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Shanghai and Urumqi to reopen markets and restaurants and loosen public transport restrictionsChinese cities, including the financial hub of Shanghai and Urumqi in the far west, have announced an easing of coronavirus curbs after unprecedented protests against zero-Covid restrictions last weekend.Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region and centre of the first protests, will reopen malls, markets, restaurants and other venues from Monday, authorities said, ending months-long strict lockdowns. Continue reading...

Eric Tucker, self-taught and virtually unknown until his death in 2018, has since been compared to LS LowryIt is the cluttered front room of a Warrington council house: gas fire set into a tiled surround, glass-fronted cabinet housing treasured knick-knacks; shoes tucked under a chair; magazines and books piled up. And in the middle, an easel, surrounded by tubes of paint and jars of brushes.The room is where Eric Tucker, an artist virtually unknown until his death in 2018 but since compared to LS Lowry, painted people in the pub and on the street, gossiping, reading, smoking, playing cards. Continue reading...

Police officer also dies during clashes amid claims security forces fired live ammunition on protestersA protester and a police officer have been killed during an anti-government demonstration in Syria’s Druze-majority Sweida province.Seven people were wounded during the incident on Sunday, at a rare protest in the country where President Bashar al-Assad stamped out a pro-democracy uprising over a decade ago. Assad survived the resulting civil war but the conflict has plunged Syria into poverty, coupled with a food security and energy crisis. Continue reading...

US opposition may be softening after lobbying by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy

General practices have ‘steady profit margins’ and many are turning away from bulk billing, leaving poorer Australians without access to care, thinktank says

After months in intensive care, Cesar Franco became the first person in Britain to have the operation because of the virus“When I woke up I was confused. I remembered the doctors in St George’s hospital deciding to intubate me. But when I woke up from the intubation, I’d been transferred to another hospital, St Thomas’, and was on a machine that was keeping me alive. I wondered how things had gotten so bad and how I’d gone from being just ill to being, you know, very close to dying.”Cesar Franco is reliving how he fell gravely ill with Covid-19 late last year and ended up in the intensive care unit (ICU) of St Thomas’ hospital in central London, helpless, struggling to breathe and only still alive thanks to the quiet pumping of an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (Ecmo) machine. It was the start of what became five arduous, precarious months in ICU on Ecmo. That is an unusually long time, even for a Covid patient, to receive what, for some but not all, proves to be life-saving care. Continue reading...

Exclusive: During 220 days in prison, Eamonn Coughlan says he was bashed, stabbed with a syringe and denied prescription drugs

Condemnation comes as the state’s truth-telling inquiry, the Yoorrook Justice commission, prepares to hold hearings on the subject from Monday

New report has called for urgent structural reform after finding women’s income and health have deteriorated in the past decade

Retailer says its responsibility is to ensure customers ‘get hold of their technology’ for Christmas

US firm says network of bot accounts also hijacking hashtags in large-scale attempt to obscure coverageAn attempt to flood social media platforms with spam in order to drown out coverage of the lockdown protests in China was probably backed by the Chinese government, according to analysis by a US cybersecurity firm.Recorded Future found that networks of coordinated bot accounts were targeting non-Chinese social media platforms to crowd out genuine posts about the demonstrations with spam content and by hijacking hashtags of names of Chinese cities. It said China’s government was most likely to be behind the tactic. Continue reading...

Conservative chair comments after unnamed MP was reported to the party and police by colleaguesThe Conservatives will take action against a Tory MP facing allegations of rape and sexual assault if the police do, the party’s new chairman has said.Nadhim Zahawi said he had commissioned legal advice on the situation as one of his first acts in the job, after the unnamed MP was reported to the party and police by some of his colleagues. Continue reading...

Eruption causes roads to close after volcanic ash rains down on Java islandA volcano has erupted in Indonesia, spewing a cloud of ash 15km into the sky and forcing the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people, authorities have said, as they issued their highest warning for the area in the east of Java island.There were no immediate reports of any casualties from the eruption of the Semeru volcano and Indonesia’s transport ministry said air travel was not affected but notices had been sent to two regional airports for them to be vigilant. Continue reading...

