by Tobi Thomas Health and inequalities correspondent on (#6JM2E)
Researchers say policy created more psychological duress to ethnic group than Covid lockdown effects on UK populationThe UK's hostile environment policies had a worse effect on the mental health of black Caribbean people than the coronavirus lockdown had on the wider population, researchers have found.The study, by academics at University College London and funded by the Wellcome collection, used longitudinal data from 58,087 people, with over 2,000 of these participants being from a black Caribbean background. Continue reading...
Eli Ndatuje of Royal Canadian Mounted Police was charged with accessing police records and passing information to the Rwandan governmentA member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has been arrested and charged with accessing police records and passing information to the Rwandan government.The federal police force said on Tuesday that its integrated national security enforcement team (Inset) had arrested Constable Eli Ndatuje, who was stationed in Alberta. Continue reading...
Safa Aeli was charged with taking part in protests that erupted following death of 22-year-old after her arrest for allegedly flouting strict dress rules for womenThe uncle of Mahsa Amini, the young Iranian-Kurdish woman whose death in custody sparked months of protests, has been sentenced to more than five years in jail for his criticism of the government in 2022, rights groups have said.Safa Aeli, 30, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison by the revolutionary court in the family's home town of Saqez in north-western Iran, the Norway-based Hengaw group and US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said. Continue reading...
British Retail Consortium says criminals being given a free pass', with thefts more than doubling to 16.7m incidents last yearUK shop workers are facing 1,300 incidents of violence and abuse a day and a battle to control brazen" acts of shoplifting, as pressure mounts on ministers to intervene to protect retail employees.Retailers saw the number of incidents of racial abuse, sexual harassment, physical assaults and threats with weapons rise 50% last year, while thefts more than doubled to 16.7m incidents, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body which represents most major retailers. Continue reading...
Proposed bill that could see prison sentences of up to 15 years for breaching rules moves forward in state legislatureTennessee state legislators moved on Tuesday to advance a bill that would ban people from taking minors for an abortion without parental permission - an act that the bill has dubbed abortion trafficking".If someone illegally recruits, harbors, or transports a pregnant unemancipated minor" for an abortion, they could face three to 15 years in prison under the proposed bill, which has now advanced out of a state house subcommittee after a hearing. Continue reading...
Foreign secretary wants an increase in European defence output and to give profits from seized Russian assets in Europe to KyivDavid Cameron will discuss strengthening Ukraine's defences and finances against further Russian aggression with European partners in light of the continuing threat of the US Congress refusing to provide further financial support.The foreign secretary is due to visit Bulgaria and Poland before meeting a host of European foreign ministers at a security conference in Munich on Friday. Continue reading...
People who are fever-free for one day could reportedly return to regular routines, in change that White House has not signed off onThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is reportedly planning to eliminate its recommendation that people testing positive for Covid-19 should isolate for five days - the first time its guidelines on Covid-19 have changed since December 2021.People with mild symptoms would be able to return to school or work if they are fever-free for at least 24 hours, the Washington Post reported, citing three people familiar with internal discussions on the policy change. Continue reading...
Hundreds of rescue workers searching for nine missing men in east of the countryHundreds of Turkish rescue workers were searching through a cyanide-laced field for nine mine workers who were swallowed by a landslide that rolled over their open pit on Tuesday.Images from the scene showed the landslide sweeping across a valley and crashing into a road where some of the workers were travelling by vehicle. Continue reading...
Plaintiff alleges she faced harassment and battery by the hip-hop mogul and that her career was stalled by his assaultive behavior'Russell Simmons, the 1990s rap and hip-hop music business impresario, is facing a claim of sexual harassment and battery brought by a former executive at Def Jam Recordings, the pioneering label Simmons founded with producer Rick Rubin.The Jane Doe" plaintiff, described as a former senior music executive and video producer at the label, filed suit in New York federal court on Tuesday, saying her career was stalled by Simmons's alleged harassment of her in the 1990s.Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html Continue reading...
by Kiran Stacey, Eleni Courea and Aletha Adu on (#6JKNW)
Withdrawal of backing for Graham Jones, candidate for Hyndburn, follows Starmer's action against Azhar Ali in RochdaleLabour has suspended a second parliamentary candidate over their remarks about Israel, as Keir Starmer struggles to contain the fallout from the leak of a private meeting of party activists in Lancashire last year.Party sources said on Tuesday that Labour had suspended Graham Jones, the candidate for Hyndburn, less than 24 hours after the party withdrew its support from Azhar Ali, its candidate for the Rochdale byelection later this month. Continue reading...
