Andreas Whittam Smith, co-founder of the Independent, dies aged 88

The journalist and editor also led the British Board of Film Classification and served as the senior lay member of the Church of England

Andreas Whittam Smith, the co-founder of the Independent newspaper and a former president of the British Board of Film Classification, has died aged 88.

Whittam Smith was also the first editor of the Independent and served as First Church Estates Commissioner, the senior lay member of the Church of England, from 2002 to 2017.

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Ukraine hits tankers in Black Sea in escalation against Russia

The two ships struck by drones were thought to be used to bypass Western sanctions on Russia.

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Your Party members vote to make name permanent at tense first conference

Liverpool gathering lays bare bitter divisions within new party founded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana

The new leftwing party founded by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana will be called Your Party after a vote by members, but its weekend conference laid bare bitter divisions.

Just over 37% of members voted for the name Your Party, provisionally adopted when it was launched earlier this year, to become permanent. The votes for others on the shortlist were 25.23% to be called For The Many, 25.23% for Popular Alliance and 14.19% for Our Party.

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White House launches website to excoriate media for ‘biased’ stories

Trump administration lists reporting it objects to in latest escalation of attacks on US journalism

The White House rolled out a new section of its official website on Friday that publicly criticizes and catalogs media organizations and journalists it claims have distorted coverage.

At the top of the page, the text reads: “Misleading. Biased. Exposed.” The feature names the Boston Globe, CBS News and the Independent as “media offenders of the week”, accusing them of inaccurately portraying Trump’s remarks about six Democratic lawmakers who released of video encouraging military members to not follow illegal orders.

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‘The City can’t be taken for granted’: how banks won over Rachel Reeves

JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to expand UK presence after sector was spared from higher taxes in budget

Over canapés of beef and stilton pie, bone marrow gravy and mushy peas, the financiers at JP Morgan’s New York headquarters held their champagne flutes aloft for a toast: “His majesty the king.”

Just days before Rachel Reeves’s budget – amid the chancellor’s efforts to soothe business fears and bond market jitters – Jamie Dimon, the Wall Street banking company’s boss, was hosting a birthday celebration for King Charles at its new $3bn (£2.3bn) Manhattan headquarters.

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Hungary's Orban defies EU partners and meets Putin again in Moscow

Russia's leader praised what he called Orban's "balanced position on the situation in Ukraine".

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US midwest and north brace for storm as nearly 82m people travel for holidays

Several flights are delayed and parts of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan could see six to 10 inches of snow

Parts of the US midwest and the Great Lakes region are bracing for a strong storm this weekend, as an estimated 82 million Americans travel to gather in celebration of Thanksgiving.

Some parts of the country are expecting cold, snowy conditions, and the weather has already caused some travel delays. On Thursday morning more than 800 flights were already delayed, most in the northern states.

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Trump calls New York Times reporter ‘ugly’ after branding another journalist ‘piggy’

In a Truth Social post, the president lashed out at journalist Katie Rogers after an article questioned whether he was slowing down

Donald Trump lashed out on Wednesday against a New York Times reporter, calling her “ugly inside and out” in his latest personal insult against female members of the media after last week calling another “piggy”.

In a Truth Social post, Trump criticitized the newspaper for an article suggesting he was running low on energy in his 80th year, insisting he has “never worked so hard in my life”.

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'I am devastated': Hong Kong residents in disbelief after fire destroys blocks of flats

Efforts to control the blaze are continuing as locals wait for news of missing loved ones.

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Rush Hour 4 in the works at Paramount after reports of Trump intervening

Brett Ratner, accused of sexual misconduct by several women, will bring his hit franchise back to the big screen

Rush Hour 4 is reportedly a go at Paramount – after Donald Trump intervened on behalf of the movie.

The studio will now release the next sequel by Brett Ratner, the director, who had retreated from Hollywood after numerous allegations of sexual misconduct during the #MeToo movement.

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Trump envoy denies bias as he pushes for Sudan peace plan

Efforts to negotiate an end to the war, which has displaced 12 million people, remain unfruitful.

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Trump administration cancels temporary asylum for Myanmar nationals living in US

Homeland security claims country being ruled by military dictatorship ‘no longer continues to meet conditions’ for Temporary Protected Status

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The Trump administration announced it will cancel temporary asylum for around 10,000 Myanmar nationals living in the US, despite the country being ruled by a military dictatorship that has a record of executing dissidents.

