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Analysis of tax proposals shows a full-time employee on national minimum wage would gain £1 a weekLiz Truss’s “insulting” plans to help people with their energy bills would give the lowest paid just £1 a week when their costs will rise by an estimated £57, Labour has said.Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said Truss’s plans were not only uncosted but woefully inadequate, adding that reversing the national insurance rise would give those on the national minimum wage an estimated £1 a week – enough to cover just 3% of the increase in energy bills. Continue reading...

Head of election commission blames slow progress on political parties treating process like a ‘forensic audit’Kenya’s election count has dragged into its fourth day, after an election this week that pitted former prime minister Raila Odinga against the deputy president, William Ruto.On Friday, the head of Kenya’s election commission blamed the slow progress on disruptions by political parties, who he said were treating the process like a “forensic audit”. Continue reading...

Arts event interrupted by screams as people rushed to render aid to the novelist and subdue his assailant• Salman Rushdie: author in surgery after being stabbed in New York – liveThe Chautauqua summer arts festival in upstate New York is normally a calm and pleasant affair, drawing thousands of literary-minded people eager to commune with their favorite writers.That changed dramatically on Friday, when the famed novelist Salman Rushdie, who had just walked on to a stage to give a lecture, was stabbed by a man wielding a knife – transforming the faculty-lounge atmosphere into a blood-spattered scene. Continue reading...

Staff and media beneficiaries perplexed by ‘totally unnecessary disruption’ as institute pivots to promote ‘social change journalism’

Analysis: with Millennials and Gen Z outnumbering baby boomers, attention turns to the ‘youth vote’

Fears over escalating crisis at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant; Russian airbase deep behind frontline in Crimea damaged; anger over Amnesty report

Nusret Gökçe’s ‘ludicrous’ Nusr-Et Steakhouse charges more than £600 for a tomahawk steakThe London restaurant of Salt Bae, a flamboyant, condiment-sprinkling chef, has reported £7m in sales in its first three months.Nusr-Et Steakhouse, the outlet at the Park Tower hotel in Knightsbridge known for outrageously priced items such as tomahawk steaks wrapped in gold, also made pre-tax profits of £2.3m in the year to December having only opened its doors in late September, according to accounts filed at Companies House first reported by The National. Continue reading...

Network criticized for sharing manipulated image of Bruce Reinhart on a plane across from the convicted sex traffickerFox News has drawn criticism for sharing a photoshopped image of a US magistrate judge, Bruce Reinhart, who signed the search warrant on the recent FBI search of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property, sitting on a private plane across from convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell.Filling in for Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, guest host Brian Kilmeade showed viewers a digitally altered photo of Reinhart holding a bottle of liquor and a pack of Oreo cookies while sitting across from Maxwell with his feet in her lap. Continue reading...

Jaak Daemen helped liberate the Netherlands and capture the German admiral who succeeded HitlerThe last veteran of the Belgian SAS has died aged 97, marking the loss of another living link with the second world war in Europe.Jaak Daemen, a founder member of the Belgian SAS, which was created in 1944 to carry out sabotage and intelligence gathering behind enemy lines, died earlier this month. Continue reading...

CWU’s Andy Furey says issues at stake ‘are all remarkably similar’ across separate trade disputesPost Office workers will take their fourth round of industrial action over the August bank holiday weekend in an escalating row over pay that will overlap with strikes by workers at Royal Mail and BT.The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said on Friday that members will strike on 26, 27 and 30 August. Continue reading...

Top culture and dining gets city 85% approval rating; Aberdeen comes last and London rated seventhCobbled alleys, medieval stained glass windows and a mixture of independent shops and restaurants are just some of the reasons why York has been ranked as the best large city for a domestic holiday, according to a new annual survey from Which?The cathedral metropolis was rated 86% by members of the consumer group who visited the city – with top ratings for its food and drink offer and cultural attractions. Continue reading...

PM fuels Tory leadership dispute by saying UK will need to find more cash to help with surging bills

Staff mourn northern rockhopper with ‘massive personality’, killed when fox broke into enclosureThe oldest penguin in Edinburgh zoo has been killed after a fox broke into its enclosure, staff have announced.Mrs Wolowitz, 35, a northern rockhopper with a “massive personality”, was attacked late on Wednesday. Other penguins in the enclosure were not hurt and were doing well, the zoo added. Continue reading...

Accidentally launched video shows executives at outsourcing giant discussing £92m rise in profit amid union pay rowBosses at the outsourcing firm Amey celebrated a £500m jump in revenue and £92m rise in profits even as it clashed with workers over a below-inflation pay offer that a union says “would shame Scrooge”, a video reveals.The self-described “largest strategic supplier to government” employs thousands of staff on outsourced contracts and has been fighting calls from staff including school cleaners, caretakers and bin collectors to be paid the same level as those employed directly by councils. Continue reading...

