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Effort to reduce new year collisions has been criticised for encouraging drivers to film others or stage violationsThai police are taking an alternative approach to their annual road safety campaign by offering cash prizes of 10,000 baht (£240) for the best – or worst – videos of traffic violations.About 22,000 people die each year in Thailand in road traffic accidents, one of the worst death rates in the world. The week over the new year, known locally as the “seven dangerous days”, has the biggest spike as people speed around the country. Continue reading...

Jeremy Fleming says war in Ukraine prompted new public outreach effort by intelligence community

Suspect arrested in London over death of Fisher, who was stabbed to death in a Birmingham nightclub on Boxing DayA third man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of Cody Fisher, the semi-professional footballer stabbed to death in a Birmingham nightclub on Boxing Day.

At least 19 people now known to have died but figure could rise as rescue teams have not reached all areasA fire that lasted more than 12 hours in a Cambodian hotel casino killed at least 19 people and injured scores more, with an official warning that other people could be missing.“There are 19 dead so far as we see bodies and bones,” said Sek Sokhom, the director of the Banteay Meanchey provincial information department, warning “the dead figure could be higher” as rescue teams have not reached many parts of the complex. Continue reading...

Shadow justice secretary says party will put prevention at the heart of its approach to crimeLabour would overhaul the approach to antisocial behaviour with plans to allow victims to choose how offenders are punished, it has been reported.The shadow justice secretary, Steve Reed, has said he will update Tony Blair’s “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” slogan and put prevention at the heart of their approach, the Times reported. Continue reading...

Mystery surrounds the alleged involvement of top officials in the murder of the high-profile Philippine journalistIt was just past 8pm on 3 October and the veteran broadcaster Percy Mabasa was on his way to record his nightly radio show. Every weekday evening, tens of thousands of Filipinos, many living abroad, would tune in to listen to his news commentary and sharp humour.But on this evening, as Mabasa drove up to the entrance of his gated community where his studio is located in Las Piñas, Metro Manila, a motorbike began to trail him. Footage taken by a camera on the back of his car, and since released by police, shows two figures on the bike pulling up alongside him. Then gunshots can be heard. There’s a bang as Mabasa’s car slams into the vehicle in front. The motorbike turns and drives away. Mabasa was killed instantly. Continue reading...

Police say 31-year-old man from Tranmere held on suspicion of conspiracy to murder over Christmas Eve shootingA third person has been arrested over the death of Elle Edwards, who was shot dead at a pub on Christmas Eve.Merseyside police said a 31-year-old man from Tranmere had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder. He is in custody, where he will be questioned by detectives. Continue reading...

Evacuation calls in Kherson amid barrage of Russian artillery attacks; Zelenskiy says of Bakhmut ‘there is no place that is not covered with blood’

World men’s tennis No 5 says return proves he is ready to move on from his deportation and begin quest for 10th Australian Open titleNovak Djokovic says there are no hard feelings on his return to Australia, but can’t guarantee he will ever completely move past the saga that torpedoed his 2022 Australian Open hopes and thrust him into the centre of a media frenzy.Djokovic was deported from Australia almost 12 months ago after arriving unvaccinated against Covid at a time when the country was still subject to strict biosecurity regulations. Such regulations have now been lifted and in November the Australian government overturned the three-year ban that came with Djokovic’s deportation and granted him a visa to return for the summer of tennis. Continue reading...

Ukrainian embassy in Australia says the number of enquiries about volunteering in the country has dropped off

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Appeal for UK authorities to bring over mother who was left in France after smugglers departed shore with her three childrenThe Home Office is under pressure to reunite a family of Eritrean asylum seekers after smugglers forced three children, the youngest aged just five, to cross the Channel on a small boat before their mother could get on board with them.The woman, 31, who was staying in northern France hoping to reach the UK, paid smugglers for places on a dinghy for herself and her three children, a boy aged 14 and two girls aged nine and five, to cross the Channel on 16 December. She said she believed the UK was the place where she would find safety and a respect for the human rights of her family. Continue reading...

Centre in London says record number born on site is a result of fewer people being able to afford cost of neuteringParsnip, Cranberry and Sprouts. Not your Christmas dinner, but a festive trio of fluffy black and white kittens, newly arrived at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. Down the corridor in the cattery, another three newborns have just been taken in, along with their parents, in something approaching a feline nativity scene.The new arrivals are, according to Bridie Williams, Battersea’s cattery manager, “ridiculously cute”. And they come at the end of a year during which 133 kittens were born on site – considerably more than any year in the past decade. Continue reading...

