UK government vows to do all it can to help Briton captured by Russia

Foreign secretary offers support for James Scott Rhys Anderson, who was fighting for Ukraine reportedly in Kursk

The UK government has promised to do all it can to assist a former British soldier fighting for Ukraine who has been taken prisoner by the Russian army.

Two videos of a man who identified himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson surfaced on Russian Telegram channels over the weekend. They featured interrogation of a bearded man in military fatigues, who had his hands tied and spoke slowly in English to give details from his biography, including that he served as a signalman in the British army between 2019 and 2023. Anderson is 22, according to the date of birth he gave in the video.

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Russia-Ukraine war: more than 20 injured in Russian attack on Kharkiv – as it happened

Casualties include 14 people who have been sent to hospital

Jon Henley is the Guardian’s Europe correspondent

An ultranationalist, Moscow-friendly Nato critic is set to face a centre-right candidate in the runoff of Romania’s presidential elections after a shock first-round result that has upended the country’s politics and could jeopardise its support for Ukraine.

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UK politics live: safeguarding minister Jess Phillips urges people to intervene if women are being harassed in public

Phillips says people have to be mindful of their own safety but ‘you can definitely ask if someone is alright’

Q: Are you feeling the pressure? There is a petition signed by 2 million people calling for another election.

Starmer says he is not surprised that people who did not support Labour in the first place want the election to be re-run. But that is not how the system worked.

I’m not surprised, quite frankly, that as we’re doing the tough stuff, there are plenty of people who say, ‘Well, I’m impacted.’

I think anybody who’s turned around an organisation or a business will tell you, and they’re right, if you’re really going to turn something around, you have to do the hard yards upfront. Don’t look at a tough decision and then leave it for a year or two.

So we’re doing the tough stuff. But in the budget, which is probably the toughest, I’m really pleased that we were able to put so much money into the National Health Service … Anybody watching this who uses the NHS will know we absolutely had to make that a priority.

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Wales may introduce visitor levy for people staying overnight

Proposal would give councils option to charge 75p-£1.25 a night to help alleviate pressure on local services

People who stay in Wales overnight, including children, are set to be charged a visitor levy under a scheme that could raise up to £33m a year to be ploughed back into tourism and culture.

All visitors would be charged 75p a night to stay in campsites and hostels and £1.25 for all other accommodation including hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets.

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Barclays fined £40m for ‘reckless’ failures in 2008 Qatari fundraising

Bank’s shares rise as it disputes FCA finding it should have disclosed more about deal during financial crisis

Barclays will pay a fine of £40m for “reckless” failures to disclose a fundraising deal with Qatar at the height of the financial crisis, after the British bank agreed to withdraw a legal challenge against it.

The FTSE 100 bank effectively won a discount of £10m by challenging the fine, but was found by the regulator to have committed serious misconduct. Barclays withdrew an appeal shortly before it was due to be heard on Monday by the upper tribunal, a court in London.

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Storm Bert: roads and trainlines blocked with reports of lack of warning for communities – live updates

Natural Resources Wales to investigate whether sufficient warnings of Storm Bert and the flooding it caused were given to people in advance

Northamptonshire Police have warned people in the area “while the flooding remains ongoing, please avoid all unnecessary travel and do not drive through floodwater of any depth – it is not worth the risk.”

In Yate in the west of England, BBC Bristol reports that about 100 properties were flooded overnight, and residents had to be evacuated.

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Send crisis in England and Wales leaving children more vulnerable, says report

Experts point to increased risk of criminal and sexual exploitation and call for urgent action from government

The crisis in special needs education has left children vulnerable to criminal and sexual exploitation, experts have warned, as parents of victims described years of failed attempts to get support.

Last year, 7,432 children were referred to the national referral mechanism – the framework for identifying potential victims of trafficking and modern slavery in England and Wales.

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Storm Bert: forecasterse and politicians criticised after devastating floods

Critics claim warnings and defences were inadequate but Met Office says storm was ‘well forecast’

Weather forecasters and politicians have come in for strong criticism after hundreds of homes and businesses across the UK suffered devastating flooding in Storm Bert but the Met Office has said it issued sufficient warning.

There were growing complaints in south Wales, one of the areas most heavily hit, that the Met Office issued only a yellow warning, rather than an amber or red, and that not enough new defences had been put in place by the Welsh government since storms last wreaked havoc in the area four years ago.

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Former British soldier fighting for Ukraine captured by Russian forces

Man identifies himself in a video as James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, saying he joined the country’s International Legion

A British man has reportedly been captured by Russian forces while fighting for Ukraine.

In a widely circulated video on Sunday, first posted on Telegram, the man identifies himself as James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, and says he is a former British army soldier.

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NHS bosses who silence whistleblowers face sack under government plans

Ministers to launch public consultation on regulating managers in effort to end ‘culture of cover-up’ in NHS

NHS managers who silence whistleblowers or endanger patients through misconduct face being sacked and barred from working in the health service for life under radical government plans to regulate thousands of bosses for the first time.

Ministers will begin a public consultation on Tuesday seeking views on the proposals, which they say are designed to eradicate a “culture of cover-up” in the NHS. It follows a series of scandals over the last decade at trusts including Morecambe Bay, East Kent and Shrewsbury and Telford.

