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FDA union votes to use ‘all means available’, including ‘targeted legal action’ in wake of Dominic Raab scandalSenior civil servants have voted to take a stand against inflammatory language from politicians and in favour of legal action to combat bullying, as former cabinet ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg and Dominic Raab renewed their attacks on officials.Members of the FDA union passed a motion in favour of using “all means available” to challenge bullying and harassment of officials, including “use of targeted legal action”, in the wake of the scandal that forced Raab to resign. Continue reading...

Robert Alton, 70, is believed to have died in 2017 with his death going unnoticed by his landlord and local councilThe body of a retired bookkeeper lay undiscovered in his flat for six years with his “skeletal” remains found only after housing officials forced entry to carry out a gas safety check, an inquest heard.Robert Alton is believed to have died in 2017 aged 70, but his death went unnoticed by both his landlord, which continued to receive his rent automatically through housing benefit, and his local council, which seemingly failed to act on Alton’s mounting council tax arrears. Continue reading...

Mirror hired investigators to pose as Prince Michael of Kent’s accountant, phone-hacking trial hearsPiers Morgan authorised the illegal blagging of a prince’s private bank details when he was editor of the Daily Mirror, it has been alleged at the high court.Prince Michael of Kent’s personal financial records were published by the Mirror in 1999, allegedly revealing that Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin was millions of pounds in debt and had an unauthorised £220,000 overdraft at Coutts bank.Morgan “lies at the heart” of allegations of unlawful information-gathering, including phone hacking, under the Mirror’s parent company and was “directly” involved in illegal behaviour.The journalist who helped obtain Prince Michael of Kent’s financial records was Gary Jones, now the editor of the Daily Express.The Mirror regularly used the services of Southern Investigations, a private investigations agency heavily implicated in police corruption and the murder of a former employee, Daniel Morgan.Phone hacking was so widespread at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and People that even those newspapers’ editors were illegally accessing voicemails. Continue reading...

Business secretary questioned by Brexiter MPs, speaker and Labour after government scraps ‘sunset clause’Kemi Badenoch has come under fire from furious Conservative backbenchers, the opposition and the Commons speaker after defending the government’s U-turn on retained EU laws.The business secretary was challenged by leading Brexiters including Bill Cash and Mark Francois, chair of the Tory Brexiter European Research Group (ERG), who asked why the government had performed “a massive climbdown on its own bill despite having such strong support from its backbenchers”. Continue reading...

The former president is accused of seeking millions of euros from Gaddafi to finance his 2007 campaignFrench prosecutors have demanded that the former president Nicolas Sarkozy face a new trial over alleged Libyan financing of his 2007 election campaign.France’s financial crimes prosecutors (PNF) said on Thursday that Sarkozy and 12 others should face trial over accusations they sought millions of euros in financing from the regime of then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi for his ultimately victorious campaign. Continue reading...

Sergei Georgievich Naumenko, who is not on sanctions list, is also seeking damages in high court claimA Russian tycoon is suing the UK government over the seizure of his £38m superyacht in London shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.Sergei Georgievich Naumenko, a property developer who is not on the UK’s Russia sanctions list, has filed a high court claim against the Department for Transport (DfT) demanding it free his 58.5-metre (192ft) long superyacht Phi and pay damages. Continue reading...

Clashes between Israel and militants leave 29 dead so far, with airstrikes targeting homes of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leadersFighting between Israel and militant groups in the blockaded Gaza Strip has intensified for the third day despite ceasefire efforts brokered by Egypt, in the worst bout of violence in the region in months, which has killed 28 people in Gaza, including at least 10 civilians, and one civilian in Israel.The latest conflagration began in the early hours of Tuesday, when Israel launched surprise airstrikes targeting the homes of three senior commanders in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the second most powerful group in the strip after Hamas, despite a fragile ceasefire in place since a day of cross-frontier fire last week. Continue reading...

The artist, who has been given the all clear, describes her works as a testament ‘to the healing power of art’British artist Tracey Emin spoke about her recovery from cancer as she opened a new exhibition in Rome, recalling her last visit to the Italian capital “when I was dying, but didn’t know it”.Fifteen artworks completed by Emin, 59, since she was given the all-clear from bladder cancer in 2021 are being displayed at the Galleria Lorcan O’Neill in central Rome. Called You Should Have Saved Me, the works are described as a testament “to the healing power of art”. Continue reading...

Measures include ability to spread cost over small instalments and free debt adviceThe BBC has set out plans to reduce the high proportion of women being prosecuted for licence fee evasion, after suggestions that the charge is sexist.The measures including free debt advice and allowing all unlicensed households to spread payments, underlining the BBC’s determination to save the licence fee, which was frozen by the government at £159 until 2024. Continue reading...

