United Kingdom

UK job vacancies recorded their sharpest decline since the start of the year over the three months to September, falling by 21,000 to 691,000 and dropping to their lowest level in more than five years. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) attributed the drop primarily to small and medium-sized businesses scaling back recruitment, citing increased labour costs driven by rising energy prices, higher National Insurance contributions, and the minimum wage. The figures, the last major snapshot before Chancellor John Healey's first Budget next week, showed the unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 4.7%, its lowest in over a year.

UK unemployment fell unexpectedly to 4.7% in the three months to August, down from 4.9%, according to Office for National Statistics figures released today, providing a brighter backdrop to the 28 October budget.

A Norwegian teenager has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for travelling to Britain to carry out an assassination on behalf of a Swedish organised crime group linked to Iran. Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 19, was convicted of conspiracy to murder after agreeing to kill an unknown target for roughly AUD$40,000.

A seriously ill British man living in Sweden has gone into hiding with his wife after being told he must leave the country by 17 October, following what he describes as a Brexit residency error. Mark Smith, 60, who suffers from heart attacks, strokes and chronically high blood pressure, says Swedish authorities initially assured him he did not need to take any action to stay after Brexit, but Sweden was among a group of EU states that required a formal application.

A former UK national security adviser has urged ministers to be honest with the British public about the growing risk of Russian "hybrid attacks", warning that they are becoming more reckless and that people could eventually be killed. Lord Ricketts also said Britain should stop trying to act as a bridge between Kyiv and Washington, saying there was no influence Britain could have on President Donald Trump "in the short term".

Labour leader Andy Burnham has dramatically revived the Brexit debate, stating that the UK's current arrangement with the European Union is inadequate and refusing to rule out full re-entry. "Sticking with the status quo is not good enough for Britain," he said this week, marking the most explicit call for a potential reversal from a major party leader since the 2016 vote.