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A prototype craft that will fly network telecoms starts trials with north Wales mountain rescue services next yearDrones circling above the peaks of Snowdonia, providing an airborne mobile network in remote areas, may soon become a feature of the region’s mountain rescue operation.The drones – like small unmanned gliders but with twin engines – would carry equipment providing 4G and 5G connectivity that would link mountain rescue teams and other emergency services with people stranded, lost or injured in remote hills where the mobile phone signal is often patchy or nonexistent. Continue reading...

Jakapong ‘Anne’ Jakrajutatip has spoken about her experience as a transgender woman and advocated for trans rightsA Thai celebrity media tycoon who is transgender woman has bought the Miss Universe Organization for $20m, marking the first time the beauty pageant organiser will be owned by a woman, her company has said.The annual beauty contest run by the Miss Universe Organization, which was co-owned by Donald Trump between 1996 and 2002, is broadcast in 165 countries and has been running for 71 years. Continue reading...

Assembly elections expected to be called by UK government if members fail to install a speakerNorthern Ireland assembly members will return to Stormont in a last-gasp bid on Thursday to restore the Northern Ireland executive before fresh assembly elections are called.It comes after the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, held last-ditch talks with the region’s party leaders to try to restore devolved government and avert an assembly election. Continue reading...

More than 800,000 people locked down in site of world’s first Covid outbreak in 2019, as other Chinese cities seal up streets and homesChinese cities from Wuhan in central China to Xining in the north-west are doubling down on Covid-19 curbs, sealing up buildings, locking down districts and throwing millions into distress in a scramble to halt widening outbreaks.China on Thursday reported a third straight day of more than 1,000 new Covid cases nationwide, a modest tally compared with the tens of thousands a day that sent Shanghai into a full-blown lockdown earlier this year but enough to trigger more curbs and restrictions across the country. Continue reading...

Coalition of 40-plus charities and groups launches amid fears of spending cuts to plug public financesPressure is building on the leaders of Britain’s two biggest political parties to support higher taxes on wealth amid growing fears over the impact that a renewed austerity drive would have amid the cost of living crisis.In an intervention which comes as the new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, considers options for filling a £35bn black hole in the public finances, a new coalition of 40 charities and campaign groups – including Oxfam, Save the Children and Christians Against Poverty – said Britain’s tax system was broken and those who paid the most should “pay their proper share”. Continue reading...

IPPR says extra £62bn a year needed to match global leader Israel after sharp decline since 2014Britain’s plan to become a post-Brexit “science and technology superpower” has suffered a significant setback after a fall in research and development investment of almost a fifth since 2014, according to a report.The Institute for Public Policy Research said the UK’s share of global investment in R&D projects – including in health and life sciences – had fallen sharply from 4.2% eight years ago to 3.4% in 2019 immediately before the Covid pandemic struck. Continue reading...

Only 60,000 of an estimated 277,000 people have been seen by specialist service, figures showJust a “fraction” of long Covid sufferers are getting the help they need, with a third of them waiting more than three and a half months to be assessed after a GP referral, rising to almost half in some areas.More than 60,000 people in England had a first assessment for post-Covid syndrome in an NHS specialist service between July 2021 and August 2022. Continue reading...

Emily Farmer’s son was with group of Perth schoolboys when Cassius was allegedly murdered

Renee Ferguson made allegations against former Test captain and Cricket Australia staff but failed to file her case in time, court hears

Teargas also used against protesters gathered in home town of 22-year-old Kurdish woman, says rights groupIranian security forces have clashed with protesters who had gathered in their thousands in Mahsa Amini’s home town to mark 40 days since her death, with reports that shots were fired.“Security forces have shot teargas and opened fire on people in Zindan Square, Saqqez city,” Hengaw, a Norway-based group that monitors rights violations in Iran’s Kurdish regions, tweeted without specifying whether there were any dead or wounded. It said more than 50 civilians were injured by direct fire in cities across the region. Continue reading...

Higgins spoke to media after trial of Lehrmann was aborted by judge following discovery that a juror brought outside research into jury room

Executives removed the rapper from the Los Angeles building and said the footwear brand has ‘no intention of working with West’Executives at Skechers escorted Kanye West out of the company’s corporate offices in Los Angeles, after the rapper and fashion designer showed up “unannounced and without invitation” on Wednesday.In a statement released after the incident, the footwear brand said it “has no intention of working with West” and that the artist, now known as Ye, was engaged in “unauthorized filming”. Continue reading...

