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Fixing system could have raised substantial revenue, improved growth and helped to improve fairness

Scott Phillip White long denied murdering the American mathematician and said his pre-trial plea was untrue

Change in stance puts spotlight on US and China, which have both objected to fund

Sean Murray inflicted ‘appalling’ acts of domestic violence before Jean Louise Herholdt stabbed him

Court filing says Saudi crown prince’s promotion to the role of prime minister meant that he was ‘the sitting head of government and, accordingly, immune’The Biden administration has told a US court that Mohammed bin Salman should be granted sovereign immunity in a civil case involving the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, effectively ending a last ditch attempt to hold the Saudi crown prince legally accountable for the 2018 killing.In a filing released on late on Thursday night, the Biden administration said the crown prince’s recent promotion to the role of prime minister meant that he was “the sitting head of government and, accordingly, immune” from the lawsuit. Continue reading...

Christopher Wray says the FBI is investigating the existence of stations in New York, which could violate sovereigntyThe United States is deeply concerned about the Chinese government setting up unauthorised “police stations” in US cities to possibly pursue influence operations, FBI director Christopher Wray has said.“I’m very concerned about this. We are aware of the existence of these stations,” Wray told a US Senate homeland security and governmental affairs committee hearing, acknowledging the FBI’s investigative work on the issue but declining to give details. Continue reading...

Amid race for influence in Asia-Pacific region, Chinese president says no attempt to ‘wage a new cold war will ever be allowed by the people or by our times’The Asia-Pacific is no one’s back yard and should not become an arena of big power rivalry, China’s president, Xi Jinping, has said, warning against cold war tensions in a region that is a flashpoint of competition between Beijing and Washington.Xi’s remarks on Thursday came ahead of Friday’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Bangkok, and were an apparent reference to US efforts with regional allies and partners to blunt what they see as China’s growing coercive economic and military influence in the region. Continue reading...

‘Danger to life’ warning issued for parts of Scotland, with some areas braced for a month’s worth of rain in 36 hoursThe UK is braced for more heavy winds, rain and flooding on Thursday night after being hit by half a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours following a period of unseasonably warm weather, as the Met Office issued a “possible danger to life” warning for parts of Scotland.The amber warning, which will cover part of eastern Scotland, will come into force from the early hours of Friday until 3pm. Continue reading...

Lawyers say US basketball star ‘doing as well as could be expected’ at IK-2 in Mordovia, following visitBasketball star Brittney Griner has been sent to a remote Russian penal colony to start serving her sentence, her lawyers have said.“Brittney began serving her sentence at IK-2 in Mordovia,” lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov said in a statement. Continue reading...

Several more were injured as flames burst through top floor of four-storey building in Jabalia refugee campAt least 21 people have been killed and several others injured after a fire broke out during a party in the northern Gaza Strip, in one of the deadliest recent incidents outside the violence stemming from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.It took firefighters more than an hour to gain control of the massive flames that burst through the top floor of a four-storey residential building in the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza Strip. Continue reading...

Workers at the facility in Spalding that makes own-brand products for major supermarkets rejected a 6.5% pay offerMore than 700 workers at a food manufacturing facility that supplies Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Marks and Spencer will strike from late November until the new year in a row over pay.Workers on the production line at the factory in Spalding, Lincolnshire, make own-brand salads, dips, sauces and deli produce for the UK’s major supermarkets. Continue reading...

Sir Michael Barber will help with skills programme while Patricia Hewitt will work on NHS administration

The activist’s mother was allowed to visit her son for the first time in nearly a month on ThursdayThe family of British-Egyptian political prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah say his health has visibly deteriorated due to the escalation of his hunger strike after being allowed to visit him today.This was the first time the activist’s mother, Laila Soueif, had been allowed to visit him in nearly a month. Prison authorities repeatedly denied her access last week. Continue reading...

Gerald Nicolas, 51, accused of conspiring to overthrow government of Jovenel Moïse, who was later assassinated in separate plotCanadian police have charged a Quebec man with terrorism over allegations he conspired to overthrow the government of the late Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, who was later assassinated in a separate plot.Gerald Nicolas, 51, stands accused of leaving Canada to facilitate a terrorist activity, facilitating a terrorist activity and providing property for terrorist purposes, Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Thursday. Continue reading...

Mother of victim speaks of relief at guilty verdicts in the Netherlands against three accused of 2014 massacreThe mother of an Australian victim of MH17 has spoken of her relief after guilty verdicts were read out in a court in the Netherlands against three of the four men accused of shooting the plane out of the sky.Meryn O’Brien, who lost her 25-year-old son Jack, said: “Everyone was relieved the process has come to an end, and it is very fair, and it has been meticulous.” Continue reading...