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correspondent on (#6JKG5)
Government will be formed by Nawaz Sharif's party but it may not survive long given the popularity of the jailed Imran Khan's PTIIt was mid-afternoon on Pakistan's election day, sources say, when military intelligence began to realise that things on the ground were not going as planned.Mobile services, including the internet, had been suspended across the country on the pretext of security issues. Those aware of the decision-making said the real reason was to keep voter turnout low, making the results much easier for Pakistan's powerful military to manage" and, most importantly, keep supporters of the former prime minister Imran Khan away from the ballot box. Continue reading...
by Hannah Ellis-Petersen South Asia correpsondent on (#6JKNY)
Rival parties will make Shehbaz Sharif prime minister, despite Khan's party getting most votes at electionA coalition including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PLM-N) and the Pakistan People's party (PPP) have agreed to form the next government of Pakistan, ensuring that the party of former prime minister Imran Khan will not take power despite getting the most votes in the election.At a press conference in Islamabad on Tuesday night, it was confirmed that the rival parties had agreed, with two smaller coalition partners, to form a joint government to take Pakistan out of difficulty" and that PLM-N's president, Shehbaz Sharif, would be their sole nominee for prime minister. Continue reading...
More than 98% of shareholders in Europe's biggest travel operator vote to delist in favour of GermanyTui, Europe's biggest travel company, is abandoning the London Stock Exchange in favour of listing its shares solely in Germany.A vote on Tuesday resulted in 98.35% of shareholders backing a company proposal to drop its UK listing, in what will be seen as the latest blow to London's standing in international finance. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#6JKNK)
Piran Ditta Khan appears at Leeds crown court over police officer's death during 2005 robbery in BradfordThe mastermind of an armed robbery in which a police officer was killed and another seriously injured evaded capture for almost 20 years before being extradited from Pakistan, a court has been told.PC Sharon Beshenivsky was murdered when she and her colleague PC Teresa Milburn responded to a report of a robbery at the Universal Express travel agency in Bradford, West Yorkshire, on 18 November 2005. Continue reading...
Colin Brough had sent a series of angry emails to fellow members of London gentlemen's clubOne of London's last remaining gentlemen's clubs, the Garrick, has taken the highly unusual step of expelling a member, amid rising tensions over the club's unwillingness to change its men-only membership rules.Former theatre producer Colin Brough, a member for 40 years, was expelled from the club after sending a series of angry emails to fellow members expressing his conviction that women should be admitted immediately. Continue reading...
Government claims volume from time of Thatcher and Major, signed by the queen and many major figures, is crown propertyThe sale of a Downing Street visitors' book from Margaret Thatcher and Sir John Major's times in office has been postponed amid a dispute about its ownership, with the government claiming it is a piece of the nation's history - and property.The red leather book contains the signatures of famous visitors including royalty and world leaders such as the former US president Ronald Reagan and Diana, Princess of Wales. Continue reading...
by Constance Malleret in Rio de Janeiro on (#6JKG1)
In the 1800s, Luiz Gama defied fate to become Brazil's first Black lawyer. Nearly a century and a half later, Portela's parade puts his struggle center stageBorn in 1830 to a trafficked African woman who escaped enslavement and led uprisings, Luiz Gama defied fate and the Brazilian empire to become the country's first Black lawyer and a leading abolitionist.When he was 10 his father, a Portuguese nobleman, illegally sold him into slavery to pay off gambling debts. Gama regained his freedom as a young adult and having learnt to read, became a writer, intellectual and self-taught lawyer. He founded newspapers defending abolition and used the law to help free more than 500 enslaved people before Brazil finally abolished slavery in 1888, six years after he died. Continue reading...
