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Labour condemns business secretary’s proposed powers over fire, ambulance and other public servicesThe business secretary, Grant Shapps, will be able to decide statutory minimum service levels for a string of public services, in terms of a new anti-strike bill condemned by Labour as likely to increase stoppages.Unveiling details of the proposed law, Shapps said ministers would consult during the progress of the bill on what minimum services levels would be required for fire, ambulance and transport services, including rail. Continue reading...

Former kickboxer was arrested, along with his brother, on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime groupA Romanian court is hearing Andrew Tate’s appeal against his detention and is expected to rule on Tuesday whether the controversial former kickboxer, influencer and professed misogynist must stay in jail, pending an organised crime investigation.Tate, 36, his brother Tristan, 34, and two Romanian female suspects were arrested by prosecutors on 29 December on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group to exploit women. Both men have denied wrongdoing. Continue reading...

Nearly half of Londoners hold degree or similar qualification compared with under 30% in north-east EnglandThere are stark regional differences in the level of qualifications of people in London and south-east England compared with parts of the north, according to census data.The new figures from the Office for National Statistics reveal the continuing divide between England’s north and south, with nearly half (46.7%) of people in London holding a degree or similar qualification (level 4 or above) compared with less than a third (28.6%) of those in the north-east. The figure is 35.8% for the south-east. Continue reading...

11-year-old shot dead in Antwerp believed to be victim of rival drug gangs as cocaine seizures hit record highBelgian politicians have expressed outrage over the fatal shooting of an 11-year-old girl in Antwerp in a “drug war” between rival gangs, as authorities said cocaine seizures at the city’s port passed the 100-tonne mark for the first time last year.Figures showing an unprecedented interception of cocaine at Antwerp, Europe’s second largest port, were released on Tuesday, as shock reverberated over the death of the girl. The child, who was hit in a shooting in the Merksem district on Monday evening was described by the city’s mayor, Bart de Wever, as the innocent victim of a drugs war. Continue reading...

Industry hopes China’s reopening might bring wider benefits for travellers with more airfare price competition

The cost of sorting and transporting waste comes as charitable groups see a surge in the number of people needing their help

Taxpayers could save more than $25m a year if parole granted, says peak body on homeless, urging more be spent on social housing

Almost half of deaths occur in babies’ first month and most could be prevented with better healthcare according to campaignersFive million children worldwide died before their fifth birthday in 2021, with almost half (47%) dying during their first month, according to new UN figures.Most of the deaths could have been prevented with better healthcare, say campaigners, adding that deaths among newborn babies haven’t reduced significantly since 2017. Continue reading...

Leighane Melsadie Redmond and three-year-old Melsadie Adella-Rae Parris died at Taplow station in 2019A bereaved mother has said she repeatedly raised concerns about the mental health of her daughter who died after jumping in front of a train with her three-year-old.Yvette Redmond sought help for Leighane Melsadie Redmond by taking her to A&E, calling 111 and going to her GP. Leighane, who was suffering from psychosis, and her daughter, Melsadie Adella-Rae Parris, died at Taplow station in Buckinghamshire on 18 February 2019. Continue reading...

UK says most of Ukrainian saltmine town near Bakhmut is in Russian hands after intensive fighting

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up wholesale prices of gas and oilThe average UK price for a litre of petrol has fallen below 150p for the first time since the outbreak of war in Ukraine.The AA said that a litre of petrol typically cost 149.74p on Monday, its lowest since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, when it averaged 149.67p a litre. Continue reading...

House of the Vettii features ornate and erotic friezes – and a fresco of the god Priapus with a huge phallusAn ornate house – containing a fresco featuring a huge phallus – that was owned by two freed men freed from slavery in the ancient city of Pompeii has reopened to the public.The House of the Vettii was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD74 before being rediscovered in a largely preserved state during excavations in the late 19th century. Continue reading...

