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International community’s high representative calls for diplomatic engagement from US and EuropeThe top international official in Bosnia has said that the Serb separatist threat to re-establish their own army had receded for now, but the country and surrounding region were still heading for crisis without substantial diplomatic engagement from the US and Europe.Christian Schmidt, a German former minister serving as the international community’s high representative to Bosnia-Herzegovina, said the Serb separatist leader, Milorad Dodik, had been persuaded by regional leaders to suspend his plans to pull Serb soldiers out of the Bosnian national army and reconstitute a Bosnian Serb force. Continue reading...

The prime minister said on Wednesday he was shocked after 31 people died trying to cross the Channel to the UK in an inflatable dinghy.'My thoughts and sympathies are first of all with the victims and their families,' Johnson said. 'It’s an appalling thing that they have suffered. But I also want to say that this disaster underscores how dangerous it is to cross the Channel in this way'

Thursday: Liberal MP blasts Morrison government for failing to establish an anti-corruption watchdog. Plus: 130 local, sustainable or just plain delightful Christmas present ideasGood morning. Scott Morrison faces more criticism from his backbench, Australia is accused of failing to provide international leadership over global vaccine access and Sweden’s first female PM lasts just 12 hours in the job.A Liberal MP has condemned the government’s failure to draft legislation to establish a commonwealth integrity commission, almost three years after it promised to do so. A Tasmanian MP, Bridget Archer, said she was “perplexed” as to why little progress had occurred, and also that she was “a bit offended” that the religious discrimination bill had been prioritised. Archer also attacked “tribalism” within politics, warning she was “absolutely” prepared to cross the floor to back legislation introduced by the independent MP Helen Haines, saying integrity should be “above politics”. Continue reading...

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was ruled ineligible amid disputes over rules and threats to peace processLibya’s election commission said on Wednesday that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the former ruler and a strong candidate in December’s planned presidential election, was ineligible to run, compounding the turmoil surrounding the vote.Gaddafi was one of 25 candidates that the commission disqualified in an initial decision pending an appeals process that will ultimately be decided by the judiciary. Ninety-eight Libyans registered as candidates. Continue reading...

Judge reveals identities of more than 30 people whose wills – showing details of their assets – were sealedWills detailing the assets of distant relatives of the royal family have been kept secret through an obscure legal procedure, a court document has revealed.The Windsor family has over the last century managed to exempt itself from a law requiring the wills of British citizens to ordinarily be made public. Continue reading...

The world champion opens up on his struggle for motivation ahead of an intriguing showdown with youth rival Ian Nepomniachtchi“I’m less hungry. I think you’re always going to be if you’re playing for the world title for the fifth time, rather than the first.” It is quite the opening gambit from Magnus Carlsen, in his final newspaper interview before he puts his crown on the line again. But sport’s deepest thinker is merely revving up before he truly opens up.Carlsen has long established himself as the greatest chess player of his generation. Perhaps any generation, given he is the highest-rated of all time and has held the Fide world title since 2013. But there is something else that marks the Norwegian out in an era where sporting superstars are increasingly bland and on brand: his unflinching honesty. Continue reading...

Some residents evacuated and public told to avoid area as emergency services respond to incidentFirefighters are tackling a huge blaze and apparent explosions on an industrial estate near Hull.Some residents were evacuated from nearby houses and emergency services warned residents to keep their doors and windows closed as they respond to the incident in Hessle. Continue reading...

Social Democrat, Green and liberal parties agree to form government after two months of talksGermany’s new three-way coalition government of Social Democrats, Greens and liberals has addressed the public for the first time, pledging to put climate protection at the top of its agenda, but stressing its first priority was to control the pandemic.Replacing Angela Merkel as leader after 16 years, Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats used his opening speech to deliver a dramatic appeal to Germans to get vaccinated, announcing a seven-point plan to tackle the health emergency, which he called “very serious”, stressing that hospitals were close to capacity, and that his government would be considering the introduction of a vaccine mandate. Continue reading...

