Member states hope to persuade Hungary to remove its block on funding at Brussels emergency summitEU leaders have returned to Brussels for a second showdown in two months with Hungary's Viktor Orban over his refusal to sanction a new 50bn assistance package for Ukraine.A mixture of frustration and anger prevailed in the city as leaders arrived for dinner on Wednesday night on the eve of the emergency summit, with aides lamenting the failure of the Hungarian PM to shift position since December, when he first blocked the funds. Continue reading...
Country accused of violating torture convention in hope of finding justice decade after incident in which at least 15 people diedA 25-year-old from Cameroon has filed a complaint to the UN against Spain, accusing the country of multiple violations of the convention against torture in hope of seeking justice after an incident in 2014 during which at least 15 people died while trying to enter Spanish territory from Morocco.A decade has passed and still not a single person has been held accountable for the death and injury of so many," said the man, who asked to be identified by the pseudonym Ludovic. Continue reading...
Employees blindsided by news that company blew through $50m investment, will offer no severance and will cut off healthcareThe Messenger, a news startup launched last year with a $50m investment and a nonpartisan perspective, is shutting down, according to multiple news reports.In a staff email, the publication's founder, Jimmy Finkelstein, wrote that the company had pursued all options over the past few weeks, literally until last night" but made the painful" decision to shut down the site effective immediately after failing to raise sufficient capital to reach profitability". Continue reading...
Police described the object as a dangerous object' as Sweden's prime minister condemned the attempted attack'Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson condemned an attempted attack" against the Israeli embassy in Stockholm, after an object found outside it was destroyed by the bomb squad on Wednesday.Police said a live" device had been found by staff on the embassy premises on Wednesday, calling it a dangerous object", although they did not specify what it was. Continue reading...
Five people are in hospital after a man threw a suspected corrosive substance at a woman and two childrenNine people have been injured after a suspected corrosive substance was thrown at a woman and two young children in south London.The Metropolitan police were called to Lessar Avenue, Clapham at about 7.25pm on Wednesday, when the woman and two children were injured by a suspected corrosive substance. Continue reading...
Former post office operator who inspired Mr Bates vs the Post Office says figure is about a sixth of what he requestedAlan Bates will reject the government's Post Office Horizon scandal compensation offer, a figure that he says is only about a sixth of what he requested.The former post office operator, whose story was the inspiration for the ITV drama Mr Bates vs the Post Office, reportedly described the package as cruel" and derisory". Continue reading...
Actor was indicted in shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins nearly a year after similar charges were droppedActor Alec Baldwin entered a not guilty plea on Wednesday on a new involuntary manslaughter charge in the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on a New Mexico movie set in October 2021.The actor was indicted earlier this month in the shooting, nearly a year after prosecutors dropped similar charges against him. At the time, the prosecutor's office said that it would continue investigating the matter and that it could refile charges. Continue reading...
Mike Freer of the Ministry of Justice says the threats to his safety are too much' and may be related to his pro-Israel viewsA government minister has said he will stand down at the next general election after a series of death threats and an arson attack on his constituency office.The minister for courts and legal services, Mike Freer, said that by the skin of my teeth I avoided being murdered" by Ali Harbi Ali, who went on to kill the Southend West MP, Sir David Amess in 2021. Continue reading...
Anthony Snook, 44, has been charged with killing Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16 and will appear in court on ThursdayA 44-year-old man has been charged with murder after two teenage boys were stabbed to death in Bristol on Saturday.Anthony Snook, from Hartcliffe, was charged on Wednesday with the murder on Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16. He is due to appear at Bristol Magistrates' Court on Thursday. Continue reading...
Access to Incan site in Peruvian Andes restored after dispute over new electronic rail ticketing systemPeruvian authorities have reopened the train route to Machu Picchu, after an agreement was struck to end more than a week of protests that had blocked access to the famed Incan site and stranded tourists.PeruRail said in a statement a partial service had restarted on Wednesday and that a regular service would return on Thursday from the city of Cusco to Aguas Calientes, a town near the archaeological site. Continue reading...
