At least 900 tourists were stranded near the ancient Inca citadel of Machu Picchu on Tuesday, Peru’s tourism minister said, after a passenger train service was suspended due to a protest.
PeruRail said service was suspended on Monday because the route in Peru’s mountainous Cusco region had been blocked by “rocks of various sizes” as residents clashed with authorities and bus companies. PeruRail’s local unit also said “third parties” had excavated part of its rail route, which affected the track’s stability and slowed down the evacuation of tourists.
Protesters say there is a lack of transparency and fairness in the process of replacing tourist bus operator Consettur after its concession expired, paving the way for different local businesses to benefit from the vital industry.
Tourism minister Desilu Leon told local radio that 1,400 tourists had been evacuated on Monday but 900 remained stranded in Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Peru’s most visited cultural site.
A group of tourists waves while leaving on foot due to a protest by residents in Machu Picchu. Photograph: Carolina Paucar/AFP/Getty Images
The protest began last week after the concession ended of Consettur, the bus company that ferries tourists from Aguas Calientes to the entrance of the 15th-century Inca citadel.
A neighbouring district commissioned another bus company to provide services in its place, but protesters in Aguas Calientes prevented it from operating.
Anthony Albanese’s strategy of pushing back against China in the Pacific has been dealt another blow, with a major defence treaty with Papua New Guinea delayed amid concerns about sovereignty.
A deal was expected with the former Australian colony this week but the prime minister is set to leave Port Moresby without signing the so-called Pukpuk mutual defence treaty with his counterpart, James Marape, on Wednesday.
Albanese downplayed the delay earlier this week, suggesting cabinet deliberations had been held up due to commemorations of PNG’s independence. Instead the two governments signed a joint communique and pledged to continue negotiations on the wider defence pact.
It is the second such delay in as many weeks for Albanese.
Before this month’s Pacific Islands Forum, Vanuatu’s government paused the signing of a joint agreement with Australia, saying more work was needed on the question of critical minerals funding from China.
The PNG deal is expected to lock the two countries into joint defence arrangements in the event of a military attack, and to allow citizens of both countries to serve in the defence forces of the other.
Joint training exercises, better technical interoperability and new cooperation on cybersecurity preparedness are all envisaged.
Albanese has pushed a deal for PNG to enter the NRL in 2028, part of the $600m agreement which has served as a major diplomatic sweetener. He stressed there was no delay to the team entering the competition.
Speaking at a press conference in Port Moresby, Albanese said the text of the defence agreement had been confirmed but both governments had more work to do.
“We will go through our respective cabinet processes and expect to finalise the signing of the treaty, the words of which have been agreed, in coming weeks,” he said.
“This is very positive, very positive. There is no downside in this whatsoever. This is all upside for Australia and upside for Papua New Guinea.”
Marape said PNG’s defence capability was not sufficient to defend the country and its people, making shared security settings with Australia necessary.
He stressed that the new treaty was PNG’s proposal, not Australia’s, and that it would not affect PNG’s sovereignty.
“A security treaty for Papua New Guinea would be the highest, in terms of secure relations we have given to any country,” he said.
“The threats that face us are exposed to Australia. Threats that face Australia are exposed to Papua New Guinea.”
PNG’s foreign minister, Justin Tkatchenko, called the deal “a work in progress”, indicating it was yet to be signed off by cabinet. Ministers are due to meet again next week.
The Liberal senator Jane Hume called the delay “a real failure for the PM”.
“It’s really important that these deals are approached appropriately and with a guarantee that they will actually come through,” she told Sky.
Labor believes both agreements can still be signed in coming months.
China has used infrastructure funding and loan agreements to build influence with Pacific Island countries, undercutting Australia’s ties with the region and testing the country’s diplomatic reach.
One in three parents have sought a special needs assessment for their child, according to a survey that reveals a surge in demand for special needs support in schools across the UK.
The figures were released amid mounting apprehension in England over national plans to reform special needs provision amid rising costs and a severe shortage of dedicated special school places.
The survey of more than 5,800 parents, commissioned by the Parentkind charity and carried out by YouGov, found that 33% of parents with school-age children said they had asked for an assessment for possible special educational needs (SEN) from their child’s school.
