World news | The Guardian

Officers say they are closing borders and suspending poll as president and main rival both claim victory

Soldiers in Guinea-Bissau have announced they are taking “total control” of the west African country, three days after elections that both the two main presidential contenders claim to have won.

Military officers said they were suspending Guinea-Bissau’s electoral process and closing its borders, in a statement read out at the army’s headquarters in the capital Bissau and broadcast on state TV. They said they had formed “the high military command for the restoration of order”, which would rule the country until further notice.

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The president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, said all 24 of the girls kidnapped last week had been rescued

All 24 schoolgirls held by assailants after a mass abduction last week from a school in north-western Nigeria have been rescued, the country’s president announced on Tuesday.

A total of 25 girls were abducted on 17 November from the Government Girls Comprehensive secondary school in Kebbi state’s Maga town, but one of them was able to escape the same day, the school’s principal said. The remaining 24 were all saved, according to a statement from the Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, though no details were released about the rescue.

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South African police investigate allegations made against Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla by another of ex-president’s daughters

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South African police are investigating allegations that a daughter of the former president Jacob Zuma tricked men into fighting for Russia in Ukraine by telling them they were travelling to Russia for a paramilitary training course.

Another of Zuma’s daughters, Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube, filed a police report on Saturday alleging that her sister Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla and two others, Siphokazi Xuma and Blessing Khoza, had recruited 17 men who are now trapped on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine.

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Ike Ekweremadu serving prison sentence after being found guilty of conspiring to exploit a man for his kidney

The UK government has rejected a request by Nigeria to deport a former senior Nigerian politician convicted of organ trafficking.

Ike Ekweremadu, 63, a former deputy president of the Nigerian senate and ally of the former president Goodluck Jonathan, is serving a sentence of nine years and eight months after being found guilty in 2023 of conspiring to exploit a man for his kidney.

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Ash clouds from Hayli Gubbi volcano sent drifting across the Red Sea toward Yemen and Oman

A volcano in Ethiopia’s north-eastern region has erupted for the first time in nearly 12,000 years, sending thick plumes of smoke up to 9 miles (14km) into the sky, and across the Red Sea toward Yemen and Oman.

The Hayli Gubbi volcano, located in Ethiopia’s Afar region about 500 miles north-east of Addis Ababa near the Eritrean border, erupted on Sunday for several hours.

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Ralph Gonsalves campaigns on strong economy in bid to retain office he has held since 2001

Voters in St Vincent and the Grenadines will go to the polls on Thursday with Ralph Gonsalves seeking a record sixth consecutive term as prime minister.

The elections are expected to be a tight contest between the ruling Unity Labour party, which has been in power since 2001, and the opposition New Democratic party. In the last election, ULP won nine of 15 seats, but the NDP won the popular vote.

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Lati-Yana Brown’s parents had asked for application to be expedited so she could join them in UK after house ruined

An eight-year-old girl left destitute in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa has been barred from coming to the UK to join her parents.

The Guardian reported on the case of Lati-Yana Stephanie Brown after the hurricane. Her mother, Kerrian Bigby, a carer, moved from Jamaica to be with Lati-Yana’s British father, Jerome Hardy, a telecommunications worker, in April 2023, leaving their daughter to be cared for by her grandmother.

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Minister Steven Guilbeault says Indigenous nations were not consulted and the pipeline would have ‘major environmental impacts’

Mark Carney has agreed an energy deal with Alberta centred on plans for a new heavy oil pipeline reaching from the province’s oil sands to the Pacific coast, a politically volatile project that is expected to face stiff opposition.

The move proved politically damaging within hours, with the minister of Canadian culture, Steven Guilbeault, who is the former environment minister, announcing he would leave cabinet. Guilbault, a former activist and lifelong environmental advocate, said he strongly opposed the plan.

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Pedro Castillo was sentenced by the supreme court for trying to disband Congress and rule by decree in 2022

Peru’s supreme court on Thursday sentenced the former leftwing president Pedro Castillo to 11 years, five months and 15 days in prison for trying to disband Congress and rule by decree in December 2022.

