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Sheinbaum says she has no information' about Trump administration claim as experts also deeply skepticalMexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said her government has no information" regarding claims by the Trump administration that Mexican cartels are offering bounties for US immigration officials.We are requesting information but there is none," Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference on Wednesday. We learned of this, just like you, via [the Department of Homeland Security's] publication." Continue reading...

Exclusive: External consultancy report found discrimination baked into HR systems' at London forceA review of anti-Black racism within the Metropolitan police has been buried" by the force, despite finding discrimination baked into its HR systems", the Guardian can reveal.The internal review, commissioned by the Met from the consultancy HR Rewired, concluded that bias, racial stereotyping and inequity were woven through the force's recruitment, promotion and grievance processes, affecting Black staff specifically. Continue reading...

Provisional cause of death for former boxing world champion given at opening of inquest in StockportRicky Hatton, the former world champion boxer who died in September, is believed to have killed himself, according to a provisional cause of death given at the opening of his inquest at Stockport coroner's court.Hatton, 46, was found dead in his home on 14 September. News of his death caused an outpouring of grief across the world and thousands of people lined the streets for his funeral. Continue reading...

Survey by Internet Matters finds children being left worried and upset by content showing shootings, stabbings and warMore than half of children who get news from social media are left worried and upset after seeing content that involves war, violence and death, according to new research that found social media companies are pushing" distressing news to children who are not seeking it.Videos of the murder of Charlie Kirk, the Liverpool parade car-ramming attack, scenes from wars, shootings, stabbings and car crashes have recently been pushed into children's feeds, research by Internet Matters, an online safety organisation, has found. As a result, 39% of those who saw distressing content described themselves as very or extremely upset and worried by it. Continue reading...

In a Knesset speech, Trump urged Israel to reconcile with its longtime foe Iran. Both governments dismissed the ideaAmid the fanfare accompanying Donald Trump's trip to the Middle East and Israel's ceasefire with Hamas, one aspect of the US president's pitch as a peacemaker went relatively unscrutinised.In the highly unlikely setting of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, Trump proffered an olive branch to an even less likely recipient: the Jewish state's arch enemy, Iran. Continue reading...

At almost every opportunity, the NSW premier chooses a conservative path: get the cops on side and let nobody fault Labor's toughness on crime. It's not working

Parliamentary inquiry into Containers for Change recycling program reveals allegations of bullying and conflicts of interest

Almost 6% of global workforce will be cut over next two years, including 12,000 white-collar professionals

The awards also included a lifetime achievement honour for Sir Thomas Allen and two gongs for Spanish violinist Maria DuenasThe Gramophone classical music awards 2025 were announced last night at a ceremony in central London in which Sir Simon Rattle made history as the first musician ever to win artist of the year for a second time, having first been awarded the title in 1993.The award recognises Rattle's recent work with the London Symphony Orchestra (where he is conductor emeritus), the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Czech Philharmonic and a string of acclaimed recordings spanning the baroque to contemporary repertoire. In a video acceptance speech, the conductor said: I was 10 years old when I started spending my pocket money on Gramophone magazine ... this is an extraordinary honour." Video tributes to Rattle from fellow musicians included Barbara Hannigan, Peter Hoare, Thomas Quasthoff, and composer John Adams, who said: How can someone be one of the great conductors of our time and also just a plain wonderful mensch, a good guy who cares deeply ... To have worked with him, to have heard him do my music with the intensity and passion that he's given it - it's been one of the great pleasures of my life." Continue reading...

Paramedics treated three military personnel at scene of single-vehicle incident near Townsville on Wednesday night

Investigations into Australia's past and present have been recognised in the excellence in journalism awards

Singer disputes account in ex-husband's memoir You Thought You Knew, in which he says she behaved erratically around their sonsBritney Spears has responded to her ex-husband Kevin Federline's claims in his upcoming memoir about their marriage, calling his depiction of her extremely hurtful and exhausting".In You Thought You Knew, Federline details his two-year marriage with Spears and their divorce in 2007, which was followed by a protracted battle over custody of their two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James. Continue reading...

Tributes flow from across political spectrum for man known for high ideals but also remembered for controversially slashing welfare and health spendingFormer New Zealand prime minister Jim Bolger, whose political legacy was defined by his deep commitment to reconciliation with Mori as well as his brutal cuts to welfare and deregulation of the labour market, has died aged 90.Bolger died peacefully surrounded by his wife, Joan, nine children and 18 grandchildren, his family said in a statement on Wednesday. Bolger suffered kidney failure last year and had been undergoing dialysis. Continue reading...

