Corporation says episode of The Papers hosted by Martine Croxall failed to meet its editorial standardsThe BBC has found that an episode of The Papers on 23 October presented by Martine Croxall failed to meet its editorial standards on impartiality.The programme started about 90 minutes after Boris Johnson had pulled out of the Tory leadership race. Continue reading...
Move comes after ‘multi-step’ review by Canada’s national security and intelligence agenciesCanada has ordered China to immediately sell its holdings in three Canadian mining companies, as the need for investments in the extraction of critical minerals clashes with growing concerns over national security.On Wednesday Canada’s industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne, said three Chinese companies would be required to divest from junior mining companies. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#65DZ5)
Staff warn of short timetable to introduce changes, with final details of voter ID system yet to be releasedA series of major changes to UK elections including voter ID and an imminent revamp of Commons constituencies is leaving electoral administrators overwhelmed and risks bringing chaos to polling stations, officials and opposition parties have warned.Final Commons boundary changes, being announced next week for England and Scotland, will automatically take effect for any subsequent general election, requiring vast efforts to allocate officials and polling stations to the redrawn constituency maps. Continue reading...
by Samantha Lock, Martin Belam and Vivian Ho on (#65DBB)
Vladimir Putin says Moscow will rejoin grain export deal; US alleges North Korea covertly supplying Russia with a ‘significant’ number of artillery shells
Supermarket chain says it has tried to keep prices down with households dining more at home rather than eating outHouseholds “feeling the squeeze” are shopping earlier for Christmas to spread the cost and have made a shift to dining at home rather than at restaurants, according to Sainsbury’s.The supermarket revealed an 8% fall in first-half profits as it said it had invested in keeping prices as low as possible, with food price inflation in its stores running at “comfortably less” than the 10%-plus reported for the wider market. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Mohammed Ramadhan, who alleges he was tortured into confessing to deadly bombing, urges pontiff to act on visit to Gulf stateA former airport security guard who is on death row in Bahrain for a crime he alleges he was tortured into confessing to has urged Pope Francis to call for his release during the pontiff’s visit to the Gulf state.In a letter shared exclusively with the Guardian through the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (Bird), Mohammed Ramadhan, who has been in prison for nine years, asked the pontiff to “ask the king of Bahrain to release me and reunite me with my family and children”. Continue reading...
In a solo appearance, the treasurer was bombarded with questions but did not rule out subsidies or changes to company taxJim Chalmers says the government intends to have a plan for Australia’s rising energy prices before Christmas, as he was peppered with questions about the cost of living by everyday Australians demanding concrete answers.The treasurer said he was not going to rule out subsidies or changes to how energy companies were taxed in case the situation did not improve, but the current focus remained on changes to regulations, including price caps. Continue reading...
Harbour Energy says higher levy and extended timeline will deter investment despite profits bonanzaThe UK’s largest oil and gas producer has warned Rishi Sunak against toughening up the windfall tax on North Sea operators as the prime minister finalises plans for a £40bn raid on the industry.Harbour Energy urged the government to “carefully consider” any mooted change to the energy profits levy, which was introduced earlier this year. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Met investigating two alleged sexual assaults at site, amid growing fears over safety of refugee facilitiesA teenage boy was allegedly raped by a man in his 30s at a hotel used to house refugees in east London, with another alleged sexual assault against a child taking place in the same facility.The Metropolitan police confirmed they were investigating both incidents, which come amid growing fears of chronic overcrowding and unsafe facilities for refugees that have put significant pressure on the home secretary, Suella Braverman.
Fuller pleads guilty to 16 offences relating to dead women in Kent mortuaries between 2007 and 2020The double murderer David Fuller has admitted sexually abusing 23 dead women in hospital mortuaries.The 68-year-old pleaded guilty at Croydon crown court on Thursday to 12 counts of sexual penetration of a corpse and four counts of possession of extreme pornography between 2007 and 2020. Continue reading...
