Search Engine Technology by Alex Katraie

Officers in Greater Londonas police force have put down weapons in protest at colleagueas murder charge

The Metropolitan police has called on the SAS to provide counter-terrorism support after firearms officers downed their weapons in protest at the charging of their colleague with murder.

Suella Braverman ordered a review of armed policing to calm a growing rebellion of about 100 officers over the charging on Wednesday of an officer for the murder of 24-year-old Chris Kaba, an unarmed man killed last September by a single shot to the head.

Return of the largest asteroid sample ever to be recovered marks the culmination of a seven-year journey

Sitting isolated in the arid landscape of the Utah desert, its orange and white parachute cast aside, the Osiris-Rex capsule was a picture of stillness. Yet all around, scientists were swinging into action, rushing to recover its precious cargo: 4.6bn-year-old chunks of space rock.

Racing towards the scene were four helicopters bearing scientists, engineers and military safety personnel. Their mission: to recover the capsule as quickly as possible to prevent samples of asteroid Bennu from becoming contaminated by planet Earth.

Exclusive: Major donor questioning aability to continue supporta for party amid doubt over Birmingham to Manchester leg

A prominent Conservative donor has threatened to stop supporting the party if Rishi Sunak scraps the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2, as ministers consider pulling the plug on the multibillion-pound project.

Fears that phase 2 of the high-speed rail line could be junked were compounded on Sunday when Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said it would be acrazya not to review the plan in light of soaring costs.

Centre-left entrepreneur wins 56.69% of vote in stunning and unprecedented rise afrom nowherea

Stefanos Kasselakis, an outsider with no previous experience of politics in Greece, has emerged the victor of an electric race to lead the leftwing Syriza, the countryas main opposition party.

The Greek-American entrepreneur, who announced his candidacy for the post barely four weeks ago, attained 56.69% of the vote against 43.31% for Efi Achtsioglou, a former labour minister who had long been viewed as the favourite. Kasselakisa win now makes him one of the most powerful people in Greece.

Governing body suppressed personal apology from judge in question following incident 18 months ago

Gymnastics Ireland suppressed a personal apology letter to a young gymnast whose treatment at a medal ceremony sparked international outrage, and have refused to acknowledge or tackle systemic racism in the sport, her family say.

Video of the event in March 2022 shows a judge handing out participation medals to a line of young gymnasts, but ignoring the only black girl. A photographer, coach and other officials look on without intervening, with an audience of hundreds in the stands.

Manufacturers expect levy agreed in Brexit deal to hand chunk of market to global firms, including China

Car giants including Renault, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have called on EU leaders to aact nowa and delay plans for a 10% tariff on electric car exports from Europe.

Renaultas chief, Luca de Meo, led the calls, saying that if the EU did not take action then policymakers would simply be ahanding a chunk of the market to global manufacturersa including Chinese companies, which are making significant inroads.

Thousands of women who have been underpaid by up to APS11,000 a year set to launch claim, GMB union says

Sheffield city council is to become the latest local authority to face a mass equal pay claim from women who have been underpaid by up to APS11,000 a year, the GMB union has said.

Thousands of women will launch claims against the council on Monday over a ascandalousa job evaluation scheme that discriminates against female-dominated roles, the union claimed.

Country needs successful firms to grow and struggling ones to shrink, says Resolution Foundation

The UK needs more businesses to fail, or at least shrink, to solve the economyas long-running productivity crisis, a study has argued.

The countryas lack of aeconomic dynamisma, whereby weaker firms or lower productivity sectors shrink, and more productive ones grow, has caused GDP to be 4% lower between 2008 and 2019 than it would otherwise have been, according to a paper published on Monday by the Resolution Foundation.

Researchers explore whether the animals adapt their behaviour in response to peopleas happiness, sadness or anger

They are known for living in packs and being sociable animals. Now meerkats are being investigated to see if they can also pick up on human emotions.

Researchers and psychologists from Nottingham Trent University are studying meerkats in zoos to see if they can detect emotions such as happiness, sadness or anger from people, and whether they then adapt their behaviour accordingly.

A Washington Post-ABC poll showed results that diverge from most other surveys, and even the pollers made a caveat

A new Washington Post-ABC poll showing Joe Biden trailing his presidential predecessor Donald Trump by 10 percentage points was excoriated by leading political pollster Larry Sabato.

Noting that the pollsters themselves cautioned that their survey was an outlier, Sabato a the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia a called the decision to release it aridiculousa.

Co-operative enterprise Vale of Aeron is one of 45 projects to receive money in Community Ownership Fundas latest round

When Iwan Thomas received the news that he had won a APS300,000 grant for the Vale of Aeron, a pub adored by the poet Dylan Thomas when he lived nearby in the 1940s, he was working a shift but had to hold his tongue.

Thomas, the 53-year-old chair of the Menter Tafarn y Vale co-operative group that runs the pub, could not tell any of the regulars until the news embargo lifted. aThere was certainly a wry smile, where you know youave got something youare keeping a secret, but itas a good secret,a he said. aWeare delighted.a

Human rights lawyers are working with Ukraineas public prosecutor to prepare dossier to submit to the international criminal court

Human rights lawyers working with Ukraineas public prosecutor are preparing a war crimes dossier to submit to the international criminal court (ICC) accusing Russia of deliberately causing starvation during the 18-month-long conflict.

The aim is to document instances where the Russian invaders used hunger as a weapon of war, providing evidence for the ICC to launch the first prosecution of its kind that could indict the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives awards to Polish volunteers but does not meet officials amid strained relations with Warsaw

• See all our Ukraine coverage

With millennials putting off children due to cost of living pressures, Chinaas economy could be derailed by its growing number of grey hairs

• Jobs, local services and welfare strain under economyas structural faults

Cici, 27, doesnat want to have a baby until sheas at least 35. Her mother is putting pressure on her to get married and ahave a stable lifea, but with a busy job at a tech company in Beijing a while also completing a masteras degree in law a she hardly has the time to think about starting a family.

Cicias story is not unique; across the world, young women are putting off marriage and childbirth for longer than their mothers did. However, in China the phenomenon is so acute that last year the population shrank by 850,000, the first decline in more than 50 years, as the birthrate fell to a record low.

Cameraman Hamza Yassin takes us to his Scottish village home for adorable meetings with locals a and magnificent encounters with eagles and ospreys. Itas joyful, escapist TV

Whoever booked Hamza Yassin for Strictly Come Dancing last year should get a cash bonus. His victory, achieved via public voting after he finished last on the judgesa scoring in the final, confirmed that Britain felt a warm privilege in having been introduced to an unassuming wildlife cameraman who was nearly unknown before he stepped on to the dancefloor. Pure of heart and unlimited in his enthusiasm, Hamza is a pearl.

One of the perks of winning Strictly is the unspoken understanding that the winner can front a BBC documentary in their area of expertise a few months later, and here is Hamza: Strictly Birds of Prey, his guide to Britainas most impressive raptors. Camera and tripod over his shoulder, binoculars around his neck, Yassin is on a quest to show that his home country is full of places where spotters of winged predators can find joy.

Royal Academy, London
Knives, arrows, guns, nakednessa| the performance art pioneeras blockbuster 50-year retrospective underlines her bravery, yet sells it short with off-key re-enactments by stand-ins

Will you make it through the door of the Royal Academy, where two young people currently face each other, naked, like a pair of human gateposts? Not if you are too tactful (or too portly), afraid of grazing their bare bodies with a sharp buckle or zip. But there is a secret bypass into the next gallery that allows you to watch footage of the original and more startling performance of this artwork, in any case, and avoid the keyed-up RA queues.

Imponderabilia was first staged in 1977 by the Serbian performance artist Marina AbramoviA (born 1946) and her German partner Ulay. A television monitor shows mortified visitors in overcoats pushing rapidly between the eye-to-eye artists. Whatas lost today is not just the potential for shock or social embarrassment but the intense emotional connection between AbramoviA and Ulay. The stand-ins hired for this lavish retrospective resemble, by contrast, detached and slightly fragile models.

Pottery has always played a crucial role in Nigel Slateras cooking, both for the way it elevates a meal and also for the calm sense of fragility it brings to a room. Here, he reveals some of his favourite pieces a and the rising pottery stars to look out for

In the mid-1960s, my parents abandoned their dark blue Willow Pattern tableware, inspired by a Japanese fairytale, for the more minimal Sienna by Midwinter, a graphic design by Jessie Tait made by William Robinson in Stoke-on-Trent. Considering the design of bare, black twigs and stripes of buff and orange as if we had traded in our staid family saloon for a fast sports car.

