Starmer implies he didn’t tell Trump he was ‘fed up’ about his impact on rising UK energy bills – as it happened

Prime minister says conversation with US president on Thursday night focused on need for ‘practical plan’ to open strait of Hormuz

Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, has joined those saying the government should allow drilling for oil and gas in the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields in the North Sea.

Both applications were approved by the last Conservative government, but then overturned by a court ruling. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has to make a decision about the revised applications operating in a quasi-judicial capacity, which means he has to follow due process and can’t take the decision purely on political ground.

The current debate [on energy policy] is deadlocked between two incomplete responses. The government argues the answer is to accelerate Clean Power 2030, focusing on decarbonising the electricity system as quickly as possible. The opposition argues that the answer is to expand domestic oil and gas production. Both positions contain elements of truth, but neither addresses the core strategic problem: outside the power sector the UK economy remains overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels, and electricity is still too expensive to support mass electrification.

The UK is caught in a self-reinforcing high-cost, low-electrification trap. High electricity costs suppress demand, slowing the uptake of electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial electrification. Weak demand growth, in turn, means that the fixed costs of the system – from networks to long-term contracts – are spread across a smaller base, keeping prices high. The result is a system that is too expensive to electrify and therefore remains dependent on fossil fuels and exposed to global shocks …

The first of these vital measures will ban anyone from possessing or publishing harmful pornography that shows incest between family members, and sex between step or foster relations where one person is pretending to be under 18.

A further amendment will criminalise the publication and possession of pornography where an adult is roleplaying as a child.

This government is uncompromising in our mission to protect women and girls online, and we have taken action to stop tech firms from publishing this abusive content.

In February, we told platforms that they must remove reported non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours.

I greatly welcome the government’s plans to fully address harmful pornographic content such as incest, step-incest and the mimicking of child sexual abuse. This content that is freely and widely available online is deeply harmful, normalising child sexual abuse and abusive relationships within families …

Today the government has answered our calls for change, and I am delighted that once again the UK is leading the way on regulating this high harm industry.

Continue reading...

Starbucks’s retail arm gets £13.7m tax credit even as sales increase

Credit can be used to offset future bills as full-year losses at UK division widen to £41.3m and it adds 92 stores

Starbucks’s UK retail arm received a £13.7m corporation tax credit last year, even as its sales increased 6% and it added more than 90 stores.

The credit, which can be used to offset future tax bills, comes after losses widened to £41.3m in the 12 months to the end of September – almost matching the £40m it paid in royalty and licence fees to its parent company.

Continue reading...

How a Russian propaganda unit is targeting Hungary’s elections – Euronews.com

  1. How a Russian propaganda unit is targeting Hungary’s elections  Euronews.com
  2. Final push for votes as challenger to Hungary's Orbán scents victory  BBC
  3. Czech Prime Minister Babis Backs Hungary's Orban Ahead of Vote  U.S. News & World Report
  4. Growing List of Orban Loyalists Defecting Before Critical Election  The New York Times
  5. Viktor Orbán Could Actually Lose Sunday’s Hungarian Election  The Atlantic
Posted in Uncategorized

Trump’s peace board faces cash crunch, stalling Gaza plan, sources say – Reuters

  1. Trump's peace board faces cash crunch, stalling Gaza plan, sources say  Reuters
  2. Board of Peace has received only tiny fraction of $17 billion pledged for Gaza — sources  The Times of Israel
  3. The Board of Peace is a disaster for Gaza  Responsible Statecraft
  4. 'Everything is on hold': How the Gaza peace plan has stalled with attention elsewhere  The National
  5. Trump’s Board of Peace Is Already a Mess  The New Republic
Posted in Uncategorized

Ireland facing ‘very severe’ situation due to protester fuel blockades, PM says – Reuters

  1. Ireland facing 'very severe' situation due to protester fuel blockades, PM says  Reuters
  2. Hundreds of Irish forecourts run out of fuel as protests continue  BBC
  3. Fuel-price protests cause chaos in Ireland and spread to Norway  The Guardian
  4. Live: Whitegate protesters in standoff with public order unit  RTE.ie
  5. Fuel Protests Cause Transport Chaos in Ireland as Iran War Spikes Prices  The New York Times
Posted in Uncategorized

Iran’s speaker says negotiations with U.S. can’t start without Lebanon ceasefire, asset release – CNBC

  1. Iran's speaker says negotiations with U.S. can't start without Lebanon ceasefire, asset release  CNBC
  2. Iran war latest: Vance says peace talks with Iran have ended after 21 hours without a deal  Sky News
  3. Iran says no negotiations without Lebanon ceasefire, release of assets  The Hill
  4. Ceasefire is threatened as Israel expands Lebanon strikes and Iran closes strait again  PBS
  5. Israel's war in Lebanon becomes a flashpoint as Iran says U.S. must choose "between war and ceasefire"  CBS News
Posted in Uncategorized

Texas court overturns sentence for man on death row for nearly 50 years

Clarence Curtis Jordan was convicted in 1978 but hadn’t had a lawyer for over 30 years

The Texas court of criminal appeals has overturned the death sentence of Clarence Curtis Jordan, a 70-year-old man with intellectual disabilities, who spent nearly 50 years on death row – much of that time without a lawyer.

Jordan was convicted in 1978 for the murder of Joe L Williams, a 40-year-old grocer in Houston, and was sentenced to death. In the years that followed, courts determined that Jordan, who has intellectual disabilities, was “incompetent”, making him ineligible for execution under constitutional standards.

Continue reading...

Five things to know about Hungary’s election – NPR

  1. Five things to know about Hungary's election  NPR
  2. Viktor Orbán Could Actually Lose Sunday’s Hungarian Election  The Atlantic
  3. Trump’s Favorite European Strongman Is in Trouble. Soccer Explains Why.  Politico
  4. Even Hungary’s skewed elections might not save Viktor Orban  The Economist
  5. Opinion | Viktor Orban’s Fate Is a Warning Not to Get Too Close to Trump  The New York Times
Posted in Uncategorized

Human rights groups decry US plan for Guantánamo camp for Cuban migrants

Exclusive: Dozens of organizations write to Congress after general announced plan to ‘deal with’ those fleeing any humanitarian crisis on the island

Dozens of US and international human rights organizations are decrying the Trump administration’s plans to establish a migrant “camp” for fleeing Cubans at the Guantánamo Bay military base if the island nation’s crisis worsens under pressure from the US, according to a letter to members of Congress on Friday.

The 85 groups plan to submit the joint letter, exclusively shared with the Guardian, to US senators and House representatives, expressing their “profound concern” with comments made last month by a top Department of Defense commander, and describing any prospect of further migrant detention at the base as “deeply troubling and unacceptable”.

Continue reading...

Peruvians go to polls hoping to break cycle of instability

Crime and corruption top voter concerns in highly unpredictable election with 35 candidates for president

Peruvians go to the polls on Sunday hoping to break a cycle of instability that has produced nine presidents in a decade as well as surging violent crime, corruption scandals and overwhelming distrust in institutions and politicians.

About 27 million people who are eligible to vote must choose between a record 35 presidential candidates as well as contenders for the bicameral congress – all from a ballot sheet measuring nearly half a metre, the longest in the country’s history.

Continue reading...