In England alone the proportion rose to 34%. Previous Department for Education (DfE) data found that about one in five children were classed as SEN last year, including 482,000 in England with educational, health and care plans (EHCPs) that detail specific support for individual children.
Jason Elsom, Parentkind’s chief executive, said: “Despite the best efforts of our schools, hundreds of thousands of families are hurting because our SEN system is broken.
“Families should not have to wait months or years to receive the support they so desperately need. Our measure as a society should be the way we treat our most vulnerable, and this should weigh heavily on our shoulders.”
Parentkind is the UK’s largest parent-school charity, working with more than 24,000 parent teacher associations and school parent councils.
Half of parents who sought an assessment said it was undertaken by the school and half said that they were still waiting or had paid for a private assessment. A quarter of those waiting said they had been doing so for more than a year.
The survey also laid bare the personal cost that many parents face coping with a child with special needs: 15% said they had given up their job to care for their child, while 20% said they had taken time off from paid work.
A third of parents of children with SEN said they faced “financial strain due to additional costs” and increased tensions at home, while 40% said they had experienced their own mental health problems.
There have been sharp rises in diagnoses of autism, ADHD and speech and language needs among children in recent years, with speech disorders and social and emotional issues increasing rapidly since the Covid pandemic.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has described England’s increases in special educational needs and disabilities (Send) as “staggering”, reflecting “improved recognition of needs that were always there” through greater awareness and diagnosis.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary for England, has said the DfE will publish a white paper outlining its plans for reform later this year. It is expected to expand special needs provision within mainstream schools and encourage the creation of specialist units within them.
But many parents and campaigners fear that the reforms will curtail the use of EHCPs, and a rally took place outside parliament earlier this week.
The DfE said it is “committed to improving inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools”, but the department faces an uphill struggle with the Treasury for funding for more special school places.
The DfE said: “This government inherited a Send system left on its knees – which is why we are listening closely to parents as we work to improve experiences and outcomes for all children with Send, wherever they are in the country. Our starting point will always be improving support for children.”
Evidence put forth by Utah prosecutors Tuesday offered the clearest indication yet of what they suspect motivated Tyler Robinson to kill far-right provocateur Charlie Kirk.
In seized texts reproduced by prosecutors as they charged the 22-year-old with capital murder and other crimes after his arrest, Robinson is quoted talking to his partner – whom they described as “transitioning genders” – about having enough of Kirk’s “hatred”.
“Some hate can’t be negotiated out,” Robinson said to his partner of Kirk, who was killed during an event at Utah Valley University (UVU) within moments of asserting that “too many” people who are trans had committed mass shootings in the US. In reality, according to the nonpartisan Gun Violence Archive, only about 0.1% of such shootings over the previous decade had allegedly been carried out by people who are trans.
Prosecutors allege that, after Robinson’s arrest in Kirk’s killing, his mother told investigators that her son had spent the previous year or so becoming “more political and had started to lean more to the left – becoming more pro-gay and trans rights oriented”.
Combined with his relationship with his roommate, “this resulted in several discussions with family members, but especially between Robinson and his father, who have very different political views”, prosecutors added.
Prior media reporting established that Robinson’s parents were registered Republican voters who cast ballots in the 2024 election that resulted in a second presidency for Donald Trump, with whom Kirk was closely aligned. Prosecutors said a text from Robinson to his roommate showed the suspect perceived his father to be “pretty diehard maga” – referring to Trump’s make America great again slogan – ever since the president retook the Oval Office in January.
According to prosecutors, “in one conversation before the shooting, Robinson mentioned that Charlie Kirk would be holding an event at UVU, which Robinson said was a ‘stupid venue’ for the event”, his mother told investigators.
Prosecutors recounted that the mother told investigators her son – during that conversation – also “accused Kirk of spreading hate”.
Robinson’s parents allegedly told investigators that they began to realize their son had evidently killed Kirk when his wife showed him a surveillance image of the suspected shooter in the news. According to prosecutors, the couple agreed it looked like Robinson – and his father, a licensed hunter, feared the rifle that police suspected had been used to kill Kirk matched one he gave his son as a gift.
The father and son soon spoke, and the younger man suggested he had killed Kirk, the elder Robinson reported to investigators, according to prosecutors. Tyler explained “there is too much evil” and the Turning Point USA executive director “spreads too much hate”.
