Force accused of not prioritising case as CCTV released almost two years after death of US performer HeklinaWhen the well-known American drag artist Heklina was found dead in a London flat, her family, friends and fans were desperate for answers.Only now, almost two years later, have police released CCTV of three men who were at the 55-year-old's flat on the night she died. Continue reading...
Former Labour leader says government should show greater willingness to work with blocLabour needs to end its cycle of hesitation" over Europe and press ahead with an ambitious new relationship with the European Union, the party's former leader Neil Kinnock has said.Keir Starmer will head to a Brussels dinner with EU leaders this week as he attempts to negotiate a security and defence pact with the bloc. It is the first summit of its type to be attended by a British prime minister since Brexit. Continue reading...
by Kat Lay, Global health correspondent on (#6V052)
Global collaboration with US researchers likely to be set back by years, including on spread of drug-resistant HIVA flagship programme to create malaria vaccines has been halted by the Trump administration, in just one example of a rippling disruption to health research around the globe since the new US president took power.The USAid Malaria Vaccine Development Program (MVDP) - which works to prevent child deaths by creating more effective second-generation vaccines - funds research by teams collaborating across institutes, including the US university Johns Hopkins and the UK's University of Oxford. Continue reading...
by Amy Sedghi (now); Daniel Lavelle and Adam Fulton ( on (#6TZNK)
Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt has opened for the first time since MayHere are images coming in of people in Tel Aviv's Hostages Square watching a screen broadcasting news footage of this morning's hostage releases.The Guardian's Peter Beaumont is reporting on these latest hostage releases. Continue reading...
by David Hammer of WWL Louisiana in New Orleans on (#6TZSY)
Ousted leaders say Gregory Aymond removed them after they refused to fund sexual abuse lawsuit settlementsThe way that the archbishop of New Orleans' Roman Catholic archdiocese fired leaders at a church-affiliated food bank Thursday has angered many congregants of the bankrupt organization.Aymond summarily removed Natalie Jayroe - the longtime president and CEO of Second Harvest of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana - on Thursday, as well as three members of the Second Harvest board of directors: Kristen Albertson, Nick Karl and Bert Wilson. Continue reading...
Hardline agendas, especially on immigration, are copied by mainstream conservatives in vain effort to win back votesFar-right parties could become the largest force on the right in Europe within a decade, experts have said, as mainstream conservative parties look to copy their hardline agendas, especially on immigration, in a vain effort to win back votes.Germany's conservatives last week sparked fury when their leader, Friedrich Merz, the country's likely next chancellor, broke a longstanding pledge by relying on far-right votes to adopt a non-binding motion urging a drastic immigration crackdown. The leader of Alternative fur Deutschland, Alice Weidel, hailed a historic day for Germany" as the Bundestag, for the first time in its history, passed a vote with the backing of her party, which is second in the polls weeks before this month's elections. Continue reading...
Paul Boateng and Sir Trevor Phillips among those present to remember man who played pivotal role in 1963 bus boycottMore than 500 people including leading British civil rights figures filled Bristol Cathedral on Friday for a memorial service for the late Paul Stephenson, known for his role in the Bristol bus boycott.Stephenson played a pivotal part in rallying thousands of people for a 60-day boycott in Bristol in 1963 over the Bristol Omnibus Company's refusal to hire black or Asian drivers, contributing to the creation of the first Race Relations Act in parliament two years later. Continue reading...
Ronald De Souza was arrested in 1972 with five friends and charged with attempting to rob corrupt police officer DS Derek RidgewellThe last convicted member of the Stockwell Six, a group of young black men falsely accused of trying to rob a corrupt police officer more than half a century ago, has had his case referred back to the court of appeal.Ronald De Souza was arrested along with five friends and charged with attempting to rob the now notorious police officer DS Derek Ridgewell in 1972. They were put on trial at the Old Bailey largely on his word. All pleaded not guilty. Continue reading...
