From a live blog on the BBC to cautious reaction in the New York Times, here's how the world's media covered the banThe BBC blogged about it, News Corp boasted about it and the New York Times questioned its effectiveness.Australia's world-first laws stopping children accessing social media until they turn 16 turned heads globally, with mixed and nuanced results. Continue reading...

Visitor numbers to UK's 10 most-visited services have settled at a lower level' than before 25 July, report findsTraffic to pornography websites in the UK has fallen in the wake of age checks being introduced this year while use of specialist software to dodge viewing restrictions has increased, according to the communications watchdog.Ofcom said the enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to popular online porn publishers, including the most visited provider in the UK, Pornhub. Continue reading...

Exclusive: System more likely to suggest incorrect matches for images of women and Black peoplePolice forces successfully lobbied to use a facial recognition system known to be biased against women, young people, and members of ethnic minority groups, after complaining that another version produced fewer potential suspects.UK forces use the police national database (PND) to conduct retrospective facial recognition searches, whereby a probe image" of a suspect is compared to a database of more than 19 million custody photos for potential matches. Continue reading...

Stacey Warnecke, 30, died after giving birth to a son at her Melbourne home accompanied by an unregulated doula

If Amelia Vanderhorst is found guilty and penalised for allegedly sticking googly eyes on Mount Gambier landmark, it might be the first time such an act has been punishedOn Mount Gambier's Bay Road, the Blue Blob" stands like a proud but paunchy echidna, its seamless coating restored to perfection after an alleged googly eye stunt that captured the world's attention.Amelia Vanderhorst, 20, from Mount Gambier in South Australia, was charged with damaging the town's $136,000 Cast in Blue sculpture by sticking large novelty eyes on it on 13 September. Continue reading...

Ministry says Briton, who has not publicly been named, was injured while observing a test, away from the frontlineA member of the UK armed forces was killed in an accident in Ukraine on Tuesday morning, believed to be the first time a serving member of the British military has been killed in the country since the full-scale Russian invasion.The victim was not immediately named, though the Ministry of Defence said their family had been notified, after an incident that appears to have taken place during a weapons test at a site away from the frontlines. Continue reading...

US treasury accuses Colombian nationals and companies of aiding the RSF, which has committed horrific war crimesThe United States has sanctioned four people and four companies accused of enlisting Colombian mercenaries to fight for and train a Sudanese paramilitary group accused by Washington of committing genocide.Announcing the sanctions on Tuesday, the US treasury said the network was largely composed of Colombian nationals and companies. Continue reading...

Peer named as chair of national inquiry, which is expected to cover England and Wales, after long-delayed search

US president recycles far-right tropes on European immigration and presses Zelenskyy to accept his peace plan

Aid agencies say Israel is still restricting their aid shipments despite ceasefire announced two months agoMalnutrition continues to take a toll among Gaza's young despite a ceasefire declared two months ago, with more than 9,000 children hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October alone, according to the latest UN figures.While the immediate threat of famine has receded for most of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza after the ceasefire announcement on 10 October, the UN and other aid agencies report continuing Israeli restrictions on their humanitarian aid shipments, which they say fall well below the needs of a population weakened and traumatised by two years of war, homelessness and living in flimsy shelters. Continue reading...

Activist says treatment of her by Mark Jenner, with whom she had five-year relationship, left her devastatedAn undercover police officer who deceived a woman into a five-year relationship and strung her along when she wanted to have children with him had sadistic tendencies", the spycops inquiry has heard.Mark Jenner lived with the woman, known as Alison, as a couple without telling her that he was an undercover officer sent to spy on political campaigners. Continue reading...

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Legal team of man who was part of cohort of non-citizens freed after high court decision argues Nauru's medical facilities are insufficient' to treat his severe asthma

Information regulator reminds council leaders of need for compassion when releasing files on childhood careThe UK's information commissioner has raised alarm over the lengthy, traumatic and often demoralising process" people face when trying to access their care records, writing to local authority leaders to say his office will take action over legal breaches.The data protection regulator said people who grew up in the care system were waiting up to 16 years for access to their records, and in some cases found their files had been destroyed, lost or were provided only with extensive redaction. Continue reading...

Migrant support groups in France say lack of action over British activists is encouraging violent and xenophobic practices'UK and French authorities have been accused of encouraging violent and xenophobic practices" by failing to tackle anti-migrant British activists who travel to northern France in an attempt to stop small boat crossings.In an unusual move, nine French associations working with people camped in northern France have issued a statement condemning the UK and French governments for lack of action. Continue reading...

