Deal for $1.9bn, which includes $900m in Hawaiian Airlines debt, would keep both airlines’ brands

Alaska Airlines said Sunday it agreed to buy Hawaiian Airlines in a $1.9bn deal, including debt, putting it on track for a potential clash with a Biden administration that has shown wariness about higher fares in the industry.

The combined company would keep both airlines’ brands, rooted in the nation’s 49th and 50th states. Alaska will pay $18 in cash for each share of Hawaiian, whose stock closed Friday at $4.86 after losing just over half its value in the year so far.

Toll expected to rise after heavy rains cause flooding in Katesh in country’s north

At least 47 people have been killed and 85 others injured in landslides caused by flooding in northern Tanzania, a local official has said, with warnings the toll would rise.

Heavy rain on Saturday hit the town of Katesh, 300km (186 miles) north of the capital, Dodoma, district commissioner Janeth Mayanja said on Sunday.

Labour leader to warn that Britain is in worst economic state for over 50 years and spending will need to be constrained

Labour will not “turn on the spending taps” if it wins the next election, Keir Starmer will say on Monday, bolstering the view of some senior Labour MPs that he is preparing to sign up to austerity-style public sector cuts.

The Labour leader will use a speech on the economy to warn that Britain is in its worst economic state in more than half a century and lay the ground for what shadow ministers expect to be extremely tight spending constraints after the general election.

Analysis of in-custody deaths show mortality rates were more than three times the increase in general population in 2020

A study of US prison deaths at the height of the Covid-19 crisis in 2020 has found that mortality rates soared by 77% relative to 2019, or more than three times the increase in the general population.

The study, published by Science Advances last week, is the most comprehensive analysis of in-custody deaths since 2020. The report found that “Covid-19 was the primary driver for increases in mortality due to natural causes; some states also experienced substantial increases due to unnatural causes.”

Efficiencies and savings have been made at the broadcaster after the government froze its funding

The prime minister has said that cuts at the BBC are “welcome” and that it is appropriate for the corporation to make savings when things are difficult.

After celebrating his achievement in halving inflation, which remains more than double the Bank of England’s 2% target, the prime minister has urged all public-serving organisations to be mindful of the cost of living crisis and make difficult decisions.

Post-Thanksgiving box office is notoriously slow, but concert movie defied odds, opening in first place with $21m in ticket sales

Beyoncé ruled the box office this weekend.

Her concert picture, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, opened in first place with $21m in North American ticket sales, according to estimates from AMC Theatres Sunday.

Comments made in reaction to question asking if Rishi Sunak might be a potential future campmate

I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out f Here! presenters Ant and Dec have called for the reality programme to take a break from having politicians as contestants.

Asked whether Rishi Sunak would be a potential future campmate, Dec said: “I think we do a year without any politicians.”

Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate says $700m plan for ‘streamlined’ Games failed to win state or federal backing. Follow the day’s news live

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And happy Monday – welcome back to another week on the Australia news live blog. I’m Emily Wind, and I’ll be taking you through our live coverage today.

And you’ll be seeing a lot more of me on here, as Guardian Australia’s new liveblogger. I’ll be with you most weekdays unless parliament is sitting – then you’ll have the brilliant Amy Remeikis to guide you through. You can always send story tips my way on X/Twitter @emilywindwrites or send me an email: emily.wind@theguardian.com.

News that the book The Fabulist will be adapted into film comes after congressman was expelled last week

A book about the improbable rise and rapid fall of former congressman George Santos has been optioned by HBO Films, it was reported Saturday, and will be produced under the guidance of Frank Rich, a former New York Times columnist known for executive production credits on Emmy awards-winning Succession and Veep.

HBO reportedly optioned the rights to Mark Chiusano’s The Fabulist: The Lying, Hustling, Grifting, Stealing, and Very American Legend of George Santos, published last week.

Pentagon says it is investigating reports of attack by Houthi rebels that also targeted two commercial vessels

The Pentagon said it was investigating reports that a US warship and some commercial vessels had came under drone attack in the Red Sea close to the coast of Yemen from Houthi rebels in the country.

“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the US Department of Defense said in a short statement earlier this afternoon.

Committee head says report of £15m being paid on top of £140m already spent shows ‘total disregard’ for parliamentary scrutiny

Ministers are deliberately hiding the mounting costs of the Rwanda deportation scheme from the public, the head of an influential parliamentary watchdog has told the Guardian, as insiders expect a new deal with the African country to be signed off within days.

