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Antony Blinken highlighted the horrible loss of life of innocent civilians', in some of the strongest criticism of Israel from the US to dateThe US may block more weapons systems to Israel if it goes ahead with a ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said.The US has already suspended the shipment of 3,500 2,000lb (907kg) and 500lb (227kg) high-payload bombs following concerns over the scale of civilian casualties in Israel's war in the territory. Continue reading...

Former pensions minister says data shows buyers increasingly forced to accept terms that stretch into state pension ageHomebuyers are increasingly being forced to gamble" with their retirement prospects to get on the housing ladder by taking on ultra-long mortgages lasting beyond the end of their working life, it has been claimed.More than a million mortgages that stretch beyond the borrower's state pension age have been arranged in the last three years, figures show. Continue reading...

Colossal' costs of disease include health and social care as well as societal costs such as legal fees and lost economic consumptionDementia could cost the UK almost 91bn a year by 2040, as the number of people affected rises inexorably, a study has found.The colossal" costs of the disease are likely to more than double from an already staggering" 42.5bn today to 90.6bn, according to research undertaken for the Alzheimer's Society. Continue reading...

Club confirms a Leeds United supporter received medical treatment after Championship playoff fixtureTwo men have been arrested after a man was injured outside Norwich City's stadium after the football club's playoff match against Leeds United. Norfolk police have appealed for witnesses after a man in his 60s reported being punched outside Carrow Road shortly after 2pm on Sunday.An object is also believed to have been thrown at the victim, who suffered a cut to his chin, police said. He was treated by paramedics and did not require further medical treatment. Continue reading...

Former Play School presenter joins Bafta fellowship; others to be recognised include Top Boy, which was named best drama series

Socialist party PSC looks like the clear winner in Sunday's vote, although it will fall some way short of achieving a majoritySeparatist parties are in danger of losing their decade-long hold of power in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region, with the pro-union Socialist party poised to win the most votes in Sunday's election, according to a near-complete count of the ballots.The four pro-independence parties, led by the Together party of former regional president Carles Puigdemont, were set to get a total of 61 seats, short of the key figure of 68 seats needed for a majority in the chamber. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Matt Wrack describes ex-Tory's views as disgraceful' after she blamed deaths on striking firefightersKeir Starmer is under fresh pressure over the former Tory MP Natalie Elphicke's defection to Labour after the president of the Trades Union Congress said her vocal support for anti-strike laws should be incompatible" with the party whip.Matt Wrack, who is also the general secretary of the Labour-affiliated Fire Brigades Union, has described the MP for Dover and Deal's views as disgraceful" after she used a parliamentary intervention in March to blame firefighters for the deaths of three people who perished during a national strike. Continue reading...

Economic impact laid bare by findings has implications for UK where about two-thirds of people are overweight or obeseOverweight and obese people are significantly more likely than peers who are a healthy weight to take time off work because they are ill, a European study has found.Someone who is overweight has a 12% higher chance of needing to take sick leave, and those who are obese - with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more - are much more likely to be absent on health grounds. Continue reading...

PM to speak on what he believes is at stake in next election, focusing on wars, migration and technologyBritain is facing some of the most dangerous few years in its history, Rishi Sunak will say on Monday in a speech intended to frame the general election as a generational tussle for the long-term future of the country.The prime minister will give a speech in central London in which he will lay out what he believes to be at stake at the next election, as he warns the UK faces threats from international conflict, migration and technology. Continue reading...

Relatives pay tribute to Anita Mukhey, who was attacked near a bus stop in Edgware on ThursdayA grandmother who was stabbed to death in north London has been remembered for being devoted to her family".Anita Mukhey, 66, a medical secretary in the NHS, was attacked near a bus stop in Edgware on Thursday morning. Continue reading...

