Avon and Somerset police say disappearance of Michael Wheeler, 37, is being treated as a murder inquiryFive men have been arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the disappearance of a man who has been missing for a month.Michael Wheeler, 37, from Yeovil, has not been seen since 24 August and his car was found abandoned in the Somerset town last week. He has not contacted family or friends and has missed several regular appointments. Continue reading...
by Vikram Dodd Police and crime correspondent on (#6QZNR)
Tribunal hears John Apter, since suspended, said he wanted to comfort' widow of officer killed on dutyThe former leader of the Police Federation made a sexual remark about the widow of an officer killed while on duty shortly before meeting her, a discipline tribunal has heard.John Apter is alleged to have said he would like to comfort" the widow of PC Andrew Harper in his hotel room. The remarks were alleged to have been made just months after PC Harper's death and shortly before his widow, Lissie, was due to collect a posthumous award on behalf of her late husband. Continue reading...
by Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent on (#6QZMC)
Comedian Joe Lycett declares United States of Birmingham with 10 US towns and cities that share the nameResidents of Birmingham often admit the city is not accustomed to blowing its own trumpet - still maligned and mocked by others, it tends to favour self-deprecating humour.So the launch of the inaugural International Day of Birmingham (IDOB), celebrated with cheerleaders, confetti cannon and actual trumpets, is not what you would expect to see on a walk through the city centre on a Tuesday afternoon. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#6QZH7)
Proposals will require financial institutions to share data that may help identify scammersLabour has promised to crack down on benefit fraud by reintroducing snooper's charter" proposals mooted under the last government that would allow welfare officials to request information from claimants' bank accounts.A fraud, error and debt bill will require banks and other financial institutions to share data that may help identify benefit fraud as part of a package of measures designed to catch fraudsters faster" and save 1.6bn over five years. Continue reading...
Sunnah Khan, 12, and Joe Abbess, 17, drowned in May 2023 after they were caught in a rip tideThe family of a 12-year-old girl who drowned off Bournemouth beach have told an inquest that they questioned the conduct of the very young" and panicked" lifeguards who took 50 minutes to find her in shallow water.Sunnah Khan, 12, and Joe Abbess, 17, drowned last May, and eight other people were treated by paramedics, after they were caught in a rip tide next to the pier at the Dorset seaside resort. Continue reading...
Amaga pseudobama was first spotted in 2020 in North Carolina and has now spread to Florida and GeorgiaA new species of invasive flatworm has been discovered in the United States and has been found in several states in the south, according to a new paper.The species, named Amaga pseudobama, was discovered by an international team of researchers and first spotted in 2020 in North Carolina. It is thought to be native to South America. Continue reading...
by Robyn Vinter, North of England correspondent on (#6QZFX)
Officers not looking for anyone in relation to discovery of bodies of Martina Karos and disabled daughter Eleni Edwards, eightA mother and daughter found dead in a house in Salford in a suspected murder suicide have been named as Martina Karos and eight-year-old Eleni Edwards.The bodies of Karos, 40, and her disabled daughter were discovered on Monday morning after emergency services were called. Continue reading...
Criminal case opened after Sarco capsule - which releases nitrogen gas at the touch of a button - used in MerishausenSwiss police have said they have opened a criminal investigation and arrested several people after the suspected death of a woman in a so-called suicide capsule.According to local reports, the capsule, named the Sarco Pod by its inventor, was used for the first time on Monday afternoon in a forest close to the German border in the Swiss town of Merishausen.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org and Open Counseling Continue reading...
Suspects aged 52 and 18 being held after 15-year-old Daejaun Campbell stabbed in Woolwich, south-east LondonTwo men have been arrested on suspicion of stabbing to death a schoolboy with a zombie knife in south-east London, police said.The suspects, aged 52 and 18, are being questioned over the murder of 15-year-old Daejaun Campbell who cried out, I'm 15, don't let me die", as a local woman tried to save his life. Continue reading...
