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Wooden hut in Kent is Britain's oldest operating sauna and hugely important' piece of sporting historyA modest prefabricated hut that sat almost forgotten in suburban Kent for more than half a century is at the centre of an international preservation campaign, after it was recognised as a hugely important" piece of sporting history - and Britain's oldest operating sauna.Finland's ambassador to the UK is leading a campaign to gain listed status for the fragile wooden sauna, which is an extremely rare survivor of the 1948 austerity" Olympics, hosted on a shoestring in London three years after the end of the second world war. Continue reading...

Rates for shot against pneumococcal disease are also lagging, says Grattan Institute, urging government to increase take-up

Oleksandr Kamyshin aims to revive state sector and coordinate private enterprises to boost export of weapons

Attacks on US troops in Iraq have led to US airstrikes, highlighting the risk of spillover from the situation in GazaA salvo of machine gun fire, customary during funerals, illuminated the night sky as dozens of men converged in a dimly lit, unpaved alley on the edges of the sprawling slums of Sadr city to pay their respects. A giant picture of Ali Hassan al-Daraaji had been erected outside the family home in northeast Baghdad to announce his martyrdom" in this week's US airstrikes on Iraqi armed groups.The series of strikes left a total of nine fighters dead, including Daraaji, the first Iraqi fatalities linked to the Israel-Hamas war. Even as a tenuous truce takes hold in Gaza, the pace and intensity of clashes in Iraq has picked up, highlighting the risk of spillover in a country that has long been mired in conflict. Continue reading...

Exclusive: women tell study they were punished for breaking rules rather than supported when they reported incidentsWomen in the British military who report sexual assaults are being ostracised and punished for breaching minor rules, research shows.The forces' misogynistic and toxic" culture of laddish" behaviour shapes the way it deals with and understands sexual assaults, according to the study, which is published in the Royal United Services Institution Journal. Continue reading...

Aysen Dennis, who accused Southwark council of social cleansing', continues court challenge over Aylesbury estate plansThe bulldozers will soon be out for the south London council flat that was Aysen Dennis's home for 30 years. After leading a fierce battle against the council and developers, claiming their plans to fill much of her estate with private homes amounted to social cleansing", she has finally moved.Dennis, 65, has been relocated to a swanky new flat in a development bought back by Southwark council. She claims it paid 690,000 for her ninth-floor flat with panoramic views of the park - and is convinced it was an attempt to shut her up before a legal challenge. Continue reading...

Furious council leaders warn chancellor that austerity measures could force flagship blue counties' to go bankruptJeremy Hunt has been warned he will trigger a fire sale of public assets, reduce councils to an emergency service and put the vulnerable at greater risk after an autumn statement pointing to a new wave of austerity.There will be a significant increase in the number of councils in effect returning the town hall keys" to government because they are no longer sustainable, according to council leaders. In a furious response to the autumn statement, they said several flagship blue counties" could go bankrupt just as next year's election is called. Continue reading...

Ex-wife of Michel Fourniret will be tried for her role in three more murders, including that of 20-year-old Leeds student Joanna ParrishFor more than 30 years, the parents of British student Joanna Parrish have battled for justice for their daughter, murdered by the French serial killer Michel Fourniret in 1990.Often, when the killer was still unidentified and at large, Roger Parrish and his ex-wife Pauline would travel to northern Burgundy looking for clues, appealing for witnesses, badgering seemingly insouciant investigators to do their job, seeking answers they never found. Continue reading...

Anti-Islam MP who won recent election says he will continue to moderate' his positions to gain powerVeteran Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders on Saturday vowed to be prime minister of the Netherlands, after an election in which his party won the most seats.In a long post on X, formerly Twitter, that expressed frustration at other parties for their apparent unwillingness to cooperate with his Freedom party (PVV), Wilders said he would continue to moderate" his positions if necessary to gain power. Continue reading...

With 42 women and children set to be released under the ceasefire deal, hopes for family reunions are running high in the West BankThe daughters of the Awad family were busy dressing up at their home in Qalandiya, on the West Bank side of the notorious checkpoint, on Saturday evening. Hair was curled and eyeliner applied; all four chose outfits in black and white to match their Palestinian keffiyeh scarves. The celebration was to mark the unexpected release of their big sister, Noorhan, 24, from prison in Israel. She was jailed eight years ago; the youngest, 10-year-old Mayar, does not remember her.Their community centre was decked out with Palestinian flags and posters of Noorhan and two other young people from the neighbourhood. So much has changed since Noorhan was home last," said her mother Sumaya. We are so excited. I don't want to hope too much." Continue reading...