Labelled Peru’s first poor president, the former rural schoolteacher, who had never held elected office before winning the presidency, was impeached by Congress and jailed on the same day after his attempted power grab.

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Carriers accused of joining ‘actions of state terrorism promoted by US’ after they suspended flights to Venezuela

Venezuela has banned six international airlines, accusing them of “state terrorism” after the carriers suspended flights to the country following a warning from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Venezuela’s civil aviation authority announced late on Wednesday that Spain’s Iberia, Portugal’s Tap, Colombia’s Avianca, Chile and Brazil’s Latam, Brazil’s Gol and Turkish Airlines would have their operational permits revoked for “joining the actions of state terrorism promoted by the United States government and unilaterally suspending air commercial operations”.

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Firefighters comb through high-rises with as many as 200 people still missing, officials announce

• Anger swelling in Hong Kong over deadliest fire in more than 70 years

• How the Hong Kong fire unfolded – visual guide

The death toll from the Hong Kong apartment complex fire that began on Wednesday has risen to 128 with as many as 200 missing, officials have said, as rescue operations were declared over.

Firefighters were combing through the high-rises on Friday morning, attempting to find anyone alive after the massive fire that spread to seven of eight towers in one of the city’s deadliest ever blazes.

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Incident north of Tokyo comes after a record 13 deaths from bear attacks in Japan since the start of April

A man has been attacked by a bear in a public toilet in Japan, local media reported on Friday – the latest in a record-breaking wave of attacks this autumn, including those in populated areas.

The victim, a 69-year-old security guard, told police he had noticed the bear, which was 1-1.5 metres long, peering inside as he was about to leave the building in Gunma prefecture, north of Tokyo, in the early hours of Friday, Kyodo news agency and broadcaster NHK reported.

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Amid troubled economic times, many in China are shifting back towards the certainty of a career in the public sector

A record number of people are set to take China’s notoriously gruelling national civil service exam this weekend, reflecting the increasing desire of Chinese workers to find employment in the public rather than private sector.

Around 3.7 million people have registered for the tests on Saturday and Sunday, which will be the first since the government increased the age limit for certain positions. The age limit for general candidates has increased from 35 to 38, while the age limit for those with postgraduate degrees has been raised from 40 to 43.

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Monsoon rains cause devastation on Indonesian island, sparking landslides and flash flooding

Flash floods and landslides on Indonesia’s Sumatra island have killed 69 people, with 59 missing as emergency workers search in rivers and the rubble of villages for bodies and possible survivors.

Monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks in North Sumatra province on Tuesday. The deluge tore through mountainside villages, swept away people and submerged more than 2,000 houses and buildings, the National Disaster Management Agency said. Nearly 5,000 residents fled to government shelters.

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Three construction employees arrested as firefighters battle to reach trapped people, with many still missing

• How the fire unfolded – visual guide

Hong Kong police have alleged unsafe scaffolding and foam materials used during maintenance work may have been behind the rapid spread of a devastating fire at a group of residential tower blocks that has killed at least 94 people and left scores missing.

Firefighters were still battling to reach people who could be trapped on the upper floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex on Thursday due to the intense heat and thick smoke generated by the fire. Late in the day, a survivor was rescued from a stairway on the 16th floor of one of the towers, the South China Morning Post reported.

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Families of those killed ‘angered’ that Scentre Group and Glad security did not accept control room operator was not competent to be in the position she was that day

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Had new mother Ashlee Good been given “even 1o seconds’ warning” when Joel Cauchi began his stabbing spree at Westfield Bondi Junction, she might have been able to take evasive action to save her life, a court has heard.

Schizophrenic man Cauchi, 40, killed Good, 38, Jade Young, 47, Yixuan Cheng, 27, Pikria Darchia, 55, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30, and injured 10 others at Westfield Bondi Junction before he was shot and killed by police inspector Amy Scott.

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Meanwhile Monash University to repay thousands of casual staff underpaid over almost a decade. This blog is now closed

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Hanson-Young says environmental action and business interests linked

Hanson-Young was asked if she could guarantee the targets wouldn’t damage the economy or business. She said the Greens were looking at the connection between the two, pointing to the devastating algal bloom in South Australia that had smashed local industry, fishing and tourism.

