Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Late on Wednesday Iranian state media reported explosions in the port city of Bandar Abbas in the strait of Hormuz; in Sirik, another southern coastal city; and the south-western Bushehr province, home to Iran’s nuclear-power-plant complex.
Ministers also considering licence requirement and regulator to try to cut bills and increase choice
UK vets may have to have a licence and cap prescriptions for pet medicine at £21 under plans being considered by the government.
Ministers are also considering establishing a regulator for the veterinary sector, including inspections, a mandatory licensing system and published compliance reports to improve accountability and choice. Every vet practice could need an official operating licence – similar to GP surgeries and care homes – under proposals in a white paper.
Ethics and integrity commission chief says overhaul is crucial to help restore trust in standards
All lobbying of government ministers, aides and senior officials should be publicly declared – from WhatsApp chats to party conference meetings – in a fundamental shake-up of transparency laws, the government’s ethics watchdog has said.
A review led by Doug Chalmers, the head of the ethics and integrity commission, has called for a new register to highlight who is lobbying, which policies they are seeking to influence and who in government they are meeting.
Foreign affairs select committee says Peter Mandelson episode was ‘nothing short of disastrous’ for government
Political selections for ambassador posts should be subject to a veto by MPs, a parliamentary committee has recommended, as it made damning criticisms of how Peter Mandelson became Britain’s top diplomat in Washington.
The foreign affairs select committee concluded that Mandelson’s appointment was “nothing short of disastrous”, “highly damaging” for the British government and “painful and offensive to the victims of Jeffrey Epstein”.