On Monday the Department of Homeland Security said it was terminating the designation of Burma (Myanmar) for Temporary Protected Status relief. It claimed that after reviewing conditions in Myanmar and consulting with appropriate US government agencies, “the secretary (Kristi Noem) determined that Burma no longer continues to meet the conditions” for TPS designation.

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Bollywood's 'He-Man' Dharmendra dies at 89

Best known for the iconic role of Veeru in the all-time great Sholay, Dharmendra was India's "most handsome actor".

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Ukraine's Aonishiki becomes sumo champion in Japan

Aonishiki wins the November sumo tournament in Japan and becomes the first person from Ukraine to claim an elite-level sumo championship.

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Many prominent Maga personalities on X are based outside US, new tool reveals

Users posing as rightwing Americans are operating internationally, per the platform’s transparency feature

Many of the most influential personalities in the “Make America great again” (Maga) movement on X are based outside of the US, including Russia, Nigeria and India, a new transparency feature on the social media site has revealed.

The new tool, called “about this account,” became available on Friday to users of the Elon Musk-owned platform. It allows anyone to see where an account is located, when it joined the platform, how often its username has been changed, and how the X app was downloaded.

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Politicians shocked by Marjorie Taylor Greene’s surprise resignation announcement

Some Republicans offered congresswoman plaudits, but AOC was scathing in her dismissal of her frequent sparring partner

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s surprise resignation from Congress late on Friday, saying she refused to be a “battered wife” following her public fallout with Donald Trump, has been slammed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congresswoman and Greene’s frequent sparring partner.

“She’s carefully timing her departure just 1-2 days after her pension kicks in,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement on her Instagram account, and criticized her voting record on healthcare.

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Shocked US driver calls 911: ‘I just had a bald eagle drop a cat through my windshield’

Motorist told dispatcher ‘you may not believe me’ and said windshield was shattered while driving on North Carolina highway

A motorist in western North Carolina escaped injury when the carcass of a cat crashed into the passenger side of her front windshield along a highway near the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

In a call to 911, the unidentified driver on US Route 74 in Swain county, near Bryson City, told a dispatcher that a bald eagle dropped the cat. Bryson City is about 65 miles south-west of Asheville.

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US judge resigns after being disciplined for wearing Elvis wig in court

In court, Judge Thornhill would play the singer's music from his phone and make "irrelevant" references to him.

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MI5 ‘very relaxed’ about proposed Chinese super-embassy in London, sources say

Senior Security Service officers told Commons speaker in private meeting they can tackle espionage risks

MI5 officers told the House of Commons speaker at a private meeting that they can tackle the risks of a proposed Chinese super-embassy in London, opening the door to its approval.

The Guardian understands that in a meeting held with Lindsay Hoyle in the summer, senior figures from the Security Service indicated they were “very relaxed” about the prospect of a 20,000 sq metre embassy being constructed at Royal Mint Court near Tower Bridge.

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'Huge columns of smoke': BBC at the scene of massive fire at COP30

Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt was at the UN climate talks in Brazil when a fire broke out.

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China’s power play: MI5 warns of relentless espionage attempts in Britain

Alert says Beijing trying to recruit British sources in parliament, even if potential gains may be unclear

An unexpected connection on LinkedIn. An offer of work from a headhunter, most likely a young woman, based in China. The chance to earn perhaps £20,000 part-time writing a handful of geopolitical reports for a Chinese company peppered with “non-public” or “insider” insights. Payment in cryptocurrency or cash preferred.

It may seem obvious, on this telling, that something about this approach would be amiss. Nevertheless, China’s powerful ministry of state security (MSS) still considers it worthwhile to deploy recruitment consultants to try it – leading MI5 to warn repeatedly about their activity online.

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Trial opens into North Macedonia nightclub fire that killed 63

Thirty-five people and three institutions are on trial. Prosecutors say years of failings turned the venue into a death trap.

