World news | The Guardian

Rapid urbanisation thought to be damaging adolescent health, as researchers say need for medication and diagnostic tests is urgent

Millions of teenagers in Africa are suffering from asthma with no formal diagnosis as the continent undergoes rapid urbanisation, researchers have found.

The study, published in the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, involved 27,000 pupils from urban areas in Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria. It found more than 3,000 reported asthma symptoms, but only about 600 had a formal diagnosis.

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Warning of ‘lost generation’ in Adré and Farchana camps as Sudan’s civil war drives huge numbers across border

• What caused the civil war in Sudan and how has it become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises?

Refugees and aid agencies have warned of deteriorating conditions in overcrowded and severely underfunded camps in Chad, as intensifying violence and a hunger crisis in Sudan drive huge numbers across the border.

About 25,000 people – the vast majority women and children – crossed into eastern Chad in the first week of October, a record number for a single week in 2024. Chad, one of the world’s poorest countries, hosts 681,944 Sudanese refugees – the highest number globally.

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Greater bamboo lemur births in captivity are extremely rare and park is only UK collection to have bred it this year

Cotswold wildlife park has successfully bred one of Madagascar’s most endangered lemurs.

The as yet unnamed youngster was born to a breeding male, Raphael, and female, Bijou, at the wildlife park.

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Lawyer Elvino Dias and official Paulo Guambe shot as their party plans a national strike over disputed election

Attackers killed a Mozambique opposition lawyer and a party official after firing rounds at a car in which they were travelling, ratcheting up tensions before protests against a disputed election result, the EU and rights groups have said.

Mozambique’s new opposition Podemos party and its presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane, have rejected provisional results showing a probable win for Frelimo, the party that has ruled Mozambique for half a century. They have called for a nationwide strike on Monday.

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Abduqadir Mohamed Nur’s reported abduction from home and detention is latest attack on press freedom for critical writing on regime, media union says

A Somali journalist was abducted from his home by intelligence agents early on Friday, according to press freedom campaigners.

The journalists’ union Somali Journalists Syndicate (SJS) said the detention of Abduqadir Mohamed Nur was a “brazen attack” on the reporter and his news outlet, Risaala Media Corporation, for critical reporting of state security forces.

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Nurse says she has lost ‘my name, my integrity’ after being accused of using proxy to sit tests to work in Britain

• Nigerian nurses urge UK minister to intervene over test cheating claims

When I was a little girl in my village in Nigeria going to school was something I could not even dream of because we did not have money. Then my mother sold everything we owned to pay for me to go to school.

I knew this was my only ticket to make something worthwhile out of my life and my family’s life.

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Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez trade blows in court after confessing to shooting Ripudaman Singh Malik

Two men have pleaded guilty to the contract killing of a Sikh man who was acquitted in the 1985 bombing of an Air India flight from Montreal to Mumbai.

According to an agreed statement of facts released by a British Columbia court on Monday, Tanner Fox and Jose Lopez confessed to shooting Ripudaman Singh Malik in 2022. But they remained silent over who hired and paid them for the murder.

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Prosecutors say ‘criminal enterprise’ charged foreign couples $50,000 and denied payments for miscarriages

An international surrogacy ring exploited impoverished women, denied payments for miscarriages, and “commercialised” babies in Argentina, prosecutors have alleged.

A team of prosecutors said they had discovered a “criminal enterprise” which has been charging foreign couples about $50,000 for a baby born by surrogacy in Argentina.

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In today’s newsletter: Justin Trudeau says there are ‘credible allegations’ that Modi’s government was involved in the killing of a Sikh separatist in British Columbia. What does say about India’s global standing?

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Good morning.

In September 2023, Justin Trudeau stood up in parliament and made extraordinary allegations against the Indian government. The prime minister said Canadian authorities were investigating “credible allegations” about the potential involvement of Indian officials in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian Sikh separatist activist in British Columbia.

Middle East | Israel has accused Hezbollah of keeping hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold in a bunker under a hospital in the southern suburbs of Beirut, though it said it would not strike the complex. The Sahel hospital in Dahiyeh was evacuated shortly afterwards, and Fadi Alame, its director, told Reuters that the allegations were untrue.

