World news | The Guardian

Mayor Vitali Klitschko says Kyivans can no longer pretend it is peacetime' amid strikes on school, hospital and bridgeValeriya Tkachenko was dropping her son off at school in central Kyiv when the air raid alert sounded. Staff hurried the children and parents into the shelter, where the frightened lawyer spent the next two hours with her son.I'm scared to death all day about what could happen to my son," she said as she emerged from the shelter, already late for work. Continue reading...

Green conference enters its second day, while Tories prepare for theirs on SundayGood morning and welcome to the UK Politics live blog where cost-of-living issues are top of mind as diesel surges past 2 a litre for the first time.That's a 40% increase since the start of the year, meaning the cost of filling up an average family car is now 110, nearly 32 more than before the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran in late February.

Revelation comes amid mounting concern over online prediction market's effects on integrity of financial systemUK authorities are being urged to intervene after it emerged that the online prediction market Polymarket has been taking thousands of dollars worth of bets over whether HSBC and Lloyds will fail.Polymarket - the US-owned company which holds bets on anything from football matches, to the existence of aliens, to when a bomb drops on a city - has allowed users to take $77,507 (58,530) worth of positions on whether the world's biggest banks will go under by the end of this year. Continue reading...

Attorney general says terrorist attack' was attempted by suspect who is said to have been barred from flying by Oman because of extremist viewsThe co-pilot of flydubai flight FZ1073 used a crash axe to attempt to carry out a terrorist attack" during the flight, the United Arab Emirates prosecutor general said on Saturday, according to a state news agency.The UAE statement cited the prosecutor general as saying the co-pilot also tried to take control of the plane during Wednesday's attack on the Israel-bound flight. Passengers and crew intervened to subdue the co-pilot and stabilise the plane. Officials said the co-pilot's actions nearly crashed the flight with 182 people on board by sending it into a sharp plunge. Continue reading...

Companies race to switch households to voice over internet protocol' services by the end of JanuaryBT has been accused of bullying" customers by temporarily cutting off their broadband to pressure them to upgrade to a digital landline, as providers race to switch households over before the January deadline.Telecoms companies have so far migrated 16-17m lines from the old copper network to digital voice over internet protocol (VoiP), which uses a broadband connection instead, in the biggest technological upgrade since the early 00s, when analogue TV was switched off. Continue reading...

Sunday's poll pits the leftist incumbent Lula against the son of a former far-right president convicted of staging a coup

Who is really in charge - the people or the markets? In the first episode of Radical Thinking, a new series from the Guardian, senior economics commentator Aditya Chakrabortty speaks to the former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. What was it like during the eurozone crisis when Varoufakis went head to head with those who wanted to stop his reforms?Watch Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty here. Continue reading...

Citizen environmentalists create online platform that flags spills in real time and highlights repeatedly polluted spotsThe easy thing for the people who live on the banks of the River Dart in Devon might have been to grumble and groan about the sewage spills that blight their beloved waterway.Instead, citizen environmentalists in the area have created a unique online platform that flags up spills in real time, highlights spots that are repeatedly polluted, and sets out where improvement work is planned - and where it isn't. Continue reading...

Hammersmith and Fulham says it faces biggest financial challenge in living memory' as government cuts biteA flagship Labour authority has warned it may have to impose a 150% council tax rise on residents to maintain current services following central government cuts under a new funding settlement.Hammersmith and Fulham council's cabinet has concluded in a report due to be published on Monday that such a rise would cost Band D households an additional 29.11 a week in 2027/28. Continue reading...

