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This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereMeanwhile, the government has thrown its weight behind a bill to crack down on puppy smuggling as part of a commitment to strengthening animal welfare.Ministers announced on Friday that they were supporting a private member's bill sponsored by Danny Chambers, a Liberal Democrat MP and veterinary surgeon, to crack down on the pet-smuggling trade. Continue reading...

Layla Moran and Diane Abbott say end-of-life care needs more funding after bill passed for England and WalesMPs on both sides of the debate over assisted dying have called for improvements to palliative care, regardless of whether parliament eventually enacts legalisation.Layla Moran, who supported the bill at its second reading on Friday, and Diane Abbott, who did not, agreed that more funding was required to improve end-of-life care during a joint-interview on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Continue reading...

Raj Sidpara, 50, given minimum 21-year sentence after punching, kicking and stamping on Tarnjeet RiazA man who murdered his girlfriend by punching, kicking and stamping on her before falling asleep and leaving her to die has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 21 years.Raj Sidpara, 50, was convicted of the murder of Tarnjeet Riaz, also known by her maiden name Chagger, at Leicester crown court last week. Continue reading...

Work first in a series from poet laureate about wildlife that exists in the Lost Gardens of HeliganA new haiku by the poet laureate Simon Armitage has appeared on a garden wall in Cornwall, the first of a series of pieces celebrating the creatures that make their home among the woods, meadows and ferns there.Armitage's haiku, Web, celebrates the silky but deadly threads that spiders darn" in the hedges at the Lost Gardens of Heligan and was unveiled together with an illuminated 2-metre recreation of a walnut orb-weaver spider as part of a midwinter night trail.Web can be seen at Heligan Night Garden, which is open on select dates, until 4 January and Dwell will be published by Faber. Continue reading...

Newspapers across the board cover the historic vote prominently, but with some more enthused about the outcome than others

Special envoy needed to help free citizens subjected to hostage diplomacy' by authoritarian regimes, senate committee finds

Host of ABC Sydney Drive wanted to highlight joy in the everyday' rather than report on terrible things'

Sinn Fein and Fine Gael both scored 21% in the poll, slightly ahead of Fianna Fail on 19%An exit poll in Ireland suggests a dead heat between Sinn Fein and the taoiseach's party Fine Gael in the general election, with Fianna Fail only slightly behind.The survey of first preference votes is the first real indication of how Ireland voted after three weeks of canvassing in the snap election called by Simon Harris. Continue reading...

President suggests bringing Kyiv-controlled land into western military pact could stop hot stage' of warVolodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested that Ukrainian territory under his control should be taken under the Nato umbrella" to try to stop the hot stage" of the war with Russia.Speaking to Sky News, the Ukrainian president said that such a proposal has never been considered" by Ukraine because it has never officially" been offered. Continue reading...

Bill aims to strengthen animal welfare by closing legal loopholes around imports of dogs, cats and ferretsThe government has thrown its weight behind a bill to crack down on puppy smuggling as part of a commitment to strengthening animal welfare.Ministers announced on Friday that they were supporting a private member's bill sponsored by Danny Chambers, a Liberal Democrat MP and veterinary surgeon, to crack down on the pet-smuggling trade. Continue reading...

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Finlay MacDonald found guilty of stabbing wife multiple times before going on a rampage with a shotgun and knifeA man who murdered his brother-in-law and attempted to kill three others during a shooting spree on the Isle of Skye and the Scottish mainland has been jailed for 28 years.Finlay MacDonald, 41, killed his brother-in-law with a shotgun on 10 August 2022. His frenzied" attacks began that morning when he stabbed his wife, Rowena MacDonald, multiple times at their home in Taskarvaig on the island's Sleat peninsula after discovering flirty" text messages exchanged between her and her boss. She said the attack punctured both her lungs and left her squelching blood" during each breath. Continue reading...

Increase follows two-year freeze, as ministers say they will review alternate funding models

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereGerman foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, will travel to China next week, where she will meet her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, to discuss issues including the war in Ukraine, said a ministry spokesperson on Friday, according to Reuters.Further political talks are also planned, said the spokesperson, adding that Baerbock will also meet German business representatives in the country. Continue reading...

Maximiliano Davila Perez, arrested in Bolivia in 2022, was accused of using his position to help transport cocaineBolivia's highest court on Wednesday approved the extradition of the country's former top anti-narcotics official to the US to face charges of trafficking narcotics.Maximiliano Davila Perez briefly served as Bolivia's top counter-narcotics official in 2019, before then president Evo Morales resigned. He later served as a police commander in Bolivia under the government of the current president, Luis Arce. Continue reading...

