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The unacknowledged debt Potter owed to the Brer Rabbit stories told by enslaved Africans deserves to be recognised, says scholarThink of Beatrix Potter and you will probably call to mind her tales of Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. These popular stories, with their English country garden settings and precise illustrations, have been stalwarts of British children’s bookshelves over the past century. Yet the stories may not be as British as most of us assume.Dr Emily Zobel Marshall, in a new essay for The Conversation, has called for wider acknowledgment of the debt Potter owed to the Brer Rabbit stories told by enslaved Africans working on American plantations. Continue reading...

Incentive from Jeremy Hunt comes only days after three carmakers issued Brexit rules warningThe government has offered Jaguar Land Rover £500m in subsidies in an effort to persuade the carmaker to build a new electric battery plant in the UK.The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has offered a package of incentives to entice JLR, days after three global carmakers warned that Brexit rules on where parts were sourced threatened the future of the British automotive industry. Continue reading...

Poster showed Renaissance sculpture holding slice of pizza with phrase ‘It doesn’t get more Italian’They love a macaroni cheese pie but, according to advertising giants, the vision of Michelangelo’s David in the buff is too much to stomach for Glasgwegians.An Italian restaurant in Scotland’s biggest city has been forced to change its adverts featuring the world-renowned sculpture after the ad business Global Media Group blocked them because of David’s nudity. Continue reading...

Human rights groups condemn executions following anti-regime protests that swept country last yearIran has executed three men it said were implicated in the deaths of three members of the security forces during anti-government protests, drawing condemnation from rights groups and risking further international isolation.Saleh Mirhashemi, Majid Kazemi and Saeed Yaqoubi were killed on Friday morning, the Tasnim agency reported. Crowds had gathered outside the prison where they were being held on Thursday night as rumours of their imminent execution grew. Continue reading...

Comic Li Haoshi made joke about soldiers that Beijing authorities deemed insultingChinese police detained a woman for posting online in support of the comedian who was punished for making a joke that authorities said insulted the Chinese military.According to state media, the 34-year-old woman, reportedly surnamed Shi, admitted to police that she had posted “inappropriate” comments about Chinese soldiers. Continue reading...

Timothy Schofield, 54, sentenced to 12 years for offences committed while a civilian police workerThe brother of the television presenter Phillip Schofield has been jailed for 12 years after being convicted of sexually abusing a vulnerable teenage boy over a three-year period.Timothy Schofield, 54, who was a civilian police worker with the Avon and Somerset force at the time of the abuse, was found guilty of 11 sexual offences involving a child. Continue reading...

Boy arrested and police searching for at least two more suspects

Belief in afterlife higher among gen Z and millennials than in baby boomers, despite being less religious generallyYou may think the idea of hellfire belongs to an age when people’s lives were shaped by the threat of eternal damnation.Wrong, it seems: generation Z and millennials in the UK are significantly more likely to believe in hell than baby boomers, according to a new study by the Policy Institute at King’s College London. Continue reading...

PM praises ‘widely respected’ defence secretary who has stated his interest in succeeding Jens Stoltenberg

Former human rights commissioner suggested Indigenous leaders should consider ‘compromise’ to improve referendum’s chance

Fall in value of Infosys, in which PM’s wife Akshata Murty holds a stake, drives drop in couple’s wealthRishi Sunak has seen his personal family fortune fall by more than £200m over the last year.Sunak, a former hedge fund manager and reputedly the UK’s wealthiest ever prime minister, and his heiress wife, Akshata Murty, have an estimated worth of about £529m in the latest Sunday Times rich list, a fall from £730m in 2022. Continue reading...

Hinduja family remain at top, while Richard Branson drops 33 places to 77th

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The first comes as jump in deposits and interest rates drives earnings up 40% to record highsNationwide will pay £340m directly into customer accounts for the first time, after a jump in deposits and higher interest rates drove annual profits up 40% to record highs.Britain’s biggest building society has tended to use profits to offer better rates on savings, loans and mortgages for its members but on Friday it launched an inaugural programme that will distribute funds directly to customers, akin to shareholder payouts made by banks. Continue reading...