After years of trying to find my food among the Chinoiserie trees, birds and cherries of the classic Willow Pattern, I could now actually see my dinner in all its meat-and-two-veg glory. Production of Sienna stopped in 1987 when the company became insolvent, but the design continues to get cameo parts in 1960as television dramas as the prop stylistsa go-to tableware of the era. What I took away from this was that food looks better, more comfortable, on the right china.

Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
Jonathan Harveyas breakthrough play still blazes with a stubborn utopian impulse thanks to finely pitched performances and delicately balanced banter

Everyone lives cheek by jowl on this south London estate, but thereas still space for secrets. In Rosie Elnileas smart design, the walkway sits bang at the front of the stage: weare properly involved in this 30th anniversary revival of Jonathan Harveyas breakthrough play.

Life isnat pukka for the teenagers behind those doors. Leah has been excluded, Steas dad and brothers knock him about. Jamie, bright but bullied, lives with mum Sandra in the middle flat, with its jaunty cyan door and hanging basket, a household that wonat be ground down.

When Sandra is in a grump, you know about it. Shvorne Marksa indomitable performance has a salty tongue, blazing heart and a scowl to freeze an unruly childas blood. But she fights for Jamie and willingly offers Ste refuge when his dadas fists are flying.

The boys top and tail in Jamieas bed: soothing bruises with peppermint foot lotion, working towards a first kiss. Rilwan Abiola Owokoniranas circumspect, gangly Jamie and Raphael Akuwudikeas sweet-smiling Ste tenderly chart these pre-digital teens navigating a way into identity, scouring the listings in Gay Times (Lily Savage the resplendent cover girl).

Harveyas play goes to challenging places a violence offstage and on, the fear that lives might already be written off at 16. Anthony Simpson-Pikeas direction knows when to hold a silence, to feel the doubt beneath the banter. Yet even in the bleakest moments, Elliot Griggsa lighting insists on a little magic, glowing with peach and raspberry.

Thereas sweetness too in the performances a Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge as Sandraas boyfriend is pitched on the edge of cringe (studied fist bumps, too-smooth moves), while Scarlett Rayner is fierce yet fragile as retro-obsessed Leah.

Harveyas triumphant 1993 hit heralded a prolific tumble of plays during the subsequent decade; heas also one of Corrieas long-running writers and recently scripted Ian McKellenas Mother Goose. Soap and panto, big heart and shameless gags: they were already there in Beautiful Thing. Itas a bumpy mix, but thereas also a stubborn utopian impulse a an insistence that love will find a way, that lives can take the shape they need.

Vendors and diners at the World Halal food festival agree the industry is booming with good reason

aI donat think thereas anything political or any other motivations to serving halal food. Simply put, why wouldnat you want everyone eating your food?a said Tristan Clough, the co-founder of the fried chicken restaurant Coqfighter. He was one of the several dozen food vendors at the World Halal food festival being held at the London Stadium in Stratford on Saturday.

The event is being held 10 years on from the first halal-centric food festival that was launched in the capital. In the years since, the availability and acceptance of halal food has increased hugely. Finding halal meat in a supermarket is almost a given and the types of cuisines that are available to halal consumers continues to broaden. There are also signs that non-Muslims are seeking out halal food, especially meat, while some of the fastest growing food chains in the UK are Muslim-owned.

Publishing stories like this in England and Wales is fraught with risk a for media groups and accusers

It came as little surprise that the darker corners of the internet were ablaze with conspiracy theories this week, after Russell Brand used his YouTube channel to call the allegations of sexual assault and rape against him a acoordinated attacka and a aserious and concerted agendaa to control his voice.

But even among more mainstream voices, questions were raised about the timing. Toby Young, a former editor at the Spectator, asked if there was a amore innocenta reason why the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches had awaited this long to produce their findingsa, while the British business magnate Alan Sugar tweeted that it was astrangea that multiple people had come forward at the same time.

(Thirty Tigers)
Rock, jazz, Afrofuturisma| the British singer-songwriter is transformed on this record inspired by Chicagoas archive of Black art

Corinne Bailey Raeas most popular songs on Spotify are coffee-shop staples such as Put Your Records On and Like a Star. Nothing to wake the neighbours. By contrast, this is a scream through the letterbox. Bailey Rae originally planned Black Rainbows as a side project, a freewheeling meditation on the history of Black experience she discovered at the Stony Island Arts Bank archive in Chicago. Now itas her best work yet. Although just 45 minutes long, its audacious mix of rock, electronica, jazz and Afrofuturism forms an epic soundtrack narrating journeys to freedom.

Itas not perfect. The first two songs are a sluggish entry point to the Bailey Rae renaissance, before the album explodes with post-punky Erasure, its transgressive fury a pure catharsis mediated through her distorted voice. Next, a smart sequencing of mostly great songs, including the astonishing He Will Follow You With His Eyes, a coquettish, jazzy number that transmutes into something wild and magical as she blankly intones lines such as amy black hair kinking, my black skin gleaminga while the song disintegrates around her. Even better is closer Before the Throne of the Invisible God, on which, metamorphosis complete, she becomes an east Pennine Alice Coltrane. An extraordinary album.

Islamic philosophy offers many teachings that can help people struggling with their mental health

• Making sense of it is a column about spirituality and how it can be used to navigate everyday life

As an Islamic faith leader and a qualified counsellor, people regularly come to me for guidance on all sorts of topics, not just spiritual. Members of my community know that my commitment to them stretches to all parts of their lives, and feel comfortable confiding in me their struggles beyond the realm of Islam.

Thankfully my faith gives me a guide not only for them but for me.

With more and more people prepping for Armageddon, the answers to this question are revealing a whether itas Babybels, cash, crossbows or toilet paper

The author Lauren Groff has become a prepper. aI think everyone should have a go bag right now,a she told National Public Radio (NPR) in the US. aI think every household should have enough food to last through at least two weeks. This is just logical at this point.a

Groff lives in Florida, where dangerously extreme weather has become a fact of life a weare lucky enough to be spared that in the UK, at least for now. But as a semi-professional catastrophist a one apocalyptic sandwich board short of full doom-monger status a am I missing a trick? Should I have a go bag and what should go in it? Online recommendations include water a one of my least favourite fluids a cereal bars, first aid supplies, spare clothes, medication and paperwork. Practical, but short on bells and whistles (actually, they do recommend taking a whistle).

Ed Davey should go big on Europe, the economy and the environment at the party conference this week

aC/ Max von Thun was a political adviser to the Liberal Democrats from 2017 to 2019

After more than a decade of disastrous government under the Conservatives, Britain is ready for change. Yet while the Tories are imploding, and despite the lack of much enthusiasm for Keir Starmeras Labour party, the Liberal Democrats, whose annual party conference is underway in Bournemouth, have so far failed to capitalise.

Labour is unwilling to embrace the bold policies needed to get the UK out of its deepening rut. The closer the country gets to an election, the more eager the party has been to abandon the progressive measures it was previously committed to, from raising taxes for the wealthy and tech giants, to investing heavily in green infrastructure and abolishing the Conservativesa cruel welfare policies. And despite the growing backlash against Brexit and the huge damage it has caused, Starmer a who once campaigned for a second referendum in Jeremy Corbynas cabinet a now refuses to consider rejoining the single market and customs union.

When framing the shortlist for the 2023 bird of the year, we opted for familiar Aussie birds that hold a special place in our hearts

• The Australian bird of the year poll launches today, 25 September 2023

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Those of us who work at Birdlife Australia get asked a lot of questions about birds. Usually, itas to ID a mystery backyard bird. (Nine times out of 10 itas a butcherbird!) Occasionally, we get thrown a much curlier question such as aIs a cassowary a bird?a, aDo birds have penises?a or aWhatas your favourite bird?a.

The answers are: ayesa, afemales donat, but neither do males of most species a they have a cloaca, which is a topic for another daya. And the last question is almost impossible to answer. How can you possibly choose?

Sign up for Guardian Australiaas free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Sean Dooley is national public affairs manager for BirdLife Australia

You can vote in the bird of the year poll from 6am Monday 25 September to 11.59pm Thursday 5 October

A liberal elite out of touch with the conservative instincts of the British people. A political realignment defined by an electorate more culturally conservative but economically leftwing. A working class hostile to liberal norms, especially on immigration.

It is a picture of contemporary politics that many have come to embrace, assiduously promoted as it is by a range of academics and commentators, from conservatives to apostliberalsa. It shapes policies of left and right, from Labouras debates about how to win back the ared walla seats to Rishi Sunakas desperate attempts to turn astop the boatsa into a wedge issue.

aWhat are you going to do about the Sun?a It was the first question Neil Kinnock asked, when a bunch of eager young political advisers setting up a now long-forgotten campaign for Britain to join the single currency begged his advice. By then an EU commissioner, Kinnock had never forgotten the paperas devastating 1992 front page asking the last person left in Britain to turn out the lights if Labour won. But for decades now, his question has haunted the liberal left.

