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US secretary of state poised for meetings with leaders who have so far proved resistant to pressure from WashingtonThe US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has landed in Israel for potentially difficult meetings with Israeli leaders and officials who have repeatedly proved resistant to pressure from Washington over their conduct of the war against Hamas.Blinken flew late on Monday night from the Saudi oasis town of AlUla where he held talks with the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on a Middle East tour aimed at reaching a consensus on Gaza's future. Continue reading...

Government draws up plans to speed up process of justice for those who were wrongfully convicted as public pressure growsMinisters have drawn up urgent plans to clear the names of hundreds of post office operators who were wrongly convicted of theft and fraud in the Horizon IT scandal as the government scrambled to get on the front foot over the major miscarriage of justice.The justice secretary, Alex Chalk, will hold talks with the senior judiciary to confirm how the convictions can be overturned as soon as possible, so victims can have speedier access to millions of pounds of compensation. Continue reading...

Starmer says Labour would take pre-emptive action as minister confirms 2,000 homes have been flooded by Storm HenkMinisters have been accused of doing little more than staring out of the window and watching the rain come down" as it was revealed that 2,000 homes have been flooded by Storm Henk.Labour called for a new taskforce to be created that would meet before the winter storms hit to pinpoint the areas most at risk and protect threatened homes and businesses. Continue reading...

War zone NGO holds clinics for traumatised migrants at RAF Wethersfield in James Cleverly's Braintree constituencyA medical NGO known for emergency relief in war zones is treating asylum seekers housed in a disused airbase in the James Cleverly's constituency, the Guardian can reveal.Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is offering thrice-weekly clinics to people contained by the Home Office in RAF Wethersfield, Essex, which is based in the home secretary's Braintree constituency. Continue reading...

US defense secretary retains Biden's confidence, says White House spokesperson after Austin secretly spent three days in hospitalThe White House has said that the US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, will stay in his job but noted his lack of transparency" and called for a review of procedures after he spent three days in hospital without informing the president.The White House spokesperson, Karine Jean-Pierre, also said that Austin retained Biden's confidence, and John Kirby, the national security council (NSC) spokesperson, told reporters on Air Force One: There is no plan for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job." Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lib Dem leader has been criticised for letting victims down when he was postal affairs minister between 2010 and 2012

Charities say move is deeply concerning', while Office for National Statistics claims data was not accurate enoughAn official count of the deaths of homeless people would no longer be published in England and Wales under proposals to increase the efficiency of health data that campaigners have called callous".In a move that advocates for homeless people fear will increase the invisibility of the most vulnerable and amount to sweeping the problem under the rug, the Office for National Statistics is consulting on dropping the annual bulletin, which showed an estimated 741 deaths among homeless people in 2021. Continue reading...

Second female prime minister of Fifth Republic resigns after days of speculation about reshuffle, with Le Pen party ahead in pollsFrance's prime minister Elisabeth Borne has resigned after days of increasingly feverish speculation about an imminent government reshuffle.Emmanuel Macron, who is seeking to give a new impetus to his second mandate before European parliament elections and the Paris Olympics this summer, said on Monday he thanked Borne with all his heart" for her exemplary work in the service of the nation". Continue reading...

Actor and musician also calls for more funding for youth services as part of campaign to end youth knife violenceIdris Elba has called for more urgent action on youth knife violence - including the immediate banning of machetes and zombie" knives, and more funding for youth services - saying the time for excuses and delays is over.Speaking to the Guardian on Monday, the star of Luther and The Wire said society was capable of coming together to solve the problem, adding that experts in youth services and bereaved families needed to be able to sit in the same room as politicians and the police, among others, to achieve that. Continue reading...

Hundreds of men shown making fascist salutes during gathering outside Italian Social Movement headquartersItalian opposition leaders have called on Giorgia Meloni's rightwing government to ban neofascist groups after a chilling video emerged of hundreds of men making fascist salutes during an event in Rome.The crowd was gathered outside the former headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a neofascist party founded after the second world war which eventually morphed into Meloni's Brothers of Italy party. Continue reading...

