Category Archives: UK news

UK and France’s small boats pact and doubling in drownings ‘directly linked’

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Report says greater police presence on French beaches and more attempts to stop dinghies increases risks to refugees

The most recent illegal migration pact between the UK and France is “directly linked” to a doubling of the number of Channel drownings in the last year, a report has found.

The increased police presence on French beaches – along with more dinghies being stopped from reaching the coast – is leading to more dangerous overcrowding and chaotic attempts to board the boats, the paper said.

12 August 2023: six Afghan men drowned in an overloaded dinghy which got intro trouble close to the French shore

26 September 2023: Eritrean woman, 24, died in Blériot-Plage after being asphyxiated in a crush of 80 people trying to board one dinghy

22 November 2023: three people drowned close to Équihen-Plage as the dinghy collapsed close to the shore. Fifty-seven survivors returned to the beach.

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British Base jumper dies in 29-storey fall in Thailand

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Nathy Odinson, 33, had parachute problem after climbing up building in Pattaya and jumping off

A British Base jumper has died after his parachute failed to open during a stunt in Thailand.

Nathy Odinson, 33, from Cambridgeshire, who had performed skydives and Base jumps around the world, is said to have illegally climbed up a 29-storey building in the coastal resort of Pattaya and jumped off on Saturday night.

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NHS trust that treated Valdo Calocane to be subject of special review

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CQC will conduct review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare in tandem with mental health homicide review

A troubled NHS trust that treated Valdo Calocane for paranoid schizophrenia before he killed three people in Nottingham last year is to be the subject of a special review.

Ministers said the review into Nottinghamshire Healthcare foundation trust would help provide answers to the families of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates, who were killed by Calocane last June.

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Playing a musical instrument or singing is linked to better memory in older age

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Piano especially associated with improved mental processes in those over 40, Exeter University research finds

Playing a musical instrument or joining a choir is linked to better memory and thinking skills in older age, research has found.

The piano was especially associated with a better brain in those over 40 in the study from Exeter University, which reviewed data from more than a thousand adults and looked at how much experience the people had in participating in music.

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Ofsted single-word judgments on schools must end, say MPs

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Committee calls on government to heed widespread concern and consider a more nuanced inspection system

The government should stop the use of single-word judgments such as “inadequate” or “outstanding” in Ofsted’s headline grades of schools in England, a committee of MPs has urged.

MPs on the education committee said relations between Ofsted and teachers had become “extremely strained”, with trust in the watchdog “worryingly low” in the wake of the headteacher Ruth Perry’s suicide last year after a traumatic inspection.

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Betty Boothroyd planned to criticise PMs for abusing patronage powers

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Draft of former speaker’s final speech said prime ministers should not give peerages to friends or people with ‘fat bank accounts’

Betty Boothroyd wanted to use her valedictory speech in the House of Lords to criticise prime ministers for giving too many peerages to friends and those with “fat bank accounts” who had bankrolled the party in power.

The former speaker of the House of Commons planned her final speech, in which she also said there was no longer a place for hereditary peers, but was too ill to deliver it.

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Disposable vapes to be banned in UK as part of drive to curb youth vaping

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Plans to make vaping less appealing also to include restricting fruity flavours and introducing plain packaging

Ministers are to ban disposable vapes as part of a UK-wide drive to curb youth vaping.

The government is also seeking to make vaping less appealing to children by restricting sweet and fruity flavours, introducing plain packaging and making displays less visible in shops, under newly announced powers. The changes are expected to come into effect towards the end of this year or early 2025.

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Boy, 16, arrested over murder of 51-year-old man in West Sussex

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Teenager in custody after ‘incident’ in seaside town of Littlehampton, as police appeal for information

A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 51-year-old man was found dead in a street in Littlehampton, West Sussex.

Sussex police said an “incident” was reported in the seaside town at about 6am on Sunday. The victim, who was from Littlehampton, was pronounced dead at the scene on Gladonian Road, the force said.

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Charity with Prince Harry as director investigating rape and torture claims

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African Parks examines alleged atrocities against Indigenous people by its Congo Republic guards after ‘decade of alerts’ from Survival International

A wildlife charity that has the Duke of Sussex as a board member is investigating allegations of rape and torture by its guards in the Republic of the Congo.

African Parks, which manages 22 national parks and protected areas across 12 countries, said the investigation was its “highest priority” and encouraged anyone with knowledge of any abuse to contact it.

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Famine in Gaza is being made ‘inevitable’ says UN rapporteur

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Countries defunding UNRWA, the main aid distributer in Gaza, accused of collectively punishing more than 2.2 million Palestinians

The Gaza Strip is facing “inevitable famine” because of the decision by western countries to pause funding for the UN’s agency for Palestinian affairs after Israeli accusations that 12 of the group’s employees took part in the Hamas attack on 7 October last year.

Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, said on Sunday “famine was imminent” and now “inevitable”, in a comment following the news that the US and nine other countries were suspending additional funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).

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UK committed to ‘protecting innocent lives’, says Shapps after Houthi attack

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British warship HMS Diamond targeted in Red Sea but no injuries or serious damage sustained

Grant Shapps said the UK remained “undaunted” after Iran-backed Houthis targeted HMS Diamond in the Red Sea during their latest round of strikes.

The defence secretary’s comments came after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that the Royal Navy warship HMS Diamond “deployed its Sea Viper missile system” to destroy the drone deployed by the Yemen-based Houthi group on Saturday. It said there were no injuries to the crew and no damage to the ship.

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Welsh semiconductor factory ‘left in limbo’ as Westminster fails to approve US takeover

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Labour criticises government ‘dithering’, after Vishay deal last autumn to buy chip maker Newport Wafer Fab stalls, putting jobs at risk

Labour has criticised “dither and delay” from the government over a decision on a proposed takeover of the UK’s largest semiconductor facility by a US company, warning that it could lead to further job cuts at the Welsh factory.

The fate of Newport Wafer Fab in south Wales has been unclear for nearly two years since the UK government first indicated it had concerns over a 2021 takeover by the Chinese-owned Nexperia firm. The national security concerns related to the ownership of semiconductor technology by a company with links to China.

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UK, US and other countries to pause funding for key UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees

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Move by several countries comes after allegations that UNRWA staff took part in attacks on Israel last year

The decision by the US, UK and other western nations to freeze ­funding for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees will significantly worsen the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, Palestinians have warned.

Britain, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland joined the United States, Australia and Canada in pausing funding after UNRWA, the UN’s Relief and Works Agency for Palestine, revealed an investigation had been launched into 12 members of staff who allegedly took part in the 7 October attack led by Hamas that killed 1,140 people.

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Chancellor considers further national insurance cut to take heat off Rishi Sunak

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Jeremy Hunt targets further reduction in ‘jobs tax’ in March budget

The government is considering handing workers another tax cut with a further reduction in national insurance, amid desperate attempts to move on from a campaign to destabilise Rishi Sunak by the Tory right.

With frustration within the cabinet that the Conservative party has been unable to free itself from internal warring over Sunak’s immigration plans and leadership, the prime minister and his chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, are focusing on the tax cuts that will frame their election pitch.

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Voters think Labour would be better than Conservatives on housing and house prices

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Opposition would do better on issues including the economy, health, education, the environment, immigration and crime, public says

More than twice as many voters believe a Labour government would be better for housing than the Tories, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

The survey shows Labour is well ahead of the Conservatives on most issues including the economy, health, education, the environment, immigration and crime, and level pegging on ones it has traditionally lagged way behind on, including defence.

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Chester Market evacuated after chilli fumes affect customers

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Vapour created by a stall-holder ‘cooking a large amount of chillies’ entered ventilation system

A market in Chester was evacuated on Saturday because of fumes caused by a stall-holder “cooking a large amount of chillies”.

Chester fire and rescue service said vapour from the cooking of a large quantity of chilli oil had entered the market’s ventilation system.

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Police were warned of offender safety fears before Nottingham killings

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An official report a year before three people were stabbed to death in the city raised concerns about the force’s management practices

Nottinghamshire police was ordered to review its management of offenders a year before a wanted man with paranoid schizophrenia stabbed three people to death.

A report by the official policing inspectorate in April 2022 said the force should “immediately review” their approach to managing low-risk offenders to ensure risk was “effectively monitored and managed”.

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Mother of stabbed Nottingham university student calls for inquiry

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Emma Webber describes ‘fury’ at sentence received by Valdo Calocane for deadly rampage last June

The mother of one of the students stabbed to death in Nottingham has called for an inquiry into any failings that led to the knife attacks.

Emma Webber told the Times that her family “fully support” calls for a public inquiry, which also has the backing of the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, into the killings of her son Barnaby Webber, fellow University of Nottingham student Grace O’Malley-Kumar and the 65-year-old school caretaker Ian Coates.

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Britons switching to smaller, higher-quality alcoholic drinks, experts say

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Increasing preference said to be driven by desire to be healthier and is fuelling trend for 100ml taster bottles

As the adage goes: good things come in small packages. According to alcohol industry experts British consumers are increasingly choosing to enjoy their beverages in smaller portions, but of higher quality – fuelling a trend for 100ml taster bottles.

The shift comes from a desire to be healthier, experts say, with drinking among UK teenagers and young people falling. In June 2023, Tesco sold 25% more low- and non-alcoholic beer than in dry January.

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