Verdict comes after former friend A$AP Relli accused rapper of shooting him in Hollywood in 2021The musician A$AP Rocky has been found not guilty of shooting a former friend after an altercation in Hollywood in 2021, sparing him from a potentially decades-long prison sentence.A Los Angeles jury on Tuesday acquitted him of two felony counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm. Continue reading...
by Tom Phillips and Tiago Rogero in Rio de Janeiro on (#6VCAC)
Former president has denied breaking the law, while attorney general alleges plot included a plan to poison Luiz Inacio Lula da SilvaBrazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro has been charged with allegedly masterminding and leading a far-right conspiracy to cling to power through a military coup.The South American country's attorney general, Paulo Gonet, levelled the charges against the radical rightwing populist and several key allies on Tuesday night. He accused Bolsonaro and six key associates of leading a criminal organization with an authoritarian power project". The alleged plot, he wrote, included a plan to poison Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and shoot dead Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, a foe of the former president. Continue reading...
New raft of measures labelled Ronan's law include tougher sentences for those caught selling blades to under-18sRetailers will be required to report suspicious or bulk purchases of knives, and those caught selling blades to under-18s will face tougher sentences under a new raft of measures to clamp down on young people's access to weapons labelled Ronan's law.Named after Ronan Kanda, the 16-year-old killed in Wolverhampton in 2022 by a teenager carrying a 22in ninja blade he had ordered online, the new laws are part of a raft of anti-knife crime plans announced by the government on Wednesday. Continue reading...
Proposals designed to restore trust in politics would also criminalise the making of false statements to win votesElected politicians who deliberately lie could be forced from office under proposals designed to put Wales at the forefront of the global challenge" to restore trust in politics.Radical changes suggested by the Welsh parliament standards committee would also make candidates in elections liable to criminal prosecution for making any false statement to win votes. Continue reading...
There are two awards apiece for the UK artists, while Nigerian singer Ayra Starr also wins two at Newcastle-hosted ceremony for Black musical excellenceSeventeen years since his debut single, British rapper Bashy has capped his long-awaited return to music with two wins at the 2025 Mobo awards, given each year to the best music of Black origin in the UK and overseas.The 40-year-old vocalist and actor, born Ashley Thomas, won best hip-hop act as well as album of the year for Being Poor Is Expensive. While it didn't make the UK charts, the album earned critical acclaim and a dedicated audience on streaming, drawn to its examination of race, mental health and working-class life in north-west London. Continue reading...
Guyana plans to take all necessary measures' for security as tensions likely to further rise between the two countriesSix soldiers in Guyana have been injured after armed men in neighboring Venezuela opened fire, in an attack expected to further heighten tensions between the two South American countries.Two of the soldiers are in critical condition following Monday's attack, according to the head of Guyana's army, the chief of staff Brig Gen Omar Khan, who blamed suspected gang members. Continue reading...
The Emergency Lawyers network said the RSF killed civilians south of Khartoum, with hundreds more either wounded or missingSudanese paramilitaries have killed more than 200 people in a three-day assault south of Khartoum, according to a lawyers' network, while the army-backed government put the death toll at more than double that figure.The Emergency Lawyers network, which has documented human rights abuses during 22 months of fighting between the rival security forces, said hundreds more were wounded or missing and feared drowned after the paramilitaries opened fire on villagers as they attempted to flee across the White Nile. Continue reading...
Pontiff, 88, already in hospital when latest diagnosis made, as Vatican confirms medical situation is complex'Pope Francis has been diagnosed with double pneumonia after further tests showed a continuing complex" medical situation, the Vatican said in a statement on Tuesday.The pontiff, 88, underwent a chest X-ray, which demonstrated the onset of bilateral pneumonia that required further pharmacological therapy". Continue reading...
Thailand and Vietnam now often seen as more cost-effective' than visiting traditional European favouritesHoliday companies are reporting a surge in demand for long-haul breaks amid claims that the likes of Thailand and Vietnam are now often more cost-effective" than visiting traditional European favourites.On Tuesday, the travel brand Kuoni said long-haul bookings for the year ahead were 14% higher than at the same point in 2024. Continue reading...
