Europe’s economy is geared towards a disappearing world, says ECB’s Lagarde

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Central bank chief warns that the bloc’s dependence on third countries for trade and security has left it vulnerable

Europe’s economy is “geared towards a world that is gradually disappearing”, according to a warning from Christine Lagarde that the EU needs reforms to spur growth.

The president of the European Central Bank (ECB) said the EU’s dependence on international trade had left it vulnerable, as major partners had turned away from the trade that made the bloc’s exporters wealthy.

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Run-up to G20 in South Africa marred by host’s simmering row with US

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Group’s first summit on the continent, which opens on Saturday, comes at a febrile time in global politics

The dispute between South Africa and the US over the Trump administration’s decision to boycott the G20 in Johannesburg has continued, with South Africa objecting to a US plan for a junior embassy official to take part in the closing ceremony meant to mark the handover to the next summit, which will take place in Florida.

The two-day summit, which opens on Saturday, comes at a febrile moment in global politics. The US has proposed a deal to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which it agreed with Moscow without the involvement of Ukraine or the EU.

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Nigeria reels after 215 children taken in second mass school abduction in a week

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Twelve teachers also kidnapped from Catholic school amid threats from Trump to intervene over ‘Christian genocide’

Unknown gunmen have abducted 215 schoolchildren and 12 teachers from a Catholic school in central Nigeria, the second mass abduction in the country in a week.

The latest kidnapping, in Papiri community in Niger state, came against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s threat to intervene militarily to end a “Christian genocide”, which the Nigerian government has denied is happening.

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Trump has assembled least diverse US government this century, study shows

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President has chosen white men for key posts at expense of women and people of colour, Brookings Institution finds

Donald Trump has assembled the least diverse US government of the 21st century, filling the corridors of power with white men at the expense of women and people of colour, research shows.

Nine in 10 individuals confirmed by the Senate in the first 300 days of the second Trump administration were white, according to the Brookings Institution thinktank in Washington.

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Michael Gove apologises after Covid report alleges ‘toxic’ culture – BBC

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  1. Michael Gove apologises after Covid report alleges 'toxic' culture  BBC
  2. Vote for competent leaders, not entertainers – that’s what I wish the Covid report could say  The Guardian
  3. Thank lockdowns for the worst Budget in history  The Telegraph
  4. Ex-UK PM Johnson oversaw 'chaotic' response to COVID which led to more deaths, inquiry finds  Reuters
  5. UK’s Covid response was ‘too little, too late’ and cost thousands of lives, inquiry says  CNN
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First Thing: Outrage after Trump accuses Democrats of ‘seditious behavior, punishable by death’

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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.

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Reform UK’s former Wales leader jailed for taking bribes for pro-Russia speeches

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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.

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Indian Air Force Tejas jet crashes at Dubai Air Show – DW

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  1. Indian Air Force Tejas jet crashes at Dubai Air Show  DW
  2. Indian Tejas fighter jet crashes in a ball of fire at Dubai Airshow, killing pilot  Reuters
  3. Indian fighter jet pilot killed in crash at Dubai airshow  BBC
  4. Indian fighter jet crashes during a demo flight at Dubai Air Show, killing the pilot  ABC News
  5. Tejas crash: 'Patriot, outstanding athlete', IAF pilot's village in Himachal mourns a life lost too soon  Hindustan Times
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UK government borrows more than expected in setback before budget

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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.

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Wetherspoon’s to open first pub in Spain – offering garlic prawns and beer from 6am

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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.

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Canadian man loses legal battle to reclaim C$1.2m-dollar stash – BBC

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  1. Canadian man loses legal battle to reclaim C$1.2m-dollar stash  BBC
  2. Police Found $1 Million in a Tub Under a Garage. The Government Gets to Keep It.  The New York Times
  3. Government allowed to keep mysterious mounds of buried money seized in botched police raid  Yahoo News Canada
  4. Canadian man loses legal battle to keep his secret million-dollar stash  CNN
  5. Confiscation of cash 16 years later  Qazinform
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Bangladesh v Ireland: Second Test interrupted by earthquake in Dhaka – BBC

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  1. Bangladesh v Ireland: Second Test interrupted by earthquake in Dhaka  BBC
  2. Earthquake jolts Bangladesh, killing five and injuring around 100  Reuters
  3. Bangladesh 5.5-magnitude earthquake – what we know so far  Al Jazeera
  4. Bangladesh quake kills nine, injures hundreds  Yahoo
  5. A 5.5 magnitude earthquake in central Bangladesh kills at least 6 people  ABC News
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Workers inside Department of Education say Trump’s latest bid to dismantle agency ‘makes no sense’

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‘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.

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Pope Leo consolidates governance reform for Vatican City Commission – Vatican News

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  1. Pope Leo consolidates governance reform for Vatican City Commission  Vatican News
  2. Pope Leo rectifies technical glitch in Vatican law after woman given top job  The Independent
  3. “A reparatory Motu Proprio”: Leo XIV exposes the irregularity of the Petrini appointment and officially contradicts the press office  Silere Non Possum
  4. Pope Leo changes law to allow women, non-cardinals to run Vatican City  upi.com
  5. Pope tweaks a law allowing a woman to head the Vatican City State, months after a nun was appointed  Bakersfield.com
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Eleven injured after grizzly bear attacks schoolchildren and teachers in Canada

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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.

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