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DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria's air defenses confronted an aerial "aggression" over the country's south late Thursday, shooting down several targets and preventing them from carrying out their mission in the first such attack since Syria received a Russian air defense system last month, state TV said.
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New Zealand's largest telecoms carrier Spark said Wednesday that the country's intelligence agency had barred it from using equipment provided by China's Huawei in its 5G network as it posed "significant national security risks". The move follows reports the United States is urging its allies to exclude the Chinese telecoms giant from 5G rollouts over cybersecurity fears. Spark said in a statement that it was legally obliged to inform the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) about its 5G plans.
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A young boy upstaged Pope Francis on Wednesday, escaping from his mother and running onto the papal podium at a general audience, tugging on the hand of a Swiss guardsman and playing behind the pontiff's chair. Pope Francis told her to let him carry on playing. As she left the stage, a smiling Francis leaned towards Bishop Georg Ganswein sitting next to him and whispered: "He is Argentinian.
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England and Wales record 37 deaths so far in 2018 as charity stresses deprivation underlies violence
Related: The radical lessons of a year reporting on knife crime
This year is on course to be the worst in 10 years for numbers of young people in England and Wales killed in knife attacks, with 37 children and teenagers stabbed to death so far, continuing a five-year upward trend, according to figures collated by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Forecasts from Whitehall and Bank of England a setback for May … young drinkers feel need for mead … and how distrust in elites went viral
Good morning – Warren Murray delivering you today’s promised meaningful note.
Continue reading...Bank and Treasury predictions showing UK would be better off within EU undermine PM’s position
Theresa May’s campaign to sell her Brexit deal to sceptical MPs and a divided country ran into further difficulties when a string of official economic forecasts concluded that the UK would be better off remaining in the European Union.
The Bank of England said on Wednesday that GDP would have been at least 1% higher in five years’ time if the UK had voted to remain, while an official Whitehall analysis concluded that in all Brexit scenarios, including May’s final deal, the UK would be worse off.
Continue reading...Rise in England, Wales and Northern Ireland fuels debate over student recruitment
One in three 18-year-olds applying for university places in England, Wales and Northern Ireland this year received some form of unconditional offer, figures show, sparking fresh debate about student recruitment and the effects of separating offers from A-level grades.
A report by the Ucas admissions agency revealed that open unconditional offers continued to rise this year, from 3,000 in 2013 to 68,000, and reached 87,500 when combined with offers that became unconditional when a student made that university their firm choice.
Continue reading...Gambling Commission says firms failed to thwart money-laundering and help problem gamblers
Three online casino firms have been fined £14m after the largest enforcement action by the Gambling Commission uncovered failings in systems designed to prevent money-laundering and protect problem gamblers.
The industry regulator ordered Casumo to pay a penalty package of £5.85m, while Videoslots will pay £1m in lieu of a financial penalty. Daub Alderney was hit with a fine of £7.1m, previously announced.
Continue reading...Shrewsbury and Telford hospital’s A&E and maternity care is inadequate – regulator
The hospital trust at the centre of an inquiry into dozens of baby deaths and injuries has been declared inadequate by the NHS’s care regulator over its “unsafe” A&E and maternity care.
The move by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is the latest blow to hit Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS trust, which has been under pressure over a growing catalogue of alleged breaches of care standards.
Continue reading...A United Nations resolution calling for a ceasefire and the resumption of humanitarian deliveries in Yemen has been stalled by the US and other security council members after a lobbying campaign by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to diplomats at the UN.
Related: UK tables UN security council resolution calling for Yemen truce
Continue reading...Work crews and police leave Hillingdon site as activists mount Extinction Rebellion-style blockade
Four environmental protesters have stopped work by shackling themselves on a nature reserve where a new phase of construction of the HS2 high-speed rail link had been due to start on Wednesday evening.
The group locked themselves to a contraption made of chimney pieces in a field at the Colne Valley nature reserve in Hillingdon where HS2 operatives are currently working on the controversial rail project.
Continue reading...More than 90% of cases are diagnosed, on treatment and virally suppressed, Public Health England says
The UK has hit a significant UN target on the way to ending the HIV epidemic by succeeding in diagnosing and effectively treating more than 90% of people with the virus.
Public Health England said there were an estimated 102,000 people with HIV in the UK last year, of whom 8% – 8,200 – were believed to be unaware of their infection.
