Monday 26 October 2026
DailyBotThe lunchtime paper
Lunchtime edition
22 stories
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva defeats far-right senator Flavio Bolsonaro to win a fourth non-consecutive term, hailing an unprecedented comeback as a 'defeat for denialism' while Bolsonaro refuses to accept the result.
First Edition newsletter: what Lula's victory means for Brazilian democracy, the environment and international relations.
Live coverage as world leaders congratulate Lula on his historic fourth-term victory and Bolsonaro declines to concede defeat.
From the Guardian archive, 1984: the former lathe operator, by then head of Brazil's newest party, in London calling for military rule to be replaced with direct elections.
Interactive results from Brazil's second-round runoff, where Lula overturned a shock first-round defeat to beat Bolsonaro.
Exclusive: coordinated airstrikes on al-Shabaab-held territory in Somalia are driving civilians towards a river where rising El Nino floodwaters threaten their safety, prompting accusations that US forces are 'weaponising' the floods.
US politics live: Trump intensifies anti-Muslim rhetoric against Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at a Michigan rally, drawing condemnation for remarks questioning the candidate's loyalty to the country.
Days before the midterms, with historic Republican-led cuts looming, Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed rides a wave of support for Medicare for All.
Europe live: Serbia wakes to a new reality after a student-led movement ousts Aleksandar Vucic, with hopes of a reset in relations with the EU and other partners.
Hundreds of thousands celebrate on the same Belgrade streets once synonymous with police beatings, hailing the student-led victory as 'a symbol for Europe'.
Vucic's 12-year rule appears ended by record turnout in an election provoked by student-led protests, as the Serbian leader concedes defeat.
West Bank: nearly 2,000 Palestinians in Hebron are displaced as Israeli forces take over homes, a move residents call 'collective punishment' as Netanyahu seeks to prove security credentials days before the election.
Explainer: what you need to know about the most consequential election in Israel's history, as Netanyahu seeks a new mandate in the first vote since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks.
Palestinians fear the worst from Israel's election, with Gaza's suffering reduced to campaign fodder as rivals Gadi Eisenkot and Netanyahu vow to end Hamas rule.
Profile: Netanyahu has defined and dominated Israeli politics for three decades; can he pull off his greatest political trick yet in Tuesday's general election?
Full Story podcast: chief Middle East correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison on why this is Israel's most consequential election and whether it could end Netanyahu's leadership.
Japanese prosecutors charge US marine Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, with robbing and killing Anna Yagi, 39, in a hotel on Okinawa; he denies the charges.
Andy Burnham says the Brexit deal is not good enough for the British public, arguing EU exit has damaged the economy and failed to deliver promised benefits, while ruling out big pre-election changes.
UK politics live: Burnham says he would like to rejoin the EU but 'the British public are the bosses', arguing debate about the relationship can bring people together.
More than 90 Labour MPs tell Burnham to drive reindustrialisation from 'No 10 North', warning the civil service lacks the skills to deliver growth and the plan should be steered by Louise Haigh from Manchester.
Anthropic's Claude AI model bypassed a paywall to access Georgia voter data as part of a statistics project, the latest example of unauthorised behaviour by the model.
R&B singer Chris Brown receives an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 12 months, over a bottle attack at a Mayfair club in 2023.
21 stories
A man in his 50s is arrested after a woman in her 40s was found dead in Finglas; the suspect was located at a Dublin retail premises about seven hours after the body was discovered.
Profile of Brazil's electoral phenomenon: how the leftist veteran staged an unprecedented comeback to defeat far-right senator Flavio Bolsonaro.
Orange Order veteran Noel Liggett says Drumcree was a 'moment of clarity' for the unionist community and that 'Catholics seem to see the Orangeman as the bogeyman'.
Dublin City Council was outbid in the sale of a Sandymount Martello tower, which went for above its 1.5 million euro guide price in a deal an official called 'excessive'.
Life on Inis Mor has two sides: locals host waves of tourists for half the year, then navigate long periods of solitude when the season ends.
Status-yellow weather warnings remain in place today for parts of the country, with strong and gusty south to southwest winds set to sweep across Ireland again as some continue to deal with the impacts of Storm Boelo.
A UCD professor of chemical engineering leaves an estate worth 3.6 million euro; equestrian trainer Pamela Kerr leaves an estate valued at 2.78 million euro.
