World news | The Guardian

Levelling up secretary does not deny breach took place, as Labour says No 10 not taking national security seriously enoughMichael Gove has pointedly declined to deny a report that Liz Truss’s personal phone was potentially hacked by Russian agents, as Labour accused the government of “not taking national security seriously enough”.Gove, returned to the cabinet this week by Rishi Sunak as levelling up secretary, said he could not discuss any possible security breaches, while insisting there were “robust protocols” in place over such issues. Continue reading...

House of Lords watchdog has been examining Earl of Shrewsbury over his work for healthcare firmA Conservative hereditary peer appears to have misled the House of Lords standards watchdog during an investigation into his alleged misconduct.The House of Lords commissioners for standards have been investigating the Earl of Shrewsbury over claims he misused his parliamentary position to lobby for a healthcare firm that was paying him. Continue reading...

Police say 79-year-old man was known to victim and has been taken into custody for questioningA 79-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was killed in the latest fatal shooting on Merseyside.Police found the body of the woman, who was in her 50s, at 1.45am on Sunday after being called to an address in Moreton on the Wirral. Continue reading...

President Yoon Suk-yeol declares state of national mourning after fatal surge in Itaewon nightlife quarter of South Korean capitalSouth Korea was plunged into mourning as it attempted to make sense of the deaths of at least 153 people who were crushed and trampled to death in a narrow alley during Halloween celebrations in Itaewon, a packed nightlife area of Seoul.An estimated 100,000 people, many in costume, gathered in Itaewon on Saturday night as the lifting of social distancing, mask mandates and other anti-Covid measures cleared the way for the first Halloween party in three years. Continue reading...

Armed gangs have shut off access to Haiti’s main fuel terminal, decimating basic services amid a cholera and hunger crisisThe Haitian ambassador to Washington has appealed to the international community to accelerate talks on deploying an armed intervention, warning that criminal gangs were in danger of taking over the country.Bocchit Edmond made his appeal as efforts to agree to a UN resolution backing such a force appear to have stalled, and as the US and Canada have been holding urgent talks looking for ways to break the impasse. Continue reading...

The spat and injury inspired Bacon to paint his violent expressionist canvas Self-Portrait with Injured EyeFrancis Bacon feared for his sight in one eye and how it would affect his future as a painter after he was seriously injured in a drunken brawl with a lover in 1972, it has emerged.Part of the evidence comes from the previously unpublished diaries of the late Denis Wirth-Miller, who was Bacon’s friend for 45 years, although their relationship was famously turbulent. Continue reading...

Deleted chapter of book by British spy who supported Arab revolt reveals his true feelings about insincere pledge of self-governmentTE Lawrence was “continually and bitterly ashamed” of the betrayal of the Middle East following the Arab revolt in which he became a British national hero, according to a chapter in his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom which he decided to remove before publication.He was persuaded to remove the chapter by his friend, the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, and it was never printed in any edition. However, for the first time, an extremely rare copy of the manuscript – including the expunged chapter – has come to the open market with a price tag of £65,000. Continue reading...

Former prime minister could be told to limit rewards for allies and friends after her disastrous seven-week tenureLiz Truss will be advised by Buckingham Palace not to present a long list of resignation honours after her short and disastrous premiership, according to senior figures with experience of the system.One source with close knowledge of honours protocol told the Observer that, given her time in No 10 lasted just seven weeks and was marred by economic crisis and U-turns, rewarding lots of allies and friends would be seen as inappropriate by the Palace, by cabinet secretary Simon Case and almost certainly by the new prime minister, Rishi Sunak. Continue reading...

Government says process was informed by national security advice, individual assessments and detailed work by security agencies

Rishi Sunak’s arrival in Downing Street is already helping to repair the party’s reputation for financial managementRishi Sunak and the Conservatives have overturned Labour’s lead in terms of who voters trust most to manage the economy, a new poll for the Observer has revealed.The new prime minister is currently drawing up tax rises and spending cuts designed to fill a £40bn fiscal hole left by Liz Truss’s disastrous time in Downing Street, with warnings that any significant attempt to cut Whitehall budgets will lead to huge pressure on public services. It comes with new analysis revealing that freezing public service spending would save £20bn but would also lead to a return to the austerity of the 2010s. Continue reading...

Footballer Marcus Rashford’s victory on school meals is crumbling as English councils drop schemesCouncils across England are “quietly” axing holiday food voucher schemes for children on free school meals, which has left many families desperate this half-term, headteachers and charities warn.It took a massive public campaign, led by the Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford, to force Boris Johnson into a U-turn in November 2020 on feeding children from the lowest-income families during the school holidays. Continue reading...

