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Hedge fund with 197m stake leads push to prioritise Sydney exchange as FTSE 100 firm outlines ambitious copper production targetsAn activist investor in Rio Tinto has demanded the miner scrap its primary London listing and focus on Australia, as the FTSE 100 firm outlined its long-term investment strategy.Palliser Capital called on the metals and minerals firm to drop its outdated" dual listing structure across the London and Sydney financial markets. Continue reading...

England maintained good maths scores and improved in science, coming ninth and fifth among 70 countriesEnglish pupils have made a strong showing in the latest round of prestigious international tests, maintaining their scores in maths and improving in science, a subject in which they rose to fifth in the league tables.They were among students from 70 countries who participated in the 2023 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss), which takes place every four years, providing education policymakers with international comparisons. Continue reading...

Timss report finds year 4 students ranked equal fifth internationally out of 58 countries, up from ninth in 2019

Perry Kouroumblis was extradited from Italy and charged over the 1977 deaths of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett

Walmatjarri elder and blues musician wins $50,000 prize for Wirlmarni, saying she hopes it will bring pride to her community in Wangkatjungka

November was Ukraine's worst month since September 2022 for territory lost to Russian forces. These charts and maps show the latest developments in the warUkraine lost an area equivalent to the size of New York City to Russian forces in November - the worst monthly figure for Ukrainian defenders since September 2022.After the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia gained ground quickly before being pushed back in a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Last year, with the conflict mostly at a stalemate, Institute for the Study of War (ISW) data shows that Russian forces took 2,233 sq km (862 sq miles) of territory. Already in 2024 they have taken about 2,656 sq km. Continue reading...

Former radio host allegedly committed 11 offences against employee, according to police charge sheets

Syria's second largest city braces for possibility of president Bashar al-Assad revisiting brutal tactics used in civil warA billboard of the Syrian president that once overlooked a central square in Aleppo has been burned almost beyond recognition, but the influence of Bashar al-Assad is still felt in the now rebel-held city as residents live in fear of bombardment by his regime.The biggest fear, one shared by all the people of Aleppo right now, is the airstrikes," said Mahmoud, a 50-year-old man who declined to share his family name, concerned that Assad could regain control of the city and punish accused critics as he did eight years ago. Continue reading...

Semiconductor restrictions on China announced by Washington a day earlier prompt retaliation involving critical minerals including gallium and germaniumThe Chinese government has said it will ban exports to the US of some key components in making semiconductors, escalating trade tensions a day after Washington announced curbs targeting China's ability to make advanced chips.Among the materials banned from export were the metals gallium, antimony and germanium, China's commerce ministry said in a statement that cited national security" concerns. Continue reading...

This blog is closed - you can follow live coverage on our new liveblogThe White House has said it is closely" monitoring the situation in South Korea.The administration is in contact with the ROK government and is monitoring the situation closely," a spokesperson for the national security council said, using the official acronym for the Republic of Korea, where thousands of US troops are based as parts of efforts to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.All political activities are banned in South Korea following the imposition of martial law on Tuesday and all media will be subject to government monitoring.All political activities, including those of the national assembly, local councils, political parties, and political associations, as well as assemblies and demonstrations, are strictly prohibited. Continue reading...

Vote marks a change to the nation's official stance held for more than two decades

Judge rejects One Nation leader's application to halve amount she was ordered to pay Greens deputy leader

Several climbing-related items which police believe belonged to the trio found, as bad weather will likely delay search efforts until ThursdayRescue teams looking for three climbers who went missing on New Zealand's highest mountain have expressed grave concerns" over the party's welfare in the rugged terrain, as bad weather hampers search efforts for the second day in a row.US nationals Kurt Blair, 56, and Carlos Romero, 50, and a Canadian man flew by helicopter on Saturday to a camp on Aoraki Mount Cook with plans to summit the 3,724 metre (12,218 ft) mountain. Continue reading...

As part of a comprehensive programme of renationalisation, the service will come under public ownership in MaySouth Western Railway will be the first train operator nationalised under the Labour government, ministers have announced.One of the UK's biggest commuter services, which operates out of London Waterloo, it will be taken into public hands in May. Continue reading...

