by Alexandra Topping Political correspondent on (#78QPS)
Exclusive: Culture secretary says UK will crack down further and be pioneer of tech as a force for good'Lisa Nandy has warned technology firms that the government's online safety crackdown is not finished, saying that banning under-16s from social media platforms is only a staging post".Earlier this year the government announced that teenagers under the age of 16 would be banned from accessing high-risk" social media apps, while safer platforms would be subjected to restrictions. Continue reading...
Relatives of Hollywood legend say her doppelganger could now be used for more glamorous rolesShe shimmered in Hollywood's silent movie era and lit up the first talkies - now Greta Garbo may be about to star in cinema's new AI age.More than a century after her screen debut and decades after her ashes were laid to rest in a Swedish woodland cemetery, the Hollywood superstar's descendants are ready to consider an AI version of her taking a 21st-century film role. Continue reading...
Scheme will follow principles of Sure Start, helping families with infant feeding, mental health and bonding with babiesThe government is rolling out a Healthy Babies programme to every local authority in England, as part of its efforts to expand a Sure Start-type system of help for deprived children and families.It aims to support parents with infant feeding, their mental health and building strong bonds with their babies, alongside health visits, midwifery care and wider services. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#78QPY)
National Trust says latest figures encouraging - with numbers of birds on the rise - but work still to be doneEngland's most important tern colonies are showing signs of recovery after being hit by years of bird flu, flooding and increasingly unpredictable weather, new figures from the National Trust reveal.The trust reported record numbers of little terns at Long Nanny in Northumberland, one of the UK's most important breeding sites for what is the country's second-rarest breeding seabird. Continue reading...
Figure cited by minister highlights trade-offs Kyiv faces as it tries to keep normal life moving amid Russian strikesMissile alerts are costing Ukraine an estimated $45m (34m) for every hour they bring business to a halt, according to the country's economy minister, as Kyiv searches for ways to keep the economy running under an intensifying Russian bombardment.Russia has increasingly targeted the infrastructure underpinning Ukraine's economy, striking industrial sites, warehouses, logistics hubs and datacentres in what Oleksandr Kravchenko, the minister for economy and the environment, described as an effort to destroy pretty much the entire economy". Continue reading...
More than 400 detained as police and students clash over class sizes, exhausting timetables and staff shortagesMore than 400 people, most of them children, have been detained in France on Tuesday after teenagers across the country blockaded their schools in protest at class sizes, teacher shortages and long timetables.Interior minister Laurent Nunez told BFM TV: 440 were detained across national territory. We don't have the final tally yet, but I'm told two-thirds led to police custody." Continue reading...
State passes law banning local, state and federal officers from using gloves that deliver painful electric shocksCalifornia has passed a law Tuesday banning local, state and federal law enforcement officers from using gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks to people.The ban on shock gloves will take effect next year and remain in place until 2030. It comes weeks after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) moved to equip its officers with the gloves, which are designed to gain compliance from combative individuals. Last month, the agency awarded a nearly $17m contract to buy 6,000 pairs. Continue reading...
US cannabis and drinks firm Tilray, which took over in March, says it will improve beers, pubs and working conditionsBrewDog's new owner has urged drinkers to give the ailing brand a second chance" as it invests more than 50m in improving the company's beers, pubs and working conditions.The US cannabis and drinks company Tilray bought BrewDog for 33m in March this year, after the company collapsed into administration after five years of losses and a series of controversies relating to the treatment of workers under the founder James Watt. Continue reading...
Over half of 260 workplace child fatalities between 2013 and 2023 lacked data on cause of death or the industry workedInformation is missing on over half of deaths at work of people under the age of 18 in the US because of significant gaps in child labor data, according to a government accountability office (GAO) report released on Tuesday.The report found that between 2013 and 2023, an average of 24 children under the age of 18 died each year due to work-related incidents. Over half of the 260 child fatality cases did not contain detailed data on the cause of death or the industry the child worked in. Continue reading...
Head of Counter Terrorism Policing defends decision to bail five British men arrested in connection with incidentNo explosive devices were found in three vans searched near RAF Fairford as part of a terrorism investigation but a quantity of petrol was recovered, police have said.Five British nationals were arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning after a resident living near the Gloucestershire airbase reported suspicious activity involving three vans. Continue reading...
by Kalyeena Makortoff Banking correspondent on (#78QCR)
Bank allows employees to delay being in workplace at least three days a week until 2027, if permission grantedBarclays has watered down its return-to-office plans after a major staff backlash, with the bank allowing some employees to wait until next year before having to be in at least three days a week.The bank this summer announced the attendance requirement would come in for its 45,000 UK staff from 5 October, with more senior employees expected to come in for at least four days. That compares with current rules requiring staff to come in for two.automatic exemptions of in-office attendance rules during school holidays and Christmas;capping in-office requirements at one day a week for any carers or people with disabilities;flexible start and finish times to allow for cheaper off-peak travel costs and to accommodate school pickup and drop-offs;subsidised onsite meal costs;and a single, consolidated payment made to all staff to make up for the costs of coming into the office, before March 2027. Continue reading...
by Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent on (#78QBT)
Pennsylvania has reported over 900 measles cases and four deaths as governor and health chief RFK Jr spar over dataA second measles death in the US has been announced on Tuesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as the country grapples with an outbreak affecting 47 states.As of 24 September, a total of 3,659 measles cases have been confirmed by the CDC, with the two deaths having been confirmed on Tuesday. The confirmation did not specify in which states the deaths had occurred. Continue reading...
