News

Original title: Russia’s Putin hails ‘unprecedented’ ties with China as talks begin Russia’s Putin hails ‘unprecedented’ ties with China as talks begin Russian state media shared photos of Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin meeting for bilateral talks in Beijing on Tuesday Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have kicked off bilateral talks in Beijing, on the eve of a massive military parade in the Chinese capital. Putin hailed relations between the countries, saying they were at an “unprecedented level”. “Dear friend, both I and the entire Russian delegation are pleased to meet once again with our Chinese friends and colleagues,” Putin told Xi, according to a video published on the Kremlin’s official Telegram messaging app. “Our close communication reflects the strategic nature of Russia-China relations, which are at an unprecedentedly high level,” he added. “We were always together then, and we remain together now.” Xi told Putin that “China-Russia relations have withstood the test of international changes” - adding that Beijing was wil ...

Original title: International students warned to not overstay visas International students warned to not overstay visas Under the plans, about 130,000 students and their families in total will be sent a message telling them: “If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave. As part of the campaign, the Home Office has for the first time proactively contacted international students directly by text and email. The Home Office launched the new government campaign in response to what it has called an “alarming” spike in the number of international students arriving legally on student visas then claiming asylum when they expire. Tens of thousands of foreign students are being contacted directly by the government and told they will be removed from the UK if they overstay their visas. “If you don’t, we will remove you.” Ten thousand international students whose visas are due to expire have already been contacted directly by text and email - warning them they could be deported. Tens of thousands more will receive the message in the coming months ...

Original title: Justice secretary to get power to veto sentencing guidance Justice secretary to get power to veto sentencing guidance Shabana Mahmood will be able to veto guidance proposed by the independent body Announcing the new measures, Mahmood said “policy must be set by parliamentarians, who answer to the people”. The change comes after a public dispute earlier in the year between the Sentencing Council and the government over pre-sentence reports for offenders from certain minority groups. Under the new rules, Shabana Mahmood will have veto powers over any new sentencing guidance issued by the independent public body, the Justice Department said. The government is changing the law to stop the Sentencing Council issuing new guidelines to courts in England and Wales without the explicit approval of the justice secretary. The new measure will be brought in as part of the Sentencing Bill, being introduced in the House of Commons on Tuesday. The Sentencing Council is a non-departmental public body that sets out guidance for courts in England and Wales. Bot ...

Original title: At least 1,000 killed in Sudan landslide, rebel group says At least 1,000 killed in Sudan landslide, rebel group says More than 800,000 Sudanese have fled Darfur, where the landslide occurred, since conflict erupted in 2023 A landslide has killed at least 1,000 people in the remote Marra Mountains in western Sudan, according to the rebel group The Sudan Liberation Movement/Army. Days of heavy rain triggered the landslide on Sunday, which left just one survivor and “levelled” much of the village of Tarasin, the group said in a statement. The movement has appealed for humanitarian assistance from the United Nations and other regional and international organisations. Many residents from North Darfur state had sought refuge in the Marra Mountains region, after war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) forced them from their homes. ...

Original title: Scotland scraps peak rail fares - will the rest of the UK follow? Scotland scraps peak rail fares - will the rest of the UK follow? 13 hours ago Share Save Mitchell Labiak Business reporter, BBC News Share Save Ken Jack/Getty Images Train passengers no longer have to pay higher prices for peak time tickets on ScotRail, raising the question over whether the rest of the UK could follow suit. While some passengers told the BBC they would welcome the prospect of cheaper tickets, experts are divided over whether it could push prices up overall or result in overcrowded carriages. Why do we have peak times? The peak/off-peak system is designed to discourage passengers from getting on busier trains, by making it more expensive to travel during the commuter rush before 9am and between 5pm and 7pm. However, the pandemic working from home and rail usage has not yet returned to pre-Covid levels so peak travel times are less busy than they used to be. David Ross, chief operating officer at ScotRail - which is owned by the Scottish government - told BBC Radio 4’s ...

