The former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott says the government should not allow a fear of inflaming tensions with China get in the way of accepting Taiwan’s bid to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.
Abbott also called on the Australian government to urge the US to “reconsider their aloofness from the TPP, which was originally their own idea”.
One of the world’s most active volcanoes destroyed 700 homes and displaced thousands when it erupted in 2018
One of the most active volcanoes on Earth, Hawaii’s Kilauea, has begun erupting, the US Geological Survey has confirmed.
Webcam footage of the volcano’s Halemaumau crater showed lava fountains covering the floor of the crater and billowing clouds of volcanic gas were rising into the air. The same area has been home to a large lava lake at various times throughout the volcano’s eruptive past.
Output, orders and employment all fell in September, according to official data, as Beijing turns to Russia to ease its electricity shortages
China’s factory activity has shrunk unexpectedly amid curbs on electricity use and rising prices for commodities and parts, raising more concerns about the state of the world’s second biggest economy.
A closely watched survey released on Thursday showed that China’s factory activity contracted in September for the first time since the pandemic took a grip in February 2020.
In meat plants, there’s a golden rule: the production line never stops. For 28 years, Frank Vestergaard has worked in Denmark’s meat processing industry. When he started, he says, workers were expected to slaughter 80 pigs an hour on the line; today, that number has rocketed to 432 animals.
He starts work at 6am and deals with animal carcasses. The pigs are first put to sleep with gas, then the workers slit their throats to let the blood drain out. Vestergaard’s job is to remove any injuries from the carcasses, such as broken bones, which the vets on the line identify. If the gallbladder is accidentally punctured, for example, a yellow fluid can seep on to the meat, and Vestergaard has to remove it.
“We have six seconds per pig for one operation, and then there is a new pig. We do the same over and over again. That is how we earn our money.”
Memoir reveals US president once discussed strength of kangaroos in meeting with UK PM – one of the few European leaders he liked
Boris Johnson once devoted a considerable part of a meeting with Donald Trump to discussing how strong kangaroos are, as the British prime minister struck up a robust relationship with a fellow “pudgy white guy with crazy hair”.
To catch a shark in the waters off Papua New Guinea, first the men sing.
They sing the names of their ancestors and their respects to the shark. They shake a coconut rattle into the sea, luring the animals from the deep, and then catch them by hand.
Irmgard Furchner faces charges of aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners at Stutthof
A 96-year-old woman who worked as a secretary for a Nazi concentration camp commandant is to face trial in northern Germany on Thursday on charges of aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners.
Irmgard Furchner, who was just 18 when she started work at Stutthof camp on the Baltic coast in Nazi-occupied Poland, is the first woman to stand trial in decades over crimes connected to the Third Reich.
Charity food banks in Britain are “preparing for the worst” as the government starts winding up emergency aid measures put in place to cushion the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on millions of workers and low-income households, Reuters reports.
An extra weekly payment of £20 (US$27) to support the country’s poorest families will be cut next month, and more than a million workers face an uncertain future as Britain becomes the first big economy to halt its Covid jobs support scheme.
Food banks, which hand out staple goods from dried pasta to baby food, are especially concerned about the loss of the top-up to the Universal Credit (UC) benefit, which is claimed by almost 6 million people, according to official statistics.
The British move comes as other countries start wrapping up state aid programmes announced last year as Covid battered the global economy.
Hello and welcome to today’s live coronavirus coverage.
Britain’s charity food banks are “preparing for the worst”, Reuters reports, as the government starts winding up emergency aid measures put in place to cushion the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on millions of workers and low-income households.
Little Freddie King has survived three shootings, stabbings, a near fatal bike accident, a stomach ulcer, an accidental electrocution, Hurricane Katrina, and now a pandemic
In a dark, wood-panelled room, thick with humidity and reeking of smoke, the bluesman sits on a battered red couch that droops in the middle. He takes a moment to reflect before walking to the stage. He’s dressed in a pair of shades, a straw fedora, and a technicolor suit jacket splashed with turquoise, pink and peach. His flamboyance is an instant contrast with the dingy surroundings. He takes a final drag of a cigarette, down to the butt, before adjusting his tie.
