- Michael Gove apologises after Covid report alleges 'toxic' culture BBC
- Vote for competent leaders, not entertainers – that’s what I wish the Covid report could say The Guardian
- Thank lockdowns for the worst Budget in history The Telegraph
- Ex-UK PM Johnson oversaw 'chaotic' response to COVID which led to more deaths, inquiry finds Reuters
- UK’s Covid response was ‘too little, too late’ and cost thousands of lives, inquiry says CNN
First Thing: Outrage after Trump accuses Democrats of ‘seditious behavior, punishable by death’
US president roundly decried for Truth Social post after lawmakers told military personnel to refuse illegal orders. Plus, Superman comic found in attic becomes most expensive ever sold
Good morning.
Democrats expressed outrage after Donald Trump accused a group of Democratic lawmakers of engaging in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH” and that they should be arrested after they posted a video in which they told active service members they should refuse illegal orders.
What did the lawmakers say in the video? “Our laws are clear: you can refuse illegal orders, you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.”
What did the report say? A “joint situational information report” from the FBI and the New York police department (NYPD), dated 28 August 2025, quoted from a chat on Signal, the encrypted messaging app, and also characterized the court watchers as “anarchist violent extremist actors”.
Where did it come from? The two-page report was distributed to other law enforcement agencies across the US. The records were obtained by Property of the People, a government transparency non-profit, through public records requests.
Continue reading...Reform UK’s former Wales leader jailed for taking bribes for pro-Russia speeches
Police say Nathan Gill received at least £40,000 while he was an MEP from Oleg Voloshyn, an alleged Russian asset
Reform UK’s former leader in Wales, Nathan Gill, has been jailed at the Old Bailey for 10 and a half years for taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia when he was an MEP.
Gill, a member of the Ukip and Brexit party blocs led by Nigel Farage in the European parliament, had pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019.
Continue reading...Indian Air Force Tejas jet crashes at Dubai Air Show – DW
- Indian Air Force Tejas jet crashes at Dubai Air Show DW
- Indian Tejas fighter jet crashes in a ball of fire at Dubai Airshow, killing pilot Reuters
- Indian fighter jet pilot killed in crash at Dubai airshow BBC
- Indian fighter jet crashes during a demo flight at Dubai Air Show, killing the pilot ABC News
- Tejas crash: 'Patriot, outstanding athlete', IAF pilot's village in Himachal mourns a life lost too soon Hindustan Times
UK government borrows more than expected in setback before budget
October figures represent final snapshot of public finances before Rachel Reeves’s tax and spending statement
Rachel Reeves was urged to use next week’s budget to create significantly more headroom against her fiscal rules, after official figures showed the UK government borrowed almost £10bn more than forecast in the year to October.
In the final snapshot of the public finances before the chancellor’s crunch budget, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said borrowing – the difference between public spending and income – was £17.4bn last month.
Continue reading...Wetherspoon’s to open first pub in Spain – offering garlic prawns and beer from 6am
Opening in Alicante airport is the chain’s first move into mainland Europe, and will offer outdoor drinking
Wetherspoon’s is to open its first pub outside the UK and Ireland, serving alcohol from 6am every day to sun-seeking Britons waiting for their plane in the departure lounge at Alicante airport.
The opening in Spain, scheduled for January, will be the first foray on to continental European soil for the pub chain, which said it expects to pursue more footholds on the continent in the coming years.
Continue reading...Canadian man loses legal battle to reclaim C$1.2m-dollar stash – BBC
- Canadian man loses legal battle to reclaim C$1.2m-dollar stash BBC
- Police Found $1 Million in a Tub Under a Garage. The Government Gets to Keep It. The New York Times
- Government allowed to keep mysterious mounds of buried money seized in botched police raid Yahoo News Canada
- Canadian man loses legal battle to keep his secret million-dollar stash CNN
- Confiscation of cash 16 years later Qazinform
Canadian man loses legal battle to reclaim million-dollar stash
Marcel Breton spent 16 years trying to reclaim C$1.2m police seized from hiding spots in his house.
