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Marianne Mair' Smyth was found guilty of swindling four people out of more than $155,000 in Northern IrelandA US podcaster and author who helped Northern Ireland authorities secure a fraud conviction on Thursday against a woman derisively known as the Queen of the Con" says he hopes the case prompts the public to realize these people are literally everywhere".Johnathan Walton said it thrills me to no end" that Marianne Mair" Smyth - who was initially convicted of scamming nearly $100,000 from him in Los Angeles by posing as the heiress to a $30m fortune - was found guilty by a Downpatrick crown court jury of swindling more than 115,000 ($155,000) from four people while working as a mortgage adviser. Continue reading...

Report from prime minister's standards adviser, Laurie Magnus, is due todayThe conveyancing firm that Angela Rayner used to complete her purchase of an 800,000 flat on the south coast has said it did not offer her tax advice and completed her stamp duty return based only on information she provided.Joanna Verrico, the head of a small, family-run firm in Kent, said on Thursday it had not provided any advice to the deputy prime minister on how much stamp duty to pay. Continue reading...

Donatella Versace says the world lost a giant today' while Victoria Beckham called him a visionary designer whose legacy will live on forever'

Buses and trains likely to be overcrowded as union members take action in row over pay and 32-hour weekStrikes by tube staff are due to start on Friday, in a series of walkouts that are expected to close the London Underground entirely for four days from Monday.Londoners have been urged to check before travel next week, with virtually no tube services expected to run and other transport in the capital likely to be affected by crowding and congestion. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Reform leader's use of television star-style arrangement is a practice criticised across the political spectrumNigel Farage is using a private company to reduce his tax bill on his GB News media appearances and other outside employment in a television star-style arrangement that has in recent years become frowned on by major broadcasters.The Reform UK leader diverts money from his prime-time TV show into his company, which means that he paid only 25% corporation tax on profits, instead of 40% income tax, and could offset some expenses. Continue reading...

Peace deal cannot be negotiated away' by British political figures who want to quit ECHR, says Irish deputy PMNorthern Ireland's peace deal cannot be negotiated away" by British political figures who want to see the UK quit the European Convention of Human Rights if elected, the Irish tanaiste has warned.The ECHR is an integral part of the 1998 Belfast Good Friday agreement and withdrawal would remove those foundations of peace, according to Simon Harris, Ireland's deputy prime minister. Continue reading...

Children's commissioner says young Indigenous person kept in isolation for 12 hours longer than permitted under NT youth justice laws because they refused to move cell blocks

Sewell, who allegedly led an attack on the sacred Indigenous burial site in Melbourne known as Camp Sovereignty, was returned to custody following his court appearance

Push for NSW locomotive workshop to be returned to government hands and used to retrofit diesel trains and help meet 50% Australian-made quotas

Deputy defence minister Anna Tsivilyova said those coming back from the battlefield had become a driver' in pushing Russia's innovation in prostheticsA Kremlin official has said that the number of soldiers wounded fighting in Ukraine had helped to make Russia a world leader in the manufacture of prosthetic limbs.Deputy defence minister Anna Tsivilyova, reportedly a relative of President Vladimir Putin, told a conference in Vladivostok that those coming back from the battlefield had become a driver" in pushing Russia's innovation in prosthetics. Continue reading...

PM leaves open possibility of Australian troops joining European forces as peacekeepers

Police say one 30-year-old died at the scene on the Hume Highway and the other, also 30, was airlifted to hospital but died soon afterwards

Spokesperson confirms surgery after video surfaces of Biden leaving church with a fresh scar on his foreheadJoe Biden recently underwent surgery to remove skin cancer lesions, a spokesperson said Thursday, the latest health challenge for the former president.His spokesperson Kelly Scully confirmed the surgery after Inside Edition published video of Biden leaving church in Delaware with a fresh scar on his forehead. Continue reading...

