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DfE says maximum rate will be fixed at 6.3% from September having previously reduced it to 7.3%Ministers have intervened to cut student loan interest rates for the second time this summer as inflation and the cost of living continue to soar.The Department for Education announced on Wednesday that the maximum rate will now be fixed at 6.3% from September. It was already due to be capped at 7.3%, after an intervention by ministers in June to bring it down from the 12% it would have reached by September, based on earlier inflation figures plus 3%. Continue reading...

Event chair Tom Newton Dunn criticised her accusations that journalists ‘framed’ questionsLiz Truss was rebuked for being “cheap” during the latest Tory leadership hustings after she had criticised the media several times.The foreign secretary had accused “some of the media” of trying to “talk our country down” during the event in Darlington and also accused journalists of framing questions in a “leftwing way”. Continue reading...

Fire destroyed 40% of island’s main fuel storage facility over five days and caused blackoutsFirefighters have finally overcame what officials described as the worst blaze in Cuba’s history that over five days destroyed 40% of the Caribbean island’s main fuel storage facility and caused blackouts.Raging flames that ravaged a four-tank segment of the Matanzas super tanker port had died down on Tuesday and the towering plumes of thick black smoke streaming from the area were diminished and now mostly gray. Continue reading...

High blood pressure contributes to around half of all heart attacks and strokes in the UKReplacing regular salt with a salt substitute lowers blood pressure and protects against life-threatening heart conditions, stroke and death from all causes, research suggests.High consumption of salt composed of sodium chloride is known to drive blood pressure up, leading to poor cardiovascular health and posing a major risk of early death. Continue reading...

Sascha, 29, and her six-month-old son, Clay, were noticed to have disappeared from Blackley on SaturdayPolice in Manchester have launched an urgent appeal for help to find a mother and her six-month-old son.Sascha and her child, Clay, were first noticed to be missing from their home in Blackley, a suburban area of the city, at about 4pm last Saturday, Greater Manchester police said. Continue reading...

Cost of living crisis dominates latest Tory hustings as foreign secretary rules out tax rise to fund government helpLiz Truss has said she rejects the “Gordon Brown economics” of helping people directly with bills as her rival, Rishi Sunak, warned the British people “will not forgive us” if vulnerable households do not get extra help this winter.At the latest Conservative hustings, the former chancellor said he would not be prepared to spend sums similar to the help offered earlier this year, and that support should be more targeted. He said: “I don’t think that will be necessary because what we are talking about now … is the extra increase on top of what we thought. Continue reading...

PM makes unexpected intervention as Rishi Sunak criticises Liz Truss for refusal to commit to more handoutsBoris Johnson has waded into the Tory leadership row over energy costs by declaring he is “absolutely certain” his successor will offer further help to households, as annual bills were forecast to top £4,200 by January.Johnson made an unexpected intervention on energy bills at a No 10 reception, as Liz Truss, the frontrunner to be the next prime minister, was accused by Rishi Sunak’s campaign of being “divorced from reality” over her refusal to commit to more handouts. Continue reading...

Singer had been sued by writers of 3LW’s 2000 song Playas Gon’ Play for alleged plagiarism, and the case is due to return to courtTaylor Swift has defended herself as the sole writer of her 2014 hit Shake It Off in response to a lawsuit claiming that she plagiarised lyrics from the 2000 song Playas Gon’ Play by girl group 3LW.“The lyrics to Shake It Off were written entirely by me,” Swift stated in a sworn declaration filed on Monday. “Until learning about Plaintiffs’ claim in 2017, I had never heard the song Playas Gon’ Play and had never heard of that song or the group 3LW.” Continue reading...

Analysis: as Boris Johnson’s immigration proposals face another setback, the home secretary’s position is also in doubtThe decision to halt plans to set up a processing centre for asylum seekers in a small Yorkshire village has raised key questions for the next prime minister.Should they stick with Boris Johnson’s struggling new plan for immigration? And should Priti Patel remain as the home secretary? Continue reading...

Band frontman Shane MacGowan pays tribute to ‘nice guy and great friend’ who died in London on MondayThe Pogues’ bass player Darryl Hunt has died aged 72.The punk group said on Twitter they were “saddened beyond words” to share that Hunt had died on Monday afternoon in London. Continue reading...

