Nigeria’s electoral commission has cleared 18 candidates to contest the presidential election scheduled for February next year.
In a list published on Tuesday, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) noted that 18 parties had fielded presidential candidates and their running mates.
The list includes the names of the 75-year-old veteran presidential contestant and former vice-president, Atiku Abubakar of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party, and former Lagos governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu, 70, of the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Election campaigns officially begin next week on Wednesday.
Rampant insecurity, chronic unemployment, and a worsening economic outlook are among the issues the candidates are expected to address.
Nigeria has a population of more than 200 million people, out of which more than 95 million voters have registered to participate in the coming election.
Officials in Alabama have halted the lethal injection execution of a prisoner on death row because they couldn’t find a vein before the midnight deadline.
Alabama corrections commissioner John Hamm said the decision to call off the scheduled execution of Alan Miller was made after it became clear they could not get the process underway in time.
The last-minute reprieve came nearly three hours after the US Supreme Court cleared the way for the execution to go ahead.
“Due to time constraints resulting from the lateness of the court proceedings, the execution was called off once it was determined the condemned inmate’s veins could not be accessed in accordance with our protocol before the expiration of the death warrant,” Mr Hamm said.
Ahead of Roger Federer’s farewell tennis match later this evening, a protester on the court at London’s O2 appeared to accidentally light fire to his arm.
The incident happened during the opening session match between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Diego Schwartzman on the first day of this year’s Laver Cup.
After a brief delay, the match, the second of the first day, was able to resume.
Tonight, Swiss star Federer, 41, will play for the final time before retiring from tennis.
The 20-time Grand Slam champion will team up with old rival Rafa Nadal for a match against Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock of Team World.
Last week Federer announced his retirement after being faced with challengesin the form of “injuries and surgeries” and said he will stop playing competitively after the Laver Cup.
Ahead of tonight’s match, the tennis star teased fans and wrote on Twitter: “about to hit the practice courts one last time with @RafaelNadal. might do an IG Live on the way..”
Federer, who has won 20 Grand Slams including eight Wimbledon titles, created the tournament with his agent to honour his idol, Rod Laver.
According to the authors, the main causes of the increase were fires and deforestation for agricultural purposes.
The scientists say that a “collapse” in law enforcement in recent years has encouraged forest clearing.
The research findings have been submitted for publication but have yet to be independently reviewed.
As home to the largest tropical forest on Earth, the Amazon plays a critical role in maintaining the Earth’s climate by storing massive amounts of carbon in trees and soils.
Over the last few decades, the forest has been under growing pressure as land has been cleared in Brazil and neighbouring countries, primarily for farming.
Last year researchers published data indicating that the eastern part of the forest was being cut down at such a rate that more carbon was being released than absorbed by the trees and vegetation.
Now the same scientists believe that an explosion of a forest clearing in the western part of the Amazon has also turned that region into a source. of carbon emissions
Using small planes, the researchers have collected hundreds of air samples from different parts of the forest over the last ten years.
Their new study shows that in 2019, carbon emissions increased by 89% compared to the annual average of emissions between 2010 and 2018. In 2020, the picture was even worse, with an increase of 122%.
While fires played a role, the main factor was the removal of trees by land clearing, which increased by 75% in 2020.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Deforestation is set to play a big role in Brazil’s upcoming election with President Bolsonaro seeking another term
The researchers link this rise in deforestation to a rapid decline in prosecutions by law enforcement agencies, which saw fines for illegal forest clearances fall by 89% in 2020.
The scientists say that this is down to the policies of President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in 2019. He has canceled fines and penalties related to deforestation and pushed hard for the expansion of agriculture in Brazil.
“We hypothesize that the consequences of the collapse in enforcement led to increases in deforestation, biomass burning and degradation producing net carbon losses and enhancing drying and warming of forest regions,” the new study says.
The researchers say that this rapid increase in emissions from the forest has also had an impact on the climate around the trees.
“In consequence of this big deforestation, in the wet season of 2020 we saw a decline of 26% in rainfall during January, February, and March, while the temperature has gone up by 0.6C,” said lead author Dr Luciana Gatti, from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
“The emissions come from deforestation and degradation and also from this climate change promoted by the human destruction of the forest. And this is a very alarming scenario,” she told BBC News.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Clearing land for soybeans has been a major factor in the loss of forests
Environmental campaigners say that this hands-off approach to prosecuting illegal deforestation has continued this year, with over 8,500 sq km lost between August 2021 and July 2022, an area larger than the US state of Delaware.
“The collapse in law enforcement in the Brazilian Amazon has allowed land grabbers and illegal loggers to continue unchecked with devastating consequences for people, wildlife, and the planet,” said Mike Barrett from WWF.
“The Amazon is getting dangerously close to a crucial tipping point which could see large areas transform from a resilient, moist rainforest into a dry, fire-ravaged, and irreversibly degraded state.”
The outcome could have significant implications for the Amazon, as scientists like Dr Gatti fear it may be reaching a point where it would continually emit more carbon than it absorbs.
She said that action by consumers and governments around the world was also critical to prevent this from happening.
“We need to have an international commitment with countries in international commerce, that they don’t buy the products that result in the destruction of nature,” she said.
The phrases, which were intended to reassure women of their safety, have taken on a fatal irony.
Last week, inside the restroom, a young woman who worked at the station was brutally murdered. The man suspected of killing her had been stalking her for years.
The wall underneath the plaque has since become a shrine of messages left as notes, with women and men of all ages coming to express their fury, fear, and sorrow.
“I want to be alive at the end of my workday,” reads one. “Is it too much to ask, to be safe to reject people I don’t like?” reads another.
The mother of a teenage girl cries as she scans the messages. “Where have we gone so wrong?” she asks, now questioning whether to allow her daughter to travel to school alone.
Shocking murder
The details of this murder have shocked the country. The 28-year-old had been working her usual evening shift at the subway station, unaware she was being watched.
Her alleged attacker, 31-year-old Jeon Joo-hwan, waited for over an hour outside the toilets, wearing gloves and a disposable shower cap, before following her inside and stabbing her to death.
It was the day before he was due to be sentenced for stalking her.
Image caption, People have left Post-it note messages at the murder scene expressing their anger and fear
The harassment started in 2019, a year after the pair began working together. Jeon called his colleague more than 300 times begging her to date him, threatening to harm her if she refused.
When she reported him last October, he was fired from his job and arrested. But despite a police investigation and a request to the courts for him to be detained, he was never imprisoned or given a restraining order.
The victim was placed under police protection for a month until they concluded there was nothing significant to report. Jeon then continued to threaten and stalk.
Since their daughter’s death, her parents and two younger sisters have barely left the funeral home, where her body still lies, surrounded by flowers from remorseful politicians.
The family is devastated, not only by their loss but because she never told them what she was going through. So traumatized is her mother, she struggles to speak. She has decided to protect her daughter’s identity.
Image caption, The victim’s uncle looks at flowers sent to the funeral home where his niece’s body lies
“We never worried about her,” her uncle tells me. “She was so smart and independent”. With pride he recalls how she was top of her class, winning herself a scholarship to a university in Seoul.
As the oldest of three girls, she looked out for her sisters. These past years she had shown no sign of suffering, he says, suggesting this was because she had not wanted to burden them.
The only person she confided in was her lawyer, who she last messaged on the morning of her murder, the day before her stalker’s sentencing. “We are almost there”, she wrote.
Her family is now watching, along with the rest of the country, as the horrifying details ofher case unfold. They have exposed weaknesses in South Korea’s stalking laws and led to accusations the country does not treat violence against women seriously enough.
Anti-stalking laws
Until last year, stalking was classed as a misdemeanor, punishable only by a small fine. An anti-stalking law was finally passed in October, but many argued it was insufficient and would not protect victims, primarily because of its stipulation that a perpetrator can only be prosecuted with the consent of the victim.
This loophole, they say, makes it possible for stalkers to bully their victims into withdrawing cases – in the same way Jeon attempted to threaten his victim. Jeon reportedly told police he murdered her because he resented her for taking legal action.
Image caption, A note posted outside the subway station reads: “How many more women need to die for this country to change?”
Data obtained by the BBC from South Korea’s National Police Agency shows that since the stalking law came into force last year, 7,152 stalking arrests have been made, but only 5% of the suspects were detained. In cases where police applied to the courts to get the suspect detained, one in three requests were denied.
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has acknowledged the country’s stalking laws are insufficient and has ordered the Justice Ministry to strengthen them.
Prof Lee Soo-jung, a criminal psychologist who advises the government, says she could not sleep after she heard about the murder. “We were not able to protect her, so yes, we failed her,” she admits.
The professor is recommending the ministry remove the clause that requires victims to agree to a prosecution. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has proposed that stalking suspects who are not detained should be given restraining orders.
But despite these promises, anger is growing. This week, hundreds of people gathered in Seoul dressed in black, to protest and mourn the victim.
She was failed, the protestors shouted, by her employer, the police, and the courts, making her death symptomatic of a much bigger problem. They fear it could happen to any of them, that no space is safe.
Safe spaces
It has evoked memories of a similar murder six years ago, when a woman in her 20s was stabbed to death in a public restroom near Gangnam station, by a man who later said he killed her as revenge for all the women who looked down on him.
To the protesters, this murder is proof that nothing has changed. “We’ve been fooled before, that change is coming”, the organisers bellowed over the loudspeakers. “Let’s see what happens this time.”
“We don’t need new laws,” said Choi Jin-hyup, director of the group Women Link. “What we need is to change authorities’ attitudes towards victims.” She blames the government, which has tied itself in knots over women’s rights.
During the recent election campaign, the president pledged to close the Gender Equality Ministry, declaring it obsolete because structural sexism no longer existed. When the gender minister visited the scene of the murder, she told reporters she did not believe this was a case of gender-based violence. There are now calls for her to resign.
Image caption, Museum curator Lee Chai-hui, 23, does not feel safe as a young woman in South Korea
At the subway station, 23-year-old Lee Chae-hui lays a white flower and bows her head.
“I’m very angry,” she says. “We keep reporting these crimes as just another mindless murder, but women are continuously stalked and attacked, and our politicians are ignoring it. People talk about how South Korea is a safe place, but as a woman in my 20s I can’t relate to this at all, I feel I live in a very dangerous society.”
Chae-hui’s friends have a phrase they use to congratulate each other: “We survived another day.”
The sentiment is echoed in dozens of Post-it messages asking: “How many more women need to die for this country to change?”
A narrative alleging the Ukrainian government was slaughtering Russian speakers in the east of the country was created by the media in Moscow, Mr Berlusconi told Italian TV.
He said the reporting, pushed by separatist forces and nationalist politicians in the Russian government, had left Mr Putin with no choice but to launch a limited invasion.
“Putin was pushed by the Russian population, by his party, and by his ministers to invent this special operation,” he said.
“The troops were supposed to enter, reach Kyiv in a week, replace the Zelensky government with decent people and a week later come back,” Mr Berlusconi added.
“Instead they found an unexpected resistance, which was then fed by arms of all kinds from the West.”
Opposition leaders were quick to condemn Mr Berlusconi’s comments, with Centrist Party leader Carlo Calenda accusing him of speaking “like a Putin general”.
And Enrico Letta of the center-left Democratic Party said the intervention proved if Sunday’s election is “favourable to the right, the happiest person would be Putin”.
But on Friday, Mr Berlusconi attempted to clarify his comments, saying his views had been “oversimplified” .