Sanctuary sets up heaters to take chill off rescue animals that have lost habit of entering full hibernationWorkers at a bear sanctuary in Pristina are working hard to look after a lion that wants to play in the snow and bears who were removed from their natural habitat when they were cubs and also enjoy the snowy conditions because they do not hibernate any more.As the winter's first snowfall covered Bear Sanctuary Prishtina in the Kosovan capital, visitors enjoyed the sight of a lion playing before quickly taking shelter indoors where a heater was installed to fend off temperatures which fell below freezing. Continue reading...

Writing from prison, Alexander Csergo says investigators have found no evidence' and fallout from case will embarrass Australia

Labour leader gives strongest hint yet of support for loan deal with Greece if his party wins next electionThe Greek government has been assured by Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, that in the event of electoral victory next year he will not block a prospective arrangement to return the Parthenon marbles to Athens.Speaking through aides before talks in London with the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Starmer gave his strongest hint yet of his support for a loan deal that would see the antiquities return to the country where they were carved 2,500 years ago. Continue reading...

Second brokered release will not happen until Israel allows aid trucks to enter northern Gaza, says militant group

Brazilian Deliveroo worker Caio Benicio used motorbike helmet to hit assailant who was attacking children outside a schoolAlmost 300,000 has been raised for a delivery driver who intervened in an attack by a man suspected of attacking children outside a school in Dublin.Caio Benicio was on his motorbike in Dublin city centre when he spotted the attack on Thursday. He said he used his helmet to hit the assailant with all my power". Continue reading...

The ex-para who advised Ridley Scott on the new movie's battle scenes claims historians who attacked it have fallen for Bonaparte's own hypeCritics of the damaging" and inaccurate" portrayal of Napoleon Bonaparte in Ridley Scott's new cinematic epic Napoleon are just victims of the French emperor's enduring propaganda, according to the military adviser behind the film's vast battle scenes.Paul Biddiss claims that Old Boney", as he was known to the Duke of Wellington's British troops, was promoted largely because he elaborated on his own successes. Bonaparte's fibs impressed all France and intimidated his enemies - until, that is, he met his Waterloo in 1815. Continue reading...

Video shows Ohad Munder, nine, running into father's arms as total of 24 people freed by Hamas in prisoner exchange

Pope cancelled Saturday activities due to light flu' a week before key climate addressPope Francis has undergone hospital tests after he came down with the flu but the results ruled out any respiratory problems, the Vatican said.Francis, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, underwent a Cat scan, the Vatican spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said. Continue reading...

Hamas released 24 hostages on Friday, including 13 Israelis, one Filipino man and 10 Thai citizens

This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story herePictures show a school that was hit by Russia's drone attack on Kyiv last night. Ukraine said the overnight drone attack was the largest of the war so far.It's approaching 2pm in Kyiv. Here are the day's main developments so far:The former Russian prime minister turned Kremlin critic Mikhail Kasyanov has been added to a list of foreign agents", Russia's justice ministry has announced. Kasyanov, who was the first head of Putin's government in the early 2000s, now appears in the justice ministry's register of foreign agents, a term reminiscent of the Soviet-era enemy of the people".Five people have been injured after Russia struck the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv in what officials said was its largest drone attack of the war to date. The attack began hitting different districts of Kyiv in the early hours of Saturday, with more waves coming at sunrise. The air raid warning lasted six hours.The Swiss president, Alain Berset, is in Kyiv to meet his Ukrainian counterpart and attend an international summit on food security.The UK says Russia's Black Sea fleet is facing issues reloading its vessels with cruise missiles. Continue reading...

Five people injured in Kyiv attack in what could be start of winter campaign to destroy infrastructure Russia-Ukraine war - latest news updatesRussia has sent waves of kamikaze drones into Ukraine in what Kyiv claims is the most intensive drone attack since the start of the war. Many in Ukraine fear it could be the start of a long campaign of strikes aimed at destroying the energy infrastructure.Kyiv was the main target," the Ukrainian Air Force commander Mykola Oleshchuk wrote on his Telegram channel. The capital was attacked in the early hours of Saturday with around 75 Iranian-made Shahed drones, Ukrainian officials claimed, adding that 71 had been shot down. Continue reading...

Office for Budget Responsibility says UK entry into the Indo-Pacific agreement will add just 0.04% to GDP in the long runThe UK's flagship trans-Pacific trade deal, which was presented as a cornerstone of post-Brexit global Britain", will deliver even less benefit to the economy than the tiny uplift that was previously predicted, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.In a report accompanying last week's autumn statement, the OBR said the UK's entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would add just 0.04% to GDP in the long run", which it defines as after 15 years of membership. Continue reading...

Ten of the dozen other candidates had refused to campaign and called on voters to shun the ballotThe president of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, has been re-elected in the first round of a ballot boycotted by nearly all opposition candidates, the national election commission said.Rajoelina won 58.95% of the votes cast in the 16 November presidential election, according to figures presented by the poll body, although the result needs to be validated by the constitutional court. Continue reading...