Lawyers for the former military lawyer withdrew an application for protection after government sought to quash testimony

A sculpture honouring the late First Nations musicians will be unveiled next year on the streets they knew so well, with support from Victorian government

EHRC guidance is a watershed, but the problem of hair discrimination in workplaces and public spaces remainsAt just 15 years old, Ruby Williams found herself at centre of a legal battle that would later prove to be a turning point for how equality laws are enforced across the UK in relation to hair texture.As a student at the Urswick school in east London, Williams was repeatedly sent home due to her natural afro hair, which the school claimed breached its policy that “afro style hair must be of reasonable size and length”. Continue reading...

Findings based on current rate of improvement in proportion of judges from under-represented groupsIt will take more than 125 years before Black people are properly represented within the England and Wales judiciary at the current rate of progress, the Law Society has found.Analysis by the professional body for solicitors found that with Black judges making up just 1.09% of the judiciary, compared with 1.02% in 2014, it would take until 2149 for their representation to match current estimates for the general population (3.5%). Continue reading...

Loopholes in legislation turning sector into ‘a licence to print money’ for unscrupulous providers in EnglandEngland’s supported housing sector is a “complete mess” that is failing communities at the expense of the taxpayer and making residents “victims of terrible crimes at the hands of staff”, according to a scathing select committee report.The report found loopholes had turned the sector into “a licence to print money” for unscrupulous providers and that there has been “a complete breakdown of the system, which calls for immediate action from government”. Continue reading...

Opposition call for inquiry as Braverman is reappointed home secretary six days after resigning over security breachRishi Sunak’s decision to reappoint Suella Braverman six days after she was forced to resign for a security breach is facing fresh questions after a former Conservative minister claimed the home secretary was responsible for “multiple breaches of the ministerial code”.Jake Berry, who was at the heart of Liz Truss’s government, said Braverman was responsible for a “really serious breach” after sending confidential information to a private address, sending it to an MP, attempting to send it to the MP’s wife and then accidentally sending it to a member of parliamentary staff. Continue reading...

‘Playground bully’ Lee Anderson’s remarks described as ‘vile and disgusting’ by MPs from his own partyA Conservative MP has been criticised for making transphobic comments that questioned whether female representation in parliament would “increase or decrease” if Eddie Izzard was elected as an MP.Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield in Nottinghamshire, told Talk TV he “would not follow him into the toilets” if she came to parliament, and even said Keir Starmer “is not sure what he’s all about”. Continue reading...

Attack takes place same day security forces reportedly open fire at mourners in Mahsa Amini’s hometownArmed men have attacked a Shia Muslim shrine in the Iranian city of Shiraz, killing at least 15 people, the state news agency Irna said, as security forces clashed with protesters marking 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini in custody.Irna described the attackers as “takfiri terrorists”, a label used by officials in predominantly Shia Muslim Iran to refer to hardline, armed Sunni Islamist groups. The attack was later claimed by Islamic State in a statement posted on the terror group’s telegram channel. Continue reading...

Deep Wheel Orcadia, set on a distant space station struggling for survival, is praised by judges for ‘making you rethink what science fiction can do’Poet Harry Josephine Giles’s verse novel, Deep Wheel Orcadia, has won the Arthur C Clarke award for science fiction book of the year.The book is told in the Orkney dialect and comes with a parallel translation into English. Continue reading...

Prime minister abandons fracking and refuses to guarantee pensions triple lock or defence spending riseRishi Sunak has dismantled what was left of Liz Truss’s legacy on his first full day as prime minister, abandoning fracking and refusing to guarantee the pensions triple lock or a defence spending rise.Any change to pensions or a decision not to uprate benefits in line with inflation would draw new battle lines between Sunak and Conservative MPs, a number of whom have said they would not back cuts falling on the most vulnerable. Continue reading...

Veteran Tory MP was intended recipient of home secretary’s plans sent from her personal emailThe veteran Tory MP Sir John Hayes has been disclosed as a secret adviser to Suella Braverman, with some colleagues believing he has been influential in the home secretary’s rise from backbencher to a great office of state.Proof of the former minister’s influence emerged last week when Braverman was forced to resign for what government insiders insisted was a major security breach. Continue reading...

Unnamed 19-year-old man attending Manchester Metropolitan University found with knife wound in FallowfieldPolice have launched a murder investigation after a 19-year-old university student was fatally stabbed in Manchester.The teenager, who attended Manchester Metropolitan University, was found with a serious knife wound near large halls of residence at 2am on Wednesday, police said. Continue reading...

