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Exclusive: Intelligence officers say Russian campaign could intensify in months, not years' - but that panic risks playing into Kremlin psy-opsEuropean intelligence officials have raised the possibility of an imminent Russian test of Nato, with one saying a potential attack could come in a matter of months, not years".The warnings come after Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, told parliament that intelligence assessments suggested Russia might launch an attack with drones or missiles on Nato territory in the coming months, as part of efforts to prove that article 5 is more theoretical than practical". Continue reading...

The queer period drama wins Oscar-predicting award, being named the most popular audience film at the festivalSpanish queer drama La Bola Negra has won this year's people's choice award at the Toronto film festival.The film, which takes place in 1932, 1937 and 2017, focuses on the lives of interconnected gay men. It premiered at this year's Cannes film festival with the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw calling it handsomely produced, lovingly detailed and confidently constructed" in a four-star review. Continue reading...

Wife of former PM takes part in designer Edeline Lee's show inspired by the Greek myth of SisyphusVictoria Starmer has taken part in a London fashion week show, in one of her first public appearances since her husband, Keir Starmer, stepped down as prime minister.Lady Starmer appeared at Sunday's Edeline Lee show. The London-based, Canadian British designer's clothes are a favourite of the Princess of Wales, and have also been worn by celebrities including singer Taylor Swift and actor and screenwriter Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Continue reading...

Exclusive: James Ashby also drives new Ford Ranger given to party and is main pilot of plane donated by Gina Rinehart, which he says are not for personal use

Exclusive: Stark health inequalities in terms of deaths before age of 75, NHS data revealsAdults with severe mental illness are nearly five times more likely than their peers to die from serious physical diseases before the age of 75, according to research.The analysis of NHS data by the Rethink Mental Illness charity reveals that people with severe mental health problems die 15-20 years earlier than the wider adult population, largely due to preventable physical conditions. Continue reading...

At least three people killed and oil refinery damaged as doubts cast over initial reports of ballistic missile useUkraine has targeted Moscow and the surrounding region in a large-scale attack that involved hundreds of drones.The attack killed at least three people and damaged what Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said was one of Russia's key oil industry facilities" on the final day of the country's parliamentary elections, authorities said on Sunday. Continue reading...

Action against Ofcom comes as social media companies are being accused of using courts to slow down implementationMeta has launched a fresh legal challenge against Britain's media regulator in the latest of a slew of actions by social media companies who are accused of using the courts to slow down implementation of the Online Safety Act.Lawyers for the parent company of Facebook served notice during the week in an appeal against placing WhatsApp and Instagram, which are also owned by Meta, in a category that subjects them to additional duties. Continue reading...

Data raid comes amid targeting of lifeboat charity by far-right agitators who object to migrant boat rescuesSupporters of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution have been warned that their personal information may have been stolen by hackers amid targeting of the charity by far-right agitators.In a letter accompanying the autumn copy of its Lifeboat magazine, the charity warned members that their name, contact details and records of interactions with the RNLI" could have been breached in the raid on a company it uses for customer relationship management. Continue reading...

Former president of Chile drops out after support collapsed in security council straw poll, leaving seven candidates in contestMichelle Bachelet, a former president of Chile, has withdrawn her candidacy to become the next secretary general of the UN, ending an attempt that had struggled to gain traction among security council members.Bachelet, 74, announced her decision in a video posted on Instagram on Saturday, saying: I will now continue, with the same determination as always, my international work." Continue reading...

Charles lands at Heathrow with just two bags and nowhere to go as a result of Brexit and Stockholm's hardline immigration positionDoubled over a Heathrow baggage trolley, the former British business director is sobbing uncontrollably, exhausted emotionally and physically after being deported from Sweden.Hours earlier the 65-year-old had been marched on to a plane in Stockholm, separated from his home and his Swedish wife after a five-year battle to stay in the country after Brexit came to an end. Continue reading...

Rafael Moreno, whose company has opened demo plant in Brazil, says market is nervous' as Trump-Xi summit loomsThe head of a mining company hoping to supply the EU with rare earths in two years' time has said it is paramount" to end China's stranglehold on the supply of the raw materials used in everything from cars to wind turbines and military jets.As Donald Trump and China's president, Xi Jinping, prepare to meet on Thursday in their second summit of the year, Rafael Moreno said it was also imperative" that they do a deal for Beijing to ease up, once again, on its threat to ban exports of rare earths. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Five gardening teams shortlisted for Royal Horticultural Society's new Railway Stations in Bloom awardEvery year since 1964, towns across the UK have bloomed with hanging baskets and brightly coloured flowerbeds planted by residents.They wield their trowels in aid of the Royal Horticultural Society's Britain in Bloom competition, a coveted accolade for the 1,600 communities that enter each year. Continue reading...

