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Constitutional context is backdrop to challenge to Westminster - which also links to independence argument

No legal definition of word means foods labelled vegan do not have to be completely free of animal-derived productsThe vegan diet has soared in popularity in the last five years but some meat substitutes labelled as vegan contain milk or egg, according to an analysis of products.Market-research firm Mintel found that sales of products such as meat-free sausages had doubled from 289m in 2017 to 586m in 2021. Last year sales fell slightly by 6%, even though 49% of people eat meat substitutes regularly. Continue reading...

Businessman's barrister says money due to be paid to Hiroko Barclay is held up by lendersThe latest stage of a long-running legal battle between one of the UK's highest-profile businessmen and his ex-wife has been branded a charade" by a high court judge after another delay.Sir Frederick Barclay, 88, owned a number of interests in media, retail and property, with his now deceased brother, Sir David Barclay. Continue reading...

Police release 46-year-old woman on bail after incident in which an eight-year-old girl was killedAn eight-year-old girl and a woman in her 40s are in a critical condition in hospital after the driver of a Land Rover, who has now been released on bail, crashed her car into a preparatory school killing another eight-year-old.The woman, 46, who has not been named, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving in Wimbledon on Thursday. Continue reading...

Stonegate Pub Company was found guilty of health and safety breach after death of Olivia Burt, who was injured in queue outsideA judge has fined the UK's largest pub group 1.56m after it was found guilty of a health and safety breach which contributed to the senseless and avoidable" death of a first-year university student queueing to get into a venue in Durham.Olivia Burt, a 20-year-old natural sciences student from Milford on Sea in the New Forest, died in February 2018 when a heavy decorative screen being used to manage the queue into the city centre's Missoula bar collapsed and fell on her. Continue reading...

Tournament director says tennis club needs to balance preserving traditions with technological innovationLine judges dodging serves at breakneck speed and arguing with hot-headed players could soon become a thing of the past.Wimbledon is considering replacing the on-court officials with artificial intelligence. Continue reading...

Jamie Barrow sentenced to life with minimum of 44 years for killing Fatoumatta Hydara and her daughters, aged one and threeJamie Barrow has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 44 years for murdering a mother and her two young children by pouring petrol through their letterbox and setting fire to it.Fatoumatta Hydara, 28, and her daughters, Fatimah Drammeh, three, and Naeemah Drammeh, one, died of smoke inhalation after the blaze at their flat in Clifton, Nottingham, in November last year. Continue reading...

Final vehicle built at factory in Cologne as carmaker moves over to electric vehiclesThe last Ford Fiesta leaves the assembly line on Friday, marking the end of an era for a model that sold 22m vehicles globally and is the UK's all-time bestselling car.As the final vehicle leaves production in its factory in Cologne, Germany, Ford will be ushering in a new line of electric vehicles. Continue reading...

Chapman sentenced to life with minimum term of 48 years for shooting Edwards, 26, outside pub on Christmas EveThe man who shot Elle Edwards outside a Merseyside pub on Christmas Eve has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 48 years at Liverpool crown court.Connor Chapman, 23, used a military-grade submachine gun to spray bullets at a group of people from a rival housing estate outside the Lighthouse Inn, in Wallasey, Wirral, his trial heard. Continue reading...

10 people killed in Lviv missile strike; US poised to send cluster munitions to Ukraine

Broadcasters are barred from opinionated campaigning and regulator has been playing catch-upMedia regulator Ofcom has launched an investigation into GB News after a complaint about its Don't Kill Cash" campaign.The move, which follows several other investigations into the controversial broadcaster, comes days after it launched a campaign to stop what it calls the UK's transformation into a cashless society", urging people to sign a petition and force a debate in parliament about the subject. Continue reading...

While South Korea offers official support, China and other voices in region continue to express concerns over discharge from nuclear plantThe publication this week of the UN nuclear watchdog's positive assessment of Japanese plans to pump more than 1m tonnes of water from the wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean has failed to placate opponents.China is fiercely opposed to the plans, despite a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) backing the scheme, while the support of the government of South Korea has failed to quell widespread public opposition to the idea in the country. Continue reading...

