World news | The Guardian

Thousands had marched for five days to demand action by the Israeli prime minister to bring home the 240 people captured by Hamas

Two others injured in Pwllheli attack, involving dog that was destroyed and whose breed not yet establishedTwo people have been airlifted to hospital with serious injuries after a dog attack in Pwllheli, north Wales.Officers attended an address in the Rhoshirwaun area just before 11.30am on Friday, and two other people suffered minor injuries, North Wales police said. Continue reading...

Former Labour leader argues Hamas and Israel both guilty of targeting civilians, after he avoided term in TV interviewJeremy Corbyn has described Hamas as a terrorist group" in a magazine article after repeatedly refusing to use the term in a television interview earlier this week.The former Labour leader has written an article accusing the Israeli army of being guilty of acts of terror too", arguing that the comparison was necessary because Israel had killed thousands of children in strikes on Gaza in retaliation for Hamas's attacks. Continue reading...

Protesters march through Camden and gather outside Labour leader's office amid anger over failure to call for ceasefire

Authorities say it could be months before people evacuated from town of Grindavik can go home even if danger subsidesPeople in south-west Iceland remain on edge as they wait to see whether a volcano rumbling under the Reykjanes peninsula will erupt.Civil protection authorities said that even if it does not, it is likely to be months before residents evacuated from the danger zone can safely return home. Continue reading...

Ukrainian police say workers were at scene of attacks on village near frontline when Russia launched another strikeTwo first responders have been killed by rocket attacks in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine.Ukrainian police said Russia fired a series of rockets at the village of Komyshuvakha, close to the frontline in Zaporizhzhia, which Russia annexed last year. Continue reading...

About 170,000 people demonstrate in capital over socialist party leader's deal enabling second term in officeAt least 170,000 people gathered in central Madrid for another large protest against the controversial Catalan amnesty law that has allowed Spain's socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, to secure a second term in office.Sanchez was sworn in on Friday after winning an investiture vote the previous day that came almost four months after July's inconclusive snap general election. Although the conservative People's party (PP) narrowly beat Sanchez's Spanish Socialist Workers party (PSOE) in the election, it was unable to secure the parliamentary support to form a government even with the backing of the far-right Vox party and other smaller groupings. Continue reading...

Drug firm Novo Nordisk proposed singling out those most likely to return to work with its weight-loss injectionObesity jab maker Novo Nordisk suggested to senior government officials that they could profile" benefit claimants so that those most likely to return to work could be targeted with its weight-loss injections.Internal documents obtained by the Observer reveal that Pinder Sahota, corporate vice-president of Novo Nordisk UK, told the then health secretary Steve Barclay, England's chief medical officer and Treasury officials that data from the Department for Work and Pensions [DWP] could help profile those who are most likely to return to the labour market". Continue reading...

Foreign Office says it is supporting families after 32 Wales football fans arrested in YerevanMore than 30 Wales football fans have been arrested in Armenia before Saturday's European Championship qualifier in Yerevan.The Football Association of Wales (FAW) confirmed that 32 supporters had been arrested in the Armenian capital and that the Foreign Office was involved. Continue reading...

Group of state voters tried to disqualify ex-president from 2024 election for his conduct leading up to January 6 Capitol attackA Colorado judge on Friday allowed Donald Trump to remain on the ballot in the state's election next year, but found that he engaged in insurrection" by sparking the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.The ruling from Judge Sarah Wallace, which is almost certain to be appealed, rejects a bid by a group of Colorado voters to disqualify Trump under a rarely used amendment to the US constitution that bars officials who have engaged in insurrection" from holding federal office. Continue reading...

Authorities say cracking sound caused panic' at site in Uttarakhand where 41 men remain trappedIndian rescuers have paused efforts to reach 41 men trapped in a collapsed road tunnel after a cracking sound created a panic situation" over the possibility of a further cave-in.Excavators have been removing debris from the tunnel in the northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand since Sunday after a section that the workers had been building collapsed. Continue reading...

