Service sector companies attract new business amid rising confidence and resilient consumer demandBritain’s economy is on track for a return to growth in the first three months of the year after a jump in retail sales and signs of sustained activity in the private sector this month.New business booked by service sector companies rose at the sharpest pace for 12 months in March, amid rising confidence among firms and resilient consumer demand. Continue reading...
Estate awarded £350,000 including damages for inhumane and degrading treatmentIn 1973 Liam Holden was convicted of murdering a British soldier in Northern Ireland and became the last person in the United Kingdom to be sentenced to hang.On Friday – half a century after the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, 11 years after the sentence was quashed and a year after Holden died – a high court in Belfast awarded £350,000 to his estate. Continue reading...
Journalist voluntarily left Radio 4 show after 19 years but was saddened by lack of BBC announcementThe journalist and broadcaster Kirsty Lang has claimed she was told not to “say goodbye” after she decided to step back from presenting BBC Radio 4’s Front Row after nearly two decades.Lang said that while she left the show “voluntarily” and is to present Radio 4’s Round Britain Quiz, she was saddened that the broadcaster chose not to formally announce her departure. Continue reading...
Apple Daily founder and British national, 75, in jail since 2020 facing charges under national security lawA close confidant of the jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai has called on Britain to do more to secure the 75-year-old’s release.Lai, a prominent businessman and founder of Apple Daily, a pro-democracy newspaper, has been detained since December 2020. He has been convicted of fraud and faces more serious charges of foreign collusion under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law. Continue reading...
Slashing funding to the programme from a promised £7m to just £1m sends a ‘stark message to the world’, says Save the ChildrenThe UK government has cut almost £6m in funding to a programme in Afghanistan supporting vulnerable women and girls.Save the Children said it has been told by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office that it will receive just over £1m of a promised £7m to support more than 100,000 people to access essential basic services such as healthcare and education. Continue reading...
Anugrah Abraham was stressed and lacked support while working for West Yorkshire police, family allegeThe family of a student police officer who died this month are calling for an independent investigation from the police watchdog after they claimed he faced discrimination, bullying and a lack of support.Anugrah Abraham, known as Anu, was a 21-year-old student police officer on a placement with West Yorkshire police as part of his three-year apprenticeship degree at Leeds Trinity UniversityIn the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org. Continue reading...
Intricate mosaic floor where King Charles III will be crowned on 6 May will be opened to visitors this summerVisitors to Westminster Abbey this summer will be invited to walk in their socks on its medieval Cosmati pavement to mark the coronation of King Charles III.A special programme of events has been announced by the abbey, including a new guided tour, which will take place after the coronation on 6 May. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#6A4HG)
National Audit Office urges ministers to learn lessons of losses in England resulting from fraud and errorJust 1% of the estimated £1.1bn lost from the government’s Covid business support programme in England as a result of fraud and error has been recovered so far, the public spending watchdog has said in a report urging ministers to learn lessons from the scheme.The “overwhelming majority” of fraud and error occurred during the initial incarnation of the grant scheme launched in March 2020, which did not require prepayment checks, the National Audit Office (NAO) said in its report on the rushed-through efforts. Continue reading...
Transparency International says its report raises questions over conflicts of interest in WestminsterMore than 170 former ministers and senior officials have taken private sector roles related to their old policy briefs in the past six years, research has found, with Sajid Javid, Robert Buckland and Gavin Williamson among the Tory MPs declaring lucrative second jobs in the last few weeks.A report from Transparency International found large numbers of ex- ministers and senior officials were going straight from their government jobs into private sector roles relevant to their former responsibilities, which it said raised serious questions over how potential conflicts of interest are managed in Westminster. Continue reading...
by Lauren Gambino Guardian US political correspondent on (#6A4GF)
Two women tell of witnessing or experiencing torture and brainwashing, as Republicans and Democrats vow to document ‘genocide’Two women who say they experienced and escaped Chinese “re-education camps” have provided first-hand testimony to members of the US Congress, giving harrowing detail while imploring Americans not to look away from what the US has declared a continuing genocide of Muslim ethnic minorities.Testifying before a special House committee at the beginning of Ramadan, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, a Uyghur woman, said that during her nearly three years in internment camps and police stations, prisoners were subjected to 11 hours of “brainwashing education” each day. It included singing patriotic songs and praising the Chinese government before and after meals. Continue reading...
