Corporation under pressure to respond to claims presenter sent photos of reality star Stephen Bear
The BBC is under pressure to respond to allegations that Stephen Nolan, one of the corporation’s highest-paid presenters, sent sexually explicit images to colleagues and was the subject of a bullying claim.
Political parties in Northern Ireland called on the BBC to provide a full response to the allegations about the region’s most influential and controversial broadcaster.
Continue reading...Force’s chief constable believes thousands of officers’ personal details are in paramilitary hands
Republican paramilitaries have obtained the information that leaked in a Police Service of Northern Ireland data breach, according to the force’s chief constable.
Simon Byrne said on Monday that he believed dissident republicans had the dataset that mistakenly disclosed the personal details of more than 10,000 officers and staff last week.
Continue reading...Breaches hurt police morale and may help republican paramilitaries intimidate officers and their families
Police data breaches in Northern Ireland have given republican paramilitaries a powerful tool to intimidate, demoralise and target officers and their families for years to come, according to security experts.
The New IRA and other groups have gained the “upper hand” and will be able to use the unprecedented leaks of officers’ personal information to carry out psychological and possibly physical attacks, the analysts warned on Friday.
Continue reading...All officers’ names and ranks erroneously published online for up to three hours, but private addresses thought to be safe
A “monumental” data breach has exposed the names and rank of every serving police officer in Northern Ireland.
A spreadsheet was mistakenly published online detailing the surname, initial, rank or grade, location and the departments of all current Police Service of Northern Ireland officers and civilian staff members. It is understood that the breach does not involve private addresses.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of students face likely drop in As and A*s as ministers aim to return results in England to pre-pandemic levels
Tens of thousands of A-level students face disappointment on results day next week, amid warnings that nearly 100,000 fewer As and A*s could be awarded as the government seeks to return grades to pre-pandemic levels.
Up to 50,000 candidates this summer are likely to miss out on the top grades they might have expected last year, according to one estimate, throwing applications for the most competitive universities into doubt.
Continue reading...Winds in Berry Head in Devon of 78mph could be August record for area while trees fall on Exeter-Penzance track
Storm Antoni, the first the Met Office has named this season, has hit the UK, with forecasters warning that flying debris thrown up by strong winds could pose a danger to life.
The highest wind gust recorded was in Berry Head (78mph) in South Devon followed by Cardinham (56mph) in Cornwall. The Met Office said these were both provisionally a new highest wind gust for August in those places.
Continue reading...Gusts of up to 65mph forecast to hit English and Welsh coasts on Saturday along with prolonged rain
Ferry and rail passengers have been warned of cancellations and delays as gusts of up to 65mph (105km/h) are forecast to batter the English and Welsh coasts at the weekend.
The Met Office issued a yellow weather warning for wind in parts of England and Wales from 6am on Saturday until 9pm the same day, and prolonged rain was forecast.
Continue reading...Requirement for animal medicines to be batch-tested in EU could see products discontinued, BVA warns
Northern Ireland could lose half of its veterinary medicines in a new Brexit row threatening to prolong the political stalemate in the region, it has emerged.
The British Veterinary Association told the Lords committee on Northern Ireland in written evidence that it was “extremely concerned” about the issue even though the Windsor framework sealed between Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, in March was sold as a solution to the protracted saga regarding Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...Tribunal investigating lawfulness of 2013 PSNI actions after complaint by Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey
A secretive tribunal is looking into allegations that UK authorities spied on investigative journalists in Northern Ireland to identify their sources.
The investigatory powers tribunal (IPT) is examining a complaint by two journalists who asked the body to find out whether police in Northern Ireland and Durham, as well as MI5 and GCHQ, used intrusive surveillance powers against them.
Continue reading...Sweltering temperatures in Europe directing low-pressure systems towards UK and yellow wind warning is in place
Sweltering temperatures in Europe are forecast to lead to 55mph winds and heavy rain in the UK due to low-pressure systems being directed towards the country.
The Met Office has issued a yellow wind warning that is in place across south-west England and Wales until Friday evening, while another covering areas of central and southern England will come in on Saturday morning.
