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Valeriy Zaluzhny warns Putin’s forces regrouping before renewed attack in 2023; Russia looking to overcome impact of sanctions. This live blog is closed

Power blackouts are crippling Ukrainian economy; head of Ukraine’s armed forces expects renewed Russian attempt to capture Kyiv Continue reading...

Scottish government promises to tackle health and social care crisis to protect weakest and poorest

Data suggests private tenants almost three times as likely to be exposed to damp as social housing tenantsAlmost a quarter of private rentals in England fail to meet the decent home standards, government figures have revealed, meaning they pose a risk to health, are in disrepair, have poor facilities, or are poorly insulated.Data from the English Housing Survey, released on Thursday, highlights the poor state of the country’s private rental sector, with 23% of private rentals failing to meet the decent homes standard in 2021-22. That compares with just 13% of owner-occupied homes, and 10% of social housing. Continue reading...

Analysis: polls show support for industrial action by nurses has fallen, with many concerned about the risks to patients from walkoutsWhatever the merits of a trade union’s claim for better pay or conditions, industrial disputes are political events. And as nurses staging an historic walkout on Thursday discovered, public opinion matters.The Royal College of Nursing went into the strike with strong backing, but the momentum of public opinion may now be heading in the wrong direction as they head towards a second strike day next Tuesday. Continue reading...

Fay Johnson admits causing actual bodily harm during incident in March but insists attack not racially motivatedA woman who struck a 12-year-old black boy on the forehead with a paddle at a riverside park so forcefully that he has been left scarred has admitted assault causing actual bodily harm but insisted the attack was not racially motivated.The police were strongly criticised after the attack by Fay Johnson, 32, on the boy, because she was initially not prosecuted after claiming she acted in self-defence and felt “threatened” by the youngster. Continue reading...

Ben Wallace and Suella Braverman ‘turned their back’ on former BBC journalists who are in danger, high court toldMinisters have unlawfully “turned their back” on former BBC journalists whose lives are at risk from the Taliban by refusing to relocate them from Afghanistan to the UK, the high court has heard.Eight Afghan journalists, who worked in high-profile roles for the BBC and other media agencies in the country from which British troops withdrew last year, are challenging the decision to deny them UK visas. Continue reading...

The Duke of Sussex also says palace’s willingness to lie to press led to his and Meghan’s exit

Brothers Finlay and Samuel Butler, their cousin Thomas Stewart, and Jack Johnson died after incident on SundayThe four children who died after falling through ice into a lake in Solihull have been named as brothers Finlay and Samuel Butler, their cousin Thomas Stewart, and Jack Johnson.The four boys were pulled from the freezing Babbs Mill lake in cardiac arrest on Sunday and taken to hospital, where eight-year-old Finlay, 11-year-old Thomas and 10-year-old Jack died a short time later. Continue reading...

Cotswold home, currently housing ‘superfans’ who are paying rent of £5 a week, sold to online buyerThe Grade II*-listed Cotswold mansion where Evelyn Waugh wrote Brideshead Revisited has sold at auction for £3.16m despite buyers being warned that sitting tenants – who are paying a weekly rent of £5 a week – are refusing to leave the property.Piers Court, at Stinchcombe, a village about halfway between Bristol and Cheltenham, was sold to an unnamed bidder in an online auction on Thursday after the owner defaulted on a loan secured against the eight-bedroom, six-bathroom property. Continue reading...

Three-time Wimbledon champion released after eight months of two-and-a-half-year sentenceThe three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker has been deported from the UK after being freed from jail.The 55-year-old German, who has lived in the UK since 2012, was released on Thursday after serving eight months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence. Continue reading...

Warsaw seeking explanation from Kyiv after Jaroslaw Szymczyk taken to hospital with minor injuriesPoland’s police chief, Jaroslaw Szymczyk, has been taken to hospital with minor injuries after a gift he received from a senior Ukrainian official exploded, the interior ministry said on Thursday.“Yesterday at 7:50 am there was an explosion in a room next to the office of the police chief,” a statement said. “One of the presents the police chief received during his working visit to Ukraine on December 11 and 12 exploded.” Continue reading...

