This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereEvents since Yoon's martial law declaration on December 3 had ignited South Korea's worst political crisis since 1987 when nationwide public demonstrations forced the ruling party of former military generals to accept the democratic election of the president.On Friday, prosecutors indicted former Defence Minister Kim Yong-Hyun in the first move to put an official accused of insurrection on trial, Yonhap News said. Continue reading...

Woman, 33, arrested after incident in early hours of Christmas Day at house in Norton Canes, near CannockA man who was found dead at home in Staffordshire in the early hours of Christmas Day has been named as Louis Price.A 33-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of murder after officers from Staffordshire police were called to an address in Norton Canes, near Cannock, at about 3.25am, to a man in his 30s suffering a cardiac arrest. Despite the efforts of medics, he died shortly afterwards. Continue reading...

Roy Quaden, 55, and Nick Smith, 65, dead after incidents on yachts Flying Fish Arctos and Bowline

Yacht race claims two crew members' lives on separate boats, while survivor recounts getting thrown down waves'

About 34,000 Ukrainian children have fled to UK since Russian invasion - yet are unable to study their mother tongueUkraine is lobbying the UK government to give teenage refugees who fled the war-torn country the chance to study a GCSE in Ukrainian, amid reports they are instead being pressed to study Russian.Ukraine's education ministry has written to the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, to say it is crucial" to reintroduce a GCSE in Ukrainian. Continue reading...

As leadership spill speculation grew, Battin was widely touted as the top candidate for the embattled opposition leader's job

Mutations are rare but have been reported in some cases in other countries and most often in extreme infectionsThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday its analysis of samples from the first severe case of bird flu in the country last week showed mutations not seen in samples from an infected backyard flock on the patient's property.The CDC said the patient's sample showed mutations in the hemagglutinin (HA) gene, the part of the virus that plays a key role in it attaching to host cells. Continue reading...

Head of the World Health Organization and other UN staff reportedly safe after strikes on Sana'a airport in YemenFive Palestinian journalists were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their vehicle in central Gaza, their employer has said, while Israel has also struck several areas in Houthi rebel-controlled Yemen in air raids.Faisal Abu al-Qumsan, Ayman al-Jadi, Ibrahim al-Sheikh Khalil, Fadi Hassouna and Mohammed al-Lada'a were sleeping in their broadcasting truck, marked as press, when it was targeted in a direct strike by the Israeli military, witnesses told Palestinian media. Another 32 people were killed in other Israeli pre-dawn strikes across the territory, the local health ministry said. Continue reading...

Police chief says 33 prisoners dead and 15 others injured after confrontation with security forcesAt least 6,000 inmates escaped from a high-security prison in Mozambique's capital Maputo on Christmas Day after a rebellion, the chief of police has said, as widespread post-election riots and violence continue to engulf the country.The police general commander, Bernardino Rafael, said 33 prisoners had died and 15 others were injured during a confrontation with the security forces. Continue reading...

The ex-politician was admitted to hospital on Thursday after his health deterioratedIndia's former prime minister, Manmohan Singh, widely regarded as the architect of India's economic reform program and a landmark nuclear deal with the US, has died aged 92.Singh was admitted to New Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences late Thursday after his health deteriorated due to sudden loss of consciousness at home", the hospital said in a statement, adding that he was being treated for age-related medical conditions". Continue reading...

Cook Islands-registered Eagle S was carrying Russian oil in the Baltic SeaFinnish authorities have seized a ship carrying Russian oil in the Baltic Sea on suspicion it caused the outage of an undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia a day earlier, and that it also damaged or broke four internet lines.A Finnish coastguard crew boarded the Cook Islands-registered ship, named by authorities as the Eagle S, on Thursday. The crew took command and sailed the vessel to Finnish waters, a coastguard official told a press conference. Continue reading...

Data may reflect shift in behaviour influenced by cost of living crisis or front-loading of spendingFewer consumers made the journey to high streets and shopping centres in search of Boxing Day discounts this year.Footfall across UK retailers was down 8.9% as of 3pm on Thursday, compared with Boxing Day in 2023, according to data from MRI Software. Continue reading...

Teenage actor died two days after getting hurt in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, as family plans live stream memorial serviceThe teenage actor Hudson Meek has died after he fell out of a moving vehicle in Alabama, authorities said.Meek, 16, was hurt on December 19 while on a street in Vestavia Hills, a suburb of Birmingham. He died two days later, according to the Jefferson county coroner's office. Continue reading...

IT technician Joe Mezgebe arrived at unfair dismissal hearing to find no judge available - for the second timeA disabled man with prostate cancer has had his employment tribunal for unfair dismissal postponed the day before it was due to take place because a judge was not available - 13 months after exactly the same thing happened.Joe Mezgebe, an IT technician, who first presented his claim against Christ's College, Finchley academy in June 2021, has lost 15,300 in fees to his barrister as a result of the cancellations, and fears he may not live to see justice done. Continue reading...

