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Local authority issues section 114 notice suspending spending as it admits it cannot balance budget

Regulator says that big discounts for members may be restricting competition and disadvantaging those outside the schemesThe competition watchdog is to investigate the effect on consumers of the rise of loyalty card price cuts amid concerns that they could limit competition and lead to price rises for shoppers not signed up to such marketing schemes.Sainsbury's began offering special discounts for its Nectar card holders in April when the Co-op also brought in members' pricing on some products, while Tesco has ramped up use of its Clubcard discounts this year. Lidl launched a loyalty scheme in 2020 and updated it last year so that shoppers had to spend more to get the top level of discounts. Continue reading...

Legal expert says court ruling in case where information accessed on work laptop at Mecrus confirms Australians still don't have a right to privacy'

Police will not seek warrant to dig up London site where serial killer claims to have buried ChauDetectives have decided that the convicted serial killer Levi Bellfield was lying when he made repeated sworn confessions to the kidnap, murder and burial of Elizabeth Chau, who went missing in 1999, the Guardian has learned.The decision means the Metropolitan police will not seek a warrant to dig up the west London site where Bellfield claimed to have buried the remains of Chau, 19, a computer studies student. Continue reading...

Judge says verdict is tentatively' three or four months away after 10 months of hearingsThe long-running national security trial of a group of pro-democracy figures known as the Hong Kong 47 began hearing closing arguments on Wednesday, more than 1,000 days after the accused were first arrested and after 10 months of hearings.The trial is Hong Kong's biggest since authorities introduced the national security law in June 2020. Ten days have been allowed for closing arguments and on Wednesday one of the judges, Andrew Chan, said a verdict was tentatively" three or four months away. Continue reading...

About 40 branches in New South Wales have now passed motions demanding a full ceasefire

Workers could be restricted to bringing one relative under plans to reduce migrationThe number of dependants that foreign care workers are allowed to bring in to the UK could be cut under government plans to reduce immigration, a cabinet minister has said.Steve Barclay, the environment secretary, said restrictions on dependant numbers were being considered by the home secretary, James Cleverly, as an option to reduce figures. Continue reading...

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Border force suggested man was non-compliant' but Guardian understands he was not read his visa conditions or fitted with ankle bracelet

Arnold Dix describes having to dig 100 millimetres at a time' to save workers stuck in Silkyara-Barkot tunnel for 17 days

Labor move follows review that found trust had been dramatically eroded' by controversial grant decisions made by former Coalition ministers

Israel says Palestinians have been freed after nine women, a child and two foreign nationals were handed to the Red Cross

Police offer $500,000 reward on anniversary of 30-year-old's disappearance and release CCTV of Holden station wagon which drove to the Blue Mountains

Victoria police hunt man accused of conning prospective tenants by hiring short-stay accommodation and advertising it for lease

The self-decribed Marxist from Long Island' documented working class lives and the elite of show business and Manhattan societyLarry Fink, an acclaimed and adventurous photographer whose subjects ranged from family portraits and political satire to working class lives and the elite of show business and Manhattan society, has died at 82.Robert Mann, owner of the Robert Mann Gallery, told the Associated Press that Fink died Saturday at his home in Martins Creek, Pennsylvania. Mann did not cite a specific cause of death, but said that Fink had been in failing health. Continue reading...

Premier Jacinta Allan says the affect of female MPs' voices can be seen throughout their work in parliament

Shocking' poll in England and Wales shows nearly one in five reluctant to hire women they think may go on to have childrenA significant minority of human resources executives believe men are better suited to senior management than women, according to the results of a shocking" poll.Nearly one in seven HR decision-makers rate men as better for top jobs and nearly one in five admitted they were reluctant to hire women they thought might go on to start families, the survey of personnel managers in England and Wales for the charity Young Women's Trust (YWT) found. Continue reading...

Sr Const Kristian White, 33, was previously charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm and common assault

Tamimi, 22, on list released by justice ministry as ceasefire deal with Hamas extended for another two days

Book reportedly revealed name who expressed concerns' about what skin colour Harry and Meghan's son would haveA new book about the royal family has been taken off shelves in the Netherlands after reports it named the person who allegedly expressed concerns" about what skin colour Harry and Meghan's son Archie would have.Xander, publishers of the Dutch translation of Endgame by the journalist Omid Scobie, have put sales of the book on hold temporarily" over what it called an error". Continue reading...

About 22,000 people have been displaced amid murders, looting, kidnappings and widespread sexual violence, new UN report saysHaiti's brutal gang wars have spread from the capital to key farming heartlands, displacing tens of thousands of people and having a devastating impact on access to food staples, the United Nations has warned.Violence has gradually escalated in the Bas-Artibonite region north of the capital, the source of staples such as rice, according to a new report released on Tuesday, which said about 22,000 had been displaced amid murders, looting, kidnappings and widespread sexual violence. Continue reading...