Possession of mobile phones and smartwatches the biggest single cause for sanctionsThis year’s A-level and GCSE exams had a surge in the number of students penalised for potential cheating or disruptive behaviour, with possession of mobile phones and smartwatches the biggest single cause for sanctions.Ofqual, the exam regulator for England, said more than 4,300 candidates were penalised for “malpractice” during the exams taken this spring. Although the total represents just 0.03% of all A-level and GCSE exams taken, it was a more-than-40% increase compared with 2019, when 3,040 students were penalised. Continue reading...

Defence minister suggests attack could happen by February, but other officials indicate it could come in January

NHS Employers boss says strikes next month likely to be for longer and to affect more trusts if dispute continues

Harry and Meghan speak about losing baby during final episode; Duke says palace ‘were happy to lie to protect my brother’We are not far away now from the second instalment of episodes becoming available. Here is a reminder of the trailer for what we are getting today, in which Harry says there was “institutional gaslighting” and in which Meghan says “I wasn’t being thrown to the wolves. I was being fed to the wolves.”You can see similar deflection this morning. In the trailer this week, one of the interviewees describes a barrage of negative stories over a montage of newspaper headlines. One of the headlines featured ex-Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe, and so elements of the press have gone to her this morning, got a great quote that Meghan is “peddling conspiracy theories” because Widdecombe said she wasn’t briefed by the palace to give those quotes and BOSH! case closed as far as the Mail and the Sun are concerned. Continue reading...

Figure rises from 5,501 people on 7 December to 6,720 on 14 December, according to NHS dataThe number of people in hospital with Covid-19 in England has risen 22% in a week, the latest figures reveal.There were 6,720 people in hospital with the virus on 14 December, up from 5,501 on 7 December, according to data released by NHS England on Thursday. Continue reading...

MoD concedes to longstanding demands for statutory inquiry into allegations dating back to 2010Ministers have announced a statutory judge-led inquiry into allegations of more than 50 summary killings by SAS soldiers in Afghanistan, after several years of reports that elite British troops killed civilians in cold blood.In a statement to the House of Commons, Andrew Murrison, the minister for defence people, said the Ministry of Defence would concede to longstanding demands for an “independent statutory inquiry” after years of dismissing the idea. The inquiry will cover the period from mid-2010 to mid-2013. Continue reading...

Ex-employer, based in Northern Ireland, alleged she had ‘dressed and behaved provocatively’A woman who was told to stand up and turn around before being slapped on the bottom with a ruler by her male manager has settled a sexual harassment case for £90,000.After complaining to her company, she was treated like a troublemaker and her former employer – based in Northern Ireland – alleged she had “dressed and behaved provocatively”, she said. Continue reading...

Investigation continues into blast as police say they believe no more residents are unaccounted forNine people are confirmed to have died after a suspected gas leak that flattened a three-storey block of apartments in Jersey’s port of St Helier.An investigation to uncover the cause of the deadly blast at the Haut du Mont flats in St Helier, Jersey’s capital, at 4am on Saturday continues but there are no further people unaccounted for. Continue reading...

Slingshot cage with boys inside clattered into mast, leaving them suspended in mid-airTwo boys had to be rescued from a fairground ride at Winter Wonderland in London’s Hyde park when the cage they were strapped into crashed into a mast, leaving them suspended in the air.There were screams, gasps and a cry of “holy shit” when the spherical cage, with the boys in it, clattered into the mast supporting the slingshot ride at the fair on Wednesday evening. Continue reading...

Convoy of two armoured utility vehicles travelling to Beirut came under small arms fire, Ireland’s defence forces saidAn Irish peacekeeper has been killed and another seriously wounded in a gun attack after a hostile crowd surrounded Irish members of the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon.The incident happened on Wednesday night when a convoy of two armoured utility vehicles with UN markings passed near the village of Aqibya, just outside the force’s area of operations in a strip along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel. Continue reading...