Dame Diana Johnson, the chair of the home affairs select committee, said the government had “total disregard” for parliament’s rights to scrutinise the key immigration policy after a senior civil servant said that any extra costs on top of the £140m already paid to Rwanda would not be disclosed until the summer.

Company is expected to face further scrutiny over its debt when it publishes its results on Tuesday

The parent company of Thames Water has been warned by its auditors that it could run out of money by April if shareholders do not inject more cash into the debt-laden firm.

In accounts signed off in July and published on the Companies House website last week, PricewaterhouseCoopers said there was “material uncertainty” about whether the main company behind the water supplier can continue as a going concern.

Social workers scrambling to find places for children after net loss of 1,000 foster families in past year

Child protection experts have called for an urgent nationwide hunt for thousands of new foster carers after a net loss of 1,000 families in the past year and a record number of children being placed far from home.

Social workers have described scrambling to find friends and family to take children in urgent need of safety, and reported that children are sometimes placed in hotels.

Video shows two unarmed Ukrainian soldiers being shot dead as they emerged from dugout near Avdiivka

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

Ukraine is investigating the “execution” by Russian forces of two Ukrainian soldiers who emerged from their trench near the town of Avdiivka and were shot dead as they surrendered.

The public prosecutor’s office said it had launched an inquiry into the gruesome incident. Video showed the Ukrainian soldiers’ last moments. One raised his arms in the air. Next, Russian service personnel gunned both men down at point-blank range.

Twenty-year-old Hisham Awartani paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet lodged in his spine, his family says

One of the three college students of Palestinian descent who were shot in Vermont last month is paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet lodged in his spine, the student’s family said.

Hisham Awartani, a 20-year-old student at Brown University who grew up in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, was walking with two friends near the University of Vermont campus in Burlington on 25 November when, police say, 48-year-old Jason Eaton shot them with a handgun in a suspected hate crime. Eaton has pleaded not guilty.

Members campaigning against men-only rule say numbers opposed to change had fallen due to revised legal advise

The slow-moving campaign to force the Garrick, one of London’s last remaining gentlemen’s clubs, to admit women has notched a partial victory with an internal poll revealing that a majority of members are in favour of dropping the men-only rule.

This is the second significant development in the space of a year in the remarkably languid battle for gender equality at the club, which counts among its members the former supreme court judges Lord Neuberger and Lord Sumption, actors Hugh Bonneville and Stephen Fry, and Michael Gove, a cabinet minister.

Palestinian officials report hundreds of people killed over 24 hours as concerns grow for plight of refugees

• Israel-Hamas war – live updates

Israel continued with its intense bombing campaign across the north and south of Gaza for a third day since the end of the truce with Hamas, killing hundreds of Palestinians in a 24-hour period, according to local officials.

The Jabaliya refugee camp in the north was hit, with initial reports saying that “tens of people” had been killed and at least one residential block destroyed. Video footage showed people searching for bodies under the rubble.

CEO of University Hospitals Sussex urges staff to have courage to raise concerns, despite whistleblowers previously being sacked

The boss of a hospital trust being investigated by police for alleged negligence over 40 patient deaths has been accused of sending a hypocritical email urging staff to have the courage to raise concerns despite the dismissal of whistleblowing doctors.

Last week the Guardian revealed that the University Hospitals Sussex is under pressure to suspend surgeons whose cases are being reviewed by Sussex police in an investigation that involves more than 100 patients who either died or were seriously harmed between 2015-21.

Ex-Express owner is expected to claim regulator made errors during bidding war for national lottery contract

Richard Desmond, the Brexit-backing media tycoon, is invoking EU law to sue the gambling regulator after it rejected his “fanciful” bid to run the national lottery, in a suit that could deprive good causes of millions of pounds.

The former owner of the Daily Express has vowed previously to seek damages from the Gambling Commission after his company Northern & Shell missed out on a 10-year contract, worth £6.5bn, to run the lottery from next year.

Warnings that president stance on the war risks losing support of community in states critical to his chances for re-election

Muslim community leaders gathered on Saturday in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the US, to protest President Biden’s refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, reiterating that the president’s stance could affect his support in crucial swing states next year.

Jaylani Hussein, director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said that Biden’s unwillingness to call for a ceasefire had damaged his relationship with the American-Muslim community beyond repair.