Drowning of Samuel and Finlay Butler, Thomas Stewart and Jack Johnson in frozen lake was terrible accident'Police officers risked their lives to form a human chain across a frozen lake in Solihull to try to reach four boys who drowned after falling through the ice, an inquest into their deaths has heard.Brothers Samuel and Finlay Butler, aged eight and six, and their cousin Thomas Stewart, 11, had gone to Babbs Mill Lake, Kingshurst, on 11 December last year to feed the ducks, while Jack Johnson, 10, was skimming stones with friends. Continue reading...

Union at Eurocontrol network manager operations centre in Brussels warns of industrial actionAir traffic control managers in mainland Europe are planning to strike this summer, potentially exacerbating disruption to holiday flights should French strikes continue.One of the unions at the Eurocontrol network manager operations centre, the Union Syndicale Bruxelles (USB), has given formal warning of strikes in the next six months but has yet to set any firm dates. Continue reading...

Conservationists say reintroduction of reptile could contribute to restoring ancient biodiverse wetlandsThe European pond turtle could be swimming in British rivers and lakes again thanks to a new crowdfunded campaign as conservation scientists seek sites for an experimental reintroduction.Global heating is believed to be making Britain increasingly suitable for the enigmatic species, which may have vanished because of global cooling thousands of years ago but is now threatened by droughts in southern Europe. Continue reading...

At least two killed as strongest summer storm since 2017 fells trees and disrupts travelThe Netherlands and northern Germany have been battered by a rare and powerful summer storm this week.Storm Poly struck the south and east of England on Tuesday before intensifying over the North Sea overnight. It slammed into the Netherlands on Wednesday morning, bringing fierce winds and heavy rain. Continue reading...

Mary Bousted urges ministers to publish recommendation from pay body, thought to be 6.5%, and fund schools to pay itMinisters could ward off potential teachers' strikes in the autumn term in England if they accept a salary increase recommended by the teachers' independent pay review body, the head of the biggest education union has said.Teachers who belong to the NEU continued industrial action on Friday. Mary Bousted, the joint general secretary of the union, said: This could stop. What the government must do is publish the independent pay review body recommendations." Continue reading...

The toddler died at Perth Children's hospital less than 24 hours after being sent home by a GP, according to the family and advocates

More than 80 injured after blaze believed to have started in a bedroom sweeps through first floorSix people have died and more than 80 were injured after a fire swept through a care home in Milan overnight.The blaze began shortly after 1am on Friday in Casa dei Coniugi, home to 167 residents. Continue reading...

Average price of property drops by 2.6% year on year in June as mortgage rates climb

Anthony Albanese highlights commission's extraordinary' conclusion that former PM's evidence was untrue'

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NSW police say shots were fired at a business on the busy main street of inner-west suburb on Friday afternoon

Recommendation of referrals included in sealed chapter' of 1,000-page report with findings handed to federal government and released publicly

Catherine Holmes' report is damning for the Coalition and the public service, yet the reckoning she advocates will take more than policy change

Greg Slater is co-founder with his wife Sharon of Family Watch International, a US group accused of financing propaganda about sexual and gender diversityA group of human rights organisations in Africa renewed their calls this week for the American multinational Intel Corporation to dismiss a senior employee over his alleged involvement in fanning the growing anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment in several countries, including Kenya and Uganda.In a change.org petition, supported by more than a dozen organisations, the rights groups claim that Greg Slater, Intel's vice-president of global regulatory affairs, has been actively responsible for exporting, financing, and spreading hate, homophobia" on the continent for decades, through the American conservative organisation, Family Watch International. Continue reading...

