World news | The Guardian

The broadcaster and property expert said she will remain focused on her new Channel 4 series and bookSarah Beeny has revealed she is undergoing treatment for breast cancer and will have surgery and undergo radiotherapy in the new year.Despite her diagnosis, the entrepreneur said she would continue to work and is focused on a new Channel 4 series and book she has planned for later in the year. The 50-year-old broadcaster and property expert began a course of chemotherapy last week. Continue reading...

Company offers counselling to all staff as NSW police confirm investigation underway

HMS Prince of Wales retreats to sheltered anchorage for repairs after propeller malfunction, risking cross-Atlantic date with alliesBritain’s biggest warship could miss important flight trials with jets off the US coast after it suffered a propeller shaft malfunction shortly after setting sail, the Royal Navy has said.HMS Prince of Wales, a £3bn aircraft carrier, left Portsmouth naval base on Saturday and suffered an “emerging mechanical issue” off the south-east coast of the Isle of Wight. Continue reading...

Australian nursing and midwifery groups say Victoria’s scheme could see aspiring nurses leave their home states

Academic says companies ‘squealing’ to government about worker skill shortage are contributing to it

Duchess of Sussex reveals in magazine interview how toxic tabloid culture had torn her and Harry’s families apartThe Duchess of Sussex has said her and Prince Harry’s privacy battle with the Mail on Sunday cost her husband his relationship with his father.In an interview with the Cut magazine, Meghan discussed how toxic tabloid culture had torn her and the Duke of Sussex’s families apart. Continue reading...

Many educators take side gigs and can’t afford to live where they teach, as ‘teacher pay penalty’ growsTeachers in California are struggling with the high cost of living, rent increases and over-work and are increasingly leaving the profession, especially in the wake of a pandemic that has worsened those factors, a new study has revealed.Teachers have also faced state-imposed testing and performance metrics, school privatization and defunding, all of which have contributed to teacher shortages, even as a new school year is beginning across the US. Continue reading...

Venues say they expect sales to be 25% down on 2019 as visitors and artists alike priced out of attendingVenues at the Edinburgh fringe say they are expecting a 25% decrease on ticket sales this year compared with 2019 as a result of soaring accommodation costs pricing out visitors.Eight of the biggest fringe venues – Assembly, Dance Base, Gilded Balloon, Just the Tonic, Pleasance, Summerhall, Underbelly and Zoo – said they expected to sell 1,486,746 tickets this year, compared with 1,965,961 in 2019. Continue reading...

David Celino, described as ‘fiercely independent and warm’, had possibly taken ecstasy tablet, say policeThe family of a 16-year-old boy who died after falling ill at the Leeds festival on Sunday have described him as “a beautiful, fiercely independent and warm character”.David Celino, whom police named on Monday, was taken to hospital on Saturday night after possibly taking ecstasy in a “grey or black oblong shape”. Continue reading...

Exclusive: This week marks four months with no independent commissioner, creating a ‘vacuum’ of oversight, say campaignersThe Home Office is accused of deliberately failing to appoint a new anti-slavery commissioner to avoid scrutiny while trying to push through legislation on the issue.It has been a legal requirement to have an independent commissioner since the post was created as part of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015. Continue reading...

Unions involved in negotiations with local authority umbrella body Cosla are believed to be discussing offerRefuse workers in Scotland have been presented with a new offer in an attempt to end ongoing strike action.Council cleansing staff across much of the country are striking over pay disputes. A strike in Edinburgh that led to rubbish including food waste building up in the streets during the Edinburgh festival fringe – the busiest time of year for the city – is due to end on Wednesday, while staff in authorities across Scotland have taken action over the weekend, with a further stretch planned for next week. Continue reading...

Ex-peace figure Aviv Geffen sparks controversy with public repentance at concert in occupied West BankThe Israeli rock star Aviv Geffen, once a symbol of the country’s peace movement, has sparked controversy by apologising for his past views during a concert at a fervently nationalistic settlement in the occupied West Bank.The public repentance on Thursday at the Beit El settlement can be seen as a cultural milestone in Israel’s move further to the right and another nail in the coffin of the more peace-oriented legacy of the assassinated prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, with whom Geffen had been associated. Continue reading...

