FSB security agency said reporter was arrested on island of Sakhalin, alleging he was collecting information about Russia’s defences

Russia has arrested a Japanese journalist on the far east island of Sakhalin and accused him of espionage, Moscow said on Tuesday.

Russia regards Japan as an “unfriendly” country because it has joined western sanctions over its war ⁠in Ukraine. Russia has arrested several citizens of “unfriendly” countries in recent years, accusing them of working for western intelligence services.

University bans parties at frat houses for rest of academic year to conduct ‘thorough review’ of campus Greek life

Cornell University has announced that it is suspending parties and other social gatherings at fraternity houses for the rest of the academic year amid intensifying backlash over its handling of allegations that a female student was sexually assaulted at a fraternity house in 2024.

The university has also said that Cornell will involve New York state police in investigating sex crimes on campus.

Ultra-processed foods are displacing traditional diets, warns Prof Kent Buse. Plus letters from Hugo Harper, Dr Pawan Randev and Patricia Hampton

Your editorial on cancers in under-50s (8 October) rightly names food among the culprits. But the confrontation it calls for should be aimed less at obesity than at what produces it. Obesity is the intermediary; the exposure is a food system engineered for profit.

The Lancet’s series on ultra-processed foods showed these products displacing traditional diets worldwide and driving chronic disease, and documented more than 200 interconnected lobby groups through which the industry organises its influence to block regulation.

Terry Peach responds to Kemi Badenoch’s conference speech, while Penelope Turton writes on her promise to cut inheritance tax

Kemi Badenoch’s conference speech rehearsed the argument that Andy Burnham’s economic policies were warped by his “nostalgia” for the 1970s, unlike her own forward-looking programme for “a better tomorrow” (Tories accused of prioritising rich voters as Badenoch lays out inheritance tax cut plan, 7 October).

She appears not to see that her preference for a lesser-regulated capitalist market economy, with lower public expenditure, taxes and national debt, coupled with “tough love” welfare policies, is itself harking back to arguments that have circulated for centuries.

Andrew Burton suspects that had other teams delivered similar success, fans would have been just as forgiving of their owners

Re Sean Ingle’s article (How did some City fans become aggressive defenders of a nation state’s regime?, 5 October), I suspect that most City fans are no more supportive of the United Arab Emirates regime than those of Arsenal were of the Rwandan government during its sponsorship deal, or Newcastle’s of Saudi Arabia, or those of the 11 clubs whose shirt sponsors were gambling companies in 2025-26. Fans are simply concerned with how their club is managed and success on the pitch.

At City, UAE ownership brought unprecedented success to a historic club. The new regime delivered the most feted coach of our time, who revolutionised how the game in England was played. Highly successful City youth teams nurtured young talent that has gone on to grace numerous other squads in the Premier League and beyond, including England players. City Women, reigning double winners, are the current force in English women’s football.

They are some of our oldest and most historically significant buildings, yet they receive no secure state funding, writes Dr Coco Parkinson-Huggins

Jonathan Davies’ article (Abide with me: English choral music is a living part of our cultural heritage – we should cherish it, 7 October) speaks beautifully to the contribution of English choral music to our living cultural heritage, highlighting the importance of cathedral choirs in particular, in giving children access to “world-class musical training, extraordinary cultural experiences and educational opportunities that might otherwise be beyond their reach”.

What he misses however, is just how under threat these bastions of England’s religious, cultural and spiritual heritage actually are.

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world

French photographer Jean-Pierre Laffont spent two decades capturing demos, clashes and countercultural gatherings in America. ‘They dreamed of living in a better world,’ he says

National park officials took the precautionary measure to limit tourist access after heavy rain caused the Iguazu River to flow at six times the normal rate

Heavy rainfall fuelled by a supersized El Niño weather pattern briefly forced Argentinian authorities to close tourist access to the famed Iguazu Falls, amid fears that rapidly rising water levels would cause the river to burst its banks.

National park officials took the precautionary measure on Monday when the Iguazu River’s flow exceeded 12,000 cubic metres per second – more than six times its average rate.