More than 300 signatories call for a ‘far more’ decisive response to the war in Gaza and recognition of Palestine More than 300 former European diplomats and ex-officials have written to EU leaders urging a “far more” decisive response to the war in Gaza, including a full suspension of the bloc’s cooperation agreement with Israel. Published soon after the opening of the UN general assembly in New York, the letter from the 312 signatories also called on all EU member states to recognise the state of Palestine, joining 147 countries that have already done so. France, Belgium, the UK, Canada and Australia, among others, are expected to signal recognition of a Palestinian state later this month at the UN. Continue reading...

In an address delivered before the person who killed Kirk had even been identified, Donald Trump blamed ‘the radical left’ for the shooting A UK offshoot of a US conservative group set up by Charlie Kirk is to hold a vigil in London after he was shot dead, reports the PA news agency. Turning Point UK has said its activists will gather on Friday evening by the Montgomery statue in Whitehall and called on others to “join us in remembering Charlie”. It’s absolutely shocking, we’re heartbroken over here in the UK. My thoughts this evening are with the loved ones of Charlie Kirk. It is heartbreaking that a young family has been robbed of a father and a husband. Political violence has no place in our societies. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family. An atrocious murder, a deep wound for democracy and for those who believe in freedom. My condolences to his family, to his loved ones, and to the American conservative community. Continue reading...

People attempting to obtain vaccine report major hurdles amid new limitations brought in by Trump health secretary The first deployment of updated Covid shots under the Trump administration has been plagued by access issues and misinformation amid confusion and chaos at US health agencies. People attempting to get the vaccines say they have struggled to understand eligibility requirements, book appointments, process insurance claims, battle misinformation from pharmacists and obtain prescriptions from their doctors in some states. Such hurdles will disproportionately affect people of color and low-income people, experts say. Continue reading...

Like an infectious disease, it efficiently finds more and more victims. It’s not picky about who they are Once unleashed, political violence comes for everyone. It doesn’t know what side of the aisle you’re on or what your ideology might be, who your allies are or what your vision for the future includes. It doesn’t know what brand of media you consume or how many ardent followers you have. Margaret Sullivan is a Guardian US columnist writing on media, politics and culture Continue reading...

Nasa dismisses theory by Harvard astronomer who suggested an object from beyond the solar system could be a relic from a distant civilization Skywatchers at Nasa have discounted a Harvard astronomer’s hypothesis that a rare interstellar object hurtling through our solar system is a relic from a civilization in another celestial neighborhood, and “could potentially be dire for humanity”. Avi Loeb, head of Harvard University’s Galileo Project, which searches for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, raised eyebrows by suggesting in a scientific paper in July that Comet 3I/Atlas, set for a close pass with Mars next month, could be artificially made. Continue reading...

Over the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday, Sydney received a total of 122mm of rain, marking its heaviest daily rainfall for September since 1879.

Parviz Sabeti crafted an anonymous new life for his family – but now he faces a $225m lawsuit for atrocities committed in prisons in Tehran and elsewhere Neighbors in the upscale Florida community of Windermere know them as Peter and Nancy, the seemingly friendly retired couple they wave to on morning walks, and who always appear to enjoy visits from their two high-flying grown daughters, one a respected professor of science at Harvard University. Yet behind the high walls of their $3.6m lakefront mansion lies a darker, more closely guarded reality: “Peter” is actually Parviz Sabeti, the alleged head of secret police and chief torturer of the former Shah of Iran’s pre-revolutionary government, now facing a $225m lawsuit in Florida for atrocities committed in prisons in Tehran and elsewhere. Continue reading...

Queensland supreme court judge says Irving ‘fought for some 30 years to have the state recognise the wrong that occurred, without any apology’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Terry Irving spent 1,671 days in prison for a crime he did not commit. On Thursday, Queensland’s supreme court decided he was owed $130,000 in compensation for an ordeal that has consumed his life for more than three decades – years fighting from prison to clear his name, and 28 more seeking vindication. Continue reading...

University of Tasmania apologises, saying staff have met with families and will consider coroner’s findings Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Human specimens were collected, and in some cases publicly displayed, by a museum for decades without the knowledge or consent of families. The University of Tasmania’s R A Rodda Museum collected remains from coronial autopsies from 1966 to 1991 for teaching and research purposes. Continue reading...

Andy McDonald, a shadow cabinet minister under Jeremy Corbyn and under Starmer until 2021, said Peter Mandelson ‘should go immediately’ Good morning. Keir Starmer knew that Peter Mandelson had had a long and close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein when he appointed him ambassador to Washingon. He also knew that Mandelson has been a scandal magnet for most of his career. But he was not appointing him archbishop of Canterbury. He calculated that Mandelson would be the right person to forge a good relationship with the immoral plutocrat narcissist now running America (also an old friend of Epstein’s), and by all accounts Mandelson has done this very successfully. But, as Rowena Mason reports in her overnight story, Starmer is now under pressure to ditch the ambassador because new revelations about his relationship with Epstein have made it increasingly hard to defend – not least because Mandelson continued to support him in private even after he was facing charges for child sex offences. [Mandelson] should go immediately. His position is completely and utterly untenable and him staying on in post is causing the government and the Labour party further damage. I’m afraid if he doesn’t do the right thing and resign today then the prime minister should sack him … Angela Rayner did the right thing. She was under pressure for an inadvertent failure to pay tax. This is of a completely different scale. This speaks about morality and judgement, and Peter Mandelson’s position just is totally untenable, and he needs to act and take responsibility for his failures and withdraw from the political scene immediately. It’s 100%. People have got their heads in their hands over this and I haven’t spoken to anybody who is offering any glimmer of support for Peter Mandelson. It is widespread revulsion that we, by association, being in the same party, are being brought under the microscope for something that he has done. He’s got to take responsibility for his actions and bring this to a close. There’s got to be a moral compass. There are women who have been so fundamentally damaged by the behaviour of Epstein and his associates, and, in honour of them, we’ve got to put down a marker and say this is wholly and utterly unacceptable. And the consequences that flow from somebody having to fall on their sword will be the consequences, and we will deal with it. Continue reading...

Poland is seeking to step up its defences with plans to restrict air traffic in the eastern part of the country Poland has requested an emergency UN security council meeting after an incursion of Russian drones into Polish airspace earlier this week. As the fallout from the incident continues, Poland also seeks to step up its defences with plans to restrict air traffic in the eastern part of the country, in areas neighbouring with Belarus and Ukraine, which will be closed until 9 December. Continue reading...

Family of Luke Briggs, 35, left ‘utterly distraught’ by death in custody following arrest in Hoppers Crossing car park Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Negligent manslaughter charges have been laid against two Victorian police officers after a man died following his arrest in a car park, with the lawyer for his family saying they had been left distraught by his passing and delays in the case. Luke Briggs, 35, was arrested in a convenience store car park at Hoppers Crossing, in Melbourne’s southwest, in July 2024. He became unresponsive at the scene and died eight days later at Royal Melbourne Hospital. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Critics want Melbourne University Publishing to transfer ownership of Meanjin rather than dissolve it. But CEO says ‘the journal is not for sale’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The former Labor attorney general and foreign affairs minister, Gareth Evans, has sent a scathing email to the chief executive of Melbourne University Publishing, lambasting its decision to scrap the literary journal Meanjin as “bone-headed”. Several hundred protesters gathered outside MUP’s Swanston Street headquarters in Melbourne on Thursday protesting against the imminent closure of one of the cornerstones of Australian literary culture for 85 years. Continue reading...

E Jean Carroll won her case, but in Trumpland the only sex offences that matter are committed by paedophiles with links to Democrats On Monday, Donald Trump appeared in two, unrelated stories involving the sexual abuse of women. The first was a ruling by the US federal court of appeals, upholding an earlier judgment in which the president was found liable for $83.3m in damages for defaming the writer E Jean Carroll – a woman whom, it was ruled in civil court in 2023, had been sexually abused by Trump. On the same day, Trump’s alleged contribution to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s “birthday book” was shared by Democrats on social media in the form of a lewd drawing the president denied having made. The E Jean Carroll news caused no public inconvenience for Trump; the Epstein story went up like a mushroom cloud in what has become the most politically dangerous episode of his presidency. What, exactly, is the difference then between the sexual abuse of E Jean Carroll, for which Trump has been found liable in a civil court, and the trafficking and abuse of victims by Epstein, in which there is no direct evidence of Trump’s involvement? For that matter, why does Trump’s record of gross references to grabbing women “by the pussy” and calling them “fat” and “ugly” elicit barely a shrug from supporters, while his friendship with Epstein, a man referred to in the press, variously, as the “billionaire paedophile”, the “paeodophile financier”, and, surely coming down the pike at some point, the “hell-based paedophile money manager”, has triggered not only fury among the Maga faithful but accusations of a Trump cover-up? Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Want to get this in your inbox every weekday? Sign up for the Afternoon Update here, and start your day with our Morning Mail newsletter. Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update. Donald Trump has blamed “the radical left” for the fatal shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, while authorities announced they had no suspect in custody after hours of confused statements. Wild weather lashes Australia’s east coast with at least two tornadoes reported in regional NSW Victorian Liberals director resigns after messages mocking the party’s women’s council revealed Senior Liberal insists ‘knives not being sharpened’ for Ley in messy wake of Nampijinpa Price demotion ANU vice-chancellor Genevieve Bell resigns amid crisis of confidence in leadership Marty Sheargold’s sexist comments about the Matildas breached decency rules, regulator finds Bad Bunny says he left US out of world tour due to fear of Ice raids at concerts Continue reading...

Shooting of conservative activist Kirk in Utah still an active investigation, say authorities, as Donald Trump vows to find everyone ‘who contributed to this atrocity’ Charlie Kirk shooting: latest updates Authorities in the US were still searching on Thursday for a suspect in the shooting of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, hours after the close ally of Donald Trump was killed at a Utah university, sparking condemnation from both sides of politics and grave threats from the president. “This shooting is still an active investigation,” the Utah department of public safety said in a statement, adding it was working with the FBI and local police departments. Continue reading...

Legislative council voted down a bill that was introduced to comply with an order from the city’s top court Human rights groups have accused the Hong Kong government of failing to provide the “bare minimum” of rights to same-sex couples after it rejected a bill that was introduced to comply with an order by the city’s top court. The city’s unicameral legislative council (LegCo), on Wednesday rejected the bill by a vote of 71-14 after the second reading, following months of debate in the city between opponents who said it threatened family values and advocates who said the government was out of line with the majority of residents who supported same-sex relationships. Continue reading...

My mum gave me an old picture of me sitting on the cairn on Islay when I was 11. Forty years later, I set out to find it I don’t remember the picture being taken. Somewhere in Scotland, sometime in the 1980s. It has that hazy quality you get with old colour prints: warm but also somehow melancholy. I’m wearing blue jeans, white trainers, an army surplus jumper – and am perched on a standing stone. My mum gave me the photo when I turned 50. She found it up in the loft. Some of these childhood pictures, souvenirs of trips with my grandparents to historic sites, have the place names written on the back. This one was blank, a tantalising mystery. Though I didn’t recognise the location, something about the landscape and quality of light suggested it was Islay, an island I’d visited just once – when I was not quite 12. So I decided to see if I could find the spot, slipped the photograph into my notebook and set off. Continue reading...

Verified videos taken at the scene of the shooting of high-profile right-wing activist Charlie Kirk show what appears to be a figure on the roof of a nearby building.

Who is running the government’s ‘growth school’ for civil servants? The answer surpassed my worst fears Forgive me if I’ve got this wrong, but I seem to recall the country voting the Tories out last year. Part of the reason, if I remember correctly, was their staggering incompetence and insouciance, epitomised by Liz Truss’s mini-budget. That catastrophe was, like Truss’s political career, formed and steered by the neoliberal junktanks of Tufton Street. But now I begin to doubt my recollections. We booted them out through the front door, right? Yet they still appear to be in the house. Perhaps they came round the back. After taking an interest in the Department for Business and Trade’s “growth school” speaker sessions for civil servants, I sent a freedom of information request. Given that Keir Starmer, like Truss, has placed his growth “mission” at the centre of policy, and that this department is responsible for delivering it, the instruction given to its officials is crucial to the economic and political direction the country takes. George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist The Guardian’s climate assembly with George Monbiot and special guests On 16 September, join George Monbiot, Mikaela Loach, Emma Pinchbeck and Zack Polanski as they discuss the forces driving the big climate pushback, with a welcome from Katharine Viner and special address from Feargal Sharkey Continue reading...

