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China spy row: key witness statement to be published, says Starmer

Downing Street will publish a witness statement from the deputy national security adviser viewed as central to the decision to withdraw spying charges against two British men, Keir Starmer has said. Updating MPs at the start of prime minister’s questions, Starmer said that the statement by Matthew Collins would be released after a “short process” to ensure all the information within it could be published. Starmer’s announcement followed a statement late on Tuesday from the Crown Prosecution Service, which said it had no objection to the release of the statement given that the case against Christopher Cash, a former parliamentary researcher, and Christopher Berry, a teacher, was no longer live. “I therefore carefully considered this question this morning, and after legal advice, I have decided to publish the witness statement,” Starmer said. “Given the information contained, we will conduct a short process, but I want to make clear, I intend to publish the witness statements in full.” More details soon…

Gaza ceasefire live: Israel says body handed over by Hamas is not a hostage amid reports vital aid crossing to reopen

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Sweden, Estonia, and Finland pledge to increase spending on weapons purchases from US – Europe live

German defence minister Boris Pistorius hit back on Wednesday at critics within his own government as a row over army recruitment threatens to overshadow Berlin’s push to bolster its military deterrence, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports. Conservative chancellor Friedrich Merz, citing the threat of a hostile Russia, has tasked Pistorius of the centre-left Social Democrats with boosting recruitment to build up “the strongest conventional army in Europe”. But the question of how to get there has led to angry recriminations, as Pistorius prefers a purely voluntary approach and Merz’s CDU/CSU has advocated the potential use of a draft lottery if necessary. The coalition government had planned a first reading of a compromise draft law this week, but disagreement on the details sparked a row on Tuesday. Pistorius told reporters on Wednesday that the idea of a draft lottery was a “lazy compromise” and would be too time-consuming in practice.

One of four bodies released by Hamas ‘does not match any of hostages’, Israel says

One of the four bodies handed over by Hamas on Tuesday night is not a missing hostage from Gaza, the Israeli military has said, as the country’s far-right security minister called for a total halt on humanitarian aid into the strip. The bodies were released late on Tuesday evening after the Israeli government threatened to keep the road between Gaza and Egypt closed and halve the expected flow of aid into the strip. The moves came amid the despair and anger of grieving families that only four of the missing 28 deceased hostages had been released on Monday when the 20 Israelis still alive in Gaza came home. The ceasefire agreement requires Hamas to make every effort to return the missing bodies in exchange for those of 360 Palestinians killed in the war in Gaza. After the release of the remains of what Hamas said were four more hostages, the Israeli government appeared on Wednesday morning to have relented on their threats, but only three of those handed over have since been identified as missing Israelis. The Israeli military said on Wednesday that one of the bodies handed over by Hamas “does not match any of the hostages”, after examinations at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv. “Hamas is required to make all necessary efforts to return the deceased hostages,” it said. Israel has repeatedly blocked aid from entering Gaza during the conflict, prompting accusations it has used starvation as a weapon of war. Humanitarian officials have repeatedly warned that assistance was desperately needed. Famine was declared in parts of Gaza in August. Speaking on Tuesday, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who is a security minister despite having been convicted in 2007 of racist incitement and supporting groups on terrorism blacklists, said Hamas was “playing games”. He said: “Enough with the disgrace. Moments after opening the crossings to hundreds of trucks, Hamas very quickly returned to its known methods – to lie, to cheat, and to abuse families and the bodies. This Nazi terror understands only force, and the only way to deal with it is to erase it from the face of the earth.” Ben Gvir called on Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to issue “a clear ultimatum to Hamas: if you do not immediately return all the bodies of our fallen and you continue with these delays, we will immediately halt all aid supplies entering the [Gaza] Strip”. The chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said the military would “not rest until we return all [of the hostages]. This is our moral, national and Jewish duty.” “In coordination with the political echelon, we will insist and stand firm on upholding all the agreements,” he said at a handover ceremony for the chief of the Northern Corps. Three of the bodies have been identified as the hostages Staff Sgt Tamir Nimrodi, 18, Ouriel Baruch, 35, and Eitan Levy, 53. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement that Nimrodi had been kidnapped alive on 7 October but “killed by IDF bombings in captivity”. The body of Baruch, a father of two from Jerusalem, was taken from the Nova music festival where was shot dead near his car during the Hamas attack. Levy, a taxi driver, was killed after dropping off a friend at the Be’eri kibbutz on the morning of the attack and his remains were taken into Gaza the same day. Under the ceasefire deal, Israel has freed some doctors, nurses and paramedics seized during raids on hospitals in Gaza, but other high-profile medical figures remain missing. According to the NGO Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), more than 100 remain in Israeli prisons, including Dr Hussam Abu Safiya, a hospital director, who became the face of the struggle to keep treating patients under Israeli siege and bombardment. Abu Safiya, the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza, has been imprisoned without charge by Israel for nearly 10 months. HWW, which documents detentions from Gaza, said 55 medical workers – including 31 doctors and nurses – were on lists of freed detainees. The group said at least 115 medical workers remained in custody, as well as the remains of four who died while in Israeli prisons, where rights groups and witnesses have reported frequent abuse.

