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Common Wealth says private gas-fired stations can charge exorbitant fees when renewable energy is in short supplyBritain's gas power stations should be nationalised to prevent their owners from holding the electricity market to ransom", a thinktank has urged.The country's dwindling fossil fuel power plants are ripe for nationalisation as ministers aim to reduce gas consumption to just 5% of the electricity system by 2030, according to a report by Common Wealth. Continue reading...

Canadian PM right candidate for the moment in success shaped more by chance than meticulous planningMark Carney, the economist, banker and politician, has long professed a simple article of faith when navigating through crisis: A plan beats no plan."And his rapid ascent to Canada's top job might be taken as evidence of such preparation. Continue reading...

Campaigners warn against removing group as statutory consultee as part of plan to speed up building new homesThousands of playing fields could be lost to housing if the government strips Sport England of its role in national planning policy, campaigners have warned.As part of the national planning and infrastructure bill the government has said it wants to speed up the delivery of new homes and critical infrastructure" by removing the powers of some of the statutory consultees on planning decisions. Continue reading...

The outage, blamed by operators on temperature variations, left tens of millions without electricityLights flickered back to life across most of Spain and Portugal on Tuesday after a massive blackout hit the Iberian peninsula, stranding passengers in trains and elevators while millions lost phone and internet coverage.Electricity had been restored to nearly 90% of mainland Spain by early on Tuesday, the grid operator REE said. Power was restored overnight to around 6.2m households in Portugal out of 6.5m, according to the national electricity grid operator. Lights also came on again in Madrid and in Portugal's capital, Lisbon. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. You can read our latest wrap of developments here.We are just getting a line from Reuters news agency saying that the Conclave to elect new pope will start on 7 May, according to its source.We have not independently verified this report. Continue reading...

Dairy-based drinks and non-dairy substitutes could be taxed as soft drinks under plans put out for consultationThe sugar tax applied to fizzy drinks could be extended to milkshakes and similar treats under government proposals.Plans to end the exemption from the levy for dairy-based drinks, as well as non-dairy substitutes such as oats or rice, were put out for consultation on Monday. Continue reading...

Amendment to bill would affect anyone who qualifies for sex offender register, but charities concerned that move is being rushedForeign nationals convicted of sex offences will be banned from claiming asylum in the UK, Yvette Cooper has said, as Labour attempts to fight off the threat from the Reform party before Thursday's local elections.For the first time, anyone from overseas who qualifies for the sex offender register will be excluded from refugee protections. Continue reading...

Detectives Crockett and Tubbs are set to return in a new big screen take on the 80s cop show from Joseph KosinskiDetectives Crockett and Tubbs are in line for a new look with the 80s cop show Miami Vice set to make a big-screen comeback.The Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski has been set as director of a new take on the NBC series which followed two undercover cops trying to dismantle the world of illegal drugs in Miami. Continue reading...

Ronen Bar to leave role in June, having been sacked by the PM only for the supreme court to block that decision

Revealed: Sources say bosses at R&A, which organises the annual golf tournament, were quizzed about 2028 eventSenior Whitehall officials have asked golf bosses whether they can host the 2028 Open championship at Donald Trump's Turnberry course after repeated requests from the US president, sources have said.Officials had asked senior people at the R&A, which organises the world's oldest major golf championship, what the hurdles would be to hosting the 2028 Open at Turnberry. Continue reading...

Fashion revival and warm weather had boosted the retailer - but the attack has halted website sales

PM says supporters of both groups are being misled and a tie-up would be a disaster' for BritainDowning Street has described the alleged comments by the band Kneecap in the kill MP' footage (see 12.10pm) as completely unacceptable".At the morning lobby briefing, the PM's spokesperson described the comments as completely unacceptable".We do not think individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding.That's up to the group, but clearly the PM rejects the views expressed ... does not shy away from condemning them.I don't want to see strike action, I don't think anybody wants to see strike action.And certainly here we are in a healthcare environment with all the staff working really hard. The last thing they want to do is to go into dispute again. Continue reading...