Head of region announces death after attack on base deep inside the occupied Crimean peninsula in what is being seen as a significant strike

CWU says action will take place in August and September unless Royal Mail ‘gets real’ with ‘dignified’ riseMore than 115,000 UK postal workers are to stage a series of strikes in the coming weeks in a dispute over pay.The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said it would be the biggest strike of the summer so far to demand a “dignified, proper pay rise”. Continue reading...

Inquiry recommends more civilians be hired to reduce corruption watchdog’s reliance on police

Desertion of RAF Linton-on-Ouse scheme is latest immigration policy climbdown after Truss and Sunak opposed plans

End of restrictions has put paid to some pandemic lifestyle changes but other shifts remain in place, poll showsBritain’s love for green fingers and blackened thumbs during the first Covid lockdown has since evaporated as people again find a “new normal” after the ending of restrictions, a survey suggests.The amount of time people spent gardening and doing DIY soared in March and April 2020, with people spending 40 minutes a day improving their homes and gardens compared with just 15 minutes in 2014-15. But it plummeted back to 20 minutes a day in March 2022, Office for National Statistics data shows. Continue reading...

Takings in Orbetello, Tuscany, down 60% as thousands of midges torment locals and touristsAuthorities in a Tuscan town have urged residents to close their windows and refrain from hanging out washing as they tackle a plague of midges that has been tormenting locals and tourists for weeks.Restaurants and bar owners in Orbetello, well known for its lagoon and long stretches of sandy beach overlooked by Monte Argentario, say business has been badly hit as customers avoid venturing out for dinner. Continue reading...

Mario Fiorentini commanded a group of partisans who fought against Benito Mussolini and Italy’s Nazi occupiersMario Fiorentini, Italy’s most decorated resistance fighter against fascist and Nazi forces during the second world war, has died in a Rome hospital. He was 103.The Rome chapter of the National Association of Italian Partisans announced his death on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Dock workers at vital Suffolk container port offered 7% pay rise and £500 lump sumTalks between the Unite union and the company that runs Felixstowe port, which were aimed at stopping an eight-day strike by dock workers at Britain’s busiest container port, have ended without a deal.Negotiations came to an end despite the company’s new offer of a £500 bonus for each of the 1,900 dock workers, who have already voted in favour of strike action between 21 and 29 August amid a pay dispute with the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company. Continue reading...

Foreign secretary previously said she did not want to give ‘handouts’ to people struggling with cost of livingLiz Truss has doubled down on her refusal to offer significant help to people with soaring energy bills this winter, despite a forecast that these could exceed £4,200 annually from January, and rise further during 2023.Truss, the runaway favourite to succeed Boris Johnson as prime minister next month, has already said she does not want to give “handouts” to people struggling with bills, preferring to prioritise tax cuts. Continue reading...

Investment group goes into red amid ‘market turbulence’ and withdrawal of £24bn linked to cancelled Lloyds dealThe investment group Abrdn plunged into the red in the first half of the year, after being hit by market turmoil and the withdrawal of more than £24bn of assets linked to a cancelled deal with Lloyds Banking Group.Stephen Bird, the chief executive who scrapped the Standard Life Aberdeen brand for a new name last year, said the pre-tax loss of £320m in the six months to June “largely reflected the challenging global economic environment and market turbulence”. The group had reported profits of £113m a year earlier. Continue reading...

Actor says he was diagnosed with vasculitis two years ago but has recovered and the ordeal made him strongAshton Kutcher has said he is “lucky to be alive” after a he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder that he says robbed him of sight, hearing and equilibrium.The actor revealed his diagnosis with vasculitis – an autoimmune disease that inflames the blood vessels – during an episode of Running Wild With Bear Grylls: The Challenge. Continue reading...

Tehran denies Khayyam satellite will be under Russian control, despite reported admission by Moscow

Bernard Jenkin insists investigation will continue despite complaints from prime minister’s allies

Analysis: Conservative contest has featured number of changes and clarifications by Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak

Largest increase is among women aged between 35 and 39, ONS data revealsThe total fertility rate in England and Wales has increased for the first time in a decade, with the largest rise among women aged between 35 and 39, data shows.Women with children have an average of 1.61 each, according to ONS data from 2021, up from 1.58 the previous year. Continue reading...

