Staff in England's public libraries under threat of being replaced by automated checkouts amid budget pressuresThe role of the traditional librarian behind the counter" is under threat in a drive by councils to cut staff hours using self-service checkouts. Officials in some local authorities are proposing that libraries can be operated at times without any professional librarians, relying on self-service technology, smartcards for entry and CCTV.This has been criticised as a mad idea", limiting access to librarians' advice and expertise for the young, vulnerable and many elderly people. Continue reading...
Labour's new brood includes an economist whose family fled from Liberia, Westminster insiders and a former soldierA former adviser to Alistair Darling during his time as chancellor, he has since become one of the most respected surveyors of the British economy in the country in his role as director of the Resolution Foundation thinktank. His recent book on improving the economy was Starmerite in outlook, putting economic growth at its heart. However, he did call for a rewriting of fiscal rules to allow for long-term investment in infrastructure. Expect Bell to have a significant policy job at the centre of a Labour government that has staked everything on securing economic growth. Continue reading...
This blog is now closed.Muslim community should run own candidates, says FaruqiFaruqi says Muslim voters have been ignored" in Australia that their views overlooked.Politicians [in] both the old parties have for years, decades, used us as tokens, as photo opportunities at religious events but have never actually deemed to address the issues that affect the communities.I've been in touch with Senator Payman over the past few weeks and also before that. I think being the other brown Muslim woman in that Senate, I can understand far better than most what Senator Payman has been going through.There has been a denial of an agency. And again, again, that comes down to how Muslim women are stereotyped in this country. How they are boxed into this person who can't make up their own minds. You know, that they are led by someone else - someone else forced them to do this. Someone else forced them or encouraged them to make a decision that they wholly made by themselves. Senator Payman, as far as I can see it, made this decision on her moral compass, following her moral compass, listening to the community, and actually looking at what the situation in Israel is at the moment. That's it. And you know, I'm very proud of her as another Muslim woman for standing strong on her convictions. Continue reading...
Iwao Hakamada, 88, who spent longer than anyone in the world awaiting execution, awaits murder retrial verdictIn the early hours of 30 June 1966 a fire swept through the home of the managing director of a miso maker in Shizuoka, central Japan. After the fire was put out, police found the bodies of the executive, his wife, and their two teenage children. They had all been stabbed to death.Iwao Hakamada, who had worked for the firm as a live-in employee, was arrested on suspicion of murdering the family, setting fire to their home and stealing 200,000 yen (973) in cash. Two years later he was found guilty of murder and arson and sentenced to hang. He maintained innocence throughout his 45 years awaiting execution - the longest any prisoner worldwide has spent on death row. Continue reading...
Patriots for Europe gets Danish and Flemish nationalists as latest members, amid EU anger over Hungary PM's latest unauthorised foreign policy forayViktor Orban's rightwing political movement attracted enough parties on Saturday to achieve recognition from the European Union parliament in a boost for the Hungarian prime minister's self-styled effort to change European politics".The nationalist and pro-Russia leader announced on 30 June his intention to form an EU parliamentary grouping called Patriots for Europe". Continue reading...
Shockat Adam says he is not a single-issue MP, but will fight on NHS and housing as well as GazaThe man who pulled off a shock victory at the general election by ousting shadow cabinet member Jonathan Ashworth has criticised claims that the wave of strong showings by independent Muslim candidates represents the rise of sectarian" voting.Shockat Adam, an optometrist, caused a huge upset by beating Ashworth, the shadow paymaster general and a familiar face in Labour's election campaign, to become the new MP for Leicester South. Continue reading...
Titanic became first film to gross $1bn globally, and Landau topped that with Avatar, and Avatar: The Way of WaterJon Landau, the Oscar-winning Titanic and Avatar producer who helped bring director James Cameron's visions to life, has died at 63.Alan Bergman, co-chair of Disney Entertainment, announced Landau's death in a statement on Saturday. No cause of death was given. Continue reading...
Surprise increase makes Australian visa application fee among most expensive in the world, as new survey finds rising costs putting prospective students off
PM pledges swift action on NHS and prisons, setting out agenda to reform public services and rebuild international relationsKeir Starmer on Saturday rallied his new cabinet behind an ambitious agenda to reform the country's creaking public services and reset damaged relations abroad during his first full day as prime minister.After an extraordinary 48 hours that saw Labour storm to a landslide general election victory with a massive Commons majority of 174 while the Tories were routed, Starmer said he was restless for change" and determined to deliver on his campaign pledges. Continue reading...