Several countries in Europe have been scrambling to restore electricity after a huge power cut causing blackouts

Court considering if Israel acted unlawfully by cutting ties with Unwra with claim it is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians'Israel appears set on destroying the framework created to ensure compliance with international law in a way that will have profound consequences that reverberate far beyond Palestine, the international court of justice has heard.The warning was made at the start of five days of proceedings in The Hague that may prove critical to Israel's future within the world body. The UN's top court will hear from dozens of nations and organisations in order to draw up an advisory opinion on Israel's humanitarian obligations to Palestinians more than 50 days into its total blockade on aid entering Gaza. Continue reading...

Scott Pelley castigated network over independence pending sale to Skydance Media requiring Trump's approval

Broadcaster said trolling got too bad' and at least two death threats against him were being investigated by policeFor many cyclists, Jeremy Vine's commitment to filming drivers he regarded as endangering his fellow two-wheeled travellers made him a hero. It also made the presenter the target of some extraordinary online hate from those who accused him of persecuting motorists.After years of documenting clashes and close shaves on the road, Vine has announced he is ending his sharing of footage, saying the fallout they generated had become too hard to bear. I'm stopping my cycling videos," he announced. The trolling just got too bad. They have had well over 100m views but in the end the anger they generate has genuinely upset me." Continue reading...

Plan to supply 20% of the world's semiconductor chips by 2030 described as essentially aspirational'The EU's strategy to secure its own supply of microchips is deeply disconnected from reality", a damning report by the official European court of auditors (ECA) has found.The ECA reported that the bloc was very unlikely" to meet its 2030 target of supplying 20% of the world's microchips at a time when global demand for semiconductors is booming to meet the growing needs of defence, green tech and artificial intelligence. Continue reading...

Sources say pay increases will not be covered by borrowing and must come from existing budgets, setting up potential for strikes

We break down the major parties' climate claims, counter-claims and policies - and find out what the experts say

Poll also finds most Australians voting based on who will leave them better off in three years - rather than comparing situation to three years ago

Exclusive: Promised day one' right will not include statutory pay for new dads who have been in job for less than nine months

Ten men nicknamed grandpa robbers' accused of stealing jewellery worth millions from American TV star in 2016Ten people nicknamed the grandpa robbers" by French media have gone on trial charged with stealing jewellery worth millions of euros from the American reality TV star Kim Kardashian when she attended Paris fashion week in 2016.The suspects, whose ages range from 35 to 78, appeared in a court in the French capital on Monday afternoon at the start of a month-long trial in which Kardashian, 44, will testify in May. Continue reading...

ICJ holding hearing about Israel's obligation to facilitate aid to Gaza and the West Bank amid the outlawing of UnrwaIsraeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 24 people across the territory since dawn, Al Jazeera is reporting. In Jabalia, in northern Gaza, 10 family members were reportedly killed in an airstrike, while eight people in another family were killed in a separate airstrike.Tehran has accused Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to dictate US policy in negotiations after the Israeli prime minister repeated calls for Iran's entire nuclear infrastructure to be dismantled.Israel's fantasy that it can dictate what Iran may or may not do is so detached from reality that it hardly merits a response.What is striking, however, is how brazenly Netanyahu is now dictating what President Trump can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran... Continue reading...

Samir Shah warns of abuse of power as overhaul of workplace culture announced after high-profile casesThe BBC still harbours powerful figures who can abuse their position to make life for their colleagues unbearable", the corporation's chair has said.Samir Shah's warning came as the broadcaster announced an overhaul of workplace culture after a series of high-profile cases. Continue reading...

About 135 Roman Catholic cardinals will meet at Sistine Chapel to decide the next leader of the global church

Castle Donington agency workers told not to go to work as website orders remain on hold for fourth day in a row

The broadcaster's first female boss, who helped fight off two privatisation attempts, will leave in the summerThe chief executive of Channel 4, Alex Mahon, is to step down after eight years and will leave the broadcaster in the summer.During her tenure Mahon, who joined in 2017 as the first female CEO in the broadcaster's four-decade history, helped fight off two attempts to privatise Channel 4. Continue reading...

