Dispensation means teachers in England not obliged to inform child protection about under-18s in every instanceTeachers will not have to inform on sexually active teenagers under a new legal duty to report child abuse after a novel Romeo and Juliet" exemption received cross-party support.A new crime and policing bill obliges professionals in England, including teachers and healthworkers, to report suspicions of child sexual abuse to the police or local authority in an attempt by the government to prevent cover-ups. Continue reading...
by Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent on (#6WNFX)
Martin Hibbert tells justice secretary he is absolutely disgusted' to hear of alleged assault by Hashem AbediA survivor of the Manchester Arena bombing has said that the alleged assault on prison officers by one of the brothers behind the 2017 terrorist attack signified a catastrophic failure of duty" to protect prison staff.Hashem Abedi, who helped his suicide bomber brother, Salman Abedi, to plan the attack at an Ariana Grande concert, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 55 years after being convicted of the murder of 22 people, as well as attempted murder, and conspiracy to cause an explosion likely to endanger life. Continue reading...
Suspect apprehended within hours of Tuesday violence, says school district, while superintendent says such shootings becoming way too familiar'A suspect in a shooting at a Dallas high school that wounded four students and drew a heavy police response to the campus has been taken into custody, school district officials have announced.Three of the students were injured by gunfire and the fourth was injured in their lower body, according to the Dallas fire-rescue department. It said units were dispatched to Wilmer-Hutchins high school just after 1pm and that the four male students were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from serious to not life-threatening. Continue reading...
Freedom of information requests reveal disproportionate use of batons and rigid handcuffs for Muslims behind barsMuslim prisoners are disproportionately subjected to force including pain-inducing techniques by jail staff, according to new data.Freedom of information requests found that in eight out of nine prisons with high Muslim populations, Muslim men were more likely than the average inmate to be confronted with batons, made to wear rigid bar handcuffs, or deliberately held in a painful position.At Belmarsh, a prison in south-east London often used to hold terrorist suspects, Muslim prisoners made up 32% of the population in 2023. Over the same period, Muslim men were subjected to 43% of incidents involving the use of rigid bar handcuffs and 61% of incidents involving the use of pain-inducing techniques.At HMP Whitemoor, in Cambridgeshire, Muslim prisoners constituted 43% of the prison population. But more than half - 55% - of the use of rigid bar handcuffs and pain-inducing techniques over the year was on Muslim prisoners.At HMP Isis in Thamesmead, south-east London, Muslim prisoners made up 45% of the inmates. But batons were used on Muslim prisoners in more than 57% of the incidents where batons were drawn, and 56% of incidents of pain-inducing techniques involved Muslim prisoners.At HMP/YOI Feltham B in west London, Muslim prisoners were 42% of the population. Figures showed they were subjected to 53% of the uses of rigid bar cuffs, 57% of the instances where batons were drawn and 64% of pain-nducing techniques.At HMP Woodhill, in Milton Keynes, Muslim prisoners constituted 37% of the population but were subjected to 49% of the uses of rigid bar handcuffs, 63% of instances of batons being drawn and 64% of incidents using pain-inducing techniques. Continue reading...
by Ashifa Kassam European Community affairs correspon on (#6WNA1)
Human rights groups say drop is partly due to EU policies that turn blind eye to rights abuses in countries such as Libya and TunisiaIrregular crossings at Europe's borders have fallen by 30% in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period last year, in a decrease that rights groups partly attributed to EU policies that have emphasised deterrence while seemingly turning a blind eye to the risk of rights abuses.The decline was seen across all the major migratory routes into Europe, the EU's border agency Frontex said in a statement, amounting to nearly 33,600 fewer arrivals in the first three months of the year. Continue reading...
Men connected to right-wing group claiming responsibility for confronting prime minister at Melbourne hotel say there was nothing James Bond' about getting access
by Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson in Funafuti on (#6WN7T)
All banking in the Pacific nation used to be done in cash but that is about to change on the main island of FunafutiTuvalu, one of the world's most remote nations, has unveiled its first ever ATMs, at the headquarters of the National Bank of Tuvalu in the village of Vaiaku on Funafuti, the country's main island.Tuesday's ceremony marked a historic shift for the island nation of 12,000 people, which has never before had access to electronic banking. Attended by prime minister Feleti Teo, the governor general, traditional leaders, members of parliament and representatives from the diplomatic and business sectors, the event celebrated a long-anticipated move toward financial modernisation. Continue reading...
