by Presented by John Harris with Aletha Adu and Jon H on (#6QV8R)
The row over frockgate' continues to trouble the prime minister this week, while his decision to visit his far-right Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, has upset many in his party. The Guardian's John Harris talks to the political correspondent Aletha Adu, who was travelling with Keir Starmer. Also, the Guardian's Europe correspondent, Jon Henley, joins John Harris to look at the rise of the far-right on the continent Continue reading...
by Presented by Helen Pidd with Anushka Asthana; prod on (#6QV72)
The PM should be enjoying his political honeymoon but, explains Anushka Asthana, his wide but fragile majority is proving difficult to navigateWith his first party conference as prime minister coming up and a huge majority in parliament, Keir Starmer should be riding high. Instead his popularity has taken a hit, the mood in the Labour party seems to be downbeat and he is answering a stream of questions about gifts to him and his wife.Anushka Asthana, the former Today in Focus presenter turned ITV's deputy political editor, has been following Starmer closely since the start of his political journey. She tells Helen Pidd why Labour is so focused on spending restraint and discusses the problems that the fragility of the party's majority is causing. But she says with the junior doctors' pay disputes resolved, GB Energy and rail nationalisation going ahead there are also reasons for traditional Labour voters to be optimistic. Continue reading...
What sources are saying about the techniques behind the simultaneous explosion of thousands of devices across LebanonIn an unprecedented security breach, thousands of pagers and walkie-talkie radios belonging to members of Hezbollah detonated across Lebanon in simultaneous explosions on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least 26 people and wounding thousands of others.Hospitals across Lebanon were overwhelmed with an influx of patients after the pager attack on Tuesday, and a field hospital was set up in the southern city of Tyre to accommodate the wounded. Continue reading...
Council of Europe also calls for more support for Cornish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Manx GaelicThe UK is being urged by Europe's leading human rights organisation to push ahead with strategies to promote the use of Irish and Ulster Scots languages in Northern Ireland despite continued tensions over the issue.The Council of Europe experts also want to see the strengthening of teaching of all minority languages in the UK including Cornish, Scots, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Manx Gaelic in the Isle of Man. Continue reading...
by Denis Campbell Health policy editor on (#6QV3V)
CQC issues damning report on maternity services in England as minister admits anxiety over risk of disaster'Maternity services in England are so inadequate that cases of women receiving poor care and being harmed in childbirth are in danger of becoming normalised", the NHS regulator has said.A Care Quality Commission (CQC) report based on inspections of 131 maternity units sets out an array of problems, adding to the sense of crisis that has enveloped an NHS service that cares for the 600,000 women a year who give birth and their babies.Some women, frustrated at facing such long delays in being assessed at triage, discharge themselves before they are seen.65% of units are not safe for women to give birth in, 47% of trusts are rated as requiring improvement on safety and another 18% are rated as inadequate.Some hospitals do not record incidents that have resulted in serious harm.There is a widespread lack of staff and in some places a lack of potentially life-saving equipment.Hospitals do not always consider women's suffering after receiving poor care. Continue reading...
Homes evacuated in Emilia-Romagna region as pounding rain well beyond the worst forecasts' sweeps inHomes are being evacuated in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna as Storm Boris, which has killed at least 24 people in central and eastern Europe since last week, swept into the country, causing severe flooding and landslides.Pounding rain hit Emilia-Romagna late on Wednesday afternoon and the situation rapidly worsened as night fell. Continue reading...
by Léonie Chao-Fong (now); Maya Yang, Amy Sedghi, Ma on (#6QTB8)
Rising number of deaths comes as US says it is not involved in any way'Local Palestinian media is reporting that a 17-year-old child has been killed by Israeli security forces near Ni'lin, west of Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The claims have not been independently verified.Overnight Israel's military announced the deaths of four soldiers. Continue reading...
