World news | The Guardian

Officials say new charges relate to offences allegedly committed in Portugal between 28 December 2000 and 11 June 2017German prosecutors said they have charged a 45-year-old German man, who is a suspect in the Madeleine McCann case, with several sexual offences he allegedly committed in Portugal between 28 December 2000 and 11 June 2017.Police in Germany had announced in 2020 they were investigating Christian Brückner in connection with the disappearance of Madeleine, who went missing from her family’s Portuguese holiday flat in May 2007. Continue reading...

Mayooran Thangaratnam fled Sri Lanka for the UK in 2003 after brutal murder of his father but was refused asylum due to errorA refugee wrongly recorded as being a child murderer by the Home Office says almost two decades of his life have been wasted due to the error.Mayooran Thangaratnam, a 41-year-old Tamil from Sri Lanka, fled to the UK in 2003 at the age of 23 and claimed asylum. He provided evidence to the Home Office from media reports that his father, a journalist who passed information to the UN about the Sri Lankan government’s persecution of Tamils, was murdered by Sri Lankan forces and that his life was also in danger. Continue reading...

Undercover officer Mark Kennedy’s German deployment to infiltrate activist groups ‘objectively illegal’, says judgeA German court has decided that a British undercover police officer who spied on environmental campaigners operated unlawfully during his deployment in that country.The ruling concludes a long-running legal case that was initiated by one of the campaigners who was spied on by Mark Kennedy, the undercover officer. Continue reading...

The court has been asked whether the Scottish parliament needs Westminster consent for a vote on independenceScotland’s chief law officer, the lord advocate, Dorothy Bain, has referred to the court the question of whether the Scottish parliament requires Westminster’s consent to hold another referendum, at the request of the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon. Continue reading...

Lawyers for unfairly convicted operators accuse company of ‘malevolent’ tactics in row over 30,000 documentsThe Post Office has been accused of withholding thousands of documents from the inquiry into an IT scandal that led to more 700 unsafe convictions.The Post Office IT inquiry resumed on Tuesday with a strongly worded row over the failure to disclosure more than 30,000 documents. Lawyers for the unfairly convicted operators accused the Post Office of continuing to deploy “malevolent” tactics to frustrate justice. Continue reading...

Reports of indiscriminate violence come as UK ambassador summoned by Tehran over sanctionsRights groups have sounded the alarm over an intensifying crackdown by Iranian security forces against protesters in the western province of Kurdistan, as Tehran summoned the British ambassador in response to UK sanctions against the morality police.Security forces in the provincial capital, Sanandaj, have used firearms and fired teargas “indiscriminately”, including into people’s homes, Amnesty International reported. Continue reading...

BEIS has until end of October to respond to request from information commissioner or risk being taken to courtMinisters could face contempt of court proceedings unless they respond to a request for documents that could reveal how the late Queen concealed part of her private wealth from the public.Britain’s transparency watchdog, the information commissioner, has threatened legal action against the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), which has stonewalled the request for two years. Continue reading...

Fuel price increase is blow to drivers amid soaring domestic energy costs and other inflationPetrol prices are climbing again for the first time in three months, after the controversial decision by the Opec oil cartel and its allies to cut oil production, putting more pressure on drivers during the cost of living crisis.Forecourt prices for petrol and diesel in the UK had been falling since early July and throughout the summer, according to motoring organisation the AA, but the trend reversed after the Opec meeting in early October. Continue reading...

Israeli PM hails agreement that would mark significant compromise and may open way for energy explorationIsrael and Lebanon have reportedly agreed a deal in a dispute over gas fields and the two countries’ maritime border, a groundbreaking diplomatic achievement that could boost natural gas production in the Mediterranean before the European winter begins.Yair Lapid, Israel’s prime minister, said on Tuesday that months of US-brokered negotiations had resulted in a “historic agreement” between the two nations, which have technically been at war since Israel’s creation in 1948. The deal would “strengthen Israel’s security, inject billions into Israel’s economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border”, he added. Continue reading...

Restructuring includes departure of Sam White, as party leader seeks to capitalise on slump in Tory support

Amanda Rishworth cites need for a welfare system that is ‘not punitive’ as she confirms reviews will be scrapped

Family of José Antonio Primo de Rivera act before new legislation designed to honour civil war and dictatorship victims takes effectThe family of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of Spain’s fascist Falange party, will exhume his remains from the Valley of the Fallen outside Madrid before they are removed under new legislation designed to honour the victims of the civil war and the Franco dictatorship.Primo de Rivera, who was executed in prison in November 1936, was eventually laid to rest in the valley’s basilica in 1959. The remains of the basilica’s most infamous occupant, Gen Francisco Franco, were removed almost three years ago to end what Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called “the moral insult that the public glorification of a dictator constitutes”. Continue reading...

