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Treasury committee says debanking' and use of personal guarantees for loans is putting small businesses at riskUnfair banking practices and damaging" financial regulators are harming small businesses and putting innovation and growth at risk, parliament's Treasury committee has warned.

The parents of Callum and Jake Robinson travelled to Mexico to identify the bodies of their children

Jury hears from adult film star on 13th day of ex-president's criminal trial in New York

Group includes 11 US citizens, including five minors, but tens of thousands of people remained detained five years after defeat of ISThe United States has repatriated two dozen western citizens, half of them Americans, from Islamic State prison camps in north-eastern Syria where tens of thousands have languished.The operation is the largest ever of US citizens and comes as rights groups warn of dire conditions in the camps still in use some five years after the ultra-violent extremist movement lost its last territory in Syria. Continue reading...

Javier Ortiz, accused of false arrests, harassment and doxxing, is now member of group reportedly becoming combat-ready militiaA former Florida police captain with a long history of civilian complaints, including false arrests and harassment, has joined the state's state guard under governor Ron DeSantis.Javier Ortiz, 44, joined the Florida state guard in February, the Miami Herald first reported. Ortiz's enrollment comes months after being reinstated by the Miami police department, after he was initially dismissed for slew of conduct complaints. Continue reading...

Animals were strolling through the backyard of a house when they decided to take a bit of a swim in the poolAs southern California warms up this month, everyone is looking to soak up the sun while staying cool - even the bears.A family of bears in Monrovia, about 30 minutes from Los Angeles, took a stroll through a backyard on Monday afternoon, exploring their surroundings and investigating a pool. Video captured by the home's occupant Rick Martinez showed a bear and her cubs roaming the property and scratching a tree. At one point the adult bear hopped into the pool and went for a swim while two tiny cubs watched on curiously. Continue reading...

Issue was not existence of men-only clubs but uniqueness of Garrick's powerful membership list casting unflattering spotlight on British establishment

At least 361 injured and 131 missing in southern part of country from what governor called his state's biggest climate catastrophe'The death toll from what authorities call the worst climate disaster ever to strike southern Brazil has risen to 90, after ferocious rain flooded huge stretches of Rio Grande do Sul state, displacing more than 155,000 people and forcing the closure of the main airport in the country's fifth biggest city.Photographs of the Porto Alegre airport, one of Brazil's busiest, showed its main terminal had been completely inundated and a cargo plane parked in an expanse of water next to a pair of semi-submerged boarding stairs. Continue reading...

President warned of surge of antisemitism' amid Israel military's deadly attacks that have killed more than 34,000 people in GazaJoe Biden warned against a ferocious surge of antisemitism in America" at a Holocaust event Tuesday, as student protests against Israel's military strikes on Gaza and the resulting humanitarian crisis continued to roil campuses across the US.Addressing a bipartisan Holocaust remembrance event at the US Capitol, the president reasserted his ironclad" commitment to the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state ... even when we disagree". Hatred towards Jews didn't end with the Holocaust, he said - it was brought to life on October 7 2023" when Hamas unleashed its attack on Israel killing 1,200 people. Continue reading...

Payroll data at risk includes names, bank details and addresses of current and former force members, government sources suggestAn estimated 270,000 payroll records belonging to nearly all members of Britain's armed forces have been exposed to Chinese hackers in a breach at a third-party contractor that was discovered a few days ago.The data at risk includes names and bank details for full-time military personnel, part-time reservists, including at least one MP, and veterans who left after January 2018. It was managed by a private contractor, SSCL. Continue reading...

New York City mayor makes comment as ex-president could face temporary incarceration if he again violates gag order

For each of the five studied abortion restrictions, risk of intimate partner homicide increased by 3.4% in new studyA new study finds abortion restrictions may be associated with increased rates of intimate partner homicide among reproductive-aged women and girls.Notably, the study looks at the period before the US supreme court overturned the national right to abortion in 2022, when states could restrict - but not outlaw - abortion. Fourteen states have since banned the procedure. Continue reading...

