Move would allow mayors to greenlight large-scale developments and have more say on national housing fundingAndy Burnham is expected to give mayors new powers to take control of local planning decisions and greenlight large-scale developments in proposals to be presented next week.The move would allow mayors to call in" the decisions and direct councils to take them forward or refuse them. Continue reading...
by Chris Osuh Community affairs correspondent on (#77WAC)
Letter written in 1847 to Sandbach, Tinne and Company's Liverpool office reveals it engaged in practice after receiving taxpayer-funded compensation, book saysWhen Britain abolished slavery, plantation owners from powerful families notoriously received huge sums in compensation, while those who were enslaved got nothing.Now evidence has come to light that Sandbach, Tinne and Company - a corporation closely linked to the merchants who got the biggest taxpayer-funded compensation payouts - continued to traffic enslaved Africans illegally after abolition to Guyana, in South America. Continue reading...
by Geneva Abdul and Geraldine McKelvie on (#77VWC)
Watchdog launches inquiry into collision in which seven people died involving police car and another vehicleTwo police officers who died in a car crash near Middlesbrough in the early hours of Saturday have been named.Police constables Matthew Blades and Tom Clough were among seven people killed after their marked police car collided with a Volkswagen Passat travelling the wrong way along the A66 in North Yorkshire. Continue reading...
This blog is now closedVictorian Labor expands on free dental care election promiseThe Victorian premier, Ben Carroll, and health minister, Ingrid Stitt, have held a press conference this morning off the back of their announcement yesterday that the Labor government would open 10 free public dental clinics if re-elected in November.You can't use a Medicare card for dental unless you've got a healthcare card or you are a category of a particular citizen, it is very difficult ... I've been visiting a lot of dentists over the past few weeks. There [are] waiting lists. People are in enormous, unbearable pain.This will be a cost of living measure but it will also make sure that we deal with the healthcare of some of the most vulnerable Victorians. This is really going to fill the gap that's been there for decades. Continue reading...
Friends close to Margarita Reutt are shocked she could allegedly plant bomb that killed Ukrainian defector Robert Shageev, while others recall a stubborn grit to see any plan throughIt was just after dawn in Sevastopol when a powerful explosion tore through a quiet square in a residential district of the Russian-occupied Crimean port city.Hidden inside a rubbish bin, a bomb containing the equivalent of about 500g of TNT detonated on 13 August as Robert Shageev, the deputy commander of a Russian Black Sea fleet submarine brigade, walked past in naval uniform. He was killed on the spot. Continue reading...
Hardliner Mohsen Rezaei also threatens American economic interests in first interview since appointment to supreme national security councilThe new leader of Iran's top security body has warned its neighbours against joining new US efforts to squeeze Tehran's economy, and threatened US commercial interests in the region, as Donald Trump doubled down on his fanciful view that the strait of Hormuz was a new US territory.Mohsen Rezaei, the hardline new leader of Iran's supreme national security council, told state television that Iran would target oil-shipping routes out the Gulf - alternatives to the strait of Hormuz - if its neighbours joined what he called the economic war" waged by the US. Those neighbours would be considered an enemy" and we will target their interests", he said. Continue reading...
Exclusive: campaigners warn 600-year-old New Barn at Harmondsworth could be shaken to pieces' by vibrationsSix hundred years after it was built, England's largest surviving medieval timber-framed barn could now be shaken to pieces" by aircraft vibrations, campaigners warn.The public has until 1 September to submit objections to the Heathrow airport expansion, which could threaten the survival of the New Barn at Harmondsworth, considered a remarkable example of medieval architecture. Continue reading...
Duchess of Sussex was believed to have been under consideration for season three of Guy Ritchie's crime caperThe Duchess of Sussex's reported casting in Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen has been withdrawn, it was reported.Tina Brown, the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, wrote on Saturday: I learned this morning that the casting of Meghan Markle in season 3 of Guy Ritchie's Netflix series The Gentlemen has been withdrawn. The backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward." Continue reading...
