News

Two men accused of being Chinese spies appear in London court

LONDON (Reuters) - Two men accused of spying for China, including a former researcher for a prominent British lawmaker in the governing Conservative Party, appeared in a London court on Friday. The two, ex-researcher Christopher Cash, 29, and Christopher Berry, 32, are charged with providing prejudicial information to China in breach of the Official Secrets Act. Cash and Berry appeared at

‘I would not be alive’: anger at Sunak plan to strip GPs of sicknote powers

Guardian readers have reacted with horror and distress to Rishi Sunak’s plans to strip GPs of their power to sign people off work, in favour of “work and health professionals”. We received an unusually high level of responses to a callout asking people about their experiences of being signed off work and their thoughts regarding Sunak’s proposals. Charlotte, a 35-year-old senior radiographer for the NHS, said that when she heard Sunak’s speech,...

Pentagon reveals purpose of ATACMS delivery to Ukraine - NYT

The US Department of Defense has explained the purpose of long-range ATACMS missile delivery to Ukraine, reports The New York Times. A senior US defense official said that the purpose of the new long-range systems is to increase pressure on Crimea, the center of Russian air and ground forces, “where, right now, Russia has had relatively safe haven”...

Kenya flood death toll since March climbs to 70

The number of people killed in floods in Kenya due to heavier than usual rainfall since the monsoon began in March has risen to 70, with nearly half the deaths in Nairobi, the government said Friday. "The official tally of fellow Kenyans who regrettably have lost their lives due to the flooding situation now stands at 70 lives," government spokesman Isaac Mwaura said on X, after torrential rains killed 32 people in the capital Nairobi this week.

Peter Kay forced to cancel gigs again as Co-op Live arena boss quits

Peter Kay forced to cancel gigs again as Co-op Live arena boss quits - ‘I know, I can’t believe it either,’ the comedian wrote

Carragher says next Liverpool manager has 'big decision' to make on £85m star

'I don’t think there is going to be a massive improvement in him.'

Reform UK’s Blackpool byelection candidate denies wrongdoing amid charity probe

Reform UK’s candidate in the Blackpool South byelection has denied any wrongdoing after the Charity Commission launched a probe into allegations that the soup kitchen he founded was used to promote his campaign. Mark Butcher, who is standing for the party in next week’s election, posted a Facebook message this month which said that the campaign would be starting at the kitchen, Amazing Graze. He was later pictured shaking hands with the Reform...

Families traumatised by police messages

Emma Webber, the mother of Barnaby Webber - who died in a stabbing attack in Nottingham, has written an emotional letter to the members of a police WhatsApp group.

Nine in court charged in connection with teenagers’ fatal stabbing

Nine in court charged in connection with teenagers’ fatal stabbing - Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, died after an incident in Bristol in January.

Russian schoolgirl, 17, jailed for writing ‘death to the regime’ in graffiti

Minneapolis approves $150K settlement for witness to George Floyd's murder

Minneapolis approves $150K settlement for witness to George Floyd's murder - The Minneapolis City Council has agreed to pay a $150,000 settlement to an eyewitness who tried to intervene to prevent George Floyd’s murder and who says he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result

Humza Yousaf’s future to be determined by Alba Party

Humza Yousaf’s fate in a no confidence vote is in the hands of Alex Salmond’s Alba Party, as SNP sources said the First Minister was a “dead man walking”. Mr Yousaf decided to scrap the SNP’s power-sharing deal with the Greens on Thursday, a move that backfired spectacularly by prompting Douglas Ross, the Scottish Tory leader, to table a motion of ...

Google owner worth more than $2 trillion after announcing first dividend

Google’s parent company soared past a $2 trillion valuation last night as the search engine giant said it would pay a dividend for the first time. Shares in Alphabet rose by more than 12pc to a record high as the company announced the payout to shareholders, alongside a $70bn (£56bn) share buyback scheme. Microsoft shares also rose after the world’...

Putin army 'accelerating' advance to break Ukraine defensive line despite heavy losses, say UK defence chiefs

Putin army 'accelerating' advance to break Ukraine defensive line despite heavy losses, say UK defence chiefs - Ministry of Defence in London said Russian units had seized ‘several small settlements’ in the Donetsk province

Anglo American shares soar on £31bn takeover approach from BHP

Anglo American shares soar on £31bn takeover approach from BHP - The potential deal would create the world’s biggest copper miner, with around 10% of global output.

Travis Scott’s First Original Jordan, the Jumpman Jack, Is on Its Way. Here’s Everything to Know

A hype sneaker suitable for every kind of activity, apparently

Premier League table 2023-24: Latest standings, fixtures and results

Premier League table 2023-24: Latest standings, fixtures and results - Another huge weekend awaits

Hostage's parents plead for his release

'If you can hear us, we are telling you, we love you, stay strong, survive', his parents say.

