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Economist argues GST is not protectionist and should not attract any new levy from the US but concern remains for steel industry

Revenge Porn Helpline says deep-seated misogyny' behind exchange of photos on apps such as TelegramAn underground network of men are using peer-to-peer internet message boards to order, share and trade explicit images of local women, according to the UK's leading revenge porn" charity.In a development that has echoes of the forums used to organise the drugging and rape of Gisele Pelicot in France, the Revenge Porn Helpline said that systematic deep-seated misogyny" was behind a dark trade in images in the UK. Continue reading...

Trump's threat to take over Gaza is galvanizing two of the most dangerous and organized extremist movementsAs Donald Trump continues to threaten to take control over the Gaza Strip, an unlikely consensus has emerged across hardcore jihadist and far-right circles: both strongly oppose any new US military actions in the territory.Now experts are warning that Trump's plan is galvanizing two of the most dangerous and organized extremist movements with track records of domestic terrorist attacks. Continue reading...

Stricter requirements could lead to 60,000 people being refused permission to remain, report finds

Sources place Johannes Leijdekkers in west African country since at least December 2022One of Europe's most-wanted drug lords has been living in Sierra Leone for at least two years, spending time at nightclubs and house parties, sources have told the Guardian.Johannes Leijdekkers, a Dutch national, has been sentenced in absentia to decades in prison for offences including cocaine trafficking on a vast scale and ordering a murder. In September Dutch police said he remained missing and offered a 200,000 (170,000) reward for any information leading to his arrest. Continue reading...

Sarum Master Bible goes on display at town's cathedral later this month after being in private hands for almost 800 yearsAlmost eight centuries after it was crafted in a workshop in Salisbury, the Sarum Master Bible, a vividly illustrated medieval manuscript, has returned home and will go on display at the city's cathedral this month.Measuring just 17cm by 11.5cm, the book is an early example of a portable Bible, the Latin script so small it can be can be challenge to read and the parchment so thin that the pages have to be turned with extreme care. Continue reading...

Prime minister uses call with Ukraine president to restate UK support in face of Trump interventions Europe live - latest updatesUkraine remains on an irreversible path" towards Nato membership, Keir Starmer has told Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a phone call that underlined the divide between Europe and the US over the future of the country.According to a Downing Street readout of the call with the Ukrainian president, Starmer stressed the UK's concrete support for Ukraine, for as long as it's needed". Continue reading...

Struggling firm to appeal to CMA to increase water bills by more than Ofwat-approved 35% over next five years

System downgraded to strong category four' but will still pack a punch' and bring very heavy rainfall, Bureau of Meteorology warns

Suggestions include standardised packaging in hospitals to tackle power of branding but CMA decides against price capBaby formula could be placed in standardised packaging in hospitals, the UK competition watchdog has suggested, while parents should be allowed to use gift vouchers and loyalty card points to buy formula milk, as part of efforts to combat soaring prices and lack of choice in the market.Labelling of infant formula in hospitals or other healthcare locations should be standardised, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) suggested, with formula put into non-branded containers to tackle the power of marketing, or the NHS could offer its own variety. Continue reading...

Allan government announces extended 2025 duck hunting season with hunters allowed to bag nine ducks a day

In strongly worded statement, Kim Williams says allegations in Murdoch-owned tabloids do not stand up to scrutiny'

NSW treasurer accuses union of gaslighting' the city on a day when 576 train drivers and guards failed to show up to work

Staff member at Cairo Takeaway in Newtown alleged she felt intimidated by a customer who entered restaurant with Daily Telegraph crew waiting outside

Private enforcement agency employed by Welwyn Hatfield council issued fixed-penalty notice to Martin FielderA man who gave up his job to care for his young children when his wife died has been fined 500 and threatened with a criminal record after an envelope blew out of his bin.Martin Fielder was sent a letter six weeks ago from District Enforcement, a private enforcement agency employed by Welwyn Hatfield borough council to issue fixed-penalty notices on commission. The company is paid a portion of the fines it issues. Continue reading...

