Four people have been killed as authorities warn severe weather conditions will continue in New Zealand’s north islandHeavy rainfall continued to batter New Zealand’s north island, causing landslides, flash floods and knocking out roads, with the death toll rising to four after a person who had been missing was confirmed dead.Battered by rain since Friday, Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city of 1.6 million people, remained under a state of emergency on Sunday. The nation’s weather forecaster, MetService, warned of more severe weather on Sunday and Monday for the north island. Intense rainfall could also cause surface and flash flooding, it said. Continue reading...
EU president says Ukraine has unconditional support ahead of summit; Russian strike kills three people in a residential district of eastern UkraineThe European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said ahead of an EU-Ukraine summit next week that Ukraine had unconditional support from the bloc and needed to prevail against Russian attacks to defend European values. “We stand by Ukraine’s side without any ifs and buts. Ukraine is fighting for our shared values, it is fighting for the respect of international law and for the principles of democracy and that is why Ukraine has to win this war.”A Russian strike killed three people in a residential district of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka on Saturday, the regional governor said. Fourteen other people were wounded in the attack, which also damaged four apartment buildings and a hotel. According to Ukraine’s defence ministry, Russia carried out attacks on Konstantynivka with multiple rocket launchers.Russia accused the Ukrainian military of deliberately striking a hospital in a Russian-held area of eastern Ukraine on Saturday. It said a strike killed 14 people and wounded 24 patients and medical staff. The strike hit a hospital in the Russian-held settlement of Novoaidar and was carried out using a US-supplied Himars rocket launch system, the Russian defence ministry said. The claims could not be independently verified, AP reported.Kyiv and its western allies are engaged in “fast-track” talks on the possibility of equipping Ukraine with long-range missiles and military aircraft, a top aide to Ukraine’s president says, AP reported. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Ukraine’s supporters in the west “understand how the war is developing” and the need to supply planes capable of providing cover for the armoured fighting vehicles that the United States and Germany have pledged.Ukraine said on Friday it would take its pilots about half a year to train for combat in western fighter jets such as US F-16s, as Kyiv steps up its campaign to secure fourth-generation warplanes. Ukraine got a huge boost this week when Germany and the United States announced plans to provide heavy tanks to Kyiv, which is now hoping the west will also provide long-range missiles and fighter jets.North Korea on Saturday denounced US pledges of battle tanks, claiming Washington was “further crossing the red line” to win hegemony by proxy war, Reuters quoted state media KCNA reporting. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, made the remarks in a statement, saying that North Korea will “stand in the same trench” as Russia against the United States.Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, will hold a meeting with Lynne Tracy, the new US ambassador to Moscow, early next week, the RIA news agency reported.Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday redoubled his efforts to stop Russian athletes participating the 2024 Olympics, saying they would try to justify the war against Ukraine if allowed to compete. Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukraine would launch an international campaign to keep Russia out of the summer games, which will be held in Paris. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Friday that any attempt to squeeze Moscow out of international sport because of what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine was “doomed to fail”. Continue reading...
Benjamin Netanyahu announces punitive steps against Palestinians in response to attacks that killed seven IsraelisBenjamin Netanyahu has announced a series of punitive steps against Palestinians in response to a pair of shootings in Jerusalem that killed seven Israelis and badly wounded five others.The steps, announced late on Saturday, include new moves to “strengthen” Jewish settlements, the Israeli prime minister’s office said. Continue reading...
Champagne flows as former general defeats billionaire populist rival Andrej Babiš by largest margin in the country’s historyPetr Pavel, a retired general and former senior Nato commander, has swept to the Czech presidency after a landslide victory over the former prime minister Andrej Babiš in an election overshadowed by rows over the war between Russia and Ukraine.With nearly all the votes counted, returns showed Pavel prevailing by the emphatic margin of 58.3% to 41.68%, the largest ever recorded in a Czech presidential poll and reflecting an advantage of more than 958,000 votes nationwide. Continue reading...