Met Office says gentle decline' in temperature expected, ushering in more typical autumn weatherThe UK is enjoying summer's last hurrah" before heavy rainfall is expected to drench the country over the weekend, the Met Office has said.On Wednesday, temperatures hit 25.5C in Inverness, which is 14C above average for this time of year, according to the forecaster. Warm and bright conditions are expected to continue into Thursday after a cloudy morning - with highs of 26C in London, the weather service added. Continue reading...
Second judge refuses bail to music mogul, 54, citing possibility that he could tamper with witnessesA second judge has refused to grant bail to Sean Diddy' Combs, citing the possibility that he will tamper with witnesses.The hip-hop mogul had returned to federal court in New York on Wednesday to ask a judge to free him on bail, after waking up for the second day behind bars following his arrest on Monday on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. Continue reading...
Marley, whose incredible gift of empathy' is said to help exploited women, beats thousands of cats to prizeA cat that offers comfort to trafficked women has been named cat of the year at a national ceremony.Marley, a black and white cat who lives at a safe house for women who have been enslaved, exploited and trafficked, won the award because of his gift of empathy". Continue reading...
Popular YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson accused of harmful conditions behind scenes of competition show Beast GamesMrBeast is accused of creating unsafe" employment conditions, including sexual harassment and misrepresenting contestants' odds at winning his new Amazon reality show's $5m grand prize, in a lawsuit filed Tuesday by five unnamed participants.The filing alleges that the multimillion-dollar company behind YouTube's most popular channel failed to provide minimum wages, overtime pay, uninterrupted meal breaks and rest time for competitors - whose work on the show was the entertainment product" sold by MrBeast. Continue reading...
Brand could disappear, with 87 restaurants and 4,500 jobs at risk after talks over rescue deal collapseThe company behind the UK arm of the TGI Fridays restaurant chain has said it plans to appoint administrators, putting the future of its 87 outlets and 4,500 employees in doubt.The American diner brand could disappear from UK high streets after Hostmore, which is listed on the London stock market, said administrators from advisory firm Teneo would be appointed and its restaurants sold off to rivals. The restaurants will continue to operate as normal in the interim. Continue reading...
More than 30 groups say they will not be complicit' in department's divisive anti-migrant agenda'The Home Office has been accused of cynical" and unethical" behaviour after offering millions of pounds to refugee charities to help settle newly deported people.A government contract put out to tender earlier this month offers to pay 15m over three years to NGOs who work with people being removed from the UK to 11 countries, including Ethiopia, Iraq and Zimbabwe. Continue reading...
Revelation Keir Starmer's chief of staff is paid more than PM adding to anger over salary cuts, sources saySue Gray has been given a salary of 170,000 as Keir Starmer's chief of staff - more than the prime minister - prompting fury among Labour colleagues who have taken lower pay since entering government.Gray was given a pay rise after the election despite other political special advisers being unhappy that their salary was reduced compared with their previous jobs at the Labour party. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#6QTVK)
Kurd was treated as an adult by Home Office and Greenwich council when he arrived undocumented three years agoA child refugee who fled Iraq has won a three-year legal battle to prove he was only 16 when he arrived undocumented in the UK, not eight to 10 years older, as British officials claimed, citing his facial hair and broad shoulders.The Kurd, now 19, fled Iraq with his family in 2021 after death threats from Shia militia, who came into his home area around Kirkuk after the fall of Islamic State in northern Iraq and Syria. But he was separated from his parents and sister while changing vessels on a treacherous sea journey and, after landing by boat in Britain in the middle of the night, he was treated as an adult with an estimated age of 24 to 26 by the Home Office and the London Borough of Greenwich. Continue reading...