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Agriculture minister says rising prices have had a significant impact on people's lives' amid record heat, surges in demand and distribution problemsJapan is to flood the market with almost a quarter of a million tonnes of stockpiled rice in an unprecedented attempt to arrest soaring prices caused by record summer heat, panic buying and distribution problems.The government will release up to 210,000 tonnes of rice, the agriculture minister, Taku Eto, said on Friday, as consumers battled a surge in prices of more than 50% in recent months. Continue reading...

Deputy prime minister dismisses suggestions of Labour rift, saying employment protections will boost growthAngela Rayner has insisted Labour's flagship package of workers' rights will be ringfenced from a bonfire of regulation being pursued by the government to reboot economic growth.The deputy prime minister said that company bosses who were critical of the proposals needed to get on board" because bolstering employment protections was good for workers and growing the economy. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Dubai-based property developer is challenging trademark registrations, including the saying Bond, James Bond'The owners of the multibillion-pound James Bond franchise are embroiled in a fight to keep control of the super spy's name, after a Dubai-based property developer filed claims in the UK and Europe that they are not using the trademark across a range of goods and services.The Austrian businessman Josef Kleindienst, who is building a $5bn luxury resort complex called the Heart of Europe on six human-made islands just off the coast of Dubai, has filed a slew of what are known officially as cancellation actions based on non-use" targeting the James Bond name. Continue reading...

John Lister receives 50.71% of the two-party preferred vote in what was once a Labor stronghold

Women are traditionally expected to buy chocolates for male colleagues on Valentine's Day but teenage boys are shunning the one-sided customIt has been several years since Japanese women first signalled their contempt for the long tradition of showering male colleagues with chocolates on Valentine's Day. Now the country's young people are slaying another sacred cow associated with Friday's orgy of commercialised romance: one-sided gift giving.Traditionally, women are expected to buy gift-wrapped chocolates for the men in their working lives, usually senior colleagues and others to whom they feel indebted - a tradition called giri choco, literally obligation chocolates". Continue reading...

Judge Bryan Gantt orders doctor to stop prescribing and sending pills to state, setting up challenge to shield laws'A Texas judge has ordered a New York doctor to immediately stop prescribing and mailing abortion pills to patients in Texas, setting up a challenge to state shield laws" that could reach the US supreme court.In his order Thursday, Judge Bryan Gantt of Collin county district court ordered Dr Margaret Daley Carpenter of New Paltz, who uses telemedicine to see patients across the country, to cease her work and pay a penalty of more than $100,000. The lawsuit was filed by Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, a close ally of Donald Trump, in December. Continue reading...

Surge in tropical bacterial infection since beginning of wet season possibly linked to recent heavy rainfall, Cairns doctor says

Australian defence department says it is monitoring three Chinese ships in the Coral Sea

Claudia Sheinbaum gives riposte to Trump's accusation of intolerable alliance' between Mexican government and gangsMexico's president has accused the US of harboring drug cartels and American citizens of working with organized crime groups in Mexico, in a riposte to Donald Trump's allegation of an intolerable alliance" between traffickers and her government.There is also organized crime in the United States and there are American people who come to Mexico with these illegal activities," Claudia Sheinbaum said during her morning press conference on Thursday. Otherwise who would distribute fentanyl in the cities of the United States?" Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. You can read our latest story herePoland's Europe minister Adam Szapka told Polish broadcaster TVN24 this morning that he was concerned" by the message on peace talks sent by Trump, as it followed the logic of a 19th-century concert of powers: we'll have a chat and come up with something."The statement we got from president Trump that they spoke not only about the war, but also other things... it is somewhat strange. [The idea of them] talking about artificial intelligence and so on, while [we are] thinking about the images of the Bucha massacre is somewhat hair-raising." Continue reading...

