Figures from audit of England, Wales and Northern Ireland show some basic care now worse than decade agoMinisters are being urged to improve declining care for stroke patients to lower the risk of death and disability as new figures show rising cases, especially among people in their 50s.Thousands of stroke patients are missing out on appropriate treatment and rehabilitation, the standards of which have worsened over the past decade, the Stroke Association has said as it publishes the latest figures from the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP), the nation's biggest stroke data audit covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#6S9RJ)
Region's mayor to launch measures to cut unemployment, reduce cost of travel and help children in hardshipA 55m package of measures to tackle the staggering" levels of child poverty in north-east England is to be unveiled at a summit on Monday.The announcement includes an extension of a scheme that allows young people under 21 to travel on public transport for 1 and a 50m investment programme aimed at helping people to find and stay in work. Continue reading...
by Tom Ambrose (now); Harry Taylor and Claire Phipps on (#6S9ES)
This blog is now closed. Read today's full report hereA Lebanese soldier has been killed, with three wounded after Israel attacked an army post in a Lebanese town.The Lebanese Army posted on X that one of those injured was in a critical condition after the attack on Sunday. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#6S9K4)
Challenging finances and polarised political landscape blamed for closure after nearly decade of activismMembers of the Women's Equality party (WE) have voted to dissolve the organisation after nearly a decade of activism, with its leaders blaming challenging finances and a more polarised political landscape.The move, backed by the WE's leader, Mandu Reid, and the party co-founders Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig, was supported by 78% of members at the special conference, narrowly above the three-quarters majority needed for it to pass. Continue reading...
by Jason Burke in Jerusalem, William Christou in Beir on (#6S9ER)
Attack came without warning on day dozens killed in airstrikes in Gaza and Israel struck other targets in LebanonHezbollah's chief spokesman has been killed by an Israeli airstrike on Beirut, as Israel intensifies its air offensive in Lebanon despite ongoing indirect negotiations for a ceasefire.Mohammed Afif, who has been the public face of Hezbollah for months, was killed in a strike on offices of the Ba'ath party in Ras al-Nabaa, central Beirut. The attack in the busy residential area came without warning, and appeared to damage to neighbouring buildings. Continue reading...
UK prime minister to meet world leaders at summit in Brazil that Vladimir Putin has declined to attendUkraine will be top of the agenda" this week at a meeting of leaders from the world's most powerful economies, Keir Starmer has pledged, though he said he had no plans" to follow the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and speak directly to Vladimir Putin.Starmer will meet world leaders on Monday at the G20 summit in Brazil, which the Russian president has declined to attend, sending his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in his place. Continue reading...
Police notified after former trustees and current chief executive of Actors' Benevolent Fund were sent notesA bitter feud that tore apart an illustrious actors' charity has been reignited by the emergence of poison pen letters threatening former trustees.The annual meeting of the Actors' Benevolent Fund (ABF) takes place on Tuesday after at least three years of turmoil with little prospect that it will pass off uneventfully. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#6S9JG)
Ed Davey says Jane Dodds should reflect on her position after failing to take action over allegations of abuse by late bishop of ChesterEd Davey has said the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats should reflect on her position because of her failure to take action over an abuse case when she was a manager in the Church of England.Jane Dodds, who was briefly the MP for Brecon and Radnorshire and is now the only Lib Dem member of the Senedd, was criticised in a C of E report about abuse carried out by the late bishop of Chester Hubert Victor Whitsey. Continue reading...
by Aamna Mohdin Community affairs correspondent on (#6S9JJ)
Shabna Begum says racist riots will return if Islamophobia continues to be an acceptable currency' in politicsIslamophobia has become brutally divisive" in the UK and failure to challenge its root causes will lead to more racist riots, the head of the UK's leading race equality thinktank has said.Shabna Begum, who became the chief executive of the Runnymede Trust earlier this year, said the country was entering a new phase in how it talks about Muslims. Continue reading...