You cannot continue to pretend that somehow the economy is off over there while the environment has nothing to do with it and that the climate has nothing to do with it. If we want a strong economy, we have to transition. We’ve got to do it faster.

And the community wants it. No one told South Australians that when the climate crisis hit, they wouldn’t be able to go to the beach in the 40C heat over summer. That is what we are facing this summer. And South Australians want action. Australians want action. The world needs action.

It is a good day for the environment and it’s a good day for our forests and our Australian bushland. A good day for our wildlife.

It’s been a long time coming, having to fix some of these major flaws in Australia’s environment laws that have allowed land clearing to go unchecked, to allow the destruction of our forests, even when there’s endangered species living there, that it’s their home. And there’s a lot more to do.

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Benedict Bryant convicted of dangerous driving occasioning death after placing police car in path of 16-year-old’s trail bike in Sydney in 2022

• Warning: this article contains the name of an Indigenous Australian who has died

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A police sergeant who was told not to pursue a teenager riding a trail bike has been told he caused the death of the young man when he placed his unmarked car in his path.

Benedict Bryant, 47, was found guilty on Friday of dangerous driving occasioning the death of Indigenous teenager Jai Kalani Wright in February 2022 in an inner Sydney suburb.

For information and support in Australia call 13YARN on 13 92 76 for a crisis support line for Indigenous Australians; or call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Mensline on 1300 789 978 and Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636

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Kiara Ferguson died after Adam Winmar’s daughter, four, found loaded weapon in family’s couch in 2023

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Six months’ pregnant with two children at home, a young regional Victorian woman was understandably upset when her four-year-old found a gun inside their couch.

Kiara Ferguson, 27, took the homemade firearm from the girl and marched to the back of the family home, where her partner of 10 years was in the toilet.

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Police say a man in his early 20s was found in Blacktown with gunshot wounds to his neck, chest and leg

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A man has died and two others are in custody after a daylight shooting on a suburban street in Sydney.

Police were called to Carinya Street, Blacktown, at about 11.50am on Friday after reports of a public place shooting.

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Andriy Yermak said authorities given ‘full access’ to his apartment, and that he is cooperating with the officers, with his lawyers present

If you’re wondering how serious for Ukraine and Zelenskyy this could get, let’s just say that Yermak has overnight literally fronted Ukraine’s response to the latest peace talks, with an interview in The Atlantic magazine in the US.

Characterised as “Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, lead negotiator and closest aid throughout the full-scale war with Russia,” Yermak insisted that “not a single sane person today would sign a document to give up territory.”

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In today’s newsletter: After nearly four years of war, Ukraine is confronting deep fatigue, dwindling strategic options and fresh US pressure to accept terms that many see as a surrender in all but name

A week ago Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Ukrainians that they faced “a very tough choice – either the loss of our dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner”. The warning came as the Trump administration increased pressure on Zelenskyy to accept a peace deal that appears to secure all of Vladimir Putin’s war aims – a proposal European leaders have described as capitulation.

With the war about to enter its fourth winter, there seems no sign that either side has the capability to make a significant military breakthrough. Neither the incessant infantry grind on the eastern front, Moscow’s aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities, nor Kyiv’s long-range strikes on infrastructure inside Russia look likely to shift the equilibrium any time soon.

Politics | Keir Starmer says Labour “kept to our manifesto” over budget tax rises. The prime minister sought to rebuff claims Labour had broken its tax promises.

Workers’ rights | A flagship policy that would have given workers the right to claim unfair dismissal after their first day on the job is to be ditched by the government in favour of a six month-threshold.

US news | Donald Trump has said he will “permanently pause migration from all third world countries,” hours after the president announced that one of the two national guard members who were shot in Washington DC had died.

Hong Kong | Rescue operations inside the Hong Kong apartment complex that was engulfed by fire on Wednesday are “almost complete”, fire officials have said, as the death toll reached 94 early on Friday with scores more missing.

