Council declares major incident at 65-year-old Barton House after survey finds three flats pose structural riskHundreds of people have been evacuated from a 65-year-old tower block in Bristol after a major structural risk was discovered, with some families being put up in emergency shelters.About 400 people - roughly 100 of them children - were told to leave Barton House in Barton Hill on the edge of the city centre. The city council declared a major incident, a mechanism that makes it easier to get help from outside organisations, and emergency services were put on alert as a precaution. Continue reading...
Sacked home secretary says PM agreed during leadership election to enact rightwing policies - but then failed to do soSuella Braverman's letter to Rishi Sunak in fullSuella Braverman has launched a devastating attack on Rishi Sunak the day after he sacked her as home secretary.The prime minister signed up to a secret pact to implement key rightwing policies to secure her backing during the Tory leadership contest in 2022 - but then betrayed" the country by failing to deliver, Braverman claimed on Tuesday evening. Continue reading...
Five people who died including three children are believed to have been members of the same familyTributes have been paid to victims of a fire in which five people from the same family died in west London at the weekend.Ten fire engines and about 70 firefighters were called to the blaze in Channel Close, Hounslow, at 10.26pm on Sunday, London fire brigade said. Continue reading...
In-development film comes after controversy around the re-creation of late stars' voices, such as Anthony BourdainSixty years after her death, Edith Piaf's voice will be re-created using AI to narrate her biopic.As reported by Variety, Warner Music Group (WMG) has partnered with the Piaf estate to produce the feature-length film Edith. Artificial intelligence has been trained to replicate Piaf's voice by feeding it hundreds of voice clips, with WMG promising the resultant re-creation will further enhance the authenticity and emotional impact of her story". Continue reading...
by Simon Goodley, Rob Davies, Kate Connolly, Helena S on (#6GC5P)
Biggest ever leak of financial data from Cyprus raises concerns over EU state's role in managing Russian fortunesCyprus has vowed to tighten controls on its financial sector as an investigation published by the Guardian and its reporting partners reveals oligarchs transferred hundreds of millions in assets while sanctions loomed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.The role of the blue-chip accountants PwC Cyprus and other advisers in managing transactions as Vladimir Putin's forces launched their assault has emerged from Cyprus Confidential, a cache of 3.6m files leaked by an anonymous source to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and Germany's Paper Trail Media, which shared access with the Guardian and other reporting partners. Continue reading...
Rita Roberts identified through appeal seeking information on 22 women killed in Belgium, Netherlands and GermanyA woman's body found 31 years ago in Antwerp has been identified as that of a British national, Rita Roberts, after police appealed to the public for help in identifying 22 women murdered in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany over the past 50 years.Operation Identify Me was launched in May by the Belgian, Dutch and German police which, together with Interpol, the international policing organisation, released details of the cases that would normally only be available to law enforcement agencies. Continue reading...
Mohammad Javad Zarif says Israel wants to expand Gaza conflict in order to drag the US into the fightingThe former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is urging his country not to become embroiled in a direct war with Israel or the US.The best way to defend the Palestinian people was to avoid giving the west a reason to claim they are acting as a proxy of Iran, Zarif said, adding that Israel was trying to lure Iran into such a battle. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#6GC0A)
British artist's 1947 painting Beach Scene, Lancashire to go to auction after 70 years in Canadian collectionIt is a beach painting full of cheerful hustle, bustle, play and paddling, though the jumpers and hats reveal it is a long way from Saint-Tropez.he 1947 work Beach Scene, Lancashire is a snapshot of an English summer's day, probably in Lytham, and is considered one of LS Lowry's finest seascape paintings. Continue reading...
Owner of Bluewater and Trinity Leeds also says brands are looking for fewer, bigger, better' storesOne of Britain's biggest property developers is shifting its London portfolio from the City of London to the West End as tenants want to be in vibrant locations with easy access to shopping and leisure activities.Landsec, which owns offices and shops around Victoria station and Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London, has sold 2.5bn of properties since 2020 - mostly single-let office buildings in the City, such as the Deutsche Bank and Deloitte headquarters, as well as the Harbour Exchange office block in Canary Wharf. More than three-quarters (76%) of the developer's portfolio is now in the West End and Southwark south of the Thames, up from 58% in 2020, while its City assets are down to 24%. Continue reading...