Robinson eventually surrendered to authorities the day after Kirk’s killing with help from a family friend who was also a local law enforcement official.
Prosecutors said DNA evidence found on the rifle used to kill Kirk – which had been discarded near UVU – as well as texts to the roommate prior to Robinson’s arrest further tied him to the slaying.
News about engravings on bullet casings found near the Kirk murder weapon after the killing sparked widespread speculation about the political leanings of whoever wielded the rifle. But Robinson’s text to his roommate, as cited by prosecutors, evidently dismissed those as “fuckin … mostly a big meme”.
Prosecutors said those inscriptions included the phrases “hey fascist” and “O bella ciao,” the signature lyric of an Italian anti-fascist resistance song heard repeatedly on the popular Netflix show Money Heist.
Among the texts revealed by prosecutors was one in which the roommate asked Robinson, “You weren’t the one who did it right?”
Robinson – who referred to his roommate in the texts at least twice as his “love” – allegedly replied, “I am, I’m sorry.”
According to the texts, Robinson additionally apologized for having to “involve” the roommate. “I had hoped to keep this secret till I died of old age,” Robinson wrote, as prosecutors put it.
The most serious charge filed against Robinson is aggravated murder. Prosecutors said they intended to pursue the death penalty against Robinson if he was convicted of it – and the suspect would remain in custody without bond at the jail where he was booked after his arrest.
One of the aggravating factors supporting Robinson’s capital murder charge is the fact that he evidently targeted “Charlie Kirk based on Charlie Kirk’s political expression”, said Jeff Gray, the top state prosecutor in UVU’s home county.
With the Trump administration already threatening to crack down on liberal groups in the wake of Kirk’s murder, Gray said, “I do not take this decision lightly.
“And it is a decision I have made independently as county attorney based solely on the available evidence – and circumstances and nature of the crime.”
A California judge has rejected a request for a new trial for Erik and Lyle Menendez, saying the allegations that the brothers were sexually abused did not supersede their “premeditation and deliberation” when they killed their parents more than 35 years ago.
The ruling Monday by Los Angeles superior court judge William C Ryan comes just weeks after the brothers were denied parole and shuts down another possible path to freedom for the two who have served nearly 30 years in prison. Ryan denied a May 2023 petition seeking a review of their convictions based on new evidence supporting their claims of sexual abuse by their father.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison for fatally shooting their father, José Menendez, and mother, Kitty Menendez, in their Beverly Hills mansion in 1989. They were 18 and 21 at the time. While defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
The parole hearings in August – coming after a judge reduced their sentences in May – marked the closest the two have come to winning freedom since their convictions almost 30 years ago for murdering their parents.
The judge wrote that the new evidence that “slightly corroborates” the allegations that the brothers were sexually abused does not negate the fact that the pair acted with “premeditation and deliberation” when they carried out the killings.
“The evidence alleged here is not so compelling that it would have produced a reasonable doubt in the mind of at least one juror or supportive of an imperfect self-defense instruction,” the judge wrote.
Mark Geragos, a lawyer for the brothers, wouldn’t immediately comment on the judge’s ruling.
A panel of two commissioners on 22 August denied Lyle Menendez parole for three years after a daylong hearing. Commissioners noted the older brother still displayed “anti-social personality traits like deception, minimization and rule-breaking that lie beneath that positive surface”.
Erik Menendez, who is being held at the same prison in San Diego, was similarly denied parole a day earlier after commissioners determined that his misbehavior in prison made him still a risk to public safety.
During his hearing, Erik Menendez offered his most detailed account in years of how he was raised and why he made the choices he did – both at the time of his parents’ killings and during his decades in prison.
“I was not raised with a moral foundation,” he said. “I was raised to lie, to cheat, to steal in the sense, an abstract way.”
In the last year, support from celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and a greater recognition of the brothers as victims of sexual abuse has helped amass a legion of supporters who have called for their release. Some have flown to Los Angeles over the past few months, holding rallies and attending court hearings as the brothers’ attorneys pushed for their resentencing.
The previous LA county district attorney, George Gascón, first opened the door to possible freedom for the brothers last fall by asking a judge to reduce their sentences. Since their conviction, the brothers have gotten an education, participated in self-help classes and started various support groups for fellow people in prison, his office said in a petition.
