James Gill, 39, fractured Neil Robinson’s skull and threatened to set fire to another motorist’s car in five-hour road rage rampageA drunk driver who killed a 75-year-old man by pushing him over in an act of road rage has been jailed for 10 years and nine months.James Gill, 39, fractured Neil Robinson’s skull in an unprovoked and random attack after accusing him of “walking on the wrong side of the road” on 16 December last year. He also threatened to set fire to another motorist’s car in what the judge described as a five-hour “catalogue of carnage”. Continue reading...
Advice to holidaymakers to ditch black bags to make it easier to find them met with mockery in mediaGerman holidaymakers are being advised to ditch black suitcases and kit themselves out with more colourful and eye-catching luggage instead to make locating them easier at airports suffering from baggage handling chaos.Stefan Schulte, the head of Frankfurt airport, has said the predominance of black suitcases used by passengers has contributed to the difficulties faced by airlines and baggage handlers in recent weeks, because he said it was “hard to distinguish them from each another”. Continue reading...
Four siblings under 10 among those to die in assault on Jisr al-Shughur in Idlib, with others still trapped under rubbleA Russian airstrike killed seven people, four of them children, in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib region, a war monitor has said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths “including four children who are siblings, two men and an unidentified person … as a result of Russian airstrikes”, in the Jisr al-Shughur countryside of northern Syria. Continue reading...
As Graham Mansfield is found not guilty of murder for killing his terminally ill wife, Dyanne, we look at key assisted-dying debatesGraham Mansfield was found not guilty of murder after cutting his wife’s throat “in an act of love” before trying to kill himself, after a judge accepted the couple had made a suicide pact.It took just 90 minutes for a jury to clear Mansfield, 73, from Hale in Greater Manchester, of the charge after he gave an emotional testimony of how he had killed his wife, Dyanne, because she was in such pain with terminal cancer.An assisted-dying law would imply it was something everyone elderly, seriously ill or disabled “ought” to consider.No safeguard could ensure decisions are truly voluntary.Society should instead ensure palliative care is available to all.A doctor’s role is not to deliberately bring about a patient’s death.Palliative care can’t relieve all pain and distress.Physician-assisted dying is legal for more than 150 million people around the world, with eligibility criteria, safeguards and regulation in place.End-of-life practices are legal in the UK. The same safeguards could be used in assisted-dying legislation.The current law is not working, with UK citizens travelling to facilities such as Dignitas in Switzerland. But they need to be well enough to travel, meaning they often end their lives sooner than they would have wished. Continue reading...
by Jessica Murray Midlands correspondent on (#61PG4)
Statue is recreation of pop art installation by Nicholas Munro displayed in city centre in 1970sWhen the British pop artist Nicholas Monro was asked to make a public sculpture for Birmingham in the 1970s, he raised a few eyebrows when he produced an 18ft fibreglass statue of King Kong.“It was really just a finger up to the system. They wanted something typical and boring, so he gave them a massive gorilla,” said Monro’s son Claude. “I think there was a certain amount of ‘Is this art? What is this?’” added Joe, Claude’s elder brother. Continue reading...
Oil from the versatile plant makes cannabis medicine CBD and its fibre has a range of uses but the Taliban need convincingThe smell seemed unmistakable, the dried buds looked familiar and the Taliban checkpoint guards, who had never heard of CBD, a non-psychoactive cannabis compound, were disgusted by the pungent cargo of Amin Karim’s truck.“They said to me: ‘Aren’t you ashamed of yourself, Haji?’” using an honorific for an older man, as they poked through the piles of hemp headed for Kabul last October. Continue reading...
Gil Tamary of Israel’s Channel 13 sparked online fury after he filmed himself in Islam’s holiest city despite a ban on non-MuslimsA Saudi citizen who allegedly helped a non-Muslim enter the holy city of Mecca has been arrested, police in the kingdom said, after an online backlash against a journalist working for Israeli television.The journalist, Gil Tamary of Israel’s Channel 13, posted on Twitter a video of himself sneaking into Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, in defiance of a ban on non-Muslims. Continue reading...