“The aggression against Ukraine is unjustifiable and unacceptable, [Forza Italia’s] position is clear. We will always be with the EU and Nato,” he said.
Mr Berlusconi has long been an admirer of Mr Putin, in 2012 joining the then-prime minister for a skiing trip in the Russian city of Sochi.
But in April, he condemned the invasion and said he was “deeply disappointed and saddened” by Mr Putin’s behaviour, adding that the “massacres of civilians in Bucha and other localities are real war crimes”.
The Forza Italia party leader is currently campaigning as part of a right-wing coalition ahead of Sunday’s general election.
His centre-right party is the junior partner of the alliance, which is anchored by Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right Brothers of Italy and Matteo Salvini’s populist Lega Nord party. Polls have suggested the bloc will win a majority.
Despite Mr Berlusconi’s past friendship with Mr Putin, and Mr Salvini’s criticism of Western sanctions on Russia, Ms Meloni, who is expected to lead any potential government, has pledged to continue Italy’s support of Ukraine.
“The war in Ukraine is the tip of the iceberg of a conflict aimed atreshaping the world order,” she said earlier this month. “So we have to fight this battle.”
Residents in Canada’s eastern provinces have been cautioned by officials to get ready for coastal flooding and power outages.
Fiona is expected to hit Canada’s shores by Saturday morning.
Florida also faces a hurricane threat after a separate tropical cyclone formed in the Caribbean Sea.
Tropical Depression Nine is in its early stages and is moving on a path that could bring it to Florida next week as Hurricane Hermine, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane Fiona, now a Category 3 storm, had already wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic earlier this week, and many are still left with no power or running water.
Five people have died across the Caribbean: one in Guadeloupe, two in Puerto Rico, and two in the Dominican Republic.
In Bermuda, Hurricane Fiona forced schools and offices to close.
IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Workers remove fallen trees from the highway in the northeast of the Dominican Republic after Hurricane Fiona on 21 September
The National Hurricane Center has said Fiona’s maximum sustained winds could hit 130 mph (215 kph).
Canadian officials and meteorologists are urging residents to brace themselves for the storm’s impact as it reaches the Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.
The region could receive up to six to 10 inches of rain, increasing the risk of flash flooding.
Shelters have been prepared in Halifax and Cape Breton in Nova Scotia for people to take cover ahead of the storm.
“Every Nova Scotian should be preparing,” said John Lohr, the minister responsible for emergencypreparedness in the province, in a Thursday press conference.
Mr Lohr added the storm may be “very dangerous”.
“The storm is expected to bring severe and damaging wind gusts, very high waves, coastal storm surges, intense and dangerous rainfall rates, and prolonged power outages,” Mr Lohr said.
Severe hurricanes in Canada are rare, as storms lose their energy once they hit colder waters in the north and become post-tropical instead. But the pressure in the region is predicted to be historically low as Hurricane Fiona hits, making way for a heavier storm.
Nova Scotia was last battered by a tropical cyclone in 2003 with Hurricane Juan, a Category 2 storm that killed two people and heavily damaged structures and vegetation.
Ward participated in RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s second season and later served as the host of the BBC documentary Gypsy Queen And Proud.
A statement from his family described his death as a “profound shock”.
Ward, who died on Sunday, was raised in Darlington, County Durham as part of the Traveller community.
He qualified as a mental health nurse in 2015, before starting his career in drag.
“It is with the most heart-wrenching and deepest sadness to inform you that our George – Cherry Valentine – has tragically passed away,” Ward’s family said.
“This will come as a profound shock to most people and we understand there is no easy way for this to be announced.”
Image caption, Ward performed as Cherry Valentine on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
“As his family, we are still processing his death and our lives will never be the same,” they added.
“We understand how much he is loved and how many lives he has inspired and touched. All we ask is for your patience and your prayers at this time. We love you Georgie.”
In his introductory video for the show, he described his Cherry Valentine alter-ego as “glamour”, “dark” and “gothic”.
He said his work as a nurse had “put me in that right position to be able to understand people a bit more”.
“If you are a drag queen you are working with people. And to understand people I think you go the extra mile.”
After appearing on the show, Ward joined with the BBC to produce a documentary exploring his Traveller heritage, called Gypsy Queen And Proud.
He revisited the community he left aged 18 as part of the programme.
Ward also performed publicly and appeared opposite Charli XCX in the music video for her single Good Ones.
RuPaul’s Drag Race is known for the glitz, the glamour, and the hilarity but beneath the make-up and the glitter, at its heart are the personalities and lives of the much-loved contestants.
Cherry Valentine brought all of that not just on the stage, but behind the scenes with the open way she talked about her own experiences.
She shared her difficulties growing up LGBT in the Traveller community, giving a voice to a subject and people that many may not know about.
Cherry spoke strongly about the importance of mental health, having qualified as a mental health nurse before venturing into the world of drag. She once described drag as a “lifeline” during the Covid pandemic in which she was involved in the vaccine effort.
She too touched the lives of so many who will be shocked by the loss of someone whose performances on stage were as inspiring as those away from the camera.
Being interviewed for the launch of Drag Race UK in January 2021, Ward explained he was introduced to the drag scene while a student at Lancaster University.
“I went to Manchester for a couple of nights out and thought: ‘This is crazy, this is what I want to do.’ That’s when Cherry was born,” he said.
Image caption, Cherry Valentine was described as an “incredible queen” by fans
“I did drag in Darlington behind the scenes. It was a case of doing it when your parents are out of the house and dressing up in your mother’s clothes, strutting round the house in nails.”
Speaking about taking part in the show, he said: “I just wanted to go on and show wherever you come from, whoever you are, you can do whatever makes you happy.”
Following the news of Ward’s death, BBC Three controller Fiona Campbell said: “We are all shocked and heartbroken to hear the news of the passing of George, known to many as Cherry Valentine. A fan favourite and an inspiration to so many, we were privileged to have worked with him.”
Good Morning Britain presenter Charlotte Hawkins tweeted: “Very sad to hear that Cherry Valentine has died, aged just 28. We met back in June at Epsom – so full of life then, it’s hard to believe. Sending love to George’s family & friends, just heartbreaking.”
Fans of the show also posted social media tributes to Ward on Friday following the news of his death.
Singer Jack Remmington described Ward as “a brilliant drag performer who did so much for this world both as a nurse and as representation for the gypsy community”.
“In such sad shock at the news of Cherry Valentine,” added writer and journalist Harrison Brocklehurst. “What an absolutely incredible queen.”
Journalist Emma Kelly said Ward’s death was “horribly tragic”, while Ben Smoke described it as “a horrifying loss”.
President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea has denied making insulting remarks to the US Congress following his meeting with US President Joe Biden last week in New York.
He was recorded using a hot mic and appeared to be referring to US lawmakers with a phrase that may either be translated as “idiots” or something considerably heavier in Korean.
The footage quickly went viral in South Korea.
But his spokeswoman says he had “no reason to talk about the US or utter the word ‘Biden’”.
The remark is said to have occurred as part of a conversation about Mr Biden’s drive to increase the US contribution to a global initiative known as the Global Fund, which would require congressional approval.
“How could Biden not lose face if these [expletive] do not pass it in Congress?,” Mr Yoon apparently said to his aides afterward.
Presidential spokeswoman Kim Eun-hye said in New York on Thursday Mr Yoon did not actually say “Biden”, but a similar-sounding Korean word, and that he was referring to the South Korean parliament, not the US Congress.
Many were unconvinced by the government’s defense – an opposition MP said it was like telling Koreans they were “hearing impaired”.
Mr Yoon is a former prosecutor who only entered politics last year and won the presidential elections earlier this year by less than 1%.
He is known as being prone to gaffes and has been struggling with low approval ratings soon after being elected, correspondents say.
Last year, he had to backtrack on his comment that the authoritarian president Chun Doo-hwan, who was responsible for massacring protesters in 1980, was “good at politics”.
The key announcements in Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget: stamp duty, energy bills, and alcohol duty.
Here are the key points from Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget statement to MPs:
• The basic rate of income tax will be cut to 19p in the pound from April 2023. Will mean 31 million people will be better off by an average of £170 per year.
• The 45% higher rate of income tax is to be abolished.
• It was already announced that April’s National Insurance hike is to be reversed from 6 November – saving money for businesses and 28 million workers. The 1.25 percentage points increase was introduced under former chancellor Rishi Sunak.
• Planned duty rises on beer, cider, wine, and spirits canceled
• Stamp duty to be cut from “today”. Nothing will be paid for the first £250,000 of the property’s value – double the current amount allowed. The threshold for first-time buyers is to be increased from £300,000 to £425,000. The value of the property on which first-time buyers can claim relief is to also go up from £500,000 to £625,000.
Image:Energy bills
• Household bills to be cut by an expected £1,000 this year with aid from an energy price guarantee and a £400 grant. Millions of the most vulnerable households will receive additional payments, taking their total savings this year to £2,200.
Image: Economy
• Total cost of energy package, including business support, over the next six months estimated at £60bn. It is “entirely appropriate for the government to use our borrowing powers to fund temporary measures to support families and businesses”.
• Treasury estimates tax cut measures will cost nearly £45bn a year in 2026.
• Independent forecasters expect the government’s energy plan “will reduce peak inflation by around five percentage points”.
• Bank of England independence is “sacrosanct”.
• Government to set out its fiscal approach more fully in the future and the Office for Budget Responsibility will publish an economic and fiscal forecast before the end of the year.
• The EU-inspired cap on bankers’ bonuses is to be scrapped as part of efforts to “reaffirm” the UK’s status as a financial services hub. “All the bonus cap did was to push up the basic salary to bankers or drive activity outside Europe”, the chancellor said.
• Planned rise in corporation tax to 25% next year is cancelled. “We will have the lowest rate of corporation tax in the G20. This will plough almost £19 billion a year back into the economy”, Mr Kwarteng said.
• Will legislate to require trade unions to put pay offers to a member vote so strikes can only be called once negotiations have fully broken down.
• To cut taxes for businesses in designated sites for 10 years to support investment, jobs, and growth. In talks with 38 local and mayoral combined authority areas in England about “investment zones”. Aims to roll out more widely across the UK.
• Universal Credit Claimants who earn less than the equivalent of 15 hours a week at the National Living Wage, 120,000 people, will be required to meet regularly with their Work Coach and take active steps to increase their earnings or face having their benefits reduced. The aim is to reduce vacancies in the economy.
• Will simplify IR35 rules – governing how temporary contractors are paid – by scrapping reforms in 2017 and 2021 that added “unnecessary complexity and cost” for many businesses.
• Introducing VAT-free shopping for overseas visitors.
• Changing regulations to increase investment by pension funds into UK assets, benefiting savers and boosting economic growth, and incentivizing investment into Britain’s science and tech companies.
• Annual Investment Allowance – tax relief for businesses on plant and technology investment – to remain at £1m permanently, rather than letting it return to £200,000 in March 2023.
The UK’s plan to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem has been labeled as a “blatant violation of international law” by the Palestinians.
While at the UN, UK PM Liz Trussreportedly informed her Israeli colleague, Yair Lapid, of the review.
Such a move would be highly controversial. The opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem in 2018 was met with outrage across the Arab world.
Mr Lapid tweeted his thanks to Ms Truss for “positively considering” it.
He described Ms Truss as his “good friend”, writing in Hebrew after the pair met on the fringes of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Downing Street has not given any indication of timing but has confirmed that a review is underway.