The 40-foot yacht had been left to drift at sea after its rudder snapped and crew were rescued by water police

Rain and flood warnings issued for much of Wales and western parts of England and ScotlandSome homes and businesses could be flooded in parts of the UK on Tuesday, forecasters have warned.The Met Office has issued three yellow warnings for “persistent heavy rain” throughout the day, covering much of Wales and north-west England. Continue reading...

Matthew Taylor says PM has delayed putting in place many of measures in 2019 manifesto

Chief executive told workers to treat ‘Monday through Thursday as in-person workdays’, according to emailDisney’s boss has told employees who are working from home to return to the office four days a week from the start of March, according to reports.Bob Iger, the chief executive, said hybrid workers will be asked to treat “Monday through Thursday as in-person workdays”, according to an email seen by CNBC, which first reported the news. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Council says only one competitive bid for central government money has been successful in six yearsRishi Sunak’s boast to Tunbridge Wells residents that he diverted public funds from deprived urban areas to help those such as the affluent Kent borough has been rubbished by local leaders.The prime minister was told by the council this had “not been our lived experience” and only one competitive funding bid by the council for a pot of central government money had been successful in the past six years. Continue reading...

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About 250,000 Afghan asylum seekers have arrived in Pakistan since August 2021, but a migrant crackdown has left many of them in fear of being jailed or deportedMore than 600 Afghans have been deported from Pakistan in the past three days, and hundreds more face expulsion in a renewed crackdown on migrants.On Saturday, 302 people were sent back to Afghanistan from Sindh province and 303 on Monday, including 63 women and 71 children. A further 800 people are expected to be deported in the coming days. Continue reading...

Those of working age who die are twice as likely to spend final year of life in poverty, says charityTerminally ill people are calling on the UK government to start paying their state pensions early so they can enjoy what is left of their lives and tackle a “cost of dying” crisis.People of working age who are unlikely to survive long enough to claim their state pension say the change would cost little more than the amount lost each year to erroneous pension payouts by the Department for Work and Pensions. Continue reading...

Fresh violence breaks out in southern region, as Boluarte says she cannot agree to key demands of protestersAt least 17 people have been killed in fresh clashes between protesters and security forces in Peru as rolling anti-government protests turned deadly again, pushing the overall death toll to nearly 40 in the nationwide unrest after the ousting and arrest of former president Pedro Castillo a month ago.Monday’s bloodshed took place near the airport in the city of Juliaca in the southern region of Puno, as demonstrators fought running battles with police. Social media images showed gunshots wounds and clouds of smoke as protesters threw stones using slings and used metal plates as shields. Continue reading...

Daniel Duggan’s solicitor says case is an arbitrary prosecution brought about as US entered a geopolitical contest with China

Ex-army captain Tanya Brady, 49, died in Hampshire in April after animal became ‘spooked’A former rower for Team GB and army captain was killed after she was thrown from her horse, an inquest has heard.Tanya Brady, 49, died at the scene of the accident in Liss, Hampshire, on 28 April last year after the horse was spooked and began running out of control. Continue reading...

Legislation may be brought forward in ‘coming weeks’ to help reunite animals that have been run over with ownersMillions of cat owners could be forced to microchip their pets as legislation to make it a legal requirement is expected to be brought forward in the “coming weeks”.The long-awaited proposals could soon be brought to parliament as MPs considered a petition on requiring drivers to stop when they run over a cat, according to the transport minister, Richard Holden. Continue reading...

Australia’s leading universities say redesign of how students are assessed is ‘critical’ in the face of a revolution in computer-generated text

Pair named in reports as Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry said to have been travelling from Kramatorsk to SoledarTwo British men have gone missing in Ukraine, the Foreign Office has said.The families of both UK nationals were being supported after they disappeared, according to a statement released on Monday. Continue reading...

