WORLD

• Dr. Hanan Balkhy outlined her vision for leading the World Health Organization in a recent interview focusing on global health system reform. • She proposed aligning humanitarian aid with development aid to help communities in conflict zones prepare for future crises. • This strategy aims to stabilize health infrastructure in fragile countries to reduce the impact of migration and ongoing conflicts like the one in Gaza.

• UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned leaders from 193 member nations that the world is facing three existential threats: runaway artificial intelligence, galloping climate change, and escalating inequality. • Guterres stated that a huge geopolitical divide and paralysis in the Security Council have allowed powerful countries to flout international law. • This instability creates an environment of impunity where the UN's most powerful body cannot effectively end global conflicts.

• World leaders will gather in New York starting Tuesday for several days of high-level debate at the United Nations General Assembly. • The assembly includes representatives from 193 member states, growing from the 51 original members that formed the organization in 1945. • This annual event provides a diplomatic platform for global leaders to address international conflicts and coordinate policy on shared global challenges.

Party has unveiled a steady stream of contenders for state election, including a former councillor who lost his licence for drink-drivingGet our new political email, free app or daily news podcastCandidates contesting the Victorian state election for One Nation include a former Liberal who has won support from alleged underworld figures, a naturopath who has endorsed Donald Trump’s unfounded claim that paracetamol is linked to autism and a former shire councillor who lost his licence for drink-driving.Pauline Hanson announced who would be her party’s upper house candidates and Victorian leader, Warren Pickering, at a press conference last month. Since then One Nation has used social media to unveil a steady stream of candidates, with 51 of the 88 lower house spots now filled. Continue reading...

Buckingham Palace has issued a rare, and strong, rebuttal to claims made in Earl Spencer’s memoir Swan Song. The book claims that Charles told Spencer days after Diana’s death and during a heated row over funeral arrangements: ‘Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.’ Lucy Hough speaks to the Guardian’s senior national news editor, Aaron Sharp Continue reading...

Exclusive: Prof Jim Al-Khalili says he will offer solution to ‘arrow of time’ problem in Royal Institution lecturesTech billionaires attempting to live for ever are, quite literally, wasting their time, a leading physicist has said.While some normal people are turning to unregulated peptide injections, cold plunges and supplements in an effort to defy ageing, the ultra-rich are aiming for immortality with even more drastic interventions: the tech chief executive Bryan Johnson has even tried injecting plasma from his 17-year-old son – although he later said he saw no benefit from it. Continue reading...

Eighteen-year-old known as Chai was active in networks notorious for their sadistic exploitation of young peopleA Swedish teenager known as Chai has been sentenced to more than 10 years in jail for attempted murder, rape and aggravated assault – crimes committed via the internet, including against a teenage girl in Australia.The district court found that Chai, 18, was active in online networks notorious for their sadistic extortion of young and vulnerable people, coercing them to create sexually explicit material or engage in acts of violence – and for the youth of those involved.In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. Continue reading...

Andy Burnham’s focus on immediate domestic problems leads some to fear issue has dropped off government’s radar Towards the end of Keir Starmer’s time in office, his senior ministers, alarmed by the latest developments in artificial intelligence, began drawing up plans for a new AI safety law.They ordered a review of existing legislation to see what powers they already had, according to those briefed on the plans, and were exploring whether they could force the world’s most advanced technology companies to submit their products for safety testing before launching them. Continue reading...

German minister says companies are ‘exploiting situation’ in Middle East, as sky-high prices become major domestic issue for leadersEuropean governments have discussed imposing a bloc-wide windfall tax on energy companies, as near-record fuel and gas prices pile pressure on leaders desperate to contain mounting public discontent and the challenge of the far right.With elections due next year in eight EU countries including France, Italy, Spain and Poland, leaders are scrambling to head off the potential fallout from what analysts have warned could be one of the continent’s biggest energy shocks in decades. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Reserves at public service arm drop 66% as broadcaster undertakes large cuts in effort to save £500mThe BBC has spent hundreds of millions of pounds of its cash reserves in a single year, increasing concerns at the corporation over the perilous state of its finances.Cash reserves at the BBC’s public service arm slumped by 66% in the last financial year, from £369m in 2025 to just £125m, according to analysis by the Guardian. This is the lowest figure in the last decade of accounts. Continue reading...