Asda's loyalty scheme is changing — here's what you need to know

There's good news and bad news.

Russia arrests Forbes reporter over social media posts on Bucha massacre

Russia has arrested a journalist from the Russian edition of Forbes magazine for social media reposts over accusations of Russian atrocities in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, his lawyer and Forbes said on Friday. Rights groups say hundreds of Russians have been arrested, fined and jailed for criticising Russia's offensive on Ukraine under tough military censorship laws. Russian authorities have particularly targeted people for comments on Bucha,...

Liverpool ‘already working’ to secure £50m ‘priority’ signing but face Arsenal competition

Liverpool are already putting in the work to bolster their defensive options for next season as a new priority target has been identified

NFL Draft Latest: Caleb Williams to Bears, record six QBs taken in first 12 picks

DETROIT (AP) — The Latest on the first round of the NFL draft (all times local): No. 29 pick: Tyler Guyton to the Cowboys Dallas took the Oklahoma offensive tackle at No. 29 overall after trading down with Detroit to improve their positioning later in the draft. ___ No. 28 pick (trade): Xavier Worthy to the Chiefs Kansas City made a deal with AFC rival Buffalo to move up four spots to select the Texas receiver, who set an NFL combine record with...

Drake ordered to delete track featuring AI-generated voice of Tupac

Tupac Shakur's estate has threatened to sue Drake and ordered him to delete a track featuring an AI-generated copy of the late rapper's voice.

Turkish court convicts Syrian woman over Istanbul bombing, media says

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A Turkish court sentenced Ahlam Albashir, a Syrian national, to life in prison on Friday over a 2022 bombing that killed six people in Istanbul's main shopping street, Demiroren news agency (DHA) and other media said. Six Turkish citizens, two members each of three families, were killed in the attack on Nov. 13, 2022. The explosion also wounded about 100 people in the busy

Erik ten Hag gives injury update on Mason Mount and five Man Utd defenders

United hope to see injury problems ease by the weekend.

Adrian Newey departure rumours fly as Red Bull issue response – F1 news round-up

Check out all the latest F1 news headline from Thursday in the PlanetF1.com round-up...

Donald Trump manages partial victory in Supreme Court as hush money case rumbles on

Donald Trump managed a partial victory in the Supreme Court today, as justices delayed any potential decision on his immunity case over election riots.

Graduation cancelled and hundreds arrested as student anti-Israel protests sweep US

Student protests against Israel's war in Gaza continue to spread across the US, following last week's arrest of more than 100 demonstrators at Columbia University.

Paul Marshall expected to bid for Telegraph after quitting GB News board

The GB News investor Sir Paul Marshall is stepping down from the board of the broadcaster after three years, it was announced on Friday. Marshall is expected to be a frontrunner in the race to buy the Telegraph when the auction process reopens, after the government in effect scuppered its planned sale of the newspaper to a United Arab Emirates-backed consortium, RedBird IMI. The Barclay brothers ceded control of the Telegraph titles to Lloyds...

Fire at Brazil guesthouse leaves at least 10 dead, 11 injured

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - At least 10 people died and 11 were injured in the early hours of Friday morning in a major fire at a guesthouse in Brazil's southern city of Porto Alegre, said the Rio Grande do Sul state fire department, which is still searching for the missing. The firefighters said they were called at around 2 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Friday and extinguished the fire within two hours,

Police launch violent crackdowns on Gaza protests at colleges across the US: ‘We’re terrified of another Kent State’

Police launch violent crackdowns on Gaza protests at colleges across the US: ‘We’re terrified of another Kent State’ - More than 500 people have been arrested in the last week at protests in solidarity with Gaza

Rugby Australia proposes radical idea for All Blacks Test as chairman slams rugby’s ‘half-pregnant’ approach

Rugby Australia chairman Daniel Herbert has a proposal for New Zealand Rugby.

Baby airlifted to Vatican hospital after NHS refuses to operate as ‘he was too ill’

A one-month-old baby with a congenital heart condition was airlifted to a Vatican hospital after the NHS refused to operate on him. The parents of the baby boy are understood to have been told by an NHS hospital that he was too ill to undergo specialist cardiac surgery. The family of the baby wish to remain anonymous and have not identified the NHS...

The games that will decide Premier League title race as Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool battle in run-in

The games that will decide Premier League title race as Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool battle in run-in - The Gunners’ bid has been revitalised but the reigning champions remain in pole position

‘It is abuse... enough is enough’: Marcus Rashford’s message to Man Utd fans – posted at 12.36am

Marcus Rashford has hit out at the abuse he has suffered this season and said “enough is enough”. The Manchester United forward has endured a difficult campaign, scoring just eight goals in all competitions, with Erik ten Hag’s side on the brink of failing to qualify for the Champions League. Rashford was booed off during United’s extraordinary FA ...

