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In today's newsletter: Rachel Reeves calculates that changing debt rules could help boost the UK economy, but what does it really mean? Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.There are just three weeks to go until the biggest fiscal and political event for any government: the budget.Middle East | Israel has said it is expanding its ground operation in Lebanon with the deployment of a fourth division after another night of intense airstrikes. The reservist 146th division was sent to southern Lebanon overnight, meaning the number of troops on the ground is now likely to number 15,000. The Lebanese health ministry said late on Tuesday 36 people have been killed and 150 have been injured in Israeli attacks over the past 24 hours.Environment | Florida's western coast was making emergency preparations on Tuesday for the impact of Hurricane Milton, with thousands of evacuees clogging highways, contending with fuel shortages, and the mayor of Tampa warning residents bluntly you are going to die" if they stayed behind.Conservatives | James Cleverly has topped the latest MPs' vote in the Conservative leadership contest, making him the new favourite, as Tom Tugendhat became the latest candidate to be eliminated.Poverty | More than 9 million people in the UK experience levels of poverty and hunger so extreme they are vulnerable to reliance on charity food handouts, according to research by the charity Trussell.Society | Deaths have outstripped births in the UK for the first time in almost half a century, excluding the start of the pandemic, official figures showed. Continue reading...

Former Labor senator says Australia's Voice has backing of disenfranchised' former supporters of major parties

Former army lawyer will appeal on the basis he believed it was his duty to release information in the public interest

Stephan Wagner, 61, charged with a string of domestic-violence-related offences over the alleged poisoning of his wife over a year-and-a-half

Venancio Mondlane is enthusing young voters in presidential elections but Frelimo's Daniel Chapo still likely winnerMozambicans go to the polls on Wednesday in elections that the ruling Frelimo party is expected to win easily, even as an outsider candidate is shaking up the presidential race and winning over young voters in a country where the median age is just 17.Frelimo has ruled the southern African country since the end of Portuguese colonial rule in 1975. For the first time, it is fielding a presidential candidate born after independence, Daniel Chapo, a provincial governor who was relatively unknown until being picked in May as the candidate to succeed the outgoing president, Filipe Nyusi. Continue reading...

Willow was event's surprise victor, and is now strategising for the world championships in FinlandHannah Willow had little doubt what she wanted. She wanted the glory of being crowned Glasgow's first champion tree hugger. And she got it.I thought it was just a charity event," Willow said, after her triumph in the inaugural event on Sunday. When I was told it was a competition my inner child took a somersault; I didn't realise that until just before it started. Continue reading...

Amid urging from the Greens, Michelle Rowland pledges government will announce plan on the issue - but doesn't say if this includes a bill

University of Melbourne - Australia's top-ranked institution - scored lowest position in 21-year history of Times Higher Education World University Rankings

Magistrate says imprisonment was appropriate after Hersant became first Victorian to be found guilty of offence

Pig hunters captured video of Tom Phillips and his three children in camouflage walking in rugged terrain in the Waikato regionA fugitive father and his three children have been spotted together for the first time in nearly three years, along the west coast of New Zealand's North Island.Just before Christmas 2021, Tom Phillips fled into the Waikato wilderness with his children Ember, now 8, Maverick, now 9, and Jayda, now 11, following a dispute with their mother. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. You can see all our coverage of the Israel-Gaza war here, and our latest report on Israel's attacks on Lebanon here.Turkey will evacuate its citizens who have applied to leave Lebanon by sea on Wednesday, the Turkish foreign ministry said on Tuesday.Reuters reports it said in a statement that two Turkish navy ships were expected to set off for Beirut on Tuesday with a total capacity of about 2,000 passengers, adding that the evacuation process will continue in the following days if necessary. Continue reading...