Paul Nowak says party can ‘set a very clear direction of travel’ for public services if it wins next electionLabour will not be able “turn the taps on from day one” on public spending if it wins the next election, the new leader of the TUC has acknowledged, suggesting the party’s attempts to manage expectations are working.The incoming general secretary, Paul Nowak, said a Labour government would not be able to fix the Conservatives’ “neglect” straight after coming to power but suggested it could still “set a very clear direction of travel” for public services. Continue reading...

British government urged Washington embassy to lobby incoming president, declassified documents showThe election of Bill Clinton as US president in 1992 prompted the British government to brace for “turbulence” because of his views on Northern Ireland.The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) said the incoming president’s views on the region were unwelcome and urged the British embassy in Washington to confront him, according to an official document declassified this week. Continue reading...

Across country last month, almost 14,000 people were ready to be discharged but could not be sent home or into careMore people could be spending the time between Christmas and new year in hospital in parts of England this year than at any time in the past decade, as NHS trusts struggle to find social care places for patients medically fit for discharge.The latest figures for December to date show an average of 94,200 patients were in hospitals across England, more than 93,000 of them in acute settings, the highest in seven winters. Continue reading...

Five-year-old girl credited for helping siblings survive 55 hours in 30-degree heat in car wreckage with dead parentsTrapped inside the wreckage of a car after an accident that killed her parents, a five-year-old girl has been credited for an “absolute miracle” feat of survival.Inside an upturned Land Rover, hidden from view beside a remote Western Australian road, the young girl managed to undo her one-year-old brother’s seatbelt, freeing him. Continue reading...

Santa Cruz governor and former presidential candidate flown to La Paz after what his supporters called a ‘kidnapping’Bolivian police have detained prominent opposition leader Luis Fernando Camacho on charges of “terrorism” in a move that significantly escalates tensions between the national government and Camacho’s Santa Cruz base.Bolivia’s state attorney’s office confirmed the detention on Wednesday of 43-year-old Camacho, the governor of Santa Cruz who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020. Continue reading...

Victorian treasurer says plagued myki payment system will be reviewed with current contract due to expire late next year

Poorly resourced regional hospitals brace for flood of cases during upcoming lunar new year holiday as infections soarChina’s sprawling and thinly resourced countryside was racing to beef up its medical facilities amid a surging Covid-19 wave as hundreds of millions of migrant factory workers prepare to return to their families for the lunar new year.Each year, hundreds of millions of people, mostly working in factories near the southern and eastern coasts, return to the countryside for the lunar new year festivities, due to start on 22 January next year. Continue reading...

Homicide investigation launched after deaths of Todd Mooney and 10-year-old Kirra at BiggendenA shed fire that killed Queensland man Todd Mooney and his 10-year-old daughter Kirra was deliberately lit, police believe.Remains believed to be the 54-year-old man and the girl were found after the blaze at Biggenden, south-east of Bundaberg, on 20 December. Continue reading...

Many humanitarian activities ‘paused’ as Taliban decision to bar women NGO workers prevents vital services across the countryThe United Nations said that some “time-critical” programs in Afghanistan have temporarily stopped and warned many other activities will also likely need to be paused because of a ban by the Taliban-led administration on women aid workers.UN aid chief Martin Griffiths, the heads of UN agencies and several aid groups said in a joint statement on Wednesday that women’s “participation in aid delivery is not negotiable and must continue”, calling on authorities to reverse the decision. Continue reading...

Chief medical officer does not rule out future border restrictions but says community has high immunity to current variants

Emma Lovell died after being stabbed in the chest in an alleged home invasion north of Brisbane on Boxing Day

Castillo is appealing against his detention earlier in December over an attempt to illegally dissolve CongressThe former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo, who is being held in pretrial detention after attempting to illegally dissolve Congress, said he was a victim of “political revenge” by his adversaries.Castillo, speaking at a hearing on Wednesday to appeal against the detention, said he had not committed the crimes of rebellion and conspiracy for which he is under investigation. Continue reading...

