Over the last 20 years, the number of Americans who read daily for pleasure has seen a considerable declineThe amount of Americans who read for pleasure has fallen by 40%, according to a new study.Researchers at the University of Florida and University College London have found that between 2003 and 2023, daily reading for reasons other than work and study fell by about 3% each year. Continue reading...

Scottish Labour suspends Smyth after arrest in connection with possession of indecent imagesA Scottish MSP has been arrested and charged in connection with possession of indecent images.Colin Smyth, who has represented South Scotland since 2016, was arrested on Tuesday, resulting in his immediate suspension from Scottish Labour. He is due to appear in court at a later date. Continue reading...

French president responds to Israeli PM's erroneous' allegations in relation to decision to recognise state of PalestineEmmanuel Macron has hit out at Benjamin Netanyahu for his abject" and erroneous" remarks after Israel's prime minister claimed that antisemitism had surged" in France after the country's decision to recognise a Palestinian state in September.In a statement released late on Tuesday, the office of the French president pushed back against Netanyahu's claim. The analysis suggesting that France's decision to recognise the state of Palestine in September is behind the rise in antisemitic violence in France is erroneous, abject, and will not go unanswered," it said. The current period calls for seriousness and responsibility, not generalisation and manipulation." Continue reading...

Law temporarily blocked after group sought preliminary injunction, saying it violated first amendment protectionsTexas cannot require public schools to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom, a judge said on Wednesday in a temporary ruling against the state's new requirement, making it the third such state law to be blocked by a court.A group of Dallas-area families and faith leaders sought a preliminary injunction against the law, which goes into effect on 1 September. They say the requirement violates the first amendment's protections for the separation of church and state and the right to free religious exercise. Continue reading...

Administrator was appointed after parent company State Oil was given new information about 783m loanThe Prax Lindsey oil refinery collapsed after material irregularities" were discovered in a complex 783m loan facility that funded the wider group, it has emerged.The refinery on the Humber estuary in northern England - one of just five left in the UK, - was suddenly plunged into administration in late June, prompting calls from furious government ministers for an investigation into Winston Soosaipillai, Prax Group's oil tycoon owner. Continue reading...

Call-up notices sent as Israeli plans to increase its offensive; Israel studies Hamas' response to proposal for 60-day ceasefireIsrael is killing all prospects" for peace in the Middle East, Jordan's foreign minister has said amid escalating international outrage over Israel's plans for a new large-scale offensive in Gaza City and plans to massively expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank.Ayman Safadi made his remarks during a visit to Moscow on the same day that the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, approved a plan to conquer Gaza City, an urban area home to hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Palestinian territory. Continue reading...

Kelvingrove Park is site of Scotland's first skatepark, Kelvin Wheelies, which has been covered in rubble for decadesScotland's first outdoor skatepark - currently buried beneath rubble in Glasgow's Kelvingrove Park - will be excavated next week in an attempt to preserve its legacy.Archaeologists at the University of Glasgow are inviting volunteers to join them as they begin their excavation and survey work at the former Kelvin Wheelies park, which has been underground for more than three decades. Continue reading...

Court is shown proposal to secure operations of SSUK, which employs 1,450 people

Children among dead after bus carrying Afghans deported from Iran crashed and caught fire in Herat province78 people have died in western Afghanistan in a collision between a bus carrying Afghans who had recently been deported from Iran and two other vehicles.The passenger bus hit a motorcycle and a truck transporting fuel on Tuesday night, causing an explosive fire in Herat province's Guzara district, officials and witnesses said. Continue reading...

Unite says stoppages at Broughton and Filton factories could disrupt production of wings and delay deliveries

Prime minister says strengthened partnership with Iraq will secure our borders' as more councils in England plan to challenge asylum hotelsTrain fares in England are now expected to rise by a higher-than-expected 5.8% next year, causing concern among passenger groups.Rail ticket increases are usually calculated by adding one percentage point to July's inflation reading on the retail prices index (RPI), which came in 0.2 points above forecasts on Wednesday at 4.8%. Continue reading...

Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov dismisses European diplomacy as clumsy effort to sway Trump'

Jean Pormanove featured regularly in videos in which he appeared to be assaulted or humiliated as viewers watchedFrench authorities are investigating the death of a man during a live video stream on the Kick platform, where he had regularly been shown enduring violence and humiliation.Prosecutors ordered an autopsy and opened an investigation into the death of the man, 46, in the village of Contes, north of Nice, on Monday. Continue reading...

