TV star, 64, asks for privacy as he says he ‘hasn’t been too well recently’ and is undergoing chemotherapyThe TV chef Dave Myers has revealed he has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy.The 64-year-old found fame as one half of cooking duo the Hairy Bikers, alongside his friend and fellow chef Si King. Continue reading...
Citing ‘concern’ within community, watchdog promises ‘a thorough and independent investigation’A police officer is being investigated for potential driving offences following the death of a man who was hit by a police car.The incident occurred in Peacehaven, East Sussex, just after 11.10pm on Saturday. Continue reading...
The birds’ wings are clipped to keep them from escaping their enclosure – leaving them unable to escape a predatorA wild fox in Washington DC, has chewed through a fence at the National zoo and killed 25 flamingos in the worst animal attack there in two decades.On Tuesday, zoo officials announced that in addition to the 25 American flamingos that were killed early on Monday in their outdoor habitat, three more were injured. A northern pintail duck was also killed by the fox. Continue reading...
Dorset teenager was discharged from hospital without community support a few weeks before her deathA psychiatrist has expressed regret for discharging the Dorset teenager Gaia Pope from hospital just weeks before her death without community mental health support, an inquest heard.Dr Peter Jeffery completed a Mental Health Act assessment on 19-year-old Pope on 22 October 2017 after police took her to Poole hospital with what appeared to be psychotic symptoms. He decided she did not require admission to a psychiatric unit and instead she was sent home, Dorset coroner’s court heard on Thursday. Continue reading...
Convenience store chain says any rescue likely to result in little or no value being attributed to its sharesThe convenience store chain McColl’s has said it is increasingly likely to call in administrators as it battles to secure a rescue deal with 16,000 jobs in the balance.The UK-listed retailer, which has more than 1,100 small shops around the UK including about 250 Morrisons Daily outlets and a number of Martin’s, said any rescue was likely to result in “little or no value” being attributed to its shares. Continue reading...
Employment rights reforms, such as safeguards for zero-hours workers, are not expected to be included in the Queen’s speech next weekThe government has been accused of betraying some of the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers in Britain after it emerged it would leave out landmark reforms to employment rights from the Queen’s speech.The employment bill is not expected to be included in next Tuesday’s list of priorities for parliament as the government focuses on policies relating to energy and economic crime. Continue reading...
by Haroon Siddique Legal affairs correspondent on (#5YX9S)
Tracey Connelly will be released from prison after the board rejects Raab’s appeal against the decisionDominic Raab has launched a scathing attack on the Parole Board after it rejected his appeal against the decision to free the mother of Baby P, who died after months of abuse.The justice secretary had claimed that the decision to release Tracey Connelly, who was jailed indefinitely with a minimum term of five years in May 2009, should be reconsidered on the grounds of irrationality, but a judge upheld the original decision. Continue reading...
TV stars, musicians and other high-profile women talk about their terminations, in wake of leaked US supreme court draft judgmentTelevision presenter Cathy Newman has become the latest high-profile woman to go public with her experience of having an abortion, as the possibility of the US supreme court overturning Roe v Wade sparks a defiant outpouring of testimony.Posting on Twitter on Thursday, the Channel 4 News presenter wrote that she was sad to have had an abortion but had “never for one second regretted it”. Continue reading...
Michael Barton says those pushing for action, such as Tory MPs and rightwing papers, are using policing as a ‘political football’Durham’s former police chief has condemned attempts to get his former force to investigate Keir Starmer over allegations of Covid rule-breaking as “hypocritical” and “dangerous” and said there is no evidence the Labour leader flouted the law.Michael Barton, chief constable of Durham until 2019, said the pressure on police to investigate was politically motivated. In his time in charge, Durham was rated as one of the best performing police forces. Continue reading...
Book thought to have been taken 15 years ago was rediscovered when it went up for auction in GermanyAn ancient manuscript by the French astrologer Michel de Nostredame, better known as Nostradamus, stolen from a library in Rome has been returned to the Italian capital.The manuscript, entitled Nostradamus M Prophecies and dating back about 300 years, was rediscovered last year when it was put up for sale by a German auction house. Continue reading...
Osinachi Nwachukwu’s family and friends allege that she was a victim of domestic abuseOn most Sunday mornings, the searing voice of Osinachi Nwachukwu, one of Nigeria’s best-known gospel singers, filled the vast 100,000 seater auditorium of her church in Abuja.Footage from one of the last times she led the choir at the Dunamis International Gospel Centre showed her singing the 2017 gospel hit Ekwueme, her eyes pressed closed and hand outstretched in prayer. Continue reading...
Amanda Milling says ‘significant changes' needed to tackle corruption following talks with political and community leadersThe Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling has said a decision on whether to impose direct rule on the British Virgin Islands (BVI) has still be to be made following her return from a three-day visit to the overseas territory, but said its government must address endemic corruption.Her emergency trip, during which she met a variety of business, community and political leaders, came after the territory’s premier, Andrew Fahie, appeared in a US federal court in Miami last week on charges of money-laundering and conspiring to import cocaine following his arrest in a sting operation by agents posing as Mexican drug traffickers. Continue reading...