A new exhibition in Oxford charts the different ways the great Medieval poet has been interpreted by readers down the centuriesHusbands and fathers are never humiliated in these copies of The Canterbury Tales and treachery never triumphs. No one ever has sex in a tree or accidentally kisses someone else's hairy bottom - and anyone who expects to read about adultery and farting at friars will be offered moral tales celebrating martyrdom and marital obedience instead.Children in the 19th century were routinely presented with sanitised Victorian versions of Geoffrey Chaucer's medieval masterpiece, and copies of these are now to go on public display for the first time at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Continue reading...

Chancellor rumoured to be considering 2bn of cuts to benefits while reducing inheritance taxJeremy Hunt has said he faces difficult decisions" before the autumn statement, as he is considering reducing benefits while cutting inheritance tax.The chancellor is thought to be considering 2bn of cuts to benefits, including stopping people who are unemployed but not actively looking for work from claiming free prescriptions and discounted bus travel. Continue reading...

Campaigners criticise loss of open space as Wandsworth prepares to decide on plan for 10-storey show courtForget the tennis. A much bigger match will take place in Wimbledon next week as the All England Lawn Tennis Club takes on another local council over its plan to build an 8,000-seat stadium on a Grade II*-listed park.The AELTC will on Tuesday night attempt to convince Wandsworth's planning committee to vote through its proposal to build the 10-storey show court and 38 other grass courts on Wimbledon Park. Campaigners have described the proposals as an industrial tennis complex". Continue reading...

The Care Quality Commission also evaluated 68% of hospitals in London as inadequate' or requires improvement'More than half of all hospitals in England and over two-thirds of those in London offer substandard care, an Observer investigation has found.In one hospital emergency department, inspectors reported patients being treated in corridors and deadly diseases such as sepsis and cancer not being diagnosed. Continue reading...

The chances of the UK striking key deals with Brussels are looking up, with many seeing the new foreign secretary David Cameron as the latest step in a rapprochementIn her final key pre-Brexit speech in 2019, Ursula von der Leyen declared she would always be a remainer", insisting that Europe's bond of friendship" with the UK would remain unbreakable.In her hour-long state of the union" address this year, the EU's most senior executive official did not mention the UK once, despite common interests in Ukraine, the climate crisis, energy and China. Continue reading...

Ayman Safadi says credibility of international law at stake as he clashes with senior US official over terms for humanitarian pause

Man, 37, had attempted to kill himself at Brook House removal centre and died in hospital on FridayThree investigations have been launched after the death of a 37-year-old Albanian immigration detainee, the Home Office has said.The man, who died on Friday, had attempted to kill himself just over a week ago in Brook House immigration removal centre near Gatwick airport and was subsequently taken to East Surrey hospital, where he was cared for in the intensive care unit. Continue reading...

Opposition and unions call on Grant Shapps to take action after 60 senior women report widespread abuseLabour and civil service unions have called on the defence secretary, Grant Shapps, to launch an urgent investigation after 60 senior female staff at the Ministry of Defence reported a widespread culture of sexual assault, harassment and abuse by male colleagues.The opposition party called on Shapps to take action to root out this behaviour from top to bottom", while the heads of the FDA and PCS trade unions called for a meeting with the department's permanent secretary, David Williams. Continue reading...

Groups behind ceasefire protests attended by hundreds of thousands say local action will replace London march this week

British Transport Police survey respondents said most incidents took place during evening rush hourOver a third of women have been subjected to sexual harassment or sexual offences while commuting by train or tube, according to a survey commissioned by British Transport Police (BTP).It found that 51% of those who have been victims of sexual offending said that other passengers tried to help them, however, only 18% of people who witnessed an incident reported it to police. Continue reading...

Top-scoring supermarket fizz costs less than half of the price of its prestigious competitorMoney might be tight this Christmas but there is good news for champagne lovers after much cheaper supermarket own brands fared better than the prestigious French label Veuve Clicquot in a quaff test.The Co-op's Les Pionniers champagne received the top score of 85% in a blind taste test conducted by Which? with the 22.75-a-bottle bubbly wowing the panel with its smoky notes" and smooth creaminess". Continue reading...