Mountain lion sauntered up to Damon Ross and Cylin Busby’s driveway and had a lie in front of their home over the weekendNo matter how famous the mountain lion known as P-22 is in the Los Angeles area that is home to him, few people have gotten to see the big cat from a yard away.But Los Feliz couple Damon Ross and Cylin Busby can now make that claim after the mountain lion sauntered up to their driveway and had a lie in front of their home over the weekend. Continue reading...

Hepworth prize winner’s works have been shown around the world and now arrive in LlandudnoHis twisty neon installations and glittering towers of light are frequently shown in some of the world’s most exclusive galleries in New York, Mexico City, Tokyo and Shanghai.For his first major solo show in his home country of Wales, Cerith Wyn Evans’ work is on display in the traditional surroundings of a gallery built in Edwardian times in the resort of Llandudno, best known for its old-fashioned pier and seafront – and the bold goats that descended on the town during the first lockdown.The exhibition runs until 5 February 2023. Continue reading...

Travel industry research finds strong demand after pandemic but fears over inflation and weak poundOne in three holidaymakers will cut back on spending next year due to the cost of living crisis, according to travel industry research.The travel association Abta said a strong recovery in demand for travel this year was expected to continue next year, but its own surveys suggested people would opt for cheaper trips and cut back on spending money. Continue reading...

After 131 lives were lost at a match, supporters have come together to offer support and seek answersIn Indonesia, football fan culture is vibrant, and its rivalries intense. Animosity between opposing teams is so strong that away fans are generally banned from attending games, as was the case at the time of the Kanjuruhan stadium disaster, when only home Arema supporters were allowed tickets.Rivalries have descended into violence in the past. Before the Kanjuruhan disaster, 78 people had died in football-related accidents over the last 28 years, according to government figures. It is common for away players to be escorted to and from matches by armoured vehicles. Continue reading...

Urgent aid response needed as climate crisis, Covid, local conflicts and soaring fuel prices push millions more into hungerDecades of work to reduce hunger in Africa are being reversed as the continent struggles to cope with conflict, climate crisis and the global economic downturn, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has warned.About 278 million people in Africa – approximately one-fifth of the total population – went hungry in 2021, an increase of 50 million people since 2019, according to UN figures. Based on current trends, this is projected to rise to 310 million by 2030. Continue reading...

Founding co-host outlasted Charlie Pickering and Dave Hughes to be longest-serving panellist on nightly current affairs show

Shadow minister and Ilford South MP demands Labour release names of those who cast electronic votes in constituencyThe former shadow minister, Sam Tarry, who was deselected as Ilford South’s MP on Monday night, has demanded the party release the names of those who cast electronic votes in his constituency.Tarry lost his re-selection battle by a significant margin to the Redbridge council leader Jas Athwal, who was the favourite to win selection in 2019. Athwal was suspended from the process at the last election because of a complaint that was subsequently dismissed – and Tarry’s selection has been the focus of bitter resentment in the constituency and among many MPs who supported Athwal. Continue reading...

Health secretary said there is limited scope for negotiation on 3% offer and she is ‘not anticipating further changes’Thérèse Coffey has said nurses will not get a higher pay offer, as they vote on strike action for the first time in decades.The Royal College of Nursing will ballot nurses this week, asking for a higher pay award as well as action to tackle pressures caused by surging vacancies. Continue reading...

Supermarket price inflation at record high, adding £643 a year to average family’s grocery billHouseholds are turning to “wonky” vegetables and frozen food in an attempt to keep costs down as grocery prices soared by a record 13.9% last month.Inflation in supermarkets is at the highest level since at least 2008 when the market research group Kantar began collecting data, adding £643 a year to the average family’s grocery bill, which now exceeds £5,200. Continue reading...

Tom Calma, who is helping design the voice, says the Greens are unnecessarily adding to confusion over upcoming referendum

Airport remained Europe’s busiest in summer though passenger numbers were below pre-Covid levelHeathrow is expecting a busy Christmas travel period but has warned that future demand for air travel remains uncertain, partly as a result of the worsening economic outlook.Almost 5.8 million passengers travelled through the airport in September, making it Europe’s busiest during the summer, as customers jetted off after the end of Covid travel restrictions. However, passenger levels remained 15% below pre-pandemic levels in 2019. Continue reading...

