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Yes supporters break week of silence by stating 14 October result was so mean-spirited it would remain unbelievable and appalling' for decades

Abuse and complaints taking their toll on reporters, as well as trauma of assignmentsThe BBC is offering extra support to staff who are facing abuse and attacks over the corporation's Israel-Hamas coverage.Some staff have reported being targeted online or verbally attacked for working for the BBC, while also dealing with distressing footage from the conflict. Continue reading...

Former military officers and politicians say prime minister bears responsibility for the failures that led to the Hamas incursionFormer Israeli military, political and intelligence officials have expressed doubts over the leadership of prime minister as debate rages inside the country about the response to the Hamas attacks on 7 October that killed 1,400 Israelis.Former prime minister Ehud Barak described the terrorist attack as the most severe blow Israel has suffered since its establishment to date". I don't believe that the people trust Netanyahu to lead when he is under the burden of such a devastating event that just happened under his term," he told the Observer. Continue reading...

After a crushing week, MPs fear they will need a miracle to hold on to powerAs Keir Starmer embarked on a triumphant victory dash, first to Bedfordshire then to Tamworth in Staffordshire on Friday morning, Tory MPs sitting at home digesting the bombshell byelection news had hit rock bottom.Having pulled off two sensational wins overnight in previously safe Tory-held seats, the Labour leader was rubbing salt into their wounds. Starmer was obviously ecstatic, though straining to strike the right balance between expressions of elation and the necessary caution. Continue reading...

The visits and diplomacy have been to one end: containment. Because if the conflict spills over, the consequences will be global

Award-winning journalist takes on new role of national affairs editor at Nine four months after being flabbergasted' by ABC decision

Preschoolers with severe burns airlifted to hospital in Melbourne, Ambulance Victoria says

This blog is now closed. Our live coverage continues here

This blog is now closed

Swiss People's party believes its campaign focus on immigration and cost of living will increase its leadThe populist rightwing Swiss People's party (SVP) is expected to make gains as the country votes in federal elections, after a campaign season centred on the cost of living and immigration.Switzerland's leading political party is predicted to garner 28.1% of the vote in Sunday's election - an increase of 2.5 percentage points over its previous standing, according to polling by the Sotomo research institute. Continue reading...

NSW Labor says 20 hectares will be repurposed' to serve residents in what will become one of most densely populated areas in Australia

Central Land Council and Antar issue statements after week of silence, with latter claiming voice defeat an unparalleled act of racism by white Australia'

Six dead in Russian missile strike on Kharkiv postal distribution centre, says governor; Volodymyr Zelenskiy holds talks with Turkish counterpart ahead of peace summit next week

Great British Sewing Bee judge criticises government's shambolic' attempt to get protective gear into hospitals when Covid hitThe Scottish fashion designer Patrick Grant has said his father died very unnecessarily" due to personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages during the Covid pandemic.Grant's father, James, had been a manager of the Scottish pop rock band Marmalade as well as an accountant and rugby coach. Continue reading...

The Gulf state's role in the release of two American hostages by Hamas has burnished its reputation as a global mediatorIsrael and Hamas at war - live updatesAs news broke that two Americans held hostage in Gaza had been released by Hamas after talks brokered by Qatar, telephones started ringing in Doha.France's Emmanuel Macron, and the UK's Rishi Sunak were among the world leaders waiting at the end of the line, officially to congratulate the tiny Gulf state on its successful negotiations, but mostly to ask for help getting their own citizens home. Continue reading...

Protesters voice support for Palestinians and demand end to Israel's bombardment of Gaza

Hawks call for action after attacks on settlements in the north, while Rishi Sunak urges caution to prevent conflict spreading

City's character-zoning laws preserve prewar homes but prevent higher-density housing being built in areas with established infrastructurePlanning laws which preserve most prewar Brisbane homes are tantamount to exclusionary zoning", keeping poor people out of rich suburbs without substantially preserving the city's built heritage, according to new research.The lead author, Rachel Gallagher, said the city's character-zoning laws were justified as a means to preserve heritage - but in reality prevent higher-density housing being built in some of the city's most desirable suburbs such as Chelmer, Morningside, Ashgrove, Paddington, Bulimba and Bardon.Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads Continue reading...

Warnings from both the Met Office and the Environment Agency come as storm continues to batter the UKIn North Wales, a sheepdog named Patsy rescued three ewes which had been cut off by floodwater on Friday afternoon.Farmer Llyr Derwydd, 44, went to check on his sheep in Flintshire when he saw the sheep stranded on this little spot on the field".So we thought we'd better get them off and make sure they're safe.I just thought, I'll see if the dog will go'. I gave her the command and she swam across. Continue reading...

The chancellor will stand down before the election as likelihood of defeat in new Surrey seat looms, senior Tories sayJeremy Hunt is expected to stand down as an MP before the next election, according to senior Conservatives, who say the chancellor is aware he could suffer a Michael Portillo" moment on polling day.Hunt has already put himself forward and been selected for the new Surrey constituency of Godalming and Ash, after his South West Surrey seat was dissolved and split into two under boundary changes. Continue reading...