Torrential rains cause flooding and landslides in East Nusa Tenggara province and on the tourist island of Bali Flooding in Bali, Indonesia – in pictures Rescuers have recovered the bodies of 15 people who have died in flash flooding in two Indonesian provinces, while authorities said 10 others were missing. Torrential rains beginning on Monday caused flooding and landslides in East Nusa Tenggara province and on the island of Bali. Continue reading...

Coalition leader apologises to Indian community for hurt caused NT senator’s comments about migration Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A senior Liberal insists “knives are not being sharpened” for leader Sussan Ley despite a messy dispute over immigration and the demotion of Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Ley sought to calm the situation in Hobart on Thursday, apologising to Indian Australians and acknowledging Price’s inflammatory comments about Indian migrants had left them hurt and distressed. Continue reading...

More attention needs to be given to rapidly evolving issue of contamination of waterways with ‘forever chemicals’, committee’s chair says Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Sydney Water did not perform “an appropriate level of due diligence” before claiming there were no known PFAS hotspots within its drinking water catchments, a state parliamentary committee has found. The New South Wales upper house committee tabled its 16 findings and 32 recommendations on Thursday following an inquiry triggered by reporting in the Sydney Morning Herald that detected elevated levels of some “forever chemicals” in parts of Sydney’s drinking water catchment. Continue reading...

Man, who worked in sector for more than a decade, can’t be named for legal reasons. He is due to appear in court on Friday Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A Sydney childcare worker has been charged with seven counts of using a child to make abusive material after federal police allegedly found more than 500,000 unique images on his devices. The man, who can’t be named due to a suppression order, had worked at a number of childcare centres in the city. He’d worked in the sector for over a decade. Continue reading...

Some days it can feel as if climate catastrophe is inevitable. But history is full of cases – such as the banning of whaling and CFCs – that show humanity can come together to avert disaster Once upon a time, the world was powered by whale. Oil made from whale blubber burns cleanly and well, though it smells strongly of fish. It was, for a while, the perfect fuel. To meet the growing demand, whales were hunted almost to extinction. And then we discovered that oil could come from the ground. Lamps once lit by rendered blubber were swiftly changed over to run on what Americans call kerosene and the British call paraffin. Later, those lamps were changed to run on electricity, and instead of burning oil in the lamps themselves, we began to burn it in power plants miles away. Continue reading...

A vast migrant labour force is helping India meet its ambitious renewable energy goals, drawn by promises of good wages and perks. But many say they are forced to ‘escape’ without pay A month into his new job at the world’s largest renewable energy park in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch, Anawar Alam was planning his escape. Hired along with 17 others who had travelled with him to work on the construction of a solar project, Alam had hoped that the promised pay and perks would support his family back home on the farm in Bihar. But within two weeks he was having second thoughts. “Nothing really prepared us for where we would be working or the fact that it was so far from the nearest village. The work was strenuous, the shifts were 12 hours, and we were living in makeshift tents,” says Alam. Continue reading...

Optimists cling to a faith in the old alliance, but the best we can achieve is an amicable divorce Is the transatlantic rupture temporary or structural? Is Donald Trump the cause of the rift, or is the US president only a symptom of underlying trends? Optimists latch on to the hope that the stability we have lost can be restored post-Trump. Having spent the past few days in Washington, I doubt it. Even in recent history, things were not quite so bad for the transatlantic relationship. The current tensions make the first Trump administration look like a walk in the park for Europeans. It is one thing to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump did in his first term. It is quite another to bomb Iran and give Israel the green light for its war against the regime. Nathalie Tocci is a Guardian Europe columnist Continue reading...

A former deputy head of Moldovan intelligence reportedly arrested for treason for ‘transmitting state secrets’ A joint operation between several central European countries has identified an alleged Belarusian spy ring that reportedly included a former deputy head of Moldovan intelligence. A statement from Eurojust, the European Union’s criminal justice coordination body, said it had worked with Romanian, Czech and Hungarian authorities to “capture an individual investigated for the crime of treason by way of transmitting state secrets”. The Czech Republic expelled a Belarusian diplomat over the affair, as did Moldova. Continue reading...

Puerto Rican rapper says he and his team were ‘very concerned’ that Ice agents might target his performances Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email Bad Bunny says he excluded the US from his forthcoming world tour due to fears that, as a prominent Latino musician, his fans would be subjected to immigration raids. In an interview with i-D magazine on Wednesday, the three-time Grammy-winning musician was asked whether he was skipping the US “out of concern about the [mass deportations of] Latinos”. Sign up for our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Some images from the wild weather across Sydney and NSW Australia raises travel advice level for Nepal as Nepalese Australians express grief over unrest Continue reading...

The 18-year-old is to face court after police allegedly found a document linked to ‘proscribed terrorist organisations’ on his electronic devices Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast A teenager has been charged with terrorism offences after violent extremist material was allegedly found during a police raid. The 18-year-old was set to face court on Thursday after a joint terrorism taskforce searched his property at The Gap in Brisbane’s north. Continue reading...

Belvoir St theatre, Sydney Four trans and non-binary actors take on the role of Orlando in a feelgood adaptation focused on the fluidity of sexuality and gender Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email In the 1920s, modernist author Virgina Woolf was in love with writer Vita Sackville-West. Both were married and had affairs with women. Both felt the limiting effect society had then, and still has, on the life of those who aren’t cis men and have the audacity to live according to their hearts; dream bigger than their worlds allow, and love differently and with abandon. So Virginia wrote her beloved Vita into a new reality. The novel Orlando: A Biography, dedicated to Sackville-West, follows a young lord of Britain’s Elizabethan era, who lives for hundreds of years, trying on new selves. There’s poetry and adventure and women who are dazzled by him – the world is dazzled by him, just as Woolf was by Sackville-West. At one point, Orlando becomes a woman, and the poetry and adventure and dazzlement continues. It is a fantastical, satirical, flirtatious love letter, and since its publication in 1928, it has been adapted multiple times for screen and stage – most famously the 1992 film starring Tilda Swinton. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Light rail passengers rescued in Randwick on Wednesday night as severe weather warnings remain in place across NSW Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Two tornadoes, record-breaking rain and large hail have hit New South Wales in the 24 hours to Thursday morning, as supercell thunderstorms and a band of rain sweep the state. Heavy downpours triggered a surge in calls for assistance. Collaroy (Long Reef golf glub): 108mm Sydney Botanic Gardens: 116mm Rose Bay (Royal Sydney golf club): 110mm Randwick (Randwick St): 145.8mm Marrickville golf club: 81mm Peakhurst golf club: 113mm Cronulla South bowling club: 147mm Campbelltown: 99mm Camden airport: 77.8mm Continue reading...

The killing of Trump ally Charlie Kirk should be a moment that jolts America — but despite the bipartisan outrage, it's hard to believe this act of hatred will spark any meaningful national reckoning.

Tens of thousands will pack out the Gabba this Saturday to cheer on two Queensland teams facing off in a final for the first time During finals sign up for our free weekly AFL newsletter Murray Bird was 18 when his Introduction to Marxism lecturer convinced him he ought to barrack for a “good working class” football club. Bird played junior Australian rules for his suburban Brisbane team at Coorparoo and cheered for the top-flight club of the same navy blue strip: Carlton. After his political convictions were questioned over a glass of red at university, however, he switched to another Melbourne-based club: the Fitzroy Lions. During finals sign up for our free weekly AFL newsletter Continue reading...

Resignation follows tumultuous period marked by redundancies, proposed course closures and allegations of a toxic work culture Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The vice-chancellor of the Australian National University (ANU) has tendered her resignation after a tumultuous two years at the institution, marked by redundancies, proposed course closures, and allegations of a toxic work culture. Chancellor Julie Bishop confirmed Prof Genevieve Bell had resigned on Thursday morning. Multiple sources said Bell advised the council of her decision on Wednesday evening, with Provost Rebekah Brown to be interim vice chancellor until a replacement is found. Continue reading...

Heavy rain has caused flash flooding across Bali, forcing evacuations across the popular tourist destination Flash floods in Indonesia leave at least 15 people dead and 10 missing Continue reading...

Stuart Smith resigned on Thursday morning and apologised for WhatsApp messages contained in the Liberal party headquarters staff group chat Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The director of the Victorian Liberals, Stuart Smith, has resigned after leaked messages were published in which he ridiculed the party’s women’s council and upper house MP Bev McArthur. Smith resigned on Thursday morning and apologised for the WhatsApp messages, contained in the Liberal party headquarters staff group chat, which were published by the Australian on Wednesday night. Continue reading...

Move comes amid escalating anti-China rhetoric under Donald Trump’s administration Nasa has begun barring Chinese nationals with valid visas from joining its programs, underscoring the intensifying space race between the the US and China. The policy shift was first reported by Bloomberg News and confirmed by the US government agency. Continue reading...

An ALP victory would be significant for Chris Minns, too, demonstrating that the premier’s pragmatic, populist and transactional politics is working Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Byelections often have a simple story and, beyond that, a broader political message. The top line of Saturday’s Kiama byelection on the New South Wales south coast will be who replaces the convicted rapist Gareth Ward as the local MP in Macquarie Street. Continue reading...

Plywood decoy can also be used as flying bomb; Zelenskyy calls for Europe air shield and blasts allies for ‘statements but lack of action’. What we know on day 1,296 Continue reading...

And are we part of the problem? See more of Fiona Katauskas’s cartoons here Continue reading...

Nearly 200 people have been evacuated to schools and mosques because their houses were still flooded, Indonesia's disaster agency said.

Floodwaters rose to over 2.5 metres in some areas, with more than 800 people forced into temporary shelters.

Ever wondered what "girt by sea" means, especially if your first language isn't English? SBS Audio has brought Australia’s national anthem to life in more than 60 languages, so everyone can understand the words behind the music.

Gulf leaders have rallied in solidarity with Qatar as global condemnation over the strikes grows.

Shooting of the commentator comes as a series of events show a rising level of violence related to political dissent Charlie Kirk shooting – follow the latest updates Explainer: What we know so far The shooting of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk at an event in Utah marks another example of ongoing political violence in the US, now a feature of American life. Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that Kirk had died, saying: “No one understood or had the Heart of the Youth in the United States of America better than Charlie.” Continue reading...

A senior Pacific minister has warned Australia's energy transition is no longer defensible, following a landmark legal ruling.

Pride, frustration, fear. For some members of Australia's Nepali diaspora, Nepal's worst unrest in decades has brought mixed emotions.

There's $1 million available for anyone who can help facilitate the arrest of accused double murderer Dezi Freeman. But do financial incentives actually help solve crimes?

Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani calls for Benjamin Netanyahu to be ‘brought to justice’ Qatar’s prime minister has said that Benjamin Netanyahu “killed any hope” for the remaining hostages in Gaza following Israel’s extraordinary strike on Hamas negotiators in Doha on Tuesday. In an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani called the deadly strike in the Qatari capital an act of “state terror”. Israel’s attack the previous day killed six members of Hamas who were negotiating a ceasefire deal brokered by the US and other Gulf countries. Continue reading...

Clarence House meeting comes after Duke of Sussex expressed hope of a reconciliation with his family in May Prince Harry met King Charles at Clarence House on Wednesday, their first face-to-face meeting for 19 months. The private tea in London, which lasted 54 minutes, comes after the Duke of Sussex publicly expressed hopes of a reconciliation with his family in an interview with the BBC in May. Continue reading...

Popular MAGA podcaster Charlie Kirk has been shot while speaking on a university campus in Utah, according to multiple US media reports.

Anthony Albanese has long argued being serious on climate change is the "entry fee" for credibility in the Pacific.

Australia's move to expand Woodside's North West Shelf gas project has not been welcomed in the Pacific, which is fighting the most dramatic effects of climate change.

Mark David Chapman, 70, is serving 20-years-to-life sentence in New York after fatally shooting Beatle in 1980 The man who killed John Lennon outside the former Beatle’s Manhattan apartment building in 1980 has been denied parole for a 14th time, according to New York prison officials. Mark David Chapman, 70, appeared before a parole board on 27 August, and the decision was recently posted online by the state department of corrections and community supervision. Continue reading...

The Israeli military said it had struck military camps, the headquarters of the Houthi military "propaganda" department, and a fuel storage site.

