Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said revised settlement rules for migrants would prevent about 500,000 people from settling after five years, while acknowledging the changes are less strict than plans announced last year. Andy Burnham said he had not proposed restoring EU freedom of movement, though his comments have reopened debate about closer UK ties with the EU.
Key Facts
Mahmood said roughly 500,000 people who expected to settle after five years would no longer do so under the revised rules.
The revised settlement plans are less strict than the version Mahmood announced in November 2025.
Mahmood said the changes would save money compared with taking no action, but did not dispute claims that the savings would be lower than under the earlier plans.
Mahmood said an impact assessment would be published later after being asked whether the changes could cost about £7.5 billion compared with the earlier plans.
Burnham said he had not proposed bringing back freedom of movement.
Burnham called for an open discussion about changes in migration since Brexit and said he would not act ahead of public opinion.
The article says a return to the EU single market would involve accepting freedom-of-movement rules, while Labour’s manifesto rules out single-market membership before the next election.
Mahmood said Labour was bound by its manifesto and did not state whether she supported the UK rejoining the freedom-of-movement system.
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UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood declined to estimate the cost of revised settlement rules for migrant care workers, saying detailed figures would come with a future impact assessment. She said the broader changes would still save billions in benefit spending, while the Conservatives said the revisions would cost the state billions.
Key Facts
Mahmood’s original proposal would have increased the standard wait for settlement from five years to 10, with some migrants facing 15 years.
Under the revised plan, some care workers who arrived before May 2025 and earn at least £25,000 a year can still qualify after five years.
Other care workers may be able to seek a five-year extension before qualifying for settlement.
The standard settlement wait will rise from five years to 10 years under the updated proposals.
People earning more than £50,000 and some workers in health care and education could qualify after five years; taxpayers earning more than £125,000 could apply after three years.
Some refugees who arrived by small boat or another illegal route would face waits of 20 years if they work or study, and 30 years if they do not.
The Home Office previously estimated the net lifetime cost of care workers and their adult dependants expected to settle from 2026 to 2030 at £10 billion.
Mahmood said about 500,000 people already in the UK would wait longer than five years under the revised plans.
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Israeli opposition parties have endorsed Gadi Eisenkot as their candidate for prime minister and are meeting to coordinate their next steps after an election left no bloc with a Knesset majority. Benjamin Netanyahu says he should lead a broad coalition, but Arab-majority parties’ 19 seats could affect coalition talks and remain a point of division within the opposition.
Key Facts
Eisenkot’s opposition bloc won 48 seats in the 120-member Knesset.
Netanyahu’s camp won 53 seats, including 27 for his Likud party.
Arab-majority lists won 19 seats, a record according to the article.
Opposition party leaders endorsed Eisenkot as their candidate to form the next government.
Netanyahu called for a broad government without Arab-majority parties and said Likud’s position as the largest party supports his claim to lead it.
Yair Golan of the Democrats supports working with Arab-majority parties, while Avigdor Lieberman of Yisrael Beiteinu opposes it.
The article says Israel’s president traditionally assigns the task of forming a government to the candidate with the most recommendations, while considering the parties’ strength.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to visit Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The visit comes before planned trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States in Abu Dhabi next week.
Key Facts
Merz confirmed Zelenskyy’s expected visit during a speech to industry representatives.
Merz said he would meet Zelenskyy shortly after midday.
Merz said events at the White House last year helped prompt Germany’s push to increase defence spending.
Merz said Germany’s defence efforts aim to strengthen NATO, not question it.
The article said Sweden was due to hold another parliamentary vote on forming a government, which was expected to fail.
Spain’s transport minister Óscar Puente was due to present high-speed rail reform ideas after a fatal crash in Toledo.
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President Donald Trump said U.S. forces might attack Pickaxe Mountain, a deeply buried site near Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility. In a Fox News appearance on Monday, he said an operation could be completed in about an hour and would not be a major undertaking.
Key Facts
Trump referred to Pickaxe Mountain as a possible U.S. target.
The site is also known as Mount Kolang and lies south of Tehran.
The article describes the site as a heavily fortified facility linked to Iran’s nuclear program.
Pickaxe Mountain is near the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility.
Trump made the comments during a Fox News appearance on Monday.