Vessel travelling north collides with Cuban coast guard ship near Bahía Honda, reports sayA boat off northern Cuba travelling toward the United States sank Saturday after a collision with a Cuban coastguard ship and at least five people died, Cuban state media reported on Saturday.The craft reportedly flipped over after the crash near Bahía Honda, about two hours from the capital, Havana. Among the five known dead were a minor and three women, while 23 people were rescued, the Cubadebate report said. Continue reading...

Four Israelis and one Palestinian injured in gun attack in Hebron, say Israel's emergency services and armyA gun attack in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron wounded five people on Saturday, including four Israelis and one Palestinian, and the assailant was shot dead, Israel’s emergency services and the army have said.Extreme-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose Religious Zionism alliance is eyeing major gains in elections on Tuesday, has claimed that his Hebron home was the target. Continue reading...

US embassy identified Sandton district as potential target, but event went ahead after South African authorities insisted it was safeThousands of people gathered for the Pride march in South Africa’s largest city Johannesburg on Saturday despite a warning from the US embassy of a possible terror attack.The event took place under heavy security in the upmarket district of Sandton, identified by the US embassy as a potential target. Continue reading...

Breach discovered during Tory leadership in summer but details suppressed, the Mail on Sunday reportsThe government has been urged to launch an urgent investigation after reports that Liz Truss’s phone was hacked.The breach was discovered when Truss, then the foreign secretary, was running for the Tory leadership in the summer, but details were suppressed by the then-prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, the Mail on Sunday reported. Continue reading...

Carbon-neutral farmer says use of offsets from Armoobilla project ‘outrageous’ but company says they meet ‘rigorous requirements’ of government standard

Luke O’Connor, 19, was stabbed to death in Fallowfield area of city on WednesdayA teenager has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of student Luke O’Connor, who was stabbed to death in south Manchester.

MPs who received gifts later appeared to speak favourably about Qatar in parliamentary debatesQatar has spent more money on gifts and trips for British MPs in the past year than any other country, according to Observer analysis that reveals the Gulf state’s lobbying efforts ahead of next month’s football World Cup.The Qatari government made gifts to members of parliament worth £251,208 in the 12 months to October 2022, including luxury hotel stays, business-class flights and tickets to horse-racing events. Continue reading...

Moscow plans expedited Kherson withdrawal, says MoD; Guterres calls for west to help remove blocks to Russian grain exports

Extreme group Britain First publishes series of anti-immigrant videos in first 24 hours after getting its new accountKey figures on Britain’s far right who were previously banned from Twitter have been able to open new accounts, apparently without restrictions, after the platform’s takeover by Elon Musk.Britain First, an extreme group whose leader has spent time in jail for hate crimes against Muslims, rejoined the social media network on Friday. It had been banned in 2017 under Twitter’s hate speech rules after posting inflammatory anti-Muslim videos. Some videos posted by its then deputy leader were retweeted by US president Donald Trump. Continue reading...

UK charity dedicated to solving missing persons cases releases new image it believes could help finally identify her after 18 yearsThe mystery over the identity of a young woman found at the foot of a tower block in north-west London 18 years ago could finally be solved, investigators say.The woman is believed to have fallen from the 21st floor of Wembley Point, a triangular office building now known as the WEM Tower London, into the River Brent on the morning of Friday 29 October 2004. Continue reading...

Move comes after assault by airborne and underwater drones in which flagship may be been damaged

Spying charge levelled at Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi carries death penalty as Tehran seeks to suppress running protestsTwo female journalists who were instrumental in reporting the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death in the custody of Iran’s morality police has sparked nationwide protests, have been labelled as CIA foreign agents by the Iranian regime.Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who were arrested shortly after news broke of Amini’s death and who are reportedly being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, were accused of being foreign agents in a joint statement released by Iran’s ministry of intelligence and the intelligence organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards last night. Continue reading...

Politician tells Mumsnet that being prime minister is a ‘pretty serious job’ as he contrasts himself with Boris Johnson and Liz TrussSir Keir Starmer has told an interviewer that the UK does not need a “comedian” as prime minister after he was asked about his image as a “dull” politician . The question came in an interview with Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts, who put questions from the site’s users to the Labour leader.

Thousands join demonstration against a childcare structure they say is setting families up for failureThousands gathered in Trafalgar Square on Saturday for the March of the Mummies protest against a childcare structure that many say is setting parents, children and society up for failure.Among them, swathed in gauze and pushing his two-year-old’s stroller, were Laurence Parkes and his family, who described raising two children in London as expensive: a monthly cost including nursery and after-school care that nears the family’s mortgage payments. Continue reading...

UK foreign secretary was speaking at memorial ceremony for victims of 2008 attacks in MumbaiCountries must work together to deprive terrorists of funding in order to prevent deadly attacks, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said.Cleverly is in India for a two-day meeting of the UN security council’s counter-terrorism committee, which is being held in Mumbai and Delhi. Continue reading...

