World news | The Guardian

It’s a Sin actor Shaun Dooley plays former PM in cold war thriller The Ghost of Harold WilsonA new drama about Harold Wilson has become the first feature film to be shot inside the House of Commons chamber after producers appealed directly to the Speaker as well as MPs and peers who knew the former Labour prime minister.The Ghost of Harold Wilson is billed as a “tense political thriller” based on a meeting between Wilson and two journalists during the cold war. Continue reading...

Retailer will provide paid time off to attend medical appointments, including staff who use a surrogateStaff at the Co-op will be able to take paid time off for fertility treatments, under a new policy launched by the retailer.Co-op’s chief executive, Shirine Khoury-Haq, said she has gone through the process of fertility treatment herself and wants to create a supportive environment for her employees. Continue reading...

State education minister Grace Grace says review to look at regulation of non-state schools and measures to protect students

After four years of Jair Bolsonaro’s far-right rule, Lula da Silva says his first priority will be helping the 100 million Brazilians living in povertyThe euphoria of an election victory is fleeting and while many Brazilians will wake up with a hangover after celebrating the defeat of Jair Bolsonaro, president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will soon have his own headaches to deal with.Lula takes power on 1 January 2023 and will be charged with rebuilding and reuniting a nation that has been left damaged and bitterly divided after four years of Bolsonaro’s anarchic far-right policies. Continue reading...

Daniel Andrews says $15m government deal will encourage grassroots participation as well as promote tourism in the state

The Superior Electoral Court of Brazil has announced that Lula is elected president, after a nailbiting count that went to the wire. Find out how every state voted

Met police confirm fatalities following reports of gunshots in LambethTwo men have died after gunshots were heard on Sunday evening in Lambeth, south London, the Metropolitan police has said.Police officers were called at about 7.50pm following reports of gunshots on Railton Road, according to the statement. Firearms officers, the London ambulance service and London’s air ambulance responded to the incident. Continue reading...

Grattan Institute urges Albanese government to retain strict criteria and annual performance tests

Luxury store made profit of £51m in 2021-22 after Covid restrictions eased and tourists returnedHarrods more than doubled the pay of its managing director, Michael Ward, last year to £2.3m, even as the company collected almost £6m in government support under the furlough scheme.Ward, understood to be the highest-paid director at the upmarket department store in Knightsbridge, west London, increased his package from £1m the previous year after Harrods returned to profit as pandemic restrictions eased. Continue reading...

Darren Rodwell, Barking and Dagenham council leader, selected to stand despite comments at Black History Month eventA white council leader who once joked that he had “the worst tan possible for a black man” has been selected to stand as a Labour MP.Darren Rodwell, the leader of Barking and Dagenham London borough council, fought off selection competition from councillor Josie Channer, a black councillor who has previously run for selection near Bristol. Continue reading...

Raids on student campuses sparked protests despite threats made by chief of security force about response to further unrestThousands of Iranians have demonstrated in defiance of a final warning by the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps that he would bring protests to an end with unprecedented force.Rallies were held on the streets on Sunday to protest against raids on student dormitories over the weekend in which students were taken away in buses to state detention. Some were sent text messages saying they were banned from campus indefinitely. Continue reading...

Rescue operation under way following incident at pedestrian suspension bridge in city of MorbiAt least 60 people were killed when a pedestrian bridge over a river in the western Indian state of Gujarat collapsed, plunging hundreds of people into the water, officials have said.Authorities said that more than 150 people were on the suspension bridge over the Machchhu River in the city of Morbi at the time of the collapse. Continue reading...

International condemnation after Russia suspends grain deal; Russia claims it has identified the drones used to attack its Black Sea fleet

Jeremy Vine, Basharat Peer and Katharine Viner join Guardian readers in honouring the former columnistFurther tributes have been paid to Ian Jack, the Guardian columnist and former editor of Granta and the Independent on Sunday who died on Friday at the age of 77.In his final piece for the Guardian, published last week, he reminisced on his memories of the BBC, which he described as “one of the world’s great cultural projects”, to mark its centenary. Continue reading...

