The home secretary allegedly asked civil servants for help after being caught speeding. Did she breach the ministerial code?What is Suella Braverman alleged to have done wrong?The home secretary was caught speeding in a 50mph zone last summer, and given the option of accepting a fine and points on her licence or attending a speed awareness course. Continue reading...
Kevin Milner was riding on trail north of Vancouver when black bear charged forward and sent him flipping over the handlebarsA Canadian man is suffering from a fractured scapula, cardiac contusion and bruised ribs after colliding with a bear while riding his bike north of Vancouver.Kevin Milner was riding the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve near Vancouver when he spotted the black bear in the grass. Wildlife, including deer, is common along the thickly forested double-track. Continue reading...
Busy Bees branch within hospital complex fined £225,000 plus costs for food safety and hygiene offencesA branch of Britain’s largest private childcare provider has been hit with a record fine after inspectors found fresh mouse droppings in the kitchen and the children’s play areas of a nursery within an NHS hospital complex in east London.Busy Bees – which operates 375 nurseries in England, Scotland and Wales – was fined £225,000 and £15,000 in costs by a court in London last week, after pleading guilty to food safety and hygiene offences uncovered at its nursery on the grounds of Whipps Cross university hospital in Leytonstone. Continue reading...
Former DUP leader calls Sinn Féin electoral gains a ‘wake up and smell the coffee moment’ for unionismThe Democratic Unionist party (DUP) is facing renewed calls to restore power-sharing in Northern Ireland after a Sinn Féin electoral “tsunami” reshaped local government.Chris Heaton-Harris, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, on Sunday joined a chorus urging the DUP to end a boycott that has paralysed the executive and assembly at Stormont. “Alongside the new councils, it remains my hope to see the assembly and executive return to work,” he said. Continue reading...
Exclusive: three years after Truss boasted of securing status in trade deal, products such as Cornish pasties can still be copiedA host of famous British food types, including Cornish pasties, Welsh lamb and Melton Mowbray pork pies, have not been given formal protection from imitation in Japan nearly three years after Liz Truss boasted that they could be secured thanks to her “historic” trade deal.As trade secretary, Truss described the post-Brexit trade agreement signed with Japan in September 2020 as the UK’s first landmark deal as an independent trading nation, ensuring the same tariff arrangements as the country had enjoyed when in the EU. Continue reading...
Call comes as independent review body to recommend 6.5% pay rise for teachers in EnglandEducation union leaders have urged ministers to return to the negotiating table for formal talks on pay and funding as an independent review body is to recommend a 6.5% pay rise for teachers in England.The School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) has told the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, that a 6.5% increase is needed to retain teachers in the profession. Keegan was given the report last week but has yet to publish its findings. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Clinic operated by BPAS was intended to provide IVF at cost price but was sold to private providerEngland’s first not-for-profit fertility clinic has shut within a year of opening and has been sold to a private provider, in what one of its founders called “a tragedy for women”.The game-changing clinic – operated by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), better known for providing abortions – promised to take the profit out of fertility treatment when it opened in December 2021. Continue reading...
UK prime minister goes further than G7 summit statement in outlining challenge posed by BeijingChina poses the biggest challenge to global security and prosperity of our age with the “means and intent to reshape the world order”, Rishi Sunak has said.The UK prime minister said G7 leaders including Japan, the US, Canada and European nations had shown “unity and resolve” in confronting the problems posed by Beijing. Continue reading...
Chris ‘Cam’ Cameron ready to set sail for barren rock 230 miles from nearest permanently inhabited placeA science teacher has found an unusual way of exorcising the loneliness and isolation of the repeated lockdowns during the Covid crisis. He plans to spend two months living alone on Rockall, a barren islet deep in the Atlantic.Chris “Cam” Cameron, 53, will set sail for Rockall this week in an attempt to break the record for occupying the sheer-sided chunk of granite. He plans to spend at least 60 days perched on a ledge measuring barely 4 metres by 1.5 metres, to raise money for charity. Continue reading...
Private provider criticised for uprooting more than 60 vulnerable children, with some transferred from south-east England to ScotlandThe trade body that oversees children’s care homes has taken the unprecedented step of publicly berating a major private provider for jeopardising “the wellbeing of young people in its care” after it announced a string of home closures.The Observer revealed last month that England’s fourth largest provider of residential places for looked-after children, Outcomes First Group was shutting 28 care homes due to “market challenges”. Continue reading...
by Amy Hawkins, Senior China correspondent on (#6BTSP)
Action by workers has trebled this year as the country emerges from its draconian coronavirus measuresProtests in China are often small- scale. On 17 May, a handful of workers at an air-purifier factory in Xiamen, a coastal city in Fujian province, south-east China, gathered to demand the payment of wages that, they said, were in arrears. The protest was quiet, but it was one of nearly 30 similar demonstrations this month alone.With China’s factories reopened and draconian coronavirus measures abandoned, workers are also going on strike at a remarkable rate. Continue reading...
