Cooper was arrested after going to aid of fellow protester in 1981 and went on to photograph Liverpool lifeThe Liverpool photographer Leroy Cooper, whose arrest led to the Toxteth riots in 1981, has died aged 62.Cooper, who was also a writer and activist, was arrested in front of protesters after he went to the aid of a fellow Liverpool resident in July 1981. Continue reading...
Clip online appears to show a man being restrained and then punched nine times in the faceA police officer in north Wales has been suspended from duty after appearing to punch a man nine times while arresting him.North Wales police said the action had been taken after the incident in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Victory deals blow to prime minister, who will seek third term in power at next year’s general electionIndia’s opposition Congress party has swept the Karnataka state elections, dealing a blow to Narendra Modi’s ruling party, which had fought hard to retain power.As votes were counted on Saturday, it became clear Congress had won an overwhelming majority in the state and the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) quickly conceded defeat. “People have rejected divisive politics,” said Pawan Khera, a Congress party spokesperson. Continue reading...
Most networks will have limited service as RMT members at 14 companies in England walk outPassengers faced a second day of disruption on Britain’s railways on Saturday as the union leader Mick Lynch insisted the 24-hour strike had not targeted the Eurovision song contest.Train crews are staging another 24-hour strike, immediately after Friday’s action by drivers, disrupting people travelling to Liverpool for the Eurovision final, as well as National League football fans heading to Wembley in London. Continue reading...
Witham MP expected to attack ‘those in power’ for sidelining party’s grassroots at conference of pro-Boris Johnson groupPriti Patel will attack the Conservative party leadership, blaming heavy local election losses on “those in power and control”, in a speech on Saturday.The former home secretary is expected to accuse the Tory leadership of having “done a better job at damaging our party” over the past year than Keir Starmer’s Labour party or leftwing campaign groups. Continue reading...
Four-hour broadcast will feature taunts at Putin and a singalong of a Liverpool anthemThere will be rockets, soldiers and moustachioed men in their underpants lampooning Vladimir Putin as a “crocodile psychopath” – and that’s just the Croatian act.One of the most stridently political Eurovision grand finals in years takes place in Liverpool on Saturday night against a backdrop of a war in Ukraine that shows little sign of ending. Continue reading...
The Portuguese capital wins top spot ahead of budget-friendly eastern European destinations, according to new pollIn an annual travel survey which analysed typical tourist costs in 35 European cities, Lisbon has emerged as the best-value location for a city break on the continent – beating traditional budget-friendly eastern European destinations.The Post Office Travel Money City Costs Barometer found the Portuguese capital won the top spot ahead of runner-up Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital. Two other past winners – Krakow (third) and Athens (fourth) – complete the top four cities. Continue reading...
Democracy Volunteers group says half of them appeared to be from minority ethnic backgroundsMore than 1% of voters, half of whom appeared to be from minority ethnic backgrounds, were turned away from polling stations because of ID requirements at the local elections, according to a group of democracy observers.Democracy Volunteers, a group of election observers, said it conducted snapshot surveys in 118 councils on 4 May. Continue reading...
Focus group of blue wall residents believes Sunak is ‘out of his depth’ and that Britain needs change nowBlue wall Conservative voters in Surrey are far from impressed with the government’s obsession with culture wars, and remain unrepentant for tactically backing the Liberal Democrats at last week’s local elections.The prime minister still looks “out of his depth”, uninspiring and unable to set out a straightforward vision six months in the job, according to a panel of Surrey residents who backed the Conservatives at the 2019 election. They believe “the country needs change now”, and the Tories need some time in opposition to sort themselves out. Continue reading...
by Daniel Hurst Foreign affairs and defence correspon on (#6BQ70)
The pair agreed to ‘step up’ dialogue to resolve outstanding trade issues and confirmed the review of China’s tariffs on Australian barley was ‘on track’
Police watchdog to launch inquiry after incident involving man with two dogs in east LondonAn investigation will be launched after a man’s two dogs were fatally shot in front of him and he was Tasered by Metropolitan police officers, the police watchdog has announced.Louie Turnbull, the owner of the animals, appeared in court on Tuesday charged with dangerous dog offences after the incident that happened alongside a canal in Limehouse, east London, on Sunday. Continue reading...
