Marieha Hussain attended a London march against the war in Gaza carrying a sign depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconutsA woman who held a poster depicting Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman as coconuts during a London protest against Israel's war in Gaza has gone on trial accused of a racially aggravated offence.Marieha Hussain, 37, pleaded not guilty as her trial began at Westminster magistrates court on Thursday morning. Prosecutor Jonathan Bryan said the term coconut" was a well-known racial slur which has a very clear meaning". Continue reading...
Video of exchange with Trump supporter in Pennsylvania shows president joking he can't remember his own nameIn a bitter and fraught US election, a rare moment of jollity broke through when video of Joe Biden joking with a Trump supporter about his age and trying on his Trump 2024 hat went viral.At an event on Wednesday in Pennsylvania, Biden even joked with the man that he could not remember his own name. Continue reading...
by Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent on (#6QP9H)
West Yorkshire city to host magic, music, film and theatre performances celebrating local talent, plus Turner prizeA city centre magic show, the Brontes as you've never seen them before, and a bassline house symphony are all part of Bradford's City of Culture lineup, which its organisers call a celebration of everything that makes the West Yorkshire city great.Shanaz Gulzar, the creative director of Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, said the whole of the country was invited to come next year to a place she billed as young, diverse, creative and the heart of the UK". Continue reading...
Protests in West Bank village had subsided half an hour before IDF shot Ayenur Ezgi Eygi, says reportIsraeli security forces mischaracterised the events that led up to the fatal shooting of a Turkish-American protester in the West Bank, according to an investigation by the Washington Post.The Israel Defense Forces claimed that their soldiers were targeting the leader of a violent protest when they shot Ayenur Ezgi Eygi, a 26-year-old member of the International Solidarity Movement who had come from her native Washington state to Israel to protest against settlements in the West Bank. Continue reading...
Comments come after Antony Blinken hints US will lift restrictions on Kyiv's use of weapons inside RussiaVladimir Putin has said that a western move to let Kyiv use longer-range weapons against targets inside Russia would mean Nato would be at war" with Moscow.Putin spoke as US and UK top diplomats discussed easing rules on firing western weapons into Russia, which Kyiv has been pressing for, more than two and a half years into Moscow's offensive. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Senior political correspondent on (#6QP9P)
Spokesperson for Keir Starmer says focus was instead on encouraging pensioners to seek additional supportMinisters did not carry out a specific impact assessment on the withdrawal of the winter fuel payment from the bulk of pensioners, such as the potential effect on illness and death rates among older people, Downing Street has said.After days of No 10 refusing to comment, Keir Starmer's deputy spokesperson said the only assessment made before the policy announcement was a standard legal one of potential equalities impacts. Continue reading...
Yossi Sariel takes responsibility for military surveillance unit's role in intelligence failures before Hamas-led assaultThe commander of Israel's military surveillance agency, Unit 8200, has announced his resignation, publicly accepting responsibility for failings that contributed to the deadly 7 October attacks.Yossi Sariel said on Tuesday that he had informed his superiors of his intention to step down after the completion of an initial investigation into Unit 8200's role in failures surrounding the Hamas-led assault last year. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler, Social policy editor on (#6QP85)
Clemency Jacques is one of 134,500 people repaying 251m in carer's allowance overpaymentsAn unpaid carer threatened with prosecution for fraud after inadvertently breaching benefit rules has had a 1,300 penalty waived by officials after her case appeared in the Guardian.Clemency Jacques, who cares for her disabled son and elderly mother, said she was given the choice of paying the charge or risking police arrest and a court appearance after running up a 2,600 carer's allowance overpayment. Continue reading...
The prime minister blamed the Tories for breaking' the NHS and said reform of the service was neededStarmer sets out some of the most negative findings in the report.Take the waiting times in A&A - more than 100,000 infants waited more than six hours last year.And nearly a tenth of all patients are now waiting for 12 hours or more.Even Lord Darzi, with all his years of experience, is shocked by what he discovered. It is unforgivable, and people have every right to be angry. Continue reading...