Welsh government under pressure over £4.25m purchase of land for Green Man to use as base for expansionGreen Man festival, which rises up each August from the parkland and rolling countryside of the Usk Valley in mid-Wales, is facing accusations that its plans for a sustainable future will threaten some of the most vulnerable and protected wildlife and habitats in the country.The Welsh government is under pressure over its decision to spend £4.25m of public money to buy a farm in Talybont-on-Usk for the Green Man owners to use as a base for its expansion. Continue reading...
Christian pop singer Amy Grant and Cuban-American composer Tania León also recognised for prestigious yearly awardThe recipients of one of the United States’ most prestigious cultural awards, the Kennedy Center Honors, have been announced for 2022.George Clooney, U2, Gladys Knight, Tania León and Amy Grant are being given the yearly awards, which were founded in 1978 and last year recognised Joni Mitchell and Berry Gordy among others. Continue reading...
Judge grants permission for part of claim over duke’s security arrangements to have judicial reviewThe Duke of Sussex has won a bid to bring part of his high court claim against the Home Office over his security arrangements while in the UK.Harry is bringing legal action over a decision not to allow him to pay for police protection for himself and his family when they are in the UK. Continue reading...
Cabinet has approved event for 27 September but critics question cost and possible political exploitationOpposition is mounting to plans to hold a state funeral for the former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot dead earlier this month.The cabinet on Friday approved arrangements for the funeral – only the second of its kind for a former Japanese leader in the postwar period – on 27 September. Continue reading...
South Wales plant’s owner reportedly wants government to help it move to greener production methodsThe owner of the UK’s largest steelworks has reportedly said it needs the government to agree to provide £1.5bn in subsidies in the next year to help it transition to greener production methods or it will have to look at site closures.India’s Tata group owns the vast Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales, which employs about 3,500 people and is one of only two in Britain capable of turning iron ore and coal into molten iron and steel. Overall, the group’s subsidiary Tata Steel UK (TSUK), which earlier this week reported its first annual profit since 2009, employs about 8,000 staff in the UK. Continue reading...
People in Okinawa asked to avoid non-essential outings amid new wave of infections driven by highly transmissible BA.5Japan’s government has urged people to exercise the “highest level of vigilance” after the country reported a record number of new Covid-19 cases in a new wave of infections driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 subvariant.More than 186,000 cases were recorded nationwide on Thursday, while Tokyo easily beat its existing daily record with 31,878 cases. The capital, along with Osaka and Fukuoka, were among 30 of the country’s 47 prefectures to report record highs this week. Continue reading...
Arrests as hundreds of demonstrators evicted from camp blocking presidential office, hours before they were due to vacate areaSri Lankan security forces have carried out a violent early morning raid on the main anti-government protest camp in Colombo, beating protesters, destroying tents and arresting nine people.Friday’s raid saw thousands of police and troops armed with riot gear descend on the camp, known as Gota Go Gama, where hundreds of people have been living for over three months. More than 50 people were injured and three people were sent to hospital in the attack, according to St John Ambulance volunteers at the scene. Continue reading...
Defence ministry also sounds alarm at prospect of Beijing-Moscow ties deepening amid expectations Tokyo will boost defence spendingJapan’s defence ministry has said it is alarmed at fresh threats from Russia and has growing worries about Taiwan, in an annual report that comes as Tokyo considers significantly increasing military spending.The document includes a chapter on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which it says risks sending the message “that an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force is acceptable”. Continue reading...
Performances at four main stages have been called off, as attendees of the Byron Bay festival report long queues, flooded campsites and people sleeping in cars due to the downpour
Pope will meet Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors, thousands of whom were taken from familiesPope Francis will spend the next week on a “pilgrimage of penance” in Canada, meeting with Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors as he looks to atone for the church’s grim legacy in the country.For the first papal visit to Canada in two decades, the pontiff plans to visit First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities as he travels from Alberta to Quebec, ending his visit in the Arctic territory of Nunavut. Continue reading...
