by Stefanie Bolzen, Rafael de Miguel, Antonello Guerr on (#63PHV)
UK-based correspondents assess how Britons will deal with political turmoil, Brexit, recession and the loss of the Queen“The days we are living through mark a new beginning. Only time will tell what the post-Elizabethan era will bring. For the moment, what it does feel like is a juggernaut of one too many challenges coming at the same time, a surreal wave. The aftermath of the pandemic, which has left the UK with a lot of scars; Brexit finally being felt in real life, whether on the M2 towards Dover, in my local Sainsbury’s, or in the port of Larne; Russia’s war on Ukraine; a fourth prime minister in six years. And now the death of Elizabeth II, who seemed to many immortal. Continue reading...
Lawyers for accused Bruce Lehrmann, who is pleading not guilty, indicate plans to subpoena police for document as judge warns against ‘chasing’ minor cross-examination points
The late actor opens up about her relationship with DeGeneres in Call Me Anne, a memoir finished shortly before her death, to be released in JanuaryIn a memoir Anne Heche worked on over the past year, the late actor shared candid thoughts on her relationship with Ellen DeGeneres in the late 1990s, when they were among Hollywood’s first openly gay couples.“I was labeled [sic] outrageous because I fell in love with a woman. I had never been with a woman before I dated Ellen,” Heche wrote in Call Me Anne, which Start Publishing will release in January. Continue reading...
Crown prince will reportedly head Saudi delegation but attendance at Queen’s funeral unconfirmedMohammed bin Salman will deliver his country’s condolences to the royal family after the death of the Queen, a source has told the Guardian, but there has been no confirmation about whether he will attend the funeral service at Westminster Abbey.It will be the Saudi crown prince’s first visit to the UK since the murder of the Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018 and the subsequent British imposition of sanctions. These included travel bans on a group of courtiers close to the crown prince due to their alleged involvement in the killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Continue reading...
by Nadeem Badshah (now); Christy Cooney ,Martin Belam on (#63N56)
On the first full day of lying in state, huge queues have formed in LondonThe first mourners to see the Queen lying in state have told how they were overcome with emotion as they paid their respects.Some doffed their hats, others said prayers and shed tears, while one woman said she wanted to sing Ave Maria. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker, Matthew Weaver and Aubrey Allegretti on (#63P3A)
Unite leader deplores prospect of post-Brexit deregulation drive ‘when millions are struggling’Unions have reacted with fury to the prospect of the government scrapping a cap on bankers’ bonuses, as ministers geared up for a return to near-normal politics next week, topped by an emergency mini-budget on Friday.Kwasi Kwarteng, the chancellor, who will set out plans for tax cuts and give more details about the government’s plans to limit rising energy bills, is also considering whether to shed the legacy of an EU-wide cap on bonuses of twice an employee’s salary, imposed after the 2008 financial crash. Continue reading...
Queues form at Bank of England to swap old £20s and £50s before they stop being legal tenderConsumers are racing to exchange their old paper banknotes for new plastic versions, just over a fortnight before they cease to be legal tender at the end of September.The Bank of England has warned people to expect long queues at its headquarters at Threadneedle Street in the City of London as they try to swap paper £20 and £50 notes. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker, Geneva Abdul and Rachel Hall on (#63P3C)
Line nears 5-mile maximum length on first full day of monarch’s flag-draped coffin resting in Westminster Hall• Death of the Queen and King Charles’s accession – latest updatesThe ever-expanding, endlessly patient queue to pay final respects to the Queen was nearing its 5-mile maximum length on Thursday, as yet more people arrived from around the country to join what has become perhaps the defining image of the mourning period.The culture department said the line to file past the flag-draped coffin in Westminster Hall was taking in new entrants in Bermondsey, on the south side of the River Thames, almost at its final capacity point at nearby Southwark Park. Continue reading...
Turmoil continues at businessman’s empire as King & King is investigated by accounting regulatorThe auditor of many of the companies in Sanjeev Gupta’s network of metals companies has resigned from at least five of them, amid an investigation of its work by UK regulators.London-based King & King has resigned as auditor of the companies in Gupta’s GFG Alliance, a sprawling group of firms under his control. Continue reading...
Court case over organisation’s charitable status brought by trans rights group is adjourned after exchangeA co-founder of LGB Alliance was reduced to tears during cross-examination on the definition of the word lesbian on Thursday, prompting the court to adjourn, during a legal challenge to the Charity Commission’s decision to award charitable status to the gay rights organisation.The meaning of the word lesbian has been analysed on several occasions during five days of court hearings triggered by a challenge brought by the children’s trans rights charity Mermaids. Continue reading...
