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Thompson refutes any and all allegations that have been made' against him after government announced action

Healthscope to rip up contracts with Bupa and Australian Health Services Alliance in fight over extra fee

Sector will have extra 2.8bn cost burden from April due to tax and wage rises announced in budget, says Nuffield TrustLarge parts of England's adult social care market face collapse as a result of tax and wage rises announced in the budget, with devastating consequences for vulnerable and older people who rely on care services, a leading thinktank has warned.The Nuffield Trust said that while the government has consistently spoken of its long term ambition to reform the social care sector, there may be little of it left" to reform unless it takes urgent action to stabilise the care market financially. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Jacinta Allan has been criticised by Labor and Greens over agreement signed before the 7 October attacks

Exclusive: Chief inspector says drones are number one concern' amid inadequate' Prison Service responseGuns could be delivered by drones into jails already riven by drug-related gang wars amid an inadequate" response from the prison service, a leading watchdog has told the Guardian.Charlie Taylor, the HM chief inspector of prisons, said the surge in the use of large unmanned aerial vehicles was his number one concern" and had increased the possibility that firearms would be used to settle turf wars or attempt to escape. Continue reading...

Everyone in US politics has an opinion on why the Democrats lost the election, and finger-pointing within the party is rife. As the debate rages, Jonathan Freedland will be speaking to various experts about what the party got wrong - and how it can bounce back.This week, he meets James Carville, the veteran political strategist who helped get Bill Clinton elected twiceArchive: Pennebaker Associates, McEttinger Films, Cyclone Films, CNN, CBS News, MSNBC, PBS Newshour, BBC News Continue reading...

Ukrainian president appeals for tough global response, as Nato accuses Vladimir Putin of trying to intimidate Kyiv's allies

Company's shares sink with revised revenue outlook in wake of former CEO's high-profile resignation last month

NAHT says early checks on phonics, arithmetic and English in primary schools are potential waste of time and fundingPrimary school pupils in England should not face compulsory tests on phonics, times tables or grammar and punctuation, an influential headteachers' union has advised the government.The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) told the government's national curriculum and assessment review that there was an urgent need" to reconsider the phonics check of reading ability, along with the multiplication check and tests of spelling, grammar and punctuation, as a potential waste of school time and funding. Continue reading...

Persistent offenders will face up to two years in prison under Respect orders, as police get powers to seize vehiclesPeople who persistently demonstrate antisocial behaviour will face up to two years in jail under Labour's Respect orders, the home secretary will say on Friday.Yvette Cooper will also announce that police will be given new powers to immediately seize off-road bikes, e-scooters on pavements and street-racing cars as part of the clampdown. Continue reading...

Violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follows killing of dozens of people in clashes between Sunnis and minority ShiasAt least 42 people have been killed and 20 wounded after gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying Shia Muslims in Pakistan's restive north-west, in one of the region's deadliest such attacks in recent years, police said.The attack happened in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where sectarian clashes between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shias have killed dozens of people in recent months. Continue reading...

Gaetz's withdrawal comes amid intense scrutiny of allegations of sexual misconduct against cabinet nominee

Simon Medland KC told inquiry his membership of organisation was not the reason he was approached by hospital bossA judge has denied he was asked to give legal advice to hospital bosses over concerns about nurse Lucy Letby because he is a Freemason, a public inquiry has heard.The Thirlwall inquiry into events surrounding the crimes of Letby heard that both Judge Simon Medland KC and the Countess of Chester's former director of corporate and legal services, Stephen Cross, are members of the organisation. Continue reading...

Cross-party group cites legal threats used to hide Post Office Horizon scandal and allegations against Mohamed Al FayedExcessive legal threats used to silence those who tried to expose the Post Office Horizon scandal and allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed should be outlawed, a cross-party group of MPs have said.MPs raised a series of cases, documented by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, where media outlets and whistleblowers have been prevented from publishing material that they believed was in the public interest. Continue reading...

Prescott, from proud working-class stock, represented the part of Labour that Tony Blair knew he had to carry with himThe first time I met John Prescott, we were in a helicopter flying over the Thames Gateway where he and Tony Blair, the then prime minister, also on board, were announcing a multimillion-pound regeneration plan.It was August 2003 and I was a young pool reporter for the Press Association, there to ask the politicians about their plans on behalf of the rest of the media. The flight was noisy and we all wore ear protectors, so conversation was limited. Continue reading...

Warrants also issued for ex-defence minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Mohammed Deif; UK expected to agree if ICC request Netanyahu arrestIsrael's position has always held that the rulings of the international criminal court do not apply to it, as it is not a member.Foreign minister Gideon Saar on Thursday said that it had issued absurd orders with no authority" against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant because Israel is not a member of the court."The Chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that during the relevant time, international humanitarian law related to international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine applied. This is because they are two High Contracting Parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and because Israel occupies at least parts of Palestine.The Chamber also found that the law related to non-international armed conflict applied to the fighting between Israel and Hamas. Continue reading...

