Variant is anticipated evolution but exact scope of virus is difficult to discern because of limited surveillance, experts sayA new Covid-19 variant has become the dominant lineage of the virus in recent weeks in the US and while it should not be a cause of undue concern for the public, its emergence is a reminder of the need for greater surveillance of the virus and of the importance of vaccine boosters, according to infectious disease experts.EG.5.1, an Omicron subvariant also known as Eris, is the leading version of the virus and makes up about 17% of Covid cases in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its rise coincides with a recent uptick in the number of hospitalizations due to Covid. Continue reading...
Clockwork Crew, formerly known as Crew 562, was founded in 2021 and has roughly a dozen members, researchers sayA neo-Nazi active club' counts several current and former members of the United States military as its members, the Guardian has learned, including a lance corporal machine gunner currently in detention on insubordination charges and a former US Marine Corps staff sergeant who was booted from the service for stealing large quantities of ammunition.Lance corporal machine gunner Mohammed Wadaa and former Marine Corps staff sergeant Gunnar Naughton are part of the Clockwork Crew, California's first active club,' according to the group's own internal research records and social media posts, as well as law enforcement sources. Continue reading...
Mohamed Bazoum - ousted by military last month - could face death penalty if found guiltyNiger's mutinous soldiers have said they will prosecute the country's deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, for high treason" and undermining state security.If found guilty, Bazoum could face the death penalty, according to Niger's penal code. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Deputy political editor on (#6DTM9)
Health secretary says he does not know if Dorset council informed Home Office officials about presence on barge earlierMinisters were not told about the presence of the potentially deadly legionella bacteria on the Bibby Stockholm barge until Thursday night, the health secretary has said, three days after health protection officials informed the county council.Steve Barclay said he could not say whether Dorset council had informed Home Office officials earlier about the test results on the vessel, which is being used to house asylum seekers, but that ministers first knew late on Thursday. Continue reading...
by Aamna Mohdin Community affairs correspondent on (#6DTMB)
Exclusive: pioneering DJ Linett Kamala sets up mentoring programme to bring more women into soundsystem sceneA Notting Hill carnival pioneer has launched a campaign to bring more women into the festival's soundsystem scene with a new grassroots mentoring programme.Linett Kamala, who at 14 became one of the first female DJs at carnival, has partnered with Guinness to support up-and-coming soundsystem operators, DJs and producers hoping to break into the scene. Continue reading...
Presenter, who has three young children, says pressures of juggling home and work life are real'Presenter Helen Skelton has broadcast her final show for BBC Radio 5 Live for now" to spend more time with her children.The TV and radio presenter, 40, has hosted the Sunday morning programme for the past year after taking over the slot from former Love Island host Laura Whitmore. Continue reading...
Billionaire Gina Rinehart committed fraud with iron ore mining tenements now worth billions of dollars, a lawyer for her two eldest children claimed in court
Head of industry standards body says more people are turning to renewable technology as energy costs growBritish households are making more green energy upgrades than ever before after installing a record number of solar panels and heat pumps in the first half of the year, according to the industry's official standards body.The industry figures show there were more green energy installations in June alone than in any six-month period in previous years. Continue reading...
National Highways forced to remove concrete after it buried bridge in Cumbria without permissionThe government's roads agency has begun undoing what was described as an act of cultural vandalism" by removing hundreds of tonnes of concrete it used to bury a Victorian railway bridge more than two years ago.National Highways (NH) was ordered last year to reverse the infilling of Great Musgrave Bridge in Cumbria by Eden district council after receiving 911 planning objections to the scheme. The council refused retrospective planning permission despite being offered a 450,000 sweetener by NH to allow the scheme to stay. Continue reading...
Home minister promises widespread reforms but some experts suggest the new laws are more a repackaging of existing measures than real changeMore than 160 years after Lord Macaulay laid down a penal code for what was then a colony of the British crown, India is poised to supplant it with new laws free of colonial vestiges and designed to speed up the judicial process.The government has introduced three bills in parliament that it says will provide a special focus on crimes against women and address the intolerable delays in the system which can leave people waiting 15-30 years for a verdict. Continue reading...
Dominant Western Australian media organisation reported on previous Woodside and Extinction Rebellion protests, but now says the ABC got it very wrong'
William Lai issues global appeal during US stopover after China denounces him as a troublemaker'Taiwan's vice-president has urged the world to stand up against the increased threat from authoritarianism" and reiterated a willingness to talk to China, in a speech made in New York during a brief US stopover condemned by Beijing.William Lai, a frontrunner to be Taiwan's next president at elections in January, said in New York on Sunday: If Taiwan is safe, the world is safe, if the Taiwan Strait is peaceful, then the world is peaceful," according to a read out from Taiwan's presidential office. Continue reading...
