Case of Briton who killed ill wife puts taboo subject in spotlight of socially conservative society British man who killed sick wife freed due to time servedA little after daybreak, a police van carrying an elderly Briton pulled out of the high-walled, colonial-era complex that is Nicosia's central prison.As on so many other occasions, it was the start of a journey David Hunter knew well: a near 100-mile road trip that would take the septuagenarian to the only other building he has been permitted to visit over the past 19 months - the district court in the coastal town of Paphos. Continue reading...
Center for Countering Digital Hate claims publication of hateful material on Twitter has risen since Musk took overAn anti-hate speech campaign group has accused Elon Musk's X Corp of intimidation after the owner of the rebranded social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, threatened legal action over the organisation's research into hate speech on the platform.The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) has regularly conducted research into the platform's content since it was bought last year by Musk and has produced work claiming publication of hateful material on the site has risen since the $44bn (34.2bn) deal was completed. Continue reading...
The prince has not inherited his father's enthusiasm for traditional Highland dressHe has donned plumes of ostrich feathers, embraced bows and ribbons and even worn a cap with an embroidered leek.Such are the elaborate sartorial demands on the Prince of Wales, who away from royal and military ceremonials tends to be a blue-shirt-and-chinos man. Continue reading...
76-year-old man was threatened with court action and turned to food handouts after E.ON mistakeA 76-year-old widower was forced to ration his electricity for a year and rely on charity food handouts after a clerical error by his supplier left him facing a bill of nearly 13,000.John*, who has a serious heart condition, has paid in advance for his electricity via a prepayment meter for 10 years. However, his supplier, E.ON, began sending unexplained bills several years ago and subsequently threatened court action if he failed to pay. It also withheld his 400 energy bill support scheme payment from the government to help with last winter's heating bills. Continue reading...
David Hunter, 76, given two-year sentence for manslaughter but had already spent 19 months in custodyA British retired miner, David Hunter, has been sentenced to two years in prison for the manslaughter of his seriously ill wife in Cyprus but has been released from custody due to time already served.The 76-year-old had admitted suffocating Janice, his wife of 52 years, who had blood cancer, at their home on the island after she begged him" to end her life.In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...
Bafta-winner wrote theme music for shows including Ground Force and made albums with poet laureateThe celebrated composer Jim Parker, who won four Baftas during a 60-year music career, has died aged 88 after a long illness, his family have said.Parker was behind some of television's most recognisable theme music, including the BBC's Tom Jones period drama, as well as the intros to Ground Force, Changing Rooms and ITV's Midsomer Murders, among others. Continue reading...
Former boss of Swedish telecoms firm Telia to continue outgoing Philip Jansen's cost-cutting driveBT has appointed board member Allison Kirkby as its first female chief executive, to take over from Philip Jansen after he set a course for significant job cuts at the telecoms provider.Kirkby will leave her job as chief executive of Swedish telecoms company Telia at the end of January 2024. She has been a non-executive director at BT since 2019. Continue reading...
Huge hailstones pummelled continent before expected cooling down across much of central and southern EuropeTemperatures were not the only weather-related record to be broken over the past couple of weeks. The European hail record has been breached too. Twice.On 19 July 2023, there were several very large hailstones, more than 10cm in diameter measured along their longest axis, recorded across parts of Italy and Croatia. One of these stones, measuring 16cm in diameter, was recorded in Carmignano di Brenta, Italy, and broke the previous largest hail record in Europe, which was previously held by a 15cm stone found in Romania in 2016. Continue reading...
Rodney Lee is destined to die in jail after a Victorian supreme court judge sentenced him to 30 years behind barsAngry with his neighbours for turning off the hose he used to water the communal garden in their apartment complex, Rodney Lee turned to murder.Lee was jailed for 30 years on Monday, having pleaded guilty to murdering Saumotu Gasio, 62, and Tibor Laszlo, 57 at their Melbourne public housing complex in January last year.Sign up for Guardian Australia's free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...