Relations between the two countries soured in January when a UAE-backed force was defeated by Saudi Arabia in YemenSaudi Arabia is being urged to reconcile with the United Arab Emirates over Yemen as the price Riyadh must pay to form a military alliance capable of driving the Houthis back.Relations between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in Yemen, where both had backed anti-Houthi forces, plummeted in January this year when a force with which it had been aligned - the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) - was attacked and defeated by Saudi Arabia in a move intended to squash its attempt to recreate a separate southern state. The UAE subsequently effectively quit Yemen. Continue reading...
Clancy's attorneys say a mistrial shouldn't have been declared and a retrial would result in double jeopardyLindsay Clancy returned to court on Tuesday, as her lawyers sought to head off a retrial by having a judge find the Massachusetts woman not guilty of murder for the killing of her three young children in 2023.Judge William Sullivan in Plymouth, Massachusetts, took up the issue after declaring a mistrial on 4 September, which occurred after a single juror prevented the 12-member jury from reaching a unanimous verdict on whether to convict Clancy or find her not guilty by reason of insanity. Continue reading...
Trans inmates sued the administration over the policy and, so far, two lower courts have blocked implementationThe Trump administration asked the US supreme court, on Monday, to allow it to deny gender-affirming care to transgender inmates in federal prisons, while litigation over the matter continues in lower courts.In its latest emergency request to the high court, the solicitor general, D John Sauer, wrote that certain care, including sex-trait-modification surgeries, hormone therapy and social accommodations - such as undergarments, makeup, padding and wigs - could no longer be justified as treatment for gender dysphoria". Continue reading...
District judge orders record fine for region and says incidents of pollution cannot be toleratedA water company has been ordered to pay a record fine of almost 8m for hundreds of sewage spills at popular bathing spots and sensitive habitats in Cornwall and Devon.On one occasion, untreated sewage gushed through a harbour wall on a bank holiday weekend but South West Water (SWW) engineers took 10 hours to attend. Continue reading...
President of Marine Le Pen's far-right party faces calls to resign over comments he allegedly wrote as a teenagerJordan Bardella, the head of Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN), has claimed a total war" is being waged against his party as he faces a political storm after the publication of antisemitic comments he allegedly wrote as a young party member.Bardella, who is facing calls from political opponents to resign, said on Tuesday that the report by the investigative website Mediapart was false. To a standing ovation from his party's lawmakers and senators at a meeting in parliament, he said the report was an attempt to damage his party as Le Pen tops the polls before the 2027 presidential election. Continue reading...
by Jakub Krupa (now and earlier) and Martin Belam (ea on (#78PYQ)
Kristen Michal says attack against Milrem Robotics was ordered by Russian special services', after Kremlin denies involvementRutte begins by recalling a drone shot down in Lithuanian airspace by Nato fighter jets two weeks ago.He says the repeated drone incidents along our eastern flank showed the evolving nature of the threat, and we are strengthening our integrated air and missile defence."We are adapting and reinforcing our posture against drones." Continue reading...
Clarkson's Farm star says broadcasters should make bigger, fewer, better programmes' in face of competition from streamers and digital platformsJeremy Clarkson has called on British broadcasters to merge into a single Britflix" platform to survive, as he warned that senior producers were continuing to drain away" from the cash-strapped TV industry.The former Top Gear presenter said that having just finished filming the sixth season of his Amazon Prime show Clarkson's Farm, there were now many members of the crew wondering where they would find their next job. Continue reading...
Measures, which need to be approved in Congress, include extending ban on evictions of vulnerable peopleSpain's Socialist Workers' party-led coalition government has approved a range of measures aimed at easing the country's housing crisis, including extending a ban on evictions of vulnerable tenants until 2030, after a public outcry over the eviction of an 87-year-old disabled woman from her Madrid apartment last week.Two decrees have been approved by cabinet but will need to be approved in Congress, where the coalition lacks a majority. The government has requested a special parliamentary session on Friday in the hope of getting the decrees passed as soon as possible. Continue reading...
Ministers from Viktor Orban's former far-right government arrested after MPs vote to lift their immunityTwo ministers in Viktor Orban's former far-right government suspected separately of misusing millions of euros of public funds and taking millions more in bribes have been detained, hours after Hungarian MPs voted to lift their immunity.Prosecutors said on Tuesday that Balazs Hanko, Orban's culture minister and still an MP in the former prime minister's nationalist Fidesz party, was taken into custody late on Monday. Hanko is suspected of misappropriation of funds. He has denied any wrongdoing. Continue reading...
