World news | The Guardian

Deng Chol Majek, 18, is charged with fatally stabbing Rhiannon Whyte at Bescot Stadium railway stationThe sister of Rhiannon Skye Whyte, who was fatally stabbed while waiting on the platform of a Walsall train station, a two-minute walk from her workplace, has called the impact of losing her catastrophic".Whyte, 27, was seriously injured at Bescot Stadium railway station on 20 October while on the phone to her best friend, after finishing a shift at a nearby Radisson hotel. Continue reading...

Opposition leader, who says Anthony Albanese is obfuscating' in his answers on Qantas upgrades, says he never personally asked mining magnate

Man sentenced to more than five years in prison after bashing stranger unconscious during attempted theft of e-scooter

Clients of now closed Fresh Cosmetic Clinic warned to get tested after possible exposure to blood-borne viruses such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV

Aki-Matilda Hoegh-Dam, who was ordered to leave podium after refusing to translate speech, attacks racist' mindsetA Greenlandic MP has accused Copenhagen of cognitive dissonance" after she was ordered to leave the podium in parliament for refusing to translate her speech calling out human rights abuses against the former Danish colony.In the speech delivered earlier this month, Aki-Matilda Hoegh-Dam paid tribute to victims of the so-called Spiral contraceptive scandal in which Greenlandic women and girls say they were fitted with an intrauterine device (IUD) by Danish doctors without their knowledge or consent. Continue reading...

Dave Rowntree speaks out about his ex-wife's choice to take her life at Dignitas in SwitzerlandThe Blur drummer, Dave Rowntree, has attacked the UK law on assisted dying as psychopathic" as he spoke out for the first time about the choice of his terminally ill ex-wife to take her own life at Dignitas in Switzerland.Rowntree said that the choice facing dying people who are facing extreme suffering was brutal" and the criminalisation of assisted dying made him bloody angry" as he called for a change in the law to allow adults with months to live to be allowed help to take their own lives. Continue reading...

Children's commissioner says child, whose charges were later dropped, had significant' trauma and was sexually exploited

Jo Wright, 64, tells AGM she is subject to an unfair rostering system at supermarket giant and not remunerated properly for her experience

Regulator alleges in court case one person living with a disability was sold a phone, a contract, an internet plan and accessories despite not wanting most of it

Historian also questions complete silence' around First Nations sovereignty in new design

Prime minister's office says it took six days to respond clearly because they had to check decades of communications between Albanese and airline

Choice finds basket of nine items cost $99.38 on average at four remote community stores in Western Australia and the Northern Territory

Vanessa LeMaistre says Grammy-nominated producer raped her in 2016 and that she became pregnant from attackA Los Angeles woman has filed a lawsuit alleging that Metro Boomin, a Grammy-nominated producer who has worked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop and R&B, raped her in 2016 and she became pregnant from the attack.The producer's attorney calls the accusations false and said the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles superior court is a pure shakedown". Continue reading...

WHO food scientist says relying on voluntary measures to reduce salt in the country's food supply is not enough

Xu is protesting against what he describes as inhumane treatment in prison, including lack of contact with his familyConcerns are growing about the health of Xu Zhiyong, China's most prominent imprisoned human rights lawyer, who is thought to have been on hunger strike for nearly a month.Xu, a scholar and leading figure in China's embattled civil rights movement, started his hunger strike on 4 October, according to Chinese Human Rights Defenders, an NGO. He is protesting against what he describes as inhumane treatment in prison, including lack of contact with his family and intensive surveillance by other prisoners, according to reports released through his relatives. Continue reading...

Lianne Gordon, 42, was hit in the head at her home as she tried to shield her two children from a gang feudA teenager has been found guilty of murdering a mother who was shot in the head through her front door as she tried to shield her two children from a gang feud.Lianne Gordon, 42, had only just returned from a holiday in Jamaica when she was attacked in her home in Hackney, east London on 5 December 2023, the Old Bailey was told. Continue reading...

Lloyd Austin says deployment near Ukraine border is a dangerous and destabilising developmentNorth Korean troops wearing Russian uniforms and carrying Russian equipment are moving to the Russian region of Kursk, near Ukraine, according to the US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, who described the deployment as a dangerous and destabilising development.Austin was speaking at a press conference at the Pentagon with the South Korean defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, as concerns grow about Pyongyang's deployment of as many as 11,000 troops to Russia. The US and South Korea said some of the North Korean troops are heading to Kursk, on the border with Ukraine, where the Kremlin's forces have struggled to push back a Ukrainian incursion. Continue reading...

Country ordered to compensate victims of programme that affected more than 300,000 women in 1990sA UN committee has urged Peru to compensate women who were forcibly sterilised in the 1990s, ruling that the state policy could constitute a crime against humanity".Forced sterilisation was part of a programme implemented by Peru's then president Alberto Fujimori during the final four years before he left office in 2000 after a decade in power. Continue reading...