Exclusive: Many exhausted relatives asking for help as health and social care services stretched beyond limitSoaring numbers of families struggling to care for someone with dementia have hit a crisis point" with nowhere to turn for help when their loved one puts themselves or others at risk of harm, a charity has said.More than 700,000 people in the UK look after a relative with dementia. Many feel they can no longer cope with alarming situations where they or their relative are at immediate risk of being harmed, according to Dementia UK. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Survivors and witnesses bring case to human rights council over 2021 attack killing eight peopleTurkish airstrikes that allegedly targeted a civilian hospital and killed eight people in Iraq have been made the subject of a formal complaint to the UN human rights council.It is the first case to be brought on the issue of Turkish airstrikes against the Yazidi people. The attack on 17 August 2021 destroyed the Sikeniye medical clinic in Sinjar and left more than 20 people injured. Continue reading...
The landmark Maputo protocol has led to huge gains in women's rights, from abortion access to equal pay. But to go further will require political will and actionSigned 20 years ago, in the Mozambique city that bears its name, the Maputo protocol was a landmark treaty in the progress towards gender equality across Africa.It promises equality and non-discrimination to women and girls in civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Continue reading...
Pro-democracy leader who now lives in UK argues UK government is doing too little about Chinese threatWhen Finn Lau woke one morning this month to dozens of messages urging him to take care, he was confused as to what had happened. But he was not distressed to learn that Hong Kong authorities had offered a HK$1m (100,000) bounty for his arrest, along with that of seven other overseas activists, because it was not the first threat he had faced.Since helping to lead pro-democracy protests challenging Hong Kong's authorities and a national security law that brought sweeping extraterritorial powers into force three years ago, Lau, 29, who now lives in the UK, has become a prominent critic of the Chinese Communist party. Continue reading...
Precision policing' approach builds on force's strategy to identify the 100 most dangerous men in LondonThe Metropolitan police is expanding its use of precision policing", an approach that uses crime data to focus police activity, in an effort to remove some of the most serious criminals from the streets.The move builds on the Met's strategy to identify the 100 most dangerous men in London. It will create a more powerful offender forecasting tool and broaden the range of crimes the force targets through data analysis. Continue reading...
Strongest storm to hit country in years has also caused widespread flooding and evacuations in province of FujianBeijing has recorded its heaviest rainfall this year as the remnants of Typhoon Doksuri passed through China's capital, forcing more than 31,000 people to evacuate their homes in the city, according to state broadcaster CCTV.Heavy rain continued to fall in Beijing as well as in Hebei, Tianjin and eastern Shanxi as Doksuri dissipated over northern China, the China Meteorological Administration said. Continue reading...
Nearly 200 injured at gathering of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party ahead of elections expected later this yearAt least 44 people have been killed and almost 200 injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan's north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that targeted a political party gathering.Police said the explosion at a rally on Sunday afternoon for the conservative Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam party (JUI-F), a government coalition partner, was carried out by a suicide bomber who detonated his explosives vest close to the stage where several senior leaders of the party were sitting. Continue reading...
Improvised and atrocious' decision in 2019 made Italy the only major western member, says Guido Crosetto, the defence ministerJoining China's vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was an atrocious" decision, Italy's defence minister has said, and the issue was how to leave it without damaging ties with Beijing.Guido Crosetto said in an interview published on Sunday that the move made four years ago under a previous government had done little to boost exports, while Chinese exports to Italy had soared. Continue reading...
Nick Timothy chosen as Tory candidate in West Suffolk constituency set to be vacated by former health secretaryA man seen as one of the key architects of Theresa May's disastrous 2017 election campaign has been selected by the Conservative party to fight Matt Hancock's seat at the next general election.Nick Timothy abruptly resigned from his post as May's chief of staff when MPs put pressure on her to get rid of him, shortly after the party lost its majority in the 2017 vote and had to turn to the DUP to form a government. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Deputy political editor on (#6DDDY)
Party says recruits with relevant skills could help tackle government's abysmal' record on unsolved crimesDirectly recruiting new police detectives from parallel fields such as business fraud investigation could help tackle the government's abysmal" record on unsolved crimes, according to a proposal from Labour.Analysis by the party found that 90% of recorded crimes do not get solved and there has been a 60% reduction in the proportion of offences that result in a criminal charge since 2015. Continue reading...
