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Prime minister at risk of mass exodus of ministers as home secretary forced to resignLiz Truss’s beleaguered government appeared at risk of collapse on Wednesday as Suella Braverman launched a stinging attack on the prime minister after being forced to resign as home secretary.Braverman’s dramatic departure, coming just five days after Truss sacked her chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, risks the prime minister experiencing the sort of mass exodus of ministers that forced Boris Johnson to quit. Continue reading...

MPs say unsustainable workloads and low morale of family doctors need to be addressed urgentlyMinisters are ignoring “unsustainable” workload pressures and a growing shortage of medics in general practice, putting the safety of millions of patients at risk, MPs have said.In a scathing report, the health and social care committee accuses the government and NHS England of being reluctant to acknowledge the enormous problems in the system. As a result, the crisis is not being tackled with anything like sufficient urgency, the MPs say. Continue reading...

Chris Bryant says at least one MP ‘physically pulled through door’ as Labour motion failsPlans to create Great British Railways, a public sector body to oversee Britain’s railways, have been delayed, MPs have been told.Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the transport secretary, told the Commons transport committee that the transport bill, which would have set up the new body, has been delayed because legislation to deal with the energy crisis is being prioritised. She said:The challenges of things like the energy legislation we’ve got to bring in and various others has meant that we have lost the opportunity to have that [bill] in this third session.What we are continuing to pitch for will be what I would call a narrow bill around the future of transport technologies, the legislation around things like e-scooters. Continue reading...

Under the framework, traditional owners will enter into interim agreements during negotiations

Johnson’s former transport secretary, an aviator with multiple names, has been parachuted in to replace Suella BravermanAnswering the question “who is Grant Shapps?” is more complicated than it would be for most MPs.The new home secretary has had a varied political career, with rapid rises and precipitous falls – serving as transport secretary, international development secretary, Conservative party chairman, housing minister and now home secretary. Continue reading...

Basketball player, who was arrested at Moscow airport after authorities found vape canisters, thanks supportersBrittney Griner thanked her supporters from a Russian prison where the detained basketball athlete spent her 32nd birthday on Tuesday.In a statement released by her lawyers and reported by CNN, Griner said: “Thank you everyone for fighting so hard to get me home. All the support and love are definitely helping me.” Continue reading...

Deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe says Bank did not have usual briefing the night before mini-budgetBank of England officials were excluded from discussions ahead of the mini-budget last month that triggered a “full-scale liquidation event” for pension funds, MPs heard on Wednesday.Deputy governor Sir Jon Cunliffe, who said the central bank was forced into battle to save the £1.5tn pensions industry from insolvency, also warned ministers against grabbing fresh powers to meddle in the decisions of regulators or risk a further deterioration in the UK’s international reputation. Continue reading...

President accused of authoritarianism as PM puts end to days of heated parliamentary debateThe French government is to use special constitutional powers to force through its 2023 budget without a parliamentary vote, sparking accusations of “authoritarianism” from the opposition and underlining President Emmanuel Macron’s weakened domestic position since his centrist grouping lost its absolute majority in elections last spring.“It is our responsibility to make sure our country has a budget”, the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, told parliament as she put an end to several days of heated debate over the government’s pro-business budget, which ministers said would protect people from the cost of living crisis while avoiding tax increases. Continue reading...

Truss’s PMQs comment at odds with Downing Street and Treasury’s previous refusal to commit to pledge

A pay offer for RMT members has been outlined in a letter to the general secretary, Mick LynchNetwork Rail has invited union leaders to “intensive” talks next week in a bid to avert a fresh wave of strikes in a long-running row over pay, jobs and conditions.The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union said its members will strike on 3, 5 and 7 November, threatening more travel misery for passengers after months of industrial action. Continue reading...

Structure would protect areas identified as posing potential risk of large-scale migration from Russia

Jason Stein understood to have been suspended before inquiry into briefings against MPsJason Stein, one of Liz Truss’s key advisers, is understood to have been suspended from his job before an investigation into insulting briefings about MPs, including one over the weekend accusing Sajid Javid of being “shit”.Truss’s press secretary, answering queries after prime minister’s questions, said he could not comment on individual staffing matters but did not deny reports that Stein had been suspended, saying that Truss believed some briefings about parliamentary colleagues were “completely unacceptable”. Continue reading...