Billie Jean King praises Murray for bringing credibility and excitement to British tennis' as Raducanu makes tough decision' to exit doubles partnershipThe day finally came: Andy Murray has played his final match at Wimbledon. The 37-year-old Scot, Britain's greatest postwar tennis player, had been due to contest the mixed doubles with Emma Raducanu, the shock 2021 US Open champion, yesterday evening. To say there was excitement about the pairing would be a wild understatement: fans have been coming up with portmanteau names (Raducandy, Em&M, Maducanu) ever since the unlikely team was announced on Wednesday. Roger Federer was in the stands, ready to watch.But Em&M was not to be. Unfortunately, I woke up with some stiffness in my right wrist," Raducanu announced on Saturday afternoon, so I have decided to make the very tough decision to withdraw from the mixed doubles tonight. I'm disappointed as I was really looking forward to playing with Andy, but got to take care." Continue reading...
Earliest category 5 hurricane on record is 495 miles south-east of Corpus Christi, with winds near 60mphTropical Storm Beryl, which has already smashed its way across the Caribbean as a hurricane before slamming into the Yucatan peninsula, is intensifying once again and expected to make landfall as a hurricane for the third time along the Texas coast.The powerful hurricane - Beryl is the earliest category 5 hurricane on record - was by early Saturday approximately 495 miles (797km) south-east of Corpus Christi, Texas. The storm is forecast to turn toward the north-west later Saturday and then north/north-westward by Sunday night. Continue reading...
Covid adviser Patrick Vallance and businessman James Timpson among appointments from outside WestminsterKeir Starmer has signalled he will appoint more non-political experts as ministers in his new administration, in an apparent return to Gordon Brown's attempt to build a government of all the talents".The new prime minister has already made some surprise appointments from outside Westminster, including former chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance as science minister, rehabilitation campaigner and businessman James Timpson as his prisons minister and Richard Hermer KC, an expert on international law, as his attorney general. Continue reading...
by Patrick Wintour and Emma Graham-Harrison on (#6P1AN)
New foreign secretary says resetting UK relations with EU is a particular priority as he travels to Germany, Poland and Sweden, then the US David Lammy faces a world in turmoil: five key concerns for foreign secretaryBritain must reconnect with the rest of the world with major resets in climate change policy, and in the country's relationships with Europe and with the global south, foreign secretary David Lammy has said in an interview with the Guardian before his first international trip.Lammy has taken up his position, one of the four great offices of state, at a time of immense foreign policy challenges, from two major wars to global inertia about tackling a warming planet. Continue reading...
Senior figures tell the party not to rush into choosing a new leader, citing 2005 and David Cameron as a successful precedent Damian Green: seven lessons for the Tories if we want to regain powerSenior Tories are pleading with the party to avoid the weapons-grade idiocy" of a further drift to the right, amid a concerted and organised effort from grandees to stop a kneejerk leadership contest.Figures from Rishi Sunak's cabinet, prominent MPs who lost their seats and former prime minister David Cameron are among those involved in working to secure a repeat of the 2005 contest, which eventually saw Cameron installed as leader seven months after an election defeat. Continue reading...
Israel's ground offensive is nearing its conclusion amid the threat of indefinite occupation and a continuing insurgencyBenjamin Netanyahu has said that the phase of intense fighting" against Hamas in Gaza is coming to an end, but with no publicly unveiled plans for the next stage of Israel's campaign, Palestinians and Israelis alike fear that the unfolding chapter in the conflict could amount to a long period of insurgency-style warfare and indefinite occupation.Israel's generals are expected to announce soon that the last main ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, in the southernmost city of Rafah, is over, although the prime minister has made clear that the war will not end until Israel achieves total victory", which he defines as the complete eradication of Hamas as a civilian and military entity. Continue reading...
Independents win votes over Gaza and Greens add MPs but left wing parliamentary hopes may rest on Labour failure General election 2024 - liveDespite Jeremy Corbyn's surprisingly comfortable victory in Islington North, Thursday's general election did not look, at first sight, like a good result for that sector of the Labour party - the hard left - to whom he remains a hero.So large was Keir Starmer's parliamentary majority that any hope of a caucus of leftwing MPs leveraging power was crushed underfoot by the stampede of new Starmer-friendly MPs. Continue reading...
Government opens hundreds of shelters for displaced people as heavy rains cause rivers to burst their banksThe death toll from floods in Bangladesh this week has risen to eight, leaving more than two million affected after heavy rains caused major rivers to burst their banks, officials confirmed.The South Asian country of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has experienced more frequent floods in recent decades. Continue reading...
Baker competed on Channel 4 show in 2022, becoming sixth contestant to leave tentGreat British Bake Off stars have paid tribute to the joyous" and talented" former contestant Dawn Hollyoak after her death at the age of 61.The baker competed on the Channel 4 show in 2022, becoming the sixth contestant to leave the tent after the group was given the task of making Halloween-themed treats. Continue reading...
