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Outgoing chancellor also announces lockdown measures for unvaccinated and says ‘act of national solidarity’ required

Conservatives joined Liberals in unanimous vote, prompting applause in House of CommonsCanadian lawmakers have passed a motion banning the discredited practice of “conversion therapy”, in a rare show of unanimity in the country’s parliament.A surprise motion on Wednesday by the opposition Conservatives to fast-track the legislation prompted applause in the House of Commons. A handful of Liberal cabinet ministers hugged their Conservative colleagues after the vote. Continue reading...

F1 champion will race carrying branding of company that made combustible panels used on towerThe seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton is facing protests from Grenfell survivors over a “truly shocking” sponsorship deal that will see his racing car emblazoned with the logo of a firm that made combustible insulation used on the tower.Kingspan has been named as an official partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team, for which Hamilton is the star driver, and its branding is set to feature on Hamilton’s car starting at this weekend’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix. Continue reading...

With Final Account, the late director Luke Holland set out to obtain testimonies from those who participated in the Nazi atrocities – before their voices were lost. The result is a powerful mix of shame, denial and ghastly prideOne day in 2018, the prolific documentary producer John Battsek received a call from Diane Weyermann of Participant Media, asking him if he would travel to the East Sussex village of Ditchling to meet a 69-year-old director named Luke Holland. Weyermann said that Holland had spent several years interviewing hundreds of Germans who were in some way complicit in the Holocaust, from those whose homes neighboured the concentration camps to former members of the Waffen SS. The responses he captured ran the gamut from shame to denial to a ghastly kind of pride. Now he wanted to introduce these testimonies to a mainstream audience, and he needed help.“Luke wasn’t consciously making a film,” Battsek says. “He was amassing an archive that he hoped would have a role to play for generations to come. We had to turn it into something that has a beginning, a middle and an end.” As soon as he saw Holland’s footage, he knew it was important: “It presented an audience with a new way into this.” Continue reading...

Analysis: Duchess off Sussex says she faced ‘deception, intimidation and calculated attacks’ and suffered a miscarriageThe privacy victory over the Mail on Sunday has seemingly exacted a toll on the Duchess of Sussex, who in vigorously pursuing the case went far further than any other present-day royal in taking on the tabloid culture.The court of appeal stressed “no expense” was spared in fighting and defending the legal action over publication of extensive extracts of her private letter to her estranged father. As losers, Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), publishers of the newspaper and Mail Online, will bear the brunt. Continue reading...

ANL had brought appeal after duchess sued publisher over articles relating to letter she sent to estranged fatherThe Duchess of Sussex called for a reshaping of the tabloid newspaper industry and said she had been patient in the face of “deception, intimidation, and calculated attacks” as the Mail on Sunday lost its appeal in its three-year privacy battle with her over a letter to her estranged father.Meghan sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), also the publisher of Mail Online, over five articles reproducing parts of the “personal and private” letter to Thomas Markle, 77, in August 2018. Continue reading...

Draft legislation also proposes maximum fine of €150,000 in most serious casesThe French parliament has voted to make school bullying a criminal offence punishable by up to three years in prison, as MPs said society needed a wake-up call on the seriousness of children targeting their peers.The proposed law was supported by Emmanuel Macron’s education minister, Jean-Michel Blanquer. Continue reading...

Lamara Bell was found in critical condition next to dead partner and later diedPolice Scotland has paid £1m in compensation to the family of a woman who died after being left for three days in a crashed car on the M9 motorway.The force has settled a compensation action taken by the family of Lamara Bell, 25, after they sued over its failure to respond to a call from a farmer who had spotted a crashed car lying off the hard shoulder in 2015. Continue reading...

