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Fighting escalates after Tigrayan rebels form new coalition aimed at overthrowing Abiy Ahmed government

There are growing fears of a return to civil war in Ethiopia after an offensive by fighters from Tigray into the neighbouring states of Afar and Amhara and the formation of a new rebel alliance aimed at overthrowing the government of the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed.

About 600,000 people died between 2020 and 2022 during a devastating war between the Ethiopian army and the political party and paramilitary group the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF). Both sides are now accusing the other of triggering a return to open conflict.

Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Airtel Money targets $9bn IPO in boost for ailing UK stock market

Nils Pratley: Does this mark the end of London’s listing drought? Not yet

A payments business that operates across Africa and is ultimately controlled by an Indian billionaire has announced its intention to float on the struggling London Stock Exchange.

Airtel Money, the mobile money arm of Airtel Africa, is planning one of the biggest UK listings in years, in a boost for the shrinking London market that has faced a string of recent departures.

Arrest of Shadrack Sibiya comes as country reels from cases of femicide and alleged police corruption and criminality

One of South Africa’s most senior police officers has been charged with raping an 18-year-old woman and grooming a 16-year-old girl, as the country’s police face allegations of corruption and failing to tackle violence against women and girls.

Shadrack Sibiya, who was already suspended from his role as deputy national police commissioner over allegations he interfered with political killings investigations, was arrested on Monday. He is facing charges of rape, people trafficking, promoting the sexual grooming of a child and two counts of grooming a child.

Accra Reset’s report states countries in the region and global south should take greater control of their health development after USAID debacle

The United States’ withdrawal from key aid programs has put healthcare in Africa and the global south “under growing strain” a new report warns.

The report says the Trump administration’s cuts to programs such as US Agency for International Development (USAID), as well as the Covid-19 pandemic and rising costs of living globally have brought “new urgency” for the need to reform healthcare in the region.

After a plane journey in shackles, an Iranian woman found herself in the middle of Africa in a country she did not know existed. She is one of thousands deported from the US on the back of shadowy deals made with dozens of countries. An in-depth investigation reveals the ‘show of force’ costing American taxpayers millions

No one would tell the shackled detainees onboard the US immigration plane where they were going. The officers in charge would taunt them when they asked, they said. It was only when the seat-back video screens finally showed a map that the 18 migrants worked it out.

A TV spot claims the US president is trying to sway October’s presidential vote in favour of Lula’s far-right opponents

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s presidential campaign has accused Donald Trump of wanting to “colonise” Brazil in order to capture its natural resources by meddling in next month’s presidential election.

The accusation came in a televised campaign advert that was broadcast on Thursday by Lula’s team amid growing fears over the impact alleged US interference could have on the vote.

Legislators sent letter to Marco Rubio saying US interference is weakening Brazil’s democratic institutions

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A group of 31 Democratic members of the US Congress has sent a letter to the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, criticising the Trump administration over “an apparent effort to interfere with, and potentially undermine” Brazil’s elections.

Latin America’s largest country will hold the first round of its presidential election on 4 October, with polls showing a technical tie between the incumbent leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro.

Argentinian president accuses United Nations of being filled with ‘parasites’ in bellicose general assembly speech

Javier Milei has condemned the UN as he warned that Argentina would take “matters into our own hands” in its dispute with Britain over the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.

In a caustic speech at the general assembly in New York, the Argentinian president criticised the UN for being ineffective when it came to the long-running tensions over the British overseas territory in the south Atlantic known in Argentina as the Malvinas.

Venezuela’s interim president hails ‘historic meeting’ and does not say whether she will visit snatched predecessor

Venezuela’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, has celebrated a “historic” meeting with Donald Trump in New York, posing for a smiley photo with the US president, less than nine months after he ordered the abduction of her boss, Nicolás Maduro.

The former foes met at a five-star hotel a few blocks from Trump Tower in Manhattan late on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UN general assembly. The hotel is about 7 miles from the Brooklyn prison where Maduro has been held since he was snatched during a special forces raid on Caracas in January.

The move comes after Jamaica’s culture minister Olivia Grange travelled to the UK earlier this month to lodge the historic petition

King Charles has referred a landmark slavery reparations petition from Jamaica to a high-level UK appeals court for legal advice, Jamaica’s culture minister announced in parliament on Tuesday.

Referring to the move as a “really big deal”, Olivia Grange told Jamaica’s MPs the monarch had confirmed that their legal questions have been passed on to the London-based privy council – the final court of appeal for UK overseas territories and some Commonwealth countries.

