Rights activist Farideh Moradkhani releases video describing government as ‘murderous and child-killing’ after her arrestA niece of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called on foreign governments to cut all links with Tehran’s “murderous and child-killing” regime in a video posted online two days after she was arrested.The video of a statement by Farideh Moradkhani, a well-known rights activist, has been circulating online after it was shared by her France-based brother Mahmoud Moradkhani on Friday. Mahmoud Moradkhani said his sister had been arrested on Wednesday after going to a prosecutor’s office following a summons. Continue reading...

Troubled startup battery maker formally abandons long-shot plan to build 60GWh plant in QuebecBattery startup Britishvolt has formally abandoned a long-shot plan to build a second factory in Canada, as it focuses on securing new funding for its struggling UK project.Britishvolt’s main project is an attempt to build a factory near Blyth in north-east England capable of producing batteries with a capacity of 30 gigawatt hours (30GWh) every year. Continue reading...

Critics say telecoms firms such as BT – which made £1.9bn profit last year – can afford to keep customers on benefits connectedBT has warned that the telecoms industry cannot afford an estimated potential annual loss of up to £2bn providing low-cost broadband to millions of the UK’s most financially pressured households, but critics have said they have an obligation to do so.Marc Allera, the chief executive of BT’s consumer division, which includes the mobile company EE, said the industry needed government support to help cover the ongoing cost of providing cheap tariffs, the same way households have been helped with energy bills. Continue reading...

The ultimatum to English National Opera was attacked as ‘cultural vandalism’, but raised some hopes nearer ManchesterWhen the Arts Council halved English National Opera’s funding earlier this month and made its new £17m grant contingent on the company leaving London – possibly for Manchester – the diktat was greeted as “madness” by the Evening Standard, “cultural vandalism” by Melvyn Bragg and an order that would kill off the institution by April by the company’s chair, Harry Brünjes.The battle over ENO’s future soon became the latest frontline in the culture wars as debate raged over what it meant to level up culture. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Mark McDonald believes Russell murders case will turn out to be a serious miscarriage of justice“He rings me every day, we talk every day,” says Mark McDonald, the barrister who for the past two decades has represented Michael Stone, the man convicted of one of the most notorious crimes in British history: the murders by hammer of Dr Lin Russell and her daughter Megan, and the attempted murder of her eldest child, Josie, the sole survivor.Sat at a table in a sparsely decorated office in his chambers off London’s Chancery Lane, McDonald reaches past a pile of papers for a phone to check his call records. Continue reading...

UK defence ministry confirms providing missiles to Ukraine as civilians in Kherson flee from Russian shelling

Leonid Volkov warns Russian opposition leader’s health is at risk from indefinite solitary confinementAlexei Navalny’s survival may depend on his value to Vladimir Putin as a future bargaining chip, his chief aide said, warning that the opposition leader’s health was at risk after being forced into indefinite solitary confinement.Leonid Volkov, speaking on a visit to London, added that Navalny had lost access to his family and was being permanently detained in a “8 by 12ft” cell following the isolation decision by Russian authorities last week. Continue reading...

Head of West Midlands police warns of rising crime in poorest areas as forces are stretched beyond capacityA child experiencing a mental health crisis had to live in a police station for two days due to a lack of psychiatric places, a chief constable has revealed, as he condemned austerity for hitting the poorest areas hardest.Sir David Thompson, who leads West Midlands police, said his force – which is still missing officers and funding after cuts – was being asked to do too much, and warned of rising crime as desperation increases in the poorest areas.Dismissed attacks from government and rightwing media that claim the police are too woke.Condemned those trying to drag policing into the “culture wars”.Revealed fears that the poorest areas would be hit hardest again by the cost of living crisis, fuelling a “real risk” of rising crime.Said that bias explained some of the reasons that black people experienced more use of force and coercive powers than other groups.Called for a radical rethink on tackling the problems blighting society, as public services work in “silos”.Warned that police were being expected to do too much, including in the field of mental health. Continue reading...

Man and woman in their 70s found dead at property in Dore, say South Yorkshire policePolice have launched a double murder inquiry after the bodies of a man and a woman, both aged in their 70s, were discovered at a property in Sheffield.A 51-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the deaths at the address in Terrey Road, Dore. Continue reading...

Charlie Bartolo and Kearne Solanke, both 16, were stabbed to death a mile apart on Saturday afternoonPolice have named two teenage boys who were stabbed to death a mile apart in south-east London and confirmed they are treating the murders as linked.The boys, both aged 16, have been identified as Kearnie Solanke and Charlie Bartolo. Continue reading...

