US justice department urges supreme court to reject Trump appeal on Mar-a-Lago documents

Court filing addresses ex-president’s bid to return 103 documents with classification markings to special master for review

The US justice department has asked the US supreme court to reject Donald Trump’s attempt to re-include 103 documents with classification markings in the special master review that is examining whether materials the FBI seized from his Mar-a-Lago resort are protected by privilege.

The justice department argued in a 34-page brief that the supreme court should reject the former president’s motion and keep the 103 documents out of the special master’s purview since Trump did not show he was being irreparably harmed and that his arguments about jurisdiction lacked merit.

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Elon Musk denies report he spoke to Putin about use of nuclear weapons

Tesla boss, who recently floated his own peace plan, rejects claim he talked to Russian president about the war in Ukraine

Elon Musk has denied a report that he spoke to Vladimir Putin, including about the potential for using nuclear weapons, before floating a peace plan that suggested that Ukraine cede territory to Russia.

The head of the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy, who made the original claim, had insisted that his source was Musk himself. “Elon Musk told me he had spoken with Putin and the Kremlin directly about Ukraine,” Ian Bremmer said in a tweet after Musk’s tweeted denial. “He also told me what the kremlin’s red lines were.

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Saudi Arabia will face ‘consequences’, says Biden, amid anger at cuts in oil output

Moves by Opec+ to reduce production seen as siding with Putin over the US just as midterms loom

Joe Biden said there “will be consequences” for Saudi Arabia after its decision last week to side with Vladimir Putin and cut oil production.

“There’s going to be some consequences for what they’ve done, with Russia,” the US president said in an interview on CNN. “I’m not going to get into what I’d consider and what I have in mind. But there will be – there will be consequences.”

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Families mourn victims of Thailand mass shootings and stabbings

Mourners attend cremation ceremonies after policeman kills 36 people, 24 of them children

Hundreds of mourners and victims’ families have gathered to watch flames burn from rows of makeshift furnaces at cremation ceremonies for the young children and others who died in last week’s mass killings in Thailand’s rural northeast.

Families bid their final goodbyes at a Buddhist temple a short distance from the Young Children’s Development Centre in the town of Uthai Sawan, where a former policeman, who was fired from his job earlier this year for using drugs, barged in and shot and stabbed children and their caregivers.

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Hockey Canada’s board and CEO resign amid fallout from sexual abuse scandal

  • Ice hockey body had secret fund to deal with abuse allegations
  • Politicians and sponsors have attacked handling of claims

The head of Hockey Canada and its entire board of directors have resigned amid a growing scandal over how the sport’s governing body failed to address allegations of sexual assault.

On Tuesday morning, Hockey Canada announced its CEO, Scott Smith, was leaving the embattled organization.

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Family of man who died in Israeli detention rejects claim about deal

Relatives of Palestinian Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad, 78, say no settlement has been reached with Israeli defence ministry

The family of an elderly Palestinian-American man who died after being forcibly detained by Israeli soldiers has disputed a claim from Israel’s defence ministry that the parties have reached a compensation settlement.

In a rare case of compensation for a Palestinian claim of wrongdoing by Israeli forces, on Sunday the defence ministry said in a statement that it had reached a settlement with the family of 78-year-old Omar Abdalmajeed As’ad.

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British Museum urged to drop BP sponsor deal for Egypt exhibition

Brian Eno, Ahdaf Soueif and Miriam Margolyes sign open letter about exhibition opening shortly before Cop27

Campaigners including the musician Brian Eno, the author Ahdaf Soueif and the actor Miriam Margolyes have criticised BP’s sponsorship of an exhibition of Egyptian artefacts at the British Museum.

The exhibition opens shortly before the critical Cop27 climate summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh this November.

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Refugee wrongly labelled child murderer says decades of his life wasted

Mayooran Thangaratnam fled Sri Lanka for the UK in 2003 after brutal murder of his father but was repeatedly refused asylum

A refugee who was wrongly recorded as being a child murderer by the Home Office says delays in his case have led to him wasting almost two decades of his life.

Mayooran Thangaratnam, a 41-year-old Tamil from Sri Lanka, fled to the UK in 2003 at the age of 23 and claimed asylum. He provided evidence to the Home Office from media reports that his father, a journalist who passed information to the UN about the Sri Lankan government’s persecution of Tamils, was murdered by Sri Lankan forces and that his life was also in danger.

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Iranian security forces intensify crackdown in Kurdistan

Reports of indiscriminate violence come as UK ambassador summoned by Tehran over sanctions

Rights groups have sounded the alarm over an intensifying crackdown by Iranian security forces against protesters in the western province of Kurdistan, as Tehran summoned the British ambassador in response to UK sanctions against the morality police.

Security forces in the provincial capital, Sanandaj, have used firearms and fired teargas “indiscriminately”, including into people’s homes, Amnesty International reported.