Package of measures will help farmers maintain production and avoid food shortages after hottest April everThe Spanish government has approved a €2.2bn (£1.9bn) plan to help the country’s farmers and consumers cope with an enduring drought that has been exacerbated by the hottest and driest April on record.The “unprecedented package” of measures, which was signed off by the cabinet on Thursday morning, includes €1.4bn of funds from the environment ministry to tackle the drought and increase the availability of water, and €784m from the agriculture ministry to help farmers maintain production and avoid food shortages. Continue reading...

Barrister for alleged victims including Prince Harry presents documents in court he says show illegal activities commissioned by newspaper group. This live blog is closed

Austrian, who was jailed in 2009 for murder, enslavement, rape and incest, co-authors book with his lawyerAn Austrian man who held his daughter captive in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children after raping her has written a book from prison, saying he hopes one day to be reconciled with his family.Josef Fritzl, 88 – who was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009 for murder, enslavement, rape and incest – co-authored the book with his lawyer, Astrid Wagner. Continue reading...

Imran Mahmood found not guilty of unlawfully inflicting grievous bodily harm on Jordan Walker-BrownA police officer has been cleared of unlawfully inflicting grievous bodily harm on a man who was left paralysed after he Tasered him.PC Imran Mahmood, 36, Tasered Jordan Walker-Brown during a patrol in the early months of the first coronavirus lockdown on 4 May 2020 in Haringey, north London. Continue reading...

Accuser concerned about ‘wider pattern of behaviour’ of Labour MP and reports 2021 incident to policeA female Labour MP has reported a shadow frontbench MP to the Metropolitan police, claiming he sexually assaulted her.The alleged incident is said to have taken place after a summer party in London in July 2021. But the MP decided to approach the Met in recent weeks, according to Tortoise. Continue reading...

Yannick Morez, the mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, resigned following death threats and attack on his homeFrench politicians have warned about the risk posed by the country’s increasingly violent and toxic rows over immigration after the mayor of a seaside town resigned following death threats and an arson attack on his home, and far-right groups protested over an asylum-seeker centre in his town.Yannick Morez announced he was stepping down as mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins in western France, and would have to stop his work as a local doctor, weeks after his home was targeted in an arson attack that burned two cars and the front of his family house. The arson attack is still under investigation, but Morez complained of a “lack of support from the state”. Continue reading...

England and Wales watchdog says vetting processes inadequate in 13 cases over two-month period, despite overhaulPolice officers with links to organised crime, sex offenders and domestic abuse have made it through vetting procedures in recent months despite an overhaul of the process in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard, according to the police watchdog for England and Wales.In a letter to the home secretary, Suella Braverman, HM inspector of constabulary, Matt Parr, said an examination of vetting files over two months found concerns about multiple new recruits.An officer with a history of domestic abuse against multiple partners.An officer with a connection to a criminal gang.An officer who had a family member who was a registered sex offender.An officer who had a family member who had been jailed for drug dealing. Continue reading...

Men deny 80 counts dating back to 2002 and 2006, involving alleged abuse of two girls from ages of 12 and 13Eight men from Rochdale have gone on trial accused of grooming and abusing two young girls, after one of the alleged victims took a parenting course as an adult and made graphic claims about being exploited from the age of 12.She and a friend were treated as “mere objects for the defendants to use, abuse, humiliate then discard” from the ages of 12 and 13, a jury at Manchester Minshull Street crown court was told. Continue reading...

Bild publishes leaked photos showing Gerhard Schröder with his wife and others at Victory Day reception in BerlinLeaked photographs have emerged in the German press of former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who has refused to denounce his friendship to and business ties with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as the guest of honour at a reception hosted by the Russian embassy in Berlin.Schröder and his wife, So-yeon Schröder-Kim, reportedly rubbed shoulders at the event on Tuesday with Egon Krenz, 86, the last Communist leader of East Germany (GDR). Krenz was forced to resign when the Berlin Wall fell, and was later sentenced to six and a half years in prison for his role in the crimes of the Communist regime, in particular the fatal shootings of people trying to escape the GDR. Continue reading...

Alexei Zalesskiy and Conor Ryan found to have lied in statements about incident in Finsbury Park in April 2021Two Metropolitan police officers have been sacked immediately after a gross misconduct hearing for punching and kicking a child during his arrest and lying about the incident.The hearing, which followed an investigation by the IOPC, heard that police constables Alexei Zalesskiy and Conor Ryan were accused of using excessive force on the 14-year-old boy, who was part of a group of young people gathered at Finsbury Park, north London in April 2021. Continue reading...