Former Tory minister says he made error over tax paid on sales of YouGov shares after previously saying he was being smeared'Nadhim Zahawi has admitted for the first time he paid nearly 5m to the tax authority to settle his tax affairs, despite previous denials about the figure involved and accusations that he was being smeared" by journalists who first revealed the issue.The former chancellor told the BBC on Sunday he had paid HMRC just under 5m after making what he called a careless mistake" with the tax he paid on the sales of shares in YouGov, the polling company he helped found. Continue reading...

The now dissolved Hipgnosis Music received funds that were proceeds of fraud, Merck Mercuriadis alleges in court documentsThe founder of a music company that holds the rights to songs by Blondie and Justin Bieber has accused his former business partner of using the proceeds of fraud to fund their collapsed venture, court documents show.Merck Mercuriadis is the founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund (HSF), a FTSE 250 company that buys music rights in the hope of profiting from streaming revenues, and which is now set to be taken over by private equity investor Blackstone in a 1.3bn deal. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Key defence contractor says UK's capabilities are very limited' as a result of long-term under-investmentBritain's air defence systems are very limited, to the point of being negligible", a key defence contractor has claimed, as the Ministry of Defence warned of the gravest risk of attack from the skies in 30 years.Northrop Grumman UK, a leading provider of defence technology to the RAF and Royal Navy, offered its assessment in response to questioning by a parliamentary committee examining lessons to be learned from the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Tracy Hickman, a British woman who has terminal cancer, will have an assisted death in New Zealand next weekA British woman who will have an assisted death next week in New Zealand where she lives has called on the UK to change its law to give seriously ill people choices about the end of their life.Tracy Hickman, 57, who has terminal cancer, said her message to UK politicians was: Look at what New Zealand has done, and do it even better. There is a lot of focus on the right to life, but people should have the right to a peaceful, gentle death." Continue reading...

Darfur is on the brink of another disaster as fighting intensifies around El Fasher, the last city in the region not controlled by the Rapid Support ForcesAt the Abu Shouk camp for displaced people on the northern fringe of El Fasher in North Darfur, about seven people a day arrive with injuries sustained from nearby clashes between fighters from the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and groups allied to the Sudanese army.For months now the RSF have been besieging El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, trapping a million people in the last major population centre in Sudan's vast Darfur region not under paramilitary control. Continue reading...

Ukrainian commander admits his forces are on the back foot as Russia claims to have taken more villagesUkraine's top military commander admitted on Sunday that the situation in the north-eastern Kharkiv region was difficult" as Russia continued an assault in the area and Moscow claimed to have captured several more villages.Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi denied that the Russians had made a significant breakthrough, but said his forces were on the back foot. [We] are fighting fierce defensive battles. The attempts of the Russian invaders to break through our defences have been stopped," he wrote in a statement on Telegram. Continue reading...

The UK's familiar-sounding entry fared poorly with voters in a contest where the shock of the new often does wellThough it takes place every 12 months, to understand the dynamics of the Eurovision public vote it may be useful to think of the song contest as a kind of school reunion. There's a basic feeling of shared belonging fostered by geographic proximity among the 26-pupil class in the grand final, but it's fair to say most of them haven't thought about each other much for some time. Life got in the way. So when they meet, there's joy in recognising the familiar and discovering the new.Portugal is still the same as when you last raised a glass together. Finland has let itself go a bit. Ireland has definitely changed. And who thought Switzerland, of all places, would triumph like that? Continue reading...

US says parliamentarians must choose between Kremlin-style laws or Euro-Atlantic democratic pathAn estimated 50,000 people marched peacefully in heavy rain in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi on Saturday night after the US said parliamentarians had to choose between Kremlin-style laws or the Euro-Atlantic democratic path they had embarked upon.The march was the latest in a series of public protests against a foreign agents" bill that would require media and commercial organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from outside the country to register as agents of foreign influence". Continue reading...

Kepco has held discussions about developing Wylfa Newydd site on AngleseySouth Korea's state-owned nuclear developer has discussed building a multibillion-pound power plant in Wales with the UK government, it has emerged.Kepco, the largest utility provider in South Korea, has held early-stage discussions with Westminster officials about developing the Wylfa Newydd site on the island of Anglesey (Ynys Mon), the Financial Times reported. Continue reading...

