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NSW emergency services respond to hundreds of calls for help amid wild weather

Charity says police recording has improved but online grooming has risen and tech firms are failing to actPolice have recorded a surge in child abuse image offences in the UK, with more than 30,000 reported in the most recent year, according to a report from the NSPCC.That is an increase of more than 66% on figures from five years ago, when police forces across the country recorded 18,574 such offences. Continue reading...

Garcia Luna took millions in bribes from Sinaloa gang, Brooklyn corruption trial toldA former Mexican law enforcement official once in charge of the fight against drug traffickers has been convicted at a US corruption trial over his ties to the Sinaloa cartel.Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said Genaro Garcia Luna accepted millions of dollars in bribes from the cartel once run by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in exchange for protection from arrest, safe passage for cocaine shipments and tipoffs about forthcoming law enforcement operations. Continue reading...

Peers rejected letting police exercise stop and search without suspicion and sanction people without convictionProposed legislation aimed at curbing tactics used by protest groups has suffered eight defeats in the House of Lords.Peers rejected key measures of the controversial public order bill, including ditching a measure to let police exercise stop and search without suspicion to tackle disruptive demonstrations. Continue reading...

Jim Chalmers says Labor has not changed its position but had to acknowledge ‘pressures on the budget’ in a time of debt

England’s chief medical officer voices concern as vape use among 11- to 17-year-olds doubles in two yearsChildren are being targeted with “appalling” and “utterly unacceptable” marketing of vapes, England’s chief medical officer has warned as he called for urgent action to reverse a rise in the number of adolescents vaping.Although it is illegal to sell vapes to under-18s, national surveys suggest the proportion of children aged 11 to 17 who vape has nearly doubled in just two years. In 2022, the figure was 7% – up from 4% in 2020, according to a YouGov survey for Action on Smoking and Health. Continue reading...

US president delivers speech in Poland on anniversary of Russian invasion of Ukraine after Putin says he will suspend participation in New Start treaty. This live blog is now closed

US president issues rallying cry in Warsaw but warns of ‘very bitter days’ ahead in defence of democracyJoe Biden has claimed Vladimir Putin’s year of war on Ukraine had left behind “burned-out tanks and Russian forces in disarray” but he also warned of “very bitter days” ahead in the defence of democracy in eastern Europe.Biden issued a rallying cry in an address to mark the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, standing before the arches below Warsaw’s royal castle to address a crowd of 30,000, mostly Poles and Ukrainians, on Tuesday evening. Continue reading...

Leader targets traditionally Tory voters in ‘persuasive and coherent’ address at NFU conference about value of sector and its challenges

First minister hopeful lost backers and was fiercely criticised after saying she would have opposed equal marriage legislationSNP leadership hopeful Kate Forbes has said she will continue with her campaign to replace Nicola Sturgeon “at the moment”, after her personal faith-based views on equal marriage and having children outside marriage prompted an immediate and furious backlash.Forbes, who has been on maternity leave from her role as finance secretary, told the BBC the public were “longing for a politician to answer straight questions with straight answers” and later told STV she was “committed to seeing the campaign through, at the moment”. Continue reading...

Health secretary, Steve Barclay, to take part in talks on pay, conditions and ‘productivity-enhancing reforms’Ministers and the nursing union will hold “intensive talks” on Wednesday to try to resolve the increasingly bitter dispute that has already resulted in six strikes by NHS nurses.The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) called off a 48-hour walkout planned to begin in England on 1 March after the health secretary, Steve Barclay, agreed to hold face-to-face talks on pay with its general secretary, Pat Cullen, for the first time since 9 January. Continue reading...

RCN suspends 48-hour strike in England planned for March with health secretary to meet union leaders. This live blog is now closed

Barrister says ‘women were used casually’ by officers according to their personal preferencesUndercover officers regularly deceived women into sexual relationships because of a culture of “endemic” sexism within the Metropolitan police, a public inquiry has heard.A barrister representing 25 women described how “entrenched” misogyny and a cult of masculinity pervaded the police force, amounting to institutional sexism. Continue reading...

Master brand chosen for pay-TV channel as it is already used in international marketsEurosport is to disappear from UK television after more than three decades after the new pay-TV home of sports including Premier League, Champions League and Olympics rebrands as TNT Sports.BT and the US media giant Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), which have formed a multi-billion pay-TV sport joint venture, also announced on Tuesday that the BT Sport brand name is to be scrapped. Continue reading...

