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Lawyers to investigate claims of GB power grid cover-up over blackout risk
Operator brings in independent legal firm to look into whistleblower allegations relating to June heatwave Great Britain’s grid operator has brought in independent investigators to look into accusations that its staff were involved in a cover-up over the power system being at a greater risk of blackouts during the heatwave. The government-owned energy system operator will face the scrutiny of an external legal firm after a whistleblower claimed that control room staff were warned against leaving a paper trail relating to efforts to stabilise the power system during record high temperatures in late June. Continue reading...
Minnesota prosecutors get evidence on ICE killings from federal authorities
Previously withheld material concerns fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti during immigration crackdown Previously withheld evidence regarding the fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti is now in the hands of Minnesota prosecutors, helping the state gain clarity on the deaths that occurred earlier this year during protests against a federal immigration crackdown. “Through the cooperation of our federal partners, we have obtained hard drives of previously withheld evidence in the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, and the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis,” the Hennepin county attorney, Mary Moriarty, said in a video statement posted on social media. Continue reading...
Man tossed into the air by ‘agitated’ bull bison was grandfather visiting Yellowstone with grandson
Carl McDaniel was ‘respectful distance’ from animal when it charged and had severe injuries, including broken bones A tourist who was tossed 8ft in the air by a bison at Wyoming’s Yellowstone national park – an encounter viewed by more than a million social media users thanks to a viral video online – has been identified as a “community minded” grandfather from Washington state. Carl McDaniel had severe injuries including broken bones after Friday’s campsite encounter with the bison, which was posted to YouTube by the Wyoming news outlet Cowboy State Daily. A photographer named Mike MacLeod rushed to help the victim on the ground after making the recording. Continue reading...
Andy Burnham secures Labour leadership with landslide support of MPs
Additional 27 nominations mean it is impossible for any other candidate to launch leadership challenge Andy Burnham has effectively been confirmed as the next Labour party leader after receiving an extra 27 nominations from Labour MPs, taking his total to 349. The additional nominations, on top of the 322 he received last week, mean it is now impossible for any other candidate to gain the 81 endorsements needed to challenge for the Labour leadership . Continue reading...
Tice gauges the mood on the death of Ann Widdecombe, but only on second try | John Crace
After a wild attack on the Times, Reform’s deputy leader was all poise in the Commons – unlike some of his party’s other MPs This is the third murder of either a sitting or former MP that I’ve covered in the last 10 years. It doesn’t get any easier or less shocking. Every death diminishes us all. The least you would hope is for politicians to behave with dignity. To set an example. For those who knew Ann Widdecombe to express their personal loss, for party leaders and ministers to convey the horror of her death and offer their condolences to her family and friends. Probably best for everyone else to say as little as possible for now. The police have asked for everyone to refrain from speculating about the motives of the suspect, as of Monday lunchtime being questioned by counter-terrorism officers, and not to politicise the murder if at all possible. A time for our political class to behave like grownups. And the overwhelming majority have done that. Just for now, even Nigel Farage has stopped acting as if he was the detective leading the investigation by offering his insights to every passing TV crew and has fallen silent. Continue reading...
‘Coalition of the willing’ to build shared European anti-ballistic programme
Ukraine and nine other countries including UK issue joint statement as leaders meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris Ukraine and nine other countries including the UK, Germany and France are to build a shared protection programme for Europe against ballistic missiles, using Kyiv’s experience in fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion for more than four years. “Our goal is to build a shared ballistic missile defence capability for Europe,” the 10 nations said in a statement on Monday as leaders met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for talks in Paris. Continue reading...
US outbreak of parasite causing ‘watery diarrhea’ rises to more than 2,800 cases
Outbreak comes a year after Trump administration cut funding for state and local health departments What is cyclosporiasis, the parasitic illness causing ‘explosive’ diarrhea? State health officials in Michigan and Ohio are reporting thousands of cases of cyclosporiasis, a – a parasitic infection that causes “watery diarrhea”, loss of appetite and weight loss. The outbreak of more than 2,800 cases comes a year after the Trump administration cut funding to state and local health departments and reduced the remit of a program dedicated to coordinating information on food borne illness, including of cyclospora. Continue reading...