Some people due to fly with regional airline had booked tickets just hours before firm collapsed“I got an email asking me to check in, and 10 minutes later they had gone into administration.”Andrew Gibbins was one of hundreds of passengers across the UK who have expressed frustration at regional airline Flybe, which abruptly announced its collapse on Saturday morning, telling any passengers expecting to travel with it not to go to the airport. Continue reading...
by Kevin Rawlinson (now); Joe Middleton and Adam Fult on (#689FD)
Information follows the Ukrainian army’s withdrawal from the nearby city of Soledar last weekBattlefield tanks are only half the battle. Beyond military might on the ground in Ukraine, the other critical confrontation in which the Kremlin has a superiority that must be challenged. The information war.Russia’s media space has reverted to a grotesque parody of the Soviet-era model. (In fact, it’s far worse, as in the latter Soviet years at least when most people knew they were being fed lies.) Television and the domestic press is utterly captured. Millions are fed a daily diet of Ukrainian “fascists”, western pederasts, and nuclear revenge on Anglo-Saxon civilisation.A new barrage of Russian shelling killed at least 10 Ukrainian civilians and wounded 20 others in a day, the Ukrainian president’s office has said. Towns and villages in the east and in the south that were within reach of the Russian artillery suffered most, regional officials said. Six people died in the Donetsk region, two in Kherson and two in the Kharkiv region, Associated Press quoted the officials as saying on Friday.A day earlier, Russian-fired missiles and self-propelled drones were reported to have hit deeper into Ukrainian territory, killing at least 11 people.Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described the situation on the frontline as “extremely acute”, particularly in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is stepping up its offensive. “The occupiers are not just storming our positions – they are deliberately and methodically destroying these towns and villages around them,” the Ukrainian president said, reporting major battles for Vuhledar and Bakhmut. Local Ukrainian officials reported heavy shelling in the north, north-east and east.Russia’s deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, will hold a meeting with Lynne Tracy, the new US ambassador to Moscow, early next week, the RIA news agency reported today.Ukrainian troops were locked in “fierce” fighting with Russian forces for control of Vuhledar, a town south-west of Donetsk, on Friday. Both sides claimed success in the small administrative centre, a short distance from the strategic prize of the village of Pavlivka, Agence France-Presse reported. The Donetsk region’s Moscow-appointed leader, Denis Pushilin, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Vuhledar may soon become a “very important success for us”, while Kyiv said the town remained contested.Ukraine’s army claims to have killed 109 Russian soldiers and wounded another 188 in one day during fighting around Vuhledar. Serhii Cherevatyi, a spokesperson in the Ukrainian armed forces, said the death toll was recorded on Thursday, adding that “fierce fighting is ongoing”.Poland will send an additional 60 tanks to Ukraine on top of the 14 German-made Leopard 2 tanks it has already pledged, the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has told CTV News.A total of 321 heavy tanks have been promised to Ukraine by several countries, Ukraine’s ambassador to France said on Friday. Vadym Omelchenko told French TV station BFM that “delivery terms vary for each case and we need this help as soon as possible”, while not specifying the number of tanks per country.Belgium announced an additional €94m ($102m/£82.5m) package in military aid for Ukraine in what the Belgian prime minister, Alexander De Croo, said was – including previous spending – the largest of its kind Belgium had ever given another country.Ukraine said it is setting up drone assault companies within its armed forces that will be equipped with Starlink satellite communications, as it presses ahead with an idea to build up an “army of drones”, Reuters reported. The army’s commander-in-chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, signed off on the creation of the units in a project that would involve several ministries and agencies, the general staff said.Ten regions of Ukraine are instituting emergency power outages due to a power shortage in the network after Thursday’s Russian attacks, Ukraine’s state broadcaster has reported. Repairs to damaged facilities are continuing.The European Union wants swift accountability for “horrific” crimes in Ukraine, EU justice ministers have said while meeting in Stockholm. But the member states differ over how to bring prosecutions, seek evidence or fund war damage repairs. Continue reading...
by Sophie Zeldin-O'Neill and Danya Hajjaji on (#689SB)
Mark Drakeford and his wife married in 1977 and have three childrenClare Drakeford, the wife of Wales’s first minister, Mark Drakeford, has died suddenly, the Welsh government announced on Saturday.A Welsh government spokesperson said: “It is with deep sadness that we confirm the sudden passing of Clare Drakeford, wife of the first minister. Continue reading...