British officials said they would not speculate on the outcome, adding that Ms Truss was aware of the sensitivity and importance of the location of the British embassy in Israel.
The status of Jerusalem is one of the thorniest issues in the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Israel sees the entire city as its eternal, undivided capital while Palestinians claim the eastern part as the capital of their hoped-for future state.
East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, were captured by Israel from Jordan and Egypt in the 1967 Middle East war and have since been viewed internationally as occupied Palestinian territory.
On Twitter, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, wrote that it was “extremely unfortunate” that Ms Truss had used her first appearance at the UN as prime minister to “commit to potentially breaking international law”.
He said any embassy move would be “a blatant violation” of “the UK’s historic responsibilities”, undermining the two-state solution of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
“Such promise is immoral, illegal and irresponsible!” he said.
It is extremely unfortunate that Prime Minister @trussliz uses her first appearance at the UN to commit to potentially breaking international law by promising a “review” of the location of the British embassy to Israel 1/3 https://t.co/qgC1QnIUhi
Up until now, the UK – like most other countries – has kept its embassy in Tel Aviv, rather than in bitterly contested Jerusalem, holding that it should only move to the holy city after a final peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
Britain has a consulate in East Jerusalem.
Ms Truss reportedly raised the idea of relocating the embassy during therecent Conservative leadership campaign.
When US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital – fulfilling a campaign promise – it brought international condemnation. It also led to a flare-up in violence in which dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces.
At the time, the British PM, Theresa May, criticised the US action.
The only countries to have since followed Mr Trump’s example by moving their embassies from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem have been Honduras, Guatemala and Kosovo.
The 24-year-old, who performed the role of Jeffery Augustine in the Riverdale teen drama, was given a sentence on Wednesday in British Columbia Supreme Court in Vancouver.
He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, after having initially been charged with first-degree murder.
Prosecutors said he had also plotted to kill Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau.
Grantham admitted to shooting his mother in the back of the head as she played piano in their home, north of Vancouver, the court heard.
‘I killed my mother
In a video taken on his Go-Pro camera after the killing, the Canadian actor filmed his mother’s body while saying: “I shot her in the back of the head. In the moments after, she would have known it was me.”
After drinking beer and smoking marijuana for hours following the murder, he packed a car with three guns, ammunition, and 12 Molotov cocktails he had made, as well as camping supplies and directions to Mr Trudeau’s Rideau Cottage residence.
He drove roughly 200 kilometers east to the town of Hope, before turning around and driving to a Vancouver police station, where he told an officer: “I killed my mother.”
The court also heard Grantham had considered committing an act of mass violence at Vancouver’s Lions Gate Bridge or at Simon Fraser University, where he had been a student, en route before turning his car around and handing himself in.
Former child actor Grantham appeared in one episode of the CW network show Riverdale in 2019 and was also featured in the fantasy drama Supernatural, as well the 2010 film Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Grantham has been in custody for the past two and a half years, law enforcement officials in Vancouver told Deadline and has been participating in a mental health program since his arrest.
During the trial, his lawyers argued he had been struggling with anxiety and clinical depression and had expressed a desire to kill himself and harm others in the months leading up to him killing his mother.
The “partial mobilisation” planned by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday would not affect IT personnel, bankers, or journalists who work for state media.
Around 300,000 citizens face being called up as part of the drive.
The move has prompted a rush toward borders as young men attempt to flee to evade the draft.
Announcing the exemptions on Friday, Russia’s defense ministry said employers must compile a list of workers who meet the criteria and submit it to its offices.
But it accepted some sectors had to be excluded to “ensure the work of specific high-tech industries, as well as Russia’s financial system”.
Some commentators have observed that the text of the mobilization decree has been left vague – potentially allowing it to be widened if necessary.
And one paragraph remains entirely classified. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday this referred to the total number of Russians that could be conscripted, which he said could not be disclosed.
Earlier, the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta had reported – citing an unnamed government source – that the redacted section allowed for a call-up of up to a million people, rather than the reported 300,000.
Russian men are continuing to try to flee the country to avoid being called up by recruiters for the country’s first military mobilization since World War Two.
In the south, miles-long queues of traffic have formed at the border crossing between Russia and Georgia.
Some of those heading into the neighbouring country have used bicycles to bypass lines of cars and evade a ban on crossing on foot, with others reporting waits of up to 12 hours.
When asked about the war, one man who did not wish to be named told the BBC he had known it was happening but that, until Mr Putin’s declaration of a “partial mobilization”, it had not been his concern.
A Russian student, who also did not want to be identified, said that people had woken up. “They opened their eyes and started thinking about where to hide their children. Now people understand what’s happening because it affects them directly,” he said.
Another IT worker told the BBC that he was opposed to the war, but was too scared to speak out against it.
“I don’t want to risk my life, the life of my family. I don’t want to be put in detention,” he said. “All I could do was to get a Schengen visa. Luckily I got one in May.”
Georgia is one of the few neighbouring countries where Russians can enter without needing to apply for a visa. Border guards in neighbouring Finland, which shares a 1,300km (800 miles) border with Russia but requires an entry visa, told the BBC that queues had grown at various crossing points.
Other destinations reachable by air – such as Istanbul, Belgrade, or Dubai – have seen ticket prices skyrocket immediately after the military call-up was announced, with some destinations sold out completely.
Turkish media have reported a large spike in one-way ticket sales while remaining flights to non-visa destinations can cost thousands of euros.
Several countries are grappling with the prospect of an influx of Russian draft dodgers. Germany’s interior minister signalled on Thursday that that fleeing conscription would be welcome in her country.
Nancy Faeser said deserters threatened by “severe repression” would receive protection on a case-by-case basis, following security checks.
But several other European countries, including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and the Czech Republic, struck a different tone, saying they would not offer to flee Russian refuge. The countries have long pushed the EU to take a harder line on Russia.
“I understand that Russians are fleeing from ever more desperate decisions by Putin,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said. “But those running because they don’t want to fulfill a duty imposed by their own government, they don’t meet the criteria for a humanitarian visa.”
There were also reports from Russia that some of those detained for protesting had been handed draft papers while in custody at police stations. When asked about the reports, Mr Peskov said that doing so was not against the law.
The health minister reported that 71 migrants’ bodies had been discovered when the boat they were on capsized off the coast of Syria.
Twenty survivors are receiving medical care in a hospital in Tartus, Syria.
Officials said Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian nationals – including women and children – were believed to be among the 120-150 people who were on board when the boat sank on Thursday.
Officials added that the vessel had departed from Minyeh, a city near the Lebanese port city of Tripoli.
The boat is believed to have been heading to Europe when it sank.
Tartus, where survivors have been transported, is about 30 miles (50 km) north of Tripoli.
Victims’ families mourn in Tripoli
In a small dark room in a poor neighborhood in Tripoli, northern Lebanon, a family mourns.
Mustafa Mesto, 35, died with his two daughters and son, while his wife and her father are still in critical condition in a hospital in Syria.
Mustafa, was a Lebanese taxi driver, married to a Syrian Kurd who fled the war the country’s vicious civil war. One family fleeing devastation in two countries. They had hoped to reach Italy, dreaming of a better life.
But now their families, like those of others who lost their lives on this boat, are in shock.
Mustafa’s mother, Adla, sits in the middle of a big room filled with grieving relatives. She wails out loud, blaming the Lebanese government for her son’s fate.
“He ran away from poverty and the terrible conditions they left us in. These politicians could not care less about our lives. Nothing will bring him back to me, nothing will bring his little children back to me.”
Lebanon hosts an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees, and almost 14,000 from other countries, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It hosts the largest number of refugees per capita in the world.
However, the country is facing a severe economic crisis, fuelled by Covid-19 and the 2020 Beirut port explosion, with more than 80% of the population struggling to afford food and medicine.
The situation is having a severe impact on the country’s migrant population, many of whom are choosing to flee elsewhere, including to Europe.
Earlier this month, six people, including children, were killed when a boat carrying migrants from Lebanon to Europe sank off the coast of Turkey. The country’s coast guard said 73 migrants from four boats had been rescued.
New chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said the cut in the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 19% would benefit more than 31 million people.
The cut, which applies to people who earn between £12,571 to £50,270, comes a year earlier than planned.
In a surprise move, the 45% highest tax band for people who earn over £150,000 a year has also been axed.
The reduction in income tax, along with the reversal of the National Insurance rise, will see higher earners save more money.
A person earning £20,000 a year will save £167, according to analysts at EY.
Meanwhile, an individual with an income of £40,000 will save £617 and a person with earnings of £60,000 will save £969. A person on £100,000 will get an extra £1,469.
During his mini-budget, the chancellor said high tax rates “damage Britain’s competitiveness” and reduce incentives for new businesses, arguing that tax cuts are “central to solving the riddle of growth”.
Mr. Kwarteng said scrapping the highest 45% tax rate would also “reward enterprise and growth”.
The policy change means people earning more than £150,000 a year will instead pay the tax rate of 40%, which is applicable to earnings of more than £50,270 a year.
However, the change will not apply to Scotland where income tax bands are different. People in Scotland who earn more than £150,000 a year currently pay a 46% rate. The cut in basic rate tax to 19p in the pound also does not apply in Scotland.
Rachel McEleney, associate tax director at consultancy firm Deloitte, said under the new policy, higher rate taxpayers would save £377 next year, compared to this year.
She said the majority of taxpayers in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, who will pay the basic rate of 19%, will see “some savings, albeit less” from April.
Ms McEleney said for a person will earnings of £200,000 a year, who do not live in Scotland, their income tax bill would be reduced from £74,960 this financial year to £72,083 in next year, resulting in a tax saving of £2,877.
Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the mini-budget prioritized big business over working people by relying on a theory of “trickle-down economics”.
“The prime minister and chancellor are like two desperate gamblers in a casino chasing a losing run,” she said in response to Mr Kwarteng’s plans.
Households across the UK have been feeling the pinch of higher prices in recent months, with higher energy bills and rising food prices fuelling inflation to a 40-year high.
The government has announced support to help with energy costs, limiting the typical household bill to £2,500 a year until 2024, but bills are still set to rise in October.
Rebecca McDonald, the chief economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation charity, said the government had chosen to “turn its back on millions who are on the lowest incomes”.
“This is a budget that has wilfully ignored families struggling through a cost of living emergency and instead targeted its action at the richest,” she said.
“Families on low incomes can’t wait for the promised benefits of economic growth to trickle down into their pockets.”
However, Mark Littlewood, director general at free-market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said the axing of the highest rate of income tax would mean higher earners would spend “more time boosting their own productivity”
“The additional rate of income tax (45p) was always performative politics rather than sound economics,” he said. “The 1p off the basic rate of income tax will put more money in people’s pockets.”
The abolition of the highest tax band, which was introduced in 2010, came as a surprise to many economists.
“It really is that kind of rabbit out of the hat..that not only is the additional rate going to be completely abolished, but also the cuts to the basic rate of income tax are going to be brought forward a year,” said Michael Brown, head of market intelligence at finance firm Caxton.
Organizations working on behalf of hearing-impaired people in Uganda have urged public and commercial institutions to make it easier for the deaf to access information reports local Daily Monitor news website.
An estimated one million people are deaf in Uganda, according to the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER).
The organisation urged the government to integrate sign language into teachers’ training as a way of dealing with the shortage of people with the skill.
“If we integrate sign language into the teachers’ training, then what you are doing is rolling out teachers that know sign language so that the teacher will be able to sign for a deaf student, likewise to doctors, nurses, police officers, and court, among others,” said Elizabeth Atori from ISER.
