New gangs 'Uberise' Europe's cocaine supply and bring more violence

Rising production from Latin America has led groups from North Africa and the Balkans to change the drug trade, EU agency says

A surge in the supply of pure cocaine to Europe has led to a rise in drug-related murders as new criminal gangs muscle into a market previously dominated by the mafia, the EU drugs agency has said.

The extra output from Latin America, especially by the biggest producer, Colombia has led to growing numbers of gangs including from Morocco and the Balkans setting up their own smuggling lines straight from producers.

Synthethic cannabis makers face life in jail amid New Zealand crackdown

Drug will be classified as class A as government tackles scourge of country’s most deadly narcotic

Manufacturers and distributors of synthetic cannabis could face life in prison after the New Zealand government announced a crackdown on the drug following more than 50 deaths this year.

Active chemicals in the drug would now be classified as class-A drugs, health minister David Clarke said, and police would be given greater enforcement powers.

Keith Richards gives up drinking (almost), saying 'I got fed up with it'

Hard-living Rolling Stones guitarist says he hasn’t been on the hard booze for about a year

Keith Richards, the legendarily hard-living guitarist of the Rolling Stones, has quit drinking – almost – saying he “just got fed up with it”.

Despite inspiring an industry of memes celebrating his unreconstructed lifestyle, Richards has told Rolling Stone magazine that he has more or less quit the booze.

Yemen, Theresa May, Maria Butina: Your Friday Briefing

‘I felt like an impostor’: a mixed-race American in Africa

‘Passing for white’ was a complicated feeling at home in Ohio. In Chad, it was a whole different experience again. By Alexander Hurst

Every time I crossed the courtyard, walked past the well in the corner and slipped out of the baby blue gate nestled into the high brick wall that surrounded my Chadian host family’s house, I instantly became nasara. It’s a Ngambay word that means both “foreigner” and “white person” at the same time. A little pack of children would follow me down the red-dirt street, chanting “nah-sa-rah, nah-sa-rah” and laughing.

During my first weeks in Moundou I had protested once – in jest – to Sem, a balding evangelical pastor with a belly and a deep laugh, who was my NGO’s main contact in the town. “You know my mom is black, right?” I said to him, from the passenger seat of his SUV.

Don’t Weasel Out of Ethics Reforms, Albany

CBS Paid the Actress Eliza Dushku $9.5 Million to Settle Harassment Claims

EU leaders reject May's idea to salvage her Brexit deal

Jean-Claude Juncker tells PM it’s not Europe’s job to satisfy demands of rebellious Tories

EU leaders delivered a devastating knock-back to Theresa May after she appealed to them to hold “nothing in reserve” and work with her to salvage her Brexit deal by putting a 12-month limit on the unpopular Irish backstop.

The embattled prime minister had pinned her hopes on a last-ditch effort to persuade the European Union to work with her in devising a legal guarantee, known as a “joint interpretative instrument”, that she believes could get her Brexit deal through parliament.

The Robots Have Descended on Trump Country

Pelosi and Her No. 2 Go Back 50 Years. But They’re Not Quite Friends.

Britain’s direct complicity in the war in Yemen must end | Rowan Williams

Count the number of times you see or hear the phrase “peace on Earth” in the next week or so. It’s one of the great Christmas themes – or great Christmas cliches, if you want to be cynical. But in the year when we remember the centenary of the end of the first world war, when the image of mass graves for millions is fresh in our minds, it needs to be more than a seasonal bromide.

It’s not even as though British involvement in war were a thing of the past. Thank God, most of us have not directly experienced in our lifetimes the impact of full-scale war; but our official policies are still helping to support large-scale slaughter and long-term misery elsewhere in the world. Think of Yemen, where up to 14 million people are on the edge of famine as a result of a war that continues to claim countless lives; a war in which the UK government is complicit through its sales of arms to Saudi Arabia. These arms sales have increased by two thirds since 2016, and now account for nearly half of Britain’s major arms exports.

Sanders and Warren Meet and Agree: They Both Are Probably Running

Chase for Talent Pushes Tech Giants Far Beyond West Coast

Three Choices on Brexit, None Good

Trump Improvises New Defense in Hush Money Payments

Emissions, Yemen, Michael Cohen: Your Thursday Evening Briefing

Healthcare to get $100bn boost as India aims to cut maternal deaths

Spending on health will double by 2025, with India intent on improving its record on mortality of mothers and infants

India has pledged to spend $100bn (£79bn) more on healthcare over the next seven years in a move partly aimed at reducing maternal mortality rates.

