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There's no convincing argument for the RBA not to cut interest rates on 12 August as economists say they are acting as a break on the economy

In today's newsletter: As Keir Starmer announces caveated plans to recognise the Palestinian state, and UN-backed experts say the worst-case scenario' is under way, is opening the borders to allow aid in the only hope?Good morning. Humanitarians are running out of words to describe the horrors taking place in Gaza. The small strip of land has been brutalised, with all institutions that sustain life - from hospitals to schools - either completely destroyed or barely functioning. Now, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns that the worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip."Thousands of children are malnourished and hunger-related deaths on the rise, particularly among the youngest. It is worth noting this is not a formal designation of famine in Gaza, and formal designations are incredibly rare and have only taken place a handful of times in the 21st century: in Somalia in 2011, in South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and in Sudan in 2024.Asia-Pacific | A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake has triggered a series of tsunami warnings and evacuation orders across Japan, the US and parts of the Pacific, after the shallow quake hit near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.Israel-Gaza war | A group of high-profile Israeli public figures, including academics, artists and public intellectuals, has called for crippling sanctions" to be imposed by the international community on Israel, amid mounting horror over its starvation of Gaza.Labour | Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Labour government of appeasing" Reform UK by scapegoating" migrants and minorities for its own domestic policy failures, saying his new leftwing political party would take on Nigel Farage instead.Economy | Global growth will be stronger than previously expected this year after Donald Trump scaled back his most extreme tariff threats, the International Monetary Fund said as it upgraded the economic outlook for 2025.UK news | Five women who were abused as children by Rotherham grooming gangs were also raped by police officers when they were as young as 12 years old, they have claimed. Continue reading...

Police say arrest a significant step forward' in investigation into December 2024 fire at Adass Israel Synagogue

From the Balfour declaration of 1917 to Tony Blair's role as envoy, the UK has struggled to make meaningful progress towards peace in the Middle EastThe former British prime minister Harold Macmillan once said that there was no problem in the Middle East because a problem has a solution. Keir Starmer is the latest incumbent in No 10 to try to prove Macmillan wrong through a plan that has been described by Downing Street as pathway to peace" for Gaza and the wider region. The record of Britain's previous interventions do not augur well. Continue reading...

University to bend to administration demands but says it currently won't share records of staff in student-only rolesHarvard University said on Tuesday that it will comply with the demands of Donald Trump's administration to turn over employment forms for thousands of university staff, but for the time being was not sharing records for those employed in roles only available to students.In an email to university employees sent on Tuesday, Harvard said that earlier this month it received a notice of inspection and a related subpoena from the Department of Homeland Security, seeking to inspect the I-9, or Employment Eligibility Verification, forms and supporting documentation for university employees. Continue reading...

Reintroduction of spit hoods in youth detention centres defended by territory government, almost 10 years after they were banned

Findings suggest e-cigarettes increasingly act as gateway' to nicotine for children, undermining earlier falling ratesA third of UK teenagers who vape will go on to start smoking tobacco, research shows, meaning they are as likely to smoke as their peers were in the 1970s.A long-term intergenerational study found that the likelihood of starting to smoke among people aged 17 in 2018 was about 1.5% if they did not vape compared with 33% if they did. Continue reading...

Cabinet agrees to support Middle East roadmap at emergency meeting called amid humanitarian crisis in GazaThe UK will formally recognise the state of Palestine this September as a result of the increasingly intolerable" situation on the ground in Gaza, unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution in the Middle East.Keir Starmer's cabinet has agreed a roadmap for peace in the region after coming under intense domestic pressure over the mounting humanitarian crisis in the territory, and calls to follow France in acknowledging statehood. Continue reading...

Music mogul to be sentenced in October on prostitution-linked offenses after acquittal on more serious chargesThe music mogul Sean Diddy" Combs is asking a judge to free him on a $50m bond while he awaits sentencing in October after a jury found him not guilty of the most serious federal charges he faced earlier this month.In a court filing on Tuesday, Combs's lawyer argued that conditions at the Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn were dangerous, noting that others convicted of similar prostitution-related offenses were typically released before sentencing. Continue reading...

