Scotland records its highest temperature yet for 2023 and whole of UK could follow suit on Easter SundayThe UK was hotter than Rome on Saturday, while Scotland recorded its highest temperature of the year so far.The mercury rose to 17.3C in Kinlochewe in the Scottish Highlands as Britons basked in glorious sunshine over Easter weekend. Continue reading...
Three-times Wimbledon champion describes eight months in jail as ‘very, very different experience to what you see in the movies’Boris Becker has spoken of his “brutal” prison experience in the UK, adding that during his incarceration he had to surround himself with “tough boys” for protection.The three-times Wimbledon men’s singles champion served eight months of his two-and-a-half-year sentence for hiding £2.5m of assets and loans in a bankruptcy fraud case. He was released from prison in December and deported from the UK. Continue reading...
All ski tourers survived the slide near summit of the Alphubel with light to moderate injuriesNine skiers survived a major avalanche high in the Swiss Alps on Saturday, emerging with only light to moderate injuries.All nine were found by rescuers and airlifed to hospital, police said. Continue reading...
Women who break Islamic dress code will be identified, warned on first instance and then taken to courtPolice in Iran plan to use smart technology in public places to identify and then penalise women who violate the country’s strict Islamic dress code, the force said on Saturday.A statement said police would “take action to identify norm-breaking people by using tools and smart cameras in public places and thoroughfares”. Continue reading...
Consultants who refuse to do extra work threatened with having their pay docked as NHS trusts race to empty their wardsHospital trusts are taking desperate measures to limit the predicted loss of life from this week’s NHS strikes – including threatening consultants who refuse to do extra work, and tempting junior doctors to cross picket lines by increasing locum pay – as fears grows that many wards could be left without medical cover.NHS leaders and senior clinicians fear the four-day walkout by junior doctors – starting at 6.59am on Tuesday and continuing until 6.59am on Saturday – will lead to the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of operations and appointments, while putting seriously ill patients at greater risk. Continue reading...
Co-host of Frank Skinner’s Absolute Radio show dies from injuries sustained in car crash in late MarchComedians across the UK have paid tribute to the comic Gareth Richards, who has died aged 41 from injuries sustained in a car crash on the M25 last month.Richards’ wife, Laura, said in a statement on Saturday: “It is with great sadness that I have to share that Gareth passed away on Friday 7 April (Good Friday) at 6.30pm. Continue reading...
Former first minister says she ‘will get on with her job’ in statement outside Glasgow home raided by police last weekNicola Sturgeon has pledged to “fully cooperate” with police after the arrest of her husband, the SNP’s former chief executive, during an investigation into party finances.Speaking publicly today for the first time since Peter Murrell’s arrest, the former first minister admitted that recent days had been “obviously difficult” in a brief statement outside the couple’s Glasgow home, which police had raided three days earlier. Continue reading...
The rocket attack that followed air strikes and mosque raids failed to provoke all-out war, but it must surely be inevitableThe groves of southern Lebanon had been quiet for nearly 17 years. But as farmers tended to orange trees and banana crops on Thursday, rocket men lurked among them, readying the biggest barrage fired into Israel since the war of 2006 and taking a startled region to the precipice of another conflict that leaders on both sides of the border fear will be worse than all before them.Familiar sights of streaks through a clear blue sky, sirens and billowing smoke from impact sites were soon replaced by fear and trepidation. In Beirut and Tel Aviv, an escalation seemed imminent. But as a troubling afternoon wore on, the apocalyptic showdown between Hezbollah and Israel that had been widely predicted started to fizzle. Rhetoric was of measured responses. Israel was content to blame Palestinian groups and put a distance between them and Hezbollah. War could wait, for now. Continue reading...
A mix-up on dates meant Rasikh Aziz travelled from Pakistan too soon. Now the University of Law has reported him to the Home OfficeAn international student who travelled to the UK two months early after being given the wrong enrolment date by his university is facing deportation after it reported him to the Home Office.Rasikh Aziz was incorrectly told by the University of Law that he must arrive by October 2022 for a postgraduate course beginning in January 2023, according to documents seen by the Observer. He subsequently flew to the UK and presented himself at the university’s Birmingham campus, where he had an induction, underwent an ID check and was issued with a student card. In January, he began attending classes without a problem. Continue reading...
Actor Melody Thornton apologises for disruption of Manchester performance after police called and disruptive theatregoers removedActor Melody Thornton has apologised to fans after a performance of the Bodyguard at Manchester’s Palace theatre was forced to end early and police were called to deal with two disruptive audience members.The last 10 minutes of the musical, in which the former Pussycat Dolls star plays the lead role, were axed on Friday night after several members of the audience refused to remain seated and refrain from loudly singing, leading to them being “forcibly removed”. Continue reading...