Labour | A cross-party group of 30 MPs has urged Rachel Reeves to impose a 2% tax on wealth above £10m on Britain’s rich in next week’s budget rather than announce spending cuts that would hit the most poor hardest.

Ukraine | Britain is to lend Ukraine an additional £2.26bn and allow Kyiv to spend the money on weapons to fight off the Russian invasion as part of a wider $50bn (£38.5bn) loan programme expected to be confirmed by G7 members later this week.

Sudan | Refugees and aid agencies have warned of deteriorating conditions in overcrowded camps in Chad, as intensifying violence and a hunger crisis in Sudan drive huge numbers across the border. About 25,000 people – the vast majority women and children – crossed into eastern Chad in the first week of October. Read an explainer.

European Union | Moldovans have voted by a razor-thin majority in favour of joining the EU, nearly final results showed on Monday after a pivotal referendum clouded by allegations of Russian interference. With 50.18% supporting EU membership, the decision was much closer than pre-referendum polls suggested.

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An official in Argentina, where the boy band star died last week, has spoken anonymously ahead of the final toxicology results being released

• Explainer: What is pink cocaine?

Former One Direction singer Liam Payne had multiple drugs including crack cocaine and methamphetamine in his system when he fell to his death from a hotel balcony in Argentina, according to anonymous Argentinian sources familiar with the initial toxicology reports.

The British singer and former One Direction member died last week at the age of 31 after plunging from a third-floor hotel room in Buenos Aires.

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Justin Welby says ancestor owned enslaved people in Jamaica and was paid compensation upon abolition

Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, has revealed that his ancestor owned enslaved people on a plantation in Jamaica and was compensated by the British government when slavery was abolished.

Welby disclosed his ancestral links in a personal statement that reiterated his commitment to addressing the enduring and damaging legacies of transatlantic slavery.

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Rules targeting fruit drinks, chips and artificial pork rinds come as UN calls child obesity in country an emergency

Schools in Mexico have six months to implement a government-sponsored ban on junk food or face heavy fines, officials said on Monday, as authorities confront what they call the worst childhood obesity problem in the world.

The new rules target products that have become staples for two or three generations of Mexican school kids: sugary fruit drinks, chips, artificial pork rinds and soy-encased, salty peanuts with chili.

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Seoul signals its most proactive position towards arming Ukraine to date

South Korea is considering directly supplying weapons to Ukraine as evidence increases that North Korean soldiers are preparing to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine.

South Korea’s spy agency (NIS) said last week that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces personnel to Russia’s far east for training and acclimatising at local military bases for future combat alongside Moscow’s troops in Ukraine.

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Rahima Mahmut, in exile in the UK, ‘disappointed’ at failure to describe Beijing’s crackdown on minority as genocide

A leading Uyghur activist has accused the Labour government of “falling behind” its allies in failing to stand up to China, after ministers backtracked on plans to push for formal recognition of the country’s treatment of the minority group as genocide.

Speaking after David Lammy’s first visit to China as UK foreign secretary, the human rights activist Rahima Mahmut, who has lived in exile in the UK since 2000, said she had hoped there would be a shift in UK policy once the party came into power, including following the US in declaring a continuing genocide in Xinjiang.

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Exclusive: Lee Hsien Yang says Singapore is no ‘paradise’ after fleeing authoritarian regime that his older brother inherited and still holds sway over through their revered father’s legacy

A senior member of the family that has dominated Singapore since independence has been granted asylum in the UK after fleeing what he says was a campaign of persecution.

In an exclusive interview, Lee Hsien Yang told the Guardian the authoritarian regime founded by his father turned on him as he endorsed the opposition following a family rift.

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Intelligence builds that members of Pyongyang’s special forces are in Russia preparing for combat as munitions are also shipped

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, got to the point in his presidential address last night: “Another state,” he said, was “joining the war against Ukraine”. He was referring to the growing intelligence that shows elite soldiers from North Korea are in Russia preparing to join what has become a fight that, in effect, extends all the way across Asia.

The effect will be greater than the numbers believed to be involved. On Friday, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported that 1,500 members of Pyongyang’s special forces had crossed the border to Vladivostok in Russia’s far east to begin training and some degree of participation in the war in Ukraine.