Firefighters take eight hours to free man buried in rubble after road collapses close to VaticanA man has been rescued after becoming trapped in a tunnel in central Rome that he had allegedly been excavating in an attempt to rob a bank.It took firefighters eight hours to free the man, who was buried six metres down after part of a road collapsed on Via Innocenzo XI, close to the Vatican. Continue reading...

Organisers urge revellers to put out cigarettes carefully and stay hydrated in England’s latest heatwaveAs the Boomtown music festival opens its gates for the first time since 2019, organisers have placed a ban on open fires amid fears the extreme hot weather poses a significant hazard to crowds.Up to 66,000 people are expected to attend the four-day dance festival at the Matterley Estate, near Winchester, and have been warned not to use open fires and to be careful with stray cigarettes. Continue reading...

Shelagh Robertson, 75, not guilty by reason of insanity after collision in Cambridgeshire that killed Louis ThoroldA woman charged with causing a baby boy’s death through careless driving has been found not guilty by reason of insanity, with jurors finding that her undiagnosed dementia had affected her.Shelagh Robertson, 75, was driving home from a shopping trip to Tesco when she turned into the path of a van on the A10 at Waterbeach in Cambridgeshire on 22 January last year, Cambridge crown court heard. Continue reading...

Crew and passengers escape after Aria SF catches fire while anchored off Spanish island of FormenteraA brand-new £20m superyacht has been destroyed by fire in the Balearics weeks after it was delivered to its multimillionaire owner, the Italian car industry boss Paolo Scudieri.The 43.7-metre Aria SF caught fire on Thursday afternoon while anchored at Cala Saona, on the west coast of Formentera, according to Salvamento Marítimo, the Spanish sea search and rescue agency. Continue reading...

Firefighters from Romania, Poland, Austria, Greece and Italy fight blazes in show of ‘European solidarity’Hundreds of firefighters from across the EU have been rushed to France to help battle wildfires in an unprecedented show of international solidarity.Most are stationed along a 26 mile (40km) active fire-front in the south-west, where a blaze described as “monstrous” continued to devastate pine forests. Continue reading...

The Pharmacy Guild has pushed for the drugs to be made available without a prescription at community pharmacies due to national GP shortages. This blog is now closed

Getting a good shot is tricky so here are some tips to capture a picture of the Perseid meteor shower at its peak in August

The annual Perseids meteor shower will peak on 13 August. Find out the best time to view

David Lambourne, who serves on the high court of Kiribati, was detained on Thursday after a failed attempt by the Kiribati government to deport himKiribati’s Australian-born high court justice David Lambourne was released from immigration detention on Friday night, with the government belatedly complying with an order from the country’s court of appeal.The court had ordered Lambourne’s release on Friday morning, after he was detained on Thursday following the government’s unsuccessful attempt to deport him, contrary to court orders. Continue reading...

MP says he can be ‘too blunt and too direct’, after release of landmark review into workplace culture

People on universal credit have payments reduced to zero because of a quirk in the systemSome low-paid workers on universal credit have missed out on the government’s first cost of living payment because of payroll quirks that removed their benefit entitlement during the key window set by the government.“I was going to use it to load up my gas meter, get ahead on my electricity and fill up the freezer,” said David Evans, a 55-year-old IT apprentice, of his plans for the £326 payment that in recent weeks has been landing in the bank accounts of struggling Britons. Continue reading...

Queensland crime and corruption commission to investigate officer interactions with victim and her partner before house fire

Western brands that pulled out are still on sale, due to legal changes that have fuelled entrepreneurshipAleksandr Gorbunov, a property investor from the Siberian city Krasnoyarsk, had a simple solution when Zara, the Spanish clothing giant, closed its stores in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine: import it himself.“The idea to start selling Zara came from my wife, who said she really wanted the clothes to return,” said Gorbunov, who said he was opening a store called Panika (panic) on Friday that deals exclusively in Zara and Zara Home products. Continue reading...

Campaigners say many people have had to stop or switch antiretroviral medication regimes – but the government denies supply crisisHundreds of thousands of people living with HIV in India are struggling to access treatment because of a shortage of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, according to campaigners.Up to 500,000 people have not been able to get hold of free ARVs from government health centres and hospitals over the past five months, they say, as the country experiences stock shortages of key drugs. Continue reading...

The US actor will be taken off life support after it is determined if her organs are viable for donation, following a severe collision that left her car in flamesThe family of Anne Heche say the US actor is “not expected to survive” a severe collision that left her vehicle engulfed in flames last Friday.In a statement, Heche’s family said through a representative that she had suffered “a severe anoxic brain injury” and was now being kept on life support to determine whether her organs were viable for donation. Continue reading...

Liberal leader’s legal team set to cross-examine refugee advocate and his counsel in November about their fee arrangement

Officers furious that initial manslaughter charge may be upgraded more than three years after shooting

The tech giant kept track of some Android phone owners even when their location history was set to ‘off’

Volodymyr Zelenskiy urges officials to keep quiet on military strategy; calls for demilitarised zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant amid fresh shelling

Former deputy premier was scheduled to face second day of questioning over his appointment to senior New York trade job

Onlookers continue to get close to ‘stressed’ 600kg mammal in Oslo despite appeals to keep a distanceNorwegian authorities say they are considering putting down a walrus that won hearts basking in the sun of the Oslo fjord, because of the danger to the public and itself from sightseers.Despite repeated appeals to the public to keep their distance from the walrus – a young female weighing 600kg (1,300 pounds) that has been nicknamed Freya – the mammal continues to attract big crowds, the fisheries directorate has said. Continue reading...