Chancellor during 2008 banking collapse says ‘fiddling around with small measures’ will not be enough

The Cessna light aircraft came down in the Fernvale area near Lake Wivenhoe, Queensland police say

Experts say Tory leadership rivals appear not to have grasped the scale of the crisis facing the service

Foreign affairs minister met PNG leaders on Monday in Port Moresby and will continue to Timor-Leste on Wednesday

Altopía imagines the bustling working-class city that overlooks neighbouring La Paz in 2053 – with coca-chewing cyborgs and minibuses with legsTravellers flying into the Bolivian capital of La Paz land in El Alto: a working-class, Indigenous city of countless terracotta houses. Most visitors pay it little attention as the taxi whisks them down to La Paz.But this one-time satellite city has now outgrown the political capital – and many see it as a symbol of the country’s future. Continue reading...

PM commits to keeping cuts but stops short of ironclad guarantee that there will be no tweaks

Accusation is reportedly the first time the Indian government has used the descriptor and comes as tensions rise over Sri Lanka port visitIndia has accused China of “militarisation of the Taiwan Strait”, in an escalating war of words triggered by a Chinese military ship docking in a controversial Sri Lankan port.The accusation, referenced in a statement by the Indian high commission in Sri Lanka on Sunday, is reportedly the first time the Indian government has used the descriptor, and is a rare intervention on the cross-straits issues as India contends with tensions on its own border with China. Continue reading...

Club’s shirt sponsor criticised for offering $10 free bet to anyone who wagers large amount in a weekEverton FC has told its sponsor Stake.com to stop using its imagery in an international promotion offering a $10 free bet to anyone who wagers $5,000 in the space of a week.Football fans and campaign groups had criticised the marketing scheme and questioned Everton’s apparent involvement. Continue reading...

Freedom of speech groups raise over clampdown, which only came to light by accidentPolice chiefs have been issuing secret orders telling officers to inform bosses if they know any news reporters – as they would have to do with convicted criminals or extremists.The measure is already in place in some forces, and follows guidance from the College of Policing, which sets standards in law enforcement. It is part of anti-corruption efforts and only came to light by accident. Continue reading...

Radiation fears over Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant linger amid accusations from Moscow and Kyiv of more shelling near the site

Emily Thornberry says plan will ‘get the wheels of justice turning’ as almost 350,000 cases await trialMinisters have been told to “get the wheels of justice turning” again by allowing more legal specialists to serve as crown prosecutors to help clear the courts backlog.With record numbers of outstanding cases in magistrates and crown courts in England and Wales, the shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry, said the more junior associate prosecutors were “not being used to the maximum extent possible” in crown courts due to an “unnecessary and outdated legal restriction”. Continue reading...

Plan to freeze 2007 deal will make it harder and more expensive for Russians to get Schengen-area documents, FT reportsThe Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed a decree allowing Ukrainian passport holders who have entered Russia since Moscow’s offensive to live and work in the country indefinitely.Until now, Ukrainians could stay in Russia only for a maximum of 90 days within a 180-day period. To stay longer or to work, special authorisation or a work permit was required.In mid-August, we closed our offices and ceased all Russian operations. Continue reading...

Despite steep rise in number of prisoners on remand, Andrews government hasn’t reviewed bail reforms

Association of Convenience Stores urges chancellor to provide more financial support for small shopsThousands of corner shops will be forced to close due to surging energy costs unless the government steps in with emergency support, a trade body has said.The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has written to the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, saying that without financial support its members will be driven out of business. “We will see villages, housing estates, neighbourhoods and high streets lose their small shops,” the letter says. Continue reading...

Move comes as EU official says it is ‘inappropriate for Russian tourists to stroll in our cities’The EU’s foreign ministers are expected to approve suspending the bloc’s visa facilitation agreement with Moscow next week, as Russian rocket and artillery strikes hit areas across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.The EU move, aimed at reducing the number of visas issued to Russian nationals after pressure from eastern member states, falls short of an outright ban but would make getting travel documents significantly more complicated and expensive. Continue reading...