Latest advances to curb Aids, tuberculosis and malaria are beyond reach without funding, says Global Fund’s executive directorSome of the poorest countries in the Commonwealth may be left unable to deploy cutting-edge UK innovations against three of the world’s deadliest diseases if Britain fails to give generously to a key international fund, the UK government has been warned.Peter Sands, the executive director of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said the combined death toll from the diseases could be halved in the next four years in the countries where the fund invests. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: Russia responded to an attack on a military supply line with a devastating blitz on civilian targets. Peter Beaumont speaks from Kyiv about defiance, destruction and what to expect

Drapers’ Pyrgo primary in Romford, where top managers were paid total of £1.49m in benefits, cut salaries or hours of 10 support staff

Officials say health secretary will not publish plan, as campaigners warn ‘smoke-free’ UK is seven years behind targetMinisters are expected to break a promise to announce an action plan to tackle smoking, in their latest controversial U-turn on public health, Whitehall insiders say.The government had committed several times to publish a tobacco control plan “later this year”. However, the health secretary, Thérèse Coffey, does not intend to honour that promise, according to officials with knowledge of her intentions. Continue reading...

Tenants Queensland says data could be collected about owners, their holdings and renting intentions

Hinds says in open letter to PM that proposed laws on unsolved murders would ‘cut off any prospect of justice’One of the stars of Kenneth Branagh’s movie Belfast has written to Liz Truss urging her to scrap controversial legislation about unsolved murders during the Northern Ireland Troubles.In an open letter to the prime minister, Belfast-born Ciarán Hinds told her the proposed laws would “permanently cut off any prospect of justice for the families and loved ones of those killed during the Troubles”. Continue reading...

NAO to examine £120m Unboxed project after MPs call it an ‘irresponsible use of public money’It was Jacob Rees-Mogg who christened it a festival of Brexit – a moniker that might well have cursed it from the beginning.Announced by Theresa May in the aftermath of Britain’s referendum on EU membership, and supposedly inspired by the 1851 Great Exhibition and 1951’s Festival of Britain, the then prime minister heralded a programme of events to be held this year to “showcase what makes our country great today”. Continue reading...

Japan removes strict Covid-19 travel curbs, fuelling hopes a tourist boom will reinvigorate the economyJapan has fully opened its doors to visitors after more than two years of pandemic isolation.On Tuesday, the country reinstated visa-free travel to dozens of countries, ending some of world’s strictest Covid-19 border controls. Japan has also lifted the 50,000-person entry cap and ended the requirement for tourists to travel as part of tour groups, Kyodo news agency reported. Continue reading...

Unrelated incidents at two airports caused major disruptions for passengers

Bureau of Meteorology predicts ‘significant rain event’, with the heaviest falls expected Thursday

North Queensland Cowboys forward was charged after allegedly assaulting a woman known to him

Media regulator and privacy watchdog announce new probes into telco as ACCC reveals it is being flooded with complaints about Optus-related scams

Former senator Rex Patrick launched federal court action last year over OAIC’s slow freedom of information request review process

Boss says bank is putting aside more money for potential defaults linked to cost of living crisisThe boss of Santander UK says the bank is putting aside more money for potential defaults linked to the cost of living crisis after seeing a pickup in customers falling behind on mortgage and loan payments.Mike Regnier told the Guardian that he was keeping a close eye on the “strain and pressure” facing customers as a result of the cost of living crisis, which has made it harder for some households to keep up with rising food and energy bills and financial commitments such as home loans. Continue reading...

Files on Russian intelligence officer and ‘lady-killer’ Eugene Ivanov littered with reports of drunkennessEugene Ivanov, the Russian spy at the centre of the 1963 Profumo scandal, was a philandering alcoholic whose weakness for women and drink M15 hoped to exploit to get him to defect, but who ended up toppling the Macmillan government by chance, according to newly released intelligence files.He arrived at the Russian embassy in London as assistant naval attache in 1960 but M15 suspected he was an intelligence officer, partly because he didn’t seem to know much about ships and also he carried an umbrella. Continue reading...

Jas Athwal, leader of Redbridge council, wins hustings vote by 499 to 361 after constituency triggered reselectionThe former shadow minister Sam Tarry has been deselected as an MP by local Labour party members amid a bitter row in the Ilford South constituency.Tarry, a former senior trade union official who helped organise Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign, lost the chance to contest the seat at the next election. Continue reading...