Chinese president’s proposals for lessening tensions come amid period of intense competition between the two countries over AI and trade

Xi Jinping has called for extensive cooperation with Washington to avoid the “Thucydides trap” that could put the US and China on a military collision course amid rising tensions over artificial intelligence, trade and Taiwan.

At the start of his summit meeting with Donald Trump in the White House, the Chinese president laid out terms for a mutual understanding that he said could steer the two competing superpowers away from future military conflict and on to a road of mutual gain.

Deference was deafening as US president rolled out red carpet for world’s biggest jailer of journalists – perhaps he was seeking tips

One is an authoritarian who represses the media and has a strong allergy to democratic elections. The other is head of the Chinese Communist party.

Donald Trump welcomed the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to the White House on Thursday, setting the stage for a scene quite unlike anything the august old building has seen over more than two centuries.

Former Yes musician plays at sanctuary to raise awareness of animals that remain stuck in cages at ‘bile farms’

Rick Wakeman has played to all kinds of people around the globe, but he has now performed to an audience he had never encountered before – an enclosure of 150 bears.

The former Yes musician, who has gone on to have a prolific solo career, played the piano at a Vietnamese bear sanctuary.

Explosive growth in imported vehicles omitted from EV tariffs fuels concern for future of European carmakers

• EU imports three times more from China than bloc exports there

Sales of Chinese hybrid cars have rocketed in the EU in the past four and a half years, data shows, underlining growing concerns in Brussels over the future of the European car industry.

In 2022, just 659 Chinese-made fully hybrid cars (vehicles in which the petrol or diesel engine charge the motor and battery) were sold in the EU. However, after Brussels imposed anti-subsidy tariffs on fully electric cars from China in 2024, sales of hybrids have shot up to 160,662 in the first seven months of this year.

President lays out red carpet as treasury secretary announces extension of ‘Busan agreement’ pausing trade war hostilities

• AI, trade, Taiwan and climate: what will and won’t be on agenda at Trump-Xi summit

Donald Trump has welcomed Xi Jinping to the US, taking the unusual step of greeting the Chinese leader on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews to kick off his state visit to Washington.

Xi’s plane was met with a lavish arrival ceremony that included a 30-metre-long (100ft) red carpet flanked by US service members, a military flyover by two B-1 bombers and a presentation of the flags and national anthems of both countries.

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AI hack of Medicare exposes Australia’s vulnerabilities

Technology experts have warned revelations an artificial intelligence agent hacked Medicare’s internal systems will not be the only dangerous breach of government data and have called for Australia to boost its protections against the growing risk.

Frontier AI now has capability to expose those vulnerabilities at a rate quicker than we can keep up, quicker than we can patch them.

What if it was a less benign breach? What if it was a less benign actor? Let’s face it, clearly, Services Australia’s cybersecurity is woefully inadequate.

I mean the irony here is that you actually need AI to fight AI. This should hasten, if anything, our move over in the US to less finger wagging and Trump one-upmanship, and more about embracing these AI companies and bringing them here so that we can have frontier models providing sovereign capability to Australia. Because AI is going to happen.

Expert says Australia’s criminal laws should be clarified to determine how fault is applied to a corporation when its AI agent commits a crime

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The federal government could change Australian laws if the current legal framework could not respond to the unprecedented OpenAI hack of Medicare, ministers have confirmed.

It comes as the prime minister denied accusations from the opposition he had held on to the information before announcing it at the UN general assembly in New York, and said it was released at the first possible opportunity.

Beau Lamarre-Condon, 31, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies in Paddington terrace in early 2024

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Beau Lamarre-Condon asked a friend, “What would you do if I told you I killed somebody?” nine months before allegedly murdering Jesse Baird and Luke Davies, a Sydney court has heard.

The New South Wales police officer then assured the friend he hadn’t killed anyone, before admitting he had entered Baird’s house while he was away, before stealing a Polaroid camera and eating an Easter egg.

The marked police car was travelling with its sirens on when it hit a tree in inner-city Sydney about 1.30am on Friday

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A New South Wales police officer who was killed on duty when the car she was travelling in crashed into a tree in Sydney has been named as 20-year-old Mia Lay.

NSW police said the marked police car was travelling under lights and sirens along Gibbons Street in Redfern when it crashed at about 1.30am on Friday.

Email to members says money lent to a party-linked company to establish a micro distillery

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One Nation has admitted using party funds to build a $56,000 shed on James Ashby’s private property.

Guardian Australia revealed on Monday that a company linked to One Nation – Small Batch Brewing Pty Ltd – was the purchaser of the shed on Ashby’s property despite having no revenue stream and not being licensed to make or sell alcohol.

