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Officers are carrying out numerous inquiries' but 26-year-old, arrested on Friday afternoon, is no longer part of the investigationAlison and Simon Gilbert, who have lived in in Haytor Vale for over a decade, said Ann Widdecombe was a well-known figure locally. Ms Gilbert told PA media:She was a nice woman, really nice woman, and she had a great sense of humour. It's a lovely area - you talk to strangers.Everyone saw her as quite an opinionated politician, but to us she was just a person in the community.I never met (Ann Widdecombe) although I've lived here all my life.It's tragic, someone gives all their life to public service and then they end like that. Continue reading...

Sculpture of Jewish army officer wrongly accused of treason has been moved around the city for decadesFor 40 years, the statue of Capt Alfred Dreyfus has been moved around Paris, never finding a permanent home.The French army twice refused to allow it to stand at l'Ecole Militaire, where Dreyfus, a Jewish officer it had wrongly accused of treason in 1894, was stripped of his rank in one of the most notorious acts of antisemitism in France's history. Continue reading...

The tube cannot easily be adapted to cope with heatwaves, making conditions almost unbearableAs the escalator descends below ground at King's Cross St Pancras station in London, the shift from what was already a hot station entrance to the furnace-like subterranean depths is perceptible.On the tube it's worse: a man leans back in his seat, eyes closed, sweltering; people hold electric fans an inch away from their faces. London commuters are known for their stoicism and the heat appears to be another tribulation to accept. They will need to: heatwaves in the capital are becoming routine. Continue reading...

Devon and Cornwall police say 26-year-old man no longer part of investigation after former MP found dead at home in HaytorA 26-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of the murder of the former MP Ann Widdecombe has been released from custody and is no longer part of the investigation, Devon and Cornwall police said early on Saturday.In a statement, assistant chief constable Matt Longman said: Our priority remains identifying those responsible and ensuring that all available evidence is thoroughly examined. Continue reading...

Presidential bid by leader of far-right National Rally has no shortage of supporters in scenic MontargisIn the small French town of Montargis, Jean-Antoine, a retired decorator, was pleased Marine Le Pen had again shaken up French politics by launching a bid for the presidency, despite her legal woes.Even the judges said she didn't personally profit from the money, it was for her party," he said of Le Pen's newly upheld conviction for embezzlement. All politicians in France have always been schemers, it's just a fact of life." Continue reading...

As England prepare to take on Norway on Saturday, sales of pints, takeaways and new TVs continue to surgeFrom a cosy Norwegian pub to outdoor fan zones packed with hopeful England football fans, Saturday's World Cup quarter-final between the two nations is expected to generate a multimillion-pound windfall for venues showing the game.The quarter-finals will collectively generate a near half-billion pound sales increase for the wider UK economy, as fans drink 9.3m pints, order takeaways and splash out on new TVs, according to one estimate. Continue reading...

Ex-presenter of BBC Radio 4 show complains in Guardian of gratuitous gratitude' and gushing' between host and guestFor more than three decades, John Humphrys delighted and infuriated listeners in equal measure as he confronted the nation's politicians in his trademark, pointed style on the Today programme.Now a listener himself, the former presenter of the BBC's flagship radio news show is just as pointed in his assessment of the current incarnation of the programme. His verdict? It's irritating. Continue reading...

Teachers call for schools to be urgently adapted for hot weather amid reports of nausea, fainting and heatstrokeThe extreme heat that has hit the UK twice in the past few weeks has left teachers struggling to cope as temperatures in some classrooms climb above 40C, with pupils and staff suffering from heatstroke, nausea and headaches.Teachers say they have been desperately trying to keep children safe, with some covering younger pupils in wet paper towels as they lie on the floor, while older students have been given trays of water under their desks to put their feet in. Continue reading...

Thinktank urges prospective prime minister to reclaim UK's role as an international leader on developmentInfluential backbenchers are calling on Andy Burnham to reclaim Labour's leadership on international development and chart a course back to spending 0.7% of national income on overseas aid.In a collection of essays to be published soon by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) thinktank, MPs lay out proposals for a Burnham-led government to rethink foreign policy. Continue reading...

