The 23-year-old was stabbed in broad daylight in Islington on Wednesday morning
A murder inquiry has been launched after a 23-year-old man was stabbed to death in broad daylight in north London.
Officers and London ambulance service were called to reports of a stabbing on a street in Islington on Wednesday morning and found a man with knife injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Continue reading...‘Driver or pirate’ issued with traffic offence because feathered first mate not in suitable carrier
A driver was stopped by police after they were found at the wheel with an African grey parrot on their shoulder.
North West motorway police said its officers spotted the driver, who has not been named, with the bird on the M62.
Continue reading...Move in England comes after detection of highly-mutated coronavirus variant that is spreading around the world
Health officials have brought forward plans for autumn flu and Covid vaccinations after detecting a highly-mutated Covid variant that is spreading around the world.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said vaccinations would be available from 11 September in England as a precautionary measure intended to protect the most vulnerable as the winter months approach. The vaccination programme had not been scheduled to launch until early October.
Continue reading...Employee, who was stuck in walk-in freezer for more than two hours, was treated in hospital for hypothermia
Pret a Manger has been fined £800,000 after an employee was trapped in one of its freezers for more than two hours, where she tried to use croissant boxes to stave off hypothermia.
The employee was wearing jeans and T-shirt when she was stuck in a walk-in freezer, which typically had its temperature set at -18C, in July 2021, Westminster magistrates court was told.
Continue reading...On trip to Beijing, James Cleverly says Britain is ‘clear-eyed’ about its disagreements with world’s second largest economy
James Cleverly has defended his meetings with senior Chinese government members, saying it would be a mistake to try to isolate China, during the first visit to Beijing in five years by a UK foreign secretary.
Cleverly said he believed China genuinely cared about UK views on human rights, following his meetings on Wednesday with China’s vice-president, Han Zheng, and foreign minister, Wang Yi. However, there was no indication of a change in Chinese policy such as the lifting of its sanctions on British parliamentarians, the test for the trip set by the shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy.
Continue reading...Demand for travel results in 41% rise but air traffic control industrial action across Europe affects timings
Passenger numbers at Gatwick airport soared to 19 million during the first six months of the year, according to its operator, although air traffic control strikes across Europe contributed to an increase in delayed departures and landings.
Demand for travel resulted in 41% more passengers travelling through the airport between January and June compared with 2022 – when Covid restrictions were still in place – Gatwick said as it released half-year results.
Continue reading...UK’s James Cleverly is latest to travel to Beijing hoping to improve ties and change Chinese foreign policy
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, on Wednesday described his government’s relationship with Beijing as “complicated and sophisticated”. He said the UK’s approach was “clear-eyed” and pragmatic, neither seeking to isolate the world’s second largest economy nor shying away from raising disagreements.
The balancing act may prove difficult. Cleverly is the latest in a series of western government officials – from the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, to the French president, Emmanuel Macron – to have visited China in recent months hoping to repair soured relations and trade ties. Few have had much success.
Continue reading...Interest rate rises on mortgages are weakening demand, property website says
The number of UK homes sold this year is expected to fall to the lowest level in more than a decade, as the soaring cost of mortgages puts off homebuyers.
House sales reaching completion are expected to fall 21% year-on-year to about 1m in 2023, the lowest level since 2012, according to a report from the property website Zoopla.
Continue reading...Foreign select committee report published as foreign secretary, James Cleverly, travels to Beijing
Britain must take a tougher stance on China over its severe human rights abuses and help Taiwan build its defences to deter a potential attack from Beijing, an influential group of MPs says.
With the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, scheduled to land in China on Wednesday for a first official visit in five years, a report from the foreign affairs select committee says ministers have to call out the country’s transnational repression.
China’s behaviour is a threat to world security that cannot be ignored, it says.
The Chinese Communist party (CCP) is “seeking to silence criticism of its human rights abuses, and impose its foreign policy and Xi Jinping’s thought beyond its own borders”, the committee, which is Tory controlled, writes. “This is a challenge to the functioning of democracies globally.”
Scams and data thefts could be caused by individuals overriding chatbot scripts, NCSC says
The UK’s cybersecurity agency has warned that chatbots can be manipulated by hackers to cause scary real-world consequences.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has said there are growing cybersecurity risks of individuals manipulating the prompts through “prompt injection” attacks.