Putin ‘can’t outlast us’ says PM, who will use Hiroshima summit to push countries like Brazil and India to do more for UkraineRishi Sunak has warned Vladimir Putin that western leaders are “not going away” as they gathered at the G7 summit in Japan, with the Ukranian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, preparing to fly in to meet them.At a teahouse in Shukkeien garden in Hiroshima on Friday, the prime minister told Sky News: “Russia needs to know that we and other countries remain steadfast in our resolve to support Ukraine, not just in the here and now with the resources it needs to protect itself, but for the long term as well.” Continue reading...

Torrential rain submerged the dried-out landscape of the Emilia-Romagna region, forcing thousands to evacuateAt the start of this week an area of low pressure moved off the coast of north Africa, deepening as it travelled northwards across the Mediterranean before situating itself over Italy. Consequentially, much of the country received persistent heavy rain from Monday to Wednesday with the largest quantity falling over the north-eastern Emilia-Romagna region.Within a 36-hour period this region received an average 200mm of rainfall, although some areas recorded at least 500mm during the same period. Given Emilia-Romagna receives an average of 1,000mm a year, 50% of the annual mean rainfall falling in a short timeframe in a localised area has led to substantial flooding as rivers burst their banks. Continue reading...

Musician described as ‘supremely gifted’ by bandmate Johnny Marr had suffered long illness with pancreatic cancerAndy Rourke, the bassist for indie legends the Smiths, has died aged 59.The news was announced by guitarist Johnny Marr on social media, who wrote:It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Andy Rourke after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer. Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans. We request privacy at this sad time. Continue reading...

Voters as young as 16 will play a pivotal role as country goes to the polls on SundayGreek politicians are courting an estimated 430,000 generation Z voters, some as young as 16, as the country braces for a general election, taking to TikTok and YouTube to woo what could be a key demographic.A smile crosses Stefanos Tsiandis’s face when talk turns to a poll that has been as low-key as it is unpredictable. As a first-time voter, the 19-year-old knows exactly which party he’ll be rooting for when he casts his ballot on Sunday. But that, he adds, is rare. “Our vote counts, and mine will go to Pasok,” says the economics student, proudly posing with the flag of the centre-left party he has just waved vigorously at a campaign rally beneath the Acropolis. “It’s disgusting how they’re making all these promises to win our support. It says so much about our political system. Continue reading...

Report finds over-55s feeling more confident about spending and avoiding Covid-19 – but younger Australians and families are feeling the pinch

ABC says press club address could not have been defamatory even if Lehrmann’s identity already widely known

The ABC presenter says he has been a media target for racism and for now he’s ‘walking away’

Stephanie Louise Bennett used Gold Coast pilot Ash Jenkinson’s name after she was caught using phone while driving

Exclusive: Guy Singh-Watson says he will continue to be involved in the business and will pay full tax on dividendThe organic vegetable box company Riverford is to become 100% owned by its staff after its founder, Guy Singh-Watson, agreed to sell his remaining 23% stake for almost £10m.Singh-Watson, who sold nearly three-quarters of the company to employees in 2018, will take a £9.8m payment over five years and immediately hand full control to a trust on behalf of its 900 staff who each receive an annual profit share and participate in the running of the business. Continue reading...

Spirit Airlines agent refused to let Puerto Rican family board plane from Los Angeles, even though passport is not requiredSpirit Airlines refused to allow a Puerto Rican family to board a flight from Los Angeles to Puerto Rico because they did not have a passport for their two-year old child.Speaking to CBS, Marivi Roman Torres, who was traveling with her husband, Luís, and son, Alejandro, said the problem occurred at the ticket counter. Continue reading...

