Brexit: Draft plans propose UK to get delay to 22 May
A draft EU document says the delay would come with the condition MPs approve the PM's deal next week.
Celebrating Purim in Manchester – in pictures
Orthodox Jewish children in fancy dress and adults take to the streets of Broughton in Greater Manchester to celebrate the annual feast of Purim, celebrated by Jewish communities around the world with parades and costume parties. Purim commemorates the defeat of Haman, the adviser to the Persian king, and his plot to massacre the Jewish people, 2,500 years ago, as recorded in the biblical book of Esther.
Continue reading...Trump says time for U.S. to recognise Israeli sovereignty over Golan
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday it was time to back Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, territory Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War.
Israel’s Netanyahu thanks Trump for Golan announcement
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday after he said it was time to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, territory Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War.
Ethiopia says U.S., EU, French teams helping analyse crash black boxes
Ethiopian experts have begun analysing the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, the so-called black boxes, of doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 alongside international investigators, Ethiopia's Ministry of Transport said on Thursday.
Kent pupils could be left stranded by no-deal Brexit gridlock, warns council
Teachers told they may have to ‘adopt carer role’ if traffic stops parents picking children up
Teachers in primary schools in Kent have been told they may have to suspend classes and “adopt a carer role” in the event of disruption caused by a no-deal Brexit.
They have also been advised by local authorities to check on food supplies and warned that public transport and school coaches could be affected if there is “panic buying” of fuel, according to a document seen by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Brexit: Military steps up preparations in case of no deal
The armed forces have activated a team in a nuclear bunker under the Ministry of Defence to step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit, Sky News can reveal.
Labour’s been mocked for calling for an election. Now it’s the only way out | Owen Jones
The Tories’ partisan games have killed so many potential solutions that an election is the best option left
We are being trolled by a prime minister who is prepared to drive a nation into the abyss to preserve the cohesion of the Conservative party. Like a partner who perennially hints at a romantic three-course meal and a possible popping of the question, only to serve up beans on toast, Theresa May’s latest national address was a huge anticlimax. She provided no exit routes out of a building she has set alight, merely attacking a parliament she forced the electorate to vote for less than two years previously.
It is the most basic statement of political reality to say that Britain’s national crisis has been manufactured by the Conservatives, but it’s one that needs repeating in a media environment rigged in favour of the right. A generation-long Tory power struggle and the disastrous attempts to navigate it by David Cameron and his successor have brought Britain to its knees. The narrative over the coming days will be that the onus is on Labour to accept May’s deal – a deal both remainers and leavers are united in judging to be terrible – or condemn Britain to no deal.
Continue reading...Porn: Why Flintshire mum made her own adult film
Sarah Sadler was fed up with the way sex was portrayed in porn films - so decided to make her own.
German politicians split over bankrolling Deutsche Bank merger
A political rift has emerged in Berlin over whether Germany should put its financial muscle behind a merger of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, politicians and officials said, complicating a bid to create Europe’s third-largest bank and fund it.
Labor pledges $60m to divert vulnerable borrowers from payday lenders
Plan would enable 76,800 low-cost loans each year to those in financial hardship
Labor has pledged $60m for financial services that divert vulnerable borrowers from high-interest payday lenders.
The policy picks up on the recommendation of a Senate inquiry to expand no interest loans schemes to prevent low-income Australians being plunged into a cycle of debt due to unexpected expenses such as medical procedures and broken household appliances.
Continue reading...Brazil’s ex-President Temer arrested, threatening fiscal reform
Brazil's former President Michel Temer was arrested on Thursday in an investigation of alleged graft in the construction of a nuclear power plant, prosecutors said, threatening to delay debate over the government's ambitious fiscal reforms.
Death toll jumps as aid workers fight clock to rescue more African cyclone victims
Rescue workers plucked more survivors from trees and roofs to safety on Thursday, a week after a cyclone ripped through southern Africa and triggered devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
IVF ethics pioneer Mary Warnock dies
The philosopher Baroness Mary Warnock has died at the age of 94.