The article says speculation has grown about renewed U.S. attacks on Iran after the midterm elections.
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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he wants to discuss changing the UK-Australia visa deal for British backpackers. The deal removed a regional work requirement, and Australia says the number of British travellers rose from 40,000 two years ago to 87,000 last year, with many working in Sydney-area hospitality jobs.
Key Facts
Albanese raised the possible visa changes with Andy Burnham at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in the Caribbean.
The visa deal lets British travellers avoid regional work that other nationalities may need to complete as a visa condition.
The deal extended the maximum visa period to three years and raised the age limit to 35.
Australia reported 87,000 British travellers last year, up from 40,000 two years earlier.
Albanese said many travellers were staying and working in Sydney-area suburbs such as Bondi Beach and Coogee.
Albanese said the concentration of travellers was putting pressure on local hospitality workers and distorting the labour market.
The visa changes also apply to Australians travelling to the UK, but fewer than 10,000 Australians went last year.
A Downing Street spokesperson confirmed the leaders had discussed visas but made no commitment to changes.
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Henry Nowak’s family said he would have opposed the protests and political arguments that followed his fatal stabbing in Southampton. They want answers about how police treated him at the scene, while investigations into the police response continue.
Key Facts
Nowak was fatally stabbed by Vickrum Digwa last year.
Police handcuffed Nowak as he lay dying after Digwa falsely accused him of racial abuse.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for “pure cold rage” and criticized what he called “two-tier policing.”
Protests took place in Southampton in the weeks after Nowak’s death, with some groups urging people to attend.
Nowak’s mother, Lucy Ross, said some people had used her son’s death to advance political arguments.
The IOPC said its investigation into possible failures in the police response is expected to finish early next year.
The IOPC said in July that two officers were under investigation for potential gross misconduct.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood commissioned an independent review led by former lord chancellor Alex Chalk.
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Mater will permanently close its in-house pathology services at its Brisbane and Springfield hospitals and outsource the work to specialist providers. The decision followed safety concerns at the Brisbane anatomical pathology laboratory, where one of 17 exposure samples reportedly exceeded workplace standards, and a review of the service’s long-term costs and infrastructure needs.
Key Facts
The closure affects pathology services at Mater’s Brisbane and Springfield hospitals and around 400 staff.
Mater said providers including Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology and Pathology Queensland will take over the services.
Mater closed the Brisbane anatomical pathology laboratory on 24 September over concerns about possible formalin exposure.
One of 17 samples taken on 21 September showed an employee’s exposure above workplace standards, according to the article.
Mater said an investigation into the abnormal result is ongoing.
The hospital said reopening the lab would require significant long-term infrastructure changes and investment.
Mater said its current pathology operating model was not sustainable over the longer term.
Queensland Health said Mater Health is responsible for decisions about its pathology services.
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The National Archives at Kew has completed a five-year transfer of 4 million records from the archives of the UK Parliament. The records include documents about the 1605 Gunpowder Plot and the law that established annual services on 5 November, as well as objects linked to later parliamentary history; they are catalogued and available for public viewing.
Key Facts
The 1605 Thanksgiving Act called for church services every 5 November to mark the failure of the Gunpowder Plot.
The plot targeted King James I, the House of Lords and the House of Commons at the opening of Parliament in 1605.
A House of Commons journal entry dated 5 November 1605 records the discovery of 36 barrels of gunpowder and Guy Fawkes in the Palace of Westminster cellars.
A separate act declared Fawkes and his co-conspirators guilty of treason and sentenced them to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
The transfer to Kew took five years and added 16.5 linear kilometres of records to the National Archives collection.
The transferred records have been catalogued and marked with individual registration barcodes, and the public can order and view them for free.
The collection includes a suffragette banner brought into the House of Commons in 1908, as well as a gravestone fragment, a sword and a uniform.
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The UN Security Council did not renew the mandate of its Western Sahara mission after Russia vetoed a US-backed proposal and a Russian alternative failed to win enough votes. Morocco welcomed the mission’s end, as the dispute with the Polisario Front over the territory’s status and the ceasefire’s future remains unresolved.
Key Facts
Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975.
Morocco claims Western Sahara as part of its territory, while the Polisario Front seeks independence.
The International Court of Justice found historical ties of allegiance but no territorial sovereignty that overrode the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination.