On Monday, four years on from taking his three children and fleeing into the bush, Tom Phillips was shot dead by police after opening fire on an officer on a rural road. His children are now with authorities. Journalist Michelle Duff speaks to Nour Haydar from Waitomo about how Phillips managed to survive in the remote wilderness and why many questions remain unanswered Read more: Images of Tom Phillips’ remote campsite revealed a day after fugitive father shot dead by New Zealand police Continue reading...

Pilots’ union says the issue has become a ‘worrying reality’ as a result of staff shortages and operation pressure A German pilots’ union has said that napping during flights has become a “worrying reality” for its members, as it sounded the alarm over “increasing fatigue” in the sector. The Vereinigung Cockpit union said it had carried out a survey of more than 900 pilots in recent weeks, which found that 93% of them admitted to napping during a flight in the past few months. Continue reading...

The attempt to assassinate Hamas negotiators in the capital of a US ally was the act of a rogue government uninterested in peace “Why does the PM insist on blowing up any deal that comes close?” despaired the mother of a hostage held in Gaza, following Israel’s airstrike in Qatar on Tuesday. For anyone who doubted Benjamin Netanyahu’s commitment to the forever war he unleashed after 7 October, the attempt to wipe out Hamas’s ceasefire negotiation team in Doha offered grim confirmation that peace – and the return of Israeli hostages – is low on Mr Netanyahu’s list of current priorities. Just how close Hamas’s leadership was to endorsing ceasefire proposals backed by Donald Trump – which were being discussed in the capital of an established US ally – is unclear. However, Mr Netanyahu’s strike has ensured that its negotiators will not agree to sit round a table again anytime soon. Israel swiftly stated that the attack was in response to the Hamas-claimed shooting in Jerusalem on Monday, in which six people died. But it also occurred as the Israeli military ordered the complete evacuation of Gaza City, ahead of a full-scale invasion that will bring further death and destruction to a starving, traumatised population. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

UK’s ambassador to US urged financier to ‘fight for early release’ after charges of procuring child for prostitution The British ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, told Jeffrey Epstein to “fight for early release” and wrote: “Your friends stay with you and love you,” when the disgraced financier was facing charges of procuring a child for prostitution, according to leaked emails. The emails, first published by the Sun after circulating in Washington DC, will put further pressure on Lord Mandelson after he admitted on Tuesday that more “very embarrassing” details of his friendship with Epstein were likely to emerge but insisted he had never seen any “wrongdoing”. Continue reading...

The prince has been in the UK for the past week amid speculation of a meeting with his father.

The UK ambassador, fondly referred to as ‘Petie’ by the late financier and sex offender, stayed in contact with Epstein well after allegations about him came to light Mandelson: more ‘very embarrassing details of Epstein friendship to come Ever greater detail is emerging about Peter Mandelson’s closeness to Jeffrey Epstein, not least in a US court document listing a series of emails in which the late financier and sex offender refers to Lord Mandelson fondly as “Petie”. The contact spans 2009 to 2011, after Epstein was convicted of child sex offences. There is, however, other evidence that the pair’s closeness was well established by then. Continue reading...

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Germany and Italy may have legitimate fears of escalation but this was no accident – it was a violation of Nato territory By sending a barrage of drones into Polish airspace, Russia is testing Nato’s military response and Europe’s political resolve to stand behind Ukraine with arms and security guarantees in the event of escalation. The timing can hardly have been a coincidence. Less than a week ago, a 26-nation “coalition of the willing” led by France and the UK announced an agreement on a “reassurance force”, intended to help guarantee Ukraine’s security after any ceasefire in Russia’s relentless war of aggression. Vladimir Putin has stepped up the nightly bombardment of Ukraine in defiance of Donald Trump’s efforts to broker a peace deal, and rejected any presence of European forces on the ground. Paul Taylor is a senior visiting fellow at the European Policy Centre Continue reading...

Kremlin’s war in Ukraine has spilled over into Nato country – but whether to create fear or test response, aim is unclear Whatever Donald Trump discussed with Vladimir Putin in Alaska last month, the outcome has only been a stepped increase in Russian aggression that has now forced Nato’s military into action. On Tuesday night 19 Russian drones entered the country’s airspace, according to the prime minister, Donald Tusk – a number that cannot be easily explained away as accidental. Until that point, Russia’s war in Ukraine had not spilled over in a notable way to a Nato country. Though the drone incursion cannot be described as militarily significant (only one house has been reported damaged so far) the Polish incident is qualitatively different from anything that has happened since February 2022. Continue reading...

Lecornu, 39, now faces difficult task of gaining enough support from divided parliament to pass a budget The new French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, promised a “profound break” with past politics as he took over on Wednesday from the unpopular centrist François Bayrou, who was ousted this week over a proposed budget squeeze. Lecornu, 39, who said “humility” was the key approach, now faces the difficult task of gaining enough support from France’s divided parliament to pass a budget if he is to avoid being swiftly ousted in the same way as Bayrou, and before him, the rightwing Michel Barnier, who only lasted three months. Continue reading...

Students, health workers and the children of gilets jaunes protesters among those at ‘Block Everything’ rallies At 7am on the eastern edge of the busy Paris ring road at Montreuil, Jess, a 35-year-old hospital neurologist, had joined protesters attempting to stop traffic in order to show her anger at the French government. “Inequality is rife in France and this is the only way to be heard,” she said. Pushed back with teargas by riot police, Jess, who asked for her real name not to be published, said she was scared by police tactics, but felt it was crucial to be on the streets. Continue reading...

Social media platform also accused of failing to filter out obvious key usernames like ‘coke’, ‘weed’ and ‘molly’ Snapchat has been accused of leaving an “overwhelming number” of drug dealers to openly operate on Snapchat, making it easy for children to buy substances including cocaine, opioids and MDMA, by a Danish research organisation. The social media platform has said it proactively uses technology to filter out profiles selling drugs. But research by Digitalt Ansvar (Digital Accountability), a Danish research organisation that promotes responsible digital development, has found evidence of a failure to moderate drug-related language in usernames. It also accused Snapchat of failing to respond adequately to reports of profiles openly selling drugs. Continue reading...

Grid failure follows string of nationwide blackouts that plunged antiquated power system into near-total disarray Emergency crews were working to restore power to 10 million people on Wednesday as Cuba suffered its fifth nationwide blackout in under a year, the energy ministry announced. “There has been a total disconnection of the electric system,” the energy ministry and National Electric Union said early on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Israel's strike in Doha, aimed at killing the political leaders of Hamas, has been widely condemned.

Issa al-Hasan, 27, who contacted Islamic State handler prior to attack, acted out of ‘treacherous and base motives’ A Syrian man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for a 2024 stabbing attack in western Germany in which three people were killed and 10 others injured. Issa al-Hasan, 27, who arrived in Germany as a refugee after travelling through Turkey and the Balkans in 2022 and had been a member of the Islamic State militant group, had acted out of “treacherous and base motives”, the court in Düsseldorf said. Continue reading...

Musician Brian Eno and artist Malak Mattar, key figures in next week’s Together for Palestine concert, explain why artists are putting fears of a backlash aside and uniting in the call for action A red carpet event, especially one to promote the new Downton Abbey film, is not typically a place for radical political statements. But at the film’s premiere in London earlier this month, that movie’s star, Hugh Bonneville, spoke out about Gaza. “Before I talk about the fluff and loveliness of our wonderful film, what’s about to happen in Gaza City is absolutely indefensible,” he announced to a visibly shocked showbiz reporter. “The international community must do more to bring it to an end.” Bonneville’s words may have been surprising for some, but they’re actually part of a larger pattern of actors, musicians, artists and cultural figures who feel increasingly moved to speak out. This week hundreds of actors – including Olivia Colman, Aimee Lou Wood and Mark Ruffalo – signed a pledge promising not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”. From the Eurovision winner JJ using his victory to criticise Israel to footballer Mohamed Salah lambasting UEFA for announcing the death of Suleiman Obeid, the “Palestinian Pele”, without saying that he was killed in an Israeli attack, there is a sense that if people don’t use their platforms to speak out now, they may bitterly regret it later. Continue reading...

French police have used water canons and tear gas to break up "Block Everything" protests across the country, to demonstrate against President Emmanuel Macron, proposed budget cuts and the entire political class.

Many of 1 million residents say they will not leave as they do not believe al-Mawasi humanitarian zone is safe The Israeli military has killed at least 41 people in Gaza, including 12 aid seekers, over the last 24 hours as it continued to order the population of Gaza City to evacuate ahead of its planned offensive. The evacuation orders were accompanied by intensified Israeli bombing of the city, the Israeli military interspersing orders with announcements of high-rise towers they had bombed. Continue reading...

Heidi Liddle told inquiry she felt ‘crushing’ guilt, while Leanne Lucas said she felt ‘ostracised’ from community A dance teacher who led the Taylor Swift-themed children’s workshop which was attacked in Southport has described feeling “tortured” by a “crushing” guilt over the atrocity. Heidi Liddle, who shielded one little girl inside a bathroom during the attack, said the trauma of that day had “fractured every part of my brain and my life”. Continue reading...

President’s visit at US Open tennis final caused delays PGA of America’s priority is delivering ‘seamless’ event Ryder Cup organisers have asked that Donald Trump does not arrive for the opening tee shots at Bethpage this month, with fears of security chaos similar to the scenes that caused a delay to the start of the US Open tennis men’s singles final on Sunday. Whether the message is heeded at the White House remains to be seen. While Ryder Cup officials have no issue with the US president arriving at the New York course as planned on the first day, they believe logistically it would be far easier if Trump attends for lunch and the Friday afternoon session. Continue reading...

Survey puts Democratic nominee at 43% and independent Andrew Cuomo at 28%, in line with recent polling Zohran Mamdani continues to hold a commanding lead in the race for New York City mayor, with a new poll released on Wednesday showing the Democratic nominee 15 points ahead of former governor Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent candidate. The new poll, conducted by Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill, shows Mamdani with 43% support among New York City registered voters, compared with 28% for Cuomo, who is running as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani in June. Continue reading...

Several raise concerns that disclosing their donors exposes them to political attack but others warn not doing so can prompt legitimate questions about influence Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia’s biggest thinktanks are deeply divided on whether disclosing their financial backers is in the public interest, with several raising concerns that efforts to keep them secret may be undermining trust in the sector. Three influential policy groups that together receive almost $20m in donations a year refuse to reveal their key donors, including those whose commercial interests may overlap with their public advocacy campaigns. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Unicef-commissioned report shows being unable to finish high school – and the associated wage loss – is the most significant impact of increasingly frequent disasters on young people Kangaroo Valley was hit by raging fires and floods three times in three years. In 2019, the black summer bushfires had forced Layla Wang’s family to flee their home. Then in 2022, after floods and landslides isolated the valley, she was trapped there, spending several “stressful” weeks isolated from school – in the middle of year 12, with no access to her classes and limited resources. Continue reading...

The Liberal MP bought the product, which profits when the ASX 200 falls, in early 2020, his register of interests shows, but an analysis and experts say it has been a poor investment Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Tim Wilson has a long-held bet against the national sharemarket. The Liberal MP’s register of interests, disclosed in August after his tight victory for the seat of Goldstein at the federal election, shows Wilson has a leveraged investment that profits when the benchmark ASX 200 falls. Continue reading...

This year’s Sydney Contemporary art fair will premiere Photo Sydney, a space dedicated to contemporary photography. The fair is on show from 11-14 September at Carriageworks Continue reading...

Study shows how individual fossil fuel companies are making previously impossible heatwaves happen and could have to pay compensation Carbon emissions from the world’s biggest fossil fuel companies have been directly linked to dozens of deadly heatwaves for the first time, according to a new analysis. The research has been hailed as a “leap forward” in the legal battle to hold big oil accountable for the damages being caused by the climate crisis. The research found that the emissions from any one of the 14 biggest companies were by themselves enough to cause more than 50 heatwaves that would otherwise have been virtually impossible. The study shows, in effect, that those emissions caused the heatwaves. Continue reading...

After a horror first finals match since 2017 that puts them at risk of ignominy, Darcy Fogarty says the Crows have the belief to respond strongly During finals sign up for our free weekly AFL newsletter Adelaide had been waiting eight years for this moment. They thought they knew what to expect. But the lift in intensity and pressure still came as a shock in the Crows’ first AFL final since 2017. The long journey back to the finals was capped off by sealing their spot as minor premiers. But after being outplayed – and arguably outsmarted – by Collingwood in their qualifying final, Adelaide are at risk of becoming the first team for 42 years to finish on top of the ladder then be bundled out in straight sets. During finals sign up for our free weekly AFL newsletter Continue reading...