Numerous people have been criticised for their role in widespread miscarriage of justice that affected thousandsOver a 16-year period the Post Office wrongfully accused about 3,500 branch owner-operators of theft, fraud and false accounting, resulting in more than 700 prosecutions, despite knowing from at least 2010 that there were faults in the Horizon IT system.To date no Post Office staff or suppliers have been punished. Here are some of those involved who still have questions to answer for their role in what has frequently been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history. Continue reading...

James Atkinson, 23, who died in 2020, described by parents as having a gift of making others happy'A 23-year-old man with a peanut allergy who died after eating a slice of takeaway pizza ordered through Deliveroo has been described by his parents as someone who brightened everyone's day and lived life to the full.An inquest opened on Monday into the death of James Atkinson, a Newcastle University computer science graduate who had found his dream job" as a computer programmer in the city. Continue reading...

When a computer system installed by the Post Office malfunctioned, it led to the convictions of scores of subpostmasters for theft and false accounting. Lives were wrecked. After an ITV dramatisation brought new attention to the case, the Metropolitan police said they had commenced a criminal fraud investigation in relation to the Post Office. Today we re-run our episodes from 2021 on the scandal in fullThis episode was originally published on 10 May 2021.When the Post Office installed a new accounting system called Horizon across its branches in 1999, it hoped to bring a lumbering and much-loved institution into the 21st century. What happened next resulted in one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in English legal history. Continue reading...

Inquest opens into death of 13-year-old black boy allegedly pushed into river in Ferndale in summer 2019The mother of a boy who died after allegedly being pushed into a river in Wales has told his inquest her family was the victim of a string of racist attacks in the years beforehand and claimed the police failed to protect them.Christopher Kapessa, 13, an unconfident swimmer, died after plunging about 2.5 metres (8ft) from a ledge at a bridge over the River Cynon in the town of Ferndale, south Wales, in summer 2019. Continue reading...

Nino Frassica is under investigation after local people said they were accused of involvement in the disappearance of his pet HiroAn Italian actor is being investigated by prosecutors for defamation, stalking and incitement to criminal activity after allegedly implicating his neighbours in the disappearance of his cat, amid a widespread search for the feline which has caused turbulence" among the people of a small hilltop town.The curious case of the missing cat began in September, when Nino Frassica, who lives in the Umbrian town of Spoleto when filming Don Matteo, a Rai TV series, announced the disappearance of Hiro in a post on Instagram. Continue reading...

Ousman Sonko is accused of supporting repressive policies and was arrested in Bern in 2017 after applying for asylum

Farmers join railway staff and lorry drivers in threatening strike action in protests over issues including pay and cuts to agricultural subsidies. This live blog is closed

UK at risk of falling behind' in its military support for Ukraine, former defence minister warns; Russia can be reined in under international law - Zelenskiy

High-explosive warhead, dropped from plane, did not cause injuries, head of the region's Moscow-appointed government saysUkrainian forces destroyed 18 out of 51 missiles launched during a wave of Russian air strikes on Monday, Ukraine's air force said.It said Russia had launched 32 cruise missiles overnight as well as eight Shahed" drones, and that all the drones had been downed. Continue reading...

Amber cold health alerts in place across England, while some regions continue to grapple with flooding after heavy rainMillions more Britons have been advised to brace themselves for a cold snap after forecasters issued fresh ice warnings.The Met Office issued a yellow warning for ice across southern England and south Wales, which will last from 3pm on Monday to 3am on Tuesday. Continue reading...

In an interview, the actor says he was stunned after jury found him guilty of assaulting and harassing a former girlfriendThe actor Jonathan Majors has said he was shocked and afraid" after a jury found him guilty of assaulting and harassing a former girlfriend and has complained about Marvel dropping him from future movies.In his first interview since the guilty verdict against him, Majors told ABC News on Monday's episode of Good Morning America that he plans to appeal the jury's decision in December to find him guilty of third-degree assault and second-degree harassment of Grace Jabbari. The actor was acquitted of two other counts of assault and aggravated harassment in the split verdict. Continue reading...

