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Loribelle Spirovski's painting of didgeridoo/yidaki player wins the $5,000 prize decided by the public, with more than 40,000 votes cast

After Wednesday's 8.8 magnitude quake, false claims spread online that Winfrey refused to let the public use a private road in Maui - and not for the first timeEven as the threat of a tsunami swamping Hawaii had passed on Wednesday, social media posts were still circulating claims that Oprah Winfrey had refused immediate access to a private road that would allow residents a shorter evacuation route.The warnings followed one of the century's most powerful earthquakes, an 8.8 magnitude quake that struck off a Russian peninsula and generated tsunami warnings and advisories for a wide swath of the Pacific. Posts on X and TikTok contended Winfrey refused to open her private road, or was slow to do so during the evacuation. Continue reading...

Technology will now be used up to 10 times a week across five days, up from four times a week across two daysBritain's biggest police force is to more than double its use of live facial recognition to up to 10 deployments a week.The move by the Metropolitan police comes as it restructures to cover the loss of 1,400 officers and 300 staff amid budget shortages. Continue reading...

Government drive to support small business will include startup loans for 69,000 companies worth 4bnKeir Starmer has warned businesses who persistently delay payments to their suppliers that it is time to pay up" as the government prepares to impose fines and penalties on repeat offenders.In what Labour has billed as the toughest crackdown on late payments in a generation, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will say on Thursday that the changes will slash a cost to the economy that has escalated to 11bn a year. Continue reading...

Aid agencies, governments and UN's food security monitor report evidence of worsening starvation, particularly among under-fivesHumanitarian experts and doctors are warning that children, elderly people and those with pre-existing health conditions are most at risk of famine in Gaza.Pro-Israeli activists and Israel's foreign ministry have tried to challenge the veracity of shocking pictures that have appeared in the international media, despite widespread and well-documented evidence of growing and worsening famine under conditions of Israeli restrictions on aid. Continue reading...

Mexican president said citizens held at controversial Florida immigration jail should be repatriated immediately'Mexico's president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said that the country is demanding the repatriation of at least 30 of its citizens currently being held in the controversial Florida immigration detention center known as Alligator Alcatraz".The Mexican leader said on Wednesday that a note had been sent to US authorities demanding that any Mexicans who might enter this detention center should be repatriated immediately". Continue reading...

Ruling dashes hopes of campaigners who argue booths are stressful and stigmatising for pupilsThe high court has upheld the use of isolation booths by schools in England, dashing the hopes of campaigners who argue they are stressful and stigmatising for pupils.A judge turned down an application for a judicial review of the use of isolation booths at a secondary school in Leeds, noting that there are few alternatives other than suspension and that behaviour in two of the three cases submitted showed signs of improvement. Continue reading...

Restaurant Le Violon confirms former Canadian prime minister and singer visited but saw no signs of PDA'Justin Trudeau and Katy Perry were seen dining together in Montreal this week.A communications consultant for the restaurant Le Violon confirmed that the former Canadian prime minister and the singer spent about two hours at the fine-dining spot on Monday evening. Photos of the meetup published by TMZ led to speculation of a budding romance. Continue reading...

Alleged driver in car rampage that killed six and injured 300 people sends at least five survivors appeals for forgiveness'The suspect in a deadly car ramming at a packed German Christmas market has written to victims of the rampage in letters sent to their homes with agitated appeals for forgiveness", triggering outrage from recipients.A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office in the state of Saxony-Anhalt confirmed that at least five people injured in the December attack in Magdeburg that killed six people, including a six-year-old child, had received correspondence this month from the Saudi doctor Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, who is in pretrial detention in Berlin. Continue reading...

People in Guam and Japan move to higher ground, while highways in Hawaii busy as residents leave for safe areas

Is Labor's VicGrid bill really as alarming as some believe and what does it mean for property owners?

Derelict property built for textile designer Bernat Klein in 1972 goes for 279,000 after starting price of 18,000A coalition of design and conservation charities has won an auction to buy a threatened modernist building in the Scottish Borders after a fiercely contested bidding battle.The group, headed by the National Trust for Scotland, paid a final hammer price of 279,000 for the Bernat Klein Studio near Selkirk in an online auction on Wednesday morning. The final price of the property, which has lain unused and derelict for more than 20 years, could be in the region of 336,000. Continue reading...