Robert Pether says he was tricked into signing confession over dispute between his firm and Central Bank of Iraq

Gunshots fired at police on both French Caribbean islands amid anger at vaccine mandate

‘The model is holding a child’s doll, looking out over the wreckage. It represents the future generations we’re condemning to environmental catastrophe’Outside Dakar, Senegal’s capital, is a rubbish dump with its own name: Mbeubeuss. The land on which it sits was once flat swampland. It began as a landfill site in 1968; today, it is a mountain of rubbish. It has accumulated so much plastic waste from the city that to reach it you have to drive on a road of compacted trash.This is not the Africa I grew up in. As a child here in the 1970s and 80s, it was not like this. But when I returned in 2012, I was shocked at what I found. Here in Senegal, there was plastic waste everywhere – at roadsides, in trees, everywhere. The younger generation don’t know any different: it’s just part of their environment now. I decided I wanted to shoot a series to raise awareness of environmental issues in Senegal, in the hope that people would realise that things do not have to be this way. I wanted to connect environmental issues with the cultural interests of the population, and started researching animism – the belief that objects and the natural world are imbued with spirits. Continue reading...

Jamie Lewis and Deniz Jaffer referred to Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman as ‘dead birds’ on WhatsAppTwo Metropolitan police officers who shared photos of two murdered sisters and referred to them as “dead birds” have been found guilty of gross misconduct.PC Jamie Lewis, 33, will be instantly dismissed from the force, while former PC Deniz Jaffer, 47, had already resigned. Continue reading...

They are running rampant through the US and Europe: stealing a nudist’s laptop, rifling through rubbish and upsetting Shakira. Just how worried should we be?Name: The swine bomb.Status: Ongoing and escalating. Continue reading...

Lee McLeod describes 18-year-old who went missing in Plymouth as ‘beautiful and talented’The brother of an 18-year-old woman whose body was found three days after she went missing near her home in Devon has led tributes to her, describing her as “beautiful and talented”.Police in Plymouth launched a murder inquiry after finding a body believed to be that of Bobbi-Anne McLeod. Two men aged 24 and 26 have been arrested. Continue reading...

But ruling will not allow self-employed women whose income support was hit during pandemic to claim rebates

NGOs believe raids, officially part of an embezzlement inquiry, are an attempt to ‘criminalise social movements’Rights activists in El Salvador said they will not be pressured into silence after prosecutors raided the offices of seven charities and groups in the Central American country.“They’re trying to criminalise social movements,” said Morena Herrera, a prominent women’s rights activist. “They can’t accept that they are in support of a better El Salvador.” Continue reading...

Exclusive: Audience member at Almeida theatre says PM was not wearing mask during Macbeth performance

Christmas shortbread as made by our resident perfectionist, with a few choices of festive flavouringsThe world may have gone mad for spiced speculoos this year, but, for me, Christmas will always be all about two biscuits: gingerbread, for decorations, and shortbread, for actual consumption. Easy to make and a genuine crowdpleaser, shortbread will keep well for several weeks, which makes it the gift that keeps on giving well into the dark days of January. Not that it’ll last that long.Prep 15 min

Real Madrid star given suspended jail sentence and €75,000 fine for complicity in attempted blackmailThe French international footballer Karim Benzema has received a one-year suspended jail sentence and been fined €75,000 (£63,000) for his involvement in a sex tape extortion scandal that shocked French sport.A Versailles court on Wednesday found Benzema guilty of complicity in attempted blackmail against his French teammate Mathieu Valbuena over a video thought to have been stolen from Valbuena’s mobile phone. Continue reading...

Their 2003 album The Meadowlands earned them adulation, but a long-promised followup never arrived. Now their frontman is back as Aeon Station – and his former co-writer is very unhappy…Before taking flight as indie-rock heartbreakers the Wrens, Kevin Whelan and Charles Bissell were an awkward, prickly pair who met at a graduation party in an abandoned house. “I never had any friends or girlfriends,” the affable Whelan, 51, says with a self-effacing laugh from the New Jersey home he shares with his wife and sons. “My Saturday night was watching Doctor Who on PBS.”Whelan’s frontman confidence was still a work-in-progress in 1998, so Bissell, a guitar whiz and jazz fiend six years his senior, took him under his wing, lending the nerdy keyboardist an amp to join the party jam. Before long Whelan was paying visits to Bissell’s New York apartment, where he heard his future bandmate debut his first song. “I can even remember it,” says Whelan, grabbing an acoustic guitar to recite his friend’s 33-year-old riff. “From that, we started really getting into what songs could be.” Continue reading...