Six people taken to hospital after vehicle veers off road and hits tent containing baby, who escapes serious injuryTwo people have been left seriously injured and four others taken to hospital after a car veered off a road and crashed into a tent on a Welsh campsite.A baby was inside the tent hit by the car at Newgale campsite in Haverfordwest on the Pembrokeshire coast, west Wales, but is understood to have escaped serious injury. Continue reading...
Ministers launch a consultation on including inserts in boxes that outline the benefits of quitting tobaccoPlain packaging, graphic images of lung disease and warnings that smoking causes cancer already adorn cigarette boxes. But now smokers in the UK could also be given an upbeat note with every pack in an attempt to help them quit.The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced that it is opening a consultation on Monday to seek views on the introduction and design of pack inserts for tobacco products, such as cigarettes and rolling tobacco. Continue reading...
Resolution Foundation report says much of industrial action fuelled' by public sector workers' anger over falls in real-terms payAbout 3.9m working days have been lost to industrial action in the past year, more than at any point since the 1980s, according to a new analysis.The Resolution Foundation, which focuses its research on low- to middle-income households, said many of the strikes were fuelled" by anger among public sector workers over real-terms pay declines, which amounted to an average cut of more than 9% since 2021, adjusted for inflation. Continue reading...
Which? research finds cheese, butter and bread are up by more than 30% in the past two years, hitting the poor hardestThe cost of some basic food items such as cheese, butter and bread has soared by more than 30% in the last two years, forcing poorer households to make desperate choices between keeping up with their bill payments or putting food on the table," campaigners have said.Food price inflation has slowed in recent months, but costs remain much higher than they were two years ago, disproportionally affecting low-income households, according to research by consumer body Which? shared exclusively with the Guardian. Continue reading...
Daniel, who had to get up at 3am to study during lockdown, now faces prospect of grades being loweredThree years ago, at the height of the Covid pandemic and with schools in England closed to all but the most vulnerable pupils, Daniel, 18, got up at 3am each morning to complete the remote learning sent by his school in Leicester. It was the only time I could get enough quiet to do my work," he said.During Covid each morning the school would send out emails with tasks to complete. I wanted to stay on top of the work, but at home I had no place to study. Continue reading...
Social Mobility Foundation says it expects GCSE and A-level attainment gap based on income to grow this yearDisadvantaged students are likely to bear the brunt of grade deflation when this year's A-level and GCSE grades are published, according to experts, who said the government's decision to impose pre-pandemic grading in England was premature.This week hundreds of thousands of sixth-formers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will receive the results of their A-level, BTec and other exams. But a survey of students by the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) found that those from disadvantaged or low-income backgrounds in England were less likely to have received the help they needed to restore learning lost during the pandemic. Continue reading...
Seven people, including a young baby, killed by Russian shelling in Kherson; Russian warship's warning shots' at Black Sea cargo shipSeven people including a 23-day-old girl were killed by Russian shelling in the Kherson region on Sunday, Ukraine's internal affairs ministry said. An attack on the village of Shiroka Balka killed four members of the same family - including their young baby - and another resident. Two men were killed in the neighbouring village of Stanislav.Volodymyr Zelenskiy promised justice for the attacks on Kherson. There is no day when Russian evil does not receive our entirely just response," said Ukraine's president in his Sunday night video address, adding: We will not leave any of Russia's crimes unanswered."A Russian warship fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the south-western Black Sea, the first time Russia has fired on a merchant ship since exiting a UN-brokered grain deal last month. Russia said in a statement that its Vasily Bykov patrol ship fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship's captain failed to respond to a request to halt for inspection.Three civilians were injured in the Kursk region from shells coming over the Ukrainian border, the regional governor said. Roman Starovoit said Ukraine was behind the shelling, Ukraine did not claim responsibility and it was unclear where the shelling originated.Ukrainian forces were trying to pierce Russian lines in the western parts of Donetsk region, a Russian-installed official said. Vladimir Rogov said there had been intense fighting south of Velyka Novosilka as Ukrainian troops tried to push down to the coast on the Sea of Azov. The enemy managed to enter and gain a foothold in the northern part of Urozhaine after two weeks of the heaviest and bloodiest battles for this settlement," Rogov said.The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod blamed a Ukrainian drone for damage to an apartment building on Sunday, after Russia's defence ministry said air defences shot down at least four Ukrainian drones close to the border. Russia's defence ministry said air defences shot down another drone later on Sunday and there were no casualties.Germany will deliver a Luna New Generation drone system to Ukraine, Bild am Sonntag has reported. The equipment will include a ground control station with several drones, a launch catapult and military trucks.Authorities briefly halted traffic on the Russian-built Kerch Bridge connecting occupied Crimea with Russia - but did not provide a reason why. It came one day after Russian air defence reportedly thwarted three Ukrainian missile attacks.Ukraine has become the most heavily mined country on Earth after a year and a half of Russian troops laying them down. Soldiers have been unearthing five mines for every square metre in some places, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine's defence minister, told the Guardian. Continue reading...
