Police say family of 17-year-old have asked for privacy after she was fatally struck by car on motorway in Somerset
A teenage girl who fled a stationary police vehicle on the M5 and was fatally struck by a car has been named as Tamzin Hall.
The 17-year-old from Wellington, Somerset, died after being struck by a vehicle travelling southbound on the motorway between Bridgwater and Taunton shortly after 11pm on Monday.
Continue reading...Naccom report says gaps in state support have led to more than 1,940 refugees having no accommodation
Homelessness among refugees has doubled in the last year to reach record levels as charities hand out tents and sleeping bags to those forced to live on the streets for the first time, according to research.
The No Accommodation Network (Naccom), an umbrella organisation for 140 frontline organisations working with asylum seekers, refugees and other migrants across the UK, has collated the data and shared it with the Guardian.
Continue reading...Turkish national accused of supplying engines and boats to cross-Channel smugglers in Belgium and northern France
A suspected supplier of “hundreds” of small boat engines used by people smugglers to transport asylum seekers across the Channel has been arrested in Amsterdam, officials said.
A 44-year-old Turkish national was arrested on Wednesday after arriving at Schiphol airport, the UK’s National Crime Agency said. The suspect was due to be extradited to Belgium to face charges of being involved in human trafficking as part of a criminal organisation.
Continue reading...Work and pensions secretary confirms stance, as Wes Streeting faces criticism for saying law could bring NHS cuts
Liz Kendall has become the first cabinet minister to confirm she will vote for the assisted dying bill since it was published, as the row intensified over the proposed law change.
Some supporters of assisted dying have expressed anger after Wes Streeting, the health secretary and an opponent of the plan, warned it could be a potential drain on NHS resources.
Continue reading...Analysis lays bare huge challenge of mismanaged waste on eve of UN plastic treaty talks in Busan
Global plastic production must be reduced to tackle the immense challenge of plastic pollution, according to an analysis published on the eve of crucial talks to hammer out the world’s first legally binding treaty on plastic waste.
Mismanaged plastic waste, which leaches into the environment and can be harmful to health, will double to 121m tonnes by 2050 if limits are not placed on the production of plastic, according to Samuel Pottinger, the lead author of the research.
Continue reading...Christian and Muslim groups say medics who refuse to help patients die not protected in England and Wales bill
A significant proportion of NHS medical staff are likely to exercise a conscience clause if assisted dying is legalised by parliament.
Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill stipulates that no doctor would be under any obligation to participate in assisted dying.
Continue reading...Matthew Pennycook says Tory position now unclear on cap on tax rises that was in place when Kemi Badenoch was local government minister
A minister has criticised her Tory shadow for talking about “joy” in the health sector about the funding it received.
Karin Smyth, a health minister, said it was a strange word to use given the state of NHS finances left by the last government.
Many in the health sector would have been pleased to hear the announcement of the extra funding going into the NHS [in the budget], only for the joy to be struck down by the realisation of a broken manifesto promise not to raise national insurance contributions.
This was only compounded further on the discovery that a raft of frontline care providers – care homes, hospices, care charities, pharmacies, GPS, to name but a few – found themselves not exempt from the NI rises, leaving them with crippling staff bills and the threat of closure and redundancies.
He talks about joy. There was no joy when we inherited the mess that they left back in July.
The chancellor took into account the impact of changes to national insurance when she allocated an extra £26bn to the Department of Health and Social Care.
There are well established processes for agreeing funding allocations across the system, we are going through those processes now with this issue in mind.
The British government needs to start now indicating for them what they believe is the tipping point at which they believe a referendum would be called.
Continue reading...Louise Haigh says she hopes to ensure a repeat of the air traffic control failure of August 2023 never happens again
Airline passengers will benefit from tougher enforcement of consumer protection laws following an inquiry into the August 2023 air traffic control meltdown, transport secretary Louise Haigh has said.
She said she wants to ensure “all passengers feel confident when they fly”.
Continue reading...Company close to technical default on some of its debt, underlining UK industry’s precarious state
Southern Water’s debt has been downgraded to junk status by the credit rating agency Moody’s in a decision that underlines the precarious state of the UK water industry.
Moody’s said Southern’s “history of material operational and financial under-performance” could imperil its plan, announced last month, to borrow £4bn from investors.
Continue reading...Shares in fashion brand jump as ‘urgent’ cost-cutting programme announced following half-year losses
Burberry has unveiled a £40m cost-cutting programme as its new chief executive pledged to “stabilise the business” with a turnaround plan aimed at reviving the fortunes of the ailing British luxury fashion brand.
