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Brad Stansfield says ‘politically crazy’ move is spurred by MP’s independent stance on range of issues

Bryson, 31, committed offences in Clydebank and Glasgow in 2016 and 2019 before transitioningA transgender woman found guilty of raping two women before transitioning has been jailed for eight years.Isla Bryson was convicted last month of raping two women – one in Clydebank in 2016 and one in Glasgow in 2019 – while still a man known as Adam Graham. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Leaked emails show airport staff were guided to ease passenger waits during school holidaysAirport managers have asked Border Force officers to “deprioritise” customs work such as searching for guns and drugs in order to stop passport queues frustrating travellers.Leaked emails show that staff at Manchester airport were told this month that customs work should be carried out only if “there is no likelihood of an excessive queue time”.Any staff who are contingency trained should be prioritised to the PCP [Primary Control Point] when required to prevent excessive queues.Customs work is deprioritised and will only be carried out when you are satisfied there is no likelihood of an excessive queue time or in the event of a cat A target,” he wrote. Continue reading...

PM criticised for boasting about trade benefits of new deal while denying same gains to rest of UK

Government urged to take action to address condition of school estate ‘before anyone else is harmed’The government has been accused of “a complete dereliction of duty” over the state of school buildings in England after a woman sustained a serious head injury when a large piece of cladding fell off while she was waiting to pick up her children.The incident at Dore primary school in Sheffield, which was raised in the House of Commons on Monday, came at a time of growing concern about the deteriorating condition of the school estate, and warnings that some buildings are in danger of collapse. Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak lauded for making ‘adult relationship’ possible between UK and EU after post-Brexit dispute

Suggestion to abolish catch-all offence will be among thousands considered at Chinese Communist party summitChina should abolish the catch-all crime of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, a political delegate has proposed before next week’s major Two Sessions legislative meeting.Zhu Zhengfu, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) advisory body, said the law risked undermining China’s legal system and was open to “selective enforcement” by authorities, according to state media. Continue reading...

Almost all minority ethnic groups were more likely to die from virus than white British peopleThe Covid-19 public inquiry is facing calls to consider structural racism in every part of its investigation after it emerged almost all minority ethnic groups were more likely to die from the virus than white British people.Earlier this month, the lead counsel to the government-commissioned inquiry said it was not planning to consider structural racism in the first module of the inquiry examining pandemic preparations. But bereaved families and race equality organisations have told the inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, that all 11 modules of the sprawling investigation must consider the phenomenon as a key issue. Continue reading...

Online supermarket attracts more customers, but they buy fewer items in each shop than previous yearOcado has slumped to a £501m annual loss after a “challenging year” for the online grocer, as retail revenues fell amid the cost of living crisis, with customers putting less in their baskets and using more discount vouchers.Revenues at Ocado Retail, its joint venture with Marks & Spencer, fell by 3.8% in 2022, despite the company reporting record sales over Christmas. The Ocado group’s pre-tax loss widened to £500.8m from £176.9m in 2021. Analysts had forecast an annual loss of £399m. Continue reading...

Report says Aboriginal kids now account for 43.8% of children in out-of home care, up from 38.4%

Human rights commissioner Scott McDougall warns against making breach of bail an offence for children at tense parliamentary committee hearing

Murray Smalpage tells coroner he is ‘struggling to find a reason’ for deviation from arrest plan on day Warlpiri teen was killed by Zachary Rolfe

Former human services secretary says Coalition minister told her ‘legal advice is just advice’ when briefed on solicitor general’s opinion on scheme’s legality

Exclusive: Eurovision host will issue licences only for concerts and festivals that agree to help reduce emissions by 50%The Eurovision host Liverpool has become the first city in the UK to commit to the Paris agreement for major live events.The city will issue licences for only those concerts and festivals that agree to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% to help meet climate goals, including using a proportion of renewable energy to power the festival and reducing the number of cars visitors take to events. Continue reading...