Shabana Mahmood tells conference she wants more help in community for offenders and fewer cases going to courtShabana Mahmood, the lord chancellor, has declared that prison isn't working" for women as she announced a package of measures to reduce the number of females in the prison estate.Plans to treat more women in the community, resolve cases involving women before they get to court and drive down the number of young women self-harming will be drawn up by a new body of experts, the justice secretary said in a conference speech on Tuesday. Continue reading...
by Yohannes Lowe (now) and Lili Bayer (earlier) on (#6QZ35)
Ukraine president expected to reiterate plea to use western weapons deep inside Russia when he meets Joe BidenRussia plans to maintain defence spending at an historic high in 2025, Bloomberg News reports, suggesting that the Kremlin intend to continue its invasion of Ukraine for the foreseeable future.The Kremlin is increasing up the spending as its forces slowly advance in eastern Ukraine. The Russian government has raised personal and corporate taxes to plug holes in the budget.Draft three-year budget proposals seen by Bloomberg News show the government intends to increase defense spending to 13.2tn rubles ($142bn) in 2025 from 10.4tn rubles projected for this year, putting it at 6.2% of gross domestic product.Military expenditure is planned to decline to 5.6% of GDP in 2026 and 5.1% in 2027, according to Bloomberg calculations based on the draft data. Continue reading...
Storm intensified to category 3 hurricane before weakening as NHC warns slow pace could cause severe flash floodingTwo people have died after former hurricane John barreled into Mexico's southern Pacific coast, blowing tin roofs off houses, triggering mudslides and toppling scores of trees.It came ashore near the town of Punta Maldonado late on Monday as a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 120mph (190km/h). It weakened back to tropical storm status early on Tuesday with maximum sustained wind speeds of 50mph (85km/h) and was expected to weaken rapidly. Continue reading...
Study finds highest yearly number of prosecutions related to pregnancy - and experts say that is likely an undercountIn the year Roe v Wade was overturned, at least 200 people in the US were prosecuted for conduct relating to their pregnancies - the highest number of cases in a single year ever recorded, according to a new report released on Tuesday.The report, compiled by the advocacy group Pregnancy Justice, is the first comprehensive accounting of pregnancy-related criminal charges between June 2022 and June 2023, but researchers warn that it is still likely an undercount. Continue reading...
The anti-immigration Freedom party leads in the polls but the centre-right OVP looks likely to be kingmakerAustrians head to the polls on Sunday for parliamentary elections that polling suggests are likely to be won, for the first time in the country's postwar history, by the far-right, anti-immigration Freedom party (FPO).The FPO is unlikely to secure an outright majority in the 183-seat Nationalrat (National Council), the lower house of the parliament, however, and so would need to negotiate an agreement with a coalition partner to form a government, which may not be easy. Continue reading...
Mediaset condemned by fellow broadcasters for airing interview with suspect it came across by chanceThe broadcast of a TV interview in which a man confessed to a news reporter that he had murdered his mother has caused a row over media ethics in Italy.Lorenzo Carbone, 50, made the confession outside his home in Spezzano di Fiorano, a town in the province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region, during the interview aired on the Mediaset talkshow Pomeriggio5 on Monday afternoon. Continue reading...
by Neha Gohil Community affairs correspondent on (#6QZ6K)
The long career of the actor who plays EastEnders' Patrick Trueman spans cultural changes on and off screenFor the past two decades, Rudolph Walker has been a familiar face in the homes of millions of Britons, making nightly appearances as Patrick Trueman, the lovable rogue of Albert Square.During his time on EastEnders, Walker's character has taken on complex and prominent storylines featuring depictions of ill health and the sexual assault of his on-screen wife. Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington and Reyes Ma on (#6QZ3E)
Revealed: former colleagues claim Kevin Roberts told them he killed a neighbor's pit bull around 2004The man behind Project 2025, the rightwing policy manifesto that includes calls for a sharp increase in immigrant deportations if Donald Trump is elected, told university colleagues about two decades ago that he had killed a neighborhood dog with a shovel because it was barking and disturbing his family, according to former colleagues who spoke to the Guardian.Kevin Roberts, now the president of the Heritage Foundation, is alleged to have told colleagues and dinner guests that he killed a neighbor's pit bull around 2004 while he was working as a still relatively unknown history professor at New Mexico State University. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: Further attacks over the weekend heightened tensions in an already fraught region Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.At least 492 people have been killed after Israeli jets struck more than 1,300 alleged Hezbollah targets across Lebanon yesterday, in the most intense barrage in nearly a year of cross-border clashes. Roads were heavily congested with civilians desperate to flee the assault. Iran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has accused Israel of seeking to create a wider conflict that Iran does not want to get directly dragged into.Labour | The Conservatives' violent indifference" to the arts has resulted in communities across the country getting poor access to culture, Lisa Nandy has said ahead of a planned funding review. The culture secretary accused her Tory predecessors of vandalism" as she pledged to get state funding to every community and make sure that private philanthropy reached beyond the major cities.Housing | Nationwide, Britain's biggest building society, is to let first-time buyers borrow up to six times their earnings in what has been labelled a gamechanging" move that ramps up the mortgage price war.Environment | Rich countries could raise $5tn, five times the money that poor countries are demanding in climate finance, through windfall taxes on fossil fuels, ending harmful subsidies and a wealth tax on billionaires, research by the pressure group Oil Change International has shown.NHS | Nurses in England have rejected the 5.5% pay rise they were given for this year, in a move that may lead to further strikes in pursuit of higher salaries.France | A French court has begun hearing the cases against six new defendants as the mass rape trial that has sparked horror in the country entered its fourth week. Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted to the allegations, is accused of enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his drugged wife over nearly a decade. Continue reading...