Police were advised there was no chance of conviction against journalist after hate crime investigation, Guardian understandsEssex police have dropped their hate crime investigation into Allison Pearson, the Daily Telegraph columnist visited by police after she wrongly accused people of colour of being antisemitic.The decision followed advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that there was no reasonable chance of a conviction, the Guardian understands. Continue reading...

Local authorities think head discovered at businessman's property may be part of mafia intimidation tacticA severed horse's head has been discovered at the property of a Sicilian businessman, in what local authorities believe may be a mafia intimidation tactic reminiscent of a scene from The Godfather.The animal's head was left on the seat of a digger owned by the man, a construction contractor in Altofonte, near the Sicilian capital, Palermo. The remains of a pregnant cow and its calf were also found at the site. Continue reading...

Bill gives authority to the Australian government to pay third countries to accept unlawful non-citizens on a removal pathway

Food Safety and Inspection Service says possible contamination has left at least 15 people sickA Michigan meatpacking company is recalling more than 167,000lb of ground beef because of a possible E coli contamination that has left at least 15 people ill, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (Fsis) said in a statement on Wednesday.The Minnesota department of agriculture notified Fsis last week of a group of people who had become sick after consuming ground beef. The agency subsequently tracked the meat back to the Michigan-based Wolverine packing company. A sample of ground beef from the company tested positive for E coli on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Pair suggest Trump could require government workers to be in-office five days a week as part of effort to trim workforceElon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy suggested Donald Trump could require government employees to be in the office five days a week as part of an effort to trim the size of the federal workforce.Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don't want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn't pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in a Wednesday op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Trump has tapped both men to lead the newly created department of government efficiency. Continue reading...

International Distribution Services blames budget for adding 120m to yearly costs through NICs increaseThe company that owns Royal Mail is considering job cuts and price rises on stamps and parcels as it blamed the Labour government's first budget in 14 years for adding 120m to its costs.International Distribution Services (IDS) said the government's decision to raise employers' national insurance contributions (NICs) compounded challenges for the business as it faces one of the most turbulent periods in the history of its 508-year-old subsidiary, Royal Mail. Continue reading...

DfE figures show more pupils suspended repeatedly, and for longer periods, than before pandemic in 2020School leaders have said they lack the resources to manage a rising tide of challenging behaviour since the Covid pandemic, after figures revealed a significant rise in the number of pupils being suspended and expelled in England.The figures from the Department for Education (DfE) showed more pupils were being suspended repeatedly, and for longer periods, than before the pandemic struck in 2020 and schools were closed for most children over extended periods. Continue reading...

Lower sales in UK and North America after mild weather and discounting by rivals offset by 3.5% rise in Europe

None of his peers would appear with him on a chatshow the actor claimed, setting an ominous precedent for the industry's interactions with Trump after he comes into powerSebastian Stan, who stars in The Apprentice, a biopic of Donald Trump focusing on his association in the 1970s with lawyer Roy Cohn, has said that other actors in Hollywood are too afraid" of the president-elect to participate in press with him.Stan claimed that he had failed to find a single peer who would appear opposite him in the Actors on Actors series run by industry magazine Variety, in which key awards contenders quiz each other. Continue reading...

A year after Dublin's anti-immigration riots, a tent camp for asylum seekers faces hostility while some locals try to support the new arrivalsIn the small town of Newtown Mount Kennedy, a holding centre for people who have just arrived in Ireland seeking asylum lies in the wooded grounds of Trudder House, a former convent. The building itself is disused and off-limits. Instead, men arriving from countries such as Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria are housed in 12-16 makeshift tents, separated from the town by a 10ft-tall fence daubed with graffiti reading Newtown says no".Craig Bishop, a retired GP who is part of Newtown Together, a group of volunteers trying to support the camp's residents, said the barricade created an immediate sense of them and us". They come all this way for protection only to be behind a 10ft fence to be protected from who? From the locals," he said. Continue reading...

Steve Reed says he may not agree on inheritance tax changes but government will listen to rural Britain

Israeli attacks have destroyed huge areas of land used for crops, with 90% of cattle killed, analysis showsMore than 90% of cattle have died and about 70% of land for crops in Gaza has been destroyed or damaged since the beginning of the war in the territory, an analysis of satellite imagery by the UN has found.More than half of sheep and goat herds have been wiped out, while more than three-quarters of the territory's famous orchards have been destroyed or damaged, the survey in September found. Continue reading...

People charged after the AFP sting against the encypted app claim the information was not obtained lawfully

For the first time in over 30 years Medicins Sans Frontieres halts activity leaving 2 million people in Port-au-Prince without vital healthcareMedecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has said its aid workers are heartbroken" after the medical NGO was forced to suspend all of its healthcare services in Port-au-Prince for the first time in three decades, leaving Haitians in the violence-ravaged capital without a critical lifeline.The international non-profit said it had no choice but to halt all operations on Wednesday after staff were repeatedly attacked and received death threats from armed vigilantes and the national police. Continue reading...

