24 h. ago Germany to classify date rape drugs as weapons to ensure justice for survivors

Classification plan will create basis for ‘significantly stricter’ prosecutions, says interior ministerGermany plans to treat the use of date rape drugs like the use of weapons in prosecutions as part of measures to ensure justice for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.“We classify date rape drugs, which are increasingly used as a widespread tool in crimes, as weapons. This creates the basis for significantly stricter prosecutions,” Alexander Dobrindt, the interior minister, said on Friday. “We are committed to clear consequences and consistent enforcement. Women should feel safe and be able to move freely everywhere.” Continue reading...

Events

33 h. ago This is modern Britain – where a princess pleading for children’s rights seems almost radical | Gaby Hinsliff

It is uncomfortable to watch royals appealing to the nation’s best instincts while an elected government feels compelled to chase our worstEvery child has the right to feel safe, loved and as if they belong.Put like that, there is nothing remotely radical about what the Princess of Wales used her first public speech since recovering from cancer to say: that families need consistently nurturing environments to flourish; that the world could actually use a bit more tenderness; that we are all responsible for the culture in which future generations grow up; and that (as she told an audience of blue-chip employers) caring for others is work deserving of respect. It’s the reasons why those motherhood-and-apple-pie values don’t always prevail in real life, rather than the values themselves, that are generally too contentious for the carefully apolitical royals. Yet what were once safe, bland nothings are increasingly no longer so – and not just because of the awkward shadow now cast over ...

Politics

44 h. ago The Guardian view on devastation in Gaza: the world wants to move on, but Palestinians can’t | Editorial

Drenched by floods and abandoned amid the ruins, people in Gaza can draw no comfort from US plansThe declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza in October brought initial relief to its inhabitants. Yet officials there said Israeli strikes killed 33 people, including 12 children, on Wednesday; Israel said its troops had come under fire. Another five Palestinians were killed on Thursday. Hundreds have died since the ceasefire was declared. Even if the shelling stops, the destruction of Palestinian life will carry on as Israel continues to throttle aid, and the consequences of two years of war unfold. The World Health Organization warned last month that the health catastrophe would last for generations.Food remains in short supply. While displaced families shiver in flooded makeshift shelters, with many facing a third winter of homelessness, aid organisations say they cannot deliver stockpiles of tents and tarpaulins. Israel, which denies blocking aid, has designated tent poles ...

Politics

49 h. ago Israeli airstrikes kill 33 people in Gaza in escalation of post

Medical officials say 17 people killed in Khan Younis area and 16 in strikes on Gaza CityIsraeli attacks in Gaza have killed 33 people and injured many more, according to medical officials, in one of the most serious escalations of violence since the US-backed ceasefire came into effect last month.Officials at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis said they received the bodies of 17 people, including five women and five children, after four Israeli airstrikes targeted tents sheltering displaced people. In Gaza City, medical officials said two airstrikes killed 16 people, including seven children and three women. Continue reading...

Events

55 h. ago Homes evacuated as police rush to Londonderry and issue 'warning' with public told stay away

A number of people have been evacuated from their homes in Londonderry due to an ongoing security alert. The security alert comes after two viable pipe bombs were made safe last week in the same area

Events

58 h. ago ‘Look at us with mercy’: displaced Palestinians dread onset of harsh winter

People in tent cities on shore of southern Gaza fear disease, cold and hunger as shortages continueEveryone knew what was coming. But there was little the inhabitants of the tent cities that crowd the shore of southern Gaza could do as the storm approached. Sabah al-Breem, 62, was sitting with one of her daughters and several grandchildren in their current home – a makeshift construction of tarpaulins and salvaged wood – when the wind and the driving rain broke across Gaza last week.“Everything collapsed We repaired our shelter but in the night it fell down again under the heavy rain. All our belongings were soaked. The day the winds blew was a black day for us,” said Breem, originally from Khan Younis but displaced multiple times since the start of the war in October 2023. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Celebrity crib sheet: Sydney Sweeney is everywhere – here are nine things you need to know about her

A jeans ad made her notorious. Then she got cosy with Taylor Swift’s arch-nemesis. Time to get up to speed before the actor/model next hits the headlines Spare a thought for Sydney Sweeney! Yes, she is young, beautiful, rich and talented, but she has also been getting it from all sides this week. Her passion project has bombed at the box office; she is still paying for a jeans advertisement she did four months ago, and being called on to address charges of having joked about eugenics; and fellow members of the Hollywood elite are breaking ranks to express their disdain (in one case, with a vomiting emoji). And, as she found out this week, she can’t even enjoy a kiss with her controversial new boyfriend without being snapped by the callous paparazzi!Here’s what you need to know when Sweeney’s name next crops up – which, if current trends continue, will be soon. Continue reading...