Joint visit during G7 summit seen as further evidence of determination to overcome longstanding frictionJapan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, and the South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, have paid their respects at a memorial to the tens of thousands of Korean victims of the atomic bombing, in a further sign of improving ties between the north-east Asian neighbours.The pair, accompanied by their wives, laid bouquets of white flowers before lowering their heads at the memorial in the city’s peace park on Sunday on the sidelines of the G7 summit, where Yoon is one of several non-member leaders taking part in “outreach” sessions. Continue reading...
Hope not Hate analysis has pinpointed spikes in hostility whenever ministers speak negatively about refugeesGovernment rhetoric on migration is increasingly “feeding” the far right, according to new analysis detailing for the first time the growing symbiotic relationship between senior Tories and the extreme rightwing.An investigation shows that government statements and policy announcements on the issue are effectively “incubating” the far right on Telegram, the social media app where many rightwing extremists have congregated. Continue reading...
by Rowena Mason in Hiroshima and David Connett on (#6BTSG)
Prime minister stops short of saying he has full confidence in home secretaryRishi Sunak has defended Suella Braverman, after the UK home secretary asked civil servants to help with a speeding fine, saying she has “expressed regret, accepted the penalty and paid the fine”.The prime minister ignored questions about whether he should order an ethics inquiry into Braverman’s conduct but stopped short of saying he had full confidence in her. Continue reading...
Prominent members fear a tilt to the right could spell the end in the ‘blue wall’ heartlandsSenior Tories are warning their party will be finished should it undergo “a Trumpian style takeover” from the right, amid growing concerns that it risks political meltdown in its “blue wall” heartlands.Prominent Conservatives from across the party are now increasingly concerned that a tilt to the right and anger over the handling of Brexit could lead to the party’s support collapsing in liberal, home counties seats in the same way that Labour imploded in Scotland in 2015. Continue reading...
Labour leader advised to create a fairer system in the form of maintenance grantsKeir Starmer is being urged by shadow cabinet figures to replace tuition fees in England with a graduate tax, amid growing concern that the finances of universities are becoming unsustainable under the current system.An injection of cash in the form of maintenance grants to the poorest students is also backed by some of the Labour leader’s top team as a way of ensuring students are not put off by the increasing living costs of attending university. Continue reading...
Staff are being promised up to £4,500 to take up – and stay in – hard-to-fill NHS jobsNurses in parts of England are being offered “golden hellos” of up to £4,500 to work in the NHS – and not quit – amid fierce competition for staff.As the government and the Royal College of Nursing remain in deadlock over pay, some NHS trusts desperate to fill posts have launched their own schemes to attract and retain recruits. The incentives – which include bonuses staggered over two years and relocation packages of up to £8,000 – vary by area and come as the health service grapples with critical shortages and high staff turnover. Continue reading...
Labour leader to outline vision for modernisation and announce targets for an election-winning administrationSir Keir Starmer is to warn that the NHS is “not sustainable” unless there are health reforms that “fix the fundamentals” and go beyond extra investment.The Labour leader is due to give a speech in the east of England on Monday in which he will outline his vision for modernising the NHS and announce health-related performance targets if his party forms the next Downing Street administration. Continue reading...
Economic resurgence may not be enough to win Kyriakos Mitsotakis a new term in Sunday’s electionWith the Acropolis behind him, Kyriakos Mitsotakis ascends to the podium amid thunderous music and the cackle of whistles and horns. It is the last rally of the last day of his re-election campaign before polls open on Sunday, and the prime minister is in a combative mood.“Do we want stability or continuous uncertainty?” he asks. “That is the dilemma we are being called to answer.” It is a question that has dominated an election that Mitsotakis once thought he had in the bag. Continue reading...
Prime minister to visit worst-hit areas as red weather alert extended in Emilia Romagna regionMore than 36,000 people have now been forced from their homes by deadly floods in northeast Italy, regional officials have said, as rising waters swallowed more houses and fresh landslides isolated hamlets.Violent downpours earlier this week killed 14 people, transforming streets in the cities and towns of the Emilia Romagna region into rivers. Continue reading...
US and Saudi Arabia announce deal that comes after six weeks of fighting between Sudan’s army and paramilitary Rapid Support ForcesSudan’s warring factions signed an agreement late on Saturday for a seven-day ceasefire, the US and Saudi Arabia said in a joint statement, as fighting that has plunged the country into chaos and displaced more than a million entered its sixth week.The fighting between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has led to a collapse in law. Stocks of food, cash and essentials are rapidly dwindling, and mass looting has hit banks, embassies, factories and aid warehouses. Continue reading...