Raila Odinga, key Kenyan opposition figure and former PM, dies aged 80

The veteran Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga, who ran five times for the presidency and had a profound influence on the country’s politics, has died aged 80 in India. An Indian police source told Agence France-Presse he was walking with his sister, daughter, a personal doctor and two security officers “when he suddenly collapsed” and was taken to hospital where he was declared dead. Devamatha hospital in Kerala state confirmed his death to the Associated Press, saying he had had a cardiac arrest and failed to respond to resuscitation attempts. Odinga was in India for treatment in the southern city of Kochi. An enduring opposition figure in Kenyan politics, Odinga became an MP in 2002 and his most recent run for the presidency was in 2022. His narrow loss to Mwai Kibaki in the disputed 2007 election triggered unrest that killed about 1,300 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. He became prime minister in 2008 in a national unity government headed by his former foe Kibaki, as a part of a deal to end the bloodshed. His fight for democracy helped the country achieve two milestone political reforms: changing from a one-party state to a multiparty democracy in 1991, and enacting a new constitution in 2010. A hugely popular figure, Odinga was able to mobilise massive crowds to attend his rallies, and supporters called him Baba – “father” in Swahili. As news of his death reached the streets, hundreds of supporters from the Nairobi slum of Kibera made their way in a procession to Odinga’s home. In reaction to youth-led anti-government protests last year, he entered an agreement with the president, William Ruto, under which his Orange Democratic Movement party became part of a “broad-based government” and gained a role in policymaking. The former chief justice and current presidential aspirant David Maraga said he was “shocked” by news of Odinga’s death. He described him as “a patriot, a pan-Africanist, a democrat and a leader who made significant contributions to democracy in Kenya and in Africa”. “Kenya has lost one of its most formidable leaders who shaped the trajectory of our beloved country. Africa has lost a leading voice in pushing for peace, security and development. The world has lost a great leader,” he said on X. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, the chair of the African Union Commission, said Odinga was “a steadfast champion of democracy, good governance, and people-centered development”. He posted on X: “His decades-long commitment to justice, pluralism, and democratic reform left an indelible mark not only on Kenya but across the African continent.” The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, said Odinga was a “towering statesman”. Condolences were also offered by Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, and Tanzanian president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, who described Odinga’s death as a tragedy “not just for Kenya, but for all of us”.