After leaving the New York Times, she turned her Substack into a unshakeable pro-Israel voice. Now as Paramount eyes acquisition of her company, Weiss is poised to become Trump’s ally among media elites Last month, federal regulators approved the long-anticipated merger of Skydance Media and Paramount Global, positioning David Ellison – the founder of Skydance and the son of megabillionaire Larry Ellison – as one of the most powerful figures in US media. Paramount Skydance Corporation, as it is now officially known, is one of a small handful of American media conglomerates, with Paramount Pictures, cable networks such as Comedy Central and MTV, and CBS all under its umbrella. CBS, in turn, runs one of the major US news operations, with nightly news viewership in the millions and 60 Minutes still being the most watched news program on network television. The implications of the merger are far-reaching and were already being felt ahead of its final approval. In July, Paramount agreed to pay Donald Trump $16m to settle a lawsuit over a 60 Minutes segment the president disapproved of, and a few weeks later, CBS controversially cancelled The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which many observers speculated was at least partly about jettisoning an outspoken critic of Trump in anticipation of the deal. Continue reading...

With yet another prime minister sworn in, and protests spreading, is the crisis spawning a new grassroots uprising? Plus, Russia’s Polish provocation • Don’t get This is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here One in, one out. On Monday night, “Bye-bye Bayrou” parties were held around France as François Bayrou, the now ex-prime minister of France, was ejected in a landslide parliamentary confidence vote against his plans for austerity. Bayrou, the third French PM to resign in a year, had lasted just nine months. His predecessor, Michel Barnier, was toppled after just three. Twenty-four hours after the government’s collapse, the revolving door was opened again and Emmanuel Macron appointed a successor: the 39-year-old defence minister and one of the president’s closest allies, Sébasian Lecornu. This was an uncharacteristically swift attempt by Macron to fill the vacuum and quell a mood of insurrection in the country. But it may not be enough. Continue reading...

In 107 Days, the former vice-president breaks on certain points from her typically loyal public stance US politics live – latest updates Kamala Harris calls Joe Biden’s decision to seek re-election in 2024 “recklessness” in her new memoir and questions the former president’s judgment while revealing her own frustrations about being marginalized within the administration. In passages published by the Atlantic on Wednesday from 107 Days, her memoir chronicling her presidential campaign, Harris breaks on certain points from her typically loyal public stance. Continue reading...

The Guardian’s reporter in Gaza describes the dilemma facing her family and others, many hungry, penniless and without transport The ninth of September is my sister Enas’s birthday, so we were happy this morning, drinking coffee as a family and telling jokes, until we saw the leaflets dropping down telling us to evacuate. So now, instead of preparing biscuits and cakes to celebrate, we are packing for another displacement. The Israeli army’s plan to occupy Gaza City sent me back to memories of the early days of the war: the tension, the terror and the psychological pressure. I am afraid the cycle of displacement will repeat itself again. Continue reading...

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Striker ‘will never advise a child of mine’ to go into football Mpabbé still in dispute with PSG a year after leaving Kylian Mbappé has admitted the football world would have “disgusted” him long ago if he did not have a passion for playing the game. The France and Real Madrid forward also said he would never encourage a child of his to follow in his footsteps. In a long and occasionally bitter interview, Mbappé told L’Équipe: “I’m fatalist about the world of football, but not about life. Life is wonderful. Football is what it is. Continue reading...

Texas A&M also removes two senior administrators from roles after student’s video sparked Republican pressure A children’s literature professor at Texas A&M was fired on Tuesday after a video showing a student objecting to course material about gender identity and sexuality went viral. Both the dean of the school’s college of arts and science and the head of department were also removed from their roles, the university president, Mark Welsh III, said in a statement. Continue reading...

Choi Mal-ja’s appeal gained momentum after #MeToo movement inspired her to seek justice A court in South Korea has acquitted a woman convicted six decades ago for biting off part of a man’s tongue during an alleged sexual assault, after she challenged the ruling, inspired by the country’s #MeToo movement. Choi Mal-ja was 19 in 1964 when she was attacked by a 21-year-old man in the southern town of Gimhae. He pinned her to the ground and repeatedly forced his tongue into her mouth, at one point blocking her nose to stop her from breathing, according to court records. Continue reading...

Young Nepalis led a mass protest in Kathmandu on Monday and have paid for it with bullet wounds or their lives The whiteboard listing the names of patients at a hospital in central Kathmandu tells the story of a protest gone badly wrong. Beside each name is written their ages; 18, 22, 20, 18, 23. The list goes on. By Wednesday morning there were still scores of Nepal’s young being treated for gunshot wounds and injuries sustained when police opened fire on protesters in Kathmandu on Monday. Continue reading...

Commission president cites illegal West Bank settlement plans, Gaza and attempts to ‘undermine two-state solution’ The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has called for a suspension of trade with Israel, as she spoke of Europe’s “painful” inability to respond to the war on Gaza and ensuing humanitarian disaster. In her most extended condemnation yet of the Israeli government, von der Leyen criticised plans for illegal settlements that would split the occupied West Bank in half, as well as incitement of violence by extremist Israeli ministers, as a “clear attempt to undermine the two-state solution”. Continue reading...

Rashid Masharawi, who produced the anthology of 22 short films that was Palestine’s official entry to the Academy Awards, has remarkable optimism about the future of Gaza Being a Palestinian under Israeli occupation will not help someone make a good film, according to Rashid Masharawi, but a good film-maker will help Palestine. With his anthology film From Ground Zero (in Arabic: From Zero Distance) he attempts to do just that by bridging the space between the Palestinians in Gaza who have endured a campaign of annihilation behind closed doors to those around the world watching as an incomprehensibly vast tragedy unfolds in real time. Continue reading...

Vancouver’s Drug User Liberation Front believes we shouldn’t blame users for the ills of capitalism: if so many people are self-medicating, why not give them the clean stuff? On 12 August 2017, I ran from the car that James Alex Fields, a white supremacist, plowed into a crowd of anti-racist organizers in Charlottesville, Virginia. Other peoples’ blood splattered on me. I lost my friends in the crowd and panicked. I thought I might die. A month later, I woke up on a work trip in a hotel room alone in Oakland, California, with my hands trembling, and an unshakeable feeling that I was being chased by a pack of wild animals. I was having a mental breakdown. Continue reading...

44,000 immigrants, 1,700 flights, 100 days: a Guardian investigation of leaked flight data and government detention data reveals the inhumane journey of immigrants shuttled around and outside the US The Trump administration is shuttling immigrants around the US in irregular and unprecedented ways, according to the findings of a Guardian investigation, effectively vanishing people into a “purgatory” that denies them constitutionally-protected rights. A review of leaked flight records and passenger manifests from Global Crossing Airlines (GlobalX), the charter company that operates the majority of deportation flights for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), has provided a rare look at the winding journeys of more than 44,000 immigrants detained or deported by the Trump administration. Continue reading...

Bath museum celebrates varied ways illustrators of author’s work and adapters of her novels have portrayed her characters through history For the 21st-century Jane Austen fan, the images of Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy in the beloved BBC series Pride of Prejudice or Anya Taylor-Joy’s big-screen portrayal of Emma may be the first to leap to mind. But an exhibition opening in Bath celebrates the varied ways illustrators of Austen’s work and adapters of her novels have depicted some of her most cherished characters. Continue reading...

The deployment of troops has led to arrests for low-level crime, indiscriminate detention and a rise in racial profiling In the 30 days since Donald Trump took control of Washington DC’s police department and deployed national guard troops, the city has seen the indiscriminate detention of immigrants, the rise of racial profiling and the arrests of large numbers of people for low-level crimes. The US president claimed the takeover, which began on 11 August, was necessary because of violent crime in the country’s capital, especially after the attempted carjacking and assault of a former Doge staffer. “Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,” he said during a news conference at the White House at the time. Continue reading...

Extensive meetings in 2022 between Lewis, then vice-chair of AP, and Johnson were not disclosed in transparency records The publisher of the Washington Post, Will Lewis, is facing fresh questions over his independence after a cache of leaked files revealed he gave extensive support to Boris Johnson as a secret political adviser when Johnson was prime minister. The files shed light on how the media executive, who at the time was vice-chair of the Associated Press news agency, worked behind the scenes with Johnson as his premiership was engulfed by a series of scandals. Continue reading...

Actor promoting his directorial debut California Schemin’ at the city’s film festival is reported to have been punched by another drinker The actor James McAvoy was assaulted in a bar in Toronto, it has been reported. According to People magazine, McAvoy was “sucker punched” by another visitor to Charlotte’s Room bar on Monday evening, two days after the premiere of his directorial debut, California Schemin’, at the Toronto film festival. Continue reading...

British PM’s meeting with Isaac Herzog in London could not come at a more difficult time, with little chance of the two men finding common ground A meeting between Keir Starmer and the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, in London on Wednesday could not come at a more difficult time for either leader, and far from easing British-Israeli relations, the encounter risks setting them back yet further. Once the meeting was in the diary there was a faint hope within Downing Street that the two men would at least listen to each other about their competing visions for Israel’s future, including a two-state solution to the Palestinian conflict, a vision Herzog once shared. Continue reading...

Ben Bergquam was with Ice agents during a raid on Sunday and yelled at protesters that they were ‘the enemy within’ A rightwing influencer accompanied officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in Chicago on Sunday as the agency ramps up arrests in the city. Ice agents arrested four people on the city’s south-west side. Ben Bergquam, the rightwing internet personality, was with agents, filming and making content as well as getting into altercations with local residents along the way, according to a video the Guardian viewed on X. In the video, he appears to be in the car with Ice agents and nearby as they arrest people; later on he yells at a group of Chicagoans who are gathered to prevent Ice operations that they are “the enemy within”. Continue reading...

Brandon Kramer’s documentary complicates any simple view of the Israel-Gaza war in its portrait of one family’s agonising divisions At the present moment, for pro-Palestinian campaigners, mention of the hostages and victims of Hamas’s 7 October attacks tends to be greeted with indifference, or even contempt. And yet this powerful and complex documentary, directed by Brandon Kramer (a distant relative of some of the people involved) and co-produced by Darren Aronofsky, is a reminder that the situation now can’t be understood without remembering the Hamas massacre – how it was calculated to provoke a rage-filled reaction that would discredit Israel internationally, what it meant and continues to mean within Israel and how the political and ideological connotations of the hostages have themselves evolved. At first, the hostages’ images were widely seen as a focus for outrage and a casus belli. Posters put up in cities showing the hostages were ripped down - to the fury of their families. But now the hostages’ images are associated more with anti-Netanyahu, anti-war-at-all-costs sentiment, with the families demanding real negotiating progress in getting them home. Continue reading...

Trump officials continue to insist that suggestive note and drawing were not work of the president Trump calls release of suggestive note ‘a dead issue’ Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of US politics amid the ongoing furore over links between Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, as the White House said it would support a forensic analysis of the signature on a letter purportedly given by the president to the convicted sex offender. White House officials on Tuesday doubled down on their assertion that a sexually suggestive letter carrying what appeared to be Trump’s signature that was included in a birthday book for Epstein had not been signed by the president. President Trump said on Tuesday his administration is continuing negotiations to address trade barriers with India and that he would talk to prime minister Narendra Modi, in a sign of a reset after weeks of diplomatic friction. Trump, in a marked shift of tone, said he looked forward to speaking to Modi in the “upcoming weeks” and expressed optimism that they could finalize a trade deal. Trump, however, has urged EU officials to hit China and India with tariffs of up to 100% as part of a strategy to pressure Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to a U.S. official and an EU diplomat. A federal judge has ruled that Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook can stay in her post while suing Donald Trump over his unprecedented bid to fire her. Cook is legally challenging the US president after he sought to remove her, citing unconfirmed allegations of mortgage fraud, amid an extraordinary campaign by his administration to strengthen its control over the US central bank. Trump said on Tuesday Israel’s decision to strike Qatar was made by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and not by the Republican leader who added that a unilateral attack on Qatar does not serve American or Israeli interests. Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with an airstrike in Qatar on Tuesday, escalating its military action in the Middle East. Trump had dinner Tuesday night at a seafood restaurant near the White House, promoting his deployment of the National Guard and federalizing the police force in an effort to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital. His motorcade made the short distance to Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab on 15th Street in the northwestern quadrant of the city following weeks of the president boasting about mobilizing federal authorities and the military that he says have made Washington “a safe zone.” Poland shot down drones that entered its airspace on Wednesday, the first time a member of Nato is known to have fired shots during Russia’s war in Ukraine. South Carolina GOP representative Joe Wilson posted on X: “This is an act of war, and we are grateful to NATO allies for their swift response to war criminal Putin’s continued unprovoked aggression against free and productive nations.” The justice department on Tuesday charged a man accused of fatally stabbing a Ukrainian refugee on a North Carolina commuter train last month with a federal crime that could carry the death penalty. The Trump administration says the killing shows how local leaders, judges and policies in Democratic-led cities are failing to protect their residents from violent crime. The US supreme court on Tuesday temporarily halted a lower court’s order that the Trump administration spend nearly $5bn in congressionally appropriated foreign aid money that it is seeking to cancel. The order from the conservative chief justice, John Roberts, comes amid legal wrangling over Donald Trump’s moves to aggressively downsize US support of global development and emergency response, which has resulted in the dismantling of USAID. Continue reading...