Dominique Pelicot has been excused from court because of poor health and proceedings could be delayed if he remains ill for a long periodThe trial of a French man accused of recruiting strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife has been adjourned until Monday after the suspect was excused from attending in light of his deteriorating health, the court has said.Should Dominique Pelicot, 71, be unavailable to attend proceedings for a lengthy period of time, then the trial will be postponed to a later date, the presiding judge, Roger Arata, said on Thursday. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#6QP68)
Irish building materials firm was identified by Grenfell inquiry as behaving with persistent dishonesty'A second professional golfer, Leona Maguire, is under pressure to end her sponsorship deal with the Irish company Kingspan after the public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster found it behaved with persistent dishonesty" in selling combustible foam insulation.Grenfell United (GU), the bereaved and survivors group, is calling on the 29-year-old to drop the firm and stop wearing its logo on her golf shirts after the Ryder Cup player Shane Lowry announced he was doing so earlier this week. Continue reading...
Expanding access to Oxbridge and other leading institutions would boost social mobility, say authors of new bookStrictly limiting the numbers of private school pupils attending Oxford, Cambridge and other leading universities is a radical" move needed to boost UK social mobility and improve access to elite professions, according to the authors of a new book.Aaron Reeves and Sam Friedman, professors of sociology at the London School of Economics, argue that pupils from prestigious private schools such as Eton and Winchester have maintained a disproportionate grip on Oxbridge and Russell Group university places, despite recent improvements in admission policies. Continue reading...
Two women posted YouTube video in 2021 falsely claiming French president's wife was previously a man, prompting her to file libel complaintA court has ordered two women to pay 8,000 in damages to France's first lady, Brigitte Macron, after making false claims she was transgender, sparking online rumour-mongering by conspiracy theorists and the far right.The women had posted a YouTube video in December 2021 alleging the French president's wife had once been a man named Jean-Michel, an untruth that went viral just weeks before the 2022 presidential election and prompted Brigitte Macron to file a libel complaint. Continue reading...
by Ben Quinn, Vikram Dodd and Sam Jones on (#6QP4Z)
David Knowles, who helped make Ukraine: The Latest podcast, died on holiday after suspected cardiac arrestUK counter-terrorism police are providing support to the investigation into the death of a Daily Telegraph journalist in Gibraltar.David Knowles died while on holiday on Sunday after what his employers said was believed to be a cardiac arrest. Continue reading...
by Amy Sedghi (now) and Ben Quinn (earlier) on (#6QNSN)
Although Zelenskiy posted on social media that Russia was to blame, the ICRC statement did not apportion blame to any partyAntony Blinken and David Lammy's joint trip to Kyiv, to be followed by Keir Starmer's trip to Washington DC to see Joe Biden on Friday, has inevitably lifted expectations that Ukraine will shortly be given permission to fire Anglo-French Storm Shadow and US Atacms missiles, which have a range of 190 miles plus, into Russia.There are no shortage of risks. Allowing Ukraine to fire western-made weapons deep into Russia could have a dramatic political impact on the course of a war mired in a grim, attritional slog that appears to be favouring Moscow, whose forces are bearing down on the strategic town of Pokrovsk. Continue reading...
Bill is laid before parliament after years of campaigning by mother of Manchester Arena bombing victimPubs and clubs that can hold 200 people could be fined 10,000 if the owners fail to comply with a new law that is meant to protect against terror attacks.Martyn's law, otherwise known as the terrorism (protection of premises) bill, will require all venues with a capacity of more than 199 people to take steps to ensure they have a plan in place in case of an attack on their premises. Continue reading...