Peak body says farmers aren't getting fair value' as Steven Miles demands answers from supermarkets on overcharging claims

Pilot scheme beginning in Scotland will involve engineers retrofitting cabinets originally used for cables

The new president's rightwing supporters are targeting journalists and women's rights activists - but the fight goes onFemale journalists who write about gender issues say they are having to deal with a toxic wave of threats against them in Argentina. Some are fighting back, others are lying low and one has gone into self-imposed exile for her safety.We are facing a witch-hunt from the ultra-right," said the author, journalist and activist Luciana Peker, who recently left Argentina for an undisclosed location due to the weight of threats against her. Continue reading...

Latest bumper payout for Denise Coates comes despite a 60m loss for 2022-23The billionaire boss of Bet365 pocketed more than 270m last year in another huge payday for the founder of the Stoke-on-Trent-based gambling company.Denise Coates, who set up Bet365 in a portable building in the Staffordshire city in 2000, received the bumper payout despite the firm making a 60m loss. Continue reading...

Temperatures could be 10-15C below seasonal average in some areas, with Calgary and Edmonton experiencing low of -30CArctic air will sweep across western Canada and parts of the US early this week, leading to a cold snap that will probably last through the rest of this week and possibly beyond.By Wednesday, temperatures in western Canada could be as much as 10-15C below the seasonal average. Minimum temperatures in Calgary and Edmonton could plummet as low as -30C by Friday, with some rural areas experiencing even lower temperatures. In contrast, temperatures on the east coast will be significantly above average, with Ottawa reaching highs of about 5C, almost 10C above the seasonal average. The cold spell will spread into northern and western parts of the US by Friday, with temperatures widely reaching 5-15C below average. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Broadcaster looks to hasten shake-up amid TV advertising slump with most job losses likely to affect London-based workersChannel 4's chief executive has confirmed to its 1,200 staff that a round of major job cuts is looming, as the broadcaster seeks to hasten its shift to streaming amid the worst TV advertising downturn in 15 years.Alex Mahon told the workforce in an internal email on Monday morning that the broadcaster needed to accelerate" plans to become a genuinely digital-first public service broadcaster" after the worst slump in traditional TV advertising since the financial crisis in 2008. Continue reading...

Calls to remove honour of Paula Vennells who oversaw organisation as it denied problems with Horizon IT systemA petition calling for the former Post Office chief executive, Paula Vennells, to lose her CBE over the Horizon scandal has attracted more than 1 million signatures.Demands for the honours forfeiture committee to remove her CBE have re-emerged after ITV aired a drama about the scandal, which has been described as the most widespread miscarriage of justice in UK history. Vennells oversaw the organisation while it routinely denied there were problems with its Horizon IT system. Continue reading...

No data on cockpit voice recorder, official says, because it had been overwritten after two hoursA chunk of fuselage that blew out of a Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft during an Alaska Airlines flight has been found in a teacher's back yard, the US's transportation safety board (NTSB) has said.The plug door tore off the left side of the jet on Friday after takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, depressurising the plane and forcing the pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew onboard. Continue reading...

From death tolls to destroyed buildings and lost hospital beds, these are the figures that cut through the fog of war

Cleanbill report reveals national rate of bulk billing dropped 11% last year to 23.6%, with 514 clinics removing the service

Fawcett Society says gap revealed in its analysis of pay data should be causing national outrage'Women of Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage in the UK are earning on average almost a third less an hour than white British men, a pay gap campaigners say should be causing national outrage".An analysis of pay data also reveals that mixed-race women and women of Black Caribbean heritage take home a quarter less money than their white male counterparts. Continue reading...

