More than 40 killed in north-west Pakistan in gun attack on Shia convoy

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Violence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa follows killing of dozens of people in clashes between Sunnis and minority Shias

At least 42 people have been killed and 20 wounded after gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying Shia Muslims in Pakistan’s restive north-west, in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years, police said.

The attack happened in Kurram, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where sectarian clashes between majority Sunni Muslims and minority Shias have killed dozens of people in recent months.

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Matt Gaetz withdraws from consideration to be Trump’s attorney general

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Gaetz’s withdrawal comes amid intense scrutiny of allegations of sexual misconduct against cabinet nominee

Matt Gaetz, the former Florida congressman, withdrew from consideration to serve as Donald Trump’s attorney general on Thursday, amid intense scrutiny of allegations of sexual misconduct, ending the brief nomination of one of Trump’s most controversial cabinet picks.

After meeting with senators on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Gaetz determined that his nomination was “becoming a distraction to the critical work” of the new Trump administration, he explained on X.

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In Gaza Organized Gangs Make a Bad Situation Even Worse – NPR

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  1. In Gaza Organized Gangs Make a Bad Situation Even Worse  NPR
  2. Israel stands by as aid convoys come under attack in Gaza  CBS News
  3. Gangs looting Gaza aid operate in areas under Israeli control, aid groups say  The Washington Post
  4. How was a UN aid convoy robbed near Israeli military positions?  Al Jazeera English
  5. UNRWA Situation Report #148 on the Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem  unrwa
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Judge denies he was asked to give advice about Letby because he is a Freemason

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Simon Medland KC told inquiry his membership of organisation was not the reason he was approached by hospital boss

A judge has denied he was asked to give legal advice to hospital bosses over concerns about nurse Lucy Letby because he is a Freemason, a public inquiry has heard.

The Thirlwall inquiry into events surrounding the crimes of Letby heard that both Judge Simon Medland KC and the Countess of Chester’s former director of corporate and legal services, Stephen Cross, are members of the organisation.

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Slapps used to silence whistleblowers should be outlawed, says group of MPs

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Cross-party group cites legal threats used to hide Post Office Horizon scandal and allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed

Excessive legal threats used to silence those who tried to expose the Post Office Horizon scandal and allegations against Mohamed Al Fayed should be outlawed, a cross-party group of MPs have said.

MPs raised a series of cases, documented by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, where media outlets and whistleblowers have been prevented from publishing material that they believed was in the public interest.

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Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro charged with plotting coup d’état

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Police accuse 37 people of crimes including conspiracy and trying to tear down one of world’s largest democracies

The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and some of his closest allies are among dozens of people formally accused by federal police of being part of a criminal conspiracy designed to obliterate Brazil’s democratic system through a rightwing coup d’état.

Federal police confirmed on Thursday that investigators had concluded their long-running investigation into what they called a coordinated attempt to “violently dismantle the constitutional state”.

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How Trump’s nomination of Matt Gaetz unravelled in just eight days

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In a Washington farce for the ages, the far-right Republican has withdrawn from consideration for US attorney general – how did it happen?

Donald Trump decided to nominate Matt Gaetz as attorney general last Wednesday, during a flight home from Washington, where the president-elect had visited Joe Biden at the White House. The pick proved as surprising as it was controversial. Just eight days later, after a week of relentless hullabaloo, Gaetz withdrew from contention.

It was a Washington farce for the ages. But how did it happen?

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Putin says Russia fired experimental ballistic missile into Ukraine

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President says missile was in reply to Kyiv’s strikes in Russia with western missiles, and appears to directly threaten US and UK

Vladimir Putin has said Russia fired an experimental ballistic missile at a military site in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday morning, and that Moscow “had the right” to strike western countries that provided Kyiv with weapons used against Russian targets.

The Russian president, speaking during an unannounced televised address to the nation, appeared to directly threaten the US and UK, who earlier this week allowed Ukraine to fire western-made Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles into Russia.

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The US is ramping up sanctions by targeting the last major Russian bank not yet blacklisted – Business Insider

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  1. The US is ramping up sanctions by targeting the last major Russian bank not yet blacklisted  Business Insider
  2. New Sanctions Against Gazprombank: Too Little, Too Late  Forbes
  3. Japan to take all steps to ensure uninterrupted Sakhalin-2 LNG supply from Russia  Reuters
  4. US Sanctions Gazprombank to Squeeze Russian Gas Exports  Bloomberg
  5. Treasury imposes sanctions on Russian banks, financial officials  The Hill
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How John Prescott used humour and grit to unite old and New Labour

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Prescott, from proud working-class stock, represented the part of Labour that Tony Blair knew he had to carry with him

The first time I met John Prescott, we were in a helicopter flying over the Thames Gateway where he and Tony Blair, the then prime minister, also on board, were announcing a multimillion-pound regeneration plan.

It was August 2003 and I was a young pool reporter for the Press Association, there to ask the politicians about their plans on behalf of the rest of the media. The flight was noisy and we all wore ear protectors, so conversation was limited.

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Essex police drop Allison Pearson case after CPS advice

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Police were advised there was no chance of conviction against journalist after hate crime investigation, Guardian understands

Essex police have dropped their hate crime investigation into Allison Pearson, the Daily Telegraph columnist visited by police after she wrongly accused people of colour of being antisemitic.

The decision followed advice from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that there was no reasonable chance of a conviction, the Guardian understands.

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Defence firm Thales faces bribery and corruption investigation

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UK Serious Fraud Office and French equivalent ‘will pursue every avenue’ in allegations against Paris-based company

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating suspected bribery and corruption at Thales Group, a multinational aerospace and defence electronics contractor.

The company, which is headquartered in Paris and has a UK subsidiary employing more than 7,000 staff, is known in defence circles for its varied businesses, which include making missiles and launchers, supplying sonar systems for the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarines and designing the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.

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