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Seoul demands immediate withdrawal of elite soldiers reportedly helping Russia in its war against Ukraine

South Korea has summoned the Russian ambassador to Seoul to protest “in the strongest terms” about the reported dispatch of thousands of North Korean troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The first vice-foreign minister, Kim Hong-kyun, told the Russian envoy, Georgy Zinoviev, that the participation of North Korean troops in the war violated UN resolutions and demanded their immediate withdrawal, South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday.

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Dunedin airport boss says the move is designed to keep traffic flowing in drop-off zones and enable ‘others to have hugs’

Hugging your loved ones goodbye could land you in trouble at a New Zealand airport should your embrace linger too long.

The international airport in Dunedin, a city in the South Island, has introduced a three minute cap on cuddles, as part of a broader effort to improve safety and keep traffic flowing at its drop-off zone.

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Black-clad group pepper-sprayed by officers after attempted counterprotest against refugee supporters. Follow today’s news live

An impoverished Bruce Lehrmann is about to find out if an appeal of his defamation loss is over or he can continue fighting in court, AAP reports.

Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson have asked for federal court orders that he pay $200,000 in security in the event he loses his appeal.

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Exclusive: NSW Council of Social Services report finds ‘dramatic increase’ in number of people delaying or not seeing GP due to cost

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Even wealthy Australians are cutting back on doctor’s appointments due to the cost of living, with new data showing the proportion of people in New South Wales who put off a GP visit because it was too expensive increased by 246% over the past four years.

A new NSW Council of Social Services (Ncoss) report, based on modelling of Australian Bureau of Statistics data by researchers at the University of Canberra, found healthcare had become less accessible for more people.

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Social media company tells parliamentary committee Facebook and Instagram bring value to news outlets

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Social media company Meta has accused a federal parliamentary committee of ignoring “the realities of how our platforms work” and the value Facebook and Instagram bring to news outlets, as a fight reignites over the news media bargaining code and funding of media publishers.

The Albanese government has also given its strongest indication yet it will look to reshape the code or replace the framework entirely, voicing concern that Meta is trying to simply “sidestep obligations to pay for news”.

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Exclusive: Queensland LNP leader faced questions at leaders’ debate after saying in 2023 he would allow MPs a conscience vote on changes to legislation

• Anti-abortion activist targets high-profile SA women with ‘baby-killers club’ social media posts
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Queensland’s opposition leader, David Crisafulli, told a live audience last year “I don’t believe in late-term abortions” and promised MPs a conscience vote on the issue – answering questions he has refused to respond to more than 132 times during the state election campaign.

The Liberal National party leader has been dogged by the issue for weeks, refusing to declare his hand on a bill which will be introduced by Katter’s Australian party next parliament, including whether he would vote for it or grant other MPs a conscience vote.

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NSW environment minister hopes ‘Mickey will be flying free by tomorrow’ after successful capture by wildlife services

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A sulphur-crested cockatoo called Mickey that had been “living on brioche” inside a Sydney supermarket for four weeks has been captured by wildlife services and is expected to be set free soon.

The New South Wales environment minister, Penny Sharpe, announced on Tuesday evening that the bird had “been safely captured by wildlife rescuers after spending way too long in Macarthur Square”.

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The Gurnai Gunditjmara and Djab-Wurrung woman accused the crown of a range of crimes against Indigenous people at Parliament House

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Independent federal senator Lidia Thorpe’s forthright haranguing of King Charles during his visit to the Australian parliament has made global headlines.

Reactions have been mixed. Many have criticised Thorpe’s decision to disrupt the event, labelling the 51-year-old’s behaviour as “disrespectful” and “grandstanding”.

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West infuriated as UN secretary general accepts invitation to meeting of countries including China, India and Iran

Vladimir Putin, ostracised by the west and labelled a possible war criminal by the international criminal court, has played host to 36 world leaders from nations including China, India and Iran as part of a summit of the Brics group designed to display Moscow as anything but isolated.

One of the main aims of the summit will be to speed up ways to reduce the number of dollar transactions, and so mitigate the US ability to use the threat of sanctions to seek to impose its political will.

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Former teacher was detained in Budapest for alleged attack on neo-Nazis before being released in June

Hungary has called on the EU to strip parliamentary immunity from the Italian MEP Ilaria Salis, who was detained for 16 months in Budapest after an alleged attack on neo-Nazis.