Greens and SPD earlier refused to support the Influx Limitation Act amid fierce criticism from Merkel over Merz's cooperation with AfDin BerlinThe Bundestag debate has been delayed for half an hour on request of the CDU, thought to be to do with misgivings within the party over the debate, not least due to large numbers of protesters outside the CDU headquarters in Berlin. Continue reading...
Publisher says expecting authors, agents and editors to secure blurbs can create an incestuous and unmeritocratic literary ecosystem that often rewards connections over talent'When you buy a new book, you can usually expect to see praise from other authors emblazoned on its cover. A writer slightly more famous than the author of the book you're buying might have called it whip-smart", illuminating" or a tour de force", for example - presumably so that fans of the more famous writer will take a punt on the less famous one.But soon we may not see so many of these author blurbs - Sean Manning, publisher of Simon & Schuster's flagship imprint in the US, has written an essay for Publishers Weekly explaining that as of this year he will no longer require authors to obtain blurbs for their books". Continue reading...
General secretary highlights legacy of 14 years of falling living standards under the Tories'In an article for the Guardian, the Labour MP Clive Lewis said Rachel Reeves' growth speech this week means the party has abandoned its pre-election green commitments.Here is an extract.A growing suspicion looms that our government lacks a coherent governing philosophy or ideological compass beyond the vague pursuit of growth". But if growth at any cost is the mantra, the costs will soon become painfully clear. Why pledge to be clean and green, only to undermine that commitment with a Heathrow expansion promise six months later? Burning the furniture to stay warm doesn't signal confidence - it reeks of panic.Regardless of the motivation, Labour has crossed the Rubicon. Approving Heathrow expansion is an irreversible break with our pre-election pledges. In 2021, Reeves stood in front of the Labour party conference and declared that she would be the first-ever green chancellor". Now, Labour is accused of obstructing the climate and nature bill and abandoning its ambitious decarbonisation plans. The rapid turnaround is striking ...I do a bit. There are nine million working age adults who are not working. And as we compete globally with countries like, you know, South Korea, China, India, you know, we need a work ethic. We need everybody to be making a contribution. ... we need to lift our game and to up our game.Chris Philp was the architect of the Liz Truss budget which crashed the economy and sent family mortgages rocketing.After the Conservatives' economic failure left working people worse off, it takes some real brass neck for the Tory top team to tell the public that it's really all their fault.I was making the case that tax cuts...need to be accompanied by spending control or spending reductions ... in order to show that the books are being balanced and to avoid the market reaction that we saw ...I made that case internally ... but it wasn't unfortunately listened to. I think had my suggestions been listened to a bit earlier, then there was a there's a much higher chance that [the mini-budget] would have worked. And it'll be always a matter of regret that those points weren't taken on board. Continue reading...
Gig at cathedral by metal band Plague of Angels would be outright insult' to their faith, say parishionersFirst there was a silent disco at Canterbury Cathedral. Then there was the rave in the nave" in Peterborough.But York Minster is taking it one step further by hosting a controversial metal band in what parishioners have called an outright insult" to their faith. Continue reading...
Revered Helmet of Coofeneti among items from ancient Dacian civilisation stolen while on loan at Drents MuseumHours before the sun rose over the Netherlands, the group crowded around the large external door, appearing to pry it open. Seconds later, the grainy security video appeared to show a powerful explosion, sending plumes of smoke and sparks into the air, and the thieves rush into the museum in the north-eastern city of Assen.Minutes later they were gone. But the mystery of what exactly took place during their few minutes in the Drents Museum - and what came afterwards - has left officials in the Netherlands scrambling for answers, and prompted a row that has stretched to the other side of Europe. Continue reading...
