The wreck of the ship that was key in Black migration to the UK lies off Algeria. A team is determined to bring its anchor homeWe're going to find it," says the leading shipwreck hunter, David Mearns. My confidence level is as high as it's ever been for anything I've ever done." The mission to retrieve the HMT Empire Windrush's anchor so it can stand as a public monument isn't foolproof, but Mearns' experience and conviction leave little room for doubt.You always have a contingency for unforeseen events [but] there isn't a scenario here where this shipwreck could be a million miles away from where we're looking for it. We'd have to go out and have a total disaster," he adds. I don't contemplate failure." Continue reading...
Government also plans to make greater use of facial recognition technology as part of crime crackdown billShoplifters, burglars and violent criminals who commit repeat offences will be handed mandatory prison sentences under plans being drawn up by ministers.The government plans to force judges to impose jail terms when sentencing repeat offenders for shoplifting, burglary, theft and common assault, using new legislation to be included in the crime and justice bill. Continue reading...
Government bows to pressure from industry over costs of switching over to British markingThe UK will retain the EU's product safety mark indefinitely, in the latest climbdown from proposed post-Brexit changes, after the government bowed to pressure from industry and manufacturers.The CE (Conformite Europeenne) mark is used by the bloc to certify that a wide range of items - from electrical goods and construction materials to medical devices and toys - meet safety standards. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#6DE4F)
SRA seizes documents and money of firms that appeared to offer to file false asylum claims for undercover reporterThree law firms in England accused of wrongdoing in dealing with asylum applications have been shut down by the solicitors' watchdog.The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has also suspended the practising certificates of three solicitors - one from each of the firms that have been shut down. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#6DDRP)
Mike Veale resigned from the force in January 2019 and did not attend the disciplinary hearingA former chief constable who made inappropriate sexual remarks to colleagues has been indefinitely barred from serving after being found guilty of gross misconduct.Mike Veale, 57, is a former chief constable of Cleveland and Wiltshire police forces. At Wiltshire he oversaw Operation Conifer, the investigation into allegations that the late former prime minister Ted Heath was a child sexual abuser. Continue reading...
All systems are go at the GPS-guided operation that supplies 42 tonnes to Birds EyePeas are bouncing with abandon, creating an effect like bright green lava despite being frozen - as they begin the final part of their journey from field to fork.There are 35,000 hectares (86,000 acres) of peas grown in the UK each year, mostly along the east coast from Dundee to Norfolk, producing about 160,000 tonnes of peas, equivalent to roughly 2bn portions. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Cosmetics maker reports 90% drop in profits amid dispute with former boss over his attempt to sell sharesThe cosmetics chain Lush paid its managers 5m in bonuses last year while taking 5.1m in government support and recording a 90% drop in profits.The bonuses were paid on top of salaries in 2022 to directors including the co-founder, Mark Constantine, and his wife, Mo, who are shareholders, and six staff at Lush Cosmetics, the brand's main operating company, which runs its manufacturing site in Poole and 886 shops worldwide, including about 100 in the UK. Continue reading...
Measures to help households seemingly abandoned by ministers, says campaign groupThe UK government has been accused of betraying the most vulnerable in society by seemingly abandoning support for a social tariff that would help households pay for their gas and electricity.Fuel poverty campaigners were left angry after ministers failed to include plans for a social tariff from next spring in energy market reforms, despite commitments in two budget statements. Continue reading...
Krystal Talavera, 39, took legal herbal extract, which has opioid-like effect on the brain, in 2021 and died shortly afterThe family of a Florida woman who died in 2021 after ingesting kratom has been awarded more than $11m from a distributor of the south-east Asian herbal extract that has an opioid-like effect on the brain.In a ruling finalized Thursday, judge Donald Middlebrooks of the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida, told a company operating as the Kratom Distro to pay damages to the four surviving children of Krystal Talavera as well as her estate. Continue reading...
Officials say one person is injured in the latest in a series of strikes on the Russian capital that Ukraine has not claimed responsibility forThree Ukrainian drones were downed over Moscow early on Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said, in an attack that briefly shut an international airport.While one of the drones was shot down on the city's outskirts, two others were suppressed by electronic warfare" and smashed into an office complex. A security guard was injured, Russia's state news agency Tass reported, citing emergency officials. Continue reading...
