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Dale Vince to receive damages from Guido Fawkes blogger and says he will take Reform UK's Richard Tice to full trialThe Labour donor Dale Vince has claimed victory in a libel case against the political blogger Paul Staines, who has agreed to pay damages and costs over false claims that Vince supported Hamas.However, Vince vowed to go all the way" to a full libel trial against Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, over his claims on X that the businessman was pro the murderous antisemitic Hamas". Continue reading...

US immigrants aged 14 and older who fail to provide fingerprints could face $5,000 fine and six months in prisonThe Trump administration will require undocumented immigrants aged 14 and older to register with the federal government or face possible fines or prosecution.The US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that under the Protecting the American People Against Invasion" executive order signed by Donald Trump last month undocumented immigrants must also provide their fingerprints, while parents must ensure children under 14 are registered. The department will provide evidence" of their registration and those 18 and over must carry that document at all times. Continue reading...

An oral history of the musician's post-Beatles work in the 70s, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, will be published in NovemberAn account of Paul McCartney's post-Beatles career at the helm of Wings is to be published later this year.Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, by McCartney and historian Ted Widmer, will hit UK and US bookshops on 4 November. Continue reading...

Guo Qingshan's image of a cliff on the edge of the Yangtze River in Hubei province has been viewed millions of timesA cliff on the edge of the Yangtze River has become an overnight sensation in China after a Shanghai-based designer posted a photo of it earlier this month likening it to a dog.Guo Qingshan took the photo, which he captioned Puppy Mountain", while on a hike near his home town of Yichang, in Hubei province, in late January. Continue reading...

Prime minister's chief of staff says event this year should be taken off streetsHungary's Budapest Pride should be held in a closed venue" this year rather than on a city centre avenue as in previous years, the prime minister, Viktor Orban's, chief of staff has said, citing child protection.The plan, announced on Wednesday, appeared to be part of Orban's restrictions on the activities of the LGBTQ+ community as the nationalist leader prepares for elections in 2026 in which his rightwing Fidesz party faces an unprecedented challenge from a new opponent. Continue reading...

This blog is now closed, you can read more of our UK political coverage herePMQs is about to start.Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.The threat from the far right is real, but that leaves me all the more convinced that working together is not only the right choice, but the only choice ...More unites us than divides us. Now is the moment to make that real by uniting behind shared values, shared standards of behaviour and shared political norms, and unite against the rise of the far right.I want us to work together to agree a common approach to asserting the values of our country, to bringing people together and creating a cohesive society where everyone feels at home ...It is time to come together, to draw a line in the sand, to set out who we are and what we believe in, because a politics of fear is a politics of despair ...I want to work with other political parties to set out clearly and boldly to the public what we can agree on as the norms and the values of our society and how we can protect those because I think they are under threat, I think they're under very, very vigorous threat, from the politics of Farage.Farage has been for years leading the argument which has been hostile to migration. And I think it's based on a fundamentally racist view of the world. I reject that. I think migration is an advantage for Scotland.There is a very live and active threat to our security from the aggression of Russia, and I think Farage is an accomplice to the Russian agenda and an apologist for the Russian agenda.So to anybody in this country who thinks that Farage represents a means of protecting this country from the external threats that we face, I would say, have a good close look at what Farage has been connected with and what his MPs are saying about the Russian threat and their trivialisation of the Russian threat.I'm simply making the point today that it's important that those of us who are repulsed by the politics of Farage and the far right come together to ... stress the importance of the values that we hold dear. Continue reading...

Pro-Russia populist, who won first round of election that was later annulled, suspected of communicating false informationRomanian prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Clin Georgescu, the far-right, Moscow-friendly populist who surged from almost nowhere to win the first round of the country's cancelled presidential election last year.The announcement of the investigation covering a number of separate accusations took place after Georgescu, 62, was stopped by police in Bucharest traffic on Wednesday as he was about to submit his candidacy for a rerun of the election, which is scheduled for May. Continue reading...

Researchers warn of harms of overdiagnosis for generally healthy people as well as the cost of tests themselvesInfluencers are appealing to emotional narratives around health and often fearmongering" to promote controversial medical tests on social media, a new study has found, in ways that are overwhelmingly misleading and fail to mention potential harms.The research, led by the University of Sydney and published on Thursday in the American Medical Association's open access journal JAMA Network Open, investigated five tests being discussed on social media despite limited evidence of their benefits for generally healthy people and concerns about overdiagnosis. Continue reading...

Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson will focus on president's self-delusional' decision to seek re-electionA new book announced on Wednesday aims to tell a behind-the-scenes story about Joe Biden's bid for a second term, promising to reveal a top-level cover-up about his decline in health, its publisher said.The book, titled Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, will be released on 20 May. Penguin Press, the book's publisher, announced on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Ex-007 praises Broccolis for series while expressing concern for its future after bombshell announcementThe ex-007 star Timothy Dalton has weighed in on last week's announcement on the future of the James Bond franchise.On 20 February, Amazon announced it had struck a deal to have creative control" over the movies after negotiating with Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson, the heirs to the series. Continue reading...

Heathrow CEO urges ministers to commit to gateway to growth' third runwayThe boss of Heathrow has said there is room for both of London's biggest airports to expand significantly if the government can guarantee steps to a third runway, with ministers expected to approve Gatwick's second runway this week.Thomas Woldbye said Heathrow would be seeking government commitments on the airport's funding model and changes to airspace before construction of a new runway could start. Continue reading...

Antony James, from Plymouth, who competed in 2012 Games, was a trainee police officer at time of his arrestA former Olympic swimmer and trainee police officer has been jailed for 21 years after being found guilty of raping two teenage girls and a string of other sexual offences against them.Antony James, 35, who represented Great Britain at the 2012 London Games in the 100m butterfly, groomed the girls before assaulting them, Plymouth crown court heard. Continue reading...

Here's what we know about how Australia learned about Chinese navy exercises held in the Tasman Sea over two days

Iconic performance amid Roman antiquity has been restored from original negatives, with a soundtrack newly mixed by prog star Steven WilsonOne of the most distinctive concert films in rock history, Pink Floyd at Pompeii, is to be rereleased in cinemas - including in Imax format - and have its first soundtrack release.Filmed in 1971 and released the following year, the film (previously titled Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii) captures the band shortly before The Dark Side of the Moon ushered in their most commercially successful phase. It will be in cinemas worldwide on 24 April. Continue reading...

Contact could unsettle some in Labour given her past record on the issue including criticism of Lammy report

British prime minister heads to Washington as Europe reels from seismic shift in relations with US president

Users of president's own social media site criticise video showing reimagined Gaza featuring Trump and Israeli PM sipping cocktailsDonald Trump is facing a backlash on his Truth Social platform after sharing an AI-created video of him sipping cocktails with a topless Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza, in a future imagining of the Palestinian territory devastated by Israel's war.The video presented a computer-generated vision of Trump's property development plan for Gaza, under which he said he wants to clean out" the population of about 2 million people. Named the Riviera of the Middle East" plan, the proposal has been criticised as a blueprint for ethnic cleansing. Continue reading...

US president says of his Ukrainian counterpart, I hear he's coming on Friday'. Plus, train robbers swipe $2m worth of Nikes

As research reveals children want to listen to books rather than read them, here are some of the best audiobooks to enjoy

Charity calls for move after poll finds crisis' levels of reading for pleasure and rise in 8- to 18-year-olds enjoying audio From The Sheep-Pig to His Dark Materials: the best audiobooks for children and teensThe government has been urged to include audiobooks in the new schools curriculum in England, after research showed fewer children were reading books for pleasure and more were listening to them instead.A poll by the National Literacy Trust (NLT) found that children's enjoyment of listening to audio and podcasts had risen compared with the previous year, overtaking their enjoyment of reading for the first time since the charity began asking about audio in 2020. Continue reading...

Artist and curator Michael Dagostino break silence following Creative Australia decision to withdraw them as representatives

Sportscar maker says priority is plug-in hybrids, while cutting costs will reduce global workforce by 5%The British sportscar maker Aston Martin has further delayed its first battery electric vehicle, as it announced plans to cut 170 jobs - 5% of its global workforce - in the latest step in its quest for profits.The FTSE 250 manufacturer on Wednesday said its priority was plug-in hybrid cars, which combine a small battery with a petrol engine. The first electric model will only come in the latter part of this decade". Continue reading...

