Category Archives: UK news

Meghan faces release of more texts in case against Mail on Sunday

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Newspaper defence says it could release further messages between duchess and friend

The potential perils for Meghan, Duchess of Sussex in her high stakes legal battle against the Mail on Sunday have become clear after the newspaper filed a detailed legal defence hinting at the future release of royal text messages.

The case revolves around allegations of breach of copyright, invasion of privacy and misuse of personal data after the newspaper published excerpts from a letter she sent to her father complaining about how he was treating her.

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Criminal records scandal: police chiefs blame Theresa May

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Former home secretary accused of botched reforms that led to failures over foreign criminals

Theresa May has been blamed by chief constables for botched police reforms that led to tens of thousands of alerts on foreign criminals being kept from their home countries.

The former home secretary is accused of “starving” the crucial police national computer (PNC) of money against advice from forces and instead pushing ahead with an ambitious and costly super-database to replace it that is now years behind schedule and millions of pounds over budget.

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Climate emergency: 2019 was second hottest year on record

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Last decade was also hottest yet in 150 years of measurements, say scientists

The year 2019 was the second hottest on record for the planet’s surface, according to latest research. The analyses reveal the scale of the climate crisis: both the past five years and the past decade are the hottest in 150 years.

The succession of records being broken year after year is “the drumbeat of the Anthropocene”, said one scientist, and is bringing increasingly severe storms, floods, droughts and wildfires.

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Britain’s EU citizens ‘at risk of discrimination’ after Brexit, say MEPs

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European parliament says mixed messages have caused ‘unhelpful uncertainty’

The European parliament has said EU citizens living in the UK after it leaves the bloc risk discrimination in jobs and housing, because the government will not issue physical documents under the settled-status scheme.

In a resolution backed by a resounding majority of MEPs in Strasbourg, the parliament said the British government’s “conflicting announcements” about special status had caused “unhelpful uncertainty and anxiety” for EU nationals who had made the UK their home.

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European troops may be at risk after dispute process triggered – Iran

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Hassan Rouhani’s threat to western allies comes amid fears of reimposition of sanctions

Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani has warned that European soldiers in the Middle East could be in danger after the UK, France and Germany triggered a dispute mechanism in the nuclear agreement that could lead to the reimposition of international sanctions on the country.

Rouhani’s remarks on Wednesday were the first direct threat he has made against European powers as tensions have grown between Tehran and Washington since Donald Trump unilaterally abandoned the nuclear deal more than 18 months ago.

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Forget celebrity chefs – we need celebrity waiters

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The waiting staff in a restaurant can make or break a meal just as much as the people in the kitchen. Yet they are rarely celebrated – and quite often traduced

Name a successful chef. That wasn’t hard, was it? Now name a successful maitre d’, or waiter, or anyone else who works front of house in a restaurant and isn’t Fred Sirieix of First Dates.

If you’re struggling, you’re not alone. For all our celebrity chefs and food fetishisation, most Brits still consider any restaurant job that involves dealing with customers as at best stop-gap, and at worst a last resort.

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Exclusive: CPS seeks longer sentence for rapist Reynhard Sinaga

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Crown Prosecution Service asks attorney general to review 30-year term for student who raped up to 195 men

A man described as Britain’s most prolific rapist could have his sentence increased after the Crown Prosecution Service wrote to the attorney general saying Reynhard Sinaga should serve longer than 30 years in prison.

Sinaga, a 36-year-old mature student from Indonesia, was given a life sentence with a minimum tariff of 30 years by a judge at Manchester crown court last week. Suzanne Goddard QC told him it was “borderline” whether he should be given a whole-life term but decided that he should not be considered for release until he was 66, having been unanimously convicted by four juries of drugging and abusing 48 men while they lay comatose in his Manchester flat.

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Congolese torture survivor gets Home Office reprieve

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Whistleblower granted refugee status after hard-won campaign against deportation

A torture survivor from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is celebrating after a Home Office U-turn allowed him to stay in the UK.

Otis Bolamu, 39, who lives in Swansea, was detained just before Christmas in 2018. The Home Office had planned to deport him to DRC on Christmas Day that year.

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Having more sex makes early menopause less likely, research finds

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Study of nearly 3,000 women suggests body may ‘choose’ not to invest in ovulation

Women who have sex more often are less likely to have an early menopause, according to research that raises the intriguing possibility that lifestyle factors could play a more significant role than previously thought in determining when the menopause occurs.

The study, based on data collected from nearly 3,000 women who were followed for 10 years, found that those who reported engaging in sexual activity weekly were 28% less likely to have experienced menopause at any given age than women who engaged in sexual activity less than monthly.

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Mail on Sunday could call Thomas Markle in high court defence

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Newspaper faces legal action from Duchess of Sussex for publishing excerpts from a letter to her father

Thomas Markle could be called to give evidence at the high court against his estranged daughter Meghan, as part of her ongoing legal action against the Mail on Sunday, after it emerged that the paper’s defence appears to rely on his account.

The Duchess of Sussex is suing the newspaper for breach of copyright, invasion of privacy, and misuse of personal data after it published excerpts from a letter she sent her father complaining about how he was treating her.

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Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert begs Scott Morrison to help get her out of Iranian jail

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Letter comes as human rights groups urge foreign governments to take a stronger line with Tehran

The imprisoned British-Australian academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert has begged the Australian prime minister to secure her release from an Iranian jail, as human rights groups urge foreign governments to take a stronger line with Tehran.

