World news | The Guardian

Supporters in shock as Kremlin reneges on vow that helped project power into captured towns and villages

Brooke Warne lashes out at Nine over plans for a two-part miniseries, Warnie, just ‘6 months after he has passed away’

Loose coalition of far-right Sweden Democrats and centre-right parties wins majority of three in parliamentThe leader of Sweden’s incumbent Social Democrats has resigned as prime minister after conceding defeat in the country’s knife-edge election, handing victory to a loose bloc of rightwing parties that includes the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD).The PM, Magdalena Andersson, called a press conference at which she accepted defeat, while pointing out that her Social Democrats remained Sweden’s largest party with more than 30% of the vote – and that the majority in parliament for the right bloc was very slim. Continue reading...

Police in Auckland request extradition of 42-year-old woman to face two charges of murderA 42-year-old woman has been arrested in South Korea for the alleged murder of two children whose bodies were discovered in suitcases bought at an auction in New Zealand.South Korean authorities arrested the woman today on a Korean arrest warrant for two charges of murder.A previous version of this story said the woman had been arrested in Seoul. Korean police said on Thursday that she was arrested in the southern city of Ulsan. Continue reading...

Thousands queue on streets of London to file past Queen after procession from Buckingham PalaceGuardian columnist Andy Beckett has written today about how there is no single “national mood” in the aftermath of the Queen’s death, in a country where support for the monarchy has fallen significantly over the last decade.The idea that the whole country is mourning the Queen and welcoming her successor is a fiction: energetically disseminated, seductive for many in a time of division, but a fiction nonetheless. There is no single ‘national mood’ about the royal family, and there never has been, whatever most journalists and politicians say. Instead there is an assortment of feelings, even right outside Buckingham Palace.But over the longer term, the reign of her more divisive, less historically resonant son may cause that surge to fade, and the decline in royal popularity to resume, even accelerate. With Charles, known for his impatience with staff and extravagant lifestyle, the sense of entitlement, which is as fundamental to the royal family as a sense of duty, is more obvious.The poorer country that the UK is likely to become over the next few years may also be less tolerant of one of the world’s most lavish monarchies. The Queen’s old-fashioned, relatively plain public persona, and the length of her reign – to an extent, she continued to be judged by rather deferential, mid-20th century standards – means that modern Britain’s appetite for a less self-effacing ruler has not yet been tested. Continue reading...

Ukraine says cell has Lord’s Prayer carved into the wall in Ukrainian

People travel from across the country to see procession from Buckingham Palace and attend lying-in-state at Westminster HallJoyce Dawson, 54, from Middlesbrough, was watching the news on Tuesday night when she decided to make her first ever visit to London to see the Queen lying in state.“I texted my daughter and said: ‘We have to go to London tonight,’” she said. “It was a spur of the moment thing.” Continue reading...

Twelve restaurants received one star and one restaurant received two as Toronto becomes the first Canadian city to be featuredToronto has finally sealed its reputation as an international culinary destination after 13 of its restaurants received Michelin stars for quality – the first time a Canadian city has ever featured in the prestigious guide.Canada’s largest city has long been keen to compete on the world stage, and many residents were thrilled when the French publication announced in May it would include Toronto in its upcoming guide. Continue reading...

Global weekly deaths down to 11,118 on 5 September – the lowest level since March 2020The end of the Covid-19 pandemic is “in sight”, the World Health Organization has declared, after revealing that weekly deaths from the virus around the world were at the lowest level since March 2020.The weekly global deaths figure on 5 September 2022 was 11,118, according to the WHO’s website. March 2020 was the month that the UK entered its first lockdown. Continue reading...

The designer’s contribution to New York fashion week suggests his eye-grabbing looks are a fantasy women are still pursuingMichael Kors, one of the few big names not to have abandoned New York for a European fashion week, can always be relied on for glossy, leisure-class womenswear straight from the pages of Condé Nast Traveller. Or as Kors puts it: “Clothes for women who like to be noticed”.On Wednesday morning, in a glass warehouse in downtown Manhattan filled with palm fronds, he put his money where his mouth is. His spring show opened with a white Halston-style silk skirt suit that heavily referenced the one worn by Scarface star Michelle Pfeiffer as character Elvira Hancock – complete with plunging neckline and nattily placed tit-tape. As proven by the suit’s legacy in film costume lore, it wasn’t just noticeable but impossible to ignore. Continue reading...

IPOC watchdog insists review of evidence led it to investigate firearms officer for homicideThe family of Chris Kaba will be allowed to watch police video of the incident that led to his killing, the Guardian has learned, as the police watchdog insisted evidence and not public pressure led it to investigate an officer for homicide offences.Kaba, 24, who was unarmed, was shot once by an officer from the Metropolitan police on 5 September. The bullet struck him in the head as he sat in the driver’s seat of a car which had come under suspicion in Lambeth, south London. He died just over two hours later. Continue reading...

A man found with ‘serious injuries’ has been arrested on suspicion of two murders and remains in hospital

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...