Exeter murder trial hears that Alexander Lewis-Ranwell had a history of mental illnessA man with a history of mental illness killed an 80-year-old with a hammer then, hours later, 84-year-old twins with a spade in the deluded belief they were members of a paedophile ring, a jury has heard.Alexander Lewis-Ranwell, 28, from Croyde, north Devon, who had paranoid schizophrenia, denies murdering twins Dick and Roger Carter and Anthony Payne at their homes in Exeter. Continue reading...

Benny Gantz must strike deal by midnight, but suggests no progress made in negotiationsThe Israeli opposition leader, Benny Gantz, has until midnight to form a government that could end Benjamin Netanyahu’s historic tenure or risk pushing the country further towards an unprecedented third round of elections.Paralysed for months by inconclusive ballot results, the political stalemate has played out during a fraught time for Israel as an increasingly open conflict heats up with Iran, its arch-enemy and a regional powerhouse. Continue reading...

Mohamed Ali, whose videos revealed corruption, is to coordinate efforts to force out President SisiMohamed Ali, the whistleblower who sparked rare street protests in Egypt two months ago with his revelations about corruption in his country, has launched a plan to coordinate a new opposition movement dedicated to saving the Egyptian economy and democracy.Ali announced in London on Wednesday that he was acting to bring together liberals, the Muslim Brotherhood and the April 6 movement in a move that he hopes will end with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi forced to stand down. Continue reading...

Charity takes action after holes are discovered in two batches of Life Guard condomsThe charity Marie Stopes International is recalling more than a million condoms in Uganda, after officials raised concerns that they were prone to breaking.The charity began the recall of packets of Life Guard condoms after the National Drug Authority found they contained holes and did not meet quality standards. More than half of the affected products have since been recovered. Continue reading...

Pope Francis arrives in Bangkok to boost morale of Catholic minority and speak about human trafficking Continue reading...

Australia’s attorney general says reform is necessary to create level playing field between social media platforms and traditional mediaAttorney general Christian Porter has called for digital platforms, including social media giants, to be treated like other publishers to create a fair media playing field.Although the comments on Wednesday were made in the context of defamation law reform, the sweeping statement has broad implications for social media companies’ future legal liability and the Coalition’s response to the digital platforms review. Continue reading...

The actor who played Queen Daenerys says she’s been pressured to shoot naked since the show, but is ‘a lot more savvy’ nowEmilia Clarke has revealed she felt uncomfortable acting in some of her nude scenes in Game Of Thrones.The British actress played queen Daenerys Targaryen in HBO’s sprawling epic, which became notorious for its explicit portrayal of sex and violence. Continue reading...

Labour leader claims service will be sold by PM, who keeps repeating Brexit mantraBoris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have clashed over which of them is best placed to safeguard the NHS if they win the general election, with the Labour leader accusing the prime minister of being ready to sell it off to US corporations.In a testy live debate on ITV, during which the prime minister repeatedly returned to the claim that he would “get Brexit done”, both men lavished praise on the NHS, but Corbyn said Johnson would put it up for sale. Continue reading...

Haircuts for rough sleepers. Beauty treatments for cancer patients. Boilers for disabled people. A wave of specialists are providing skills – and hope – for those in needGoodwill, it appears, is in high demand. One thing all the altruists I met while researching this article have in common is that they’re on the phone the whole time. Perhaps if mobiles had been around in Robin Hood’s day he would have had one pressed constantly to his lughole. “Marion … yes, love. I’m just having a fight on a bridge with Little John … sorry, you’re breaking up, terrible reception in here, all the oaks... What, the Sheriff’s abducted you? OK, I’m coming!” Continue reading...

New revelations about party funding are a stain on the country’s reputation for transparencyComplacency can be a nation’s greatest foe.New Zealanders, buoyed by their country’s high ranking in global transparency measures, see little to learn from other states when it comes to cleaning up politics. Continue reading...

Incident comes less than a week after Northern Territory officer fatally shot Kumanjayi Walker in YuendumuA 23-year-old Indigenous man is in a serious but stable condition after he was hit by a police vehicle in the Northern Territory on Monday night.At about 8.30pm on Monday police said officers responded to reports of an armed man at a business in Alice Springs. Continue reading...

