Film is expected to reunite Pete Maverick' Mitchell with protege fighter pilots played by Miles Teller and Glen PowellAfter Top Gun: Maverick became the highest grossing film of Tom Cruise's career, a third Top Gun movie is under way.Puck reports that Top Gun: Maverick co-writer Ehren Kruger is officially at work" on a script for the project, which intends to reunite Cruise with fellow Maverick stars Miles Teller and Glen Powell. No director has yet been confirmed, but Puck suggest that Maverick's Joseph Kosinski is in the frame, and will likely act as a producer on the project also. Continue reading...
British brand affected by continued slowdown in luxury demand during cost of living crisisBurberry has warned that annual profits will be sharply lower than previously expected after consumers left its expensive trenchcoats, bags and scarves off their Christmas shopping lists.The luxury British brand said trading had been affected by a continued slowdown in luxury demand after rises in the cost of living and increases to interest rates globally. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Kuku in Port Moresby and agencies on (#6HSPZ)
Soldiers and police patrolling streets where witnesses say quiet has replaced looting and chaos that reportedly left at least 16 people deadSoldiers and police patrolled Port Moresby on Friday a day after Papua New Guinea declared a state of emergency in the capital in response to rioting and other violence in which at least 16 people are reported to have died.The prime minister, James Marape, declared a 14-day state of emergency, suspending several officials and putting more than 1,000 soldiers on standby, after a police and public sector protest over pay on Wednesday descended into rioting and looting. Continue reading...
The rightwing populist party could play an outsize role in the next UK election - and cost the Conservatives dearlyA sinking ship" was how Antonia, an administrator from Middleton, described Britain at the start of 2024. That assessment, while damning, isn't unusual, with broken", mess" and struggling" the top words used to describe the UK today. But Antonia, and her fellow focus group participants - former Conservative voters from the red wall" seats of Heywood and Middleton, Great Grimsby and Dudley North - weren't planning on expressing their exasperation with the state of Britain by voting Labour. Instead, they were tempted by the successor to the Brexit party - Reform UK.Since October, Reform has enjoyed a steady rise in support, hitting 10% in some opinion polls. While unlikely to win seats of their own, by attracting former Tory voters Reform could play the role of spoiler. An analysis by the thinktank More in Common suggests that at present polling levels Reform could enable more than 30 additional Conservative losses.Luke Tryl is the UK director of the research group More in Common Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: Taiwan goes to the polls on Saturday, with major geopolitical ramifications on the line Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.Before we start on Taiwan: late last night, US and UK forces launched air strikes involving at least 60 Houthi targets in 16 locations around Yemen. Joe Biden said he ordered the strikes in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea". The US president added that he would not hesitate to order further military action. Despite warnings from Washington in the new year that the Houthis would bear the consequences" of any more attacks, this week the Iran-backed group had launched its most sophisticated and heaviest attacks to date.Immigration and asylum | The government has admitted that Rwanda still has issues with its human rights record" despite claims by Rishi Sunak that it is a safe country. The assessment has come in a policy statement" sent by the home secretary to MPs and lords in an effort to get backing for the Rwanda bill.Post Office scandal | Ministers need to immediately" update the law to acknowledge that computers are fallible or risk a repeat of the Horizon scandal, legal experts say. In English and Welsh law, computers are assumed to be reliable" unless proven otherwise. But critics of this approach say it reverses the burden of proof normally applied in criminal cases.Finance | Millions of drivers could be in line for a payout, it has been suggested, after the UK financial watchdog opened an investigation into whether consumers had been unfairly charged inflated prices for loans on new and secondhand cars.US | New York building officials have issued emergency work orders to stabilise a historic synagogue and its neighbouring structures after an illicit underground tunnel was discovered.Health | Thousands of patients are being readmitted to NHS mental health units in England every year soon after being discharged, raising concerns about poor care, bed shortages and increased risk of suicide. Continue reading...
