Bakery scent' added via microcapsules to postage stamp celebrating jewel of French culture'The French Post Office has released a scratch-and-sniff postage stamp to celebrate the baguette, once described by President Emmanuel Macron as 250 grams of magic and perfection".The stamp, which costs 1.96, depicts a baguette decorated with a red, white and blue ribbon. It has a print run of 594,000 copies. Continue reading...
In texts received in Spanish and translated to English, the girl tried to describe her location, though she did not know where she wasAuthorities rescued a 17-year old girl after she was trafficked to Ventura county, California, from Mexico two months ago and texted 911 for help.On Thursday, the Ventura county sheriff's office announced that on 9 May authorities rescued the girl after she sent messages to 911. The text message correspondence began with a call taker at a 911 communication center, according to the sheriff's office, which added that the messages were received in Spanish and translated into English. Continue reading...
Young girl was among six people killed in gunfire in an area of Chiapas where shootings have become common and widespreadA mayoral candidate and five other people have been killed when gunmen opened fire at a campaign rally in the violence-racked southern Mexico state of Chiapas.State prosecutors said a young girl was among the six people killed in the gunfire late on Thursday, along with the mayoral candidate Lucero Lopez Maza. Two others were injured, they said. Continue reading...
Libertarian president Javier Milei has slashed public spending as he wrestles to tame hyperinflation, now at 289% annuallyCommuters in Buenos Aires have been hit by an overnight 360% increase in subway fares, in one of the most dramatic price hikes in a harsh budget austerity campaign launched by Argentina's libertarian president, Javier Milei.After weeks of hearings, a judge on Thursday lifted an order that had temporarily blocked the scheduled increase in subway fares. That cleared the way for the change to take effect on Friday morning as office workers across Buenos Aires streamed through the turnstiles of South America's oldest underground metro. Continue reading...
by Anna Bawden Health and social affairs corresponden on (#6MWQX)
Exclusive: Experts call for higher taxes and tougher regulation as research shows cost to NHS, other public services and economyThe cost of alcohol abuse is laid bare in a new study that shows 27bn a year being spent in England on the health and social harms of drinking.The research that found the extra burden on the NHS, social services, the criminal justice system and the labour market cost at least 37% more than in 2003, when comparable research by the Cabinet Office estimated the costs at between 18.5bn and 20bn. Continue reading...
Chancellor also criticised for dodgy dossier' on Labour plans as he aims to make low tax a key election issueJeremy Hunt has been accused of exaggerating the Conservatives' economic record and presenting a dodgy dossier" on Labour's spending plans, as he moved to put low tax at the heart of his party's offer at the next election.The chancellor gave a speech in central London pitching the Conservatives as having helped the UK recover from economic troubles more quickly than expected. He also signalled a further cut to national insurance in the autumn, having already reduced the tax from 12p in the pound to 8p. Continue reading...
Shadow foreign secretary sets out vision for a more strategic, less elitist approach to UK diplomacyThe shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy, says his family history as descendants of enslaved people will inform his work in government, as he seeks to deepen the UK's relations with the global south and the Commonwealth.I will take the responsibility of being the first foreign secretary descended from the slave trade incredibly seriously," he said in a speech setting out how Labour would reform the foreign, commonwealth and development office (FCDO), a Whitehall department that has a reputation for institutional conservatism. Continue reading...
Chancellor seems to cherrypick data as he tries to outline how the Tories have got the country back on its feetJeremy Hunt called a press conference on Friday to outline why the electorate should trust the Conservatives with the economy, but some of his claims appear to have used cherrypicked facts and figures. He gave his speech just over a week after the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, accused the Conservatives of gaslighting" the UK over the state of the economy by presenting too rosy a picture of what is actually going on.Here are some of Hunt's statements on the economy, and some context for his claims. Continue reading...
PC Perry Lathwood handcuffed Jocelyn Agyemang last year over false suspicion of fare evasion in CroydonA Metropolitan police officer who manhandled a woman as she was arrested in front of her son on the false suspicion of fare evasion has been found guilty of assault.PC Perry Lathwood was found guilty of assault by beating after a one-day trial at City of London magistrates court last week. Continue reading...
Israel complains of obscene exploitation' of genocide convention and asks judges to throw out bid to halt Rafah offensiveIsrael on Friday attacked South Africa's case against it in the international court of justice as an obscene exploitation" of the genocide convention, claiming it aimed not to protect Palestinian civilians but to defend Hamas militants.Israel's representatives told the court their country was fighting a war of self-defence it did not want and did not start". They said Israel had made extraordinary" efforts to protect civilians, and had complied with orders from the court to let more aid into Gaza. Continue reading...
