Senate Democratic leader says of president ‘if he’s finally ready to work with Democrats, we’ll be at the table’

The supreme court has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s challenge of her criminal conviction for recruiting and grooming minors, who were sexually abused by her former boyfriend and companion Jeffrey Epstein – the disgraced financier who died in a New York prison in 2019.

Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year-sentence for her crimes. She was recently moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas.

Deputy PM says 7 October a ‘day of commemoration and remembrance’ and not a day of protest. Follow today’s news live

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Labor to introduce triple zero ‘custodian’ legislation to parliament this week

Three major telco bosses will be hauled into parliament today for a chat with the communications minister, Anika Wells, following two outages of the Optus mobile network.

We expect the obligations that are given by the telecommunications companies in putting in place the triple zero service that those obligations are met, and that is obviously what we have been talking with Optus about when this has previously been looked at after the previous outage a couple of years ago.

Ambler Road project, approved in Trump’s first term but blocked by Biden, would harm Native tribes and wildlife

Donald Trump on Monday ordered the approval of a proposed 211-mile road through an Alaska wilderness to allow mining of copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals.

The long-debated Ambler Road project was approved in the US president’s first term, but was later blocked by the Biden administration after an analysis determined the project would threaten caribou and other wildlife and harm Alaska Indigenous tribes that rely on hunting and fishing.

A federal judge had blocked Trump’s request to deploy California national guard to Portland

Before a federal judge blocked Donald Trump from putting members of California’s national guard on the streets of Portland, Oregon, late on Sunday, the state’s Republican party welcomed the planned deployment in celebratory posts on social media.

“President Trump on Sunday deployed 300 California National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon after a judge ruled that the Oregon National Guard could not be deployed to keep federal facilities and personnel in Portland safe,” Oregon Republicans wrote on their official Facebook, Instagram and X accounts.

More than 280 delivery workers injured in traffic collisions over past year, suffering everything from broken limbs to lacerations

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At least five posties are injured each week on Australia’s roads, according to data released by Australia Post as the service published video of collisions and urged motorists to “keep an eye out”.

More than 280 posties sustained broken limbs, concussions or serious trauma from third-party road crashes in the past financial year.

Air traffic to be controlled remotely on Monday night as Newsom blames Trump and travelers face long delays

The air traffic control tower at the airport in Burbank, California, will be empty for nearly six hours on Monday as controllers begin to call out in greater numbers due to the government shutdown.

From 4.15pm until 10pm the Federal Aviation Administration anticipates there will be no air traffic controllers in their tower, although the FAA has said it is trying to bring in staffing sooner than that, according to ABC News.

University apologised to recipients, saying emails were referred to police and were not legitimate

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Current and former students at Western Sydney University (WSU) have received “fraudulent” emails, including one warning that some students’ degrees had been revoked.

WSU confirmed this morning that fraudulent emails had been sent to students and graduates over the past 24 hours, saying some were “falsely claiming that they have been excluded from the university or that their qualifications have been revoked”.

Competing bills fail to pass 60-vote threshold, while Trump hints at possible deal with Democrats over health subsidies

The US government shutdown entered its second week as the Senate again rejected rival bills to restart funding and Donald Trump suggested he might be open to negotiating with Democrats over the healthcare subsidies they have put at the heart of the stalemate.

A fifth Senate vote to advance a Republican-written bill that would reopen the government failed on a 52-42 tally – well below the 60-vote threshold needed for advancement. The Democrats’ proposal was defeated in a 50-45 party-line vote. No lawmakers changed their votes from recent days, though there were a handful of absences.

Man charged as police allege a window was smashed in a rare act of violence targeted at a New Zealand politician’s home

A man who allegedly used a crowbar to smash in a window at the home of New Zealand’s foreign minister “during a protest” has been charged, police confirmed on Tuesday.

Winston Peters posted to social media on Monday evening saying “a disgusting coward” had smashed a window in his Auckland home and left a sign on the door.

Ex-Conservative ministers denounce Robert Jenrick’s intention to abolish body that develops court guidelines

A Conservative plan to abolish the judge-led Sentencing Council and hand its powers to the Ministry of Justice has been described as “bonkers”, “unimplementable” and “potentially dangerous” by former Tory ministers.

The shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick will announce on Tuesday that the independent public body responsible for developing guidelines for judges and magistrates in England and Wales would be closed down by a future Conservative government because it was “not fit for purpose”.

Artemios Mintzas, 60, charged with 25 offences, including 18 counts of shooting with intent to murder after Croydon Park incident on Sunday

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A man has been charged following an alleged shooting spree in Sydney’s inner west on Sunday night.

Artemios Mintzas, 60, allegedly shot “about 50” high-powered rifle rounds at pedestrians, cars and buildings in Croydon Park over two hours before he was apprehended by tactical officers.

Nigel Farage and right-wing commentators seek to portray capital as ‘lawless’ despite evidence to the contrary

Claims that London is becoming more dangerous despite the crime figures indicating otherwise are being made because it suits some people, a senior police commander has said.

The Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, and right-wing commentators have increasingly sought to portray the capital as a “lawless” city from which high net-worth individuals are fleeing.

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• Gaza flotilla members allege beatings and insults in Israeli detention

• Israel and Hamas begin indirect talks as hopes rise of ending Gaza war

Iran signalled its support for Trump’s Gaza plan, with the country’s foreign ministry saying it supports any initiative that brings an end to the genocide of Palestinian people.

Iran’s foreign ministry wrote in a post on X:

Taking into account the dangerous dimensions and aspects of this proposal, and while reiterating its warning about the repeated breaches and obstructionism by the Zionist regime in fulfilling its promises, especially in light of its expansionist and racist plans, the Islamic Republic of Iran considers any decision in this regard to be within the authority of the Palestinian people and resistance.

It welcomes any decision by them that guarantees halting the genocide of Palestinians, the withdrawal of the occupying Zionist army from Gaza, respect for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, the entry of humanitarian aid, and the reconstruction of Gaza.

Misprinted wrappers pulled from Manchester goodie bags after derision on social media

A chocolate bar given out by the Conservatives at their annual party conference misspelled the name of the country they are hoping to govern.

The confectionery, in a blue wrapper, featured a slogan from the Tory party leader with an incorrect spelling of Britain.

Appeal trial begins for Husamettin Dogan, the only man out of 51 in French case to challenge conviction

An unemployed builder seeking to overturn his conviction for raping Gisèle Pelicot when she had been drugged unconscious by her husband has told a court he “never intended” to rape her.

On the opening day of his appeal trial in the southern French city of Nîmes, Husamettin Dogan, 44, a married father, was asked by the lead judge if he denied the charge of rape.

South Wales police issue public appeal for information after burglary at one of Wales’s most beloved museums

Raiders have broken into one of Wales’s most beloved museums and stolen gold jewellery from the bronze age.

Staff at St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff said its “Wales is …” gallery was specifically targeted in the burglary, which was discovered in the early hours of Monday.

• World Cup winner diagnosed with motor neurone disease

• Fundraising page set up by former Leicester teammates

The rugby world has rallied around the former England captain Lewis Moody, who has revealed he has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease. The 47-year-old 2003 World Cup winner admitted he was having trouble accepting what his diagnosis means for the future but that he intends to stay positive.

Among the most decorated forwards to play for England, he earned 71 caps and led his country at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, earning the nickname “Mad Dog” as an all-action, hard-hitting flanker.

Man opens fire in Tirana court, killing judge and injuring two other people, and is arrested after fleeing scene

A man on trial opened fire in a courtroom in the Albanian capital, Tirana, killing the judge and injuring two other people, police have said.

The judge, Astrit Kalaja, was presiding during a hearing at the court of appeal on Monday when the man opened fire, police said, adding that the shooter was promptly arrested. “The judge was rushed to the hospital, but succumbed to his injuries on the way,” a police statement said.

Hamas’s acceptance of key conditions of deal galvanises momentum but large gaps remain between camps

Israel and Hamas have begun indirect talks in Egypt on a US ceasefire proposal amid cautious optimism that the nearly two-year war in Gaza may be nearing its end, despite deep divisions between the two sides.

Negotiations will focus on the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, as well as the partial withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. The three issues constitute the first phase of a 20-point plan presented by the US president, Donald Trump, last week that aims to end the war.