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Eight people were in induced comas after the Hardmission event at Flemington on Satuday

Animals have been popping up on golf courses and surfing contests in Dunedin as they reestablish a foothold on the South IslandA growing population of sea lions in the New Zealand city of Dunedin is provoking overlapping chaos" as their breeding season coincides with residents enjoying peak summer weather.Two sea lions gave birth on a golf course, another swam alongside competitors in a surfing contest. Others have been spotted crossing roads as Dunedin's sea lion silly season", which runs from mid-December to mid-January, is in full swing. Continue reading...

Tokyo district public prosecutors' office says it has arrested Yoshitaka Ikeda, a former vice-education ministerProsecutors in Japan have made their first arrest in a financial scandal that has engulfed the country's ruling party and sparked speculation about the future of the prime minister, Fumio Kishida.The Tokyo district public prosecutors' office said on Sunday it had arrested Yoshitaka Ikeda, a former vice-education minister, who is suspected of failing to report cash he received from fundraising events organised through his faction in Kishida's Liberal Democratic party [LDP]. Continue reading...

Snook wins best actress in a TV drama series for her performance as the ambitious Shiv Roy in Succession, which also won best TV drama

Explosive device made of jerry can, rags, disposable lighter and large bolts found on bonnet of vehicle in suburb of Botany

Andrew Wilczewski, 50, was shot in his yard in 2020 while holding a shovel, after an officer scaled his fence

Nearly 700 requests for assistance made to Victoria's SES in 24 hours to 6am Monday as BoM forecasts more wild weather

Teams of divers will make three-hour round trip to supply those trapped until they can be safely rescuedFive people have been trapped in a cave in central Slovenia since Saturday after heavy rains caused flooding, rescue workers have said.A family of three adults with two guides had on Saturday morning begun a tourist visit to the Krizna Jama (Cross Cave), 50km south of the capital, Ljubljana. Continue reading...

US secretary of state begins visit to region as fears grow Israel could expand Gaza conflict to Lebanon

Danny Kruger said his party would leave the country sadder, less united and less conservative' than they had found itThe Conservatives face obliteration" at the next election after leaving the country in a worse state than they inherited it in 2010, a senior Tory MP has said, in a stark assessment of the party's 13 years in government.Danny Kruger, a leading backbencher and founder of the increasingly influential New Conservatives group, said the Conservatives risked being ejected from power this year having left the country sadder, less united and less conservative" than they found it. Continue reading...

Prof Sir Roy Calne performed gamechanging operation in 1968, and was responsible for other surgical world firsts'Prof Sir Roy Calne, the pioneering surgeon who led a team which performed the first liver transplant in Europe, has died at the age of 93.On 2 May 1968 Calne performed the gamechanging operation at Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge, a year after the US's first successful liver transplant. Continue reading...

Exclusive: As many as 200 roles could go as firm seeks to accelerate digital streaming strategy and limit cuts to content budgetChannel 4 is drawing up plans to cut potentially as many as 200 jobs in its biggest round of layoffs in more than 15 years, as it seeks to make savings to weather the worst TV advertising downturn since 2008.The broadcaster, which has undergone a rapid expansion in recent years with staff numbers swelling to a record level of more than 1,200, aims to dramatically reduce a wage bill that now stands at more than 108m a year. Continue reading...

NSW police allege a criminal group planned to sell more than $1m worth of reptiles in Hong Kong

Police say they are treating the 65-year-old woman's death as a domestic violence incident

Exclusive: software believed to have resulted in prosecutions even before full system rollout in 1999

Research also finds that more than half of people who join a gym do so to tackle an illnessMore than half of people who join a gym do so to tackle an illness and three-quarters find that keeping fit boosts their mental health, new research shows.The findings come as hundreds of thousands of people across the UK join or rejoin a gym, swimming pool or leisure centre as part of a new year resolution to improve their fitness. Continue reading...

BMA claims hospitals in England trying to manipulate' exemption requests to get junior doctors to returnHospitals are exaggerating how short-staffed they are to try to get junior doctors to break their strike and return to work, according to the British Medical Association.The doctors' union has accused NHS trusts of trying to manipulate" the agreed process for how hospitals can ask striking medics to work in order to protect patients' safety. Continue reading...