World news | The Guardian

Claims drone strike or debris from downed drone has caused fire in oil refinery near Black Sea in RussiaOnce a week, Ukrainian parents bring their children to a community centre in Kyiv for canine therapy.Beijing Xiangshan Forum, China's biggest annual show of military diplomacy, started on Sunday, but the name of Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu, initially listed in the forum's agenda as the first guest speaker at tomorrow's opening ceremony, was not on the agenda. Continue reading...

Dr Martyn Pitman claimed retaliatory victimisation after raising morale concerns but tribunal says his manner cost him his jobA doctor has said raising whistleblowing concerns about maternity care at his hospital cost me very dearly" after losing his employment tribunal.Consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Dr Martyn Pitman was dismissed earlier this year from his job at the Royal Hampshire county hospital (RHCH) in Winchester, where he had worked for 20 years. Continue reading...

Liam Conlon, son of Keir Starmer's new chief of staff, is standing for the party in Beckenham and Penge in south LondonThe son of Keir Starmer's new chief of staff has announced his plans to try to become the Labour MP for a winnable seat.Liam Conlon, Sue Gray's son, is running in one of south London's newest constituencies, Beckenham and Penge, created after the Boundary Commission review and thought to be a comfortable Labour win. Continue reading...

Armita Geravand had been in a coma after alleged incident with Iran's morality police' on Tehran metroThe United States has spoken of its deep sadness over the death of a young Iranian girl, Armita Garawand, who had been in a coma after a controversial incident on Tehran's metro.I am deeply saddened to learn that Amita Geravand has died after being beaten by Iran's morality police for not wearing a hijab in public," US National Security advisor, Jake Sullivan, said on X. Iran's state-sponsored violence against its own people is appalling and underscores the fragility of the regime." Continue reading...

Man arrested and eight others taken to hospital after incident in Aldwych in early hours of Sunday morningPedestrians in the West End of London were taken to hospital after a car crashed into a bus stop in the early hours of Sunday morning, with a man in his 20s arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving.Paramedics said that eight of the pedestrians had been taken to hospital - with three people in major trauma centres - after a Range Rover careered off the road in Aldwych, near the Indian High Commission, after a night of Halloween festivities in the capital. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Fraser Sampson says law is not keeping up with AI advances as police retain 3m images of innocent peopleBritain is an omni-surveillance" society with police forces in the extraordinary" position of holding more than 3m custody photographs of innocent people more than a decade after being told to destroy them, the independent surveillance watchdog has said.Fraser Sampson, who will end his term as the Home Office's biometrics and surveillance commissioner this month, said there isn't much not being watched by somebody" in the UK and that the regulatory framework was inconsistent, incomplete and in some areas incoherent". Continue reading...

Asylum seekers share fears about Dorset barge getting even more crowded, saying they already despair and wish for death'Asylum seekers brought back to the Bibby Stockholm barge in Portland, Dorset, have said they are being treated in such a way that we despair and wish for death".The Guardian spoke to two men in their first interview since being returned to the barge on 19 October after the vessel lay empty for more than two months. The presence of deadly legionella bacteria was confirmed on board on 7 August, the same day the first group of asylum seekers arrived. The barge was evacuated four days later. Continue reading...

Italian city's mayor says square around 12th-century structure will shut for a few years' for repairsThe square surrounding Bologna's medieval leaning tower" is to be closed off for a few years" amid concerns that the 12th-century structure is tilting a little too precariously.The Italian city's mayor, Matteo Lepore, said the closure of Piazza di Porta Ravegnana was necessary in order to save" the Garisenda tower. We're not intervening because we think it could collapse at any moment,, we're intervening because we want to make it safe and restore it," he said. Continue reading...

Daniel Andrews went out on top but in Queensland the premier fights on, even as the LNP gears up to go all-in on regional seats

Limited supply and strong demand prompts national median weekly advertised rents to rise 14.6% over the year

Exclusive: State's domestic violence prevention minister says it's up to every single one of us' to help prevent harm against women

Prime minister pushed back on idea of US president personally stepping in, but Gabriel Shipton calls prosecution entirely political'

Home Office has imposed a 15 December deadline to eject people who worked for UK in Afghanistan from hotels, say councilsMore than 1,000 Afghans in the UK face being made homeless days before Christmas after the Home Office imposed a fresh deadline to eject them from hotels.The Local Government Association (LGA) revealed the number of at-risk Afghans, which includes families, after the Home Office last week imposed the new deadline of 15 December. Continue reading...