NS&I, Shawbrook and Tandem among providers to make reductions amid flurry of such movesSavers have been urged to act quickly if they want to get the best returns on their money after a flurry of interest rate cuts on top-paying accounts.This week NS&I reduced the rate it offers on its three-year green bonds from 5.7% to 3.95%, while Shawbrook, Tandem and Ford Money were among other providers making cuts. Continue reading...

Harmful habits are worsening public health, says report, as groups urge crackdown on irresponsible' industriesFirms are earning 52.7bn a year from UK sales of tobacco, junk food and excessive alcohol, and their consumption is contributing to Britain's rising tide of illness, a report says.The figures prompted a coalition of health, medical and children's organisations to demand an urgent crackdown on the irresponsible behaviour of health-harming industries".NHS hospitals admit 2.5 million patients a year for treatment of diseases directly linked to being overweight (1.02 million), drinking (980,000) or smoking (506,000).About 459,000 people cannot work because they are too ill to do so as a result of their smoking (289,000), alcohol consumption (99,000) or being morbidly obese, with a body mass index over 40 (70,000).People who smoke or drink at harmful levels are more likely to be jobless and earn less than those who do not - a wage penalty" for their unhealthy lifestyles.That wage penalty, together with unemployment and lost productivity due to smoking, drinking and obesity, costs the UK 31bn a year. Continue reading...

US gathering of Pacific Rim leaders most notable for meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping, seen as a sign of easing China-US relationsPacific Rim leaders have shown divisions over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza after a two-day summit of the Apec forum, while pledging support for reform of the World Trade Organization.The 21 economies that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum - among them Russia, China, the US and Australia - did not mention either conflict in their final joint communique. Instead an accompanying chair's statement noted the bloc had exchanged views on the ongoing crisis in Gaza". Continue reading...

Daniel Hagari's comments come amid mounting concerns about Israeli plans to expand military operations where people have sought refuge from fighting

Meloni's party is pleased by the appointment but Pietrangelo Buttafuoco has surprised before - not least by adopting IslamWhen Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the incoming new president of the Venice Biennale, was once asked in an interview whether he was a fascist, the Italian rightwing journalist and public intellectual replied: I am not a fascist. I am something else."After Buttafuoco was this week officially nominated to lead the oldest and largest cultural exhibition in the world, it is not just the artists, actors, architects, film-makers, dancers and musicians whose work will be shown at the coming biennales' six events who are asking themselves what exactly that something else" may be. Continue reading...

Local authorities fear service cuts or even bankruptcy as costs jump from 400m to 700m in five yearsSoaring costs of school transport for children with special educational needs is causing councils in England to warn of service cuts and potential insolvency, according to local authority leaders.The County Council Network (CCN), which represents mainly rural local authorities in England, says its 37 members are spending more than 700m a year on school transport for 85,000 children with special education needs and disabilities (Send), compared with less than 400m five years ago. Continue reading...

Settlement to their mutual satisfaction' announced in a statement released on Friday evening without details being disclosedSean Diddy" Combs and singer Cassie said on Friday that they have settled a lawsuit containing allegations of beatings and abuse by the music producer.Combs, a hip-hop icon and the founder of Bad Boy Records, was accused of rape and abuse in a major lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, that alleges he used his powerful network to keep her trapped in a violent relationship with him. Continue reading...

Shopping mall ceiling collapse among reported damage after earthquake of 6.7 magnitude hits Mindanao regionThe death toll from a strong earthquake off the southern Philippines rose to five on Saturday as authorities reported more casualties across two provinces.The 6.7-magnitude quake that struck the Mindanao region mid-afternoon on Friday caused part of a shopping mall ceiling to collapse, triggered power cuts and sent people fleeing into the streets. Continue reading...