Emily Damari was held captive by Hamas for more than 15 months and says decision risks rewarding terror'A British-Israeli woman who was held hostage by Hamas for more than 15 months has accused Keir Starmer of moral failure" after he set the UK on course to recognise a Palestinian state.Emily Damari, 29, who was released in January, said the prime minister was not standing on the right side of history" and should be ashamed. Continue reading...

Huda Ammori argued that home secretary's decision to proscribe group under terrorism laws was abuse of power'The co-founder of Palestine Action can bring a legal challenge to the home secretary's decision to ban the direct action group under anti-terrorism laws, a high court judge has ruled.Lawyers for Huda Ammori argued at a hearing in London last week that the proscription of Palestine Action, placing it on a par with groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram, was repugnant" and an authoritarian and blatant abuse of power". Continue reading...

The prime minister resists demands for more sanctions as clamour grows to follow UK and France in recognising Palestine

Concerns about chancellor's involvement in independent process over fintech's banking licenceThe governor of the Bank of England blocked a meeting that Rachel Reeves tried to secure with watchdogs and Revolut, amid concerns the chancellor was meddling in an independent process over the fintech's UK banking licence.Andrew Bailey intervened after learning of the plan to bring together representatives from Revolut, the Treasury and the Bank's regulatory arm, the Prudential Regulation Authority, to discuss the fintech's ambitions to become a fully authorised UK bank. Continue reading...

Home Office to move 445 more people to MDP Wethersfield site, scene of previous anti-migrant protestsThe Home Office is increasing the number of asylum seekers accommodated at a controversial military base by more than 50%.There are about 800 asylum seekers housed at the remote former RAF base MDP Wethersfield in Essex and the Home Office is moving in 445 more. Continue reading...

As regulator for Great Britain launches review, it warns of upgrade of energy networks creating winners and losers'Britain's clean energy future risks creating winners and losers" if lower-income households are not shielded from the costs added to energy bills to pay for it, the head of the energy regulator has said.Jonathan Brearley, Ofgem's chief executive, said a systematic approach" to sharing the rising costs of the government's green power ambitions was needed to avoid poorer households facing soaring monthly payments. Continue reading...

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There's no convincing argument for the RBA not to cut interest rates on 12 August as economists say they are acting as a break on the economy

In today's newsletter: As Keir Starmer announces caveated plans to recognise the Palestinian state, and UN-backed experts say the worst-case scenario' is under way, is opening the borders to allow aid in the only hope?Good morning. Humanitarians are running out of words to describe the horrors taking place in Gaza. The small strip of land has been brutalised, with all institutions that sustain life - from hospitals to schools - either completely destroyed or barely functioning. Now, the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) warns that the worst-case scenario of famine is now unfolding in the Gaza Strip."Thousands of children are malnourished and hunger-related deaths on the rise, particularly among the youngest. It is worth noting this is not a formal designation of famine in Gaza, and formal designations are incredibly rare and have only taken place a handful of times in the 21st century: in Somalia in 2011, in South Sudan in 2017 and 2020, and in Sudan in 2024.Asia-Pacific | A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake has triggered a series of tsunami warnings and evacuation orders across Japan, the US and parts of the Pacific, after the shallow quake hit near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.Israel-Gaza war | A group of high-profile Israeli public figures, including academics, artists and public intellectuals, has called for crippling sanctions" to be imposed by the international community on Israel, amid mounting horror over its starvation of Gaza.Labour | Jeremy Corbyn has accused the Labour government of appeasing" Reform UK by scapegoating" migrants and minorities for its own domestic policy failures, saying his new leftwing political party would take on Nigel Farage instead.Economy | Global growth will be stronger than previously expected this year after Donald Trump scaled back his most extreme tariff threats, the International Monetary Fund said as it upgraded the economic outlook for 2025.UK news | Five women who were abused as children by Rotherham grooming gangs were also raped by police officers when they were as young as 12 years old, they have claimed. Continue reading...