Since Alina Sarnatska's first play premiered a year ago, she has documented wartime Ukraine with unflinching franknessEighteen months ago, Alina Sarnatska was serving as a combat medic on Ukraine's frontline - including in the hellish battle for Bakhmut - and had barely been to the theatre.Six months later, she was preparing to watch the premiere of her first play in Kyiv. Now Sarnatska, 38, has several dramas under her belt and is emerging as one of Ukraine's most powerful voices in the theatre. Continue reading...

Esther Njoki says family has seen big change' under Labour, after long fight for justice over aunt's 2012 death in KenyaThe niece of Agnes Wanjiru, who was killed in Kenya, said she hopes the former British soldier charged with her aunt's murder will be extradited while the Labour government is still in power.On her first trip outside Kenya, Esther Njoki travelled to London, where she was invited to parliament to meet the defence secretary, John Healey, whom she urged not to delay the potentially years-long extradition process. Continue reading...

PAG had challenged expanded police powers to restrict protests near places of worship

NTSB report finds OceanGate company did not adequately test submersible before 2023 voyage to wreck of TitanicThe deadly implosion of a submersible traveling to the wreck of the Titanic was the result of faulty engineering, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced on Wednesday.The NTSB's final report on the voyage that killed five people in June 2023 said that OceanGate, the private company that owned the Titan, did not adequately test its experimental submersible before the trip. The Washington state-based firm, which suspended operations after the catastrophic implosion, was unaware of the submersible's true durability, the report said. Continue reading...

British team sent to develop new ways of working with Frontex, the EU's border agencyBritish border security officers have been deployed to the Balkans for the first time in an effort to disrupt the networks smuggling migrants into the UK.Officers have been sent to develop new ways of working with Frontex, the EU's border agency, to track down and arrest people-smugglers operating along key routes into western Europe. Continue reading...

Sutton Trust's research reveals huge inequalities in how parents navigate Send system, with poorer children doubly disadvantaged'One in eight children in special schools have parents who spent 5,000 or more on their assessments, according to research that reveals huge inequalities in how parents navigate England's special educational needs system.The research comes as the government is planning to overhaul special educational needs and disabilities (Send) provision in schools. Despite earlier reports that education, health and care plans (EHCPs) that detail support for each child would be scrapped as part of the overhaul, sources have told the Guardian that the plans will now survive the reforms. Continue reading...

Analyst firm Tussell says department is more than two years behind on publishing receipts, weakening scrutiny around public moneyThe Ministry of Justice, the Whitehall department in charge of a 13bn annual budget for prisons, probation and courts across England and Wales, has failed to file spending receipts of nearly 11bn, a report has said.Tussell, the public spending analyst firm, said the government department was more than two years behind on publishing receipts for multimillion pound contracts, weakening scrutiny around public money. Continue reading...

Questions remain over trial collapse even as publication of key evidence scuppers Tory's main line of attackWhen Keir Starmer finally read the witness statement from his deputy national security adviser for the trial of two British men accused of spying for China, some of his frustration about the collapse of the case began to dissipate.His government had been besieged by the Tories for two weeks over its role, being accused of secretly sabotaging" the trial, blocking" key witnesses and hiding behind process", all to avoid having to tell a court that China was an enemy. Continue reading...

Officer, known as W80, shot Jermaine Baker during a foiled prison break in 2015The family of a man shot dead by a police officer during a foiled prison break have accused Scotland Yard of evading accountability after a case against the marksman was thrown out.The officer, known only as W80, shot Jermaine Baker as police stopped a plot to snatch two prisoners from a van near Wood Green crown court in 2015. Continue reading...

Reporters who declined to sign new set of Pentagon rules had to clear out of world's largest military headquartersPentagon reporters who declined to sign a new set of policies that press advocates and news organizations denounced as incompatible with the tenets of journalism were set to return their press badges by 5pm on Wednesday, ending decades of history of robust in-house coverage at the world's largest military headquarters.In the hours leading up to the deadline, journalists worked furiously to pack up their workspaces in two media rooms, with hallways filled to the brim with boxes and books and other souvenirs of decades of daily coverage. Continue reading...