Attack on prime minister lifts lid on divided politics of one of the most polarised countries in Europe'On Friday morning, Father Toma stood solemnly in the small Catholic church nestled near a park along the banks of the Danube River in Bratislava.He had seen an increase in visitors since Wednesday's shock shooting of Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico, which has prompted soul-searching among the country's deeply divided society. The priest, who did not wish to give his full name, planned to hold his weekly Sunday service to pray for peace in Slovakia, so that we find mutual respect and understanding". Continue reading...
Kulveer Ranger resigns Tory whip after committee also recommends suspension from House of Lords for three weeksA peer is set to be suspended from House of Lords bars for 12 months after he was found to have bullied and harassed two people while drunk.Kulveer Ranger has resigned the government whip after the House of Lords conduct committee also recommended that he be suspended from the house for three weeks. Continue reading...
The country's foreign ministry said the supply of long range weapons to Ukraine by the UK and US had led to an escalation in the conflictA long-range Ukrainian strike on the Moscow-controlled Belbek airbase in occupied Crimea destroyed three Russian warplanes and a fuel facility near its main runway this week, US commercial satellite company Maxar said.The company cited satellite imagery taken on Thursday as showing that two MiG-31 fighter jets and an Su-27 fighter jet had been destroyed. It said one MiG-29 fighter aircraft also appeared to have been damaged. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#6MWJ0)
History project tells stories about the lives of women who ran B&Bs in MorecambeIt is true that a postwar northern seaside landlady could be direct, insist on full-board guests being back for tea at 5pm or get nothing, and have no plug sockets in case someone had the wild idea of using a hairdryer.But were they the unflinching, arms-folded battleaxes often depicted in popular culture? They generally weren't," said the local historian David Evans. They were firm with their rules but they were fair, they were kind and the important thing for them was that someone enjoyed their holiday and would come back again." Continue reading...
by Amy Sedghi (now) and Caroline Davies (earlier) on (#6MWAZ)
Israel is appearing at international court of justice after South Africa asked it to urgently order end to assault on RafahYemen's Houthis said they downed a US MQ9 drone on Thursday evening over the south-eastern province of Maareb, the group's military spokesperson said on Friday.According to Reuters, the Iran-aligned group said they would release images and videos to support their claim and added that they had targeted the drone using a locally made surface to air missile. Continue reading...
Museum chair George Osborne hails remarkable result' as recovery effort continues with leads on another 100The British Museum has located another 268 items that went missing or were stolen from its storerooms, bringing the total number recovered to 626.About 2,000 items were found last year to be missing or lost, some of which had been sold on eBay. Continue reading...
Adaptation of hit comedy quiz will be aired by CNN on Saturday nights to coincide with presidential electionArch, ironic and understated, Have I Got News for You is the quintessential British comedy quiz, but its creators are hoping that a US version of the show can translate its particular brand of political humour across the Atlantic.A US adaptation of the show will be broadcast by CNN in the autumn, to coincide with the presidential election. It will hit screens on Saturday nights - part of a double-bill with Bill Maher's Real Time. Continue reading...
by Julien Mazzoni in Nouméa with agencies on (#6MW88)
Days of unrest in the French Pacific territory - sparked by a plan to change voting rules - have left five deadTensions remained high in Noumea, the capital of New Caledonia, on Friday after days of riots as the French government's representative said areas of the Pacific territory have escaped" state control.Louis Le Franc, high commissioner of the Republic in New Caledonia, announced new security deployments. The number of police and gendarmes on the island will rise to 2,700 from 1,700 by Friday evening. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#6MWDJ)
Academics' union calls offer a descent into parody' while mosques complain about C of E special treatmentIt is meant to remind Britons of the example set by our ultimate public servant", but a 4.4m government scheme to send out free portraits of Charles III for display in public buildings is not quite going to plan.After first limiting the availability of the oak-framed pictures of the king in his admiral's uniform to courts, schools and police and fire services, the deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, said this week that any jobcentre, university, Church of England church or hospital could also have one. Continue reading...
Exclusive: The director of The Seed of the Sacred Fig details how he discarded electronic devices and fled over the mountains on foot after authorities sentenced him to eight years in prison and floggingIranian director Mohammad Rasoulof escaped imminent imprisonment in Iran by discarding all trackable electronic devices and walking across a mountainous borderland on foot, the film-maker has told the Guardian in an exclusive interview.But even though he has found shelter in Germany and is optimistic about attending next week's Cannes premiere of the film that nearly saw him jailed for eight years, Rasoulof said he still expects to return to his home country quite soon" and sit out his sentence. Continue reading...