Mothin Ali has not been suspended from city council despite proclaiming Allahu Akbar' and other remarks causing offenceA Green party councillor at the centre of an antisemitism row has apologised for the upset caused" by his remarks but hit back at Islamophobic" attacks against him.The Green party has launched an investigation into Mothin Ali, who was elected to Leeds city council last week, but has declined to suspend him. Continue reading...

Cloud 3 used at height of his stardom may beat estimate and become most expensive of late musician's guitarsOne of Prince's guitars used by the late musician on stage at the height of his stardom in the 80s and 90s is being auctioned later this month.The Cloud 3 guitar, which Prince wielded during tours such as Purple Rain, Parade, Sign of the Times, Lovesexy, and Diamonds and Pearls, is estimated to fetch between $400,000 (320,000) and $600,000 and could become the most expensive Prince guitar sold at auction. Continue reading...

Dmitry Khoroshev named as having a senior role' in the group allegedly behind 18% of reported Australian ransomware attacks in 2022-23An alleged leader of international ransomware group LockBit has been hit with financial sanctions and banned from travelling to Australia.The Australian government named Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, a Russian citizen, as having a senior leadership role" in a criminal group that supplied a global network of hackers with the tools and infrastructure to carry out online attacks. Continue reading...

With fuel dwindling for aid trucks and main entry points to south of Gaza closed, residents wonder how they will survive

Shadow chancellor and London mayor admit party's local election losses were linked to its response to Middle East conflictTwo of Labour's most senior figures have admitted the party has lost the trust of some voters over its response to the Israel-Gaza conflict and will have to engage and listen" to win them back.Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, expressed her regret over people who couldn't bring themselves" to back Labour at last week's local elections, while London mayor Sadiq Khan said the whole party had to regain lost trust. Continue reading...

Andrew Mitchell says military action on city will not eradicate Hamas and priority is to secure a permanent ceasefire

Chinese president hails two countries' friendship before his arrival, after visiting Pyrenees with MacronChinese flags adorned highways as Serbia got ready to give a home-from-home welcome to Xi Jinping, in contrasting to tensions on the first leg of the Chinese president's six-day European tour over a potential trade war with the EU.Xi prepared for his arrival in Belgrade on Tuesday night by hitting out against Nato for its 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in the Serbian capital, in which three Chinese journalists were killed. Continue reading...

Sympathetic interviewer suggests rogue editor was responsible for career-torpedoing story in new bookAsked if a story about killing a dog and a goat as well as a false claim to have met Kim Jong-un could have been put in her book by an editor acting as a liberal plant", the South Dakota governor and Republican vice-presidential hopeful Kristi Noem seemed to realise such a claim would be too outlandish even for her.The buck always stops with me," Noem told Newsmax. I take my own full responsibility. I wrote this book." Continue reading...

Peter Hebblethwaite appears in front of MPs two years after saying lowest-paid agency worker would earn 5.15 an hourThe boss of P&O Ferries has been asked if he is a pirate" who appears to be robbing staff blind" - as he confirmed to MPs that the group's seafarers had been receiving pay rates even lower than he had previously told parliament.Peter Hebblethwaite previously appeared in front of a joint transport and business committee in March 2022 to respond to P&O Ferries sacking 786 staff and replacing them with low-paid agency workers. Continue reading...

Israel says it is beginning mission to take out' Hamas brigades in city, as aid officials say flow of supplies through crossing has halted

Audiobooks are fast becoming a major route to market for consumers of books', the trade body saysThe number of UK audiobook downloads increased by 17% between 2022 and 2023, according to new data from the Publishers Association (PA).Revenue from audiobooks rose 24% across the same period to 206m in 2023, reflecting an increase in the number of audiobook downloads from 50m to 59m, the trade body said. Continue reading...

Boy aged five months who was taken to hospital after incident on Thursday died on SundayA baby who suffered a cardiac arrest at Legoland Windsor Resort has died, police have said.The five-month-old was seriously injured on Thursday in what Thames Valley police have called a neglect incident". The child died in hospital on Sunday. A 27-year-old woman from Essex was arrested on suspicion of neglect shortly after the incident. Continue reading...

Ally to take part in exercises alongside Russia; Ukraine says it has exposed network of agents run by MoscowRussia and Ukraine have accused each other at the global chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague of using banned toxins on the battlefield, the organisation said on Tuesday.The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that the accusations were insufficiently substantiated" but added that the situation remains volatile and extremely concerning regarding the possible re-emergence of use of toxic chemicals as weapons." Continue reading...