The short story competition for unpublished writers of colour, run by the Guardian and 4th Estate, features a domestic child worker in Pakistan and a physics professor whose psyche splits in twoSix “hugely compelling and vividly realised global stories” have been shortlisted for the 4thWrite prize.The prize, which is run by the Guardian and publisher 4th Estate, is a short story competition for unpublished writers of colour. Continue reading...

Player, 21, has been charged with attempted rape, assault and engaging in coercive and controlling behaviourThe Manchester United footballer Mason Greenwood has been released on bail following a private court hearing over allegations of attempted rape and other offences.The 21-year-old is expected to be released from prison on Wednesday having spent four nights in custody. Greenwood was charged on Saturday with attempted rape, assault and engaging in coercive and controlling behaviour. Continue reading...

Consumers continue to buy products such as KitKat bars and bottles of Perrier despite 7.5% increaseNestlé has reported its strongest sales growth in 14 years, with products including KitKat bars, bottles of Perrier and pet food flying off the shelves, after it passed on a hefty 7.5% price increase to consumers.The world’s largest consumer goods company, the owner of household brands including Nescafé, Purina, Cheerios, Nespresso, Maggi and Quality Street, reported organic sales growth of 8.5% to 69.1bn Swiss francs (£61bn) in the first nine months of the year. Continue reading...

The 1% Study says more must be done to address representation at major law firmsJust 90 of more than 13,000 partners at major law firms in England and Wales are Black, according to a report, which says more must be done to address the underrepresentation.The 1% Study, named after the approximate proportion of black partners at solicitors’ firms with 10 plus partners, says the sector could learn from efforts in other industries to attract, retain, develop, and progress diverse talent to senior levels. Continue reading...

Sergei Surovikin says Ukraine forces ‘continually’ trying to take positions of Russian troops, particularly in Kupiansk, Lyman and Mykolaiv

Charity Breast Cancer Now warns of a ‘postcode lottery’ of NHS care for women after mastectomyWomen waiting for breast reconstruction surgery on the NHS in England face a “postcode lottery” of care, with some forced to wait more than three years, a damning report warns.Two in five women (40%) waiting for breast reconstruction during the pandemic after having their breasts removed due to cancer faced a delay of 24 months or longer, according to research involving 1,246 women who either underwent reconstruction surgery or were waiting for it. Continue reading...

‘As far as we’re aware, this is the first detection of a new drug by a drug-checking service anywhere in the world,’ says professor

New rightwing government said label could be ‘counter-productive’; policy contributed to new legislation in some 20 countriesSweden’s new rightwing government has announced it is ditching the country’s pioneering “feminist foreign policy”, launched by the leftwing administration in 2014, saying the label could be counter-productive.The foreign minister Tobias Billström announced the move just moments after prime minister Ulf Kristersson presented his new government, backed by the far-right Sweden Democrats for the first time. Continue reading...

Streaming service adds 2.4m subscribers in past three months to comfortably beat forecasts after ‘challenging’ first half of yearNetflix added 2.4m new subscribers in the last three months, more than twice what had been expected and reversing back-to-back quarters of decline, the company announced on Tuesday.The streaming company had been expected to add 1m new subscribers over the latest quarter, which included the release of hit shows including the latest series of Stranger Things, Sandman and Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Continue reading...

Action is planned for 3, 5 and 7 November; London Overground and tube staff will strike on 3 NovemberNetwork Rail workers are to stage fresh strikes in the bitter row over pay, jobs and conditions, threatening fresh disruption to services.Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will strike on 3, 5 and 7 November. Continue reading...

Latest updates: No 10 signals 2019 manifesto pledge is up for negotiation as PM says she is prioritising economic stabilityLiam Fox, the Tory former international trade secretary, told Sky News this morning that Liz Truss’s future would partly depend on whether the financial markets settle down following the latest mini-budget U-turns. He said:We can all read the polls and I don’t need to tell you what the atmosphere is like at Westminster. People will be weighing up what the prime minister said last night - that she had made mistakes, that she learned from those, and that the measures that Jeremy Hunt had put in place seemed to be providing the necessary economic stability in the markets.If the markets don’t believe that a Conservative government is able to manage public finances sensibly then that government has had it. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Scripts set out how corporation will reassure public in event of major power lossThe BBC has prepared secret scripts which could be broadcast if energy shortages cause blackouts or the loss of gas supplies this winter.The scripts, seen by the Guardian, set out how the corporation would reassure the public in the event that a “major loss of power” causes mobile telephone networks, the internet, banking systems, or traffic lights to fail across England, Wales and Scotland. Northern Ireland would be unaffected because its electricity grid is shared with the Republic of Ireland. Continue reading...