Leader says party must ‘change our culture’ as it faces bigger task in government than his predecessorLabour will have to offer voters at the next general election a radical vision that “goes further and deeper” than Tony Blair’s government because of the scale of the crisis facing the country, Keir Starmer is to sayIn a speech on Saturday, he will say reforms are necessary because an incoming Labour government will have a bigger task than Blair faced, owing to the severe challenges currently facing the country, on top of 13 years of Conservative rule. Continue reading...
Ministry responds to reports of children upset and teachers baffled by reading test for 10- and 11-year-oldsMinisters have said that tests for year 6 pupils in England are “designed to be challenging” after concerns from a headteachers’ union that this week’s Sats exams had left some pupils “in tears”.The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said some staff struggled to understand the questions and it planned to raise concerns about Wednesday’s reading exam for 10- and 11-year-olds with the schools regulator, Ofqual. Continue reading...
Marchers in Serbian capital’s second protest in a week decried populist president Aleksandar VučićTens of thousands of people have marched through Belgrade, blocking a key bridge in the second large protest since two mass shootings that rattled Serbia and left 17 people dead, including many children.Protesters gathered in front of the parliament building on Friday before filing by the government’s HQ and on to a highway bridge spanning the Sava River, where evening commuters had to turn their vehicles around to avoid getting stuck. At the head of the column was a black banner reading “Serbia against violence.” Continue reading...
Corinne Foxx shares update after criticising media for running ‘wild’ with rumours actor was taking a turn for the worseJamie Foxx is out of hospital after an unknown “medical complication”.The Oscar-winning actor and singer’s daughter Corinne Foxx shared an update on Instagram after unsubstantiated reports that the 55-year-old’s condition had worsened. Continue reading...
Producers of event refuse Ukraine president’s request to speak over fears of politicising contestRishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have voiced their disapproval of a decision to prevent Volodymyr Zelenskiy from being able to address this year’s Eurovision.The prime minister and the Labour leader were united in criticising the decision to block the Ukrainian president’s request to speak at Saturday evening’s grand final. They were joined in their opposition by the former prime minister Boris Johnson.PA Media contributed to this report Continue reading...
The actor will head up an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play An Enemy of the People once the hit HBO drama has endedJeremy Strong is going from a corporate boardroom on TV to a whistleblower on Broadway.The actor who plays Kendall Roy in the HBO television series Succession has signed on to play a man who tries to expose water contamination in a Norwegian spa town in Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play An Enemy of the People. Continue reading...
Decision to allow medically assisted dying has divided the deeply Catholic countryAfter a long battle, Portugal passed a law on Friday legalising euthanasia for people in great suffering and with incurable diseases, joining just a handful of countries around the world.The issue has divided the deeply Catholic country and was strongly opposed by conservative president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a devout churchgoer. Continue reading...
Mirror Group’s lawyers suggest newspaper’s stories about prince were instead leaked by royal press officersPrince Harry has no evidence he was the victim of phone hacking by Mirror journalists, the high court has heard, with stories about his private life instead secretly leaked by royal press officers.The Duke of Sussex alleges that dozens of news stories published in the Daily Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and People were obtained through phone hacking or other illegal behaviour. The articles – published between 1995 and 2011 – detail his relationship with his family, his relationship with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy, his military service and allegations of drug use. Continue reading...
Officers were called to Johnstone high school in Renfrewshire after incident in which a 14-year-old was also hurtA 16-year-old girl has been charged after three teachers were taken to hospital as a result of a disturbance at a school in Scotland.Officers were called to Johnstone high school in Renfrewshire after a former pupil entered the school at about 10.45am on Friday. Continue reading...
Kyriakos Mitsotakis says on visit to Lesbos he has kept his promise to protect land and sea bordersLess than 10 days before Greeks go to the polls, the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has sought to emphasise the impact of his centre-right government’s “tough but fair” migration policy.In a campaign trip to Lesbos, the Aegean island bearing the brunt of Europe-bound migratory flows, the leader claimed he had kept his promise to protect land and sea borders, with the arrival of asylum seekers radically reduced. Continue reading...
Coroner raises concerns over police and mental health services’ response to case of Tamsin DolamoreA senior coroner has expressed deep concern over the way police and mental health services dealt with the case of a vulnerable woman who fell from a railway bridge four months after reporting she had been raped.Tamsin Dolamore, a 24-year-old carer, was found on the tracks near a railway station in Cornwall and died in hospital the following day having sustained head injuries and had a cardiac arrest.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...