The Sussexes are returning to the UK with significantly reduced media deals in an industry where fame alone can no longer guarantee successHaving settled in California in the aftermath of their dramatic decoupling from the royal family in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced a partnership that appeared to set a clear destination for their new lives outside the House of Windsor.With every global media stable clamouring for their signature, the couple revealed a deal with Netflix reportedly worth $100m. The ambitions were lofty and broad, including scripted and unscripted projects, shows for all ages and documentaries. Continue reading...
Three other people wounded after 18-year-old man wielding sword assail students in Fagersta schoolA 17-year-old girl has been killed after a teenager brandishing a sword attacked students at a school in Sweden, police have confirmed.Three other people were wounded in the incident during classes in the central town of Fagersta on Friday afternoon, including two boys aged 12 and 17 who sustained minor injuries. Continue reading...
Tory leader rules out coalition with Farage's party and says drama queens' who left will not be welcomed backKemi Badenoch has called defectors who left for Reform some of the most dishonest people" she has ever met, as she ruled out allowing drama queens" to return to the party.Speaking at the Edinburgh festival fringe, the Conservative party leader again ruled out any prospect of an election deal with Nigel Farage's Reform UK, insisting there would be no coalition between the parties. Continue reading...
Prestige Brand Holdings has voluntarily recalled a batch of its Clear Eyes eye drops after FDA alertNearly 40,000 bottles of eye drops are being pulled from store shelves across the US over concerns about potential contamination, according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).Prestige Brand Holdings, based in Tarrytown, New York, has voluntarily recalled 39,060 bottles of Clear Eyes Maximum Itchy Eye Relief eye drops because of a lack of assurance of sterility", an FDA enforcement report states. The FDA classified the action as a Class II recall, defined on the agency's website as a moderate-risk situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote". Continue reading...
by William Christou, Edward Helmore and agencies on (#77VTE)
Collapse of trade talks could lead to job losses, but biggest impact on traditional allies is expected to be politicalThe trade row is the biggest rupture in recent relations between Washington and one of its closest allies and trading partners as Donald Trump's bellicose foreign policy angered officials in Ottawa.The two sides appeared close to a deal on Friday to lower tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars, but the deal was scuttled at the last minute. The two sides blamed each other for the collapse. Continue reading...
Separate criminal convictions come as domestic violence charities warn of tech-facilitated abuse and coercionTwo men have been convicted this week in separate criminal cases that revealed they had posted explicit content on OnlyFans without the full consent of the women whose images were uploaded.In the first case, Alexander Tang, 37, took and uploaded 47 intimate images and four videos of a woman to OnlyFans without her consent, and was paid money for the material he posted to the website. Continue reading...
Boy, seven, had complained of feeling tired so father left him with snacks and a soft drink and continued his climbA man who abandoned his seven-year-old son on Mount Fuji in Japan after the boy complained of feeling tired while on a family hike has been reprimanded by local police.A worker on Japan's highest mountain discovered the child sitting alone on a bench near the sixth station of the Fujinomiya trail at an altitude of more than 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) on Thursday. Continue reading...
PM tells regional mayors during informal discussions he is keen for tournament to return to British IslesAndy Burnham has said he wants to bring the men's World Cup to the UK in 2042, returning the tournament to Britain for the first time in almost eight decades.During informal discussions at No 10 North in Manchester on Friday, the prime minister told regional mayors he was keen for the tournament to be played in the British Isles. Continue reading...
English translation of Elisabeth, the New Wave director's 1946 book about young lovers in prewar Paris, receives rave reviews as precursor to auteur's cinematic workIn the dog days of the second world war, 24-year-old Maurice Scherer wrote a tale of young lovers in prewar small-town France. He described lazy August swims in the Marne River east of Paris. He wrote about age-gap affairs and semi-incestuous flirtations. Scherer gallantly used a nom de plume, Gilbert Cordier, to shield his Catholic family from scandal, but he needn't have bothered as his concerns were unfounded. The finished novel, Elisabeth, barely made a ripple and quickly slipped out of print. Undeterred, Scherer adopted a second pseudonym - Eric Rohmer - and decided to try his luck as a film-maker instead.Now - eight decades on from its first publication, 16 years on from its author's death - Elisabeth belatedly returns from the cold. Republished in an English-language translation by Aaron Kerner, Rohmer's book has been greeted with glowing reviews, hailed as a lost modernist classic and a crucial origin story for the award-winning director of Claire's Knee, The Green Ray and My Night at Maud's. It would be a rewarding, exciting read even if the identity of its author were unfamiliar," wrote Richard Brody in the New Yorker. The fact that it's by Rohmer? That's the icing on the cake. Continue reading...