Jeremy Hunt says energy efficiency will help to stop Britain being at mercy of global gas prices

Mayor Anne Hidalgo is said to be leaning towards outlawing fleets after rise in fatal accidentsAn electric scooter rider in Paris has been killed after colliding with a lorry, days before the mayor, Anne Hidalgo, decides on whether to outlaw e-scooter rental fleets.The deputy mayor, Emmanuel Gregoire, told AFP on Thursday that while they were still discussing the problem, Hidalgo was leaning towards a ban that would make Paris one of a few big cities to implement such a ban. Continue reading...

With health and education protected, other departments will struggle to cope with rising costsJeremy Hunt’s autumn statement included £28bn in public spending cuts – much of it backloaded until after the next general election – but the pain will not fall equally across government departments. While health and education will get more, inflation will eat into budgets for justice, transport and big infrastructure projects. Here’s how the plans stack up:Health Continue reading...

People told to make daily round trips of up to three hours and that not turning up on time may result in failure, union saysPeople training as Border Force guards have been stripped of free accommodation while they are being taught how to assess people seeking asylum who are subsequently placed in hotels, a union has disclosed.Instead, they have been asked to drive or use public transport for round-trip journeys of several hours to their training courses, a spokesperson for the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said. The trainees face the possibility of failing their course if they do not turn up on time. Continue reading...

Landmark decision described as ‘huge victory for freedom of expression and right to peaceful protest in Europe’Activists who were accused of attempting to “pollute, damage and distort” the Acropolis after they hung a banner from the Athenian monument in protest against China’s policies in Tibet have been acquitted by a Greek court.In a landmark decision described as a victory for human rights defenders globally, an three-member tribunal threw out the charge on Thursday. A public prosecutor had only minutes earlier pressed for a guilty verdict. Continue reading...

Four-month-old denied treatment as she tested negative for coronavirus and family was told case not urgentThe death of a four-month-old baby in central China has stoked public anger on social media as frustrations mount over Beijing’s stringent “dynamic zero Covid” policy, which has confined millions to their homes and sparked angry protests.The girl died after suffering vomiting and diarrhoea while in quarantine at a hotel in the city of Zhengzhou, according to a post by her father, Li Baoliang, on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo on Wednesday. Continue reading...

More to be asked to meet a ‘work coach’ but experts cite jump in long-term sickness due to gaps in public servicesJeremy Hunt has launched a drive to halt an exodus from the British jobs market through a crackdown on benefit claimants.The chancellor said the government would ask more than 600,000 further people on universal credit to meet a “work coach” so that they “can get the support they need” to increase their hours or earnings. Continue reading...

Court says Russia had overall control of the separatist forces in eastern Ukraine at the time when the plane was shot down

PM pays tribute to foreign minister Penny Wong for diplomacy that led to freeing of Australian economist after 650 days

Firm reports £219m half-year losses and asks government to let it move to weekday-only service to cut costsRoyal Mail has asked the government to let it stop delivering letters on Saturdays, arguing it is financially unsustainable and that there is widespread public apathy over the need for a weekend service.Royal Mail said it needed to move to a weekday-only letter delivery service as soon as possible – which can only happen if the government allows a change to the company’s universal service obligations – after it reported a £219m loss in the six months to September. Continue reading...

Authorities believe the fire was part of a series of 19 arson attempts, and was not politically motivatedA fire that tore through a shelter for Ukrainian refugees in north-east Germany last month was started by one of the firefighters who later helped to extinguish it, according to prosecutors in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, who have arrested the 32-year-old man.A swastika daubed on a Red Cross sign outside the repurposed thatched-roof hotel in the town of Groß Strömkendorf two days before the fire had led some to speculate about a political motive behind the arson attack, which caused millions of euros worth of damage. None of the shelter’s 17 inhabitants were harmed. Continue reading...

Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling sentenced for driving with mobile phone in his handThe UK security minister, Tom Tugendhat, has been banned from driving for six months after being caught driving with his mobile phone in his hand.The Conservative MP for Tonbridge and Malling was stopped by police in his Skoda 4x4 in Wandsworth on 14 April. Continue reading...

Discount grocer bounces back from Covid disruption as profits in Great Britain soared 319% from last yearLidl has said it has taken £58m in additional sales from traditional supermarkets in the past month, as shoppers look for ways to save money, after quadrupling profits in a bounce back from Covid disruption.The German-owned discount grocer, said its British sales rose 1.5% to £7.8bn in the year to the end of February but pretax profits soared 319% to £41.1m as the group trimmed costs as measures to control the Covid-19 virus eased. Continue reading...

Attack is the sixth since early October and authorities in Kyiv said energy infrastructure was again being targeted

Volodymyr Zelenskiy says ‘communist-era rubbish Russian infrastructure’ will be replaced by latest technology and fund will accelerate country’s economy

The story of a widowed joiner and a young single mother has been written by Dave Johns, who played the title role in Ken Loach’s 2016 filmKen Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake is to be adapted for a stage production written by the film’s star. Dave Johns, who played the title role on screen in 2016, said that in researching his new version of the story he found its portrait of poverty more relevant than ever as the UK’s cost-of-living crisis is “making it even harder for those who are already struggling”.The play will have its premiere in May at Northern Stage in Newcastle, the city where I, Daniel Blake was set. It will then go on a UK tour. Continue reading...