Six men charged over deadly attack on girls, aged 15 and 17, of Dalit casteTwo sisters in Uttar Pradesh have been found raped, murdered and hanging from a tree in the latest incident of sexual violence to shock India.The bodies of the girls, aged 15 and 17, were found suspended from a tree by their shawls near their home in Lakhimpur district on Wednesday afternoon. They belonged to the Dalit caste, the lowest in India’s hierarchical and discriminatory Hindu caste system, which used to deem Dalits as “untouchables”. Continue reading...
Justices lift temporary hold on court order that requires Yeshiva University to recognize group, the YU Pride Alliance, as legal fight continuesThe US supreme court has cleared the way for an LGBTQ+ group to gain official recognition from a Jewish university in New York City, though that may not last.By a 5-4 vote on Wednesday, the justices lifted a temporary hold on a court order that requires Yeshiva University to recognize the group, the YU Pride Alliance, even as a legal fight continues. Continue reading...
Arch-provocateur’s collection split into three with looks for the daytime, the party and the after-partyTom Ford has closed New York fashion week with a collection that doubled down on the singular belief that has underpinned his entire career: few things sell clothes quite like sex.Nine months after cancelling his last show as a result of a Covid outbreak at his atelier, New York’s arch-provocateur turned a former trading floor just beyond the World Trade Center into a full-on disco assault. Hemlines were high, yet somehow the heels were even higher. Good news for fans of Ford glamorama; bad news for anyone hoping to wear the stuff. Continue reading...
Outlook ‘uniquely uncertain’, says Partnership as it announces cost of living support for staffThe John Lewis Partnership has warned its annual staff bonus is at risk this year after it slumped to a first half loss of £99m and said the outlook in the run-up to Christmas was “uniquely uncertain”.The group, which is staff-owned and includes the Waitrose supermarket chain, blamed soaring inflation for the loss in the 26 weeks to 30 July, which compared with a £29m loss before tax in the same period last year. Continue reading...
Senior constable says he has not heard officers use racist slurs but agrees unchecked frustration could lead to generalisations• Warning: This story contains offensive and racist slurs heard in court
Terms under discussion include increasing state’s holding to 50% as pressure on supplies continuesThe embattled gas importer Uniper has entered talks with the German government over a possible nationalisation, the company has said.The terms under discussion would increase the state’s holding in the faltering energy giant to 50%. Continue reading...
Families argued detention in Syria exposed the two women and their children to inhumane treatmentThe European court of human rights has condemned France over its refusal to repatriate French women who travelled to Syria with their partners to join Islamic State and are currently being held with their children at Kurdish-run prison camps.The ruling will be studied closely by other countries who still have citizens detained in camps in north-eastern Syria, including the UK. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti Political correspondent on (#63MA9)
Downing Street says companies will receive backdated payments if scheme is not in place by 1 OctoberBusinesses may face a delay of several weeks in accessing the financial support promised to them by Liz Truss to help ease the burden of spiralling energy bills this winter, Downing Street has admitted.Amid reports that the package for businesses would not be in place by 1 October, the prime minister’s spokesperson said there could be a “delay of weeks” but insisted companies would receive backdated payments. Continue reading...
A third of the country is under water and a UN fund says almost 650,000 women in affected areas need maternity servicesCrying, vomiting and eight months pregnant, the young woman walked in labour pains for an hour in search of an ambulance.When Naseeba Ameerullah, 23, eventually found one, she had to beg the driver to take her. Pakistan’s floods had left the roads damaged and gridlocked, making what is usually a two-hour journey to the provincial capital of Quetta a punishing, 12-hour drive. Continue reading...
While all lawmakers offered condolences to the royal family, several also discussed the monarchy’s fraught and complex historyAs New Zealand’s parliament gathered to pay tribute to the Queen, honours and admiration were mixed with sharp criticism of a monarchy built on “stolen land, stolen resources, and stolen treasure”.On Tuesday, parliament held a special debate to allow politicians of all parties to acknowledge the monarch’s death. While all offered condolences to the royal family for their loss, a number of MPs also discussed the monarchy’s fraught and complex history. Continue reading...
The confidential settlement includes an apology after Nine News Queensland falsely accused the former Liberal National MP of taking an ‘upskirting’ photograph