Executives holds talks with both sides after screening of gender critical documentary was cancelledEdinburgh University hopes to defuse a crisis involving gender critical and pro-trans academics after clashes over the screening of the film Adult Human Female.University executives are holding talks with both sides after pro-trans activists prevented the gender critical documentary from being screened on campus for the second time late last month, by blockading a theatre where it was due to be shown. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#6BQ16)
DWP, GP surgery and social landlord failed to spot risks for Erroll Graham, who had benefits cut despite being severely mentally illWelfare officials failed to properly identify the risk of harm to Errol Graham, a severely mentally ill man whose disability benefit payments they cut off and who died of starvation eight months later, an official report has found.An independent safeguarding review into the “shocking and disturbing” events leading to Graham’s tragic and lonely death concluded that multiple failings by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), his GP practice, and social landlord meant that chances to save him were missed. Continue reading...
McDonald’s-loving, sliders-wearing, Bublé-listening PM is also a reader of Riders, according to SpectatorIt seems Rishi Sunak is still embarking on his awkward journey of growth from being “out of touch” to fully integrating with the real world, as more of his apparent guilty pleasures have emerged.In his spare time, the sliders-wearing, McDonald’s-loving polished tech-bro apparently enjoys reading racy novels by the bestselling author Jilly Cooper. The former chancellor ranks her book Riders as one of his all-time favourite novels, according to the Spectator. Continue reading...
Labour leader’s comments follow reports that net immigration for 2022 could almost reach one millionIn his Today interview Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, did not just talk about workforce numbers. (See 10.42am.) This is what he said on other aspects of Labour health policy.Streeting said in theory he supported the idea of banning smoking over time, but that he needed to be convinced it was workable. New Zealand has passed a law that would increase the smoking age over time, so that people who are children now will grow up never being allowed to buy cigarettes. A government review published last year made the same recommendation. Ministers have not accepted the plan, but George Osborne, the former Tory chancellor, recently said he was in favour. Asked if he agreed, Streeting said in principle this was a good idea, but that he was worried about the practicalities. He said:The question for me on the New Zealand-style smoking ban isn’t whether it’s desirable, because I think in policy terms, and in terms of public opinion, interestingly, I think there is an appetite and a policy driver there to do it.For me it’s about is it workable, and that’s what we’re looking at at the moment and what we’re consulting on …He said improving cancer outcomes would be a key test for the next Labour government. Labour’s manifesto will be built around five missions, one of which covers health. The party has not published details of its health missions yet, but Streeting implied they would include a promise to improve cancer survival rates. He said:In order to improve cancer outcomes – and I’m saying today, judge the next Labour government on cancer outcomes – it requires us to think radically about how we reform and reshape the NHS, to speed up diagnosis, improve access to treatment, and getting the diagnostic phase right as well.Streeting confirmed that he wanted to make it easier for patients to get diagnostic tests without going through a GP. He said:One of the things that we’ve said, partly to reduce pressure on general practice, which I think is overwhelmed, is to create new front doors into the NHS as well.One of the things that I’ve reflected on, particularly looking at continental Europe and the way that other countries are doing the front door much better, is moving some of that diagnostic capacity into the community and making it much easier to [access]. Continue reading...
Outbreak of violence – now in its fourth day – has killed dozens, all but one of them PalestinianIsrael and Gaza militants have traded heavy fire as hopes faded of securing a truce to end days of fighting during which dozens have been killed, all but one of them Palestinian.There have been international calls for de-escalation, with the EU pushing for an “immediate comprehensive ceasefire”. Continue reading...
Sarah Somerset-How and George Webb charged under modern slavery laws for treating husband ‘like property’A wife and a live-in carer have been found guilty of enslaving her vulnerable disabled husband in what is believed to be the first case of its kind.Sarah Somerset-How and George Webb, who were having an affair, kept Tom Somerset How in dirty conditions and treated him “like a piece of property”. Continue reading...
