World news | The Guardian

Electronics retailer says national insurance increase will add costs and depress investment and hiringCurrys said price rises were inevitable" as it told shareholders that it expected to face 32m in extra costs due to policies from the budget.The electronics retailer, which runs 715 stores, revealed that group revenues increased by 1% to 3.92bn for the half-year to 26 October, compared with the same period a year earlier. Continue reading...

Singer-songwriter follows Paul McCartney and others in speaking out as ministers consider opt-out systemKate Bush has called on ministers to protect artists from AI using their copyrighted works amid growing concerns from high-profile creatives and ongoing political uncertainty over how to handle the issue.The reclusive singer-songwriter has joined the actors Julianne Moore, Kevin Bacon, Rosario Dawson, Stephen Fry and Hugh Bonneville in signing a petition, now backed by over 36,000 creatives, which states the unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted". Continue reading...

Concerns also raised over allegations about labour practices at fast-fashion retailer's suppliers Continue reading...

Press freedom NGO describes Israeli killing of reporters working in Gaza as an unprecedented bloodbath'

Premier David Crisafulli's controversial adult crime, adult time' regime becomes law despite widespread criticism from human rights advocates

Ofgem aims to provide choice as Martin Lewis describes daily fees as a poll tax' on gas and electricity billsEnergy suppliers will have to offer customers a zero" standing charge tariff by next winter to address criticism of the daily fees described by the consumer champion Martin Lewis as a poll tax" on gas and electricity bills.Ofgem, the energy regulator for Great Britain, said the zero standing charge option will be offered by suppliers under its quarterly price cap, alongside existing tariffs, as part of an industry shake-up. Continue reading...

US voices concern over continuing offensive by Turkish-backed rebel groups against Kurdish groups guarding prisons and campsShamima Begum and the other 65 Islamic State-linked Britons detained in prisons and camps in north-east Syria face an uncertain future as Turkish-backed rebel groups continue an offensive against the Kurdish groups who guard them.While the Assad regime has collapsed after the fall of Damascus, Turkey has sought to exploit the instability across Syria by attacking Kurdish forces who have been aligned with the US and UK in the fight against IS for a decade. Continue reading...

Energy industry group calls for policy push on faster renewables rollout as ACTU energy adviser says Coalition's proposal won't create a single job'

Country also votes with vast majority of nations to demand Israel reverse its ban on Palestinian aid agency Unrwa

Kaja Kallas, the EU's new high representative for foreign affairs, said Kyiv had a legitimate claim for compensationBillions of Russian state funds frozen in the European Union should be used to aid Ukraine, the EU's top diplomat has said.Kaja Kallas, the EU's high representative for foreign affairs and security, told the Guardian and four other European newspapers that Ukraine had a legitimate claim for compensation and that Russian assets held in the EU were a tool to pressure Russia". Continue reading...

Ad Standards received 4,000 complaints amid year-on-year rises, but only two of the 10 most controversial ads found to have breached rules

Court finds Victorian Liberal leader defamed then party-room colleague when referring to rally gatecrashed by far right

Yoon Suk Yeol disputes insurrection charges and calls martial law decreee an act of governance' amid reports of a second attempt by police to raid his officeSouth Korea's president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has vowed to fight until the end" attempts to remove him from office after his short-lived imposition of martial law, as police reportedly again attempted to raid his office as they investigate him over allegations of insurrection.In a defiant and lengthy TV address on Thursday, Yoon defended his shock decision last week to impose martial law - a move designed to suspend political activities and press and civic freedoms - describing it as a legitimate act of governance" and denied attempting to foment insurrection. Continue reading...

Experts from Imperial College London cite alarming declines' in 12 key metrics of patient safetyThe NHS is forced to spend a staggering" 14.7bn a year treating people who have been harmed by mistakes made during their care, a report reveals.And a stark north/south divide on patient safety has opened up across England, with double the amount of death and disability caused by medical negligence in the north-east than in London. Continue reading...