The Murdoch press has earned a fearsome reputation among progressives as a kind of giant toad squatting in the road, blocking the way to everything from higher taxes to gay rights and, above all, closer relations with Europe. Few did more to pave the way for Brexit than the immigrant-bashing, Brussels-baiting Sun, whose once cheeky Euroscepticism had descended by 2015 to the nadir of a Katie Hopkins column describing migrants drowning at sea as cockroaches. aShow me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in the water a| I still donat care,a she wrote. Across the Atlantic, Rupert Murdochas Fox News channel offered a similarly shrill platform for the angry, increasingly paranoid voices who would propel Donald Trump to power. Though he eventually came to regret enabling Trump, when the 92-year-old Murdoch finally relinquished the reins of his empire to his son Lachlan last week, it was with one last defiant populist attack on the aelitesa supposedly setting the political narrative.

Research suggesting that not going on about our emotions is a valid treatment for depression feels like a backwards step for this therapist

A study out this week will probably have the therapeutic community in a spin. According to this report, talking about our emotions may not be good for us. More than that, apparently stoicism a deploying the traditional stiff upper lip a yielded better results than talking therapies when it came to acuringa depression.

Iam a therapist, and this made me think deeply. First, the study was conducted on a very small sample of people, so I wondered how relevant it could be. However, itas also true that it almost shocked me to think that maybe not talking about our emotions was healthier than talking about them.

Headteachers need more support if they are to persuade reluctant pupils to come back

Pretty much everyone with a stake in schools is worried about the current high rate of absenteeism: politicians, school leaders, academic researchers and many parents. The pattern has been clear for a while. The proportion of pupils classified as persistently absent (missing more than one in 10 lessons) has more than doubled in England since the pandemic. From 10.9% in 2018-19, it rose to 22.3% in 2022-23. Data in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales is collected separately because education is devolved, but indicates a similar trend. This weekas report from the research agency Public First, probing attitudes through discussions with focus groups, called the situation a afull-blown national crisisa.

The concern is justified. As the teacher and writer Lola Okolosie observed recently, school is aan anchor to societya. As well as providing lessons, school is where children learn to be with other people. Since the pupils most likely to be absent include those on free school meals and with special educational needs, low attendance is a form of social exclusion.

Progress has been made. But as the wounds of Brexit heal, literature has a key role to play in building a new entente cordiale

It is a running joke in the anglophone literary world that noon on the day that the Nobel prize for literature is announced is an annual moment of collective shame. News of the first Belarusian laureate in 2015 was greeted, according to one writer, by the sound of 10,000 reporters Googling Svetlana Alexievich a though, as Ms Alexievich is herself a distinguished journalist, reporters were on this occasion relatively well placed.

When the French novelist JMG Le ClA(c)zio took the medal seven years earlier, there was no such luck: his novels were nowhere to be found. His most recent translator, Alison Anderson, reported that it had taken multiple rejections on both sides of the Atlantic before his bestseller, Onitsha, was picked up by an American university press. It took a year after the win for Penguin to scramble two of his works into print in the UK as modern classics.

The prime ministeras decision to postpone key climate targets is a cynical betrayal of what really matters, writes Bel Greenwood. Plus letters from Milo Sanders, Jeremy Wight, Charles Wilhelm, Alan Gray and Lillian Adams

I never thought I would fear the summer, but now I do. This year I am grateful that we had a cool, wet summer. But next year? I will never be able to happily anticipate the season again. Instead, I will dread its heat a although not as much as those in unliveable places where lives are being destroyed by fire and floods. That is why Rishi Sunakas dog-whistle weakening of already pitifully inadequate action on the climate emergency is despicable and deadly (Rishi Sunak announces U-turn on key green targets, 20 September).

I am one of those this policy change is designed to appeal to. The cost of living hits me hard and I live month to month. Thereas no way I can replace my ageing hybrid with an electric car. A heat pump is an impossible dream even if I didnat live in private rented accommodation. But this pretence of caring about people like me is a cynical betrayal of what really matters. If Sunak really wanted to make our lives better then he would act faster on net zero and give us a true green new deal.
Bel Greenwood
Norwich

Labels are misunderstood and do little to diminish stigma, writes Chris Bennett

Regarding Matilda Boseleyas article (ADHD has become an identity, not just a disorder. We need a new way to talk about it, 20 September), as someone who has had epilepsy for more than 60 years, I can understand the frustration that someone with ADHD (or indeed any condition) may feel about how people stigmatise their condition.

However, I do not believe that referring to oneself as an ADHD person rather than someone with ADHD is helpful. I, personally, object to being called an epileptic, because my epilepsy does not define me as a person. If Matilda feels that it is right or helpful to identify herself with her condition, then that is her choice. Personally, however, I donat think that anyone personifying themselves in terms of their condition does much to reduce stigma. In my experience, when we use such defining labels, the uninitiated will always tend to think and fear the worst. At best, labels that are misunderstood will increase fear and apprehension and do little to diminish stigma.

Wallabies appeared to give up the ghost against Wales with coachas second spell in charge now an inglorious failure

A penny for the thoughts of Dave Rennie. The former Australia head coach, who was unceremoniously ditched to make room for the Eddie Jones circus, has largely kept his counsel ever since but his views on precisely what to make of this desperately low ebb that the Wallabies have reached would be mandatory listening.

The manner in which Rennie was pushed aside never sat well and you cannot help but see this as comeuppance for Rugby Australia. The second coming of Jones has been an inglorious failure and it will only deepen the wounds for the 63-year-old that it was his old sparring partner Warren Gatland to hammer home the extent of it. By the end of this humiliation, the Wallabies had long since thrown in the towel, Wales playing out a glorified training session.

• Head coach reported to have had pre-World Cup interview
• Jones: aIave got the ability to turn things arounda

Eddie Jones has claimed he is committed to coaching Australia but could not guarantee he would be in charge of the Wallabies next year after a thumping defeat by Wales pushed them to the brink of elimination from the World Cup.

It emerged in a report by the Sydney Morning Herald on the day of the game that Jones had conducted a secret interview to take over as Japan coach after the World Cup, having only returned to the Australia job in January.

• Pool B: Scotland 45-17 Tonga
• Scotsa quarter-final hopes still alive as Tonga pick up red card

It could certainly be said that Scotland were dealt a bad hand when you consider the Pool B draw combined with its scheduling. But itas all about controlling the controllables, so coaches say, and the possibility remains that Gregor Townsendas men will play their unforgiving cards remarkably well.

This sunny and largely satisfying victory against game opponents means another bonus-point win, against Romania in Lille next Saturday, sets up a decisive clash against Ireland in Paris on 7 October.

• Pool C: Wales 40-6 Australia
• Wales score three tries and Anscombe scores 23 points

Australian rugby has had its bleak days and nights but nothing remotely as bad as this. If congratulations are clearly due to Warren Gatlandas Wales for inflicting a record all-time defeat on the Wallabies, this was Eddie Jonesas absolute worst nightmare. His squad are now staring at an embarrassingly early exit from the tournament, having never previously failed to qualify for the knockout stages at a World Cup.

When Jones was rehired in January at vast expense, having lost his job with England, it was not supposed to end like this. If defeat to Fiji was bad this was infinitely worse, with his side barely firing a shot. If the 63-year-oldas appointment was supposed to breathe fresh life into the Wallaby squad, it is increasingly having the opposite effect.

• Carlota Ciganda wins final singles match to secure 14-14 tie
• aDoes it get any better than this? This is a dream come truea

Suzann Pettersen hailed the alegendsa of her European Solheim Cup team after the trophy was retained on a hugely dramatic day in AndalucAa. Carlota Ciganda, a Spaniard, holed the putt which ensured a 14-14 tie with the US and the lifting of the cup by Europe for a record-breaking third time in a row.

aDoes it get any better than this? This is a dream come true,a Pettersen said. aWe had a massive challenge ahead of us. We have created history yet again in the Solheim Cup. These girls are legends.a

• aWe pulled it back today and weare still fighting to the enda
• Ange Postecoglou praises Sonas display at the Emirates

James Maddison said Tottenhamas 2-2 draw at Arsenal was evidence that the club are fast shedding their old aSpursya tag under Ange Postecoglou. The playmaker was outstanding in the north London derby, setting up two equalisers for Son Heung-min to earn a deserved point, and declared talk of a soft centre is a thing of the past.

aFans and neutrals talk about Tottenham, they often say asoft, weak, bottle it, Spursy, all that rubbisha,a he said, referring to a term deployed by rivals fans about their supposed propensity to flop when success is in sight. aI think the last couple of weeks shows we might be going in a slightly different direction.