Israel reportedly pulls back from threat to slash humanitarian aid entering Gaza

Israel will allow Gaza’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt to open and will not cut the amount of humanitarian aid entering the devastated Palestinian territory as threatened, Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, has reported, after Hamas handed over more remains of hostages. The fragile ceasefire in Gaza had faced its first test when Israel said on Tuesday the flow of vital humanitarian assistance into Gaza would be cut by half and the crucial Rafah border crossing with Egypt would not open on Wednesday as planned, accusing Hamas of failing to comply with the deal agreed last week by delaying the return the bodies of hostages. Hamas said the delays were due to difficulties locating burial sites amid the swaths of rubble left by the two-year conflict. Hours later, the militant group handed over the remains of four more hostages to the Red Cross, bringing to eight the number of bodies transferred since the US-brokered ceasefire took hold, and leaving 20 to be accounted for. Three of the four bodies returned by Hamas were identified by their families early on Wednesday but there were doubts about the fourth, Israeli media reported. About 600 trucks carrying mainly food and medical supplies, as well as equipment needed for repairing damaged infrastructure, will be allowed into Gaza and Palestinians who had left the territory during the war will be allowed back in for the first time, Kan reported. Others would be allowed to leave through the Rafah crossing, subject to Israel’s security approval. There was no immediate confirmation of the report from Israeli or Palestinian officials. Rafah has been shut since it was seized by Israeli forces in May 2023, limiting entry into Gaza to entry points from Israel. Israel has repeatedly blocked aid from entering Gaza during the conflict, prompting accusations it has used starvation as a weapon of war. Humanitarian officials in Gaza City said on Wednesday assistance was desperately needed, with hundreds of thousands there without clean water, food and other essentials, and many more suffering greatly. Famine was declared in parts of Gaza in August. Tess Ingram of Unicef, speaking from southern Gaza, said: “We had heard that Sunday would be the first day of a big scale-up of aid coming in but what we’ve seen so far is in very sharp contrast to how high and desperate the needs are.” Aid officials said even the 600 trucks that were supposed to enter Gaza daily under the new agreement would be “a drop in the ocean”. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has demanded that Hamas fulfil the requirements laid out in the ceasefire deal – the first phase of a 20-point plan to end the two-year conflict in Gaza set out by the US president, Donald Trump – about the return of the hostages’ bodies. He said: “We will not compromise on this and will not stop our efforts until we return the last deceased hostage, until the last one.” The plan had called for all hostages – living and dead – to be handed over by a deadline that expired on Monday. But negotiators recognised the logistical challenges of locating all remains amid the widespread destruction in Gaza, and the deal allows Hamas to merely share information about deceased hostages as efforts continue to hand over the bodies as soon as possible. On Monday, Israelis celebrated the return of the last 20 living hostages in Gaza and Palestinians rejoiced at Israel’s release of about 2,000 prisoners and detainees as part of the ceasefire’s first phase. Negotiations are under way on a second phase, which will have to resolve multiple thorny issues. The Hostages Family Forum, a group representing many of the hostages’ families, said the three dead hostages whose remains were identified on Tuesday night were Uriel Baruch, Tamir Nimrodi and Eitan Levi. Baruch was abducted from the Nova music festival during the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023 that triggered the war in Gaza. Nimrodi, who had been serving with the Israeli defence ministry body that controls entry points into Gaza, was taken by militants from the Erez border crossing. The forum said Levi was abducted while driving a friend to a kibbutz during the Hamas attack. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is overseeing the transfer of remains, said on Monday that the retrieval was a “massive challenge” given the difficulties of finding bodies in Gaza’s rubble, and could take days or weeks. A spokesperson for the ICRC said parties to the agreement had a responsibility to search for, collect and evacuate human remains. Julien Lerisson, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, said: “The parties must endeavour to facilitate the return of the remains of the deceased to their families. The ICRC can fulfil its functions as a neutral intermediary only through the cooperation of all actors, and within the framework of the current agreement. “We know that the families won’t give up on their loved ones, and neither will we – we are prepared to fulfil our role for as long as it takes, and as agreed by the parties.”

‘Catholicism is reinventing itself’: Brazilians waking at 4am to stream prayers

Psychologist Cláudia Rodrigues de Oliveira Barbosa, 54, needs to be at work by 7.40am, but she wakes up at 3.40am – not because she has a lengthy commute, but to watch a “dawn prayer” livestream on YouTube. She is one of the millions of Brazilians who tune in to the 4am sermons of Catholic friar Gilson da Silva Pupo Azevedo, 38, known as Frei Gilson, who has recently averaged an impressive 2m daily views for each video. “Some people find it odd that I wake up so early to pray with him, but it’s a time when the house is quiet and you’re disconnected from the world,” said Barbosa, who lives with her husband and two teenage boys. The habit of rising early to watch prayer livestreams is growing rapidly in the country, which is home to the world’s largest Catholic population. Frei Gilson is the most prominent of a number of religious leaders who have become livestreamers, and experts say the trend suggests that Brazil may be a testing ground for religious influencers updating Catholic rituals to keep them alive. “The Catholic church is trying to renew itself through digital missionaries, and I would say that Brazil is a major exporter of ideas to the Catholic world,” said religion scholar Rodrigo Toniol, professor of anthropology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The shift comes at worrying moment for the church: census data released this year showed that while three decades ago Catholics made up 82.9% of Brazilians, they now account for just over half of the population. Even so, they still comprise 56.7% of the 213 million people, with the second-largest faith group – evangelicals – accounting for 26.9%. “I’ve always prayed the chaplet and the rosary since I was a child; but the dawn livestreams are new,” said Danielle de Freitas Silva, 40, a dentist who recently spent 40 consecutive days waking before sunrise to pray with Frei Gilson. “I’m exhausted, because its tough waking up at 4am and then carrying on with a normal work routine – with a young daughter … but in that moment I truly feel close to Jesus,” she added. Frei Gilson did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for an interview, but recently said on a podcast that he began the early morning prayers in 2020, as a personal penance during Lent: “Giving up sweets and soda no longer felt like much of a sacrifice, so I thought that I could give my sleep to God,” he said. His broadcasts have grown year by year, with some videos now surpassing 4m views. A recent 40-day rosary period dedicated to Saint Michael ended with a 4am event attended in person by 37,000 people in Cachoeira Paulista, and also livestreamed. YouTube did not release viewing figures but a spokesperson said that, particularly since 2024, “we have seen a real boom in live prayer broadcasts” in Brazil, which have experienced “exponential growth”. Evangelical leaders, such as Pastor Vinicius Iracet, 38, who has more than 11 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, have also embraced the trend Iracet said he has more Catholic than evangelical viewers, something relatively surprising given that some Brazilian Catholics are reluctant to consume Protestant content. “I don’t talk about religion, but about Christ and his word,” said Iracet, who also insisted he does not discuss politics: “I have my political views, but I don’t share them because I think it would create more problems than help those who follow me.” Frei Gilson was associated with the former president Jair Bolsonaro after being briefly mentioned in the police inquiry into the far-right leader’s attempted coup. The friar was allegedly the recipient of a “coup prayer” sent by one of those under investigation, but no link between him and the case was ever established. For researcher Magali Cunha of the NGO Institute for the Study of Religion, the apolitical character of most prayer livestreamers also explains their growth, after years of polarisation during which priests and pastors took increasingly outspoken political stances – usually in support of rightwing or far-right candidates. “Political disputes have divided families and churches … so many of the people joining the livestreams see these digital spaces as a chance to disconnect from this polarised world,” she said. Both Cunha and Toniol agree that the livestream prayers phenomenon, although amplified by social media, is in many ways an update of longstanding habits such as listening to sermons on the radio or spending the night in prayer. “As Catholicism loses some of its appeal and people no longer practice as much as before, the logic of these influencers is to ritualise people’s daily lives with a prayer, a hymn, a devotion,” said Toniol, who recently returned from a postdoctoral fellowship in Rome, where he attended a Vatican meeting for digital missionaries. “The Catholic church, this powerful 2,000-year-old institution, is a master at transforming itself to overcome crises … Phenomena such as that of Frei Gilson show that Brazil remains predominantly Catholic, and that Catholicism, far from dying, is reinventing itself,” he added.