Piece acquired by English painter in antiques shop in 1960s has been confirmed as lost work by Italian sculptorSometimes a hunch pays off, and when the English painter John Craxton recognised a work of genius for sale in a London antiques shop, he made very much the right call.Craxton parted with £250 for an unusual chandelier he suspected was by the great sculptor Alberto Giacometti. Now that chandelier, made in the late 1940s, may sell at Christie’s in a few weeks’ time for as much as £7m. Pieces by the revered Swiss artist are the most expensive sculptures to buy at auction, and his work regularly breaks saleroom records. Continue reading...
University had paid some postgraduate researchers less than minimum wageOne of England’s most prestigious universities has been forced to increase the pay of some of its PhD students after it was found to have paid them an annual sum that effectively meant they were getting below the national minimum wage.Durham University’s trade union branch said it was shocked to discover last September that PhD students teaching on the institution’s popular law course were being paid £15,000 a year. The University and College Union (UCU) said that this would make them among the lowest paid in the sector. Continue reading...
PM allegedly given advice about inquiry into minister’s taxes when he appointed him Tory party chairRishi Sunak was told there could be a reputational risk to the government from Nadhim Zahawi’s tax affairs when he appointed him as Conservative party chair in October, sources have told the Observer.During the period when the prime minister was drawing up his new cabinet, senior government officials gave him informal advice about the risks from an HMRC investigation that had been settled just months earlier, sources said. Continue reading...
Daniel Abed Khalife was charged on Friday over two incidents at RAF Stafford in BeaconsideA 21-year-old serving member of the British army accused of committing a “bomb hoax” and a terror offence at an RAF base has appeared in court.Daniel Abed Khalife, of Beacon Barracks, Beaconside, Stafford, had a brief preliminary hearing at Westminster magistrates court on Saturday. Continue reading...
Intricately carved stones that fell down drain at ancient pool uncovered by archaeologists in CarlisleTaking your valuables with you into a swimming pool is always a risk. The Romans should have paid better heed, judging from the quantity of gemstones recovered from the drain of one of their bathhouses.As many as 30 semi-precious stones have been discovered by archaeologists almost 2,000 years after their owners lost them at a site in modern-day Carlisle, just behind Hadrian’s Wall. Continue reading...
Stratford residents fear planned MSG Sphere concert hall will ruin their sleep with light pollutionEast London residents are being warned that light pollution from a controversial huge new concert venue – the MSG Sphere – will be “like a sun on Earth”. The message comes from neighbours of a Las Vegas version, more than 5,000 miles away.Plans for the new concert hall in Stratford took a step closer to realisation last week when the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) approved plans for its advertising display covered with more than one million light emitting diodes that will show videos and adverts from dawn until late. Continue reading...
Organisation clarifies initial advice, which included term in list of phrases it thought could be dehumanisingThe Associated Press Stylebook, considered one of the most reliable guides to correct use of the English language for journalists, has apologised after producing a list of terms it thought could be dehumanising that included “the French”.The organisation tweeted advice not to use generic labels for groups of people who share a single common trait, giving as examples the poor, the mentally ill and the college-educated. It also included grouping together everyone from the European nation under the same banner. Continue reading...
Customers advised not to go to airport and to contact their booking agentThe regional airline Flybe has ceased trading and cancelled all its scheduled flights, leaving passengers stranded and hundreds of crew without jobs.The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) announced that the company had gone into administration and urged those with booked Flybe flights not to travel to airports. Continue reading...