Independent review calls for sweeping restructure of NSW's greyhound racing industry but government rejects key recommendations

Defence agreement kept afloat through sheer political will, despite Pentagon doubts over its ability to ever deliver what it promises

Anthony Albanese says controversial Labor powerbroker was a man of many facets' as politicians from both sides of aisle pay tribute

90,000 people advised to take shelter after 7.5-magnitude quake, with 20 injuries reportedA powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake has shaken north-eastern Japan, injuring more than 20 people and triggering a tsunami of up to 70cm in Pacific coast communities.The earthquake and tsunami warnings prompted orders for about 90,000 residents to evacuate their homes, although the warnings were later downgraded to advisories. Continue reading...

Party denies ex-councillor's claim it falsely reported expenses during Farage's run to become Clacton MP last year

STC troops now control all eight governorates, a major setback for Emirates' regional rival Saudi ArabiaThe United Arab Emirates-backed military leadership in South Yemen has seized power across the whole of the south of the country, a move that opens up the possibility that the South will declare independence and revert Yemen to being two states for the first time since 1960.As many as 10,000 troops from the Southern Transitional Council (STC) poured into the oil-rich Hadramaut governorate last week and later into Marah, the less-populated governorate bordering Oman, which had not previously been under its control. Continue reading...

Former Nationals leader and ex-deputy prime minister confirms long-awaited move on Monday

Fifteen organisations sign letter expressing deep concern over EHRC guidance being considered by ministersNew rules on access to single-sex spaces could pose a significant risk to the mental health of trans and non-binary people, according to 15 of the UK's most respected mental charities.Organisations including Samaritans, Mind, Centre for Mental Health and the Royal College of Psychiatrists have written to the equalities minister, Bridget Phillipson, to express their deep concern" about guidance from the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) that is awaiting approval from the government. Continue reading...

Queensland report details series of missed opportunities' over 20 years where action could have been taken to detect or stop abuse

West African Ecowas forces sent to country after group of soldiers announced dissolution of government on state TVWest African troops were deployed to Benin on Sunday after what the country's president described as an unsuccessful coup attempt.Benin's president, Patrice Talon, said on Sunday that the situation was totally under control" after security forces acted to end a coup attempt by a group of soldiers who attacked state institutions. Continue reading...

Senior officer had told MPs some Jewish representatives did not want Maccabi Tel Aviv fans at Aston Villa game classified as high riskA senior police officer has apologised to Birmingham's Jewish residents after he told MPs that some had expressed support for the exclusion of Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending last month's match against Aston Villa.The decision to ban supporters of the Israeli team from the Europa League game at Villa Park in Birmingham had triggered political uproar, including Keir Starmer saying he was angered by the decision". Continue reading...

Mediators of delicate truce say troop removal and deployment of international force crucial to second phaseQatar and Egypt, the guarantors of the Gaza ceasefire, called on Saturday for the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the deployment of an international stabilisation force as the necessary next steps in fully implementing the fragile agreement.The measures were spelt out in the US- and UN-backed peace plan that has largely halted fighting, though the warring parties have yet to agree on how to move forward from the deal's first phase. Continue reading...

Police launch manhunt' after 25 people are shot in early morning in township attack west of PretoriaGunmen have stormed into a hostel in South Africa's capital and killed at least 12 people, including a three-year-old child, and injured more than a dozen others.Police said they had launched a manhunt" for three people and were investigating whether the killings were linked to a bar within the hostel that may have been selling alcohol illegally. Continue reading...

US offers to get Australians out of camps if they are issued with travel documents, but Labor has said this is not something the government is considering'

Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz will also be present for talks on guaranteeing Ukraine's postwar securityVolodymyr Zelenskyy will visit Downing Street on Monday for an in-person meeting with Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz in a show of support for Ukraine.Starmer will use the meeting with the leaders from Ukraine, France and Germany to discuss the continuing talks between US and Ukrainian officials aimed at finding an agreement on guaranteeing Ukraine's postwar security. Continue reading...

Ahmed al-Sharaa says Israel justifies aggression in the name of security amid airstrikes on southern SyriaSyria's interim president has accused Israel of fighting ghosts" and exporting its crises to other countries after the war in Gaza.President Ahmed al-Sharaa's comments come amid persistent airstrikes and incursions by the Israeli military into southern Syria. Continue reading...