Defence lawyers say accused had ‘no motive’ for murderDefence lawyers for the New Zealand man accused of murdering Grace Millane have put the British backpacker’s sexual history at the centre of their case, bringing forward witnesses who spoke about her dating past.The jury was told that Millane was a member of a number of BDSM dating websites, and had practised choking in the past. Continue reading...

Companies that over-perform financially are more likely to breach environmental and social regulations, academic findsHubris and overconfidence caused by excellent financial performance is a major driver of irresponsible corporate behaviour, according to new research.Di Fan, a senior lecturer at the business school of the Australian National University, said his research showed companies making above-average profits were more likely to breach their environmental or social obligations than run-of-the-mill firms. Continue reading...

Activist says German police were warned by US authorities of AWD member who went to Germany with possible intention to harm herAn US activist in Germany who was targeted by the neo-Nazi terror group Atomwaffen Division (AWD) has told the Guardian German police were last year warned by US authorities of “a specific threat to find me and do me harm”.Related: House investigating whether Trump lied to Robert Mueller – live Continue reading...

Ian Drummond ‘static’ as huge vessel smashed into cruiser in Solent, prosecutors allegeA 4,000 tonne passenger ferry ploughed into a small pleasure boat with four people on board because its captain failed to keep a proper look out, a court has heard.Captain Ian Drummond allegedly sat “static” in his chair as the 107-metre (305ft) Red Funnel vessel Red Falcon smashed into the 10-metre motor cruiser almost forcing it to capsize. Continue reading...

CBI told cancelling proposed reduction would save £6bn that could be spent on public services

Department of Communities assistant director-general of corporate operations accused of state’s biggest public sector theftA senior bureaucrat accused of Western Australia’s biggest public sector theft is understood to be in a critical condition in hospital after an incident at his Perth home.Department of Communities assistant director-general of corporate operations, Paul Whyte, 56, was charged with two counts of corruption on Thursday after police raided his home at Mosman Park. Continue reading...

Even the prime minister has chopped the vegetable out of her official menu after monsoon caused Indian crop failureBangladesh has been forced to import planeloads of onions as the price of the cooking staple soared to record highs, an official said, with even the prime minister chopping the bulb from her menu.The price of onions – a sensitive subject in south Asia where shortages can trigger widespread discontent with political ramifications – has climbed to eye-watering levels in Bangladesh since neighbouring India banned exports in late September after heavy monsoon rains reduced the crop. Continue reading...

Planned changes would be biggest shakeup to country’s electoral system for 50 yearsA bill is being introduced that would give the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds in many elections in Wales and empower local authorities to decide which voting system they use.The Labour-led Welsh government said the planned changes would be the biggest in the Welsh electoral system since the voting age was reduced to 18 in the UK half a century ago. They come as a bill to reduce the voting age to 16 for Welsh assembly elections nears the end of its journey through the Senedd. Continue reading...

Ghanaian postgraduate student left feeling ‘unwelcome in the union, Oxford and the country’The Oxford Union has been heavily criticised after a blind student was reportedly “dragged by his ankles” from a debating chamber, leading to calls for the union president to resign.The incident, which was caught on video and described by the Oxford University Africa Society (OUAS) as “violent, unjust, inhumane and shameful”, left the student feeling “unwelcome in the union, Oxford and even the country”. Continue reading...

Police earlier threatened to use live rounds on ‘rioters’ who used lethal weapons such as molotov cocktails against them

Lawyers for Epstein’s victims say they were ‘almost completely ignored’ in interviewPrince Andrew is facing a transatlantic backlash over his extraordinary defence of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein after lawyers who represent 10 of the billionaire predator’s victims branded the royal unrepentant and implausible and demanded that he speak to the FBI.After the royal’s defiant Newsnight interview on Saturday triggered a disbelieving reaction from the public and the media, the prince was under growing pressure from critics in the UK and US on Sunday who demanded an apology for his conduct and said that his defence of his actions was simply not credible. Continue reading...

