Channel 4 News

At the Conservative Party conference, the Conservatives set out plans for a £10bn missile defence system called Britannia Shield, described by Kemi Badenoch initially as in essence a British Iron Dome. She later defended the proposals as a different type of missile defence system aimed at drone warfare and protecting bases, nuclear installations and critical national infrastructure, not a national protective dome. Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge said it would be a fully integrated, multi-layered system to protect the UK from drone and missile attack with a £10bn budget. The report noted comparisons with Israel's Iron Dome and quoted an expert saying the funding was well short of what would be needed to replicate it. It also covered arrests near RAF Fairford, including a seventh man arrested in London on suspicion of preparation of terrorist acts, the departure of US bombers, and US plans for a Golden Dome. Gary Gibbon's interview with Badenoch also covered a proposed tax giveaway halving employers' national insurance for 21- to 24-year-olds, expected further tax promises, and questions about spending, welfare cuts and the size of the state.

Hundreds of secondary schools across France were blockaded or closed as students, teachers and parents joined nationwide protests over classroom conditions and overcrowding, with clashes between protesters and riot police in several cities. The government announced a temporary suspension of high school classes later in the week. Reports described tens of thousands marching in Paris, later clashes, tear gas, fires and a standoff with police, and said 700 police officers, more than 200 students and 85 school workers had been injured over two weeks. The protests began in the capital suburbs in September over teaching conditions and spread via social media. Jean-Luc Mélenchon marched alongside protesters and accused the Prime Minister of creating violence to pose as the party of law and order, while the Prime Minister accused him of inciting unrest. Economics coverage said French 10-year borrowing costs had risen to levels not seen for two decades, with debt at 119% of national income, slow growth and a fractured political system; Marine Le Pen said France was heading towards default and promised 140bn euros of cuts. A French MP from the New Popular Front said the protests reflected underinvestment in schools and called for more teachers, better buildings and less pressure on pupils.

Two Sussex police officers, PC Stephen Smith and PC Rachel Comotto, were sacked for gross misconduct after pepper spraying, batoning and tasering 92-year-old care home resident Donald Burgess in St Leonards-on-Sea in June 2022; he was taken to hospital, contracted Covid and died three weeks later. A panel found no immediate risk, a rapid escalation of force and no attempts to de-escalate, concluding gross misconduct and excessive force. Germany's former foreign intelligence chief August Hanning was arrested on suspicion of attempted treason over allegedly acquiring thousands of classified documents over 16 years and selling some information to a foreign power. Kenya's health ministry confirmed its first Ebola case after a Kenyan citizen died following return from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the patient had been treated; contacts were quarantined and fellow passengers traced. Ofcom launched an investigation into Meta over allegations it failed to carry out a proper risk assessment into Instagram content under the Online Safety Act, including over a disappearing-photographs feature; Meta said it had conducted a risk analysis and would cooperate. Later in the programme, defence experts discussed threats from Russian hybrid warfare, the Middle East and the RAF Fairford arrests, with one describing the Britannia Shield announcement as spin over substance and arguing the UK already had integrated air defence and should not copy Israel, while another warned about AI and synthetic biology. The broadcast also reported the death of author Jeffrey Archer, including his record book sales, political career, perjury conviction and tributes, and an exhibition at Tate Britain curated by Edward Enninful celebrating 1990s fashion, art and music.