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In today's newsletter: As pressure mounts to tackle the backlog of almost 80,000 cases, the government is considering sweeping reforms that senior lawyers warn may reshape justice in England and WalesGood morning. Yesterday, Rachel Reeves finally delivered her long-trailed budget aimed at plugging a 20bn financial hole in government finances. The single biggest tax raising measure was a three-year freeze on income tax and national insurance thresholds, slightly longer than expected, to draw more people into a higher tax band. Head here for a full breakdown, here to figure out how you will be impacted, and make sure you read our expert panel's take on if Reeves's measures all add up.But amid the budget buzz, today's newsletter is about another massive issue facing our cash-strapped government. It's been a cornerstone of British democracy since the 13th century and is even included in the Magna Carta, and yet, this government could soon come close to scrapping the right to trial by jury.Budget | Rachel Reeves targeted Britain's wealthiest households with a 26bn tax-raising budget to fund scrapping the two-child benefit policy and cutting energy bills.UK politics | Keir Starmer has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to his school contemporaries who claim the Reform leader racially abused them while at Dulwich College.Hong Kong | The death toll from a huge fire that engulfed several residential tower blocks in Hong Kong has risen to 44, with 45 in critical condition and hundreds reported missing.Ukraine | The European Commission president has warned against the unilateral carving up of a sovereign European nation" as Europe scrambles to assert influence over the US's attempt to end the war in Ukraine.UK news | On what was due to be the first day of a four-week trial, Paul Doyle unexpectedly changed his plea to guilty, after being charged with injuring 29 people at a Liverpool FC celebration parade in May. Continue reading...

Backbencher says he is strongly considering' move to One Nation but has not confirmed next steps

Scottish Labour's Anas Sarwar and the Welsh first minister, Eluned Morgan, both face humiliating defeat in next year's elections, according to pollingLabour leaders in Edinburgh and Cardiff sought credit for the most progressive measures in Rachel Reeves' budget on Wednesday, pinning their hopes for next year's critical elections on a package that increases funding for Scotland and Wales by nearly 2bn.That funding boost and the abolition of the two-child limit for universal credit recipients were seen as a relief in both capitals. Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, said: I demanded a Labour budget rooted in Labour values and that is what the chancellor has delivered. This budget means child poverty down, energy bills down, wages up and austerity rejected." Continue reading...

Noah Jones and Macy Neyland, both 15, are supported by a digital rights group led by NSW Libertarian MP John Ruddick

Swimmers aged in their 20s bitten by shark at Kylies beach in Crowdy Bay early on Thursday morning, with woman dying at the scene

The rankings were changed after the UN used new criteria to give a more accurate picture of the rapid urbanisation driving the growth of megacitiesJakarta has overtaken Tokyo as the world's most populous city, according to a UN study that uses new criteria to give a more accurate picture of the rapid urbanisation driving the growth of megacities.The Indonesian capital is home to 42 million people, according to an estimate by the population division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its World Urbanisation Prospects 2025 report published this month. Continue reading...

Queensland supreme court orders Pennings, a campaigner against the Carmichael coalmine, not to seek to acquire Adani's confidential information

A Dracula-inspired bathroom in Sydney and an outside-inside home in Melbourne claim interior design and architecture prizes

Regulator announces 20% cap on share of new lending banks can do on mortgages worth more than six times borrower's income

James was murdered in October 2023 at St Andrew's cathedral school in Sydney by her former boyfriend Paul Thijssen in context of gendered violence'

Tezepelumab treatment may mean asthmatics for whom inhalers are ineffective can reduce or stop taking steroidsA monthly injection could allow people with severe asthma to stop taking daily steroid tablets, a clinical trial has found.More than 260 million people are thought to have asthma worldwide. While most can control their asthma with inhalers to treat immediate symptoms and preventive ones to reduce inflammation, those with the most severe asthma often take daily doses of oral corticosteroids as well. Continue reading...

Three arrests made after huge blaze broke out at Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po district on Wednesday

Reform UK leader has again denied allegations about his behaviour as a schoolboy but what are the facts?Nigel Farage has again denied allegations of racism as a schoolboy and repeated his claim that some had been concocted because people disliked his politics.During a press conference, he snapped at one reporter who asked about the issue, saying: I think we've gone quite a long way towards answering all this, don't you?" Continue reading...