In letter to Macron and Burnham, more than 100 senior figures accuse Israel of ethnic cleansing and call for measures including trade banMore than 100 French and British former diplomats have said Palestine is being erased in front of the world's eyes and called for urgent action including trade and arms sales bans to press Israel to accept a Palestinian state.An unprecedented joint letter dispenses with diplomatic language by accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and warning that the world no longer sees Israel as a genuine democracy.Uphold the decisions of the international court of justice and the international criminal court.Suspend the EU-Israel association agreement and the UK-Israel trade and partnership agreement for breach of human rights provisions.Suspend arms transfers to and from Israel and all bilateral military cooperation.Insist on unrestricted aid access to Gaza, led by the UN Relief and Works Agency, other UN agencies and international NGOs, with consequences for non-compliance, and access too for journalists, diplomats and parliamentarians.Ban all trade with settlements, including goods, investment, insurance and other financial services.Warn potential bidders for the red line" E1 settlement or other settlement financing/construction that their interests in and with the UK and France will suffer.Make it an offence for British and French citizens to buy property on stolen Palestinian land and remove charitable status from charities" funding settlements. Continue reading...
Compact discs are back, with searches for players up 96% at John Lewis and popular models sold out onlineWith more than 800 million people subscribing to a music streaming service, wireless speakers have become a familiar sight in homes. But expect to get reacquainted with a different object to play music soon: the CD player, once consigned to obsolescence, is back.John Lewis report that searches for CD players are up 96% since July, possibly owing to students heading to university and buying the systems for their rooms. The 79 Crosley Voyager, and the 129 Pure Classic C-D6 are both sold out online, with the Voyager scheduled to return in October. Portable CD players are also popular. Continue reading...
Leaders claim scaremongering from business figures may cause key legislation to become meaningless'Trades unions are warning Andy Burnham that Labour's policy on cutting zero-hours contracts risks failing to live up to the party's manifesto.Union leaders are seeking reassurances from the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, amid what the TUC has condemned as scaremongering" from business groups. Continue reading...
Couple considering suing for wrongful death after coroner found disciplinary process materially contributed to suicideWhen a coroner ruled this month that the Treasury materially contributed" to Chloe Moffat's death, her parents breathed out in bittersweet relief. For a year, David and Anne Moffat had been forced to become detectives in the worst case any parent could have to solve: why their daughter took her own life.Chloe, 26, went to her job as a personal assistant at the Treasury on a Monday last May happy as Larry" after a weekend she'd told her friends was a 10 out of 10". She was planning a holiday with her sister, Alice, and arranging for friends to come for a dinner party the next weekend. She was, according to her father, living the best life". Continue reading...
Savings bank estimates there will be 308,000 more prizes available in September draw than the month beforePremium bond holders will have more chances of winning prizes after changes announced this week.From September there will be more prizes up for grabs for the 22 million people who hold the government-backed savings bonds. Continue reading...
Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, threatens harshest sanctions yet on Russia after strike on Kryvyi Rih, the home town of Volodymyr ZelenskyyRussian drones have slammed into a busy shopping centre in central Ukraine, killing 16 people in an attack that Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned as cynical and despicable".The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, condemned Friday's attack on Kryvyi Rih - the president's home town - as terror by design" and said she was putting forward the most far-reaching Russia sanctions listings since the start of the war" when ministers meet in Ireland next month. Continue reading...
Saja El-Khawas had been in critical condition after being pulled from sea in West SussexA six-year-old girl has died in hospital three days after being pulled from the sea off Shoreham in West Sussex, in an incident that also killed her mother, father and sister.Saja El-Khawas died on Friday after the deaths of her sister Sara El-Khawas, 14, and her parents Hassan El-Khawas, 55, and Zeina Alayn, 37, on Tuesday. Continue reading...
