Sales at UK’s third largest supermarket fell 3.1% in four months to April, as rival Aldi announces big expansion
Asda is unlikely to see growth before the end of this year at the earliest, the supermarket’s chair, Allan Leighton, has said, as sales continue to fall despite price cuts and more stock on its shelves.
Meanwhile, Aldi, which is closing the market share gap with Asda, put further pressure on its rival by announcing significant expansion plans across the UK.
Continue reading...Court decision in favour of Alice Bouilliez reignites push for bilateral treaty on electoral enfranchisement
A French court has ordered electoral officials to restore a British woman’s pre-Brexit right to vote in European elections, triggering calls for a renewed push for a bilateral treaty on electoral enfranchisement in each other’s countries.
Alice Bouilliez, a former British civil servant who has lived in France for 38 years, said she was “extremely surprised” but delighted that the court in Auch in south-west France had ordered that the authorities put her name back on the electoral register for the EU elections.
Continue reading...John Casson says Cairo ‘fobbing us off’ by refusing to release British-Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah
The former British ambassador to Egypt, John Casson, has urged the UK to advise its citizens against travelling to Egypt, in response to Cairo’s refusal to release dual British Egyptian national Alaa Abd el-Fattah.
A UN panel found on Wednesday that Fattah had been held arbitrarily in jail since 2019, but Egypt was refusing to give the UK consular access – let alone release him. His mother has been refusing food in protest at his detention.
Continue reading...US president claims he told Tel Aviv he thought agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme could come within weeks
Donald Trump has claimed he warned Israel against attacking Iran because he believed he was very close to a deal on Tehran’s nuclear programme in which US inspectors will be given unparalleled access to sites to ensure the country is not planning to build a nuclear bomb.
At a White House press conference on Wednesday, the US president confirmed he held talks last week with Israel and told them it was “not appropriate” to attack Tehran because he believed he could reach a deal within weeks.
Continue reading...Hamit Coskun, 50, held burning text outside Turkish consulate London, Westminster magistrates court heard
Prosecuting a man for burning the Qur’an is “tantamount to reintroducing a blasphemy law” in Great Britain, a trial has heard.
Hamit Coskun, 50, shouted “fuck Islam”, “Islam is religion of terrorism” and “Qur’an is burning” as he held aloft the burning Islamic text outside the Turkish consulate in London on 13 February, Westminster magistrates court heard.
Continue reading...Mark Rowley, Met commissioner, had said plans for England and Wales were made ‘without any analysis of the impact on policing’
The justice secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has hit back at the UK’s most senior police officer in a row over the impact of allowing thousands of criminals to serve their sentences in the community instead of being sent to jail.
The Ministry of Justice insisted on Wednesday that officials “consulted with police” including the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, over proposed changes to sentencing policies introduced to ease prison overcrowding.
Continue reading...Prosecutors confirm 21 charges, with brothers due to be extradited to the UK after conclusion of Romanian proceedings
UK prosecutors have confirmed they have authorised 21 charges against influencer brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate, including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking.
Andrew Tate, 38, faces 10 charges including rape, actual bodily harm, human trafficking and controlling prostitution for gain; charges connected to three alleged victims.
Continue reading...Caleb Followill says shattered heel needed ‘significant emergency surgery’, which would stop him performing
The Kings of Leon frontman, Caleb Followill, has announced that the band have cancelled their UK and European shows this summer after he injured his foot in a “freak accident”.
The singer, who is part of the US rock group with his brothers Nathan and Jared Followill and cousin Matthew Followill, was scheduled to perform at Blackweir Fields, Cardiff and Lancashire’s Lytham festival over the next two months.
Continue reading...Lord Austin’s trip to ‘drum up business for Britain’ comes week after foreign secretary suspended trade talks
The coherence of the UK government’s policy towards Israel is under question after Labour permitted its trade envoy to boost commercial links one week after the foreign secretary suspended talks on a further trade deal.
The trade envoy, Lord Austin, was pictured on a visit to Haifa in a post on X shared by the UK’s embassy in Israel. The post welcomed Austin to the country as he visited a hi-tech “customs scanning centre”, a port and a light rail project that the embassy said showed UK and Israeli “cooperation at every stop”.
Continue reading...Banks say every day 7,000 incidents take place where scammers get people to disclose unique set of numbers
Banks are reporting a surge in a type of fraud where customers are tricked into disclosing online login passcodes they are sent, which has helped to fuel a 22% jump in crimes where scammers go shopping using people’s stolen details.
The banking body UK Finance revealed that “remote purchase” fraud hit its highest-ever level in 2024, with almost 2.6m cases logged, which works out at more than 7,000 incidents a day, or almost five a minute.
