This live blog has now closed, you can find our latest political coverage hereChancellor Jeremy Hunt has conceded that Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit deal has caused damaging trade barriers with the European Union, as he said immigration will be “very important” for the economy.

Sale of chain which operates sites across UK and Ireland means closure of 18 outlets but 25 will remain openThe AMT Coffee chain has been sold out of administration with the rescue of 25 outlets, though 18 will close leaving 100 employees facing redundancy.The coffee chain, which has sites in airports, rail hubs, hospitals and other locations throughout the UK and Ireland, saw revenues plummet as the pandemic cut footfall. Continue reading...

Esther McVey, John Redwood and Richard Drax among backbench critics of chancellor’s tax rises

Migrant workers in Qatar working as guards at Al-Bidda Park appear to get one day off a month and are housed in dirty camps on the edge of the desertMigrant workers employed as security guards in a huge park that will be at the heart of Qatar’s World Cup festivities appear to be being paid as little as 35 pence an hour.The men are stationed across Al Bidda Park, a pristine green space adjoining the Fifa Fan Festival. Throughout the tournament Al Bidda Park will be packed with football fans enjoying the sweeping lawns, shaded picnic spots and views over Doha. The guards interviewed are not contracted to Fifa or deployed in the Festival. Continue reading...

Mathieu Godard and Jeremiah Mathias-Polson accused of breaking into Parc Omega in Quebec and killing three wild boar and an elkTwo Canadian men have been charged with entering a safari park in Quebec and shooting three wild boar and an elk, brazen killings that have left staff at the family-themed park in shock.Police say Mathieu Godard and Jeremiah Mathias-Polson broke through a barrier at Parc Omega on the evening of 10 November. Continue reading...

Labour’s Imran Hussain says he has been pressing council and police to improve road safetyAn MP has said he is “absolutely horrified” to see footage of drivers ploughing into pedestrians at a zebra crossing where there have been a series of accidents in recent years.The Labour MP Imran Hussain said he was concerned about “accident blackspots” in his Bradford East constituency after clips of the collisions were shared by the television presenter Jeremy Vine. Continue reading...

Stark took legal action against newspaper after it wrongly referred to her as a ‘porn star’Prince Andrew’s former girlfriend Koo Stark has received substantial damages from the Daily Mail after the newspaper wrongly referred to her as a “porn star”.Stark, who now works as a photographer, brought the legal action over a November 2019 piece that referred to Andrew as a “Duke of Hazard” with “very shady friends” and included a photo of Stark from the film The Awakening of Emily captioned “The prince and the porn star”. Continue reading...

Seventh edition dictionary includes terms popularised in slang, current affairs, such as vax, and food itemsBoard game stans rejoice, for the adorbs Scrabble dictionary has embiggened the number of playable terms.This week, the Merriam-Webster dictionary released the seventh edition of its Scrabble Players Dictionary, the official referee on what words are eligible in the popular game, with 500 new words. Continue reading...

Bodies of three sex workers found stabbed to death in two apartments in upmarket district of PratiPolice in Rome are hunting for a possible serial killer after the bodies of three women were found in two apartments in the upmarket district of Prati.Two of the women, both sex workers of Chinese nationality believed to be aged between 40 and 50, were found stabbed to death in an apartment on Via Augusto Riboty. Continue reading...

Resolution Foundation says real wages not expected to return to 2008 levels until 2027

Saturday’s poll is first since voting age was lowered to 18, meaning there are 6m more voters than in 2018Malaysians will vote in a tightly contested general election on Saturday, after two weeks of fierce campaigning in which politicians have sought to woo millions of young voters by embracing Instagram and TikTok trends.Saturday’s election is the first since constitutional changes lowered the voting age to 18 and automatically registered voters, meaning there are 6 million more voters than at the previous election in 2018. It is believed to be the first time people under 40 make up the majority of the electorate. Continue reading...