Free-flowing rugby on show in the demolition of Chile leaves Englandas coach with a tricky decision before the Samoa test

In a town once known as athe casino of the foresta, where Ian Fleming would come to write his James Bond novels and find time for the odd game of cards, Steve Borthwick has much to ponder as England head into their World Cup rest week. Namely: to stick or twist.

The squad has largely dispersed for a few days with England not due to resume training until Thursday a their next match against Samoa is not until 7 October a so Borthwick has plenty of thinking time. Summer has turned to autumn in Le Touquet and the population is dwindling so a few long walks may be in order because Englandas performance in the 71-0 win over Chile has provided him with food for thought.

• Blues 14th in Premier League and failed to score in three games
• aPlayers, when they are young, need to learn and make mistakesa

Mauricio Pochettino told Chelsea to grow up after his young side continued their miserable start to the season by losing Malo Gusto to a red card and falling to a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea, who lie 14th in the table despite spending APS1bn on signings since last yearas takeover by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, looked short of nous as they lost at home for the second consecutive game. Gustoas red card was avoidable and Pochettino was unhappy with Nicolas Jackson, who picked up his fifth booking of the season after trying to stop Villa from taking a free-kick.

• Final: Southern Vipers, 203-5, bt the Blaze, 200-8, by 5 wkts
• Vipersa Emily Windsor scores unbeaten 57

Southern Vipers beat the Blaze by five wickets in the final of the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy at Northampton on Sunday, chasing down their target of 201 with an unbeaten 57 from Emily Windsor.

The run chase was not without nerves: the Blazeas 19-year-old leg-spinner Josie Groves took three wickets in eight balls straight after the drinks break to reduce the Vipers to 109 for five, including having Georgia Elwiss caught behind immediately after bringing up her 50.

As Newcastleas players and staff stood in a line applauding the supporters serenading them in the lower bank of the Bramall Lane Stand after a record-breaking away win, the clock on the scoreboard looking back at them was still ticking away. It was a good job then that, by that point, Sheffield Unitedas players had long since traipsed down the tunnel, such was Newcastleas overwhelming appetite to put on a show, persistently pushing to cut a little bit deeper.

It was in effect game over inside 35 minutes, by which point Eddie Howeas side were three goals to the good, but Newcastle were relentless, bloodthirsty and ended up bludgeoning the hosts to the tune of eight goals to nil, for their biggest away league win. Stuart McCall, the Sheffield United assistant manager, could not bear to look as Alexander Isak got in on the act, covering his face as the substitute wheeled away in celebration after adding a history-making eighth, the first time there have been eight different scorers in a Premier League match.

• Ethiopian clocks 2hr 11 min 53sec in Berlin, fastest by 2min 11sec
• Assefaas Adidas trainers aenhanced by unique technologya

On the stillest of Berlin mornings, a tsunami of a performance.

It came from Ethiopiaas Tigist Assefa, who over 26.2 astonishing miles redefined what many thought was possible in the womenas marathon as she blew the world record to smithereens in a time of 2hr 11min 53sec. The fact the 26-year-old Ethiopian shattered the previous best, set by Brigid Kosgei in 2019, by 2min 11sec was remarkable enough. Yet the way she powered home through the Brandenburg Gate suggested she could go even quicker still.

Attempt to show Labour as aanti-motorista at forefront of Conservative pre-election campaign

After a week in which Rishi Sunak rowed back on the UKas climate commitments and delayed a ban on petrol cars, it seems he is making a pitch to drivers a key part of his pre-election campaign. Here are the wedge issues the Tories are expected to deploy against Labour to paint them as aanti-motorista:

Sam Woods, head of the Bankas financial stability watchdog, says lenders have only shown they can survive aslow burna changes to temperatures

aC/ Sam Woods interview: aItas the most intense period since the financial crisisa

The climate crisis has pushed the Bank of England to consider stringent new tests for lenders to see how they would cope in an aextremea catastrophe that plunges aWestminster under watera and sparks a rapid change in government policies.

Sam Woods, the boss of the UKas financial stability watchdog, suggested that the City needed to be put through a more rigorous scenario, having so far only proven that banks and insurers could survive aslow burna changes over a span of 30 years.

Politics get in the way as the EUas three largest economies, also its biggest polluters, fall short of cleaning up their act

Germany, France and Italy have pledged to hit net zero emissions around the middle of the century in a bid to stop weather from growing more extreme.

But the EUas three biggest economies a and polluters a are all struggling to meet their goals.

Former Cop26 chair says emissions cuts must be made elsewhere and ministers must show how they plan to achieve this

Alok Sharma, the former Tory cabinet minister who chaired the landmark Cop26 UN summit in Glasgow, has warned Rishi Sunak that he will now have to find other ways to cut emissions if the UK is to meet its international climate obligations, following last weekas dramatic U-turns on green policy.

In his first comments since Sunakas announcement on Wednesday, Sharma told the Observer that arolling back on certain policies will mean we need to find emissions reductions elsewhere, if we are to meet our legally binding near term carbon budgets and our internationally committed 2030 emissions reduction targeta.

Exclusive: More than a dozen civil servants from different departments have moved to party in past 18 months

• UK politics live a latest updates

Labour is recruiting a growing number of civil servants to bolster its preparations for government, with officials hired from No 10, the Treasury and other government departments.

Having poached Sue Gray, the party has been on a wider hiring spree across Whitehall for roles including covering data science, economic growth and engagement with businesses, the Guardian can reveal.

Police confirm arrest of 31-year-old, after a mother left a family assessment centre with two infants on Tuesday

A woman has been arrested after two children missing for five days from a centre for vulnerable mothers and children in London were found asafe and wella in Essex, police have said.

Jamie-Leigh Kelly, 31, left a family assessment centre in north-west London on Tuesday with her three-year-old daughter and newborn baby boy.

Much-delayed APS38.6m project brings works from 1800 to 1945 together for the first time as single collection

A suite of new galleries built to present work by many of Scotlandas most famous artists, including the Glasgow Boys, Phoebe Anna Traquair and Charles Rennie Mackintosh, opens to the public this week.

For the first time, the galleries in Edinburgh will showcase significant pieces of Scottish art held by National Galleries Scotland in a single collection, after a much-delayed construction project that involved digging out new space beside the Mound in the city centre.

Academics say late queenas letters and diaries should be preserved in full by the National Archives

Queen Elizabeth IIas personal letters and diaries should be preserved in full in the National Archives, a leading academic has said.

Paul Whybrew, a retired footman and one of the late queenas closest aides, has been appointed to sort through her private papers before they are transferred to the royal archive in Windsor, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Exclusive: Figures seen by the Guardian show lengthy wait times for diagnostic tests such as ultrasound and CT scans

Some patients in England are waiting up to two-and-a-half years for important diagnostic tests such as ultrasound, MRI and CT scans, according to figures seen by the Guardian.

The longest waits were two-and-a-half years for an MRI scan, almost two years for an ultrasound and a year for a CT scan, responses to freedom of information requests by the Liberal Democrats show.

Exclusive: Party also calls for an investigation into aissuesa with the Cabinet Officeas inquiry sign-off process

Boris Johnson should pay back his taxpayer-funded legal fees for the Partygate inquiry and an investigation into aissuesa with the Cabinet Officeas sign-off process should be launched, Labour has said.

Pat McFadden, the shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, said the APS265,000 bill should be looked into after a critical report was published this week by the National Audit Office.

Watchdog thought to be including guidance on its afit and propera test for non-financial misconduct

The City watchdog is proposing to toughen its afit and proper personsa test to crack down on workplace misconduct in an effort to make the finance industry a safer work environment for women.

In a consultation paper to be published on Monday, the Financial Conduct Authority will put forward stricter rules against abusers and regulated firms that may have failed to punish offenders.

Return of the largest asteroid sample ever to be recovered marks the culmination of a seven-year journey

Sitting isolated in the arid landscape of the Utah desert, its orange and white parachute cast aside, the Osiris-Rex capsule was a picture of stillness. Yet all around, scientists were swinging into action, rushing to recover its precious cargo: 4.6bn-year-old chunks of space rock.

Racing towards the scene were four helicopters bearing scientists, engineers and military safety personnel. Their mission: to recover the capsule as quickly as possible to prevent samples of asteroid Bennu from becoming contaminated by planet Earth.

Ex-president reportedly told Gen Mark Milley in 2019 that severely wounded soldier should be banned from public appearances

Pete Buttigieg, the US transport secretary and a military veteran, has criticized Donald Trump after a report that he sought to bar a severely wounded veteran from public appearances during his presidency.

In an interview with the Atlantic, Mark Milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said Trump had been irritated after Luis Avila a who lost a leg and suffered brain damage after an IED attack in Afghanistan a sang at Milleyas 2019 welcome ceremony.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is just the latest voice in a Democratic chorus calling for the New Jersey senator to leave office

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has joined the calls for Bob Menendez to resign, after the Democratic US senator from New Jersey was charged with accepting gold bars, a Mercedes-Benz and other gifts as bribes.