Tax office says we will review our overall approach to debts on hold before progressing any further' after letters draw comparisons to robodebt scheme

Recently released Eitan Yahalomi, 12, suffered horrors' at the hands of militant Palestinian group, according to family memberA 12-year-old boy who was held hostage in Gaza for 52 days was forced in captivity to watch videos of the 7 October atrocities, his aunt has claimed.Eitan Yahalomi, a French-Israeli national, was kidnapped from the Nir Oz kibbutz with his father, Ohad Yahalomi, who remains captive. Continue reading...

Immigration minister says he would have brought in plans to curb net migration before last Christmas if I could have done'Robert Jenrick has appeared to distance himself from Rishi Sunak's immigration policies amid new calls from hardline Conservatives for a clampdown on net migration.The immigration minister, once seen as close to the prime minister, said on Tuesday that he would have curbed the number of people coming into the UK before last Christmas" if it could have been done. Continue reading...

Report by Futurism finds articles written by fake authors but Arena Group says articles were commercial contentThe US sports publication Sports Illustrated is embroiled in scandal after it has been accused of running articles written by artificial intelligence.An investigative report published by the science and technology news publication Futurism found Sports Illustrated published articles written by fake authors. These fake authors also had headshots and biographies generated by artificial intelligence, Futurism's investigation found. Continue reading...

Staff at Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey strike over threatening pupil behaviour as Steve Chalke says no government promises being metThe founder of the academy trust in charge of a troubled secondary school on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent has defended his record in education and accused the government of failing to deliver the resources needed to turn the school around.Staff at the Oasis Academy Isle of Sheppey were out on strike for a second day on Tuesday in protest over threatening behaviour by pupils. However, according to the Oasis founder, Steve Chalke, the school has struggled for years against a backdrop of high deprivation, often associated with coastal locations. Continue reading...

Former student of city who returned marker for road made famous by the Beatles says thieves were worse for wear'A Penny Lane street sign stolen by drunk students has been returned to Liverpool, 47 years after the theft.The sign of the Mossley Hill suburb was taken in 1976, nine years after the road was made famous when the Beatles' single Penny Lane was released as a double A-side single with Strawberry Fields Forever. Continue reading...

Lisa Wilkinson says her family's multimillion-pound fortune was not enough to save the chain

Former PM's son's company, which uses predictive software to match people with firms, suffers seventh year of lossesEuan Blair's apprenticeship company Multiverse has reported a near-tripling of pre-tax annual losses to 40.5m - its seventh straight year of losses since the son of the former prime minister Tony Blair set it up in 2016.Despite failing to turn a profit, the company was awarded the coveted tech unicorn" status when it was valued at 1.4bn in a fundraising round driven by US venture capital firms in June last year. That put Blair's stake in the company at 420m, far more than his father Tony's reported 60m fortune. Continue reading...

Public parks, forests and near schools will also become smoke-free areas as part of nationwide moveFrance is to ban smoking on all its beaches, as well as in public parks, forests and near schools, after Emmanuel Macron promised to create the first tobacco-free generation" by 2032.From now on, no-smoking areas will be the norm," said the health minister, Aurelien Rousseau. Continue reading...

Poisoning of Kyrylo Budanov's wife suggests Moscow has undercover assets in UkraineThe wife of Ukraine's top spy chief is recovering in hospital after being poisoned, a spokesperson for the country's military intelligence agency said on Tuesday, after apparently eating food laced with heavy metals".Marianna Budanova is the wife of Kyrylo Budanov, who heads Ukraine's GUR military intelligence agency. It is unclear when the alleged poisoning happened. She complained of feeling unwell and was admitted to hospital for tests. Continue reading...

Joint committee on human rights says some public sector workers may be completely prevented from strikingWorkers in some public sector jobs will be completely prevented from striking under restrictive rules that may breach international law, parliament's watchdog on human rights has said.The joint committee on human rights, chaired by the Labour MP Harriet Harman, has written to the government expressing serious concerns" about its new minimum service levels regulations covering the border force, railways and the NHS. Continue reading...

Tina Davies has not found another job since the Broadstairs branch closed and is considering early retirement

Greek minister says Sunak's snub to his PM was bad day' for relations between two countriesGove breaks away from the line of questioning to issue an apology.I want to take this opportunity, if I may, to apologise to the victims who endured so much pain, the families who've endured so much loss, as a result of the mistakes that were made by government in response to the pandemic.And as a minister, responsible for the Cabinet Office, and who was also close to many of the decisions that were made, I must take my share of responsibility for that. Continue reading...

Finnish PM Petteri Orpo says border crossing will close from Thursday as Finland accuses Russia of orchestrating arrival of people from third countriesThe foreign ministers of the Baltic states have decided not to attend the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) ministerial council in Skopje, the three politician said in a statement today.We have also seen nothing but Russia's obstructive behavior within the OSCE itself - first, by blocking any OSCE presence and activities in Ukraine, then by blocking Estonia's 2024 chairmanship on completely fabricated reasons and now by blocking constructive solutions for keeping the organization alive and functional.We deeply regret the decision enabling the personal participation of Russian Foreign Minister S. Lavrov at the 30th Session of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Skopje. It will only provide Russia with yet another propaganda opportunity.Nato needs a proven consensus-builder. We are going to have 32 countries, keeping 32 countries together on any topic is a big challenge, and we need a consensus-builder that can work with any and all allies to move everyone forward in the same direction.Second, I think it's important that the next secretary general would come from a country ... that has a proven track record of investing in his or her own military spending, so investing the 2% of GDP or above. I think that's important as a clear signal to all allies that this really is important to us. Continue reading...

