by Eleni Courea Political correspondent on (#6SSNG)
Pat McFadden to urge departments to adopt test-and-learn' approach as part of 100m scheme for public sector reformTech employees will be seconded to work in Whitehall for year-long stints to help the UK government function more like a startup" under plans to rewire the state.Ministers will spend 100m on public sector reform as part of a shake-up of the workings of government to achieve Keir Starmer's targets. Continue reading...
by William Christou in Damascus and Bethan McKernan on (#6SSKN)
Citizens dream of a better future but some are wary of Islamist groups claiming to represent themThe people of Syria have celebrated the fall of Bashar al-Assad and dared to dream of a better future after five decades of dynastic rule came to a sudden and unexpected end with the dictator fleeing to Moscow.Crowds of people waved the Syrian revolutionary flag and pulled down statues and portraits of the president and his father, Hafez, while celebratory gunfire and car horns echoed around Damascus on Sunday as an astonishing rebel advance reached the capital. Continue reading...
Six witnesses had told inquiry Bob Lambert was involved in attack while masquerading as animal rights campaignerAn undercover police officer has denied that he set fire to a high street department store while masquerading as an animal rights campaigner, a public inquiry has heard.Six witnesses have told the undercover policing inquiry that Bob Lambert, a police spy, was involved in an arson attack on a Debenhams that caused damage costing 340,000. Continue reading...
Affected products include cheese & chive dip, soups, pasta sauces and taramasalata at Waitrose, Tesco and M&SIt could be crunch time for picky teas" and party nibbles this Christmas amid fears of further shortages of cheese and chive dips, soups and pasta sauces after hundreds of workers at a food production site voted for three months of further strike action.Industrial action at the Spalding plant of Bakkavor, a large supplier of savoury dips, hit supplies of taramasalata in supermarkets last month. As the strike enters its third month, there are now gaps on shelves in Waitrose, Tesco and Marks & Spencer as the action affects production of cheese & chive dips and other items. Continue reading...
Shoes worn by Judy Garland were estimated to fetch $3m, but bidding far outpaced that amount within secondsA pair of iconic ruby slippers that were worn by Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz and stolen from a museum nearly two decades ago sold for a winning bid of $28m at auction Saturday.Heritage Auctions had estimated that they would fetch $3m or more, but the fast-paced bidding far outpaced that amount within seconds and tripled it within minutes. A few bidders making offers by phone volleyed back and forth for 15 minutes as the price climbed to the final, eye-popping sum. Continue reading...
by Eleni Courea Political correspondent on (#6SSD5)
Housing secretary says wildlife should be protected but not at the expense of building the homes the country needsNewts should not be more protected than people who need homes, Angela Rayner has said ahead of an overhaul of national planning guidelines.The housing secretary suggested previous governments had got the balance wrong between building more houses and protecting local wildlife. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#6SSC9)
Exclusive: Election strategy of not being the Tories' is a timebomb, says Labour-linked thinktank CompassKeir Starmer's focus on winning over voters from the centre-right has delivered Labour a large but fundamentally shallow electoral win and a weak mandate to deliver real change, a report from a Labour-linked thinktank has warned.The report by Compass, titled Thin Ice, argues that Labour should be less worried about losing 2024 voters to Reform UK and the Conservatives than to the Liberal Democrats and Greens, arguing this is the greater electoral risk. Continue reading...
by Yohannes Lowe (now); Kate Lamb, Coral Murphy Marco on (#6SS0F)
Rebels say Damascus is free' of the tyrant' Bashar al-Assad after lightning advance across the countryThis live blog is now closed. You can read the latest coverage here:
Former Beatle's treatment for the film - and an expanded version by sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov - unearthed in the USIt is the film that never was - an unlikely sci-fi musical about aliens dreamed up by Paul McCartney half a century ago. The aliens would have landed in a flying saucer, but the project never got off the ground.Now the former Beatle's treatment for the film - and an expanded version by the American sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov that McCartney turned down - have been unearthed in a US archive by the authors Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair, while researching a forthcoming book. Continue reading...
Home Office has postponed transition to digital visas but campaigners fear ongoing technical problems could cause travel chaosMigrant rights groups have warned that British residents could still be barred from returning from abroad because of the switch to digital visas, despite the government extending the deadline by three months.The Home Office announced last week that the transition to eVisas as the accepted proof of British residency rights would begin at the end of March 2025, ditching the original 31 December deadline with just weeks to go after the transition was dogged by technical problems. Continue reading...
