Sebastian Kurz, former wunderkind' of Europe's conservatives, said he is innocent and condemned politicisation' of caseAustria's former chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, insisted he was innocent as he went on trial for allegedly giving false testimony to an inquiry into corruption scandals that have rocked the country.Once hailed as a wunderkind" of Europe's conservatives, Kurz is the highest-profile figure implicated in a series of scandals. The case marks the first time in more than 30 years that a former chancellor has stood trial. Continue reading...
Jill Mortimer faces criticism after claiming her office was besieged by asylum seekers' and her staff were intimidated by young menA Conservative MP has been accused of playing up to racist stereotypes after claiming that her office was besieged by asylum seekers" and that her staff were intimidated by young men, most of whom she said should be expelled as illegal migrants".Jill Mortimer told Rishi Sunak during prime minister's questions in the House of Commons that people in her constituency of Hartlepool were afraid and angry". Continue reading...
The broadcaster says increased production costs mean the show has become unviableThe medical TV drama Doctors will end after more than 20 years, the BBC has announced, blaming super inflation in drama production".The BBC said it had faced a very difficult decision" on whether to reinvest in the Birmingham site where the show, which helped to launch the career of many actors, is filmed. It said costs had increased significantly" at the location and had decided instead to finance new shows in the West Midlands. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#6FP2B)
Safe access zones' entered law in England and Wales in May but the Home Office has delayed their implementationWomen using abortion clinics are still being harassed despite MPs voting a year ago to create buffer zones to stop protesters intimidating them, medical and abortion groups say.Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has failed to commence" the legislation to introduce buffer zones in England and Wales, even though parliament approved the move on 18 October last year. Continue reading...
US tech giant reveals new generation of drones at Seattle HQ but declines to comment on where in each country they will launch firstAmazon has announced plans to start delivering packages via drone for the first time in the UK and Italy as it attempts to get its ambitious airborne delivery program off the ground.The American technology giant said on Wednesday that it will introduce autonomous aircraft delivery in Britain and Italy in late 2024", a decade after first publicly setting its sights on the skies. It hopes to be delivering 500m packages via drone each year by the end of the decade. Continue reading...
Aleksanteri Kivimaki is accused of stealing tens of thousands of records from patients and seeking money for not leaking themProsecutors in Finland have charged a hacker, accused of the theft of tens of thousands of records from psychotherapy patients, with more than 21,000 counts of extortion.The suspect is held on remand and has denied being guilty of the offences," the national prosecution authority said in a statement on Wednesday. Continue reading...
by Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent on (#6FNTY)
Select committee hears some pet owners have been handing in dogs due to fears over upcoming banPeople are already handing in XL bully dogs, with some requesting that their pet to be put down, after the announcement of an impending ban on the breed, MPs have been told.At a parliamentary evidence session before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) select committee, witnesses said vets and animal rehoming centres could become inundated by people seeking to offload the dogs before a ban. Continue reading...
Congresswoman Debbie Lesko, from Arizona, says it is hard to get anything done'A Republican congresswoman has said she will not run for re-election next year, claiming DC is broken".Debbie Lesko, from Arizona, said in a statement that traveling to Washington each month had also proven difficult. Continue reading...
Keir Starmer's chief of staff, Sue Gray, and David Lammy respond after councillors quit partyThe Labour leadership is understood to have held a meeting with councillors after a number of resignations in protest at Keir Starmer's stance over the conflict with Hamas.Amna Abdullatif, the first Arab Muslim woman elected to Manchester city council, said on Monday she would quit Labour. Continue reading...
Brexit trade deal gave UK and EU carmakers until 1 January 2024 to source batteries from within Europe or face 10% tariffsThe UK car industry has said incoming tariffs between the UK and the EU could raise the price of imported electric cars by as much as 3,400 unless a solution is found by the end of the year.The Brexit trade deal between the UK and EU gave carmakers until 1 January 2024 to source batteries from within Europe or face 10% tariffs when exporting to each other. However, the supply of European-made batteries has failed to meet demand, meaning carmakers face the new tariffs from next year under these rules of origin". Continue reading...
