7 mins: The Socceroos are making all the attacking as their front three continues to find space on either flank. Nestory Irankunda stands alone at the top of the penalty box but just as the teenager is about to unleash a rocket a Venezuela defender intervenes. Lewis Miller perhaps fortunate to avoid a caution in the build up.
5 mins: Toure gets another shot away after shrugging off the Venezuela defender. The powerful strike would have tested the keeper Contreras but it crashes into the side netting.
Sanae Takaichi says the use of force against Taiwan could warrant a military response from Tokyo
China has advised its citizens to avoid travelling to Japan, escalating a diplomatic feud sparked by comments from Tokyo’s new prime minister about a hypothetical attack on Taiwan.
Sanae Takaichi told Japan’s parliament on 7 November that the use of force against the self-ruled island claimed by China could warrant a military response from Tokyo. Japan has since said its position on Taiwan – just 100km from the nearest Japanese island – is unchanged.
Ukraine says it has started mass production of its new domestically developed interceptor drones to strengthen air defences. The first three manufacturers had begun production and 11 more were preparing to set up production lines, the defence ministry said on Friday. The drones would be based on a domestically developed technology called “Octopus” to intercept Shahed drones. It had been tested in combat and proved to be working “at night, under jamming and at low altitudes”, the ministry said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the goal is to manufacture up to 1,000 of the interceptors a day. Russia has been steadily increasing the number of drones it uses in a single strike on Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described Russia’s latest attack against Ukraine as “deliberate, calculated and wicked” after six people were killed and dozens injured in a wave of night-time strikes across Kyiv, reports Luke Harding. Air raid sirens sounded in the capital shortly after midnight on Friday and Shahed drones could soon be heard in the sky, with heavy machine-gun fire from Ukrainian air defences. Zelenskyy said the country was hit by 430 drones and 18 missiles. The dead had been at home in a block of flats on Kyiv’s left bank when it was hit. Dozens of other buildings were damaged, including the Azerbaijani embassy.
Azerbaijan said it issued a strong protest to the Russian ambassador on Friday after the embassy damage. The blast from a Russian Iskander missile destroyed part of the embassy’s perimeter wall and caused serious damage to the diplomatic compound, the Azerbaijani foreign ministry said. No one was hurt, and a ministry spokesperson said the Kyiv embassy was continuing to operate.
Russia plans to manufacture up to 120,000 glide bombs this year, a senior Ukrainian intelligence official said, including 500 of a new, longer-range version that can reach more towns and cities. Reuters was unable to verify Ukraine’s claims, disclosed by defence intelligence’s deputy head, Maj Gen Vadym Skibitskyi, but it would indicate a vast increase in the manufacture of the cheap and devastating glide bombs, which use wings – and sometimes engines – to fly dozens of kilometres to their targets. Skibitskyi said Russian forces were firing 200 to 250 glide bombs a day. Last month’s daily average was about 170, according to defence ministry data.
Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk temporarily suspended oil exports on Friday – equivalent to 2% of global supply – after a Ukrainian missile and drone attack, Reuters reported industry sources as saying. Ukraine’s general staff said its forces had fired Neptune cruise missiles and used various types of strike drones in the attack on Novorossiysk “as part of efforts to reduce the military and economic potential of the Russian aggressor”. Ukraine said it separately struck an oil refinery in Russia’s Saratov region and a fuel storage facility in nearby Engels overnight.
Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil said on Friday it has been in talks with potential buyers of its foreign assets after last month’s sanctions from the UK and the US as a deal with the Gunvor trading house collapsed. “The specific deal will be announced after the final agreements have been reached and the necessary regulatory approvals have been obtained,” Lukoil said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the Spanish capital, Madrid, on Tuesday to meet with lawmakers a day after his visit to Paris, the chamber of deputies announced. The Ukrainian president would meet deputies from both chambers of parliament during his visit, the Spanish statement said.
President turns on ‘Wacky Marjorie’ after congresswoman criticizes effort to block release of key Epstein documents
Donald Trump announced Friday that he is withdrawing his support and endorsement of Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime ally and previously fierce defender of the president and the Maga movement.
Trump’s move away from Greene came just hours after she said in an interview she thought the president’s attempts to stop the release of the files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein is “insanely the wrong direction to go”.
