UK’s anti-corruption champion to visit offshore haven on fact-finding mission

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Foreign Office sending Margaret Hodge to British Virgin Islands to investigate slow progress against financial crime

The Foreign Office will dispatch the UK’s anti-corruption champion, Margaret Hodge, to the British Virgin Islands (BVIs) to find out why the offshore haven is dragging its feet on proposals designed to fight financial crime.

Several of the UK’s semi-autonomous British overseas territories missed last month’s deadline to implement new registers of corporate ownership, a measure targeting the secrecy regimes campaigners say benefit criminals and kleptocrats.

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Bear that bit man in Norway roams free after hunt in which wrong animal shot

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Search for female and her cubs on hold to campaigners’ relief after court had quashed injunction against cull

The hunt for a brown bear that bit a man on the elbow has been put on hold, the Norwegian environment agency has announced, in a case that angered animal rights campaigners after officials shot the wrong bear.

The agency said on Wednesday it did not now plan to act on a bear-culling order it issued in late June in Jarfjord, near the border with Russia, after a female bear bit a man’s arm, leaving him needing stitches.

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Hungary opposition figures urge Democrats to organize against autocratic takeover by Trump

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Forum speakers said Donald Trump’s second term resembles strongman Viktor Orbán’s first years in power

Democrats must organize urgently for the 2026 midterm elections and avoid a “it can’t happen here” mentality to stop Donald Trump from staging a full-scale autocratic takeover, a Hungarian opposition parliamentarian has said.

Katalin Cseh, a critic of Hungary’s strongman prime minister, Viktor Orbán, told a forum on authoritarianism that the central European country’s experience held vital lessons for Trump’s opponents in their attempts to resist his assaults on US institutions and democratic norms since his return to the White House.

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Volcano on Reykjanes peninsula in Iceland erupts for ninth time since 2023

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Iceland’s weather agency advises residents to stay indoors because of high levels of toxic gas from 1.5-mile fissure

A volcano erupted on Wednesday on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula in the south-west of the country, the ninth eruption in region since the end of 2023.

The Icelandic Meteorological Office (IMO) said the eruption had begun just before 4am local time (05:00 BST), and live video feeds showed lava spewing from a fissure in the ground.

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Could axing two national holidays save France from its mountain of debt? – BBC

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  1. Could axing two national holidays save France from its mountain of debt?  BBC
  2. France’s premier wants to ax two holidays to boost growth. Non, people say.  The Washington Post
  3. France Proposes Cutting Two Public Holidays to Avert Budget Crisis  The New York Times
  4. Entre Nous - Scrapping two French bank holidays: Unfair or necessary?  France 24
  5. French Budget Is a ‘Ticking Bomb’ for Euro, ING’s Pesole Says  Bloomberg
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Push to end antisemitism is welcome but envoy’s plan raises concerns, Australia’s race commissioner warns

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Giridharan Sivaraman says he hopes to meet Jillian Segal to discuss her proposals and their implications for fundamental rights and freedoms

Australia’s race discrimination commissioner has warned there is limited detail in how Jillian Segal’s plan to combat antisemitism would be implemented, and said he would work with her to ensure it does not restrict fundamental rights and freedoms.

Giridharan Sivaraman has responded to the antisemitism envoy’s 20-page plan, released last Thursday, which made a range of recommendations, including withholding government funding from universities that “facilitate, enable or fail to act against antisemitism” and monitoring media organisations “to avoid accepting false or distorted narratives”.

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Canada’s PM wants to fast-track ‘nation building’ – but can he convince indigenous First Nations? – BBC

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  1. Canada's PM wants to fast-track 'nation building' – but can he convince indigenous First Nations?  BBC
  2. Federal, provincial environmental bills have 'no respect' for Ontario First Nations, says chief  CBC
  3. Canada's First Nations launch constitutional challenge of legislation  Reuters
  4. ‘The government made a mistake’: Mark Carney to meet with Indigenous leaders amid criticism of rapid-development law  Toronto Star
  5. AFN national chief says fast-tracked projects bill should come with plan for infrastructure for reserves  National Post
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