by Emma Graham-Harrison in eastern Ukraine on (#6EDBQ)
In an exclusive interview, a leading Ukrainian general says his forces have made a vital breakthrough near ZaporizhzhiaUkrainian forces have decisively breached Russia's first defensive line near Zaporizhzhia after weeks of painstaking mine clearance, and expect faster gains as they press the weaker second line, the general leading the southern counteroffensive has said.Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskiy estimated Russia had devoted 60% of its time and resources into building the first defensive line and only 20% each into the second and third lines because Moscow had not expected Ukrainian forces to get through. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#6EC1F)
Scheme launching in east and West Midlands is expected to be rolled out across England and Wales next yearDomestic abusers leaving prison will have to wear electronic monitoring tags in a move that the government says will offer better protection to victims.Under a pilot scheme launching in the east and West Midlands, and expected to be rolled out across England and Wales next year, any offender who poses a threat to a former partner or their children will be banned from going within a certain distance of a victim's home and/or subject to a curfew. Continue reading...
Electric scooter rental experiment in French capital ends after 5 years of controversyParis will become the first European capital to ban rented electric scooters on Friday, as the city hall vowed to calm down" the streets.Five years after Paris became the first city in Europe to open up to the free-floating" shared e-scooter market in 2018, the last of the city's 15,000 e-scooters were loaded into vans on Thursday afternoon, marking the end of an era. Continue reading...
Fintech company still made second-quarter operating loss of 62m as calls grow for sector to be regulatedKlarna, a buy now, pay later firm, has reported a profitable month for the first time in three years.The Swedish company, which allows shoppers to defer and split the cost of items but has been accused of tipping people into debt, has struggled to make money in recent years amid rising bad debts and weak consumer confidence. Continue reading...
by Tom Ambrose (now); Rachel Hall and Tom Bryant (ear on (#6EAYQ)
Energy secretary appointed defence secretary in mini-reshuffle, with Claire Coutinho taking the energy security briefGrant Shapps said he is honoured" to become defence secretary and praised Ben Wallace for his time in the role.Shapps tweeted:I'm honoured to be appointed as Defence Secretary by Rishi Sunak. I'd like to pay tribute to the enormous contribution Ben Wallace has made to UK defence & global security over the last 4 years.As I get to work at DefenceHQ I am looking forward to working with the brave men and women of our Armed Forces who defend our nation's security. And continuing the UK's support for Ukraine in their fight against Putin's barbaric invasion. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth, Peter Walker and Richard Adams on (#6EB4V)
A week before start of term, DfE says buildings should be taken out of use regardless of assessed riskThe government has told schools in England to immediately shut buildings made with aerated concrete until safety work is undertaken, the Guardian understands, in a move threatening plans to reopen next week for the start of the new school year.In an escalation of the schools building safety crisis, the Department of Education has issued new advice - believed to have happened as recently as Thursday - stating that regardless of the assessed risk of a building made using reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) blocks, such buildings should be taken out of use and mitigations should be implemented immediately". Continue reading...
Ex-chancellor said to be brokering deal between UAE investors and Barclay family as latter attempt to regain control of media groupThe former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi is in line to become chair of the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph after brokering a deal between Middle Eastern investors and the Barclay family, according to reports.The Barclays are thought to be attempting to regain control of the media group with financial support from investors in the United Arab Emirates, months after surrendering the debt-laden business to Lloyds Banking Group. Continue reading...
Boy band singer denies allegations made by woman known as AR, as well as those in two other sexual assault lawsuits currently filed against himNick Carter, singer with pop group Backstreet Boys, has been sued by a woman who alleges he sexually assaulted her, in the third such lawsuit he is currently facing.The woman, identified as AR", alleges that Carter assaulted her across three separate incidents in 2003 when she was 15 and he was 23, and that Carter gave her the sexually transmitted infection HPV. She is seeking $15,000 in damages. Continue reading...
