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Former Ukip leader obtained report suggesting media coverage of his political views was considered in Coutts closure decision

Former Liberal deputy leader tells National Press Club she supports the referendum, but stops short of saying she will actively campaign for yes vote

In today's newsletter: From poor dentist pay to rising prices and low governmental investment, NHS dentistry has slowly fallen apart - this is how Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.In 2021 more than 2,000 dentists quit the NHS, and in 2022 a BBC survey found that nine out of 10 of the dental practices that still offer NHS services are not accepting new adult patients - eight in 10 are not taking on any more children. That has left millions without access to basic healthcare, resulting in dental deserts" across England, and the problem is only set to get worse as more and more dentists leave the profession.Banks | Dame Alison Rose, the chief executive of NatWest Group, has stood down after a row over the closure of Nigel Farage's bank account with the private bank Coutts, which NatWest owns.Education | Smartphones should be banned from schools to tackle classroom disruption, improve learning and help protect children from cyberbullying, a landmark report by Unesco has recommended. The UN's education, science and culture agency said there was evidence that excessive use reduced educational performance and emotional stability in children.Italy | Five people have died in the past 24 hours as two extreme weather events split Italy between wildfires in the south and violent storms in the north. Fires in Sicily led to the temporary closure of Palermo airport after temperatures in the city climbed to 47C on Monday.Transport | Railway workers who wear stickers supporting a campaign to stop the closure of almost 1,000 ticket offices are being threatened with disciplinary action, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has said.Saudi Arabia | The kingdom has spent at least $6.3bn in sports deals since early 2021, more than quadruple the previous amount spent over a six-year period, in what critics have labelled an effort to distract from its human rights record. Continue reading...

Damian Wanstell was arrested after sending explicit texts to undercover police posing as 14-year-old

Williams' nephew and The Wire creator David Simon spoke on behalf of Carlos Macci, 72, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to possessing and distributing narcoticsA 72-year-old man linked to a crew of drug dealers blamed in the fentanyl-laced heroin death of The Wire actor Michael K Williams has been sentenced to more than two years in prison at a proceeding in which the actor's nephew recommended compassion for the defendant.Carlos Macci was sentenced to 30 months in prison by US district judge Ronnie Abrams, who told Macci that selling heroin and fentanyl not only cost Mr Williams his life, but it's costing your freedom" - in part because he did not stop selling drugs after Williams died. Continue reading...

Prosecutors object to scope of request in Toowoomba magistrates court, asking why alleged victim's old messages would be relevant

Drop was more than expected by economists, increasing likelihood the Reserve Bank will extend its interest rate pause next week

Proposed air and missile defences raise ire of residents who are also concerned about environmental impactsA planned missile defence system on the island of Guam could turn the US Pacific territory into a target," local residents have said, as opposition to the plans grow.The Pentagon plans to invest $1.5bn in a 360-degree, air and missile defence architecture on Guam. It aims to complete the system by 2027. Continue reading...

Treasury committee report says tax system is too complicated and finds two-thirds of relief policies are uncostedAlmost 200bn of tax reliefs handed to businesses and individuals each year should come under greater government scrutiny to prevent fraud and abuse, according to an all-party group of MPs.The Treasury committee said in a report published on Wednesday that a systematic review" into more than 1,000 tax reliefs was needed after MPs found HM Revenue and Customs did not have the resources to monitor how tax breaks and deductions were used. Continue reading...

Committee also says government has more work to do to tackle structural problems in early years childcareMinisters should remove business rates and VAT from nurseries so that they are able to pay their staff more, a group of MPs have recommended.In the spring budget, Jeremy Hunt pledged to reform the childcare system, including by offering parents of children aged nine months to three years 30 hours a week of free childcare in term-time, which was expected to cost 4bn. The government claimed that it would reduce childcare costs for a family by almost 60%. Continue reading...

Foreign affairs select committee condemns government's dismal lack of understanding' about group's hold in AfricaA decade-long failure by the British government has allowed the Wagner network to grow, spread its tentacles deep into Africa and exploit vulnerable countries, according to a highly critical report from the UK's foreign affairs select committee.It called on the government to proscribe the Wagner group in the UK and to make a far more concerted effort to stop it using the City of London as a financial centre. Continue reading...