New government register shows how offshore jurisdictions used for ownership of nearly 200 properties including hotels and country estatesThe royal families of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar own more than £1bn of UK property via offshore jurisdictions, such as Jersey and the British Virgin Islands, the Guardian can reveal.Nearly 200 properties, including hotels, London mansions and country estates, belong to a few small but super-rich dynasties, according to analysis of a new government register that reveals who is behind offshore companies that own UK property. Continue reading...
‘That ship has sailed,’ says disgraced former minister in wake of conviction of sitting MP Claudia WebbeThe disgraced former minister Keith Vaz has denied claims he plans to stand again as the MP for Leicester East after Labour officials imposed new controls upon candidate selection procedures in the city.Amid growing speculation that the former head of the home affairs select committee is poised to make a comeback after the conviction of the sitting MP Claudia Webbe for harassment, he told the Guardian: “That ship has sailed.” Continue reading...
Daniel Abed Khalife charged over incidents in Staffordshire in August 2021 and January 2023A 21-year-old member of the British army has been charged with terror and explosives offences over two incidents in Staffordshire in August 2021 and January this year, the Metropolitan police have said.Daniel Abed Khalife, of Beaconside, Stafford, is accused of eliciting or attempting to elicit information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism in August 2021. Continue reading...
Four protesters found guilty of public nuisance after stopping traffic at Bishopsgate in October 2021A judge has warned four climate activists they could face a jail sentence after being found guilty of causing a public nuisance during an Insulate Britain protest.Judge Silas Reid spoke after a jury convicted the environmental protesters after a five-day trial at Inner London crown court. Continue reading...
Alleged actions of man, 74, were an attempt to force Spanish authorities ‘to abstain from supporting Ukraine’A 74-year-old Spanish man accused of sending six letter bombs and explosive devices to targets including the Ukrainian and US embassies and the office of the Spanish prime minister last year has been denied bail because of the risk that he could flee to Russia.Police in northern Spain arrested the man on Wednesday in connection with the devices, the remainder of which were sent to the defence minister, an airbase near Madrid, and a weapons company that manufactures the C90 rocket launchers that have been donated to Ukraine. Continue reading...
British Gas, E.ON and Scottish Power demand scrutiny of process by which rival acquired collapsed BulbOctopus has labelled its rivals “desperate” while British Gas has claimed the energy supplier benefited from “hugely advantageous” terms in landing a deal for Bulb, during a courtroom clash.In a court hearing in London on Friday, the energy firms traded blows in the fallout from Octopus’ deal to buy Bulb from a government-handled administration last October. Continue reading...
Leslie Allen recruited plotters but plan ‘failed spectacularly’ after jurors became suspiciousA drugs kingpin, a rogue juror, his mother, and a mechanic have been jailed for attempting to fix a trial.Boxing promoter Leslie Allen, 66, recruited a team of stooges to help him get off charges of having £150,000 of cannabis and cocaine and a pepper spray in 2018. Continue reading...
Police say investigation into deaths of two people after crush at London venue is ‘vast and complex’The Metropolitan police are conducting a “vast and complex” investigation into the deaths of two people after a crush at a south London music venue last month, which will probably result in criminal charges, an inquest heard on Friday.Speaking at the opening of the inquest at London Inner South coroner’s court into the deaths of Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, and Gaby Hutchinson, 23, DCI Nigel Penney, the Met’s senior investigating officer in the case, told the court: “It’s a vast and complicated process. It’s a huge investigation.” Continue reading...
Body of Olivia Perks, 21, was found in her room at Berkshire military school on 6 February 2019A young female army officer cadet was the victim of “gross sexual misconduct” by senior officers before she was found dead in her room at the prestigious Sandhurst academy, an inquest has been told.The body of Olivia Perks, 21, was discovered at the elite military training school in Berkshire on 6 February 2019. An earlier inquest hearing recorded her provisional cause of death as “asphyxia due to hanging”. Continue reading...