Speaking on Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez said the charges against Menendez were aextremely seriousa and he should step down.

Former US president, who has been in ill health for several years, is set to turn 99 on 1 October

Former president Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, have made a surprise appearance at a peanut festival in their Georgia home town, the Carter Center wrote in a social media post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The former president, who was also once a peanut farmer, and his wife are seen in a video riding through the Plains Peanut Festival in a black SUV.

Centre-left entrepreneur wins 56.69% of vote in stunning and unprecedented rise afrom nowherea

Stefanos Kasselakis, an outsider with no previous experience of politics in Greece, has emerged the victor of an electric race to lead the leftwing Syriza, the countryas main opposition party.

The Greek-American entrepreneur, who announced his candidacy for the post barely four weeks ago, attained 56.69% of the vote against 43.31% for Efi Achtsioglou, a former labour minister who had long been viewed as the favourite. Kasselakisa win now makes him one of the most powerful people in Greece.

Emmanuel Macron says he will consult coup leaders on withdrawal after two months of defying their expulsion order

France will withdraw its ambassador from Niger followed by the French military contingent in the next months, Emmanuel Macron has said in the aftermath of the coup in the west African country that ousted the pro-Paris president.

The French presidentas announcement appeared to end two months of defiance in which Parisas ambassador had been kept in place in Niamey despite coup leaders ordering him to leave.

A Washington Post-ABC poll showed results that diverge from most other surveys, and even the pollers made a caveat

A new Washington Post-ABC poll showing Joe Biden trailing his presidential predecessor Donald Trump by 10 percentage points was excoriated by leading political pollster Larry Sabato.

Noting that the pollsters themselves cautioned that their survey was an outlier, Sabato a the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia a called the decision to release it aridiculousa.

Putin seen playing table tennis and accompanying then mayor of St Petersburg on fishing trip

Video footage has emerged showing an awkward-looking Vladimir Putin wearing a shell suit and sporting a longer haircut on a visit to Finland during the early 1990s.

The Finnish broadcaster YLE obtained the previously unseen amateur film from an anonymous source. It was shot on a May Day holiday soon after Putin a then about 40 and a KGB officer a had become an adviser to Anatoly Sobchak, the mayor of St Petersburg at the time.

Former White House aide to Trumpas chief of staff tells CBS News Sunday Morning she acould not go back to my apartmenta

The former Donald Trump White House aide who became a pivotal January 6 witness remembers wanting to make a last-minute run for it before delivering her crucial testimony about the US Capitol attack that the defeated presidentas supporters staged.

But Cassidy Hutchinson kept her nerve, and the cost of breaking ranks with Trump and his fanatical supporters was steep.

Danish company says complications with non-oil-based materials would have entailed higher total carbon emissions

Lego has stopped a project to make bricks from recycled drinks bottles instead of oil-based plastic, saying it would have led to higher carbon emissions over the productas lifetime.

The move, first reported by the Financial Times, followed efforts by the worldas largest toymaker to research more sustainable materials, as part of a wave of companies reassessing their contribution to global emissions as the climate crisis hits.

Millions of Democrats and independents view Trumpa time in office as a disaster but for supporters it is his biggest asset

Wearing a shirt festooned with countless images of Donald Trump, Leverne Martin was looking cheerful for a man who had set off from Poplar Bluff, Missouri, at 9pm and driven through the night, arriving in Dubuque, Iowa, at 5.30am. When did he intend to sleep?

aAs soon as President Trump is back in the White House,a the 55-year-old handyman replied without missing a beat. aIf we donat get him back in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where he belongs, weare in a mess, man. Thatas why Iam voting for President Trump. Thatas why I drove nine hours.a

In his new book, Technofeudalism, the maverick Greek economist says we are witnessing an epochal shift. At his island home of Aegina, he argues itas no longer the global finance system that shapes us, but the afiefdomsa of tech firms

What could be more delightful than a trip to Greece to meet Yanis Varoufakis, the charismatic leftwing firebrand who tried to stick it to the man, AKA the IMF, EU and entire global financial order? The mental imagery I have before the visit is roughly two parts Zorba the Greek to one part an episode of BBC series Holiday from the Jill Dando era: blue skies, blue sea, maybe some plate breaking in a jolly taverna. What Iam not expecting is a wall of flames rippling across a hillside next to the highway from the airport and a plume of black smoke billowing across the carriageway.

Because even a modernist villa on a hillside on the island of Aegina a a fast ferry ride from the port of Piraeus and the summer bolthole of chic Athenians a is not the sanctuary from the modern world that it might once have been. The house is where Varoufakis and his wife, landscape artist Danae Stratou, live, year round since the pandemic, but in August 2023 at the end of a summer of heatwaves and extreme weather conditions across the world, it feels more than a little apocalyptic. The sun is a dim orange orb struggling to shine through a haze of smoke while a shower of fine ash falls invisibly from the sky. A month later, two yearsa worth of rain will fall in a single day in northern Greece, causing a biblical deluge and never-before-seen levels of flooding.

Robert Roberson was convicted of murdering his two-year-old daughter on the basis of the now largely discredited shaken baby syndrome theory

On a frigid evening in January 2018, Brian Wharton was sitting at home in Hawkins, a small town in the backcountry of east Texas, when there was a knock on the door. A woman introduced herself as a lawyer working to spare the life of Robert Roberson, a death row inmate who had come within four days of execution.

Wharton immediately understood the significance of this visit. He was a retired detective from the police department in Palestine, another small town about 80 miles away, and in 2002 he had been involved in a case that stuck in his memory.

Nikki, who shortly before she died had been placed in Robersonas custody, was chronically sick almost from birth. She suffered bouts of breathing apnea which caused her suddenly to stop breathing and collapse. Shortly before her father rushed her to hospital, she had had diarrhea for five days and had a fever of 104.5F (40.3C).

Nikki also had severe undiagnosed pneumonia.

She had been prescribed medications, including an opioid, that are no longer considered safe for children as they can cause fatal breathing problems and oxygen deprivation.

The sexual assault allegation was unsupported by any evidence, and the nurse who raised it was unqualified to identify it.

Nearly a dozen US football players have died of heat in recent years as teams reckon with training in a changing climate

At the end of a pre-season football practice in late July, Myzelle Law, a 19-year-old defensive lineman for MidAmerica Nazarene University in Kansas, returned to the locker room, and began showing signs of seizure. It was hot outside, but Lawas internal body temperature had reached 108F (42.2C), his family said. He died about a week later, of heat-related illness.

Last summer, the same thing happened to the 17-year-old lineman Phillip Laster Jr, a rising senior at Brandon high school in Mississippi. In 2021, 16-year-old Drake Geiger, a player for Omaha South high school in Nebraska, died after collapsing on a practice field.

The lungfish arrived in San Francisco on a steamship along with 230 other fish. Today, sheas the only living aquatic animal from that vessel

Sheas super-gentle, and doesnat get overly excited. She enjoys eating earthworms, fruits and vegetables, and slowly moving around her tank. Her favorite food a at least for what is in season now a is a fig.

If Methuselah sounds like a grand old dame, itas because she is: she is the oldest living fish in captivity, aged somewhere upwards of 92 and potentially as high as 101 years. She arrived on a steamship from Australia along with 230 other fish to the Steinhart aquarium in San Francisco in 1938 as a young, small fish. And Methuselahas story unfolded in a typical way, for a fish in an aquarium: she grew. Humans came to look at her. She peered back through glass at humans.

With millennials putting off children due to cost of living pressures, Chinaas economy could be derailed by its growing number of grey hairs

• Jobs, local services and welfare strain under economyas structural faults

Cici, 27, doesnat want to have a baby until sheas at least 35. Her mother is putting pressure on her to get married and ahave a stable lifea, but with a busy job at a tech company in Beijing a while also completing a masteras degree in law a she hardly has the time to think about starting a family.

Cicias story is not unique; across the world, young women are putting off marriage and childbirth for longer than their mothers did. However, in China the phenomenon is so acute that last year the population shrank by 850,000, the first decline in more than 50 years, as the birthrate fell to a record low.

Anitta, Lauryn Hill and Charlize Theron were some of the A-listers welcoming a Central Park crowd for the philanthropically minded music event

aYou all look really good wet!a said Charlize Theron as she took to the stage at the New York City leg of the Global Citizen festival and gazed out on to a drenched crowd flaunting an array of colorful ponchos. aThanks for coming out in the rain, I know itas hard but we love seeing your beautiful faces out there.a

For a concert meant to raise awareness of climate change (among the litany of other ills facing Mother Earth and its people), the unforgiving torrential rain that took hold of Central Park throughout the length of the five-hour concert, which featured the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lauryn Hill and BTS member Jungkook, almost seemed appropriate, if it werenat so uncomfortable.