Disgraced biotech company founder is now due to be released in August 2032, two years and four months before original dateElizabeth Holmes, the disgraced former chief executive of the blood-testing company Theranos, has had her federal prison sentence shortened again, new records show.The 40-year-old Holmes is now scheduled for release on 16 August 2032 from a federal women's prison camp in Bryan, Texas, according to the US Bureau of Prisons website. Continue reading...

Dr Hilary Cass defends gender identity services report against significant misinformation' at health committeeThe Cass review absolutely" did not set an unfairly high bar for evidence, its author has said, as she addressed significant misinformation" about her assessment of healthcare provision for gender-questioning young people in England and Wales.Giving evidence to the Scottish parliament's health committee on Tuesday morning, Dr Hilary Cass said she believed Scotland could benefit from the more holistic approach recommended in her review, commissioned by NHS England. Continue reading...

Russian president claims mandate for Ukraine invasion and correctness of the country's course'

Meeting on Tuesday evening will debate the issue after new legal analysis of 193-year-old rulebookThe men-only Garrick Club will vote on Tuesday evening on whether female members should be allowed to join, after decades of controversy over the London club's refusal to admit women.Members will meet at a Covent Garden venue at 5pm to debate the issue. They will then vote on a resolution inviting them to confirm that a new legal analysis of the Garrick's 193-year-old rulebook suggests there is actually nothing in it preventing women from joining already. Continue reading...

Firms fined millions after London Capital & Finance's 2019 crash wiped out customers' savingsBig four" accountancy firms PricewaterhouseCoopers and EY have been fined a combined 9.3m for a series of failures in auditing the accounts of London Capital & Finance, the collapsed mini-bond firm that wiped out the investments of thousands of savers.It concludes a near four-year investigation by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) into how auditors breached their duties while reviewing the firm's finances in the years leading up to its demise in 2019. Continue reading...

New track Hind's Hall backs Columbia University protesters and characterises Israel as a state that's gotta rely on an apartheid system'Chart-topping US rapper Macklemore has released a new track, Hind's Hall, which gives robust support to Palestine as well as those protesting at US universities against Israel's activity in Gaza.Hind's Hall is named after the Columbia University building, renamed from Hamilton Hall by occupying student protesters to reference Hind Rajab, a six-year-old child killed in Gaza. Continue reading...

Time has run out for any charges after woman said really angry' man shouted at her to pull over and showed IDA woman who described her terror at being harassed on a motorway by a man posing as a police officer has been told there can be no criminal investigation because forces failed to act in time.The woman said she was driving on her own on the M1 in March 2023 when a really angry" man in an unmarked car began shouting at her to pull over, showing what looked like a police ID, the BBC reported. Continue reading...

Independent ACT senator says review committee was provided with solutions to fix fatally flawed' system but failed to offer any substantial improvements

Victorinox, producer of the celebrated pocket tool, responds to plague of knife crime' with new variantFor more than a century, the Swiss army knife has been an essential piece of kit for everyone from picnickers and equestrians, to golfers and astronauts.But now the maker of the pocket-knife, with its red or blue shell and multiple tools, has bowed to what an English judge last week called the plague of knife crime" by designing a version without a blade. Continue reading...

Local MP is concerned move breaches Anti-Discrimination Act while NSW arts minister accuses council of censorship'

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Lawyers for David Maurice Wise claim he only has dream-like memory of planting the bomb' but magistrate says offending serious'

Peter Dutton's opposition accuses Labor of a flagrant disregard for multicultural communities and legal experts'

Senate committee examined how major chains including Coles and Woolworths have set prices during Australia's cost of living crisis

Report calls for reintroduction of jury unanimity to safeguard against wrongful criminal convictionsAt least 56 miscarriages of justice have occurred in cases in England and Wales where the jury was split, according to a charity, which says jury unanimity should be reintroduced to safeguard against wrongful criminal convictions.The research by Appeal, the miscarriage of justice charity, says majority verdicts arguably dilute the principle of reasonable doubt" and have facilitated miscarriages in cases including those of Andrew Malkinson, who spent 17 years in prison for a rape he did not commit; Barry George, who was wrongly convicted over the death of Jill Dando; and Winston Trew, one of the Oval Four. Continue reading...

