Coastguard confirms body of Hannah Lynch, 18, found after four-day search, bringing number of dead to seven
Prosecutors in Italy are investigating potential manslaughter charges relating to the sinking of the superyacht Bayesian as the body of Mike Lynch’s 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, was recovered.
The Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily early on Monday morning when the area was hit by violent storms. Seven people died, including the British tech entrepreneur Lynch.
Continue reading...Disclosure comes as campaigners call on UK to oppose company’s planned listing on London Stock Exchange
The online fashion seller Shein has admitted it found two cases of child labour and factories failing to pay the minimum wage in its supply chain last year, as it tries to gain backing for a potential £50bn UK stock market flotation.
The disclosure, in Shein’s 2023 sustainability report, comes after workers’ rights campaigners called for the government to oppose a possible listing of Shein on the London Stock Exchange over concerns about a lack of transparency about its supply chain and ethical questions. The British Fashion Council (BFC) has also said the listing, which could be announced as early as next month, would be a “significant concern” to the industry.
Continue reading...Campaigners fear increase by £149 in energy price cap by Ofgem will put more pressure on households
Households will begin the run-up to winter with a sharp increase in their energy bills after the industry regulator increased its cap on energy prices by 9.5% from October.
Under the new price cap, the average annual energy bill will rise to £1,717 a year for gas and electricity, up £149 from its current level of £1,568, which has been in place since July.
Continue reading...Michelle Charters urges more recognition and reconciliation on Unesco’s Slavery Remembrance Day
Liverpool must not “shy away” from its historic involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, the organiser of the city’s 25th Slavery Remembrance Day commemoration has said.
Michelle Charters, who is leading Liverpool’s events for Unesco’s Slavery Remembrance Day, said it was important to address and recognise the city’s tarnished history.
Continue reading...NFCC says statutory safety standards would raise emergency response to flooding and wildfires in line with rest of UK
Fire chiefs are calling for more support to respond to extreme weather events such as flooding and wildfires in England amid warnings of a postcode lottery on safety standards during emergencies.
The National Fire Chiefs Council urged ministers to impose a statutory duty in England to respond to severe weather-related incidents in order to ensure there is the right equipment, training and budget to deal with them.
Continue reading...Firm says it had no idea proposed test site on Lib Dem peer’s land included part of Strathmore peatlands in Flow Country
A British arms company has abandoned plans to detonate fragmentation bombs in the middle of the Flow Country world heritage site, the Guardian can reveal.
The company, Overwatch, asked the Civil Aviation Authority this month for permission to carry out “live fire testing” of anti-personnel bombs dropped by drones on to land owned by the Liberal Democrat peer John Thurso.
Continue reading...About 19.2 million people likely to hit road for leisure trips and more than 2 million expected to fly overseas
Travellers are being told to expect widespread disruption this bank holiday as delays and congestion are predicted across key roads and rail routes, and airports are expecting more than 2 million people through their doors.
On what is expected to be the busiest weekend for travel this year, the transport analytics company Inrix said the heaviest road traffic was likely on Friday between 10am and 6pm, and Saturday between 10am and 1pm.
Continue reading...Campaigners warn against ‘false sense of security’ and say asylum seekers in Scotland are fearful of the far right
Anti-racism campaigners have vowed to show the far right they are not welcome in Scotland after an anti-immigration rally was organised in Glasgow.
But they warned against a “false sense of security” as the disorder witnessed across England and Northern Ireland earlier in the month has not been seen in Scotland.
Continue reading...Social media influencer and brother among six detained for crimes including trafficking and sexual exploitation of minors
A Romanian court has ordered Andrew Tate to be placed under house arrest, his representative said, after he was among six people taken into custody in an investigation into human trafficking and sexual exploitation.
The former professional kickboxer and his brother Tristan were among six people detained on Wednesday for an initial 24 hours after Romania’s anti-organised crime prosecuting unit, Diicot, conducted four house searches in Ilfov county and the Bucharest municipality.
Continue reading...Former Tory party chairman Jake Berry says former prime minister ‘must have taken leave of his senses’ when he called election
The former home secretary James Cleverly has defended his record as he reacted to the latest Home Office figures which showed the outgoing Conservative government granted 286,382 work visas in the year to June 2024, 11% down on the previous year (see more details in post at 10.41)
Home Office data also showed the number of migrants crossing the English Channel in small boats fell by almost a third in Rishi Sunak’s last year as prime minister.