The 44-year-old singer, who portrayed Big Mama Thornton in Baz Luhrmann’s latest film, was found unresponsive in her Nashville homeThe actor Shonka Dukureh, who recently made her big screen debut as Big Mama Thornton in Baz Luhrmann’s new film Elvis, had died at the age of 44.Dukureh was found dead on Thursday in a bedroom at her home in Nashville, which she shared with her two young children, the Metro Nashville Police Department said. Continue reading...
January 6 committee plays White House national security official saying agents made ‘calls to say goodbye to family members’In chilling new testimony about the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, the investigating House committee showed that members of the Secret Service detail for the vice-president, Mike Pence, so feared for his and their safety that they “screamed” that other officials should say goodbye to their families.A White House national security official whose identity and voice was obscured described the calls in testimony played by the January 6 committee in a public hearing on Thursday night. Continue reading...
The pictures from 2000, 2021 and 2022 offer a new view into its dramatically low water levels, now at just 27% capacityStark images of the “bathtub ring” around Lake Mead have come to symbolize the devastating effects of drought at America’s largest reservoir. Now, newly released satellite pictures from Nasa offer a new view of how dramatically water levels have declined over the past 22 years.The images, which cover the years 2000, 2021 and 2022, show once-full tributaries transformed into dry crevasses. The lake, which supplies water to roughly 25 million people across the American west, is currently at its lowest levels since it was filled in 1937. As of July 18, it stands at just 27% of its capacity. Continue reading...
The New York patient appeared to have a vaccine-derived strain of the virus, although they hadn’t traveled outside the countryAn unvaccinated young adult from New York recently contracted polio, the first US case in nearly a decade, health officials said Thursday.Officials said the patient, who lives in Rockland county, had developed paralysis. The person developed symptoms a month ago and did not recently travel outside the country, county health officials said. Continue reading...
Mark Stephens says party’s denials over sexual harassment claims undermine credibility of female former employeesOne of the UK’s most high-profile freedom of expression lawyers has accused Labour of “spin and dissembling” for denying it attempted to stop two female ex-staffers from speaking about sexual harassment.In a highly unusual intervention, Mark Stephens, who represented Georgie Robertson and Laura Murray, said there were “high public interests at play” and said the party was “undermining their credibility” by issuing statements denying it had tried to offer them non-disclosure agreements. Continue reading...
Former chancellor says opponent’s economic policies risk stoking inflation and pushing up interest ratesRishi Sunak has launched his strongest attack yet on his rival Liz Truss’s economic policies, claiming her £30bn plans for unfunded tax cuts risk stoking inflation and pushing up interest rates.His attack came as a new poll of Tory party members gave Truss a commanding lead in the race to become prime minister. Continue reading...
by Patrick Butler Social policy editor on (#61NP8)
Medical secretary’s body lay in her London flat for more than two years despite neighbours raising the alarmIt is “difficult to comprehend” that a model tenant could have died and lain undisturbed in her flat for more than two and half years despite not paying her rent and neighbours raising the alarm, an inquest into the death of Sheila Seleoane has heard.The coroner Julian Morris said it was “clear something went wrong” when Seleoane’s repeated failure to engage with her landlord, gas engineers or the police failed to flag up concerns or trigger any suspicions. Continue reading...
by Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent on (#61NP9)
The final evidence sessions have heard unflinching accounts of how victims died, panicking and desperate in horrific conditionsThe public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower disaster is ending as it began: with a shocking reminder of the human cost. It opened in May 2018 with elegies to the 72 victims. Its final evidence sessions have been unflinching accounts of the violence of their final moments.The hearings sought to satisfy the fact-finding requirements of the coroner but swung the spotlight of an often highly technical inquiry back to the sheer barbarity wrought upon a community that still awaits justice. Continue reading...
