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Police clash with masked rioters after largely peaceful protests across France

Demonstrations also taking place in Germany, where officers fire teargas to disperse crowds as evening falls Clashes erupted in Paris, Marseille and other cities on Saturday after tens of thousands of demonstrators, some in Halloween fancy dress, marched across France in a third wave of protests over the cost of living and deteriorating public services. The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said about 150 planned demonstrations around the country had passed off peacefully, but police had encount

World•The Guardian•

Tusk defends overhaul of Poland’s constitutional court despite protests

Prime minister says shake-up is vital to restore tribunal crippled by years of political disputes Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, has vowed to see through a contested overhaul of the country’s constitutional court, declaring that “in certain matters, there can be no compromise”. In a prime-time television address on Saturday night, Tusk was defiant, despite overnight protests that saw riot police drafted to protect the court’s building, saying the shake-up was vital to restore a tribunal c

World•The Guardian•

Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign disinvites Haley Stevens from events to limit ‘distractions’

A public spat has cast Democratic tensions in the spotlight as the close US Senate race draws to a head Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s tightly fought US Senate race, has asked Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens to stay away from his campaign events. “I don’t want any distractions,” El-Sayed told reporters after a campaign rally, according to the New York Times. “It seems as though other folks are more interested in making this race about things that it’s not about.” C

World•The Guardian•

Man in Belfast charged with possessing explosives and firearms

The 35-year-old was charged after police searched properties in Shankill Road and Edwina Street areas A man has been charged under the Explosives Act and Firearms Order after police searched properties in Belfast. The 35-year-old was charged with offences including two counts of possessing explosives under suspicious circumstances, and possession of a prohibited weapon (discharge of electricity or noxious gas). Continue reading...

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Oleshky evacuees reunite with families after truce allows crossing back into Ukraine

Residents of nearby villages line highway waving flags to greet the evacuees’ convoy from the Russian-occupied city Evacuees from Russian-occupied Oleshky have been reunited with their families after crossing into Ukrainian-held territory on Saturday. The major rescue operation began on Friday and was carried out under the most significant truce since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four and a half years ago. Continue reading...

World•The Guardian•

Disquiet grows in Albanese’s back yard as Grayndler artists unite against ‘insane’ AI proposal

Inner west Sydney seat has long been safely held by the PM – but potential changes to copyright laws are angering its large creative community Get our daily political email, free app or daily news podcast The prime minister is facing growing discontent within his own electorate as creatives push back against the federal government’s proposal to allow AI companies to scrape everything Australians create online. Anthony Albanese’s seat of Grayndler in Sydney’s inner west is home to more than 3,0

World•The Guardian•

Protests under way in Germany and France as minister warns against use of Halloween masks – as it happened

France’s interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has warned protesters that covering their faces with Halloween costumes could result in fines Full report: Police clash with masked rioters after largely peaceful protests across France Protesters in Paris have begun marching from Porte de Bagnolet, with demonstrations also taking place in Lille and Lyon. Crowds of people have gathered in Paris for the protests, where two French student unions have called for a blockade of schools and universities on

World•The Guardian•

Almost 140 arrested at protest against Palestine Action ban outside US embassy in London

Met alleges demonstrators ‘meeting to purposefully commit a crime’ in largest such gathering under Burnham Almost 140 people have been arrested at the largest mass demonstrations under Andy Burnham’s premiership opposing the proscription of Palestine Action. Hundreds of people gathered outside the US embassy in Battersea, south London, holding signs that read: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” Demonstrators also held a vigil in support of the group outside the US consulate in Edin

World•The Guardian•

Virginia and DC sue to stop Trump’s arch as government looks to start construction

Legal challenges to Donald Trump’s proposed memorial arch are mounting even as its construction is imminent The legal challenges to Donald Trump’s proposed memorial arch are mounting, with the District of Columbia and Virginia suing in federal court on Saturday as the administration says construction could begin as early as next week. There are now three lawsuits calling for a halt to potential work on a monument that would rise 250ft (76 meters) on a patch of grass off the bridge that spans the

World•The Guardian•

More than 50m Americans cast ballots in early voting with three days to go before midterms

Record number of early votes cast, with Democrats outnumbering Republicans in states which collect that information There has been a surge of early voting for the US midterm elections, with millions more Americans going to the polls compared with the last such election amid a series of tight contests that will determine control of Congress. More than 50.5m early votes have been cast across the US as of Saturday morning, according to an analysis by the University of Florida. This is already nearl

World•The Guardian•

UK charity shop profits plummet amid shift in secondhand clothes market

British Heart Foundation describes ‘exceptionally challenging’ trading after Oxfam’s retail profit reportedly fell 23% amid rise of platforms such as Vinted Profits at some of the UK’s best-known charity shops have plummeted as they face a number of pressures, including from online secondhand clothes platforms, prompting claims that a key part of the sector’s fundraising model could be under threat. According to unpublished accounts seen by the Financial Times, Oxfam’s retail profit fell 23% to