British pop star will perform in Australia and New Zealand next February, along with Beabadoobee, Skegss, Clairo and Barry Can't Swim

ASA says telecoms firms must scrap ads that do not give enough prominence in marketing to mid-contract risesThe UK advertising watchdog has cracked down on marketing campaigns by telecoms companies including BT, EE, Virgin Media and O2 for misleading consumers about price rises added to their bills during their contracts.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has issued a batch of rulings against ads run by BT, its subsidiaries EE and Plusnet, as well as TalkTalk, O2 and Virgin Media broadband. Continue reading...

One million more people are in what Trussell charity defines as hunger and hardship' than five years ago

Friends say they felt like criminals' after a male flight attendant told them to put something on'Two southern California women say they were removed from a Spirit Airlines flight last week for wearing crop tops. A flight attendant instructed the friends to disembark their New Orleans-bound flight before the plane could depart from Los Angeles international airport, they told a local news station.The friends, Tara Kehidi and Teresa Araujo, were wearing sweaters when they boarded the plane, but removed them because the air conditioning was not functioning. Continue reading...

Court told Khalife, 23, allegedly picked up money from Iranian handlers before contacting UK security servicesA former British soldier accused of escaping prison by strapping himself to the underside of a delivery truck had contacted Iranian intelligence before offering to work as a double agent" for MI6, his trial has heard.Daniel Khalife, 23, is alleged to have contacted a well-known individual connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in 2019, before picking up an envelope containing 1,500 that was left by his Iranian handlers in a dog poo bag in a park in north London. Continue reading...

Exclusive: chancellor's plan to change rules to allow more borrowing for investment comes as cost of government debt risesRachel Reeves is pushing ahead with plans to borrow billions of pounds extra for infrastructure investment, the Guardian has learned, despite concerns about the rising cost of UK government debt.The chancellor told the cabinet on Tuesday she wanted to change how the Treasury accounted for capital spending to reflect its benefits, as allies say she intends to finalise her debt rule in the coming days. Continue reading...

More than a million people told to evacuate as category 4 storm projected to hit Tampa Bay region by Wednesday

Nigel Railton tells inquiry it is possible post offices could still be using Horizon in 2030 despite efforts to replace itThe chair of the Post Office has told a public inquiry that the state-owned body has a strained" relationship with Fujitsu, the company that supplied the faulty Horizon system at the centre of the IT scandal.Nigel Railton, the interim chair of the Post Office, said it was possible" that post office operatives could still be using the Horizon IT system in 2030 despite efforts to replace it. Continue reading...

Ken McCallum says agency facing one hell of a job' to counter efforts to stage assassinations and terror attacksThe head of MI5 has said his agency has one hell of a job" to do as the threat from Islamic State has returned while Iran and Russia engage in intensifying efforts to undertake assassination and sabotage plots in the UK.Ken McCallum said a revival of IS in Afghanistan in particular had brought a resumption of efforts by the Islamist group to export terrorism, and a bit of an upswing" in Britons seeking to travel abroad to learn from the group. Continue reading...

Hezbollah acting leader says its military capabilities still fine' as Israel sends more troops and keeps up airstrikes

Hezbollah has been a past source of tension between the two countries, but Riyadh wants to improve relations with TehranThe Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, will meet his counterpart in Saudi Arabia to discuss the growing threat of an Israeli attack on Tehran and what steps, if any, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon can take to secure a ceasefire in the face of growing evidence that the US currently supports Israel's efforts to dismantle Hezbollah and force it to disarm.In what is becoming a multi-front war, Iran and Saudi Arabia are probably the two key regional players. Continue reading...

Please don't tell anybody,' Russian president advised, according to new book from veteran Watergate reporter

Coleen Rooney's barrister says tab ran to two bottles of water, after Rebekah Vardy's lawyers call Rooney's legal costs extraordinary'Coleen Rooney's lawyers did not commit misconduct, a judge has ruled, after the lawyers were accused of knowingly misleading" Rebekah Vardy by allegedly deliberately understating her extraordinary" legal costs during their Wagatha Christie libel fight.Vardy, the wife of the Leicester City footballer Jamie Vardy, lost the high-profile case in July 2022, having sued Rooney for libel. Continue reading...