Use of weapon, which can carry nuclear payload, would mark its first use in any armed conflict if confirmed

Firms could get up to a year to respond to mis-selling complaints after shock court ruling last monthThe City regulator plans to intervene in the car loan mis-selling scandal, in a move that could give lenders up to a year to respond to the rising number of customer complaints after a shock court ruling.The Financial Conduct Authority has been under pressure to take action after a court of appeal ruling in October said it was unlawful for two lenders to have paid a secret" commission to car dealers without borrowers' knowledge. Continue reading...

Case marks first time a trans person has successfully legally challenged use of such conversion practices in the countryA transgender woman in China has won a record amount of compensation from a hospital that subjected her to several sessions of electroshock conversion practices without her consent.Changli county people's court in Qinhuangdao, a city in Hebei, approved a 60,000 yuan (6,552) award to Ling'er, a 28-year-old performance artist who was assigned male at birth but identifies as a woman. LGBTQ+ activists described the award, approved on 31 October, as a victory for trans rights in China. Continue reading...

A New Zealand citizen is also ill, while a US citizen has died following a suspected mass poisoning event in the town of Vang Vieng

Outcry after draft text contains only an X' instead of setting $1tn funding goal to support developing countries

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Wars have spread and intensified, with far-reaching impacts on global economic growth and food security, according to latest Conflict Intensity IndexThe proportion of the world engulfed by conflict has grown 65% - equivalent to nearly double the size of India - over the past three years, according to a new report.Ukraine, Myanmar, the Middle East and a conflict corridor" around Africa's Sahel region have seen wars and unrest spread and intensify since 2021, according to the latest Conflict Intensity Index (CII), published by risk analysts Verisk Maplecroft. Continue reading...

Perth businessman tells AGM he made error in judgment' as company's executive pay plans are voted down

NSW government caves to rail union demands to prevent workers striking

New poll finds 53% of Britons support permanent exhibition on Britain's role in slave trade at British MuseumThe majority of people in the UK think the British Museum should have a permanent exhibition dedicated to the transatlantic slave trade, according to research.New polling data by YouGov found that 53% of respondents think a permanent display about Britain's role in the trade of enslaved African people would be appropriate, while two-thirds believe the British Museum has a role in educating the public about the UK's history in the slave trade. Continue reading...

Israeli move follows Guardian report that 12-year-old girl's evacuation for treatment had been repeatedly blockedThe Israeli authorities have permitted Mazyouna Damoo, a 12-year-old Palestinian girl whose face was ripped off" when an Israeli missile struck her home in June, to leave Gaza for medical treatment, five days after the Guardian reported that repeated requests for her urgent medical evacuation had been denied.Last Friday, the Guardian highlighted the Damoo family's desperate battle to get Mazyouna evacuated from Gaza to the United States to receive emergency surgery on devastating injuries to her face sustained in a missile attack by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which tore off half of her cheek and exposed her jawbone. Continue reading...

Relatives of those killed in 1974 attack urge government on its 50th anniversary to set up statutory inquiryRelatives of the victims of the Birmingham pub bombings have said England's biggest unsolved mass murder of the 20th century" should be at the top of the government's list as they renewed their calls for a public inquiry on the 50th anniversary of the atrocity.On 21 November 1974, 21 people were killed and 220 injured when bombs exploded in two Birmingham pubs, in an attack widely believed to have been orchestrated by the Provisional IRA. Continue reading...

Greens and legal advocates say bill will make it harder to hold authorities accountable for conditions in detention facilities

Everett's novel, James, which focuses on Twain's enslaved character Jim, won the $10,000 prizePercival Everett has won the $10,000 National Book Award for fiction, one of the US's most prestigious literary prizes, for James, his acclaimed reimagining of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.The 67-year-old author was also shortlisted for this year's Booker prize for James, which focuses on Huckleberry Finn's enslaved character Jim. The Guardian's Anthony Cummins called the book gripping, painful, funny, horrifying" in his review. Continue reading...

Infrastructure minister made claims about Tony Pasin to parliament on Wednesday, asking privileges committee to investigate

Former ABC foreign correspondent and SMH journalist says he will put a blowtorch' to the industry

Vehicle set on fire in Woollahra and cars vandalised with slogans fuck Israel' and PKK coming'

Judge finds neither Nikola Marko Gasparovic nor Dominik Sieben's actions at 2022's soccer final were Nazi-related but upholds Marijan Lisica's conviction

At least two people killed as major storm batters region, closing schools, downing trees and knocking out powerA major storm swept across the US north-west, battering the region with strong winds and rain, causing widespread power outages, closing schools and downing trees that killed at least two people.The Weather Prediction Center issued excessive rainfall risks through Friday, and hurricane-force wind warnings were in effect as the strongest atmospheric river - a large plume of moisture - that California and the Pacific north-west has seen this season overwhelmed the region. The storm system that hit starting Tuesday is considered a bomb cyclone," which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly. Continue reading...

Thinktank's report says Beijing has emerged from Covid-induced lull with a more competitive, politically targeted model' of engagement in the regionChina has renewed efforts to curry favour in Pacific island nations, a new report has found, after charting a resurgence" in Beijing-backed aid and infrastructure funding.Over the past decade, China has lavished billions of dollars on Pacific island nations, part of ongoing efforts to build influence in competition with the US and its allies. Continue reading...