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The ACT supreme court trial of Lehrmann is in its final stages, with the jury set to begin deliberations later on Wednesday

Criminal case alleges Facebook did not take sufficient steps to take down scam advertisements featuring the billionaire

Close to 100 clubs already using the technology to prevent people with self-imposed bans from playing poker machines

UK data shows authoritarian or neglectful parenting linked to higher weight in children and adolescentsChildren whose parents lack warmth are more likely to grow up overweight or obese, according to the first study of its kind.The effects of different parenting styles on children’s weight have been determined for the first time – and suggest parental warmth is key to a healthy weight, researchers at the International Congress on Obesity in Melbourne, the biennial congress of the World Obesity Federation, will say on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Leaders tell TUC congress they stand ready to coordinate action, although there are no calls for a general strikeTrade union leaders are warning of a wave of synchronised strikes by civil servants and public sector workers in Britain this winter, as a new poll for the TUC showed one in seven people across the UK are skipping meals because of the cost of living crisis.As trade unionists met for the annual TUC congress in Brighton, Mark Serwotka, the head of the PCS union, representing 150,000 civil servants, said it stood ready to strike on the same day as others if its workplaces voted for industrial action in November. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Whistleblower says pressure to meet deadlines has led to a culture of trying to avoid delay at all costs, including those caused by safety concerns

Sergei Surovikin says Russia’s defence of occupied southern city ‘not easy’ as Ukraine introduces local news blackoutThe new commander of Moscow’s army in Ukraine has announced that civilians were being “resettled” from the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson, describing the military situation as “tense”.“The enemy continually attempts to attack the positions of Russian troops,” Sergei Surovikin said in his first televised interview since being appointed earlier this month, adding that the situation was particularly difficult around the occupied southern city of Kherson. Continue reading...

NI secretary Chris Heaton-Harris indicates second poll of the year in mid-December unless power sharing quickly restoredNorthern Ireland will face assembly elections before Christmas unless power-sharing is restored in the next 10 days, the government has confirmed.Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, hinted at an 8 or 15 December polling day during evidence at a House of Commons select committee. It would be the second election for Northern Ireland this year. Continue reading...

La Presse agency publishes audio suggesting 20 bottles arrived for 86th birthday after pair ‘re-establish’ tiesSilvio Berlusconi has allegedly said Vladimir Putin gave him 20 bottles of vodka for his birthday after he “re-established” relations with the Russian president.Berlusconi turned 86 on 29 September, four days after a coalition including his Forza Italia party won the general election. Continue reading...

Lafarge agrees to $778m fine after pleaded guilty in US trial to conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist organisationThe French cement company Lafarge pleaded guilty on Tuesday to paying millions of dollars to the Islamic State group in exchange for permission to keep open a plant in Syria, in a case the US justice department called the first of its kind. The company also agreed to penalties totalling about $778m (£688m).Prosecutors accused Lafarge of turning a blind eye to the conduct of the militant group, making payments to it in 2013 and 2014 as IS occupied a broad swath of Syria and as some of its members were involved in torturing or beheading kidnapped westerners. The company’s actions occurred before it merged with a Swiss company Holcim, to form the world’s largest cement-making business. Continue reading...

Critics blame poor management of cemeteries in Italian city after collapse at Poggioreale cemetery exposed at least a dozen coffinsAt least a dozen coffins have been left dangling in the air following the collapse of a four-storey building containing burial niches at the oldest cemetery in Naples.It is the second such incident at the site this year, with critics blaming the poor management of cemeteries in the southern Italian city. Continue reading...

With one demanding stronger sanctions and the other blaming the EU for soaring energy prices, relations remain tenseIn December 2021, Poland’s ultraconservative, nationalist government hosted some of the biggest names in European far-right politics, including France’s Marine Le Pen and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán. At the close of the Warsaw gathering, the group issued a declaration against “social engineering” aimed at creating “a new European nation” and made promises, largely unfulfilled, to work together in the European parliament.Only a few months after the Warsaw summit, the governments of Poland and Hungary, who have been ideological soul mates in the EU for years, fell out over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While Warsaw has been one of Kyiv’s staunchest supporters, urging tougher sanctions, Hungary’s leader, Orbán, has described Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, as his “opponent” and blamed the EU’s Russia policy for inflation and soaring energy prices. Despite a few tentative olive branches, Polish-Hungarian relations remain tense. Continue reading...