Ukraine | Vladimir Putin has said that the outline of a draft peace plan discussed by the US and Ukraine could serve as a basis for future negotiations to end the war – but insisted Ukraine would have to surrender territory for any deal to be possible.

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Kanal is 95% complete and on schedule but plans to slash its budget mean conversation around its opening have moved from ‘when’ to ‘if’

A year before its scheduled opening on 28 November 2026, building works at Kanal, a new contemporary art museum in Brussels, are running on time.

Housed in a remodelled former Citroën garage on the north-western edge of the city centre, the centre is 95% complete. Curators are putting the finishing touches to an opening show that will feature works by Matisse, Picasso and Giacometti on loan from the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Trilingual wall texts in English, Dutch and French have already been signed off.

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Agency warns shoppers to be vigilant online and on the high street, with counterfeit items often posing health risks

More than 8m fake and harmful toys have been seized from shops and markets across the EU in a pre-Christmas crackdown, Europol has said.

Hauls of fake dolls, building bricks, toy cars, colouring sets, cuddly toys that could pose fire hazards and educational games were removed across 26 countries.

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This live blog is now closed. You can read our latest reports here:

• Putin insists Ukraine has to surrender territory for any deal to be possible

• France to introduce voluntary military service amid threat from Russia

Meanwhile, we are getting some new lines from Russia on what would and wouldn’t be acceptable to Moscow in a potential peace deal on Ukraine.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Ukrainian membership of Nato would be unacceptable, as she blamed the alliance for trying to draw Ukraine into its structure and pose a threat against Russia, Reuters reported.

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The NGO’s chief says last month’s ceasefire ‘risks creating a dangerous illusion that life in Gaza is returning to normal’

Amnesty International has said Israel is “still committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, despite the ceasefire agreed last month.

The fragile, US-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect on 10 October, after two years of war.

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Rahmeh Aladwan barred from practising for 15 months pending inquiry amid claims she ‘celebrated terrorist acts’

An NHS doctor accused of antisemitism has been suspended for 15 months pending an investigation, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in the UK has ruled.

The General Medical Council (GMC) is investigating Dr Rahmeh Aladwan over posts and comments made across various social media platforms after several complaints, including from the Jewish Medical Association UK and the Campaign Against Antisemitism.

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Israeli military and security service say ‘broad counter-terrorism operation’ in Tubas to continue for several days

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers supported by armoured vehicles have conducted raids in the Palestinian town of Tubas near Nablus in the biggest such military deployment by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank since the ceasefire came into effect in Gaza last month.

Palestinian media reported that a curfew was imposed on Tuesday night on Tubas and some neighbouring communities, roads were closed by earthen barriers and families forced from their homes to allow Israeli forces to use the buildings.

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Gulf nation is accused of placing monitoring software on computers of two dissidents living in London

Bahrain is to tell the UK’s supreme court that it enjoys sovereign immunity from claims it placed surveillance software on the computers of two dissidents when they were living in London.

The Gulf country has lost the sovereign immunity claim both in the high court and court of appeal, and a decision to take the case further to the supreme court shows how important it is to the country’s reputation.

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Report says Israel’s operations ‘significantly undermined every pillar of survival’ and reduced the economy by 87%

Israel’s war in Gaza has created a “human-made abyss”, and reconstruction is likely to cost more than $70bn (£53bn) over several decades, the United Nations has said.

The UN’s trade and development agency (Unctad) said in a report that Israel’s military operations had “significantly undermined every pillar of survival” and that the entire population of 2.3 million people faced “extreme, multidimensional impoverishment”.

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Human rights monitors say it is not safe to return, citing reports of ‘serious crimes in the run-up to elections’

Myanmar’s junta applauded the Trump administration on Wednesday for halting a scheme that protected its citizens from deportation from the US back to their war-racked homeland.

About 4,000 Myanmar citizens are living in the US with temporary protected status (TPS), which shields foreign nationals from deportation to disaster zones and allows them the right to work.

