UNITED KINGDOM

Prime minister defends government’s backflip on census and says single question on sexuality will not limit scope of dataGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAnthony Albanese says the nature and scope of question on sexuality in the next census will be a matter for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, not the government.After a week in which his government was heavily criticised for excluding proposed new questions on sexual orientation and gender identity, the prime minister reneged and said the 2026 census would include “one question about sexuality, sexual preference”.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Risk of raising tensions after parallel institutions serving Serb minority are declared illegal and shuttered by ethnic Albanian-led governmentKosovo authorities on Friday closed five parallel institutions working with the ethnic Serb minority, a move that was immediately criticised by the US and could further raise tensions with neighbouring Serbia.Elbert Krasniqi, Kosovo’s minister of local administration, confirmed the closure of five so-called parallel institutions in the north – where most of the ethnic Serb minority lives – writing online that they “violate the Republic of Kosovo’s constitution and laws”. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/31/protest-from-us-after-kosovo-closes-serbian-offices Author : Staff and agencies in

Heat building up in country’s centre and driving south-east is causing ‘really unusual’ heatwave that is breaking winter recordsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralia’s winter runs from June to August, but swathes of the country have felt like summer the past week with temperatures topping 40C and records tumbling.“It doesn’t matter how you slice and dice it,” said Dr Linden Ashcroft, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne. “The temperature records have been gobsmacking.”Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/article/2024/aug/31/australia-heatwave-weather-sydney-melbourne-august-heat-record-temperatures Author : Graham Readfearn Publish date :

Neighbor held in disappearance of Stephanie and Daniel Menard from a Redlands, California, nudist resortA couple living in a southern California nudist community who were reported missing earlier this week are presumed dead, police said on Friday, and a next-door neighbor had been arrested.On Friday, police used a tank-like vehicle with a battering ram to smash into a home where they believed the bodies of Stephanie Menard, 73, and her husband, Daniel, 79, would be be found, said Carl Baker, spokesperson for the Redlands police department. Continue reading... Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/30/missing-couple-california-nudist-dead-arrest Author : Associated Press Publish date : 2024-08-31