Corbyn says policy would end open borders after Brexit but allow ‘a great deal of movement’

The frontier massacres were very public murders – known about, sometimes complained about – but the killings went on• Forced to build their own pyres: dozens more Aboriginal massacres revealed

Police deployed water cannon against protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday, in some cases using blue-dyed water laced with pepper spray. Teargas was also fired in an attempt to drive people away from the streets outside Polytechnic University. Protesters who occupied several university campuses last week have largely retreated, but hardliners have fortified themselves inside the Polytechnic and are refusing to leave

On the 30th anniversary of the uprising, Václav Havel’s allies say the revolution’s ideals are again at riskTimes have changed dramatically since Monsignor Václav Malý endured interrogations, beatings and the indignities of being barred from the priesthood while being forced to clean toilets as the price of campaigning against Czechoslovakia’s communist regime.As a signatory and then spokesman for Charter 77, a civic initiative demanding respect for human rights that was led by, among others, the dissident playwright Václav Havel, the clergyman was on the frontline of opponents targeted by the hated secret police. Yet this weekend, exactly 30 years after the Velvet Revolution began, ushering in the overthrow of the totalitarian system, Malý – now Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of Prague – is exhorting a new generation to fight new threats to their hard won freedom. Continue reading...

The supermodel opens up about friends, enemies, taking on the tabloids – and fashion’s new world orderIt’s no secret that Naomi Campbell doesn’t like interviews. After 33 years in the business, and a string of tabloid-baiting moments, the model has acquired a reputation for being surly, formidable, downright difficult. Our original meeting is cancelled an hour or so before we are due to meet – Campbell cites “terrific illness” – but a promise is made to reschedule, with the possibility that she might be free over the weekend. Or that we might end up speaking by phone. But then the text arrives: we are on, for Sunday at 4pm. Give or take an hour, Campbell keeps to her word. Her publicist and I chat in the lobby of The Dorchester hotel in London, while I mentally prepare for the full force of her legendary froideur.It is almost alarming, then, to find Campbell making jokes in a suite at the hotel, where she is alone, resting an injured leg on the sofa, smoking a cigarette, full of pussycat charm. At 49, she still looks otherworldly: a body, as Bono once put it, handmade by God, and skin so glowing it looks airbrushed. The era-defining cheekbones are framed by a sweep of immaculate hair; in the golden-hour light she looks luminous, dressed in a green chiffon Sacai jumpsuit and tractor sole Chelsea boots. She shows her publicist and me her leg: her knee is swollen like a melon, the result of tumbling on the stairs at an art party earlier in the week. She is worried that she won’t be able to fly if it doesn’t heal soon. “Clots are no joke,” she says. “[Doctors] stopped me from flying for six weeks two years ago. I do not want that again.” Continue reading...

Marina Litvinenko to try to force British government to publish documentThe widow of a Russian dissident murdered in London plans to challenge a government decision not to publish a report on alleged Russian meddling in Britain, a lawyer representing the widow said.Related: Johnson delay on Russia dossier helps Putin, says Litvinenko widow Continue reading...

After six hellish years inside Australia’s offshore detention regime, Boochani reflects on the country that rejected him, his new-found freedom and the friends he left behind

PM makes false statements about Brexit being ‘blocked’ and his record as London mayorBoris Johnson is facing criticism over a series of inaccurate statements made in a flurry of live broadcast interviews during a difficult day of campaigning.The prime minister was challenged on Friday on subjects as varied as crime, Brexit, the abandoned London garden bridge project and the number of children he has fathered. Continue reading...

A disputed election, a deposed president and widespread street protests have left the country in turmoilBolivia was plunged into a deepening political crisis this week after Evo Morales – the country’s first indigenous president and its longest-serving leader – was forced to step down following pressure from the military, police and public protests over allegations that he stole an election on 20 October, which would have seen him remain in power until 2025.An interim administration led by Jeanine Áñez has assumed power with a mandate to call fresh elections but violent protests have claimed 10 lives and the South American country of 11 million people faces its most uncertain moment in several decades. Continue reading...

Document to reiterate radical 2017 commitment to ‘sector-wide collective bargaining’Labour’s manifesto will reaffirm plans for the most dramatic shift in conditions for employees in Britain since the 1980s – including changing the way wages are set for 20 million workers.The “clause V” document, which will be agreed by senior party figures at a meeting on Saturday, is expected to be launched by Jeremy Corbyn next week. Continue reading...

