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Former deputy PM says allowing intelligence and security committee to rule on redactions would help keep public confidence in the process'

Government blames terrorist cells' for attack in Woro village, one of country's deadliest in recent monthsMore than 160 people have been killed in a village in western Nigeria in the country's deadliest armed assault so far this year, as communities reel from repeated, widespread acts of violence perpetrated by armed gangs and jihadists.Aid officials said the death toll from Tuesday's attack in Woro in Kwara state had risen from about 35 overnight to at least 162 by Wednesday afternoon, as more bodies were discovered. Continue reading...

State-owned company will sell under the Lepas brand, continuing its rapid expansion in the British market

Both sides downplay chances of immediate breakthrough in US-brokered talks as western allies reportedly weigh new defence pactThe Kremlin has reacted to comments made by French president Emmanuel Macron that he was looking to resume contact with Putin on the war in Ukraine.According to Reuters news agency, the Kremlin confirmed ongoing technical discussions between Russia and France, but provided no further details or indicated any dialogue between Putin and Macron.At night, the enemy carried out a massive attack with strike drones on the Odesa region. Damage to civilian, residential and industrial infrastructure was recorded.In the city of Odesa, about 20 residential buildings and cars were damaged. Four people were rescued from the rubble, but one person was unfortunately injured. Continue reading...

Tom Homan says around 2000' immigration officers will remain in Minnesota and that pre-operation the number was between 100 and 150 officers

Departure marks large drop in agents on the ground but still leaves about 2,000 there, far above typical levels for state

Beazley, which also covers fine art, agrees to Zurich takeover at 60% premiumA British company specialising in insuring against cyber-attacks that also covers fine art and luxury yachts has agreed to be taken over in an 8bn deal, in the latest loss to the London stock market.Beazley said on Wednesday it had agreed the deal with its larger rival Zurich, after the Switzerland-listed company raised its bid for the Lloyd's of London insurer. Continue reading...

Defense department says it may end support unless youth group abandons inclusivity and returns to God and country' valuesThe Pentagon is again threatening to sever ties with Scouting America unless the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America reverts to core values", and realigns itself with service to God and country".A warning to end the US military's long-standing partnership with one of the nation's largest and most popular youth organizations came in a Monday night post to social media by the Pentagon spokesperson, Sean Parnell, who insisted the scouting movement lost its way" in a 2025 rebrand that promoted inclusivity and included admitted girls and LBGTQ+ members. Continue reading...

Questioned at PMQs, PM says former US ambassador lied repeatedly' about depth of contact with child sex offender

Cheshire coroner says there is reason to suspect unnatural deaths', with proceedings to begin in SeptemberA coroner has formally opened inquests into the deaths of five newborn babies who Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering.In a 20-minute hearing at Cheshire coroner's court, the senior coroner Jacqueline Devonish heard brief details of the deaths before adjourning proceedings until September. Continue reading...

Philando Castile, a lawful gun owner, was shot and killed by a police officer in 2016 - gun rights groups were largely silentThe killing of Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis has sparked a thorny conversation among gun rights groups and Trump administration officials about the second amendment and the right to carry concealed firearms at protests and demonstrations. Among the questions is which cases the movement rallies behind, and behind which it doesn't.In the hours and days after Pretti's killing, dozens of local national and local gun rights groups lambasted federal officials like Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Gregory Bovino, a senior border patrol official, who baselessly claimed that Pretti's carrying of a handgun proved that he planned to harm and kill border patrol agents. Prominent gun rights organizations, including Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the National Rifle Association (NRA), called for an independent investigation into the shooting and defended Pretti's right to carry a gun. Continue reading...

DNC's Local Listeners initiative will target one million infrequent' voters in battleground districtsDemocrats are launching an aggressive campaign to win back voters they lost, not to Donald Trump, but to the proverbial couch," as they look to regain support ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.On Wednesday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) rolled out a new initiative called Local Listeners with the goal of targeting over one million infrequent" voters in key battleground districts. Seeking to build on the party's string of off-year election victories, which extended into 2026 with an upset in Texas last weekend, the DNC is betting that early, localized outreach will be crucial in winning back these voters' trust - and their ballots - this time around. Continue reading...

Unionized baristas continue to fight for a fair contract and ask public for solidarity as strike stretches into third monthStriking Starbucks baristas are calling on customers of the world's largest coffee chain to delete its popular mobile app in solidarity with their demands for a first union contract.Starbucks Workers United, which has been coordinating a strike for almost three months, is vowing to press ahead. Continue reading...

Road closures in place as university says it is offering direct support to students and staff who witnessed the incident'Several roads have been closed in Leicester after a serious incident" on a university campus.De Montfort University said it was working with Leicestershire police, who confirmed the incident took place on Oxford Street in the city on Tuesday evening. They gave no further details about the incident. Continue reading...