Sentenced with wife Nadine Heredia, Humala is third president of Peru imprisoned for corruption in past 20 yearsA Peruvian court has sentenced former president Ollanta Humala and his wife, Nadine Heredia, to 15 years in prison for laundering funds received from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to finance Humala's 2006 and 2011 campaigns.The judges of the national superior court found that Humala and Heredia received several million dollars in illegal contributions for these campaigns from Odebrecht and the government of the then Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez. Continue reading...
Major setback for diplomatic efforts to end two years of civil war as Arab states refuse to sign joint communiqueA British-led attempt to establish a contact group to facilitate ceasefire talks in Sudan fell apart on Tuesday when Arab states refused to sign a joint communique after a conference in London.The daylong argument between Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the communique represents a big diplomatic setback for efforts to end two years of civil war in Sudan. Continue reading...
by Eleni Courea Political correspondent on (#6WMY0)
Jonathan Reynold's trip suggests government will continue its rapprochement with Beijing despite security concernsThe trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will travel to Beijing to revive a key trade dialogue with China despite saying it had been naive to allow Chinese investment in sensitive sectors, the Guardian has learned.Reynolds is scheduled to travel to China later this year for high-level talks in an effort to boost bilateral trade and investment. Continue reading...
Data shows England's 200 leading independent schools devote fraction of fee income to supporting poorer pupilsEngland's wealthiest private schools devote only a small fraction of their income towards means-tested bursaries, according to research that undermines claims that adding VAT to school fees would decimate support for poorer pupils.The Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF), a thinktank campaigning for greater equality and transparency among independent schools, gathered data from more than 200 leading schools, and found they spent less than 6% of their total fee income on supporting pupils based on family income. Continue reading...
Video shows the herd forming a protective circle around youngster during powerful earthquakeAs the ground shook from a 5.2-magnitude earthquake, a herd of elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park sprang into action to protect their young.A video shot of their enclosure at the park on Monday morning shows the five African elephants standing around in the morning sun before the camera shakes and they run in different directions. Then the older elephants - Ndlula, Umngani, Khosi - scramble to encircle and shield the two seven-year-old calves, Zuli and Mkhaya, from any possible threats. Continue reading...
by Tom Ambrose (now); Yohannes Lowe and Martin Belam on (#6WMGR)
NEU leader says union is living rent free' in Farage's head after the politician accused him of poisoning the minds of our kids'Alison McGovern, minister at the Department for Work and Pensions, has commented on those latest job statistics, which showed that the number of payrolled workers in UK fell by 78,000.The Labour MP for Birkenhead said:We're determined to get Britain working again as part of our plan for change by overhauling job centres, creating good jobs, transforming skills, transitioning to net zero and delivering the biggest upgrade to rights at work for a generation.This month, local areas are also starting to roll out their plans to tackle the root causes of inactivity as we get Britain back to health and back to work - backed by a share of 125m of investment.Refusing a British Parliamentarian entry to Hong Kong for a private family visit, without reason, is an affront to UK-China diplomatic relations and will have a chilling effect on all UK politicians who speak up for freedom and democracy. That is why it is so important that we secure a statement setting out the Chinese authorities' motivations for this act.It's now clearer than ever that the Chinese authorities aren't going to play ball here. The foreign secretary needs to urgently take the exceptional step of summoning the Chinese ambassador in person to provide a clear and comprehensive account of why Wera was refused entry. Continue reading...
Former PM says she wants to protect free speech after being cut off at the knees' by the elite' while at No 10Liz Truss is preparing to launch her own social media platform championing free speech, as she warned the deep state" and mainstream media were stifling freedom of expression in Britain.The former prime minister said the platform would launch this summer. It is her latest attempt to become a leading figure on the radical right in Britain, openly declaring her support for Donald Trump and Elon Musk's mission to slash state spending in the US. Continue reading...