Head of German-based group tells Politico podcast its strategy is to grow its digital mediaAxel Springer, the German-based media group considered a leading contender in the auction of the Telegraph and Spectator titles, has cast doubt over whether it will submit a bid in the process to find a new owner for the influential titles.Its long-standing chief executive, Mathias Dopfner, who led the owner of the daily Die Welt and the tabloid Bild when the business was trumped by a blockbuster 665m offer for the Telegraph by the Barclay brothers in 2004, has said Axel Springer is focused on a digital-only strategy. Continue reading...

Nigerian asylum seeker airlifted to hospital on Thursday after learning of transfer to barge, charity saysA 23-year-old Nigerian has made an attempt on his own life in an Essex hotel car park after hearing he was due to be transferred on to the Bibby Stockholm barge, according to a local charity.He was airlifted to hospital and placed on life support on Thursday, two days after being told he was due to be moved.In the UK, the youth suicide charity Papyrus can be contacted on 0800 068 4141 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org, and in the UK and Ireland Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Mahmoud Abu Amir is among thousands of Palestinians frantically trying to locate their loved ones from afar

Lucha Reyes was compared to Billie Holiday and Edith Piaf. Now, fifty years after her death, her songs are released for a new audienceOn a late spring morning 50 years ago this week, 30,000 people gathered outside the baroque facade of the church of San Francisco in central Lima to weep, sing and say goodbye to the young woman whose coffin was hoisted on to the crowd's shoulders and carried, for three hours, to El Angel cemetery a few kilometres away.Lucha Reyes, who had died the previous day from a heart attack brought on by diabetes, knew her end was approaching. In keeping with the raw and pained songs and performances that had made her Peru's darling, the 37-year-old singer had even commissioned a valedictory waltz. Called Mi ultima cancion, or My Last Song, it was written in a funeral parlour. Continue reading...

A 1924 seance has solved the mystery surrounding a signed copy of the dramatist's first playBilled as one of the greatest rarities of English literature", a signed copy of William Butler Yeats's first play, Mosada, is on display this weekend for the first time since 1956 - and its 125,000 price tag is all thanks to a message from beyond the grave.London dealer Peter Harrington today has the book on sale at the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair. It was last displayed at Trinity College Dublin 67 years ago. Continue reading...

Venues across the UK closed over building safety fears sprinkle a little magic to keep their shows on the roadEvery good pantomime needs a menacing villain to threaten all the fun, and this season the theatrical baddie is easy to identify. Christmas shows the length of Britain are battling a foe that could well be dubbed King Raac", as the discovery of faulty concrete brings down the curtain at a string of venues.Pantomimes, crucial box office earners for provincial theatres, have been widely jeopardised, with auditoriums deemed unsafe from Motherwell, Carlisle and Cardiff, to Peterborough, Dartford and Redhill, after the detection of seams of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete, known as Raac. Continue reading...

Brokers in south Asia charging up to 800 for appointments that should be freeUK visa appointments are being booked up by brokers and sold on for hundreds of pounds in an illicit trade targeting overseas workers and students.An Observer investigation has found brokers in some parts of south Asia charging up to 800 for the biometric appointments, which are widely advertised on Facebook and the Telegram messaging service. Continue reading...

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Highest increase was in South Australia, where road deaths were 28.4% higher in the 12 months to September than the previous year

Campaign of intimidation began after the Birmingham gang were jailed for new year's shooting of two teenage girlsIt remains one of the UK's most shocking gangland killings. In the early hours of 2 January 2003, best friends Letisha Shakespeare, 17, and Charlene Ellis, 18, were gunned down as they stood outside a new year party in Aston, Birmingham.Mistakenly killed in an escalating feud between rival inner-city factions the Burger Bar Boys and the Johnson Crew, their double murder propelled both gangs to national notoriety. Continue reading...

This blog is closed. Go to our Israel-Hamas war page for further coverageTurkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, says Israel must stop the madness" and end Gaza strikes, according to Agence France-Presse.The Israeli bombardments on Gaza intensified last night and once again targeted women, children and innocent civilians and worsened the ongoing humanitarian crisis," Erdoan said on X. Israel must immediately stop this madness and end its attacks." Continue reading...

Opposition leader says government squibbed' key United Nations vote, but trade minister says his comments are not helpful at this time'

Policing minister Chris Philp suggests target of more than 200,000 searches over next six monthsPolice are being encouraged to double their use of retrospective facial recognition software to track down offenders over the next six months.Policing minister Chris Philp has written to force leaders suggesting the target of exceeding 200,000 searches of still images against the police national database by May using facial recognition technology. Continue reading...