Horizon Europe is among the most prestigious science research programmes in the worldThe European Commission has proposed partly suspending Israel from its flagship 80bn Horizon science research programme over the severe" humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where food security experts say famine is now under way.It comes amid worldwide condemnation of Israel's actions in Gaza, including demands by Donald Trump that it must do more to stop the real starvation". On Tuesday, the leading international authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, said the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in Gaza. Continue reading...

The PM is to lead recognition of a Palestinian state - a good day for him, the UK and the starving people of GazaWhat a difference a week makes. Last Tuesday, Keir Starmer batted away all invitations to recognise the state of Palestine. It wasn't happening. Keir was committed to being appalled by the situation in Gaza but not appalled enough to do anything about it.He then received a letter from more than 250 MPs, including some cabinet ministers, later in the week begging him to recognise the state of Palestine. He still stonewalled. The time was not yet right. Continue reading...

Three former South Yorkshire police officers arrested in investigation into claims by the women, as young as 12 at the timeFive women who were abused as children by Rotherham grooming gangs were also raped by police officers when they were as young as 12 years old, they have claimed.In one case a girl who reported the abuse after being put under pressure by the gang to have an illegal abortion was left destroyed" when an officer who had allegedly raped her turned up to interview her, she told the BBC. Continue reading...

Former Labour leader says his new party will inspire hope, not fear, and promises to reset broken' political system

Results found four in 10 students performed below expectations in grammar and punctuation, indicating they struggled to recognise verbs and pronouns in sentences

It is critical that specialist family violence services make contact and offer support to people who use violence in a timely manner,' coroner says

Pascal Soriot refuses to be drawn, however, on reports AZ could move its main stock market listing across the AtlanticAstraZeneca's chief executive has hailed the vital importance of the US" to the British drugmaker, days after announcing a $50bn (37bn) investment in the country at a time when Donald Trump's threatened tariffs are looming over the sector.Pascal Soriot, who leads Britain's most valuable company, refused to comment, however, on recent media reports that AstraZeneca is considering moving its main stock market listing from the UK to the US. Continue reading...

Pharma group names Maziar Mike Doustdar as new CEO as it seeks to convince investors it is not lagging behind rival Eli Lily

Regulator to extend paths from London for private operators despite capacity concerns and impact on state-funded services

IPC alert reports mounting evidence of widespread starvation and says worst-case scenario' is playing out

Margherita Della Valle challenged at company's AGM by one of 62 former store operators involved in lawsuit

People like David Clune have been saved by medical breakthroughs, but many still don't know the risks or can't access doctors

Oil lamp fragments point to presence of previously unknown Jewish population in Ibero-Roman town of CastuloSeventeen centuries after they last burned, a handful of broken oil lamps could shed light on a small and long-vanished Jewish community that lived in southern Spain in the late Roman era as the old gods were being snuffed out by Christianity.Archaeologists excavating the Ibero-Roman town of Castulo, whose ruins lie near the present-day Andalucian town of Linares, have uncovered evidence of an apparent Jewish presence there in the late fourth or early fifth century AD. Continue reading...

Research notes lack of interventions for perimenopausal women despite finding that hot flushes and night sweats can be as severe as for those of menopause

Dinsmore will join Whitehall as civil servant in top communications role after reportedly impressing Starmer during interviewA former editor of the Sun will take up a senior communications role at the heart of government.David Dinsmore, editor of the tabloid from 2013 to 2015, will be a civil service appointment rather than a political adviser, tasked with improving the government's communications operation. The role is separate to the No 10 director of communications. Continue reading...

Police say only one set of human remains found after Alison Hernandez told meeting dead bodies' recovered from siteA police and crime commissioner has apologised for claiming that multiple human remains had been discovered in woodland in Cornwall at the centre of a murder investigation.Alison Hernandez told a meeting of the Devon and Cornwall police and crime panel that dead bodies" had been found at Sticker, near St Austell, and investigations were continuing to establish exactly how many. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Rayner and Cooper understood to back action as 221 MPs sign letter calling for UK recognition of statehoodKeir Starmer is under intense pressure from his most senior cabinet ministers and more than a third of MPs to move faster on recognising a Palestinian state in response to Israel withholding aid to starving civilians in Gaza.Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, are understood to be among ministers who believe the government should take the lead on Palestinian statehood alongside France. Continue reading...