While this year's nominations are led by Beyonce and Charli xcx, the devastating wildfires in California will transform the evening into a dual-purpose event
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV at Aberdeen harbour on 7 JanuaryA body has been recovered from the River Dee in Aberdeen close to where two sisters went missing in early January.Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32 and originally from Hungary, were last seen on CCTV near the Dee at Aberdeen harbour early in the morning on Tuesday 7 January, walking towards a path along the river. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#6TYYK)
Trade unions write to home secretary to complain about officers' behaviour and tactics in London on 18 JanuaryThe Met police is facing growing questions over its handling of a pro-Palestine protest in central London at which more than 70 people were arrested.On Friday, trade union leaders became the latest group to write to the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, demanding an independent inquiry into repressive and heavy-handed policing" at the 18 January demonstration. Continue reading...
Philip Guston and Reuben Kadish's The Struggle Against Terrorism revealed as some fear resurgence of fascismA long-neglected 1930s mural in Mexico that warns about the rise of fascism has been revealed and restored - just as some historians say the world faces that threat once more.The mural, which is titled The Struggle Against Terrorism, covers a 40ft wall in a colonial courtyard in Morelia, Michoacan, and depicts a history of persecution and resistance from biblical times to the modern day. Continue reading...
Residents near Tokyo question slow pace of effort to rescue 74-year-old as workers race to build 30-metre rampFears are growing for a truck driver who has spent three days trapped inside a sinkhole in Japan, as rescue workers started building a ramp in a desperate attempt to reach him.The 74-year-old, who has not been named, became trapped when the sinkhole opened up in a road near Tokyo on Tuesday, swallowing him and his two-tonne truck. Continue reading...
The Crown actor and Kate Fleetwood will join Ewan McGregor in Lila Raicek's My Master Builder, inspired by IbsenAustralian actor Elizabeth Debicki, best known for playing Diana, Princess of Wales in The Crown, is to return to London theatre this summer.Debicki, whose last London role was in the thriller The Red Barn at the National Theatre in 2016, will star in American playwright Lila Raicek's My Master Builder. It was announced last month that Ewan McGregor will play the lead role of an architect in the play. On Friday it was announced that Debicki has been cast as the architect's former student, whose arrival disrupts a Hamptons house party thrown by his wife, who will be played by Kate Fleetwood. Continue reading...
by Miranda Bryant Nordic correspondent on (#6TYTW)
Exclusive: More Danish people regard US as a threat than see North Korea or Iran as dangerAlmost half of Danish people now consider the US to be a considerable threat to their country and the overwhelming majority oppose Greenland leaving to become part of the US, new polling has found.The research by YouGov, shared exclusively with the Guardian, comes after weeks of tension between Denmark, Greenland and the US over Donald Trump's repeated assertions that he plans to take control of the autonomous territory, which is part of the Danish kingdom. Continue reading...
Seven reveals its latest psephological device as the network makes an early start on election coverage. Plus: Daily Telegraph's tiny correction for big maths failThe date for the federal election has not been set but that hasn't stopped the Seven network from unveiling its Election Needle, a gimmick resembling a car's speedometer which they say will predict whether Anthony Albanese or Peter Dutton is winning the election.The network that brought you the Screen of Dreams" and The Panic Station" during the 2022 race between Scott Morrison and Albanese rolled out the Election Needle's first prediction this week. Continue reading...
National Audit Office says government attempts to tackle misogynistic violence are hampered by poor coordinationAn epidemic of violence against women and girls" in the UK is getting worse despite years of government promises and strategies, a highly critical report from Whitehall's spending watchdog has said.The National Audit Office report comes four years after a major government response to violence against women and girls (VAWG) was launched after the murders of Sabina Nessa and Sarah Everard.The Home Office did not have centrally coordinated funding" for VAWG, unlike that for the 2021 illegal drugs strategy, and had underspent on its own VAWG budget by an average of 15% between 2021-22 and 2023-24.There was no consistent definition for VAWG - the Home Office includes all victims, while police forces only include women and girls - which made it difficult to measure progress in a consistent way".While 78% of the commitments in the strategy had been met by July 2024, several were not new, and most" related to additional funding, holding meetings and publication of new guidance. Continue reading...
