General news

• UK’s higher borrowing costs compared with major countries ‘may be coming to an end’

  09-12-2025 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Thinktank says Rachel Reeves’s budget had started to assure bond markets about fiscal approachRachel Reeves’s test from the bond markets starts nowThe “premium” that the UK pays to borrow money compared with its international peers may be coming to an end as markets grow more confident about the government’s plans, a thinktank has suggested.The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s announcement in the autumn budge
  
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• Zelenskyy ‘ready for elections’ after Trump questions Ukrainian democracy

  09-12-2025 23:09 via theguardian.com
  Zelenskyy says he would hold wartime elections within months given help from allies and Ukraine’s parliamentTrump lambasts ‘weak’ and ‘decaying’ Europe and hints at walking away from UkraineVolodymyr Zelenskyy has said he is ready to hold a wartime election within the next three months, if Ukraine’s parliament and foreign allies will allow it, after Donald Trump accused him of clinging on to power.Zelenskyy, clearly irritated by Trump’s intervention, sai
  
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• Honduras president alleges ‘electoral coup’ under way amid Trump ‘interference’

  09-12-2025 22:40 via theguardian.com
  Xiomara Castro alleges US manipulation and blackmail as preliminary count shows two rightwing candidates closely tiedHonduras’s president, Xiomara Castro, has alleged that an “electoral coup” is under way in the country’s presidential election, which she says has been marked by “interference from the president of the United States, Donald Trump”.The leftist president also said that “the Honduran people must never accept elections marked by interference,
  
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• Starmer urges Europe’s leaders to curb ECHR to halt rise of far right

  09-12-2025 21:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: PM calls for members of European convention on human rights to allow tougher action to protect bordersWe must protect our borders to defend our democracies – here’s howKeir Starmer has called on European leaders to urgently curb joint human rights laws so that member states can take tougher action to protect their borders and see off the rise of the populist right across the continent.Before a crucial European summit on Wednesday, the prime minister urged fellow members to
  
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• Syrians mark first year since Assad's fall as US signals new era in relations

  09-12-2025 20:49 via foxnews.com
  
  Tens of thousands of Syrians flooded the streets of Damascus on Monday to mark the first anniversary of the Assad regime’s collapse. The celebrations came a year after former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad fled the capital as rebel forces swept through the country in a lightning offensive that ended five decades of Assad family rule and opened a new chapter in Syrian history.A wave of transformations and historic firsts has since redrawn Syria's political landscape, culminating in a
  
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• DRC fighting forces 200,000 to flee just days after Washington peace deal

  09-12-2025 20:28 via theguardian.com
  Rwanda-backed M23 rebels clash with Congolese army and other groups as they march on strategic eastern townAbout 200,000 people have fled their homes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as Rwanda-backed rebels march on a strategic eastern town just days after Donald Trump hosted the Rwandan and Congolese leaders to proclaim peace.The UN said at least 74 people had been killed, mostly civilians, and 83 admitted to hospital with wounds from escalating clashes in the area in recent days. Contin
  
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• Brigitte Macron criticised after using sexist slur against feminist protesters

  09-12-2025 20:22 via theguardian.com
  French first lady was filmed calling women who had disrupted Paris theatre show by Ary Abittan ‘sales connes’French celebrities and politicians on the left have expressed outrage after Brigitte Macron was filmed using a derogatory and sexist slur to describe feminist protesters at a theatre show in Paris.A video filmed on Sunday showed France’s first lady in discussion backstage at the Folies Bergère theatre in Paris with Ary Abittan, a French actor and comedian previous
  
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• Australia begins enforcing social media law banning children under 16 from major platforms

  09-12-2025 19:50 via foxnews.com
  
  Australia’s landmark new social media age law is set to go into effect, barring anyone under 16 from holding an account as the government moves to enforce one of the world’s strictest online safety measures.The Australian government’s Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act, passed in November 2024, began to be enforced on Wednesday."From December 10, if you’re under 16, you’re no longer allowed to have a social media account," said Australian Prime M
  
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• Trump clears way for Nvidia to sell powerful AI chips to China

  09-12-2025 19:45 via theguardian.com
  Commerce department finalising deal to allow H200 chips to be sold to China as strict Biden-era restrictions relaxedDonald Trump has cleared the way for Nvidia to begin selling its powerful AI computer chips to China, marking a win for the chip maker and its CEO, Jensen Huang, who has spent months lobbying the White House to open up sales in the country.Before Monday’s announcement, the US had prohibited sales of Nvidia’s most advanced chips to China over national security concerns.
  
