Albanian gangs controlling UK drugs trade offer minibus trip and Channel crossing for £4,000 on TikTokOfficial data released on Thursday has confirmed suspicions that Albanians are now a prominent national group among the asylum seekers travelling across the Channel.But the Home Office and refugee charities are still trying to explain why there has been a recent surge in demand. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti Political correspondent on (#62X9R)
Interview with health secretary interrupted by woman who accuses him of ‘doing nothing’ about ambulance waitsThe health secretary has been confronted outside a hospital by a woman who angrily criticised the government for doing “bugger all” to fix record-high ambulance wait times.During an interview with broadcasters in central London on Thursday afternoon, Steve Barclay was told the Conservatives had had “long enough” to fix the NHS by a visibly angry member of the public. Continue reading...
Sol LeWitt never met Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who began painting in her 80s, but he was blown away by her work. A new AGNSW show celebrates their unlikely link
Force commander says some criticism of response to disappearance of student nurse does disservice to officers’ workThe Metropolitan police have denied racial bias had an impact on their investigation into the disappearance of the student nurse Owami Davies, who was found almost seven weeks after she went missing.
Analysis reveals locations of dental deserts as continuing fallout from pandemic leaves service ‘on last legs’Dental patients are still suffering from the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, as parts of England are left with only one NHS dentist for thousands of people.In North Lincolnshire, there were just 54 NHS dentists – equivalent to one for every 3,199 people – at the end of March, NHS Digital figures show. This means every NHS dentist in the area would have to work nine-hour days every working day of the year without holidays for each resident to receive one annual checkup on the NHS. Continue reading...
Further education and sixth form colleges ask why thousands of students have not received gradesFurther education and sixth form colleges are calling for the exam board Pearson to investigate the reasons for delays to BTec results, which have left thousands of students in limbo.
Ian Katz also tells Edinburgh TV festival he is unsure whether new PM will push ahead with privatisation of channelChannel 4’s content boss has said the relaunches of old television shows such as Big Brother and Gladiators are “depressing”.Ian Katz said Big Brother is a “wonderful show” but he is more interested in bringing new shows to viewers: “I’m sure [Big Brother] will bring an audience to ITV, but I do think there is something depressing about this microwave moment with TV shows being reheated. If Channel 4 is about anything, it is about finding that new dish.” Continue reading...
Earl of Shrewsbury boasted ‘very considerable’ potential to open doors at top of government for firmA Conservative hereditary peer is under investigation for a second time by the House of Lords standards watchdog over allegations that he misused his parliamentary position to lobby for a firm that was paying him.The Earl of Shrewsbury claimed in correspondence that he was meeting a series of politicians and officials to promote a healthcare firm that employed him as a consultant. Continue reading...
by Sally Weale, Richard Adams, Pamela Duncan Ashley K on (#62WJB)
Calls for mitigation measures to persist on day 2022 grades show downturn in line with official policyA full return to pre-pandemic GCSE examinations and grades should be delayed for a further year because next year’s cohort will need special adjustments due to the disruption caused by the pandemic, according to school leaders.On the day that about 600,000 pupils in England received their GCSE results after sitting the first public examinations in three years, the Association of School and College Leaders said pupils who are due to face exams next summer have also been disadvantaged by Covid and may require similar mitigations to this year’s cohort. Continue reading...
Doctors Without Borders has deployed at the Ter Apel site amid overcrowding and dire conditionsDutch officials are investigating the death of a baby at a vastly overcrowded centre for asylum seekers, as medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) deployed at the site for the first time.The infant’s death is the latest incident at the Ter Apel centre in northern Netherlands, where conditions were denounced by MSF as “inhuman”. Continue reading...
Early results give João Lourenço more than 60% of the vote despite surge for rival party UnitaEarly results from elections in Angola have put the incumbent president, João Lourenço, and the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) ahead.The polls are the most tightly contested vote in the country’s democratic history, and have been described by analysts as an “existential moment”. Continue reading...
More than three-quarters have claims approved, as figures show big rise in Albanians crossing ChannelThe proportion of refugees granted asylum in the UK has reached a 32-year high, as figures show the number of Albanians crossing the Channel in small boats has increased substantially over the last few months.Despite threats to send those reaching the UK by irregular means to Rwanda, the Home Office disclosed that more than three-quarters (76%) of asylum seekers had their claims for asylum, leave or humanitarian protection approved in the year ending June 2022. Continue reading...
Returning to previous grade distribution after two years of teacher assessment masks a slight improvement on 2019This summer’s GCSE results are the first from examinations in three years. Results are significantly lower than they were last year, but we really shouldn’t read anything into that. After two years of grades increasing with the use of teacher-assessed grades, the government signalled its intentions early that we should begin the process of returning to pre-pandemic grade distributions. In September, the qualifications regulator, Ofqual, announced that results would be around the midpoint of those seen in 2019 and 2021.This is exactly what we have seen in today’s data. The proportion of entries from 16-year-olds awarded a grade 4 or above is down from 79% last year to 75% today, and the proportion getting the higher grades (grade 7 and above), which peaked at 30% in 2021, has fallen to 27% this year. Continue reading...
