World news | The Guardian

Prime minister rules out general ceasefire as Israel marks a month since Hamas attack

Garment workers in Bangladesh making clothes for UK brands say plans to increase their pay to 76 a month is not enough to surviveGarment workers making clothes in Bangladesh for UK high-street brands say they are facing starvation and are having to steal and scavenge food from fields and bins to feed their children, as protests continue over a new minimum wage for the garment workforce of 4 million people.Over the past week, tens of thousands of workers have taken to the streets in increasingly violent protests that, according to unions and news reports, have left one young garment worker, Rasel Hawlader, dead. Continue reading...

Customer dissatisfaction with service thought to be reason for expanding remit to Evri and DPDRoyal Mail is to lose its 360-year-old monopoly on delivering parcels from Post Office branches, after concerns about poor quality of service persuaded the postal service to sign deals with rivals Evri and DPD in the run-up to Christmas.The two couriers would be added to the options available at the counter from later this month, the Post Office said, with customers given a choice for the first time. Continue reading...

Some countdown-to-Christmas offerings from stores and brands now cost hundreds, and even thousands, of poundsIt started with small chocolates and quickly graduated to Lego, socks and gin miniatures but the once-humble Advent calendar has lurched upmarket with this year's windows filled with skin-plumping creams, fine bone china trinkets, jewellery and rare whiskies.When calendars were first popularised in the mid-1950s they cost two shillings (about 2.50 in today's money). These days, the luxury takes of department stores and brands cost hundreds of pounds and instead of a picture of the nativity the big reveal is a luxury scented candle, gold necklace or much-hyped beauty serum. Continue reading...

Aspirational website and Instagram feed joins firms laying off workers as market slowdown hitsIts website specialising in architecturally striking properties has long provided inspiration for well-heeled househunters, and escapism for many more who could never afford to live the dream it is peddling.The Modern House is a go-to site for people who want to browse, or just gawp at, beautiful homes - from spacious apartments in former factories to futuristic Grand Designs-style new-builds. But now, the realities of the UK's property market slowdown appear to have caught up with the company. Continue reading...

Arriving in Adelaide the father of two has thanked everyone who felt their pain' and praised compassionate' Dfat staff

Higher interest rates and move away from cash isas means hundreds of thousands more people may be hitHigher interest rates look set to land hundreds of thousands more people with an unwelcome tax bill for their savings, a financial advice firm warned this week.A couple of years ago it was typically only the wealthiest with very big nest eggs who had to pay tax on their savings interest - but now someone with an emergency savings pot of about 8,000 could find themselves falling foul of this little-known tax trap. Continue reading...

Westminster's famous bell will be heard live from next week after years of only occasional appearancesIt is one of the most recognisable sounds in the UK, and one that hasn't been heard on BBC Radio 4 since New Year's Eve last year, but from next week the famous bongs of Big Ben will be heard once again on the station.The most famous bell in the UK will be heard live once again on Monday 6 November, just before the 6pm news bulletin and again before midnight. Listeners will be able to hear the chimes again before Radio 4's Westminster Hour political discussion programme at 10pm on Sundays. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. Our live coverage of the Israel-Hamas war continues hereOn Friday afternoon, the Hezbollah secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, is to make a highly anticipated speech. The head of the influential Iran-backed Shia militant group will break weeks of silence with a broadcast from Beirut, which comes in the wake of a rise in violence on Israel's northern border.Hezbollah said on Thursday it had simultaneously attacked 19 positions in Israel on Thursday evening. The clashes have so far been mostly contained to the frontier, and Hezbollah has used only a fraction of the firepower that Nasrallah has been threatening with Israel for years. Continue reading...

Polluted water supplies and salty groundwater are making people ill, with UN warning of threat of child deaths from dehydration

School leaders say parents should do their own homework to build an accurate picture of which is best for their child

Residents of Wooroloo told they could return to normal activity following earlier lockdown but urged to remain vigilant'

Mourners were gathered at the Forest Lawn cemetery in Los Angeles to pay tribute to the actorActor Matthew Perry, who died on Saturday at age 54, was buried on Friday at a Los Angeles cemetery in a service attended by relatives and castmates from the hit 1990s television sitcom Friends, show business media reported, citing photographs.Mourners gathered at the Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, less than a mile from the Warner Bros studio where the show was filmed. It is also the final resting place of numerous Hollywood A-listers including Michael Jackson, Lucille Ball and Elizabeth Taylor. Continue reading...

