UK general election live: Labour suspends candidate Kevin Craig over Gambling Commission probe

Party says it acted after being contacted by the regulator about the candidate for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich

All along the course of the Thames, turning north, meandering south, passing through locks, historic landmarks, Richmond and Kew, swelling beneath the House of Commons with the turning tide, and on to Docklands and beyond – concern for the health of the Thames has led many other ordinary people, who live, work or play on the water, to take up the fight for the health of the river.

The last 15 years of decline in rivers suggests they have much to do. In 2009, a year before the Conservatives first took power in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, a quarter of English rivers were judged as being of good ecological standard, a marker which examines the flow, habitat and biological quality; by 2022 not one river was in a healthy state.

Continue reading...

From a plea deal to a 2am prison call: how Julian Assange finally gained freedom

A lawyer’s offer, a judgment that foretold years of legal wrangling, and diplomatic pressure all played a part in the release of the WikiLeaks founder

Julian Assange released from prison – live updates

It was, as his friends described it, the “last kick of the British establishment”. At 2am on Monday, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, was woken in his small cell in the high-security Belmarsh prison, south-east London, and ordered to dress before being put in handcuffs.

It was the beginning of the end of Assange’s incarceration in Britain but it was going to be on his jailers’ terms.

Continue reading...

Julian Assange en route to US Pacific island after accepting US plea deal – live

Julian Assange to be sentenced at a hearing on the US territory island of Saipan Wednesday; WikiLeaks founder’s wife says he will seek a US pardon

The plea agreement comes months after the US president, Joe Biden, said he was considering a request from Australia to drop the US push to prosecute Assange.

Assange was indicted during the former president Donald Trump’s administration over WikiLeaks’ mass release of secret US documents, which were leaked by Chelsea Manning, a former US military intelligence analyst who was also prosecuted under the Espionage Act.

Continue reading...

Accused said Holly Willoughby attack was his ‘ultimate fantasy’, court hears

Jury hears of Gavin Plumb’s online searches and messages, including saying he didn’t ‘care about the consequences’

A man accused of masterminding a plot to kidnap, rape and murder the television personality Holly Willoughby searched on Google for “how to meet people who plan to kidnap celebrities”, a court has heard.

Gavin Plumb’s online searches were read to a jury at Chelmsford crown court along with messages in which he said attacking Willoughby had been his “ultimate fantasy” and that “fantasy isn’t enough anymore [sic], I want the real thing”.

Continue reading...

Experts warn Julian Assange plea deal could set dangerous precedent

Human rights organisations want the next UK government to seek assurances from the US that it will not pursue journalists publishing classified information

The next UK government must push the US for reassurance it will not pursue journalists for publishing classified information, human rights organisations and experts have argued after the release of Julian Assange.

Experts have warned that the plea deal struck between the WikiLeaks founder and the US authorities – which will see him plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act, but avoid serving any additional time in custody – could set a dangerous precedent.

Continue reading...

Stonehenge likely to be put on world heritage danger list over tunnel plan

Unesco officials recommend adding Wiltshire stone circle amid fears road scheme would compromise its integrity

Stonehenge is likely to be put on a list of world heritage sites that are in danger because of the plan to build a tunnel under the precious landscape.

Unesco officials have recommended adding the Wiltshire stone circle and the area around it to the list because of concerns that the tunnel would “compromise the integrity” of one of the Earth’s great prehistoric sites.

Continue reading...

Princess Anne ‘doing fine’ in hospital after injury, husband says

Sir Tim Laurence brings Princess Royal ‘a few little treats from home’ and says she is making ‘slow but sure’ progress

The Princess Royal, who is recovering from head injuries believed to have been inflicted by a horse, is making “slow but sure” progress, her husband has said.

V Adm Sir Tim Laurence visited Anne after she spent a second night at Southmead hospital in Bristol, where she remains under observation having had a concussion.

Continue reading...

PPE worth £1.4bn from single Covid deal destroyed or written off

UK government deal struck at height of pandemic described as ‘colossal misuse of public funds’

An estimated £1.4bn-worth of personal protective equipment (PPE) bought by the government in single a deal has been destroyed or written off, according to new figures described as the worst example of waste in the Covid pandemic.

The figures obtained by the BBC under freedom of information laws showed that 1.57bn items from the NHS supplier Full Support Healthcare will never been used.

Continue reading...

African and Asian artists condemn ‘humiliating’ UK and EU visa refusals

‘Unfair’ rejection rates of up to 70% harm cultural diversity and create a ‘global apartheid’, say promoters and musicians

Musicians, authors, producers and festival managers have hit out at “humiliating” and costly visa-rejection rates for African and Asian artists visiting Britain and European Union countries, saying it is having a chilling impact on cultural diversity.

Analysis shows the UK last year raised £44m in fees for visa applications that were then rejected, mainly coming from low- and middle-income countries. The EU made €130m (£110m).

Continue reading...

Low wages under Tories have pushed 900,000 UK children into poverty, report finds

TUC says party has overseen ‘huge rise’ in poverty, as Resolution Foundation says average wages just £16 a week higher in real terms than in 2010

The crisis of poverty that has taken root in the UK over the past 14 years has been laid bare in two reports that reveal the devastating effects low wages and price increases on the lives of 900,000 children.

With both main parties proposing tough welfare spending plans, reports have highlighted the link between rising child poverty and slow wage growth under five Conservative governments since 2010 – the slowest growth since the second world war.