Green energy entrepreneur plans rescue package for the group behind the Camden New Journal, Islington Tribune and Westminster ExtraThe green energy entrepreneur and Labour donor Dale Vince is planning to launch a London-wide news operation, as part of a rescue" of one of the capital's most highly regarded local newspapers.Vince, who has vowed to take on what he sees as rightwing bias in the UK media, said he would invest whatever it takes" to support the loss-making group behind the Camden New Journal (CNJ), Islington Tribune and Westminster Extra. Continue reading...
Dott, 49, receives seven-year sentence after abusing a boy and a girl in what judge says was gross violation of trust'The former snooker world champion Graeme Dott has been jailed for seven years at the high court in Edinburgh after being convicted of sexually abusing two children.In August, Dott was found guilty of sexually abusing a boy and a girl after a five-day trial at Glasgow high court. The court heard that the 2006 world champion inappropriately touched and exposed himself to both children. He denied the charges but was convicted of two counts of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour by a majority verdict. Continue reading...
The Reserve Bank appears ready to push harder against inflation but it comes with a greater risk for the economyThe fight against inflation has entered a new, more dangerous phase.For years, the Reserve Bank has been attempting, as gently as possible, to steer inflation back to its 2.5% target while trying to retain as many of the post-pandemic job gains as possible. Continue reading...
by Eve Livingston Scotland correspondent on (#78PYS)
Residents say shop threatens Charles Rennie Mackintosh's last surviving tearoom months after vape shop blaze nearbyIn the heart of Glasgow city centre, nestled between shops, bars, offices and hotels, sits the Mackintosh Tearooms, the last surviving tearoom designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and one of the city's most treasured heritage sites.But last week passersby noticed a shiny new shopfront next door to the 1903 category A-listed building: hot-pink capital letters on a white plastic sign, advertising a vape and mobile phone repair shop. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#78PXF)
NHS trusts also report disruption to supplies last winter of co-codamol and blood pressure medication ramiprilHospitals are being hit by shortages of key drugs used to provide pain relief, prevent blood clots and tackle high blood pressure.Dozens of NHS trusts in England have encountered scarcities of aspirin, the painkiller co-codamol - a combination of paracetamol and codeine - and ramipril, a blood pressure tablet. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: New details suggest there is a counter-narrative to how events unfolded at the airbase used by the USGood morning. Vehicles suspected of carrying explosives zipping across Britain, entirely unbeknownst to authorities, is a disconcerting prospect.Initially, it seemed precisely this had occurred in Gloucestershire early on Sunday. A major attack on RAF Fairford appeared to have been scuppered by pure luck", a local farmer said, after she noticed suspicious vans and masked men on an otherwise deserted country lane. Had she not tipped off police, the vigilant villager believes the five men arrested on terror offences would not have been apprehended. That account prompted questions about whether police and security services had been caught off guard.Energy | Andy Burnham will take his first major step to putting Britain's utility companies into public control when, at the Labour conference, he announces a new government-backed body to invest in the electricity grid.Immigration | Home secretary Shabana Mahmood has signalled she is considering watering down her plans to make it harder for foreign workers to claim permanent residence in the UK, amid growing demands for a U-turn from cabinet colleagues and unions.AI | Two of the godfathers" of modern AI and senior executives at OpenAI and Anthropic have warned governments to prepare for an AI intelligence explosion", which they say could be the most consequential technological development in history.Petrol | The price of diesel on UK forecourts has hit an all-time high average of 199.18p a litre, as the conflict in the Middle East continues to drive the cost of fuel to record levels.Ebola | A senior member of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's ruling party was beaten to death on Sunday after appearing on a radio programme to raise awareness about the Ebola outbreak, a party representative has said. Continue reading...
Analysts believe PM has a golden opportunity' to offer older people better protection in return for weakening the triple lock guaranteeIt is a brave party leader who is prepared to go into an election promising a multibillion-pound new public service - likely to be funded by tax rises or holding back increases in the state pension.But Andy Burnham's colleagues are excited about the confident promise of new social care system that seven previous prime ministers have failed to deliver. Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor on (#78PWD)
The UK communities secretary decried protests by men in black wearing face masks' and those whipping up hatred' towards lifeboat volunteersFar-right marches led by the self-styled Danny Tommo" should not be treated like normal protests, the communities secretary, Angela Rayner, has said, calling the marches intimidation" that should not be permitted.Rayner said the behaviour of some masked marchers - who have blocked roads and transport hubs - was not an acceptable form of protest. Continue reading...
The US secretary of state offered no evidence for his claims, and also said many people were disturbed' that the five suspects had been released on bailUS secretary of state Marco Rubio has said unequivocally that a foreign actor was involved in the suspected UK bomb plot at RAF Fairford, hours after the five suspects arrested close to the airbase were released on bail.What could have happened in the UK over the weekend is a very serious situation," Rubio said in an interview with Fox News on Monday evening, adding that it clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor." Continue reading...
by Australian Associated Press and Tory Shepherd on (#78PS0)
Detained anti-human trafficking campaigners include Tran Hiep, a Vietnamese Australian, not heard from since 18 SeptemberVietnamese authorities have detained three activists, including aNorwegian and an Australian, on what have been described as fabricated" charges.The Vietnamese government said the three confessed to being members of Viet Tan - a pro-democracy organisation - which it describes as a terrorist group. Continue reading...
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