Lady Gaga and Adam Driver give us animal grunting in House of Gucci and Agathe Rousselle mates with a car in Titane – but that’s tame compared with some of the sexual themes cinema has found to exploreIn 1933, the Austrian star Hedy Lamarr (who also had a remarkable parallel career as an inventor) appeared in the Czech erotic drama Ecstasy playing Eva, who gave us the first female orgasm in movie history. This is simply an extended closeup on her face, after her lover’s head has disappeared from the bottom of the frame, as she abandons herself to pleasure and rapture. There were some telling cutaways – to her hand, fondling some material, and also one of her pearl necklace dropping to the floor. Afterwards, Eva languorously smokes a cigarette, doing her bit to establish one of cinema’s great post-coital tropes. Continue reading...

Thomas Schreiber weeps as recording of phone call to sister is played to murder trial juryThe partner of a multi-millionaire landowner and hotelier was left paralysed from the neck down after her son launched a prolonged knife attack on them both, a murder trial has heard.Anne Schreiber, 66, survived the attack by her son Thomas Schreiber, an aspiring painter, but suffered damage to her spinal cord while her partner, Sir Richard Sutton, 83, died after being stabbed repeatedly. Continue reading...

In the last in our series of exposés about the TV industry, insiders talk about being typecast as terrorists … and constantly having to pretend English isn’t their first language• ‘My colleagues ignored me for a year’: what it’s really like to work in TV as a disabled person• ‘He fell on my body then bit me’: what it’s really like to work in TV as a woman• ‘I was given training to de-gay my voice’: what it’s really like to work in TV if you’re LGBTQ+

Court advised to dismiss challenge against law that lets EU block funds to states that curb judicial independenceEU authorities can cut funds to member states that are corrupt and curb independent courts, a senior adviser to the bloc’s top court has said.In a setback for the nationalist governments of Poland and Hungary, a European court of justice senior lawyer said a law linking EU funds to respect for the rule of law was legally sound. Continue reading...

Hydro, Glasgow

John Croucher admits contravening food regulations after incident in which woman died in NorthamptonshireA church harvest supper at a village pub ended in tragedy when one of the congregation was killed and 31 others suffered food poisoning after eating a shepherd’s pie filled with mince that had been incorrectly prepared by a rushing chef.Elizabeth Neuman, 92, repeatedly vomited after eating the pie and died while other parishioners became “unpleasantly ill” and three of those attending only escaped because they were vegetarians, Reading crown court heard. Continue reading...

Rijksmuseum aims to bring together all the works by Girl with a Pearl Earring painter that are fit to travelAmsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has announced a “first and last” exhibition of all the paintings by Johannes Vermeer that are fit to travel, as its director claimed growing museum rivalry makes such international cooperation unlikely in the future.Vermeer, whose most famous work is Girl with a Pearl Earring, dating from around 1665, is thought to have painted 35 masterpieces, of which 23 were shown together 26 years ago at the Mauritshuis in The Hague. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Maternity Action urges ministers to overhaul ‘not fit for purpose’ workplace health and safety rules

Committee finds ‘endemic culture within the government of using public money for political purposes’

Final novels from John le Carré and Andrea Camilleri, dark psychological debut Girl A and moreSilverview

Addiction expert says findings of survey suggest small doses of drugs being taken to treat health issuesThe pandemic has seen a shift towards recreational drug users taking tiny doses of psychedelics, such as LSD and magic mushrooms, to improve their wellbeing and mental health, a leading addiction expert has said.People were microdosing to self-medicate rather than following the trend, popularised in Silicon Valley, of consuming small amounts of psychedelics to enhance creativity, Prof Adam Winstock, the founder and director of the Global Drug Survey, said. Continue reading...