Scotland's first minister speaks of family worry after Israel cuts off population of Gaza from communication with worldScotland's first minister has said he does not know if his parents-in-law who are trapped in Gaza are dead or alive after Israel knocked out communications there.Humza Yousaf said he and his wife, Nadia, are desperately worried" and that she is numb" as they try to find out news about her parents. Continue reading...

Government's failure to back ceasefire resolution adds to tensions among demonstrators

As Israel's ground operation intensifies, World Health Organization issues an urgent statement saying it is unable to cope with a total blackout

With all internet and phone connections now cut, many people have lost their only way of checking on family and friends

While women's groups on the platform support and warn others, men's groups feature mostly derogatory comments

As many as 100,000 believed to have joined march organised by Palestine Solidarity CampaignPolice arrested two people after thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets of central London on Saturday to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.Aerial footage showed large crowds setting off on the march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has coordinated multiple protests in response to the escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip. Continue reading...

Fee income for 20 largest operators - many private equity-owned - soars as councils struggle to meet costsThe biggest private providers of children's homes in England made profits of more than 300m last year, as concern mounts over the conditions some children are being placed in and the spiralling costs for councils.Fee income for the 20 largest operators of independent children's homes totalled 1.63bn last year, a 6.5% increase on the previous year. And 19% of that - 310m - was recorded as profit, according to an independent analysis. Half of the top 20 providers have some private equity or sovereign wealth fund ownership. Continue reading...

Comedian shares incredulity at former PM's hire by news channel that will host Cleese's own interview showJohn Cleese has said that he can hardly believe" the decision by GB News to platform former prime minister Boris Johnson.On Sunday the Fawlty Towers star will make his debut on the news channel with new show The Dinosaur Hour which sees Cleese, 84, interview a range of people from inside a 12th-century castle. Continue reading...

Hope the purloined pooch was returned to Jeannine Staller after she was told by Scott Casterline that her dog was deadA New York state animal control officer was arrested after selling a stolen pet and telling the owner that the animal had died, authorities have said.Scott Casterline, 51, was arrested on Thursday and charged in connection with stealing the dog, a nine-year-old Yorkshire terrier called Hope, and later selling it while working as an animal control officer, according to a press release from the Steuben county sheriff's office. Continue reading...

Silver ticket promising free theatre shows for life is expected to sell for as much as 2,500The Bristol Old Vic has vowed to honour a centuries-old policy and provide free tickets for every show to the new owner of a silver token dated to 1766 that is being sold at auction.Only 50 tokens were minted for the original shareholders at the theatre and entitled the owner to watch every performance. Continue reading...

Polls suggest that four in five people blame the Israeli government for the 7 October massacres and over half want the PM to resignIn October 2011 Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier abducted by the Palestinian group Hamas and held for five years in the blockaded Gaza Strip, walked through the Rafah crossing into Egypt, accompanied by militants wearing suicide vests.His release was widely celebrated across Israel; in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, so too was the agreed exchange of 1,027 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Foremost among them was Yahya Sinwar, who returned home to Gaza, eventually becoming Hamas's most important leader in the territory. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, then in his second term, did face some criticism for the starkly asymmetric deal. The daily Jerusalem Post said at the time that any such exchange, however humane to Shalit and his family, would imperil thousands of other Israelis". Continue reading...

Human rights campaigners say the Pegasus initiative wrongly criminalises people of colour, women and LGBTQ+ peopleSome of Britain's biggest retailers, including Tesco, John Lewis and Sainsbury's, have been urged to pull out of a new policing strategy amid warnings it risks wrongly criminalising people of colour, women and LGBTQ+ people.A coalition of 14 human rights groups has written to the main retailers - also including Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, Next, Boots and Primark - saying that their participation in a new government-backed scheme that relies heavily on facial recognition technology to combat shoplifting will amplify existing inequalities in the criminal justice system". Continue reading...

People with families in Gaza call on British government to help get them out and to join calls for ceasefireOn Friday evening, as Israeli air and ground forces ramped up their operations in the Gaza Strip and a communications blackout fell across the embattled territory, Salim Hammad received a text from the UK Foreign Office notifying him of a possible increase in attacks and violence.What are we supposed to do with that information?" said Salim, a 34-year-old doctor in Oxford whose father, Abdel, is stuck at the Rafah border crossing. Continue reading...

