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Working group member shares Liberal Bridget Archer’s concern Coalition’s no campaign in danger of running ‘adjacent to racist views’

Exclusive: Simon Birmingham, Marise Payne and Paul Fletcher spoke out against plan as Julian Leeser proposed allowing MPs a free say

New pouches for beef are said to be ‘too compressed’ and ‘like I’ve bought someone’s kidney’Sainsbury’s has said it is determined to make more “bold moves” to cut plastic and defended itself against criticism of new packaging for mince which shoppers have criticised as “very medical”, “too compressed” and “vile”.The supermarket said last month it was the first UK retailer to vacuum pack all its beef mince, part of the retailer’s efforts to halve its use of plastic packaging on its own-label products by 2025. Continue reading...

Competition watchdog calls for evidence deal could give online retailer dominance in smart home marketAmazon’s $1.7bn takeover of the owner of the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner is being examined by the UK’s competition watchdog.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has called for evidence on whether the deal could lead to “a substantial lessening of competition within any market or markets in the United Kingdom for goods or services” and so would require a full investigation. Continue reading...

French president makes plea as two leaders hold first of series of high-level meetings in Beijing

Outrage as Indigenous communities claim company is operating on illegally deforested land and lacks environmental permitsThe US ambassador to Peru has sparked outrage among Indigenous groups and environmental NGOs by visiting a controversial palm oil company and praising it for abstaining from deforestation and as a leader of sustainable agricultural practices.In a tweet last week, Lisa Kenna commended the company, Ocho Sur, as an example of US-Peruvian ties and as the leading employer in the Peruvian Amazon region of Ucayali. Her expression of support came after she made the solo visit last week while on a trip with her British, German and Norwegian counterparts to the Peruvian Amazon city of Pucallpa. Continue reading...

But Richard Holden also says efforts will be made to avoid people needing to leave port to access local services

Faisal bin Farhan and Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Beijing for talks after Chinese brokered agreementThe Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers have met for the first time in seven years, weeks after the two countries came to an agreement, brokered by Chinese officials, to restore diplomatic relations.Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Iran’s Hossein Amir-Abdollahian met in Beijing to discuss the reopening of embassies, the appointment of ambassadors and a planned visit to Saudi Arabia by Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s president. They also discussed resuming flights between the two countries and issuing travel visas for each others’ citizens. Continue reading...

Resignation the latest protest at federal party room’s decision to campaign against referendum

Halifax says market has been helped by easing of borrowing costs

Mobile phones with 4G or 5G signal will make siren sound and vibrate at 3pm on Sunday of testThe first nationwide test of a public warning system that sends alerts to UK mobile phones will take place at 3pm on Sunday 23 April.The emergency alerts system is designed to broadcast urgent messages in the event of a disaster such as severe flooding, fires or extreme weather. Continue reading...

Black Equity Organisation seeks judicial review over Suella Braverman’s decision to drop three reform commitmentsA leading civil rights group has launched legal action against the home secretary over her decision to abandon several crucial reform commitments made as a result of the Windrush scandal.The action by the Black Equity Organisation (BEO) comes as a petition with 50,000 signatories urging Suella Braverman to reconsider is to be delivered to Downing Street later on Thursday. Continue reading...

Liam Garner’s Pan-American adventure lasted a year – now he’s eyeing another odyssey, and planning to write a book about itA US teenager who reported being robbed and even hospitalized while spending more than a year bicycling from northern Alaska to southern Argentina is now mulling plans for a similar trip from Europe to Asia.Liam Garner and his trip across the Americas, which he completed in January, has drawn headlines from international news outlets including CNN, Insider and the BBC. But he is insisting he’s not done with his efforts, which he says demonstrate that one doesn’t have to be rich to travel internationally. Continue reading...

Health watchdog reverses decision not to recommend olaparib for patients with genetic faultThe NHS in England is to offer thousands of cancer patients the world’s first cancer drug to target an inherited genetic fault, after a U-turn by the health watchdog.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) opted last year not to recommend olaparib for breast cancer patients with the so-called “Angelina Jolie gene” because of its high cost. The pioneering drug’s list price is £2,317.50 for one pack of 150mg tablets, excluding VAT. Continue reading...