Continue reading...Tokyo will upgrade helicopter carriers, a move critics say violates constitutional commitment to defensive role
Japan is to acquire at least one aircraft carrier for the first time since the second world war, as it attempts to counter Chinese maritime expansion in the Pacific ocean.
The government will upgrade its two existing Izumo-class helicopter carriers so they can transport and launch fighter jets, according to media reports. The plans are expected to be included in new defence guidelines due to be released next month.
Continue reading...A third of children never eat fruit every day with malnutrition a concern in both rich and poor countries, warns global report
More than four in 10 children drink sugary drinks every day and one in three never eat fruit every day, according to a global report that warns most countries are unlikely to meet nutrition targets.
Researchers warn the standard of diets around the world is “diabolical”, and that problems such as obesity, anaemia and micronutrient deficiency are being neglected.
Continue reading...The death of an American missionary on a remote Indian island has sparked a backlash in India. The Guardian’s Michael Safi describes how John Allen Chau was killed after trying to preach Christianity to one of the world’s last remaining indigenous societies who live in total isolation. Plus John Harris on the trouble with Airbnb
John Allen Chau was last seen alive on the morning of 16 November. He had paid a group of fishermen to take him to the remote Indian island of North Sentinel, where a tribe is thought to have lived for more than 30,000 years with barely any outside contact.
The Guardian’s Michael Safi has been following the case, which has drawn interest from across the globe and caused uproar in India. He traces the story of the Sentinelese and their contact with colonialists and anthropologists, which foreshadowed the events of this month.
Continue reading...France has been gripped by protests sparked by anger over fuel tax rises, which have mushroomed into demonstrations against the ruling class. The Guardian’s Angelique Chrisafis has been covering what were supposed to be peaceful protests. Plus: Owen Jones argues that if a ‘Brexit betrayal’ narrative takes hold, Britain’s far right is poised to capitalise
When French voters elected Emmanuel Macron in May 2017, there was hope that a populist trend in Europe had been bucked and a youthful reformist president became a shining example of what was still possible in centrist politics.
But things have soured. Now France has been gripped by protests sparked by anger over fuel tax rises, which have mushroomed into demonstrations against the ruling class. The Guardian’s Paris correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis, has been following the Macron presidency and watching as his approval ratings have plummeted.
Continue reading...More than a million people around the world have been harmed by medical devices they assumed were safe. We hear from one woman whose life has been devastated by what she thought was a routine procedure. Science correspondent Hannah Devlin lifts the lid on the implant industry. Plus, Bryan Mealer on walking with the migrant caravan trying to reach the US
The extent of the widespread suffering caused by faulty medical implants has been laid bare in an investigation. The Guardian’s science correspondent Hannah Devlin was one of more than 250 journalists around the world working together to reveal the pain caused to tens of thousands of people fitted with contraceptive devices, medical mesh implants, pacemakers and other items.
We hear from Laura, a mother of five, who says that after receiving a contraceptive implant she had to use a wheelchair, with a devastating impact on her family life.
Continue reading...The credibility of establishment figures has been demolished by technological change and political upheavals. But it’s too late to turn back the clock. By William Davies
More from this series: The new populism
For hundreds of years, modern societies have depended on something that is so ubiquitous, so ordinary, that we scarcely ever stop to notice it: trust. The fact that millions of people are able to believe the same things about reality is a remarkable achievement, but one that is more fragile than is often recognised.
At times when public institutions – including the media, government departments and professions – command widespread trust, we rarely question how they achieve this. And yet at the heart of successful liberal democracies lies a remarkable collective leap of faith: that when public officials, reporters, experts and politicians share a piece of information, they are presumed to be doing so in an honest fashion.
Continue reading...The Bank of England governor painted a bleak economic picture, especially in the case of a no-deal Brexit
The warning from the Bank of England governor Mark Carney about the economic impact of a no-deal Brexit is all over Thursday’s front pages, with papers showing their Brexit colours in their reporting of the news.
The pro-Brexit papers have responded by condemning the governor’s intervention in the subject, led by the Daily Telegraph, with: “Carney unleashes ‘Project Hysteria’”.
Continue reading...The room Jenny Quinn shares with her 10-year-old son is about 10 sq metres, kitted out with the most basic furniture and dominated by what looks like a prison-issue metal bunkbed on which they both sleep. There is a small en suite bathroom; behind a heavy wooden shutter, the window looks out on to a bare expanse of concrete.