Price’s refusal to endorse Sussan Ley’s leadership on Wednesday was a deliberate provocation that left the opposition leader no choice Report: Ley dumps Nampijinpa Price from shadow ministry over refusal to back leadership or apologise over migrants comments Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast For much of her short career in Canberra, the usual rules of political gravity have appeared not to apply to Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. A firebrand, outspoken and unapologetic about almost everything, she went from a first-term backbencher from the Northern Territory to a member of the shadow cabinet in less than a term. Easily the most prominent opponent of the Indigenous voice to parliament, Price used the referendum campaign to build her political brand exponentially. Tom McIlroy is Guardian Australia’s chief political correspondent. Continue reading...

Access to Indonesian island’s international airport near Denpasar was limited as only trucks could use the roads, according to government Floods on Indonesia’s holiday island of Bali have killed at least six people this week and blocked off major roads in the capital, disrupting a busy travel destination. Torrential rain since late Tuesday triggered flooding across four districts of Bali, forcing the evacuation of 85 people, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Abdul Muhari said in a statement. Continue reading...

Labour’s massive election victory already feels long ago. The PM needs to build a new electoral alliance – and quickly Sign up for our new weekly newsletter Matters of Opinion, where our columnists and writers will reflect on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading and more Keir Starmer doesn’t see himself as the leader of a coalition government. With 399 MPs and a working majority of 156, why should he? One reason is that those numbers mark a high tide of anti-Tory feeling that receded as soon as Rishi Sunak’s rotten administration was swept away. Voters from diverse places with disparate grievances embraced Starmer’s promise of change, often uncertain what it meant in practice. They needed reasons to be glad of the choice they had made and haven’t found them. Support for the government has tanked as a result. Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Moldovan-Romanian striker Vladislav Blanuta says he was unaware what he was reposting and that he is pro-Ukraine but fans are furious Some signings are better received by fans than others, as is well known, but it is questionable whether any new addition has been at the end of such an outpouring of anger as Dynamo Kyiv’s acquisition of Vladislav Blanuta. The 23-year-old Moldovan-Romanian striker joined last week for €2.6m (£2.3m) from FC U Craiova and the transfer had barely been made public before it transpired that he had shared content by a Russian propagandist on TikTok, to the fans that made him pro-Putin. Continue reading...

‘Abrupt shift’ in policy since Trump took office will have major consequences for climate crisis, forecast says A jump in greenhouse gas pollution in the US helped push global emissions higher in the first half of this year. This could be an omen of what’s to come, with Donald Trump’s pro-fossil fuel agenda set to significantly slow down the emissions cuts required to avoid disastrous climate impacts, a new forecast has found. The “most abrupt shift in energy and climate policy in recent memory” that has occurred since Trump re-entered the White House will have profound consequences for the global climate crisis by slowing the pace of US emissions cuts by as much as half the rate achieved over the past two decades, the Rhodium Group forecast states. Continue reading...

Sebastien Lecornu appointment comes as France prepares for protests and strikes over the prospect of spending cuts Emmanuel Macron appoints his third prime minister in a year Here are some images from the protests coming in today via the newswires: According to the Associated Press (AP), the interior minister announced nearly 200 arrests in the first hours of the planned day of nationwide protests in France. Although falling short of its self-declared intention to ‘block everything’, the protest movement that started online and gathered steam over the summer caused widespread hotspots of disruption, defying an exceptional deployment of 80,000 police who broke up barricades and swiftly made arrests, reports the AP. Interior minister Bruno Retailleau said a bus was set on fire in the western city of Rennes and that damage to a power line blocked trains on a line in the south-west. He alleged that protesters were attempting to create “a climate of insurrection”. Continue reading...

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been dumped from the coalition frontbench after refusing to apologise for comments about Indian migrants.

Two born-again Christians admit damaging war memorial but argue their behaviour is a show of faith rather than disrespect Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Emptying bottles of olive oil on a war memorial in broad daylight is an act of faith, say two men who have admitted recklessly damaging the sacred site. Abel Clark and Peter McMaster, both 61, may have permanently stained the granite walls and steps of Sydney’s Anzac Memorial when they “blessed” them with olive oil about midday on 4 September. Continue reading...

Heavy rainfall forecast to continue in Sydney on Thursday as low pressure weather system heads for parts of Queensland Two groups have been rescued from flooding and while a tornado warning for central New South Wales has been downgraded as large parts of the state brace for a further battering of rainfall and heavy winds from a low pressure system off the Tasman Sea. The NSW State Emergency Service said it had responded to more than 90 incidents in the past 24 hours, including flood rescues for a motorist who had driven off a cliff face at Camden Bypass and a group of bushwalkers trapped by floodwaters at Wattamolla. Continue reading...

Circulation of stills from video ‘distressing and disappointing’, Victoria police says Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The circulation of footage taken when fugitive Dezi Freeman allegedly shot dead two police officers and wounded a third is “distressing and disappointing”, the Victoria police force has said. Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, allegedly shot the officers on 26 August at a Porepunkah property, in the state’s north-east, after they were part of a group of 10 police who attempted to execute a search warrant. Continue reading...

Report into Steve Kinmond alleged he failed to maintain ‘proper’ boundaries and had created conflict of interest risks. Kinmond denies the allegations Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The man tasked with protecting millions of children has been dismissed from his job after a scathing inquiry found he oversaw an “inept” complaints process and did not declare potential conflicts of interest. Steve Kinmond, the New South Wales children’s guardian, has been removed from his position after a report deemed the Office of the Children’s Guardian (OCG) “not a psychologically safe workplace”. Continue reading...

In effort to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, US president proposes tariffs of up to 100% targeting Putin allies and trade partners Donald Trump has asked the EU to impose tariffs of up to 100% on India and China as part of an effort to force the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to end the war in Ukraine, according to reports. The US president made the demand during a meeting between US and EU officials discussing options to increase economic pressure on Russia on Tuesday, according to the Financial Times, BBC and Bloomberg, who cited multiple sources familiar with the discussions. Continue reading...

Tarek Zahabe, 27, was charged in July for allegedly orchestrating four attacks in January, along with alleged accomplice Kye Pickering, 26 Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Police have charged the alleged mastermind behind four antisemitic attacks, including an arson attack on a childcare centre, that came amid a spate of other incidents that rocked Sydney’s Jewish community over the summer. New South Wales police said on Wednesday that 27-year-old Tarek Zahabe was charged in July for orchestrating four attacks in January. These included vandalising a Jewish school in Maroubra on 30 January, just nine days after he allegedly directed an arson attack on a nearby childcare centre. Continue reading...

A world-first vaccine for chlamydia in koala populations developed over more than a decade may help the fight against the disease.

Want to get this in your inbox every weekday? Sign up for the Afternoon Update here, and start your day with our Morning Mail newsletter Good afternoon, readers. Poland scrambled its own and Nato air defences to shoot down drones that entered its airspace on Wednesday during a Russian attack on Ukraine. Poland’s army has called the incident an “act of aggression” as Warsaw got involved in the war in its neighbouring country for the first time. The Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, said early on Thursday that operations were continuing and that he was in “constant contact” with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte. Tusk called for an emergency meeting of the council of ministers at 8am local time, a government spokesperson said. Nampijinpa Price refuses to back Ley’s leadership or apologise for comments on Indian migrants Discovery of new campsite shows fugitive Tom Phillips had ‘outside help,’ NZ police say Data missing on two of nation’s ‘biggest issues’ as Australian Bureau of Statistics fumbles key survey Australia is spending $1.7bn on a fleet of Ghost Shark submarines. What are they? Doctors outraged after NSW health department ‘recklessly’ leaks their personal and professional data online Steve Irwin’s father condemns ‘reckless’ content creators amid outrage over videos of US man wrestling wild crocodiles Continue reading...

This summer, locals and tourists enjoyed new river-bathing sites. As global heating escalates, we need more of these ‘cool islands’ Sign up for our new weekly newsletter Matters of Opinion, where our columnists and writers will reflect on what they’ve been debating, thinking about, reading and more After la rentrée, when adults and children alike across France head back to work and school after the seemingly endless summer holidays, you would be forgiven for thinking autumn is upon us. But, weather permitting, enthusiastic swimmers in Paris will be able to prolong that holiday feeling into September – by taking a dip in the River Seine. For nearly 100,000 swimmers, one of the highlights of this summer in the city has been being able to take a splash in the cool river waters at one of the three free public bathing spots, made available this year for the first time in over a century. Helen Massy-Beresford is a journalist based in Paris Continue reading...

Ethiopia opens Africa's largest dam in a project expected to be transformational for the power-deprived continent — but it is a subject of a bitter three-way dispute impacting millions of people.

It is in fact actually quite dangerous Sign up here to get an email whenever First Dog cartoons are published Get all your needs met at the First Dog shop if what you need is First Dog merchandise and prints Continue reading...

US president says fifth-grade student forced to read aloud My Shadow Is Pink, a book about a boy who loves ‘things not for boys’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast An Australian children’s author has fired back after Donald Trump singled out his book as promoting “radical gender ideology”. The US president appeared onstage with a school student, who said he was forced to read My Shadow is Pink by the Australian author and illustrator Scott Stuart. Continue reading...

Country Liberal senator tells reporters she ‘won’t be silenced’ on what she claims is the problem of ‘mass migration in our country’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has again refused to apologise for comments about Indian migrants or express confidence in Sussan Ley’s leadership, escalating a damaging internal war that has engulfed the party. The Country Liberal senator fronted reporters on Wednesday following days of calls from inside and outside the party for her to apologise for suggesting the federal government’s migration program favoured Indians to win Labor votes. Continue reading...

Israel has carried out airstrikes and other military action in Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Yemen in the course of the Gaza conflict, but experts say its latest attack on Qatar marks a significant departure and "upsets" efforts for peace.

When I opened my first restaurant, just before the war began, I was a perfectionist. My time in an army unit taught me about discipline and what’s really important Every chef longs to open their own restaurant so, when I did, it felt like a dream. I had been away working in some of the best restaurants in Europe. My business partner had a great spot for a restaurant in the centre of Dnipro, my home city in Ukraine, and we opened to rave reviews. My team and I were all a similar age and we had a shared vision: to create modern Ukrainian food. But by February 2022, just three months later, we knew war with Russia was likely. I was already in touch with friends in the army and, if Russia invaded, I knew I would fight. When the war started, all the team gathered in the restaurant and I said I would understand if anybody wanted to leave Dnipro and move west, where it was safer, which lots of people were doing. Nobody wanted to. We decided that anyone who wasn’t going to join the army would keep the restaurant going. The team started cooking for hospitals and the national guard, and making up food packs for people who needed them. Continue reading...

The government is still racing to expand ties with Pacific nations — particularly the current governments in Fiji and Papua New Guinea — despite a diplomatic setback with Vanuatu.

Economics expert criticises last-minute cancellation of report that would shed light on cost-of-living and housing crises Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast An attempt by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to cut costs and corners led to the “shocking” and last-minute cancellation of a key survey that would have cast light on how households have navigated the cost of living crisis. Newly released ABS briefing documents to Andrew Leigh, the assistant minister for Treasury, reveal how the Canberra-based agency scrambled but ultimately failed to salvage its long-awaited survey on income and housing for 2023-4, which had been due for release in July. Continue reading...

