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Inner-city FSM pupils in capital also twice as likely to gain places at selective universities as counterparts elsewhere

Gareth Thomas says move is political judgment' after challenge from 40 members of House of Lords

Former vice-president signals intent to become key force in Democrats' rebuild but leaves open possibility of future runFollowing a devastating loss to Donald Trump, Kamal Harris returned home to California in January with a decision to make about her political future: to enter the race for governor, or not.As she deliberated privately, the Democratic party was grappling publicly with a new political reality - one entirely reshaped by her defeat in last year's presidential election. Continue reading...

Opposition groups have vowed to snub poll that has been dismissed as a fraud' designed to legitimise military's ruleMyanmar's junta has ended the country's state of emergency, stepping up preparations for a December election that is being boycotted by opposition groups and criticised by international monitors.The military declared a state of emergency in February 2021 as it deposed the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering a many-sided civil war that has claimed thousands of lives. Continue reading...

After heavy snowfall in alpine regions of NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT as well as in Western Australia, SA and Queensland could be next

AI platform Flok Health to be rolled out to other NHS trusts but experts warn tech-based care could increase health inequalitiesThe first NHS AI-run physiotherapy clinic has halved the waiting list for back pain and musculoskeletal services, according to the NHS trust where the pilot has taken place.More than 2,500 patients living in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough were able to access Flok Health, a physiotherapy platform run by AI, over a 12-week period starting in February. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Survey of officers in England and Wales reveals symptoms so severe that some have had multiple surgeriesMusculoskeletal damage, crushed testicles and lumps in breasts are just some examples of the harm police officers say they experience because of ill-fitting, uncomfortable and low-quality uniforms.Officers responding to the first national uniform and equipment survey across all 43 forces in England and Wales reported symptoms so severe that some had to have multiple operations. Continue reading...

Shane Prior says Crisafulli government was completely inflexible' amid widespread member backlash over 8% pay deal he had previously described as the largest ever'

Music superstar announces 2014 courtroom drama This House of Grief as first Australian pick for global monthly book clubHelen Garner has praised Dua Lipa as a serious and sensitive" interviewer after the British superstar added Garner's nonfiction book This House of Grief to her monthly book club.Garner's 2014 courtroom drama will be the first Australian inclusion on the popular list, taking the Melbourne author's work to the singer's growing global audience. Continue reading...

Latest report delivers bad news on targets including adult imprisonment rates, children in out-of-home care, suicide and childhood developmentWarning: This article contains reference to Indigenous Australians who have died

Victorian Liberal deputy leader's wife says timeline suggested in Herald Sun report relating to when she first began relationship with husband is baseless and false' as pair also threaten defamation action against News Corp

New Zealand and Australia were signatories to a declaration that indicates they could follow suit in the coming monthsThe Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has announced his country plans to formally recognise Palestine during the UN general assembly in September, after France and 14 other countries co-signed a declaration that pointed towards a wave of future recognitions of an independent Palestinian state.Canada's plans follow similar announcements by France and the UK to formally recognise Palestine, while New Zealand and Australia were also signatories to a declaration that indicates they could follow suit in the coming months. Continue reading...

AAA says carmakers overstating improvements in fuel use and environmental performance despite repeated investigations

Would-be co-leader, standing with Adrian Ramsay, faces eco-populist'Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, was doing a media round this morning. The Conservatives have been strongly critical of Keir Starmer's decision to recognise Palestinian statehood (unless Israel meets conditions which would be near impossible for Benjamin Netanyahu to accept) and Patel's comments in part echoed what the Israeli government has been saying. (See 10.50am.) But the Tories are also claiming that this shows Starmer is too weak to stand up to his own MPs.Patel told GB News:We've just seen the government just really appease its back benches, saying that they will recognise Palestine, but do so without a plan, and that is why this is a very serious issue.I think it's a major problem for the British government and also for Britain's standing in the world. We've seen this terrible situation of humanitarian crisis in Gaza for months upon months now, and Britain simply hasn't been leveraging its influence.Starmer rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism & punishes its victims.A jihadist state on Israel's border TODAY will threaten Britain TOMORROW. Continue reading...