Health department has expanded vaccine eligibility after a survey indicated the virus was more widespread than previously reported

Most Tory MPs welcome breakthrough as hardline Brexiters are mulling response

Prime minister unveils agreement with European Commission president after four months of negotiationsRishi Sunak has hailed a “new chapter” in the UK’s relationship with the EU as he secured a deal to end the long-running dispute over the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol.The prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, described a “decisive breakthrough” at a joint news conference in Windsor after four months of intense negotiations. Continue reading...

Trade and governance will be at centre of new post-Brexit pact, but what about other areas of disagreement?

Jennifer McBride, who returned the dogs after they were stolen, says star failed to honor a $500,000 ‘no questions asked’ rewardA woman who was charged in connection with stealing Lady Gaga’s dogs has sued the pop star, alleging that she was denied a $500,000 reward for returning the dogs with “no questions asked”.Jennifer McBride was previously arrested and charged in connection to the theft of Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs in February 2021. Lady Gaga’s dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was shot and wounded during the robbery. Continue reading...

Laura Trevelyan, a BBC correspondent who investigated her family’s link to the slave trade, also pays £100,000 in reparationsAn aristocratic British family has travelled to the Caribbean country of Grenada to publicly apologised for its ownership of more than 1,000 enslaved Africans and promise £100,000 in reparations.Laura Trevelyan, a New York-based BBC correspondent who investigated her family’s link to the slave trade, donated the money to the University of the West Indies (UWI). Continue reading...

Janet Yellen, on surprise visit to Ukrainian capital, says US and allies discussing strategies to ensure Russia pays for devastation of war. This blog is now closed

Number falls well short of target to respond to one of world’s biggest humanitarian disastersThe United Nations has raised about $1.2bn (£996m) from crisis-strained donors towards its $4.3bn aid plan for Yemen, one of the world’s biggest humanitarian disasters despite a no-war, no-peace stalemate that has largely stopped fighting.Underfunding has seen agencies scale back Yemen aid projects, including food rations, in the past couple of years. Last year donors gave $2.2bn of the $4.27bn sought, UN data shows. Continue reading...

Windsor framework makes it harder for the DUP to oppose the deal without losing the chance of effective veto on new single market rulesThe most interesting part of the press conference between the UK prime minister and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, was probably what Rishi Sunak said about the deal including a “Stormont brake”, which will allow the Northern Ireland assembly to stop new EU single market rules from applying in the region.He said the agreement “safeguards sovereignty” for Northern Ireland as a result. It had been reported that the – known as the Windsor framework – would give the Northern Ireland a right to be consulted on new single market rules; but this goes further, because the assembly would be able to block new rules applying in Northern Ireland.The only EU law that applies in Northern Ireland under the framework is the minimum necessary to avoid a hard border with Ireland and allow Northern Ireland business to continue accessing the EU market.But I know many people in Northern Ireland are worried about being subject to changes in EU goods law. Continue reading...

Advent of Israel’s most right-wing government, and spiralling violence, expose dangers of light-touch diplomacyWith an in-tray bulging with the war in Ukraine, the Chinese threat to Taiwan and the potential collapse of the Iran nuclear deal, the US State Department has tried to avert its gaze from the clouds gathering over Israel and Palestine, but has now found it impossible to do so.Since John Kerry, as secretary of state, expended diplomatic muscle trying to revive the Middle East peace process in the final year of the Obama administration, US Democrats have gently welcomed the rapprochement symbolised by the Abraham accords, but not done much else. However, the advent of the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, and violence spiralling out of control, have shown the dangers of light-touch diplomacy. Continue reading...

Police appeal for information about Ford Fiesta used by gunmen to attack DCI John Caldwell in OmaghPolice have released CCTV footage of the car used by the men who shot a senior detective, John Caldwell, at a sports complex in Omagh last week.DCI Caldwell remains in a critical condition in hospital after he was shot in front of his young son in County Tyrone on Wednesday. Continue reading...