Continue reading...Bloomfield Auctions rejects accusations it is acting immorally and insulting the memory of Nazis’ victims
A Northern Ireland auction house is going ahead with the sale of Adolf Hitler memorabilia despite an outcry from Jewish leaders.
The managing director of Bloomfield Auctions, Karl Bennett, rebuffed accusations on Wednesday that the sale was immoral and would insult the memory of those murdered by the Nazis.
Continue reading...Document says man claimed he would attempt to harm monarch while she was visiting California
An FBI file relating to a visit to the US by the late Queen Elizabeth II has revealed a potential plot to assassinate her.
The document, available on the FBI’s online vault, outlines what appears to be intelligence provided to federal agents about a threat to the queen’s life in California 40 years ago.
Continue reading...Armed officers at the scene but no reports of injuries, Metropolitan Police says
Rishi Sunak is being interviewed on ITV’s This Morning.
He says immigration levels are too high, but he rejects claims it is out of control. This is from the Daily Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan.
Continue reading...PM has asked for further information before decided whether ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus will be asked to investigate Braverman. This blog is now closed
Starmer says Labour would zone in on the biggest killers.
He says it would get heart attacks and strokes down by a quarter within a decade.
Continue reading...Former DUP leader calls Sinn Féin electoral gains a ‘wake up and smell the coffee moment’ for unionism
The Democratic Unionist party (DUP) is facing renewed calls to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland after a Sinn Féin electoral “tsunami” reshaped local government.
Chris Heaton-Harris, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, on Sunday joined a chorus urging the DUP to end a boycott that has paralysed the executive and assembly at Stormont. “Alongside the new councils, it remains my hope to see the assembly and executive return to work,” he said.
Continue reading...The party had 134 elected councillors by 5pm on Saturday, with gains achieved across the region
Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill has hailed a “momentous” result as the party remains on course to become the largest in councils in Northern Ireland.
As the count stretched into Saturday evening, the republican party had 134 elected councillors by 5pm, with gains achieved across the region.
Continue reading...This live blog has now closed, you can read more on this story here
PMQs is starting in five minutes.
The Cabinet Office has just published the revised list of ministers’ interests. This is the document that is supposed get updated every six months, but which has not been updated for around a year – partly because it’s the job of the No 10 independent adviser on ministes’ interests (aka, the ethics adviser), and for months the post was empty because two of Boris Johnson’s resigned, and then he gave up trying to find a replacement.
The prime minister’s wife is a venture capital investor. She owns a venture capital investment company, Catamaran Ventures UK Limited, and a number of direct shareholdings.
As the prime minister set out in his letter to the chair of the liaison committee on 4 April 2023, this includes the minority shareholding that his wife has in relation to the company, Koru Kids. The guide to the categories of interest (section 7, pages 4-6) sets out the independent adviser’s approach to the inclusion of interests declared in relation to spouses, partners and close family members within the list. The prime minister’s letter of 4 April is available at https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/38992/documents/191876/default/
Continue reading...Noel Hanna died during descent of world’s 10th highest mountain, say expedition organisers
A Northern Irish climber has died and an Indian climber is missing after falling into a crevasse in separate incidents on Mount Annapurna, the world’s 10th highest mountain.
Another Indian climber fell ill on the way down from the 8,091-metre (26,540ft) summit but survived after spending the night in harsh conditions on the mountain.
Continue reading...It is thought complaint refers to prime minister’s wife, Akshata Murty, being a shareholder in a childcare agency
Q: Are you going to have to offer more money to teachers?
Sunak says what is on offer is “a good and fair settlement”.
Continue reading...Climate Change Committee says little hope of getting on track if Stormont power sharing not restored soon
The prolonged lack of devolved government in Northern Ireland threatens to seriously hamper the country’s ability to hit the ambitious emissions reduction targets enshrined by law in its climate act, the chief executive of the UK’s Climate Change Committee (CCC) has said.
There has been no power-sharing government in place to advance work on meeting these commitments since Northern Ireland’s Climate Change Act, which includes a 2050 net zero target, was passed last spring.
Continue reading...