Decision taken over claims that meetings were unfairly organised to support a particular factionLabour has suspended one of its most troubled constituency parties after allegations of rule-breaking in the run-up to the next general election, the Guardian can reveal.Leicester East constituency Labour party (CLP), which has been represented by the disgraced parliamentarians Keith Vaz and Claudia Webbe, is the subject of an internal investigation by the party's headquarters, senior sources have confirmed. Continue reading...
by Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo and agencies on (#6EAYR)
Mayor of northern town of Brandizzo speaks of chilling scene' after accident near TurinFive railway workers have been killed in northern Italy after being hit by a train while carrying out overnight maintenance work, Italian media reported on Thursday.Paolo Bodoni, the mayor of Brandizzo, told the AGI news agency an emergency worker had described to him a chilling scene, with human remains across 300 metres". Continue reading...
Seven children among dozens dead after blaze tears through building in South Africa's largest cityAt least 73 people, including seven children, have died in a fire in a multi-storey building in Johannesburg, South Africa's biggest city, emergency services have said.In one of the country's worst such tragedies in living memory, Emergency Management Services said a further 52 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out early on Thursday. Continue reading...
Kwasi Kwarteng will not be allowed to lobby British government in paid role as a senior adviser at Australian iron ore minerFormer British chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng is due to start advising Fortescue on its clean energy ambitions from October - one year after his disastrous mini-budget crashed the pound.Kwarteng, who was sacked last year by then prime minister Liz Truss after only 38 days as chancellor, will provide advice in a part-time capacity to Fortescue's emerging clean energy division. Continue reading...
Israeli paramedics treat three people, one critically wounded, after attack at busy checkpointA Palestinian motorist has driven a truck into pedestrians at a busy checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, wounding three people.The violence on Thursday comes a day after Israeli police shot and killed a 14-year-old Palestinian boy who stabbed a man in a Jerusalem light railway station, and after Palestinian militants detonated a bomb near a convoy of Israeli troops escorting Jewish worshippers to a holy site in the occupied West Bank, wounding four soldiers. Continue reading...
Johnson & Johnson's year-long deal on life-saving drug bedaquiline is seen as critical move in campaign against diseaseThe cost of a crucial tuberculosis treatment has been halved after an agreement was made to allow the sale of generic versions of the drug.Johnson & Johnson's price for bedaquiline, considered the backbone of treatment for drug-resistant TB will drop from $289 (227) to $130 for a six-month course until December 2024. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: James Cleverly met senior Chinese officials for talks in Beijing - was there anything to gain? Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning, or perhaps (n ho). Hopefully James Cleverly got at least that far on Duolingo before the UK foreign secretary's plane touched down in Beijing this week on a trip aimed at resetting ties after a long period of tension over security, investment and human rights concerns at home and abroad.It was the first visit to China by a UK foreign secretary for five years. Remember the last time, when Jeremy Hunt somehow ended up announcing that his Chinese wife was Japanese? Very odd. Continue reading...
Only since Russian invasion have European leaders started to do necessary calculations, expert saysShe has extended the invitation multiple times but has yet to set a date for the welcome party. You are part of our family, your future is in our union, and our union is not complete without you," Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, last year told Ukraine and the nine other countries queuing patiently for EU membership.But as the prospect of Ukraine in particular joining the bloc looms closer, EU leaders are asking if the EU is ready for enlargement. Continue reading...
Labour viewed as better placed to tackle crisis but voters sceptical it is a priority for either partyLabour and the Conservatives have been accused of being out of step with public concern about the cost-of-living crisis, as polling suggested fewer than one in four people believed tackling it was a priority for the two parties.Swing voters from key demographics - Workington man and Stevenage woman, monikers campaign strategists have given to groups they are targeting - appear sceptical about the parties' proposals to ease cost pressures. Continue reading...
