by Aamna Mohdin Community affairs correspondent on (#69JXR)
Labour MP says Rishi Sunak should talk to region’s leaders after Trevelyan family announcementsThe Labour MP Clive Lewis has called on Rishi Sunak to enter negotiations with Caribbean leaders on paying reparations for Britain’s role in slavery, following the historic announcements by the Trevelyan family.Speaking at a parliamentary debate on promoting financial security in the Caribbean, Lewis said the issue of reparations could not be dismissed as an obsession among a small group of “so-called woke extremists”. Continue reading...
by Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent on (#69JXS)
Artwork depicting female figures – some never before represented at the gallery – inspired by Sgt Pepper’s album coverA seven-panel mural depicting 130 women from British history and culture has been commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery as part of a three-year project to enhance female representation in its collection.Work in Progress, by Jann Haworth and Liberty Blake, was inspired by the album cover for the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which Haworth co-created in 1967. It draws together many stencilled depictions of cultural figures – some never before represented at the gallery – into a single image. Continue reading...
by Jon Henley in Paris and Philip Oltermann in Erbil on (#69JXT)
Ministers urge caution over reports pro-Ukrainian group behind gas pipeline blastsGerman prosecutors have confirmed investigators have searched a boat that may have been used in last year’s Nord Stream gas pipeline bombings, as ministers urged caution over hasty conclusions about reports a pro-Ukrainian group was responsible.Citing intelligence reviewed by US officials, the New York Times reported on Tuesday a saboteur group had blown up the pipelines, while Die Zeit said the attack had been carried out by five men and a woman who rented a yacht using false passports. Continue reading...
Sleet and snow expected across southern England and south Wales as hail showers will affect Scotland’s northern coastsDozens of flights have been suspended in the south of England due to snowfall after the coldest night of the year on Tuesday.PA Media reports that Bristol airport has temporarily closed for “snow-clearing operations” with morning flights cancelled. Delays are also affecting passengers at other airports in the south of England. Continue reading...
by Richard Partington Economics correspondent on (#69JVG)
Chancellor, who announces budget on 15 March, considers move to offset rise in corporation taxJeremy Hunt is considering giving UK companies tax relief on capital investment at next week’s budget to offset a sharp rise in corporation tax from April and the end of the government’s £25bn “super-deduction” regime.Business leaders and some Conservative MPs have called on the chancellor to soften the planned rise in corporation tax from 19% to 25% to allay growing fears over the health of the British economy and faltering levels of company investment. Continue reading...
EMA says relocation of sex workers to near its HQ could bring problems associated with red light districtThe European drug regulator has said it strongly opposes the creation of a new multistorey “erotic centre” near its headquarters in Amsterdam as part of city plans to relocate sex workers away from the historical red-light district.The European Medicines Agency (EMA), which moved to Amsterdam from London in 2019 after Britain voted to leave the EU, said it was “very concerned” about the project, fearing “nuisance, drug-dealing, drunkenness and disorderly behaviour”. Continue reading...
Ceremonial dagger presented upon retirement from army was used in killing of couple in 2017A senior coroner has called on the British military to stop handing out ceremonial daggers to retiring service personnel after hearing how a couple were stabbed to death by a former soldier using one.Collin Reeves was presented with one of the weapons when he left the army in 2017 and four years later used it to murder his neighbours Stephen and Jennifer Chapple after a row over parking. Continue reading...
In Australia, hostile rhetoric has fuelled a toxic public debate and sought to dehumanise people fleeing harm“Stop the boats.” The white-on-red slogan on Rishi Sunak’s podium on Tuesday was – word for word – the slogan used by Tony Abbott to win the Australian prime ministership a decade ago.To Australian audiences, so much of the rhetoric emerging from the UK over its small boats policy is reminiscent of two decades of a toxic domestic debate. Continue reading...
Prominent Afghans and Iranians say current laws do not capture the systematic suppression of womenA prominent group of Afghan and Iranian women are backing a campaign calling for gender apartheid to be recognised as a crime under international law.The campaign, launched on International Women’s Day, reflects a belief that the current laws covering discrimination against women do not capture the systematic nature of the policies imposed in Afghanistan and Iran to downgrade the status of women in society. Continue reading...