Mayor Max III carries the mantle of the golden retrievers who went before him, led by his human chief of staff

A sandy-haired hedonist with a penchant for hamburgers and kissing babies a on paper, Mayor Max III might seem like your typical US congressman. In reality, heas the only politician in the world who can close his mouth on command, according to his chief of staff (and owner), Phyllis Mueller.

She dangles a treat above his snout as he demonstrates. aGood boy, Max!a she says.

Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
Jonathan Harveyas breakthrough play still blazes with a stubborn utopian impulse thanks to finely pitched performances and delicately balanced banter

Everyone lives cheek by jowl on this south London estate, but thereas still space for secrets. In Rosie Elnileas smart design, the walkway sits bang at the front of the stage: weare properly involved in this 30th anniversary revival of Jonathan Harveyas breakthrough play.

Life isnat pukka for the teenagers behind those doors. Leah has been excluded, Steas dad and brothers knock him about. Jamie, bright but bullied, lives with mum Sandra in the middle flat, with its jaunty cyan door and hanging basket, a household that wonat be ground down.

When Sandra is in a grump, you know about it. Shvorne Marksa indomitable performance has a salty tongue, blazing heart and a scowl to freeze an unruly childas blood. But she fights for Jamie and willingly offers Ste refuge when his dadas fists are flying.

The boys top and tail in Jamieas bed: soothing bruises with peppermint foot lotion, working towards a first kiss. Rilwan Abiola Owokoniranas circumspect, gangly Jamie and Raphael Akuwudikeas sweet-smiling Ste tenderly chart these pre-digital teens navigating a way into identity, scouring the listings in Gay Times (Lily Savage the resplendent cover girl).

Harveyas play goes to challenging places a violence offstage and on, the fear that lives might already be written off at 16. Anthony Simpson-Pikeas direction knows when to hold a silence, to feel the doubt beneath the banter. Yet even in the bleakest moments, Elliot Griggsa lighting insists on a little magic, glowing with peach and raspberry.

Thereas sweetness too in the performances a Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge as Sandraas boyfriend is pitched on the edge of cringe (studied fist bumps, too-smooth moves), while Scarlett Rayner is fierce yet fragile as retro-obsessed Leah.

Harveyas triumphant 1993 hit heralded a prolific tumble of plays during the subsequent decade; heas also one of Corrieas long-running writers and recently scripted Ian McKellenas Mother Goose. Soap and panto, big heart and shameless gags: they were already there in Beautiful Thing. Itas a bumpy mix, but thereas also a stubborn utopian impulse a an insistence that love will find a way, that lives can take the shape they need.

Publishing stories like this in England and Wales is fraught with risk a for media groups and accusers

It came as little surprise that the darker corners of the internet were ablaze with conspiracy theories this week, after Russell Brand used his YouTube channel to call the allegations of sexual assault and rape against him a acoordinated attacka and a aserious and concerted agendaa to control his voice.

But even among more mainstream voices, questions were raised about the timing. Toby Young, a former editor at the Spectator, asked if there was a amore innocenta reason why the Times, the Sunday Times and Channel 4 Dispatches had awaited this long to produce their findingsa, while the British business magnate Alan Sugar tweeted that it was astrangea that multiple people had come forward at the same time.

Designer revisits his lifelong interest in science, with iridescent silks and undulating 3D layers

Giorgio Armani may be the worldas most recognisable designer, but as the 89-year-old wrote in his autobiography, his childhood ambition was to be a physician.

While that particular goal eluded him, at his fashion show in Milan on Sunday afternoon he revisited his lifelong interest in science, citing his inspiration for his new collection as avibrationsa.

Weare often told the current crop lack the dignity that monarchy deserves. But what about the losers, adulterers and delusional brutes who came before?

• Read an extract from Unruly, David Mitchellas new book about the kings and queens of England

What will become of the royal family? That is a question people have been asking since the regime change of 2022. What sort of a state has that family got itself into? Can it survive in this form? The Queen Mother must be spinning in her grave, people think. The late Queen must have already been spinning as she was lowered into hers. All the mouldering bones of their hundreds of dead relatives, clustered at Westminster and Windsor but also dotted all over the place a Gloucester, Worcester, Reading, various places in Normandy, that car park in Leicester a must all be revolving with such vigour that, as a subterranean energy source, it represents a viable alternative to fracking.

The public rift between William and Harry (with the latter emigrating alongside his wife amid talk of vindictive and racist treatment by family and courtiers, and then selling a tell-all book about it), the festering wound of Prince Andrewas reputation and the kingas bad-temperedness about his pen all seem to show that royal dignity and probity have disappeared. Itas a family riddled with marital infidelity and divorce. A long and noble tradition is foundering under the glare of the internet age. aWhy is this happening?a people ask.

Human rights lawyers are working with Ukraineas public prosecutor to prepare dossier to submit to the international criminal court

Human rights lawyers working with Ukraineas public prosecutor are preparing a war crimes dossier to submit to the international criminal court (ICC) accusing Russia of deliberately causing starvation during the 18-month-long conflict.

The aim is to document instances where the Russian invaders used hunger as a weapon of war, providing evidence for the ICC to launch the first prosecution of its kind that could indict the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy gives awards to Polish volunteers but does not meet officials amid strained relations with Warsaw

• See all our Ukraine coverage

Human beings have, ever since they developed distinct cultures, always worried that their purity might soon be blemished. In ancient Greece, Therpandrus caused offence by adding an extra string to his lyre. In 16th-century China, the emperor ordered all seafaring ships destroyed because of fears about the cultural changes that foreign trade missions might induce. In 19th-century Germany, the composer Richard Wagner worried that Jews might spoil the authenticity of German culture.

Traditionally, it has been the right that opposed and the left that defended new cultural influences. But, in recent years, many progressives have also started to worry about ways in which cultures might cross-pollinate. While they celebrate a great variety of traditional cultures, they now warn about the dangers of acultural appropriationa.

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk

aWhat are you going to do about the Sun?a It was the first question Neil Kinnock asked, when a bunch of eager young political advisers setting up a now long-forgotten campaign for Britain to join the single currency begged his advice. By then an EU commissioner, Kinnock had never forgotten the paperas devastating 1992 front page asking the last person left in Britain to turn out the lights if Labour won. But for decades now, his question has haunted the liberal left.

The Murdoch press has earned a fearsome reputation among progressives as a kind of giant toad squatting in the road, blocking the way to everything from higher taxes to gay rights and, above all, closer relations with Europe. Few did more to pave the way for Brexit than the immigrant-bashing, Brussels-baiting Sun, whose once cheeky Euroscepticism had descended by 2015 to the nadir of a Katie Hopkins column describing migrants drowning at sea as cockroaches. aShow me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in the water a| I still donat care,a she wrote. Across the Atlantic, Rupert Murdochas Fox News channel offered a similarly shrill platform for the angry, increasingly paranoid voices who would propel Donald Trump to power. Though he eventually came to regret enabling Trump, when the 92-year-old Murdoch finally relinquished the reins of his empire to his son Lachlan last week, it was with one last defiant populist attack on the aelitesa supposedly setting the political narrative.

Best-selling American author says the new Netflix-endorsed city break doesnat show the best features of her adopted home a free preschool, university and healthcare

The news flashed up like a red bA(c)ret: Netflix has endorsed a real-life Emily in Paris-themed trip to the French capital, based on its hit TV show. The four-night visit includes a masterclass on athe art of flirtinga (taught by a woman meant to resemble Emilyas cruel-but-sexy boss); a lesson on baking pain au chocolat; optional runs along the Seine, like Emily takes in the series; and many evening apA(c)ros.

There is no shortage of Emily-themed activities in Paris. The tourist office publishes its own guide to destinations from the show, and there are dozens of unofficial tours (several warn participants not to attempt their three-hour walks wearing stilettos). Last autumn I attended an Americanas Emily-themed bar mitzvah here; the party T-shirt had stars of David inserted into the cross-hatches of the Eiffel Tower.

Political assassination is a practice as old as human society, although the term itself derives from the 12th-century Persian Order of Assassins, first described by Marco Polo. Julius Caesar, Thomas Becket, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Leon Trotsky, John F Kennedy, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Olof Palme and Yevgeny Prigozhin were victims of notorious political assassinations. They had one thing in common: all were high-profile targets.

That is not a description that may be accurately applied to Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen shot dead in June by two masked gunmen outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia. If Nijjar had any claim to fame, it was as a campaigner for Khalistan, a notional Sikh homeland in the Indian Punjab fiercely opposed by Indiaas government. His activism provides the only plausible motive for his murder. Little-known though he was, Nijjaras death was a political assassination, too.

