Indonesia football stadium disaster: police chief sacked as investigation launched

Officers investigated after teargas fired and at least 125 people, including 32 children, killed in crush

An Indonesian police chief and nine elite officers were removed from their posts and 18 others were being investigated for responsibility in the firing of teargas inside a soccer stadium that led to a crush, killing at least 125 people, officials said.

Indonesian police are facing increasing pressure over their management of crowds during the Kanjuruhan stadium disaster.

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High-profile China #MeToo case settled in US out of court

Liu Jingyao launched civil proceedings in 2019 against retail billionaire Liu Qiangdong

One of China’s biggest and most divisive #MeToo cases, which had been set to play out with extraordinary transparency because of its US location and was closely watched by millions inside China, has been settled out of court.

Liu Qiangdong, a 49-year-old online retail billionaire who also goes by Richard Liu and is known as China’s Jeff Bezos, had been accused of sexually assaulting a then 21-year-old Chinese graduate when she was studying at the University of Minnesota and he was visiting on a business trip. Liu has always denied the assault accusations, saying it was consensual.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Pakistan court drops contempt case against ex-PM Imran Khan

High court accepts Khan’s apology in ruling that eases the threat of his disqualification from politics

A Pakistani court has accepted an apology tendered by the former prime minister Imran Khan and dropped a contempt of court case against him, his defence lawyer said, a ruling that eases the threat of his disqualification from politics.

The Islamabad high court had deferred Khan’s indictment over the contempt case after he apologised to the court in person late last month.

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Paris abandons plans for new buildings at foot of Eiffel Tower after uproar

U-turn comes after months of protests over scheme that would have meant loss of mature trees

The Paris mayor’s office has abandoned plans for new buildings around the foot of the Eiffel Tower after months of protests from environmentalists and a petition signed by nearly 150,000 people.

Under the scheme, about 20 mature trees would have been cut down and four new buildings housing a cafe, shops, toilets and baggage drop-off constructed.

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Young people demand climate justice in run-up to Cop27 UN talks

Activists from global south demand recompense for damage from countries most responsible for crisis

Young people from some of the countries most affected by climate breakdown have warned they are not victims but a force to be reckoned with in the run-up to a UN climate conference in Egypt.

Led by climate groups across Africa and the Middle East, hundreds of activists from countries that are the least responsible for the crisis but are experiencing the worst impacts have gathered in Tunisia to prepare for what they say will be a collective fight for justice for their countries and communities, which they will take to Cop27 next month.

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Brazil election: ex-president Lula to face Bolsonaro in runoff

Brazilians will go to the polls again after former president won the first vote but failed to secure a majority over the incumbent

Brazil’s acrimonious presidential race will go to a second round after the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva failed to secure the overall majority he needed to avoid a runoff with the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro.

With more than 99.5% of votes counted the leftist veteran had secured 48.3% of the vote, not enough to avoid the 30 October show down with his rightwing rival. Bolsonaro, who significantly out-performed pollsters’ predictions and will be buoyed by the result, received 43.3%.

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Sudan campaigners demand action after alarming rise in ‘honour killings’

Reported deaths more than double in a year, with women attacked by male relatives for appearing to talk to men on smartphones

Campaigners are calling for urgent action to tackle what they say is a rise in “honour killings” in Sudan.

Eleven women and girls have reportedly been killed by relatives so far this year, more than double the number reported in 2021. Two women have died in the past month.

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‘Unprecedented’ bird flu epidemic sees almost 50m birds culled across Europe

Poultry farmers from Arctic to Portugal reported 2,500 outbreaks in past year, with migrating birds taking avian flu to North America

The UK and continental Europe have been hit by an “unprecedented” number of cases of avian flu this summer, with 47.7m birds having been culled since last autumn, according to new figures.

Poultry producers from as far north as Norway’s Svalbard islands to southern Portugal have together reported almost 2,500 outbreaks of the disease since last year.

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Cost of insuring against Credit Suisse defaulting reaches record high

Investors rush to buy credit default swaps as worries grow over solidity of bank’s balance sheet

The cost of buying insurance against Credit Suisse defaulting on its debt soared to a record high on Monday, amid fears on markets about the solidity of the balance sheet at the globally significant Swiss bank.

There was a sell-off in the bank’s shares and bonds while investors rushed instead to buy credit default swaps (CDS) – insurance against the bank failing to meet its debts.

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She’s Georgia’s great blue hope – but can Stacey Abrams win a crucial race?

Georgia in focus: Despite being hailed as architect of Georgia’s political transformation, Abrams is still an underdog in her rematch with Brian Kemp

Stacey Abrams was a high school senior the first time she was invited to the Georgia governor’s mansion. It was for a ceremony honoring the state’s class valedictorians, and Abrams was her school’s top academic achiever. At the time, her family did not own a car, so Abrams and her parents rode the bus from their working-class suburb to the stately mansion in downtown Atlanta.