RMT action over pay and conditions means no services on Saturday and reduced rail timetable on Monday

Broxbourne council leader hopes to go down same path' as Epping, which has blocked people being housed in hotel

Executive Council of Australian Jewry says Australian and Israeli governments should use diplomacy rather than public posturing'

State's Crime and Corruption Commission investigated fewer than 1% of complaints referred to it

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The Israeli prime minister has launched a diplomatic broadside against Albanese, adopting a similar playbook to his approach to UK, Canada and France

Chris Minns says he will seek to meet victims' families after agreeing police sketch of cold case suspect incredibly similar' to serial killerThe premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns, has said he is open to a parliamentary inquiry into Ivan Milat, after a state MP questioned whether the backpacker murderer could be responsible for many more deaths.Legalise Cannabis party MLC Jeremy Buckingham is pursuing whether Milat was responsible for dozens of unsolved murders throughout Australia, mainly of young women. Continue reading...

Near Dobropillia new trenches are visible, drone attacks continue and there is no sign of the fighting easingOver dinner on Monday, a simple barbecue of meat and roasted vegetables, the soldiers of Ukraine's 150th reconnaissance and strike battalion have other things on their mind. Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in the White House and Donald Trump has just promised to give Ukraine very good protection".When this development is passed on to the group around, one of the soldiers pipes up From who?" and laughs, such is the uncertainty about who the US really supports. But in reality the troops are not following the news closely. After three and half years, the war has its own momentum, technology and schedule. Continue reading...

Watchdog says television advert for Sanex fed negative stereotypes and was likely to cause serious offenceA television advert for Sanex shower gel has been banned in the UK for appearing to suggest that black skin is problematic" and white skin is superior".The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) acted after investigating two complaints that the Sanex fed negative stereotypes about people with darker skin tones. Continue reading...

The annual event, which promotes literacy, is celebrating 80 years as part of Australian school lifeBook Week is in full swing, marking it's 80th year celebrating all things reading and literacy for Australia's schoolchildren.The theme for the week, which runs from Saturday 16 to Saturday 23 August, is Book an Adventure", encouraging children to explore new worlds through stories. Continue reading...

In a New Zealand television interview, relatives spoke of their anguish since Tom Phillips disappeared with his three children in late 2021The family of a fugitive father who has been hiding for more than three years in New Zealand's rugged wilderness with his three children has pleaded with the man to come home, in some of their first public comments since he vanished.Just before Christmas 2021, Tom Phillips fled into the Waikato wilderness with his children Ember, now 9, Maverick, 1o, and Jayda, 12, following a dispute with their mother. Phillips does not have legal custody of his children. Continue reading...

Australian home affairs minister's criticism comes after Israeli prime minister calls Anthony Albanese a weak politician who betrayed Israel'

Mixed classes would widen children's understanding and reduce stigma and disinformation about periods, researchers sayBoys and girls should be taught together in mixed classes about menstruation to help reduce the stigma, secrecy and disinformation which still surrounds periods, according to researchers.A new study by University College London (UCL) claims schoolchildren are being given insufficient information about periods, with many receiving just two lessons during their entire school career: one at primary level and one in secondary school. Continue reading...

Belief that snack chain's revenues exceed those of Oxford one of many underestimations of importance of HE sectorManchester United and Greggs' famous sausage rolls are no match for the financial firepower of Britain's leading universities, despite many members of the public thinking otherwise, according to research.The study by King's College London's policy institute revealed that many people have a string of misperceptions about the higher education sector, ranging from its size to the lucrative career boost it gives to graduates. Continue reading...

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Yvette Cooper joins a long line of home secretaries struggling to find substitutes for hotels as anti-migrant fervour growsYvette Cooper, thanks to Tuesday's high court ruling, is facing potentially explosive decisions over where to house asylum seekers if courts rule that they must leave hotels.The Home Office, usually under Conservative ministers, has been struggling for five years to find an alternative to hotels so they can house a growing number of asylum seekers reaching these shores. Continue reading...

Officers say they found 1.4kg of drug inside toy in woman's underwear and also accused her of hiding ecstasy pillsA Peruvian woman has been arrested in Bali after allegedly trying to smuggle cocaine into the Indonesian resort island using a sex toy and hiding drugs in her underwear, police said.The 42-year-old, identified only by her initials NS, arrived at Bali's international airport from Qatar on 12 August when authorities became suspicious. Continue reading...

Internal review by the National Police Air Service finds the crew acted appropriately' during pursuitA police helicopter crew will face no action after flying at low altitude while pursuing a suspect on a motorbike in Merseyside.Video footage was published on social media last week showing a National Police Air Service (Npas) helicopter pursuing the man, which resulted in the detention of the suspect for numerous alleged offences including dangerous driving, driving a motor vehicle which had been taken without the owner's consent, driving while disqualified, failing to stop and conspiring to intentionally/recklessly cause a public nuisance. A second suspect was arrested for alleged theft of a motor vehicle and assisting an offender. Continue reading...