US judge nullifies Trump deal to resolve IRS lawsuit in scathing ruling
Kathleen Williams sanctions president’s lawyers and says $10bn suit against IRS was brought for ‘improper purpose’ A federal judge on Monday nullified an agreement the government reached with Donald Trump and his sons over the leak of his tax returns. The judge lambasted the government and president’s lawyers for using the judicial process to try and concoct a beneficial arrangement for the president. The ruling from US district judge Kathleen Williams in the southern district of Florida blocks a widely criticized arrangement the government and the president’s attorneys reached earlier this year to resolve a $10bn lawsuit by Trump and his sons over the leak of the president’s tax returns. The government never responded to the lawsuit and then announced it was settling the suit by creating a $1.8bn slush fund to compensate victims of “government weaponization” and giving the president, his family, and related entities immunity from tax audits. Continue reading...
Mahmood offers Farage security meeting after Ann Widdecombe’s death
Home secretary insists all MPs treated equally but that security of former MPs and non-Westminster politicians is a concern Shabana Mahmood has offered Nigel Farage a personal meeting with the Home Office unit that works on security for high-profile politicians, insisting all MPs are treated equally in how they are offered protection. Addressing the Commons after the death of Ann Widdecombe, the Reform spokesperson whose body was found with serious injuries by the ambulance service at her home in Devon, the home secretary said the incident raised questions about the security of former MPs and politicians from smaller parties, including those not in parliament. Continue reading...
Israel sets October date for first elections since Hamas attacks in 2023
Vote will allow Israelis to pass judgment on Benjamin Netanyahu and his handling of conflicts in Gaza and Iran Middle East crisis live – latest updates Israel will hold national elections in late October, giving its citizens their first chance to pass judgment on the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his coalition since the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023. The Knesset, Israel’s parliament, will be dissolved on Friday. With just a few days left in session, the most far-right government in Israel’s history is now rushing to pass several controversial laws in a bid to bolster its position before polling day, which is set for 27 October. Continue reading...
Lancashire chemicals factory facing potential legal claim announces closure
More than 90 residents have expressed interest in contamination claim against AGC Chemicals Europe A Pfas factory in Lancashire has announced plans to close down, just days after the Guardian revealed that more than 90 residents have signed up to be involved in a potential legal claim over contamination of the local area. AGC Chemicals Europe Ltd is consulting with employees and their union representatives about plans to cease operations at its manufacturing plant in Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire. The consultation is expected to last for at least 45 days. Continue reading...
Airline pilot skywrites ‘I’m bored’ over north-west England
The pilot, who had taken up the Piper Tomahawk to test a replacement part, wrote the message at around 1,100 feet A mischievous airline pilot spelled out his tedium by skywriting “I’m bored” over an estuary in north-west England. The message was captured on the airline tracking website Flight Radar 24. Continue reading...
The Guardian view on Shabir Ahmed: changing the law to deport one man will not win back the public’s trust | Editorial
Grooming gang victims have been treated appallingly and are rightly angry. But the loss of confidence in the criminal justice system goes wider The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, is not personally responsible for the mess that the government finds itself in with regard to the release from prison of Shabir Ahmed, who was a ringleader of the Rochdale grooming gang, earlier this month. Ahmed, who has spent most of his life in the UK, was stripped of British citizenship soon after his conviction for rape and sex trafficking in 2012. His victims were led to believe when the Tories were in power that he would be deported to Pakistan on his release. They and their supporters now want this pledge to be honoured. The home secretary has announced that the law will be changed to enable this to happen. Whether or not she keeps her job under Andy Burnham, the signs point to the deportation going ahead if Pakistan’s government can be persuaded to give up demanding the return of Pakistani dissidents as its price. Continue reading...
Israel courted Iran’s former hardline president for post-regime role, reports claim
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly wooed by Mossad agents after distancing himself from Khamenei Middle East crisis live – latest updates Israel tried to recruit Iran’s intensely anti-Zionist former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to lead a new post-Islamic regime in Tehran, even going as far as sending its top spy to Budapest to meet him, according to media reports. The remarkable quest to turn a leader who had denied the Holocaust and called for Israel’s erasure began in 2022, according to reporting by the New York Times and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz , and continued even after Israel became engaged in a brutal campaign in Gaza against Hamas, a key Iranian ally. Continue reading...
Hegseth announces joint taskforce with DoJ to target and prosecute press leaks
US defense secretary says taskforce will ‘combat dangers’ of leaks in latest escalation of White House press crackdown The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced on Monday that the Pentagon and the US Department of Justice have created a “joint taskforce to identify and prosecute” what he called the “unauthorized disclosure of sensitive” information to the press, marking the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to crackdown on leaks. In a video posted on X , Hegseth said that “to combat the dangers that leaks pose, effectively immediately, I have delegated tasking authority to the war department’s office of general counsel, empowering OGC to request and receive all information, records and support across the department concerning media leak investigations”. Continue reading...
