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Decorator Matthew Turner stole three watches worth more than 30,000 from Hugh Grosvenor's bedroomA decorator who stole three watches worth more than 30,000 from the Duke of Westminster's home has been told he escaped prison by the skin of your teeth".Matthew Turner, 24, was given a 20-month sentence, suspended for two years, at Chester crown court after admitting the burglary of three watches from Hugh Grosvenor's bedroom while he was doing renovation work at Eaton Hall in August 2022. Continue reading...

Regulators' reports on public interest risk now due on 11 March after late change in consortium's structure prompts further review

National security concerns focus on arm of Vodafone that provides sensitive tech to government departments and agenciesVodafone should be forced to spin off its most sensitive activities in order to quash national security concerns raised by a United Arab Emirates-backed telecoms group swooping on its shares, government officials have told the Guardian.The deputy prime minister, Oliver Dowden, announced on Wednesday that the deal involving Emirates Telecommunications Group building a 14.6% stake in Vodafone presented a national security risk" to the UK due to Vodafone's role as a strategic supplier of services" to government departments, including those which are in support of national security". Continue reading...

Donors close to Boris Johnson and hedge fund boss behind GB News say they had no involvement in pollingConservative donors have been rushing to deny funding polling for a group working to oust Rishi Sunak, as David Frost was warned he could lose the whip if rival party backers were involved.Senior Tory figures are scrambling to figure out the mystery donors behind the Conservative Britain Alliance, which funded a 40,000 poll, fronted by Lord Frost in the Telegraph, that predicted a Labour landslide. Continue reading...

Defend democracy' events were planned for Innsbruck, Salzburg and in front of parliament building in ViennaThousands of Austrians have taken to the streets of the country's three largest cities, in a spillover of protests over the rise of the far right in neighbouring Germany.Under the slogan defend democracy", gatherings organised by a broad alliance of civil society organisations, NGOs, political groups, church communities and trade unions took place in Innsbruck, Salzburg, and in front of the parliament building in Vienna. Continue reading...

Disgraced Tory peer and her husband have had restrictions placed on two properties and 15 bank accountsAssets controlled by Michelle Mone and her husband worth about 75m have been frozen or restrained under a court order obtained by the Crown Prosecution Service.PPE Medpro, a company led by Mone's husband, Doug Barrowman, is under investigation by the National Crime Agency over government contracts awarded during the pandemic for allegedly faulty personal protective equipment. Continue reading...

Monarch admitted to London hospital for scheduled treatment on enlarged prostate, says PalaceThe king has undergone his treatment for an enlarged prostate and is doing well, sources have said.Charles was admitted for treatment on his enlarged prostate on Friday morning at The London Clinic in central London. Later that afternoon, the queen left the hospital, apparently in good spirits; smiling at reporters although declining to answer questions. Continue reading...

Chinese president is one of Putin's closest allies and so participation will be very important', says adviser Igor ZhovkvaHere are some of the latest images coming out of Ukraine:UN nuclear watchdog chief, Rafael Grossi, will visit Ukraine, including its capital and the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), the week after next, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Friday. Continue reading...

Coroner says more lives could be lost unless barrier or signs installed at promenade on Felixstowe beachA mobility scooter user died after he fell asleep and drove off a seafront promenade, falling about 5ft on to the sand below.John Gray sustained multiple rib fractures after his mobility scooter drove off the promenade, which had no barrier, at Felixstowe beach in Suffolk. The rib fractures led to respiratory failure and he died at Ipswich hospital four days later on 13 July 2022. Continue reading...

UN agency for Palestinian refugees commissioner general says staff will be held accountable as US pauses funding to UNRWAThe UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Friday it had opened an investigation into several employees suspected of involvement in the 7 October attacks in Israel by Hamas, and that it had severed ties with those staff members.The Israeli authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on October 7," said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA commissioner general. Continue reading...

BBC says government aware of alleged Post Office plan in 2014 to sack forensic accountants who flagged bugs in IT systemDowning Street has said it is taking seriously reports that Post Office bosses formulated a secret plan with the full knowledge of the government to get rid of forensic accountants who had highlighted the unreliability of the Horizon IT system.Details of the alleged decision are included in minutes from two 2014 meetings, according the BBC, prompting campaigners to accuse the Post Office of a total cover-up". Continue reading...

Judge says UN-backed proposals to tackle gangs in Caribbean country contravene Kenya's constitutionKenya's high court has ruled against a government plan to deploy hundreds of police to Haiti to lead a UN-backed multinational mission to fight escalating gang violence in the Caribbean country.Enock Chacha Mwita, the judge who issued the ruling, said: Any decision by any state organ or state officer to deploy police officers to Haiti ... contravenes the constitution and the law and is therefore unconstitutional, illegal and invalid." Continue reading...