The Barbie star responds to the outrage that met this month's nominations, which left her out of the best actress categoryMargot Robbie has responded to outrage over a perceived Oscar snub, saying the film has already managed to shift culture".The star, who was nominated for her role as producer of the Mattel blockbuster Barbie, was left out of the best actress category when nominations were announced earlier this month, leading to anger across the internet. Writer-director Greta Gerwig, who received a nomination for best adapted screenplay, also missed out on a best director nod. Continue reading...
UK internal market' to be created to ease unionist fears over de facto border in the Irish SeaNew rules to smooth post-Brexit trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland have been unveiled by the government as part of a deal with the Democratic Unionist party that will restore the Stormont executive and install a Sinn Fein first minister.A command paper titled Safeguarding the Union was published on Wednesday to allay DUP fears about Northern Ireland's place in the UK and to end a two-year boycott of power sharing that has destabilised the country. Continue reading...
Peter Norgrove left Sharon Gordon for dead after repeatedly hitting her with a hammer at her homeA builder who killed a customer in a brutal hammer attack after chronic" delays in building an extension to her home has been jailed for life.Peter Norgrove was ordered to serve a minimum term of 15 years after admitting the murder of 58-year-old Sharon Gordon, who he left for dead with severe skull fractures. Continue reading...
Coroner says normally there would have been lifeguard service as he records misadventure conclusionsThree men drowned off Cornish beaches at a time when the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's lifeguard service was affected by the Covid pandemic, a coroner has said.The senior Cornwall coroner, Andrew Cox, said he would write to the UK government and to the UK Covid-19 inquiry to highlight issues raised during the inquest into the deaths of the three men. Continue reading...
Former first minister of Scotland admits to inquiry that she failed to properly record key discussionsNicola Sturgeon has admitted failing to properly record key discussions about the Covid crisis after being pressed at the UK Covid inquiry over claims that some decisions were too centralised and secretive.The former first minister, who led Scotland's response to the pandemic, pushed back tears when she admitted she found the pressure of the crisis incredibly stressful", and at times wished she had not been in charge.An admission that crucial discussions with her closest advisers during private gold command" meetings should have been recorded.That she regretted not telling people about Scotland's first outbreak, involving 38 cases linked to a Nike conference in Edinburgh in March 2020, as that had the potential to undermine public confidence".That she should not have promised journalists in August 2021 that all her WhatsApp messages would be kept, knowing she had been systematically deleting them.That it was inappropriate for her to give the public health expert Devi Sridhar her private SNP email address.That she had thought wrongly" that her chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, could remain in post after admitting she had breached lockdown rules by visiting her holiday home. Continue reading...
Bruce's Beach was a rare resort for Black residents of Manhattan Beach starting in 1912, until city seized it in 1924A plaque recognizing the racist history of a southern California beach town that seized land from a Black family in the 1920s has been stolen, police say.The monument was erected last year in Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles county to honor the history of Bruce's Beach, where a Black couple built a popular resort for Black Americans in the early 1900s before the local government took control of their land and destroyed their business. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#6J9CM)
Trust in Scotland's former first minister has ebbed since the height of the pandemic, as evidence reveals a presidential leadership style that came to exhaust herNicola Sturgeon cut a solitary figure as she walked into the UK Covid inquiry on Wednesday morning, sombre-suited and met by shouts of Where are your WhatsApps?"Over three weeks of evidence taken in Edinburgh, the inquiry had heard from those who worked most closely with Scotland's former first minster during the pandemic, and the picture pieced together - often with some difficultly given the paucity of detail forthcoming from the Scottish government - was a troubling one: mass deletion of informal messages by senior figures; unminuted gold command" meetings headed by Sturgeon that appeared to bypass cabinet decision-making; jokes from key civil servants about the suppression of information; accusations of politicising the pandemic to further the cause of independence. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Move follows high court ruling that it was reasonable for them to have called Iain Duncan Smith the termThe director of public prosecutions is appealing to the supreme court in an ongoing and expensive battle to overturn the acquittal of two protesters found to have acted reasonably in calling Iain Duncan Smith Tory scum".The unusual move will add to the cost to the public purse of a case that Lord Justice Popplewell, who heard the case at the high court, has said has already taken up significant and substantial legal resources". Continue reading...
