Ukraine president cites counteroffensive ‘actions’ as Canada PM offers relief funding after dam breachVolodymyr Zelenskiy appears to have confirmed that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is under way, as Justin Trudeau visited Kyiv and accused Russia over flooding from the breached Kakhovka dam.“Counteroffensive and defensive actions are taking place in Ukraine: at which stage I will not talk in detail,” Zelenskiy said at a joint press conference in Kyiv on Saturday with the Canadian prime minister. Continue reading...
The hedge fund says Odey will no longer be involved in the firm and it ‘cannot comment in detail’One of the City’s most prominent hedge fund managers is leaving the investment firm he founded after numerous claims of sexual harassment.Crispin Odey is leaving Odey Asset Management after allegations that he sexually assaulted or harassed 13 women. A legal firm representing the financier has said the allegations are “strenuously disputed”. Continue reading...
At least three troops collapse during military parade in London, as wildfire breaks out in Scottish HighlandsAt least three guardsmen fainted in the heat during a military parade as temperatures in the UK hit 30C (86F) for the first time this year, while in the Scottish Highlands people were told to stay inside as firefighters tackled a wildfire.More than 1,400 soldiers were reviewed by the Prince of Wales, who is honorary colonel of the Welsh guards. The event at Horse Guards Parade in central London on Saturday was a rehearsal for trooping the colour. Afterwards, Prince William tweeted that the troops had done “a really good job” in difficult conditions. Continue reading...
Judge also issues judicial warning that all car park signage in Wales should be bilingualA motorist has won a civil case against a parking firm over an unpaid £160 fine after requesting details of the penalty in Welsh rather than solely in English.Elysteg Llwyd Thomas had been sent notice of the initial £60 fine in English after a stay at Lligwy beach in Anglesey, in August 2021. Continue reading...
by Emma Graham-Harrison , and Mat Youkee in Bogotá on (#6C4QS)
The four Indigenous children were the only survivors of a plane crash that killed their motherA few tantalising clues kept the rescuers going. The remains of fruit with bitemarks made by small human teeth, a pair of scissors and nappies in the rainforest mud. All offered hope that four children, who had miraculously survived a plane crash that killed their mother, the pilot and the only other adult on board, also survived the dangers of the Amazon.The oldest was only 13 when the plane went down on 1 May in southern Colombia. The youngest would mark his first birthday lost under the dense green canopy of trees and vegetation, alive with jaguars, poisonous snakes and other threats. Continue reading...
MPs tell Rishi Sunak that the former PM must not be allowed to stand again, while Johnson ally Nigel Adams quits and triggers third byelectionRead more: what’s next for Boris Johnson after leaving the Commons?Rishi Sunak is under growing pressure to bar Boris Johnson from standing as a Conservative candidate at the next election, as senior Tories accused the former prime minister and his allies of a coordinated attempt to derail the government.Amid anger at Johnson within the party over his explosive departure, in which he said he was only leaving Westminster “for now” and accused a cross-party committee of “egregious bias”, there is now a concerted push among senior Tories to ensure Johnson has no route back to the Commons for the foreseeable future. Continue reading...
by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and media correspondent on (#6C4XW)
Keyboard player Martin Duffy was ‘not able to cope’ after being excluded from tour and rights deal, inquest toldThe teenage son of Martin Duffy, the late keyboard player with Primal Scream, has accused other members of the band of leaving his father out in the cold financially and professionally, and of contributing to his isolation before his early death last December.Duffy, who played on a string of hits in the 1990s, including Movin’ on Up and Loaded, joined the band as a full-time member in 1989, after a period playing with Felt. He contributed to every album, including the award-winning Screamadelica. Continue reading...
Mitchell, 21, was last seen one week ago in the early hours of 3 June in Ballymena town centreA second man has been arrested by police investigating the disappearance of a County Antrim woman.Chloe Mitchell, 21, from Ballymena was last seen on CCTV in the early hours of 3 June in Ballymena town centre. Continue reading...
The former PM says he is only stepping down ‘for now’. But other opportunities seem likely to tempt himBoris Johnson quit with a furious resignation statement that left open the threat of a return. But now unencumbered by the duties of parliamentary life, what lies ahead for the former prime minister? Continue reading...