Further rationing of already scarce resources will not fix decades of failures, housing groups tell SunakPlans being considered by the government to give UK families higher priority for social housing would force more people into homelessness, Rishi Sunak has been warned.We all deserve safe housing. Regardless of where we are from," the prime minister was told in a joint letter by groups representing councils, housing professionals and charities. Continue reading...

Nick Hugh's exit comes amid concern over Barclay family's deal to transfer control of titlesThe chief executive of the Telegraph has stepped down after seven years as the government prepares to launch a second investigation into public interest concerns raised by the Barclay family's complex deal to transfer control of the titles to a UAE-backed consortium.Nick Hugh, who has run Telegraph Media Group (TMG) since 2017 and was also the boss of the parent company Press Acquisitions, has left the company with immediate effect and did not provide a comment in a statement announcing his departure. Continue reading...

Backlash to Invasion Day' grows on annual commemoration of arrival of British fleet in Sydney in 1788Thousands of Australians protested against the anniversary of British colonisation on Friday, with large crowds across the country calling for Australia Day to be moved and for a day of mourning to instead be held on what they call Invasion Day".Speeches in major cities highlighted anger and despair over high Indigenous incarceration rates, deaths in custody and the forced removal of First Nations children from their families. The rallies come months after the proposal for an Indigenous voice to parliament was overwhelmingly defeated at a national referendum. Continue reading...

Washington's ambassador says Budapest is really alone' and describes its foreign policy as a fantasy'The US is disappointed Hungary's ratification of Sweden joining Nato is taking so long, Washington's ambassador has said, warning that Budapest is really alone" and that the Hungarian government is pursuing a foreign fantasy" instead of foreign policy.After months of delays, Turkey's parliament approved Sweden's Nato membership this week. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan, signed it off on Thursday, leaving Hungary as the only country in the 31-member alliance that has yet to ratify the Swedish bid. Continue reading...

Premier Steven Miles says we're not out of the woods' with BoM weather warnings issued as former category three cyclone downgraded

Judges in The Hague to decide on whether to order Israel to end its military campaign against Hamas

Victoria Prentis to decide whether judges should look at Valdo Calocane's detention order after families say it is unduly lenientThe attorney general is considering whether judges should review the sentence of the Nottingham killer Valdo Calocane after receiving a submission that it could be unduly lenient.Calocane, 32, who goes by the name Adam Mendes, denied murdering Barnaby Webber, 19, Grace O'Malley-Kumar, 19, and Ian Coates, a 65-year-old school caretaker, but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Continue reading...

Charity set up by Martin Lewis says up to 1.3m people forced to cut back on food, energy and even medicineHomeowners with mental health problems are more likely to have cut back on food and energy to keep on top of their mortgage payments, a charity set up by the consumer finance champion Martin Lewis has warned.The Money and Mental Health Policy Institute said its research indicated that as many as 1.3 million people in the UK with mental health problems were spending less on essentials - which also included medicine - in order to afford their mortgage costs, which have in many cases increased sharply after a string of interest rate rises. Continue reading...

In today's newsletter: 32 pieces of Asante gold are to return home from the British Museum and V&A ... but only on loan Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.More than 150 years after they were stolen in violent circumstances" by British soldiers, two top UK museums are returning some of Ghana's crown jewels".Middle East | Israeli officials are bracing for an expected interim ruling from the international court of justice on South Africa's allegation that the war in Gaza amounts to genocide against Palestinians, an emergency measure that could expose Israel to international sanctions.Immigration | The UK would break international law if it ignored emergency orders from the European court of human rights to stop asylum seekers being flown to Rwanda, the head of the court has said.UK news | The mother of one of three Nottingham stabbing victims has said true justice has not been served" after killer Valdo Calocane was sentenced to indefinite detention in a high-security hospital.US news | Alabama has carried out the first execution of a death row inmate in the US using nitrogen gas, an untested procedure which the prisoner's lawyers had argued amounted to a form of cruel and unusual punishment banned under the US constitution.Politics | David Cameron breached proper process" when he appointed Michelle Mone to the House of Lords in 2015, David Mundell, who was the Scotland secretary at the time, has said. Continue reading...

