Marvel Studios sequel has earned $3bn since its release in April, breaking 10-year record
Avengers: Endgame has surpassed Avatar to become the highest-grossing film of all time.
The Marvel Studios sequel, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, earned over £2.3bn ($2.9bn) in revenue by Sunday, since being released in April. Avatar, directed by James Cameron, which was released in 2009, previously held the record as the highest grossing movie of all time , earning $2.79bn.
Continue reading...Likely new PM could find no-deal option thwarted by senior Tories such as Philip Hammond
Boris Johnson’s hoped-for triumphant march into Downing Street this week is set to be dampened by a carefully timed series of resignations by senior ministers, who will retreat to the backbenches with a vow to thwart any moves towards a no-deal Brexit.
The announcements by Philip Hammond and David Gauke that they will step down on Wednesday, immediately before Johnson is likely to head to Buckingham Palace, highlight the perilous political climate for Theresa May’s expected successor.
Continue reading...Redirection tool that confronts anti-vax theories under development by UK’s Moonshot
Technology used to counter violent messages online from Islamic State and the far right is being adapted to counter the spread of “anti-vax” conspiracy theories.
Moonshot CVE, a company currently working in as many as 28 countries, uses techniques to identify and intervene in the cases of internet users at risk of being radicalised online. Its technology has already been deployed to counter the KKK in the US, Isis and the far right in Europe.
Continue reading...Steven Edginton says his name was left out of original story to avoid ‘possible controversy’
New questions have emerged over leaks of confidential UK diplomatic cables criticising Donald Trump after a 19-year-old Brexit activist was revealed to be the person who obtained them.
In a lengthy feature in the Mail on Sunday, Steven Edginton, who describes himself as a freelance journalist and who since April has worked for the Brexit party, said he was passed Sir Kim Darroch’s briefings on the White House.
Continue reading...Paul Polman also supports Bank of England-backed group promoting disability rights
The former boss of Unilever is seeking a team of “heroic chief executives” to drive a shift to a low-carbon, more inclusive way of doing business.
Paul Polman, who stepped down from the Anglo-Dutch owner of Marmite and Dove in November last year after a decade at the helm, warns that the rise of populism and Brexit are symptoms of capitalism’s failure to adapt. Bosses, he insists, must commit to fighting inequality and tackling the climate emergency.
Continue reading...Tory leadership rivals kept informed about spiralling crisis in the Gulf as ex-naval chief blasts government
Admiral Lord West: ‘our political establishment have been focused on the election of a new prime minister’
Boris Johnson will be tested by a major international crisis in his first days as prime minister, senior military figures and politicians have warned, after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker in a move that raised tensions in the Gulf to new heights.
Johnson, who is expected to win the race to succeed Theresa May as Tory leader and be installed as the new prime minister on Wednesday, was kept informed about the spiralling crisis on Saturday by his rival for the top job, Jeremy Hunt, whom he is expected to reappoint as foreign secretary.
Continue reading...Legal threat comes as campaigners warn UK government that courts are being used to intimidate journalists
Letter: press freedom campaigners call for action on ‘vexatious lawsuits’
Related: The Great Hack: the film that goes behind the scenes of the Facebook data scandal
The businessman Arron Banks and the unofficial Brexit campaign Leave.EU have issued a legal threat against streaming giant Netflix in relation to The Great Hack, a new documentary about the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the abuse of personal data.
Continue reading...With the seizure of a supertanker off Gibraltar, distracted UK government was set up by John Bolton as collateral damage
John Bolton, White House national security adviser and notorious Iraq-era hawk, is a man on a mission. Given broad latitude over policy by Donald Trump, he is widely held to be driving the US confrontation with Iran. And in his passionate bid to tame Tehran, Bolton cares little who gets hurt – even if collateral damage includes a close ally such as Britain.
So when Bolton heard British Royal Marines had seized an Iranian oil tanker off Gibraltar on America’s Independence Day, his joy was unconfined. “Excellent news: UK has detained the supertanker Grace I laden with Iranian oil bound for Syria in violation of EU sanctions,” he exulted on Twitter.
Continue reading...US president refers to message about Met police twitter account, calling London mayor ‘incompetent’
Donald Trump has retweeted the British far-right commentator Katie Hopkins and launched another attack on Sadiq Khan.
Referring to a message from Hopkins that the Met’s Twitter account had been targeted by hackers on Friday night, in which she said officers had “lost control of London streets” and “lost control of their Twitter account too”, Trump tweeted: “With the incompetent mayor of London, you will never have safe streets!”
Continue reading...Passengers treated for coughing and shortness of breath at Oxford Circus station
Police are looking for two male suspects after gas was released in a tube train carriage in central London.