Sainsbury's chief executive says industry concerns have been heard', although others outside retail industry are left frustrated by changesRetailers have breathed a sigh of relief after changes to their business rates bills in the budget were not as bad as feared, after the industry had warned for months that more punitive measures could lead to shop closures and jobs losses.The chancellor, Rachel Reeves, on Wednesday revealed plans to permanently reduce business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties - although the discounts are not as generous as those that have been in place since the pandemic. About 750,000 properties in those sectors will see their bills set below the current standard level, with deeper discounts for smaller operators, according to the government. Continue reading...

100% party girl' and key part of 1980s London club scene designed for Rihanna, Bjork, Kylie Minogue and Debbie HarryPam Hogg, the fashion designer who brought together fashion and music on the catwalk in the 1980s, has died aged 66, her family have said.Hogg, whose bold, futuristic designs were worn by stars including Rihanna, Kate Moss and Blondie's Debbie Harry, died surrounded by the loving care of cherished friends and family", her family posted on Instagram. Continue reading...

Prime minister says Reform leader's explanations about alleged comments are unconvincing to say the least'Keir Starmer has called on Nigel Farage to apologise to his school contemporaries who claim the Reform leader racially abused them while at Dulwich College.The Guardian reported last week the testimony of Peter Ettedgui, who said a 13-year-old Farage would sidle up to me and growl: Hitler was right' or gas them', sometimes adding a long hiss to simulate the sound of the gas showers". Continue reading...

Chancellor says she will not get into semantics' when questioned on issue after her statement

Ellame Ford-Dunn, 16, who had mental health problems, absconded from a ward and killed herself shortly afterwardsA girl who killed herself when she absconded from 24-hour clinical supervision was failed by a system that was meant to protect her, her parents have said, after the NHS trust involved was fined over the avoidable death.Ellame Ford-Dunn, 16, who suffered with severe mental health problems, died on 20 March 2022, minutes after leaving the Bluefin acute children's ward in Worthing hospital, part of University hospitals Sussex NHS trust (UHSussex). Continue reading...

Many of the 30 people taking part in the protest are scheduled to be forcibly returned to France on ThursdayThirty asylum seekers currently in detention in the UK have gone on hunger strike in protest against their imminent removal to France under the Home Office's controversial one in, one out" scheme.The Guardian understands that the group began their hunger strike on Monday and many are due to be forcibly removed to France on Thursday. Continue reading...

John Harris, Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey give their reactions to the chancellor's autumn budget. Has Rachel Reeves done enough to silence her critics? Continue reading...

Commission president says undermining of sovereign European nation would open the doors for more wars'

The chancellor almost doubled remote gaming duty in Wednesday's budget, taking it to 40% from April next year

US president says he is prepared to do things the easy way ... or the hard way' amid military buildup in Caribbean

Bruna Ferreira, who has a child with the White House press secretary's brother, is now in custody at an ICE facility

Witkoff also offered tactical guidance on how Putin should raise subject with Trump, audio recording suggests. Plus, the female pilots on Ukraine's frontlineGood morning.Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace in Ukraine would require Russia gaining control of Donetsk and potentially a separate territorial exchange, according to a recording of their conversation.What did Witkoff say? Now, me to you, I know what it's going to take to get a peace deal done: Donetsk and maybe a land swap somewhere," Witkoff told Ushakov during the five-minute conversation, according to a transcript of the recording obtained by Bloomberg. But I'm saying instead of talking like that, let's talk more hopefully because I think we're going to get to a deal here."This is a developing story. Follow the liveblog here.What has changed? It marks a sharp departure from Donald Trump's narrative to the public every time he has discussed the 21 strikes that have killed more than 80 people, which he has portrayed as an effort to stop overdose deaths.What have the White House said? A White House official responded that Trump had not been making a legal argument. Still, the president's remarks remain the only public reason for why the US is firing missiles - when the legal justification is in fact very different. Continue reading...

It has been weeks since the ground opened up under Malcolm McKenzie's prized Mini, leading him into a bureaucratic nightmare'The first Malcolm McKenzie knew of his problem was when a neighbour banged on his door and told him his beloved Mini had fallen into a hole.I went out expecting a small pothole under a wheel or something. But when I went out to take a look, I realised, oh, that really is a proper hole," he said. Continue reading...

