‘Almost unparalleled suffering’ in Gaza as UN says nearly 70% of those killed are women and children

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Head of the Norwegian Refugee Council calls for peace process to begin as new figures reveal civilians have borne the brunt of the war

Nearly 70% of the people killed in the war in Gaza are women and children, according to a UN analysis of verified deaths that highlights the heavy civilian toll of the ongoing conflict.

In a new report, the most detailed analysis of its kind yet, the UN human rights office said it had verified 8,119 of those killed during the first six months of the war in Gaza. Of the fatalities, 3,588 were children and 2,036 were women. The youngest victim was a one-day-old boy and the oldest was a 97-year-old woman.

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US justice department files charges over alleged Iranian plot to kill Trump

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Trump campaign said US officials warned him in September about suspected Iranian assassination plot

The US justice department is bringing criminal charges over an Iranian plot to kill President-elect Donald Trump that was thwarted by the FBI, the government said.

The federal government has unsealed criminal charges in what the justice department said was a murder-for-hire plan to take out Trump before this week’s presidential election, which he won decisively over his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.

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EU leaders vow to make bloc more competitive in face of Trump threat

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Budapest meeting finds consensus on need to raise growth and productivity as ‘America first’ protectionism looms

EU leaders meeting in Budapest have signed a declaration aimed at boosting the bloc’s ailing competitiveness – a task given added urgency by the threat of “America first” protectionist trade policies promised by the US president-elect, Donald Trump.

The bloc has too many barriers to innovation and must drastically reduce red tape, especially for startups; ramp up investment; make access to capital easier; and raise productivity, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Friday.

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‘Anticyclonic gloom’ blamed as English village sees no sunshine since October

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UK has had average of just three hours of sun over past week, but skies should start to clear from Sunday

An “anticyclonic gloom” has been blamed for cloudy weather across parts of England, with one village receiving absolutely no sunshine since October.

Odiham, in Hampshire, has reportedly recorded zero minutes of sunshine since October, but forecasters are predicting that the fog, drizzle and low cloud should start clearing from Sunday.

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The Cure score first UK No 1 album in 32 years with Songs of a Lost World

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Robert Smith says getting first chart-topper since 1992’s Wish is ‘enormously uplifting’ and ‘genuinely heartwarming’

The Cure have scored their first UK No 1 album in 32 years, with Songs of a Lost World.

The band’s frontman Robert Smith said: “It is enormously uplifting, genuinely heartwarming to experience such a wonderful reaction to the release of the new Cure album. To everyone who has bought it, listened to it, loved it, believed in us over the years – thank you!”

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Tony Blair’s former chief of staff appointed PM’s national security adviser

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Jonathan Powell led talks on Chagos Islands in September and played key role in Good Friday agreement

Jonathan Powell, the former chief of staff to Tony Blair, has been appointed as Keir Starmer’s national security adviser in a further sign that leading figures from the New Labour era are returning to the government.

The veteran former diplomat, who played a significant role in the Northern Ireland peace deal struck in 1998 and served Blair for a decade, will be responsible for advising on the UK’s approach to the war in Ukraine and the international implications of Donald Trump’s presidency.

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Relationship between UK and Ukraine ‘has worsened since Labour won election’

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Exclusive: Official in Zelenskyy administration expresses frustration with Starmer over lack of missiles

Ukraine’s relationship with the UK has “got worse” since the Labour government took power in July, officials in Kyiv have told the Guardian, voicing frustration over Britain’s failure to supply additional long-range missiles.

The UK prime minister is yet to visit Ukraine four months after taking office and a frustrated Kyiv has said that a trip would be worthless unless Keir Starmer committed to replenishing stocks of the sought after long-range Storm Shadow system.

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British voters do not like Trump ‘because they don’t really know him’, Farage claims – as it happened

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This live blog is closed

Keir Starmer has hosted veterans and charities at Downing Street with defence secretary John Healey in the lead-up to Remembrance Day, PA Media reports. PA says:

The informal reception was held after Starmer pledged £3.5m in support for veterans facing homelessness.

Peter Kent, 99, the oldest veteran at the event, said he was pleased by the increase in funding and described Starmer as a “good guy”.

State visits take a while to organise. So in the next year, I’ve got to tell you, I think that would be a bit of a tall order. But [Trump] was genuine in his respect and his affection for the royal family.