Continue reading...

British man dies of suspected heart attack on Mount Vesuvius in heatwave

The 56-year-old tourist was visiting the volcano near Naples with his family as temperatures in Italy reached 40C

A British man has died of a suspected heart attack after ascending to the crater of Mount Vesuvius during a family holiday.

The tourist, named by Italian media as Mark John Irwin, died on Sunday after climbing the volcano near Naples, in southern Italy, during the visit with his wife and two children.

Continue reading...

NHS confirms stolen data published online is from blood test provider

Health service in England issues update saying there is ‘no evidence’ hackers published entire database

Stolen data published online has been confirmed as having come from the NHS provider Synnovis, NHS England has said.

Synnovis, which manages blood tests for NHS trusts and GP services, primarily in south-east London, was the victim of a cyber-attack – understood to have been carried out by the Russian group Qilin – on 3 June.

Continue reading...

Sunak says Truss’s budget was mistaken as Starmer defends backing of Corbyn

Prime minister says he fought against predecessor’s plans and warns of migration surge if Labour scraps Rwanda plan

Keir Starmer has defended serving in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet, saying he wanted to help preserve the Labour party and that he “always knew there was going to be a day after”.

Speaking in separate interviews hosted by the Sun newspaper that included questions from a watching audience, Rishi Sunak and Starmer underwent at times difficult interrogations, including over migration and the NHS.

Continue reading...

Paris fashion week: Dior champions goddess gowns and 1920s glamour

Fashion house takes inspiration from Olympic Games in grandest sense for show in garden of Musée Rodin

Like everyone else in Paris right now, the Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri is thinking about the Olympics. Her latest Dior haute couture show was staged in the garden of the Musée Rodin, a stone’s throw from the grand open space of Esplanade des Invalides, where banks of seating are already being erected in preparation for the archery competitions of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

But in haute couture, where no price tag is fewer than five figures, athleisure does not make the cut. So this season’s Dior was Olympian in the grandest sense: classically draped goddess gowns, with asymmetric necklines cut to expose a shoulder and skirts cascading in silken layers.

Continue reading...

Sunak defends decision not to take immediate action against Tories in betting scandal – as it happened

Prime minister faces claim Tories are ‘stealing the candlesticks’ on the way out of government

After a passage in his speech attack Labour on familiar grounds, Rishi Sunak also hit out at Reform UK.

[Reform UK] are not on the side of who you think they are.

Reform are standing candidates here in Scotland that are pro independence and anti monarchy.

Continue reading...

London Tunnels moves IPO plan to Amsterdam in blow to UK markets

Proposed tourist attraction hopes to bring 2m visitors a year to abandoned wartime network

London Tunnels, which aims to convert an abandoned underground network into a tourist attraction, has ditched plans to float in the capital, instead opting to list in Amsterdam.

The company aims to make the Kingsway exchange tunnels, a network of 8,000 sq metres under Holborn in central London, into a new attraction that will bring in 2 million visitors a year.

Continue reading...

JK Rowling agrees to meeting with Labour about gender transition policy

Author responds after shadow chancellor says party would be ‘really happy’ to ‘give her assurances’

JK Rowling has agreed to a meeting with Labour after Rachel Reeves said the party would be “really happy” to “give her assurances” over its plans to change the process through which people can legally change gender.

Speaking in Scotland, Reeves said protection for women-only spaces would “absolutely stay”, adding: “We’re not going to be changing anything around biological sex … We’re really happy to talk to JK Rowling to give her assurances about that.”

Continue reading...

Nigel Farage attacks Mail newspapers over ‘Putin ally’ reports

Reform UK leader accuses group of trying to stop his party breaking through into parliament

Nigel Farage has launched a stinging attack on the Daily Mail group, accusing the newspapers of trying to stop Reform UK “breaking through into parliament” by publishing reports that suggest he is an ally of Vladmir Putin’s administration.

Farage said the newspaper, which has often been supportive of him in the past, was “collaborating with the Kremlin to protect the dying Conservative party”, also lashing out at Boris Johnson for joining condemnation of his comments about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Continue reading...

Record number of people have crossed Channel in small boats since January

Total of 12,901 people seeking asylum have crossed this year, passing previous six-month record of 12,747 in 2022

A record number of people seeking asylum in small boats have crossed the Channel in the first six months of this year.

Home Office figures show that 257 people made the journey in four boats on Sunday, taking the provisional total for the year so far to 12,901. The previous record for arrivals in the six months from January to June was 12,747 in 2022. In the first half of 2023, arrivals stood at 11,433.

Continue reading...

‘I hope he loses’: Jeremy Hunt facing uphill battle in Godalming as voters long for change

Many describe Hunt as a good local MP but some are looking to tactical voting to punish the Conservatives

The beautiful Surrey Hills are well known for two things: a high concentration of some of the UK’s richest residents, who commute from the “stockbroker belt” to well-paying jobs in London, and some of the country’s most popular cycling routes.

The two combined on a recent chilly Saturday morning in a 100km bike ride that passed through the picturesque lanes of the newly created Godalming and Ash constituency. Most of the 10 riders from Velo Club Godalming Haslemere were happy to chat politics as they pedalled up (and down) 1,168 metres of the county’s steepest hills on customised carbon-fibre racing bikes, some of which cost more than a family car.

Continue reading...