Erdoan signs protocol and sends it to Turkish parliament after agreeing to Sweden's membership at Nato summit in JulyTurkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, has removed one of the final hurdles blocking Sweden from joining Nato by submitting a bill approving membership to parliament for ratification.The move on Monday was in line with a commitment Erdoan made to Nato at its summit in July when he said he would send the bill to parliament for ratification when parliament restarted in October. Continue reading...
Prime minister briefs parliament after his trip last week to Israel, Egypt and Saudi ArabiaKeir Starmer has said he had productive" talks during a visit to Tata Steel's giant Port Talbot plant in south Wales.The Labour leader told broadcasters:We have ambitious plans for the steel industry. We see this as the future, not the past. That requires strategic thinking about our economy. We want to go to clean power, that will bring down energy costs.If we are able to put in place our mission for clean power by 2030, that will require more steel - and therefore we want the demand for steel to go up. Of course, we need to transition to green steel. But we must do this transition very carefully, protecting the jobs and the skills and the history that we have here in south Wales. Connecting and bridging that to the future, which is green steel.So, we have been having productive discussions this morning about what I think will be a very bright future for steel. But only with strategic thinking around it.They're really living in a situation that my mother-in-law describes as torture.The whole night there will be missiles, rocket fire, drones - they don't know whether they are going to make it from one night to the next. Continue reading...
Hungarian prime minister calls Hungary safest and most stable country in all of Europe in speech on anniversary of 1956 revolutionHungary's government is not a good faith actor and guarantees need to be ironclad before EU funds are unfrozen, Hungarian MEP Katalin Cseh, a member of the opposition Momentum party, told reporters today.Full implementation of the reforms the European Commission requested from Hungary's government is a basic minimum, she said, underscoring like her colleagues from other leading European political groups that in her view the Hungarian government has yet to fully comply with promised measures to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. Continue reading...
Inquiry follows Guardian report on Vergie Tamfungan, whose death in the Gulf country has shone a spotlight on cross-country' employment practicesThe UAE government has repatriated the body of a Filipina domestic worker who died last month, and launched an investigation into the findings of a Guardian report on the recruiters that brought her into the country.When Vergie Tamfungan, 39, died on 25 September, she was being held in her recruiter's accommodation in the emirate of Sharjah and had not yet been placed in a household to work. Her family said she had gone to the UAE that month after being promised a good salary and bonuses by the agency. Continue reading...
Lewis Edwards resigned from South Wales police after being caught posing as a teenager on Snapchat and secretly recording girls as young as 10A serving police officer incited more than 200 girls as young as 10 to share explicit images and videos of themselves with him via Snapchat, a court has heard.Lewis Edwards, 24, who was suspended from the police force after he was caught and subsequently resigned, sometimes posed as a 14-year-old boy called James when he contacted girls and got them to carry out sexual acts. Continue reading...
Latest blow leaves scandal-hit lobby group without a high-profile speaker at annual conferenceThe business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, has reportedly dealt another blow to the scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry (CBI) by turning down an invite to speak at the lobby group's annual conference.Badenoch's team has told the CBI that she would not be able to address the conference due to scheduling clashes leading up to the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt's, autumn statement on 22 November, according to Sky News. Continue reading...
Astrophoria programme aims to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds fulfil their potentialWhen Jessica Neate told her friends in Leicester that she was going to study at Oxford University, they didn't believe her. People thought I was not being serious about it, because I think people have a sort of expectation of a typical Oxford applicant or Oxford student, and they were just like, no you're not. And I said: I am!"Neate hadn't told her school friends that she was applying - I didn't even think I'd get an interview, so I didn't want to say anything" - but this month she and 21 others are making history as students on Oxford's first university-wide foundation year. Continue reading...
Paul Gilbert says people in flood-prone areas are forgotten, after death of Maureen Gilbert, 83, in Storm BabetA man who found his mother's lifeless body floating in flood water triggered by Storm Babet in her Chesterfield home has spoken of his anger that people in flood-prone areas are being forgotten".It is thought that Maureen Gilbert, 83, drowned after she was unable to escape the rapidly rising water inside her terrace home owing to mobility problems. Continue reading...
Neil Jones's first purchase with 2.4m prize allows retired tiler to build playing skills to international levelA tiler whose first purchase after winning 2.4m on the national lottery was a pool table is about to experience his proudest moment" as he prepares to represent his country at the European Pool Championships in Malta.Neil Jones, 59, had just 13 in his pocket when he and his partner, Julie Kirkham, won the money just before Christmas 2010. Continue reading...
