No injuries and no damage reported in Wembley incident and Met says it is not being treated as terrorismA teenager and two men have been arrested after an attempted arson attack at the offices of a Persian media organisation in north-west London, the Metropolitan police said.Officers on patrol were told at about 8.30pm on Wednesday that an ignited container" had been thrown towards the site in Wembley, landing in a car park where the fire immediately died out. There were no injuries and no damage was reported. Continue reading...
The prime minister was not aware that the former US ambassador had failed the vetting process, according to Downing StreetSwinney says this is a manifesto for the whole of Scotland.He confirms that the SNP would argue for the Scottish power to have more control over energy policy (still largely reserved to Westminter). He says:The problem is not that we do not have the energy. The problem is that Westminster has the power. This election is our opportunity to take those powers and put them into Scotland's hands. Continue reading...
Case of businessman using AI to generate false letters of complaint against Heaven nightclub part of a growing issue, say policeA businessman has pleaded guilty to making false statements in order to shut down a nightclub, which police believe were generated using AI.A Metropolitan police source said the use of AI to generate letters by complainants who do not exist is a growing issue. Continue reading...
California supreme court upholds lower court decision as Eastman says he will appeal to US supreme courtJohn Eastman, a lawyer who played a key role in Donald Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 election, officially lost his law license in California on Wednesday.The California supreme court upheld a 2024 ruling from a state judge, who recommended Eastman be disbarred. Eastman exhibited gross negligence by making false statements about the 2020 election without conducting any meaningful investigation or verification of the information he was relying upon", Judge Yvette Roland wrote in 2024. Continue reading...
Sarah Mullally urges Anglicans to join Leo's courageous' call and says human cost of war is incalculableThe archbishop of Canterbury has said she is standing in solidarity with Pope Leo XIV's calls for peace amid his public feud with Donald Trump.Days after the US president objected to comments from the head of the Catholic church suggesting a delusion of omnipotence" was fuelling the US-Israeli war in Iran, Sarah Mullally urged Anglicans to join Leo's courageous" call. Continue reading...
Heather Hallett hails vaccine scheme but criticises rule that only those meeting 60% disabled threshold can get payoutsThe UK's Covid vaccination programme was an extraordinary feat" with protective jabs developed and delivered in record time, but work is now needed to rebuild trust in vaccines and ensure better access before the next pandemic strikes, an official inquiry has found.Lady Hallett, the chair of the statutory inquiry into the pandemic, said the vaccine rollout and the identification of an inexpensive steroid that saved the lives of thousands of UK patients, were two of the success stories" of the pandemic. Continue reading...
Lisa Nandy says BBC staff have been strongly affected and have expressed frustration that high-paid presenters and executives are unlikely to be affectedThe BBC's sudden announcement of 2,000 job cuts has had a very strong effect" on staff, the UK's culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said, as employees expressed frustration that highly paid presenters and senior staff would not be the prime targets of the cuts.Nandy, who has been having conversations with BBC staff during discussions about the broadcaster's charter renewal, is understood to be keen for employees to be involved in making the cost-cutting plan, which will affect as many as 10% of the broadcaster's 21,000 staff over the next three years. Continue reading...
PM demands real world changes in Downing Street meeting with senior figures from Meta, TikTok, Google and XKeir Starmer has told social media bosses things can't go on like this" in a meeting about internet safety at Downing Street.The prime minister summoned senior figures from Meta, TikTok, Google, Snapchat's owner and X to No 10 on Thursday morning as the government considers imposing new restrictions on platforms, including an Australia-style ban for under-16s. Meta owns Facebook and Instagram, and Google owns YouTube. Continue reading...
Retrial ordered in case of Benjamin Field, found guilty in 2019 of murdering Peter Farquhar, 69, in BuckinghamshireA church warden who was jailed for life for the murder of a university lecturer has had his conviction quashed at the court of appeal and a retrial has been ordered.Benjamin Field was jailed for at least 36 years in 2019 after being found guilty of murdering 69-year-old Peter Farquhar in Maids Moreton, Buckinghamshire. Continue reading...
Pedro Piscal pisco is latest Chilean brand to resemble a Hollywood name - and others have fought off the lawsuitsThe actor Pedro Pascal is waging a legal battle against a Chilean pisco merchant who has chosen a cheeky name for his brand of the country's national spirit: Pedro Piscal.David Herrera registered the brand name with a Chilean commercial regulator in 2023 and began selling his pisco in off-licences and restaurants. Continue reading...
by Presented by Nosheen Iqbal with Will Coldwell; pro on (#74ZG9)
Journalist Will Coldwell tells the story of how a British businessman was imprisoned in Dubai - and how his family finally got him homeWhen Albert Douglas found out he was facing a long prison sentence in Dubai, he tried to escape the UAE ... and failed. What followed was years of court proceedings, time in prison and even, Douglas says, beatings and torture.In recent years, scores of business owners, unsuspecting tourists and influencers have been detained in Dubai - caught up in an opaque legal system, charged with breaking laws they may not even have been aware of. Continue reading...