Amendment to public order bill would make harassment of women by protesters a criminal offenceProposals to enforce buffer zones around abortion clinics in England and Wales have been backed by MPs.Under the proposed law, harassing, obstructing or interfering with any woman attending an abortion clinic will become a criminal offence. Continue reading...

Even with no formal mechanism to force out Truss there are situations that could prove fatal for her premiership• UK politics live – latest news updatesPlots to oust Liz Truss as prime minister are intensifying at break-neck speed, but there remains neither a mechanism to force her from office nor, so far, an acceptable unity candidate that would bring the Conservative party back together.There are, however, still a number of possible scenarios that could prove fatally destabilising for her premiership. Continue reading...

Up to 100 letters sent to 1922 Committee as Michael Gove says PM’s departure is ‘a matter of when not if’Dismayed Tory MPs are continuing their plotting to oust Liz Truss, amid anger over plummeting poll ratings and the threat of the axe falling on public spending, despite Jeremy Hunt urging them to unite behind her for the sake of the economy.Briefings continued in earnest on Tuesday saying that Graham Brady, chair of the powerful backbench 1922 Committee, had received up to 100 letters calling on Truss to go, increasing the pressure on him to rewrite party rules to allow another confidence vote. Continue reading...

Senior Tory ministers, Labour party and the public all expected to resist cuts, especially to frontline services• UK politics live – latest news updatesLiz Truss is facing cabinet unrest over her plans for brutal public spending cuts across all departments after the disastrous mini-budget put major pledges at risk, including the pensions triple lock.The prime minister held a 90-minute cabinet meeting on Tuesday in which she warned ministers that “difficult decisions” lay ahead. Continue reading...

Nato secretary general says new counter-drone defences to be delivered to Ukraine within days

Friends of Elnaz Rekabi have been unable to contact athlete since Sunday, while embassy says she returned home with rest of teamA female Iranian climber who competed in an international tournament without a hijab did so because her headscarf had dropped by mistake, a post on her Instagram account has claimed.Footage of Elnaz Rekabi, 33, scaling a wall without her head covered during an international tournament went viral, coming amid big female-led demonstrations against Iran’s clerical rulers sparked by strict Islamic rules on women’s clothing. Continue reading...

Police say baby found not breathing and two women found injured at address in SparkhillA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a three-week-old boy died in Birmingham.West Midlands police said they were called to Dovey Road in Sparkhill, in the south of the city, at 3.40am and found a baby who was not breathing and two women with injuries. Continue reading...

Removal of fascist dictator’s image leads to revelation that more hang in other government buildingsA photo of the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini hanging on a wall in the Italian ministry for economic development will be removed to “avoid controversy”, the outgoing minister has said.The newly elected senate speaker, Ignazio La Russa, a Brothers of Italy co-founder who collects fascist memorabilia, criticised the move as an example of “cancel culture”. Continue reading...

Mark Brown, 41, from East Sussex, accused of murdering Alexandra Morgan and Leah Ware in 2021A man accused of murdering two women described himself as a “psychopath with a conscience” and held one of his victims captive for months in a shipping container, a court has heard.Mark Brown, 41, a groundworks labourer from St Leonards, East Sussex, was accused of murdering Alexandra Morgan, 34, and Leah Ware, 33, at the opening of his trial at Hove crown court. Brown has pleaded not guilty to both charges. Continue reading...

Footage shows figure believed to be Zheng Xiyuan kicking down poster and pulling pro-democracy protester’s hairOne of China’s most senior diplomats in the UK was involved in the violence against pro-democracy protesters at the Manchester consulate, a British MP has said.Alicia Kearns, a Conservative MP, told the House of Commons that Beijing’s consul general in Manchester, Zheng Xiyuan, was seen “ripping down posters” before a Hong Kong campaigner was attacked on Sunday. Continue reading...