Little Freddie King has played this venue – BJ’s Lounge, a ramshackle bar in the Bywater neighbourhood of New Orleans – for the past 27 years. But tonight is special. Tonight is his 81st birthday.
Keller wore his Team USA jacket when he entered the Capitol building where he shouted vulgarities at Democratic party leaders
Klete Keller, a former Olympic swimmer who won two gold medals for the United States, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to a felony charge related to his participation in the January riot at the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.
Keller admitted to obstructing an official proceeding, after prosecutors agreed to drop six other criminal charges they brought against him in February.
Oil and gas producers could reduce emissions at low cost or even at a profit by staunching leaks, says thinktank
Sharp cuts in methane from leaking gas drilling platforms and production sites could play a major role in the greenhouse gas emissions reductions necessary to fulfil the Paris climate agreement, and should be a key aim for the Cop26 UN climate talks, new research suggests.
Cutting global emissions of methane by 40% by 2030 is achievable, with most cuts possible at low cost or even at a profit for companies such as oil and gas producers. It would make up for much of the shortfall in emissions reductions plans from national governments, according to the Energy Transitions Commission thinktank.
The next generation will be increasingly divided into those can leverage intergenerational wealth to buy a home, and those who cannot
Returning home to a country he couldn’t afford to secure a home in, New Zealand photographer Cody Ellingham began to roam suburban streets at night with his camera. In a new series of photographs, he reflects the unease and discomfort of a generation locked out of one of the world’s most unaffordable housing markets.
Earlier this month, property data analytics companies said the average national house price was hitting between NZ$937,000 and $1m, nearly eight times the annual household income. Real Estate Institute data shows there was a 31% increase over the year to July.
North Korean leader said Biden offer of dialogue is ‘a facade’ and blamed the US for ‘hostile policy’
Kim Jong-un has condemned a US offer of dialogue as a “facade”, state media reported, but said he had ordered officials to restore communication lines with South Korea to “promote peace”.
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, the North Korean leader accused the US of continuing a “hostile policy” against his nuclear-armed country, despite the Biden administration’s offers of negotiations without preconditions.
Changes to the law were recommended after the 2019 Christchurch shootings and sped up after a supermarket knife attack earlier this month
New Zealand has passed a law that makes plotting a terrorist attack a crime, fixing a legal loophole that was exposed earlier this month by a violent knife attack.
The new law had been months in the planning but was hurried through parliament after an extremist inspired by the Islamic State group grabbed a knife at an Auckland supermarket on 3 September and began stabbing shoppers. He wounded five while two others were injured in the chaos. All are still recovering.
Star has sought liberation from Jamie Spears’ control of her finances and personal life for years
A Los Angeles judge has suspended Britney Spears’ father from the conservatorship that has controlled her life for 13 years, marking a major victory for the singer, who has long objected to the arrangement that has stripped her of independence.
At a courthouse hearing on Wednesday, Judge Brenda Penny ordered Jamie Spears suspended as conservator effective immediately.
In what would be a major departure for the government, the former foreign secretary said such a move would allow people waiting for their claims to be processed to integrate and make a positive contribution to the UK.
Police and military help regain control of prison in Guayaquil after violence caused by dispute between Los Lobos and Los Choneros
The death toll in a gang battle in a penitentiary in the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil has risen to more than 100 as authorities discovered the bodies of dozens more victims, including at least five that had been beheaded.
The country’s prisons bureau said in a tweet that “as of the moment more than 100 dead and 52 injured have been confirmed” in Tuesday’s clash at the Guayas prison.
Manchester United’s Champions League win over Villarreal was ill-deserved – the team is too open and will be punished for it
How much time does love buy you? That Manchester United fans want Ole Gunnar Solskjær to succeed is understandable. It’s not just that he scored vital goals, it’s that he embodied a golden age. Who would not want a returning hero to restore the club to glory? But wishful thinking will not organise a midfield.
One of the education unions in NSW has raised concerns at the state fast-tracking the re-opening plan.
The Independent Education Union’s acting NSW secretary, Carol Matthews was on Sunrise earlier, and questioned whether school buildings will be properly ventilated by next month:
Look, will we are quite disappointed about the lack of consultation about the changes.
There was no consultation, certainly with the union for the non- government sector, and I don’t know whether our employers were consulted. I suspect they weren’t.