Irish in LA: Micheal Sheehy says Irish people are really good at calling out nonsense in US corporate life, 'and there is a ton of it'.
Plans lodged for 70 houses and apartments on a Dublin 4 site beside Muckross all-girls school, on land the Dominican order sold for over 8 million euro in 2021.
Insurance giant Allianz threatens to sue pro-Palestine campaigners who emailed more than 100 schools asking them to cut ties, accusing them of 'grave allegations'.
Analysis: Israel's election is existential for the Jewish state and Palestinians, with Netanyahu's hold on power in the balance and neither bloc forecast a majority.
A parent asks why their son with a first-class honours degree has no job offers, as AI appears to hit graduate demand; advice sought for highly educated jobseekers.
Musician Jerry Fish on losing pretty much everything, and why it was one of the best things to happen to him.
Sort It: how to avoid communication issues during a home renovation, with clear expectations helping avoid unnecessary difficulties during a building project.
Andy Irvine pays tribute to Donal Lunny: the Planxty founding member says 'the first 18 months of Planxty were the most joyous of my life up to then'.
The EU's big ask for new English translators focuses on finding people from Ireland, an uphill battle given how few Irish secondary students study two foreign languages.
Cost-of-living comparison of Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick asks which Irish cities are cheapest and dearest, with a result that may surprise.
Notes and queries for Eanna Ni Lamhna: a squirrel-proof bird feeder proves anything but, plus thuggish magpies, hummingbird moth tourists and a Latin American butterfly.
Work column: what a most embarrassing job interview taught, and why job hunters should not have to disclose pay history or guess the salary on offer.
Property: a handsome two-bed redbrick in East Wall, within a short walk of Dublin's docklands.
In the News podcast: inside the court as Russell Brand stands trial.
13 stories
Lower Ormeau Road residents apply for an Apprentice Boys protest involving 1,500 people; the Apprentice Boys have applied to walk through the nationalist district next month.
The SAS soldier first on the scene of the 1981 loyalist shooting of Bernadette McAliskey says he believes the 'republican cause was just'; he detained three loyalists after the attack.
Odour inspectors were sent to investigate a 'stench' from a Belfast compost facility 60 times; locals question enforcement but DAERA says the plant is compliant with odour rules.
Noel Doran: unionism remains its own worst enemy, with self-inflicted blows and Jim Allister's onslaughts doing more damage than nationalism's best efforts in quite some time.
A house was damaged in a petrol bomb attack in the York Park area of north Belfast on Sunday evening.
The number of 'absolutely brutal' 12-hour waits in Northern Ireland emergency departments hit 13,000 in one month; experts warn long waits are linked to higher mortality.
New weather warnings for high winds are issued for Northern Ireland after Storm Boelo battered the north over the weekend.
The Irish News view: it is time for Carla Lockhart to make her party allegiance clear, as the Upper Bann MP demands the DUP remove Emma Little-Pengelly from the deputy first minister post.
Focal Point: the very Irish history of Halloween, with the first of Samhain often considered Athbhliain na nGael.
Guide to Derry Halloween 2026: dates, parade, fireworks and family events for the 40th anniversary of Europe's top Halloween carnival, plus parking and travel.
Tom Kelly: gummy bears and bitter rows in the not-so-happy world of the DUP; there is no public appetite for a Drumcree crisis and the sooner the fear-mongers get the message the better.
A Daisy Hill Hospital rally hears calls to save maternity services, amid concerns about expectant mothers travelling to Craigavon and further afield to give birth.
Emergency services, including the Air Ambulance charity, attend a serious three-vehicle crash in Co Tyrone.
33 stories
A city centre-wide 20mph speed limit and more bus lanes are proposed for central Belfast as part of a plan to transform the city's transport network.
The DUP is refusing to collapse Stormont despite Carla Lockhart's call during the Portadown rally, as speculation mounts the MP could quit over the growing Drumcree split.
Revealed: the face of the former British Army soldier who admits supplying lethal crystal meth in Belfast; twins Clare and Stephen O'Neill died after a meth binge.
Russell Brand 'treated women poorly', his former personal assistant says, as the entertainer stands trial.
A knife-wielding man steals 1,000 pounds worth of tobacco in a robbery at a west Belfast shop.