Tugendhat used to be a minister in the Home Office, and he is now shadow security ministerJohn Swinney, Scotland's first minister, has said that Scotland is closer to independence than it was in 2014.According to PA Media, Swinney made the claim at an event marking the 10th anniversary of the referendum, which saw voters rejected independence by 55% to 45%.Swinney said that promises made to people who voted No (ie to remain in the UK) had been broken. He said since 2014 the Scottish parliament had been given new powers, and that it had used these to pass progressive policies, like the Scottish child payment, a more progressive tax system, and votes at 16. He went on:These are all positive legacies of Scotland's referendum ... The lesson is? I will tell you. Constitutional change delivers real change.That's Scotland's legacy in the last ten years.He said Keir Starmer was disproving claims that Scotland needed, not independence, but just the removal of the Tory government at Westminster.For 10 years - 10 long years - Labour told us we don't need independence. All we need to do is get rid of the Tories.Well, it's taken Keir Starmer less than ten weeks to completely demolish that argument.He said the referendum 10 years ago set a positive example to the world, because it showed a constitutional dispute being resolved peacefully and democratically.The world was watching us [in 2014] - waiting to see if they were about to witness the birth of the world's newest independent country.
Move by coalition headed by Geert Wilders' Freedom party is unlikely to get a positive reception in BrusselsThe new Dutch coalition government headed by Geert Wilders' far-right Freedom party (PVV) appears to be on a collision course with the EU over immigration after formally asking Brussels for an opt-out on asylum rules.I have just informed the European Commission that I want an opt-out' on migration matters in Europe for the Netherlands," the asylum and migration minister Marjolein Faber, a member of the PVV, said on X on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Paul Conway failed to arrive at the Old Forge on Friday as expected and was found in good spirits' on TuesdayA hiker who went missing in the Scottish Highlands during a quest to win a free pint has been found after a massive land and sea search operation.Paul Conway, 67, set out last week on what should have been a three-day walk on the Highlands' Knoydart peninsula. He had travelled from Newcastle to cross what is often referred to as Scotland's last great wilderness in search of the UK's most remote pub. Continue reading...
Potential for flooding in 11 Nigerian states as west and central Africa struggles to deal with recent heavy rainfallAuthorities in Nigeria have warned of the potential for flooding in 11 states after neighbouring Cameroon said it would start regulated releases from its Lagdo dam following recent heavy rainfall in west and central Africa.Umar Mohammed, the director-general of the Nigeria Hydrological Services Agency (NHSA), indicated that the discharges would be gradual to avoid ... triggering substantial flooding downstream in Nigeria" and that there was no need for alarm". Still, 11 Nigerian states from north to south lie along the Benue River's flow trajectory and are expected to be affected to some degree. Continue reading...
Ukrainian drone attack causes large explosion at arsenal in Toropets, more than 300 miles north of UkraineA Ukrainian drone attack on a large Russian weapons depot caused a blast that was picked up by earthquake monitoring stations, in one of the biggest strikes on Moscow's military arsenal since the war began.Pro-Russian military bloggers said Ukraine struck an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a historic town more than 300 miles north of Ukraine and about 230 miles west of Moscow. Continue reading...
Chief executive to testify at inquiry into Horizon scandal before formally leaving in MarchNick Read, the embattled chief executive of the Post Office, is to step down next year.Read, who is due to give evidence to the inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal at the state-owned body in October, had already temporarily stepped back from his role in July to give his entire attention" to preparing for his appearance. Continue reading...
German woman was travelling on UK-flagged catamaran when incident happened, says Spain's rescue serviceA court in Spain has opened an investigation into the death of a German woman who died after being attacked by a shark while sailing 270 nautical miles (500km) off the Canary Islands on Tuesday.According to the country's maritime rescue service, Salvamento Maritimo, the 30-year-old woman was travelling on the British-flagged catamaran Dalliance Chichester about 110 miles west of the Western Saharan city of Dakhla when the attack happened just before 4pm local time. Continue reading...