Data shows sharp decline in students from Italy, Germany and France with Brexit seen as primary deterrentThe number of EU students enrolling in British universities has more than halved since Brexit – with sharp declines in scholars from Italy, Germany and France, figures reveal.Brexit is seen as the primary deterrent, with home fees and student finance no longer available to EU students who do not already live in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Continue reading...
Internet Watch Foundation reports rise in UK children aged seven to 10 manipulated into abusing themselves on cameraInternet predators have exploited a rise in online activity during lockdown to manipulate primary school age children into abusing themselves on camera, with reports of such imagery rising by more than 1,000% in the UK since 2019.The Internet Watch Foundation received reports of 63,050 webpages containing images and videos of children aged seven to 10 sexually abusing themselves on camera last year, an increase of just over 1,000% on the year before the coronavirus pandemic. Continue reading...
Platform will also use technology from ChatGPT’s artificial intelligence firm, Open AI, to ‘inform’ brainstormingBuzzFeed is reportedly planning to use artificial intelligence to personalize and enhance its online quizzes and content, the company announced to employees this week.Jonah Peretti, the chief executive, announced the efforts in an internal memo. Continue reading...
Singer said the situation in UK was ‘so bad’ and it was time to ‘change the bloody government’Rod Stewart called a phone-in segment on Sky News to offer to pay for people to have hospital scans, amid the rising number of people on NHS waiting lists.The 78-year-old rock star, who has previously backed the Conservatives, said he had never seen the situation in the UK “so bad” and called for Labour to be given a chance to run the country, adding: “Change the bloody government.” Continue reading...
by Jessica Elgot Deputy political editor on (#6880F)
Cabinet told about bleak outlook for governing party at next general elections at Chequers awaydayThe Conservatives must “relentlessly focus” on inflation and the NHS if they are to have a chance at the next election, cabinet ministers have been told.Rishi Sunak gathered ministers at his country retreat Chequers on Thursday for a midday political cabinet – where a number of ministers gave presentations on the government’s key priorities and took a fresh look at the strategy for the next election. Continue reading...
Police chief says 80 officers will be immediately dispatched to subways and stations as attacks bring city to ‘crisis point’Toronto police has announced plans to deploy more officers on the city’s public transport system as a transit workers’ union warned that a string of random attacks on passengers had brought Canada’s largest city to “crisis point”.The city’s police chief, Myron Demkiw, said on Thursday that 80 officers would be immediately dispatched to subways and stations “to enhance the safety and security” of transit users. Earlier in the day, police arrested one person following reports of teens shooting at a passenger with a BB gun. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker and Kalyeena Makortoff on (#687VY)
Move comes as chief executive of HMRC increases pressure by saying there are ‘no penalties for innocent errors’Nadhim Zahawi has offered to share his tax information with an inquiry into his financial affairs, as the head of HMRC added further pressure on the Tory chair by saying there were “no penalties for innocent errors”,Zahawi wrote to Jim Harra, the chief executive of HMRC, on Wednesday night authorising him to pass on any relevant information from his records to Laurie Magnus, Rishi Sunak’s ethics adviser, a source said. Continue reading...
Head of UK’s intelligence, cyber and security agency to leave in summer afte nearly six years in roleThe director of GCHQ is set to stand down after almost six years in the role.Sir Jeremy Fleming will end his tenure in the summer after facing challenges such as the Salisbury nerve agent attack and the potential involvement of Huawei in the UK’s 5G network. Continue reading...
Palestinian leaders cut security ties with Israel after deadly gun battle at Jenin refugee campIsraeli forces have killed nine Palestinians during a raid in the north of the occupied West Bank in the deadliest single day in the territory in years, prompting Palestinian leaders to cut security ties with Israel and leaving international mediators scrambling to prevent the violence from escalating.A 61-year-old woman and a male civilian were among the dead, the Palestinian health ministry said, and about 20 more people were seriously injured in the violence on Thursday morning. Two of the casualties were claimed by the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another four by Hamas, and one by the armed wing of the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction. Continue reading...