Ahead of the census in August, campaign group suggests current poll design overstates the nation's religiousness

Meta was criticised for feature launched on Tuesday that automatically lets users generate images using content from public Instagram accountsMeta has said it is discontinuing an AI feature launched this week that allowed users to generate images using public Instagram accounts, after drawing widespread criticism over privacy concerns, including from a Hollywood union.Our intent was to provide a useful creative tool and to give people control over whether their public content could be referenced in this way," Meta said in a statement. Continue reading...

The airfare for a baby on your lap could cost more than your own ticket. Here's how airline charges and travel taxes can hit youRyanair recently stopped making parents pay to sit next to their children but depending on the airline the hidden extra costs involved in flying with children can be substantial. In some cases, you can even end up spending more for the baby on your lap than you paid for your own flight.Your baby might not need a seat, but you are still likely to pay fees for them to travel. Some airlines offer discounts for children over two, while others whack families with the cost of a full-grown adult. Continue reading...

Plans specify tolls must not be compulsory, as US officials urge Iran to make public statement that strait is open and that shipping can safely passEurope is studying proposals that may allow the charging of navigational fees in the strait of Hormuz so long as the tolls are not compulsory and have the support of the UN agency that regulates maritime transport.Britain's deputy prime minister, David Lammy, said the imposition of compulsory tolls would be disastrous. But some of his cabinet colleagues said they recognised that systems of payments for specific navigational services were permissible in many natural waterways, including the strait of Malacca and the Channel. Continue reading...

The people of Bryne are proud of local hero's rise to the top of world football as Norway prepare to face EnglandSurrounded by red hats, No 9 shirts and Erling Haaland action toys at her fabric shop in the small Norwegian town of Bryne, Olinda Haaland - no relation but proud to share the now world-famous name - said everybody in the striker's home town was a football fan these days.It's been pure joy," she said of her namesake's rise to the top of world football. We all love him so much and he's doing so much for Bryne." Continue reading...

NT police release body-worn camera vision of Bradley John Murdoch denying knowing where UK backpacker's body is weeks before his death

Nearly 17,000 injured and thousands more are listed as missing amid calls by UN and president Delcy Rodriguez for financial helpThe death toll in Venezuela's devastating twin earthquakes has topped 4,000, the government said on Friday.At least 4,118 people were killed and 16,740 injured in the back-to-back quakes on 24 June that flattened entire districts in the coastal state of La Guaira, Venezuelan parliament chief Jorge Rodriguez wrote on Telegram. Thousands more are listed as missing. Continue reading...

Crowd of more than 22,000 people - and the musician himself - filled Hyde Park with the largest gathering of people wearing bald caps'A tight plastic cap is not an attractive option for protective headwear in 30C (86F) heat. Yet 22,141 people opted for just that - along with a white shirt, black tie and aviator sunglasses - in Hyde Park, London, on Friday afternoon. It was both a homage to the rapper Pitbull, the night's headliner at the BST festival, and part of setting a Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of people wearing bald caps".I'm speechless. Who would have thought a first-generation Cuban would be record-breaking and record-making?" said the rapper, accepting the award in an all-black suit. Continue reading...

Governor Mike Kehoe urges people to follow guidelines with more heavy rain expected through the weekendMissouri has declared a state of emergency in response to severe storms and flash flooding affecting the state's central, south-central, and south-eastern regions.In a news release, Governor Mike Kehoe said that under the order, the Missouri state emergency operations plan has been activated, allowing state agencies to coordinate directly with local jurisdictions to expedite emergency assistance. Continue reading...

Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet believed to have had private reunion with kingKing Charles has enjoyed a private reunion with the grandchildren he has not seen for four years, it is understood.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, were hosted by Charles and Queen Camilla at the king's private residence, Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, on Friday afternoon. Continue reading...

Former Tory minister, who later joined Reform UK and became an unlikely celebrity, was found dead on ThursdayOn Wednesday, shortly after Nigel Farage announced he would stand down from his parliamentary seat in Clacton to trigger a byelection, Ann Widdecombe appeared by video link on Talk TV to praise his decision.This is a very decisive man," Widdecombe told the interviewer, speaking with the same forthright conviction that had defined her controversial political career and more eccentric parliamentary afterlife. Continue reading...

Sony Pictures and Paramount are said to also be among potential buyers for the film-focused social platformLetterboxd is reportedly in talks with potential buyers.The owners of the popular social platform for movies are discussing a sale with companies including Netflix, Sony Pictures and Paramount, according to the industry newsletter Puck. Continue reading...