Alexander Vinnik, owner and operator of cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, was arrested in 2017 for money launderingThe Trump administration has released Alexander Vinnik, a cybercriminal who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, to Russia, as part of an exchange that freed American schoolteacher Marc Fogel on Tuesday.Vinnik, who arrived in Moscow on a flight from Turkey on Tuesday after having been released from custody in California, is accused of owning and operating one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, BTC-e, which prosecutors allege facilitated the transfer of billions of dollars in transactions for criminals worldwide. Continue reading...

Top of the scale' winds strong enough to take out complete houses, destroy power lines and cause widespread damage and disruption

Exchange of insults between David Darling and Colin Pease, both in their 70s, led to scratches, bleeding and broken spectaclesThe agenda for the Middleton St George parish council meeting was quite dull: village show costs, condition of footpaths and a quote for a flagpole inspection.But the meeting itself was more lively, with two councillors exchanging insults before a wrestling match" that led to scratches, bleeding, a bruised finger and the destruction of spectacles said to be worth 325. Continue reading...

Life-saving drug was prescribed for William Hewes but not given quickly enough due to communication mix-upA consultant paediatrician warned medical colleagues treating her son that they had failed to give him life-saving antibiotics hours before he died from sepsis, an inquest has heard.William Hewes, 22, a history and politics student, died on 21 January 2023 of meningococcal septicaemia at east London's Homerton hospital, where his mother, Dr Deborah Burns, worked. Continue reading...

Statements that there can be no negotiations without Kyiv ring hollow when the US president has just sidelined it

Statement from Netanyahu's office follows Hamas declaration that it would stick to the ceasefire termsHamas has confirmed its commitment to continue implementing the Gaza ceasefire deal according to an agreed timeframe, Reuters is reporting in a breaking news line.More details soon ... Continue reading...

Foreign secretary says we will discuss issues where the UK and China do not always see eye to eye' as he meets Wang Yi, Beijing's foreign affairs ministerKeir Starmer has been forced to cut short a visit to a housing development after a protest by farmers, PA Media reports. PA says:A group of tractor-driving protesters staged a noisy demonstration as Keir Starmer visited a housing development in Buckinghamshire.The vehicles could be heard sounding musical horns while the prime minister spoke to workers at the site. Continue reading...

Government issues statement after Trump declaration created confusion, as it warns it could still go back to war

More than 11% of patients had to wait more than 104 days last year, up from 4.4% in 2016, analysis showsThe proportion of cancer patients in England experiencing long waits for treatment has almost trebled, figures show.Analysis by Cancer Research UK exclusively for the Guardian shows there has been a nearly fourfold increase in the number of patients in England waiting more than 104 days for urgent cancer treatment, from just over 6,000 patients in 2016 to 22,000 last year. Continue reading...

Prosecutor says investigators do not believe incident in Olympic Village area of Grenoble was terrorist attackTwelve people were injured, at least two critically, when a grenade was thrown into a packed bar in the city of Grenoble in south-eastern France.An attacker carrying an automatic rifle reportedly entered the bar on Wednesday evening and threw the grenade before fleeing without saying a word. Continue reading...

US Coast Guard releases clip that records the suspected acoustic signature' of 2023 wreck that left five deadThe US government has released a new audio recording that appears to capture the moment the Titan submersible imploded in the Atlantic Ocean in 2023, resulting in the deaths of all five people on board as it was heading to view the wreck of the Titanic.A device called a passive acoustic recorder from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, located about 900 miles (1,448km) from the site of the implosion, picked up the sound, according to US Coast Guard officials. Continue reading...

Children among at least 28 hurt as incident expected to inflame tensions ahead of this month's electionA 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker has driven a car into a trade union demonstration in Munich, injuring at least 28 people, German police have said, in a suspected attack that is expected to inflame tensions before this month's election.The car, a Mini Cooper, accelerated and ploughed into people at the back of a rally by the Verdi union at about 10.30am during a strike by public sector workers. Employees of daycare centres, hospitals, sanitation facilities and public swimming pools had joined the work stoppage calling for higher pay and longer holidays. More than 1,000 people were reportedly at the scene. Continue reading...