Officer who reviewed intelligence considered risk of big attack an imaginary scenario', leak suggestsIsrael's military and intelligence officials were given a highly detailed warning that Hamas was actively training to take over kibbutzim on the Gaza border and overrun military posts with the aim of inflicting substantial fatalities, according to reports in the Israeli media.The claim made by Israel's Channel 12 on Monday evening was based on leaked emails from the Israeli military's 8200 cyber-intelligence unit discussing the warnings. Continue reading...

Broadcaster is considering using an emergency 75m credit facility next year, Alex Mahon tells MPsChannel 4's chief executive has said the TV industry is reeling from the worst advertising downturn in 15 years, forcing the state-owned broadcaster to consider tapping an emergency 75m credit facility next year.Alex Mahon said that Channel 4 expects the traditional TV ad market to slump by 14% this year, which will see the broadcaster move to a loss in each of the next two years. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Previously unpublished records show millions of animals traded over long distances between European countries or exported globally

Exclusive: Hospitals in Melbourne's eastern and western suburbs, and in the Mornington Peninsula, will now offer surgical abortions

Exclusive: Imports by retailers of nicotine and non-nicotine vapes will soon be banned but new data reveals drastic increase in shops selling the products

Official says rescuers trying to reach men trapped for 17 days are near breakthrough but not yet there'The operation to rescue 41 construction workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas for 17 days may be close to completion, as experts manually drilling the rubble said there was just 2 metres of rubble left to remove.Syed Ata Hasnain, an official from the national disaster management authority (NDMA), told reporters the rescuers were near breakthrough but not yet there". Continue reading...

Failures of management helped create environment in which David Fuller was able to commit crimes, says inquiry chairDavid Fuller, a necrophiliac, was able to offend for 15 years without being suspected or caught because of serious failings" at the hospitals where he worked, an inquiry has found.Outlining his findings at a press conference in Westminster, central London, the chair of the inquiry into the case, Jonathan Michael, said there had been missed opportunities" to stop the necrophiliac double murderer. Continue reading...

Met Office forecasts wintry showers for Scotland and northern England with road and rail possibly affectedBritons are being told to brace for potentially hazardous conditions as snow and ice are forecast for parts of the country.The Met Office has issued yellow weather warnings for snow and ice that are set to last from Tuesday at 5pm to Wednesday at 11am. Continue reading...

UK was too slow to lock down and initial approach to testing was chaotic, minister tells inquiryMichael Gove has apologised for mistakes made by the government during the Covid pandemic, saying the UK was too slow to lock down in early 2020 and then again that autumn.Giving evidence to the Covid inquiry, Gove, who was the lead minister in the Cabinet Office for much of the pandemic, said the initial approach to testing for the virus was chaotic, not enough focus was paid to the impact of lockdown on children, and there was a need for reflection" on how PPE was procured. Continue reading...

Valdo Calocane, also known as Adam Mendes, admits killing Grace O'Malley-Kumar, Barnaby Webber and Ian Coates in JuneA man has pleaded not guilty to the murder of three people who were killed in a spate of attacks in Nottingham in June, but has admitted manslaughter, as well as the attempted murder of three other individuals.Grace O'Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, both 19-year-old students at the University of Nottingham, along with 65-year-old caretaker Ian Coates, were stabbed in the street and killed in the early hours of 13 June. Continue reading...

The conservationist compares ITV reality show to pursuits that are the sad preserve of psychopathic criminals'Chris Packham has written a letter to Ant and Dec, accusing I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! of exploiting animals.In the missive, released on X (formerly Twitter), he states that this is not the first time he has tried to engage with the show's presenters about animal welfare standards on the reality show, but that his previous polite, reasonable and constructive" attempts were ignored so this time I'II be a little more frank and forthright". Continue reading...

Budget airline says its research has found two-thirds of Britons are more likely to travel abroad next yearEasyJet has experienced a general drop in bookings since the Israel-Hamas war started, which prompted it to pause flights to Israel and Jordan, but said demand was coming back and consumers were keen to holiday abroad next year.Johan Lundgren, the budget airline's chief executive, said: As we saw with Ukraine, there has been a short-term industry-wide impact on [flight] searches and bookings, though this now seems to be coming back with a recent improvement in trading." Continue reading...

Exclusive: sources say Fulton county prosecutors unwilling to offer deals to key trio, preferring instead to force them to trialFulton county prosecutors do not intend to offer plea deals to Donald Trump and at least two high-level co-defendants charged in connection with their efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia, according to two people familiar with the matter, preferring instead to force them to trial.The individuals seen as ineligible include Trump, his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Continue reading...

Retailer's suppliers did not think of 12,000-plus jobs that could have been saved, claims Doug Putman

Celebrations as Hamas releases 11 hostages from Gaza in exchange for 33 Palestinians in Israeli jails as truce extended by two days