The Guardian World

The satellite service was still operating at a cap of 161km/hr, crippling key air defences

In Vienna this morning, Austria’s foreign ministry has announced it is kicking out another four Russian diplomats over “activities incompatible ⁠with their diplomatic status” – a euphemism usually for espionage.

Three of them worked at the Russian embassy while the other worked at the Organization ​for ​Security and Cooperation in Europe) in arms control, Die Presse is reporting.

They had all been monitored for some time by the Austrian security authorities.

Storm Adam brings heavy rain to Valencia, Alicante and Balearic Islands, as Storm Austen gusts strike England and Wales

Storm Adam brought torrential rain to eastern Spain earlier this week. In Pego, Alicante, 632mm fell in 36 hours with 430mm of this falling in just six hours, while the Valencian town of Olivia received 600mm in 24 hours. As a result, 145 municipalities, approximately 850,000 people, across Valencia and Alicante were placed in a temporary lockdown on Monday due to the severe flooding.

At least five people have died and 500 have been rescued and 2,100 evacuated. The storm also affected the Balearic Islands, with more than 130 incidents recorded in Ibiza including standing water at the airport, which caused some flights to be diverted or suspended. Although the worst of the storm has passed and conditions improving across Valencia and Alicante, local disruption is expected to continue.

Ministers have repeated several warnings in the last 18 months about the threat of hybrid attacks from overseas

Andy Burnham has been meeting armed forces veterans and Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal collectors to mark the start of the year’s campaign.

Burnham welcomed them to Number 10 North’s office in central Manchester, contrary to the usual convention of making a donation to the cause on the steps of Number 10 in Downing Street.

Search and rescue efforts under way after quake strikes region’s north, officials say, with at least seven aftershocks recorded

A magnitude-7 earthquake has hit Tibet, killing at least 16 people, injuring 54 and destroying hundreds of homes in the northern regional city of Nagqu, official media have said.

Search and rescue efforts continued after at least 339 homes and 20 livestock sheds collapsed, the Nagqu media office said, citing city government officials. It was the biggest quake in the region in the past five years, according to China’s national broadcaster CCTV.

Latest negative economic update comes as John Healey is due to announce budget next week

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Retail sales in Great Britain fell more steeply than expected last month, the latest negative economic update before the chancellor, John Healey, announces his budget next week.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the volume of goods sold fell 0.4% month on month in September, much steeper than economists’ consensus expectations of a 0.1% fall.

Economic fallout from war in Middle East adds to pressures on consumers and on chancellor before budget

Consumer confidence in the UK has fallen at the fastest rate outside the Covid pandemic since the 2016 Brexit vote as the escalating economic damage from the war in the Middle East hits Britain.

With less than a week before John Healey’s first budget, the latest barometer from the data company GfK indicated confidence plunged by 11 percentage points in October to -24 amid pressure on consumers from the rising cost of living.

Case filed in 2022 by patient unable to afford medicine leads to cap on drug prices for millions who face ruin if diagnosed

The Indian government has moved to reduce the price of cancer drugs after a retired bank clerk took her case to the supreme court.

From next month, 137 cancer drugs in India will be cheaper as the government tries to tackle the tragedy of poorer patients either forgoing treatment, selling land or falling into debt to meet the high cost of some medicines, which are making large profits for hospitals and pharmacists.

David Shoebridge’s newly-minted leadership under pressure over handling of misconduct allegations as Senate estimates looms

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More than a week after allegations that Greens senator Jordon Steele-John had behaved inappropriately towards women made headlines, his position in the party remains in limbo and its new leader’s handling of the issue in question.

David Shoebridge’s first major challenge at the helm of the federal Greens came earlier this month when the Nine newspapers reported a three-page letter had been sent to him urging an independent investigation into Steele-John.

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Officials will call on UK to ‘step up’ financial support at Brussels summit – with post-Brexit issues also on agenda

EU leaders will press Andy Burnham at a summit in Brussels to contribute more to Ukraine’s defence effort in 2027.

EU officials argue that the UK, Canada and Japan should do more to support Ukraine, but entreaties to these G7 countries for extra financial aid at recent international meetings have not been answered, Brussels says.

Regular users detail their frustrations – and question whether Andy Burnham’s crackdown on antisocial behaviour will actually work

Andy Burnham has announced a campaign against nuisance behaviour on public transport, including “headphone dodgers” who play loud music.

“We’ve all been on the train when someone starts blasting music or videos from their phone,” Burnham said in a statement. “It gets on your nerves and can quickly spoil the journey.”

In today’s newsletter: ​Born from the fury surrounding the deadly Novi Sad station collapse, Serbia’s Student List has taken its protests all the way to the elections in an unprecedented grassroots campaign

Good morning. As waves of youth-led protests swell across Europe, prompted by the cost of living, unaffordable housing and education standards, in Serbia the younger generation is taking on the apparatus of the state itself.

