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US secretary of state says it is up to Israelis and Palestinians to find way to end recent violenceThe US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has finished his Middle East tour with no breakthrough in reducing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, saying that it was “fundamentally up to them” to end the violence after days of bloodshed.Blinken said he had heard “deep concern about the current trajectory” during meetings in Israel and the occupied West Bank but, beyond calling for a “de-escalation”, he offered no new US initiative. Continue reading...

European parliament expected to back committee and strip Marc Tarabella and Andrea Cozzolino of immunity from prosecutionA European parliament committee has voted to lift immunity from two MEPs after a request from Belgian authorities investigating the “Qatargate” bribery and corruption scandal that has shaken the EU assembly.MEPs on the European parliament’s legal affairs committee voted unanimously with no abstentions on Tuesday to strip immunity from Belgium’s Marc Tarabella and Italy’s Andrea Cozzolino. Continue reading...

OIP built up a huge private arsenal, banking on there one day being demand for the weapons againOn the outskirts of Tournai, a sleepy medieval town in the gentle, Brueghelian landscape of the French-speaking part of Belgium, there is an unassuming grey hangar, barely hidden behind a fence. Inside are rows upon rows of German-made Leopard 1 tanks and other heavy fighting vehicles – some of the same types of weapons that top Ukraine’s military wishlist.The hangar belongs to the Belgium defence company OIP and contains one of the biggest privately owned reserves of weapons in Europe. “Many of these tanks have been sitting here for years. Hopefully, now it is the time they finally see some action in Ukraine,” said Freddy Versluys, the head of OIP, as he toured the hangar. Continue reading...

Abu Dhabi fund’s $400m investment in Indian group fails to stop fall in value after fraud allegationsThe Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has fallen off the list of the world’s top 10 richest people as the value of shares in his companies continue to slide after an activist investor accused him of “pulling the largest con in corporate history”.Before the accusations published last week on Twitter, Adani, 60, was the world’s third-richest person with an estimated $119.5bn (£97bn) fortune. He has fallen to 11th place in the daily-updated Bloomberg billionaires index after a personal wealth wipeout of $34bn in just four days of trading since the accusations were published.

Filing in Los Angeles court contests amendment that removed Priscilla as a trustee of her late daughter’s estatePriscilla Presley has filed a lawsuit disputing the validity of her late daughter’s will, setting up a potential legal battle over Lisa Marie Presley’s estate.In a filing in Los Angeles superior court, lawyers for Priscilla questioned the integrity of a 2016 amendment which removed her from Lisa Marie’s living trust, a legal document that serves the function of a will if a separate will is not filed. Continue reading...

Andrew Gray made a discrimination claim against Nuffield Health, which has now agreed to offer reduced ratesA disabled man has secured a settlement with a gym chain, offering people with disabilities the opportunity to pay reduced membership fees because their health condition prevents them from using all the facilities.The groundbreaking agreement could benefit hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities who want to keep fit and improve their health. Continue reading...

Music Venue Trust says grassroots venues have not fully recovered from pandemic lockdowns, and now face skyrocketing inflation including a 25% rise in ticket pricesGrassroots live music venues are operating on a knife-edge, a new report by the Music Venue Trust (MVT) suggests. In its 2022 annual report, the live music venue charity reveals that live music still has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, with an average of 16.7% fewer shows per year compared with 2019.While audience numbers are down 11%, average expenditure by grassroots venues was up 40% – a contribution to the economy totalling £500m – meaning that venues are operating at a profit margin of 0.2%, with the average yearly profit for grassroots venues amounting to only £1,297. Continue reading...

Private equity veteran Guy Hands says Boris Johnson ‘threw the country and the NHS under the bus’Guy Hands, a leading City figure, has called Brexit a “complete disaster” and a “bunch of total lies” that has harmed large parts of the economy.Speaking on the third anniversary of the UK’s departure from the EU, Hands, the founder, chair and chief investment officer of the private equity firm Terra Firma, said: “It’s been a complete disaster. The reality is it’s been a lose-lose situation for us and Europe. Europe has lost more [in financial services] but we’ve lost as well. And the reality of Brexit was, it was just was a bunch of complete and total lies. Continue reading...