Victoria’s anti-corruption watchdog also says ‘exceptional circumstances’ test for public hearings an ‘unnecessary hurdle’The ABC has warned it could face corruption complaints for its journalists’ work under the national anti-corruption commission and has called for editorial work to be excluded from the commission’s purview.The ABC made the request in a submission to a parliamentary inquiry on the Nacc, saying that the definition of corruption – which includes the “misuse of information or documents” – could capture confidential government information or documents being sent to an ABC journalist in “the normal course of the journalist’s work”. Continue reading...

Iranian opposition sign open letter calling for tougher measures over regime’s actions against protestersA prominent group of Iranians in exile, human rights activists and families of dual-national political prisoners has called on the west to do more to help Iranians’ demands for freedom.The EU, US and UK have imposed largely symbolic travel bans and asset freezes on a dozen security officials linked to a crackdown on people protesting in Iran after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini in mid-September. The west has not broken off talks with the Iranian regime over the 2015 nuclear deal or downgraded diplomatic relations. Continue reading...

Mason and Eddie Izzard vying for nomination in safe seat but two local councillors seen as favourites

Exclusive: more than half of legal professionals in survey said they saw a judge acting in a racially biased wayThe judiciary in England and Wales is “institutionally racist”, with more than half of legal professionals surveyed claiming to have witnessed a judge acting in a racially biased way, according to a report.The study by the University of Manchester and barrister Keir Monteith KC found judicial discrimination to be directed particularly towards Black court users – from lawyers to witnesses to defendants. Continue reading...

MP and doctor Dan Poulter says health secretary’s ideas over ‘nanny statism’ are stopping action on obesity and smoking

UK government lawyers tell asylum seekers they can return to Sri Lanka or be removed to undisclosed countryTamil refugees seeking asylum from the British-claimed Chagos Islands face being forcibly removed to a third country under Rwanda-style plans drawn up by the UK government.Government lawyers have told the asylum seekers that if they cannot be returned to Sri Lanka they will instead be removed to another undisclosed country. Continue reading...

Defence secretary would hold Truss to pledges, says source, as he flies off for security talks in Washington

Chinese recruitment ‘to understand the capabilities of our air force’ of concern, says James Heappey

Rio’s heavily armed paramilitary groups have exploded in influence in recent years to wield power over dozens of communitiesThe theme from Mel Gibson’s Braveheart filled the air as the man accused of helping spawn Rio’s paramilitary mafia movement was lowered into the soils of a graveyard called the Garden of Longing. Fireworks exploded overhead.“My brother was a noble man with a magnificent heart,” said the dead man’s sibling, Natalino Guimarães, as he and hundreds of mourners prepared to say their last goodbye. Continue reading...

Publisher who founded Virago Press began as a campaigning outsider who introduced UK readers to authors including Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood

As number of prepoll votes rise, rule has become redundant and may also encourage misinformation, TV broadcasters and social media groups say

In interview from capital, Saleh Kebzabo says he wants powerful rebels to join transitional governmentChad’s new prime minister has said that uniting the population “is the only way forward” for the chronically unstable African country after its president, Mahamat Idriss Déby, appointed him to head an interim national unity administration.Saleh Kebzabo, 75, a former opposition figure and journalist, has been tasked with leading the country towards the first free and fair elections in its political history. Continue reading...

Evacuation orders are current for Echuca and Barmah on the Murray River, Kerang on the Loddon, and Rochester on the Campaspe

Rolfe, who was acquitted over death of Kumanjayi Walker, was banned from applying to Queensland police over ‘integrity breach’

Judge says there ‘was absolutely no excuse’ for Benjamin Jansen to attack Rex Kable Keen in 1976

Agents in former chancellor’s constituency are glad to see him go after his effect on property marketIt was one of the more startling claims made over the weekend, in the wake of the sacking of Kwasi Kwarteng. Someone in an estate agent in the then chancellor’s constituency reportedly made an “obscene gesture” at him through the window, in apparent disgust at the way his mini-budget had tanked the economy.None of three estate agents on Shepperton High Street in Surrey will admit that someone in their office was responsible for the alleged gesture towards their local MP when he toured local businesses shortly before he was sacked last week. Continue reading...