Documentary about amateur theatre group's take on classic horror film made available to wider audienceFor anyone who is weary of the usual feelgood festive films - Love Actually, Elf, Miracle on 34th Street and so on - a more offbeat offering involving a bunch of bus drivers and a joyfully amateur retelling of the space horror Alien may just appeal.The documentary Alien on Stage tells the unlikely story of how the bus drivers, plus friends and relatives, decided that rather than put on their usual pantomime they would have a bash at Ridley Scott's classic - and how, despite shaky sets, dodgy special effects and uneven acting (to put it kindly), they ended up in London's theatreland. Continue reading...

Albanese government unveils charge to incentivise digital platforms to pay publishers

Europe-wide polling finds UK and EU leaders now out of step with public opinion and pursue ambitious reset'A majority of Britons who voted to leave the EU would now accept a return to free movement in exchange for access to the single market, according to a cross-Europe study that also found a reciprocal desire in member states for closer links with the UK.Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump's election as US president had fundamentally changed the context" of EU-UK relations, the report by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) thinktank said. Continue reading...

Judge finds Himalee Arunatilaka's treatment of worker from 2015 to 2018 egregious and exploitative' after diplomat fails to engage court process

Lachlan Gardner ordered to serve 24-month community corrections order after pleading guilty to three charges

ABS reveals robust labour market as jobless rate drops from 4.1% to 3.9%, its lowest since March

A blanket suppression order has been lifted but accused's identity remains secret

Researchers say Chinese students feel they are treated as revenue sources rather community membersUniversities in the UK are being urged to provide better support for students from China to improve integration on campuses amid concerns about ethnic clustering".Chinese students make up a quarter of all international students and the 2.3bn fees they pay every year play a vital role in propping up the UK's cash-strapped higher education sector. Continue reading...

Binding targets will compel authorities to build 370,000 homes a year with government to say how many per areaEngland's housing crisis cannot be solved without forcing councils to build more homes, the government has said, as ministers confirm binding targets that will compel authorities to build 370,000 homes a year.Keir Starmer said his government owes it to working families to take urgent action", as he and the housing secretary, Angela Rayner, announce how much each area must build over the next parliament. Continue reading...

PCS union says its members, which include 999 call handlers, overwhelmingly' backed industrial actionMetropolitan police staff have voted to go on strike in a row over plans to cut back on the time they can work from home.The Public and Commercial Services union said there was overwhelming support for the action". It would be the first time Scotland Yard employees, which is believed could include 999 call handlers and child protection officers, have ever voted for a walkout. Continue reading...

More than one in three cases of disease and injury this year could have been avoided, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare finds

Almost universal support suggests interest in Hayat Tahrir al-Sham's mix of national and religious ideologiesIslamist organisations and militants around the world have congratulated Syrian rebels on their victory over the regime of Bashar al-Assad, ignoring historic ideological differences, sectarian divides and continuing uncertainty around how rigorously the new rulers in Damascus will impose religious strictures and norms.The almost universal support for the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the dominant faction among Syrian rebels, suggests the group's fusion of national and religious ideologies will act as a further example for other Islamists. Some senior Islamist activists are already discussing in private the model" pioneered by the Sunni rebel group. Continue reading...

France joins calls for Israeli withdrawal, arguing it is in violation of the 1974 disengagement dealIran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that the US and Israel were behind the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, and also appeared to point a finger of blame in the direction of Turkey.In comments reported by Iran's Tasnim news agency, Khamenei is quoted as saying:There should be no doubt that what happened in Syria is the product of a joint American and Zionist plan.Yes, a neighboring government of Syria plays, has played, and is playing an obvious role in this regard - everyone sees this - but the main conspirator, mastermind, and command centre are in America and the Zionist regime. Continue reading...

