige structureAn explosion has crippled the heavily guarded bridge connecting Crimea to the Russian mainland, a hated symbol of Russian occupation and key logistics link for Russian troops in southern Ukraine, in the latest heavy blow to Vladimir Putin after weeks of military humiliation.The Kerch bridge was a personal prestige project for the Russian president, and the hit came the day after his 70th birthday. The blast destroyed the road into Crimea and left the railway link in flames. Continue reading...

PM’s -47 net rating in Opinium poll worse than Boris Johnson’s at height of Partygate scandalLiz Truss’s personal ratings are now even worse than those recorded for Boris Johnson at the height of the Partygate scandal, according to another Observer poll which will cause alarm among Tory MPs.Truss’s personal approval rating of -47 is now the worst ever recorded for a prime minister in an Opinium poll for the Observer. It is a worse rating than that recorded for Johnson during Partygate and Theresa May in the weeks before her resignation. Continue reading...

The bravery of the women’s rights fight in Tehran and beyond is a cause for hope – and a call to actionIt was in the strange days between the Queen’s death and her funeral that the bad news from Iran broke through the blanket coverage of the state mourning rituals. The news that pierced this was the report that a young woman had died in the custody of Iran’s morality police.Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, had been taken into custody because of “bad hijab”. She was visiting relatives in Tehran with her brother when the morality police challenged her about a few strands of hair that were showing from her standard hijab. According to her brother, she was in custody for just two hours before collapsing and being taken to hospital, where she lay in a coma before dying on 16 September. The authorities claimed that she had a heart attack from a pre-existing condition. Her family deny this, and state that her head and body were covered in bruises and signs of being beaten. Continue reading...

US imposed ban on British meat during BSE epidemic but restriction was lifted earlier this yearBritish lamb has been exported to the US for the first time in more than 20 years after a ban put in place during the BSE epidemic was lifted.US president Joe Biden committed to scrapping the ban on imports of British meat in September 2021. Continue reading...

Former Spice Girl, who attended Tory conference, makes apparent online criticism of Conor BurnsMel B has made an apparent criticism of sacked Tory minister Conor Burns’s behaviour during a conversation with her at the Conservative party conference.Burns was asked to step down from his role as a minister of state in the trade department and had the Conservative whip withdrawn pending an investigation into an allegation of “serious misconduct” on Friday, Downing Street said. He later denied having ever met the former Spice Girl singer. Continue reading...

Online content was blamed for the 14-year-old’s death yet harmful posts remain live on site, including suicide-related contentInstagram is breaking its promise to remove posts that glorify self-harm and suicide years after the death of the schoolgirl Molly Russell, Observer analysis has found.The photo-sharing app has long claimed it does not allow material that “promotes or glorifies self-harm or suicide” and says it removes content of this kind. Continue reading...

Radical ideas to reduce spending, outlined in Matthew Sinclair’s 2010 handbook, may now be needed by the Tories to pay for their tax cutsLiz Truss’s top economic adviser suggested freezing the state pension, halving the government’s publicity budget and slashing “non-frontline” staff in health and schools by 10%, as part of a manifesto designed to win an election while also cutting spending.Matthew Sinclair, the former chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, edited a book by the small-state pressure group that called for a series of radical cuts, including the scrapping of the Prevent programme designed to tackle extremism. Continue reading...