Some of those held say guns were pointed at them, they were threatened with dogs and deprived of sleep

International activists, journalists and lawyers deported from Israel after attempting to breach the 16-year maritime blockade of Gaza as part of a humanitarian flotilla have alleged being subjected to brutal physical and verbal abuse by Israeli forces during their detention.

The alleged abuses included sleep and medication deprivation, beatings, having automatic rifles pointed at their heads, dogs set upon them, having to sleep on the floor, being subjected to insults and being made to watch footage of the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Presidents spoke on a video call as expert speculates that Haiti could be an area where the two leaders can cooperate

Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has urged Donald Trump to scrap tariffs on his country’s imports and sanctions against its officials, as the two men held what the Brazilian presidency called a “friendly” video call, swapping phone numbers after months of friction.

Ties between the US and Brazil have nosedived as a result of Trump’s campaign to pressure Brazilian authorities into abandoning the coup trial of his far-right ally, Jair Bolsonaro.

Canadian prog-rockers will play seven concerts in summer 2026 in the US, Canada and Mexico, after hiring new drummer Anika Nilles

Rush, the Canadian prog rockers whose epic and detailed songcraft continues to attract a large and heartfelt fandom, are to reform for the first time since the death of drummer Neil Peart.

Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, both 72, will tour the US, Canada and Mexico, playing seven concerts in summer 2026 beginning in Los Angeles on 7 June.

Investors rattled by resignation of French PM but country is not alone in trying to grapple with political maths

• Macron asks outgoing French PM to make last-ditch effort to avoid political crisis

• What happened on a chaotic day in French politics – and what next?

Sébastien Lecornu’s abrupt resignation as the French prime minister on Monday after less than a month in the role marked the latest clash between France’s stretched public finances and its polarised politics.

Lecornu was the latest prime minister to try and fail to cobble together a package of spending cuts and tax rises that would pass muster in a parliament without a clear majority, and contain mounting bond market pressures.

French president requests Sébastien Lecornu stay on for 48 hours after he quit complaining of ‘egos’

• Explainer: What happened on a chaotic day in French politics – and what could happen next?

Hours after France’s new prime minister resigned less than a month after he was appointed, Emmanuel Macron has asked him to stay on for two more days in a last-ditch effort to chart a way out of the country’s rapidly deepening political crisis.

The French president on Monday evening gave Sébastien Lecornu – who had earlier become the third prime minister of the EU’s second-biggest economy to quit in a year – 48 hours to “conduct final negotiations … to define a platform for action and stability”.

Co-written with Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein, The Mushroom Tapes is inspired by their experience attending the headline-grabbing trial earlier this year

Helen Garner, one of Australia’s most acclaimed authors, is set to publish a new book in November about the Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial.

The book follows the story of Patterson, an Australian woman convicted in July of murdering three of her former in-laws and attempting to murder a fourth by serving them a beef wellington contaminated with death cap mushrooms in 2023. The case, which played out in an Australian court earlier this year, attracted global attention.

Janjaweed commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb, found guilty over atrocities

The international criminal court has convicted a leader of the Janjaweed militia of playing a leading role in a campaign of atrocities committed in the Sudanese region of Darfur more than 20 years ago.

It was the first time the court had convicted a suspect of crimes in Darfur. The court ruled that the atrocities, including mass murders and rapes, were part of a government plan to snuff out a rebellion in the western region of Sudan.

African kingdom receives second group of third-country nationals in what NGOs and lawyers say is violation of human rights

Ten people deported by the US have arrived in Eswatini, its government said, the second group of third-country deportees to be sent to the southern African kingdom by the Trump administration in what lawyers and NGOs have described as violations of their human rights.

A statement by the Eswatini government posted on social media before their arrival on Monday said: “The individuals will be kept in a secured area separate from the public, while arrangements are made for their return to their countries of origin.”

Asian migrant laborers who paid predatory recruiting fees say global mega-corporation has not kept its promise to pay them restitution

Warehouse laborers from Asia say the world’s second largest employer, Amazon, has failed to live up to its promises to compensate them for financial abuses tied to their work for the online retailer in Saudi Arabia.