Four children among dead as restrictions on evacuations put in place days after reopening of crossing to EgyptIsraeli tank shelling and airstrikes have killed 18 people, including four children, in Gaza and Israel has halted the evacuation of patients through the Rafah border crossing, Palestinian officials have said.The Israeli military said it fired on Gaza after a gunman shot at Israeli soldiers and seriously injured a reservist. Continue reading...

Pressure grows on PM over ex-minister's Jeffrey Epstein links as Tories criticise move to withhold some records

Signalling issue and train derailment in south London hits Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express servicesA do not travel" alert has been issued by the UK's largest railway franchise, after a train derailment and signalling issues affected services across south-east England.Train operators Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express - all part of the Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) franchise in south-east England - urged passengers not to travel on Wednesday morning if at all possible" because of multiple incidents". Continue reading...

For Labour veterans of the financial crisis the Epstein files revealed a betrayal - but 16 years on, is the City calling the shots?Today's advocates of a windfall tax on the UK's highly profitable banking sector detected a whiff of familiarity in Peter Mandelson's suggestion, back in 2009, that JP Morgan should mildly threaten" the chancellor.Feeding a Wall Street financier market sensitive titbits was an extraordinary breach of trust - perhaps even illegal, it seems - but for Labour veterans of the financial crisis, Mandelson's collusion with the banks against his own colleagues was the worst betrayal. Continue reading...

Mandarin transliteration of character's name regarded as auspicious, prompting wave of memes and fan artDraco Malfoy, one of Harry Potter's most recognisable villains, has become an unlikely lunar new year icon across China, as fans embrace the character for the year of the horse.In Mandarin, Malfoy's name is transliterated as m r fu". The first character means horse" while the final character, fu", means fortune" or blessing" - a powerful symbol found across lunar new year celebrations. Continue reading...

Formal approval given for new university group to operate from August, with both institutions keeping their namesThe universities of Greenwich and Kent have confirmed they have been given formal approval to merge into the UK's first super-university".The merged entity will be the third-largest higher education institution in the UK, the universities said, and is consulting on being named the London and South East University Group. Continue reading...

Judge says neo-Nazi's offending outside Melbourne court was contemptuous' and Hersant relished' the opportunity to do itFar-right extremist Jacob Hersant has been jailed for one month after losing an appeal against his Nazi salute conviction.The 26-year-old looked straight ahead as Victorian county court judge Simon Moglia re-sentenced him on Wednesday for the contemptuous" offending. Continue reading...

Opposition leader may announce promotion of six MPs to shadow cabinet early amid deadlock in talks to reunite with Nationals

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A spokesperson says Dr Michael Byrom no longer has any conditions placed on his practising and cited a rigorous recruitment process'

Billionaire says he spoke to former Trump strategist once, when he mistook him for a potential donor, denying claims revealed in the Jeffrey Epstein files

Jump of 37bn in budget deficit by 2040 would force government to increase taxes, NIESR predictsThe UK economy would be 3.6% smaller by 2040 if net migration fell to zero, forcing the government to raise taxes to combat a much bigger budget deficit, a thinktank has predicted.The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said falling birthrates in the UK and a sharp decrease in net migration last year had led it to consider what would happen if this trend continued to the end of the decade. Continue reading...

MP also tells Guardian Australia's Full Story podcast he backs peaceful protests against country's actions in Gaza

The 27-year-old died after reportedly collapsing while skiing with friends near a Niseko ski report

Cameron Murphy, one of three MLCs to rally next week, says we should not be welcoming to Australia the head of a state engaged in an ongoing genocide'

Prediction markets allow you to put money on everything from the US attacking Iran to Jesus returning. Saahil Desai explains their dizzying riseIn the early hours of 3 January, Donald Trump ordered a surprise attack on the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to kidnap the country's leader, Nicolas Maduro. Millions of Venezuelans' lives were thrown into uncertainty. Politicians at home and abroad scrambled to respond. It seemed this was something no one had seen coming. Except one person did actually predict it.In the hours before the attack, someone - and we have no way of knowing who - placed a series of bets that Donald Trump would oust Maduro on a prediction market platform, netting them nearly $500,000 when it happened. These platforms allow their users not just to bet on whoever's going to win the Super Bowl, but also on world events. Heavily regulated under the Biden administration, these apps have enjoyed a huge boom in popularity since Trump came to power. Continue reading...

What have I done?' thought Joanne Appelbee as she waited for rescue with two other children in rough seas off Western AustraliaJoanne Appelbee says asking her 13-year-old son Austin to swim four hours through dangerous waters to get help after her family was swept out to sea was one of the hardest decisions" she has ever made.I knew he was the strongest and he could do it," she told the ABC. I would have never went because I wouldn't have left the kids at sea, so I had to send somebody." Continue reading...

