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Appearing alongside Evans on BBC spin-off show It Takes Two, Jones insists incident was a silly joke'The professional dancer Katya Jones has defended her Strictly Come Dancing partner, Wynne Evans, saying he has been portrayed as someone he is not" after an incident during Saturday's show when she moved his hand from her waist.Appearing on BBC spin-off show It Takes Two on Monday alongside Evans, Jones said she wanted to get something out of the way that I feel overshadowed our performance for absolutely no reason". Continue reading...

Estimated 500 rejected cases expected to be overturned after fresh evidence they were employed by the UK government in AfghanistanAn estimated 500 elite Afghan soldiers who fought alongside the British are expected to become eligible to come to the UK after a previous decision rejecting their applications was overturned.Fresh information has been discovered in about a quarter of the 2,000 rejected cases proving that the at-risk veterans were paid and employed by the UK government in Afghanistan, despite previous claims that no such evidence existed. A review had been launched by the Conservatives in February. Continue reading...

Talks will trigger six weeks of due diligence to ensure Dovid Efune is suitable to acquire the Daily and Sunday papersThe New York Sun owner, Dovid Efune, has begun exclusive talks to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph for about 550m.Efune, a former editor of the New York-based Jewish publication the Algemeiner Journal, made the highest bid to buy the newspapers last month. Continue reading...

Rebekah Morris died in Leicestershire in July 2022 with injuries consistent with hoof marks', forensic pathologist saysA woman sent her mother a picture of cattle in a field moments before she was trampled" to death by a cow, an inquest has heard.

Judges say unfairly dismissed academic David Miller's views on Israel should be protected by antidiscrimination lawsThe belief that Israel's actions amount to apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide are worthy of respect in a democratic society", an employment tribunal has concluded in a landmark decision.In February the tribunal ruled that Prof David Miller was unfairly discriminated against when he was dismissed by the University of Bristol over allegations of making antisemitic remarks, in a decision the Union of Jewish Students said set a dangerous precedent. Continue reading...

Hopes of pardon dashed for Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi, who were cleared of collaboration with USTwo young female journalists who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms for reporting on the death of Mahsa Amini have been cleared of charges of collaborating with the United States government but will still spend up to five more years behind bars, the Iranian authorities have announced.Niloofar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi were arrested in 2022 after reporting on the death and funeral of Amini, the young Kurdish woman who died in police custody in 2022, sparking the nationwide Women, Life, Freedom protests. Continue reading...

Summer riots were a consequence of relegating the subject to just one month, says Black Curriculum founderBlack history must be made mandatory in England to counter hatred and help prevent racist riots, a leading campaigner says.Lavinya Stennett, who founded the Black Curriculum, warned of the real risks of black history and a diverse curriculum being relegated to just one month, or only being implemented in schools with diverse students and in metropolitan areas. Continue reading...

Martin Naumann, 80, shot Czesaw Kukuczka in the back at close range as he tried to cross into West BerlinA former officer in the East German secret police has been sentenced to 10 years in jail for the murder of a Polish firefighter at a Berlin border crossing 50 years ago.Martin Naumann, now 80, shot Czesaw Kukuczka in the back at close range on 29 March 1974 as Kukuczka walked towards the last in a series of control posts at a transit area in the divided city, having been told he had a free pass to escape to West Berlin. Continue reading...

Rivas, who is accused by Chile of being a torturer and kidnapper, launches challenge in the federal court

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Jethro Cox, 38, and four children aged two to five located safely and without incident'A man missing and four children who were the subject of a police appeal have been found safely and without incident", police said.On Sunday evening, Essex police said Jethro Cox, 38, was missing from his home, along with four children aged five, four, and two two-year-olds. Continue reading...

TV chef says he has been on the verge of jumping on my bike and heading into the sunset' after his co-star and friend died of cancer in FebruaryOne half of the Hairy Bikers, Si King, has revealed that the past few months have been a struggle" after the death of Dave Myers, his co-star and friend of 30 years.Myers, who found fame alongside King as part of the motorcycle-riding cooking duo, died aged 66 in February. Continue reading...

Independent Alex Greenwich says heartbreaking' to lose his proposed laws governing treatment of gay students and teachers but it's not over'

Controversial devices were barred by former Labor government but will return to watch houses after tough-on-crime CLP's election win

European Commission report completely ineffective as an enforcement tool', according to civil liberties organisationThe European Commission's exhaustive annual audit of democratic standards across the bloc is overly positive and ultimately ineffective because it is not tied to any kind of enforcement mechanism, a leading European civil liberties network has said.The yearly rule of law reports were launched five years ago and are presented by the commission as a key weapon in its armoury against democratic backsliding, including corruption and attacks on independent media and judiciary, across the union. Continue reading...

Strike on base near Binyamina city is deadliest since Israel's ground invasion of Lebanon, and follows rare US commitment to deploy Thaad battery to Israel

Unions express concern as PM to say government will rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment'Keir Starmer will promise to slash red tape and rip out the bureaucracy that blocks investment" as he hosts hundreds of global business executives for a major summit in central London.After a troubled run-up to the event, including a bruising row with the Dubai-based owner of P&O Ferries, the prime minister will urge the world's largest businesses to invest in the UK, promising them stable policy and low regulation as an incentive to do so. Continue reading...