Jack Bennett, 39, given 28 weeks for message sent a day after criticism of minister by X owner Elon MuskA 39-year-old man has been jailed for sending an utterly deplorable" email to safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, one day after she was criticised by X owner Elon Musk.Jack Bennett, from Seaton, Devon, pleaded guilty to sending malicious communications to three people between February 2024 and January 2025, including the Birmingham Yardley MP, at Exeter magistrates court on Tuesday. Continue reading...
by Jane Clinton (now); Aneesa Ahmed and Yohannes Lowe on (#6VBNY)
Militant group will release hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners as Israel confirms it will begin negotiations on second phase of ceasefire dealGeneva Abdul is a reporter for the GuardianMore than 200 organisations worldwide have called on nations involved in producing F-35 fighter jets to immediately halt all arms transfers to Israel" amid fears they have failed to prevent the planes from being used to violate international law. Continue reading...
Accident at Pearson, Canada's busiest airport, sent 21 to hospital including three in critical condition on MondayFootage has emerged of the fiery plane crash at Toronto's Pearson airport on Monday, showing the Delta Air Lines jet skidding along the runway and then flipping over, as a wing rips off and the tail is engulfed in flames. The crash, which occurred at Canada's busiest airport, sent 21 people to the hospital, including three in critical condition.Soon after the crash, mobile phone clips captured the harrowing moments when passengers escaped through the plane's upside-down doors and into the bitter cold. Blasts of fire retardant hung in the air and some of the passengers stood dazed in the snow. Others unleashed a string of expletives as they processed the unfolding chaos. Continue reading...
London mayor to tell meeting that mobility scheme would benefit young people and economySadiq Khan has told EU diplomats that Brexit was a mistake and called on the UK government to be bold as it looks to strengthen ties with the bloc, arguing this would act as a counterweight to the tariffs threatened by Donald Trump.The mayor of London told the EU ambassador and the UK ambassadors to the 27 member states at a meeting on Tuesday that Britain's departure from the union continues to have a negative impact" on the country and its capital city, and vowed he would make the case for closer alignment. Continue reading...
Remains of Shiri Bibas and young sons Kfir and Ariel, whose deaths had not been confirmed, to be returned on ThursdayHamas has said it will release six hostages from Gaza this week and hand over the bodies of four others, including the remains of two young children from the same family whose deaths had not previously been confirmed.Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas negotiator, said the four bodies to be handed over on Thursday would include those of 32-year-old Shiri Bibas and her sons, Kfir and Ariel, who were nine months old and four years old when Hamas abducted them from the Nir Oz kibbutz during the 7 October 2023 attack that ignited the Gaza war. Continue reading...
Welcome to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference, a fatuous echo chamber of self-congratulationFighting the culture wars doesn't come cheap these days. Tickets for the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference at the Excel Centre in London cost a discounted 450. A bargain said the organisers, as the original price was 1500. Maybe they had a point. All 4,000 tickets were sold long before the event began. Even access to a livestream set you back 150. A meta-event where only the global elite are welcome to watch a global elite take on the global elite.This was alt-right heaven. A gathering of some of the biggest names on the circuit. Douglas Murray. Jordan Peterson. Nigel Farage. Niall Ferguson. An echo chamber of self-referential congratulation. A place where people come to have their ideas confirmed, not challenged. Continue reading...
Janice Nix, 66, charged with manslaughter over death of Andrea Bernard, who died after being assaulted in south LondonJanice Nix, 66, has been charged with manslaughter over the death of five-year-old Andrea Bernard, who died after being assaulted in south London in June 1978, the Metropolitan police have said.More details soon ... Continue reading...
by Martin Belam (now) and Aneesa Ahmed (earlier) on (#6VBQ9)
Leader of Reform UK criticises Conservatives and declinist' Labour government in new attacksGood morning, defence secretary John Healey has finished speaking, so I can take a quick pause and actually welcome you to our rolling coverage of UK politics for Tuesday. Here are the headlines ...Defence secretary John Healey has announced what he described as the most significant defence reform for 50 years, in which reporting lines and budgets will be simplified, and a new quad" of four senior leaders reporting directly to the minister appointedHealy said there were extraordinary people in the UK's defence forces, but too often they were hampered by process, and there was a lack of direct accountability. He suggested his changes might bring about up to 10bn in savings to the taxpayer over the next decadeTransport secretary Heidi Alexander has said the UK should not rule out sending troops to Ukraine as part of any future peacekeeping forceThe rate of UK unemployment remained unchanged at 4.4% in the three months to December. Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall said Since July, wages have continued to grow at pace ... but these figures also show that too many people are being locked out of work"London mayor Sadiq Khan is reportedly set to tell EU diplomats Brexit was a mistake"Successive governments' overreliance on prison sentences and desire to seem tough on crime" have driven the justice system in England and Wales to the brink of collapse, an official review has foundNigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, has spoken at the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London. Yesterday Conservative opposition leader Kemi Badenoch told the same event that western civilisation will be lost" if the Tory party fails Continue reading...