After the euphoria of the Ukrainian city’s recapture, many of its people are living at rock bottom, lacking the basics to survive

Pair say they ‘could not resist’ revamping track before Qatar World Cup, after Lionesses’ victory in summerFrank Skinner and David Baddiel have released a reworked, festive version of their 1996 football anthem Three Lions, ahead of the 2022 men’s World Cup beginning on Sunday.Discussing the release of the track, the pair said that although their famous refrain “football’s coming home” had become redundant after victory for the England women’s team earlier this year, they would give it “one more go for the blokes”. Continue reading...

Australia’s prime minister joined forces with Kamala Harris, Fumio Kishida, Jacinda Ardern, Han Duck-soo, and Justin Trudeau, on issue at Apec summit

‘It’s what we came to hear, the missile downing mum and dad’s plane is true,’ son says

This blog is now closed

The singer’s five-month-long residency is set to kick off with sold-out dates after it was cancelled with one day’s notice in JanuaryAfter cancelling her Las Vegas residency with just one day’s notice in January, Adele is finally starting her much-anticipated set of concerts this weekend.Weekends with Adele will stretch over five months at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, a venue that has previously hosted residencies from Celine Dion, Cher, Madonna and Elton John. It boasts a capacity of over 4,000. Continue reading...

Chancellor relaxes cap on raising rates to part-finance planned cash injection for adult social careIncreasing council tax bills next April will hit struggling residents, fail to lift the pressure on cash-strapped local authorities and will not prevent more cuts to key services, from social care to waste collection and libraries, local government leaders have said.Average council tax bills could rise by as much as £100, to more than £2,000 for households in band D, from April, after the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, confirmed in the autumn statement that the cap on how much local authorities could raise rates would be relaxed. Continue reading...

In South West Surrey, which polls suggest could turn Lib Dem, anger towards the government is palpableThe immediate outlook for the country appeared bleak as Jeremy Hunt returned to his seat in the House of Commons after delivering his autumn statement on Thursday afternoon.And Hunt’s prospects in his constituency look similarly fragile, if opinion polls are to be believed. The South West Surrey seat, comfortably held by Hunt at the last election, is now a target for the Liberal Democrats. Continue reading...

Carnival Cruise Lines’ makes vaccinations and mask wearing compulsory as cases rise and after Majestic Princess reported 800 positive test results

NSW court of appeal had ruled case could not be heard because priest accused of abusing applicant when she was 14 had since died

Police review of five incidents found Zachary Rolfe disregarded his training and used a ‘higher level of force than would reasonably be considered necessary’

PM says French president is entitled to express his views in a ‘very forthright manner’ and confirms Australia won’t support Taiwan’s entry into key trade pact

State-based anti-corruption commissions have power to intercept phone calls, which could undermine parliamentary privilege, Richard Pye says

Deaths and hospitalisations also rise, prompting NSW to upgrade its risk rating to amber and mandate a limited return to mask-wearing

Latest intercontinental ballistic missile launch comes day after North resumed weapons testing and threatened ‘fiercer’ military response to US moves in regionJapan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has condemned North Korea for firing a suspected intercontinental ballistic missile on Friday that landed within his country’s exclusive economic zone.The missile, which a Japanese minister said had the potential range to reach the US, landed about 200 km (124 miles) west of Oshima-Oshima island in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido. There were no reports of damage to ships or aircraft. Continue reading...

Economic adviser to deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi was described as being in ‘amazingly good spirits’ by Anthony Albanese

The UK newspaper front pages are united in their strong – and negative – response to the chancellor’s long-awaited budgetReactions to Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement dominate UK front pages on Friday, with the Guardian’s headline reading “From bad to worse”. The paper reports that the chancellor’s £30bn of delayed spending cuts and £25bn of backdated tax increases “laid bare the country’s dire economic predicament”.The i splashes with “UK’s lost decade”, and what the paper calls the “biggest drop in living standards on record … sending British earnings back to 2013”. Continue reading...

Ahead of first meeting with China’s president in three years, New Zealand PM calls for environment where differences can be discussedJacinda Ardern has said she must be able to raise concerns with Beijing without prompting “retaliatory acts”, on the eve of her planned meeting with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.The pair’s first in-person bilateral meeting since 2019 is due to take place on Friday evening on the sidelines of the Apec forum. It comes during a strained time in New Zealand-China relations, where ideological differences – and New Zealand’s economic reliance on China as an export market – have continued to grow. Continue reading...

