World news | The Guardian

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

This blog is now closed

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...

Despite a diplomatic push from Chris Bowen and Anthony Albanese, Turkey won't back down on its bid to host Cop31

Experts say UK lags behind' as OECD finds poor outcomes for many diagnosed with colon and lung cancersPeople in the UK who are diagnosed with the two most lethal forms of cancer die sooner than those in many other comparable countries, a new study has found.Research by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed the UK ranked a lowly 31st out of 43 countries for how many people survive at least five years after being diagnosed with lung cancer.UK spending on cancer will rise from 14.4bn to more than 23bn by 2050 because the ageing population will lead to more people being diagnosed.Cancer will cause one in four deaths of people under the age of 75 between now and 2050.170,000 people at any one time cannot work because they have cancer. Continue reading...

Poisoning can overload the body with acid, causing vomiting, abdominal pain, unconsciousness and vision lossTwo Australian teenagers are severely ill in hospital in Thailand after experiencing suspected methanol poisoning while travelling in Laos.The pair are among several foreign nationals to become ill after unknowingly consuming alcoholic drinks containing methanol in the south-east Asian country. Three deaths have reportedly been linked to the mass poisoning. Continue reading...

Randy Boissonnault to step away from cabinet' after being accused of pretendianism' and improper business dealingsCanada's employment minister has resigned from the cabinet after weeks of scrutiny over both his business dealings and his shifting claims of Indigenous ancestry.Moments before question period on Wednesday, prime minister Justin Trudeau's office said Randy Boissonnault would step away from cabinet effective immediately" and will focus on clearing the allegations made against him". Continue reading...

UN security council voted 14-1 in favor of resolution but it was not adopted because of the US vetoThe US has vetoed a UN security council push to call for a ceasefire in Gaza that Washington said would have emboldened Hamas.The resolution demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" in the war between Israel and the Palestinian group, along with the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages." Continue reading...

John Healey said some had already been decommissioned in practice and confirmed retirement of some helicoptersThe defence secretary, John Healey, has announced he will scrap 500m of British navy vessels and army drones as part of cost-saving measures in what was described as a black day" for the new government.Two former Royal Navy flagships, a frigate and two support tankers will be decommissioned, with the savings reinvested into the defence budget. Healey blamed the move on a dire inheritance" left by the previous Tory administration. Continue reading...

American applications would be fast-tracked although scheme is open to other nationalities, says mayor of OllolaiThe mayor of a small town in Sardinia has said thousands of Americans keen to escape Donald Trump have expressed an interest in moving there after he offered homes to them for as little as 1.Francesco Columbu, the mayor of Ollolai, has held similarly enticing initiatives in the past as a way to combat depopulation, but released more homes for sale after sensing he was on to winner when Trump clinched a second term as US president in elections earlier this month. Continue reading...

Moscow has rattled its nuclear sabres, but experts say an increase in hybrid, grey zone' warfare is more likelyMoscow has threatened to retaliate for the decision taken by the US and the UK to allow their long-range missiles to be used in strikes inside Russian territory, and warned that nothing is off the table. Earlier this week, the Kremlin announced a formal change in its nuclear doctrine which specifically envisages a possible nuclear response to Nato-assisted strikes on Russian soil. So, how far is Vladimir Putin prepared to go? Continue reading...

Exclusive: Government helps to broker deal involving 12 suppliers following winter fuel payment cuts

Defence secretary John Healey announced moves including decommissioning two Navy flagships as part of plans to save up to 500mAlex Burghart says he agrees with Rayner's remarks on Ukraine.He gets on to his question, and it is a short one. What is the government doing to cut inflation. Continue reading...

At summing up, lawyers say Gisele Pelicot wanted to show how people still defend rape in France in 2024Gisele Pelicot's decision to waive her anonymity and hold a public trial after her husband drugged her and invited dozens of men to rape her over a decade was made in the hope of ending rape culture and rape itself, her lawyers have argued.Summing up in court in Avignon, southern France, after more than two months of hearings, Stephane Babonneau, one of Gisele Pelicot's lawyers, said: We don't believe rape is an inevitability. This is a country of progress ... Rape is not part of the future of society that we want." Continue reading...

Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud had been convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanityThe international criminal court has sentenced an al-Qaida-linked extremist leader to 10 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity carried out when he headed the Islamic police in Timbuktu in Mali, west Africa.Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud was convicted in June of torture, religious persecution and other inhumane acts. Judges found he was a key figure" in a reign of terror after Islamic extremist rebels overran the ancient desert city in 2012. Continue reading...

Lawyers argue throwing out case necessary to facilitate orderly transition of executive power' following electionDonald Trump's lawyers asked the judge overseeing his Manhattan hush-money criminal case for permission to make yet another play for dismissal, arguing that throwing out the case was necessary in order to facilitate the orderly transition of Executive power" following his victory over Kamala Harris.Todd Blanche, Trump's lead attorney and pick for deputy US attorney general, and Emil Bove, his choice for principal associate deputy attorney general, railed against the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, in their missive to Judge Juan Merchan, which was made public Wednesday. Continue reading...

UN inspectorate chief calls Tehran's move a concrete step in the right direction', amid threat of restored sanctionsIran has offered to keep its stock of uranium enriched up to 60% - below the purity levels required to make a nuclear bomb - the head of the UN nuclear inspectorate, Rafael Grossi, has confirmed amid the threat of restored European sanctions over Tehran's nuclear activities.I think this is ... a concrete step in the right direction. We have a fact which has been verified by us. It is the first time Iran has agreed to take a different path," Grossi said in Vienna on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Ancient beauty accessories, sarcophagi and urns recovered after illegal excavation in UmbriaItalian police have recovered a trove of funerary treasures, believed to have belonged to Etruscan princesses, that were illegally excavated from a vast underground tomb in the Umbria region.The finds, which included eight urns, two sarcophagi - one containing the remains of a woman aged between 40 and 45 - and beauty accessories, originated from a hypogeum that has been traced to an influential Etruscan family who lived between 300BC and 100BC. Continue reading...