Police announce two charges of attempted murder and one of GBH after violent assault at Blundell’s private schoolA 16-year-old boy has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of GBH with intent over a violent assault on two teenage boys and an adult at Blundell’s school in Tiverton on Friday, Devon and Cornwall police said.The boy will appear at Exeter magistrates court on Monday. Continue reading...
by Jane Clinton (now) and Yang Tian (earlier) on (#6C4S6)
UK Ministry of Defence says Ukraine has ‘likely made good progress’ in some areas but that progress is ‘slower’ in others. This blog is now closedThe latest intelligence update from the UK’s Ministry of Defence said over the past 48 hours “significant” Ukrainian operations have taken place in several sectors of eastern and southern Ukraine.Ukrainian forces have “likely made good progress” and “penetrated the first line of Russian defences”, the MoD added. However, in other areas “Ukrainian progress has been slower”. Continue reading...
Prayer will instead be said in his suite after chief surgeon says Francis should avoid strain on abdomenPope Francis’s recovery from surgery is going well but doctors have advised him not to deliver his Sunday blessing from a hospital balcony to avoid strain on his abdomen, his surgeon said.Briefing reporters at the Gemelli hospital on Saturday, chief surgeon Sergio Alfieri also said the 86-year-old had agreed with doctors to stay there for at least all of next week. Continue reading...
Seaside communities that provide crews and funds fear reduction in size of rescue vessels will ‘put lives at risk’Lifeboats have been in Aldeburgh for centuries, even before the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was founded 199 years ago. On the stony beach of the Suffolk town sit two venerable lifeboat huts, a legacy of a time when two rival crews would row into the North Sea in a race to save lives – and get first salvage rights.“They never spoke to each other. They drank in separate pubs and had separate lives,” says Derek Wyatt, the former Labour MP who, until recently, was chair of the Aldeburgh Lifeboat Guild, which fundraises for the RNLI. Continue reading...
Global heating and human changes to the landscape have invited more destructive fires, making fire season worseWeeks of unprecedented wildfires in Canada have burned millions of hectares, displaced more than 100,000 residents and plunged the country into a nationwide crisis as exhausted crews battle hundreds of blazes. But experts caution that a changing climate and human actions on the landscape will probably make fire seasons worse in the coming years.Hundreds of firefighters from across the world have flown to Canada to aid a nation stretched thin with a spring fire season that has shattered records on both sides of the country, with warmer and drier months still to come. Continue reading...
Entrepreneur hoping to be Tory mayoral candidate makes prediction as 4 Day Week Campaign prepares mini-manifestoCompanies that do not adopt flexible working will struggle to hire in the next five years, according to an entrepreneur who is hoping to be a Tory mayoral candidate.Natalie Campbell, co-chief executive of Belu Water, is due to speak at a cross-party event hosted by the 4 Day Week Campaign on Tuesday when it will publish its mini-manifesto. Continue reading...
Party has 10% swing from the Conservatives in the 144 key constituencies that will decide the next election – but an overall majority is still not certainLabour has established a clear lead over the Tories in more than 100 battleground seats that will decide the next election, according to a new analysis seen by the Observer.In a rare insight into marginal constituencies at next year’s election, Keir Starmer’s party has now secured a 10% swing from the Conservatives in a set of 144 seats in which the vote will be won and lost. Labour now holds a seven-point lead over the Tories in the seats, which include marginals in England, Wales and Scotland. Continue reading...
Bodies of man, 33, and a 30-year-old woman discovered at a house in Newhaven on Friday eveningA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the bodies of two people were found at a house in East Sussex.Officers attended a property in Lewes Road, Newhaven, shortly after 7pm on Friday and found a 33-year-old man and a 30-year-old woman, who were pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...
The local authority in Veere has put up warning signs after a wave of complaints about frisky visitors to the nature reserveA town in the south of the Netherlands has started a campaign to dissuade nudist beach visitors from sex on the beach and in the dunes.On Thursday, Veere municipality put up amended beachside boards warning frisky guests that the dunes are legally off limits, public sex is banned and there is “increased monitoring” to combat “sexual meeting place activities in the dunes, nature reserve and beach”. Continue reading...
