Category Archives: UK news

UK aid cuts imposed with no transparency, says watchdog

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Icai review cites lack of access to officials and papers to assess aid budget since Foreign Office-DfID merger

UK aid cuts have been imposed with inadequate transparency, according to an independent watchdog, which said it was becoming increasingly difficult to interact with the government.

The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (Icai), a public body that reports to parliament, said the lack of cooperation, partly due to the disruption of aid cuts, has meant it was unable even to assess whether recommendations it had previously made had been followed.

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Recruitment of under-18s to British military should end, ministers told

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Human rights groups call for bar on junior entry, which accounts for quarter of intake to army

Ministers have been urged to stop the practice of recruiting children to Britain’s military by a coalition of 20 human rights organisation as MPs debate the armed forces bill.

The pressure to end the practice also comes as figures showed that girls aged under 18 in the armed forces made at least 16 formal complaints of sexual assault to military police in the last six years – equivalent to one for every 75 girls in the military.

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Moving on: why the EU is not missing Britain that much

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On the 5th anniversary of Brexit, commentators reflect on the EU’s success at rallying together after Britain’s exit

On the night of 23 June 2016 a storm broke out over Brussels. Rain poured, thunder rolled and lightning flashed over the headquarters of the European Union’s institutions.

Then in the small hours came a political thunderbolt almost no one had forecast: the UK had voted to leave the union. Five years on, the Brexit tempest has subsided – in Brussels, if not in London.

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EU citizens in UK face 28-day notice if they miss settled status deadline

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Tens of thousands to be issued with warnings to submit applications for post-Brexit scheme or risk losing rights

Tens of thousands of EU citizens living in the UK will be issued with a formal 28-day notice if they have failed to apply for post-Brexit settled status within a week, the government has warned.

The notices will tell them to submit an application or risk consequences which include losing their rights to healthcare and employment.

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Jeffrey Donaldson named leader of DUP

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Westminster MP only person to be put forward after resignation of Edwin Poots

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is to become the new leader of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) after he was the only candidate put forward to succeed Edwin Poots.

Nominations closed on Tuesday with nobody else declaring, paving the way for Donaldson to be crowned leader of Northern Ireland’s biggest party later this week or next. He will be the party’s third leader in three months.

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Greek pilot in court charged with murdering British wife

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Babis Anagnostopoulos claimed for a month that Caroline Crouch died in robbery

Dramatic scenes unfolded at Athens’ court complex as the pilot who has confessed to killing his British wife in a crime that has riveted the country was brought to testify before a magistrate now handling the case.

As Babis Anagnostopoulos was hurried into the building by police from Greece’s anti-terrorist unit, in handcuffs and a bulletproof vest, it was to chants of abuse from irate onlookers who had gathered outside the complex. “Rot in prison, you monster,” one man screamed.

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Welsh government to suspend all future road-building plans

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Deputy minister for climate change will announce move as part of plans to reach net zero emissions by 2050

The Labour-led Welsh government is to freeze new road-building projects as part of its plans to tackle the climate emergency, and an external panel will review all proposed schemes.

The deputy minister for climate change, Lee Waters, is to tell the Welsh parliament on Tuesday afternoon: “Since 1990, Welsh emissions have fallen by 31%. But to reach our statutory target of net zero emissions by 2050, we need to do much more.

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Labour leader Keir Starmer axes chief aide Jenny Chapman

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Removal of political secretary in face of MPs’ criticism is latest step in reshuffle of Labour’s top team

Keir Starmer’s closest aide, Jenny Chapman, is to be removed from her role as political secretary after significant criticism from MPs, but will move into the shadow cabinet taking responsibility for Brexit.

Chapman’s departure is another major change to Starmer’s top team and follows a sideways move for Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, and the departure of his two most senior communications staff, Ben Nunn and Paul Ovenden.

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Drinking coffee may cut risk of chronic liver disease, study suggests

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UK analysis shows people who drank coffee had 49% reduced risk of dying from the condition

From espresso to instant, coffee is part of the daily routine for millions. Now research suggests the brew could be linked to a lower chance of developing or dying from chronic liver disease.

Chronic liver disease is a major health problem around the world. According to the British Liver Trust, liver disease is the third leading cause of premature death in the UK, with deaths having risen 400% since 1970.

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Met police makes second arrest after BBC’s Nick Watt confronted on street

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Man, 62, held in south London police station after footage shared online showed reporter being harassed

Police have arrested a second man on suspicion of harassing the BBC journalist Nick Watt after footage emerged online last week of the political editor being confronted and chased by a group of protesters.

The Metropolitan police said a 62-year-old man was being held in custody in a south London police station on suspicion of an offence under section 4a of the Public Order Act, which covers using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour towards another person with the intention to cause them harassment, alarm or distress.

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UK aid cut behind $284m fall in global humanitarian spending

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Estimated UK cut of $900m offsets increases by others nations, according to annual Global Humanitarian Assistance Report

International humanitarian spending by public donors dropped by $284m (£204m) between 2019 and 2020, and UK the government cut its humanitarian funding by the most of any major western country, according to a new report from the independent Development Initiatives has found.