Linda Burney, shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, was on RN Breakfast this morning, and said she thinks the reason the number of fully vaccinated First Australians lags so far behind the broader population was due to a “lack of political will.”
There is a lack of political will. I can’t put it down to anything else.
The gap is widening in every single jurisdiction, despite the fact that Aboriginal people were supposed to be a priority in the vaccination rollout.
I am so sick of the Federal Government using vaccine hesitancy as the reason for this. That is just patently wrong.
Vaccine hesitancy requires a response and if it is the case in some places then the messaging is the important thing, the way things are communicated.
General Frewen stated 2 or 3 weeks ago that there’d be a vaccination push in 30 communities. We’ve heard nothing since about how that’s going or whether it’s started... What has happened to that program?
First Nations children entitled to government compensation
Canada ‘wilfully and recklessly’ discriminated against them
A federal court in Canada has paved they way for billions in compensation to First Nations children who suffered discrimination in the welfare system, after a judge dismissed a pair of legal challenges by the government.
Two years ago, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled that the federal government had “wilfully and recklessly” discriminated against Indigenous children living on reserves by failing to properly fund child and family services.
The 239 pieces of gold minted before the French Revolution was found near Quimper in western Brittany
Hundreds of rare gold coins dug out of the walls of a remote French mansion fetched more than 1 million euros ($1.2m) at auction on Wednesday.
Stonemasons discovered 239 pieces of gold, minted before the French Revolution, when they began renovating the property near Quimper in the western Brittany region, auctioneers Ivoire/Deloys said.
What a finish, and guess who: Cristiano Ronaldo bundled home to score an added time winner and maybe jump-start Manchester United’s season. With Atalanta beating Young Boys to lead Group F, Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s team are now up and running with three points.
Again, though, United seemed dazed in defence and dizzy in attack, lacking composure where it matters. This should be of deep concern to Solskjær. His side currently resemble a kick-and-chase schoolboy proposition which can be found out at any moment.
Thursday: Emission pledges by states outweigh federal goals. Plus: how to overcome a crippling fear of failure
Good morning. The last day of September brings yet more pressure on the Morrison government to increase its climate goals, and news of a cash injection for businesses affected by lockdowns. And there’s still time to vote in the 2021 Australian bird of the year competition – our economics columnist Greg Jericho strays from his usual subject matter to tell us why your vote should go to the majestic pelican.
Australian states could deliver at least a 34% cut in national greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 based on existing pledges, prompting calls for the federal government to lift its 26% to 28% target. Bill Hare, chief executive and senior scientist with Climate Analytics, said the contrast between state commitments and the federal goals would “clearly put a lot of pressure on the Morrison government”, which remains divided over whether to adopt a net zero emissions target for 2050 or increase its 2030 goal before the Cop26 climate conference. “It shows the majority of Australians support doing more than the federal government,” Hare said.
Pacquiao, 42, turns focus to running for Philippines president
‘Thank you for changing my life, when my family was desperate’
Boxing star Manny Pacquiao, who is planning to run for president of the Philippines in the 2022 elections, said on Wednesday he was retiring from boxing to focus on the biggest fight of his political career. Pacquiao, a Philippines senator who has been dividing his time between politics and fighting, made the announcement in a 14-minute video posted on his official Facebook page.
“I just heard the final bell. Boxing is over,” said an emotional Pacquiao. “I never thought this day would come as a I hang up my boxing gloves.”
New Zealand reports 45 cases, more than five times previous day’s total; United Airlines says nearly 600 workers face termination over failure to comply with the carrier’s vaccination policy
In the UK, bosses from chains including Nando’s, Starbucks and Prezzo have been drafted in to advise the government on its plans to boost the hospitality sector after the easing of lockdown this summer.
Amid mounting concern over staff shortages and supplies across the economy, ministers said the group of executives would help to identify and oversee actions that the government could take to smooth the post-pandemic recovery for pubs, hotels, cafes and restaurants.
United Airlines said on Tuesday nearly 600 Us-based employees faced termination after failing to comply with the carrier’s vaccination policy.
In early August, the company became the first US carrier to require Covid vaccinations for all domestic employees, requiring proof of vaccination by Monday.