Take a crisp white shirt, layers of black tulle and lace, and team with a sullen stare. Now you’re tuned in to Netflix’s new take on the Addams familyIf you are seeing a lot of Gen Z wearing black, plaiting their hair into pigtails and giving you a Kubrick Stare, it’s all because of their new anti-heroine heroine, Wednesday. It has been just over a week since Tim Burton’s new series Wednesday debuted on Netflix but already tweens and teens are channelling the sullen and sardonic daughter of the Addams family.Defined by the deadpan Christina Ricci in the 90s films, this time round Wednesday has been given a Gen-Z makeover. The series follows a now teenage Wednesday (Jenna Ortega) as she is banished to Nevermore Academy, a creepy boarding school, after an incident involving a school swimming team and a bag of piranhas. What ensues is an action-packed melodrama fusing the genres of murder mystery with horror and a dollop of teenage angst. It has swiftly become Netflix’s most popular show, beating the last series of Stranger Things. Continue reading...

Adult survivors of sexual abuse can now file lawsuits even if the statute of limitations on their claims had already run outA trickle of high-profile sexual abuse lawsuits passing through New York’s civil courts is likely to become a flood in the coming months because of a new, one-year window for time-expired claims.Already, some bold-faced names from the worlds of arts, finance and politics have become involved, including Donald Trump and banker Leon Black. Continue reading...

Snow could fall in Scotland, Northern Ireland and north-east England from Wednesday, with travel disruptedThe Met Office has issued its first snow warning this winter, as Britain is expected to face icy temperatures this week.A yellow weather warning for snow has been issued for northern Scotland on Wednesday, with snow showers likely to bring travel disruption. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Stage sequel to focus on then housing secretary, fire chief and two families devastated by 2017 fireA play dramatising the “merry-go-round of buck-passing” at the Grenfell Tower public inquiry will open in February, casting actors as Eric Pickles, the former housing secretary, and Hisam Choucair, who lost six members of his family in the 2017 fire.Grenfell: System Failure will be the sequel to a critically acclaimed verbatim play exploring the disastrous construction project that led to west London council block being clad in plastic panels that burned like petrol. Continue reading...

Film offers most detailed account yet of journalist’s killing by Israeli army, including video of moments surrounding shootingA new documentary about the Israeli army’s killing of the Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh is likely to increase pressure on the Biden administration to ensure that the FBI is permitted to fully investigate her death after Israel said it would not cooperate.The documentary, Faultlines, by Abu Akleh’s employer, Al Jazeera, is the most detailed account yet of events during an Israeli raid on the West Bank city of Jenin in May. Continue reading...

Businesses are having to turn down bookings as employee numbers remain low following the pandemic and BrexitTurning down party bookings over the Christmas period is the last thing a restaurant owner wants to do. But that is the harsh reality for the Rattle Owl, an independent restaurant featured in the Michelin Guide, which, like the vast majority of hospitality businesses, is suffering a shortage of staff and having to make compromises.“We used to be able to do 26 (people for a Christmas party booking) but we absolutely can’t do that now. The max we can do now is 10,” said the York restaurant’s owner, Clarrie O’Callaghan. Continue reading...

Triage system eConsult was supposed to improve patient care but UK surgeries are having to switch it off for periods as demand soarsAn online consultation platform widely used by GP surgeries and promoted as being available “around the clock” is being turned off by some practices for most of the day because of high demand.The eConsult platform is used in more than 3,000 GP practices in England, Scotland and Wales to help direct patients to the care they need. The online facility, offered to about 28 million patients, is described in promotional material as “available to use any time, day or night, from any device connected to the internet”. Continue reading...

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In Deptford, south-east London, support for Senegal is high among the older generation, while their offspring opt for the country of their birth in the World Cup showdownFootball’s capacity to unite is routinely lauded, but Sunday’s World Cup match between England and Senegal has already divided many west African families in London.The split is generational. Parents say they tend to support Senegal, the country of their birth, while their children opt to support the state they were raised in: England. Continue reading...

Reynolds confirmed she has been contacted by lawyers acting for her former staff member and a civil claim would be lodged this month

Those who risked their lives helping British government face a ‘toxic combination of incompetence and indifference’Afghan nationals who were promised resettlement to the UK nearly a year ago are facing torture and death while they wait for a response from the British government, the Observer can reveal.Not one person has been accepted and evacuated from Afghanistan under the Home Office’s Afghan citizens’ resettlement scheme (ACRS), launched in January, prompting claims that ministers are showing a “toxic combination of incompetence and indifference”. The scheme was intended to help Afghans who worked for, or were affiliated with, the British government – including its embassy staff and British Council teachers – and all of whom face severe harm at the hands of the Taliban. Continue reading...