Ideas to revive NHS dentistry include a GP-style right to register and fewer checkups for those with healthy teethAmid renewed concern over the millions of people in England who cannot get NHS dental care, and a warning that the current dental recovery plan" will not work, ministers are drawing up their own proposals to tackle what is widely agreed to be a crisis.Here experts set out four ideas for how to revive NHS dentistry and help patients get the care they need without paying for it privately, as many are having to do now, or undertaking DIY dentistry", such as pulling their rotten teeth themselves. Continue reading...

Bank of England financial stability report says 4.4 million households will face extra pressure on their finances

Up to 2,700 jobs worldwide likely to be cut at London-listed company, including at its base in Oxford

The departing transport secretary stood out as a leftwinger, one of the few Corbyn frontbenchers Starmer retained

Many lawyers gave up legal aid work due to very low rates, creating backlog of asylum cases and appealsMinisters are to announce a 10% increase in legal aid fees for immigration and housing work after action by lawyers who warned that the failure to increase rates has led to a paralysis in the system.Asylum work fees in England and Wales have not increased since 1996, with hourly rates for lawyers stuck at 52. Rates will now increase to 69 in London and 65 outside London for housing, debt, asylum and immigration work. Fixed-rate legal aid fees for this area of legal aid work will also increase by 10% on Friday. Continue reading...

Conceptual work created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan was sold at auction in New York last weekThe cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun has fulfilled a promise he made after spending $6.2m (4.88m) on an artwork featuring a banana duct-taped to a wall - by eating the fruit.At one of Hong Kong's priciest hotels, Sun, 34, chomped down on the banana in front of dozens of journalists and influencers after giving a speech hailing the work as iconic" and drew parallels between conceptual art and cryptocurrency. Continue reading...

Avi Dichter, of Israel's security cabinet, made the comments as reports of the scale of Israel's military infrastructure in the territory emergeThe Israeli military will remain in Gaza for many years, fighting against fresh Hamas recruits in the territory and could be responsible for delivery of humanitarian aid there, a senior Israeli minister has said.The comments by Avi Dichter, Israel's minister for food security and a member of the Israeli security cabinet, confirm an emerging picture of a long-term deployment of Israeli troops inside Gaza, with no immediate Israeli plan for any other administration to govern the territory's 2.3 million people and begin reconstruction there. Continue reading...

Haigh tells PM she is totally committed' but leaves role after incorrectly telling police a work mobile phone was stolen in 2013

Draconian new laws allow mass incarceration of women and children forced to beg because of work banDestitute Afghan women arrested for begging under draconian new Taliban laws have spoken of brutal" rapes and beatings in detention.Over the past few months, many women said they had been targeted by Taliban officials and detained under anti-begging laws passed this year. While in prison, they claim they were subjected to sexual abuse, torture and forced labour, and witnessed children being beaten and abused. Continue reading...

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The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will return to court in October and hear evidence from two women on rape allegations

But Bandt would not be pressed on Anthony Albanese's decision to cancel a environment deal the Greens and David Pocock struck with Tanya Plibersek

Two close friends and brother maintain their innocence and intend to appeal

Over a career that spanned seven decades, Pinal was a muse to director Luis Bunuel, appearing in 60s classics such as ViridianaSilvia Pinal, an actor from Mexico's Golden Age of cinema and muse to the director Luis Bunuel, has died aged 93.Pinal got her start in theatre in the 1940s, working with the director Rafael Banquells - the first of her four husbands. She became a star in 1950 aged 18, when she appeared opposite two of Mexico's biggest comedic film stars: German Valdes (Tin-Tan) in The King of the Neighborhood and Mario Moreno (Cantinflas) in The Doorman. In 1952 she appeared alongside heartthrob Pedro Infante in A Place Near Heaven. Continue reading...

Seventy-two-year-old who stole $922,214 will be eligible for parole after three years and nine months

Researchers say supermarket customers are more likely to buy a piece of fruit labelled as a sad single'If seeing a lone, desolate banana on a supermarket shelf leaves you feeling a little blue, you are not alone.Researchers have found that labelling unsold loose fruits as sad singles" tugs on shoppers' heartstrings and increases the likelihood that they'll be sold. Continue reading...

Presenter faces allegations of inappropriate sexual comments from 13 people - and Rod Stewart calls him an ill-mannered bully'The TV presenter Gregg Wallace will step away from his role on MasterChef after the BBC received complaints about alleged misconduct.The presenter Kirsty Wark, who was a Celebrity MasterChef contestant in 2011, has alleged that Wallace told sexualised" jokes during filming. Wallace is facing allegations of inappropriate sexual comments from 13 people who worked with him across a range of shows over a 17-year period, according to an investigation by BBC News. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Environment minister agreed detail with Greens but the PM intervened after lobbying from WA premier and miners

Party has had a bumpy few months, but strategists are now focused on delivering noticeable change to votersDuring a tetchy exchange at prime minister's questions this week, Keir Starmer was challenged by Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, over a petition signed by more than 2.8 million people calling for him to resign.She talks about a petition - we had a massive petition on 4 July in this country," he said in response. But most in Downing Street will acknowledge that, less than five months since Labour's election landslide, the party has had a bumpier start than it had hoped. Continue reading...

