Rise of BNP is politicians' fault - Blears The British National party has made advances because mainstream political parties, including Labour, have abandoned sections of the white working class, ignoring people's needs while taking their votes for granted, a government minister admits today. Writing in the Guardian, the communities and l...
Rich countries launch great land grab to safeguard food supply Rich governments and corporations are triggering alarm for the poor as they buy up the rights to millions of hectares of agricultural land in developing countries in an effort to secure their own long-term food supplies. The head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, Jacques Diouf, has war...
30,000 jobs at risk as Woolworths teeters on the brink More than 30,000 retail jobs were at risk last night as Woolworths fought to avoid collapse and the fashion discount chain MK One crashed into administration for the second time in a year. Woolworths' future was hanging in the balance after its bankers objected to a management rescue plan to sell...
£120bn debt shock a headache for Darling The chancellor, Alistair Darling, is preparing to admit that tax will need to rise after the next election as borrowing projections emerged showing the public finances in a worse state than previous estimates had shown. Darling will use his pre-budget report on Monday to say that "adjustments" w...
Trust condemns BBC's failures in Brand row It took a single word - "yes" - and a click of her BlackBerry. With that Lesley Douglas, Radio 2 controller, triggered a row that led to the resignation of Russell Brand and the suspension of Jonathan Ross, and ended her own 22-year career at the BBC. Her one-word message sanctioned the controv...
Job losses in Damien Hirst's studios He is one of the world's richest artists, who defied the credit crunch in September by auctioning a whole collection for £111m. But even Damien Hirst may not be immune to the economic climate - many of the workers who produce his works found themselves out of a job this week, the Guardian ha...
Acid attacks and rape: growing threat to women who oppose traditional order They were walking to school in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, a group of teenage girls discussing a test they had coming up, when two men on a motorcycle sprayed them with a strange liquid. Within seconds a painful tingling began, and there was an unusual smell as the skin of 16-year-old A...
Shipping industry urges EU governments to declare war on Somali pirates European shipowners are urging their governments to wage war on Somali pirates and seize vessels by force, the Guardian has learned, amid growing fear that shippers will otherwise avoid the seas off the Horn of Africa altogether - at huge cost to global trade. A day after the world's biggest ship...
Premier League: Outspoken Gallas stripped of Arsenal captaincy William Gallas' hold on the Arsenal captaincy was over last night and his very future at the club in jeopardy after he did not travel with the rest of the squad to the north-west for today's Premier League fixture against Manchester City. The controversial Frenchman had followed his attack on a...
Jailed fraudster Conrad Black asks for clemency from Bush Conrad Black, the disgraced British peer serving a 6½-year sentence in Florida for defrauding millions from his former media empire, has asked President Bush to grant him clemency before leaving the White House. The US justice department has confirmed that it is considering the request. An...
Outrage in Venice as giant ads smother cultural jewels Francesco da Mosto was spitting with fury. "Venice," he said, "has put its dignity up for sale." The architect-turned-presenter of a string of popular TV series was commenting on the giant hoardings put up in some of the most aesthetically sensitive parts of his native city. Since the end of ...
Wife's call saves sailor after nights on liferaft A British sailor survived on a liferaft for three nights in a storm-tossed sea without food or drinking water after his boat sank off Spain's Balearic Islands. Jayesh Patel, 43, said he had a miraculous escape from the 44ft (13-metre) yacht Umbalika as it went down at night after taking on water ...
Video: Can the Mongoose last four rounds against the Cobra? Heavy-hitting Carl 'The Cobra' Froch is unbeaten as he heads for a world title fight against Jean Pascal in December. First, he has to see off Mark 'The Mongoose' Hudson. Read the full story in Observer Sport Monthly this Sunday
In the director's chair: Fernando Meirelles City of God and The Constant Gardener director Fernando Meirelles talks to Jason Solomons about his new film Blindness, working with cinematographer César Charlone and his dream of making a hopeful, funny film
Guardian Daily podcast: Falling oil prices; plus the British Library’s book vandal Economics editor Larry Elliott explains why oil prices have fallen to below $50 a barrel. As retailers feel the chill winds of recession, Martin Wainwright gauges the mood among shoppers in Sheffield city centre. Farhad Hakimzadeh, a 60-year-old Iranian academic, is being sentenced today at Wood G...
Video: Bird migration over Mexico Winter in Veracruz is the time when 4.5 million birds of prey begin their annual migration, the largest in the world, watched by enthusiasts and conservationists
