World news | The Guardian

Twenty-nine-metre tall fir destined to be chopped down and transported to St Peter's Square in the VaticanEnvironmental campaigners in Italy's northern Trentino province have started a campaign to stop the felling of a 200-year-old fir tree intended to form the centrepiece of the Vatican's Christmas decorations.The so-called Green Giant" is 29 metres tall and is due to be chopped down next week in a forest in the Ledro valley before being transported to the Vatican and positioned in St Peter's Square, where it will then be unveiled on 9 December. Continue reading...

Counter-terrorism police chief says 250 officers were sent to Salisbury to investigate poisoning of former Russian spyA counter-terrorism police chief has described how hundreds of investigators and scientists painstakingly worked to trace ground zero" - the spot where the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were poisoned with a nerve agent.Commander Dominic Murphy, the head of the Met police's counter-terrorism command, told an inquiry into the novichok poisonings that a restaurant, pub and a car were suspected before the door handle of Skripal's home was pinpointed as the source of the poisoning almost two weeks after the Skripals fell ill. Continue reading...

All bird species have declined in number, after suffering habitat loss, pesticide use, climate breakdown and bird fluWild bird numbers in the UK are continuing to fall despite government promises to halt nature decline by 2030.Data released by the government on Tuesday shows that over the past five years, all bird species have faced population decline after suffering from habitat loss, pesticide use, climate breakdown and bird flu. Overall, bird species have declined in number UK-wide by 2% and in England by 7% in the five years since 2018. Continue reading...

Kaja Kallas says Ukraine's victory in war is a priority for us all', adding that it is also in US's interestChina should face a higher cost" for supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine, the EU's incoming foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has said.The former Estonian prime minister was speaking to MEPs during a three-hour hearing before she takes office, when she listed Ukraine's victory as a priority - stronger words than vaguer formulas of support voiced by some EU politicians. Continue reading...

Justin Welby's departure sets in train a process involving the monarch, the PM and a 16-strong voting panel Justin Welby to step down as archbishop of CanterburyThe archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has announced he will step down after facing pressure to quit over his handling of an abuse scandal.A damning report was published last week on the Church of England's cover-up of John Smyth's abuse in the UK in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and later in Zimbabwe and South Africa. About 130 boys are believed to have been victims. Continue reading...

Prime minister says victims of serial abuser John Smyth failed very, very badly'Keir Starmer has refused to back the archbishop of Canterbury, who has faced growing demands to resign over his handling of an abuse scandal.Pressure on Justin Welby has been intensifying since the publication last week of a damning report on the church's cover-up of John Smyth's abuse in the UK in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and later in Zimbabwe and South Africa. About 130 boys are believed to have been victims. Continue reading...

Problems were raised by junior staff three years before they were completely resolved, says FCA

Avon and Somerset police referred themselves to watchdog, who said girl was being transported to custodyA teenage girl who was killed by a car while on foot on the M5 had fled a police vehicle before she was struck, it has emerged.Avon and Somerset police said the motorway was closed between Bridgwater and Taunton in Somerset after the fatal collision involving a pedestrian and a car at 11pm on Monday. Continue reading...

Man detained after incident on Monday night in Zhuhai, in which 35 people were killed and 43 injuredA driver killed 35 people and severely injured another 43 when he rammed his car into people exercising at a sports centre in the southern Chinese city of Zhuhai, police said on Tuesday.Police had detained a 62-year-old man at the sports centre in Zhuhai after the ramming late on Monday, on the eve of an airshow by the People's Liberation Army that is hosted annually in the city. Continue reading...

US private equity group buys company's 16 UK cinemas, distribution arm and online streaming serviceThe British arthouse cinema chain Curzon has been acquired by the US investment firm that owns Poundstretcher and Majestic Wine.Fortress Investment Group has bought the chain, which has more than 350 employees at 16 cinemas across the UK, for an undisclosed sum. Continue reading...

Britain's biggest pharmaceutical company raises 2024 profit forecast and announces $3.5bn US investment

Tehran cites 1888 charts in effort to prove ownership of islands near strait of Hormuz that are also claimed by UAEMaps drawn up more than 130 years ago on the instruction of the Marquess of Salisbury, the then British foreign secretary, have been cited by Iran in its deepening dispute with the Gulf states over the ownership of three strategic islands at the entrance to the critical strait of Hormuz waterway.The dispute is threatening to damage Iran's current efforts to form closer relations with its Gulf partners, and has also turned into an additional roadblock to improving Iran's relations with the European Union. Continue reading...

