Jeremy Hunt urged to honour pledge on infected blood compensation payouts

As the inquiry publishes its final report, the chancellor is under pressure to find £10bn to put right a longstanding injustice

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, will come under pressure to stay true to his word and sign off on immediate compensation payments totalling up to £10bn to victims of the contaminated blood scandal when the long-awaited final report on the affair is published on Monday.

The scandal is described as the worst treatment disaster in NHS history, with more than 3,000 people having died as a result of receiving contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. It is estimated that, even today, a person infected during the scandal dies every four days.

Continue reading...

Ukrainian forces repelled Russian assault on Chasiv Yar – Zelensky – Ukrinform

  1. Ukrainian forces repelled Russian assault on Chasiv Yar - Zelensky  Ukrinform
  2. Zelensky recalls deportation of Crimea Tartars, compares to present  Yahoo! Voices
  3. Interview: Crimean Tatar Leader Reflects On Stalin-Era 'Genocide,' Resistance And Resilience  Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  4. Zelenskyy: Free from Russia, Crimea will be one of the best places to live in Europe  Ukrainska Pravda
  5. President Erdoğan commemorates 80th anniversary of Crimean Tatar exile | Daily Sabah  Daily Sabah
Posted in Uncategorized

Bishkek University Reportedly Calm After Mob Violence That Injured At Least 29 People – Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

  1. Bishkek University Reportedly Calm After Mob Violence That Injured At Least 29 People  Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  2. What Led To Attack On Kyrgyzstan Hostels Housing Indian, Pak Students  NDTV
  3. 'We Are Scared': Afghan Community, Foreign Students Warned To Stay Off Bishkek Streets  Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
  4. Pakistani nationals studying in Kyrgyzstan asked to stay indoors after mobs attack foreigners, foreign ministry says  CBS News
  5. Kyrgyz govt's request after hostels housing India, Pak students attacked: 'Destructive forces are…'  Hindustan Times
Posted in Uncategorized

Australians stranded in New Caledonia ‘running out of food’ amid civil unrest – Reuters.com

  1. Australians stranded in New Caledonia 'running out of food' amid civil unrest  Reuters.com
  2. France admits it's lost control of parts of New Caledonia, the world's third-largest producer of critical EV metal nickel  Fortune
  3. New Caledonia ‘under siege’ says local official, as unrest claims another life  The Guardian
  4. Violence rages in New Caledonia as France rushes emergency reinforcements to its Pacific territory  The Associated Press
  5. Deadly Clashes in a French Pacific Territory Raise Fears of Civil War  The New York Times
Posted in Uncategorized

Aid delivery to Gazans arriving via US-built pier – New York Post

  1. Aid delivery to Gazans arriving via US-built pier  New York Post
  2. Aid starts flowing into Gaza over U.S. pier  NBC News
  3. Israel-Hamas war: Gaza aid driven across new US-built pier. Challenges remain  The Associated Press
  4. JLOTS, an obscure Army-Navy capability, arrives in Gaza  NavyTimes.com
  5. US military starts delivering aid to Gaza through floating pier. Here’s what we know  CNN
Posted in Uncategorized

Islamic Jihad leader killed in West Bank and 70 targets hit in Gaza, says Israel

IDF says ‘senior terrorist operative’ Islam Khamayseh was killed in strike on the city of Jenin

Israel says its jets have struck 70 targets across Gaza in the past 24 hours, while an airstrike in Jenin killed a “significant” Islamic Jihad figure who operated as the head of logistics for the organisation’s brigade in the city.

The strike, carried out on Friday night by a fighter jet and a helicopter, killed Islam Khamayseh, a “senior terrorist operative in the Jenin camp” who was responsible for a series of attacks in the area, the IDF said.

Continue reading...

Fresh floods in Afghanistan kill at least 60 after heavy rain brings devastation

Thousands of homes and farming land damaged in Ghor province, a week after over 300 people killed in flash floods

At least 60 people have been killed in a fresh bout of heavy rain and flooding in central Afghanistan, according to an official.

Dozens others remained missing, said Abdul Wahid Hamas, spokesperson for Ghor’s provincial governor, on Saturday. He said the province had suffered significant financial losses, with thousands of homes and properties damaged and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land destroyed in the floods on Friday, including in the province’s capital city, Feroz Koh.

Continue reading...