The judge’s decision to ultimately resentence the brothers followed months of pushback from current prosecutors.
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer bringing you the top stories this morning and then my colleague Nick Visser will take the reins.
Donald Trump has indicated he is set to meet Anthony Albanese in the coming weeks. Responding to a question from an Australian ABC reporter at the White House as he left for the UK, Trump said Albanese was coming to see him “very soon”. More coming up.
As the opposition leader prepares to deliver a major speech on the economy, another member of Sussan Ley’s shadow ministry has defended the Coalition’s internal debate over climate action and rejected net zero targets as a “distraction”. More shortly.
Donald Trump has berated an ABC journalist asking questions about the US president’s personal business dealings, accusing him of “hurting Australia” ahead of crucial talks with prime minister Anthony Albanese.
Trump was answering questions on the White House lawn when he clashed with the ABC’s Americas editor, John Lyons, who said he was reporting for Four Corners.
The exchange also appeared to include Trump’s first confirmation he would meet with Albanese for their first face-to-face talks, coming as part of a visit to the UN general assembly next week.
Lyons asked Trump how much wealthier he had become since returning to the Oval Office for his second term in January, noting he was regarded as the wealthiest man ever to occupy the White House.
“I don’t know,” Trump said, explaining his children were responsible for the family business, the Trump Organisation.
“But most of the deals that I’ve made were made before,” he said. “This is what I’ve done for a life. I’ve built buildings.”
He pointed to the site of a planned grand ballroom planned for the White House.
Lyons then asked whether it was appropriate for US president to be conducting personal business while in office.
“I’m really not, my kids are running the business,” Trump said before asking Lyons where he was from.
Trump then accused Lyons of “hurting Australia” with the line of questioning.
“In my opinion, you are hurting Australia very much right now. And they want to get along with me.
“You know, your leader is coming over to see me very soon. I’m going to tell him about you. You said a very bad tone.
“You can set a nicer tone,” Trump said, before telling Lyons: “Quiet.”
Albanese has been seeking a meeting with Trump since the pair’s first talks were abruptly cancelled at the G20 summit in Canada in June. His schedule for the upcoming visit to New York is yet to be confirmed but Australian officials are trying to lock in a time.
This week Albanese said he would see Trump at the meeting of world leaders in New York, as well at upcoming international summits.
“We’ll see each other in New York,” the prime minister said.
“He is hosting a reception on Tuesday night of next week. As well, we’ll see each other at various forums that are taking place between now and the end of the year. It’s summit season.”
The meeting is expected to covering a number of urgent issues in the bilateral relationship, including the Pentagon’s review of the Aukus nuclear submarines agreement and Trump’s demands that Australia spend more on defence.
Trump and senior US officials have privately urged Australia to commit to spending as much as 3.5% of GDP on defence, a potential $30bn annual increase to the current defence spend of about $59bn.
The border patrol agent who spearheaded the immigration crackdown that sparked widespread protests in Los Angeles announced in a social media post Tuesday that he has arrived in Chicago.
“Well, Chicago, we’ve arrived!” Gregory Bovino said in a post on X that included footage of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) vehicles and agents under Chicago street signs and views of downtown. “Operation At Large is here to continue the mission we started in Los Angeles.”
Donald Trump has promised for weeks that Chicago would see a surge in deportations and national guard troops over the fierce of objections of local leaders and residents.
Immigration advocates in Chicago said they had noticed an uptick in immigration enforcement agents in recent days as Trump targets Democratic strongholds. However, Trump has seesawed on sending a military deployment to Chicago.
Neither the focus nor size of the border patrol operation that Bovino referenced in his message Tuesday was immediately clear. Officials did not answers questions Tuesday about the scope of immigration enforcement in Chicago.
The increased enforcement in recent days has deepened dread among Chicago’s already fearful immigrant communities, leading to the cancellation and delay of some celebrations for Mexican Independence Day, which was Tuesday.
“Chief Bovino and CBP play a key support role in our targeted enforcement operations,” said Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security assistant secretary, said in a statement.
Kristi Noem posted on X that she, also, was in Chicago “to make clear we are not backing down”.