Body of former MP, 78, found with serious injuries at her Dartmoor home on Thursday morningA man is being held on suspicion of the murder of the former MP Ann Widdecombe as political leaders across the spectrum express shock and horror at her alleged killing.Widdecombe's body was found with serious injuries" by the ambulance service at her home in Haytor, Devon, at 11.40am on Thursday, Devon and Cornwall police said. Continue reading...

Wildcard may have lost Wimbledon semi-final to the No 2 seed Alexander Zverev, but for fans he's an inspiration

Twenty-three people missing and four Britons thought to be among those who died trying to flee Almeria blaze

Duetting pair spend 16th week at No 1, a record for a British artist - but they'll need 19 weeks to beat Frankie Laine's all-time record from 1953Sam Fender and Olivia Dean have broken Wet Wet Wet's 32-year record for a British act's run at No 1 in the UK singles chart.Fender and Dean's duet Rein Me In has racked up its 16th week at No 1, beating Wet Wet Wet's Love is All Around, which spent 15 weeks at No 1 in the summer of 1994 after it appeared on the Four Weddings and a Funeral soundtrack. Unlike Wet Wet Wet's consecutive run, though, Fender and Dean's song has dropped in and out of the top spot since February. Continue reading...

Carmakers welcome ruling against suit claiming manufacturers including Nissan, Ford and Peugeot fitted devices to defeat emission testsCar manufacturers have welcomed a high court verdict that rejected most of the allegations in a dieselgate" claim brought on behalf of 1.6 million UK owners of polluting cars.In her judgment, Lady Justice Cockerill said that in the majority of instances, the court found that the relevant strategy did not constitute a prohibited defeat device" - software that enables the engine to behave differently in tests. Continue reading...

Range of potential measures announced by Ofcom include reducing risk of accounts being hijacked for scamsBig tech platforms will be required to ban scam advertisers in the UK under proposals to tackle online fraud.Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, X and YouTube will have to block bad actors who post fraudulent ads and prevent them from creating new accounts in measures targeted at the biggest services. Continue reading...

President's dismemberment of Election Assistance Commission called a brazen attempt' to control elections

Thames Valley police reportedly wish to talk to Virginia Giuffre's brother and sister-in-law about her allegationsDetectives investigating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor are to travel to the US to speak with the family of his accuser Virginia Giuffre, it has been reported.Thames Valley police are believed to want to talk to Giuffre's brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, about their sister's allegations of sexual assault against the former Duke of York. The former prince has denied Giuffre's allegations. Giuffre, 41, took her own life in April last year. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Records obtained by the Guardian show property owned by Catholic order used to house at least two brothers with horrific histories of child sexual abuse

The telco has long banked on its reputation as having the most stable, widest mobile telco coverage. That is now badly dented

Exclusive: Resignation comes after abuse survivor said she was devastated her father, who was jailed for 48 years, was interviewed for the Shadow of Doubt podcast

Innocent man lynched by mob in West Bengal as police killing of suspect further escalates tensionsProtests have engulfed the Indian state of West Bengal after the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl, the subsequent lynching of an innocent man and the police killing of one of the accused.Outrage erupted on Sunday after the body of a missing girl was recovered from a pond in a town just outside the state capital, Kolkata. Continue reading...

Serbian man reportedly saved by wife hanging on to his legs after window shattered on journey from GreeceA passenger on a Ryanair flight was reportedly almost sucked out of a window after it shattered in mid-air during a journey from Greece.The man was said to have been sucked out of his seat into the plane's slipstream and hung headfirst out of the window after an engine failure resulted in parts smashing the acrylic window, according to local reports. Continue reading...

Trump administration urged to relist a species in very, very serious trouble' under Endangered Species ActClimate change is driving a gray whale catastrophic mortality event" in the Pacific Ocean as melting sea ice depletes food sources and the animals starve, environmental groups warn.Meanwhile, a range of other issues, like ship strikes, oil spills, microplastic pollution, algal blooms and Russian harvesting are also probably contributing to the die-off that has nearly halved the whales' estimated population. It fell from 20,000 in 2019 to fewer than 13,000 this year, and the deaths appear to be accelerating. Continue reading...

The One Nation leader is set to be interviewed by Tommy Robinson as part of a media strategy that seems designed to seek scandal - and reach millionsPauline Hanson's highly publicised meetings with controversial far-right figures in the UK will drive international eyeballs to her content and continue building the global brand - and that's by design, far-right experts say.The One Nation leader is visiting on a fact-finding mission" with her chief-of-staff, James Ashby, ticking off a number of the country's most divisive personalities. Continue reading...