US to provide $425m of additional military aid to Ukraine; Russia-appointed governor says nine dead in Ukraine missile attack in KhersonThe US will provide $425m worth of additional arms and equipment to Ukraine for its ongoing fight against Russia's invasion, the Biden administration announced on Friday. The package uses the last of the funds in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), a more than $18bn fund that allowed the Biden administration to buy weapons from industry, rather than pull from US weapons stocks.A Ukrainian missile attack on Friday on an employment centre in a Russian-occupied town in the southern region of Kherson killed nine people and injured nine, the region's Russia-appointed governor was quoted as saying.A handful of Ukrainian troops who have reached the occupied side of the Dnipro River are clinging to a foothold in Russian-controlled territory in the south of the country despite a fierce bombardment. The marines have secured a beachhead that could allow Ukraine to reclaim more of the Kherson region that lies between Ukrainian territory and Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014.Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is considering the pros and cons" of holding presidential elections next spring, his foreign minister said. We are not closing this page. The president of Ukraine is considering and weighing the different pros and cons," Dmytro Kuleba told a briefing, adding that holding elections during the war with Russia would entail unprecedented" challenges.Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine for weeks on Friday, hitting critical infrastructure in the west and south of Ukraine and destroying private houses and commercial buildings in Kharkiv.Russia intends to stick to a nuclear test ban moratorium despite withdrawing its ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban treaty, the foreign ministry said.A Russian court sentenced Pyotr Verzilov, an activist linked to the Pussy Riot group, to eight and a half years in prison for breaching Russia's strict censorship laws. The 36-year-old was sentenced in absentia" as he has not lived in Russia since 2020, reported MediaZona, an opposition news site that he founded.The Kremlin has dismissed a new package of US sanctions, saying Russia had learned to overcome" such economic hurdles since the Ukraine conflict began. Washington yesterday sanctioned several Russian energy and finance companies it said were supporting Russia's offensive against Ukraine.The chief of Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) has said the timing of a sale or spin-off of its extensive operations in Russia is largely out of his control. Russia made up 45% of RBI's profit in the first nine months of the year, though it reported a 30% decline in the volume of its loans in Russia in the third quarter from a year earlier.The Russian Orthodox church called for an apology from Alla Pugacheva, the country's most renowned pop singer who returned home this week, over her criticism of Russia's war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove were key figures in group that controlled the Conservatives, says ex-culture secretaryNadine Dorries has claimed in her new book that the Conservatives have been controlled for 20 years by a cabal known as the movement", which orchestrated the end of Boris Johnson's tenure as prime minister.The former culture secretary has alleged the group consists of levelling up secretary Michael Gove, Johnson's former chief of staff Dominic Cummings and an adviser called Dougie Smith. Continue reading...

Transport secretary had given police power to stop protest at mainline station on public order groundsFive people have been arrested during a pro-Palestinian sit-in at King's Cross station in London after the demonstration was banned.The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said he had given an order to allow police to stop the demonstration on Friday evening under section 14a of the Public Order Act 1986. It was later announced that protesters would also be prevented from gathering outside the Israeli embassy in London over the weekend. Continue reading...

Yuggera, Warangoo and Wiradjuri doctor Kristopher Rallah-Baker says it's important others see they won't be brought down if they complain about racism'

Chinese state media have previously viewed Australia's actions as blindly following the US. Does a resumption of dialogue signal a change?

Katharine Birbalsingh tells retailer its Christmas ad featuring celebrities' seasonal peeves will stifle children's happinessA prominent headteacher has said she feels deep disappointment and outrage" over Marks & Spencer's Christmas advert showing celebrities destroying their least favourite parts of the festive season.Katharine Birbalsingh, an education reform campaigner who has been labelled Britain's strictest headteacher, called for the advert to be taken down as she claims it puts two fingers up" to traditional Christmas values. Continue reading...

Some players in Arab team allegedly felt uncomfortable playing during Israel-Hamas warA university is investigating allegations that a football match between its Jewish and Arab societies was postponed after some players in the Arab team felt uncomfortable playing during the conflict between Israel and Hamas.Leeds University's student union said it was communicating with the societies involved and that the investigation would follow its complaints procedure. Continue reading...

