Met Office warns of flooding, as parts of country sees torrential rain after warmest spring equinox in more than 50 yearsHeavy showers, hail and thunder are forecast to hit the UK days after the warmest spring equinox in more than 50 years.
Keir Starmer has been dealt a fresh blow to his living standards pledge in advance of the spring statementLiving standards for all UK families are set to fall by 2030, with those on the lowest incomes declining twice as fast as middle and high earners, according to new data that raises serious questions about Keir Starmer's pledge to make working people better off.The grim economic analysis, produced by the respected Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), comes before the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, makes her spring statement on Wednesday in which she will announce new cuts to public spending rather than increase borrowing or raise taxes, so as to keep within the government's iron clad" fiscal rules. Continue reading...
by Nadeem Badshah (now); Amy Sedghi, Daniel Lavelle a on (#6W3MQ)
Miliband said he wanted to understand any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure'Willie Walsh, the International Air Transport Association's director general, criticised Heathrow airport in as a result of the disruption, reports the PA news agency.This is yet another case of Heathrow letting down both travellers and airlines," he said. Walsh added:From that arises the question of who bears the costs of taking care of disrupted travellers.We must find a fairer allocation of passenger care costs than airlines alone picking up the tab when infrastructure fails. Until that happens, Heathrow has very little incentive to improve."I'd like to stress that this has been an incident of major severity. It's not a small fire.We have lost power equal to that of a mid-sized city and our backup systems have been working as they should but they are not sized to run the entire airport."You can say that but of course contingencies of certain sizes we cannot guard ourselves against 100% and this is one of them.This has been a major incident. I mean, short of anybody getting hurt, this is as big as it gets for our airport and we are actually coming back quite fast I would say, when you consider the amount of systems that we have to shut down then bring back up and make sure that they're safe."This is unprecedented. It's never happened before and that's why I'm saying it has been a major incident." Continue reading...
by Patrick Commins Economics correspondent on (#6W3WH)
Australia's banks have been given an easy ride at taxpayers' expense. And economists Chris Richardson argues the banking levy is a fraction of what it should be
New strikes are just a beginning' said Netanyahu, after Trump inspires Israel to seize territory with massive military onslaughtIn Gaza this weekend, the mood is darker than it has been at perhaps any time in this long, appalling war. Last Tuesday Israeli warplanes, tanks, artillery, drones and ships launched a wave of strikes, shattering the increasingly fragile pause in hostilities that had brought respite to the devastated territory for nearly two months. The ceasefire had also brought hope which, Palestinians in Gaza said, made the return to violence that much more unbearable.In a video statement last Wednesday, Israel Katz, Israel's defence minister, called on 2.3 million people in Gaza to banish Hamas", saying the alternative is complete destruction and ruin". Continue reading...
Government says lessons need to be learned after the substation fire that caused chaos for 300,000 passengersThe government has launched an urgent investigation into the power shutdown that crippled Heathrow airport, with experts warning it was a wake-up call" about vulnerabilities in the nation's critical infrastructure.The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has commissioned the independent National Energy System Operator (Neso) to investigate the incident and assess the UK's energy resilience. The regulator Ofgem warned it would not hesitate" to take action if there were any breaches of standards or licence obligations. Continue reading...
Thomas Woldbye says most other airports operate similar back-up power systems to Heathrow, as Ed Miliband announces investigationThe chief executive of Heathrow has defended the running of the airport after a fire at an electrical substation stopped about 1,300 planes and disrupted the journeys of hundreds of thousands of global passengers.It comes after Willie Walsh, the International Air Transport Association's director general, criticised Heathrow for the disruption, while the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has now ordered the National Energy System Operator to urgently investigate" the outage. Continue reading...
by Vanessa Thorpe, Arts and Media Correspondent on (#6W3SX)
A new exhibition at the National Archives in London will reveal the extent of MI5 operation to expose the British double agent who was also Observer reporterSecret surveillance of Britain's notorious double agent, Kim Philby, made public for the first time in archived documents, reveals how keenly the Security Service wanted to confirm or disprove early suspicions of his high-level treachery.In daily bulletins submitted to MI5 in November 1951, undercover operatives describe how Philby, codenamed Peach, moved about London. Continue reading...
