The former PM addressed Partygate, letting it rip' and eat out to help out' in his second day of evidence

Tory election fund boosted by 10m from John Sainsbury's will as party benefits from No 10's decision to raise spending limitsThe Conservatives raised three times as much as Labour in the last quarter boosted by 10m from the will of supermarket tycoon John Sainsbury, showing they are on course to benefit from No 10's decision to raise election spending limits.The Tories brought in 15.8m overall for its election war chest in the three months to September, while Labour drew 3.1m in private donations from individuals and trade unions as well as getting 2.5m in public funds. Continue reading...

Former PM suggests he was suspicious of being outflanked politically and feared friction and leaksJohnson has walked back claims that Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance were present to properly discuss" the eat out to help out scheme before it went live, conceding that no scientists attended meetings about the scheme.Johnson said he had frankly assumed" they were involved in talks about the scheme with the Treasury and that he was surprised it was smuggled past them". Continue reading...

String of incidents where Islamic text was burned in Denmark and Sweden prompted intensively debated bill

Somerset Capital will be wound down after UK's largest wealth manager shifts 2bn mandate to another fundSomerset Capital Management, the investment fund co-founded by Jacob Rees-Mogg, has said it will be wound down, days after it emerged that it had lost two-thirds of its assets and its largest client.The firm said on Thursday that it would be closing its London business, which manages funds on behalf of institutional clients such as asset managers and pension funds, and that it was in advanced talks to transfer the remainder of its top performing funds to a new investment adviser. Continue reading...

Big things are happening with Chanel and Factory International, but we hear Blue Monday a few too many timesIt has been a big few months for Manchester. First came the opening of Factory International, the 242m arts centre on the River Irwell, billed as the most significant UK cultural venue since Tate Modern. Then came the announcement that the wider city region had been chosen as the new home for English National Opera, reluctantly forced out of London as part of the government's levelling up agenda.Finally, on Thursday, Chanel strutted into town, taking the bold/lunatic decision to stage an alfresco catwalk show in the city's Northern Quarter. So is the soggy Cottonopolis - the French fashionistas at least had the sense to bring their own roof -having something of a moment? Continue reading...

The dub poet and author of collections including Talking Turkeys has died of a brain tumourBenjamin Zephaniah, the British poet whose work often addressed political injustice, has died aged 65.Zephaniah died in the early hours of Thursday morning after being diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks ago, a post on his Instagram page stated. Continue reading...

News presenter Maryam Moshiri says gaffe was private joke' not intended to be viewed by publicA BBC news anchor who was accidentally captured giving the middle finger at the start of a programme has apologised for a silly joke" meant for friends but not for a live broadcast.On Wednesday, Maryam Moshiri, one of BBC News's chief presenters, was seen at the start of the BBC News bulletin at noon with her middle finger - and eyebrows - raised, after the end of the programme's recognisable countdown. Continue reading...

Actors to make merry mischief' in Samuel Beckett's play at Theatre Royal Haymarket in SeptemberBen Whishaw is to star in a new London production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, the play that inspired him to quit his art foundation course as a teenager and study acting instead. Whishaw will play Vladimir opposite Lucian Msamati as Estragon in the tragicomedy, directed by James Macdonald. It opens at Theatre Royal Haymarket in September.When I was 18, I was doing an art foundation course in Bedford and went one night with a friend to London to see a play that was part of a season of plays by Samuel Beckett at the Barbican theatre," said Whishaw. The play was Waiting for Godot. The next day I dropped out of my art course, having decided I wanted to study acting instead." Continue reading...

Payout from TCI, where Rishi Sunak was once employed, amounts to more than 1m for every working dayThe billionaire British hedge fund manager Sir Chris Hohn paid himself $346m (276m) this year - more than 1m for every working day.However, the payout from his TCI hedge fund, where Rishi Sunak worked between 2006 and 2009, is half the 574m Hohn collected a year earlier. Continue reading...