Continue reading...Head coach was due to receive two awards in London
‘A decision I have not taken lightly but is absolutely right’
Arne Slot pulled out of the League Managers Association’s annual awards dinner in London on Tuesday after the appalling incident at the end of Liverpool’s Premier League victory parade.
The Liverpool head coach was due to receive the LMA’s and the Premier League’s manager of the year awards at the event for winning the title in his first season in English football. However, in light of the incident in Liverpool city centre on Monday, when 65 people were injured when a car drove into a crowd on Water Street, Slot and a senior delegation of Liverpool officials decided they should not attend.
Continue reading...Nestlé is among UK companies taking part in project to ‘design out’ waste by redistributing surplus product
Millions of meals worth of wasted food could be redistributed thanks to an artificial intelligence tool being trialled by companies across the UK, including Nestlé.
The AI tool, which has already generated an 87% reduction in edible food waste at one of the Swiss conglomerate’s factories over its first two-week trial period, is intended to “design out” food waste by providing real-time monitoring, tracking and insights of wasted ingredients and products.
Continue reading...Reform UK leader unveils plans to reverse benefit cuts and bring in tax breaks without explaining how they would be funded
Nigel Farage has been accused of leaving a multibillion-pound black hole at the heart of his party’s spending plans after unveiling a series of expensive policy pledges to be paid for by cutting nonexistent items of government spending.
The Reform UK leader laid out a series of economic promises at a speech on Tuesday designed to take advantage of disquiet among Labour voters at the government’s policies on taxes and benefits.
Continue reading...Leader says policy ‘not aimed at those who come into the country and suddenly decide to have a lot of children’
The co-leader of the Green party of England and Wales, Adrian Ramsay, has renewed his call for Russia to face greater sanctions. Posting to social media, the MP for Waveney Valley said “Putin has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian civilians because he thinks he’ll face no consequences. Much tougher sanctions are urgently needed to bring him into serious peace talks to end this horrific war.”
As well as appearing on the media round today, shadow chancellor Mel Stride has written for the Daily Mail, saying that the Conservatives continue to back the two-child benefit cap.
Continue reading...Families share incidents of sons being slashed and afraid to leave their cells at HMP Swinfen Hall
Young offenders at a troubled prison in the Midlands have been stabbed, “dehumanised” and are “becoming more violent” in order to survive, mothers of prisoners have told the Guardian.
HMP Swinfen Hall, near Lichfield, Staffordshire, has seen a growing number of disturbances, including the intervention of riot officers. The prison officers union last month called for the Ministry of Justice to intervene and clear the place of weapons after several staff members were attacked.
Continue reading...Fast-food chain’s plan on back of booming fried chicken market includes opening 500 new restaurants
KFC is to invest almost £1.5bn and create thousands of jobs in the UK and Ireland over the next five years, as the fast-food chain seeks to capitalise on the booming popularity of fried chicken.
The chain, which is celebrating its 60th year of operations in the UK, said it plans to invest £1.49bn to grow and upgrade its existing 1,000-outlet estate.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Letter to PM signed by retired supreme court justices among others says lack of action will imperil international legal system
The UK must impose sanctions on the Israeli government and its ministers and also consider suspending it from the UN to meet its “fundamental international legal obligations”, more than 800 lawyers, academics and retired senior judges, including former supreme court justices, have said.
In a letter to the prime minister, they welcome Keir Starmer’s joint statement last week with the leaders of France and Canada warning that they were prepared to take “concrete actions” against Israel. But they urge him to act without delay as “urgent and decisive action is required to avert the destruction of the Palestinian people of Gaza”.
Continue reading...Police urge people not to speculate about incident in city centre after white British man, 53, is arrested
Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool city region, has thanked first responders for their “swift action” on a “difficult day”.
He said: “Our hearts go out to all of those affected, especially those who have been injured. Thank you, as ever, to the first responders for their professionalism and swift action.
Continue reading...Exclusive: EHRC insiders believe process could drag on until after its chair is replaced in November
Formal guidance on how organisations should implement the supreme court ruling on gender may not be fully signed off for months, officials and MPs have warned, amid increasing worries about the capability of the government’s equalities watchdog.
While the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has promised to complete the process by the end of July, a series of insiders have told the Guardian they believe this may not happen until after the watchdog’s controversial chair, Kishwer Falkner, is replaced in November.
Continue reading...Scotland’s first minister criticises byelection campaign video that claims his rival ‘will prioritise Pakistani community’
The SNP leader John Swinney has demanded that the owner of Facebook act on Reform UK’s “racist” byelection advert that attacks the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar.
The Facebook video, which incorrectly claims Sarwar has promised to prioritise Pakistani communities, is now subject to formal complaints from Scotland’s two main political parties. Scottish Labour contacted Meta, Facebook’s parent company, about the video two weeks ago and has yet to receive a reply.
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