CQC study finds falls across a range of metrics dealing with antenatal care, labour, childbirth and postnatal careMore than a third of pregnant women in England do not always get help from maternity staff during labour or childbirth, the NHS care regulator has found.Even more - almost half - do not always get help when they are in hospital after giving birth, a Care Quality Commission (CQC) survey of almost 19,000 women's experiences of maternity care found. Continue reading...

Ministers will also consider local authority requests to raise council tax above threshold on case-by-case basisMinisters have said they will redirect cash from wealthy areas to England's most deprived town and cities, reversing a trend established during a decade of austerity in a shake-up of local government funding.The government also said it would consider on a case-by-case basis" requests from cash-strapped councils who wanted to balance their books by raising council tax above the current threshold of 5% for upper-tier authorities and 3% for districts. Continue reading...

Exclusive: insiders say drawn-out and complex negotiations will require a delay to spending review announcementRachel Reeves is planning to wait until June before announcing how much money Whitehall departments will get for the next three years, as officials warn it could take up to six months to agree budgets with individual cabinet ministers.The chancellor previously said she would unveil the spending review in the spring, but people close to the process say that has now been pushed back until early summer in anticipation of complex and potentially fraught negotiations. Continue reading...

Exclusive: MP leading bill urges MPs to vote to give terminally ill people autonomy over their own bodies Key issues in the assisted dying debateLegalising assisted dying is a once in a decade" opportunity, the MP leading the bill has said in her final plea to parliament before a knife-edge vote.Kim Leadbeater urged her colleagues to support the principle of bodily autonomy in her final interview before MPs vote on Friday on a bill that would fundamentally shift the role of the state in matters of life and death. Continue reading...

Reform UK leader says it would be worthy' discussion and parliament should get more time to debate things people talk about at home'Nigel Farage has said MPs should look at rolling back Britain's abortion limit from 24 weeks in a signal that he could try to open up a debate about women's reproductive rights.The Reform UK leader was speaking as he unveiled the former Conservative minister Andrea Jenkyns as the latest recruit to Reform UK, announcing she will run to be the party's candidate for mayor of Lincolnshire. Continue reading...

Government urged to take action as CMA report finds retailers have not passed on the falling cost of energyUK motorists are paying more than they should for petrol and diesel even as global energy market prices have fallen in recent months, the competition watchdog has warned.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) repeated its call for the new government to take action as soon as possible" to end the persistent" overcharging, six months after it found that motorists paid 1.6bn more than they should have last year alone. Continue reading...

Attorney general Deb Frecklington acknowledges bill will likely increase number of children in state watch houses

This week, and particularly the passing of 31 bills on a frenetic final day, has done a lot to cement Labor's first term agenda

Master Wealth Control, trading as DG Institute, breached privacy laws by sharing names and addresses of people in distressed situations, regulator finds

Bill passes amid warning that process has been rushed and that a ban could push teenagers towards the dark web or into isolationAustralia's parliament has passed a law that will aim to do what no other government has, and many parents have tried to: stop children from using social media. The new law was drafted in response to what the Labor prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says is a clear, causal link between the rise of social media and the harm [to] the mental health of young Australians."On Thursday, parliament's upper house, the Senate, passed a bill by 34 votes to 19 banning children under 16 from social media platforms. Continue reading...

Khalife convicted of two counts relating to espionage, having admitted to prison escape while on remand

Judge rules that the court doubts the sufficiency of any conditions' that place trust in Combs to follow bail rulesSean Diddy" Combs has been denied bail for the third time by a judge in New York City who described him as a serious risk" for witness tampering.Prosecutors had previously accused Combs of trying to contact prospective witnesses from jail in an attempt to create narratives" to influence public opinion as well as potential jurors for his impending sex trafficking trial. Continue reading...

More than a million households without power across the country as strikes on energy infrastructure continue

Albanese government reliant on Coalition to pass three controversial migration bills and the under 16 social media ban

FCA proposes giving 10 days' notice before revealing identities of firms under investigation and will consider market impactThe City regulator has bowed to pressure over plans to name and shame" some companies it investigates, offering watered-down proposals that would give firms 10 days' notice and consider the potential negative impact" of revealing the identities of companies under inspection.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) put forward new proposals on Thursday after months of intense criticism from businesses, which have tried to thwart the watchdog's plans to be more transparent with the public and whistleblowers when it is investigating potential wrongdoing across the City. Continue reading...

Liz Hatton from Harrogate, who was being treated for rare terminal cancer, began photography bucket listA teenager whose pursuit of photography while being treated for terminal cancer led her to meet the Princess of Wales and work with the photographer Rankin has died.Liz Hatton, 17, from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, died early on Wednesday morning, her mother, Vicky Robayna, announced on social media. Continue reading...