PM likely to find it increasingly difficult to stay out of debate as industrial action escalates

Advocates urge overhaul of strict bail laws in Victoria and elsewhere to ensure people aren’t needlessly funnelled into jail

Online posts urge violence against residents in care home after it was described as a place for ‘youth offenders’

Cafe owner Charlie Clarke ‘shrieked like schoolgirl’ when he turned up pristine necklace bearing initials of Henry and Katherine of AragonCharlie Clarke had been metal detectoring for just six months when he stumbled across what he calls his “once in a liftime – no, once in 30 lifetimes”, find. He was exploring a Warwickshire field, turning up “junk” and about to call it a day, when a clear beep on his detector led him to dig to the depth of his elbow. What he saw there caused him to shriek “like a little schoolgirl, to be honest. My voice went pretty high-pitched”.What the Birmingham cafe owner had discovered was a huge and quite spectacular early Tudor pendant and chain, made in gold and enamel and bearing the initials and symbols of Henry VIII and his first wife, Katherine of Aragon. Continue reading...

Exclusive: University of Sydney report says pay has gone ‘from bad to worse’ as cost-of-living pressures rise

NPCC chair launches report setting out commitments to learn lessons from 1989 football stadium disasterThe national body for police chief constables has issued an official apology for the police failures that led to the unlawful killing of 97 people in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, and for the “pain and suffering” experienced by the bereaved families for years afterwards.Martin Hewitt, the chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), made the apology at the launch of a report setting out senior police officers’ commitments to learn lessons from the Hillsborough failures. These include every force having signed a charter for bereaved families in 2021 that requires police organisations to acknowledge mistakes with “openness” and “candour” after a public tragedy, and not “seek to defend the indefensible”, as South Yorkshire police were accused of doing after the 1989 disaster. Continue reading...

Ministers say exceptional security needed but rights groups warn new law could extend police powers permanentlyThe French government is fast-tracking special legislation for the 2024 Paris Olympics that would allow the use of video surveillance assisted by artificial intelligence (AI) systems.Ministers have argued that certain exceptional security measures are needed to ensure the smooth running of the events that will attract 13 million spectators, but rights groups have warned France is seeking to use the Games as a pretext to extend police surveillance powers, which could then become permanent. Continue reading...

The once grand 24 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, with leaky roof and mould after decades of negligence, is in dire need of an upgradeOnce home to Canada’s powerful lumber barons, 24 Sussex Drive, tucked away in a forested enclave of the capital, is one of the country’s most symbolically important homes.But decades of negligence have left the official residence of the prime minister plagued with mould, cracked windows, failing plumbing and an electric system widely seen as a fire hazard. Continue reading...

Health service study finds people with condition have poor hospital experiences that can cause harmPeople in England with sickle cell disease are experiencing “neglect” and “poor hospital experiences that can cause avoidable harm”, according to a report.The study, commissioned by the NHS Race and Health Observatory and undertaken by Public Digital, explored the experiences of people who had undergone acute emergency hospital admissions for sickle cell, as well as managing crisis episodes at home. Continue reading...

Constance Marten, her newborn child and convicted sex offender boyfriend were last seen on 9 JanuaryA £10,000 reward is being offered in the search for the missing woman Constance Marten, her newborn baby and her partner, a convicted sex offender.Marten, 35, and her 48-year-old boyfriend, Mark Gordon, who served 20 years in a US jail for rape and battery for an attack on a woman when he was 14, were last seen in East Sussex on 9 January. Continue reading...