In tight-run parliamentary elections this Sunday, the country’s most consequential political movement in decades, Student List, is challenging former Slobodan Milošević henchman Aleksandar Vučić and his 12-year domination of Serbian politics.

UK news | Every Briton is being urged to stock up to nine litres of bottled water and three days’ worth of food in new government guidance designed to ensure that households can survive a weather, cyber or other serious emergency.

Ukraine | Russia has carried out a massive “demonstrative” attack on Ukraine, bombarding Kyiv with ballistic missiles just hours after Vladimir Putin said he had agreed to resume trilateral negotiations.

UK politics | Nigel Farage’s newest billionaire donor was in business with a powerful Iranian religious foundation under the authority of the country’s supreme leader.

Europe news | Emmanuel Macron has said “illegitimate” demonstrations will be banned over the coming days as France seeks to get a grip on civil unrest after some of its worst street violence in years.

Energy | Great Britain is expected to pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe this winter as its reliance on imports to ensure a steady supply is forecast to deepen.

Official forecasts show country will meet energy demand by paying high prices to secure imports

Great Britain is expected to pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe this winter as its reliance on imports to ensure a steady supply is forecast to deepen.

Energy system operators have said the country will have enough gas and electricity to meet demand over the coldest months – in part because of paying higher market prices than neighbouring markets to secure imports.

Protests and fringe violence expose sharp divide between marginalised and immigrant youth and those with greater prospects

Martina Miccichè was filming riot police kicking and beating a teenager with batons as they dragged him along Piazza del Duomo, the central Milan square hosting its cathedral, when she was struck by a flying object, causing a deep gash and bruising near her right eye.

The journalist had joined hundreds of mostly young people marching through the northern Italian city on Saturday afternoon to protest over soaring living costs and unaffordable housing, echoing the wider wave of economic discontent fuelling protests across Europe.

Exclusive: Wes Streeting says MoD in talks amid legal challenge by LGBT staff forced out of military

Wes Streeting is pursuing an out-of-court resolution to a legal battle over compensation for gay veterans who were forced to resign from the armed forces because of their sexuality.

The defence secretary told the Guardian the Ministry of Defence was holding talks this week in the midst of a high court challenge over rules that blocked some veterans receiving £50,000 payments despite being forced out of military service.

Visa quotas, university fees and NHS surcharges remain sticking points ahead of post-Brexit negotiations next month

A deadline for a youth mobility scheme between the EU and the UK could be deferred by six months in a bid to ensure Andy Burnham has a successful “reset” summit on 20 November, diplomats have said.

EU ambassadors in Brussels on Wednesday heard that the UK was still insisting on international tuition fees, quotas and an NHS surcharge for EU students. This has fuelled fears the summit could fail, just as the prime minister is promising to unveil a new vision for Britain’s long-term relationship with the EU.

High inflation, low growth and rising unemployment can be added to the federal treasurer’s wall of worries

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Jim Chalmers in a speech last week offered the scant encouragement that the economy would be “a bit better” in a year’s time.

Fast forward to Friday morning, and the treasurer revealed that his officials were busy downgrading their forecasts ahead of December’s mid-year budget update to show slower growth and higher unemployment.

People succumbed to heat at highest rates in Malta, Italy and Hungary, with health issues, loneliness and poverty exacerbating toll

Heat killed a record 50,000 people in European cities this summer, new research suggests, with scientists blaming climate breakdown for two in every three of the deaths.

Morgues and funeral homes filled with bodies from June to August as the heat added by planet-baking pollution cut short an extra 32,000 lives in urban areas, the researchers found. Hot days pushed vulnerable bodies into overdrive and warm nights prevented them from recovering.

Alois uses the first veto of his reign to quash parliament-approved bill backed by a national petition

The hereditary prince of Liechtenstein has used his veto for the first time in his reign to quash a bill aimed at bringing abortion laws in line with much of Europe.

The legislation was approved by Liechtenstein’s parliament last month after the presentation of a citizens’ initiative signed by roughly a quarter of the nation’s voters.

Will Donald Trump accept a ‘blue wave’ if it happens? Have young people turned away from centrist politics for ever? Will the US ever recover its image on the world stage? Jonathan Freedland is joined by the Guardian US columnist Moira Donegan to answer these questions and more

Buy your tickets to the Guardian’s post-midterms live event, hosted by Jonathan Freedland

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Send your questions and feedback to politicsweeklyamerica@theguardian.com

Watch Stateside’s episode on attacks on voter rights in the US

Michelle Landry announces she will not recontest her Queensland seat of Capricornia at the next election

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Matt Canavan could attempt a switch to the House of Representatives after a colleague announced her looming retirement, as a leading pollster said the Nationals leader had a “zero per cent” chance of holding his Senate seat if the One Nation polling surge remains unchanged.

Veteran National MP Michelle Landry on Friday announced she would not recontest her Queensland seat of Capricornia, around Rockhampton, at the next election.

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