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Robot Emerges From Fukushima With a First Clue – Newser

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  1. Robot Emerges From Fukushima With a First Clue  Newser
  2. TEPCO retrieves tiny melted fuel from disaster-hit Fukushima reactor  Kyodo News Plus
  3. Japan electric company removes small debris from Fukushima nuclear plant  Yahoo! Voices
  4. A robot retrieves the first melted fuel from Fukushima nuclear reactor  The Associated Press
  5. Robot Removes First Bit Of Fukushima's Nuclear Fuel Debris – Just 880 Tons More To Go  IFLScience
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Father of Sara Sharif tells court of his daughter’s final moments

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Taxi driver among three on trial over death of 10-year-old says she briefly opened her eyes and asked for water before dying in his arms

The father of Sara Sharif wept as he told how his limp daughter briefly opened her eyes and asked for water before dying in his arms, a court has heard.

Urfan Sharif said his wife, Beinash Batool, did not call an ambulance in Sara’s final moments, but had said the 10-year-old was being “dramatic and pretending”.

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Trump to revive ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran by supporting sanctions, Israeli strike on nuclear sites – New York Post

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  1. Trump to revive ‘maximum pressure’ on Iran by supporting sanctions, Israeli strike on nuclear sites  New York Post
  2. Trump to Renew ‘Maximum Pressure’ Campaign Against Iran - WSJ  The Wall Street Journal
  3. Trump poised to unwind Biden's rewiring of global energy trade  Middle East Eye
  4. Pro-Israel leaders encouraged by Brian Hook’s role on State Department transition team  Jewish Insider
  5. Trump plans to renew 'maximum pressure' sanctions on Iran  The Jerusalem Post
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Optimistic EU climate chief: We will talk to Trump – POLITICO Europe

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  1. Optimistic EU climate chief: We will talk to Trump  POLITICO Europe
  2. Why have so many world leaders dropped out of COP29 climate talks?  Euronews
  3. Von der Leyen’s Cop29 absence sends ‘fatal signal’, say watchers  The Guardian
  4. Germany’s Scholz to skip COP29 as tensions rise in Europe over climate  Semafor
  5. EU to support continued global climate action and push for ambitious finance and investment goals at COP29  PubAffairs Bruxelles
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Outrage against Canada’s Marineland theme park after fifth beluga dies

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Most recent fatality marks 17th beluga to die at Niagara Falls, Ontario, aquarium since 2019

A fifth beluga has died at Canada’s Marineland, as questions mount over the future of both the controversial theme park and one of the world’s largest populations of captive whales.

The most recent fatality marks the 17th beluga to die at the Niagara Falls aquarium since 2019.

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Black people across US receive racist text messages after Trump’s win

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FBI investigating after people report texts saying they were selected to pick cotton and go to nearest plantation

Just hours after Donald Trump’s election win on Tuesday, Black people across the US reported receiving racist text messages telling them that they had been “selected” to pick cotton and needed to report to “the nearest plantation”. While the texts, some of which were signed “a Trump supporter”, varied in detail, they all conveyed the same essential message about being selected to pick cotton. Some of the messages refer to the recipients by name.

A spokesperson for the president-elect told CNN that his “campaign has absolutely nothing to do with these text messages”. It is not yet clear who is behind the messages, nor is there a comprehensive list of the people to whom the messages were sent, but social media posts indicate that the messages are widespread.

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Trump says vow to deport millions of undocumented people has ‘no price tag’

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President-elect’s plan to quash undocumented migration through mass deportations met with Democratic resistance

Donald Trump’s vow to deport millions of undocumented immigrants has no “price tag”, the president-elect has said, setting the scene for a confrontation between his incoming administration and Democratic officials across the US.

As Democratic state governors and mayors signalled their determination to resist the most extreme elements of his agenda, Trump promised that his campaign pledge to expel an estimated 11 million people – though Trump himself has given a figure as high as 21 million – would be implemented come what may.

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Trump allies say Project 2025 is on as Heritage affiliates vie for cabinet posts

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Clear links to president-elect and rightwing document emerge after his attempts to distance himself from project

Cheerleaders for Donald Trump have gleefully raised the prospect of the extremist Project 2025 policy blueprint being implemented by the new administration as they taunted Democrats after the Republicans’ victory over Kamala Harris.

Project 2025 is an initiative coordinated by the rightwing Heritage Foundation and presented to the American public in the form of the Mandate, a 900-plus page policy plan. Proposals for a second Trump administration include political purges of the federal government and attacks on minority rights and environmental protections among many other hard-right policy ideas.

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Beyoncé leads Grammy award nominations with 11 nods

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The star is out in front with multiple genre recognition for Cowboy Carter while Kendrick Lamar, Charli xcx, Post Malone and Billie Eilish follow

Beyoncé is out in front with the nominations for the 67th Grammy awards in what promises to be another female-heavy year.

The star has scored 11 nods for her country album Cowboy Carter with recognition in the country, pop and Americana categories. It’s the biggest number of nominations she has received in a single year and she now holds the joint record of most-nominated artist ever alongside her husband, Jay-Z.

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