He praised the police for using a sign language interpreter during their briefings but criticized the media for ignoring them.
“The issue of sign language interpretation is within the justice law and order sector, and we appreciate that police have one sign language interpreter in the entire country but also what media houses do is during the police press briefing, you people cut off our sign language interpreter,” Robert Nkwangu told journalists.
Early human trials of a novel cancer therapy that employs a common virus to infect and eradicatecancerous cells have shown great promise, according to UK researchers.
While other patients’ tumours shrank, one patient’s malignancy completely disappeared.
The drug is a weakened form of the cold sore virus – herpes simplex – that has been modified to kill tumors.
Larger and longer studies will be needed, but experts say the injection might ultimately offer a lifeline to more people with advanced cancers.
Krzysztof Wojtkowski, a 39-year-old builder from west London, is one of the patients who took part in the ongoing phase one safety trial, run by the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust.
He was diagnosed in 2017 with cancer of the salivary glands, near the mouth. Despite surgery and other treatments at the time, his cancer continued to grow.
“I was told there were no options left for me and I was receiving end-of-life care. It was devastating, so it was incredible to be given the chance to join the trial.”
A short course of the virus therapy – which is a specially modified version of the herpes virus which normally causes cold sores – appears to have cleared his cancer.
“I had injections every two weeks for five weeks which completely eradicated my cancer. I’ve been cancer-free for two years now.”
The injections, given directly into the tumour, attack cancer in two ways – by invading the cancerous cells and making them burst, and by activating the immune system.
About 40 patients have tried the treatment as part of the trial. Some were given the virus injection, called RP2, on its own. Others also received another cancer drug – called nivolumab – as well.
The findings, presented at a medical conference in Paris, France, show:
Lead researcher Prof Kevin Harrington told the BBC the treatment responses seen were “truly impressive” across a range of advanced cancers, including cancer of the gullet (oesophagus) and a rare type of eye cancer.
“It is rare to see such good response rates in early stage clinical trials, as their primary aim is to test treatment safety, and they involve patients with very advanced cancers for whom current treatments have stopped working,” he said.
“I am keen to see if we continue to see benefits as we treat increased numbers of patients.”
It is not the first time scientists have used a virus to fight cancer. The NHS approved a cold-virus-based therapy, called T-Vec, for advanced skin cancer a few years ago.
Prof Harrington calls RP2 a souped-up version of T-Vec.
“It’s had other modifications to the virus so that when it gets into cancer cells it effectively signs their death warrant.”
“Scientists discovered that viruses could help to treat cancer 100 years ago, but it’s been challenging to harness them safely and effectively.
“This new viral therapy shows promise in a small-scale early trial – now we need more studies to find out how well it works.
“Research suggests that combining multiple treatments is a powerful strategy, and virus therapies like this one could become a part of our toolkit for beating cancer.”
The most significant challenge Iran’s leadership has faced in recent years is the outbreak of nationwide protests that followed the murder in police custody of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman held for allegedly breaking hijab (headscarf) laws.
While authorities say Mahsa Amini died from underlying health reasons, her family and countless other Iranians believe she died as a result of having been beaten.
Protesters say that if they don’t act now, they could fall victim to the same fate.
It has come at a time when Iranians are feeling particularly fed up. Systematic corruption among Iran’s political elite, growing poverty with inflation at more than 50%, deadlock in nuclear talks, and lack of social and political freedom have left Iran’s young and vibrant population feeling hopeless.
According to Iran’s Social Security Organization Research Institute, at least 25 million Iranians were living below the poverty line by June 2021. That number is even higher now.
These are not the first protests in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran. But many observers believe there is something different about them.
More than anything, this is a woman’s protest.
‘Society has shifted’
Civil liberties groups continually spotlight the suppression of women in Iran, an entire part of society who have been the biggest losers of the Islamic revolution of 1979.
Iranian women were forced to wear hijabs (headscarves) soon after the revolution and have lost many of their rights, including the right to travel, the right to work, and the right to child custody over the age of seven. There was little objection to these changes from men at the time.
“The fact that many men are joining the protests shows that the society hasshifted to more progressive demands,” says Mehrdad Darvishpour, an Iranian sociologist based in Sweden.
The main slogan of protesters is “Woman, Life, Freedom”, a call for equality and a stance against religious fundamentalism.
Also, these protests are far more inclusive than the previous ones.
The so-called Green Movement of 2009 saw the middle class protest against alleged election fraud. Although it was large in size, it centered on major cities. Other major protests in 2017 and 2019 were confined to poorer areas.
But the current protests are now being reported in both middle-class and working-class areas. They seem to have moved from local or ethnic issues to more inclusive ones.
“We are witnessing the birth of a mega-movement,” says Mr Darvishpour.
A movement that was being led by women but has managed to bring other movements together. And more importantly, the symbolic value of burning hijabs, has cracked the image of an unbreakable regime.
The establishment is in a very difficult place. The death of Mahsa Amini has even shaken some of the hardcore supporters of the government.
Many of them, including some clerics, are questioning the violent tactics that are being used by morality police against women.
So, the government has two options: To change its strict hijab rules, which are part of the identity of the Islamic republic. But doing so may encourage protesters to continue until they reach their final demand for regime change.
Or not to change anything and continue the violent crackdown and killing of protesters, which may briefly calm down the unrest but will only add fuel to their ever-growing anger.
Many of the riot police that is now suppressing the protests are also suffering from economic difficulties and are not necessarily supportive of the establishment.
If these protests continue they might switch sides.
On top of that, the Supreme Leader’s 83 years of age and his ill health is on the mind of many Iranians on both sides.
It’s unclear whether whoever succeeds him will be able to sustain the support of the regime’s hardcore supporters or not.
The prestigious Cambridge University in Britain has acknowledged that it benefited from the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which took place from the 16th to the 19th Century and involved the forcible removal of African people from their homes and forcing them to work for European landowners in the Americas.
Cambridge’s own Advisory Group of Legacies of Enslavement found that families connected to the trade sent their children to the university, that many colleges funded their operations through investment in companies connected to colonialism and slavery, and that some intellectuals at Cambridge defended slavery.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Stephen J Toope explained the reason why the report was commissioned: “The inquiry set out to add to the sum of our historical knowledge, working on the principle that as a mature, research-driven university, Cambridge is better off knowing than notknowing about its past.”
“The report and its recommendations are not ends in themselves. Instead, I hope they will enable some of the conversations and decisions needed to make the Cambridge of tomorrow more self-reflective, more equitable, and more open to all talent,” Prof Toope continued.
The university said it will try to address the findings of the report including being more inclusive, by expanding access to black students.
So its departure from what the mainland is doing is a long-awaited decision. Restrictions on people arriving have been in place for more than two years.
And there are still rules in place for travelers. They cannot enter common areas such as restaurants or shopping malls for the first three days after arrival. They also have to undergo PCR tests on days two, four six.
The prolonged closure of the border has however hit Hong Kong’s economy hard and left the Asian financial center at a disadvantage compared with its rivals in the region such as Singapore.
Singapore on Friday unseated city as Asia’s top financial market in the Global Financial Centres Index.
“Hong Kong has been isolated from the international community for two-and-half years and is suffering from it,” Hao Hong, chief economist of Grow Investment Group told the BBC.
“While the end to hotel quarantine is a step forward, rebuilding confidence takes time, especially against the tide of the exodus of talents from Hong Kong.”
“It will take a while before people and businesses respond to the new arrangements and airlines adjust their schedules,” said Louis Kuijs, chief Asia Pacific economist of S&P Global Ratings.
“And a sizeable share of the people and activities that have left Hong Kong in recent years will not come back.”
Earlier on Friday Japan announced that it was relaxing entry rules, with tourists able to visit without a visa and without needing to go through a travel agency from 11 October. A cap on daily arrivals will also be lifted.
22 people, according to Kenyan authorities, have been freed from Laos’ human trafficking rings in Southeast Asia.
They say a Ugandan and a Burundian national were also rescued in a joint operation by the International Organization for Migration and the governments of Kenya and Laos.
This comes weeks after another group of Kenyans was rescued from human traffickers in Myanmar.
The government says it has received distress calls from Kenyans in several southeast Asian countries who have become stranded after falling for job scams.
Some are promised jobs in factories but then get trapped in prostitution or cybercrime rings.
The men were apprehended in a Reykjavik suburb when it became apparent that the police were the primary target of the preparations local media has reported
Four men have been detained by Icelandic police on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks against government facilities, including the parliament, according to the country’s national television RUV.
The four Icelandic men, all in their 20s, were arrested in the Kopavogur suburb of the capital Reykjavik, and in the southwestern town of Mosfellsbær, in an operation involving special forces.
Two of the men were remanded in custody, while the other two were released after questioning.
Several semi-automatic weapons, including 3D-printed guns, were seized at nine locations during the operation, which involved 50 officers, The Guardian reports.
The operation was the first of its kind in Iceland.
RUV reports that the men intended to target multiple public buildings, including the Icelandic parliament.
Karl Steinar Valsson, the national commissioner of the Icelandic police, said at a news conference: “It is safe to say that our society is safer than it was.”
“We are just starting some work and are seizing a large number of phones and computers and other such things. All that work is in the very early stages.
“We took certain measures while we were getting the situation under control. Of course, we don’t want to reveal what the exact response of the police is.
“At its peak, there was about 50 police personnel who took part in the police operation. With them, we think we’ve covered what we’re investigating and don’t think there’s any danger in travelling.”
He added: “As far as we know, this is the first time that an investigation of this type has been launched (in Iceland).
“The origin of the police operations yesterday … was in the context of an investigation into the preparation of a terrorist attack.”
Mr Valsson added that the investigation was continuing but further arrests could not be ruled out.
Iceland, a small countryof 375,000 people, has topped the Global Peace Index since it was included in the ranking in 2008 and is considered one of the most peaceful places in the world.
For Wolf Hall and its follow-up, Bring Up the Bodies, Dame Hilary Mantel was awarded the Booker Prize. When a trilogy’s conclusion, Mirror, and the Light, was released in 2020, it immediately shot to the top of the fiction bestseller list.
Dame Hilary Mantel, the winner of two Booker Prizes and author of the monumental Wolf Hall trilogy, passed away at the age of 70.
In a statement, her publisher 4th Estate books said: “We are heartbroken at the death of our beloved author, Dame Hilary Mantel, and our thoughts are with her friends and family, especially her husband, Gerald.
The Derbyshire-born British writer won the Booker Prize for Wolf Hall, and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies.
The conclusion to the trilogy, Mirror, and the Light, was published in 2020. It was an instant number one fiction best-seller and longlisted for Booker Prize the same year, winning the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, which she first won for Wolf Hall.
The trilogy, which charts the rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell in the court of King Henry VIII, made her an international star.
It has been translated into 41 languages, with more than five million worldwide sales.
The first two books were adapted for the screen and broadcast on BBC Two in January 2015, with the six-part series earning substantial critical acclaim, pulling in an average audience of more than four million viewers.
Directed by Peter Kosminsky, the series starred Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell, Damian Lewis as Henry VIII and Claire Foy as Anne Boleyn.
At the 2016 TV BAFTAs, it won best drama series, while Rylance picked up the award for best actor for his performance. At the Golden Globes the same year, it was named the best mini-series.
Paying tribute, publishers HarperCollins described Dame Hilary as “one of the greatest English novelists of this century”.