Daniel Andrews announces changes to scheme that will see support cut for those suffering stress

Greens MP says letters tabled in parliament allege young people ‘enduring worse conditions than … farm animals’ at Banksia Hill and Casuarina facilities

Police said the officer’s duty status was under review, as civil liberties groups demanded an independent investigation into incident that left Clare Nowland in critical condition

Before Labor invests $1.5bn in Darwin harbour’s Middle Arm precinct, it needs to look beyond the spin

A conference run by a rightwing American thinktank attracted Tory MPs and influencers this week. Is its Trumpish populist philosophy a taste of where the Conservative party is heading?Voters deserted Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party in droves in local elections this month. The party lost more than 1,000 seats and with it control of dozens of councils. It was just the latest evidence of a party haemorrhaging support after a series of mishaps and scandals. With a general election looming, Tory MPs are desperate for a route back to winning popular support and many appeared at a conference this week hosted by an American thinktank.As Peter Walker tells Michael Safi, it was a freewheeling and eccentric affair. Speakers variously railed against “neo-Marxism”, “globalists” and told the (overwhelmingly male) audience of the need to increase the country’s sagging birthrate. But do UK voters respond well to culture war politics? For Michael Gove, who spoke on Tuesday, the Conservative party must not become sidetracked into ignoring the central economic questions that decide elections. Is the rest of his party listening? Continue reading...

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons wants Labor to send a ‘message to the region’ and sign and ratify a treaty to impose a ban on atomic weapons

Shakur lived in Oakland in the early 1990s and has other connections to the city, including filming a video thereA northern California street may soon bear the name of late rapper Tupac Shakur.On Tuesday, Oakland’s city council unanimously agreed to name a part of a city street after the rapper, who called the city home in the early 1990s. Continue reading...

Penny Wong says the 88-year-old Perth man, who was kidnapped in Burkina Faso in 2016, has been reunited with his family

Muslim and Orthodox communities have only a few years until their allocated spaces in crown cemeteries are full

Gendarmes shoot at tyres of vehicle and arrest driver, who is believed to have psychiatric problemsA car driven by a man apparently suffering from psychiatric problems has rammed through a Vatican gate, speeding past Swiss Guards into a palace courtyard before the driver was apprehended by police.Vatican gendarmes fired a shot at the speeding car’s front tyres after it rushed the gate on Thursday night, but the vehicle managed to continue on its way, the Vatican press office said. Continue reading...

‘Death to Arabs’ chanted by some of the thousands celebrating capture of Old City in 1967 as three journalists woundedThousands of Israeli nationalists, some of them chanting racist slogans, have paraded through Jerusalem’s Old City in an annual celebratory day for Israelis that became one of humiliation for Palestinians living under occupation.The marchers, mostly male Orthodox teens and young men, were celebrating Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in 1967. The crowd waved blue and white Israeli flags and chanted slogans such as “Death to Arabs” and “We will burn your village”. Continue reading...

UK and Netherlands want to create ‘international coalition’ to procure US-made fighter jets and train Ukrainian pilots and crews

Samantha Lee tells hearing she could not have prevented kidnap and murder of Sarah EverardThe former Met police officer accused of botching the Wayne Couzens flashing case has admitted she made some mistakes, but said nothing she could have done would have changed the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard.Samantha Lee has been accused of conducting an “extremely poor” investigation after Couzens, 50, exposed himself to female staff at a drive-through McDonald’s in Kent on 14 and 27 February 2021, a police disciplinary hearing was told. Continue reading...

Supermarket is consulting about removing a 60p an hour supplement at 39 stores outside M25 despite the cost of living crisisAsda is planning to cut pay for about 7,000 workers in stores close to London by about 5% despite the surge in the cost of living in Britain.The UK’s third biggest supermarket, which was bought by the billionaire Issa brothers and private equity firm TDR Capital in 2020, said it was in consultation about removing a 60p an hour supplement from workers at 39 stores sited outside the M25 but near to the capital. Continue reading...

Claudia Iacono, who was married to son of the late boss Moreno Gallo, was shot dead in her car outside the spa she ownedThe brazen daylight shooting death of a Montreal mob boss’s daughter-in-law suggests “no one is untouchable”, said an organized crime expert, as the city braces for potential retaliation.A woman’s body with several gunshot wounds was found in car on Tuesday. Local reports named the victim as Claudia Iacono, 39. Continue reading...