Liberal senator says widely reported letter by Shane Drumgold to AFP caused significant loss and damage'

Follow all the day's news

The former Liberal staffer is suing Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court of Australia for defamation. Follow the latest news and updates from the trial today

Australian foreign minister also endorses US defence secretary's comments on Israel-Hamas war that you can only win in urban warfare by protecting civilians'

Australia's competition watchdog says review removal businesses may be in contravention of consumer law

Review finds NDIS should be part of a greater system as Shorten addresses National Press Club

Matteo Lepore compares project to save 12th century Garisenda tower from collapse to 10-year effort to preserve the tower of PisaWork to prevent the collapse of a leaning medieval tower in the heart of the northern Italian city of Bologna will cost 20m ($21.5m) and take 10 years at least, its mayor has said.Last weekend, the city unveiled a 4.3m (3.7m) project to shore up the Garisenda tower - one of the city's two towers that look out over central Bologna, providing inspiration over the centuries to painters and poets and a lookout spot during conflicts. Continue reading...

Safe drinking water is becoming ever harder to come by, with disastrous consequences for those who can't afford itIn a house in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, some of the women in a building housing 60 people decided to cut their hair short to save on water when washing.Others in southern Gaza say they're stretching out the time between showers, or flushes of the toilet. Everyone knows exactly how much water they have, and how much they can store. Above all they know that water, especially water that is both safe to drink and doesn't taste bad, has become precious. Continue reading...

Analysts believe better ties with Greece are key to repairing Turkey's strained relationship with EuropeTurkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, will be arriving in Athens on Thursday for the first time in six years, determined to move on with a win-win approach" from the disputes and tensions left by his previous trip to the city.The last time the Turkish leader visited the Greek capital - exactly six years ago to the day - what had been billed a historic tour descended into a verbal theatre of war as Erdoan, dispensing with diplomatic niceties, went on the offensive. Continue reading...

Wright is accused of perverting the course of justice after crash that killed co-star Chris Wilson last year

Parliament told man arrested in connection with an outstanding warrant

Sydney lord mayor labels failure to include CBD to Zetland stations in Metro West project deeply disappointing'

Tanya Lee Glover's body was found last year behind apartment wall in Brisbane suburb of Alderley. Police believe she was killed in 2010

This blog is now closed.

Splitting bill means reforms to the gig economy, road transport industry and casual work will have to wait until 2024

Mia Mottley tells London audience that King Charles's comments about slavery's impact were welcomeKing Charles's comment that the time has come" to acknowledge the enduring impact of slavery has been welcomed by the prime minister of Barbados as she spoke in London on Tuesday about the need for reparations.Mia Mottley said Barbados was owed $4.9tn (3.9tn) by slave-owning nations, noting that conversations over how this debt should be repaid would be difficult and will take time". Continue reading...

Presenter approvingly quotes piece saying she wouldn't touch rightwing broadcaster with a barge pole'Carol Vorderman has disclosed she turned down an approach by the rightwing broadcaster GB News.The presenter, a fierce critic of the government, left her weekly show on BBC Radio Wales last month, saying she would not be silenced" by the corporation's new social media guidelines. Continue reading...

Ex-immigration minister and other rightwing rebels fear deportation policy will face more legal challenges

Ukraine's military intelligence spokesperson tells national TV that former politician is done'A former Ukrainian MP regarded by Kyiv as a traitor has been reportedly shot dead in a park in suburban Moscow by Ukraine's SBU security service.Illia Kyva was a pro-Russian member of Ukraine's parliament before Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but fled to Russia a month before the start of the war and frequently criticised Ukrainian authorities online and on Russian state TV talkshows. Continue reading...

Families who had travelled to see former PM say inquiry appearance showed him to be careless and chaotic'From the moment he slipped in at dawn, before most of the bereaved who planned to confront him had arrived, to his departure in a hail of boos, Boris Johnson's first appearance at the Covid-19 public inquiry proved by turns frustrating and enraging for many.Families who squeezed into a packed hearing room in west London to see him finally testify about the key decisions that preceded their loved ones' deaths observed what they described as a casual, careless and chaotic" former leader. Continue reading...

