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...
EU commissioner says Elon Musk’s platform must ‘fly by our rules’ as UK minister raises concerns over content moderationElon Musk’s Twitter acquisition has been polarizing, sparking reactions from politicians, regulators and non-profits across different continents.Some have expressed concerns about potential changes to Twitter’s content moderation policies now that it’s in the hands of the Tesla billionaire, while others celebrated how they expect the platform’s newly minted leader will handle content and speech on Twitter. Continue reading...
Metropolitan police said its female officer representation is 30.4%, equating to 10,386 officersBritain’s biggest police force has its highest ever number of female officers, new figures show.The Metropolitan police said its female officer representation is 30.4%, equating to 10,386 officers, as of the end of September 2022. The force said it aims to increase the proportion to 33% by the financial year of 2023/2024. Continue reading...
Gangs believed to control about 60% of Port-au-Prince as Haitians also struggling with dwindling supplies for food, water and basicsGang violence, kidnapping and intimidation has forced about 96,000 people to flee their homes in Haiti’s capital, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Friday, as the country faces a crisis that has prompted the government to request the immediate deployment of foreign troops.The IOM said gang-related violence has led to “racketeering, kidnappings and wider criminal acts in a context characterized by deep inequalities, high levels of deprivation of basic human needs and a fragmented security environment”. Continue reading...
Crowds in Mahabad also fired on during rally held after funeral of protester Ismail MauludiIranian security forces have opened fired on protesters in Zahedan a month after a massacre that killed scores of people in the restive south-eastern city.Crowds were also fired on in Mahabad, another city with a long history of resistance against the regime, in renewed deadly violence at the end of the sixth week of unrest sparked by the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini on 16 September. Continue reading...
Reappointment of ‘leaky Su’ as home secretary has been the one obvious blight on Rishi Sunak’s new premiershipSuella Braverman has said little in public since she was reinstated as home secretary on Tuesday. Her return to a great office of state, just six days after a security breach, has reignited an internal Tory row over propriety and political direction that could destabilise Rishi Sunak’s premiership. But the MP for Fareham, usually at her happiest when using media publicity to anger liberals and enthuse the hard right, has kept quiet, avoiding microphones, cameras and two urgent questions in the House of Commons.On Wednesday there was no mention of the “tofu-eating wokerati” she has previously blamed for Just Stop Oil protests, and no reference to her “dream” of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. Instead, as Braverman silently slipped out of the chamber to avoid taking part in a debate discussing whether she was fit for a return to office, she was taunted by Labour MPs. “Where are you going? Come back!” said the shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry. Continue reading...
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...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#65792)
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...
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...
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...
by Gwyn Topham Transport correspondent on (#6571X)
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...
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...
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...
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...
by Martin Chulov, Middle East correspondent on (#656WB)
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...
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...
by Presented by Michael Safi with Ben Doherty; produc on (#656T7)
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...
World news | The Guardian