Company says it is reviewing 50 petabytes of data after its agents accessed websites including Medicare without authorisation

Pyongyang fires towards sea a day after Kim Jong-un sister denounces South Korea for claiming North's mines wounded South's soldiers in DMZNorth Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the sea on Saturday, South Korea and Japan said, a day after it rejected Seoul's accusation of its mines wounding soldiers.The missile was launched from the Wonsan area at about 6.30am towards the East Sea - also known as the Sea of Japan - and flew more than 700km (434 miles), the South Korean military said. Seoul and Washington were analysing the test for details, it added. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Findings will bolster those in No 10 who want to negotiate on re-entry but some senior figures remain waryAndy Burnham's personal preference to rejoin the European Union after the next election is supported by almost half of all voters, a new megapoll has found, although cabinet ministers concerned about reopening Brexit divides are privately urging him to proceed with caution.The poll by the Messina Group (TMG) found that renegotiating the UK's relationship with the EU could boost Labour's vote share by as much as seven points, if the prime minister offered a fresh referendum in which he campaigned to re-enter the bloc. Continue reading...

Climate crisis blamed as virus that originated in Africa spreads to livestock as far north as AberdeenshireBritish farmers are experiencing the worst bluetongue season on record, with the number of cases surpassing the past three years combined.The viral disease, which affects sheep and cattle among other animals, can cause fevers, ulcers, a swollen head and lameness. The tongue may go blue and even protrude from the mouth. In the most severe cases, the animal can die. Continue reading...

Fazl Mosque was used as an air raid shelter in the war - but that is not its only link to a pivotal moment in world historyExactly 100 years ago the Guardian wrote about the opening of London's first mosque, an impressive white building surrounded by immaculate flower gardens in the heart of south London suburbia.A report described the mosque, in its incongruous surroundings, as a thing of beauty". The journalists who attended the opening ceremony witnessed the mosque's large black doors being opened with a silver key. About 600 eminent guests attended the grand opening. Continue reading...

On the day Andy Burnham spoke of the wrong turn Britain took under Thatcher, football was facing a day of reckoning over its own story of corporate acquisitionIt was somehow fitting that Tuesday's damning ruling against Manchester City landed in the heart of the Labour party conference, in the afterglow of Andy Burnham's rapturously received prime minister's speech.I was there, and read the astonishing 40 pages of findings - that City created sham" contracts to boost income artificially by 900m - on my phone during a long meeting of the Socialist Campaign Group, where people were celebrating Keir Starmer's ousting and Burnham's more leftwing direction. Continue reading...

Movie about Nazi-collaborating administration strikes chord during what director calls time of great uncertainty'It is the story of how a lowly state administrator unthinkingly becomes a cog in the machine of an authoritarian regime, embracing the bureaucracy and logistics of sending people to their deaths - and it is drawing in audiences to French cinemas.The French film Notre Salut (Our Salvation), with its modern lighting, improvised scenes and anachronistic 1980s Europop soundtrack, is far from the standard historical costume drama about the second world war. Continue reading...

Driver arrested at the scene after vehicle strikes multiple people in a crowd, leaving 10 injured including three children

With 40 dead and a disaster declared across all 50 city districts, experts warn extreme flooding will only worsen across south-east AsiaBangkok is used to absorbing the sudden afternoon downpours that inundate the city during the rainy season. Even streets in many central high-rise districts can briefly turn into rivers, with rats and cockroaches racing out of sewers and taking temporary refuge on trees and buildings as the subterranean world is flushed out.But every city has a breaking point, and this year rain fell so fast and so hard that whole neighbourhoods of the Thai capital have been transformed, not into rivers, but stagnant lakes. In parts of the city, roughly 300mm of rain - the equivalent of half a year of average rainfall in London - fell in about two days. Continue reading...

The epicentre was at Leongatha, 130km south-east of Melbourne, with residents reporting houses shaking just after 2am

Man, most likely in Iran, was in contact with men arrested on the eve of Yom Kippur, police sayTwo Iranian men have been charged in relation to an alleged terror plot targeting Manchester's Jewish community.Police say another man, most likely in Iran, was in contact with them as part of a plot to get a bomb to attack Jewish targets. Continue reading...

