Middle East peace held back by US insistence that Iran is a threat, Oman’s foreign minister says

Badr Albusaidi calls for security pact involving Gulf states, Iraq and Iran with US no longer primary provider of security

The Middle East’s ability to solve its problems has been held back by America’s 50-year insistence that the Gulf states should view Iran as a security threat, Oman’s foreign minister said on Monday in a significant speech designed to break the deadlock over the region’s future.

Badr Albusaidi called for a non-aggression security pact involving all six Gulf states as well as Iran and Iraq. The US would in future no longer be the primary provider of security, he said.

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No 10 clarifies Andy Burnham’s stance on freedom of movement

Clarification comes after PM fuelled speculation about EU-UK relationship in series of interviews at weekend

Downing Street has been forced to clarify Andy Burnham’s stance on whether the UK would return to having freedom of movement with the EU after the prime minister said an “honest discussion” was needed on the issue.

Burnham fuelled speculation about a return to freedom of movement in an interview at the weekend, prompting questions about how close the UK could become to Brussels.

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UK sanctions Sudanese military leaders implicated in El Fasher ‘campaign of rape’

Commanders suspected of sexual violence during the largest and fastest slaughter of civilians in more than 30 years have been subjected to travel ban and asset freeze

Senior Sudanese commanders implicated in a “campaign of rape” have been targeted by the UK on the first anniversary of a mass atrocity that saw tens of thousands of civilians killed over several days.

A year after the fall of El Fasher, the British government said it had sanctioned military leaders from both sides in the country’s ongoing conflict whom it suspected of sexual violence during the siege of the city.

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Audi boss under fire in Germany for Trump rally appearance

Gernot Döllner criticised for in-person announcement of major investment in US days before midterm elections

The head of the luxury carmaker Audi is under fire in Germany for appearing at a rally with Donald Trump just days before the US midterm elections, to announce billions of dollars of investment in battleground state Georgia.

Gernot Döllner joined Trump on stage after the US president gave a speech criticised by the head of an elected body of employees at Audi’s parent company, Volkswagen, as being full of “racism, sexism, transphobia [and] contempt for democracy”.

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Japanese prosecutors charge US marine suspected of robbing and killing woman

Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, denies charges that he fatally strangled Anna Yagi, 39, in a hotel on the island of Okinawa

Prosecutors in Japan have filed formal charges against a US marine suspected of murdering and robbing a woman while stationed on the country’s island of Okinawa, according to Japanese media.

Devin Jacob Ballard, a 20-year-old lance corporal assigned to Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa, is charged with fatally strangling Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in the city and stealing from her a backpack containing a wallet, the public broadcaster NHK reported.

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‘It’s a mess right now’: RFK’s sweeping changes place new vaccines in limbo

Health secretary’s effort to alter makeup of ACIP panel means no new recommendations coming – even as new vaccines are approved

US vaccine recommendations are in limbo, access to vaccines is suffering, and some of the uncertainty may continue for years following major blows to vaccination by the Trump administration, experts say.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has made sweeping changes to vaccination policy, cutting childhood immunization recommendations by a third and replacing experts on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with his own handpicked allies.

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Sudan paramilitary drone strikes cause mass power cuts in eastern states

Rapid Support Forces strike five power stations in three states controlled by Sudanese army

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have launched a coordinated drone attack against five power stations, causing mass power outages across the country’s east, a government official said.

The drones hit two power stations each in the states of Al-Jazira and Gedaref and one in White Nile state, “resulting in power outages across large parts of these three states”, the official said on condition of anonymity.

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‘Zero-energy companionship’: bizarre hobby takes seed among China’s stressed young adults

Faced with a stagnant jobs market, many are spurning children or pets in favour of ‘raising bricks’

Young adults in China looking for a cheaper, low-maintenance alternative to having children or pets have found an answer: raising bricks.

Bricks may not be as cuddly as cats or as life-affirming as human offspring, but they also cost next to nothing. “No cats, no dating, I started raising a brick,” wrote one brick parent on social media.