Farmers across Europe demand higher prices and looser environmental rulesA tractor blockade has seriously disrupted operations at the Belgian port of Antwerp, Europe's second largest, authorities said, as angry farmers continued their protests in half a dozen European countries on Tuesday.No freight can be delivered or picked up, as trucks are halted, while employees are only being allowed in after a long wait," said Stephan Vanfraechem, director of the association of port operators Alfaport. Continue reading...
by Martin Belam (now) and Geneva Abdul (earlier) on (#6JK78)
Former Tory leader, recently parachuted into foreign secretary role, questioned by peersHere is my colleague Geneva Abdul's report on the reaction this morning to Labour pulling its support from its Rochdale byelection candidate:Labour's decision to withdraw support for its candidate at the Rochdale byelection in the wake of controversial comments about the 7 October Hamas attacks has been shambolic", the senior lawyer who compiled a report on the party's culture has said. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#6JKG4)
Budgets expected to increase further amid deteriorating security landscape' triggered by invasion of UkraineGlobal defence spending increased by 9% to a record $2.2tn during 2023 driven by heightened geopolitical tensions caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to an annual assessment by a military thinktank.The International Institute of Strategic Studies added that it expected budgets to increase further in 2024 as the war continued into a third year and international uncertainty spread across the Middle East in the wake of the Israel-Gaza war. Continue reading...
by Tom Ambrose (now) and Geneva Abdul (earlier) on (#6JK76)
Ukrainian president says bill envisaging $61bn in aid brings a 'just peace' closer, but it still faces opposition in the SenateThe Democratic-led US Senate has voted to pass a $95.34bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.The bill appears to face long odds of getting to the floor in the House, where the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, criticised it for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border. Continue reading...
Country says Israel's decision to extend operations could mean a further breach of rights of PalestiniansThe UN humanitarian office has not received any communication from Israel of a plan to evacuate Gaza's Rafah area either alone or jointly and would not participate in any forced evacuation even if it did, a spokesperson told Reuters on Tuesday."We have not received any official communication from Israeli officials," Jens Laerke, spokesperson for OCHA said in response to Reuters questions about Rafah plans. "Regardless, the UN does not participate in forced, non-voluntary evacuations. There is no plan at this time to facilitate the evacuation of civilians," he said. Continue reading...
Demonstrations expected to continue in several countries as European parliament will hold exchange with stakeholdersHere are the latest images from the farmers' protest in Antwerp.Farmers staged a protest in Sofia today, calling for the resignation of Bulgaria's minister for agriculture, Kiril Vatev. Continue reading...
Boss of Rijksmuseum makes plea over artwork taken from Leerdam in August 2020 before new showThe director general of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has appealed for the return of a stolen Frans Hals painting as he prepares to open a major exhibition devoted to the Dutch master without the amazing" 15m artwork.Two Laughing Boys with a Mug of Beer was stolen from the Museum Hofje van Mevrouw van Aerden in the Dutch town of Leerdam in August 2020. Unlike a Van Gogh painting believed to have been taken by the same gang and recovered last year, the Hals appears to have vanished into the criminal world. Continue reading...
In taking alternative direction to likes of US and UK, group has played a role in shifting perspectives on the conflictWhen the UN agency for Palestinian refugees became embroiled in a scandal last month, Britain and Germany quickly froze their funding, and other countries on the continent soon followed. But instead of joining the pack, Spain and Portugal decided to go in the opposite direction. They responded with promises to up their funding.For years, but especially in the past few months, they have been part of a grouping of countries across Europe that have consistently sought to strike a different note when it comes to conflict in the Middle East. Others include Ireland, which has called for a review of the EU's trade ties with Israel, and Slovenia, which said it expected Israel to swiftly implement provisional measures ordered by the international court of justice in a case looking into allegations of genocide. Continue reading...
by Eleni Courea Political correspondent on (#6JK9Z)
Cameron urged to raise human rights and security concerns in first meeting with Wang Yi since Sunak made him foreign secretaryDavid Cameron is expected to meet his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, this weekend for the first time since becoming British foreign secretary.The Foreign Office has pencilled in a meeting between Cameron and Wang at the Munich security conference, according to two government sources. Continue reading...
