Essex police refuse to confirm statuses of those who respond will not be given to Home Office
Essex police have refused to confirm they will not share data with the Home Office on the immigration status of anyone responding to recent public appeals for information on the deaths of 39 people in a lorry.
The force last week urged those who may have information to come forward “without fear”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Labour leader says debate is over as he seeks to shift focus to social justice and climate
Jeremy Corbyn has told his fractious shadow cabinet “the debate is over” on Brexit, as he seeks to stamp his authority on the general election campaign and shift the focus to social justice and the climate emergency.
Speaking to the Guardian in the south-west London seat of Putney, the Labour leader claimed he had instructed frontbench colleagues to fall into line, after divisions over Brexit sparked a furious row over whether to go for an election.
Continue reading...Suspect in teenager’s death has been in US since leaving UK under diplomatic immunity
British and American officials have begun talks to explore the possible extradition of the suspect in the death of Harry Dunn, the Guardian has learned.
The suspect, Anne Sacoolas, went to the US while under investigation after a car she was driving struck a motorcycle ridden by the 19-year-old outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in August.
Continue reading...Cross-party MPs vow to ‘promote compassion’ as part of #StopTheNastiness campaign
Leading politicians from major parties have signed a pledge to avoid hateful language during the general election campaign, as a growing number of MPs cite relentless abuse as their reason for stepping down from parliament.
The group Compassion in Politics has launched #StopTheNastiness, which aims to encourage candidates to “campaign with respect, call out hate, and promote compassion” over the next six weeks. It also urges the public to contact their local representatives and ask them to back the pledge, and calls on the media to avoid exacerbating abuse.
Continue reading...Exclusive: guidance says many factors, including rebellion and sisterhood, spur radicalisation
Women and girls who attach themselves to Islamic State are driven by a complex combination of factors beyond just love or marriage, including feelings of social exclusion and the appeal of sisterhood, according to research by a counter-extremism thinktank.
The Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) has put together guidance to help people working with women and girls who have returned from Isis-held territories.
Continue reading...New Zealand man, 27, has pleaded not guilty to murder of 21-year-old British tourist
One year since the body of British backpacker Grace Millane was discovered in dense bushland on the outskirts of Auckland, the man accused of murdering her is set to stand trial in New Zealand this week.
The 27-year-old New Zealand man, who was granted name suppression by the Auckland high court in December, has pleaded not guilty to her murder.
Continue reading...Labour’s candidate Ali Milani, 25, hopes student vote and Heathrow ‘betrayal’ could deliver shock result
If the ancient wood-panelled walls of the Crown and Treaty in Uxbridge could talk, they would speak to the perils of crossing parliament.
In the heart of Boris Johnson’s west London constituency, this former manor house hosted talks over the ill-fated treaty of Uxbridge in 1645, an abortive attempt to end the first English civil war, which arose from a battle between parliament and the executive and ultimately led to Charles I losing his head.
Continue reading...A pledge to end the dumping of human waste on railway tracks in England and Wales by the end of the year will no longer be met, Network Rail and train firms have admitted.
Although Network Rail’s former chief executive, Mark Carne, said in 2017 he had secured government agreement to end the “disgusting practice” by 2019, several companies will continue to use trains whose toilets flush directly onto the track.
Continue reading...Musician reunited with 310-year-old instrument after it was hand back by man who took it from train
A 310-year-old antique violin worth £250,000 that was stolen from a train in London has been returned to its owner with no damage.
Professional musician Stephen Morris, who said it was “devastating” to lose the instrument made by craftsman David Tecchler in 1709, reported the violin missing on 22 October.
Continue reading...Prime minister accused of ‘sitting on information’ after EU referendum
Boris Johnson knew of Vote Leave’s overspend during the 2016 EU referendum, but appears to have failed to tell the authorities, according to explosive new claims from a senior MP. The payment was subsequently ruled to be illegal.
Ian Lucas revealed that he has seen correspondence obtained during the parliamentary inquiry into disinformation and democracy which showed that Johnson’s most senior aide, Dominic Cummings, told the Electoral Commission that the prime minister, and his cabinet colleague Michael Gove, knew of the overspend by the pro-Brexit organisation.