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New Jersey man pardoned of fraud conviction by Trump back in prison for another fraud conviction

Eliyahu ‘Eli’ Weinstein, pardoned by Trump in 2021, was sentenced to 37 years for defrauding investors out of $35m

A New Jersey man whose lengthy prison sentence for fraud convictions was commuted by Donald Trump in 2021 is now headed back to federal prison for another fraud conviction.

The US district judge Michael Shipp, sitting in Trenton, handed down a 37-year sentence on Friday to Eliyahu “Eli” Weinstein, 51, of Lakewood, who is also known as Mike Konig. Shipp also ruled that Weinstein must pay $44,294,803 in restitution, which is due immediately, according to court documents.

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Zelensky to meet Trump envoy in Turkey in bid to 'intensify' peace talks

There were no plans for the Russian side to join the talks, the Kremlin said.

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David Nicholls to adapt The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ for BBC

One Day author leading writing team bringing one of the best-known literary creations of the 1980s to life

A writing team led by the One Day author, David Nicholls, and that includes Caitlin Moran is bringing Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ to the small screen in a 10-part BBC One adaptation of the classic tale of teenage life in British suburbia.

Nicholls, who described the book as “a classic piece of comic writing and an incredible piece of ventriloquism on Sue Townsend’s part”, will adapt the book that produced one of the best-known literary creations of the 1980s.

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New international student enrollments in US plunge this year, data shows

Enrollment fell 17%, the largest drop in a decade aside from the pandemic, amid Trump’s immigration crackdown

The number of international students enrolling in US colleges and universities plunged this year as the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown on higher education began to bite, data released on Monday reveals.

New international student enrollment fell 17% in the current academic year, the largest drop in more than a decade aside from the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a fall snapshot published by the Institute of International Education (IIE).

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Ukraine to import US liquefied natural gas via Greece

Vital supplies are due to start flowing from the Balkans as energy infrastructure faces sustained Russian attack.

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Dozens reportedly arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina, amid immigration crackdown

Trump administration has made the Democratic-led city its latest target despite fierce objections from local leaders

A top border patrol commander touted dozens of arrests in North Carolina’s largest city on Sunday as Charlotte residents reported a surge of encounters with federal immigration agents near churches and apartment complexes.

The Trump administration has made the Democratic-led city of about 950,000 people its latest target for an immigration enforcement crackdown it says will combat crime, despite fierce objections from local leaders and the fact that crime rates in the city are steadily declining.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

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Hertfordshire police admit unlawful arrest of couple in school WhatsApp row – report

Force said to have agreed to £20,000 payout to parents who complained about daughter’s school in Borehamwood

A police force has reportedly admitted it unlawfully arrested two parents in front of their nine-year-old daughter after they complained about her school on WhatsApp.

Rosalind Levine and her partner, Maxie Allen, said they were held at a police station for 11 hours over the complaints about their daughter’s primary school.

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Todd Snider, alt-country singer-songwriter of Alright Guy, dies aged 59

Influential musician who created Americana hits had recently been hospitalized with pneumonia

Todd Snider, the influential alt-country singer-songwriter who created Americana hits such as Alright Guy, has died at 59.

His passing was shared through announcements on his official social media accounts. Although no cause of death was provided, his family shared on Friday that he had recently been hospitalized with pneumonia.

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Man who stole Banksy print to pay off drug debt given 13-month sentence

Larry Fraser, 49, burgled Grove gallery in London, stealing limited edition print of Girl With Balloon series

A man who stole a Banksy print from an art gallery to pay off a historic drug debt has been given a 13-month prison sentence.

Larry Fraser, 49, stole the limited edition print belonging to the street artist’s Girl With Balloon series after breaking into the Grove gallery in Fitzrovia, central London, last September.

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Tanzania president promises probe into election protest deaths

The opposition says that hundreds of people were killed during the unrest but there is no official death toll.

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Thirteen hours by touch – inside one of the world's longest exam days

South Korea's national college entry exam is notoriously hard - but blind students face unique challenges.

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Georgia election board settles ethics lawsuit over private emails for $50,000

Republican-controlled board, which questions Trump’s 2020 loss, agrees to use government, not personal, accounts

The Georgia state election board has settled a lawsuit filed by a watchdog organization over access to board members’ emails for $50,000 and an agreement to conduct future business without using private email.