Washington Post and KFF study found 78% of respondents said living as different gender from birth increased satisfaction in lifeA large majority of transgender adults say that transitioning has made them more satisfied with their life, according to a new survey.The survey conducted by the Washington Post and KFF is the largest nongovernmental survey of transgender adults that uses random samplings. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Former Coalition minister says of Dutton’s calls for detail: ‘if [he] was given [the answers] in tablet form from Moses, he still would not accept them’
Patrick Amadon, whose work flashed up names from pro-democracy protests, says ‘it did have to get taken down, I feel like, to be a completed piece’A Hong Kong department store took down a digital artwork that contained hidden references to jailed free-speech defenders, in an incident the artist says is evidence the of erosion of free speech by Chinese authorities.Patrick Amadon’s No Rioters was put on display on a billboard at the huge Sogo Causeway Bay store as the city was promoting itself as a cultural hub following years of pandemic travel restrictions. Art Basel Hong Kong, a prominent art fair in Asia, began this week, alongside other art events. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Political correspondent on (#6A4BF)
Thinktank warns ‘political short-termism’ over health is exacerbating levels of illness and inequalityGovernments should set aside 10% of health spending for preventive and public measures such as cycle lanes and anti-obesity strategies, a thinktank has said, warning that “political short-termism” over health is making the UK increasingly ill and unequal.The report by the Tony Blair Institute argues that a centralised NHS model “almost entirely focused on treating sickness” rather than on wider objectives is not only harming people’s health but hampering the economy, with more than 2.5 million people out of the labour market because of long-term ailments. Continue reading...
‘Judgment about how best to continue’ with motoring show will come after health and safety reviewThe BBC has said it will not resume filming the latest series of Top Gear after co-presenter former England cricket captain Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff was injured in a crash last year.The broadcaster said there will be a health and safety review on the motoring show, which has been running in its current iteration for 21 years. Continue reading...
Poor internet and logistical problems frustrate hearing into killing of British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous expertActivists and lawyers representing the families of Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira have voiced frustration and anger after the preliminary court hearings of three of their alleged murderers had to be suspended because of poor internet and logistical problems at the high-security prisons where the defendants are being held.Three of the suspected killers of the British journalist and Brazilian Indigenous specialist were scheduled to give evidence from behind bars this week during partly online hearings that are expected to pave the way for a jury trial, possibly in the second half of this year. Continue reading...
Two men and two teenage boys remain in custody after Rohan Shand, 16, died on WednesdayA teenager stabbed to death in Northampton on Wednesday afternoon has been named by police as Rohan Shand.Rohan, known as Fred by friends and family, died in the Kingsthorpe area of the town after being stabbed in the chest. The 16-year-old was from Northampton. Continue reading...
Polly Sanderson-Grasham said seeing her father’s state after the incident was like ‘a slap in the face’The daughter of the man who collided with Gwyneth Paltrow on a ski slope, has said seeing her father’s state after the incident was like “a slap in the face”.Polly Sanderson-Grasham said that following the crash in 2016, her father was unable to “see the forest for the trees” and got “lost in the minutiae” of things. Continue reading...
Animal, which is thought to have broken out of its zoo enclosure, was tranquillised after being on the loose in South Korean capitalA young zebra walked, trotted and galloped for hours through the busy streets of Seoul before emergency workers tranquillised the animal and brought it back to a zoo.The zebra – a male named Sero who was born in the zoo in 2021 – was in a stable condition and being examined by veterinarians on Thursday evening, said Choi Ye-ra, an official at the Children’s Grand Park in South Korea’s capital. Continue reading...
South Korean CEO of Terraform Labs is accused of multi-billion-dollar fraud involving TerraUSD and Luna currenciesA man suspected of being the fugitive South Korean cryptocurrency entrepreneur Do Kwon, accused of orchestrating a multi-billion-dollar fraud that shook global crypto markets last year, has been arrested in Montenegro.“Montenegrin police have detained a person suspected of being one of the most wanted fugitives, South Korean citizen, co-founder and CEO of Singapore-based Terraform Labs,” the interior minister, Filip Adžić, tweeted late on Thursday. Continue reading...
At least 75 people held across country on ‘day of disruption’ as Knesset approves law designed to protect NetanyahuIsrael’s two-month-old protest movement took to the streets for a “day of disruption” as the parliament passed the first part of the hardline government’s controversial judicial changes into law.The legislation, designed to protect the position of the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was approved early on Thursday, after a heated all-night debate, by 61 votes to 47 – the minimum majority required. Continue reading...
by Alexandra Topping and Nadeem Badshah on (#6A3Z2)
Kirsty Buchanan says her 15-year-old son, who is black, was buying shampoo in Chichester shop and was held by police until 1.15amThe mother of a black 15-year-old boy detained by civilian security staff while shopping for shampoo in Chichester has said he was thrown to the floor and handcuffed after joking about being followed.Former Downing Street aide Kirsty Buchanan has called for a national review of the use of private security staff, saying her child had been targeted because of his race, and that the behaviour of the security guards was dangerous. Continue reading...
