by Ashifa Kassam European Community affairs correspon on (#6FTAT)
Exclusive: Commissioner condemns incidents targeting Jews but supports basic right' to protestGermany's antisemitism commissioner has condemned the country's recent increase in anti-Jewish violence, warning that it risks transporting the country back to its most horrific times".In an interview with the Guardian, however, Felix Klein said he was also worried about an erosion of basic rights as officials sought to crack down on expressions of support for the Palestinian people. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#6FTAV)
Severe material hardship no longer a rarity, as study reveals impact of benefit cuts and cost of living crisisMore than 1 million children experienced destitution last year - meaning their families could not afford to adequately feed, clothe or clean them, or keep them warm - according to a major study which reveals an explosion of extreme poverty in the UK.Severe material hardship was no longer a rare occurrence", the study found, with rates of destitution more than doubling in the last five years as a result of benefit cuts and cost of living pressures, leaving struggling households increasingly reliant on regular charity handouts.Adults reported a frequent inability to afford more than one meal a day, often going without to ensure their children could eat. Nearly two-thirds (61%) said they had gone hungry in the past month. There was heavy reliance on food banks or relatives for groceries.More than half of destitute adults (51%) regularly went without toiletries such as shampoo and toothpaste, as well as hygiene and cleaning products, often relying on food banks for these items. One respondent had to borrow money to buy incontinence pads for her disabled daughter.New clothing and footwear were essential items that people simply did not buy at all", the study concluded, with many adult respondents wearing worn-out clothes, and only buying new clothes - such as school uniforms and trainers - for their children. Continue reading...
by Elias Visontay Transport and urban affairs reporte on (#6FTAX)
Interim rail chief reveals during budget estimates that planning for Sydney-Newcastle line hasn't started as MPs compare situation to episode of Utopia
Cars covered with loudspeakers blasting remixes of singer's ballads angers residents of PoriruaA small city in New Zealand plagued by siren battles" - cars decked out in loudspeakers commonly used in emergency warning systems and often blaring Celine Dion hits - is calling on authorities to step in and end the noise.The battles are part of a New Zealand subculture where music enthusiasts cover their cars in up to dozens of industrial speakers, loudhailers and sirens, then compete to have the loudest and clearest sounds. Continue reading...
Exclusive: AFP tells Senate estimates it is now aware the PimEyes and FaceCheck.ID platforms may have been tested for operational purposes on around 10 occasions
Musee Grevin says it is improving' wax figure of Fast and Furious star after it attracted widespread ridicule on social mediaA wax museum in Paris that was criticised for whitewashing" a statue of Dwayne The Rock" Johnson says it will give the waxwork a do-over.The Musee Grevin, which is modelled on London's Madame Tussauds, unveiled the wax figure of the professional wrestler turned actor last week, but it swiftly attracted widespread ridicule on social media, as well as from the Fast and Furious star himself. Continue reading...
by Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent on (#6FT7M)
Chancellor calls scheme involving 20 of UK's largest funds a huge win' for the countryA group of leading UK venture capital funds managing more than 25bn have signed an agreement backed by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, to boost investment in high growth companies across the country.In a government drive to drum up private investment in Britain before the chancellor's autumn statement, Hunt said the scheme involving 20 of the UK's largest funds was a huge win" for the country. Continue reading...
The half a million workers whose employers pay the voluntary real living wage will earn 3,000 a year above the minimum wageAlmost half a million workers in the UK whose employers are signed up to pay the voluntary real living wage are in line for a pay rise to at least 12 an hour, taking their annual wage to 3,000 a year above the government's minimum wage.The Living Wage Foundation said employers in London that are part of the scheme will pay an enhanced rate of 13.15 an hour to cope with the extra costs of living in the capital. Continue reading...
Assistance comes ahead of Israel's anticipated ground assault into Gaza but advisers will not engage in fighting, says US officialThe Pentagon is sending military advisers and sophisticated air defense systems to Israel ahead of an anticipated ground assault into Gaza by Israel's military.One of the officers leading the assistance is Marine Corps Lt Gen James Glynn, who previously helped lead special operations forces against the Islamic State and served a high-profile role during intense combat in Falluja, one of the bloodiest and most controversial centers of battle for US forces during the war in Iraq. Continue reading...
Ex-SNP leader says she passed first time but the challenge of learning took her well out of her comfort zoneNicola Sturgeon has announced on social media she has passed her driving test at the age of 53.The former first minister of Scotland said she was successful on her first attempt. She posted a photograph of herself and Andy McFarlane, her driving instructor, on Instagram on Monday. Continue reading...
