Dozens reported dead in Gaza after Israeli strike on residential block – as it happened

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This blog is now closed, you can read more of our Middle East coverage here

The Gaza health ministry said on Wednesday that at least 1,482 Palestinians have been killed since Israel resumed intense strikes on the Gaza Strip on 18 March, taking the overall death toll since the start of the war to 50,846.

Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse (AFP) tally based on Israeli official figures.

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Starmer rejects claim there are ‘strong arguments’ for suspending fiscal rules amid US tariffs – UK politics live

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The PM doubled down on his insistence the government won’t change its fiscal rules, describing them as ‘ironclad’ and ‘non-negotiable’

One person probably more enthusiastic than most about the prospect of Universal opening a theme park in the UK is the Lib Dem leader Ed Davey. He is a great fan of outdoor activity-related photocalls, and he’s been at it again today, and the Gloucester Ski and Snowboarding Centre in Matson, Gloucestershire.

Almost 40 MPs and peers have signed a letter organised by Jeremy Corbyn calling for an independent inquiry into the government’s role in the war in Gaza.

Many people believe the government has taken decisions that have implicated officials in the gravest breaches of international law.

These charges will not go away until there is a comprehensive, public, independent inquiry with the legal power to establish the truth.

Last month, I wrote to the Prime Minister calling for an independent inquiry into the UK’s involvement in Israel’s assault on Gaza.

Today, more than 30 MPs have supported that call.

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Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott faces sexual abuse charges

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  • The 47-year-old is charged with abuse of a boy and a girl
  • He defeated Peter Ebdon to win 2006 world title

The former world snooker champion Graeme Dott has been accused of sexually abusing children. The 47-year-old is facing charges of sexual abuse against a boy and a girl.

Court papers allege he abused the girl in Glasgow between 1993 and 1996.

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Women should avoid all alcohol to reduce risk of breast cancer, charity says

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World Cancer Research Fund goes further than UK and WHO advice on alcohol after review of evidence

Women should avoid alcohol altogether to reduce their risk of breast cancer, a charity has warned.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has published a review of evidence on how diet and lifestyle factors can play a role in the development of the disease.

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Seven officers injured after police car pileup during chase near Newcastle

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A1 closed and man and woman arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and abetting dangerous driving

Seven police officers have been treated in hospital and five police vehicles badly damaged after an early morning car chase on one of the busiest roads in the north-east of England.

Police were pursuing a dark grey BMW M Sport when the collision happened just before 2.30am on Wednesday on the northbound carriageway of the A1, near junction 75, and the Denton Burn roundabout, near Newcastle.

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Swindon apprentice loses unfair dismissal case after ‘lunch-tampering’ row

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Brooklyn Forrester-Hayes threatened co-worker after reporting ‘finger-sized holes’ in his sandwiches

A garage apprentice who threatened a colleague he thought had pranked him by poking “finger-sized holes through his sandwiches” has lost an unfair dismissal claim.

Brooklyn Forrester-Hayes accused a fellow apprentice of “tampering with his lunch” as well as “smashing his crisps”, an employment tribunal was told.

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Druze militias are suspicious of Syria’s new leaders — and are ready to go to battle – NPR

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  1. Druze militias are suspicious of Syria's new leaders — and are ready to go to battle  NPR
  2. These Militias Refuse to Join Syria’s New Army  The New York Times
  3. Focus - Kurdish fighters hesitate to join Syria's vision of a unified army  France 24
  4. Darayya’s Sacrifice  New Lines Magazine
  5. Opinion | Syria Is Trying to Get Up With a Boot on Its Neck  The New York Times
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UK to co-host global conference with aim of resolving Sudan’s civil war

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Foreign ministers will gather in London and seek to exert diplomatic pressure demanding a ceasefire

The British government is bringing together foreign ministers from nearly 20 countries and organisations in an attempt to establish a group that can drive the warring factions in Sudan closer towards peace.