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The strikes come a day after a suicide attack on a security compound in Pakistan’s Peshawar city

Pakistan strikes on neighbouring Afghanistan have killed 10 people – among them nine children – a Taliban government spokesperson has said, a day after a suicide attack on a security compound in Pakistan’s Peshawar city.

“The Pakistani invading forces bombed the house of a local civilian resident ... As a result, nine children (five boys and four girls) and one woman were martyred” in Khost province, Zabihullah Mujahid said on X.

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India’s prime minister among those paying tribute to celebrated actor whose career spanned six decades

Dharmendra, one of the most enduring stars of India’s Bollywood cinema, has died at the age of 89.

Born Dharam Singh Deol, but later known as Dharmendra, he rose to fame in the 1960s and became one of the most celebrated and popular stars of Indian cinema in a career that spanned six decades.

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Exclusive: Tshering Tobgay says his country is doing ‘a lot more than our fair share’ on climate and west must cut emissions ‘for the happiness of your people’

The wealthy western countries most responsible for the climate crisis would improve the health and happiness of their citizens by prioritising environmental conservation and sustainable economic growth, according to the prime minister of Bhutan, the world’s first carbon-negative nation.

Bhutan, a Buddhist democratic monarchy and biodiversity hotspot situated high in the eastern Himalayas, is among the world’s most ambitious climate leaders thanks to its people’s connection with nature and a strong political focus on improving gross national happiness rather than just GDP, Tshering Tobgay told the Guardian.

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Hasina sentenced in absentia by court in Dhaka over deadly crackdown on student-led uprising last year

Bangladesh’s deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Dhaka for crimes against humanity over a deadly crackdown on a student-led uprising last year.

A three-judge bench of the country’s international crimes tribunal convicted Hasina of crimes including incitement, orders to kill and inaction to prevent atrocities as she oversaw a crackdown on anti-government protesters last year.

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Decision by US bank’s CEO Jamie Dimon followed trip to New York by top adviser to Keir Starmer

The boss of JP Morgan Chase signed off on a new £3bn tower in London after a trip to New York by a top adviser to the UK prime minister to give assurances about the government’s pro-business policies, it has emerged.

The Wall Street bank, which along with Goldman Sachs announced substantial investment plans in the UK hours after they were spared tax increases in Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget, only signed off on the plan for its new UK headquarters last Friday.

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Minister denies unfair dismissal policy U-turn is breach of manifesto pledge but unions and Labour MPs criticise decision

Good morning. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves spent yesterday denying that Labour broke a manifesto promise with its tax-raising budget. Given that Reeves had been expected to freeze income tax thresholds for weeks, it was a rather stale argument that did not go anywhere new. Then, late yesterday afternoon, the government opened up another broken manifesto argument with a surprise announcement about a U-turn on the employment rights bill.

Here is our overnight story by Jessica Elgot and Richard Partington.

Peter Kyle, the business secretary, has claimed that the U-turn does not breach Labour’s manifesto. If you read what the manifesto said, it is hard to argue that this decision does not contradict it. But, in a clip for broadcasters last night, Kyle gave it a go. He argued:

We also promised in the manifesto that we would bring people together, that this would not be legislation, that this would not be legislations that pits one side against another …

The manifesto committed to day one rights. We are committing to day one rights. The manifesto committed us to finding compromise … and we are delivering on that.

Sharon Graham, leader of Unite, one of the two biggest unions in Britain and a major donor to Labour, has denounced the U-turn. She said:

The employment rights bill is a shell of its former self.
With fire and rehire and zero hours contracts not being banned, the Bill is already unrecognisable.
These constant row backs will only damage workers’ confidence that the protections promised will be worth the wait. Labour needs to keep its promises.

Some Labour MPs have condemned the U-turn, with one calling it a “sellout”. This is from Andy McDonald, a former shadow cabinet minister.

We can all read the manifesto ourselves and, and it says that we’ll deliver day one rights and that includes unfair dismissal.

We’re no longer doing it, so we’re doing something completely inconsistent what was in the manifesto.