Leader Ed Davey says party will fight for both seats after resignations of Boris Johnson and Nadine DorriesSir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, has ruled out a formal pact with Labour to encourage tactical voting in order to beat the Conservatives in the byelections triggered by Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries’ shock resignations.Dorries, one of Johnson’s fiercest cheerleaders, quit parliament on Friday after being told she would not be elevated to the House of Lords in Johnson’s resignation honours list. Johnson followed suit hours later, ditching his outer-London seat with a bitter resignation statement accusing Rishi Sunak of leading a government that is “not properly Conservative” and attacking the Partygate investigation. Continue reading...
Islamist militants claim responsibility for blast at popular restaurant on Friday night that injured 20 peopleNine people were killed in an attack claimed by al-Shabaab Islamist militants at an upmarket restaurant in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on Friday night, police have said.Those killed at the popular Pearl restaurant were six civilians and three soldiers, police said in a statement. Continue reading...
Stowaways allegedly tried to take sailors hostage after being discovered on Galatea Seaways bound for FranceItalian special forces have stormed a cargo ship sailing from Turkey to France after about 15 people armed with knives attempted to hijack the vessel.The asylum seekers, 13 men and two women, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, had allegedly sneaked undetected on to the roll-on, roll-off cargo ship, named Galatea Seaways, in the hope of reaching Europe.AFP and Ansa contributed to this report Continue reading...
Newcastle-based baker makes second attempt to win over Saltash after franchise store failedSaying that feelings run high about Greggs in Cornwall is an understatement. A local critic memorably described the company as the “devil’s spawn” when it dared to set up shop in Truro.But the Newcastle-based baker has not been cowed and its fourth shop in the county opens in Saltash on Saturday. It is Greggs’ second attempt to win over the town, after a franchise store that opened in 2018 closed within a year. Continue reading...
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#6C4SE)
Issue blown out of proportion, says Matt Cook, after appointment of ‘free speech tsar’ for higher educationOxford University’s new professor of LGBTQ+ history has accused the government of “fanning a culture war” over freedom of speech, insisting it is alive and well in higher education.Matt Cook, who was this week named as the first Jonathan Cooper chair of the history of sexualities, a newly created post at Mansfield College, was speaking only days after the appointment of the government’s first “free speech tsar” for higher education. Continue reading...
Ex-Serco chief Rupert Soames says financial support was for ‘friend’ and prospective MP Angus MacDonaldRupert Soames, the grandson of the Conservative wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill, has donated nearly £5,000 to a prospective Liberal Democrat MP.Soames, who spent most of his career in the City, most recently running outsourcer Serco, gave £4,999 in financial support to the Liberal Democrats in March, according to official records released this week. Continue reading...
Longstanding members angry at being excluded from £340m cash giveaway, which starts next weekA £340m cash giveaway kicks off next week when one-off payments of £100 apiece will start appearing in the bank accounts of 3.4 million Nationwide building society customers.However, the unprecedented payout has created a “haves” and “have nots” split within the society’s membership, with some longstanding customers and people holding multiple Nationwide products angry at being excluded. Continue reading...
Orphanage run by Damas Gisimba and his brother became refuge from militias during genocide that killed 800,000 RwandansDamas Gisimba, who sheltered and saved the lives of hundreds of people during the Rwandan genocide, has died. He was 61.In 1994, Gisimba and his brother were running an orphanage founded by their parents in Kigali, the Rwandan capital. Continue reading...
Some newspapers focus on former PM’s accusations in fiery resignation letter, while others point readers towards damning committee reportBoris Johnson’s departure from life as an MP ahead of the publication of the Partygate report plays out across Saturday’s front pages, which are filled with a mixture of acrimony, triumph and predictions of further “Tory bloodletting”.The Guardian focuses on the reason for his decision to resign as MP, noting that the privileges committee found he misled parliament and recommended a lengthy suspension from the House of Commons. It finds a spot lower down for the reaction to Rishi Sunak approving Johnson’s honours list, regarded as rewarding those involved in the Partygate scandal. Continue reading...