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Driver was unaware he had to register French hire car with TfL's collection agent even though it was emissions compliant

Statement from British foreign secretary comes just months after his predecessor confirmed resettlement was part of talks with MauritiusBritain's foreign secretary, David Cameron, has provoked fury by abruptly ruling out the resettlement of former inhabitants of the Chagos Islands, months after his predecessor revealed that the UK was discussing their potential return.The former prime minister suggested that a return to the islands was now not possible" for Chagossians who were forcibly displaced by the British government in the 1960s and 1970s. Continue reading...

One candidate has said he wants to review the Pacific country's relationships with Taiwan and China, just weeks after Nauru switched allegiances to Beijing

Traditional options standing the test of time in top 20 popular baby names for 2023

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Corporation reviews episode featuring a product alleging to have treated chronic fatigue syndrome, which has no known cureThe BBC has removed an episode of Dragons' Den from iPlayer after concerns were raised over a myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) product.Giselle Boxer secured an investment from the entrepreneur and podcaster Steven Bartlett for her product Acu Seeds. Continue reading...

Actor hails tightening of ban on zombie-style knives in England and Wales but says there is no one size fits all' solution

Lynette Hutchings who had been accused of false accounting in 2012, fell at home and died in February last year, inquest hearsA victim of the Post Office Horizon scandal who died before receiving final compensation or witnessing the current public outcry, suffered a fatal fall after being diagnosed with a brain tumour, her inquest has heard.Former post office operator Lynette Hutchings, 67, who was wrongfully convicted of false accounting in 2012, fell at her home in Hampshire and died in hospital in February last year, the inquest was told. Continue reading...

Alexandre Ramagem ran Brazil's intelligence agency under Bolsonaro, allegedly using spyware to track political opponentsFederal police agents have raided the home and offices of Brazil's spy chief under former president Jair Bolsonaro as part of an investigation into the alleged illegal monitoring of thousands of people, including two supreme court judges and a key ally of the current president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.Alexandre Ramagem, a former federal police chief who ran Brazil's intelligence agency, Abin, during Bolsonaro's 2019-22 administration, was targeted as part of an inquiry into a criminal organisation" that allegedly used Israeli spyware to track the political foes of the country's then president. Continue reading...

Accounts reveal 9.9bn of the 13.6bn spent on PPE during pandemic has been written offMinisters have been accused of throwing away taxpayers' money as if it were confetti" after official figures revealed that the government wasted nearly 10bn on defective or unusable personal protective equipment during the Covid crisis.Annual accounts for the Department of Health and Social Care published on Thursday show that nearly three-quarters of the money it spent on PPE during the pandemic has been written off. Continue reading...

Move could lead to further strikes in NHS as senior doctors vote 51% to 49% to reject pay riseHospital consultants in England have narrowly rejected the government's improved pay offer, in a move that could lead to further strikes in the NHS.In a referendum run by the British Medical Association, consultants voted by 51% to 49% against a deal that would have given them an extra 4.95% pay rise on average for the last three months of the 2023-24 financial year, on top of the 6% award for the year that they have already received. Continue reading...

Former shadow chancellor says people need to hear Labour say they are commitment to sound public finances' over worries about taxation increaseAt the Covid inquiry hearing in Edinburgh Liz Lloyd, Nicola Sturgeon's former chief of staff, was asked about her wanting a row with the UK government. (See 11.35am.)Asked if she was looking for a spat, Lloyd replied:I was looking for a spat with a purpose.It had been shown in the past that they would sometimes change their mind if they felt that pressure and I wanted them to change their mind.Sturgeon said his address was fucking excruciating" and that the UK communications were awful". Sturgeon also told Lloyd: His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere."Lloyd said she was offended" on behalf of special advisers everywhere. Sturgeon replied: He is a fucking clown." Continue reading...

Defamation lawsuit, filed by nephew of Greece's prime minister, described as disgraceful' by press freedom groupsJournalists and media outlets who revealed a wiretapping scandal that rocked Greece's centre-right government have appeared in court on charges of defamation, in what many have described as a critical day for press freedom in Greece.The lawsuit, which came after media revelations that the phones of politicians, businessmen and media figures were being tapped, was filed by the nephew of prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who, as the leader's chief of staff, had been in charge of the country's secret service. Continue reading...

Foreign minister draws comparison to similar claim in Canada and says India must be held to accountPakistan has said it has credible evidence that Indian agents carried out two assassinations on Pakistani soil, and drawn comparisons to the killing of a Sikh activist in Canada.In a press briefing on Thursday, the foreign secretary, Muhammad Syrus Sajjad Qazi, said India was running a sophisticated and sinister" campaign of extraterritorial and extrajudicial killings" inside Pakistan. Continue reading...