A 1991 UN-brokered ceasefire led to the creation of Minurso, which was tasked with monitoring the ceasefire and organizing a referendum.
The referendum did not take place because Morocco and the Polisario Front could not agree on who could vote.
Morocco proposed autonomy for Western Sahara in 2007; the Polisario Front and Algeria rejected the plan.
The ceasefire broke down in November 2020, when the Polisario Front said it was resuming armed struggle.
In 2025, the Security Council backed Morocco’s autonomy plan as the most feasible solution, according to the article.
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The author argues that Britain should formally apologize and provide reparations for its role in the transatlantic trafficking and enslavement of Africans and colonial rule in the Caribbean. The article says an apology should acknowledge responsibility and be followed by reparations beyond changes to debt repayment conditions.
Key Facts
The author says CARICOM’s Reparations Commission has sought dialogue with Britain about apology and reparations.
The article says earlier British responses expressed sorrow and regret but did not include an apology or a promise to issue one.
It cites British Prime Minister David Cameron’s 2015 rejection of slavery reparations and a UK-funded £25 million project for a prison in Jamaica.
The author says King Charles III was due to address the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Antigua on Tuesday amid protests and calls for apology and reparations.
CARICOM’s Ten Point Plan for Reparatory Justice describes an apology as recognition of responsibility and a commitment to repair harm, according to the article.
The article says Andy Burnham has proposed improved debt repayment conditions but argues that reparations should go further.
It quotes economist Arthur Lewis as saying Britain’s unpaid labor extracted from enslaved Caribbean people created a debt that Britain had not repaid.
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Two helicopters collided while attempting to land near Mount Everest base camp in Nepal, killing one person and injuring two. Authorities identified the person killed as a 47-year-old Indian national; a New Zealand national and a Nepali pilot were injured.
Key Facts
The collision happened on Tuesday in Pheriche village, about 4,200 metres (13,780 feet) above sea level.
Both helicopters were attempting to land just below Mount Everest base camp.
Online footage showed people running to safety after the aircraft crashed into the ground.
Authorities have not said how many people were aboard the two helicopters.
Helicopters regularly operate in the region, where there are no roads, including to evacuate sick or exhausted trekkers and guides.
A hotel along the route to Everest base camp caught fire the previous week; heavy snowfall hindered firefighting, and no deaths or injuries were reported.
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The UK Parliament is set to receive White Ribbon accreditation and begin a three-year plan to help prevent violence against women. Possible measures include anti-harassment and bystander training, higher conduct standards, and criminal record checks for people seeking parliamentary security passes.
Key Facts
The UK Parliament is expected to become the first legislature in the world to receive White Ribbon accreditation.
The accreditation requires a three-year plan to prevent violence against women.
Labour MP Emily Darlington led a cross-party campaign supported by Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and parliamentary staff.
Possible measures include training on how to spot and respond to harassment.
Political parties may be asked to support criminal record checks for new MPs before they receive parliamentary passes.
A 2018 survey found that nearly 20% of people surveyed in Parliament had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment.
A 2023 study found that more than two-thirds of female MPs had witnessed sexist behaviour in Parliament.
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Australia’s High Court is hearing a challenge by Reddit and the Digital Freedom Project to the country’s ban on social media accounts for children under 16. The challengers argue the ban is difficult to enforce and restricts young people’s access to safety features and political discussion; the government says it aims to protect children from harmful content and online predators.
Key Facts
The ban took effect last December and covers platforms including Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Reddit.
Platforms must identify and delete accounts belonging to users under 16 and face fines for failing to meet their obligations.
Reddit argues the ban’s effectiveness has been limited and says there is no scientific consensus on social media’s harms.
Reddit says people can still access some material without an account, but may lose access to built-in safety features.
A study published by Australia-based researchers in August found little evidence that teenagers had stopped using social media despite the ban.
The Digital Freedom Project argues the ban is unconstitutional because it limits teenagers’ ability to take part in political communication.
The article says the court’s timeline for deciding the case is unclear.
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Arab-led parties won a record 19 seats in Israel’s election, but coalition talks face resistance to including Palestinian parties. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli forces ended a 10-day operation in Hebron, where residents faced displacement, arrests and business closures, while restrictions and settler attacks continued elsewhere.