She married her brother, then he died. The monument to her grief was a Wonder of the Ancient World – CNN
Bangladesh v Ireland: Second Test interrupted by earthquake in Dhaka – BBC
- Bangladesh v Ireland: Second Test interrupted by earthquake in Dhaka BBC
- Earthquake jolts Bangladesh, killing five and injuring around 100 Reuters
- Bangladesh 5.5-magnitude earthquake – what we know so far Al Jazeera
- Bangladesh quake kills nine, injures hundreds Yahoo
- A 5.5 magnitude earthquake in central Bangladesh kills at least 6 people ABC News
Workers inside Department of Education say Trump’s latest bid to dismantle agency ‘makes no sense’
‘Morale is completely lost,’ say workers as Trump administration strips some programs and transfers others
Donald Trump’s bid to gut the US Department of Education “makes no sense”, according to workers inside the federal agency, who accuse the administration of trying to make their lives “as difficult and traumatic as possible”.
Three employees inside the department spoke to the Guardian, with one warning that morale has been “completely lost”, 10 months after Trump returned to the White House. All requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.
Continue reading...Pope Leo consolidates governance reform for Vatican City Commission – Vatican News
- Pope Leo consolidates governance reform for Vatican City Commission Vatican News
- Pope Leo rectifies technical glitch in Vatican law after woman given top job The Independent
- “A reparatory Motu Proprio”: Leo XIV exposes the irregularity of the Petrini appointment and officially contradicts the press office Silere Non Possum
- Pope Leo changes law to allow women, non-cardinals to run Vatican City upi.com
- Pope tweaks a law allowing a woman to head the Vatican City State, months after a nun was appointed Bakersfield.com
Eleven injured after grizzly bear attacks schoolchildren and teachers in Canada
Two critically hurt after attack on walking trail in British Columbia as police and conservation officers search for bear
Eleven people were injured, two of them critically, when a grizzly bear attacked a group of schoolchildren and teachers on a walking trail in British Columbia, Canada.
The attack happened on Thursday in Bella Coola, 435 miles (700km) north-west of Vancouver. The Nuxalk Nation said the “aggressive bear” remained on the loose and police and conservation officers were on the scene.
Continue reading...Japan edges closer to restarting world’s biggest nuclear power plant
If approved, it would be the first time Japanese utility company Tepco recommences nuclear reactor operations since its Fukushima plant went into meltdown.
Frida Kahlo painting sells for record $54.7m
A 1940 self-portrait titled ‘The dream’ by famed Mexican artist Frida Kahlo has sold for $54.7m.
NYC mayor’s father says son aware of “enormity of this task”
Mahmood Mamdani on his son’s innovative and uncompromising drive to become NYC mayor – and his awareness of the enormit
At least five killed as magnitude 5.5 earthquake hits Bangladesh – Al Jazeera
- At least five killed as magnitude 5.5 earthquake hits Bangladesh Al Jazeera
- Five killed and more than 450 injured in Bangladesh earthquake BBC
- Aftershock shakes Bangladesh as earthquake death toll rises to 10 Yahoo
- Bangladesh 5.5-magnitude earthquake – what we know so far Al Jazeera
- At Least 8 Dead, More Than 450 Injured After 5.5-Magnitude Earthquake People.com
Students taken from Catholic school in central Nigeria in latest abduction
Attack comes just days after armed men stormed a secondary school in northwestern Nigeria, kidnapping 25 schoolgirls.
Mamdani’s democratic socialism is not communism; it’s about affordability
It is not communism but a vision of equality, opportunity and a life people can afford.
Anti-Hamas armed groups seek future role under Gaza peace plan
Several groups - some of them backed by Israel - are ranged against Hamas in Gaza, with complex and overlapping ties.