As the star dives into a giant glass of fizz for her first online extravaganza, she talks about this new golden age for burlesque, why the French Strictly gives her costume problems – and how #MeToo has changed her
Dita Von Teese is looking divine. Her lips are that signature red, she’s wearing 1950s cat eye glasses, and her black hair falls in a thick wave across a Snow White skin – and all this on the unglamorous stage of a glitchy Zoom call. Only knowing Von Teese from her femme fatale image, her teasingly aloof burlesque performances, and her time in the tabloids as former wife of goth rocker Marilyn Manson, you might expect an icy demeanour, an impermeable mystique. So it’s surprising to discover quite how normal she is: chatty, self-deprecating, not very vampish. It’s easy to see traces of Heather Sweet, the “super shy” girl from small-town Michigan who transformed into Von Teese.
The reason for our conversation is a new film, Night of the Teese, made with director Quinn Wilson and featuring some of Von Teese’s classic routines alongside guest performers from male burlesque artist Jett Adore to hula-hoop virtuoso Marawa. While others rushed out online content during the pandemic, Von Teese took her time to get the details right. “When I was watching a certain famous talkshow host doing his show from his backyard, I thought, ‘Oh, you really do need some showbusiness,’ you know?”
Von Teese is all about the showbusiness, from the giant clam shell she emerges from in her opening routine to the finale bathing in a fizz-filled champagne coupe. It’s a land of satin, ostrich feathers and diamanté nipple pasties, with each of her many-layered outfits drenched in sparkle. “I love trying to come up with the most complicated striptease costume,” she smiles. “That’s my speciality.”
UK and European leading supermarkets say they would cut ties with any suppliers that did not meet their ethical standards after a Guardian investigation found allegations of widespread exploitation suffered by workers in meat plants across Europe.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC), a representative body for UK retailers, including supermarkets and food-to-go restaurants, said companies carry out ethical audits of the suppliers they work with and would act on any information received through whistleblowers and investigations.
Parliamentary and presidential votes were due at the end of the year, but there are fears the interim government hopes to stay in power
Libya’s hopes of ending a decade of political chaos with credible elections at the end of this year for a president and new unified parliament have reached a defining moment, with the US insisting the vote should go ahead but some European diplomats fearing divisions are too entrenched for the result ever to be accepted as legitimate.
The elections are due to take place on 24 December, but no agreement has been reached within the country on laws governing the election. There are also signs that the populist interim government, theoretically appointed by the UN to manage services ahead of the elections, might seek to capitalise on the impasse to stay in power indefinitely. Thousands of foreign troops, mainly funded by Turkey and Russia, are still in place.
Analysis: As the world’s largest navy tries to push it back in the Pacific, the US requires allies in the region
In the dockyards of Shanghai, the next step in China’s naval expansion is taking shape: a 315-metre aircraft carrier, whose construction progress was revealed by satellite photography in May this year.
China has the world’s largest navy and the largest shipbuilding industry, but the Type 003 is the latest step up: a vessel the same size as the latest US Ford class with a matching electromagnetic catapult for launching jets.
Eastern Kuku Yalanji people will take formal ownership of the world heritage-listed Daintree tropical rainforest in northern Australia, after the Indigenous traditional owners reached a historic deal with the Queensland government.
The Daintree national park is part of 160,108 hectares (395,467 acres) of land that will be handed back to the traditional owners at a ceremony on Wednesday at Bloomfield, north of Wujal Wujal.
Charity helping the refugees say they are happy with the result but urges Ottawa to expedite asylum of remaining ‘Guardian Angel’
Canada granted asylum to four people who hid former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in their tiny Hong Kong apartments when he was on the run after stealing a trove of classified documents.
The four – Supun Thilina Kellapatha, Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis and their children Sethumdi and Dinath – landed in Toronto on Tuesday and were due to go on to Montreal to “start their new lives”, non-profit For the Refugees said in a statement.
Foreign minister Marise Payne discussed WikiLeaks founder with US counterpart in Washington DC, a spokesperson says
Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne, raised the case of the WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange with the US secretary of state during her visit to Washington DC this month, the government has revealed.
But Australian parliamentarians who support Assange say the government should demand his immediate release, after a US news report this week claimed CIA officials during the Trump administration had discussed abducting and even assassinating the Australian citizen.