Fewer than one in 10 arts workers in UK have working-class roots

The cultural sector falls short on other measures of diversity too, with 9o% of workers white, says new report

Six in 10 of all arts and culture workers in the UK now come from middle-class backgrounds, compared with just over 42% of the wider workforce, according to new research.

And while 23% of the UK workforce is from a working-class background, working-class people are underrepresented in every area of arts and culture. They make up 8.4% of those working in film, TV, radio and photography, while in museums, archives and libraries, the proportion is only 5.2%.

Continue reading...

Six-month-old baby shot repeatedly during Arizona standoff with child’s father

Police were able to rescue child, who is in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, before house caught fire with father still in it

A six-month-old baby is currently hospitalized after a man allegedly shot the infant several times during an armed home standoff in Surprise, Arizona, about 30 miles north-west of Phoenix.

At about 3am on Friday, the father of the child allegedly broke into the home where the child and mother lived, according to Surprise police. The child’s father did not live in the house, police said, adding that the man held the mother and child hostage for several hours before the mother managed to escape.

Continue reading...

Virginia governor allows Confederate groups to keep tax exemptions

Republican Glenn Youngkin also vetoed bills related to maintaining access to contraception, saying they were ‘not ready’

Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin has vetoed two bills that would have stripped tax exemptions for the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization that has opposed the removal of statues of southern state generals during the US civil war and other markers of the southern states’ attempt to secede from the Union in defense of slavery.

The Republican governor vetoed several measures, including those related to maintaining access to contraception, saying in a statement they were “not ready to become law”.

Continue reading...

IDF claims Hezbollah hit Israel’s missile-detecting airship: report – Business Insider

  1. IDF claims Hezbollah hit Israel's missile-detecting airship: report  Business Insider
  2. 2 hurt as barrage of 75 rockets fired at north; IDF strike on Hezbollah said to kill 3  The Times of Israel
  3. IDF strikes Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon  The Jerusalem Post
  4. Barrage Of Rockets, Drones Rains Down On Northern Israel, 10 Rockets Fired At South | LIVE UPDATES - I24NEWS  i24NEWS
  5. Israel at War, Day 224: Some 75 Rockets Fired at Israel's Golan Heights From Lebanon - Middle East News  Haaretz
Posted in Uncategorized

Suspect in court as Putin’s friends capitalise on shooting of Slovakian PM Robert Fico

Media is barred from hearing as 71-year-old man appears in closed session over attempted assassination of prime minister

The suspect in the shooting of Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico appeared in a closed court hearing on Saturday outside Bratislava amid growing fears about the future of the deeply divided nation.

The media was barred from the hearing, and reporters were kept behind a gate by armed police officers wearing balaclavas.

Continue reading...

New Delhi heat wave: City records up to 47.1 degrees Celsius – The Associated Press

  1. New Delhi heat wave: City records up to 47.1 degrees Celsius  The Associated Press
  2. Red' alert issued for Delhi today, brace for heatwave next week  The Indian Express
  3. Heatwave alert: Delhi's Najafgarh warmest in India at 47.4 degrees Celsius  Mint
  4. IMD issues severe heatwave red alert for next 48 hours  Hindustan Times
  5. Climate change is boosting severe heat in western India  Climate Central
Posted in Uncategorized

Orcas and crocodiles and even deer – oh my! – CNN

  1. Orcas and crocodiles and even deer – oh my!  CNN
  2. Are orcas 'attacking' ships? Why killer whales may be just kidding around  MSNBC
  3. Orcas sink yacht near the Strait of Gibraltar, 2 people rescued  The Washington Post
  4. Orcas have attacked and sunk another boat in Europe — and experts warn there could be more attacks soon  Livescience.com
  5. Orcas Sink Another Boat Near Iberia, Worrying Sailors Before Summer  The New York Times
Posted in Uncategorized

Hamas ‘rejects’ any military presence in Gaza as aid begins to arrive along US-made pier – as it happened

This live blog is now closed, you can read more of our Israel-Gaza war coverage here

Israel on Friday attacked South Africa’s case against it in the international court of justice as an “obscene exploitation” of the genocide convention, claiming it aimed not to protect Palestinian civilians but to defend Hamas militants.

Israel’s representatives told the court their country was fighting a war of self-defence it “did not want and did not start”. They said Israel had made “extraordinary” efforts to protect civilians, and had complied with orders from the court to let more aid into Gaza.

Continue reading...