Key Facts
Ra’am and the Joint List won 19 seats after nearly 840,000 people voted for them, a 64 percent increase from 2022.
Adding the Arab-led parties to opposition leader Gadi Eisenkot’s bloc would give an anti-Netanyahu coalition 67 seats, according to the article.
Likud alleged the election had been stolen through Palestinian parties, citing claims of Qatari financing; Qatar denied the accusations, and police sources said there was no evidence of widespread fraud.
Election committee chairman Noam Sohlberg said the election was conducted properly.
By October 29, Al Jazeera’s data unit counted 10 sealed entrances in Hebron and about 5,000 displaced people; the article also reported at least 120 arrests and 13 demolished businesses.
Hebron Governor Khaled Dudin said on November 2 that Israeli forces had withdrawn and displaced families could return.
In Masafer Yatta, at least 12 villages were cut off, and Wafa reported that Israeli forces detained 10 teachers from the Jinba school.
A resident of Wadi Rakhim told Al Jazeera that his family had been besieged at home for four weeks and that settlers had poisoned their well.
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Singer James Blunt says he tried to get banished from this year's Celebrity Traitors, but neither the traitors nor the other contestants voted him out until near the end. He and actor Michael Sheen helped expose comedian James Acaster as a traitor, and Blunt says the televised edit left out parts of the interrogation.
Key Facts
Blunt said contestants received the same pay whether they stayed for one day or 23, so he often wanted to leave.
Blunt said he made theories about the other contestants rather than keeping a low profile.
Blunt and Michael Sheen focused on comedian James Acaster during a pivotal round-table discussion.
Acaster confessed that he had been made a traitor, and Blunt said the interrogation was more extensive than the broadcast showed.
Blunt said contestants are affected by how producers edit days of footage into the show.
Blunt was voted out near the end after Romesh Ranganathan suspected he was working with traitor Maya Jama.
Blunt said he was surprised by the accusation but thought the ending worked well.
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The BBC has released new images from the three-part Christmas special of The Other Bennet Sister. The episodes continue Mary Bennet’s story after she agrees to marry Tom Hayward, and will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, with BritBox carrying them in the US and Canada.
Key Facts
The first series attracted 6.5 million UK viewers in its first 28 days.
Filming on the Christmas special wrapped at the end of August and took place mainly in Wales.
The special consists of three episodes, each 30 minutes long.
The BBC has teased that an unexpected visitor from Mary’s past will ask for her help.
Ella Bruccoleri and Donal Finn return as Mary Bennet and Tom Hayward.
Ruth Jones returns as Mrs Bennet, alongside other returning cast members including Tanya Reynolds and Laurie Davidson.
Nerys Amber-Stocks joins the cast as Mary’s housemaid, Lucy.
Sarah Quintrell wrote the special, and Asim Abbasi returns to direct it.
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Derbyshire Police agreed to pay Andrew and Sabrina Fearn £9,000 after admitting officers unlawfully entered their home in December 2022 and used force against them. The couple had been charged with assaulting an emergency worker, but were acquitted during their trial after the force admitted the entry was unlawful.
Key Facts
The incident followed a house party at the couple’s home in Alvaston, Derby.
Sabrina Fearn had called police earlier after discovering that a guest had a knife; officers attended and left.
Officers later returned, believing someone inside might be injured and need urgent medical attention.
Sabrina refused entry, and officers forced their way into the home.
The couple’s legal claim covered trespass, assault and battery, and Andrew Fearn’s arrest.
Andrew was held for 15 hours, according to the report.
Derbyshire Police said the legal grounds for entering under section 17 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act were not met.
The force apologised for the distress and harm, and said it took no disciplinary action against the officers involved.
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Surrey County Council has launched its annual Warm Welcome scheme for autumn and winter. More than 100 community venues and libraries will offer free hot drinks and chances to socialize through 31 March 2027, along with energy advice and help finding support services.
Key Facts
The scheme operates at more than 100 venues across Surrey.
Participating venues include community spaces and libraries.
The venues will offer free hot drinks and opportunities to connect with others.
The scheme runs until 31 March 2027.
A map of participating venues is available on the council's website.
The project has run since 2022.
The scheme will provide energy advice and help people access other support services.
The government-funded Crisis and Resilience Fund supports the project.
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