Former Bolton North East MP says Tory party is ‘now unrecognisable’ and likens this general election to 1997
Rishi Sunak has been dealt a fresh blow from within his own ranks after another outgoing Conservative MP said he is now backing Labour.
Mark Logan, who represented Bolton North East until parliament was dissolved, said the Tory party was “now unrecognisable” from the one he joined a decade ago and that Labour could “bring back optimism into British life”.
Continue reading...‘World’s largest botnet’ – spread through infected emails – taken down through coordinated police action among several countries
US authorities announced on Thursday that they had dismantled the “world’s largest botnet ever”, allegedly responsible for nearly $6bn in Covid insurance fraud.
The Department of Justice arrested a Chinese national, YunHe Wang, 35, and seized luxury watches, more than 20 properties and a Ferrari. The networks allegedly operated by Wang and others, dubbed “911 S5”, spread ransomware via infected emails from 2014 to 2022. Wang allegedly accrued a fortune of $99m by licensing his malware to other criminals. The network allegedly pulled in $5.9bn in fraudulent unemployment claims from Covid relief programs.
Continue reading...American Airlines plane forced to abort takeoff at Ronald Reagan Washington national airport as another flight cleared for landing
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident at Ronald Reagan Washington national airport in which a plane was forced to brake to narrowly avoid a collision with another plane, the second near-collision at the airport in less than two months.
At around 10.20am on Wednesday, Boston-bound American Airlines flight 2134, carrying approximately 100 passengers and crew, was cleared for takeoff and began to accelerate.
Continue reading...Embattled senator reportedly procures 800 signatures needed before 4 June deadline to appear on November ballot
Senator Bob Menendez has reportedly procured enough signatures to run for re-election as an independent, even while the incumbent Democrat faces bribery charges over his alleged work promoting the interests of the Egyptian government.
NBC News reported on Thursday that Menendez secured the 800 signatures needed by 4 June to appear on the November ballot, although the senator’s team hopes to collect as many as 10,000 signatures before the Tuesday deadline.
Continue reading...Early election count puts African National Congress on 42% of the vote, compared with 57% in final tally in 2019
South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party looks set to lose its majority for the first time since it swept to power at the end of apartheid, in a watershed moment for the country, as support for the former liberation movement collapsed below 50% in partial results.
With 31.1% of votes counted by early evening on Thursday, South Africa was on the precipice of an era of national coalition government. The ANC had 42.3% of the vote, with the pro-business Democratic Alliance on 25% and the Marxist-inspired Economic Freedom Fighters on 9%.
Continue reading...AI expected to help researchers unlock two-way communication, say team that includes Tel Aviv University
In the Dr Dolittle books and films, the ability to “talk to the animals” captured the imagination. Now scientists are being offered a $10m prize to create real conversations.
The Coller Dolittle Challenge for Interspecies Two-Way Communication has been launched by the Jeremy Coller Foundation and Tel Aviv University. While the use of AI is not obligatory, the team say the technology can boost almost all proposals.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Kathy Hochul pushes online child safety, telling social media companies: ‘You’re not going to profit off the mental health of children’
The New York governor, Kathy Hochul, plans to introduce a bill banning smartphones in schools, the latest in a series of legislative moves aimed at online child safety by New York’s top official.
“I have seen these addictive algorithms pull in young people, literally capture them and make them prisoners in a space where they are cut off from human connection, social interaction and normal classroom activity,” she said.
Continue reading...Our Nige at least manages to sound slightly plausible while talking utter rubbish
It’s not hard to pick out where the power lies at any Reform party event. Just check out the middle-aged men with a tan. Richard Tice, Nigel Farage and David Bull all look like they’ve spent a suspiciously long time on the sunbed. Or maybe they’ve got a bulk offer on spray tan. Either way, you have to blink several times when you see them in the flesh. The glare is oppressive. Welcome to the party with heavy 1970s Benidorm vibes.
Nigel Farage had insisted that when he first booked Glaziers Hall near London Bridge, it had been to announce that he was planning to stand as a candidate in the election. Like a lot of things Our Nige says, this may be wishful thinking. Or a straight porky. Check out the timings. Rishi Sunak calls a general election last Wednesday. Nige books the room the next day. All set to go. Then changes his mind within days. Mmm. Maybe not.
Continue reading...Ex-regional president Carles Puigdemont among high-profile beneficiaries after MPs approve law by 177 votes to 172
Spanish MPs have given their final approval to the deeply divisive amnesty law that the country’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, offered Catalan separatists in return for helping him back to power after last year’s inconclusive general election.
The new law, approved by 177 votes to 172 in Spain’s 350-seat congress of deputies, will apply to about 400 people involved in the symbolic independence referendum of November 2014 and the illegal unilateral poll that followed three years later, which triggered Spain’s worst political crisis in four decades.
Continue reading...Cairo seeks to keep lid on public anger and avoid escalation as IDF moves into Philadelphi corridor in breach of 1979 peace accord
Egypt has reacted with a wall of silence to the Israeli takeover of a buffer zone in southern Gaza, in apparent defiance of a decades-old peace agreement, as Cairo sought to keep a lid on simmering public anger while also avoiding an escalation in tensions with Israel.