World•The Guardian•

A world-first focus on long-term outcomes could transform UK government – or create new spending fights

Tucked away in John Healey’s budget is decision to ringfence preventative projects where future savings outweigh initial cost It merited the briefest of mentions in John Healey’s speech and just one paragraph in the 166-page budget document, but some believe it could revolutionise not just public spending but the very process of government itself: a new focus on long-term outcomes. The idea in the broad sense is very simple. Any spending deemed to be “preventative” – that is, the initial outlay

World•The Guardian•

Ads accusing Republican candidates of protecting Epstein fill airwaves in final midterm push

But select Democrats, too, are being accused of having ties to the late sex offender as country prepares to vote In races across the country, Democratic candidates or groups that support them have released ads accusing Republicans of protecting pedophiles by voting against legislation to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein. The ads appear intended to evoke an emotional response by accusing candidates of “protecting” Epstein, a notorious pedophile accused of running a sex-trafficking ring in

World•The Guardian•

Maurene Comey ruling offers hope of check on Trump’s assault on rule of law

Legal experts welcome judge’s rejection of firing of James Comey’s daughter prosecutor but warn an appeal is likely A recent legal ruling against an effort to fire the star-prosecutor daughter of a former FBI chief targeted by Donald Trump could send a strong message about politicized firings – and influence other judges weighing similar cases, legal veterans said. Judge Jesse Furman ruled this week that the Department of Justice’s firing of assistant US attorney Maurene Comey without cause was

World•The Guardian•

Starmer says UK must get closer to Europe as US relationship changes

Shift in dealings with Washington not likely to reset once Trump leaves Oval Office, former PM says The UK and other European nations must draw closer together as the US becomes a less-reliable partner, Keir Starmer has said in his first significant political intervention since leaving No 10. The former prime minister warned European leaders of the threat posed by Russia, among others, and said the shift in relations with Washington during Donald Trump’s presidency was not likely to reset once h

World•The Guardian•

UK police should not have let US force take over airbase trial, MoD documents show

According to documents obtained by the Guardian, officials accused Cambridgeshire force of breaching US-UK deal by handing over case of woman strangled by US pilot Ministry of Defence officials have privately accused a UK police force of wrongly handing over the investigation of an American fighter pilot who strangled a British woman to the US military, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. Cambridgeshire police allowed the US military police to quickly take control of the investigati

World•The Guardian•

Storm warnings for Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane as cold front ‘packs a punch’

BoM predicts hail, damaging winds and possible flash flooding across Victoria, NSW and parts of Queensland into Sunday Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Storm warnings are in place for multiple capital cities across Australia’s east and south-east as a severe weather front sweeps across the country. Heavy rain, winds and thunderstorms are forecast to hit Melbourne and eastern Victoria throughout Saturday afternoon as a cold front meets warm, humid air. Continue read

World•The Guardian•

Albanese looks for reset on world stage as ‘spot fires burn’ domestically and likely interest rate hike looms

The prime minister will speak with King Charles and others at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Antigua and Barbuda Get our daily political email, free app or daily news podcast As “summit season” begins, reaffirming ties with fellow leaders on the world stage could be a circuit breaker for Anthony Albanese amid domestic and economic woes, analysts have said. But a likely interest rate hike, triggered by higher-than-expected inflation, while the prime minister is overseas will ma

World•The Guardian•

US cancels G20 ‘family photo’ after Australia, UK and others refuse to appear with Russia

Marco Rubio pulls plug on traditional photo op at meeting of foreign ministers after about one-third of countries threaten boycott The traditional “family photo” to open the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting has been abruptly cancelled in the US after a host of nations – including Australia and the UK – refused to appear beside the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, pulled the plug after several European officials, the UK and Australia made it known the

World•The Guardian•

A top-secret spy mission, a decades-old scandal – and the Austin Powers-esque saga to lift the lid

Rex Patrick’s latest transparency fight is over what he calls ‘most open secret in the history of Australian spying’ – maybe even the world Get our daily political email, free app or daily news podcast A campaign to uncover any documents relating to whether Australian spies bugged Timor-Leste to gain the upper hand in sensitive oil and gas negotiations will be a little less secret after a critical win by the former senator Rex Patrick. The politician turned transparency advocate is trying to f

World•The Guardian•

Canada and EU announce new alliance open to like-minded countries

Alliance for the Future, unveiled at Montreal summit and open to other countries, conceived for world ‘shaken by new storms’ Canada and Europe have announced a new alliance of like-minded nations to serve as both a “protective canopy under which our citizens can thrive” and a powerful hedge against the unpredictable nature of geopolitics, while welcoming other countries to join. Speaking to reporters on Friday from Montreal, the prime minister, Mark Carney, and the European Commission president,