National Education Union calls Reform UK far-right and racist' as it pledges funds to opposite Reform in electionsThe UK's largest teaching union has called Reform UK far-right and racist", and its leader has dismissed Nigel Farage as a poundshop Donald Trump," as the union pledged funds to oppose the party's candidates in elections.Delegates to the National Education Union's annual conference backed a motion stating that far-right and racist organisations, including Reform, seek to build on the despair, poverty and alienation in our society by scapegoating refugees, asylum seekers, Muslims, Jews and others who do not fit their beliefs". Continue reading...
by Kate Lamb, Helen Davidson and agencies on (#6WMCP)
US president issues scathing view of Chinese counterpart's motivations amid escalating trade war with BeijingXi Jinping's tour of south-east Asia this week is probably intended to screw" the United States, Donald Trump has suggested, as Xi embarks on a five-day tour of some of the nations hardest hit by Trump's tariffs.China's president visited Hanoi on Monday, where he met Vietnam's top politician, To Lam, called for stronger trade ties and signed dozens of cooperation agreements, including on enhancing supply chains, before heading to Malaysia. Continue reading...
Lola Hassid Angel can vividly recall the hunger, disease and death at Nazi camp liberated exactly 80 years agoFor a long time, Lola Hassid Angel did not want to talk about the horrors of her childhood. Her experiences of the second world war had not been light: by the age of eight, the Holocaust survivor had reached adulthood", seen things she should never have seen, heard sounds she should never have heard, and been confronted by terrors she could neither forgive nor forget.Which is why the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen by British forces on 15 April 1945 is as much a cause for joy as for the horror to come flooding back. Continue reading...
European Commission could reportedly let energy companies declare force majeure and avoid paying MoscowThe European Commission is considering plans that would allow European companies to break long-term Russian gas contracts without paying penalties to Moscow, it has been reported.Citing three officials with knowledge of the plan, the Financial Times reported that the commission was studying the possibility of allowing companies to declare force majeure, which would absolve importers of their obligations to pay penalty fees for ending contracts. Continue reading...
Sources close to police inquiry say an employee collapsed after nitrogen leak and second woman is in intensive carePolice in Paris have launched an investigation after a woman suffocated while undergoing a cryotherapy session at a city gym and a second is in intensive care.The dead woman, a 29-year-old employee of the gym, collapsed after a nitrogen leak from a cold chamber that had been repaired earlier in the day, sources close to the inquiry said. The colourless and odourless gas is used to create an atmosphere of extreme subzero temperatures. Continue reading...
Wendy Jones, 68, died after part of a ceiling collapsed on guests at Brean Sands holiday park in 2019The owner of Pontins holiday parks has been charged with corporate manslaughter after part of a ceiling collapsed six years ago on to guests at a bar, one of whom died months later in hospital.Eighteen people were injured at the Brean Sands site in Somerset in February 2019 after a 40-metre section of structural ducting and ceiling fell inside an entertainment area and exposed live electrics. Continue reading...
Australian defence minister Richard Marles says he has spoken to Indonesian counterpart about report Moscow filed official request over military aircraftIndonesia's defence minister has said reports Russia is seeking to base military aircraft in the country are simply not true", according to the Australian government, after Canberra made urgent calls to Jakarta.The report from defence and security news website Janes said Moscow had filed an official request with Jakarta for permission for Russian aerospace forces (VKS) aircraft, including several long-range aircraft, to be based at a facility in Biak. Continue reading...
by Lorenzo Tondo and Malak A Tantesh in Jerusalem, an on (#6WC9F)
On 23 March, contact was lost with a team of Palestinian rescue workers and medics in southern Gaza. A week later, their bodies were recovered from a mass graveAt 4.20am, a Red Crescent ambulance on its way to collect people injured by an airstrike in Rafah comes under Israeli fire in Hashashin. Two paramedics are killed. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#6WMEJ)
The country's three special units at high-security prisons are in spotlight after Hashem Abedi's assault against staffWith its high, ugly, grey concrete perimeter walls HMP Frankland looks as grim from the outside as you would expect for a place nicknamed Monster Mansion".Since it was opened in 1983 on the leafy outskirts of Durham - near a 13th-century priory used for centuries as a holiday retreat for Benedictine monks - its inmates have included Peter Sutcliffe, Harold Shipman and Charles Bronson. Continue reading...