Rubio reportedly in line for secretary of state, while Waltz expected to be made national security adviserPresident-elect Donald Trump has reportedly decided to appoint the prominent China hawks Marco Rubio and Mike Waltz as his respective secretary of state and national security adviser.Rubio was arguably the most hawkish option on Trump's shortlist for secretary of state, and he has in past years advocated for a muscular foreign policy with respect to America's geopolitical foes, including China, Iran and Cuba. Continue reading...

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Seismologist says it is too early' to link fourth event of sequence to mining activity in the Hunter region

Victorian sentenced to more than four years in prison after leaving wife grief-stricken and traumatised' in Sudan

Australian government won't say if four reportedly found on Croker Island have been taken to country of departure, of origin, or to regional processing centre on Nauru

Sites currently only tested for dangerous pollution during bathing season' from May to SeptemberBathing waters in England and Wales could be tested all year round in a government shake-up to water pollution rules.At the moment, designated bathing sites are only tested for dangerous pollution that could make swimmers sick during the bathing season", which runs from May to September. Continue reading...

It is estimated that Trump played hundreds of rounds of golf during his first term as president of the United StatesSouth Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is practising golf - for the first time in eight years - in preparation for future meetings with US president-elect Donald Trump, Yoon's office has confirmed.South Korean media said Yoon had visited a golf course on Saturday for a sport his office said he had last played in 2016. Continue reading...

The boy, known as Master K for inquest, floated to surface and was undiscovered for more than nine minutes

PM says Britain can win the race' as Trump's election casts doubt on global efforts to tackle climate changeBritain has a huge opportunity" to get ahead of other countries in the race for green investment after the election of Donald Trump as US president, Keir Starmer has said, as he arrives in Azerbaijan for the Cop29 summit.Trump's election victory last week has cast doubt on global efforts to tackle climate change, which the president-elect has called a hoax". But as the most senior world leader attending the summit in Baku, Starmer said the global political turmoil could benefit the UK economy. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Study finds evidence of major gaps in government oversight of foreign workers in care sectorNearly 200 care providers have been given government licences to bring foreign nurses to the UK despite having previously violated labour laws, according to a study that highlights widespread employment problems in the social care sector.The report by the Work Rights Centre shows 177 companies in England have been given licences to sponsor carers, even while publicly available information shows them to have violated workers' protections in the past. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Three-quarters of respondents say mental health was damaged as a direct result of treatment by policeRape victims in England and Wales have echoed the message of Gisele Pelicot in France that shame belongs to perpetrators, not them", in the largest ever survey of rape and sexual assault survivors, according to the government's key adviser on the crime.Three-quarters of respondents to the survey of rape and sexual assault survivors said their mental health was damaged as a direct result of what police did, or failed to do, in their case" and only one in 10 said they would report again, according to researchers. Continue reading...

Tropical Storm Usagi is days away from making landfall, after Typhoon Toraji, Severe Tropical Storm Trami, Typhoon Yinxing and Super Typhoon Kong-reyThe Philippines issued new weather warnings on Tuesday as the fifth major storm in three weeks bore down on the archipelago, days after thousands were evacuated ahead of Typhoon Toraji.Now a weakened tropical storm, Toraji blew out to sea overnight after causing relatively limited damage and no reported deaths. Continue reading...

Historic apology by PM Christopher Luxon comes after landmark report that exposed decades of abuse in state and faith-based care institutionsNew Zealand's prime minister Christopher Luxon has formally apologised to the more than 200,000 children and adults who suffered horrific" and heartbreaking" abuse and neglect while in state and faith-based institutions.The historic apology follows a harrowing landmark report, released in July, which laid bare the scale of abuse that occurred across care institutions from the 1950s onwards. It was the most complex royal commission inquiry the country has held. The judge who chaired the inquiry, Coral Shaw, described the abuse as a national disgrace and shame". Continue reading...