Woman who did not have a permit to keep alligator as a pet confessed to taking an egg from zoo near Austin 20 years agoA Texas zoo said it had taken back an 8ft alligator which was stolen as an egg more than 20 years ago, then kept as a backyard pet.In an Instagram post accompanying footage of three agents gingerly lifting the alligator into a truck and releasing it into a zoo enclosure, the state parks and wildlife department said: “Alligators don’t make good pets, y’all.” Continue reading...
News that cheaper supermarket options can be tastier will please cash-strapped shoppersSupermarket own-label baked beans from Asda and Aldi have beaten famous – and substantially pricier – brands such as Heinz in a Which? taste test.Its finding that cheaper supermarket options can more than hold their own against the most popular brands will be welcomed by financially stretched shoppers trying to find a way to keep a lid on soaring grocery bills. Continue reading...
Underground community of Sarajevans recall in new documentary the years they spent trapped in their cityAs a radio operator during the siege of Sarajevo, Boris Siber made use of music to blast the enemy airwaves and destroy their communication. “The Clash, Jimi Hendrix and the Sex Pistols, as loud as possible on the frequencies they were using … they changed frequency, then I found them again. That was my task.”Siber – a member of a hit Yugoslav comedy troupe before the war forced its breakup – also kept up civilian and military morale as a radio comic. “Music and mic were my weapons.” Continue reading...
Foreign secretary’s new strategy branded ‘meaningless’ in face of parliamentary inquiry into impact of slashing overseas fundingThe UK government has launched a new strategy to advance gender equality around the world on the same day that MPs announced plans to investigate the impact of UK aid cuts on women and girls.The global strategy, launched by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on International Women’s Day today will, it says, put more focus on gender equality in its work, while also supporting sexual and reproductive health programmes and funding grassroots women’s rights groups. Continue reading...
Exclusive: papers kept classified for decades reveal India’s first PM acted on advice from most senior generalIndia’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was urged by his most senior general to agree to a ceasefire with Pakistan in 1948, the Guardian can reveal after viewing letters on Kashmir that have been kept classified in India for decades.The correspondence from the then commander-in-chief, Gen Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher, will have significant political ramifications for the current nationalist government in Delhi, which has discredited Nehru’s decision to come to a compromise on the status of disputed Kashmir as an ill-informed “blunder”. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh, Philip Oltermann and Lorenzo Tondo in on (#69J57)
Kremlin dismisses tentative intelligence from European and US agencies as a bid by the perpetrators to divert attentionEuropean and US intelligence officials have obtained tentative intelligence to suggest a pro-Ukrainian saboteur group may have been behind the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, according to reports in the New York Times and German newspaper Die Zeit.German investigators believe the attack on the pipelines was carried out by a team of six people, using a yacht that had been hired by a company registered in Poland and owned by two Ukrainian citizens, according to Die Zeit. Continue reading...
Improving situation in China prompts decision, say news reports quoting Biden administration officialsThe US is preparing to relax Covid-19 testing restrictions for travellers from China as soon as Friday, according to two people familiar with the decision.The people, who were not authorised to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the Biden administration had decided to roll back the testing requirements as cases, hospitalisations and deaths were declining in China and the US had gathered better information about the surge. The Washington Post was first to report on Tuesday about the easing of requirements. Continue reading...
After months of extreme heat, Wuhan has registered spring temperatures of 26C, while Beijing and surrounding cities hit 25CTemperatures in more than a dozen Chinese cities have hit record seasonal highs this week, with central China’s Wuhan and Zhengzhou more than 10C hotter than average for early March, official data showed.Wuhan, located on the middle reaches of the Yangtze river, registered temperatures of 26C on Monday, 12 degrees higher than the long-term early March average, while Beijing and surrounding cities also saw temperatures reach 25C earlier this week. Continue reading...
by Tom Bryant, Tom Ambrose and Andrew Sparrow on (#69HGQ)
UNHCR says bill extinguishes the right to seek refugee protection in the UK for those who arrive irregularly. This live blog is closedDowning Street has said that Rishi Sunak is going to Dover to meet frontline officers dealing with small boat crossings. He will then return to London for a press conference later in the afternoon.One of the questions raised by Rishi Sunak’s small boats bill – or illegal migration bill, to give it its formal name – is to what extent ministers believe it will work, and to what extent they are not that bothered about whether it works because they believe that, if it fails, they will be able to use this in election campaign against Labour.Unlike Labour who have voted against taking action on this issue, this government has a plan to break the business model of people smugglers.A plan to do what’s fair for those at home and those who have a legitimate claim to asylum – a plan to take back control of our borders once and for all.Labour and others who oppose these measures are betraying hard-working Brits up and down the country - they don’t have any answers themselves but they will still seek to block us in parliament. Continue reading...