Vicki Treadell made the comments to ABC Radio National on Wednesday, warning that Australia risks being left behind if it doesn’t embrace a target of net zero emissions by 2050 and more ambitious interim targets at the Cop26 meeting to be attended by hundreds of world leaders.
Prime minister Yoshihide Suga, with his support in tatters ahead of the election, recently announced he would step down
Japan’s ruling party will vote for a new leader on Wednesday who will almost certainly become the next prime minister ahead of a general election due in weeks, and with the economy under pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prime minister Yoshihide Suga, with his support in tatters ahead of the election, recently announced he would step down after only a year as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leader at the 29 September party vote.
Once the great vaccination success story, the island is under strain amid a new wave of infections, but experts say cases would be far higher without vaccine coverage
Outside Guam Memorial hospital, blue medical tents have sprung up to accomodate an overflow of Covid patients.
The sight is bewildering for Guam residents. The island ran an incredibly successful vaccination campaign, with almost 90% of eligible people having received two doses, and even began offering jabs to tourists in an “Air VnV” – vacation and vaccination – scheme.
New Zealand’s daily Covid cases have jumped sharply to 45 – more than five times the previous day’s number. The rise comes after several days of about 12 cases a day, and around a week after the Auckland region lifted its strictest lockdown restrictions.
“This is a big number. It’s a sobering number. I don’t think anybody who’s involved in this process would be celebrating a number like the one we’re seeing today,” said the Covid-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins.
Victoria’s premier Daniel Andrews has announced eased restrictions across most of Victoria as the state reaches its 70% first-dose vaccination target. Here’s what you need to know about schools, travel, childcare and work
The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, has announced “a modest easing” to restrictions from Tuesday 28 September at 11.59pm. He said Victoria is on track to hit a vaccination target of 80 per cent of first doses delivered by then.
Pacific Islands face greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report from the Lowy Institute
Countries in the Pacific risk a “lost decade” following the Covid pandemic, with the region facing its greatest economic contraction in four decades, according to a new report into foreign aid.
The latest Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map, which sets out aid spending and donations to the Pacific Islands region, shows US$2.44bn in foreign aid reached the Pacific in 2019, which is about 8% of the region’s GDP.
Covid-19 can infect insulin-producing cells in the pancreas and change their function, potentially explaining why some previously healthy people develop diabetes after catching the virus.
Doctors are increasingly concerned about the growing number of patients who have developed diabetes either while infected with coronavirus, or shortly after recovering from it.
The long-awaited 25th outing for Ian Fleming’s superspy is a weird and self-aware epic with audacious surprises up its sleeve
The standard bearer of British soft power is back, in a film yanked from cinemas back in the time of the toilet roll shortage, based on a literary character conceived when sugar and meat rationing was still in force, and now emerging in cinemas as Britons are fighting for petrol in the forecourts.
Bond, like Norma Desmond, is once again ready for his closeup – and Daniel Craig once again shows us his handsome-Shrek face and the lovable bat ears, flecked with the scars of yesterday’s punch-up, the lips as ever pursed in determination or disgust.
In the midst of the point-scoring and blame-shifting on display in the senators’ questions to the nation’s military leadership, it was clear that it was a contest to apportion shares in failure.
Almost two years after its original release date, the 25th James Bond film – and final outing for star Daniel Craig – has had its first screening at the Royal Albert Hall
Queensland scrambles to contain mystery clusters ahead of the NRL grand final; Melbourne’s travel bubble increases to 15km and some outdoor group exercise allowed. Follow all the day’s news live.
Good morning, Mostafa Rachwani with you to take you through the morning’s headlines.
We begin in Queensland, where health authorities have warned that the next 48 hours will be critical in containing the state’s latest outbreak. Four cases were reported yesterday (across two press conferences), including in an aviation worker and his wife, a truck driver and a woman who had recently left quarantine.
Cynthia and Victor Liu’s release follows the US ending a legal case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou
Two American siblings prevented from leaving China since 2018 have returned to the United States, their release coming shortly after the United States ended a legal case against a top Huawei executive.
Cynthia and Victor Liu returned to America over the weekend, according to a US official, after more than three years during which they were not allowed to leave China under an “exit ban” despite not facing criminal allegations. Their father, former bank official and fugitive Liu Changming, is wanted in China to face fraud charges.