Roy Kennedy spoke at one of events organised by son of Lord Evans of Watford, who has been exposed as offering access to ministers

This blog is now closed

Parent company Southern Cross Austereo says programming should meet expectations of its audience' and it's clear this is a moment for reflection and review'

Eight-year-old's parents and 12 other members of Toowoomba religious group the Saints are responsible for her slow and painful death', judge says

Singh, who has pleaded not guilty to murder, owned Alfa Romeo sedan similar' to one seen on CCTV in areas where Cordingley's phone was located, jury told

Court played body-worn camera footage of comments by Nicholas Bolzonello who has given evidence in the trial

Review follows rare spat between top prosecutors and judges, the latter suggesting a lack of rational interrogation' over sexual assault allegations

Charity sounds alarm over gender gap - but finds children enthusiastic about measures to make cycling easierAlmost twice as many boys as girls routinely cycle in the UK, a pioneering report on young people's active travel has found.The study, led by the charity Sustrans, also found strong support among children for measures to help them cycle and walk, such as dedicated bike lanes, slower traffic speeds and barring motor vehicles from outside schools. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: The prime minister announced a significant increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, funded entirely by a cut in the aid budgetGood morning.On Tuesday, Keir Starmer confirmed that the government will increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, with plans to raise it further to 3% during the next parliament. The announcement marks the biggest increase in defence spending since the end of the cold war, but the even bigger surprise came with the announcement that the additional funding would come directly from the overseas aid budget, which will fall from 0.5% to 0.3% of GDP - a cut of around 6bn.Ukraine | Donald Trump has said that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is likely to visit the White House on Friday to sign a rare earth minerals deal worth $500bn to pay for US military aid.Gaza | Israel is seeking to extend the first stage of the ceasefire agreement in the war with Hamas in Gaza and is prepared to resume fighting if there is no progress in crucial talks this week, according to reports.Health | Wes Streeting will axe thousands of jobs at NHS England after his ousting of its chair and chief executive in what health service staff fear is a power grab. The health secretary's plan follows Amanda Pritchard's shock announcement on Monday that she was stepping down as the organisation's chief executive next month. She will be replaced, for the foreseeable future, by Sir Jim Mackey.Education | British universities have been warned to stress-test" all assessments after new research revealed almost all" undergraduates are using generative artificial intelligence in their studies. A survey of 1,000 students - both domestic and international - found there had been an explosive increase" in the use of genAI in the past 12 months. 88% said they used tools such as ChatGPT for their assessments, up from 53% last year.BBC | The BBC has admitted that it fell short and failed people" by not dealing with bullying and misogynistic" behaviour by its former Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood. A major external inquiry found it missed opportunities" that could have led to action. The inquiry was triggered by a 2022 Guardian-BBC News joint investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour by the DJ. Continue reading...

Opposition leader says he made required disclosures to parliamentary register and defends lucrative property and share investments

Rise comes from very low base and remains far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to stabilise populationSouth Korea's birthrate rose last year for the first time in nine years, as a surge in marriages raised hopes that the country may be lifting itself out of its demographic crisis.Preliminary data released by the government body Statistics Korea on Wednesday showed that the number of babies born per 1,000 people in 2024 stood at 4.7, the first rise since 2014. Continue reading...

Northvolt, which claims to run Europe's first homegrown gigafactory, admits it depends on Chinese suppliers for cathode active materialThe Swedish startup Northvolt has admitted that a vital component of its batteries is imported amid claims that the company, which claims to run Europe's first homegrown gigafactory, depends on Chinese suppliers.It comes as a documentary programme to be shown in Sweden on Wednesday by the national broadcaster SVT, exposes the company's failure to build a truly homegrown battery after its attempts to produce its own cathode active material at its Northvolt Ett factory in Skelleftea, northern Sweden, were unsuccessful. Continue reading...

Court orders compensation to be paid to 30-year-old from Bangalore, saying in the new era, time is considered as money, each one's time is very precious'For some, the adverts that precede the start of a film are the bane of a trip to the cinema; for others, they are a useful buffer as you stand in the popcorn queue.But for one man in India, the lengthy marathon of cinema advertising was so infuriating that he took the matter to the courts - and won. Continue reading...