Soft-spoken Sergio Massa's campaigning strategy pays off while voters seem to pull back from libertarian rival - but who will win the runoff?After a disastrous showing in Argentina's open primaries in August, Argentina's Peronist party made a resounding comeback this week. In the latest chapter in a rollercoaster presidential election, the soft-spoken economy minister, Sergio Massa, snatched what seemed like a sure victory from the jaws of the libertarian Javier Milei, winning 36.6% of the vote against only 29.9% for Milei.The broad margin was still not enough to avoid a runoff on 19 November between the two most dissimilar contenders imaginable. Although beset by soaring price inflation and a 40% poverty rate, Massa trounced Milei, whose promise to dollarize the economy and legalize the organ trade had catapulted him to surprise victory in August. Continue reading...
The PM, just back in the Commons after meeting Netanyahu, had only vain hopes to offer in the search for peace between Israel and HamasCall it war fatigue. So soon. Last week it was standing room only on both sides of the house for Rishi Sunak's statement on Israel and Gaza. For the update on Monday there were plenty of gaps on the green benches. Especially on the Tory side. Already the Middle East has been filed under something too difficult, too unbearable and too far away. Most Conservatives no longer have the bandwidth for the conflict. They are too busy contemplating their own more immediate eternity. Losing the next general election.Many of Sunak's opening remarks were more or less a reprise of what he had said last week. Horror at the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas. A commitment to stand with Israel and a reaffirmation of its right to defend itself and to retrieve its hostages. An acknowledgment that the Palestinians are also victims of Hamas. Their need for humanitarian aid and for Israel to respond within international law. Hard to argue with any of that. Continue reading...
Sahra Wagenknecht joined by nine other MPs in migration-sceptical party which will court unhappy voters on left and rightA leading German radical-left politician who has questioned the green transition and blamed the west for Russia's war on Ukraine has left her party to set up a new one, in a move likely to cost the far right votes and further fragment the nation's politics.Sahra Wagenknecht, the charismatic former co-leader of the far-left Die Linke, said on Monday that the new association - named after herself - would court unhappy voters on the left and right, starting with next June's European parliament elections. Continue reading...
Commons hears how Labour's Mohammad Yasin was taken aside at Heathrow and Toronto despite travelling on official businessAn MP was stopped from boarding a flight to Canada with other members of parliament because his name was Mohammad", the Commons heard on Monday.Mohammad Yasin, Labour's MP for Bedford, was due to fly to Canada with other MPs from the Commons levelling up, housing and communities committee when he was delayed for questioning for a considerable period" at airports in both countries last week. Continue reading...
Erdoan signs protocol and sends it to Turkish parliament after agreeing to Sweden's membership at Nato summit in JulyTurkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, has removed one of the final hurdles blocking Sweden from joining Nato by submitting a bill approving membership to parliament for ratification.The move on Monday was in line with a commitment Erdoan made to Nato at its summit in July when he said he would send the bill to parliament for ratification when parliament restarted in October. Continue reading...
Prime minister briefs parliament after his trip last week to Israel, Egypt and Saudi ArabiaKeir Starmer has said he had productive" talks during a visit to Tata Steel's giant Port Talbot plant in south Wales.The Labour leader told broadcasters:We have ambitious plans for the steel industry. We see this as the future, not the past. That requires strategic thinking about our economy. We want to go to clean power, that will bring down energy costs.If we are able to put in place our mission for clean power by 2030, that will require more steel - and therefore we want the demand for steel to go up. Of course, we need to transition to green steel. But we must do this transition very carefully, protecting the jobs and the skills and the history that we have here in south Wales. Connecting and bridging that to the future, which is green steel.So, we have been having productive discussions this morning about what I think will be a very bright future for steel. But only with strategic thinking around it.They're really living in a situation that my mother-in-law describes as torture.The whole night there will be missiles, rocket fire, drones - they don't know whether they are going to make it from one night to the next. Continue reading...
Hungarian prime minister calls Hungary safest and most stable country in all of Europe in speech on anniversary of 1956 revolutionHungary's government is not a good faith actor and guarantees need to be ironclad before EU funds are unfrozen, Hungarian MEP Katalin Cseh, a member of the opposition Momentum party, told reporters today.Full implementation of the reforms the European Commission requested from Hungary's government is a basic minimum, she said, underscoring like her colleagues from other leading European political groups that in her view the Hungarian government has yet to fully comply with promised measures to strengthen the independence of the judiciary. Continue reading...
Inquiry follows Guardian report on Vergie Tamfungan, whose death in the Gulf country has shone a spotlight on cross-country' employment practicesThe UAE government has repatriated the body of a Filipina domestic worker who died last month, and launched an investigation into the findings of a Guardian report on the recruiters that brought her into the country.When Vergie Tamfungan, 39, died on 25 September, she was being held in her recruiter's accommodation in the emirate of Sharjah and had not yet been placed in a household to work. Her family said she had gone to the UAE that month after being promised a good salary and bonuses by the agency. Continue reading...