Pandemic-era rules extended again after industry body disappointed' they were to expire in SeptemberPubs in England and Wales will be allowed to continue selling takeaway pints after the government decided to keep pandemic-era licensing rules after criticism from an industry body.The pandemic-era rules were due to expire in September after being extended twice, in a move the British Beer and Pub Association called disappointing". Continue reading...
Dorset council says it flagged test results about potentially deadly bacteria on Monday, but evacuation didn't take place until four days laterHome Office contractors were told that potentially deadly legionella bacteria had been detected on the Bibby Stockholm hours after asylum seekers were taken onboard the barge.Dorset council flagged the legionella test results to the barge contractors on the day they received them, Monday 7 August, raising questions about why the evacuation of 39 people from the barge took four days. Continue reading...
Governor says man has been detained after attack on Shia shrine in southern city of ShirazA gunman opened fire on Sunday night at a prominent shrine in southern Iran, killing one person and wounding eight others in an attack that followed another assault there months earlier, authorities said.Officials offered no immediate motive for the attack in the city of Shiraz at Shah Cheragh, which draws Shia pilgrims to its domed mosque and the tomb of a prominent member of the faith from its earliest days. Continue reading...
Six Miss Universe Indonesia contestants allege they were asked to strip for a body check for scars and cellulite'The global organiser of the Miss Universe beauty pageant has cut ties with its franchise in Indonesia days after several contestants alleged they had been sexually abused in the run-up to the competition's crowning ceremony in Jakarta.Six contestants in the Miss Universe Indonesia pageant are understood to have filed complaints with police, alleging that organisers asked contestants to strip down to their underwear for a body check for scars and cellulite" two days before the ceremony in July. Continue reading...
Families gather in Co Tyrone town in Northern Ireland in 25-year memorial to those killed in dissident republican bombingThe victims of the worst single atrocity in Northern Ireland have been remembered at a poignant memorial service.Families of the 29 people killed in the 1998 dissident republican bombing of Omagh and British and Irish government ministers were among those who gathered in the Co Tyrone town on Sunday ahead of the 25th anniversary. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#6DT6P)
Bethany Cox, 22, is fourth to be prosecuted on such charges in eight months after only three trials in 160 years, say campaignersA 22-year-old woman accused of procuring a poison to abort her child shortly after the first Covid lockdown is due to appear before a judge this week.Bethany Cox is the fourth woman to be prosecuted in the last eight months for allegedly carrying out her own abortion, with only three trials in the 160 years before that, according to campaigners. Continue reading...
Detaining of public health expert Mohammed Alhajji comes as a shock as he was seen as apoliticalA prominent Saudi scholar and Snapchat influencer has been arrested by Saudi authorities in what experts said was evidence of the kingdom's extreme crackdown on social media users.The arrest of Mohammed Alhajji, a public health expert who completed his dissertation in the US, follows the disappearance and recent arrests of other prominent influencers for crimes" that include the perceived criticism of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and support for women's rights. Continue reading...
Bayern Munich fans delighted but commentators question price tag and Germany's failure to nurture homegrown talentThere may have been tens of thousands of Harry Kane fans tracking his Cessna flight's path to Munich on Saturday night, followed by standing ovations when he finally appeared before Bayern Munich fans on Sunday - many already wearing Harry Kane - 9" shirts, to the stirring strains of the German rock band the Scorpions Rock You Like a Hurricane. But scepticism about the wisdom of the Tottenham Hotspur striker's 100m transfer is rife among German commentators.The affection for the 30-year-old striker is not in doubt. Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#6DT6S)
People in care homes, narrowboats and park homes have missed out because they do not have a supplierMore than 30 of Britain's largest housing associations have called on ministers to give a second chance to 750,000 households that missed out on government support for energy bills worth a total of 300m.In a letter to ministers, seen by the Guardian, 34 housing associations called for the government to reopen a scheme that aimed to offer support payments of 400 to almost one million households without an energy supplier. Continue reading...