Original title: ‘Covered in dust and too shocked to speak’: Afghan villagers reel at scale of quake’s devastation ‘Covered in dust and too shocked to speak’: Afghan villagers reel at scale of quake’s devastation 11 hours ago Share Save Gabriela Pomeroy BBC News Share Save Watch: Buildings destroyed and rescue efforts under way after deadly Afghanistan earthquake Just before midnight on Sunday, Matiullah Shahab woke up to find his house in Afghanistan’s remote Kunar province shaking. An earthquake measuring 6.0 magnitude had struck eastern Afghanistan, leaving at least 800 people dead, according to the UN. Even though the epicentre of the quake was 16km (10 miles) away, the whole of Shahab’s village of Asadabad trembled. The 23 family members who live with him ran out of their bedrooms as they feared the walls would fall in on them, and stayed awake all night in their garden. “We were all afraid,” he says. The areas worst hit by the quake were Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, but it was felt as far away as Kabul and in neighbouring Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad. When day broke, Matiullah - who is a f ...

Original title: Dwayne Johnson: I was pigeon-holed as box office star Dwayne Johnson: I was pigeon-holed as box office star 5 hours ago Share Save Steven McIntosh Entertainment reporter at the Venice Film Festival Share Save A24 Johnson, pictured in The Smashing Machine, said he had “been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now” US actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has said he had a “burning desire” to make a different kind of film, after years of being “pigeon-holed” as a blockbuster star. The 53-year-old could be in line for the first Oscar nomination of his career for his role in The Smashing Machine, which has just launched at the Venice Film Festival. Johnson said playing UFC fighter Mark Kerr in the movie had “certainly changed my life”, adding that the transformation was something he was “really hungry to do”. He told journalists: “I’ve been scared to go deep and intense and raw until now, until I had this opportunity to do this.” Johnson is best known for his roles in big-budget movies such as Jumanji, San Andreas, Black Adam, Moana, Baywat ...

Original title: Isak joins Liverpool in £125m British record deal Liverpool have signed striker Alexander Isak from Newcastle United for a British record transfer fee of £125m, with the Swede saying he “wanted to create history and win trophies” at Anfield. Newcastle sources claim the deal could be worth as much as £130m with add-ons. Sweden international Isak, 25, had a medical on Monday before signing a six-year contract, and the deal takes Liverpool’s summer spending to about £416.2m, without add-on fees. Isak, who will wear the number nine shirt with the Reds, told the Liverpool website: “This is the next step for me in my career. I’m super happy that I’ve been given this chance and I’m very motivated to do something well with it. “I want to create history. I want to win trophies. That’s ultimately the biggest motivation for me. “This is the perfect place for me to grow even further and to take my game to the next level and help the team as well.” Liverpool had an original £110m offer for Isak rejected in August but have now landed their first-ch ...

Original title: Starmer shakes up No 10 team - but what is he hoping to achieve? Why Starmer wants No 10 rejig after a year in power 14 hours ago Share Save Henry Zeffman Chief Political Correspondent Share Save Getty Images Many of the names involved in Sir Keir Starmer’s Downing Street shake-up are not even household names in Westminster. But the latest moves, announced on Monday as MPs return to Parliament, are a big deal for several reasons. First, in terms of organisational innovation. If you’re struggling to recall who was Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister before Darren Jones, the answer is that there wasn’t one. The role is a new creation, designed to give Sir Keir Starmer firmer command of the government machine he has complained is sluggish and unwieldy. Bringing an MP into the heart of Downing Street’s operations is unusual, if not completely unprecedented - the Conservative MP Steve Barclay was Boris Johnson’s chief of staff in his final months as prime minister. Clearer structures For all that innovation, these latest moves are also partly about est ...

Original title: UK suspends refugee family reunion applications UK suspends refugee family reunion applications 7 hours ago Share Save Sam Francis Political reporter Share Save PA Media 55 small boats were recorded crossing the Channel in August, the lowest August figure since 2019 The government is temporarily suspending new applications for a scheme allowing refugees to bring their family members to the UK. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the move, in force from this week, would mean refugees face the same restrictions as other migrants hoping to bring family to join them in the UK. This generally means someone must earn at least £29,000 a year and provide suitable accommodation, while their family member may need to demonstrate a basic level of English. Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said “tweaking the family reunion rules are not enough” to deal with the scale of the UK’s “border security crisis”. It comes on the day Parliament returned after a summer dominated by criticism over the use of hotels for migrants arriving on small ...