by Charlie Moloney (now); Tom Bryant, Sammy Gecsoyler on (#6C4B5)
Former prime minister to be suspended for 10 days and will not stand again in Uxbridge and South RuislipResponding to Rachel Reeves’s comments about Labour’s green investment on the Today programme (see also 9.24am and 9.45am) Rebecca Newsom, Greenpeace UK’s head of politics, said:Any U-turn would be a huge mistake. Without the necessary immediate investment, we will lose out on the creation of thousands of jobs needed as we phase out fossil fuels, and we will lose out on the opportunity to put green tech industries at the centre of our economy.Rachel Reeves rightly cites the opportunities of green growth, but this prevarication on confirming the scale of investment needed from the start of a new Labour government risks throwing in the towel on the global race in green tech, with the US, China and the EU already far ahead.Should this letter be ignored, and negotiations are not in place by the 17 June the NEU national executive will be discussing our next steps. This will include the consideration of NEU teacher members in England taking further strike action in the week beginning 3 July.There are six school term weeks until the summer holiday. Up and down the country, head teachers are trying to plan their school budgets for next year and trying to cope with the rapidly growing problem of recruiting enough teachers to fill their classrooms.By not publishing the STRB report, your department is withholding vital information about what proposals that body has made on teacher pay, which may or may not help with the recruitment difficulties. It is also withholding vital information about the funding of pay rises. Continue reading...
David Johnston blames resignation on ‘highly partisan atmosphere’ surrounding his investigation in China’s alleged election interferenceA Canadian official appointed to investigate allegations that China attempted to subvert the country’s federal elections has abruptly resigned, blaming the “highly partisan atmosphere” surrounding his work.David Johnston was appointed in March amid concerns that Justin Trudeau’s government had failed to respond adequately to the threat of foreign interference in the last two elections. Continue reading...
Talks in Cuba between Gustavo Petro and rebel leader Antonio García aimed at ending decades of conflict and follows Farc dealColombia’s government and its largest remaining guerrilla group have agreed to a six-month ceasefire at talks in Cuba, in the latest attempt to resolve a conflict dating back to the 1960s.The government and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, announced the accord at a ceremony in Havana on Friday attended by Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, top guerrilla commander Antonio García and Cuban officials. The ceasefire takes effect in phases, goes fully into effect in August and then lasts for six months. Continue reading...
Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) near Naples is now in ‘extremely dangerous’ state, say academic expertsHalf a million people live on a sprawling volcano in Italy – and the risk of an eruption has never been greater, according to a study.The Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) volcano may be less well-known than Vesuvius, but is “extremely dangerous”, study co-author Stefano Carlino told AFP. Continue reading...
Newspaper retains considerable influence among those who will shape the direction of ConservativesWhoever buys the Daily Telegraph is not just purchasing a historic and profitable newspaper – they are acquiring direct access to Tory party members who will control the future direction of the Conservatives.Paul Goodman, the editor of ConservativeHome, said the newspaper retained “considerable” influence among the approximately 160,000 card-carrying members of the party’s rank and file who vote in leadership elections and MP selections. Continue reading...
Northern Tory MPs call on prime minister to offer a better vision by cutting taxes, building more homes and extending devolutionRishi Sunak has been warned he risks losing Tory “red wall” voters en masse, as northern MPs called on him to cut taxes, build more homes and extend devolution.Pressure is mounting on the prime minister to move on from his initial phase of leadership, which was designed to steady the party, and press ahead with offering a more inspiring vision to voters before the next election. Continue reading...
Eighty-six-year-old readmitted to Milan hospital weeks after long stay linked to chronic leukaemiaThe former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been readmitted to a hospital in Milan for scheduled medical checks, weeks after being discharged after a long stay.The media tycoon, 86, had left San Raffaele last month after six weeks of treatment for a lung infection linked to a chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia, a type of cancer that affects the white blood cells. Continue reading...
Kremlin commander claimed the mercenaries had kidnapped and tortured his soldiers during battle for BakhmutThe Wagner group has been accused of stoking “anarchy” on Russia’s frontlines after one of the Kremlin’s military commanders claimed Yevgeny Prigozhin’s mercenaries had kidnapped and tortured his soldiers during the battle for Bakhmut.In a video posted online, Lt Col Roman Venevitin also accused Wagner soldiers of stealing arms, forcing mobilised soldiers to sign contracts with Wagner, and attempting to extort weapons from the Russian defence ministry in exchange for releasing kidnapped soldiers. Continue reading...
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