Catherine Corless’s exposure of almost 800 infant deaths at a home led by nuns prompted Neeson to bring the story to screen

Liam Neeson still remembers his shock and shame when he read a New York Times article about the mother and baby institution in Tuam, County Galway.

It was 2017 and the article chronicled the campaign by Catherine Corless, an amateur local historian, to expose abuse and neglect by Irish nuns that led to hundreds of children being buried in a mass, unmarked grave.

Industry leaders call on government to protect homegrown produce in the interest of national security

The gap between Britain’s food and drink exports and imports has neared its highest this century, as a combination of Brexit, war in the Middle East and US tariffs dented deliveries overseas while imports soared.

The UK’s food and drink trade deficit has risen to more than £21bn – the largest since 2000 – in what industry leaders said was a “wake-up call” for the government to protect homegrown produce in the interest of national security.

Monthly ‘thank you’ payments for people hosting refugees to be cut from £350 to £100 from next year

Ukrainian refugees in the UK fear they could be left homeless after the government quietly axed 70% of funding for hosts of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, reducing monthly “thank you” payments to them from £350 to £100.

The scheme was launched after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has provided support for 181,000 of the 234,000 Ukrainians who have since sought sanctuary in the UK.

‘If you’re not in the internal market, you don’t get the same protection,’ says French minister of policy designed to curb Chinese competition

France is leading a push to exclude the UK from the EU’s “Made in Europe” policy that could result in British companies losing out in the race to supply European countries with low-carbon technologies and electric cars.

The plans were raised by Andy Burnham when he met the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on the sidelines of the UN general assembly earlier this week.

Warning comes hours after Poland says fire at Starlink satellite station was ‘act of sabotage’

Russia could launch a limited military attack against a Nato country in the coming months, Danish intelligence said, in one of the starkest warnings yet by western security services.

In a report published on Thursday, the Danish defence intelligence service warned of a “low but growing risk” that Russia could launch long-range strikes on Nato infrastructure supporting Ukraine, or carry out a limited incursion into a neighbouring country with a small number of troops, potentially operating without insignia.

The ⁠Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said the missiles were ⁠aimed at Taif and the Yanbu area on the Red Sea, the main alternative route for Saudi oil

Saudi Arabia says it intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, with the latest attacks pushing oil prices ⁠to a one-week high over fears of spiralling supply disruptions.

The ⁠Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said the missiles were ⁠aimed at Taif in western Saudi ​Arabia and the Yanbu area on the Red Sea, with the Houthis claiming their attacks were aimed at “a sensitive target” in the capital Riyadh and on Saudi Aramco facilities in Tanbu.

Actors detained at Jewish Voice for Peace demonstration against Israeli prime minister’s address to the UN general assembly

Oscar-winning actor Susan Sarandon and Hacks star Hannah Einbinder were among people detained by police in New York on Thursday as they moved in to break up a protest against Benjamin Netanyahu.

Agence France-Presse footage shows NYPD officers cuffing Thelma & Louise star Sarandon at the demo in the city as the Israeli prime minister was readying to address the United Nations general assembly.

Country says US must lift sanctions on its oil exports and end the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon

Iran said it has told Donald Trump it is willing to open the strait of Hormuz in six days, and to start talks on its nuclear program the day after, so long as the US lifts sanctions on Iran’s oil exports in return, ends the war on all fronts – including in Lebanon – and releases some of Iran’s frozen assets.

The proposal is designed to accelerate the steps first laid down in the memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran in June, particularly by helping the talks on Iran’s nuclear program start much more quickly than previously agreed.

Taraneh and Romina Rahimi were charged with ‘waging war against God’ after joining protests against Tehran regime

The family of 21-year-old twins who have been sentenced respectively to death and decades in jail for protesting against the Iranian regime have appealed to the United Nations for help.

A formal “submission of information” relating to the case of Taraneh and Romina Rahimi has been submitted by British human right lawyers on their family’s behalf.

Theatrical rollout across 56 territories planned for documentary about Israel’s mass killing of civilians in Gaza before film will stream on Guardian website

NAZA, the award-winning documentary from Israeli film-makers Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, is set to be released in cinemas in more than 50 countries before a digital global release on theguardian.com.

The film, which the Guardian produced, premiered at the Venice film festival earlier this month, where it was met with a 25-minute standing ovation – a festival record. The documentary went on to win the special jury prize.

Role for Anant Ambani, son of India’s richest person, who also runs a controversial mega-zoo, met with incredulity

Newcastle University is facing a backlash from conservationists over the appointment of the heir to an Indian oil and gas fortune who runs a controversial mega-zoo as a professor of sustainability.