The case of Salis, 39, a teacher from Monza, near Milan, sparked diplomatic protests and anger in Italy after she was brought last January to court in Hungary in chains, her hands cuffed and feet locked together.

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People’s party tasked with coalition talks with Social Democrats after winning Freedom party fails to find partner

Austria’s president has tasked the incumbent chancellor with forming a new government, after the general election winner, the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ), failed to find a coalition partner to allow it to take power.

Alexander Van der Bellen, the 80-year-old head of state, told reporters he had asked Karl Nehammer, head of the centre-right People’s party (ÖVP), to begin negotiations with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPÖ).

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Authorities smash drugs gang in North Rhine-Westphalia after learning Düsseldorf pizzeria was delivering narcotics

Pizza No 40 was long one of the best-selling dishes at a restaurant in the German city of Düsseldorf, until police discovered the secret ingredient: a side of cocaine.

Authorities say uncovering the illicit narcotics delivery scheme allowed them to smash an organised crime ring in Germany’s most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia. About 150 officers, including from elite units, last week searched 16 properties in nine cities, arrested three suspects and seized caches of weapons, the news agency DPA reported.

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The Ukrainian film producer behind Leviathan and Loveless was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison after speaking out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

A Moscow court has sentenced Oscar-nominated film producer Alexander Rodnyansky to eight-and-a-half years jail in absentia on Monday for spreading “fake” information about the Russian army.

Rodnyansky, 63, was born in Kyiv but spent most of his career in Russia, producing dozens of TV series and movies there including the Oscar-nominated crime drama Leviathan. He has been an outspoken critic of the Kremlin’s offensive since it sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, repeatedly denouncing the invasion on social media.

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Loans will be repaid using interest generated by $300bn of frozen Russian assets held in the west

Britain is to lend Ukraine an additional £2.26bn and allow Kyiv to spend the money on weapons to fight off the Russian invasion as part of a wider $50bn (£38.5bn) loan programme expected to be confirmed by G7 members later this week.

The loans will be repaid using interest generated by the $300bn of frozen Russian assets held in the west, with the extra funds promised as the US heads towards a presidential election where support for Ukraine is a divisive issue.

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Justice department says eight were charged ‘for their efforts to silence and kill a US citizen because of her criticism of the Iranian regime’

A general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has been charged in New York in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate a dissident Iranian American journalist.

The target of the alleged assassination plot was not named in unsealed court documents, but she has been widely identified as Masih Alinejad, who lives in New York.

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Five people killed in north-eastern Hermel region and five killed in southern city of Nabatiyeh on Tuesday

As Israel continues its war in Gaza and assault on Lebanon, a growing number of international airlines are suspending flights to the region or to avoid affected airspace.

Reuters has helpfully compiled a list of some of them:

Aegean Airlines: The Greek airline cancelled flights to and from Beirut until 6 November and to and from Tel Aviv until 5 November.

AirBaltic: Latvia’s airBaltic cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until 30 November.

Air Algerie: The Algerian airline suspended flights to and from Lebanon until further notice.

Air France-KLM: Air France extended its suspension of Paris-Tel Aviv flights until 29 October and Paris-Beirut flights until 30 November. KLM extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv until the end of this year at least.

Air India: The Indian flag carrier suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice.

Bulgaria Air: The Bulgarian carrier cancelled flights to and from Israel until 31 October.
Cathay Pacific: Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific cancelled flights to Tel Aviv until 25 October 2025.

Delta Air Lines: The US carrier paused flights between New York and Tel Aviv through March 2025.

EasyJet: The UK budget airline stopped flying to and from Tel Aviv in April and will resume flights on 30 March.

Egyptair: The Egyptian carrier in September said it had suspended flights to Beirut until “the situation stabilises”.

Emirates UAE’s state-owned airline cancelled flights to Beirut through to 31 October and flights to Baghdad and Tehran until 30 October.

Ethiopian Airlines: The Ethiopian carrier suspended flights to Beirut until further notice, it said in a Facebook post on 4 October.

FlyDubai: The Emirati airline suspended Dubai-Beirut flights until 31 October.

Iran Air: The Iranian airline cancelled Beirut flights until further notice.

