Government's anti-slavery commissioner says traffickers are exploiting a growing pipeline of vulnerabilitySlavery in the UK is at record levels and is expected to worsen over the next decade, the government's independent anti-slavery commissioner has warned.According to the number of referrals to the national referral mechanism, which assesses potential victims of slavery and provides support to victims, numbers have almost doubled in the last five years from 12,691 referrals in 2021 to 23,411 in 2025, the highest ever number. Continue reading...
State's top insurance regulator says insurance company violated law while handling claims from 2025 wildfiresCalifornia is seeking millions of dollars in penalties from State Farm after an investigation found the insurance company was slow to investigate and underpaid claims from the 2025 Los Angeles-area wildfires, regulators announced on Monday.State Farm violated the law hundreds of times in a sampling of 220 cases, the state's insurance commissioner, Ricardo Lara, said. The maximum penalty amount allowed by law would be about $4m if State Farm is found to be willful" in violating state law. Regulators may also temporarily suspend the company's license, effectively prohibiting the state's largest home insurer from writing new policies for a year in California. Continue reading...
The person's condition and the circumstances surrounding the shooting were not immediately knownAn individual was shot by law enforcement officers on Monday near the Washington monument, the Secret Service said. The shooting occurred shortly after JD Vance's motorcade passed through the area.The individual was first identified by plainclothes officers, who said he looked suspicious and was believed to be carrying a firearm, according to Matthew Quinn, the deputy director of the Secret Service. These officers called in support from uniformed agents. When the individual saw the uniformed agents, Quinn said he fled on foot, drew his gun and fired. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Fish sludge' in coastal waters now has nutrient levels equivalent to those in untreated effluent of country the size of Australia, report findsNorwegian fish farms are filling fjords and other coastal waters with nutrient pollution equivalent to the raw sewage of tens of millions of people each year, a report has found.Norway is the largest farmed salmon producer in the world, and nutrients in fish feed are excreted directly into coastal waters. Analysis from the Sunstone Institute found that Norwegian aquaculture released 75,000 tonnes of nitrogen, 13,000 tonnes of phosphorus and 360,000 tonnes of organic carbon in 2025. Continue reading...
PM will say responsibility to stand with Jewish communities lies with every one of us' at event on TuesdayKeir Starmer will call for a whole-of-society response to rising antisemitism on Tuesday, saying that it is not enough simply to condemn the scourge, but people must show it" through their actions too.Before a roundtable event at Downing Street, the prime minister will call for action on all forms of antisemitism, after a knife attack against the Jewish community in Golders Green last week, a spate of serious arson attacks and the terror incident in Heaton Park in October. Continue reading...
Three people confirmed dead but four made it to shore after rescue went wrong in rough seasThree people are dead after a marine rescue turned deadly.NSW Police said four people made it to shore after two vessels became stricken in heavy conditions on Monday night. Continue reading...
The 80-year-old singer will not be performing rescheduled dates in September but assured fans she is receiving treatment and improving every day'Dolly Parton has canceled her Las Vegas residency over ongoing health issues.The 80-year-old singer had originally been scheduled to perform six shows at Caesar's Palace last December but moved the dates to September 2026. She has now announced on social media that she won't be able to perform as planned. Continue reading...
Labour leadership challenge in wake of disastrous local poll results could unleash chaos in party, MPs toldCabinet ministers have told mutinous Labour MPs that any attempt to oust Keir Starmer after a potentially disastrous set of election results this week would unleash chaos for the party that would not be easily overcome.Several, however, told the Guardian that even with the prime minister's determination to stay in Downing Street after Thursday's vote, the mood on the backbenches was febrile and events could yet spiral out of control. Continue reading...
The British artist was booed after identifying as a Republican voter while on stage in DallasRapper Kid Cudi has fired MIA from his tour after the British artist went on a rant that went viral while on stage in Dallas.While opening up for the hip hop artist on 2 May, MIA was booed after saying: I've been canceled for many reasons. I never thought I would be canceled for being a brown Republican voter," as reported by Variety. Continue reading...
Delivery truck driver emerged with minor injuries after underside of jet hit tractor trailer in New Jersey on SundayThe driver of a delivery truck emerged with only minor injuries after his tractor trailer was struck by a passenger jet landing in New Jersey's busy Newark airport on Sunday afternoon, officials said.New Jersey state police said a landing tire and the underside of a United Airlines plane arriving from Venice, Italy, hit the truck in question. The Boeing 767 aircraft also clipped a light pole, which in turn struck a Jeep. Continue reading...
Future of Calvin Duncan's position as the clerk of New Orleans' criminal district courthouse remains unclearLouisiana Republicans eliminated an elected position days before a Democratic exoneree who overwhelmingly won the New Orleans-based post was set to take office on Monday.A temporary restraining order did allow the exoneree, Calvin Duncan, to take office as scheduled on Monday morning as the clerk of New Orleans' criminal district courthouse. But things soon turned administratively messy for Duncan when that order was frozen by the US fifth circuit court of appeals. Continue reading...