Wife of Rishi Sunak says she finds coverage of her and her husband bizarre at times, mentioning the Adidas Sambas episodeAkshata Murty has admitted she has stopped engaging regularly with the news in an effort not to be consumed" by living at No 10, in a rare solo interview as the next general election approaches.The prime minister's wife told the Times she found the coverage of her and her husband, Rishi Sunak, bizarre at times, highlighting how he recently made front-page news by wearing a pair of Adidas Samba trainers. Continue reading...

The costs of fame in the US are playing out for the singer as specter of return to an old, unhappy chapter of life loomsBritney Spears has known the highs and lows of how the US treats its celebrities, traveling from Mickey Mouse club child actor to teen pop icon, to global superstar - and then more than a decade under legal conservatorship after a mental health crisis before winning freedom, for the first time perhaps, to be herself.But now there are fears of a new chapter in Spears's saga, or the return to an old unhappy one, after she reportedly had a late-night fight with her boyfriend at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles resulting in paramedics being called and pictures of a barefoot pop princess, mostly naked save for a pillow and a blanket, appeared in the tabloids. Continue reading...

Frontbencher says new Labour MP dismissed allegations from Tory former justice secretary that she lobbied him as nonsense'A senior Labour frontbencher has defended his party's newest MP, Natalie Elphicke, after allegations that she lobbied the justice secretary in 2020 regarding the forthcoming trial of her then husband, Charlie, on sexual assault charges.Jonathan Ashworth, a shadow Cabinet Office minister, said on Sunday that Elphicke regarded the allegations from Robert Buckland as nonsense", urging the former justice secretary to give a full public account of the 2020 meeting. Continue reading...

Saturday night's final watched by average of 7.64m as Britain's entry Olly Alexander finished in 18th place

Pupils in girls' schools in England outperform girls with similar records and backgrounds in mixed schools, analysis saysGirls who attend all-girls schools get better exam results than girls with similar records and backgrounds at mixed schools - and outdo boys at all-boys schools - according to research.While girls' schools have long been known to outperform other types of school in England, the analysis by FFT Datalab found that even after adjusting for background characteristics there was an unexplained boost for pupils at girls' schools, equivalent to 10% higher GCSE grades in 2023. Continue reading...

Leading US investor pours cash into shares after cut helps allay fears of state interventionA leading US investor has started pouring cash into NatWest shares after a notable cut in the government's shareholding helped to allay fears of state intervention in the bailed-out banking group.Los Angeles-headquartered Capital Group, which is one of the world's oldest and largest investment firms, with more than 2.5tn under management, has bought more than 110m worth of NatWest shares, days after the government cut its position, pushing the group into the bank's top 30 shareholder list. Continue reading...

With venues sprouting, what was once a niche industry is sharing ideas on creating new community spacesDelegates to the UK's first ever sauna conference will file out after the final panel discussion facing a choice of where to carry on the conversations: bar or sauna?The queue for the latter may well be longer - one reason why Britain's sauna scene has expanded rapidly in the past few years is because aficionados feel they are surprisingly like pubs. Continue reading...

The Labour leader confirmed he would scrap the Rwanda scheme in his Dover speech, then confusingly blurred his own argumentCould Keir Starmer Make Asylum Boring Again"? That would be the ultimate test of success for his claim that he can grip the issue that has caused Rishi Sunak more trouble than any other. Starmer's message is that he is no less committed to securing the borders and stopping the small boats crossing the Channel, but that achieving this requires a serious plan to tackle smuggling gangs and fix the asylum system in Britain too. So how different is Labour's plan - and would it work?