12-year-old is remanded into secure accommodation until crown court appearance on TuesdayA 12-year-old boy accused of murdering a 60-year-old woman by running her over with her own car in Sheffield has been remanded into secure accommodation by magistrates.Marcia Grant died after she was trapped under her Honda Accord, which is alleged to have been reversed over her at speed outside her semi-detached home in the Greenhill area of the city on Wednesday evening. Continue reading...
Industry leaders fear new entry restrictions and the UK’s tarnished image among some Europeans have caused a decline in EU visitorsFrench and German tourists are beginning to avoid the UK, tourism leaders fear, because of post-Brexit restrictions on travelling with identity cards.Since anti-Covid measures ended across Europe last year, tourism has started to recover, but there are growing signs that significant numbers of French and Germans – two of the largest markets for UK tourism – are staying away. Continue reading...
Exclusive: UK government concedes it cannot substantiate assertion that majority crossing Channel are economic migrantsThe Home Office has admitted it has no evidence to back up one of the key justifications for its crackdown on small boat crossings.As home secretary, Priti Patel, the Tory architect of attempts to tackle Channel crossings, told parliament in 2021 that “70% of individuals on small boats are single men who are effectively economic migrants”. Continue reading...
Concerns over impact on patient safety of four days of strikes next week by junior doctors in EnglandUp to a quarter of a million medical appointments and operations could be postponed because of four days of strikes next week by junior doctors in England, the NHS Confederation has said.Dr Layla McCay, the director of policy at the confederation, which represents health trusts, said NHS bosses were more concerned about the impact of the latest strike than any other that had taken place so far. Continue reading...
Party president Mike Russell also says he does not think independence can be achieved ‘right now’A senior figure in the Scottish National party has said the party faces its biggest crisis in 50 years, amid a police investigation into its finances.Mike Russell, the SNP’s president and a former minister, also said he did not think independence could be achieved “right now”. Continue reading...
Government to take over care of Llys Rhosyr, the 13th-century site used by Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, to encourage more visitorsThe Welsh government has acquired the ruins of a medieval court used by the last native prince of Wales before the 13th-century English conquest of the country. The historic site will be conserved and presented for public view.Llys Rhosyr, in Newborough on the island of Anglesey, with views across the Menai Strait to the peaks of Eryri (Snowdonia), was an important administrative centre for Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, also known as Llywelyn the Last. Continue reading...
More than 50 early years staff without work after Merseyside service closed days after one-day strikeA group of early years workers who lost their jobs without warning days after a one-day strike have called on others in the sector to “stand up and be counted”.More than 50 staff, thought to be the first group of early years workers to have their union recognised in England, were put out of work, leaving 200 families scrambling to find childcare, when the Orchard nursery in Huyton, Merseyside, closed suddenly. Continue reading...
US Justice Department launches probe into possible leak of classified military papers; WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich charged with espionage in Russia but denies accusationThe US Justice Department has launched an investigation into the possible release of Pentagon documents that were posted on several social media sites including Twitter and appear to detail US and Nato aid to Ukraine, but may have been altered or used as part of a misinformation campaign. Associated Press reported that the documents were labelled secret and resembled routine updates the US military would produce daily. Reuters reported three unnamed US officials said Russia or pro-Russian elements were likely behind the leak and that the documents provided a month-old snapshot of the war and appeared to have been doctored to play down Russian losses.Three civilians were killed and 17 wounded over the past 24 hours in Russian artillery, missile and aerial attacks on 114 settlements in nine regions, the Ukrainian defence ministry said on Friday. Authorities in Russian-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine said seven civilians were killed on Thursday in two Ukrainian artillery strikes. Both sides deny targeting civilians.Russian Federal Security Service investigators formally charged Evan Gershkovich with espionage but the Wall Street Journal reporter denied the charges and said he was working as a journalist, Russian news agencies reported on Friday. Gershkovich is the first American journalist detained in Russia on espionage charges since the end of the cold war.The Ukrainian military said it had downed a Russian Su-25 ground attack jet near Marinka. A video showed a big explosion as the plane slammed into the ground, with its pilot descending on a parachute. The Russian military did not confirm the plane’s downing, AP reported.Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has threatened to abandon a landmark grain deal with Ukraine if obstacles to Moscow’s exports remained. The agreement last July allows Ukraine to export grain through a safe corridor in the Black Sea. “If there is no further progress in removing barriers to the export of Russian fertilisers and grain, we will think about whether this deal is necessary,” Lavrov told a news conference in Ankara alongside his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on Friday.Ukraine can resume exporting electricity after a six-month gap, given the success of repairs carried out after repeated Russian attacks, the energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, said on Friday. Last October, Ukraine halted exports of electricity to the European Union – its main export market for energy since the war began – following Russia strikes on energy infrastructure. “The most difficult winter has passed,” Halushchenko said.Ukraine has said Russia is concentrating all its efforts on capturing the eastern city of Bakhmut, where it described the situation as “difficult” but said it was holding out. The UK Ministry of Defence said earlier that Russian forces had “highly likely” advanced into Bakhmut’s town centre and seized the west bank of the Bakhmutka River, severely threatening Ukraine’s key supply route to the west.Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday criticised Russia’s treatment of the Muslim-minority Tatar community in Kremlin-controlled Crimea and vowed to recapture the peninsula from Russia during a first official state iftar. Speaking outside the centre of the capital, Zelenskiy announced Ukraine was beginning a new tradition of hosting an official iftar, the meal breaking the daily fast during the month of Ramadan.