Feras al-Jayoosi, 36, charged with stalking Justin Tomlinson, MP for North Swindon, in series of emailsA man has been remanded in custody for allegedly sending threatening and abusive messages about Israel and Gaza to a Conservative MP.Feras al-Jayoosi, 36, from Swindon, Wiltshire, was arrested by counter-terrorism officers on Thursday on suspicion of harassment. Continue reading...

No new investment in staffing and buildings in England and Wales, despite Rishi Sunak's funding pledgeHeadteachers have called the government's failure to invest in school staff and crumbling buildings in the autumn statement an absolute disgrace".Unions said this weekend that the government had now lost any vestiges of credibility among teachers after the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, failed to announce any new investment for schools on Wednesday - despite Rishi Sunak's pledge at last month's Conservative party conference that education would be his main funding priority". Continue reading...

Billionaire submits proposals for scheme that government minister Robert Jenrick pushed in 2020, with nearly twice the number of properties of original plansA Tory donor is drawing up fresh plans for a controversial property scheme that was at the heart of a lobbying row involving a senior minister.Richard Desmond, the billionaire former owner of the Daily Express, has submitted new proposals for a huge housing project in east London, with almost twice the amount of housing envisaged under the original plans. Continue reading...

Efforts to free 41 workers stuck in tunnel for almost two weeks hit another setback as earth-boring machine breaks downIndian rescue workers have brought in a new digging machine to open a vertical shaft to free 41 men trapped inside a collapsed road tunnel, after efforts via another route hit a snag metres away from them.In the latest setback in attempts to rescue the increasingly desperate workers, who have been trapped for almost two weeks, engineers driving a metal pipe through 57 metres (187ft) of rock and concrete ran into metal rods and construction vehicles buried in the earth. Continue reading...

Former PM accused of opposing special military operation' in Ukraine and being member of Anti-War Committee of RussiaThe former Russian prime minister turned Kremlin critic Mikhail Kasyanov has been added to a list of foreign agents", Russia's justice ministry has announced.Kasyanov, who was the first head of Putin's government in the early 2000s, now appears in the justice ministry's register of foreign agents, a term reminiscent of the Soviet-era enemy of the people". Continue reading...

Home secretary says policy not be all and end all' of plans to tackle illegal immigration, in clear break from BravermanJames Cleverly has said he is frustrated with the fixation on the government's Rwanda policy, saying it is not the be all and end all" of plans to tackle illegal immigration.The home secretary, who replaced Suella Braverman after she was sacked almost a fortnight ago, told the Times he had become frustrated with the focus on the Rwanda plan. Continue reading...

Deadly blaze that began on fourth floor of six-storey building in commercial capital leaves 35 injuredAt least 11 people have been killed and 35 injured in a fire at a shopping mall in Pakistan's commercial capital of Karachi, officials said.More than 60 people were inside the mall when the fire broke out on the fourth floor of the six-storey building in the southern port city. Continue reading...

Group of nine men and one woman being treated in hospital before returning to Thailand to reunite with families

Findings may not be released until summer as process of writing to those likely to be criticised proving time-consuming'The official findings about what caused the Grenfell Tower disaster have been delayed again and may not be released until the middle of next year - seven years after the council block fire that killed 72 people.It was initially hoped that the report would be published this autumn, then it was pushed to early next year. But now it may not be until summer. It means potential criminal prosecutions for manslaughter, fraud and health and safety offences will also be delayed, with any trials unlikely to start until late 2025 or even 2026. Continue reading...

Shake-up will mean people can pay into more than one Isa of the same type, but experts say 20,000 limit should also riseGetting the best out of Isas should become easier for UK savers after the government announced a shake-up that will let them hop on to higher-paying accounts if they become available.The autumn statement documents revealed ministers are making a series of changes to simplify" Isas. As well as giving people more choice, these will reduce the risk of people accidentally breaking the rules. But some commentators argued that the various changes made the system more complicated, not less. Continue reading...

Richard Marles says two countries committed to a peaceful region where sovereignty and agreed rules and norms are respected'Australia and the Philippines have begun joint sea and air patrols in the South China Sea as Pacific nations warily eye an increasingly assertive China.The three-day exercises follow discussions earlier this year on joint patrols to underscore what the countries say is their commitment to closer cooperation and a rules-based order in the region. Continue reading...