Deep sea mining firms claim their rare metals are necessary to power clean tech – but with even major electric car firms now backing a moratorium, critics say there is an alternative
At the Goodwood festival of speed near Chichester, the crowds gathered at the hill-climb circuit to watch the world’s fastest cars roar past, as they do every year. But not far from the high-octane action, there was a new, and quieter, attraction: a display of the latest electric vehicles, from the £28,000 Mini Electric to the £2m Lotus Evija hypercar. Even here, at one of the biggest events in Britain’s petrolhead calendar, it’s clear the days of the internal combustion engine are numbered.
As countries strive to meet stringent carbon-emission targets, and vehicle-makers phase out combustion engines, 145m electric vehicles are predicted to be on the roads within a decade, up from 11m last year. The car batteries they require, along with storage batteries for solar and wind power, have sent demand for metals soaring, taking mining firms to the bottom of the sea in the hunt for those metals.
Mark Milley poised for tense cross-examination after book said he took steps to prevent Trump from starting a war
The top US general will appear before Congress on Tuesday in what is expected to be the most heated cross-examination of a senior US military officer in over a decade.
The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Mark Milley, can expect a hostile interrogation from Republicans on the Senate armed services committee after accounts in a recent book that he carried out acts of insubordination to prevent Donald Trump from starting a war as a diversion from his election defeat last year.
India reported 179 Covid deaths on Tuesday, the smallest daily toll since the middle of March, taking the total to 447,373.
Infections rose by 18,795, the smallest increase since early March, lifting the total to about 33.7 million, health ministry data showed.
Hello and welcome to today’s live coronavirus coverage.
India reported 179 Covid deaths on Tuesday, the smallest daily toll since the middle of March, taking the total to 447,373. Infections rose by 18,795, the smallest increase since early March, lifting the total to about 33.7 million, health ministry data showed.
Every inch of Margot’s body hurt from the unrelenting work. Her hands bled from blisters that burst as she repeatedly hauled carcasses, but she would wait until she got home to sterilise her wounds with ammonia. “If you didn’t do your job well, you’d be pushed – they didn’t care if your hands were full of blood,” she says.
This wasn’t the life Margot* imagined when she left her job in a clothes factory near her home village in Romania in search of better prospects for her young family in western Europe. She thought labour conditions in the Netherlands – where she worked for three years in a meat factory – would be much more favourable than in her home country. “I didn’t expect it to be so awful.”
Life as a meat worker can be brutally hard. But Margot soon realised there were two types of workers: employees, who she says were mainly Dutch; and precarious workers, mostly migrants like herself, who had to work harder and faster but earned less. “The ones hired directly by the company have more rights, get more relaxed work, stability and hours,” she says.
How the Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker became one of the world’s most contentious thinkers
On a recent afternoon, Steven Pinker, the cognitive psychologist and bestselling author of upbeat books about human progress, was sitting in his summer home on Cape Cod, thinking about Bill Gates. Pinker was gearing up to record a radio series on critical thinking for the BBC, and he wanted the world’s fourth richest man to join him for an episode on the climate emergency. “People tend to approach challenges in one of two ways – as problem-solving or as conflict,” Pinker, who appreciates the force of a tidy dichotomy, said. “You can think of it as Bill versus Greta. And I’m very much in Bill’s camp.”
A few weeks earlier, Gates had been photographed in Manhattan carrying a copy of Pinker’s soon to be published 12th book, Rationality, which inspired the BBC series. “We sent it to his people,” Pinker said. Pinker is an avid promoter of his own work, and for the past 25 years he has had a great deal to promote. Since the 1990s, he has written a string of popular books on language, the mind and human behaviour, but in the past decade, he has become best known for his counterintuitive take on the state of the world. In the shadow of the financial crisis, while other authors were writing books about how society was profoundly broken, Pinker took the opposite tack, arguing that things were, in fact, better than ever.
Rhondda valley residents fearful after recent landslip and UK government pushed to share responsibility
Every time it rains heavily, Cllr Robert Bevan’s phone starts ringing and his social media feed is busy with people worried the coal tip that looms above the village of Tylorstown in south Wales might be in danger of slipping.