Protesters tent outside universities as part of growing movement calling for action on high rentsMirko, 19, gets up at 5am for the commute from his parents’ home in Ronciglione to Rome, an almost two-hour journey by bus, train and metro, to make it in time for his 8am lecture at Sapienza University. Then he repeats the journey home after his last lecture, which on some days finishes at 8pm.But now the law student has had enough, and for the last few nights has been sleeping in a tent outside the university as part of a growing movement of students across Italy protesting against high rents. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Haemophilia Society wrote to boss Darryn Gibson about dangers of missed deliveries and patients remain at ‘very serious’ riskThe boss of a private healthcare company exposed by the Guardian for putting seriously ill children and adults at risk was warned it was failing patients three years ago.Darryn Gibson, the chief executive of Sciensus, Britain’s biggest medicines courier, was told in November 2020 that patients with bleeding disorders were being left dangerously exposed to internal bleeding with little or no treatment at home as a result of botched, delayed or missed deliveries. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Deputy political editor on (#6BPYY)
Party’s national campaigns coordinator was delighted by recent local poll results and lauds Keir Starmer as a ‘problem fixer’For all that some pundits have tried to present Labour’s local elections as middling, Shabana Mahmood is having none of it. Asked how she would have viewed such results for 2023 when she became national campaigns coordinator two years earlier, the response is adamant.“I’d have bitten your arm off,” the Birmingham Ladywood MP says without hesitation. “I’d have done a sort of, ‘Please God, inshallah, let that be true.’ Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#6BPXZ)
Scientific breakthroughs allowed experts to detect DNA from Boyd, who was 25 at time of killingA child killer who evaded justice for more than 30 years has been found guilty of murder.David Boyd took seven-year-old Nikki Allen to an abandoned building where he beat her with a brick and repeatedly stabbed her to death in 1992. Continue reading...
Foreign ministry says ‘no record of approved arms sale by state’ after claims from Reuben BrigetySouth Africa’s foreign ministry has summoned the US ambassador over allegations he made that the country had provided arms and ammunition to Russia for its war in Ukraine.Amid the diplomatic fallout, South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, would also speak with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement posted on Twitter. Continue reading...
by Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent on (#6BPX8)
Film titled Cleaner will follow ex-soldier turned window cleaner who must save hostages from zealous extremistIt is western Europe’s tallest building, and a modern staple of the 21st-century London skyline. Now the Shard will take centre stage in a “nail-biting” thriller starring Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley and directed by James Bond veteran Martin Campbell.The high-wire action-thriller, titled Cleaner, will be “set on the side of the Shard” in present-day London, Deadline reported. It centres on a group of radical activists taking over an energy company’s annual gala at the 310 metre-tall building and seizing hundreds of hostages in order to expose the corruption of the hosts. Continue reading...
Titled Reframing Fashion, May’s magazine focuses on disability justice, accessibility and prideBritish Vogue has released a braille edition of the magazine for the first time in its 107-year history.The May issue of the publication has also been made available in audio format to increase access for blind and partially sighted people. Continue reading...
Officers arrest 27 people and seize tonnes of baby eels, seen as a delicacy but critically endangeredPolice in Spain and France have arrested 27 people and seized 1.5 tonnes of live baby eels, as well as goods worth more than €2m, after breaking up a gang dedicated to breeding the critically endangered fishes and smuggling them to China.Officers also recovered tonnes of frozen baby eels, called elvers, which are prized as a delicacy in Spain and parts of Asia, that had not been subject to any food safety checks and were not suitable for human consumption. Continue reading...
As shoppers faced price rises, Ken Murphy’s basic salary rose, although his overall pay package fellThe boss of Tesco earned almost £4.5m last year despite profits halving and price rises for shoppers.Ken Murphy’s total £4.4m package compared with £4.7m a year earlier, after his bonus dipped because of missed targets on profits and food waste. His basic salary rose 1.7% to £1.4m. Continue reading...
Boycotts, divestment and sanctions bill, designed to stop public bodies boycotting Israel, will be tabled soonPlans to stop UK public bodies boycotting foreign countries and British companies that trade with them represent a further attack on the right to freedom of expression, civil society groups have said.Officials from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) have said the boycotts, divestment and sanctions bill, announced in last year’s Queen’s speech and designed to stop actions against Israel, will be tabled soon. Continue reading...
Yang Maodong called it a ‘score-settling’ punishment for his two decades of rights advocacyA Chinese court has sentenced a prominent rights activist to eight years in jail on subversion charges in what he said was a “score-settling” punishment for his two decades of rights advocacy.Yang Maodong, who goes by the pen name Guo Feixiong, was sentenced on Thursday by the Guangzhou intermediate people’s court for “inciting subversion of state power,” his brother Yang Maoquan wrote on social media. Repeated phone calls to the court went unanswered on Friday. Continue reading...
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