Discovery of intact bottles on 1852 shipwreck sparks development of underwater ageing processYou might think that 1,500 years after the first bottle was drunk there wasn't much more innovation left to be had in the rarefied world of champagne. You would be wrong. The next big thing in the 6bn-a-year industry is: undersea ageing.Like so many of the world's best innovations, it began by accident. In 2010, a group of divers in Finland's Aland archipelago came across the wreck of a ship that sank in 1852 and were surprised to find 145 bottles of champagne 160ft below the surface. Even more surprisingly, the bottles were still full and tasted - in the words of a professor of food biochemistry - incredible - I have never tasted such a wine in my life". Continue reading...

This blog is now closed. See all our Israel-Hamas war coverage hereOne woman has been killed and three others wounded after Israeli forces raided the Indonesian hospital in northern Gaza, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing Dr Munir al-Bursh, the director general of the Hamas-run ministry of health in Gaza.Another three people were arrested at the hospital, which has been forced to cease operations. As of Thursday, there were an estimated 550 patients remaining at the hospital, as well as 200 medical workers and at least 1,500 displaced Palestinians sheltering at the hospital, according to Al Jazeera.Last night, Israeli forces attacked the hospital with tanks and destroyed all of the first floor. The damage was very bad.Previously, they had attacked the third floor. They arrested at least three people. This is their way of taking over the hospitals before the ceasefire today.IDPs [internally displaced persons] interviewed by OCHA reported that Israeli forces had established an unstaffed checkpoint where people are directed from a distance to pass through two structures, where a surveillance system is thought to be installed.IDPs are ordered to show their IDs and undergo what appears to be a facial recognition scan. Continue reading...

Home Office data reveals impact of end of free movement and raises questions over Border Force hostilityThe number of EU citizens refused entry to the UK since Brexit has increased fivefold, Home Office figures show.In the first three quarters of 2019 just over 2,200 people from the EU were turned away at the border - compared with 11,600 in the first three quarters of 2023. Continue reading...

Greens MP and Australian Festival Association say NSW force charging much more than other states to patrol equivalent events

Opposition leader says graphic videos are playing into the minds' of young Australians, particularly boys

Concerns echo White House remarks that blocking human rights laws could undermine Northern Ireland peace processRishi Sunak risks ripping up the Northern Ireland peace process if he blocks human rights laws so the UK can deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, senior Conservatives have said.After similar concerns from the White House on Thursday, the MPs said widely reported plans from Downing Street to disregard parts of the Human Rights Act could undermine the Good Friday agreement and damage UK-US relations. Continue reading...

Drew Harris says radicalised people exploited terrible crime' of knife attack to unleash mayhem on streetsIreland's police chief has warned that far-right radicalisation will continue to disrupt the country after a night of arson, rioting and looting left parts of Dublin resembling a war zone.The capital was tense on Friday as significant numbers of police remained on the streets and Dublin counted the cost of an anti-immigrant protest that turned into anarchy, leaving the political establishment shocked. Continue reading...

Consumers report problems using bank's app on one of the busiest shopping days of year, Black FridayThousands of HSBC customers reported they were unable to access its online and mobile banking services on one of the busiest online shopping days of the year - Black Friday.More than 4,000 customers said they could not access their accounts via the HSBC app on Friday, according to Downdetector, which tracks and collates website outages and complaints. Continue reading...

Officers were called to an address in Dagenham, east London where they found 40-year-old and two firearmsA man who told officers he had firearms and was going to harm himself has died in a police shooting in east London.The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is investigating the incident in Dagenham.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...

Residents warned not to return to fire-affected area as bureau forecasts wind gusts of up to 80 km/h and 39C heat

Families await possible reunion with detained women and children as Israel reportedly releases 39 in ceasefire deal

On day of high tension, Israel also releases Palestinian prisoners and humanitarian convoy enters Gaza

Louie Turnbull pleads guilty to owning dangerously out of control animals after they attacked woman's dog by east London canalA man whose two dogs were shot dead by police in front of him has been given a suspended sentence for owning dangerously out of control animals.Viral footage circulated on social media of Metropolitan police officers killing Louie Turnbull's canines beside an east London canal in May this year. Continue reading...

Force's boss called prosecution of PC Paul Fisher over crash while racing to Streatham stabbings appalling'A police officer who was cleared of dangerous driving after crashing while racing to the scene of a terrorism attack may still face the sack, the Guardian has learned.PC Paul Fisher was acquitted by a jury at Southwark crown court on Friday, leading the Metropolitan police commissioner to describe his ordeal as appalling". Continue reading...

Jonathan Freedland talks to survivors, displaced people and senior political and military figures about life in Israel before and after 7 October, and considers the longer-term ramifications Israel-Hamas war - latest updatesThe war is paused, but it is not over.There will be relief at the promised four days of quiet between Israel and Hamas, and there will be joy for the families waiting to be reunited with loved ones, thanks to Friday's exchange of hostages held in Gaza for prisoners held in Israel. Continue reading...