“They’re asking me: ‘Rob, is it going to happen again?’ The anxiety, the anguish is terrible,” said Bevan. “While the tip is there, even if you’ve got the best engineers working on it, you can never be sure it’s 100% safe. The tips are an albatross around our necks.”
Meat companies across Europe have been hiring thousands of workers through subcontractors, agencies and bogus co-operatives on inferior pay and conditions, a Guardian investigation has found.
Workers, officials and labour experts have described how Europe’s £190bn meat industry has become a global hotspot for outsourced labour, with a floating cohort of workers, many of whom are migrants, with some earning 40% to 50% less than directly employed staff in the same factories.
The Guardian has uncovered evidence of a two-tier employment system with workers subjected to sub-standard pay and conditions to fulfil the meat industry’s need for a replenishable source of low-paid, hyper-flexible workers.
Researchers find space in Gorham’s Cave complex that has been closed off for at least 40,000 years
Researchers excavating a cave network on the Rock of Gibraltar have discovered a new chamber, sealed off from the world for at least 40,000 years, that could shed light on the culture and customs of the Neanderthals who occupied the area for a thousand centuries.
In 2012, experts began examining Vanguard Cave, part of the Gorham’s Cave complex, to determine its true dimensions and to see whether it contained passages and chambers that had been plugged by sand.
Airport workers occasionally remove stray cats and racoon dogs from the runway but turtle sightings are rare
Turtles on a Runway probably will never rival Snakes on a Plane for dramatic effect, but one reptile has made headlines after an innocent amble along the tarmac at Japan’s second-busiest airport, delaying five planes.
The turtle, which weighs just over 2kg, was seen moving slowly along the tarmac at Narita international airport near Tokyo on Friday morning, prompting a pilot preparing for takeoff to contact air traffic control.
Democrats seek common ground on landmark legislation amid threat of shutdown
Joe Biden’s domestic agenda continued to hang in the balance on Monday, as the president and Democratic leaders sought to pull their party together and deliver the biggest overhaul of government priorities in decades.
Factories were closed to avoid exceeding limits on energy use imposed by Beijing to promote efficiency
Widening power shortages in China’s north-east have left homes without power and halted production at numerous factories, while some shops operated by candlelight as the economic toll of the squeeze mounted.
Residents in the north-east, where autumn temperatures are falling, reported power cuts and appealed on social media for the government to restore supplies.
The move challenges Beijing's claim to the sensitive waterway and marks a rare voyage by a non-US military vessel
Britain sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait on Monday for the first time since 2008, a move that challenges Beijing’s claim to the sensitive waterway and marks a rare voyage by a non-US military vessel.
HMS Richmond, a frigate deployed with Britain’s aircraft carrier strike group, sailed through the strait on a trip from Japan to Vietnam, Britain’s defence ministry said.
National murder rate rises nearly 30%, with figure increasing across all regions and from small towns to cities
The US has experienced its largest-ever recorded annual increase in murders, according to new statistics from the FBI, with the national murder rate rising nearly 30% in 2020 – the biggest jump in six decades.
Nearly 5,000 more Americans were murdered across the country last year than the year before, even as rape, robbery, and other property crimes fell, according to FBI figures.
Latest of several launches within a month signals further ramp-up of hostility towards neighbours
North Korea fired an unidentified projectile towards the sea off its east coast, less than two weeks after it tested a new railway-borne missile system, South Korea’s military said.
The Japanese news agency Kyodo also reported that North Korea fired what appeared to be a ballistic missile on Tuesday, citing the Japanese government.
Smokers are 60%-80% more likely to be admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and also more likely to die from the disease, data suggests.
A study, which pooled observational and genetic data on smoking and Covid-19 to strengthen the evidence base, contradicts research published at the start of the pandemic suggesting that smoking might help to protect against the virus. This was later retracted after it was discovered that some of the paper’s authors had financial links to the tobacco industry.
Keir Starmer and industry leaders call on PM to do more as ministers decide against immediate deployment of troops
Boris Johnson has ordered the army to remain on standby to help fuel reach petrol stations hit by panic buying, as Keir Starmer and businesses called on him to get a grip on the shortages rippling across the economy.