by Kevin Rawlinson (now); Martin Belam and Helen Sull on (#6A383)
This liveblog has now closed, you can read more of our coverage hereAny attempt to arrest President Vladimir Putin after the international criminal court (ICC) issued a warrant for the Kremlin chief would amount to a declaration of war against Russia, his ally Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday, while directly threatening to attack the seat of any government that allowed it to happen.The ICC issued an arrest warrant on Friday, accusing Putin of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. It said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bore individual criminal responsibility.As a result of an attack by Russian drones [yesterday] on a hostel in Rzhyshchiv, Kyiv region, nine people were killed, the state emergency service reported. Rescue operations are completed.In the middle of the night, the Russian military shelled Kramatorsk in Donetsk region: residential buildings, a boiler house and garages were damaged. On 22 March, shelling in the region killed two people and injured four others. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#6A3Z3)
One-fifth of UK population was in relative poverty after first year of pandemic, when support measures scrappedFamilies including 800,000 children were forced to turn to food banks to feed themselves as poverty levels started to rise again after the first year of the pandemic, the first official figures on UK food bank use show.The statistics came in official poverty data, which revealed that the reduction in relative poverty achieved during the first year of the Covid crisis in 2020-21 was temporary and was reversed after ministers scrapped support measures.In-work poverty remains high – half (54%) of people in poverty lived in a household where at least one adult was in work, while more than two-thirds of children in poverty (71%) lived in working families.Child poverty rates were much higher among black (53%) and Asian (47%) families than white families (25%). About 44% of children in single-parent families, and 36% of children living in families where someone has a disability, were in poverty. Continue reading...
Tory peer says privileges committee hasn’t ‘got the evidence’ to prove former PM knowingly misled MPsBoris Johnson should refuse to accept the outcome of the privileges committee investigation if it concludes that he intentionally misled the Commons over the Partygate scandal, his allies have said.Some of the former prime minister’s supporters believe he should reject the cross-party group’s findings if they decide, based on written evidence and a fractious three-and-a-half-hour evidence session on Wednesday, that he broke strict parliamentary rules. Continue reading...
Artem Uss broke electronic tag and went on run a day after court agreed to hand him over to US authoritiesA Russian national accused of smuggling military technology has escaped house arrest a day after an Italian court agreed to hand him over to US authorities.Italian authorities said Artem Uss, who was detained at Milan’s Malpensa airport on an international arrest warrant last October, broke his court-ordered electronic bracelet and left his house in Cascina Vione di Basiglio in the province of Milan. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#6A3Z4)
Thomas Cashman disputes court testimony about his whereabouts on night of Liverpool girl’s shootingThe man accused of murdering nine-year-old Olivia Pratt-Korbel has told a court he was in custody “for something I have not done” and called a key witness “a woman scorned”.Thomas Cashman, 34, insisted he had “nothing whatsoever” to do with Olivia’s murder and that it was a “blatant lie” to claim he was the killer. Continue reading...
by Ben Quinn (now) ; Geneva Abdul and Rachel Hall (ea on (#6A3CY)
Labour leader releases his tax payments after prime minister reveals his tax returnsThe Tories don’t understand and are out of touch with modern Britain, says Starmer, in what is an increasingly class-based speech.“I grew up working class in a small town, I know how important it is to feel safe in your community,” says the Labour leader. Continue reading...
Opposition parties ensure outgoing SNP leader’s last FMQs session is rowdy and heatedNicola Sturgeon endured a series of attacks on her record when she faced opposition leaders during a rowdy and heated final parliamentary session as first minister.With Sturgeon stepping down in five days, hopes she might enjoy a dignified final session as first minister were immediately dashed when the Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, accused her party of repeatedly lying to the media. Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#6A3X6)
Energy regulator plans to tackle manoeuvre that has brought in millions of extra pounds for generatorsThe energy regulator Ofgem is preparing to crack down on UK power firms to prevent them “manipulating” the market with a manoeuvre that has bolstered their profits by millions of pounds.The practice, which does not break existing market rules, involves generators warning the electricity system operator that they are turning their power plants off at times of peak demand and subsequently offering to keep them running in exchange for a “balancing” payment. Continue reading...
With uncollected rubbish lining Paris streets, critics are comparing the optics of the royal arrival to 1789Striking workers in France are refusing to provide red carpets for King Charles’s first overseas trip as monarch amid protests over rises to the pension age.French trade union CGT announced this week that its members at Mobilier National, the institution in charge of providing flags, red carpets and furniture for public buildings, would not help prepare a reception for the king upon his arrival in Paris on Sunday. Continue reading...