My mother, Dimitra Bailey, who has died aged 97, was a refugee, a Red Cross nurse, a migrant worker and a war bride who made a new start in the UK.Dimitra’s early life was shaped by war, famine, poverty and displacement. She was born near Smyrna, now Izmir, Turkey, to Ioannis Irianoglou, a merchant, and his wife, Martha (nee Kolokotroni). The family were Ottoman Greeks whose ancestors had lived in the area for generations. Continue reading...

US urges Khalifa Haftar to end offensive on Tripoli amid concerns about unofficial Russian influenceFears that Russian mercenaries, unofficially backed by Moscow, are tipping the scales in Libya in favour of the military leader Khalifa Haftar appears to have prompted the US to issue a strong warning to the general to pull back.The US has been accused of taking little interest in the eight months of fighting on the outskirts of Tripoli that began when Haftar’s Libyan National Army mounted an assault on Tripoli, provoking a fierce counter-offensive by militia forces supporting the Government of National Accord (GNA). Continue reading...

In Los Altos, Chiapas, Coke has become a key part of indigenous ceremonies as well as a staple source of hydration. The photographer Diana Bagnoli visited the region to see the effect of this trend on public healthTo enter the highlands of Chiapas, in southern Mexico, is to enter a world of vibrant indigenous culture, breathtaking natural beauty, entrenched racism and grinding poverty. It is also to enter the territory of Coca-Cola.More Coke is consumed per capita in Mexico than in any other country, and some studies suggest the indigenous communities of the highlands, or Los Altos, may be the soft drink’s most loyal customers on the planet. Continue reading...

Over 20 years, the debate about freedom of movement has become skewed by a hostile narrative. By Rachel ShabiFew chance encounters have had a greater political impact than Gordon Brown’s fateful meeting with Gillian Duffy on an April morning in Rochdale in 2010. When the then prime minister was caught on a hot mic calling the Labour-voting pensioner a “bigoted woman” – after she cornered him with complaints about immigrants “flocking” into Britain – it did not just sink his floundering campaign. It set the tone for the way immigration would become the most toxic issue in British politics for the decade to come.When New Labour came to power in 1997, just 3% of the public cited immigration as a key issue. By the time of the EU referendum in 2016, that figure was 48%. During those intervening years, the issue came to dominate and distort British politics – exactly according to the script established by Bigotgate. Brown’s gaffe both consolidated and gave credence to a political coding that would shape everything that came after: the “hostile environment”, the Windrush scandal, the EU referendum and the revival of Britain’s far right – deploying a narrative in which sneering, out-of-touch, big-city politicians who favour foreigners and open borders are hopelessly oblivious to the struggles and the so-called “legitimate concerns” of ordinary working people (who, in this scenario, are always white). Continue reading...

Farage claims party under pressure from Tories as opposition parties use Equal Pay Day to announce equalities packages, while Johnson tries to brush off hostile reaction from flood victims

Researchers raise new concerns about the use of executed prisoners and other forced donors for transplantsThe Chinese government may have been systematically falsifying its organ donation numbers, raising renewed concerns over the use of executed prisoners and other forced donors for transplants, a new academic paper says.In 2015, China publicly promised it would no longer source organs from executed prisoners, previously almost its sole source. But a study led by Australian National University PhD student Matthew Robertson, published in the BMC Medical Ethics journal on Friday, says Chinese-government supplied datasets on organ donations show “highly compelling evidence they are being falsified”. Continue reading...

Operation worked in conjunction with Romanian police and rescued 29 womenSeventeen people have been arrested in early morning raids as part of a joint operation by British and Romanian police targeting an international human trafficking gang.The raids in London also led to the rescue of 29 women, aged 20 to 40, who were believed to be victims of trafficking and have been taken to a place of safety, according to the Metropolitan police. Continue reading...

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, including German growth figures

Easy to catch but hard to diagnose, TB is almost as deadly today as it was 150 years ago. Better, cheaper drugs are a priorityTuberculosis has killed more people than any other disease in history. Last year 1.5 million people died from TB, and 10 million more acquired it. A shocking one-quarter of the world’s population is infected. That’s not much better than 1993, when one-third of the world was infected and the WHO declared TB a global emergency. We are losing the battle.Earlier this month, experts gathered in Hyderabad for the 50 World Conference on fighting the disease. When the first such gathering was held in 1867, TB was the leading cause of death in industrialised nations. Today, it still ranks in the top 10 worldwide. Why, despite all the progress in medicine and public health over the past 150 years, is TB still the most common and lethal of all infectious diseases? Continue reading...