Poland invoked NATO's Article 4 for urgent talks after Russian drones violated the country's airspace.

The announcement came after Poland closed airports and launched an operation “to neutralise” objects that crossed over its border Full report: Poland shoots down drones over its territory amid Russian attack on Ukraine, says military Lubelskie region governor Krzysztof Komorski is leading an emergency meeting with the police this morning. In a post on X, he urged residents to follow the guidance from the relevant authorities. Prime minister Donald Tusk meanwhile said in his latest update that he is in “constant contact” with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte. Continue reading...

Abducted children and those from occupied territories are turning up in Russia’s military-style training camps, with fears that some are already on the frontline Last summer, Sonya*, aged 17 at the time, had endured more than two years of a difficult life under Russian occupation in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine. Her foster mother agreed that she needed a break. Growing up under forced assimilation had been scary, Sonya says, and her Russian-controlled school had offered to take her to a holiday camp in Crimea, a balmy peninsula once famed for being the spa of the Soviet Union. Continue reading...

The notion of remigration was abstract, but the right is dragging it towards respectability. If the goal is homogeneous whiteness, they should say it Do they come for you at dawn or dusk? In the dead of night, or at family dinnertime? Will they come with masks and shields, or will they be kindly and sheepishly apologetic? Will they accept a cup of tea and a biscuit if offered? Will there will be bags already packed by the door, protocols prepped and drilled, a list of numbers to call? Will you go quietly and with dignity, or in a mess of curse words and screaming limbs? Perhaps right now this all feels a little fantastical and far-fetched. Perhaps it feels hard to imagine the great wave of remigration lapping up on the pristine middle-class doorsteps of Stroud or Stoke Newington. We can still have a chuckle about it. Maybe there’ll be a nice fat relocation cheque. A free one-way holiday on the British government. Always wanted to visit China at this time of year, and so on. Jonathan Liew is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

The extra-large autonomous undersea vehicles (XL-AUV) have a ‘very long range’, can be deployed from warships or launched off the coast Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The Australian government has committed $1.7bn to acquire a fleet of “dozens” – the exact number is classified – of Ghost Shark submarines for the Royal Australian Navy. Continue reading...

Nathalie May Matthews outlines allegations of a ‘sustained pattern’ of abuse and manipulation in application for AVO, but the NSW MP denies the claims Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Former federal Labor leader turned firebrand independent MP Mark Latham has been accused of denigrating his ex-partner online after she accused him of abuse. Nathalie May Matthews has outlined allegations of a “sustained pattern” of abuse and manipulation in an application for a restraining order against him. 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) Lifeline on 13 11 14 Continue reading...

People are sick of protesters using rallies as a "veiled excuse to punch on", a Victorian Police spokesperson has said, warning of a rival protests planned for Melbourne this Saturday.

The White House is caught between supporting Israel’s war against Hamas and patching up relations with a key US ally in the region Full report: Israel launches airstrikes against top Hamas members in Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks In the aftermath of Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas negotiators in the heart of Qatar’s capital Doha, the White House appeared sidelined from halting a conflict that Donald Trump has claimed only he could mediate. As details of the diplomatic flurry before Tuesday’s extraordinary strike were revealed, it was claimed that the White House had little say in how Israel opened its latest front in its war against Hamas – this one on a US ally hosting negotiations days after Trump had claimed he was close to reaching a deal. Continue reading...

Study claims Swiss firm provided Nazi concentration camp with anti-frostbite product used in deadly tests in early 1940s The natural cosmetics company Weleda supplied a skin cream to the Dachau concentration camp that went on to be used for human testing, resulting in the agonising deaths of prisoners, a historian specialising in Nazi Germany has claimed. Weleda, founded 104 years ago and known worldwide for its holistic remedies, sourced large quantities of medicinal herbs during the Nazi era from an agricultural plantation overseen by the SS in Dachau, southern Germany, according to a major report by Anne Sudrow commissioned by the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. Continue reading...

Evidence of millions of animal bones at sites in West Country and Surrey points to ‘age of feasting’ These days, revellers converge on the West Country from all parts of the UK and beyond to take part in the wonderful craziness of the Glastonbury festival. It turns out that at the end of the bronze age – also a time of climatic and economic crisis – the same sort of impulse gripped people. Continue reading...

He is one of the worst sexual predators in history – and she agreed to be his lawyer. But why? The woman who was called ‘the devil’s advocate’ explains all This time last year, Béatrice Zavarro, a then unknown lawyer from Marseille, drew herself up to her full 1.45-metre (4ft 8in) height, and addressed the figure in the dock: “It’s you and me against the world.” That man was Dominique Pelicot. Over the next three months and 17 days, the court would learn that for almost a decade he had drugged his wife, Gisèle, and invited more than 50 men into their bedroom to rape her while she was unconscious. Continue reading...

Bob Irwin and animal rights organisations say Mike Holston – AKA ‘The Real Tarzann’ – should be deported from Australia Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Online content creators who engage in “reckless stunts” with crocodiles should have so-called “dickhead legislation” thrown at them, and international influencers that do so in Australia should be “booted out the door”, Bob Irwin says. The father of the late “Crocodile Hunter”, Steve Irwin, and lifelong crocodile advocate issued the rare statement after Queensland authorities confirmed they were investigating US influencer Mike Holston – who goes by the online moniker “The Real Tarzann” – for wrestling with wild crocodiles. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Confidential documents, including passports and medical credentials, made available, meaning ‘there is a risk of identity theft or fraud’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast The NSW government has accidentally leaked confidential documents belonging to almost 600 medical staff, including 67 senior doctors in Sydney, who had applied for jobs with the health department. Doctors are enraged that their sensitive data was handled “recklessly” and fear they could now be at risk of identity theft. Medical qualifications could be misused by bad-faith actors to impersonate doctors or buy drugs, they said. Continue reading...

Phillips had spent nearly four years hiding in the wilderness with his three children before he was killed in an exchange of fire with police on Monday Fugitive father Tom Phillips was receiving outside help during his years on the run before he was killed in a police shoot-out this week, New Zealand police said on Wednesday as they released images that show a newly discovered campsite. Phillips had spent nearly four years hiding in the wilderness with his three children. He was killed in an exchange of fire with police after reports of a burglary in the remote town of Piopio, in the central North Island, on Monday. Continue reading...

The military operation comes hours after Poland's military said it scrambled its own and NATO allied air defences to shoot down Russian drones that crossed into the country's airspace from Ukraine.

Global Sumud Flotilla says all passengers and crew unharmed after second alleged attack in as many days International aid initiative Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) has said one of its boats was attacked by a drone at Tunisia’s Sidi Bou Said port, the second such reported strike in two days. The GSF, which is seeking to break Israel’s naval blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to war-torn Gaza using civilian boats, said in a statement early on Wednesday all passengers and crew were unharmed and that no structural damage had been caused. Continue reading...

Operation launched to ‘neutralise objects that have violated’ Polish border, minister says Poland has shot down drones over its territory after repeated violations of its airspace during a Russian attack on Ukraine. The announcement came after Poland closed airports and launched an operation “to neutralise” objects that crossed over its border. Continue reading...

Israel's actions have completely exposed the lack of influence that the United States now has on developments in the Middle East.

Malthouse, Melbourne Tom Wright’s production is the best thing Malthouse has produced in years: shocking, chilling, funny and often breathtakingly beautiful Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email Homer’s Iliad isn’t just a foundational Hellenic text: it’s the great primal myth of war, sacred and eternal. Its gods and mortals alike are monstrous, heroic and pitiful, endlessly iterative and contemporary. We’ve been treading and retreading this same material for almost 3,000 years, not to exorcise violence but to ritualise and sanctify it. Only the Mahabharata can hold a candle to the Iliad’s immensity and continued intellectual relevance. While all that cultural weight is enough to make a modern playwright quake, Tom Wright – whose writing for the stage has encompassed the mythologies of Orestes, Medea and Oedipus, to name only a few – is made of sterner stuff. He launches headlong into the colossal tale with the brio and control of the old masters. While the Iliad is the primary text here, Wright also folds in details from Aeschylus, Euripides and Virgil, as well as inventions of his own. The result is shocking, chilling, funny and often breathtakingly beautiful, a grounded piece of epic theatre that fringes the divine. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Continue reading...

Trump, who was friends with Epstein before becoming president but had a falling out with the former financier, has denied giving him a letter. Key US politics stories from 9 September 2025 The White House has said it would support a forensic analysis of the signature on a letter purportedly given by Donald Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that Trump’s aides say is not the president’s. Trump, who was friends with Epstein before becoming president but had a falling out with the former financier years before his death, has denied giving him a letter that appears in a birthday book for Epstein with the sketch of a woman’s body and a note about secrets. Continue reading...

Qatar has once again been caught in the crossfire of Middle East turmoil, with world leaders condemning the attacks amid concerns they deal a serious blow to ceasefire efforts.

Warplanes scrambled after warning from Ukraine; Poland to seal border over Russian and Belarus’s ‘very aggressive’ Zapad war games. What we know on day 1,295 Warplanes were scrambled early on Wednesday after Ukraine’s air force warned that Russian drones had entered Nato-member Poland’s airspace. “Polish and allied aircraft are operating in our airspace, while ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems have been brought to the highest state of readiness,” Poland’s operational command said. The Ukrainian air force said drones were heading west and threatening the city of Zamosc in Poland. Ukrainian media reported that one was heading towards the western Polish city of Rzeszow, and said airports were being temporarily closed. Poland will close its border with Belarus on Thursday as a result of the “very aggressive” Zapad military exercises taking place in Belarus involving Russia, Donald Tusk has announced. The Polish prime minister said it was also a response to a growing number of provocations from Russia and Belarus. Separately, Poland’s president, Karol Nawrocki, warned that “we do not trust Vladimir Putin’s good intentions.” Nawrocki continued: “While waiting, of course, for a long-term peace, permanent peace, which is necessary to our regions, we believe that Vladimir Putin is ready to also invade other countries.” The US Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal challenged Congress and Donald Trump to adopt a bipartisan bill imposing “scorching” secondary sanctions on countries buying Russian oil like China, India and Brazil. The long-proposed bill is co-sponsored by Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator. “I believe the president should be supportive,” Blumenthal told NPR on Tuesday. “The time has come for action. The president’s been mocked and played by Putin, and I think the president ought to be furious that Putin has stalled and stonewalled in this way. And about this bill, there are 85 co-sponsors, evenly divided – Democrat and Republican – which I think shows the level of support in the Congress for these kinds of sanctions.” Trump said on Sunday he was ready to impose further sanctions targeting Russia, but appears now to be stipulating that the EU must do so at the same time. The EU has already enacted 18 rounds of sanctions and is preparing a 19th round, which it has said should include more secondary sanctions targeting countries helping Moscow. A US official told Agence France-Presse that on Tuesday Trump raised with European representatives the possibility of tariffs of between 50% and 100% on Russian oil customers. Officials also discussed the issue of immobilised Russian government money as the EU sanctions envoy, David O’Sullivan, led a delegation to Washington. Trump dialled in for discussions on Tuesday alongside Ukraine’s prime minister, a US official said. Also involved in talks were Trump’s treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, and officials from the US trade representative’s office and state department. A Russian strike killed 24 elderly people collecting their pensions on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said. “A brutally savage Russian airstrike with an aerial bomb on the rural settlement of Yarova in the Donetsk region,” said the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “Directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the very moment when pensions were being disbursed.” Prosecutors announced a war crime investigation. The Ukrainian military said the Russians had dropped a glide bomb – a heavy bomb fitted with wings so it can fly rather than falling straight down. There was no immediate comment from Moscow or the Kremlin. Ukraine’s air defences were responding to a Russian drone attack on Kyiv early on Wednesday, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital posted online. Members of the European parliament in Strasbourg have accidentally passed a motion criticising the EU for a failed “militaristic strategy” in Ukraine. The amendment from an MEP from Germany’s radical left was nodded through by party floor chiefs who later admitted making a mistake – delighting populist groupings like Italy’s Putin-friendly Five Star Movement. Continue reading...

