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This blog is now closed. You can see our latest full report on Syria here and all our coverage from the region here.

Media mogul's three adult children will retain control despite attempt to give his son Lachlan complete controlRupert Murdoch's three adult children will retain control over their father's media empire upon his death, a Nevada court has ruled after Murdoch launched a campaign to wrest away their power and give it all to his oldest son.The New York Times reported on Murdoch's loss, citing a sealed court decision that was filed on Saturday. The family battle happened outside of the public's eye, despite attempts from the media to gain access to the trial. Continue reading...

While David Lammy lauded the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Keir Starmer was having a love-in with Mohammed bin SalmanNot that the foreign secretary was trying to take any of the credit for the collapse of the Assad regime, but without the UK standing firm then the dictator would have been around a lot longer. Just saying. Only maybe things weren't entirely that simple.Because David Lammy had given an interview to Laura Kuenssberg back in September in which he said he had been talking enthusiastically to the Italians about their deal to send refugees back to Syria. So not quite the same as talking directly to Assad. But nearly so. By such threads are reputations made.Taking the Lead by John Crace is published by Little, Brown (18.99). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. Continue reading...

Intelligence chiefs have to decisively analyse the risk posed by group once affiliated to islamists al-QaidaWhen Sir Richard Moore, the head of MI6, warned in a speech given 10 days ago that he had never seen the world in a more dangerous state" Syria was mentioned just once. The context was that jihadist terrorism was on the retreat in the country, but after the lightning success of the rebel offensive, questions will inevitably be asked again.Intelligence chiefs are now having to quickly reassess the triumphant Syrian rebels, and in particular, the leading group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), now designated as a terror organisation by the US and the UK. Once a Syrian offshoot of al-Qaida, HTS cut its affiliation in 2016 and under the leadership of Abu Mohammed al-Jolani the group has sought to project a moderate image as it has led the counter offensive from Idlib to Damascus, telling CNN in an interview with CNN he would respect Syrian minorities and no one has the right to erase another group". Early reports from Aleppo suggest the Christian minority in Aleppo was unaffected after the HTS capture of the city a week ago. Continue reading...

Austria prepares repatriation and deportation' programme to country where president has just been deposed

ISS reportedly tells fast-fashion firm that Frasers Group approach is superficial' and offers no plans for change'

Footage shows people looting expensive items after butcher of Damascus' fled to Moscow with family

Film studio behind Barbie and HBO shows including Succession is preparing its Max streaming service

Labour peer says she will combat corruption and the illicit finance that flows from it, both at home and abroad'

Director Rich Peppiatt said there is an irony in the best British film being Irish' as his Belfast-set film won seven prizes in totalIrish-language rap comedy Kneecap emerged as the big winner at the British independent film awards (Bifas), with seven prizes in total including the headline best British independent film award.Starring rappers Liam Og O Hannaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh - AKA Mo Chara, Moglai Bap and DJ Provai - the Belfast-set film is directed by Rich Peppiatt and features an appearance from Michael Fassbender as a former republican paramilitary. The three leads won best joint lead performance, while Peppiatt also won best debut screenwriter. Kneecap had already won four craft awards, which were announced in November. Continue reading...

Killings overseen by powerful gang leader' convinced his son's illness was caused by followers of the religionAbout 200 people were killed in violence in Haiti's capital over the weekend, many in a massacre in which a gang boss reportedly targeted Voodoo practitioners.The killings of at least 110 people were overseen by a powerful gang leader" convinced that his son's illness was caused by followers of the religion, according to the civil organisation the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD). Continue reading...

Plane was diverted to Guadalajara, where the person - identified only as Mario - was handed over to authoritiesA passenger on a domestic flight in Mexico on Sunday tried to divert an aircraft to the US by force, Volaris airlines said in a statement on social media.The crew managed to detain the passenger, and all those aboard the Airbus A320 that had departed from Leon, Guanajuato, are safe, according to the company, which is one of the country's main airlines.The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed reporting. Continue reading...

Having labelled Syrian rebels terrorists', Moscow is now making diplomatic efforts to protect its military assets in the countryMoscow is seeking to secure the future of its key military bases in Syria while making inroads with the country's new rebel leadership, after the dramatic collapse of the Assad regime threatened to erode Russia's influence in the Middle East.Russia has kept a sizeable airbase in north-west Syria and a naval facility at the Mediterranean port of Tartus since Moscow's military intervention helped President Bashar al-Assad reclaim most of the country after nationwide protests that began in 2011. Continue reading...

As many as 66,000 people still without electricity after gusts up to 90mph brought down power linesTens of thousands of homes are without power and train lines have been disrupted after Storm Darragh caused widespread damage across the UK.Two men died at the weekend when trees fell on their vehicles in separate incidents during the fourth named storm of the year. Continue reading...

Writers JM Coetzee, Annie Ernaux, Kazuo Ishiguro and Olga Tokarczuk are among the laureates imploring the prime minister to act on behalf of the British Egyptian political prisonerA group of Nobel laureates have written to the British prime minister Keir Starmer urging him to intervene to help free the imprisoned writer Alaa Abd el-Fattah.Twelve laureates including JM Coetzee, Annie Ernaux, Kazuo Ishiguro and Olga Tokarczuk have signed the letter. Continue reading...

Cessna aircraft discovered by a trawler was reported missing in October 2023 after failing to return to HamburgHuman remains have been found in the wreckage of a Cessna light aircraft that went missing in the sea off Shetland more than a year ago.The remains were found in the aircraft's wreckage after a trawler from Peterhead hauled up a large section of fuselage while it was fishing to the north-east of Lerwick on Friday. Continue reading...

Planned legislation includes body that would monitor abandoned tips in effort to prevent disastersA new authority for tackling dangerous abandoned coal tips has been proposed by the Welsh government in an effort to prevent future disasters as seen in Aberfan in the 1960s.The Disused Tips Authority for Wales would be established under legislation introduced on Monday by the deputy first minister, Huw Irranca-Davies. Continue reading...

Attorney general says now a time for national unity' after PM defends Labor's response to Melbourne synagogue fire

Yoon Suk Yeol subjected to travel ban after his party's boycott of impeachment vote condemned by oppositionSouth Korea's president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been banned from leaving the country, as opposition politicians accused his party of staging a second coup" by refusing to impeach him over his botched declaration of martial law last week.Bae Sang-up, an immigration services commissioner at the justice ministry, confirmed during a parliamentary hearing on Monday that Yoon was the subject of a travel ban. Continue reading...

Cath Pinder says the EHRC should investigate amid claims confidentiality clauses prevent women making complaintsGMB must release former female staff members from confidentiality clauses that prevent them speaking publicly about their treatment, a former regional president of the trade union has said.Cath Pinder, who was suspended from the union for failing to respond to an email and subsequently expelled earlier this year, said she feels the GMB is riddled with misogyny and cronyism" and that the union was failing its members". Continue reading...

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...

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...

UK prime minister calls for civilians in Syria to be protected after rebel forces take control of Damascus

Ex-president has not been pictured since he vowed to crush' rebels a week ago and his location is unclear

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...

Corruption and incompetence in the army and successful outreach by the rebels left the troops with little to fight for

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...

Exclusive: Filters, including one that turns a person into a horse, include Sportsbet logos and direct 18+ users to open a gambling account

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...

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...

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...

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story here:

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...

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...