Richard Marles has decided to sell more than 60 properties, including Victoria Barracks in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane

Netflix film revisits evidence that led to Letby's conviction and hears from expert who says his research was misusedShortly after Lucy Letby was sentenced to 15 whole-life terms for murdering seven infants and attempting to murder seven others between June 2015 and June 2016 - a conviction that made her Britain's worst ever child serial killer - Cheshire police agreed to give unparalleled and exclusive access" to the makers of a Netflix film about the case.The finished documentary, The Investigation Of Lucy Letby, which is released on Wednesday, must be very different from what the producers envisaged when they first began work on the project, given the subsequent unexpected turns in the story. Since the two trials, the prosecution evidence and police handling of the case have faced criticism from an unprecedentedly large number of distinguished British and international medical experts. Led by the Canadian neonatologist, Dr Shoo Lee - who says again in the feature-length Netflix documentary that his research was misused to convict the nurse - many of the experts are convinced Letby is innocent, the victim of a catastrophic miscarriage of justice. Continue reading...

Report to tackle courts' backlog also recommends new criminal justice adviser to oversee courts, prisons and policingA new post of prime minister's criminal justice adviser and the widespread use of remote hearings are among the recommendations of a government-commissioned independent review on tackling the courts' backlog in England and Wales.The second part of Sir Brian Leveson's review - unlike the first part, which recommended slashing jury trials - focuses on efficiencies that can be achieved without legislation. Continue reading...

Leaders had been trading hostile remarks for months but Gustavo Petro's visit ended with warm words from US counterpartAfter months of trading insults - from sick man" and drug trafficking leader" on one side, to accomplice to genocide" with a senile brain" on the other - the first meeting between Donald Trump and Gustavo Petro ended with pleasantries, autographs and a Maga cap.The Colombian president was received by his US counterpart for a closed-door meeting at the White House, with no press access. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Police say they will review allegation that Epstein sent woman to UK to have sex with Andrew at Royal Lodge, his former homeBritish police are to review fresh allegations that Jeffrey Epstein provided Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor with a woman to have sex with at the Royal Lodge in 2010, as it emerged that the former prince had moved out of his home.The woman has claimed she spent the night at the then prince's residence in Windsor, her US lawyer, Brad Edwards, said after the allegations surfaced over the weekend. The woman, who is not British, was in her 20s at the time, and was later given a tour of Buckingham Palace, it is further alleged. Continue reading...

March state election will test the growing vote for Pauline Hanson's party, with newest recruit Cory Bernardi among the former Liberals in play

Search and rescue operation involving boats, helicopter and divers under way off the eastern Aegean island of ChiosA collision between a speedboat carrying migrants and a Greek coastguard patrol vessel off the eastern Aegean island of Chios has killed at least 14 people, the coastguard said.A search and rescue operation involving four patrol vessels, an air force helicopter and a private boat carrying divers was under way for potential missing passengers. Continue reading...

Files released by US apparently show Mandelson sending Epstein market-sensitive information while serving as business secretaryThe Department for Work and Pensions has named 12 disability experts with lived experience of disability or long-term health conditions" who will sit on the steering group of the review looking at the future of the personal independence payment (Pip), a disability benefit. Stephen Timms, the minister leading the review, says:Disabled people deserve a system that truly supports them to live with independence and dignity, and that fairly reflects the reality of their lives today.That's why we're putting disabled people at the heart of this review - ensuring their voices shape the changes that will help them achieve better health, greater independence, and access to the right support when they need it.* Could we see a crunch point as soon as tomorrow over Mandelson?* Tories have an opposition day debate - could they force a vote on Mandelson vetting disclosure. Shadow cabinet sources tell me they're thinking about it Continue reading...

Nancy Guthrie was last seen on Saturday night and is believed to have been taken against her willOfficials in Arizona said on Tuesday afternoon they were no closer to finding the missing mother of Savannah Guthrie, the Today show host, three days after the octogenarian disappeared from her Tucson home - which detectives are treating as a crime scene".Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen on Saturday night and is believed to have been taken against her will, Chris Nanos, the Pima county sheriff, said. Media reports on Tuesday said blood was found at the residence, and there were signs of forced entry. Continue reading...

Far-right leader's appeal against block on her running for president in 2027 and a four-year sentence is in final stagesFrench state prosecutors have asked appeal court judges to maintain a five-year election ban on the far-right leader Marine Le Pen for embezzlement of European parliament funds in a fake jobs scandal.If the judges decide to grant the request, Le Pen would probably not be able to run in France's 2027 presidential election. Continue reading...