Former security minister eliminated, leaving Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Kemi Badenoch in the runningTom Tugendhat has become the latest candidate eliminated from the Conservative leadership contest in a vote among Tory MPs, leaving Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Kemi Badenoch to fight it out for the job.Tugendhat finished fourth in the third round of MPs' voting, a result that had been expected. Another round on Wednesday will leave a final two candidates, from whom Conservative members will select a winner in a ballot. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Hollywood director is one of several leading creatives to speak of Bacon's influence ahead of an exhibition at the National Portrait GalleryHeath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was based on one of Francis Bacon's triptychs, the Oscar-winning director Christopher Nolan has revealed ahead of a new exhibition of Bacon's work.Nolan is one of several leading creative figures who have spoken of Bacon's influence on their life and practice to mark the opening on Thursday of the National Portrait Gallery exhibition, Francis Bacon: Human Presence. Continue reading...

Country's new president to set out public security plans after murder of Alejandro Arcos Catalan in ChilpancingoMexico's new government has been shaken by the murder of a city mayor who was attacked and beheaded just days after taking office.Alejandro Arcos Catalan was sworn in as the mayor of Chilpancingo, the capital of the southern state of Guerrero, on 30 September, a day before Mexico's first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum, took power herself. Continue reading...

Twenty-five MPs tell home secretary urgent reflection' is needed after report on origins of Windrush scandalTwenty-five black, Asian and minority ethnic MPs have written to the home secretary telling her that the framing of Britain's immigration legislation cannot be uncoupled from racism and the exclusion of people of colour".The MPs were responding to the publication last month of a previously suppressed Home Office report on the origins of the Windrush scandal, which highlighted how three decades of British immigration legislation between 1950 and 1981 were designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK". Continue reading...

Deal for electric zero-emission vehicles worth 500m supports 500 jobs in Northern Ireland and 2,000 more across UK

Payouts at state-owned, commercially funded broadcaster come after its biggest job cuts for 15 years

Fast radio bursts identified by Prof Matthew Bailes and his team allow scientists to count number of atoms in the universe

Green campaigners welcome delay to 9bn road tunnel, but businesses say move is deeply concerning'

Government is drafting change that will require more vetting beyond existing checks for misconduct

Ten children reportedly among those killed during intense aerial campaigns last monthMyanmar's military has launched some of its heaviest aerial campaigns since the 2021 coup in recent months, killing at least 26 people in a series of attacks in early September.The military, which has repeatedly been accused of indiscriminate aerial bombardments, launched at least seven airstrikes in four days between 3 and 6 September. According to Unicef, 10 children were among those killed. A pregnant woman also lost her unborn child.

FTSE 100 company says profits will lower for the next three years because it underestimated building costs

Riyadh accused of killing hundreds of Ethiopian migrants, jailing women's rights advocates and murdering criticsSaudi Arabia is on the brink of being elected on to the United Nation's Human Rights Council, warn campaigners, in a move they say would undermine its ability to demand justice for rights violations and would feel like a slap in the face" to the many victims of the Saudi regime.While the Saudi Arabian government has attempted to present itself as a reformed country that has made progress on gender equality and human rights, its record on both has been fiercely criticised by activists. Continue reading...

Christian Bruckner found not guilty in Germany of three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuseThe main suspect in the disappearance of the British toddler Madeleine McCann has been found not guilty of all charges in a separate rape and sexual abuse case.Christian Bruckner was acquitted by the district court in Braunschweig, northern Germany, of three charges of aggravated rape and two of sexual abuse of children in Portugal between 2000 and 2017. The 47-year-old could not be convicted of the acts he is accused of", the presiding judge, Uta Engemann, said. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Environment groups urge government to stick to its promises and refuse pesticide applicationUK ministers are considering allowing the use of a bee-killing pesticide next year despite promising during the election to ban it.Neonicotinoids are banned in the EU because they are toxic to bees, but have been authorised for use every year in the UK since 2021. Continue reading...