“Her beloved works are considered modern classics. She will be greatly missed.”
Her writing career spanned decades, from the publication of her first novel Every Day Is Mother’s Day in 1985, to becoming the film critic of the Spectator magazine in 1987 before she was regularly winning literary prizes for her books.
Nicholas Pearson, former publishing director of 4th Estate and Dame Hilary’s long-term editor revealed she had been working on a new book.
“Only last month I sat with her on a sunny afternoon in Devon, while she talked excitedly about the new novel she had embarked on.
“That we won’t have the pleasure of any more of her words is unbearable. What we do have is a body of work that will be read for generations. We must be grateful for that. I will miss her and my thoughts are with her husband Gerald.”
Harry Potter author JK Rowling shared a tweet from 4th Estate Books announcing Mantel’s death, writing “We’ve lost a genius.”
When she won her first Booker prize, Dame Hilary famously said she would spend the money on “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll”. The second time she joked about rehab.
She was not a stranger to controversy and was outspoken on a number of subjects including the monarchy – and Brexit, saying in 2021 that she hoped to gain Irish citizenship, leave the country, and become “a European again”.
In 2013 she famously spoke about Kate Middleton – now Princess of Wales – being forced to present herself publicly as a personality-free “shop window mannequin”.
The following year in an interview she recalled fantasising about the murder of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, which she later wrote as a short story.
She was also forthright in her wish for the UK to become a republic, describing “the howl phenomenon of monarchy” as “irrational”.
The writer also criticised the Catholic Church in 2012, saying it was no longer “an institution for respectable people”.
The author experienced chronic illness throughout her life, having a severe form of endometriosis that took many years to diagnose and left her unable to have children.
Bill Hamilton, Dame Hilary’s agent at literary agency A.M. Heath, said it had been the “greatest privilege” to work with her throughout her career, adding she would also be remembered for “her capacity to electrify a live audience”.
He said: “Her wit, stylistic daring, creative ambition, and phenomenal historical insight mark her as one of the greatest novelists of our time.”
“Emails from Hilary were sprinkled with bon mots and jokesas she observed the world with relish and pounced on the lazy or absurd and nailed cruelty and prejudice,” he said.
“There was always a slight aura of otherworldliness about her, as she saw and felt things us ordinary mortals missed, but when she perceived the need for a confrontation she would fearlessly go into battle.
“And all of that against the backdrop of chronic health problems, which she dealt with so stoically. We will miss her immeasurably, but as a shining light for writers and readers, she leaves an extraordinary legacy. Our thoughts go out to her beloved husband Gerald, family, and friends.”
Police are actively looking for the Warwick University scientist who went missing in the Chilean desert about a week ago.
According to police, a British professor who was visiting Chile to study has gone missing.
Tom Marsh, 60, from Rugby in Warwickshire, had been visiting La Silla Observatory on the outskirts of the Chilean Atacama Desert, about 370 miles (595km) north of the capital Santiago.
He has not been heard from since the night of Friday 16 September.
He will likely wear a blue rain jacket, walking boots, and a grey woolen hat.
Professor Marsh works in the Department of Physics at Warwick University, where his research interest is in binary stars.
In a statement through Warwickshire Police, his family said: “We are deeply concerned for Tom and miss him, and would ask anyone who may have information on his whereabouts to please help.”
In a post on social media, his daughter Tabitha said the family was “desperate” to find him, adding: “He was out on an observing run at the La Silla Observatory in Chile when he went missing.
“The closest town is La Serena. If anyone has any information or thinks they can help, please contact the police… Thank you.
“My family, and my dad’s friends and colleagues, would be beyond grateful for any help or information.”
Image: La Silla European Southern Observatory
Warwickshire Police said its officers are in contact with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and Interpol, as well as Chilean authorities.
Anyone with information should call Warwickshire Police on 101 quoting incident number 153 of 18 September 2022.
If calling from outside the UK, police can be contacted at +44 1926 415000 or information can be reported online.
Optus, the second-largest telecommunications provider in Australia, has announced a cyberattack.
Customers’ names, birthdates, phone numbers, and email addresses were revealed due to the breach.
The company – which has more than ten million subscribers – says it has shut down the attack but not before other details such as driver’s licenses and passport numbers were hacked.
Optus says payment data and account passwords were not compromised.
(2/3) While we are not aware of customers having suffered any harm, we encourage you to have a heightened awareness across your accounts, including looking out for unusual or fraudulent activity, as well as any notifications which may seem odd or suspicious.
The company said it would notify those at “heightened risk” but all customers should check their accounts.
Chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin apologized to its customers, on ABC TV.
She said names, dates of birth, and contact details had been accessed, “in some cases” the driving license number, and in “a rare number of cases the passport and the mailing address” had also been exposed.
The company had notified the Australian Federal Police after noticing “unusual activity”.
And investigators were trying “to understand who has been accessing the data and for what purpose”.
Optus says the type of information that may have been hacked includes customers’
names
dates of birth
phone numbers
email addresses
addresses
ID document numbers such as driver’s license or passport numbers
“Optus is working with the Australian Cyber Security Centreto mitigate any risks to customers,” a statement on its website said.
“Optus has also notified key financial institutions about this matter.
“While we are not aware of customers having suffered any harm, we encourage customers to have heightened awareness across their accounts, including looking out for unusual or fraudulent activity and any notifications which seem odd or suspicious.”
Ms Rosmarin said the company had put all customers on high alert as a precaution – but many have been left frustrated and concerned.
Hey @Optus might be good if you’d bothered to tell me you’d/I’d been hacked and what I can do about it!
Kaspersky cyber-security researcher David Emm told BBC News: “It’s good to see that Optus has said that it will contact those it believes are affected and that they will not be sending messages in emails or via SMS [text] messages – this makes it clear to customers that any such messages they receive will be fake.
“It’s also reassuring that no passwords or payment information has been stolen.
“Nevertheless, customers should be on the alert for any fraudulent activity they see and should protect their online accounts with unique, complex passwords and using two-factor authentication.”
The 737 Max was grounded for 20 months after two crashes killed 346 people.
As part of the settlement, Mr Muilenburg will also pay a penalty of $1m.
“In times of crisis and tragedy, it is especially important that public companies and executives provide full, fair, and truthful disclosures to the markets,” SEC chairman Gary Gensler said in a statement.
Boeing and Mr Muilenburg “failed in this most basic obligation,” he added.
The SEC’s statement also said that both Boeing and Mr Muilenburg did not admit or deny the regulator’s findings.
“We will never forget those lost on Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, and we have made broad and deep changes across our company in response to those accidents,” Boeing said in response to the SEC’s announcement.
“Fundamental changes that have strengthened our safety processes andoversight of safety issues, and have enhanced our culture of safety, quality, and transparency,” the company added.
The SEC said a fund will be established for investors who suffered losses due to the misleading information between 2018 and 2019.
This settlement is largely symbolic. The 737 Max scandal has already cost Boeing tens of billions – another $200m will barely register.
But it does give the SEC the chance to call out Boeing and its ex-chief executive Dennis Muilenburg for making assurances about the plane’s safety, when they already knew it had a serious problem – thereby misleading investors.
It’s unlikely this will cause Boeing any meaningful harm. Its corporate reputation had already been severely damaged by the affair. The company is now working hard to restore it, and regain public and investor confidence.
For Mr Muilenberg himself, the financial consequences of the settlement won’t be that painful either. He received some $60m in compensation and benefits when he left the company. But the fact that the SEC chose to charge him personally sends out a powerful signal.
There have been criticisms in some quarters that the ex-boss has not been properly held to account for his role in the affair. On this occasion, though, the finger has been pointed squarely in his direction.
On 29 October 2018, Lion Air Flight610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after taking off from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, killing all 189 passengers and crew.
Less than five months later, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, another Boeing 737 Max on its way to Kenya, crashed six minutes after leaving Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa. All 157 people on board were killed.
The crashes were linked to a flight control system called the “Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System” (MCAS) in the Boeing 737 Max.
The SEC said that “after the first crash, Boeing and Mr Muilenburg knew that MCAS posed an ongoing airplane safety issue, but assured the public that the 737 Max was safe to fly.
The crashes have cost Boeing more than $20bn, including payments to families of those killed in the crashes.
In the wake of the incidents, the US Congress passed new legislation reforming how the country’s aviation regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), certifies new planes.
A small number of trials are expected to start next year to resolve outstanding claims.
Beth Rigby, the political editor for Sky, has spoken with some of the chancellor’s colleagues.
One said it was now “starting to look like a Conservative government”, while another said they were very supportive.
A third said there was no future in the “steady as she goes” approach pursued under the previous chancellor Rishi Sunak, and that now is the right time to go for growth.
However, it is notable that those who opposed the tax-cutting, high-spending plans outlined by Liz Truss in her bid to be Tory leader seem to be keeping their cards close to their chest.
Sunak supporter and Treasury committee chair Mel Stride said there was a “vast void at the centre of the announcements”.
Veteran Conservative Sir Roger Gale said: “Fortune favours the brave, but not the foolhardy.
“Without the support of an OBR Kwasi Kwarteng’s not-so-mini budget is certainly brave but also looks very high risk indeed. I trust that the promised detailed figures will underpin his calculations.”
The Treasury is understood to have based its analysis on the OBR forecast from March, with updated market prices.
A United Nations human rights team says rape cases are now so frequent in South Sudan that many women choose not to bother reporting frequent sexual assaults.
Even those who have been gang-raped repeatedly during the country’s prolonged conflict lack access to medical and trauma care.
Some women have been raped up to five times in the last nine years, the panel said.
“Just imagine what it means to be raped by multiple armed men, pick yourself up for the sake of your children, and then for it to happen again and again and again,” said Yasmin Sooka, the chairperson of the panel.
In several villages in Western Equatoria State and Unity State – where fighting is ongoing – there is no medical care for rape victims, the panel said.
“Women raped by armed forces while collecting firewood are threatened with death if they report it,” said Prof Andrew Clapham, a member of the panel.
The experts have been participating in meetings at the UN General Assembly in New York to speak about the situation in South Sudan.
In response to the coup in Conakry last year, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has decided to impose sanctions on individuals in Guinea’s military government.
The leaders from the bloc met in New York where they were attending the UN General Assembly.
They agreed on “gradual sanctions” on a list of people linked to the Guinean junta who will be identified “very soon”, the AFP news agency reports.
In a statement, the Guinean interim prime minister, Bernard Gomou, had earlier described the Ecowas chief and president of neighbouring Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, as a “puppet” and an “overexcited” man who had “forced his way in” to lead the regional organisation.
Guinea was suspended from Ecowas following the coup in September last year.
As he announced his mini-budget, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng promised to “turn the vicious cycle of stagnation into a virtuous cycle of growth.”
He is proposing the largest tax cuts since 1988, which will be paid for by a significant increase in borrowing.
It is being seen as a major change of direction for the government under new Prime Minister Liz Truss.
It comes as the Bank of England warns the UK may already be in recession.
In a departure from Boris Johnson’s economic policies, Mr Kwarteng has scrapped plans to push up taxes to pay for public services with the aim of kick-starting the UK’s sluggish economy.
In a statement to the Commons, he said: “Growth is not as high as it needs to be, which has made it harder to pay for public services, requiring taxes to rise.
“This cycle of stagnation has led to the tax burden being forecast to reach the highest levels since the late 1940s.
“We are determined to break that cycle. We need a new approach for a new era focused on growth.”