Winds reaching 209km/h recorded as major train lines suspended ahead of typhoon's expected arrival on FridayChina has issued the highest typhoon warning as Typhoon Saola crawled closer to the south-eastern coastline, threatening Hong Kong and other major manufacturing hubs in neighbouring Guangdong province.Chinese forecasters issued a typhoon red warning at 6am on Thursday. China's National Meteorological Centre said Saola, which lies about 295km (183 miles) south-east of Guangdong province, will move north-west across the South China Sea at a speed of about 10km/h (6mph), gradually approaching the coast of Guangdong, then slowly weaken in intensity. Continue reading...
Leading no campaigner links public debate over Indigenous voice referendum to his mental health struggles after prime minister promises positive' yes campaign
Group warns that if its financial performance continues to deteriorate' it faces possible default after huge half-year lossesEmbattled Chinese developer Country Garden reported a 48.9bn yuan ($6.7bn) loss for the first half of the year in a stock exchange filing on Wednesday, adding to worries of a potentially catastrophic default.Its tenuous state has sparked fears of a collapse that could have far-reaching consequences for the Chinese financial system two years after the fall of Evergrande. Continue reading...
Beekeepers at site near Toronto in Ontario eventually managed to recapture most of the insects, although some remained on the loosePolice near Toronto have warned drivers to keep their car windows closed after a truck spilled crates carrying five million bees on to a road.Halton regional police said they received a call about 6.15am on Wednesday reporting the bee crates had come loose from a truck and spilled on to a road in Burlington, Ontario. Continue reading...
Ukrainian drones strike six regions inside Russia, destroying military aircraft; Kremlin investigating whether plane carrying Yevgeny Prigozhin was downed on purposeUkrainian drones struck targets in at least six regions deep within Russia on Wednesday, in one of the largest-scale attacks on Russia in months. Drones hit an airport in the western Pskov region, and the regions of Moscow, Oryol, Bryansk, Ryazan and Kaluga.The strike on the city of Pskov started a fire and damaged four Il-76 military cargo aircraft, Russian authorities said, engulfing two of the planes in flames. Footage and images posted on social media showed smoke billowing over the city and the regional governor, Mikhail Vedernikov, ordered all flights to and from Pskov airport to be cancelled on Wednesday.Three drones came down in the Bryansk region, according to the Russian military, and two over the Oryol region, its governor, Andrei Klychkov, said. One came down in the Ryazan region, one more in Kaluga, and one more in the Moscow region, officials said. No damage or casualties were registered.At least two people were reported killed in Kyiv in what authorities described as the heaviest series of Russian airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital for months. Air defences shot down all 28 Russian missiles and 15 out of 16 drones, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, said on Wednesday.Six Ukrainian pilots were reportedly killed when two military helicopters crashed in the eastern Donetsk region. According to the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper, the two Mi-8 helicopters crashed in Kramatorsk on Tuesday. The aircraft were completely destroyed and the bodies of six dead servicemen were found.The chief official in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, said a cruise missile was fired at the peninsula on Wednesday. Anti-aircraft forces in eastern Crimea have downed a cruise missile," Sergei Aksyonov said on Telegram and asked residents to remain calm.Russian investigators are considering the possibility that the plane carrying the Wagner mercenary head Yevgeny Prigozhin was shot down on purpose, the Kremlin said on Wednesday in the first explicit acknowledgment of what most already believed to have been an assassination. It is obvious that different versions are being considered, including ... a deliberate atrocity," the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters.EU imports of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) have increased by 40% since the invasion of Ukraine. Member states have bought more than half of Russia's LNG on the market in the first seven months of this year, according to analysis. Spain and Belgium, which acts as major gateways for LNG supplies to the EU, have emerged as the second and third-biggest customers of Russian LNG respectively after China.The Wagner group is expected to remain operational in Africa, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy and vice-president of the European Commission said. They will remain operational in Africa because it is the armed wing of Russia," Josep Borrell said.Russia is in secret, active talks with North Korea to acquire a range of munitions and supplies, the White House has said. Arms negotiations between Russia and the DPRK are actively advancing," the White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said, adding that a key focus of the talks was artillery ammunition.Tech companies including TikTok and Twitter failed to effectively tackle Russian disinformation online during the first year of the war in Ukraine, according to a study published on Wednesday by the EU. The independent study for the EU comes after tougher rules under its Digital Services Act (DSA) kicked in this month for the world's biggest online platforms.The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and his Turkish counterpart will discuss a proposal by Moscow for an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal when they meet this week, Lavrov's ministry has said. Under the plan, Russia would send a million tonnes of grain to Turkey at a discounted price, with financial support from Qatar, to be processed in Turkey and sent to countries most in need, the foreign ministry said. Continue reading...