Lawyer says Epstein associate answered every single question ... honestly, truthfully and to the best of her ability'The deputy US attorney general, Todd Blanche, held a second in-person meeting on Friday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and longtime associate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Blanche had confirmed the two met behind closed doors in Tallahassee, Florida, on Thursday, at the federal prosecutor's office within the federal courthouse in the state capital, and they met again on Friday. Continue reading...

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An inquest into the former England cricketer's death last year has recorded a conclusion of suicideThere were failings" in the provision of former England cricketer Graham Thorpe's care in the months before he died, a coroner has said, as a conclusion of suicide was recorded at an inquest.Thorpe, 55, died on 4 August 2024 after being struck by a train at a railway station in Surrey. Continue reading...

Picket-line turnout on first day of industrial action believed to be lower with hope of less disruption to NHS servicesThousands fewer resident doctors are thought to have joined picket lines on Friday during the first day of a five-day strike compared with last year's mass turnout.Although NHS England will only publish data on turnout and cancellations next week, hospital leaders are understood to have observed fewer resident doctors (previously known as junior doctors) on strike and less disruption to services than during the last round of industrial action, which ran from March 2023 until July 2024. Continue reading...

US president says Europe wants to make a deal very badly' but claims there is only 50-50 chance. This live blog is now closedSeparately, Reuters reported that Elon Musk's Starlink systems used by Ukrainian military units were down for two and a half hours overnight, a senior commander said, part of a global issue that disrupted the satellite internet provider.Starlink experienced one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline, the agency reported.I have not communicated with Ursula von der Leyen in recent days. Everything that was written about it, everything that she allegedly told me, is a fake. We did not have a conversation." Continue reading...

Writers and academics urge charities regulator to investigate serious issues' with London institutionA bitter row at the Freud Museum in London has resulted in it facing an official investigation into allegations of political interference and autocratic" board decision-making that critics say put the future of the institution at risk.The museum, in Hampstead, was the final home of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, and his daughter Anna Freud, a children's psychoanalyst, and is dedicated to promoting their intellectual and cultural legacy. Continue reading...

Commission chief to meet president on Sunday as Irish PM says deal will hopefully' be signed this weekendThe EU appears to be on the verge of signing a trade deal with Donald Trump after the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, announced she would meet the US president on Sunday during his four-day trip to Scotland.Trump was scheduled to land on Friday evening before the opening of his new golf course in Aberdeenshire and was planning to meet the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, on Monday. Continue reading...

Rise of 43% in Debbie Crosbie's maximum payout approved at building society's annual meeting despite criticismA 7m pay package for the Nationwide chief executive, Debbie Crosbie, has been labelled an obscenity" and hypocritical by members of the mutual, even as it gained approval at the building society's AGM on Friday.Concerned members who tuned into the online-only meeting on Friday morning criticised the board's plan to increase Crosbie's maximum payout by 43%, saying the move was out of touch and did not align with the mutual's principles. Continue reading...

Judges rule the former Syrian leader had head of state immunity when the document was issuedFrance's highest court has cancelled an arrest warrant for the former Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country's civil war.The Cour de cassation declared the warrant invalid under international law, which gives heads of state personal immunity from prosecution in foreign courts while they are in office. Continue reading...

More than half of 1,000 Reform voters polled would be more likely to vote Labour if hospital waiting lists come down

BMA members on Manchester Royal Infirmary picket line had hoped Labour government would end pay disputeOutside Manchester Royal Infirmary, car horns beep as striking medics wave orange placards demanding Pay Restoration for Doctors."Most are decked out in matching British Medical Association-branded tangerine baseball caps and bucket hats. Some carry homemade cardboard signs: Overworked, underpaid, undervalued" or Wes: stop (S)Treating us like [poo drawing]". Continue reading...