With their homes destroyed by worst flooding in living memory, people in Jaffarabad appeal for helpIn the midst of swamps of flood water, hundreds of people who fled one of the worst-hit districts of Pakistan pitched tents on the only high ground they could find – on the raised banks of the Saifullah Magsi canal.They had left the Jaffarabad region of Pakistan’s impoverished Balochistan province as a monsoon deluge that authorities say has claimed more than 1,000 lives since June swept away their homes and livelihoods. The Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, visiting Jaffarabad on Sunday, was told that at least 75% of Balochistan, which covers half of Pakistan’s land area, was partially or completely affected by flooding. Continue reading...

China’s military says it is monitoring the US ships, maintaining a high alert and ready to defeat any provocationsThe US Navy said two warships were sailing through international waters in the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, in the first such operation since heightened tensions with China over the Taiwan visit of the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi.The guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville were conducting a “routine Taiwan Strait transit”, the US 7th fleet said in a statement. Continue reading...

Sgt Gavin Hillier was shot at Castlemartin range by short-sighted soldier not wearing corrective lensesAn army sergeant who led a “distinguished career” was shot and killed after being mistaken for a firing target by a short-sighted soldier during a training exercise, a report has found.Sgt Gavin Hillier, 35, of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, died at the Castlemartin range in Pembrokeshire on 4 March 2021. Continue reading...

Tory leadership frontrunner understood to have discussed move, with final decision coming after contest endsLiz Truss is considering whether to reduce VAT by five percentage points across the board, which could save families £1,300 a year, it was reported.The foreign secretary is understood to have discussed the move with her advisers but no final decisions will be taken until the Conservative leadership contest concludes on 5 September, according to the Sunday Telegraph. Continue reading...

Shoppers looking for popular chocolate snack encounter empty shelves and ‘out of stock’ messagesShoppers looking for Mars bars have been encountering empty shelves and “out of stock” messages on supermarket websites, with some stores warning they are not expecting deliveries for two weeks or more.When asked about the apparent shortages, one major retailer told the Guardian that “[it] looks like a production issue on Mars’s end may be causing gaps across retailers”. Continue reading...

The bestselling author fears she too could be a target but says terrorists cannot be allowed to winThe bestselling author Leïla Slimani says the knife attack on Salman Rushdie has left her and other writers afraid, but that they have a “duty” to keep making public appearances and resist censoring themselves, despite the dangers.The French-Moroccan writer, whose novels include Adèle, Lullaby and The Country of Others and is Emmanuel Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of French language and culture, said defending her freedom as a writer “feels even more important than before” and was an act of resistance. Continue reading...

Embattled leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis is facing calls to resign after state intelligence monitored opposition partyFor much of last week thunderstorms and torrential rain swept Athens, marking a dramatic end to a summer otherwise electrified by talk of spyware, cyber-mercenaries, espionage and eavesdropping.As the sun re-emerged on Friday, it was to a highly charged mood as Greece’s prematurely reconvened parliament debated a phone-tapping scandal whose exposure of practices last associated with military rule has shocked the nation and been met with stunned disbelief at the heart of the EU. Continue reading...

Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak will have to deal with 20-year high in recorded crime and barristers’ indefinite strike this autumnWith a new prime minister taking over next week, we look at some of the biggest issues the UK government will face this autumn. Continue reading...

Conservative leadership candidates clash over how to tackle cost of living crisis as contest enters final weekLiz Truss’s plans to tackle the cost of living crisis by slashing VAT across the board will do little to help those struggling to pay food bills and benefit richer households substantially more, Rishi Sunak’s team has claimed.The frontrunner in the Conservative leadership race was accused of considering a “regressive” and “flawed” move that could cost the exchequer up to £38bn a year, while the government faces calls to offer more support with rising energy costs. Continue reading...

Court-ordered demolition of 850 flats seen as stern warning to developers amid rampant illegal constructionIndian authorities have demolished two illegally constructed skyscrapers in a wide plume of dust debris outside Delhi, razing the tallest structures ever pulled down in the country in less than 10 seconds.Crowds watching the collapse from rooftops on nearby high-rise buildings cheered and clapped as the 103 metre (338ft) tall towers collapsed during a controlled demolition. Continue reading...