“Our work is only beginning,” the homeland security secretary said.
In Los Angeles, Bovino’s self-described “turn and burn” operation led to thousands of arrests. Agents smashed car windows, blew open a door to a house and patrolled MacArthur Park on horseback.
JB Pritzker, the Illinois Democratic governor who has objected to any federal intervention, told reporters Monday that it was clear that immigration operations had been ramping up around Chicago.
The United Nations has urged its staff to limit attendance at the Cop30 climate summit in Brazil in November due to high accommodation prices, while government delegations are still scrambling to find rooms within their budgets.
The move comes as delegations grow increasingly concerned about the cost of accommodation in the coastal Amazon city of Belem hosting Cop30. Brazil said it was working to increase the number of available hotel beds, but soaring prices for accommodation have stoked calls from some governments to relocate the conference, which Brazilian officials have rejected.
“In view of the capacity constraints in Belem, I would like to kindly request that heads of the United Nations system, specialized agencies and other relevant organizations review the size of their delegations at Cop30 and reduce numbers where possible,” the UN climate secretariat’s executive secretary, Simon Stiell, said in a document published on the UN website.
In a statement, Brazil’s Cop30 presidency said it had reaffirmed its commitment to securing 15 single rooms for poorer countries at reduced rates.
Nearly every government in the world will gather at the annual UN summit to negotiate efforts to curb climate change. But developing countries have warned that they cannot afford Belem’s accommodation prices, which have soared amid a shortage of rooms.
Media organisations and civil society groups have also said they will have to reduce or abandon their coverage of the conference due to the costs of accommodation.
At a meeting of countries’ representatives and UN officials last month, the UN asked Brazil to subsidise hotel prices to ensure rooms for $100 a day for delegates from the world’s poorest countries and $400-$500 a day for other countries, according to an official summary of that meeting.
Miriam Belchior, executive secretary to Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s chief of staff, told journalists after the meeting that Brazil was already bearing significant costs for hosting Cop30 and could not provide further subsidies.
Countries’ representatives and UN officials are due to meet again this week to discuss the accommodation situation for Cop30.
An Eritrean man has had his deportation to France under Labour’s “one-in, one-out” scheme halted at the 11th hour after he won a high court challenge.
The 25-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is the first to win a challenge in the high court against the removal scheme, which is itself new. The first removal flights were due to take place on Monday and Tuesday of this week but were cancelled. The man had been due to be on a flight to France at 9am on Wednesday.
The judge, Mr Justice Sheldon, halted his removal after a decision came through during the court hearing that his claims to be a victim of trafficking required further investigation.
The ruling is a significant blow to the government because many of those due to be removed under the scheme are potential victims of trafficking. Because they have only recently arrived in the UK they have not had an opportunity to have their trafficking claim fully investigated nor to obtain expert medical and psychological reports.
The Home Office argued against halting the removal, saying that the man could get further evidence to support his trafficking claim from France. On Tuesday evening, Sheldon said he was “going to grant a short period of interim relief”.
The judgment came after a decision from the national referral mechanism, which identifies and assesses victims of slavery and human trafficking, and the invitation from the body for the man to make further representations.
Ministers agreed the one-in, one-out pilot scheme with the French government in July as part of efforts to deter the record number of arrivals by small boat crossings so far this year.
The first detentions of migrants took place last month as the deal came into force and they have been held at an immigration removal centre pending their removal from the country.
Under the arrangement, the UK will send asylum seekers who have crossed the Channel back to France, in exchange for those who apply and are approved to come to Britain.
Sonali Naik KC, representing the unnamed man, told the court on Tuesday he faced a “real risk of destitution” if he was put on a flight to France. She said there was a “serious issue to be tried” and that the man risked destitution in France, something the judge said he did not believe would be the case. The court heard evidence that about a third of asylum seekers in France were not accommodated and given a daily allowance of €7.50.
Kate Grange KC, for the Home Office, said it was important for the agreement with France to go ahead because of the continuing risk to life of Channel crossings. “Serious injury and death, including of children, from small boat crossings in the English Channel is a grave social and political concern at the present time,” she said.
The Tories said Labour’s returns deal with France was “another failed gimmick” after a scheduled deportation was blocked following a last-minute legal challenge.