Writer who also edited Independent on Sunday remembered as one of the best in British journalismIan Jack, the Guardian columnist and former editor of Granta and the Independent on Sunday, has died at the age of 77 after a short illness.Jack was a gifted writer, a brilliant and imaginative editor, and a mentor to younger journalists. His last piece for the Guardian, published a week ago, was marking the centenary of the BBC, “one of the world’s great cultural projects”. He wrote: “It looks unlikely that Britain will ever again invent anything so admired and influential; we have been lucky to have it.”Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topic. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site. Continue reading...

Two explosions occur at same busy junction where al-Shabaab blasts killed 500 people five years agoTwo car bombs have exploded at a busy junction in Mogadishu near key government offices, leaving “scores of civilian casualties,” police told Somali state media.The attack on Saturday occurred five years after a massive blast at the same location killed hundreds of people. Continue reading...

Journalist Amber de Botton takes special adviser role for new prime ministerRishi Sunak has hired Amber de Botton as his director of communications, Downing Street confirmed on Saturday, in the latest in a series of appointments made by the prime minister in his first week in office.

Citizen-spotters can report missiles at the push of a button with ePPO on their mobiles• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesA simple mobile phone app has been developed by Ukrainian volunteers to allow civilians to report sightings of incoming Russian drones and missiles – and, it is hoped, increase the proportion shot down before they hit the ground.The app, ePPO, relies on a phone’s GPS and compass, and a user only has to point their device in the direction of the incoming object and press a single button for it to send a location report to the country’s military. Continue reading...

Whistleblowers allege harassment of female members included ‘crush depth rape list’The head of the Royal Navy has ordered an investigation into “abhorrent” allegations of inappropriate behaviour in the submarine service and declared that sexual assault and harassment has no place in the fleet.It follows whistleblowers making harrowing allegations about misogyny, and bullying and sexual harassment of female members. Continue reading...

Officials revise death toll after fast-moving waters sweep away entire families and damage almost 500 housesThe Philippines has significantly revised down the death toll from a tropical storm ravaging the country, saying only 45 people have been killed.The civil defence office had earlier reported 72 dead, 14 missing and 33 injured, but civil defence officials acknowledged rescue teams sent to the country’s flood-hit south on Friday had erred in their reporting, leading to some deaths being counted twice. Continue reading...

Founder of campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed says parents are being set up to failMore than 15,000 people are expected to take to the streets across the UK calling for government reforms to a childcare and parental leave structure that critics describe as dangerous and devastating.Saturday’s March of the Mummies, organised by the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, is expected to bring out thousands of parents and children across 11 cities, with the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the actor Sarah Solemani and the Labour MP Stella Creasy among those expected to attend. Continue reading...

EU commissioner says Elon Musk’s platform must ‘fly by our rules’ as UK minister raises concerns over content moderationElon Musk’s Twitter acquisition has been polarizing, sparking reactions from politicians, regulators and non-profits across different continents.Some have expressed concerns about potential changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies now that it’s in the hands of the Tesla billionaire, while others celebrated how they expect the platform’s newly minted leader will handle content and speech on Twitter. Continue reading...

Metropolitan police said its female officer representation is 30.4%, equating to 10,386 officersBritain’s biggest police force has its highest ever number of female officers, new figures show.The Metropolitan police said its female officer representation is 30.4%, equating to 10,386 officers, as of the end of September 2022. The force said it aims to increase the proportion to 33% by the financial year of 2023/2024. Continue reading...

Two of Australia’s biggest banks predict the Reserve Bank will revise the inflation rate to 8% – the highest since March 1990

Gangs believed to control about 60% of Port-au-Prince as Haitians also struggling with dwindling supplies for food, water and basicsGang violence, kidnapping and intimidation has forced about 96,000 people to flee their homes in Haiti’s capital, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday, as the country faces a crisis that has prompted the government to request the immediate deployment of foreign troops.The IOM said gang-related violence has led to “racketeering, kidnappings and wider criminal acts in a context characterized by deep inequalities, high levels of deprivation of basic human needs and a fragmented security environment”. Continue reading...

Crowds in Mahabad also fired on during rally held after funeral of protester Ismail MauludiIranian security forces have opened fired on protesters in Zahedan a month after a massacre that killed scores of people in the restive south-eastern city.Crowds were also fired on in Mahabad, another city with a long history of resistance against the regime, in renewed deadly violence at the end of the sixth week of unrest sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini on 16 September. Continue reading...