Australian foreign minister says Dutch court that found two Russians and one Ukrainian guilty of downing flight delivered ‘the truth’

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, run by Gareth Swarbrick, received multiple complaints about fungi from Awaab Ishak’s parentsA housing boss responsible for the flat where two-year-old Awaab Ishak died due to mould has refused to resign, claiming that conversations about his position have “begun to overshadow” the tragedy.Under chief executive Gareth Swarbrick, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) received multiple complaints about fungi from Awaab’s parents before he died from a respiratory condition in December 2020. Continue reading...

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall aided appeal for Fisher, whose Nissan Navara was last seen in Dorchester, say policeTributes have been paid to the missing journalist and award-winning scriptwriter Nick Fisher after a body was found in Dorchester.Fisher, whose books included Sea Fishing: River Cottage Handbook, with an introduction by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, had last been seen in his home village of Hooke in west Dorset on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Company halts ticket sales ‘due to extraordinarily high demands’ while Tennessee investigates Ticketmaster over presale chaosThe US entertainment ticketing company Ticketmaster has canceled plans to sell tickets to the public on Friday for Taylor Swift’s 2023 Eras tour after supply was far outstripped by demand and the sales system descended into chaos.A clamor for tickets this week led to part of Ticketmaster’s online sales system crashing and long delays for fans who accessed the site but were left waiting for hours for the chance to snap up dates to see the pop star’s stadium tour. Continue reading...

Bereaved families of workers and rights groups want World Cup organisers to make £372m payoutQatar is facing renewed calls from migrant workers, their families, and rights groups to compensate for human rights abuses including wage theft, injuries and uninvestigated deaths, days before the World Cup kicks off.As fans and footballers descend on the Persian Gulf country for the month-long tournament, workers and their families, who have spent 12 years sounding the alarm on exploitative conditions endured while building the tournament’s infrastructure, are seeking an amount equivalent to the $440m (£372m) World Cup prize money for a remediation programme. Continue reading...

Police say drugs and gun also found at Johannesburg property where they detained wanted Abergil gang member and seven othersA man reputed to be one of Israel’s most wanted gang leaders has been arrested during a raid on a home in an affluent Johannesburg suburb where South African authorities said they also found guns, drugs and a van equipped for torture.South African police said on Thursday that the 46-year-old Israeli was a member of the Abergil gang, which deals in drug trafficking and extortion, and that he was wanted in Israel for several attempted murders. Continue reading...

Analysis: with half of all British households set to be worse off next year, many Tory MPs fear voters will turn against them

Hollywood actor criticised by South Africans after saying controversial apartheid-era language ‘not very helpful’Charlize Theron has prompted anger in her native South Africa after suggesting that Afrikaans, a language descended from Dutch colonial settlers, was heading for oblivion.“There’s about 44 people still speaking it … it’s definitely a dying language, it’s not a very helpful language,” the 47-year-old Oscar-winning actor said this week on a US podcast “Smartless.” Continue reading...

Victims’ advocates say report, which identified 68 alleged abusers between 2020-21, excludes key data and figuresItaly’s Catholic church has identified 68 alleged abusers in an investigation into the sexual abuse of children and vulnerable individuals spanning a period of just two years – a timeframe criticised by victims’ advocates as a “joke”.The figure is astonishingly high given the inquiry only targeted the 2020-2021 period and only referred to data provided by “listening centres” that were established by dioceses across Italy in 2019 specifically to receive complaints of abuse. Continue reading...

Authorities claim to have found ‘torture chambers’ in liberated southern Ukrainian city

Thinktanks warn new £3.3bn in each of next two years won’t account for the £2.5bn inflation and other unexpected cost pressuresThe NHS will receive an extra £3.3bn in each of the next two years, the chancellor has announced, but experts warned the cash is likely only half of what is needed to keep the health service afloat.Jeremy Hunt told the Commons during his autumn statement he had been assured the funding would mean the NHS can hit its “key priorities”. Its chief executive, Amanda Pritchard, later issued a statement welcoming the funding, saying it showed that “the government has been serious about its commitment to prioritise the NHS”. Continue reading...