Under Trump order, parcels valued at or under $800 outside of international postal network to face all applicable duties'The United States is suspending a de minimis" exemption that allowed low-value commercial shipments to be shipped to the United States without facing tariffs, the White House said on Wednesday.Under an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Wednesday, packages valued at or under $800 sent to the US outside of the international postal network will now face all applicable duties" starting on 29 August, the White House said. Continue reading...

US president says UK move would reward Hamas' after appearing to endorse recognition plan in Scotland meetingDonald Trump has doubled down on his backing for Israel after having appeared to give a green light to the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, to recognize a Palestinian state.Amid signs of mounting opposition among his Maga base to Israel's military operation in Gaza, Trump criticized Starmer's plan to grant recognition as rewarding Hamas" even after having not taken issue with it when the pair met in Scotland this week. Continue reading...

Susan Miller says US intelligence chief's allegations were based on misrepresentations of discoveries made by her team about Russian actionsA former CIA officer who helped lead the intelligence assessments over alleged Russia interference in the 2016 presidential election has said Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, is ignorant of the practices of espionage after she accused Barack Obama and his national security team of treasonous conspiracy" against Donald Trump.Susan Miller, the agency's head of counter-intelligence at the time of the election, told the Guardian that Gabbard's allegations were based on false statements and basic misrepresentations of discoveries made by Miller's team about Russian actions, which she insisted that were based on multiple trusted and verified sources. Continue reading...

Police say attack on Lee Vogler at office of magazine was related to personal matter' and not his politics or positionA councilman in Danville, Virginia was attacked and set on fire on Wednesday over what police are describing as a personal matter" not related to his position or politics.According to a statement released by the Danville police department, the councilman, Lee Vogler, 38, was attacked at the offices of a local magazine, where he is also employed. Continue reading...

System restored after Nats limited flights due to technical problems that raised fears of repeat of chaos in August 2023

UK air traffic control has been restricting flights due to technical issue'More flights are now taking off from airports that previously reported being affected by the disruption, with American Airlines' AAL137 to Los Angeles departing with a delay of just over two hours from London Heathrow just moments ago.UK Civil Aviation Authority is actively directing passengers to its guidance for passengers affected by delays, saying remember that you have passenger rights if this happens." Continue reading...

Powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake off Russia triggered tsunami alerts across Pacific including for US and Japan

Move follows protests in Ukrainian cities over bill passed last week that curtailed independence of two bodiesUkraine's parliament will vote on a new law on Thursday that would restore independence to two anti-corruption bodies, backtracking on a law passed last week that curtailed their powers and led to a political crisis.Last week's legal changes prompted rare wartime street protests against the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and accusations that the presidential office was trying to protect powerful associates from anti-corruption investigations. Continue reading...

Justin Plummer spent 28 years in jail for 1997 killing of Janice Cartwright-Gilbert, who was found stabbed and throttledThe court of appeal has quashed the conviction of a man who has spent 28 years in jail for a violent murder he has always claimed he was innocent of.Justin Plummer, aged 54, was convicted of the murder of 38-year-old Janice Cartwright-Gilbert in 1998, a year after she was fatally attacked at the building site of her future home near Wilden in Bedfordshire. Her body was found in a burning caravan with multiple stab wounds, a knife and scissors sticking out of her neck, having been throttled by an electrical flex. Continue reading...

Far-right activist flies to Spain after video emerges of him at scene of alleged assault at London St Pancras stationThe far-right activist Tommy Robinson has arrived in Tenerife as British police seek to question him over an alleged assault after he was filmed close to a man who was left seriously injured on the ground.Robinson flew to Spain from the UK early on Tuesday. On Monday evening video emerged of him saying he come at me", an apparent claim of self-defence, at the scene of the alleged assault in St Pancras station in London as a 64-year-old man lay motionless on the ground. Continue reading...

Tech company says it will use machine learning to estimate ages in order to show users in US age-appropriate contentYouTube announced on Tuesday that it will begin to use artificial intelligence to estimate the ages of users in the US, in order to show them age-appropriate content.The rollout of the new feature comes one day after Australia's government announced it would ban children under 16 from using YouTube and less than a week after the UK implemented sweeping age checks on content on social networks. Continue reading...