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G7 leaders warn Putin over use of nuclear weapons; Zelenskiy calls for international mission along Belarus border – as it happened

Leaders warn of ‘severe consequences’; Ukrainian president accuses Russia of trying ‘to directly draw Belarus into this war’

Despite – or because of – yesterday’s missile strikes on several Ukranian cities, people in Lviv, which was among the cities targeted by Russia, went dancing last night.

Wall Street Journal correspondent Matthew Luxmoore posted the below video on Twitter late on Monday night, adding that “Ukranian songs were interspersed tonight with chants of ‘Death to Enemies!’ and ‘Putin is a dick’!’”

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Israel and Lebanon reach ‘historic’ maritime border deal

Israeli PM hails agreement that would mark significant compromise and may open way for energy exploration

Israel and Lebanon have reportedly agreed a deal in a dispute over gas fields and the two countries’ maritime border, a groundbreaking diplomatic achievement that could boost natural gas production in the Mediterranean before the European winter begins.

Yair Lapid, Israel’s prime minister, said on Tuesday that months of US-brokered negotiations had resulted in a “historic agreement” between the two nations, which have technically been at war since Israel’s creation in 1948. The deal would “strengthen Israel’s security, inject billions into Israel’s economy, and ensure the stability of our northern border”, he added.

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Prominent fascist’s remains to be removed from Spain’s Valley of the Fallen

Family of José Antonio Primo de Rivera act before new legislation designed to honour civil war and dictatorship victims takes effect

The family of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of Spain’s fascist Falange party, will exhume his remains from the Valley of the Fallen outside Madrid before they are removed under new legislation designed to honour the victims of the civil war and the Franco dictatorship.

Primo de Rivera, who was executed in prison in November 1936, was eventually laid to rest in the valley’s basilica in 1959. The remains of the basilica’s most infamous occupant, Gen Francisco Franco, were removed almost three years ago to end what Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, called “the moral insult that the public glorification of a dictator constitutes”.

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Indonesian football fans set aside fierce rivalries after stadium disaster

After 131 lives were lost at a match, supporters have come together to offer support and seek answers

In Indonesia, football fan culture is vibrant, and its rivalries intense. Animosity between opposing teams is so strong that away fans are generally banned from attending games, as was the case at the time of the Kanjuruhan stadium disaster, when only home Arema supporters were allowed tickets.

Rivalries have descended into violence in the past. Before the Kanjuruhan disaster, 78 people had died in football-related accidents over the last 28 years, according to government figures. It is common for away players to be escorted to and from matches by armoured vehicles.

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Russia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 230 of the invasion

Death toll from Monday’s strikes rises to 19 as Russian continues to attack Ukrainian cities with missiles; GCHQ boss says ‘No signs Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapon’

The death toll from Monday’s Russian missile attacks on a swathe of Ukrainian cities has risen to 19 people, with over 100 wounded, according to figures from the Ukrainian state emergency services.

Strikes continued on Tuesday. An attack on the Lviv region in western Ukraine on Tuesday left parts of the city without electricity. Governor Maksym Kozytskyi has said “At this moment, it is known about three explosions at two energy facilities in the Lviv region”. Mayor of the city, Andriy Sadovyi, appealed to residents to keep water supplies on hand ahead of expected service interruptions.

The Ladyzhyn thermal power plant (LTPP) in the Vinnytsia region was struck on Tuesday morning. Regional head Serhiy Borzov said: “An attack was launched on the LTPP. Two Shahed-136 kamikaze drones.”

There has been a lengthy air raid warning in place all morning in Kyiv, with governor Oleksiy Kuleba claiming that at least one rocket had been shot down.

Valentyn Reznichenko, the governor of Dnipro, has claimed that air defence systems had shot down four missiles over the region. Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, has said that “there are still missiles in the air” and that Ukraine’s air defences continue to work.

The head of GCHQ has said the UK spy agency has not seen any indicators that Russia is preparing to use a tactical nuclear weapon in or around Ukraine despite recent bellicose statements from Vladimir Putin. Jeremy Fleming, speaking on Tuesday morning, said it was one of GCHQ’s tasks to monitor whether the Kremlin was taking any of the preliminary steps needed before a tactical weapon was being made ready.

Fleming is expected to say in a rare public speech delivered later on Tuesday that Putin is making strategic errors due to unconstrained power. “Far from the inevitable Russian military victory that their propaganda machine spouted, it’s clear that Ukraine’s courageous action on the battlefield and in cyberspace is turning the tide,” Fleming will say. “With little effective internal challenge, Putin’s decision-making has proved flawed”

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‘Overlapping shocks’ are undoing efforts to end hunger in Africa, UN warns

Urgent aid response needed as climate crisis, Covid, local conflicts and soaring fuel prices push millions more into hunger

‘We need urgent help’: Somalis displaced by drought and famine fight to survive

Decades of work to reduce hunger in Africa are being reversed as the continent struggles to cope with conflict, climate crisis and the global economic downturn, the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has warned.