Met continues to investigate Brown's claims of misbehaviour within Murdoch group where fake security threat' was used to justify' deletion of emailsGordon Brown has said there is no hiding place" for senior executives at News Group Newspapers, as Scotland Yard continues to investigate claims the former prime minister was falsely" implicated along with the Labour peer Tom Watson in a fake security threat" to justify" the deletion of millions of emails.Brown said on Wednesday: The Metropolitan police have confirmed their investigations into my allegations of misbehaviour within the Murdoch group are ongoing and will run into 2025." Continue reading...

MoD launches 75m scheme to recognise moral stain' of armed forces' historic ban on homosexualityThousands of British military personnel who were dismissed from service because of their homosexuality will be able to apply for payments worth up to 70,000 each from today, to recognise the distress caused by a ban that applied between 1967 and 2000.Labour ministers have approved the creation of a 75m compensation scheme, nearly a quarter of a century after the ending of a policy that led to some soldiers being jailed, while others were stripped of their medals and lost their pension rights. Continue reading...

Anthony James, a former GP, suspended from role at Bedfordshire hospitals trust after allegations by newspaper's workersThe PinkNews director Anthony James has been suspended from work in the NHS after more than 30 current and former workers at the online newspaper made allegations of inappropriate behaviour.Bedfordshire hospitals NHS foundation trust said on Wednesday that it had decided to suspend James from his role as associate non-executive director pending further information. Continue reading...

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani says HTS group will ask countries to hand over Assad regime officials who flee

Oscar-nominated star of Elvis will take on lead role in Challengers director's take on Bret Easton Ellis's novelAustin Butler is set to play Patrick Bateman in director Luca Guadagnino's new take on Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho.According to Variety, the Oscar-nominated star of Elvis will take the lead after rumours suggested Euphoria's Jacob Elordi would be starring. Continue reading...

Four men given almost 75 years each for attempted murder of Aurora Intxausti, Juan Palomo and infant son in 2000Four former members of the Basque terrorist group Eta have been jailed for almost 75 years each for attempting to murder two journalists and their toddler son by stuffing a plant pot outside the family's home with explosives and shrapnel.Aurora Intxausti, a journalist for El Pais, her husband, Juan Palomo, a reporter for Antena 3 TV, and 18-month-old son, Inigo, were targeted as part of Eta's socialisation of suffering" terror campaign, which sought to inflict the maximum possible pain across Basque society in order to achieve independence from Spain. Continue reading...

He must have been protecting his wife, brother insisted after Urfan Sharif said 10-year-old's death was all my fault'Urfan Sharif's family refused to believe he killed his daughter, Sara, even after he told jurors: I want to admit that it's all my fault."His brother Imran Sharif told the Guardian at the time from the family's eight-bedroom home in Pakistan's northern city of Jhelum: Urfan's admission has left us devastated and heartbroken. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Sources say there is belief that service has become too big after growing during Brexit and pandemic yearsMinisters are planning to cut more than 10,000 civil service jobs as Whitehall departments battle to stay within spending limits under a new government efficiency drive, the Guardian has learned.Multiple sources said there was an acceptance that the civil service had become too big and unwieldy after expanding owing to the demands of Brexit and the Covid pandemic. Continue reading...

Sefa O one of seven men charged with public violence in chaos that followed Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv matchProsecutors have called for a man suspected of punching and kicking Israeli football fans in Amsterdam during a night of violence to serve two years in jail.The 22-year-old, identified as Sefa O, was one of five suspects to appear before an Amsterdam court on Wednesday on charges relating to the chaos in the city after a match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv on 7 November. Continue reading...

The health secretary says the emergency ban on the sale and supply of puberty blockers to under-18s will be made indefiniteThere will be two government statements in the Commons after PMQs.At 12.30pm Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, will make one on international collaboration on border security (following the deal with Germany announced yesterday). And after that Wes Streeting, the health secretary, will deliver a statement headlined Puberty Suppressing Hormones: Next Steps". When Streeting took office, he he extended a temporary ban on puberty blockers originally introduced by the Tories following the Cass report.The Department of Health and Social Care, the Cabinet Office and the Department for Education have all recommended 2.8% pay rises for staff in 2025-26.The proposals yesterday came after chancellor Rachel Reeves called for every government department to cut costs by 5%, as she started work on a sweeping multi-year spending review to be published in 2025. Continue reading...

