Cryptocurrency rises as UK financial regulator says it will allow trading of crypto-backed securities
Bitcoin has reached a new record price of almost $73,000 (£57,000), as the UK financial regulator said it would allow the trading of cryptocurrency-backed securities.
The cryptocurrency hit a fresh high of $72,720 as of Monday evening having last week overtaken its previous November 2021 high of nearly $69,000.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Remarks by Frank Hester, who has given £10m to the party in the past year, raise questions over his workplace behaviour
The Conservative party’s biggest donor told colleagues that looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and said the MP “should be shot”, the Guardian can reveal.
Frank Hester, who has given £10m to the Tories in the past year, said in the meeting that he did not hate all black women. But he said that seeing Abbott, who is Britain’s longest-serving black MP, on TV meant “you just want to hate all black women because she’s there”.
Continue reading...Guardian’s imaging team identifies 20 anomalies with the picture that may require further inquiry
The release of the first official picture of the Princess of Wales and her three children since her operation was undoubtedly meant to end speculation about her recovery. But that has backfired spectacularly after the princess was forced to admit she had edited it.
Catherine apologised on Monday after the manipulation of the picture led international picture agencies to refuse to distribute it on grounds of editorial standards.
1. Jumper cuff does not match wrist edge.
2. Blurred edge detail jolts from one line to another.
3. Definitively inconsistent detail at base of jumper.
4. Strong horizontal line running through hair and jacket zip, indicating different focus and detail.
5. Visible selection lines within lower hair areas.
6. Edge of knee detail potentially blurs too quickly for the depth of field.
7. Suspect/soft bend of hair leading to the shoulder.
8. Abrupt hair detail.
9. Cloning repetition detail.
10. Visible selection lines and hard edges with the hair interacting with the soft blue jumper.
11. Rogue cloning detail.
12. Suspect vertical detail transitioning at edge of red jumper.
13. Sharp horizontal line running through soft window frame detail.
14. Sharp horizontal and vertical patches on window pane.
15. Inside finger “V” edge does not match.
16. Visible selection lines and hard edges with the hair interacting with the soft blue jumper.
17. Rogue sharp detail on soft arm area.
18. Ambiguous edge detail above thumbnail.
19. Sharp vertical line running through soft jumper detail.
20. Ambiguous due to shallow depth of field, hand and jumper detail softer than immediately surrounding areas.
Ministers said to have dropped opposition to inquiry into alleged assaults and mistreatment of people at Manston centre
The Home Office is to concede to demands for a statutory inquiry into alleged assaults and mistreatment of asylum seekers at Manston processing centre, Whitehall sources have told the Guardian.
The move comes after the government spent a year fighting off demands in the courts for an independent figure to investigate chaos, which led to claims of violence, drug dealing and filthy conditions at the Kent camp.
Continue reading...Calls for closer collaboration made after multiple Houthi drone strikes on ships in Red Sea over weekend
Western efforts to stop Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea will fail unless the US and its allies build stronger intelligence and military relations with the UN-recognised government in Yemen, politicians and experts are warning.
Yemen’s ambassador to the UK has warned the Houthis have to be confronted and driven away from Red Sea ports such as Hodeidah. Similar calls were made by members of the Yemeni government coalition when they visited London last month.
Continue reading...Harris had longstanding relationship with ABTSS, later alleged by British prosecutors to have handled or received illegal payments
One of the largest military contractors in the US paid commissions to a Saudi company later alleged to have been a conduit for bribes for the kingdom’s royal family.
A document disclosed in a UK criminal trial revealed that Harris Corporation, now L3Harris, paid commissions to the Saudi company for over two decades for services in the kingdom.
Continue reading...Strong sales of Taylor Swift’s 1989 (Taylor’s Version) help format make an impact, as air fryers also join list
Not since Simply Red’s album Stars topped the albums chart in 1992 have vinyl records been included in the basket of goods used to calculate annual inflation, but a rise in sales over recent years has brought them back as a marker of UK shop prices.
The Office for National Statistics said the “resurgence of popularity” in vinyl records meant they should be included among the 744 items used to calculate inflation each month, in its latest annual shake-up of the basket.
Continue reading...Bidder says multiple attempts to engage with high street group’s board were rejected
The US investment group Elliott has ended its bid to buy Currys after previous offers were rejected by the electrical goods retailer.
Elliott, which owns Waterstones, told the markets on Monday that it had made multiple attempts to engage with the Currys board but all had been rebuffed.
Continue reading...Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as exchange-traded funds help biggest cryptocurrency rally
The European Commission’s use of Microsoft email and office software broke its own privacy rules, an EU privacy watchdog has ruled.
Microsoft’s software transferred personal data outside the EU, breaching privacy rules, according to the European Data Protection Supervisor.
Continue reading...Aerospace group chief executive urges UK and Europe to pool efforts and merge fighter jet programmes
Europe is unprepared for war with Russia or the risk that Donald Trump could withdraw the US from Nato and needs to ramp up spending on defence equipment, the boss of Airbus has said.