Onboard speaker system was used to lead chant among passengers on day 100,000 attended pro-Palestinian march in LondonA Tube driver has been criticised for leading a chant of Free, free Palestine" on a London Underground train.The minister for London, Paul Scully, said staff should focus on the day job" and warned against stoking tensions in the capital. Continue reading...

David Nugent-Malone posts video of woods moving like the sea' that he filmed while walking his dog in Mugdock, StirlingshireIt was a surreal moment, even for a poet.David Nugent-Malone was taking his dog Jake for their usual walk through a local forest in Mugdock, Stirlingshire during Storm Babet when he saw the forest floor weirdly" lifting up and down in the wind. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Ukraine war coverage hereThree more children have been rescued from Russia and brought back to Ukraine, the Ukrainian's parliament commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubinets, wrote on X, formerly Twitter.Kyiv has said about 20,000 children have been taken from Ukraine to Russia or Russian-held territory without the consent of family or guardians. It calls this a war crime that meets the UN treaty definition of genocide. Continue reading...

Oppenheimer star says she is appalled' by her remarks in 2012 interview with Jonathan RossEmily Blunt has apologised for referring to a restaurant worker as enormous" on a chatshow that aired 11 years ago.In a resurfaced clip from an episode of The Jonathan Ross Show first broadcast on ITV in September 2012, the star of the summer blockbuster Oppenheimer said a waitress who served her at a Chili's restaurant in Louisiana was enormous". Continue reading...

After visit to Rafah crossing, Antonio Guterres says regular supply of food, water, medicine and fuel needed

Prison letters sent by public enemy No 1' Jacques Mesrine to his girlfriend Jeanne Schneider to be sold at auctionBankrobber and serial prison escapee Jacques Mesrine had many names during his two-decade criminal career in the 1960s and 70s.In disguise and on the run from police, he made headlines as the man of a thousand faces" and public enemy number one". In Canada and the US with his girlfriend, Jeanne Schneider, the couple were nicknamed France's Bonnie and Clyde. Continue reading...

Change means drone operators could face fines of up to 2,500 for flying within 400 metres of prisons or young offender institutionsNew no-fly zones" will be introduced around prisons in England and Wales to prevent drones being used to deliver drugs and contraband to inmates.The legal change will mean drone operators could face fines of up to 2,500 for flying within 400 metres of closed prisons or young offender institutions. Continue reading...

Cross-party MPs host inaugural conference to agree on common statement to put to parliamentPoliticians, campaigners and community groups are uniting for the first time to make a very distinct and clear call for reparative justice" at an inaugural reparations conference this weekend.The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations (APPG-AR), a group of cross-party MPs, is hosting its first reparations conference in Euston in north London to collectively agree on a common statement with stakeholders and grassroots campaigners that can be used by MPs to push forward a policy for reparative justice in the House of Commons. Continue reading...

Suella Braverman accused by MP Stella Creasy of denying will of parliament in passing safe access lawPro-choice MPs and activists have expressed their frustration at the government's failure to implement a law on buffer zones around abortion clinics one year after 297 MPs voted in favour of the zones and as women face a new wave of protests when accessing reproductive care.A Home Office spokesperson told the Observer that timelines would be confirmed in due course" but refused to explain why the law was not yet in force and failed to confirm if a consultation on safe-access zones legislation had been launched. Continue reading...

Return of Sharif, who has conviction for graft, is likely to have been smoothed by deal with country's powerful military, expert saysNawaz Sharif, the three-time prime minister of Pakistan, arrived back in the country on Saturday after four years of self-imposed exile, poised to make a political comeback before the general election in January.Sharif spent the past few days in Dubai and left on a chartered flight packed with journalists, touching down in the capital, Islamabad, at about 1.30pm (0830 GMT), according to local media. Continue reading...

Complainant forced to give evidence for second time as case reheardA woman who was raped by her former partner has told how her fight for justice in the family courts left her traumatised. The woman, who has a son with her ex-partner, first put the allegation of rape to the court in 2021 after the father, who she also accused of coercive and controlling behaviour, made an application to spend more time with his child.The allegations were dismissed by Judge Christopher Dodd but the woman later won an appeal to have her case reheard on the basis of errors made by Dodd, including that he had failed to facilitate the provision of special measures" designed to help victims of domestic abuse to give their best evidence. Continue reading...

News comes as Barbara Broccoli says new Bond-themed adventure series - 007's Road to a Million - will help fill fans' hungerIt has been two years since Daniel Craig hung up his pistol and Omega watch after the release of No Time to Die.But fans desperate to know who will be the next 007 have a long wait before they are left shaken or stirred.007: Road to a Million will air on 10 November on Prime Video Continue reading...