Liz Truss is back in the news, but a small state is out of fashion a or at least with the punters. The new British social attitudes survey finds that seven in 10 of us think itas definitely governmentas job to control prices, up from three in 10 in 2006. Only 30% wanted public spending increased in 2009; now thatas 55%.

This has libertarians turning in their Tufton Street graves. But they should relax. Partly thatas because the surge in support for big government shouldnat be a surprise and may be temporary. The survey was carried out in autumn 2022, when people faced unpayable energy bills without government support. And it followed a pandemic posing health and economic challenges individuals couldnat hope to address alone.

• Miami narrowly miss NFL record score in 70-20 victory
• New Orleans lose Derek Carr to shoulder injury

The Miami Dolphins scored the most points in a game by an NFL team since 1966, overwhelming the Denver Broncos 70-20 on Sunday behind rookie speedster DeaVon Achaneas 203 yards rushing and Tua Tagovailoaas no-look shovel-pass TD.

The Dolphins set a franchise record for scoring and finished two points shy of the NFLas regular-season record a set in 1966 when Washington scored 72 points against the Giants. They are the fourth team in NFL history to score at least 70 points in a regular-season or playoff game. Many of their starters, including Tagovailoa and star receiver Tyreek Hill, did not play in the fourth quarter.

Midfielderas two assists were a sign of his effortless confidence, an attribute which could be crucial to Project Postecoglou

Shortly before kick-off here, James Maddison announced on Sky Sports that this was a bad time to play Spurs. Arsenal, Maddison explained with a patient smile, would be regretting the timing of this north London derby, would in effect already be afraid, already losing that small but significant battle. So, like, thatas just the way it is.

Even better, Maddison explained all this while sitting in a private box decorated with a bespoke Maddison mural featuring assorted Maddison mottos and Maddison logos plus a huge picture of his own dog. aYeah, they said you can decorate it how you want,a he explained. aMy question was, whereas the line a|?a

• Ethiopian clocks 2hr 11 min 53sec in Berlin, fastest by 2min 11sec
• Assefaas Adidas trainers aenhanced by unique technologya

On the stillest of Berlin mornings, a tsunami of a performance.

It came from Ethiopiaas Tigist Assefa, who over 26.2 astonishing miles redefined what many thought was possible in the womenas marathon as she blew the world record to smithereens in a time of 2hr 11min 53sec. The fact the 26-year-old Ethiopian shattered the previous best, set by Brigid Kosgei in 2019, by 2min 11sec was remarkable enough. Yet the way she powered home through the Brandenburg Gate suggested she could go even quicker still.

• Blues 14th in Premier League and failed to score in three games
• aPlayers, when they are young, need to learn and make mistakesa

Mauricio Pochettino told Chelsea to grow up after his young side continued their miserable start to the season by losing Malo Gusto to a red card and falling to a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea, who lie 14th in the table despite spending APS1bn on signings since last yearas takeover by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, looked short of nous as they lost at home for the second consecutive game. Gustoas red card was avoidable and Pochettino was unhappy with Nicolas Jackson, who picked up his fifth booking of the season after trying to stop Villa from taking a free-kick.

• Gripping contest with US comes down to narrowest of margins
• Carlota Ciganda holds nerve in match against Nelly Korda

The good news is, there is another Solheim Cup in 12 monthsa time. If events at Marco Simone in Rome, where male players from Europe and the US take centre stage from Friday, are a patch on this then golf fans should prepare for a Ryder Cup for the ages. This Solheim Cup was not a one-off, either; time and again it throws up enthralling contests, decided by fabulous golf and the narrowest of margins. Womenas golf is in terrific shape.

Suzann Pettersenas European team are history-makers. For the first time, they have lifted the Solheim Cup three times in succession. The trophy was retained in Spain, with the scores locked at 14-14. Carlota Ciganda, the home hero, fittingly was the one to hole the crucial putt. This was the first time the Solheim Cup had been played on Spanish soil. aI love Europe, I love Spain, I love the Solheim Cup,a declared an emotional Ciganda. The feeling appeared mutual.

• No 10 Oregon win 42-6 over No 19 Colorado in Eugene
• Oregon coach says team is arooted in substance not flasha
• Deion Sanders has struck fear into the establishment

Turns out Colorado wasnat quite ready for Oregonas version of prime time.

Bo Nix threw three touchdown passes and the No 10 Ducks emphatically slammed the brakes on Deion Sandersa aCinderella storya, routing the 19th-ranked Buffaloes 42-6 on Saturday.

Much of the attention this season has been on two superteams: the Aces and Liberty. But their playoff opponents are capable of causing upsets

The 2023 WNBA season has been defined by superteams, with the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces and the new-look New York Liberty claiming the top two seeds in the league before sweeping their way through the first round of the playoffs. And that new superteam shine has benefitted the league, with viewership up 21%, making this the WNBAas most watched season in 21 years.

But even with the array of talent in Las Vegas and New York, the league is deeper overall than ever, with stars sprinkled throughout the country. In fact, all 12 teams had at least one All-Star this season. And some teams had two, including the No 4 seed Dallas Wings, who will meet the Aces in one semi-final matchup, which starts on Sunday, and the No 3 ranked Sun, who will tip off against the Liberty on the other side of the country.

• Hamilton and teammate George Russell involved in direct tussle
• Veteran Briton comes fifth, Russell seventh; Verstappen wins

Lewis Hamilton has demanded Mercedes address their tactics when managing the racing between himself and his teammate George Russell after the pair repeatedly vied with one another at the Japanese Grand Prix. Hamilton said it was time Mercedes ensure the pair worked as a team.

While Max Verstappen cantered to a win at the front of the field for Red Bull, Hamilton and Russell were locked in the most lengthy and fractious showdown on track the pair have entered into all season, with both drivers giving no quarter. Hamilton ultimately finished fifth and Russell seventh, the latter on a one-stop strategy compared to Hamiltonas two-stopper.

Erin Dupreeas Loonacy Cannabis Co reportedly sold products stronger than recently enacted marijuana legalization allowed

The recently appointed director of Minnesotaas new marijuana regulatory agency, Erin Dupree, has resigned amid reports that she sold illegal cannabis products in the state.

Dupree ran a business that sold products exceeding state limits on THC potency, owed money to former associates and accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in tax liens, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

US says it is disappointed prime minister Manasseh Sogavare will not attend Mondayas summit, amid race for influence with China

The White House has said it is disappointed the Solomon Islands prime minister, Manasseh Sogavare, will not attend a Pacific Islands summit with Joe Biden next week.

The US president will host a second summit with leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum at the White House on Monday as part of his efforts to step up engagement with a region where the US is in a battle for influence with China.

Fundraising down 48% as Movement Voter Projectas director says asense of urgencya has adissipated in peopleas mindsa

Progressive political fundraising in America is facing a crisis, according to a leading Democratic grassroots donor organization, which warned this month that donations to progressive groups are away down in 2023 across the boarda.

According to the Movement Voter Project, progressives have aa five-alarm fire going into 2024a. The organizationas director, Bill Wimsatt, said he was apressing the panic buttona because donor inaction is creating a movement-wide crisis.

Officials plan to evacuate thousands of displaced people from region after Azerbaijani military offensive

The first several hundred refugees from war-torn Nagorno-Karabakh have crossed into Armenian territory, as a historic evacuation begins that could lead to a mass exodus of ethnic Armenians while Azerbaijan appears on the brink of taking control of the breakaway region.

They are the first civilians to have crossed from Nagorno-Karabakh into Armenia in nearly a year, reuniting families after a 10-month blockade and an intensive Azerbaijan military offensive this week that has left hundreds dead, wounded or missing.

Academics say late queenas letters and diaries should be preserved in full by the National Archives

Queen Elizabeth IIas personal letters and diaries should be preserved in full in the National Archives, a leading academic has said.

Paul Whybrew, a retired footman and one of the late queenas closest aides, has been appointed to sort through her private papers before they are transferred to the royal archive in Windsor, according to the Mail on Sunday.

Human rights group says Rahile Dawut lost appeal after being convicted in 2018 on charges of promoting asplittisma

A leading Uyghur professor who disappeared six years ago is reported to have sentenced to life in prison by Chinese authorities for aendangering state securitya.

Rahile Dawut, 57, who specialises in the study of Uyghur folklore and traditions and is considered an expert in her field, lost an appeal over her sentence after being convicted in 2018 on charges of promoting asplittisma, according to the US-based Dui Hua Foundation human rights group.