People share sightings of aurora borealis, with reports from as far south as Cornwall, and spectacle expected to repeat on Monday nightShimmering greens, purples and pinks of the northern lights appeared in the night sky across Britain and Ireland on Sunday night in a display that reached as far south as Hertfordshire and Cornwall.The light spectacle, also known as an aurora, is usually most visible near the Earth’s magnetic north and south poles when high-speed electrically charged particles from space collide with gas molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere. Continue reading...

Two killed as Ukraine claims to have shot down 11 of 14 drones in overnight attack; partisans claim to have destroyed Russian plane at Belarusian airstrip

Upgrade to City underground transport hub includes new entrance and ticket hall at Cannon StreetThe £700m upgrade of Bank station has been completed after seven years of construction, transforming London Underground’s major hub in the City into a “like-new, world-class” station.The opening of a spacious, accessible entrance and ticket hall marks the end of an overhaul that has increased the station capacity by 40% and unpicked a notoriously labyrinthine and busy interchange. Continue reading...

Andrés Manuel López Obrador said the photo appeared to show an alux, a creature from Yucatán folkloreMexico’s president posted a photo on his social media accounts on Saturday showing what he said appeared to be a mythological woodland spirit similar to an elf.Andrés Manuel López Obrador did not seem to be joking when he posted the photo of an alux, a mischievous woodland spirit in Maya folklore. Continue reading...

One man killed and four wounded in apparent worst outburst of settler violence in northern West Bank in decadesScores of Israeli settlers have gone on a violent rampage in the northern West Bank, setting alight dozens of cars and homes after two settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman.Palestinian medics said one man was killed and four other people were badly wounded in what appeared to be the worst outburst of settler violence in the area in decades. Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak accused of ‘dragging the king into a hugely controversial political issue’

Project to revive 1,000-year-old village of Fraguas ended as activists face fines of up to €110,000An abandoned village in Spain has been condemned to its third and final death after the rural activists who occupied it 10 years ago gave up the struggle to bring it back to life.Fraguas’s first death came in the late 1960s, when it was expropriated by the Franco regime to make way for a huge reforestation programme; its second when it was used as an army training ground. Continue reading...

Jeffrey Donaldson risks internal revolt if he accepts deal but rejecting it will threaten future of power sharing

Downpours lash Mozambique and Zimbabwe – meanwhile, unseasonably high and low temperatures hit east and west USThe remnants of Tropical Cyclone Freddy continue to wreak havoc in parts of south-east Africa. Originally forming as a disturbance embedded within a monsoon trough on 5 February, the system continues to bring torrential rain. However, it is no longer classed as a tropical cyclone, with sustained wind speeds now well below 74mph.Having spent three weeks moving westwards across the entire Indian Ocean before affecting Mauritius, Réunion and Madagascar, Freddy made landfall in Mozambique on 24 February, bringing sustained winds of 50mph. Continue reading...

Remains taken for forensic testing to determine if they belong to influencer Abby ChoiThe ex-husband and two former in-laws of a woman in Hong Kong have been charged with her murder, after police revealed they had found more body parts during a weekend search.Abby Choi’s ex-husband, Alex Kwong Kong-chi, his father and his brother were formally charged with murder on Sunday. Kwong’s mother was charged with perverting the course of justice. Continue reading...

The school’s code of conduct instructs students to ‘abstain from biblically immoral practices’, including ‘sexual sins’

US burger giant hints at hundreds of stores in country, which is home to ice-cream chain named Wendy’s Milk Bar

Psychologist who treated one of Leifer’s alleged victims told court her client ‘couldn’t mouth the words’ to describe alleged abuse

The multiverse adventure picked up four major categories, while The White Lotus and Abbott Elementary won big for televisionEverything Everywhere All at Once reigned supreme at this year’s Screen Actors Guild awards, winning four major awards and breaking the record for most wins for a single film.The multiverse fantasy film picked up the night’s biggest award for ensemble in a motion picture, female actor for Michelle Yeoh and both supporting actor awards, for Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan. Continue reading...