Staff who fail re-vetting can also be sacked under UK government reforms of disciplinary systemPolice officers found guilty of gross misconduct face automatic dismissal while all staff who fail vetting can be sacked, under new government reforms of the disciplinary system.The measures are an attempt to restore the public's faith in policing in the wake of numerous controversies including serving firearms officer Wayne Couzens being convicted of the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard. Continue reading...
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen in Delhi and Simon Goodley i on (#6EAMS)
Offshore records suggest associates of wealthy Indian family spent years acquiring stock during rise of founder to be worth $120bnA billionaire Indian family with close ties to the country's prime minister, Narendra Modi, secretly invested hundreds of millions of dollars into the Indian stock market, buying its own shares, newly disclosed documents suggest.According to offshore financial records seen by the Guardian, associates of the Adani family may have spent years discreetly acquiring stock in the Adani Group's own companies during its meteoric rise to become one of India's largest and most powerful businesses. Continue reading...
Research shows young black women more likely to have more aggressive cancer and receive poorer careAn NHS body is encouraging women with breast cancer from minority backgrounds are being encouraged to take part in more clinical trials, after research found they are under-represented in studies that can offer life-saving treatment.The pilot project, supported by the NHS Race and Health Observatory, is intended to improve representation in breast cancer clinical trials partly through culturally sensitive communications to people from racially diverse backgrounds. Continue reading...
Drop abstinence-only approach' and focus on public health, report by home affairs select committee saysMinisters should expand anonymous drug testing at festivals and allow supervised drug-taking facilities to reduce the risk of fatal overdoses and infections, an influential parliamentary committee has concluded.In a report that urges the government to focus on public health rather than an abstinence-only approach", the home affairs select committee calls for a national drug-checking service to anonymously test drugs and a licensing scheme for onsite drug-testing facilities at festivals. Continue reading...
Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan bought 311-litre bottle of 32-year-old Macallan single malt for 1.1m at auctionThe previously anonymous buyer of the world's largest bottle of whisky, which at 5ft 11in is taller than the average human, has been revealed as a Vietnamese businessman who already owns a spirits collection valued at more than 150m.Viet Nguyen Dinh Tuan bought the 311-litre bottle filled with 32-year-old Macallan single malt for 1.1m at auction in Edinburgh last year. Continue reading...
The 23-year-old was stabbed in broad daylight in Islington on Wednesday morningA murder inquiry has been launched after a 23-year-old man was stabbed to death in broad daylight in north London.Officers and London ambulance service were called to reports of a stabbing on a street in Islington on Wednesday morning and found a man with knife injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Continue reading...
Driver or pirate' issued with traffic offence because feathered first mate not in suitable carrierA driver was stopped by police after they were found at the wheel with an African grey parrot on their shoulder.North West motorway police said its officers spotted the driver, who has not been named, with the bird on the M62. Continue reading...
Employee, who was stuck in walk-in freezer for more than two hours, was treated in hospital for hypothermiaPret a Manger has been fined 800,000 after an employee was trapped in one of its freezers for more than two hours, where she tried to use croissant boxes to stave off hypothermia.The employee was wearing jeans and T-shirt when she was stuck in a walk-in freezer, which typically had its temperature set at -18C, in July 2021, Westminster magistrates court was told. Continue reading...