Police say extremist ADF rebels carried out cowardly terrorist attack' near border with DRCTwo tourists from the UK and South Africa and their Ugandan guide were killed when assailants attacked their vehicle near a national park in south-west Uganda.Bashir Hangi, spokesperson for the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), said the attackers set fire to the vehicle in which the group were travelling just outside Queen Elizabeth national park. Continue reading...
After week of mixed messages in Brussels, Charles Michel stresses need for clear unified course of action'EU prime ministers have vowed to step up their efforts to mitigate a looming humanitarian crisis in Gaza in a bid to present a united diplomatic front after a week of dysfunction and mixed messages from leaders in Brussels.After an emergency video conference to address the conflagration in the Middle East, the European Council leader, Charles Michel, stressed the need to present a clear unified course of action that reflects the complexity of the unfolding situation". Continue reading...
Government fast running out of time' to pass bill reforming rental market, a cross-party open letter arguesMichael Gove has won a battle with No 10 to push ahead with a ban on no-fault evictions and other reforms, but renters will not get protection until next year.An overhaul of private renting, first promised in the 2019 Conservative election manifesto, was feared to be in jeopardy amid the threat of a mass rebellion by Tory landlord MPs. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels, Miranda Bryant in Stoc on (#6FN59)
Sweden and Italy called for tighter security at Europe's borders after shooting by man identified in reports as Abdesalem LassouedA Tunisian man who killed two Swedish citizens in a terrorist attack in Brussels was probably a lone wolf," the Belgian prime minister has said, as Sweden and Italy called for security at Europe's borders to be tightened.Sweden's prime minister said the country was suffering unfathomable sadness" after the fatal shooting of two Swedish football fans, one in his 60s and one in his 70s, and the wounding of a taxi driver. Continue reading...
by Jason Burke International security correspondent on (#6FN5A)
Even before the war in Gaza, authorities have been warning of rise in Islamist terrorism on the continentFor months now, authorities charged with keeping Europe safe from Islamist extremist violence have been sounding the alarm. In May, Dutch security services warned that the terrorist threat from Islamic State to Europe had increased. The same month, the French interior minister said the risk of Islamist terrorism was rising again and that his own country was being targeted, as well as its neighbours.In recent days, these pessimistic forecasts appear to have been vindicated. France is deploying 7,000 extra troops on to its streets after a teacher was fatally stabbed on Friday in an attack that Emmanuel Macron condemned as barbaric Islamic terrorism". The suspected attacker swore an oath of allegiance to IS in an audio recording on his phone shortly before the killing, prosecutors have said. Continue reading...
New chilli far outstrips previous record holder with proud pepper breeder Ed Currie saying it left him with horrible cramps'A new pepper is coming in hot as the spiciest in the world, Guinness World Records has announced.For a decade, the Carolina Reaper chilli pepper was ruled to be the hottest chilli pepper in the world. But now Pepper X" has taken its crown. Continue reading...
Examining board AQA says parts of Italian and Polish courses will be assessed digitally in 2026It's a scene that can still have the power to terrify, even years after the event. Rows of hunched backs, bent over exam papers, with barely a sound other than the chewing of pens or frantic scribbling on scores of sheets of paper.The way many students sit exams could look very different in future, however, after an announcement from England's biggest exam board that it will begin testing GCSE students on laptops for some courses beginning next year. Continue reading...
UN agency warns residents exposed to cholera and dysentery as city's last seawater desalination plant closesFears are growing that people in Gaza are beginning to dehydrate to death as clean water runs out, with Israeli airstrikes continuing to pound the Palestinian territory of 2.3 million residents amid a total blockade on food, electricity, medicine and fuel.Unrwa, the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, said on Tuesday that Gaza's last seawater desalination plant had shut down, bringing the risk of further deaths and waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Six water wells, three water pumping stations, and one water reservoir - which collectively served more than 1.1million people - are also out of action, it said. Continue reading...