Sunday’s insurrection by supporters of far-right ex-president was organised first on private messaging networks, experts sayThe role of social media platforms and messaging apps in Sunday’s political violence in Brasília is under the spotlight after experts highlighted their use by Jair Bolsonaro supporters to question the presidential election result and organise the protests.Facebook and Instagram’s owner, Meta, has said it will take down content that praises the storming of government buildings in Brazil’s capital, amid claims that tech firms had not done enough to head off the attacks or quell disinformation. Continue reading...

Duke tells Good Morning America ‘she would be heartbroken that it’s ended up where it’s ended up’ ahead of Spare releasePrince Harry believes his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, would be “heartbroken” at the rift that has developed between him and his older brother William, the heir to the crown.“I think she would be sad … I think she would be heartbroken that it’s ended up where it’s ended up,” Harry told ABC’s Good Morning America show on Monday morning, in commenting on the breakdown in his relationship with the royal family and William in particular. Continue reading...

Call for closures from water safety researchers comes as police search for woman missing in far north Queensland waterway

SS paraphernalia and an album of 500 photos from concentration camps which sold for $25,000 among items at Queensland auction

Unions and industry leaders to meet ministers in attempt to break deadlockThe RMT leader, Mick Lynch, said ministers should “stop play-acting” and end the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions on the railway, before a meeting in Whitehall on Monday.Rail unions and industry leaders were to meet ministers in an attempt to break the deadlock, on the first day in almost a month that the railways have not been disrupted by industrial action. Continue reading...

Market attack leaves at least two people dead; Ukrainian forces holding positions in Bakhmut under heavy attack, says Zelenskiy

Joe Biden says situation in Brazil is ‘outrageous’ as presidents across South America denounce ‘assault on democracy’Joe Biden said the situation in Brazil was “outrageous” after supporters of the former president Jair Bolsonaro invaded the country’s congress, presidential palace and supreme court on Sunday, with some senior US lawmakers calling for the far-right figure to be extradited from the US.Biden’s words of condemnation were echoed by world leaders across the globe, including some of Brazil’s closest neighbours. Continue reading...

‘Atmospheric river’ has brought heavy rainfall to major west coast cities, and more is expected in the coming daysThe US has seen various types of severe weather in recent weeks, with much of the country bearing the brunt of a winter freeze. However, California has been subject to relentless rain since the turn of the year and there is little sign of this easing over the coming week. This “atmospheric river” has brought successive areas of low pressure and exceptional rainfall to major cities on the west coast, with San Francisco seeing more than 250mm (10 inches) of rain over a 10 day period up to 4 January.The resulting floods have already caused at least six deaths this year. Much of the precipitation has fallen as snow over the Sierra Nevada, with depths in the mountain range double what would be expected in early January. Continue reading...

Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows series of punitive steps against Palestinians since Israel’s hardline government took officeIsrael’s national security minister has ordered police to ban Palestinian flags from public places in the latest crackdown by the country’s new hardline government.Itamar Ben-Gvir’s order follows a series of other punitive steps against the Palestinians since taking office late last month. Continue reading...

Media council reports progress under progressive stance of President Suluhu following years of repression by former regimeThe number of journalists being censured for their work in Tanzania has fallen slightly, raising hopes that press freedom is improving in the country.Last year, 17 “press violations”, which include threats, arrests, denial of access to information and equipment seizures, were reported in the east African nation, the Media Council of Tanzania told the Guardian. This compares with 25 in 2021 and 41 in 2020. Continue reading...

New scheme for companies, charities and public sector organisations to offer discount on wholesale pricesThe chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, is poised to announce a cut to the financial support offered to businesses to help with their energy bills.A new scheme to provide support for businesses, charities and public sector organisations at a less generous level than the current scheme is expected to be presented in the House of Commons on Monday. Continue reading...

Union chief welcomes hour-long meeting with ministers on Monday but says ‘months have been wasted’

Vice-chancellor says 26 January is seen as Invasion Day by First Nations colleagues and we should ‘be clear about what we’re celebrating’

The development marks an important step in addressing the continent’s reliance on imported treatments and vaccinesThe first Moroccan-produced tests to diagnose breast cancer and leukaemia will become commercially available within months, cutting costs and waiting times for patients in the country and across Africa.Most of the diagnostic kits for cancer and other diseases in Africa are expensive imports from outside the continent, usually from Europe and the US. Continue reading...