Tensions surrounding Israel-Hamas war has provoked rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in EuropeThe European Commission has promised a 30bn (26bn) fund to increase security at mosques and synagogues across the continent as it condemned a recent rise in levels of antisemitism and Islamophobia as un-European".Saying that tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war had provoked hostility reminiscent of the darkest days of Europe's history", the commission called on social media companies to do more to remove hateful content. Continue reading...

Hungary's PM, the union's most pro-Russian leader, wants the issue off the agenda of a summit next weekEuropean leaders are scrambling to rescue a plan to begin European Union accession negotiations for Ukraine, as Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban vows to block the decision at a summit of EU leaders next week.The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is due to host Orban for dinner in Paris on Thursday, while the European Council president, Charles Michel, was in Budapest last week looking for a way out of the impasse. Continue reading...

Four soldiers accused of kidnapping and torturing American from his home in Ukrainian village in 2022The US has charged four Russian soldiers with war crimes after they allegedly abducted and tortured an American citizen last year who was living in southern Ukraine, according to court documents unsealed on Wednesday.The US justice department said the accused Russians kidnapped the American in April 2022 from his home in the village of Mylove, in Kherson province, where he lived with his Ukrainian wife. Continue reading...

Russian president visits United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia for talks; US reportedly charges four Russians with crimes against American citizen

Draft resolution to European parliament committee is first formal attempt to place reparations for slavery on EU agendaThe European Union should urgently address and reverse the lasting impacts of European colonialism, and support a reparations programme to rectify continuing injustices, according to a draft resolution to be presented to the European parliament's development committee on Thursday.Noting that the EU has made no concerted efforts to recognise, address and rectify the lasting impacts of European colonialism on social and international inequities", the draft resolution calls for the creation of a permanent EU forum on restorative justice. Continue reading...

Research says funding cuts and poor organisation stop Canadians from accessing healthcare - and 20% have no doctor at allFunding cuts, fewer generalists and inefficient organisation are preventing more and more Canadians from accessing public primary healthcare, according to a new study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) which compares Canadian healthcare unfavourably with public systems in nine Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.About 20% of Canadians have no family doctor at all, and many more have irregular access to clinicians - a reality likely to worsen if not properly addressed now, said Dr Tara Kiran, a family physician in Toronto and one of the authors of the study. Continue reading...

PMQs clash comes as Suella Braverman expected to heavily criticise government's immigration plans

Ministers reject families' call for legally enforceable duty of candour' but signs charter to commit to transparency after public tragediesMinisters have rejected the Hillsborough law" reforms that are central to a campaign by families of the 97 people killed in the 1989 disaster to prevent future police cover-ups.Instead, in its long-delayed response to the 2017 report commissioned by the government from James Jones, the former bishop of Liverpool, the government has signed a Hillsborough charter", that states a commitment by departments to openness and transparency after public tragedies. Continue reading...

Italy was the only G7 country to have joined the program, which focuses on trade and infrastructureItaly has informed China that it is pulling out of the Belt and Road Initiative, Reuters reported.Italy is the only G7 country to have joined the programme, which focuses on trade and infrastructure.Asked about the policy topics, citizens want the European Parliament to prioritise the fight against poverty and social exclusion (36%) and public health (34%) as the main topics, followed by action against climate change and support to the economy and creation of new jobs (both 29%).Most Europeans (53%) wish the European Parliament to play a more important role, a majority view in 21 Member States.The majority (57%) also expressed interest in the upcoming elections to the EP and 68% say they would be likely to vote if European elections were held in a week's time - nine points higher than 5 years earlier. Continue reading...

Careful monitoring' needed because of rapid pace of artificial intelligence and machine learning

Report concludes government failed to fix basic mistakes and civil servants asleep at the switch'More than 200,000 pensioners were left out of pocket by a total of 1.3bn last year and many will never be repaid because of lax record keeping, according to parliament's spending watchdog.Computer errors at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) meant 165,000 also missed out on 1.2bn in the previous year, the public accounts committee (PAC) found. Continue reading...