Independent review criticises Lisa Osofsky personally after two businessmen’s convictions were overturnedBritain’s most senior anti-bribery prosecutor has been personally criticised in an independent review that examined flaws in a major corruption trial.Lisa Osofsky, the director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), was judged to have made a “number of mistakes and misjudgments” in her handling of a prosecution which has ultimately resulted in the convictions of two businessmen being overturned. Continue reading...
Campaign launched to reach those sent overseas during years of hostility towards unmarried mothersIrish people who were sent to Britain, the US and elsewhere for adoption when they were children as a result of decades-long Catholic hostility towards unmarried mothers will be entitled to unrestricted access to their birth certificates and other official records in Ireland for the first time thanks to a new law.The Adoption Authority of Ireland, which has been charged with managing the scheme, has launched a campaign to reach adults who were adopted, formally or informally, overseas. It believes about 100,000 people will be affected by the new Birth Information and Tracing Act. The new law relates to all those born to parents within Ireland and adopted at home or abroad since the foundation of the state 100 years ago. Continue reading...
Ten said they were providing aid, did not inform police of their intent to travel and were asked to leaveTen British sex offenders travelled to Poland after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, under the guise of humanitarian aid, according to British police.In the six weeks after the outbreak of war, the individuals, all of whom had convictions for sex offences, travelled to Poland. The offenders were supposed to inform British police of their intent to travel, a spokesperson for the National Crime Agency said, and declare any convictions upon arrival. Continue reading...
UK’s organised crime-fighting force complains it only has a third of the money per officer received by the FBIThe UK’s serious and organised crime-fighting force has complained it is struggling to tackle Russian kleptocracy and sanctions evasion because it is given only a third of the funding per officer handed to the FBI.The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the UK had been slower to seize sanctioned Russian oligarchs’ assets than the US because it could not rely on the same “substantial level of investment” that Washington has poured into tackling international corruption and sanctions busting. Continue reading...
Recall Act could be triggered with Johnson at risk of losing Uxbridge seat, HoC committee report suggestsBoris Johnson could be forced to face a byelection in his Uxbridge constituency if he is found to have misled MPs over Partygate, a report from the House of Commons privileges committee has made clear.Despite having resigned as Conservative leader, Johnson still faces a parliamentary probe over whether he misled MPs when he told them repeatedly that “all guidance was followed” in Downing Street during the pandemic – something subsequently proved to be untrue. Continue reading...
Appeal court hears attorney general’s arguments against Guardian challenge to decisionThe public interest was not harmed by excluding the media from a hearing where a senior judge decided to seal Prince Philip’s will for 90 years, an appeal court has heard.Sir James Eadie QC, representing the attorney general, made the argument on the second day of an appeal by the Guardian against a decision to seal Philip’s will at a hearing from which the press were excluded. Continue reading...
British Gas owner Centrica says insurance plan won’t stop risky business practices while Octopus calls ringfencing ‘financially illiterate’The owner of British Gas has hit back at rival Octopus Energy in a row over how best to protect households’ overpaid credit in the fallout from a string of supplier failures.Centrica’s chief executive, Chris O’Shea, said its competitor’s proposed solution to protect consumers with an insurance scheme would allow companies to “operate risky business models and dip into customers’ deposits as a free overdraft facility”. Continue reading...
Border Force tactics against small boats in Channel found to be ‘ineffective and inefficient’The Home Office has been accused of dodging scrutiny after a damning report on the government’s response to the surge in Channel crossings was published on the last day of parliament.David Neal, the chief inspector of borders and immigration, said the response was “ineffective and inefficient” and left vulnerable migrants at risk. He revealed that 227 migrants had absconded after arriving in the UK in the space of just five months last year, with some disappearing before having their fingerprints or photographs taken. Continue reading...
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