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Brexit deal is not good enough for British public, says Andy Burnham

EU exit has damaged economy and failed to bring promised benefits, says PM, but he rules out big pre-election changes

Brexit has not “played out” like it was promised to the public, has weakened the economy and the current deal is not good enough, Andy Burnham has said, while ruling out any major changes in the current parliament.

The prime minister said Britain had ended up with a “harder Brexit than was proposed in the referendum campaign” and it had not helped to control the small boats crisis. Backing the home secretary’s tougher immigration rules, he said Brexit had weakened the UK’s ability to control its borders as it could no longer send people back to Europe.

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UK poised to miss reduced aid spending target of 0.3% of national income

Calculations from the Center for Global Development say spending next year is likely to be £410m less than anticipated

The UK is on course to miss its target of spending 0.3% of national income on international aid by an estimated £400m by the end of next year.

Calculations from the Center for Global Development (CGD) found the UK was on course for a large shortfall in promised official development assistance at the end of 2027.

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Brazil keeps left: what Lula’s victory means for his country and beyond

In today’s newsletter: As Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva secured victory in the presidential race, we look the implications for democracy, the environment and international relations

Good morning. Chances are you woke this morning to news of two momentous election results. In Serbia, a student-led movement has ousted the country’s long-serving leader, Aleksandar Vučić (which you can read more about here). And just hours ago, Brazil’s president staged a sensational turnaround against his far-right opponent after a nail-biting vote.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, won a forth nonconsecutive term as president, seeing off far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who spearheaded the radical populist movement built by his father and former president, Jair. Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after he lost the 2022 election.

UK news | Two people have been killed and more than 160,000 properties have been left without power as Storm Boelo continues to batter the UK.

Crime | British police are recording a growing number of crimes linked to cocaine, including assaults, domestic abuse and dangerous driving, as figures show consumption has surged across England.

France | Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren’s demands for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his final months as president.

UK politics | Prime minister Andy Burnham’s call for the UK to consider a return to free movement with Europe has been backed by senior cabinet ministers including Angela Rayner but risks causing concern among fellow red wall MPs.

Aviation | Three in four European airline pilots have taken microsleeps in the cockpit, while almost a quarter routinely fly despite being too fatigued to work, according to a report.

Tuesday | Israel goes to the polls on Tuesday, amid orders from prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a full lockdown of the occupied West Bank after recent checkpoint attacks. His government will be fighting for its survival.

Wednesday | On Wednesday Chancellor John Healey will deliver his first budget statement in the House of Commons, which is expected to give local authorities more spending powers, as a means to promote growth

Thursday and Friday | European and Canadian leaders will meet in Montreal for the 21st EU-Canada summit, to discuss security and strategic cooperation. It will be the first opportunity for leaders to iron out details over a proposed invitation for Canada to become the EU’s first ever “associate member”

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Emirati diplomat who helped deliver aid to Gaza enters UN secretary general race

Lana Nusseibeh has Palestine’s endorsement but faces criticism over UAE’s record on human rights and Sudan

An Emirati diplomat who as UAE ambassador to the UN helped secure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza has entered the race as a late contender to succeed António Guterres as the world body’s secretary general.

Lana Nusseibeh, who is of Palestinian heritage, is widely noted for her advocacy of the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution and has won the endorsement of the state of Palestine.

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Exiled opposition leader María Corina Machado returns to rapturous reception in Venezuela

Nobel peace prize winner’s return after almost a year in exile is unlikely to please interim president Delcy Rodríguez

The Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has announced she has returned to Venezuela almost a year after she left the country to receive the Nobel peace prize.

“I’m here. With you,” she wrote on X on Sunday lunchtime.