The university announced that Anant Ambani had been given a professorship of practice for “his work in conservation, biodiversity protection, animal welfare and environmental stewardship” and “significant contributions to advancing a more sustainable future”.

Islamic State-inspired bombings of churches and hotels in 2019 was one of the country’s worst ever attacks

A court in Sri Lanka has convicted 15 men on terrorist charges for their involvement in the deadly 2019 Easter bombings and sentenced them each to at least 220 years in prison.

The terror attacks, which targeted luxury hotels and churches as they held Easter services, left 267 people dead and wounded almost 600. The bombings, which were inspired by Islamic State (IS), were among the deadliest terror attacks in Sri Lanka’s history and sent shockwaves through the country.

Generations of artisans from Mumbai to Lucknow have shaped the world’s most coveted designs. Plus, the gen Z memes giving classic Bollywood a new life

The zardozi embroidery on a Dior dress, the T-strap leather sandals at a Prada show, the mirror-work technique used on a Fendi bag – for decades, the skill of Indian artisans has been an invisible force behind some of the world’s most coveted fashion.

Now, that work is beginning to claim its own place in the spotlight, and the Mumbai-based textile and embroidery atelier Chanakya International is at the forefront.

Police crack down on family and political supporters of former PM who say authorities are ‘slowly killing’ him in prison

Three sisters of Pakistan’s incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan have been arrested amid a heavy-handed government crackdown on plans for a nationwide protest to demand Khan’s release.

The lawyer for the three sisters, Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi, said on Monday that they had all been detained and jailed for 30 days under a warrant that accused them of being a threat to public order.

Jagtar Singh Johal, from Scotland, was arrested after wedding in Punjab on alleged terrorism offences

Jagtar Singh Johal, a British Sikh man who was arrested in India in 2017 in connection with alleged terrorism offences, has been granted bail by a Delhi court.

Johal, from Scotland, was arrested for his alleged role in funding the Khalistan Liberation Force, which had carried out targeted killings in India’s Punjab region.

Former Camden council leader’s message is clear: she’s ‘visible, committed and local’, and has been for a long time

Sagal Abdi-Wali does not want to be the prime minister. She doesn’t even want to lead her party. Labour’s candidate for Holborn and St Pancras laughs and shakes her head with unusual vigour when asked if she would like to follow in the footsteps of the last member of parliament for the constituency, Keir Starmer.

“No, no, no, no, that’s not at all, in any way, what I’m trying to do,” she says during a break in campaigning in the Primrose Hill cafe in Regent’s Park. “I’m literally trying to get through the next few weeks and trying to be the member of parliament for this constituency, and that’s all I care about.”

Patient groups decry ‘scandalous’ delays as four integrated care boards take step due to soaring demand for diagnoses

• Two-year waiting times highlight NHS struggle with rise in ADHD and autism awareness

NHS bodies are forcing people with suspected attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism to wait at least two years before they can be assessed as they struggle to meet surging demand for diagnoses of neurodiversity.

Four NHS integrated care boards (ICBs) covering large regions of England have adopted the approach because they cannot afford the cost of the number of assessments that people are seeking.

Assessment bottlenecks have knock-on effects, with delays in medical help and access to specialist support

• NHS bodies in England impose two-year minimum wait for ADHD and autism assessments

That NHS boards have imposed minimum two-year waiting times for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism assessments shows a health service struggling to deal with the consequences of huge changes in understanding of and social attitudes to these conditions.

Sharp rises in referrals for clinical assessments over the past six years mean nearly 1 million people in England are on ADHD waiting lists, with the average wait already over a year (64 weeks). About 295,000 await an autism assessment.

Locals raised £1m for Mayday Saxonvale scheme involving homes and park but Somerset officials agreed deal with London-based real estate company

A bold bid by residents of a progressive town in the English West Country who raised almost £1m to create what could have been the UK’s largest community-led regeneration project is in tatters.

More than 1,000 residents of Frome in Somerset had clubbed together with the aim of building homes, workspaces, a riverside park and a lido on a brownfield area in their town centre.

Wallace and Gromit stop-motion models and other beloved creations raise money to train new generations of animators

Wallace’s reaction as the auction got into full swing might have been a trademark “good grief!” – and the enthusiasm of some of the bidding could have caused even the phlegmatic Gromit to show surprise.

Fans of Wallace and Gromit and other beloved creations of Aardman Animations seized the chance to grab souvenirs when more than 200 pieces – including Wallace, Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Chicken Run puppets from Aardman productions – went under the hammer on Thursday.