Adil Khan and Qari Abdul Rauf lose appeal as judges say ‘very strong public interest’ to deport themTwo members of a Rochdale grooming gang are to be deported to Pakistan after losing a seven-year legal fight to remain in Britain.Adil Khan, 51, and Qari Abdul Rauf, 53, were convicted in 2012 of a series of sexual offences against young girls and jailed later the same year. Continue reading...

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More than 50 artists gather at Black Cultural Archives in London to have photograph takenIt had the makings of a great day in Brixton. Before noon more than 50 artists from across generations had flocked to the Black Cultural Archives to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the British black arts movement.It is not often you’ll find Britain’s foremost artists of African and Caribbean ancestry including Charlie Phillips, Keith Piper, Marlene Smith and Claudette Johnson, among others, gathered alongside emerging talents for a photograph inspired by Art Kane’s classic 1958 A Great Day in Harlem, which had captured the luminaries of the New York jazz scene at the time. Continue reading...

Man was stabbed close to hotel used by Home Office to accommodate asylum seekers on Saturday nightPolice have launched an attempted murder investigation after a stabbing close to a hotel used by the Home Office to accommodate asylum seekers.The Guardian has received reports that a man, believed to be an asylum seeker who was being accommodated at the hotel, was found bleeding near the building after the incident, which happened late on Saturday evening. Continue reading...

City PowerPoint geek’s Flickers of Boris-lite from fail to ignite party more used to narcissistic fantasistsIt only took a few hours. That was the length of time between Rishi Sunak looking ever so humble and sincere outside Downing Street on Tuesday morning as he promised to govern with “accountability, integrity and professionalism” and him appointing Suella Braverman as his home secretary just six days after she left government for breaking the ministerial code.Rish! likes to present himself as a new breed of politician. The Goldman Sachs multi-millionaire who can be trusted to tell the truth. However uncomfortable that may be. The man with the golden voice. A saviour rising from the mean streets. But the reality is he’s not so different from any other Tory leader. Party before country. Self before party. Always open to any grubby backroom deal if it works to his advantage. Continue reading...

Chief inspector told MPs that Manston processing site was unsafe, understaffed and ‘wretched’The borders watchdog said he was left speechless by “wretched conditions” during a visit to a migrant processing centre at Manston, which has already passed the point of being unsafe.The independent chief inspector of borders and immigration, David Neal, was also concerned after discovering some of those guarding people on the site are not specifically qualified to do so. Continue reading...

A Quebec judge invalidates the police power to pull over drivers without cause, concluding they violate country’s charterA Canadian court has ruled that random traffic stops violate the country’s charter, striking down the “unbounded power” of police in searches that often amount to racial profiling.A Quebec superior judge ruled on Tuesday that police cannot pull over drivers without cause. Continue reading...

London museum moves figure of US rapper to archive room following recent antisemitic and anti-black remarksMadame Tussauds has removed its wax figure of Kanye West from public view – becoming the latest institution to effectively “drop” the US rapper following antisemitic and anti-black remarks.The landmark London museum moved the figure of the rapper – who has legally changed his name to Ye – to an archive room, a symbolic representation of his fall from grace over the past few days, during which he lost his talent representation, connections to major fashion houses and other lucrative relationships. Continue reading...

Pregnant woman’s request will be sufficient to obtain procedure without need for further reasonsLawmakers in Finland have approved a legislative reform that will ease the process of getting an abortion in the country, which currently has the Nordic region’s strictest abortion law.Finland’s 200-seat Eduskunta legislature on Wednesday voted by a wide margin 125-41 in favour of a law reform that will, among other things, abolish the need for approval from two doctors to terminate a pregnancy. Continue reading...

Two leaders under pressure to repair relations after rifts over defence, energy and ChinaThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, hosted the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, for lunch on Wednesday as they sought to iron out significant differences on energy and defence that have weakened their relationship at a time of war in Ukraine.Both leaders, whose countries are seen as the joint driving force of the European Union, made an effort to smile as Scholz emerged from his black Mercedes at the Élysée Palace to shake hands, but the German chancellor appeared to sidestep Macron’s attempts to put an arm around him. Continue reading...

