Fights resume but disrupted on Wednesday morning with Belgian security council due to meetAt least five people were injured after a car was driven into pedestrians and cyclists in Saint Pierre d'Oleron on Ile d'Oleron, off the west coast of France, the country's interior minister said.In a post on X, Laurent Nunez said that two people were in intensive care, and further three had lighter injuries. Continue reading...
Sadiq Khan, Zack Polanski and Zarah Sultana among figures on the left praising the mayor-elect as they look at potential blueprint for elections in UKKeeping people in work should involve efforts to rehumanise" the workplace, Sir Charlie Mayfield has said.In an interview on the Today programme, Mayfield, who produced the Keep Britain Working review for the government, said that if an employer does not contact an employee who is off sick, it is not because they are evil" or uncaring", but rather that they are afraid" that the contact would be triggering or unwelcome.We do have to sort this fear problem', and ... [fit notes', the notes from a GP saying a worker is ill] act like a bit of a firewall between you and the employee and the employer.I've had employers saying to me: People are lost to us when that happens,' and, of course, when you're talking about human health it is obviously very personal, but you don't solve that through more distance - you solve it by leaning in and having conversations and figuring out what is a sensible and reasonable and appropriate response that will help somebody to get back into work.A law enabling the UK handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius faces a delay after a Westminster spat that saw Tory critics accused of being reckless and deeply cynical" in trying to wreck the controversial deal.In a sign of the ongoing tensions over the agreement, foreign minister Jenny Chapman lambasted the Conservatives for putting Britain's national security at risk and using the Chagossian people for their own ends having systematically disregarded" them when in government. Continue reading...
by Amy Sedghi (now); Nick Visser,Lauren Gambino and F on (#71833)
Mamdani condemns oligarchy and authoritarianism' in speech directly talking to Trump as Democrats win California redistricting vote and New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial elections
Regulator also considers forcing companies to report pay received from parent firms after Guardian investigationWater company bosses were blocked from receiving 4m in bonuses for the last financial year - and the industry regulator is considering forcing companies to report pay received from parent companies after a Guardian investigation.Ofwat, the regulator for English and Welsh water firms, said six companies had complied with the new rules governing the sector and did not pay out bonuses to bosses. However, it is consulting on further rules to force the disclosure of payments by other companies after the revelation that Yorkshire Water's chief executive, Nicola Shaw, had received 1.3m in secret payments via an offshore parent company. Continue reading...
Allowing three-storey townhouses and apartments to be built across all residential land would unlock more than 1m homes in Sydney alone, according to modelling
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#71876)
Lawyers call for clarity over law as six are found guilty while being stopped from using defence used by fellow activistsSix environmental protesters were convicted after they were denied the ability to put a reasonable excuse" defence or climate facts before the jury, despite these being afforded to other activists acquitted for taking part in the same demonstration.After an eight-day trial at Southwark crown court in London, the six Just Stop Oil (JSO) activists were found guilty of public nuisance, which carries a maximum 10-year sentence, for climbing gantries on the M25 in 2022 to demand an end to new fossil fuel projects. They will be sentenced next month. Continue reading...
Google search results displayed false information from an AI website about drivers risking a $250 fine for not keeping their headlights on at all times
Blikk, a tabloid with about 3 million online monthly readers, bought by pro-Orban media group IndamediaJournalists at Hungary's most-read newspaper have expressed shock after a media group seen as close to nationalist prime minister Viktor Orban's party, Fidesz, bought the tabloid from its previous Swiss owners.The purchase, which comes as Hungary gears up for crucial elections next year in which Orban faces an unprecedented opposition challenge, is widely seen as another attempt to increase government influence on the media. Continue reading...
Shutdown beats record set during Trump's first term as succession of Senate votes fails to yield breakthroughThe US government shutdown became the longest in history on Wednesday, crossing the 36-day mark with no end in sight as Republican and Democratic senators remained at loggerheads over restarting funding to shuttered federal departments.The shutdown beat the previous 35-day record set in December 2018 and January 2019 during Donald Trump's first term, when government funding legislation was held up over his insistence on including money to build a wall along the border with Mexico. Continue reading...
Aircraft erupted into fireball after takeoff at Louisville international airport, and officials say fatalities could riseA UPS cargo plane crashed shortly after take off, erupting into a massive fireball near the Louisville Muhammad Ali international airport in Kentucky, leaving at least seven dead and 11 injured, the state's governor, Andy Beshear, said. Beshear said he expects those numbers to grow.Flames from the crash ignited a string of fires on the ground in an industrial corridor adjacent to the international airport, apparently accounting for one of the confirmed fatalities and the injuries of 11 people, who according to airport officials were taken to hospital. Continue reading...
Six people were killed in a separate incident when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del SurTyphoon Kalmaegi has left at least 52 people dead with 13 others missing in the central Philippines, mostly in widespread flooding that trapped people on their roofs and swept away scores of cars in a hard-hit province still recovering from a deadly earthquake, officials said on Wednesday.Six people were killed in a separate incident when a Philippine air force helicopter crashed in the southern province of Agusan del Sur on Tuesday while en route to help provide humanitarian help to provinces battered by Kalmaegi, the military said without providing other details, including what could have caused the crash. Continue reading...
Pentagon secretary says two people killed in attack on boat in eastern Pacific, bringing total killed to 66 in 16 strikesDefense secretary Pete Hegseth announced yet another deadly strike on a boat accused of ferrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, coming the same day an aircraft carrier began heading to the region in a new expansion of military firepower.The attack Tuesday killed two people aboard the vessel, Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from the Trump administration's campaign in South American waters up to at least 66 people in at least 16 strikes. Continue reading...