David Lammy says aid workers must be able to do their jobs and reiterates calls for a ceasefireSyrian media is reporting that in addition to killing two people in a drone strike on a vehicle inside Syria, Israeli forces have also shelled the Syrian town of Al-Rafid in the south-east of the country, close to territory controlled by Israel.The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza has said that Israeli attacks have killed at least 34 people and injured 96 over the past 24 hours in the territory. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Michelin, Dunlop, Goodyear and Bridgestone products have found way to Russia via intermediariesMore than $30m (23m) worth of aircraft tyres made by western manufacturers including the French firm Michelin and Britain's Dunlop were imported into Russia last year via intermediaries despite attempts to ban the trade, according to a Ukrainian government agency.Russian aviation is critically dependent on foreign-made tyres and, according to the available customs records, the vast majority imported into the country in 2023 were produced by companies headquartered in France, Britain, the US and Japan. Continue reading...
Category 2 hurricane left trail of flooding and wind damage, including 6-8in of rain in New OrleansFrancine's center moved inland on Thursday after making landfall as a category 2 hurricane and had weakened to a tropical storm leaving a trail of flooding and wind damage in its wake.Francine will now progressively deteriorate as it tracks across west-central Mississippi into the mid-south on Thursday and Friday. The storm is forecast to spin down and become a tropical depression by late Thursday and a post-tropical cyclone by Thursday night or early Friday. Continue reading...
Parents of babies murdered by former hospital nurse say critics using families' losses to build their own reputationsThe parents of babies murdered by the former nurse Lucy Letby have said conspiracy theorists should be ashamed", in a statement read by a lawyer to a public inquiry.Letby, 34, was sentenced to 15 whole-life orders after she was convicted across two trials of murdering seven babies and attempting to murder seven others. Continue reading...
Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin accused of passing messages between jailed opposition leader and alliesThree lawyers who represented the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have gone on trial for extremism".Navalny died in February in unclear circumstances in an Arctic prison colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence for leading an extremist" organisation. Continue reading...
Kelly Ortberg in last-minute plea to assembly staff due to vote on 25% pay offer, with business in difficult period'Boeing's new chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, has pleaded with workers to not go on strike, before a crucial union vote on Thursday, warning the action would put the company's recovery in jeopardy".About 33,000 aircraft assembly workers, most of them in the Seattle area, are due to vote on a pay offer that includes rises worth 25% over four years. Continue reading...
City's police department thanks rock singer after he is pictured talking to and embracing a woman on the Seigenthaler pedestrian bridgeJon Bon Jovi has been praised by Nashville's police department after the rock star helped to talk a distressed woman off the edge of a bridge.The incident took place on the city's Seigenthaler pedestrian bridge on Tuesday evening, which spans the Cumberland River. In surveillance footage, the woman is seen to have climbed over the bridge's railing and is stood on a ledge on the other side. Bon Jovi is pictured calmly engaging in conversation with the woman, before he and a companion help the woman back over the railing. Later, Bon Jovi gives her a warm embrace and walks with her back across the bridge. Continue reading...
Facilities to receive greater protection in attempt to reduce potential impact of adverse incidents or attacksDatacentres in the UK are to be designated as critical national infrastructure in an effort to protect them from cyber-attacks and IT blackouts, the government has said.The buildings store much of the data generated in the UK, including photos taken on smartphones, financial information and NHS records. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: Labour's new plans aim to shut the door on unscrupulous landlords. But what will change for the millions of people renting? Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.In 2019, Theresa May's Conservative party pledged to end no-fault evictions (that is, where landlords oust tenants without giving a reason), and introduced the first iteration of the renters' reform bill. But pressure from lobbyists, interest groups and Tory backbenchers who were themselves landlords led to countless delays and the eventual watering down of the proposals. Charities and advocacy groups expressed concern about the sloth-like progress of the bill, but that did little to hurry the previous government.US election 2024 | Donald Trump's campaign was in damage control mode on Wednesday amid widespread dismay among supporters over a presidential debate performance that saw Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, repeatedly goad him into going wildly off-message and missing apparent opportunities to tackle her on policy. The debate was viewed by an estimated 67.1 million people, a 31% increase from the June debate between Trump and President Joe Biden.NHS | Long delays for hospital, GP and mental health services are leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths and have ruptured the social contract between the NHS and the people", an inquiry has concluded. The findings of the study by Lord Ara Darzi, commissioned by Labour when it came to power, will be cited by Keir Starmer, who will warn that the NHS has to reform or die".Northern Ireland | The government is to establish an independent public inquiry into the February 1989 loyalist murder of the Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane, the Northern Ireland secretary, Hilary Benn, has announced. Finucane was 39 when he was shot dead in his family home in north Belfast by the Ulster Defence Association in an attack found by a series of investigations to have involved collusion with the state.Business | The British steel industry has suffered a blow after confirmation that 2,500 jobs will go at the Port Talbot steelworks despite a 500m taxpayer-backed deal for the south Wales plant.UK news | Oliver Campbell, a man with severe learning difficulties who was jailed for life for the murder of a shopkeeper three decades ago after confessing in police interviews, has had his convictions quashed by the court of appeal. Continue reading...