Yves-François Blanchet, leader of Bloc Québécois, says ‘slave-driven’ British monarchy is ‘archaic’ and ‘humiliating’The leader of Canada’s Quebec separatist party has renewed calls for the country to sever its ties with the “incredibly racist” and “slave-driven” British monarchy ahead of the coronation of King Charles III.The Bloc Québécois leader, Yves-François Blanchet, tabled a motion on Tuesday, widely seen as purely symbolic, in the House of Commons. Continue reading...

James Cleverly says ‘flex and compromise’ needed on both sides in country that criminalises homosexualityThe UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been criticised for telling gay football fans they should show respect to Qatar, which criminalises their sexuality, when attending the World Cup in the emirate.Cleverly said Qatar was willing to make compromises to allow people it would normally persecute to attend the tournament, which kicks off on 20 November. On Tuesday, the prominent British LGBTQ campaigner Peter Tatchell claimed he had been arrested in Qatar for highlighting the country’s stance. Continue reading...

Rod Sims argues Labor needs to be tougher on energy sector, stating ‘it just needs the threat and I think they will act’

Feeling Her Way, featuring videos of five black female musicians, to be shown in Margate and LeedsThe British artist Sonia Boyce’s award-winning work Feeling Her Way will come to the UK in 2023, the British Council has announced.The installation, which won the Venice Biennale’s Golden Lion prize this year, combines video, collage, music and sculpture. Boyce’s win was a historic moment – she was the first black woman to represent the UK at Venice. Continue reading...

Exclusive: director of Quit Victoria says new data reveals ‘people are struggling badly’ with addiction to e-cigarettes

Advocates express deep unease about lack of action for people on income support and repeat calls to lift jobseeker rate to $73 a day

Stricter standards will tackle fine particulates and PFAS and require polluters to pay for cleanupsThe EU executive has proposed tighter controls on pollutants and chemicals that harm air quality and foul lakes, rivers and seas, but health campaigners said the plans lacked urgency.As part of a major reform of the EU’s anti-pollution legislation, the European Commission said it planned to tighten air quality standards, including on one of the most dangerous air pollutants, fine particulate matter. Water standards are also going to be stricter, with 25 substances added to a control list, such as the category of “forever chemicals” PFAS, the substance Bisphenol A, pesticides including glyphosate, and antibiotics. Continue reading...

‘Grave betrayal of trust’ made conservative supreme court justices targets, author of opinion reversing Roe v Wade claimsThe leak of the draft supreme court opinion abolishing the right to abortion put members of the conservative majority at risk of assassination, Samuel Alito, the author of the draft, has said.Speaking in Washington at a rightwing thinktank, the Heritage Foundation, Alito called the leak a month before the final ruling was released “a grave betrayal of trust by somebody” that put several justices in danger. Continue reading...

PM accused of immediately breaking integrity pledge by restoring home secretary in ‘grubby deal’

As PM reappoints Braverman, we look at her record from her initial 43-day stint, in her own words

Plan to axe one in 10 staff at Royal College of Occupational Therapists, which champions workplace wellbeing, called ‘rank hypocrisy’Staff at a therapists’ trade union are threatening to strike over plans to make one in 10 of them redundant which have driven many to seek therapy themselves.Workers at the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) said they were given just three days to decide whether to accept redundancy or reapply for other jobs on worse terms in a process criticised as “fire and rehire”. Continue reading...

Dutch government investigating ‘undeclared’ stations in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, claimed to be part of global networkThe Dutch government has said it is investigating reports that Chinese police forces have illegally opened at least two stations in the Netherlands since 2018, using them in part to keep tabs and put pressure on overseas dissidents.An investigation by RTL Nieuws and Follow the Money said the “overseas service stations” in Amsterdam and Rotterdam ostensibly served an administrative purpose, allowing Chinese nationals to renew driving licences and change their civil status. Continue reading...

Patient Safety Watch paid Hunt’s former adviser Adam Smith more than £110,000 in year to JanuaryA charity founded by the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, paid more than £110,000 – two-thirds of its income – to his former political adviser Adam Smith, who lost his job over a lobbying scandal.Patient Safety Watch, which was set up to research preventable harm in healthcare, paid Smith as its sole employee and chief executive about 66% of its income in the year ending January 2022. Continue reading...

Newly released judgment on Lehrmann’s failed attempt in April to halt sexual assault case shows defence argued then PM’s comments could prejudice fair trial

Court hears children of late cricketer wrote a letter of support for Jarrod Grech describing him as ‘lovely’

Denise McCarthy told trial of Narelle Fiona Smith that she found her ex-husband, Peter, dead in his home after being unable to contact him for days