Ex-PM criticises Starmer's decision to accept gifts, while defending award of PPE contracts during CovidKeir Starmer's decision to accept clothing freebies looks greedy", according to Boris Johnson.The former prime minister criticised his Labour successor's decision to accept gifts of clothing and glasses, saying Starmer must be worth a bob or two" as a result of his legal career. Continue reading...

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Cambridge council says Glen Hutchinson's daughters cannot access flat until they have been granted probateThe family of a social housing tenant who has recently died fear losing his life's work because bureaucratic red tape has barred them from entering his flat.Glen Hutchinson, a performance poet, was found dead in his home in August but Cambridge city council has refused to allow his two daughters to access the property until it has been granted probate. Continue reading...

Financial pressures mean many councils are reluctant to issue top-up funding from high-needs budgets, say expertsPupils with special educational needs in mainstream schools are increasingly being refused additional funding from councils in England unless they have legal documents supporting their claims.Experts say that increasing financial pressures have made many councils reluctant to make top-up funding available from high-needs budgets - creating a vicious cycle" between parents and councils over who gets support. Continue reading...

Victorian government defends temporary' campus for University High year 9 pupils amid increase in enrolments

Youth advocates condemn $50m election pledge, likened to former Newman government's failed bootcamps, as overreach of power'

Zoe Daniel votes for motion condemning Hamas attacks and mourning Palestinians killed, saying the pain of more than one group can coexist'

In today's newsletter: Gray was supposed to help Starmer govern in a structured way. Three months into power and she is already out - what happened? Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.Keir Starmer promised to usher in a new era of stability and moderation" when Labour won the election, after years of Conservative failure, chaos and division". His grownups are in charge' leadership style was supposed to mark the end of the psychodrama that dominated previous governments. Instead, in the first 100 days of Starmer's administration, the prime minister has had to contend with leaks, infighting and scandals about gifts from donors.Middle East | Israel launched an intense wave of air raids on southern Lebanon on Monday, with 100 aircraft targeting about 120 sites in the space of an hour, according to the Israeli military.US election | Kamala Harris in a 60 Minutes interview has defended her economic plans, refused to call the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally and said she would not meet with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for peace talks if Ukraine was not also represented.Environment | The destruction of global forests increased in 2023 and is higher than when 140 countries promised three years ago to halt deforestation by the end of the decade, an analysis shows.Economy | Ticket sales for the Oasis reunion tour helped to increase non-essential spending by British consumers to the highest level this year in September, alongside a bumper month for retailers.Transport | Building HS2 all the way to London Euston and Crewe could save the government money by enabling it to lease the line out for much more, rail industry leaders have told ministers, as the Treasury weighs up whether to fund tunnels to central London. Continue reading...

Woman, 58, died in hospital nearly a week after being found at a Coffs Harbour property with severe facial injuries

Charity launches fundraising appeal to care for and document eclectic store of more than 1m artefactsAnimal bones found in the ruins of a North Yorkshire monastery that could, thrillingly, be the remains of England's last known wolf are part of the collection. As are a celebrated Vermeer masterpiece, the Duke of Wellington's false teeth, more than 60,000 coins and almost 300 dessert plates.It is eclectic," said Kevin Booth, English Heritage's head collections curator of the more than 1m objects in the charity's care. It is a slightly random collection and is just so intriguing. It is such a broad spectrum of material that has, in some ways, been accumulated, unlike a classic collection where there might be an element of selection." Continue reading...

Retail sales show strongest growth in six months as shoppers buy clothes and computers for new academic yearTicket sales for the Oasis reunion tour helped to increase non-essential spending by British consumers to the highest level this year in September, amid a bumper month for retailers.In a sign of resilience despite a pre-budget hit to consumer confidence, industry figures show retail sales and discretionary spending on entertainment, meals out and little luxuries rose sharply last month. Continue reading...