When they arrived, Abrams recalls a guard emerging from the security booth. Eyeing the bus, he told them: “This is a private event. You don’t belong here.” Never mind that her invitation was tucked into her mother’s handbag or that her name was second on the list of invitees.

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Sacheen Littlefeather, actor and activist who declined Marlon Brando’s Oscar, dies aged 75

The Native American activist died on Sunday, less than two months after the Academy apologised over her treatment at the 1973 Academy Awards

Sacheen Littlefeather, Native American activist who famously declined Marlon Brando’s Oscar for The Godfather, has died aged 75, the Academy of Motion Pictures announced on Sunday.

Littlefeather had been suffering from breast cancer.

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Iran protests: riot police use teargas on students at Sharif university

Unverified social media videos show security forces firing teargas amid reports some students are trapped in campus car park

Iranian security forces have clashed with students at a prominent university in Tehran, social and state media reported, in the latest sign of a deadly clampdown on nationwide protests that were ignited by the death in custody of a young woman.

The anti-government protests, which began at 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s funeral on 17 September in the Kurdish town of Saqez, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran’s authorities in years, with many calling for the end of more than four decades of Islamic clerical rule.

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Brazil’s Lula headed for run-off with Bolsonaro – as it happened

This blog is now closed. You can read our full story on the results at the link below:

A Lula victory would represent the latest in a series of triumphs for a resurgent Latin American left, following the election of leftist leaders in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Chile.

“I’m going to win these elections so I can give the people the right to be happy again. The people need, deserve and have the right … to be happy once more,” Lula told journalists as he wrapped up his campaigning with a parade through the streets of São Paulo on Saturday.

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Brazil election 2022: live results from the presidential race

Incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and former president Lula will go to a runoff election at the end of the month after a tighter than expected first round result

Latest analysis and reaction

Brazil’s president is elected directly by the 156 million voters; there is no electoral college and no role for the legislature. A candidate needs more than 50% of the vote to be elected. If this does not happen in the first round, the top two candidates will go into a runoff election at the end of the month.

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Capitol attack officer Fanone hits out at ‘weasel’ McCarthy in startling interview

Michael Fanone makes candid and profane remarks about Republicans in Rolling Stone interview as he promotes memoir

In an extraordinarily candid and profane interview with Rolling Stone, Michael Fanone – the former Washington police officer who was seriously hurt at the US Capitol during the January 6 attack – called the Republican House leader, potentially the next speaker, a “fucking weasel bitch”.

Fanone said past Republican giants would be unimpressed with Kevin McCarthy.

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Petraeus: US would destroy Russia’s troops if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine

Former CIA director and retired army general says Moscow’s leader is ‘desperate’ and ‘battlefield reality he faces is irreversible’

The US and its allies would destroy Russia’s troops and equipment in Ukraine – as well as sink its Black sea fleet – if Russian president Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons in the country, former CIA director and retired four-star army general David Petraeus warned on Sunday.

Petreaus said that he had not spoken to national security adviser Jake Sullivan on the likely US response to nuclear escalation from Russia, which administration officials have said has been repeatedly communicated to Moscow.

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‘We want no more hatred’: leftwing ex-president Lula on verge of comeback in Brazil

Polls suggest Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is close to majority of votes needed to stop election run-off against Jair Bolsonaro

Brazil’s leftwing former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva appeared on the verge of a startling political comeback on Sunday as more than 156 million Brazilians took part in the country’s most important election in decades.

As the veteran ex-president cast his vote in Brazil’s industrial heartlands on Sunday morning, Lula voiced optimism he was heading for victory over the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro.

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Co-founder of collapsed energy firm Bulb hopes to expand battery business

Loss-making venture led by Amit Gudka eyes continent as countries move towards using renewable power

The co-founder of collapsed energy supplier Bulb is planning to expand his loss-making battery storage venture into Europe as the energy crisis escalates.

Amit Gudka hopes to develop Field Energy, the business he set up after leaving Bulb in February 2021, on the continent as countries attempt to switch toward renewable power.

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Greetings from 1980: Dutch postcard finally arrives – 42 years late

Ludwina Verhoeven’s sister sent her the card, which features a photograph of their campsite, while on holiday

A 64-year-old Dutch woman has welcomed the news that she is finally to receive a postcard from her sister, despite it arriving 42 years late.

The card, saying simply “Greetings”, signed Veronica, Jan and Matthijs and addressed to Ludwina and Piet Verhoeven in Nieuw-Vennep, south-west of Amsterdam, was posted in the summer of 1980 from Hoeven in the southern province of Brabant.

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‘A day of hope’: Lula fans eager to see Bolsonaro defeated

Supporters of leftwing frontrunner confident he will prevail as 156 million Brazilians cast their votes

Gabriela Leoncio has been waiting for the chance to free Brazil from Jair Bolsonaro for four years. On Sunday that chance came.

“It’s been a joke-slash-tragedy,” the restaurant host, 29, said of the president’s tumultuous far-right administration as she cast her vote against him in her country’s most important election in decades.

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