Critics condemn superintendent Mike Miles's new education system' that removes students' access to booksThe largest school district in Texas announced its libraries will be eliminated and replaced with discipline centers in the new school year.Houston independent school district announced earlier this summer that librarian and media-specialist positions in 28 schools will be eliminated as part of superintendent Mike Miles's new education system" initiative. Continue reading...
Essex police continue to appeal for witnesses after release of video leads member of public to rescue petTwiglet, the miniature dachshund who was stolen by a masked man during a burglary, is safe and well and has been reunited with her owner, police have said.Officers in Essex launched a dog-hunt, releasing a video of the theft and appealing for information after an intruder took the 16-month-old dachshund from her home in Catmere End, Saffron Walden, at about 3pm on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Foundation set up by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the UK's richest person, had provided funding for a luxury clubhouse at ski clubThe Charity Commission has closed a preliminary investigation into concerns about governance at a charity set up by the UK's richest person, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, which helped fund a 16m luxury clubhouse for an exclusive French Alps club where he and his daughter have skied for years.The UK charity watchdog announced on Thursday that it had closed its regulatory compliance case" into the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation after finding that the charity's activities further its purposes and that there is no further role for the regulator". Continue reading...
CAA starts enforcement action after finding budget airline's treatment of passengers was unacceptableWizz Air could be forced to pay out millions of pounds to passengers after the UK airline regulator started enforcement action against the budget carrier in response to an avalanche of complaints over unpaid refund claims.The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said it had been in contact with Wizz Air for several months after it received a high volume of complaints about the airline's failure to pay passengers what they are owed, particularly in the wake of flight cancellations. Continue reading...
Company lists highly paid machine-learning project manager role while actors and executives at odds over future of AI in HollywoodAs actors and writers strike over fair compensation and protections from the encroachment of artificial intelligence, Netflix has listed a position for a machine learning product manager that will compensate somewhere between $300,000 and $900,000 a year. According to the Screen Actors Guild (Sag-Aftra), 87% of the guild's actors make less than $26,000 per year.The use of AI in the production of film and television - either to write scripts, generate actors' likenesses, or cut corners in paying creative work, has been a major point of contention in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and Sag and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Writers have been striking since May; the actors joined earlier this month. The first joint strike since 1960 threatens to bring Hollywood to a complete standstill. Continue reading...
SG Recruitment UK allegedly failed to deliver on 20m-plus Covid contract awarded after Lord Chadlington introductionThe UK government appears unlikely to recover any money from a healthcare recruitment agency that allegedly failed to deliver on a multimillion-pound PPE contract awarded during the Covid pandemic.The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed it is in a dispute over the 20m-plus contract awarded to SG Recruitment UK Ltd. However, the agency's parent company has gone into liquidation, raising questions about whether the government can recoup any funds. Continue reading...
Jury at Southwark crown court finds Oscar-winning actor, 64, not guilty after four-week trialKevin Spacey has been cleared of sexual assault in one of the UK's most high-profile #MeToo trials.The 64-year-old Oscar-winning actor wept as he was found not guilty on Wednesday of sexually assaulting four men after a four-week trial at Southwark crown court. Continue reading...
Sacked foreign minister's rise was linked to his ties to president; his disappearance and dismissal have caused a scandalThe dismissal of Qin Gang, a key Xi Jinping loyalist, from the post of Chinese foreign minister is shaping up to be one of the country's biggest political scandals in years. Qin spent just seven months in the role, the shortest tenure of any to have served, and mysteriously disappeared from view last month. He was sacked on Tuesday, replaced with his predecessor Wang Yi, and is yet to reappear in public.Political purgings - if that is what has happened to Qin - are not rare in China. Thousands of officials, including high-ranking political rivals of Xi, have been targeted by anti-corruption campaigns or shuffled out of view - sometimes literally, as in the case of the former president Hu Jintao, who was physically removed from his seat at a Communist party meeting in Beijing last year. Continue reading...