Twelve-year-old was asphyxiated and her body was found outside building where she livedFrench authorities have arrested a 24-year-old woman on suspicion of killing a 12-year-old girl whose body, covered in cuts and bruises, was found in a plastic suitcase outside her home in Paris.The death of the girl, named Lola, quickly became a source of political tension, with opposition parties seizing on the profile of the suspect – who had entered the country illegally – to call for tougher immigration policies. Continue reading...

TotalEnergies workers extend stoppages in row over pay, with transport workers joining movementThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, is facing the biggest challenge of his second term as long-running oil depot and refinery blockades create fuel shortages, transport workers join the strike for higher wages and the government prepares to force its budget through parliament without a vote, unable to find a compromise with the opposition.The leftwing CGT union on Tuesday voted to extend stoppages at several oil refineries and depots operated by the French energy giant TotalEnergies, as they demanded an immediate 10% pay rise to counter the cost of living crisis and a share of companies’ profits amid the surge in energy prices heightened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...

Retailer to open its first two standalone convenience stores before ChristmasAsda is opening is first convenience stores outside a petrol station as its new owners search for ways to expand the UK’s third largest supermarket chain and overtake Sainsbury’s.The two Asda Express stores – in Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, and Tottenham Hale, north London – will open before Christmas with 30 sites planned over the coming year. Continue reading...

Haitians currently facing series of crises that are becoming deadlier by the day with gangs, hunger and cholera outbreakNGOs operating in Haiti warn that the chaos engulfing the country has become so total and the social fabric so torn that the country is on the verge of collapse, as discussions continue at the UN security council on how to restore order.Haitians are currently facing a series of overlapping crises that are becoming deadlier by the day as heavily armed gangs continue to blockade the country’s principal port and fuel terminal. Continue reading...

Policymakers attempt to insulate households from worst of impact from Russia’s invasion of UkraineThe EU has proposed a cap on “excessive and volatile” gas prices this winter as part of a package to protect consumers.Brussels has put forward a new mechanism to control prices by blocking transactions above a certain level, which can be triggered “when needed”. Continue reading...

Drivers with GXO Logistics, which makes 40% of beer deliveries, to strike over pay and job cutsThe prospect of a UK beer shortage is looming as drivers and workers at a firm that makes about 40% of deliveries to UK pubs and clubs are to stage five days of strike action over pay and job cuts.About 1,000 drivers and dray workers – a person who delivers beer for a brewery – at GXO Logistics plan to stage a first round of strikes between 31 October and 4 November at depots across the UK. Continue reading...

Founder of online shopping group cements control as Japanese firm offloads its holding at £450m lossTHG shares have jumped on the news that Japan’s SoftBank will sell its stake in the troubled British online shopping group to its co-founder Matthew Moulding and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.The move has cemented Moulding’s control of THG, formerly known as The Hut Group, which owns a range of internet health and beauty retailers, and ended speculation about SoftBank’s disastrous investment. Continue reading...

Prominent Jewish community leaders in Australia say Albanese government’s withdrawal of recognition ‘a gratuitous insult’ – but criticism is not universal

Marshall Jefferson and Adonis are among more than a dozen artists suing the pioneering Chicago house labelMore than a dozen artists are suing the pioneering Chicago house label Trax Records, the estate of co-founder Larry Sherman, and current owners Screamin’ Rachael Cain and Sandyee Barns, Rolling Stone reports.The plaintiffs, among them Trax co-founder Vince Lawrence and musicians Marshall Jefferson, Adonis and Maurice Joshua – allege that the label owes them unpaid royalties and in some cases that the label never paid them anything at all, according to a copy of the lawsuit seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...