Complaint lists numerous public comments by the Liberal leader, a staunch supporter of Israel, which it alleges show discriminatory behaviour towards Palestinians, Muslims and Jews
Vessel commissioned by previous Tory government to house asylum seekers was decommissioned in NovemberEighteen months after it arrived at Portland Port in Dorset, the empty asylum seeker barge Bibby Stockholm has been towed away from its mooring.The barge, which only ever provided accommodation for about 400 single male asylum seekers a night at maximum occupancy, has cost the taxpayer at least 34.8m, according to the National Audit Office. Continue reading...
Claire Freemantle had been rearrested on Tuesday after bereaved families criticised original police investigationThe driver of a car that crashed into a primary school killing two eight-year-old girls has been released on bail pending further investigations.Nuria Sajjad and Selena Lau died in the incident at The Study Prep school in Wimbledon, south-west London, in July 2023 while celebrating the last day of the summer term. Continue reading...
by Agence France-Press in Port of Spain on (#6TYJA)
Discovery by coast guard comes five days after skiff containing five bodies found near Trinidad and TobagoThe coastguard of St Kitts and Nevis has discovered 13 decomposing bodies in a boat adrift off the coast, days after another five bodies were found in a skiff near Trinidad and Tobago.Officials of the two Caribbean countries said it was not immediately clear if there was any link between the two incidents, or who the deceased were. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#6TYJC)
Plans shelved include earlier cancer diagnosis, boosting women's health and expanding access to dental careNHS England is scrapping plans to diagnose more cancers early, boost women's health and ramp up childhood vaccinations after ministers told it to prioritise cutting waiting times.The health service is also abandoning pledges to expand access to dental treatment, give more people drugs to prevent strokes and enhance care for those with learning disabilities. Continue reading...
Bill introduced to parliament could mean asylum seekers crossing the Channel who refuse rescue could face five years in prisonKeir Starmer's planned people-smuggling laws risk criminalising" hundreds of asylum seekers, refugee charities have said, after it emerged that people who refuse to be rescued by the French authorities could be jailed for five years.Some parents who bring their children to the UK in small boats could also face prosecution, which could ultimately split their families, a human rights assessment of the border security, asylum and immigration bill has concluded. Continue reading...
The Human Authored online portal allows members to register their book and use a specially designed logo on covers and promotional materialsThe US body representing writers, the Authors Guild, has launched an online portal for members to confirm that their work emanated from the human intellect" and not from artificial intelligence.The initiative, called Human Authored, will allow authors to log on to the portal and register their book. They will then be able to use a specially designed logo on book covers and promotional materials to show that their work has been created without AI. Continue reading...
Albrecht Weinberg horrified' that MPs relied on far-right party to pass anti-immigration motionA 99-year-old Holocaust survivor has said he will return his federal order of merit to the German president in protest over MPs passing an anti-immigration motion in parliament with the support of the far-right Alternative fur Deutschland.Albrecht Weinberg, whose parents were murdered in Auschwitz, told the Guardian he was horrified" on learning that a proposal submitted by the conservative parties had relied on the anti-immigrant, xenophobic AfD to get it over the line. Continue reading...
Deployment of special forces veterans is unprecedented and poses risk that Americans could be drawn into fightingA US security firm is hiring nearly 100 US special forces veterans to help run a checkpoint in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas truce, introducing armed American contractors into the heart of one of the world's most violent conflict zones.UG Solutions, a low-profile company founded in 2023 and based in Davidson, North Carolina, is offering a daily rate starting at $1,100 with a $10,000 advance to veterans it hires, according to a recruitment email. Continue reading...
by Eleni Courea Political correspondent on (#6TYDE)
Research shows voters losing faith in traditional centre-left and centre-right to deliver meaningful changeVoters in western democracies are turning away from mainstream political parties and towards populists because they are losing faith in their ability to implement meaningful change, a major report based on surveys of 12,000 voters has found.The popularity of traditional centre-left and centre-right parties across major democratic countries has plummeted from 73% in 2000 to 51% today, according to research by the Tony Blair Institute. Continue reading...