Plan aims to free up estimated million hours a year of police time but experts have raised concernsMinisters have told police forces to rapidly cut the number of mental health-related 999 calls they respond to in order to free up an estimated million hours a year of police time, in a move that mental health experts fear could be dangerous.Announcing a new national strategy for the police's role in mental health emergencies, Chris Philp, the policing minister, said forces should still attend calls involving mental health issues whenever there is a risk to public safety and if there is a crime. Continue reading...

Bank warns Alison Rose could see pay docked after controversy over closure of ex-Ukip leader's Coutts accountsNatWest's beleaguered chief executive, Alison Rose, has admitted she was the source of a controversial BBC report about Nigel Farage's bank accounts and issued a grovelling apology in an attempt to save her job.Rose said she made a serious error of judgment" in discussing Farage's banking relationship with Coutts, the private banking division of NatWest, in a conversation with a BBC reporter this month. Continue reading...

Award-winning actor led a starry event with a fiery speech aimed at Disney CEO Bob Iger: We will not be having our jobs taken away and given to robots'Stars abounded at the Sag-Aftra rally in Times Square on Tuesday, as Hollywood actors continue their simultaneous strike with writers.Actors including Bryan Cranston, Christine Baranski, F Murray Abraham, Wendell Pierce, Steve Buscemi, Christian Slater and Tituss Burgess spoke before a crowd at the Rock the City for a Fair Contract" rally, with numerous others - Michael Shannon, BD Wong, Brendan Fraser, Jessica Chastain, Matt Bomer, Corey Stoll and Chloe Grace Moretz - demonstrating their support on stage. Continue reading...

President Lasso imposes 60-day order and authorizes armed forces to retake control of country's violence-plagued prisonsEcuador's president, Guillermo Lasso, has declared a 60-day state of emergency throughout the country's prisons and authorized the armed forces to retake control of jails, following violence in the country's most notorious prison that left 18 dead and a string of protests in which inmates took nearly 100 guards hostage.The measure - the second state of emergency that Lasso has ordered in less than 24 hours - will be in effect for 60 days and orders the immediate mobilization of the military and police in an effort to regain control of the prisons. Continue reading...

Counsel for one of eight men accused of sexually exploiting two girls says town's history should not count against themJurors trying eight men from Rochdale accused of sexually exploiting two girls have been warned not to be prejudiced by the fact the Greater Manchester town has become synonymous with grooming".They were told to rid yourself of preconceptions" and not be tempted to convict simply to redress past wrongs" for the failures of the authorities in other well-publicised Rochdale cases, such as those portrayed in the BBC drama Three Girls. Continue reading...

Report finds army, navy, police and intelligence agencies knew, minute by minute, where the student teachers wereMexican security forces at local, state and federal level knew about the 2014 abduction of 43 student teachers and were complicit in their disappearances, a report prepared by an independent investigatory panel has concluded.The Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) - a panel appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights who were tasked with investigating the case - said in the report on one of Mexico's most notorious human rights scandals that the army, navy, police and intelligence agencies knew, minute by minute, where the student teachers were. Continue reading...

Research by Bank of England economist reveals huge scale of parental support in housing marketThe massive scale of parental support for young people seeking to buy their first property has been revealed in a UK study showing one in four new homebuyers under 25 rely on the bank of mum and dad".A blogpost by a Bank of England economist found that even before the sharp increase in house prices during the Covid-19 pandemic, the children of better-off parents were able to become owner occupiers four years earlier than those without parental support. Continue reading...

Dozens also injured as army shells three neighbourhoods in city close to capital, KhartoumAt least 18 people have been killed in the Sudanese city of Omdurman as the war between the national army chief and his former deputy continues.Dozens of people were also injured when the army shelled three neighbourhoods in the city, which lies next to the capital, Khartoum, residents said. Continue reading...

Russia says it repelled drone attack on patrol boat in Black Sea; Ukraine claims small advance in the Bakhmut area

Exclusive: Move follows outcry from small firms, charities and others about hidden commission fees

Regulator acts after firm paid millions by NHS for healthcare gave patients wrong chemotherapy doseBritain's health regulator has partly suspended the manufacturing licence of Sciensus, a private company paid millions by the NHS to provide vital medicines, after the death of a cancer patient who was given the wrong dose of chemotherapy.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it had taken immediate" action under regulation 28 of the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 law where it appears to the MHRA that in the interests of safety the licence should be suspended". Continue reading...