Rate among those in same-sex unions falls by 46%, but still ‘worryingly high’, say researchersSuicide rates among those in same-sex relationships have fallen significantly in both Denmark and Sweden since the legalisation of gay marriage, according to a study, although whatever their marital status, homosexual people remain more likely to take their own life.The joint study by the Danish Research Institute for Suicide Prevention and researchers from Stockholm University compared suicide rates for people in same-sex and heterosexual relationships in the periods 1989-2002 and 2003-16. Continue reading...

Fans of wild swimming have been evangelical about natural water for years – and more cities are taking the plunge with chlorine-free public pools“There is a peacefulness you get from natural water that you don’t get from sterilised water,” says Tim Evans. As one of a growing number of people developing chemical-free swimming pools, he would say that – but he’s far from alone. In recent years, fans of wild swimming have been almost evangelical about the restorative powers of propelling yourself through the silky, skin-pricklingly-cold water of seas, rivers and ponds.And now there are signs that British people are after a more natural experience from our swimming pools, too, after years of counting lengths in bright, heated leisure centres in water treated with chlorine. Continue reading...

James Le Mesurier’s remains due in UK as police say so far no evidence death was suspiciousTurkish investigators say they have so far found no evidence of foul play in the death of the former British military officer James Le Mesurier, who helped to establish Syria’s White Helmets rescue group, as his body was prepared for repatriation to the UK.Police have reviewed camera footage and searched the apartment near where Le Mesurier, 48, was found with fractures to his legs and head on Monday morning. Forensic investigators carried out an autopsy on Tuesday and his remains were taken to Istanbul airport to be sent to London, Turkish state media reported. Continue reading...

Protests and political unrest following resignation of President Evo Morales, have led to FCO advising against all-but-essential travelThe UK Foreign Office has issued a warning to avoid travel to Bolivia, after weeks of violent protests in the country.The FCO updated its advice on 11 November to warn against all but essential travel to the entire country, saying the “political and security situation is very uncertain across Bolivia following the resignation of the president [Evo Morales] on 10 November … since the disputed elections in October”. Continue reading...

Figure is down from 2016 peak and UK and Germany account for about half of totalEurope was home to between 3.9 million and 4.8 million unauthorised immigrants in 2017, about half of whom lived in the UK and Germany, according to the first serious estimate in more than a decade.The Pew Research Center study, based on data from the 32 EU and Efta member states and international organisations, found the range was significantly higher than in 2014 (3 million to 3.7 million) but had fallen slightly since a 2016 peak of 4.1 million to 5.3 million. Continue reading...

Some accuse government of stoking unrest as pretext for delaying electionsA burst of violence in Hong Kong has pushed the city, gripped by more than five months of political unrest, even further away from the possibility of peaceful resolution.After the death of a demonstrator on Friday and a weekend of clashes between police and protesters, Hong Kong woke up on Monday to live footage of a police officer shooting a 21-year-old student at close range in the stomach. Later, videos emerged of a 57-year-old construction worker being set on fire while arguing with demonstrators, and a police officer repeatedly driving his motorbike at a group of protesters. Continue reading...

Actor attacked with stick by local drinker while filming Far and Away in Co Kerry, politician tells TV showThe actor Tom Cruise almost had his arm broken by an irate drinker in an Irish pub who accused him of trying to steal the barman’s cigarettes, a Kerry politician has revealed.Michael Healy-Rae, an Irish independent politician who has been a Dáil member for the Kerry constituency since 2016, spoke about the incident on The Pat Kenny Show on Tuesday. Continue reading...

If passed, referendum will allow assisted dying for terminally ill if doctors approveNew Zealand is to become the first country in the world to put euthanasia to a binding public vote after its lawmakers passed a bill laying out what the country’s assisted dying regime would be.The law, which would allow terminally ill people with less than six months to live to choose assisted dying if approved by two doctors, passed its final reading in parliament in the capital, Wellington, on Wednesday by 69 votes to 51. It was a conscience vote, meaning that most lawmakers did not vote along party lines. Continue reading...