Claims management company expects claims over collapsed Neil Woodford fund to exceed 200mMore than 5,000 people who invested in Neil Woodford's collapsed equity fund are suing Hargreaves Lansdown, claiming that the investment platform was still promoting the fund even when it was aware of its problems.The number of people suing Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK's largest investment site, has almost doubled in the past two years, according to the claims management firm RGL Management. Two years ago the number of people taking part stood at 2,750. Continue reading...
Pro-business party internally referred to its plans as D-day'Germany's pro-business Free Democrats, who collapsed Olaf Scholz's governing coalition earlier this month in a dispute over the budget, reportedly plotted their exit weeks before the final split, referring to their plans internally as D-day".Newspapers Die Zeit and Suddeutsche Zeitung reported that the FDP had intended from at least September to force a situation that would provoke the German chancellor into pulling the plug on his tripartite coalition. Continue reading...
Art historian says miniature is of Henry VIII's daughter - not his sixth wife Katherine ParrIt's Mary Tudor - by a nose. Not in a horse race, but from a comparison of portraits of Mary, Henry VIII's elder daughter who became the first crowned queen of England, and Katherine Parr, his sixth wife.For decades, experts, including the noted historian and museum director Sir Roy Strong, have thought that a near 500-year-old miniature was of Parr. Now several leading Tudor authorities are convinced it is Mary, often dubbed Bloody Mary" because as an ardent Catholic queen she ordered the killing of many Protestants. Continue reading...
Activists and the NFU insist Labour tax reforms aimed at the wealthy will also hurt smaller, poorer producersA wave of wellies is preparing to pound the streets of Westminster on Tuesday, as groups of farmers bring their anger over the government's budget changes to inheritance tax to the capital.For decades, agricultural properties have been passed down tax-free to heirs, but that will change from April 2026, when farms and other business property are brought under the remit of inheritance tax. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#6S9EX)
Union leader says anger is unprecedented, but does not condone any plan to stop food reaching supermarketsThe president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU) has said that farmers in England and Wales feel betrayed" by changes to inheritance tax rules, while saying his organisation does not condone mooted plans to stop food reaching supermarket shelves.Tom Bradshaw, the NFU president, said anger among farmers about the changes announced in last month's budget over inheritance tax and farms was unprecedented, and that he understood why many members wanted to take action. Continue reading...
The tradition of chomping through a kilo of sweets once a week is under threat as demand soars for sugary sweetsSwedes love sweets. So when an American TikToker sparked a craze for Swedish candy this year, there was pride that an important part of national culture was being recognised around the world. The Danes may have Ozempic but the Swedes have lordagsgodis - Saturday sweets - where families chew through more than 1kg of sticky treats in an evening.That pride has given way to some irritation. Supplies of some Swedish sweets ran dry in the autumn due to the high demand in the US, South Korea and in Scandinavia. And there was another factor, an equally important Swedish tradition: the six-week summer holiday. Continue reading...
Malina Nowicka, a cancer survivor with chronic back pain and fainting condition, says she is taking action for all people with disabilities'A cancer survivor with chronic health problems is suing one of the UK's most prestigious museums for discrimination for allegedly denying her a suitable chair to sit on when she is at work.Malina Nowicka, 34, works as a security guard at the Science Museum in South Kensington, London, and has assisted thousands of visitors in the five years she has worked there. Continue reading...
Lot includes very unusual' correspondence between celebrated general and American singer Josephine BakerA stash of never-before seen correspondence and artefacts belonging to the former French president Charles de Gaulle, including coded letters he wrote to his mother while he was a German prisoner in the first world war and messages from the American singer Josephine Baker, is to go on sale following its unexpected discovery earlier this year.The correspondence is part of a treasure trove" of documents and personal belongings belonging to de Gaulle, found in a safe in a bank vault, that will be auctioned in Paris next month. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#6S9E9)
Unusually mild spell to end with subzero temperatures likely overnight in much of northern England and ScotlandIt could be time to get out the woolly jumpers, the UK Met Office has warned, as an Arctic blast brings the threat of plummeting temperatures, sleet, snow and ice.The unusually mild and dry weather conditions of November so far are set to be replaced by more typical patterns. A yellow weather warning for northern Scotland kicks in at 4pm on Sunday, extending to southern Scotland and northern England on Monday evening into Tuesday. Continue reading...