Data from the health commission for central Henan suggests 88 million people in the province may have had the virusAlmost 90% of people in China’s third most populous province have now been infected with Covid-19, a top local official has said, as the country battles an unprecedented surge in cases.Kan Quancheng, director of the health commission for central Henan province, told a press conference that “as of January 6, 2023, the province’s Covid infection rate is 89%”. Continue reading...

Election results elsewhere have boosted Nicolás Maduro but humanitarian crisis is far from overAs Venezuela crumbled and its people began to starve, pastor Jesús Campo founded a sanctuary for hunger-stricken refugees across the border in Brazil. He called it Vila Esperança – the Village of Hope. More than 7 million Venezuelans have fled their country’s economic meltdown in recent years and scores of them found shelter in his ramshackle shantytown in the border town of Pacaraima, cobbling huts together from recycled wood, scrap metal and mud.But a decade after Vila Esperança was born on a hilltop near the frontier, Campo sees cause for optimism once again – this time back in his decaying homeland. “Little by little, our country is rising up,” the 76-year-old preacher said one recent morning as he sat in a shack built from black plastic and branches. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Labour analysis of DfE figures comes as party hopes to shift political focus to educationNearly a third of teachers who qualified in the last decade have since left the profession, according to Labour analysis that has been released as the party attempts to shift the political focus on to education.With the results of strike ballots by teaching unions due in the coming days, Labour intends to use a Commons vote this week to push their plan to impose VAT on private school fees, which they say would help pay for new teachers in the state sector. Continue reading...

Study finds drivers spending up to a fifth of pre-tax income on running a car as lack of infrastructure deters people from cyclingMillions of Britons are trapped in transport poverty owing to a lack of alternatives to car ownership, with some spending nearly a fifth of their pre-tax income keeping a car on the road, a study has found.Those who own a car spend on average 13% of their gross income on it, above the 10% generally seen as the indicator of transport poverty. For those paying for their car with a finance or loan deal this proportion rises to 19%. Continue reading...

Government report prompts calls for better oversight to stop inappropriate practices at youth organisationsA government report has identified multiple safeguarding risks at “out-of-school settings” (OOSS), which include sports clubs, tuition centres and uniformed youth groups attended by millions of children across England every week, prompting calls for better oversight of the sector.Some children were judged to be in “immediate danger” due to unsafe premises, unchecked staff and inappropriate practices, including verbal abuse, physical chastisement, inappropriate sexual behaviour, grooming and reports of child sexual abuse. Continue reading...

Managers have embraced hybrid working but many still think long hours are needed for career progressManagers no longer stigmatise flexible working, believing it results in improved productivity – though long hours are still seen as essential for career progress, research suggests.Managers are more positive about flexible working than they have ever been, with three-quarters believing that it increases productivity and 62.5% considering that it boosts motivation, according to a survey of 597 managers across the UK by the Equal Parenting Project at the University of Birmingham. Continue reading...

But market is unlikely to have bottomed out, with further cash rate increases from 3.1% likely to continue driving prices lower in 2023

President tours scene of riot and orders federal government to take control of policing in capital Brasília as extremists refuse to accept his presidencyBrazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has toured the wreckage of his presidential palace after an extraordinary day of political violence in the capital, Brasília, saw thousands of far-right extremists run riot through the country’s democratic institutions in a failed attempt to overthrow his week-old government.The massed attack by supporters of the ex-president Jair Bolsonaro was a stunning security breach that was immediately compared to the 6 January invasion of the US Capitol by followers of Donald Trump in 2021. Continue reading...

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Percy Lovett alleges a breach of human rights in a civil claim filed in state’s supreme court