Airlines have cut 290,000 seats from schedules, while drivers advised to ‘pack their patience’Travellers hoping to get away for the bank holiday weekend by road, rail and air are being advised to adjust their travel plans or “pack their patience” in anticipation of traffic jams, train disruptions and plane seat cancellations.According to aviation data from Cirium, about 290,000 seats have been cut from August bank holiday flight schedules in recent weeks. Outbound flights for the approaching weekend are 21% below 2019 levels, and approximately 900 inbound flights between Friday and Tuesday have been cancelled. Continue reading...
by Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent on (#62WRT)
Pupils tell of struggle to study in lockdown as top grades fall in England following period of grade inflationWhen Oscar dos Santos opened his GCSE results at Birmingham’s City academy, he ran whooping through the school hall. “I got a nine!” he screamed. “I got a nine!”It had been a long journey for the 16-year-old, who spent the best part of two academic years studying at home during the Covid lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, and was now part of the first cohort to sit GCSE exams in two years. Continue reading...
Company that produces 60% of country’s supplies says high energy prices are forcing planned shutdownThe government has urged CO producers “to do everything they can” to meet food and drink industry demand, after one of the UK’s largest suppliers confirmed it was going to pause production at a key factory.CF Industries, the private US company that accounts for 60% of the UK’s CO supplies, said soaring energy prices meant it would have to “temporarily halt” production at its remaining UK ammonia plant, which creates the gas as a byproduct. Continue reading...
Hospitality sector in particular is finding it hard to renew contracts, with some asked for £10,000 depositMajor energy firms are refusing to supply small businesses out of concern that they could go bust, while some are demanding £10,000 up front, business owners and industry experts have told the Guardian.In the latest sign of the deepening energy crisis, business owners said they were struggling to find a supplier in the run-up to the busy October period for renewing gas and electricity contracts, leaving them facing “extortionate” bills or demands for a deposit. Continue reading...
Former interim chief, who helped develop voluntary contributions strategy, returns to companyThe Guardian’s parent company has appointed Anna Bateson as its new chief executive, shortly after the business announced its best financial results in recent years.Bateson previously spent four years at Guardian Media Group (GMG), where she helped develop the company’s voluntary contributions strategy which has seen millions of readers contribute towards the cost of running the news organisation without it installing a paywall. Continue reading...
Legislation that says consent cannot be assumed by default or silence was drawn up after ‘wolf pack’ caseSpain’s “only yes means yes” legislation on sexual consent is expected to become law when it is put to the vote in congress on Thursday.The law, under which consent must be affirmative and cannot be assumed to have been given by default or silence, was drawn up in the wake of the “wolf pack” gang rape in 2016. Continue reading...
Workers inundated with calls as people ‘have to choose between feeding themselves and feeding pets’The RSPCA has recorded a 24% increase in pets being dumped this year as shelters report they are “drowning in animals” amid the cost of living crisis.Workers are being inundated with calls from owners struggling to feed and care for their pets. Between January and July this year, the charity received 22,098 animal abandonment reports, up from 18,375 in the same period last year, while in the first five months of 2022, 49% more rabbits, 14% more cats and 3% more dogs were abandoned. Continue reading...
North Sea’s biggest oil and gas producer enjoys jump in fossil fuel prices following invasion of UkraineThe North Sea’s biggest oil and gas producer has become the latest big energy company to report huge earnings on the back of rising wholesale prices, with half-year profits rising 12-fold to $1.5bn (£1.3bn).Harbour Energy said it would hand an extra $200m to shareholders on the back of the bumper revenues, which were boosted by the jump in fossil fuel prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as extra income linked with its merger with Premier Oil. Continue reading...
Some asylum seekers have received letters saying government intends to remove them, the Guardian has learnedThe Home Office is planning a new deportation flight to Rwanda, the Guardian has learned.Some newly arrived asylum seekers in hotels have received letters from the department telling them their asylum claims are deemed inadmissible for consideration in the UK. Continue reading...
Vicky Bowman and her Burmese husband reportedly detained and charged with immigration offencesAuthorities in Myanmar have detained Britain’s former ambassador to the country in Yangon, a source said.Vicky Bowman and her husband, Htein Lin, a Burmese artist and former political prisoner, were arrested on Wednesday and charged with immigration offences, Reuters reported. They were remanded in custody and were being sent to Insein prison, it added. Continue reading...