Oscar-winning director leads calls for inquiry into police investigative process following death of Lee Sun-kyunA group of South Korean artists, including film director Bong Joon-ho, has called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death last month of prolific actor Lee Sun-kyun.Lee, who played a lead role in Bong's Oscar-winning film Parasite, died last month in an apparent suicide, at the age of 48. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#6HSSX)
Experts say being discharged prematurely can be disastrous', setting back chances of full recoveryThousands of patients are being readmitted to NHS mental health units in England every year soon after being discharged, raising concerns about poor care, bed shortages and increased risk of suicide.Experts say being discharged prematurely can be upsetting, set back the patient's chances of making a full recovery and be disastrous" for their health. Continue reading...
by Presented by Jonathan Freedland, with Elaine Kamar on (#6HSRD)
Hours before Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis took to the debate stage in Iowa on Wednesday night, more than 1,000 miles away in New Hampshire Chris Christie shocked his supporters by announcing he was dropping out of the race. The former New Jersey governor was the only candidate to consistently attack Donald Trump, in a field of Republicans trying to beat the former president, all the while keeping his base sweet.With only three days until the Iowa caucus, Jonathan Freedland speaks to Elaine Kamarck about who is most likely to come out on topArchive: CBS, CNN, MSNBC, CSPAN Continue reading...
Students' union calls for sanctions over posts on social network that have also contained homophobic abuseThe French Union of Jewish Students has called for sanctions against people who have written antisemitic and homophobic comments about France's new prime minister, Gabriel Attal, on the social network X.Attal, 34, who was appointed by the president, Emmanuel Macron, this week, is France's youngest prime minister and also the first out gay politician in the job. Continue reading...
Despite leading lavish lifestyles, some monarchs are influencing people to make greener choicesWhen Prince Frederik takes the throne on Sunday, the Danish crown will pass from his mother, Queen Margrethe II, a monarch who has cast doubt on the fact that human pollution is heating the planet, to one who feels bound by duty to call for stronger action on climate breakdown.I think it's important for me to have a message for other people," he told the Financial Times in 2010 after a trip to the melting Arctic with the heirs to the Norwegian and Swedish thrones, to convince the broader population there are changes happening and that we are making the change." Continue reading...
by Anna Bawden Social affairs correspondent on (#6HSKJ)
Figures show NHS falling behind on target to reduce hefty post-pandemic waiting list in EnglandThe NHS must treat at least 10% more non-emergency hospital cases a month if it wants to reduce the hefty backlog caused by the pandemic, according to new analysis.From February 2020 to October 2022, the waiting list for non-urgent care in England grew by 2.6m cases - a projected 1.8m more than if the pandemic had not hit. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Deputy political editor on (#6HSGK)
So-called access talks' happen before every general election but mark significant change in access for opposition partyRishi Sunak has given permission for Labour shadow ministers to start talks with civil servants about how they would run a government should they win the election later this year - a routine but nonetheless symbolic process before a possible handover of power.A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: In line with the longstanding process set out in the cabinet manual, the prime minister has authorised access talks between the official opposition and civil service." Continue reading...
Assessment comes despite claims by Rishi Sunak that Rwanda is safe when making case for asylum policyThe government has admitted that Rwanda still has issues with its human rights record" despite claims by Rishi Sunak that it is a safe country.Documents released on Thursday said that while Rwanda is now a relatively peaceful country with respect for the rule of law, there are nevertheless issues with its human rights record around political opposition to the current regime, dissent and free speech". Continue reading...
Wholly unacceptable' Lucy Frazer did not meet leaders of Welsh broadcaster despite repeated requestsIt is wholly unacceptable" that the culture secretary did not meet the chair of the Welsh-language public service broadcaster as it was engulfed in a crisis, a group of Welsh MPs have said.Senedd politicians wrote to Lucy Frazer on Thursday to say they were astonished" she had not met S4C leaders despite repeated requests and said that Westminster had failed to deal with a bullying scandal that culminated in the sacking of two senior female executives. Continue reading...
Dati, who previously served under Sarkozy, is named culture minister by new PM Gabriel AttalRachida Dati, a former minister for the rightwing French president Nicolas Sarkozy, has been appointed as culture minister in a surprise return to government under Emmanuel Macron.Dati, who is serving as the mayor of Paris's 7th arrondissement for the rightwing party Les Republicains, was announced as part of a cabinet reshuffle under the new prime minister, Gabriel Attal. Continue reading...
Move by Andrzej Duda, who is aligned with the populist PiS party ousted in last year's elections, would defy supreme court rulingPoland's president has said he plans to pardon two imprisoned opposition politicians for a second time, adding that he hoped the move would ease mounting tensions between the country's new government and its populist predecessor.The former interior minister Mariusz Kamiski and his ex-deputy Maciej Wsik - both from the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which lost its majority in October elections - were jailed on Tuesday after being arrested in the presidential palace. Continue reading...