Cafes refuse to sell Pheu Thai party candidate's favourite beverage amid fears of plot to ice-out coalition partnersFor some in Thailand, the thought of a chocolate-mint ice drink suddenly leaves a bad taste.Several cafes have suspended their sales. One shop described it as a betray-your-friend" drink in a graphic posted on their Facebook page. Another said it was a drink to kick your friend into the boat", a phrase that means to push a friend away. Continue reading...

Exhibition opening in the autumn will celebrate sport's journey from fringes to OlympicsFrom its origins in the California hills to its ubiquity on urban streets around the globe, the history of skateboarding spans seven decades over which it has evolved from fringe sport to Olympics event.Where once surfers nailed roller skates to makeshift wooden boards to practise their moves on concrete when there were no waves, the ongoing commercialisation of the sport has led to a booming industry. Continue reading...

Charities urge government to ban no-fault evictions and accelerate housebuildingThe number of households in temporary accommodation in England is at its highest since records began as charities call on out of touch" government to ban no-fault evictions and accelerate social housebuilding.Government figures released on Tuesday show 104,510 households were in temporary accommodation by the end of March this year, the highest figure since records began in 1998. The rise has been sharp, with 9,520 more households being placed in temporary accommodation since last year, a 10% jump. Continue reading...

Killing of Saridewi Djamani is one of two this week as activists say most on death row are marginalised peopleSingapore is due to execute a woman for the first time in almost 20 years on Friday, one of two killings planned for this week.Singaporean national Saridewi Djamani was sentenced to the mandatory death penalty in 2018, after she was found guilty of possession of about 30g of heroin for the purposes of trafficking, according to the Transformative Justice Collective (TJC), which tracks death row cases. Continue reading...

The star of the Fast and Furious franchise has made a seven-figure donation to a Sag-Aftra Foundation Relief Fund, for actors who will face financial ruin' due to the strike in HollywoodDwayne Johnson, star of Black Adam and the Fast and Furious franchise, has made a major, historic" financial contribution to the Sag-Aftra Foundation Relief Fund, which provides emergency assistance to union members during strike action.According to a report in Variety, Johnson's seven-figure donation" arrived in response to a letter sent by the foundation's president Courtney B Vance to 2,700 of the highest-earning actors in the film industry. Continue reading...

Salvatore Mancuso, who is imprisoned in US, is responsible for more than 300 killings and is accused of about 75,000 crimesSalvatore Mancuso is one of the most notorious figures in Colombia's six decades of conflict, responsible for some of the most heinous of crimes during the darkest chapters in the country's history.As a senior commander of the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) - the country's largest rightwing death squad - he ordered forced disappearances, sexual violence and massacres of civilians. Continue reading...

Osborne's regressive benefit policy is despised even by some of its Tory architects. But Starmer is in no mood to make spending promises

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Set around a culture war in a nursing home, Chandran's third novel has won Australia's biggest literary prize - and yet, she says, she was almost too afraid to write it

Family members of East Timorese in UK denied right to visit, as Home Office says too many hoping to work illegallyThe Home Office has been accused of implementing discriminatory policies towards visitors from Timor-Leste, many of whom have the right to travel to the UK but who have been blocked from entering the country in large numbers.Regulations were changed last week to require East Timorese visitors to apply for visas before travelling to the UK, after decades of visa-free travel. The Foreign Office said this was in response to a sustained and significant" rise in the number of people travelling from the tiny south-east Asian island with the intention of working here illegally. Continue reading...

Palestinian media described the killing as an ambush following an attempted attack on Israeli forces nearbyThe Israeli military has said it shot and killed three alleged Palestinian gunmen in the northern occupied West Bank, the latest bloodshed in one of the most violent stretches of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in years.Israeli security forces said they opened fire on Tuesday at Palestinian militants who had shot at them from a car in the West Bank city of Nablus, the territory's commercial capital and a major focus of the Israeli military's recently stepped-up raids. In the hilly neighbourhood of al-Tur shortly after the shooting, Israeli forces inspected a shattered black Skoda surrounded by spent bullet casings. Continue reading...

Author Jess Hill tells inquiry into consent laws almost half of children aged nine to 16 are being regularly exposed to porn, with damaging effect

Requiring new homes to have step-free access and corridors wide enough for a wheelchair will save money in long run, experts say

Anthony Albanese says opposition leader has responsibility to explain what occurred on his watch'

Union members reject 5% pay award and call for talks to reopen after other public sector workers were offered moreThousands of radiographers in England are to strike on Tuesday amid a row with the government over pay, recruitment and retention.Members of the Society of Radiographers (SoR) have voted to reject the 5% pay award offered by ministers and called for talks to reopen after other public sector workers, including junior doctors, were offered more. Continue reading...