Good Friday and Saturday to bring clear skies and above average temperatures, with chances of moderate rain in south-east over Easter Sunday and Monday
Mental Health Foundation says civil unrest last summer left many fearful of attacks by far-right protestersLast summer's riots, which took place after the murder of three girls at a Southport dance class, led to a deterioration in the mental health of asylum seekers, with many becoming fearful of walking down the street in case they were targeted by far-right protesters, according to a report.The report from the Mental Health Foundation, published on Tuesday, identified a decline in the mental health of asylum seekers as a result of the civil unrest and attacks on hotels, compared with the state of their mental health when they published a similar report in February 2024. Continue reading...
Spring sunshine boosted spending on gardening, DIY and food products, but households are still prudently budgeting' as bills riseWarm weather in March helped give a lift to retailers despite a late Easter, with sales of gardening, DIY, food, and health and beauty products getting a boost from the spring sunshine.Purchases for Mother's Day also helped retail sales climb 1.1% last month, according to a British Retail Consortium-KPMG survey, keeping pace with February despite trading against a much stronger period a year before and a downturn in visitor numbers on high streets and in retail parks as more sales shifted online. Continue reading...
Actor and dwarfism charity founder Samantha Davis suffered cardiac arrest after surgery complications, coroner concludesThe actor and campaigner Samantha Davis, the wife of Harry Potter star Warwick Davis, died after suffering a cardiac arrest hours before a hospital was planning to discharge her, an inquest has found.Davis, who co-founded Little People UK - the dwarfism charity known as an essential resource for little people and their families" - died aged 53 at London's University College hospital on 24 March last year. Continue reading...
Government's rapprochement with Beijing may risk national security in wake of British Steel crisis, party members saySenior Labour figures have urged the government to review Chinese investment in UK infrastructure in the wake of theBritish Steel crisis, warning that a rapprochement with Beijing could risk national security.Government officials insisted on Monday the country remained open to funding from Chinese companies even after a dramatic weekend during which ministers wrested control of the Scunthorpe steelmaking plant from the Chinese owners, Jingye. Continue reading...
by Andrew Roth Global affairs correspondent on (#6WM7S)
The US says it can't aid in his return as he's in El Salvador; El Salvador says to help would be like smuggling' him backIt is difficult to find a term more fitting for the fate of the Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia than Kafkaesque.Abrego Garcia is one of hundreds of foreign-born men deported under the Trump administration to the Cecot mega-prison in El Salvador as part of a macabre partnership with the self-declared world's coolest dictator", Nayib Bukele. Continue reading...
Aaron Stelmach-Purdie ran scam from Regent's Park barracks between November 2014 and January 2016, court hearsA Ministry of Defence clerk is facing jail time for fraud and money laundering after stealing nearly 1m by entering fake expenses claims into the department's online administrative system.Southwark crown court heard on Monday that the former corporal Aaron Stelmach-Purdie, 34, had run the scam for just over a year between November 2014 and January 2016 while he worked in central London as a clerk at the MoD's administrative headquarters. Continue reading...
Pope Francis recognises the heroic virtues' of the creator of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia basilica in first step of processHe's long been nicknamed God's architect" by those who point to his piety and the religious imagery woven through his soaring spires, colourful ceramics and undulating lines.Now it seems the Vatican may be ready to make it official. It said on Monday that Antoni Gaudi, the Catalan architect behind Barcelona's Sagrada Familia basilica, had been put on the path to sainthood. Continue reading...
Arrested man was allegedly aided by a forensic pathologist said to have falsely certified the decomposition of bodiesPolice in Sicily have arrested a former gravedigger and are investigating 18 others accused of illegally removing bodies from tombs to make way for new corpses.The former gravedigger's assistant was also arrested on Monday in the investigation dating from 2023 for alleged corruption and bribery in Trapani, on the west coast of the Italian island. Continue reading...
by Tom Ambrose (now) and Jakub Krupa (earlier) on (#6WKQN)
Amendment passes with 140 votes in favour and 21 against despite disruption in the chamber as rights campaigners say it chips away at human rightsThe Russian defence ministry also responded to the criticism for its attack on Sumy, claiming it had targeted a meeting of Ukrainian commanding officers, Russian news agencies reported on Monday.We are now hearing from the Kremlin, with Russia insisting that it strikes only military or military-related targets," despite the widespread condemnation for the attack on civilians in Sumy (9:18). Continue reading...
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