Mull and Iona islanders want to replace ferries run by state-owned CalMac after years of ‘inefficiency’Scottish islanders who are fed up with the country’s crisis-hit ferry service are to investigate running their own ferries, claiming they have lost patience with government bungling.After years of service cancellations and break-downs, islanders on Mull and Iona want to replace the car ferries run by the state-owned company CalMac with their own community-run service, using three faster catamarans. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#65DKZ)
Immigration minister says legal action has begun on behalf of some detainees in Kent processing centreThe government has conceded that the asylum processing centre at Manston in Kent is not operating legally, after the immigration minister said legal action had begun on behalf of some of those held there.The centre is supposed to hold a maximum of 1,600 people, and each for just 24 hours while initial checks are made. However, up to 4,000 have been at the centre, some staying in terrible conditions for weeks. Continue reading...
In today’s newsletter: The former prime minister is close to winning office less than 18 months after losing it, in Israel’s fifth election in four years. This is how he pulled it offGood morning. When Benjamin Netanyahu lost power last June, he insisted he would be back. “With God’s help,” he said in a valedictory speech, “that will happen much sooner than you think.” 16 months later, he looks all but certain to be prime minister of Israel again.The count of the votes in the country’s fifth election in four years will not be completed until later today, and coalition talks could take weeks to complete. But by the tally so far, Netanyahu’s rightwing Likud party is the largest group in the Knesset – and the broad coalition formed to topple him last year looks likely to be thrown into opposition.Asylum | The Home Office abandoned asylum seekers from the Manston immigration centre in central London without accommodation or warm clothing, the Guardian can reveal. Amid acute overcrowding at Manston, charity volunteers said 11 people were left at Victoria station on Tuesday evening with nowhere to stay.Interest rates | Mortgage rates are expected to jump on Thursday in response to the largest increase in the Bank of England’s base rate since 1989, as the central bank tries to bring down inflation. The base interest rate is expected to go up by 0.75 percentage points to 3%.Poverty | The United Nations’ poverty envoy has warned Rishi Sunak that a new wave of austerity in this month’s budget could violate the UK’s international human rights obligations and increase hunger. Olivier de Schutter said he was “extremely troubled” by likely multibillion-pound spending cuts.Policing | Two Metropolitan police officers have been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment after sharing racist, homophobic, misogynistic and ableist messages in a WhatsApp group with Wayne Couzens before he murdered Sarah Everard. The two men were bailed ahead of an appeal.Media | Eric Allison, who became the Guardian’s prison correspondent aged 60 after spending much of his life in jail, has died aged 79. Former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said Allison “cast a steady light on a world successive governments would rather were kept in the dark”. Continue reading...
Mars to trial No Bounty tubs this Christmas after 40% of consumers felt the fabled ‘taste of paradise’ tasted like hellWith its creamy coconut centre, a Bounty bar claims to taste of paradise, but it seems one person’s heaven really is another’s hell: Mars has decided to trial a “No Bounty” tub of Celebrations this Christmas after its consumer research confirmed their status as the least popular sweet.The experiment comes after nearly 40% of those polled told the company the Bounty should be permanently axed from the Celebrations line up, where it struggles to compete with the star power of “all-time favourite” Maltesers. Continue reading...
Researchers found not much has changed since 1969, with many saying their accents had been mocked or criticised at workThe problem of “accent bias” has not gone away in the UK, according to research that says many people with working-class or regional English accents fear their careers might suffer because of how they speak.Researchers who surveyed thousands of Britons found that young people from the north of England and the Midlands were much more likely to be concerned that their accent would count against them, compared with people from the south of England (other than London). Continue reading...
Energy costs, staff pay rises and inflation have left schools unable to pay for repairs, mental health services and tripsSecondary school heads across England are warning MPs of cuts to mental health provision, school trips and essential building repairs because rising costs and energy bills are wrecking their budgets.Ahead of the government’s autumn statement on 17 November, headteachers are telling local MPs and councillors about their struggles to adjust their budgets to cover unexpected costs of hundreds of thousands of pounds in higher pay and bills. Continue reading...
Activists fear for their safety after limited UK riposte to assault on demonstrator outside Chinese consulateHong Kong migrants who fled repression by China said they fear for their safety and are calling on the UK government to take a bolder stance after a pro-democracy protester was beaten in the grounds of a Chinese consulate two weeks ago.The assault in Manchester drew swift condemnation from activists and politicians across the Commons as videos circulated showing a senior Chinese diplomat forcefully grabbing a pro-democracy protester’s hair before the protester was wrestled to the ground and beaten by a group of men. Continue reading...