DHS accused of false and misleading statements about Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez who was shot in faceFederal officials have arrested a California man who was shot by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and charged him with assault" on a federal officer.Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez, 36, was shot by ICE officers on 7 April in Patterson, a rural town in California's Central valley roughly 80 miles south-east of San Francisco. He was hit by more than six bullets, including in the face, according to his attorney. Continue reading...
by Bethan McKernan Wales correspondent on (#74Z4Z)
Decision to seek contact ban orders for people who repeatedly call about non-criminal matters is believed to be UK firstPeople who call with complaints about their neighbours could face a contact ban for wasting police resources, a police force has said.In a social media post on the weekend, North Wales police (NWP) said they had responded to four antisocial behaviour callouts in 24 hours for disputes such as neighbours who don't put their bins away or kids playing in the garden making too much noise during the day". Continue reading...
Regulator says tool, which creates reports for humans to review, has helped classify entire UK catalogue of HBO MaxTV shows including The Pitt and a Game of Thrones spinoff have received age ratings in the UK after the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) deployed AI to help flag contentious scenes.The BBFC developed a tool to identify content that triggers compliance issues, such as violence, nudity and bad language. The flagged scenes were then passed over to BBFC staff for human review. Continue reading...
by Katherine Butler associate editor, Europe on (#74YYZ)
Peter Magyar's stunning victory in Hungary is a boost for liberal democracy. But don't bank on similar upsets in upcoming European electionsWhen future historians come to write about the stunning electoral overthrow of Viktor Orban on 12 April 2026, let's hope they devote at least footnotes to zebras and golden toilet brushes. The zebras were spotted by drones on the sprawling grounds of a countryside palace belonging to Orban's extended family. The 72 gilded toilet brushes were said to have been bought at a cost of almost 10,000, for a lavish renovation of Hungary's central bank. For Orban's opponents, such excesses became symbols of the rampant corruption among cronies of Orban's ruling party Fidesz, which drained Hungary's economy and earned the country the worst ranking on the crookedness league tables in the EU, as Ashifa Kassam and Flora Garamvolgyi reported.In the end, it was disgust with corruption and how that corruption affected people's livelihoods that were the main factors behind Sunday's election rout. But the landslide achieved by Peter Magyar's Tisza party - despite an electoral system designed to favour Fidesz - suggests that these eye-popping details were merely the last straws for a population desperate to reclaim their country as a functioning democracy. Continue reading...
Narwhal Labs ad for AI employee' contains strapline: She outworks everyone. And she'll never ask for a raise'A British AI company that recently secured millions of pounds of investment has been accused of running a misogynistic and sexist advertising campaign.The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has received at least seven complaints about the campaign by Narwhal Labs, which includes an advert depicting a woman next to the strapline: She outworks everyone. And she'll never ask for a raise." Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#74YRP)
David Parrish, who won Cape Wrath Ultra in 2023, had been attempting gruelling route again as fundraising challengeA 35-year-old ultramarathon champion from Dumfries has died while attempting to beat the record for a race to the most north-westerly point on mainland Britain.David Parrish, a former Royal Marine, was trying to become the fastest man to complete the Cape Wrath trail, one of Britain's most gruelling race routes. Continue reading...
Promotion of bitcoin treasury' firm with Kwasi Kwarteng draws new attention to Reform leader's relations with industryA thumping electronic beat provides the soundtrack to the video as Nigel Farage appears in front of a bank of screens.At first glance, it could be yet another of the Reform UK leader's second jobs" - whether promoting gold as a pension fallback or recording Cameo videos. And in a sense, it is: Farage is promoting a 2m cryptocurrency purchase by a company in which he has 215,000 invested, Stack BTC. Continue reading...
Pyongyang making very serious' progress on producing weapons, with rapid rise in activity at main nuclear complexNorth Korea has made very serious" progress in its ability to produce more nuclear weapons, the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has said, in another sign that the regime is seeking to use its nuclear arsenal to ensure its survival.North Korea is thought to have assembled about 50 nuclear warheads, although some experts are sceptical of its claims that it is able to miniaturise them so they can be attached to long-range ballistic missiles. Continue reading...
Suspect arrested but not identified and has allegedly made similar threats to OpenAI's San Francisco headquartersA 20-year-old man allegedly tossed a molotov cocktail at the home of Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, before the sun rose on Friday, according to statements from San Francisco police.The suspect, who allegedly threw the fire bomb at the $27m North Beach residence around 4.12am, has been arrested but not identified. The same person allegedly threatened to torch OpenAI's headquarters in the city. No injuries were reported. Continue reading...
Charity says it dealt with 75 incidents last year involving 100 or more animals living in one propertyThe cost of living crisis and an increase in people experiencing mental health difficulties have led to a rising number of multi-animal rescues in England and Wales, an RSPCA superintendent has said.The animal charity this week had to confirm that a shocking photograph of more than 250 poodle-cross dogs found at a property in the UK was not faked with artificial intelligence. The RSPCA took in 87 of the dogs and the remainder went to the Dogs Trust, another charity. Continue reading...