Richard Amoah went to Ghana for his father’s funeral and found himself barred from returning to Britain for two and a half years. Like other victims of the Windrush scandal, he is owed compensation – but what will he actually get?Eight months ago, the events that shattered the life of Richard Amoah, a 58-year-old upholsterer from south London, were condensed into a series of succinct, emotionless paragraphs, typed into boxes on an 18-page form, scanned and emailed to a government office in Sheffield. Everyone knows you can’t put a price on happiness, but it is now the Home Office’s job to assess the cost of Amoah’s unhappiness, after a series of disastrous government mistakes left him destitute on the streets of Ghana’s capital, Accra, for two and a half years.As they process Amoah’s claim for compensation, staff in Vulcan House, the Home Office’s riverside headquarters in Sheffield, will need to address a number of difficult questions. How should the government compensate someone for carelessly wrecking their life? What is the correct payment for rupturing family bonds? Can the loss of a stable, happy existence be remedied with a methodically quantified pay out? Continue reading...

Vice-foreign minister Xie Feng tells industry figures to push US government toward a ‘rational’ China policy and end ‘ideological’ conflictsBeijing has urged US business groups with interests in China to “speak out” and lobby the US government in its defence, warning that as bilateral relations deteriorate they cannot make money “in silence”.The vice-foreign minister Xie Feng, in charge of managing China’s relationship with the US, also urged against political boycotts of the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics, saying it harms the interests of athletes and was “unpopular”. Continue reading...

‘They are our brothers and sisters,’ pontiff says, as Greece struggles with unprecedented influx of migrantsPope Francis will travel to Cyprus with a message of compassion for the thousands of migrants who have fled to the east Mediterranean island, and a promise that by the end of the year 50 migrants will have been relocated to Italy.The pontiff embarks on the politically sensitive tour on Thursday as the EU country closest to the Middle East struggles with an unprecedented influx of asylum seekers. Continue reading...

Nearly three-quarters of virus genomes sequenced last month were of new variant, say South African health officials

Coalition minister rejects allegations by former staffer about 2017 relationship, as Miller calls for change to address parliament’s ‘men problem’

A tweet from the actor has sparked a call to action by Thailand’s prime minister, but will anything really change?Reams of black wiring suspended between poles, haphazardly bundled into nest-like knots, and often hanging at head height are a common sight in Bangkok, and has become almost synonymous with the city.“If you walk around my area, there are many wire bundles hanging down to human height or sitting on the ground along the pedestrian walkway,” says Kullapa Sakkaravech, a language teacher from Bangkok. Continue reading...

With the growing possibility of a pro-independence victory, France is derailing decolonisation in a bid to shore up its position in the Indo-PacificThe French government’s decision to hold New Caledonia’s self-determination referendum on 12 December, despite the resolve of pro-independence parties not to participate, is a reckless political gambit with potentially dire consequences.The referendum will be the third and final consultation held under the 1998 Noumea accord – successor to the Matignon accords which ended instability and violence between the Kanak independence movement and local “loyalists” and the French state in 1988. By organising this month’s referendum without the participation of the Indigenous Kanak people, who overwhelmingly support independence, France is undermining the innovative and peaceful decolonisation process of the last 30 years, founded on French state neutrality and seeking consensus between opposing local political parties. Continue reading...

Case identified in California; UK infections on rise amid fears over Omicron variant; non-EU travellers to France must have negative Covid test regardless of vaccination status

Complaints to be dealt with outside chain of command – but military police retain right to investigate rape claimsComplaint of sexual offences in the armed forces will be dealt with outside the chain of command in future – but military police will retain the right to investigate allegations of rape, the Ministry of Defence announced on Thursday.The government commitment came in response to a landmark parliamentary inquiry into the experiences of women who serve or have served in the armed forces, although it was criticised for not going far enough with calls that only civilian forces should investigate allegations of rape and sexual abuse. Continue reading...

Thomas Schreiber has admitted manslaughter of his mother’s partner but denies murderA man who launched a sustained knife attack on his mother and her partner, the tycoon Sir Richard Sutton, led police on a 135mph car chase before officers carried out a “hard stop” on a London street and Tasered him as he stabbed himself, a murder trial has heard.Thomas Schreiber, 35, who killed Sutton and seriously injured his mother, Anne Schreiber, on the anniversary of his own father’s death, claimed he snapped after laying out some pistachio nuts and putting champagne on ice to share with his mother and Sutton, and argued that “demons” rather than himself were to blame. Continue reading...