Visits for retail and recreation have boosted activity in Sydney and Melbourne, but work from home preferences are keeping office trips low

Of four state election candidates backed by Climate 200, two remain in contention – but both trail Liberals

Party also argues Victorian campaign finance reforms favoured Andrews government as Anthony Albanese calls out media ‘scare campaign’

TransPennine Express uses ‘outrageous’ loophole in which services cancelled a day ahead do not appear in statisticsOne of the north of England’s main railway companies is taking advantage of an “outrageous” legal loophole that allows it to vastly under-report cancellations, it has emerged.Figures obtained by the Guardian show that during the October half-term holiday, TransPennine Express (TPE) cancelled 30% of all trains, and at least 20% each subsequent week until 20 November. Most of those services were cancelled in full, but some started or ended at different stations from those advertised on the current May 2022 timetable. Continue reading...

A quarter of Monmouth Town FC’s players are English – so Tuesday will be quite a night in front of the clubhouse TVMonmouth Town FC’s packed, raucous clubhouse on the banks of the muddy River Monnow fell momentarily silent as Wales’s painful loss to a reinvigorated Iran sunk in on Friday. But thoughts – and perhaps a whole nation’s hopes – soon turned to the first clash between England and Wales in a World Cup finals.The manager of the tight-knit Welsh regional league club, Steve Davies, 50, is not a man for giving up. He believes in resilience, family and community. Continue reading...

Mark Harper raises likelihood of winter strikes as he says keeping pace with living costs is unaffordableInflation-matching pay rises for struggling public sector workers are “unaffordable”, the transport secretary has said, raising the likelihood of winter strikes going ahead across the rail network, schools and the NHS.Mark Harper said there was not a “bottomless pit” of money to meet the demands of workers planning to take industrial action in the coming weeks, even though benefits and pensions are going up in line with inflation. Continue reading...

Public protests are the most visible signs of anger and scepticism over latest series of draconian lockdownsVictoria Li* has experienced several lockdowns since Covid emerged in China almost three years ago. Being a prisoner in her own home in Beijing made her feel depressed, powerless and angry.“Being stuck at home with my door sealed, I felt unmotivated to do anything,” she said. “I didn’t want to work, I didn’t want to study. Sometimes, I crept into my bed and cried,” said the lawyer, who is in her 20s. Continue reading...

Exhibitions in UK and Africa rewrite history by celebrating discoveries of overlooked black excavators in colonial eraThe photographs are rare, the subject choice unusual, but what the photographer captured was a common sight in the early 20th century: a team of colonised people, hard at work under a hot sun, excavating an ancient monument.Today, without these photos, taken in Kenya in the 1940s and 50s, there would be scarcely any evidence that African Kenyans were present at archaeological digs. Their contributions and priceless finds were credited to their European bosses – and their important role in unearthing the history of their own continent has been all but forgotten. Continue reading...

An online campaign to boost his popularity has helped the former Tory minister to the final three of the TV reality contestWhen Matt Hancock entered the I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! jungle, pundits predicted he would be the first to be voted out.His decision to appear on the ITV show, despite his record during the pandemic and the fact he is a sitting MP, had provoked anger and disgust. More than 1,700 people complained to Ofcom, the broadcast regulator, and the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group issued a searing statement. Continue reading...

As Matt Hancock and Michelle Mone are proving, the pandemic was just one big payday for the ConservativesFor the corrupt Tories and their opportunistic friends, the double whammy of Brexit and the pandemic has been a cash handout bonanza, the clatter of fruit machine payouts drowning the lamentations of millions of mourners. Handsy Matt Handcock even got a £400,000 cow’s anus-noshing, sin-eating television appearance out of his role in the racket.At least it isn’t as offensive as Handcock’s last reality TV special, where he touched that woman’s bum in an office with his two hands when the rest of us weren’t even allowed to wave to Grandma through a window or go to her subsequent funeral. But it is disrespectful to a dead cow, an animal that is sacred to the Hindu, for example, to have its anus eaten by Handcock.Stewart Lee’s standup shows Snowflake and Tornado are available on the BBC iPlayer. Basic Lee tour dates are available now Continue reading...