Report finds prison is failing to prepare inmates for release and hundreds of prisoners have substance abuse problemsHMP Brixton, the most overcrowded prison in the country for moderate-risk inmates, is failing to prepare prisoners for release, with nearly half saying it is easy to buy drugs, a watchdog has found.Inspectors found that many of the 740 men held there had turned to drugs because they had nothing constructive to do. Two-thirds of the men were sharing cells designed for one person. Continue reading...
Alaa Abd el-Fattah is due to complete five-year sentence over social media post but family fear further chargesThe family of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, a British activist and author imprisoned in Egypt, are calling on the UK government as well as the Egyptian authorities to ensure he walks free at the end of this month after five years in detention.Let's remember that this is an innocent man who has committed no crime, but even so he will have served his time on 29 September," said Abd el-Fattah's sister, Sanaa Seif. Continue reading...
Prime minister to tell Labour conference that he is acting on his promise to introduce duty of candour on all public bodiesThe new Hillsborough law will be introduced before the next anniversary of the disaster, Keir Starmer will promise at the Labour party conference in Liverpool.The new legislation will introduce a legal duty of candour to all public bodies, with potential for criminal sanctions for any official or authority that misleads or obstructs investigations. The current legal duty of candour requires care providers to be open and transparent with people who use services". This includes providing support, truthful information and an apology when things go wrong. Continue reading...
Sovereign grant that pays for royal family's duties to increase from 86.3m in 2024-25 to 132m in 2025-26The cost of the grant that funds the monarchy is due to increase by more than 53% in the next year to 132m - a rise of 45m.Official royal accounts released earlier this year revealed that huge profits of over 1bn from the crown estate mean the taxpayer-funded sovereign grant, which pays for the royal family's official duties, will increase from 86.3m in 2024-25 to 132m in 2025-26.Additional reporting by PA Media Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#6QYN1)
Top civil servant tried to persuade ex-defence secretary not to commission inquiry into UK military actions in Afghanistan, inquiry hearsThe former defence secretary Ben Wallace was advised by his permanent secretary that a public inquiry into allegations of SAS executions in Afghanistan would be expensive, unproductive and extremely bad" for the reputation of the British military.Sir Stephen Lovegrove tried to persuade Wallace not to commission formal hearings in August 2020, fearing the Ministry of Defence (MoD) would be embarrassed if soldiers and key figures said they could not remember what had happened. Continue reading...
Plan calls for Palestinian civilians to be forced out and Hamas militants put under siege in closed military zone'Benjamin Netanyahu is considering a plan to force Palestinian civilians out of northern Gaza and put Hamas militants who remain in the area under siege in order to force the release of hostages.The plan, published by retired military commanders and floated by some parliament members this month, calls for the area to be declared a closed military zone" after civilians have been told to leave. Continue reading...
by William Christou in Beirut and Lorenzo Tondo in Je on (#6QY7V)
Israel says it has hit 1,300 targets in escalating conflict with Hezbollah, as tens of thousands flee their homesAt least 492 people have been killed and 1,645 injured, Lebanon's health ministry has said, after a wave of Israeli airstrikes on alleged Hezbollah targets that left the country with its highest daily death toll since the end of the 1975-90 civil war.Tens of thousands of people fled from south Lebanese towns and villages along the main road towards the capital, Beirut, in Israel's most intense barrage in nearly a year of cross-border clashes, as sirens were also heard in the northern Israeli city of Haifa. The Lebanese health ministry said 35 children and 58 women were among those killed. Continue reading...