The settlement requires the Republican-controlled board, which continues to push for additional investigation into the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, to instruct its members to use official email accounts, and “not to use personal email accounts, text messaging, or messaging through other applications for that purpose”.

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At least 37 killed in Peru after bus plunges into ravine

The bus was carrying 60 passengers when it collided with a truck and careered off the road in the Arequipa region.

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Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine sign voice deal with AI company

The voices of the Oscar-winning actors can now be used to create AI-generated versions in a new deal with ElevenLabs

Oscar-winning actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have both signed a deal with the AI audio company ElevenLabs.

The New York-based company can now create AI-generated versions of their voices as part of a bid to solve a “key ethical challenge” in the artificial intelligence industry’s alliance with Hollywood.

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A jailed hacking kingpin reveals all about the gang that left a trail of destruction

One of the world's most prominent cyber-criminals speaks to the BBC in an exclusive interview.

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Ghislaine Maxwell eyeing commutation, whistleblower tells House Democrats

Epstein associate is also receiving special treatment in prison, Democrats say, according to whistleblower

Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime associate and co-conspirator who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex-trafficking crimes, is reportedly preparing a “commutation application” for the Trump administration to review, according to new allegations from a whistleblower shared with House Democrats.

Democrats on the House judiciary committee announced on Monday that they had received information from a whistleblower that indicates that the British former socialite, 63, is working on filing a commutation application. They also said Maxwell had been receiving special treatment at federal prison camp Bryan in Texas – the minimum-security facility she was transferred to earlier this year.

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Will Tim Davie’s resignation be enough to restore public trust in the BBC?

Senior insiders admit concern about big editorial errors and fear attacks are part of ongoing campaign to undermine the broadcaster

There is a joke regularly deployed by BBC staff that “deputy heads must roll” over big mistakes because they rarely appear to have any impact on those at the top of the organisation. That all changed on Sunday, when Tim Davie and Deborah Turness both quit their jobs.

Davie oversaw no shortage of scandals during his five years as director general – in recent months these included rows over a Gaza documentary and Glastonbury coverage – and was nicknamed “Teflon Tim” by BBC insiders because nothing seemed to stick.

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‘I have to take ultimate responsibility’: Tim Davie’s BBC resignation statement

Full text of director general’s note to staff and the resignation statement from head of news Deborah Turness

• Davie resigns as BBC director general after accusations of ‘serious and systemic’ bias in coverage

• BBC bias row: how a week of hostile headlines from rightwing media led to resignations

Tim Davie, the BBC’s director general, and the head of BBC News have resigned after a former adviser to the corporation accused it of “serious and systemic” bias in its coverage of issues including Donald Trump, Gaza and trans rights.

This afternoon Davie sent the following note to staff:

Dear all,

I wanted to let you know that I have decided to leave the BBC after 20 years. This is entirely my decision, and I remain very thankful to the Chair and Board for their unswerving and unanimous support throughout my entire tenure, including during recent days.

Dear all,

I have never been more proud of the work that you do every day. You really are the best of the best.

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US private equity giant poised to take over online retailer The Very Group

Barclay family set to lose another part of former business empire, once known as Littlewoods, to Carlyle Group

The Barclay family is set to lose control of another part of their former business empire with a US private equity firm taking control of online retailer the Very Group.

Washington-headquartered Carlyle Group is expected to announce it has taken over the retailer as soon as Monday morning.

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BoM move to axe free flood warning tool has ‘potentially deadly consequences’, Queensland councils say

Bureau of Meteorology says current system will be phased out as it no longer meets ‘cybersecurity, stability and resilience’ standards

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Natural disaster-prone councils in south-east Queensland say the Bureau of Meteorology’s decision to axe its free real-time flood forecasting tool is a “cost shifting” exercise with “potentially deadly consequences”, with New South Wales emergency services also affected.

For nearly 30 years, the BoM has provided local governments, emergency services and water managers around the country with free access to Enviromon – a tool used to inform emergency alert systems which collects, displays and analyses data from rainfall and river level gauges for flood forecasting.

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Four held after protesters set off flares during Israeli orchestra concert in Paris

Clashes broke out during one of three disruptions to the performance featuring conductor Lahav Shani.