Couple accused of entering country under guise of tourists' had been monitored by security agenciesCraig and Lindsay Foreman, the British couple detained in Iran, have been charged with espionage, according to an Iranian judiciary spokesperson quoted by news agency Mizan.According to Mizan, a spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary said the Foremans had been monitored by security agencies and were arrested on charges of espionage". Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#6VBS0)
Households face greater than expected rise in Ofgem price cap after Europe's gas storage levels slump, analysts sayMillions of households face a greater than expected increase to their energy bills of 85 a year from April after Europe's gas storage levels slumped, according to analysts.The average gas and electricity bill for households across England, Scotland and Wales is expected to rise by nearly 5% from April to 1,823 a year for a typical household under the energy regulator's price cap. Continue reading...
Ice's pursuit of low-hanging fruit' by allegedly tricking people complying with rules could be counterproductivePeople attending recent mandatory immigration check-ins or court appearances have been escorted out in federal custody after the Trump administration allegedly tricked, lied to, or otherwise deceived them as part of its mass deportation campaign.Amid a blitz of immigration-related policy changes over the last few weeks, Donald Trump and his subordinates have greenlit the ability of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to conduct potential civil enforcement operations at courthouses, including in immigration courts. Continue reading...
Ken Martin decries Republican party's anti-union actions and pledges to fight on behalf of American working peopleThe newly elected chair of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin, has warned his party that the Republicans are now seen as the party of the working class and vowed to win back the trust of American workers as the Democrats seek to rebuild after their losses in the 2024 presidential election.In his first memo in the role, seen by the Guardian, Martin said, after the election, for the first time in modern history, Americans now see the Republicans as the party of the working class and Democrats as the party of the elites". Continue reading...
Firms want review of decision to remove architecture from shortage occupation list and raise salary thresholdArchitecture firms are calling on the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, to urgently review the post-Brexit visa salary rules, claiming they are choking an industry that is trying to help meet Labour's housing targets.They say there were hit by a double recruitment whammy when the rules changed last April, with architecture removed from the shortage occupation list and the minimum salary to get a visa increased from just over 26,000 to 45,900. Continue reading...
Elizabeth Ann Macgregor says Tony Burke has questions to answer after Khaled Sabsabi's offer was rescinded but the arts minister has denied involvement
How anti-immigration politics across the EU clashes with demographic realityThe rise of the far-right could speed up the population decline of Europe, projections show, creating economic shocks including slower growth and soaring costs from pensions and elderly care.Anti-immigration politics is on the rise across the EU, as shown by the gains made by far-right parties in the 2024 elections. Meanwhile, the anti-immigration Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) is polling second in the run-up to the German federal election this month. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: As the US and Russia go ahead with talks in Saudi Arabia, Keir Starmer and other European leaders are grappling with their next moveGood morning. Yesterday, European leaders attended an emergency meeting in Paris to discuss how best to respond to the shift in Ukraine policy from the US under Donald Trump. Today, US and Russian officials will meet in Saudi Arabia for preliminary peace talks. And while Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that there can be no agreements about us without us", events of the last week have made it clear that the second of these summits is likely to be more consequential than the first.As shocking as interventions from the US vice-president, JD Vance, and the secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, were last week, part of their argument was emanating from Washington even before Trump's first term: the demand that European nations take more responsibility for their own security as the US seeks to shift its focus towards Asia.Prisons | Successive governments' overreliance on longer prison sentences and desire to seem tough on crime" have driven the justice system to the brink of collapse, an official review has found. The prison population in England and Wales was more than 85,000 at the end of last year, having increased by more than 40,000 since 1993.UK news | A woman shot dead at a Kent pub on Valentine's Day has been named as Lisa Smith. The 43-year-old from Slough was killed in Knockholt near the Three Horseshoes pub shortly after 7pm on Friday, Kent police said.Conservatives | Kemi Badenoch has said our country and all of western civilisation will be lost" if efforts to renew the Conservative party and drive forward rightwing ideas globally fail. In a speech at a right-wing conference attended by Jordan Peterson and Nigel Farage, Baedenoch said that pronouns, diversity policies and climate activism" are a poison".Canada | A plane carrying 80 people crash landed at Toronto Pearson airport on Monday, flipping upside down and leaving at least 18 people injured. Video from the scene showed a Delta Air Lines plane belly-up on snow-covered tarmac and people walking away.Religion | Pope Francis will remain in hospital for as long as required after tests in recent days showed a complex clinical picture", the Vatican has said. The pontiff, 88, was admitted to Gemelli hospital in Rome on Friday with worsening bronchitis and was diagnosed and treated for a respiratory tract infection.If current trends in the decline of European defence capabilities are not halted and reversed, future US political leaders - those for whom the cold war was not the formative experience that it was for me - may not consider the return on America's investment in Nato worth the cost." Continue reading...
