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Moscow’s influence in the Caucasus and central Asia is being unravelled by its ‘special military operation’The rout of the Russian army in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region seems likely to be a turning point in Kyiv’s battle to kick Russian troops out of the country, but it may also cause much broader fallout for Moscow in the wider region, as other former Soviet countries witness what appears to be the limits of Moscow’s capabilities.“The power of the Russian flag has declined considerably, and the security system across the former Soviet space does seem to be broken,” said Laurence Broers, associate fellow at Chatham House. Continue reading...

While some progress has been made, analysts fear China is leaping ahead in capabilities and the defence department doesn’t sense the urgency

Greens senator says One Nation leader created hostile and unsafe workplace and she has since been subjected to racist hate speech by others

State transport department seeking legal advice over plans by the Rail, Tram and Bus Union to switch off electronic gates

Australia Institute urges 60% income tax on earnings above $1m a year

Letters reveal former PM didn’t mention pandemic when requesting right to administer industry, treasury and home affairs departments

Assurance comes after reports that crucial support scheme may not be in operation until November. This blog is now closedAt the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesperson was asked what businesses should do if they are asked at the start of October to sign an energy contract charging them five times or more what they were paying, at a point where the government scheme for businesses is not yet operational. Should they just sign up, and assume the government will cover the difference?The spokesperson replied:I don’t want to be prescriptive without knowing individual circumstances. What we have said at this point is that we will look to give equivalent support to what we have done with with households and there’ll be a bit more detail on that next week.We are speaking to stakeholder groups as well to provide as much information as possible so they have clarity if they are required to make those decisions.We will confirm further details of the business support scheme next week. The scheme will support businesses with their October energy bills and that includes through backdating if necessary. Continue reading...

William and Harry’s role echoes that of 25 years ago when they followed Diana’s coffin on foot to her funeral

Culture minister says ‘traces of hundreds of thousands of items lead to the Russian Federation’Poland will formally ask Russia to return seven paintings from a Moscow museum that were looted by the Red Army during the second world war, the Polish culture minister has announced.Piotr Gliński said about 20 previous requests to Moscow for the return of thousands of other items stolen during the war had fallen on deaf ears. Those items included archives of the former Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, paintings by Old Masters such as Dürer, Holbein and Cranach and manuscripts by Polish authors. Continue reading...

Coffin carried on horse-drawn gun carriage from Buckingham Palace as thousands queue to pay last respects

All 1,300 outlets will close until 5pm on Monday 19 September to allow staff ‘to pay their respects’

Former president told Peter Baker and Susan Glasser that Pence ‘committed political suicide’ by refusing to reject Biden victoryDonald Trump will not pick Mike Pence as his running mate if he runs for the presidency again, according to an interview with the authors of a new book on his time in the White House.“It would be totally inappropriate,” Trump told Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. “Mike committed political suicide” by refusing to reject electoral college votes in Trump’s 2020 defeat by Joe Biden, Trump said. Continue reading...

Volodymyr Zelenskiy says around 8,000 sq km have been liberated in counteroffensive in north-east Ukraine

Niall Sheerin from Derry sentenced to seven years in prison, but not in connection with murder itselfA man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for possessing the gun used to murder the journalist Lyra McKee.Niall Sheerin, 29, from Derry, admitted possessing the pistol between September 2018 and June 2020. Continue reading...

Some have warned plans to abandon policies are ‘dangerous’, while others welcome reversal amid rising costsAbandoning policies to tackle obesity will be “dangerous for the public’s health” and lead to people eating even more unhealthy food, a senior doctor and leading campaigner has warned.“Assuming that the reports are correct, then I think that it’s a national scandal that they are going to let the food industry let more people become obese. Continue reading...

Samuel Kasumu says Liz Truss would not have been elected without scheme prioritising women and minority candidatesA former race adviser to Boris Johnson who is standing to be Conservative candidate for mayor of London has defended the role of diversity schemes, saying Liz Truss would not be PM had it not been for such a scheme.Samuel Kasumu said the Conservative party’s “A-list” of priority candidates, championed by then Tory leader David Cameron, was instrumental in catapulting Truss into Number 10. Continue reading...

Statistical surge reflects average house price drop last July caused by end to £500,000 stamp duty holidayThe annual rate of UK house price growth surged to a 19-year high of 15.5% in July, official figures show, with a typical home having £39,000 added to its value in 12 months.However, commentators pointed out that the annual rate of price growth had been pushed artificially high because in July 2021 prices dropped in response to the end to the most generous period of last year’s stamp duty holiday. Continue reading...