Channel Nine appointments follow the departure of veteran broadcaster Tracy Grimshaw

Gourmet Fadi Kattan wants to give the UK capital an authentic taste of his homeland’s cuisine with a new restaurant ventureAkub, also known as gundelia, is an unruly plant that blossoms across the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East after the winter rains. Some believe that the crown of thorns placed on Jesus’s head during the crucifixion was made from this long-lasting, sweet-smelling thistle.It is foraged everywhere, from the Kurdish highlands and Cyprus to the Sinai peninsula, for its earthy, tender stems and delicate-tasting flower buds, but is most highly prized in Palestinian cuisine. Each spring, people defy the Israeli authorities – who say the plant is in danger of overcollection – to bring as many bags of prickly akub as they can carry back to their kitchens to throw into meat stews or fry with eggs and lemon. Continue reading...

Former universities ministers David Willetts, Jo Johnson and Chris Skidmore say PM’s move will hit economy and levelling upRishi Sunak is facing an immediate backlash over plans for a “mindless crackdown” on overseas students, as three former Tory university ministers warned it would hit attempts to level up the country and hold back Britain’s faltering economy.Tory discontent is growing on several fronts just weeks into Sunak’s premiership, with rebellions growing this weekend over housebuilding plans and his vow to keep a ban on new onshore windfarms. Continue reading...

Unaccompanied child refugees describe attacks in notorious Manston camp after officials ‘ignore or discount’ ID documentsThe Home Office is routinely changing the dates of birth of unaccompanied child asylum seekers to classify them as adults, according to experts who say the practice is now happening on a “horrifying scale”.As a result, many children are being wrongly sent to the notorious Home Office site at Manston in Kent, the experts warn, and detained in unsafe conditions for up to several weeks. Continue reading...

The Sainsbury Wing’s co-designer Denise Scott Brown says plans to remodel her award-winning entrance are tragically bad. Here, she explains whyThe architect of the controversial Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery in London has publicly hit back at plans to completely rebuild it, accusing the new designer of “making our building look like a circus clown”.When it was completed in 1991, the Sainsbury Wing, designed by Denise Scott Brown and her husband Robert Venturi, was derided at first by modernists and traditionalists. Yet by the time Venturi died in 2018, it was, according to the architectural historian Dr Barnabas Calder, “in the absolute top rank of postmodern buildings internationally” and Historic England granted it Grade-I listed status. Continue reading...

Queen Mary in London and Wolverhampton criticised for ‘brutalising’ stance against employeesTwo universities have threatened striking academics that they will be docked all of their pay “indefinitely” in a move that has been described by a union as “brutalising staff into submission”. The University and College Union (UCU) claims record numbers of its members, at 150 higher education institutions across the UK, went on strike on Thursday and Friday. More action is planned for Wednesday.Academics expect to have their pay docked for the three days they are striking. However, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), a member of the prestigious Russell Group, and Wolverhampton University have caused outrage by threatening to continue docking 100% of academics’ pay unless they reschedule all the classes they have missed. Continue reading...

Some practices in England are encouraging stable patients with serious conditions to make their own way to hospitalSome of the country’s GP are advising patients requiring urgent hospital care to “get an Uber” or use a relative’s car because of the worst ever delays in the ambulance service in England.Patients with breathing difficulties and other potentially serious conditions are being told in some cases that they are likely to be transferred more quickly from a general practice to accident and emergency if they travel by cab or private vehicle. Continue reading...

With a primary vote sitting on 29.7% – its lowest result since 1952 – it’s clear the party’s problems run deep

Monthly pay does not cover basic outgoings, with many having to drive taxis, clean and do bar work in their spare timeTeachers are being forced to take second jobs, including driving taxis, bar work and private tutoring, in order to pay bills and eat, headteachers and unions warned last week.The NASUWT teachers’ union has found that one in 10 teachers now have a second or even third job because their teaching pay doesn’t cover their monthly outgoings. With teachers resorting to school food banks, heads are warning that the recent 5% pay rise will still leave many unable to manage basic living costs. Continue reading...

Ballots for industrial action are under way or planned in sectors covering firefighters, teachers, civil servants and othersThe NHS faces the threat of coordinated industrial action lasting several months, with results to be announced within days of strike ballots of ambulance crews and about 300,000 health workers.Junior doctors, paramedics, midwives, porters, cleaners, pharmacy technicians and physiotherapists are being balloted across the NHS. The government now faces the threat of waves of strikes across the public sector, from nurses and firefighters to civil servants and teachers. Continue reading...

A year after the Owen Paterson scandal led to promises of stricter control, politicians have earned £5m from work on the sideMPs are making more than ever from second jobs despite promises from the government to clamp down on the practice, one year on from the Owen Paterson scandal, an Observer investigation has found.Of the 129 MPs who made more than £2,000 from outside income between October 2021 and September 2022, 86 – including the former attorney general Geoffrey Cox – either earned more or the same amount than in the previous year. Continue reading...