Exclusive: More than 200 civil society groups say governments have failed to prevent planes from being used to violate international lawMore than 200 organisations worldwide have called on nations involved in producing F-35 fighter jets to immediately halt all arms transfers to Israel" amid fears they have failed to prevent the planes from being used to violate international law.The letter, signed by 232 civil society organisations, was sent on Monday to government ministers in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the US and the UK as the war in Gaza reached 500 days. Continue reading...
by Jillian Ambrose Energy correspondent on (#6VBM7)
UK records 47% annual drop as governments aim to replace fossil fuels but also spend billions on new LNG terminalsEuropean imports of seaborne gas shipments fell by a fifth last year to their lowest level since the pandemic, according to a new report, while the UK's plunged by nearly a half, but governments are continuing to spend billions on new import terminals.The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) found that Europe's imports of liquefied natural gas, known as LNG, fell by 19% last year to lows not seen since 2021 as governments worked to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy. Continue reading...
European headlines reflect the response to the diplomatic shockwaves sent by the US and splits among leaders on defence spending and how the war in Ukraine should end
Opposition leaders accuse prime minister of risking its relationship with New Zealand by continued secrecy around dealHundreds of protesters have marched on Cook Islands' parliament to oppose prime minister Mark Brown's recent decisions, including a failure to properly consult its closest partner New Zealand over a deal to deepen ties with China.Roughly 400 protesters - led by opposition parties - gathered outside the capital city of Avarua on Tuesday, RNZ reported, with some holding signs reading Stay connected with New Zealand". Others waved placards showing the New Zealand passport in opposition to Brown's now-abandoned controversial proposal to introduce a separate Cook Islands passport, which New Zealand warned would require holders to renounce their New Zealand one. Continue reading...
Chris Wright also tells conservative conference Australia developing shale gas would be a tremendous resource' - despite Australia already being one of the world largest producers and exporters of both LNG and uranium
Value of imports and exports is now about 32bn, with chemical sector among those hit by Brexit red tapeTrade between Great Britain and Ireland dropped more than 6bn in 2024 as post-Brexit frictions hit shipments across the Irish Sea.The value of imports and exports between the nations fell to about 32bn last year, down from 38bn in 2023, according to Ireland's Central Statistics Office.This article was amended on Tuesday 18 February 2025 to clarify that the UK remains Ireland's biggest trading partner in Europe, rather than globally. Continue reading...
Hundreds of teenagers have been given an IN10 police endorsement since 2020, says road safety charityElectric scooters have been blamed for a surge in the number of children being penalised for driving without insurance.Since the start of 2020 almost 800 children aged between 13 and 16 have been given an IN10 endorsement - the code used by the police for using a vehicle uninsured against third party risks" - according to data obtained by a road safety charity. Continue reading...
by Eleni Courea Political correspondent on (#6VBHA)
Successive governments' penal populism' has driven England and Wales justice system to brink of collapse, report findsSuccessive governments' overreliance on prison sentences and desire to seem tough on crime" have driven the justice system in England and Wales to the brink of collapse, an official review has found.A form of penal populism" where longer incarceration is seen as the only effective means of punishment has contributed to the crisis in the prison system, according to the interim findings of a review led by former justice secretary David Gauke. Continue reading...
British prime minister says force would need protections such as air cover that only US can provideKeir Starmer has urged Donald Trump to provide a US backstop" to a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine, saying it is the only way to deter Russia from attacking the country again.The UK prime minister's appeal to Trump came after an emergency summit in Paris that heard widespread calls by European leaders for a large boost in defence spending. Continue reading...
World news | The Guardian