Exclusive: NSW poisons information centre received more than 120 calls related to the diabetes drug in a year, 83% of them about medication errors

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage hereRussian shelling in Kherson has interrupted water and electricity supply in parts of the city, Suspilne reports. It cites the head of the city administration, saying: Repair crews are working, electricity is planned to be restored during the day."Russia launched its largest drone attack on Ukraine for weeks early on Friday, hitting critical infrastructure in the west and south of Ukraine and destroying private houses and commercial buildings in Kharkiv. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 incidents recorded in UK since 7 October Hamas attacks, including targeting of schools

About 3,200 people reportedly sent to war-torn strip through Kerem Shalom crossing in deeply concerning' moveThousands of Palestinian workers from Gaza who were stranded in Israel when war broke out last month have been deported back to the war-torn strip after being expelled by the Israeli government.A Guardian reporter in Rafah, on the southern edge of the strip, saw a steady stream of men of all ages with no phones, money, or identity cards enter the territory on Friday morning via the Kerem Shalom crossing for commercial goods, having walked about 2km from the Israeli side of the border. Mada Masr, an independent Egyptian news outlet, said that about 3,200 people had been sent back through the checkpoint, which is controlled by Israel and Egypt. Continue reading...

Hassan Nasrallah praises Hamas's 7 October attack and says Hezbollah's operations increasing day by day

Politician told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei to go back to Bahrain' during row last yearA Conservative MP has been found guilty of racially abusing an activist by telling him to go back to Bahrain" during a confrontation in central London.Bob Stewart, the MP for Beckenham in south-east London, also told Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei you're taking money off my country, go away" during an argument outside the Foreign Office's Lancaster House in Westminster. Continue reading...

Wilkinson family reportedly took 77m in dividends in decade before retailer's closure, including 9m since 2019

Exclusive: Relatives reveal landlord Clarion continued to demand rent four months after Mark Pearce's deathThe family of a vulnerable man who killed himself after the UK's largest social housing landlord, Clarion, failed to address neighbour noise have accused it of gross failings" and said his death has left them heartbroken.The sister and brother-in-law of Mark Pearce, 56, who took his life after his noise complaints were dismissed as whining" by the 1bn-a-year housing firm, accused Clarion of treating him as a number ... just someone who the rent was being paid for". Continue reading...

Murderer Jordan McSweeney succeeds in reducing minimum from 38 years to 33 yearsThe man convicted of the brutal sexually motivated murder" of the law graduate Zara Aleena has had his minimum term in prison cut after a successful appeal attempt.Jordan McSweeney, 29, pleaded guilty last year to the murder and sexual assault of Aleena in Ilford, east London, in the early hours as she was walking home. Continue reading...

Beachhead established on occupied side of river could allow Kyiv forces to reclaim more of Kherson region

The Channel Islands bore the brunt of a record-breaking storm, while a crash in the US involved 168 vehiclesIn the past couple of days, Storm Ciaran created quite a ruckus across southern parts of England, but caused more significant disruption to the Channel Islands.As Ciaran arrived on Wednesday night, the Channel Islands received the brunt of the storm with wind gusts just in excess of 100mph observed at Jersey airport. There were reports that a suspected tornado developed across Jersey during the early hours of the night, accompanied by hailstones the size of golf balls. Serious amounts of damage were inflicted on properties, with windows being blown in, roofs torn off of houses and debris damaging cars. Continue reading...

Investigation under way after at 32 people reported to have died in fire in Langarud, north of TehranLocal media in Iran says 32 people have died in a fire at a drug rehabilitation centre in the north of the country, up from an earlier count of 27.The death toll from the blaze at the centre in Langarud, a city in the northern Gilan province, was reported by the local ISNA news agency, quoting the province's deputy governor, Mohammad Jalai. Continue reading...

There will come a point where no job is needed', says Elon Musk, who predicts AI will be able to do everything'The most advanced technology companies will allow governments to vet their artificial intelligence tools for the first time, Rishi Sunak has announced, as Elon Musk warned the technology could eventually replace all human jobs.Companies including Meta, Google DeepMind and OpenAI have agreed to allow regulators to test their latest AI products before releasing them to the public, in a move that officials say will slow the race to develop systems that can compete with humans. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed

Shouts of shame on you' after shareholder Chris Maxworthy's microphone cut off

Sigrid Kaag is latest high-profile female politician to quit, citing years of hate, intimidation and threats'Nearly two years after Sigrid Kaag was catapulted into the highest ranks of Dutch politics, police keep a constant watch over her home. Cameras sweep across the back of the property while every piece of mail sent to her is screened before she can open it.Most people would still have the tendency to say, Oh well, this is part and parcel of politics,'" said Kaag, the first deputy prime minister of the Netherlands. I don't accept that." Continue reading...