Airforce hits military industrial facility in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, in Russia's Rostov region, says Ukrainian militaryRussia and Kazakhstan have sought to temper speculation about the cause of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash, with the Kremlin urging people to wait for the results of the investigation, writes the Guardian's European community affairs correspondent Ashifa Kassam and Pjotr Sauer, the Russia affairs correspondent.A Ukrainian national security official has claimed that the crash, which killed 38 people on Christmas Day, was caused by Russian air defence fire. Continue reading...

Former prisoners endured hearing fellow inmates being executed - but they are the lucky ones, with 100,000 people still missingOf all the horrors Mohammed Ammar Hamami remembers from his time in the Assad regime's notorious Sednaya prison, the most vivid is the clanging of metal execution tables being moved around on the floor below.About once every 40 days, prison guards would drag the tables away from under the feet of condemned men. Nooses around their necks and hands tied behind their backs, they would die by hanging. Most of the bodies were burned in Sednaya's crematorium. Continue reading...

Government urged to ban trail hunting as data suggests illegal foxhunting is still widespread in England and WalesAnimal welfare campaigners are calling on ministers to keep to a pledge to toughen anti-hunt laws, as figures suggest illegal foxhunting remains widespread in England and Wales.Almost 20 years since the Hunting Act 2004 was brought in by Tony Blair's government, the League Against Cruel Sports (Lacs) - the animal welfare charity that was the driving force behind the original ban - says its data evidences how stronger legislation is required to close loopholes and prohibit trail hunting, which campaigners say has been used as a smokescreen for illegal foxhunting. Trail hunting is where dogs follow an animal-based scent. Continue reading...

The pontiff opened the door at the Rebibbia jail to show hope does not disappoint'Pope Francis has visited one of the largest prisons in Italy, opening a special holy door" for the Catholic church's 2025 jubilee, in what the Vatican described it as a historic move" as it is the first time a sacred portal has been opened at a jail.Speaking to hundreds of inmates on Thursday at the Rebibbia prison on the outskirts of Rome, in a gesture of hope to show his closeness to detainees, Francis said he wanted to open the door, part of the prison chapel, and one of only five that will be open during the holy year", to show that hope does not disappoint". Continue reading...

If motion is successful, it would be country's second impeachment of a head of state in less than two weeksSouth Korea's opposition said on Thursday it had filed an impeachment motion against the acting president, Han Duck-soo, in an escalating row over the composition of the constitutional court which will decide whether to remove his predecessor from office.South Korea became mired in a political crisis when President Yoon Suk Yeol, currently suspended, declared martial law on 3 December. Continue reading...

Potential IPCC rule changes could award planned carbon savings from burning US wood pellets to the exporter, not the importerThe UK government is gambling with its own climate targets on claims that the Drax power plant will create negative emissions" because new rules could hand the carbon savings to the US, campaigners say.The owners of the North Yorkshire power plant have promised ministers that a key project to capture the carbon emissions created from burning biomass wood pellets imported from US forests will count as negative emissions in Britain's carbon accounts. Continue reading...

Christopher Barlow to appear in court after Mariann Borocz's body was discovered on Christmas EveA man has been charged with the murder of Mariann Borocz, a Hungarian woman who went missing in Greater Manchester this month.Christopher Barlow, 61, will appear at Manchester and Salford magistrates court on Boxing Day charged with murdering Borocz, whose body was found at a house in Bolton on Christmas Eve. Continue reading...

Shoppers expected to splurge on homewares and beauty products, with retail spending projected to top $1.3bn on Boxing Day

Homicide squad detectives investigating after 59-year-old found dead at Wood Duck Court in Langwarrin

Search operation for 15-year-old moves into recovery phase' after he went missing at North Avoca Beach on the Central Coast

Bengal tiger, cougars, a lynx and bobcats dead as disease spreads rapidly among US poultry flocks and dairy herdsTwenty big cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington.The big cat deaths come as bird flu, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, has spread rapidly through poultry flocks and dairy herds in the US, infected and killed domestic cats, and caused a severe illness in a person in Louisiana. Continue reading...

New president of the Royal Society for Blind Children calls for better design of AI-driven technologyBlind and partially sighted people are being excluded from the benefits of artificial intelligence tools and facing a new level of discrimination", the new president of the Royal Society for Blind Children has claimed as he called for better design of everything from video games to AI agents.Tom Pey said existing difficulties for blind children were now compounded because they're excluded [and] distanced from their non-disabled peers, because those people can experience games, alternative realities and the AI-driven visual types of technology". Continue reading...

