Andrew Hastie says AI advised him to reply ‘congratulations!’ to man who planned to end life with assisted dying

• World leaders will gather in New York starting Tuesday for several days of high-level debate at the United Nations General Assembly. • The assembly includes representatives from 193 member states, growing from the 51 original members that formed the organization in 1945.

• President Trump will meet with Persian Gulf leaders in New York next week during the United Nations General Assembly to discuss postwar strategy for the region. • U.S. officials also met over the weekend with representatives of Yemen's Ansar Allah, known as the Houthis.

The African serval, illegally enclosed in the back yard, was subdued and transferred to an animal welfare facility Louisiana firefighters responding to a small house blaze found a wildcat native to sub-Saharan Africa illegally enclosed in the back yard, and an animal welfare agency is now seeking to place the creature in an appropriate environment, according to officials.Firefighters investigating a report of a minor fire at a home in the suburban New Orleans community of Marrero on Tuesday spotted the cat in question – an African serval – behind the residence in a chain-linked enclosure resembling a cramped baseball batting cage, a spokesperson for the local animal protection services said. Continue reading...

Digital, culture, media and sport committee expected to hear evidence from BBC chiefs and music industry experts Joe and Jake. Daz Sampson. Electro Velvet. Who could forget them?Most people, probably. They are among some of the many acts who represented the UK at the Eurovision song contest in the last 20 years that have failed to find a place in the country’s cultural pantheon. Continue reading...

Nearly 90% of children in federal custody being directed to GOP-controlled state that has unlicensed facilities and low legal representation ratesThe Trump administration has started sending a majority of undocumented children who came to the US alone and have new immigration court cases to Texas, where government facilities for them are unlicensed, their chances of getting a lawyer are low and advocates fear that “a deportation churn-out factory” awaits them, the Guardian has learned.Almost 80% of children in federal custody who arrived unaccompanied by a parent or legal guardian and who were placed in immigration court proceedings in July – and over 90% in August – have been funneled into shelter networks somewhere in Texas, a dramatic upswing from the months prior, according to analysis shared exclusively with the Guardian from researchers at the immigration data insights platform bklg.org. Continue reading...

Marzban, who won a best actress award for her portrayal of a woman held hostage by her father in Falling House, has received condemnations from authorities after dedicating her prize to ‘the women of Iran’An Iranian actress who won the best newcomer award at the Venice film festival has come under severe attack from the country’s authorities and state media after highlighting the plight of women in Iran in her acceptance speech.Laleh Marzban last Saturday won the best actress award in the Orizzonti sidebar competition for emerging talent, for her role in Mohsen Gharaei’s Falling House, a film revolving around three generations of women who are incarcerated in their own home by the family’s father. Continue reading...

Simon Peter Carman appeared in a Pattaya court on Friday charged with killing Tunchanok Donhomla An Australian man accused of murdering a Thai teenager and putting her body in a suitcase pleaded not guilty on Friday in a hearing in the seaside resort city of Pattaya, a court official said.Simon Peter Carman, 45, was arrested in June after 17-year-old Tunchanok Donhomla was reported missing in Pattaya City, about 150km south-east of Bangkok. A suitcase containing her body was found shortly after. Continue reading...

At least one person dead as stormy weather causes severe flooding in Barcelona and Valencia Intense and slow-moving thunderstorms broke out on Wednesday afternoon across parts of eastern Spain, bringing some severe flooding and killing at least one person.Storms first struck over the Castilla-La Mancha regionduring the afternoon before passing over Spain’s east coast, becoming very slow-moving and continuing overnight. Torrential rainfall, strong winds and large hail were reported in Valencia and Barcelona, causing widespread flooding in both cities. Weather stations west of Barcelona recorded some of the highest totals with more than 100mm (4in) of rain falling in the space of a few hours, and locally 70mm in just 30 minutes in the early hours of Thursday morning. Cars and roads were submerged, and flights were cancelled across the region. Continue reading...

More than 180 writers sign letter renewing calls for information on 12 authors detained incommunicado since 2001 crackdown on free speech by Isaias AfwerkiMore than 180 writers have signed a letter to Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki calling for proof of life for 12 writers arrested in 2001.Nobel laureates Olga Tokarczuk and JM Coetzee join prominent writers including Colm Tóibín, Elif Shafak, Isabel Allende, Ben Okri, Yann Martel, Kamila Shamsie and Tsitsi Dangarembga in signing the letter dated 18 September, marking 25 years since a government crackdown on the independent press. “Within days, Eritrea’s free press and the nation’s independent voices were systematically crushed,” opens the letter. Continue reading...

It will be the first time the PM uses No 10 North to host an overseas visit while the chancellor will be in Dublin meeting with EU finance ministersGood morning. On Monday, at her summit in Cardiff with the leaders of the SNP and Plaid Cymru, Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Féin president, joked about Liverpool being the 33rd county of Ireland. Andy Burnham is basically a Scouser; he was born in Liverpool and supports a Liverpool football team, despite being brought up in Culcheth, a village mid-way between Liverpool and Manchester, which made him enough of a Manc to be the city’s mayor. He also has Irish ancestry, and so the mood should be very cordial today when he hosts Micheál Martin, the taoiseach (Irish PM) at No 10 North in Manchester this morning.It is the first time that Burnham has used No 10 North to host an overseas visit, which should help a bit his efforts to establish that No 10 North is a proper government power base, and not just a branch office.The historic visit to No 10 North comes as the prime minister shines a spotlight on towns up and down the country, days after he hosted Canadian prime minister Mark Carney in Liverpool and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte in Oxford. Continue reading...

Patients among hundreds who suffered harm at County Durham and Darlington foundation trust’s breast unitTwenty women had their breasts removed unnecessarily while being treated for cancer at an NHS trust in north-east England.The County Durham and Darlington foundation trust (CDDFT) told the BBC that the women were among hundreds of patients who came to harm during treatment at its breast unit. Continue reading...