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Wichita police awaiting toxicology results and mechanical exam of pickup truck driven by the 34-year-old womanA woman who was arrested on Saturday after she drove a truck through a youth soccer game in Wichita, Kansas - killing a boy and a man - has been released from custody without charges pending further investigation, according to authorities.In a statement on Sunday, the Wichita police department said investigators were awaiting the results of toxicology testing on the driver, whom the agency would only describe as a 34-year-old woman. Police said they were also waiting for a mechanical examination" of the pickup truck that the woman was driving at the time she struck and killed six-year-old Cole Adrian and Nicholas Schafer, 35. Continue reading...

Meta owes us an explanation,' group says as organizers fear censorship after account goes dark for several hoursThe coalition leaders behind nationwide pro-democracy protests that have drawn millions of Americans to the streets in recent years were frustrated when its Instagram account was temporarily shut down during its latest demonstration on Saturday.The No Kings movement's account went dark for several hours while protests focused on increasing early voter turnout were underway, sparking censorship fears. Continue reading...

Ministers, officials and police under pressure over response to protests as government holds crisis talks amid colossal failure of the state'The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has criticised unbridled violence" after one of the most violent days of unrest in years left public buildings burned, hundreds of shops destroyed and looted and more than 2,000 people arrested in cities across the country.Watching these images, we have all asked ourselves how could French people do this to France?" he said in a televised address. Continue reading...

New video footage of Israeli settler assault on European delegation as Netanyahu attempts to raise doubtHours after Israeli militants attacked a delegation of European diplomats, French clerics and a visiting mayor in the occupied West Bank, Israel's leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, responded by questioning the delegation's account of the assault.Serious accusations require serious evidence" was the all-caps headline of a social media post from the office of the prime minister. As news of the attack spread globally there was no pledge to find those accountable and bring them to justice. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Former health secretary says upfront investment in support is needed if we are going to end the Neet crisis'Ministers should cut welfare spending to fund more employment support if it wants to end the youth Neet crisis, the author of a government-led review has said.Alan Milburn, the Tony Blair-era health secretary, told the Guardian he believed ministers should reduce benefits payments to help pay for more employment support, opening a potentially contentious debate within the Labour party over welfare cuts. Continue reading...

UK home secretary's meeting comes after PM said he wanted to rejoin European law enforcement databasesThe UK home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, will meet the EU's home affairs commissioner on Monday for further talks just days after Andy Burnham said he wanted to rejoin European law enforcement databases from which the UK has been locked out of since Brexit.According to the European Commission, they will discuss migration, border management, law enforcement cooperation and counter-terrorism", with the latest Frontex data published on Monday showing a 43% decline in small boats crossing the Channel. Continue reading...

Green leader in England and Wales calls debates about words' unhelpful and denies recent motion was controversialZack Polanski has said Zionism in its current form is racist, that no country has a right to exist, and that the Green party motion on the issue was not controversial.The leader of the Green party in England and Wales gave an unapologetic interview to the BBC on Sunday two weeks after his party approved a motion equating Zionism with racism. Continue reading...

Prime minister Mark Carney describes blaze as one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime'Four people have been killed and dozens more seriously injured after a violent, fast-moving" fire tore through one of Canada's busiest military training bases in Alberta, Canada's prime minister said on Sunday.Mark Carney called the incident one of the worst tragedies for the forces on Canadian soil in peacetime". Continue reading...

Capt Smit Machchhar said he screamed for help as he reached to open the cockpit door on flight FZ1073The captain of a flydubai flight who was attacked by a co-pilot who intended to crash the plane has described blocking axe blows to his head and screaming for help as he reached to open the cockpit door.Capt Smit Machchhar has been hailed as a hero for his role in averting disaster on the flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv last month, helping to thwart what the UAE attorney general has said was an attempted suicide attack by the co-pilot who had intended to crash the plane into Ben Gurion airport. Continue reading...

Female colleague says she was forced out shortly after incident with Luke Campbell, Hull and East Yorkshire mayorA Reform UK mayor is under police investigation for allegedly showing naked and sexualised" images of himself to a female member of staff.Luke Campbell, a former Olympic boxing champion and the mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire, is understood to have been questioned under caution by Humberside police earlier this month. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Play anonymously published in 1596 was collaboration between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, according to computer analysisDramatic new evidence concludes that the play Edward III should be added to William Shakespeare's canon, and also that it was a major collaboration with his contemporary rival Christopher Marlowe.The history was published anonymously in 1596, and it has long been thought that Shakespeare wrote at least a few scenes. However, Dr Rory Loughnane, a leading scholar and co-author of the research, told the Guardian that computerised textual analysis pushed the case beyond any reasonable doubt" that the Stratford-born playwright was the principal writer. Continue reading...