Police have no concerns for safety, Rossmoyne senior high school principal says, after messages on an internal service threatening to shoot up the school' were investigated

Line of Duty actor will oversee classic plays as well as new pieces inspired by the Irish author in Beckett: Unbound 2024Adrian Dunbar is to curate a festival in Liverpool dedicated to the work of Samuel Beckett. The programme includes four specially commissioned productions, one involving prisoners at HMP Liverpool.The Line of Duty actor said of Beckett: Unbound 2024: Engaging with Beckett makes you think about the fundamentals of life. Those fundamentals are sometimes hard to engage with, but at the end, when he drives everything to a conclusion, he also makes you feel something that is liberating."Beckett: Unbound, Liverpool and Paris, 30 May-7 June Continue reading...

One man sentenced to 37 years behind bars and other to 26 years for prolonged and egregious' abuse

Bob Olley's unsettling vision of clash between miners and police is part of 40th anniversary show in Bishop AucklandBob Olley was there 40 years ago at the battle of Orgreave". I saw the violence," he said, shaking his head. I thought I was in a foreign country when I saw what the police did. It is hard to believe it happened in this country."The brutality he and others witnessed on 18 June 1984 as striking miners met 6,000 police officers on horses or wielding batons on foot will stay in the memory. It was in his head as, some years later, he embarked on his response to one of the world's greatest artworks, Picasso's Guernica. Continue reading...

Charities fear increasing risks of destitution and exploitation' of refugees as they go into hidingThe Home Office is dealing with growing fallout from the high-profile round-ups of asylum seekers it wants to send to Rwanda, as some have gone into hiding while others have fled across the border to Ireland.Officials began rounding up asylum seekers to detain them for the Rwanda scheme a week ago, with at least one now on hunger strike and another threatening suicide. Continue reading...

Price rise for mass-market types expected as global production falls to lowest level in more than 10 yearsOlive oil prices are set to climb further this year - heading to more than 16 a litre for a bottle of extra virgin - amid a drop in global production to the lowest level in more than a decade.Lower production in Greece, Morocco and Turkey as part of the natural cycle of olive growth is expected to offset an improving situation in Spain and Italy, where trees have suffered from extreme heat and drought in recent years as the climate crisis wreaks havoc on harvests. Continue reading...

Die Linke party is among those calling for a Donerpreisbremse or price cap on the hugely popular street foodThe soaring cost of doner kebabs has led to growing calls in Germany for a government subsidy programme to keep the inflation-hit dish, one of the country's favourites, affordable as politicians report it is frequently cited as a concern in doorstep conversations with voters.The chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has become so used to being asked about the price of kebabs during public appearances that his government has even posted on social media to explain that price rises are in part due to rising wage and energy costs. It's quite striking that everywhere I go, mainly from young people, I'm asked whether there shouldn't be a price brake for the doner," Scholz has said. Continue reading...

With the world's humanitarian system in crisis, many NGOs now recognise that local charities can deliver much more at far less costBefore civil war engulfed her Ethiopian home region of Tigray in 2020, Tsega Girma was a prosperous trader who sold stationery and other goods. But when hungry children displaced by the conflict started appearing in the streets, she sold everything and used the proceeds to buy them food.After that money dried up, Tsega appealed to Tigray's diaspora for donations. At the height of the war, her Emahoy Tsega Girma Charity Foundation provided meals to 24,000 children a day. Continue reading...

Commuter routes in and out of London hit as train drivers begin three days of rolling strikes amid six-day overtime banMost trains will not run in south-east England on Tuesday - including on key commuter routes in and out of London - after train drivers embarked on three days of rolling strikes at national rail operators.Drivers in the Aslef union are striking for 24 hours at each English operator between Tuesday and Thursday, while continuing a week-long nationwide overtime ban that started on Monday, as part of a long-running pay dispute. Continue reading...

That would require a stadium,' federal court hears as airline administrators try to organise online meeting for Friday that would allow everyone to vote