Labour and women’s rights groups criticise ‘deeply troubling’ appointment of Maria CaulfieldMaria Caulfield, a Tory MP who supported cutting the abortion time limit and voted against buffer zones outside clinics, has been named as minister for women, prompting criticism from charities and women’s rights groups.Caulfield, the MP for Lewes, was previously an officer of the all-party parliamentary “pro-life” group and voted against legalising abortion in Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

Cities near to the Foxconn plant have drawn up plans to isolate migrant workers who are returning to homeCities in central China have hastily drawn up plans to isolate migrant workers fleeing to their home towns from the country’s largest iPhone factory, amid fears they will spread coronavirus after leaving the plant in Covid-hit Zhengzhou.Videos shared on Chinese social media showed people who are allegedly workers at the Foxconn plant climbing over fences and carrying their belongings along a road. It was previously reported that a number of workers had been placed under quarantine because of an outbreak of the disease. Continue reading...

Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map charts thousands of projects and activities from 67 donor entities, including Australia and the USChina is funnelling aid to Kiribati and Solomon Islands, while its overall spending in the Pacific region is in decline, the latest Pacific Aid Map reveals.The Lowy Institute on Monday released its 2022 updated version of the map, an interactive analytical tool that enables users to track aid flow and development funding in the Pacific. Continue reading...

Levelling up secretary does not deny breach took place, as Labour says No 10 not taking national security seriously enoughMichael Gove has pointedly declined to deny a report that Liz Truss’s personal phone was potentially hacked by Russian agents, as Labour accused the government of “not taking national security seriously enough”.Gove, returned to the cabinet this week by Rishi Sunak as levelling up secretary, said he could not discuss any possible security breaches, while insisting there were “robust protocols” in place over such issues. Continue reading...

House of Lords watchdog has been examining Earl of Shrewsbury over his work for healthcare firmA Conservative hereditary peer appears to have misled the House of Lords standards watchdog during an investigation into his alleged misconduct.The House of Lords commissioners for standards have been investigating the Earl of Shrewsbury over claims he misused his parliamentary position to lobby for a healthcare firm that was paying him. Continue reading...

Police say 79-year-old man was known to victim and has been taken into custody for questioningA 79-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman was killed in the latest fatal shooting on Merseyside.Police found the body of the woman, who was in her 50s, at 1.45am on Sunday after being called to an address in Moreton on the Wirral. Continue reading...

President Yoon Suk-yeol declares state of national mourning after fatal surge in Itaewon nightlife quarter of South Korean capitalSouth Korea was plunged into mourning as it attempted to make sense of the deaths of at least 153 people who were crushed and trampled to death in a narrow alley during Halloween celebrations in Itaewon, a packed nightlife area of Seoul.An estimated 100,000 people, many in costume, gathered in Itaewon on Saturday night as the lifting of social distancing, mask mandates and other anti-Covid measures cleared the way for the first Halloween party in three years. Continue reading...

Armed gangs have shut off access to Haiti’s main fuel terminal, decimating basic services amid a cholera and hunger crisisThe Haitian ambassador to Washington has appealed to the international community to accelerate talks on deploying an armed intervention, warning that criminal gangs were in danger of taking over the country.Bocchit Edmond made his appeal as efforts to agree to a UN resolution backing such a force appear to have stalled, and as the US and Canada have been holding urgent talks looking for ways to break the impasse. Continue reading...

The spat and injury inspired Bacon to paint his violent expressionist canvas Self-Portrait with Injured EyeFrancis Bacon feared for his sight in one eye and how it would affect his future as a painter after he was seriously injured in a drunken brawl with a lover in 1972, it has emerged.Part of the evidence comes from the previously unpublished diaries of the late Denis Wirth-Miller, who was Bacon’s friend for 45 years, although their relationship was famously turbulent. Continue reading...

Deleted chapter of book by British spy who supported Arab revolt reveals his true feelings about insincere pledge of self-governmentTE Lawrence was “continually and bitterly ashamed” of the betrayal of the Middle East following the Arab revolt in which he became a British national hero, according to a chapter in his book The Seven Pillars of Wisdom which he decided to remove before publication.He was persuaded to remove the chapter by his friend, the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw, and it was never printed in any edition. However, for the first time, an extremely rare copy of the manuscript – including the expunged chapter – has come to the open market with a price tag of £65,000. Continue reading...

Former prime minister could be told to limit rewards for allies and friends after her disastrous seven-week tenureLiz Truss will be advised by Buckingham Palace not to present a long list of resignation honours after her short and disastrous premiership, according to senior figures with experience of the system.One source with close knowledge of honours protocol told the Observer that, given her time in No 10 lasted just seven weeks and was marred by economic crisis and U-turns, rewarding lots of allies and friends would be seen as inappropriate by the Palace, by cabinet secretary Simon Case and almost certainly by the new prime minister, Rishi Sunak. Continue reading...