Exiled National Unity Government says figure is a rise of 78% on last year, following February 2021 coupMyanmar’s military junta killed 165 children in 2022, according to the country’s exiled opposition National Unity Government (NUG). According to their data, 78% more children died at the hands of the occupying military in 2022 compared with 2021.“The NUG figure appears credible,” says Thomas Kean, a senior consultant on Myanmar for the International Crisis Group, explaining that reports are often accompanied by evidence. Continue reading...

Incoming general secretary, Paul Nowak, says PM has overestimated public support for confronting unionsRishi Sunak needs an “exit strategy” from ongoing industrial disputes to avoid them escalating in the months ahead after overestimating public support for his “1980s playbook” approach to widespread strikes, the incoming TUC general secretary has said.Paul Nowak, who takes over as Britain’s top union leader next month, predicted the government’s “war of attrition” against the unions would fail and accused ministers of having their “hands over their ears” about the severity of the situation. Continue reading...

‘You’d think they would have shown compassion’: patient’s son decries Kansas police who issued citation as father sufferedHospital staff in Kansas called the police on a man dying of cancer who was using cannabis products to cope with his symptoms, in an incident that has since sparked outrage and renewed calls to rethink the state’s strict cannabis laws.The encounter took place in mid-December, when police in the city of Hays say two officers showed up at the cancer patient’s hospital room to issue him a citation for a drug violation. Police also took away a vaping device and cannabis product that hospital staff had already confiscated. Continue reading...

Ministers considering change that would class eggs laid by hens kept in barns for months under restrictions as free rangeFree-range egg rules in the UK could be relaxed in response to the European Union preparing to overhaul regulations after the biggest avian flu outbreak on record.Ministers are understood to be considering a change to the rules that would mean eggs laid by hens kept in barns for months on end could be classed as free range. Continue reading...

Dyfed-Powys police arrested 33-year-old on suspicion of child neglect after sudden death of child in LampeterA woman has been arrested on suspicion of child neglect in Wales over the death of an eight-year-old linked to the strep A infection.According to the BBC, a 33-year-old woman was arrested by Dyfed-Powys police on 23 December after the “sudden death” of a child the day before in Lampeter, Ceredigion and has been released as inquiries continue. Continue reading...

A five-year-old girl saved her younger brother’s life after their Land Rover rolled on Christmas Day

Other countries including Italy have taken similar steps after Beijing’s rollback of ‘zero-Covid’ policies led to surge in casesThe US has announced all travellers from China must provide a negative Covid-19 test to enter the country, joining other nations imposing restrictions because of a surge of infections.The increase in cases across China follows the rollback of the nation’s strict anti-virus controls. Beijing’s “zero Covid” policies had kept the country’s infection rate low but fuelled public frustration and crushed economic growth. Continue reading...

Storm that sent US temperatures plunging triggers yellow weather warning for heavy rain over Scotland on FridayThe deadly bomb cyclone that has sent temperatures plunging in the US is also causing the UK to experience wet and windy weather, the Met Office has said.On Wednesday, the forecaster issued a yellow weather warning for heavy rain from 3am on Friday for 15 hours for much of Scotland, including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling. The Met Office said heavy rain could bring some flooding and travel disruption. Continue reading...

Putin bans supply of oil to countries participating in price cap; heavy fighting continues in southern and eastern Ukraine

Whitehall sources claim the Home Office is fighting with Michael Gove over whether Islamist extremists’ details should be removedNo 10 has refused to say if its review of the Prevent counter-terrorism strategy will be redacted, amid reports it has been delayed by a row between Michael Gove and the Home Office over whether to reveal the names of suspected Islamist extremists.The Prevent review was handed over to the Home Office by William Shawcross, a former head of the Charity Commission, in the summer. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Nearly one in 10 care homes that offer dementia support reported on by inspectors in 2022 were given worst rating

This year, 3,275 took a break from mince pies and charades to fill in their self-assessment forms, HMRC saidWhile most households spent the holidays feasting and visiting relatives and friends, others apparently decided Christmas was the season to catch up on admin, with 22,000 Britons filing self-assessment tax returns during the yuletide break this year.The latest data from HMRC indicates that on Christmas Day, 3,275 people took a break from eating mince pies and watching the Mrs Brown’s Boys special to disclose their latest earnings. Continue reading...