World•The Guardian•

How crypto hacking funds isolated North Korea’s nuclear programme

Cryptocurrency theft is estimated to generate half of the country’s foreign currency income North Korea plays by its own rules. The isolated, secretive and autocratic country is largely cut off from the world’s economic system – but when it comes to generating foreign earnings it relies on some of the world’s most sophisticated hacking. Experts, such as TRM Labs, quickly attributed the extraordinary $6.3bn (£4.7bn) Binance cryptocurrency theft to TraderTraitor, an elite North Korean hacking unit

World•The Guardian•

‘Amateur morons’: Flávio Bolsonaro’s short-lived ‘president-elect’ claim met with mockery

Brazilian media ridicule defeated candidate over ‘shameful’ absconsion to US and bizarre letter with wrong coat of arms Flávio Bolsonaro had hoped that by Sunday night people would be calling him the next president of Brazil. Instead, the far-right politician’s decision to flee to the US after losing the election and – for 58 minutes – to declare himself “Brazil’s true president-elect”, has made him a laughing stock, with Brazilian newspapers and commentators raining a barrage of scornful adject

World•The Guardian•

Gulf states must rethink trillion-dollar defence in light of US-Iran war, says report

IISS study questions overreliance on American support and ‘overdependence on expensive, high-end systems’ Gulf states are going to have to reconfigure their trillion-dollar defences given the damage inflicted on their economies and the questionable continued value of US bases in the face of Iranian attack, according to a study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. The report says that in the weeks before the 8 April ceasefire, 12 regional states, overwhelmingly in the Gulf, faced

World•The Guardian•

Beijing Queer film festival cancelled after harassment from authorities

Forums for discussion of feminist and LGBTQ+ views face growing intolerance from Chinese state, say experts Beijing’s annual independent queer film festival has been cancelled after what is understood to have been a campaign of sustained harassment from authorities. Beijing Queer film festival, which was due to begin on Friday in China’s capital, is one of the country’s oldest independent film festivals. Continue reading...

World•The Guardian•

Severe rainfall and flood warnings issued for central Greece and western Turkey

Turkey has been hit by powerful thunderstorms and a fatal tornado this week with more heavy rain expected Heavy rain and strong winds will continue to affect parts of south-eastern Europe and Turkey over the next few days, as an area of low pressure in the region has allowed for the formation of powerful thunderstorms. During a particularly intense thunderstorm in Antalya, a coastal city in the south-west of Turkey, the formation of a tornado resulted in the deaths of four construction workers o

World•The Guardian•

Houthis sending Taiz ‘back to the stone age’, governor of besieged Yemen city says

Oxygen, food and water supplies running low and massacres taking place, says Nabil Shamsan The Houthis are trying to send the city of Taiz back to the stone age, the city’s governor said in a briefing designed to urge the international community to do more to lift the month-long siege. Nabil Shamsan said massacres were taking place in Yemen’s third city, that oxygen and water supplies were running out and that rubbish was piling up in the streets due to landfill sites being either full or inacce

World•The Guardian•

Friday briefing: Israel has a dilemma - can its opposition govern with Palestinian parties?

In today’s newsletter: Benjamin Netanyahu has been left without a majority, now it is up to the coalition to find out whether the desire for change will prove to be a defining political moment Good morning. It was described by many Israelis as the most consequential election in their country’s history. And, as the final votes were tallied, it has delivered a result that presents Israel with a significant dilemma. Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right coalition has lost its mandate while the opposition

World•The Guardian•

Sinkholes, scarred land and scapegoats: the scourge of illegal gold mining in Johannesburg

There is no end in sight for the drivers of illegal mining, while police action appears ineffective Cora Bailey has been encountering illegal miners ever since she first started treating injured animals in the townships around Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, in 1991. But as the price of gold has soared, so too has activity in the abandoned mine shafts that mark the area. In late September, dozens of zama zamas – the name given to illegal miners in South Africa, meaning roughly “to take a chanc

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Sudanese diaspora and human rights groups denounce UAE nominee for UN top job

Critics cite Lana Nusseibeh’s denial of accusations the UAE is fuelling Sudan war by supporting paramilitary RSF Members of the Sudanese diaspora and international human rights monitors have denounced the candidature of an Emirati diplomat for the top job at the UN, citing her denial of accusations that the United Arab Emirates is fuelling the war in Sudan by supporting the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The UAE nominated Lana Nusseibeh last week to replace the UN secretary general, António

World•The Guardian•

China expels a record number from Communist party amid Xi’s intensified purges of top officials