Belgian artist's 1954 painting Empire of Light was valued at $95m yet broke new record at Christie's auction in New YorkA painting by Rene Magritte shattered an auction record for the surrealist artist on Tuesday, selling for more than $121m at Christie's in New York.The seminal 1954 painting had been valued at $95m, and the previous record for a work by Magritte was $79m, set in 2022. Continue reading...

Dyer receives apology and undisclosed sum after MGN Limited admitted unlawful access of private informationThe former Newcastle United and England footballer, Kieron Dyer, has received an apology at the high court after settling his phone-hacking case against the Daily Mirror in return for a financial payout.The Mirror's owners, MGN Limited, admitted to unlawfully intercepting Dyer's voicemails between March 2003 and December 2004, and using private investigators to unlawfully obtain private information on eight occasions between 2003 and 2005. Continue reading...

Officers investigated over death of woman and her unborn baby after collision with unmarked police carTwo Metropolitan police officers are under investigation for allegedly causing death by dangerous driving after a heavily pregnant woman and her unborn baby were killed in a crash with an unmarked police vehicle.The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said the 38-year-old woman, who was in the full-term of her pregnancy, was killed in the collision in south-east London on 17 October. Continue reading...

Bullying claims linked to diversity programme retaliation', despite efforts to improve workplace culture

Ryland Headley, from Ipswich, appeared via video link in Bristol magistrates court over killing of 75-year-old Louisa DunneA 92-year-old man has appeared in court charged with the rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne, who died in Bristol almost 60 years ago.Ryland Headley, of Ipswich, appeared at Bristol magistrates court via video link from a police station on Wednesday morning. Continue reading...

Ryland Headley, 92, was arrested on Tuesday in connection with killing of 75-year-old Louisa DunneA 92-year-old man has been charged with the rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne, who died in Bristol almost 60 years ago.Ryland Headley, of Ipswich, was due to appear at Bristol magistrates court via video link on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Warning comes as Biden agrees to supply anti-personnel landmines to Ukraine, days after lifting restrictions on use of long-range missiles

Ofgem says nearly 250,000 people will each receive average of 144 in compensation and refunds

Only 2.5% of more than 300,000 farms were inspected at least once in 2022 and 2023, researchers findThere is just one local authority inspector for every 878 farms in England, Scotland and Wales, according to a report, which says that the current welfare system is continuing to fail animals.Researchers for the Animal Law Foundation found that only 2.5% of the more than 300,000 UK farms were inspected at least once in 2022 and 2023, a marginal decrease from 2018-21 when Covid-19 might be expected to have affected inspection rates. Continue reading...

Bipartisan human rights committee says there could be a significant intervening period' before non-citizens are accepted by other countries

Founder of Apple Daily paper denies seeking to influence foreign policy against China and says advocating for the independence of Hong Kong was a reality too crazy to think about'Pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai has said he never" tried to influence foreign policy or ask foreign officials to take concrete action on Hong Kong, on his first day giving evidence at his national security trial.Lai has been charged with one count of conspiracy to publish seditious publications and two counts of conspiracy to foreign collusion, under the city's punitive national security law (NSL), introduced in 2020. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: Governments are clashing with the agricultural sector across Europe - it's a complex battle that involves everything from the climate crisis to the far right Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.More than 10,000 of farmers descended on Westminster yesterday to protest against the Labour government's changes to inheritance tax, which they describe as a betrayal" that represents an existential threat to British family farming.Ukraine | Ukraine's power network is at heightened risk of catastrophic failure" after Russia's missile and drone attack on Sunday, Greenpeace has warned, raising fears about the safety of the country's three operational nuclear power stations. The strikes by Russia were aimed at electricity substations critical to the operation of Ukraine's nuclear plants" and there is a possibility that the reactors could lose power and become unsafe, according to a briefing note prepared for the Guardian.Social media | British MPs are to summon Elon Musk to testify about X's role in spreading disinformation, in a parliamentary inquiry into the UK riots and the rise of false and harmful AI content, the Guardian has learned.France | Gisele Pelicot, who was drugged by her husband and allegedly raped by dozens of men he invited into her bedroom for more than a decade, has told a court that macho" society must change its attitude to rape.Music | The value of the UK music industry has hit a record 7.6bn after superstar acts including Elton John, Beyonce, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran embarked on Covid-delayed tours to cash in on pent-up fan demand for live shows.Environment | England's national parks face a 12% real-terms cut to their budget, which would lead to mass redundancies of wardens and the closure of visitor centres and other facilities, park leaders have warned. Continue reading...

Hundreds of children have written to BBBC after watching The Fight, which tells story of boxer Cuthbert TaylorThe creators of a play telling the shameful story of how the black boxer Cuthbert Taylor was prevented from competing for a British title because of his colour hoped it would give audiences pause for thought.But they have been overwhelmed by the passionate reaction of young theatregoers who have launched a campaign demanding a formal apology from the sport's governing body. Continue reading...

Shareholder accuses Aviva Investors of calamitous' investments as three sites expected to go bustOne of the UK's biggest pension funds has lost more than 350m on a series of calamitous" investments in incinerator power plants that are expected to go bust in the coming days.The Guardian understands that Aviva Investors will put three incinerators into administration this week after pouring millions of pounds into what has been described as the country's dirtiest form of power generation". Continue reading...

Wendy Hansen's four-wheel drive found at train station in Brisbane after 63-year-old's body found in Coffs Harbour