Exclusive: Department for Education monitoring social media posts from England-based staff for criticism of its policiesThe government has been monitoring the social media accounts of dozens" of ordinary teaching staff, including teaching assistants, and is keeping files on posts that criticise education policies, the Observer has learned.Two weeks ago, this newspaper revealed how the Department for Education is monitoring the social media activity of some of the country's leading education experts. Now evidence has emerged that the monitoring is much more widespread, covering even the lowest paid members of staff. Continue reading...

Supporters of alleged rapist, girl's 39-year-old headmaster, stormed police station in effort to prevent arrestThe ombudsman's office in Bolivia has condemned threats against a 10-year-old rape victim and her family after teachers and school staff tried to prevent the arrest of the alleged rapist, a 39-year-old headmaster, by trying to invade a local police station and scuffling with police officers.Videos posted on social media show the group gathered outside the police station, trying to pressure the prosecutor and judge to release the alleged perpetrator. Continue reading...

Talks expected to take place next week but Department of Health and Social Care says issue of pay will not be on tableJunior doctors will meet government officials for talks aimed at ending the long-running dispute over pay and conditions in the English NHS.The British Medical Association (BMA) said it had agreed to the talks, although the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said the issue of pay would not be on the table. Continue reading...

State pensioners could be dragged into the tax net next year, says former ministerHundreds of thousands of pensioners will have to start setting aside some of their state pension for unexpected tax bills, a former UK government minister has claimed.A combination of big increases in the state pension - with a rise of 8.5% scheduled for next spring - and a continued freeze in income tax thresholds means growing numbers of older people will be dragged into the tax net purely on the basis of their state pension", says the ex-pensions minister Steve Webb. Continue reading...

Joe Biden and family voice joy at release of Natalie and Judith Raanan, as Israeli forces pound Gaza Strip, where millions are pinning hopes on aid delivery via Egypt border crossing

Prime minister Anthony Albanese confirms his death on Saturday

About 10,000 march in rally through Sydney's CBD after police green-lit the event

Exhibition aims to establish common ground amid fractious debate over violence in post-independence IndonesiaIts political centre, The Hague, may call itself the city of peace and justice". But in few European countries is the process of confronting the colonial period proving as fractious and divisive as in the Netherlands, where opposing sides have in recent years struggled to agree on who was victim and who was perpetrator.This month, an exhibition at Amsterdam's Nieuwe Kerk gallery space and two new books in a major historical series try to establish common ground over the violence that ensued after Indonesia declared independence from Dutch colonial rule in 1945. Continue reading...

Joe Biden asks for $106bn package of emergency aid to Israel and Ukraine; former abbot of Ukrainian Orthodox monastery charged with justifying Russian invasion

Keir Starmer's aides warn against complacency as huge swings from Tories raise prospect of 1997-style landslide next yearLabour has overturned massive Conservative majorities in a history-making pair of byelections, sending the Tories deeper into in-fighting and acrimony over the prospect of a landslide defeat at the upcoming general election.The wins in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth prompted gleeful talk within Labour of a possible 1997-type win on the horizon, but Keir Starmer's aides were quick to warn MPs and the party more widely against complacency. Continue reading...

Rafah crossing still closed to aid as Hamas releases two hostages while Israeli airstrikes on territory continue

Police focusing on Newnew Polar Bear cargo ship that was in the area when gas pipeline was damagedFinnish police have said a Chinese ship whose movement coincided with the time and place of the suspected sabotage of a pipeline between Finland and Estonia that was damaged this month is now the focus of their investigation.After a leak led to the shutdown of the Balticconnector pipeline on 8 October, Finnish authorities have been investigating the damage they say was caused by external" activity. Continue reading...

Russian forces have committed indiscriminate attacks' and war crimes in Ukraine, says UN committee of inquiry

Thimbo Samb, based in Madrid, was reunited with his older brother who had made boat journey from SenegalA Madrid-based actor who had travelled to the Canary Islands to report on the arrival of a near-record number of asylum seekers was reunited with his brother after finding out that he was among the thousands who have made the treacherous trip from Senegal to Spain in recent weeks.Thimbo Samb and his team had arrived in the archipelago hoping to tell the story of the more than 23,000 asylum seekers who have turned up on its shores so far this year. But the Senegal-born actor's trip took a different turn after he learned that his older brother was among the many who had recently set off on the risky route. Continue reading...

PM met Palestinian Authority leader in Egypt as part of tour of the region to try to prevent the conflict escalating

Musician vehemently opposed' to seat-holders selling unwanted tickets at inflated pricesEd Sheeran has objected to plans by the Royal Albert Hall to sell dozens of seats at the prestigious London venue to investors, some of whom sell them on for inflated prices.At the moment, 319 people own 1,268 - almost one in four - of the Royal Albert Hall's seats on 999-year leases. A bill going through parliament would grant the hall's governing body the power to sell an extra 52 seats to investors. Continue reading...

Charge d'affaires at embassy says situation is very volatile and Iran has no control over resistance forces'

Mild weather in September and cost of living crisis lead to reduction in spending