Six of biggest providers to roll out new technology over next 12 months in effort to prevent fraud by foreign call centresSix of the biggest phone companies have said they will work together and upgrade their systems to stop fraudsters being able to spoof" UK phone numbers and commit fraud.New technology is expected to be rolled out over the next year that will stop criminals impersonating legitimate bodies and subsequently duping people into believing they are talking to real companies, banks and government departments. Continue reading...
Answers demanded after 23,500 families wrongly suspected of fraud when incorrect data showed they had left UKMPs are demanding answers from HMRC over a child benefit error in which payments to 23,500 families were stopped as part of an anti-fraud crackdown.Meg Hillier, a Labour MP and chair of the House of Commons Treasury select committee, has written to the permanent secretary of HMRC asking who made the decisions, why they were made and whether compensation would be offered to the victims. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#717W2)
Exclusive: Health secretary and NHS England chief warn of winter pressures and rising levels of abuseAn ugly" racism reminiscent of the 1970s and 1980s has become worryingly commonplace again in modern Britain and NHS staff are bearing the brunt of it, Wes Streeting has warned.Incidents of verbal and physical abuse based on people's skin colour now happen so often that it has become socially acceptable to be racist", the health secretary said. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#717RG)
Agreement that will increase drivers' pay to nearly 80,000 by 2027 comes after strike action in SeptemberThe RMT union has accepted a three-year inflation-plus pay deal for London Underground workers, ending the dispute that led to travel chaos in London in September and increasing drivers' pay to nearly 80,000 by 2027.The deal, with an initial 3.4% increase backdated to this April, means London Underground staff pay will rise in line with RPI inflation - higher than the CPI rate normally used for index-linked pay rises - with guaranteed minimum rates if inflation falls, making the total deal worth at least 9.2%. Continue reading...
Antonio Guterres calls for the violence to end but there appears little appetite for ceasefire proposed by USThe UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres has said the war in Sudan is spiralling out of control as he called for a halt to the fighting and an end to the violence.The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which are reportedly backed by the United Arab Emirates, seized El Fasher in Darfur last week after a near 18-month siege. Some of its soldiers have posted videos of civilians being shot, including in the town's maternity hospital. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#717RK)
Discovery of new information leads to decision for specialist officers to take over investigation into Peacehaven fireCounter-terrorism police are to take over the investigation into an arson attack on a mosque in an English seaside town, police have said.The attack in Peacehaven, East Sussex, took place on 4 October. Two people who were inside the mosque when the fire was started had to flee for their lives. Continue reading...
Brazilian president Lula called police assault on two of Rio's largest clusters of favelas disastrous' and a massacre'Brazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has said his government will seek an independent investigation into what he called a disastrous" police massacre" that left at least 121 people dead.Four officers and at least 117 others were killed when police launched a major assault on two of Rio's largest clusters of favelas, the Complexo do Alemao and the Complexo da Penha, early last Tuesday to execute 100 arrest warrants. Continue reading...
Former footballer on trial over offensive' social media posts about broadcastersBroadcaster and former footballer Lucy Ward was left intimidated" and physically scared" by social media posts made by Joey Barton, a jury has heard.Ward, 51, was giving evidence to Liverpool crown court on Tuesday in a case against former footballer and manager Barton, 43, who is accused of 12 counts of sending a grossly offensive electronic communication with intent to cause distress or anxiety. Continue reading...
by Martin Pengelly, Chris Michael, George Chidi and O on (#717DP)
Cheney, who served under presidents from Nixon to George W Bush, will be remembered for key role after 9/11Dick Cheney, the divisive US vice-president under George W Bush who helped lead the country into a disastrous invasion of Iraq, died on Monday, his family has said. He was 84.Cheney at various times held the roles of member of Congress, White House chief of staff and secretary of defense, but it was as one of the country's most powerful vice-presidents that he had the biggest impact, wielding great influence over the less experienced Bush. Continue reading...
This live blog is now closedWe will formally get the EU's commentary on the enlargement ratings (9:26) in just over an hour - when EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and EU enlargment commissioner Marta Kos are due to speak to journalists - but we have just had a brief glimpse of what's coming during Kos's appearance in the European parliament.She said these have been significant advances on the EU path achieved so far by Montenegro, Albania, Moldova and Ukraine," stressing that reforms pay off."I can say that these four candidates have matched their ambitions with concrete actions. Continue reading...
I made a mistake' says artist who included cloned archway on Halloween float for a Catholic schoolA Pennsylvania artist's efforts to create a Halloween float for a local Catholic school went awry when he inadvertently included a replica of the gateway arch from a Nazi concentration camp, prompting a hasty apology from the diocese of Harrisburg.In apologizing for the fiasco, Galen Shelly told PennLive that a lighted archway and lanterns he ordered to decorate a parade float he was building for Hanover's St Joseph's school did not arrive in time - so he searched the internet for images of cemetery gates to represent the idea that none of us get out of this life alive". Continue reading...
Boy had sought court order to force his return, after parents took him on trip to Ghana and returned without himA British teenager whose parents left him in Ghana, fearing he was at risk from gang culture" in the UK, should stay there until at least the end of his GCSE exams, a judge sitting at London's high court has ruled.The boy took legal action against his parents, seeking a court order that would force his return, after they enrolled him in a boarding school and arranged for him to live with extended family in Ghana without telling him. Continue reading...
About 32,000 volunteered to fight Franco dictatorship, including 2,500 men and women from Britain and IrelandThe Spanish government has granted citizenship to 170 descendants of volunteers in the International Brigades in recognition of their fight against fascism during the Franco dictatorship that followed the civil war.An estimated 32,000 volunteers from around the world joined the anti-fascist brigades during the civil war, including approximately 2,500 men and women from Britain and Ireland, of whom 530 were killed. Continue reading...
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