China, India and Belarus line up for Russia’s rival version of Eurovision

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Intervision promises to be lighter on sequins and heavier on patriotic ballads than its European counterpart

Russia is gearing up to revive its Soviet-era alternative to Eurovision – the Intervision song contest – which kicks off in Moscow on Saturday, with performers from 23, mostly allied, countries set to take the stage.

But sequinned bodysuits, camp theatrics and Europop bangers will be in short supply. Instead, the Kremlin’s version of the spectacle promises “traditional values”, patriotic ballads and a Russian entry led by a fiercely pro-war singer, as Moscow attempts to refashion Europe’s glitter-soaked pageant in its own image.

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The Plot to Free the Nuns – The New York Times

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  1. The Plot to Free the Nuns  The New York Times
  2. Defiant nuns flee care home for their abandoned convent in the Alps  BBC
  3. ‘Nuns on the run’ case in Austria highlights plight of aging, dwindling religious  OSV News
  4. Trio of Nuns Break Free from Nursing Home and Go Back to Former Convent. They Feel 'Immense Joy' After Returning  People.com
  5. Elderly nuns escape nursing home in Austria and find way back to convent  Catholic News Agency
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Autocrats Move Quickly to Fill Void as Trump Retreats From U.N. – The New York Times

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  1. Autocrats Move Quickly to Fill Void as Trump Retreats From U.N.  The New York Times
  2. The UN’s grim future  The Economist
  3. America’s Infuriating and Irreplaceable Role at the U.N.  Foreign Policy
  4. Bloomberg Talks: UNGA President Annalena Baerbock  Bloomberg.com
  5. Unprecedented: Trump has pulled the US out of its UN human rights review  The Hill
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Europe, Canada, Saudi Arabia poke at Trump with Palestinian statehood – Politico

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  1. Europe, Canada, Saudi Arabia poke at Trump with Palestinian statehood  Politico
  2. Israel readies furious response to Macron’s Palestinian statehood push  politico.eu
  3. Macron hopes his recognition of a Palestinian state will be a landmark contribution to Mideast peace  AP News
  4. French President Macron says recognition of Palestinian state is necessary to combat Hamas  CBS News
  5. French government tells mayors not to fly Palestinian flags next week  Le Monde.fr
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Train named Ctrl Alt Deleaf to help blast billions of leaves from Great Britain’s tracks

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Network Rail says train named after public vote will join fleet of ‘unsung hero’ leaf-busters this autumn

If Boaty McBoatface taught us one thing, it’s that the public do not take a naming ceremony particularly seriously.

Cue the newly named leaf-removal train: Ctrl Alt Deleaf.

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Maria Ressa tells Jon Stewart Americans are ‘deer in the headlights’ in face of Trump assault on free speech

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Nobel prize-winner says US institutions have collapsed much quicker than expected under the Trump administration

The Nobel prize-winner Maria Ressa has said Americans are like “deer in the headlights” amid the collapse of US institutions and free speech under the Trump administration, particularly after Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension.

Speaking to Jon Stewart on the satirical news programme The Daily Show, the journalist and author of How to Stand Up to a Dictator, said the speed at which Donald Trump had “collapsed” US institutions happened much faster than she anticipated.

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Hamas official who survived Doha strike threatens Israel, warns Gaza op endangers hostages – The Times of Israel

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  1. Hamas official who survived Doha strike threatens Israel, warns Gaza op endangers hostages  The Times of Israel
  2. Israeli fighter jets launched ballistic missiles from the Red Sea in Qatar strike, official says  AP News
  3. Are Arab nations going to impose real costs on Israel?  Atlantic Council
  4. Arab states respond to Israel’s Doha strikes with angry bombast  The Economist
  5. Opinion | An attack on diplomacy itself  The Washington Post
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Ausgrid slashes safety inspectors after report finds cheaper to pay permanent disability injury compensation

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Secret report from CutlerMerz finds yearly cost of inspections – $520,219 – is more than cost of paying compensation – $28,375 a year

Ausgrid cut safety inspector numbers by more than half after receiving a secret report that said it was cheaper for the company to pay compensation for a permanent disability injury than to continue paying for the inspections.

The secret report, conducted by consultancy CutlerMerz and seen by Guardian Australia, recommended Ausgrid slash the inspections it was doing by as much as 55%, saying the cost – $520,219 per year – was “grossly disproportionate to the cost of the consequence being managed”.

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Retail sales rise in Great Britain as warm weather boosts clothing purchases

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Increase of 0.5% in August helped by back-to-school shopping, while food stores also given lift

Back-to-school shopping and warm weather helped to boost retail sales last month, according to the latest official data.

Total retail sales in Great Britain rose 0.5%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, as parents prepared for the new school year and shoppers enjoyed a series of heatwave and the summer’s last bank holiday.

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Doctor who called Erin Patterson ‘crazy bitch’ after treating her penalised for speaking about case

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Health regulator places conditions on Dr Christopher Webster’s registration over comments made after mushroom lunch murder trial

An Australian doctor who treated triple murderer Erin Patterson and her victims after the deadly mushroom lunch has been slapped with conditions by the health regulator after speaking out about the case.

Dr Christopher Webster, a GP in the Victorian town of Leongatha, south-east of Melbourne, was a witness in Patterson’s trial earlier this year.

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Sussan Ley says she ‘misspoke’ after comments that Coalition doesn’t believe in setting climate targets

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Liberal leader later clarifies she doesn’t support setting targets while in opposition

The Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, has indicated the Coalition won’t set a 2030 or 2035 climate target unless they return to government, saying her colleagues didn’t back locking in an emissions goal while they remained in opposition.

It came as Ley had to clean up her own error, claiming she “misspoke” after initially saying her party “don’t believe in setting targets at all from opposition or from government”. She later clarified she only meant in opposition, prompting ridicule from Anthony Albanese who claimed the opposition “changes its policies from hour to hour”.

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Eritrean man is second to be deported to France under UK’s ‘one in, one out’ deal

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Home Office says man left Heathrow for Paris early on Friday after losing high court attempt to block move

An Eritrean man has been deported to France under the UK government’s “one in, one out” deal with the neighbouring country.

The man – the second to be deported under the agreement – was on a flight that left Heathrow for Paris at 6.15am on Friday, the Home Office confirmed after he lost a high court attempt to block the move.

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For comedians around the world, the laughs often end as democracy fades

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Silencing of Jimmy Kimmel sets US on course similar to that charted by authoritarian regimes from Egypt to India

The exiled Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef has experienced firsthand how intolerant governments can silence political satire. And he had a short message this week for those living in an age of Donald Trump’s free speech clampdown: “My Fellow American Citizens,” he wrote on X. “Welcome to my world.”

In his attacks on the most prominent of American satirists, the US president has joined a cadre of illiberal and sensitive leaders around the world who will not tolerate a joke.

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