Warner Bros says map is child-like' after Vietnam accused film-makers of depicting China's nine-dash line in South China SeaWarners Bros has described a map that appears in its coming Barbie movie as a child-like crayon drawing" with no intended meaning, after Vietnam said it would ban the film after claiming the map depicted the disputed South China Sea.The Barbie movie provoked controversy in both Vietnam and the Philippines over its inclusion of the map that apparently features China's nine-dash line". The line marks China's claim to much of the South China Sea - a demarcation opposed by Vietnam and other south-east Asian countries and which was repudiated by an international tribunal in The Hague in 2016. Continue reading...

Arrests comes days after Hong Kong issued warrants for eight overseas-based dissidentsHong Kong police have arrested a fifth person accused of supporting overseas activists who allegedly endangered national security, in a further expansion of a government crackdown on pro-democracy dissidents.Police detained a 24-year-old man at the city's airport on Thursday, a day after four other people were arrested for allegedly using companies, social media and mobile applications to receive funds for the overseas activists. Continue reading...

Ban on the use of phones by students while at school will bring the state into line with other jurisdictions

Government plans to abolish section 40 law under which news publishers are liable for libel trial legal costsLabour is heading for a potentially bruising clash with UK news publishers over a controversial piece of post-Leveson press regulation.Shadow ministers are set to incur the wrath of some of Britain's most powerful press bosses, including Rupert Murdoch, by opposing the repeal of a rule designed to force news publishers to sign up to the government-backed regulator. Continue reading...

Offer comes after the Health Services Union gave the government until Friday to propose a new pay deal

A signaller reportedly called in sick at the last minute and no replacement was immediately available

Federal government tells court it cannot supply footage for use in Bruce Lehrmann's defamation proceedings. Lehrmann has consistently denied the rape allegation

Ex-PM Scott Morrison spent nearly half a million taxpayer dollars for legal bills while Christian Porter spent almost $800,000

Overspend blamed on government indecision, despite eight years spent planning and designing projectThe estimated 4.8bn cost of HS2's endangered Euston terminus could balloon further unless the government becomes clear what it is trying to achieve", the public accounts committee has warned.In a highly critical report, MPs on the committee said the Department for Transport (DfT) was yet to establish the design and expectations for the station" against what it was willing to spend", despite spending more than eight years planning and designing the London terminus. Continue reading...

US reportedly considering sending cluster munitions banned by most of world under treaty US, Russia and Ukraine did not sign

Government data shows marked reduction against same period last year, reversing trend of destruction during Bolsonaro reignAfter four years of rising destruction in Brazil's Amazon, deforestation dropped by 33.6% during the first six months of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's term, according to new government satellite data.From January to June the rainforest had alerts covering 2,650 sq km (1,023 sq miles), down from 4,000 sq km during the same period last year under former president Jair Bolsonaro. This year's data includes a 41% plunge in alerts for June, which marks the start of the dry season when deforestation tends to jump. Continue reading...

The secretary general, Antonio Guterres, called on Israel to abide by international law after its attack on Jenin in the West BankIn a rare condemnation of Israel, the UN has denounced the country's excessive use of force in its largest military operation in two decades targeting a refugee camp in the West Bank.The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, clearly angered by the impact of the Israeli attack on the Jenin refugee camp, said it had left over 100 civilians injured, forced thousands to flee, damaged schools and hospitals and disrupted water and electricity networks. Continue reading...

Alleged victim says actor was hiding in plain sight' as he made sexual comments and grabbed him at theatreAn alleged victim of the actor Kevin Spacey has accused him in court of being insensitive" after claiming his decision to come out as gay was used to disguise" his behaviour.The actor was hiding in plain sight" as he allegedly directed a machine gun" of vile sexual comments at the man in a London theatre and grabbed him in an intimate area, a court heard. Continue reading...

Organization will no longer send individuals down to Titanic wreckage or elsewhere after five killed on subNearly three weeks after its submersible vessel Titan imploded, killing all five people on board, OceanGate is suspending all exploration and commercial operations.The organization posted on its website on Thursday that it would no longer be sending individuals down to the wreckage of the Titanic, or elsewhere. Continue reading...