Monarch to be represented by other members of family as events take place for first time since 2019The Queen is to miss the royal garden party season in her platinum jubilee year and will be represented by other members of the royal family, Buckingham Palace has said.A spokesperson said details on attendance would be confirmed in due course. Continue reading...
Very warm weather forecast in south next week after an April with third less rain than normalThe UK looks set to endure a mini-heatwave from next week, with above normal temperatures steadily climbing to as high as 22C or 23C in the south later in the month, meteorologists predict.Sunny and dry conditions will prevail in the south after an April during which average maximum temperatures were generally above normal and the UK had about a third less rain than usual. Continue reading...
Three-year-old girl remains in intensive care after being found unconscious in near 30-degree heat at Gracemere, QueenslandA three-year-old girl who was found unconscious in a bus parked outside a childcare centre in central Queensland is now breathing on her own, her grandmother has said.Police say Nevaeh Austin was left unattended for six hours in hot temperatures outside Le Smileys Early Learning Centre in Gracemere, near Rockhampton, on Wednesday afternoon. Continue reading...
by Nadia Khomami Arts and culture correspondent on (#5YWYW)
Portrait last seen in 1930 will go on display in Vienna and also be part of a non-fungible tokens collectionA painting by Egon Schiele depicting the artist’s uncle and legal guardian has been rediscovered after being missing for more than 90 years, a museum has said.Leopold Czihaczek at the Piano (1907) was found within a Viennese private collection and will go on public display for the first time at the Leopold Museum in Austria, which houses the largest and most eminent collection of works by the great expressionist. Continue reading...
by Aubrey Allegretti Political correspondent on (#5YWVY)
Results will be seen as test of Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer at likely mid-point of current UK governmentPolls have opened in the local elections, with both major parties frenetically managing expectations as a Tory mayor warns Boris Johnson he will have to go further in helping people struggling with the cost of living.The results will be seen as a major test for Johnson and Keir Starmer, coming at the ostensible mid-way point of the UK government’s term. A total of 146 English councils, and all those in Scotland and Wales, are up for grabs – as well as seven mayoralties. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#5YWTQ)
Scientists behind survey of car number plates said drop was ‘terrifying’, as life on Earth depends on insectsThe number of flying insects in Great Britain has plunged by almost 60% since 2004, according to a survey that counted splats on car registration plates. The scientists behind the survey said the drop was “terrifying”, as life on Earth depends on insects.The results from many thousands of journeys by members of the public in the summer of 2021 were compared with results from 2004. The fall was highest in England, at 65%, with Wales recording 55% fewer insects and Scotland 28%. Continue reading...
Funding for 133 schools run by Syria Relief ended on 30 April, leaving pupils at risk of child labour and early marriageMore than 40,000 Syrian children are out of school as a direct result of British aid cuts and more schools could soon close, a leading charity has said.British funding for 133 schools run by Syria Relief ended on 30 April, as the government cut its total foreign aid spending from its commitment of 0.7% of gross national income to 0.5%. Continue reading...
Ferdinand Marcos Jr, known as Bongbong Marcos, frontrunner in race to replace populist president Rodrigo DuterteOn 9 May about 67.5 million Filipinos will go to the polls to decide who should replace the populist president Rodrigo Duterte. He has reached the end of his six-year term and is constitutionally barred from running again. Continue reading...
Nanaia Mahuta confirms ‘unwelcome and unnecessary’ deal came as a surprise to New Zealand and Australia, saying the Solomons must provide transparencyThe shock over China’s security deal with Solomon Islands is evidence of “a relationship failure” , New Zealand’s foreign affairs minister has said, confirming that the pact took New Zealand, Australia and other Pacific nations completely by surprise.The deal marks Beijing’s first known bilateral security agreement in the Pacific. The text of the final deal is secret, but a draft leaked on social media in March granted Chinese military and police significant access to the country, allowing China to “make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands”. Continue reading...
Group says deficit would widen to £4,000 under plan to freeze tuition fees in England until 2024-25Each undergraduate costs England’s leading universities nearly £2,000 as tuition fees and teaching grants fail to fully fund a degree, and that amount is likely to double soon unless the government acts to fill the gap.A submission by the Russell Group of research-intensive universities – including the University of Manchester and University College London – to a consultation on higher education funding revealed that the average cost per student was £1,750 more than they receive in tuition fees and teaching grants. Continue reading...
Takeaway group in boardroom turmoil after two bosses exit before annual shareholder meetingJust Eat Takeaway is facing boardroom turmoil after a senior executive stepped down amid an investigation by the courier group into a formal complaint regarding misconduct at a company event.The board of Just Eat said it would not be putting Jörg Gerbig, its chief operating officer, forward for re-election at the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, as it was due to engage an “external expert” to conduct an investigation into “possible personal misconduct”. Continue reading...