Party leader leaves latest recruit, Malcolm Offord, to field questions on antisemitism allegations at Scotland rallyNigel Farage has addressed Reform UK's largest rally in Scotland to date but refused to engage with local journalists - leaving the newly defected peer Malcolm Offord to field questions on allegations of racism and antisemitism.Farage introduced the former Conservative peer and millionaire donor Offord at a sold-out rally of about 700 at a hotel conference centre near Falkirk. Continue reading...

Beijing security agency accuses international journalists of disregarding facts and smearing governmentBeijing's security agency in Hong Kong has summoned international journalists to inform them it will not tolerate trouble-making", following critical coverage of the deadly apartment complex fire that has left the territory reeling.Senior reporters from several media outlets operating in the city were called to the Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS), which was set up by Beijing in 2020. Continue reading...

Four people arrested after civil-resistance group Take Back Power protest against inequality in the UKPart of the Tower of London was temporarily closed to visitors on Saturday after food was thrown at a display case containing the crown jewels in a protest against inequality in the UK.Four people were arrested after the action, which was claimed by Take Back Power - a self-described, non-violent civil-resistance group. It said custard and apple crumble was flung at the case, which contained the imperial state crown. Continue reading...

He made buildings that looked like slouching drunks and quarrelling couples but it was the Spanish museum that secured his starchitect' status - a creation that became something of a curseFrank Gehry once had a cameo in The Simpsons in which he designed buildings by scrunching up pieces of paper. There was a bit more to it than that, but from Prague to Panama City, his scrunched contours were instantly recognisable, expressed in an exuberant parade of buildings that cranked and slumped as if hit by a wrecking ball, or crashed and whirled like dervishes, defying laws of gravity and structural logic. Though Gehry, who has died aged 96, came of age in the era of modernism, it was as if he were physically incapable of drawing a straight line.In his prime, Gehry's architecture was a rebuff to modernist imperators such as Mies van der Rohe and his po-faced injunction, less is more". The American postmodern theorist and architect Robert Venturi turned it on its head, quipping less is a bore". It summed up the maximalist Gehry perfectly. Continue reading...

The US president has seized on the dehumanizing tactic since an Afghan man shot two national guard troopsDonald Trump and senior members of his administration have dramatically escalated their hostile language towards immigrants in the US after anAfghan man was named a suspect in last week's shooting of two national guard members in Washington DC.In recent days, the US president has made sweeping statements, claiming that there were a lot of problems with Afghans", and went on a tirade against Somali immigrants, calling them garbage" whose country of origin stinks". Continue reading...

SuperLiz reboots herself inside a utility room, delivering nonsense so pure even her guests look trappedWe happy few. We unlucky few. In years to come when we are all still recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder, we will be able to say we were there. That we have seen things that cannot be unseen. The 8,000 of us who, through a mixture of curiosity and comedy, chose to watch Liz Truss commit a drive-by on herself. Though only a very few will have made it to the end.Some won't have even made it to the start. The show started an hour late because Liz forgot to put her watch back in October. Still, this was an award-winning YouTube TV show. Though not the awards anyone would want to collect. Continue reading...

All delegates will be able to attend fringe programme as party tries to find compromise while complying with supreme court ruling on genderTrans women will be barred from the main part of Labour's women's conference next year, the party has said, with entrance to the main conference hall and voting rights denied.All delegates will be allowed to attend a fringe programme, under the party's plans as Labour seeks to find a compromise position it believes will comply with the supreme court's ruling on gender - while also being inclusive to trans delegates. Continue reading...

Sankeys will return in January 2026 in a city centre venue - and no phones will be allowed on the dancefloorQueues ran down the street outside, condensation dripped off the walls inside, memories were made - and lost - and it all unfolded without a smartphone in sight. For those who remember the Manchester nightclub Sankeys in its heyday 30 years ago, the venue was a clubbing mecca.Sweat was dripping off the walls," said Lee Spence, a promoter and resident DJ at the club from 2002 to 2012, who remembers once double booking Chase & Status and Carl Cox on the same night. It was an atmosphere like nothing else I'd really seen." Continue reading...