Ex-president has told aides to hire failed congressional candidate and anti-Muslim campaigner, New York Times reportsDonald Trump has told aides to hire the far-right anti-Muslim activist and failed congressional candidate Laura Loomer for a role in his campaign to return to the White House in 2024, the New York Times has reported.Citing four anonymous sources, the Times noted that Loomer, 29, attended Trump’s speech at Mar-a-Lago in Florida on Tuesday night, an angry rant delivered hours after the former president pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges in New York over hush money payments, including to the porn star Stormy Daniels. Continue reading...
Death toll may rise as many people are still missing after attack in northern-central Benue stateForty-six bodies have been found after gunmen attacked a rural village in central northern Nigeria, local government officials said, the latest in a series of deadly assaults in the region.The attack happened on Wednesday in Umogidi in Benue state, where tit-for-tat clashes are common between nomadic herders and settled farmers competing for land and resources. Continue reading...
UAE accused of non-cooperation by South Africa after court rules against extraditing tycoons Atul and Rajesh GuptaSouth Africa said on Friday it had learned with “shock and dismay” that the United Arab Emirates had turned down its request to extradite two brothers accused of orchestrating industrial-scale corruption.The justice minister, Ronald Lamola, bluntly accused the UAE of “non-cooperation” after being informed late on Thursday of a court ruling against extraditing the tycoons Atul and Rajesh Gupta. Continue reading...
Labour is pouring resources into Rutherglen and Hamilton for expected contest that could be ‘tipping point in Scottish politics’It was a small but deliberate act by Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s new first minister, a politician increasingly keen to distance himself from Nicola Sturgeon and one with a keen eye for symbolism.On Thursday, for his first briefing with Holyrood’s political correspondents at Bute House, the first minister’s elegant Georgian townhouse in Edinburgh, settees had been placed in a circle in the drawing room. Gone were the regimented ranks of chairs used by Sturgeon; gone was her lectern facing the room. Yousaf provided Tunnock’s chocolate wafers, tea and coffee. This, reporters were told before they sank into the sofas, was a fireside chat. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#6AK5J)
Retailers continue to encourage sugar consumption while paying lip service to healthy eating, report saysUK supermarkets have been accused of encouraging people to consume more sugar, despite the huge concern about its significant role in causing obesity, rotten teeth and type 2 diabetes.Food campaigners claim supermarkets are doing little to reduce the amount of sugar they sell across their product ranges and are misleading people about how much they are doing to tackle obesity. Continue reading...
Far-right mayor claimed Lima institution peddled false narrative of 1980-2000 conflict in which guerrillas and army killed 70,000It was supposed to be a museum of memories: a place of dialogue and reconciliation where Peruvians could commemorate the victims of a brutal internecine conflict which killed tens of thousands of people in the 1980s and 1990s.Since its controversial inception in 2015, the Place of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion has received about 60,000 visitors a year. Continue reading...
by Matt Andrews and Faye Hulton (MetDesk) on (#6AJWJ)
Wave of thunderstorms and tornadoes over the past few weeks resulted in deaths of 63 peopleSevere tornadoes hit the US this week, with at least seven reported on Tuesday in Illinois, while on Wednesday morning a powerful tornado tore through south-eastern Missouri causing widespread damage and at least five deaths in Bollinger County.According to the National Weather Service, the Missouri tornado lasted about 15 minutes with winds reaching peaks of 130mph. A wave of thunderstorms and tornadoes in the US over the past few weeks have resulted in the deaths of at least 63 people. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#6AJSZ)
New rules require birds to be tested and certified for five diseases before they can travel between UK and EUCute fluffy yellow plumes may be synonymous with Easter, but bird hobbyists have warned that a rare canary species bred for centuries in Britain may become a thing of the past because of Brexit.Access to the birds, particularly in the Netherlands and Belgium where canary and budgie breeding is also popular, has been lethally impeded by new rules. Each bird now has to be tested and certified for five diseases before it can travel between the UK and the EU. Continue reading...