The White House says it will support a forensic analysis of the signature on a birthday letter allegedly given by Donald Trump to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It feels like no matter how long we’ve been here, we’re just not enough Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Being an Indian immigrant in Australia is exhausting. The irony that many of us are here because our parents, or their parents, chose this country in their quest for a “better life”, after our own country was decimated by British colonialism, is not lost on me. My own ancestors were shipped from India by the British to Fiji to work as indentured labourers – ostensibly slaves – on Australian-operated sugar farms in the late 1800s. Multiple generations later, after enduring political and social exclusion in Fiji and being subject to racist rhetoric and political violence, my parents worked insanely hard to find a pathway to Australia, so that their children could escape the cycles of poverty and entrenched disadvantage that they lived through. Continue reading...

Australians have been urged to reconsider their need to travel as violent unrest continues in Nepal.

A Supreme Court that has been reluctant to check Donald Trump's flex of executive authority will decide in November whether to uphold lower-court rulings against his trade tariffs.

Cheap ultra-processed food behind rise in overweight children, with one in 10 now obese globally, says Unicef More children around the world are obese than underweight for the first time, according to a UN report that warns ultra-processed junk food is overwhelming childhood diets. There are 188 million teenagers and school-age children with obesity – one in 10 – Unicef said, affecting health and development and bringing a risk of life-threatening diseases. Continue reading...

Typically full of brio and swagger, the White House is scrambling because Trump is behaving so out of character It took Trump chronicler Maggie Haberman to cut to the chase: if Trump didn’t sign the birthday card or other documents released by Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, the reporter asked in a quiet yet insistent tone, what’s the working theory as to why he’s in there? “The president has one of the most famous signatures in the world,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, replied on Tuesday. “The president did not write that letter. He did not sign those documents.” Continue reading...

In State of the State speech, governor hails California’s resilience and criticizes federal government’s ‘onslaught’ California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, used his State of the State address on Tuesday to celebrate California’s achievements on its 175th anniversary of statehood but also to criticize Donald Trump for “targeting our state” as it battled wildfires this year, accusing the president of a “relentless, unhinged California obsession”. The Democratic governor delivered his annual message in the form of a letter to the state legislature, and a video, instead of an address. Newsom, widely seen as a potential presidential contender for 2028, also criticized the president and his policies for bringing chaos and disruption to California, without mentioning Trump by name. Continue reading...

Anti-government protests erupt into deadly violence, with Nepalese youth venting their frustration over a political system they accuse of corruption.

Nationals leader joins chorus calling for senator to apologise for comments about Indian immigrants. Follow today’s news live Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Two days after the eSafety commissioner issued a notice to a UK company behind a “nudify” deepfake AI app, Meta announced it has issued cease and desist notices to 46 companies attempting to advertise similar products on its platforms. Meta, which is already suing one such company to try to prevent it advertising on Facebook and Instagram, announced on Wednesday cease and desist notices have been sent to 46 companies attempting to advertise nudify apps on their platforms. Meta said it has removed over 5,000 ads and 96 ad accounts linked to those companies, and blocked links to more than a dozen apps and websites offering nudify services. I know what they are capable of, and not a single one of them is doing everything they can to stop the most heinous of abuse to children, being tortured and raped, and this imagery being perpetuated online. Continue reading...

A lower court earlier ruled president exceeded his authority when enacting tariffs under law meant for emergencies The US supreme court agreed on Tuesday to decide the legality of Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, setting up a major test of one of the Republican president’s boldest assertions of executive power that has been central to his economic and trade agenda. The justices took up the justice department’s appeal of a lower court’s ruling that Trump overstepped his authority in imposing most of his tariffs under a federal law meant for emergencies. The court swiftly acted after the administration last week asked it to review the case, which involves trillions of dollars in customs duties over the next decade. Continue reading...

The federal government will expand its Home Guarantee Scheme in October, lifting income and property caps to give first-time buyers greater access, but it will also fast-track price rises, a new analysis has found.

Elizabeth Tsurkov, who entered Iraq to do research for Princeton, had gone missing in Iraq in early 2023 Israeli-Russian academic and Princeton student Elizabeth Tsurkov has been released after being kidnapped by Kata’ib Hezbollah and spending more than two years in captivity, Donald Trump said in a post on social media. “I am pleased to report that Elizabeth Tsurkov, a Princeton Student, whose sister is an American Citizen, was just released by Kata’ib Hezbollah (MILITANT Hezbollah), and is now safely in the American Embassy in Iraq after being tortured for many months. I will always fight for JUSTICE, and never give up. HAMAS, RELEASE THE HOSTAGES, NOW!” the US president wrote in a TruthSocial post on Tuesday. Continue reading...

US southern-style restaurant chain was met with outrage for changing branding to more minimalist style Cracker Barrel announced on Tuesday that it’s suspending plans to remodel its restaurants just weeks after reversing a logo change that ignited a political firestorm. The 56-year-old restaurant chain, known for southern-style cooking and country-store aesthetic, faced intense backlash last month after unveiling a rebranding effort aimed at modernizing its image. The company rolled out a new minimalist logo and plans for more contemporary interiors, and it updated menu items. Continue reading...

It was the night when Thomas Tuchel located the ignition point for his England tenure, when all of the grumbling that had followed him to Belgrade seemed to float away. The head coach needed a result to allow his team to take control of this World Cup qualifying group – and a performance, too, after the flatness of much of what had gone before. Tuchel got both. From the first whistle his players were a class apart, Serbia left to look dishevelled, their problems everywhere. It is a troubling moment for the country, anti‑government protests gaining in intensity and there were chants here against the ruling party. The head coach, Dragan Stojkovic, is under heavy fire and there was more heat for him. What for him after this? Continue reading...

Want to get this in your inbox every weekday? Sign up for the Morning Mail here, and finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletter Morning everyone. An Israeli missile attack on senior Hamas figures in Doha for ceasefire talks has killed at least five members of the Palestinian group and threatens another major escalation of the war in the Middle East. We have live coverage and reports. Also, NSW plans to fine childcare providers up to $500,000 if they breach new safety directives. Plus we look at why Queensland officials are arguing about unauthorised flagpoles, and how a novelty cheque has become the latest thing to link Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein. Flag dispute | Queensland transport officials will meet Aboriginal groups this week to resolve a standoff over unauthorised flagpoles flying the Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Palestinian flags on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island). ‘Nation-leading’ | Large childcare providers found in breach of safety directives will face $500,000 fines – an increase of 900% – under new laws to be introduced by New South Wales parliament today. Stokes’ bill | Seven West Media’s chair, Kerry Stokes, has been ordered to pay $13.5m in legal costs to the media companies unsuccessfully sued for defamation by disgraced former soldier Ben Roberts-Smith. ANU questions | David Pocock, the independent ACT senator, has called on the federal government to urgently intervene in the leadership crisis at the Australian National University as pressure mounts on the chancellor, Julie Bishop, and vice-chancellor, Prof Genevieve Bell, to resign. Groth mistake | The Herald Sun failed to seek a response from Brittany Groth, the wife of Sam Groth, the Victorian Liberal deputy leader and former tennis star, before wrongly outing her as a victim of child sexual assault, the couple allege in federal court documents. Continue reading...

The Australian Medical Association NSW president has said said stark figures were buried in a Bureau of Health Information new report and questioned the bureau's presentation of data. The bureau has said it applies the same criteria of "objectivity, fairness and meaningfulness" in every report.

Thaksin Shinawatra has dominated Thai politics for decades, but a short stint in a VIP wing of a hospital ultimately secured the undoing of one of the world's great political survivors.

Israel's airstrike on Hamas leaders in Qatar killed five, including a commander's son, prompting Qatari condemnation and US unease over ceasefire efforts.

Hamas says six were killed but its leadership survived the attack, which the US says ‘does not advance Israel or America’s goals’ Middle East crisis – live updates Israel has launched a strike on Hamas officials meeting in Qatar’s capital, Doha, reportedly including the group’s chief ceasefire negotiator, in an attack the White House said “does not advance Israel or America’s goals”. Hamas said six people had been killed, including the son of its exiled Gaza chief, Khalil al-Hayya. It said its top leadership, including the negotiations team, had survived. Continue reading...

Office is part-funded by public duty costs allowance, which should only be used to support public work of former PMs Boris Johnson is under mounting pressure to explain how his private office complies with rules over taxpayer subsidies after further revelations about how his staff appear to be overseeing his global commercial operations. A leak of data from the Office of Boris Johnson appears to show all three of his staff helping Johnson’s business and profit-making ventures. Secretly lobbied the UAE for a billion-dollar private venture in a potential breach of ethics rules. His work as a “principal adviser” for Bia Advisory, a “climate finance solutions” firm seeking backing from Abu Dhabi’s $300bn investment fund, involved courting a top Emirati official Johnson hosted in No 10 when he was prime minister. Approached Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, on behalf of Evgeny Lebedev. The Evening Standard owner, whom Johnson made a peer, was seeking a business relationship between his newspaper and Musk, who bankrolled Donald Trump’s ascent to the White House. Secured contracts with a combined total of more than £850,000 in separate deals with GB News and Associated Newspapers, the owner of the Daily Mail. GB News suggested some of the information was incorrect but confirmed an ongoing arrangement with Johnson. Earned more than £5m from less than two years of paid speeches, for some of which he charged $350,000 (£259,000). The 34 speeches include a conference leadership in Delhi, a blockchain symposium in Singapore and a bizarre turn as the headline act at the 50th birthday party of a German pharmaceuticals company boss. Continue reading...

Administration says it would support an expert review of signature to determine whether it was Trump who signed it White House officials on Tuesday doubled down on their assertion that a sexually suggestive letter carrying what appeared to be Donald Trump’s signature that was included in a birthday book for convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein had not been signed by the president. The letter, and its drawing of a naked woman’s torso around an imagined conversation between Trump and Epstein, was part of a batch of documents released by the House oversight committee in response to a subpoena after its existence was first reported in July by the Wall Street Journal. Continue reading...

Four other supreme court justices to cast their votes in coming days, with verdict expected by Thursday or Friday ‘He’s always on the attack’: the Brazilian judge prosecuting Bolsonaro inspires both love and hate Jair Bolsonaro led a criminal organization that sought to plunge Brazil back into dictatorship with a murderous power grab involving special forces assassins and a massive disinformation campaign, the supreme court judge presiding over the former president’s trial has claimed as he voted for Bolsonaro’s conviction. Alexandre de Moraes announced his decision on Tuesday as the trial of Bolsonaro and seven alleged co-conspirators – including four senior members of the military and the former head of Brazil’s answer to MI6 – entered its final stretch. Continue reading...

Judge says sufficient evidence of intent wasn’t given against those who signed files claiming Trump won 2020 election A judge in Michigan dismissed the felony charges against a slate of electors who falsely signed on to documents claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 election in the latest blow to efforts to hold the president and his allies accountable for attempting to overturn the results of the White House race he lost to Joe Biden. Sixteen people were initially charged with eight felonies each related to forgery and conspiracy by the Democratic attorney general, Dana Nessel, in 2023, though one of them had his charges dropped after he agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. The fake electors in Michigan will not go to trial. Continue reading...

Updates from this 7.45pm BST kick-off in Group K Stojkovic’s struggles continue | Sign up to Football Daily Dragan Stojkovic makes four changes to the team that beat Latvia 1-0 on Saturday. Kosta Nedeljkovic, Nemanja Maksimovic, Veljko Birmancevic and Strahinha Erakovic come in for Aleksandar Katai, Filip Kostic, Milos Veljkovic and Luka Jovic. Serbia (possible 3-2-4-1) Petrovic; Erakovic, Milenkovic, Pavlovic; Nedeljkovic, Maksimovic, Lukic, Birmancevic; Zivkovic, I Ilic; Vlahovic. Continue reading...

Raids by rival hives aren’t rare after a dry, hot summer, but Christine McDonald was surprised to find her store besieged A Canadian beekeeper has described fending off thousands of “robber bees” as they raided her shop in a brazen attempt to steal honey. Christine McDonald, who owns Rushing River Apiaries in the British Columbia city of Terrace, said she entered her shop to find it overrun by the swarm. Continue reading...

Terminal 4’s check-in area evacuated for three hours on Monday while police located CS spray Police have arrested a man on suspicion of bringing teargas into Heathrow airport, which caused Terminal 4’s check-in area to briefly shut down. The check-in area at the UK’s main international airport was evacuated for around three hours on Monday evening as emergency services probed a “potential hazardous materials incident”. Continue reading...