US president tells reporters he will sue the corporation for ‘anywhere between a billion and $5bn’
Donald Trump has told reporters he will still take legal action against the BBC next week, despite the British broadcaster apologising for a misleading edit of one of his speeches.
On Friday evening, the US president told reporters aboard Air Force One “we’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion and $5bn, probably sometime next week. We have to do it.”
Respected ocean expert Katy Soapi continues to advocate to protect Tetepare, one of the last untouched places in Solomon Islands
Scientist Katy Soapi’s earliest memories are of the sea. She grew up on Rendova, a lush island in western Solomon Islands, and life centred around the ocean.
“I remember when the big waves came, we would dive under them and come up laughing on the other side. Being part of those natural elements brought me so much joy.”
Slovakia win 1-0 and battle with Germany for top spot
Netherlands nearly there after draw in Poland
Michael O’Neill fumed at a goal that “should clearly have been disallowed” after Northern Ireland’s hopes of progressing from World Cup qualifying Group A were ended by the Slovakia debutant Tomas Bobcek in a 1-0 stoppage-time defeat in Kosice.
Bobcek, who had only been on the pitch for three minutes, prodded in after Bailey Peacock-Farrell failed to deal with a corner, but Northern Ireland were enraged that a foul was not given as Daniel Ballard had gone down under pressure from Leo Sauer.
Previous claims against BBC Breakfast presenter have been escalated to full investigation, according to the Sun
The BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty is reportedly being formally investigated over allegations of bullying.
It follows previous claims of bullying by the 50-year-old broadcaster on the programme, which have now been escalated to a full investigation, according to the Sun.
In the backblocks of the Lockyer Valley, more than an hour’s drive west of Brisbane, is a dead end track thick with scrubby eucalypt regrowth.
It is a Saturday morning in late spring and, in this quiet neck of an area which bills itself as Australia’s salad bowl, a car turns down the no through road. One follows another.
Anne Summers is scrutinising street numbers as we walk. Pausing in front of a 19th-century mansion, the author and journalist looks up to its second storey. “This is where I was arrested.”
“Oh wow,” she says, taking in its immaculate sandstone facade. “It didn’t look like this then.”
Donald Trump moved to lower tariffs on food imports, including beef, tomatoes, coffee and bananas, in an executive order on Friday as the White House fights off growing concerns about rising costs.
The new exemptions take effect retroactively at midnight on Thursday and mark a sharp reversal for Trump, who has long insisted that his import duties are not fueling inflation. They come after a string of victories for Democrats in state and local elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City, where affordability was a key topic.
Viral plush toy is heading to big screen after a deal was signed with details still unclear over whether it would be live-action or animated
Labubus could be headed to the big screen. Sony Pictures has acquired the screen rights to the plush toy sensation and is in early development of a feature film which, if successful, would anchor a new franchise.
The deal, first reported by the Hollywood Reporter, was signed this week between the Chinese toy makers and Sony Pictures, whose animation division is fresh off the global success of KPop Demon Hunters. No producer or film-maker is attached to the project yet, and it’s still unclear if the film would be live-action or animated.
Maro Itoje and company have talked the talk and are hungry to follow through with a first win at home over New Zealand since 2012
For better or worse it has been lashing down in south-west London. Good news for restocking the reservoirs but rather less so for dry-ball rugby. Had England played New Zealand 24 hours earlier it would have resembled a game of outdoor water polo and, although the matchday forecast is less biblical, a decidedly damp, grey afternoon awaits.
Is it some kind of celestial clue that England’s on-field drought against the All Blacks might be about to break? It is now 13 years since the last men’s victory over New Zealand at what was once called Twickenham, so long ago that Maro Itoje was still at school. Troublemaker by Olly Murs (featuring Flo Rida) topped the UK charts and the nation was basking in a warm, fuzzy post-London Olympics glow that was supposed to last indefinitely.
Protesters blockaded the main entrance to the Cop30 climate conference for several hours early on Friday morning, demanding to speak to Brazil’s president about the plight of the country’s Indigenous peoples.
About 50 people from the Munduruku people in the Amazon basin blocked the entrance with some assistance from international green groups, watched by a huge phalanx of riot police, soldiers and military vehicles.