Former minister voices concern over handling of civil servants’ allegations against deputy prime ministerThe former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has said “we mustn’t be too snowflakey” about bullying allegations levelled against the deputy prime minister, Dominic Raab.Raab, who is also justice secretary, faces formal complaints involving at least 24 civil servants over alleged bullying, covering his posts at the Ministry of Justice, Foreign Office (FCDO) and the Brexit department. Continue reading...

Former judge will investigate damning allegations made by prosecutor Shane Drumgold about police conduct

Supermarket chain to reduce number of shop managers and close remaining counters and hot delisTesco has announced a shake-up of its shop management in large UK stores along with the closure of its remaining meat, fish and hot deli counters, affecting 2,100 jobs.The UK’s biggest grocer said it had started rolling out a new management structure in 350 of its smaller superstores over the past two years and is extending this structure across its larger superstores and Extra stores. Continue reading...

Ex-health secretary defends appearance on TV show and denies he broke law by embracing aide during lockdownMatt Hancock has said he did not “primarily” go on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! for his £320,000 fee, adding that his £10,000 charitable donation was a “decent sum” after his appearance on the reality show.The former health secretary also repeatedly denied he had broken the law in his embrace with his now-girlfriend Gina Coladangelo during Covid restrictions. The Good Morning Britain interviewer Susanna Reid said he had broken the law on gatherings that had to be reasonably necessary for work. Continue reading...

While some locals call for legal action against the NT government, others fear tension could stir racism and vigilante attacks

Right Rev James Jones criticises failure to address its findings more than five years since publicationThe author of a report into the experiences of Hillsborough victims’ families said it was “intolerable” the government had not responded more than five years on.The Right Rev James Jones, a former bishop of Liverpool, set out 25 recommendations in his report, The Patronising Disposition of Unaccountable Power, published in November 2017. Continue reading...

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Audit review of government tool housing Medicare and Centrelink services recommends significant changes

Unit infiltrating leftwing groups in 1960s and 1970s never assessed if they presented threat to nationNone of the senior police officers in charge of long-term operations to infiltrate leftwing groups in the 1960s and 1970s examined whether the intrusive surveillance was justified, a public inquiry has found.The inquiry – headed by a retired judge – added that there was a strong case for concluding that a covert Metropolitan police unit that sent long-term undercover officers to infiltrate political groups should have been disbanded decades before it was. Continue reading...

Rights groups raise doubts over road accident in which police say outspoken editor John Williams Ntwali was killedAmnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent NGO based in New York, are among media and rights organisations calling for an independent investigation into the death of the Rwandan journalist John Williams Ntwali.Ntwali, a regular critic of the Rwandan authorities, was found dead on 18 January. According to reported police accounts, he was killed in a motorcycle accident in the capital, Kigali. Continue reading...

Damning report is part of doctors’ push for 50-50 federal and state funding ahead of national cabinet meeting

Rachelle Miller tells inquiry the then human services minister was ‘very firm’ a media storm over the Centrelink debt recovery scheme needed to be shut down

Synthetic cannabinoids involved in nearly half of male prisoner deaths analysed in England and WalesResearchers have called for urgent action to tackle the crisis in the Prison Service after data showed a rise in deaths among male prisoners linked to synthetic cannabinoids.The team at Middlesex University’s Drug and Alcohol Research Centre analysed official investigation reports on the “non-natural” deaths of 129 prisoners in England and Wales between 2015 and 2020. Synthetic cannabinoids, known as “spice” and “black mamba”, were implicated in 48% – or nearly half – of the deaths, all but eight of which were in men. Continue reading...

Report by former government adviser says plan needed to tackle obesity, thought to cost UK economy £27bn a yearAreas in England with the most overweight and obese people also have the lowest rates of productivity, according to research showing “obesity is an economic as well as a health timebomb”.Conversely, places with the highest gross domestic product (GDP) per head have much lower proportions of citizens who are dangerously overweight, the analysis shows. Continue reading...