In 2023, Amazon promised to reimburse recruitment fees to its contract workers from Asia who had been forced to pay large sums to secure jobs at the company’s warehouses in Saudi Arabia. Since then, Amazon has paid more than $2.6m in compensation to roughly 950 workers from multiple countries.

At least 200 people still stranded after unseasonally heavy snowfall during China’s Golden Week holiday

Trekkers have described facing “extreme” conditions after an unseasonable snowstorm during one of China’s busiest holiday weekends stranded hundreds of people on Mount Everest, prompting a massive rescue effort.

Chinese authorities said about 350 people had made their way down but at least 200 remained stranded at the Everest Scenic Area, to the east of the mountain, on the Tibetan side of the border.

About 350,000 flee homes as heavy rain and winds sweep region, while Hurricane Priscilla forms near Mexico

Typhoon Matmo made landfall on the southern coast of China on Sunday afternoon, shortly after sweeping across the island province of Hainan. The powerful storm forced the evacuation of about 350,000 people, bringing torrential rain and damaging winds, especially between Wuchuan in Guangdong and Wenchang in Hainan. Ferry services were suspended and flights cancelled at Haikou Meilan airport.

Matmo, the 21st typhoon of the year, had sustained wind speeds of 94mph (151km/h) and dumped more than 50mm of rainfall in six hours in Chongzou and Qinzhou. The city of Nanning also had high rainfall totals.

Talks on Monday expected to focus on release of hostages and end to war, after Israel kills 63 people in Gaza in past day

Donald Trump has urged negotiators to “move fast” in talks focused on the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and a broader end to the war, as representatives arrived in Egypt for discussions set to begin on Monday.

The talks will focus on the first phase of Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza, the Egyptian foreign ministry said, which is the release of the remaining 48 hostages held by Hamas in return for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

Families of some aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla say they are being held without access to clean water or legal representation

Activists from New Zealand detained in Israel after they were removed from vessels carrying aid to Gaza are being held in poor conditions without access to water and legal representation, their families have said, as dozens more passengers from the Global Sumud Flotilla were set to be deported.

Rana Hamida, Youssef Sammour and Samuel Leason were among 437 activists, parliamentarians and lawyers travelling aboard the flotilla, a coalition of more than 40 vessels carrying humanitarian aid whose goal was to breach Israel’s 16-year maritime blockade of Gaza.

One tells consular officials his arm was dislocated and head slammed into ground while another fears she may have a stroke

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Australian activists detained in Israel have told their country’s officials of “degrading and humiliating treatment” they claim to have received after being arrested onboard a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza – with one, Surya McEwen, saying he had been slapped and had his arm dislocated and head slammed into the ground.

Another, Juliet Lamont, said she was “gravely” concerned she was at risk of stroke after her daily medication was confiscated by Israeli security forces. She said her request for more medication was not being met while she was being held in a prison environment she described as “dystopian”.

Excavators used to remove rubble while 14 people reportedly still unaccounted for and police allege building work was being carried out without a permit

Indonesian rescuers searching for missing students after a prayer hall at an Islamic boarding school collapsed last week recovered the bodies of dozens of students over the weekend, bringing the confirmed death toll to 54.

Using heavy excavators equipped with jackhammers, circular saws and sometimes their bare hands, rescue teams removed tons of rubble in an attempt to find the 14 students reportedly still missing. Rescuers found 35 bodies over the weekend alone, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said.

President said US would turn attention to drug trafficking happening on land during speech at navy ceremony

US forces on Saturday evening struck another vessel off the coast of Venezuela, Donald Trump said on Sunday to thousands of sailors at a ceremony celebrating the US navy’s 250th anniversary. He claimed that the vessel had been illegally carrying drugs and added that the US would also start looking at drug trafficking happening on land.

Trump made the comment during a speech at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, next to the Harry S Truman aircraft carrier. It was not immediately clear if he was referencing a strike announced on Friday by the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth.

Hundreds of trekkers stranded by blizzard on eastern face of mountain in Tibet already guided to safety by rescuers

Rescue efforts are under way on Mount Everest after a snowstorm trapped nearly 1,000 people in campsites on the eastern side of the mountain, according to Chinese state media.