Exclusive: payment was made as the Horizon IT system's failings at post offices were emerging in court casesThe former UK boss of Fujitsu, the technology firm whose flawed IT system is at the heart of the Post Office Horizon scandal, received a 2.6m payoff after standing down from the company in 2019, corporate filings suggest.Fujitsu has come under increasing scrutiny during the public inquiry into the Horizon scandal, which led to thousands of people who owned and ran smaller post offices being falsely accused or convicted of theft or fraud between 1999 and 2015. Continue reading...
Stephen Bradshaw, former Post Office investigator, tells Horizon IT inquiry this was probably not' appropriateBack at the Post Office inquiry Julian Blake says Stephen Bradshaw, the Post Office investigator, seems to show a lack of reflection" on his role in miscarriage of justice events in a witness statement he supplied.Bradshaw says he has reflected on what he said in his statement, because some of what he said was completely wrong". But he says he was told what he should say by lawyers.Stephen Bradshaw, who was an investigation manager for the Post Office, said a statement signed by him declaring the Post Office's absolute confidence" in the Horizon IT system was written by lawyers.A statement signed by Bradshaw in November 2012 said: The Post Office continues to have absolute confidence in the robustness and integrity of its Horizon system."The average response time in December for ambulances in England dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was 8min 44sec, PA says. This is up from 8min 32sec in November and is above the target standard response time of seven minutes.Ambulances took an average of 45min 57sec last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis, PA says. This is up from 38min 30sec in November, while the target is 18min.Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged 2hr 37min 5sec in December, up from 2hr 16min 47secin November, PA says.Some 13% of ambulance handovers in England last week, or 12,225 patients, were delayed by more than an hour, PA says. This was up from 12% a week earlier, but is below this winter's current peak of 15%, recorded in the week to 10 December.Nearly one in three patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England last week waited more than 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E teams, PA says. Some 28,189 delays of half an hour or longer were recorded across all hospital trusts in the week to 7 January. This was 31% of the 91,234 arrivals by ambulance, where the handover time was known. The figure is up from 29% in the previous week, but is not the highest so far this winter, which was 34% in the week ending 10 December, PA says. Continue reading...
by Oliver Milman and Leyland Cecco in Toronto on (#6HS1V)
Extreme cold warning issued in Canada as US forecasters warn of wind chills in Texas and major snow in midwest and east coastA bitter" blast of cold Arctic air is set to bring dangerously frigid temperatures to swaths of North America, forecasters have warned.In Canada, frigid Arctic air is being pushed from the Northwest Territories down into the province of Alberta, where Environment Canada has issued an extreme cold warning. The largest city, Calgary, could see temperatures plummet to -34.6F (-37C) on Friday, reaching a daytime high of -23.8F (-31C). This would mark the coldest January day in two decades for the city. Over the weekend, strong winds could make temperatures feel closer to -58F (-50C). In these conditions, experts say exposed skin can succumb to frostbite in less than a minute. Continue reading...
Former South Carolina governor, boosted by Chris Christie's exit, has hopes of seizing second in Iowa caucuses from Ron DeSantisFormer South Carolina governor Nikki Haley emerged from the last televised debate before the Iowa caucuses clearly Donald Trump's strongest challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, boosted by the withdrawal of Chris Christie, the only explicitly anti-Trump candidate to register significantly with voters.Voting begins in Iowa on Monday, before New Hampshire stages its primary a week on Tuesday. Haley has closed on Trump in New Hampshire and has hopes of seizing second place in Iowa at the expense of the rightwing Florida governor Ron DeSantis. Continue reading...
Book co-written with the star's daughter Riley Keough promises to reveal the complexity of being a Presley'The posthumous memoir of Lisa Marie Presley written in collaboration with her daughter Riley Keough will be published later this year.The as yet untitled book about Lisa Marie's life as the daughter of Elvis will be released by Pan Macmillan on 15 October. Lisa Marie, who died on 12 January last year, had asked Keough to help her finish her memoir, parts of which she had recorded on tape. Continue reading...