Intruder, understood to have been Bryce Hodgson, had restraining order placed on himA man shot dead by police in south London after forcing his way into a building with an arsenal of weapons had been convicted of stalking.The 30-year-old, who was armed with crossbows, a knife, a sword and a hatchet, is understood to have been Bryce Hodgson, who was given a suspended jail term last year, placed under supervision and subjected to a restraining order. Continue reading...
This live blog is now closed, you can read more on this story hereBack at the home affairs committee James Daly (Con) asks why so few police investigations end up in people being charged.James Cleverly, the home secretary, says the Crown Prosecution Service is independent. He wants to make sure investigations are as professional as possible. Continue reading...
by Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent on (#6J995)
Nick Adderley faces gross misconduct hearing over accusations he wore medal from Falklands war, which took place when he was 15The chief constable of Northamptonshire police will face an accelerated gross misconduct hearing after allegedly misrepresenting his military service, including wearing a medal from a war he did not fight in.Nick Adderley, who served as police chief from August 2018 until he was suspended in October, has been accused of wearing a medal from the Falklands war - which took place when he was 15. Continue reading...
Cryptocurrency exchange founded by Sam Bankman-Fried an irresponsible sham created by a convicted felon', lawyer saysFTX has abandoned efforts to restart its crypto exchange, instead opting to liquidate all assets and return funds to customers, a company attorney said on Wednesday.The exchange, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, has been negotiating for months with potential bidders and investors, but none were willing to put in enough money to rebuild it, FTX attorney Andy Dietderich said at a bankruptcy court hearing in Delaware. Continue reading...
by Ajit Niranjan European environment correspondent on (#6J998)
Under pressure from the far right in upcoming elections, environmental concessions being made across continentExhausted by an energy crisis, burdened by bureaucracy and angry at efforts to curb their pollution, Europe's farmers say people are not listening to their plight.Over the last few years we've spoken out vigorously, but we haven't been heard," Europe's biggest farming lobby, Copa Cogeca, said on Wednesday in an open letter to the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen. The survival of European family farming as it is known today is in danger." Continue reading...
by Sammy Gecsoyler (now) and Ben Quinn political corr on (#6J8Y9)
Scotland's former first minister says every death is a tragedy that I regret'Sturgeon once again says she wants to be very clear" that it was not her practice to have lengthy or detailed discussions through these means" - a reference to WhatsApp.It's not my style," she insists. Continue reading...
Bodies were found at remote crossroads on 23 January in California desert in what investigators say was dispute over marijuanaProsecutors filed murder charges Tuesday against five suspects in the fatal shootings of six men at a remote dirt crossroads in the southern California desert after what investigators said was a dispute over marijuana.The suspects each face six felony counts of murder with a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, the San Bernardino county district attorney's office said in a statement. They were each also charged with six felony counts of robbery. Continue reading...
by Rachel Hall (now) and Warren Murray (earlier) on (#6J909)
Deal to swap around 200 PoWs from each side comes after contested claim that Kyiv downed plane carrying Ukrainian soldiersRussia's Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has told military manufacturers to stop fooling around" and further increase the production of self-propelled artillery systems.Shoigu visited arms-producing factories in the Urals industrial city of Yekaterinburg on Tuesday and said Russia was increasing production of air defence missiles after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks that have targeted cities and energy infrastructure.Listen, stop fooling around here, guys. We got busy with this in 2022. We should have had these machines operating at full capacity in 2023.I'd like to receive within a week a specific proposal on how we'll reach the indicators set by the president (Vladimir Putin) ... this must be done, because all these orders are connected with the performance of very specific work on the battlefield. Continue reading...
Proposals that new rule requiring farmers to set aside up to 7% of land to boost biodiversity should not come into force until 2025We spoke to a young Belgian farmer, Sylvain Dardenne.He was sitting in his tractor in a street lined with parked tractors and flanked by police cars a few blocks away from the European parliament, when we approached him with questions. Continue reading...
Market value of Danish drugmaker behind Wegovy and Ozempic tops $500bn as demand soarsNovo Nordisk shares hit a record high after the Danish company reported soaring sales of its obesity and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, pushing its market value past $500bn and cementing its position as Europe's most valuable company.Runaway demand for the drugs, which are taken by celebrities including Oprah Winfrey and Elon Musk, has left the company struggling to keep up with orders and scrambling to expand production sites. Continue reading...