Alleged attack on facility holding African detainees raises fresh questions over US military operations in regionYemen's Houthi rebels say 68 people have been killed and 47 injured in a US strike on a detention centre holding African migrants in the city of Saada.The rebel group, which governs north-west Yemen, said the shelter was under the supervision of the International Organization for Migration and the Red Cross and targeting it constitutes a full-fledged war crime". The US military had no immediate comment. Continue reading...

Voters in twin-island Caribbean nation to determine representatives amid Trump tariffs and rising cost of livingVoters in the twin-island Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) are going to the polls today in a parliamentary election described by analysts as one of the most unpredictable in decades.Soaring crime levels, Donald Trump's trade tariffs, and the rising cost of living have dominated the race between the two main parties, the ruling People's National Movement (PNM) and the United National Congress (UNC). Voters will choose the 41 members of the lower House of Representatives for a five-year term. Continue reading...

Season's Greetings, which was removed from the town much to residents' sadness, is focus of touring showIt materialised just before Christmas seven years ago, turning the industrial town of Port Talbot into a destination for culture lovers, but - after much wrangling and soul-searching - was whisked away on the back of an art dealer's lorry and is more than 1,000 miles from home.The saga of Port Talbot's Banksy mural, Season's Greetings, is being told in a new play opening next week, prompting a flurry of reminiscences and recriminations about what happened after one of the world's most famous street artists paid a visit to south Wales. Continue reading...

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French entertainment business Banijay Group looks at possible takeover of broadcaster or just its profitable studio arm

Julia Waters accuses government of ignoring coroner's findings into headteacher's death after school-rating downgradeThe sister of a headteacher who took her own life after an Ofsted report has accused the government of ignoring a coroner's findings into her death by failing to change the school inspection regime.In 2023, a coroner ruled that an Ofsted assessment that sharply downgraded Caversham primary school in Reading, contributed to the death of Ruth Perry. Continue reading...

Threat from jihadists had widely been perceived to be extinguished, but recent clashes suggest otherwiseOn the road running from Maiduguri's airport to the city, the freshly repainted walls of a girls' college stood in defiant opposition to a years-long campaign by the jihadists of Boko Haram to make good on their name, which translates as western education is forbidden".At a nearby roundabout on the outskirts of the capital of Nigeria's north-eastern Borno state, three uniformed men sprinted after a cement truck, hoping to collect a road levy. As the driver sped away, they slowed down in the 42C heat, smiled regretfully, and waited for the next heavy duty vehicle to pass. Continue reading...

Coronial inquest into 2024 incident also told killer had preoccupation with death and murder' before fatally stabbing six people

Hearings over bar on cooperation with Palestinian aid agency are test of Israel's defiance of international lawIsrael will come under sustained legal pressure this week at the UN's top court when lawyers from more than 40 states will claim the country's ban on all cooperation with the UN's Palestinian rights agency Unrwa is a breach of the UN charter.The five days of hearings at the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague have been given a fresh urgency by Israel's decision on 2 March to block all aid into Gaza, but the hearing will focus on whether Israel - as a signatory to the UN charter - acted unlawfully in overriding the immunities afforded to a UN body. Israel ended all contact and cooperation with Unrwa operations in Gaza, West Bank and East Jerusalem in November, claiming the agency had been infiltrated by Hamas, an allegation that has been contested. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Force, which had dropped objection to plan, says protests of more than 500 people would impede traffic and require extra resourcesChina's proposed super-embassy" in London would require additional police officers to deal with any large protests involving thousands of people, the Metropolitan police have said before a decision by ministers.Despite having dropped its official objection to the proposals, the Met maintains concerns" that large protests of more than 500 people outside the embassy would impede traffic and require additional police resource", said the deputy assistant commissioner Jon Savell Continue reading...