Amid political pressure, Creative Australia says deselecting the Lebanese-born artist will avoid divisive debate'

Constitutional law expert Helen Irving says such a change appears to be a distraction from serious nature of anti-Israeli comments from NSW nurses

Banana prices expected to rise in the short term, while cost of sugar should remain stable despite damage to cane crops

Exclusive: Sub-branches also debate benefit of poker machines and services to veterans amid financial concerns

Revealed: defense department sends memo that it's reviewing for books related to gender ... or discriminatory equity ideology topics'Tens of thousands of American children studying in Pentagon schools serving US military families have had all access to library books suspended for a week while officials conduct a compliance review" under Donald Trump's crackdown on DEI and gender equality.The Department of Defense circulated a memo to parents on Monday that said that it was examining library books potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics". The memo, which has been obtained by the Guardian, said that a small number of items" had been identified and were being kept for further review". Continue reading...

Defence ministers criticise Trump's approach to ending war resting on Kyiv forfeiting territory and Nato membershipThe US should not have made concessions to Russia in advance of peace negotiations by ruling out Nato membership for Ukraine and accepting the country would have to forfeit some of its territory, Germany's defence minister has said.Boris Pistorius, arriving at a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels, echoed European frustrations in the aftermath of Donald Trump's declaration on Wednesday that he was ready to negotiate with Russia's president, Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

Family fleeing Gaza were allowed to join brother in UK after applying through scheme meant for Ukrainian refugeesA judge who granted a Palestinian family the right to live in the UK after they applied through a scheme originally meant for Ukrainian refugees made the wrong decision, Keir Starmer has said.A family of six seeking to flee Gaza were allowed to join their brother in the UK after an immigration judge ruled that the Home Office's rejection of their application breached their human rights, it emerged on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Photo appears to show UK ambassador to Iran meeting pair, whose detention comes after tit-for-tat releases with Germany and ItalyTwo British nationals have been arrested in Iran and given access to the UK ambassador, Hugo Shorter, according to reports.State media published photographs purportedly showing Shorter meeting two British national security" suspects at the general and revolutionary prosecutor's office in Kerman province, about 500 miles south-east of Tehran. Continue reading...

Jewish creatives and activists also sign New York Times ad after US president's proposal to take over Gaza'More than 350 rabbis, alongside additional signatories including Jewish creatives and activists, have signed an ad in the New York Times in which they condemn Donald Trump's proposal for the effective ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.The ad, which was signed by rabbis including Sharon Brous, Roly Matalon and Alissa Wise, as well as Jewish creatives and activists including Tony Kushner, Ilana Glazer, Naomi Klein and Joaquin Phoenix, says: Trump has called for the removal of all Palestinians from Gaza. Jewish people say no to ethnic cleansing!" Continue reading...

A 90-day stop-work order means many clinics around the world will shut and vital care will be withheldInternational health organizations have warned that Donald Trump's push to dismantle US foreign aid and orders barring diversity, equity and inclusion are destroying programs that once provided healthcare to millions of women and girls worldwide.Providers said a 90-day stop work order imposed by the Department of State to review" contracts for compliance with the new administration's orders means many clinics, which operate on shoestring budgets, will never reopen - pausing services for everything from cervical cancer screenings to HIV treatment to the removal of intrauterine contraceptive devices. Continue reading...

Other top performers at group share 1.9bn bonus pool while 90,000 employees awarded 500 each in shares

Gambling regulator fines Merkur Slots almost 100,000 for failings at one of its adult gaming centres'A high street slot machine operator has been fined almost 100,000 by the gambling regulator after the Guardian revealed how staff allegedly exploited a vulnerable cancer patient.Wendy Hughes, then 64, lost nearly 2,000 in the Stockport branch of Merkur Slots UK over the course of two spells lasting 16 hours in November 2023, months after she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Continue reading...