The country will more than double its health spending from just over the current 1% of GDP to 2.5% by 2025, prime minister Narendra Modi announced.

Sondra Locke, actor and former partner of Clint Eastwood, dies at 74

Actor starred in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, before role in Eastwood’s The Outlaw Josey Wales

Sondra Locke, the American actor who was nominated for an Oscar for her first film before co-starring in six films with her one-time partner, Clint Eastwood, has died.

The actor, who was 74, died at her home in Los Angeles after a cardiac arrest stemming from breast and bone cancer, according to a death certificate obtained by Associated Press. She died on 3 November and authorities were promptly notified at the time. It is not clear why it took nearly six weeks to be reported.

Surveillance fears grow after Taylor Swift uses face recognition tech on fans

Pop star’s reported use of software to root out stalkers may be well meant, but it fuels a disturbing trend, experts say

Taylor Swift secretly secretly surveilling her fans using facial recognition technology might sound like science fiction – but Rolling Stone reported on Thursday that the pop star has been doing exactly that in an effort to root out stalkers.

Swift has stayed silent on the report, declining to comment to the Guardian and other news organizations. But the episode has raised ethical questions for civil rights groups concerned about privacy.

'The saddest image': courtroom sketch captures Michael Cohen's bad day

Artist known for images of Tom Brady and Harvey Weinstein portrays moment of former Trump fixer’s downfall

Michael Cohen did not have a good day yesterday. But no headline captured the discontent of Trump’s former personal lawyer, sentenced to three years in prison for financial crimes and lying to Congress, quite as well as this courtroom sketch.

His despairing eyes and deep frown lines caught the attention of Stephen Colbert, who called it the “saddest” of all the images we’ve seen of Cohen’s “slow descent into finding out what the law is”.

Nancy Wilson Dies at 81; Jazz Singer Who Turned Songs Into Stories

Chérif Chekatt, Strasbourg Attacker, Is Killed by French Police, Officials Say

Pastor Charged With ‘Inciting Subversion’ as China Cracks Down on Churches

Antarctica deaths: no foul play suspected in deaths at McMurdo station

Two fire-safety technicians died on Wednesday at the US-managed station, but investigators are still piecing together what happened

No criminal activity is suspected in the deaths of two subcontractors killed at a US research station in Antarctica, the National Science Foundation has said.

Investigators are still piecing together what happened when two fire-safety technicians died during maintenance inside a generator outbuilding at McMurdo Station, the agency said.

Sondra Locke, Oscar-Nominated Actress, Dies at 74

Chris Dawson asked man with criminal links how to get rid of wife Lynette, court told

Former rugby league player, who intends to plead not guilty, faces bail hearing

Chris Dawson allegedly approached a man with criminal connections to ask how he might go about getting rid of his wife Lynette Dawson, a Sydney court has heard.

The former rugby league player, who intends to plead not guilty to murdering his wife almost 40 years ago, faced court via video link for a bail application on Friday.

Senate Votes to End Aid for Yemen Fight Over Khashoggi Killing and Saudis’ War Aims

How ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’ Went From Parlor Act to Problematic

On Pro Hockey: Would Seattle Drink Coffee From Its Stanley Cup?

John Kerry: Forget Trump. We All Must Act on Climate Change.

Lee stabbing: witness appeal after police make murder arrest

Suspect aged 18 joins 16-year-old already in custody over death of Jay Sewell, 16

An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of stabbing to death a teenager in south-east London.

Jay Sewell died after a fight in Lee in the city’s south-east shortly before 10pm on Tuesday.

Trump Inaugural Fund and Super PAC Said to Be Scrutinized for Illegal Foreign Donations

Breast Cancer Risk May Rise After Childbirth, but Is Still Low

Apple to Add $1 Billion Texas Campus and Thousands of Jobs Across U.S.

A Human Heart, Left Aboard, Sends Airplane Back to Where it Started

Turning to a New Brexit Battle, Theresa May Faces E.U. Resistance

Main suspect in Strasbourg attack has been killed by French police - video report

The alleged shooter in Strasbourg, Chérif Chekatt, has been killed by police, it has been confirmed. In a brief statement released on Thursday night, French police said the man had been 'neutralised'. Earlier reports from various news agencies, citing police sources, had said Chekatt had been shot at about 9pm near where he launched the attack on Tuesday, which left three people dead and 13 wounded. According to l’Obs news magazine, he was traced to the Neudorf area of Strasbourg and shot at about 9pm local time (8pm GMT)

Strasbourg attack suspect killed by police