The government normally releases an independent forecast of how major tax changes will impact the economy, but Mr Kwarteng has opted not to do this, as his statement is not technically a Budget.
However, Mr Kwarteng promised the Office for Budget Responsibility would publish a full economic forecast before the end of the year, with a second to follow in the new year.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies thinks tank has published its own analysis, saying: “The government is choosing to ramp up borrowing just as it becomes more expensive to do so, in a gamble on growth that may not pay off.”
Mr Kwarteng confirmed a planned corporation tax increase from 19% to 25% would also be scrapped.
The chancellor also announced an increase to the threshold people in England starts paying stamp duty on home purchases to £250,000.
For first-time buyers, the threshold will rise to £425,000.
There are likely to be changes in income tax.
Mr Kwarteng confirmed the cap on bankers’ bonuses would be lifted and new investment zones would be established, where businesses would benefit from tax cuts and planning rules would be relaxed to encourage house building.
The cost of cutting these taxes is estimated at about £30bn a year.
The statement also included details of the cost of the government’s plan to cap energy bills for households and businesses.
Mr Kwarteng said these estimated costs were “particularly uncertain, given volatile energy prices” but based on recent prices the total cost of the package for the six months from October was expected to be around £60bn.
Four seized regions of Ukraine are being held over by Russian-backed officials, who are holding so-called referendums on joining Russia.
These so-called elections, which have been denounced as invalid and fraudulent by Ukraine and the West, are being held over the course of five days in four front-line regions: two in the east and two in the south.
An annexation could lead to a claim by Russia that its territory is coming under attack from Western weapons supplied to Ukraine.
This could escalate the war further.
What is going on and why now?
Seven months after Russia’s invasion began, Vladimir Putinis on the back foot. Ukraine’s counter-offensive has recaptured swathes of territory seized since the 24 February invasion.
A vote on annexation is one of three steps taken by the Kremlin in an attempt to reset the war.
By annexing another 15% of sovereign Ukraine, Russia will be able to claim its territory is under attack from weapons provided by Nato and other Western countries to Ukraine. By calling up 300,000 extra troops, it can defend a front line of 1,000km (620 miles). The Kremlin has also criminalized desertion, surrender and going absent without leave during mobilization.
If Russia’s leader annexing territory sounds familiar, it is. When he ordered troops to seize Crimea in 2014, he followed it up with a vote rejected as an illegitimate sham by the international community.
This latest event has also been denounced as illegal by many Western countries, including international monitoring groups, the OSCE, and Russian media have already said that a Yes-vote is beyond doubt.
It is taking place over five days in Russia’s two proxy areas in Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and in occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.
What makes these votes a sham?
We have already seen how Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014. While the Kremlin claimed 96.7% support, a leaked report from Russia’s Human Rights Council said only around 30% had voted and barely half supported annexation.
Not a shot had been fired in Crimea, and yet in this latest case voting is expected to take place in the middle of a war.
The four regions involved are either partially or completely under occupation.
In the south, the city of Kherson is not a safe place right now, with Russian soldiers struggling to hold back a big Ukrainian counter-offensive. The central administration building was hit by a series of missiles only last week.
A secure vote is impossible, and yet officials talk of 750,000 people registered and plans to incorporateoccupied parts of another Ukrainian region, Mykolayiv, into the annexed area.
Russian media reported that elected officials would go from door-to-door with portable ballot boxes from Friday to Monday.
Polling stations will only operate on the fifth day, 27 September, with officials citing security reasons.
Hundreds of stations are scheduled to open that day, with voters also able to cast ballots in regions outside their own – and refugees eligible to vote in parts of Russia itself.
Then there’s Zaporizhzhia’s capital, which remains securely in Ukrainian hands, so any vote to annex that region makes little sense.
Donetsk in the east is only 60% under Russian occupation and very much at the heart of the conflict.
Russia does control most of Luhansk in the northeast even if it has begun to lose ground. Russian news agencies showed flyers being handed out entitled “Russia is the future”.
Much of the pre-war population has fled the conflict. The head of Russia’s proxy authority in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, ordered a mass evacuation days before the invasion.
Russian-backed leaders have been keen to stage votes for several months, but the decision to hold the vote was taken just three days in advance and smacks of desperation.
There will be no independent observers. Much of the voting will be online, although officials have promised extra security at polling stations.
What will change?
Ukrainian defense ministry adviser Yuriy Sak told the BBC the so-called referendums were doomed. “We are seeing that local populations are all in favour of returning to Ukraine, and this is why there’s so much guerrilla movement resistance in these territories.”
In any event, Kyiv says nothing will change and its forces will continue to push to liberate the territories.
Russia analyst Alexander Baunov says merely redefining the occupied areas as Russian territory is unlikely to stop Ukraine’s army, but it does send a message of intent to the populations under their control. And the Kremlin’s hope is that the West will balk at having its weapons fired at land declared by Moscow as Russian.
Alarmingly President Putin has spoken of using all means at his disposal “to protect Russia”. And in case there was any doubt at all. the deputy head of Russia’s security council, Dmitry Medvedev, made clear that nuclear weapons could also be used to protect annexed territories.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken of a“dangerous escalation”, but reaffirmed Washington’s position that no Russian claim to Ukrainian soil could take away Ukraine’s right to defend itself.
Even Turkey, which has sought to play a mediating role, has damned the vote as illegitimate.
A man who orchestrated a savage assault on four women who were eating at a Chinese restaurant has been given a 24-year prison term.
In June, in the northeastern city of Tangshan, Chen Jizhi was convicted of the attack that started when one of the ladies rejected his advances.
Another 27 men were convicted over the violence, in which they used bottles, chairs, and fists to beat the women.
The surveillance video went viral, sparking debate about gender violence in China.
After the attack, two of the women spent time in intensive care, while the other two women were seen in photos covered in blood, although their injuries were initially classed by police as only “minor”.
A report released soon after the assault found the handling of the case by the local deputy director of district police and other officers had been “slow and improper”.
Chinese authorities censored online debate about attacks on women, and tried to paint the assault as a gang crime, correspondents say.
The viciousness of the attack sparked outrage and heated debate on social media, taking up one of the most-discussed topics on Weibo, a popular social media platform in China.
Mpho Tutu van Furth, an Anglican priest in the Diocese of Washington, DC, was requested to preside at Thursday’s burial in Shropshire for her late godfather, Martin Kenyon.
Ms Tutu van Furth told BBC News it “seemed really churlish and hurtful”.
The Diocese of Hereford said it was “a difficult situation”.
The Church of England does not permit its clergy to be in a same-sex marriage because its official teaching is that marriage is only between one man and one woman.
However, its sister Anglican church in the US, The Episcopal Church,does allow clergy to enter into gay marriages.
“Advice was given in line with the House of Bishop’s current guidance on same-sex marriage,” a statement from the Diocese of Hereford said.
The former Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Reverend Paul Bayes, who is a campaigner for the church to change its position on sexuality, said to “plead that things are difficult is not good enough”.
“We urgently need to make space for conscience, space for pastoral care, and space for love,” he said.
After Mr Kenyon’s family was told of the Church’s decision, they moved the funeral service from St Michael and All Angels in Wentnor, near Bishops Castle, to a marquee in the vicarage next door so Ms Tutu van Furth could officiate and preach.
“It’s incredibly sad,” Ms Tutu van Furth told BBC News. “It feels like a bureaucratic response with maybe a lack of compassion.
“It seemed really churlish and hurtful. But as sad as that was, there was the joy of having a celebration of a person who could throw open the door to people who are sometimes excluded.”
Martin Kenyon, then 91, became an internet sensation in December 2020 with his frank answers during a CNN interview after receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.
Asked how it felt to be one of the first people in the world to receive the jab, he said: “I don’t think I feel much at all”. But added he hoped not to have the “bug” now because he had granddaughters.
“There’s no point in dying when I’ve lived this long, is there?” he said.
Mr Kenyon was close friends with the late South African Archbishop, Desmond Tutu.
Ms Tutu van Furth was forced to give her upright to officiate as a priest in South Africa after she married Marceline van Furth, a Dutch academic, in 2015.
Her father Desmond Tutu, who died in December 2021, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his struggle against apartheid in South Africa. He also campaigned in favour of gay rights and backed same-sex marriage.
“I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,” he said in 2013. “I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this.”
Starting on October 11, visitors won’t require a visa and won’t have to go via a travel agency to enter the nation.
A cap on daily arrivals will also be lifted.
Japan’s announcement comes at around the same time Taiwan and Hong Kong also relaxed entry rules for visitors.
Taiwan will drop quarantine requirements for international arrivals by mid-October, while Hong Kong on Friday said it would move from hotel quarantine to stay-at-home requirements from 26 September.
For Japan, the anticipated influx of travelers will be a welcome boost to government and local businesses and comes as the Japanese yen has slid to its slowest point against the US dollar in six months.
“Japan will relax border control measures to be on par with the US,” said Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
The country has allowed visitors since June, but they had to be part of tours.
Mr Kishida also announced a domestic travel incentive scheme that will give discounts on travel, theme park prices, sporting events, and concerts. Japanese residents and citizens will be eligible for an 11,000 yen (£69; $77) subsidy.
Similar programmes have been introduced in other countries re-openings to encourage localsto spend and stimulate the economy. However, like elsewhere, the rise in the cost of living has been a dominant concern for locals.
The world’s third-largest economy was one of the last Asian powerhouses to keep its borders closed due to Covid health concerns.
Its death rate is the lowest among the world’s wealthiest nations, while the country’s vaccination rate is among the highest.
Japan also never mandated lockdowns or mask-wearing, but many locals readily adopted protections.
Japan saw nearly 32 million foreigners visit in 2019, the last year prior to the pandemic. And the restrictions on travellers in recent months had precluded many foreigners from visiting, reports showed.
A top White House source told the BBC that Vladimir Putin’s veiled threats to use nuclear weapons to defend territory in Ukraine are being taken “seriously” by the US.
John Kirby said the US was not changing its “strategic deterrent posture”, but that Mr Putin spoke irresponsibly.
On Wednesday Russia’s leader warned his country would use all the means at its disposal to protect its territory.
It came as four Ukrainian regions part-occupied by Russian forces are about to stage snap votes on joining Russia.
Ukraine and its allies call these votes a sham exercise, designed to give spurious legitimacy to an illegal annexation.
“It is a dangerous precedent for Mr Putin to be using this kind of rhetoric in the context of a war clearly that he’s losing inside Ukraine,” National Security Council spokesman Mr Kirby told the BBC.
“We have to take these threats seriously and we do… We’ve been monitoring, as best we can, his nuclear capabilities, I can tell you that we don’t see any indication that we need to change our strategic deterrent posture at this point.”
“But it’s not going to work,” he said. “No one’s going to recognise it. And what needs to happen is Mr Putin needs to leave Ukraine. He needs to stop this war.”
Russia’s conduct in Ukraine was strongly condemned at a special meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Thursday.
“This week, President Putin said Russia wouldn’t hesitate to use ‘all weapon systems available’ in response to a threat to its territorial integrity – a threat all the more menacing given Russia’s intention to annex large swaths of Ukraine in the days ahead…” said US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
“This from a country that in January of this year joined the other permanent members of the Security Council in signing a statement affirming that ‘nuclear war can never be won and must never be fought.”
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused some Security Council members of trying to impose a false narrative on Moscow’s operations in Ukraine and restating allegations that ethnic Russians had been persecuted by Ukrainian government forces.
