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Country loses 200 tennis courts in three years, but they still outnumber padel facilities by a factor of 11 to oneEngland has lost almost 200 tennis courts in three years as padel facilities have grown nearly sixfold.Guardian analysis of Sport England data found that the country has lost 183 tennis courts since 2023 – the first such decline since at least 2000. The data includes local authority and community-owned courts, privately run health facilities, schools and sports clubs. Continue reading...

Queensland capital hits 34.4C as firefighters battle fast-moving bushfire in Lockyer Valley west of IpswichGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastResidents have been put on high alert as an unseasonably hot start to spring gives way to blazes and increased fire risks in the nation’s east.Queensland fire authorities issued local fire bans for Ipswich and the Lockyer Valley on Sunday as temperatures typically seen in summer gripped the state’s south-east in early September. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Tan Dhesi says Argentinian threats make it more crucial than ever that PM increase defence spendingJavier Milei’s threats to the Falkland Islands make it even more important that Andy Burnham increase defence spending immediately, according to the Labour chair of the defence committee.Tan Dhesi said the comments by the Argentinian president this week show why the government should raise military spending to 3% of GDP by 2030. But he said Burnham’s plans remain mired in confusion after the prime minister appeared to reassure him that the 2030 target would be hit, only for Downing Street to later retreat. Continue reading...

Taraneh Rahimi was told prison guards would rape her sister, Romina, if she did not sign a confessionThe twins were 19 and still in high school when they were taken from their beds in the dead of night by masked men later identified as being sent by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.After four months of desperately seeking news from hospitals and state institutions, their mother, Marzieh Nourmohammadi, finally learned their fate. Taraneh and Romina Rahimi had been seized over their decision to join millions on the streets of Iranian cities during the January protests against the regime. The twins were unrecognisable by the time of their mother’s prison visit in May. Continue reading...

Lu Haitao’s family can finally breathe a sigh of relief after the Chinese man's rescue from a tunnel that protected him from the Nepal flooding

The death toll from a mudslide in eastern China has risen to three after days of torrential rain brought by Typhoon Saudel

‘Substantive plans’ will be announced in ‘coming weeks’ as envoys head to Kyiv for talks with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr ZelenskyyDonald Trump’s envoys “discussed substantive plans for next steps” for ending the war between Ukraine and Russia during their meeting on Saturday in Moscow with Vladimir Putin, the White House said.Those steps would be announced in “coming weeks”, a White House official said in a statement, and the envoys “look forward to equally productive meetings tomorrow [Sunday] in Ukraine”. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump’s unprecedented oil deal with Venezuela, of which the full details have yet to be made public, is already destined to “backfire” in a spectacular fashion, academic and economic expert Francisco Rodríguez argued on Saturday.“There is still a lot we don’t know about the deal,” Rodríguez wrote in a guest essay published Saturday in The New York Times. “Mr. Trump claims that it will come at no cost to American taxpayers and that it will serve to replenish the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is running at its lowest level since 1982.”Announced last week, the deal will see the United States be granted rights to Venezuela’s untapped oil fields for 100 years, with the U.S. government taking a direct stake in Venezuela's oil reserves — the single-largest proven oil reserves on earth — through a partnership with a private company run by controversial oil baron Alejandro Betancourt López.The deal, however, will likely fail to meet any of the Trump administration’s stated objectives, Rodríguez argued.“This is a country where no one should be surprised to see privatization fail. Nor is this deal likely to make a dent in global oil prices, which the Trump administration has presented as one of the key goals of the plan,” Rodríguez wrote.“It will take years for Venezuelan oil production to increase in a significant way — and even if it does, it will not keep pace with the projected growth in world demand over the next 25 years. Any oil that ends up in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will not be sold in global markets.”The Trump administration has also claimed that the oil deal would help with Venezuela’s “democratic transition.” This goal too, Rodríguez argued, was destined to fail.“Over the past two decades, Venezuelans have lived through the destruction of what was once a prosperous economy and a vibrant democracy. The United States now has both the opportunity and the responsibility to help them rebuild their country,” Rodríguez wrote.“A hazy privatization process that reduces accountability, deepens inequalities and sidesteps institutional reform will not bring democratic change closer. It will push it further away.”