Graham King, whose firm is paid 3.5m a day to accommodate arrivals in the UK, listed among country's 350 richest peopleAn Essex businessman who won government contracts paying his firm 3.5m a day for transporting and accommodating asylum seekers has been named among the 350 richest people in the UK.Graham King, the founder and majority owner of a business empire that includes Clearsprings Ready Homes, which won a 10-year Home Office contract for housing thousands of asylum seekers, was on Friday named alongside King Charles III, the prime minister and Sir Paul McCartney on the Sunday Times rich list of the wealthiest people. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#6MWAH)
Exclusive: Royal College of GPs says constitution guarantee would just pile on pressure given loss of 1,000 practices in past 10 yearsSeven in 10 people want to be able to see a GP urgently within 24 hours, research by the NHS's patient watchdog has found.Almost three-quarters (71%) of voters in England support automatic access to a family doctor within one day of requesting an appointment for a health problem they consider cannot wait. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: The shooting of the Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, was the first attempt on the life of a European head of state since 2003 - and reflects a growing polarisation across the continent Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.After a government meeting in the small town of Handlova on Wednesday, the Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico, went to meet local supporters who had gathered in the town centre. There was little separating him and the crowd - just a waist-high metal fence - as people reached out to shake his hand. During this meet-and-greet, a man fired five shots at the prime minister. Fico fell and was quickly bundled away in a black car and taken to hospital, where he spent five hours in surgery. Two days after the attack he remained in stable condition but officials have said that he is not out of the woods yet".Labour | The UK's oil and gas workers risk becoming the coal miners of our generation", Unite's general secretary, Sharon Graham, has warned, urging Labour not to ban new North Sea licences without a clear plan to safeguard jobs.Banking | The number of UK bank branches that have shut their doors for good over the last nine years will pass 6,000 on Friday, and by the end of the year the pace of closures may leave 33 parliamentary constituencies - including two in London - without a single branch.Protest | Activists have accused John Woodcock, the government's independent adviser on political violence, of a conflict of interest, after it emerged that he had lobbying links to arms manufacturers and fossil fuel firm that would benefit from curbs to protesting.UK news | The Lucy Letby inquiry should be broadcast to the public to prevent the spread of grossly offensive" conspiracy theories, lawyers for the families of her victims said. The inquiry, which will begin on 10 September at Liverpool town hall, will examine how the nurse was able to murder babies at the Countess of Chester hospital's neonatal unit in 2015 and 2016.Israel-Gaza war | South Africa has asked the international court of justice (ICJ) to urgently order Israel to end its assault on Rafah, halt its military campaign across Gaza, and let in international investigators and journalists. Continue reading...
NSW police allege Ulises Davila, Kearyn Baccus and Clayton Lewis were involved in a scheme for yellow cards to occur during certain games' in late 2023
by Presented by Helen Pidd with Andy Evans and Adrian on (#6MW80)
It is the NHS's worst treatment disaster - with 30,000 patients infected. Two survivors, Ade Goodyear and Andy Evans, explain why it took so long for it to be brought to lightAde Goodyear was 15 when he was told he had contracted HIV. Like about 30,000 other NHS patients - including more than 300 children - who were given blood transfusions or commercial blood products before 2019, he was infected by contaminated blood. Some patients got HIV and hepatitis C from blood transfusions after childbirth or other medical procedures. Ade was infected with HIV at the medical centre of his school.Pupils at his Treloar's college, which had a specialist haemophilia unit, were among those given injections of a blood plasma product called factor VIII concentrate. Concerns had been raised a decade before by the World Health Organization because it was a commercial product that mixed plasma from tens of thousands of often high-risk donors. If one had an infection such as HIV, it could contaminate the whole batch. Continue reading...
Thirty-three constituencies, including two in London, will not have a single bank branch by the end of the year, says Which?The number of UK bank branches that have shut their doors for good over the last nine years will pass 6,000 on Friday, and by the end of the year the pace of closures may leave 33 parliamentary constituencies - including two in London - without a single branch.The tally is being published by the consumer group Which? as it seeks to make the avalanche" of closures and the disastrous" impact they can have on local communities an election battleground.Barnsley East (estimated population: 94,000)Bolton West (98,000)Bradford South (106,000)Bury South (103,000)Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (102,000)Chatham and Aylesford (103,000)Clwyd South (70,000)Colne Valley (112,000)Dagenham and Rainham (117,000)Denton and Reddish (88,000)Don Valley (99,000)East Worthing and Shoreham (99,000)Erith and Thamesmead (117,000)Glasgow North East (88,000)Liverpool, West Derby (94,000)Mid Bedfordshire (121,000)Mid Derbyshire (83,000)Newport East (84,000)North East Derbyshire (92,000)Nottingham East (98,000)Penistone and Stocksbridge (89,000)Plymouth Moor View (94,000)Reading West (112,000)Rhondda (68,000)Sedgefield (85,000)Sheffield Hallam (85,000)St Helens North (100,000)Stone (86,000)Swansea East (81,000)Warrington North (95,000)Wentworth and Dearne (100,000)Wirral West (68,000)York Outer (92,000) Continue reading...