Commissioner finds three debates in which 50,000 shares might reasonably' have been thought to influence Duguid's actionsThe Conservative MP David Duguid failed to declare his wife's 50,000 shareholding in BP while speaking in debates about windfall taxes on the oil and gas industry, the parliamentary commissioner has found.The parliamentary commissioner for standards carried out an investigation into the MP for Banff and Buchan and former Scotland Office minister after the Guardian revealed Duguid's wife's shareholdings. Continue reading...
Driver arrested in Knaresborough after he called 999 and was found to be three times over the legal limitA man has been arrested in Knaresborough after reporting himself to police for drink-driving.North Yorkshire police said they received a call shortly before midday on Monday from a man who said he was drink-driving and doesn't know what he is doing". Continue reading...
Police charge 28-year-old over alleged criminal cell plan to murder members of Sydney rap groupA third member of an alleged criminal cell allegedly hired to kill gang rivals is being held by police.Police believe the group is behind multiple contract kidnappings and a plan to target Sydney-based drill rap group OneFour. Continue reading...
Police name husbands as suspects in separate deaths of women, two of whom were pregnantThe deaths of three women in one week, all allegedly murdered by their husbands, has caused outrage in Somalia and sparked days of protests over the country's femicide rates.Police have named the suspects in all three killings, which took place in the first week of February, as the dead women's husbands. Two of the victims were pregnant. Even in a country where - after more than three decades of conflict - death and violence are part of everyday life, there have been demonstrations in the capital, Mogadishu, with protesters holding up placards showing photos of Lul Abdi Aziz Jazirain her hospital bed. The 28-year-old had been doused with petrol and set alight. She suffered severe burns and survived in agony for seven days after being attacked.Naima Said Salah is a writer with all-female media team Bilan in Somalia. It is funded by the European Union through the UN Development Programme and hosted by Dalsan Media Group in Mogadishu Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: A year since Nicola Sturgeon's resignation, the SNP's new leader has been trying to navigate a series of scandals and a threat from Labour ahead of the next general election Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning.It has been almost a year since Nicola Sturgeon let Scotland know she was standing down as first minister. After eight years, she was out of energy and stamina, she said, and could no longer do the job. The shock resignation sent the SNP into turmoil, and triggered the party's first leadership election in two decades. The 12 months since have been challenging for the SNP's new leader, Humza Yousaf. He was no amateur coming into the job, having spent 11 years in various ministerial roles, including health secretary during the pandemic, but the past year has been particularly fraught.Labour | The Labour party has withdrawn its support for Azhar Ali, its candidate for this month's Rochdale byelection, in the wake of controversial comments he made about the 7 October attacks. Ali suggested Israel had deliberately relaxed security after warnings of an imminent threat. The party cannot replace Ali because the deadline has passed so he will remain as a Labour candidate on the ballot paper, but if elected he will not hold the party whip and will sit as an independent MP.Israel-Gaza war | Joe Biden has added his voice to growing international calls for Israel to drop plans for an all-out military assault on the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, after a ferocious hostage rescue operation that killed dozens of Palestinians.Health | Researchers have taken a major step towards a blood test that can predict the risk of dementia more than a decade before the condition is formally diagnosed in patients.Horizon scandal | The former Post Office boss Paula Vennells gave Fujitsu a bonus contract in 2013 to take over an archive of branch data, despite warnings such a move would destroy evidence that might clear operators, whistleblowers have said.Crime | Police officers from the Devon and Cornwall force accused of subjecting seven women to abuse including rapes, beatings, and psychological torment were allegedly protected by their force, with two appointed to roles protecting women from assault and harm. Continue reading...
Price says the number of exhibitions focused on black artists has set a new standard' for representation in the UKThe British art world can no longer ignore or marginalise black artists, according to the sculptor Thomas J Price, who believes black British culture is finally being absorbed into the mainstream.Price said the large number of exhibitions featuring black British artists - such as Entangled Pasts, Life Between Islands, Get Up, Stand Up Now and In the Black Fantastic - had set a new standard" for representation, triggered by the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.The Time Is Always Now: Artists Reframe the Black Figure is at the National Portrait Gallery in London from 22 February to 19 Mayy Continue reading...
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