Many are having to travel long distances to receive NHS help, despite a promise to end this ‘completely unacceptable’ practiceSome mental health patients in England are still having to travel more than 300 miles for hospital treatment two years after the government pledged to end the “completely unacceptable” practice.The number of patients in crisis forced to move potentially hundreds of miles for NHS help is rising again after falling during the pandemic, separating them from family and support networks and potentially delaying their recuperation. Continue reading...
by Justin McCurry and Rowena Mason in Hiroshima on (#6BTPF)
The UK PM said the Ukrainian president attending the summit confirmed that world leaders are united in their support of his countryRishi Sunak said Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s appearance at the G7 summit in Japan sent an “incredibly powerful message” to Russia that western leaders are behind him, as the UK indicated it would start training Ukrainian fighter pilots to fly F-16s within the next couple of months.The Ukrainian president arrived in Hiroshima on a French government plane on Saturday to discuss greater military support from the US and other G7 countries as his forces prepare for a huge counteroffensive in the war with Russia. Continue reading...
Prime minister says he is ‘very comfortable’ with controversial rules despite former business secretary’s admission of gerrymanderingRishi Sunak has defended new laws requiring voters to bring ID as “entirely reasonable” after Jacob Rees-Mogg suggested the move was designed to gerrymander election results in favour of the Tories.Sunak said he was “very comfortable” with controversial rules following Rees-Mogg’s critical comments and reports that thousands of people were turned away from polling stations at the local elections in May. Continue reading...
The home secretary faces calls for inquiry into reports she asked for special treatment after being issued a speeding noticeThe Home Secretary is facing calls for an inquiry into reports she asked Home Office civil servants to help secure her special treatment after being caught speeding.Suella Braverman allegedly asked Home Office officials to organise a one-to-one driving awareness course after she was caught speeding last summer. Continue reading...
Local musician Gregor Hunter Coleman was playing in Glasgow pub when star made ‘life-changing’ offerThe US rapper Post Malone helped a Scottish musician fund the downpayment for his first home, according to reports.The Sunflower crooner’s viral, widely reported act of kindness unfolded at a pub in Glasgow, Scotland, named Wunderbar last week. Post Malone walked into the bar while Gregor Hunter Coleman, an area musician, was playing, BBC Scotland reported. Continue reading...
Pilot and two passengers died at scene of accident in steep and forested area in west of countryA tourist plane crashed in a wooded, mountainous area of western Switzerland on Saturday, killing the three people onboard, police said.The small tourist plane crashed in a steep and forested area near Ponts-De-Martel in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel at about 10.20am (0820 GMT), regional police said. Continue reading...
British poet who wrote lyrics for Sunshine of Your Love, White Room and many more also had acclaimed solo careerPete Brown, a cult figure in British poetry, rock, psychedelia and rhythm and blues who wrote lyrics for many of Cream’s classic songs, has died aged 82. He had been living with what he recently described as “various forms of cancer” for a number of years.The family of his long-term late collaborator Jack Bruce wrote on social media: “We are extremely saddened to learn of the death of Jack’s long term friend and writing partner Pete Brown who passed away last night. We extend our sincere condolences to Pete’s wife Sheridan and Pete’s children as well as all his family and friends. Love from the Bruce family.” Continue reading...
Beijing clearly target of joint statement by Quad group calling for ‘stability in Indo-Pacific maritime domain’The leaders of the Quad group – Australia, India, Japan and the United States – delivered a thinly veiled swipe at Beijing’s behaviour on Saturday at a summit in Hiroshima.The US president, Joe Biden, and his three partners in the group did not mention China by name but the communist superpower was clearly the target of language in a joint statement calling for “peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific maritime domain”. Continue reading...
by Joe Middleton (now); Tom Ambrose and Adam Fulton ( on (#6BTFF)
Ukraine denies Wagner claim that city has fallen and says fighting ongoing in some partsVolodymyr Zelenskiy has arrived in Hiroshima, Japan, to attend the G7 leaders’ summit in the city.Reuters reports that live footage broadcast by multiple media outlets showed Zelenskiy disembark from a French government aircraft.With Russia likely maintaining relatively few uncommitted combat units in Ukraine, the redeployment represents a notable commitment by the Russian command.Russia’s leadership likely continue to see capturing Bakhmut as the key immediate war aim which would allow them to claim some degree of success in the conflict. Continue reading...
by Jon Ungoed-Thomas and Solomon Hughes on (#6BTN9)
Indian rice tycoon Karan Chanana, who gave the Conservatives more than £220,000, is under scrutiny by India’s finance ministryA leading Tory donor who has given more than £220,000 to the party is being investigated over allegations of fraud and money laundering.Karan Chanana, head of the global rice brand Amira, is being investigated in India over claims that tens of millions of pounds of bank loans were unlawfully diverted into shell entities. Chanana has not responded to the claims. Continue reading...