Human rights monitors say it is not safe to return, citing reports of serious crimes in the run-up to elections'Myanmar's junta applauded the Trump administration on Wednesday for halting a scheme that protected its citizens from deportation from the US back to their war-racked homeland.About 4,000 Myanmar citizens are living in the US with temporary protected status (TPS), which shields foreign nationals from deportation to disaster zones and allows them the right to work. Continue reading...

PM once advocated for all criminal cases to be heard before juries even those at magistrates court level, it has emergedKeir Starmer, whose government has drawn up plans to scrap nearly all jury trials, previously said that all criminal cases including those at magistrates courts should be heard before juries, the Guardian can disclose.In a magazine article, the prime minister wrote that the right to trial by jury is an important factor in the delicate balance between the power of the state and the freedom of the individual". He called for jury trials to be extended to thousands of cases before magistrates courts despite the inevitable increase in costs". Continue reading...

Gulf nation is accused of placing monitoring software on computers of two dissidents living in LondonBahrain is to tell the UK's supreme court that it enjoys sovereign immunity from claims it placed surveillance software on the computers of two dissidents when they were living in London.The Gulf country has lost the sovereign immunity claim both in the high court and court of appeal, and a decision to take the case further to the supreme court shows how important it is to the country's reputation. Continue reading...

Despite recent efforts and White House optimism, recent negotiations have failed to secure a breakthrough on key issuesDonald Trump said he would send special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss developing proposals to end the Ukraine war, but despite White House optimism there was little sign of progress on core sticking points.The US president said negotiations had left only a few remaining points of disagreement" but there was no breakthrough on the issues of territorial control and security guarantees and he dampened expectations of immediate peace summits. Continue reading...

Interim chair of group, which is still looking for a CEO, says chain must return to our retailing roots'The boss of Pets at Home has said urgent and necessary" action needs to be taken as the ailing retailer reported that its half-year profits slumped by more than a third.The group is still looking for a chief executive after the abrupt departure of Lyssa McGowan in September. The interim executive chair, Ian Burke, said the chain, which sells pet products, animals, veterinary care and grooming services, had to return to our retaining roots" to revitalise the 34-year-old business. Continue reading...

Multiple roofs torn from buildings in NSW central west while more than 20 public schools closed due to catastrophic fire danger

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In today's newsletter: As the chancellor prepares to deliver one of the most heavily briefed budgets ever, tax rises, the two-child benefit cap and a mansion tax' are all on the table Don't get First Edition delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereGood morning. If you haven't noticed, the lead-up to this year's budget has been unusually chaotic and drawn-out, with plenty of behind-the-scenes briefings and a whirlwind of speculation about what taxes will be hiked.The challenge facing the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is plugging a financial hole of around 20bn and raising money to fund the services voters demand, while also keeping taxes at an acceptable level. (If you think you've got what it takes, try our brilliant interactive budget game). The political backdrop to this budget is also significant - the prime minister is under siege, and needs to present something that will be well received by MPs.Budget | Rachel Reeves's plan to cut cash Isa limits by 40% could raise mortgage rates, according to finance bosses. The chancellor is expected to cut the maximum amount people can put into tax-efficient cash individual savings accounts from 20,000 to 12,000 in Wednesday's budget.Politics | Three more school contemporaries who claim to have witnessed Nigel Farage's alleged teenage racism have rejected the Reform UK leader's suggestion that it was banter", describing it as targeted, persistent and nasty.Ukraine | Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff advised a senior Kremlin official on how Vladimir Putin should pitch a Ukraine peace deal to the president, according to a transcript of their discussion published by Bloomberg.Criminal justice | Jury trials for all except the most serious crimes such as rape, murder and manslaughter are set to be scrapped under radical proposals drawn up by David LammyMedia | The BBC has been pulled into a fresh row over its treatment of Donald Trump after a Reith lecturer accused the broadcaster of censoring his remarks on the US president. Rutger Bregman, a Dutch author and historian, said the BBC removed a key line" from a flagship address it had invited him to deliver. Continue reading...