Enthusiasts are customising their favourite works and being rewarded with wide social media followingThe videos often begin with every bibliophile's nightmare: a person ripping the covers off a book.They are not vandals, however; they are bookbinders, taking part in a growing trend for replacing the covers of favourite works to make unique hardback editions, and posting about their creations on TikTok and Instagram. Continue reading...

One Nation moderates call on defeated West Midlands mayor to take brand Andy' to WestminsterSenior Tories on the moderate One Nation wing of the party are urging the defeated West Midlands mayor Andy Street to consider reviving his political career by standing for a seat at Westminster.Street suffered the biggest shock of the local and mayoral elections a week ago when he lost to Labour's Richard Parker by just 1,508 votes in a knife-edge contest. Continue reading...

About 400 people gather to pay tribute to early childhood educator, wearing bright T-shirts with the slogans #HernameisMolly' and #Speakup'

Observer finds thousands of claims for conditions including cerebral palsy and multiple sclerosis are being rejectedThe government is rejecting more than 40% of applications for disability benefit from people with multiple sclerosis (MS), cerebral palsy and arthritis - and one in four applications from amputees, the Observer can reveal.Analysis of personal independence payment (Pip) disability benefit data for England and Wales shows that thousands of applicants with illnesses such as cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and emphysema were turned down by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) between August 2023 and January 2024. Continue reading...

British Medical Association blames employment crisis' on funding shortfall and move to hire more non-doctors in practicesGPs across England are struggling to find work despite patients waiting weeks for appointments at practices buckling under demand.The government has failed on a manifesto pledge to deliver 6,000 new GPs by 2024, but has allocated 1.4bn this year to fund other roles in primary care from physician associates" to dieticians and podiatrists. Continue reading...

Claimants who can't access medical information face battle for payments in biggest treatment disaster in NHS historyWhen Kevin Roberts was 12 years old he went to hospital for the first time to have two wisdom teeth removed.It was a routine procedure, but was the start of an ordeal that shattered his childhood and early adult life. He was given a blood product to replace Factor 8, a clotting protein, and now believes that this product infected him with hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus that can cause life-threatening liver disease, including cancer. Continue reading...

More than 100 homes damaged when tornado ripped off roofs, collapsed walls and sucked up debris in state's south-west

Joe Biden's latest executive order gives scope to target the finances of Israeli politicians and businesses linked to extremistsEscalating US sanctions on violent settlers, initially taken as a mostly political rebuke to extremists, are now seen by some inside Israel as a potential threat to the financial viability of all Israeli settlements and companies in the occupied West Bank.The Biden administration's new controls on a handful of men and organisations linked to attacks on Palestinian civilians, first announced in February then expanded twice in March and April, have generally been treated in Israel and beyond more as a humiliating public censure of a close ally than as a major political shift. Continue reading...

No longer just drunk for courage at karaoke clubs, the food-friendly' rice spirit is becoming a first choice of connoisseursWhen sommelier Erika Haigh opened the UK's first independent sake bar, in London's West End in 2019, passersby would wander in and try to order milkshakes, bewildered by the unfamiliar drink advertised in the window.Today, that confusion has largely disappeared," said Haigh, who has since opened Mai Sake, a shop offering tasting events and meals. You can now go on a sake bar crawl across London, and you'll find it featured on the beverage lists of many restaurants - including non-Japanese establishments." Continue reading...

Charity says children could be deported as adults before age can be formally determinedThe Home Office is being threatened with legal action over concerns thatchildren face being sent to Rwanda because officials wrongly identify them as adults, the Observer can reveal.With ministers desperate to see flights take off as soon as possible amid a record 181 detected Channel crossings so far this year, the department has been anticipating a flurry oflegal complaints to be triggered asa result of the pledge to deport some asylum seekers to the east African country. Continue reading...