Rise in salary requirements will further fuel staff shortages in industry that relies on skilled migrant workers Business live - latest updatesWhat do you call an Italian restaurant that doesn't serve pizza?During the 2022 Edinburgh fringe, Gusto's restaurant in the city sounded like the punchline to one of the comedy festival's jokes.There's a threshold at which it becomes impossible to make money, so you have to put prices up, which drives inflation, which flies in the face of what the government say they're trying to do," says Snell. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#6HS6G)
SNP leader to replicate new restrictions in England and Wales that have resulted in apparent influx to Scotland of breedUnlicensed XL bully dogs will be banned in Scotland, Humza Yousaf has said, as the Scottish government moves to replicate the new restrictions in England and Wales that have resulted in an apparent influx to the country of the breed.Speaking at first minister's questions on Thursday, the SNP leader told MSPs: What has become clear, I'm afraid, in the last few weeks is we have seen a flow of XL bully dogs coming to Scotland." Continue reading...
MPs in his own cabinet are against move, while powerful Orthodox church fear it could lead to dismantlement of societyThe Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, appears to be facing one of his most daunting challenges yet after a pledge to legalise same-sex marriage ignited fierce debate in the Orthodox Christian country.Throwing his weight behind an issue still prone to provoke extraordinary emotion, not least among his own MPs, Mitsotakis acknowledged he would have to use his skills of persuasion to push through the reform as opposition mounted within his centre-right New Democracy party. Continue reading...
by Sarah Marsh Consumer affairs correspondent on (#6HS3G)
Dermatologists say use of such cosmetics could damage young people's sensitive skinLeading dermatologists have said that children as young as 10 are putting pressure on their parents into buying them expensive anti-ageing skincare products, which experts say could damage their sensitive skin.Dermatologists expressed concern that the trend, largely driven by girls seeing products on social media, had left children obsessed with ageing". Experts recommend a simple skincare routine at a young age, such as cleaning twice a day and using a light moisturiser, as well as sunscreen if UV rays are high. Continue reading...
Analysts say a sea change' occurred in the American healthcare system from when only a tenth of debt came from the insuredPeople with health insurance may now represent the majority of debtors American hospitals struggle to collect from, according to medical billing analysts.This marks a sea change from just a few years ago, when people with health insurance represented only about one in 10 bills hospitals considered bad debt", analysts said. Continue reading...
Like mainstream Republicans blocking military aid, American rightwing extremists are disavowing a war they once admiredTwo years into the war in Ukraine, once a destination for American extremists, many within the underground far-right movement in the US are avidly disavowing it and advising followers to stay away. Extremists now see the upcoming election year as tailor-made for activism on the home front.At the outset of the war, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an intelligence bulletin that far-right American extremists were heading to the conflict and could use it to hone terrorist skills to bring back stateside. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#6HS0X)
Man in 80s and mother of baby among residents hit by cold conditions amid dispute over who is responsible for repairDozens of leaseholders, including a man in his 80s, the mother of an eight-week-old baby and a woman in remission from cancer, have been left without central heating since October in a block for which the freehold is owned by a company that has made nearly 12m.With temperatures already dropping below zero and Arctic winds forecast to blow in colder weather next week, the oldest residents have been huddling in hats and blankets to keep warm at Lee Court, an art deco block of 48 apartments in Lewisham, London. Some walls are mouldy and residents complain they are covered in condensation. Continue reading...
Josephine Wright drew national attention from stars such as Tyler Perry and Snoop Dogg for her struggle on Hilton Head IslandA woman on South Carolina's Hilton Head Island who drew national attention from stars such as Tyler Perry and Snoop Dogg as she fought off developers in her final years has died, according to a publicist for her family. She was 94.Josephine Wright came to embody the development pressures displacing residents of historic African American communities in the beautiful South Carolina coastal town and around the country. An investment firm sued her early last year over alleged property encroachments on a proposed 147-unit neighborhood near land her late husband's family had owned for more than a century. Continue reading...
Charity that runs house in East Sussex launches bid to fill gaps in collection with treasures' held in private handsCharleston, the home and studio where the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant challenged convention to forge new models of creativity and ways of living, is launching a search for works by the Bloomsbury group held in private hands.The radical group of artists and intellectuals, which also included the writers Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey and EM Forster and the economist John Maynard Keynes, worked and socialised at the 16th-century farmhouse in East Sussex - now a museum - as well as Bell's London home. Continue reading...
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