At least seven injured after violence between Fatah and Islamists in Ain al-Hilweh campAt least six people have been killed after fighting broke out in Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp near the southern port city of Sidon, Palestinian officials said on Sunday.UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, put the death toll at six, and Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two children were among seven people wounded at the Ain al-Hilweh camp. Continue reading...
Nigel Farage calls for royal commission as data shows big jump in customers being debanked'Banks are closing more than 1,000 accounts every working day, according to new data that has fuelled the growing row over so-called debanking" and prompted Nigel Farage to call for a royal commission to investigate what he said was a scandal.Hours after the former Ukip leader revealed he was spearheading a website to campaign on behalf of people whose accounts had been shut, data revealed a big jump in the numbers of customers dumped by their bank. Continue reading...
Review of spinal expert John Bradley Williamson identifies poor surgical technique, record-keeping and communication with patientsA leading spinal surgeon's botched operations left patients with serious blood loss, long-term pain and mobility problems, a damning report has revealed.It found that John Bradley Williamson's unacceptable and unprofessional behaviour" severely or moderately harmed 20 patients at Salford Royal hospital, once regarded as one of England's safest. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Deputy political editor on (#6DDAZ)
Exclusive: moves against what PM terms anti-motorist' policies follow order of review into low-traffic neighbourhoodsMinisters are considering restrictions on councils' ability to impose 20mph speed limits as part of a new shift against green policies and traffic schemes, a stance condemned by safety and travel groups as shortsighted and divisive.The Guardian has been told the push against what Rishi Sunak has termed anti-motorist" policies could be extended to find ways to stop local authorities taking other measures, such as installing bus gates, that have been used routinely for decades. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker Deputy political editor on (#6DDCF)
Overlapping concepts of LTNs and modal filtering' - a staple of postwar planning - creates challenge in how to categorise schemesWhile the concept of the low-traffic neighbourhood, or LTN, first entered the UK political mainstream during the Covid pandemic, the basic concept - filtering streets for different types of traffic - is older. Much, much older, in fact.Some ancient Roman cities, including Pompeii, used stone posts set in the road to stop carriages reaching the central plaza, while allowing unimpeded access for pedestrians and less cumbersome forms of transport. Continue reading...
David Quigley, 69, died in October after being beaten in his own home by a 15-year-old boyThe brother of a man who died after being assaulted in his own home has said he has been excluded from justice" after magistrates barred him from court on the grounds that his presence would put the teenage attacker under undue stress".Tom Quigley called on the Ministry of Justice to ensure bereaved relatives are not excluded from the court process after he was prevented from reading out a victim impact statement detailing his devastation at the lonely death of his older brother, David. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#6DD8Y)
Any help the community gets pales in comparison with their loss and traumaFalse economy does not begin to describe the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's approach to the Grenfell Tower refurbishment.It was not just how the council shaved a few hundred thousands pounds from the cladding budget by switching from zinc, that was expected to be fire-retardant, to plastic-filled combustible panels. Continue reading...
Bloc issues ultimatum authorising potential use of force if Mohamed Bazoum is not released within weekA powerful bloc of west African states has suspended ties with Niger after a coup there and authorised the possible use of force if the country's democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, is not released and reinstated within a week.The ultimatum was delivered by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) as France warned that any attacks on French citizens or its interests in Niger - a former colony - would provoke an immediate and stringent" reaction. France's embassy in Niamey, Niger's capital, was targeted during pro-junta and pro-Russia protests on Sunday. Continue reading...