“There’s an attempt today to impose on us a completely different narrative to show Russian aggression as the origin of all the tragedy,” Mr Lavrov said.
“This ignores the fact that for over eight years the Ukrainian army and fighters from the nationalist formations killed and continue to kill inhabitants of [the east Ukrainian region of] Donbas with impunity simply because they refused to recognise the results of the coup d’etat in Kyiv. They decided to uphold their rights, which were guaranteed by the Ukrainian Constitution, including the right to freely use Russian, their mother tongue.”
Russia attempts to justify its invasion by saying it is fighting neo-Nazis, a claim widely dismissed by the international community, as well as resisting Nato expansion.
In his speech on Wednesday, President Putin also announced a call-up for reservists in a move analysts say is a sign that Russia’s forces in Ukraine are struggling to hold on to the strip of the territory they occupy in the east and south.
Liz Truss, who is following Donald Trump’s lead, says she is thinking of moving the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. This would be a radical change from decades of UK foreign policy.
In a meeting on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York, the prime minister told Israel’s caretaker leader, Yair Lapid, about a “review of the current location” of the building, Downing Street said in a statement.
The status of Jerusalem, which Israelis and Palestinians claim as their capital, is one of the most sensitive issues in the long-running conflict.
East Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, has been considered occupied Palestinian territory under international law since the six-day war in 1967.
Like the vast majority of the international community, the UK’s position until this point has been that the divided city should host consulates, rather than embassies until a final peace agreement is reached.
Trump’s 2018 fulfillment of an election campaign promise to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital prompted international condemnationand led to protests and clashes in which Israeli forces killed dozens of Palestinians. The then UK prime minister Theresa May criticised the move at the time.
On Thursday, the Israeli prime minister tweeted his thanks to Truss for what he described as “positively considering” the move. “We will continue to strengthen the partnership between the countries,” he said.
מודה לידידתי הטובה, ראשת ממשלת בריטניה ליז טראס, שהודיעה כי היא שוקלת בחיוב את העברת שגרירות בריטניה לירושלים בירת ישראל- אנחנו נמשיך לחזק את השותפות בין המדינות 🇮🇱🇬🇧
The Guardian understands that the embassy move was one of a range of options put forward to Truss by Foreign Office staff in late 2021 during her stint as foreign secretary. However, she did not make any substantial policy changes during her two years at the foreign office.
The prime minister appears to have first publicly floated the idea of relocating the embassy in a letter to the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) parliamentary group during the Tory leadership campaign over the summer.
She wrote: “I understand the importance and sensitivity of the location of the British embassy in Israel. I’ve had many conversations with my good friend … Lapid on this topic. Acknowledging that, I will review a move to ensure we are operating on the strongest footing within Israel.”
At a hustings with CFI, she vowed that “under my leadership, Israel will have no stauncher friend in the world. That’s what I’ve done as foreign secretary and trade secretary. I don’t just talk the talk – I walk the walk.”
Pressed in the House of Commons on 6 September by the backbench Tory MP Michael Fabricant to follow the US and move the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Foreign Office minister Amanda Milling said: “The British embassy to Israel is in Tel Aviv. I am aware of the possibility of a review, but will not speculate further on this point.”
Her remarks suggest the review is only just under way, but advocates of the move inside the Conservative party claim the proposal will prove less controversial than even a few years ago due to the Trump administration setting a precedent, and the thaw in relations between Israel and some Arab countries following the Abraham accords.
Downing Street has been contacted to explain how long the review will take.
Other than the US, only three states have embassies to Israel in Jerusalem – Kosovo, Honduras and Guatemala – which all moved from Tel Aviv after the US relocation.
At first, Mariana assumed that she would be a priority for a prisoner swap. But as her due date at the end of September approached, she began to fear she would give birth in captivity, and became increasingly worried that her baby would be taken from her.
Frustrated at the lack of news, her family decided to go public with Mariana’s story in August, drawing attention to her case in the Ukrainian media.
Still, weeks passed with no progress, but finally – just days before she is due to give birth – her family received the good news that she had been released.
Russian men evading mobilization orders will not be granted humanitarian visas, according to Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky.
While understanding their intentions, Lipavsky told the Czech news outlet Novinky. cz that such situations did not fit the requirements for a humanitarian visa.
The Czech Republic joins other countries such as Latvia which has said it will not provide sanctuary to Russians seeking to avoid the draft on humanitarian grounds. Germany, on the other hand, says it will do so.
The Czech Foreign Ministry has also confirmed it has written to two NHL teams to say Prague would not issue visas to Russian ice hockey players wishing to travel to the Czech capital to take part in the NHL’s Global Series games.
Prague will host two matches between the San Jose Sharks and the Nashville Predators, both of which have Russian players, on 7 and 8 October.
The world’s largest electric-vehicle manufacturer has had repeated run-ins with federal safety regulators, whom chief executive Elon Musk calls “the fun police”.
Previous recalls have been due to:
rear-view cameras
bonnet latches
seat-belt reminders
sound-system software
This latest covers all four Tesla models, specifically 2017-22 Model 3 sedans and some 2020-21 Model Y SUVs (sports utility vehicles), Model S sedans and Model X SUVs.
Tesla discovered the problem with the automatic windows during production testing in August.
Owners will be notified by letter, from15 November.
The majority of patients who are ready to leave the hospital cannot be released right away, frequently due to a lack of community support.
Health Secretary Thérèse Coffey says the pot can be used to pay for extra help for patients who need it.
It is part of a package of measures announced by Ms Coffey, but experts said they amount to little more than “tinkering around the edges”.
Ms Coffey has also promised to improve access to GPs by allowing them to take on more senior nurses alongside giving extra responsibilities to pharmacists.
This would free up three million appointments a year – about 1% of the total, she said.
Same-day appointments would be available for patients who needed them, while those wanting a routine appointment should wait no longer than two weeks.
Reduce delays
The measures to support hospitals also include a promise to create more flexible pension rules.
Currently, senior doctors who take on extra shifts can face high tax bills if their earnings go above the pension cap.
Ms Coffey also reiterated previous commitments to take on extra 999 call handlers and free up hospital beds by giving more support to patients at home.
During the pandemic, patients who needed it received four weeks of support when discharged from the hospital.
This scheme helped reduce delays but was scrapped earlier this year despite warnings from hospital bosses.
Many in the care sector will view the £500m as little more than a sticking plaster.
The money helps but absent from the plan is the sort of cash injection needed to tackle deep-rooted staff shortages.
Charities, care providers, and councils have all called for enough funding to increase care worker pay significantly.
The rising cost of living has made it even more difficult to recruit staff, who can often earn more working at a supermarket check-out.
In recent weeks, care workers have told the BBC rising prices to mean they sometimes go hungry, despite working long hours doing a vital and skilled job.
If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is how intertwined the health and care systems are.
It is argued that for the NHS to be successful in tackling backlogs and reducing ambulance delays, then much more will need to be done to strengthen the care sector now – not just in the future.
Ms Coffey said the measures in Our Plan for Patients would support the NHS through this winter.
“Patients and those who draw on care and support are my top priority and we will help them receive care as quickly and conveniently as possible,” she added.
But the plans have been criticized by doctors’ leaders and health experts.
Prof Martin Marshall, of the Royal College of GPs, said the announcement on GPs did not amount to a proper plan and would have a “minimal impact”, accusing ministers of “lumbering a struggling service with more expectations” without the means to achieve them.
“GPs share patients’ frustrations when we cannot deliver the care we want to deliver in a timely way,” he said.
“But we are caring for an increasing number of patients,with increasingly complex health needs and carrying out more consultations with fewer qualified, full-time GPs.”
Dr Jennifer Dixon, chief executive of the Health Foundation, said the measures amounted to a series of “short-term fixes” that were tiny compared to the scale of the challenges.
While the King’s Fund said it amounted to little more than “tinkering around the edges”.
Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “The Conservatives have failed to provide the doctors and nurses needed to treat patients on time – and patients are paying the price in record-long waiting times.
The Ukrainian president demanded the establishment of a special war tribunal and described alleged war crimes committed by Russia in a pre-recorded video.
He also set out a “formula”, including more military support and punishing Russia on the world stage.
During his address to the UN General Assembly in New York, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia must receive “just punishment” for its invasion of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian president demanded the establishment of a special war tribunal and described alleged war crimes committed by Russia in a pre-recorded video.
r called up 300,000 reservists for duty.
The move prompted rare protests in dozens of Russian cities and Mr Zelensky said the partial mobilization showed his enemy was not serious about peace talks. Monitoring group OVD-Info said 1,315 Russians had been arrested.
The Kremlin said the call-up would be limited to those who had completed military service and had important skills and combat experience. But some of those arrested during protests in Moscow were also told they would have to sign up, reports say.
The Ukrainian leader said creating a special tribunal would help hold Moscow to account for stealing territory and murdering thousands of people. His address on Wednesday received a standing ovation from many of the session’s attendees.
Despite Russia’s decision to bolster its military campaign, the two sides took part in the biggest exchange of prisoners since the start of the war.
In a deal brokered by Saudi Arabia, 215 fighters were returned to the Ukrainian side, including 10 foreigners – while Russia took back 55 soldiers. Pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvechuk was also part of the swap. He has been seen as President Putin’s closest ally in Ukraine and faced treason charges.
Ukraine said that among those released were 108 members of the Azov battalion whofor weeks defied Russia’s bombardment of Mariupol and the city’s steel plant.
Battalion commander Denys Prokopenko and his deputy were among five senior officers freed. So too was Ukrainian military medic Mariana Mamonova, who is more than eight months pregnant and was being held in the notorious Olenivka prison in an area of eastern Ukraine held by Russian-backed separatists.
IMAGE SOURCE, UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT Image caption, A heavily pregnant Mariana Mamonova was seen in a video of the exchange released by Ukrainian authorities
A fellow prisoner, who was released in July, told the BBC how the medic was forced to live in a cell with several other people, sleeping on the floor and going outside only once a day. Her husband had feared their baby would be taken away.
Ten foreign prisoners held by Russian-backed forces were also released, including five British nationals and two Americans.
In his UN address, Mr Zelensky condemned Russian plans to stage so-called referendums on joining Russia in occupied areas of Ukraine. The vote which is due to start on Friday has been widely condemned as a sham by Western leaders.
He addressed the discovery of 445 new graves in Izyum, a northeastern city recently retaken from Russian forces during a sweeping Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Mr Zelensky detailed allegations of war crimes in the city, including against one man said to have been castrated and murdered.
“Why are the Russian military so obsessed with castration?” he asked.
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERSImage caption, Zelensky’s words received a standing ovation from some quarters
The word “punishment” cropped up some 15 times in Mr Zelensky’s speech and was the first of his five non-negotiable conditions for peace.
Russia must face consequences for its aggression, he said, through further sanctions and by the UN stripping Moscow of its powerful role as a permanent Security Council member.
He also called for Ukrainian lives to be protected, and for the country’s internationally-recognized borders to be respected.
As his fourth and fifth conditions, he called for new security guarantees for Kyiv, and for the world to unite in calling out Moscow’s armed aggression.
Later on Wednesday, the European Union’s foreign policy chief said EU countries had agreed to hit Russia with new sanctions.
Sporting his signature green T-shirt in his video, Mr Zelensky thanked the 101 countries at the UN which voted to allow him to address the assembly in a video rather than in person.
He blasted the seven countries including Russia which voted against his video appearance and criticized those which have remained neutral during the conflict.