Hackers claim to have infiltrated Belarus' main security service

Hackers claim to have infiltrated Belarus' main security service - A Belarusian hacker activist group claims to have infiltrated the network of the country’s main security agency and obtained access to personal files of over 8,600 staffers of the KGB, the security service that still goes under its Soviet name

Zelenskyy reveals what Ukraine wants to discuss during tomorrow's Ramstein meeting

The next meeting of the Contact Group on Defense Issues of Ukraine (the Ramstein format) will take place tomorrow, April 26th. Kyiv wants to discuss the problems that have arisen due to the suspension of American aid, according to an evening address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to him, Ukraine is already preparing for tomor...

Popular TV series to return to BBC as major cast changes are announced

Fans will be delighted to know there is more on the way.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, concerns about Melania, and ‘mentor’ Trump: Key takeaways from Trump’s day in court

Arnold Schwarzenegger, concerns about Melania, and ‘mentor’ Trump: Key takeaways from Trump’s day in court - ‘I felt that Donald Trump was my mentor. He helped me throughout my career,’ testified David Pecker on latest day of hush money trial

Eddie Hall smashes UFC record for strongest punch

Former World's Strongest Man Eddie Hall has smashed the record for the world's hardest punch. The Brit beat Brazilian UFC fighter Alex Pereira's record after he recently surpassed that of Francis Ngannou, a man who put world champion heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury on the canvas. The record was broken as UFCs Performance Institute (PI) in Las Vegas. I...

40 years after discovery of HIV, another huge breakthrough is within our grasp

Today marks a huge moment.

Rishi Sunak under fire for government’s record low in freedom of information

Rishi Sunak has been accused of presiding over the least transparent government for 25 years, after it emerged the rate of freedom of information (FoI) requests granted in full dropped to a record low last year. The prime minister’s government allowed information to be released fully for only 34% of requests in 2023. This compared with 41% during Boris Johnson’s first full year as prime minister, 46% under Theresa May in 2017, 56% under David...

UK stock market shrinking at fastest pace in history, says Goldman

Britain’s stock market is shrinking at its fastest pace in history, a Wall Street bank has suggested, as the FTSE 100 hits a fresh record high. Goldman Sach said the combination of company buybacks and a lack of new stock being issued would drastically reduce the supply of shares available to be purchased by investors. However, this reduction in th...

MeToo founder 'devastated' over Weinstein

'Ten years ago, we could not get a man like Harvey Weinstein into a courtroom', the MeToo founder says.

What a Twitter fight between AOC and Jared Moskowitz over Israel reveals about the Democrats

What a Twitter fight between AOC and Jared Moskowitz over Israel reveals about the Democrats - The terse words between two media-savvy Democrats — AOC and Jared Moskowitz of Florida — expose a larger divide among Democrats

Ukraine court orders agriculture minister into custody for suspected corruption

A Ukrainian court ordered on Friday for Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky to be taken into custody over allegations of his involvement in an illegal acquisition of state-owned land worth about $7 million. Solsky denies the allegations, which relate to events in 2017-2021, before he started as agriculture minister in March 2022. The judge set bail at 75.7 million hryvnias ($1.9 million). Solsky tendered his resignation letter on Thursday but...

The staggering financial value of Ferrari HP title sponsor deal revealed after ‘historic’ move

Well now, that's not to be scoffed at...

Hailed as a hero and then sacked: the carer’s allowance whistleblower

Almost exactly five years ago, Enrico La Rocca was hailed by MPs as a hero, a whistleblower whose tenacity had helped expose profound failures at the heart of the government’s vast benefits agency, resulting in tens of thousands of vulnerable unpaid carers being unfairly fined and prosecuted. Without La Rocca – who was not named at the time – serious problems with carer’s allowance overpayments may never have come to light, the Commons work and...

Former Post Office executive says she never ‘knowingly did anything wrong’

Former Post Office executive says she never ‘knowingly did anything wrong’ - Angela van den Bogerd gave evidence at the Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry in central London on Thursday.

Tony Khan applauded for committing to 'kayfabe' with neck brace during NFL Draft

Tony Khan, the owner of both All Elite Wrestling and the NFL team the Jacksonville Jaguars has been applauded for committing to 'kayfabe' during Thursday's NFL Draft. 41-year-old Khan was seen sporting a neck brace during the first round of the 2024 Draft following an storyline angle on Wednesday's AEW Dynamite. In the story, Khan, who is rarely se...