This live blog is now closed. For the latest on the Middle East, read our full coverage here.Under the laws - which will not be implemented for several months - Unrwa could not operate any institution, provide any service, or conduct any activity, whether directly or indirectly". Continue reading...

The government knows cynical voters will need to see tangible change in public services and to feel better offAt the final political cabinet before Rachel Reeves delivered her first budget this week, ministers were presented with internal party research on what the public was expecting.In the months since the general election, they had been fed a regular diet of gloomy warnings about the state of the economic inheritance and, more recently, high levels of pre-budget news coverage, so it was firmly on their horizon. Continue reading...

The roughly 9bn unveiled in budget expected to disappear rapidly due to rising costs and years of underinvestmentSchools in England are to get a multibillion-pound injection of funding, with extra money for children with special educational needs, but experts have said it will be rapidly swallowed up by rising costs and much more will be needed after years of underinvestment.Among a raft of measures designed to show the government's commitment to education, the chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, announced 6.7bn in capital investment for next year, which she said was a 19% real-terms increase on this year's settlement. Continue reading...

Chancellor announces changes to employers' national insurance contributions, inheritance tax, capital gains tax and other duties

Secretary general makes appeal as civilian casualties mount amid intensive Israeli strikes on north

Some the incidents might have violated international humanitarian law, according to the sourcesUS state department officials have identified nearly 500 potential incidents of civilian harm during Israel's military operations in Gaza involving US-furnished weapons, but have not taken further action on any of them, according to three sources, including a US official familiar with the matter, said this week.The incidents - some of which may have violated international humanitarian law, according to the sources - have been recorded since 7 October 2023, when the Gaza war started. They are being collected by the state department's Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG), a formal mechanism for tracking and assessing any reported misuse of US-origin weapons. Continue reading...

Western powers call for investigation into Georgian Dream party election win amid reports of voter intimidation and fraudThe European Commission has said it will not recommend opening EU membership talks with Georgia unless the country changes course, days after the increasingly anti-western Georgian Dream (GD) party won pivotal parliamentary elections amid reports of irregularities and voter intimidation.The commission recommended that Georgia be granted EU candidate status last year - something Ukraine and Moldova had already achieved - but made clear at the time that this could be withdrawn if the government in Tbilisi did not follow through on agreed reforms. Continue reading...

Mississippi's firearm-related death rate was nearly double that of Haiti, which is plagued by political and gang violenceA new report by the Commonwealth Fund finds some US states have firearm death rates comparable to countries in conflict, and even states with the fewest firearms deaths are far higher than peer developed democracies.For instance, Mississippi's rate of firearm-related violence (28.5 per 100,000 people) was nearly double that of Haiti (15.1 per 100,000) in 2021, when mercenaries assassinated the country's president, unleashing a fresh round of gang warfare which pushed the country into a state of civil war. Continue reading...

Chancellor heeds calls long made on the left for spending to match other European countries with rise of 70bn a year

Regulated fares increase is only the second RPI-plus hike in 12 years, and a similar rise is expected in Scotland and WalesRail fares will go up by 4.6% next March, the government disclosed alongside the budget - rising above inflation for only the second time in 12 years.Meanwhile, the cost of most railcards will rise by 5, or almost 17%. Continue reading...

Clip of Russian and Ukrainian flags with angry face and heart emojis accused of discrediting' armyPolice in Russian-annexed Crimea have charged a woman with child neglect after her 10-year-old daughter allegedly posted a video online that discredited" the Russian army, authorities said on Wednesday.The video, shared on Russian Telegram channels, showed a girl choosing between Russian and Ukrainian flags, with an angry-face emoji next to the Russian flag and a heart emoji next to the Ukrainian one. Continue reading...

More than 1,000 well-known figures sign open letter in response to authors pledging to boycott Israeli cultural institutions over GazaMore than 1,000 figures from the literary and entertainment industry - including several Nobel laureates, Pulitzer prize, and Booker prize winners - have signed an open letter against illiberal and dangerous" cultural boycotts.The letter was released by the nonprofit body Creative Community For Peace [CCFP], which campaigns against cultural boycotts of Israel, after more than 1,000 book industry figures pledged to boycott Israeli cultural institutions that are complicit or have remained silent observers of the overwhelming oppression of Palestinians". Continue reading...

Former pupils of Catholic schools say corporal punishment was hourly occurence' in 60s and 70sThe Irish government has been urged to extend the scope of a statutory inquiry into historical child abuse in schools to include corporal punishment, including a practice known as leathering".Survivors of physical assault in Catholic schools have complained they were told there was no scope to include corporal punishment in an investigation into sexual abuse, announced in September. Continue reading...