Interior minister says the Republic will not yield' to France's worst protests in yearsA dispatch here from Sam Jones, our reporter in Madrid, as protests have spread to Italy and PortugalThe angry protests that have convulsed Spain and France in recent weeks have spilled over to Italy and Portugal, with rioters clashing with police and setting property on fire in Milan, and a tent encampment springing up in Lisbon over the weekend. Continue reading...

Scrutiny committee looks into financing of Manchester Life project as PM promises full transparency'A 55m loan to Manchester City's Abu Dhabi owner will be investigated as part of a review into a fund for housing projects while Andy Burnham was mayor.The prime minister has faced weeks of scrutiny over his links to Manchester City's super-rich owners after the club was found guilty of boosting its income by 900m in a nine-year breach of financial rules. Continue reading...

ONS data for England and Wales shows 26% of heterosexual divorces in 2025 followed 20 years or more of marriageMost couples are aware of the dreaded seven-year itch", when the honeymoon period wears off and real life starts to bite.Now official data has shown that couples in England and Wales are more likely to split after 20 years. According to Office for National Statistics figures, more than a quarter of all divorces between opposite-sex couples happened after 20 years or longer of marriage. Continue reading...

Development by UK firm Nscale heralded by ministers as largest of its kind in country loses anchor tenantThe development of a huge AI datacentre hailed by the UK government has received a fresh setback after Microsoft pulled out of the project over concerns about power supplies.The development by the British company Nscale, heralded by ministers as the country's largest AI datacentre when it was announced in 2025, was planned to open at Loughton in Essex next year. Continue reading...

Amid financial pressures on household and school budgets, the theatre company is expanding access with free playsSix young actors step into the spotlight as a reverent silence descends on the hall at City Academy in Bristol. A boy steps forward to pose a central question: What does it mean to be young in Britain in 2026?"Union jack flags flash across the backdrop as three girls excitedly debate a Spice Girls reunion concert, before the focus swings back to the young boy wrestling with modern British identity. He rattles off a list of familiar cultural touchstones - fish and chips, cups of tea, Butlin's, David Attenborough, Gogglebox and the England football team, naming heroes such as Jordan Pickford and Jude Bellingham. Continue reading...

Agency changes wording on website as Texas-based chemical firm continues manufacture of plastic containersThe Environmental Protection Agency has quietly backtracked on a claim that the US has phased out two of the most dangerous Pfas compounds - Pfoa and Pfos.The EPA has found that virtually no level of exposure to either in drinking water is safe, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer classifies Pfoa as carcinogenic to humans" and Pfos as possibly carcinogenic". Still, the EPA is allowing Houston-based Inhance to produce containers from which Pfoa has been found to leach at high levels into the containers' contents. The company makes up to 200m plastic containers annually used across the US economy. Continue reading...

Exclusive: rules on same-sex wards could lead to delays in care, discrimination and animosity between groups, finds internal assessmentTrans people could face delays and a greater risk of corridor care" under new NHS England guidance that means they will no longer be able to use same-sex wards, according to an internal report.An NHS England impact assessment, seen by the Guardian, stated that trans people may also potentially experience discrimination and this could lead to them avoiding accessing healthcare at all". Continue reading...

Large cordon in place around Angel Row area of city centre after shocking incident' in the early hours of SundayA police officer is in hospital after being shot in the foot in Nottingham in the early hours of Sunday.Nottinghamshire police said the officer had approached two suspects in the city centre when he was struck by a bullet. The force said the two suspects, a woman and a man, had fled the scene and were being sought by police. Continue reading...

Hundreds at Lisbon tent camp demand action, as Giorgia Meloni says march in Italy was exploited by hooligans'The angry protests that have convulsed Spain and France in recent weeks have spilled over to Italy and Portugal, with rioters clashing with police and setting property on fire in Milan, and a tent encampment springing up in Lisbon over the weekend.A march in central Milan on Saturday to protest against rising living costs began peacefully but ended with masked rioters throwing stones, paving blocks and other objects at riot police and setting fire to barricades made from bar tables. Continue reading...