With food, energy and vet bills soaring, sanctuaries face huge demand for space and fewer offers of new homesIt's another busy day at Holly Hedge Animal Sanctuary in north Somerset where Lou - who has been part of the team for 23 years - is cleaning the pens and preparing food in the cattery where Margaux is nursing her 10-day-old kittens.Margaux's owner was made homeless due to the cost of living crisis. With no place to call home and an uncertain future, she could no longer care for her much-loved cat. Having to say goodbye to her pet and bring her to Holly Hedge was heartbreaking, but such stories are becoming increasingly familiar to the staff and volunteers at the sanctuary in Barrow Gurney, near Bristol. Continue reading...

Southern England, the Highlands and north-east of Scotland and Northern Ireland are likely to be affectedHeavy showers and strong winds over the weekend could bring flooding to already soaked parts of the UK, just a week after Storm Babet caused serious damage and several deaths.Forecasters said areas in London and the south of England, the Highlands and north-east of Scotland and Northern Ireland were all expected to be hit with heavy rain over the next few days. Continue reading...

Wael al-Dahdouh's wife, children and grandson were killed in Nuseirat camp in central Gaza on Tuesday Israel and Hamas at war - live updatesAn Al Jazeera correspondent has returned to work just days after his entire immediate family were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.Wael al-Dahdouh's wife, son, daughter and grandson were killed in the strike late on Tuesday. They had moved to a house in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza following Israel's warning on 13 October. Continue reading...

Armita Geravand, 16, fell into coma on 1 October and was pronounced brain dead last weekA 16-year-old Iranian girl has died after an alleged encounter with officers over violating the country's hijab law, state media and activists have said.Iran has denied that Armita Geravand was hurt after a confrontation on 1 October with officers enforcing the mandatory Islamic dress code in the Tehran metro. She had been pronounced brain dead last week after falling into a coma on 1 October. Continue reading...

The president has lost favor with young, Muslim and Arab Americans, important Democratic constituenciesOn Wednesday afternoon, hundreds of liberal Jewish American activists staged sit-ins in the Capitol Hill offices of top Democrats, including in the senate office of progressive champion Bernie Sanders, to demand a ceasefire in the escalating war between Israel and Hamas.As they sang in Hebrew and prayed for peace, the House floor resumed legislative activity for the first time in weeks after the election of a new Republican speaker, congressman Mike Johnson. Continue reading...

When Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October it took 220 people captive, leaving family and friends clinging agonisingly to the hope others will be releasedOn 7 October, Shira Havron was on a short holiday in London when she woke up to a thousand messages" and horrific news on the television.Eleven members of her extended family were at kibbutz Be'eri, where some lived and some were visiting. My mum told me they were hiding in safe rooms. Then at 10.30am, we lost contact with all of them." Continue reading...

Carr says his partner of 50 years collapsed in his arms at a hotel in Vienna at the age of 77

About 100 jets involved in heavy bombardment as Palestinians report clashes in north-east and central strip Israel and Hamas at war - live updatesThe Israel Defence Forces have said they struck 150 underground Hamas targets in Gaza overnight in the heaviest aerial bombardment of the Gaza war so far, as Palestinian residents of the territory reported clashes with Israeli armoured vehicles and infantry overnight.According to the IDF, about 100 Israeli jets were involved in the strikes which began in earnest after dusk on Friday. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Vince Cable, Chris Huhne and Norman Lamb claim they were targeted for stories or to 'exert political influence'Two former Lib Dem cabinet ministers and a former party whip are suing the publisher of the Sun and the defunct News of the World, claiming that their phones were hacked for stories or to exert political influence", including when Rupert Murdoch was seeking approval for a takeover of BSkyB.Journalists working at Murdoch's newspapers are said to have unlawfully targeted the former business secretary Vince Cable as well as Chris Huhne, a former energy and climate change secretary, and Norman Lamb, a whip and sometime adviser to the then deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. Continue reading...

Doha positions itself as region's lead mediator but balancing relations with Hamas and the west has become diplomatically precarious

Officials to take inspiration from way US authorities rooted out Italian mob in Nevada in bid to reduce Russian exploitation of industryUkrainian officials seeking to oust Russian actors from its gambling industry are going to emulate the methods of the US authorities in the 1980s when they rooted out the Italian mob from the casinos of Las Vegas.Gambling was legalised in Ukraine after a 10-year ban shortly before the full-scale invasion in February 2022 and has since continued to be a profitable avenue for Russians who want to make money in the country and collect the personal data of Ukrainian gamblers. Continue reading...