Critics say cuts will mean that children will have to face off alone in court against experienced Ice attorneysThe Trump administration is reported to have cut funding to a legal program that provides representation for unaccompanied migrant children, one month after directing immigration enforcement agents to track down minors who had entered the US without guardians last month.Organizations that collectively receive over $200m in federal grants were informed that the contract through the office of refugee resettlement had been partially terminated, according to a memo issued on Friday by the interior department and obtained by ABC News. Continue reading...
Five hundred canisters being examined after man arrested in East Sussex town on suspicion of producing illegal substancesA bomb squad has carried out a controlled burn of explosive chemicals discovered at a property in an East Sussex town as they continue to examine a further 500 canisters.A major incident was declared on Friday while an operation continued to make the chemicals safe, with 73 people forced to move to a nearby hotel. Continue reading...
Club co-owner's request for hundreds of millions of pounds to help regenerate local area labelled outrageous' by criticsSir Jim Ratcliffe, the co-owner of Manchester United, has been challenged over the proposed use of hundreds of millions of pounds of public funds to deliver his vision of building the world's greatest stadium".Ratcliffe, who has an estimated fortune of about 12bn, quit the UK for tax-free Monaco in 2020. He is now urging ministers to help support the club's vision of the stadium with public funds to regenerate the surrounding area. Continue reading...
Large-scale analysis of UK police and education records reveals link between expulsion and violence within yearTeenagers who are permanently excluded from school are twice as likely to commit serious violence within a year of their expulsion than those who were merely suspended, a large-scale new analysis of police and education records has shown.London's Violence Reduction Unit (VRU), set up to tackle the number of teenagers dying as a result of knife crime in the capital, said the new research is the first direct evidence of a clear link between children being excluded from school and involvement in violence". Continue reading...
Band members were joined on stage by former Gallows frontman Frank Carter as stars and fans welcomed their returnThere was anticipation on Oxford Street in London as the Sex Pistols rocked the 100 Club for the first time in more than half a century, playing classic tunes for a crowd of creaking punks.In a hot and sweaty venue, which harkened back to the band's glory days, they darted on stage like squaddies on a march, to roars from the audience. They were celebrated by stars and superfans such as Noel Gallagher, Bobby Gillespie and the Jam frontman, Paul Weller. Continue reading...
Nurse allegedly convinced woman she had cancer while plotting to collect more than $1m from the victim's life insuranceA registered nurse in Utah allegedly convinced a woman that she had terminal cancer, injected unprescribed insulin into her, and killed her with that method while plotting to collect more than $1m from the victim's life insurance, according to police.Meggan Randall Sundwall faces charges of first-degree felony aggravated murder as well as obstruction of justice after her recent arrest in the death of Kacee Lynn Terry, 38, authorities said in documents that spell out the unusually grim case and were reported by various Utah news outlets. Continue reading...
From media to culture and the arts to the refusal to abide by court orders, we're nearing Defcon 1 for our democracy', experts sayEntering the magnificent great hall of the US Department of Justice, Donald Trump stopped for a moment to admire his portrait then took to a specially constructed stage where two art deco statues, depicting the Spirit of Justice" and Majesty of Justice", had been carefully concealed behind a blue velvet curtain.The president, who since last year is also a convicted criminal, proceeded to air grievances, utter a profanity and accuse the news media of doing totally illegal" things, without offering evidence. I just hope you can all watch for it," he told justice department employees, but it's totally illegal." Continue reading...
As Trump escalates a global trade war, looking to gold to shield cash might not be the worst optionAs economic uncertainty roils the US, the price of gold has roared to record highs amid investors seeking a place to shield their cash from Donald Trump's scattergun trade wars.A single ounce of gold cost $3,051.99 on Wednesday, compared with $2,160 in 2024, and gold has historically been seen as the safest place to invest in financially turbulent times. Continue reading...