Extreme heat warning issued for Thursday to Sunday for parts of England and WalesThe UK Met Office has issued an amber warning for extreme heat covering four days from Thursday to Sunday for parts of England and Wales as another heatwave looms.The warning comes as the forecaster predicted 35C in places – below last month’s record temperatures, which peaked above 40C in some spots. Continue reading...

Record high temperatures in the Alps this summer have led to the discovery of two bodies and an aircraft that crashed in 1968Soaring temperatures are prompting Switzerland’s melting glaciers to reveal their secrets, with hikers this summer chancing upon two sets of unidentified human remains and a plane wreckage lost for more than half a century.Two French alpinists found human bones last Wednesday while scaling the Chessjen glacier in the southern canton of Valais, a police spokesperson confirmed on Monday. The skeleton was airlifted from the glacier by helicopter on the same day. Continue reading...

Six people remain missing amid fears of further damage with torrential rain forecast in some parts of the country on WednesdayAt least eight people have died in South Korea after record overnight rainfall hammered the capital Seoul, turning streets into rivers, submerging vehicles and inundating metro stations.Rainfall of more than 100mm an hour was recorded in Seoul, surrounding areas of Gyeonggi province and the port city of Incheon on Monday night, according to the Yonhap news agency. Per-hour precipitation in the Dongjak district surpassed 141.5mm at one point, the heaviest hourly downpour in Seoul for 80 years. Continue reading...

Tough economic realities have pushed campaigns beyond ethnic and personality-driven politicsMillions of Kenyans have been voting in an election that pits the longtime opposition politician Raila Odinga against the vice-president, William Ruto.In Kayole, a poor neighbourhood in the capital, Nairobi, residents woke up to the sound of vuvuzelas and whistles from 4am – a rallying call to get out and vote. Continue reading...

Drop marks end of teacher-led grading following cancellation of exams in 2020 and 2021Pass rates for Scottish pupils have fallen markedly after schools returned to using exams to grade performance for the first time since 2019.This year’s results showed the overall pass rate for Highers, heavily used for students aiming for university, fell from 89.3% in 2020 to 78.9%. The pass rate for National 5s, awarded largely to 16-year-olds, fell from a peak of 89% in 2020 to 80.8%. Continue reading...

Man took jamón from warehouse where he worked, defrauding employers out of €520,000 over six yearsA man in Huelva in southern Spain has been jailed for defrauding his employers out of €520,000 (£439,000) after he stole and resold 7,000 hams.The man, who has not been named, stole the jamón from the curing warehouse where he worked over a period of six years from 2007 to 2013. Although he faced a six-year sentence, it was reduced to 11 months and 29 days because the case took so long to come to trial. Continue reading...

Technical difficulties have led to backlog of unfulfilled orders and stock shortages in store for the bookshop chainHigh street bookshop chain Waterstones has said it is working hard to shift a backlog of unfulfilled orders after a problem with warehouse technical systems led to stock shortages.The retailer, which has more than 300 stores across the UK, upgraded to a new system called Blue Yonder several weeks ago, but it has been struggling to get stock out to shops and fulfil customer orders. Continue reading...

City raises upper limit of penalties for causing disturbance after botellones grow in popularity since CovidBarcelona is clamping down on outdoor drinking parties known as botellones by imposing fines of up to €600 (£506).Until now, fines have ranged from €60-€100, which, if paid within 30 days, are reduced by 75%. Continue reading...

Government urged to announce more support for struggling households as Ofgem price cap expected to rise againPressure is mounting on the government to announce a fresh support package for struggling households as energy bills are now forecast to top £4,200 from January.The consultancy Cornwall Insight said on Tuesday that it expected the energy price cap to reach £4,266 a year for the first three months of next year. Continue reading...

Ruling party steps up rhetoric by suggesting it could unseat European Commision’s Ursula von der LeyenPoland’s national-conservative government has significantly toughened its rhetoric in its rule-of-law standoff with Brussels, threatening to turn “all our cannon” on the European Commission and if necessary build a coalition to unseat its president.If the EU executive “tries to push us against the wall we will have no choice but to pull out all the weapons in our arsenal” and respond “an eye for an eye”, said Krzysztof Sobolewski, the general secretary of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. Continue reading...