A number of people were treated at the scene by paramedics at Oxford Circus station for coughing and lack of breath.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt says Britain’s response will be ‘considered but robust’ if UK-flagged tanker is not released
The British government has warned that Iran is choosing “a dangerous path of illegal and destabilising behaviour” and advised UK ships to avoid the strait of Hormuz after Iran seized a British-flagged tanker as the crisis in the Gulf escalates.
The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said on Saturday morning that Britain’s response would be “considered but robust” if the British-flagged Stena Impero was not released, although he had earlier said the government was not contemplating military action.
Continue reading...The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, said on Saturday morning that Britain’s response would be ‘considered but robust’ if the British-flagged Stena Impero was not released, although he said the government was not contemplating military action. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had captured the British-flagged tanker, announcing the move two weeks after the British navy seized an Iranian tanker in Gibraltar, on suspicion of shipping oil to Syria in violation of an EU embargo
‘Unauthorised access’ led to series of messages being posted and emailed to subscribers
Scotland Yard’s principal Twitter account, which is followed by more than 1.2 million people and is used to provide important alerts in times of crisis, tweeted a series of bizarre messages on Friday night after becoming “subject to unauthorised access”.
Many of the dozen errant tweets, some of which referred to the British rapper Digga D, were also repeated in press releases emailed out to journalists from the force’s official email address. Officers said they were “assessing to establish what criminal offences have been committed” over the security breach.
Continue reading...Grace 1 was impounded over claim it was bound for Syria – but diplomats knew there might be consequences
The morning after a group of 30 Royal Marines helped seize the Iranian-flagged Grace 1 in Gibraltar, tired Foreign Office officials did not look exactly jubilant. There was not exactly a sense of foreboding, but diplomats were aware of the wider bilateral consequences for British-Iranian relations.
Related: Hunt 'extremely concerned' as Iran seizes two British-linked oil tankers
Continue reading...UK government urgently seeking information after Stena Impero veered into Iranian waters
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed on Friday evening to have seized a British oil tanker, the Stena Impero, which suddenly veered off course and headed into Iranian waters.
The ship’s owners issued a statement saying that at 3pm GMT (7pm local time), the ship had been “approached by unidentified small crafts and a helicopter during transit of the strait of Hormuz while the vessel was in international waters”.
Continue reading...Pro-Europe grassroots groups to voice opposition to a Johnson premiership
Protesters will take to London’s streets on Saturday for a “No to Boris. Yes to Europe” march days ahead of Boris Johnson’s widely anticipated move into No 10.
A Boris toddler blimp was launched in Parliament Square at 10am, featuring salmon-pink skin, the politician’s trademark “faux-dishevelled hairstyle”, mismatched running gear and a Brexit-bus T-shirt, according to March for Change.
Continue reading...‘We’re not boy racers,’ says organiser after 17 injured, two seriously, after spectators were hit
Local people and witnesses to a crash at a car meet in Stevenage that left 17 people injured have said the event was not organised or policed properly.
For 17 years, drivers of modified cars have gathered in the Hertfordshire town to parade their vehicles for fellow enthusiasts. Thursday’s event, which was raising money for a charity supporting bereaved parents, turned to disaster when some of the spectators watching from the side of the road were hit following the crash between a Nissan 350Z and a Toyota GT86.
Continue reading...Exclusive: extra time could be used for renegotiation but will be billed as chance for no-deal planning
Brussels is preparing to offer Boris Johnson a no-deal Brexit extension beyond 31 October in an attempt to help him keep the Conservative party together and provide one more chance to strike an agreement deal.
The extra period of EU membership would be used for renegotiation but could be billed to Conservative Brexiters as an opportunity to prepare further for leaving without a deal.
Continue reading...Two cars involved were apparently street racing when then collided on Monkswood Way and hit bystanders
Fourteen people have been injured, some seriously, after a crash involving two cars at a street-racing meet in Stevenage.
Hertfordshire constabulary said the cars were involved in a collision on Monkswood Way at about 9.45pm on Thursday. Reports on social media suggested the incident happened during a car meet event and that a group of people standing at the side of the road were hit.
Continue reading...City document of 1505 may be first record of a still for making aquavite to drink rather than use in gunpowder
Aberdeen could have been the site of the first whisky still, according to researchers who have uncovered a reference from 1505 mentioning apparatus in the city for making aquavite or “water of life”, as it was known in Middle Scots.
The discovery – locating the still 85 miles north of mediaeval abbey ruins where some believe the spirit was first produced – was made during a digitisation project involving the city’s municipal registers.
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