Those who want to work need guidance, support and flexible jobs, employment leaders tell MPsEmployment experts have hit back at the chancellor’s suggestion that over-50s should get off the golf course and return to work to help tackle the UK’s labour shortages.MPs on the business, energy and industrial strategy committee were told that while millions of older people want to work, they often have long-term health conditions, care responsibilities, or are struggling to find a flexible job. Continue reading...

European Commission vice-president claims ‘finishing line’ in sight but DUP says deal on the table ‘falls short’The European Research Group of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs are demanding to see the full text of any deal on the Northern Ireland protocol, piling the pressure on the prime minister to meet their demands of radical changes to the Brexit trading arrangements.Their demands come as Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission vice-president in charge of Brexit said the EU and the UK could “see the finishing line” for a deal. Continue reading...

Fake works linked to Guillermo CT include pieces allegedly by Munch, Lichtenstein, Chillida and GuerreroA Spanish court has sentenced an art collector and fraudster to four years in prison for trying to sell 15 fake works, including a forged Edvard Munch print and a copy of Roy Lichtenstein’s famous Whaam! diptych, at a Madrid auction house.The audiencia provincial in Madrid heard that the defendant, named as Guillermo CT, signed a contract with the Setdart auction house in the capital in January 2018 to sell 16 works, including seven by the late Spanish sculptor and engraver Eduardo Chillida, a Munch lithograph, two Lichtensteins, four lithographs by José Guerrero and one lithograph by Saul Steinberg. Continue reading...

White House says US president will discuss strengthening Nato’s eastern flank with Andrzej Duda today

James Graham’s Dear England follows ‘gentle revolution’ implemented by men’s football managerA play chronicling “the gentle revolution” led by England men’s football manager, Gareth Southgate, is to be staged at the National Theatre.James Graham, the writer of the acclaimed television series Sherwood, has written Dear England, about the shift in the national team’s culture under Southgate.Dear England will run at the National Theatre from 10 June until 11 August. Tickets go on sale on 9 March. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Letter signed by refugee groups concerned about Islamophobia and racismThe government has failed to address the threat of the far-right in the UK while tacitly endorsing the violence asylum seekers are facing, according to an open letter written by prominent charities and equalities organisations.The open letter, addressed to the prime minister, home secretary and other cabinet and shadow cabinet ministers, and signed by groups including the Community Policy Form, Refugee Council, and the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, claims that the government has continually failed to “adequately address the dangers posed by Islamophobia and racism against vulnerable people seeking protection and racialised communities in the UK”. Continue reading...

Casualties relatively low since few remain in region devastated by twin earthquakes two weeks agoThe toll from two earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on Monday – two weeks after powerful quakes killed more than 47,000 people – has risen to eight, with up to 300 recovering from injuries and up to a dozen buildings toppling on both sides of the border.The widespread anxiety and panic sparked by the latest tremors has rattled a region that is still coming to terms with the devastation caused earlier this month. Continue reading...

Scott McDougall alarmed at Palaszczuk government plan to make breach of bail an offence for children

Police say increase highlights erosion of mental health services in recent yearsThe police are dealing with increasing demands to intervene with people suffering mental health crises, freedom of information requests have revealed.Some forces across England and Wales have experienced a tripling in mental health requests between 2019 and 2021, data shows. Suffolk police have recorded an increase of 342%; Norfolk of 260%; Northamptonshire of 90%; and Leicestershire of 54%. Continue reading...

Politician hoping to become SNP leader says public are ‘longing for a politician to answer straight questions with straight answers’

Ofgem says energy companies must compensate customers now rather than wait until its review is completeOfgem has told energy suppliers to uninstall prepayment meters that have been wrongly force-fitted and pay compensation now, rather than wait for the outcome of a review.The watchdog is examining the prepayment meter market after it emerged that suppliers were routinely fitting thousands of meters to recover debts by using court warrants to gain entry into people’s homes, including those of vulnerable people. Continue reading...

Head of state rail company, Renfe, also quits as anger rises over fact trains built in £227.5m contract are too wideSpain’s secretary of state for transport and the head of the state rail company have resigned amid continuing public and political anger after it emerged that dozens of new trains ordered for two northern Spanish regions were too big to fit through some tunnels.Three years ago, the state rail operator, Renfe, announced plans to modernise the rolling stock on narrow-gauge commuter trains and medium-distance trains in Asturias and Cantabria. Continue reading...