When I said I was going to cut migration, I meant it. Visas down, small boat arrivals down, cut the backlog & cut the asylum grant rate. It’s not about words, it’s about delivery.
Continue reading...Former England footballer confirmed to have been removed from the corporation’s ‘presenting lineup’
Jermaine Jenas, the host of Match of the Day 2 and the One Show, has been sacked by the BBC.
The presenter and pundit, 41, has long been seen as a potential long-term replacement for Gary Lineker as full-time Match of the Day host.
Continue reading...Teaching events being relocated while urgent repairs carried out on 1970s structures with degraded concrete
The University of Leicester is dealing with a “major incident” over crumbling buildings on campus that will be closed for years and require a major relocation of classes while they undergo repairs.
Two large buildings on the university’s main campus, where students attend hundreds of lectures and seminars each academic year, will be closed owing to concrete degradation and the corrosion of steel reinforcements that support the structures.
Continue reading...Researchers say their creation has memory, which it can use to perform better by gaining experience
Researchers have found a soft and squidgy water-rich gel is not only able to play the video game Pong, but gets better at it over time.
The findings come almost two years after brain cells in a dish were taught how to play the 1970s classic, a result the researchers involved said showed “something that resembles intelligence”.
Continue reading...Suspect, 24, found by police one day after arrest of 32-year-old in connection with death of Claudiu-Carol Kondor
A second man has been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a parcel delivery driver who was killed in Leeds on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old suspect, who had been on the run for two days, was arrested alongside a woman suspected of assisting an offender. A 32-year-old man who was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murder remains in custody.
Continue reading...Tech tycoon, 59, was among six people missing since early hours of Monday morning when Bayesian yacht capsized
The British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch has been confirmed dead by search and rescue authorities after his yacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm, according to officials.
Lynch, 59, the founder of Autonomy Corporation, was among six people missing after the British-flagged 56-metre sailing boat Bayesian capsized at about 5am local time on Monday off the coast of Palermo when the area was hit by a tornado.
Continue reading...Analysis of grades shows disparities also conceal enormous variations in performance within each region
As the tide of exam results affected by Covid recedes, it reveals stark social and regional inequalities in GCSE performances across England that are barely changed or worse than before the pandemic struck.
Those receiving their GCSE results this week were in their first year of secondary school when the pandemic began in early 2020, with that year and the next hugely disrupted as a result.
Continue reading...French service sector drives growth but experts warn strong figures mask disappointing performance elsewhere
The Paris Olympics have provided a boost to the eurozone economy after a sharp rise in spending as athletes and spectators descended on the French capital for the summer sporting event.
Figures from a closely watched survey of businesses showed monthly French private sector output rose to its highest level in 17 months in August.
Continue reading...Emma Ramsay, 19, was on holiday with friends in San Antonio and police are treating her death as an accident
A Scots law student has died while on holiday in Ibiza after reportedly falling from a sixth-floor hotel balcony.
Emma Ramsay, 19, is reported to have died in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a fall at a beachfront hotel in the resort of San Antonio, in the north-west of the Spanish island.
Continue reading...Company tells clients it also expects to receive a large fine following property developer’s collapse
The auditor PwC China has reportedly told clients that it expects to receive a six-month ban from Chinese authorities, and potentially a large fine, as a punishment for its role in auditing the collapsed property developer Evergrande.
PwC expects to be banned from conducting regulated activities in China, such as signing off on financial results, for six months starting in September, the Financial Times reported.
Continue reading...Woodland Trust’s competition comes as charity campaigns for more robust legal protection for precious trees
An oak tree shaped like an elephant and the oak with the widest girth in the UK have been shortlisted for the annual Tree of the Year competition.
The Woodland Trust runs the annual competition to raise awareness of the UK’s ancient and at-risk trees.
Marton oak, Cheshire
Sessile oak (quercus petraea) / Approximate age: 1,200 years / Girth: 14.02 metres.
Bowthorpe oak, Lincolnshire
English oak (quercus robur) / Estimated age: 1000 years / Girth: 13.38 metres.