“He’s in drama therapy in school, for anxiety,” she tells me. “He cries a lot. He doesn’t believe in Santy [Father Christmas] any more. He’s not an angry child, but he’s lonely: he’s so, so lonely. There’s no kids his age here: they’re all babies. The PlayStation’s his best friend, because he can get on that headset and talk to his friends from school. That’s it.”
Continue reading...The Trump-supporting rancher and his sons have now become unexpected critics, telling the Guardian: ‘I don’t like walls’
Cliven Bundy is not a fan of walls.
A hero to some in the far-right due to his family’s armed standoffs with the US government, the Nevada rancher is an avid supporter of Donald Trump. But there’s one major issue where they diverge.
Continue reading...A spat over the site of China’s embassy has underlined the strategic value of the canal – through which two-thirds of ships to or from the US pass
Jutting four kilometres into the Pacific, the Amador causeway islands separate the concrete and glass skyline of Panama City from the soaring iron arch of the Bridge of the Americas – under which 40 cargo ships pass each day en route to or from the Panama Canal.
Linked to the mainland by a slender causeway, these strategic outcrops are home to a handful of derelict buildings once used to house US military personnel.
Continue reading...‘The big cow is a lie,’ the Washington Post declared. But fans of Knickers can rest easy: I’m here to tell you the steer really is large
Knickers the very large Holstein Friesian cow has taken the world by storm after a photo of the steer standing among smaller cattle went viral.
Knickers’ fame prompted a “fact check” from the Washington Post and an associated tweet in which they declared “the big cow is a lie”.
Continue reading...The Fearless Girl statue considered by many to symbolize female empowerment has been removed from her position facing off from the Charging Bull of New York’s financial district – but will soon be installed in front of the stock exchange instead. The snorting bull is moving, too, but his destination is a mystery, and it’s unclear if he will again be paired with his feminist nemesis.
The bronze ponytailed girl standing with hands on hips was installed in March 2017 opposite the longstanding bull at the bottom end of Broadway in Manhattan. The pair’s sudden confrontation became a selfie hit and a new symbol of the gender equality movement.
Continue reading...If proof were ever needed that it is never too late to make a major impact, Harry Leslie Smith, who has died aged 95, surely offers it. He was 91 when his bestselling memoir-cum-polemic in defence of the welfare state, Harry’s Last Stand (2014), was published, winning him a mass following in Britain’s ascendant left and beyond.
Following the book’s publication, he was invited to address that year’s Labour party conference before a speech by the then shadow health secretary, Andy Burnham. His passionate denunciation of benefits cuts and austerity – including the line “Mr Cameron, keep your mitts off my NHS!” – made headline news.
Continue reading...His arrogance gave us the Brexit referendum, but in calling us queue jumpers May has inflicted moral damage
I have a confession to make: I’m not sure I could trust myself if I actually ran into David Cameron. Ever since the Brexit referendum, I have been trying to avoid any occasions where I think we might have to meet. I know myself, and if I saw him I’m not sure I would be able to stop myself from telling him in no uncertain terms exactly how I feel about the damage that he has inflicted on Britain, both economic and political, and about how he has impaired the chances of young people, while endangering the European project and European values precisely when we need them most.
I might even tell him that I know he did all this out of arrogance, that he chose to put himself and his own party above us all. I’d be tempted to tell him too that he only has to look at just how deeply divided both the country and his own Conservative party are to realise that nothing, absolutely nothing, good has come from what he did in calling the referendum.
Continue reading...Theresa May’s Brexit tour of Britain – she was in Scotland today promoting her EU deal – speaks simultaneously to her strengths and her weaknesses as a politician. The strengths are often too lightly dismissed, and not just by those who primly disdain her as simply an evil Tory. But it is May’s judgmental weaknesses that still shape the political landscape as she battles to carve out a Commons majority on 11 December.
Related: There can be no doubt any more: Brexit will make us poorer | Jonathan Portes
Continue reading...It is hard to pinpoint the moment when Brexit enthusiasts stopped claiming that leaving the UK could be painless. The promises of an easy, lucrative separation faded gradually after the referendum campaign. Now even zealous Eurosceptics preface their rosy visions of a post-EU future with caveats of temporary disruption.