Fossil fuel extractors will be asked to hand back 33% of taxable surplus profits to ‘cushion blow’ of crisisThe EU expects to raise €140bn from windfall taxes on fossil fuel companies to “cushion the blow” of the energy crisis.The emergency levy will be placed on oil, gas and coal firms alongside a separate measure to cap revenues from renewable electricity generators at less than half of current market prices. Continue reading...

European Commission president also vows to speed Ukraine’s EU integration in wide-ranging speech

NSW coroner shown footage of officer telling Anthony Koletti ‘I think there’s something you are not telling me’

Potential for further rate hikes in the US points to more bad news for Australia too, expert warns

• Warning: this story contains extremely offensive language heard in courtCourt hears police constable Rolfe talked of having ‘smashed’ Aboriginal community and described local people as ‘neanderthals’An inquest into the police shooting death of Kumanjayi Walker has heard that Zachary Rolfe, the constable acquitted of his murder, was involved in text message exchanges in which officers described Aboriginal people as “losers”, “grubby fucks”, “coons” and “niggas”, and discussed using force to “towel them up”.Walker, 19, was shot three times by Rolfe during an attempted arrest in the remote Northern Territory community of Yuendumu in November 2019. Rolfe was found not guilty of murder and two alternative charges after a six-week trial in the NT supreme court in Darwin earlier this year. Continue reading...

Colombian national vanished when attempting to hike 14km on rainforest track after attending Orin Aya music festival south of Cooktown

Revelation about former president’s concern reported in new book The Divider by Peter Baker and Susan GlasserIn December 2020, Donald Trump told friends he was afraid Iran would try to assassinate him in revenge for the death of Qassem Suleimani, an Iranian general killed in a US drone strike nearly a year before.The startling news is reported in a new book by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, a husband-and-wife team who write for the New York Times and the New Yorker. Continue reading...

The papers show pictures of a hearse delivering the Queen’s coffin to the palace where it will rest overnightThere’s only one place to start for the papers as the Queen’s coffin was driven through the gates of Buckingham Palace in what was inevitably dubbed the “final homecoming”.The front of Wednesday’s Mirror features a dramatic picture of the hearse sweeping towards the brightly lit palace as crowds formed a roadside guard of honour. “Led home by lights of love”, the headline says. Continue reading...

The capital of the central Asian country was renamed Nur-sultan in 2019 in honour of outgoing president Nursultan NazarbayevKazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has agreed to restore the former name of the country’s capital just three years after he renamed it in honour of his predecessor, his spokesperson said.Tokayev’s spokesman, Ruslan Zheliban, said the president agreed to the name change after an initiative by a group of MPs. Continue reading...

Plans show 1,000 volunteers will help manage queue, which may be closed if numbers become too greatOfficials have set out the formal plans for a queue up to five miles long for people to pay respects to the Queen lying in state, a complex logistical exercise including toilets, first aid and round-the-clock refreshments on the route.With hundreds of thousands of people expected to queue for many hours to get the chance to view the Queen’s coffin in Westminster Hall, volunteers from groups including the Scouts and Salvation Army have been drafted in to help. Continue reading...

State department cites intelligence assessment of covert activities in more than two dozen countriesRussia has covertly spent more than $300m since 2014 to try to influence politicians and other officials in more than two dozen countries, according to a newly declassified state department cable.The cable, signed by the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and released on Tuesday, cites a new intelligence assessment of Russia’s global covert efforts to support policies and parties sympathetic to Moscow. The cable does not name specific Russian targets but says the US is providing classified information to select individual countries. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Health officials ‘aghast’ as review launched of measures to deter people from eating junk foodThe UK government could scrap its entire anti-obesity strategy after ministers ordered an official review of measures designed to deter people from eating junk food, the Guardian can reveal.The review could pave the way for Liz Truss to lift the ban on sugary products being displayed at checkouts as well as “buy one get one free” multi-buy deals in shops. The restrictions on advertising certain products on TV before the 9pm watershed could also be ditched. Continue reading...

Tayson Latigue and Frantzsen Charles were among seven journalists who came under attack on SundayTwo Haitian reporters have been shot dead and their bodies set on fire while reporting in a slum controlled by gangs in the capital, in the second such killing this year.Tayson Latigue and Frantzsen Charles were among seven journalists who came under attack on Sunday in the Cité Soleil district of Port-au-Prince. They were investigating worsening violence in the area, including the recent killing of a 17-year-old girl, according to a statement from Haiti’s Association of Independent Journalists. Continue reading...

The medical report on death of 91-year-old director said he had chosen to end his life

PC Hussain Chehab is accused of four counts of sexual activity with a child aged 13 to 15 among other chargesA serving Metropolitan police officer has been charged with more than a dozen offences including four counts of sexual activity with a child aged 13 to 15, the force has said.PC Hussain Chehab was also charged with five counts of making indecent photographs/pseudo-photographs of a child, one count of taking indecent images of children, one count of engaging in sexual communication with a child, one count of distributing indecent images of a child and one count of encouraging or assisting in the distribution of indecent images of children. Continue reading...