Masaya reportedly tortured and his body dumped on outskirts of Harare after being abducted while campaigningA Zimbabwe opposition activist has been found dead after he was abducted on Saturday during a political campaign just outside Harare, the Citizens Coalition for Change party has said. It was the second abduction in weeks of an opposition party member.Tapfumaneyi Masaya was reportedly bundled into a vehicle by unknown men while campaigning for the CCC's candidate ahead of byelections on 9 December, the party said. Continue reading...
Its insistence that customers need a police report to get a refund after goods fail to turn up could go against Consumer Rights ActAmazon has been accused of showing contempt for UK consumer law by insisting that customers whose orders fail to arrive submit a police report in order to qualify for a refund.Some buyers have been left hundreds of pounds out of pocket after the retail giant required them to report missing deliveries to police, then refused to accept their crime reference number. Continue reading...
Amnesty says heritage body has fallen short' in its responsibility to thousands of families thrown off the complex in CambodiaUnesco has fallen short of its responsibility to uphold and promote human rights" amid mass evictions at Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple complex, Amnesty International has claimed in a new investigation.The Cambodian government has used intimidation, harassment, threats and acts of violence" to remove about 10,000 families from the world heritage site, the report said. In an unusual move, Amnesty also named Unesco as a responsible actor", arguing that the UN body was made aware of alleged human rights abuses for months but did not investigate or acknowledge them.Additional reporting by Keat Soriththeavy Continue reading...
The barrister has been welcomed as a competent and intelligent choice by centrist ToriesVictoria Atkins might not have the public profile of cabinet peers, but her appointment as health secretary caps several years of steady, if unshowy, handling of briefs in junior ministerial roles.An MP since 2015 and a backer of Rishi Sunak in the 2022 Conservative leadership contest, her elevation has been warmly welcomed by colleagues in the centrist wing of the Conservative party, who also emphasised what they regarded as her competence. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: Why the former prime minister has returned to frontline politics as Rishi Sunak's foreign secretary Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. David Cameron really is the new foreign secretary. In a way, Rishi Sunak warned us: just over a year ago, he told Tory party conference that his mission was to break with a failed 30-year political consensus and usher in something genuinely different. All the same, I don't know if anyone could have predicted that he was planning to go back to a 60-year-old idea, instead. Even Cameron, truly the grown-up's grown-up, was barely out of nappies when Alec Douglas-Home, the last former prime minister to take over at the foreign office, got the job in 1970.On the other hand, it seems ... quite hard to break with a 30-year consensus by appointing one of its architects, even if doing so successfully drives the firing of home secretary Suella Braverman - who lost her job via an unceremonious phone call - from the front pages. He was the future once," the new cabinet minister once teased Tony Blair at prime minister's questions. We can now say that Cameron was the past once, a significantly more mind-bending proposition. The weirdest fact of the day: seven years after his resignation as prime minister, he's still four years younger than Keir Starmer.Israel-Hamas war | Israeli forces have reached the gates of Gaza's largest hospital as hundreds of patients, including dozens of babies, remained trapped inside. Thousands of people have fled al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, but health officials said the remaining patients were dying due to energy shortages amid intense fighting between Israeli troops and Hamas militants. For the latest, head to the live blog.Iceland volcano | Iceland's prime minister has sought to reassure the nation as it braces for a volcanic eruption. Between midnight and early afternoon on Monday, the Icelandic meteorological office detected about 900 earthquakes amid warnings of the significant likelihood of the Fagradalsfjall volcano erupting within days.Fertility | People who donate sperm, eggs and embryos to help others have children will lose the right to anonymity from the moment the child is born, under proposed changes to UK fertility law. The proposal, prompted by the ease with which people can sidestep formal routes to trace donors via private DNA testing and social media, is one of several proposals published by the regulator today.Environment | BP and Spotify were among companies who bought carbon credits at risk of being implicated in potential Uyghur forced labour, an investigation has found. A Guardian investigation found that provider South Pole was aware of the risk of forced labour linked to the scheme in 2021.Counter-terrorism | Downing Street's plan to ban the glorifying of terrorism risks criminalising supporters of the suffragettes, Nelson Mandela, or even the crowd at Murrayfield belting out Flower of Scotland", a former independent reviewer of terror legislation has warned. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#6GBSC)
Families resorting to desperate measures' and struggling with frightening' level of hardship amid cost of living crisisAbout 2m UK households have been forced to turn off their fridge or freezer to save money as they continue to struggle with what poverty campaigners called a frightening" level of hardship.Nearly half of those households said that since May they had to disconnect their fridge or freezer for the first time, a sign the cost of living crisis was still hurting low-income families, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) charity. Continue reading...
