Latest three-month period to 24 April includes Israeli strike that killed three workers for British World Central Kitchen
UK government ministers have reviewed a further three months of the IDF’s presence in Gaza and found no reason to suspend arms exports to Israel.
The latest review of evidence examined Israel Defense Forces’ behaviour until 24 April, the Foreign Office said in a statement late on Friday.
Continue reading...Girl remains in critical condition after being hit by bullet in suspected drive-by attack
The young girl left in a critical condition after being mistakenly shot by a suspected gangland hitman was visiting relatives in London on her half-term holiday.
The girl, from Birmingham, was still in hospital on Friday after a bullet struck her as she ate at Evin restaurant, in Hackney, north-east London, on Wednesday evening.
Continue reading...Charity Commission says lessons have been learned after dispute involving Penelope Keith, Siân Phillips and ABF
The actors Dame Penelope Keith and Dame Siân Phillips have won a hard-fought apology from England’s charity watchdog after it admitted to blunders in its handling of a case involving a £40m actors’ hardship fund.
The pair, who with others were removed from the board of the Actors’ Benevolent Fund (ABF) two years ago in what they argued was an unlawful coup by rival trustees, had accused the Charity Commission of mismanaging its stewardship of the charity.
Continue reading...Carriers including easyJet and Ryanair face being banned from charging for carry-on luggage
Budget airlines including easyJet and Ryanair have been hit with fines totalling €150m (£128m) by the Spanish government for policies that include charging passengers extra for cabin luggage.
In the biggest sanction issued by the Spanish government’s ministry of social rights and consumer affairs, the carriers easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling and Volotea have been penalised after an investigation launched last summer.
Continue reading...Rebel group says strikes, aimed at underground facilities and missile launchers, killed and wounded civilians
A joint US and UK air raid on Houthi missile launchers in Yemen has killed 16 people and injured more than 40, according to the Houthi health ministry.
There is no independent way of confirming the death toll, but if accurate it would represent the single largest loss of life since the US and UK started their campaign to degrade the Houthi military in January.
Continue reading...The desire to see the back of the Tories seems to outweigh any considerations of policy – or whether Labour will actually deliver much positive change
“Nothing has changed”: those were the ill-fated words during Theresa May’s 2017 campaign. Things certainly did change, though – a large polling lead almost evaporated by polling day and a hung parliament was returned.
In 2024, Rishi Sunak desperately needs a similar shift. But so far the British public seem unmoved. Voting intention, as measured by the opinion polls, remains much as it was when the election was called. Those intentions would see Sunak falling to something ranging between a significant and a historic defeat.
Continue reading...High Commission to meet leaders at university after currency crash in home country meant students couldn’t pay for tuition
Delegates from the Nigerian high commission in London are to meet bosses from Teesside University to discuss the treatment of a group of students who were ordered to leave the UK after failing to meet tuition repayments.
The Nigerian students were left distressed and in some cases suicidal after they were involuntarily withdrawn from their courses and ordered to leave, in what has been described as a “serious diplomatic issue”.
Continue reading...Former Bolton North East MP says Tory party is ‘now unrecognisable’ and likens this general election to 1997
Rishi Sunak has been dealt a fresh blow from within his own ranks after another outgoing Conservative MP said he is now backing Labour.
Mark Logan, who represented Bolton North East until parliament was dissolved, said the Tory party was “now unrecognisable” from the one he joined a decade ago and that Labour could “bring back optimism into British life”.
Continue reading...AI expected to help researchers unlock two-way communication, say team that includes Tel Aviv University
In the Dr Dolittle books and films, the ability to “talk to the animals” captured the imagination. Now scientists are being offered a $10m prize to create real conversations.
The Coller Dolittle Challenge for Interspecies Two-Way Communication has been launched by the Jeremy Coller Foundation and Tel Aviv University. While the use of AI is not obligatory, the team say the technology can boost almost all proposals.
Continue reading...Our Nige at least manages to sound slightly plausible while talking utter rubbish
It’s not hard to pick out where the power lies at any Reform party event. Just check out the middle-aged men with a tan. Richard Tice, Nigel Farage and David Bull all look like they’ve spent a suspiciously long time on the sunbed. Or maybe they’ve got a bulk offer on spray tan. Either way, you have to blink several times when you see them in the flesh. The glare is oppressive. Welcome to the party with heavy 1970s Benidorm vibes.
Nigel Farage had insisted that when he first booked Glaziers Hall near London Bridge, it had been to announce that he was planning to stand as a candidate in the election. Like a lot of things Our Nige says, this may be wishful thinking. Or a straight porky. Check out the timings. Rishi Sunak calls a general election last Wednesday. Nige books the room the next day. All set to go. Then changes his mind within days. Mmm. Maybe not.