British consulate in Hong Kong extends opening hours as thousands gather to remember ‘boss lady’

Monarch is exempt under 1993 agreement but Charles will pay income tax as his mother didKing Charles will not pay tax on the fortune he has inherited from the late Queen, although he has volunteered to follow his mother’s lead in paying income tax.Under a clause agreed in 1993 by the then prime minister, John Major, any inheritance passed “sovereign to sovereign” avoids the 40% levy applied to assets valued at more than £325,000. Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of people – royalists and ‘soft republicans’ alike – visit Royal Mile to pay respects to late monarch

Chancellor suggests change of emphasis is needed after he sacked top civil servant whom he credited for tight control of spendingUK Treasury officials have been told to refocus on annual growth of 2.5% rather than prioritising fiscal discipline in a call with the chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng.The prime minister, Liz Truss, promised a return to the economic growth target for the UK of 2.5% a year during her campaign for the Conservative party leadership, a level which has not been consistently met since before the 2008 banking crisis. Continue reading...

Yemeni national held as Saudi Arabia forbids pilgrims from carrying banners or chanting slogans

The radical director of Breathless and Alphaville, and who was a key figure in the French nouvelle vague, has diedJean-Luc Godard, the French-Swiss director who was a key figure in the Nouvelle Vague, the film-making movement that revolutionised cinema in the late 1950s and 60s, has died aged 91, French newspaper Liberation reported.Best known for his iconoclastic, seemingly improvised filming style, as well as unbending radicalism, Godard made his mark with a series of increasingly politicised films in the 1960s, before enjoying an unlikely career revival in recent years, with films such as Film Socialisme and Goodbye to Language as he experimented with digital technology. Continue reading...

Counsel assisting the coroner told court texts ‘reveal disturbing attitudes towards Aboriginal people’

Secret Foreign Office unit distributed literature from fake sources to discredit Stokely CarmichaelThe British government targeted the American civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael and sought to weaken the Black Power movement with covert disinformation campaigns, recently declassified documents have revealed.The effort was the work of a secret unit known as the Information Research Department, based in London and part of the Foreign Office, which created and distributed literature from fake sources as part of a broader effort to destabilise cold war enemies. Continue reading...

Thinktank says richest tenth of UK households would receive £4,700 on average, and poorest tenth £2,200Liz Truss’s plans for an energy price freeze and sweeping tax cuts will give Britain’s richest households twice as much financial support with living costs as the poorest households, according to a leading thinktank.The Resolution Foundation said the prime minister’s energy package, announced hours before news of the death of the Queen last week, would come with a “colossal” price tag for taxpayers that was poorly targeted to help those most in need when combined with tax cuts promised in her leadership campaign. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Move is part of Bank of England’s delayed health check of financial industryThe UK’s largest banks will be tested on their ability to withstand a rise in defaults linked to sky-high energy prices, as part of the Bank of England’s delayed health check of the financial industry.The Guardian understands that Threadneedle Street has crafted a new crisis scenario that will feature a deep economic recession, punctuated by soaring energy bills that could make it harder for some borrowers – particularly businesses – to afford loan repayments. Continue reading...

Unionists need to mask any fear of fraying UK bonds and Sinn Féin to uphold its republican principles

Community leaders are searching for people they fear may be buried under landslides triggered by a magnitude 7.6 quake on SundayThe death toll from a magnitude 7.6 magnitude earthquake that hit Papua New Guinea on Sunday has risen to seven, and authorities fear many more could be missing, dead, or buried under landslides.The earthquake struck in the Markham Valley, in Morobe, on the north coast of Papua New Guinea, and was followed by a second 5.0 magnitude earthquake. Continue reading...

Monarch features on coins ‘as a matter of tradition’, but Elizabeth II is on banknote due to her ‘personal’ status, minister says

Series of incidents in Edinburgh, London and Oxford include woman being charged after protest outside St Giles’ Cathedral

Service of thanksgiving at St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh pulses with history as nation pays its respects

Emergency budget will give chance to get back on front foot. But first, PM has to gauge nation’s mood in period of mourning Queen’s deathAs Liz Truss processed out of Westminster Hall behind King Charles, over the brass plaques marking the trials of Guy Fawkes and Charles I, and the spot where the Queen Mother lay in state, she looked like she was personally bearing the weight of history on her shoulders.Her face grave and drawn, the new prime minister may have been reflecting on the new King’s words when he addressed MPs and peers assembled in the 900-year-old building: “Parliament is the living and breathing instrument of our democracy.” Continue reading...