A Cambridge-educated academic specialising in Middle East politics, Moore-Gilbert has been imprisoned in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since September 2018, after she was arrested at Tehran airport while trying to leave the country after attending an academic conference.

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Revealed: UK concealed failure to alert EU over 75,000 criminal convictions

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Calls in UK and Europe for inquiries into scandal in which details of crimes by foreigners not passed on

The UK has failed to pass on the details of 75,000 convictions of foreign criminals to their home EU countries and concealed the scandal for fear of damaging Britain’s reputation in Europe’s capitals, the Guardian can reveal.

European trust in the UK on security issues sank to a new low on Tuesday night after details emerged of the apparent cover-up, which prompted calls for an investigation in the UK and a warning from one senior MEP that a Brussels inquiry was inevitable.

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Sussexes decided ‘not necessary’ for Meghan to join royal summit

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As royals including Harry return to engagements, aides counter reports Meghan barred from talks

The Duchess of Sussex did not take part in the Queen’s Sandringham summit to decide future roles for herself and Prince Harry, it has emerged, as the remaining full-time working royals returned to their round of official engagements.

Before Monday’s crisis family meeting, sources had indicated Meghan was likely to be personally involved in the urgent discussions precipitated by the couple’s shock announcement that they intended to “step back” from frontline royal duties.

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Boris Johnson’s Big Ben Brexit bong plan falls flat

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No plan for a public fund to sound bells on UK’s exit from EU, despite PM’s assertions

An energetic if perhaps niche campaign to ensure the chimes of Big Ben sound at the moment of Brexit on 31 January appears doomed after Commons authorities played down the idea, while a funding plan promised by Boris Johnson to pay for it turned out to not exist.

Staunchly pro-Brexit Tories such as Mark Francois and some newspapers have called for lengthy restoration work on the parliamentary clocktower to be paused so the bell can sound at 11pm, marking the moment the UK leaves the EU.

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Trudeau: there will be ‘many discussions’ about Harry and Meghan’s security – video

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Following the shock statement by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex last Wednesday that they want to 'step back' as senior royals and divide their time between Canada and the UK, questions were raised over whether Canadian taxpayers would have to pay for the couple's security during their time in the country. Speaking to Canadian broadcaster Global News on Monday, the country's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said: 'There will be many discussions to come on how that works'

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Boris Johnson says he wants to see county lines drug gangs ‘totally wound up’ in first interview of 2020 – live news

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Follow all today’s political developments as they happen

There were various news lines in that interview, but perhaps the most surprising line came when Johnson announced that he wanted to end country lines drug dealing. No one will question the merits of his ambition, but he is making a promise that will be very hard to deliver.

This is what he said on the topic.

I want to see crime come down. I want to see the county lines drugs gangs wound up, rolled up. They are reducing the quality of life for people across our country, they are killing young kids. I want to see that thing totally wound up.

Q: Will Ann Secoulas, the US diplomat accused of killing Harry Dunn in a road accident, face justice?

Johnson says the US are unlikely to send her back to the UK. That is not what they do.

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Harry and Meghan: Queen gives reluctant blessing to couple’s plans

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She agreed to a ‘period of transition’ and stressed the Sussexes remain ‘a valued part of my family’

The Queen has given her reluctant blessing to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to split their time between the UK and Canada, making it clear that though she had wanted the couple to remain as full-time working royals, she supported their decision.

After a historic summit of senior royals at Sandringham, details over exactly how Harry and Meghan will carve out the new “progressive” roles they seek remained unclear. The Queen has, however, agreed to a “period of transition” and stressed the couple remain “a valued part of my family”.

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Indonesia: LGBT community faces backlash after Reynhard Sinaga’s rape conviction

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Rights groups voice concern as mayor in Sinaga’s home city instructs police to carry out raids to uncover ‘LGBT behaviour’

The mayor in the home city of an Indonesian man described as Britain’s “most prolific rapist” has ordered raids to uncover members of the LGBT community, prompting fears of a growing homophobic backlash across the country.

The mayor of Depok, a city south of Jakarta, asked residents to report any signs of LGBT activity which he characterised as “deviant behaviour”. Mohammad Idris also called on several agencies to improve efforts to prevent the “spread of LGBT” in order to “strengthen families and … protect the children” and instructed police to carry out raids to uncover “LGBT behaviour”.

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Labour leadership: Thornberry in, Lewis out, leaving five candidates as deadline passes – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

From Business Insider’s Adam Payne

Asked Nandy whether she’d work with the Greens/Lib Dems at future elections. She says she supports working “with the broadest possible alliance” but pours cold water on electoral alliances, telling me: “it’s a bit defeatist to say we can only win power through electoral pacts.”

This transition period stuff is catching. The Queen has just released a read-out of her talks at Sandringham about Harry and Meghan and it turns out that their breakaway is also going to involve a transition period. Doubtless there will be calls for it to get extended too.

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Queen says Harry and Meghan will have ‘period of transition’ in UK and Canada in first statement – live news

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Monarch says she ‘would have preferred’ couple to remain full-time working royals as day of Sandringham talks concludes

Buckingham Palace has just released the following statement from the Queen:

Today my family had very constructive discussions on the future of my grandson and his family.

My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family. Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working Members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.

Reports are coming in from correspondents at Sandringham that the royals have left the estate.

The meeting is over. The senior Royals have been seen leaving Sandringham.
We await news ...#HarryandMeghan

Charles, Harry and William have all been photographed leaving Sandringham separately #SandringhamSummit

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