Irish journalist hosted gameshows including Going for Gold and Game for a Laugh in the 1980s and 90s
Henry Kelly, who presented TV shows such as Going for Gold and Game for a Laugh, has died aged 78.
His family said he “died peacefully” on Tuesday “after a period of ill health”.
Continue reading...Chair rules that details about PPE contracts given to company linked to Tory peer will be heard in closed session
The Covid inquiry will hear detailed evidence about the multimillion-pound PPE contracts awarded during the crisis to a company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone, but in private, the inquiry chair has ruled.
The National Crime Agency has since May 2021 been investigating potential criminal offences committed in the procurement of the contracts awarded to the company, PPE Medpro, and argued that its investigation could be prejudiced if the inquiry heard evidence in public.
Continue reading...Firm will be selective about investing in low-carbon options, slashing more than $5bn from previous green plan
BP is almost doubling its target for oil and gas production by the end of the decade and slashing its spending on low-carbon energy as part of a fundamental reset of the troubled company away from previous green goals.
The FTSE 100 fossil fuel company has promised shareholders it will increase its planned oil and gas production by 2030 to the equivalent of about 2.4m barrels a day – almost twice the figure in its net zero plan set out five years ago.
Continue reading...Manufacturer says city has not taken up its offer to inspect – and, if necessary, repair – blockade at no cost
After the deadly truck ramming attack on New Orleans’s Bourbon Street early on New Year’s Day, local police said they had intentionally left down a hydraulic barrier meant to prevent such violence because it had a history of malfunctioning – prompting the blockade’s manufacturer to contact the city with an urgent offer of free inspection and maintenance, according to recently obtained emails.
“We would like to bring out a technician for no charge in order to inspect all the Delta Scientific barriers in New Orleans and ensure they are functional and offer any solutions for maintenance or repairs needed,” Dianne Kennedy, the company’s assistant to general counsel and manager of contracts, wrote to the office of the New Orleans mayor, LaToya Cantrell.
Continue reading...Possible action comes as ministers announce plans to improve building safety and strengthen accountability
Seven organisations involved in the Grenfell Tower disaster face possible debarment from government contracts as ministers set out plans to improve building safety and strengthen accountability.
The government has accepted the findings of the final Grenfell Tower inquiry report and pledged to take action on all the recommendations.
Consulting on a new college of fire and rescue later in 2025 to improve training and professionalism of firefighters.
Stopping unqualified individuals from making critical fire safety decisions, by legally requiring fire risk assessors to have their competence certified.
Continuing implementation of a new residential personal emergency evacuation plan policy to improve the fire safety and evacuation of disabled and vulnerable residents in high-rise and higher-risk residential buildings, engaging with relevant stakeholders on the implementation.
Continue reading...National outpouring of grief comes amid reports that deal reached to resume ceasefire with Hamas
Thousands of Israelis have lined the route of a funeral procession for two small children and their mother who were held hostage and died in captivity in Gaza.
The national outpouring of grief for Ariel, Kfir and Shiri Bibas came amid reports that a deal had been reached to resume the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, with the handover of more bodies of hostages in return for the release of Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
Continue reading...Beaches in southern California littered with timber, twisted metals, charred silt and urban runoff from Palisades fire
Los Angeles county beaches are contending with the aftermath of recent wildfires and winter storms as debris from the Palisades fire and urban runoff are carried to the shoreline.
After last week’s major rainstorm, beaches in southern California have been littered with timber, twisted metals, construction materials and charred silt and sediment originating from the Palisades fire in January. That blaze, along with the Eaton fire, killed at least 29 people.
Continue reading...Contact could unsettle some in Labour given her past record on the issue including criticism of Lammy report
Downing Street has been holding discussions with Munira Mirza, a longstanding and often controversial aide to Boris Johnson who has repeatedly criticised ideas about structural and institutional racism, it is understood.
Although it is believed that No 10’s contact with Mirza has been limited to a handful of calls at most, and that she is among a range of outside voices Downing Street has spoken to, her involvement in any sort of discussions with the government is likely to spook some Labour MPs.
Continue reading...PM fields questions on his announcement that the UK will raise defence spending and cut the foreign aid budget
PMQs is about to start.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
The threat from the far right is real, but that leaves me all the more convinced that working together is not only the right choice, but the only choice …
More unites us than divides us. Now is the moment to make that real by uniting behind shared values, shared standards of behaviour and shared political norms, and unite against the rise of the far right.