Candidates have been selected for November's midterms - have Republicans and Democrats made the right choices?Primary season has official concluded in the United States, with Democrats leading the polls among voters amid widespread economic anxieties, a war with Iran and Donald Trump's mass deportation agenda continuing into the end of the year.Democratic and Republican voters have selected contenders for key races in the 3 November midterms that will decide the balance of power in Congress, and the future of both parties. Democrats have been rocked by the primary victories of leftwing candidates. Republicans have doubled down on backing the president's policies, despite his low approval ratings. And both parties are navigating the fallout from a series of scandals that have forced some candidates from the race, while others decided to press on. Continue reading...

It's not clear that financial interests are driving White House policy, but they run parallel even as resistance mountsDonald Trump's sons, through a series of AI-linked defense and technology ventures, have picked up a $620m Pentagon loan, a Marine Corps robotics contract and an undisclosed air force drone deal in the past year. His longtime friend Michael Dell won a Pentagon contract worth nearly $9bn. And this week, as public support for artificial intelligence sinks to some of the lowest levels ever recorded, the president went to bat for the industry. .The only control or guardrails' that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades," he posted on Truth Social Monday. There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers." It was the first of many aggressively pro-AI posts he would make this week. Continue reading...

The Warsaw event saw 26 teams compete across a series of demanding tasks, inspired - to varying degrees - by tram drivers' day-to-day tasks

Shabana Mahmood is concerned about length and 144m cost of inquiry into intrusive police surveillanceVictims of intrusive police surveillance have accused the government of seeking to cut short the spycops public inquiry that has been examining widespread misconduct committed by undercover officers.The independent judge-led inquiry is scrutinising how officers, who spied on tens of thousands of political activists over more than four decades, carried out abuses such as deceiving women into sexual relationships and fathering children. Continue reading...

Comments come after he accused King Charles of gaslighting him in response to claims made in new memoirEarl Spencer has said the relationship between the press and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex echoes" the way the media treated his sister Diana, Princess of Wales.In an interview with the BBC to be aired on Sunday evening, Spencer described the press's coverage of Harry and Meghan as having a cancerous influence", adding it would be beholden on people to learn from Diana's example". Continue reading...

Crime scene established at Waratah Road, Valley Heights as NSW police say they are not looking for any other people at this time'

A Bondi Beach woman in her 90s, a 23-year-old in Wagga Wagga and a woman in her 70s in Mole River died within hours of each other on Saturday

Beijing believes slowdown calls aim to lock in US advantage, and is pursuing a different balance between safety and paceAbout two years ago, education entrepreneur Boris But had what he calls a penny-drop moment" - that, like countless others in China, his company needed to embrace AI before it was made obsolete by it.His clients, well-off parents looking to send their children to study overseas, had begun arriving in his office reeling off information and opinions gleaned not from rival firms, but from chatbots. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Analysis lays bare' something midwives already know from their day-to-day workAbout 20,000 disclosures of domestic abuse are estimated to be made to maternity services in England every year, analysis has found.The figures are likely to be an underestimate of the true scale of disclosures, according to experts, highlighting the role maternity professionals play in identifying abuse. Continue reading...

Operator that runs services between London Marylebone and Birmingham is sixth to be nationalised since 2025Chiltern Railways has become the latest train operator to enter public ownership as the government closes in on its ambition to renationalise all major passenger rail services.The operator, which runs commuter rail services on the Chiltern mainline between London Marylebone and Birmingham, on Sunday became the sixth to be nationalised under Labour, with the remaining four to follow by the end of 2027. Continue reading...

Reform leader also tells US event Europe should have more sensible view' of president's administrationNigel Farage has said he wants to hijack" Donald Trump's hardline ICE adviser and bring him to the UK to secure our borders".Speaking at an event in the US, the Reform UK leader also called for Europe to take a more sensible view" of the US president's administration rather than seeing it as villainous". Continue reading...

Josh Babarinde wants to target big tech and crypto billionaires while giving power and cash back to the publicStanding outside Toynbee Hall in the East End of London, Josh Babarinde doesn't exactly look like a rabble-rouser. But despite the well-cut suit and disarmingly large smile, the president of the Liberal Democrats is, apparently, up for a fight.There are big modern giants that are getting in the way of people's ability to thrive, and it is the job of Liberal Democrats to address that," says the 33-year-old. How are we going to do that? Well, first of all, we've got to flip the table over and rise up." Continue reading...

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Embattled Friedrich Merz faces nervous wait while far-right Alternative fur Deutschland party targets further gainsVoters in two German states are going to the polls with the political future of the embattled chancellor, Friedrich Merz, hanging in the balance and an emboldened far right targeting further gains.Coming two weeks after a seismic election in Saxony-Anhalt in which the anti-immigration, pro-Kremlin Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) scored its highest ever result in a regional poll, the nativist party is expected to drain support again from Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Continue reading...