Town's civic society wants to mark bicentenary with mini salt and pepper pots but can't decide which is whichNew York has the Empire State Building; Sydney has its opera house. Goole has its salt and pepper pots", a pair of water towers that are the closest thing the east Yorkshire town has to a landmark.The towers have been a source of local pride for almost 100 years, but now a debate has ignited over which structure is which after the local historical society announced plans to immortalise them in a cruet set. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#6DD8Z)
Exclusive: Costs now 4,000 times amount saved by replacing fire-retardant materials with combustible claddingThe financial cost of the Grenfell Tower disaster has reached nearly 1.2bn - 4,000 times the amount that was saved by replacing fire-retardant cladding with a cheaper combustible alternative during the disastrous refurbishment.The bulk of the cost is being met from the public purse, dwarfing the compensation to bereaved and survivors paid by companies involved in wrapping the west London council's block in combustible materials before the fire in June 2017 that killed 72 people.481m has been spent or budgeted for its Grenfell response by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which owned the tower and authorised cost-cutting decisions that contributed to the scale of the disaster. A large part of this was required to buy new homes for survivors.291m has been allocated by central government for costs associated with its ownership of the site, which will become a memorial.The public inquiry and police investigation, neither of which have yet concluded, have so far cost a combined 231m.Arconic, which made the combustible cladding, has spent 35m on lawyers and other advisers, and it recorded a liability of 47m in its accounts for settling civil claims.Close to 900 bereaved and survivors have so far received 150m in compensation through civil court proceedings, a figure confirmed in the latest annual accounts of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. Continue reading...
Diners dig in at the Bank Tavern, rated as the hardest place in the world to get a reservationIf anticipation heightens pleasure then diners at one Bristol pub must be ecstatic by this point. With customers waiting up to four years to sample its award-winning meals, the Bank Tavern in central Bristol looks to be one of the hottest tickets not just in town but anywhere.So popular are Sunday roasts at this 19th-century pub that it long ago closed its reservation system to new bookings. Only the very patient, lucky few have been able to secure one of the just seven tables inside for its famed Sunday roast sittings. Continue reading...
Problems with first two phases, from London to Birmingham and then to Crewe, do not appear to be resolvable'The HS2 rail project, which has been beset by severe delays and soaring costs, has been branded as unachievable" by the government's infrastructure watchdog.Having analysed plans for the construction of the first two phases of the high-speed line, from London to Birmingham and then on to Crewe, the Infrastructure and Projects Authority said the project wass not, in its view, deliverable in its current form. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Labour is benefiting from drop-off but must up its game', says countryside organisationRural voters are becoming increasingly politically homeless", ministers have been warned, as polling suggests that support for the Conservatives in the countryside has rapidly declined.Labour is the main beneficiary but must up its game" to see the change translate into votes at the next general election, said Jonathan Roberts, the director of external affairs at the Country Land and Business Association (CLA). Continue reading...
Searches carried out after report of a man falling down embankment into River WyeThree men have been arrested on suspicion of murder as police investigate whether a missing man was involved in an altercation before falling into a river in Hereford.A man called West Mercia police at 12.05am on Saturday and said his friend, a man in his 20s, had fallen down the embankment into the River Wye near Victoria Bridge. Continue reading...
Committee concerned illegal migration legislation will jeopardise sharing of DNA, fingerprinting and criminal recordsThe UK's post-Brexit policing pact with the EU on sharing DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records could be put at risk by Suella Braverman's migration laws, a House of Lords committee has said.Lady Hamwee, the chair of the Lords justice and home affairs committee, has written to the home secretary to say its members are particularly concerned" that the new illegal migration legislation along with new data laws could lead to the termination and/or suspension" of the security cooperation elements of the Brexit trade deal. Continue reading...
Brian Bell says ministers have let social care become reliant on low-paid and vulnerable foreign workersMinisters have allowed England's creaking social care system to become too heavily reliant on low-paid foreign workers who are vulnerable to exploitation, the government's migration adviser has warned.In a strongly worded intervention, Prof Brian Bell, who has just been reappointed by the home secretary, Suella Braverman, as chair of the migration advisory committee (MAC), called the government's tacit acceptance of exploitation in the sector appalling". Continue reading...
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