Slovakia beat Northern Ireland at the last to set up a winner-takes-all Group A encounter with Germany on Monday
Thomas Tuchel wants his England substitutes to channel any anger they feel at not starting into making the difference when they can because the team that win the World Cup will be defined by productivity off the bench.
The head coach will prepare a heat-proof gameplan for the finals next summer when temperatures at many of the venues in the United States, Mexico and Canada are expected to be stifling and a major part will involve how best to use his substitutes.
The Canadian reached the semi-finals for the first time, where he’ll face Carlos Alcaraz, after a 6-4, 7-6 win against the world No 3
Auger-Aliassime to serve. Ready? Let’s play.
Now Auger-Aliassime, dressed in purple, is making Zverev, clad all in black, wait for the coin toss. The match may not have started yet, but the mind games certainly have. Zverev wins it and elects to receive. Laura Robson is going for a Zverev win; Tim Henman opts for Auger-Aliassime. I think I’m sitting on the fence. Auger-Aliassime has the bigger momentum, but of course it’s Zverev with the greater pedigree.
Deal would also require multibillionaire family to give up ownership of the Connecticut-based firm
A federal bankruptcy court judge on Friday said he would approve OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma’s latest deal to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids that includes some money for thousands of victims of the epidemic.
The deal overseen by US bankruptcy judge Sean Lane would require some of the multibillionaire members of the semi-reclusive Sackler family who own the company to contribute up to $7bn and give up ownership of the Connecticut-based firm.
Coach hopes to match spirit of his 2021 Chelsea team
Tuchel needs strong bench ‘after a long, long season’
Thomas Tuchel wants his England substitutes to channel any anger they feel at not starting into making the difference when they can because the team that win the World Cup will be defined by productivity off the bench.
The head coach will prepare a heat-proof gameplan for the finals next summer when temperatures at many of the venues in the United States, Mexico and Canada are expected to be stifling and a major part will involve how best to use his substitutes.
The Cop30 climate summit, blackouts in Kyiv, immigration raids in Chicago and super-typhoon Fung-wong: the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
Vincent Karremans called semiconductor supply chain crisis a ‘wake-up call for western leaders’
The Chinese government has expressed “extreme disappointment” with the Dutch minister at the heart of a row over chip supply to the car industry.
A spokesperson for the ministry of commerce was responding to a Guardian interview with Vincent Karremans on Thursday in which the politician described the standoff between China and the European Union as a “wake-up call” for western leaders.
Exclusive: Almost all Palestinians have been displaced to ‘red zone’ where no reconstruction is planned
The US is planning for the long-term division of Gaza into a “green zone” under Israeli and international military control, where reconstruction would start, and a “red zone” to be left in ruins.
Foreign forces will initially deploy alongside Israeli soldiers in the east of Gaza, leaving the devastated strip divided by the current Israeli-controlled “yellow line”, according to US military planning documents seen by the Guardian and sources briefed on American plans.
Club hope to have Frenchman in charge next weekend
Any compensation not regarded as problematic
Celtic are to accelerate talks with Wilfried Nancy over the weekend as the Columbus Crew manager edges closer to replacing Brendan Rodgers in Glasgow. Celtic are understood to have informed the Major League Soccer side on Friday of their plans, with any compensation required to coax the Frenchman not regarded as problematic. Nancy is believed to be keen on the switch.
Celtic hope to have Nancy in place by the time they visit St Mirren next weekend, which would bring an end to Martin O’Neill’s caretaker spell. O’Neill was due to meet Celtic’s main shareholder, Dermot Desmond, in London on Friday. The second tenure of Rodgers in Glasgow ended in acrimony in late October, with Desmond taking public aim at the former Liverpool manager.
Botched briefing operation was proof to many that PM is leading an ineffectual No 10. How did it go so wrong?
If there’s one thing the Labour party can agree on this week, it is that efforts by Keir Starmer’s allies to shore up his position backfired spectacularly.
By briefing journalists that he would face down any challenge and accusing Wes Streeting of leading an advanced plot to overthrow him, figures around the prime minister managed only to expose the weakness of his position.
Donald Trump agreed to cut US tariffs on Switzerland from 39% to 15% as part of a new trade pact, lowering duties that strained economic ties and hit Swiss exporters.
The two countries have signed a “non-binding memorandum of understanding”, the Swiss government announced, following bilateral talks in Washington and intense lobbying by Swiss firms.
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