Authorities issued warnings for city in first such alerts for Riyadh since fighting with Iran-backed Houthis escalated in JulyYemen's Houthis said they attacked sensitive" sites in the Saudi capital with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of black smoke were seen rising above Riyadh airport on Saturday.The Saudi government sent air raid alerts to citizens by phone overnight warning of aerial attacks, marking the first time the government has issued such alerts for Riyadh since fighting with the Iran-backed Houthis escalated in July. Continue reading...

Tory leader claims prime minister is avoiding difficult decisions as she urges him to increase defence spendingKemi Badenoch has accused Andy Burnham of fiddling while Europe is at risk of burning", as she repeated her call for the prime minister to cut the welfare budget to fund increase spending on defence.Speaking to the Telegraph, the Tory leader said that Burnham may be a people pleaser but difficult choices cannot be avoided through dither and delay". Continue reading...

Players in Everton v Ipswich Town match wear black armbands as supporters join in minute's applausePlayers wore black armbands during Everton's home match against Ipswich Town on Saturday, as part of a tribute to three-year-old Noah Woods, whose body was found after he went missing in Suffolk this week.A photograph of the boy was shown on the big screen before the Premier League game in Liverpool, and three minutes after kick-off both sets of supporters stood to applaud in memory of Noah. Continue reading...

Leader says party won't give up the fight' to defeat nasty populism' in first-day speech to delegates in BrightonThe Liberal Democrats' leader, Sir Ed Davey, took aim at Nigel Farage and Elon Musk on the first day of his party's annual conference, saying Lib Dems would not give up the fight to defeat nasty populism" and Reform UK's 72m arsenal of hate and lies".On stage at Brighton Centre, Davey called on the assembled delegates not to be deterred in the face of Reform's hope that the anger and the hatred and the lies will grind us down until eventually we just give up". Continue reading...

Arson attacks related to illegal tobacco trade are also causing revenue and reputation problems for neighbouring businesses

Authorities ban anti-immigration march after fireworks and other projectiles thrown at officers in city centre parkDutch riot police dispersed several hundred far-right protesters in The Hague on Saturday after violence erupted and local authorities banned a planned march in the city against immigration and asylum policies.The Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported that 24 people had been arrested, after some protesters threw fireworks and other projectiles at police. Continue reading...

Premier Ben Carroll vows to legislate new form of manslaughter and increase maximum penalty for rape to life imprisonment

Supporters' club says billionaire should stand down after completely unacceptable' comments on the UK and empireManchester United's Muslim supporters' Club (MUMSC) has called for the Premier League side's co-owner to step down after he made completely unacceptable" comments during a BBC interview.Sir Jim Ratcliffe described the UK as being a country on the slide" from the days when it had the greatest empire in the world". Continue reading...

No injuries reported after about 280 people taken to safety from the Grand Burstin in Folkestone after blazeA large fire that broke out overnight at a seaside hotel and forced hundreds of people to evacuate is being treated by police as suspicious.Emergency services were called just after 1am on Saturday to the Grand Burstin hotel in Folkestone, where a fire is believed to have started in the basement, Kent fire and rescue service said. Continue reading...

British Museum chair tells Big Brue festival he thought no one would find out about the private viewingGeorge Osborne has said he thought no one would find out about a private viewing of the Bayeux tapestry he organised for the tech billionaire Peter Thiel at the British Museum.The former chancellor, who is chair of the museum, told the Big Brue festival in Somerset that he had been on holiday when Thiel was shown the medieval artwork. Continue reading...

Pasadena's Norton Simon Museum holds 16th-century paintings stolen by the Nazis during the second world warJewish heirs of Holocaust victims and their representatives have filed two lawsuits in California staking their claims to Nazi-looted paintings that still hang on the walls of prominent museums in Los Angeles and Auschwitz.This pair of lawsuits are the first to be filed after the recent passage of laws by California and the US Congress, which strengthen US-based claims to artwork that were forcibly taken from Jewish families during the second world war. Continue reading...

Michael Marra supports development of the North Sea sites, calling for a more rational' approach to energy policyScottish Labour's new leader Michael Marra has backed the development of the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gasfields in the North Sea in one of his first acts after being elected, calling for a more rational" approach to energy policy.On Saturday, the MSP for North East Scotland won a near two-thirds majority to lead the party in Holyrood, becoming Scottish Labour's 11th leader. He replaces Anas Sarwar after his shock decision to resign in July to join Andy Burnham's new government as a trade minister. Continue reading...

Acts of familicide' have increased dramatically this year - in the US, the killer is more likely to have easy access to a gunThe US is often known globally for its shocking levels of violence, but acts of family annihilation" or familicide" rank among the most disturbing of crimes.They occur when an assailant kills four or more of their own family members and often see the killer also kill themselves. These types of crime have increased dramatically this year, according to data from Northeastern University. Continue reading...