Controversial expansion prompts worry and frustration from residents that a ‘sacred place’ could soon be destroyedBefore sunrise on the morning of 29 April 1903, a deep rumble echoed through Crowsnest Valley in western Alberta, Canada. The peak of Turtle Mountain had collapsed, sending a block of limestone nearly 1km wide and weighing 110m metric tonnes hurtling towards the town of Frank, a coalmining community of 600 people.In less than two minutes, 100 people are believed to have been killed in what remains Canada’s deadliest rockslide. A dozen bodies were recovered, but the vast majority of victims remain buried under boulders the size of vehicles. Continue reading...

Key questions answered on the fallout from a report on the culture within the Welsh nationalist partyWhy did Plaid Cymru commission a report on the party’s culture?For months Plaid has been dogged by claims of a toxic culture, and it emerged last November that an allegation of sexual assault had been made against a senior member of staff. In December the party asked the former Plaid Senedd member Nerys Evans to look at the scale and scope of the issues. Continue reading...

The 20-year-old from Aldridge built a crude gun in his garden shed and experimented with explosivesFar-right extremist Vaughn Dolphin, who built a crude gun in his garden shed and experimented with explosives, has been ordered to be detained in a young offender institution for eight and a half years.Dolphin, 20, of Walsall Wood Road, Aldridge, West Midlands, was found guilty last month of explosives, terrorism and firearm offences. Continue reading...

The proposed bill would offer three meals and a snack to all students regardless of incomeRepresentative Ilhan Omar, Senator Bernie Sanders and colleagues are set to introduce legislation on Thursday to revive one of the coronavirus pandemic era’s most popular social experiments: universal free school meals.The bill would permanently end child hunger in schools, they argue, by offering free breakfast, lunch and dinner plus a snack to all students from preschool to high school, regardless of income. Continue reading...

DCI Banks lead actor was accused of punching drunk man making noise outside his houseThe actor Stephen Tompkinson has been found not guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on a drunken man he confronted outside his home.Tompkinson, a familiar face on television programmes from Drop the Dead Donkey to DCI Banks, had been accused of lashing out at Karl Poole who was, with a friend, drinking at the end of the actor’s driveway in the early hours of the morning. Continue reading...

Northern rail network to be run by state-owned operator of last resort when contract expires on 28 MayTransPennine Express (TPE) is to be run by the state after ministers announced that the failing rail company would not have its contract renewed.The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said the northern rail network would be run by the state-owned operator of last resort after passengers experienced disruption, cancellations and a significant decline in the extent and reliability of the service. Continue reading...

Losses would be unacceptable without more heavy weapons promised by west, says president

Exclusive: For 21 years, the detainee has been in US custody without charge, tortured and sexually humiliated, with no prospect for release• Warning: the images and descriptions of torture in this article are extremely graphicA detainee held in the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay who was used as a human guinea pig in the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program has produced the most comprehensive and detailed account yet seen of the brutal techniques to which he was subjected.Abu Zubaydah has created a series of 40 drawings that chronicle the torture he endured in a number of CIA dark sites between 2002 and 2006 and at Guantánamo Bay. In the absence of a full official accounting of the torture program, which the CIA and the FBI have labored for years to keep secret, the images give a unique and searing insight into a grisly period in US history. Continue reading...

Liz Saville Roberts denies party tried to put own interests before need to ‘detoxify’ internal culture

MPs expected to proceed with a vote to determine if Deeming is expelled from the party on Friday

Lost cricket rights prompts outflow but streaming service almost halves losses while theme parks boomDisney, known for Pixar, Star Wars and Marvel movies, said its flagship streaming service lost 4 million subscribers in the first three months of the year.Subscribers to Disney+ services, home to movies such as Toy Story, Monsters, Thor and Black Panther, fell to nearly 158m from January to March, the second quarter of customer losses after a 2.4 million drop in the previous three months. Analysts had expected Disney to add more than 1 million customers in the quarter. The shares fell nearly 5% in after-hours trading. Continue reading...

Wilkinson says Shane Drumgold did not tell her publicity over the case posed risk to the trial, contradicting ACT director of public prosecutions

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Prosecutor Shane Drumgold claims the juror who brought in outside research papers on sexual assault was not in favour of guilty verdict

Rescue teams lifted the 10-tonne light rail carriage in Haymarket, but the 16-year-old girl suffered critical injuries and could not be revived

General secretary of FDA union makes plea to Rishi Sunak after multiple ‘culture war’ incidentsThe head of the union for senior civil servants has urged Rishi Sunak to stop letting ministers call officials “lazy, woke, inefficient, remainer snowflakes” or brand them “machiavellian geniuses” trying to unseat the government.In comments released ahead of its annual conference, Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union, also accused the prime minister of treating civil servants like “second-class public-sector workers” after the government offered them a worse pay deal than teachers and health staff. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: Protests could mark the start of a violent showdown that threatens the country’s fragile political system

Skills may be lost for good due to ‘perfect storm’ of economic stresses, says heritage charityFrom building wooden boats and Cornish hedges to making marionettes and painting canal barges, many traditional British crafts are under threat because of a “perfect storm” of economic stresses including the aftermath of Brexit, a heritage charity has said.Heritage Crafts has added 17 crafts to its “red list” of endangered skills that could be lost unless the economy improves or more action is taken to protect them. Continue reading...