A suspect has been apprehended, but detectives say little is known about their motivation at this stageAt least two people have been killed and several injured after a driver in an SUV ploughed into a crowd in the centre of Leipzig in eastern Germany, the city's mayor has said.The police have apprehended the suspected assailant," Burkhard Jung said on Monday, adding that the authorities had the scene in a pedestrian zone under control. We still don't really know the motivation. We don't know anything about the perpetrator." Continue reading...
Nigel Farage's party proposed to place detention centres in places that vote for Green council leaders or MPsKeir Starmer has said that Europe has to face up to the fact that its alliance with the US is under strain.He made the remark in public comments during the plenary session at the European Political Community summit in Yerevan in Armenia.And both of those are impacting all of us in a very material way.In the United Kingdom, if you look at the economic forecast now and compare it to the economic forecast just three or four months ago, they are in materially different places, and this is going to play out with our electorates in all of our countries.Reform are now openly threatening voters and not only that they're threatening them with a power they don't actually have. This is absolutely pathetic. People across Scotland are proud of the fact that this is a welcoming country that shows solidarity to people who need it.Reform are essentially saying If you don't vote the way we want you to, we will punish you'. I think the people of Scotland and voters across the UK are not going to take kindly to that kind of Donald Trumpesque threat.Reform know that absolutely bombed last week. The only thing they've got to move on to are open threats, not against the Greens but against voters across the country. It's really quite sinister. This is exactly the kind of politics you see in Donald Trump's America. People across Scotland are going to reject that on Thursday. Continue reading...
Reform UK is doing something right when it comes to visibility' on multiple AI systems, say researchersAI platforms are more likely to reference Nigel Farage than any other UK leader when prompted about British politics, according to an AI search analytics firm.We are confident in saying that Reform are showing up significantly more than you would expect," said Malte Landwehr, an expert at Peec AI, the firm that did the research. So they're doing something right when it comes to LLM [large language model] visibility." Continue reading...
Alice Chapman and Zak Khan say they were beaten, kicked and spat on after detention near Crete last weekTwo British activists have said they were admitted to hospital after being beaten by Israeli forces who intercepted their Gaza aid flotilla last week.Alice Chapman and Zak Khan were among 180 members of the Global Sumud flotilla detained by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in international waters near Crete late on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Austrian foreign minister says forest of antennae' at mission in Vienna being used for illicit collection of dataAustria has expelled three Russian embassy staff on suspicion of spying after determining that a forest of antennae" on the diplomatic mission in Vienna, Europe's espionage capital since the cold war, was being be used for illicit data collection.It is unacceptable that diplomatic immunity be used to commit espionage," Austria's foreign minister, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, said on Monday. She added that the three embassy staff - whose expulsions bring the number of Russian diplomats sent home by Vienna to 14 since 2020 - had already left the country. Continue reading...
US secretary of state's two-day visit reportedly intended to thaw Washington's frosty relations with Vatican and ItalyThe US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, will meet Pope Leo on Thursday, weeks after Donald Trump's unprecedented broadside against the pontiff.Rubio will meet the first US-born pope privately in the Vatican's apostolic palace at 11.30am (10.30 GMT), the Holy See's press office confirmed on Monday after media reports on Sunday. Continue reading...
Kent schoolgirl tracks down 10,000 namesakes as part of campaign - but non-Kirstys are welcome to donate tooCalling all Kirstys! A schoolgirl from Tunbridge Wells in Kent is seeking people who share her name to help raise money for research into paediatric brain tumours like the one for which she is being treated.Kirsty Waugh, who turns 12 on Monday, has already persuaded more than 10,000 Kirstys, Kirsties, Kersties and assorted other variants to plot their locations on a map that shows Kirstys can be found everywhere from Colombia to Malaysia, and even at the Rothera research station in Antarctica. Continue reading...
Lobbyist Tara Singh says stripping projects of subsidy contracts would undermine investor confidence in UKBritain could be beset by levels of economic chaos last seen under Liz Truss if a Reform UK government were to fulfil its promise to strip renewable energy projects of subsidy contracts, according to the industry's chief lobbyist.The anti-renewables policy put forward by Nigel Farage's populist party would severely undermine investor confidence in the energy industry and across the wider UK economy, the new chief executive of RenewableUK said. Continue reading...
US president's post follows flurry of mixed signals including concern Tehran had not paid big enough price'. Plus, could Santa Marta climate talks mark ground zero in push to ditch fossil fuels?Good morning.Donald Trump has announced this morning that the US will guide" ships trapped in the Gulf by the Iran war through the strait of Hormuz, and claimed his representatives were having very positive" discussions with Iran.What has Iran said? The head of the Iranian military's unified command has said US and foreign armed forces will be attacked if they enter the strait. It told US forces to stay out of the area and said its forces would respond harshly to any threat. It also told commercial ships and oil tankers to refrain from any movement in the absence of coordination with Iran's military.What did Comey say about the post? Comey deleted the postand apologized. He said the hadn't known what the expression meant and condemned violence. He has said he is innocent and denies any wrongdoing. Continue reading...