Later a general in the air force reserves, McNeil was one of four students who sat at a North Carolina Woolworth'sJoseph McNeil, one of four North Carolina college students whose occupation of a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter 65 years ago helped spark nonviolent civil rights sit-in protests across the US south, died Thursday, his family and university said. He was 83.McNeil, who later became a two-star general, was one of four freshmen at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro who sat down at the local whites only" counter on 1 February 1960. The four were refused service and declined to give up their seats even as the store manager and police urged them to move on. Continue reading...

Doctors say NHS rollout not fit for purpose with fewer than half of commissioning bodies prescribing MounjaroThousands of patients in England are unable to access weight loss jabs via their GP, figures reveal, as doctors warn that the NHS rollout is not fit for purpose".Family doctors got the green light to prescribe the drugs for the first time in June. About 220,000 people with greatest need" were set to receive Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide and made by Eli Lilly, on the NHS over the next three years. Continue reading...

It is inconceivable' that Hamas is using hospitals as command centres, Prof Nick Maynard tells independent Gaza tribunalAn Oxford University surgeon accused the British government of failing the people of Gaza by allowing F-35 jets with British parts to bomb the children on which he was operating, an independent Gaza tribunal heard at its opening session on Thursday.The two-day tribunal in London, which is independent of government and parliament, is seeking to amass evidence of Britain's failure to distance itself from what the tribunal organisers regard as Israeli war crimes amounting to genocide. Continue reading...

Justice agency appealed judge's decision to block firing of Rebecca Slaughter from Federal Trade Commission while case continuesDonald Trump's administration asked the US supreme court on Thursday to let him temporarily remove a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission, as the legal fight over the Republican president's dismissal of her plays out.The justice department made the request after Washington-based US district judge Loren AliKhan blocked Trump's firing of Rebecca Slaughter from the consumer protection agency that enforces antitrust law prior to her term expiring. Continue reading...

Michael H Schill led the institution for three years, during which Trump administration slashed nearly $800mThe president of Northwestern University said Thursday that he was stepping down amid a turbulent period marked by clashes with Republican lawmakers and steep federal funding cuts under the Trump administration that forced widespread layoffs.Michael H Schill, who has led the institution for three years, has been under heavy scrutiny in conservative circles this year. The Trump administration slashed nearly $800m in research funding after sustained criticism from Republicans. Continue reading...

Court of appeal ruling means Yvette Cooper can try to block move by protest group to have its proscription overturnedThe Home Office has won a legal decision which means it can attempt to block a move by Palestine Action to have its ban under terror laws overturned.The latest legal twist in the battle between the government and the protest group - now proscribed as a terror organisation - saw the court of appeal rule that Yvette Cooper can challenge the decision to grant a judicial review of the organisation's proscription that was due to be heard in November. Continue reading...

Jackson Denio, 13, caught the 177lb monster fish off the coast of New England and could be awarded a world recordA young teenager on a deep-sea fishing trip this week in New England hauled in a 177lb (80kg) Atlantic halibut, a fish bigger and heavier than he is, and one that could be a world record.Jackson Denio, a 13-year-old from Hampton, New Hampshire, was fishing about 100 miles (160km) off the New England coast on Cashes Ledge, a spot known for its underwater peaks and biodiversity in the Gulf of Maine, on Monday morning. Continue reading...

Letitia James seeks to reverse appeals court's decision to wipe away president's penalty in financial fraud caseNew York's attorney general has requested the state's highest court reinstate Donald Trump's large civil fraud penalty, appealing a lower-court decision that slashed the potential half-billion dollar penalty to nothing.Attorney general Letitia James's office filed a notice of appeal with the state's court of appeals, seeking to reverse the mid-level appellate division's ruling last month that the penalty violated the US constitution's ban on excessive fines. Continue reading...

Former cabinet minister's move on the eve of Reform conference is a further boost for the party which took almost 1m in donations from ex-Tory donorsNadine Dorries has defected to Reform on the eve of its conference, saying the Conservative party is dead".The former Tory cabinet minister, a close ally of Boris Johnson when he was prime minister, served as culture secretary until 2022 before resigning a year later when blocked from getting a peerage. Continue reading...

