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Kim Jong-un said his forces were “completely ready to hit and destroy targets at any time from any location”

Exclusive: documents show the former minister pushed for the compulsory acquisition of Penrith Paceway for a new stadium to be built in his seat

Criticism mounts of Victoria’s police oversight model, with Andrews government urged to establish new watchdog

A 3% pay rise for team managers amid 10% inflation comes after a string of wage rises for hourly staffThousands of Tesco staff have been forced to take a large real-terms pay cut as the supermarket puts a squeeze on store managers while offering bigger wage rises for lower-paid workers.In the latest pay battle amid the cost of living crisis, the retailer’s team managers, who earn about £30,000 a year, say they have received as little as a 3% pay rise. The official rate of inflation is close to 10%, and expected to hit 11% this month. Continue reading...

One-quarter of federal government’s $200m advertising budget going towards politicised messaging, Grattan Institute says

Buyers will be able to choose a $400 annual fee and 0.3% of the land value while it’s their primary residence instead of stamp duty

Vessel capsized in Ogbaru area of Anambra state, one of 29 to have experienced heavy flooding this yearThe death toll from a boat accident in Nigeria’s south-eastern state of Anambra has risen to 76, the president has said.The vessel capsized on Friday amid heavy flooding in the Ogbaru area of Anambra, according to officials on Saturday, when they said at least 10 people had died and 60 were missing. Continue reading...

Ciolac, 35, died in hospital after officer reportedly fired three shots at man armed with knifeA man who was shot dead by armed officers in the car park of a police station in Derby has been named as Marius Ciolac.Armed officers were called at 9.55am on Friday after officers reported seeing a man armed with a knife in the secure car park of Ascot Drive police station. Continue reading...

Russian president blames Ukrainian special services for ‘destroying critically important civilian infrastructure’

Exclusive: Tory MPs warn PM she would lose vote on increasing benefits only in line with earnings rather than inflationLiz Truss is teetering on the edge of performing another big U-turn as Tory MPs warned she would lose a vote on delivering a real-terms cut to benefits while new research showed the move could push an extra 450,000 people into poverty.Despite desperate pleas for party unity from senior ministers after weeks of bitter infighting, the row over welfare threatened to overshadow the prime minister’s attempt to reassert her authority when the Commons returns from recess on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Authorities shut all schools in Iranian Kurdistan as protests continue in cities and state TV is interrupted by apparent hackIranian schoolchildren were being arrested inside school premises on Sunday by security forces arriving in vans without licence plates, according to social media reports emerging from the country as protests against the regime entered their fourth week.The authorities also shut all schools and higher education institutions in Iranian Kurdistan on Sunday – a sign that the state remains concerned about dissent after weeks of protests over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman. Continue reading...

Brian Glendinning’s case highlights peril for football fans travelling to the Gulf nation this year, experts warnA British engineer is in jail in Iraq and facing extradition to Qatar over missed repayments on a small bank loan, in a case said to highlight the perils facing those travelling to the Gulf state for the World Cup.Brian Glendinning, 43, who had been contracted to work on a BP refinery in Iraq, was arrested on an Interpol “red notice” at Baghdad airport on 12 September and has been in a police cell since awaiting an extradition hearing. Continue reading...

The country’s total refinery output has been reduced by more than 60% over the past two weeksLong tailbacks of vehicles continued to grow outside French service stations on Sunday as petrol supply was hit by pay strikes at refineries run by the oil giants, TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil.The leftwing CGT union is leading a refinery workers’ strike for better pay during the cost-of-living crisis, and for a share of companies’ high profits. Continue reading...

Russian president claims Ukrainian special forces behind explosion on Kerch bridge

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