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Several people killed amid ‘unprecedented’ flooding as Storm Bert batters Britain

Rhondda Cynon Taf declares emergency as at least four deaths reported across England and Wales

Several people have been killed as Storm Bert battered the UK, with a major incident declared in south Wales.

At least four deaths have been reported in England and Wales since the storm hit amid flooding brought by heavy rain and thawing snow. Thousands of homes have been left without power.

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Millions of tourists in UK could be asked to pay local visitor levy

Councils, politicians and campaigners hope a ‘tourist tax’ would raise money to fund services in areas affected by high visitor numbers

Millions of tourists to the UK could soon be asked to pay a local visitor levy as cash-strapped councils try to raise money to fund services.

Nearly half of Scotland’s local councils are considering a mandatory levy on overnight stays, known as a tourist tax, to help cope with a surge in visitors that has overwhelmed places such as Skye, the Callanish stones on Lewis and Orkney’s neolithic sites.

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Ministers speaking out against assisted dying ‘are giving false impression’, says peer

Labour’s Charlie Falconer says vocal opponents are leading voters to think government is against change

Senior ministers who have spoken out against assisted dying are giving voters a “false impression” about the government’s position, a leading proponent of changing the law has said.

Charlie Falconer, a Labour peer and former justice secretary, said opponents to the change were “getting more coverage” because ministers in favour of legalising assisted dying were “playing by the rules”.

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Bonhams auction house facing claims it is selling looted Roman antiquities

Third-century Roman plate and bust of Emperor Hadrian alleged to have links to man convicted of illegal dealing

The auction house Bonhams is facing calls to withdraw a Roman antiquity from its forthcoming London auction amid claims that it was looted from Turkey.

A third-century Roman silver plate, decorated with a depiction of a river god, is lot 62 of the 5 December auction and is estimated to sell for between £20,000 and £30,000.

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‘Slippery slope’ fears over assisted dying have echoes of abortion debate

Since the 1967 Abortion Act, the law has been changed twice but the criteria have remained the same

“It is entirely possible that future generations will puzzle over how such a fundamental right could ever be denied to them.” These are the words of David Steel, the veteran former leader of the Liberal party and a Westminster MP for more than three decades, referring to this Friday’s historic vote in parliament on whether to legalise assisted dying.

But Steel could just as well have been referring to a private member’s bill he brought before parliament 57 years ago that was also about the right to bodily autonomy and was the subject of fierce debate and vocal opposition from church leaders.

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Former Taiwan leader was due to visit UK for two days in October, leak shows

Exclusive: letter reveals dates for visit that was planned by Tsai Ing-wen before Foreign Office intervened

Taiwan’s former president Tsai Ing-wen had been due to visit the UK between 16 and 18 October before the Foreign Office intervened, the Guardian can disclose.

Tsai was scheduled to visit London for two days as part of her first international tour since leaving office and was in discussions about addressing the UK parliament, according to a leaked letter.

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Angela Merkel ‘tormented’ by Brexit vote and saw it as ‘humiliation’ for EU

Former German chancellor’s book tells how she tried to help David Cameron win over Britain’s Eurosceptics

Angela Merkel has said she was “tormented” over the result of the Brexit referendum and viewed it as a “humiliation, a disgrace” for the EU that Britain was leaving.

In her autobiography, Freedom, due to be published on Tuesday, the former German chancellor says she was dismayed by the notion that she might have done more to help the then British prime minister, David Cameron, who was keen for the UK to stay in the EU, but that ultimately, she concluded, he only had himself to blame.

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Trump depends on the EU and UK to act as peacemakers more than he thinks

The US doesn’t need to spend more on Ukraine. Britain can bring funding to the table – and help Trump reboot alliances

With Donald Trump the very meaning of words is up for negotiation. What does he really mean when he promises to “build a wall”? When he pledges to end the Russo-Ukrainian war in one day?

His supporters say they don’t take him literally but seriously – but who decides what “serious” is? The very ambiguity can be part of Trump’s appeal. There’s something exhilarating in the sense one is in an exclusive negotiation with the president to define reality. It’s as if he’s welcoming you backstage from the reality show of politics to the discrete board room where meaning is made.

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Russia ‘aggressive’ and ‘reckless’ in cyber realm and threat to Nato, UK minister to warn

Pat McFadden will tell cyber summit that Russia ‘won’t think twice about targeting British businesses’ and danger to Nato must not be underestimated

Russia is “exceptionally aggressive and reckless in the cyber realm” and “no one should underestimate” the threat to Nato, a senior UK minister will warn in a speech on Monday.

Pat McFadden, whose portfolio includes national security, will tell a Nato cybersecurity conference in London that Moscow “won’t think twice about targeting British businesses”, according to excerpts of his address released on Sunday by his ministry.

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Unidentified drones spotted over three UK airbases, US air force confirms

Unmanned aerial systems seen over RAF bases in Suffolk and Norfolk but US air force does not know if they were hostile

A number of unidentified drones have been spotted over three airbases in Britain, the US air force has confirmed.

“Small unmanned aerial systems” were seen between 20 and 22 November over RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk.

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