World news | The Guardian

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...

Jemma Mitchell given life for murder of Mee Kuen Chong in first televised sentencing of a female defendantA self-styled healer has become the first woman in England to be handed a life sentence on television after being found guilty of murdering her friend and dumping her headless body in Devon.Jemma Mitchell was told she will serve at least 34 years in jail for killing 67-year-old Mee Kuen Chong, a devout Christian, at her London home in June last year. Continue reading...

Six-minute film about ballet dancer pitched as tale of overcoming body dysmorphia and self-doubtDisney has debuted its first plus-size female protagonist in a short film that is being praised for exploring body positivity and overcoming self-doubt.The animation, Reflect, tells the story of Bianca, a young ballet dancer who “battles her own reflection, overcoming doubt and fear by channelling her inner strength, grace and power”. Continue reading...

Claudia Campagnaro says she ‘wasn’t really surprised’ the NT police officer had shot dead the teenager in 2019

Notice issued to Rajasthan state government demanding police inquiry into ‘abominable’ practiceYoung girls in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan are being sold as “repayment” for loans their parents cannot afford, the national body that protects human rights has said.The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the state government demanding a police inquiry and answers within a month to what it called an “abominable” practice. Continue reading...

Rough gas storage facility in North Sea operational again as energy suppliers try to meet demandThe UK’s biggest gas storage site has been brought back online in time for what could be one of the tightest winters for years for energy suppliers trying to meet demand.Centrica said it had brought the Rough gas storage facility in the North Sea back to 20% of its previous capacity. Even at only one-fifth capacity, it will be the UK’s largest single gas storage site and will add about 50% to the amount of gas that the UK can store at a given time. Continue reading...

Thérèse Coffey blames parties for failure to form executive, but DUP says Westminster protocol delay at fault• UK politics live – latest news updatesA Northern Ireland assembly election will “definitely happen” after a deadline to restore devolved government at Stormont was missed, a cabinet minister has said.The environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey said “clearly” there was not “sufficient agreement” between Stormont parties to avoid a fresh election. Continue reading...

Bank says there has been a slowdown in customers trying to get new mortgages in recent weeksPre-tax profits at NatWest Group remained flat between July and September at £1.1bn, amid a worsening economic outlook and a cost of living squeeze on its customers, as the bank predicted UK house prices would fall by 7% next year.Its profits, boosted by higher interest rates increasing its margin between what it charged for loans and paid out to savers, were slightly higher than the £1bn made in the same period a year earlier but lower than analysts’ forecasts. Continue reading...

Boy, 11, was riding bike when sucked into drain and under road before he managed to grab on to metal grate when his helmet caught

Five metro mayors issue statement calling for government action after thousands of late cancellationsMetro mayors have called on the government to act urgently to address the “serious damage” caused by failing train operators in the north.The call came as official figures showed complaints about TransPennine Express (TPE) services trebling this year, and Avanti West Coast continuing to lead the way for dissatisfaction among big operators. Continue reading...

If residents choose not to move their home or if it is not possible, they will be sold or stripped for materials

Bulldozers were halted after activists and First Nations people held a smoking ceremony at the site

Ministers agree to give regulator more powers to ensure supplies while plans for a capacity market could be ready in December

Just $17 will flow to lowest earning 20% of Australians while those in the highest income bracket will gain $5,740 in 2024-25, researchers say

How About McCarthyism? was originally published in France in 1954 and its warning of ‘the taking of power by a self-interested group’ has now been translatedAn article by John Steinbeck about American democracy, written 70 years ago, will be published in English for the first time this week.The piece, titled How About McCarthyism? was originally published in 1954 in French in Le Figaro Littéraire, although Steinbeck wrote it in English. The piece is being published in English in the Strand Magazine, a US-based print magazine that publishes short fiction, articles and interviews. Continue reading...

New laws also allow greater choice on parental leave, enable casuals to take domestic violence leave

Four mothers and 13 or more children detained since fall of Islamic State are being repatriated to Australia in federal government operation

Purchase likely to prove controversial, as Tokyo seeks to counter growing regional threatsJapan is looking into buying US-developed Tomahawk cruise missiles as it seeks to counter growing regional threats, including from North Korea, the government has said.Any purchase would probably prove to be controversial, in a nation whose military is not officially recognised under its post-second world war constitution. Continue reading...

Defence barrister tells NSW supreme court sentence hearing couple’s relationship was marred by domestic violence

Consumers move quickly to prepare for unaffordable energy bills despite mild autumn, finds market researchSales of air fryers, slow cookers, microwaves and electric blankets are soaring as households faced with unaffordable energy bills look for ways to reduce their power use.Air fryers – a small countertop convection oven that uses less electricity than a conventional cooker – are in huge demand, with the number sold in September four times higher than in the same month last year, according to the market research firm GfK. So are electric cooking pots such as pressure cookers, rice cookers, slow cookers or multifunctional pots that can do all three things, with sales up 80%. Continue reading...

Opposition leader Chris Minns says measure recommended by NSW Crime Commission needs further consideration

Maj Amjad Yousef, identified on videos as killer of dozens of people, accused of directing more mass killingsThe Syrian intelligence officer at the centre of one of the most shocking acts of the civil war – the Tadamon massacre – is still working on a military base outside Damascus and has since been accused by colleagues of directing up to a dozen more mass killings.Amjad Yousef, a major in one of Syria’s most feared intelligence units, is operating from the Kafr Sousa base, where he has been for most of the past six months since the Guardian revealed his role in shooting dead dozens of people across a death pit in Tadamon, a suburb of the Syrian capital in 2013. Continue reading...