Joshua Schulman, the former Coach boss who replaced his ousted predecessor, Jonathan Akeroyd, in July, said the company was “acting with urgency” after straying too far from its roots of “timeless core collections” and outerwear, including trench coats and scarves with its distinctive Burberry check.
Continue reading...Asset manager Oaktree out of running as backer but businessman has ‘high confidence’ he will get finance
The British owner of the New York Sun has said his £550m offer to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph is still on track, despite a big potential backer not joining the bid.
Dovid Efune entered exclusive talks to buy the Telegraph titles last month after submitting the highest bid in the second round of the auction for the titles.
Continue reading...Worn at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, the necklace has possible links to the downfall of Marie Antoinette
A mysterious diamond-laden necklace with possible links to a scandal that contributed to the downfall of Marie Antoinette has sold for $4.8m (£3.8m) at an auction in Geneva.
The 18th-century item of jewellery containing approximately 300 carats of diamonds had been estimated to sell at the Sotheby’s Royal and Noble Jewels sale for $1.8-2.8m.
Continue reading...Collection of 1,700 pieces dating from third to 20th century is highest-value gift of objects in UK museum history
The British Museum has been given a private collection of Chinese ceramics worth about £1bn, the highest-value object donation in UK museum history.
The 1,700 pieces dating from the third to the 20th century have been given permanently by the trustees of the Sir Percival David Foundation. They had been on loan to the London museum since 2009.
Continue reading...Holly LeGresley, 37, and Adriana Orme, 56 uploaded content of monkeys being tortured to online chat groups
Two women have been jailed for their parts in a global monkey torture network described by a judge as “depraved, sickening and wicked”.
Holly LeGresley, 37, and Adriana Orme, 56, were jailed for two years and 15 months respectively for uploading content of monkeys being tortured to online chat groups.
Continue reading...Malcolm Chenery left estate to Diabetes UK charity when he died in 2021, writing will on fish and mince pie boxes
A will written on the back of cardboard food packaging has been found to be valid by the high court, meaning a charity stands to inherit £180,000.
Malcolm Chenery, who died in 2021, left his estate, including a three-bedroom house, jewellery, cash and an extensive collection of ornaments and pottery, to Diabetes UK.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Academy unveils new ‘forfeiture process’ after review prompted by case of disgraced Bafta winner Huw Edwards
The British Academy of Film and Television will be able to strip future winners of their awards in cases of “proven dishonesty” or if they’re convicted of a serious criminal offence.
New provisions added to the Bafta rulebook give the body the power to retrospectively revoke competition honours, starting with winners in 2025.
Continue reading...Report says General Synod member Rev Andrew Cornes was told of Smyth’s abuse in 1982 but failed to act
A retired clergyman who could be part of the selection process for the next archbishop of Canterbury knew about the sadistic abuse of boys and young men in the early 1980s but failed to take action, according to the report that triggered Justin Welby’s resignation.
One of John Smyth’s victims discussed his abuse with the Rev Andrew Cornes in September 1982, but “there is no evidence to suggest that [Cornes] took action to respond to this”, the report said.
Continue reading...Claim will be first legal action taken related to alleged crimes of former Harrods owner, who died last year
A woman who claims to have been raped and trafficked while working for Mohamed Al Fayed has filed a legal claim in a US court to oblige his surviving younger brother to give evidence about his alleged knowledge of the crimes.
The application filed at the US district court for Connecticut claims Ali Fayed, 80, has “unique and critical evidence” to give about a “more than two-decade-long trafficking scheme that ensnared and irrevocably injured what is reported to be more than 100 women”.
Continue reading...Urfan Sharif says he takes ‘full responsibility’ for daughter’s death and admits beating her with a cricket bat
Sara Sharif’s father has told a court he takes “full responsibility” for the 10-year-old’s death and admitted striking her across the abdomen with a metal pole as she lay dying.
Urfan Sharif also admitted strangling Sara and beating her with a cricket bat while her ankles and wrists were bound with packing tape in the weeks before she was killed. Sharif told jurors he accepted everything that he had told police in a 999 call and a handwritten confession after his daughter’s death.
Continue reading...Buckingham Palace accused of ‘burying’ news of GCVO bestowed on King Hamad, whose regime is accused of torturing opponents
King Charles has been asked by exiles from Bahrain to rescind an honour he bestowed this week on the ruler of the Gulf kingdom.
Charles was told in a letter by the exiles: “It is personally difficult for us to view this honour as anything other than a betrayal of victims who have suffered at the hands of King Hamad and his brutal regime.”
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