Allegations that tutors in the fast-growing sector are letting bullying between students go uncheckedWhen Sally Mumford enrolled in a training course to become a psychotherapist in 2020, she was excited to start a new career.She hoped to help people understand how their feelings and behaviour were shaped by their pasts. But she quickly realised that the course might not be what she had expected. I arrived like a lamb to the slaughter," she said. There was a real nastiness that percolated down from the top." Continue reading...
Northamptonshire police say they believe 24-year-old Harshita Brella was attacked by someone she knewPolice have named the woman found dead in a car boot in east London and said they believe she was attacked by someone she knew.A murder investigation was launched by Northamptonshire police after the body of 24-year-old Harshita Brella was found inside the boot of a vehicle on Bristane Road, Ilford, in the early hours of Thursday morning. Continue reading...
Amount paid at auction is highest ever for memorabilia related to ship that sank on its maiden voyage in 1912A gold pocket watch presented to the captain of a steamship which rescued more than 700 passengers from the Titanic has sold for a record-breaking 1.56m.The sum - the highest amount ever paid for Titanic memorabilia - was paid by a private collector in the US, said auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son of Devizes, Wiltshire. Continue reading...
Rising number of vulnerable youngsters are being forced into unsuitable accommodation including Airbnbs, bedsits and caravansA shocking increase in the number of vulnerable children deprived of their liberty by the state is leaving more youngsters in illegal accommodation, at eye-watering costs to the taxpayer, a government-backed assessment has warned.The children include a young woman who was physically sat on for an entire day by staff trying to restrain her and a severely disabled child whose feeding tubes had been nibbled by rats. Others have been found in bedsits guarded by security guards, or in Airbnbs and caravans. Continue reading...
Tokyo to also discuss growing military links between North Korea and Russia, Japan's foreign ministry saidJapan's foreign minister arrived in Kyiv on Saturday to discuss North Korea's deepening military alliance with Russia, including the deployment of thousands of troops to support Moscow's war in Ukraine.Takeshi Iwaya will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, to reaffirm Japan's strong support" for Ukraine against Russia's invasion and to discuss further sanctions against Moscow, Japan's foreign ministry said. Continue reading...
Hardline nationalist Antonis Samaras ousted over persistent criticism of government policiesFormer Greek prime minister and lawmaker Antonis Samaras was expelled from the ruling New Democracy party over his persistent criticism of government policies.Samaras, 73, a hardline nationalist, had criticised Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' approach to negotiations with Turkey, which he has likened to appeasement. He also strongly disapproved of government policy that he considered too centrist" or woke", especially the decision to legislate in favour of same-sex marriage earlier this year. Continue reading...
Laura Helmuth, who had led the magazine since 2020, wrote an expletive-filled social media post on election nightThe editor in chief of Scientific American, the US's oldest magazine, has announced her resignation after a series of online posts in which she called some Donald Trump supporters fascists" and bigoted".In a post on Bluesky on Thursday, Laura Helmuth, who was originally appointed as the magazine's editor in chief in 2020, said: I've decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years as editor in chief. I'm going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching)." Continue reading...
Supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro wanted for role in 2023 storming of government buildingsArgentina has ordered the arrest of 61 Brazilian citizens for participating in the 2023 storming of government buildings in Brasilia by supporters of the far-right former president Jair Bolsonaro, an Argentine source said on Saturday.Two people have been arrested so far who face prison sentences in Brazil, a judicial source in Argentina told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorised to speak publicly. Continue reading...
Force says Telegraph writer accused of inciting racial hatred, rather than committing a non-crime hate incident as she had claimedEssex police have defended their decision to investigate the Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson over a social media post, saying she is accused of inciting racial hatred" not of committing a non-crime hate incident", as she had claimed.The row over Pearson's tweet has been splashed across the front pages of the Times, Telegraph and Mail this week. Leading figures on the right, including the new leader of the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch, and the former prime minister Boris Johnson, have leapt to her defence. Continue reading...