Scholz’s coalition government seems uncertain about what sort of relationship it wants with BeijingRussia’s war in Ukraine has woken Germany up to the risk of having an economy that is too reliant on raw materials provided by an autocratic strongman. But as the Germany chancellor, Olaf Scholz, heads to Beijing at the end of this week, there are questions as to whether he would rather leave lessons from the recent past at home in Berlin.Scholz is the first representative of a liberal democracy to be granted a state visit to China since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan in 2019, and will be the first major political leader to meet Xi Jinping since the Chinese president consolidated his power with a shake-up at the top of the Communist party. Continue reading...
by Presented by John Harris with David Gauke and Miat on (#65DFC)
Criticism of Suella Braverman is mounting, with the home secretary under fire over her handling of an immigration centre in Kent. The Guardian’s John Harris is joined by the former Conservative MP and justice secretary, David Gauke, and economist Miatta Fahnbulleh, to look at what this says about Rishi Sunak’s political judgment, and the Conservatives’ immigration policy Continue reading...
New York attorney general’s office says CBS executives conspired with a Los Angeles police captain to conceal sexual assault allegations against MoonvesCBS and its former president, Leslie Moonves, will pay $30.5m as part of an agreement with the New York attorney general’s office, which says the network’s executives conspired with a Los Angeles police captain to conceal sexual assault allegations against Moonves.Under the deal announced Wednesday by the attorney general, Letitia James, the broadcast giant is required to pay $22m to shareholders and another $6m for sexual harassment and assault programs. Continue reading...
Intercontinental ballistic missile is believed to have suffered in-flight malfunction, says Seoul, as Japan PM criticises ‘outrageous’ launchNorth Korea’s launch of a suspected new type of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) may have been a failure, military chiefs in South Korea have said. The missile was one of three fired on Thursday morning.The ICBM was fired from the suburbs of Pyongyang but then appeared to have failed during normal flight after the separation of the propellant and warhead sections, defence sources told multiple South Korean media outlets. Continue reading...
Tuo Shilei said his son was delayed in receiving treatment due to strict lockdown conditions in city of LanzhouThe father of a three-year-old boy who died from carbon monoxide poisoning in north-west China said strict Covid-19 policies “indirectly killed” his son by causing delays obtaining treatment.The boy’s death on Tuesday sparked outrage on social media and is the latest incident to trigger blowback against China’s strict zero-Covid policy. Continue reading...
Ghibli Park, which opened this week, offers an immersive glimpse into the worlds created by the likes of Hayao Miyazaki, but don’t expect any rollercoaster ridesFans of Studio Ghibli have begun flocking to a new theme park based on films made by the beloved anime hit factory that opened in Japan this week.Set in a little over seven hectares of green parkland in Aichi prefecture, about 250km west of Tokyo, Ghibli Park has no rollercoasters or other rides. Its aim, instead, is to immerse visitors in the worlds created by the studio’s co-founder and director, Hayao Miyazaki. Continue reading...
Pastor quit church in March after being charged with concealing information about alleged child sexual offences committed by his father. He has pleaded not guilty
Letter in a bottle from overcrowded Kent processing centre compares facilities to prison and says sick people are held thereA note thrown over the fence by a young girl at the Manston processing centre begging for help has compared facilities to a prison and claimed that pregnant women and sick people were being held there.Witnesses said they saw security guards at the site ushering detainees back inside when members of the press were walking by the fence. The girl was among a group of children who broke past them at the controversial Kent centre where concerns are growing over the mental health of people detained for weeks in cramped and unhygienic conditions. Continue reading...
Doctors and nurses report seeing hungry children on a daily basis as they urge government to actDoctors and nurses have called for a major expansion of free school meals to combat the growing risk of malnutrition, obesity and other health conditions affecting children in low-income families hit by the cost of living crisis.A letter signed by scores of clinicians and health experts said NHS professionals were seeing the impact of hunger and poor nutrition in their work every day following a recent doubling in food insecurity across the UK. Continue reading...
Charity’s analysis finds widespread disruption to NHS services and ‘vast backlog of time-sensitive cardiac care’More than 30,000 heart patients in England have died needlessly since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, amid continuing ambulance delays, inaccessible care and soaring waiting lists, a report says.The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said significant and widespread disruption to heart care services was still driving a surge in excess deaths. Continue reading...
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