Gunmen target press conference at reopening of Haiti's largest public hospital after street gangs forced its closure earlier this yearTwo reporters and a police officer were killed and others injured on Tuesday when armed men opened fire on a group of journalists who gathered for a government press conference scheduled to announce the reopening of Haiti's largest public hospital.Street gangs forced the closure of the State University of Haiti hospital early this year and authorities had pledged to reopen the facility in the capital Port-au-Prince on Christmas Eve. But as journalists gathered to cover the event, the gunmen opened fire. Continue reading...

South Yorkshire police confirm 18-year-old died of injuries in hospital after car crashed into wall on MondayAn 18-year-old has died after a car crashed into a wall during a police pursuit in Sheffield city centre.The teenager was killed in a crash in the Hyde Park Walk area of the city on the afternoon of 23 December, South Yorkshire police confirmed. Continue reading...

Rodent sightings cause club's food hygiene rating to tumble at century-old stadium already afflicted by roof leaksWhile matchday punters pay huge sums to see their heroes, it seems rodents have found a way to get into Old Trafford for free, leaving behind Christmas gifts for the food hygiene inspector to find.Manchester United's food hygiene rating tumbled to two stars out of five on the most recent inspection, after mouse droppings were found in a kiosk that sells food to fans and a ground-level corporate suite. Continue reading...

Attorneys for Phillip Pines lay out list of claims related to alleged sex parties in lawsuit filed in Los AngelesDetained rap mogul Sean Diddy" Combs, already facing more than 30 civil complaints alongside federal racketeering conspiracy charges, has been hit with a claim from a former personal lackey" who claims he was forced to clean up after Comb's Wild King Nights" parties were finished.Attorneys for Phillip Pines claim in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Monday that between December 2019 to December 2021, Combs pressured Pines into having sex with a woman and orchestrated parties where he engaged in sex, drugs and alcohol. Continue reading...

Business, relegated from the FTSE 100 share index this week, blames delays at developments

Man, 61, arrested over the death of Hungarian woman Mariann, who was last seen in Bolton on 14 DecemberA murder investigation has been launched after the body of a missing Hungarian woman, known as Mariann, was found in Greater Manchester.A 61-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody being questioned by detectives. Continue reading...

Ayodele Jambgadi, 28, charged over death of Jorge Ortega, 61, who was injured at Ilford station on 5 DecemberA 28-year-old man has been charged with murder after the death of an Elizabeth line worker in east London.Jorge Ortega, 61, died in hospital from head injuries after officers from the British Transport Police (BTP) were called to Ilford station just before 8.50pm on 5 December. He died the next day. Continue reading...

Betchcott Hill has glorious views across the county and a mix of habitats home to curlew, cuckoo and lapwingOne of the most scenic and nature-rich spots in western England could be protected for ever in a boost for the curlew, cuckoo, lapwing and snipe that nest there.Betchcott Hill has views across much of the county and its mix of grassland, wet flushes, woodland and heath sings with the calls of endangered birds in spring. Continue reading...

Answer to written parliamentary question reveals Ministry of Defence figures showing 13,522 are not fit to fight

HK$1m rewards target people accused of national security crimes who fled after pro-democracy protestsHong Kong police have announced bounties of HK$1m (about 105,000) for information leading to the arrest of six democracy advocates based overseas and accused of national security crimes.Authorities also said they would cancel the passports of seven others for whom bounties had already been issued, including the former lawmakers Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok, local media said. Continue reading...

Exhibition in Bristol, the city of her birth, celebrates Paule Vezelay whose ascent was stymied by sexism and warBritain's first" abstract artist, whose legacy has mostly been obscured because of a combination of sexism and the second world war, is to have her first major exhibition in more than 40 years.Paule Vezelay, born in Bristol in 1892, moved to Paris where she moved in the same circles as Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, and created one of the first British abstract works in 1928, a few years before Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore began their experimentations. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: With rumours of the political party courting a game-changing investment, people are asking not only what they might do with the money, but what the tech titan might get in returnGood morning. I don't know how long Elon Musk spent mulling over his rumoured suggestion that he might give $100m to Reform, but since it amounts to about 0.02% of his total wealth, I imagine it will have taken about as much time as most people spend mulling over a Christmas book token for their favourite nephew. But if $100m is chicken feed for the world's richest man, it is enough money to be transformative for Nigel Farage and his cohorts - and for UK politics more generally.In the weeks since the story first broke, a growing chorus has urged Labour to update the rules on political donations to limit the influence of international money on British political parties. Meanwhile, Reform have unsurprisingly forgotten about their general view of foreigners who don't understand British culture, and suggested that this might just be the start.Water industry | Thames Water intentionally diverted millions of pounds pledged for environmental clean-ups towards other costs including bonuses and dividends, the Guardian can reveal. The embattled water company is trying to secure 3bn in emergency funding and at least 3.25bn more in equity investment to prevent its collapse.US politics | A House ethics committee report on Matt Gaetz, the former Florida Republican congressman, found substantial evidence" that he paid for sex with a minor. Gaetz, briefly Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, broke rules prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, impermissible gifts, special favors or privileges, and obstruction of Congress", the report said.Gaza | Palestinian medics said Israeli airstrikes on Gaza killed at least 20 people overnight, including a strike on an encampment in an Israel-declared humanitarian zone that killed eight people, including two children.US news | Luigi Mangione, the man accused of fatally shooting the CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson, pleaded not guilty to murder and terror charges in a state case that will run parallel to his federal prosecution.Education | Children with special education needs and disabilities (Send) have been victims of a vicious downward spiral" of declining support over the past decade, Anne Longfield, the former children's commissioner for England, has said, as she urged the government to take action. Continue reading...