No 10 said army drivers would be ready to help deliver petrol and diesel on a short-term basis, but stopped short of an immediate deployment, even though some essential workers have not been able to carry out their jobs without fuel.
A majority of Australians back Scott Morrison’s moves to build strong ties with the United States and Britain to buttress Australia’s national defence, but respondents in the latest Guardian Essential poll also worry the new Aukus partnership will strain relations with China and Europe.
The survey of 1,094 respondents shows 62% believed Australia was correct to pursue the nuclear submarine deal with the US and the UK, while 54% agreed with the statement: “The Aukus partnership is in Australia’s best security and economic interests.”
The source of a Covid case in Queensland is being investigated after an aviation worker with no history of interstate or overseas travel tests positive. Follow the latest updates live
The NSW rail network is being disrupted this morning, as drivers strike for better pay and conditions.
Commuters are expecting big delays this morning on all regional and city services, with people asked to make alternative arrangements.
The NSW deputy premier John Barilaro was on Sunrise earlier this morning getting grilled about the road map for the unvaccinated, a sticking point from yesterday’s press conference.
Barilaro was asked if giving unvaccinated people full freedoms from December was essentially encouraging them to avoid getting the jab until then.
We live in a time of anxiety and fear. We are leading into the Christmas period and leading into a time where people reunite and it is only fair we can communicate what the plan will look like.
We are confident we’ll be close to 90% vaccination in the state [by the end of the year].
Mike Pompeo and officials requested ‘options’ for killing Assange following WikiLeaks’ publication of CIA hacking tools, report says
Senior CIA officials during the Trump administration discussed abducting and even assassinating WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, according to a US report citing former officials.
The discussions on kidnapping or killing Assange took place in 2017, Yahoo News reported, when the fugitive Australian activist was entering his fifth year sheltering in the Ecuadorian embassy. The then CIA director, Mike Pompeo, and his top officials were furious about WikiLeaks’ publication of “Vault 7”, a set of CIA hacking tools, a breach which the agency deemed to be the biggest data loss in its history.
Arrivals in 2021 stand at 17,085, despite vows from government to make such journeys ‘unviable’
The number of people who have made the dangerous journey across the Channel in small boats this year is double the total for all of 2020 – with more than three months left of 2021.
Tuesday: Victoria and NSW take different paths on freedoms for unvaccinated residents. Plus: how to take better bird photos
Good morning. State premiers are at odds over Covid reopening plans as vaccination rates give light at the end of the tunnel to Australians in lockdown. The debate over the country’s climate goals deepen. And an expert bird photographer shares his tips amid the excitement of the 2021 Australian bird of the year competition.
Fully vaccinated residents in New South Wales can look forward to the end of lockdown on 11 October, when 70% of the adult state’s population is expected to have received two doses of a Covid vaccine. NSW’s reopening will be split into three stages: 70% vaccination coverage, 80% vaccination coverage, and a third and final stage, set for 1 December, when unvaccinated residents will enjoy the same level of freedom as vaccinated people. The same cannot be said for Victoria’s unvaccinated residents. Victorian premier Daniel Andrews stated point-blank that he would not be replicating New South Wales’s roadmap as it would remove motivation to get the jab. Despite the differences in each state’s roadmaps, both have been criticised for the “glaring omission” of details about freedoms for those in aged care.
Government says clampdown is aimed at improving women’s reproductive health, but it comes amid anxiety about the nation’s falling birth rate
China will reduce the number of abortions performed for “non-medical purposes”, the country’s cabinet has said in new guidelines are aimed at improving women’s reproductive health.
China has already enacted strict measures aimed at preventing sex-selective abortions, and health authorities also warned in 2018 that the use of abortion to end unwanted pregnancies was harmful to women’s bodies and risked causing infertility.
Australian authorities have announced plans to reopen locked-down Sydney using a two-tiered system that will give people who are vaccinated against Covid 19 more more freedoms than their unvaccinated neighbours for several weeks.
Movement restrictions across the wider New South Wales area will be lifted gradually between Oct. 11 and Dec. 1 as vaccination rates move from 70 per cent to 90 per cent.
Good morning, I’m Harriet Grant taking over from my colleague Helen Sullivan on the Covid live blog which will bring you news from around the world today.