Lengthy meeting heard grumbles about blue wall' policies and Ming vase' tactics but no real rancourAs political showdowns go, this week's gathering of Liberal Democrat MPs, billed by some as a crunch moment for Ed Davey, was a touch underwhelming. I had expected a damp squib," one attender put it. It was damper than I thought."Far from generating a mass of opposition to Davey's leadership, let alone a formal challenge to his position, the lengthy gathering in a Commons committee room on Tuesday evening brought a few minor grumbles, but little else. Continue reading...

Health secretary says it is total disgrace' if staff looked up William Chapman, who died at Yorkshire Wildlife ParkNHS staff who inappropriately accessed the medical records of a man mauled to death by a tiger should be sacked, Yvette Cooper said.The health secretary said the incident - which followed reports earlier this year that staff had unnecessarily viewed details about the Southport attack victims and those murdered by Valdo Calocane in Nottingham in 2023 - was a total disgrace". Continue reading...

Style of emceeing based on high-octane, ad-libbed vocals has flourished thanks to its unique way of captivating crowdsFor the 2015 freshmen cohort of the history degree programme at the University of Lagos, their classmate's first-semester presentation was so captivating that they began calling him Toby Shang, after the 16th-century Chinese dynasty he had focused on.His crowd engagement that day had been harnessed from his high school days as a ginger-man (energiser) in a three-man band and as a private tutor. By his final year at university, his viral catchphrases and infectious energy had resulted in a hit song, Shedibalabala. Today, he is one of the self-acclaimed evangelists and pioneers" in the Afrobeats sub-genre some are now calling Afrohype or lamba. Continue reading...

Markus Zusak's novel The Book Thief secures second place, while Trent Dalton's Boy Swallows Universe rounds out podium dominated by menCloudstreet, Tim Winton's sprawling Australian family epic, has been voted Australia's favourite book in a poll run by ABC Radio National.The broadcaster announced over the weekend the results of a nationwide poll to determine a list of readers' top 100 Australian books. Continue reading...

A girl called Aina was captured by an African king and later taken to England to become Sarah Forbes Bonetta, protege of the imperial monarchWhen she was seven years old, Bayo Randle's great-great-grandmother Sarah Forbes Bonetta was presented to Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle as a diplomatic gift" from an African king.Victoria would go on to pay for Bonetta's education, approve her marriage to one of west Africa's wealthiest men, and become godmother to her eldest daughter. Continue reading...

Magazine group points to restructuring bill but says it remains profitable in the UK for another year'Profits at Conde Nast's UK arm slumped by more than a third last year, according to figures published shortly after the billionaire family that owns the luxury magazine group and titles from Vogue to GQ ruled out a sale.The publisher, which enjoyed a bumper 2024 after booking 64m in proceeds from the sale of its UK headquarters Vogue House in London, saw pre-tax profits excluding exceptional items tumble 36% from 28m that year to nearly 18m last year. Continue reading...

For more than three decades, Michael Gove has been a leading figure in British Conservatism. As a journalist, government minister and now editor of the Tory bible the Spectator, he has helped shape the right even as it has moved further rightwards. In the latest episode of Radical Thinking, Gove joins Aditya Chakrabortty to discuss the future of the right, his record on Brexit and austerity, and the Spectator's position on IslamWatch the full episode with Michael Gove here.

Facing a slump in the polls, Argentina's president is making economic attacks on the islands' oil industry, and suggesting its key fisheries industry could be nextA dozen local people and a uniformed military police officer (Do you mind if I sit in?") took their seats at the back of the handsome wood-panelled courtroom that doubles as the Falkland Islands' legislative assembly. Outside, it was a typically blowy early evening. It may nominally be spring in the south Atlantic, but Stanley harbour, with its dark grey water speckled with historical shipwrecks, was a cauldron of swells and churn.Six of the assembly's eight members - five men, one woman - waited patiently at a row of desks and microphones. The heating had been turned up to just short of uncomfortable. Behind them, a portrait of King Charles. From the other walls, dusty photographs of governors, of varying popularity, gazed disinterestedly at the scene. Continue reading...