Xiomara Castro has said she will foster ties with Beijing in what experts see as a move to counter US influenceXiomara Castro’s victory in the Honduras presidential elections has placed the Central American nation at the heart of an intensifying diplomatic tug-of-war between Taiwan and China.Honduras is one of only 15 remaining countries that recognizes the sovereignty of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its own territory. But Castro made a manifesto pledge to end that decades-long relationship and establish diplomatic ties with Beijing. Continue reading...

Thursday: Many temporary visa holders face another Christmas without family. Plus: expanded league gets set for 20210-22 seasonGood morning. Skilled workers face Australian residency jeopardy, government advisers urge swift action on sex discrimination inside parliament and more countries tighten their borders in the face of Omicron.Thousands of skilled workers and bridging visa holders are contemplating leaving Australia permanently due to inconsistencies in the government’s pandemic response that mean several visa categories are not included for exemption-free travel from mid-December. People on distinguished talent visas or awaiting permanent residency confirmation are being effectively blocked from returning home, with some, like Giorgia Di Girolamo, facing a difficult the prospect of giving up the life she’s built in Australia since 2017 to see her dying grandfather. A petition to expand exemption-free travel to such visa holders has garnered 9,000 signatories. Continue reading...

Tehran accuses Israel of ‘trumpeting lies to poison’ talks aimed at reviving 2015 pactIran sought to heighten pressure on western negotiators in Vienna through increasing its use of advanced centrifuges as talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal carried on for a third day on Wednesday.The International Atomic Energy Agency reported on Wednesday that Iran had started the process of enriching uranium to up to 20% purity with one cascade, or cluster, of 166 advanced IR-6 machines at the Fordow fuel enrichment plant, which is about 20 miles north-east of Qom. Those machines are far more efficient than the first-generation IR-1. Continue reading...

Anthony Broadwater spent 16 years in jail as victim of miscarriage of justice but has accepted author’s apologyOn 4 November 1981, five Black men in matching light blue shirts filed into a narrow, well-lit room on the third floor of a police station in Syracuse, New York, and turned to face a one-way mirror. On the other side, a 19-year-old white student stepped towards the glass, and tried to identify which of them was her rapist.The student, Alice Sebold, would go on to a storied literary career. She had been the subject of a horrific attack late one night in May of the same year, dragged into a tunnel from a path in a public park and forced to lie down among broken bottles. Continue reading...

Secretary of state says Nato is ‘prepared to impose severe costs’ on Moscow if invasion attemptedThe US says it has evidence Russia has made plans for a “large scale” attack on Ukraine and that Nato allies are “prepared to impose severe costs” on Moscow if it attempts an invasion.Speaking at a Nato ministers meeting in Latvia, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said it was unclear whether Vladimir Putin had made a decision to invade but added: “He’s putting in place the capacity to do so in short order, should he so decide. Continue reading...

Campaigners file legal challenge against seismic survey along South Africa’s Eastern Cape provinceAn 11th hour attempt has been launched to try to halt plans by Shell to explore for oil in vital whale breeding grounds along the Wild Coast of eastern South Africa.Campaigners filed an urgent legal challenge against the seismic survey, which was scheduled to begin on Wednesday, in an effort to prevent it harming whales, dolphins and seals in the relatively untouched marine environment. Continue reading...

Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng says climate crisis likely to cause future extreme weather eventsStorm Arwen was “an event the likes of which we haven’t seen for 60 years” and the UK needs to be prepared for more extreme weather due to the climate crisis, according to the business secretary, as more than 30,000 homes remain without power.Kwasi Kwarteng said the majority of those people will have power restored “in the next day or two”, although he conceded some in remote locations may have to wait much longer. Continue reading...