Teenager died after being hit by car as scattered incidents of violence reported in several French citiesA 14-year-old boy has died after being struck by a car amid scattered incidents of violence in several French cities after France’s World Cup semi-final victory over Morocco on Wednesday night, local authorities have said.The local government office in the southern city of Montpellier said police were searching for the driver of the car, which was abandoned nearby after the “violent collision” and was being examined for fingerprints and other evidence. Continue reading...

Former Tory chair urges PM to compromise as strikes across England, Wales and Northern Ireland take place

Consumer group said many packages arrived late or were left in the pouring rain, even laptopsParcels chucked over fences into ponds, packages hidden in bins and laptops left out in the pouring rain – these are just some of the Christmas parcel delivery failures reported by consumers.A delivery of pet tarantulas delayed overnight in transit was one of the strangest parcel problems reported to consumer group Which? in a survey of festive delivery difficulties. Continue reading...

Examination exposes failure to track repeat suspects and botched investigations by struggling forcesA damning official examination into how police forces tackle rape has exposed persistent failings in the criminal justice system, including a failure to track repeat suspects, “explicit victim-blaming” and botched investigations.The long-awaited independent report into the first year of Operation Soteria Bluestone – launched by the government after a catastrophic fall in rape prosecutions – also paints a picture of a over-worked, traumatised and inexperienced police workforce in England and Wales, which is struggling to cope with an increase in rape reports after years of austerity. Continue reading...

Maitland church pastor Robert Cotton said he would never have allowed Frank Houston to preach again if he knew he was a paedophile

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Counsel for Abdul Nacer Benbrika says he was kept in prison after completing sentence because government didn’t disclose report on risk assessment tool

MSI Australia has been prevented from promoting its services through paid ads on Google since 3 December

Some Beijing hospitals have as many as 80% of staff infected, according to one doctor, leading to serious staff shortagesChinese doctors and nurses are being told to keep working even when infected with Covid-19, staff and residents reported, as the virus rips through the population in the wake of eased restrictions.Some hospitals in Beijing have up to 80% of their staff infected, but many of them are still required to work due to staff shortages, a doctor in a large public hospital in Beijing told Reuters, adding he had spoken to his peers at other big hospitals in the capital. Continue reading...

Government and security agencies considering crackdown on terror laws and implications of radicalisation and misinformation

The opposition leader is determined to reheat the climate wars, via whatever means and whatever the costs to Australia

Female pedestrian, also 74, died after being struck in Sydney’s CBD on Wednesday with bus driver on dangerous driving occasioning death charge

The national jobless rate remains at a near 50-year-low as rebounding economy faces labor shortages from lack of migration

Number of people unable to afford prepayment meter top-up is higher this year than in past six years combinedThe monthly number of people that Citizens Advice helped with energy-related problems and issues rose to a record high in November, underlining the scale of the struggle with soaring costs of gas and electricity.The charity said it was continuing to exceed its forecasts for the numbers of cash-strapped households turning to it for help because they cannot afford to top up their energy prepayment meter and therefore cannot perform basic tasks such as heating food. Continue reading...

OfS expected to gain new powers to regulate freedom of speech issues in EnglandThe Office for Students will make freedom of speech and “off-limits” subjects on university campuses one of its top priorities for next year, despite the regulator receiving only around 60 complaints over the last four years.Susan Lapworth, the OfS’s chief regulator, said students’ experience of higher education in England was “not just measured through statistics,” and could be affected by the attitudes towards issues such as freedom of speech at the institutions they attend. Continue reading...

Passengers at most airports to be allowed two-litre containers of liquid, in major relaxation of 2006 rulesRules around taking liquids and laptops through airport security will be eased from June 2024, the government has said.The announcement of the biggest relaxation of aviation security regulations in decades confirms reports last month that the change would come in the year after next. Continue reading...