Refugee Council warns tens of thousands who crossed Channel to UK in 2022 would have been detained indefinitely under proposalsMore than 45,000 people who have crossed the Channel in small boats this year would have been detained indefinitely in a “permanent limbo” under Rishi Sunak’s flagship migration policy, a leading refugee charity has calculated.The prime minister announced proposals this month to ban anybody who comes to the UK irregularly from applying for asylum and then deporting them as soon as possible. A new immigration bill is expected to be introduced within weeks. Continue reading...

Princess of Wales launches Shaping Us campaign to boost understanding of early childhood’s formative roleThe Princess of Wales has said “it is more important than ever” to support the development of young children as she launches her early years campaign.The Shaping Us campaign aims to improve society’s understanding of the importance of early childhood in shaping adulthood and society as a whole. Continue reading...

Rachelle Miller tells inquiry the then human services minister was ‘very firm’ a media storm over the Centrelink debt recovery scheme needed to be shut down

Improvement attributed to new anti-corruption commission, but Transparency International warns more whistleblower protections are needed

At least 50 attacks against staff and facilities of the electoral commission have been recorded between 2019 election and end of 2022Routine violence in south-east Nigeria including attacks on the offices of the electoral commission threatens to derail next month’s presidential elections, experts have said.At least 50 attacks by armed groups against staff and facilities of the electoral commission (Inec) have been recorded between the last election in 2019 and the end of 2022. Most have taken place in the south-east, which is in the grip of secessionist agitation by various elements, especially the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob). Continue reading...

Police lay 1,153 charges, with officers seizing drugs and dangerous weapons including knuckledusters, swords and hatchets

Premier vows responsibility to ‘make the necessary changes’ after state coroner recommended urgent review of bail act

Campaign group says police stance is baffling and they are not planning to disrupt the requiem mass being held at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney

Annette Musolino told by commission she let the system run despite advice saying there was a fundamental problem with its legality

Large seasonally adjusted fall of 3.9% also due to higher spending over Black Friday sales period, economists say

Police allege parents failed to provide care for three-year-old girl’s treatable medical condition

Murdok, 30, has been charged with murder and kidnapping after death of 61-year-old Sleeman

More than 10m people consume alcohol at levels that pose a risk to their health, experts sayGPs in England and Wales are being urged to ask patients detailed questions about their drinking habits amid concerns that thousands of people with alcohol issues are “slipping through the net”.More than 10 million people consume alcohol at levels that pose a risk to their health, according to experts. Millions are mildly or moderately dependent on alcohol, while about 600,000 people have severe alcohol dependency and will, as a result, benefit hugely from professional alcohol treatment. Continue reading...

Report by children’s commissioner for England finds worrying amount of content involves violenceOne in 10 children have watched pornography by the time they are nine years old, according to “disturbing” new research by the children’s commissioner for England.The report found a quarter of pupils in their final year of primary school have already been exposed. It also showed much of the material being consumed by children and young people features violence. Continue reading...

Environmental improvement plan includes many ambitious pledges but hard-pressed agricultural sector will need effective support

NHS leaders warn disruption to patients could become even worse as healthcare staff plan further strikesHospitals in England have had to cancel 88,000 appointments because of strikes by nurses and ambulance staff over the last seven weeks, figures have revealed.NHS bosses warned on Tuesday that the already “shocking scale of disruption” to patient care could “skyrocket” in coming weeks as unions intensify their campaign and walkouts over pay become commonplace. Continue reading...

At least 59 people dead and more than 150 wounded in suicide bombing that Pakistan Taliban says it is not responsible for, in contradiction of earlier admissionAt least 59 people have been killed and more than 150 injured in a suicide bombing carried out by the Pakistan Taliban at a mosque in the city of Peshawar, as the security situation in the country continues to deteriorate.The blast struck as 300 worshippers were praying in the mosque, located in the Police Lines area of the Peshawar, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the city’s police headquarters and counter-terrorism officers are based. Most of those inside the mosque were thought to be officers. Continue reading...