Continue reading...Investigators believe player died in an accidental fall in Brittany, which is hosting World Defence Rugby competition
A British armed forces rugby player has been found dead in France, where the World Defence Rugby competition is being held.
Investigators believe the player may have died in an accidental fall in northern Brittany, a prosecutor said.
Continue reading...Ministers have claimed Ulez is cash-raising ploy – but letter reveals Grant Shapps backed a separate charge for same reason
Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy in claiming Sadiq Khan expanded London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) to raise revenue after it emerged the Department for Transport urged the mayor to extend the city’s congestion charge for the same reason.
On the first day of Ulez covering every London borough there was renewed bickering between the Labour mayor and the government, with Khan castigating Mark Harper, the transport secretary, for what he called factual mistakes after the pair crossed paths at a TV studio.
Continue reading...Sgt Graham Saville had been trying to help distressed man on tracks near Newark Northgate station
A police officer has died after being hit by a train while trying to save a distressed man on the tracks, Nottinghamshire police have said.
British Transport Police said they were called to the line near Newark Northgate station at about 7.10pm on Thursday evening after reports of a casualty on the tracks.
Continue reading...Award-winning poet last seen in early hours of Saturday morning in Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire police are appealing for information to help find the award-winning poet Gboyega Odubanjo, who has been missing since the early hours of Saturday morning.
Odubanjo, 27, was last seen at about 4am on 26 August. He was attending Shambala festival in the Kelmarsh area of Northamptonshire, where he was due to perform later that day.
Continue reading...Move is likely to further sour relations after months of industrial action over pay dispute
Network Rail has withheld annual bonuses from its union members who took part in strikes, in a move that threatens to further sour industrial relations.
The state-owned railway infrastructure manager settled the pay dispute with its workforce in March this year, after RMT members voted to accept a rise worth 9% over two years.
Continue reading...James Cleverly to say during visit to Beijing this week that China has ‘a responsibility on the global stage’
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will challenge Chinese officials in Beijing on Wednesday over their growing military support for Russia, but is intent that his meetings are seen as the revival of a political dialogue that eventually revives UK trade with China.
Ahead of the meetings, he said that no major international issue could be solved without China but added that the country had to live up to its international commitments and obligations.
Continue reading...Government claims ripping up EU-era protections on nutrient neutrality will allow for an additional 100,000 homes
Chronic under-investment, exploitation and low pay is leading to widespread poverty among workers in the care sector, according to damning research from the Trades Union Congress.
As it publishes its first workforce blueprint for the care economy, the TUC argues that the “Cinderella sectors” of social care and childcare need urgent investment to head off a demographic timebomb.
If the government is willing to strip away vital protection to save money for developers in polluted catchments, then where will it draw the line? This could be the most serious blow for environmental law in decades.
What the government is proposing here is to remove legal protections for nature, throw away requirements for polluters to pay, and instead use taxpayers’ money to try to fill the gap.
Continue reading...Under Lords amendment, developers will no longer have to offset nutrient pollution from new homes’ sewage
Taxpayers will pick up the bill for pollution by housebuilders, government officials have admitted, as rules on chemical releases into waterways are scrapped.
If an amendment in the House of Lords tabled on Tuesday passes, developers will no longer have to offset the nutrient pollution caused by sewage from new homes. The government has said it will double Natural England’s wetland funding to £280m in order to show it is trying to meet the requirements of its legally binding Environment Act.
Continue reading...Surinder Arora told to demolish all or part of Fairmont Windsor Park hotel where Northern Ireland deal was agreed
A multimillionaire businessman with close links to the Conservative party has been told to knock down part or all of a luxury hotel that hosted the signing of Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal because he breached planning regulations.
A planning enforcement notice issued by Runnymede borough council said Surinder Arora’s hotel company had until 7 October to take action at the Fairmont Windsor Park hotel near Windsor.
Continue reading...Canada and UK only donor countries to contribute so far, leaving scheme short of $40m to formally launch
Developed countries have been urged to contribute to a new nature fund after it was left undercapitalised by $40m (£32m), receiving money from just two donors.
At the Cop15 biodiversity summit in December, where countries agreed this decade’s biodiversity targets that included aims to protect 30% of Earth, governments agreed to the creation of a fund to help developing countries meet the deal’s aims, which included a target to provide $200bn for nature a year by 2030.
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