No arrests made, police say, and site of shooting - a heavily wooded area - is slowing search for evidence and suspectAt least 13 people were hurt in a mass shooting during a party at a campground in Oklahoma on Sunday night, authorities said.The shooting took place at Spring Creek Park on Arcadia Lake about 15 miles north-east of downtown Oklahoma City, when gunfire erupted during a gathering of young people at about 9pm. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#75CRZ)
Exclusive: Minister says proposals show government's ambition, as it faces unprecedented pressure from GreensTree nurseries could be built at prisons and military ranges could be turned into heathland or peat bogs as part of an ambitious plan to make government land more nature-friendly, the environment secretary has said.Speaking ahead of elections this week in which Labour is under pressure from the Green party, Emma Reynolds said such projects showed the government's intent in restoring natural habitats. Continue reading...
Agriculture secretary claims without evidence Snap recipients included owners of luxury carsThe Trump administration's attack on the 87-year-old food aid program that supports tens of millions of low-income Americans escalated last week as the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, claimed that 14,000 Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (Snap) recipients included owners of luxury vehicles such as Ferraris, Bentleys and Teslas.Critics charge that the broadside is part of a disinformation campaign aimed at undermining a benefit relied on by some of the most vulnerable people in the US. Continue reading...
Beef and olive oil costs increase the most as climate and energy shocks drive inflation, research suggestsFood prices are on track to be 50% higher in November than at the start of the cost of living crisis in 2021, research suggests.Climate and energy shocks have driven an almost quadrupling of the pace of food price growth, according to research from the thinktank Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), with costs rising in five years at about the same rate as they had over the previous two decades. Continue reading...
Louisiana's cultural hotspot could be surrounded by Gulf of Mexico before end of this century, authors sayThe process of relocating people from New Orleans should start immediately as the city has reached a point of no return" that will see it surrounded by the ocean within decades due to the climate crisis, a stark new study has concluded.Ongoing sea level rise and the rampant erosion of wetlands in southern Louisiana will swallow up the New Orleans area within a few generations, with the new paper estimating the city may well be surrounded by the Gulf of Mexico before the end of this century". Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#75CQA)
Phase Space pilot programme with NHS mental health trust used to calm anxiety around exams, ADHD and home troublesSchools have begun deploying virtual reality to help pupils cope with stress caused by impending exams, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or difficult home lives.All 15 secondary schools in the London borough of Sutton are using VR headsets made by tech firm Phase Space in a pilot in conjunction with the local NHS mental health trust. Continue reading...
by Purity Mukami, Joy Kirigia, Gabriel Geiger, Tomas on (#75CME)
Exclusive: amid unrest, President William Ruto promised to give all Kenyans access to healthcare. But the algorithm favours the rich, an investigation has found
Japanese leader Sanae Takaichi has called for discussions to revise the constitution, saying it should reflect the demands of the times'Japan's prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has called for advanced discussions" on revising the pacifist constitution, as large demonstrations were held nationwide to oppose any changes to the country's supreme law.Speaking during an official visit to Vietnam, Takaichi said the constitution, which was written by US occupation forces after the second world war, should periodically be updated to reflect the demands of the times". Continue reading...
War has combined with battered economy to leave Tehran wondering how hardline it can afford to beIran may not be choking like a stuffed pig as Donald Trump predicted, but its economy is in serious difficulty as a combination of a massive war-damages bill, inflation, currency devaluation, unemployment and a contraction in oil revenues combine to leave the political elite worrying how hardline they can afford to be with their US negotiators. One estimate circulating in Iran's media suggests the damage to the economy from the US-Israeli attacks is nine times the value of the Iranian budget last year.The UN Development Programme has estimated that 4.1 million more Iranians could fall into poverty. Continue reading...
by Melvyn Ingleby in Istanbul and William Christou in on (#75CKB)
New government accused of performative justice' and making deals with suspects in 2013 Tadamon massacresAhmad al-Homsi is a deep sleeper, but when he was woken last month and told that Amjad Youssef, a Syrian intelligence officer who killed civilians in the 2013 Tadamon massacres, had been arrested, he bolted out of bed. He ran into the street to find other people already celebrating the news.We stayed out for almost three or four days celebrating. People from neighbouring areas sent camels, sheep, livestock for us to slaughter and distribute them to people. The tears of joy didn't stop," said al-Homsi, a 33-year-old activist with the Tadamon Coordination Committee, which documented the atrocities in the Damascus neighbourhood. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#75CKE)
Downing Street begins fightback against predictions of imminent challenge to Keir StarmerLabour MPs are calling for a close to the endless drama" of leadership speculation, as Downing Street begins a fightback against predictions of an imminent challenge to Keir Starmer.Some backbenchers warned that repeated briefings about how and when the prime minister could be toppled were putting off voters, who similarly had disliked the Conservatives' repeated shuffling of leaders when in power. Continue reading...