Challenger to crisis-ridden presidency of Nicolas Maduro claims victory after Venezuelans queue for hours in rainstorm to voteEarly returns in the Venezuelan opposition's presidential primary have given a big lead to former legislator Maria Corina Machado, who quickly claimed victory as the candidate to end the decade-long, crisis-ridden presidency of Nicolas Maduro.The independent National Primary Commission, which organised the vote, said about 93% of the first 601,110 ballots counted went to Machado, who entered the contest as a strong frontrunner. The rest of the votes were scattered among the other nine candidates. There was no indication of how many people had voted, and organisers were expected to release additional results throughout Monday. Continue reading...
Dog-owners country-wide claim they're under attack from a rising number of council-backed restrictions on canines in public places. And some are starting to bite back Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. You may not have noticed, but there could be a battle going on over control of your local park.No, it's not one of the reenactments of the Battle of Hastings (that was last weekend, though). It's a fight between the UK's estimated 12 million dog owners - a number that swelled by about 1 million since the onset of the pandemic - and non-dog owners who have had enough of negotiating packs of unruly dogs being walked by professional walkers, stepping in the unmentionable and fearing a growing number of attacks.Israel-Gaza | The White House has promised a continued flow" of aid into Gaza, after a second convoy entered on Sunday and Israel continued to bombard the besieged enclave into the early hours of Monday.Weather | Fresh danger to life flood warnings have been issued as water levels continue to rise in the wake of Storm Babet, while cleanup operations get under way in some of the worst-hit areas.Conservatives | Rishi Sunak is facing discontent among his backbenchers as he heads into the one-year anniversary of his time in No 10, with Jacob Rees-Mogg calling for the government to wake up from a torpor".Tax avoidance | Billionaires have been operating on the border of legality" in using shell companies to avoid tax and the world's 3,000 wealthiest individuals should be charged a 2% levy on their wealth, a research group created to inform EU tax policy has claimed.Health | Use of existing drugs before the standard treatment for cervical cancer could lead to a reduction of about one-third in the risk of the disease recurring or causing death, the results of a study suggest. Continue reading...
Taylor Swift's concert movie, now the biggest of all time, continues to dominate US box office despite release of Martin Scorsese's anticipated crime dramaIn a movie match-up almost as unlikely as Barbie and Oppenheimer, Martin Scorsese took on Taylor Swift in cinemas over the weekend. And while the US box office belonged for a second time to Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon got off to a strong start in Apple Studios' first major theatrical gambit.After a record-breaking opening weekend in North America of $92.8m, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour took in an estimated $31m over the weekend from 3,855 locations, according to AMC Theaters. In an unconventional deal, the theater chain is distributing Swift's concert film, and playing it only Thursdays through Sundays. Continue reading...
FoI requests reveal number of reports resulting in prosecution fell from 1 in 25 in 2018 to 1 in 400 in 2022Drug-spiking incidents reported to the police have increased five-fold in five years, yet the proportion leading to a criminal charge is falling, freedom of information (FoI) requests show.Almost 20,000 reports of spiking were received in the past five years by 39 police forces that responded to FoI requests sent out by Channel 4 for a documentary. Continue reading...
Homosexuality was decriminalised in 2018 but the supreme court has declined to change marriage lawsUtkarsh Saxena had been secretly planning the proposal for weeks. He had secretly measured his boyfriend's finger while he was sleeping and bought a pair of matching steel rings from a Delhi market. They had been together for 15 years, having fallen in love on the university debating team, and Saxena felt optimistic that this would be an auspicious moment to ask the love of his life to marry him - the same day that India's supreme court ruled on whether same-sex couples would be allowed to get married.Yet when the verdict came out on Tuesday, Saxena's heart broke. Even as India's chief justice, DY Chandrachud, spoke of India's long history of LGBTQ+ people and their right to equality, he ruled that changing marriage laws was beyond the scope of the court and that marriage was not a fundamental right. It was the job of parliament, not judges, to make such decisions, Chandrachud said. Continue reading...
by Helen Livingstone (now); Maya Yang, Martin Belam a on (#6FRWE)
This blog has closed. You can follow the latest news on the Israel-Hamas conflict on our new blog.At least two workers were killed on Sunday as a result of Israeli bombardment targeting Syria's Damascus airport at dawn," Syria's general directorate of meteorology said in a statement, Reuters reports.This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com. Continue reading...
by Tom Phillips, Uki Goñi and Facundo Iglesia in Bue on (#6FSBJ)
Potty-mouthed political outsider will head to November runoff with centrist finance minister Sergio MassaThe eccentric far-right populist Javier Milei has failed to win the first round of Argentina's presidential election, with the centrist finance minister Sergio Massa unexpectedly beating his radical challenger.Supporters of Milei, a potty-mouthed political outsider described as an Argentinian mashup of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Boris Johnson, had hoped he was heading for a sensational outright victory similar to Bolsonaro's shock triumph in Brazil in 2018. Continue reading...