Mohammed Fahir Amaaz convicted of assault of PC Lydia Ward and PC Ellie Cook in 2024 incidentA student has been found guilty of assaulting two female police officers at Manchester airport last summer during a violent disturbance that went viral on social media.One of the officers, PC Lydia Ward, suffered a broken nose and fell to the ground after Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, punched her. Continue reading...

Bishop of Monmouth chosen after Andy John stepped down in June following scandal at Bangor CathedralThe Bishop of Monmouth, Cherry Vann, has been elected as the new archbishop of Wales, becoming the UK's first female archbishop and first LGBTQ+ leader in the church in Wales in a symbolic break with recent safeguarding scandals.Vann, 66, was chosen on Wednesday after an electoral college made up of clergy and laypersons met for two days of deliberations at St Pierre church near Chepstow. Continue reading...

Settlements include payout to former elections chief falsely accused of trying to sabotage Corbyn campaign in 2017Labour has settled claims brought by 20 people, mainly former staffers, who featured in a leaked internal document about antisemitism within the party, with the costs estimated to be close to 2m.The settlements include a payout to Labour's former elections chief Patrick Heneghan, who was falsely accused in the dossier of having tried to sabotage Jeremy Corbyn's chances of winning the 2017 election. Continue reading...

EU entry exit system, involving fingerprinting and facial recognition, being introduced from 12 October for non-EU citizensSpeaking of the EU-US trade deal, German finance minister Lars Klingbeil joined the growing list of national leaders expressing their dissatisfaction with the agreement today, saying he feared it would hit the German economy.I have no illusions about it, it is rather growth-weakening," Klingbeil said in the presentation of the 2026 draft budget as per Reuters, lamenting that the EU was too weak" in the negotiations.Still, all in all, it is good that there is an agreement with the US, that there are no further escalations. Continue reading...

Justice department revealed that only two law enforcement witnesses testified during grand jury proceedingsTranscripts of the grand jury proceedings that led to the sex trafficking indictments of the sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice, British socialiate Ghislaine Maxwell, include the testimony of just two law enforcement witnesses, the Department of Justice has said, as it argues for the documents' release.Top justice department officials disclosed in a filing late on Tuesday in New York City federal court that separate grand juries convened to consider the criminal investigations of Epstein and Maxwell, and had heard from only two witnesses. Continue reading...

Trump administration gives no details about reason for departure of Vinay Prasad, but he had critics and had taken unusual actionsThe top vaccine official at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Vinay Prasad, has left the federal agency less than four months after being appointed as the head of the division overseeing biological products like blood, vaccines, and cellular and gene therapies, a government spokesperson has said.Prasad, an oncologist and a professor of epidemiology, biostatistics and medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, had previously criticized the FDA. Continue reading...

Carmaker avoids reporting a slump by sending three months' worth of sales on last day of the quarter at levy of 10%Aston Martin scrambled to deliver three months' worth of cars to dealers in the US within 24 hours as it rushed to qualify for lower tariffs that came into effect on 30 June.By invoicing the whole quarter's cars on that same day it also avoided having to report a sales slump that might have alarmed investors. Continue reading...

Powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake triggers tsunami alerts in US and Japan. Plus, eight profound reasons to be hopeful for the future

As official health guidance changes, scientific groups are stepping in with evidence-based recommendationsThe US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is adopting a recommendation from independent advisers to drop thimerosal, a preservative found in about 4% of flu vaccines, despite evidence that it poses no risks and helps prevent bacterial and fungal infections.But Robert F Kennedy Jr, the HHS secretary, has not adopted two other votes from the advisory meeting: recommending annual flu vaccines for everyone over the age of six months and RSV shots for infants. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns say party could slide into irrelevance if it chooses new leader with polarising' approachThe Green party risks going into reverse if they elect Zack Polanski as leader, his two opponents have said, arguing that his promised brand of eco-populism" would prove polarising, divisive and likely to put off more moderate voters.Speaking to the Guardian before the opening of the month-long leadership vote, which begins on Friday, Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns said the party in England and Wales was at a crossroads", and could miss the chance to hold the balance of power at the next election. Continue reading...