Meet some of the elderly residents of Bolotana, in line to be the world's sixth blue zone' for its high number of female centenariansWhen Giovanna Marras opens the door to her home in Bolotana, a mountain village in central Sardinia, her eyes are bright with curiosity as she sizes up her visitors. Her sister, Mariangela, peeks out too, soon ushering her guests inside and handing out dishes of ice-cream. The sisters are full of life, talking animatedly. Giovanna is 101 and Mariangela is 99.Sitting in their living room, Giovanna swiftly recaps her life story: she excelled at school before moving to Cagliari, the capital of the Italian island, at 18 to train as a seamstress. The sisters went on to run a successful tailoring business in Bolotana before travelling the world after retirement. Neither married. Continue reading...

Birth happens days before Labor and Coalition block bill to ban barbaric practice' of shackling incarcerated women during childbirth

Police fire teargas in Paris and Limoges town hall largely lost' to fire - with officials blaming violence on ultra-left'More than 1,200 people were arrested in France on Saturday after protesters supporting high school students clashed with police, with some demonstrations later spiralling out of control as buildings were set ablaze and shops looted.Police fired teargas in confrontations with protesters, as demonstrations across France were boosted by other groups angry about high prices and the fraying of a social welfare system. While hundreds of thousands protested peacefully in street marches in scores of cities, violent fringe groups targeted public buildings, luxury boutiques and supermarkets and attacked police vehicles and officers. Continue reading...

Sydney teenager charged with offensive behaviour and sexual touching without consent in relation to incidents involving females aged 13 to 54

Hurricane warning in effect from Manzanillo to Cabo Corrientes as storm moves toward Pacific coastTrudy strengthened to a category 2 hurricane as it moved toward Mexico's south-western and west-central Pacific coast on Saturday, the US National Hurricane Center said.A hurricane warning was in effect from Manzanillo in Colima state to Cabo Corrientes in Jalisco. The latest NHC data showed Trudy with maximum sustained winds of 100mph (155km/h) and about 205 miles (330km) south/south-east of Cabo Corrientes and 115 miles (180km) south/south-west of Manzanillo, moving north-west at 10mph (17km/h). Continue reading...

Tweet by Sarah Helm, wife of national security adviser Jonathan Powell, does not meet criminal threshold'No further action will be taken against Sarah Helm, the wife of the prime minister's national security adviser, after she was accused of supporting the banned protest group Palestine Action.Helm, a journalist and author who is married to Jonathan Powell, posted on X on Thursday: God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action." Continue reading...

Would-be MP recorded telling undercover reporter in ITV investigation that Muslims could not be BritishA would-be Reform UK MP told an undercover reporter that Muslims could not be British and asylum seekers should be put in concentration camps".The comments were recorded as part of the undercover investigation by ITV that has already seen Reform accused of appalling behaviour" and extreme racism". Continue reading...

While masked lapwings have a reputation for swooping during nesting season, Windsor Park oval's resident plover just wants a good inningsAt Windsor Park in Riverside, just outside Launceston in northern Tasmania, a masked lapwing has claimed prime real estate in the middle of a community sports ground, showing complete indifference to the weekend cricket matches taking place around it.Warming a nest of eggs, the bird has been affectionately dubbed Faf Swoop Plessis" by locals - a play on former South African cricket captain Faf du Plessis. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Research confirms official advice about high-risk properties and warns worsening conditions will make more homes unsafe

French mayor and archbishop also attacked during violent attempt to stop Palestinians harvesting olivesIsraeli settler militants have attacked European diplomats, a French mayor and the archbishop of Cambrai in Taybeh, in the occupied West Bank, injuring three people and damaging a car, in the latest violent attempt to prevent Palestinians from harvesting olives on their own land.Bernard Baudoux, mayor of Aulnoye-Aymeries, was wearing his red, white and blue sash of office and attempting to enter a vehicle with diplomatic plates when he was assaulted and knocked to the ground on Saturday. Continue reading...

Belgian foreign minister urges further EU sanctions and links attack to Israel's illegal settlement policy'Masked settlers attacked a group of European diplomats during a visit to the occupied West Bank on Saturday, Belgium's foreign minister said, on a second day of high-profile assaults on Palestinians and others during the sensitive olive harvest.At least four people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the harvest began earlier this month, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Activists say Israeli authorities do little to stop attacks that involve weapons ranging from slingshots to guns. An attack on Friday seriously injured a Washington Post photographer and others. Continue reading...