Guillaume Faury, the chief executive of Europe’s biggest aerospace and defence company, said it was a “defining moment” for the continent’s defence industry, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 brought war to western Europe’s borders.
Continue reading...Ministers disappointed by decision of one of worst sewage dumpers not to join England-wide initiative
Thames Water has risked a fresh backlash over its commitment to tackling sewage dumping after it declined to commit funds to a £180m industry-wide initiative to fast-track efforts to reduce pollution in England’s waterways.
The government said on Monday that the sum would be spent by six companies over the next 12 months to prevent more than 8,000 sewage spills, as water companies attempt to address their woeful record on tackling spills.
However, Britain’s biggest water company, which has a £14bn debt mountain, has not taken part in the drive and it is understood that government officials are disappointed in its refusal to do so.
Continue reading...Employees say there is a trend of limited diversity among the senior scientific leadership at the London centre for AI
Staff at the UK’s national institute for artificial intelligence and data science have expressed “serious concerns” about the organisation’s approach to diversity after it appointed four men to senior roles.
A letter addressed to the leadership of the Alan Turing Institute (ATI) said the appointments showed a “‘continuing trend of limited diversity within the institute’s senior scientific leadership”.
Continue reading...Keith Piper says engaging with offensive and traumatic imagery can be important in keeping a clear sense of history
An artist commissioned to respond to a mural in Tate Britain that has been sealed off from the public since 2020 because of its depictions of black and Chinese people, says viewing traumatic and racist images is crucial for us to truly grapple with our history.
Keith Piper was commissioned by Tate Britain in 2022 to create a work that reacted to the Rex Whistler mural, titled The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats, which had been closed after Tate’s ethics committee decided it was “offensive”.
Continue reading...DWP missed many chances to act as woman’s mental health declined while under overpayment investigation
A coroner has criticised the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) after a woman died from an overdose in the wake of a six-month official investigation that left her with soaring universal credit debts.
Fiona Butler, the assistant coroner for Rutland and North Leicestershire, wrote a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to the DWP highlighting its failures to respond to the victim’s mental health issues.
Continue reading...At least a quarter of councils are taking more than a year to provide vital support to people with a new visual impairment diagnosis
The lives of thousands of blind and partially sighted people are being put at risk by delays in vital care that they have a legal right to after being assessed as visually impaired, according to a report.
More than a quarter of English councils are leaving people who have just been diagnosed as blind waiting more than a year for vision rehabilitation assessments and potentially life-saving support, the report by the RNIB revealed.
Continue reading...Celebrity chef clashes with health secretary over what he calls government’s lack of obesity strategy
The celebrity chef and Green party supporter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has clashed with the UK health secretary, Victoria Atkins, over what he says is the government’s failure to tackle the obesity crisis.
Fearnley-Whittingstall challenged Atkins during a live discussion on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, accusing ministers of doing “next to nothing” to tackle obesity in England.
Continue reading...Intervention by conservationists halts sale of 1530s roundel from Grade-I listed manor, created to celebrate king’s union with Anne Boleyn
The fate of precious Tudor stained glass marking the union of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn is in dispute after its last-minute withdrawal from a private auction, the Observer has learned.
Urgent intervention by conservationists prevented the sale of English glasswork “of exceptional importance”, including a window made in the 1530s as well as older medieval glass. The windows were hanging in a 16th-century Dorset manor and were destined for a private contents auction until spotted listed alongside vintage furniture and china.
Continue reading...Picture of Catherine with her three children posted on social media with message thanking well-wishers
The first official photograph of the Princess of Wales after her abdominal surgery has been released to mark Mother’s Day.
A picture of Catherine sitting on a chair surrounded by her three children was posted to the Prince and Princess of Wales’ social media accounts on Sunday morning, along with a message thanking well-wishers for their support.
Continue reading...Government was to look at whether offenders tend to commit increasingly serious crimes after outcry over warning signs with police officer Wayne Couzens
The government has failed to fund research into the escalation of sex crimes, despite promising to do so in the wake of the kidnapping, rape and murder of Sarah Everard.
In 2021, the Home Office pledged to “take forward work looking at the escalation of sexual offending” as part of its plan to tackle violence against women and girls. The plan, which had the tagline “the safety of women and girls across the country is our priority”, was informed by 180,000 public submissions after Everard was killed by serving police officer Wayne Couzens.
Continue reading...Cross-party group of peers expected to ask for more details about why minister made and withdrew claims about two academics
The cabinet minister Michelle Donelan is to face more questioning this week over her judgment after taxpayers funded a payout to an academic she had falsely accused of supporting Hamas.
The science secretary will appear before a cross-party group of peers on Tuesday, when she is expected to be questioned on the process that led her to make the accusation, which she has since retracted. The decision to leave taxpayers with the £15,000 bill is also likely to be raised. The sum was paid “without admitting any liability”, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said.
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