ChatGPT falsely identified Brian Hood as guilty party in foreign bribery scandal. In reality he blew the whistle on the illegal schemeA regional Australian mayor said he may sue OpenAI if it does not correct ChatGPT’s false claims that he had served time in prison for bribery, in what would be the first defamation lawsuit against the automated text service.Brian Hood, who was elected mayor of Hepburn Shire, 120km northwest of Melbourne, last November, became concerned about his reputation when members of the public told him ChatGPT had falsely named him as a guilty party in a foreign bribery scandal involving a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Australia in the early 2000s. Continue reading...

Finance minister Katy Gallagher says government working through reports that recommend eligibility changes to payment

First meeting since pension changes were presented in January was over in an hour, and unions emerged calling for more protestsHundreds of thousands of people across France are expected to protest on Thursday against Emmanuel Macron’s rise in the minimum pension age from 62 to 64, after talks between trade unions and the prime minister failed to ease tensions.France will face another day of strikes affecting transport, schools and refineries, amid anger over the government’s use of an executive order to push through the pensions changes without a parliamentary vote last month. Continue reading...

Commissioner Katarina Carroll lacks ‘no confidence’ powers to dismiss staff, unlike her counterparts in other states

Announcement comes just before court ruling on whether to strip father of Maria Moskalyova of parental rights for his criticism of Ukraine war

Pearson, one of the architects of the Uluru statement from the heart, called Dutton an ‘undertaker preparing the grave to bury Uluru’

News of invitation follows announcement that US president will visit Ireland and Northern Ireland next weekJoe Biden has accepted an invitation from King Charles III for a state visit, a White House spokesperson has said.The invitation was made during a “friendly” 25 to 30 minute phone call in which Biden congratulated the king on his upcoming coronation, which the US president will not attend. Continue reading...

About 170 organisations warn ministers not to put people in military bases, barges and ferries around the countryMinisters have been warned of a “humanitarian catastrophe” if asylum seekers arriving in the UK are accommodated in camps on military bases and on barges.Approximately 171 organisations – including the Refugee Council, Choose Love, faith groups, city of sanctuary representatives and law centres – have written to Rishi Sunak urging him to “listen to common sense” and scrap plans for asylum camps at former RAF bases at Scampton in Lincolnshire, Wethersfield in Essex and Catterick in North Yorkshire and the site of a former prison in Bexhill in East Sussex, along with proposals to use ferries and barges. Continue reading...

Sir Mark Rowley vows to ‘lift the stone’ – but says rooting out every unfit police officer could take yearsScotland Yard is battling its biggest corruption crisis since the 1970s, its commissioner has warned, as new evidence emerged of the widespread bungling of sexual and domestic abuse claims against officers.The review of past allegations was triggered by the David Carrick scandal, where the force missed repeated clues that the Metropolitan police firearms officer was a threat to women, while he attacked at least 12 victims over a 20-year period, committing 85 serious crimes.Checks on 10,000 of the Met’s 50,000 officers and staff against police databases showed 38 cases of possible misconduct and 55 cases of a potential association with a criminal, all of which will be investigated further.Gross misconduct investigations, which can lead to sackings have risen 62% to 431, with such hearings taking less time to be held.A total of 144 officers were suspended from duty, double that from September 2022, with 701 on restricted duties.There has been a 70% increase in those dismissed – or leaving before they could be sacked – in the last six months. Continue reading...

No charges have been laid over the crash itself which happened late Tuesday night

Blackpool South MP reportedly offered to lobby on behalf of gambling industry and leak confidential documentA Conservative MP who reportedly offered to lobby ministers on behalf of the gambling industry and leak a confidential policy document for up to £4,000 a month has had the party whip suspended.Scott Benton, the MP for Blackpool South, was caught by undercover reporters for the Times posing on behalf of a fake investment fund saying he could “call in favours” from colleagues and get “easy access” to ministers when queueing for parliamentary votes. Continue reading...