Two parties, KMT and TPP, are trying to decide which should field candidate for president and which for vice-presidentA potential joint ticket for Taiwan's presidency by the two main opposition parties was in disarray after the smaller of the two said no consensus had been reached on how to use opinion polls to make that decision.After weeks of sometimes acrimonious talks on joining up for the presidential election, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the much smaller Taiwan People's party (TPP) agreed on Wednesday to look at an aggregate of opinion polls to decide which party's candidate would run as president and which as vice-president. Continue reading...

Labor says significant number' of released detainees were convicted of serious criminal offences as experts express concern over rushed bill

Charlie Stevens suffers irreversible brain injury while on schoolies trip, with police alleging car's 18-year-old driver failed to stop

Acting prime minister criticises Chinese ship's unsafe and unprofessional conduct' after Australian sailors had requested it stay clear

Exclusive: New foreign secretary to say UK has moral mission' to help world's poor in white paperDavid Cameron is marking his return to frontline politics by saying he wants to unlock billions of dollars for foreign aid over the next decade, as part of a moral mission" to help the world's poorest people.In a remarkable change of tone for a government that closed the Department for International Development and slashed the foreign aid budget, the former prime minister is to say he wants to push for the restoration of aid's status in British foreign policy. Continue reading...

Victim-survivor shocked by education department's admission it moved accused paedophile teachers to other state schools

Unlike governments interstate, Jacinta Allan was uncharacteristically subdued about Canberra's funding review

An elegant Rat Pack theme and constant clatter of shaking ice cubes proves a winning combination for Maybe Sammy

Party leader's comment prompted by predecessor refusing to say if Hamas are terrorists on Piers Morgan TV showKeir Starmer has said Jeremy Corbyn's days as a Labour MP are over" after the former party leader repeatedly refused to call Hamas a terrorist organisation.Starmer said his predecessor, who lost the party whip in 2020, would not stand as a Labour MP at the next election or any election". Continue reading...

Police search for suspect after shooting outside Islamic Center of Rhode Island in Providence, state's capital cityA man reportedly selling Muslim goods outside a mosque in Rhode Island's capital city was shot and wounded late on Friday morning, the local police chief said, prompting authorities to increase patrols in the area as they look for a suspect and a motive in the attack.The shooting at the Islamic Center of Rhode Island in Providence occurred amid reported increases in Islamophobia and antisemitism across the US after war between Israel and Hamas erupted last month. But police would not immediately discuss whether they were focusing on any specific, possible reasons for the shooting. Continue reading...

MP Brandon Lewis will be paid 250,000 a year by LetterOne, investment group 49% owned by two oligarchsThe former Conservative party chair, Brandon Lewis, will be paid 250,000 a year to advise a company part-owned by two Russian oligarchs with sanctions placed against them.The job at LetterOne, an investment group 49% owned by Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven, is Lewis's fifth on top of his role as an MP, and his total earnings will come to almost 500,000 a year. Continue reading...

Dale Houghton taunted Sunderland fans with picture on his phone of young supporter who died in 2017A football supporter who mocked Sunderland fans with a photograph of mascot Bradley Lowery, who died from cancer aged six, has been given a suspended sentence as the judge described his actions as utterly appalling" and disgraceful".Dale Houghton, 32, taunted Sunderland fans with a picture of Lowery on his phone during a match against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough Stadium in September. Continue reading...

Education secretary wants children's absence from lessons treated with utmost seriousness'

Sofia Tereshchenko, Anastasiia Feskova, and Anastasiia Demchenko awarded 2023 International Children's Peace prizeThree Ukrainian teenagers who developed apps for children who have fled war have been awarded this year's International Children's Peace prize at a ceremony in London.Sofia Tereshchenko, 18, Anastasiia Feskova, 17, and Anastasiia Demchenko, 17, were awarded the prize for developing a pair of apps for refugee children. Continue reading...