Destruction or ongoing control by Israeli forces means roads to areas worst hit by hunger are virtually impassableEven if the Rafah crossing from Egypt to Gaza opens on Thursday, NGOs face big challenges distributing supplies to Gaza City and its surroundings in the north, the areas worst hit by hunger, experts say.Key roads are virtually impassable due to the massive destruction across the devastated territory - or are still controlled by Israeli forces. Any truck that breaks down is likely to be instantly looted. Continue reading...

Adani has strongly rejected the Australia Institute's findings, including that customers paid an average of $102 a tonne in 2022-23

Firm was ordered by high court to return sum paid by DHSC for unusable surgical gowns by 4pm on WednesdayA company linked to the former Conservative peer Michelle Mone has failed to pay the government any of the 122m ordered by a high court judgment for supplying unusable personal protective equipment during the Covid pandemic.Mrs Justice Cockerill ruled that PPE Medpro must, by a deadline of 4pm on 15 October, return the money it was paid by the Department of Health and Social Care for 25m sterile surgical gowns under a contract awarded in June 2020. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereLindsay Hoyle starts by telling MPs that speakers from the parliaments in Fiji and Ukraine are in the gallery. And he says it is four years to the day since David Amess was murdered.It's PMQs. Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question. Continue reading...

Aid agencies and UN officials call for more entry points to allow thousands of trucks' to enter devastated territory

Jean Laprade ordered to pay $3,500 in legal saga of hijacked planes', Interpol red alerts and inappropriate use' of AIA Quebec man has been ordered to pay C$5,000 (US$3,562) for submitting artificial intelligence hallucinations as part of his legal defense, a move the judge warned was highly reprehensible" and threatened to undermine integrity in the legal system.Quebec superior court justice Luc Morin levied the fine on Jean Laprade in a decision released on 1 October, capping a legal saga the judge said contains several elements worthy of a successful movie script", including a hijacked plane passing through several complacent airports", Interpol red alerts and the inappropriate use of artificial intelligence" by Laprade. Continue reading...

Consumers and corporates should welcome CMA proposals to overhaul regulations unchanged since the 1960sPoor Tiddles and Fido are too often getting a bad deal - or, rather, their owners are - from the large corporates that dominate the veterinary business these days. That, very roughly, is the conclusion of the Competition and Markets Authority, which was obviously barking up the right tree when it decided 18 months ago to look at a sector that can take an opaque approach to pricing its goods and services.Prices have been rising far faster than general inflation between 2016 and 2023, says the watchdog. The increases cannot be justified - at least, nothing like fully - by investment in better kit or superior services or higher salaries. And, critically, there is a big difference between the prices charged by the large chains and the independents that, pre-2013, used to represent the bulk of the industry. The CMA found that the average price charged by a practice owned by a large vet group for consultation, treatment and medicines was 16.6% higher than at an independent vet. Continue reading...

Statement by deputy national security adviser was central to CPS decision to withdraw spying charges against two men

Sebastien Lecornu may have lived to see another day, but this crise de regime could yet prove terminal for the Fifth Republic Don't get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereIn October 2022, when Rishi Sunak moved into 10 Downing St, he became the fifth British prime minister to take up the office in six years.Unleashed on the UK by Brexit, this was unprecedented political turmoil. So how might we describe what is happening in France, now on its fifth (or sixth, depending how you count) premier in two years - three of them in the past 10 months? Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more of our European news coverage hereSergiy Petrovich Lysak has been appointed as the head of the Odesa city military administration, as confirmed by an order on the website for the president of Ukraine on Wednesday, after the dismissal of the city's former mayor.Lysak was previously tasked with leading the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration.Odesa deserves greater protection and greater support.This can be done in the format of a military administration - too many security issues in Odesa have remained without an adequate response for far too long. Continue reading...

Robert Bush, 47, admits to 36 counts of fraud relating to misleading families of the deceasedA funeral director has pleaded guilty to multiple counts of fraud - including misleading the parents of unborn babies - after a stash of human remains were found at his premises in Hull.Robert Bush, 47, was charged this year with 64 offences, including 30 counts of preventing a lawful burial and a fraudulent trading charge in relation to the funeral plans of 172 people spanning almost 12 years to March 2024. Continue reading...