Ray Eveleigh says playing helps keep his brain active and wife and daughter encouraged him to go for grade 8By the age of 88, most of us imagine our exam days are long over. But for Ray Eveleigh, the challenge of taking grade 8 piano was too much to forgo and he passed with a distinction, 67 years after he taking grade 7.Eveleigh, a retired reverend who lives in the East Yorkshire village of Kilham, near Bridlington, said he had been blown away by the interest after his story was featured on his local BBC radio station, television and in his local paper. Continue reading...

The leftist leader complained of a headache before an MRI showed he was suffering from an intracranial hemorrhageBrazil's president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is alert and has progressed well" since undergoing intracranial surgery for bleeding that put pressure on his brain, the hospital treating him said on Wednesday.Lula, 79, remains under observation in intensive care in the Hospital Sirio-Libanes in Sao Paulo after the emergency operation carried out on Tuesday. His doctors have said he should be released next week. Continue reading...

Campaign group calls sentencing of Marcus Fakana, 18, from London, an utter disgrace' and calls for his releaseAn 18-year-old man from London has been sentenced to one year in a Dubai jail for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl, a campaign group has said.Marcus Fakana, of Tottenham, north London, feels abandoned by the British government and Keir Starmer", said Detained in Dubai. Continue reading...

Two lenders can challenge October decision that undisclosed commission paid to car dealers is unlawfulThe supreme court has granted permission for two car lenders to appeal against a landmark ruling on motor finance commission payments that has left firms fearing a potential 30bn compensation bill.The decision gives Close Brothers and the MotoNovo owner FirstRand a chance to overturn a shock ruling by the court of appeal in October which said that paying secret" commission to car dealers - without disclosing the sum and terms of that commission to borrowers - was unlawful. Continue reading...

Warmer weather brought on by climate crisis enables mosquitoes that carry virus to expand their reachDeaths from dengue fever surged across the Caribbean and the Americas in 2024, health officials said, as warmer weather brought on by the climate crisis enables the mosquitoes that carry the virus to expand their reach.More than 7,700 deaths have been reported in the region so far in 2024, compared with 2,467 deaths in 2023 - an increase of more than 200%. Continue reading...

Khamenei says America and Zionists' masterminded collapse of Syrian regime that was backed by Tehran

Rail minister warns MPs about disruption as Avanti West Coast announces strike

Jay Feinman's book that exposes ways insurance companies avoid paying claims hit No 2 on Amazon's nonfiction listThe book criticizing the health insurance industry whose title resembles words etched on to shell casings found at the scene of the murder of the UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week has soared towards the top of the Amazon bestseller list.Delay, Deny, Defend: Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It, is now No 3 on the site's nonfiction bestseller list. On Tuesday, it reached No 2, CNN noted. Continue reading...

Majority of students meeting reading and writing standards but 7% are failing to meet numeracy standards

Access to balanced diet also affected by inflation and Brexit, hitting most vulnerable households hardest

Parties also considering supporting single candidate in re-run of annulled presidential electionRomania's pro-EU parties have committed to forming a coalition government and, in a concerted attempt to head off a resurgent far right, could field a single candidate for the country's annulled presidential election when it is rerun next year.The Social Democratic party (PSD), their current coalition partners the centre-right National Liberal party (PNL), the opposition centrist Save Romania Union (USR) and the ethnic Hungarian party UDMR said they aimed to move fast. Continue reading...

Court of appeal rules Ibrahima Bah cannot challenge conviction and sentence for deaths of four asylum seekersA man convicted of manslaughter after four people died as he steered a boat across the Channel has lost his attempt to challenge his convictions and sentence.Ibrahima Bah was sentenced to nine and a half years in jail after the deaths as he piloted the unseaworthy" inflatable between France and the UK on 14 December 2022. Continue reading...