Government says process was informed by national security advice, individual assessments and detailed work by security agencies

Rishi Sunak’s arrival in Downing Street is already helping to repair the party’s reputation for financial managementRishi Sunak and the Conservatives have overturned Labour’s lead in terms of who voters trust most to manage the economy, a new poll for the Observer has revealed.The new prime minister is currently drawing up tax rises and spending cuts designed to fill a £40bn fiscal hole left by Liz Truss’s disastrous time in Downing Street, with warnings that any significant attempt to cut Whitehall budgets will lead to huge pressure on public services. It comes with new analysis revealing that freezing public service spending would save £20bn but would also lead to a return to the austerity of the 2010s. Continue reading...

Footballer Marcus Rashford’s victory on school meals is crumbling as English councils drop schemesCouncils across England are “quietly” axing holiday food voucher schemes for children on free school meals, which has left many families desperate this half-term, headteachers and charities warn.It took a massive public campaign, led by the Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford, to force Boris Johnson into a U-turn in November 2020 on feeding children from the lowest-income families during the school holidays. Continue reading...

Vessel travelling north collides with Cuban coast guard ship near Bahía Honda, reports sayA boat off northern Cuba travelling toward the United States sank Saturday after a collision with a Cuban coastguard ship and at least five people died, Cuban state media reported on Saturday.The craft reportedly flipped over after the crash near Bahía Honda, about two hours from the capital, Havana. Among the five known dead were a minor and three women, while 23 people were rescued, the Cubadebate report said. Continue reading...

Four Israelis and one Palestinian injured in gun attack in Hebron, say Israel's emergency services and armyA gun attack in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron wounded five people on Saturday, including four Israelis and one Palestinian, and the assailant was shot dead, Israel’s emergency services and the army have said.Extreme-right Israeli lawmaker Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose Religious Zionism alliance is eyeing major gains in elections on Tuesday, has claimed that his Hebron home was the target. Continue reading...

US embassy identified Sandton district as potential target, but event went ahead after South African authorities insisted it was safeThousands of people gathered for the Pride march in South Africa’s largest city Johannesburg on Saturday despite a warning from the US embassy of a possible terror attack.The event took place under heavy security in the upmarket district of Sandton, identified by the US embassy as a potential target. Continue reading...

Breach discovered during Tory leadership in summer but details suppressed, the Mail on Sunday reportsThe government has been urged to launch an urgent investigation after reports that Liz Truss’s phone was hacked.The breach was discovered when Truss, then the foreign secretary, was running for the Tory leadership in the summer, but details were suppressed by the then-prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the cabinet secretary, Simon Case, the Mail on Sunday reported. Continue reading...

Carbon-neutral farmer says use of offsets from Armoobilla project ‘outrageous’ but company says they meet ‘rigorous requirements’ of government standard

Luke O’Connor, 19, was stabbed to death in Fallowfield area of city on WednesdayA teenager has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of student Luke O’Connor, who was stabbed to death in south Manchester.

MPs who received gifts later appeared to speak favourably about Qatar in parliamentary debatesQatar has spent more money on gifts and trips for British MPs in the past year than any other country, according to Observer analysis that reveals the Gulf state’s lobbying efforts ahead of next month’s football World Cup.The Qatari government made gifts to members of parliament worth £251,208 in the 12 months to October 2022, including luxury hotel stays, business-class flights and tickets to horse-racing events. Continue reading...

Moscow plans expedited Kherson withdrawal, says MoD; Guterres calls for west to help remove blocks to Russian grain exports

Extreme group Britain First publishes series of anti-immigrant videos in first 24 hours after getting its new accountKey figures on Britain’s far right who were previously banned from Twitter have been able to open new accounts, apparently without restrictions, after the platform’s takeover by Elon Musk.Britain First, an extreme group whose leader has spent time in jail for hate crimes against Muslims, rejoined the social media network on Friday. It had been banned in 2017 under Twitter’s hate speech rules after posting inflammatory anti-Muslim videos. Some videos posted by its then deputy leader were retweeted by US president Donald Trump. Continue reading...

UK charity dedicated to solving missing persons cases releases new image it believes could help finally identify her after 18 yearsThe mystery over the identity of a young woman found at the foot of a tower block in north-west London 18 years ago could finally be solved, investigators say.The woman is believed to have fallen from the 21st floor of Wembley Point, a triangular office building now known as the WEM Tower London, into the River Brent on the morning of Friday 29 October 2004. Continue reading...