University's outgoing chancellor says it is a mistake to try to turn election for his successor into a left-right issue'Chris Patten has described Peter Mandelson's claim that it is time for a non-Tory chancellor of the University of Oxford as a sort of stupid argument" and a real mistake", as Patten retires from the prestigious role.A host of candidates including Labour's Lord Mandelson and the former Conservative cabinet ministers William Hague and Dominic Grieve have announced they are standing for election to succeed Lord Patten, a former Conservative party MP and chair. Continue reading...
The Earth Commission says hope lies in sustainable lifestyles, a radical transformation of global politics and fair distribution of resourcesAll of humanity could share a prosperous, equitable future but the space for development is rapidly shrinking under pressure from a wealthy minority of ultra-consumers, a groundbreaking study has shown.Growing environmental degradation and climate instability have pushed the Earth beyond a series of safe planetary boundaries, say the authors from the Earth Commission, but it still remains possible to carve out a safe and just space" that would enable everyone to thrive. Continue reading...
Speculation Rachel Reeves to raise tax in budget thought one reason for some homeowners cashing outGrowing speculation about a capital gains tax (CGT) raid in October's budget appears to have prompted a surge in the number of larger homes being put up for sale, the UK's biggest property website says.Rightmove said in the week ending 9 September there had been a flurry of activity at the top end" of the market. The number of larger homes - defined as four-bedroom detached houses and all five-bedroom and larger properties - being listed for sale in Great Britain was 15% more than in the same period last year. And in the east and south-west of England, which include some of the UK's most popular coastal and countryside hotspots, the percentage was over 20%. Continue reading...
Ex-leader was jailed in 2009 for corruption and human rights abuses but granted a humanitarian pardon last yearAlberto Fujimori, Peru's former strongman leader throughout the 1990s and the country's most divisive leader, has died aged 86, just 10 months after he was granted a pardon and freed from jail.The ex-president died at the home of his daughter and political heiress Keiko Fujimori in the Peruvian capital Lima on Wednesday evening. Continue reading...
Ex-children's laureate Malorie Blackman says no student should feel English is irrelevant because they do not see themselves reflected in the literatureThe English literature curriculum ought to include more inclusive and diverse" contemporary stories that are relevant and relatable" to young people's lives, Malorie Blackman has said.The author of the Noughts and Crosses novels said in the foreword to a Lit in Colour campaign report that it could encourage more children to read for pleasure. She also said that no child should feel that studying English at school is irrelevant because they never see themselves" reflected in the literature. Continue reading...
Budget cuts to local services fell disproportionately on care for obese patients, leading to postcode lottery'The NHS is restricting access to obesity services across England, leading to patients in nearly half the country being unable to book appointments with specialist teams for support and treatments such as weight-loss jabs.An investigation by the British Medical Journal found budget cuts to local services fell disproportionately on obesity care, with patients living with the condition often deemed less worthy of care than others. Continue reading...
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