Dozens of people remain trapped in underground shops after collapse of multi-storey building in Dar es SalaamRescuers were using their bare hands, drills and sledgehammers to reach dozens of people trapped under a building that collapsed in the centre of Tanzania's commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.The multi-storey building in Kariakoo, the East African country's busiest market, caved in as people were shopping, killing at least one person, the prime minister, Kassim Majaliwa, said. Continue reading...
Authorities warn of life-threatening' surges as sixth storm to pound the country in the past month intensifiedSuper Typhoon Man-yi has slammed into the Philippines, with the national weather forecaster warning of a potentially catastrophic and life-threatening" impact as huge waves pounded the archipelago's coastline.More than 650,000 people fled their homes before Man-yi, which is the sixth major storm to batter the disaster-weary country in the past month, made landfall. Continue reading...
Leo Docherty posed on one of Lord Bamford's JCB diggers in Baku when the company wanted to raise their profile' in the countryA Conservative minister in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office used an official visit to Azerbaijan to promote the interests of a billionaire party donor.Leo Docherty, the Tory MP for Aldershot until 30 May, visited a showroom for JCB machinery in February 2023 and climbed behind the wheel of one the company's diggers to help promote UK products in Azerbaijan". He later posted a photo on X of the visit, tagging the company's official account. Continue reading...
The aircraft was preparing to depart when it was stuck just under the flight deck, and no injuries were reportedA bullet struck a Southwest Airlines airplane preparing for departure from a Dallas airport, forcing the cancellation of the Friday evening flight, the airline said.No injuries were reported and law enforcement was contacted after the bullet struck the right side of the aircraft just under the flight deck. At the time, the crew of Flight 2494 was preparing the plane for departure from Dallas Love Field airport, Southwest said in a statement. Continue reading...
Property asset boom is cascading down the generations, with wealthiest parents far more likely to enrich their children, says Resolution FoundationThe wealthiest baby boomers are more than twice as likely to pass on gifts to their children than their poorer counterparts, according to research suggesting that a huge transfer of wealth and assets now taking place will exacerbate inequalities.Britain's decades-long wealth boom is now being passed down the generations. The number of gifts and inheritances were hitting record highs at the end of the 2010s. However, the way it is being distributed means that wealth inequalities look set to echo long into the future, according to new research from the Resolution Foundation to be published this week. Continue reading...
Best known as one half of D'Unbelievables, Kenny also starred in Father Ted and The Banshees Of InisherinThe Irish prime minister has led tributes to the comedian and actor Jon Kenny, who has died at the age of 66.Kenny died on Friday evening in Galway Clinic, his wife, Margie, told the Limerick Leader on Saturday. Continue reading...
Stephen Moore suggests taking a more socialist' European outlook may harm future transatlantic trade negotiationsA top adviser to the US president-elect, Donald Trump, has said the UK should align itself with the American free enterprise" economic model instead of the more socialist" European system, as speculation mounts over the terms of a potential transatlantic trade deal.Stephen Moore, a senior economic adviser to Trump, said if the UK moved towards the US model of economic freedom" there would be more willingness" by the incoming administration to agree to a trade deal between the two countries. Continue reading...
AFL-CIO president says Democrats did not listen to low-income voters struggling to make ends meetKamala Harris's presidential campaign failed to connect with low-income workers across the US because it resorted to telling people versus listening", according to a senior union leader.Liz Shuler, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), said the Democrat's bid for the White House did not resonate with working-class people who remain very much economically insecure". Continue reading...
Staff says reports of abuse by inmates are not taken seriously by management, leaving them feeling vulnerableMore than a third of investigations into assaults against prison staff are dropped before the end of the process, according to Ministry of Justice (MoJ) data.Speaking to the Observer, officers working in several different prisons said they felt management did not take abuse against them by inmates seriously and that they were frequently told to grow up" and deal with it". Continue reading...