Sean Casten brings resolution calling for disclosure of draft report into Trump's original attorney general pickCongressman Sean Casten introduced a privileged resolution on Tuesday demanding the House ethics committee release its investigative report on former representative Matt Gaetz, even after Gaetz withdrew from consideration after being nominated to be Donald Trump's attorney general, amid sexual scandal.The Illinois Democrat's resolution calls for immediate public disclosure of the committee's draft report, including conclusions, recommendations, and supporting materials, with provisions to protect sensitive information and witness identities. Continue reading...

Van belonging to popular indie group ransacked by thief waving gun outside Starbucks in VallejoThe British band Sports Team was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday while on the US leg of their tour outside San Francisco, the group reports.According to a statement provided by the six-member group, a thief stole stage equipment, laptops, passports, personal items and other valuables while the band stopped for breakfast at a Starbucks in Vallejo, California, at 8.45am local time. In the store, a passerby alerted the band that someone was ransacking their tour van. When band members attempted to intervene, the perpetrator brandished a gun. Continue reading...

South Korean president miscalculated by thinking some MPs would back his declaration of martial law

People will be allowed to use expired identity documents amid real fear' of another Windrush-style scandalPassengers will be allowed to use expired identity documents to travel to the UK because of flaws in the eVisa system, a minister has told the Guardian.Seema Malhotra, the migration and citizenship minister, said the government had postponed a planned full shift to the new digital immigration system amid real fear" of another Windrush-style scandal among minority communities. Continue reading...

Minority government of prime minister faces near-certain defeat in a no-confidence vote that could spark crisisThe Libertes, independants, outre-mer et territoires (Liberties, Independents, Overseas and Territories, Liot) group, which has about two dozen elected members, will not vote for Wednesday's censure motion (i.e. the no confidence motion over the budget).At this stage, none of the Liot MPs intend to vote for censure tomorrow," Harold Huwart, the MP for Eure-et-Loir and spokesperson for the parliamentary group, was quoted as saying:First of all, because the country is in a difficult moment, censorship is an act whose final consequences no one can measure. Voting for censorship is particularly irresponsible.None of the deputies (of Liot) want to be associated with an act of destabilisation plotted by extremes who come together in a desperate attempt.Let's be clear: a motion of censure is not a coalition or a political agreement, it is nothing other than the expression of a disavowal of the policy and budgetary choices proposed by the Government. Continue reading...

Change in festive schedule comes after Wallace stepped away from hosting cookery show amid allegations about his behaviourThe BBC has pulled two MasterChef celebrity specials from its Christmas schedule as new allegations emerged against Gregg Wallace.Wallace stepped away from presenting the show last week after being accused of highly inappropriate" sexualised comments and behaviour. Multiple people who worked with him on different shows over a 17-year-period have made allegations against him. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Move would be last-ditch attempt to save thousands of UK jobs amid standoff with company's Chinese ownersMinisters are considering renationalising British Steel in a last-ditch attempt to save thousands of jobs, amid a standoff between the government and the company's Chinese owners over a 1bn investment.Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, is locked in talks with British Steel and its owner, Jingye, to agree how much each party should put into a rescue plan for its main Scunthorpe site. Continue reading...

US president remembers stolen men and women and children brought to our shores' and lauds American investment in countryJoe Biden addressed America's history of enslavement in a speech on Tuesday at Angola's National Museum of Slavery, calling it our nation's original sin" during a trip in which he also lauded recent US investment in the region.We remember the stolen men and women and children who were brought to our shores in chains, subjected to unimaginable cruelty," Biden said, as the sun set over the water behind him. Continue reading...

Bob Lambert accused of failing to consider wellbeing of woman he deceived into sexual relationshipAn undercover police officer has been accused of behaving recklessly" when he fathered a son with a woman from whom he had concealed his real identity, a public inquiry has heard.Bob Lambert was accused of failing to give any consideration to the wellbeing of the woman, known as Jacqui, whom he had deceived into an intimate relationship. Continue reading...

Retailer removes 5 hats from website after mangling Welsh spelling of country, Cymru as Cyrmu'There are undoubtedly some Welsh names that can be difficult for someone who does not speak the language to negotiate, but the country itself - Cymru - is surely not too tricky.So there has been a degree of frustration in Wales that the retailer Sports Direct has managed to mangle it as Cyrmu" on a range of bobble hats. Continue reading...

MPs vote to give leave to bring in private members' bill on PR but it will have no practical effectLord Robertson, the former Labour defence secretary and former Nato secretary who is leading the government's strategic defence review, is giving evidence to the Commons defence committee. He has told MPs that the Americans are being fully consulted about the review. This is from Shashank Joshi, the Economist's defence editor.Listening to George Robertson & Richard Barrons, who are writing the UK's defence review alongside Fiona Hill, giving evidence to the Commons defence committee. They're in constant contact" with allies, Robertson says, and have a US officer on the review team. Continue reading...

Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad in violent confrontations' with armed groups in Hama, according to reports

Companies say higher returns are needed to ensure record infrastructure investment across industry is deliveredWater companies want to see higher returns for shareholders to ensure record investment into sewage infrastructure, pipes and treatment plants is delivered.As Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales, prepares to announce its decision on how much customer bills will be allowed to rise by to fund tens of billions of pounds in investment across the industry, water companies said higher returns were needed. Continue reading...

Yoon Suk Yeol says in late-night address that opposition parties have taken parliamentary process hostage

State can enforce law against those who harbor or transport a minor across state lines without parental consentIdaho can enforce a first-of-its-kind abortion trafficking" law against those who harbor or transport a minor to get an abortion out of state without parental consent, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday.But the San Francisco-based 9th US circuit court of appeals in its ruling blocked a part of the law that prohibits recruiting" a minor to get an abortion. Continue reading...

Company is at loggerheads with Italian government, which claims it has not invested enough in the country

Gregor Formanek is charged with aiding and abetting 3,322 murders at the Sachsenhausen concentration campGerman authorities are pressing for a 100-year-old former Nazi concentration camp guard to face trial almost 80 years after the end of the second world war.The higher regional court in Frankfurt said on Tuesday it had overturned a decision by a lower court under which the suspect had been deemed unfit to stand trial. Continue reading...

Davies says position untenable' despite narrowly winning confidence vote, as voter intention poll shows Welsh Tories sliding to fourth place

Migrants waiting in Tapachula by Guatemala border fear Trump's election could worsen crisis and spur northward flightOutside the migration office, Tito subtly pointed out the watchful human smugglers leaning against a wall.They had already tried to sell their services to Tito, who was on his way to the US but, like everyone else there, found himself stuck in Tapachula, a town in southern Mexico which has become a global way station. Continue reading...

Paul Thwaite says government's exit from its stake in bank could come in first half of 2025 and will be a great moment'The chief executive of NatWest has said the bailed-out bank is on a fast trajectory to private ownership", with the government likely to fully exit its stake within the first half of 2025.Paul Thwaite said it would be a symbolic moment for NatWest Group staff and the wider banking sector, allowing the industry to close another chapter of the fallout from the 2008 banking crash. Continue reading...

Sykes says she informally complained about MasterChef host, as Vanessa Feltz claims he told people in lift of sex actMelanie Sykes has revealed she made an informal complaint about Gregg Wallace, saying that having to work with him on Celebrity MasterChef in 2021 was the reason why she quit TV.On Monday night the BBC rejected calls to pull the cookery show from its scheduled slot, on a day Wallace apologised for dismissing his accusers as middle-class women of a certain age". Continue reading...

Tougher guidance in England and Wales will also prevent convicted stalkers from contacting victims while in prison

Carmaker, which has faced backlash over rebrand, will reveal production-ready version of Type 00 in late 2025

Truong My Lan must repay three-quarters of $12bn she embezzled from bank in a case that shocked the countryThe Vietnamese property tycoon Truong My Lan has lost her appeal against the death penalty for masterminding a multibillion-dollar fraud scandal - though she could still save her life if she can repay most of the funds she embezzled.Lan, who founded the real-estate developer Van Thinh Phat, was sentenced to death in April for embezzling $12bn (9.95bn) from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB), in a case that shocked the country. Continue reading...

Christopher Carrig, who was also sentenced for targeting a Jewish man at a bus stop, kept framed pictures of Nazi leaders in his bedroom