Newspaper's owner, the Scott Trust, to sign contract in coming days, despite strike by Guardian and Observer journalistsThe Scott Trust has announced it has decided to press ahead with its sale of the Observer to Tortoise Media. The decision would protect the Observer's future, championing the voice of liberal values and investing in exceptional journalism, while building its digital offering", it said last week.Tortoise is run by former director of BBC News James Harding, who has promised to continue to publish the Observer on a Sunday and build up the newspaper's digital presence by combining it with the group's podcasts, newsletters and live events. Continue reading...
Thick black smoke fills sky above Brucefield industrial estate near Livingston as drivers told to avoid areaFirefighters are tackling a significant" blaze which broke out at an industrial estate in West Lothian, sending a plume of thick black smoke billowing into the sky.Crews from nine fire engines were called to the scene at Brucefield industrial estate near Livingston. Continue reading...
French president hosts three-way talk with US president-elect, as Ukrainian fears grow over position of incoming administrationUkraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on Saturday insisted at a meeting with US president-elect, Donald Trump, that any settlement with Russia after its invasion of Ukraine had to be just", as fears grow in Kyiv on the position of the incoming administration.France's president, Emmanuel Macron, hosted three-way talks with Zelenskyy and Trump at the Elysee palace, discussing what the incoming US president had termed a world that was a little crazy". Continue reading...
Transport police called to Ilford station on Wednesday and Jorge Ortega, 61, was taken to hospital with head injuriesTributes have been paid to an Elizabeth line worker who died after an attack at a railway station in east London.Jorge Ortega, 61, died in hospital after suffering head injuries following the assault at Ilford station. Continue reading...
The row over Labour's cuts to pensioners' energy payments is about to flare up again after damning new researchThe row over the government's decision to slash winter fuel payments is set to be reignited after new evidence revealed that more than 1 million older people are skipping meals because of financial concerns.The fresh study also suggested that millions are already cutting down on their heating, with warnings about the impact on the NHS. A spike in applications for pension credit, which enables people to receive the winter fuel payments, also means that even some of those who qualify are having to wait up to 12 weeks to receive it because Whitehall has been overwhelmed" with claims, the Observer has been told. Continue reading...
Thousands are left without power as flood warnings are issued in the wake of fierce winds and rainJames Woodbine was woken up by Storm Darragh at 5am, roughly the time the power cut began. His 300-year-old cottage is at the top of a hill in Trofarth in north Wales where yesterday's winds were fiercest, measured at 93mph nearby in Capel Curig.The noise was the strangest thing," Woodbine said. There was a thrum coming from the ground, a rumble going through the building whenever there was a gust. I've never heard that before. I've been here for 30 years and we had Storm Doris come through in 2017, and this is far worse. I've never seen a storm like it." Continue reading...
Vicar praises stonemasons' rapid restoration of fictional gravesite, seen in 1984 adaption of Charles Dickens' A Christmas CarolA gravestone for Ebenezer Scrooge in Shrewsbury that was smashed to bits has been repaired for free, in what the vicar has described as a really heartwarming" Christmas story.The gravestone for Scrooge, a fictional character created by Charles Dickens in his 1843 A Christmas Carol, was used as a prop during filming for a 1984 adaptation of the novella. Continue reading...
A prostitute's caution', unlike other cautions, does not require a person to admit an offence or agree to itPolice must be banned from issuing a draconian" caution that exclusively targets sex workers, both politicians and campaigners have said.A prostitute's caution", unlike other police cautions, does not require a person to admit to an offence or agree to accept it. Police canissue them to anyone they have reasonable cause" to believe has broken prostitution laws, meaning little evidence is required. Continue reading...
by Justin McCurry in Tokyo and Raphael Rashid in Seou on (#6SRY8)
Dramatic walkout by members of Yoon Suk Yeol's party leads assembly speaker to declare vote invalid South Korea crisis - latest updatesA motion to impeach the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, over his ill-fated declaration of martial law this week has failed after members of his party boycotted the vote.The walkout on Saturday meant the national assembly did not have the 200 votes needed to begin the process of forcing out the embattled Yoon. Continue reading...
Prince of Wales to hold meetings with US president-elect and Jill Biden as heads of state attend Paris eventThe Prince of Wales will meet Donald Trump in Paris when he joins world leaders for the ceremonial reopening of Notre Dame.William will travel to Paris on Saturday at the request of the French government for the high-profile event celebrating the restoration of the cathedral, the soul of France", after a devastating fire in 2019. Continue reading...