James Graham defends was/is pricing, saying suppliers had asked for higher prices and then supermarkets discounted them

Kristian White Tasered 95-year-old in Cooma nursing home after she refused to drop knife. He has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter

ACCC says ticket price spike corresponds with concentration of sector and warns it may be some time before a new airline emerges to compete'

Eleanor Bryant praised for pushing children out of path of truck at Riddells Creek kindergarten

Low pressure troughs sitting over swaths of the country are being charged by warmer-than-average ocean temperatures, weather expert says

Groups providing vital services say impact of tax and minimum wage rises will lead to cutbacksCharities have warned of life-changing consequences" for a million vulnerable children and adults as a result of cuts to state-funded disability services driven by tax changes and wage rises announced in the budget.The Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), which represents 100 charities in England, said Rachel Reeves's decision to raise employers' national insurance contributions (NICs) had been ill thought through" and would put many local charity services at risk. Continue reading...

Foreign minister says talks continuing over Israel's stated objectives of pushing Hezbollah away from Israeli borderIsrael's foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said on Monday that certain progress" had been made on ceasefire talks in Lebanon, where Israel has been engaged in fighting Hezbollah for more than 13 months.We will be ready to be there if we know, first of all, that Hezbollah is not on our border, is north of the Litani River, and that Hezbollah will not be able to arm with new weapons systems," Saar said. Continue reading...

Labour MP Kim Leadbeater's proposed legislation also includes powers for judges to cross-examine patientsA historic bill to legalise assisted dying will set out hardline safeguards, including lengthy prison sentences for coercion and powers for judges to cross-examine patients.The Labour MP Kim Leadbeater said she believed she had put forward the best possible legislation" but warned wavering MPs that parliament may not get another chance to vote again on the issue for another decade.Patients must be over 18, have the mental capacity to make a choice about the end of their life and must be terminally ill and expected to die within six monthsThey must express a clear, settled and informed' wish in two separate witnessed declarationsTwo independent doctors must be satisfied that the person is eligibleThe application must be approved by a high court judge who would hear from at least one of the doctors and may question the patient or anyone else involvedMedicine must be self-administered with doctors banned from assistingCoercion of a patient would be a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison Continue reading...

Ali Musse, 66, charged after Hilkiah McLeggan, 77, pronounced dead at scene in East Street, WalworthA man has been charged with murder after a fatal stabbing in south London.Police were called at about 10.40am on Sunday after reports of a number of people having been stabbed in East Street, Walworth. Continue reading...

Exclusive: inspectors raise alarm about mayor Lutfur Rahman, who previously served a five-year ban from officeMinisters are to intervene in the management of Tower Hamlets after inspectors raised the alarm about the leadership of the east London authority's controversial mayor, Lutfur Rahman.Sources have told the Guardian the government has decided to appoint an envoy to monitor management decisions at the council, which has been dogged by a series of controversies about public spending and senior-level appointments. Continue reading...

Urfan Sharif allegedly reported to police for controlling behaviour by three unconnected' women before his daughter's deathThe father of Sara Sharif was accused of abusing three girlfriends before his daughter's death, a court has heard.Urfan Sharif, 42, was allegedly reported to the police by three separate, unconnected women" who each accused him of holding them against their will and controlling behaviour. Continue reading...

Former England striker will relinquish role at the end of the 2024-25 season, but will stay at BBC until 2026Gary Lineker is to step down as the presenter of Match of the Day at the end of the season.He is believed to have signed an 18-month contract with the BBC that will cover the next Fifa World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico, but will step back from the broadcaster's football highlights programme at the end of the 2024/25 season. BBC News said that an announcement would be made on Tuesday, after the Sun first reported the story. Continue reading...

Allegations against Karim Khan to be examined by outside body to ensure fully independent, impartial and fair process'The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court will face an external investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, the court's governing body has said.In a statement, the president of the body that oversees the ICC said the inquiry would examine the allegations against Karim Khan, which related to his alleged conduct towards a woman who worked for him. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Target is 81% emissions cut compared with 1990, but activists say it must be backed by plan of actionKeir Starmer will announce a stringent new climate goal for the UK on Tuesday, the Guardian can reveal, with a target in line with the advice given to the government by its scientists and independent advisers.The UK will pledge to cut emissions by 81% compared with 1990 levels by 2035, a target in line with the recommendations of the Climate Change Committee. Continue reading...

Far-right government angrily condemns ruling that seven men detained in Albania must be transferred to ItalyItalian judges have ordered seven men detained in a migration hub in Albania to be transferred to Italy, in another blow to a controversial deal between the far-right Rome government and Tirana aimed at curbing the arrival of asylum seekers.The men arrived at the Albanian port of Shengjin aboard a military vessel on Saturday after being rescued in international waters while trying to make their way to Europe. Continue reading...

