The talks in Azerbaijan have seen nations at odds over how much money developed countries should provide to poorer ones

Marching in silence with their arms crossed high, activists from around the world protested the draft deal at the Cop29 venue last night.

“Pay up or shut up!” the campaign group Demand Climate Justice said in a post on social media.

Met Office says UK will see as much as 20 to 40cm of snow over hills, accompanied by strong winds

The PA news agency has some more travel disruption updates:

The M48 Severn Bridge in Gloucestershire is closed in both directions between J1 and J2 due to strong winds and National Highways has advised motorists to use the M4 Prince of Wales Bridge.

Avanti West Coast, which runs the west coast mainline services, has cancelled its services north of Preston all day.

Russia’s defence ministry said that its forces had captured the settlement of Novodmytrivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region

US president-elect Donald Trump is considering tapping Richard Grenell, his former intelligence chief, to be a special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to four sources familiar with the transition plans.

Grenell, who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany and was acting director of national intelligence during Trump’s 2017-2021 term, would play a key role in Trump’s efforts to halt the war if he is ultimately selected for the post.

Freedom of speech groups alarmed after events to promote book by Hope Not Hate employee are called off

Hanif Kureishi, Billy Bragg and freedom of speech groups have voiced alarm after a number of venues cancelled events to promote a book by an anti-racism campaigner amid threats and fears that the recent riots have emboldened the far right.

An east London bookshop this week became the latest venue to pull plans to promote Rebel Sounds, a book about the role music plays in the fight against racism and other struggles.

Local government ombudsman report into SEND in England offers damning assessment

England’s special education system is failing, causing thousands of children to have their development put back by months or even years, according to a damning report by the local government ombudsman.

Amerdeep Somal, the local government and social care ombudsman, said her caseload was now dominated by complaints from families involving special educational needs (Sen) provision and schools, with more than 90% of complaints being upheld.

Israel targets Hezbollah in Lebanese capital while hospital director and six colleagues reportedly killed in north, with more medics and UN peacekeepers among other casualties

A powerful airstrike targeted central Beirut on Saturday, security sources said, shaking the Lebanese capital as Israel pressed its offensive against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group.

At least four people were killed and 33 wounded in the attack in Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, Hezbollah’s al-Manar broadcaster reported, citing the health ministry. Lebanon’s National News Agency said early on Saturday that the attack resulted in a large number of fatalities and injuries and destroyed an eight-storey building. Footage broadcast by Lebanon’s Al Jadeed station showed at least one destroyed building and several others badly damaged around it.

Despite new rules, many lenders have decided to implement the optional exemption

Some victims of bank transfer scams will not get a penny back despite beefed-up rules designed to better protect consumers from fraudsters, because several big banks have introduced an excess on refund claims.

New rules requiring banks and other payment companies to reimburse fraud victims who have been tricked into sending money to scammers took effect last month, and included an optional £100 excess that firms can apply to a claim.

Gladiator II and Wicked filling up theatres but unlikely to replicate phenomenon of Barbie-Oppenheimer release

The great Barbenheimer clash of summer 2023 – when Barbie came out on the same day as Oppenheimer – will for ever be a part of cinema history for capturing the public imagination and bringing audiences back to cinemas in droves after years of Covid-induced antipathy.

So it’s unsurprising, that in an attempt to recapture some of the excitement, fans have come up with a new portmanteau: Glicked, used to refer to the face-off between Gladiator II and Wicked this week.

Conservationists failed to capture elusive insects this summer, so Kristina Kenda offered to step in

When British conservationists flew to Slovenia this summer hoping to catch enough singing cicadas to reintroduce the species to the New Forest, the grasshopper-sized insects proved impossible to locate, flying elusively at great height between trees.

Now a 12-year-old girl has offered to save the Species Recovery Trust’s reintroduction project. Kristina Kenda, the daughter of the Airbnb hosts who accommodated the trust’s director, Dom Price, and conservation officer Holly Stanworth in the summer summer, will put out special nets to hopefully catch enough cicadas to re-establish a British population.

Another novel written by a UK author has been withdrawn as publishers and booksellers grapple with the issues of First Nations culture and history as plot points

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When British crime writer Elly Griffiths released her fourth novel in the bestselling Ruth Galloway mystery series, she did her homework.

A Room Full of Bones, published in 2011 and republished in 2016, features mysterious deaths in horse racing stables and museums. Consequently the East Sussex-based author consulted a UK archaeologist, a UK museum curator, visited West Sussex’s Cisswood racing stables and picked the brains of a UK equine veterinarian specialist.

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