Centre-right party loses two seats in final tally and will need to rely on traditional partner Act as well as NZ First to form coalitionAfter weeks of political limbo, the final results of New Zealand's election have been released showing the centre-right National party will need the support of the libertarian Act party and populist party New Zealand First to form a coalition government.The governing Labour party was ejected from office after six years in the October election, with preliminary results handing a slim majority to National and its traditional coalition partner Act.Reuters contributed to this report

Pitchfork reports that hundreds of fans are sharing tents on a meticulously planned schedule to ensure they get the best spot when doors open next weekAfter a whirlwind excursion around the US that has generated billions of dollars in income and broken records for crowd size and seismic activity, Taylor Swift is taking her Eras tour to South America - and fans have reportedly been lining up for five months.In Buenos Aires, a cadre of Swifties has been sleeping in tents outside River Plate Stadium, where Swift is set to open her Latin American leg with three shows from 9-11 November. Continue reading...

US says move will undermine confidence in international arms control, amid concerns Moscow's nuclear threats are designed to deter Ukraine's alliesVladimir Putin has signed into law Russia withdrawing its ratification of the global treaty banning nuclear weapons tests, a step condemned by the US and the organisation that promotes adherence to the landmark arms control pact.The move, though expected, is evidence of the deep chill between the United States and Russia over the war in Ukraine, whose ties are at their lowest level since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and what Moscow casts as Washington's attempts to stymie the emergence of a new multipolar world order. Continue reading...

Most of the Australians have been held in the Roj detention camp in north-east Syria for four years

Patients and relatives must be able to request second opinion from critical care team at any time of day or night, government toldPatients and their relatives will be able to request a second opinion from senior medics around the clock when the Martha's rule" system starts in hospitals in England.The government's patient safety commissioner, asked by the health secretary, Steve Barclay, to advise on how to implement the change, has said access to a medic's opinion must operate 24/7. Continue reading...

Although Tories claim curbing net inflow of migrants is critical issue for voters, poll shows attitudes have evolved significantlyA majority of the British public now hold positive views about the impact of immigration on the UK, despite intense political rhetoric surrounding the issue, according to an academic survey.The European Social Survey, which has sampled attitudes every two years since 2001, said British views on immigration and its economic and cultural impact had undergone a complete about-turn" over the past two decades, becoming significantly more favourable after 2016. Continue reading...

Opposition says there's no excuse' for further delays on the government reviving the ACCC flight monitoring regime

PM addressed the media from his AI summit at Bletchley ParkO'Connor asks Stevens if people tried to force him out of his job during Covid.Stevens says that is not what people were saying to him at the time. Continue reading...

Case studies created by Google Bard AI as part of submission to parliamentary inquiry proven to be factually incorrect

Fab Four are reunited on track that pieces together performances by the late John Lennon and George Harrison with fresh recordings by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr

Also dominating are Charlotte Regan's Scrapper and Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers, with the winners to be announced in DecemberRye Lane, the London-set romcom starring Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson, has emerged as the frontrunner in the British independent film awards (Bifa), hoovering up 16 nominations, including best British independent film, best director for Raine Allen-Miller, and best joint lead performance.Released in March after a successful premiere at the Sundance film festival, Rye Lane has attracted admiring reviews; the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw said it had amiable, upbeat energy", while Mark Kermode in the Observer wrote that the film would leave a smile on your face, a spring in your step". Named for the street in the south London district of Peckham, Rye Lane also attracted two nominations for Allen-Miller (best director and best debut director) as well as for its screenplay. Continue reading...

Police line road amid strictly controlled public tributes to premier once seen as antidote to authoritarian Xi JinpingHundreds of people have gathered near a state funeral home in China as former premier Li Keqiang was being laid to rest.Plainclothes and uniformed police lined the road leading to the funeral home, blocking traffic and telling people to move along while watching for the presence of unofficial or foreign media. Continue reading...

Patterson, who has denied any wrongdoing, was arrested on Thursday over the family lunch in the rural Australian town of Leongatha

Damning report finds state's blue card screening system creates unnecessary barriers to placing children with their families