Residents told to stay indoors but police say there is no nuclear risk from blaze at BAE Systems complexTwo people have been taken to hospital after a significant" fire broke out at BAE Systems' nuclear submarine shipyard in Cumbria.Residents said they saw huge flames and smoke billowing from the complex in Barrow-in-Furness, where the UK's new multi-billion-pound Dreadnought submarines are being built. Continue reading...

Third-quarter rise in GDP lifts eurozone growth to 0.4% as a result of increased household and government spending

Rachel Reeves is announcing her financial update - here are the main points, with political analysis

Chris Johnson, 39, arrested after police made grisly discovery while serving eviction noticeThe owner of a south Georgia funeral home has been charged with 17 counts of abuse of a dead body after 18 decomposing bodies, including those of children, were found in a cooler at the facility.Coffee county sheriff's office deputies were serving an eviction notice on Saturday at Johnson Funeral Home when the remains were discovered in various stages of decomposition", investigators said. Continue reading...

Teenager accused of murdering three young girls is charged with possessing terrorist material and producing ricinAxel Rudakubana, the 18-year-old accused of murdering three girls at a dance class in Southport, has appeared in court on new charges of possessing terrorist material and producing the toxin ricin.He appeared at Westminster magistrates court via video link from HMP Belmarsh. He sat holding his sweater over the bottom half of his face. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Awareness of contribution of black and Asian soldiers could help tackle racism, say leading minority ethnic voicesPoliticians and community leaders are calling for the history of black and Asian soldiers who fought for Britain in the world wars to be taught more widely in schools to help tackle ignorance, racism and anti-Muslim prejudice.Speaking on the 110th anniversary of the first Muslim to be awarded the Victoria Cross, leading minority ethnic voices have said that raising awareness of black and Asian service men and women could help tackle racism and anti-Muslim prejudice after this summer's riots. Continue reading...

Critics alarmed by talk of revenge against Democrats and say second Trump term would pose unprecedented danger

Loss of migrant workers would trigger productivity losses and a new round of inflationary pricing pressureIf elected, Donald Trump plans to carry out the largest deportation operation in American history". After pushback on Joe Biden's border policies, Kamala Harris has embraced border restrictions and the need to maintain limits on asylum seekers. But neither candidate captures the realities of US immigration.US consumers are accustomed to cheap goods and services, and the economic rationale for large-scale immigration has been largely avoided. In a country that relies on a mobile, low-cost workforce, the loss of migrant workers would trigger productivity losses and a new round of inflationary pricing pressure. Continue reading...

Rise in hybrid warfare and cyber-attacks blamed on pro-Russia groups prompt Nordic neighbours to backpedalSweden and Norway are backpedalling on plans for cashless societies over fears that fully digital payment systems would leave them vulnerable to Russian security threats, and concern for those unable to use them.A combination of good high-speed internet coverage, high digital literacy rates, large rural populations and fast-growing fintech industries had put the Nordic neighbours on a fast track to a future without cash. Continue reading...

Naomi Whitehead attains status after death of Elizabeth Francis, who was third-oldest known living person in worldA 114-year-old woman residing in Pennsylvania who says she never smoked or drank alcohol recently became the oldest known living person in North America.Naomi Whitehead attained that status after the 22 October death of Elizabeth Francis, 115, a Louisiana native who moved to Houston and was the world's third-oldest person, according to the LongeviQuest website, an authority on supercentenarians - those who are 110 or older. Continue reading...

Drop comes as carmaker faces battle with unions over plan to shut three factories in GermanyVolkswagen has reported a 60% drop in profits amid a slump in sales in China, with the carmaker emphasising the difficulties it faces as it prepares to close factories in Germany for the first time.Germany's biggest carmaker has told workers that it is considering shutting three plants serving its main Volkswagen brand in its home market and cutting staff pay, raising the prospect of an extended battle with unions representing 120,000 German employees. Continue reading...

Facebook posts by Rob Pyne conveyed imputation that Greg Hallam was corrupt' and were defamatory, district court judge finds

Chair suggests company will not make fourth takeover offer and will instead focus on other growth opportunitiesThe global mining company BHP has moved on" from its three unsuccessful attempts to take over the rival Anglo American earlier this year and will focus on other growth opportunities instead, its chair has said.Speaking at BHP's annual general meeting in Brisbane on Wednesday, Ken MacKenzie suggested the Australian miner would not be resurrecting its bid for its London-based competitor after a six-month block on trying again lifts at the end of November. Continue reading...

Liberal MLC Jing Lee told parliament she felt pressured after unexpected encounter with a very persistent visitor' but didn't name Howe

Kim Williams says funding local news and public interest journalism is crucial in a world where the distortion of culture poses such a grave threat to democracy'

Legal team for NT senator and shadow Indigenous Australians minister failed to file defence on time

Prime minister issues statement saying all travel has been appropriately declared' after allegations made in new book over politicians' travel

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Auburn South primary school community mourns car crash victim Jack Davey, 11, as four students remain in hospital