Extracts from pop singer's new memoir reveal effect of controversial conservatorship arrangement she eventually escaped, and termination of pregnancyThe first extracts from Britney Spears' highly anticipated memoir The Woman in Me have been published, documenting the cruelty she allegedly experienced during the unusual conservatorship arrangement she was placed under between 2008 and 2021, and an abortion she reportedly had while dating Justin Timberlake.In the extracts published by People magazine in the US ahead of the book's publication on 24 October, Spears writes of the abortion: For me, [the pregnancy] wasn't a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I'd anticipated. But Justin definitely wasn't happy about the pregnancy. He said we weren't ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young ... I don't know if that was the right decision. If it had been left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn't want to be a father." The couple dated between 1999 and 2002, when they were in their late teens and early 20s. Timberlake has not commented on Spears' account. Continue reading...
Congressional investigation into failed rightwing insurrection on 8 January calls for former president to be charged with four crimesBrazil's former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro was the mentor of a wilful and premeditated coup attempt" that sought to plunge Latin America's largest democracy into political mayhem and perhaps even civil war, a congressional inquiry investigating the 8 January insurrection has alleged.The dramatic assertion was made on Tuesday as the senator Eliziane Gama read the inquiry's final report into January's failed rightwing uprising in which thousands of radical Bolsonaro supporters rampaged through the capital, Brasilia, after their leader failed to win re-election. Continue reading...
by Lucy Swan, Harvey Symons, Faisal Ali, Elena Morres on (#6FM9N)
Hamas launches an unprecedented sea, air and ground offensive against Israel. The group fires a barrage of rockets towards Israeli cities and thousands of militants breach the frontier fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel. Continue reading...
Hundreds of visitors led out of palace as France remains on high alert for possible terror attackThe Palace of Versailles was evacuated for the second time in days after a bomb threat on Tuesday as France remains on high alert for a possible terror attack.Hundreds of visitors were led out of the palace as a specialist police explosives unit was dispatched to the site. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels, Miranda Bryant in Stoc on (#6FMKT)
Belgian interior minister says weapon found on neutralised person' was same as that used in the attackThe man suspected of killing two Swedish football fans and wounding another in a terrorist attack in Brussels on Monday night has died after being shot by police.Belgium's interior minister, Annelies Verlinden, told the broadcaster VRT that an automatic weapon found on the neutralised person" was the same as that used during the attack that killed two Swedish men, one in his 60s and one in his 70s.
Pedestrian Almena Amica died in hospital following collision in city centreTributes have been paid to a well-loved" woman who died after a bus crashed into a cafe in Manchester city centre on Monday.Almena Amica, known as Mena, a pedestrian at the time of the collision, was taken to hospital with serious injuries and later died. Continue reading...
Judges say decision should be made by parliament but stress that such unions should not face discriminationIndia's top court has declined to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages, saying it is beyond its scope and should be decided by parliament, but emphasising that queer relationships should not face discrimination by the state.The marriage ruling will be a disappointment for LGBTQ+ people in India, who had hoped the supreme court judges would recognise their constitutional right to marriage equality. Continue reading...
Biden administration urged to declare a public health emergency with key medication for preventable condition in short supplyHealth advocates are calling on the Biden administration to declare a public health emergency over a steep rise in congenital syphilis cases. The easily treated infection has quintupled in 10 years and can have harrowing impacts on children.Congenital syphilis happens when a baby contracts syphilis from its mother. Up to 40% of babies born to untreated mothers will be stillborn or die. Others can be left with severe birth defects such as bone damage, anemia, blindness or deafness, and neurological devastation". Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll in Brussels, Helen Livingstone and on (#6FM6V)
Alexander De Croo tells residents to remain extra vigilant' after attack that prosecutors said was inspired by Islamic StateA gunman who shot dead two Swedish football supporters in central Brussels was still on the run on Tuesday morning, prime minister Alexander De Croo has said, calling the attack terrorist madness".The Swedish national football team were playing against Belgium at King Baudouin Stadium, about 5km away, on Monday evening but the match was abandoned at half-time after news of the attack and the crowd was instructed to stay inside the stadium. Continue reading...
Media companies, including Guardian Australia, oppose the application for secrecy, following a recent change to Queensland law to allow the naming of accused sex offenders after they are charged
by Helen Sullivan (now); Léonie Chao-Fong, Richard L on (#6FKFS)
US president will visit Israel for talks with Benjamin Netanyahu, says Antony Blinken; Iranian foreign minister suggests potential escalation in the conflict in remarks on Iranian state television
World news | The Guardian