Israel said on Wednesday that its forces had gained “operational” control over the Philadelphi corridor – the Israeli military’s code name for the 9-mile-long (14km) strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border. Under the terms of the 1979 peace accord between Egypt and Israel, each side is allowed to deploy only a small number of troops or border guards in a demilitarised zone that stretches along the entire Israel-Egypt border and encompasses the corridor.
Continue reading...Edouard Baer says he ‘does not recognise himself’ in allegations of harassment and assault by six women
Edouard Baer, a French actor best known for playing Asterix on screen, has become the latest star to feel the impact of sexual assault allegations as his live show in Paris was cancelled.
Baer, who played the fictitious Gaul in the 2012 blockbuster Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia alongside Gérard Depardieu, was accused by six women of harassment and sexual assault in a joint article by online news site Mediapart and the feminist website Cheek last week.
Continue reading...Marin Mrčela also calls on EU to join Group of States Against Corruption to show it is serious about tackling misconduct
Political parties across Europe, including the UK, should be forced to publish the names of their private funders before elections, not after, the president of the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body has said.
Unveiling the annual report of the Group of States Against Corruption (Greco), Marin Mrčela, who is the justice of the supreme court of Croatia, also called on the European Union to stop using “excuses” not to join the body.
Continue reading...It comes after former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the party’s treatment of Abbott was ‘a disgrace’
Keir Starmer is in Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, launching Labour’s general election campaign in Wales with beleagured first minister Vaughan Gething. Next week Gething faces a confidence motion in the Senedd. We’ll bring you any key lines that emerge. You can watch it here, the event has just started …
The Liberal Democrats have again criticised ITV’s decision to host a debate featuring just Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer and excluding themselves. The Liberal Democrats were the fourth largest party in the House of Commons after the 2019 election.
Well obviously, I’d love it if Ed Davey and the Liberal Democrats did have a voice in the TV debates, and we are setting out our stall every single day – our fair deal for the British people, our focus on the NHS and care system, the cost-of-living crisis and sewage in our rivers and seas.
Continue reading...Temperatures of more than 45C have left population of 29 million exhausted – but the poorest suffer most
As the water tanker drove into a crowded Delhi neighbourhood, a ruckus erupted. Dozens of residents ran frantically behind it, brandishing buckets, bottles and hoses, and jumped on top of it to get even a drip of what was stored inside. Temperatures that day had soared to 49C (120F), the hottest day on record – and in many places across India’s vast capital, home to more than 29 million people, water had run out.
Every morning, Tripti, a social health worker who lives in the impoverished enclave of Vivekanand Camp, is among those who has to stand under the blazing sun with buckets and pots, waiting desperately for the water tanker to arrive.
Continue reading...Election campaigns kick off with policies on single market, climate crisis, NHS and clean seas
Plaid Cymru and the Green party have launched their election campaigns, focusing on issues ranging from offshore windfarms’ profits to initiatives for improving water and air quality.
The parties, which hope to win about four seats each, vowed to keep a Labour government in check and to push the party’s leader, Keir Starmer, to be bolder in areas such as health, housing and the environment.
Continue reading...Figures show statistics, computing, physics and maths have risen in popularity and languages bouncing back
Fewer pupils in England are studying drama, media and performing arts at GCSE and A-level, while the popularity of statistics, computing, physics and maths has gone up.
Provisional figures for exam entries in England this summer, published by the exams regulator Ofqual on Thursday, also reveal a growing enthusiasm for modern foreign languages, which had been in long-term decline.
Continue reading...China shows off mechanical canine with an automatic rifle on its back at joint military drills with Cambodia
The Chinese army has debuted its latest weapon: a gun-toting robotic dog.
The mechanical canine, which has an automatic rifle on its back, was front and centre of recent joint military drills with Cambodia, according to footage from the state broadcaster CCTV.
Continue reading...Most Americans concerned about online misinformation as election nears, according to poll by watchdog group Free Press
As US presidential elections approach, the vast majority of Americans are concerned about online misinformation and fear they do not have enough accurate information on candidates, especially local ones, a new poll has shown.
While people across the political and racial spectrum reported being “very concerned” about the deliberate spread of online misinformation, the study found Black Americans are disproportionately encountering misinformation when seeking accurate news.
Continue reading...House speaker plans far-reaching bill including tax cuts and border security to make Trump ‘the most consequential president’
Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, is planning a sweeping ideological legislative drive that aims to make Donald Trump “the most consequential president of the modern era” if the Republicans win power in November.
A far-reaching bill containing a range of policy priorities at once – including tax cuts worth trillions, border security and rolling back Obamacare – is being prepared to avoid the mistakes the GOP believed happened early in Trump’s first term, when Johnson says the party wasted time because its victory over Hillary Clinton took it by surprise.
Continue reading...Ukraine’s top commander says enemy sending reinforcements to area but lacks numbers for a major push
Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it was finalising a proposal for “retaliatory measures” against the EU over the bloc’s ban on the broadcast of four Russian media outlets on its territory.
The EU said earlier this month it was suspending the distribution of the Voice of Europe, the RIA Novosti news agency and the Izvestia and Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspapers.
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