Yuriy Merkotan played in a military band and, after being caught up in the Mariupol siege, spent nearly two years in various jailsWhen Yuriy Merkotan enlisted in Ukraine's national guard in 2020, it was not because he wanted to fight. A saxophonist living in the southern port city of Mariupol, there were few opportunities to play music professionally. So when a spot became free in a 16-person band attached to a national guard brigade, he jumped at the chance.But when Russian forces put Mariupol under siege in February 2022, the band members were called to duty. They ended up inside Azovstal, the sprawling factory that became the last bastion of Ukrainian defence as the Russian occupation proceeded to its grim conclusion. Continue reading...

Avorotros says Joost Klein's disqualification disproportionate' after incident involving female member of production crewThe Dutch broadcaster who sent the country's entry to Eurovision has said the decision to disqualify its contestant from the song contest just hours before the start of tonight's grand final was disproportionate".Dutch singer and rapper Joost Klein was excluded from the main show due to an incident involving a female member of the production crew, the competition's organisers announced earlier in the day. Continue reading...

Climate change is a global problem. It needs that global level of collaboration,' says Larry Marshall

While politicians argue over who to blame for a decline in Australia's broadband uptake, customers are seeking more affordable ways to get online

Towns across the country are putting on a show as the cold nights draw in. We've picked five spots from Queensland to Gippsland to take it in

Nadav Popplewell, 51, abducted on 7 October, was reportedly wounded in Israeli strike more than a month agoHamas said in a statement on Saturday that the British-Israeli hostage Nadav Popplewell had died of wounds that he sustained in an Israeli airstrike more than a month ago.Popplewell, 51, was a captive taken from Nirim kibbutz and a video previously released by Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, showed him displaying visible signs of physical abuse. Continue reading...

Israeli military drops leaflets ordering hundreds of thousands of people to leave the city. This blog is now closed.

Tory sources allege that Dover MP Natalie Elphicke crossed the floor because she was not given a post running housing policyTory defector Natalie Elphicke stormed out of the party and joined Labour because she was bitter" about being denied a ministerial job in charge of housing policy, senior Conservative sources have told the Observer.It is understood that Elphicke was considered for a government job first by Liz Truss when she became prime minister in 2022 but was not in the end given a post. Elphicke then made clear her ambition to become a minister under Rishi Sunak, but again was unsuccessful. Continue reading...

Analysis reveals voters switching from the Tories in pro-Brexit seats could make a Starmer election victory easier to achieveVoters are switching from the Tories to Labour in the most pro-leave parts of the country in such numbers that Keir Starmer may needa far lower overall swing from the Conservatives to win a parliamentary majority than was previously believed, election analysts haveclaimed.In their analysis of this month's local elections, professors Robert Ford of Manchester University and John Curtice of Strathclyde University both noted that the bigger the 2016 vote was for leave in an area, the higher the swing was to Labour. Continue reading...

Party accuses Cabinet minister David TC Davies of breaching rules by using Whitehall office to film X post attacking Senedd expansion plansA Tory cabinet minister has been accused of a blatant breach of the ministerial code after using his government office in Whitehall to film an anti-Labour video that he then posted on social media.Welsh secretary David TC Davies put the short film on X (formerly Twitter) last week to attack Labour plans to expand the size of the Welsh Senedd and highlight the Conservative party's opposition to it. Continue reading...

Party members say visa restrictions will damage economy and lead to the closure of already-struggling universitiesUniversities will be plunged into greater financial distress and Britain's economic recovery dented should ministers proceed with a new self-defeating" clampdown on international student visas, senior Tories are warning.Vice-chancellors believe a renewed attempt to reduce visa numbers is just weeks away after ministers ordered their immigration advisers to make an emergency assessment of how a visa designed to attract students to the UK was operating. The report is expected to land on the desk of home secretary James Cleverly next week. Continue reading...

Police say 17-year-old Ronalds Abele got into difficulty while swimming at the Embankment in WellingboroughA teenage boy has died after getting into difficulty while swimming in the River Nene, Northamptonshire police said.Ronalds Abele, 17, was swimming at the Embankment in Wellingborough on Friday, and was pulled from the water by emergency services after he got into difficulty. Continue reading...