Opposition leader rejects claims party is seeking to cause deterioration of monarchyThailand's constitutional court has ruled that the opposition party's pledge to reform the country's lese-majesty law is unlawful and that it must cease such efforts.The court ordered the Move Forward party and its leader, Pita Limjaroenrat, to stop all forms of communication aimed at bringing reforms to the law, under which criticism of the powerful royal family can lead to up to 15 years in prison on a single charge. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#6J8YB)
Japanese macaque spotted 300 metres from wildlife park's entrance after third night of freedomA monkey who escaped from a wildlife park in the Scottish Highlands has been spotted about 300 metres from the park's entrance, raising hopes he will return to his enclosure of his own volition after a third night of freedom.The drone footage was taken just as the light was fading on Tuesday evening by a conservation consultant, Ben Harrower, who is assisting a search team from the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, which runs the park. It shows the Japanese macaque moving on the ground under dense tree cover. Continue reading...
The now-defunct blog of New York's Jamaal Bowman cast doubt on what actually happened during the 2001 terrorist attacksProgressive US congressman Jamaal Bowman is seeking to distance himself from conspiracy theories about the deadly September 11 terrorist attacks which he published on a personal blog that he ran before his career in elected office.The New York representative was linked to the blog in question by the Daily Beast on Monday as he faces a substantial primary challenge from a fellow Democrat over his criticism of Israeli military strikes in Gaza in response to Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack. Continue reading...
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#6J8VS)
Rev Steve Chalke says killing of Mason Rist and Max Dixon was devastating' and calls for earlier intervention on knife crimeBanning zombie" knives and machetes will not end the trauma of knife crime, the founder of an academy trust has warned, after two pupils at one of his schools were fatally stabbed over the weekend.The Rev Steve Chalke, of Oasis academies, said the killing of Mason Rist, 15, and his 16-year-old friend Max Dixon in south Bristol was absolutely devastating" for family and friends, their school and the wider community in Knowle West. Continue reading...
Treatment for ailments including sore throats, earaches and shingles to be offered without a GP appointmentPatients can now get treatment for seven common conditions without needing to see a GP under a shake-up of pharmacy services in England.From Wednesday, thousands of pharmacists will be able to assess and treat patients for sinusitis, sore throat, earache, infected insect bites, impetigo, shingles and uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women under 65, without the need for a GP appointment or prescription. Continue reading...
Six states and territories co-write letter calling for waving of Hecs debt for teachers, more supported university places and more scholarships for students
Campaigners call for Norfolk and Suffolk trust to be disbanded after killings linked to man with mental health issuesThe families of people who have died in the care of Norfolk and Suffolk mental health services have said the tragic case of a man believed to have killed himself and his family underlines the need for a statutory inquiry into the NHS trust.Bartlomiej Kuczynski, 45, was found dead in his home in Costessey near Norwich along with his two daughters and their aunt, earlier this month. Just over an hour before he had made a 999 call expressing alarm about his mental state, and was told to seek medical help. Continue reading...
Exclusive: safety experts and a coroner made the request after a death in 1992, 30 years before Ukrainian refugee Albina Yevko diedRepeated calls 30 years ago from a coroner and safety experts for railings to be installed on a sea wall in Devon after a teenager lost his life were ignored, it has emerged, after the death last year of a young Ukrainian refugee in similar circumstances.Documents seen by the Guardian reveal that local authorities committed to painting a white line and installing warning signs - none of which remain today - after Brendon Burnage fell to his death at the age of 17 from Dawlish sea wall in Devon in 1992. Continue reading...
by Paul Karp, Adeshola Ore, Eden Gillespie and Benita on (#6J8SN)
States say they will not take up co-funded deal, calling for commonwealth to unilaterally close funding gapA landmark" deal between the Albanese government and Western Australia to co-fund public school improvements has been rejected by all other states.The federal education minister, Jason Clare, on Wednesday announced the five-year deal in which the commonwealth and WA will jointly pay to lift the state's public schools to the schooling resource standard (SRS) by 2026 in return for the state implementing teacher quality and student wellbeing reforms. Continue reading...
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