Transport department secretary tells Senate estimates an investigation was unable to substantiate existence' of list but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist'
Choice of 36-year-old Gibran Rakabuming Raka as a vice-presidential candidate has fuelled criticism that Widodo is trying to create a political dynastyIndonesia's defence minister and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto said on Sunday he has chosen the eldest son of President Joko Widodo to be his running mate in next year's election.The choice of 36-year-old Gibran Rakabuming Raka, now the mayor of Surakarta city, as a vice-presidential candidate for the February vote has fuelled criticism that Widodo is trying to create a political dynasty in the world's third-largest democracy. Continue reading...
The Philippine coast guard claims that ships were bumped' by Chinese vessels in incidents close to outposts in the Spratly IslandsBeijing and Manila have traded blame for two separate collisions on Sunday between Chinese vessels and Philippine boats on a resupply mission to Filipino troops on a remote outpost in the disputed South China Sea.The incidents occurred near Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands - a hotly contested region where Beijing deploys ships to assert its claims over almost the entire sea. Continue reading...
Watchdog's report also has serious concerns' about conditions at Western Jet Foil and Kent Intake UnitConditions at a processing centre for asylum seekers who arrive on the Kent coast in small boats have been called unacceptable in a report from a watchdog that monitors the centre.Representatives from the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB) made a total of 85 visits in 2022 to three Home Office processing centres for small boat arrivals - Manston, Western Jet Foil and Kent Intake Unit - for its 2022 annual report into short-term holding facilities on the Kent coast. All three centres hit the headlines last year due to a variety of scandals and serious incidents. Continue reading...
Groups urge government to introduce emergency family reunion scheme modelled on initiative for UkrainiansA blueprint setting out how Britain could provide refuge to thousands of Palestinians from Gaza has been drawn up by a coalition of charities and groups.Organisations including the Refugee Council, Safe Passage International, Doctors of the World, Helen Bamber Foundation and City of Sanctuary have raised concerns about the conflict worsening the Palestinian refugee crisis. Continue reading...
Party on track to win 29% of vote, an increase of almost 3.5 percentage points on 2019 after more than half of votes countedThe rightwing populist Swiss People's party (SVP) was set to further strengthen its position as the largest political force in parliament, an early projection suggested, as voters appeared to back the party's hardline stance against mass migration and what it called woke madness".The SVP was on track to receive 29% of the vote, an increase of nearly 3.5 percentage points over its 2019 results, pollsters GFS Bern predicted, with more than half of the results in. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#6FS5C)
Britain's ex-head of counter-terrorism says government failed to act on a recommendation to change legislationGaps in UK law that would allow words such as jihad" to be shouted at rallies were known to the government but not acted upon, Britain's former head of counter-terrorism has revealed.The comments from Neil Basu come as some ministers condemned police for their handling of weekend demonstrations in London, with the home secretary, Suella Braverman, due to meet the Metropolitan police commissioner on Monday. Continue reading...
Exclusive: HMRC investigation into peer Anthony Bamford and his brother focuses on offshore trusts that own business empireThe influential Tory donors behind the JCB digger empire could be hit with a bill for more than 500m to settle a longrunning investigation by HM Revenue and Customs, the Guardian can reveal.The investigation into Anthony Bamford, a Tory peer, and his brother Mark, the director of a subsidiary of the Conservative party, is understood to span a complex network of offshore tax havens and companies. Continue reading...
PM under pressure from Tory right for more tax cuts and moderates for policies to tackle cost of living crisisRishi Sunak is facing discontent among his backbenchers as he heads into the one-year anniversary of his time in No 10, with Jacob Rees-Mogg calling for the government to wake up from a torpor".The prime minister is under pressure from rightwingers for tax cuts and more Conservative policies, while moderates are pushing for more centre-ground policies that deal with the cost of living to stop votes being lost to Labour. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#6FS3E)
Policy reportedly includes sexual relationships and friendships, and launch follows Phillip Schofield's resignation over workplace affairITV has drawn up strict new rules requiring staff to declare all relationships with colleagues - which could even include friendships - in the wake of Phillip Schofield's resignation earlier this year over a workplace affair, according to a report.The This Morning presenter quit after admitting that he had lied about an unwise, but not illegal" affair, amid allegations that ITV bosses had turned a blind eye to the relationship. Continue reading...
Reported security breach may lead to questions for PM about messages sought by the Covid inquiryRishi Sunak's old phone number and a voicemail recording appear to have been leaked online by pranksters in a security breach, according to reports.The incident, first reported by the Sun, involved a longstanding phone number for Sunak that the government had told the Covid inquiry was no longer operational. Continue reading...
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