Campaigners alarmed by reports of scarlet fever outbreaksThe physical and mental health of Ukrainian refugees living on ships in Glasgow and Edinburgh – branded “floating refugee camps” – are being put in danger, amid reports of residents being quarantined with scarlet fever.A man told the Observer that he and his son had spent a week inside a cabin on board MS Ambition earlier this month after the young child was diagnosed with the highly contagious bacterial infection. Continue reading...

Companies advertise products to women searching online for folic acid to get around marketing restrictionsWomen trying for a baby are being targeted by formula milk companies on social media even before they have become pregnant, a World Health Organization scientist has said.Formula milk brands use online shopping and search data to detect when someone is planning a baby, said Dr Nigel Rollins, of the department of maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health at the WHO. Continue reading...

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Rainbow on the Plains festival celebrates LGBTQ+ pride with colour, a parade and Australia’s largest human rainbow

Findings come amid mounting evidence that the poorest people in the UK are paying a ‘poverty premium’ for basic servicesMillions of households will be paying almost a third of their income in fuel costs this spring, amid warnings that a “black hole in provision” remains for Britain’s poorest families.The vast majority of households in some vulnerable groups – including some 70% of pensioners – will be spending a tenth or more of their income on fuel from April, when support for energy costs will be reduced. Continue reading...

Court battle over noise complaint will decide future of famous music club, which has hosted Johnny Marr, the Charlatans, Arctic Monkeys and Ed SheeranThe closure of Manchester’s Night & Day cafe would be “devastating” for the area and kill its image as a music city, council chiefs have been warned, before a crucial court battle that threatens the future of the famous venue.Many of the biggest names in British music have graced the Night & Day stage in its 31-year history, including Johnny Marr, the Charlatans, Arctic Monkeys and Ed Sheeran. Continue reading...

Kim is joined by young daughter on inspection of his forces, increasing speculation that he is paving way for next generation of Kim dynastyKim Jong-un has said North Korea intends to have the world’s most powerful nuclear force as the leader was again pictured with his daughter while inspecting troops and an intercontinental ballistic missile.North Korea’s “ultimate goal is to possess the world’s most powerful strategic force, the absolute force unprecedented in the century”, Kim said in an order promoting dozens of military officers involved in the launch last weekend of a new ballistic missile, state media reported on Sunday. Continue reading...

Greens’ high hopes evaporate as prepoll vote comes in; leader Samantha Ratnam turns attention to Legislative Council

Driver charged with offences including dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm

Predecessor should be ‘embarrassed’ by the Bell report into secret ministries saga, PM says

Premier puts Labor’s electoral success down to listening to the community rather than partisan commentary

Force says the 25-year-old constable’s employment status is under review

Candidate issues stark warning that party must do more to attract voters under 40 or ‘we will die in Victoria’

Agreement struck with key independent boosts safeguards for small and medium businesses

The striker’s winner resuscitated Australia’s World Cup campaign – and his gesture to son Jaxson symbolised his personal sacrificeMitchell Duke knew he was going to score against Tunisia. He’d told his family as much before the game, and also let his coach know he would soon join the small group of Socceroos to score at a World Cup. Just to be sure, he did some prep work with his son, Jaxson, teaching him how to make a letter J with his fingers.When the striker fulfilled his prophecy on Saturday, netting the winner to resuscitate Australia’s campaign, he turned to where his family sat in the Al Janoub Stadium stands and made the J sign they had practised. He didn’t know it at the time but Jaxson, who was wearing his dad’s No 15 jersey, made the same signal right back. Continue reading...

Met police investigating whether two killings, believed to have happened at about same time, are linkedTwo 16-year-old boys have died after being stabbed a mile apart from each other on the same afternoon, police said.The teenagers were attacked in Sewell Road, Abbey Wood, and Titmuss Avenue in Thamesmead, south-east London. Continue reading...

Greens look likely to gain at least one seat and outperform expectations in a number of other electorates

Liam Smith’s family said he was ‘the most devoted dad, much-loved son, brother, grandson and uncle’Grieving relatives have paid tribute to a man who was found on a street with a “potentially hazardous” substance on his body.Liam Smith’s body was discovered on a residential street at about 7pm on Thursday in Shevington, a suburb of Wigan, Greater Manchester. Continue reading...

Until a fuel efficiency standard is introduced, supply will be prioritised to Europe, the US and the UK