Footballer was stabbed death in Birmingham nightclub on Boxing DayTwo men have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a footballer who was stabbed to death in a nightclub on Boxing Day.Cody Fisher, 23, was fatally attacked in the Crane nightclub in Digbeth, Birmingham, just before midnight on Monday. Continue reading...

Liliana Segre, 92, has been subjected to racist attacks, and fears the Holocaust will become a footnote in the history booksAn Italian senator who survived the Auschwitz concentration camp and this year found herself witnessing a far-right government take power again in Rome has said her “personal nightmare” is that the Holocaust will all but vanish from history books.Liliana Segre, 92, was the only one of her relatives to survive the Holocaust, which killed six million Jews as part of Nazi Germany’s second world war campaign to obliterate the Jewish population in Europe. Continue reading...

Hundreds rescued in NSW over Christmas break as hot weather sends people flocking to beaches and waterways

Quarter of consumers more likely to visit branches amid struggles with surging energy, food and housing costs, finds KPMG surveyCost of living pressures have increased the number of customers relying on bank branches to help manage their squeezed budgets, research shows.While the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online-only banking, particularly during lockdowns, research from the accountancy firm KPMG showed a quarter of UK consumers were more likely to visit bank branches now that households were grappling with surging energy, food and housing costs. Continue reading...

England to become first country to eliminate virus thanks to targeted screening campaigns and effective treatmentsThe NHS is set to eliminate hepatitis C in England by 2025 due to targeted screening campaigns for those at risk and effective drug treatments, according to health officials. NHS England said the measures are helping to dramatically cut deaths from the virus five years ahead of global targets.Deaths from hepatitis C – including liver disease and cancer – have fallen by 35% since NHS England struck a five-year deal worth almost £1bn to buy antiviral drugs for thousands of patients in 2018. Continue reading...

Exclusive: ONS analysis shows black households five times more likely to struggle to pay energy billsLabour has reaffirmed its commitment to tackle structural racism after new analysis showed black households are five times more likely to struggle making energy bills repayments.Black and minority ethnic people were already 2.5 times more likely to be in relative poverty, and 2.2 times more likely to live in deep poverty (defined as having an income more than 50% below the relative poverty line), than their white counterparts regardless of the energy crisis, figures from the Office for National Statistics show. Continue reading...

Authorities did not confirm if they were charging anybody over use of the restricted spray, which was posted on social media

The Boeing 787 was more than four hours into the flight when it was denied permission to land and forced to return to Melbourne

Health workers report huge jump in mostly elderly Covid patients as China adjusts to living largely without virus restrictionsChinese hospitals were under intense pressure as a surging wave of Covid-19 infections strained resources in the last major country to move towards treating the virus as endemic.In an abrupt change of policy, China earlier this month began dismantling the world’s strictest Covid regime of lockdowns and extensive testing, putting its battered economy on course for a complete re-opening next year. Continue reading...

Rain-induced floods and landslides unlike previous disasters in the country, which are typically triggered by severe typhoonsRescue teams across nine provinces in the Philippines raced to try to locate 26 people missing after weekend rains, floods and landslides that have killed at least 25 people, in one of its deadliest weather events this year.The national disaster agency on Wednesday said casualties reported so far had increased to 25 from 17 the previous day, with most deaths caused by drowning from flash floods. Continue reading...

Daniel Duggan’s lawyer says the 54-year-old pilot will fight any extradition request and resolutely maintains his innocence

Plan will bring Durham, Northumberland, Gateshead, Sunderland, Newcastle, South Tyneside and North Tyneside under control of one mayorA £1.4bn devolution deal for the north-east of England would bring seven local authority areas under the control of an elected mayor in 2024, Michael Gove has announced.The levelling-up secretary set out the £48m-a-year deal for Northumberland, Durham, Newcastle, South Tyneside, North Tyneside, Gateshead and Sunderland on Wednesday after months of negotiations over the new devolved area covering 2 million people. Continue reading...

Families losing millions of pounds to unsolved crimes, party says, as it pledges to put 13,000 extra officers on the streetsMore than 1m thefts went unsolved last year, Labour has said, as it branded the figures “disgraceful”.The party’s analysis of crime statistics found that 1,145,254 cases of theft were dropped last year because the police failed to find a suspect. It said that on average a domestic burglary costs victims £1,400, with Labour warning that families were losing millions due to unsolved crimes. Continue reading...