Iraqi Airways: The Iraqi national carrier suspended flights to Beirut until further notice.

ITA Airways: The Italian carrier extended the suspension of Tel Aviv flights through to 30 November.

LOT: The Polish flag carrier cancelled flights to Tel Aviv until 26 October. Its first scheduled flight to Beirut is planned for 1 April.

Lufthansa Group: The German airline group extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv until 10 November, while its low cost carrier Eurowings suspended them until 30 November. Flights for Tehran are cancelled until 31 October and to Beirut until 30 November.

Pegasus: The Turkish airline cancelled flights to Beirut until 28 October.

Qatar airways: The Qatari airline temporarily suspended flights to and from Iraq, Iran and Lebanon, while flights to Amman will operate only during daylight hours.
Ryanair: Europe’s biggest budget airline cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv until the end of December. Group CEO Michael O’Leary said in early October that the suspension was likely to be extended until end-March.

Tarom: Romania’s flag carrier extended the suspension of Beirut flights until 15 November.
United Airlines: The Chicago-based airline suspended flights to Tel Aviv for the foreseeable future.
Virgin Atlantic: The UK carrier extended suspension of Tel Aviv flights until end-March.

Wizz Air: The Hungary-based airline suspended Tel Aviv flights through 14 January.

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Discussion about letting private firms bid for contracts comes before Knesset vote on banning UN relief agency from operating in Israel

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Israel is weighing the use of private security contractors – possibly involving UK special forces veterans – to deliver aid to Gaza, as conditions in the north of the strip worsen dramatically, the Guardian has learned.

According to an Israeli official, the security cabinet discussed the issue on Sunday, before an expected vote in the Knesset next week on two bills that would ban the UN relief agency, Unrwa, from operating in Israel. If passed, the bills would severely curtail the operations of by far the biggest aid operation in Gaza.

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Saud al-Qahtani was first suspended before Elon Musk took over what was then Twitter, and was suspended again today after Guardian report

A key Saudi suspect in the murder of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 had his account reinstated on X, the social media company controlled by Elon Musk, after it was permanently suspended under the company’s previous owner.

Saud al-Qahtani, a onetime key adviser to Mohammed bin Salman, had “direct involvement” in the murder of Khashoggi, according to a US intelligence assessment released by the Biden administration in 2021.

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Israeli strikes near Rafik Hariri hospital and its claims that a second Beirut facility is hiding Hezbollah stash cause anxiety and panic

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The rescuers struck at the concrete with jackhammers, excavators and even pickaxes, pausing occasionally and demanding silence, straining to hear anyone still trapped under the collapsed building.

Beneath the rubble, nothing stirred. They resumed, many working through the night after Israel carried out airstrikes on residential buildings across the street from Rafik Hariri university hospital, killing 18 people, including four children, and wounding 60 on Monday night.

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Report says ‘intense military operations in Gaza have left unprecedented humanitarian, environmental and social catastrophe’

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Gaza’s economy has been left in “utter ruin” by the year-long war between Israel and Hamas, and it would take 350 years to return to its pre-conflict levels, the United Nations has warned.

In a report on the economic costs of the war prepared by its trade and development wing (Unctad), the UN said the fighting since Hamas killed more than 1,000 Israelis on 7 October last year had devastated the remnants of Gaza’s economy and infrastructure.

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HMRC and FCA asked to look into property deals with Saifuzzaman Chowdhury now under investigation for corruption in Dhaka

British regulators have been urged by MPs to examine the relationship between London estate agents, lawyers and lenders and a former Bangladeshi government minister under investigation for alleged corruption.

Saifuzzaman Chowdhury was the land minister in Bangladesh until earlier this year, when the government of Sheikh Hasina was spectacularly toppled, after her regime’s violent suppression of student protests.

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Coalition will now be able to hire and fire judges but faces accusations it bribed and abducted lawmakers to get its way

Pakistan’s government has passed a controversial amendment to the constitution that has been accused of weakening the power and independence of the judiciary, throwing the country’s democracy into further crisis.

The 26th constitutional amendment was passed in a clandestine, late-night parliamentary session that was clouded in secrecy and marred by allegations of abductions and intimidation of parliamentarians to force them to vote in favour of the bill.