Labor will reverse Coalition decision to recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This blog is now closed

Film-maker Amiel Courtin-Wilson says Uncle Jack ‘gave people space to be themselves … in a way that afforded them unique dignity’

PM Yair Lapid says he’s ‘deeply disappointed’ in the ‘hasty’ foreign policy shift and has summoned Australia’s ambassador to explain

Fresh protests ignited around Iran by 16-year-old Asra Panahi’s death after schoolgirls assaulted in raid on high school in ArdabilAnother schoolgirl has reportedly been killed by the Iranian security services after she was beaten in her classroom for refusing to sing a pro-regime song when her school was raided last week, sparking further protests across the country this weekend.According to the Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations, 16-year-old Asra Panahi died after security forces raided the Shahed girls high school in Ardabil on 13 October and demanded a group of girls sing an anthem that praises Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Continue reading...

The Czech-born conductor will take over from Antonio Pappano in 2025. He talks exclusively to the Guardian about what shape the opera house will take under his musical leadershipThe Royal Opera House today announces the appointment of Jakub Hrůša as its music director. Hrůša, 41, will begin his tenure in September 2025. He succeeds Antonio Pappano, who steps down from the post at the end of the 2023-24 season after 22 years in the role – making him the Royal Opera’s longest serving music director. In the 2024-25 season, Hrůša and Pappano will share house responsibilities, and both will appear as special guest conductors.Hrůša was born in the Czech Republic and studied conducting at Prague’s Academy of Performing Arts, where his teachers included Jiří Bělohlávek. He is currently chief conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, a position he has held since 2016, and principal guest conductor of the Czech Philharmonic and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Between 2010 and 2012 he was music director of Glyndebourne on Tour, and he has led opera productions for the Salzburg festival, Vienna State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Zurich Opera and Frankfurt Opera. Continue reading...

Housing campaigners say growth in holiday lets will turn seaside towns into ‘theme parks for the wealthy’

October meeting notes show Reserve Bank’s smaller hike took into account expected reduced growth due to global inflation

Justice select committee calls Action Fraud ‘unfit for purpose’ as number of victims rises 25% in two yearsThe UK’s justice system is “ill-equipped” to tackle a spiralling fraud epidemic and needs a rapid overhaul, a cross-party committee of MPs has concluded.The justice select committee found that traditional crimes were being wrongly prioritised by police and prosecutors in a report released on Tuesday, and described Action Fraud, the UK’s centre for collating allegations of cybercrime, as “unfit for purpose”. Continue reading...

Former and serving pilots told not to disclose sensitive information, in attempt to ‘mitigate risk’ of schemesBritish defence intelligence is to issue a rare “threat alert”, warning that China’s military is trying to recruit serving and former RAF jet pilots to help train its own air force with generous recruitment packages.Officials expressed “concern and disapproval” of these schemes because they posed “a threat to UK and western interests”. Although they are not explicitly banning pilots from providing training, they aim to take steps to “manage the risk”. Continue reading...

SpaceX CEO says company has withdrawn funding request for system helping to keep war-torn country onlineThe Pentagon is considering paying for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network in war-torn Ukraine, Politico reported on Monday, citing two US officials involved in the discussions.The most likely source of funding would be the US Department of Defense’s Ukraine security assistance initiative, designed to support the country as it fights Russia, the report added. Continue reading...

Fighter plane hits residential building in southern Russian city of Yeysk; Ukraine says it is first all-female exchange with Moscow

Exclusive: Mark Fullbrook said to have acted as Fathi Bashagha’s PR adviser, as officials were lobbied on foreign policyMark Fullbrook, the No 10 chief of staff, accompanied a controversial Libyan politician involved in an attempted military coup to a meeting in the Foreign Office to lobby officials on foreign policy, it has emerged, raising further questions over his influence.Labour has said Fullbrook’s position as Liz Truss’s most senior official is “untenable” after it was revealed that he facilitated unofficial meetings in June with senior cabinet ministers for Fathi Bashagha, a Libyan politician. Bashagha, who is seeking international support as a rival prime minister, has links to the Russian Wagner Group and a military strongman in the east of the country. Continue reading...

Court hears evidence about nurse’s first two alleged victims, twins who suffered sudden collapsesA tearful mother begged medics: “Please don’t let my baby die” as they tried to resuscitate the infant, the trial of the nurse Lucy Letby has heard.Letby, 32, is accused of the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of 10 more while working in the neonatal unit at the Countess of Chester hospital. Continue reading...