German retirees who continue working set to earn €2,000 a month tax-free

Germans who continue in the labour market beyond retirement age will be able to earn up to €2,000 (£1,750) a month tax-free on top of their pension under a scheme aimed at boosting economic growth and labour force participation rates. The “Aktivrente”, or active pension scheme, due to come into force in January, was promised on the campaign trail by the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, before he came into office five months ago. The government, a coalition of Merz’s conservative Christian Democrats (CDU) and junior partners the Social Democrats (SPD), hopes the plan will incentivise post-retirement working. A draft law is expected to be approved by the cabinet on Wednesday – after Merz won over his Social Democrat sceptics earlier this month – then debated in the Bundestag. Merz has described the measure as an attempt to take the bull by the horns after three years of economic stagnation exacerbated by a lack of skilled labour, itself a consequence of a chronic demographic crisis. Fewer Germans are being born and increasing numbers are entering retirement. About 9% of the workforce – 4.8 million people – are due to retire in the next decade. The effects are felt on a daily basis across multiple sectors of the economy, including construction, education and health. The Aktivrente forms part of what Merz has called an “autumn of reforms” to bring radical structural reform to Europe’s largest economy. According to the wording of the draft bill, the tax incentive is expected to help “keep experience and knowledge in companies for longer” and bring about an “overall increase in the employment rate” as well as “contributing to economic growth and higher government revenues”. Both employees and employers will pay social security contributions on the extra moneys earned, which in turn should help to ease the strains on Germany’s health and pension systems, the finance ministry has said. The active pension is to apply to everyone who has reached the statutory retirement age of 67 and wishes to continue working in a job that is subject to social security contributions. Civil servants, tradespeople, the self-employed and those employed in agricultural and forestry industries are excluded from the scheme, however, drawing criticism from the German Economic Institute (IW). Ruth Maria Schüler, an IW pension expert, told the broadcaster BR24: “The question is how one justifies the fact that one type of income is tax-exempt while others are not?” Schüler added that it put some workers at an unfair advantage. The government estimates that if about one quarter of those eligible took up the offer, the annual cost to the state in tax losses would be just under €900m, though experts have said a figure of €1.9bn is more accurate. Regardless, the government says the focus should be on the longer-term benefits of the scheme. It argues that extra economic growth and the increase in social security contributions could mean the scheme will more than pay for itself within three years. The government has also been keen to promote the social benefits, saying that the Aktivrente could help to boost the standing of older people in society and provide a psychological uplift by encouraging those who enjoy working and are fit to continue beyond 67.