Reappointment of ‘leaky Su’ as home secretary has been the one obvious blight on Rishi Sunak’s new premiershipSuella Braverman has said little in public since she was reinstated as home secretary on Tuesday. Her return to a great office of state, just six days after a security breach, has reignited an internal Tory row over propriety and political direction that could destabilise Rishi Sunak’s premiership. But the MP for Fareham, usually at her happiest when using media publicity to anger liberals and enthuse the hard right, has kept quiet, avoiding microphones, cameras and two urgent questions in the House of Commons.On Wednesday there was no mention of the “tofu-eating wokerati” she has previously blamed for Just Stop Oil protests, and no reference to her “dream” of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. Instead, as Braverman silently slipped out of the chamber to avoid taking part in a debate discussing whether she was fit for a return to office, she was taunted by Labour MPs. “Where are you going? Come back!” said the shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry. Continue reading...

Catherine Poole tells prime minister to pay staff more, raising a finger and saying: ‘You need to try harder’

Rishi Sunak needs to clarify whether his home secretary’s security breach contained market sensitive data, Labour says

Steven Craig served prison time for 1998 attack on Jacqueline Kirk and was re-arrested after her death in 2019A man has been convicted of murdering his ex-partner, who died 21 years after he doused her with petrol and set her on fire.Steven Craig, now 58, inflicted horrendous injuries on Jacqueline Kirk in a car park in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, in April 1998. Kirk had burns to 35% of her body, required a tracheotomy and operations including skin grafts, and was in hospital for nine months. Continue reading...

Katrín Jakobsdóttir joins long list of fiction-writing politicians with book that came together during Covid pandemicFor 30 years, the disappearance of teenager Lára Marteinsdóttir from the windswept island of Víðey, off the coast of Iceland’s capital, tormented the nation. Until 1986, when Valur, a rookie reporter on a local newspaper, decided to investigate …So far, so Nordic noir. But Reykjavík, published to promising reviews in Iceland this week, is a crime novel with a difference – it was written by the prime minister, albeit with the help of one of the country’s international bestselling authors. Continue reading...

Now is not the right time to take this policy forward, says prime minister’s spokespersonRishi Sunak has dropped his Conservative leadership campaign pledge to fine patients £10 if they miss a GP or hospital appointment.The prime minister had told Tory members in August it was “wrong” that there are “15m missed appointments every year NHS” at GPs and hospitals, as he justified the fine as a “tough” measure to change people’s behaviour. Continue reading...

Man says state prison failed to provide adequate diet, in appeal joined by former psychiatric patientSwitzerland has been challenged at the European court of human rights over a failure to provide adequate vegan diets to a prisoner and a patient at the psychiatric ward of a hospital, in a case that could lead to veganism being interpreted as a protected characteristic under the right of freedom of conscience across geographic Europe.The court, which is part of the Council of Europe and not the EU, this week formally asked its member state Switzerland to respond to the two complaints that Swiss state institutions had failed to provide a totally vegan diet to two applicants while they were in prison and in a hospital psychiatric unit respectively. Continue reading...

Twitter users said clip's backing music was strikingly similar to convicted paedophile’s song Rock ‘n’ RollDowning Street has been forced to deny that a slick new video of Rishi Sunak’s first week as prime minister contains music by the convicted paedophile Gary Glitter.No 10 published the video on Twitter on Friday morning with the caption: “Together we can achieve incredible things. Now let’s get to work”. Continue reading...

IAG says leisure holidays main driver of resurgence while business travel continues to recoverAirline revenues at British Airways’ owner have returned to pre-Covid levels, the group has announced, as it increased its profit forecasts despite a summer of disruption.Higher fares drove IAG’s revenues for the last quarter above €7.3bn, despite the cap on flying imposed at its main base, London Heathrow airport, and the continued closure of key routes to Asia. Continue reading...

Labour leader says people already paying the price for government mistakes, with cuts and tax rises ahead

Bar a dramatic surprise, DUP will continue its boycott, raising further doubts about viability of region’s institutionsNorthern Ireland is about to test the dictum that doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity.Political deadlock triggered a forthcoming assembly election that is expected broadly to replicate the result of an election last May and produce the same deadlock. That it will take place in winter underlines the sense of Groundhog Day, except it is an entire region of 1.9 million people reliving the same experience. Continue reading...

Minimum rate of £11 an hour puts it above Lidl and back at top of supermarket wage leagueAldi is increasing pay for its workers for the third time this year with a new minimum rate of £11 an hour, putting it back at the top of the supermarket pay league.The UK’s fourth largest grocer is upping pay by 50p an hour – or almost 5% – for about 26,000 staff from January, announcing the increase just over a month after its last rise, in September, when shop workers’ hourly rate rose 40p to a minimum £10.50 an hour. Workers inside the M25 motorway around London will see their pay rise to at least £12.45 an hour. Continue reading...