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Authorities yet to uncover source and motive of surge in fake bomb threats, as dozens of planes forced to reroute

A reported 90 hoax bomb threats have been made against Indian airlines in the past week, provoking international travel chaos as planes were grounded, diverted and flown to safety by fighter jet escorts.

The unprecedented surge in fake bomb threats against multiple Indian and international airlines has caused severe disruption to India’s aviation industry and created a growing sense of panic among air passengers.

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Canada’s PM, Justin Trudeau, claims Indian diplomats are implicated in murders on Canadian soil

A gruelling week for Indian diplomacy began with an explosive Canadian press conference on Monday. Senior Canadian police officials accused Indian diplomats of being involved in “criminal” activities on Canadian soil, ranging from homicide and targeted assassinations to extortion, intimidation and coercion against members of the Canadian Sikh community.

They alleged that Indian diplomats – including the high commissioner himself – were implicated not only in the high profile killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist who was gunned down outside a gurdwara in a suburb of Vancouver last June, but also linked to other murders on Canadian soil. The diplomats had even worked with a gang run by India’s most notorious mob boss to get their dirty work done, they alleged.

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Canada expelled six Indian diplomats as fallout continues from 2023 killing of Canadian Sikh Hardeep Singh Nijjar

Canada’s foreign minister has warned India’s remaining diplomats in the country that they are “clearly on notice” not to endanger Canadian lives after New Delhi’s top envoy in Canada was named a person of interest in the assassination of a Sikh activist.

India’s high commissioner was expelled on Monday along with five other diplomats, prompting the Canadian foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, to compare India to Russia, saying Canada’s national police force has linked Indian diplomats to homicides, death threats and intimidation in Canada.

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Delhi expelled diplomats after Canadian police say they have evidence linking Indian agents to murder in Canada

Britain joined its Five Eyes intelligence partners on Wednesday in saying India’s cooperation with Canada’s legal process was “the right next step” in the deepening diplomatic row between the two countries, adding that it had full confidence in Canada’s judicial system.

Canadian police said on Monday they had credible evidence that Indian agents including India’s high commissioner to Canada were linked to the murder of the Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil in June 2023 and accused Delhi of a broader effort to target Indian dissidents in Canada.

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A man in his 60s died and 15 others were injured after a head-on collision between Talerddig and Llanbrynmair

Rail investigators believe a train involved in the first head-on collision in the UK this century, which killed a passenger in his 60s, “may have entered into a wheel slide when braking”.

A further 15 people were treated in hospital after the collision between the Welsh villages of Talerddig and Llanbrynmair on the largely single-track Cambrian line.

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Exclusive: Campaigners say calls to redraw rules are cynical attempt to secure ‘effective immunity’ for officers

Police chiefs have formally asked the government to make it harder to investigate and prosecute officers after the fatal shooting of Chris Kaba led to a Scotland Yard sergeant being acquitted of murder, the Guardian has learned.

Campaigners have criticised the move, saying calls to redraw the rules were a cynical attempt by police leaders to secure “effective immunity” for their officers.

Making it harder for the Crown Prosecution Service to charge officers, with police chiefs proposing prosecutors would have to prove training or approved professional practice was not being followed before taking action.

Changing the standard of proof required for a verdict of unlawful killing before the inquest into Kaba expected as early as next year. Currently the ruling is made on a balance of probabilities, the civil standard. Police chiefs want it to be the criminal standard, which is beyond reasonable doubt.

Making it harder to disprove a claim of self-defence in misconduct inquiries, by changing the standard to the higher criminal test, rather than the current civil test.

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Watchdog issues warning over misinformation after trouble that flared following killing of three girls on Merseyside

Social media algorithms must be adjusted to prevent misinformation from spreading, the chief executive of Ofcom has warned, responding to the rioting that broke out after the killing of three girls in Southport this summer.

Misinformation about the Southport killings proliferated despite tech firms and social media platforms’ “uneven” attempts to stop it, wrote the Ofcom chief executive, Melanie Dawes, in a letter to the secretary of state for science, innovation and technology, Peter Kyle.

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New report upgrades outlook for UK economy with growth now forecast at 1.1% rather than 0.7%

• While the IMF is upbeat about global growth it knows where dangers lurk

The International Monetary Fund has warned the trade tariffs favoured by US presidential candidate Donald Trump could hurt global growth, as it upgraded its forecast for the UK economy.