Alex Mahon accuses firms such as TikTok, Meta and YouTube of wanton abandonment of the pursuit of truth'The head of Channel 4 has called on the television industry to unite to battle the wanton abandonment of the pursuit of truth" by tech titans" seeking profits.Alex Mahon said tech giants are so hellbent" on making money from what they deem to be free speech that they are perfectly happy to eradicate truth and facts along the way". Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor on (#6TY82)
The MPs said it was hard to justify the benefits of southern projects that may cause a northern skills shortage, especially if net migration to the UK dropsMPs from northern England have voiced fears of a brain drain" to southern infrastructure projects after Rachel Reeves announced a string of major developments in the south.The chancellor announced on Wednesday in a speech about driving growth that she would give backing to the expansion of Heathrow, as well as other London airports, as well as kickstarting the golden triangle" of scientific research between the capital and Oxford and Cambridge. Continue reading...
Scout leaders had launched judicial review over verdict of unlawful killing of Ben Leonard, 16, who fell from cliff on expeditionA high court judge has rejected an attempt by a scout leader and an assistant to overturn the findings of an inquest jury that concluded they were responsible for the unlawful killing of a 16-year-old boy who fell from a cliff during an expedition.Ben Leonard from Stockport, Greater Manchester, became separated from his group during a hike in north Wales and fell about 60m (200ft) from a ledge, suffering a fatal head injury. Continue reading...
Outpouring of grief after death of Chan, the son of a migrant Chinese father and Indigenous mother, who served as prime minister twicePapua New Guinea is mourning the death of Sir Julius Chan, affectionately known across the country as Sir J - the last founding father" of the country and its second ever prime minister.The Chan family released a statement on Thursday afternoon announcing the death of Sir Julius at the age of 85. Our father passed away peacefully this afternoon at 12.30pm at his beloved home at Manmantinut, Huris surrounded by family and friends. We thank all those who have stood by him, and those who have shared his legacy throughout his political life from pre-independence to the time of his passing. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: What we know so far about the deadly air crash involving passenger jet and military helicopterGood morning. Late last night near Washington DC, a jet carrying 64 people collided with a US army helicopter above the Potomac river. A frantic rescue operation got underway quickly and was still continuing a few minutes ago, with the precise number of fatalities unclear but multiple bodies seen being pulled from the water.There is no indication of what caused the crash yet, but there was no sign it was a terrorist incident. For the very latest developments, head to the Guardian's live blog. Today's newsletter explains what we know so far. Here are the headlines.UK economy | Rachel Reeves caused a furious backlash as she insisted a third runway at Heathrow was set up for success", despite scepticism in Whitehall that the plan can be reconciled with the UK's climate obligations. The chancellor made throwing the government's weight behind Heathrow expansion the centrepiece of a major speech on growth on Wednesday.Israel-Gaza war | The main UN agency serving Palestinians in the occupied territories, including Gaza, looks likely to be shut down on Thursday as Israel defied widespread international support for the agency in a move Unrwa predicted would sabotage Gaza's recovery and political transition".India | At least 30 people have been killed and scores injured in crowd crushes at the Kumbh Mela festival, Indian police have confirmed, as vast numbers of people went to bathe at one of the holiest sites of the Hindu gathering.US news | Robert F Kennedy Jr's combative Senate confirmation hearing for health secretary erupted into fierce exchanges on Wednesday as Democrats confronted one of the US's most prominent vaccine sceptics who possibly will be handed the reins of its public health system.Education | Some children are starting reception school unable to climb a staircase", while others use Americanisms in their speech because of too much screen time, according to a survey of teachers. The pandemic has been blamed for a decline in school readiness among reception-aged children. Continue reading...
World news | The Guardian