Gwent and South Wales police also confirm more than 46 hours passed between last sighting and wreckage being foundTwo police forces heavily criticised for their response to a crash that killed three young people and left two seriously injured have confirmed more than 46 hours passed between the group’s last sighting and their wrecked car being found and that four separate missing persons reports were made to them.Gwent and South Wales police also confirmed that the last sighting of the car was only about 2.5 miles from where it was found, which will raise more questions over why it took so long for the five to be discovered.The last confirmed sighting of the five people was at 2am on Saturday in Pentwyn, about 2.5 miles from where they were found.The crash happened during the early hours of Saturday, with the exact time to be confirmed by the investigation, including by studying CCTV and automatic number plate recognition footage.The first missing report was made to Gwent police at 7.34pm on Saturday; further missing person reports were made to Gwent police at 7.43pm and 9.32pm. Another missing person report was made to South Wales police at 5.37pm on Sunday.At 11.50pm on Sunday the police helicopter was asked to search an area of Cardiff, which resulted in the vehicle being located in a wooded area off the A48.Gwent police officers, who were in the area conducting inquiries, discovered the Volkswagen Tiguan vehicle at 12.15am on Monday. Continue reading...
Two units at EDF’s West Burton A plant in Nottinghamshire began producing power on TuesdayNational Grid has called coal plants put on standby as emergency backup into action for the first time this winter, before the coldest night of the year.Two units at EDF’s West Burton A plant in Nottinghamshire began producing power for the grid on Tuesday afternoon. Their output will be ramped up depending on how much electricity can be generated from other sources. Continue reading...
Australian transport bureau releases interim report into midair collision between sightseeing aircraft on Gold CoastA helicopter pilot said he did not hear a radio call shortly before a midair collision in Australia that killed four people including two Britons, according to an interim report.Diane and Ron Hughes, from Neston in Cheshire, died in the collision at about 2pm local time (0400 GMT) on Monday 2 January in Main Beach, not far from Sea World in the state of Queensland. The pilot of one of the helicopters and a 36-year-old woman from New South Wales also died. Continue reading...
Average monthly increase of 1.1% to £285,476 in February, after falls in previous two months, says HalifaxUK house prices picked up in February from the previous month as recent reductions in mortgage rates helped to stabilise the market, according to the lender Halifax.The average house price rose 1.1% to £285,476 last month compared with January, in a sign of resilience amid hopes the broader economic downturn will not be as severe as previously feared. Continue reading...
Six pieces removed from show about health issues after school officials were given legal counsel about state’s abortion ‘gag rule’A public college in Idaho is coming under pressure to explain why it has removed from an upcoming exhibition in its Center for Arts & History several artworks dealing with reproductive health and abortion.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Coalition Against Censorship have jointly written to Lewis-Clark State College expressing “alarm” at the decision to remove several pieces. Continue reading...
Analysis by thinktank Common Wealth bolsters Labour’s case to launch national energy companyA publicly owned electricity generation firm could save Britons nearly £21bn a year, according to new analysis that bolsters Labour’s case to launch a national energy company if the party gains power.Thinktank Common Wealth has calculated that the cost of generating electricity to power homes and businesses could be reduced by £20.8bn or £252 per household a year under state ownership, according to a report seen by the Guardian. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#69HCF)
Survey lays bare precarious state of local finances and increasingly ‘desperate’ measures planned in many areasMore than half of local authorities in England plan to cut more services while also raising council tax by the maximum possible amount, as they turn to increasingly “desperate” measures to remain financially solvent, a survey has revealed.Nine out of 10 councils are raising council tax from April. This alone will not balance their budgets, meaning most are also proposing to cut spending (52%), increase fees for services such as parking and waste (93%), spend their “rainy day” financial reserves (67%) and sell off assets such as land and buildings. Continue reading...
by Richard Partington Economics correspondent on (#69HCJ)
Trade body Make UK adds to pressure on Rishi Sunak as it calls for reset of relationships with EuropeBusiness leaders say frayed relations with the EU are costing the British economy, as suppliers in the bloc grow more cautious about doing business with post-Brexit Britain.Adding to the pressure on Rishi Sunak’s government as bosses warn that the UK is falling behind its peers, the manufacturers’ group Make UK called for an urgent reset of political and trading relationships with the EU. Continue reading...
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