Vicky Ball expressed delight on X at selling two novels at an event - then catapulted up Amazon's book chartsAn aspiring author who went viral after selling two books at an event has described seeing her novel climb up Amazon's bestseller charts as amazing" and unbelievable".Vicky Ball, a 48-year-old from Colchester, showcased her two novels, one titled Powerless and the other Abandoned, at an authors' event on Tuesday at Galleywood Heritage Centre in Chelmsford. Continue reading...
Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani says there is work being done to get things back on track'Momentum has returned to the Gaza peace talks and an agreement is possible before Donald Trump's inauguration in January, Qatar's prime minister has said.Speaking at the annual Doha forum, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said the two key issues were whether there was willingness to have a prisoner hostage exchange, and whether there was a desire to end the war. Continue reading...
Family members describe renewed hopes after decades-long searches for political detainees in Kingdom of Silence'Moammar Ali has been searching for his older brother for 39 years.In 1986, Syrian soldiers arrested the university student Ali Hassan al-Ali, then 18, at a checkpoint in north Lebanon. Moammar has not heard from him since. Continue reading...
Exclusive: AG Recruitment found not to have acted in a fit and proper manner' by labour exploitation watchdogA British recruitment agency that brought Indonesian farmworkers to the UK owing debts of thousands of pounds to foreign brokers has had its licence revoked by the labour exploitation watchdog.AG Recruitment was once the largest supplier of international labour to British agriculture, bringing more than 1,450 Indonesians to pick fruit to supply British supermarkets in 2022. Continue reading...
by Ashifa Kassam European community affairs correspon on (#6SRTK)
Far right's election victory has breathed new life into the male and non-binary squad FearleadersDressed in short shorts and tight T-shirts, they bounded on to the gymnasium floor. After the female roller derby teams had pushed, pounded and smashed into each other, the men and their pompoms were now on the same court in Vienna, ready to offer up the exact opposite: a hip-shaking, acrobatic half-time show.We wanted to play with the stereotypes," said Andreas Fleck, one of the founders of Austria's Fearleaders, believed to be Europe's first squad of male and non-binary cheerleaders. We have this idea of heroic, strong male players on the field and on the sidelines these very sexualised female cheerleaders. We wanted to turn this around." Continue reading...
Yoon Suk Yeol tells nation he will face legal consequences and will not try to impose martial law for a second timeThe South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has apologised for his short-lived attempt to impose martial law this week, promising to face any legal or political consequences hours before parliament is due to vote on his impeachment.In a two-minute televised address to the nation, his first public appearance since he rescinded the martial law order on Wednesday, Yoon said he was very sorry" for the decision, which he said was born of desperation, and promised not to attempt to impose martial law a second time. Continue reading...
Ken McCallum says service must make uncomfortable choices' as it faces more aggression from Russia, China and IranMI5 has had to pare back" its counter-terrorism focus because of the growing threat from Russia and other hostile states, the security agency's boss has said.Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, said the agency has to look at its finite" resources and make uncomfortable choices". Continue reading...
Public petition calls for motion by VVD party in ruling rightwing coalition to be withdrawnProtests are planned in the Netherlands in response to a motion accepted by the Dutch parliament to keep details of cultural and religious norms and values of Dutch people with a migration background".A public petition is calling for the motion to be withdrawn and anti-racism campaigners are planning to demonstrate next Saturday against the direction of the government, in which the largest party is run by the anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders. Continue reading...
More than half of this week's Top 40 is Christmas-themed, as classics by Wham! and Mariah Carey eye a potential No 1 positionThe race for Christmas No 1 is hotting up as over half of the songs in this week's Top 40 are Christmas-themed.After only reaching No 45 in its first week of release, Band Aid's 40th anniversary version of Do They Know It's Christmas? has performed much better in its second week, reaching No 8. The improvement is due in part to the release of vinyl and CD editions (under chart rules, each physical sale counts for at least 100 streams). Continue reading...
