I won't accept exclusion, says Polanski after criticism of Zionist motion Zack Polanski has said he will not accept anyone being excluded from the Green Party because of the religious or communal body they are part of, after members adopted a motion declaring Zionism a form of racism. The Green leader said no-one will be made unwelcome because of their background, their faith, or where they worship. The motion defines Zionism as an ideology supporting an ethnonationalist Jewish state and backs a single democratic Palestinian state in all of historic Palestine. It comes after more than a dozen Labour MPs reported the Greens to the equality watchdog on Monday, saying it raised serious questions. Tensions exposed among Greens by'Zionism is racism' conference vote Nine Labour MPs have also referred the Green Party to Sussex Police, asking the force to investigate whether alleged possible antisemitic offences at the conference merit a criminal investigation. Sussex Police and the Green Party have been contacted for comment.

Bestselling author and former politician Jeffrey Archer has died at the age of 86. Archer sold more than 300 million books in his five-decade writing career, including the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, and often set the novels in his home town of Wellington, Somerset. In a statement, Archer's publisher HarperCollins said the author died suddenly and peacefully at home on Monday between writing sessions. The former Conservative MP was jailed for perjury in 2001 after being found guilty of lying and cheating in his 1987 libel case against the Daily Star. Archer was born in north London on 15 April 1940 but would quickly move to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, where his family bought a house from John Cleese's mother.

As many have observed, Jeffrey Archer, who has died aged 86, led a life as colourful as the plot in one of his novels. He was, at one time or other, a senior Conservative politician, a best-selling author, a peer of the realm, and a convicted perjurer. Possessed of huge drive, vast wealth and immense personal charm, Archer bounced back from disaster and, more than once, rebuilt a shattered life. But for all his talents, he will be remembered as a man affected by a defective moral compass, whose public humiliation was entirely self-inflicted. Jeffrey Howard Archer was born in north London on 15 April 1940. Within two weeks, his parents moved to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, where they bought a house from John Cleese's mother.

Image caption, George Fenton was one of the UK's most prolific and successful composers The composer George Fenton, whose work included music for films such as Gandhi, Groundhog Day, and The Fisher King, as well as TV shows like Planet Earth and Bergerac, has died at the age of 76. The prolific musician received five Oscar nominations for his film scores, including those for The Remains of the Day and Cry Freedom. His work on the BBC TV show Blue Planet also earned awards from the Baftas, Emmy Awards and Ivor Novellos; and he also composed theme music for BBC News programmes such as Newsnight and Breakfast Time. In a statement, Fenton's family said: We are very sad to announce that George Fenton passed away unexpectedly today. They continued: He is survived by his loving wife Amanda, ex-wife Jane, children Gemma, Grace and Bridget, and grandchildren Lola, Audrey, Alfred, George, Frank and Beatrice, and a life of music.

Is the war entering a new phase? Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has blamed a Russian drone attack for the sinking of a ship in Romania's section of the Black Sea. Romania reported that two people were killed and 11 rescued when a grain ship caught fire and sank in its waters on Monday. The Ukrainian president's claim suggests the incident is the latest in a series of suspected incursions along NATO's eastern flank, and will fuel concerns that Moscow's war in Ukraine could spill over. According to the Romanian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the coastguard was alerted at about 11am local time (08:00 GMT) that a fire had broken out on the ship, adding that it was in the country's "exclusive economic zone".

Trump says'threat' led US to pull bombers from RAF Fairford US President Donald Trump has said the United States moved its bombers out of RAF Fairford because of some threats to the base. The Pentagon confirmed on Sunday it had removed its bombers - thought to be about a dozen B-1s - from the base back to their home stations in America. Speaking to reporters as he departed for Nebraska on Monday, Trump said the US knew of a threat, which led them to move the bombers. Earlier on Monday, a No 10 spokesperson had insisted RAF Fairford was safe and pointed to Trump's comments last week, where he praised our police, defence and security services in relation to the base. Trump's comments appear to confirm reports by US media that a new threat had led to the bombers being removed, which follows a major incident on 27 September when police were alerted to three suspicious vehicles near the airbase.

US'watching closely' after plague researcher dies in Russia, Rubio says To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. The US says it is closely monitoring the case of a Russian lab technician who died at a plague research centre in Siberia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there was concern the incident could have led to the spread of pneumonic plague, but that there was no cause for alarm. Announcing the cause of death as pneumonia of undetermined etiology, Irkutsk's governor said that no micro-organisms linked to the woman's work had been found in her biological samples. Unconfirmed reports had suggested the woman fell ill either after breaking a test tube containing the pathogen or following a field trip to a region where plague is found naturally among wild rodents. No other cases of staff from the plague institute seeking medical attention since her death had been reported, Irkutsk governor Igor Kobzev said, quoting Russia's consumer and health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez's decision to call a snap election for 29 November came on the back of a parliamentary defeat. On Friday, the raft of measures he had presented to congress aimed at improving conditions for tenants and trying to address the problem of soaring rentals was narrowly rejected, as parties on the right voted against them. That parliamentary result confirmed that Sánchez's left-wing coalition no longer commanded a majority. But as has so often been the case throughout Sánchez's career, the calling of the election was not a knee-jerk reaction but a carefully thought-out manouevre. His government has been struggling in recent months. His Socialist Party has been mired in corruption, with cases implicating former senior figures in the party, Santos Cerdán and José Luis Ábalos, while the former Socialist Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is facing accusations of having benefited financially from the government's bailout of an airline.

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What prompted the US bombers to leave RAF Fairford? The unexpected mass withdrawal of America's heavy bombers happened so suddenly on Sunday that it has got everyone wondering what prompted it. An abundance of caution, says US Vice-President JD Vance, adding that Washington felt Iran was doing what it has done for 49 years... which is engage in acts of terrorism against the US and against a lot of other people. An abundance of panic is how others have seen it. For the last seven months, America's B-1 Lancer bombers and other aircraft have been operating out of Fairford to strike the Iranian missile launch sites.