Sundayas attack marks serious escalation in Kosovo after months of mounting tensions with Serbia

A standoff between gunmen and Kosovo authorities at a monastery near the border with Serbia ended after four people were killed, authorities in Pristina said, after a police operation to regain control of the area.

aWe put this territory under control. It was done after several consecutive battles,a Xhelal Svecla, Kosovoas minister of internal affairs, told reporters after the standoff was over.

Around 40,000 gather at rally in Madrid over potential pardon for activists, ahead of vote to decide election results

At least 40,000 people gathered in Madrid on Sunday to protest over a possible amnesty for people who took part in a failed push for Catalan independence six years ago, whichthrew Spain into its worst political crisis in decades.

The divisive issue of an amnesty arose after Julyas inconclusive general election. The conservative Peopleas party (PP) finished first, defeating the governing Spanish Socialist Workersa party (PSOE) but falling well short of an overall majority.

Manufacturers expect levy agreed in Brexit deal to hand chunk of market to global firms, including China

Car giants including Renault, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have called on EU leaders to aact nowa and delay plans for a 10% tariff on electric car exports from Europe.

Renaultas chief, Luca de Meo, led the calls, saying that if the EU did not take action then policymakers would simply be ahanding a chunk of the market to global manufacturersa including Chinese companies, which are making significant inroads.

Event organisers say itas acrunch timea for pope as scandal and bigotry drive Church members to leave

They make up more than half its membership, they have been denied a say for centuries in the way it is run: but, early next month, women will gather in Rome for a process that they hope can bring the Catholic churchas thinking on female equality into the 21st century.

The central event is a mass listening exercise announced by Pope Francis in 2021, the synod on synodality. Its delegates will meet in Rome throughout October to discern the future direction of key issues in the church; and at the forefront of soundings already taken across the 1.3 billion-strong Catholic church across the globe has been the role of women.

Five of aafro-trapa pioneeras fellow defendants also imprisoned over killing in what prosecutors said was a fight between rival gangs

French rapper MHD has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for the 2018 murder of a young man in Paris who was rammed with a car before being set upon by a mob and stabbed.

Five of his fellow defendants were also jailed over the killing, receiving terms of between 10 and 18 years over what prosecutors said was a fight between rival gangs. Three other men were acquitted.

Japan hopes the fair in 2025 will reconnect it with the global community after Covid but calls are growing to delay or scrap the event

In the distance, beyond the clouds of sand kicked up by a coastal wind and passing lorries, the centrepiece of Osakaas plan to areconnect the worlda is finally taking shape.

When completed, huge sections of timber will form an enormous walkway encircling a aforest of tranquillitya and pavilions showcasing the history, culture and technology of more than 130 countries, with the host, Japan, at its heart.

Royal Academy, London
Knives, arrows, guns, nakednessa| the performance art pioneeras blockbuster 50-year retrospective underlines her bravery, yet sells it short with off-key re-enactments by stand-ins

Will you make it through the door of the Royal Academy, where two young people currently face each other, naked, like a pair of human gateposts? Not if you are too tactful (or too portly), afraid of grazing their bare bodies with a sharp buckle or zip. But there is a secret bypass into the next gallery that allows you to watch footage of the original and more startling performance of this artwork, in any case, and avoid the keyed-up RA queues.

Imponderabilia was first staged in 1977 by the Serbian performance artist Marina AbramoviA (born 1946) and her German partner Ulay. A television monitor shows mortified visitors in overcoats pushing rapidly between the eye-to-eye artists. Whatas lost today is not just the potential for shock or social embarrassment but the intense emotional connection between AbramoviA and Ulay. The stand-ins hired for this lavish retrospective resemble, by contrast, detached and slightly fragile models.

Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke do their best with meagre material in this underpowered short from the Spanish director

Well, it certainly looks lovely, as you would expect from the first offering from Saint Laurent Productions, a subsidiary of the luxury fashion goods label Yves Saint Laurent. And the orchestral score, by Alberto Iglesias, is glorious a lavish, full-blooded and swooping. But otherwise, this wispy snippet of gay cowboy drama from Pedro AlmodA3var, which stars Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke as reunited former lovers, is sadly synthetic and underpowered. Both Pascal and Hawke do their best, but with writing as inauthentic and cursory as this, thereas little they can do to elevate the material.

In cinemas for one day only, on 25 September

Over a long lunch, the writer talks about ghostly encounters, embracing AI, rebelling against convention and why our future human life holds no fears for her

Some ghost stories start on a snowy night in a creaking castle, others start with Jeanette Winterson bustling into an east London restaurant on a hot day and ordering two glasses of pink fizz. Over the course of a long afternoon she will talk about fear, peacocks and the past; sheall walk me through her haunted home and discuss the end of the world in such a way that it seems like actually it might be quite jolly. By the time I emerge into the evening Iall be equal parts disturbed and charmed a and possibly changed.

Night Side of the River, her new book a the 23rd since Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit a is a collection of 13 ghost stories. Some are gothic, some explore technology, others are nonfiction, her own personal hauntings, but the thing that stood out for me was how none turn away from grief or death, a subject at the core of every ghost, yet rarely examined in its stories. Writing them, she enjoyed the genre constraints of a ghost story a inviting a reader into the room and then sort of moving the walls. aItas like when youare doing yoga and you think you canat go any further. And then the teacher pushes you that little bit more? That open stretch.a

(Thirty Tigers)
Rock, jazz, Afrofuturisma| the British singer-songwriter is transformed on this record inspired by Chicagoas archive of Black art

Corinne Bailey Raeas most popular songs on Spotify are coffee-shop staples such as Put Your Records On and Like a Star. Nothing to wake the neighbours. By contrast, this is a scream through the letterbox. Bailey Rae originally planned Black Rainbows as a side project, a freewheeling meditation on the history of Black experience she discovered at the Stony Island Arts Bank archive in Chicago. Now itas her best work yet. Although just 45 minutes long, its audacious mix of rock, electronica, jazz and Afrofuturism forms an epic soundtrack narrating journeys to freedom.

Itas not perfect. The first two songs are a sluggish entry point to the Bailey Rae renaissance, before the album explodes with post-punky Erasure, its transgressive fury a pure catharsis mediated through her distorted voice. Next, a smart sequencing of mostly great songs, including the astonishing He Will Follow You With His Eyes, a coquettish, jazzy number that transmutes into something wild and magical as she blankly intones lines such as amy black hair kinking, my black skin gleaminga while the song disintegrates around her. Even better is closer Before the Throne of the Invisible God, on which, metamorphosis complete, she becomes an east Pennine Alice Coltrane. An extraordinary album.

Pottery has always played a crucial role in Nigel Slateras cooking, both for the way it elevates a meal and also for the calm sense of fragility it brings to a room. Here, he reveals some of his favourite pieces a and the rising pottery stars to look out for

In the mid-1960s, my parents abandoned their dark blue Willow Pattern tableware, inspired by a Japanese fairytale, for the more minimal Sienna by Midwinter, a graphic design by Jessie Tait made by William Robinson in Stoke-on-Trent. Considering the design of bare, black twigs and stripes of buff and orange as if we had traded in our staid family saloon for a fast sports car.

After years of trying to find my food among the Chinoiserie trees, birds and cherries of the classic Willow Pattern, I could now actually see my dinner in all its meat-and-two-veg glory. Production of Sienna stopped in 1987 when the company became insolvent, but the design continues to get cameo parts in 1960as television dramas as the prop stylistsa go-to tableware of the era. What I took away from this was that food looks better, more comfortable, on the right china.

Dano is a perfect fit as the YouTuber who took on Wall Street in I, Tonya director Craig Gillespieas spirited underdog drama

In late 2020 and January 2021, a motley collection of small-time investors, loosely led by a nerdy YouTuber and Reddit poster who went by the name of Roaring Kitty, delivered an emphatic poke in the eye to the Wall Street elite. A flood of money and a feeding frenzy on the stock of GameStop (a struggling chain of US video game stores) inflated the share value, with brutal consequences for several multibillion-dollar hedge funds. It was billed as a bite back against the cynical practice of short-selling (essentially when a trader bets on the decline of a business) and as an event that heralded the democratisation of the stock market, hitherto a heavily fortified industry controlled by the ultra-wealthy and ultra-privileged.

Now, director Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya, Cruella) tackles the subject with a vigorous, ripped-from-the-headlines docufiction starring an affable Paul Dano as Keith Gill, AKA Roaring Kitty. Thereas a lively bustle to Dumb Money, which successfully corrals a host of disparate supporting characters and parallel story strands. But this is exactly the kind of movie that you would expect from Hollywood, itself a heavily fortified industry controlled by the ultra-wealthy and ultra-privileged. Itas a triumph-of-the-underdog narrative that offers a gloss of rabble-rousing appeasement but which conveniently breezes past the fact that there has been little in the way of real and lasting change. The haves still have; the have-nots cling to a taste of what might have been.