President leads huge rally in Rio before election on Sunday seen as most important for decadesThe Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has claimed he is the only thing standing in the way of far-right fascists" reclaiming power, as he led a huge rally through the streets of Rio ahead of Sunday's crunch election.Speaking on the eve of the demonstration, the 80-year-old leftwinger said he had decided to seek a historic fourth term because he believed only he could prevent the family of his rightwing rival, Flavio Bolsonaro, returning to government. Continue reading...

Dozens of residents testify to legislature's redistricting committee in heated hearing, the last of eightHundreds of people gathered across from the Mississippi state capitol building on Thursday evening to rally against the aggressive Republican efforts to draw maps that favor their own party.Shortly after the US supreme court's decision in Louisiana v Callais, which severely weakened section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, Tate Reeves, the Mississippi governor, moved in lockstep with other Republican governors and lawmakers to call for a special session to redraw maps. However, before that special session could occur, Reeves canceled it and wrote on X that he expected lawmakers to redraw congressional lines BETWEEN NOW and 2027 elections!" Continue reading...

Hlei sea arch, formed 550 years ago by erosion from ocean waves, no longer standing, National Park Service confirmsA famed centuries-old sea arch on Hawaii's remote and rugged coastline has collapsed into the Pacific Ocean, the National Park Service confirmed on Friday, following a stretch of rough storms in the region in recent weeks.The beloved landmark, Hlei sea arch, stood at around 90ft high for over half a millennium in Hawaii's Volcanoes national park, located on the dramatic southern coast of the Big Island. It was naturally formed around 550 years ago due to differential erosion by ocean waves. Continue reading...

Senate Leadership Fund is redirecting ad spending from Michael Whatley's campaign to support other candidatesA major Republican political action committee pulled the plug on financial support for its Senate candidate in North Carolina, Michael Whatley, according to multiple reports, as the party begins to triage resources amid increasingly dire midterm polling.The Senate Leadership Fund (SLF), the campaign arm of the Senate majority leader, John Thune, has withdrawn its ad spending in North Carolina to redirect support to other candidates, Semafor reported on Friday. The New York Times, CNN and other publications have confirmed the report with sources close to the fund. Continue reading...

Joshua Kerry, 28, of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, charged with one count of preparation of terrorist acts, say policeThe man accused of murdering Ann Widdecombe has been charged with engaging in conduct in preparation of acts of terrorism including against Nigel Farage.Joshua Kerry, 28, of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service on Friday with one count of preparation of terrorist acts. The charge relates to activity alleged to have taken place between 31 May 2024 and 8 July this year, counter-terrorism police said. Continue reading...

Buckingham Palace say the king will not shy away' from Britain's role in slavery when he visits Commonwealth nations later this monthKing Charles III will acknowledge the darkest days" of colonial rule and slavery while touring Caribbean countries on a visit beginning this month, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said on Friday.The king will first visit the Bahamas and Guyana alone, followed by a trip to Antigua and Barbuda with Queen Camilla, where Charles will give a speech at a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government, the palace said. Continue reading...

Leaders agree a coordinated drawdown after surge in prices and Donald Trump's threat to cut off US suppliesLeaders of G7 nations are to release up to 100m barrels of their emergency diesel and crude oil stockpiles after Donald Trump threatened to cut off supplies of US diesel.The French President, Emmanuel Macron, said ministers from some of world's largest economies had agreed to release stocks from their strategic oil reserves after crisis talks on Friday. Continue reading...

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority are now considering setting trained falcons on the urban birdsThe mass transit authorities in the greater Boston region are clawing around for ways to mitigate the excessive local pigeon population - or more graphically, pigeon poo all over stations - and have swooped on the possibility of setting trained falcons on them.The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), the public system commonly known as the T", issued a request for information" (RFI) last month from falconry experts on the potential use of birds of prey, such as falcons, to control the crowds of urban birds widely considered a public nuisance. Continue reading...