Referendum on 8 March cast as opportunity to remove outdated language in favour of inclusivity and equalityIreland has fired the starting gun on two referendums to widen the constitution's concept of family and the role of women in society.The Irish Electoral Commission launched an independent information campaign for the twin votes on 8 March, which, if passed, will remove the constitution's reference to women's duties in the home". Continue reading...

Kirrily downgraded to category-one storm by BoM after making landfall Thursday night but could still see deluge on inland areas

Ukrainian military intelligence spokesperson says two other Russian military transport planes were simultaneously in airspaceUkraine's largest oil and gas company, Naftogaz, has reported that it is suffering a large-scale cyber-attack" on one of its datacentres. It reports via its Telegram channel that the website and call centre are currently down".Reuters is also carrying some quotes about the apparent attack on the oil refinery in Tuapse. A source told the news agency that Kyiv would continue attacking facilities providing fuel for the Russian military. Continue reading...

The scientists are credited with saving thousands of lives with their work on skin cancer and called on advertising to stop glamourising' tanning

Ofcom figures show Virgin attracted about 32 complaints per 100,000 customers compared with 18 for Now BroadbandVirgin Media is the UK's most complained about broadband provider according to the latest figures, compounding woes for the firm, which is already under investigation by the communications regulator.Figures released by Ofcom on Thursday showed that the number of complaints made about Virgin's internet services between July and September were nearly double that of the next-most complained about provider, with Virgin attracting about 32 complaints per 100,000 customers compared with 18 for Now Broadband. Continue reading...

Then first minister criticised PM's utter incompetence' in WhatsApp exchange with chief of staffNicola Sturgeon described Boris Johnson as a fucking clown" as he broadcast to the nation to announce a second Covid lockdown in October 2020, telling her chief of staff: His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere."The former first minister's damning verdict on the UK government's communications strategy - which she dismissed as awful ... we're not perfect but we don't get nearly enough credit for how much better than them we are" - was revealed during evidence at the UK Covid inquiry, which is sitting for a second week in Edinburgh. Continue reading...

Researchers estimated likely number of rape-related pregnancies in 14 states with near-total abortion bans since Dobbs rulingNearly 65,000 rape-related pregnancies likely occurred in the 14 US states with near-total abortion bans following the US supreme court's 2022 Dobbs decision - yet just 10 legal abortions are performed monthly on average in these states, researchers found in a new analysis.The data demonstrates that abortion bans likely make it impossible for most victims of rape to obtain abortions in their home states, even for the minority of people who live in states with exemptions for rape, researchers said. Continue reading...

Objects to go on show at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi as part of Asante king's silver jubilee celebrationsGold and silver treasure looted from west Africa by the British army in the 19th century is to be loaned to Ghana in a three-year deal, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum have announced.The precious regalia, which had belonged to the Asante royal court, is regarded as part of the national soul" of Ghana. Under the deal, 17 objects from the V&A and 15 from the British Museum, will go on show later this year at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, the capital of Asante region. Many of the items have not been seen in Ghana for 150 years. Continue reading...

Driven by social media, children are using expensive creams, drops and serums that could do more harm than goodThe Christmas wish list Keshara's daughter handed her in 2023 bore little resemblance to ones from years gone by. This time, there were no requests for toys. Instead, her child had made an extensive, meticulous list of skincare products: expensive eye-creams, anti-ageing serums, drops and oils with ingredients like retinol and polypeptides. One of the items, a Drunk Elephant eye serum to target fine lines and wrinkles and reduce puffiness", retails at 56. Keshara's daughter is nine.I asked how she knew about them - she said it was all on TikTok, and everyone knows about it," Keshara said. I told her, no way, you're really too young, it's not appropriate and really expensive." Continue reading...

Serbian Milo Bikovi was awarded a medal by Vladimir Putin and supports Russian invasion, says Kyiv

Heat warnings in place over large swatches of the country with temperatures over 40C expected across inland and eastern Australia

RBA hasn't modelled whether Albanese government's redistribution of tax cuts could add to inflation, but isn't expected to adjust its forecasts

Anthony Albanese concedes Labor has changed tax policy but says he had a responsibility to act' given cost-of-living pressures

Leader proposes taking steps to reduce availability of zombie' knives and creating bespoke plans for all offendersKeir Starmer has promised to get a grip" on soaring knife crime as he announced that a Labour government would bring in a bespoke plan for every offender, including tags and curfews.The Labour leader said there would be an urgent crackdown on the availability of machetes and zombie-style knives, along with interventions to help prevent young people getting involved with knife crime and tough sanctions for those who do. Continue reading...