Continue reading...It comes after former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the party’s treatment of Abbott was ‘a disgrace’
Keir Starmer is in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, launching Labour’s general election campaign in Wales with beleagured first minister Vaughan Gething. Next week Gething faces a confidence motion in the Senedd. We’ll bring you any key lines that emerge. You can watch it here, the event has just started …
The Liberal Democrats have again criticised ITV’s decision to host a debate featuring just Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer and excluding themselves. The Liberal Democrats were the fourth largest party in the House of Commons after the 2019 election.
Well obviously, I’d love it if Ed Davey and the Liberal Democrats did have a voice in the TV debates, and we are setting out our stall every single day – our fair deal for the British people, our focus on the NHS and care system, the cost-of-living crisis and sewage in our rivers and seas.
Continue reading...Election campaigns kick off with policies on single market, climate crisis, NHS and clean seas
Plaid Cymru and the Green party have launched their election campaigns, focusing on issues ranging from offshore windfarms’ profits to initiatives for improving water and air quality.
The parties, which hope to win about four seats each, vowed to keep a Labour government in check and to push the party’s leader, Keir Starmer, to be bolder in areas such as health, housing and the environment.
Continue reading...Figures show statistics, computing, physics and maths have risen in popularity and languages bouncing back
Fewer pupils in England are studying drama, media and performing arts at GCSE and A-level, while the popularity of statistics, computing, physics and maths has gone up.
Provisional figures for exam entries in England this summer, published by the exams regulator Ofqual on Thursday, also reveal a growing enthusiasm for modern foreign languages, which had been in long-term decline.
Continue reading...Tom Parry, 49, and Richie were due home in Cheshire after visiting Glen Nevis and Glencoe
A man and his 12-year-old son are missing after a hillwalking trip in the Scottish Highlands, police have said.
Tom Parry, 49, and his son Richie were due to return to their home in Cheshire on Wednesday after visiting Glen Nevis and Glencoe.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak says timing of action days before general election appears to be ‘politically motivated’ to help Labour
Up to 100,000 patients in England face having their NHS care cancelled days before the general election after junior doctors announced a fresh wave of strike action, with Rishi Sunak saying it appeared to be politically motivated.
Health leaders expressed alarm, warning the five-day strike would jeopardise efforts to tackle the record waiting list and “hit patients hard”.
Continue reading...Brexit campaigner suggested he and prime minister should ‘have a conversation’ after favours he had done Tories over the years
Rishi Sunak has ruled out a deal with Nigel Farage after the Reform politician suggested they should “have a conversation” before the election.
Farage has held back from running as a candidate for the Reform party, which is led and funded by Richard Tice, but on Wednesday he extended an olive branch to Sunak in an interview with the Sun, telling him: “Give me something back. We might have a conversation.”
Continue reading...Comments at rally in east London follow Keir Starmer’s denial that the Hackney MP would be barred from standing in the election
Diane Abbott has promised to stay on as an MP for “as long as it is possible”, setting up a clash with Keir Starmer after a deal for her to retire from parliament broke down.
Abbott, the UK’s first female black MP, had been expected to make a “dignified exit” from parliament, after a near 40-year career, in an arrangement in which she was given back the Labour whip after an investigation into comments she made about racism.
Continue reading...Even those who are not natural allies are concerned about the cack-handed treatment of the veteran MP
The long and sorry saga of Diane Abbott leaving parliament, where she arrived as a trailblazer, has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many colleagues – even those who are far from her natural allies.
After almost 36 tortuous hours the UK’s first black female MP is in the Labour party but possibly out of parliament, and no one seemingly wants to own how these decisions came about.
Continue reading...Deaths of members of British al-Hilli family and French cyclist in remote layby have baffled detectives since 2012
Detectives from France’s cold case unit have ordered DNA analysis of evidence in the unsolved killing of a British family and a French cyclist in a remote Alpine village 12 years ago.
Clothes belonging to one of the victims, cigarette butts found at the scene and pieces of the gun used in the killings are to be tested in the hopes of solving the mystery of the murders, described by the local prosecutor as “an act of gross savagery”.
Continue reading...Squeals and growls tend to occur in groups, finds study of infants aged up to 13 months
It might sound like a stream of jolly nonsense, but the peculiar sounds babies produce could be an attempt to practise the vocal control necessary for speech, researchers have suggested.
A study analysing the sounds made by infants during their first year of life has found squeals and growls tend to occur in groups.
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