Move to reduce duration of help from two years to six months could mean financial cliff edge for millions in April, charities warnThe average annual energy bill will rise to more than £4,000 from April after Liz Truss’s U-turn over her policy to ease the cost of living crisis, according to the sector’s leading forecaster.The price cap for a typical dual-fuel tariff will now be £4,347 in six months’ time if the government does not offer special support, according to the consultancy Cornwall Insight. Continue reading...

Business secretary liaises with Tata Steel and Jingye Group over Port Talbot and Scunthorpe sitesThe business secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, has opened talks with Britain’s steelmakers amid concerns that thousands of jobs could be lost from the struggling industry.The government confirmed on Monday it had entered discussions with Tata Steel, owner of the UK’s largest steelworks in Port Talbot, south Wales, and Jingye Group, which bought British Steel out of insolvency in 2020. Continue reading...

Pregnant woman and her partner killed in latest wave of drone strikes on Ukraine’s capital

Nikolai Avtukhovich, leader of group, sentenced to 25 years, says human rights NGO ViasnaA Belarus court has handed down prison sentences ranging from two-and-a-half to 25 years to a dozen opposition activists accused of terrorism and treason, the human rights NGO Viasna has said.Nikolai Avtukhovich, the leader of the activist group, had been sentenced to 25 years, Viasna said on Telegram, in one of the heaviest sentences handed down recently in the reclusive country. Continue reading...

Chancellor says decisions of ‘eye-watering difficulty’ are ahead and admits government partly to blame for market turmoil

First minister says if Scotland won yes vote it would aspire to setting up its own currency and joining EU

Improved offer came as Unite union prepared to ballot members for industrial actionWorkers at London’s biggest bus operator, Go-Ahead, have secured a 10.5% pay deal, heading off the threat of more industrial action in the capital.About 7,700 bus staff, both drivers and engineers, will benefit from the increase, which is slightly ahead of current CPI inflation. Continue reading...

Two suspects appear before judge after body of Lola Daviet was found on Friday not far from her home in north-east of cityFrench police have launched a murder investigation after the body of a 12-year-old girl was discovered in a suitcase outside her home in north-east Paris.The victim, named as Lola Daviet, is believed to have been raped and tortured before being killed. Continue reading...

Lorraine Finlay says state government’s decision means Australia is ‘failing to live up to the promises it made to the world’

Bid follows national broadcaster being turned down last election by Scott Morrison to appear in leaders’ debate despite its broad reach

MP Grace Grace says schools should be ‘supportive environments’, after Livingstone Christian College principal’s investigation

Former member of Corbyn-loyal wing of party was target of tabloid stories during time in parliamentLabour has blocked the former Kensington MP Emma Dent Coad from the shortlist to fight the seat at the next election, a move which has sparked outrage among local campaigners.Dent Coad, who was elected in 2017 in a shock victory over the Conservatives by just 20 votes, is the leader of the Labour group on the council, and lost her seat in 2019 to the Conservatives. Continue reading...

Manchester United footballer is charged with attempted rape, assault and coercive and controlling behaviourThe Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood has been remanded in custody after appearing in court on suspicion of attempted rape and other offences.The 21-year-old appeared at Manchester and Salford magistrates court on Monday charged with attempted rape, assault and “repeatedly engaging” in coercive and controlling behaviour. Continue reading...

Sir Mark Rowley says humour cannot be ‘used as an excuse’ after Casey review highlights misogyny and racismThe Metropolitan police commissioner has issued direct orders to officers and staff, saying those who make jokes about violent attacks on women or who fail to stand up to hate speech should expect to be sacked.Sir Mark Rowley issued the instructions, seen by the Guardian, after a review by Louise Casey found racists and misogynists had been left in the ranks of Britain’s biggest police force by a hugely flawed disciplinary system. Continue reading...

UK joins France in saying apparent drone supply for use in Ukraine leaves Iran in breach of 2015 JCPoA

A Message from Ukraine includes 16 speeches selected by the president as well as an introduction setting out what he has learned since the start of the war with RussiaUkraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is to publish a collection of his war speeches, which his publisher has described as “a battle cry for the world to speak out and fight for liberty”.A Message from Ukraine will include 16 speeches personally selected by Zelenskiy, which will “explore Ukraine’s journey since 2019”, said publisher Penguin Random House. Continue reading...