Emergency crews battle to reinforce defences around Wrocaw in Poland amid devastating rainfallSoldiers, emergency workers and volunteers battled through the night to reinforce defences around Wrocaw, Poland's third biggest city, as the EU said flooding in central Europe happening simultaneously alongside wildfires in Portugal showed climate breakdown in action.More than five times the average rainfall for the whole of September has fallen in five days on swathes of Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, triggering devastating flooding that has killed 22 people in four countries. Continue reading...
by Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent on (#6QTE4)
Ten years after Scotland voted against independence, first minister urges supporters to look to the futureJohn Swinney has urged independence supporters not to live in the past as he celebrated the 10th anniversary of the independence referendum as a moment of reawakening" for the yes movement.Speaking to a crowd of campaigners in Edinburgh 10 years to the day since Scotland voted 55% to 45% to remain part of the UK, the SNP leader said: We have had a long, dark decade - a decade of austerity, of Brexit, of a cost of living crisis and a global pandemic." Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#6QTJ4)
Bar Standards Board case against Charlotte Proudman over criticism of judge will proceed to full hearingA tribunal has rejected a barrister's request for it to throw out disciplinary proceedings brought against her for saying a judge had shown a boys' club attitude", but it ruled that she can argue that the regulator discriminated against her because she is a woman.At a private hearing this month, lawyers for Charlotte Proudman argued that the Bar Standards Board (BSB) held her to different standards than male barristers and so the case against her should be struck out. Continue reading...
by Lanre Bakare Arts and culture correspondent on (#6QTJ5)
Trafalgar Square piece by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles is made of masks depicting faces of transgender and non-binary peopleA towering cuboid made of more than 300 masks depicting the faces of transgender and non-binary people, this year's fourth plinth artwork, has been described as a piece designed to unite the trans community around the world".The Mexican artist Teresa Margolles was flanked by members of her country's trans community as Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times in an Instant) was unwrapped in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Author claims that 'progressive Black scholars in particular have been targeted' after University of Washington rejects complaint over her 2004 doctoral thesisA plagiarism complaint filed last month against Robin DiAngelo, the author of a number of books on racism including White Fragility, has now been dismissed.The complaint - which cited 20 instances of alleged research misconduct in DiAngelo's 2004 doctoral thesis - was lodged with the University of Washington, where the author completed her PhD and is now an affiliate associate professor of education. Continue reading...
Former special counsel issues warning in preface to book about 2016 investigation and Trump-Moscow linksThe US is still not prepared for inevitable Russian attacks on its elections, the former special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated Russian interference in 2016 and links between Donald Trump and Moscow, warns in a new book.It is ... evident that Americans have not learned the lessons of Russia's attack on our democracy in 2016," Mueller writes in a preface to Interference: The Inside Story of Trump, Russia and the Mueller Investigation by Aaron Zebley, James Quarles and Andrew Goldstein, prosecutors who worked for Mueller from 2017 to 2019. Continue reading...
Food container firm affected by challenging macroeconomic environment'Tupperware, the lossmaking 78-year-old American plastic food container brand, has filed for bankruptcy and is on the hunt for new owners as it attempts to lure younger customers.The company, which was founded by the chemist Earl Tupper in 1946 and became known for its patented burping" seal, has started US chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings as bosses said that its finances had been severely impacted" by the economic environment. Continue reading...
Judge raises questions about Maurice Hawell's prospects of rehabilitation after he, brother Marius Hawell and Andrew David were all found guilty of the sexual assaults in July
Eric Kilburn, 16, says those who put others down over differences are usually the most unhappy people out there'Eric Kilburn Jr's mother knew his feet were exceptionally big when, in his teens, she began needing to spend thousands of dollars to have his shoes specially made. But it turned out they were bigger than anyone else's in the world who was his age - and so were his hands.Sixteen-year-old Eric fits his 13.5in (34cm) feet in American size 23 shoes (UK size 22) - more than double the average of adult men, which is about 9 in the US. His hands, at 9.13in, easily surpass the 7.14in average for his age. Continue reading...
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