Ministers agree to give inquiry full statutory powers after families criticised current investigationWitnesses will be forced to give evidence at the inquiry into how Lucy Letby was able to murder seven babies, the health secretary has announced, in a move welcomed by victims' families.Steve Barclay announced the inquiry would be put on a statutory footing after mounting criticism that it lacked the necessary powers to compel people to give testimony under oath or force the disclosure of documents. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#6EAD1)
Those who attended the school in the 70s and 80s, including the broadcaster Nicky Campbell, detailed harrowing physical, sexual and psychological abuse to the inquiryIt's not the end of the story but a real turning point," said Giles Moffatt after 14 gruelling days of evidence detailing the physical, sexual and psychological abuse he and generations of boys endured at Edinburgh Academy, one of Scotland's most prestigious private schools.Moffatt, 51, is co-founder of the survivors' group of about 50 middle-aged men - including the broadcaster Nicky Campbell - who wept, embraced and applauded one another as they described hundreds of stomach-turning incidents of individual abuse to the long-running Scottish child abuse inquiry: a 14-year-old beaten like a rag doll" until he passed out, eight-year-old boys locked in a garden shed over a weekend for a minor infraction, a six-year-old with a garden hose pushed into his anus as a punishment for bed wetting. Continue reading...
Chilean state finally assumes responsibility for finding those executed and forcibly disappeared under dictatorshipChile's government has announced its much-anticipated plan to search for the victims of forced disappearance and political execution under Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, which began with a coup 50 years ago next month.The plan nacional de busqueda, or national search plan, will seek to establish the circumstances and conditions under which each person was forcibly disappeared, guarantee access to government records and provide reparations and guarantees for victims' families. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#6EABG)
Deeply flawed' imprisonment for public protection rules causing severe distress among prisoners and families, says rapporteurA UN torture expert has called on the UK government to urgently review all sentences imposed on prisoners held indefinitely under the widely discredited" imprisonment for public protection (IPP) scheme.Alice Jill Edwards, the special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said the sentences, scrapped in 2012 but without retrospective effect, caused severe distress, depression and anxiety among both prisoners and their families. Continue reading...
Emiliano Krosi, 23, charged with 33 offences of conspiracy to commit burglary, Surrey police sayA man has been charged with conspiracy to commit burglary in connection with a break-in at the home of the Chelsea and England footballer Raheem Sterling, Surrey police have said.Emiliano Krosi, 23, of Ditton Court Road in Southend-on-Sea has been charged with 33 offences of conspiracy to commit burglary. One count relates to the burglary of Sterling's property in Oxshott, Elmbridge, and was reported to police on 3 December last year during the men's World Cup in Qatar. Continue reading...
Government-backed bank throws down gauntlet to high street lenders with new growth bondsThe UK government's savings bank, NS&I, has thrown down the gauntlet" to high street rivals by launching a one-year fixed-rate savings account paying a table-topping 6.2%.Commentators said NS&I was likely to experience strong demand from savers keen for a decent return, as it means they get to secure a record rate that comes with a 100% Treasury guarantee. Continue reading...
Prime minister says he will give police more powers to confiscate knives and will make it illegal to possess certain weapons. This live blog is closedRishi Sunak has said a crackdown on zombie-style knives, with new powers for police, would make a big difference" for officers.The government has announced more zombie-style" knives and machetes with no practical use are to be banned and police will be given more powers to seize and destroy them.Knife crime is appalling, it disproportionately affects young people and we should be doing everything we can to stamp it out. I spent time with officers here and the Met commissioner talking about what they're dealing with on the streets. What we're doing today will make their jobs easier.We're giving the police more powers to confiscate knives when they come across them, when they're going about their day-to-day policing business. We are banning particular types of knives. Having just seen them myself there's no reason these knives should be on the streets.There's no sensible reason anyone should own them or possess them. So, we're going to ban them and make it illegal to possess them. Lastly, we're toughening up the sentencing for people who are caught with these weapons.Taken together, it's a strong set of powers that, having spoken to the police, they know will make a big difference to their ability to cut knife crime down. I'm pleased that knife crime is down since the pre-pandemic levels but we've got to keep going to root out this awful crime. Today's powers will make a big difference. Continue reading...
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