Michael Lockwood, director general of IOPC since 2018, leaves post with immediate effectThe head of the police watchdog has resigned for “personal and domestic reasons”.Michael Lockwood was the first director general appointed to lead the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) when it replaced the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in 2018. Continue reading...

Carefully scripted trip had to contend with racism row and sympathy for MeghanThe Prince and Princess of Wales returned to Britain on Saturday after a three-day US trip that combined messaging, friendship-politicking and symbolism accented with celebrity name-checks.But the trip, as carefully scripted as any, may also have missed an opportunity to tackle immediate domestic issues. Eight years ago, William and Kate were greeted by adoring crowds. The crowds were out again this week “but this time around it’s more tempered and more complicated”, says Arianne Chernock, professor of history at Boston University, who has written widely on the role of the British royal family in America. Continue reading...

The poisoned agent’s son Anatoly tells of the visit to his Moscow flat, as ITV prepares to screen a drama about the killing of his father, played by David TennantAnatoly Litvinenko: How the Kremlin tried to conscript me

Stencil image, which shows figure in nightgown and gas mask holding a fire extinguisher, was removed in Hostomel on FridayEight people have been detained over the theft of a mural painted by the elusive British street artist Banksy from a wall on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said.The stencil image of a person in a nightgown and gas mask holding a fire extinguisher, next to the charred remains of a window in the town of Hostomel, went missing on Friday, they said. Continue reading...

In published extracts former health secretary says he broke Covid rules because he ‘fell in love’Straight from appearing on the ITV reality show I’m a Celebrity, the focus on former health secretary Matt Hancock has turned to his upcoming memoir called Pandemic Diaries: The Inside Story Of Britain’s Battle Against Covid.Here are five key moments from the book, which have been revealed in extracts published by the Daily Mail and Mail+. Continue reading...

Hussain Bah, 18, becomes third person to be charged over deaths of Kearne Solanke and Charlie Bartolo, both 16A third teenager has been charged over the fatal stabbing of two 16-year-old boys a mile apart in south-east London, the Metropolitan police have said.Kearne Solanke was stabbed in Titmuss Avenue, Thamesmead, and Charlie Bartolo was found with stab wounds in Sewell Road, Abbey Wood, on Saturday 26 November. Continue reading...

Party says ‘no basis on which to investigate further’ following complaint about MP’s behaviour at October conferenceThe former minister Conor Burns has had the Tory whip restored after being cleared of misconduct at the party conference in October.Burns was sacked as trade minister by Liz Truss and had the whip withdrawn after a complaint about his behaviour at the annual Conservative party conference in Birmingham. Continue reading...

Big-name retailers are marketing the popular mode of transport, despite use of privately owned models being banned in public placesOn a wide road dotted with autumn leaves, a picture of a beaming woman rider promoted a £299 e-scooter on Amazon last week, which was described “as your best commuting or outdoor travel companion”.It is one of several models of popular e-scooters that are marketed in the run-up to Christmas by the online giant and other big retailers, including Halfords, Argos and Currys. There is just one snag: it is illegal to ride privately owned e-scooters on public roads in the UK. Continue reading...

Loosening controls further could spark a devastating outbreak, but tightening the rules again could trigger unrestAt the end of October, Xi Jinping had secured his position as China’s most powerful leader in decades, his grip on the country cemented by a norm-breaking third term in office.At the end of November, he faced the most widespread protests China had seen in decades, mostly focused on Covid restrictions but also featuring unprecedented calls for Xi to step down. Continue reading...

Course aims to help staff defend actions at future inquiry into how at least 27 people died last yearSearch and rescue staff from the UK coastguard are being provided with training that would help them to defend their actions at a future inquiry into how at least 27 people died in the Channel last year, the Guardian has learned.In August, HM Coastguard awarded a £19,200 contract to the training company Bond Solon to prepare operational search and rescue staff to give evidence in legal hearings, which will “provide assurances that they are performing their duties in line with expected processes that may be challenged in an inquest or inquiry”. Continue reading...