Annual figures indicate ‘dramatic collapse’ in confidence in criminal justice system, says LabourAlmost 1.5 million victims of crime in England and Wales have decided not to pursue their cases, feeding concern that public confidence in the criminal justice system has collapsed.Home Office figures unearthed by Labour show there were 1,411,650 victims who did not support continuing action after they had reported a crime in the year to March 2022. Continue reading...

Incontinence, bleeding and STIs among consequences, say two surgeons, who want doctors to raise the topic with patientsWomen in the UK are suffering injuries and other health problems as a result of the growing popularity of anal sex among straight couples, two NHS surgeons have warned.The consequences include incontinence and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as well as pain and bleeding because they have experienced bodily trauma while engaging in the practice, the doctors write in an article in the British Medical Journal. Continue reading...

The two candidates are bidding for support from Conservative party members ahead of the final vote for the next PMGordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, has used an article in today’s Guardian to propose that the government should halt the increases in the energy price cap planned for later this year and next year and, if necessary, take energy companies into public ownership to ensure that they keep prices down.Alongside the Lib Dem plan, with which it has some similarities (they also want a price cap freeze, and more money raised through a windfall tax), it is the most radical and ambitious proposal on the table to tackle the energy bills crisis. Continue reading...

Number of people taken to hospital after being assaulted by local man thought to have mental health issuesA man has been arrested after a number of people were taken to hospital with slash wounds near Liverpool FC’s stadium.Merseyside police were called at just after 5.30pm to Arkles Lane, Anfield, after a report of a man walking around shouting at people and carrying what was described as a machete. Continue reading...

Change in guidelines come as an estimated 95% of Americans ages 16 and older have acquired some level of immunityThe nation’s top public health agency on Thursday relaxed its Covid-19 guidelines, dropping the recommendation that Americans quarantine themselves if they come into close contact with an infected person.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also said people no longer need to stay at least 6ft (about 2 metres) away from others. Continue reading...

Power utility Hydro One said the outage, which started at about noon on Thursday, affected 10,000 customersA power outage in Toronto’s downtown core has left the offices of Canada’s top businesses in the dark, forced the evacuation of one of the city’s biggest shopping malls, and caused some bank branches to be locked.The power utility Hydro One said the outage, which started at about noon on Thursday, affected 10,000 customers in downtown Toronto, Canada’s biggest city. Hydro One was investigating but gave no details on the cause. Continue reading...

Attorney general declared the donation from company owned by Terence Mordaunt, who chaired the climate sceptic thinktank Global Warming Policy FoundationSuella Braverman received £10,000 from a company owned by a leading climate denier to support her campaign for the Conservative leadership, according to the most recent update to the register of MPs’ interests.The attorney general, who came sixth in the leadership race, declared a donation of £10,000 from First Corporate Consultants Ltd, which is owned by the Bristol Port owner Terence Mordaunt. Continue reading...

Analysis also finds Priti Patel was only minister to register receiving hospitality at Tory party conferenceLiz Truss declared just two meetings as foreign secretary in a three-month period in the government’s transparency register, compared with 51 by the Welsh secretary, according to an analysis showing wide discrepancies in declarations.Just one cabinet minister, Priti Patel, declared receiving hospitality at the Conservative party conference, where ministers are routinely entertained for lunches or receptions. Continue reading...

Locals say voters disillusioned by Boris Johnson are unlikely to be won back by new leader

Kelly Wu-Chiao Hsieh called for operations to uphold the ‘median line’ in the Taiwan Strait in response to China’s military exercisesThe US and its allies should jointly respond to China’s live ammunition drills designed to intimidate Taiwan by holding “freedom of navigation” operations in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei’s official representative to the UK has said.In an interview with the Guardian, Kelly Wu-Chiao Hsieh also called on the UK to uphold the principles of rules-based international order and forge closer trade and security investment relations with Taiwan. He welcomed the decision of the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, to condemn the unprecedented Chinese military exercises in the wake of the visit of the US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to the island, the most senior US official to visit Taiwan in 25 years. Continue reading...

John MacKinnon died while three others were injured in series of incidents on Skye and in DornieA man has been charged with murder in connection with the death of John MacKinnon, who was killed in a violent attack on the Isle of Skye, as his devastated family paid tribute to the father-of-six and “much-loved member of the community”.MacKinnon, 47, was shot dead at his home in Sasaig in the south-east of the island at about 9.30am on Wednesday. Continue reading...

Sexual assault in relationships requires entirely separate systems of reporting, says professor who coined term ‘coercive control’

Government has yet to provide any details about what a future review of protections will examine