More than 160 luxury homes worth £10m or more have been sold in past year at a combined price of £3.1bnMore than 160 properties worth £10m or more were sold in London over the past year – the most since 2016 when Brexit spooked the global super-rich from investing in the UK’s “super-prime” market.A total of 161 such sales – or three a week – were made in the capital in the year to March, according to analysis of Land Registry data by the estate agent Knight Frank and the data provider LonRes. Continue reading...

War in Ukraine and Pakistan’s ‘monsoon on steroids’ among events driving surge on ‘scale never seen before’ as 71m people displacedThe number of people around the world who were forced to flee their homes leapt by a fifth last year, as a “perfect storm” of Russia’s assault on Ukraine and climate disasters brought displacement on an unprecedented scale.By the end of 2022 the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) – those forced from their homes but remaining within their country of residence – reached 71 million, according to figures published by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), up from 59.1 million in 2021. Continue reading...

Penny Wong withdrew comments personally targeting the Greens’ housing spokesperson, but accused the party of joining a ‘filibuster’

Russia plans to relocate thousands of staff from nuclear plant, atomic energy company claims, warning of ‘catastrophic lack of qualified personnel’Russia plans to relocate about 2,700 Ukrainian staff from Europe’s largest nuclear plant, Ukraine’s atomic energy company has claimed, warning of a potential “catastrophic lack of qualified personnel” at the Zaporizhzhia facility in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine.Workers who signed employment contracts with Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom following Moscow’s capture of the Zaporizhzhia plant early in the war are set to be taken to Russia along with their families, Energoatom said in a Telegram post on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Boss of industry body UK Finance accuses tech companies of ‘profiting’ from scams on their platformsThe boss of the banking industry body UK Finance has called on social media companies to reimburse victims of online fraud, accusing them of “profiting” from scams taking place on their platforms.Figures from its fraud report show that 78% of authorised push payment scams, where a victim is tricked into approving a transaction, started online in the second half of last year, with about three-quarters of those beginning on social media. Continue reading...

Government’s advisers say doctors in England, Wales and Northern Ireland can prescribe glucose monitorsHundreds of children who manage their type 2 diabetes by regularly pricking their finger can now monitor their glucose levels using automated sensors, the government’s expert health advisers have announced.Doctors and nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have been advised they can now give glucose monitoring devices to children with type 2 diabetes who currently use the more intrusive finger-prick testing methods, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) said on Thursday. Continue reading...

Some MPs uneasy over independent complaints system following case which took three years to investigateLabour has defended its complaints system after taking three years to investigate an allegation of sexual harassment made by a woman against a senior aide.The man, who is 20 years the complainant’s senior, has been allowed to continue working for the party advising a Labour frontbencher, according to Politico, even though the complaint was upheld. Continue reading...

Too few teachers have training in how to deliver lessons in relationships and sex, committee toldChildren need more and better sex and relationship education in England’s schools, to help them navigate the issues they are likely to face as they get older, experts have told MPs.The Commons women and equalities committee heard that too few teachers in England have received training in how to deliver lessons in relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) since it became a compulsory topic in 2019. Continue reading...

Nina Cresswell says move is 13 years too late after court found on balance of probabilities she was assaultedNorthumbria police are reopening a sexual assault investigation after a woman who was sued for writing about her experience defeated the libel action against her.Last month, the high court found that Nina Cresswell had “proved on the balance of probabilities that she was violently sexually assaulted” by Billy Hay, a tattoo artist, in Sunderland in 2010 when she was 20. Continue reading...

Row between Michael Gove and No 10 results in end of promise to scrap leaseholds

Military unit claims to confirm report by Wagner boss that Russian brigade has been routedA Ukrainian military unit has said it has routed a Russian infantry brigade from frontline territory near Bakhmut, claiming to corroborate an account by the head of Russia’s Wagner group that the Russian forces had fled.Later on Wednesday, Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who heads Ukraine’s ground forces, said Russian units in some parts of Bakhmut had retreated by up to 2km (1.2 miles) as the result of counterattacks. He did not give details. Continue reading...

‘We want everything back to the way it was’, says Don Farrell but cautions that problems won’t be fixed overnight

Ukraine’s military says Russia increasingly relying on regular forces after heavy losses to mercenary group in eastern city. This blog is closed