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US stock market values tumble amid reports of high layoffs and hiring freezes

The S&P 500 index fell 1% as the government shutdown left investors ‘groping around in the dark’ for up-to-date data

Fears that the US economy is slowing, with firms shedding jobs and imposing hiring freezes, sent Wall Street tumbling on Thursday.

The S&P 500 index of leading firms was down 1% as investors also highlighted concerns about the potential for a slump in the value of businesses that have benefited from huge investments in artificial intelligence. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.5%.

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Afghan opium crop plummets after Taliban ban, UN survey finds

Afghanistan used to produce more than 80% of global opium but a Taliban ban has cut that to a fraction.

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Reddit added to Australia's social media ban on under-16s

The ban takes effect on 10 December and also includes Facebook, X, TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.

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Dick Cheney’s role in ‘war on terror’ may have paved way for Trumpism

Former US vice-president a key figure in expanding White House’s power and ‘corrupting the intelligence-policy relationship’ to sell Iraq war

• Dick Cheney, vice-president and giant of Republican politics, dies aged 84

Dick Cheney, who has died aged 84, came to be seen as a moderate in his later years for his staunch opposition to Donald Trump, but he also stands accused of paving the way for Trumpism by undermining the independence of the intelligence agencies and US adherence to international law.

As George W Bush’s second-in-command in the “war on terror” declared after the 9/11 attacks, Cheney made himself one of the most powerful vice-presidents in US history, and was a key protagonist in the push to invade Iraq, as well as the use of torture on suspected al-Qaida members detained without charge in the CIA’s offshore “black sites”.

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Curfew lifted in Tanzania's main city after election unrest

Families continue to search for or bury relatives, a day after President Samia Suluhu Hassan was sworn in.

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Young Russians are being seduced by a cheap, dangerous weight-loss pill called Molecule

Those taking the drug, which contains a substance banned in many other countries, are experiencing severe side effects.

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John F Kennedy grandson says Julia Fox’s bloody Jackie Halloween costume ‘disgusting’

Jack Schlossberg says ‘dangerous’ to evoke grandfather’s assassination; Fox says it’s a ‘statement’ of Jackie’s ‘bravery

Political writer and commentator Jack Schlossberg has said it was “disgusting, desperate and dangerous” for actor Julia Fox to wear a Halloween costume evoking the assassination of president John F Kennedy, his grandfather.

Fox, however, has defended her controversial decision to wear a replica of the blood-stained, pink suit that former first lady Jackie Kennedy was seen wearing when her husband was shot dead by a sniper while the couple rode in a motorcade in Dallas in 1963. The Uncut Gems star has said she dressed as Jackie Kennedy as “a statement” about the poise and “extraordinary bravery” she showed when subjected to unimaginable “brutality”.

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Big belly, wavy fur and a nose for trouble: we exclusively reveal the new-look Paddington

It’s been the biggest secret in theatre: what will the marmalade-loving, hyper-polite Peruvian look like in Paddington the Musical? As the curtain rises, we speak to the new bear’s creator, a veteran of Star Wars and PG Tips ads

Paddington stands within touching distance. His fur flutters as he turns, his neat button nose sniffs the air, and his eyes soften with a smile. For years, design details of the bear for Paddington the Musical, directed by Luke Sheppard, have been kept top secret. Now here he is, in his blue duffel coat and red hat. A quiet theatrical marvel. “What we’re doing,” says producer Sonia Friedman, “has never been done before.”

Standing around 1.2 metres (just under 4ft) tall, the bear is beautifully round, all belly and sloping shoulders. He is not an exact replica of the Paddingtons we’ve seen in illustrations or movies, but something new. His shaggy, caramel fur has a gentle wave, and his white snout is dotted with a brown nose, ideal for sniffing out trouble. Around his neck sits a label, threaded through an old piece of string, asking for someone to look after him.

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Flights delayed across US amid air traffic controller shortages as shutdown drags on

Nearly 50% of 30 busiest airports facing absences as staff are forced to work without pay and shutdown hits 31st day

Nearly 50% of the 30 busiest US airports faced shortages of air traffic controllers, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Friday, leading to flight delays nationwide as a federal government shutdown hit its 31st day.

The absence of controllers on Friday is by far the most widespread since the shutdown began, with one of the worst-hit regions being New York, where 80% of air traffic controllers were out, the agency said.

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