Lewis Edwards resigned from South Wales police after being caught posing as a teenager on Snapchat and secretly recording girls as young as 10A serving police officer incited more than 200 girls as young as 10 to share explicit images and videos of themselves with him via Snapchat, a court has heard.Lewis Edwards, 24, who was suspended from the police force after he was caught and subsequently resigned, sometimes posed as a 14-year-old boy called James when he contacted girls and got them to carry out sexual acts. Continue reading...
Latest blow leaves scandal-hit lobby group without a high-profile speaker at annual conferenceThe business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, has reportedly dealt another blow to the scandal-hit Confederation of British Industry (CBI) by turning down an invite to speak at the lobby group's annual conference.Badenoch's team has told the CBI that she would not be able to address the conference due to scheduling clashes leading up to the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt's, autumn statement on 22 November, according to Sky News. Continue reading...
Astrophoria programme aims to help students from disadvantaged backgrounds fulfil their potentialWhen Jessica Neate told her friends in Leicester that she was going to study at Oxford University, they didn't believe her. People thought I was not being serious about it, because I think people have a sort of expectation of a typical Oxford applicant or Oxford student, and they were just like, no you're not. And I said: I am!"Neate hadn't told her school friends that she was applying - I didn't even think I'd get an interview, so I didn't want to say anything" - but this month she and 21 others are making history as students on Oxford's first university-wide foundation year. Continue reading...
Paul Gilbert says people in flood-prone areas are forgotten, after death of Maureen Gilbert, 83, in Storm BabetA man who found his mother's lifeless body floating in flood water triggered by Storm Babet in her Chesterfield home has spoken of his anger that people in flood-prone areas are being forgotten".It is thought that Maureen Gilbert, 83, drowned after she was unable to escape the rapidly rising water inside her terrace home owing to mobility problems. Continue reading...
Neil Jones's first purchase with 2.4m prize allows retired tiler to build playing skills to international levelA tiler whose first purchase after winning 2.4m on the national lottery was a pool table is about to experience his proudest moment" as he prepares to represent his country at the European Pool Championships in Malta.Neil Jones, 59, had just 13 in his pocket when he and his partner, Julie Kirkham, won the money just before Christmas 2010. Continue reading...
Challenger to crisis-ridden presidency of Nicolas Maduro claims victory after Venezuelans queue for hours in rainstorm to voteEarly returns in the Venezuelan opposition's presidential primary have given a big lead to former legislator Maria Corina Machado, who quickly claimed victory as the candidate to end the decade-long, crisis-ridden presidency of Nicolas Maduro.The independent National Primary Commission, which organised the vote, said about 93% of the first 601,110 ballots counted went to Machado, who entered the contest as a strong frontrunner. The rest of the votes were scattered among the other nine candidates. There was no indication of how many people had voted, and organisers were expected to release additional results throughout Monday. Continue reading...
Dog-owners country-wide claim they're under attack from a rising number of council-backed restrictions on canines in public places. And some are starting to bite back Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. You may not have noticed, but there could be a battle going on over control of your local park.No, it's not one of the reenactments of the Battle of Hastings (that was last weekend, though). It's a fight between the UK's estimated 12 million dog owners - a number that swelled by about 1 million since the onset of the pandemic - and non-dog owners who have had enough of negotiating packs of unruly dogs being walked by professional walkers, stepping in the unmentionable and fearing a growing number of attacks.Israel-Gaza | The White House has promised a continued flow" of aid into Gaza, after a second convoy entered on Sunday and Israel continued to bombard the besieged enclave into the early hours of Monday.Weather | Fresh danger to life flood warnings have been issued as water levels continue to rise in the wake of Storm Babet, while cleanup operations get under way in some of the worst-hit areas.Conservatives | Rishi Sunak is facing discontent among his backbenchers as he heads into the one-year anniversary of his time in No 10, with Jacob Rees-Mogg calling for the government to wake up from a torpor".Tax avoidance | Billionaires have been operating on the border of legality" in using shell companies to avoid tax and the world's 3,000 wealthiest individuals should be charged a 2% levy on their wealth, a research group created to inform EU tax policy has claimed.Health | Use of existing drugs before the standard treatment for cervical cancer could lead to a reduction of about one-third in the risk of the disease recurring or causing death, the results of a study suggest. Continue reading...
Taylor Swift's concert movie, now the biggest of all time, continues to dominate US box office despite release of Martin Scorsese's anticipated crime dramaIn a movie match-up almost as unlikely as Barbie and Oppenheimer, Martin Scorsese took on Taylor Swift in cinemas over the weekend. And while the US box office belonged for a second time to Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon got off to a strong start in Apple Studios' first major theatrical gambit.After a record-breaking opening weekend in North America of $92.8m, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour took in an estimated $31m over the weekend from 3,855 locations, according to AMC Theaters. In an unconventional deal, the theater chain is distributing Swift's concert film, and playing it only Thursdays through Sundays. Continue reading...
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