Its annual Global Humanitarian Assistance Report is regarded as one of the best sources for objective statistics on aid trends and humanitarian needs, and the report highlights the extraordinary pressure now being placed on UN-coordinated humanitarian appeals.The total UK cut – put at $900m – offsets increases by others. Humanitarian assistance can be both multilateral or bilateral, but does not cover all overseas aid designed to provide long-term resilience. The UK has cut its large aid budget due to an unprecedented cut in the size of the economy and priority given to dealing with the impact of Covid in the UK.

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Boris Johnson: travel abroad will remain difficult in 2021 – video

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Boris Johnson has said he believes 19 July will be the 'terminus point' from which coronavirus restrictions in England will be lifted. The prime minister also played down the prospects of any significant easing of travel restrictions for people wanting a foreign holiday any time soon. 

'I want to stress that this is going to be, whatever happens, a difficult year for travel. There will be hassle, there will be delays, I'm afraid. Because the priority has got to be to keep the country safe and stop the virus coming back in,' he said

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EU prepares to cut amount of British TV and film shown post-Brexit

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Exclusive: number of UK productions seen as ‘disproportionate’ and threat to Europe’s cultural diversity

The EU is preparing to act against the “disproportionate” amount of British television and film content shown in Europe in the wake of Brexit, in a blow to the UK entertainment industry and the country’s “soft power” abroad.

The UK is Europe’s biggest producer of film and TV programming, buoyed up by £1.4bn from the sale of international rights, but its dominance has been described as a threat to Europe’s “cultural diversity” in an internal EU document seen by the Guardian.

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Why can’t world leaders agree that a nuclear war should never be fought? | Jane Kinninmont

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Biden and Putin must persuade other nuclear states that such a conflict ‘should never be fought’

Meeting last week, the US and Russian presidents issued a joint statement declaring: “a nuclear war should never be fought and could never be won”. This consciously echoes what Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev said in a landmark summit in 1985, when the US and USSR started to step up nuclear arms control, and gradually reduced the world’s fear of nuclear catastrophe.

Many reports of the Biden-Putin summit have not even mentioned this joint statement, because it sounds like simple common sense. Who wants a nuclear war?

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Simon Jenkins is wrong about the NHS infected blood inquiry | Letters

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A public inquiry was the only way to get justice for those affected by this scandal, which went on for two decades and was covered up for 20 years more, writes Diana Johnson MP

I categorically disagree with the comments from Simon Jenkins about the use and purpose of public inquiries, and with his particular reference to the NHS infected blood inquiry (Public inquiries are institutionally corrupt, we should just give the money to victims, 17 June) .

After nearly 40 years of campaigning and the refusal by the state to acknowledge the harm done to thousands of people, the NHS infected blood inquiry was finally announced in 2017 when all opposition parties in the Commons came together, threatening to vote against Theresa May’s minority government.

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‘It’s going to come as a big shock’: UFO experts await Pentagon report

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UK ufologists are worlds apart on the importance of a hotly anticipated US intelligence release

Nearly 75 years after Roswell, the possibility that we are not alone in the universe is once again the talk of mainstream politics.

The impending release of a Pentagon report on the activities of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) has sparked a wave of interest and recent pronouncements from the programme’s former director, Luis Elizondo , have raised the eyebrows of ufologists worldwide.

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New EU rules would permit use of most polymers without checks, experts warn

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Proposals would allow common plastics to be used despite valid concerns about possible harms, scientists say

New rules on chemicals to be debated by the EU this week would allow most polymers to be used without further checks, according to a group of scientists.

Only about 6% out of about 200,000 polymers would require extensive safety checks under proposals being discussed as part of Europe’s Reach chemicals regulations.

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Karim’s story: Egypt’s crackdown on human rights workers – podcast

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Ten years since the Arab spring rocked Egypt and removed its president, the country is still detaining human rights workers and locking up political prisoners

Karim Ennarah, a human rights worker for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, was at a beach resort in South Sinai when he was arrested and accused of joining a terrorist group and “spreading false news”. He was detained in a prison in Cairo and became one of thousands of political prisoners in the country.

Ennarah tells Anushka Asthana that his arrest was only the beginning of his separation from his British wife. Jess Kelly describes to Anushka the moment that she found out her husband had been arrested by the security services as she rode her bike along a London street, and the great difficulties she herself has faced to be reunited with him.

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House asking prices hit record levels across Great Britain

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Rightmove data shows largest June increase since 2015 but economists suggest Covid boom may be fading

House asking prices have hit record levels across every region of Great Britain, according to latest figures, although some experts have questioned whether the pandemic boom is finally starting to wane.

The price of properties coming to market rose by 0.8% month on month in June to a third consecutive record of £336,073, according to data from Rightmove, a property listings website.

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High stress may make ‘broken heart syndrome’ more likely, study finds

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Condition also known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy is brought on by an acute emotional shock

Two molecules associated with high stress levels have been implicated in the development of broken heart syndrome, a condition that mainly affects post-menopausal women and is usually brought on by severe stress, such as the loss of a loved one.

The syndrome, formally known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is characterised by weakening of the heart’s main pumping chamber and was first identified in 1990 in Japan. It looks and sounds like a heart attack and is consequently often confused for one.

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