American Museum of Natural History says Dr Lorenzo Prendini was working on research project and has arrived safely home'A curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York who was detained in Istanbul on Monday while allegedly attempting to smuggle spider and scorpion samples out of Turkey has been released.In statement on Thursday, a spokesperson for the museum said Dr Lorenzo Prendini, curator of arachnida and myriapoda, had arrived back in New York. Continue reading...
Foreign ministry says it will reject all such stopovers because the Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace'Spain has refused permission for a ship carrying arms to Israel to dock at a Spanish port, its foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, said on Thursday.This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port," he told reporters in Brussels. Continue reading...
Lawyers urge international court of justice to issue urgent measures over assault on Gaza's southernmost citySouth Africa has asked the international court of justice (ICJ) to urgently order Israel to end its assault on Rafah, halt its military campaign across Gaza, and allow international investigators and journalists into the territory.In a court hearing, lawyers for South Africa expanded a written request for judges to issue an emergency order to stop the offensive into Rafah, Gaza's southernmost city. Continue reading...
by Martin Pengelly in Washington and agencies on (#6MW05)
Republican congressman travels to New York to support former president and says he is standing back, and standing by'Matt Gaetz echoed Donald Trump's infamous remarks about the far-right Proud Boys on Thursday, as the Florida Republican congressman and other rightwing supporters of the former US presidentattended his criminal trial in Manhattan.Standing back, and standing by, Mr President," Gaetz wrote on social media, with a photo of his group of supporters standing behind Trump outside the court where Trump is on trial on election subversion charges arising from hush-money payments to an adult film star during the 2016 campaign. Continue reading...
Rescue and reform manifesto from Early Education and Childcare Coalition calls for overhaul of modelA manifesto calling for an overhaul of childcare provision in England, including making early education accessible to all children regardless of whether their parents work or not, has been backed by dozens of leading employers and unions.Thirty-five national organisations have joined forces to call for the reform of the current childcare model, including the Federation of Small Businesses, the Early Years Alliance, the Fawcett Society, the Joseph Rowntree Trust, and National Children's Bureau. Continue reading...
European commission vice president, Maro efovi, cites progress on trade and economy for territory but not border checksTalks on a post-Brexit deal to govern the border between Gibraltar and Spain have broken up without an agreement, although both sides insisted a deal was getting closer".David Cameron, the UK foreign secretary, met the European commission vice president, Maro efovi, in Brussels to discuss the British overseas territory on the Iberian peninsula, which has been in limbo since Britain left the EU. Continue reading...
Friends in town of Levice say 71-year-old showed no signs of planning attack, while Slovakian president says climate of hate is collective workMile L'udovit, like other residents of the unassuming grey apartment block on the outskirts of the sleepy central Slovakian town of Levice, considered Juraj Cintula a reliable neighbour and friend.Having lived side by side with him for more than 40 years, L'udovit could never have imagined the 71-year-old former security guard and amateur poet would be suspected of perpetrating the worst political attack in Slovakian modern history - shooting the prime minister multiple times at point-blank range. Continue reading...
Police launch inquiry into incident in church car park on Wednesday evening in village of BalmedieA one-year-old girl has been killed after being hit by a Land Rover in a church car park in Balmedie, north of Aberdeen.Police Scotland launched an investigation into the incident, which happened at 7.45pm on Wednesday in the grounds of Balmedie Congregational church, a Plymouth Brethren church. Continue reading...
Hazel Behan, who says main suspect in Madeleine McCann case raped her in Portugal in 2004, tells court she will never forget his eyesA woman who alleges she was raped at knifepoint by the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has told a court she would never forget the eyes of her attacker, which bored into my skull".Giving evidence in the trial of Christian Bruckner, who stands accused of five sexual assaults in Portugal of women aged between 10 and 80 between 2000 and 2017, Hazel Behan, 40, who was raped in June 2004, told the court: I believe that this man was my attacker." Continue reading...
Adrian Coghill ordered to leave in response to UK expelling Kremlin's attache to London for alleged spyingRussia is expelling Britain's defence attache to Moscow in the latest diplomatic tit for tat, after the UK accused it of sponsoring espionage and hacking attacks against top British officials in a years-long campaign of malign activity".The Russian foreign ministry said it had declared the British defence attache, Adrian Coghill, as persona non grata. He must leave the territory of the Russian Federation within a week." Continue reading...
State of emergency in place because of deadly unrest over bill that will let French people vote in provincial elections after 10 years of residenceHundreds of police reinforcements have arrived in the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia as the government in Paris insisted talks would not happen until calm had been restored.As many as 1,000 extra police and gendarmes are being deployed to bolster the 1,700 strong force already in New Caledonia after three nights of violent riots that have killed five people, including two police officers. Continue reading...
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