Rishi Sunak's decision to bring a more moderate figure to his cabinet and oust Suella Braverman is viewed as likely to set up a clash with the Tory rightThe return of former PM David Cameron to government as foreign secretary has evoked surprise for many, shock for some, and anger among MPs on the right of the Tory party. The British papers reflect the full spectrum of reactions.The Guardian says: Cameron's shock return in high-stakes reshuffle", noting that the political comeback for the now Lord Cameron marks a return to a more centrist team for Rishi Sunak, particularly given the sacking of Suella Braverman as home secretary. Continue reading...
Incoming PM Christopher Luxon must bring together the libertarian Act party and populist New Zealand First, parties that have major differencesOne month on from New Zealand's general election, the country is still waiting for three parties to reach an agreement on the makeup of the next coalition government.On 14 October, the conservative National Party beat the current centre-left Labour party government, winning a razor-thin majority to govern in a coalition with the ring-wing Act Party. That majority disappeared once additional voting results were announced three weeks later, forcing National to rely on a third party, the nationalist New Zealand First, to reach the 61-seat majority needed to form a government.This story was amended on 14 November to correct the date of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi Continue reading...
by Helen Livingstone (now); Léonie Chao-Fong, Richar on (#6GAVD)
This blog has closed. You can see all our Israel-Hamas war coverage here and see our latest full report on the conflict hereIn case you missed this earlier, hundreds of patients were trapped and thousands of people sought shelter around Gaza's largest hospital on Monday, as Israeli troops and Hamas fighters battled near the compound.On Sunday, witnesses at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City told AFP that violent fighting" raged throughout the night. Continue reading...
WanaBana, Schnucks and Weis fruit puree recalled as reported symptoms include headache, vomiting and diarrheaUS health officials are warning doctors to be on the lookout for possible cases of lead poisoning in children after at least 22 toddlers in 14 states were sickened by lead linked to tainted pouches of cinnamon apple puree and applesauce.Children ages one to three were affected, and at least one child showed a blood lead level eight times higher than the level that raises concern, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. Continue reading...
Regulator says access to DNA testing and genetic matching already allows identification without formally applying for details at age 18People who donate sperm, eggs and embryos to help others have children will lose the right to anonymity from the moment the child is born, under proposed changes to UK fertility law.Existing rules around IVF treatment state that children conceived from donor tissues can apply for details that identify their biological parents only once they reach the age of 18. Continue reading...
Authorities look into Jesus Ociel Baena's cause of death as activists urge full investigation into gender identity-related threatsMexico's first openly non-binary magistrate and a prominent LGBTQ+ activist has been found dead at home in the central state of Aguascalientes.Jesus Ociel Baena, who used they/them pronouns, was celebrated across Latin America for their work to advance the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. Continue reading...
The academic was abducted in Baghdad nearly nine months ago and had not been heard from sinceAn Iraqi network has broadcast a video showing a kidnapped Israeli-Russian academic, in the first sign of life from Elizabeth Tsurkov since her abduction in Baghdad nearly nine months ago.Israeli authorities revealed in July that Tsurkov had been kidnapped, blaming pro-Iranian militants after she had gone missing in Iraq in late March. Continue reading...
Staff say they fear rising numbers of deaths at hospital on third day without power, and with shooting and bombing outsideDozens of corpses lay on the courtyard outside Gaza's largest hospital, covering the ground next to a blue refrigerated truck that had long ceased to be able to keep the bodies cool. Most of the bodies were shrouded in colourful blankets originally meant for the living, after the hospital ran out of white bodybags. A severely burnt arm protruded from one of the blankets. Elsewhere, according to video footage seen by the Guardian, the charred body of a child was visible among the soft folds of the material.We are under siege," said Munir al-Boursh, a doctor who is also a Palestinian health ministry undersecretary, speaking from inside Dar al-Shifa hospital. The hospital had intended to dig a mass grave, until Israeli tanks and snipers encircled the the complex on Friday, making movement around it impossible. Continue reading...
Presidential candidate calls former UK prime minister one of the great leaders in the history of humanity' during debateArgentina's libertarian presidential candidate Javier Milei has been pilloried by veterans of the Falklands war after he praised Margaret Thatcher as one of the great leaders in the history of humanity" during the final electoral debate before next Sunday's election.Milei - a self-described anarcho-capitalist - has frequently expressed admiration for Thatcher's free-market policies. But she is still reviled in Argentina for ordering the sinking of the General Belgrano cruiser, killing 323 people on board, during the 1982 war with the UK over the Falkland islands, which Argentina claims as Islas Malvinas. Continue reading...
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