French government launches investigation into why cars funded by UK to prevent asylum seekers crossing Channel were used in school protestsFrench police have used 4x4 vehicles paid for by British taxpayers to charge at student protesters during the school protests that have swept the country.The French government has confirmed that an investigation has been launched into why the cars, funded by the UK government specifically to prevent asylum seekers crossing the Channel, were used during a protest involving school students in Dunkirk. Continue reading...

Descendants say theft from Portchester Castle reflects racism that has haunted generation after generation'The theft of a plaque in Hampshire that told the little-known story of African-Caribbean prisoners in 18th-century Britain reflects the enduring racism that has fuelled centuries of atrocities against Black and Indigenous Caribbean people, their descendants say.Ronald Raymond McDonald, a professional drummer, was part of a delegation that travelled from Belize and elsewhere to Portchester Castle near Portsmouth last week to honour their ancestors: 2,500 men, women and children transported to Britain as prisoners of war in 1796. Continue reading...

John Swinney tells party conference SNP will use six-figure war chest' to renew argument for leaving UKJohn Swinney has said that the second referendum campaign for Scottish independence has already begun", revealing a nationwide effort to renew the argument for leaving the UK in his keynote address to the SNP party conference.On Saturday, the Scottish first minister said the SNP would launch its most sophisticated campaign in history" to convince Scottish voters of the benefits of independence, backed by a six-figure war chest". Continue reading...

Ukrainian president warns it will embolden Russian leader and intensify war as Moscow hits country's power plants

Actor experienced a medical emergency' on flight during which she allegedly injured crew members, statement saysActor Selma Blair did not mean to hurt anyone during the recent flight which led to her arrest on allegations that she assaulted a pair of cabin crew members, a police officer and a nurse, her representatives said on Friday in a statement that characterized the episode as a medical emergency.The lengthy statement also dismissed prior media coverage of Blair's arrest after a Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles to New York as unsympathetic and inaccurate, singling out reporting from several outlets alleging that she tried to open the door of the airplane that she and her fellow passengers were on. Continue reading...

Doctors say pontiff is fit for discharge' after operation to remove cancerous tumour from his lung

Chilean-American author awarded Premio Planeta for sequel to her 1982 debut novel, The House of the SpiritsThe Chilean-American author Isabel Allende has won Spain's 1m (843,000) Premio Planeta, one of the world's most lucrative literary prizes, under a pseudonym, with a sequel to her celebrated debut novel, The House of the Spirits.Allende, 84, won the 75th edition of the award on Thursday with La hora antes del alba, which returns to the characters of her 1982 novel, a multigenerational family saga set against political upheaval in a country inspired by Chile. Continue reading...

School looking to sell piece of open land beloved by people in Devon town to fund refurbishmentsOn Saturdays throughout autumn, residents of Totnes have met at a field on the banks of the River Dart to play ballgames, fly kites or simply sit on the grass and chat.But it hasn't just been about having fun - this has been a play protest" aimed at trying to save a beloved piece of open land in the historic Devon market town. Continue reading...

Andrew Bailey among finance leaders to leave session in Bangkok when Russian finance minister addressed groupThe Bank of England governor, Andrew Bailey, has taken part in a walkout of finance leaders who left an International Monetary Fund meeting in protest against Russian involvement.Bailey joined counterparts from France, Germany and a number of Scandinavian and Baltic countries who left the session in Bangkok when the Russian finance minister, Anton Siluanov, addressed the group in Russian. Continue reading...

As Mark Cocker approaches a landmark for the world's oldest column in an English-language newspaper, he is still inspired by powerful encounters with natureIn the autumn of 1987, Mark Cocker sat in a field near Norwich and watched a jay burying acorns for the long winter ahead. He described the scene in his first country diary for the Guardian. Thirty-nine years on, some of those jay-planted acorns will be mature oaks now, and Cocker is completing his 1,000th diary for the world's oldest column in an English-language newspaper.In his next diary, he will reflect on the changing birdlife around Flint Clough, in the Peak District, where he first marvelled at rare birds aged 12 after devouring bird books in his bedroom. As a boy, he would find cuckoo, golden plover, ring ouzel and twite, a once-common bird which is now virtually extinct in England. Continue reading...

United Arab Emirates will reportedly resume payments to Yemeni forces as gains by Iran-backed Houthi fighters alarm Gulf state rulers