Parties blame each other after bill halted at last minute, as fears grow over voluntary service and lottery idea is vetoed

Backlash as California governor rejects measure allowing preferential treatment for descendants of enslaved peopleCalifornia's governor, Gavin Newsom, is facing backlash from progressives over his veto of a reparations bill that would have allowed universities to give preference to applicants descended from enslaved people.Assembly Bill 7, widely supported by Democratic lawmakers, established that California colleges may consider" preferential treatment for individuals who establish direct lineage to a person subjected to American chattel slavery before 1900. The legislation, one of several reparations measures Newsom has vetoed, did not compel institutions to change admissions policies, and supporters said it was carefully written to withstand legal challenges. Continue reading...

Research also finds majority of people are against letting politicians front current affairs programmesA larger proportion of people who frequently watch GB News wrongly believe that net migration to the UK is increasing than those of other major channels, according to a study examining public attitudes to broadcasting impartiality.Research by Cardiff University, seen by the Guardian, also found public opposition to allowing politicians to front current affairs programmes - contradicting research carried out by regulator, Ofcom. Continue reading...

Chancellor also blames austerity and ongoing impact of Liz Truss mini-budget' for growing shortfall in public finances

Hackers stole personal information of 6.6m people but outsourcing firm did not shut device targeted for 58 hoursThe outsourcing company Capita has been fined 14m for data protection failings after hackers stole the personal information of 6.6 million people, including staff details and those of its clients' customers.John Edwards, the UK information commissioner who levied the fine, said the March 2023 data theft from the group and companies it supported, including 325 pension providers, caused anxiety and stress for those affected. Continue reading...

Scoreboard error gave Academy of Classical Christian Studies team the edge over Apache high schoolA US high school girls basketball team is said to have proved there are still good people in this world" after taking the unprecedented step of returning a championship it had won after realizing they had actually lost the title-clinching game.The story stems from the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, where a crucial scoreboard error early in the game gave the girls basketball team at Academy of Classical Christian Studies the edge over its Apache high school counterpart, as CBS News recently reported. Continue reading...

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The city - the Sudanese army's last stronghold in the west of the country - has withstood more than 500 days of attacks by paramilitary RSFThe besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher has been declared uninhabitable" with new data indicating most homes are destroyed and critical levels of malnourishment among people trapped there.The stark assessment comes as the city endures constant artillery and drone attacks, shoehorning its 250,000 starving people into a shrinking urban enclave. Continue reading...

Legislative change comes five years after treaty suspended in response to city's crackdown on pro-democracy activistsExiled Hong Kong dissidents say they fear UK government plans to restart some extraditions with the city could put them in greater danger, saying Hong Kong authorities will use any pretext to pursue them.An amendment to UK extradition laws was passed on Tuesday. It came more than five years after the UK and several other countries suspended extradition treaties with Hong Kong in response to the government crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, and its imposition of a Beijing-designed national security law. Continue reading...

Market not fit' for purpose and must be modernised, CMA says, with pet owners paying 16.6% more at large groups

British social media star sent back by border force after apparently arriving on tourist paperwork but with several appearances scheduledBritish social media personality Big John" Fisher has cut short a tour and appearances in Australia after saying he was detained by immigration officers for arriving on the wrong visa.Fisher, who is famous for his love of Chinese takeaway and reviews of fast food and has almost 700,000 followers on Instagram, said he was held for four hours by Australian Border Force officers after arriving in Perth on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Home affairs minister's 2024 decision to reject visa application for planned speaking tour on character grounds upheld

Supermarket supplier says new pricier range is still cheaper than bill for a night out at a restaurantBritish consumers are looking to treat themselves with an alternative to dining out despite a squeeze on household finances, according to the food entrepreneur Charlie Bigham who is launching luxurious ready meals costing up to 29.95.The supermarket supplier is selling a new five-option range, which includes a venison bourguignon made with wild-caught venison from the Scottish Highlands, in an attempt to snare consumers saving on the cost of a night out. Continue reading...

Former political staffer suing over legal costs during investigation into claims he misappropriated secret documents related to French submarines

Bloc's first affordable housing plan to cover issues such as tenants' rights, property speculation and tourist letsThe EU executive will propose rules to tackle the huge problem" of short-term rentals via platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com, as it seeks to confront the social crisis" of people struggling to afford a home, its first-ever housing commissioner has said.In an interview with the Guardian and other European newspapers, Dan Jorgensen said it was time for Brussels policymakers to take housing seriously or cede ground to anti-EU populists, who, he said, did not have the answers to the shortage of affordable homes. Continue reading...