Prominent Eurosceptic and social conservative described as force of nature' by Farage and formidable' by Badenoch

As UK swelters in another heatwave, 50-minute Chris Packham film outlines threats to security, economy and healthMPs are calling on the UK government to host a televised national climate emergency briefing in response to what has been described as the most insidious threat to our society".In November, in the first-of-its-kind, national emergency briefing", nine experts gave stark assessments in Westminster Hall of the scale of the changes needed to adapt the country to the rapidly changing climate and ecological landscape. Continue reading...

Disturbances linked to false claims spread online by bad actors tapping into fears within the community'Scottish police have warned people to factcheck online claims before going to protests, after crowds gathered outside two homes in Glasgow this week, in one case as a result of mistaken identity.Police Scotland said that several nights of disorder in Scotland's biggest city had clearly been orchestrated by individuals who are not from Glasgow". Continue reading...

Critics accuse president of fattening the wallets of his cronies' as working Americans face higher energy ratesThe Trump administration has directly spent $2.7bn of taxpayer money on its crusade against wind power while pouring $1.125bn into boosting coal, which critics say is pushing up Americans' bills.They say the moves are evidence that the president aims to serve fossil-fuel companies like those which donated record sums to his presidential campaign, rather than the working-class Americans to whom he pledged to lower energy bills and other costs. Continue reading...

Police say death of Layla Jeffery suspicious' after remains found in town of Donald in western Victoria

Crowd cheers as artwork depicting Norman conquest is unloaded at British Museum after cross-Channel voyageLike the man whose conquest of England almost a millennium ago it recounts, the Bayeux tapestry crossed the Channel in the dead of night, in as much secrecy as possible, landing on the country's south coast early the following day.The artefact's arrival on Friday marked the first time it has returned to England in nearly 1,000 years, and British Museum staff will begin to prepare it for exhibition during its year-long loan. Continue reading...

Eleven reported dead as flooding also brings danger of snakes, while buildings collapse in Mumbai amid heavy rainAs the first typhoon to make landfall in China for the 2026 season, Maysak has caused devastating damage in southern and central regions. The Guangxi region received intense downpours of up to 280mm in 12 hours, causing rivers to swell and dam walls to break. By Monday morning, flooding across the city of Nanning and surrounding areas had resulted in many people being stranded on rooftops.Flood waters pose additional threats in China because of the presence of wild and farmed snakes. On Thursday local media reported that hundreds of snakes, including cobras, had escaped from flooded breeding farms. Typhoon Maysak also aided the development of two destructive tornados that swept across central China later on Monday evening. This occurred when warm air from the south, brought up by Typhoon Maysak, collided with cold air in the north. Continue reading...

Conservationists fear more nests may have been destroyed during work on Jarrow houses by council-appointed contractorSwift chicks are feared to have been thrown into a skip during house renovations in South Tyneside, despite rules that should stop the destruction of nests.The Northern Swifts Group (NSG) was alerted to the destruction of at least one nest on Tuesday, in a street in Jarrow where houses were being renovated by South Tyneside council. Continue reading...

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Unesco report shows children lost out to servicing debt in 113 countries, with 18 spending five times more on loansMost developing countries spent less on education than they did repaying debt last year, according to the UN, at the same time as global aid to education is predicted to decline by up to 30%.More was spent on servicing foreign debt than on education in 113 developing countries in 2025, according to research by the UN's culture and education agency, Unesco. In sub-Saharan Africa, countries spent 3.6 times more on debt than education. Continue reading...

Airline's board minded to recommend deal - after accepting rival one from Castlelake earlier this week

Edmund Rice Education Australia does not consent to being made a defendant, in case that has high court written all over it', Victorian judge hears

Gigs by Gallagher brothers, Coldplay, Lana Del Rey and Beyonce gives 11bn boost to the economyBig name artists including Oasis with their highly anticipated reunion tour, Coldplay and Beyonce helped to attract a record number of fans to travel to watch live music last year, helped by a surge in overseas visitors at UK gigs.A report from the industry body UK Music estimated that 24.7 million music tourists" attended concerts and festivals last year, up 4.8% on 2024, leading to an unprecedented 11.2bn of spending across the UK economy. Continue reading...