The DoJ sued TikTok and its former parent company in August 2024 for allegedly failing to protect children's privacy and collecting their informationTikTok and its Chinese former parent company ByteDance on Friday agreed to a $400m settlement to resolve the US Department of Justice's allegations that the short-form video app violated children's online privacy.The justice department sued TikTok and ByteDance in 2024 for allegedly failing to protect children's privacy and illegally collecting their information. The defendants were accused of violating a law requiring online services aimed at children to obtain parental consent to collect personal information from users under age 13. Continue reading...
European regulators have imposed billions in penalties on US technology companies due to privacy, competition and digital market rulesThe Dutch data protection authority has fined Uber 825m ($966m) for deactivating driver accounts through automated systems without adequately informing them, according to a 17 August decision.The penalty would be the second-largest issued yet under Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Continue reading...
by Victoria Bekiempis and Jenna Amatulli on (#77VKA)
Closing arguments could come on Monday as prosecutors seek murder conviction over deaths of three young childrenLindsay Clancy's defense in her murder trial rested on Friday after calling witnesses to testify about the ailing mother's mental state and attempts to seek help before she killed her young children.The defense wrapped more quickly than some expected given that the prosecution rested their case on Monday. Continue reading...
Asking people to weigh in on adoption of different categories in move that will sow confusion and create access challenges, say expertsThe Trump administration is asking for public feedback on changes to the ways it recommends vaccines - likely opening the door to greater access challenges and confusion, experts say.In a notice published by the health and human services (HHS) to the Federal Register on Friday, officials say they are now seeking comments from the public about the current categories for vaccine recommendations, which so far fall into routine, risk-based and shared clinical decision-making. Continue reading...
David Campanale seeks damages after what he says was organised campaign against his faith in Sutton and CheamHow much is a career in politics worth? The Liberal Democrats, despite admitting claims of religious discrimination, say about 22,800. A former Lib Dem candidate claims 790,000.It is a question before the Central London county court after David Campanale argued that discrimination against his Christianity cost him his political career in a civil case against the party. Continue reading...
UN secretary general has said UN faces imminent financial collapse' due to unpaid contributions from member statesThe Trump administration has started the process to transfer $725m to the United Nations, a congressional notification seen by Reuters showed - a move aid experts said was a welcome step towards paying billions in dues owed.There was no immediate response from Washington DC to questions about the reasons for the payment from an administration that has slashed funding to many UN agencies and blasted the global body for not living up to its potential. Continue reading...
MPs receive 858 Harry Styles concert tickets, Chelsea flower show tickets worth 1,839 and 3,432 of hospitality at Brit awardsMPs have been accused of failing to learn their lesson over freebies after taking almost 400,000 of hospitality to concerts, sport matches and other events this year, with Louise Haigh, Lucy Powell and Wes Streeting among those accepting tickets.Despite the previous outcry in 2024 over Keir Starmer accepting football tickets and gifts of clothing, MPs appear to have been declaring hospitality since the start of the year on a greater scale than previously seen. Continue reading...
Pima county figures show highest number of monthly migrant deaths in two years as critics condemn US policyAccording to newly released data from the medical examiner's office in Pima county, Arizona, the remains of 19 migrants, including children, were recovered along the Arizona-Mexico border last month.The figure accounts for the highest number of monthly deaths in that area since 2024 and brings the number of total remains found to 73 this year, 14 more than the same time period last year.This article was updated on 21 August 2026 to correct the name of Octavio Fuentes. Continue reading...
ICE charter carrying more than 160 Haitian nationals landed in Cap-Haitien, after temporary protection status was revokedThe first deportation flight to Haiti since the US supreme court upheld Donald Trump's power to strip 350,000 Haitians - and others - of a key type of legal status in the US landed in the troubled nation on Thursday.The flight was carrying more that 160 Haitian nationals and landed in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city, aboard an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) charter. Continue reading...