Daughter of Tony Nicklinson, who died in 2012, says he would be frustrated by new bill's likely exclusion of those who are not terminally illThe family of a paralysed right-to-die campaigner who was refused permission to have a doctor kill him has said he would be absolutely fuming" that the right-to-die laws have not changed in the 12 years since his death.Tony Nicklinson's daughter, Lauren Peters, said he would also be frustrated that the assisted dying bill, which covers England and Wales and is due to be published this week, is unlikely to propose legalising assisted dying for people like him who are not terminally ill. Continue reading...

Plea comes as analysis warns of 2.7bn tax rise mainly affecting smaller retail, leisure and hospitality firmsThe chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has been urged to keep her promise to ease the pressure from business rates on high street businesses amid warnings of a looming 2.7bn tax hike that would mainly hit smaller retail, leisure and hospitality firms.More than 252,000 shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants and businesses such as bowling alleys are likely to see a big step up in the property tax from April next year when a 75% relief up to a cap of 110,000 will end, according to analysis from the real-estate intelligence firm Altus Group. Continue reading...

Unifil seeks explanation from IDF for shocking violations' while Netanyahu urges peacekeepers to withdrawThe UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon has said two Israeli tanks destroyed a gate and forcibly entered a base in the south of the country as Israel's ground operation against Hezbollah moved deeper into Lebanese territory.The incident in Ramyah on Sunday morning was the latest in a string of violations that Unifil, the UN force deployed since 1978 to southern Lebanon, has blamed on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Continue reading...

Muslim business owners in two states fear policy will lead to targeted attacks or economic boycottsMuslims in India say they have been fired from their jobs and face the closure of their businesses after two states brought in a discriminatory" policy making it mandatory for restaurants to publicly display the names of all their employees.The policy was first introduced by Yogi Adityanath, the hardline Hindu monk who is the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. Last month the state of Himachal Pradesh, governed by the opposition Congress party, announced it would also make it compulsory for all names of workers and employees to be put on display. Continue reading...

People and aid workers in the strip say no one is talking about' the bloodshed there and ceasefire hopes are receding

Our mob across the country wanted structural reform', Pat Anderson told online audience; that's what we're still fighting for,' Prof Megan Davis said

Critics say courses are being closed that played a leading role in addressing racial disparities in higher educationBlack scholarship in the UK risks being wiped out due to redundancies and course closures, leading academics have warned.Universities in England are engulfed in a financial crisis and have in response implemented a number of cost-cutting measures. Continue reading...

Man believed to be in his 30s was found with gunshot injury and died at scene in east LondonPolice have launched a murder investigation after a man was shot dead in east London.The Metropolitan police said officers were called at about 4.35am on Sunday to reports of a man injured in Linton Road, Barking. A man believed to be in his 30s was found with a gunshot injury. Continue reading...

State-owned body writing off losses of 12m a year after stopping practice, inquiry toldThe Post Office has recently explored resuming the practice of taking branch owner-operators to court, as mounting losses from shortfalls in its network of 11,500 outlets hit 12m a year.During the Horizon IT scandal more than 900 operators were wrongly prosecuted over discrepancies caused by the faulty accounting software, many of them brought privately by the Post Office, a practice it stopped in 2015 and has promised not to restart. Continue reading...

Claim raises idea explorer was from community expelled by his Spanish patrons, but experts view it with cautionA 20-year genetic investigation of the remains of Christopher Columbus has turned conventional historical wisdom on its head by concluding that the explorer whose voyage to the New World changed the course of global history may have been a Spanish Jew rather than a son of Genoa.The claim raises the intriguing prospect that the man who played a central part in the creation of Spain's mighty empire hailed from the very community that his patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, expelled from their kingdom in the same year Columbus reached the Americas. Continue reading...

Military spokesperson demands that medics avoid dealing with Hezbollah operatives' and claims ambulances used to transport weapons

Sandro Gozi calls for detail from Labour administration and says new phase in bilateral relationship' is possibleKeir Starmer's government must spell out what it wants from a reset of Britain's relationship with the EU, the European parliament's lead MEP on the UK has said.In his first interview since being elected chair of the European parliament's delegation to the EU-UK parliamentary partnership assembly earlier this month, Sandro Gozi, an Italian former European affairs minister, said there was potential for a reset with the Starmer government, which had shown a change in attitude". Continue reading...

Four never-before-heard demos will be sold at auction along with documents rescued by former PA to the star's managerIn the 54 years since Jimi Hendrix's death, every part of his archive has been mined for fresh material. Recordings of long-forgotten gigs, obscure B-sides and abandoned demos have all been released.But it appears that not everything the American rock guitarist, singer and composer recorded has seen the light of day. Newly unearthed master tapes with never-before-heard tracks are now up for sale in an auction of Hendrix memorabilia. Continue reading...