Final report of parliamentary probe says the appointment of Stephen Cartwright ‘lacked integrity’

Gang who captured Prof Bryce Barker and his research team wanted compensation after two members shot at logging siteThe decision to take the Australian-based New Zealand archaeologist Prof Bryce Barker and his research team hostage near remote Mount Bosavi in Papua New Guinea was a “spur of the moment” decision by their captors, two of whom had been shot in an earlier encounter with security guards at a logging site.The governor of Hela province, Philip Undialu, said his team had only been able to begin negotiations with the captors – a criminal gang of about 20 “runners” moving guns and drugs across New Guinea – once they had moved the hostages into an area with mobile phone coverage. Continue reading...

Tech dealmaker reported to be unreachable 10 days ago in latest case of a top executive going missing during Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption driveThe Chinese billionaire tech banker Bao Fan, who was reported missing 10 days ago, is cooperating with Chinese authorities conducting an investigation, a China-based boutique bank has said.It is the first time China Renaissance Holdings has given a reason for the disappearance of its founder and chairman, though no details about the investigation were shared. Continue reading...

Most polluting commercial vehicles will pay up to £50 daily under new schemeSheffield has become the latest city to implement a clean air zone, which it hopes will tackle an estimated 500 deaths a year ascribed to pollution.From Monday, the most polluting commercial vehicles will have to pay a daily charge of £10 for older taxis and vans, or £50 for older buses, coaches and HGVs, to enter a zone covering the city centre and inner ring road. Private cars will be exempt from the charge. Continue reading...

Annual rise of £425bn smaller than in previous two years, says Savills as it predicts fall in house prices in 2023The total value of all homes across the UK has reached a record high of £8.7tn but rising mortgage costs are likely to lead to a dip in 2023.The country’s 30m homes were valued by the estate agent Savills at a combined £8.68tn at the end of 2022, a rise of just over 5% or £425bn on a year earlier. Continue reading...

Robert Burns Ellisland Trust proposes to turn Ellisland Farm in Dumfries and Galloway into visitor attractionA charity has revealed its plans to save a barn built by the Scottish poet Robert Burns where he wrote some of his most famous works, including Auld Lang Syne.Ellisland Farm, on the banks of the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, was built by Burns in 1788 for his wife, Jean Armour, and their family, and it was where wrote pieces such as Auld Lang Syne and Tam O’Shanter. Continue reading...

Now illegal for 16- and 17-year-olds to marry or enter a civil partnership, even with parental consentCampaigners have hailed a new law raising the legal age of marriage in England and Wales as a significant milestone in child protection.The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act comes into force on Monday following a five-year campaign and will prevent 16- and 17-year-olds from marrying or entering a civil partnership, even if they have parental consent. Continue reading...

Melbourne law firm will launch multi-million dollar case against AFL after ‘numerous’ male and female players suffered head injuries

Final tally not expected until middle of next week as polling system hit by significant technical problemsNigeria is in the midst of a tense wait as election authorities count tens of millions of votes that will determine who will become president in Africa’s most populous country and control its national assembly.Voting on Saturday was marred by widespread delays and some scattered violence but fears of widespread chaos proved unfounded. Continue reading...

Putin makes claim in TV address; mercenary boss and Ukraine make conflicting claims over control of Yahidne village

Police confirm that bodies of man and dog found on mountain are missing Yorkshireman and his dog, BaneThe body of missing hillwalker Kyle Sambrook and his dog have been found in Glencoe, police have confirmed.The 33-year-old was last seen with his beagle, Bane, in the Lost Valley area last weekend after he travelled from his home in West Yorkshire to go hillwalking. Continue reading...