Labour condemns vile abuse' against MPs and staff after criticism of party's stance on Israel-Hamas war Israel-Hamas war - live updatesLabour MPs have voiced concern about their safety and condemned the vile abuse" against them and their staff as pro-Palestine protesters targeted their offices after criticism of the party's stance on the Israel-Hamas war.More than 100 pro-Palestine events are due to take place across the UK this weekend, but there will be no large-scale national march in London. Continue reading...

Military says troops have conducted a series of operations having established positions on left bank

Births to older mothers have increased in recent years as average ages for childbirth and IVF treatment also riseIt is an age when many are starting to enjoy the freedom of having older children - or their childfree choices - and using their spare time to get back to the gym, go on date nights and worry about their pensions. But, according to the Office for National Statistics, a growing number of women and their partners are choosing to enter the fray of newborn parenting in midlife.According to Guardian analysis of the figures, there was a 15% rise in the number of women giving birth in England after hitting 50 between 2016- 2018 and 2019-2021. The figures reveal that in the 2019-2021 period seven women over the age of 60 gave birth - with two of them over the age of 65. Continue reading...

Prime minister says he will do whatever it takes' as senior Tory criticises former home secretary's hardline proposalsDowning Street has not ruled out asking MPs to spend some of what is meant to be their Christmas break dealing with the PM's emergency legislation" on Rwanda.This is one proposal made by Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, in her Telegraph article this morning. (See 10.01am.)I think we are prepared to do whatever is necessary to ensure that we can get this in place and get flights off the ground.I wouldn't speculate on parliamentary process but I cannot impress [enough] the importance that the prime minister places on this necessary legislation to deliver for the public on the important priority of stopping the boats.Sunak suggested he would blame Labour if the Lords refuses to pass his emergency legislation" on Rwanda (see 11.40am) quickly. Asked if he would call an early election if the Lords block the law, he replied:It doesn't have to take a long time to get legislation through - and that is a question for the Labour party.We're determined to get this through as quickly as possible. So the real question is: is the Labour party going to stand in the way and stop this from happening, or are they going to work with us and support this bill so we can get it through as quickly as possible?Sunak declined to say whether favoured holding an early election on the issue of Rwanda deportations if his bill got held up. Earlier today Sir Simon Clarke suggested this. (See 10.56am.) But, for obvious reasons, the prospect might not appeal.Sunak claimed he was making real progress" on stopping small boats. He said:I think people just want the problem fixed. That's what I'm here to do, and this year, we've already got the numbers down by a third.That's because I've got new deals with the French, a new deal with Albania. We're working with Turkey and Bulgaria, multiple other countries. We're tackling the criminal gangs, we're cutting through the backlog.Sunak said he would take on" people trying to stop Rwanda flights taking over, whether it was Labour or the House of Lords. He said:We can pass these laws in parliament that will give us the powers and the tools we need. Then we can get the flights off and whether it's the House of Lords or the Labour party standing in our way I will take them on because I want to get this thing done and I want to stop the boats.He said his patience was wearing thin" with this issue. He said:People are sick of this merry-go-round. I want to end it - my patience is wearing thin like everyone else's. Continue reading...

FCA censures former FTSE 100 company but stops short of a fine as no funds are expected to be leftThe financial watchdog has found that collapsed hospital operator NMC Health committed market abuse by understating its debts by as much as $4bn (3.2bn).The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) censured the former FTSE 100 company on Friday for misleading the market but stopped short of fining it as no funds are expected to be left at the business once outstanding debts to creditors are paid out. Continue reading...

The acclaimed author of novels including Possession and The Children's Book, has died, her publisher has confirmedThe writer and critic AS Byatt, who explored family, myth and narrative in a career spanning six decades, has died aged 87. Her publisher Chatto & Windus confirmed that she died peacefully at home surrounded by close family.Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, who wrote under the name AS Byatt, authored complex and critically acclaimed novels, including the Booker prize-winning Possession and her examination of artistic creation, The Children's Book. Over her career, she won a swathe of literary awards, from the Booker to a Chevalier of France's Order of Arts and Letters. Continue reading...