Politics

7 d. ago Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in second ODI as tour continues despite bombing

The three-game series is being played out amid the fallout from a suicide bombing earlier this week

Events

7 d. ago UK borrowing costs jump as investors lose faith in Rachel Reeves’ Budget

Gilts sell off after government ditches plan to increase income tax rates

Economics

7 d. ago UK borrowing costs jump as investors lose faith in Reeves’ Budget

Gilts sell off after government ditches plan to increase income tax rates

Economics

8 d. ago The brutal reality of sexism, misogyny and online hate facing Scotland’s girls – and what NEEDS to change

CAMPAIGNERS have hit out after girls who opened up about feeling unsafe in Scotland were subjected to vile abuse. New research from Girlguiding Scotland revealed that 44 per cent of young females don’t feel safe being outside by themselves. And on the back of the survey, a group of girls, aged 14 to 22, pulled...

Politics

9 d. ago House will vote next week on release of Epstein files as Trump named in new bombshell email drop: Live updates

The Speaker announced the vote just hours after he swore in Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva, who quickly signed a discharge petition to bring it to a floor vote

Politics

1 week ago Scared staff 'no longer feel safe' going to work next to old hotel housing homeless people

A number of firms have lodged objections against the former Ibis hotel in Cardiff being used to house homeless people and some said they may leave

Society

1 week ago An Indonesian teen suspected in mosque attack built bombs alone at home, police say

Authorities say an Indonesian student suspected in last week's bomb attack on a high school mosque had assembled small-scale explosive devices at home

Events

1 week ago NHS worker fined £500k over woman who 'predicted her own death'

Alice Figueiredo's parents said she did not feel safe in the secure mental health hospital she was being treated in

Economics

1 week ago The Guardian view on the assault of Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum: when a president is groped, no woman can feel safe | Editorial

A shocking incident should become an opportunity to address broader problems of misogyny What does the experience of women at the top tell us about the rest? Those most vulnerable to sexual harassment, assault and abuse are, unsurprisingly, those who have less power or are treated with less respect: undocumented migrants; women in precarious employment; women with disabilities; LGBTQ women; young women and girls.Paradoxically, that helps to explain why the assault of Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s president, has drawn such outrage domestically and internationally. A drunken man tried to kiss her neck and grabbed her chest as she spoke to citizens in the capital’s streets. It is the proof, captured on camera, that no woman is safe. You can be the most powerful person in the land and a man will still feel entitled to grope you, in front of the world, because you are a woman. When you object, some will complain that you are taking it too seriously, or that it is all made up. As Ms Sheinba...

Politics

2 w. ago Shoppers 'don't feel safe' as third city centre stabbing in a month leaves woman fighting for life after being knifed in the neck at bus stop by 'random attacker'

The victim, aged in her 30s, suffered a 'serious injury' in the attack that unfolded in Birmingham city centre shortly before 9pm last night.

Events

2 w. ago The era of fine speeches and good intentions is over. Brazil’s Cop30 will be about action | Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva

This is our message to world leaders: make this the ‘Cop of truth’, before people lose faithLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of BrazilToday, in the Brazilian Amazon, the Belém summit opens ahead of the 30th United Nations climate change conference (Cop30). I have convened world leaders in the days leading up to the conference so that we can all commit to acting with the urgency the climate crisis demands.If we fail to move beyond speeches into real action, our societies will lose faith – not only in the Cops, but in multilateralism and international politics more broadly. That is why I have summoned leaders to the Amazon: to make this the “Cop of truth”, the moment we demonstrate the seriousness of our shared commitment to the planet.Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is the president of Brazil Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Men are more confident drivers than women but actually cause the most serious crashes, research suggests

A study of 2,000 motorists found 86 per cent of men feel safe driving, compared with 78 per cent of women.

Events

2 w. ago King Charles will NOT strip Andrew of his Falklands War medal after he flew Sea King helicopter in the deadly 1982 conflict

In a bombshell statement last week, Buckingham Palace coldly removed Andrew of all his titles amid growing controversy over his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Events