Indigenous police officer tells Northern Territory inquest that the concept of payback is based on peacemaking not revenge

State ministers accused of ‘political games’ after asking Canberra to intervene to stop industrial action

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Greens senator labels letters ‘disgraceful’ as Liberal MP accuses Clare O’Neil of ‘throwing her department under the bus’

Experts warn company’s closure could be the first of several delivery services to disappear due to challenging economic conditions

Outer borough of Haringey tops UK league for low-paid jobs relative to local cost of livingCampaigners have demanded higher pay for social care workers in the capital, as new analysis put the outer London borough of Haringey at the top of the UK league for jobs paying below the real living wage.As inflation hit its highest level for 41 years, protesters from the community campaign group Citizens UK gathered outside a Haringey care home, run by the private chain Barchester Healthcare, to call for a real living wage for care staff. Continue reading...

Actor says he won’t attend even if he’s nominated, after alleging he was groped by the former president of the organisation that runs the awards

Gunathilaka is facing four counts of sexual intercourse without consent after allegedly assaulting a woman he met on a dating app

Economy adds 32,000 jobs in October despite record series of interest rate rises

The man was working out when a weight fell on his head and chest, a Queensland ambulance official said

Video recordings of rape complainants’ evidence currently cannot be used in retrials if, like Brittany Higgins, they initially gave evidence in the courtroom

Waitrose’s No 1 Brown Butter pies wowed with their ‘buttery aroma’, while Aldi’s, at half the price, scored just one point lessTucking into a mince pie is usually the first sign Christmas is on the way and with budgets under pressure this year getting your fix doesn’t have to break the bank, with a 29p pie from Aldi coming a close second to Waitrose’s brown butter pastry in a taste test.The upmarket supermarket’s No 1 Brown Butter Mince Pies came top in a “rigorous” blind taste test conducted by Which?. They wowed the panel of baking experts with their “buttery aroma” and “citrussy aftertaste” to achieve the top score of 74%, earning the consumer group’s coveted “best buy” badge of approval. Continue reading...

National Audit Office says efforts to reduce record waiting lists under threat amid rising inflation and workforce shortagesMillions of patients could face years of long waits for treatment on the NHS, as a watchdog warned that the plan to reduce extensive waits for elective and cancer care services by 2025 is at serious risk.NHS England published a three-year plan in February aimed at tackling the backlog in services, after the Covid-19 pandemic saw already long waiting lists grow to record levels. The Department of Health and Social Care is responsible for funding the recovery plan. Continue reading...

Robert Jenrick says accommodation being sought in ‘much broader range of local authorities’Rural areas will be asked to accept more people seeking asylum, a minister has suggested, as the government faced criticism from Conservative MPs for placing migrants in their constituencies.Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said small towns and the countryside may be asked to house more people crossing the Channel in small boats “as long as numbers are so high”. Continue reading...

Shops will stay open while administrators assess options for the companyThe fashion firm Joules has formally fallen into administration, putting 1,600 jobs and the future of the retailer’s 132 shops at risk.The company said on Monday it had filed a notice to appoint administrators after failing to secure emergency funding. It has now hired administrators from Interpath Advisory, who said shops would stay open while they “assess options for the business”. Continue reading...

Poland’s president and Nato both say missile likely an accident by Ukrainian forces – but Kyiv says ‘it was not our rocket’Nato and G7 leaders have condemned Russia’s “barbaric missile attacks” on Ukraine in a statement following the emergency meeting held earlier with members in Bali.The leaders of Canada, the European Union, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States met on the margins of the G20 Summit and released the following statement:We condemn the barbaric missile attacks that Russia perpetrated on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure on Tuesday.

Social housing watchdog launches investigation and MP accuses Rochdale Boroughwide Housing of being ‘modern-day slumlord’The housing boss in charge of a mouldy home which killed two-year-old Awaab Ishak is facing growing pressure to quit, as the social housing watchdog launched an investigation into possible “systemic” failings and an MP accused his organisation of being a “modern-day slumlord”.The housing secretary, Michael Gove, spoke to Gareth Swarbrick on Wednesday and told parliament it was “clear … there are systemic problems in the governance and leadership” of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) which looks after more than 12,000 homes. He previously said it “beggars belief” Swarbrick was still in his post. Continue reading...

Cannes Jury prize-winning Joyland had previously been banned following objections by Islamist hardlinersA Pakistani film portraying romance between a married man and a transgender woman was cleared for domestic screenings on Wednesday, officials said, reversing a government ban forced by Islamist pressure.Lauded by critics, awarded the jury prize at Cannes and nominated as Pakistan’s entry for next year’s Academy Awards, Joyland was set to open in cinemas across the country this Friday. Continue reading...

Andrzej Duda says there is no evidence to suggest missile that landed in his country was launched by Russia