The unprecedented number of empty seats at the fifth plenum – a symbol of expulsions – serve as a symbol for the scale of the purges under Xi Jinping China expelled a record number of officials from the Chinese Communist party (CCP) as it concluded a major political gathering, which saw an unprecedented number of empty seats indicating the scale of the purges under Xi Jinping. A record 33 members were expelled at this week’s fifth plenum, a gathering of top officials that takes place roughly onc

World•The Guardian•

El Niño-driven drought in Papua New Guinea a ‘national crisis’ as rivers dry up and local farms fail

As many as 8 million people have been affected by food shortages, electricity blackouts and health clinic closures Extreme drought driven by an historic El Niño is affecting as many as 8 million people in Papua New Guinea, causing a cascade of issues from shortages of food and water, to electricity scarcity and schooling disruption. An influential coalition that includes churches, trade unions and business groups has said the Pacific nation is in the midst of a “national crisis”, but there appea

World•The Guardian•

Netanyahu accused of smearing Arab voters to hold on to power

Prime minister claims Arab Israeli parties used foreign backing to steal elections, in which his coalition lost its majority Benjamin Netanyahu has been accused of using smear tactics to cling to power, after he claimed that Arab Israeli parties had used foreign backing to “steal” Tuesday’s election, in which the prime minister’s coalition lost its parliamentary majority. Netanyahu and his allies called on the internal security service, Shin Bet, to investigate alleged vote buying and other irr

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JD Vance letter may offer last chance to avert fresh conflict between US and Iran

US vice-president writes to top Iranian security official in sign Washington has not abandoned diplomacy Hopes of averting a major new conflagration between Iran and the US soon after Tuesday’s midterm elections could rest on Iran’s response to a personal letter from the US vice-president, JD Vance, offering to restart diplomacy. The letter, written after predominantly Qatari mediation, was sent to the secretary of Iran’s supreme national security council, Mohsen Rezaei on Sunday. It requires Te

World•The Guardian•

Hong Kong’s leader apologises for residential fire that killed 168 people

Blaze was world’s deadliest residential fire since 1980, but some survivors and bereaved families say justice has yet to be served Hong Kong’s leader has apologised for government shortcomings that contributed to a fire that killed 168 people in the city last year, a rare sign of public contrition that nevertheless failed to impress some victims’ families. The chief executive, John Lee, and seven other officials bowed in apology at the release of a report that pointed to “decades of failure” by

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Cuts like a knife: Canadian rocker Bryan Adams trolls Trump with new song

Musician wrote a ‘love letter’ to Canada with a new album – and some pointed commentary about the US president Lake Ontario, the vast body of water that straddles the US-Canada border, has gone by many names over the centuries: Lac Saint-Louis, Lacus Ontarius, Skaniadorio, Cataraqui Lake. But one thing it will never be called, says the Canadian rock star Bryan Adams, is Lake America. In his new song Lake Ontario, Adams takes aim at the US president, Donald Trump, accusing him of “breaking the pe

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Brazil’s victory for the planet and democracy: seven lessons from Lula’s win

The trouncing of the far right provides a playbook for social and environmental movements in other countries facing elections, including the US, Spain and France Thank you, Brazil, for demonstrating how the far right can be trounced while protection for the Amazon is strengthened. In a world where nature and democracy appeared to be bleeding out in tandem, voters and forest defenders in this global south powerhouse have shown it is possible to staunch the flow. This should provide much needed i

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Egypt fines prominent editor Lina Attalah and shuts independent news outlet Mada Masr

Warnings of escalating clampdown on press freedom come after Cairo court convicts Attalah of managing an unlicensed website Lina Attalah, a prominent Egyptian journalist and the editor-in-chief of the news outlet Mada Masr, has been released from detention by Egypt’s authorities and had her website ordered to be shut down by a court amid an intensifying crackdown on independent media in the country. Attalah was taken briefly into custody after a Cairo court convicted her of managing an unlicense

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Africa’s ‘unprecedented’ Ebola outbreak could reach UK, says top health official

Jean Kaseya, of the Africa CDC, warns of the illness spreading like Covid unless more funding is secured to increase preparedness and possible treatment The “unprecedented” spread of the Ebola outbreak means it could reach the UK and other countries, according to one of Africa’s top health officials. As the current outbreak reached 10,000 cases, with almost 5,000 deaths, Dr Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), compared the outbreak to the

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What Marco Rubio’s sidestepping of New Delhi says about the US’s stance on India

Rubio’s decision not to meet Narendra Modi last week was seen by some as a snub – but by focusing on business leaders and oil, the secretary of state made American priorities clear. Plus: the artist bringing a female perspective to men’s clothing • Don’t get This is India delivered to your inbox? Sign up here When the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, visited India for the second time this year, headlines concentrated on who he met and where he went. The fact that Rubio bypassed New Delhi and