Steven Kolb of the Council of Fashion Designers of America was filmed during an altercation at New York fashion weekThe chief executive of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Steven Kolb, has resigned after he was filmed physically restraining two animal rights activists during an altercation at New York fashion week.After 20 years leading the CFDA, I have made the difficult decision to step down as CEO and president," Kolb said in a statement. I am enormously proud of what we have built together and believe this is the right moment for both me and the organisation to begin a new chapter." Continue reading...

The revelation left experts scratching their heads at exactly what Donald Trump has in his cosmic arsenal'In Hollywood at least, space weapons are a relatively simple concept. The good guys, from Captain Kirk and his crew in Star Trek, to Luke Skywalker's rebel alliance in Star Wars, battle intergalactic villains with an array of colorful lasers and particle-beam cannons, then the bad guys get dispatched in a spectacular, explosive finale.The messaging coming out of the White House on the subject, by contrast, could not be more vague. Continue reading...

Case highlights severe financial strain on sector across UK as string of university housing schemes fail

Fed chair presided over unanimous decision to raise interest rates despite intense campaign from White HouseIn the end, Kevin Warsh's Federal Reserve acquitted itself well. For all the uncertainty he had sparked at the previous meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, when he refused to provide any indication of what he was prepared to do to tame stubborn inflation, the chair on Wednesday presided over a unanimous decision to raise interest rates for the first time in three years.Today's action starts to show that we're serious about this," he said at the press conference after the meeting, with this" meaning inflation in excess of the Fed's 2% target for over five years. Welcome though it was, his embrace of economic orthodoxy nonetheless did little to dispel the Keystone Cops quality of governance in Donald Trump's US. Continue reading...

As villagers take stock following symbolic vote, some fear far-right weaponisation of asylum dispute and influx of masked people like in Dover'The first significant event in the newly independent principality of Piddington was a decision to select the newt as the national animal, reflecting optimism that the amphibian's endangered status might help block plans to open a centre for 1,250 asylum seekers on neighbouring land.The choice was announced on Thursday morning, the day after Piddington announced that villagers had voted overwhelmingly to leave the UK. Parish councillors were also thinking about asking local children to design a flag and considering whether the new principality's national sport should be cricket or football. Continue reading...

Exclusive: key White House loyalist orchestrating multi-agency effort condemned by critics as cruel and racistStephen Miller is leading an unprecedented and intense White House drive across a host of government departments to accelerate the removal of undocumented immigrant children from the US, using tactics that critics say are cruel and racist and, in some cases, flout federal law, the Guardian has learned.As deputy chief of staff at the White House, focused on immigration policy, Miller is seen as the mastermind and enforcer behind Donald Trump's hardline anti-immigration agenda. Continue reading...

Jake Richards says changes would be part of carrot-and-stick' approach to try to turn around young offendersParents whose children commit crimes could lose their benefits, face fines and even be jailed, a minister has said.Jake Richards said the youth justice system should hold parents to account in a proportionate way for ensuring that they play their role in keeping communities safe". Continue reading...

Crypto billionaires' 72m will be used to hire campaign managers and professional staff in target constituenciesFor Nigel Farage, the 72m lavished last week on his party by the crypto billionaire donors Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne finally places Reform UK on a level playing field with its political rivals.The donations are the largest received by a UK political party since declarations became required in 2001 and led to warnings Farage was aiming to buy" his way to power, with a row still raging over whether they are legal. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lib Dem leader bullish ahead of party conference despite static poll ratings and MPs' frustrationsThe Liberal Democrats have begun work on a new manifesto in case of a possible snap election, as Ed Davey said he understood the frustrations of some of his MPs who fear that the party's message is currently at risk of being lost.But Davey also urged his party not to panic at static polling numbers, arguing that with tactical voting and fragmented political loyalties, he fully expects the party to do even better at the next election than in 2024, when it won 72 seats, the highest total for a century. Continue reading...

Much of the UK is still officially in drought after its hottest summer on record, but grasslands are slowly recovering their colourThe landscapes of southern England and Wales are slowly regaining their colour after this summer's extreme heat.The UK's hottest summer on record left the south of the country dried out and brown, making the impact of the drought particularly visual. Continue reading...

German minister says companies are exploiting situation' in Middle East, as sky-high prices become major domestic issue for leadersEuropean governments have discussed imposing a bloc-wide windfall tax on energy companies, as near-record fuel and gas prices pile pressure on leaders desperate to contain mounting public discontent and the challenge of the far right.With elections due next year in eight EU countries including France, Italy, Spain and Poland, leaders are scrambling to head off the potential fallout from what analysts have warned could be one of the continent's biggest energy shocks in decades. Continue reading...