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‘He’s not going to punk me. I’ll trick him’: Ali G: Who Iz I? stooge says he was in on joke but didn’t tell Sacha Baron Cohen

Exclusive: Joshua Loudermilk says suspicions first raised during filming by gun shaped like wearable plastic bottom: ‘You’re gonna put a butt on top of a butt? You can’t run in that’

• This article contains spoilers for Ali G: Who Iz I?

Joshua Loudermilk, one of two men apparently discredited by the new Ali G movie Ali G: Who Iz I?, has said that he was in on the joke, but that the film-makers didn’t realise this.

Loudermilk, a 54-year-old aspiring actor from North Carolina, has told the Guardian he recognised star Sacha Baron Cohen early in the shoot but continued pretending to be a hard-right Maga sympathiser prepared to defend the US border at all costs.

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Portuguese police with dogs and batons dismantle housing protest camps

More than 30 people arrested as officers clear at least 100 tents in central Lisbon and about 50 in Porto

Police in Portugal have dismantled housing protest camps in Lisbon and Porto, baton-charging campaigners in the early hours of Sunday and arresting more than 30 people.

The raids were the latest incident in days of clashes between police and campaigners who – inspired by similar camps in Spain – had sought to pitch tents in central squares to protest against the country’s deepening housing crisis.

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Brazilians vote in presidential election runoff pitting leftist Lula against far-right Bolsonaro

Incumbent president lost in first round to senator and son of convicted ex-president

Brazilians are going to the polls on Sunday in a highly unpredictable runoff in which the leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is attempting an unprecedented comeback against the far-right senator Flávio Bolsonaro, who won the first-round vote.

Bolsonaro’s surprise victory despite not leading most polls made him the favourite three weeks ago, but since then Lula’s campaign has gained ground, and the two go into the contest virtually tied.

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Volkswagen to build $4bn Audi SUV factory in US despite job cuts at home

VW investment, creating 4,500 jobs in Georgia, comes amid Trump’s damaging tariffs, intense Chinese competition and costly shift towards EVs

Audi has said it will spend $4bn (£3bn) to build its first factory in the US, as its parent company, Volkswagen, struggles with the impact of steep tariffs imposed by Donald Trump.

The German brand’s chief executive, Gernot Döllner, joined Trump on stage at a campaign rally on Saturday night to announce the factory in Macon, Georgia, in an unusual move by a big European brand just days before the US midterm elections.

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Demand for UK government action 10 months after British man’s death in Grenada

Police closed case of Andrew Frederick despite autopsy report ruling his death a homicide

A time-critical investigation into the death of a British father whose body was found in a ransacked property on the Caribbean island of Grenada has stalled because of diplomatic delays between the two countries.

Charity workers supporting the family of Andrew Frederick are demanding immediate government intervention to clear the path for a full investigation to begin almost 10 months after his death, which has been ruled a homicide by a pathologist.

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‘That’s the way the city works’: how the UAE changed the face of Andy Burnham’s Manchester

The story of the emirates’ presence in Manchester winds from the Arab Spring to some of the most deprived places in England – with complicated results

When Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s long-ruling dictator, was toppled from power in the Arab spring protests of 2011, his downfall sent shock waves across the Middle East. It also helped change the face of modern Manchester.

Mubarak’s successor, the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi, was a sworn enemy of the United Arab Emirates, whose rulers feared the advance of Morsi’s Islamism.

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Hundreds of thousands march across France in protests over schools and policing

Almost 1,000 arrested as police charge crowd in Paris and teargas used to stop protesters reaching other city centres

Hundreds of thousands marched in cities across France on Saturday in largely peaceful protests to support schoolchildren’s demands for more teachers and repairs to dilapidated buildings, as Emmanuel Macron faces a social and political crisis in his final months as president.

The prosecutor’s office in the southern city of Nice said on Sunday that 59 people had been taken into police custody, including 11 suspected of belonging to extreme-right groups. They were alleged to have gathered with the intent of committing violence. Some were arrested in two vehicles with masks, gloves, gas sprays and truncheons, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement to public broadcaster FranceInfo.

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