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield say it is ‘not the Ben & Jerry’s’ they founded after being ‘silenced’ by Unilever over matters of social justice The co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s have called for the ice-cream brand to be made independent and excluded from current owner Unilever’s plans to list its ice-cream business on the stock market. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield say The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC), a new division of Unilever that is set to be separately listed in November and includes the brand founded by the pair in 1978 alongside Magnum, Cornetto and Wall’s, “must free Ben & Jerry’s” in an open letter to prospective investors and the group’s board. Continue reading...

Leaked files show former PM made 34 paid appearances in less than two years and reveal details of his disclosures Boris Johnson earned more than £5m from less than two years of paid speeches after standing down as prime minister, leaked files suggest. Transcripts and itineraries demonstrate the globe-trotting nature of the former prime minister’s new life as a public speaker. He made 34 paid appearances between leaving office in September 2022 and May 2024, according to a file in the leak. Continue reading...

Talking about the welfare bill in front of the cameras, the Conservative leader rages against her inner futility The sign behind the podium read: “The Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP, leader of HM opposition.” It felt like a reminder. Not just to the handful of Conservative loyalists who had bothered to turn up for the speech at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in London. But to Kemi herself. Badenoch and her party are on the verge of an existential breakdown. Every week they seem to slide further and further into irrelevance. The question is no longer whether the Tories can present themselves as a credible government in waiting in four years’ time; it’s whether they will have become extinct by then. And whatever happens, Kemi will almost certainly not still be around as leader. Continue reading...

Figures including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the UK ambassador to US, Peter Mandelson, apparently contributed Democratic politicians have released a 238-page scrapbook given to Jeffrey Epstein as a present on his 50th birthday, with contributions attributed to high-profile figures including Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and the current UK ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson. Much of the book seems to be a collection of flattering and celebratory letters – often highly sexualised – from people who knew Epstein. They include photos of him embracing women in bikinis whose faces were redacted, and others showing scenes featuring wild animals having sex. Continue reading...

Whatever happened between the pair, questions about their relationship are not going away. This enigma is ageing like raw milk You have to keep this hush-hush, OK? I have top-secret information to share. You know Donald Trump has been reluctant to release the Epstein files? Well, it’s not because there’s anything nefarious going on. Trump may be an adjudicated sexual predator accused of sexual misconduct by at least 27 women (all of which he denies), who publicly boasted in 2002 about how his “terrific” pal Jeffrey Epstein liked women “on the younger side”, but you shouldn’t read too much into all that. Nor should you overanalyse a Wall Street Journal report claiming White House officials told Trump in May that his name appeared multiple times in the files. Or that House Democrats have now released a sexually suggestive letter and drawing sent to Epstein in 2003 for his birthday that appears to show Trump’s signature, the same note the president has denied writing. Nor should you worry yourself with the photo that has been released showing Epstein holding a novelty check signed by Trump with the suggestion that Epstein “sold” him a woman for $22,500. No, the real reason Trump is being weird about Epstein is … drum roll, please … because the president may or may not have been covertly operating as an FBI informant and investigating the disgraced financier. Continue reading...

Gallery secures huge investment at a time when many arts institutions are struggling to raise funds The National Gallery has lifted its ban on collecting modern paintings made after 1900 as part of a revamp that will include a new wing, made possible after it secured a landmark investment of £375m. A new part of the gallery will be built behind the Sainsbury building as part of Project Domani– “tomorrow” in Italian – after two donations of £150m each from Michael Moritz’s Crankstart foundation and the Hans and Julia Rausing Trust. Continue reading...

Police do not rule out possibility of finding more as incidents raise alarm over increase of anti-Muslim hatred At least nine pigs’ heads were found outside several mosques in the Paris region on Tuesday, the city’s police chief said, prompting alarm over rising anti-Muslim hatred. “Pigs’ heads have been left in front of certain mosques ... Four in Paris and five in the inner suburbs,” Laurent Nuñez told a press conference, adding that officers were not “ruling out the possibility of finding more”. Continue reading...

Five-month investigation reveals how four members of one family were shot and killed in a single day and highlights a pattern in which Israeli troops target unarmed civilians Daniel Raab shows no hesitation as he watches footage of 19-year-old Salem Doghmosh crumpling to the ground beside his brother in a street in northern Gaza. “That was my first elimination,” he says. The video, shot by a drone, lasts just a few seconds. The Palestinian teenager appears to be unarmed when he is shot in the head. Continue reading...

Economic modelling reveals the effects of eliminating migration for a decade on growth, the workforce and the budget Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Think closing our borders would fix the housing crisis? Think again. Eliminating migration for the coming decade would actually leave property prices 2.3% higher by the mid-2030s, according to economic modelling by KPMG; and there are other negative economic consequences too. Continue reading...

Under the plan, the state government will seize planning controls for the designated areas – near train and tram stops – from local councils Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Affluent Melbourne suburbs such as Hampton, Hawthorn and Kew could be rezoned to allow apartment towers of up to 16 storeys, according to new draft maps released by the Victorian government. The premier, Jacinta Allan, and the planning minister, Sonya Kilkenny, will on Wednesday release the maps showing proposed heights and boundaries for 25 of the government’s 50 activity centres, which were first announced in October 2024. Continue reading...

One flagpole flying Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Palestinian flags remains following standoff between transport workers and local Aboriginal people Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Queensland transport officials will meet Aboriginal groups this week to resolve a standoff over unauthorised flagpoles flying the Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Palestinian flags on the popular tourist island of Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island). Workers from the Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR), flanked by police, tried to remove the two flagpoles on 31 August – the same day as the March for Australia rallies – but were only partly successful after protesters formed a barricade around the second pole. Continue reading...

Independent senator claims there was ‘no faith’ in leadership of Genevieve Bell or Julie Bishop among university staff Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast David Pocock has called on the federal government to urgently intervene into the leadership crisis at the Australian National University as pressure mounts on the chancellor and vice-chancellor to resign. It comes after the independent senator told ABC earlier on Tuesday he hoped to see “some change in leadership at the top” of ANU, following a tumultuous year including redundancies, proposed course closures and allegations of a toxic work culture. Continue reading...

Trump’s view of the prerogatives of husbands towards their wives mirror his own sense of his entitlements as president towards his abused country Speaking at a Christian museum on Monday, Donald Trump claimed, falsely, that his deployment of national guard troops to invade the nation’s capital has eliminated crime in Washington. He complained, however, that domestic violence was being counted in the crime statistics, which he claimed meant that the influence of his policy was not being seen as significant enough. “They said, ‘Crime’s down 87%,’” the president claimed, not explaining who “they” were. “I said, no, no, no. It’s more than 87%, virtually nothing. And much lesser things, things that take place in the home they call crime. You know, they’ll do anything they can to find something. If a man has a little fight with the wife, they say this was a crime. See? So now I can’t claim 100%, but we are. We are a safe city.” If Trump wanted to endorse domestic violence decriminalization, he may take some comfort in the status quo: as it is, about 24% of adult American women have been the victims of “severe physical violence” by an intimate partner, according to the National Domestic Violence Hotline; the Centers for Disease Control, meanwhile, puts the proportion of women who have experienced “contact sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner” at 41%. and many of those incidents are not reported or not prosecuted – meaning that the perpetrators are free, and that their assaults have not been treated as fully “criminal”. Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...

Screenwriters’ guild of Israel says campaign that has now won backing from 1,800 film-makers will only ‘deepen the darkness’, while representatives of the country’s documentary and directors’ guild also voice concern Representatives of the Israeli film industry are redoubling efforts to caution against the wisdom of a pledge signed by some 1,800 significant professionals vowing not to work with Israeli film institutions they say are “implicated in genocide and apartheid against the Palestinian people”. The pledge, announced on Monday, was initially signed by 1,200 film-makers including Yorgos Lanthimos, Ava DuVernay, Asif Kapadia, Boots Riley and Joshua Oppenheimer; and actors Olivia Colman, Mark Ruffalo, Tilda Swinton, Javier Bardem, Ayo Edebiri, Riz Ahmed, Josh O’Connor, Cynthia Nixon, Julie Christie, Ilana Glazer, Rebecca Hall, Aimee Lou Wood and Debra Winger. Continue reading...

Tobacco law would also prohibit minors from using vapes and stop sale of single-use electronic cigarettes The Spanish government has approved a draft tobacco law that would ban smoking and vaping on bar and restaurant terraces, prohibit minors from using vapes and related products, and end the sale of single-use electronic cigarettes. The legislation, which was signed off by the cabinet on Tuesday morning, is intended to “reinforce protections on people’s health and to adapt the law to consumption patterns and to the tobacco-product market”, according to the health ministry. Continue reading...

Qatar says it is investigating the strikes while Hamas sources claim their negotiating team survived the attack. Follow live.

Wiltshire landmark assessed for damage after red fabric pinned across it to form England flag A 53-metre white horse cut into a Wiltshire hillside about 350 years ago is to be assessed for damage by heritage experts after red fabric was pinned across it to form a St George’s cross. English Heritage said the fabric has been removed from the Westbury white horse, which, according to local records, was originally cut in the late 1600s, possibly to commemorate the Battle of Ethandun, thought to have taken place nearby in AD878. Continue reading...

ICC hearing takes place in absence of Ugandan rebel leader accused of murder, rape, torture and sexual slavery An international criminal court hearing into charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against the Ugandan fugitive rebel leader Joseph Kony has begun with accounts of atrocities allegedly committed by his Lord’s Resistance Army. The ICC’s first in-absentia hearing will confirm charges but cannot progress to a trial in Kony’s absence. The warlord faces 39 counts, including murder, rape, sexual slavery, enslavement and torture, allegedly committed in northern Uganda between July 2002 and December 2005. Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report Continue reading...

Loughborough university and ONS study of 1 million schoolchildren reveals risks increase with longer absence School absences “significantly contribute” to children’s mental ill health, according to research backed by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) that shows the risks increase the longer a child is absent. “Our research shows that the more times a child is absent from school, the greater the probability that they will experience mental ill health,” the authors, from Loughborough university and the ONS, concluded. Continue reading...

Greens welcome Minns government’s ‘bare-minimum’ changes but say more work is needed to restore faith in the sector Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Large childcare providers found in breach of safety directives will face $500,000 fines – a 900% increase – under new laws to be introduced by New South Wales parliament on Wednesday. The proposed legislation will grant greater powers to the early childhood regulator to suspend educators and revoke quality ratings in a suite of measures addressing grave concerns about safety in the sector. Continue reading...

Former PM’s private office forwarded business proposal from peer to owner of X in June 2024, leaked files suggest Boris Johnson contacted Elon Musk on behalf of the Evening Standard owner, Evgeny Lebedev, as part of an attempt to get the US tech billionaire to support the ailing newspaper, leaked files suggest. Johnson’s private office, which is taxpayer-subsidised, emailed an executive close to Musk in June 2024, forwarding a business proposal from Lord Lebedev. Continue reading...

Garnet fire threatens historic grove in Sierra national forest as it moves through Fresno county at 14% containment Firefighters in California are racing to protect a historic grove of ancient giant sequoia trees in the Sierra national forest as the Garnet fire continues to spread through Fresno county. The Garnet fire, which began on 24 August and was caused by lightning, reached McKinley Grove on Monday, the US Forest Service said. The grove is home to about 170 giant sequoia trees, some estimated to be 2,000 years old, according to the non-profit Save the Redwoods. Continue reading...

President and convicted sex offender appear in birthday scrapbook photo with check signed by ‘DJ Trump’ US politics live – latest updates A scrapbook for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday released on Monday contains a photo of him holding a novelty check signed by Donald Trump with the suggestion that Epstein “sold” him a woman for $22,500, shedding further light on the longtime relationship between the president and the convicted sex offender. The photo shows Epstein and Joel Pashcow, a longtime member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, and a third figure, apparently a woman, whose face is redacted. They are holding a novelty check over a handwritten caption, apparently from Paschow, reading: “Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redaction] to Donald Trump for $22,500.” Continue reading...

Two of world’s largest copper producers to combine, retaining London listing but raising prospect of job cuts Business live – latest updates The London-listed miner Anglo American has agreed to merge with its Canadian rival Teck Resources, in a deal that will create a $53bn (£39bn) global copper group after both companies saw off takeover attempts. The merger to form one of the biggest copper producers in the world is expected to bring hundreds of job losses at Anglo’s London office as the company prepares to move its headquarters to Vancouver, Canada. Continue reading...

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...

The Israeli military and security services have announced a strike on "senior leadership" of Hamas.