Continue reading...Flooding also forecast in nine areas of south-west England and Welsh borders
Strong winds have brought down trees and scaffolding, leaving cars damaged and travel plans disrupted as gusts of more than 80mph hit parts of the UK.
Flooding was expected in nine areas of south-west England and the Welsh borders, and a band of heavy rain may affect northern Scotland later on Saturday.
Continue reading...Chair of intelligence and security committee says dossier has facts ‘germane’ to election
Dominic Grieve has called for the publication of a report on Russian meddling in the democratic process to be published before the general election, saying it contains knowledge “germane” to voters.
The cross-party intelligence and security committee had expected Boris Johnson to approve publication of the 50-page dossier by Thursday.
Continue reading...Think of a Viking warrior and you probably imagine a fearsome, muscular, bearded man. Well, think again. Using cutting-edge facial recognition technology, British scientists have brought to life the battle-hardened face of a fighter who lived more than 1,000 years ago. And she’s a woman.
The life-like reconstruction, which challenges long-held assumptions that Viking warrior heroes such as Erik the Red left their women at home, is based on a skeleton found in a Viking graveyard in Solør, Norway, and now preserved in Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History. The remains had already been identified as female, but her burial site had not been considered a warrior grave “simply because the occupant was a woman”, according to archaelogist Ella Al-Shamahi.
Continue reading...First minister and SNP leader to address pro-independence rally in Glasgow on Saturday
An independent Scotland is “within touching distance”, Nicola Sturgeon will tell a pro-independence rally in Glasgow on Saturday afternoon.
Her promise comes as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn insisted that a new independence referendum is “not necessary or desirable”.
Continue reading...Wealthy see potential taxes imposed by Jeremy Corbyn as bigger threat than Brexit
The super-rich are preparing to immediately leave the UK if Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister, fearing they will lose billions of pounds if the Labour leader does “go after” the wealthy elite with new taxes, possible capital controls and a clampdown on private schools.
Lawyers and accountants for the UK’s richest families said they had been deluged with calls from millionaire and billionaire clients asking for help and advice on moving countries, shifting their fortunes offshore and making early gifts to their children to avoid the Labour leader’s threat to tax all inheritances above £125,000.
Continue reading...Seven-year, £67.5m initiative aims to build on existing successes in Africa and Asia and explore new approaches
Britain has become the biggest government funder of programmes to prevent violence against women and girls globally after launching a seven-year project targeting countries with some of the highest levels of abuse.
The £67.5m programme will scale up projects that have already shown success in reducing violence across Africa and Asia, and will pilot and research new ideas to tackle the global crisis.
Continue reading...Victory for green groups follows damning scientific study and criticism from spending watchdog
The government has halted fracking in England with immediate effect in a watershed moment for environmentalists and community activists.
Ministers also warned shale gas companies it would not support future fracking projects, in a crushing blow to companies that had been hoping to capitalise on one of the new frontiers of growth in the fossil fuel industry.
Continue reading...Some who died have now been identified, say Essex police, as a second man is charged with manslaughter
Police believe they have now identified some of the 39 migrants found dead in a refrigerated lorry container near London, with all victims thought to be from Vietnam.
Essex police said on Friday that the identities could not be announced until confirmatory evidence is gathered from a number of different countries and formally presented to the HM senior coroner for consideration.
Continue reading...PM rejects Nigel Farage’s offer of electoral pact, saying it could allow Jeremy Corbyn into No 10
Boris Johnson faces the threat of battling against the Brexit party for leave votes in every seat across Britain, after Nigel Farage gave the prime minister a two-week deadline to drop his Brexit deal.
After a rocky 48 hours, which saw Johnson booed during a hospital visit and urged by Donald Trump to join forces with Farage, the Brexit party leader urged him to strike a “leave alliance”.
Continue reading...Teenager’s family ‘pleased CPS can now make a charging decision’ over crash in August
Northamptonshire police have submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service on the death of 19-year-old Harry Dunn in a crash in August following an interview with Anne Sacoolas, the American suspect in the case.
Sacoolas fled the UK soon after the accident claiming diplomatic immunity on the basis that her husband worked as an intelligence officer based at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire.
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