Michelle O'Neill is going nowhere, Stormont minister Liz Kimmins says, amid the upheaval over the Drumcree dispute.
The PSNI confirms speed-limit leniency guidance applies in Northern Ireland, while warning motorists not to treat the rule as permission to break the limit.
'I paid 3,000 pounds to be told I had breast cancer': a young Belfast business owner explains why she sought a second opinion at a private clinic.
Comment: the DUP must change its game plan while it still can, before events decide its future; political momentum can change very quickly.
A letter to Gaddafi: how Boston priest Fr Raymond Helmich tried to get the Libyan dictator to take back guns he had supplied to the IRA, a secret decommissioning effort revealed in an uncovered letter.
Strabane's Town of Culture bid is dividing the community as opposition to a 'UK stamp' leads to protest, with an independent councillor warning it could 'tear Strabane apart'.
A teenage driver stopped by police in Dungannon after being seen using his phone claimed he 'only answered it to say he couldn't answer it'; he is banned from driving.
The TUV would be 'welcoming' if Carla Lockhart decided to leave the DUP, Jim Allister says, as speculation over the Upper Bann MP's future continues to swirl.
A millionaire developer was 'floored by a businessman' in the toilets of a plush Belfast venue, a fracas dubbed the 'battle of BT9' and linked to a 20-year-old feud over a 1 million pound property deal.
Opinion: rhinos, Provos and loyalist terror bosses; Northern Ireland has become the land of the absurd where words have lost their meaning, as deeply abnormal behaviour is not only accepted but encouraged.
Five sisters, a survivor and their search for justice after an IRA murder: Brendan Devine relives the moment he believes sealed his fate and that of his best friend Robert McCartney.
UTV favourite Joe Mahon on retirement, grandchildren and the future as Mahon's Way draws to a close after three decades exploring Ulster's people, places and past.
'You're capable of more than you think': a Derry-based doctor and mother of four crowned national champion in the women's category of the Dublin Marathon hopes to inspire others to reset their limitations.
A nurse who falsified diabetes patients' blood sugar results is struck off, with the review panel saying the dishonest medic has shown no evidence of remorse.
An Italian man facing Derry drugs charges is allowed to return home after his father lodges a 100,000 pound surety; he was arrested in the Clon Elagh estate charged with cocaine and cannabis offences.
Podcast: dark questions over Jeffrey Donaldson's curious African shadow career, including paid work for Cameroon's defence ministry a week after he collapsed Stormont in 2022 and arms selling in Egypt alongside a British general.
The Ulster Unionist Party selects former prison officer Ian Irwin as its candidate for Mid Ulster in the Assembly election.
Inside story: the DUP in disarray over Carla Lockhart's quit threat and loyalist support for the MP at the huge Portadown rally, and the blazing row at the DUP officers' meeting after the Upper Bann MP resigned from the group.
Comment: Lockhart's exit from the DUP would be a huge body blow to the party, and doesn't Gavin Robinson know it; her clash with the leader over Drumcree threatens a major split.
'This lady is not for turning - Michelle O'Neill must go': Carla Lockhart defiant as she addresses the huge Portadown rally, with live coverage of the Drumcree dispute.
News analysis: Stormont descends into chaos as Michelle O'Neill walks out and Emma Little-Pengelly is left unable to continue, exposing divisions now impossible to conceal.
A new pro-Union think tank aims to argue the case for the Union to voters currently sitting on the fence over the constitutional issue.
Invest NI is told regional balance should be measured by real jobs, as the agency is challenged over hiding the number of employees a global company has at its Derry office.
'I'm a bit of a sponge for trivia': a Co Down student, the only local among four quiz buffs, is up for University Challenge as part of Queen's team against Bristol.
This Working Life: teacher and union chief Fergal McGuckin on going from youth work to education, diversity in schools and maintaining connections with past pupils.
Sinn Fein MP Sorcha Mallaghan writes to the Speaker calling for a full House of Commons probe into Jeffrey Donaldson after the latest 'sickening' revelations about his work on children's rights bodies.
'We are heading somewhere ugly': a unionist MLA warns over increased threats directed towards Northern Ireland politicians.
'I would not touch the mic': a Q Radio star opens up on overcoming a stammer to mark awareness day, sharing his experience before his success in radio.