C of E’s £100m plan to address historical links to slavery faces legal challenge
General Synod hears that Project Spire has not been abandoned but staff have received ‘vile abuse’ from critics What is Project Spire and why is it dividing the Church of England? The Church of England is facing a legal challenge over Project Spire , its £100m plan to further reparative justice for historical links to enslavement, as staff come under “vile abuse” from critics. At the General Synod in York over the weekend, Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, defended the project as a “work of healing, justice and repair”. Continue reading...
US justice department investigating UAW president over corruption allegations
Shawn Fain calls allegations ‘bogus’ and says attorney holds a ‘grudge’ against him over union’s ‘anti-war stance’ on Gaza The US Department of Justice is probing allegations against United Auto Workers (UAW) president Shawn Fain that he put pressure on another high-ranking union official to provide benefits to his fiancee and sister and then retaliated against the official who refused to approve it. On Sunday, Fain, who is running for his second term as union president, said the accusations are false and a part of election interference against him. Continue reading...
Ben Jennings on the challenges Burnham will face in No 10 – cartoon
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Former Kansas basketball star Lagerald Vick charged with attempted murder
Vick arrested in connection with Memphis shooting 29-year-old started on Jayhawks’ 2018 Final Four team Lagerald Vick, a former University of Kansas basketball player and a starter on their 2018 Final Four team, has been charged with attempted first-degree murder in Tennessee. Vick, 29, was a guard for the Jayhawks from 2015 to 2019. Continue reading...
Reform UK triggers row over MPs’ safety – podcast
After Ann Widdecombe’s murder, Reform UK has criticised the Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle and suggested its MPs are not given enough security. Pippa Crerar tells Kiran Stacey what Hoyle’s team have been telling her Please keep sending your comments and questions to Pippa and Kiran at politicsweeklyuk@theguardian.com Please follow and subscribe to the Politics Weekly YouTube channel here Continue reading...
Tom Cruise unveils remarkable transformation in Digger trailer: ‘I’ve never had something that could challenge me in this way’
The new Alejandro González Iñárritu film sees Cruise playing an eccentric oil baron on a mission to save the world The first full length trailer for Alejandro González Iñárritu ’s hotly anticipated comedy-drama Digger has been released, and with it audiences’ first look at Tom Cruise ’s least recognisable role since he donned a fatsuit and prosthetics for 2008’s Tropic Thunder. The film will be released worldwide in early October and stars Cruise as Digger Rockwell, “the most powerful man in the world” on a mission to save the world from an ecological disaster. Continue reading...
Conor McGregor plans to fight again in UFC despite return lasting just 69 seconds
Saturday’s bout in Las Vegas finished in first round Irishman says he will undergo surgery on leg Conor McGregor says he plans to fight again in UFC despite the fact that his return to competition lasted just 69 seconds before he suffered a leg injury, which he says will require surgery. “Surgery. Prehab. Return to martial arts practice. Go again,” McGregor wrote on Instagram on Monday. “Final fight of the contract. Praise God!” Continue reading...
Trump backs Lindsey Graham’s sister to serve rest of Republican’s Senate term
President says appointing Darline Graham Nordone would be ‘fabulous tribute’ to Republican who died on Saturday Graham’s death triggers a scramble to replace him – what happens next? Sign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email Donald Trump recommended that Lindsey Graham’s sister be named as the senator’s temporary replacement after his death on Saturday. Trump posted on social media that the South Carolina governor, Henry McMaster, should appoint Darline Graham Nordone to fulfill the rest of Graham’s term, which expires in January. Continue reading...
I welcome this £250m to protect Jewish communities. But what good is it if the hatred persists? | David Davidi-Brown
Success against antisemitism in the UK will be achieved when schools and synagogues don’t need police protection. Let’s build bridges between communities When arsonists attacked Finchley Reform Synagogue earlier this year, the physical damage was mercifully limited. The fear travelled much further. For years, it was my community: I sang at Friday night services, taught b’nai mitzvah students, and its former rabbi officiated at my wedding. Seeing it targeted felt painfully personal , part of a pattern that has led to British Jews changing routines, concealing symbols of our identity and wondering whether the places we gather in can be kept safe. David Davidi-Brown is chief executive of the New Israel Fund Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here . Continue reading...