The party had 134 elected councillors by 5pm on Saturday, with gains achieved across the regionSinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill has hailed a “momentous” result as the party remains on course to become the largest in councils in Northern Ireland.As the count stretched into Saturday evening, the republican party had 134 elected councillors by 5pm, with gains achieved across the region. Continue reading...
Criticism over latest development in long-running libel dispute between the leading Brexit backer and the journalistThe award-winning Observer and Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr has been ordered to pay significant legal costs to the prominent Brexit backer Arron Banks.Banks, who donated a record £8m to the pro-Brexit Leave.EU campaign group, originally lost his case against Cadwalladr in his libel action over her remarks in a speech and a tweet. Continue reading...
Headteachers say they will be forced to double class sizes and introduce four-day weeks to tackle underfundingSchools in England are preparing to move to class sizes of as many as 60 children from September to deal with a funding crisis that headteachers say will force them to cut staff.The government insists that there is still room in school budgets to cover the 4.5% pay offer that teachers overwhelmingly rejected last month, as well as rising costs. But angry headteachers have warned that next year they will reach the brink, with no option but to cut staff and increase class sizes. Continue reading...
Report implicates Wagner group fighters in Moura atrocity, including the torture and rape of civiliansFirst came a single helicopter, flying low over the marshes around the river outside the village, then the rattle of automatic fire scattered the crowds gathered for the weekly market.Next came more helicopters, dropping troops off around the homes and cattle pens. The soldiers moved swiftly, ordering men into the centre of the village, gunning down those trying to escape. When some armed militants fired back, the shooting intensified. Soon at least 20 civilians and a dozen alleged members of an al-Qaida affiliated Islamist group, were dead. Continue reading...
Workers for subcontractor Serco have spoken about a culture of ‘institutional abuse’ by management at five hotels in and around LiverpoolAsylum seekers staying at Home Office hotels in and around Liverpool are alleged to have been harassed, humiliated and subjected to verbal and emotional abuse from senior hotel staff, according to an investigation for the Observer.Sources working for the Home Office subcontractor Serco have described what they believe is a culture of “institutional abuse” at five Merseyside hotels, including the Suites hotel in Knowsley, where violent far-right protests took place in February. Sources include current and former contractors recruited to work in Home Office hotels for Serco. Continue reading...
Evan Girdlestone, 47, was remanded in custody after appearing before magistrates charged with offences under the Firearms ActA man has been remanded in custody after a converted handgun and ammunition were seized from a car.Evan Girdlestone, 47, who lives in Colliers Wood, appeared before magistrates in Croydon on Saturday morning charged with offences under the Firearms Act. Continue reading...
Greater Manchester police arrest woman on suspicion of money laundering after Jonathan Hogg was mauled by a dogPolice investigating the death of a man mauled by a dog in Wigan have seized 15 canines and made a second arrest.Jonathan Hogg, 37, was attacked in Leigh, Wigan, on Thursday. He was found by police officers with serious injuries shortly after 9.10pm and taken to hospital, but died hours later. Continue reading...
Leading art museums are reassessing their works after a Belgian journalist traced how a fascist sympathiser acquired a Jewish dealer’s collectionIn August 1940, Samuel Hartveld and his wife, Clara Meiboom, boarded the SS Exeter ocean liner in Lisbon, bound for New York. Aged 62, Hartveld, a successful Jewish art dealer, left a world behind. The couple had fled their home city of Antwerp not long before the Nazi invasion of Belgium in May 1940, parting with their 23-year-old son, Adelin, who had decided to join the resistance.Hartveld also said goodbye to a flourishing gallery in a fine art deco building in the Flemish capital, a rich library and more than 60 paintings. The couple survived the war, but Adelin was killed in January 1942. Hartveld was never reunited with his paintings, which were snapped up at a bargain-basement price by a Nazi sympathiser and today are scattered throughout galleries in north-western Europe, including Tate Britain. Continue reading...
Police watchdog investigates after court records reveal suspect in killing of Hayley Burke faced multiple domestic abuse chargesThe Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has launched an investigation after it emerged that a man suspected of taking his ex-partner hostage and shooting her in the head was a known domestic abuse suspect who was on bail at the time of the attack.Mother-of-two Hayley Burke, 36, was fatally injured at her home in Dartford during the coronation weekend and later died in hospital. Jacob Cloke, 29, is believed to have held her at gunpoint and pulled the trigger during a stand-off with police. Continue reading...
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