Pair investigating conditions for labourers detained as they tried to fly homeTwo Norwegian journalists investigating conditions for migrant workers in Qatar ahead of the 2022 Fifa World Cup were arrested and detained for 36 hours as they tried to leave the country, Norwegian media have reported.The VG newspaper reported that Halvor Ekeland, a sports journalist for the public broadcaster NRK, and Lokman Ghorbani, an NRK cameraman, were picked up by police late on Sunday as they were preparing to leave for Doha airport. Continue reading...

Presidential candidate would be the country’s first female president who vows to stop the violence and corruption causing many to fleeA week ahead of what may be Honduras’s most consequential election since the country’s return to democracy in 1982, the leading opposition candidate for president delivered her final address to an audience of fervent supporters.“Today we are united as an opposition to say enough! Enough of so much theft, corruption and drug trafficking,” said Xiomara Castro, 62, as she addressed the crowd in Tegucigalpa on Sunday. “Enough suffering for the Honduran people.” Continue reading...

Archbishop of Canterbury says vicars are ‘hard-working, normal people’ rather than ‘depressing’ depictions seen in TV dramasThe archbishop of Canterbury has said the clergy are portrayed in television dramas as “rogues or idiots” whereas in reality they are “hard-working, normal people, caring deeply about what they do”.Such fictional depictions of vicars were “depressing”, Justin Welby told the National Farmers’ Union. Departing from the text of his speech, Welby said he had “got into” watching Clarkson’s Farm on television during the pandemic. Continue reading...

The gossip forum Tattle Life is a trolls’ paradise, created to scrutinise the lives of influencers. It has made a lot of enemies. Will one of them bring it down?Abbie Draper was so excited when she heard there was to be a big Tattle reveal that she set a reminder on her phone. On Friday, 1 October, at 7pm, Andy Malone was going to reveal the identity of the founder of the notorious website Tattle Life – the mysterious “Helen”.Founded in 2018, Tattle Life is a gossip forum dedicated to dissecting the lives of women in the public eye. Quietly, without mainstream recognition, Tattle has become one of the most-visited – and hate-filled – websites in the UK. There were 43.2m visits to Tattle in the last six months alone, mostly from British users. (Almost all the people discussed on Tattle are British.) Continue reading...

Four universities that demonstrate 'commercialisation readiness’ will receive funding for research hubs in areas including defence, space and clean energy

Lorraine Finlay also says she doesn’t believe her past political aspirations with the Liberal party will impact her job.Certainly my past political involvement doesn’t qualify me for the role, but it also isn’t a disqualification from the role.Now the human rights commission is an independent, apolitical statutory agency. And as the human rights commissioner, let me be very clear, I am not a politician. It is not a political role. And I fully intend to operate within the established framework of the commission.What I can say is my personal views, haven’t changed, but my role has, and I’m very aware that as human rights commissioner I do need to take a broader perspective and there are a variety of views and opinions that need to be taken into account.So again, I don’t see this role as my personal soapbox. I’m not a politician by default, I am here to do a very specific job. And I intend to operate very squarely within the framework of the commission to perform these duties. Continue reading...

The abbreviation of ‘non-fungible token’ tops a shortlist also including pingdemic, climate anxiety and metaverseIn a year that has seen the musician Grimes sell a collection of digital artworks for almost $6m (£4.4m), and the original photo behind the 2005 Disaster Girl meme go for $473,000 (£354,000), Collins Dictionary has made NFT its word of the year.The abbreviation of non-fungible token has seen a “meteoric” rise in usage over the last year, said Collins, up 11,000% in the last year. Any digital creation can become an NFT, with the term referring to a certificate of ownership, registered on a blockchain, or digital ledger of transactions. The most valuable NFT to date is a collage by digital artist Beeple, which sold for £50.3m at Christie’s in March. Continue reading...

Host to lush forests, red deer and buzzards, an out-of-season guided cycle trip around Braemar reveals a landscape in a state of fluxBraemar out of season is a strange place to be. Not quite lifeless, but definitely falling into an autumnal torpor. After an extraordinarily busy summer hosting the great flood of northbound domestic tourists, in late October just a few B&Bs and pubs are hanging on before some much-needed downtime.At the edges of the village though, and in the wider, wilder countryside beyond, a lot more life is to be found. Red squirrels are emboldened by the reduced traffic, the red deer rut is just coming to an end. Dan Brown and Rachael Iveson-Brown, owners of Wild Discovery, are at a similar stage of life: busy preparing for winter and renewal next year. Continue reading...