Study finds exposing inequalities in applications for employment ‘catches racism red-handed’Researchers believe they may have found the best way to convince the public that racism is a real problem and requires major change: tell them about an Oxford University study exposing discrimination faced by job applicants.A groundbreaking project exploring how better to boost public support for action against systemic racism tested which messages best move people towards a more anti-racist position. Continue reading...

Grattan Institute says government should target permanent skilled visas at younger, higher-skilled migrants

Investigation launched after complaint from Mohammed Abouagela Masud’s family that his extradition was not lawfulLibya’s chief prosecutor has opened an investigation into the extradition of a Libyan national accused of making the bomb that downed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, to the United States.US authorities announced on Sunday that they had arrested former intelligence officer Mohammed Abouagela Masud. The following day he appeared in federal court in Washington DC. and was charged with an act of international terrorism. Continue reading...

Skipper of fishing vessel tells how his crew spent two hours pulling 31 people from the freezing waterFour people died and more than 40 were rescued after a desperate call to a charity warned that a boat carrying asylum seekers including children had capsized in the Channel on Wednesday morning.An unidentified man on the sinking vessel, in a recording obtained by the Guardian, asked at 2.53am for the alarm to be raised to save his family who were in the icy waters. Continue reading...

WHO director-general says he is ‘not in good shape’ after learning Eritrean troops killed his uncle in TigrayThe head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday that Eritrean troops “murdered” his uncle in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.The WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a former Ethiopian minister who comes from Tigray, has previously been a vocal critic of Ethiopia’s role in the conflict that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions. Continue reading...

Many flats in Cheshire House on the Shires estate have had no heating or hot water for two weeksResidents in an Enfield tower block that has been without heating and hot water for two weeks are resorting to sleeping in the same room, taking showers outside in sub-zero temperatures and putting the oven on for warmth.At least two-thirds of flats in Cheshire House on the Shires Estate in Edmonton have had their gas cut off since the evening of 28 November after a leak was discovered. Those affected have been offered a single electric heater and portable showers located outside the block as temperatures fall below freezing. Continue reading...

President calls on Puerto Rican reggaeton star to perform after fans turned away from sold-out show on FridayMexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has called on Bad Bunny to give a free concert in the capital’s central Zócalo plaza after hundreds of fans were locked out of the Puerto Rican rapper’s sold-out show last weekend thanks to a Ticketmaster debacle.During his regular morning news conference, López Obrador, or Amlo as he’s commonly known, said Bad Bunny was a “supportive” and “sensitive” person, adding that, although the government couldn’t pay the artist, it would fund limited production costs for the concert. Continue reading...

White House spokesperson says war in Ukraine will continue ‘for some time’; no one reported hurt as two floors of central building damaged

Friend and fellow broadcaster says former England cricketer will be OK after ‘pretty serious crash’Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff is recovering from an accident while filming for Top Gear, according to his friend and fellow broadcaster Piers Morgan.The former England cricketer, 45, received medical care at the scene before being airlifted to a hospital on Tuesday after a crash at a Surrey aerodrome. Continue reading...

The beloved dancer-DJ was also a former contestant on So You Think You Can Dance and appeared in films like Step Up: All InStephen “tWitch” Boss, the longtime, beloved dancing DJ on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and a former contestant on So You Think You Can Dance, has died. He was 40.His wife, Allison Holker Boss, confirmed his death in a statement to People.com. Continue reading...

Eva Kaili awaits bail decision as lawyer says prison strike stopped her attending courtThe Greek MEP at the centre of a corruption scandal engulfing the European parliament will have to wait in prison until next week to find out whether she will be released on bail pending a trial.The Greek Socialist MEP Eva Kaili is one of four suspects arrested last week in connection with a major police investigation into cash for influence involving Qatar’s government. Continue reading...

The supermodel also discusses changing the fashion industry and resisting ageing clichesThe supermodel Iman has opened up about her grief over the loss of her husband, David Bowie, saying she refuses to refer to him as “late”.The couple were married in 1992. Appearing on the cover of January’s issue of Vogue magazine for the first time, the model, activist and entrepreneur talked about her enduring love for the musician, who died of cancer in 2016. Continue reading...