Robinson forced a woman to have sex with him under threat of killing the man with whom she was on a first dateThe government’s top law officials are reviewing a jail sentence handed to a man who forced a woman to have sex with him to save the life of a man with whom she was on a first date.Downing Street said on Thursday the case of Sean Robinson had been referred to the attorney general’s office under the unduly lenient sentencing scheme after Robinson was given a five-year jail term for the attack. Continue reading...
by Mark Brown North of England correspondent on (#687R1)
Former Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam accused of making fraudulent expenses claims of nearly £30,000A former Labour MP accused of expenses fraud was thousands of pounds in debt to a drug dealer and regularly took up to five grams of cocaine a day, a court has heard.Jared O’Mara also once drank a litre of vodka before a television interview with BBC Look North and believed “a shadowy government cabal” was out to get him, his former chief of staff Gareth Arnold said in messages and police interviews read to jurors at Leeds crown court. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Fire service chief says he will ask MoD for help if unions do not cover ‘high-risk calls’Hundreds of troops could return to Northern Ireland as cover for striking firefighters, the Guardian can disclose.The head of the region’s fire service has said the army will be formally requested to provide cover unless unions agree to do so for “high risk calls”. The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has refused to do so without an increased pay offer. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#687Q0)
Analysts warn of legal challenges if bill makes inmates’ access to gender recognition certificates easier – though jail allocation is decided case by caseThe outcry over the placement of the convicted double rapist and transgender woman Isla Bryson in a women’s prison is set against anxieties about Scottish Prison Service policy on trans prisoners and how Scotland’s gender recognition reforms could affect that.In 2014, the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) introduced its gender identity and gender reassignment policy, which it developed with the Scottish Trans Alliance. It advises that – where an individual is permanently living in a gender other than that assigned at birth – “establishment allocation should usually be the new gender in which they are living”. Continue reading...
Drax and one EDF unit had been warmed up in response to request over strike concerns and not cold snapNational Grid has stood down coal-fired power stations that had been instructed to warm up on Thursday after France’s network operator sounded the alarm over the impact of strike action.Two units at Drax in Yorkshire and one at West Burton in Nottinghamshire were asked to fire up just before midnight on Wednesday. The West Burton unit was stood down at 5.13am, and the Drax units were later also informed they would not be called into action. Continue reading...
Dr Ben Dawson had declined to acknowledge Jake Davison’s suitability to own a weapon, inquest hearsJake Davison’s GP was never told that his patient, who went on to kill five people, had been granted a shotgun certificate after the doctor declined to provide an opinion on his suitability to own a weapon, an inquest has heard.Dr Ben Dawson said he refused because he was not qualified to comment on the “assessment of behavioural and personality disorders”. Continue reading...
MP who lost Tory whip after appearing to compare vaccines to Holocaust says he is suing Hancock for £100,000An independent MP who lost the Tory whip after appearing to compare Covid vaccines to the Holocaust is suing Matt Hancock for criticising his remarks.Andrew Bridgen is suing the former health secretary for £100,000 over a tweet in which Hancock accused Bridgen of spouting “antisemitic, anti-vax, anti-scientific conspiracy theories” over the vaccine. Continue reading...
Suella Braverman’s abandonment of key commitments is the latest in a series of blows to those seeking justiceLast year Anthony Williams decided to leave the UK after 53 years, 13 of which were spent as a soldier serving with the Royal Artillery. He said his decision to move was directly linked to the pain of being caught up in the Windrush scandal and his sense of disappointment that government promises to make amends were being quietly abandoned.“I just didn’t feel welcome any more. I spent the best part of my life serving the British army, and when I needed help everyone turned their back on me,” he said by telephone from Jamaica. Williams arrived in Birmingham aged seven in 1971, with his mother, a hospital cleaner, and his father, who worked at the Longbridge British Leyland car manufacturing plant. He was wrongly classified as an illegal immigrant and sacked from his job in 2013, and spent five years nearly destitute, unable to work or claim benefits. Continue reading...
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