Move comes after assault by airborne and underwater drones in which flagship may be been damaged

Spying charge levelled at Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi carries death penalty as Tehran seeks to suppress running protestsTwo female journalists who were instrumental in reporting the death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death in the custody of Iran’s morality police has sparked nationwide protests, have been labelled as CIA foreign agents by the Iranian regime.Niloofar Hamedi and Elahe Mohammadi, who were arrested shortly after news broke of Amini’s death and who are reportedly being held in Iran’s notorious Evin prison, were accused of being foreign agents in a joint statement released by Iran’s ministry of intelligence and the intelligence organisation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards last night. Continue reading...

Politician tells Mumsnet that being prime minister is a ‘pretty serious job’ as he contrasts himself with Boris Johnson and Liz TrussSir Keir Starmer has told an interviewer that the UK does not need a “comedian” as prime minister after he was asked about his image as a “dull” politician . The question came in an interview with Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts, who put questions from the site’s users to the Labour leader.

Thousands join demonstration against a childcare structure they say is setting families up for failureThousands gathered in Trafalgar Square on Saturday for the March of the Mummies protest against a childcare structure that many say is setting parents, children and society up for failure.Among them, swathed in gauze and pushing his two-year-old’s stroller, were Laurence Parkes and his family, who described raising two children in London as expensive: a monthly cost including nursery and after-school care that nears the family’s mortgage payments. Continue reading...

UK foreign secretary was speaking at memorial ceremony for victims of 2008 attacks in MumbaiCountries must work together to deprive terrorists of funding in order to prevent deadly attacks, the UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said.Cleverly is in India for a two-day meeting of the UN security council’s counter-terrorism committee, which is being held in Mumbai and Delhi. Continue reading...

Writer who also edited Independent on Sunday remembered as one of the best in British journalismIan Jack, the Guardian columnist and former editor of Granta and the Independent on Sunday, has died at the age of 77 after a short illness.Jack was a gifted writer, a brilliant and imaginative editor, and a mentor to younger journalists. His last piece for the Guardian, published a week ago, was marking the centenary of the BBC, “one of the world’s great cultural projects”. He wrote: “It looks unlikely that Britain will ever again invent anything so admired and influential; we have been lucky to have it.”Comments on this piece are premoderated to ensure discussion remains on topic. Please be aware there may be a short delay in comments appearing on the site. Continue reading...

Two explosions occur at same busy junction where al-Shabaab blasts killed 500 people five years agoTwo car bombs have exploded at a busy junction in Mogadishu near key government offices, leaving “scores of civilian casualties,” police told Somali state media.The attack on Saturday occurred five years after a massive blast at the same location killed hundreds of people. Continue reading...

Journalist Amber de Botton takes special adviser role for new prime ministerRishi Sunak has hired Amber de Botton as his director of communications, Downing Street confirmed on Saturday, in the latest in a series of appointments made by the prime minister in his first week in office.

Citizen-spotters can report missiles at the push of a button with ePPO on their mobiles• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updatesA simple mobile phone app has been developed by Ukrainian volunteers to allow civilians to report sightings of incoming Russian drones and missiles – and, it is hoped, increase the proportion shot down before they hit the ground.The app, ePPO, relies on a phone’s GPS and compass, and a user only has to point their device in the direction of the incoming object and press a single button for it to send a location report to the country’s military. Continue reading...

Whistleblowers allege harassment of female members included ‘crush depth rape list’The head of the Royal Navy has ordered an investigation into “abhorrent” allegations of inappropriate behaviour in the submarine service and declared that sexual assault and harassment has no place in the fleet.It follows whistleblowers making harrowing allegations about misogyny, and bullying and sexual harassment of female members. Continue reading...

Officials revise death toll after fast-moving waters sweep away entire families and damage almost 500 housesThe Philippines has significantly revised down the death toll from a tropical storm ravaging the country, saying only 45 people have been killed.The civil defence office had earlier reported 72 dead, 14 missing and 33 injured, but civil defence officials acknowledged rescue teams sent to the country’s flood-hit south on Friday had erred in their reporting, leading to some deaths being counted twice. Continue reading...

Founder of campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed says parents are being set up to failMore than 15,000 people are expected to take to the streets across the UK calling for government reforms to a childcare and parental leave structure that critics describe as dangerous and devastating.Saturday’s March of the Mummies, organised by the campaign group Pregnant Then Screwed, is expected to bring out thousands of parents and children across 11 cities, with the author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, the actor Sarah Solemani and the Labour MP Stella Creasy among those expected to attend. Continue reading...