President Lai Ching-te declared there was no room for compromise on national security' in face of escalating harassment and espionageBeijing's threats to Taiwan are intensifying" and its preparations to invade are speeding up, Taiwan's government has said while announcing a $40bn special defence budget and a swathe of measures to counter Chinese attacks.The Taiwan president, Lai Ching-te, said there was no room for compromise on national security", and he was committed to boosting Taiwan's defences in conjunction with US support. Continue reading...

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says government deciding on energy rebate extension in next few weeks' as cost of living continues to bite

The CMP system means Huda Ammori will not be allowed to know what allegations were made against herAt some point in the challenge to the ban on Palestine Action beginning on Wednesday, the co-founder of the direct action group will be asked to leave courtroom five at the Royal Courts of Justice, as will her legal team and most others present. Then the case will continue without them.When Huda Ammori returns to the room, the special advocate - a security-cleared barrister - who represented her interests in her absence will not be allowed to tell her or her legal team what evidence was presented against Palestine Action. If Ammori asks what allegations were made directly against her, the special advocate must not tell her, even though that means she will have no chance to rebut them. Continue reading...

Environmental charity Fidra says 168 of 195 SSSIs it surveyed are contaminated with tiny pelletsPlastic nurdles have been found in 84% of important nature sites surveyed in the UK.Nurdles are tiny pellets that the plastics industry uses to make larger products. They were found in 168 of 195 sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), so named because of the rare wildlife they harbour. They are given extra protections in an effort to protect them from pollution. Continue reading...

In Fritzi's Footsteps tells story of a girl growing up in Leipzig who witnesses the fall of the Berlin WallThe creators of a children's television series about life in communist East Germany have said they hope it will awaken interest in the region's history, after it was awarded an International Emmy.Auf Fritzis Spuren (In Fritzi's Footsteps) tells the story of a 12-year-old girl living in the eastern city of Leipzig and how she experiences life in the east and the events that lead to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Continue reading...

Another boy, 15, charged on Monday after 17-year-old boy died from wounds to thigh in Rouse Hill

Director of audio concedes there is always more to do' on diversity as station staff express dismay at dearth of female presenters

WA court appoints administrator to oversee estate after lawyer for Jeffrey Epstein victim and her housekeeper contest Giuffre's sons being granted authorityAn interim administrator has been appointed to oversee the estate of Virginia Giuffre after she died without a valid will, meaning multiple lawsuits that had been on hold can now resume.Giuffre, 41, died on a small Western Australian farm, 80km north of Perth, in April. Continue reading...

Jacinta Allan says warrantless pat-down powers that last until May 2026 are consistent with Victoria police plan to be more visible

NSW police scanning people for weapons in crowded places' and tighter protocols around weaning schizophrenia patients off medication are among the draft recommendations

Federal government's expert advisory panel on sexual violence says it repeatedly warned of chronic failure of police to adequately investigate violence

Chancellor's fiscal statement billed as decisive moment for fate of Starmer government as she tries to fill 20bn spending gapRachel Reeves will promise to tackle Britain's cost of living crisis and deliver fiscal stability in Wednesday's budget, which is billed as a decisive moment for the fate of Keir Starmer's beleaguered government.The chancellor will say she is taking the fair and necessary choices" to shore up the economy as she raises billions of pounds worth of taxes to help offset lower than expected growth forecasts. Continue reading...

Watchdog says force being applied inconsistently, disproportionately, and without adequate justification'Home Office contractors are over-using restraint in immigration detention centres and failing to tackle the toxic culture behind bars, according to the findings of a new watchdog report described as deeply concerning".By Force of Habit: How the Use of Force in Immigration Detention Has Lost Sight of Necessity and Dignity was published by the Independent Monitoring Boards (IMB), which examines conditions in prisons and immigration detention centres. The findings revealed force being applied inconsistently, disproportionately, and without adequate justification, which it said undermined the dignity and welfare of highly vulnerable individuals. Continue reading...

Hakyung Lee was found guilty of murdering her children and concealing their remains in a storage lockerA mother who murdered her two children and hid their bodies in suitcases stored inside a rented locker has been sentenced to life imprisonment in New Zealand.Hakyung Lee, a New Zealand citizen originally from South Korea, was found guilty earlier this year of killing her children in a crime that has become known as the suitcase murders". Continue reading...

Exclusive: Dulwich college contemporaries rubbish' Reform UK leader's suggestion alleged racist taunts not intended to hurt