Register also shows former PM travelled to Montana at Rupert Murdoch’s expense last monthBoris Johnson enjoyed the hospitality of Rupert Murdoch and a few days later was paid £276,130 plus expenses for a speech to insurance agents in the US.Johnson’s update to his register of interests – all MPs are required to update theirs every 28 days – shows he travelled to Montana for a business meeting on 11-12 October. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Nikita Chibrin claims he did not fire weapon once while deployed to Ukraine for more than four months

Although barrister ‘would not want’ her daughter to attend the footballer’s parties, accusers were making ‘real-life choices’Benjamin Mendy’s barrister said she wouldn’t want her daughter to go to a party if the Manchester City footballer was there, but insisted that did not mean he was a rapist or a Jimmy Savile-style groomer.Eleanor Laws KC told the jury in Mendy’s rape trial that the 28-year-old regularly had unprotected sex at parties in his Cheshire mansion with “women he didn’t know from Adam”. But it was “not criminal” to have sex with multiple women without a condom, she stressed. Continue reading...

Merchandise linked to supermarket’s latest Christmas campaign sells out online hours after going on saleMore than 70,000 shoppers have queued online and hundreds lined up outside UK stores to get their hands on Aldi’s toys and merchandise based around its Kevin the Carrot adverts.By 10am, several versions of the soft toys had already sold out online amid high demand for merchandise linked to the hero of the discount grocery store’s festive campaign. Continue reading...

Exclusive: protesters say they were assaulted by officers at peaceful ‘kill the bill’ demonstration in March 2021A police force has paid damages to protesters who allege they were assaulted by officers when they broke up a peaceful “kill the bill” demonstration in Bristol.One of the protesters alleges that an officer struck him in the face with a shield, leaving him scarred, and a second claims she struggled to breathe when she was crushed beneath two police shields. They say they witnessed another protester being dragged along the ground by his long hair. Continue reading...

The claims and counter-claims against the charity at the heart of the debate over trans childrenThe charity Mermaids has found itself at the heart of the highly charged debate pitting trans rights supporters against gender-critical feminists.Mermaids, which is funded mostly by donations but also receives grants and payments for training, says it provides support to transgender children and their families, as well as helping to facilitate their acceptance in society. Continue reading...

Government ordered Nexperia to sell 86% of its shareholding in company formerly known as Newport Wafer FabThe UK head of a Chinese-owned semiconductor company has said the decision to reverse its takeover of Britain’s largest chip plant is “bad news” for workers and pledged to do whatever it takes to fight the order.The business department late on Wednesday night ordered Nexperia to sell 86% of its shareholding in the company, formerly known as Newport Wafer Fab, which produces semiconductors in south Wales. The order, which cited national security concerns, would reverse a £63m takeover completed in July 2021. Continue reading...

Widespread protests lead to deaths in separate incidents as anger over Mahsa Amini transforms into wider protest against the regimeAs many as 15 people have been shot dead in Iran, including members of the security forces and a nine-year-old boy, in separate incidents as the country experienced one of its most serious and widespread nights of protests of the past nine weeks.On the anniversary of the 2019 uprising, state news agencies blamed terrorists on two motorcycles for the killing of seven people in a shopping centre in the southern city of Izeh Khuzesta. However, protesters said members of the Basij militia force ran amok, killing among others a nine-year-old boy sitting in a car with his father. State news agencies said two volunteer Basij patrolmen were among the dead, and 10 were injured. Continue reading...

Germany latest to end peacekeeping mission as operations prove unable to stop Islamic extremist insurgencyThousands of international troops are withdrawing from Mali amid surging violence, growing Russian influence and an acute humanitarian crisis.On Wednesday Germany became the latest country to end its participation in the UN peacekeeping mission in the unstable west African country. Earlier this week, British officials said that 300 British soldiers sent in 2020 to join the United Nations force would be returning earlier than planned. Continue reading...

Analysts say millions still face winter crisis despite Hunt’s decision to increase benefits in line with inflation