Blast near busy German train station happened during drilling work on construction site, say policeFour people have been injured, one seriously, after an old aircraft bomb exploded at a bridge near Munich‘s busy main train station.More than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are discovered each year in Germany, more than 70 years after the end of the second world war. Continue reading...

Terminal 4 to be used for passengers from 10 red-list countries in southern Africa

London mayor’s cycling and walking chief pauses ad showing cyclist and driver making up after collisionTransport for London has halted an ad campaign promoting road safety that featured a driver and cyclist making up after the latter was almost hit, following a backlash accusing the ad of “victim blaming”.The TfL campaign, called See Their Side, was launched during Road Safety Week last month as part of the London mayor Sadiq Khan’s long-term goal of having no deaths and serious injuries on the capital’s roads by 2041. Continue reading...

PM says all guidance was followed but Keir Starmer says Johnson ‘taking British public for fools’

European Commission president says EU states need to discuss idea in response to spread of Omicron variant

Aid agencies fear plans to scrap applications via Skype are an attempt to control and contain rather than help asylum seekersWhen Hadi Karam*, a soft-spoken Syrian, decided to leave the war-stricken city of Raqqa, he knew the journey to Europe would be risky. What he had not factored in was how technology would be a stumbling block once he reached Greece.“I never thought Skype would be the problem,” says the young professional, recounting his family’s ordeal trying to contact asylum officers in the country. “You ring and ring and ring. Weeks and weeks go by, and there is never any answer.” Continue reading...

Continuing our series of exposés about the TV industry, insiders talk about being misgendered, treated like sexual predators and having to work with ‘outwardly homophobic and transphobic’ talent

Britain has lost an estimated 50% of its public toilets in the past 10 years. This is a problem for everyone, and for some it is so acute that they are either dehydrating before going out or not leaving home at allFor about an hour and a half before she finishes work and gets the bus home, Jacqui won’t eat or drink anything. Once, while waiting at the bus stop, and suddenly needing the loo, she had to head to the other end of town; the public toilets nearby had closed. She didn’t make it in time. Jacqui, who has multiple sclerosis, which can affect bladder and bowel function, says: “I go everywhere with a spare pair of knickers and a packet of wipes, but it’s not something you want to do if you can help it.”Jacqui was diagnosed with MS five years ago, and in that time she has noticed a decline in the number of public toilets. Of the ones that are left, one only takes 20p coins, “and in this increasingly cashless society, you have to make sure you always go out with a 20p”. The other block of loos are “up two flights of stairs or the lift, so it’s not the most suitable access”. If she is out for the day, she will research where the loos are, and it has meant missing out on trips with friends, such as to an outdoor festival, where the loos just weren’t accessible enough. The MS Society has given her a card, which she shows in cafes requesting access to their loos when she’s not a customer, and every person she has flashed it to “has been wonderful”. But, she adds: “You use it as a last resort because you don’t really want to burst into a cafe in front of people and say: ‘Excuse me, I need to wee.’” Continue reading...

Aspen Institute’s New Voices want donors to exercise humility and trust those receiving grants to know what their communities needAid donors are being urged to revolutionise the way money is spent to move away from colonial ideas and create meaningful change.Ahead of a two-day conference this week, activists from Africa, Asia and Latin America have called on public and private global health donors – including governments, the United Nations, private philanthropists and international organisations – to prioritise funding for programmes driven by the needs of the community involved, rather than dictated by preconceived objectives. Continue reading...

Health secretary says demands for GPs to return to face-to-face appointments could be axed to bolster vaccination effort

Maeve’s law will legalise partial DNA donations, allowing women to give birth without passing on a genetic disease

Emergency crews battling rising flood waters as wet weather inundates vast areas of the state

It is hard to protect yourself from HIV when having sterile syringes or condoms can lead to arrest: discrimination is restricting progress in eliminating HIV