Georges Elhedery's comments come amid speculation the chancellor could make such a move in autumn budget

Prosecutors granted restraining order under the confiscation act to stop the triple murderer's Leongatha property being sold or otherwise dealt with

The 43-year old will be sentenced on 19 September after he was convicted last week for serious sex offences involving two young men

Onus on platforms to design simple solutions and there are lots of ways' tech firms could verify age of users, says communications minister

UK's largest Jewish body adds to pressure on Israel, saying moves to allow in limited aid are long overdue'The UK's largest Jewish organisation has called for a rapid, uninhibited, and sustained increase in aid through all available channels" in Gaza in a rare implicit criticism of the Israeli government.The Board of Deputies held an emergency meeting on Tuesday evening amid growing horror among British Jews at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with children malnourished and starving and desperate parents being killed as they try to secure food for their families. Continue reading...

NSW prosectors' appeal fails as judges say non-custodial sentence for error of judgment' is adequate

Former tennis star's lawyer alleges Herald Sun articles are defamatory and constitute a serious invasion of Brittany Groth's privacy under new tort laws

Cambodia has previously denied breaking the truce, which came into effect on Tuesday after five days of violent clashesThailand has accused Cambodia of a flagrant violation" of a truce to end cross-border fighting, claiming Cambodian troops launched an overnight attack on the frontier.The neighbours agreed a ceasefire starting Tuesday after five days of clashes killed at least 43 people on both sides, as a longstanding dispute over contested border regions boiled over into open combat across the 800km frontier. Continue reading...

Grandson of valet Alf Edwards and kitchen maid Caroline Palmer donates dozens of their personal objects to English HeritageHe was a valet, she was a kitchen maid and more than a century ago they met because of his passion for photography and desperate need of a warm place to use as a makeshift studio.Alf Edwards and Caroline Palmer worked at opposite ends of an imposing country house, set in a huge estate with hundreds of employees, and there was little other reason for their paths to cross. Continue reading...

The Taiwanese government insists Lai Ching-te's visit was delayed due to domestic issues, including natural disasters and tariff negotiationsTaiwan's President Lai Ching-te will delay an expected trip to his country's remaining allies in Latin America, amid conflicting accounts of the reason for the postponement.Lai was expected to travel to the Americas next month, as his government seeks to shore up support in a region where many countries have cut diplomatic ties in favour of relations with China, which claims Taiwan as its territory. Continue reading...

Low-pressure system could bring impactful' weather to the Hunter, Sydney and Illawarra, beginning on Friday night, the BoM says

A 31-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering Terry and Brendan McMillanA father and son killed in a stabbing attack in south London on Monday have been named as Terry and Brendan McMillan.Detectives arrested a man on suspicion of their murder on Tuesday after the incident at an office block in south London on Monday that also left a third man hospitalised. Continue reading...

The Past Lives and Materialists writer-director is set to pen a follow-up to the dark, Julia Roberts-led 1997 favouriteA sequel to the 1997 comedy My Best Friend's Wedding is in the works with Celine Song tapped to write the screenplay.According to Collider, the playwright turned writer-director, who broke out with the Oscar-nominated drama Past Lives, has reportedly been hired by Sony as the film enters early development. Continue reading...

Actor and book prize judge's production company in process of developing novel by Claire AdamAn apparent conflict of interest has emerged over the Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker's judging of this year's Booker prize.A production company run by the actor is reportedly in the process of developing a book written by Claire Adam, whose second novel, Love Forms, appears on this year's longlist, announced on Tuesday. Continue reading...

Missile attack on prison in frontline region of Zaporizhzhia kills 16 as Kyiv hopes for US action against MoscowRussia launched one of its deadliest night assaults on Ukraine for months in the early hours of Tuesday, the day after Donald Trump said he was setting a new deadline of 10 or 12 days" for Russia to make progress towards ending the war or face new sanctions.A series of Russian strikes across the country killed at least 25 people, Ukrainian officials said, including a 23-year-old pregnant woman and more than a dozen prison inmates. About 100 people were injured across the country. Continue reading...