Researcher say making scan at 36-37 weeks routine may also cut risk of severe complications for babiesGiving women a third scan at the end of their pregnancy could dramatically reduce the number of unexpected breech births and the risk of babies being born with severe health problems, research suggests.Pregnant women in the UK have routine scans at 12 and 20 weeks only, with no further scan offered in the third trimester unless they are considered at risk of a complicated pregnancy. The researchers hope their findings could lead to a change in guidance for clinicians that will improve maternity care. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#6AJRW)
Social worker who was run over by her own car outside Sheffield home described as ‘beautiful soul’The family of a “warm, loving and dedicated” social worker have spoken of their grief after a 12-year-old boy was arrested on suspicion of her murder.Marcia Grant, 60, died after she was run over by her own car outside her home in the Woodhills area of Sheffield at about 7.10pm on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Embarrassing incidents expose how existing policy allows secrecy, obfuscation and sell-offsThe policy on the receipt of gifts by the royal family was drawn up in 1995 and most recently updated in 2003. It is less a set of rules and more a policy or set of guidelines about how the family should behave. Continue reading...
Palace insists horses given to late queen, including 34 from emir of Dubai, were ‘personal gifts’King Charles III and his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, appear to have made almost £2m from the sale of horses that were gifts from prominent figures.The Guardian has identified more than 40 horses that were apparently given to the queen by a Dubai sheikh, a Muslim religious leader and a Saudi royal. Continue reading...
Project aims to help save molluscs after fall in numbers caused by habitat loss, pollution, the climate crisis and human exploitationHundreds of young freshwater pearl mussels – one of the UK’s rarest aquatic creatures – are to be released into a river at a secret spot in north Wales this summer as part of a project to save the molluscs from extinction.The juvenile mussels have been bred at a hatchery in the Brecon Beacons, in the south of the country, and will be carefully moved to the river in Gwynedd after it was restored to create the sort of conditions they are able to thrive in. Continue reading...
At least five other people taken to hospital with injuries as result of blaze in block of flats in NewhamA man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a woman died in a fire at a block of flats in east London, police have said.At least five other people were taken to hospital with injuries after the incident on Thursday in Beckton in Newham. Continue reading...
by Josh Halliday North of England correspondent on (#6AHRY)
Connor Chapman denies murdering beautician who was shot dead outside Wirral pub on Christmas EveA 23-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to murdering a beautician who was shot dead outside a pub on Merseyside on Christmas Eve.Elle Edwards, 26, is believed to have been an innocent bystander when a gunman opened fire outside the Lighthouse pub in Wallasey Village in Wirral. Continue reading...
Some critics have even asked if Police Scotland was asked to delay the operation. But there’s no sign she anticipated itWhen Nicola Sturgeon thought she had finished her resignation press conference at Bute House in February, and was gathering up her speaking notes, she was asked a direct question that seemed to make her grimace.Glenn Campbell, BBC Scotland’s political editor, asked her: “Have you been, or do you expect to be, interviewed by the police who are looking into your party’s finances.” Continue reading...
Awning of La Rotonde briefly in flames as hundreds of thousands of mostly peaceful demonstrators again take to streets across FranceHundreds of thousands of people have continued to demonstrate across France against Emmanuel Macron’s plans to raise the pension age to 64, with clashes breaking out between demonstrators and police on the edges of protests in cities including Lyon, Nantes and Paris.In the capital, protesters briefly set fire to the awning of the Left Bank brasserie La Rotonde, well known for hosting Macron’s controversial evening of celebrations when he led the first-round vote in the 2017 presidential election. Police said several hundred of what they described as “radical elements” set bins alight and threw projectiles at officers near the restaurant. Continue reading...
Kashif Anwar, 29, pushed Fawziyah Javed, 31, off Edinburgh hill, leading to death of wife and unborn childAn abusive man who pushed his pregnant wife from the Edinburgh landmark, Arthur’s Seat, days before she was set to leave him has been jailed for at least 20 years for her murder.Kashif Anwar, 29, from Leeds, was found guilty of the September 2021 murder of Fawziyah Javed, 31, and that of her unborn child, after a six-day trial at the high court in Edinburgh. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti Political correspondent on (#6AJ6B)
Daniel Greenberg has received complaints about Johnson allies disparaging privileges committeeParliament’s standards commissioner has left the door open to launching an investigation into attempts by Boris Johnson’s allies to disparage the credibility of the Partygate inquiry.A high number of complaints are thought to have been made to Daniel Greenberg about comments by the former prime minister’s supporters that the inquiry into whether he misled parliament was a “kangaroo court” and “witch-hunt”. Continue reading...
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