Setback for London Stock Exchange after travel company says it plans to put proposal to shareholders at AGM

Former Liberal staffer Nicky Hamer tells Bruce Lehrmann's defamation trial she resigned from Linda Reynolds' office over alleged behaviourFormer Liberal media adviser Nicky Hamer has told the federal court she was so angry about Bruce Lehrmann grabbing Brittany Higgins' phone in an attempt to stop her leaving the pub one night she resigned from senator Linda Reynolds' office hours later.Hamer said in early March 2019, three weeks before the night Higgins claims Lehrmann raped her, Lehrmann said he thought Higgins was good looking" and asked Hamer to invite her to the pub for a drink. Continue reading...

NSW premier Chris Minns hails once-in-a-generation opportunity' to maximise housing and add new stations along Metro route

Category three cyclone, which is moving through Coral Sea, predicted to hit Queensland coast next week

Damion Johnson told police he was overcome with grief' after death of John WainwrightA man who stored a friend's body in a freezer for two years after being overcome with grief" over his death has been jailed.Damion Johnson was sentenced to two years in prison after admitting to preventing the lawful and decent burial of the body of John Wainwright, as well as three counts of fraud. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed.

Briefings of favourable stories to press have contained usual lies and bluster', bereaved families sayBoris Johnson has been accused of trying to rewrite history in advance of his appearance at the Covid inquiry on Wednesday, as unions and relatives of those who died said his team had been briefing favourable stories to newspapers.The TUC and Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, both core participants for this module of the inquiry, said the briefings had been about trying to salvage his legacy and contained the usual lies and bluster". Continue reading...

Former prime minister to give evidence as mystery deepens over retrieval of WhatsApp messagesBoris Johnson will face the first of two days of questioning over his handling of the pandemic when he appears before the UK's Covid inquiry on Wednesday.The former prime minister's appearance comes as the mystery of his Covid-era WhatsApp messages took another twist on Tuesday after it was reported that nearly six months of messages could not be retrieved. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: James Cleverly has signed a treaty aimed at fixing its deportation plan, but there are questions whether its safeguards will change the supreme court's mind Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. Whoever it was that bequeathed the Conservative government its current dog's dinner of a policy on immigration and asylum, be in no doubt: the people in charge now are going to do things differently! After setting out draconian new limits on legal migration on Monday, home secretary James Cleverly yesterday turned to irregular migration and the small boats crisis.In Kigali, he signed a new treaty with the Rwandan government that is supposed to help overcome the supreme court's recent decision that the existing Rwanda deportation plans are unlawful. Next, the government will proceed with the second part of its plan to fix the Rwanda scheme: legislation that could prevent new court challenges. As he finalises plans that could be published tomorrow, Rishi Sunak must decide whether he wants to infuriate his party's moderate MPs or those rallying around Suella Braverman on the right.Israel-Hamas war | The UN's top aid official has said the Israeli military campaign in southern Gaza has been just as devastating as in the north, creating apocalyptic" conditions and ending any possibility of meaningful humanitarian operations. Meanwhile, the UN heard accounts of sexual violence during the 7 October attacks by Hamas in a meeting where speakers accused women's rights activists and UN officials of not doing enough to address the crimes.Climate | Many of the gravest threats to humanity are drawing closer, as carbon pollution heats the planet to ever more dangerous levels, scientists have warned. Five important natural thresholds already risk being crossed, according to the Global Tipping Points report, and three more may be reached in the 2030s if the world heats 1.5C above pre-industrial temperatures.Nuclear leaks | Sellafield, Europe's most hazardous nuclear site, has a worsening leak from a huge silo of radioactive waste that could pose a risk to the public, the Guardian revealed. Concerns over safety at the crumbling building have caused diplomatic tensions with countries including the US, Norway and Ireland.Covid inquiry | The mystery of Boris Johnson's Covid-era WhatsApp messages has taken another twist before the former prime minister begins his evidence to the inquiry today, after it was reported that nearly six months of messages could not be retrieved. A spokesperson for Johnson blamed a technical issue".NHS | Thousands of junior doctors are to stage new strike action in England after failing to reach a deal with the government in talks over pay. They will walk out for 72 hours from 7am on 20 December, and again for six days from 3 January. Continue reading...