It might be a compromise

It might even be necessary to get the Bill passed asap

Is this a sellout? Yes it certainly is. If it’s unfair to sack someone, it’s unfair whenever it occurs whether it’s day one or after 6 months. The principle is fairness.

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, has rejected claims this is a U-turn. She has been doing the interview round this morning, and, in an interview with BBC Breakfast, when it was put to her that this was a U-turn, she replied:

I don’t accept that characterisation, I’m afraid. The employment rights bill represents the biggest upgrade to workers’ rights in a generation.

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Harms include threats to release intimate pictures as charity warns against parents sharing photos or details of children online

Nearly one in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, with harms ranging from threatening to release intimate pictures to revealing details about someone’s personal life.

The NSPCC child protection charity also found that one in five parents know a child who has experienced online blackmail, while two in five said they rarely or never talked to their children about the subject.

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Gillian Fairfield to lead review as critics say nothing has changed since 2023 report found systemic discrimination

The Metropolitan police are to face a new inquiry into whether they have radically changed after a devastating report found the force was riddled with prejudice and failing the public, the Guardian has learned.

The “Casey 2” inquiry was supposed to have been launched earlier this year but has been delayed. It is a follow-up to the review by Louise Casey that in 2023 found the Met to be institutionally racist and misogynistic, and concluded that Britain’s largest police force could be broken up if it failed to change.

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Some say Jeremy Corbyn is too non-committal for project to work, while others blame Zarah Sultana’s combative nature

At an early meeting to set the path for what would become Your Party, participants quickly agreed on one thing: given the cliches about leftwingers forever falling out, at all costs they must avoid a descent into factionalism.

Six months on and the Liverpool venue hosting this weekend’s inaugural Your Party conference has been warned to expect potential disruption, including stage invasions by disgruntled members representing particular wings. Extra security guards have been hired.

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In a social media post sent late on Thanksgiving, US president said he would ‘end all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens’ following Washington DC shooting

Donald Trump has said he will “permanently pause migration from all third world countries,” a day after two national guard members were shot in Washington DC in an attack that has become a political flashpoint in the president’s ongoing crackdown on immigration.

In a social media post beginning with “a very happy Thanksgiving,” sent after 11pm on Thursday, the US president said his administration would “end all federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens” and remove “anyone who is not a net asset to the United States”.

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Erika Kirk – the widow of Charlie Kirk, the rightwing activist killed in Utah in September – has indicated she would be willing to support JD Vance in a 2028 presidential bid. Katie Miller, the wife of White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, invites senior Republicans on to her podcast for discussions with conservative women. And the Trump administration is developing baby-boom policies it hopes will help gain the backing of women in the midterm elections.

Jonathan Freedland speaks to the Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi about the Republican drive to win over women

Archive: Megyn Kelly podcast, Katie Miller podcast, NBC, Fox, ABC, CNN

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Donald Trump signaled after attack that refugee and asylum cases would be scrutinized

Trump administration officials say they are undertaking a broad re-examination of asylum cases and green cards issued to citizens of certain countries, after the shooting of two national guard members near the White House in Washington DC on Wednesday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) named the suspect in the shooting as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national who entered the US under a policy set up under Joe Biden after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and continued under Donald Trump.

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Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, worked with agency-backed military units during US war in Afghanistan

• Washington DC national guard shooting: what we know so far

The suspected shooter of two national guard members in Washington DC on Wednesday worked with CIA-backed military units during the US war in Afghanistan, the agency has confirmed.

The alleged gunman, identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, came to the US in September 2021 under an Operation Allies Welcome program that gave some Afghans who had worked for the US government entry visas to the US. He was granted asylum in April this year, under the Trump administration, Reuters reported.

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Stern, credited with designing 15 Central Park West, sought to design buildings that invoked pre-war splendor

Robert AM Stern, an architect who fashioned the New York City skyline with buildings that sought to invoke pre-war splendor but with modern luxury fit for billionaires and movie stars, has died at the age of 86.

Dubbed “The King of Central Park West” by Vanity Fair, Stern was credited with designing 15 Central Park West that, in 2008, was credited as being the highest-priced new apartment building in the history of New York.

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