Institution decides to readmit The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht to its centenary exhibition after outcryScotland's national library has reversed a decision not to include a gender-critical anthology featuring more than 30 female writers including JK Rowling and a number of MPs in its centenary exhibition.The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht charts the campaign against the Scottish government's controversial gender recognition laws. It had been nominated by a number of members of the public to be part of the institution's Dear Library exhibition. Continue reading...

Luis Montenegro describes incident, in which 16 people died, as one of the biggest tragedies in our recent history'

This blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereKitty Donaldson from the i says Keir Starmer may get the report from his ethics adviser about Angela Rayner tomorrow.NEW: Senior Government sources are playing down reports ministerial watchdog Sir Laurie Magnus could send Sir Keir Starmer his report into Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner's tax affairs as soon as today. One Whitehall source said tomorrow is more likely. Continue reading...

Blaze in Chinese Camp - a town settled around 1850 by Chinese miners - was caused by lightning, authorities sayMultiple structures have burned in a historic Gold Rush town in northern California after thousands of lightning strikes ignited a spate of fast-moving fires in the rural dry foothills of the eastern Sierra.Chinese Camp, about 57 miles (92km) east of Stockton and named for the Chinese miners who settled there, is a registered California landmark filled with historic structures, and home to roughly 60 residents. Continue reading...

Europe's ability to help bring peace to the Middle East has long come under question, with Spain's PM this week saying it had failed on Gaza

Studio versions of the stark, home-recorded album have never been issued, but will appear alongside new Springsteen biopicOne of the great lost albums in rock history is to finally see the light of day, as Bruce Springsteen announces the release of the electric version of his 1982 album Nebraska.The original was famously recorded in the bedroom of his New Jersey home, unaccompanied, on a four-track tape recorder rather than a multitrack studio setup. Springsteen attempted to work the songs up into more fleshed-out versions but felt the studio versions lacked the ghostly drama of the originals, and - to some confusion in his fanbase and record label - insisted on releasing the stark four-track takes. Continue reading...

Liz's latest delusional outing was on the Master Investor podcast. Spoiler alert: she was right all along, you knowGovernment debt at record levels. A deputy prime minister under investigation by the standards watchdog. Reform UK 15 points ahead in the opinion polls. A summer in which hatred of migrants has become normalised. Politicians competing with one another to appear more authoritarian.But hey, things aren't all bad. Because at least we still have Liz Truss. The country's most abject prime minister. Liz of the 49 days. Radon Liz. Because she is both a gas and inert. Continue reading...

This blog is now closedThe Dutch prime minister Dick Schoof is next.Belgium's Bart de Wever, Finland's Alexander Stubb, and the EU's Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa are the first leaders arriving at the Elysee Palace, welcomed by Macron on the doorstep. Continue reading...

Thieves make off with particularly important' Chinese works dating back to the 14th centuryThieves snatched three porcelain works worth millions of euros in a night raid on a French museum.The robbers triggered the alarm at the Adrien Dubouche institute in Limoges early on Thursday. They smashed a window to gain entry, said a source, who asked not to be named. Continue reading...

Patrick Tiernan says market will no longer discourage underwriting of such projects, stressing apolitical' stance

With economic uncertainty leading fewer people to leave, bank will put one in 20 on performance plans'

Italian man falls down vertical shaft in ice after body of another missing recovered near glacier on MondayA researcher from Italy is missing after falling into a stream on Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier - after the body of another man, a hiker from Arizona, was found earlier this week off a trail near the glacier, authorities said.According to the state department of public safety, Alaska wildlife troopers received a report on Tuesday that a man had gone missing after falling into a stream on the glacier and being pushed by the water into a small, vertical shaft in the ice known as a moulin. The man, whose name was not immediately released, was with two other people when he fell. He was conducting research on the glacier at the time, a department spokesperson, Tess Williams, said by email on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Man was seven years into a 30-year prison term with a non-parole period of 20 years for a string of sex crimes