Police say arrest a significant step forward' in investigation into December 2024 fire at Adass Israel Synagogue

From the Balfour declaration of 1917 to Tony Blair's role as envoy, the UK has struggled to make meaningful progress towards peace in the Middle EastThe former British prime minister Harold Macmillan once said that there was no problem in the Middle East because a problem has a solution. Keir Starmer is the latest incumbent in No 10 to try to prove Macmillan wrong through a plan that has been described by Downing Street as pathway to peace" for Gaza and the wider region. The record of Britain's previous interventions do not augur well. Continue reading...

University to bend to administration demands but says it currently won't share records of staff in student-only rolesHarvard University said on Tuesday that it will comply with the demands of Donald Trump's administration to turn over employment forms for thousands of university staff, but for the time being was not sharing records for those employed in roles only available to students.In an email to university employees sent on Tuesday, Harvard said that earlier this month it received a notice of inspection and a related subpoena from the Department of Homeland Security, seeking to inspect the I-9, or Employment Eligibility Verification, forms and supporting documentation for university employees. Continue reading...

Reintroduction of spit hoods in youth detention centres defended by territory government, almost 10 years after they were banned

Findings suggest e-cigarettes increasingly act as gateway' to nicotine for children, undermining earlier falling ratesA third of UK teenagers who vape will go on to start smoking tobacco, research shows, meaning they are as likely to smoke as their peers were in the 1970s.A long-term intergenerational study found that the likelihood of starting to smoke among people aged 17 in 2018 was about 1.5% if they did not vape compared with 33% if they did. Continue reading...

Cabinet agrees to support Middle East roadmap at emergency meeting called amid humanitarian crisis in GazaThe UK will formally recognise the state of Palestine this September as a result of the increasingly intolerable" situation on the ground in Gaza, unless Israel abides by a ceasefire and commits to a two-state solution in the Middle East.Keir Starmer's cabinet has agreed a roadmap for peace in the region after coming under intense domestic pressure over the mounting humanitarian crisis in the territory, and calls to follow France in acknowledging statehood. Continue reading...

Music mogul to be sentenced in October on prostitution-linked offenses after acquittal on more serious chargesThe music mogul Sean Diddy" Combs is asking a judge to free him on a $50m bond while he awaits sentencing in October after a jury found him not guilty of the most serious federal charges he faced earlier this month.In a court filing on Tuesday, Combs's lawyer argued that conditions at the Metropolitan detention center in Brooklyn were dangerous, noting that others convicted of similar prostitution-related offenses were typically released before sentencing. Continue reading...

Horizon Europe is among the most prestigious science research programmes in the worldThe European Commission has proposed partly suspending Israel from its flagship 80bn Horizon science research programme over the severe" humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where food security experts say famine is now under way.It comes amid worldwide condemnation of Israel's actions in Gaza, including demands by Donald Trump that it must do more to stop the real starvation". On Tuesday, the leading international authority on food crises, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, said the worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out" in Gaza. Continue reading...

The PM is to lead recognition of a Palestinian state - a good day for him, the UK and the starving people of GazaWhat a difference a week makes. Last Tuesday, Keir Starmer batted away all invitations to recognise the state of Palestine. It wasn't happening. Keir was committed to being appalled by the situation in Gaza but not appalled enough to do anything about it.He then received a letter from more than 250 MPs, including some cabinet ministers, later in the week begging him to recognise the state of Palestine. He still stonewalled. The time was not yet right. Continue reading...

Three former South Yorkshire police officers arrested in investigation into claims by the women, as young as 12 at the timeFive women who were abused as children by Rotherham grooming gangs were also raped by police officers when they were as young as 12 years old, they have claimed.In one case a girl who reported the abuse after being put under pressure by the gang to have an illegal abortion was left destroyed" when an officer who had allegedly raped her turned up to interview her, she told the BBC. Continue reading...

Former Labour leader says his new party will inspire hope, not fear, and promises to reset broken' political system

Results found four in 10 students performed below expectations in grammar and punctuation, indicating they struggled to recognise verbs and pronouns in sentences

It is critical that specialist family violence services make contact and offer support to people who use violence in a timely manner,' coroner says

Pascal Soriot refuses to be drawn, however, on reports AZ could move its main stock market listing across the AtlanticAstraZeneca's chief executive has hailed the vital importance of the US" to the British drugmaker, days after announcing a $50bn (37bn) investment in the country at a time when Donald Trump's threatened tariffs are looming over the sector.Pascal Soriot, who leads Britain's most valuable company, refused to comment, however, on recent media reports that AstraZeneca is considering moving its main stock market listing from the UK to the US. Continue reading...