Farage is responsible for dangerous' culture shift, says broadcaster subject to alleged posts from Reform councillorNigel Farage is emboldening attacks on people of colour, according to a journalist allegedly subjected to racial slurs by a Reform UK council leader who the party has been forced to expel.The broadcaster Sangita Myska, whose long career in British journalism has included presenting shows for the BBC and LBC Radio, said she was told by the former Staffordshire council leader Ian Cooper that she was English only in your dreams", because of her south Asian heritage. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more of our European news coverage hereOvernight Russian missile and drone strikes left parts of Ukraine without power on Saturday morning, Ukraine's energy ministry said.The Russian defense ministry confirmed that Russian forces attacked energy facilities that supported the Ukrainian military and port infrastructure used by Ukrainian forces, saying that the strike was in response to what it called Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets.The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Saturday, marking the 11th time the facility temporarily lost power during the war.Ukraine peace plan talks continue between Trump advisers and Ukrainian officials, with the parties involved saying on Friday that they will meet for a third day of talks.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas responded to the US National Security Strategy, a policy paper released by the Trump administration on Friday that made explicit Washington's support for Europe's nationalist far-right parties. US is still our biggest ally," Kallas said Saturday.Keir Starmer is scheduled to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Downing Street on Monday, the Press Association reports. Continue reading...

More than 650 drones target locations across Ukraine including western regions with sirens sounding in eastern PolandRussia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukraine in the early hours of Saturday as US and Ukrainian officials continued talks in Miami which the White House hopes will bring an end to the conflict.Russia used more than 650 drones and 51 missiles overnight, Ukraine's armed forces said, with drones targeting locations across the country, including in western regions hundreds of miles from the frontline. Warning sirens also sounded in parts of eastern Poland, close to the Ukrainian border. Continue reading...

Husam Zomlot says protest by activists waving Israeli flags and union jacks was flagrant breach of diplomatic law'The Palestinian ambassador to the UK has called for comprehensive protection" after his embassy was targeted by masked men waving Israeli flags and union jacks.Husam Zomlot made the call after the group posed at the entrance to the embassy, in Hammersmith, west London, last Saturday. The building was defaced with stickers such as I love the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]", according to images captured by security cameras. Continue reading...

The South American country facing a huge US military buildup has almost a fifth of known global reserves

David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, promised everyone' would win by combining the storied Hollywood studios with his reality TV giant. Instead, many lostIt's less than five years since David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, negotiated what looked like the deal of his career. Now as Netflix plans a landscape-changing takeover of Warner Bros, he's in the middle of an even bigger one.Zaslav, or Zaz, is a hard-charging, well-connected executive who cut his teeth inside NBC, and ascended into New York's media elite as he transformed Discovery Inc from a nature- and science-focused cable broadcaster into a reality TV giant. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Research prompts warning that authorities rely on companies to carry out basic functionsThe scale of the reliance of London councils on private consultancy and outsourcing firms is laid bare in a report that shows the local authorities paid them more than half a billion pounds last year.The report by the Autonomy Institute and the CADA Network has prompted warnings that councils have a sustained reliance" on such companies to carry out basic functions. Continue reading...

Exclusive: First minister mounts robust defence of diversity as SNP prepares campaign for Holyrood election in MayScotland needs immigration to bolster the size of its working-age population, the country's first minister has said, mounting a forceful defence of diversity in the face of rising support for Reform ahead of next May's Holyrood elections.John Swinney was speaking at the end of a year marked by a significant shift in Scottish public sentiment, with Nigel Farage's party securing 26% of the vote in its first Holyrood byelection test. Continue reading...

Millions of real trees are sold each year, and costs vary widely - we ask experts how to find good dealsFor many Britons, putting up their tree is the ritual that marks the official start of Christmas, with the second week of December a popular time to deck the halls.While surveys suggest that about two-thirds of the population will opt for an artificial tree, millions of real ones will be sold this month. As usual, the competition is fierce on the high street, with some supermarkets selling the most popular tree - the Nordmann fir - for under 15. Continue reading...

Text signed by president seems to echo great replacement' theory, saying Europe faces civilisational erasure'Donald Trump's administration has said Europe faces civilisational erasure" within the next two decades as a result of migration and EU integration, arguing in a policy document that the US must cultivate resistance" within the continent to Europe's current trajectory".Billed as a roadmap to ensure America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history and the home of freedom on earth", the US National Security Strategy makes explicit Washington's support for Europe's nationalist far-right parties. Continue reading...

Judge seems skeptical of administration's case and whether any crisis justifying deployment still exists in Los AngelesThe judge presiding over California's lawsuit against the Trump administration challenged the federal government's authority and rationale for continuing to maintain command over the national guard troops it deployed to Los Angeles earlier this year.The Trump administration federalized the state's national guard in June, dispatching about 4,000 troops in response to protests in the city over immigration raids, despite opposition from the state's governor, Gavin Newsom. The state quickly filed a lawsuit, with Newsom calling the move unprecedented and illegal, and the case has been unfolding in the courts for months. Continue reading...