Greater Manchester police launch inquiry after discovery in South Radford Street on MondayAn eight-year-old girl and a woman have been found dead at a home in Salford, Greater Manchester police said.Officers were called following reports of a concern for welfare at the property in South Radford Street shortly after 10.30am on Monday, police said. Both the child and the woman, 40, were found dead at the scene after assistance from North West ambulance service and Greater Manchester fire and rescue service. Continue reading...
Some jewellery historians believe it features diamonds from infamous piece at centre of Marie Antoinette scandalAn antique diamond necklace worn at Queen Elizabeth II's coronation and may be linked to a French scandal involving Marie Antoinette is could fetch as much as 2m at auction.The necklace, made of 300 carats, was also worn to King George VI's coronation by members of the Marquess of Anglesey family, who owned the diamonds until the 1960s when they sold them. Continue reading...
by Jason Burke International security correspondent on (#6QYPA)
Israeli intelligence services and the Lebanese militant group have engaged in clandestine operations across the globe since the 1980sFor more than 40 years, a bloody and violent shadow war has raged between Israeli intelligence services and the Lebanon-based militant Shia Islamist organisation Hezbollah.One of the earliest defeats for Israel came in November 1982, five months after its forces had invaded Lebanon set on the destruction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, then based there. When the PLO's armed fighters were forced to leave Beirut, it appeared Israel had won a major victory. Continue reading...
Suspects accused of scamming two women of 325,000 by pretending to be Hollywood star onlineSpanish police have arrested five people accused of scamming two women of 325,000 (271,000) by posing as the Hollywood star Brad Pitt online.The suspects made contact with the women on an internet page for fans of the Oscar-winning actor and led them to believe they had a sentimental relationship with him", Spain's Guardia Civil police force said in a statement on Monday. Continue reading...
by Robyn Vinter North of England correspondent on (#6QYN0)
A number of people in Shiptonthorpe have received mail, but police inquiries are still to reveal the perpetratorThere's nothing as funny as folk," mused a resident of Shiptonthorpe in East Yorkshire, a quiet village in the grip of a mysterious poison pen letter writer.It's a lovely village," she said. I only moved here quite recently and everyone's been really friendly." Continue reading...
Diplomats trying to prevent escalation in Israel-Hezbollah conflict amid bombing campaign in LebanonThe 79th United Nations general assembly is to open on Tuesday morning amid a massive bombing campaign in southern Lebanon that has brought Israel and the Shia militant group Hezbollah closer than ever to all-out war, despite fevered diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the conflict.On Monday, diplomats huddled behind the scenes at the United Nations headquarters and midtown Manhattan hotels for bilateral and ministerial meetings on issues from Atlantic Ocean ecology to Ukraine's energy supply, before what the UN bills as its own Super Bowl of global diplomacy". Continue reading...
On US visit, Masoud Pezeshkian says there is no winner in warfare' and also says Iran ready to reopen nuclear talksIran's new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has accused Israel of fanning the flames of war in the Middle East and said he hoped Iran could avoid being dragged into acting in a way not worthy" of it, as he spoke to the media on his first official visit to the US.The reformist, who took office in July after winning an election on a ticket of better relations with the west, said during a roundtable with journalists as he attended the UN general assembly in New York that no one benefited from war and that anyone who said otherwise was deluding themselves. Continue reading...
Toxic discourse' against asylum seekers gave yellow flashing light' to racists, Angela Eagle tells the Labour conferenceDonald Trump and senior Conservatives have helped to create a space for overt racism" which has spilled on to British streets, a home office minister has told Labour delegates.Angela Eagle, the minister in charge of irregular migration, said the Republican presidential candidate had helped to create vitriol" against migrants through social media. Continue reading...
Witness says former companion accused of attempted rape of Gisele Pelicot was repeatedly unfaithfulThe former partner of a co-defendant in a mass rape trial that has sparked horror and protests in France has broken down in tears and told the court she might herself have been sexually assaulted.I don't know if I was raped," Emilie O told a criminal court in the south-eastern French city of Avignon on Monday. It's terrible. I will always have doubts." Continue reading...
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