Itaru Nakamura says fresh start needed after assassination ‘to ensure this never happens again’Japan’s most senior police officer has said he will resign to take responsibility for security lapses leading up to the fatal shooting last month of the former prime minister, Shinzo Abe.Itaru Nakamura said on Thursday that he intended to step down as head of the national police agency to give the organisation a “fresh start”, weeks after Abe was gunned down while making an election campaign speech. Continue reading...
Police barred until 1 September from arresting former PM, whose supporters gathered outside courtA Pakistani court has barred police from arresting the former prime minister Imran Khan through the end of the month, officials said.Khan is accused of making verbal threats to police officers and a judge in a speech at a rally over the weekend. The latest development on Thursday comes days after the government of the prime minister, Shahbaz Sharif, levelled terrorism charges against Khan, escalating political tensions and drawing condemnation from Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party. Continue reading...
Domestic violence charity says social media users ‘misunderstood’ the message behind its campaign featuring a man accompanied by a request for a donation for its prevention programs
Ofgem says company will refund and compensate 11,275 customers after it sent them the wrong ratesShell has agreed to pay half a million pounds for overcharging thousands of prepayment meter customers on default tariffs over the past three years.The energy giant’s consumer arm, Shell Energy Retail, will use the cash to refund and compensate 11,275 customers after it discovered it had sent the wrong rates to users’ meters. Continue reading...
Investigation into attacks by Bashar al-Assad’s forces that left 700 people dead could help bring justice for victimsThe “startling display of violence” meted out by Syrian government forces against civilians in the town of Daraya 10 years ago has been laid bare in the first detailed investigation into the massacre.At least 700 people were killed when forces loyal to president Bashar al-Assad stormed the town between 24 and 26 August 2012. Troops went door to door killing and detaining men, women and children. Terrified people sheltered in basements. Continue reading...
One million Rohingya remain in Bangladesh refugee camps and the persecuted group has little hope of returning to MyanmarIt has been five years since Myanmar’s military launched a campaign of massacres that killed about 7,000 Rohingya in a single month and compelled 700,000 to flee for the Bangladeshi border.Since the first major military operation against the Rohingya minority in 1978, which forced out 200,000, the Rohingya have been collectively stripped of their citizenship and targeted by increasing violence and discrimination that culminated in the “clearance operations” that began on 25 August 2017. Those operations were years in the planning, according to military documents uncovered by the Commission for International Justice and Accountability and sent to the international criminal court. Continue reading...
WHO hails west African country as first in world to stamp out Guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, sleeping sickness and trachomaTogo has been praised by the World Health Organization for becoming the first country in the world to eliminate four neglected tropical diseases.The WHO presented the west African country with an outstanding achievement award this week for eliminating Guinea worm, lymphatic filariasis, sleeping sickness and trachoma in just 11 years. Continue reading...
by Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington on (#62WEA)
Tributes paid to Dominic Abelen, the first New Zealander to die in the conflict, who was on leave without pay from the defence forceA New Zealand soldier who was on leave without pay from his country’s army when he was killed in Ukraine has become the latest foreign fighter and first New Zealander to die in the war.Friends of Cpl Dominic Abelen, 30, told the Guardian he had enlisted with Ukraine’s international legion, joining thousands of soldiers who have travelled to the conflict from around the world in the months since Ukraine’s government called for volunteers. Continue reading...
Women less interested in ‘macho competitiveness of violence’ in conflict, says authorA new book has shed light on the little-known history of nearly 200 female journalists from 29 countries who covered the Spanish civil war.While Ernest Hemingway and Arthur Koestler were among writers who made their names reporting on the war, Bernardo Díaz Nosty’s 900-page Periodistas extranjeras en la Guerra Civil (Foreign Female Journalists in the Civil War) uncovers the story of 183 women whose writing gave a new slant on the 1936-39 conflict, distinct from the masculine and bellicose tales of life on the frontline. Continue reading...
Filings cover period ex-chancellor worked for controversial clients including Saudi governmentThe former chancellor Philip Hammond’s private consultancy has generated almost £1m in profits while working for controversial clients including the government of Saudi Arabia, company filings suggest.Accounts filed this month suggest the Conservative peer has built a lucrative business since leaving government in 2019 providing “advisory services” to an array of private sector and foreign government clients. Continue reading...
It remains unlikely the public will ever see the scrapped $90m film, with the directors saying ‘it cannot be released in its current state’Warner Bros Discovery are reportedly holding a series of discreet “funeral screenings” for their never-to-be released DC film Batgirl, starring Leslie Grace, Michael Keaton and Brendan Fraser.The Hollywood Reporter confirmed with multiple sources that a select few who worked on the film, including cast, crew and studio executives, would be attending the screenings this week on the Warner Bros lot in California. One source described them as “funeral screenings”, as it is likely the footage will be stored forever and never shown to the public. Continue reading...
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