Federal court rules University of Sydney lecturer Tim Anderson who visited Bashar al-Assad should not have been fired

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet says alleged leak may face criminal investigation

Rapper known as Ye confirms the impact of Adidas and other companies cutting ties over his hateful remarks about Jewish people

Incident has split China watchers with some saying former leader was unwell and others it was political purge by Xi JinpingAfter eight days of China’s most important political meeting, in which the autocratic leader Xi Jinping’s precedent-breaking third term was confirmed, belligerent foreign policy reaffirmed, and the leader of the world’s largest population and second-largest economy announced through the next five years, one question was on everyone’s lips: what on earth happened to Hu Jintao and where is he now?The drama happened on Saturday morning. In a short window between foreign media being allowed into Beijing’s Great Hall and the start of the final public meeting of the 20th party congress, the former Chinese leader Hu was physically removed from his seat next to his successor, Xi, and out of the Great Hall of the People. Continue reading...

Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most decorated living soldier, is seeking to defend his reputation against reports in three newspapers that he says falsely accuse him of being a war criminal. Ben Doherty reportsIn his closing submissions in Australia’s federal court in Sydney, the barrister of the country’s most decorated living soldier argued: “This trial, which has lasted over 100 days, has been called a great many things: the trial of the century, a proxy war crimes trial, and an attack on the freedom of the press. It is none of these. It is a case which has been brought because the respondents chose to defame Mr Roberts-Smith.”Ben Roberts-Smith is suing three Australian media companies for defamation, over reports he alleges wrongly portray him as a war criminal and murderer. The case has contained shocking details and extraordinary allegations. Continue reading...

Group running tournament praises Socceroos for raising awareness of human rights but does not address issue of same-sex relationships

PM says Nationals MP was ‘laughing’ as talking points show Coalition intends to argue Albanese is not ‘prime ministerial’

Force fails to follow own policy by not completing investigations into former AFL great’s complaints on time or notifying when finalised

The man who has denied he raped Brittany Higgins is facing the prospect of another trial after a juror brought academic papers on sexual assault into the jury room

DUP blocks attempt to restore government, citing mandate to boycott assembly over post-Brexit borderNorthern Ireland is on course for a snap election after a recall of the Stormont assembly failed to elect a speaker and break political deadlock.The Democratic Unionist party (DUP) blocked an attempt to revive the assembly and executive on Thursday, perpetuating paralysis and running down the clock to a midnight deadline to restore devolved government. The deadline passed without any resolution. Continue reading...

Pioneering leader receives Powerlist award, with other names listed including Michaela Coel and StormzyDame Sharon White, the first ever female chair of John Lewis Partnership, has been named the UK’s most influential black person.White topped the 2023 Powerlist, an annual list that aims to provide professional role models for young people of African and African Caribbean heritage. Other prominent black Britons on this year’s list include the actor, writer and creator of I May Destroy You, Michaela Coel, the actor and writer Sir Lenny Henry, and the rapper Stormzy. Continue reading...

Group tells members it’s important to ‘bring on side’ all opposed to republic

Draft deal includes targets and staff bonuses for tackling the number of asylum seekers in the UKRishi Sunak is aiming to reach an agreement with France to address the unprecedented number of Channel crossings by asylum seekers which could include new targets and bonuses, according to reports.Ministers and officials are expected to review a draft deal that was previously close to being signed with France, which encompasses targets for how many boats are stopped from reaching the UK and a minimum number of French officers patrolling the beaches at any one time, sources told the Times. Continue reading...

Picture of dictator along with text exalting in his seizure of power 100 years ago reportedly placed by far-right militantsNeofascist militants have hung a banner from a bridge near the Colosseum in the Italian capital to celebrate Friday’s 100th anniversary of Benito Mussolini’s march on Rome.The banner, which features a large picture of the fascist dictator wearing military uniform alongside the words “100 years after, the march continues”, appeared on the Ponte degli Annibaldi, a small elevated bridge close to Italy’s most visited cultural monument, on Thursday night. Continue reading...

Prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani leads new government, vowing to reform economy and fight corruptionIraqi lawmakers have approved a new government, ending more than a year of deadlock, but the country still faces many challenges.Prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, 52, who previously served as Iraq’s human rights minister as well as minister of labour and social affairs, will head the new government. Continue reading...

Royal College of Midwives will soon ballot English and Welsh members after below-inflation offer is rejected in ScotlandMidwives in Scotland have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over what they described as an “insulting” pay offer.More than 88% of midwives and maternity support workers (MSWs) in Scotland, who are part of the Royal College of Midwives (RCM), voted to strike in a turnout of 61% of eligible voters. Continue reading...

British Transport Police are hunting a man who assaulted one man at a tube station and then pushed another on to the tracks at a different stopBritish Transport Police are hunting a suspect who assaulted one man at a tube station and then pushed another on to the tracks at a different stop.At 11.50am on Thursday, the first victim was assaulted by the man at Baker Street station. Continue reading...

One minister resigned to vote against making it easier for transgender people in Scotland to change their legal sexThe Scottish National party suffered its largest backbench revolt in its 15 years in power over the vote on its bill making it easier for transgender people to change their legal sex, with one minister resigning in order to vote against the plans.The community safety minister, Ash Regan, quit, prompting Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, to accuse her of failing to raise her concerns with colleagues. Seven SNP members voted against the party whip and two abstained. Continue reading...