Police say finding is common when dealing with cases of this type' a month after actor's body was recovered in California mountainsJulian Sands' cause of death has been deemed undetermined due to the condition of his body, six months after the British actor went missing while hiking in California.The determination was made nearly a month after Sands' body was recovered from the Mount Baldy area, and six months after the A Room With a View actor was reported missing by his family after he went hiking. Continue reading...

Passing of key part of Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to reduce power of courts is met with calls for strike action and street protests by thousandsDoctors across Israel are set to strike on Tuesday in protest against the passing of a key part of Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul, after thousands of protesters took to the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Monday night.The Israeli Medical Association, which says it represents about 95% of doctors, said it would hold a 24-hour protest, with exemptions for medical care in Jerusalem and emergency care across the country. It held a brief strike last week as a warning, arguing the judicial overhaul would devastate the healthcare system". The doctors are set to be joined in strike action on Tuesday by 73% of interns, according to the Intern Doctors Organization. Health minister Moshe Arbel is reportedly seeking an injunction to prevent the doctors' strike going ahead. Continue reading...

Police allege Rafferty Rolfe, 25, was pursuing his girlfriend, who had been picked up by a good Samaritan' before crash at Federal in Queensland's Sunshine Coast hinterland

Antonio Guterres calls on Moscow to return to deal allowing safe export of Ukrainian grain; US citizen working for AFP hurt in Bakhmut attack

Requirement for animal medicines to be batch-tested in EU could see products discontinued, BVA warnsNorthern Ireland could lose half of its veterinary medicines in a new Brexit row threatening to prolong the political stalemate in the region, it has emerged.The British Veterinary Association told the Lords committee on Northern Ireland in written evidence that it was extremely concerned" about the issue even though the Windsor framework sealed between Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, in March was sold as a solution to the protracted saga regarding Northern Ireland. Continue reading...

Crossbencher asks Lords to imagine bots with higher productivity and lower running costs' as example of risk to UK jobs marketThe House of Lords could be replaced by bots with deeper knowledge, higher productivity and lower running costs", said a peer during a debate on the development of advanced artificial intelligence.Addressing the upper chamber, Richard Denison hypothesised that AI services may soon be able to deliver his speeches in his own style and voice, with no hesitation, repetition or deviation". Continue reading...

Legislation outlaws medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person' and altering gender details in public recordsVladimir Putin has signed legislation that bans people from officially or medically changing their gender, representing a further blow to Russia's embattled LGBTQ+ community.The act, passed unanimously by both houses of parliament, bans any medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person", as well as banning changing a person's gender in official documents or public records. The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies. Continue reading...

South Korean armed forces condemned the two launches as a grave provocation'North Korea has fired two short-range ballistic missiles into the sea off its east coast, adding to a recent streak of weapons testing that is apparently in protest against the US sending naval assets to South Korea.In its third round of launches since last week, North Korea fired the missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang, South Korea's joint chiefs of staff said early on Tuesday local time. It said both missiles travelled about 250 miles (400km) before landing in waters off the Korean peninsula's eastern coast. Continue reading...

Uxbridge and South Ruislip byelection win has led to some Tories arguing green measures that drive up costs for people should be delayed or abandonedQ: Why should anyone believe you will build 300,000 homes a year when the government has not been doing that?Gove said he was someone who, when he made a promise, delivered on it. Continue reading...

Israel faces a constitutional crisis after parliament passed a key part of the government's changesIsrael's far-right and ultra-religious government has finally succeeded in passing an element of its wide-ranging changes to the judiciary.Legal action, a general strike and possible refusal from upwards of 10,000 military reservists to report for duty are now on the cards as Israel's largest ever domestic crisis enters a new chapter. Continue reading...

Roars and cries from demonstrators as bill passes 64-0 after opposition politicians leave plenum in protest

David Harmes, 27, remanded at Chester crown court after pleading guilty to offences against children as young as sixA man who posed online as a scout for child models has admitted 88 sex offences against victims as young as six.David Harmes, 27, had only just been released from prison for grooming children online when he began offending again. His latest offences involved 39 victims in the UK and six in the US between July 2019 and February 2020. Continue reading...

Kyriakos Mitsotakis warns parliament three difficult days lie ahead with blazes also raging on islands of Evia and Corfu