Kazakhstan 3-0 Scotland: Alex McLeish’s side humiliated in Euro 2020 opener
Hapless Scotland suffer one of the most abject defeats in their history in their opening Euro 2020 qualifier against world-ranked 117 Kazakhstan.
Facebook stored hundreds of millions of passwords unprotected
Company admits to mistake and says it has no evidence of abuse – but the risk was huge
Facebook mistakenly stored “hundreds of millions” of passwords in plaintext, unprotected by any encryption, the company has admitted.
The mistake, which led to user passwords being kept in Facebook’s internal servers in an insecure way, affects “hundreds of millions of Facebook Lite users, tens of millions of other Facebook users, and tens of thousands of Instagram users”, according to the social networking site. Facebook Lite is a version of Facebook created for use in nations where mobile data is unaffordable or unavailable.
Continue reading...Home smear tests to be rolled out in England to combat low turnout
Charities say move could reverse decline of cervical cancer screenings
Women will be able to conduct tests for the HPV virus at home as part of a pilot scheme to combat the low up-take of cervical cancer screenings in England.
Robert Music, chief executive of Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust, said self-testing could help reverse the decline by allowing women to use the kits in the comfort of their own home. “We know from our research that there is a huge appetite for self-testing and want to see it introduced to the NHS screening programme as soon as possible,” he said. “Countries such as Australia and Denmark, which are already offering self-testing, are seeing fantastic results in terms of more women being screened and more cancers being prevented or diagnosed at an early stage.
“For those who find screening difficult for a wide range of psychological and physical reasons, it could be a game-changer.”
FBI not properly assessing potential U.S. maritime terrorism threats – report
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is not taking appropriate steps to review and assess potential maritime terrorism risks facing U.S. sea ports, the Justice Department's internal watchdog has found.
GSK reports positive data for experimental blood cancer drug
GlaxoSmithKline received a boost for its oncology research on Thursday, as it reported further positive data from a study of its experimental drug for blood cancer.
Iraq ferry sinking: more than 70 people drown in Mosul
Victims were mostly women and children celebrating Kurdish new year, say officials
At least 71 people have drowned after a ferry sank in the Tigris River near Mosul, Iraq.
Col Hussam Khalil, the head of the Civil Defense Corps in the northern Iraqi province of Nineveh, said the incident occurred on Thursday while scores of people – mostly women and children – were celebrating Nowruz, which marks the Kurdish new year and the arrival of spring.
Continue reading...Brexit: MPs urged not to travel home alone as tensions rise
MPs are urged to take taxis home and not travel alone as tensions rise over crunch Brexit votes.
Canada: ‘Much more to be told’ on Trudeau scandal, says minister who quit
Jane Philpott, who resigned in protest earlier this month, hints at more pain for embattled PM and says Canadians deserve the truth
A Canadian cabinet minister who had quit in protest over the government’s handling of a corruption scandal said she and others had more to say about the matter, indicating more pain to come for the embattled prime minister, Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau has been on the defensive since February over allegations top officials working for him leaned on the former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould to ensure the construction firm SNC-Lavalin avoided a corruption trial.
Continue reading...Anti-graft campaigner tipped to win Slovakia run-off vote
Anti-graft campaigner Zuzana Caputova could win 60.5 percent of votes in Slovakia's presidential election run-off, an opinion poll showed on Thursday, an outcome that would stand in contrast to the rise of populist, nationalist politicians across Europe.
Every school ‘needs dog to stop stress’
Bringing pets into school can be the simplest but most effective stress-buster, says Sir Anthony Seldon.
Peterborough mural to Prodigy’s Keith Flint ‘iconic’
The street art is described as "our own shrine to Keith Flint" by a former guitarist with the band.
Kentucky launches probe into drug overcharges by pharmacy benefit managers
Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear said on Thursday he had launched an investigation into allegations that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) had overcharged state health insurance programs for drugs and discriminated against independent pharmacies.
‘Dr Evil’: Wolverhampton tattooist jailed for tongue-splitting
Brendan McCarthy, who is known as Dr Evil, also carried out consensual ear and nipple removals.
Juve’s Ronaldo fined by UEFA for Atletico celebration
Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo was fined 20,000 euros (17,387 pounds) by UEFA for a gesture he made while celebrating in their Champions League victory over Atletico Madrid last week, European football's governing body said on Thursday.