Hundreds of trekkers stranded by a blizzard near the eastern face of the mountain in Tibet were guided to safety by rescuers on Sunday, as unusually heavy precipitation including rain pummelled the Himalayas.

With Islamist militant group 40km from Mogadishu, a ‘strategic stalemate’ has been reached, but some fear worst is yet to come

One night in early July, Maryan Abdikadir Geedi decided it was finally time to abandon her small shop in the town of Moqokori in the Hiiraan region of Somalia.

Though she had heard of the rapid recent gains made by al-Shabaab, the Islamist militant movement, the 46-year-old had hoped to stay. Since getting married in 2013, Geedi had seen control over Moqokori change hands repeatedly.

Pentagon chief says strike – fourth by US military in recent weeks – targeted boat with ‘substantial amounts’ of drugs

The United States carried out a strike against an alleged drug-trafficking boat on Friday that killed four people, US defense secretary Pete Hegseth said, a day after the Trump administration told Congress it was entering a new “non-international armed conflict” with cartels.

The strike, which Hegseth said he directed on Donald Trump’s orders, appears to be at least the fourth in recent weeks. Hegseth gave few details about the boat or the evidence that it was carrying narcotics, other than saying the US had confirmed it was carrying drugs.

Pair had crossed border to support presidential campaign of reggae singer Bobi Wine

Two Kenyan activists have been abducted in Uganda after attending a presidential campaign event for Bobi Wine, the reggae musician turned politician.

Heavily armed security operatives detained Bob Njagi, the chair of Free Kenya, and Nicholas Oyoo, the movement’s secretary general, at a petrol station near Kampala on Wednesday afternoon.

Prime minister praises security response and says government is ready for talks

Morocco’s prime minister, Aziz Akhannouch, has praised the security force reaction to protests over corruption and public spending and said the government was ready for talks, as organisers called for a sixth night of protests.

In a statement, Akhannouch said the death toll in the protests had risen to three.

Activist Jagtar Singh Johal has been held in Indian prison for nearly eight years without full trial

The sisters of the British-Egyptian human rights campaigner Alaa Abd el-Fattah have intervened for the first time since his release from prison in Egypt to call on Keir Starmer to push Narendra Modi to free a British Sikh activist when he meets the Indian prime minister next week.

Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, has been held in an Indian jail for nearly eight years without facing full trial in what his supporters say is an arbitrary and egregious denial of justice by a British ally.

Taliban authorities cut fibre-optic network in nationwide shutdown of communications to prevent ‘vice’

Afghans are living under a near-complete communications blackout after Taliban authorities cut internet and mobile phone services for a second day as part of an unprecedented country-wide crackdown.

The former insurgents, who retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, began gradual restrictions on internet access earlier this month. The measures also affect telephone lines, as they are often routed over the internet.

Telecoms disrupted nationwide after authorities cut fibre-optic connections in several provinces to prevent ‘vice’

A huge communications blackout has hit Afghanistan after Taliban authorities began severing fibre-optic connections in several provinces to prevent “vice”.

“A nationwide telecoms blackout is now in effect,” said Netblocks, a watchdog organisation that monitors cybersecurity and internet governance.

Victims include nine children at election campaign gathering in Tamil Nadu led by popular actor and politician

Police in India have opened a criminal case against the leaders of a party headed by the actor turned politician Vijay, after a crowd crush at one of his rallies killed 40 people and injured at least 124 others.

Local officials reported that at least nine children had died at the rally, which took place on Saturday night in the Karur district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Vijay, one of the most popular and successful actors in Tamil cinema, who entered politics last year, was addressing the crowd for his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) party before state elections early next year.

Announcement of deal baffles experts and former ministers, who say there is no sign of any untapped reserves

The newfound camaraderie between the US and Pakistan was on full display this week as Donald Trump welcomed Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and the country’s powerful army chief, Asim Munir, into the Oval Office, heralding them both as “great leaders”.

Having been cold-shouldered by successive US presidents, this was the first time a Pakistani prime minister had been invited to Washington in more than six years. It was also the unprecedented second time this year that Munir – who holds no official government role – held an intimate meeting with Trump, which many took as a telling signal of where the power to cut deals really lies in Pakistan.