US judge says he ‘would not quash’ subpoena from Dominion Voting Systems requesting testimony from mogul and son LachlanA judge in Delaware on Wednesday said Dominion Voting Systems can compel Rupert Murdoch and Lachlan Murdoch to testify in the election machines company’s $1.6bn defamation suit against Fox News.If Dominion files the appropriate subpoena, Judge Eric M Davis said, “I would not quash it and I would compel them to come.” Continue reading...

Fourth man is released from detention after arrest in March of 10 guards who protected UK embassy staff in AfghanistanThe Home Office has paused plans to remove three Nepali guards who protected British embassy staff in Afghanistan to their home country, while releasing a fourth from detention.Bam Bahadur Gurung, a 37-year-old Nepali national who worked in Afghanistan for more than a decade, was released from detention on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading...

National Public Radio protests decision to give US broadcaster same designation as Russia’s RT and China’s Xinhua News AgencyTwitter on Tuesday evening labeled the account of National Public Radio (NPR) as US state-affiliated media, drawing fierce criticism from the news organization’s leadership.Other publications with the label include Russian propaganda network RT and China’s Xinhua News Agency. Continue reading...

Historical drama Jeanne du Barry stars actor as Louis XV and marks his first film in three years after defamation trialA French historical drama starring Johnny Depp is slated to open this year’s Cannes film festival.According to reports, Jeanne du Barry, which stars the actor as Louis XV, will be unveiled on the Croisette on 16 May at a high-profile premiere. The film marks a major comeback for Depp after a much-publicised defamation trial involving his ex-wife Amber Heard. Continue reading...

Remains of Linda Mary Beardy, 33, spotted by staff at Canadian garbage dump where other bodies have previously been foundPolice in Canada say the body of another Indigenous woman has been found at a Winnipeg landfill, in the latest grim episode of the country’s crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.The body of Linda Mary Beardy, a 33-year-old mother from Lake St Martin First Nation, was spotted on Monday by staff at the Brady landfill. Continue reading...

Anniversary of 1973 album featuring iconic lightning bolt cover to be marked with exhibition, music and poetry in central LondonThe famous flash of lightning across David Bowie’s closed eyelid was a tiny emblem gracing the rock star’s cheekbone until the celebrated photographer Brian Duffy stepped in.“He told the makeup artist ‘No, no, not like that’,” said the photographer’s son, Chris. So Duffy grabbed some lipstick to draw an outline of a much bigger flash … and Aladdin Sane was born.Aladdin Sane: 50 Years is at the Southbank Centre until 28 May Continue reading...

French president and EU leader in Beijing for meeting with Xi Jinping

This live blog has now closed, you can read more on this story hereAnother snippet from the questions that Humza Yousaf has been taking from reporters this morning.He said that he does not believe the continuing police investigation into party finances was part of the reason why his predecessor Nicola Sturgeon quit as party leader. Continue reading...

Human rights groups and Conservative council criticise move to house 500 men on Bibby Stockholm vessel in Portland PortThe Home Office is on a collision course with a Conservative council and MP, as well as human rights groups, after confirming it will house about 500 asylum seekers on a giant barge off the Dorset coast.In a statement, the Home Office said the Bibby Stockholm, to be berthed in Dorset’s Portland port, would accommodate single men in “basic and functional accommodation” and healthcare, and would be cheaper than housing them in hotels. Continue reading...

Crash that killed Derek Jacobs and Charles Scripps ‘would not have occurred’ had there been a hard shoulder, coroner findsA crash on a smart motorway that killed two pensioners would not have happened if there had been a hard shoulder, a coroner has said.The inquest finding led to renewed calls from campaigners for smart motorways to be halted and hard shoulders reintroduced. Continue reading...

Introduced in 1995 and based on a set of hexagonal tiles, game has sold millions of copies and is available in more than 40 languagesKlaus Teuber, the creator of the hugely popular Catan board game, has died after a brief illness, according to a family statement. He was 70.The board game, originally called The Settlers of Catan when introduced in 1995 and based on a set of hexagonal tiles, has sold tens of millions of copies and is available in more than 40 languages. It has spawned dozens of spinoffs and new editions, including electronic versions, not to mention products related to the game. Continue reading...