Man in custody after members of public stabbed while trying to stop phone robbery near Liverpool Street stationA 25-year-old man has been arrested after three people were stabbed as members of the public tried to intervene in a phone robbery in central London.The suspect was arrested by detectives investigating a number of serious offences connected with the attempted robbery and knife attack in Bishopsgate last Thursday, said temporary DCI Colin Bishop, of City of London police’s major crime team. Continue reading...

Stefan Sylvestre, who was acting on orders from Piper’s ex-boyfriend, was released from prison in 2018, but has breached licence conditionsPolice are searching for a man, jailed for an acid attack on the model and campaigner Katie Piper, who is believed to have left the country.The Metropolitan police said their inquiries indicated that Stefan Sylvestre left the UK on 2 August. The force said it was notified last month that the 34-year-old had been recalled to prison after breaching his licence conditions. His last known address was in north London. Continue reading...

Streaming services on standby as review expected to recommend changes to the number of games broadcast on free-to-air television

Biden deplores Putin’s ‘utter brutality’ while Guterres ‘deeply shocked’ by Russia’s most widespread air strikes since start of invasion

British spy agency director to say in rare public address that Ukraine is ‘turning the tide’ against RussiaVladimir Putin has made strategic errors in his pursuit of the war in Ukraine partly because there are so few restraints on his leadership, the head of the British spy agency GCHQ will say in a speech on Tuesday.Russia’s soldiers are running out of supplies and munitions and initial gains made by Moscow are being reversed, Jeremy Fleming is expected to add in a rare public address. Continue reading...

Alexander O’Connor is alleged to have assaulted a woman over the course of two days in JuneThe musician Rex Orange County, aka Alexander O’Connor, has been charged with six counts of sexually assaulting a woman, the Sun has reported.On 1 June, the 24-year-old allegedly assaulted the woman twice in London’s West End and then four times the next day, including once in a taxi and on three instances at his home in Notting Hill. The woman is reputedly over the age of 16. Continue reading...

Kyiv presses military and diplomatic wishlist as French president sees ‘profound change in nature of this war’Volodymyr Zelenskiy will address G7 leaders on Tuesday to demand a significant increase in their military and diplomatic support after the biggest Russian missile attack on Ukrainian cities since the start of the war.The French president, Emmanuel Macron, described the attack, in which cruise missiles and armed drones rained down on parks, playgrounds, power stations and other civilian targets, as “a profound change in the nature of this war”. Continue reading...

The Bahraini activist who is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in anti-government protests was chosen to share the PEN Pinter prize by Malorie BlackmanThe academic, activist and blogger Abduljalil al-Singace from Bahrain has been named this year’s international writer of courage by Malorie Blackman. Al-Singace is serving a life sentence in prison for his role in Bahrain’s 2011 anti-government protests.The award is part of the PEN Pinter prize, which goes to an author deemed to have fulfilled Harold Pinter’s aspiration to “define the real truth of our lives and our societies”. This year’s PEN Pinter winner was Blackman, the first children’s writer to be awarded the prize. She chose al-Singace as the international writer of courage, an award for an author who has been persecuted for speaking out about their beliefs, with whom she will share her prize. Continue reading...

Jack Sepple, 23, killed Ashley Wadsworth, 19, after becoming angered by her decision to return homeA man who stabbed his 19-year-old girlfriend to death in a “brutal and cowardly attack” after being angered by her decision to return home to Canada has been handed a life sentence.Jack Sepple, 23, killed Ashley Wadsworth at the one-bedroom flat they shared in Chelmsford, Essex, on 1 February. Continue reading...

Death of Anthony Bird was unsolved for 41 years until John Paul, 61, allegedly told police he had ‘battered him’A 61-year-old accused of killing a part-time barman more than 40 years ago walked into a police station to confess to murder, a court has heard.Anthony Bird, 42, was found dead at his flat in west London on 6 June 1980, naked and with his wrists bound, the Old Bailey heard. His death remained unsolved for 41 years, until John Paul allegedly told police he had “battered him” with a lump of wood. Continue reading...

Scotland’s first minister leaves question of how independence will be delivered hanging in the airIt was a cleverly crafted speech from Nicola Sturgeon, by far the UK’s longest-serving party leader; she used bright splashes of colour, judicious notes of caution, and delivered it with conviction.Yet what was equally noticeable was what she did not say. For all the optimism and confidence-building Sturgeon offered around the case for independence, there was much less clarity and certainty about how it might be delivered. Her speech left that question, the biggest question of all, hanging in the air. Continue reading...