While the West End production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hip-hop musical continues in London, a new cast will simultaneously tour the UK beginning in Manchester in NovemberFor more than five years, the Victoria Palace theatre in London has been the only “room where it happens” in the UK. But Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash-hit musical Hamilton, about US founding father Alexander Hamilton, will embark on a tour beginning in Manchester in November and continuing in Edinburgh next year, with further locations to be announced.Cameron Mackintosh, producer of the tour, said he would be assembling a new company of actors “to bring this great show to our leading cities”, while the London production runs simultaneously. Visiting Scotland will be fitting, added Mackintosh, because “the real story of Alexander Hamilton began in Ayrshire, where his father was born in the 1700s, before he moved to Nevis in the West Indies”. Continue reading...

PM to reassert support for Ukraine after coalition partner Silvio Berlusconi blamed Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion

Sheffield-based 5 news presenter says he was knocked off bicycle, sharing images of himself in A&EThe broadcaster Dan Walker has said the cycle helmet he was wearing during a collision with a car “saved my life” as he recovers at home.Walker revealed he was knocked off his bike by a car on Monday as he posted a picture of himself with ambulance crews. Continue reading...

Death toll of 47,000 expected to rise and WHO says 26 million people need assistance across both countriesThe figures are unfathomable: 47,000 people dead, thousands of others missing, millions homeless. In minutes, two massive earthquakes that rocked Turkey and Syria turned entire cities into mounds of rubble. Two weeks later, the scale of the devastation is still being unearthed. The true impact will not be fully understood for decades. Continue reading...

Lawyer says the landmark case is about ‘correcting historical disadvantage’ embedded structurally in Aboriginal society

Three killed and 213 injured, government says, after quakes of 6.4 and 5.8 magnitude shake southern province of HatayA 6.4-magnitude earthquake and a second measuring 5.8 have hit Turkey’s southern province of Hatay, terrifying those left in a region devastated by twin earthquakes two weeks ago.Turkey’s interior minister, Süleyman Soylu, said that at least three people were killed and 213 wounded by the latest quakes, after a large government hospital in the city of İskenderun in the north of Hatay province declared it was evacuating patients. Continue reading...

Royal commission hears Paul Menzies-McVey was awaiting ‘definitive advice’ from the solicitor general on robodebt’s legality

Citizens Advice analysis suggests 2.7m households in England struggle with damp, mould or excessive coldCampaigners have called for private housing landlords to be held to new standards set out after the death of Awaab Ishak, as research indicated that 1.6 million children live in privately rented homes with damp, mould or excessive cold.The government this month announced a new “Awaab’s law” that will set deadlines for social landlords in England and Wales to tackle reported hazards. Two-year-old Awaab was killed by mould in a social housing flat in Rochdale in 2020. Continue reading...

Feminist groups and TUC say public services with mainly female workforces will have rights affected by ‘draconian’ lawFeminist campaign groups have raised the alarm about the government’s anti-strike bill, which will enforce minimum service levels, saying women’s rights will be disproportionately affected by the restrictions.In a letter to the equalities minister Kemi Badenoch, a coalition of four organisations as well as the TUC said that public services with a predominantly female workforce including health and education would have their rights affected by the bill. Continue reading...

A dark chapter in the story of a tiny British island is to be depicted in a reproduction of a Nazi execution site created by an artist whose work explores the impact of destruction and violence.Piers Secunda has taken a mould of a bullet-damaged wall, part of a Victorian fort on Alderney, one of the Channel Islands, from which he will make a cast to be exhibited in London next month. Continue reading...

Qin Gang says he is ‘deeply concerned’ about the war spiralling out of control and appears to hit back at the US for ‘shifting blame to China’China’s new foreign minister has accused the US of shifting blame for the Ukraine war on to China, in an apparent pushback against warnings from Washington that China is considering supplying weapons to Russia.Speaking on Tuesday morning, at the launch of a Chinese government paper on its global security initiative, Qin Gang said China was “deeply concerned” about the war in Ukraine escalating and possibly “spiralling out of control”. Continue reading...

Charities find nearly 40% of people end the month with no money, and 67% say UK government not doing enough about crisisOne in four households regularly run out of money for essentials and voters do not believe the government is doing enough to help, a group of charities have said.Nearly 40% of people end the month with no money left, while 24% run out of money for essentials either most months or most days, a survey found. Continue reading...