Opposition leader says opening of parliament is an appropriate time for ceremonies but that acknowledgment on planes is over the top'

Beijing and Manila accuse each other of illegal activities around Sandy Cay near the Spratly Isles, as joint US-Filipino military drills get under way in regionChina and the Philippines have displayed their national flags in competing photo opportunities on a disputed sandbank in the South China sea, ratcheting up longstanding regional tensions between the two countries.The dispute played out at Sandy Cay, which is part of the disputed Spratly Islands, and comes days after the US and the Philippines launched their annual joint military drills called Balikatan", or shoulder to shoulder", which this year will include an integrated air and missile defence simulation for the first time. Continue reading...

Prosecutors say more charges are possible against Kai-Ji Adam Lo, who was arrested at the scene

Lenders expected to split into two camps: those focused on domestic customers and those with large operations in the US, China and the EUUK banks' earnings reports will be studied this week for signs of turmoil linked to Donald Trump's tariff drama, with uncertainty over global growth likely to weigh on lenders with heavy exposure to China, including HSBC.First-quarter profits only reflect the January-to-March period that preceded the US president's liberation day" tariff announcements on 2 April. But investors will be concerned about any hints of caution around earnings forecasts, as well as an uptick in money put aside for defaults by tariff-hit borrowers. Continue reading...

Detection of powerful nitazenes in samples from 60 sites a red flag' amid surging use to lace street drugs

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About 14% of premature deaths in England attributable to unhealthy food, the most among surveyed countriesConsuming large amounts of ultra-processed food (UPF) increases the risk of an early death, according to a international study that has reignited calls for a crackdown on UPF.Each 10% extra intake of UPF, such as bread, cakes and ready meals, increases someone's risk of dying before they reach 75 by 3%, according to research in countries including the US and England. Continue reading...

Meeting will hear how exposure to verbal abuse leads to biological changes and can make mental ill-health likelierBeing shouted at by their parents reshapes children's brains and makes them more likely to have mental ill-health and struggle to maintain friendships, MPs will hear on Monday.Verbal abuse by adults can leave children unable to enjoy pleasure and seeing the world as threatening, experts in child development and mental health will tell a meeting at Westminster. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Liberal Democrats say voters need to know sources of funding for Nigel Farage's party before local electionsThe Liberal Democrats have publicly challenged Nigel Farage to give details of his party's donations after calculating that Reform UK spent more than 2m on personalised letters to postal voters before the local elections.In a letter to Farage, Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said people needed to know the source of the money before Thursday's elections, given that Reform received only 281,000 in donations in the last set of publicly available figures, for the final quarter of 2024. Continue reading...

Social media incitement following last summer's riots appears to be new tactic against Hong Kong exilesOne morning last August, a troubling message appeared in a social media group for Hongkongers in the UK. It was already a tense time to be an immigrant. Rioters, propelled by false claims online that the man who had murdered children in Southport was an asylum seeker, were descending on hotels housing refugees, trying to burn them alive.The message alerted the Hongkongers to posts on far-right channels suggesting some new targets. They all help refugees who come to the UK to take resources," one of them read. Continue reading...

What does it mean to be working class in Britain in 2025? Danny Lavelle reportsHow much does the way you speak define your social class? What about your parents' jobs or your source of income, schooling and housing?The journalist and author Danny Lavelle has long been fascinated by the concept of class because of the way his life has unfolded. Moving between foster care, university, sleeping rough and becoming an Orwell prize-winning writer has led him to question how much the notion of class can help us understand life in 21st-century Britain. Continue reading...

Footage of Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap allegedly calling for the death of British MPs is being assessed by counter-terrorism policeFootage of Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap allegedly calling for the death of British MPs is being assessed by counter-terrorism police.Video emerged of the band at a November 2023 gig appearing to show one person from Kneecap saying: The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP." Continue reading...

Army spokesperson says storage sites housing militant group's missiles were destroyed in Dahiyeh in south of the cityIsrael conducted an airstrike on a residential neighbourhood of Dahiyeh in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday afternoon despite a November ceasefire that officially ended fighting with the militant group Hezbollah.Videos showed three bombs hitting a building in Dahiyeh and rescue crews working to extinguish blazes after the blast; however, no casualties were reported. The Israeli military issued an evacuation warning before the bombing, prompting panic as residents fled the area. Continue reading...