The Washington-based organisation said tariffs trigger tit-for-tat trade wars that impoverish the economies involved in the dispute and the wider global economy.

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Downing Street says government ‘shocked’ at inheriting prisons crisis as hundreds of prisoners get early release. This live blog is closed

The funeral of Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister who died suddenly earlier this month after delivering a speech in North Macedonia, will be held on Tuesday 29 October, his family has announced.

The funeral will be at Strichen parish church in Aberdeenshire. It will be conducted by Rev Ian McEwan, a friend of the family, and only family and close friends are invited. Salmond will be laid to rest in Strichen cemetery.

According to the Eurostat data, England and Wales had 144 prisoners per 100,000 head of population, the 8th highest rate among EU countries and the highest amongst western European jurisdictions. Scotland had the 9th highest with 137 prisoners per 100,000. Northern Ireland had 76 prisoners per 100,000 of population and was ranked 24th.

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The 34-year-old was last seen at 9am on Monday 30 September in Malton, North Yorkshire

A body believed to be that of Victoria Taylor has been found in the search for the 34-year-old woman who went missing from her North Yorkshire home three weeks ago.

Police searching for the missing woman, known as Vixx, has said there was a “significant possibility” she had entered the River Derwent, which runs through the town of Malton, where she lived.

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Democratic VP nominee joined by Barack Obama at Wisconsin campaign event

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Kamala Harris has a significant advantage over Donald Trump among young voters, matching the lead Joe Biden ended up taking in the 2020 election, a new poll finds.

The survey from CNBC Generation Lab shows Harris up 20 percentage points with voters aged 18 to 34, with 60% support compared with Trump’s 40%. That’s about the same margin by which Biden won the group four years ago.

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Little addressed issues affecting Latino voters, with whom ex-president falsely claimed he was leading in the polls

It was billed as a roundtable discussion with Latino leaders, but the reality of Donald Trump’s appearance at his Doral golf club in Miami on Tuesday was a succession of adulatory monologues from his most loyal Latino supporters, interspersed with familiar, lengthy rants from the former president laden with grievances and insults.

Little of the conversation, such as it was, related to issues directly affecting Latino voters, with whom Trump falsely claimed he was leading in the polls despite significant evidence to the contrary.

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Documents threaten to reignite accusations about ex-president’s attitude towards service members

The US army has been ordered to release documents about the Donald Trump campaign’s pugnacious visit to Arlington national cemetery in a move that threatens to reignite accusations over the Republican nominee’s attitude to military service members in the final phase of the presidential election.

The court order, in response to a lawsuit filed by transparency advocates, came on Tuesday with an end-of-the-week deadline and could shed new light on an episode that saw Trump accused of exploiting America’s most venerated military burial site for campaigning purposes in August.

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Daisy Hicks, 84, observed victims waiting for ferry using walkers and wheelchairs before plummeting into water

A woman who says she witnessed a dock collapse in Georgia that killed seven people says she noticed many were using walkers and wheelchairs before the gangway failed and sent them plummeting into the water.

“I can still see those people bobbling around in that water,” 84-year-old Daisy Hicks said in remarks published by the Florida Times-Union and obtained by its reporting partner First Coast News. Saying she was left traumatized by what she witnessed, she added: “I can still hear people screaming. I can still see [a] lady that was [subsequently] going around asking for blankets” to carry before the arrival of rescue equipment.

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Poll shows a deadlock in Michigan, a key state on the path to the White House with a large Arab American population

Arab Americans are slightly more likely to vote for Donald Trump than Kamala Harris, according to a new poll, in a worrying sign for the Democratic nominee’s chances of carrying the battleground state of Michigan, which is home to a large Arab American population.

The survey, conducted by the Arab News Research and Studies Unit along with YouGov, shows 43% supporting Trump compared with 41% for Harris, and 4% backing the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein.

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Authorities have arrested a teenage suspect in what appears to be an instance of ‘family annihilation’

Authorities found five people shot to death inside a home south-east of Seattle on Monday morning and arrested a teenager in connection with the killings, police said.

The killings in Fall City, Washington, were the 25th mass murder in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The nonpartisan archive defines a mass murder as one in which four or more victims are killed.

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