TV personality clashes with women’s minister, who she says ‘couldn’t be bothered’ to attend committee sessionThe TV personality Carol Vorderman has said she is “disgusted” at the behaviour of government equalities ministers, whom she accused of ignoring the needs of menopausal women.Vorderman said she had been blocked by the minister for women, Maria Caulfield, on Twitter after saying that Caulfield “couldn’t be bothered to turn up” for questions by a select committee examining the menopause. Continue reading...
by Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent on (#6A3B6)
Mohammed Abbkr, 28, accused of following two men and setting them on fire in Birmingham and LondonA man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder after two men were set alight in Birmingham and London, West Midlands police have said.Mohammed Abbkr, 28, from Edgbaston in Birmingham, is alleged to have followed the two victims as they walked home from mosques, sprayed a substance over them and set them on fire in two separate incidents. Continue reading...
PM’s tax bill would have been higher had top capital gains rate not been cut by ToriesRishi Sunak has saved more than £300,000 in tax thanks to a cut he voted for in 2016, according to an analysis of his tax records.The prime minister has paid just over £1m in tax over the past three years, most of which was accrued on the gains he has made on his US-based investment portfolio. But that figure would have been £308,167 higher had the top rate of capital gains tax (CGT) not been cut by the Conservative government in 2016. Continue reading...
by Amrit Dhillon in Delhi and agencies on (#6A3F2)
Indian opposition leader accused of implying prime minister was a criminal in remark made in 2019A court in India has found the opposition leader Rahul Gandhi guilty of defamation for a remark implying the country’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was a criminal.On Thursday, Gandhi, 52, was sentenced to two years in prison but was granted bail after his lawyers announced their intention to appeal. Continue reading...
Exclusive: ‘To the deserving Author’, found in the playbook of Jonson’s Sejanus: His Fall, is signed by ‘Cygnus’An almost unknown sonnet in the playbook or script of a 1603 play by Ben Jonson could be a “lost” work by William Shakespeare, according to two leading scholars.Beyond “compelling” stylistic evidence, the sonnet – titled “To the deserving Author” – is signed by the mysterious pseudonym Cygnus, the mythical figure who was turned into a swan – evoking Jonson’s very own tribute to Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon as the “Sweet Swan of Avon”. Continue reading...
Pedro Sánchez expected to confront Chinese leader on peace plan, saying Ukrainians must ‘lay down conditions’Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, will make a state visit to China next week to meet President Xi Jinping, where he is expected to stress that it will be up to Ukraine to decide on the foundations of any peace agreement with Russia.News of Sánchez’s visit emerged on Wednesday evening, as Xi – who is trying to position himself as a mediator in the war between Russia and Ukraine – wrapped up a symbolic, two-day trip to Moscow. Continue reading...
Concern that unregulated experts’ diagnoses are being used to silence parents or undermine abuse allegations in England and WalesAn urgent inquiry is needed into unregulated psychological experts being used in high conflict disputes to diagnose whether one parent has attempted to ‘alienate’ their child from the other, MPs have said.Opening a debate on family court reform in England and Wales, the MP for Coventry North West, Taiwo Owatemi, said false claims of so-called parental alienation were the “most damning aspect of our family court system”. Continue reading...
Trustees will decide on the future of the organisation which lost all its Arts Council funding and hosts final performances this monthA new board of trustees has been appointed to preserve the legacy of Oldham Coliseum and “safeguard the delivery of culture” in the town after the theatre’s closure at the end of this month.The 138-year-old Coliseum, which has been stripped of its funding from Arts Council England (ACE), will present its last scheduled performance this weekend and is considering marking the closure next week with a special event. Julie Hesmondhalgh, one of many actors to decry the 100% funding cut, has called for a sit-in protest at the venue and described ACE’s decision as an act of “cultural vandalism”. Continue reading...
Move follows peace deal between rebels and federal government that ended two-year conflictThe Ethiopian government has said it has appointed a senior official in the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) as head of the interim Tigray regional administration after a peace deal ended a brutal two-year conflict.“Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has appointed Getachew Reda as president of the Tigray region’s interim administration,” Abiy’s office said in a statement posted on Twitter on Thursday. Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor on (#6A3G9)
Labour leader says he aims to reverse the plunging confidence in police caused by austerity and complacencyKeir Starmer has vowed to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, setting out one of Labour’s core missions on crime as “unfinished business in my life’s work to deliver justice”.Starmer’s speech in Stoke-on-Trent launching the second of his five “missions” said he wanted to “imagine a society where violence against women is stamped out everywhere”.Restore public confidence in the police and criminal justice system to its highest ever level.Halve knife crime incidents, including with an enhanced police presence outside schools.Drastically improve statistics for the proportion of crimes solved by the police.Drive down violence against women and improve conviction rates. Continue reading...
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