Meanwhile, the Treasury has taken a consistently gloomy view, seeing no model of Brexit superior to the deal Britain enjoys as a member of the Brussels club. Government analysis published on Wednesday anticipates slower economic growth under every Brexit scenario. Leaving with no deal would lead to a GDP shortfall of 7.7% by 2036; a managed hard Brexit – trading on the Canadian model – would incur an equivalent 4.9% penalty. A softer Brexit would shave 1.4% from growth over the same period. There are no numbers to match Theresa May’s deal, which is an expression of its vagueness regarding the long-term EU relationship.
Continue reading...Theresa May was clear: she will deliver on what everyone voted for, which is to be worse off
Watch I’m a Celebrity, Strictly Come Dancing or penguins freezing in the Antarctic. If you must, watch repeats of Midsomer Murders on ITV4 or Top Gear on Dave. And if you really can’t bear any of those then stare at a blank screen or run for the hills. Anything but subject yourself to the hour-long Brexit debate between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn provisionally scheduled for Sunday week. Trust me, you’ll save yourself years in therapy.
Both leaders were clearly intent on using prime minister’s questions as a dress rehearsal. Even down to the heavily telegraphed gags and the lingering stares to the camera. It made for dismal viewing. Not just because May and Corbyn are such second-rate performers, but because they really don’t have anything very much to say. The prime minister has a plan, which is to have various plans. A plan that doesn’t stand a chance of getting through parliament. The leader of the opposition doesn’t even have a plan. Or at least not one that he is able to articulate.
Continue reading...You can’t doubt the dedication of the crowd packing out this London concert hall on a Tuesday night. For an audience with John McDonnell, they have braved all the muck that a November evening can throw at them. They line up at the end for selfies and book signings. And the very mention of rent controls is greeted with an ovation.
Yet they’re here with good reason. Interviewing the shadow chancellor for this Guardian Live event, it strikes me that what he says and does over the next few weeks matters more for him and for the rest of the country than at any time during his previous 40 years in politics.
Continue reading...First there was the ‘I really don’t care’ jacket. Now there are her sinister decorations. What is she trying to convey?
There is something exquisite about Melania Trump, and I am not talking about her appearance or what she (probably) smells like. She doesn’t defy interpretation so much as beguile it; you want to strip away the layers, but you know you do so at your peril; the layers might be all there is. Mystery piles on mystery: who owns a jacket sporting the words “I really don’t care”, like the one she wore to a detention centre for child migrants? What binds her to her husband, a man whose proximity seems to affect her viscerally, and not in a good way? Can she really freeze human organs using only a look?
This week, all eyes were on her Christmas trees: why were they red? Why were there so many of them? How can something made out of berries look so creepy? Was opulence the problem? First ladies traditionally play down their wealth, whether for Democrat reasons (the ugliness of inequality) or Republican ones (ostentatious display, while not immoral, is at odds with being relied on to make your own biscuits). But this is an altogether different first family: they occupy high office; they run their own clothing company; they have email accounts on multiple servers; no one expects pretend humility and down-to-earthness, the standards of the old school. And Melania wouldn’t get out of bed to defy a convention that was already dead, let alone deck her hallways blood red for it.
Continue reading...The finale may be how Liverpool like it – an all-or-nothing, death-or-glory Champions League decider at Anfield – but not how they want it. Jürgen Klopp lamented Neymar’s antics, the referee and Paris Saint-Germain gamesmanship but ultimately had only Liverpool’s lacklustre start to blame for another European away defeat. “A big step forward for us,” beamed Thomas Tuchel. Liverpool are in danger of finding reverse in the competition they cherish.
Inspired by the infuriating but sometimes unplayable Neymar, PSG delivered a deeply impressive performance that finally lived up to their expensive ambitions among the European elite. They lost their shape and composure once James Milner halved a deficit delivered by goals from Juan Bernat and the world’s most expensive footballer but there was no disputing the merit of a victory that the French champions had to deliver.
Continue reading...Tottenham had to win and, as the second-half minutes ticked down and Wembley grew increasingly fraught, they came to crave a single chance; a shot at Champions League salvation.
Internazionale had been obdurate and it was difficult to remember Spurs creating anything in open play after the interval. Was this the slow death of their hopes? One thing was plain: Mauricio Pochettino and his players needed something special.
Continue reading...