Their union says more than 40,000 employees of Network Rail and 15 train operators will go on strike once more on October 8.
As part of a protracted dispute over salary, employment, and working conditions, the RMT declared that it will “effectively shut down the railway network.”
It will come just a week after an even bigger strike by members of RMT and the train drivers union Aslef.
It added that full timetables for upcoming strike days would be published soon.
The latest action comes after a series of large-scale walkouts as unions call for pay increases in line with the rising cost of living.
In June, the biggest rail strikes for 30 years threatened to grind the country to a halt. But while some people faced substantial disruption it was business as usual for others.
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said the union had met with new Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan to discuss the disputes.
“However, as no new offer has been tabled, our members have no choice but to continue this strike action,” he said.
“We will continue to negotiate in good faith, but the employers and government need to understand our industrial campaign will continue for as long as it takes.”
The RMT, which represents rail workers including guards and signalling staff, had already announced its 40,000 members would strike on 1 October. This is the day before the London Marathon and the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Train drivers at 12 operators who are members of Aslef will also walk out on 1 October, meaning that only 10% of UK services are likely to run that day.
Aslef members will also hold a second day of strike action on 5 October.
After giving his speech, Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, left the UN Security Council meeting.
He began by saying: “There is an attempt today to impose on us a completely different narrative, about Russian aggression as the origin of all the tragedy”.
He continued by talking about the historical relationship between Ukraine and Russia and described Ukraine as “totalitarian”.
He added that he is “concerned about the fate of Russian soldiers takenprisoners by Ukraine”.
Mr Lavrov said he has “no confidence” in the work of the International Criminal Court.
After Russia’s foreign minister delivered a speech, James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said that we have since heard additional “distortions, dishonesty, and disinformation” from Russia.
At a UN Security Council meeting, Mr. Cleverly said: “President Putin invaded Ukraine illegally and without justification. He ignored the resounding pleas for peace I heard in this council on 17 February”.
He adds that Russia has tried to “lay the blame on those imposing sanctions” for Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
“Every day, the devastating consequences of Russia’s invasion become more clear,” he added.
“We see the mounting evidence of Russian atrocities against civilians, including indiscriminate shelling and targeted attacks on more than 200 medical facilities and 40 educational institutions – and horrific acts of sexual violence.”
Mr Cleverly then went on to talk about food security.
On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization that may call up to 300,000 individuals to fight.
The Kremlin says reports of fighting-age men fleeing are exaggerated.
But on the border with Georgia, miles-long queues of vehicles have formed including men trying to escape the war.
One man, who did not want to be named, told the BBC’s Rayhan Demytrie he had grabbed his passport and headed to the border, without packing anything else, immediately after President Putin’s announcement – because he fell into the group that could potentially be sent to the war.
Some witnesses estimated the queue of cars at the Upper Lars checkpoint to be some 5km (3 miles) long, while another group said it had taken seven hours to get across the border. Video from the scene showed some drivers leaving their cars or trucks temporarily in standstill traffic.
Georgia is one of the few neighboring countries that Russians can enter without needing a apply for a visa. Finland, which shares a 1,300km (800 miles) border with Russia, does require a visa for travel, and also reported an increase in traffic overnight – but said it was at a manageable level.
Other destinations reachable by air – such as Istanbul, Belgrade, or Dubai – have seen ticket prices skyrocket immediately after the military call-up was announced, with some destinations sold out completely. Turkish mediahave reported a largespike in one-way ticket sales while remaining flights to non-visa destinations can cost thousands of euros.
After a 17-day search following an earthquake in southwest China, a man was found alive in the mountains.
On September5, a 6.6-magnitude earthquake that struck Sichuan province killed 93 people and injured over 400 others.
Gan Yu stayed behind to help others at the hydropower plant where he was on duty, but then struggled to escape through the rough terrain as he had lost his glasses, local media reported.
He was found alive but injured by a local villager on Wednesday.
Mr Gan and his colleague Luo Yong stayed behind at the Wandong hydropower plant on 5 September to give first aid to injured colleagues and to help prevent flooding by releasing water from a dam.
They then attempted to leave, walking for about 20km (12 miles) in the mountains aroundthe plant.
But Mr Gan, who is severely short-sighted and had lost his glasses in the quake, struggled to navigate the terrain, state-owned China National Radio (CNR) reported.
Rescuers were searching the area for survivors, and the two men tried unsuccessfully to signal for help.
“We took our clothes off, strung them on tree branches, and waved them around,” Mr Luo told CNR.
Eventually, Mr Luo went to look for help, leaving Mr Gan with a makeshift bed of moss and bamboo leaves and some wild fruit and bamboo shoots to eat.
Mr Luo was found on 8 September after using fire to attract the rescuers’ attention. But by the time his former companion’s shelter was found three days later, Mr Gan was no longer there.
Rescuers discovered only discarded clothing and believed he may have died of hypothermia.
This week a farmer who lives near the plant joined the search, using his local knowledge. After a few hours, he heard Mr Gan’s cries and found him under trees.
Rescuers later reached the scene and flew Mr Gan to a hospital, where he was treated for broken bones.
A Briton, Shaun Pinnerwas freed as part of a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine,and he has since been reunited with his family.
In April, Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine arrested Mr. Pinner, 48, who was later found guilty of “mercenary actions” and given the death penalty.
Our correspondent Emma Birchley spoke to him at his mother and stepfather’s home near Sandy in Bedfordshire.
“It’s good to be home,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a steak dinner tonight!”
For Mr Pinner’s mother, Debbie Price, the relief is overwhelming.
“It’s been a really, really hard time,” she said. “We are just so happy to have him home. It’s hugely emotional.”
The first hint Mr Pinner had that something was happening was after lunch on Tuesday.
“They said you have to roll your stuff up. They said you’re going on a long journey,” he said.
“We were moved to another location. We didn’t have any idea what was happening.”
He was later flown with other released captives to Saudi Arabia.
At 5.30 pm UK time yesterday, Mr Pinner was able to speak to his mother on the phone, from the Middle Eastern country.
“It’s very emotional, as you can imagine,” he said. “I really want to say thank you to everyone who helped us get out from the government of Saudi Arabia and also Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.
“The Saudis gave us a full MOT. Their hospitality was great,” he said.
“Our thoughts go out to those who hope to be exchangedsoon,” he said, referring to the prisoner swap which resulted in his release.
He added that he has many friends still in Ukraine, as well as his wife. Today is their second wedding anniversary.
It’s hoped she will be able to get a visa to also come to the UK.
Mr Pinner’s sister Cassandra said she can’t believe how much changed in just 24 hours and described the feeling as “surreal”.
She knew something was up when her mother phoned her at work, after being contacted by the Foreign Office at just before midday yesterday.
Mr Pinner is yet to be fully debriefed by the Foreign Office and Intelligence Services.
Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng,has announced that the National Insurance increase from April will be repealed starting on November 6.
The 1.25% increase was put in place by the former chancellor Rishi Sunak, but Liz Truss promised to reverse it during the Tory leadership race.
Mr Kwarteng made the announcement ahead of a “mini-budget” on Friday.
He said: “Taxing our way to prosperity has never worked.
“To raise living standards for all, we need to be unapologetic about growing our economy. Cutting tax is crucial to this.”
The Treasury said most employees will receive a cut to their national insurance contribution directly via their employer’s payroll in their November pay, although some may be delayed to December or January.
They calculate that almost 28 million people will keep an extra £330 of their money on average next year, whilst 920,000 businesses are set to save almost £10,000 on average next year thanks to the change
In a tweet, Mr Kwarteng called it a “tax cut for workers”.
I can confirm that this year’s 1.25% point rise in National Insurance will be reversed on 6th November.
Its replacement – the Health and Social Care Levy planned for April 23 – will be cancelled.
The tax hike was put in place to help fix the NHS backlog and fund social care sector improvements. It was due to raise around £13bn per year.
However, Ms Truss argued it was wrong of her party to break its 2019 manifesto commitment not to raise taxes and said the extra funds can be raised through general taxation.
The chancellor confirmed today that the funding for health and social care services will be maintained at the same level as if the levy was in place.
MPs are expected to vote on repealing the health and social care levy once they return from party conferences in October.
“This is delivering on a commitment the PM made on the (Tory leadership) campaign trail,” a No 10 spokeswoman said.
The move comes ahead of Chancellor Kwarteng’s “fiscal event” on Friday when he will set out more details of the government’s plans to cut taxes, including scrapping a planned rise in corporation tax.
In what officials described as a “ransomware-style” cyber campaign, the US Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed a criminal indictment charging three Iranian nationals of hacking the networks of hundreds of victims in the US and abroad.
Although the indictment does notallege the hackers acted on behalf of the Iranian government, U.S. law enforcement agencies released a joint advisory warning about “continued malicious cyber activity” by actors affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while the Treasury Department blacklisted bitcoin addresses tied to two of the defendants.
The cybersecurity advisory was issued jointly by U.S., Australian, British, and Canadian law enforcement agencies.
In a video statement, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the advisory underscored the “broader threat” posed by Iranian cyber actors.
“To these sorts of actors, nothing is off limits, not even, for example, Boston Children’s Hospital, which they set their sights on in the summer of 2021,” Wray said in a video statement.
The three Iranian nationals — identified as Mansour Ahmadi, Ahmad Khatibi Aghda, and Amir Hossein Nickaein Ravari — are accused of carrying out “computer intrusions and ransomware-style extortion” between October 2020 and August 2022, according to a 30-page indictment unsealed Wednesday.
The men remain at large and are believed to be in Iran, according to U.S. law enforcement officials.
The State Department’s Rewards for Justice Program announced a reward of up to $10 million for information about the three.
Although the charging document does not accuse the Iranian government of sponsoring their activity, the Treasury Department said in a statement that all three defendants were affiliated with the IRGC, a branch of the Iranian military that operates a number of cyber threat actors tracked by the FBI.
“These IRGC-affiliated actors are actively targeting a broad range of entities across multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, as well as organizations in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom,” a senior FBI official said during a background call with reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
This is not the first time Iranian hackers have been charged in a broad cybercrime conspiracy. But the indictment comes as the Biden administration has mounted a whole-of-government effort over the past year to combat what is widely seen as a growing threat to U.S. national security: cybercriminals targeting critical infrastructure and services in what are known as “ransomware attacks.”
In a ransomware attack, cybercriminals encrypt a victim’s computer files and then demand payments in cryptocurrency in exchange for decrypting them.
U.S. law enforcement officials described the Iranian campaign of hacking and extortion as a “ransom-related cyberattack.”
Among the victims were a New Jersey township, two accounting firms, two power companies, a housing authority in Washington state, and a domestic violence shelter in Pennsylvania.
Wray said many of the victims of the hacking campaign “offer critical services we all rely on every day.”
“I’m talking about health care facilities, power companies, local governments in communities across the United States and around the globe,” he said.
In some cases, the hackers demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in payment, a Justice Department official said. Some victims made ransom payments. The domestic violence shelter paid $13,000 to restore access to its systems and data, according to the indictment.
Law enforcement officials said the victims were “targets of opportunity,” identified because of vulnerabilities in their computer systems.
In addition to targeting victims in the U.S., the hackers targeted companies and organizations in the United Kingdom, Iran, Israel, and Russia.
“No form of cyberattack is acceptable, but ransomware attacks that target critical infrastructure services, such as health care facilities and government agencies, are a threat to our national security,” said U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger for the District of New Jersey.