Leading university accused of relying on young academics employed on gig-economy termsOxford University has been accused of relying on academics on Deliveroo-style" and precarious fixed-term contracts to give the majority of its tutorials, after new research revealed just a third of lessons are taught by full-time professors.Data obtained through freedom of information requests by the University and College Union and shared exclusively with the Observer, reveals that about 61% of core tutorial teaching is done by academics on fixed-term contracts or in hourly-paid roles. The union says that pay is based mainly on contact hours with students, but once preparation, marking and supporting students is taken into account, this often falls below the minimum wage in real terms. Continue reading...
TV presenter, 57, discovered she had benign tumour known as colloid cyst after she was offered a health checkupDavina McCall is recovering in hospital after undergoing brain surgery for a very rare" tumour.The TV presenter, 57, said in a video posted on Instagram on Friday that the benign brain tumour, known as a colloid cyst, was found after she was offered a health checkup as part of her menopause advocacy work. Continue reading...
US president-elect says the war has got to stop' as German chancellor urges Putin to start talks with Kyiv in rare phone call. What we know on day 997Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia's war against his country will end sooner" than it otherwise would have once Donald Trump becomes US president next year.In a radio interview aired on Saturday, the Ukrainian president conceded that the battlefield situation in eastern Ukraine was difficult and Russia was making advances. He said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was not interested in agreeing to a peace deal.Zelenskyy criticised a phone call between the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and Putin, saying it opened a Pandora's box" by undermining efforts to isolate the Russian leader. Now there may be other conversations, other calls. Just a lot of words," Zelenskyy said in his evening address on Friday. And this is exactly what Putin has long wanted: it is extremely important for him to weaken his isolation and to conduct ordinary negotiations." According to Reuters, Zelenskyy and other European officials had cautioned Scholz against the move.Scholz said Donald Trump privately held a more nuanced position than is often assumed" on Ukraine. Trump's re-election in last week's US presidential vote has raised concerns he could withdraw Washington's significant support for Ukraine once back in the White House. Scholz, who spoke to Trump by phone on Sunday, told the Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Friday his call with the president-elect was perhaps surprisingly, a very detailed and good conversation". Asked by the paper whether Trump would make a deal over the head of the Ukrainians, Scholz said Trump gave no indication" that he would. Germany, for its part, would not accept a peace by diktat", Scholz said.Scholz urged Putin to pull Russian forces out of Ukraine and begin talks with Kyiv that would open the way for a just and lasting peace", in the first phone conversation between the two leaders in nearly two years. The Kremlin said the conversation on Friday had come at Berlin's request, and that Putin had told Scholz any agreement to end the war in Ukraine must take Russian security interests into account and reflect new territorial realities". A German government spokesperson said Scholz stressed Germany's unbroken determination to back Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression for as long as necessary".Russian air defence units intercepted a series of Ukrainian drones in several Russian regions, officials said, many of them in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops launched a major incursion in August. Russia's defence ministry said air defences downed 15 drones in Kursk region on the Ukrainian border. It said units downed one drone each in Bryansk region, also on the border, and in Lipetsk region, farther north. The ministry said one drone was downed in central Oryol region. And the governor of Belgorod region, a frequent target on the Ukrainian border, said a series of attacks had smashed windows in a block of flats and caused other damage, but no casualties were reported.Russia will suspend gas deliveries to Austria via Ukraine on Saturday. Russia's gas export route to Europe via Ukraine is set to shut at the end of this year. Ukraine has said it will not extend the transit agreement with Russian state-owned Gazprom, in order to deprive Russia of profits that Kyiv says help to finance the war against it. The Austrian chancellor, Karl Nehammer, said Gazprom's notice of ending supplies was long expected and Austria has made preparations, but the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, said Russia's action showed it once again uses energy as a weapon".Russia's leading tanker group, Sovcomflot, said on Friday that western sanctions on Russian oil tankers were limiting its financial performance, as it reported falling revenues and core earnings. The US imposed sanctions on Sovcomflot in February, part of Washington's efforts to reduce Russia's revenues from oil sales that it can use to finance its war in Ukraine. Sovcomflot reported a 22.2% year-on-year drop in nine-month revenue to $1.22bn and said its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation slumped by 31.5% to $861m. Continue reading...
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