Healthcare journal calls for radical change in approach, urging policymakers to invest in their communitiesAn academic journal may inject some optimism into US health policy - a scarce commodity amid the Trump administration's mass layoffs, funding freezes and the ideological research reviews.A new issue of Health Affairs Scholar argues the conversation around healthcare can change - and radically - if academics think bigger" and policymakers invest in their communities. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Merseybeat act, contemporaries of the Beatles, will play final show at Glastonbury this year after farewell tourThey are the longest-running band in pop history, selling tens of millions of records and filling venues worldwide in a 68-year career. But now the Searchers have decided to take their final bow.The group, who were contemporaries of the Beatles during the British invasion" will play their last ever show at this year's Glastonbury festival, after a final farewell tour" of Britain. Continue reading...
Westerners increasingly hesitant to travel to US out of fear of arrests and detentions as Trump enforces crackdownA string of high-profile arrests and detentions of travellers is likely to cause a major downturn in tourism to the US, with latest figures already showing a serious drop-off, tourist experts said.Several western travellers have recently been rejected at the US border on increasingly flimsy grounds under Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, some of them shackled and held in detention centers in poor conditions for weeks. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham transport correspondent on (#6W3MS)
Andy Burnham hails truly integrated, London-style' system with fares calculated and capped automaticallyManchester will enjoy a transport network on a footing with London, New York and Madrid" when contactless tap-in fares launch across its buses from Sunday.The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, said that the switch would mark the moment when the city would realise our ambition of a truly integrated, London-style transport network", allowing people to switch between buses and trams without different tickets and with the cost automatically calculated and capped. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#6W3MT)
Nuffield Trust says supply chains have shifted, with drugs for epilepsy and cystic fibrosis among those now scarceDrug shortages in the UK have risen to their worst level for four years, official figures show, with Brexit considered a key reason so many medications are scarce.Drug companies notified the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) about disruptions to supply 1,938 times during last year - the highest number since the 1,967 seen in 2021. Continue reading...
by Gwyn Topham, Rowena Mason, Vikram Dodd and Jillian on (#6W3BG)
Airport expects to be fully operational on Saturday, but airlines say closure will have huge impact' in coming daysFlights began landing at Heathrow on Saturday morning as it aimed to return to normal operation after shutting down over a loss of power. Restrictions on overnight flights were temporarily lifted to help ease congestion, the Department of Transport said, and the airport said passengers should come to Heathrow on Saturday as they normally would.British Airways, which has a major presence at Heathrow, said it expected to operate around 85% of its scheduled flights at the airport on Saturday. The airline would usually expect to run nearly 600 departures and arrivals on a Saturday but it is understood cancellations will be made, where possible, to high-frequency routes. Continue reading...
Booksellers take stand against influence of conservative billionaire by limiting orders of his company's books and placing them on lower shelvesA conservative Catholic billionaire and media owner is facing an independent bookshop rebellion in France over his influence in the publishing world.Dozens of independent booksellers are trying to counter the growing influence of Vincent Bollore, whose vast cultural empire includes television, radio, the Sunday paper Le Journal du Dimanche, and also, since 2023, the biggest book publishing and distribution conglomerate in France, Hachette Livre. Continue reading...
The moves that barred the media mogul's choice of lawyer are immune from legal challenge, giving the national security committee what one expert called the powers of a police state'The dwindling freedom in Hong Kong over the past few years has been described as death by a thousand cuts". Critics have been jailed, elections have been transformed into patriots only" affairs, journalists have been harassed and hundreds of thousands of people have left.This week, an obscure legal development has, in the eyes of some legal experts, inflicted another cut on the city's once revered legal system. Continue reading...
by Kiran Stacey Political correspondent on (#6W3BM)
Chancellor to tell party she is making steep cuts to avoid similar fallout to that which followed 2022 mini-budgetRachel Reeves will raise the spectre of Liz Truss's disastrous mini-budget in the lead-up to next week's spring statement as she tries to persuade her Labour colleagues to accept the steepest departmental cuts since austerity.The chancellor will tell her fractious party she has decided to cut public spending rather than increasing borrowing because of the risk of a similar fallout to that which followed the then prime minister's disastrous fiscal statement in 2022. Continue reading...