Study of risks and threats shared to all forces by National Police Chiefs’ Council gives offences the same status as terrorismPolice chiefs have issued the first official assessment of violence against women and girls in the UK, placing such offences on the same footing as terrorism and serious organised crime.The 230-page intelligence document outlining the crimes that pose the biggest threats to women and girls has been shared with all forces by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).Domestic abuse.Rape and serious sexual offences.Child sexual abuse and exploitation.Tech-enabled VAWG such as online stalking and harassment. Continue reading...

Ben Wallace says ‘it is my understanding’ that long-range missiles provided to Ukraine by Britain have been used

This week’s floods are latest weather disaster to hit country, as policymakers finally begin to respond to crescendoThis week, parts of northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region received half their average annual rainfall in just 36 hours. Rivers burst their banks and thousands of acres of farmland lie submerged. By Thursday evening, an estimated 20,000 people had been left homeless and 13 were confirmed dead.It is just the latest weather disaster to hit the country. Six months ago, 12 people died on the southern island of Ischia in a landslide triggered by torrential rain. Eleven more were killed last September by flash floods in the central region of Marche. Continue reading...

Fans describe decision to go ahead as ‘outrageous’ and call on US star to reschedule Emilia-Romagna eventBruce Springsteen has been criticised in Italy for going ahead with a concert in Ferrara on Thursday evening after the northern Emilia-Romagna region was hit by deadly floods.Fans of “The Boss” urged him on social media to reconsider out of respect for the dead and homeless after torrential rains caused landslides and made rivers break their banks. Continue reading...

Charlie Mclean says she has lost a child and parents of teenage murderers have lost two sonsA mother has called for an end to teenage knife violence after two boys who murdered her 15-year-old son on his way home from school were given life sentences.Khayri Mclean was murdered as he walked with friends in Huddersfield at 2.50pm on 21 September last year. Jakele Pusey, 15, and Jovani Harriott, 17, had changed into black clothes and black balaclavas and were hiding, waiting to ambush him. Continue reading...

One head teacher said the 12-page reading test that reduced children to tears was ‘scary and quite middle class’A primary school Sats paper that reduced some pupils to tears included texts on a giant bat colony, which was adapted from a New York Times article, a camping trip featuring sheep rustlers and a boy on a remote Scottish island who hears a wolf.The 12-page reading test, featuring three substantial texts followed by 38 questions to be answered in an hour, was published on Thursday, once the assessment window had closed.She ran quickly inside.She jumped through the flap.She had to squeeze in.She crept in quietly. Continue reading...

Current editor was prolific user of private investigators while working at News of the World and Daily Mirror, ex-reporter claimsThe current editor of the Daily Express was “involved in phone hacking” and other illegal activity in the 1990s and 2000s, the high court has been told.The trial of Prince Harry’s phone-hacking claim heard on Thursday that Gary Jones was “a prolific user of private investigators” while working at the News of the World and Daily Mirror. Continue reading...

Nurse claims she was blamed by ‘gang of four’ consultants for alleged attacks on Child F and L at Countess of Chester hospitalLucy Letby, the nurse on trial for murdering babies in her care, has told a jury that two babies were deliberately poisoned with insulin – but not by her.The premature babies, identified as Child F and L, both survived the alleged attacks at Countess of Chester hospital. Continue reading...

Tom Buda, responsible for couple’s transport, conceded pursuit was not high speed but did put them in dangerThe Duke and Duchess of Sussex were left shaken up after being followed by paparazzi through New York City in a “frightening” and “reckless” pursuit, the security chief responsible for their transport has said.In an interview with US broadcaster NBC News, Tom Buda, president of Buda Security, conceded that the pursuit was not high speed, but did put the couple in danger. Continue reading...

High-resolution satellite imaging of city in eastern Ukraine lay bare its destruction after months of bombardmentHigh-resolution satellite images published by Maxar provide a stark insight into the destruction of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, caused by months of bombardment and fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.The images show Bakhmut from above in May 2022 and May 2023. Continue reading...

Latest action on 2 June comes between two days of strikes by Aslef and will bring further disruption ahead of men’s FA Cup finalThe RMT has announced another rail strike for Friday 2 June, the day before the men’s FA Cup final, warning that the government “cannot wish the dispute away”.About 20,000 RMT members working for the 14 major passenger firms in England will strike for 24 hours in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Continue reading...