Live coverage of business, economics and financial markets as NatWest Group ousts chief executive Alison Rose following government interventionEnergy minister Grant Shapps has said that banks should stop carrying out politically exposed person (PEP) tests on politicians and their family members, adding to the calls for changes in how banks check clients.Shapps on Wednesday morning said that the tests, which are in place because of a heightened risk of corruption for politicians from around the world and those with close connections, had gone too far. Continue reading...
by Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent on (#6D9GX)
Bank says profits have fallen as interest rates and cost of living are challenging' for people and firmsLloyds Banking Group has put aside more than 400m to prepare for a potential increase in customers falling behind on more costly mortgage payments.It comes amid surging interest rates, which have risen sharply since late 2021 and made payments more expensive for new owners and those rolling off existing fixed mortgages. Continue reading...
Trudi Warner could be prosecuted over holding up placard outside court where fellow activists banned from using climate crisis in defenceLeading lawyers have accused the government of undermining trial by jury after a climate activist was told she faces contempt proceedings over holding a sign outside court.The placard allegedly held by Trudi Warner, 68, outside a trial of fellow climate activists in March, read: Jurors: you have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to your conscience." Continue reading...
Engineering firm expects big jump in profits after post-Covid revival in airline flying hoursShares in Rolls-Royce have risen to their highest since the start of the coronavirus pandemic after it surprised investors with a big jump in expected profits on the back of high demand in its jet engine and defence businesses.The FTSE 100 engineering firm said its civil aerospace and defence units had reported higher sales and cost efficiencies" that improved profitability, in an unscheduled trading update on Wednesday morning. Continue reading...
BMA announces latest action beginning on 11 August in dispute over pay and conditionsMinisters are under fresh pressure to resolve the NHS pay row after junior doctors announced they will stage a four-day strike next month that is likely to lead to thousands more cancelled operations.Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, and Steve Barclay, the health secretary, have so far both repeatedly stuck to the line that the government's pay offer of 6% is final. Continue reading...
Authorities cancelled the Good Vibes festival after frontman Matty Healy criticised the country's anti-LGBTQ+ laws, leading musicians and food vendors to seek damagesA group of Malaysian musicians and festival vendors are preparing a class action lawsuit against the 1975 after frontman Matty Healy's onstage criticism of the government's anti-LGBTQ+ at the Good Vibes festival saw the entire event cancelled.On Friday, Healy paused the band's set at the Kuala Lumpur event to admit that he hadn't looked into the country's punitive LGBTQ+ laws before agreeing to perform there. I don't see the fucking point, right, I do not see the point of inviting the 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with," he said. Continue reading...
Unprecedented' readings above 100F add to previous warnings that water temperature is putting marine life in peril. Plus, how workers in Japan are keeping coolGood morning.The surface ocean temperature around the Florida Keys soared to 101.19F (38.43C) this week, in what could be a global record as ocean heat around the state reaches unprecedented extremes.What else is happening? Wildfires were burning in at least nine countries across the Mediterranean as blazes spread in Croatia and Portugal, with thousands of firefighters in Europe and north Africa working to contain flames stoked by high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.What could happen to the Gulf Stream system? It could collapse as soon as 2025, a study suggests. The shutting down of the vital ocean currents, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, would bring catastrophic climate impacts.This is not the first controversy since he launched his campaign, is it? No. Kennedy's attempt for the White House has been contentious from the outset, given his embrace of virulent conspiracy theories that promote vaccine hesitancy. A political watchdog, the Congressional Integrity Project, released a report that set the candidate's disputed views on Covid against years of antisemitic, racist and xenophobic remarks which it called horrific" and beyond the pale". The report said his promotion of anti-vaxxer conspiracy theories had deadly real world consequences". Continue reading...
by Rebecca Ratcliffe and Navaon Siradapuvadol in Bang on (#6D9J5)
Influential figure who has spent 15 years in exile is set for comeback at a time of political crisis in homelandThailand's former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has spent more than 15 years in self-imposed exile to avoid legal charges, will return to the country next month, his daughter has said, amid tense political deadlock.Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who recently ran as a prime ministerial candidate for Pheu Thai, the party backed by her father, said Thaksin would return on 10 August. Continue reading...
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...
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...
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...
by Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent on (#6D943)
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...
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