Appeals court slashes judgment to $1.5m in a significant legal victory for the rightwing Infowars founderA Texas appeals court has slashed the $50m judgment to $1.5m against Alex Jones, founder of the rightwing platform Infowars, over falsely calling the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut a hoax.The ruling does not affect a $1.4bn judgment against Jones in Connecticut, but is a significant legal victory for Jones after he and his company, Free Speech Systems, were found liable for damages for claiming the mass shooting didn't happen. Continue reading...
First responders also rescued flood-stranded people after storms unleashed heavy rains in the US north-eastResidents in Delaware's capital and on Long Island, New York, were picking up the pieces on Friday after tornadoes touched down during sudden storms that battered the north-eastern US with heavy rains and left dozens of people stranded in their cars during flash flooding.In Atlantic Beach on Long Island, the long peninsula that stretches out into the ocean to the east of New York City, images posted on social media showed a large funnel cloud over the water and small buildings torn apart at a beach club. Continue reading...
Sources say US navy is working to rename carrier originally planned to honor second world war sailor Dorris MillerThe Trump administration has been accused of delivering a slap in the face" to US military veterans after reports that a navy aircraft carrier set to honor a Black war hero may, instead, be named after Donald Trump.The US navy had previously announced that the carrier under construction would be called the USS Doris Miller, in tribute to a sailor celebrated for his heroism during the attack on Pearl Harbor in the second world war. Continue reading...
by Tom Ambrose (now) and Taz Ali (earlier) on (#77V5P)
This blog is now closed. See all our UK politics coverage hereAfter Emily Thornberry's call for the government to ban goods from the occupied West Bank (see post at 11:05), Peter Beaumont and Quique Kierszenbaum report on how Israeli settler attacks in areas designated for a future Palestinian state and currently under direct Palestinian control have almost doubled since 2025.They wrote:According to a report by the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din, shared with the Guardian, data shows that almost two-thirds of incidents of settler violence so far in 2026 have taken place in the so-called Areas A and B - placed under Palestinian Authority governance in the 1995 Oslo accords.The report, The Next Frontier, Violence by Israeli Civilians in Areas A and B, describes the rapid shift" in violence and pressure exerted by the government, military and settlers on Palestinians ... from Area C into Areas B and even A".No 10 North is putting more power into every postcode across the country so communities can unleash and unlock their own potential.I'm bringing together mayors from different political parties to work on these challenges, because people deserve problem-solving rather than point-scoring.The days of Westminster hoarding power are over.This government has kickstarted the biggest transition of power and resources in a generation, taking it from Whitehall and putting it back in the hands of local communities. Continue reading...
Audio recording of US vice-president apparently made at New York fundraiser and shared with Canadian PressLeaked audio from a private event has reportedly captured the US vice-president, JD Vance, mocking Canada for apparently capitulating in a trade deal and taunting the prime minister, Mark Carney, for trying to out-tough" Donald Trump.The recording, which was reportedly made at a fundraiser and shared with the Canadian Press, comes in the last stretch of a difficult negotiation in which the US president has threatened to impose 50% tariffs on Canada. Continue reading...
Police investigating after two cars set alight in attack caught on CCTVFirebombs were thrown at supercars outside a wedding venue in Birmingham, setting two alight and prompting guests to sprint out of the building.West Midlands police said they were investigating the incident, which happened in the Sparkbrook area of Birmingham at around 8.30pm on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Late actor in May said beauty brand cut off its relationship with her after she spoke out about postpartum depressionThe beauty brand Neutrogena has acknowledged making its former ambassador Hayden Panettiere feel unsupported during a very difficult time" - alluding to when the late Hollywood actor said the company severed ties with her after she spoke about enduring postpartum depression (PPD).Neutrogena issued a statement addressing the situation four days after the 36-year-old actor was found dead at an apartment complex in Greenville, South Carolina. Continue reading...
Joint statement issued after IDF said it will not pursue criminal investigations into April 2024 strike that killed seven humanitarian workersBritain, Australia and Canada have called the decision of the Israeli military authorities not to open a criminal investigation into the April 2024 airstrikes that hit a convoy of aid vehicles in Gaza shameful". The strikes killed seven humanitarian workers from the US-based World Central Kitchen (WCK) organisation.WCK staff from the three countries were among the casualties of the attack, which prompted global outrage. Continue reading...
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