Next overturns equal pay ruling that raised basic wages for shop staff

• Social media platforms have changed how governments, diplomats, and citizens communicate and share information during international relations events. • During a conflict in West Asia that began in February 2026, several accounts circulated old video clips and falsely presented them as current footage.

Chancellor ducks questions on whether he will have to raise taxes but says he will stick firmly to fiscal rulesBusiness live – latest updatesJohn Healey has said boosting economic growth will be his defining mission as chancellor as he warned Labour had to “be honest” about the need to control public spending at next month’s budget.In his first big speech since taking the job in July, Healey said the top priority for his 28 October budget would be to support stronger growth across the UK while sticking firmly to the government’s fiscal rules. Continue reading...

Archive documenting concerts, rehearsals, soundchecks and conversations estimated at up to £1.6mAn archive of more than 100 hours of Oasis recordings – including concerts, rehearsals and candid conversations between Noel and Liam Gallagher – is to be auctioned for up to £1.6m despite objections from the band.The collection was amassed by the band’s sound engineer Huw Richards, who worked with Oasis from the release of their 1994 debut album, Definitely Maybe, until 2001. It comprises 209 DAT tapes, 73 analogue cassettes and three MiniDiscs, and is being sold by Richards’s son, Owain. Continue reading...

Two women and two men arrested on suspicion of murder after death of three-month-old girl near Great WyrleyFour people have been arrested on suspicion of murder after a three-month-old girl died in Staffordshire while camping with her family.Officers said they were made aware of the death on Saturday at 8.45am after being called by paramedics from the West Midlands ambulance service, who were responding to a report of a child in cardiac arrest. An air ambulance was also sent but the child was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...

Advocacy groups expand legal challenges and condemn president’s ‘self-serving attempts to take over midterms’A cluster of advocacy groups that boast veteran lawyers, voting experts and ex-judges have expanded legal challenges to Donald Trump’s authoritarian executive orders on voting and other presidential actions they see as a “war” on the rule of law in the US.Heavy legal opposition to Trump’s two executive orders on elections to curb voting rights and supplant the authority of states on election matters has come from the Democracy Defenders Fund, the Campaign Legal Center, the American Civil Liberties Union and kindred groups. Continue reading...

Populist, far-right, anti-immigration AfD wins vote in eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. Plus, 50 years since The Muppet Show first hit our screensGood morning. A far-right leader who has won an important state election in Germany has thanked Elon Musk for his support, as voices in Europe warn the result is a serious moment for the continent. No far-right party has led or formed a government in Germany since the defeat of Nazism at the end of the second world war.Ulrich Siegmund, the Alternative für Deutschland’s lead candidate, thanked Musk on X after the tech billionaire said “Well done!” in German to the AfD co-founder Alice Weidel. The populist, far-right, anti-immigration party won the vote in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt.Will the AfD be able to form a state government? Despite its resounding victory, the party fell just short of a majority. It was seeking an absolute majority in the state legislature to govern alone and overcome the so-called “firewall” of the mainstream parties, which refuse to work with it. The final results showed the AfD falling three seats short, with 39 lawmakers in an 83-member legislature.What has been the reaction in Washington and Moscow? Donald Trump posted a screenshot of the election projection without comment on his Truth Social site. The Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev took a screengrab of Trump’s post and praised a “historic win for the pragmatic AfD”. The AfD is pro-Kremlin, urging a stop to support for Ukraine and pushing for Ukrainians in Germany to no longer receive refugee status.Who else has been saying Trump’s war may not achieve its aims? The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, said on Sunday morning Washington might not be able to reach an agreement with Tehran that would prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons. “We are strangling their economy to try to bring either a change in policy from the existing regime or a new regime,” he said. Continue reading...

Fanfare at Belgrade funeral of man convicted of genocide raises questions for Serbia’s EU membership planEurope live – latest updatesThousands of mourners have gathered in Belgrade for the funeral of Ratko Mladić, a Serbian general convicted of orchestrating the worst massacre in Europe since the second world war, and whose hero’s return home has raised international alarm.Known as the “Butcher of Bosnia” for ​his role during the Balkans genocide in the 1990s, Mladić died in prison in late August, aged 84, while serving a life sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Continue reading...

HHS releases report linking ‘gender ideology’ to political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conductedThe US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a report linking “gender ideology” to leftwing authoritarianism and political violence – a study scientists say was poorly conducted and “nakedly political”, likely leading to greater politicization of science and health.It follows attempts by the administration to limit access to gender-affirming care – including, on Friday, an agreement reached between the Department of Justice and a New York hospital to no longer offer pediatric gender-affirming care. Dozens of hospitals stopped offering gender-affirming care after the Trump administration began investigating them for offering the standard of care. Continue reading...

Uptick in US union membership coincides with high public approval ratings of unionsAfter years of decline, union membership in the US increased by 411,000 members in 2025, the largest increase since 2008, according to a new report.The report makes clear the impact that “right to work” laws can have on union membership: most gains were concentrated in states that protect collective bargaining. Continue reading...

Judge admits he made mistake in sentencing Misty Roberts, who faced up to 17 years in prison after convictionThe former Louisiana mayor Misty Roberts has completed the 90-day jail sentence that she received for raping a 16-year-old boy while still in elected office and been released from custody, according to state corrections records.The 44-year-old finished her jail term on what was the Labor Day holiday in the US, one week after the judge who presided over her case rejected a request from prosecutors to force her to serve a harsher sentence. Continue reading...

Newscaster says rare but treatable condition polycythaemia vera left her feeling like she ‘had her batteries taken out’The BBC News presenter Maryam Moshiri has been diagnosed with a rare form of incurable blood cancer, she has revealed.Doctors told the broadcaster last November she had polycythaemia vera (PV), which cannot be cured but is treatable. The condition, which affects about 8,000 people in the UK, is associated with an increased risk of the blood clots that can cause a stroke, heart attack or deep vein thrombosis. Continue reading...