State premier announces free state primary school lunches at campaign launch after revealing plan for state-owned health clinics

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Deputy opposition leader says she's heartened community members made it clear racism has no place in her electorate

Russian foreign minister says final declaration not adopted because of attempts by US, Japan, South Korea, Australia and NZ to turn it into a purely political statement'Russia and China blocked a proposed consensus statement for the East Asia Summit drafted by south-east Asian countries, mainly over objections to language on the contested South China Sea, a US official said on Saturday.A draft statement arrived at by consensus by the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations was put to the 18-nation East Asia Summit meeting in Laos on Thursday evening, the official said. Continue reading...

Biggest obstacle to improving immunisation rates are practical difficulties families face, according to national vaccination survey

Rights group in Caracas says at least 40 people affected, as Maduro government continues clampdown on oppositionThe Venezuelan government has cancelled the passports of dozens of journalists and activists since President Nicolas Maduro claimed a re-election victory, part of what rights groups said is an intensifying campaign of repression against the authoritarian president's opponents, the Financial Times has reported.At least 40 people, mostly journalists and human rights activists, have had their passports annulled without explanation, the newspaper reported on Saturday, citing Caracas-based rights group Laboratorio de Paz. Continue reading...

Royal family had pledged to declare all presents received in an annual list, after several controversiesKing Charles and his family have failed to reveal their official gifts for the past four years, despite previously promising to publish an annual list.Palace officials have blamed the pandemic, the change of reign, and then planning for last year's coronation for their inability to publish details of the gifts received by members of the royal family. Continue reading...

Ahead of opening of inquiry into death of Dawn Sturgess, former PM says attackers showed utter recklessness'Theresa May has said justice is highly unlikely" to come for the victims of the novichok attacks in Wiltshire, in an interview broadcast days before an inquiry opens into the Russian state poisonings.The former prime minister said she hoped that the family and friends of Dawn Sturgess, who was killed in 2018 after she was exposed to the nerve agent, would find comfort from the inquiry into her death and feel that it had got to the truth" of what happened. Continue reading...

Conflicting reports include house arrest of Esmail Ghaani, who was in Beirut at time of Hassan Nasrallah's killing

TRG says both candidates have used rhetoric and focused on issues which are far and away from ... the values we cherish and uphold'Robert Jenrick, one of the final two Tory leadership candidates, is delivering a speech in London. There is a live feed on his X account.Jenrick started by promising a complete break with Labour's failing agenda". He said:The real choice this country faces is between Labour's failing agenda and the new approach I want us to take, the new approach we need as a country.Because if I am chosen as the next leader of this party we will stand to offer a complete break with Labour's failing agenda. Continue reading...

Police say couple assisting with investigations' after Dani Cuesta posted photo of himself with Lim go home' signA Spanish couple have been detained after the man held a banner to protest against Peter Lim, the billionaire Singaporean owner of Valencia football club.Dani Cuesta had shared photos on social media of himself holding a sign that said Lim go home" at various locations in Singapore, including the residences where Lim reportedly lives and the tourist landmark Merlion Park. Continue reading...

Communications minister Michelle Rowland says likely' changes to Online Safety Act will place onus on platforms, not parents or young people'

Hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled while there was a 13% rise in hate crimes against MuslimsReligious hate crimes in England and Wales have soared by 25% to record levels, coinciding with the Israel-Hamas conflict, government statistics show.The increase, from 8,370 to 10,484 offences reported to police forces in the year to March, was driven by a rise in offences against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims, the Home Office said. The overall number of hate crimes dropped. Continue reading...

Deputy prime minister calls Jo Tarnawsky a wonderful' person after her claim she was effectively sacked without warning

Greens say revelations a damning indictment' that speak to a broken governance culture' at prestigious universities

James Cleverly asks Yvette Cooper if she intervened to ensure popstar's London concerts went aheadMinisters are facing questions over whether they intervened to grant Taylor Swift VIP police protection in order to stop her cancelling her London concerts.James Cleverly, the shadow home secretary, wrote to his opposite number, Yvette Cooper, on Wednesday to ask whether she had personally made representations. Continue reading...

Teenager, now 17, was convicted after inflicting 36 injuries with kitchen knife on Holly Newton, then 15, in alleywayA teenager who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in the street has been named after a judge lifted reporting restrictions that prevented his identity from being disclosed.Logan MacPhail, now 17, was convicted of murdering Holly Newton in Hexham, Northumberland. He attacked her because he was jealous that she was with someone else, and could not accept that their relationship was over. Continue reading...

Owner of Nomad restaurant group in Surry Hills arrested after pro-Palestine protest at weekend

Karvelas will continue to host Q&A and present politics on the broadcaster's news channel

Agency had been investigating Kazakh company for suspected corruption and fraud over 12 yearsThe UK's Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Kazakh mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation have agreed a settlement to end one part of a years-long legal battle.The agency had been investigating ENRC for suspected bribery and fraud in Africa and Kazakhstan, which the mining company denied. But the SFO dropped its decade-long investigation last year without bringing charges, citing insufficient admissible evidence. Continue reading...