Recently married couple selected to look after Great Blasket, the largest island on Europe's most westerly archipelagoA young couple in search of a new chapter in their lives are swapping creature comforts for life on an otherwise uninhabited island off the coast of Ireland with no hot water, stable electricity or cars.Camille Rosenfeld, from Minnesota in the US, and James Hayes, from Tralee in County Kerry, have been chosen to be this year's live-in caretakers of Great Blasket, the largest island of the most westerly archipelago in Europe. Continue reading...

Concerns also raised that practice prevents young working-class people from finding paid work in creative industriesArts employers could be breaking the law by relying on unpaid interns to perform roles that should be left to paid workers, preventing young people from working-class backgrounds from gaining a foothold, experts have said.Institutions are getting away with exploiting carve-outs in employment legislation to keep interns working for free, they said, which stops working-class people from finding paid work in the industry. Continue reading...

Federal Labor promises $2bn for Sunshine station, but premier couldn't give date for when rail line will be finished

Opposition leader says Albanese failing to answer basic questions' as PM claims civilian and military notification happened at around the same time'

Grocery chain, which has also been rocked by industrial disruptions at warehouses, suffers a near 21% drop in its six-month net profit

Comments at Senate estimates came after Daily Telegraph editor said it never intended to provoke an incident' but approach could have been better-handled'

In 2023 the federal court ordered $27.5m compensation for an initial estimated 220 Indonesian children wrongly detained, but that number has now doubledThe Australian government has revealed that another 200 Indonesian children may have been wrongly detained as adult people smugglers, almost double the number initially thought.Late in 2023, the federal court ordered $27.5m in compensation for an estimated 220 Indonesian children who were wrongly detained as adult people smugglers between 2010 and 2012. Continue reading...

Chile's biggest blackout in 15 years hits from Arica to Los Lagos, testing one of South America's top power gridsA sweeping blackout has hit Chile, stranding commuters, knocking out traffic lights, paralyzing countless businesses and leaving most of the South American country without electricity.The National Electrical Coordinator, Chile's grid operator, said a disruption had occurred in a high-voltage transmission line that carries power from the Atacama Desert of northern Chile to the capital of Santiago in the country's central valley. Continue reading...

US district judge in Seattle says Trump's executive order exceeded his powers by shutting down programA federal judge has blocked Donald Trump's attempt to suspend the US's refugee admission system after ruling that the move exceeded his powers.The ruling, from US district judge Jamal Whitehead, stated that Trump's executive order affecting refugee admissions, issued on the day of his inauguration, amounted to an illegal usurpation of the powers of Congress. Continue reading...

Trump administration employees refuse to help billionaire slash size of federal government through mass firingsMore than 20 civil service employees resigned on Tuesday from Elon Musk's so-called department of government efficiency" (Doge), saying they were refusing to use their technical expertise to dismantle critical public services".We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the constitution across presidential administrations," the 21 staffers wrote in a joint resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Associated Press. However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments." Continue reading...

Analyst, who is about to turn 65, said the upcoming federal election would be the last he covers on air

We're not going to fund failure,' says governor, who warned local authorities they could lose out on millions of dollarsCalifornia's governor warned cities and counties that they could lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding if they don't make progress in clearing out encampments and tackling homelessness.Gavin Newsom's comments on Monday, while announcing $920m in funding to address the crisis, come as he escalates efforts to push local governments to take greater action. Last summer, Newsom told counties he could withhold state support if they failed to do more homeless encampment sweeps. Continue reading...

The initiative, established by executive order, is touted to protect US skies from attacks, much like Israel's systemDonald Trump's Iron Dome for America initiative for a missile defense system protecting US skies from attack has been reportedly renamed the Golden Dome for America.In a video published on Thursday, secretary of defense Pete Hegseth referred to the project as the Golden Dome or Iron Dome". A defense official confirmed shortly after that the name of the initiative has been officially changed to Golden Dome", according to military news website Defense One. Continue reading...

NHS staff fear power grab by health department as health secretary looks to shrink body due to duplication' of rolesWes Streeting will axe thousands of jobs at NHS England after his ousting of its chair and chief executive in what health service staff fear is a power grab.The health secretary's plan follows Amanda Pritchard's shock announcement on Monday that she was stepping down as the organisation's chief executive next month. Continue reading...

PM's Washington trip clear impetus for abrupt news of budget switch to meet defence commitment by 2027