Bad Omens star, who grew up in Port Talbot, tells Edinburgh TV festival schemes that helped him break into profession are all but goneMichael Sheen has warned the pathways that helped him break into acting have all but collapsed, as he said the bank of mum and dad" would be unable to support aspiring actors from poorer communities.The Bad Omens star, who grew up in the working class community of Port Talbot, said he had benefited from school support, youth theatres and grants that have since come under financial pressure or been abolished entirely. Continue reading...

With sales and market share shrinking, the notion that the chain could imperil Tesco and Sainsbury's always felt fanciful

MSF says low vaccination coverage and poor living conditions driving spread of deadly bacterial diseaseDiphtheria cases are rapidly increasing across Somalia, officials and humanitarians warn, with children accounting for more than 97% of the cases.Diphtheria, a highly contagious and deadly bacterial disease that mainly affects children, is preventable by a vaccine. While Somalia has improved vaccination rates in recent years, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) blames the uptick in cases on persisting immunisation gaps. Continue reading...

Fashion retailer considered 50bn float in London but has not received backing from Chinese authorities

Goal of European leaders at White House meeting was to try to push the Russian leader into a corner

Pierre Poilievre returns to House of Commons after shock April loss and narrower margin in Tory strongholdCanada's Conservative leader, Pierre Poilievre, has won a closely watched byelection in the province of Alberta, giving him a chance to return to parliament after suffering a shock defeat in April's federal election.Poilievre finished with 80.4% of the vote after Monday's election in the riding of Battle River-Crowfoot, in the deeply Conservative western province. Continue reading...

Strike over wages and ground work has cancelled travel for 500,000 people worldwideAir Canada flight attendants say they have reached a tentative" deal with the airline to end a strike over wages and ground work that has cancelled travel for half a million people worldwide.Roughly 10,000 flight attendants walked off the job after midnight Saturday, insisting Air Canada had failed to address their demands for higher pay and compensation for unpaid ground work, including during boarding. Continue reading...

Israel's prime minister accuses Australian leader of abandoning' Jews as tension escalates over visa cancellation and Palestinian recognition

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Flood concerns along east coast and severe weather warning for west coast amid national cold snap

WA premier describes horrifying scenario' after workers found child's body while cleaning drain on Monday

Trial's advisory board may not see the final report until communications minister releases it publicly in the coming weeks

Heavy traffic expected on some roads, while rail passengers urged to check for engineering worksHolidaymakers in Britain have been warned they could face delays when travelling this weekend as the weight of almost 18m car journeys and widespread rail engineering works are expected to cause disruption over the August bank holiday, celebrated in England and Wales.The RAC said drivers should set off as early as possible to avoid heavy traffic, particularly on major routes to airports and coastal areas. The south-east and south-west of England are expected to see the heaviest congestion. Continue reading...

Ex-footballer in running for National Television award after controversy in which he shared social media post about ZionismGary Lineker has been shortlisted for the National Television award for best TV presenter, a few months after his exit from the BBC's Match Of The Day.The former footballer will compete against Ant and Dec, who have won the prize for 23 years in a row. Continue reading...

Labor calls on Brad Battin to apologise after appearance at active crime scene before victim's next of kin were notified

Director names his masterpiece' film, along with his favourite and the one he was born to make'It's one of cinema's most contested subjects: which Quentin Tarantino movie is the best? The director himself has finally weighed in - while also sharing his personal favourite and which of his films he was born to make".Speaking on The Church of Tarantino podcast, the 62-year-old film-maker said his 2009 second world war drama Inglourious Basterds was the best of his nine films, while his 2019 movie Once Upon a Time ... in Hollywood was his favourite. Continue reading...

Education secretary urges schools to change uniform requirements as costs force many parents into debtParents in England are skipping meals and turning to buy-now-pay-later services such as Klarna in order to afford school uniforms before the autumn term, according to a survey.Almost half (47%) of the 2,000 parents who took part in the poll said they were worried about uniform costs, which can run into hundreds of pounds due to expensive branded items, while more than a quarter (29%) said they had forgone food or heating to pay for uniforms. Continue reading...

Shadow minister posts picture of himself at protest outside Essex hotel that has become anti-immigration flashpointRobert Jenrick has been severely criticised by Labour after the shadow justice secretary was pictured at an anti-asylum rally in Essex attended by a veteran far-right activist.Jenrick posted photos on X showing himself visiting the protest outside the Bell hotel in Epping, where police have been attacked and police vehicles vandalised by groups of men taking part in the demonstration. The MP met protesters including a woman with a T-shirt bearing the message: Send them home." Continue reading...

Penny Wong calls decision unjustified', and follows Australia's refusal of a visa for the far-right Israeli politician Simcha Rothman