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• China sharpens confrontation with Japan following reported radar run-in

  09-12-2025 19:37 via foxnews.com
  
  Beijing escalated its war of words with Tokyo after Japan said Chinese fighter jets aimed a fire-control radar at Japanese F-15s flying near Okinawa, an action Tokyo called "dangerous" and "extremely regrettable."Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his German counterpart Johann Wadephul in Beijing that "Japan is threatening China militarily," a stance he called "completely unacceptable," after the radar incident, Reuters reported.Wang accused Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of "trying t
  
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• US puts sanctions on network said to funnel Colombian mercenaries to Sudan

  09-12-2025 19:20 via theguardian.com
  US treasury accuses Colombian nationals and companies of aiding the RSF, which has committed horrific war crimesThe United States has sanctioned four people and four companies accused of enlisting Colombian mercenaries to fight for and train a Sudanese paramilitary group accused by Washington of committing genocide.Announcing the sanctions on Tuesday, the US treasury said the network was largely composed of Colombian nationals and companies. Continue reading...
  
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• Trump pressures Zelenskyy for new elections, warns Ukraine of 'a point where it’s not a democracy anymore'

  09-12-2025 18:54 via foxnews.com
  
  President Donald Trump appeared to take a swipe at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by reiterating his call for elections, despite Ukraine's wartime prohibition against them. The remarks come as Washington works to secure a deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war."They haven’t had an election in a long time," Trump told Politico. "You know, they talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore."It's not the first time that Trump has called for
  
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• More than 9,000 children in Gaza hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October, UN says

  09-12-2025 17:34 via theguardian.com
  Aid agencies say Israel is still restricting their aid shipments despite ceasefire announced two months agoMalnutrition continues to take a toll among Gaza’s young despite a ceasefire declared two months ago, with more than 9,000 children hospitalised for acute malnutrition in October alone, according to the latest UN figures.While the immediate threat of famine has receded for most of the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza after the ceasefire announcement on 10 October, the UN and other aid
  
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• Where Did The Covid Fraud Cash Go?

  09-12-2025 17:02 via bbc.co.uk
  Much of £11bn Covid scheme fraud 'beyond recovery', report says.
  
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• Oslo appearance by Nobel peace prize winner María Corina Machado cancelled

  09-12-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  Press conference was expected to have been Venezuelan opposition leader’s first public appearance in 11 monthsA press conference in Oslo with the Nobel peace prize laureate María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader in hiding, has been cancelled, the Norwegian Nobel Institute has said, adding that it was “in the dark” as to her whereabouts.Machado last appeared in public on 9 January at a demonstration in Caracas protesting against the inauguration of Nicol&a
  
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• Belgium balks at EU plan to seize Russian assets, citing fear of Kremlin retaliation

  09-12-2025 16:52 via foxnews.com
  
  German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are in talks with a reluctant Belgium over what to do with billions of dollars in frozen Russian assets held in the country.According to the Belgian government, at least €197 billion (approximately $224 billion) of sanctioned Russian assets are held in Euroclear, a Brussels-based financial institution. The European Commission wants to seize these assets and transfer them to Ukraine as part of a €165
  
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• Honduras issues warrant for former president pardoned by Trump

  09-12-2025 13:25 via foxnews.com
  
  Honduras’ attorney general is calling for the arrest of former President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was recently pardoned by President Donald Trump. Johel Antonio Zelaya Alvarez said Monday that he ordered Honduran authorities and asked Interpol to execute a 2023 arrest order against Hernández for alleged fraud and money laundering charges. Hernandez, who in 2024 was sentenced to 45 years for allegedly helping to move tons of cocaine into the U.S., was released from fed
  