US set to announce new weapons aid package for Ukraine; Kyiv and Moscow urged to stop using cluster munitions; at least five killed in strike on Lviv

London-born musician Dumile Daniel Thompson, 49, had a lack of oxygen to his brain after a reaction to a blood pressure drugAn NHS trust has apologised for the substandard care given to MF Doom, an underground rap icon who died aged 49 while having hospital treatment.The artist behind songs including Accordion and That's That, whose real name was Dumile Daniel Thompson, died in October 2020 due to a lack of oxygen to his brain after a reaction to a drug prescribed for blood pressure. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lady Lawrence calls decision a disgrace' after announcement despite errors made by senior detectives leading to suspects remaining freeThe mother of Stephen Lawrence has said it was a disgrace" for prosecutors to decide not to bring charges against four senior detectives accused of bungling the first investigation into the teenager's murder.The Crown Prosecution Service spent more than two years considering whether the errors made in the weeks after the 18-year-old was murdered were so serious that they amounted to the criminal offence of misconduct in public office. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Grayson Perry and Olivia Colman lead group of creative figures supporting Keir Starmer's plan to improve human' skillsA group of prominent actors, artists and authors have praised Labour's proposal to instil more creativity in the school curriculum, saying the arts currently risk being a pursuit that only the most privileged can follow".The open letter, signed by Grayson Perry, Olivia Colman, Simon Rattle, Adrian Lester and Patrick Stewart, follows Keir Starmer's pledge to reprioritise creativity and other human" skills in a world of artificial intelligence. Continue reading...

Having survived the collapse of its parent organisation, the festival returns with a slimmed-down eventThe Edinburgh film festival, which until recently faced the threat of permanent shutdown, has announced the complete lineup for its 2023 edition.The festival plans to show 36 features - 24 of which are new - over six days in August, having shifted its dates from June to return to its traditional late summer berth that coincides with the rest of the city's large-scale festival activity. Continue reading...

Government loses legal challenge to block Boris Johnson's unredacted WhatsApps from being handed to official Covid inquiryStarmer is now being heckled by someone complaining about his lack of commitment to a green new deal.He says he has already given a speech on this. He offers to speak to the protesters later.Keir Starmer asked two protesters holding a banner saying Green New Deal now" to let me finish" as they interrupted his speech.The Labour leader told the pair he would speak to you after" as they accused of him of U-turning on his 28bn green prosperity plan, before being led off stage by security.I promise you this, wherever there are obstacles to opportunity, wherever there are the barriers to hope, my Labour government will tear them down. Continue reading...

The Liberal senator is vying for a winnable spot on the party's federal ticket at Friday's preselection

Backbenchers respond to police bounties placed on activists, as minister challenged over meeting with Chinese officialHong Kong officials involved in targeting UK-based pro-democracy activists who had bounties placed on them should be subject to sanctions, opposition and Tory backbenchers have urged the government.A Foreign Office minister responding to concerns raised in parliament was also challenged by one of her own colleagues over her recent meeting with a Chinese official, whom the Tory MP Tim Loughton described as China's chief dissident snatcher." Continue reading...

Chatbot said it was impressed' when Jaswant Singh Chail told it he was an assassin' before he broke in to Windsor Castle, court hearsA man who planned to assassinate the late queen with a crossbow drew encouragement from an AI chatbot in the days before breaking into the grounds of Windsor Castle, the Old Bailey has heard.Jaswant Singh Chail, who was 19 at the time, also exchanged thousands of often sexually charged messages with Sarai, his AI girlfriend, before scaling the fence to the royal estate on Christmas Day 2021, the court was told. Continue reading...

Labour leader's five missions' may lack detail and sound cautious, but contain novel ideas and outline framework for governmentPolitics is full of paradoxical moments, and thus it was for Keir Starmer that his speech explaining the urgency of helping young people express themselves was interrupted by two notably eloquent examples, who proceeded to accuse him of a U-turn on green policies.As the duo stepped forward from the young and telegenic lineup placed behind the Labour leader at MidKent College in Gillingham, unfurling a banner, you could almost hear the exasperated sighs of frustration from Starmer's aides. Continue reading...