An eighty-three-year-old man successfully appealed the automatic revocation of his permanent resident visa after being sentenced to 14 months in prison
PM's most senior civil servant now has task of rewriting civil service code and making it recognised for improved productivity'Antonia Romeo, Keir Starmer's most senior civil servant, has been handed a powerful new mandate to deliver his priorities, while Darren Jones, the No 10 chief secretary, has shifted to a less hands-on role.Romeo, who was promoted last month, took over the job of cabinet secretary and head of the civil service after an unsuccessful year in charge by her predecessor Chris Wormald, who was not considered effective enough by No 10. Continue reading...
Royal Navy type 45 destroyer deployed to reinforce security around RAF base in Cyprus to undergo short maintenance stop, says MoDHMS Dragon has docked in the eastern Mediterranean after suffering technical problems with its water systems.The UK's prime minister, Keir Starmer, announced on 3 March that the type 45 destroyer would be deployed to reinforce security around RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, two days after the base was struck by a Shahed 136 drone. Continue reading...
US vice-president rails against bureaucrats in Brussels' interfering in Sunday's vote during Budapest visitJD Vance has railed against the EU, accusing it of blatantly interfering in Hungary's upcoming elections, even as the US vice-president said he had travelled to Budapest to help" Viktor Orban win Sunday's vote.Speaking to reporters shortly after landing in Budapest on Tuesday, Vance's tone was combative as he alleged that the EU was responsible for one of the worst examples of foreign election interference" he had ever seen. Continue reading...
by Jamie Grierson, Rajeev Syal and Lanre Bakare on (#74RYY)
Rapper had been booked to play at festival in London, prompting outcry over his past antisemitic remarksThe Wireless music festival has been cancelled after the artist formerly known as Kanye West was banned from entering the UK amid a deepening political row over his previous antisemitic statements.West, legally known as Ye, was due to headline all three days of the festival in July and made an application to travel to the UK via an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) on Monday, but this was blocked by officials. Continue reading...
Parents face child endangerment charge after their kid suffered a minor injury at ZooAmerica in HersheyparkThe parents of a toddler who suffered a minor injury at a Pennsylvania theme park zoo after squeezing through a fence near a wolf enclosure and making contact with one of the animals have been charged with endangering the welfare of children, with police accusing them of paying attention to their cellphones at the time.In a news release, police said that the parents both walked about 25ft to 30ft (7.5 meters to 9 meters) away from the child to a seating area with benches and appeared to be paying attention to their cellphones when they noticed what was happening Saturday at ZooAmerica in Hersheypark. Continue reading...
Trump claims Iranians welcome US strikes and lower court judges challenge Trump's war on rule of law' - key US politics stories from Monday 6 April at a glance
President's press conference after White House Easter egg roll did little to dispel fears he has lost touch with realityDonald Trump began his day standing with a person in a giant bunny costume and boasting about the Iran war to an audience of children.The annual Easter egg roll on the White House South Lawn conjured a fitting Alice's Adventures in Wonderland image for a US president who has disappeared down what many would call a rabbit hole. Continue reading...
South-east England could reach 24C as settled weather replaces rain and 70mph winds which battered the northParts of the UK are forecast to experience the warmest temperatures of the year so far in the wake of Storm Dave, which caused widespread damage and disruption over the Easter weekend.London and south-east England could reach temperatures of 21C or 22C on Tuesday, rising to 24C on Wednesday, while Manchester could hit 20C, forecasters said, as a short period of settled weather replaced the rain and 70mph winds that battered parts of northern England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Continue reading...
Lebanese-French man Ali Cherri demands investigation into Beirut bombing as possible war crime against civiliansA Lebanese-French artist has filed a legal complaint in a Paris court about an Israeli bombing of his family home in Lebanon that killed his parents and a domestic worker, claiming the attack could constitute a war crime.The suit, filed with the French war crimes unit on Tuesday, is a rare instance of an individual pursuing war crimes charges for an Israeli bombing. It is also the first time a French court has taken a case over Israel's bombing of Lebanon. Continue reading...
Prosecutors unveil priceless artefact in press conference after it was taken from Netherlands museum in January 2025A priceless ancient golden helmet from Romania that was stolen last year from a museum in the Netherlands has been recovered, Dutch authorities have said.Under the guard of balaclava-wearing police, prosecutors unveiled the 2,500-year-old Coofeneti helmet during a news conference on Thursday in the eastern Dutch city of Assen. Continue reading...
Christopher Joell-Deshields was suspended last year, with 7,125 found to have been spent on luxury itemsThe boss of Pride in London, one of the world's largest LGBTQ+ events, has been sacked after he was accused of buying luxury goods for personal use with vouchers intended for volunteers' food and drink.Christopher Joell-Deshields, who had been chief executive of Pride in London since 2021, was put under investigation last September and suspended the following month in response to claims of misconduct. Continue reading...
Exclusive: documents chronicle years-long campaign to make it easier to build intensive livestock unitsMinisters are rewriting planning rules to make it easier to build intensive livestock farms despite concerns about water pollution, air quality and local opposition.Documents obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act show that proposed changes to the national planning policy framework (NPPF) were discussed by ministers and officials in response to concerns of the country's leading chicken producers, who have been lobbying on the issue for at least two years. Continue reading...
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