Police charge 11 after cannabis worth nearly £14m seized at Birmingham airport 01. November 2025 (15:41) Officers confiscated more than half a tonne of class B drug in 22 suitcases from air passengers travelling from ThailandPolice have charged 11 people in connection with an attempt to smuggle 22 suitcases packed with cannabis from Thailand to Birmingham worth nearly £14m.More than half a tonne of the class B drug, described by the National Crime Agency (NCA) as an “enormous amount”, was seized at Birmingham airport in August 2024. The 11 people charged, aged from 21 to 35, all travelled to the UK from Thailand via Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Rachel Reeves considers 20% tax on assets of people deciding to leave UK 01. November 2025 (15:26) Plans for ‘settling-up charge’ predicted to raise £2bn and would follow policy in place among most G7 countriesRich people quitting the UK could be required to pay a 20% tax on their business assets as part of plans reportedly being considered by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves.The Treasury has drawn up plans for a “settling-up charge” on assets; a move that would bring the UK into line with most other G7 nations and raise a predicted £2bn for the public coffers, according to the Times. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Daca recipients in Texas await judge’s ruling that could upend their lives 01. November 2025 (15:00) People brought to US as children have built lives and are raising families – but could lose their ability to work legallyA federal judge could soon decide whether tens of thousands of so-called “Dreamers” in Texas could lose their ability to work in the US legally under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) immigration program – prompting fears of upheaval and heartbreak.As part of the years-long legal battle over Daca, US district court judge Andrew Hanen is set to rule on competing proposals for the future of the Obama-era program. One of those proposals, submitted by the Trump administration, would make Daca recipients in Texas, in particular, ineligible for the work permits typically offered by the policy. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
How al-Qaida-linked jihadist group JNIM is bringing Mali to its knees 01. November 2025 (15:00) Political instability and fuel shortages caused by rebel group is driving Mali to brink of becoming Islamist republicArmed groups of JNIM fighters have blocked key routes used by fuel tankers, disrupting supply lines to the capital Bamako and other regions across Mali.The al-Qaida-linked jihadist group Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) is gradually converging on Mali’s capital, Bamako, with increasing attacks in recent weeks, including on army-backed convoys. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Huge crowds gather on first anniversary of Serbian train station disaster 01. November 2025 (14:58) Student-led movement continues to demand political change as embattled president issues rare apologyTens of thousands of Serbians have gathered to commemorate victims of a fatal railway station collapse a year ago, a tragedy that galvanised anti-government sentiment that still threatens the embattled president, Aleksandar Vučić.A student-led movement organised the rallies in the country’s second largest city, Novi Sad, where on 1 November 2024, the canopy at the newly renovated railway station collapsed. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Ministers were warned of errors at jail that released sex offender by mistake 01. November 2025 (14:43) Chaotic release procedures at HMP Chelmsford were flagged to the prisons minister last yearMinisters were warned by a watchdog that prisoners were “falling through the cracks” of chaotic release procedures at the jail that mistakenly freed a convicted child sex offender.An annual report on HMP Chelmsford uncovered “a litany of issues and errors” including “a mix-up of release dates” when letting out a vulnerable prisoner. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Ex-marine who killed four at Michigan Mormon church was motivated by ‘anti-religious beliefs’, says FBI 01. November 2025 (14:39) Thomas Jacob Sanford, who also lit church on fire, was killed by police who responded to September shootingThe former US marine who opened fire in a Michigan church and set it ablaze in September was motivated by “anti-religious beliefs” against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the FBI said on Friday.While friends of the gunman in the deadly shooting have said he harbored hatred for what is widely known as the Mormon church, the FBI had previously declined to specify the motivation behind the attack that left four people dead and the church burned to the ground, except to say it was a “targeted” act of violence. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
US public health officials vigilant as newer mpox variant detected 01. November 2025 (14:00) Risk to general public is low but cases in California suggest virus is spreading undetected in some communitiesA newer variant of mpox, the virus formerly known as monkeypox, is now spreading through some communities in the US and Europe.The risk to the general public is low, but community transmission in new places signals greater challenges for public health to detect cases and stop the spread. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘We don’t feel safe’: after week of bombings, people in Gaza are losing faith in ceasefire 01. November 2025 (14:00) After initial enthusiasm, people fear ceasefire does not mean end to war but just less frequent, more unpredictable violenceAmeen al-Zein, like many in Gaza, was overjoyed by the news of the ceasefire. It was a rare moment of relief after years of fear and loss. On Tuesday night he gave an interview to a local NGO urging people to return to their homes in northern Gaza now that fighting had stopped. Just half an hour later, Zein was dead, killed in an Israeli bombing on the school where he had been sheltering in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.He died without being able to fulfil his vow to his wife that they would return to Beit Lahia and pitch a tent over the rubble, eager to be home even if their house was no longer there. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
More than 50 child asylum seekers still missing after disappearing from Kent care 01. November 2025 (13:00) Council data obtained by the Guardian shows 345 children have gone missing in recent years, many probably taken by traffickersMore than 50 lone child asylum seekers who disappeared soon after arriving in the UK and while in the care of the authorities are still missing, according to data obtained by the Guardian.Many of the missing children arrived in small boats or hidden in the backs of lorries and are thought to have been taken by traffickers. Kent is often the place where they arrive. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