Former members also say complaints were mishandled and are seeking apology from Methodist churchThe Methodist church in Birmingham has been accused of silencing and cutting off" members of an LGBTQ+ congregation after the arrest of a member on suspicion of sexual assault.A man was arrested in November after a number of former members of the congregation at Inclusive Gathering Birmingham (IGB) alleged they were subjected to inappropriate touching, groping and harassment during church services and social gatherings. Continue reading...

Opposition leader moves to allow remote voting at Friday's party room meeting where he is expected to face a spill motion

Dfat confirms consular assistance for 38-year-old as PM warns Australians against travelling to areas of conflict'

Osko payments also affected as bank says it is working to restore services at a busy time of year for all'

Defence minister Israel Katz threatens Houthi rebels in Yemen, saying the military will decapitate their leadership - just as we did with Haniyeh'Israel's defence minister has confirmed that the IDF assassinated former Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran earlier this year, and warned that the military would also decapitate" the leadership of Yemen's Houthi rebels.We will strike hard at the Houthis ... and decapitate their leadership - just as we did with Haniyeh, [Yahya] Sinwar, and [Hassan] Nasrallah in Tehran, Gaza, and Lebanon, we will do so in Hodeida and Sanaa," Israel Katz said on Monday. Continue reading...

Centrist Francois Bayrou had promised a national interest government' across the middle political ground but ended up leaning to the conservative rightThe French prime minister has announced his new government - the country's fourth since the beginning of the year - in the hope his administration can see off another vote of no confidence from a bitterly divided parliament.There is a mix of old and new in Francois Bayrou's government, which includes several familiar faces: the former interior minister Gerald Darmanin has been appointed justice minister; the former prime minister Elisabeth Borne, a technocrat, returns to government as education secretary, while another former prime minister, Manuel Valls - who served under the socialist president Francois Hollande, has been appointed overseas minister. Continue reading...

UK-born wife of ousted Syrian leader is a divisive figure around world and, like her husband, is under sanctionsThe Kremlin has denied Turkish media reports suggesting that Asma al-Assad, the British-born wife of the ousted Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, is seeking a divorce and hoping to return to London.Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow earlier this month, the transponder of his aircraft switched off as he left to avoid detection, after a lightning rebel advance brought an end to his family's 50-year rule. Continue reading...

Palestinian medics say strikes included one which hit a tent camp in al-MawasiLebanon's caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, has begun a tour of military positions in the country's south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended Israel's assault on the country.The truce came into effect on 27 November and prohibits Israel from conducting offensive military operations in Lebanon, while requiring Lebanon to prevent armed groups including Hezbollah from launching attacks on Israel. It gives Israeli troops 60 days to withdraw from south Lebanon. Continue reading...

Retailer reports 5% growth in restaurant and food business, with affordable meals attracting Australians feeling the pinch

Commons leader Lucy Powell disappointed' by state of economy and shares people's impatience for changeA cabinet minister has said she can understand people's frustration" with the Labour government since it came into power as the party ended the year slumped in the polls with MPs jittery after a turbulent first few months.Lucy Powell, the Commons leader, said she shared public impatience for change and was disappointed" over the state of the economy but the party's inheritance meant it was a bit like turning around a huge oil tanker". Continue reading...

Customers face severe consequences' as banks and building societies close accounts typically set up to help vulnerable peoplePeople with disabilities are facing potential hardship because banks are scrapping trust accounts that allow money to be managed safely on their behalf.Victims awarded personal injury settlements and those with learning difficulties are among those facing severe consequences" as accounts are closed or frozen by high street banks and building societies, according to campaigners. Continue reading...

About 50 centres for women in crisis in England and Wales face deficit of 5.1m after funding ends in MarchA 5m funding gap for women's centres will lead to more women being imprisoned and derail government reform plans, experts warn.Women's centres work with thousands in crisis, playing a central role in keeping vulnerable women out of prison. But two significant streams of government funding will end in March 2025, even though ministers have announced plans to reduce the number of women being locked up. Continue reading...