Pharma group names Maziar Mike Doustdar as new CEO as it seeks to convince investors it is not lagging behind rival Eli Lily

Regulator to extend paths from London for private operators despite capacity concerns and impact on state-funded services

IPC alert reports mounting evidence of widespread starvation and says worst-case scenario' is playing out

Margherita Della Valle challenged at company's AGM by one of 62 former store operators involved in lawsuit

People like David Clune have been saved by medical breakthroughs, but many still don't know the risks or can't access doctors

Oil lamp fragments point to presence of previously unknown Jewish population in Ibero-Roman town of CastuloSeventeen centuries after they last burned, a handful of broken oil lamps could shed light on a small and long-vanished Jewish community that lived in southern Spain in the late Roman era as the old gods were being snuffed out by Christianity.Archaeologists excavating the Ibero-Roman town of Castulo, whose ruins lie near the present-day Andalucian town of Linares, have uncovered evidence of an apparent Jewish presence there in the late fourth or early fifth century AD. Continue reading...

Research notes lack of interventions for perimenopausal women despite finding that hot flushes and night sweats can be as severe as for those of menopause

Dinsmore will join Whitehall as civil servant in top communications role after reportedly impressing Starmer during interviewA former editor of the Sun will take up a senior communications role at the heart of government.David Dinsmore, editor of the tabloid from 2013 to 2015, will be a civil service appointment rather than a political adviser, tasked with improving the government's communications operation. The role is separate to the No 10 director of communications. Continue reading...

Police say only one set of human remains found after Alison Hernandez told meeting dead bodies' recovered from siteA police and crime commissioner has apologised for claiming that multiple human remains had been discovered in woodland in Cornwall at the centre of a murder investigation.Alison Hernandez told a meeting of the Devon and Cornwall police and crime panel that dead bodies" had been found at Sticker, near St Austell, and investigations were continuing to establish exactly how many. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Rayner and Cooper understood to back action as 221 MPs sign letter calling for UK recognition of statehoodKeir Starmer is under intense pressure from his most senior cabinet ministers and more than a third of MPs to move faster on recognising a Palestinian state in response to Israel withholding aid to starving civilians in Gaza.Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, are understood to be among ministers who believe the government should take the lead on Palestinian statehood alongside France. Continue reading...

Lawyer says Epstein associate answered every single question ... honestly, truthfully and to the best of her ability'The deputy US attorney general, Todd Blanche, held a second in-person meeting on Friday with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex trafficker and longtime associate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Blanche had confirmed the two met behind closed doors in Tallahassee, Florida, on Thursday, at the federal prosecutor's office within the federal courthouse in the state capital, and they met again on Friday. Continue reading...

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An inquest into the former England cricketer's death last year has recorded a conclusion of suicideThere were failings" in the provision of former England cricketer Graham Thorpe's care in the months before he died, a coroner has said, as a conclusion of suicide was recorded at an inquest.Thorpe, 55, died on 4 August 2024 after being struck by a train at a railway station in Surrey. Continue reading...

Picket-line turnout on first day of industrial action believed to be lower with hope of less disruption to NHS servicesThousands fewer resident doctors are thought to have joined picket lines on Friday during the first day of a five-day strike compared with last year's mass turnout.Although NHS England will only publish data on turnout and cancellations next week, hospital leaders are understood to have observed fewer resident doctors (previously known as junior doctors) on strike and less disruption to services than during the last round of industrial action, which ran from March 2023 until July 2024. Continue reading...

US president says Europe wants to make a deal very badly' but claims there is only 50-50 chance. This live blog is now closedSeparately, Reuters reported that Elon Musk's Starlink systems used by Ukrainian military units were down for two and a half hours overnight, a senior commander said, part of a global issue that disrupted the satellite internet provider.Starlink experienced one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline, the agency reported.I have not communicated with Ursula von der Leyen in recent days. Everything that was written about it, everything that she allegedly told me, is a fake. We did not have a conversation." Continue reading...