UK government must urgently apologise for forced adoption, MPs say

• World leaders are gathering in New York for the 81st annual United Nations General Assembly to address widening global conflicts and a trust deficit. • Some actors are controlling fuel and food supplies to create scarcity and increase costs on a global scale.

• World leaders are gathering for the UN General Assembly to address ongoing wars, the risks of artificial intelligence, and the need for institutional reform. • The organization continues to manage humanitarian relief, refugee assistance, peacekeeping, and diplomacy.

• World leaders will gather for the UN General Assembly to discuss global crises and ongoing wars. • Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to speak on Thursday, while the US denied a visa to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

• World leaders gathered in New York on Tuesday for the 81st UN General Assembly to begin high-level debates on global crises and governance. • The agenda focuses on regulating artificial intelligence, addressing climate change, and managing conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan, and the Middle East.

• Hundreds of diplomats and world leaders are gathering this week at the United Nations headquarters in New York for the General Assembly. • The event serves as the largest annual meeting for global diplomacy.

Burnham is heading to New York for the United Nations general assemblyGood morning. Andy Burnham is at the United Nations general assembly today and in a speech to the world (or, technically, to people in the hall and anyone watching on TV at around 2am UK time), he will say that Britain is not “on the slide”.Speaking to reporters on the plane to New York, Burnham said:The plan for Britain is about ‘what is our direction over the next 10 years and how do we make life more affordable for people’. That is my main priority, that’s what people are looking for.I hear people saying the country is on the slide – we’re the fastest growing in the G7, there’s lots to be proud of, there’s a lot right with the country and I’m going to give a really upbeat message when I speak.Government sources told the Guardian that Burnham would try to pursue a “third way” in his relationship with the US president, neither as adversarial as the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, nor as publicly fawning as [Keir] Starmer’s early approach, and relying on the strength of his personality. Continue reading...

Party strategists say careful targeting of seats has paid off and should continue, but some say a wider vision is neededOne of the more dramatic moments in a Liberal Democrat conference otherwise short of them came late on Sunday, when the party frontbencher Lisa Smart told the polling veteran John Curtice that, in effect, he no longer understood modern politics.Curtice had warned the Lib Dems they risked being left behind, with the lack of a coherent national message seeing them all but ignored outside a few electoral strongholds. Smart’s response? In the new era of five- or six-party politics, and mass tactical voting, this does not matter. Continue reading...

PM skirts question and says his focus is on rebuilding bridges before first meeting with Ursula von der LeyenAndy Burnham has opened the door to fighting the next election on the UK rejoining the EU, but said his immediate priority was continuing to rebuild bridges with European allies.The prime minister, who will hold his first meeting with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, on Tuesday, did not rule out including reversing Brexit in Labour’s next manifesto – but suggested the country should focus on securing closer trading ties first. Continue reading...

Disappearance of jet components sparks concern some of the program’s technology secrets could have been exposedFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastRichard Marles says the Department of Defence is examining how F-35 fighter jet parts bound for the US from Australia were unexpectedly diverted to Hong Kong.The acting prime minister said “very much everything that has occurred at the Australian end” will be reviewed, however, he claimed the technology parts were not “sensitive”, as first reported by Politico over the weekend. Continue reading...

Dog collars, guitars and self-portraits among 285 objects, with money going to her animal welfare foundation and sonAn auction of the French film star turned animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot’s personal items fetched nearly €1m (£858,000, US$1.15m, A$1.61m) in Paris on Monday, almost 20 times the estimate, according to the auction house Millon.A total of 285 objects ranging from straw hats, sunglasses and nightgowns to tableware and furniture from Bardot’s homes in Saint-Tropez in south-eastern France and Paris generated tremendous enthusiasm, Agence France-Presse reported. Continue reading...

Opposition leader said the idea for Australians to use their superannuation savings as collateral for a loan ‘is not our policy’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our new political email, free app or daily news podcastAngus Taylor has immediately distanced himself from the latest policy proposal from Liberal frontbencher Andrew Bragg that would let first home buyers use their superannuation savings as collateral for a loan.Bragg, the shadow housing minister, floated “a range of ways” on Tuesday that Australians’ retirement savings could be used to help more people into home ownership.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s Politics, really newsletter here Continue reading...

The US president said in an interview ahead of the United Nations meeting that he was considering ‘wiping Iran out’Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps warned it would “change the geography of the war” if the US escalates the conflict, after Donald Trump issued fresh threats against the Islamic Republic.In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump said “very big things are going to be happening in the not-so-distant future”, adding that the options he was considering were “wiping Iran out, letting them rot economically or making a deal”. Continue reading...