Many others injured as police say they are trying to determine why vehicle careered down dykeThe death toll from an accident when a lorry drove off a dyke and into a barbecue party in a village south of Rotterdam has risen to six, with a further seven people in hospital, including one in critical condition.Police said the lorry driver, a 46-year-old Spanish man, was suspected of causing the crash, which happened early on Saturday evening in the village of Nieuw-Beijerland. Continue reading...

Provisional total reaches 25,146, government figures show, four months after Priti Patel’s Rwanda policy unveiledMore than 25,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year, government figures show.A total of 915 people were detected on Saturday in 19 small boats, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, taking the provisional total for the year to 25,146. Continue reading...

Fears grow Russia will target country’s gas infrastructure or further cut its supplies to Europe

Independent senator David Pocock says circumstances have changed ‘so much’ since stage three tax cuts policy was legislated. This blog is now closed

Recent revelations have only fed speculation that some form of plot lay behind the gangster’s brutal demise in prisonUS organized crime has long held a tight grip on America’s popular imagination, sustaining entire industries of books, television series and Hollywood movies, as well as countless breathless headlines in tabloid newspapers.But few names have been as famous as the south Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger, who for decades presented himself as a benevolent gangster who protected his community and was given Hollywood treatment by Johnny Depp in “Black Mass” and Jack Nicholson in “The Departed”. Continue reading...

Demonstrators demand Gujarat government revoke decision on men convicted over rape of Muslim woman Bilkis Bano in 2002Hundreds of people have held demonstrations in several parts of India to protest against a recent government decision to free 11 men who had been jailed for life for gang raping a Muslim woman during India’s 2002 religious riots.The protesters in the country’s capital, New Delhi, chanted slogans on Saturday and demanded the government in the western state of Gujarat rescind the decision. They also sang songs in solidarity with the victim. Continue reading...

Minister had urged staff to go into office and attacked FCA over working from homeJacob Rees-Mogg has revealed he is planning to sell off £1.5bn worth of government offices in London due to the proportion of civil servants continuing to work from home.The minister for Brexit opportunities and government efficiency will publish a strategy next week that includes selling property assets over the next three years, with staff working in fewer buildings as part of a new network of government “hubs”, the Telegraph reported. Continue reading...

Prince says he was ‘touched’ to be asked to take helm for paper’s 40th-anniversary editionThe Prince of Wales has edited an edition of British African-Caribbean newspaper The Voice, which will feature interviews with Lady Doreen Lawrence and Idris Elba, to mark its 40th anniversary.The Voice, which was founded in 1982, is the only national black British newspaper operating in the UK. Charles described the paper as an “institution” adding that he was “so touched” to be asked to edit the special anniversary edition.

In press conference with NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal, PM reveals he has been talking with sporting figures about supporting campaign

Spectators applaud during ninth minute of match as Jürgen Klopp asks, ‘How can this happen?’ after nine-year-old shotFootball fans from the city of Liverpool have paid tribute to nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel, who was shot inside her home.Thousands of fans applauded in the ninth minute of the Liverpool and Bournemouth game and both teams rose in unison to pay tribute as Liverpool fans sang the team’s anthem, You’ll Never Walk Alone. Continue reading...

Auction of black RS Turbo Series 1 used by Princess of Wales from 1985-88 ‘exceeds all expectations’A car used by Diana, Princess of Wales has sold for £650,000 at auction.The black Ford Escort RS Turbo, driven by Diana from 23 August 1985 to 1 May 1988, sold to a UK buyer at the Silverstone Auctions sale on Saturday. Continue reading...

Ukraine’s state energy operator: ‘There are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances’A US citizen has recently died in Ukraine, according to a state department spokesperson.Officials are in touch with the family and are providing consular assistance, they added.We also once again reiterate US citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict and the singling out of US citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials, and that US citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options.On August 26, Russians killed two civilians in Donetsk region – in Bakhmut. Twelve people were injured. Continue reading...