I came out in my late teens, but still felt repressed by my appearance. Almost 10 years after first booking a short back and sides, I finally took the plunge – and immediately felt revitalisedThe hairdresser steadied my head as I sat in the swivel chair, face mask on, staring into the mirror. In December 2020, another lockdown loomed, and nearly 12 months earlier I had made it a New Year’s resolution to get short hair that year. Within 45 minutes, my shoulder-length mop was down to a couple of inches.People often get radical haircuts in response to life-changing events, such as a breakup or the loss of a loved one. I got mine because I wanted to embrace how I felt as a butch lesbian. Continue reading...

Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company has come a long way since it fought off a takeover bid in 2014Little expense has been spared at the giant glass and steel structure that sprouts from a once-vacant plot of land on the outskirts of Cambridge.AstraZeneca’s £1bn new research and development centre houses 16 labs and 2,200 scientists, making it the biggest science lab in Britain along with the Francis Crick Institute in London, and the pharmaceutical company’s biggest single site investment to date. Continue reading...

Adriana Rivas is facing seven counts of aggravated kidnapping relating to the disappearance, and presumed murder, of Chile communist party members

Blinding Lights was 2020’s biggest song both in terms of sales and size, cementing the Canadian singer’s status as global pop megastarThe Weeknd’s hit single Blinding Lights has officially been crowned the all-time No 1 song on the Billboard single charts, ousting Chubby Checker’s 1960s hit the Twist.The song, an instant synth-pop classic, debuted in late November 2019 and topped the weekly Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in April and May 2020, going on to spend a record-shattering 90 consecutive weeks on the chart. Continue reading...

Researchers say warmer waters mean birds are travelling further for food and becoming more stressed, triggering relationship breakdownsAlbatrosses, some of the world’s most loyally monogamous creatures, are “divorcing” more often – and researchers say global heating may be to blame.In a new Royal Society study, researchers say climate change and warming waters are pushing black-browed albatross break-up rates higher. Typically after choosing a partner, only 1-3% would separate in search of greener romantic pastures. Continue reading...

Prime minister Kim Boo-kyum says emergency measures may be imposed as cases spike just weeks after the country reopenedSouth Korea reported a new daily record of 4,116 new coronavirus cases as the country battles to contain a spike in serious cases requiring hospitalisation, health authorities said.South Korea this month switched to a “living with Covid-19” plan aimed at lifting rigid distancing rules and ultimately reopening after reaching vaccination goals last month. Continue reading...

Latest updates: Torridge in Devon had the highest rate in UK followed by Mid Ulster in Northern Ireland; France reports over 30,000 cases

Report from cross-party MPs calls for scheme to be taken away from Priti Patel’s departmentJust 5% of Windrush victims have received compensation four years after the scandal emerged, according to a damning report by cross-party MPs which called for the scheme to be taken out of Home Office control.The report from the home affairs select committee found that the compensation scheme, for which up to 15,000 people were expected to qualify, had compounded injustices faced by the Windrush generation, with some applicants saying the process has become a source of further trauma rather than redress. Continue reading...

Labour’s Louise Haigh says people of Northern Ireland should choose their future without sway from WestminsterA British government should remain neutral on the question of a united Ireland in the event of a border poll, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary has said.Louise Haigh said it would be for the people of Northern Ireland to decide such an issue, arguing this was mandated in the Good Friday agreement which brought an end to the Troubles 23 years ago. Continue reading...

It may not have felt as vital or soothing as last year’s series, but this was a corking final, with a Mad Hatter’s tea party Showstopper and disasters for all the finalists• Warning: this article contains spoilersWas this a vintage year for The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4)? I’m not sure it will go down as an all-time great, though it was a good, reliable series. It was, however, a strong finale, with strong contestants who were, as we were often reminded, the most evenly matched in Bake Off history. Perfectionist Giuseppe, aesthete Crystelle and self-taught lockdown prodigy Chigs had all shaken the hand of Paul Hollywood twice, and were all crowned star baker twice. It was impossible to tell who was going to win. Continue reading...

Hopes for talks fade as Tigrayan rebels say they are edging closer to Addis AbabaInternational alarm mounted on Tuesday over the escalating war in Ethiopia as Tigrayan rebels said they were edging closer to the capital, Addis Ababa, and more foreign citizens were told to leave.The US envoy Jeffrey Feltman spoke of some progress in efforts to reach a diplomatic settlement to end the year-long conflict but said it risked being jeopardised by “alarming developments” on the ground. Continue reading...

