Hopes of pardon dashed for Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who were cleared of collaboration with US

Two young female journalists who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for reporting on the death of Mahsa Amini have been cleared of charges of collaborating with the United States government but will still spend up to five more years behind bars, the Iranian authorities have announced.

Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were arrested in 2022 after reporting on the death and funeral of Amini, the young Kurdish woman who died in police custody in 2022, sparking the nationwide Women, Life, Freedom protests.

People who wrote protest letter to Equatorial Guinea authorities latest to feel wrath of draconian regime

Earlier this year, residents of the small island of Annobón began noticing withering plants on their farmland and large cracks in their houses.

They attributed the damage to years of dynamite explosions linked to mining operations on the island, a province of Equatorial Guinea that lies in the Gulf of Guinea about 220 miles west of Gabon off the west coast of Africa.

In secret journal, Putin’s fiercest critic writes: ‘If your convictions mean something, you must be prepared to stand up for them’

The late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny believed he would die in prison, excerpts of his memoir reveal.

Navalny was President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent foe and relentlessly campaigned against official corruption in Russia. He died in a remote Arctic prison in February while serving a 19-year sentence on several charges, including running an extremist group, which he said were politically motivated.

French Caribbean island’s main airport shuts to all flights after protesters enter runway and clash with police

Hundreds of passengers are stranded on the French Caribbean island of Martinique after its international airport shut as protesters entered the runway and tried to force the main airport entrance.

Martinique has been gripped since Monday by a new wave of protests over the high cost of living, which turned violent. At least one person was killed as demonstrators set fire to a police station, cars and road barricades and clashed with officers.

Protesters threw debris at police as fires burned around the main airport of the French island of Martinique on Thursday night in the latest unrest over rising living costs. The protests disrupted flights, which were redirected to the neighbouring French island of Guadeloupe, the local administration said. It added that it was banning public gatherings until Monday and forbidding the purchase of products that could be used for arson attacks

Campaigners say John Woodcock has commercial interest in organisations whose clients were targeted by protesters

Pressure is growing on Labour to sack John Woodcock as the government’s adviser on extremism after civil society campaigners filed official complaints alleging multiple conflicts of interest.

The Good Law Project and Compassion in Politics sent the Lords commissioner for standards a dossier of evidence they claim “shows [Woodcock] has a commercial interest in organisations whose clients have been targeted by the very protesters whose activities he seeks to ban”.

Police association boss says vast majority of officers at weekend rally were ‘doing user-pay or cancelled rest day’ shifts

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The head of the New South Wales police union has denied any suggestion that patrolling weekly pro-Palestine protests is making it difficult to respond to or investigate crime across the state.

Kevin Morton’s comments came as the premier, Chris Minns, was forced to deny he had lost control of the Labor caucus after several of his MPs expressed alarm at his statement that police should be able to reject a protest permit based on the cost of patrolling it.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Police say pair ‘assisting with investigations’ after Dani Cuesta posted photo of himself with ‘Lim go home’ sign

A Spanish couple have been detained after the man held a banner to protest against Peter Lim, the billionaire Singaporean owner of Valencia football club.

Dani Cuesta had shared photos on social media of himself holding a sign that said “Lim go home” at various locations in Singapore, including the residences where Lim reportedly lives and the tourist landmark Merlion Park.

Former Sydney Morning Herald reporter part of community protest to protect endangered species in Bulga state forest

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Retired journalist Margo Kingston was arrested at a community protest in the mid-north of New South Wales on Thursday after she locked on to machinery to protest logging operations in endangered greater glider habitat.

Kingston and another activist who protested alongside her are the 13th and 14th people arrested since forestry operations recommenced at the Bulga state forest last week.

Exclusive: Anthony D’Adam says civil liberties would be threatened if police could reject rallies based on cost and MPs are afraid to speak out in support of Palestine

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The New South Wales Labor MP Anthony D’Adam has accused the premier of taking an “incredibly dangerous position” on protests and said members of the government were afraid to speak out in support of Palestine.