LGB+ men in England and Wales have 1.2 years lower life expectancy than straight men, at 59.4 years and 60.7 years respectivelyLife expectancy for people who identify as gay, bisexual or another sexual orientation in England and Wales was approximately a year lower than their heterosexual counterparts, according to the first analysis of its kind by the Office for National Statistics.The life expectancy for men who identified as LGB+ was 1.2 years lower than men who identified as straight, at 59.4 years and 60.7 years respectively. Continue reading...

In case brought by Prince Harry and others, Daniel Portley-Hanks says he received about $1m for work for Associated Newspapers LtdA US-based private detective bought a large house in California and had $150,000 in savings almost entirely" from work he did for the publisher of the Daily Mail, the high court has heard.Daniel Portley-Hanks, also known as Detective Danno", said he received about $1m for work carried out for the Mail on Sunday, another title published by Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL). Continue reading...

Apparent tip-off by Peter Mandelson gave advance notice of instability that would ripple through global marketsOn a brisk Monday evening in May 2010, Gordon Brown stood on the steps of Downing Street and delivered one of the most dramatic announcements of the New Labour era: his resignation as UK prime minister.The decision came days after a nail-biting general election that left no single party with a clear run at No 10. Brown kept his decision, which followed days of political wrangling, to a tight inner circle. Nick Clegg, who would go on to serve as deputy prime minister of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition, was formally told of Brown's resignation only 10 minutes before the announcement. Continue reading...

Mark Rutte and Volodymyr Zelenskyy hold joint press conference as air alert sirens blare across KyivThe EU's foreign policy chief, Kajas Kallas, has been speaking as part of a panel on Arctic security. Kallas was asked if the EU was too cautious" in taking action because of its dependence on the US for security, which has been exposed amid Russia's war on Ukraine and the Trump administration's threats on Greenland and erratic behaviour towards its longstanding western allies. Kallas, who has said Nato must become more European" to maintain its strength, responded:Of course, we are cautions because there is a lot at stake. There is a full-scale war going on the European continent and there are threats coming from economic coercion, big challenges from China that is influencing our economies.If it is influencing our economies, it is influencing jobs and people's salaries and then it is creating polarisation within our societies and more instability, so it is all very much interlinked. Continue reading...

Judicial review begins in high court over watchdog's freedom of speech ruling that resulted in 585,000 fineA ruling by an education watchdog that led to the University of Sussex being hit with a record 585,000 fine should be quashed as unlawful", unreasonable" and procedurally unfair", a court has heard.In a judicial review hearing before the high court in London on Tuesday, the university claimed it had suffered severe" consequences as a result of the landmark decision last March by England's higher education regulator, the Office for Students (OfS). Continue reading...

Moscow launched terrorising' attack on energy grid as temperatures reached -20C, Ukrainian president saysVolodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Tuesday of violating an agreement with Donald Trump to hold-off on attacks on Ukraine's energy systems in the depths of a freezing winter, as its forces carried out large-scale airstrikes on Kyiv on the eve of three-way talks in Abu Dhabi.Ukraine's president said Moscow carried out a massive and deliberate" attack overnight as temperatures in Kyiv plunged to -20C. It involved a record number of 71 ballistic missiles as well as 450 drones, he said, sent to destroy energy infrastructure. Continue reading...

Epstein files appear to show then business secretary passing market sensitive information to child sex offender UK politics live - latest updatesThe Metropolitan police are to formally launch a criminal investigation into allegations that Peter Mandelson leaked Downing Street emails and market sensitive information to the child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Guardian understands.Documents from the Epstein files released in recent days appeared to show the then business secretary sent confidential information in a string of emails to the late financier in the aftermath of the financial crash. Continue reading...

The organization claims the report, which finds Israel's denial of the right of return is a crime against humanity, is paused pending further analysis and research'Two Human Rights Watch (HRW) employees who make up the organization's entire Israel and Palestine team are stepping down from their positions after leadership blocked a report that deems Israel's denial of Palestinian refugees the right of return a crime against humanity".In separate resignation letters obtained by Jewish Currents and the Guardian, Omar Shakir, who has headed the team for nearly the last decade, and Milena Ansari, the team's assistant researcher, said leadership's decision to pull the report broke from HRW's customary approval processes and was evidence that the organization was putting fear of political backlash over a commitment to international law. Continue reading...

Unbroken: In Pursuit of Freedom for Palestine is a collection of writings by the Palestinian political leader, who has been held in Israeli prisons since 2002A collection of writings by the imprisoned Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti will be published in November, bringing together prison letters, interviews, personal material and documents from the last three decades of Barghouti's political life and incarceration.As deadly attacks on Gaza continue despite a nominal ceasefire, the 66-year-old is seen by many as the best hope for a leader of any future Palestinian state. Continue reading...