Health secretary says government doing all it can to minimise risk and disruption' as BMA says pay has fallen more in real terms since 2008 than rest of population

UK-first scheme aims to improve access to wider range of food for people with coeliac disease and gluten intolerancePeople with coeliac disease and gluten intolerance in Wales will be eligible for a prepaid card designed to help towards the cost of specialised foods.The debit-style subsidy cards will be rolled out in a UK-first this autumn, the Welsh government said on Friday. The scheme aims is to give people with conditions such as coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis access to a wider range of gluten-free food at supermarkets and online, rather than relying on prescriptions from a pharmacy. Continue reading...

Green leadership candidate says any decision on alliance would be one for party members

Household names are having to take drastic action as they lack resources to meet rising demand for their servicesA week ago the voluntary sector was being love-bombed by ministers at launch of the civil society covenant, an agreement designed to cement the role of charities in the government's economic growth plans and social renewal mission At one level, it was a heady moment of optimism for a sector used to being patronised and ignored.A few days later, news that the mental health charity Samaritans is to close about half of its 200 branches over the next few years was a reminder of the cold, hard economic reality gripping much of the sector. Samaritans is just the latest household name UK charity to take drastic action to stave off financial crisis. Continue reading...

Pop star's choice was surprisingly traditional - but brand has a legacy of clothing unconventional bridesCharli xcx is the British pop star known for pioneering trends. Last summer she turned the word Brat' into a cultural phenomenon complete with a uniform featuring a pack of cigs, a Bic lighter, and a strappy white top with no bra."So it came as somewhat of a surprise to fans when, last weekend, she opted for a more classic bridal look to marry George Daniel, the drummer in the band the 1975. Continue reading...

Official and ministers either deny that Palestinians are being affected by hunger or say it is not Israel's fault

Move comes as South Cambridgeshire becomes first UK local authority to vote to make work pattern permanentDozens of councils have been targeted by campaigners calling for a four-day week after it that emerged one local authority had become Britain's first to vote to adopt the pattern permanently.The move comes shortly after thousands of private-sector workers were also told they would be staying on shorter working weeks with the same pay after more than 200 businesses decided it worked for them - in some cases, after lengthy trials. Continue reading...

Versatile vocalist straddled jazz, classical, pop and musical theatre with four-octave range, and collaborated for decades with husband, John DankworthDame Cleo Laine, the UK's most successful and celebrated jazz singer, has died aged 97.A statement from her children Jacqui and Alec reads: It is with deepest sadness that we announce the passing of our dearly beloved mother, Cleo, who died peacefully yesterday afternoon. We will all miss her terribly. The family wish to be given space to grieve and ask for privacy at this very difficult time." Continue reading...

British teenager was found dead on Spanish island after going missing while on holiday last summerJay Slater, the 19-year-old Briton whose disappearance in Tenerife last summer prompted a massive search, died by accident after falling from a height, a coroner has concluded.Slater had told his friends he was in the middle of the mountains" and in need of a drink, as he attempted a 14-hour walk home the morning after taking drugs and alcohol on a night out, Preston coroner's court has heard. Continue reading...

Civilian casualties on rise as Moscow launches salvoes of hundreds of missiles after ramping up production

The president is a master of look over there' - but not when his supporters' core beliefs about the deep state' are in playDonald Trump displayed the subtlety of a sledgehammer. Sitting in the Oval Office, he was asked by a reporter about the justice department's hunt for evidence about the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. I don't really follow that too much," he said. It's sort of a witch-hunt."And then the pivot: The witch-hunt you should be talking about is that they caught President Obama absolutely cold." Trump was claiming a plot by Barack Obama to rig the 2016 election, accusing his predecessor of treason". For good measure he warned: Whether it's right or wrong, it's time to go after people." Continue reading...

Exclusive: Finance minister to consider feedback from senators before making decision final

Profits rise 4.4% at lender, which plans to distribute interim dividend of 9.5p a share on top of fresh 750m buyback