Presidential aspirants make the pilgrimage to Des Moines amid a sense of America as nation sunk in a political depressionDonald Trump held aloft a pork chop on a stick. Ron DeSantis and children rode bumper cars and a ferris wheel, played carnival games and ate snow cones and ice-cream. Vivek Ramaswamy rapped Lose Yourself by Eminem, Marianne Williamson recalled her days as a cabaret singer and Mike Pence said he was hoping to renew his acquaintance with a cow called Chippy.All the fun of the state fair in Iowa includes an agriculture and livestock show, amusement rides, every fried food imaginable and, every four years, a political circus like no other. Presidential aspirants make the pilgrimage to Des Moines to field questions from voters - including hecklers - and show their ability to speak, dress and eat like Middle America in the state that kicks off the Republican nominating contest in January. Continue reading...
by Ashifa Kassam, Europe Community affairs correspond on (#6DT3W)
Course at Ghent University will use singer-songwriter's work as springboard to explore history of English literatureMuch of the syllabus for Elly McCausland's course at Ghent University reads like a who's who of English literature, dotted with works by Geoffrey Chaucer, Charlotte Bronte and William Shakespeare. But it's the inclusion of another prolific writer that has got people talking: the singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.I've never had so many emails from excited students asking if they can take the course," said McCausland, an assistant professor at the Belgian university. And actually non-students as well, people who are not part of the university and who want to participate in some way." Continue reading...
Fresh legal claim planned by group of almost 1,000 shareholders to rushed rescue in MarchUBS faces another legal challenge to its emergency takeover of Credit Suisse, as a group representing nearly 1,000 individual shareholders, including former employees of the failed Swiss bank, prepares to file a court claim in Zurich on Monday.The Swiss Association for the Protection of Investors (Schweizerischer Anlegerschutzverein, or SASV), which represents retail investors, intends to lodge the claim on behalf of Credit Suisse shareholders - including some from the UK - who suffered heavy losses as a result of the rushed takeover in March. Continue reading...
Overworked and underequipped brigades face daily ordeal in the most heavily mined country in the worldOleksandr Slyusar, a Ukrainian sapper with a ready smile, had spent the last 30 hours under Russian shelling in the recently liberated village of Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. A rocket fired at them from a Grad system had peppered the legs and back of a fellow landmine-clearer with shrapnel.Slyusar, 38, had taken his friend west to hospital in Zaporizhzhia city that morning, before arriving back at a secret military base within earshot of the rolling thunder of the Russian guns. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Most heavily mined country on Earth' critically short of sappers and equipment to clear frontlinesYou don't survive that': Ukraine sappers dice with death to clear Russian minesUkraine is now the most heavily mined country on Earth and its army is suffering from a critical shortage of men and equipment able to clear the frontlines, the country's defence minister has said, as soldiers spoke of heavy casualties in the engineering brigades.In an urgent appeal to allies, Oleksii Reznikov told the Guardian his soldiers were unearthing five mines for every square metre in places, laid by Russian troops to try to thwart Ukraine's counteroffensive. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#6DT0S)
SNP's Amy Callaghan has cross-party support, and notes 16,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed in UK each yearAn MP who survived skin cancer as a teenager is canvassing cross-party support for her campaign to remove VAT from sunscreen products.Amy Callaghan is calling on the UK government to remove the tax from products that have a health benefit - the NHS considers factor 30 or above with a four-star UVA rating to be adequate skin protection. Continue reading...
by Vanessa Thorpe Arts and media correspondent on (#6DSZH)
String of vacancies at regional arts venues grows as funding and staffing crisis worsensRunning a theatre has become a seriously unappealing job, according to many of those working at Britain's performance venues. While larger institutions, such as the Barbican, RSC and National Theatre, can still attract and keep good artistic directors, regional theatres and arts centres are struggling. A job heading of one of these offers the same stress, accountability and long hours, but on a smaller budget and with a smaller salary.Burnout and disillusionment are now widespread, according to insiders including dancer Kenneth Tharp, who ran The Place, near London's Euston station, until 2016. Last week, Tharp pointed out on Twitter (now known as X), that there had been a huge churn of artistic directors (some after relatively short tenures)", citing 14 venues in the past two years. Continue reading...
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