Mattie Music Group, owners of Bill Withers' back catalogue, contend the Grammy winner infringed on Just the Two of UsOlivia Dean has been accused of plagiarizing the Bill Withers classic Just the Two of Us.The owners of Withers' back catalogue aimed that allegation at his fellow Grammy winner in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed on Thursday in US federal court in Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Five defendants accused of being part of black team' tasked with overcoming security at Israel-linked firm Elbit near BristolPalestine Action activists brandished whips, hammers and kebab skewers to intimidate security guards and keep them at bay during a break-in at an Israel-linked arms factory, a court has heard.Five defendants are accused by prosecutors of being part of a black team", wearing black jumpsuits, whose role was to overwhelm security guards, so that a red team", wearing red jumpsuits, could break into the Elbit systems factory in Filton, near Bristol, and smash up equipment including drones. Continue reading...

Guarantee will remain until 2030 but MPs will vote on changes during this parliament, government saysAndy Burnham will pass legislation to scrap the state pension triple lock in this parliament, even though the guarantee will remain until 2030, the government has said.The prime minister used his conference speech to announce a change to the policy, which guarantees that the state pension rises by the highest of 2.5%, inflation or earnings growth. Continue reading...

Opposition lawmakers join forces to defeat proposals made by Socialist-led coalition after eviction of 87-year-oldRightwing lawmakers in Spain have joined forces to reject emergency measures put forward to tackle the country's housing crisis, pitting a fractured parliament against the widespread protest movement that has swelled in recent days.As protesters outside the parliament building in Madrid held up homemade signs bearing images of vultures, the conservative People's party, the far-right Vox and the Catalan pro-independence party Junts voted against a package of decrees by Pedro Sanchez's Socialist-led coalition that included a ban on evictions until 2030 and the regulation of temporary lettings and lettings by room. Continue reading...

Kathy Hochul briefs journalists with state attorney general Letitia James, who will be taking over the entire case

The 1938 mansion, Casa Encantada, once belonged to Conrad Hilton and was sold at foreclosure auctionTech billionaire Peter Thiel has been revealed as the new owner of a storied Bel-Air estate that quietly sold in July for a staggering $130m.The 1938 mansion, Casa Encantada, was sold at an open-air foreclosure auction in Pomona, with the name of the buyer kept under wraps for months. The winning bid is now revealed to have come from a limited liability company linked to the venture capitalist and PayPal and Palantir co-founder, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the buyer's identity. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereBack to France, midday figures quoted by Le Figaro show that 564 schools and educational establishments have been disrupted by the ongoing unrest, and some 600 people have been arrested so far today as the high school protests continue.Europe environment correspondent Continue reading...

Exclusive: Education secretary sends Ofsted back to drawing board' as teachers raise serious concerns about new systemSchool inspections in England will be overhauled for the second time in a year, after a barrage of complaints that the new system was dangerously stressful and damaging teachers' mental health.Lucy Powell, the education secretary, will tell the schools regulator Ofsted to go back to the drawing board" after becoming concerned that inspection changes overseen by her predecessor, Bridget Phillipson, were creating problems for headteachers. Continue reading...

US says ship thought to be using common dark fleet' tactics was boarded and taken to Mexico as embargo continuesThe US Coast Guard has announced that it intercepted a large cargo ship carrying fuel bound for Cuba, as the Trump administration's crippling oil embargo against the island nation continued.The vessel named Grace was stopped on 5 September in the Caribbean Sea between Cuba and Mexico while using tactics to evade authorities, the Coast Guard said. The New York Times reported that the ship was 91 metres (300ft) long. Continue reading...

Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth says he has asked PM to put Wales on equal footing with Scotland as bare minimum'

From pillboxes and boaters to bicornes and buckets, characterful hats are making their way from the catwalk to the high streetHere goes - an order for a million hats," wrote Jackie Kennedy to Bergdorf Goodman before moving into the White House in the early 1960s. It's a line that could have been uttered by any number of people working in fashion today, because the hat - and not just the ubiquitous baseball cap - has been enjoying a very characterful resurgence.This season at the turbo-high-end brand Loro Piana, whose clothes are beloved by tech bros and Kendall Roy, almost every model was wearing a hat. At Thom Browne, straw boaters came shrouded in colourful mesh. At Chloe there were see-through hats to match see-through trenchcoats and white sailor hats atop all-white outfits. Courrege's hats were space-age, Burberry had big buckets, Bottega Veneta had hats brimming with charisma. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereZack Polanski also insisted his authority as leader of the Green party of England and Wales does not depend on winning next week's Holborn and St Pancras byelection, amid suggestions that the party's popularity has peaked.Polanski, who is trying to take Keir Starmer's former seat from Labour, described the contest as probably 50/50 right now" and really on a knife edge".This will be our biggest and most exciting Green party conference ever, coming on the back of a year of unprecedented membership growth and extraordinary electoral success.Greens have turned hope into electoral wins - in councils, boroughs, in mayoral elections and with our exciting breakthrough in Gorton and Denton. Continue reading...

Exclusive: CrowdJustice platform says US firm Stripe, its payment processor, cannot support accounts or transactions' linked to groupAn online crowdfunder to raise money for the UK supreme court challenge to the ban on Palestine Action has been blocked as a result of US sanctions against the direct action group.CrowdJustice, a UK company, has declined to host a fundraiser for legal fees to fight proscription because the platform uses the US company Stripe as its payment processor. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Britain's largest private-sector employer has also trained managers to spot signs of domestic abuseTesco has become the first supermarket to introduce paid safe leave" for victims of domestic abuse, giving staff dedicated time to access support, secure their safety and take steps to move on with their lives.The UK's largest private-sector employer is offering up to three days of paid leave which can be taken flexibly for activities such as attending court hearings, arranging emergency accommodation, changing locks, securing childcare or separating finances. Continue reading...

France proposes that EU nations and IEA release oil and diesel from reserves as Iran war drives up cost worldwide

Derbyshire county council accused of worst kind of double speak' as it denies banning local democracy journalist but says it will ignore his inquiriesRows over potholes and a viral story about a garden gate have led to Reform UK's latest confrontation with local media, after one of its councils announced it would refuse to engage with a reporter behind the stories.Reform-run Derbyshire county council has been accused of setting a dangerous precedent" after withdrawing all cooperation with Eddie Bisknell, a Derbyshire Live journalist who is publicly funded to cover local democracy. Continue reading...

Baird, father of former NSW premier Mike Baird and journalist Julia Baird, helped win the Olympics for Sydney

Group says trading was helped by airing of Netflix documentary and opening of its 100th outlet

Exclusive: Party leader says outcome of knife edge' vote in Keir Starmer's former seat will not affect his position

Attack accessing historical data on bushfires occurred in June but not disclosed by the tech company until Thursday

Dispute over march will go to legal appeal on Monday after talks hosted by Northern Ireland secretary endTalks aimed at resolving the Drumcree parade dispute have broken up without agreement, with the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Bryant, describing the situation as being between a rock and a hard place".Speaking on Thursday night after the latest talks with the Orange Order and residents of Garvaghy Road broke up, Bryant said: I think this is the end of these conversations. We haven't come to a settled agreement, and it's a shame, but my door remains open." Continue reading...

Pike alive but in critical condition as experts call ordeal that unfolded in Tennessee Wednesday unimaginably barbaric'Top lawyers, doctors and members of the faith community are calling for a moratorium on the US death penalty after Tennessee's failed attempt to execute Christa Pike left the prisoner alive but in critical condition and receiving life-saving medical care.The recent spate of harrowingly botched executions across US death penalty states reached a new low late on Wednesday when Tennessee's governor Bill Lee called off the procedure after Pike had been injected with two full syringes of pentobarbital. She is the only person to have survived being administered 5mg of the sedative - a massive dose that under normal circumstances is considered fatal. Continue reading...