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• ‘Depart immediately’: State Department warns Americans as al Qaeda threatens to overrun African nation

  09-12-2025 13:13 via foxnews.com
  
  As the West African country of Mali teeters on becoming the first nation on the continent to be ruled by an al Qaeda–linked terror organization, a State Department spokesperson warned American citizens to leave or not travel there.On the situation in Mali, the spokesperson told Fox News Digital, "Do Not Travel for any reason due to crime, terrorism, kidnapping, unrest and health risks," while cautioning, "U.S. citizens should avoid travel to Mali, and those currently in Mali should de
  
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• Nigerian troops held in Burkina Faso after ‘unfriendly’ emergency landing

  09-12-2025 11:28 via theguardian.com
  Unauthorised touchdown comes less than 24 hours after Nigerian forces intervened in attempted coup in BeninEleven Nigerian military personnel are being held in Burkina Faso after a Nigerian plane reportedly entered Burkinabé airspace without authorisation on Monday, the latest twist in a region enmeshed in multiple political and security crises.In a statement on Monday evening, the breakaway Alliance of Sahel States (AES), of which Burkina Faso is a member alongside Mali and Niger, said t
  
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• Will a social media ban for Australian teens work?

  09-12-2025 11:00 via bbc.co.uk
  The world’s first social media ban for under 16’s starts this week – will it succeed?
  
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• Fatal Thailand-Cambodia clashes spread along contested border area

  09-12-2025 09:26 via theguardian.com
  Each side has blamed the other for renewed clashes, which have derailed a ceasefire brokered by Donald TrumpDeadly clashes have escalated along the disputed Thailand-Cambodia border as both sides blamed each other for the fighting and vowed to defend their territories.Seven civilians have been killed and 20 wounded in Cambodia and three Thai soldiers have been killed in the fiercest fighting since a five-day conflict in July. Continue reading...
  
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• Australia deporting refugee to Nauru may cause his ‘imminent’ and ‘preventable’ death, court hears

  09-12-2025 08:25 via theguardian.com
  Legal team of man who was part of cohort of non-citizens freed after high court decision argues Nauru’s medical facilities are ‘insufficient’ to treat his severe asthmaGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLawyers for an Iranian refugee Australia wants to deport to Nauru say there is a “real risk he will die” there, setting the stage for a showdown against the federal government’s $2.5bn NZYQ deal.The case surrounding the Iranian refugee,
  
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• Hundreds of mutilated bodies found in suspected Nigerian organ-harvesting ring

  09-12-2025 03:19 via foxnews.com
  
  An extensive organ-harvesting ring has been uncovered in Nigeria after weeks of covert surveillance, local officials have said.In a statement shared on X, the Imo State Police Command said their investigation was launched after reports of a worrying spate of kidnappings near a hotel and mortuary in Ngor Okpala.According to police, intelligence-led investigations went on to identify a man called High Chief Stanley Oparaugo, also known as "Morocco," as the suspected leader of the criminal network
  
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• ‘Very unfair’: Trump threatens extra 5% tariff on Mexico over water dispute

  09-12-2025 02:54 via theguardian.com
  President accuses neighbor of violating treaty governing water-sharing and urges water to be released ‘immediately’ Donald Trump has threatened to impose an additional 5% tariff on Mexico if it does not immediately provide additional water to help US farmers, accusing the country of violating a treaty that outlines water-sharing between the neighbors.Under the treaty, which dates back to 1944, Mexico must send 1.75m acre-feet of water to the US from the Rio Grande through a network o
  
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• Two teen Afghan asylum seekers learn fate for raping 15-year-old in local park

  09-12-2025 00:43 via foxnews.com
  
  Two teenage asylum seekers from Afghanistan have been jailed after admitting to the rape of a 15-year-old girl in a U.K. park, officials have confirmed.According to police, the victim had been in Leamington in Warwickshire with friends on May 10 when they met Jan Jahanzeb and Israr Niazal.The teenage girl began talking with them before they asked her to join them on a walk.They then led her to a park area known as Newbold Comyn, where they raped her, Warwickshire police confirmed in a statement
  
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