Pressure on officials to publish estimate of offshore tax avoidance in almost 40bn of uncollected revenuesTax officials are under pressure this weekend to publish estimated figures on offshore tax avoidance by some of the country's wealthiest individuals after withholding the information in a report published during the election campaign.In June 2022, Lucy Frazer, then financial secretary to the Treasury, pledged that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) would publish figures on the offshore tax gap, but the release of the figures has been repeatedly delayed. An HMRC report published on 20June this year - four weeks after the election was called - estimated the tax gap to be 39.8bn for the 2022-23 tax year. The tax gap is the difference between the amount of tax that should be collected and what has actually been paid. Continue reading...
Honours for the key figures behind decision to hold July poll becomes focus of anger among senior Conservatives General election 2024 - live newsSome of Rishi Sunak's closest allies are facing an angry backlash after being awarded honours by the former prime minister, despite their apparent role in the insane" decision to call an early election.In a sign of the growing anger within the party ranks over the decision to call the snap poll - as well as alarm over the way it was conducted - the former deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden and chief of staff Liam Booth-Smith were singled out by angry candidates and aides for their role in the cataclysmic defeat" that several sources claimed had been made worse by the early election decision. Continue reading...
For the first time, cannabis plant would drastically shift federal legal status from narcotic to regulated medicationThe US Drug Enforcement Administration has proposed new rules that mean, for the first time, medications containing delta-9 THC from the cannabis plant could be eligible for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The rules, if enacted, would move the cannabis plant from a schedule I to a schedule III substance, so its federal legal status would shift drastically from a narcotic with no accepted medical use" to a regulated medication.Nearly 4 million Americans are already using medical cannabis in states where it's been legalized, contradicting federal laws. Given that so many Americans already have access to some form of medical cannabis, it's unclear whether pharmaceutical companies would benefit from seeking FDA approval for cannabis-based drugs. Continue reading...
As Tory MPs prepare bids, former PM and George Osborne say candidates should prove themselves in opposition General election 2024: live newsTory grandees including David Cameron are pushing back against the idea of a swift Conservative leadership contest, saying they want the candidates to be tested.Robert Jenrick, Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Suella Braverman, Tom Tugendhat, Priti Patel and Victoria Atkins, are among the long list of names believed to be preparing possible bids. Continue reading...
Victory reflects deep dissatisfaction with direction of country and could bring greater cooperation with westThe reformist Masoud Pezeshkian has pulled off a stunning victory in the Iranian presidential runoff, reflecting deep dissatisfaction with the direction of the country in recent years and opening potential new avenues of cooperation with the west.Pezeshkian won 16,384,403 votes to defeat the ultra-conservative Saeed Jalili, who received 13,538,179 votes, on a final turnout of 49.8% - a big increase on the record low turnout of 39% recorded in the first round. In the first round, Pezeshkian came top, defeating three Conservative rivals. The turnout included more than 1m invalid votes. Continue reading...
Sport fans could face choice between watching eagerly awaited tennis match and Euros quarter-finalAndy Murray's final Wimbledon flourish could clash with England's quarter-final match at Euro 2024 on Saturday evening, forcing sport fans and BBC schedulers into a tricky dilemma.Murray and Emma Raducanu will team up in a mixed doubles match against Marcelo Arevalo and Shuai Zhang on No 1 Court. The match, which is the last one scheduled to play there on Saturday, looks likely to start in the early evening while England face off against Switzerland at the Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf. Continue reading...
Equine specialist questions whether the animals' behavioural needs are being met and says capital may be overwhelmingThe stress of life as a military horse could explain why the animals have bolted twice through London in the past three months, an equine expert has suggested.On Monday three horses from the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (HCMR) broke loose and ran through central London, with video footage showing one colliding with a car. It is thought one of the horses had been spooked by a bus, causing the other two to unseat their riders and run. Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#6P0F9)
Oil firm's warning comes after it had to halt work on Europe's largest biofuel project and sell refinery in AsiaShell has warned investors that it will take an impairment charge of up to $2bn (1.6bn) in its next set of results after it was forced to halt work on Europe's largest biofuel project and sell off a Singapore refinery.The oil company told investors to expect a non-cash writedown of between $600m and $1bn when it publishes its second-quarter results next month because of trouble at a major biofuel project in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Continue reading...
by Eleni Courea Political correspondent on (#6P0DW)
Keir Starmer faces Nato summit in Washington and is expected to scrap Rwanda deportation schemeKeir Starmer's first few days in Downing Street will bring calls with other world leaders, ministerial appointments and announcements of early policies and commitments.His government will want to set the tone with some eye-catching announcements. Early on Starmer is expected to scrap the Rwanda deportation scheme, reverse the de facto ban on onshore windfarms and launch reviews of the UK's military capabilities and threats facing the country. Continue reading...
World news | The Guardian