Friday briefing: What the Covid inquiry reveals about the NHS – and why it should worry us

• China and Indonesia have agreed to deepen military cooperation and expand strategic ties in technology, energy, and minerals to strengthen bilateral relations amid Asian geopolitical competition. • The Dutch public broadcaster Avrotros has withdrawn from the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest, citing concerns that the event's independent and neutral character has been compromised.

RFK Jr, the health secretary, has suggested the death were ‘fabricated’ while the CDC claimed it was reviewing themTop US health officials and government agencies are currently not including the two recent measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania in their counts.“This is highly unusual,” said Debra Houry, former chief medical officer of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She noted that this did not happen with the three deaths reported from measles in Texas and New Mexico last year. Continue reading...

Beloved singer died last week at the age of 80Parton was born 30 miles from college campusThe Tennessee Volunteers will be honoring Dolly Parton with a helmet sticker this season, the college football team’s head coach, Josh Heupel, announced on Monday.Parton, a Tennessee native, died last week at the age of 80 from cancer. Continue reading...

Singer, accused of murder and sexual abuse of teen Celeste Rivas Hernandez, to be represented by LA public defenderSinger D4vd lost his high-profile private lawyers on Monday at a hearing where he entered a new not guilty plea to charges that he killed, sexually abused and dismembered 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.It’s not clear why Blair Berk and her colleagues Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter parted ways with the singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke. They were replaced by a lawyer from the Los Angeles county public defender’s office. Continue reading...

From a darling of the Tory right to a moderate former army officer, we profile the key playersKemi Badenoch has kicked off the return to parliament with a reshuffle of her top team in order to take on Andy Burnham and Reform UK. She has made sweeping changes to the shadow cabinet and ruthlessly axed her shadow chancellor. Here is a run down of the new characters sitting across from Labour on the opposition front bench. Continue reading...

TCG Isin expected to play vital role in locating Filo Jet’s voyage data recorder 514 metres below surfaceA deep-sea search and rescue vessel is on its way to Cyprus as Turkey joins efforts to retrieve the 20 people still missing after a passenger ferry capsized off the island’s northern coast.The TCG Isin will join the vast operation to find survivors after the high-speed ferry sank on Sunday barely four nautical miles outside the port town of Kyrenia. Continue reading...

Santos was accused of profiting from bets tied to his attendance at Trump’s State of the Union addressGeorge Santos, the former Republican congressman whose political career collapsed under a mountain of lies, has become the first person ever handed a lifetime ban by the prediction-market platform Kalshi.The company announced the permanent suspension on Monday, along with a $71,356 fine, after federal regulators accused Santos of profiting from bets tied to his own attendance at Donald Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this year. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Prime minister wants to ‘bring back hope’ by tackling cost of living as MPs call for electoral reformAndy Burnham will drive home his pledge to bring more essential services back into public control, telling MPs in the Commons on Tuesday that it will be the only way to improve growth across the country.Burnham will address the house for the first time in 16 years from the frontbench, and six weeks since he became prime minister, after spending the summer recess announcing a slew of policies that will now be put before MPs. Continue reading...

Body of victim thought to be in her 70s found in bin bag in walled garden area of Stanley Park on FridayPolice in Liverpool have urged members of the public to come forward with information after the body of an unknown woman believed to be in her 70s was found in a black bin bag in a popular park.Merseyside police were contacted by a passerby who had found the woman’s body in Stanley Park, in the Anfield area of Liverpool, at about 5.25pm on Friday 28 August. Continue reading...

Lander screamed at and verbally abused as he protested against Hindu nationalist rally in Madison Square GardenNew York Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander was screamed at and verbally abused by protesters over his stance on Israel as he protested a Hindu nationalist politician speaking outside Madison Square Garden.As Lander attended a demonstration on Saturday against the event, organized by the Hindu nationalist RSS movement and where Mohan Bhagwat, leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was speaking, he was confronted by several protesters demanding that he leave the rally. Continue reading...

Three-quarters of Americans said in a recent poll that they oppose datacenters being built next to their homesDonald Trump has criticized communities pushing back against datacenter projects across the US amid a growing backlash, warning those that reject them risk becoming “backwards and poor”.As controversy surrounding local datacenter plans continues to swirl around election campaigns nationwide ahead of November’s midterm elections, the US president declared Americans “will only have yourselves to blame” if they are canceled. Continue reading...

Washington says it acted after observing Iran was planning to deploy fresh mines in strait of HormuzMiddle East crisis live – latest updatesThe US and Iran have exchanged fire for the first time in a month, with missiles and drones fired at Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, and Iran targeting US military bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in response.The US president, Donald Trump, on Monday threatened further action. The US is to trying to prise open Tehran’s grip on shipping going through the strait, which before the war accounted for a fifth of the world’s seaborne energy supply. Washington claimed that Iranian control over the waterway had been loosened by repeated US attacks on Iranian missile launchers and radars. Continue reading...