About 278 million people in Africa – approximately one-fifth of the total population – went hungry in 2021, an increase of 50 million people since 2019, according to UN figures. Based on current trends, this is projected to rise to 310 million by 2030.

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No signs Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapon, says GCHQ boss

UK spy chief says Kremlin does not appear to be engaged in preliminary steps despite Putin’s threats

The head of GCHQ has said the UK spy agency has not seen any indicators that Russia is preparing to use a tactical nuclear weapon in or around Ukraine despite recent bellicose statements from Vladimir Putin.

Jeremy Fleming, speaking on Tuesday morning, said it was one of GCHQ’s tasks to monitor whether the Kremlin was taking any of the preliminary steps needed before a tactical weapon was being made ready.

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Tuesday briefing: After Russia retaliates, what might happen next?

In today’s newsletter: Russia responded to an attack on a military supply line with a devastating blitz on civilian targets. Peter Beaumont speaks from Kyiv about defiance, destruction and what to expect

Good morning. On Saturday, Vladimir Putin called a blast at a vital bridge linking Russia and Crimea an “act of terror” carried out by “Ukrainian secret services”; yesterday, the Kremlin took horrifying revenge. The missile and kamikaze drone attacks on Ukrainian cities and key civilian infrastructure were roundly condemned as war crimes; they hit a playground and a tourist bridge, power plants and waterworks. Today, Volodymyr Zelenskiy will tell a virtual G7 summit: “We are dealing with terrorists. They have two targets: energy infrastructure and people.”

If Putin is seeking retribution, he does not appear to be satisfied yet. There were reports of 15 more Russian rockets fired on the city of Zaporizhzhia overnight; Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emine Dzheppar, said they targeted residential buildings and “an educational institution”. There were also reports that a power plant in the southwestern city of Vinnytsia has been shelled. And this morning, air raid sirens are going off in Kyiv again.

Economy | Kwasi Kwarteng will need to find £60bn of savings by 2026 to fill the gap left by tax cuts, new analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies suggests. Meanwhile, Liz Truss overruled Kwarteng’s top appointment at the Treasury and handed the role to a veteran Treasury official.

UK news | A nurse poisoned two newborn babies and was the “constant malevolent” presence on a hospital neonatal unit when other infants died or unexpectedly collapsed, a court has been told. Lucy Letby, 32, is accused of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder another 10 between June 2015 and June 2016.

Scotland | Nicola Sturgeon has told the Scottish National party’s annual conference that “we are the independence generation”. Her speech came as the UK supreme court prepared to hear arguments on Tuesday on whether Holyrood can set up an independence referendum without Westminster’s approval.

Iran | The UK has announced sanctions against Iran’s morality police as well as its national chief and the head of its Tehran division, in response to the violent suppression of recent protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in their custody.

Labour | The former shadow minister Sam Tarry has been deselected as an MP after a bitter row in the Ilford South constituency. Tarry, who helped organise Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign, was defeated by local council leader Jas Athwal, a close ally of neighbouring MP and shadow cabinet minister Wes Streeting.

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Republicans oppose social spending – will it cost them in the midterms?

In Mississippi, poverty is high and water problems blight the state. But Republicans seem adamantly against spending to help their constituents

In his four decades as mayor of Glendora, a Mississippi Delta town surrounded by creeks, fields and not much else, Johnnie B Thomas has gotten used to bad news.

He’s seen the town’s main drag grow desolate as its few businesses closed down, and the sole clinic follow suit. He’s watched storms drop trees on to houses – including his own, mortally wounding his wife. He pleaded for help as the seemingly unstoppable force that was Covid infected and killed his neighbors, a younger brother among them.

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Kwasi Kwarteng’s secret meetings with Saudi oil firms revealed

Exclusive: Meetings while in Saudi Arabia undisclosed due to ‘administrative oversight’, says business department

The chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, held undisclosed meetings with senior executives of Saudi Arabian firms when he was the business secretary, documents acquired by the Guardian show.

The meetings occurred in January, when Kwarteng visited the kingdom for a two-day trip under his previous ministerial role.

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Jürgen Wittdorf: Berlin gallery revives homoerotic art of communist era

In what would have been artist’s 90th year, first retrospective at Biesdorf Palace has been a surprise success

Seven men wash the sweat off their toned bodies in a communal shower. Unless you squint and mistake a tightly gripped bar of soap for something else, their limbs are suspended in tantalising proximity but never quite touch.

The German artist Jürgen Wittdorf’s 1963 linocut print, from a series titled Youth and Sport, may look like something out of a top-shelf graphic novel or the virile drawings of the gay liberation icon Tom of Finland.

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