The conference at Lancaster House in London on 15 April comes on the second anniversary of the start of a civil war that has led to the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, but has been persistently left at the bottom of the global list of diplomatic priorities. Half of Sudan’s population are judged to be desperately short of food, with 11 million people internally displaced.

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Trump brags world leaders are ‘kissing my ass’ as tariff chaos rocks markets

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President boasts at National Republican Congressional Committee dinner: ‘I know what I’m doing’

Donald Trump has insisted “I know what the hell I’m doing” by imposing sweeping tariffs and bragged that world leaders are “kissing my ass” as they try to negotiate trade deals.

The US president was speaking to political donors at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s annual fundraising dinner in Washington on Tuesday night.

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Pet dogs have ‘extensive and multifarious’ impact on environment, new research finds

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Scale of environmental damage attributed to huge number of dogs globally as well as ‘lax or uninformed behaviour of dog owners’

Dogs have “extensive and multifarious” environmental impacts, disturbing wildlife, polluting waterways and contributing to carbon emissions, new research has found.

An Australian review of existing studies has argued that “the environmental impact of owned dogs is far greater, more insidious, and more concerning than is generally recognised”.

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Gaza City strike kills at least 23 as Israel reportedly plans to seize Rafah

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Search for survivors continues at residential building, amid reports Israeli military preparing to seize entire city in south

At least 23 people have been killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a residential building in northern Gaza, as reports emerged that the Israeli military is preparing to seize the entire city of Rafah as part of a newly announced security corridor.

Medics at al-Ahli hospital said that the bombing on Wednesday of a four-storey building in the Gaza City suburb of Shijaiyah had killed at least eight women and children, as rescue workers continued to search for survivors into the evening. The Israeli military said the strike targeted a senior Hamas militant.

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US air force reverses ban on pronouns in email signatures and websites

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Department will follow rest of Trump’s anti-DEI order while adhering to 2024 defense bill barring any pronoun policy

The US air force has reversed its ban on the use of preferred pronouns in email signatures and other professional communications.

In a memo dated last Wednesday, the Department of the Air Force announced that it has “rescinded” the directive it issued earlier this year prohibiting “the use of ‘preferred pronouns’ to identify one’s gender identity in professional communications”, including email signatures, memoranda, letters, papers, social media and official websites.

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EU to build AI gigafactories in €20bn push to catch up with US and China

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Up to five sites with power-hungry supercomputers and datacentres planned to drive AI ‘moonshots’

The EU has revealed details of a €20bn (£17bn) plan to create new sites equipped with vast supercomputers in Europe to develop the next generation of artificial intelligence models, while opening the door to amending its landmark law that regulates the technology.

Publishing a strategy to turn Europe into an “AI continent”, the European Commission vice-president Henna Virkkunen said the technology was at the heart of making Europe more competitive, secure and technologically sovereign, adding: “The global race for AI is far from over.”

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Protest planned after Florida student deported following traffic stop

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Politicians and student activists decry ‘outlandish’ deportation of Felipe Zapata Velázquez to Colombia

A campus protest is planned at the University of Florida on Wednesday in support of a Colombian student deported by the Trump administration following his arrest for alleged traffic violations.

The family of Felipe Zapata Velázquez, 27, said on Tuesday he was “undergoing a physical and emotional recovery process” in his home country after police arrested him in Gainesville on 28 March for offenses including having an expired tag and suspended driver’s license, then turned him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).

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Revealed: drug tests in California prisons yielded false positives, affecting thousands of people

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Records suggest Quest Diagnostics erroneously detected opiates. Lawyers say parole requests were jeopardized in the process

Thousands of drug tests used by a major US diagnostic company in California prisons last year are suspected to have generated false positive results, an enormous error that has jeopardized the parole requests of some incarcerated people, according to civil rights lawyers and prison medical records.

California prison officials have known about the issue for months, but have failed to clear people’s records or reverse the consequences people have faced from the tests.

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