Number of parents fined for term-time holidays at record level
DfE figures show 260,000 penalty notices for children missing school were issued in 2017-18
The number of parents issued with penalties because of their children missing school has soared to record levels in England, after councils were emboldened by a supreme court ruling in their favour.
Figures from the Department for Education (DfE) for 2017-18 show that local authorities issued 260,000 penalty notices to parents for unauthorised absences during the state school year, an increase of 110,000 compared with the previous year.
Continue reading...Rowing – Surgery puts Tokyo 2020 into fresh focus for champion Satch
Heart surgery and then a shoulder operation came as "a bit of a kick in the teeth" for 2016 Olympic champion rower Will Satch last year but time off the water has provided fresh focus for the hard slog towards next year's Tokyo Games.
Gymnastics – Athletic Assistance Fund ready to help abused gymnasts
(This March 19 story has been refiled to remove reference to partnership in sixth paragraph)
Philosopher Mary Warnock dies aged 94
Lady Warnock laid foundations for special needs teaching and fertility treatment regulations
The philosopher Mary Warnock, whose work laid the foundations for special needs education and for the regulation of fertility treatments, has died aged 94.
After an early career researching ethics and philosophy and then as a headteacher, Lady Warnock was appointed in 1974 to chair a UK inquiry on special education. Her subsequent report brought about radical change by placing priority on teaching children with special educational needs within mainstream schools, and introduced the system of “statementing” children, which provides additional support.
Continue reading...Aid workers fight clock to rescue more African cyclone victims, death toll jumps
Rescue workers plucked more survivors from trees and roofs to safety on Thursday, a week after a cyclone ripped through southern Africa and triggered devastating floods that have killed hundreds of people and displaced hundreds of thousands.
FIFA fines and bans former Ecuadorean FA head Chiriboga for life
World football body FIFA fined former Ecuadorian Football Association president Luis Chiriboga a million Swiss francs ($1.01 million) and banned him from football for life on Thursday after finding him guilty of taking bribes.
At least 72 killed as overloaded ferry sinks in Iraq’s Tigris river
At least 72 people died when an overloaded ferry sank in the Tigris river near Mosul in Iraq, medical sources told Reuters on Thursday.
Israel says U.N. Gaza war crimes report biased against it
Israel said on Thursday a U.N. report critical of its use of lethal force during Palestinian protests on the Gaza border was biased and should have included a demand that the enclave's dominant Hamas group take action to stop anti-Israeli violence.
Irish chief quizzed over personal loan to governing body
The head of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) will face questions from lawmakers over a 100,000 euro (87,204 pounds) loan provided to the governing body, which the prime minister described as "unusual".
Scammers stole £1.2bn from British bank customers in 2018
Year on year figure up by 25%, and firms must reimburse victims, says UK Finance
Scammers stole £1.2bn from UK bank customers in 2018, according to official data, with a near-500% leap in counterfeit cheque fraud, indicating some criminals are resorting to old-school techniques.
The headline fraud figure is up almost a quarter on 2017, when the total was £968m. There was a 50% leap, to £354m, in the amount lost to scams in which people are duped into authorising a payment to an account.
Continue reading...Councils’ powers to remove Grenfell-style cladding ‘useless’
Exclusive: councils complain government’s backing amounts to ‘completely hollow words’
New powers for councils to step in and fix privately-owned towers covered in dangerous Grenfell-style cladding are proving largely useless, leaving tens of thousands of leaseholders living in fear and facing mounting multimillion-pound bills, the Guardian has learned.
As few as one in 10 of the affected private tower blocks clad in similar ACM panels to those which spread the fire at Grenfell Tower can actually be tackled by councils, according to Manchester city council, which has been struggling to persuade the owners of 15 apartment blocks to take urgent safety action.
Continue reading...World wants answers from Indonesia and Ethiopia crashes
Indonesian investigators described the panic of pilots grappling with airspeed and altitude problems in the last moments of their doomed Lion Air flight, as comparisons mounted to a disaster in Ethiopia and authorities queued up to question Boeing.