This live blog is closedHere are some of the main points from Jonathan Reynolds's evidence to the Post Office inquiry so far this morning.Reynolds said he accepted as business secretary he was responsible for ensuring the compensation scheme operated properly. He said in the past there had been insufficient accountability".He said that since the general election there has been a significant increase" in the pace at which compensation is being paid. The journalist Nick Wallis (who wrote a superb book, The Great Post Office Scandal) is live tweeting from the inquiry, and he quotes Reynolds as saying:Since the general election there has been a significant increase in the pace at which compensation has been paid. The overall quantum of compensation is up in the last four months by roughly a third and the number of claims to which there has been an initial... offer being made in response to that claim has roughly doubled in the last four months [to] what it has been in the four months preceding the general election.Home Office officials do not believe Labour's plan to smash the gangs" will work as a way of bringing down illegal migration to the UK, i can reveal.They say that civil servants in the department have been underwhelmed" by the approach that was being outlined again this week by Sir Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Continue reading...

Ex-chief medical officer says it is possible she may not have made a public warning over risksThe former chief medical officer for England claimed she had a strong recollection" of advising the public not to pick up objects they found near the scene of the novichok attack on the Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal, despite there being no record of her making such a statement.Dame Sally Davies, who was speaking at the inquiry into the Salisbury poisonings in Wiltshire, said she had a recurrent nightmare that a child would find a discarded container of the nerve agent. Continue reading...

Helen-Ann Hartley says archbishop's position is untenable as members of Church of England's ruling body launch petitionA Church of England bishop has added her voice to growing calls for the archbishop of Canterbury to resign over his failure to pursue a sadistic abuser of children when allegations were brought to his attention.Helen-Ann Hartley, the bishop of Newcastle, said Justin Welby's position was untenable and he should quit. A line needed to be drawn, she added. Continue reading...

Confirmation follows progress at talks over government support for switch to less polluting technologyThe owners of British Steel are to keep the blast furnaces at its Scunthorpe site running past Christmas amid talks over government support for a switch to less polluting technology.The government is thought to be considering aid for British Steel at the same level or even higher than the 500m pledged to Tata Steel, which closed its two blast furnaces in Port Talbot in September. However, no decisions on the shape of a package have been made. Continue reading...

This live blog is closed.Lebanon's National News Agency reports Israeli planes carried out airstrikes again overnight on locations in the south of the country. There are, as yet, no reports of any casualties.Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from the Kerem Shalom crossing between Gaza and Israel. Continue reading...

US government wrote to Israel a month ago threatening sanctions if there was no increase in humanitarian supplies

The Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley returns to Worcester in good condition' after being checked out in 1973A book published in 1899 which was 51 years overdue has finally been returned to a public library in Massachusetts.The book, titled The Early Work of Aubrey Beardsley, was returned to the Worcester public library earlier in November. It had been checked out in 1973, with a due date of 22 May 1973, making its return just more than five decades late. Continue reading...

Sophie Lloyd was expelled in 1991 for deliberate deception' after being admitted while pretending to be a manThe council meeting of the Magic Circle on 9 October 1991 was a historic occasion, marking the moment when the first cohort of women, including Debbie McGee and Fay Presto, were admitted to its previously male-only ranks of magicians.But the meeting was also memorable for another, lesser known, reason. The council voted to expel a member named Raymond Lloyd, who was in fact a woman named Sophie Lloyd, who had been masquerading as a male" in order to gain access to the society. Continue reading...

French president offers fraternity and solidarity' as Israel discourages wearing of Jewish symbols' abroadEmmanuel Macron will attend the France-Israel football match at the Stade de France on Thursday in a gesture of fraternity and solidarity" after attacks on Jewish fans in Amsterdam last week.Thousands of extra police will be on duty for the game taking place against a backdrop of high tension caused by the conflict in Gaza. Continue reading...

After underwhelming box office for seventh movie in Tom Cruise series, $400m-budgeted next chapter might be lastThe trailer for the eighth Mission: Impossible film has been released with a new title that suggests it might be Tom Cruise's final mission.Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, which is set to be released next summer, was originally intended to be the second chapter of 2023's Dead Reckoning, with a title of Dead Reckoning Part Two. Continue reading...