Olivia Rodrigo, Doja Cat, Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X also among those with multiple nominations in top categoriesThe highly versatile, socially conscious pianist, singer and composer Jon Batiste has topped this year’s Grammy nominations, with 10 nods.Batiste’s nominations straddle everything from the top prizes of record and album of the year, to inclusions across R&B, jazz, roots and classical categories. His score for animated film Soul, made with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails, is also nominated, as are the directors of his music video Freedom. Continue reading...

UK government guidance updated to cover socialising indoors, as Scotland’s first minister urges people to make ‘extra effort’

The case of the tennis star is highlighting human rights abuses in China and reigniting calls for a diplomatic boycott of the Winter OlympicsA social media post that vanished within minutes is reverberating around the world, weeks later. The most personal of matters has become a diplomatic issue. The tennis player Peng Shuai’s allegation that a former senior Chinese leader, Zhang Gaoli, had sexually assaulted her was unprecedented. It inevitably prompted grave concerns for her – only increased by subsequent stage-managed appearances and a message that the initial claim was untrue and everything was fine, all relayed via state media outlets or employees (though only to readers outside the country).There is nothing new about people disappearing after angering China’s authorities. Nor is there anything new about “proof of life” videos emerging, or about forced letters and filmed testimonies. The tone and content of Peng’s purported email to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and video call with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) seem remarkably familiar: nothing was ever wrong and she would like people to stop talking about her. As the WTA said, these do not address the questions about her wellbeing and ability to communicate without censorship or coercion. Still less do they touch upon her accusation, which Chinese authorities have not addressed beyond complaining of “malicious hyping” of the case. Continue reading...

Ambassador warned Foreign Office an Iraqi invasion was under way but this was not passed on to airlineHundreds of British passengers might have avoided being taken hostage by Saddam Hussein in 1990 if a call by a British ambassador regarding Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait had been relayed to British Airways, the Foreign Office has disclosed.The revelation of the phone call and the decades long cover-up was made on Tuesday under the 20-year disclosure rule, but was known to ministers and diplomats since 1990. The current foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has apologised for the omission. Continue reading...

Amid calls for mandatory jabs, Joachim Sauer says complacency partly to blame for rising Covid rates

Sex trafficker’s final days detailed in more than 2,000 pages of never-before-seen records obtained by the New York TimesThe financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein told a psychologist he was too much of “a coward” to ever kill himself, two weeks before he was found dead in his jail cell in a death that was ruled a suicide.The claim was contained in a detailed analysis of Epstein’s final days compiled from more than 2,000 pages of never-before-seen documents and jail records obtained under freedom of information laws and published by the New York Times on Tuesday.In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 800-273-8255 and online chat is also available. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org

Whether it is Paul Rudd, Will Smith or Gareth Southgate, men who have passed their half century are having a moment. Welcome to the age of affability, steadiness and deeply desirable dependabilityName: Fit fiftysomethings.Age: 50-59. Continue reading...

Rudy Guede freed after completing 13 years of 16-year sentence for 2007 murder of British studentRudy Guede, the only person definitively convicted of the murder of the British student Meredith Kercher, has been freed from prison after completing 13 years of a 16-year sentence.A judge in the Italian town of Viterbo agreed to further reduce Guede’s sentence, which had been due to end on 4 January, by an additional 45 days due to good behaviour. Continue reading...

Draft law proposes sanctions whether or not involvement in attempts at destabilisation is intentionalThe EU has published a draft law that would blacklist airlines and travel operators that fly people to countries on its borders as part of attempts to destabilise the bloc, in its latest response to the crisis at the Poland-Belarus border.The proposal does not specifically mention Belarus, whose authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, is accused of engineering the arrival of thousands of people at the Polish border, where a desperate humanitarian situation has played out in recent weeks. Continue reading...

Alleged scammer from Latvia had been living a life of luxury on Spanish coastPolice have arrested an alleged cryptocurrency fraudster who is suspected of swindling his victims out of more than €500,000 (£421,000) while living a life of luxury on the Costa del Sol, staying in exclusive hotels and villas, eating in expensive restaurants and buying designer clothes.The Guardia Civil force described the Latvian man, who had been sought by Interpol since 2015, as “one of the biggest cryptocurrency con artists based in Spain”. Continue reading...

Markus Anfang resigned as Werder Bremen coach after doubts voiced about authenticity of Covid certificate