Barilaro was not present at 2 June meeting and Petinos says she ‘did not take any action in relation to the matters’ raised by company

Four patients on why they went overseas for dental care due to costs and being unable to obtain treatment locallyPeople in the UK are travelling abroad for dental care as treatment closer to home becomes increasingly inaccessible.Nine in 10 practices in England are not offering NHS appointments to new adult patients amid chronic underfunding and the pandemic. Cuts to funding over the last decade mean that NHS dentistry would require an additional £880m to return to 2010 levels, according to the British Dental Association. Continue reading...

Former US envoy given award at conference now engulfed in row over changes to reproductive rights pledges, while participant list revealed to have included members of group accused of hate speechThe British government presented a vehemently anti-abortion former US envoy with an award for his services to freedom of religion just days before watering down a statement on gender equality to remove commitments to reproductive rights.Sam Brownback, a former governor of Kansas who targeted abortion rights while in office and then became Donald Trump’s ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, was given the award during the international ministerial conference for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) held in London last month. Continue reading...

Western Australia’s Cottesloe and Peppermint Grove the top-earning area while five of the lowest are in regional NSW

Prime minister Sogavare’s office claims country does not have resources to host Pacific Games and an election at same time, raising outcry from opponentsA bill to delay elections in Solomon Islands has been submitted to its parliament, officials said, prompting concern from opposition politicians.Manasseh Sogavare’s government has said it wants to extend parliament until after it hosts the Pacific Games in November 2023, for which China has donated seven stadiums and venues that are being built by Chinese companies. Continue reading...

‘I fear that Australia will in short time be repatriated with the corpse of Mr [Robert] Pether’, say doctors of imprisoned engineer

Tensions high as Taiwan begins live-fire drills and China continues military exercises it started after US speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei last weekChina used its military drills last week to prepare for an invasion of Taiwan, and its anger over US speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit was just an excuse, Taiwan’s foreign minister has said.The minister, Joseph Wu, addressed the media on Tuesday morning, as China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continued with military exercises it began last week, and Taiwan started its own live-fire drills. Wu accused China of “gross violations of international law”. Continue reading...

Spanish-born woman sacked from care home after being unable to prove immigration statusA Spanish-born woman who has lived in England for 45 years is still fighting to secure the right to work in the UK, a year after being sacked from her job in a care home because she was unable to prove she had a valid immigration status.The 46-year-old woman, who arrived in Britain as an 11-month-old baby and who has never left the country, has been trying to secure EU settled status since her employers dismissed her last June, as they enforced post-Brexit right-to-work regulations. Continue reading...

Former judge provides 32 recommendations to improve the state’s crime and corruption watchdog

Organisers say On Your Side set up in response to dramatic rise in hate crime directed towards ESEA people since start of pandemicA free nationwide 24-hour helpline offering support for east and south-east Asian victims of racism and other forms of hate in the UK has been launched.The On Your Side helpline will be run by specialist advisers to provide tailored and culturally sensitive support. Longer-term support from a trained casework advocate will be offered, with case workers helping people understand their rights and direct them to specialist support services. Continue reading...

Queensland police believe the alleged attacker was in a relationship with the woman and are appealing for public information

IFS research shows six in 100 patients would have survived if they had been treated by a similar doctor in LondonOne in 25 people who die of a heart attack in the north-east of England could have survived if the average cardiologist effectiveness was raised to the London level, research shows.The research, undertaken by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), looked at the record of over 500,000 NHS patients in the UK, over 13 years. It highlights the stark “postcode lottery” of how people living in some parts of the country have access to lower quality healthcare. Continue reading...

Feared Gulf Clan has unleashed terror campaign since arrest of leader in May but keen to talk to leftist president Gustavo PetroOne of Colombia’s most feared armed groups has announced a “unilateral” ceasefire in the hopes of entering peace talks with the government of Colombia’s new leftist leader, Gustavo Petro.The Gulf Clan, a notorious drug-trafficking militia, has unleashed a campaign of terror following the May extradition to the US of its leader – Dairo Antonio Úsuga, or “Otoniel”, assassinating dozens of police and holding large swaths of the country hostage. Continue reading...