In today's newsletter: After a general election, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail look set to retain power - how have two main, centre-right parties avoided the kicking seen elsewhere?Good morning. All over the western world, incumbent governments have been given a kicking over the cost of living crisis. But in the Irish election, where the counting of results concluded yesterday, it's a very different story.Not long ago, Sinn Fein appeared on course to win the popular vote and become the leading party in a new coalition, but its support fell away badly earlier this year. Instead, Ireland's traditionally dominant parties of the centre-right, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, appear to have it sown up again.Cybercrime | The UK is underestimating the severity of the online threat it faces from hostile states and criminal gangs, the country's cybersecurity chief will warn on Tuesday. Richard Horne, the head of GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre, will cite a trebling of severe" incidents amid Russian and Chinese aggression.Foreign policy | Keir Starmer has utterly rejected" the idea that the UK must choose between the United States and Europe when Donald Trump comes to power. In a major foreign policy speech in London, Starmer said the UK would never turn away" from the US but would continue to reset" the relationship with Europe.US news | Donald Trump seized on Hunter Biden's pardon to drop one of his strongest hints yet that he intends to grant clemency to at least some of the instigators and participants of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by a mob trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.Syria | Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have crossed into eastern Syria in an attempt to shore up struggling forces loyal to Damascus. They are battling an insurgency that has swept much of the country's north-west as Islamist militants seized control of Aleppo.Television | Gregg Wallace has apologised for dismissing those who have accused him of inappropriate behaviour as middle-class women of a certain age". His remarks came after No 10 condemned his initial remarks as misogynistic", and as pressure mounted on the BBC to stop broadcasting Wallace's programmes.Migration is a really difficult issue for them. Sinn Fein are unusual in that they are a leftwing nationalist party. Typically, nationalist parties tend to be on the right and nativist ... happy to redistribute money but only to people of a given nationality. Sinn Fein, on the other hand, have quite a socialist economic agenda, which is at odds with that. Continue reading...

Sakina Muhammad Jan, who was married at 12 in Afghanistan and saw family members killed by Taliban, should be spared prison, lawyer argues

Powerful industry groups oppose mandatory accounts for gamblers to help monitor everyone using poker machines

But it warns of shortfalls if high demand periods - like heatwaves - happen during unplanned outages

Finance secretary must find way to bring either Greens or Lib Dems onboard while plugging possible 200m shortfallScottish ministers are contemplating modest tax increases for the better off and plan to scrap the freeze in council tax rates as they search for extra money in this week's budget.Shona Robison, the Scottish finance secretary, is under pressure to provide a vote-winning budget on Wednesday after being given a record amount of funding from the Treasury for next year. Continue reading...

Campaigners welcome Nice approval for use of Kimmtrak (tebentafusp) to treat patients with uveal melanomaHundreds of patients in England with a rare form of eye cancer are to be offered on the NHS a pioneering drug that kills cancer cells and boosts the chances of survival.In guidance published on Tuesday, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) gave the green light to tebentafusp for patients whose uveal melanoma cannot be removed with surgery or has spread to other parts of the body. Continue reading...

Majority of areas where violence broke out have below-median scores on index of community cohesion and resilienceA majority of towns that saw rioting last summer have a torn social fabric" and have been bearing the brunt of economic deprivation, according to a new report.The report was published by the charitable trust Power to Change, using a social fabric index" produced by the Onward thinktank which looks at the changing nature of community in different parts of the UK. Continue reading...

Assault on Syria's second-largest city by Islamist militants may tarnish Russia's reputation as a global playerThe walls of the military office in Aleppo were adorned with pictures of the Kremlin, flanked by Russian and Syrian flags hanging side by side. On the desks, documents detailing the cooperation between the two nations lay abandoned - telltale signs of Bashar al-Assad's forces' hasty retreat as rebels closed in on Syria's second-biggest city over the weekend.The short clip circulating online was recorded in the office of Russian advisers at Aleppo's military academy after it was taken by rebels in a surprise offensive. It highlights the escalating threat to the Assad regime and, by extension, to Moscow's strategic foothold in Syria and the broader region. Continue reading...

State police commissioner says she no longer has confidence in officer after he fatally shot 95-year-old woman with a Taser

Joan Busquets, 96, suffered torture, forced labour and 20 years in prison under the Franco regime and seeks reparationsOne of the last surviving fighters from the guerrilla war waged against the Franco dictatorship in the 1940s is suing the Spanish government for 1m in reparations.Barcelona-born Joan Busquets, 96, suffered torture, forced labour and 20 years in prison at the hands of the Franco regime. The case comes in response to Spain's Democratic Memory law, passed in 2022, which offers moral reparations" to the regime's victims. Continue reading...

Thinktank urges government to be much more ambitious' as actions so far are not enough to fulfil manifesto pledgeLabour will miss its manifesto target of building 1.5m homes in England before the end of this parliament without more radical reform to the planning system, the thinktank the Centre for Cities has warned.Keir Starmer put tackling housing affordability at the heart of his pitch to voters, promising to get Britain building again". Continue reading...