Kate Forbes says she does not support self-identification for trans people and would not have voted for same-sex marriageDeep splits over LGBT+ rights have emerged between the two leading candidates vying to replace Nicola Sturgeon as first minister of Scotland.The finance minister, Kate Forbes – who returned early from maternity leave on Monday to declare her bid for leadership of the SNP – told reporters in a round of interviews that she would not challenge the UK government’s block on Holyrood’s gender recognition reform bill, did not support self-identification for trans people and would not have voted for same-sex marriage. Continue reading...

Ten of thousands to take part in industrial action in escalation of row between NHS staff and governmentHundreds of thousands of operations and medical appointments will be cancelled in England next month and progress in tackling the huge care backlog will be derailed as the NHS prepares to face the most widespread industrial action in its history.Junior doctors are poised to join nurses and ambulance workers in mass continuous walkouts in March after members of the British Medical Association (BMA) voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action. Continue reading...

‘Catastrophic’ failings that allowed gunman to kill five people increase pressure to overhaul 1968 legislationSenior police officers, families of shooting victims and anti-gun campaigners have called for a “radical reform” of the firearms licensing system after an inquest jury found “catastrophic” failings allowed the Plymouth gunman, Jake Davison, to legally possess a shotgun that he used to kill five people.Pressure is mounting on the UK government to overhaul the 50-year-old licensing legislation and ensure police forces are adequately funded to allow them to fully examine the suitability of gun owners. Continue reading...

Call for more personalised approach on back of broader efforts to build deeper relationships with familiesPersonalised text messages to parents could be used to help improve school attendance rates, as teachers struggle to re-engage children and their families after the disruption of Covid, according to experts.Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter, said there was a “national persistent truancy crisis” in England, with significantly more children now missing lessons compared with before the pandemic. Continue reading...

James Cleverly’s comments come after No 10 said ‘no deal has been done as yet’James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, will discuss the Northern Ireland protocol in a call with the European Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič this afternoon, PA Media reports. They will be joined by the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, amid expectations both sides are inching closer to a deal.Micheál Martin, the Irish foreign minister and tánaiste (deputy PM), has urged UK politicians not to play politics with the Northern Ireland protocol negotiations. Speaking in Brussels, where he has been attending the EU foreign affairs council, he said:I think what’s very important is that everybody now from here on think about the people of Northern Ireland.Not power play, not politics elsewhere, I think the people of Northern Ireland have had enough of that, of people playing politics with their future. And, in my view, my only concern is that the people of Northern Ireland voted [in last May’s assembly election], they want their institutions [at Stormont] restored. Continue reading...

Officers confirm identity of body as that of 45-year old mortgage adviser who went missing 24 days agoPolice have confirmed that a body pulled from a river in Lancashire is that of the missing woman Nicola Bulley.Lancashire constabulary said they had identified her after a body was found by two walkers in undergrowth near the village of St Michael’s on Wyre on Sunday. Continue reading...

Statistics suggest many older and younger people could be disenfranchised at England’s May local electionsHuge numbers of older voters could be disenfranchised at local elections in May after official data has shown that only 505 people aged 75-plus have applied for free voter identification documents in the month since the scheme launched.Statistics for the numbers who have applied since the system opened on 16 January also showed that fewer than 6% of those seeking the document were aged under 25, another group seen as disproportionately likely to lack the necessary ID. Continue reading...

Visit is unwelcome twist for Vladimir Putin as he prepares state of the nation address to mark invasion’s anniversary

Punk IPA maker says it wants to sell more of its craft beer in world’s biggest marketBrewDog has said it plans to brew in China as part of a deal with Budweiser China to expand sales in the world’s biggest market for beer.Budweiser China would start brewing BrewDog’s Punk IPA, Hazy Jane and Elvis Juice beers by the end of March at its Putian craft brewery near the south-east coast, the companies announced on Monday. Continue reading...

Longtime Ireland correspondent McDonald, 57, lauded after untimely death following treatment for cancerPolitical leaders in Northern Ireland have led tributes to the writer and former Guardian and Observer correspondent Henry McDonald, who has died at the age of 57.Family, friends and media colleagues expressed shock and sadness on Sunday after McDonald died at the Royal Victoria hospital in Belfast, where he was being treated for cancer. Continue reading...

Landmark case from Indigenous man seeking to access pension three years early hears Australia fails to account for age gap from ‘racial disadvantage’