I want us to work together to agree a common approach to asserting the values of our country, to bringing people together and creating a cohesive society where everyone feels at home …
It is time to come together, to draw a line in the sand, to set out who we are and what we believe in, because a politics of fear is a politics of despair …
I want to work with other political parties to set out clearly and boldly to the public what we can agree on as the norms and the values of our society and how we can protect those because I think they are under threat, I think they’re under very, very vigorous threat, from the politics of Farage.
Farage has been for years leading the argument which has been hostile to migration. And I think it’s based on a fundamentally racist view of the world. I reject that. I think migration is an advantage for Scotland.
There is a very live and active threat to our security from the aggression of Russia, and I think Farage is an accomplice to the Russian agenda and an apologist for the Russian agenda.
So to anybody in this country who thinks that Farage represents a means of protecting this country from the external threats that we face, I would say, have a good close look at what Farage has been connected with and what his MPs are saying about the Russian threat and their trivialisation of the Russian threat.
I’m simply making the point today that it’s important that those of us who are repulsed by the politics of Farage and the far right come together to … stress the importance of the values that we hold dear.
Continue reading...British prime minister heads to Washington as Europe reels from seismic shift in relations with US president
Keir Starmer heads to Washington on Wednesday for a visit that will be brief but watched intensely not just in the UK but in many other European capitals – particularly Kyiv. What will the prime minister hope to get from his talks with Donald Trump on Thursday? And just as importantly, how can he get the US president to listen? These will be the main issues.
Continue reading...US president says of his Ukrainian counterpart, ‘I hear he’s coming on Friday’. Plus, train robbers swipe $2m worth of Nikes
Good morning.
Donald Trump has said that Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to sign a rare earth minerals deal to pay for US military aid to defend against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
What’s not in the deal? The deal is more favourable to Ukraine than the original one proposed by Washington. According to the Financial Times, which first reported the deal, the new terms do not include the onerous demands for a right to $500bn in potential revenue from exploiting the resources, which include rare earth metals and Ukrainian oil and gas resources. It also does not include references to long-term security guarantees that Kyiv wanted to receive.
Where are they looking, and for how long? Details had not yet been negotiated, Loke said, but Marinetraffic.com showed that the Ocean Infinity vessel was in the south Indian ocean as of 23 February.
Continue reading...Workers at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fear crackdown will have global fallout
The Trump administration has set its sights on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), the US’s pre-eminent climate research agency, with significant cuts and a political crackdown on climate science. As Trump takes aim at the agency, the impact is likely to be felt across the US and around the world.
Noaa provides essential resources to the public and has helped make the US a scientific leader internationally. Operating 18 satellites and 15 research and survey ships, the agency’s scientists, engineers and policy experts issue forecasts relied on by aviation, agriculture and fishing industries; ocean floor mapping depended upon for shipping; advises on species protection, and increasingly precise and accurate modeling on what to expect as climate crisis unfolds.
Continue reading...The Ontario premier says he’s ready to stand up to Trump over tariffs – will that yield a third straight election win?
The day Donald Trump won the United States presidential election was a happy one for Doug Ford.
The conservative politician who oversees Canada’s most populous province – and its largest economy – made the admission to caucus and supporters, in off-the-cuff remarks accidentally caught by a nearby microphone.
Continue reading...BoM says category 2 tropical cyclone is about 930km north-east of Mackay and path is tracking slowly south through Coral Sea
A slow-moving tropical cyclone off north-east Australia is expected to linger in the Coral Sea for at least the next few days, but forecasters say there remains a risk the system could eventually turn towards the Queensland coast.
The Bureau of Meteorology says category 2 Tropical Cyclone Alfred is about 930km north-east of Mackay, and is tracking slowly south through the Coral Sea.
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Continue reading...Exclusive: The bloody foundering of President Gustavo Petro’s ‘Total Peace’ strategy is a ‘national failure’, says Juan Manuel Santos, who ended war with Farc guerrillas in 2016
Colombia risks sliding back into its violent past as armed groups exploit the stumbling peace strategy of President Gustavo Petro, the architect of its landmark 2016 peace deal has told the Guardian.
In a rare interview, former president Juan Manuel Santos warned that gains from the peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) are quickly being undone as armed factions exploit negotiation efforts to recruit new combatants and seize control of new land.
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