‘Campus Collection’ aimed to mark 1893 club foundingRange pulled from website two hours after launchOxford United have abandoned a new range of American style-sportswear after it inadvertently referenced the tragedy of September 11.The League One club launched its new ‘Campus Collection’ on Friday morning and had removed it from sale by lunchtime, after clothing designs were revealed to bear the slogan ‘United 93’. The U’s immediately published an apology that admitted to a lack of understanding of “the historical context and associations” related to the branding and made “sincere apologies for this error and any offence caused.” Continue reading...

There are ‘insufficient funds’ to pay unpaid wages, tax owed to HMRC and overdue bills, accountants sayAccountants picking over the remains of BrewDog, the “punk” beer company that collapsed earlier this year, have said that creditors who are owed about £190m will not be paid back.In an update on their progress, administrators at AlixPartners warned there were “insufficient funds” to pay debts in full related to unpaid wages, tax owed to HM Revenue and Customs, and overdue bills from other businesses. Continue reading...

Rout raises questions about coordination and morale as some politicians claim billions of dollars were offered to persuade forces to abandon positionA bitter inquest is under way among Yemen’s anti-Houthi forces as to how what was being billed as a decisive assault on Sana’a, the Houthi-controlled capital, suddenly collapsed into a military rout.More than 15 brigades were defeated as the country’s entire west coast fell into Houthi hands. Efforts are now being made to reorganise the anti-Houthi forces representing the UN-recognised Yemeni government in order to capture the Kahbob mountains, a strategic point from which to restrict Houthi forces moving closer to the crucial Bab al-Mandab strait. Continue reading...

Soil and water around military bases show elevated levels of Pfas pollution due to chemicals used in firefighting foamMany US military veterans have much higher levels of Pfas “forever chemicals” in their blood than non-veterans, new peer-reviewed research finds, raising more questions about health risks the nation’s service members face after serving at polluted bases.Ground water, surface water and soil around military bases show among the highest levels of Pfas pollution in the US because the chemicals are used in firefighting foam deployed during training and emergencies. While the problem has been clear for over a decade, the new Brown University-led study is the first to compare levels in veterans’ blood with those in civilians. Continue reading...

UK ministers say report into incident leaves questions unanswered over why problem was not discovered and fixed earlierA software defect in part of the UK’s air traffic control system corrupted flight data “in the space of a millisecond”, leading to a six-hour outage and mass airline cancellations and delays across the UK last week, National Air Traffic Services has said.But ministers said that the report into the incident still left questions unanswered, saying they needed “to urgently understand why this issue was not discovered and fixed before it caused chaos”. Continue reading...

Jagtar Singh Johal, from Scotland, was arrested after wedding in Punjab on alleged terrorism offencesJagtar Singh Johal, a British Sikh man who was arrested in India in 2017 in connection with alleged terrorism offences, has been granted bail by a Delhi court.Johal, from Scotland, was arrested for his alleged role in funding the Khalistan Liberation Force, which had carried out targeted killings in India’s Punjab region. Continue reading...

US cybersecurity researchers who conducted hack say ‘scope of what we could theoretically access was huge’Cybersecurity researchers have hacked into OpenAI with the help of Anthropic’s Claude chatbot, in the latest example of security issues at the company.A team at a US-based startup compromised a number of OpenAI employees’ ChatGPT accounts, starting a process that enabled them to access their target’s software cache – and potentially more. Continue reading...

Aid to lower-income countries fell by almost 7%, while higher-income countries saw their share of Britain’s aid budget increaseThe world’s poorest countries were worst hit by British aid cuts under Keir Starmer’s government, while higher-income countries saw their share of aid increase, new figures reveal.The latest figures released by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office show a 6.7% decrease in funding to the least-developed countries and low-income countries, amounting to cuts of £118m. Continue reading...