The premier, Chris Minns, stirred division within the Labor caucus after he told 2GB radio on Tuesday that taxpayers would want NSW police to deal with crime instead of patrolling weekly pro-Palestine rallies, which he said had cost $5m in 2024.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Once a champion of initiatives to protect nature, the EU is now giving in to pressure from farmers and the far right

When diplomats struck a deal to save nature in 2022, pledging to halt biodiversity loss by the end of the decade, Europe was seen as a credible leader in fraught negotiations. The EU cajoled others into stepping up their game as it championed a target to protect 30% of the land and sea by 2030.

But two years later, as delegates meet in wildlife-rich Colombia for Cop16 – the international summit to save nature – Europe’s own enthusiasm for saving species appears to be endangered.

Two protesters, aged 24 and 21, arrested after allegedly assaulting campus security

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Two students have been charged after a pro-Palestine protest at Western Sydney University.

Police allege that the protesters, aged 23 and 20, assaulted two security guards and two officers alleged they were injured but did not require treatment.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Home affairs minister Tony Burke will check the visa status of American law professor Khaled Beydoun

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

An American law professor who said at a pro-Palestine rally on 7 October that the first anniversary of Hamas’s attack on Israel marks “considerable celebration” has his visa under review, the Australian home affairs minister has said.

Khaled Beydoun, an associate professor in law at Arizona State University, made the remarks at a rally planned by Stand 4 Palestine on the steps of Lakemba mosque on Monday night. The speech was on the first anniversary of the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage – about 100 of whom remain unaccounted for.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Union leaders criticise NSW premier’s comments advocating police power to prohibit rallies deemed too expensive to patrol

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, is facing a revolt from union leaders after he said police should be able to ban protests if the force decided it was too expensive to patrol them.

Minns on Tuesday said police should have the ability to reject a “public assembly” application – which protest organisers are required to submit to lawfully stage a demonstration in NSW – based on the cost of patrolling the event.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Harvesting in Bulga state forest, inland from Port Macquarie, is just 400km from global nature-positive summit the government is hosting

• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Forest campaigners have accused the federal government of hypocrisy for hosting a global nature-positive summit in Sydney while logging resumed in public forest 400km away in mid-north New South Wales.

The NSW Forestry Corporation has started its harvesting operations in Bulga state forest, inland from Port Macquarie. The area is a stronghold for threatened species including endangered koalas and the endangered greater glider – Australia’s largest gliding possum.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Critics of Chris Minns say singling out protests as a financial burden ‘completely flies in the face of government obligations under human rights laws’

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, says policing pro-Palestine protests has cost the state $5m this year and the force should be able to shut them down because of the “huge drain on the public purse”.

Minns has ordered a review of police resources used at the protests, which have taken place in Sydney’s CBD every weekend for the past year following the Hamas attacks on 7 October and Israel’s subsequent strikes on Gaza.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Demonstrators gathered in the streets to memorialize a year since Hamas attack that led to Israel’s war on Gaza

Rallies and vigils planned across the country to mark Hamas attacks on Israel and ensuing war in Gaza

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Demonstrations and memorials marking the anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza are to take place around the US, with cities and campuses on high alert for any unrest as the threat of a full-scale war in the Middle East looms.

Dozens of rallies, marches and other events are planned on Monday in protest against the Israeli offensive, which was sparked by the Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel that killed about 1,200 people and resulted in another 250 being taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory war has killed more than 41,000 people in the besieged territory.

In NSW people who wish to stage a protest must lodge paperwork to the police commissioner in advance of the demonstration for it to be considered lawful. Follow today’s news live

904 Australians and their immediate family members have now left Lebanon on assisted-departure flights – in addition to those who left on partner and commercial flights.

407 Australians left on 5 October, and 448 on 6 October.

Why so silent, Mark? This, I have been asked a lot. I have thought about it a lot too. I have said little in public about the Hamas-Israel war because I am not the foreign affairs minister. I am Australia’s first law officer. A minister, not a commentator. Just because I’m not talking doesn’t mean I don’t understand.

Prime minister says it is a moment to reflect on ‘horrific terrorist atrocity’ while holding hope that peace for all is possible

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast

Anthony Albanese says the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks on Israel will carry “terrible pain”, including for the families of hostages “whose lives remain suspended in the fear and isolation of captivity”.

As Australian politicians prepare to mark the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s assault on southern Israel, the prime minister released a video message declaring that “sorrow knows no boundaries and recognises no differences”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email