Leeds councillor says people who threw bottles and shouted insults emboldened by rightwing rhetoricThe newly elected deputy leader of the Green party and his family were attacked on a day out at the seaside last week, with bottles thrown and racist abuse hurled, he has told the Guardian.Mothin Ali, a Leeds councillor, said the incident was a reflection of extreme rightwingers using inflammatory language to blame immigrants and refugees for social problems. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Institute for Government says failings are leading many fast streamers to leave programme earlyThe civil service's fast stream needs urgent reform as many graduates are leaving before the end of the scheme amid dissatisfaction with pay and progression, according to a report.The Institute for Government (IfG) thinktank found the flagship graduate talent scheme lacks a clear purpose and direction at a time when the government is trying to overhaul the civil service to make it more productive. Continue reading...

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Legislation validates flawed decisions, cuts off appeals and gives government sweeping powers to deport people, campaigners claim

Liberal says she believes she doesn't have anything to apologise for' and says broadcaster's reporter pushed the issue'

At a Gold Coast conference, Jillian Segal declined to address the presence of neo-Nazis at Sunday's anti-immigration marches

Labor attorney general says settling appeal right thing to do after Coalition's disastrous' automated Centrelink debt recovery scheme

With 12,000 expected to attend in Birmingham, Nigel Farage's party hopes to present a more professional imageReform UK's party conference will last barely more than 30 hours this weekend, but its rivals fear the glitz and political noise are going to be hard to beat.We're the only party conference to have our own pyrotechnics budget," says one Reform insider with pride. Continue reading...

Incumbent prime minister says country on right trajectory, as opposition leader concedes defeatJamaicans have voted to give Andrew Holness and the Jamaica Labour party (JLP) a third consecutive term in government after a nail-biting race with the opposition People's National party (PNP).Holness beat PNP's Mark Golding after polls in the final days of the intense campaign projected a narrow lead for the PNP. Of the 63 seats being contested, preliminary results showed the JLP winning 34 seats and the PNP 29. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Poverty Strategy Commission says abolishing cap will tackle hardship and lift families out of deep poverty'A cross-party commission including former welfare ministers is urging the government to scrap the two-child benefit limit as part of an ambitious once in a generation" plan to lift millions of people out of poverty.The Poverty Strategy Commission said billions of pounds of investment - including a boost to the rate of universal credit - was needed to reverse record levels of poverty in the UK, and tackle longstanding failures over rising hardship and destitution. Continue reading...

Age ties in with theory tree was planted in 19th century by landowner known as the man who saved Hadrian's Wall'Scientists have for the first time confirmed the age of the felled Sycamore Gap tree, adding weight to a theory that it was planted in the late 19th century by a landowner hailed as the man who saved Hadrian's Wall".Historic England published the conclusion of an investigation by a team of experts who carried out the first dendrochronological - or tree-ring counting - analysis of the tree. Continue reading...

Executive Council of Australian Jewry says crackdown on right-wing extremist groups including National Socialist Network needed

Another 18 people injured when Gloria funicular railway car derails and apparently crashed into a building

Portrait of a Lady by the Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi handed over by daughter of the late Nazi financier Friedrich KadgienAuthorities in Argentina have recovered an 18th-century painting stolen more than 80 years ago by the Nazis from a Jewish art dealer in Amsterdam, a week after it was spotted by chance in a real estate listing.The painting, the long-lost Portrait of a Lady (Contessa Colleoni) by the Italian master Giuseppe Ghislandi, was looted in the second world war. It was handed over on Wednesday to the Argentinian judiciary by the daughter of the late Nazi financier Friedrich Kadgien, Patricia Kadgien, who has been under house arrest with her husband since Tuesday. Continue reading...

Health secretary had previously fired all 17 members of panel and chosen eight advisers to join in JuneUS health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has chosen seven new members for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's panel of vaccine experts, an internal CDC document showed on Wednesday.The Department of Health and Human Services has directed the CDC to name the new members to its advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP), according to the document, which was seen by Reuters. Continue reading...