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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...

MPs demand new pathways to apply for refugee status as four people die during small boat crossing

Death toll from blast on Saturday rises, with one remaining missing personAn eighth victim of a suspected gas explosion at apartments in Jersey has been confirmed dead, the island’s police have said, with the body of one missing person still to be recovered.A delicate recovery operation that will also seek to uncover the cause of the deadly blast at the Haut du Mont flats in St Helier, Jersey’s capital, was continuing, the Jersey police chief, Robin Smith, said. Continue reading...

Watchdog to monitor force closely after damning report revealed deep-seated behavioural problemsLondon fire brigade (LFB) has been placed into special measures by the chief fire inspector after a report revealing incidents of misogyny, racism and bullying.

Indigenous children routinely subjected to racist slurs and excessive force, including use of stun guns, Yoorrook Justice Commission told

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Fears an increase in allegations, particularly against mothers, of deliberately alienating a child against the other parent in domestic abuse cases may put victims at further riskThe UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls is to investigate how family courts around the world approach “parental alienation” (PA) and how this may lead to the double victimisation of those who have suffered domestic abuse.There is no single agreed definition of parental alienation but a generally accepted description is a child’s rejection of one parent as a result of psychological manipulation by their preferred parent. Continue reading...

Authorities concerned that death toll from people being hit by cars while sleeping on roads will increase further as end-of-year party season beginsThe end of Covid-19 restrictions on Japan’s nighttime economy has brought more people out on to the streets of Tokyo – but it could also be contributing to a spate of deaths among people who are struck by cars as they sleep on the road.The number of deaths among people who sleep where they drop on the capital’s roads has nearly doubled from last year, from seven to 13, according to police. Continue reading...

Health officials cease recording asymptomatic cases as shortages of medical supplies and testing kits reported in wake of sudden end to strict Covid policy

Three people were captured on covertly-installed cameras using an electronic prod, poly pipe and blinkers on three racehorses in 2018

A wave of industrial action is expected to disrupt rail services for four weeks around ChristmasPassengers around Britain are set for another day of disrupted trains and curtailed services on the railway as a 48-hour RMT strike continues on Wednesday.The two-day strike, the first in a wave of industrial action that will affect the railway for four weeks around Christmas, involves about 40,000 members of the RMT union in Network Rail and at 14 train operators. Continue reading...

In lead-up to second batch of three episodes, streaming service reveals first part racked up 81.55m viewing hours around the worldHarry & Meghan, Netflix’s documentary series about Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife, racked up more viewing time on the streaming service than any other documentary during its first week, the company said on Tuesday.The first three episodes of Harry & Meghan recorded 81.55m viewing hours around the world after its debut last Thursday, Netflix said, “the highest view hours of any documentary title in a premiere week”. More than 28m households watched at least part of the series. Continue reading...

The character, chosen by public vote, reflected feelings about the state of the world and anxiety over living cost pressuresPeople in Japan have chosen the kanji character for “war” as the symbol that sums up 2022 – a year marked by conflict in Ukraine and the assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe.The character, chosen in a public vote, reflected Japanese sentiment about the state of the world, as well as heightened anxiety over the weak yen and high cost of living, according to the annual contest’s organisers, the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation. Continue reading...

Ship’s visit to Kangaroo Island cancelled after body of 23-year-old woman found off South Australian coast

Constable thanks ‘everyone from the prime minister down’ for their support as he recovers from surgery to remove shrapnel

The signals intelligence agency has sent out a challenge aimed at secondary school children on its Christmas cardGCHQ has released seven “fiendish puzzles” for Christmas aimed at secondary school children keen on science, technology and engineering, which it hopes will stimulate interest in its intelligence work and similar careers.The normally secretive signals intelligence agency said completing the seven puzzles, sent out on its Christmas card, would require secondary school classes to work as a team. The successful completion of all seven questions will unlock a final challenge to complete. Continue reading...