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fights extradition from Britain to US, where he is wanted on criminal charges. This blog is now closed

Exclusive: ACT director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold reveals he has made complaint about undisclosed matters that are currently under investigation

Thousands of prisoners still serving indefinite sentences in England and Wales, even for low-level crimeDominic Raab is being urged to show mercy to prisoners in England and Wales who remain jailed under a sentencing scheme abolished 10 years ago.The imprisonment for public protection (IPP) sentence was a form of indeterminate sentence in which offenders were given a minimum jail tariff but no maximum for a range of crimes. Nearly 3,000 legacy prisoners remain in jail under the scheme. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can find more of our coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war hereRussia tested a new missile defence system rocket, its defence ministry said today.The missile was launched from the Sary Shagan testing range in Kazakhstan. Continue reading...

Jonathan, Seychelles giant tortoise given to Saint Helena in 1882, is also oldest known living land animalIf there is a party animal at large this weekend, Jonathan is it: the Seychelles giant tortoise is about to celebrate his 190th birthday with a three-day bash.Living on Saint Helena since 1882, when he arrived as a gift to the governor of the small south Atlantic island, he is no stranger to fame, having scooped awards from the Guinness World Records for being the oldest known living land animal and the oldest chelonian – an order comprising tortoises, turtles and terrapins – ever recorded. Continue reading...

Publicans hard hit by a series of crises are hoping the Three Lions will go far at the Qatar World CupA nation will hold its breath on Sunday as England play Senegal in the knockout stages of the World Cup in Qatar, and nowhere more so than in the country’s pubs.An industry that has been battered by a toxic cocktail of rocketing energy bills, food inflation, staff shortages, rising wages and rail strikes is pinning its hopes on progress for England in the tournament providing a much-needed boost. Continue reading...

Documentary teaser comes at awkward time for royal family amid race row and Prince and Princess of Wales’ US tourThe biggest surprise of this week’s release of a trailer for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s forthcoming Netflix documentary is that it appeared at all. Amid speculation that the programme – entitled Harry & Meghan – was still being edited or had been delayed until next year, here, finally, was a commitment that the tell-all would soon make it to the air.“When the stakes were this high, doesn’t it make more sense to hear our story from us?” Meghan is seen asking. Continue reading...

Moscow had hoped to easily capture Ukraine – having totally failed, it has resorted to simply destroying it

Police cordon off Madrid embassy while parcels also sent to eight other embassies and consulates

Conservative former cabinet minister joins growing exodus of high-profile members of party

Health Security Agency confirms that child in Ealing, west London, has died from bacterial infectionA fourth child has died in the UK after contracting Strep A, as health officials issued warnings to parents and school staff about signs and symptoms of infection.These include a sore throat, fever and minor skin infections. In rare incidences, it can become a severe illness, and anyone with high fever, severe muscle aches, pain in one area of the body and unexplained vomiting or diarrhoea should seek urgent medical help. Continue reading...

Since August, 199 people have died of acute kidney injury, prompting an inquiry and ban on some medicinesA dozen families, whose relatives died or fell ill after consuming cough syrup medicines, have sued the Indonesian government and companies accused of supplying the products.At least 199 people, many of them young children, have died as a result of acute kidney injury since August, prompting the government to ban some syrup medicines and launch an investigation. Continue reading...

People living near Tower of London site said largest diplomatic base in UK would put lives at riskLondon councillors have rejected plans for a new Chinese embassy, which would have been the largest diplomatic base in the UK, after residents and advocacy groups raised safety concerns.In a tense meeting, the Tower Hamlets council voted unanimously against the proposed development to move the current embassy to a 2-hectare (5-acre) site opposite the Tower of London. Local residents and advocacy groups, who feared being swept into protests, called the plans into question, saying they would endanger people’s lives. Continue reading...

Exclusive: More than 200 people have approached Indonesian embassy since July to report difficulties facedMore than 200 Indonesian fruit pickers have sought diplomatic help since July after facing difficulties working in Britain this season, the nation’s embassy has revealed.The Guardian has spoken to a pair of workers sent to a farm in Scotland that supplies berries to M&S, Waitrose, Tesco and Lidl. They claim pickers were sent back to the caravan if they could not work fast enough and left with large debts to repay. Continue reading...

Xiomara Castro has not yet fulfilled her promise to legalise emergency contraceptives and to address violence against womenAt her inauguration earlier this year, Xiomara Castro, the first female president of Honduras, ended her speech with a message to women.“Honduran women, I will not fail you, I will defend your rights, all your rights, count on me,” said Castro, whose resounding election victory ended a dozen years of conservative rule and generated high hopes for change in a country with one of the highest rates of femicide and most restrictive laws against reproductive rights in Latin America. Continue reading...