Public and Commercial Services union joins FDA in criticising PM for the comments in his speech on ThursdayHere is the family photo' from today's British-Irish Council (BIC) summit in Edinburgh. The BIC was set up 25 years ago, after the Good Friday agreement, and today's summit is the 42nd it has held.In an interview on LBC this morning Matthew Pennycook, the housing minister, was asked about Keir Starmer's criticism of civil servants in his speech yesterday. (See 11.22am.) He would not endorse Starmer's claim that some civil servants are comfortable with decline.We've also got to do government differently. I was asked on a couple of other programmes this morning about the construction capacity problems that we're facing in terms of building those million and a half. We've got to do government differently. That isn't an MHCLG problem. That cuts across the Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Business. We've got to break down silos in government.And I think therefore, we have got to say to the civil service, we want to do things a bit differently, and you'll have to come on that journey with us.I haven't experienced any particular civil servants in a tepid bath of declinism. They share our ambition. They are working absolutely flat out to make the changes to the planning system that we've already taken forward, and they'll continue to do that. Continue reading...
Charities and politicians praise increase to 56 days but press for move to be made permanentCharities and politicians have welcomed a Home Office trial that will doublethe number of days refugees have to find a home before being evicted from asylum accommodation.The government has faced persistent calls to increase the move-on period, the amount of time people granted the right to remain in the UK are given to find a home and an income before being kicked out of hotels and other forms of asylum accommodation, after soaring rates of refugee homelessness. Continue reading...
Woman who lost unborn baby after Stuart Worby's callous' actions tells court: This pain will never leave me'A callous" and selfish" man who gave abortion drugs to a pregnant woman without her knowledge, causing her to lose her unborn baby, has been jailed for 12 years.Stuart Worby, 40, crushed a tablet into orange juice that the woman drank in 2022. Continue reading...
Attempt to have case dismissed refused as Soldier F accused of killing James Wray and William McKinneyA former soldier accused of two murders on Bloody Sunday has pleaded not guilty as he was formally returned for trial after an attempt to get the case thrown out was refused.Ex-paratrooper Soldier F, who cannot be identified, is accused of murdering James Wray and William McKinney when members of the Parachute regiment shot dead 13 civil rights protesters on the streets of Londonderry in January 1972. He is also charged with five attempted murders. Continue reading...
by Justin McCurry in Tokyo and Raphael Rashid in Seou on (#6SR8X)
While some say political turmoil has harmed country's cultural reputation, others say it proves resilienceIn the global battle for soft-power supremacy, a clear winner has emerged in recent years: South Korea. Spearheaded by the boyband phenomenon BTS, the Korean Wave has turned a country that few knew much about into a cultural behemoth.But just days ago, as anticipation grew over the start later this month of the second season of Squid Game - the first season of which is Netflix's most-watched show - real-life dystopia intervened when the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, announced he was imposing martial law to root out anti-state forces" and overcome political opponents who were obstructing his policy agenda. Continue reading...
Exposure to these toxic compounds, found in everyday items, could be elevating cancer risk in young womenMore than 400 chemicals regularly used in everyday plastic products are linked to breast cancer, and the dangerous compounds could be a driver of increasingly elevated cancer rates in young women, new research finds.Many of the toxic chemicals - such as PFAS, phthalates, parabens and aromatic amines - are added to food packaging, personal care products and single-use plastics, making exposures nearly ubiquitous. Continue reading...
by Raphael Rashid in Seoul and agencies on (#6SQZZ)
Head of the People Power party claims there is a significant risk that president could order extreme actions'The South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, could put citizens in great danger" if he is not suspended, the head of the ruling party said on Friday, increasing the likelihood that parliament will vote to impeach Yoon over Tuesday's failed martial law declaration.[If] President Yoon continues to hold the office of the presidency, there is a significant risk that extreme actions similar to the martial law declaration could be repeated, which could put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger," the head of the People Power party, Han Dong-hoon, told an emergency party leadership meeting. Continue reading...
Flash flooding and widespread disruption on Greek islands, while Australians experience unusually wet start to summerGreece was hit hard by Storm Bora last weekend, with torrential rain, gale-force winds and intense thunderstorms affecting the islands of Rhodes and Lemnos in particular.The storm formed on Friday 29 November and rapidly intensified by Saturday, with wind speeds reaching up to 80mph (129km/h). Rhodes had 300mm of rain, which caused flash flooding and widespread disruption. Three people were killed and power outages, school closures, overturned vehicles and collapsed bridges were reported. Continue reading...
This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereOur community team would like to hear from you how your train journey has been affected by the nationwide fault that has hit the British rail network this morning. You can find out how to get in touch with them here.Nigel Harris, a former managing editor at Rail magazine, and contributor to the Green Signals podcast, has told Sky News this morning that this type of fault is very rare". Continue reading...
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