by Benita Kolovos Victorian state correspondent on (#6W3HQ)
Victorian Labor has faced a crime crisis' before - but no matter how tough the premier talks on law and order, the Coalition is always willing to go tougher
Travel advice updated amid reports of ordeals at US border after Trump said country would only recognise two gendersDenmark and Finland have updated their US travel advice for transgender people, joining the handful of European countries that have sought to caution US-bound travellers in recent weeks as reports emerge of ordeals at the American border.Denmark said this week it had begun advising transgender travellers to contact the US embassy in Copenhagen before departure to ensure there would be no issues with travel documents. Continue reading...
Authorities found two men and one woman dead in Otay Mountain wilderness due to harsh terrain and cold weatherThree people died last week as they attempted to cross the US-Mexico border near San Diego, California, amid a storm that brought near freezing temperatures to the challenging mountain terrain, according to the US border patrol.Border patrol agents responding to two separate distress calls - that came within less than an hour of each other on 14 March - discovered two men and one woman deceased in the Otay Mountain wilderness area, the agency said in a statement. The following evening authorities responded to another call from someone stranded in the mountains with a broken ankle, according to the statement. Continue reading...
by Guardian staff and agencies in Stanstead on (#6W3DQ)
US officials claim move was to curb drug trafficking while Quebec town says it weakens collaboration' among nationsThe US has blocked Canadian access to a library straddling the Canada-US border, drawing criticism from a Quebec town where people have long enjoyed easy entry to the space.The Haskell Free Library and Opera House is located between Stanstead, Quebec, and Derby Line, Vermont. It was built deliberately to straddle the frontier between the two countries - a symbol of cooperation and friendship between Canada and the US. Continue reading...
Standup, 41, says she was initially given all-clear by private doctor after raising concerns about a moleThe comedian Katherine Ryan has received a second skin cancer diagnosis after raising concerns about a mole on her arm.Ryan attended a private clinic where a doctor who also works for the NHS dismissed her concerns about melanoma and gave her the all-clear, but she went back and a test revealed the mole was cancerous. Continue reading...
Davie Fairbanks says he received intimate images from former Doctor Who star of woman he had slept withNoel Clarke secretly sent a friend full frontal" naked photographs of a woman who he had slept with after they met when she was doing work experience on a film set, the high court has heard.Davie Fairbanks, who was the best man at the former Doctor Who star's wedding but later fell out with him, claimed in a witness statement that he had received the photographs of the woman, named as Ivy, without warning. Continue reading...
by Lorenzo Tondo and Jason Burke in Jerusalem on (#6W38X)
Defence minister issues threat as IDF intensifies offensive with non-stop' overnight attacks across territoryIsrael's defence minister said on Friday he had instructed the military to seize more ground" in Gaza and threatened to annex part of the territory unless Hamas released 59 Israeli hostages still held by the Islamist militant group in the devastated territory.Israel Katz's warning came as the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) intensified the new offensive launched on Tuesday, when a wave of airstrikes shattered the truce that had brought a fragile and relative calm since mid-January. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#6W38Y)
Mohammad Farooq, 29, told a patient - who talked him out of attack - he wanted to kill as many nurses as possible'A clinical support worker who took a viable pressure cooker bomb in to a hospital intending to kill as many nurses as possible" has been jailed for at least 37 years.Mohammad Farooq, 29, of Leeds, also plotted a terrorist attack on RAF Menwith Hill, in North Yorkshire, a top-secret spy base. Continue reading...
Thousands of troops needed to support Ukraine if ceasefire or agreement reached to end war with RussiaThe UK is to accelerate the pace and scale" of military planning to be ready to support Ukraine next week, with No 10 saying all options, including troops on the ground, are possible.Keir Starmer's spokesperson said thousands of troops would be needed to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and agreement to end the war with Russia, whether by sea, on land or in the air". Continue reading...
PM's spokesman says more meetings will take place in London next week to accelerate' planning to enforce any future peace dealElections will take place in 23 councils across England on 1 May 2025.
World news | The Guardian