Young people had been sleeping rough across city after being rejected as minors by French authoritiesMore than 180 homeless young refugees have taken over a disused nursery school building in the west of Paris to protest against the inhuman treatment of unaccompanied minors arriving in France from Africa.Backed by three French charities, the young people who had been sleeping rough across Paris for months arrived overnight at the old school building, which has no running water or electricity, and slept under blankets. Continue reading...

Warning for year ahead comes as profits fell 11% at grocery arm but remained steady across rest of groupThe Co-operative Group has warned its profits are likely to fall in the year ahead as the food to funerals group expects the “turbulent economic headwinds, including inflationary pressures” to continue.While that “volatile external environment” contributed to an 11% fall in profits at the 160-year-old mutual’s grocery arm, which has more than 2,000 stores, the group said underlying operating profits across the business had remained steady at £100m. Continue reading...

Document signed by almost three-quarters of Welsh women in 1920s arrives in Aberystwyth after transatlantic journeyThere were tears of joy, speeches of hope, and sighs of relief that all had gone smoothly after an extraordinary century-old document reputedly seven miles long completed its transatlantic trip back to Wales.The peace petition, signed by almost three-quarters of all Welsh women in the 1920s but forgotten until the last few years, arrived at the National Library of Wales on Wednesday after being gifted to the country by the National Museum of American History in Washington. Continue reading...

Trip is first time Ukrainian president and first lady have travelled abroad together since Russia invaded

Exclusive: Sussan Ley, Dan Tehan and Anne Ruston claim win for rural Australia over decision to speed up processing of 887 visa, but it lets holders choose where to live, including cities

More than $95m has been lost to scams so far this year, while the big four are expected to make more than $33bn

Party increasingly targeting Tory rural councils and ex-Conservative voters who it says feel taken for granted

Probe into Nicola Sturgeon’s husband could affect party’s finances, damage its new leader and cost it seats in the next general election

Richard Hutter charged up to £35 for counterfeit albums by bands like the Beatles and Nirvana over six-year periodA businessman who made more than £1m selling fake vinyl records was caught after a fan of punk band the Clash complained that the sound quality of an LP he had bought was not as sharp as it should have been.Trading standards officers launched an investigation into Richard Hutter and found that he had been selling thousands of counterfeit records to rock and pop fans over a six-year period. Continue reading...

Pressure mounts on lobby group after revelations of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by its staffThe UK government has suspended its relationship with the Confederation of British Industry, as pressure mounts after the Guardian revealed multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by the lobby group’s staff.Sources said engagement between key Whitehall departments and the CBI had been “paused” pending the outcome of an investigation by the lobby group into a range of fresh allegations, including rape and drug-taking. Continue reading...

CWU says ‘unacceptable pressures’ placed on postal workers, as bosses say offer to union was increasedTalks between Royal Mail and postal workers have ended without a deal, raising the prospect of further industrial action disrupting the UK’s letter and parcel deliveries.The talks between postal service bosses and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) at the Westminster-based Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service ended after 1am on Wednesday with the two sides failing to reach agreement on pay and conditions. Continue reading...

Bereaved parents and orphaned children unrecognised, says Brian Langstaff ahead of full report into NHS’s ‘biggest treatment disaster’More people who lost loved ones during the “biggest treatment disaster in the NHS” should be entitled to compensation, the chair of the infected blood inquiry has said.It has been estimated that thousands of people were infected with HIV and hepatitis by contaminated blood between 1970 and 1991. Continue reading...

Tokyo-listed Toridoll partners with Capdesia to acquire pizza and Greek casual dining business Fulham ShoreThe owner of Franco Manca and The Real Greek restaurant chains has agreed to sell the business to the Japanese operator of Wok to Walk and Marugame Udon for £93.4m.Toridoll, which is listed on the Tokyo exchange and has sales of £1bn worldwide, said it had partnered with the restaurant sector specialist fund Capdesia to buy the London-listed pizza and Greek casual dining group Fulham Shore for 14.15p a share in cash. Continue reading...